With that, we'll start off announcements. Yeah, if you have anything else to see, whether it's the story or the reading. Sometimes, I don't know what I'm going to read to you. I know. I'm going to cross a spreadsheet someone has to read to you. All right. So, no, you don't do what I do. That's pretty much it. It's a beauty meeting, a reading policy. There are six or three meetings on it. I don't remember who by then, so if it's yours, please see me. Yeah. So, can you give them some advice? I mean, um... I want to remind you, if you are on Facebook with different opportunities for volunteering or just in case you get out there, there's also a specific kind of folks that are interested in joining the O&E. Either being a food vendor, selling arts crafts, whatever kind of wares that are of yours. As in, you made them at the 112 market. Which is going to happen in this parking lot this year. If you have any questions, please grab me. I am happy to answer them. And also, we're going to buy a little... Some of us are much more powerful at lights than others. We usually have four speakers in this room. There's only two tonight. So, if you're in the back of the room and you're talking, you probably will miss most of what's going on up here. So, if you want to hear, move forward. If you want to give it, stay back. Hi. I'm going to step away from this one. I'm Jess. I live over on North Champlain Street. And first, I have a question. How many of us have spent money here in the neighborhood in the last week? Yeah? Pretty much everybody. Yeah. We're in the neighborhood. The Old North End is full of restaurants, businesses, services, artists. And we want to celebrate that and get more people knowing about all the great stuff that's happening right in the neighborhood. So, there's a new way to do that. It's called the Old North End Challenge. And it's essentially a bilateral campaign. And it will all be challenged to spend as much of our money in the neighborhood as possible for the month of August. The challenge will launch at the Ramble. And if you can pick up at the Ramble, you can pick up a little punch card or a stamp card. When you go to a business or restaurant or service, it will be stamped. And then it will be prizes. So, the more Old North End businesses you go to, the more chances you have to win. So, to give you, if you're a business or an artist and want to be on the stamp card, I've got some forms here with information. I'll be doing sign-ups soon. I'll leave them at the back. And if you want to participate, just pick up a card at the Ramble. Thanks. Let's go get a show of hands, please. Thanks, Hannah. I live on Rose Street. And I run a nonprofit called the Vermont Dance Alliance. And it's statewide. But the office is in my house. So, it's also in your neighborhood. And we, on Saturday, are hosting the Day of Outdoor Dance downtown Burlington on Church Street and the Waterfront. And it's called Traces. And there's some clients over by the Ramble. Thanks. My name is Sean. I live over on North Champlain Street. And we're our first fundraiser in Outdoor Gear Change on June 20th. We're selling tickets to a movie premiere over here. It'll be a good time. We'll also be having rapid prizes, et cetera. It all goes towards building our bike park. We have a, right now, so you can learn more about that on the 20th. Or you can come to the meeting with questions or if anybody has a place they can put up posters for the event. That would be great. Thanks. So, I just want to give everybody an update on City Hall Park. We filed an amended complaint with the court on Tuesday, which took note of the fact that the cities permit to reconstruct, to cut down the trees and reconstruct the park, expire on March 22nd. So we're asking the court to enforce the permit, including its provision that expires if no work is done within a year of the issuance of the permit, which ended March 22nd. So, we're looking forward to getting a response from the city. We don't know what they're going to do. Maybe they'll have some good response. But if they do have to get a new permit, then we're hoping everyone will come and testify again as to why they should not reconstruct City Hall Park. The walkways are perfectly good the way they are. And if they keep the walkways where they are, they won't have to cut down any trees. Public announcements. Please come on up. If you do, please just filter out and we'll hand you a microphone. Hi, everyone. My name is Hannah. I work at a new place. We're a transitional housing facility for the homeless on North Street, and I just wanted to make everyone aware of an upcoming volunteer opportunity with a new place and a bunch of other homeless service organizations in Burlington. A lot of them are in the Old North End. We're having a serve week at the end of July. You can read about it at every morning and evening. We're going to have a different opportunity. We're also raising money for the low barrier shelter, which is formerly the winter warming shelter. And it's a really great way to learn about homelessness and about some of the organizations that are working to serve the homeless population. So I really hope to see some of you going too. Any other announcements? I just want to mention on Saturday that the Old North End dumpster day occurs, which is going to be at the parking lot of the Integrated Arts Academy. They're not at the exact hours, but I think it starts around 8.30 or so. Is it going to be a free pile? A free pile. 8 to 12. Gene has the details. So the 29, it's a free, it's an opportunity to get rid of stuff that otherwise is difficult to get rid of. We don't really hope people bring their household trash, but really stuff that they just can't get rid of. Spare tires, old equipment that doesn't work. We can get rid of, I know where to get rid of tires. No, we just take them down. I take them down to the pedestrian street. I love my vehicle. I transport the tires. So we will make it happen. Bring your stuff, please. Anyone else? Any more announcements? One once? Twice? Okay, thank you guys. Next on our agenda, we're going to bring up Mary Danko from the Public Library. We're running a little bit ahead of time. Okay, Tony's very excited. We have something for public forum. We'll give you two minutes for this. First, I'm glad that Police Chief is here. He's in the metrics, and I think we all know we've learned in the North Avenue itself. When is the Avenue's quarter-study? Citywide, we have 150 injuries each year. Car injuries and people get on bicycles. It's a pedestrian. We actually have one pedestrian or a cyclist. What's the week here? 10% of those are on the wristies, and that's a real concern that we have. We also have streets, and I hope that the metrics will cause the Police Department to handle it and all of you to produce them. We have three pieces of paper that we've handed out. We have extra copies. One is the Avenue's going. It's the greatest at St. District. No detective planning that. This is my favor here. I think they're doing a good job. I think we need to look for the best street, the greatest street in the city. It's not Main Street. It's not the Avenue. It's the most. Also, Champlain Parkway, we want to work Thursday, thanks for seven days for giving us a little publicity because they have a slow news week. We're hoping that we can stop the construction there and that we can have, again, issues that we're concerned about, that it's a black hole where it comes to safety of any type, and particularly as opposed to walk or bike. I hope you'll look at one or three sheets here. A, B, C, and C, three minutes, making the most of the greatest street in the city. And third, the background on the Champlain Parkway, I call it the Champlain Parkway, and we need to redesign it using 21st century approaches rather than the 20th century of a terrible design and purple design we have now. Thank you, Kevin, for your good time. Thank you. And I'll leave it to the person who left it to have a public forum. Thank you. Can you start your room now? Do we have anyone else that wants to come up for a public forum? Any announcements? My name is Myne Kranell, and I just wanted to say I have some real issues when it comes to people biking, not only on the roads, but on the sidewalks. If you can't see the person, you can't move out of the way. And it's becoming a real issue. We have some new immigrants. They don't know the rules, so I don't know what else reached their aims for that, but it's really, really, really important that if the police see something, they need to do something because it's getting really, really bad. I'm sorry. My name is Myne Kranell. I don't know... The secretary of my college was hit by a bicyclist, while she was waiting across the street to put the hospital in a coma by one time. It is a serious thing. Sidewalks are for walking. I don't know what the... what the bikers can do. They have some bike lanes. They don't use some non-pine streets. It's too dangerous, so it's quite bad and bike lanes are too dangerous.  It's a very small license at the police department. We had to show that we knew how to use signals. We had to have lights. We had to have reflectors. We wanted to get that. Otherwise, you were illegally using a bike. I think that's too late. The interesting time when I say we have two more people in the most two minutes each. Carol. Okay. I wasn't going to say anything, but like, things have been bothering me for a long time. I live on Moore Street and I constantly see bikers do not stop at the light. They ride in the road. They do not follow the rules on the road. They go to ride in the road. Please, please, please follow the rules. Thank you. Thank you. First press for a future everyday discussion about bike eating and you will hear that. Mary Dango, for real this time. Thank you for joining us today. Hello, my name is Mary Dango and I'm the library director for the Fletcher Free Library. I'm here tonight to talk to you about our strategic plan. Before I became the library and my credecessor, had been working on the strategic plan in 2016, and so when I came on And so when I came on 2017, it was like 95% done. We finished it up, tweaked it a little bit, and we've been working on it. So in the agenda, and I believe in the minutes, we've got a link on it. So if you could take a survey to kind of let us know how we're doing so far, it goes through 2020. It didn't bring a lot of the hard copies. It's probably better to look at it online if you can, but we do have this strategic plan there. And we did that process that all came out of. I don't know if some of you remember, we went to all the NPAs. We had focus groups. We met with stakeholders, did quite a bit of interviews, and that's what we brought that about. And now we're just going to try and take another look at it. And I'd be happy to answer any questions. Brian, here. Mary, could you just talk about what you're doing to the home-made childcare? Oh, OK. So Brian's referring to a new program that we have piloted. And it's called the Early Literacy Outreach Program. And it is going to home-day cares and bringing literacy storytime program to home-day cares. When we first started, we have one person doing it. We're trying to identify home cares that are zero to three stars if you're familiar with the star system rating that these home-day cares get. And now we're in phase two. It's really good that you asked this question, actually, because we are now training volunteers to go out into the home-day care. So we have another training coming up on June 22. So if you have any interest in doing this, you can go onto the website and apply. It's a one-year commitment. And you go to a home-day care for an hour once a week. But we provide you with the kits, with the books, with the songs, with the materials. And I have to tell you, it is extremely rewarding. It's a win-win. I will just tell you one story. Now that we're in phase two, we've been keeping in touch with our volunteers. And one of our volunteers wrote this and said, when they come in the door, all the kids go, look, what a great lady's here. The library day is here. So of course, that makes me very emotional. But that's the kind of impact that you're having on these kids. Oftentimes, the home-day care providers are working very well hours.  So when a volunteer comes, you're giving them a little bit of respect as well. Thanks. Any other questions? We agree, so I can't tie if you have a comment or a question, please. I think I asked this on Emer when she presented at another NPA. What, and I might have missed a little bit of it, but what events are going on at the library this summer for all ages? Can you list a few of them? There's a lot. So I think our next thing, we have summer reading. It's called Summer Challenge Program now. A lot of trends you're seeing in public libraries is it's not just about reading over the summer. It's about all kinds of learning engagement. So we have things going on for early learners, youth, teens, and as you're reading, we have adults. Adults, if you come to programs and read books, you can enter a raffle to run something. But I was just going to a website.  But it's tons throughout the fall of summer. Any other questions? Thank you. And I just, if you would please fill out the survey. I promise it's very, very short, and you can really come, look at that input and then use it to guide our work. Thank you very much. Next we have on the agenda, Jake's Pairing in LA's apartment. I'm going to talk about Jake's Old North End Market and Mascoma Bank opening up in our neighborhood. Together with my family, we're opening Jake's One Market in the old parkway store on North New State. Thanks very much for the opportunity to let me speak here and also to join the business community in the neighborhood. Our mission will be to bring healthy and affordable foods to the neighborhood. And the next four or five months, we're going to be spending a lot of time and energy to make that happen. Some of you may have noticed that the building behind the car quest store came down this week. But starting in July, there will be a lot of construction activity on the property. There'll be a whole new front of the building, a new sidewalk and canopy, central Asian market. We'll also get a new fresh look and we're going to go in there and be a complimentary business to them. So we're excited to be in the neighborhood. And we're also going to carve out a small sort of 300 square foot section in the front of the store for Mascoma Bank to operate a small retail location where Chola Valley speak to and vendor. Inside the store, we're going to make a genuine commitment to buy and support local producers. We're going to have all the departments that you would expect to see at a larger store and just try to pack them in the space that we have. We'll have produce and meat and seafood and grocery and dairy and urine line. And lots of fun things in all those categories. So again, we're going to be doing construction over the next four or five months. I always dangerous idea to put an opening date this far in advance, but we're going to try and get it open as soon as we can. So I'll turn over to Ali and I've got questions at the end. Actually, if there are any questions for game right now about the market, maybe because it's like way into that. Do you know what that's going to ask for right now? Oh. Okay. Once upon a time, the small stores would often pack up stuff for people who couldn't get to the store because they just weren't able physically to get to the store. Have you thought about any kind of home delivery of your products for people? Would you think about that? We gave you the good one. Yes. Yes, I would love to try and find a way to make that work. I think that the grocery delivery business, is expanding. It's a little bit hard for small retailers to be a part of that, but to the extent that we can be a resource for all folks in the neighborhood, regardless of mobility, we'd love to make that happen. I was just thinking about that yesterday and I had an idea, what if you had volunteers that volunteered to say someone's a shut-in or they're elderly and they can't get down to stay with you or something like that? I thought that that was something that might work. Well, yeah, no, wheels on wheels, it's actually a very great program, but I was just thinking, yeah, like as a, I don't know if that's an idea that you can work with, like, just a suggestion. Yeah, thank you. So I'm gonna be working on a good way to get feedback throughout the summer while we're building the store and trying to figure out what's gonna work. I think one of the things that I pride myself on as a manager is to be open to the community, to be responsive and to try and cater to our customers, because that's who matters. I know that I won't get a lot of things right on day one, but I think that over time I will figure it out, so all these sort of little feedback will help along the way. Bike racks, how many blocks, please? There are six bike racks all underneath the canopy in the front of the Jake's store, so I'm sure they'll be able to go for 12 bikes. Let's hope we need more. I agree. Do you guys have, like, a Facebook page where you're gonna keep photos of, you know, of updates throughout the summer? I don't yet. I hope nobody goes and steals Jake's one market tonight, but I will do that over the summer and try to keep the update that way. Questions about the grocery store? Again, thanks. Another question? We're like, over the moon, just like, actually, I'm an older vendor, proud older vendor, and I also work at Scola Bank, so there's a bank coming to town. We are a bank that's based out of the upper valley, we've been around for a couple of years, open in 1899. We are a mutual B corp, so we're not only a bank that's a mutual bank, so we're not holding to stockholders. We are also a B corp, so we're certified at a very high level to be the triple bottom line. As a bank, we came here a year before we opened any branches in the Burlington area, so we already opened a branch on Shelburne Road in South Burlington, and we'll be opening up two more in Burlington, one at the Maltex building and one in the Old North End, and we opened those up because we had staff, too, Catherine and Joyce right here, come a year before we opened the branch just to listen to the community, just to talk to everybody, just to get to know all the businesses and nonprofits, everybody, and we heard over and over again we need two things, free meeting spaces and a bank in the Old North End, and we have that, so we'll have this bank in the Old North End and we'll have three free community meeting spaces in our Maltex building location. Those would be free to community members with a sign up situation, but at the bank we're committed to the community and the Old North End is extremely attractive because what we really care about are the people and the businesses, the nonprofits, and the Old North End, it just doesn't get any better than that, although the other locations are amazing, too. As an Old North Ender, I have to say that, but we're really proud to partner with James. James is extremely committed to the community and totally psyched, is a Burlingtonian as well, and we, as a bank, are very open, so like I said, we have a branch open on Sheldon Road in South Burlington, so if you wanna start banking with us early, come on over, open up a checking account or a savings account, or just come say hi, we have free ice cream, from Ben and Jerry's, Chester's, we have free cabbage cheese, the Lake Champlain chocolates, which are all fellow B Corps, so we're really excited to be here, we can't wait to open up in September, but in the meantime, I'm gonna be in a community meeting with folks, really invested in all the businesses, all the 83 businesses in the Old North End, and all 20, I can't remember how many nonprofits, but so are there any questions?  This is somebody else's one. So if somebody's decided between Bestona or a credit union, how does Bestona compare to credit unions? I know my credit union does not have Chester's, which is my favorite, so I think that might help. Yeah, it's basically the ice cream. Yeah. These aren't banks. Credit unions are awesome financial institutions. They are differently regulated, and actually are, I believe they don't pay in compacts, so they have a little overlapping of a customer with maybe better rates than some products, but our bank is, I mean, what I always hear before I got this job was, Bestona has got all of the leverage and the power of a big commercial bank, but with community investment and in the progressive values of credit unions, so we all offer different products at different rates, so what we try to do is just talk to our customers and when they come to the bank and help them get what they need, and it doesn't work out with us, and that's a reality that we can totally respect and support. Thank you. Thank you, Alan, and thank you, James. In the interest of time, we're gonna keep it moving. Okay. Thanks. So next on our agenda is a discussion about the development of city place downtown. We have two representatives from Herfield properties that are here to talk to us. Just a quick heads up. They'll be giving a quick history of the project, and we're gonna limit that to, I think we said five minutes at most, and then if you have, we'll take comments and questions for the rest of the time. If you do have a comment, please say so ahead of time. We'll give you two minutes. If you have a question, please limit it to one minute and we'll give that one minute response. All right, thank you. Thank you. My name is Will Bobo, and I'm joined by Chelsea Zegobon of Brookfield Properties Development. We appreciate the opportunity tonight to really just spend some time in the community and share with you who we are and what it is that we can focus on, what our goals are as it relates to this project. So as I said, we're both with Brookfield Properties Development. Brookfield Properties is here on the scene as part of this project because the original developer, Devin Wood and Don Synex, did a partnership with Rouse Company or Rouse Properties back in 2017. At that time, Rouse was owned by Brookfield, but over time, sort of a larger Brookfield community and culture and people started to get more involved directly in the project. So by middle to late last year, again, the sort of larger Brookfield organization was now working directly with Don versus the older Rouse entity, which was more of a retail group. That was important because Brookfield has a very deep and significant experience with mixed use development, and that's exactly what we're doing here in Burlington is a large mixed use development property, right? So we've got office and we have residential and we have parking and we have retail. Late last year, the partnership made a decision that Brookfield would become more out front and more directly involved in the development of the project. Again, this is largely a function of the capabilities that we have as a company. And that's why you've seen more of us on the scene, presenting the city council and working hard to get to know you and build trust here in the community because we understand that we have a project that has had some difficulties and challenges and our goal is to solve those things and get under construction. So that's who Brookfield is. That's why we're here. The question is, what is it we're focusing on right now? So the answer is that part of that process of us getting directly involved and again, working with our partner and building on the foundation that our partner laid. Our focus has been taking that development and bringing it to the point where we have to design and have it out for a bit and we're able to understand what our costs would be, making sure we could check all the important boxes that are necessary to check for development to get off the ground. So things like financing, making a guaranteed maximum price that's built upon real subcontractor numbers and then any other number of things that we're doing to vet the project so that we're ready to get started. The process we've gone through has some challenges. This is a big, complicated mixed-use development. So we're still in the midst of that due diligence that I mentioned and working hard to wrap our arms around where we are with the numbers and all of those elements that we know are important to address before we start construction. Because we're in the midst of that process, we're not at a point where we can give you a specific construction start date. Our hope is to be able to answer some of those things soon. I know it's frustrating and hard. I'm not from Burlington. I can't honestly stand here and say I can appreciate all of what you're experiencing but I think I can appreciate some of it. I understand how difficult it is that there's a hole in the ground over there with barriers around it and believe me, we have a huge investment here and it's very difficult for us that we're not under construction yet. So we're highly motivated to get that accomplished and to build the right project for us and for you and for the marketplace. So we get it. We would rather suddenly be over there pushing dirt around right now so this is a decision we want to be in but it is sometimes what has to happen with big complicated development. You have to get the pieces lined up and understand what it is you have before you go forward. So the only other thing I think we really just want to make clear is we want to become known in the community as good partners. We want you to know us as the face of the project. Again, that's a decision we made as a partnership. The portfolio would be here and be up front and be working with city council and with you on understanding that things are important to you so that we can make them important to us and that's our focus. So that's really why we're here tonight. We're certainly interested in your questions. We're going to be working very hard to get this project off the ground and tell us anything you'd like to add. So we're here for your questions tonight. I have one minute left so I'm actually wanting to get ahead. Thanks, just a quick note on format. Can mic runners please raise their hand? Everybody can have comments. Raise your hand and eyes so these guys can get real mic. Steve, if you have a comment, you'll have two minutes. If you have a question, it's limited to one minute. Again, Kevin with the big size. With that, we'll take our first question. Go ahead. So I guess I should just be... Please say your name. Okay, my name is Ben Gordeski, I work on Decatur Street. And just to break the ice here, appreciate you guys coming and trying to present what's going on. But you're probably unknowledgeable about what's been going on with the development of this project.  And it's been stayed on the ground for a long time, and it might be better. Both the height of the project is one thing, but it's not so much the height, it's what is being used for. And it's mostly just the height of the development for people who have more money. And with a small percentage of the housing, which is called inclusionary zoning, which still isn't really affordable for the most modern people. Create a lot of retail space for people with money and tourists. It's just not really what, it was a whole long process that we would take for a vision before going to any downtown that, you know, a lot, some people went through their body, represent it in the community, and then the mega just went off in a tantrum and pushed and pushed and pushed, and so the rhetoric went and marked it to sign X's investment, and here we are. So that's what we're walking into. Probably I'm guessing about half the people in the city are against the project. It's the focus. Thank you. I understand, I appreciate your perspective. We'll take the next person. Right there, I think. I'm Dan Dagen, I live on board three. We're talking about two separate properties here, the construction site between Bank and Cherry, and the vacant mason's building. My question is about the property taxes on those two properties being paid on time and in full. Great question. I'm not sure I'm prepared to answer that. I don't see the reason why they wouldn't be as a development, you pay property taxes all the way through. But the people in Berlin are so skeptical about this whole thing, and I think that should be made clear. We're happy to do that, but there's absolutely no reason to believe anything other than that we're paying property taxes. I don't look at those payments every month, but I can assure you we're doing what you're supposed to do and making our plans. In fact, for a minute, can we cross the raise hands? Do you guys want to mic one more time? Tony, I need to go in the middle of that. My question was, when I went to the, whatever the thing was when they asked us what we thought, I said, will you build this housing? Can you add in the people that are working this month so they can have the benefit to working there? Why not give them priority housing in the building that you are building, just as in this? Interesting idea. Right, as I also live in Ward 3, and in terms of credibility, every time I go downtown, just in one every day, I look at the huge number of boards that bother a lot of people because they don't conform to the state billboard. Well, that's the credibility that you have, which is very limited. The portfolio asset management is, by the way, is an international company. It's owned 13% of New York Kingdom and Cutter, and it just raised $7 billion in the market. And according to the Wall Street Journal at least, they have to make 13% of the dollar every year on their investment. So let's be very clear here that it's a private corporation making a big profit, and you can do it here out of this project and brilliantly. I'm also a member of the Group of 15, which is part of the suit. Or I should say, part of the agreement that was forged with the now portfolio asset management at the state court level. And our frustration is that first, I think we're like to know what the status, how you view that, I think you've indicated that that is a court procedure that has to be dealt with at some point. Number one and number two, I'm a performer of the project. It's, we're past the point of saying no project, a hold of the ground, we want it to be successful. So, that's why we came to an agreement. I think the key thing here is that maybe the project will be downscale a little bit so that everybody's happier than they are now and those who are unhappy and that this might be feasible. You know where the real concern we had in terms of our court agreement was that they went ahead and took out a four and a half of parking that was supposed to be available to the marketplace. That's why the group of 50 forged an agreement with then sign next now, okay? That was the current owners. So, hopefully we can come to a successful conclusion and the rent, by the way, the inclusionary rent, the so-called low income rent is $1,000 a month for one member. So, you figure out what can afford that. So, I will just mention and appreciate that feedback. I just need to say that the owner is the same partnership that you mentioned, Don, don't distinguish Don from us, Brookfield, and Debra Wood are the partnership that is developing the project. The concern you raised about the billboards is not lost on us. We've heard it before and we have just recently come to agreement that it's time for them to come down. So, I think the next few have Steve, then Jake. I'll take two more questions after that. It's Brian after Steve. Oh, sorry, Steve, then Brian, then no more. We got it, bye. Two more questions. Is this working? Yeah, it is. Glad to hear about the billboards. Just two quick questions. Who is your architect now? 2x was gonna appear tonight representing sometime a further phase of the mall, but it was premium French. Did you change architect? It still is. Are 2x gonna be in the project? 2x has been doing some planning studies for potential future phases, but that's really not something that is a focus right now as much as what we're trying to do to get this piece off the ground. Just curious, you familiar with the details of the parking plan as it's been approved by the planning department? Generally. Looking at the car, I hope. Well, I'm not sure I know specifically what you mean about it. No, you've been talking a little bit to it. Part of the plan includes the removal of the floor with 200 spaces and re-hooking those cars into the travel lanes of the floors above. If you haven't seen it, maybe you haven't. You need to look at it. It's totally unworkable. And even if you don't know much about parking, I think your drawers are gonna drop. Sure. Okay, thank you. Thanks. Okay, I think I'm just maintaining the list of people. Who has the mic? Who has the next mic? Others? Or are we gonna let the mic go? Hello. I was gonna give my spot. But if you're left, other people go and I'll be correct. Speaking of the billboards, I'm curious if you would be willing to work with, New Berlin has a very vibrant arts community and also there's a lot of people who need jobs. And I'm curious if while the time is passing, instead of having us have to look at a giant hole, if you would consider working with local artists to put up community murals surrounding the hole. So at least, number one, it would make downtown look better and treat the feng shui. But also it's an opportunity for you to provide work to local artists. Great, great comment. I'll just play it quietly. The graphics are coming down. The panels aren't going away because we still want to make sure there's a protective screen. We're gonna paint them blue. There's a blue already happening on some of those panels. But we love the idea that once we get that done, we sit down and figure out how to do something special. So I hear you. Great idea. Let's figure that out. Thanks. You have a good sense. My name is Francesca. I live at this point. What is your flexibility in achieving your plans for the building? Well, I appreciate the question. The goal we have is to build the plan that was approved. It's the plan that's designed. It's the plan that's out for bid. Really, our focus is to get the best project that can be for what it is that was conceived. As we look at other phases and other opportunities, there will be other opportunities. Right now, we're not looking at any of the things that you mentioned. But we appreciate the importance of considering that stuff. And there are really three pieces of this project. There's the Mason's piece. There's the part between Church Street and what will become St. Paul. So all of those things represent opportunities to look at what might be right from the program. Hi, my name is Danielle. I also live in this neighborhood. I'm a developer in Pony and Eno from Carson Rec. It is a big pit in our backyard. Because this has been going on for four plus years at this point. And I'm curious what has happened with the original plans that hosted so much work to put into. For the first few months, four years ago, there were several months where there were a lot of forums and a lot of plans drawn that were from the community. I'm wondering what ever happened to those? It's a great question, but I can't speak to it because we weren't involved directly then. You know, there were a lot of discussions and new forums and there was an iterative process that led to where we are today. But where we are today is what was permitted and what was approved. And that's what we're hoping to do. But I just don't know any more detail about what happened. I think those laid the groundwork for where we are today, but I can't speak to what happened to those who don't know. Just a quick check-in again. We'll let this go for another five minutes and we'll take as many questions as we can until then. Hey, I'm Jacob. I wanted to ask you what is the next big step that you guys see in this project? What's the next curve that we have to go over? Well, it's really a series of things. It's a great question. I wish it was really one thing. We're doing a multi-million dollar project. It's essentially that list of things that we shared with City Council. So while we have a bank on board and we have what's called a term sheet which is a commitment against a set of criteria, but not signed executed loan documents, we've got to take that from a term sheet to a completely fully executed loan. You have to get through this process of adding our numbers and get to pricing that is in line with where we need to be. So it's a series of things that we're working on. We are looking at some of the nuances to make sure that we do like the design of the units is right. Essentially, a series of things like that that I mentioned so it's not just one thing. We have to get all those boxes checked. And then only then are we really in the position to start construction. That's also why it's not easy for us to give you a specific date. We're working very hard. We have a big focus. A lot of people working on this thing on every level. And again, hoping to provide you with work very soon. I'm just wondering if you can talk about right here, Brian Pine, sitting right here. Well, great. For a lot of us, there were trade-offs. And many people in this room and throughout the city didn't end up seeing the trade-offs in the way that was in favor of the project. But one of the things that made, I think, folks who have a focus on issues around sustainability and climate change were really excited about the different categories. I'd like you to talk about how that fits into your plan now and how you're viewing that. And to hear from us that that, we really, really expect and want you to focus on that. Not sort of as a tangential footnote, but as a real poor apartment. Since getting involved, we've spent some time talking with folks about district energy. The truth is, I know it's an opportunity that requires more than just our endorsement, but they have our endorsement. There's genuine interest there, especially if this is an initiative that can happen. For any developer landowner, if there's efficiencies that come from things like district energy, it's a great thing. I've involved in projects in other parts of the country where we've utilized steam that was from residual heat from nearby energy suppliers. So it can be a very good thing. We're committed to being a part of that process to the extent that all the pieces come together to allow it to happen. It should be only good for us and good for the community, in terms of relation. I have a question. I remember that, I think I read somewhere, that the loan or some of the financing was coming from the bank of the Ozarks. Can you tell us who the bank of the Ozarks is and why you chose them? The bank of the Ozarks is a major construction under in the market. The reason why we chose them is because we've done other deals with them in the past. Don and Devin would also play a role in securing them for the financing. But because we know that when we worked with them in the past, we thought that they'd be the right one to report this project. But they're a big, national initiative. We have our last question. My name is Sara Ms. Weedle. I've been in the neighborhood here for over 20 years. Anyway, I'm trying to formulate my thought here, but I know, you know, thousands of hours, millions of dollars of what we've been sunk into this idea and have a discussion with them. But I've always wondered, how feasible our fetch is it to... The thing I always opposed was not just the hype, but just the sheer mass and just the mass in here. How feasible would it be to just break it up into smaller parcels and build out a city like the way cities have abandoned the historically early 1 million at a time that... You can't all do one and the same acreage of land, but make it look like a city that's grown over a decade and not something like that just fell out of this volume. You could have a parking garage as a money facility. You could have an office building as a money facility. You could have a parking building like how the residents do. That is a very valid planning approach because there's absolutely nothing wrong with that kind of thinking. We've done it elsewhere. I've been directly involved in projects myself where the goal is to create the sense of things organically coming together over time and then we've built them at once and now at once. It just isn't the project that was approved and the one that we're currently hoping to get under construction. But I applaud that kind of thinking. Remember, we have other phases and other opportunities but I appreciate that approach and that comment isn't lost on us at all. Okay, I want to thank you guys for coming again. That's a perfect segue. We've been speaking with that 2x all in so I believe this is a response to phase 2 and 3 because they said they would be interested in coming and talking to our NPA as well. There will be more. This is not the last one. Thank you so much. We'll be moderating the last couple in our agenda. Okay, up next we have our state representatives. I'd like to invite them all in front. So you guys have 15 minutes total so it needs to come up about 2 minutes for speaking and then that'll leave actually it looks like Kurt is in there so we'll come each change. He's on his way? Okay, so we'll be quiet. Part of the Chittin 6-4 district with Brian Sheena and happy to be here and thanks as always for just delicious food and a really engaged NPA. Some of these issues as well if he joins us in time but I was going to talk about climate action and kind of what happened and what didn't in this legislative session. So we did do some really good work especially in the context of our budget to try to reduce carbon emissions in the state so we did things like invested a million and a half dollars plus in electric vehicle purchase incentives and infrastructure we put money into parking rides and walking bike infrastructure we put some additional money into the state's weatherization efforts and also poised ourselves to potentially really expand weatherization the weatherization programs in the state moving forward. So we did some really good things to do any of it on the scale that we need to do we see the reports coming out day after day about how little time we have to make major significant changes in our carbon emissions and so we're nowhere near to meeting our statutory goals here in the state of Vermont with the actions that we took this session and so I'm hopeful that there's some additional bills looking at fossil fuel infrastructure bans and something called the global warming solutions act that a number of us are co-sponsors of and Sarah Copeland-Hanzes and I are lead sponsors of that would actually put our statutory goals require the state the agency of natural resources to develop a plan to actually meet those goals to require regular reporting and then to give all of you as private citizens an opportunity to seek injunctive relief in a port of law the state is not upholding our budget so we're hoping to do that and we're working really hard in the climate caucus to kind of come back lean and lean and take much bigger action this year so that's kind of good. Hi everyone, I'm representative Jill and I represent Chittenden District 63 which is the old North End Chittenden with representative Kirk McCormick who is literally on his way biking here right now so hopefully he'll get here and die. I wanted to talk a little bit about the work that we did to help families especially hardworking low income and middle class families in our state. I've heard from so many of you about the importance of finding high quality and affordable childcare in our community and we heard that and we acted on it so we invested $7 million in a bill that would create more affordable spaces for childcare in the state and do more to help retain and grow the number of providers so we're really excited to be making those investments and hopefully people will start seeing some relief in their effort to find high quality affordable childcare in our community. Our state budget has some really important investments also for families that I just want to quickly read off to you so you have a sense of the scope of the work that we did. We expanded Medicaid dental coverage for adults. We invested $1.4 million in the child welfare system to address the paid slow pressures for social workers and we're going to hear more from Ryan. In that area we added $1.3 million for parent child centers invested $1.5 in mental health $2.5 million to provide a basic increase for the reach of benefits program so that's really important. We provided families with disabled parents and additional $38 a month. We invested in nursing homes and we maintained school support for programs for LGBTQ youth with additional funds there and we added $50,000 for fentanyl testing strips which is also really important. So I will hang around after to answer questions but again I just want to thank all of you for being here and for continually sending us your thoughts and feedback. Can I see the numbers of the part? I'm Brian Cina, I represent Chittlin' in 6.4 with Selena and I live in part of Chittlin' 6.4 that's the old north end which is the best part of Chittlin' 6.4 I'm pandering to the crowd. It's not what you said you all see me more I think frequently so and we've talked about a lot of things over the last few months. I think today I'm just going to focus for a little bit on I'm on the health care committee so I'm going to talk about improvements to the health care system and investments in the health care system so our designated agencies provide a crucial service, a mental health service and substance abuse and development of disability services and they've been chronically underfunded yet they're expected to do a tremendous amount of work and workers in that sector are not being paid fairly but at this year's budget we provide a 5.2 million dollar increase distributed across the entire system of mental health and developmental services and 1.5 million to develop an electronic record system for the designated agencies so that's a big investment in our mental health system that's been a long time coming we're also providing 2.1 million for a 2% increase for home community service providers and the choices for care program this adds funds for the SASH program to transition administration to the ACO as more Medicare lives are attributed so that the wording might sound weird Medicare lives attributed that basically means people who are covered under the account of care organizations we also provide $375,000 to the Department of Mental Health for emergency room security to try to provide support versus having police and sheriffs and then just one other thing I'd say to finish is that the health care committee and the House was focused on stabilizing the health care marketplace while looking forward and doing some studies to look at how to make health care more affordable and to look at more universal health care options as well as improving the continuum of care so I'll stop on that note okay now we can open up the room for questions and if Kirk gets here on time we can give him this 2 minutes too if you have questions please raise your hand up nice and high so our mic runners can see thank you my question was about I guess it's health care question what about are you going to do anything to help police interact with people that have mental health is there anything addressing that there is so this is my third year in the House of Representatives in the first biennium several years ago we created the mental health crisis commission which is a government body tasked with over viewing investigating situations involving police and people who have mental illness who are having crisis and they're still working on the investigating the situation that spawned that commission which was when Mr. Brennan was killed by the police in Burlington and so they're still investigating that situation and they are tasked with continuing that work and they may be looking at some of the other things so there is and you can Google them because they're a public organization although everything they do might not be publicly posted you can learn more and I'd like to talk with you about it or connect you with more information about the mental health crisis commission so that's one example of something that there's other things we could also look at for example some of us are advocating that the police be better trained in cultural competency and implicit bias and de-escalation techniques and some of us have introduced legislation asking that we look at providing more funding and opportunities for training in those areas as well as of course policy some just Yeah, I would say we also did some more around immigration issues but we have a statewide fair and impartial policing policy it's something in my time we've had to revisit again and again and again but I think that's also a mechanism for some of these conversations and then there are a number of bills and has a bill that is about use of force I have a bill that's actually more about data collection with police and judicial system interactions so there are a bunch of things floating out there that could come to more fruition before the biennium is over that we would more directly look at some police over time Are you ready to make a little closer to your mouth this way? That way? Yeah Alright, goodbye to you Take care preschool children something you said made me feel that maybe you're trying to impact places for them rather than just the providers are you thinking of having buildings with this purpose or are you saying school buildings? The bill that I was talking about is really more about creating more slots I don't know if anyone knows about anything in the capital though for it was more focused on creating more slots in current facilities that exist and another thing that we've heard from providers is that they don't have enough opportunities for education, continuing education and retaining staff and so that was another place that we took action in response to what we were hearing if that's something that you're interested in I'm definitely happy to talk to you more about that Well, I often wonder whether they could use elementary school facilities or the grounds that put up a small nursery school type facility for one I have worked in a lot of jobs in the education department and it's made an interesting mind because I believe in preventing the problems that the public would be able to use in the first eight years particularly in the first three years that the parents and neither parent can stay home this is a good time to get the best care they can I agree with you and that's why we made this important investment and we'll continue on that track because it is true that it's one of the best ways that we can help people or economy and support the next generation of the runners who are joining us here to invest in the food services of the public okay alright, sorry I'll be late so I'll just quickly tell you what happened in the transportation building in the end we have three programs that may interest you one is an EV an electric car a vehicle incentive it's only for people of moderate and low income and it's only $5,000 incentive for $2,500 depending on the person's income and then in that program we also have a voucher program to get cars respected for the emission controls we did three things regarding emission control as if you don't know it's one of the third of my constituents that don't have a car they're one of the two thirds you may be interested in this one ever since we have diagnostic control on the cars on board the cars and also at the gas station if you can't be fucked any longer and any county institute cannot do that any longer it actually has to pass and the state actually knows the information so what we did about that is we accepted any car that was 16 years old or older that's by model year so if the car is older than that there's a visual inspection for tampering but there's no inspection on the emission controls then we have a training program to train volunteers American volunteers or senior volunteers and actually we'll fix the cars for free any more about that we only have 30 seconds the third thing we do is have vouchers for the cars if you're a relatively low income you can also have a voucher to get the car inspected if the car is worth it and it has to be worth at least $5,000 and it has to be likely to pass the station if the repair is made there's a lot more things to tell you but I'll just save it for questions okay we have time for one question one has to be for me ah too bad my name is Jacob one is I want to really emphasize and strongly encourage you to talk about getting our climate goals have more statutory teeth I really want to say that it's super important I work in the middle of this field and right now the Scott administration while not openly hostile is totally not supportive so we really need the statutory goals so no matter who's in the administration we're working towards our goals and the question I have is we passed a really awesome recycling composting bill something out there we had really aggressive goals and I think the goals have passed or something and it doesn't seem like much is happening I'm wondering if you guys know where that's at we're going to move forward with this so the question is for me thank you so it's composting recycling is mandatory for a long time sometimes you might be surprised to have done that composting is phasing in that to be mandatory it was 8 years I forget the infection for any discussion but it was at least 8 years ago so that 8 years has come and gone and of course the legislature extended it 8 years wasn't long enough so it's now 9 or 10 or something we're in that 9 or 10 so it's composting it's holding that up is that what you were interested in? well I guess how are we going to actually do that? well we have to not extend it and get serious that's the first thing we can do recycling is like a lot of things when we say it's mandatory we make it mandatory we don't have to really enforce it there's probably nobody in this whole country of all the mandatory programs that are all around the country including for mine there's probably no one who's ever paid for that so it's just you make it mandatory you are raising the level of seriousness and compliance does rise just to pass it to the first person so yeah I think the main thing these two is you're not intending them to say that's it and you have to be composting somehow okay I think I'm here wanting to say something but I think we're going to wrap up this state practice thank you guys for all of your work this session thank you so but there wasn't enough time but I'm still working on it maybe the next one because we have two and it means you're staying it is a labor of love can we feel about this the patient in this hearing committee is open so if this is something you've been interested in please come check out the meeting email us we always need more people especially as somebody so thanks very much okay and so to end we do this year voting on the budget so well traditionally each ward gets $400 when I understand we're getting more money for this coming budget year so we'll change next year so traditionally each ward is donated their $400 they put $200 towards the community dinner because they work really hard to put this on every year and any donation helps them and then we put $200 towards the old of the community center so who's because they have a lot and they do a really really great job so does anyone have any questions about where the money is going to go to would you like the money on we've been looking for money to put a jacuzzi in here what we would use the money for continue to use it for is to increase the capability of this facility so it's maintaining the sound equipment and we have to buy more tables so yeah any money we get for this goes right back into what you're sitting on today so I guess we very much like why did you have other ideas so thank you any mayor questions I was hoping to put plugins to help fund the rental which we did last year okay so someone would have to make a motion for that in each ward I believe you stated it it was $200 we usually get $2.30 for the community dinner and then a third of the budget it was $600 we had not shared just for the community dinner it wasn't $200 so I'm just talking about the number which are and we break even and we would like to contribute more cooking supplies cooking supplies is a community kitchen I've just secured from here so we tend to try any stuff it doesn't go with food it actually goes with keeping the kitchen supply to the glasses and even the glasses going forward and not that I don't want to support the rental as much but we do where we break even and we don't have any projected new funding yet which would be helpful for the motion I need to clarify something before we do the motion the funding level is increasing in the budget there's more available to be paid I'm just talking about the budget that starts July 1st which I believe we are this is this year's funds the funds that we need to get into now all of this is for a year yes so my only point is we can come back as an MTA and allocate additional funds for our needs whether it be the community dinner even the rental which is in July we don't need July though Tony Redington Tony Redington work work 2 as a resident work as a resident work 2 I'd like to make a motion that we have $400 that has been unexpended today in work 2 that we expend based on receiving receipts by the end of the month for those who we go to $175 to the community dinner $175 to the to the common space here and $50 to the rental that would be $4 a dollar total $50 for the rental and $155 for the community dinner and the space that's volunteered we don't pay for the space that would be what we would expend from work 2 and only people work 2 can go on this motion there any discussion from work 2 yeah need a second anyone second for work 2 okay great and is there any discussion for work 2 residents okay so for work 2 you would like to allocate $175 to the community dinner $175 to the community center and $50 to the all in favor say aye anyone opposed roll call make a motion for how to divide up the $400 may I as a member re-ask the question of our city councilor so there is increased funding in the budget how do you know the level of the increase for FY20 I'm hoping I can get the attention of another councilor who is over there had a very involved conversation with a certain state representative Karen Paul I'm going to ask you if you could confirm the amount of funding this next year's budget has to the NPAs which is a each NPA they requested the total allocation for 8 NPAs is $20,000 across 8 NPAs so it's $200 for work so that's and that becomes available July 1 which is great thank you very much city councilors so to do the work is there any conversation that Ward 3 members want to have yeah I have a quick comment I mean what if funding is something that as a majority support and that's upcoming and we're going to get more funding after July what if we split the money between instead of the community center instead of doing all 3 right now what if we just did the everything but the community center and then we'll fund that for next year and then we'll fund the board that we have 400 allocates this year I will propose my motion is 300 for the community dinner 100 for the ramble and we'll revisit an allocation to the older bank community center when we reconvene in I think September is our next meeting okay that's it I'm sorry I'm not from Ward 3 but they now June so even though we're seeing or getting more in July do we have to wait until next June to talk about this so we can start spending the money every year and we always can we just never do it gets spent and I think for the community dinner has receipts from the whole year that they can provide to us or to CEDO so we just don't actually allocate it because we're bad at it we should do better every year we always say we should do better and we don't so hopefully when we have more money we can do better just to clarify the relationship here this particular section the kitchen is managed by the modern performing arts league Northam studios for Sharon Plain House the entire building is the community center and there's nothing to do with what goes on here the money is that has been provided for us here everything else it's like every nonprofit gets donations it's a donation for us what we are providing here is the space and everything you see your tables chairs our system fans that are too busy and they require maintenance we also talk about silverware in the kitchen and all that we're responsible for that as well all of us have our own ways of getting more stuff some of the burglaries that you never hear they have to get sold silverware some of these things that you hear about running out of this we have all during the year all the time that's what I'm saying whether we get the money now or later it doesn't matter we're going to keep on doing what we're doing and we really appreciate the contribution by the NPA so what do you give us most of the $2,500 after July if you want to give us $5 that's fine we'll work with whatever we can when I propose $300 for the dinner and $100 for the ramble I'm going to take the second okay? is there any other discussion? tell me okay so we have a door print so we can do it back here we can do it at the next stage who would like to come and choose


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Guys, you are not gonna believe this. You're not gonna believe this man Okay, so yesterday Yesterday, I firmly believe that day life day life van life day one started for me Okay, I'm here and I'm here in Queenstown on my own yesterday I made a video talking about what I felt like after being in a van for seven days. Okay, I Haven't been by myself until this morning yesterday my mate Tim headed off on the Milford track with his dad. I drove back from Milford To Queenstown and I finally decided on a spot that I'm gonna use for the next week It's up Coronet Peak. I have no idea how many meters above sea level I am But I must be a few because I've woken up guys I've woken up this morning.  Oh So Basically guys what we've got here is a failure to communicate. No basically what we've got is My own little snow cabin.  There's only one thing to do That's to make a coffee in the snow in my van This is the van life guys and I want to welcome you to it. It's not that bad Not that bad at all


It's all right to talk with your mouth full.  First of all, I want to thank Bob Tuttle who's come back here and is helping us for putting this all together. This is a very happy occasion for me and I hope it is for all of you. A little more than two years ago we were in the midst of a political campaign. You might remember. I want you to know that I'm deeply grateful for all of your dedication then and for all you've done since to help us accomplish what we set out to do. In a free society, change isn't something that's achieved by one individual. It's a process that depends on teamwork and cooperation of like-minded citizens. Of course, you've got to be selling something that people want to buy and the change that we wanted to propose I think they wanted to buy. I heard a story the other day on St. Patrick's Day as a matter of fact about an Irish priest that was going by a pub and he saw three of his parishioners in there and they were well in their cups and quarreling with each other and getting rowdy and he went in and he said to one of them, You want to go to heaven? Stand over here. He stood over there. Said to the second, he says you want to go to heaven? Yes, stand over here. Said to the third, when you want to go to heaven? He said no. He said you don't want to go to heaven? He said no. He said you mean when you die you want to go to the other place? He said no I want to go to heaven. Well he said why do you, he said I want to go when I die? He said I didn't know, I thought you were putting up a party to go now. Two years ago it wasn't my campaign that won the election, it was our campaign. And I'm pleased that you've been able to come here today for a discussion among friends of how far we've come and how much further we've got to go. Now I know that you've heard that the Democrats have proposed an alternative budget. You must have been briefed on that today. All they're asking for is a reversal of the 1980 election. They seem to believe we can go right back to the same old pre-1980 policies and it won't bring back inflation, won't pull the rug out from under our economic progress or undermine our national security. Of course they'd like to blame all the economic chaos and uncertainty that they can't cover up that happened before 1980 on Jimmy Carter. But no one man could be responsible and could have caused all of our problems. The problems from which we're just now emerging the result of bad policies over a great many years. They controlled both houses of the Congress, all the departments of the executive branch as well as the White House for the last four years and for many of the years before. Even when there was a Republican president, except for one two year period in which there was a Republican Congress, the Republican presidents were up against a majority of the opponents in both houses. Now for a couple of years we've had one house at least and thank Heaven for that and for all of you for seeing to that because we couldn't have accomplished any of what we've done if we didn't have that one house. Our adversaries you'll remember had begun counting us out in as a world power. The policies that I've been talking about that they had had given us inflation, sky high interest rates, confiscatory taxation, a drop in real wages and a sense that our country was in a national decline. We started out on the road, together we were all concerned Americans. We promised to make America great again, to not just change people but to change policies, to get control of federal growth and we've cut that by 40%. We promised to turn off the federal tax vacuum cleaner that was siphoning off everything in everybody's pockets and we've achieved by the end of this year it'll be a 25% across the board tax cut and even more important in 1985 indexing will begin. And for all those people that are charging we're unfair if someone hasn't told you already today indexing is straight beneficial to the working man and woman. Because it's the thing that will keep people from getting a cost of living raise and then being moved up into a higher tax bracket as we know. Well it doesn't benefit the rich at all because they're already in the top bracket. It benefits those working people. 78% of the benefits from indexing will go to people with incomes below 50,000 through the middle and down to the lower income rates. And I can assure you with all of the talk that's on the other side of the aisle about possibly eliminating the third installment of the tax cut or indexing, I sleep now with a veto pen under my pillow. Regulations, we know that everything, every element of our society was being strangled and under George Bush he's been the head of a task force on regulations and we've cleared away many useless and counterproductive regulations. It has been estimated that the amount of paperwork we've saved the people of the United States with just the ones that have been cleared away so far would total about 300 million man hours of paperwork a year that has been eliminated and we're not through yet. One of the areas of course was as I said the declining prestige of our country, the neglect of our security needs. And now as much as some would wish that it weren't so a country's influence its ability to maintain peace and preserve its freedom is dependent on its strength. And one fellow who occupied this house back around the turn of the century said it pretty well. The voice of the weakling that was Teddy Roosevelt speaking said counts for nothing when he clamors for peace but the voice of the just man armed is potent. We need to keep in a condition of preparedness not because we want war but because we desire to stand with those whose plea for peace is listened to with respectful attention. And tonight I'm going to be spending about 30 minutes on ABC at 8 o'clock talking about this whole matter of defense showing a few pictures that have been declassified for the purpose.  And if any of you as you probably have a timer too have said boy would I like to ask him. Go ahead. You better all start making the rest of the speech. Tommy. I'm Basch from Thomas, Florida. I just want to be sure, Mr. President, we're all confident that you're going to run. But we want to make sure that you know that the country needs you and the whole world needs you and all of you support us very strongly. I know that you had explained to you why I can't say anything about that right now. But as I've often said it's the people who tell you whether you should or not and I will remember your response. Someone else? That wasn't a question exactly though. Well I can tell you that we're looking at that as well as other things because most of us now are convinced that much of the people's objection to the taxes is not to the amount, but a lot of it is directed to the fact that you can't figure out what you owe the government. It is so complicated. And there's a lot of truth in that. I don't know whether you've seen Time Magazine this week. They've got a whole article on the tax evaders. And I remember about 20 years ago out of the mashed potato circuit I made a speech once calling attention to the fact that back through history every time a government began taking upward of 20% of the people's earnings there began to be a disrespect for the law, an evasion of taxes, cheating, and no government had ever long survived taking more than a third of the people's earnings. Well we've been way past that for some time now. You see we can't just call the federal government. We've got to see what our taxes for our whole society, federal state and local end up around 45 cents out of every dollar. Well we've tried to make a dent and we have made a certain dent in that. But I think that what you're saying is this is the thing that must be done and it's made in that article. They do a pretty good job of pointing this out. The complexities of the tax law and the more complex it becomes the easier it becomes for people to find ways to owe a tax and evade it. I'm not sure yet we haven't studied enough to be able to say that the flat rate would be an answer. There are breaks that are given for some people call them loopholes but others call them justifiable incentives. But we have to simplify the system. There's no question about that. It's the only experience you have in your life in which you owe something and the responsibility is yours to tell how much you owe and if you don't tell it correctly you get fined. And they at the same time tell you that their people have so much trouble with the tax laws that they can no longer be trusted to advise you correctly on your tax problems. So we're going to try to do something about it. You've seen a pleasant change in our business over the last two months that have been due to the lowering of the interest rates. And this morning the Secretary of the Treasury commented upon the remarks that he made for the Wall Street Journal yesterday that he favors a tightening of the money supply of the M1 and the M2 which would undoubtedly cause a contraction and lead to a higher prime rate. Now I'm wondering whether that's the policy of the administration or are you afraid that the money supply isn't too high or do we look forward to lower interest rates to really get this economy in? Well I think right now the interest rates could be lower on the basis of inflation. For the last six months inflation has been running at 1.4 percent. There's no reason why they could not continue to come down to a real interest rates are higher than they really have a right to be. But I think maybe Don didn't make himself clear because we've discussed this very problem. What is concerned him right now is that there has been, it's very difficult, or maybe he told you this, to measure the money supply now with this whole new, all the new regulations that have permitted this transfer of money in great amounts to the banks. People out of money funds to just deposits in banks and it's given a distorted view of what is the state of M1. But what my understanding is that he feels is the worry is that there has been something of a little surge and if we don't hold it and the money markets see that that is then going to be followed by having to, in other words the up and down thing that they've been doing again. Like in 1980 the last six months the money supply went up to the highest rate and the highest peak that it's ever been in our history. And then of course the interest rates were 21.5 percent not because the money supply was that big, but because everybody knew they had to pull the string on it and they did. Right straight through 81 and you know what happened along about July of 81. This is what he's really concerned about. He wants a kind of a let's get and hold it more at a level so that they won't be looking ahead and raising interest rates out of fear of the same old thing happening again. And with this I have to agree but I still say that I think the interest rates can come down. Incidentally I had a little clipping from Tucson, Arizona paper the other day for you gentlemen in the automobile business 21 auto dealers out there got together and had an automobile fair in the city park and their eyes are bigger saucers still. They sold 825 cars in three days in this little town where they did this. Yes I know John. Well I think we're always interested in hearing anything that we think will improve the situation. Well Mike who should he, who does he stay in contact with on that? Don Regan. Don Regan all right. Yes. The Washington Post. Well if it was only semi-critical they're improving. No I know this is about a thing that in speaking to the radio and the media evangelical preachers at their convention and I did point out as I have pointed out before that the difference between us and I use the term that and in the whole context they did seize that one line where I use the phrase a focus of evil and if you stop to think that what they're doing with regard to Afghanistan what they do to their own people their things in contrast with society like ours we are at the opposite ends of the pole. But as you'll hear tonight we are in communication with them. I am not one who believes in the inevitability of war. I have always thought that that's one of the most dangerous things that happens is when someone looks at a potential enemy and finally just without themselves even being conscious of it that their mind just accepts that someday we must fight. No. In the condition of the world today and the weaponry of the world today that must not happen and we're going to continue to try. But we tried under previous administrations detente. We tried saying well if we unilaterally will let our arms go. If we unilaterally will do these things for them then they will realize that we're nice people and they'll reflect that and they'll be nice and turn. And we lost our shirts doing that. And what I have said and said to them directly time after time is no more words. We want to see some deeds that evidence that you are willing to rejoin the family of nations and things will be a lot better for you if you do. And we're going to make every effort to keep on along that line. But some of it is frankly is indirect diplomacy. Quiet diplomacy. To any government including our own if you suddenly make a demand of another government and you put it in the front page of the papers and say by golly they're going to have to do this you've put them in a corner where they can't get out because of their own constituency because it'll look like they're taking orders from someone else. So sometimes what you do is quietly and behind the scenes you get someone to say to them hey why don't you tell them that if they did such and such my goodness we'd look very warmly upon that and we might find that we were able to do something that would be beneficial to them. And here and there there have been little evidences that that can be successful. Mr. President I own one of those dealerships in Tucson that had that great sale and you've done such a good job that I'd like you to get back to work. So maybe one more question and then we'll have the questions. Well there's two hands. I'll take the two. We think we are but we're having a great trouble with the Congress and with this whole worldwide propaganda thing about El Salvador that would seem to imply that we're either going to have a Vietnam or something. We haven't sent, they use the term advisors, we haven't sent advisors. We have sent men to train. We've trained three of their battalions up here but that has become too costly and they can't spare that many men at one time in this conflict. But we think that they've made great progress. They're not up to the standards of human rights and democracy yet that we would like but the giant strides they've made when you think that not too many years ago they have been for more than 50 years a military dictatorship. We believe what we're trying to get now is additional aid which had been cut back by the Congress just this year both for ammunition and supplies that they need and for economic help. Their economy, we talk about it isn't all their fault when those guerrillas destroy a power grid and industries have to close down when they destroy bridges and they interfere with commerce and trade their economy's been on kind of a yo-yo because of this and there's no question but they're getting those guerrillas. These are trained professionals, that's a military body, these aren't angry peasants with a musket. They're out there better armed in many instances than the El Salvador Army and the arms are coming in flown in and by borough on trails from Nicaragua and they're from Cuba, some of the earlier arms that went to the guerrillas were all American and some that we managed to get a hold of we traced the numbers on them and found out they were coming from America by way of Vietnam. They were the things that were captured and abandoned by us in Vietnam and the communists sent them all the way around the world to be used by the guerrillas in El Salvador but we believe that this is regional, we believe that what we're seeing there and we're not alone all those democracies that have come about Honduras, Costa Rica, the others all of them feel that they're next in line that if El Salvador falls joins Nicaragua it goes all the way to the Panama Canal and they say that the main target and I believe it is, is Mexico and then we would have a 2,000 mile border that we would have to defend and we just don't believe that we can afford to allow communism to get a foothold on the mainland of either North or South America or Central America. Nothing, to simply have a meeting to get acquainted makes no sense because the minute you announce such a meeting expectations worldwide go very high then to just come home and say well I met him, that's no good, it's too much of a let down so when we feel that there really is something and maybe out of the arms talks there will come a day and if it could happen this year fine but if it doesn't possibly, early next year I think it's inevitable we must have a meeting and particularly because we're going to keep on hammering on these arms reduction talks now I know that I've overstayed the welcome and I know that we're all going to come through in there in the other room and I'm going to get a chance to say hello to each one of you and we'll get a picture taken and I know you got to get going right now I see you're almost off the chair already okay I'll take you first, come on with me well, there'll be a little one Charlie is out oh the other day to tell me I sent him the wrong side shirt for his bro Jim Coles Seymour Frank Conway Ken Rockstad Ray Higgy Francis Graves Yes Tom Rooney Let's see I heard of Hutner Thank you Frank Conway Douglas Hove John Aldersen Jerry Briggs Jerry Briggs Douglas Midianis John Irvine Tom Euston Good, thank you John Butchers Marie Head John Butchers Oh Thanks very much for the picture Jack Mortimer Wayne Adley Tom Blake Tom Thomas John N. Mason Keith Bieler Ron Walker Jerry Keltner Ron Keltner Ron Keltner Ron Keltner Don't look at yourself Oh How do I look You're on my desk I'm not You have to put your foot in way of life Barbara Malo