Our next guest Sarah Kustak will call the Nets in the Sixers game to tonight with Chris Shearan and Jim Spinarkel in studio The yes pregame shows at 730 game is at 8 and of course the yes post game to follow Sarah Michael Don and Peter. How you doing? Hey guys wonderful thing. Tell me yourself very very well. That's are doing pretty well as well I wanted to ask you about this. I thought that The net staff out coached the Sixer staff especially when it came to the big man in the first half a first game So what what what can the Sixers do to counteract where the Nets went small and kind of took everybody out into space? Well, first of all, I 100 Agree with you on that note and I think with the Sixers I'm going to be interested to see what Brett Brown does because A lot of the limitations they have in terms of depth in terms of You know some of the personnel and the lack of shooting the lack of spacing There's not a whole lot of adjustments you could make I think the one thing That we did see that I anticipate heading into tonight We may see more of is Joellen beat in the post He spent a lot of time working out the elbows. He's a great passer He did a good job early on attacking Jared Allen on the inside He struggled from the three-point line if he admitted that a lot of that was due to the fact that He was you know, he's injured. He was doubtful going the last game question. We'll go into tonight But you know, I think that's that's an area where they can try to expose the Nets a little bit more putting him on the block Putting students on the block It is amazing to me too that the Nets have come to the conclusion If it's beyond five feet, let let Ben Simmons shoot. I mean that that is a I don't know if he could become that much of a better shooter But that is a big flaw in this game and it's a copycat league And if you know, they're going to hack him and they're going to let him shoot from 10 feet He just can't hit outside shot Sarah Well and to think about the fact, I mean a big reason why everyone was high on Philadelphia is They have one of the most prolific starting fives on paper But Simmons was basically a non-factor because of his the Nets ability to fag off them help off him because he couldn't shoot Tobias Harris didn't get a lot of touches The Nets entirely kept the ball out of JJ Reddick's hand and a flip side of thing Got him into foul trouble on the other end of the following out of the game But yeah, I mean Ben Simmons I I anticipate though he will come in very aggressive The thing you gotta watch out for with Ben Simmons and with the Nets is he thrives in the open court Where he is most dynamic and explosive and dominant is when he can get going in transition Because the Nets were making shots because the Nets were so good at getting back It limited his fast break opportunities So that may be an area where he'll try to really get a lot of his offense going Sorry, you played so how disrespectful was the phone situation on the bench? And does that tell you or give you an indication how disengaged the Sixers were in a game? Yeah, I mean I I think you know I I know it came out that a mayor johnson was concerned about his daughter So of course, hopefully she is okay and he said he was We all know there is a multitude of ways in which if there is a outside Situation occurring there are people you could say hey, you could tell your wife You could tell your friend you can contact our security guard. You can contact X Yers there are players around the organization that okay if there's an emergency if there's something I need to know throughout the course of the game Let this person know and they can give me a tap on the bench You know, there's so much support staff. But yeah, I mean especially a playoff game game one at home that That really shocked me and it would shock it shocked me that that was What went down? Especially, you know It exacerbated by the fact that philadelphia ended up losing in a way that they did Do the nets see themselves as underdogs? I didn't see a team the other night that the other afternoon that looked like they didn't think they could win They seem to really believe it I I think they do and they had good reason to I mean they finished off the season with similar records as philadelphia had They were two and two in the regular season series and one of those losses came down To a last second shot and I think you know throughout the course of this whole season Brooklyn had been playing with a variety of different line-ups. They've relied on their depth Such a balanced attack carousel overt is a player that's been coming on And in playing how we saw him play at the beginning of the year prior to the injury and add on the fact I know there's a lot of discussion about this team lacking playoff experience But guys like jaren dudley at davis They bring damari chair. They bring a playoff experience That I think has really translated into what this group has fed into the beliefs they have and uh, you know, Michael You set it off the back kenny ackinson has such a moxie such a ship ship on a shoulder such a Exquisite preparation that everyone feels like they know the game plan They know what's expected of them and and I think all of that combined has helped them to have a ton of confidence All right in about 30 seconds I'm looking at this if they could steal the series or even if they make it a series and And make it go the full the full length of the series Do you think that this is a selling point to a free agent to say this is where I want to go I could be the final piece or am I reading too much into it? No, I think it could be I think it's already trending in that direction. You got young pieces You got everything you would want in an organization from top to bottom in terms of culture for an offense performance staff Coaching staff It's a small league and word spreads quick And I think just the feedback you've gotten from a lot of players that have been around the league He's voted well in In the area of the brooklyn nets and and I think just given what they've done to this point That certainly should be a draw for a lot of people and it's turned a lot ahead All right, sarah. Don't be nervous because somebody watching from the beginning of the game right to the end I know you'll be great, but I'll be I'll be watching You guys are the best. Thank you. Thank you, sarah That's sarah kustach. She and ian eagle call the game christian and jim sponarchal in studio Yes, pregame show at 7 30 game is at 8 and then the yes post game to follow The only way to watch the nets would be on yes because they've been around all season


Mayor Benjamin I Next item is public input related to items on the agenda We have none so the next item is the approval of the minutes item number 11 I'd move approval of October 1 15 November 18 and November 19 Second I moved in second a discussion saying none with the previous question clerk call roll Mr. Rickman I Mr. McDowell. Yes. Hi Mr. Bedora. Hi. Mr. Vines. Hi. Mr. Davis. Hi. Mayor Benjamin. Hi Next item is the consent Consent agenda items 12 through 35 Move approval of consent agenda Moved in second any discussion Say none. We'll move the previous question clerk call a roll Mr. Rickman. Hi. Mr. McDowell. Yes Mr. Duvall. Hi. Mr. Bedora. Hi. Mr. Vines. Hi. Mr. Davis. Hi. Mayor Benjamin. It's great We were able to approve the consent agenda. I would encourage citizens to read through it a lot of really Significant expenditures made all focused on improving quality of life and city efficiency. So please take a look at the consent agenda All right Now move into presentations the next item item number 36 is recognition of Ms. Colleen Elfoster as a November employee of the month Presented by mr.  I missed the cue. I missed the cue I'm sorry cute. I'm sorry We won't let that happen again Mayor counselor mr. Palin It is indeed my honor to introduce the employee of the month for 2019 for November You know Miss Faust has been with us for a while and the one thing I say I'm not gonna read everything that was wrote And I also left my book home there. So I won't be going through that. Okay But anyway, she um, she's typing float employee that every employer we just dreamed about having She is very diligent and everything that she does She really supports the city and the county and she wholly support our department She is tight person that You know, it doesn't matter how her day is going She always have an encouraging word for anybody coming her office Even with the challenges that she had, you know a few years ago She she still find the time to encourage people So, you know, I I am blessed to have her as my second assistant Because truly I would say right now if you knew the things that she did and what she stood for And just just her whole demeanor She would be a person any one of you will be proud to have and all of that But you'll be you'll probably be proud that she is an employee of the city club So at this time, you know, and she's here with her husband Cecil We we certainly want to thank him for lending her out to us To do the things that she does because without families, you know, you know, we're all just out there by ourselves So at this time it is my distinct honor to introduce The 2019 Novel employee of the month miss Colleen Foster It may seem a routine at times, but it's it's I think it's so important The 2200 plus men and women who make the city work every single day We're out up front, but they're the ones working to make sure we're effective and efficient and we're delivering good public service. So again, um I hope you all don't think of the robbery they take a little bit of time to to celebrate our employees So thank you, miss foster. Thank you chief for that nomination I didn't want to take a quick point of personal privilege To welcome the new mayor of ermo, uh, barry walker here Mayor In addition to being a long time city councilman mayor walkers will a long time kind of a Trailblazer in the revitalization of the main street Here owning and running a max on main for a number of years. So very good to have you here, mr. Mayor Well, thank you mayor and council. I wanted to introduce myself to you Tonight is councilman barry walker from ermo But as of june as as of december 3rd, I will be mayor barry walker And I want to introduce myself I don't want to get in any trouble because we know we have to work together and build relationships So tonight i'm building that relationship opening that floodgate of cooperation between My little town or ermo and your great city of columbia All right I want to thank you for allowing me to bother your council meeting tonight and also Welcome welcome y'all back. Well, we are all in this together. We will rise together fall together So we look forward to good strong regional ties and regional cooperation I don't have any peach cobbler in my bag You failed the first you failed the first test see you did not bring peach cobbler So we'll we'll talk about that We'll look forward to spending some real quality time moving the midlands four together All right, brother be well to see you Before we go on to item 37 I need I wanted to remark we had two press releases for two appointments that I wanted to bring up Miss utzi has brought this to me. So I wanted to share this with everyone Press release today was our mayor pro tem. Mr. Mika Isaac Devine was elected to the board of directors for the national league of cities In two weeks ago mayor steve benjamin was elected as vice president of the global parliament of mayors Next the galaxy No comment So In our next item 37 the columbian empowerment zones excellence in economic development awards Mr. Russ McCoy co-chair for the columbia empowerment zone board and miss felicia maloney executive director of the columbia empowerment zone ink awesome Good afternoon. Mayor members of council It's my honor to stand before you the columbia empowerment zone received two Excellence in economic development awards this year We received a bronze for our um in the category of neighborhood and retail development on the north main corridor And we received a silver in the area of creative financing for the affordable housing and north main corridor development And so as a reminder we um the iedc or x International economic development council excellence in economic development awards recognizes the world's best economic development programs and partnerships In the areas of marketing material and the work and the years most influential leaders We actually won an award in 2017 also in partnership with the public relations department for our marketing efforts Thank you And we'll have some gifts for you and your cheers Thank you You uh, thank you felicia. Thank you reggie ross. I mean you guys The work to see z has been doing has been amazing and and game changer for the city columbia So don't slow down. We look forward to continuing to partner with you and making the city great It really has how long you've been there ross. I mean, I mean Literally, right? Yeah. I mean. Yes. I know it's good to have a dog and good banker there And reggie has a relatively I guess everybody's relatively new compared to ross and and the judge, but no Felicia great work. So I refer to mr. McCoy.  Okay. All right, and I like from missy my direct missy if you would join us I appreciate Mr. Davis has a word Mr. Davis had a word Please word. No, it's not word. It's not gone.  You got a word. Come on Now my comments were that um Yeah, it's it's it's appropriate for us to recognize the uh, columbian palm of zone um from those of you who may not know it they were only there were dozens of them around the country and the Golden rule was that they would at some point uh be independent of uh of the federal government and this zone is I believe the last of one or or two that's left in the country and uh for those of you who may not know Some of what they do if you drive up the north main corridor. You see the brand new Story building That's an investment in the area and that's what they do and they do a good job at it They they continue to add to the to the economy and the quality of life of the city of columbia And we appreciate that Amen. Amen Our last presentation for tonight is item 38. So the city certified miss callie gallman So the city certified app creator Good evening. Hey collie council I am collie gallman and I created the soda city certified app So it is a one-stop shop to connect individuals with businesses And historical sites all over the city. So Just a brief overview of the app People get paid for uh frequenting certain businesses certain sites Our major sponsor right now or excuse me partner is um historic columbia. So The app is available now The point system starts in january though. So once people go to these places these restaurants these sites They get points towards being soda city certified And so um, they can redeem these points. Um at the end of the year they get uh, uh soda city certified custom medallion And uh, they also the top three people with the most points gets $500 So there's also incentives within the app too. So we'll have some deals with some local partners And there's also a who's who component to connect people We know that columbia is a handshake town. So Any way that we can get anyone to connect with each other to to floor some business to foster some relationships That's going to be in the app as well. So it actually is available Right now, uh for apple and google android platforms So people can download and I actually Have city hall is one of the the venues. So I checked in I got my 25 points And then I got an extra 25 points because I took a picture of you all And I'm adding in there. So I got 50 points. I just for checking in tonight Hmm Very good And I can I just say cully came maybe about a month or so ago and told me about her app You know collie is is one of our millenials who used to work for the city Left columbia As many young people do because they think that they'll find Better things outside of columbia and then they realize that columbia is the best ever and they come back Uh So she has come back But one of the things that she wanted to do by this app is you know, a lot of times we because we live here We don't necessarily take advantage of all the great attractions and great things that we have here So this was her idea of trying to Promote some local pride and people to explore things within that's in their own backyard. So Thank you. I think it's great and we'll um We'll definitely um help help you promote it so that people see all the great things that we've got going on in columbia Thank you so much I couldn't agree more with miss divine excited about this collie and thanks for your leadership and pulling it together It's going to be a great venture As we move into the next section ordinance's second reading item number 39 is ordinance number 2019-081 And sending to the inclusion of property in a multi-county industrial business park north main senior llc moved second discussion With a previous question clerk color all Mr. Rickman Mr. Mcnawl. Yes, mr. Duvall. Hi mr. Vadura. Hi mr. Von. Hi today. Hi, mr. Benjamin. Hi Next section is ordinance's first reading item number 40 ordinance number 2019-085 amending the 298 code of ordinances for the city of columbia, south carolina chapter 11 licenses permits and miscellaneous so moved Second, this is a commercial corridor one of the action items for the commercial corridor redevelopment plan um moved in second discussion With a previous question clerk color all mr. Rickman. Hi mr. Mcnawl. Yes. Hi mr. Vadura. Hi mr. Von. Hi mr. Davis. Mayor Benjamin. Hi Item number 41 ordinance number 2019-092 granting an encroachment to central midlands transit authority to comment for the use of the Right-of-way areas of the 1300 block Of bower parkway adjacent to three move approval a second Second discussion One with a previous question clerk color all mr. Rickman. Hi mr. Mcnawl. Yes, mr. Duvall. Hi, mr. Vadura. Hi mr. Von. Hi mr. Davis. Hi mr. Benjamin. Hi Item number 42 ordinance number 2019-093 And sending to the inclusion of property in a multi-county industrial business park. So move Second discussion With a previous question clerk color all mr. Rickman. Hi mr. Mcnawl. Yes, mr. Duvall. Hi mr. Vadura. No mr. Von. Hi mr. Davis. Hi mr. Benjamin. Hi Item number 43 ordinance number 2019-095 Authorizing the city manage to sign a lease between the city of columbia and columbia dog park a south carolina charitable organization for property So move second Any discussion saying none one with a previous question the clerk color all mr. Rickman. Hi mr. Mcnawl. Yes, mr. Duvall. Hi mr. Vadura. Hi mr. Von. Hi mr. Davis. Hi mr. Benjamin. Hi Item number 44 ordinance number 2019-096 Authorizing the city manager to execute a eighth amendment to lease between the city of columbia and old boy properties Second discussion Saying none move with a previous question clerk color all mr. Rickman. Hi mr. Mcnawl. Yes mr. Duvall. Hi mr. Vadura. Hi mr. Von. Hi mr. Davis. Hi mr. Benjamin. Hi Item number 45 ordinance number 2019-097 Consenting to the inclusion of property in a multi county industrial business park pdp bull street apartments lc discussion Saying none with a previous question clerk color all mr. Rickman Hi mr. Mcnawl. Yes, mr. Duvall. Hi mr. Vadura. No Mr. Vine. Hi mr. Davis. Hi mr. Benjamin. Hi mr. Mayor His point can we make sure that we get the packages numbers Cleaned up and clarified before next reading That's our that's our we will go ahead and uh good deal Before uh next tuesday's meeting I have number 46 ordinance number 2019-098 mending section 3-352 definitions employer conviction wage So moved second any discussion Saying none move the previous question clerk color all mr. Rickman. Hi mr. Mcnawl. Yes, mr. Duvall. Hi mr. Vadura Hi mr. Vine. Hi mr. Davis. Hi mr. Benjamin. Hi Item number 47 ordinance number 2019-099 amending the 1998 code of ordinances of the city of columbia south carolina Chapter 8 environmental health and sanitation article 2 move Second move in second discussion Saying none move the previous question clerk color all Mr. Rickman. Hi mr. Mcnawl. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Hi mr. Vadura. Hi mr. Vine. Hi mr. Davis. Hi mr. Benjamin. Hi Item number 48 ordinance number 2019-107 consenting to the inclusion of property in a multi county industrial business park Move approval second This is a matter of practice. I don't vote on on any items that relate to my neighborhood So just as a matter of course So um 49 and 50 I will not be voting and we'll exit the room We're 48 right now Um with the previous question clerk color all Mr. Rickman. Hi mr. Mcnawl. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Hi mr. Vadura. Hi mr. Vine. Hi mr. Davis. Hi mr. Benjamin. Hi Madam pro tem I just want to make sure for the record that we clean up the document and get the numbers correct on this one as well prior to Second reading This item 48 And the previous The previous is that correct? 25. Yeah So mr. Payton's noted that We have and we'll have them out to y'all uh in the next day Item number 49 annexation interim comprehensive plan map amendment and interim zoning map amendment for 118 wood creek ridge drive tms number 257 16 Is there a motion? So I move approval Second Second Been probably moved in second any discussion Seeing none it's the clerk will read the roll Mr. Rickman. Hi mr. Mcnawl. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Hi mr. Vadura. Hi mr. Vine. Hi mr. Davis. Hi mr. Benjamin Item number 50 annexation interim comprehensive plan map amendment and interim zoning map amendment for 4.91 acres Wood Creek farms road and move second Probably moved in second any discussion Seeing none the clerk will read the roll Mr. Rickman. Hi mr. Mcnawl. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Hi mr. Vadura. Hi mr. Vine. Hi mr. Davis. Hi mr. Benjamin You can go ahead mr. Palin. He should be in the second Moving on to resolutions Item number 51 resolution number r2019-094 adopting city of columbia outdoor dining Is there a second second? Any discussion All right mr. Rickman. Hi mr. Mcnawl. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Hi mr. Vadura. Hi mr. Vine. Hi mr. Davis. Hi mr. Benjamin. Hi Item number 52 resolution number r2019-096 Authorizing the city manner to execute an agreement concerning electrical service rights between fairfield electric cooperative tri county Electric cooperative and midlands carolina electric cooperative ink and dominion energy south carolina ink So moved say second second discussion saying none. I'm sorry mr. Rickman Just for clarification this calls for the city to begin negotiations a franchise agreement with the providers Do we know where we are on that before we begin voting? We have not really started those negotiations staff is looking at a list of what items we would like to Talk about during negotiations to bring to council But those have not started yet. Well, I guess my concern is that we're authorizing the city manager to to Agree to something that we haven't seen yet. So i'm not sure that we should be voting on this at this time So we're not agreeing to the negotiated franchise. We're agreeing that we will start negotiations What we're agreeing to here is the service map that dominion and the electric co-ops have agreed upon Well the resolution calls for the city manager to execute the agreement concerning the electrical rights between these agencies So that's not what our which is the service map There should be a map attached in the agreement though We have acknowledged that we will begin negotiations for the franchise agreements Like a lot of language for just a map So so what they have done is gone through the service area and divided the territories Not only what it's what already has power But the map of the entire areas so that as development happens They already know which service provider will provide the power We just need to consent to that and this is part of the requirement of public service commission to the electric providers We will be starting negotiations early on our franchise agreement. Um, really we would have an Till I think 2032 but dominion and all the electric providers Are being required to get their franchise agreements on the same cycle So they've asked that we go ahead and start negotiating the franchise and That presents exciting opportunities for everybody except for mr. Absolutely, we pointed that out to you agree mr. Katena. Do you agree? Okay. All right, uh, mr Badura the quick question. I don't know once you start talking and maybe We're negotiating is it going to affect the revenue that we're generating from the franchise as So right now all we're doing is consenting to their service area map When we start negotiating franchise agreements, we'll get into those conversations I don't think there's much flexibility as far as the franchise payment But that part of the negotiations have not started All right, thank you So just consistent with the earlier questions. We're talking about The maps we want to have a much more engaged conversation around the franchise agreements and what that looks like And we expect that not to be not to be negotiated or executed. I should say Between now and then so I want a question. That was a statement. All right. Okay. All right. Thanks. We're good Thank you. Um, with the previous question court call the roll. Mr. Rickaman. No, mr. Mcdowell. Yes Mr. Duvall. Hi, mr. Badura. Hi, mr. Vine. Hi, mr. David. Hi, mr. Benjamin. Hi Item 53 resolution number r 2019-097 authorizing condemnation for easement acquisition for sanitary sewer at 4112 west beltline boulevard and brooklyn brooklyn circle to eliminate motion So move just second second any discussion Saying none to move the previous question court call the roll And we get a point of clarification, mr. Mayor, just it on item at the bottom It says easement 5 of 11. Do we have the other ones or is there more coming with this or just a shealy or council who's That is that is the last outstanding easement for that project. Yes, sir. Okay Thank you. It's awesome. Okay. Mr. Rickaman. Hi, mr. Mcdowell. Yes, mr. Duvall. Hi, mr. Badura. Hi, mr. Vine. Hi, mr. David. Hi, mr. Benjamin. Hi Item 54 resolution number r 2019-098 authorizing condemnation of easement acquisition for Harlem Heights strain dormant improvements. So move Second Lude and second discussion saying none to move the previous question court call the roll Mr. Rickaman. Hi, mr. Mcdowell. Yes, mr. Duvall. Hi, mr. Badura. Hi, mr. Vine. Hi, mr. Davis. Hi, mr. Benjamin. Hi Item 55 resolution number r 2019-099 authorizing the city manager execute a right of entry. I'm overproval Second With the previous question court call the roll Mr. Rickaman. Hi, mr. Mcdowell. Yes, mr. Duvall. Hi, mr. Badura. Hi, mr. Vine. Hi, mr. Davis. Hi, mr. Benjamin. Hi Item 56 resolution number r 2019-102 authorizing the city manager to execute a sublease agreement with Celia sacks and shopping center Move Second Seeing none the with the previous question court call the roll Mr. Rickaman. Hi, mr. Mcdowell. Yes, mr. Duvall. Hi, mr. Badura. Hi, mr. Vine. Hi, mr. Davis. Hi, mr. Benjamin. Hi Item 57 resolution number r 2019-105 authorizing the city manager to execute a We hold this item No objection No objection. We have we don't have any maintenance numbers or anything. I just I feel like We shouldn't be signing anything until we know exactly what our costs We're talking he sent out the They're they're not part of this document and they haven't been sent out to the public And I feel like we talked about this before but I get I have no problem holding it for next meeting So in terms of long term maintenance costs for that portion of the we got to have some type of estimate to understand what we're signing up for The costs and how that plays in because this is once again an ongoing maintenance issue That affects our budget in the future ongoing So I think we need to have a clear we need to make sure the public knows what we're committed to We could have all this done by next Tuesday. It shouldn't be an issue Sure. Sure. Let's make sure we have very specifically what uh, Mr Rick, you have some numbers you want to share now randy or you want uh He sent them out to us this morning Earlier today, but we can have those numbers definitely. Yeah, so let's let's let's deal with that already this next week Resend again. So it's the top of our inboxes and we'll have an agenda for next Tuesday. All right. Okay. Cool. Cool All right And I neglected because he's hiding way in the back to recognize council elect will brennan will stand up We're glad glad to have you here as well. All right. All right I made my way through that pretty pretty good Young people you still enthused about democracy. We still got you. You're still with us for a little while All right. What kind of notes are you taking? All right, um, I think we're in a period of appointments now Uh, Ms. Jenkins, I think it's I think it's your show All right, so, um, I know we have a number of nominees that came from b-pack recommended But some have not yet completed applications Please take up those who who've uh, who completed applications and may also be nominated any other obviously nominations that uh council me Let me Uh, I think we're doing the bicycle pedestrian advisor committee first. Yes, sir. All right So it's the reappointment.  Um, You're right some of the uh applications may not Be on file and I have two for b-pack. Oh, okay Um, and now we can get those to you. We don't you all have a total of 10 So obviously the option to wait right and district one didn't have any and 10 to attend up we have 10 vacant season b-pack 10 and including of course, uh reappointing the chair All right. Okay. Who's who's interested in reappointment? Yes. All right. Uh, how many folks we have who are Currently nominated by b-pack and interested and have completed applications. Yeah, so currently, um, Alyssa was sent over that has one two three four five six seven seven people that were recommended By the chair and we discussed it with the majority of them have applied I believe one that I'm looking at now is on food policy. Mr. Ando if he's still on that And then can't serve him both. I was thinking we just appointed him to he probably maybe he applied Several at the same time. So I would take him. He did. Mr. Um, Mr, uh McDowell You have yours ready to go already and folks who have applied because it seems like we might have a bunch of interest So I want to make sure we're not rushing anything through if we have to give some more consideration You can fill those 10 slots faster. Yeah, the two, um, I'm okay with the two you that those are those are definite And also the I believe the chairman of the committee um noted A couple of months ago that there were no, um District one participation from district one. I think that's something that um, they mentioned when I had a conversation with the chair They're really want to make sure it's different. Mr. McDowell, you had a question statement I don't have a question or a statement. I have a nomination Okay Bart Walworth Yes, sir. Are we taking nomination or you want to hold it? He he is one of the ones nominated by the chair and I don't like that All right, so Yeah, so you Bart so you got Bart, okay, um Did you have your two names already and they applied yet? We need to get applications in The application you'll get that this week. All right, so and um, did anyone else have John Corbett John Corbett is he on is uh, he's on these are on the list. John's already. He is on the list Showed interest. I talked to him a couple of months ago. Yeah, he's great. Are there any other nominations Other than those who are um On the list they're they're list. Um, the list that the chair We need to reappoint the chair. Ms. Galardi. Yes, and then she has recommended in addition to Bart Zachary Pippin Emily Beasley John Endo I believe that's it Susan forest So Cal Kelly Cabin on the Bart Walworth and two of those we don't have but Which ones do we not have applications from yet the Cabinaw? All right, so so we'll hold on those until we have uh, fully vetted applications I get some clarity on mr. Ando if he's just serving on food policy already. We can't serve on two committees So in in the in the interim, um Let's let's make a have a complete understanding. We're going to hold maybe two slots open for district one appointees And not act on two of those. So we'll move forward with eight Um, not eight if we have eight in those slots So we'll we'll advance the nominations of chairwoman galardi Emily Beasley forest Pippin and walruth right now Which I think is one two three four Five Five Could you get some clarity for mr. Ando as to whether he prefers to serve on one or the other? Okay, you can't serve on two and again, um Expect some applications from mr. Uh davis On district one appointees and pursue the applications of mr. Kyle and Ms. Cavanaugh Got it. Yes, sir. As a motion. Is there a second second any discussion? So you know with the previous question Mr. Rickerman, hi So the next item up for consideration is the central middlest council of governments And it is the re-appointment of councilwoman tamika azik divine or the appointment of a new council member to serve with that board Someone else who's interested in doing that. He interested to make his I'll make a motion really really important to me guys in divine No, seriously, I would like for someone else if they can I'll go if no one else wants to but we can hold it till january Yeah, well to january. I got I got I got a suck of We're gonna pull it to january Mr. Mayor orientation I believe we could make the motion just like most places Just leave it hanging out Go ahead and make the motion. Who would that we delay to A hazing ritual Mr. Mayor, I'd like to to nominate mr.  McDowell I don't know if that's legal, but sure I mean, I'd love to see we'll do that, but can we do that without being we can it's a designee It's a council person or designee.  Duvall. All right, let's come first sir Mr. Badura, sure Mr. Davis and Mayor Benjamin.  So all right. I Thank you. All right So the next one up is the climate protection action committee. We just seem to appoint another individual to fill an open Mr. Davis have one we don't have a representation Uh from that so I've I've got another name that that will come with you to you. Okay, so you want to hold on that one? Yeah, okay. Okay, so but for clarification. I thought um, we needed someone from district two And then we need a planner I believe when I talk I didn't see anything Oh no, I'm sorry looking at ddrc. Okay. Sorry. Sorry. Was that climate not for district two CPAC, okay So there's no with CPAC and I discuss this with them. There's no particular Thing in their bylaws that says that it has to be from any particular district But they are aware and want to make sure that they have representation. We do and then Can we also um Ashley check I spoke to a group from CPAC and they were um They were um, they had some ideas. Um And that lori's It's a qualsky dr. Z. Yeah, dr. Z. Yeah, she had some ideas of some folks as well. So Proceed that So maybe just also reach out to her so we can make sure we get some Folks and then can we also check and make sure that people are participating actively? Current appointees are actively participating Definitely A lot of important work to be done there okay and Also, Ashley, would you also see if we're capped out on the number of members we can add there Can we add more members to see back? Yeah, okay. Just we find out statutorily Thank you. All right, we're gonna hold on on that. All right drc We don't have Yes, sir. I'm here. I have two Is that two it is one for district two and one as a planner So we don't have a planner application. Yeah, that's That's been the hardest And we have two people from that work in district two, but don't live in district two And that's another matter. I wanted to put it on the next district three already has three people on it. So We hold it into January 220. We can I mean december We can because the issue was that is a one person resign due to their health Unexpectedly I would I would say this if let's uh, let's do some aggressive individual due diligence and trying to find other people However, we desperately need a planner and you got I mean the other I just think the The expertise at Cox and Dinkins is I mean we rely on them so much ourselves for their work If we can't find someone else, I I'd I'd be excited about moving forward. Sanford Dinkins. Sanford Dinkins. That's what you're saying Yes, sir. I think I'm uh, he approached me a couple of times. He's really eager to serve so So, I mean unless I mean unless someone wants to dig a little deeper to get some geographic diversity That's one of our specific skill sets that we got to make sure we fill and it's so important in a space like this There's some hesitance will defer and when we take up the other ones, uh, mr. McDowell otherwise, um I'm fine moving forward with a good a solid planner from a quality firm That's deferred to december. Yes, sir. We'll defer it to next week. Yes, sir. All right and mayor we've started changing how we Send out the information as well. So we send it to various Leadership organizations and we also send it columbia council neighborhood presidents. So we're hoping to kind of get some representation from different districts from that as well Yeah, we are looking for Some djrc. We're still looking for two community representative The district two Okay, so we'll still have district two slot. Mm-hmm. Yes, sir all right So we currently this is one of the few, uh boards we actually do have geographic representation from everywhere except for one district. Yes, so All right, so what we'll we'll hold On all appointments till next week and then the interim Ed you give you give us a district application, um Is mr. Dinkins the only planner we have who's applied? Okay, so we'll just take them both at the same time next week All right Thank you Uh next up we have the municipal election commission This was on the last agenda, but we didn't reappoint dr. Coe So we actually have one vacancy not two Reappoint her Just oh my I'm sorry. This is the memo from the last meeting we just forwarded over It's just a reappoint. I moved I moved the reappointment of dr. Um, Susan coe like it Professor Coe um, any discussion Move the previous question color all mr. Rickam in I mr. McDowell. Yes, mr. Duvall. Hi mr. Badura. Hi mr. Vines. Hi mr. Davis near benjamin. Hi Next we have the parks and recreation foundation Um city council kind of before appoint four new appointees to the parks and recreation foundation There are currently three members on the committee right now with unexpired terms So by appointing the four it will fulfill the seven number of the seven appointee capacity or the For the city Can we only have three applicants you have four the fourth is not on the memo because it was received Earlier this morning, but it is in your um finder With the email and resume Can we hold this can we hold here? I was going Yes, sir. I'm right rock and roll. What's what's oh, yeah um What's what's the uh, I mean we can but what's the what's the reticence moe? Uh, These are I know these have been I only got three applicants rub scrub. We got four But we need seven Let's get three more. I mean but I mean yeah, so let's move. I I know that they We're eager for them to get to work on something So I'd like to at least start constituting the uh the board and and let's get this unless um, make sure we Put a clearing call for more applications, but in the meantime I want to move the appointments of mr. Schenck mr. Snellgrove miss kim and miss morris and I'll provide one Okay, I'll put other slots. Yeah Okay, so that will fill all the so it will be no more slots That's gonna be three appointments three appointments. Yeah, so we have three appointments that are unexpired that were city appointed Already and so those people are still standing and actually won't expire probably until next year Now these four additional that you're pointing out will max us out and fill us out It's a seven the rest of the appointments on that committee are actually going to come from the foundation themselves So so district one has three people on it already. So you can't have another person From district one on there so noted It's a great group, um And they actually have a few other people that they asked to apply as well um That we could consider I know there's but they haven't applied yet. He's been working with them to send their Who asked to apply? Um, they were recommended Of the foundation. So can they be the found because you're saying the foundation can appoint their own They can so they can be a foundation appointee. Absolutely can. Yes, ma'am. So How many slots do they have to fill? All three of these guys are funded by the city So we get seven and I believe that they appoint like Like a Whole bunch, but there's only and I can check on the exact number, but that we only get seven as a city. So, um, again Go ahead That's right. The total amount it has to be at least 15. So they get an additional eight The city appoint seven and eight more that the board can appoint. No, I mean we asked and and and um Fred and others helped us effectively curate this list. It's a good quality list If it looks like there's a desire for some more regional representation from the from the council districts Then then we can let them use their self-apetuating board slots to to make these appointments So some of these appointments, but but I just want to kind of give everyone a A sense of urgency that we need applications. We need bodies. So good people. So if you got some names Can we can we crank some out the next do we have any meetings that we have in december? All right, so so by the by the second week in december As if you want to repost and remind all all council members Let's make sure Randy make sure we communicate to you or henry we communicate to fred That we these are good quality applicants. We may rely on them to use their self-apetuating Authority to add some of these members Council is going to kind of reach out to some constituents to try and get some more balanced geographic representation But they will make these by the second meeting in in in december. All right, so just need council to really really Push to get some new applications in asa I think the purpose of this foundation is really to be able to Raise funds and do other things and I think we got to take that in consideration. I mean all good quality folks, but you know All three of them are funded by the city You know, we need folks who are out, you know, who can bring their business Businesses to the table Absolutely and serve as a wonderful Kind of conduit for for for private contributions as well But that requires us to come up with some really good names. So y'all y'all y'all dig deep and find some good quality applicants Let's not take any of these applicants applications off the board. They're all good folks But we might rely on the on the board itself to fill those slots. So we'll do it by it's the 17th By the 17th we'll we'll have our second meeting And if we don't have applications, we need we're gonna go ahead and move forward. Okay Fair enough Thank y'all. All right Our last our last board is the property maintenance board of appeals And we actually have two appointments for that That are needed I'll move Michael McGill as an appointment As an engineer because that's what they're looking for Okay, is there a second? Second. All right I'll have a mr. McGill move the previous question clerk coloro Mr. Rickerman. Hi, mr. McDowell. Yes, mr. Duvall. Hi, mr. Fedora. Hi, mr. Vines. Hi, mr. David Mayor Benjamin. Hi. Oh, we got so you have one other slide. Yes, sir. Any other nominations of Terry All right, uh, no mention in the maintenance business. I think you probably yeah I was I was very interested in him last time too. I second that motion Any discussion? It just happens to live in district four or two Uh, move the previous question Mr. Rickerman. Hi, mr. McDowell. Yes, mr. Duvall. Hi, mr. Fedora. Hi, mr. Vines. Hi, mr. David Mayor Benjamin. Hi. Thank you Erica lady. Do we have any um Oh, do we have we we do have an item or two from work session, don't we item from the work session agenda The economic development partners Oh, okay. Okay. Uh, the um, have you talked to So I would move and I've spoken um to Coleman Mr. Coleman about this. Um, I would like to move um and in our economic development budget We have met with and I think mr. Coleman has has negotiated MOAs with the different groups. Um, I know there is a recommendation Or there was an allocation. Um, and the recommendation was, uh, cutting Or allocating 17 five to ingenuity. Yes, ma'am. I would like to add another Amount to bring them back to 32 five Which would be half of what they received last year And then that way this year we can also work with them on very specific deliverables For specific city projects So that would be my motion All right, and and of course the subsequent approval of of the Rest of the plan with with with that Agreement will come back to council in the 15,000 coming from the Coming from the incentives fund that mr. Coleman has We need to vote on this separate Okay, well, let's take up everything with the exception of that 15,000 To move the proposal by mr. Coleman And Sands the ingenuity budget and the incentive fund That's a motion second All right moved in second any discussion With the previous question court call roll Mr. Rickerman, no Mr. McDowell Mr. Duvall Hi, mr. Badura. No Mr. Vine. Hi, mr. David Mayor Benjamin. Hi Now mr. Vines Motion that we increased the ingenuity sc funding Back to 32,500 which is half of the previously appropriated amount that we Seek an amended agreement between the city You can have developed an office in the ingenuity sc on deliverables for the year And that that 15,000 all shift from the incentive fund That's your motion second Further discussion With the previous question court call roll mr. Rickerman. No, mr. McDowell. Yes, mr. Duvall. Hi, mr. Badura. No, mr. Vine Hi, mr. Davis. Hi, mr. Benjamin. Hi, uh, mr. Davis this point of uh Discussion we you know did have some discussions regarding this particular entity Today and I indicated that I had no problems with it, which I don't I kind of give them credit for the partnerships that they've sort of put in place with the schools Especially in I think district one And their emphasis on working with young people and also When you look in the field of technology Up and coming skills that they need and the experience that they get so With that I can I can support it in spite of Some overall reservations. I think they are meeting the intended goals Well, thank you. Um, mr. Davis What else we have from work session is that the only item for a session we've got item 65 I have a committee refer I like to I apologize. I missed that. I like to refer refer to a Presentation by Ms. Sonia Hages Concerning the history behind showwood forest and the frog town community to be presented at the heart and historic preservation committee Second in discussion With a previous question court colorola. Mr. Rickam in Hi, mr. McDowell. Yes, mr. Duvall. Hi, mr. Vadura. Hi, mr. Vine. Hi, mr. Davis, mr. Benjamin Hi, can we take up 66 next week and digest that a little bit better? All right. All right. Good deal um Nothing else from work session All right, I'm sure I skipped over 65 y'all any committee reports or referrals All right Erica, we have anyone who signed up to speak Yes, sir All right Thank y'all Happy thanksgiving. May god bless each and every one of you I move me go back into executive. Oh, yeah Items items previously stated in reference on the agenda. That's exactly what I was gonna say second a Further discussion with a previous question court colorola. Mr. Rickam in. Hi, mr. McDowell Yes, mr. Duvall. Hi, mr. Vadura. Hi, mr. Vine. Hi, mr. Davis Hi I can make a repeat


The idea here is how big and expense do you feel you need to undertake to achieve your goals? And here the Darwinian central insight was that life's graded on the curve. It's amazing to me that several hundred years after Adam Smith, traditional economic models take no note of that fact. They assume that your utility depends on your absolute consumption. In fact, context matters and it matters in a transparently obvious way. I was a Peace Corps volunteer in rural Nepal years ago. I lived in a two room house with a grass roof that leaked, no plumbing, no electricity. If any of you lived in that house, you wouldn't want anyone to know where you lived. If you had kids, they wouldn't want their friends to see where they lived. They would be ashamed. I never felt ashamed of my house in Nepal. It was actually a pretty nice house in the context I was living in. Other high school teachers in the school where I taught lived in houses that weren't nearly as nice as the one I lived in. I entertained people with no thought that people would think ill of me for living in that house. If my friends in Nepal saw the house I live in in Ithaca, they would think I'd taken complete leave of my sentence. Why would anyone need such a grand house? You wouldn't think that. But to assert that context doesn't matter in the shaping of consumption demands, that's to talk about a world completely unlike the world that we live in. And so what we've seen in this country is a shift in where the money goes. Unlike the three decades right after World War II, we saw all the income growth go to the people at the top of the income ladder since about the mid-70s. That's a subject Phil Cook and I wrote about in the Winter Tech All Society. But it's largely market force driven, although, yes indeed, securing political regulatory favors has played a role in some industries that's quite conspicuous too. So you've got money concentrating at the top. The people at the top have spent more. That's the natural response when you have more money. Many people wag their fingers at the lavish purchases. They see people at the top making. But that's a failure of perspective. The standards are local in social groups. 70,000 square feet doesn't seem too big. If you travel in a certain circle. But what we do know is that when everybody builds bigger, the effect is merely to raise the bar that defines how big a mansion people in that circle feel they need. I would wager my entire retirement account that if the correct answer were in an envelope, I would wager everything I own that the answer would say people are less happy when everybody has 70,000 square feet than when everybody had 40,000 square feet. It's a nuisance to have so much more space to keep track of and have staff to manage. Why do you need so much more square footage? Because you've got to entertain in the style that's become the custom for your group. Now your daughter's wedding reception in your circle is held at home, not in a hotel. So you need a ballroom. People in the middle don't get angry. They see pictures of the mansions. That's cool. Maybe I'll have one someday. They say themselves. The rich are a different league. We're not competing with them. So we're not offended when they have neat things. We look to them as entertainment, really more than as objects of envy. The people just below the rich though, they're in the same social circle as the very rich. And so that next level down builds bigger because their frame of reference has been shifted by what people at the top do. And then people just below them and so on all the way down the income ladder. Now the new house built in the United States in 2007 had 2,300 square feet plus of living space. The median new house in 1980 had 1,600 square feet. So 50% increase in house size. The real hourly wage rate for men during that period was actually lower in 2007 than in 1980. Why are the people in the middle spending more? And the only coherent answer is there's been an expenditure cascade spawned by higher spending at the top. You could say as many people did indeed say during the 2008 campaign that, well, people shouldn't be buying a house if they can't afford it. The middle class has no more money. How can they afford to buy a house 50% bigger than before? Here's the rub. If others like you are buying 2,300 square feet and you buy the 1,600 square feet that you can comfortably afford, it's your kids who will go to below average schools. Does anyone not know that the good schools are in the more expensive neighborhoods? That's true in every country I've ever visited or read about no matter what school budget formulas say. The more expensive neighborhoods are the ones served by better schools. All parents want their kids to go to the best possible schools. If I'm the median earner, what must I do to achieve that goal? I must outbid 50% of all other bidders to get a house in at least average quality school district. And if any parent didn't have at least that ambition, we'd think ill of her. So parents bid to the extent they can. And because others are spending more, they feel they've got to spend more. They commute longer distances, they work longer hours, they're under more financial stress to be sure. I think that's what a lot of the OWS movement is about.  They're not sure why they're saddled with these debt burdens. There's not a cogent theory guiding their thinking about this process, much less a plan for what to do about it. But I think that's the root of the malaise that's kindled this social movement. I don't offer any prediction about where it will go. I think the one thing we've learned is that we can't predict where movements like this are gonna go. Nobody saw the Arab spring coming. Nobody saw the fall of the Eastern European governments in 1989 where it goes is anybody's guess at this point. But what we also know is that there are things we can do about it. When everybody's engaged in a fruitless bidding war that drives up the prices of the houses in the better school districts, nobody gains anything from that. Half the kids still go to bottom half schools the same as before. When people rob their savings to bid more aggressively for houses in better school districts and everybody does that, we bid up the prices of the houses in the better school districts. The same kids go to the same schools as they would have if none of us had done that. It's the conflict between individual and group interests again. If we all stand to see better, nobody sees any better than if all had remained comfortably seated. There's no presumption. Once you grasp Darwin central insight, there's just no presumption that group interests and individual interests coincide. And if you wanna try to change incentives that individuals face, I think the most promising cue to lean on for how to proceed is the lessons of the environmental movement. We learned that command and control detailed prescriptive regulation wasn't a very efficient way to get the smoke out of the air. When I first got to upstate New York, there were articles every day about acid rain. Acid rain was falling on the Adirondacks because companies to the west of us were emitting SO2 into the air from their smokestacks. Why were they doing that? Because there was no charge for emitting SO2 and it was expensive to filter it out. Finally, we adopted in the 1990 Cleat Air Act a permit system, a system whereby firms have to have a permit for every ton of SO2 they discharge into the air. SO2 levels quickly were brought under control for about one eighth of the estimated cost that would have taken to achieve the same air quality targets under the command and control approach. Don't tell people they can't do what they wanna do. Some of them have no alternative but to do what they're doing. Others have very attractive alternatives and can switch. If you make people pay a fee that represents the harm they're causing to others, they'll look for the most efficient way to escape paying that fee and will pay it only if there isn't an efficient way. So taxing consumption doesn't tell you you can't build a bigger mansion. It just says recognize that when you spend more on a coming of age party, the CEO who spent 10 million on his daughter's coming of age party raised the bar for others in his circle. Now, Americans spend an average of $28,000 per wedding. In 1980, in real terms, the corresponding figure was $11,000. Does anyone think that the people getting married now are happier because we're spending more? What a bizarre view that would be to try to defend. The bar has simply been raised that defines what's an acceptable way to mark a special occasion. That's self-cancelling these expenditures. If we channel those same dollars into other uses, it would be pure gain. Nobody would be any less happy. So think about the guy who's thinking about building a $2 million addition onto his mansion. He's spending already $4 million a year. The marginal tax rate is 100% on the next dollar. That just means if he spends a dollar, he has to spend only that dollar but a dollar of tax on that dollar. Somebody satirized my proposal as the 99-100 plan. Okay, I accept that. If you put it in context, it's not the 99 part but the 100's accurate. So I'm gonna build a $2 million addition. Oh, now Frank's persuaded the Congress to impose this tax. That's gonna cost me $4 million. And what we know is that the rich scale back when things get more expensive. Some people don't believe that. Go to New York and compare the living space the rich live in in New York with the living space they live in in Wyoming. The higher real estate prices in New York induce the rich to build smaller living spaces. And somebody thinking about building a $2 million addition onto his mansion would say in response to this tax, hold it, I'm gonna scale back to a $1 million addition. That way with the tax it'll end up costing no more than I was planning to spend. And if we all scale back, and here's the alchemy inherent in the tax, if we all scale back, none of us is any of the worse for where. It's relative mansion size at some point that matters. If we each build smaller additions, nobody's any less happy than if we'd each built bigger ones. And in the meantime, the government's got a million dollars worth of tax revenue and the high end spenders have a lot more money in their tax exempt investment accounts to help the economy grow and the tax revenue can help pay down debt and rebuild bridges and roads and so on. So it's a free lunch, basically. We're so grossly inefficient now because we can't have a intelligent conversation about tax policy and spending policy that we've kind of painted ourselves into a corner where we're on a collision course with bankruptcy. We seem to have no place to turn. But the ironic thing is that there's a very good place to turn. A very simple set of steps we could take that would get us out of this mess.


This is awesome with the surf station and here we have the newest and latest technology, the Libtech Lost Puddle Jumper. So the puddle jumper that they decided to do in the Libtech technology is definitely a small wave performance groveler. It's got this real wide, pretty flat forward outline, helps it paddle real well, get going in small, weak, mushy surf real quick, real drivey, the tail, it's got the real straight outline and then it gets pulled in right near the fins, has that kind of that hip or that wing and that allows the board to be a lot more responsive, pivot a lot better, kind of fitting like tight, tricky pockets and situations like that. So this Lost Libtech is definitely the newest technology out in surfboards. They're based off of the Libtech snowboards. They are super durable, real light, flex a lot, they're real springy, put the puddle jumper into this technology as a high performance groveler. Board's going to just paddle really, really well, be real fast, real drivey, has a lot of flex in it. This is the Libtech puddle jumper, super flexy, unbelievably durable. You can pretty much run it over with your truck, you can throw it in the back of the truck, you can kind of just drop it in your bedroom. If you are surfing around reef or rock and you don't have a leash or if your leash happens to break, you're way less likely to see any damage happen to this board. Just got a fresh new batch of all the Libtech lost puddle jumpers in stock, you can come in the store and check them out or visit us online at surfstationstore.com.


Hey everyone, and welcome back to theCUBE's coverage. Day one, HPE Discover 2023, Lisa Martin and Dave Vellante coming to you live from Venetian Expo. Dave, this is day one of our coverage. We've had some, there was a lot of news this morning. A lot, you said last year, I think you were talking about HPE and its partner ecosystem and kind of some of the beefiness they needed to do. We've got a partner up next. It was lauded on stage this morning by Antonio. I think Lisa, the strong ecosystem is a hallmark of any cloud company, you know, not just the public cloud companies, but the hybrid cloud companies as well. So yeah, I think that's really important. I agree. We've got two guests from Infosys joining us next. Two alumni, I should say, Uma Lakshmiapathy is here, SVP and regional head, Amia, Cloud Infrastructure and Security Services at Infosys and Saju San Karankati, the CTO, Cloud Advisory SVP Infosys. Guys, it's great to have you. I lost talk to you in person two years ago. Great to see you back in person. Thank you, Lisa. Uma Shankar, I run the cloud and infrastructure business and it's great to be back and discover and good conversations as usual. Absolutely, as usual. Saju, give us a little bit of background about you. So thank you and again, and thank you for having us back here. So I'm with the company for the last 20 years. I look at the strategy, the technology strategy for the cloud and infrastructure business. I also head the hybrid cloud business for us globally and we're running some very large transformation on cloud for some of our, some marquee customers across the world. Apart from that, I also own two platforms. Basically, the platform is something where we deliver our services through and we'll talk more about our platform while we talk through the interview today. Excellent. Uma, lead us up, give us some background of the cloud infrastructure and security business unit at emphasis. How are cloud solutions enabling and powering organizations to transform, grow their businesses? What's that backstory? The story for us started about 20 years back when we decided as a company that we would go into the infrastructure business. Looking back, it's been a great growth story. A story about 30% year on year growth from the time we started this business. And all economies, whether you talk about geographies in North America, whether geographies in Europe, Middle East, Africa, or the Asia Pacific, I think it's been an all-rounded growth for us in this business. We kind of have different solution set offerings across various market segments. The growth story has been great. It's fueled the economies of all markets for us. Of course, we have a great platform called Cobalt. We'll be talking about it. But most importantly, I think we've tried to help all segments, enterprise segments, and large clients deliver programs for them. Digital transformation has been a central theme for all these clients. And we've been a digital first company, a cloud first company. Five to 10 years back, we took a cloud narrative that we're going to be hybrid. And today, you can see everybody's talking hybrid. And that's the story behind our cloud and infrastructure work. Great marquee of clients across all industry segments, whether it's banking, whether it's finance, whether it's telecom, whether it's... And we have a good plethora of what I would call as enterprise client sets that we work on at different levels of transformation. That's interesting that you're seeing consistency across the board like that. I mean, even HPE in its last quarter said, yeah, North America a little soft. I mean, because we watch the news in North America and interest rates are going up and there's going to be a recession. And everybody goes, oh, hold on, but you're not seeing that. What do you attribute that consistency? See, I think the IT companies in general did well in the COVID era. In the sense that people are getting to work from home, so we have to enable them to work from home. We had to put secure systems so that people can work securely from home and have their applications secured. We continue to do business because we are in the infrastructure world. So we had to add the basics working for many of our clients. So I think we saw a lot of digital enablement that happened for our clients as part of this digital transformation that we did for these clients. And now we're seeing the entire fruits of what we did, of the seeds that we sow in the COVID era, and we helped clients come through their digital transformation. So we are now seeing the whole momentum of moving into the next business models because companies have learned to survive, companies want to now thrive. So I think that's really helping the agenda for digital transformation. And that's been the mantra of success, I would say. Sajid, can you talk a little bit about some of the emerging and current technologies that fall under Cobalt? Cobalt 2.0, what's going on there? Sure, I think it's a great question, and Omar touched upon Cobalt. Let me quickly introduce what is Cobalt, right? Cobalt is a set of services, solutions, and platforms, which is basically to help customers accelerate their journey to cloud. This is something what we launched way back in 2020. And if you look at it today, we have around 35,000 assets around Cobalt and around 300 plus industry blueprints, what we have developed as a part of these offerings. Now, fast forward into 2023. Now, when we look at the associated technologies around cloud, which is, one is data, the second is AI, third is AI VR, and fourth is IoT, fifth is 5G. So what we are seeing is the cloud and associated technologies, they are actually making a huge impact into our, the so-called our businesses, right? And it's all about solving the problem of cloud and these associated technologies for the industry problems, whatever our customers are facing. And that's where we have actually brought in the Cobalt 2.0. So the Cobalt 2.0 is all about focusing on these, developing these industry solutions. Now, if you look at, when I say the industry solutions, if you look at some of the industries what we work with, if you go to a banking customer, and the banking customer, and the whole question to us is, how can I make my solutions more secure, right? And if I go to a retailer, it's all about how can I make my customer experience more, more better? And how can I have smart stores which can actually improve my sales? And if I go to some of my manufacturing customers, you know, their question is more about how can I have a smart factory which can actually improve my productivity? So now, when we look at all of these use cases, and when we start applying these technologies, right, which is cloud and these associated technologies, that's where we started creating these industry blueprints and industry platforms which can actually help our customers to drive transformation on their business. I'll give you some of the examples. You know, one of our solutions is around, it's Helix, right? You know, it's a platform that we have built. It's an AI-first people-centric digital care platform, right? Whatever we have built for our customers. The second one is energy as a service. You know, energy as a service, it's a platform for the industries and cities, basically to, it is basically to improve the energy efficiency of their infrastructure, right? And how do we measure the energy efficiency and how do we actually report it? And how do we ensure that their goals around the decarbonization can be met? So these are some of the industry problems what we are solving as a part of our Cobalt 2.0 offering. And I think just to add to what Sajju, I think he'd give a great explanation to how we've launched Cobalt. It's our marketing brand. And it's the first marketing brand to be launched by a system integrator. And just to add to all these technologies and the solution offerings that Sajju talked about, I think the most important and one of the most important aspects of Cobalt has been to build an ecosystem of people being able to work and get this access to this platform. It's not only employees, it's the ecosystem of partners like HPE, partners like universities and you know, the startups. So the whole community coming in and helping develop this platform and it's just not a pure, just an emphasis platform but it's a platform for the ecosystem. And that's a great point. It's for the ecosystem, it's for the community and the community together makes it better together, right, with all this collaboration that's going on. And it brings its experiences to us. Yes. How do you make sure that that platform can evolve? As technologies change, you know, obviously generative AI is the next new thing, even though it's been around for a while. Is that an architecture that you sort of build into Cobalt? Is it the partnerships that you form that allow you to advance that over time? So I'll start with it and probably I'll Sajju to add on but it's kind of an open platform, right? It's not a closed sourced platform and we're not trying to use this to subscription and make this into a revenue perspective. What we are trying to use the Cobalt is to enable the 200 plus thousand infotions to be able to access ready blueprints that they can take to their clients when the clients want to do a certain level of commoditization, customization, et cetera. We had all of these assets but they were in islands within the organization. So we bought Cobalt, brings all of this into a central theme. And at the same time, I've talked about how Cobalt is working with the ecosystem of partners, ecosystem of universities, ecosystem of startups. And we have some great examples there. We worked in the COVID time, we had a bank in Norway and they were given a very big order from Amazon to deliver to the home. And they didn't have the ability of their IT systems to cater to that capability because it was the volume was so high in a short period of time. So they came to us with this problem and we looked at Cobalt and we looked at the solutions that we have done with them but we were not very sure whether this would be able to scale. So we took it back to a university and we asked them to check if the solution that we did can take that scale. So technically the solution that came was not an emphasis solution but solution driven through the Cobalt framework to deliver to a business challenge to deliver Amazon in Norway through the post office. Now you can know what the names of the clients are but this is the story. So just to add to what Uma said and to answer your one part of your question David in terms of how the technology, the evolving technology landscape is helping us in terms of building up on the Cobalt, right? One is, Uma talked about the community part of it, right? We have the community which is focused on four areas. One is definitely in terms of building knowledge assets and this knowledge assets are basically the foundation of everything what we build. So as and when we have new sets of technologies coming in these are actually calibrated as knowledge assets which comes into the community. So people who are actually contributing or accessing this community has access to these knowledge assets about the new technology. Now the second comes the domain assets. Now the domain assets are nothing but the industry blueprints. Now the knowledge assets are leveraged to solve problems of industry assets, right? Or the domain assets. Now with that we create technology assets, right? So these technology assets are actually built on these technologies. You know it can be an air technology or it's leveraging 5G or IoT. So if you look at it and then we have something called platform assets. So all of these four assets all together, it's nothing but it's like where you start building right from the technology, the knowledge to technology, knowledge to domain and to technology. It's like a Lego blocks, right?  So with new technologies getting added, knowledge assets gets created. The domain assets are being leveraged in terms of applying this technology into these domains and we could actually create the business assets. That's how we sustain this. And to reiterate what Sajju just said and I talked about it, it's pretty open sourced. So the ability for us to navigate from one technology or one platform to another platform is pretty easy because it's all open. Yeah, which gets you into the whole hybrid message, the whole multi-cloud theme. What we call super cloud sometimes, right? Which is that cross-cloud experience which has got to be consistent. Different from multi-cloud, which was we work on this cloud and we work on this cloud and we work on this cloud but there are three separate, four separate experiences from on-prem. Now you have the edge. How close are we as an industry to that vision of a consistent experience across all those locations? Today was a great example. I don't know if you've been to the keynote and Antonio talked about how Infosys helped a client. And this is a wind energy company. And people would think that we know when we went in and we know it came from two companies, Siemens and Games, merging. So they had a huge amount of assets and they need a consolidation, et cetera. And that's how we went in with the approach. And we landed with the problem that, you know, we had these windmills and Gamesa was very popular for building windmills in the sea. And if you travel to London, you will see that when you cross the ocean and you will find the windmills in the sea. And that's built by Gamesa. So the challenge for us was to connect that edge to the data centers in Frankfurt. So and the amount of data these windmills do send is significant. And three years back this was, and we created an edge story along with HPE and Aruba at that time. And it was pretty popular for the first time. Of course it took us three years to get to the keynote, but we got there. And we got it from Antonio. And that's the greatest recognition of the work that we do is when you actually see the benefits of two organizations coming together. We have great stories like that. We have a great story in an automobile sector. We are consolidating a very large set of data centers and stuff like that. Again, creating a great edge hybrid story along with HPE. And I think this partnership has really collaborated well. And today we have a great 360 degree relationship with HPE, the great leaders Antonio and Salil at right at the top. And they're driving the whole governance across the organization. And today we're seeing the benefits of that success. Well congratulations guys on that success. Continued success with emphasis, your partner ecosystem and especially with HPE. We thank you so much for joining us back on theCUBE today. Discover. Thank you Lisa. Thank you Dave. It's a great talk with you. Our pleasure. Thank you. For our guests, I'm for Dave Vellante. I'm Lisa Martin and you're watching theCUBE, the leader in live tech coverage. What's next you ask? HPE and Veeam are going to be here talking about continued partnership between these two juggernauts and what they're delivering customer outcomes wise. Stick around.