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Residents press council to protect First Courthouse neighborhood and question TIF tax diversion
Summary
During the miscellaneous comment period, residents urged protections for the First Courthouse/Old Silk Stocking neighborhood and asked the council whether a proposed TIF agreement — described by a speaker as diverting 100% of sales and ad valorem tax for 25 years — could be scaled back to reduce property‑tax impacts.
Residents used the council’s miscellaneous comment period on March 10, 2026 to raise historic‑preservation concerns and question a local Tax Increment Finance (TIF) economic development agreement.
"We're one of the neighborhoods that help bring in a million dollars a year for our city," said Carolyn de Gravel, identifying herself as from Ward 4 and the First Courthouse neighborhood, and urged the council to preserve residential boundaries and resist commercial encroachment. De Gravel described neighborhood efforts to document historic assets and said her community relies on Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) status to support residents.
Another commenter (an unnamed resident) criticized what they described as offensive social‑media behavior by council members and merchandizing that referred to a ward as "the horde," calling that conduct "disgusting." The resident said such behavior undermines civic trust and urged greater decorum from elected officials.
Mayumi (transcribed also as "Miami") Windler of Ward 2 raised fiscal questions about a TIF economic development agreement tied to the discussion. Windler said that, as transcribed, the TIF currently diverts "100% of sales tax and ad valorem tax" for 25 years and asked whether the council could instead reduce the diversion (for example, to 50%) rather than repeal the TIF outright. Windler also suggested the TIF's ordinance status might affect its timing (noting that an emergency‑ordinance procedure, if required, could alter how quickly the measure took effect); the transcript does not include a legal determination on that point.
Trey Curry, Ward 5, thanked attendees and said postponing the turnpike‑related items allowed more residents to participate.
The council did not take immediate action on the preservation requests or the TIF questions during the March 10 meeting; items deferred earlier in the agenda will return on March 24, when the public and council may raise these issues again.
