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Mesa resident urges Section 8 expansion, better police disability training and paid parental leave
Summary
During public comment on Oct. 6, resident Noel James Markham called on the Council to bring Section 8 housing to Mesa, improve police training for interactions with people with disabilities, hire more women officers and adopt paid parental leave policies; no council action was taken.
Noel James Markham, a Mesa resident, used the City Council’s public-comment time on Oct. 6 to press city leaders on housing and policing issues, calling for Section 8 rental assistance in Mesa, expanded police training on disabilities, more female officers and paid parental leave for city employees.
Markham said he has a disability and described fear of police as a persistent problem for people with disabilities. “Having a disability my whole life and scared of police officers should never happen to me or to the rest of the disability community,” he said.
Markham urged the council to adopt Section 8 housing in Mesa, saying the program is not yet available in the city. He also called for improved police training about interacting with people who have disabilities and asked the city to hire more women for the police department.
On leave policies, Markham said municipal paid parental leave should provide 8 to 12 weeks for mothers and fathers, and that paid leave should apply to pregnancy loss. He suggested elected officials should not move to recall colleagues as a political remedy and criticized the council’s handling of a current recall (he did not provide details).
City staff did not record any immediate response or action from the council during the public-comment segment. The remarks were part of the items-from-citizens portion of the Oct. 6 meeting and were included in the meeting transcript.
