just start this planning commission meeting April 22nd 2021. I've started my recording and yep our recording has started as well on the team's platform and we just I've just admitted one person with a telephone number and I don't know who that is so I would ask that whoever just came in with the telephone number of<PHONE_NUMBER> if you could identify yourself. Yeah it's morning Maureen O'Day. Yeah thank you. Okay Daren can you put up the preamble? I grabbed the wrong document for the thing so briefly before we get rolling just to share this with folks I Dustin Burso as chair of the Essex Planning Commission find that due to the state of emergency declared by Governor Scott as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and pursuant to Addendum 6 to Executive Order 01-20 and Act 92 this public body is authorized to meet electronically. The full script is available from staff at the town offices or is available online. As we go through the meeting this evening I would like if you're not speaking to please mute your phones, mute your connections. When we get to the point of public participation please use the hand-raising option in Teams to let us know that you want to speak. If you don't have that option try to use the chat window and we'll go from there. We have an agenda this evening it has some amendments to it and I had some challenges are there only two rescheduled items folks? Perfect so to be noted on the amendments to the agenda is the single consent agenda item has been removed and is will be rescheduled at a later date and item five was a site plan public hearing for the state of Vermont that has also been rescheduled to a later date. So before we get going I'd like to ask anyone who is going to be providing commentary this evening to please take an oath and I would ask that you swear that any testimony you present this evening will be truthful to the best of your abilities. Verbal acknowledgement would be good. I do. Thank you first item on our agenda is public comment this is an opportunity for anyone in the public to provide commentary to the select board about items that are not on the agenda. To the planning commission. Planning commission who did I say? Blackboard. Oh man. I'm trying to give yourself a promotion. No.  So do we have anyone that wants to offer comment to the planning commission? Hearing none we'll move on to the next item on our agenda which is a site plan and master plan amendment public hearing for Euro West retail partners. This is a proposal to extend the green space to accommodate an outdoor stage located at 21 Essex Way. Darren you'd be presenting for staff. Yes I will. Thank you Dusty and looks like Maureen O'Day is coming in just want to give her a sec to get caught up and let me get caught up with the plans here. Okay so this is the Essex experience formerly known as the Essex Outlets and Cinema and I'm showing the overall plan here. So Vermont 289 is along this bottom of the plans here. Route 15 center road is along the top left and Essex Way runs top to bottom here on the plan. So we're talking about the central green. The proposal is to expand the green even further. There was a proposal a couple years ago to do this and it created a central gathering space within the Essex experience and allowed for some great events to happen over the last couple years in spite of COVID. So applicants are hoping to add a little more of that green space. This is existing today so we're going to zoom in a little bit here to show just a few more parking spaces 17 total being removed to expand the green further and a new stage will be added to the east side of the green. This will be a repurposed historic barn that will be relocated to the site. Staff have no issues with the proposal. We do want to note that there are several parking spaces that were planned behind building two so where Black Flannel and Purple Sage and a few other businesses are today. These were never constructed as parking spaces. There's still space there. It's essentially loading areas for the building. We don't feel there need to be those parking spaces there at this point so we are fine letting that be as needed construction based on demand. We also want to note that with the new Bob Arusa approval for building one there was planned to be on street parking along the future Commonwealth Avenue. But that has been removed with that plan so that's no longer part of the master plan. Otherwise fairly straightforward and no objections here. Thanks Darren. Commissioner is there any questions for staff at this point? No sir. One point that we didn't do we didn't identify commissioners participating for the record. Oh thank you David. You're welcome sir. So let's do a roll call before we go any further. David Raphael present. John Mangan present. Tom Ferland present. Joshua Knox present. Ned Daly here. And Dustin Brousseau present. Thank you Mr. Chair. Thank you. Okay that business taken care of apologies for the interruption. Who will be presenting for the application on this? Okay yes that is me. Sean Cunningham from Ulary Burke. We have read the staff notes and the conditions and we are good with them as written. Wow. Okay that's good. Any commissioners any questions for the applicant? And I would take a motion to open the public hearing. I move we open the public hearing. I'll second. Moved by Josh, seconded by John. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries 6-0. Public hearing for this is open. Again please use the hand raising feature within teams if you can. Anything in the chat? Again I'm just practicing my patience. Okay hearing none and seeing none I would take a motion to close the public hearing. I move we close the public hearing. Second. Moved by Josh, seconded by Tom again. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries 6-0. Public hearing is closed. Commissioners if I'm not hearing any questions and whatsoever an applicant is not arguing with staff on any point which is unheard of. Who wants to make the motion on this one John? One observation before we go to motion. Yeah. I mean fully in support no issues whatsoever. I just noticed that there's really no conditions or much chatter about the stage slash barn and maybe that's because it's really not a building it's more of a kind of a repurposed structure but I assume there's no issues with like state permits, fire safety, anything like that because it's just an outdoor structure. Is that right there? That is our understanding and I'm going to try and pull up pictures to show you really what it is. It's barely a structure at this point. Yeah I started in the packet the pictures of the barn before it was taken down and going to be re-raised but yeah I mean again no issues I just noticed there was not a lot of conditions treating that like a building so. I would say that we keep that templated condition of any and all state permits that may be required of this approval shall be secured or however it reads something very close to that that should be added I would say. I believe that's in there if not we can add that. Yep condition six prior to the zoning permit being issued applicant shall obtain all applicable state and federal approvals and permits and submit copies to community development. Perfect. So this just for folks who are interested this is the and Peter I don't know how things have progressed at this point but that's sort of what we're looking at right? That's correct and I'll just give a little bit of color to it. It will be a three-sided open stage with one side will be closed. We are having engineering done outside consulting engineering to make sure the load factor is for the sound and light equipment is are adequate or more than adequate and safe and we are going through an Act 250 noise study that was really the only requirement that they have requested so that that has commenced it'll you know all of our approvals from the state will be based on the results of that study and what Act 250 has to say. I've got I've got no issues I think the juxtaposition of barn at this age against the outlet buildings is going to be really really cool so yeah I'm good. Thanks Dave. I appreciate that. I also I should say I really think you know one of the one of the overriding issues I've had with the center is the the distance in between building to building and needing something to really tie this location together and give a central gathering point and I think this this is a great historic and and we'll we will be featuring the history of the barn which is pretty interesting to Vermont as as part of the presentation. Thank you. Yeah commissioners any additional questions thoughts or discussion points hearing none is anyone prepared to make a motion at this point? I will. I'll move that we approve the consent agenda for site plan and master plan amendment for your west part retail partners LTD and 21SX way as written and with the conditions as defined by staff. I'll second with the removal of the word consent agenda it's just the site plan master plan amendment so we're good. Okay sounds good. Okay moved by John seconded by Dave. Any further discussion? All right all those in favor of the motion signified by saying aye. Opposed? Motion carries six zero. We're good. Thank you. Great thank you. Thank you all. Thank you. Onward. Next item on our agenda is a sketch plan public hearing for Ron and Alice Segrist the proposal to divide two existing lots into five new lots located at 226 and 236 River Road. Darren who is presenting for staff is it you? Yes it is. Thanks Dusty. All right let me get the plans up so I apologize because I'm probably going to say something wrong so in terms of all the details of these lots that are being subdivided so there are two lots off River Road close to Paul Maz's farm stand near Greenfield between Greenfield Road and Sand Hill Road. They are 26 and 236 are the addresses of the parcels. Within those there are five separate residential dwellings sorry five separate residential buildings addressed 184 226 228 and 232 River Road with a total of eight dwelling units between them so there are three single family homes two duplexes and one triplex. Most of this is on Municipal Water and Sewer one the number 232 River Road which is down here near the river is on a well and number 228 shares that well with 232 everything else is on sewer. The proposal is to resubdivide these lots into five separate lots so going from two to five lots each building each structure would have its own lot and they would all be sized appropriately to what is currently within those buildings so the duplex would have enough for two units density and the triplex would have enough for three so the remaining lands would be 25 or sorry 29 acres approximately encompassing most of the farm field as well as the dwelling at number 232 and some of the access. This is a minor subdivision so we are doing a sketch plan review tonight and then if approved this will come back as a final plan. The only change in terms of actual construction is the let me get to the right view here lot three I believe sorry a lot four currently is on a shared well that will be changed to Municipal Water there's an existing curb stop on River Road that they will connect to and that will give it the density or the the appropriate density requirements meet the appropriate density requirements. They are also providing a shared use path easements along River Road for the entire length of both properties. There are a couple corrections I'd like to point out in the staff report on the first table after line 12 and we get to that so we can all see. Lot one was listed as being on-site septic and municipal water it's the other way around on-site well and municipal sewer. We run to the next change there is a typo in line 92 the scenic resource protection overlay district and is subject to the requirements of zero section 2.20 should be our subject to the requirements referring to all the parcels and there's another change to a table after line 115 and the district dimensional requirements again lot one is on off-site sewer on-site well and the last change is on line 152 in the public works memorandum regarding access there was a missing word to clarify there will be no need for new curb cuts on to the state right of way because all the existing all the subdivide of loss will utilize existing access drives and I just want to run through and make sure there is the applicants proposed connecting to the water line across the street across River Road with a jack and bore so going under the road but because there's an existing curb stop they don't need to do that so we just want that to be changed on the plans and that actually should say final review not preliminary review otherwise this is relatively straight forward provided we catch all the details and staffs in full support of the application thanks Darren commissioners do any questions at this point for staff hearing none who will be presenting for the applicant on this Darren anybody if there would be me David Ted hope okay David you have the floor any any concerns or questions about the staff presentation no I think that was just fine I think Darren did a great job on that all right thank you Darren good job thanks and thanks to David for doing a very good job in the presenting the application it was actually very well documented thank you great commissioners any questions for mr. Tutto hearing none I would take a motion to open the public hearing I move we open the public hearing I'll second moved by Josh seconded by John all those in favor opposed motion carry six zero public hearing is open does anyone have any commentary they would wish to add to this application hearing none seeing none yeah I'm David Ted hope but in one thing that I that I was curious about was the requirement of concrete monuments versus rebars what we normally put in for property corners Darren where are we looking at that from so that be condition eight okay is that correct dude I think so it was an eight yeah the intention there is simply to follow whatever standard during our subdivision regulations so if concrete monuments are required for I think generally it's used for marking roadways and property lines then we would need that but otherwise free bar I think is appropriate but we can check with our public works and whatever has surveying standards there are so we're not specifically concerned about how it's done as long as it's done with in accordance with surveying standards okay so you let me know if it's going to be all right to place the rebars at the corners yep we'll double check on that all right thank you and we'll fix that with the final approval too this is just sketch so we've got some time to work out those details okay all right thanks Darren any other questions or comments uh Christine Farnham yes uh hi guys uh Dusty uh Brent Farnham 222 River Road um that the proposal it looks uh it looks good but for you know being a homeowner here this until we got something in the mail we didn't even realize what the the layout was going to be with a lot I wish that you know had a conversation with Mr. Segrist to at least be able to look at their proposal it looks like lot five is what comes into play for my area just asking where would the house be located in lot five is that possible Darren to get that viewpoint again absolutely and I'm actually going to zoom back out to the overall plan so we can see your lot uh so here you are 222 yep right here in the Brent and Christine Farnham so the lot will extend behind your house but the actual structure is where it is today they're not proposing any new houses or new construction except uh connecting to the water line so number 226 River Road is going to be where it is today that's the triplex I believe okay the only reason that that extends behind your houses for them to be able to have the acreage to meet density requirements right no again this was the the first view that we got to see of it so I appreciate that Darren um no again thank you for the uh the clarification and on that no problem thank you for uh chiming in and again this is still sketch so if you have further questions it's got to come back to us one more time so you still have an opportunity to you know have a discussion with either staff or Mr. Segris let's see do I see John Alden present you do I'm just a guest today I guess well if I'd seen you there you would have been you would have been pulled into service yeah I know I was a little late I had a couple of things tied me up he just he'd got here relatively soon not too long ago okay have you been on board for this entire application John Alden I joined during the presentation of the staff report okay so I would like to indicate that John is an alternate and with Mr. Schumacher not present I'd like to recognize John and allow him to be a voting member for this application is that acceptable to the rest of the commission yes sir okay John you're you're you're on tap okay so at this point I believe the public hearing is still open do we have anyone and any additional comments or questions from folks I would take a motion to close the public hearing I move we close the public hearing second moved by Josh seconded by Ned all those in favor aye opposed motion carries seven zero discussion any questions or commentary for staff or applicant Mr. Chair yes sir so uh 10,000 foot view I completely support the application there are several references in the staff report to the Bianchi ruling which mostly you know is a supreme court ruling that Bianchi ruling deals with marketability of title I am struggling with this application with the duplex and the triplex so I would only be in favor of supporting this with some either conditions for state review fire safety other other review at the state level for these multifamily properties and or further town review I'm not comfortable moving this app forward without town approvals in place for those two those two dwellings that appear to never have been approved by the town okay so Darren go ahead thanks for pointing that out Dave and I do want to clarify the condition five does require that the single unit dwelling that's currently permitted at 228 river road actually get a zoning permit to become a duplex because we don't have any records of that having been done properly so that would be prior to the recording of the Mylar which is the only real um uh stage where this becomes official after the PC approval so uh we believe that would remedy the situation and otherwise all the other um lots appear to be in um conformance with zoning I mean but not the tribe I mean there were several references to the duplex and the triplex and the findings and are you suggesting that the triplex get a zoning board approval well so I'm concerned at two levels um I mean they're there they're functioning but there's there's two triggers there's you know does the town allow it but then whenever you get to a multifamily dwelling it triggers state regulations that go in place especially division of fire safety so I want to feel comfortable that these now standalone lots that could be conveyed meet the Vermont division of fire safety requirements especially since they're dwelling units yep understood and David are you concerned with the reference to the Bianchi um case because it's not um a correct application of the precedent yeah that's part of it Tom I mean you know I'm not an attorney but I love to play one but the Bianchi ruling is a Supreme Court ruling that deals with marketability of title so you can't after a certain statute of limitations 15 years you my understanding is you can't uh put a cloud on title due to the inability to obtain municipal permits or or approvals that has nothing to do with the town during a subdivision process putting requirements on to the subdivision that deal with violations all Bianchi says is look you can't cloud the title and stop the transfer title because of a violation that happened that's 15 years or more now again I'll defer to the town attorneys for this but my point of all this from a 10,000 foot view is you can't just cite Bianchi and say well if they didn't get all their town stuff there's nothing we can do about it now that's not true in this subdivision process we have the ability to bring those parcels into compliance with our town regulations and if we've determined that prior approvals were not obtained and that these are not legal triplexes and duplexes we can put conditions on those to bring those into compliance now okay and so we shouldn't even cite the Bianchi well yeah I mean I would argue from my real estate background that yes Bianchi doesn't come into play here because I don't care what they do they're not selling it they're coming before us for a subdivision approval therefore we have the ability to say Bianchi doesn't matter here if you if this these aren't legal legally what they are supposed to be we can put whatever conditions we want on them to make them legal right and and it shouldn't even be mentioned in the staff report because that kind of expands the scope of Bianchi you know implicitly potentially you're right Sharon did you have something did you want to add yeah I was just going to say um I think that you know we probably may seek a legal opinion but it might be because of Bianchi that we can do this administratively I'm I'm I know that the state fire marshal has been in some of these units but not specifically all the whole building at the same time so I think if we you know work behind the scenes in between sketch and final and prior to final um we can um probably close that loop fairly quickly I don't think a fix is very difficult so so I have I have to thanks Sharon I have to play um I have to play the the my my old and slow and stupid card I'm I'm reading lines 105 103456 so forth and I see that you know calls out the the lack of a the duplex which is referenced in step five but I don't understand why and I guess I just don't understand the Bianchi law and how to interpret it but why are we not also calling out the triflex in this in the same the similar way that we're calling out the duplex help me understand that daren or david or somebody uh david david top oak go ahead yes um do you want to speak to him ron or alice yes this is alice sigris and she's gonna respond to the the two units I'm actually actually on the three units right now so I'm trying to find out why in the staff report we reference and this is me being ignorant why are we referencing that there was no conditional use for the triflex but then we go down to the stipulations and we talk about bringing the duplex into conformance but we don't reference the triflex so so maybe this is back to daren for a minute since you authored the the report as to where's that gap the can I let me let me let me stick with staff for a minute let me go to daren please so my understanding which david is now corrected is that uh bianchi law applied to zoning as well um and we can again double check on the legal angles here but um my assumption was that there wouldn't be a point in getting a zoning board approval before the subdivision because um it would sort of it's already taken care of in case law but we'll um gladly look into that and make sure that you know all the eyes are dotted and the teeth are crossed um and I did notice in my review that the and maybe alice and ron can clarify this because this was a long time ago and I wasn't here um it looks like the triflex was originally meant to be or contemplated as either a single unit or a duplex and then maybe was added on afterwards before a construction was finished so that might have been why it maybe didn't trigger us to go to the zoning board um even though maybe it should have at that point so it seems like maybe hopefully just uh an oversight and um we'll double check on what may or may not have happened back then and what would be appropriate now okay so mrs secris if you'd like to add comment now that would be okay right um well actually it's the triflex I want to add comment on that um uh we um uh had a permit for the for the first one apartment and then we put a second apartment in and had a permit for that and I have the numbers and so forth of the permits and the completion date and I don't remember at that time that anybody you know we were involved in the whole process and we were not asked to do any other uh piece of a variance or whatever it might be so um when I when I saw that I thought well we were involved with the whole process but uh for some reason that was not we were not asked to do that okay it sounds like Darren to your point there's a little bit more homework that could maybe be done on that yes and like I said the um this was a long time ago and so uh I had to look at the zoning regulations then at the time and where the zoning districts were so um this was only a several years after the town instituted zoning it's quite possible that again this was simply an oversight okay so mr chair just just so I just don't want to hold this up I just want to be clear from a 10 000 for view so the way I'm approaching this is I'm looking at a multi-building parcel that potentially doesn't have approvals but it has a history and they're asking to subdivide it so in my mind that opens the book up for the opportunity to bring the property into compliance because we're creating five distinct parcels so the reason Bianchi doesn't necessarily apply is because we're not talking about marketability of title here what we're talking about is they're asking us for permission to subdivide these parcels into five distinct parcels therefore we get a a whack at the at the pinata to say okay were these previously approved yes or no what do we need to do to bring these into compliance it's sort of like looking at something that might not be the town road specs or public work specs we had the opportunity at the time of subdivision to say okay this needs to be brought up to the current town road specs in order to move it forward so that's all I'm suggesting is that throw Bianchi out and let's just look at if we've got issues where zoning and and the community development records don't master a parcel this is the time to bring it up to compliance so that when we subdivide it it meets our current rules okay I think that sounds good um David um Rafael if yes sir with no understanding this is sketching with their statement that there would be working to clean that up um and just confirm everything going forward would are you would you be in agreement of moving sketch to um to final yes sir okay that's that's I think that's that's clear that we've got a sticking point there well can can I add one thing absolutely go right ahead okay the one thing I want to add is that the buildings are in compliance as far as state and what was it state inspections everything it's it's in full compliance and it has to be because it's it's an apartment or or triplex or duplex they have to follow these rules and in the rules were followed and they're documented yep what would that should help and that should make this more of an administrative exercise than than any sort of punitive action yes we get things cleaned up so that there are no questions going forward I that's what I'm taking from from Commissioner Rafael's point is that this is the time to clean things up and not leave to to to go back a few election years not leave a hanging chat okay Darren you have more yes so I just want to clarify assuming that as the applicant state that the um buildings in the lots are in conformance with state standards and we'll check on that um the only thing I think that we're hung up on uh chat or not is that um the zoning board never issued an approval for a triplex um so it's a conditional use in the r2 zone and I'm just trying to play out if the planning commission wanted that cured that would mean the applicant should go to the zoning board and get conditional use approval for this triplex that's been there for about 50 years um so I just want to clarify that what that would look like is the zoning board sort of rubber stamping that um and is that the intention of the commission and and if not and if so I think we might want to do that before final but I just want to clarify well isn't that what you propose for the duplex have the zoning board rubber stamp it that would be administrative because it's um a zoning permit not a conditional use approval so one of the things that the applicant has said is that they feel that they've got all their approvals and everything in place so to me there's an opportunity to review what they have and to see if it's if there's a gap between what the town has on file and what they have on file and again that may allow this to be dealt with administratively um if not then I think to follow up what uh mission Raphael was saying is that we need to get this just close the loop and I think it would be a zoning board David is that David Raphael is that one uh you in agreement on that yeah it's completely accurate okay Sharon that sounds good okay Sharon yeah I just wanted to say that a lot of possible solutions but we will get a quick legal opinion and we will act as as they tell us to do and if it's been 50 years and he feels that Bianchi for some reason can be weaved in or whatever we will go with the legal advice and we'll get that cleared up before it comes back to you guys for final and if they do say it needs zba they should go to zba first before you guys give final I don't think we would be able to approve if the zba hasn't been put in place yep any further questions or commentary okay hearing none does anyone prepare to offer a motion on the sketch plan David Raphael why don't you take a whack at it sure we'd be happy to I'm going to move approval of the sketch plan public caring of Ron and Alice Seacrest's proposal to subdivide the two existing lots into five new lots located 226 and 236 river road in the medium density residential R2 zone scenic resource overlay and floodplain overlay districts tax maps 33 and four parcels one and ten staff report as written with the changes notated by Darren remaining as written David do you want to remove lines 103 to 110 for now maybe they come back at final but just for now just take them out yeah that's a great point so that's that tom furlin with the second and a friendly amendment to remove those lines friendly amendment accepted I like that moved by David seconded by Tom worked out very well any further discussion on that all those in favor signified by saying aye aye opposed motion carries seven zero sketch plan approved with uh items still to be worked out before it comes back for final thank you uh let's see we are moving on to the next item on our agenda which is the minutes from April 8th I get a motion for the minutes for April 8th please I'll move we approve the motion the minutes from April 8th second moved by John mangan seconded by Tom does anyone want to offer any corrections to the minutes at any part of the document hearing none all those in favor of the minutes as moved signified by saying aye aye opposed minutes carry seven zero other business do we have any I have some um and but I'm going to ask I'm going to say this but that can be answered after my other business John Alden where you been anyhow um well we've missed you anyhow um just to FYI there are a couple of um plan uh PUC applications for the tower 150 Brigham Hill Road to add some more antennas um and one at uh corporate drive um I will get the PDF and and just I'll just zerox the proposal part for you guys so that you can read the specifics of what it what it art what it is but um they're de minimis both applications were de minimis through the PUC and that's all I have all right thank you Sharon Erin yes we want to let you know that there is a fair housing workshop being hosted by the agency of com or department of housing community development next Wednesday April 28th and we will forward the information to you thank you um I don't think it's fair to let we so get away out of the meeting without having to say something well Darren took my announcement sorry always I see your hand up sorry I was I was making sure it got set no thank you mr chair can I ask a question of staff certainly are we so are there any opportunities with um I heard the governor talking about the funding that's coming in from the stem pack that will address in particular affordable housing initiatives do does Essex have any opportunities to either get some of those grants or funds or participate in that it will depend on whether they are directed towards designated downtowns or village centers or designated village centers but um yeah there there's supposed to be a couple of pots of money being made available in the next few months probably for affordable housing uh some of it is for um for rewriting will be um uh carrots offered by the federal government for um for increasing densities and um and otherwise providing looking at zoning to provide for affordable housing and overcoming obstacles in zoning to create affordable housing okay that was eloquent of me no no like that that's great I mean I would just love to see if there's an opportunity for Essex to to get some units as part of this and take advantage of some of those funds and either work with the tech center or whatever we got to do to do that I would that would be super exciting yep great to know that you're on board and if something comes up we will definitely tap you for um for participation in whatever the process is cool have we started to is the the potential roadmap for our work work map started to gel out yet it's starting we've met and we're going through some items and Darren is um Darren is doing some data collection to facilitate the process because we really need to we really need to have some data on the table to understand what we may or may not be proposing okay can we can we try to consider with within like one of the meetings next month to at least have a have a discussion about what's what we might be able to do in the you know when we can do it and so forth even if we're not talking absolute specifics but I'd like to start maybe having maybe the second meeting of each month if we can reserve you know 15 minutes on the agenda or have an agenda item to talk about you know regulation updates sure um what what I think Darren and Sharon would both attest to is that there's a lot of unraveling that needs to happen um with the with some of the zoning changes because they're not everything is so interconnected yep we sort of we've gone to the to the root of of the um of the ordinance which is the use table and looking at the zoning districts and within the zoning districts Darren is collecting information on the parcels that are contained in each and we're going to start doing some analysis to start understanding so what I'm proposing is not is not to to change the way that you're doing that what I'm proposing is that every month we have a period of time that the commission and you have a direct interaction on what's in play what we can do what we might want to focus on other than you know it make sure that we stay on the same page because it would be um I think a disadvantage to all of us if if you guys start if you guys go down a path that either we don't want to go down or are unaware that we have to go down and we can become disconnected in this process so if there's a commission field that that's an appropriate step at this point is to start putting a regular line item on our agenda I guess it's just me then I I like that idea and maybe maybe a given week there's not a whole lot to say but I like calling it out at the maybe every fourth Thursday like where are we on this and if if there's nothing as of yet there's nothing as of yet but I like that idea okay so I think that's how we've done it in the past so I think we'll just you know giving you a little update and if it opens up to a bigger conversation so be it but um I think that's easy to easy to accommodate for you yeah I'm not trying to make this be onerous or you know necessarily unnecessarily detailed at this point but let's this is an opportunity for us all to stay on the same page so that we are working um collaboratively and towards a common goal as I learned that at work but the data really is going to be very important to the whole process I understand and I'm not arguing against that what I don't want to do is I don't want to wait until everything is collected before we even start talking about any of it so my my point is we want to be on board with this and we're not going to I don't think it's appropriate to wait and wait and wait and wait because data collection can be a never-ending process yes that's what I'm in for but also being able to present things to you in a coherent way in which you can analyze and understand them is going to be the way that I think that we're all going to move forward together but we also want to be able to present to you so I'm not I'm not bouncing back and forth I'm just not I'm this isn't necessarily yeah I'm just saying that we're not trying to punt on anything we we have been doing work on this and we want to hear about it this is I think it's as simple as that are we so we want to hear about it yeah um I mean we can also have a work session but a lot of it is very it's there's so much minutiae and there's so much um so so let's let's not overthink it yep bear with me don't know let's not overthink it like the staff have to overthink it and so that's that's how we're I understood what I'm trying to get to and let's let's let's leave it quickly with this but what I'm trying to get to is is we want a regular update to be provided to the commission yeah it can be it can be a one senate it can be two paragraphs it can be see it next time but let's just make it or be a regular item so we have it we I haven't set as an expectation okay sorry um anything else if not somebody quickly make a motion I move from your journal this is the night of Josh motions second second all those in favor all right all right opposed we are adjourned thank you everyone bye everyone has to see you


A 29-year-old German man is suing his neighbour for breach of contract after the neighbour failed to impregnate his wife after 72 different attempts. He hired Maus the neighbour to impregnate his former wife as he was sterile and he wanted the baby badly. So what you're saying is the XG of both of them is zero? Zero XG and whoever is doing someone else on the side. In that instance, it doesn't matter how clinical you are. Even if you've taken your chances, nothing's going to happen in that. It's your moment on Sunday. Hang on, that's me. It's not us. Is this the sound effect to get you off the show? He's gone to the window. Davies, has he got to answer it? Genuinely, you won't believe. Go on. That's my next door neighbour. With a contract in it then.


I know I Don't think these kids are older than five Probably not okay the whole team is They are that really low They're all back


Good evening, dear colleagues, we are now back from our break and we are about to begin with our debate on the EU-UK agreement and territorial consequences of Brexit. We have the great honour to have with us Mr. Loïc Chesne-Girard, the President of the Regional Council of Brittany and Chair of the COR Contact Group with the UK, and Sadeh Khan, the Mayor of London. Dear colleagues, Mr. Barnier informed us about the impossibility for him to join us today, a circumstance which we fully understand since negotiations with the United Kingdom concerning the trade agreement are still ongoing. I have nevertheless decided to keep our exchanges, since more than ever the specific needs of regions and cities must be spelled out. And no deal, a hard Brexit is not an option for us. Today, we will hear the concerns of many elected politicians. In Flanders, new customs procedures will affect the fluidity and the fried flows. German regions will face trade disruption of transport vehicles and machinery. Ireland will be the most exposed, with 14% of its trade exports going directly to Britain. There, the prevention of a hard border is essential. And I welcome yesterday's agreement on the implementation of the withdrawal agreement and protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland, which will also guarantee a specific role to Northern Ireland's devoted administration. In this context, we suggest the use of territorial and cross-border cooperation tools, such as the European grouping of territorial cooperation and interag, because we can really reach to some certain goals using them. Dear colleagues, it is of extreme importance to assure that all regions directly affected by the territorial consequences of Brexit can count on the adjustment fund of 5 billion euros proposed by President Michel. Also, for this reason, we need the multi-financial framework, the MFF, to be adopted now. As a political assembly, we look forward to enhance our partnership. And I would like to thank Loïc Chesne Girard, who chairs our contact group for framing a way forward and making a merge of fresh occasions for establishing new partnership with our British colleagues. And we also welcome today the Mayor of London, Mr. Sadiq Khan. Dear Mayor, let me start by reiterating. I will always respect, but deeply regret, the democratic decision of the British people. Having studied in London and lived for several years, I have always had a personal affinity with your city. London will always be a European city that champions diversity, openness, innovation and opportunity. Dear Mayor, even after the current endgame is played out, it will take many more years to establish new boundaries and understand what this separation and its consequences will mean for all of us and our communities. There are no winners, no winners from Brexit. As regional and local leaders, we need to come together. In the spirit of European cooperation, we need to assess the impact of Brexit together and hold our governments to account to protect communities and livelihoods. We need to continue to cooperate on global issues, such as the pandemic, immigration, demographic change, the climate change. Our committee, the Committee of the Regions, is open. As London is open. We are open to you and every local leader from every British city, local authority or devolved administration to work together. It is true dialogue, compromise and multilateralism, not inward-looking nationalism, that we best represent the interests of our citizens. Let me propose to you today, Mayor, that each year we invite the main city, local government associations and devoted administration leaders together to share experiences and unite in areas of mutual interest. We must support cooperation between our universities, our regions, our civil society and small and medium enterprises, and have a vibrant partnership that is vital in responding to climate change and delivering the sustainable development goals. Only by cooperating, dear colleagues, dear mayor, only by coordinating our efforts and pulling our resources, we can best meet the needs of our citizens beyond Brexit. Your participation today is a first step of fruitful dialogue, building not unraveling decades of friendship and cooperation with mayors and regional leaders from all across the European Union. So with great pleasure, I now give you the floor. I thought it was the mayor of London, Mr. Sadiq Khan, who spoke first, but if I understand well, it's my turn. Yes, it's you who spoke first. Okay, thank you very much and happy once again, dear President Siti Kostas, happy to see you here as well. Welcome. On your side, I hope that we will all meet physically very quickly. We are in the last straight line of Brexit, whatever the issue of negotiations, there will be impacts. You said it, Mr. President, impacts in a different way depending on the territory. We will all be impacted, but with more or less violent shocks, asymmetrically, in the different regions of Europe. And being President of the British region, close to the United Kingdom, I can tell you that we know well that we are going to undergo significant shocks at the beginning of the next year, whether there is agreement or not. I also know that many other colleagues all over Europe will be concerned as much as I am. Thank you again, Mr. President Siti Kostas, for having allowed the creation of the Negotiations Committee, the discussion between the group of contacts, sorry, between the regions of the Union and the United Kingdom. We have already organized two meetings, two meetings of work, which allowed us to feel the collective desire that we all had to continue to work to prepare for the future, to keep some links between our territories, to build bridges and build strategies that will allow us, beyond this separation, to democratically want, but that we all regret, to be able to continue to work, to reinforce collaborations between the United Kingdom and the European Union, and of course all our collectivities, all our regions that have a lot of links that do not want to see dissolve in the coming years. It is a challenge for us to work on it. We have the responsibility to work now and not to let ourselves be distracted by the complicated, complicated period for Brexit, by Brexit, complicated too, of course, by the Covid that we all suffer. The meetings have already been held for two times. We will continue in the next weeks and in the next months. We all know that we have to work together, work solidarity. These are the values that are ours, and of course to stay united behind the negotiators, and behind of course Michel Barnier, who is excused today, the negotiator-in-chief, who assumes the responsibility of this negotiation on the side of Europe at 27. We could have lived a clash, we could have lived tensions, we could have lived bilateral negotiations based on such or such specificities in our member states and in our territories. We are all left united. It is important, I believe, and it is important to stay united like this, and the corollary of this unity is solidarity. Solidarity between us all, solidarity between the regions that will suffer more and those that will suffer less. Solidarity, of course, of the European Union against these regions. And at this point, it is important to make sure that things are in place very quickly. We are waiting a lot for the adjustment reserve. It has been announced. It must be in place very quickly. It is welcome, of course. When I say very quickly, it is from the beginning of the year 2021 that there is an agreement or not an agreement because there will be changes and shocks. I think of many subjects that we live in our territories. And above all, I repeat that this reserve is managed in a decentralized way, as we wish the European deputies. The European deputies had expressed a very clear wish. It is that the regions of Europe manage the solidarity reserve. The adjustment reserve, sorry, it is not necessary that this adjustment reserve goes back to the national capital. The management by the national capital does not seem to be conformed to the parliamentarian wishes and is not conformed, of course, to the regions that we are in. And I think that European capital has many other subjects on which it must be concentrated and consecrated currently. This is an important point. The other important point is, of course, the sums, 5 billion for the moment announced. We will see how things are organized, but I believe that we are far from the point. Is it always convenient to redress our ambition of solidarity, our ambition of having a Europe that protects, that says it and that does it. It is a very important job and of course to make sure that we keep very nice relations with our friends from the UK. We will be delighted to hear in a few moments Mr. Le Maire de Londres and as the President of CityCostas said, we have the ambition, of course, to continue the work, to create links, always links, to prepare the future and the multilateral relationship between all of our territories. Thank you all and see you soon. Thank you, President, for your kind words as well. It's an honour to be able to take part in this plenary session today. I thought when I was preparing this speech that there might be a trade deal agreed now between the UK and the EU, but alas, it looks like the negotiations are not only being pushed to the wire, but are in a very precarious state, as you said. So I must start by urging all sides to keep on talking because there is so much at stake, not just for London and the whole of the UK, but for cities, regions and countries across Europe. It would be a massive mistake of historic proportions to give up at this stage, to simply walk away because the negotiations have become too hard. If a trade deal cannot be reached in the next few days, then I'd urge Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the EU to extend the transition period. This would be the obvious, right and sensible thing to do. A no-deal outcome should simply not be an option. It would be a lose-lose situation of both the UK and the EU, costing jobs, reducing growth and hitting living standards across Europe. It would also be a huge political failure at the worst possible time, just when we're at a crucial point in our fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Every region across Europe is in the middle of both a health and an economic crisis on an unprecedented scale. This means that all our efforts should be focused on getting through these enormous challenges together, not preparing for the devastating consequences of a no-deal Brexit and the further economic and social damage this would cause. So I must take this opportunity to call for calm and wise heads to prevail over the key days to come. However, the main reason I wanted to join you today was to talk about how despite Brexit we can continue to work together across our regions. I come with this message as an ambassador for London, but also as a friend, a colleague and a proud European. It's no secret that I campaign for Britain to remain as part of the European Union. The EU is an institution like no other in the world and it's an institution that I'm proud of my country was a part of for so many years. There are many Londoners like me who will never forget the extent to which it's been a force for good in the world and how much it's achieved for us from workers' rights and environmental protections to entrenching equal pay and the rights of women. And that's why I'll continue to campaign for us to have a closer economic and political relationship with our EU friends in the future. But Brexit has now happened and even though it's difficult and disappointing for many of us in London, I believe we have an obligation to look to the future, not the past and to strive to work together as much as possible on our shared challenges across our cities, regions and countries and that's why I see a big part of my job as ensuring that London remains a key partner for Brussels and every European city, region and nation. Even though we're no longer part of the Union, we will forever be connected. Our histories are intertwined and I believe the same can be true of our futures. There's common interests, we can all unite around and there are shared challenges we can and must meet together, whether it's on how we can tackle air pollution and the climate emergency, how we can build our cities and regions back better, fairer and greener following this terrible pandemic, how we can fight terrorism or how we can create more equal inclusive cities at a time where nativist populism and the politics of division is on the rise across Europe. So friends, let me just end with this. Even though we're going through extremely gloomy and grueling times on many fronts, I'm optimistic that London, the UK and the EU all have bright futures ahead of us and that the historic bonds that we've established over many years can and will endure. In London, we'll always consider ourselves part of the European family. Our connection and collaboration is rooted in mutual interests and common values. We will always be open and welcoming to people from across Europe to live, work and study in London. And I know that with the right approach, we can continue to achieve remarkable things together as we go forward. Not only for the cities, countries and institutions we represent, but crucially for the people we serve. It was Erasmus, a name that now embodies European cooperation and understanding who famously said, fortune favours the audacious. And now at this turning point in European history, it's time for us to be audacious and bold with our approach to a post-Brexit Europe. And this means now more than ever, putting aside the animosity, differences and anger that many expect and working together across our regions to find solutions that bring hope and prosperity to us all. Thank you. Thank you very much for your coming for really inspirational intervention. You're really inspiring intervention. I would like now to give the floor to Mark Speisch for two minutes. Mark, you have the floor. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Mr. President, Mr. President, Mr. Girard, Mr. Mayor, thank you very much for your introduction, which gave us a glimpse into the future. I wish everyone here today would have been all the good things for the negotiations that are taking place now. It would be really good if we could come to an end with a deal. That we already feel the consequences today is all of us in pain. We are in a situation in my own region, in North and Westphalia, where we already feel the consequences of Brexit today. In 2015, Great Britain was the third most important trade partner for our region of North and Westphalia, with an export volume of a total of 14 billion euros. In 2019, that has already sunk to 10.7 billion euros. You can see the uncertainty that has accompanied the process led to the fact that economic relations have already changed, reorganized, to the harm of our relations. That is why I would like to also, as Mayor Kahn has done, to look forward and especially because he has reminded Erasmus von Rotterdam, the great European, has a view on science, on research relations, because here, also after the Brexit, on the other hand, Brexit is a great future for our relations. We currently have over 270 cooperation partnerships with our region and university institutions in the United Kingdom, and for many it is the financing through programs of the European Union of very special and decisive relevance. Science lives from exchange. The United Kingdom remains an attractive goal for European students and researchers, and at the same time the exchange with research institutions of other countries is an important pillar for the excellence of the British research landscape. Both sides therefore have to have a fundamental interest in the progress of this relationship and we should work together on that. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. The floor now to Michael Murphy for two minutes, please. Thank you, Mr President. Understandably, Mr Barney couldn't make it to today's debate. Let me take this opportunity to again reaffirm our support in the crucial days ahead as a deal or indeed no deal hangs in the balance. Throughout the, I suppose, the last four years since the Brexit referendum focus far Ireland and ultimately other countries, our regions was also always going to be about preparedness. Deal or no deal, an urgent focus on readiness for the end of the transition period is now urgently needed. As chair of the Econ Commission, we want to ensure a close analysis of the trade patterns with the UK and that the Brexit adjustment reserve is fine tuned. The reserve is not meant to be just a fisheries fund, but instead must be used to make sure all extra exposed regions and sectors are financially supported. The BAR needs to be predictable, rapid and flexible so it can have the optimal impact. We welcome the agreement in principle between the co-chairs of the EU UK Joint Committee on the withdrawal agreement. We look forward to the follow up in law to ensure the continuity of peace on the island of Ireland. We stress an inclusive place based approach to assessing the sectorial fallout of Brexit. Mr Khan, we do need an ever closer collaboration between and amongst EU and UK local and regional authorities. The CUR UK contact group is a great vehicle to monitor this impact. In conclusion, the double whammy of a pandemic and Brexit threatens to undo years of positive results of EU funding and make poorer regions poorer and richer. I thank you for your commitment and look forward to the exchanges. Thank you. The floor now to Maria Isilda Gomez. Good afternoon, dear Mr President and fellow colleagues, a special greeting to my colleague Sadik Khan, which well is the home to one of the largest British-worn populations outside the UK, a community of more than 40,000 people, most of them in Algarve. And this number has doubled since Brexit was decided in 2016. Every year the region of Algarve and the city of Portimao, in particular, welcomes thousands of British tourists, which are the main tourist market of the region, representing around 40% of the foreign tourists in our region. Also the UK is the home to 400,000 Portuguese workers and students. Concerning these economic, social and political bonds, a no deal could have a negative impact for the economy and impose restrictions of these citizens. For example, it will highly affect air travel and the buying power of the British visitors and residents, which will have a huge economic impact on a region like the Algarve whose economy mainly depends on tourism. That is why I think that it's very important that the committee discuss and supervise this issue, which can profoundly affect the economy recovery of many of our regions. The economic recovery after the pandemic will depend to a large extension on tourism, so we must not miss this opportunity. I think the agreement needs to take into account these local and regional realities. We need our doors to remain as open as possible. Thank you. Thank you very, very much. The floor now to Prime Minister Elio de Rupo. Prime Minister, you have the floor. And his attitude does not allow us to be clear in the future of relations between the European Union and the United Kingdom. And this situation creates great uncertainty for thousands of companies and hundreds of thousands of workers who are afraid of losing their jobs. However, uncertainty is a great economic and psychological poison. For my region, the United Kingdom could represent up to 5,000 unemployed people. I would also say that at the European level, the exchanges between the European countries and the United Kingdom are essential. For the same reason, my dear President, the vaccine currently insinuated to the United Kingdom comes from Europe. As by the way, the first Minister of the Federalist Party, Jean-Luc-Claude Croix. Dear colleagues, you may know that my region, the United Kingdom, has an important legislative power that provides it with the faculty to accept or not to accept international trade agreements. To be clear, I would not hesitate to ask my parliament to use its veto right, as was the case for the CETAS, if the future trade agreements with the United Kingdom would turn red lines fixed by my government and by most of the European Union countries. I would also urge the need to find an agreement in the interest of the European regions that will be the most proportionately impacted, I think particularly in my region, the Flandre. Here, my dear President, I would like to greet our friend, the mother of London, who is an open city around the world, and especially in Europe, and greet the great work of Michel Barnier. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. The floor now to Mikyel Riesbenderman for three minutes. Thank you, Mr Chair. Mr Barnier is not here today for obvious reasons. He is now negotiating, I think, the last hours out of the period since the referendum, which is some 40 months. We are now, I think, in the last 40 hours of the period until the deadline, and we really need to know what the agreement between the UK and the EU will be. Of course, I feel that there will be an agreement because having no deal breaks it, I feel is not an option. Mr Barnier, I would have been here, I would have liked to discuss with him the different subjects he is negotiating now, like the different logistics at the seaports, at our airports, like the level playing field, the trade we are going to do together, especially the Irish border and fisheries. Those latter two subjects really affect the lives of many very directly, especially in Ireland where even peace is at stake. So we feel that the negotiations Mr Barnier is doing is very important, and because nothing is decided until everything is decided, this is, of course, of major importance, and we still don't know. Actually, we don't know anything, I would say, for what the outcome of these negotiations will be. So I wish him good luck, and I hope that he will have a good deal for both sides of the future border. On the other hand, I am very happy that Mr Barnier is here today. As an administrator of the Amsterdam metropolitan area, I can see that we have deep ties between the mainland of Europe and the UK. We have strong cultural ties, we have economic ties, we have a lot of ties between our people, people who live in Amsterdam and have their family in the UK and vice versa. This, of course, goes for many countries across Europe, and we feel that we should keep these ties, even if at what we at the national level might feel that it is an acceptable decision of the British people we need to accept, but a decision we find very hard to respect, because it's obviously, to a lot of people in the Netherlands, folly to leave the EU, even risking a no-deal Brexit. So I would really like to offer to Mr Kahn that our cooperation from Amsterdam, from the Netherlands, and I think I speak for most people in Europe, and we say that we want to keep cooperating on cultural, economic, and on social levels as much as we can, because we feel the British people are part of the European family, and we should try to keep our family close. Thank you, Mr Chairman. Thank you very much. The floor now to Jura Drobach for two and a half minutes. Kieran McCarthy for two minutes. Yeah, thanks, President, and thanks, Mayor Kahn. On behalf of the European Alliance Group, many thanks for your contribution here this afternoon. There are strong historical and personal connections between my city of Cork and London, and I still hope, and I certainly hope that they will actually continue and grow even stronger. There are 10 return flights from my regional airport in Cork every day, and they're still going to be there even post-Brexit. A number of years ago, our group, the European Alliance, held a meeting in Roneymead, and while it's their Heathrow, it's more famous for the Magna Carta, a treaty which is cherished by many British people, but more importantly, a charter which created peace and protected rights. That is why we welcome the agreement and principle on the implementation of the withdrawal treaty and the protocol in Ireland, Northern Ireland, which has, as its background, the need to preserve peace and the integrity of the island of Ireland economy. Let's hope that the meeting tonight between the British Prime Minister and the Commission President steps forward the Brexit process. My wish is, though, that we do not penalise our young people for the madness of a few elites who painted the sight of a bus with fictitious numbers. We need to find a way and that we recognise their diplomas, allow people to work and live in the UK or across the EU. Democracy needs to be respected, but it needs to be on the basis of truth, fact, and honesty. For the people of Scotland, Northern Ireland, and London, in the partnership of nations, it is strange the nations did not have a voice. We also, the EU, has fantastic programmes, and I am afraid that over 40 years of cooperation will develop at a slower pace if we do not have Verizon and Interag or Erasmus. Hence why I do support the call of our President here this afternoon for a meeting of minds to see what practical steps can be developed between the EU regions and the UK regions. Many thanks, Mr President. Thank you very much. Is Mr Droba ready now? You're right, Droba. Two and a half minutes. Can you hear me? Two and a half. Dear President, dear Mr Khan, dear colleagues, the aim of the transition period was to reach a new and fair partnership for the future. Regardless of the outcome of negotiations, Brexit will create new ways of trading in goods and services, cross-border mobility, and new exchanges. Everyone on both sides will be affected, and so must prepare for the change. It is crucial that support is provided to local and regional authorities that will mostly be affected by Brexit. Thus, we very much welcome the announcement of Brexit Adjustment Reserve, amounting to €5 billion in support for those countries and sectors which are most affected. In my country, Slovakia, the British investments have covered sectors producing rubber and plastic, metal, and motor vehicles. A no-deal Brexit would disrupt and hit hard our industry, translating into a loss of jobs and investment capacity in the amount of €4.5 billion. Therefore, trade together with transport and coordination of social security standards are the top priorities of the Slovak Republic on the way to a joint agreement. On a more personal note, we from former Eastern Europe feel particularly sad for the UK leaving the EU, but it's just the fact of life, and we hope that the UK may be leaving the EU, but is definitely not leaving Europe. However, given the current secret circumstances, we would like to learn if there will be joint emergency measures at the EU level, which will be adopted in case of no-deal. If so, in which sectors, what is the scope and what's the time frame of these measures? Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Bernd Woos, for two minutes, please. Yes, thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr President Girard, very much, Mr Oberbürgermeister Zardikan. Of course, I would also like to see the decision to Brexit as a greener. I come from Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost region of Germany, and only the North Sea trends and so on, the long, long historical connection between our regions. But we have the democratic decision to respect the follow-up vote. And it is important that the conclusion of the region with its contact group keeps the dialogue between the regions and the communes upright and on fire. Very much, Mr Oberbürgermeister Zardikan. And I hope that many regions and cities, even though Great Britain is no longer in the EU, will continue to strengthen together and continue their cooperation. Those who have the Brexit with a lot of populism will have a hard time to implement their promises. And it meets all values. The Kingdom, as well as the rest of the EU. You have already said it, Dr. Speich, very, very clearly. What does that mean for Germany? And I was, but also now, with the negotiations, with the pressure to leave a bad outcome in the last few meters. That would be dangerous for the economy and society, long-term damage and would be water on the mills of the populists in other countries. The EU must not throw its principles here at all in this Nervenkrieg. And it must be assured that when it comes to free trade, standards, fair competition standards, are ensured and maintained. Destruction, sanctions, there must be a struggle. And there must be no hindrance for tricks. And it must also be closed with things like the binding law, where the fire will be played. A North-Earland outcome is questioned. And this is ultimately also a risk-free outcome. Brexit is a particularly major economic and social challenge for the Netherlands. And we must be solidary with our Irish friends. But many other regions in Europe are affected.  The best green offer for an outcome is that we remain in the EU together. Thank you very much. And the floor now to the mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Toskowski. Hi, Sariq. It's good to see you. London has always been European and always will be European. Unfortunately, we know our populists quite well in our cities. We observe them every other day. And I wanted to tell you that Brexit does not make sense economically or politically. But at the end of the day, we will do everything to prevail. I mean, of course, Brexit is a result of manipulation of populism, of years of scapegoating and so on and so forth. But what we need to do is we need to create a real political alliance with or without a deal. Because there is ample room for cooperation with London, with other British cities and regions. And I think that that's exactly what we should do. We should cooperate, we should create a political alliance to continue cooperation in questions such as climate change, digital transformation, students exchanges and so on and so forth. And we can do it. We cooperate with the cities in the neighborhood and we should have even stronger links to London because London needs to remain European.  And that's why I wanted to tell you, Sadiq, that you can count on us and the Committee of the Regions should be a focal meeting point for all of us, for the British cities, for the British regions and all of us from the European Union in order to keep the cooperation going. We need you guys and you need us. Good luck. Thank you very much, Rafa. I would like to give the floor now for his reaction to the Mayor of London. Sadiq Khan, Mayor, you have the floor. Thank you, President. Can I just say how emotional the last few minutes have been, the last half an hour, the last 40 minutes, to have from our friends in Europe warmth, affection, fraternity at a time when, frankly speaking, I'm embarrassed at the way my government has dealt with negotiations with the European Union. The reality is, and you said this, President, in your introduction, no outcome in relation to negotiations, no outcome can be better than what we had over the last few decades. But what's been really inspiring about the last half an hour, 45 minutes, is between us, we're already coming up with solutions through the cities and regions to make sure that we can continue our friendship, as Rafael, my good friend, has said just before me. And that ingenuity that Europeans have always shown is going to be needed. And I just remind you by way of ending, yes, we may have had the first vaccine in yesterday, yesterday being administered in London. That vaccine was invented by Germans and manufactured in Belgium. And that's just one example of the greatness us Europeans can do when we work together. So thank you very much for the work the Committee of Regions does. I will reassure you that London will always be open, open to friendship, open to business, open to people. And I'm looking forward to people to people working together, business to business, our universities, our civic society, and us leaders of cities and regions. Mayor, can I really hope and I wish to come private as soon as one day in the UK so that you can bring back the United Kingdom into the European Union. We will certainly want that. Thank you very much for your time. And let us now move dear friends and colleagues to our next speakers on that matter. I would like to give the floor to Alexandra Dulkiewicz for one minute please. Thank you. All the colleagues who are working with me in the UK Contact Group, I just would like to stress the fact that our relations, our local relations and relations in our regions, no matter whatever will happen should be strong and we should keep, not only in touch but we should also keep our relations. I just would like to say only one example because you may say that Poland is quite far away and Gdańsk is quite far away but Gdańsk is the biggest, the biggest harbour in the Baltic Sea also working for the whole European trade. And no matter what will happen, this will be real difficulties without this tragedy, this talks and without the agreement. So all of us, we should do whatever is possible to keep the UK as close as it is possible to the Europe. Thank you. Thank you very much. The floor now for one minute is to Brigitte O'Neill, please. Dear colleagues from the ADR. First of all, I would like to say that I would like to thank Michel Mandier for his previous negotiations with the United Kingdom. Over 95% of the negotiations could be agreed under his smart negotiations. That was hard and good work. There are three topics left which are now on the highest political level of the Prime Minister and the British Prime Minister. Lastly, it is about the political base question like a possible close cooperation with the declared British target of sovereignty to be agreed on. This question has to be answered by the British Prime Minister. Do we not forget that he himself signed the political statement in October 2019 which is known to the level playing field. If negotiations now go down, I would ruin everything. A hard Brexit is left unsolvable even though the expression is strict with regards to the United Kingdom. Do we not wish that there could be a international action before the gates of the binnenmarkt for our social and environmental policy? Is it necessary to trade at all costs? It is necessary that the risk verhandlungen einzugeen vielen dank thank you very much the floor now to maria angeles el orza subiria for one minute si mis primeras palabras son para agradecer el trabajo de michel vanier y de todo el equipo negociador que le ha acompañado a lo largo de estos semanas y que todavía ahora continua en negociaciones esperemos que nos lleven a buen puerto estamos atrás semanas del 1 de enero de 2021 decir atrás semanas de un nuevo acuerdo de un nuevo marco perdón de relación con el reino unido cual pues sinceramente y desgraciadamente a día de hoy no lo sabemos y eso añade máxima incertidumbre a un momento que es ya muy muy complicado no podemos deshacer el brexit pero desde luego lo que podemos y debemos es tratar de rebajar la incertidumbre y generar confianza necesitamos ofrecer a la ciudadanía los operadores económicos a la comunidad científica investigadora información relevante veraz y fácilmente compresible sobre los cambios que se avecinan sobre los planes de contingencia si es que estuviéramos en el peor escenario o sobre las nuevas reglas del juego a aplicar en adelante creo que la comisión ha de hacer un gran esfuerzo de comunicación y desde luego por la parte que representa el gobierno vasco estamos dispuestos a colaborar en ese esfuerzo para informar y acompañar a nuestros operadores en un momento de cambio gracias es que recaso gracias the floor now to Patrick's farts kiffer for one minute vielen dank sehr geehrter président veta büger meister dieser debat es eine traurige und verbitternde debat de besprechen ja über dem berg sit und seine folgen man spricht sehr viel über die wirtschaftlichen folgen von berg sit natürlich berechtigt worüber aber weniger gesprochen wir sind die gesellschaftlichen folgen aus unserer region sind viele ins veranlichter könig reich gezogen und ein neues leben gestartet familien gegründet nach dem brexit bin ich mir sicher dass sie weniger zonk weniger kontakt zu ihrem heimatlad haben werden was in vielen kleineren ortschaften ein weiterer shit richtung das ende des gesellschafts lebenswert die negativen folgen von brexit kennen wir aus diesem grund hoffe ich dass die aktuelle streit über das budget und next generation EU gelöst wird und man es vermeiden kann dass in paar jahren ein solches gestrich mit dem büger meister von budapest stattfindet vielen dank thank you very much the floor now to allen out of an morsel for one minute thank you mr. president as a member of the contact group and dutch delegation i would address briefly two points the first point is that continuing planning is now more important than ever also continuing planning in the UK is necessary despite all the good and intensive preparations within the EU disruptions might occur secondly in the Netherlands we have close economic styles with the UK a no deal scenario will have serious consequences for certain sectors and for local and regional economies therefore local and regional authorities should be involved in the creation and distribution of the brexit adjustments reserve it's essential that the reserve can be used in a short period of time to help alleviate the consequences in most affected sectors and region we must prevent the rise of unemployment rate and the bankruptcy of local regional and national businesses thank you thank you very much the floor now to paula fernandez viana one minute the floor to elizabeth nebreda villa for one minute thank you mr president dear mayor dear colleagues hoping for the best prepare for the worst and unsurprised by anything in between wrote a once Maya Angelou those words came to my mind after the decision of the british government to withdraw the clauses of the uk internal market bill that jump or die the withdrawal agreement and the protocol on north and island this is a positive step however as miss von der leyen said trust is good but law is better and there are still too many open fronts to fight let me be clear for katalonia and the government i represent reaching a deal is key we are deeply worried about the consequences that no agreement scenario would bring about for around 19 000 katalons in the uk and britons in our universities and research centers nonetheless we understand that the deal can't be at any price we must put the interest and needs of our citizens at the center and also guarantee the right and the willingness of scotland and north and island to remain in europe muchas gracias the floor now to pola fernandez viana one minute okay then our last speaker for today for one minute mr peter kaiser wichtig ist das sich auch mit jener der europäischen union des ausschusses der regionen auf alle fälle gemeinsam weiterentwickeln lässt ich bin auch der meinung dass wir einen einen sanften brexit brauchen er würde die wenigst nachteile für alle bringen gleichzeitig aber dürfen unsere prinzipien jedenfalls nicht verwässern entscheidend für mich ist auch dass die ideen einer friedensunion in diesen deal nicht gefährdet werden die eu hat eine lange tradition als friedensbereich der ausschuss der regionen weiß ganz besonders wie wesentlich und wichtig das ist ich möchte darauf verweisen dass insbesondere die bildungs zusammenarbeiten die bereiche der jugender rasmusprogramme für uns ganz wesentliche bestandteile einer zukunft sein werden bei der ich hoffe dass das allerletzte wort in der geschichte auch im verhältnis groß britannien zu europa noch nicht gesprochen ist in den siehle wie nie der deal wir brauchen eine lösung eine lösung mit europäischen prinzipien thank you very much the floor now to our colleague mr. hablo takt så mycket jag tror att det är viktigt att de här förhandlingarna leder till stat om trovärdigheten för medborgarna EU ska finnas kvar mot unionen för EU bör koncentrera sig mera på dem övergripande med frihandel och fri röllighet eftersom jag en liten region i europa oland var egen lagstiftning spörehet som så blandar man sig för mycket i små frågor istället för se till stora så därför är det viktigt att förhandlinga leder till stat annars toppar europeiska befolkningen trovärdigheten för EU tack så mycket let me try one more time miss meanna fernandez is available now okay does anyone else want the floor okay let me inform you that even if michelle barnier could not be with us today he has sent the strong political message i was saying that even if michelle barnier could not be with us today she has sent a strong political message that will be included in the press release that we will have after the debate is over which is very important so let's go back i think we had miss fernandez disculpar y agradecerle esta deferencia presidente agradecer que en este pleno ola abremos del brexit y agradecer también como digo esta diferencia y disculparle coincido que es un tema de enorme relevancia para las regiones europeas y de manera especial para las regiones atlánticas como es mi región cantaria un 25% de la actividad global del puerto de santander está relacionado con el reino unido siendo el más afectado el que lleva a cabo el britán israelis con sus 250 mil pasajeros al año y todos los vehículos que mueve todos los puertos atlánticos están preparando para contrarrestar los posibles efectos duros del brexit en el caso de cantaria el objetivo es que las líneas que conectan santander con el reino unido no sufran un impacto significativo y que las operaciones no se la lentísimo se deterioren las regiones atlánticas compartimos la ambición de crear la macro región atlántica que aparte de ofrecer un marco más estructurado para la cooperación dentro de la unión podría abrir la puerta a la participación de países y regiones terceros como el reino unido nos gustaría que esta idea se tuviera en cuenta a la hora de implementar el futuro marco de relaciones como el reino unido que salga de la negociación que esperemos que pueda salir muchísimas gracias y nuevamente mis disculpas gracias no problem we understand thank you very much and so bianco is our last speaker for one minute grazie presidente grazie di cuore al sindaco di londra per il suo bellissimo intervento io personalmente vivo questo problema perché mia moglie e cittadina londinese ed e anche cittadina italiana mi sente mi sentite ring grazie di cuore il sindaco di ring grazie di cuore il sindaco di londra per il suo bellissimo intervento io vivo personalmente questi problemi perché mia moglie e cittadina italiana nata londra ed e cittadina britannica e anche gli inglesi che hanno la doppia cittadinanza in questo momento stanno vivendo problemi molto molto seri posso fare una domanda dal profondo del cuore al sindaco di londra pensa che fra qualche tempo fra qualche anno possa i britannici possono cambiare opinione e con una iniziativa politica molto forte e anche composita ritornare a un idea di rientrare nel nel nell europe è un sogno che coltivo spero che ci siano le condizioni politiche so che non è facile ma sognare qualche volta fa bene grazie very much we will convey your question to the mayor dear colleagues we now have a break until five o'clock p.m. brasil's time we will resume at five p.m. with the debate with commissioner vaneli on neighborhood and enlargement so see you in one hour and 15 minutes at five o'clock p.m. thank you very much


What's up everybody? Jason here for Jasper's case race comm 2022 top Simon icons baseball just sold out This is a one box break pick a change number two again ten total hits We did have to sell it around a number block Which was for the Royals Tigers White Sox Mets in Marlins and we did but it was all chase Chase got all the spots and There you go basically owns all those teams so any of those five hits that come out will be his and here's everybody else as well Thank you guys Now we do have three boxes left top middle bottom. Let's see which box we would use here Let's go try to generate a number here from one to three and let's see what it generates Two we're gonna go meet So one two, we're gonna go to the middle of these two boxes here will be used for a future break and Here we go guys So guys we'd love to end it off with you guys doing that last six box break of obsidian there on the website that is down To four left like that's something we can easily do and then I'll hand it off to Joe at three And I'm gonna go on Instagram and I can do some more Personals of diamond icons for you guys or some obsidian Whatever you guys want this guy stuck here Stuff mojo guess I'll just leave it there. All right. Here we go guys First one it is a a rod Alex Rodriguez one out of ten That is Yankees edition a rod and A rod Yankees is going to Rob. Whoo About a little each year a one out of 25 Seattle Mariners going to chase. There you go. Look at that chase very nice We got a Matt Olson 11 out of 25 nice little patch auto there That is for the Oakland athletics. That's going to Ben bottom straight up perfect for the Atlanta Braves little Greg Maddox 10 of 10 Nice one there for the Braves going to Gary Gordon. What is this? This looks really nice Brooks Robinson that is for the Orioles Martin with that one. It's like a little diamond 17 out of 25 It's pretty sick. All right, we have five of five Xander Bogarts and That is for the Red Sox Jonathan Kent with that one. I still got a couple more guys We have a George Springer for the Blue Jays five out of 25 chase with that one as well We got to get chase some R&B hits though his real team's normal teams are hitting I have a little pristine Yelich Christian Yelich 25 of 25 for the Brewers Christopher S of that one. I was trying to end it off with a rookie here behind this car We have a Ryan Sandberg 25 of 25 little Rhino That is Chicago Cubs Martin and Last one here is gonna be a Yankee red ink Reggie Jackson eight of ten And Bobby which just still hiding for most guys from tier one and now in diamond icon still All right Well, fortunately nothing there for the R&B for you chase, but I'm glad I did get you a nice each row in the beginning But there's got to be something hiding for those teams I feel like those teams in the R&B haven't really hit much So I feel like if they're random number blocking and they got to be popping out at some point, right? All right, when I see two row there Solid box here solid box there Again could be some nicer stuff remaining in the last two So three and four from the same case you guys want to get the next one's going Jaspies case breaks.com


Hey, Psych2Goers, and welcome back to another video. We'd like to give you a huge thanks for all the support that you give us. Psych2Go's mission is to make psychology and mental health more accessible to everyone, and you help us do that. Now, let's begin. Do you believe that people who self-harm are usually teenagers who come from abused households or think that people who self-harm do it to end their lives? There are many stereotypes and false information out there about self-harm that may create a false image of what it is. This spread of misinformation can be dangerous, and so it's important to realize and understand what is true surrounding self-harm. So, Psych2Go presents to you five myths about self-harm. Before we begin, we would like to warn that the following content may be triggering to some audiences. If you feel uncomfortable about the subject of self-harm, you may want to stop and watch another video instead. We would also like to mention that this video is created for educational purposes only. If you or someone you know are engaging in self-harm, we highly recommend you seek help from a qualified mental health professional. Myth number one. All self-harm is a suicide attempt. Most people who engage in self-harm don't do it to end their lives. The Center for Suicide Prevention describes the differences between self-harm and suicide attempts according to frequency, method, severity, and purpose. Those who self-harm tend to do so more than those who are suicidal, and their methods tend to be less lethal and less severe than a suicide attempt. Also, the purpose of those who self-harm often has more to do with problems dealing with intense, stressful emotions than to do with ending their lives. However, these self-harming behaviors can set the stage for suicidal thinking once they start to think that self-harm is no longer an effective way to deal with their feelings. Myth number two. Self-harm is attention seeking and manipulative. While many believe that people who self-harm do so for attention, a study by Glenn Clark and others in 2016 actually believed that self-harming behaviors may be the opposite of attention seeking. They found that approximately only 50% of teenagers who engage in self-harm actually report it to someone they trust or attempt to call any attention to their self-harm. Myth number three. Only teenagers do it. Although most people think that those who self-harm are usually teenagers, a study by Fabian in 2018 found that up to 5.5% of all people who self-harm are adults. Mental health experts believe this number may be even higher since many cases are not reported due to the stigma that comes with self-harm. While it is true that many people begin self-harming in their teen years, these habits can continue on into adulthood until they have sought help from a mental health professional. Myth number four. You're probably being abused at home if you self-harm. Some people may believe that self-harm is a reaction to an abusive home life, but this isn't always true. According to MentalHealth.net, there are six basic reasons why people often self-harm. It can be to distract themselves from their thoughts, to release tension, to feel something other than numbness, to express their feelings, to punish themselves, or to feel a rush. Although abuse or neglect can definitely be a part of the reason why someone self-harm. It can also be due to their circumstances, problems processing their emotions, or even a combination of these factors. Myth number five. All people who self-harm are cutters. Experts say that cutting is the most common method of self-harm, but that's not the only way people self-injure. There are methods of self-harm among which include burning and hitting yourself as well as banging your head. While cutting may be common, many people who self-harm are actually likely to use more than one method of engaging in self-harm. So what does this mean for people who self-harm? There are many ways for people who self-harm to get help. Dr. Matthew Tell reports that most effective treatment includes medications to treat any underlying depression and talk therapy to help get to the root of your thought or emotional patterns. If there is trauma involved, many health experts suggest trauma treatments such as eye movement desensitization reprocessing or EDMR, cognitive behavioral therapy, CBT, mindfulness based CBT or cognitive processing therapy, CPT. Others who struggle with self-harm that don't have access to these forms of treatment may want to consider any number of online support groups that are available. For those who can relate to anything in this video, whether you harm yourself in some way or love someone who does, we want you to know that you're not alone and it's not too late to seek help. If this video helped you learn about some of the misconceptions of self-harm, please like it and share it with others who may find it helpful as well. Subscribe to Psych2Go for more videos and all the references used are also added in the description box below. Thanks for watching and we'll see you in our next video.


Hello, I'm Helen Curry. 100 years ago, my great-grandfather, Cass Gilbert, won a federal architectural competition to design a new custom house overlooking New York Harbor at the tip of Manhattan. Today, in 2007, this cherished National Historic Landmark is celebrating the centennial anniversary of its completion. It is one of the finest examples of Bo's art-style architecture in the country, rich in detail and ornament, both inside and out. Gilbert envisioned it as a monument to the sea trade and adorned the imposing structure with nautical shells, snails, and dolphins. As a further tribute to commerce, he commissioned the legendary 19th-century sculptor Daniel Chester French to create four great seated figures representing the continents and placed them flanking the main entrance. Cass Gilbert felt that a public building like the custom house should serve as an inspiration for patriotism and good citizenship. He said, it should encourage just pride in the state and be an education to oncoming generations. I couldn't agree more. Over the past three decades, the United States General Services Administration has led a remarkable restoration of the building. Continuing to serve its original purpose as federal office space, the Alexander Hamilton Custom House now contains the United States Bankruptcy Court and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian. I think my great-grandfather would be proud to know his custom house remains a place of enrichment and education accessible to everyone.


Novak Djokovic vs. Daniel Medvedev is the second semi-final for the Dubai Championships for 2023. And both players have been very impressive to get to the semi-finals. Medvedev entered the tournament as the number three seed, and will take on the lucky loser Analdi in the first round. But this was no problem for Medi, getting through in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2. In the second round he'd take on the unpredictable Bublik, who he'd had some battles with in the past. But again, Medvedev was too strong, getting through in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2. In the quarter-finals he'd take on Chorich, the number eight seed, who he had a losing record against head to head. But you wouldn't know it because Medvedev destroyed Chorich, 6-3, 6-2, to continue his streak and make it to the semi-finals. Djokovic started the tournament off as the number one seed, and will take on the qualifier Mahatch in the first round. And Djokovic would have to fight to get out of the first round, after Mahatch put on a very aggressive performance, pushing Djokovic to the edge. But Nolay won in a tiebreaker in the third, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6. In the second round he'd take on the informed Grickspor, who had been very impressive so far in 2023. But this was no problem for Nolay, getting through in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3. In the quarter-finals he'd take on the number five seed, Hercatch, who had just come off winning a title in Marseille a week earlier. But Djokovic was clinical, getting a break in each set to win, 6-3, 7-5, to advance to the semi-finals. These guys have played 13 times before, with Djokovic leading the head to head 9-4, and having won their four previous meetings. And they also met an Adelaide at the start of the year, with Djokovic getting a nice straight sets win, even with a sore leg. If Mehvedev is going to win this one, he needs to be aggressive. Usually he stands way back behind the baseline, but you can't do that against Djokovic, because that's how Djokovic plays. The way he won at the US Open a few years ago, was being aggressive, serving big. He needs to do both of those things if he's a chance. If Djokovic is going to win this one, he needs to bring in the variety. Because we know Mehvedev doesn't like it when players come to the net, and mix it up. So Djokovic is going to have to do that, because Mehvedev is in form, and this Mehvedev is much, much better than the Mehvedev that he played in Adelaide at the start of the year. This is going to be such a fun matchup.  But I'm going to go with Djokovic in three sets. I reckon this is going to be an absolute epic. I think it's going to go down the wire, but I reckon it's going to be Djokovic getting the win against Mehvedev. You know, close three setter. Let me know down in the comments below. Who do you think is going to make the final?