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Residents press commission on hospital levy, ICE and street renaming during public comment
Summary
Speakers urged the commission to study a hospital levy for West Dayton, called for action against ICE operations, and sought to rename Fitch Street for longtime community leader Raymond Hummons Sr.; citizens also praised community events and organizers.
A varied set of public comments framed the commission’s public-comment period.
Stanley Hurdle, a retired legal services attorney from 1230 Amherst Place, urged the commission to take the hospital-levy proposal seriously, saying it is "an opportunity to advance health care" and warning West Dayton is a health-care desert made worse by the demolition of Good Samaritan. Hurdle asked the commission to study options, consult experts and produce a plan voters can support.
Kimaru Watenza of 1200 West Grand Avenue urged the commission to demand that the Dayton police chief arrest ICE and border-patrol agents who, Watenza said, "are acting illegally" and "detaining American citizens without warrants." Watenza linked the request to broader human-rights concerns and asked the commission to protect residents; commissioners responded by saying they would follow the law and directed staff to ensure legal compliance when possible.
Reverend Ashton Doppler (speaker at the podium) asked the commission to approve renaming a portion of Fitch Street between Hawthorne Street and Germantown Pike as Raymond Hummons Sr. Way for two years, noting unanimous landowner support and Hummons’s decades of church and union leadership. Commissioners thanked the speaker and said the topic is a priority for follow-up with law department staff.
Other public speakers, including David Greer, praised community festivals and urged continued city support for youth engagement.
