You know, there's a lot of fatigue around the country about Trump, you know. We've heard enough about him. He occupies the first 20 articles of every newspaper, assuming there are still newspapers. And you know, he tries to get on the radar everywhere, in every way, no matter what.  I'll watch Iowa of Lucy. I don't want to hear any more of this any more. But we persist, we prevail, we continue here at Trump Week, because we know how important this conversation is. Right, Tim Apichella? Absolutely, Jay. And I love Lucy. What do you think, Cynthia Sinclair? I think it's hard sometimes for me to watch, and especially to watch maybe Fox News or even just the regular CBS and NBC channels, as opposed to the political channels, because they spend too much time sort of saying what he's doing right. And I think that they don't balance it with what's not right. What's he been doing this week, Tim? Well, I think the big news story, in my mind, obviously, was his trip to Europe. But the unexpected announcement about a Mexican tariff of a graduating scale from 5% all the way to 25%, which is not related to trade, but related to his perception of unlawful immigration into the country. Did you see the political grandstand, isn't it? It's a huge political grandstand. I'm planning for his base, I'm planning to show what a big guy he is. It has nothing to do with the economy or global trade or our relations with Mexico. Just pushing people around to show what a big guy he is. Go ahead. One of the things that I saw in that whole deal that's being put together, one of the things is that U.S. can deport people. And I think, how does that have anything to do with Mexico? But that's part of the agreement. Of course, I couldn't get an answer. I looked around, I tried to read it, find an article that would tell me, but that's part of what he wants in the deal. And I don't understand it. But if that's American law, that's not Mexican, they can't do anything about it. Why does that have to do anything with the deal? Well, let me, I misstated the title on that one point. I said Mexican tariff, not a tariff, it's a tax. And until we start using that terminology, the American public, particularly those citizens in red states that are going to be directly impacted by this, are going to feel the impact of a tax, not a tariff. I don't know why Mexico plays with him. They're actually in talks with somebody in the administration about trying to stem the tide. And they made some kind of deal about Nicaragua, I think Guatemala, sorry. And the Guatemalans would go, they would allow the Guatemalans to stay in Mexico, give them residence or something. And then others from other countries in that region, they would go to Guatemala. I don't know how that works, but that's really strange. And so, in effect, they're doing something to respond to him. Well, the other one was the potential commitment of 6,000 Mexican border patrol to be dispatched to the border areas. The southern border. Right. Yeah. And in terms of borders, let me shift a little bit. He's got the army painting one mile of fence, because he said it didn't look good. So, is this nutcake, wait, we'll go to nutcakes later. Okay. Now, on a parallel track, we have China. We have, you know, what I saw on the paper, he's going to do another raise in tariffs right now. Three. Another one on China. 300 billion. Now, remember, the other one was, I believe, 200 billion, and he said, we can do this. This is easy. I mean, 300 billion now is subject to 25% acts. Unbelievable. It reminds me of when he fired somebody on the apprentice. You sat there watching that show of, why did he fire that guy? There was no rhyme or reason about it. And why is he doing this additional tariff? There's no rhyme or reason about it. He's already getting all this pushback from American industry, because as you said, Tim, it's a tax on us. We pay it. It disrupts world trade, disrupts their economy and our economy. And I don't know what the purpose is, but he keeps on doing it. Did he do something wrong? Did he want us to do another, what, 300 billion dollars? What's the problem with him? He keeps ratcheting it up. Again, how many shows have we said, is this just another way of distraction? But this tax could potentially cost $900 per American citizen. And we're talking about potentially 200,000 jobs in the state of Arizona, because Arizona actually will be the greatest state impacted by this acts if it goes through. When I go through, he does it all by fiat. He does it himself. Well, okay, so again, he's taking on to himself the power of taxation. And finally, in the Senate, we have a number of senators, Republican, who said, hey, this is not what we like or want. So they're finally, some of them are raising their head and saying, stop it. We have Ted Cruz saying this is going to be a very harmful impact. We have John Cornyn from Texas saying it's like holding a gun to our heads. We have Joni Ernstain saying it's overwhelmingly we oppose these tariffs, and they will count to answer on everything. And then last but not least, even Mitch McConnell, our Mitch McConnell here, he said that there's not much support for this, and they want to sit down with the president before Monday, because that's when the first 5% is going into play. Remember, Mitch McConnell is the guy who's married to a Chinese woman who was well connected in China? Don't forget that, and don't forget that for his birthday, Mitch McConnell got a multimillion dollar gift from the family. So Mitch McConnell is not without certain suggestions of corruption on such things. And then the automobile industry in the U.S. is saying you're going to wreck our industry and the economy don't do this, but he persists. It's like throwing everything on the wall and seeing what happens. There's no plan. It's what you wake up with in the morning. It's bizarre. And okay, but let's turn to what happened in Europe, because somehow that has to be factored in to all this other stuff. What happened in Europe? A complete... Well, on one hand, he got through it, and he was even praised for following his teleprompter. If that's the bar that's been set for this president of the United States. I'll use the word bar on this show. That's the level of confidence that has been established for this president of the United States. We're all in big trouble because, hooray for President Trump, he read the teleprompter and he didn't go off script. I mean, is that what we've come to? For a while. For a while. So he received praise for his Normany speech. But really what happened just before that was the interview with Laura Ingraham on Fox News Station. What a background was the headstones of all these 4,414 brave soldiers that sacrificed their life and their grave markers are right in the backdrop of this interview where he decided to take this moment, 15 minutes before the actual ceremony began, to basically lamb-based Nancy Pelosi and Robert Mueller and Chuck Schumer and the whole gang. Well, it wasn't just 15 minutes beforehand. He ended up having the whole entire ceremony late by 15 minutes because he sat there and did that interview. I was telling you guys before the show that a few years ago my wife and I went to Normandy, went to the American Cemetery at Normandy and it is one of the most powerful, memorable experiences that we have ever had, I have ever had, to be there just to stand and look at it in the flesh, in the reality of it. It brings home, you know, your national connection. It brings home your sense of history and morality and honesty and the greatest generation and sadness for the people who are buried there. It is the most powerful experience I've really ever had with respect to an institution along those lines. And for him to abuse it, to defame it and deface it that way is extraordinary. What it means is he was there, he should have felt the same feeling, but he didn't. He doesn't understand American history. He doesn't understand the American morality, American ethics, the American core, core values if he would do that. So it was particularly disgusting to me to see him make those statements. It really did ruin the moment that he got pray for and that was his speech. It ruined it. It really dis-tarnished the entire speech he gave given the backdrop and the interview. It was just not a good moment for him, again, once again. But this trip was different, wasn't it? Because in the past he's gone to Europe and he's like disappeared in Europe and the press reports on Europe, they make fun of him and he's in Communicato in large part. That didn't happen this time. He was playing for the folks back home. We had those interviews you mentioned and everything was calculated on what the folks back home would think. It was different this time, right? The pictures at the palace, the pictures with the queen, look, I'm royalty, although we have to remember that his whole family went with him, too. They don't have a place in the administration. There was a question about whether we're paying for that and I have an answer. We are paying for it. Are we not? There was a question about whether it was appropriate. I have an answer. It wasn't appropriate. No. I mean, this is all being, it's a trip for him. It's a vacation. He's using his position in every abusive way. But that's just me. Let me ask this question, because if it was planned, was a plan that he would say things that make him appear to be completely unhinged? Let me use the example of the crowd size, I don't know, a crowd size of protest that he didn't see and he said I didn't see much of it, so therefore it didn't happen. Then you see the aerial view of the streets in London and it's packed with thousands of protestors, but he said, well, therefore it didn't happen, fake news must be reporting on these protests. They were there for me because they wanted to say I was doing a great job. They were there to celebrate me, is what he said, when it was so obvious. So at what point does the media or anyone say, stop it, stop this sixth grade, this sixth grade approach to saying my reality is the only reality? Let's take a quick digression on the media. When he makes these speeches in the cemetery and insults anyone and everyone and makes brutish remarks that affect our important relationships in NATO, that's really bad.  He's a destroyer, but we know that. He's a boar, we know that. But if you track on this, you see it's getting worse. You see the aberrational remarks getting worse. If he thinks he's having a benefit, I'm not sure that his base can buy that. I'm not sure that the Senate can buy that. What you have is something worth looking at from a psychiatric point of view. If you knew anybody who ever knew anybody who had some kind of mental problem like that, you know that it doesn't stay the same. It always goes somewhere. There's always a dynamic, a sea change that it may last, it may go on for years, but it always changes, and in the end it's never good. And drugs don't necessarily help. Well, when you're a narcissist, there are no meds for narcissism. Narcissism, gone unchecked like that, can just literally, like you said, he gets worse and worse and worse and worse. He is power hungry. Absolute power creps absolutely. A narcissist in that position is just prime candidate for that very thing of power, absolute power crepting absolutely. So the more power he gets, the more inflamed he becomes. There was reports in France that he had some pretty wild mood swings. And if it wasn't for his children being there, who knows how bad this would have gone. So it's maybe the reason they're there is to kind of keep a, you know, almost they're being his handlers, I don't know. But, you know, there are many things that contribute to what his psychological makeup is. And I've said this on previous shows is that the one that we can't talk about necessarily have to be a qualified psychiatrist or psychologist is the fact that he is sleep deprived and he brags about it.  I don't know how the organic tissue of one's mind or brain can survive on three to three and a half hours of sleep each and every day. Not at his age. Not at his age or at any age. At any age, yeah. And so we know it's well documented. You know about amyloids and Alzheimer's? There's been a lot of press about that lately. And the deprivation of sleep is one of the factors that triggers the, it takes you over a trigger point with the amyloid, you know, content in your brain. And I think he's cruising for a problem here by not sleeping and bragging about it. But the other thing I wanted to get to with you guys is it's the magician thing. You know, on the one hand he's out there in the cemetery pounding on Mueller and Nancy Pelosi. As he does. And he's, you know, boasting about his thing with the queen. And he's trying to get the press to go along with him. And the press is being fooled in so many ways. The press does go along with him. And the press, you know, doesn't report as much on the things that he's really doing. It had substantive, substantive, you know, value. And so it's like you get two hands. One over here. Watch me, everybody. And the other one is behind his back. Where he's appointing, you know, right wing judges. Where he's stopping stem cell research. Where he's doing wrecking havoc on the environment. Even though he said there are arguments on both sides now. He's come a long way on it. But you know, can we cover that stuff for a minute? Because I think part of Trump week is to watch the hand behind his back. It's happening every single week, you know. He's just about to change that one regulation that allows fossil fuel companies to exhaust out into the air where, you know, for years and years and years now, you've had that regulation that didn't allow them to do that kind of exports out. And so now they're going to be able to. Which is really scary. Michael Bloomberg has said 500 million. 500 million. I knew it was a lot. 500 million dollars that he's going to put towards completely getting rid of the oil and gas industry and our dependence on oil. Yeah, but the oil and fossil fuel industry has spent 3 billion dollars of just public relations in lobbying efforts. So 500 million doesn't sound as much as it ought to. I know. You know, I think the 500 million could be better spent by trying to reform political action campaigns, peddling influence in Congress. That money could be better spent to ultimately get to curtailing the fossil fuel industry in Congress and their influence peddling in Congress. Yeah, I mean on one hand you can see this as chaos. But on the other hand, there are a lot of organizations around profit-making organizations that fill the void, that still control him and he responds to them because he thinks they're going to support him and maybe they are going to support him in the next election. But you know, some other organizations like the automobile industry, I really enjoyed this one. You know, he's reducing the cafe standards, right? Correct. For, you know, the fuel emissions. Well, and mileage. And mileage per gallon. Right.  The guys who would love not to have cafe standards are saying, wait, this is not a good idea. It's not a good idea for the automobile industry that you do this. Don't do this. These are the guys who would presumably be benefited by reducing, you know, those standards. So, I mean, even they are speaking out on it.  And it's every day. It's every way. I think that's a really good point you make is, you remember companies, you know, five, eight years ago, they all wanted to jump on the green bandwagon. Yep. Every corporation wanted to be green. Well, at some point, some of that actually does stick into the corporate culture of the CEOs and, you know, the executives, the vice presidents, they actually, you know, start to walk the talk. And I think over the last five to eight years or 10 years, I think they've done that. So, I don't think it's in their best interest to just start becoming a blatant polluter. Yeah. Well, you follow the leader. Leadership and the American presidency is a great big leader. So, he's out of sync with the CEOs of this country. Yes, he is. But the white supremacists, he's in sync with them. Yes. And we have an increasing number of, you know, shoot-ups in schools and other institutions who emulate him. They see what happens. And they do it too. They want to get attention like he does. And they want to be on whatever team that is. And we have a show, by the way, at one o'clock today involving an organization which is studying ways to notify the community. There's a shooter in the school, even though every second counts when you have those. Right. But, you know, I think it's monkey see monkey do. And I think he encourages that. And I think we are seeing the effect of the American presidency where he creates an aura about something. And people everywhere in the world, New Zealand, Australia, everywhere in the world, in Europe, you know, where they emulate this ethic or non-ethic that he is putting out. And I don't know what we do about that. Well, I know that Prince Charles sat down with him for an extra 75 minutes, I think was reported. On climate change. And that's why. Because that's his thing. He, you know, is so involved in climate change and doing something about stopping it. I'm sure it had no effect at all. No effect at all. Obviously, because you know what? He said, I think that future generations would like good weather. Good weather. Wait. It didn't go from climate. It's not weather. It's not about weather. Well, he said there's a distinction. The weather changes. Yeah.  Right. And then they called it climate change. And now he said, I think they now call it extreme weather. So because there's, you know, a changing shift of definitions of what we're trying to go through right now and try to correct in the future, he uses that opportunity to basically devalue the problem. Yeah. Right. Yeah. He mocks the language. Therefore, we don't have a problem. Right. And that's his strategy. And it's really simple strategy. Why doesn't say it doesn't matter what you call it, it's occurring.  Right. It didn't go to the service. And then there was a discussion about, you know, his way of making up for that by giving money to the military. That was incredible. That was the Pierce Morgan interview in London. Yeah. And it was really quite amazing for him to basically bypass his exemption from the military from Vietnam and basically say, well, I'm making up for it by increasing the military budget. I didn't see the correlation. No correlation. He's taking money from the budget anyway to build his wall. So this whole of giving money to the military isn't really true.  Buddha Judge. Buddha Judge. He basically took great issue with it and said, yeah, this is a shame. But what else is due? I mean, how many episodes of shamefulness do we have to experience for us to finally say, this guy does not belong in this position? No. I think talking about his father and the bone spurs, the fact is he doesn't have much of an education. His father got him through school. And you know, he doesn't know basic facts about the world, about economics, history, government. He doesn't know about it. He's just cruising through, you know, making a mess in every direction. Well, he always had people that could do this stuff for him. So he never had to actually do anything himself. You get along with my arrogance. I love that Nancy said, I don't want to impeach him. I want to put him in prison. Oh, I thought that was horrible. I'm sorry. You thought it was horrible? Yep. It's a bad idea really. It's a bad idea to say it. I like that she feels it. She lost her discipline on that. Yes, she did. And it drags us down to the banana republics of, you know, threatening to jail your opponents. It was bad for me. I understand what she was getting into is let's have the election. Then after he's out of office, then let, you know, the criminal prosecutions begin. But that's not how it came out. And worse yet, I guarantee you that statement is going to be used in 2020 in the election campaign ads that you see. And they'll use that as a shining example of how the Democratic Party wants to just go after him with no merit. But just because he's Donald Trump and they have a, they have something against them and they'll use that statement. I guarantee it. They're already using it. Yes. I say they, Hannity belongs to them. I was making these absurd statements about how it is really tacky for anybody to, you know, criticize a political adversary and say she should go to jail. So wait a minute. Lock her up. Lock her up. Lock her up. Lock her up. Lock her up. Lock her up. Lock her up. Lock her up. Lock her up. Well, it is great fun we have. I know. So what about next week? He's going to be back. Yes. We're going to be back in muller and Pelosi land or we going to be back and, and shooting barbs a little bit of the other Democratic candidates. What are we, What is going to happen? Showdown between the Senate, the Republican senators, maybe 10 or 12 of them, in a room with Donald Trump. We'll see. I think about the Mexican tax. I think they'll fold. I think all the senators will fold. I agree. I don't think they'll stand up to them. reality show every week isn't it? Every week and all I know is not enough people are talking about election security. They're just not. Nothing's happening in Congress. Every week I'm gonna say it because it is the biggest thing. I think you should. Election security is happening. There's four bills. I looked them up here right there. Four bills waiting and Mitch McConnell will not even hear them. Democracy is broken. I'm sorry to say. I know. And I don't know how we fix this and the election is a very threatening experience because he could win not only because of his own machinations but because of the Democratic machinations. Somebody has got to stand up. So let me take your temperature you guys. Who's the leader now of the pack? Is Biden still the one? You like you like Henry? Not Henry, it's Sanders. I like Warren. I like Warren and I didn't like her for a while because I thought she was a little too rabid but now I do. Harris? Who do you like? Who's the most servicing? I like Warren. I think over time Joe Biden is gonna start losing some of his percentage you know right now. Was it helpful or not when he reversed his position on federal support of abortion? The Hyde Amendment. I think it was good for him to do that. I think he had enough time to get that out of the way so that as we go into 2020 it'll be long forgotten. So he said let me just get it out of the way right now. Let me reverse myself and it was from a strategy point of view is probably the right thing for him to do. It shows he's got baggage of course and he's got to get up current you know but Warren is really getting up current. She has a new position to roll out every day. She's got policies. She's not just coming up. Kamala Harris as well I think is right behind her. She's got some good policies too. Yeah. How would you like to see a woman president and a woman vice president? Yes please. That's not gonna happen. No I know it won't happen but I'm okay with that. Okay so what's gonna happen in the White House? Well what is he gonna do? He's got a cope with you know the tariffs. He's got a cope with Mexico. Don't forget you guys that it's coming soon. It's the it's the September crunch on the fiscal policy on the debt ceiling. That's correct. And he's gonna have a fight about that. We're gonna be in another crisis about that. All these things making it more and more complicated. Less and less predictable. Less and less efficient. Less and less good government. I mean the government is in chaos. I'm sorry. Lest we forget about Iran. Thank you. This is a tender option to pick all up at any time. Any time. And Venezuela is in terrible shape. He hasn't made any progress with that. In fact he's lost ground on that one. Well he took away all their money. He funded them. Yeah winning by intimidation doesn't work on a global scale. It simply doesn't. Well let's not forget the 60 senators or excuse me the 60 House representatives that now are in line for impeachment. I think we'll start in those numbers rise. That's just my prediction. Thank you. Yeah. Well are we still in agreement on the impeachment? I am. I am. Knowing that it wouldn't necessarily work in the Senate. Even if it doesn't go anywhere. I think it's important. I'm only in agreement if they could do it quickly and get it done quickly. If they go past fall on it's a bad strategy. They've got to clear the decks to get what they want them to do quickly. Basically impeach. Take the vote. Make a statement. Make a historical statement. And say this is who you elected. And if it doesn't go through the Senate. It doesn't go through the Senate. The Democrats stood for something. They stood up. They stood up on their hind legs. And they made a definitive statement. And okay it's done. It's over. Move on. Because that's what Trump wants to do is drag this thing out and show the people that nothing's getting done except for vengeance after me. One thing I like is just the last point of our discussion because we're out of time. Is that some of the news media are systematically going through the Mueller report. PBS at the news hour every night. Finally. Finally, yeah. Finally. They talk about one issue and what he said about this and what he said about that. And to some extent it's really revolutionary. It's very interesting. You know I mean I wish somebody in Hawaii or maybe somebody in Think Tech would read the whole thing. You read the whole thing. I haven't read the whole thing yet. I'm still working on it. And comment on parts of it and what he's saying and how it because that relates to the impeachment doesn't it. So you know I think we got to get to that. And I certainly agree with you. The house should an inquiry could last forever. Yeah. But a vote on impeachment that would be pretty that would be pretty efficient.  You have to. Yeah. Yeah. And if they keep on you know passing legislation in the house that is positive and useful and constructive legislation for the country. And it all stalls at the Senate. That's worthwhile. Because it points out what's going on here. You hired us. We did all that we could per the Constitution to do what we're hard to do. And the other brand the other house or the other Senate didn't do anything. We did our jobs and they could put us you know they could shine a spotlight on that. They can't shine a spotlight on it if they're keep dragging out this impeachment business. Are we are we not. Are we are we not. Yeah. I was very concerned by the way with this decision of a federal judge in Washington for the proposition that the house by itself did not have standing to question Trump's emergency declaration. There was a judge on the west coast I think in San Francisco who said he did have the house did have standing but in Washington. And let me let me ask you a guess was that judge appointed Democratic or Republican Republican. Was that appointed by Trump. Yes. It was appointed in 2017. So we have the all these appointments that Trump is making are taking root now and supporting him in these bizarre things. So it opens a really big question as to whether you know there is any any remedy. Okay. When when you know he makes national emergency declarations is there any way to review that according to this judge. No because the Congress is is stuck. The Senate's never going to you know take any relief on that. And the House can't get to court. Therefore the courts and I'll bet you five that when it gets to the Supreme Court they're going to agree with the Trump judge in Washington. Well you know it goes to the point where you think the Supreme Court judges were unbiased and independent thinking and had the Constitution in mind when they render their decisions. But then you look at how they got in and then you look at you know I'm going to say it on the program bar and how he got in and how he is switched to be completely biased and completely you know the cheerleader for the President of the United States. I wouldn't think I'd see this in my lifetime but I have. Well actually I probably saw during the Nixon time you know the AG for Nixon was pretty much a cheerleader for Nixon and but you know it's disappointing to see that.  That strikes against the the whole principle of democracy in my life. Yeah and the one institution that you need to rely on with all this chaos is the media. Is the media. And he attacked CNN this week. He said that we should all boycott CNN and it was a it was a failing news organization anyway. It's part of the ongoing war against the press that hasn't stopped and in 20 ways he's having an effect on that.  You keep getting depressed after these shows. Sorry we'll get up for the next one next week. Tim Appichella, Cynthia Sinclair, thank you so much you guys. Thank you Jay. Aloha. We appreciate it.


Okay, I'm going to go ahead and call to order tonight's meeting of the City of Santa Rosa Planning Commission and ask for roll call please. Let the record reflect that all commissioners are present. Okay, with the exception of Commissioner Carter. With the exception of Commissioner Carter. Okay, great. Thanks. Good catch. On to approval of minutes. We don't have any minutes tonight to approve so with that I'll move on to public comments which is a time for any member of the public to address the Commission on matters of interest of the Commission that are not listed tonight as a public hearing. I'm going to go ahead and open public comments. If you choose to speak just move to one of the microphones at the top and I am not seeing anyone move so I'm going to go ahead and close public comments and move on to planning commissioners reports. Any reports tonight? I have one. The Waterways Committee met this morning and what we we met at the Prince Memorial Gateway Park and we're taking a tour of the Prince Memorial Greenway. At that time Alistair Blyfus gave us the Creek Stewards stewardship update which I forgot to get my papers back but it's always so impressive as to how many volunteer efforts are being made to clean up our creeks how much trash is being removed the the community efforts it's it's always so impressive and heartening. So we were able to tour the Greenway and actually sort of made a list of discussion topics to take up at the next Waterways Committee meeting about particularly the Sears building right adjacent to the creek what might be happening with that and and just some other issues so for us to have on our agenda to discuss so that was always fun love field trips and then I don't know that the date has been set yet but hearing rumors that it may be October 23rd that might be set for our boards and commissions lunch which is the time when the city honors all of the board and commission members it's a really nice event so sometimes we don't get as much notice as we might need but rumor has it'll be on the 23rd so you can kind of hope for look at your emails and just in the nick of time we can move on to department reports don't have a department report today okay great statements of abstention by commission members no abstentions tonight we have no study session no consent items so with that we're going to move on to our first public hearing tonight which is item 10.1 which should be titled emerald city blooms conditional use permit it is an ex parte disclosure commission call you anything to disclose I visited sight have nothing further to disclose okay I have nothing to disclose I decided to decide and have nothing further to disclose I have nothing to disclose I have nothing to disclose and I visited the site and have no new information to discuss to disclose so with that we will move on to Miss Tumions giving the staff report thank you chair Cisco and members of the Planning Commission this project is emerald city blooms it's a request for a conditional use permit for cannabis retail and delivery at 112 commercial court within suites two and three the project is proposed to locate within a 2216 square foot commercial condominium as far as the project history they the app can applied in on April 19th of 2018 we held a neighborhood meeting in on May 30th of 2018 on June 27th the of 2018 application was deemed complete and the this project was part of the merit based review program for the initial cannabis retail applications on November 14th 2018 the cannabis policy subcommittee avoided a direct competitor within 600 feet and as a result of that decision emerald city blooms was allowed to move forward with the conditional use permit process and we received a traffic memo on April 11 2019 here's the project site as you can see it's a commercial condominium right up against highway 101 north and it's west of Santa Rosa Avenue here's a close-up site plan showing the two suites that they plan to occupy for emerald city blooms here's a close-up aerial showing the two suites that they plan to occupy in that corner here the proposed elevations they are proposing a new glazing and roll-up doors with glazing and a slightly modified storefront here are some renderings of their plan changes to the exterior of their commercial suite here's a floor plan the project in order to meet the parking requirement they are required to provide nine spaces and they do provide nine spaces however two those spaces are within the building itself and they are planned for employees only the site is zoned CG general commercial and is in the retail and business service general plan designation in addition to the neighborhood meeting staff received an email correspondence from mr. Firestone who's a neighbor to the north he's currently building the hotel on that hotel site adjacent to the freeway and he was concerned about some compatibility issues with a cannabis retail dispensary and near his new hotel that's under construction however we did receive late correspondence from him where he cited support for the project so long as the applicant adhered to what they promised in their operational statement as well as the city enforcing conditions as far as security lighting and various other topics that he listed in his letter and other than mr. Firestone staff hasn't received any other comments or letters from other neighbors or citizens and as far as sequel they it was found in compliance pursuant to 15 303 15 301 and 15 3 3 2 with that the planning and economic development department recommends that the planning Commission approve a resolution to allow emerald city blooms to operate a cannabis retail dispensary and delivery facility at 112 commercial court suites 2 and 3 one correction that staffs recommends on the resolution is wherever emerald city blooms is cited that it should read emerald city blooms to reflect the accurate name of the proposed cannabis retail dispensary the applicant is present to make a presentation and staff is available for any questions or comments any questions of staff right now with the applicant like to make a presentation there she is good afternoon chair Cisco members of the Commission Aaron Carlstrom from Kelly Carlstrom and noble very proud to appear before you this afternoon on behalf of your applicants we do have a presentation we don't have a clicker up here so Chris and I Chris and I are gonna do the two-step thank you Chris and a and as your staff report points out and as mischievous has highlighted for you this project has seen significant review by your staff and by your cannabis subcommittee more than a year ago actually so this is a year and a half long process in the making we're delighted to be before you today and cognizant of your time and the lateness of your hearing last Thursday will move quickly through this person a would you I don't have a clicker so we're gonna have to I'll give you the hand signal there we go some renderings of what the applicants proposed to do there in commercial court one of the really important point things to point out is that Catherine and Enrique sites two of your applicants we guys raise your hands please there we go along with Henry Wicks their third partner have been members and owners within this HOA for the more than 20 years and one of the ways that this project one of the reasons that this project was selected from amongst the competitive review process in addition to the quality of the application is that relationship that the sites is enjoy with the other members of their HOA you'll see in your packet that there are letters of support from representatives of the HOA which hopefully will dictate to you that the sites is are able to follow through on the obligations that they have imposed on their project and the conditions that you as the city will impose as well go ahead please so again you as you are all well apprised have the obligation to make six required findings is to means has eloquently address them as well so we'll skip that please just an orientation to the site sites get where we're talking about here is of course sort of the south central part of town across the street from the Costco and Target shopping centers very high trafficked area go ahead please Chris and a brief outline for you of the folks that are behind this project I've not been able to introduce you yet to Terry Moore Terry please raise your hand Terry Terry is advising on the project as well and I've not yet been able to introduce you to him so I wanted you to make you aware that he's here in the audience supporting cast very privileged to be among them please go ahead Kristen a rendering of proposed interior to the site the project does have the benefit of partnering with wicks architects and this design element you'll see brought to bear in this project following our entitlements hopefully this afternoon please go ahead so at the time perhaps excitable timeline but as you can see the applicants are prepared to put this project into operation with all due haste we're delighted again you'll see your vote hopefully this afternoon here on the 26th with immediate follow-up on with construction and certificates of occupancy and a hopeful opening on for 2020 20 please go ahead Kristen a just another interior rendering of the floor plan as the Commission is aware of this project the site is zoned CG which means it is only eligible for retail and delivery that's all that we've brought before you today you will see the introduction very cleverly of two interior parking spaces that was yet another attempt to not overburden the parking in this heavily trafficked commercial court go ahead please Kristen a and as you can see again existing and proposed exterior renderings continuing with the applicants commitment to their commercial court their neighbors and the quality of the product that they're going to be delivering to Santa Rosa please go ahead a number of folks are here to speak on behalf of the project as I mentioned previously representatives from the HOA we do have a representative here from herbal Mr. Duvall is here from Flora Cal Farms and as your staff report referenced Mr. Firestone has submitted some writings some communication that corresponded stew and support of the project as well please go ahead and that is the conclusion of our presentation in anticipation of the question I do want to reflect that the applicants have entered into a Labor Peace Agreement with Teamsters local 665 and Joint Council 7 and of course we are prepared to answer any further questions that you may have thank you very much any questions of the applicant right now okay thank you Ms. Crosston and with that this is a public hearing tonight I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearing I don't have any cards on this item but you don't have to have filled out a card in order to speak and if you'd like me up go to the microphone and if you begin by stating your name for the record and you have three minutes yes ma'am thank you so much my name is Tim Kelly I am here representing Stone Park capital Mr. Firestone who's previously mentioned as having drafted a communication hopefully that you're in receipt of that at this point he asked me to make sure that you guys had been in receipt of that letter that he drafted wanted me to reiterate his support of the project over the past six months there's been tremendous communication some back and forth obviously there's some concerns that he has shared both in the letter and with the ownership group but feels as though as long as those requests and commitments are adhered to the project has his full support moving forward so thank you thank you hi my name is Drew Duvall one of the founders of Floral Farms I've had the pleasure of knowing Henry Wicks and Catherine for the better part of three and a half years they helped design a 60,000 square foot facility cultivation facility out Sonoma County along with another 24,000 square foot facility that my wife and I operate one of the cool things about the facilities that it's designed to achieve from an operational perspective a compliance perspective and overall aesthetics I attribute a lot of that to Henry's knowledge in all those areas he kind of walked us through design permitting all the way through the construction phase and up to an operational state as it is currently today so I can't attest to his skills there and how good he is at doing those things I've also gotten to know Henry on a personal level as well during the design phase unfortunately Henry lost his house in the fire and was moved in with my wife and I and our small child and we got to know each other there as well so from a character reference standpoint can't say enough about how great of a guy he is and how in this industry we need more people like him and Catherine operating these types of businesses to further the industry so I'm in full support of this thank you thank you good afternoon my name is Donna leach and I am here representing herbal distribution solutions we're a cannabis distributor in Santa Rosa we've been operational for just over a year and over the course of that time we like to feel like we've become a leader in the industry we're one of the larger distributors in the state and we've come to know Catherine and Henry throughout our process as well Henry was a very key partner for us in opening our distribution center and expanding it to about 8,000 18,000 square feet that we're operating now and I am just here to reiterate our support for Catherine and for the Emerald City Blooms project we're looking forward very much to being able to work with Catherine I know that the attention to detail on this project and the thoughtfulness that the team has put into it really demonstrates to me their intention to put a really quality business into Santa Rosa and really serve the community and we're looking very much forward to being a part of that so I'm also just here to state that herbal distribution is in full support thank you thank you okay good afternoon my name is Daniel de Monte I am the vice president of the board of directors for the HOA for the complex of which Emerald City Blooms will be located I've known the sites is for going on 30 years have had a great relationship with them team players responsible our concerns we don't really know what some of the negative impacts might be as a board as a property owner in that complex but we have full faith in Henry and Catherine to address any issues that happen to arise in a satisfactory manner and the board and myself personally support them and wish them the best of success great thank you anyone else wishing to speak on this item I'm not seeing anyone else stand so I'm going to go ahead and close the public hearing Ms. Carlstrom you have anything else to add okay Ms. Tumians just to get back to Mr. Firestone's letter that last paragraph could you clarify like he's under the impression that there's going to be an annual review can could you just clarify what will happen once a conditional use permit is issued and if there are any problems down the line because I think he's misunderstanding that process sure the annual review would only apply to the manufacturing aspect of cannabis where the the fire department would have an annual review of their equipment this location in this application is only for retail and delivery and there will be no manufacturing on site any violations of their permit could would be enforced by code enforcement through a complaint based process like any other conditional use permit okay I would like to follow up to just because there's multiple layers with cannabis operations and dispensaries in particular there's the local which is the city ordinance which is what christine's outline and that is the extent of it the use permit runs with the property so that's not a different type of use permit for dispensary so once they have a use permit for cannabis retail it's it's it's good for the site as long as it's active and in compliance with their permit and but we also work with our regional partner department Sonoma County Department of Health so if they have edibles at this dispensary they'll work with them we get those licenses and permits and inspections and then they also work with the state they have a state license and ultimately the states issuing annual licenses so that is the annual process so it may have been as part of just some confusion because there are multiple layers that that was the annual component but it's layers of partnerships to make sure that these things are working in accordance to how they're presented and in compliance with the loss great thanks for explaining that commission any other questions of staff by stir weeks can you tell us how many employees you're looking at and if they're gonna be full-time or part-time just one moment commissioner weeks and if any of the applicant representatives would like to join me to answer on their behalf of course you are all welcome no come on up Catherine can you hear me okay my name is Catherine Sights and we're looking right now at about four employees some will be maybe two will be part-time overlapping and there'll be a security card and I will be on site or Henry Sights will be on site it's it's a small dispensary and that's about it for right now any other questions any other questions of staff either okay not seeing any okay so let's bring it back to the Commission and would somebody like to read the resolution amending the names were applicable and for purposes of discussion move a resolution of the Planning Commission of the City of Santa Rosa approving a conditional use permit for emerald city blooms to operate a cannabis adult adult and medicinal use retail dispensary and delivery facility within a 2216 square foot commercial condominium located at 112 commercial court suites 2 and 3 assessors parcels number 043-240-001 file number CUP 18-065 and 22 amend emerald blooms to emerald city throughout the text amending emerald blooms to amend emerald city wherever it occurs in the text and wait for the reading great do I have a second I second okay so that was moved by Commissioner Deggan seconded by Commissioner Peterson vice chair weeks would you like to start sure well I think it's a pretty straightforward application and has been vetted through the process quite thoroughly and I also think it's a good location I like that the operators are long-term neighbors of the existing tenants I think that will really help with if there are any issues so I'm going to be supporting the application and can make all the findings commissioner Peterson I agree with vice chair weeks I think as we see more and more of these conditional use permits the process becomes a lot more streamlined and a lot more straightforward I can make all necessary findings for this project and I would also echo her comments in that I I like to see that Santa Rosa's attempt to be sort of a pioneer in the cannabis space as it's been legalized statewide is keeping a local connection long-term Sonoma County residents are not seeing in this case you know an outside investor taking advantage of our regulatory space and in particular as the applicants representative noted anticipatorily I also like to see that we're getting some good labor relations out of this that these are in fact going to be good jobs that do contribute to the community rather than just the the ownership so with all that I can make all necessary findings and support the project yeah I agree with my fellow commissioners I will add that I do like the effort made to be a good neighbor to not your previously existing neighbors but your new one coming in the hotel and to work with them and have that open dialogue we don't always see that with some of these applicants so it's good to see that but other than that I can make all necessary findings will be in support of the applicant I can also make all the necessary findings and have nothing else to add so I support the project I also can make all the required findings and will be supporting the project I appreciate that you've worked so well with your neighbors and that this is a small business mom-and-pop dispensary and I also can make all of the findings and echo the comments of my fellow commissioners so with that the resolution was moved as amended by Commissioner Duggan seconded by Commissioner Peterson and your votes please and that passes with six eyes commissioner Carter being absent tonight and that concludes this item so thank you and next we're going to move on to item 10.1 which is the Citrus Hill cannabis retail facility conditional use permit it is also an exporter disclosure commissioner Kaya I visit the site and have nothing further to disclose I have nothing to disclose I share weeks I visited the site and have nothing to disclose I have nothing to disclose I have nothing to disclose and I also visited the site and have no new information to disclose and with that manual or so we'll give the staff presentation thank you chair members of the planning commission my name is Emmanuel Ursu on the project planner for this next application Citrus Hill is a request to add a dispensary to an existing approved facility or facility that's approved to have cultivation distribution in manufacturing the project is located at 1236 Briggs Avenue I'm gonna you've been at through these applications many times I'm gonna go very quick look like we have two large of an audience here this evening but just a brief overview of my presentation I'm gonna give a real brief overview of the cannabis regulations describe the project the process we went through and then staff's recommendation so the ordinance that establishes cannabis businesses does so in two categories one for businesses one for personal use under the commercial cannabis business category there are several types of cannabis businesses a retail business is proposed and this application includes which is a dispensary and includes delivery cannabis retail is a facility where cannabis products are offered for retail sale and includes delivery the uses the use is allowed in several zoning districts throughout the city including the light industrial district which this project is located in they're required to be set back at least 600 feet from a K through 12 school they may not be within 600 feet of another facility a retail facility and they're subject to approval of conditional use permit considered by the Planning Commission and the Commission's decision can be appealed to the City Council deliveries are only allowed from facilities that have a storefront location drive-throughs are not permitted the hours of operation are allowed between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. what's being proposed is a little more restrictive than that between 11 and 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and then noon to five on Sundays there are very detailed requirements in the code pertaining to security and on-site consumption may be allowed subject to review and approval by the Planning Commission that is not part of the proposal with this application there are six findings for conditional use permits as shown on this slide and the second slide general these findings are that the use is compatible with its surroundings this application is for approximately 650 square foot dispensary in an existing structure that has been approved for cultivation manufacturing and distribution that was approved through at the staff level by the zoning administrator this application requires six parking spaces and excuse me a total of 10 parking spaces six are on site four proposed are on an adjoining piece of property the code allows that there are specific provisions regarding a deed restriction that must be recorded on the property on which the off-site parking is located and that is a condition of approval of this application the application was submitted back in 2018 and go after it went through a completeness review process and revisions were made this application also was went through the city's competitive review process and was selected there was another facility that was proposed nearby and we're before the Planning Commission this evening for action on the application this shows the project locations in the northwest quadrant of the of the city it's in the an area designated in the general plan for light industrial uses and as this excerpt from the general plan land use diagram shows it's surrounded by other properties in the light industrial land use designation the zoning similar to the general plan is light industrial and this is in the stationary a specific plan this is what the 600 foot radius around the property entails the closest school is almost twice that distance away to the pretty much into east separated by the freeway from the from the project site this is an aerial view of the property the driveway is an easement over the parcel to the left of it and that parcel to the left is also the parcel on which the surplus or the additional parking spaces the four parking spaces are located the retail component will be in the left hand side the cultivation and other components manufacturing distribution occur on the on that right hand the larger wing of the building this is a street view again with the retail on the left hand side behind the parking lot and the cultivation manufacturing distribution on the right hand side this is the floor plan or site plan on the dispensaries towards the the back left of this diagram the parkings in the front left and the cultivation and other components of the project are on the previously approved project on the right hand side this is the breakdown of the parking required so it's actually nine required they're providing a total of 10 for which are on the adjoining property this is the provision the codes that speaks to the requirement for a basically a deed restriction on the property on which the parking is located in that parking that site next door has a surplus a large surplus of parking I believe it's over 17 surplus parking spaces that would remain so there's plenty of parking available on the adjoining property as I mentioned earlier the proposed hours of operation are from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and then noon to 5 on Sundays we have as of September 12th we had no comment since September 12th we received one letter and that was a letter from the applicants representative urging the commission to support the project to that solvent that letter was forwarded to the applicant other than that we have not received any public comment and as a note in this slide the closest residential property is about 400 feet to the north north northwest of the project site the project is in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act and qualifies for several exemptions as noted on this slide and with that staff recommends the Commission approved project with the conditions listed in the attached resolution in with one minor change the business is listed as cannabis cannabis Hill excuse me citrus Hill cannabis is how the business is listed in the resolution that should read cannabis or citrus Hill incorporated so citrus Hill Inc. instead of citrus Hill cannabis is the name on the in the resolution that should be changed and with that I conclude my presentation thank you any questions of staff right now yes commissioner Duggan I have one clarifying question on page 2 of the staff report it mentions the second paragraph of the executive summary deliveries will occur between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. 7 days a week is that incorrect or is that still intended that that is correct okay yeah okay thank you any other questions yeah commissioner Kropke regarding the use of the surplus spaces at 1240 Briggs is there any use for that parcel at 1240 Briggs in the future that could develop all of that parking or is that not a concern at this time yes potentially if the use in that property were to change from its current use to a more intense use the parking demand could be greater the code does contain provisions regarding change of use that allows where there is no expansion of a facility that no additional parking is required if the deficit is less than 10 spaces however with the deed restriction on the property if an application were to come in for a change of use of that property the city would be aware of that and we'd make sure that ensure that the adequate parking was provided in its as a general matter of course a parking analysis is done as part of the review process for new land use entitlement applications okay so sorry just needed needed a little bit of clarified what would happen if that if that use if the parking requirement isn't if the usage is intensified the parking requirement takes a ball do we just have four required parking spaces that are now out in the open for this applicant that anyone they it wouldn't meet with the application is saying now is that how does that how does that go so those four parking spaces would be accounted for so so if the new and you use came in on the neighboring property and they needed a hundred percent of the spaces that are on the neighboring property will you tell them no you can't have that use there because your four spaces short so you need to go find four spaces elsewhere or another option is this applicant or the operator of this use permit needs to have four off-site off-site spaces that are consistent with this permit so there may be that this permit needs to get amended if that other operator actually for whatever circumstance can't offer these anymore doesn't want to offer these anymore the burden of it's really that's why off-site parking agreements and allowances come to the Planning Commission because you're looking at two properties so it's perfectly appropriate question to ask what happens to the other property so they do have to work in concert and if there's an amendment to one they have to deal with that sort of amendment to use or to permit but your weeks a quick follow-up on that question will the off four off-site spaces be signed as you know that it's it's citrus hill ink citrus hill cannabis so that people know that that's an allowed parking for that business we don't have that as a recommended condition of approval that could be required but it's not part of the proposal and I don't know if that would be part of the agreement between the two parties between the two property owners any other questions of staff right now okay the applicant ready to give a presentation good afternoon once again chair Cisco and members of the Commission me again Erin Carlstrom with Kelly Carlstrom and noble we do once again have a quick PowerPoint for you Claire's looking at me like that perhaps it's not the case so Emmanuel mr. Ursu with your indulgence would you mind clicking as we're going through your your staff report and mr. Ursu admirably outline for you the various review processes that this project has gone through much like the previous project this was a project subject to the competitive review process last our hearing rather in front of the subcommittee was last August here we go we've got our presentation up wonderful thank you both very much down there so in brief of course as always your staff have done an admirable job highlighting the the six findings that you were all required to make it's my job here to just impress upon you once again the reason that this project was chosen over its competitor in the area and I will do so briefly again cognizant of the time please quickly meet the Citrus Hill team Eric valianti and Dimitri Skolnikov gentlemen please raise your hands they are here they are present they are very excited that we are here for this hearing this afternoon mr. valianti is an iraq war veteran and a 13-plus year resident of Sonoma County he along with Dimitri run room down in San Francisco which is consistently rated one of California's best dispensaries and they're excited to bring that experience to you and to our community please go ahead thank you again an opportunity to showcase for you the various design elements that these applicants look forward to bringing into Santa Rosa you saw some plans some site maps by mr. Ursu just to orient you all this Briggs neighborhood just off Cleveland near Fogbelt Brewing and in that vein the design elements will feature components that tie the property in with its surrounding businesses in order to honor and remain compatible and consistent with that aesthetic please go ahead in previous conversations again as as today parking is of course paramount concern for the city as we onboard more retail dispensaries I think the Commission as well as the community will become accustomed to the idea that though we require one space per certain numbers of feet we all know parking doesn't necessarily flow in that way but just to highlight for you how our bicycle and pedestrian access is built out for this site in addition to the parking spaces that both currently exist and which have been negotiated with the neighboring property at 1240 please go ahead important to both the proponents of this particular application is a commitment to the neighborhood for those of you who have visited the site you probably have experienced that this is an area in what I would say more than an average need of a facelift and so the applicants are excited to be a part of that process they're also already committing themselves to their neighborhood with respect to developing relationships beautifying the area as a part of their original application I want the Commission to be aware that this applicant team committed itself to creating both the compliance officer as well as a community outreach liaison for the neighboring properties in order to continue to build that sense of community please go ahead again just to highlight the overwhelming success that the applicants have had in their San Francisco dispensary that they look forward to bringing to you and to us here in Santa Rosa more than a decade of experience which is again one of the reasons that your cannabis subcommittee of the three council members felt that this project deserved its recommendation of support and that's it we are here if there are any further questions from the Commission as always we thank you for your commitment to our city any questions for the applicant yes mr. Peterson can you tell me about any labor peace agreements there may be with this particular project Commissioner Peterson a labor peace agreement has not been signed but the applicant has had and will continue as continuing to have conversations with Joint Council 7 thank you sure hi Clayton Taylor teamsters local 665 and then in regards to the labor peace agreement I've had extended conversations with Eric and I do feel confident that they will be operating good faith thank you any other questions of the applicant okay this is a public hearing tonight I'm gonna go ahead and open the public hearing and if anyone is wishing to speak on this item move to a microphone we don't have any cards and I'm not seeing anyone move so with that I'm gonna go ahead and close the public hearing bring it back to Commission any other questions of either staff or applicant okay great so with that would someone like to move the resolution for purposes of discussion amending the name as requested I'll move a resolution of the planning Commission of the City of Santa Rosa approved in a conditional youth permit for citrus hill ink to operate a cannabis adult and medicinal use retail dispensary and delivery facility within a 654 square foot portion of a 6664 square foot industrial building located at 1236 Briggs Avenue assessor's parcel number 012-083-009 file number CUP 18-050 and revised citrus hill cannabis to reduce all ink throughout the resolution and waive for the reading great and do I have a second a second okay so that was moved by Commissioner Duggan seconded by Commissioner Peterson Mr. Duggan would you like to start sure I can make all the required findings and I think it's a good solution to the parking shortage to be able to make a agreement with the adjoining parcel and since that parcel is already over parked anyway I think there's plenty of leeway in the case they come back with a more intensive use so I'm in support of the project I also can make all the required findings and we'll be supporting this project I think your experience with San Francisco shows that you're you know what you're doing in this regard and so I will support this project Mr. Weeks I am going to support the project I can make all the findings and I think the parking solution was creative and also it was a very thorough application like the previous one it helps that they've been vetted through the cannabis subcommittee of the council but before they come to us so thank you Mr. Peterson I don't have much to add I can make all necessary findings for this project I think it was well put together and I hope that there is good-faced negotiations continue with regard to the labor part of it. Commissioner Krepke I can make all the required findings and support the project I do like the solution for the parking and also like that there's a solution in case that solution doesn't work out in the future as well as that barring anything going wrong with the labor agreements that they still want to focus on local hires and pay living wages so with that I will be in support of the project and I'm also in support of the project even though the nearest residences are 400 feet away I appreciate that this really is a site that even though it's in an industrial area it's very walkable to all of the multifamily housing that's being built on range and has been built on range and Jennings so I think it's well-cited and again a very complete application as Vice Chair Weeks stated so with that I can make all of the required findings as well and with that the resolution was moved as amended by Commissioner Duggan seconded by Commissioner Peterson any other questions comments your votes please and that passes with six eyes Commissioner Carter being absent tonight and that concludes this item congratulations and we'll adjourn our meeting to October 10th


Hey there, and welcome back to the channel, and to the great city of Copenhagen, which has many of the cool features of every urbanist favorite city, Amsterdam, like canals and bikes, although much less bit or ballin, and in my humble opinion an even more interesting transit system that provides incredibly good service around the clock and lots of lessons for almost every other system out there. So let's dive in and see what makes this Danish city so special. Before we get familiar with Copenhagen's metro, S-Train and tram, we need to get a sense for the city. Copenhagen is on Denmark's east coast, fronting up against the Ura Sound Strait that separates it from southern Sweden. This is the city center, and this is the lovely central walk, which is fully pedestrianized and ends at one of the city's main squares, which itself is across the street from Tivoli Gardens, one of the oldest amusement parks in the world and the inspiration for Disneyland sitting right here in central Copenhagen. Next next to Tivoli is Copenhagen Station, a major transport hub for the S-Train system, the metro and longer distance rail services. Just a short walk east through the city from central station, we arrive at the site of the Danish Parliament, although if you're coming from outside of Europe, you'll probably arrive at Copenhagen Airport instead, which is located really close to the city center just 7 kilometers away as the crow flies. And this is where our metro journey begins, on Line M2. Copenhagen's metro currently consists of four lines, although these are only really lines in the sense of being different services. M1 and M2 were both created as the first phase of the Copenhagen metro to serve the island of Ammar, including the new town of Urasta. M1 directly serves Urasta, with a route that terminates with the shared depot between M1 and M2, while M2 runs slightly southeast from central Copenhagen along parts of an old rail alignment to the airport where it terminates. The routes are above-ground throughout much of the island, including sometimes on elevated viaducts such as through Urasta, where the proceeds from land sales were actually used to help fund the metro. To the north, both lines dive underground to pass under central Copenhagen, before turning to the west to connect to the S-Trains and regional rail at Norriport Station. From here, the metro continues west to serve major sites, before popping back above-ground on another old rail alignment and connecting to the S-Trains at two sequential stations, the second of which the M1 and M2, which really are more like one line with a branch, terminate at. Now, frequent viewers might know this already, but the Copenhagen metro is one of the most famous users of the Ansaldo-Breda driverless metro standard, which has now been rolled into Hitachi as the Hitachi Rail Italy driverless metro standard and has been deployed in Greece, Italy and Taiwan and will be deployed in the future in Honolulu and Toronto as part of the Ontario line. The variant of the technology used in Copenhagen is very much light metro, with short and narrow 13 meter long, 2.65 meter wide cars that are connected three to a train. These trains themselves don't have huge capacity, but the design of the lines in Copenhagen, alongside automation, helps improve the numbers through a lot of high frequency service. More importantly, though, the Copenhagen metro is really well connected and there are plentiful opportunities for passengers to transfer from one service to another, freeing up space for more passengers and helping the metro move even more people. A great example of this is at the south end of M1 and M2 at Uresta and the Copenhagen airport respectively, where connections can be made to fast regional trains to central Copenhagen that travel along the very interesting Urasund bridge line, connecting Mainland Europe to Sweden and Norway, and from Copenhagen to Malmö and London, Sweden, both across the Urasund, a distance of roughly 15 kilometers. More recently, in the last few years, Copenhagen has opened its third and fourth metro lines, which, as you might imagine, are again more like one line with a branch. M3, also known as the Cityringen, is a loop line that travels around central Copenhagen, connecting Copenhagen Station, the Danish Parliament, and Osterport Station to the metro for the first time, as well as connecting to the M1 and M2 services in two places. The line is entirely underground, and despite using the same trains as M1 and M2, M3 is not connected to them. It's got its own train maintenance and storage facility south of Copenhagen Station adjacent to the approaching rail corridor. M4 is a unique rail service, similar to Shanghai Line 3, where it shares part of a looping corridor before splitting off in its own direction. In the case of M4, it shares tracks with M3 from Copenhagen Station to Osterport before heading to the reclaimed land of the Nordhavn area where it connects to S trains and rises onto elevated tracks at its terminus, the only above ground section on the line. Enabling this split of the M3 and M4 services is an impressive fully underground junction box leading to underground fly-inders similar to Line 15 of the Paris Metro. Although, again, this operates as two distinct lines, whereas Paris Line 15 will be branded as a single one. Now, as almost all of M3 and M4 underground, an interesting feature of their design and construction was a standardized station box design, which, as with all Copenhagen metro stations, rather uniquely for Europe, has platform screen doors, but not fare gates. This standardized design is implemented with different color palettes and architectural variations at each station, but help keep costs and number of components down. Some stations also feature bike storage areas on their mezzanine levels, catering to Copenhagen's culture of heavy bike use. One of the coolest and most unique features of the Copenhagen Metro is that alongside New York City, it's one of the only metro systems in the world that operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This is made possible through infrastructure design. Tracks on this system are generally kept far enough apart that one can be worked on and have the power turned off while another is in use. I talked more about how this is possible in a previous video, so make sure to check that out. As a side note, I also want to mention that the design of Copenhagen's vehicles is generally just really nice. Just look at this bus. Now, for a city the size of Copenhagen, I might be a little concerned that the light metro technology usually used by smaller cities might not be sufficient, but Copenhagen has another trick up its rail transit sleeves, and that's its fantastic S trains, which along with some regional trains, like those over the Ura Sunbridge, run 24 hours a day on Friday and Saturday nights, albeit with a simplified service pattern nicely complimenting the metro. The Copenhagen S trains, known locally as S-Tog, are pretty wonderful, and are run by Danish national railway company DSB, akin to how Deutsche Bahn runs many S-Bahn services in Germany. But you're probably asking, why do they look so weird? Well, that's because the front profile is supposed to be similar to the DSB logo, but also because these trains are some of the widest passenger trains out there, certainly on standard gauge tracks at least, at 3.6 meters wide. This enables a super unique interior design with wide benches on each side of the carriage that can each fit three people, lots of interior doors, and a lot of displays that remind me of a hybrid of some metro trains in South America and New York's NTT trains. The actual power systems the trains run on are much more conventional, with 1500 volt DC overhead lines being used network-wide. But trust me, things get weird again, and that's because unlike almost every other S-train or even mainline train out there, the modern S-Tog rolling stock uses tiny, roughly 10 meter long carriages paired up into either four or eight car fully walk-through trains, which themselves are combined to form longer consists. You might think that these short cars are similar to what you'd see on the Chicago L, Berlin, U-Bahn, or the Copenhagen Metro, for that matter. But remember, these cars are also incredibly wide, so they end up looking very funky. But it's all for a good reason. You see, bigger trains require bigger clearances, and the Copenhagen S-Tog is incredibly well used, and so bigger trains were historically a priority. Unfortunately though, with a conventional railcar, when traveling around curves, which the Copenhagen S-Tog has many of, especially tight curves, the car has out-swing, where the coach itself, a line between the two bogies, is increasingly hanging over the edge of the track. Fixing this with the modern Copenhagen S-Tog trains was as simple as having each car be super short and then super wide. But the fun doesn't end there. Since that leaves each car, or segment really, much shorter than what would make sense to support with traditional bogies, the cars instead feature more traditional paired-up wheels, sort of like on a car, and only the head car of the consist gets two sets of wheels, while the rest simply hang from the car that precedes it. Another way the S-Tog system is prioritizing capacity is with the implementation of communications-based train control, digital signaling, and eventually automatic train operation network-wide, which is possible because the system is entirely grade separated, again, fairly unique for an S-Train system. Digital signaling and automated operation is a growing trend outside of metro systems and onto heavily used mainline rail systems, from the famous Yamanote line in Tokyo to Thameslink in London, and now the S-Tog in Copenhagen. Now, if you're wondering why capacity is such a priority, that would be because the entire Copenhagen S-Train network, which, okay, besides the F-line, shares just two tracks between five or six different services that run every 10 minutes each through the city center. These combined services run at roughly 30 trains per hour in peak periods through seven central stations where all services stop, including with four connections to metro. The first of these services are the A and E, which run from the far north of the city to the far south. These lines have a really fun trick where they have local and express service despite being on an entirely two-track line, no passing tracks or anything. This is achieved by having the A run express north of the city and the E run express south of the city. That way, an E train departs just after an A train at the northern end of the line and has a gap form between it and the preceding train until it reaches the city center, where this pattern reverses and the E train can catch back up to the now local A train in front of it. The next service, the C, runs from the northeast of the city through the core before departing to the west and then turning north. The H service operates as a truncated version of the C, ending at Osterport and central Copenhagen. The final radial S train services are the B and DX, which only runs during peak periods. These services run from the northwest, south through the city, and then back out to the west. These various radial S train services historically created the basis of the famous Copenhagen finger plant, where the city would be developed in the shape of a hand, with the city center being the palm and the various S train lines forming fingers of development extending out into the countryside, surrounded by green space. While this plan was not perfectly executed as few are, it really was quite visionary in that it was a really understandable and coherent plan for a city based around a mass transit network. So I really like it. Forming the base of such a hand would be the other oddball S train service. I alluded to earlier, which is the F service, which operates as an arc around outer central Copenhagen, connecting with a variety of different S train and metro services along this arc. The F train being isolated from the other lines is going to be the first to go automated in the late 2020s, and previous discussions have even had it being converted to a full metro line. Speaking of the future, Copenhagen has a lot of different plans. For one, the M4 service will likely be extended further to the north at its north end and it's already being extended southwest at its southern end to connect to the interchange point of the A, E and F S train services at a station, which will be renamed to Copenhagen itself. The northern end of the A and E S train corridor will also see a new infill station, which will open in 2023. Speaking of metro, discussions are also happening around a future potential M5 line. These consultations are still in their early days, but advertisements for them can already be seen around Copenhagen, but such a service would likely serve more artificial islands created in the Urusund, as well as provide additional capacity to the existing core of the transportation network. With that said though, the biggest under construction project today in Copenhagen is probably the Copenhagen light rail, which is a new circumferential service that reminds me a lot of Helsinki's Jokari light rail and we'll outline the palm of the hand of Copenhagen. This project is actually one of the many new tram projects popping up across northern Europe in recent years and will connect six different S-Tog stations as well as other major destinations in Copenhagen suburbs without forcing riders to go into the center and back out, hopefully freeing up more space on the S trains and metro in the process. The line is a total of 28 kilometers long with 29 different stops and is set to open in the mid 2020s. I really appreciate the simple and elegant designs of the stops, especially where there are connections to S train lines. That means altogether, Copenhagen is building a lot of new transit on top of its already really impressive network and a lot of new connections to make traveling around the city even easier in the future. So thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next one. This video was produced using on the ground footage from Copenhagen Rail Productions and Carl from Copenhagen.