First question is from Jamillia 144. What is the most chronically under-trained muscle group for most people calves? Just kidding Under-trained muscle group for most people back in I would say properly thinking wrong boy properly Core proper. Okay. Yeah, you know core a lot of people work out their core And I'll say in quotations because they want their abs to look good But very rarely do you run into anybody who does proper core work? I mean, here's a good example, right? When physio ball Physio ball started becoming a staple in the gym I would see people in the gyms that I would manage do a million Physio ball crunches and I never saw anybody do them properly. In fact, yeah It was one of the most effective ways I sold personal training I'd walk up to them and I'd be like, oh, how many reps can you do and people always excited to tell you that They could do 50. Yeah, I'm like, oh, that's wow. You can do 50 of them and they're rolling their hips up and like Yeah, and so I'd say okay, can I show let me see if you can can you do them a different way? Let me show you and then I would show them how to do it properly and they do like five They're like, oh my god I feel that totally different and it's because most people don't work their core properly because most people Even if we just talk about abs for example, all they know is if you fold the body in half through working your abs That's what they think they don't realize that folding the body in half can mean hip flexors and not abs So I would show people proper ways to activate and work, you know parts of the core and then it would blow them away So that's I'd say probably one of them I agree with that although I would make the case for back to though I really because first of all, I don't think anybody trains the posterior chain enough I mean or for the most part like at least 90 plus percent of the population just because we were so anteriorly driven We do everything in front of us. You just don't do anything with your hands behind you So for ask for snacks from your kids. Yeah, that's right, right or wipe your butt, right? That's about it. Everything else is done in front of you most of the time And so even if you do exercise and train we're still so so driven in front of us so rounded forward So and and then when you do see somebody who trains and works out and they try and train their back Most people don't know how to engage their back Most people pull with their arms and they still have the rolled forward shoulders when they row I mean at least in my experience and most the clients that I helped if I sat somebody Even if you had some experience in lifting and I sat you into a seated row or a bent over row And I should do it almost all of them Didn't know how to retract the shoulder. They were always still in this protracted They could look at somebody else doing a seat a row and sit up tall and Straight and they could pull in with their arms and try and emulate what they saw But they didn't know how to really engage the back Which is very common because if you're always doing everything in front of you and you're never doing nothing back there It's hard to work that so I think the back The posterior chain in general is just maybe hamstrings you you can make a good case for two It's probably the most underdeveloped or chronically Undertrained. Yeah, I could make it an argument for rotators, you know, it's shoulders mainly because I think that even if you're a gym-minded person like you're Constantly lifting weights and you're doing it all like in the sagittal plane You're not really working outside of that and you're not really expressing rotation as it should Which then inevitably leads to to problems, you know in the shoulder Even if you are working on yourself like you you neglect that aspect of function that that joint can provide so I think that's why I'm always like Like bringing that up constantly just because I just don't see it unless it's very intentionally Programmed in there to where somebody's going to put that in because nothing like Like any of the machines that you're going to find are really going to have that You know available for that. Now that being said, I mean this is this is the type of stuff And I like questions like this because these are the types of things that we would think about when we were putting together programs And when we originally first did the first three and then we didn't have all the other ones Like they were designed for you to go through all of them Consecutively you're supposed to go through maps anabolic maps performance and maps aesthetic. It's basically Nine months of programming and in there we address all these things. There's a there's a major component in there to postier chain There's a major component to unilateral movement rotational exercises ab work out There is a component to all these things that we Think that the majority of people are You know chronically under training to make sure that they they address that through all the if you go through all that So, you know, if you're a listener and you're coming in for the first time like That this is the way they were they were designed for most people to follow that Anabolic performance then a state does that mean you have to do that? You can't start with another program or go different. No, of course not But when we wrote them we wrote them with these types of thoughts Into consideration we thought about the average person. What do they neglect the most and what do they need to be doing? Or what are they most like what mistakes are they most likely to make when Putting together a program or starting their training and then how do we address that in in a program? Yeah, I know there's a couple things too to consider Just because modern lifestyle now involves a lot of sitting and a lot of looking at screens And a lot of typing I remember seeing this transition working in gyms where more and more people were coming in with forward head neck issues and wrist issues Not from overuse, but rather from underuse and I've fixed and helped a lot of people Solve things like what like the wrist issues or they're what's it called when they when you have wrist issues when you work on computers all Time there you go carpal tunnel syndrome because their hands Were overstressed in one direction not strengthened another and very weak And so believe it or not something that I never thought I would do or I didn't consider when I first became a trainer That actually became important was training people's hands and wrists I would do a lot of hand and wrist training with people to solve some of these issues People have chronically weak hands and chronic Disfunction in the way the wrists and hands Operate because of what we do all day long and how we don't strengthen. So those are two other areas you might want to consider


The story you're about to hear is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent. Dragmen.  You're assigned a robbery detail. You get a call from an informant telling you the three known gangsters have moved into your city. You don't know who they are or why they're in Los Angeles. Your job, check them out. It was Wednesday, August 4th. It was warm in Los Angeles. We were working the day watch out a robbery detail. My partner's Frank Smith. My boss is chief of detective Stad Brown. My name's Friday. We were on our way out from the office, and it was 9.42 a.m. when we got to the Osborne Turkish band. Steam room. Hot in there. Yeah. There must be Dell back there. Yeah. Dell? Yeah, who is it? Friday and Smith. Oliver, I'm with you. Okay. Hey, Joe, did you ever have one of these? Well, what? Turkish bands. You ever had one? No, no, I never had. I understand they're great for coals. You just sit there and it burns the germs right out. It's great. You ever have one? No, but I'm in. My brother-in-law, he takes them all the time. It tells me about how it does for coals. Next time he has one, I think I'll go with him. Yeah, that's a good idea. All right. Sorry to keep you waiting. We've been having trouble with the boiler. Got to keep a close check on the steam pressure in here. That's okay. Let's get out of here, huh? It won't make me unhappy. It sure is hot, Dell. Go on upstairs. We can talk there. Okay. What do you got for us, Dell? I might not go anyplace, but I thought I'd fill you guys in on it. For a group? I thought it rolled in here last night. It must have been about 10.30. The night man's out with a coal, so I had to fill in. A coal? Yeah, some kind of virus or something. Oh, yeah. Come on, we can talk in the office. Sit down here. Mind if I go over some of these bills while we talk? No, go ahead. Well, uh, this bimbo pulls in here last night, really carrying a load. I registered him and had Jimmy take him upstairs. Guy's kind of loud, you know, rolling all over the place. I wanted to get him upstairs to a room. Figured he'd sack out, and we wouldn't hear no more from him. Yeah. Well, he had a different idea. A couple of minutes later, he comes downstairs, wants to know what's going on. What do you mean? He wants to know where the steam room is.  He paid for his steam bath. That's what he wants. Yeah. When he starts to talk about his high-powered friends and this deal they're out to pull, I kind of figure there's something wrong. You tell you where the friends were? No, not right now. I just mentioned a guy named Bud. Kept talking how Bud was going to be sore at him because he got drunk. Must have said it a hundred times. How Bud was going to be real sore. Sounded to me like this. Bud is the big man of the deal. I see. No idea what the deal is, though, huh? No, most he said was that when they left town, they were all going to have a lot of money. No money than I'd ever seen. You got the name on this guy? Oh, here's the register here. Let's see. Hey, you can see right here. We're in Carmichael, Los Angeles. Didn't give an address, huh? Once he mentioned he had to meet Bud at a hotel down on South Flower. Didn't say which one, though. Well, Flower's a long street, though. That doesn't help much. Didn't give any ideas at all of what the deal was going to be, huh? Yeah, that must be a good one, though. Why do you say that? Well, when I took him up to his room last night, I could see his clothes hanging on a chair. Yeah. On top of his coat, he had a shoulder holster. Looked like a .45 automatic in it. Well, I look at it. The guy that's carrying that kind of muscle is figuring on scoring heavy. You make any phone calls while I was here? No. Anybody had the room since he left? No, I told the cleanup man to leave it alone. I figured you'd want to go over it. That's a good idea. What time do you leave this morning? Jimmy says it was about 7.30. I figured sure he'd sleep most of the morning. I thought I'd known he was going to leave that early.  Well, we better take a look at that room, Del. Might be able to come up with something that'll tell us who he is. I got something else for you. Yeah, what's that? I mentioned this car, Michael, to Jimmy last night. I told him when I thought there was something wrong. Yeah. The reason the guy left so early is that he got a call from somebody. I guess it's the guy that picked him up. Did this Jimmy see who it was? No, did the next best thing, though. Yeah, what's that? Got the license number of the car. 10.15 a.m., we got in touch with Layton Prince and Harlan Stahl sent a crew out to go over the room. Frank put him a call to the record bureau. He had the name Vernon Carmichael checked. There was no record on anyone answering the description that we'd gotten from the manager of the Turkish bands. In addition, the radiogram was sent to the Department of Motor Vehicles in Pennsylvania asking for all available information on the owner of the car bearing the license number that we'd been given. 11.30 a.m., Harlan Stahl's crew finished checking the room and they told us that they'd been able to lift a complete set of clean fingerprints from a water glass. They were photographed and classified. In checking our files, there was no record of the prints. They were forwarded to George Gretten up at Sacramento to CII and to the FBI in Washington, D.C. 2 days passed. On Friday, August 6th, we got the word from DMV in Pennsylvania that the car was registered to a Howard Nielsen. The radiogram also gave us a description of the car and the registered owner's address in Pittsburgh. On receipt of this information, we got in touch with the police department in Pittsburgh and found that Howard Bud Nielsen had a misdemeanor record. Late Friday afternoon, the kickback from Washington, D.C. arrived with the information that the fingerprints found in the room at the Turkish bath were those of Vernon Carmichael. His record listed arrests for petty theft and robbery in Pennsylvania. He'd been brought to trial, but he'd been acquitted. Both men were well-known to the police department in Pittsburgh as hoodlums. On Saturday morning, the mug shots of both Nielsen and Carmichael arrived. 10.15 a.m., we met with Lieutenant Jack Smyers and we decided that the information coupled with the records of the two men made the incident worth investigation. The mug shots of the pair were copied and a canvas of the hotels on South Flower Street was started in an attempt to find the residents of the suspects. The search went on for another two days until the results. Monday, August 9th, 11.47 a.m., Frank and I got back to the office from communications. You know, we're going to feel pretty silly if Carmichael and Nielsen are already back there. It's beginning to look like the tip from Dell about the hotel on Flower was off, huh? Still a lot of places to check, though. Friday? Yeah. We got it for you. What? Carmichael and Nielsen. We found the hotel. At 10.30 that morning, officers Murphy and Rafferty had gotten the first affirmative answer to their questions about the suspects. At the corner of South Flower Street in Bunker Hill Avenue had recognized the mug shots of Carmichael and Nielsen. Further questioning brought out the name of the third man in the trio. He was identified as Ernest Hunter. A check of the name through our records netted us no new information on him and the name in the description was forwarded again to Brereton up at CII in Sacramento and again to Pittsburgh for possible identification. In talks with Lieutenant Smyers and Chief of Detectives Thad Brown, it was decided to keep the man under 24-hour surveillance. Three additional teams of men were assigned to the duty. For the next seven days, the three men were under constant watch. Their habits were regular. Their movements during the day followed the same general pattern. The kickback on Ernest Hunter disclosed no criminal record. At the end of the first week of watching the man, it was decided that the next step in the operation was to place a microphone in their room so that we might be able to monitor their conversations. Frank and I got in touch with the sound crew at the crime lab and we made arrangements with them. The necessary permits were obtained from the Federal Communications Commission to ensure that the sound itself was ready. We made arrangements with radio car officers to pick up the suspects for investigation. The sound crew, Frank and I, along with Murphy and Rafferty, stood by for a word that the trio was in custody. Tuesday night, 9.40 p.m. Should be getting word pretty quick. Yeah. Red one to red two. Come in, red two. No, on a chat. Sounds like they got it. Yeah, you want to take it? I'll post one to monitor. I'll post one to monitor. Go ahead. They can receive that suspects are in custody. Repeat suspects are in custody at knowledge. I'll post one to monitor. I'll post one to monitor. Message received. I'll post one up. You heard it. Yeah. Red one to red two and red three. Red one to red two and red three. You read me red two and three? Red one to red three. Suspects are now in custody. installation of listening equipment over red three please keep contact red one to red two come in red two can you see the suspect's apartment from where you are red one to red three come in red three are you in the apartment yet. Is there a radio in the room. Can you fix that before you leave good where you put in a bug nothing to do now until finished yeah we got the recorder all set up yeah it's in the room sound crew came in this afternoon made the installation do you know how to work it yeah I think so jack check me out on it's pretty simple just like playing a piano press a key in a way it goes well I hope you got it I've always had trouble with it last time I wanted to rewind one of the spools and listen to something ended up erasing everything we had I remember that very well I was afraid 11.15 p.m. the installation of the listening equipment was completed and Frank and I along with Officer Pat Murphy took up our positions in the room we intended to use as a monitoring post officer Rapparty went back to the city hall and told them that we finished we were ready to have the suspects released in the meantime Carmichael Nielsen and Hunter had been fingerprinted and mugged a search of their persons had failed to reveal any incriminating evidence and the time that they'd been held it allowed us to make the necessary installation after the trio had been released we received information that they were proceeding toward the hotel Frank Murphy and I waited for them at the monitor post to come into their room 12.35 a.m. That's them get the recorder right don't take care of the walk Frank yeah it's 12.36 a.m. That's it.  I don't know what's wrong with the radio if I just want to turn it off.   That's the way it went for the next five days when the men were in the room they argued continually they talked about the deal they were working on but from their conversation there was no way of learning what they planned when they left the room they were constantly under surveillance but their movements were routine they took their meals in the same restaurant they went to movies they sat in bars always together during the time they were out of the apartment they made no local contacts they received no telephone calls they made none we knew that they were planning something but there was no way of knowing what it was all conversation in the room was recorded and listened to over and over again in the hope that we could come up with some kind of a lead but the time spent in replaying the recordings and that is nothing from what they'd said we figured that whatever they were planning would take place on either Tuesday August 17th or on Wednesday August 18th on Tuesday three-way cars were assigned to the streets in front of the hotel but the suspects acted as usual on Wednesday they didn't leave their room Frank Murphy and I continued to wait on the streets outside three other teams of men were standing by and undercover cars 9 30 p.m. that's their telephone get the recorder yep 9 31 p.m. yeah okay we'll be right now what? yeah that's the word we got right we'll see in about thirty-nine hey uh how are we going to know you? yeah yeah I got it right contact? yeah stuff just got in we're supposed to pick it up right away oh looks like maybe we've got to work now let's do it for me let's go that's it outpost one the units 1K89 1K88 1K87 suspects are leaving room suspects are leaving room outpost one out all right let's go I wish we knew what it was kind of like it might be narcotics well it could be doesn't make a lot of difference does it yeah at least we know it's something for the time we got to the street the suspects were getting into their car and pulling away from the curb Frank Murphy and I got to our car and followed them they drove down south flower to the corner of palm drive and turned left three blocks further they pulled into a gas station and apparently asked directions they turned south on Broadway and drove about a mile at Santa Barbara Avenue they turned left again and drove three blocks they stopped and parked the car in front of a small bar we informed the other units of the activity and asked them to stand by in the area Carmichael got out of the car and ended the bar Murphy left us and ended the bar after him Carmichael returned in a few minutes with another man the two of them got back into the car and they talked at the end of that time all four of the men got out of the automobile and then they entered the bar shortly after that Carmichael Nielsen and Hunter walked out of the place Carmichael was carrying a small package wrapped in plain brown paper and tied with a string the fourth man wasn't with him Frank and I got out of our car and approached the men as they stood talking all right hold it up police officers over there put your hands up on that wall what's going on get your hands up there Frank you want to check on the package yeah keep your hands on that wall lousy deal I hope you're happy Carmichael I hope you're real happy what are you talking about I've got to lay this one to you you really took care of this hands still and keep quiet how about it Frank I don't know what do you mean where's money twenty dollar bills what's your fifteen twenty thousand dollars worth where as far as I can tell it's good where's that put it well there's twenty thousand dollars here yeah let's find out where they got it ten o two a.m. the four suspects were taken into custody and removed to the city hall for interrogation we got in touch with the secret service and asked them to come over to the office to check on the currency the agent arrived and after looking at the money he pointed out several minute mistakes that had been made in the engraving of the plates he went on to explain however that this particular printing was one of the best that he'd ever seen he told us that the paper used in the bills would be analyzed and that we'd receive copies of the reports as soon as they were finished twelve fourteen a.m. while Murphy Rafferty and the Secret Service man questioned Nielsen in the interrogation room Frank and I talked to Carmichael in the squad room we questioned him for about an hour but he refused to say anything that would help us get a lead to the source of the counterfeit one thirty a.m. how long do you think you can keep this up Carmichael I don't know what you're talking about come off but we're getting tired of playing kid games here we want to know where the queer came from now who says it's queer guy that printed it was pretty sloppy made a lot of mistakes Joe you're a man yeah you're right back how you doing nothing Nielsen won't say a word gives it to us that he didn't know what was going on says he just went out there to pick up a package they say who they were running the errand for tells it just he went along for the ride the whole thing was Carmichael's idea we thought maybe we'd go to work on hunter see what we can get from him okay you can stick with Carmichael I guess so from what we heard in the room if there's going to be a break I got a hunch it's going to come from him okay you got anything but it's not right away big man's back again your friend I tell you all about it no but yours did Nielsen just laid the whole thing in your lap you're kidding you want to talk to him what do you say well he tells it he was just long for the ride you're the big wheel in the whole thing he said that I said you could talk to him if you want to we ain't going to make it he ain't going to lay it on me you want to tell us your side of it yeah I'll tell you the way it happened hey lousy bum how do you like that him saying I'm the wheel I'll tell you all right now where'd the queer come from I don't know I thought you were going to tell us I'm doing that I really don't know where he came from you turn up with twenty thousand dollars and twenty dollar bills and you ask us to believe that you don't know where it was printed I'm not asking you anything I'm telling you what I know that's it well tell us about your part Nielsen, Hunter and me were approached in pits by who I don't know we're going that way again so you don't believe me that's the way it happened the guy who approached you just walked up and said here's twenty thousand bucks just like that no the deal was that Nielsen, Hunter and me were supposed to come out here we were supposed to check into a hotel and wait for a call guy who called us would have the queer he turned it over to us and we'd pass it you bought the counterfeit? yeah what did you pay for it? two and a half for twenty dollars yeah two and a half for twenty you paid the other man we picked up? yeah we gave him twenty five hundred bucks you ever seen a man before? what? the man you bought the queer from do you know him? no I never saw him before he's not the man who made the original contact in Pittsburgh no a guy back east was an old man how old? I don't know maybe fifty five, sixty around in there in the name of any kind? no he's just a calling pop that's all pop give us a description of this man pop what's in it for me? well what do you got now? nothing alright it'll stay that way you're in big trouble Carmichael if you're smart at all you're gonna cop out the whole thing and cooperate with us it allows me Nielsen him all the time yelling about how it was all set all the time saying we had it made sure I'll go with you I just want to see Nielsen get his that's all just want to see him get his we're gonna want you to look at some pictures too I told you I'd go the right you just tell me what you want to know if I got the answers so of you what do you tell you? what? that allows me Nielsen what do you tell you about how it happened you tell the way I did you tell it that way? very much yeah sure that's the way it happened can't be told the other way yeah well Nielsen might give you an argument there further interrogation of the other three men in the operation served to corroborate the story that we've been given by Carmichael twenty five hundred dollars in cash was found on the fourth suspect once the other men were confronted with the fact that Carmichael had told us everything he knew concerning the operation they all followed suit but other than telling us that they knew the head man and the counterfeiting act as pop they couldn't come up with any further information from a man who had been in the bar we learned that he'd met pop in Pittsburgh he also told us that as far as he knew the counterfeiter had been in prison at one time or another however the suspect was unable to tell us in what state or on what charges pop had served time he went on to tell us that he'd gotten the money in Pittsburgh and that pop had told him that he'd be contacted later the secret service had completed their analysis of the counterfeit bills and they told us that they were some of the most perfect printing jobs that they'd run across the counterfeiter had made one major mistake however in the printing of the currency he'd impregnated the paper with small silken hairs so that it would stand close inspection the currency now in use is made with nylon hairs the agent from the secret service told us they had agents working on tracing the manufacturer of the paper in the hopes that they could come up with a lead as to the identity of pop the four suspects were booked into the city jail Thursday, August 19th we ran the name pop through our moniker file of the forty seven cards turned over to us by the record bureau nineteen of the suspects listed matched the descriptions that we'd been given the pictures of the men were pulled and shown to Clarem Ico and the other three suspects they were unable to give us an identification the name and description was sent to George Brereton in Sacramento and he sent us another hundred and fifty possible these were checked out without result the nickname and physical description of the man was sent to Washington and we got back over a thousand names and pictures it took us six weeks working with the secret service to check out these possible the results, nothing Tuesday, October 5th, Frank and I got back to the office I get it robbery, friday yeah wait a minute, wait until I get that down go ahead yeah, well it should check out okay, we'll meet you what you got report of the paper and the queer bills just came through looks like we found pop in checking the manufacturers of paper similar to that used in the counterfeit twenty dollars the secret service had come up with the name of a small print shop in the eastern section of Los Angeles the paper used was of an unusual type and there were not many orders for it this particular shop had ordered large quantities of it in the past and was continuing to use it in checking out the name of the man on the order blanks the secret service had found that he'd been convicted of robbery and had served to term in the federal penitentiary in Atlanta he'd been released and had come to California and opened a small print shop we spent the next two days checking the suspect out his name was given to Stanley Jackson age forty-seven for the next week the print shop and Jackson himself were kept under constant surveillance on Thursday October fourteenth at eleven fifty p.m. the suspect was followed to his print shop I'll come to the front of the shop, Joe right, man come on, Frank yeah sounds like a press, doesn't it? yeah come on the back doors are out here do you see what's going on in there? no, the windows all painted over well, it doesn't leave us with a lot of choice if we go in and he's not putting counterfeit we're going to make him so hinky that we might never nail him if we don't go in, he might get rid of the plates we're in trouble there, too yeah, like I said, we haven't got much choice, have we? all right, let's go what's going on? what are you doing in here? police officers, you're under arrest you've got no right to come in here like this I know my rights, you haven't got a warrant you've got no right to act like this do you want to kill it, Frank? I got it if anybody right touching those, they're mine they belong to me, mister where'd you get the plates, Jackson? they're good, aren't they, mister? the very best where'd you get them? made them? made them myself where'd you learn engraving? in prison when they sent me to prison, I learned all about engraving real engraving not photoprocessed, but the real thing finest plates I've ever seen, the best beautiful money, isn't it? best I've ever seen, fool anybody did it all myself, pass it anywhere, fool anybody anywhere yeah just look at it, mister that's a genuine article, isn't it? perfect, absolutely perfect, mister no, you're wrong there, the government didn't print it Alex Carmichael, Howard Raymond Nielsen Ernest Richard Hunter, Philip Roger Harger and Stanley Norman Jackson were tried and convicted of violation of Title 18, US code Section 474 printing and issuing counterfeit money violation of this title is punishable by a fine of $5,000 and imprisonment in a federal penitentiary for a period not to exceed 15 years you have just heard Dragnet, the authentic story of your police force in action and starring Jack Webb a presentation of the United States Armed Forces Radio Service


Okay, we are now recording and I want to welcome everybody to our community chat for Thursday, November 19. Today we have assistant town manager and director of conservation and development, David Zomek back with us, as well as planning director Christine Brestrup. So welcome to you both. I'm going to kick it over to Paul to start off with any updates he has. Well, thanks, Brianna. And yeah, this is an exciting day for us. We have a big announcement that we've just listened to by the by Governor Baker, for a warning the town a $1.5 million mass works grant and I just like Dave or Chris to talk a little bit about your team working with Public Works put it together and are we're successful in getting this very, very competitive grant so it's really exciting. Chris, do you want to Sure. Yeah, we're very excited to get this $1.5 million grant to work on the intersection of West Street, which is also called 116 and Pomeray Lane. We call it the Pomeray Village Center. Many people are not familiar with it under those terms but it's really a place that's growing. We have Mission Cantina there we have some exciting small businesses El Camolito. And it's really, you know, starting to thrive and there are a lot of problems with the intersection. There's no really good pedestrian access bicycle lanes are not there. There's sidewalks that are there that are in poor condition and they're often backups at the traffic light, especially southbound in the afternoon. So we would really like to kind of improve that intersection to make it more usable for everybody. So we're looking forward to making these improvements. Yeah, I would just add, Paul, that, you know, this is a project that's been, you know, in the works for a number of years. And as you said, it really was a collaborative effort. We heard loud and clear from a lot of people. Businesses in that Village Center from pedestrians from people who use it and use those businesses that we need to make some improvements there. It's been growing. There's there's a number of residential units there as well. I would just add, Paul, that, you know, this is a project that's been, you know, in the works for a number of years. And as you said, it really was a collaborative effort. There's a number of residential units there as well. And that people use it to bicycle and walk and they want better access and they want it to be safe for pedestrians and bicycles, as Chris said, and they want it to be accessible to all of our residents and visitors alike. So this is many years in the making and kudos to the DPW engineering staff and Christine staff and planning for coming together and putting together a successful proposal. These are very competitive grants. So not everybody gets these grants and to get 1.5 million is a really nice number. We're going to embark on a public process now and work with various boards and committees and the town council to move this project forward. I think someone said on the grant award program today that they get over 100 applications and only 36 were awarded this year so that's, you know, about a third of the applications get awarded so I was really pleased because this was a difficult. It was a big effort to get this application together and I'm glad that it was finally successful. A couple questions can, can you define, is there a definition of what village center means from a planning perspective. Well, it's really an area that has people living there as well as commercial and retail and office space it's a place that's kind of a little smaller than the downtown and, you know, but it has essentially all the services that people need you know, there's opportunity to get food you can get gas there. You can get your haircut, you can get really great. Southwestern food. So lots of different things are available there but there are also people who live there in the Pomeray co op and single family houses and it's really, you know, it's it's an area that's been developing when I first moved to Amherst there really wasn't much there at all. But now that it's, it's been developed a little it's there's there's a lot going on there. And this might be more of a question for Dave does this have anything to do with any plans for Hickory Ridge. Yeah, absolutely and in fact we included Hickory Ridge in our grand proposal to the state. So that project continues to move forward. We are kind of working with with the owners of Hickory Ridge and with our town attorney to move toward a closing on Hickory Ridge that I expect will happen in the next, probably 60 to 75 days. We're, we then embark will embark on a really a community engagement process with neighbors with users with businesses that are in the Village Center and various committees and boards to talk about what we'd all as a community like to see out on Hickory Ridge. As we've said all along there will be a strong solar component there. We'll likely about 2025 acres of solar. So that'll be great to have green energy be part of this project. We'll also be looking at, you know, trail access and connectivity to the Village Center that will be improved through this mass works grant so it's very exciting we can, we can begin to build on this mass works grant, the acquisition of Hickory Ridge and private development there. We do know that some of the property owners are interested in developing or redeveloping some of their property. So all of this momentum can build and provide more opportunities for businesses for residential and hopefully for your more affordable housing as well in that Village Center. And I think there's probably a lot of projects you can update us on today but I know this week, both of you, as well as superintendent of public works skillford mooring presented on the North Common project to Council. Was that this Monday. I don't know if everybody's tuned into that meeting but you guys want to talk a little bit about that project. All these dates seem to run together. It's all one big Monday. Every day is Monday. We presented on the North Common several times recently Dave and I we presented to the Historical Commission about two weeks ago and then last week we presented to the Community Preservation Act Commission committee rather. And this Monday we presented to Town Council so we're, we're very excited about the North Common as a as a new project that's really going to bring life to the downtown it's a project that we've been working on. For 2013, we have gotten some CPAC Community Preservation Act money to improve things on the Common but we just need a little bit more to get us over the goal line. We have a plan for for creating new pathways and gathering spaces and adding seating and places where people can have a little picnic or a meeting with somebody and just have a cup of coffee. We'd like to preserve most of the trees that are there. There are some of them that are probably going to have to come down because they're older in decline and and we want to open it up a bit but we really are very excited about the plan that we have and we're going to be working with the Department of Public Works to develop the plan as we move forward and there will also be improvements made to the parking lot just north of the North Common the one that is between the Common and Main Street so that area and the whole area in front of Town Hall, we're hoping to make it more lively and more attractive for people to do things have community events have concerts just stroll through the area and just have it be more welcoming. I think one of the counselors noted counselor Ross noted that when the day the election was called he was downtown is a beautiful day to begin with but the amount of activity that was happening on the North Common, even in its rugged condition but because we put a few picnic tables out there and throughout town, there's so many people out getting takeout from our local restaurants and enjoying the food. And it was just really important to have spaces that you can activate that's engaging and welcoming to people as we emerge from the pandemic economic downturn. It's going to be really important for our downtown for self image in some ways but also for our local businesses. And if I could just piggyback on that to Paul you said a couple of times in meetings that, you know, one thing that in any economy but particularly coming out of this pandemic and the coven economy that we've all been been struggling through is, is the importance of public funding and reinvestment by the town by the state and by the federal government so both the North Common project and, and this new mass works grant that we just got really can spur other creative options from you and that's one of the goals is to say, we're going to put this public money in. What can the private sector do to, to match this money and match us. As we try to recreate, you know, vibrant business downtown vibrant business community downtown and I think the North Common is this central feature. I had also noted it was interesting this summer to watch the picnic tables move they actually move people would pick them up if they wanted son or if they wanted shade and they move they never disappeared. People were very respectful but it really, it really saw a lot of usage this summer. So it was exciting. One of the questions we had as you mentioned a couple of times with some of these projects about spurring, you know, economic activity at these village village centers and downtown. So what else is the town doing to help businesses survive this current economic downturn. I received money from the cares act. I think it was from the federal government through the state. And we have about $140,000 that we're offering to small businesses under a micro grants program that's being administered by Valley Community Development Corporation. So this small businesses to apply for up to $10,000 worth of a grant to help them keep their business afloat and that can be used for a number of different things including paying for staffing and paying for improvements to their physical structure. So we're really excited about this and we hope that people will take advantage of it. It's aimed primarily at low income business owners. And it's called a micro grant because it's, it's also aimed at businesses that have five or fewer people working there including the owner. But we think it's really an opportunity for particularly some of the restaurants but also the other small businesses in downtown to take advantage of this and, and, you know, help them to keep going through this difficult time to emerge next spring or summer in a better place than they are now. Thank you Chris. Do you know if there's a deadline for businesses to get that application in or I think it's a rolling application. Okay, and there is a for any businesses or if you know of a business in town who is eligible to apply we have that information at the bottom of our homepage. So you can choose an announcement section you can click there and get taken to the application information. And there are people available to help businesses to fill out the forms. So you're not all on your own. So that's good news to. And I know I've seen the chamber in the bid offering their assistance and to businesses in any way they can to help them with that application process as well. Anything Dave or Paul wanted to add to that about our local business situation. What I would add is that, you know, we have a great working relationship with the bid and chamber we have weekly meetings with them in fact Paul and I will meet with the, the president of the council and the bid in the chamber staff tomorrow every Friday we meet. And we've been doing that for quite a number of months, and it's an opportunity really to share ideas to exchange information and to. I think a really productive collaborative relationship and dialogue, and we have some ideas that we'd like their help with they have some ideas that they need the town to help them with. And I think we've really been, I wouldn't say challenging each other but I think we've been rising to the collective challenge in the town of, of helping businesses retail restaurants, you know, going back many months to, you know, outdoor dining in our downtown, trying to extend the dining season by with the use of heaters and, and tents and, and, you know, some some really creative things and, and now we're looking to say okay how can we help businesses get through the holiday season as as safely as, as we can, and then look to say how can we open up Amherst again, as soon as the weather permits and kudos to the bid and chamber for looking for creative ways, even looking at winter opportunities what can we do on the move forward safely? under under COVID guidelines and recommendation to get people out to get people to safely come downtown to to have some joy and and some some provide some hope in in the New England winter and we all were we love New England but this is going to be a particularly challenging New England winter for all of us, but how do we find hope and, you know a great example, I think was was all the great work that was done with the Farmer's Market this year. That really brought so many thousands of people over the whole summer together in a safe environment where they could support local businesses, local farmers, feed their families, and also get out and provide a little hope every Saturday, every Saturday morning to have some conversation at a distance, but to do something that we love to do, which is support agriculture in the small New England farm. So I think the Bidden Chamber are looking for ways to do that this winter and then pick that up in the spring. So keep the momentum going. It's a really good point because I've gone to the farmers market I think every weekend and it's not like I buy a lot necessarily, but it becomes sort of a ritual because it's a nice time to spend on the town common. I think having it spread out on the common made a big difference. And what the farmers market manager has said is that the best day that they used to have in 2019 is an average day in 2020 and that they've almost every vendor has exceeded all their sales from prior years. And so it's been for the farmers who are there, it's been a highly successful experience. And I think maybe it's the only game in town, you know, it's like we're looking for places to go that are safe. And I credit the farmers market manager for really working with our inspection services and health people to make sure that it was a safe environment and they set the rules early and they followed them all through the season. So just real credit to them for that. There were other things that we did over the summer to help the businesses survive and we applied for a grant very early and it was probably May or June to the Solomon Foundation. That was a joint effort with the bid and we got $10,000 from them and a lot of the umbrellas that you see downtown that you have seen over the summer were from that grant and it also paid for other improvements to outdoor dining to help make it a little more attractive. And then we applied for a Mass DOT and Mass Department of Transportation grant that also afforded us I think it was $120 something thousand dollars to make improvements to the downtown streetscape so that it would be more welcoming and amenable to outdoor dining. And so that really helped the businesses to be able to survive into the cold weather and the heaters that you see in those outdoor dining spaces, most of them were paid for through that grant and I have to commend the building commissioner who was out there with his facility staff actually putting together the heaters for those restaurants. So that was a really good community joint effort. Yeah, like Holy Spokes, people you don't think about it but every city in town was looking for heaters at the same time. Every city in town was looking for umbrellas at the same time. We were out there with everybody else mixing it up trying to get these things into our towns so our businesses survive and you know our staff went above. They drove. I mean I think the building commissioner drove to Schenectady to buy these things or something. It's just on a weekend just to make sure we our businesses had them. So it's really you know and you think how hard can it be to order some heat you can't just buy these things from Home Depot or Lowe's. You have to get special kinds because it's commercial and fire department has to sign off on them and so it really is a tremendous amount of work from our all of our staff to make this happen and just kudos to everybody there. So working together that made it happen. That's something that I think is a theme over the last how many months has this been. 50 months teamwork at all different levels. So I wanted to mention too that I got in my inbox just today an invitation to the virtual lighting of the merry maple on Friday, December 4th. Do you guys have any thoughts on that? I see they're putting up lights already. Yeah. And it's you know it's going to be virtual. They have a whole program I think that credit credit again to the we have a Dave mentioned this we have really strong we have strong leadership at the bit in the chamber and it's been really good working relationship high level of communication and I'm you know we weren't part of the organization of that and I think they've really pulled together something that's actually pretty interesting and they want people to participate and have your eggnog at home I guess so. We still be warm right. I was just before we leave you know all these great things and the farmers market made me think too of of this kind of covid you know these eight months that we've all lived through and adapted within and it made me think you know what might some of the lessons learned say about the farmers market be you know we had to spread out on the main part of the common we had some different vendors come in but you know it created a different kind of vibrancy in a slightly different part of our downtown so I'll be interested in hopefully we can have some conversations with the leadership of the of the farmers market over the winter to say you know kind of what lessons did they learn what did we learn. You know we've always had it in the spring street lot there are some pluses and minuses to having it on the on the common. We didn't have any other you didn't have the fair this year we didn't have some of the big events that they utilize the common but but it did provide for a whole lot more space for that for the for the farmers market to do their thing so and the Boy Scots will be back right after Thanksgiving with their tree lot at the Kendrick Park and many of the lessons we learned from the farmers market are being applied to create a safe environment for people to shop for trees at Kendrick Park. That's great and we can we should also mention our playground that's going to be built in the spring at Kendrick Park it's about halfway up the park on the west side and it's going to be very exciting it's really well designed the Department of Public Works put the design together with the help of the planning department and there's going to be a lot of nice play equipment and places to sit and it'll be really a beautiful addition to Kendrick Park. And that Chris I think we're on a pretty tight timeline we've got to have that constructed by June 15th or so June 1st okay first yep and that was funded by a grant from the state so with some additional funds from the town so that was also a joint effort of the planning department and the DPW working together. Yeah I think that's going to be a huge hit I mean if if if what we did at Gough Park is any indication a new playground wow I I drove around Gough Park yesterday and it was hopping at about three o'clock in the afternoon and there were people on the playground and obviously the spray park is is turned off until next spring but people on the you know distancing and and doing activities safely but that place has been a buzz since we opened the playground so I'm looking forward to this new playground right in our the heart of our downtown. And I have to say that sometimes people get frustrated with how long it takes to get things done I've been in here in the town hall for I don't know 17 years or so and I remember working on the initial plan for Kendrick Park and it was it was a really long time ago that we started this I think it was 2007 or 2008 and we had ideas about what we wanted to do and we hired a landscape architect to come up with a plan and then didn't have any money and now little by little we're being able to piece piece it together and I'm really excited to see that it's finally happening. Sounds like 2021 and 2022 downtown Amherst or just Amherst in general is going to be looking different and vibrant and it's exciting as a community member at least especially on the playgrounds I've got someone in my house who's very excited about another playground so thank you for that and your daughter too probably yeah her too. That's a great point I mean new playground spray parks playground downtown the dog park will open in 2021 so we've got a lot to look forward to and I think we all need that right now those positives that hopeful outlook that you know we're going to come out of 20 and and we're going to we're going to have challenges no doubt budgetarily and and this pandemic is not over but I think we have to to kind of zero in on and focus in on those positives that we're a community that's moving forward despite the challenges that the world is facing and we will get through this Amherst will and and Massachusetts will. So one of the things I want to make sure that we mentioned is you know one of the things that the governor made noted in his announcement about the Pomeroy village improvements is that the connectivity to two environmental justice neighborhoods and that's that's a the term for people where there are a concentration of low income people and you don't really know it until you look at a map but getting Hickory Ridge and connecting that to Pomeroy village really provides access to a lots of people who live on East Hadley Road that they'll be walking paths that get you very easily to the Pomeroy village business district which in that area is kind of isolated now in terms of access to food and things like that and that's the intent of all this investment of town and state money is to help promote that along with building that the multi-use path along East Hadley Road to help people get to the new playground at Groff Park. So all these things are not just sort of done randomly there's a you know an overall view in mind to help to bring services to people most and to improve our town infrastructure in general. That's a that's a perfect way to tie the discussion back all together Paul so that's a really great point it's all these exciting projects but they do come together in some cohesive vision so important to note so I will say that we are at 1226 we've got about four minutes I'll remind folks who are joining us live if they want to ask any questions feel free to do so raise your hand and zoom or use the Q&A function and I will monitor for those coming in but with that being said if there's any in the last few minutes are there any things that you our special guests want to share that they didn't get asked? I'd like to share that I think that Town of Amherst has a really good staff and that we're all working very hard to make the town you know a good and a better place and I hope that people realize that and yeah and we work really well together so good work. Thank you Chris. Dave anything from you? Oh I would just echo that Chris absolutely and and that goes out also to our boards and committees and the council you know a lot of people I just don't think see how many meetings how many discussions the movement of projects and initiatives through our democratic process is really important and and by and large people are so committed and so passionate about this town and having grown up here sometimes I'm you know I you know I just am overwhelmed with with the commitment there is to make our community better and that's one of the things I always love about Amherst is is we're not complacent we're not we're not comfortable to sit back and say this is as good as it gets want to be better in all of these categories you know so that's what makes that's what you know helps me get up in the morning and get motivated and work with all these great boards and committees and we will have our challenges but by and large everybody rolls up their sleeves and says how can we make Amherst a better place for our all of our residents as well as people who want to come here to study and learn and and work and raise their families so I think that motivates all of us to do better every day. Great thank you Dave and thank you Chris. I want to take a quick opportunity to remind folks that tonight is November 19th there's a budget forum at 6 30 p.m. All that information is on our homepage and on our public meetings calendar and we have another opportunity to tomorrow morning Friday November 20th from 8 to 9 a.m. to have a cup of joe finance edition where you can ask your your finance and budget questions to the town manager to our finance director Sean mangano and to our comptroller am I right with the comptroller okay and our comptroller sonia aldridge so that's a cup of joe tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. Paul any anything you want to know I think this is a great there's a lot but until you start talking about it all at once there's so much happening and we didn't even touch on the things I mean you're presenting a project this afternoon Brianna to the town council and there's many other things are in the pipeline that we didn't even touch on so I think they're you're right there's a lot of stuff and I think after we heard about the mass works grant we said oh gosh now we have to do it and how do we engage the public successfully which again that's a project Brianna has been working on like how do we engage people not just through zoom but other ways where you don't have to be at a certain place at a certain time so that's all really exciting stuff I think we're going to have to put a big section into the state of the town for for the upcoming year as a preview to all these exciting projects so that way we can kind of put it all in one place and and then get really scared about the work that we have to do but okay well I want to thank everyone who joined us and for those who are watching on our YouTube channel and thank you so much Chris and Dave for joining us great job yeah thank you thank you Brianna thank you have a nice day