Oh, I started one there. What are you asking for? Email and phone number? Email and phone number option. We'd just like to know who's here. So welcome. Thank you all for... Welcome. I'll call this meeting to order in a few minutes after 7 o'clock. This is a public hearing of the Middlesex Planning Commission on our draft of the town plan. The draft is dated May 15th, 2019. There's a hard copy there. There's electronic copies available on the Middlesex website. Thank you all for coming. We're here to listen to what you all have to say. The town plan is the plan for the entire town of Middlesex, and it's great to have input from as many folks and hear what people think about the work we've done so far. We've been working on this plan for a number of months, and it was a fairly quick process based on the information that came out of what's next Middlesex that happened in the fall this past year, and also sort of building on what was already in our town plan. The town plan for many years, but the town plan had expired, and without a valid active town plan, you can't apply for grants, you can't change your zoning, there's a lot of things you really can't do, so it was pretty important that we get a new town plan in place and move forward. It can always be amended, and that's something we can do going forward. So we're here mostly to hear from you. I'm Sandy Levine. I'm the chair of the Middlesex Planning Commission, and I'll have the other Planning Commission members introduce themselves. I live on South Bear Swamp Road. My name is Mitch Oczewski. I'm on the Planning Commission. I'm also the zoning administrator at the French Road. I'm D.O. Kennedy. I'm on the Planning Commission. I live on Shady Realwood. My name's Gartner. I'm also on the Planning Commission, and I'm Culver Kilmer. I'm the Galvinian Planning Commission, Mr. Senator Rowe. Do you all want to introduce yourselves? If it's a small enough group, do you mind? I'm from the Allegra. I live upon the General. I'm from the General Stanley Springer. I live locally. I grew up locally, and frankly, I'm here, you could say, of just latent flat-out self-interest, because my family has a dairy farm of 200 acres of land. And farming's going through transition, and I had a couple of thoughts that I wanted to sort of run by the Planning Commission to see how it would fit in with my vision for town. I'm George Monner. I live on East Toll Road. I'm on the Conservation Commission. I live on my culture. I live on Follahill Road. I'm Michael Levine. I'm on South Coast. And I brought some snacks. Feel free to get up whenever you want and help yourself. So as I said, we're here to listen. So thoughts, input, any ideas? Welcome. A couple of comments. Most of them related to the conservation. I'm page 39, and I just want to thank you. It's a great and impressive feat to follow. On the town forest portion, which is on page 39, you mentioned that the town forest stewardship committee does the work on the town forest. Actually, it'd be better to say the conservation commission now that David only worked. There are two remaining members of the forest stewardship committee. They're the same people as the conservation committee. Okay. But it's going well. You might, I don't know if you mentioned it, that there are the trails. We're going after the one, YCC, these conservation programs to go to trails on the town forest. And it also has a cabin. We have no idea what to do. A what? A cabin. There's a cabin up there. Oh, a cabin. I think he said a cavern. A cabin. Sorry. Some of you built a cabin and we're trying to figure out if there's anything to do with doing that. A cabin. Okay. Is that one cabin or two cabins? There are two. The owner, the former owner, who has a 99 year old. I don't know if you mentioned the forest at the ashore. That's something to think about. And the conservation commission is doing an ashore just along the town road. Can't possibly enter the ashore. But it's going into the town forest. So the thought is there what to mention that that's an impact that we should be mindful of and recognize the conservation commission is doing a survey? Is aware of that. The trees have to be cut down on the waterways. I thought that was a good exception. It's on page 42. I don't know if you've noted though that the town just between the trees and the headwaters, the current piracy and the mardons, that's an impact to the select board in the country. So the water quality of those trees is not a problem. You might mention in Martinsburg, I was shady real, there are two water quality problems that we're getting grants to fix. I think of a full bank. The Gnuski River contribution was to fix it. As long as it crosses the school, you can't see it. There's something about the grain of the road in the street. And the other grant is for Shady Road 5. To move the, as you stand there, to move the picnic tables back away from the street. There's a lot of them. And are those things that are ongoing now? Those are ongoing now. They're working on the start and how they're happening next year. I'm sure it's going to be a little bit of a while. That's a lot of work because it's not a town, it's not part of rights for conservation. It's not a city, it's part of the agency of Nashville. Quick fact, the Army Corps of Engineers created that back when the Riceville Reservoir was built. And it was sort of designed as a flood spillway. And the, basically the, I think it was the Corps of Engineers when they built it, the state was required to maintain that in perpetuity. And a couple of times they've tried to stop doing that, but Colin O'Neill keeps finding the documents saying that they're going to keep taking care of it. So they're still taking care of it. It's almost wrong. It doesn't seem to be a good enough, but the town actually approved 5,000 dollars and then the state was out of it. Anyhow, that's going to be upgraded. I thought the energy section was good. You might know that the town passed that resolution, the town was controversial, but passed by only one. Non-binding. Toothless. The two big energy uses. The Hill Sands are the two big leaders. They're high-eighty-mall in the whole community. And the other comment was on the Village District. We talked about this in consultation. Putnamville is really different from this one. A good convention that needs to be addressed, but there's not really any specifics. I think the residents there should not. I've heard from residents of Putnamville. And they said with respect to the survey, they don't care what the town thinks, but they view themselves as a village. And always will no matter what we designate them. And I assured them that this is only a town plan. We're not rewriting any zoning regulations right now. That's down the road. And we will certainly seek lots of input before we make any substantive changes to that document as well. We always appreciate input. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for that. So, actually, I mean, what I'm interested in, I don't own the land, but, you know, my family has a dairy farm and they stop milking cows. And there are, you know, 200 acres of land along the river. And there's, you know, a question in the family's mind about what's going to happen. And looking at ways that, I mean, my mom is happy right where she is, but, you know, bankers do have debts and they do want to have them settled eventually. And the level that she faces with farmland is that, say, for example, put the sum of farmers right now, the land the farm stand is on, the grand list value is $58,000 an acre. And the field-based site, you know, that's just the way we refer to it, is four or five acres of land. You know, people over the years have been interested in using that as, well, you know, some kind of industrial use. And I guess I'm kind of partial to finding what you've done.  And it's gotten, but years now that I've seen it go over the banks and have an idea of a way for my family to pay down this debt, which would actually improve the floodway. And I've been looking at the state of Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, BNC, and there's all kinds of work being done at the Lake Champlain watershed. And one of the ways that the farm could pay down some debt would be that field in front of the farm stand. You could take out approximately, say, half a million yards of sand and gravel there, and you'd still have farmland. And you would, in fact, have increased the floodway. And the other thing is, and I've been watching the discussions about storm water runoff and how to manage it. And one of the thoughts I've had is actually to take these fields and instead of trying to keep the water out, I mean, actually bring water in to filter. And as a way of also, well, you could be reducing the erosion on river banks, but the first thing that I need to do is to sort of run the idea of, well, to be able to say to the bank, okay, well, we've got the source of revenue here, and the town does reap sand and gravel. And the real question is, well, would you rather have commercial and industrial stuff going on there, or would you rather have, well, something that could be created and innovative because, you know, the science is evolving. And the other thing is I'm looking at that as being a small part of what's going on in the middle sense because, I mean, you're right. I mean, the town needs plan to be able to look at these finding sources, but, I mean, my family's got the land along the river, but then there's, you know, 250 acres of James Colby's up at the interchange there. And I'm frankly kind of amazed that someone has done something to adapt, but the idea of somehow or other, I mean, that is right at the interchange and you could do so many different things, you know.  I mean, I don't know. I don't know about that chart, but for a project that could be huge, and then you've got Betty Frodo's property, she passed away this year and there's a couple of hundred acres of land there. Then you've got Steve Martin, the person he's from.  I mean, not someone telling these landowners what to do, but somehow or other, you know, almost like a club you could be a part of, that you could draw on collaboration and, you know, what's going on if we can't meet.  You know, you get the bill list next door and that's coming along. The farmers stand down here at the corner and I've warned them, you know, that they need to be prepared for success because that is a phenomenal location and frankly they are doing a wonderful job. They're really good for hard work and then frankly, you know, good bearings for them.  And then there's another, you know, in the post of 48 years, you'll get a good sale. So I don't have the answer.  But that could just be the beginning of, like, what do we do about these footings? Are you looking for ideas of what's beautiful land?  But in the process of taking out sand and gravel, I mean, that's just sort of the means to take it to an end because there are people in the natural resources planning community that, you know, looking at, you know, how could these footings be managed differently?   And, you know, you can fill it in or maybe you can, I mean, in the dairy farm over there. I mean, if you, I sort of joke, if you want to see what a million dollars looks like, drive over there in your two harvesters hours, there are those round, new farms that used to call them new jewels. But, you know, they were the dairy farm, but frankly, you know, industrial, scale, you know, materials processing things that could be whether they're processing things from other farms. We know this, but, I mean, I'm looking at the idea almost of, like, the interest of ideas. Ideas, yeah. Yeah. I'm not assuring this land to anyone. Yeah. Well, I mean, frankly, the folks over in Champlain, you know, one of them is apparently experienced in doing public events. You know, we used to have the pump and show that the farms stand.  But, well, I guess I'm sort of looking at the dream of, you know, working on something that, you know, create, build synergy so you don't have, I mean, ideally, you know, James Colby, I don't think the guy's looking to get rich, you know.  You know, we came from town, but he's got this land. Something's got to be done with it. And there is somebody who I would just think in his heart and his soul would never, I wouldn't meet a pretty nice guy for a song. But, you know, we generally think people are good, you know. If you're given the chance to contemplate, but, you know, you can sort of let things happen or you can sort of take steps and, you know, make some work by yourself. That's good. Other folks have thoughts or input? Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you, folks. You're going to know the work you're doing and this village, I mean, I mean, one of the things that would be great if the planning commission would review it. I mean, I've heard about it before, but I've been kind of in the same city or what it's called, but almost like a playing game.   I mean, it's the primeval, primeval wilderness paradise. And this is something that nobody knows about. They've done, you know, that piece that we did in some of these other ones. But it's, well, I mean, you guys are leading the way. That's good. Thank you. What you've done, you know. So, I'm a supporter, you know. I just understand them in any way they are. Thanks. I thought the current U.S. paragraph on page 35 was kind of, I mean, I refer to it as a popular program, but it's only 60, 80, 60 properties enrolled. Because the main restraint on the enrollment is that you need a minimum of 25 acres, which is not mentioned as being important. In fact, that's the big factor that people cannot overcome. If you develop that property with a house, then you have to take this enrolled to two acres for giving the house a few more years. So, I just thought that could be better. And also, what the land, once it's put into current U.S., the state's in current U.S., whether you sell it or not, no problem. If you remove it from current U.S., you have to pay a penalty. Does current U.S. have a time frame like 10 years? No. There's no time frame. So once it's in there and stays forever. Once you maintain the requirements of the properties, you can include some cardistry plan and actually do it. Thanks. Well, there are actually, I mean, from the look, you would know the stick from the Grand Biscuit work, but there are a couple of huge prices of land and intercepts. Right? Yes, 2,000 acres of land.  Whether it's, I mean, you're talking about the current U.S. thing, well, looking at working with ground facts that you could, in one hand, sort of wash the other and keeping it in current U.S., but you'd also be doing the housing and there's two types of current U.S. It's supposed to be an agriculture. Of course, your family is an agriculture and that's a much better view of current U.S. and all of our buildings. Also, they're not going to have to be powered. Yeah. Well, then the thing is, in the open land, one house, where that's for $1, both for the land services. Okay. Other thoughts or input? Thank you. Just a question on that. This was really interesting to read. I learned a lot from you. Can you, I'm assuming people know you, but can you introduce yourself? I can read it just. I move around the way to read it. Thanks. And I was really fascinated by page 23 and there's a paragraph in there under commuting and I just, I raise it just because I'm wondering if going theories are about it. In the third paragraph under beyond commuting, it talks about the fact that 60% fewer middle sex residents used other means such as the bicycle to get to work and the number of people that worked from home dropped 55%. And I'm just, I'm curious what different theories might be around that. I mean I have one, which is related to broadband and for what it's worth. There are some very interesting things going on such as a lot with the work being done with the CUDs, the communication unions districts and that could make a difference in middle sex and I hope that it will. I hope the next town plan will talk about how that might have impacted that. But other than that, I see, unless you're nodding, but I'm wondering what your theory is. I'm also thinking that the numbers are so small that how many people is that really? I'm looking here, we have nine people walking in 2010 and 18 in 2016. Right. The other thing to notice, these numbers, I think we have a bunch of caveats, we have to have these numbers in the town plan. They're extrapolated based on prior census data so, and when the sample size is so small, don't read too much into it. Understood. I would have just predicted that there would be a lot more people working from home. We talk so much about how that's a thing and we know we have our challenges with broadband, but anyway, that... There may also be, I think there's, I can speculate, there's more people out in the workforce than not staying home. And as part-time workers, that might also be part of it. I mean, to me, it really comes down to the broadband. I really think that, over the years, internet applications require more and more internet speed and ours hasn't gotten any better if anything, it's gotten worse for most people and that you can't, most houses and middle sex don't have an internet connection. You can work from home. Tell me a general comment. On my comments, I'm much less interested in your comments, but I thought that the section, I tried to make a note of it so I could be efficient here, achieving the vision. I thought that was such a helpful section. I personally, for what it's worth, would have liked to see that move up further in the beginning. Even if it was just a little box, because I thought the info in it was super good. Like, this is going to last for eight years and, you know, whatever the little pieces were. And it did just a nice job setting you up for how you did the roles, strategies, and objectives, which felt so good. And it's always just useful to run that through up front for your reader, just a sort of a hand-holding photography. I think I know where some of that came from. And I guess the other thing I would say is I personally am so excited about all the work that Mike and colleagues have running through their minds with Planetary Matters. And I do wonder what exit I will look like in the future. And I know that there's been some talk about, you know, light rail. And I like how you folded it in saying it's a no longer term future. And there is a study being done to look at light rail and there's a federal piece that's going with it called positive train control. There were those terrible crashes that took place in the Pacific Northwest. And so that may end up making use of rail much more complicated because of what is required, as I understand it, which is very little, but of the tracks and of the equipment used on those tracks. But I think the Budcars that have been talked about potentially for recent for a month, and just all... They're sitting in the rail. They're ready to go. I know. They're going to have to go to the project because money is not theirs. Completely. Well, and actually, one of the other resources that we don't mention there, and sometimes people with their politics is very good, but I don't...  We have much of it. And if there's anyone who would have an interest in supporting, you know, the future of Middlesons, I mean, of course, you have to work with Washington, but it's hard to do.  But it's much easier than you usually slow down.  It's great. So I have really just want to thank the Planning Commission. I came in with a very long list of very specific suggestions at the last meeting, and I appreciate them going through each one. Very carefully. Didn't, you know, agree with all and that's fine, but there is one that I would like you to reconsider. All of those. And I just feel like the word is kind of inappropriate. It's... And we were talking about Putnamville. And the sentence reads, with recent successful development focused along with two, and closer to the interstate, Putnamville has seen little change. The end of that, it's obviously popular. I just wonder, if you have a word like successful, what's your criteria for that? And it just seemed like it stuck out as a, you know, somebody's opinion, but not really belonging in the plan. So I would just say with recent development, rather with recent successful development. Michael, could you imagine the old page that was on it? Yes, it is on page 66. Thank you. Here in competition with a fan behind me. Okay, thank you. Mike, there's no attention to detail minds. Thank you for your input. Thank you. Any thoughts, comments? You guys did a phenomenal job. Once you have this in hand, and that's where the achieving vision was, yes, achieving vision, you then, how might this be used in a way that might be different from how past plans are used? I don't know all about how past plans are used, but all plans, how this will be used, it will help guide any zoning changes that we might consider. There's been talk about changing some of the zoning in town. It would guide continuing work on energy siting issues. I think we're looking at doing an enhanced energy plan for the town and working with the Regional Planning Commission, and this is one step in that process. What really got us moving in this direction is we had looked into getting a grant for some transportation improvements, some sidewalks, streetscape improvements along through the Middlesex Village here last year, and we weren't even qualified because we didn't have a valid town plan. We got kicked out before we could even really apply. We were really interested in seeing if we could get a new town plan in place so we might be able to apply again next year. That's one of the things that I think we're looking to use. This year. That was an excellent setup. I'm just going to add on to that. I attended a workshop yesterday held by the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, and one of the presentations they did was about the state's municipal planning grant program. They talked about funding. They actually said one of their concerns is that funding has been cut in recent years and they are trying hard to get that back to historical levels of funding. And they mentioned some things. I will go through this in detail right now, but if anybody wants to talk to me about later, I'm happy to. But they mentioned that the program that they are running for is to do municipal grants up to a maximum of $22,000 for a community or you can do $35,000 if you work as a consortium with a neighboring community and it's basically a 10% cash match can come from any source so for example we could apply for a $20,000 grant to do we were talking last year about a street scape feasibility study and there's a bunch of things like that that you're eligible for we would have to raise $2,000 and we would be eligible for a $20,000 match and they have some quick statistics in here about last year they awarded $450,000 and they got 67 applications they awarded 29 grants and they had $950,000 requested and they basically were able to fund about half of the projects and we were one of those that got cut out of the pile right away because we didn't meet that really basic criteria and September 30th is the deadline for an application for this year so our goal is to have a town plan approved before September 30th so that we can apply for a grant and they had some really helpful information yesterday about how to do this grant writing and how you can reach out to community members to help polish up your grant and they said you know some of the people forget about it every town has got a bunch of people who are terrific writers and you sort of start this stuff and you don't have to do it yourself you just reach out to your writers in town and they'll step up and focus stuff like that and one of the big takeaways was that things that you identify in your town plan as goals, objectives, tasks those are the sorts of things that they look at and say oh they've addressed this in the town plan they're ready to do this and it's almost like a shovel ready project that's the sort of thing that gets you the point that you need to kind of get moving on this so that's one of the reasons that a well thought out town plan is important because it can help identify the kind of things that these folks are looking for when they review a grant application that'll help and you know one of the guys that talked to us yesterday said that he's been doing this for 10 years and he gets a grant almost every year you know 5,000, 10,000 15,000 whatever and he said that after a while he just gets to be a game and he just keeps doing it so we've historically not done that sort of stuff in town and as Stan mentioned there's a ton of opportunities in town there's people already doing some things like Mike and his group and there's tons of opportunities and we're not telling landowners how to use their land but if people have creative ideas I think part of our goal is to help one of the things I'd like to shout out on Field Planning and Planning Commission is the whole what's next middle sex process brought many people together to talk about opportunities in the town and kind of recognizing the need for a feasibility study for the village center was kind of a precipitate of that process and those groups are ongoing so we have the economic development infrastructure on trails, communication and the fourth is spaces, building spaces I think yeah so that continuing work I think this is a formally more public hearing we're here we're very glad to get comment but the ability to have ongoing input through some of those other community groups I think is a real deal and you know I know that economic development infrastructure is meeting tomorrow night and we're going to continue to try to kind of figure out where there's a synergy between private folks and the formal planning commission and just to be clear next steps in this after the public hearing shortly we'll then meet and talk about what changes to make on the town plan it then is passed off to the select board they will review it themselves they've provided some feedback already they have to have their own public hearing on the town plan and then it also will be reviewed by the regional planning commission in the next couple of months so there's still a lot of process to do but a lot of the ground work is laid and thank you all for your help and input I just like to suggest to you guys I mean don't let the enemy of the village and you've got so many products here and you know with the timeline that you mentioned it so I encourage you to stay in this like you were with us right she doesn't get enough credit but a planner from salt came out as a consultant to help us with this project she did a lot of the work as well she got paid for it very first meeting that was one of her takeaways was to perfectly be the enemy of the good yeah and this is you know I mean you mentioned the timeline so people can keep coming working on it people have less of this so they'll speed it up well I think in line with that it's not perfect now that means we keep it a living document which means we all keep it revisiting and not that I'm competitive or anything but I did just see something in Time Gargantz a few weeks ago that counter-proven just adopted a new town plan they got an award for their town plan okay if there's nothing further I will bring a vote to a motion for a vote to close the public hearing public hearing a second all those in favor aye closed okay public hearing is closed


Personal Finance PowerPoint Presentation, Starter Home. Get ready to get financially fit by practicing personal finance. Most of this information can be found at Investopedia, what to look for in a starter home, which can be found online. And you can look at the references, resources, continue your research from there. This is by Donna Foscaldi, updated March 6th, 2022, what to look for in a starter home. If you are a first-time home buyer, you likely have a lot at stake. Buying a home is one of the most expensive purchases you might make in your lifetime. And home prices are up, continuing the trend of a seller's market as of February 2022 in most parts of the country. So clearly purchasing a home for an individual, big investment, big process. It's one of those decisions where we want to make sure that we use the adage of we measure twice and cut once. With that, we'll typically not gonna be able to put straight cash down for the purchase of the home and therefore often have to deal with the financing, which will of course complicate the process. So buying your first home takes careful planning and preparation from saving up for a down payment to understanding your mortgage options as a first-time home buyer. Besides the financial challenges, potential buyers' vision of the perfect abode may not translate into what they can realistically afford or their overall lifestyle. That's the typical scenario, isn't it? We want to have a home that's gonna be outside of our price range oftentimes. So we need to be somewhat practical in terms of our decision-making process for the home purchasing process. We gotta actually think about in a bit more depth what it is we're looking for in the home and what it is we can afford, what our resources are. So first-time home buyers willing to approach the buying process from a practical rather than a primarily emotional standpoint can avoid these mistakes. So that is what kind of falls into the longer-term decision-making process. We're not simply making the decision solely with our gut because we haven't been able to train our gut with the long-term decisions. We have to use a more formal process, a more practical process. Doesn't mean we don't look for what we want within the home, but we gotta list out the pros and cons in a more formal way so we can approach it practically, which is more likely to get us the result we're looking for. So sure, high-end appliances may be nice, but so is having mortgage payments that don't strain your budget. So clearly, you don't wanna overextend yourself to the point where you're stressed out about the payment of the budget and so on and so forth. So you wanna find an appropriate mix. So here are five questions to ask yourself when you are shopping for a starter home, can you afford this house? When shopping for a first starter house, some first-time buyers will get pre-approved for a mortgage and then shop based on the maximum they can borrow. Now this is clearly something that you can see why you would do this, why this would happen, right? You go to the bank and you can say, okay, what can I get approved for? And they're gonna say, we might be able to finance you for this amount. And then you say, okay, I'm gonna max out the loan amount and I'm gonna try to get the most house I can based on what the bank is willing to loan me. That's not the right approach typically. Remember that the bank is not the person that's helping you to budget financially. The purpose of the bank is to try to get as much financing as you can have available to you so that it's there in the event that you decide that you wanna take out that financing. In other words, there's a lot of other factors that go into the bank's determination as to how much loan they can give. And some of those factors are strange and can have weird impacts as we've seen in the past, such as being able to sell the loans on a secondary market, having government like interventions into the market and just the economy in general will skew kind of the bank's behavior in terms of how much they might lend. So you can easily find yourself in situations, especially with government incentives where the bank is willing to lend more than someone can actually most likely afford to pay. You would ask yourself, why does the bank do that? Because you would think the bank would be trying to safeguard themselves given the fact that they have risk involved there. But what if the bank doesn't have the risk? What if the bank can offload the loan on the secondary market or something like that? If they don't have the risk and they can get the loan out there and then sell the loan or something like that, then they'll do that, right? They're not doing it to finance or to help your financial budgets. So what you wanna do then, we wanna get the mindset, I'm going to the bank to try to get as much financing as the bank will afford me and then I'm gonna do my own budgeting to determine how much I can actually afford personally and then I'll determine how much financing I need based on our own budget, hopefully and hoping that the bank amount will be more than that, based on the financing that they would be willing to give me. So the FHA or VA mortgages are often good choices for first-time home buyers if you can't afford a conventional mortgage. These national mortgage programs can help first-time buyers afford a starter home, but there are caps not only on the buyer's income but how much house they are allowed to purchase. However, if you are taking out a conventional mortgage and pre-approved for a large purchase price, don't automatically assume you can afford it. Just because you are pre-approved for an expensive home doesn't mean you should take it. So the fact that the money is there for a loan again doesn't mean that you shouldn't do your own budgeting. The higher credit that you can get from the bank that they're willing to give you the more trust that they have in you that you'll be able to repay it, great, that doesn't mean that you should take the money because you gotta pay it back. That means that then you have more flexibility to do your own budget and you can do what you can trust on your own budget from there at that point. So if you buy a starter home, you may want to spend less than you are approved for. If you take on a larger mortgage only because you qualify for it, it may cause financial difficulties down the road. And unfortunately, this often happens mainly on the lower income side of things because that's where the incentives are for things like government intervening in the market and an attempt to help get people into homes and whatnot, but they could create incentives where there's financing that is greater than what people could actually pay, whereas the bank probably wouldn't be allowing that financing if it was under normal kind of market conditions. And that could be bad because that could actually force people into a financial condition that they can't actually afford, but they think they can because the bank for some reason is allowing them to loan, to take out a larger loan, which you're, and we're depending on the bank for the personal budgeting, which isn't what we want to do. We don't trust the bank or the government or whatnot. We just want to be the financing to be there if we need it and then do our own kind of budgeting. So instead of going all in with your first home, it's wiser to look for a more affordable starter home that won't break your budget and leaves room for future expenses. And since most experts say it's best to stay in the home you purchase for at least five years to recoup the costs and see some return on your investment. So usually when you buy the home, unless you're a professional like Flipper or something like that, you typically want to buy a home that you're planning to stay for a bit, for at least on a five-year timeframe because that gives some room hopefully for the loan, for the home to go up in value, but you can't really depend on that for sure. And hopefully for you to be able to pay down on a bit of that loan. So you want to purchase a property you can afford. In addition, the more down payment you can afford, the more built-in equity you have out of the gate. So meaning when you purchase the home, the more down payment you can put, the more cash payment you put upfront. One, that's usually good for the lender. So if you could put more money upfront, the lender is gonna be taking on less risk because more money upfront means that the home value in comparison to the loan value, there's a bigger gap, equity, meaning home value minus the loan value. And if you were to default on the loan, then the bank could foreclose on the home if they needed to and they could sell the home for at least and recover the loan amount. Whereas if you're pretty close, the loan balance is right next to the home value then if the market went down at all and the bank would be at risk in that case and it would also lead to the lender not having as much personal investment and more likely wanting to just walk away from the home. So a bigger down payment can have good effects oftentimes. Does it fit your lifestyle? First time home buyers make mistakes thinking about what they want inside the home instead of other factors such as the distance from work, schools and other necessities. So oftentimes we get this idea and I've seen this happen where basically people are saying, I feel like I should buy a home. I've been told my whole life it's the American dream to buy a home. There's tax breaks to buy a home. I need to take advantage of the home market and invest in a home, but I can't afford a home where I currently want to be or something like that. And therefore the home is purchased somewhere way out. You get a very nice home, but in a place that's not next to the place that you actually need to be where your work is and you end up with a long commute or something like that, which you got to take those into consideration when purchasing the home, of course. As a result, you may be lured into purchasing a property because it is move in ready or has a pool in the backyard or it meets all the buying requirements on your list. But as a first time buyer, consider more than the floor plan and amenities like commuting time and how close your home is to friends and family. So clearly those other factors like work, for example, are gonna be important if you have to actually go into work. Maybe these days more people are not physically driving to work so much, but a lot of people are, of course, and that is gonna take a toll if you're driving a long distance. Not only could it increase your expenses if you spend more money and time commuting, but it can cost you emotionally if you are stressed out from sitting in traffic each day or don't see your friends and family as much as you'd like. And I've commuted to downtown LA from outside of LA and the traffic, when the traffic's horrible, it's, yeah, so it definitely takes a toll. I'd be happy to cut a bedroom off of my home to stop that, but any case, make a list of these lifestyle priorities and factor into your buying decision. What would your future self want? So you can't just think about yourself like now because this is a long-term plan. Most people purchasing a starter home aren't given too much thought to their lives five or 10 years down the road, but not peaking into the future can result in a costly mistake. So that's why I have my crystal ball that I look at all the time. Consider your plans for having children or pets, for example, you and your spouse or partner may not be gearing up to become parents or own dogs in the next couple of years, but that may be a consideration down the road. So, or you may enjoy the convenience of a condominium, but as you grow older, you might want more privacy. Taking your longer range plans and incorporating them into your buying decision can benefit your overall wellbeing. Has the property been maintained? So home improvement television shows make it look easy to do a variety of renovations, but the reality couldn't be further from the truth. So for most people going in and saying, I'm gonna tear down a couple walls. I see a hole in the ceiling right there. I'm gonna replumb the whole place. That's not good for most people unless you really kind of know what you're doing. Even if you know what you're doing, it's gonna cost money to do that whole thing. So you can take that into consideration. Just because you are purchasing a starter home doesn't mean you should choose one that's a fixer upper with a lot of needed upgrades and renovations. So you gotta, I mean, if that's your thing, then obviously that's kind of a specialty area. If it's not your thing, that's gonna be a lot of work. So first time home buyers are better off purchasing a home that has been maintained and doesn't require a lot of repairs or upkeep. Just routine maintenance for a home is costly, not to mention repairs and remodeling. A major, if major repairs or replacements are needed, it might be best to move into better maintained properties. Did you have an exit strategy? Starter homes aren't usually meant to be owned forever, which means you want to purchase a home that has a potential to make you money when you move, when you move.  Maybe I'm buying one bedroom, something, or a smaller home without the things that like a yard or something I might want in the future. I'm planning on moving after some point in time, possibly you want to stay in it for that five years is what they recommend or something like that. So you would like to have the plan within your plan that you're able to make money on it possibly or move at some point in time. Obviously those plans all depend on the market conditions and what's gonna happen with the market and things could, we never know how the market's gonna work, right? So you may want to have an exit strategy for the property you are purchasing, whether that means choosing a home that will be easy to rent in the future or quickly sold. So clearly if you're planning on moving at some point, the two options you might have is say, I'm gonna keep the home and rent it, which could be more difficult because then you're gonna have less cashflow up front than you would if you actually sold the home and or sell it. And if you're gonna sell the home, and then of course that might be beneficial to get the money you would need to be purchasing another home. Homes with access to popular school districts, local parks or other amenities like grocery stores may help in tax renters or buyers when you are ready to move to a new home. So clearly when you're thinking about renting something, locate, do I have to say it again? I'm gonna say it, I'm gonna say the real estate thing. Location, location. And I won't say that, I won't say the last one, but you can guess, you can guess what it's gonna be. What is a starter home? A starter home is usually the first home a family or individual can't afford to purchase. So they often, they are often small properties that they buy or to live in for a few years and then sell for a larger or more upscale home. Are starter homes cheap? Contrary to assumptions, not all starter homes are cheap. Obviously it depends on what? Location, multiple factors. So they may be less affordable than houses with more square feet or acreage, but starter home prices depend on numerous factors besides size, such as, here it is, location, type of property and the areas housing market. Should I buy a starter home? Starter homes, AKA small houses or condominiums are usually more affordable than large houses in upscale neighborhoods. That wasn't my question. I said, should I buy? It's a yes or no answer. If you are planning to grow your family or move in a few years, but you no longer want to rent, purchasing a starter home may be a good investment. Yes or no was my question. Providing you can afford it and you stay long enough to build some home equity. So what's the bottom line? Home ownership can be empowering, but it can be a daunting process, especially for first time home buyers. Mistakes are all around on the path to home ownership, but many can be avoided. Start by choosing a starter home that will within your means that meets your current and future wants and needs, but also have an exit strategy in place and don't discount turning your starter home into your forever home if you decide to stay.


How do you explain the power surge after the power outage there in the night? You know, more guys just continue to step up.  I mean, because keep telling you, it's not easy for us right now. We got to grind and scratch for everything. We're up against Snell today, who's absolutely dealing. But obviously, Masa's able to match him. And then some were able to scratch a couple off of him and get him out of there and then have one big inning to kind of put it on ice. But, you know, Masa went out and set the tone for us.  Dealing with the power outage, a little bit of an atypical situation in a game. What's the feeling like in that dugout as you have the lead heading into the night? It's pretty loose, you know, guys. You know, it was something different, you know, we're just kind of sitting out there and kind of wondering what's going on, getting some explanation, but trying to make sense of it all. But guys just kind of, you know, you're kind of ball talking. You're kind of telling funny stories, whatever. And guys are just, guys were able to stay loose. And, but at the same time staying ready and able to come out and put together a big inning to put it away. You mentioned both Snell and Tanaka and the way they were dealing, especially early. Is that fifth inning two-out double by Roma and amplified that much more because of how well Snell had been throwing the ball prior to that?  He had all his pitches, you know, was able to strike his breaking ball. The changeup was good. And then he had the chase breaking ball, the fast ball at the top of the zone. I mean, he was, he was pitching like the Cy Young Award winner. And we knew it was going to be tough, but then boom, we're able to string a couple of the bats against them. And then Masa kind of took it from there. What was the explanation here? Did you ever think about the color? Something with the grid. Man, I'm not very bright when it comes to this, this kind of stuff. So it doesn't make sense to me anyway. Pardon the pun. I don't know. Grid went out, came back, five more minutes. Were they close to calling it at all? I don't think so. It seems like they had a little bit of a handle on it, I guess.  What do you mean? No. He was going. I thought he was throwing the ball great too. Yeah, I was, he was going. I'm not talking, pitch count was pretty low. Did you think at all about keeping them in there? Masa? Yeah. No, no. Once we were through that third time there with Meadows coming up who had given him some problems, felt like it was definitely then. You know, we had some conversations even about after the, after the six, you know, when we had Tommy up, if he got in any trouble or had a batter on, we probably would have gone to Tommy. But now once he got through seven there, we're, we're certain it was, it was Britt and Chappy if we needed him. By what you saw from green. Man, it was awesome. I mean, that's, that's Chad Green right there. You know, I mean, that was that characteristic fastball that especially at the top of the zone there against the left, he threw a couple of good sliders to, to Garcia mixed in the changeup. That was, hold on cash. That was, it was really good to see him.  If you want to put my speaker, I won't. Yeah. I'm not watching guests, I guess. Yeah. And do you guys know who you're gonna drop off for Higgs? We do. We'll have an announcement here, but yeah, we do know.


Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. It's my honor to rise in the House to share the voices of students from Lincoln Heights Public School. Lincoln Heights alone requires over three million dollars in repairs and is one of many schools in Waterloo. Across the city, over 68 million dollars in repairs are required. The students wrote to me to share their concerns about cuts to school repair funding. Here's what they have to say. Great for student Ryan. We don't have air conditioning. Our classrooms get really hot. Our windows don't have screens, so sometimes wasps fly in on a hot day. I got stung by wasps twice while in class. His classmate Emily also wants the government to fund fixes to air conditioning. Madison in grade five says, in my classroom, it's usually good in the winter, but one time our heat broke and we had to wear our winter coats in class to keep warm. However, in the summertime it is so hot, one time our classroom was so hot that our teacher was thinking of sending us home. Caden, age 10, wants the government to know how difficult it was to learn after his class was moved to the cafeteria because of a ceiling leak in their classroom. William, who just graduated from Lincoln Heights, says that teachers and students should be able to complete their work based on their abilities and not on the environment they are working in. Joshua, grade eight, was blunt. Lincoln Heights Crumbling State is a perfect example of why the school repair budget shouldn't be cut. Thanks to the students from Lincoln Heights for speaking up. Keep using your voices to make the world a better place. Thank you. Thank you, Member Statements. Member for Ottawa's Centre. Thank you, Speaker. This afternoon I rise to contrast the experience of two Ontario residents. One of them lives in Ottawa. The first person I want to talk to everyone about, her name is Bobby Assoon. Bobby's a 47-year-old woman who lives with chronic pain given multiple sclerosis and she uses a wheelchair. She is unable to maintain employment and therefore on ODSP. Recently Bobby became homeless after her daughter moved out and her monthly ODSP benefits were cut by $428 a month. Now Bobby is living in an emergency shelter in Ottawa's east end, unsure if and when she can be safely housed. A cut to ODSP benefits makes her situation worse. She needs a safe home, a livable income and medicinal cannabis for her chronic pain. Meanwhile, Mayo Schmidt, the former CEO of Hydro One, is living a much different life thanks in part to our tax laws. After this government fired him, Mr. Speaker, Schmidt's yearly income in 2018 rose to $9 million, a significant portion of which comes from cashing out stock options in his executive contract. At a time when one in seven Ontarians are living in poverty, how can someone like Bobby not have a decent home while Mayo Schmidt gets to cash out stock options with massive tax rebates? It's not right. It's time to eliminate all forms of corporate welfare. It's time to dedicate the resources we have to lift Bobby and other people like her out of poverty. Thank you, Member Statements. Member for London, Fanshawe. I rise in the legislature to honor a man deserving of recognition who recently passed away. Reverend Dr. George Harvey Crawwell was a remarkable man, husband, father, and friend who lived a life dedicated to helping others. An ordained Presbyterian minister, George was educated and spent the early part of his career in the United States before joining the Religious Studies Department at the University of Windsor, where he taught social ethics until his retirement. He focused on issues of peace and justice, environmental protection, and racial harmony. For the last 20 years, he was most passionate about the need for a change in monetary policy, seeing it as an essential element for the preservation of social safety net for all Canadians and a necessary part of maintaining a just society. George was a dedicated activist supporting the work of many social justice organizations, including the London and District Labor Council, the Society of Christian Ethics, the Council of Canadians, and the Committee on Monetary Economic Reform, and among others. George had been a friend of mine for many years. It was his integrity and his conscience that I always admired. Whenever we spoke, he was always well researched and steadfast in his conviction to help others. I would like to extend my condolences to the Crawwell family and all those affected by George's passing. It is a great loss to our community, but I am sure his legacy will continue in those who remember him and his incredible contributions. We will miss you, George. Member Statements, the member for Ottawa South. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the basic income pilot was designed to find a better way to lift people out of poverty and change lives. Cancelling it is wrong and devastating to the thousands of people, families who, in good faith, took the risk and chose to join. Almost 4,000 households, single mums, families with young kids, senior citizens, they've all had the rug pulled out from underneath them. People have made decisions to go back to school, to find an apartment closer to work, to take a new job. The Premier broke his promise to them. Hugh Segal, former Conservative Senator and Principal Secretary to Bill Davis, called it a horrific decision. Here is the sequence of the Minister's responses. It was a tough decision. I broke a promise. It's fake news. It wasn't a promise. It's going to cost $17 billion. Some people dropped out to a baseless attack on my colleague from Don Valley East this morning. These responses do nothing for the families that have been devastated by this decision, and the Premier and the Minister must do the right thing by these families, and they must reinstate the pilot. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Thank you very much. Member's statements. The member for Scarborough Southwest. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, every single day I receive emails, messages, phone calls from the people of Scarborough Southwest with deep concerns about the Ford government's priorities. So it's been two months since the provincial election, and what has the Ford government delivered to Ontario? Well, they have failed to deliver critically needed mental health funding, cutting $335 million a year. They have failed to deliver overdue increases to vulnerable people on OW and ODSP programs, especially those in Toronto Community Housing, in my writing of Scarborough Southwest. They have failed to deliver on fully researching the now cancelled basic income pilot, which could have provided those in need across Ontario with better opportunities for the future. They have failed to deliver sensible and scientific plans for the environment, canceling cap and trade program, and wasting public dollars on future lawsuits. They have failed to deliver on reconciliation with Ontario First Nations. They have failed to deliver a safe and modern sex ed curriculum for Ontario students putting children's safety at risk. They have failed to deliver on urgently needed funding to repair schools in Scarborough, putting our children's future in jeopardy. They have failed to deliver a logical and common sense response to gun control and gun violence in our city. They have failed to deliver a government that respects democracy, the democratic freedom and autonomy of Toronto. But what have they delivered? Buck a beer. They are willing to subsidize beer while ignoring the needs of our most vulnerable people in this province. So on behalf of the hundred and seven thousand people of Scarborough Southwest, I'm asking this government to do the right thing, work for the people, because that's what governments are supposed to do. Thank you, Mr. Member statements.


What's going on guys? Modern day muscle back at you with another video. We have a special guest here with us today. It is a Arnold and his son Caleb. They came out here to come with me right here and they also have that pretty sweet ride right there. Y'all see it? Y'all see it? Do y'all see what type of theme it is? I don't know if y'all do, but we'll get closer and talk about it. Yo guys. So we got my man Arnold here and his Joker themed car. I don't know if you want to talk about why you did the theme or you know I see ties together. There's a lot going on with this car. So basically I came out with this thing because I'm one of my car to stand out. I wanted to be different. So I was just sitting in bed one day and seeing how I can get you know a different type of look, different type of audience and first I was about to do the Wolverine but then because of the color scheme of cars you know it's that that blue. I've never seen a Wolverine that would have been hard. Right, right. So then I was like you know what you know Dark Knight was a good movie so I loved the Heath Ledger as a Joker and I decided I took it to a vinyl guy. I had a couple of estimates and some people would give me like a run around and stuff like that crazy price and so I found somebody and asked can he sponsor me with this type of design. He thought I was crazy and we actually started putting it together and then I got some mods and stuff like that and this is what I came up with. Heath Ledger the Joker. Why so serious. Yeah, why so serious. Yeah, it's definitely definitely shot out to Heath. Rest in peace to him but awesome Joker. So when I started doing design I started doing the vinyl stuff as well and at night this actually reflects so when lights hits it you just don't see just the Joker when it's all dark. The face glows so it glows up pretty good and then I got some modifications with like I added the tire stickers, got some city you know and the green I did the green pinstripe because it stands out. I wanted the car to stand out so at night this thing it's like a spaceship that lights up, got the underlights, I got the hood scoop. It's pretty it's pretty cool. So I started taking little pieces and pieces and then you know I wind up getting the deluxe rear diffuser. I got that from ZL1. That's pretty cool and then I want them getting right here. I got that taken care of. The wicker bell joint. Yeah, the wicker bell joint. And then ZL1 I got the ZL1 rear extensions and the side skirts. Okay.  I said no I want the actual scene and as you can see it's all at night time it is. I mean you can check it out on my Instagram but it all glows. This actually glows so you're able to see this. This is reflective. The face is reflective. I mean it's pretty much this to me I just wanted to have a different challenger from everyone else. I got this right here one of the best scenes right here. This reflects with the mask in the beginning of the movie so that's pretty cool. I have done I have done my work to this car. Yeah man looks good. I noticed you got the Hellcat hood and bumper front bumper going on with the the lip and everything going on. So this right here and I have there's always some comments here so you know Mopar is Mopar so looking at my car this is a base 6. You know I don't need to pop up the hood because you gonna see the 3.6 there so this is not an actual Hellcat but I love that body the menace of it and so basically my car is a V6 with a Hellcat body. It's a Hellcat hood so everything has changed I mean even the the front splitter it's changed it's all Hellcat so when people look at this you're definitely gonna see that it's a Hellcat body but it don't sound like a Hellcat so I'm not trying to steer it take away from you know everybody that's in the VA class or nothing like that. A real quick I don't want to interrupt real quick but I just got to say something.  Alright back to the video. So right now and I got the vinyl so I want to say a couple of shout outs to people who actually the past couple months that has helped me with my car I'm not gonna leave them I'm not gonna leave them out so I got a quick decal. He's the one that does all my my work so you guys give him a shout out he does all my vinyl work and stuff like that okay and also there is a guy named David Turner he actually did my ceramic coating that makes a big difference yeah so David Turner you can actually find him on my Instagram you see a tag in there everybody I'm just sending those shout outs to who actually helped me with my car so I'm never gonna leave people out stranded but yeah this is designed though in the light work so I got the demon eyes I got the demons eyes in there you can see that this is where I customized so I got this right here with the vinyl in it I mean like I said this car is you guys can see that ha ha ha ha why serious yeah so yeah definitely that's a serious on the hood to everyone help with it but like I said though this is my my vehicle right here so yeah man it's dope and out and the one thing I want to say one I want to say is like as you said like you don't do whatever you want to your car basically don't never get discouraged what people think you know if they were to be done anything can be done because that's basically what I did was actually my car to stand out and yeah this is this is my Joker you can find me on Instagram too the underscore Joker underscore 813 so basically out of Tampa so the Joker 813 alright guys that's Arnold and Caleb you've seen Arnold's car the Joker joint right there why so serious this is gonna be the end of the video my name is Jordan modern-day muscle make sure you go grab yourself some merch right there my Instagram will be on the screen I'll catch you guys on the next video guys


The form may not be in the robot. The most watched videos people have seen is the genre, analog horror, with examples like the Mandela catalog and Local 58. But one of the most intriguing analog horror videos to be shown is the intriguing Nickelodeon based video series, the Nick DVD. Upon watching it, I've gathered what the story was about. Red Mist, the most popular creepypasta, was aired onto the, and now people have been reporting sightings of an evil red-eyed squidward, and people being possessed by this entity. Of course, it's based on SpongeBob SquarePants, but, wow. I mean, wow. This is one of the most cryptic and disturbing pieces of videos I've seen, with backward words, and of course, symbols in the comments. Here's an example of its crypticness, in the first video discovery in the comments, you'll see these symbols. Upon looking up the symbols, it turns out to be a galactic alphabet. When translated, it said this. Please end my suffering, I have been laughed at by this creature for so long. Please, I'll do anything. Upon the vast numbers of distorted faces, screams and its disturbing nature, one of the creepiest faces is this one. This one is at the 6 minute and 58 second part of the video, one of the kids being pushed into the brink of insanity, with only the voice in his head pushing him into death. And then, another interesting moment is from the third video, warning. During the trailer for SpongeBob Season 2, it showed an emergency alert system during the trailer, about how Nickelodeon had become dangerous. There are more, and more disturbing or interesting pieces to be spotted in the entire series, which included the Nickelodeon training video with the bootleg SpongeBob face, a person being infected by the Red Mist Force, and of course, the Red Mist Squidward talking a phrase in backwards, which couldn't be decoded. One of the other videos from the playlist is this bit of phrasing. Which translates to, I am alone. My guess is that Red Mist is a common representation of depression, but please, screenshot some scenes, analyze the entire series, look for clues. There are so many intriguing pieces in this video series that it'll be a long story listing these off. So for now, the Nick DVD series is kept under the vault.