10 o'clock on a given Tuesday, I'm Jay Fidel. This is Think Tech. More specifically, we're talking to Common Cause. Today I'm so excited. Not only Common Cause here with Sandy Ma, who we've talked to many times, but Sylvia Albert, who joins us from where are you Sylvia? You're in Georgia? Watch D.C. Okay, well, it's only a stone's throw, although it could be a zillion miles away too, depending. So let's talk about voting rights. My proposition to you in the name of this discussion, the name of the episode is, is it lost? Is the bill lost? Sylvia, you've been following this day and night, so see what you can do with that question. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. This is an important topic, and I'm glad that you and others are talking about it. Is the bill lost? The question of this particular bill, I think is less important than, is voting rights on a whole lost? Have we really devolved into not having a democracy anymore? And is there a chance to still save things? And I think the answer to that is yes. I absolutely understand the frustration with Senator Manchin in cinema, with the failure of the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act from passing. But I do honestly try very hard to remember that it took a long time for the Civil Rights Act to pass. It took a long time for the Voting Rights Act to pass. John Lewis didn't get across the Edmund Pettus Bridge the first time. It was multiple times before he got across the bridge. So I don't think that voting rights as a whole is completely gone. I think the window for this particular bill seems to have closed with Senators Manchin and cinema, but that doesn't mean that we stop. That means we change tactics and move to the states and other ways to protect the vote. Well, I ask you about that. It's like Sisyphus, the myth of Sisyphus, where you keep trying to get up that hill and you get a part way and then whoop, you slip down again and then you just start again. Didn't we have a voting rights bill in this country? What happened? We did and we do. What happened is that people in power want to stay in power. And the way to do that is to ensure that no new people can vote, right? If I want to stay in power to do that, I only want people who vote for me to be able to vote. And so just that's what's been happening. Things have chipped away at the Voting Rights Act and the reality is that the Voting Rights Act was passed more than 50 years ago. And there are new tactics. Social media didn't exist, the internet didn't exist. There are things that have changed. And so the rules need to also be updated to deal with the current realities and the current threats that we have. Oh, it's hard to understand. I mean, I will sort of collapse what Manchin and cinema did. It's not about the filibuster. It's about voting rights. That's what it was about. And their votes were votes against voting rights. What I don't understand is why anyone, well, maybe you already answered this, why anybody who supposedly represents the people or cares about the future of the country would vote against voting rights. I think you've kind of given an answer but I wonder if you want to embellish, what went through their minds? Do you think they were thinking about the filibuster at all?  Maybe it's they want to stay in power and they don't care about the country and they don't care about sort of updating our government to meet the social changes that have taken place that are taking place. We're at a real crisis point, don't you think? Oh, I agree. I agree that it's completely about staying in power and regardless of party politicians want to stay in power. I know that people have tried to make this bill a Democrat versus Republican thing. It's really not. It's about having access. It just so happens that Democrats in power think that this bill will help them keep power, right? So it really is neither you're nor there whether or not it's supported by Democrats or Republicans. In this case, yes, the Republican party does not want to lose power by letting people actually have access to the ballot. So they're against it. Senators Manchin and Sinema have calculated for themselves that they can remain in power or maintain whatever power they want, whether it's in the private sector or not. And by continuing to stay with the Republican party in this sense. So I agree. I think that they have made the calculation that they can maintain power by taking these actions and that's what they're doing. I want to get to the question of what, if anything could be done. And one thing you said a minute ago struck me. It said, well, it took several tries to cross the bridge and several tries to get certain rights, certain civil rights in place in this country. But the question I put to you, look at all the things that are happening, all the risks, all the things that Trump revealed about the country or exacerbated. Do we have time? We have time to wait to cross the bridge later again or are we at such risk that we don't have the time? And we are in a situation where if we can't reverse this and soon we will lose. I say we, I mean, Democrats will lose of the Congress completely in 2022, lose the presidency in 2024 and they will have their way with us on public policy. Well, first, sure as you know, Common Cause does not support a particular party and so I can't really speak to you. I can be independent too. And call me a personal believes in democracy. I don't know if that's politicized or a political party or not. Unfortunately these days it does feel like it is, right? It does feel like a political party believes in democracy and one does not. But as I've said, I think that relates to what parties think they can do to maintain power. If we wanna take the bridge analogy further, I would say, you know, maybe we're not crossing the bridge but we're finding ways to get around the bridge. We're going upriver. Upriver, it's out of the box, upriver. Exactly. So we, you know, this might not have been successful but I'm sure you've been hearing already about various senators working on a bipartisan fix to the Electoral Count Act which would protect against some of the shenanigans that the, stop the steel groups have been working on. And we also have, you know, as always litigation, yes, the Voting Rights Act is not in its former position and it's not as strong as it can be but we will take those chances as well. We'll work in state to pass good policies and where there are bad policies work with good election officials who actually want to help people have access to the ballot. So there is not one avenue. This would have been a great avenue and I still think it's possible in the future and it would have really helped ensure that everybody had the same access to the ballot across the country, regardless of their demographics and their zip code or their race but that doesn't mean that we can't still be fighting the fight on the ground and we have to, right? If the first time the Voting Rights Act failed to pass everybody gave up and said, well, I guess we didn't make it. We wouldn't be here, right? You continue to gain momentum by working at the local level and I completely understand that sometimes that's hard to remember and sometimes it's hard to see the future of doing that but the power is with the people and when we activate it, we can make real change. Okay, I'd like to break that down a little bit, unpack that as they say. On the question of whether you can break the, it's like Biden wants to break the Build Back Better bill into several parts and okay, there's just possibility there of reaching bipartisan back scratch kinds of projects but I'm voting, the reason as I get it the reason that the Republicans don't want any voting rights or reform or to unroll what they have done over the past few years is because they want to shut people out of voting. So if you say, well, why don't we divide that bill up into component parts, let's pass a little this and a little that, they're going to have the same objection to every component part and they're not going to do it. For example, Jerry Mandarin, they're not going to do it. And so, I'm not sure that even the Counting Act or the Electoral College reforms and all that, if the status quo satisfies their need to stay in power, they're not going to do it. So I think my own saying, I'm interested in your response, my own thinking is that that's dead end because you know already, they have the votes, they have mansion, cinema, you know, no reform to silver filibuster and anything that smells like voting reform, they're not going to do it. So why even try it? And your point is well taken, you have to do something, something we have to do, because we're alive and we believe in this country. And so I would focus my attention on the courts and what about the first part of that? You agree with me that breaking it down isn't going to work? Well, I think there are two things there. First, the Electoral Count Act, I would point there actually is a bipartisan group of senators who are working on that and that would include the senators who did not support the attempt to overthrow the government. So we can get to 60 votes actually by with those senators in place and there. And so I think that's an important possibility, obviously we don't think it's enough. We think the Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act are just as important, more important. And as to the other, I would point out actually that a lot of these reforms that we are championing in the Freedom to Vote Act are in Republican jurisdictions our states, right? Alaska has automatic voter registration through their oil dividends, right? There are lots of states that have absentee voting that have drop boxes. Places that are hard are Utah is 100% vote by mail, right? So even states that are strongly Republican have used these policies and used them well. What we're seeing now is right in attempt to ensure that in swing states and states that Republicans don't have power over that they don't allow more people to vote and lose power there. But I think it actually is really important to note that Republicans across the country use these policies and have used them for years. And in that way, I think that they can be successful at the local level.  So, but that makes a different kind of effort by common cause and other organizations that would like to fix this because it means you've got to go jurisdiction by jurisdiction legislature by legislature, governor by governor and you won't be successful in all of them but you couldn't shore it up that way. I would have to agree with that. And that's certainly a worthy thing. It also stands as a beacon to the other states and to the GOP for that matter. But let's move on to, well, let's have a moment with Sandy. Okay. I'm happy to let Sylvia voice, you know, boy you us and fill us up with hope. Well, how are we doing in terms of the, you know, voting restrictions, suppression or, we have a pretty good mail-in ballot arrangement here in Hawaii. People say that Hawaii is, you know, it's a liberal state as far as voting is concerned. Is that true? Hawaii has done very well with our voting policies. We have online voter registration. So people could register to vote online, update their voter registration and check that their voter registration information is current. We have same day voter registration. So come election day, if you want to register to vote, you can go to an in-person voter service center and register to vote and vote. We have a vote by mail. It was passed in 2019 and first started in 2020 where ballots are mailed to all registered voters. And we just passed in 2021 automatic voter registration. So when you go to the DMB or go get a state ID, your information and you opt in to register to vote when you get a driver's license or a state ID, the information is automatically transferred to the county elections division. And so then the ballot will get mailed to you because we're all vote by mail state. So we do have a lot of ways for people to register to vote in Hawaii. So we are one of the really great states to become a registered voter and get a ballot. We should be proud. Sylvia, you should be proud. You know, Common Cause has been watching this issue in Hawaii and we have, the bottom line is we have a good system here. You should be proud. I'm very proud of Sandy's work. Sandy has been a one woman warrior the last few years in Hawaii. And you know, as you pointed out there, Hawaii has some great policies and having those policies implemented well is really important. And that's what people like Sandy are doing as making sure and helping election officials has to find to make sure those policies are enacted in an equitable way across Hawaii. So I'm very proud to be working with Sandy. The implementation is key. Implementation is key. I mean, we could always have improvements. For example, for our vote by mail system we could always have more drop boxes and more in-person voter service centers. Not everyone has a mailbox. For example, our unsheltered population cannot have a dropout, cannot have a piece of mail to them and they certainly have a right to vote. If they're a US citizen intend to remain in Hawaii and want to vote. So we need more in-person voter service centers. So yes, there could always be improvements to the process. And you're working on them? We always work on improvements to our election system and how to modernize it. We like a, you know, notification of translation services to all voters, you know, people who would like the ballot to be translated in language that they are comfortable voting in. We are working on that for the 2022 session. There is a few bills, there are a few bills dealing with voter pamphlets. Voting around in 2022, we hope people take that up seriously. We're also working on ranked choice voting for special federal elections and vacant county council seats to bring ranked choice voting to Hawaii. So those are some bills we're also working on. Great. I take it that voting and voting rights are a very important issue for common cause and you are focusing on that as much or more than you did in the past because it's more important now. Am I right, Celia? Well, I would say, you know, the common causes mission has always been, you know, a country that is of buy and for the people. And I think, you know, it started as an organization that was more focused on ethics reform but and money in politics. But as we've grown and as the country has changed, I think it's been very important to realize that, you know, the Voting Rights Act was the start of a fight. It was not the beginning of it, right? And ensuring access to the ballot is really the only way to ensure that we are a country of buy and for the people. Yeah, well, we're at great risk now. So I want to explore with you, Celia, a couple of things. One is the courts, the courts. You mentioned the courts and I think about the courts too. And for the lack of, you know, action in Congress is very so sad. And, you know, the difficulty of dealing with Republican-led states, you have to go to court. On the other hand, there are some judges who were appointed to the federal bench, for example, over the past few years that in my view should not be sitting on the federal bench or not qualified, but they got there anyway, thanks to Mitch McConnell and some of his friends in the Senate and many of his friends in the Senate. So I guess what I'm asking is how confident are you as you can get some of these obviously outrageous provisions that were adopted in Republican legislators legislatures around the country thrown out in the courts. It sounds like it's a long slog and it's the timing issue there and that you don't have any real guarantee that the courts will agree with voting rights. That is true, there is never a guarantee. We obviously don't have the strength of the Voting Rights Act as it was and as it should be. And that is unfortunate, but that does not mean that we don't give up. There are also a good amount of state constitutions that maintain a right to vote and allow us other avenues for litigation. And I also wanna point out, even with those who are on the bench that were appointed by the former president, we have seen those individuals still follow the law and maintain our democracy. In the over 60 lawsuits that President Trump filed and his friends filed to try to overturn the results of the 2020 election were all thrown out and a good amount of them by Trump appointed judges. So while we agree that there are judges on the bench who have taken actions that we don't agree with and we think are unconstitutional, we also think that there's still a chance and we still have to keep fighting. Oh, I totally agree, big fight. It's a sort of a national fight because there's so many jurisdictions and so many provisions and they're different. Some of them are more creative even, creative solutions like Roe v. Wade in Texas. That's really creative. You gotta give them credit for creativity, dark creativity, but creativity nevertheless. So okay, but in the end, you're gonna have splits. You're gonna have some judges who agree that voting rights is important for the future of the country and others who are oblivious to that or who are politicized about that. And ultimately, the likelihood is gonna get to the Supreme Court in some kind of crunch case or maybe a series of crunch cases over voting rights. And one of the issues there is when? When is it gonna get to the Supreme Court? And the second one is what are they gonna do? Can we rely on them to be non-political? Can we rely on them not to be politicized? How do you feel about that? Can we rely on the Supreme Court after all the litigation and lower courts? Well, I think as you said, the courts are not guaranteed and that is whether local or the Supreme Court. Just do wanna point out though that cases that are brought under the state constitutions go to the US Supreme Court. They go to the final arbiter of the state, which is usually the state Supreme Court or some states have weird names for them. Like I think New York's name for its Supreme Court is not Supreme Court, it's something else. That's right, the New York Supreme Court is the court of general jurisdiction. Yes, we all learned that watching law and order because we were very confused. I learned it in law school myself, but okay. So there are, as I said, we never rely on one court, we never rely on one judge, we never rely on one avenue. So we continue to try advocacy, litigation, grassroots support, registering voters, getting people out there. We will try every tool in the toolkit and we believe that a combination of them will get us where we need to go. It may take a while, but we will get there. Okay, I'm with you on that. But let me ask, you have a tonning problem because some of these cases in all of those courts could be stuck and unresolved by November or even November of 2024. Matter of fact, if you're talking about elections these days, it's earlier than November, it could be October, it could be September. So clearly what happens if we have lots of cases but no resolution prior to election day. And then of course on and after election day, we have the efforts of the GOP to muck up the results. Well, you know, what we have when there are bad policies, which there are in all states, regardless of their red or blue, what we have is advocates on the ground doing whatever they can help ensure that people have access to the ballot and that their ballot counts. So even where people can't use absentee voting in Texas, unless they have an excuse, we are still in Texas helping people get access to the ballot in other ways. So, you know, there is no one size it's all solution, but it really involves a lot of people, a lot of grassroots support, a lot of advocates, people helping people have access to the ballot. And also the media plays a role. I mean, it's culpable in some ways for not calling out, you know, false rhetoric or misinformation or disinformation as much as they should, but the media also acts as in the proper circumstance as an independent watchdog and helping, you know, shine a light on bad practices. And so the media is also helping, you know, draw attention to the issues on the ground.  So the media is a very helpful partner. So thank you. Well, you know, I totally agree, Sandy. It's an excellent point. But I tell you what I worry about, you know, you have various kinds of media and media with various agendas. And, you know, there's a lot of noise in social media, a lot of confusion coming out of it. They don't necessarily want to educate people. They prefer to confuse them. And so you have the risk of the electorate, the public being confused by the time of the late. They don't know whether they can vote or not vote. They're not necessarily educated on the latest changes, developments, expectations, and either A, they don't vote. It's an epochs on all of this. I'm really tired. I have media fatigue.  And I see that happening now. I think it'll happen in the future. And the question is, to your point, Sandy, how can we encourage the media not to confuse people? How can we encourage people to look at the media that is not out there confusing them? I'm gonna be asking you the same question, Sylvia, trust me. So what are your thoughts about that, Sandy? Well, you know, that's a really interesting question. There are some, you know, media that is more informational versus, I don't know what it is, Sylvia, you can help me. That is... Entertainment, I think parts of, I think certain hours are called entertainment and only maybe one hour a day of these days of the 24 hour news cycle is actually called information. Yeah, it's just a very salient point. So there's informational versus entertainment. And honestly, we in Hawaii and I think across the nation try to work with a lot of younger people who are just turning 18 and just getting the right to vote. And they are really engaged. They are very media savvy. They understand misinformation, disinformation. They are interested in climate change. They're interested in voting rights. They are well read in the civil rights movement and they are worried for the future of our country. They are worried for their ability to make a living. They're interested in living wage.  They are well read on candidates. They are volunteering. So while there may be some people who are disengaged, I think there are a certain segment of the population who are ready to go. And so... Yeah, Sylvia, Sandy's great. Did you notice that? I did. I did. Yeah, yeah. Sandy's great. So Sylvia... I'm not just saying that because I want to sleep on her couch when I... Why you not pay for a hotel. Fair enough. I want to ask you about something that has surfaced in this discussion. You know, I mean, my notes tell me to ask you guys what can be done? And the low hanging fruit really is what you guys have been talking about. It's okay. There's limitations. There's suppression, there's discouragement, there's disengagement, but common cause and other similarly situated organizations can encourage people to get down there and vote and override, overcome the obstacles that the GOP has put in their way. To be determined to wait on line all day, all night, whatever it takes to be absolutely willful, totally determined to vote. And I think that's got to be part of your program. It sounds like it is part of your program. And it's a statement of commitment. It's a statement of patriotism. It's a statement of belief in the country, the democracy and in the electorate. So even if not everybody who should have been able to vote and vote, even if there's going to be confusion and even litigation, God knows what's going to happen after the election day. It's incumbent on us and including common cause and everybody involved to encourage people whoever can should. How do you feel about that? Well, absolutely. I absolutely encourage people to vote. I do want to point out, right? You know, we do everything we can to overcome barriers. There are some voters who are not going to be able to overcome those barriers. And I don't ever want anybody to say it to think that they are unpeachurotic because they were unable to do so. You know, if you've got to work a job to feed your family and there is no way to get out there because the county has just consolidated all polling locations into one location in an area where there's no public transit as is the attempt happening right now in Lincoln County in Georgia. You know, I want them to know that we still have their back.  It is you speaking up for your neighbor who maybe doesn't have the time, effort, or even knowledge of what's happening to be able to speak up for themselves. So take note that even if you have never had any problems going to vote, if you think that it's easy for you, congratulations, I'm really happy for you. No struggles that your neighbors have and stand up for them and speak out for them when they can't speak out for themselves. What about accountability? We've seen some of that about Christian cinema in Arizona where, you know, various elements of the Democratic Party are sanctioning her in some way. But in the long-term, and if you take a long-term look at this, which you suggest we should do, what about accountability? Is somebody stands in the way of voting rights in this country, is standing in the way of a fundamental principle of the country? And over time, it should not be let off on that. It should be accountability. Is that part of the program? Should I be thinking about that? Should we be thinking about it? It's not just cinema. It's a lot of people who stand in the way of voting rights for their own agendas, their own silo, self-interest, what have you. We need to identify them. We need to make sure that they don't get into office again. Well, you know, common cause doesn't support or oppose candidates, but we do support voters, you know, taking a look at the issues that matter and voting and, you know, voting for the candidates that support the things that they support. Really, every election is accountability, right? That is the reality. Who are accountable to your constituents? And if you're not doing things in their best interests, it is up to them, and it is their right to vote in a way that supports their best interests. So we advocate for all voters to be aware of what's happening, to understand what their representatives are voting for and against, and to choose who would really represent your best interests. Yeah, and the best interests of the country. You know, I think we've gotten into this thing about I'm from West Virginia, for example. I'm going to represent the interests of West Virginia and the guys that fill my coffers, but I don't really care much about the country in general or the future of the country. That's bad thinking. In my view, every person in Congress has a duty to the whole country, and we seem to have forgotten that. It's not acceptable going forward. It's not Mr. Smith going to Washington. It isn't really. So we're out of time, Sandy. I wanted you to give us the website that you would like us to look at, maybe to support you guys and give any closing remarks that you'd like to give and including comments about Sylvia. You can talk about Sylvia now. The website is commoncause.org. That is our national website. And you can find both the national organization and our state chapter on that website. And Sylvia is the director of voting and elections for the national office, and she supports the state offices. So anytime I have a question about any voting policy or elections policy, I contact Sylvia. She is a great resource of all voting and elections information. So we are so lucky to have Sylvia. And so that is Sylvia in a nutshell. Sylvia is wonderful to have around. Well, we're lucky to have you both, Sandy and Sylvia. Sylvia, can you give us your closing comments through the public for the record, what you would like to have to think and take away from all of this? And let me say before you even begin that I truly in my heart appreciate your work. And in your way, you're saving the nation and we need you. We need you so badly. We want you to continue to do what you do. You're a critical feature in the landscape of our democracy. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. And as Sandy said, so are you and other media who are really bringing this to the attention of voting. And it really is paying off, right? More voters are talking about voting rights now than when I entered this field. If you'd said the words Jerry Mann during 10 years ago, the policy wonks knew what you were talking about, but the man on the street did not. And I think we're changing that. As Sandy said, we go to commoncause.org. I would also encourage you to go to protectthevote.net and that is the way that you can get involved with our grassroots organizing groups. So maybe you wanna send some letters or call some Congress people or reach out to voters in other states. If you feel like your representatives are already on the right side, you can get engaged. And I know sometimes, and it's been a hard year for a variety of different reasons. I know sometimes it's easy to get very disillusioned, but I really, really remind myself of how far representative John Lewis came from sitting on a lunch counter at Woolworth's to being one of the most powerful people in Congress. And you couldn't have told that 20-year-old boy that that's where he was going to be. So sometimes it's a long road, but we keep fighting and that's the only way we get there. Thank you, Sylvia, Albert. Thank you, Sandy Ma. Thank you, Common Cause. We're counting on you. We're counting on you to help us to save us. Thank you so much. Thank you. Uh-huh.


How do you stay focused in a world filled with so many distractions? How can you accomplish more by doing less? How do you knock down a big goal that seems impossible at the moment? Hi, I'm Aaron Tupas of Positively Brainwashed and in this video I will cover the one thing by Gary Keller and explain why not everything is equal, why multi-tasking is a myth, how disciplines can turn to habits, discuss how to make the most of our willpower, how to balance our work and personal lives, and lastly talk about some important focusing questions to help us toward success. Growing up, I was a juggler, did yoga, could memorize hundreds of numbers, was a break dancer, studied over 10 languages and much more. I was good at these things, but I never reached world-class level because I did too much and there wasn't enough time in the day. My mind was way too scattered. It would have been better if I had just focused on one thing. The lesson here is that we have only so much time that it's better to specialize than to be a jack of all trades. Like not everyone deserves a gold medal in the Olympics, it belongs only to the people who put in the work, time and was dedicated to their one thing. For Mike Phelps, it's swimming. For Usain Bolt, it's sprinting. It's very rare to find someone who is a master of more than one thing. Our goal should be to take our to-do list and to turn it into a success list. That is to keep applying Pareto's 80-20 principle and to narrow it down until there is only one thing left. I made a video on the 80-20 principle and it's many layers. Just remember not to get hung up on the numbers. In reality, it could be 90-20 or 65-10 or whatever. But once you establish your one thing, Gary says to aim to do it for at least four hours before doing anything else. The second myth is multitasking. This was just a term originally used to describe computers that could switch tasks in such a fast pace that it simply looked like they were doing multiple tasks at the same time. But unlike computers, we can actually do multiple things at the same time. Like walking and talking. But like computers, we can only focus on one thing at the same time. Like multitasking is just an opportunity to screw up more than one thing at the same time, like I just did. And it's one of the reasons tragedies like a toddler being left in the bathtub happens. But believe me, multitasking, like juggling, is just an illusion. In reality, I'm just catching and tossing one ball at a time. And remember, distractions from all our social media and cell phones can make us lose momentum. A 10 minute distraction can cost us another 10 minutes trying to get back to being focused. So do your one thing in an environment that you won't get distracted. People often think that we just simply need more discipline to accomplish more. But success is really like a short race or a sprint that's fueled by discipline just long enough for habit to kick in and take over. When you discipline yourself, you're essentially training yourself to act in a specific way. And so many times, when you see others who look like disciplined people, what you're actually seeing is a person who's trained a handful of habits into their lives. Research from the University College of London suggests that it takes an average of 66 days to form a habit. So remember, once a new behavior becomes a habit, it takes less discipline to maintain. Try to build only one new habit at a time. Next, willpower is not on call. It's like a battery that can run out and once it runs out, you will revert back to your default behavior. So Gary says to user willpower first on what matters most, which is our one thing. I talk more about why our willpower is not reliable on one of my videos. Next, Gary says to picture juggling five balls representing work, family, health, friends and integrity, with work being made out of rubber that if you drop it will bounce and the rest being made out of glass that can shatter. He says to separate these for counterbalancing purposes. Now when it comes to work, it's okay to be out of balance and neglecting other less important things for a long period of time while you're focusing on your one thing. This is the only way to produce extraordinary results. But when it comes to your personal life, you can't neglect any of it for too long or you'll feel like you have no life. So what you want to do is ask yourself this focusing question. What's the one thing I can do such that by doing it, everything else will be easier or unnecessary. You can ask this question for any aspect of your work or personal life for both short-term and long-term goals. But avoid asking questions like, what do I do next? Instead, think big and ask yourself what your someday goal is and then work your way backwards. Ask yourself, based on your someday goal, what is the one thing you can do in the next five years? Then based on your five year goal, what's the best thing you can do this year? Keep doing this until you have figured out what's the one thing you can do right now. As for me, my one thing I've chosen is to make videos like this and to positively brainwash the world. Now imagine your goals were like dominoes. Dominoes have the power to knock down another domino 50% bigger than itself. So if you line up all your goals and keep knocking down your one thing again and again and again, over time you will knock down a football player, then the Leaning Tower of Pisa, then the Eiffel Tower. Before you know it, Mount Everest, and eventually you'll reach the moon and beyond. Thanks for watching. If you liked this video, then choose one of the following. You can either A, subscribe and like, B, listen to the share bear over there and show that you care, C, watch my latest video, or D, tell me to join the circus.


One of my tasks is to actually come up with projects to be implemented in the near future in my countries, which involves a lot of what I've learned here at IIM Dabat. Laos is growing very rapidly and IT happens to be one of the most crucial components. The challenges that we are facing right now is really critical, which is the human resource. The Indian government has helped us building this center of excellence in software development and training. This center will help tremendously to develop the human resource very much needed to contribute to this country's growth to the future.


Abstract growing interest in extracellular vesicles, EVs, including exosomes and microvesicles, as therapeutic entities, particularly in stem cell-related approaches, has underlined the need for standardization and coordination of development efforts. Members of the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles and the Society for Clinical Research and Translation of Extracellular Vesicles Singapore convened a workshop on this topic to discuss the opportunities and challenges associated with development of EV-based therapeutics at the preclinical and clinical levels. This review outlines topic-specific action items that, if addressed, will enhance the development of best practice models for EV therapies. Stem Cells Translational Medicine, 2017. 6 colon 1730-1739 This article was authored by Agnes T. Rayner, Kenneth W. Whitware, Bass W. M. Van Borkum, and others. We are article.tv, links in the description below.


at Calvin Chess, man. In this room, it's the same upstairs, the little lounge area, this stuff, it's cool. It's good to have all these kids out here in California, a SoCal kid, even some Valley kids are down here, so it's good, it's a lot of wrestling. I like watching them drill and go live, all that stuff like that, hanging out with some coaches upstairs, all that kind of stuff, but it's a great idea. I wish this was around when I was in high school, not even at all. If you look at, you know, coming here, being able to just have a one stop shop, 70, 80 kids at your disposal, what is that like for you? How much easier does it make your job? I mean, a whole lot easier, a whole lot easier.  We're all here working out for two days, so it makes it a whole lot easier, and you're in Southern California, so it's pretty, it's awesome. Makes it a whole lot easier. And the little binder things they have, all the info and all that, so that makes it a lot easier. What were your expectations coming in? Have you seen any of the coverage on any other stuff? What would you think? I saw some of the stuff that, what was it last week, the two weeks ago they did one? Georgia. Georgia, that looked awesome. And the clinicians here too, like learners and stuff, but so I thought, I didn't really know what, I didn't really know the Calvary room, so I thought it was like a big high school room or a small high school room, but definitely had some good expectations, some good kids, California, I mean, recruiting California kids is always a good thing, but so I had some high expectations, definitely meeting all of them, going above and beyond, so. You guys, you know, I talk about the states, got over 40 million people, it's got the most high school wrestlers of any state, is there any doubt in your mind that you guys can just stay in California and get national champs and build solid teams in San Francisco State? Yeah, absolutely, we've done before, so I mean, I think we can, we have a really good registered class that's gonna be wrestling next year, so we have some studs there, but I mean, California's a great state to recruit from, and now with Baptist going D2 in a couple years, we can probably benefit from being the only, or D1, sorry, we can benefit from those guys being the only D2 team in California, so it'll be a good stuff for that. Looking at it moving forward, you know, you guys have two scholarships, you know, some people think you can't win there, you guys can win there. You've done it, you know, if you look at the tradition of the program, you've had them say champions, you were an All-American there, what do you guys got to do to get kids in South San Francisco State to kids? I mean, we try to get the right kids, I mean, we have good kids right now just buying into the vision, the process and all that stuff, get those kids up there, get them in the right housing situation, make it affordable for them and all that stuff, but I mean, we can definitely do it locally, I mean, the East, maybe a couple of Dallas All-Kids on our team, they're a good top 10 California team every year, so I mean, we can do it in the California, we've done it before with less money, when I was at Slim, you know, we had the VE when you guys were out there, he was a national champ, so I mean, it can be done, it's gonna take some, you know, these freshman kids that we have are real excited about, we have our heavyweight coming back, that was top 12 two years ago, he registered it this year, so, it would be a good year for us. What are you looking for in a kid when you come to this, what's the it factor for San Francisco, to get a guy in the recruit of? Yeah, what I like is just that work ethic, I mean, they're long days, they're going like four or five hours wrestling to one day and kids are still scrapping, going hard, hand fighting hard, staying excited and motivated in practice, so it definitely looks good for us when we can know that, if he's going six, seven hours, or six hours today hard, then we can get him through two and a half, you know, individuals and stuff, reckon the right mentality and all that kind of thing, so I like seeing the work ethic, definitely the work ethic part. Biggest thing for you guys, what's that like? Yeah, I like kids that want to get physical and wrestle hard all day, which they're doing all day today too, so, and they know it goes down with the situation stuff, that's awesome. I love the way this whole thing's set up and ran the live, the drill and all that kind of stuff, you get a mix of everything, situation stuff and just the matches earlier, so it was good. Get to see it all. See everything. You watched the mile run this morning? I didn't, I did not watch the mile run. You can watch it, I videoed it, but when you look for guys like that, is that competitive or how fast is it going to a mile, what do you look there? Yeah, I mean the competitive factor, I mean there's some kids that just, you're going fast, but you know, if they're pushing it, if they're coming in, not breathing hard at the end of it, then you're probably seeing things a little different, like I do this because not pushing it, but I mean if it's like a six minute mile or seven minute mile, but they're huffing and puffing and pushing themselves and that, I like that. I like the rope climbs yesterday, it's two minutes of rope climbs, that's crazy. I don't even know if I could do one in two minutes. It's pretty crazy though. Yeah, yeah. And some guys go all the way to talk to you and that's nuts, that's nuts.  Yeah, pretty crazy. All right man, you got anything else for me? No, just decided to be here, it's a good thing.


Give me some more of that. So we've just arrived at Notch Gymnastics Academy. We're just outside. It's in there. Fairly intimidating space. For people like us. We're here to see GB Gymnastics Sam Oldham to get some tips on handstands or potentially basically trying shafts. Do you want to see if we're going to impress him? Yeah, that's it. We're looking for brownie points. I'm actually looking for some talent ID. So I'm hoping the coaches box something special. Let's have a couple of tips. Sooner or later I'm on the road to Tokyo. See you later. Sat this off. This is the last video we've done. It's because Tim's been snapped up by one of the gymnasts. This is going to be a Leontar in 2020. Check me out. Dave. Shoes off. Well, that does give me the opportunity. There's one of these badges. Matching. Matching. There's something. We'll do that later. Walking, Tim. Show that we blend in. I've been practicing myself. That's right, Sam. Make sure that we blend. That's not right. Yeah. That's not painless. We've spent 15 years trying to get the message across that men's gymnastics is a tough sport. The thing that gets you back to men's gymnastics is the floor. They still make you a bit short. You still have to do that walk a bit. Yeah, so now we have to actually do what they call choreography to get in the corner. Oh, really? You've got to do a dance. Can you show us one of those? It's called a stunt. It sounds good. Oh, I see. We've got to do some of it to get in the corner. Something to get in the corner. Wait till you see it. Sir, can you just do one of them like jump things? Come on, sir. I can do it, Sam. Hey. Beautiful. Thanks, mate. I'll tell you another thing. You can do a forward roll, can't you? Well, can he? Just a safety tip for Sam on his forward roll. You hit yourself last time, didn't you?  I didn't put my hands down and didn't put them ahead. Oh, OK. I did leave me with a little bit of discomfort around C45. What happens to him? I'll fight him back here. That helps with the rotation. I was in the gym this morning, I was seeing the lady doing a headstand and I was thinking, oh, no, no, no. And it was me. OK, so this is a complicated one. So, is this you imagine you've come up short? Yeah, so you've come up short or you're doing your links, which are like when you've got to do a handstand in the routine. You don't have to do this, just into the forward roll. I would do like a wide arm handstand. We can do that. Oh, that one. Try that. OK, that's a little bit. Just do normal handstand. Just start like that. Jump over and then you're going to, when you get over like that, you're going to bend that leg underneath and stand up on one. Yeah, that's it. That's brilliant. That's fantastic. The wingspan makes it look very elegant. It does, doesn't it? I've done a flip. Do a forward roll and that can be your flip. I know it, he's got an up. So here first, one take. Sergei, do you see that? I've got some of these as well. So, Tim wanted me to look silly by not being able to do this wide thing into the forward roll. And he was expecting me not to be able to do it and I nailed it. Look at him now, look. I had none of these tips. I don't need the tips there. I didn't get any more tips. All right, watch this. Yeah, I know, I've seen you getting jealous of my skills. Turn your hands out a little bit. That's a zero out of two. Everyone we see tells you to turn your hands out. I know. We've already seen that, Tim. Jack, have you ever done one of them? Yeah, I did it the first time, without less coaching. Don't feel like you have to be kind. So that's good, like you're strong in the right position, you've got that shoulder angle. You're in a good shape, you've got that shoulder angle. So it's working on you. Getting that out. Just try and tuck your head in. Still keep your eyes open. So already, your shoulders are in a way better position and that angle is completely different now. Bring it in. Now try and flex your feet. Do the flex feet. There, that's there. So that's a really nice position. Almost. So there, when I left you there, that's perfect. You just want to keep your hands down there. So you'll be able to compare the first one you did to that position you were in then. It's completely different. So there was a moment then when there's, there's gymnastic that struggled to do my pipe presser. So I feel like it's just a matter of time until someone spots me and puts me in a program before I get funded soon, I would have thought. Yacko was in a better position for the odd position. So you were getting tight so quickly because you were almost holding like a little bit of a plank already. Yeah, yeah. This is for head of handstands. Tim, you under some pressure here mate. I'm not going to lie to you. Three, go. That's it. Thanks Sam, for all those tips. I feel like that's gone well. I feel like we may lose Tim from the school class next to the gymnastic. Yeah, Serg's over there. I've seen him, he's got his notepad out. This is not the one that looks like he's got a dog on his head. We need a ring's work, we need a strong ring's work. That's what we'll have to do. That's coming up soon, isn't it? We're going to start. Until next week. We'll see you in the shot.


Good morning everybody, one right beside me, so you know what that means. Diesel! How you doing buddy?  So a couple of weeks ago we were going from here down to either Buxton, North Dakota or Wappen, North Dakota. Today I've got two loads coming out of here, they're pretty short ones. We're just taking one load over to Portage La Prairie in South Central Manitoba and we're taking the other one to Ridgeville, Manitoba, which I don't even know if I've heard of before. South East Manitoba, close to the US border. Okay, Southern Manitoba, south of Steinbeck, which will work out perfect because then when I'm done delivering that I'll go home tonight. If everything works out perfect, it also depends where they want me tomorrow morning. I've got my big winter jacket on today, it's that time of year where it's a little bit too chilly for a sweater but it's a little too warm for a winter parker. It's not a bad problem to have, it's that wonderful time of year when it's really easy to sleep. I need it cool when I sleep, if I'm too hot, I can't sleep. If I'm too cold, I can't sleep. This, the temperature outside this morning is four degrees Celsius, so we're looking at just below 40 Fahrenheit, I'm guessing. Let's see what Google says. What is four degrees Celsius in Fahrenheit? Celsius is 39.2 degrees Fahrenheit. 39.2. A little chilly but it's going to be a good day. Got the weasel with me. I've got a new mattress back there. You guys watched yesterday's vlog. I've got a new mattress from Odyssey Truck Mattresses. Wow, life changing.  It's a good problem to have because you just, I just, I felt like I was sleeping on a cloud all night. It was amazing. It's nice having a new mattress. It's a little shorter than my old mattress. Let me talk about it more later once the sun comes up but it fits in here just nice. A little wider, a little shorter. The measurements didn't come out just right but it works just fine. I like it. They should get to loading me very soon here now. They're just getting into work. I slept here so I'm ready to go. Got all my equipment ready on the trailer. It's different than the black ones that we hauled last time, right? This one's got this this covering on it. Maybe someone in the comment section can tell me what that does or what it's for and why these ones have it and those ones don't. What I do know is that I'm loaded up. I have a tri axle just in case. You never know how heavy these things might end up being. Tri axle was the last step deck left in the yard last night. I needed a step deck for this load so I grabbed the tri axle. Maybe tomorrow we'll get a heavy reload. I don't know. We're pulling two of these today. This first one's actually going to Ridgeville, Manitoba. We're going to do it opposite from what we had thought before and we're coming back for another load like this which is going to Portage La Prairie. Weasel, you're not on your throne man. One second here, one second. My big jacket back there is taking up all the space. You get new seat covers. I keep forgetting. That looks terrible, doesn't it? Don't look at that. Don't look at that. Stop it. Oh nothing. Coffee here. Cups this week by accident. I have to make like three of these every week. Hey Diesel, what's wrong? You don't like your throne that I built for you? Look at this nice plush blanket. Nice and soft. Ah great. Street sweeper right at the intersection. Gonna have to wait behind it. Diesel, come here. Come check it out. Come see Carmen. Come here. Come here bud. Come on. Help me navigate, man. I don't want to get lost. Good boy. Good boy. You tell me which way to go, okay? Okay, man. We're gonna go left. We're gonna go left at the stop sign. I think he's gonna do a U-turn and come right back here. Yep. Wish I had a broom like that for my shop. That'd be nice. Oh, sneaky, sneaky. I was at the driveway first, man. You were supposed to wait for me. I came up to the road first. That's how it works, right? All right, so I'm gonna go down south and on highway, what is this? Three? No, 12? 13? Highway 13? All the way to highway 14, which runs east-west. That's the highway that goes through Morden Winkler.  I would take 23 across. That leads to Morris, but that road is in really bad shape. And I'm trying to be nicer to old blue after taking her down 280 up north last week. Take her down the better highway. Though the 14 is getting in pretty bad disrepair as well, but look at that diesel. Look at that.  Look at this. Look at that. What's this? What's that? Very nice. Very ethical pharmacy. Very nice. Got a tiny west. Of course they got a tiny west joint. Diesel every town, everywhere has a Chinese restaurant. I love Chinese food. Oh, what they doing here? Oh my goodness, they're building a building. Get it? It's a bowling alley. Looks like a fun town, right, Diesel? Very nice. Very nice. Sneak our way through here. Oh, what's that smell? Fresh asphalt. I know, right? It hits you right in the face. I like that smell, though. Whoops. There we go. Let them sing. There they go. The wonderful harmonies between the turbo and the pipes. The hum of the tires. It's like a symphony orchestra. Nothing better first thing in the morning. The smell of diesel fuel. I love it. Oh, we got some action over here. What's this? A fire truck. Look over here on the left. Diesel. Look. Fire truck. It's exciting, right? What are they doing over here? Just hanging out. Must just be testing it. Oh, Diesel, this is just our luck. Delivery down a gravel road. A Google bringing us straight to the farm. I think it's a farm. Anyways, maybe it's an open field. It's about a mile and a half east at the next mile road. It's all right, Diesel. Don't worry about it. Diesel really doesn't like gravel roads. Make some nervous for some reason.  She's terrible. She's going to walk all over the pace.  In 400 meters, turn left onto Road 3 North. It's going to be a tight corner. I'm running to. Take the next left onto Road 3 North. Yes, yes, yes. I heard you. Yeah, that's a narrow. We can make it. No problem. Continue on Road 3 North for three kilometers. Or two miles. Of course, we've got to meet a farmer yet, too. This is going to be fun. We are on the farm roads. Highway tractors belong in the highway. We're now on the farmer territory. US border is just like five miles that way. Oh, we don't got to pass the tractor after all. He's going down that way. We're very close to the border with North Dakota right there. Actually, sorry, we're on the east side of the Red River. That's the border with Minnesota right there. I wonder where he's taking that thing. Big piles of manure over there, Diesel.  In 500 meters, your destination will be on the left. 10-4. We're here, Diesel. These guys are laying the drainage pipe in here. You can see how they dig a groove in the field all the way down, and then they lay the pipe or whatever you want to call it in there, the drainage tile. And then it drains the whole field of water, or it helps with it a lot. I believe that's what it does. So I've pulled myself right onto the field, and we're going to unload them right here.  That entrance way there was a little bit small. Hopefully I won't have a problem getting out, but I could just barely, barely scoop my trailer through there. Just getting all my straps off now. Hopefully these things roll easily. Okay, now for the fun part. Let's put you guys down over here and see if I can push these off the back. But it's a lot easier. I don't remember, but if I was, that'd be driving down the ears too. Okay. Guys, you're complimented my truck. They're not my friends. That was nice. So they helped me unload, as you can see how struggling. It's not that it's hard to roll them, is that when they're on the deck for a while, they settle, and they create that flat spot on the bottom, and it's hard to get it off that flat spot. But once you get it rolling, it goes. They just did the rest with a tractor. Much easier. You saw I knocked it over on its side. It's not supposed to be like that. They can fix it with their tractor and put it back upright, but oops. It's going to be a little difficult for me to get out of here. So it should be fun. Okay, let's get out of here. The driveway is very narrow, and I could just barely squeak in here. So my rule of thumb is if I can get in somewhere, I can back out. If I can drive in, I can back out. It is possible. I'm putting my trailer that way because I want to go on the driver's side out, right? I don't want to blindside it onto that narrow road, and we'll just go around the mile road. So I would like to go that way, but it's just better, easier, and safer to not blindside out of here. See if I can do this in one shot. I don't know if I'll be able to. Got to hug this side. Like crazy. The car's coming. Put it in the ditch. Get stuck. How about that? Close here. I guess I can go in here, back in there, and then go this way. That way it's less gravel road. Then again, there's a mile. So there'll be a mile gravel road that way and a mile that way. Going back there'll be a mile. This way and a mile that way. So either way, there's a mile, two miles of gravel road. The thing is, I know this gravel road because I've already gone down it, right? So I'm going to go back down that same gravel road because I don't know. This might be a mud road up there. I'm not familiar with this area here. So the way I'm going to turn around is I'm going to pull in here. Stop and back up. Go back the other way. I'm going to put my trailer as far to that side as I can because I'm going to need to take this wide around this corner here, right? This is a good thing. These are farm roads and there's only like one or two people that drive down here per day and I'm one of them. Back this way. These are what we call grid roads or access roads, farm roads. The only reason they're here is for farmers to use to access their fields. And to get to their homes, obviously, because they live out here too. We're getting dusty today. Show you how narrow this access driveway was that I just backed out of here, right there. And that's them laying the pipe into the ground there. That goes into farming. I don't think the average person realizes. I don't think I even realize it and I grew up in a farming region. I don't think any of us really realize how smart farmers are and how much education you need nowadays. Like I got a family, like better farmers, extended family anyways, and friends that are farmers, like and they go to school, they go to university. You know, it's not just putting seeds in the ground and watering it, hoping it rains. There's a lot that goes into a lot of science. I think people who live in dense urban areas and like in cities probably, you know, have no idea and I don't blame them. You live in an urban jungle. How would you know how these farms work? It's definitely a completely different lifestyle. I grew up in a family of truckers.  And I try to show you the best I can. Oh, there's those politicians again. That's their speech next time they're on the air. Right, Diesel? Not all politicians, let's say. There's some really good politicians out there. There are. It seems like a lot of them dump a whole pile of that stuff all over the place. Different topic for a different time. I try to show you the best I can, what my life as a truck driver is. This is all I've ever wanted to do. This is my dream. And I love sharing it with you. So those of you who don't drive trucks and aren't around any people who drive trucks, maybe this is the only view into the lifestyle that you have. And in that case, I want to remind you that I'm just one of millions of truckers. So my life story and my trucking life story here is unique to me. There's a lot of other people who have completely different experiences, but I can only show you life through through my eyes, right? We got ourselves some action.  Either not paying attention or going way too fast. These guys are flashing their headlights at me like I don't see all the flashing lights. Did you see that? This guy right here, thanks, bud. Thanks. Yeah, I can see the flashing lights there. Oh, here comes the cops. Somebody. Are we getting pulled over? Slow sign here. Yeah, that cop behind me, you know, that pickup truck that was flashing his lights at me to let me know there was something ahead, even though I could see all these flashing lights. That guy got pulled over. I wonder why. I'm thinking he went through the stop sign here or something. Right behind this first record that's facing us. That's where the truck is and on its side. The truck just got tired. Sign said slow. Sign said slow. Is this slow enough? What a mess. That's an expensive, that's an expensive rescue. Can you imagine how many records were there? The two big ones, at least, right? Plus that, no, three big ones. Plus that supply truck that we just passed, there's this four and then all of the support crew that's there yet. I bet you, I don't, I don't drive tow trucks for a living, but I bet you anything that cost between $6,000 and $10,000. That's my best guess. Somebody, who knows what they're talking about? Put it down in my comment section. What's a good estimate of what that would have cost? The only one in line, but load up some more of these in the morning. We're taking a load of these to Dauphin Manitoba from here, which is in Western Manitoba. And we'll see. I made myself available to work over the weekend to make up for when my truck was in the shop earlier this week. We'll see what they come up with. Maybe, maybe I'll be working this weekend. Maybe I won't be, we'll see. We've got nothing going on at home this weekend. So they got something for me. I'm available. We'll see.


ng CSWD's work and adding a stronger urban focus to it. The resolution that the council passed in 2018 was not explicit to study a municipal model the way the 2000 resolution was that the council passed. So given the CSWD work that had been done to date it was just focused on franchise and the fact that the council resolution wasn't explicit. And frankly, South Burlington, our partner who wanted to do this was interested solely in franchising. That's the direction we went. But when the TOOC asked us in August of 2020 to research this, we stood up and said, we will do it. And I am actually extremely proud of the work we did on that study, the hours that Lee and I have put in working with the Clark Treasurer's office, the city attorney's office, meeting with the haulers. I feel like we have a pretty good handle on the risks and the opportunities. Well, a follow on to what happened when there was no distinction made actually in the GBB 2020 study between the municipal and the franchise models it wasn't the survey sort of commingled the questions about consolidated collections with questions about franchising in a way that would make residents think that consolidated collection is franchise trash collection. So my concern was by not having that done but all the survey information which is excellent in that report, the GBB study has a lot of great information in it. However, the fact that there was no distinction made implied that the consolidated collection and franchise consolidated collection are one in the same. And in fact, it was in the document, it even used the term citywide collection system which is ambiguous and it can be misunderstood as a municipal system. So I just, anyway, that's a concern that I have that it is undermining some of the information that we may have otherwise been able to get a value out of the GBB study toward the understanding of the public's interest in what they want for their trash options. One of the, you know, so I think I asked some of the questions about the monthly costs but relating to that solid waste generation tax, the chart that we have in our materials which says that the municipal model would be between, you know, $34 a month. And let's see what the other one was, $34 a month and $41 a month to be a municipal cost. And that includes all the, you know, building the building and all that. Those are the charges for a municipal model. It said below that it says, additionally GBB's franchise model estimate does not include additional city costs for overseeing the performance of the private haulers or replacing the overhead currently contributed by the recycling program solid waste generation tax for the pro-rata share of the general funds administrative expenses. The city estimates that these costs if recouped from the franchised haulers through the solid waste generation tax, the one you mentioned about the $4.84 cents. If recouped from that, you know, through the franchise haulers that added line on the hauling bill or some other financial mechanism would add an estimated 66 cents to $4 and 24 cents a month to the franchise model per residential dwelling unit, depending on the assumed cost to be recouped, factoring in these costs, the financial differential between the two models and eros. So is it, I know you mentioned it's another $2 on that current $4.85 thing for the recycling. Is it, is this the same number? Is it $2 more or is it 60 cents, I mean, I'm not sure what that meant, what that's talking about. Can you explain that? It's on page four. That's, I'm sorry. Yes, it's a good question. So the reason there's such a large range there is we ran the full spectrum of what did you want the solid waste tax to cover? If you wanted to cover and Lee, check me if I'm wrong, but my recollection, I think it's pretty clear on this that the low end of the spectrum was just paying for the new enforcement officer who would ensure compliance with our performance standards. So you want just that, it's 66 cents. If you want the solid waste generation tax to pay its pro rat a share of the overhead to the city of Burlington, then I believe it's another slug that probably gets you closer to two. If you want then the solid waste generation tax to subsidize the three recycling drivers to support them to stay on in the city and the street maintenance workers, then you're gonna have to spend another $2 or so of the solid waste generation tax to subsidize those workers to stay on the city payroll, not doing recycling because it's been franchised. So it all depends how much you want this solid waste generation tax to kind of subsidize the activities of the city. And so does that get added onto the monthly fee that is listed on the chart that you have above? So it would be adding that, whatever, it's now 480. So it'd be adding another $8, a worst case scenario onto the $38, so it would be adding another $8. $48 of the franchise model per month? It not eight, I think it was 66 cents to four dollars. But is that in addition to the $4 and I assume that was in addition to the $4 to $8, $4 and 88 cents that you're currently collecting? That's a good question. If we're talking about franchising, we get out of the recycling business. If we get out of the recycling business, we don't need a solid waste generation tax to fund the recycling program. So under the municipal model franchise, excuse me, under the franchise model, we completely get out of the recycling program. Then we wouldn't have the tax would go to zero and then anything we'd need for the oversight of franchise and that's what you're looking at. It would be 66 cents to $4. So that would be the total tax needed because we wouldn't need to pay the municipal forces to go collect recycling. So the proposal is for the hybrid. So you're going to continue with the recycling as I understand it. So what is, is this added is the, so we're just saying nothing gets changed with that $4 and 84 cents or are we adding 66 cents to $4 and 24 cents to that to continue providing the recycling service? I'm just trying to get the numbers. I'm really just trying to make apples and apples comparisons because the municipal option does not require us to be collecting a solid waste generation tax on the bill of a private hauler. Whereas we are going to be adding that on if we continue to do recycling as part of this hybrid model that you're proposing. Well, the question being is that chart isn't really helpful unless we know what gets added on which is in this footnote underneath it about the 66 cents to $4 and 24 cents. Do you see where I'm going with this? I'm just trying to get numbers that we can actually compare. Great. And I don't, you know, it sounds like we aren't clear yet. It sounds like this still isn't obvious. We are clear. Yeah, we're not clear, right? We are clear. Okay. Yes, we are clear. And I'm happy to work with you on enhancing the chart. Originally GBB did their study about what the cost was to provide the service. Jean Bergman, other residents have asked us through the process. Let's understand what the city costs are and how they add on to what GBB's report did. We thought that was a great comment. We added that into the report. If we want to change how the report shows these costs more than happy to do that. On the hybrid model that you talk about and what the solid waste generation tax would be it would likely increase the current tax round 484 which is going up to 536 and FY 22. So it would add about $2 on that to have the additional three workers for the two people on each recycling truck. Happy to detail more of that. But fundamentally that tax get passed on to the hauler. The GBB assessment of what the haulers would charge generally holds true. We believe under the hybrid model or the strictly franchise model. Yeah. So happy to work with you in detail. No, I think it's just, yeah. Again, it's sort of, I think I made my point. It's, the chart doesn't actually completely tell you what people would pay per month under the franchise hybrid franchise model. That's, I don't want to beat the dead horse here. So one of the other things that I had spoken with I think I've communicated about the opt out and I communicated with you about this that the 0% opt out on the chart that you have means that it's mandatory for all Burlington residents of residences with like one to four units. So the cost is sort of more spread out among 13,000 people instead of 9,000 residences. But we know, I think you just, you mentioned that the opt out is right now closer to 15 to 25%. So 15 to 25% have been either going to Pine Street, which is closed now or they've been going to now to a patch and road. Can you explain how this, you mentioned about we can have an opt out and you started explaining this to me before, but if there were an opt out contract limit like 25%, how does that work for the public?  You know, how would that work if I was the 26% person showing up and wanting to drop my trash off? I think you mentioned a way of some allottery or something. Well, I think you're right. This question is an operational question and a question that once we decide on a model, we can figure out how to implement the model to best meet the service levels that we hear from the public. And so that's the key reason why we wanted to go out to the public to understand how strong the desire is for opting out, which we have gotten a fair bit of comments from folks wanting that flexibility. So when we put together the bid documents and what the haulers would bid on, we'd have to provide some sort of acknowledgement of if 10% of the people opted out, here's what your bid would be. If 20% opt out, here's what your bid would be. We haven't worked through those levels of details yet. If fundamentally the commission and the public say there should be opt out options, we will work with you to figure out how best to meet your goal. But I mean, I'm just concerned that people might want it up, might want to haul their own trash and there would be some problem with it if there's already been a limit and they happen to be the last one in the door to want to do it. They don't want to participate in the consolidated private contract. Okay, well sounds like it's an open question of how you're going to do it. Okay. We haven't gotten to that level of detail yet. So one of the things I asked, I'm not sure if it was Lee or you about is wouldn't it make sense for Burlington to include in this plan a way to maximize capturing the opt out pay as you drop revenue for Burlington? And we've talked about the drop off centers closed at Pine Street, but there is the option to purchase property on Flynn Avenue, which could potentially have the municipal trash hauling department and also a drop off. And that, you know, if there's all, if there's 25% of the population are not going to be attributing their trash investment in through the consolidated collection, wouldn't it make sense for us to have a way to capture that revenue somehow? I mean, I'm sure. Okay. And so, and why is that not part of maybe a proposal of what would be a good idea of a managed drop off at that Flynn Avenue property with Burlington actually collecting the fees, you know, so that we can actually factor that in as extra revenue toward this whole project?    So the fact that they pass on solid waste generation tax to us without any kind of administrative costs on our end is a good deal. And so if CSWD, you know, and us side 339 Pine is the location long-term for the drop off center or 195 Flynn Avenue, either way, I think I hear your point that we want to give Burlington residents the option to self haul and to have a convenient option to self haul within Burlington. And one of the statistics that was in the GBB 2020 study was that 55.7% of the people that were asked said they would still want to use the drop off center even if a quote city wide collection system were available. So it was a concern to me that there was nothing no discussion of that a drop off option may be at the Flynn Avenue location. And one thing that was asked to me is the why was in your chart the 339 Pine Street municipal option the only one listed for the 15% and the 25% opt-outs and not the Flynn Avenue drop off centers? Is that just because it doesn't exist yet or? I mean, we probably made it a little more confusing instead of just showing the one scenario of one potential city property we decided to show two. The projections are that the Flynn Avenue site would be more expensive because we have to spend a half a million dollars or more to acquire that facility, that parcel before we start even building the property, the facility. The 339 Pine Street is already under city control. So we're just trying to show you alternatives of various municipal structural options and the costs associated with that. Okay. Is there any contractual obligation with CSDW preventing Burlington from operating its own drop-off center? You're just, is there a contractual reason why they couldn't, you couldn't buy the Flynn Avenue property and actually have a drop-off center that Burlington collects all the revenue from and pays the drop. Yeah, obviously they pay the tipping fees when they take the trash, but it's a contractual reason why we couldn't run our own drop-off center and make the money from it ourselves. The arrangement, the option that we have to purchase the Flynn Avenue site is financially beneficial to us if CSWD develops a site there. Their estimating is going to cost them 500 to 700,000 rough ballpark to develop a facility there. I mean, we can continue to throw more money at this grand consolidated collection idea, but we don't, it's enough of a struggle to get to 6.7 million to launch consolidated collection as a municipal option. If we wanna add on top of that, building a drop-off center and running it ourselves, both the capital as well as the operating, we're gonna be even more stretched. We could go into a new business that CSWD well provides already, but I would need to understand what CSWD is not doing currently that the city could do better. And related to that, the question about expanding and improving the one at Pine Street, is the railroad enterprise project connection that's gonna be made at some point between Pine Street and Battery Street going to impact on the options for even doing something to restart and reopen and improve the traffic flow of the Pine Street drop-off center? Right, that's probably a very long, it's a very complex answer that dates back to decades of past decisions on the Champlain Parkway. The Parkway alignment was historically gonna run through the old DPW Streets Department Building. The Parkway now is now on Pine Street and not slated to run through the Street Department Building at 339 Pine, but the preferred alternative for the Relyard Enterprise Project has not been developed yet. So the actual impact on 339 Pine Street for the Relyard Enterprise Project is not yet fully understood. Right, and- Chair Hogan, I would like to ask Commissioner Overby has been speaking for over half an hour. If there is this level of detail that she has about these particular questions, I completely respect her attention to this detail, but I see that there's a member of the public with their hand up and I would like us to move on because the level of detail that is being examined here is unfortunately drowning out other kinds of discussion. So I would like to move on. That's right, I'd like to second that. I can provide these questions that I've had in writing to be posted to the website for this meeting and related to that, I did have other questions and I'll just make sure that they'll all be provided to be posted separately. One thing that I did want to ask is, I know that Rob was provided with a comment from the public from Jean Bergman who was unable to participate tonight and I wanted to ask whether he will be reading Jean Bergman's input himself or if he, Jean asked me to read it if in fact, it was not going to be read by Rob. So I will provide the rest of my questions. Can you include that with, it sounds like you have other material to post for the- Well, Rob, he can explain what he got and I got a message from Jean who said he had a family situation, he could not be here and he asked me to make sure that the information was provided during this meeting. Sure. So, I'll stop. Hi everyone, I just to clarify, I do have that from Jean Bergman. I did post it on the DPW commission website today. I just got it today. I did want to make it transparent so I posted it on the website and it's up to the chair and the commission how that's handled. Sure. Well, I think it's available for our review. This isn't the end of the discussion. We can include that with the rest of the information. I would like to actually read it, our portions of it, when the other public has been able to speak. Maybe we can circle back to that at the end of the public on it. With that, Mr. Golding, you check and see if we have a public participant still with us. So maybe one hand in the air. Sure thing, Chair Hogan. Just a quick reminder for the folks that are still with us, if you do wish to speak during public comment, which the chair just called for right now, please use the raise your hand feature. For those who are still joining us by phone, please use star nine, which will alert me that you wish to speak. Michael Cassella, I will promote you over to speak. Your hand just went down, Michael, but I'll promote you over just in case. Can you hear me? Yes, again, we can. Perfect, perfect. No, I just want to thank all the discussion and obviously it's a hot topic. I'm obviously with Cassella Ways, so we employ a lot of drivers and staff that work in Chittenden County. And I mean, I understand where the commission's trying to move and I know we've had some discussions with multiple people in the industry and about and just, I think one of the big things for me is looking at it, there will be an increase in taxes, right? Whatever model you go, depending on the service level, there's never going to be a one size fits all.  And they're paying a less fee, there could be an added cost to those families, right? That's one of the things. I think the other big thing from the admissions standpoint is really having a good study put around that to understand what those admissions are really gonna look like when we are still gonna have trucks down in those areas picking up the multifamily houses. So we're still gonna be on a lot of the same similar roads that are all kind of commingled in with all the residential stuff. And then looking at the emissions from adding new buildings and adding new infrastructures, right? Really kind of looking at a holistic thing. And the other big piece for me is the capital cost, right? So it is a capital intensive business. And with everything that's changing, and I know in our business, we're looking at a lot of EVs right now and we're actually testing them in a couple locations where we're testing trash trucks. So I would hesitate in some sense to having even private sector go out and invest large sums of capital into different types of infrastructure that two years or three years from now we're about to roll this out. And EV technology might actually be there. So it's really trying to understand what the ultimate goal is for this commission. And really kind of keeping that in the back of your mind when you're making any of these decisions because it's gonna have a lot of undetended consequences down the road, right? And how do we get is the biggest bang for our buck, the most efficient system that's the most fuel efficient that actually reduces carbon, but also providing a service to all residents. And I just think there's a lot at play here. And I appreciate the time. All right, thank you. There's no one else signed up at this time, Chair. Mr. Golding, would you be able to read Mr. Bergman's comments? Sure, actually, I thought someone just signed up but it looks like not. Mr. Golding, would you have Mr. Bergman's comments available to read for our benefit here? Yeah, I'm pulling those up right now. Thank you. They are pretty lengthy. I'm happy to read the whole thing. If there were excerpts that Commissioner Overby preferred, I'm happy to do that, but I can read this. It is also available online for folks who wanna review it. Sure. Chair Hogan, can I have a key for an abbreviated version of Mr. Bergman's feedback? Yeah, well, I guess if Commissioner Overby's familiar with those, and Overby would you provide a concise summary of Mr. Bergman's comments? It's hard to provide a concise summary of his comments. And I just would say... You can provide us reading them. I think that to be quite honest, I think that they should be read. And I would like to have us give him the courtesy of reading them instead of assuming they're gonna just be opposed to document that people don't read. They're very important. And he's very, he has some, he's reversed. He explains some of the statements about whether charter change is needed or legislation. There's some legal issues that Gene Bergman was the former city attorney. He has information that is relevant to this discussion that has to do with municipal option that is not dealt with in the materials we have. And I think it's important that we read, we hear what he had to say from the perspective of an attorney who has dealt with the city attorney work for years. I can read these. I was looking at his comments mixed with an email I had sent him. So it's less lengthy than I started, started to have made it out to be. Sure. Yeah, that'd be great. Thank you, Mr. Bergman. Chair, I was just gonna chime in for a moment here. So we're in the public comment section here, which has a limit of three minutes per participant for a former city attorney to not know our email addresses on the commission and share those beforehand would be kind of a surprise to me. So we are available to read those comments at any time and I know we're being requested for a vote. So if we go ahead to hear these comments, I ask that they be limited to what the rest of the public is limited to, which is three minutes. That's fair. Yes. I also wanna point out that there is another member of the public that raised his hand. He was having a hard time for some reason using the raise your hand feature. And he even messaged me saying that. So he is, I see his hand there now. Gotcha. Oh, Mr. Golding, I'll run the topic. Yeah, could you give us your best three minutes of Mr. Golding's input or of Mr. Bergman's input, please? Will do. Thank you. Starting now, I thank the department for its additional analysis in the memo. I am pleased it looked at a point I have made in support of the municipal option that the franchise model underestimates the cost of the public by 66 cents to $4.24 a month. This makes a municipal model the most cost effective for the public as well, the most democratic and most environmentally and socially responsible option. I'm sorry, however, that the memo does not address the problem of monopolization, which I've raised and which is inherent in a franchise model. Indeed, monopolization is likely in the medium run to decrease consumer cost, choice, and convenience, thereby making the rating of the franchise model inaccurate due to the ratings short-term framework. I believe the ratings for the franchise model should be reduced from high to medium-e in each of these three areas to account for the monopolization that will occur should we adopt franchise model. Second point, I believe the matrix undervalues the public model in the four areas rated as high risk, low benefit, the ratings should be upgraded to at least medium. The risk to launch the municipal option is at best medium because if the voter is rejected, there is no harm and another option can be explored and the timeframe for staff utilization is short. All this contrasted with the benefit to having a municipal program will be very high after the initial two to three year period. It makes little sense to me that the upfront capital costs are rated a high risk and are looked at separately and are looked at separately from the startup. It seems like a way to give an extra set of low points to the public option. The need for a charter change is also wrong since it is framed as a vote to increase an enterprise fund. Enterprise fund department is not needed to create a municipal option and the charter in section 48, section six already gives us the authority to collect this solid waste and charge for it. This too is a way to underrate the municipal option. The risk to the city is also overblown. Again, it raises the specter of a vote on a charter change, which is unneeded. It makes little sense to rate the development and management of the facility and the program as a low benefit high risk. Running an efficient and ecologically responsible solid waste program under democratic control is of high value and we have proven through the water department and BED that it can be done right. A legal challenge threat is a red herring as the numbers on municipal programs demonstrate. Risk of voter rejection is no risk at all. A third point, the hybrid model overstates the environmental benefit equating it with a single collector because it requires two haulers to do the same pickup. Final point four, I asked that the commission support municipal model and that is the closing of his remarks. Thank you. All right, can you go to Mr. Stelfel? Jason, you should be free to speak now. Thank you, I'll make myself very brief, but I think that the city has the motivation to reduce the waste stream, the fact that trash is a given and we just have to haul it away and throw it away somewhere is kind of a misnomer. So I would like for the city to take over control because they have more motivation to reduce it versus a private hauler. Volume is where they make their money. So as many city things, I think you need to take control of that and manage it as you see appropriate. And if you think that everything that is manufactured has to be thrown in the trash, that's a city consideration. So I would like you to take that comment and consider it with your vote. Thank you very much. All right, thank you. That is everyone, Chair Hogan. I think with that, I'll bring it back to the commission. I'd like to make a motion to accept staff's recommendation. Please. Thank you for that motion. I'll second that. Seconded by Commissioner Barr, right? Is there any discussion around the motion? So Mr. Overby. I would suggest that I would make a motion, I would like to have that separated out into the three portions that are, we are being asked to vote on and support one, two, or three. That's my discussion. That's a proposal. Yeah, and Chair Hogan, I'll defer to that. I hear that. And I think it's similar to the Colchester have, I like the bundle versus the individual. So I do respect the idea. For my purposes, I'm kind of a more of a fan of the bundle idea. So I would first stick to the motion at hand. Thank you. Any other discussion around the motion that's on the table? Yes, Commissioner Overby. My last comment is that I think that item three should be done first, the assessment of what the public really wants so that we don't leave that until after we've made a decision about a franchise model and not a municipal model. That's, I think would be an improvement. Obviously, yes, it does break things apart, but as far as I'm concerned, the first thing should be done is an actual assessment of what the public wants, including the drop off percentages and do the survey correctly. So the motion on the tables, any other discussion around the motion? All right, let's go to a vote on the motion to accept staff's recommendation. Commissioner Archambault. Aye. Commissioner Barr. Aye. Commissioner Beaus. Aye. Vice-Chair on the other locker. Aye. Commissioner Overby. No. Aye for myself. The motion passes five to one. Thank you very much. Assistant Director Perry and Director Spencer on this. Appreciate all the energy going into this one as well. Thank you. Thank you for spending so much time on this important topic. Appreciate it. Indeed. All right. Chanda, where are we? Youth on boards. All right. Director Spencer, we welcome an update on Youth on Boards item seven on the agenda. Great, given the hour, I've put a written communication together. No action is needed. Why don't we discuss at our next meeting? That works for me. No action was worn. I think we're clear to close out there. Let's proceed to item eight, minutes from the May meeting. I understand there was some suggested edits to the minutes. Mr. Goulding, would you happen to have those handy for a quick scan here? I do. I'll pull those up and share my screen. We were six at that meeting as well. So everyone, commissioners present are eligible to vote on this. Chair Hogan, commissioners, can you see this? Yes. Thank you. All right. These are, I believe, the only two changes that were proposed. And you can see on the screen the changes that commissioner over be small changes, but important changes on the direction in the minutes. Straight forward. Thank you for bringing those up. I'm happy to entertain a motion on them. I'll move to approve the minutes with these changes as we see them. I second that. Motion from commissioner Archambault, seconded by commissioner Barr. Is there any discussion around that motion? All right. We'll go to a vote then. At the top, alphabetically, commissioner Archambault. Aye. Commissioner Barr. Aye. Thank you. Commissioner Bose. Aye. Thank you. Vice-chair O'Neill-Vacco. Aye. Thank you. Commissioner Overby. Aye. Aye for myself. The main minutes have passed unanimously. Thank you. To the director's report, director Spencer. All right. Cut into the chase. A lot of the director's report focuses on COVID-19 recovery and our transition out of the state of emergency. I just want to thank staff for all their great efforts, keeping everything going 24 seven. We did look through all the actions that have previously been taken during the state of emergency and don't see any imminent actions needed by the commission to transition out of the state of emergency. If any of that changes, I'll let you know. They think we're in good shape. And the most important item in the director's report was written in white ink, which is that this is the last meeting for commissioner Archambault and commissioner Gilman and commissioner Gilman six years and commissioner Archambault nine years are most appreciated. And commissioner Archambault also served as chair, navigated us through many complex waters and had really a focus on process. And I think made us a better team between staff and the commission and ensured the public had the ability to really weigh in in the two step process that he brought to many of our more difficult decisions. I think serves us well and will continue to serve us well. So very grateful to have their service. We have two new commissioners coming on next month. And thank you for all your service. You do have a DPW commissioner hat on its way and given we're not all in person, we'll have to deliver it to you. So thanks, Tiki. Thank you very much, very appreciate it. All right, thank you. Thanks, Tiki. That will bring it to commissioner communications. Start with commissioner Bose. Nothing for me. Thanks. All right. Vice chair on the Ivanka. Just a quick thanks to DPW staff for the prep on the topics for this meeting. I really appreciate your level of attention to detail. Thanks. All right. Thank you. Michelle. I don't have any more comments. Thank you. Other than to congratulate Tiki on escaping from the commission. And I'm that unfortunately is me. I think is the oldest remaining longest lived remaining commissioner on this commission, which is not a good sign. So thank you, Tiki. And enjoy your not having to show up for these Wednesday meetings. Thank you very much. All right. Bye-bye. Mr. Barr. Yeah, I echo both commission, vice chair Ivanka and commissioner Overby's comments. It always looks like you're trying to get away as you move on your treadmill there. And it seems that you're finally doing it. But thank you. And I know that commissioner Gilman is probably gonna watch this on channel 17. So I'm gonna thank him publicly for his service as well. And I'm the second oldest on this team. So don't leave anytime soon commissioner Overby. All right, very good. I'll break a couple of quick comments myself and conclude with our departing former chair, Archambault. Real quick, I should mention I received a resident comment about a water pooling issue on Park Street, I believe. I will get you all to grab in the customer service team, get you all the details on that. I believe it's an issue where there was have some recent paving work done and there's still some ponding of water that results in people on the sidewalk getting splashed, I'm not sure what you can do about that. I know that's frustrating after the fact we've seen similar stuff after paving on Pine Street and so forth. But in any case, I'm sure this resident appreciates a look at the issue and see if there's some cutting or trimming, whatever could be done there. Curious where they stand with the Battery Street detour that was expressed before last meeting. I don't think there was a really awaiting period necessary for that. Was there, can you give us a quick sense of when we might expect that? Yes, happy to. Parks is leading that effort. DPW is supporting. They have been trying to work to get a line striper in. It is one of those jobs in the middle of summer. It's like trying to get a farmer to pay attention in the spring. So I know that they are working diligently. I have told my team that we need to support Team Parks to get it done. I'll get you an update on when install projection is supposed to be. I know we'd all like to see this have been done already and we are trying to get it done. Appreciate that, thank you. Somebody painted stripes in a parking lot up at UVM last weekend, I don't know, maybe a Commissioner Barr who knows the past longing name. That's all for me, Commissioner Archambault. Thank you and thank you all for the kind words. It's kind of weird right now to be departing and it's not an escape at all. It's my firm belief that other voices need to be at the table and I recall former Commissioner Albury having been on this commission for 30 years, I don't know, so that you might know better than me. I lost count after 30, right? Many ways I respected him and many ways I thought, boy, this town has a lot of people who care enough to be at the table and I really want to give them a chance. So that's what's in my heart and I must admit it's mixed because I love working with all of you. I've loved being on this commission for nine years, started with Director Goodkind and now have Director Spencer two great directors in their own right. So just such history. And I've learned a lot about city governance on this commission alone and I just, I'm forever grateful. I want to remark too about every last commissioner that I've served with has been a reasonable person and you would, you know, you read national news and you think, where do these cooks come from, right? But I can honestly say this commission has had none of those over nine years. It's all been reasonable people, whether you agree with them or disagree with them. And so that's super cool, right? It gives me a lot of hope in this community and for our own future as well. So thank you so much for me, you know, I'm signing off but I'm not, I'm still going to be around and you're probably going to hear from me again. Probably I'll be stuck on habits and I'll be at your July meeting. So thank you sincerely for all the kind thoughts and sincerely appreciate it and I'll miss you all. Thank you. I will say too, in my last remarks here that commissioner Barr was kind enough to give, to afford me the opportunity to make the last motion for the meeting here. If I dare do that. So if I may make a motion to adjourn and have that. You got it. I'm going to second it. Commissioner Barr, all right. Any discussion around that motion? All right. Thank you, Tiki. Say hi. Hi. Hi. Any opposed? We are adjourned. All right. Thanks. Good night all. Good night all. Thank you. Bye everyone. Get some sleep. Yeah.