that's our attending. Okay well welcome to this hearing at the local historic district commission. Our purpose is to aid property owners in the town of Amherst in the preservation and protection of the distinctive characteristics and architecture of buildings and places significant in the history of our town. We require one of three certificates to ensure that new construction and most alterations of exterior architectural features in the district meet requirements. So today's hearing is being held to review four applications. We're going to begin with an application from Valley Home Improvement 24 North Prospect Street, which is a request to modify the rear of the house with new siding windows, deck, and chairs. And this hearing is open to the public. Sorry did somebody say something? The we have as nature said 60 days to make a final decision from when they first filed. So we'll try to be efficient about this. This hearing is open to the public is being recorded. And what we're going to do is Mr. Malloy will summarize the application, the applicant or his or her representative will speak and then members of the commission will ask questions for clarification. And then we'll invite comments and questions from the public. And commission members can ask questions after that. So shall we be I guess I should begin by taking roll call? So Karen? Here. Steve? Here. Greta? Greta? Greta is included. Nicole? Here. I think Greta will come back when she's ready. But let's begin with Nate summarizing the application for this one. I guess so we're starting with 24 North Prospect Street. So if anyone's in attendance is going to speak to that, can you raise your hand and we'll promote you to panelists? And then you'll have the ability to help present. So we have two participants. And I'm trying to move them over now. So Patrick and Steven, you should be asked to then switch over to panelists. Yes, I'm showing up as a panelist. Thank you. Great. Hello. Thanks everyone.  I'm happy to share my screen. My name, I don't know, introduce myself now or Jackson Powers with Valuable Improvement, representing the homeowners at 24 North Prospect Street for this renovation. I have some photos, some images here to answer any questions you might have, obviously. So if you direct me where to start, I'm happy to do so. Sure. Yeah.  Doesn't let me share my screen yet. Oh, it doesn't. Let me, let me, one participant can share a time. Oh, now it does. Okay. Great. Great. So here's our proposed plan. I can also show existing conditions that that's helpful to start with. Excuse me. Or I could show pictures if that's even more helpful. I think the photos would be great just the existing conditions photos. So Patrick photo bombing here. This is our existing rear entry of the house. Evidence of a past renovation they have, you know, probably like 70s or 80s slider coming off into what was presumably a deck at one point. And this stairs to the back entry underneath here is actually how you enter the basement, which is a big part of this. The motivation behind this project is to gain safer and more accessible access to the basement, which you'll see in our proposed plans. So this is the existing. It is slightly visible from the street. I actually have some street views. If that's helpful to view. Yes, can you show us this? Yes, we just use sound. So this is the view from me on the sidewalk. As you can see, you can't see that existing entry. Our proposed does show a garage door. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I have basement access door in this area and I could show you what that looks like in three-dimensional renderings. Okay. So this is like roughly where you might find yourself on the street. Or the sidewalk. So we're adding this doorway to gain access to that basement and then stairs up to a new deck, which has a small overhang as well are covering. And I could kind of show you this is kind of what a similar view of that. Is that what the door will look like? Yes. Yep. Yep. Three panels on the top and then two panels on the lower part. It matches the one up here as well. Any questions on this view? It looks great. Thank you. It's been a fun process with the homeowners. I love working in these older homes. I'm always fun surprises. This addition from what I could tell is a little older than the house, but still fairly old. Did you mean a little younger than the house? I'm sorry. Yes. I'm sorry. A little younger than the rest of the main house. Yeah, it looks nice. This is the south side. The north side is the other side, which I could show you. Our intentions there and what is existing. Here is the sidewalk view. So what we're impacting is this window and these windows here. Right now, this is their kitchen. This window is not original. It's probably from the 70s or these renovation. And what we're proposing in this view is a new window here, which brings in a prairie style grill. And this is more of a transit style. This is a bathroom. So they don't want a ton of windows. And then these windows go away and be replaced with siding to match. Are there any questions from the commissioners? Do any of our visitors have things they want to say? Yeah, if any members of the public would want to raise their hand, this would be an opportunity. This strikes me as totally in keeping with the neighborhood, the historic nature of the house. And I personally have no problem with it. Does anybody else? No, I think it looks wonderful and a wee improvement. It's nice that you have access to the basement. So yeah, sounds great to me. Just a quick question. Does the top of the window trim match? So here on the north side, like the, you know, it would follow a line horizontally across the two existing windows? It will. So it'll match it with and we'll match that same pipe. In this, yeah, this trim might show a little thinner in my program, but it will match this height. All right. And thickness. Well, shall we take a vote on whether to approve this? Greta? Yes, I approve. I think it looks nice. Thank you. Karin? I approve. I also think it looks great. Steve? Yeah, I approve as well. I think it looks great. Nicole? I approve. It's good in your dog. Does your dog approve too? Yep, she does. Definitely. And I approve. So I think you're all set with this one. The commission members present of this hearing have all approved it and the commission has been assisted by name. So I think we can sign the appropriate agreements. Yeah. So yeah, the commission will issue a certificate of appropriateness for this work. You know, it's in keeping with the bylaw. Thanks, you know, Ronnie and Patrick, for your patience. And so we can move that along. Great. Thanks. Yeah, thanks for the very clear presentation. Absolutely. Yeah, that was fantastic. Thank you all and thank you, Jackson. Yeah. Have a great weekend. Thanks. All right. Thanks, Chas. So we will move next to 46 Sunset 11C23. This is Namur's College Project. And it's a request to modify the existing front entry with new ramp, stairs, wing walls, landing and handrails. Do we have a presenter? Two people have raised their hands. Yep. Looks like a few have raised their hands. All right. So Steven, Seth, Rachel and John, you'll all be asked to accept a panelist invitation. And as I asked before, do you want to share your screen or do you like me to share? Is that? I will share my screen. Great. I don't know. That's great. Yeah. Thanks. Am I allowed now? Yeah. Yes. Is everyone ready? Everyone on my team here? I think so. Thank you, everyone, for your time. My name is Seth. I am a senior project manager with Planning, Design and Construction Office at Amherst College. We were before your group back in June of 2022 with the beginnings of this work, which is a complete renovation and nearly a gut demo on the interior of this wonderful property at 46 Sunset. At that time, we were still exploring how to provide an accessible means of entry to the first floor, which is really important for the college. We did install an accessible restroom as being outfitted right now on the first floor with the rearrangement of our reconfiguring those spaces. And so we worked with a landscape architect who is not here today and an architect who is here, Steven Baker, on a lot of options. And what we would like to propose is illustrated on the screen, and that is taking an existing walkway that is on the north side of the property and bringing up that elevation so that it hits this landing, which has to be raised. The landing is currently below the door. It wouldn't be an accessible threshold. So if we're going to raise the landing, we have to rebuild the stairs because we don't know exactly how they're constructed now. They're currently concrete. I have, submitted an existing photograph. This is the existing situation with the snow. So the pathway will come up along the right side, along the north side here. And what's left of that wing wall when we bring an accessible pathway through is really not much at all. So we were proposing to rebuild these stairs in granite at the new, at the level of threshold of the existing door, which is a new door to match the existing, and then to put metal railings on both sides. And I wanted to let Steven Baker talk for a minute on why we are proposing not to rebuild these two wing walls, which are river stone with concrete caps. So I will switch views to what we are proposing if Steven would like to jump in. Sure. The more we dealt with the river stones, the more we found they were crumbling, and the granite solution, and if we were going to try to keep the river stones, it felt like you were mixing rough and tumble with refined and nice. And so at the end of the day, it seemed that the more consistent thing to do would be to eliminate the sidewalls and do ornamental railings, do a landscape sidewall on each side, and integrate this more into the landscape with the wheelchair access. This is a one-and-twenty ramp, so there's no handrails associated with it, so it's just a gradual in-kind slope that delivers people to the front door. And there will be more landscaping all around this as well. This view just focuses on the entry piece. Is there any questions? Do any of the commissioners have questions to ask? I'm sorry to see those stones go, I really like the way they look, and I think they are more in keeping with other parts of the house. A lot of work over the front door is any way that the railings could match that to the black railing. Match this decorative railing here. Provided and provided the openings in that railing meet the code requirements for railing, because at the top of this railing, are we over 29 inches, Stephen? I don't know. We're right on the edge. Where we need fall protection, you would have to limit the size of these gaps at their widest point to what code allows, which is that a four-inch ball can't pass through. Is there a way to do a version of the Union Jack that might work in the iron? Stephen, probably. Probably, but it might be a glass and steel solution, so that you could keep the openings larger. But that particular kind of grille work is typically used on all the terraces on the second floor. We're on the backside. This is our second time, as you may remember, us coming to you. On the backside, we're actually replicating that, and we're actually closing them down a little bit, so as to allow for the regulations to be met. To that end, there is metal ironwork on the backside railing already. This would be consistent with railings that are at the ground plane that are on the backside of the house that exist. I don't have a picture. Yeah, you just can't see the ones in the back. I mean, they're fine. They just look pretty utilitarian compared to the rest of the house, which is so nice. And from this distance, excuse me, from this distance, it looks pretty utilitarian.  It's the OG ornamental iron with the scroll termination. So this is the profile. These are standard Julius Bloom profiles that the college uses all the time for our historic properties. So this is the profile of the handrail. This is its termination. So that termination looks like you have it at the end of the stairs at the bottom landing, but you don't have it when the ramp intersects, would it be on all endpoints just for consistency? So it's on both sides, and it has an opening to the ramp. But it doesn't. You're asking if I zoom in. You're asking if it's here, here, here, and here. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. It looked like the illustrations just didn't show that. The ramp slopes, it sloped its gradual enough to not require handrails. But Steve, we could put that little video termination here if we wanted to. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I was suggesting. If you went to the computer-generated images, it just looks odd that you have the return. You can see that, and then it doesn't happen. Some type of termination. Great suggestion. Yep. A better result. And Steve, how do you consider if they did use what you suggested that pattern? Is that something you still want to have them consider? Look, I'm just suggesting. It just looks a little bit different than the rest of the house, the black rail. So I was just trying to see if there's some way that it could be unified, but it's not crucial. Just making a layman suggestion, and I can see that it's not actually practical. And to be clear, there are no handrails there currently, right? So yeah, we are proposing to put handrails in with the new stairs. But the handrails are now required by code, right? So it's not. We would be required to add handrails to this stair, if we didn't touch it. Stephen, did you say that you, in the back, you modified that design to meet, I mean, with Seth, to meet the current code so that the proportions were changed. So if you take a look at that grill work up on the second floor, that's sort of Juliette balcony. On the back terrace, we modified that detail. So there's a sort of a two-step in that X-bracing that allows for that requirement of a four-inch ball can't pass through. To be clear, though, that's on the roof deck above grade. Exactly. It's still on the second floor. And on grade, it's all black aluminum fencing. On grade, it's all black, black metal, currently, and in the new plants. I'm confused. Do you, according to code, have to put those metal railings in, or are you just doing it? Scared by code require railings, yes. And so even if we weren't touching the stairs, we would be adding railings. Yeah, I understand that it's a utilitarian. It's good. But I, like Nancy and Steve, you know, when you're approaching it for the first time, the old stairs, which I realize have to go, are somehow so elegant. And here, those metal are just so, they look so tiny compared to the massive house behind it. So that was just our reaction. But I would research. So to address that, it's our intention to actually sort of simulate the mass of those bouldered sidewalls with some boxwood hedges. Yeah, and I think kind of adding to what is being said is it is just a shift of a residential look to more of a business look. I mean, I understand it's, you know, you're needing to add for ADA and everything. But it, the feeling is a business entrance and not a residential entrance any longer.  So I think that's kind of what I'm grappling with as well is that's the shift of it. I understand the practicalities of the needs. But there is some loss, even the copper gutters and, you know, just some of those, you know, little unique elements that were present at that entrance. The copper gutters are in the photo set that you have, you can show that they've been replaced. Yeah, these are all new copper gutters. And the photograph doesn't, sorry, so they're all the way around the house. We read all the gutters, all new windows, all the existing profiles. This railing, although it looked great, was in horrible disrepair. And so it's been all repaired. I will say that in my opinion, I realize we can differ on opinions that I think it'll be executed in a way that doesn't look particularly commercial but looks higher and residential. I don't think the worn concrete copings on these are especially nice, nor are the concrete stairs. That it's just worn utilitarian concrete. And so I think the upgrading of those materials to a thermal finished granite is a nice residential, you know, it's not uncommon to find residential stairs in granite. In fact, it's sold, you know, stock every day at Granite Guards. I get the comment of the river stone. My personal take on that is if we were to rebuild them with the granite, then we have a really odd juxtaposition of a very rustic material. We did, of course, there is existing river stone on the base of the house and then on the chimney, which is off this photograph on the south side all the way up. When we power washed that river stone to clean that chimney, river stone fell out. And so we have been, we pointed that entire chimney as a result. So, you know, I think we don't feel confident in how these walls were really constructed. We don't know what the backup is. And so if we are going to keep them, we think we have to rebuild them, which, of course, we can do. But I think with Stephen's care, we can get a residential, a higher end residential look. You know, we could, for example, we could rebuild the stairs in concrete, but we don't have to use granite. In fact, it's at a considerable expense that we are trying to use granite. But we feel like it wears better, weather is better. It stands up to ice and snow better. And it's a better look for this particular use for us than a concrete stair. Steve? I think we're complaining a couple of issues. I think everyone agreed, has no problem with upgrading the stairs and concrete to granite. I think what we're stuck on are not even, it's not a deal breaker derailing. I mean, I just want to clarify, this is the new president's top. Is that correct? It is. Yeah. So I think what I'm saying is that to me, the metal, and like I said, it's not a deal breaker. Sure, the hedges will not mitigate it. But it looks like the, you know, like old folks, the interest to an old person, there's one of those old folks holding that frailty. And that doesn't look as grand as the rest of that. But the rest of what you have there. And again, I'm not an architect. This is just a layman. And I just think it, since it is the president's house, if there was some way to deal with that railing, and I wish Bruce was here, because he could make some suggestions, which I can, to make it a little, a little more elegant. And I understand the details nice. But just from the front, it has kind of that, I don't think it does justice to the rest of the stuff that you do. That's just my opinion. Like I said, it's not a deal breaker for me. So, you know, but it is a collar. Yeah, I mean, I mean, my thought is, I'm hoping the railings actually are will recess from view so that they're, you know, you're not seeing them as much, right? I guess you could make them heavier and have, you know, a more massive like Newell post and different materials. But I'm guessing is that they're going to be, you know, less visible. And so they're not, it's not as intrusive, you know, to the view as, as other things. So really what you're going to be looking at is in the front entry, you're going to be drawn to the door and the stoop and not, you know, look at heavy railings. But yeah, we were hoping that the railings be being in black, they would, they would fall into the background and our box would hedge, which probably should have been rendered taller will become the dominant sort of bookends to that entry. Yeah, I think if the box would are taller, it'll make a huge difference because yep, agreed 100%. And I just have a quick question. Is the landing at the bottom of the stairs at the same elevation, the current existing elevation? So is that being raised at all? You know, you're sloping up the ground as well. So it looks like you're only showing four steps and there's four steps existing. So my guess is that is everything's going to come up just a little bit. So everything's going to be slightly sloped until the bottom landing or is that we're trying to marry up with the two existing concrete sidewalks. Are you okay? Oh, so it's, it's virtually co-planar separate drainage. Do we have any other questions from the commissioners or from the public? Are we ready to take a vote then close the hearing and take a vote? So I suggested just sorry quickly that, you know, they have the termination on the ramp side. And if the commission wants to include that in the motion, it could say, you know, as shown with, with that addition, I mean, it's something to discuss. I would support that. I think that's a good suggestion. Well, let's, does anybody else have anything they'd like to say? Can I just clarify what I think Steven, sorry, I didn't mean to rub what Steven said just on that. So the, that is on, that termination is on the handrail piece, right? We don't actually have to have a handrail where it turns onto the ramp because the ramp doesn't require a handrail because of its slope. So are you asking that we turn the handrail onto the ramp anyway and add that termination, Nate, or just where we need a handrail by code that we have the terminations? Does that make sense? It does. I'm sharing my screen quickly. I'll just zoom in.  Yeah. I mean, would you actually eliminate these sections then and just end it here? Or do you like this for, you know, to help guide people in? I mean, is that? It's not required, but I get it, because it's right. So we could put it on this. And even though it's not required as a handrail, if that's what you're asking for, I think that's that. I'm okay. I'm just making sure we're all on this in the page. Yeah, I'm sorry. Yeah, that's something that's for the commission. I was offering some opinions. I actually like it. I think it makes it a little less institutional. And when you see the railing closer up, you see it's actually bulkier and grander than time of distance. All right. So you think as is, Steve, is what you think that looks fine? Yeah, I do. What order? Are we ready to vote? So we're voting on whether to allow this to go forward as described to us with the scrolls at the bottom of each handrail. Karin? Yes. Steve? Yes. Nicole? Yes. Rita? Yes. And I support this also. So I think we're ready to allow this, the certificate to move forward with this. Thank you for your presentations. And yeah. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. Our third question before us is 30 McClellan Street. This is a project for Joel Greenbaum. And it's a request to remove an existing porch and replace it with an open porch, including posts, railings, and steps. Is Joel here? He is. Joel, I'm going to promote you to panelists. Can you hear me, Nate? I think we can all hear you. Yeah. Sorry. I'm not great on the technology, but Lisa is. Can I interrupt a minute? Why does my screen not show anything? Can you, Karin, can you see everyone? Oh, I only see this screen which says recording and it has desktop one and Google Chrome. Did it just switch? No. This has been for a while. Should I leave and come back? Leave and come back. All right. So Joel, if you'd like, I can share my screen. Can you see me? We can. Yes. Joel, can you see us? Are we visible? Yeah. I can see everyone. Sure. I'll share my screen and we can. We'll start with the existing condition. Sorry. I'm just going to pull it here. So for everyone in attendance, it's a renovation of just this porch. So here's the existing conditions. I think just to show you quickly, this is what it will look like when it's done. So here's an image that's proposed. So the roof line won't change. The columns will be square. You can see the trim. So here's a plan that was shown outlining that here's just this framing plan for the floor, which isn't quite visible, but here's a photo mockup. So it really is taking the enclosed porch and making it an open porch. I'm not sure, Joel, if you have anything to add or... I think, Nate, that the photograph of the porch on Pee's place will do serves as the best illustration. Of course, it will have railings, but that's really what it's going to look like. Same builder. But are the two doors... Is this two units in this building with two entrances? In this particular unit it is, but this is a separate building. I just wanted to show the porch. So I understand that. I'm referring to 30 McClellan. There's going to be two doors on 30 McClellan. That's correct. No, it's just a single family house. It has a front door and it has a door off the porch. Okay. And that's not changing. So it's an existing entry that's... Correct. Are you going to do anything... I went by the property and your workers said you guys were going to do the main entrance as well. Is that true? No, sir. I think the main entrance is staying just the way it is. We've been working on the interior. We haven't made it outside yet, but for the week, we've changed the windows and the house will get painted and we've already cleaned out the yard. It has to get lumbed and seated, but the porch is really the big thing. You took a lot of nice flowers out of that yard. It was a beautiful garden. They're still there, but I mean that house, that yard was a jungle. The flowers are still there. I think the house will look significantly nicer with this new porch. Thank you. I think it will look very nice as well. And I think it's nice for the neighborhood to have an open porch. It's more friendly. I think originally it had an open porch. This porch has been all cobbed together. And it's not particularly... I don't want to say it's unsafe, but I mean when you stand on it, it's certainly not as strong as a new one. Yeah. And Joel, you're going to replace the roof with a shingled roof. Is that in the same elevation and everything? Yeah, correct. And I see a little bit of the pillars in the front. I assume are they going to match the front entrance pillars? More or less. Yep. Are there more questions from the commissioners? In that case, I think we can close this part of the hearing. There's nobody else from the public who's come to speak at this one. If anyone, there's two in attendance. If anyone wants to raise their hand and speak to it, they can. Otherwise, we'll give them a minute. It doesn't look like there's any hands raised. Okay. Then I think we'll close this part of the hearing and we'll move to vote on whether to approve these changes. Steve? Yes, I approve. Rita? I approve. Nicole? I approve. Karin? Yes. And I approve also. So I'm happy to say that we have approved your request and you'll get the certificate that you need now to move forward. Thank you. I very much appreciate it. Thank you for your presentation. It wasn't as professional as the others, but thank you, Nate, for helping me out. Sure. Thanks. Yeah, I don't mind. Have a nice day and a nice weekend. You too. Thanks, you too. Nate, do we have anybody here from the North Prospect Street project? We did and they're not in the attendees. We can ask, is anyone here for 71, 77, 79 North Prospect? I think the owner had been here and is not in attendance anymore. Okay. Well, this is a project from Karin Qing to install a wooden stockade fence on the back of the properties. And so the question before us then is whether we want to move forward with this or whether we want to wait until she makes a presentation. Let me just, I'm going to, Karin, Karin was in attendance. And let me just forward her an email again. I just sent the owner an email. Yeah, there was a Karin who was in attendance earlier and I'm not sure if they accidentally left her or not. I can always make the presentation if that's necessary. We'll see if there's any new attendees yet. Shall we wait one more minute and then we'll, you can let me know, Commissioner, if you want me to present this. Kurt Shumway had emailed me this morning asking for a link and I thought you would do that. Yeah, I emailed him a link as well and a few others. I don't see anyone. I mean, if that's the case, I would prefer to postpone it if someone's here on either side. I am here. Okay. This is Kurt. I don't feel I need to speak up. Oh, okay. All right. Okay. Just listening. Okay. So I believe this was one that had some legal issues around it that we can't actually address, but maybe the desire now is to just wait and see what happens with the legal questions. What do you think, Nate? I know, I mean, the commission has to make a decision either way. So either we continue it to a date certain and we can confirm the owner will attend or we can, you know, I can present it. It's a pretty straightforward application and the commission can make a decision. That's, you know, or deny it. I evidently am right. So you can present it and then say yes, no, or condition it. If we were going to continue it to a date certain, you know, I would recommend in the next, Nancy, you're not available next week, right? So we would just, we would have to just take a look at when what makes sense. Okay. I'm not seeing anyone else join. So I'm not sure what the commission would like to do. I mean, I think if we can just quickly review stuff so we decide to go ahead or not. Sure. I'll, I'll share my screen. The, so, you know, it's a, it's two separate applications for two properties owned by the same owner. So there's 71 North Prospect Street and then 77 79 North Prospect Street. So on 71 North Prospect Street, they'd like to install, you know, a 25 foot length of fence here, three feet off the property line. On 77 North Prospect 77 79, they would like to install the same fence one foot off the property line. And so the other fence is here. So the idea is there's an existing single family home here associated with Shumway properties and there's this paved driveway to Halleck Street. So the, the residents and tenants of this unit here take this back alley park here and then access the unit. It seems like the intent is to install this fence in an L to impede the, you know, the movement of people back and forth. But really the commission right is looking at, you know, this 71 foot length of fence and a 25 foot length of fence. And, you know, the spec was given as something from, you know, a six foot high pressure treated pine fence. And so back in this area here, there's already some existing stockade fence on the back of this house and on this property line. So there's existing stockade fence, you know, that is of a different style, slightly different style than this, but there is quite a bit of fencing wooden fencing in that area. And do we have any idea if trees are going to be cut down and things like whenever I drove by there's quite a bit of trees back behind the property. And I can't tell what other bushes or things like that, but I just wasn't sure if it was going to kind of be clear cut of the vegetation to do this. That's not clear. I mean, the commission, you know, vegetation and landscaping is exempt from review. So there's really, you know, we can't really offer much there. You know, I would love to have a site visit. I was there and I kind of looked at it, but I think this is a, this is a very downtown place. I think it's an important decision. It's not, you know, do we want stockade fences to go up all over the place right there? It would really, I would feel more comfortable before I voted to just be there with someone who knows and explains exactly what's going to happen on site because visually it just is going to impair a lot of places there. Well, first I want to say I'm really glad it's wood, not plastic, but I agree with Karen. I've been, I've been, I've gone by maybe three or four times trying to figure out exactly where the fence is or would be, but I don't feel comfortable walking on the yard, but maybe a more formal site visit would do that. I had trouble visualizing it from the street. I walked down the driveway and it looks like it would really isolate this house in a way that would not be in keeping with the rest of the neighborhood. And I'm just curious as to why this is necessary. I agree with Karen, that putting up stockaded fences all over the neighborhood is, it's not what an historic downtown usually has. I mean, I guess also, you know, talking about people coming, going and like we're trying as commissioners to figure this out and no disrespect, but rather than taking up a lot of an entire commission's time individually and as a group to go see this, I personally would like to know like if it legally is a common driveway and if that can be approved legally before we waste our time, you know, all meeting to see whether or not it could happen. Like if it is a common driveway, I'd rather that be legally sorted before we kind of take up all of our time trying to decide whether or not we think a fence should go. Steve, would you like to say something? I didn't raise my hand, but I actually emailed Nate this very question this morning saying, you know, should we postpone any kind of decision pending the legalities being straightened out and Nate said that we actually couldn't. But if there's an aesthetic, you know, objection on the part of the commission, I think that's a legitimate concern and I think maybe it might be for who of us to have the owner come back and let's talk to her about what else we can do besides, you know, stockade pets. Right. No, thanks, CVS. So these legal questions are called something that really is outside the purview of the commission. So, you know, we can make a determination on the fence in terms of its aesthetic value or impact because of it.   Sometimes they might make a decision on something and then it's really the owner's, you know, the owner has to do their due diligence before they may move forward with the plan, unfortunately, right. So it does take up the time of a board or committee, but that's, we have an application to make a decision on. So it sounds like the commission would like to continue the hearing and I can really try to get a hold of the owner to confirm, you know, if, you know, if they can't or a representative can't be in attendance, we could schedule a site visit and let them know at least. And then is that a quick question, they do you have any suggestions since there is a aesthetic objection or concern on the part of the commission, do you have any suggestions on what alternatives could be to the stock offense? So in this instance, there is some other screening on the property, I do think.  I think, you know, it could aid the commission that we have better, you know, maybe even like a photo rendering to show what does it actually look like. And it may be that to your point, see that maybe offense is just not appropriate, even though it's in the back because the way it will, you know, the way it disrupts the view. And so it could be that the commission doesn't approve this, you know, if they really want some type of screening, you know, there's always a vegetation, right, there's trees, things that can have a softer, softer appearance and that's not regulated by the commission. If they really want a structural element, a solid opaque element, you know, they could have a different kind of fence, right, but it would still be a, you know, a visual barrier. So it's also a six foot fence, which is pretty tall. And a solid fence, it's not, there's no, no break up to it. I like the idea of recommending vegetation as an alternative. Kurt, did you have something you wanted to say? I did, if it's appropriate. I'm apparently showing up as Steve on the. Yeah, I was actually, I was thinking it was you, Steve, I'm both lying. I was thinking it was me too, and I was wondering what I just called it. Yeah. I'm not gonna, I will, if it's okay for me to speak, I'll confirm that there's a conflict. It's my, I can describe, it's my feeling that we have shown legal standing for right away, et cetera. I know that's not your position. One of the areas that has been addressed that you, it may or may not come into your scope is that because of my concerns and basically this shuts out any access to the house. And it is a significant fire and ambulance first responder concern. I'm hopeful, frankly, that the reason why the applicant isn't here is because they finally have recognized the documentations that we have provided that they can't do it. But that's not your role. I'm saying this only to possibly save you some time for visit, visiting the site. If I were trying to save time, I would suggest possibly you would consider delaying it. And they, if what I think is going to happen comes to fruition, they will probably withdraw the application. And you don't have to do anything more on it. So in an effort to try to save you your time and effort, a decision to delay it might be your easiest, of course, you can deny it and they can come back, you do whatever you want. But in order to save the time for the board, you know, let the legal battle take its, and I'm thinking they may have recognized that you know, there's some issues that they didn't, they weren't aware of. So I just offer that and I'm going to try to fix my computer, as Dwight says, Steve. If you have some questions, I'll hang it. I'm here for questions, but I think that was just my point to try to save you the site visit and maybe they're not here because they recognize that it may not quite go the same way. Thanks, Kurt. Yeah, I think the, yeah, I mean, the commission will have to either continue it to a date certain or, you know, make a decision today. There's way, it's hard to say, let's, you know, unfortunate with the owner not here to ask for either withdrawal, we'll have to, you know, my recommendation would be to either deny it or continue it. And we have plenty, we have time. So, you know, the clock really didn't start ticking until early this month. So 60 days puts us into May. So I mean, we could say, let's continue this hearing, we'll have to continue it. And it could be as simple as, you know, if it's with, if the owner asked to withdraw it, we open the hearing, we entertain the withdrawal, and we can go to accept that. You know, so we could say, let's, let's continue it till April, you know, you know, and it could be that we also then have additional agenda topics. We have a public meeting and a public hearing together on that date. So we can combine business as for meeting, we could say, you know, Tuesday, April 18th, for instance, or something. If that works for people, I don't know, you know what, and then we just say, we'll continue it to a date certain and time, we'd say we can continue it to three o'clock. And it would be the first item on the agenda that day. How does the commission like to move forward? Do we have opinions? Yeah, I think we don't have enough information to certainly deny it. Like I think we need more information to go either way. I liked exactly what you said, Nate. I like actually April 18th sounds like a great date at three o'clock to me. I don't know. Everybody should look at their calendar. And by that time, we probably have more things to deal with next day. And yeah. All right, let's take a vote on whether to continue this on April 18th. Tuesdays are difficult for me. Okay. Is that Monday? Is it possible? The 17th is the Monday. Is that a holiday, though? Or is that? The day is Patriots Day. Oh, do you have Patriots Day off, Nate? Yeah, town hall would be closed. Is the 19th okay with you, Nicole? Is that possible? Wednesday? Yep, that's fine. Nate, is that possible for you? Sure. We do have planning meeting, but that's not till 6.30. So I guess we could do it, but it means both Bruce and I have two meetings on that day. But it's fine with me. It could be the 20th, if you prefer. Oh, I have a meeting that runs until 4 o'clock. I mean, does it need to be that week if the 24th of April is back to us doing it on Mondays? That'd be exactly a month later, April 24th. That would work. I mean, we'd have to, you know, if we issue a decision, we'd have to, I just have to turn it around pretty quickly, but that's fine. Works for me. Me too. So Monday, the 24th at 3 p.m., is that what you'd say that? Sure. I'm having a colonoscopy that morning. I think I'll be okay at 3 p.m. Just make it more entertaining. Okay, let's continue it on the 24th at 3 p.m. And let's take a vote on that, Steve? Yes. Karin? Greta? Yes. Nicole? Yes. And I agree too. So Nate, is that all right? Yes. Yeah, yeah. Well, I'll reach out to the owner and we'll confirm the continuance and then ask for a site visit. Okay. 3 o'clock is what we've said. All right. Then I think we have done our work for today and we can vote to adjourn. If I have a motion to adjourn. I have a motion to adjourn. Thank you. We have a second. I second. Thank you. Nicole? Yes. Greta? Yes. Karin? Yes. Steve? Yes. And I vote yes. The meeting is adjourned. And thanks everyone. I'll end the webinar now. Thank you. Nate, thank you for all your help. Sure. Thanks. Bye-bye. Bye.


Well the rule five draft is in just a little bit but the buzz is still Aaron judge it was the number one priority for the Yankees heading into this off season they were able to get that deal done pending a physical and now Yankees fans have a six foot eight present under their Christmas tree and Jack when you think about it have they not been able to get this deal done with trade-turner already off the board you wonder where they would have gone had they not landed Aaron judge well two big issues because you just referenced Christmas so all those Santa Claus is out there who are ready to buy the 99 Jersey and maybe they were on hold go buy the 99 Jersey the kids will be happy but Meredith I think anytime a major deal like this happens you do have to take a step back and say where would the Yankees have been without judge we could talk about a plan B but there wasn't a plan B they were so focused on a plan a so from Hal Steinbrenner to Randy Levine to Brian Cashman to Aaron Boone to everyone who had a role in this this is the player they wanted trade-turner was someone who interested them he was off the board you talk about Korea that was someone they didn't pursue in the past bogus I'm not sure that they think that he is a long-term shortstop so is that someone they would have been interested in they would have found a way to pivot Meredith but their plan B would have been so much less than the plan a that they executed and as Brian Cashman discussed and we've already discussed it get the feeling that the Yankees are far from done here that maybe they're just getting started this offseason the Tommy Cainley deal not yet official but fortifying their bullpen just a little bit but you wonder if starting pitching is in their future as well I really think that Radone is someone that they're very interested in Michael mentioned some of the numbers that are being bandied about for him six years thirty million dollars we'll see where that ends up I made a comment the other day where I referenced how Hermann or Schmidt for what they would cost if you were looking to go in that direction you might say well those guys will give me X percentage of Radon I was in no way saying that those two pitchers equate to who Radon is Radon is someone who can come in and be a top end of the rotation type pitcher and I agree with you Meredith and talking to Brian Cashman and other members of the organization I think they feel that there's unfinished business the Yankees haven't won a World Series since 2009 I think they thought last year could be their year with the way they started out but with the way it ended and with how powerful the Astros are Yankees need to do some more things well we know here in San Diego it seems like Brian Cashman has had a tremendous amount of success over the last couple of years so I remember three years ago you myself John Flaherty Bob Lorenz we're out grabbing a bite to eat and I believe it was Jeff Passon for me SPN who broke the news that Eric Cole was signing for nine years three hundred and twenty four million we dashed back to the hotel lobby because that's where you want to be well the judge situation was a little different because John Marosi broke the news at about five a.m. so if you rolled out of bed to get a glass of water at around six a.m. which is that was me you started texting people and trying to make sure that you could confirm it so yes Cashman said he has not had any sleep so San Diego has been a successful place for him but can I say that he's been sleepless in San Diego


Lyme disease can cause reversible dementia in some cases. In this particular case, a 75-year-old man presented with hallucinations, confusion, and aggression which were not responsive to anti-psychotic medication. He had a CT scan of his brain which was normal, but other tests revealed a rise in inflammation markers. The patient tested positive for Borrelia burgdorferi, a bacterium associated with Lyme disease, on a Western blot test. After being treated with appropriate antibiotics, the patient experienced a remarkable recovery. This case highlights the importance of considering Lyme disease as a possible cause of dementia, especially when there are no signs of CSF involvement. This article was authored by Chiara Sanchini, Chiara Papia, Chiara Kutaya, and others.


Good evening everyone. My name is Claire Wool. I am chairperson of the Burlington School Board and today I welcome board members Jeanie Waltz and Monica Ivancic who are here. We have spent I think three terms now with each other. Yeah a little over three terms working with each other collaborating with the other well three minus twelve is nine, nine other school board members. So it is always a thrill for me to be able to bring board members on the show to be able to discuss their work as a board and individually as co-chairs that you two are of our diversity equity and inclusion committee. Thank you so much for your leadership within that committee and for the work that you do day in and day out for our schools. I enjoy working with you and I've learned a lot. This year was an exciting year of 2023 which really began back in the fall and I thought we would spend this time as a follow-up. The board's goal was to use this time and to be able to share these links and this footage on topics that we promote in our North End news, our Burlington newspaper. Each month we are afforded a school board column and this past month Commissioner Ivancic wrote about this equity policy that we just passed, A2, followed up with the history of Commissioner Walts applying for a grant with VSPA. So the culmination of everybody's work together, I think the collaboration on this board and throughout our work together has been genuine and we, the sum of all parts, really bring the outcome for student-centered work. So that was my introduction just to give viewers the history of how we like to communicate out with our work that we do at the board level throughout our community and then this avenue using CCTV as a great resource for us to be able to share links so people can view this conversation and learn from our work, learn from us and the work that we're doing. So if you wouldn't mind giving some historical context to the work and share, you know, how we got here and what was involved throughout the work that you did over this last year or, you know, a couple of years what culminated to a policy that we inherited as elected school board members and the revision and where we are today. So welcome. Great. Thank you for that, Claire. Yeah, and my name is Monica Ivancic. I'm a Ward 7 school commissioner and co-chair of the DE&I committee. And Jeanne and I pretty much sat through all the revisions of this policy. Starting a few years back when we hired Equity Institute to do an anti-racism training for the entire board. Do you think we should mention that one of the responsibilities of the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee is to organize, orchestrate, make sure that the board is getting trainings annually. So it started with Monica writing in a very extensive RFP. What is the request for proposals? Yes. Do you want to talk a little bit about that, how we ended up with Equity Institute? And that was what, was that 21? I believe two years ago we were in the middle of that. We had just begun that training. Correct. So it was before that, several months before that, that I had written the RFP. We unfortunately only had a couple companies that wrote us back, said they're interested. One was way overpriced and one had worked with our superintendent Tom Flanagan before in Rhode Island. So it was a company called Equity Institute out of Providence, Rhode Island, and they were willing to do kind of custom-made training workshops for our school board. So, and if you to remember that year, we were going back to school, but everyone was masked six feet apart and so we assumed most of these workshops would be virtual, but the two women that worked for the company were willing to come all the way here to Burlington. So our first training was in person at Sustainability Academy and then I believe the next one was virtual and then the one after that was perhaps in person. Yeah. So I think we did about three trainings prior to the budget season. We knew the budget season is busy every year and that we wouldn't, board members didn't have enough time to extend to do both at the same time. And then we came back with this company and the tricky part was it spanned over Town Meeting Day and then when new members get inaugurated beginning of April. So Equity Institute did help with onboarding through four new board members, I believe. But our work with them culminated in this racial equity policy tool, which is a five-step tool to reviewing policies that we like want to review or develop, making sure that policies are equitable and it covers marginalized folks. It can be applied to any group. It's basically a tool to ensure that the people who will be impacted by the policy are a part of the development and decision-making process. Yeah, before, during, and after. And yeah, that was the main reason that we wanted to work with the Equity Institute. Also, right before we actually went into this, we developed a shared principles as a board. Correct. Sort of like, okay, make sure that you're focused or the, you know, the aim, whatever the goal is, make sure it's in line with these principles before you, you know, pretty much not to get off course, but also to be able to have a base of understanding that we, you know, like you were talking about earlier, we have become a very, like we work together really well. I mean, it did take some time for us to understand each other's styles and strengths and what we bring to the table. But part of that process, I think, having a shared, shared principles really solidified us being able to, I think, work more effectively together. Well said. Yeah, I agree. Yeah, and that spring, spring 22, summer 22, the superintendent tasked us with revising the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Policy, which had last been revised in 2014. Correct. And so in that same vein, I brought, we distributed and created a strategic plan for the 2022-2027 five-year strategic plan and distributed throughout the district with those goals, with those priority areas, encompassing the entire district, onboarding in these shared goals. Right, and that strategic plan was really a piece of work. It was amazing, and it came up with the five goals. But back to this policy, we were, I would say, we were kind of floundering around a little bit at first, because we weren't sure how to tackle it. We also had to pass a policy on how to... Oh, right. We were waiting for the overarching policy that told us how to write a policy. So that took a little bit, too. Teeny bit. Yeah. Teeny bit. And the DE&I Committee was involved because we wanted to make sure that that overarching policy included using this racial equity tool. So then that brings us to the first of the year, and I know that the Vermont School Board Association, you know, who works as an organization throughout the state for school districts was on task and reading the activities that were happening throughout the school district's equity was at the front of that conversation and do you want to speak to the opportunities that they provided? Yeah, they offered a mini-grant to support equity work in a district. And as much as we were really ready to implement the equity policy tool, we did feel like, well, this is the first time an equity policy was the equity diversity, policy A2, equity diversity and inclusion policy was just so important to us that I think we were afraid to mess it up. And we wanted to implement the tool as exact as we could. And so I took a stab at writing this grant. We were awarded $5,000 and with that money we decided to hire Jessica Aske, who has been, well, she's been instrumental in tons of, I would say, transformative change in the district. She also comes with a law degree. So she really knows like, and was part of the LGBTQIA plus task force and the district. Yeah, she's been, I guess, reviewing policies. I'm not exactly sure what kind of work she's been doing, but I know that the Office of Equity has really appreciated what she's been helping with. So yeah, we entered into a contract with Jessica to be consultant and help guide us through the implementation of that. Which do you want to talk to her about? Yeah, using the tool. But part of using the tool means gathering focus groups or whatever the word is, like making sure those happen and facilitating. Facilitating. Yeah, but also just, you know, doing the outreach to get the people there and, yeah, one of the first steps in this is to include the people that will be affected by the policy. So we reached out to, with the help of Jessica and Autumn Bangura, our district equity instructional leader, reached out to our BIPOC students, our free and reduced lunch students, our new American students, reached out to a few students with disabilities, as well as educators. And so those two women organized two focus groups consisting of, was it 10 or 20? About 10. Each group of students, educators and parents. And some of us did some reaching out to parents as well. And so those met January, end of January, beginning of February, beginning of this year. And, you know, they were asked three questions about success. What are the barriers to success? What they need to be provided to achieve success? And essentially, yeah, how do they see success in our schools? So we got some really interesting insights from these groups that were used then, and, you know, coming up with this thorough policy, our DE&I policy. Great. Do you want to look through, I mean, we've presented a slide deck for, to walk the public through and community members through. We can go through it as quickly and as slowly as possible. So using an equity lens in policymaking, this was also helped produced by Jessica Oskie. And we appreciate for sure that, that quote. So the historical lens and the opportunity gaps and the equity lens, which mitigates opportunity gaps. Just looking at each of these slides if it's self-explanatory or things that we can highlight throughout the process. Going to the next. Our problem statement from our strategic plan. We can communicate it. The district has not yet created a culture based on values and beliefs that reflect how the community aspires to support the full range of student needs, especially those who are most systematically marginalized or outside of conventional expectations. This gap undermines trust with students, families, and educators. And the gap occurs because the district lacks a shared approach for identifying root causes and generating a plan of action with clear lines of resources, responsibility, timelines, and accountability. That really, you know, strikes when we, I am very proud of our equity work within our department with Autumn Bangora and Henry Sparks. I know that they are in constant contact with students and families and educators. And those leaders, district leaders are part of your DE&I committee work that you meet with on a monthly basis. So there was our problem statement and this was our goal. Do you want to read the goal then? Sure. Burlington School District will be student-centered and responsive to the full range of identities, abilities, cultures, and languages in our community, such that every student is challenged, empowered, and engaged in their learning throughout their time in our schools. And I know from a governance standpoint, even crafting these goals, these goal statements, working together as a group, as a district, as a community, we take time in these type of statements so that we are very careful and concerned about how they read and how they're accepted throughout the community. And in the end, it gives us our goal. Again, another quote that we used, what is an equity lens or tool? Again, the lens is to be inclusive as an organization that helps make decision. It introduces a set of questions and we were very appreciative of this tool. We worked on it. We had examples that we used throughout our training and we we worked in our own groups under the auspice of the direction from the firm that helped us on how to identify what is an equity lens or tool and work through it together. And part of using the tool is when people, when anybody on the board wants to present a revision or a new policy, they need to show their work. And that gives the other board members a chance to feel, to actually know if those board members have done their due diligence. Like, are we in support of the amount of effort they put into getting people at the table, you know, so it's basically a worksheet. It's very practical. And this is we've also said that how they have demonstrated using the tool needs to be a part of presenting there, you know, with the first and second readings. Right. Okay. Thank you for adding that. This was as Monica shared and Jeanne, we developed it in 2022 for BSB with the support and help of the, that must be say, BSD, excuse me, the help of the Equity Institute to support the board's work to develop policies and practices that eliminate institutional racism and systematic inequities in the district. Again, this talks about the actions and decisions that are developed, what are, you know, achievable outcomes would be based on going through this tool. This goes in detail about step one, who would be involved, similar to what you were just saying, Commissioner Walts, identifying who will be impacted by the policy. Very important. Determine how this policy aligns with our vision. Very important. Again, cohesiveness so that in a large district like ours, with our 13 schools and 4,000 students, these, the clarity on these is incredibly meaningful, I think personally. Step four, identifying intended and unintended outcomes of the policy. And it was really important to have reference to either obviously trying to avoid causing harm, but just the mention of it, like have that be a part of your consciousness when you are creating these policies that many of these policies in the past have caused harm. We looked at a lot of different equity tools or vetting tools for creating policies and there are a small handful that talked about harm or harm had being caused reparations around harm, so we knew for sure that we wanted that to be a part of the process. Thank you for sharing that. And then step five, determining what changes could be made to make this policy more equitable. I think that was, that was it. Sorry. So now take us through your focus groups, your receiving the grant, having the Department of Equity within the district help out, writing, working with Jessica Aske on the policy to bringing it to the board and the board digesting it. You have a first reading, a second reading. Was it a unanimous vote in passing the policy and where we are today? Like, what does it look like? Well, fortunately, it was a unanimous vote by the time we got to the second reading of the policy, but in the spring, you know, April, May, we had a few D&I committees where we brainstormed what needs to go in it and how it needs to be tweaked. And then, I believe in May, we used some of our grant money to hold a meeting at the Richard Kemp Center, just up the street from here. And that, you know, we had several BIPOC people in attendance giving us their opinions on the policy. By that point, we kind of had finalized it in a lot of ways. We'd worked on it so much that we were ready to say we're not doing any major edits after this. So that, I believe, helped in pushing it forward. We, I think our July meeting was canceled. Maybe it was the June meeting that was at Richard Kemp. Well, I think it was May and June. Yes. But also part of the process was that all policies get reviewed by the policy and governance committee. Pretty much all of them, I guess. I mean, I'm going to say all of them. Yes, some that are mandated. Before they go to the full board for anything. Right, because remember that's in the overarching policy. Yes. That once the policy is done, it has to go through the policy and governance committee. So we were fratting a little bit about that.  Like, this is part of your job description now. And making sure that there weren't anythings that were too overlapping. Because the superintendent is responsible for reporting on how he is achieving these goals. And there were definitely elements of two other monitoring reports that he already has to do that, this fit into. So we made sure, yeah, we made sure that we were going to be efficient with our time. And part of that is the larger scope of just managing our own workload, which is there's a ton of policies. And we should be reviewing them regularly. It's pretty unfortunate that this policy wasn't reviewed since 2014. But with that said, it got done. And I think we're way more aware about getting on a better schedule with our, you know, board responsibilities. Yeah, we have a calendar that's available on board docs that outline our policy reviews. And each year, also, you know, we see from the state mandated policies that are sent to us that for approval. Yeah. And so working again efficiently. And with sensitivity around the policies that we have still to review as sort of within the district, not not what I meant to say, we definitively will be reviewing each of the policies. And that's a large task for our school board. But we're up for the work and the Policy Governance Committee has communicated that excitement to do that work. And this is a jumping off point for all of us because we finished the policies to review policies now that A2. And again, the fact that it was passed in September, and that we're moving, we've already passed some policies with the equity tool included in that is success in my eyes with continued work. Yeah. And good work does not happen if you're catching up though, right? Yes. So like, we need to get it together. Yeah. But I feel like we're at that juncture where we can proceed mindfully, not reactively. And we have the tools and we have like the framework of how to do it thanks to the policy on making a policy. Right. And I don't know, you know, maybe the Policy and Governance Committee was particularly stringent with our policy. But it had to go to that committee twice. I remember the first discussion was with the superintendent was there as well as the director of equity. So it was pretty fruitful. Yeah. And Jessica was there. Jessica Oskie was also there. Yes. She was there at both meetings. And we went through. Director HR was there. And our board retreat, we discussed the work that was involved so that everyone understood before we actually presented it to the board. So questions were asked by the board over the board retreat this summer. So, and again, we just had our Vermont School of Words Association annual meeting with all districts. And we were asked to speak about our experience with the grant. And I will say, you know, without that $5,000, we don't use academic dollars for board work. And so at this point, our goal to be able to make this a reality, I greatly appreciate that association in supporting us as with many other districts that took advantage of that. Affording us that time. So as we come to a close, I think we're we're we're, if there's anything else, I want to share some other good news within the district that I know you're familiar with. We talk about the work of our educators and the impact they have on in the classrooms. And it is with like true excitement that our 2024 Teacher of the Year in Vermont is a Burlington School District teacher, Aziza Malik. We were able to announce this incredible award over two weeks ago at Champlain Elementary School of where she is a teacher. This is her 14th year. We're serving the district and the students of Burlington. Here is a picture I brought of her in the newspaper that was featured. And she is just absolutely extraordinary in her work. She's like fifth grade teacher. Yes. Yeah. And we just cannot share our excitement. I also want to acknowledge that this week at the University of Vermont, we are honoring teachers, distinguished teachers of Vermont. And we have three teachers that will be honored at UVM along with Aziza as Teacher of the Year. They are Mark Nagolian at Edmunds Middle School, Stacey Ladd with Burlington Technical Center. And there is one more that I've got to remember. I didn't get this memo. That's awesome. Acknowledge that might be Aziza, but if there's someone else, I apologize and we'll make sure we put it in the paper. So good work is happening. And equity inclusion is just incredibly important to the work that we do. This policy is incredibly meaningful. And I want to thank you both for your dedication within the committee and the entire board on behalf of the district. And thank you viewers for watching and learning. If you have follow-up questions, you can reach us at bsdvt.org. Our emails are there. And we look forward to engaging in any community support or questions or feedback that you have. And thank you for your time tonight. Thank you both for being here. Thanks Claire. Thank you.


So we're here at Lenaro Connect, and who are you? Gordon Krueberg, I'm the CEO of Gumsticks. And Gumsticks stands for small PC like this? Gumsticks, originally we were the first full implementation of Linux on a computer the size of a stick of gum. So this goes way back to 2003 when we were first in business and first in the corporate. That was way before the Rockchip, all winner kind of HDMI sticks that were running Android and stuff. We were the first, and back then just being able to do a full implementation of Linux was a big deal. What was the ARM chips you was using? The original was the PXA250 from Intel, which became the PXA255, then the 270 from Marvell. So it was the strong arm chips? Yeah, it was the one just after the strong arm. Yeah, the SA16, I think 1600. You had some good Linux running on that? Yes, the first. Yeah, it was full implementation of Linux using G-Lib C instead of the UC-Lib C. So it wasn't embedded Linux and it was powerful enough that somebody took that and then it ended up doing a BSD port as well. So we have multiple versions of full Linux going back then. And was it just a thing that made sense to make a PCB fit both sides and several layers and stuff and very compact or was it like very special? Our idea was to put all the hard stuff into one small PCB and put all the easy stuff on an inexpensive board. So we drove the cost down at the time, we drove the cost down of doing a multi-layer board with all the hard routing done so that somebody could connect something as simple as an HDMI connector, as you point out, and make one little stick that had a full software on it and running HDMI. What was the price? First price, oh my goodness. I think we were, we didn't break $100. So it was $139, I think, $129, $139, something like that. First HDMI stick, TC. That was even, that was LCDs. First HDMI PC came out a little later and that was probably $179, yeah. All right. A couple years later. So you the CEO and founder of Gumstakes and it's a company here in the Silicon Valley? We are here, we're based in Redwood City. We have our R&D going on in Vancouver, Canada, but right now what we've done is turned from just making it simple to have all the hard electrical engineering work done on a com, a computer on module. We've entirely, we'd like to show that, well, let me pull this back. We've now got something that we call Geppetto which automates the entire design of an expansion board or a single board computer so that anybody can sit down and build exactly what they want and get it to market in the course of a few weeks. So automate the design of a PCB? Yeah, well, more than just a PCB, the entire electronic device, all the electronics that go into a device. Our motto really has been to dream, design and deliver a product and every year we try to add something to our product or service portfolio to make it easier for somebody to build what they dream up. Right now, most of the great work in electronic device design is done in software. What we're trying to do is make it easy enough for anybody who can program to design their own custom electronic device that runs the code that they wanna run. So yesterday I did a video with a guy from QWERTY embedded design and he's using KeyCAD. Yes. How does this compare with using something like KeyCAD? KeyCAD is for an electrical engineer. Geppetto is for anybody. So KeyCAD, somebody who has to know about part placement, how to do the routing, how to construct a bill of materials, how to generate the Gerbers, how to send the instructions off to a contract manufacturer and then have it all assembled. Once that assembly is done, the operating system needs to be built. Operating system has to have device drivers, has to have documentation done. All of that is managed right now in Geppetto. So what Geppetto does is take block diagrams, things like I want an HDMI connector and then if I have an HDMI connector on the board, what else do I need? Geppetto will manage that and will ship the customer a product 15 business days later that is able to run whatever they want. 15 business days. So we wipe out weeks to months of electrical engineering and operating system work. Since when do you have this solution? This has been instantiated for gum sticks products for a couple of years now. We expanded to support many of our former competitors like Toradex or Technection. We're working with several of the new companies to add them to our product lineup. So does that mean that what Toradex and Technection is able to print out of this app? So the person using this app would get it done by them? No, not at all. Anybody who wants to build an expansion board for a Toradex Calibri can do that expansion board in Geppetto. So what we've made it very easy for a Toradex customer to build the support electronics that are required in order to use a Toradex product. Like a mezzanine boards? We make, yes, exactly right. They make the comm, we make the mezzanine for 96 boards. That's why we're here. We make hats and we make carrier boards for Raspberry Pi for the Raspberry Pi Raspberry Pi Compute Module. We make expansion boards for the Toradex Comm, yeah. So sorry, Toradex and Technection, they are involved in making small PCBs, kind of like a psalm. Exactly, they make psalms, they make psalms. What's your history with the psalm? We were the first. You were the first to do psalm. We were the first full Linux psalm. And back in 2004, when I think Toradex has been around almost as long, we're close to as long as we have, possibly longer. You know, we track them and we've admired their engineering for years. They pioneered getting windows onto a tiny psalm. Have you been working with them? Yeah, oh, that's my whole point here is that we used to be competitors and now what we've done is created Gepetto in a way that somebody can use Gepetto to build a product that will support the Toradex. So now we're partners. Nice. So is this, what's the business model on this? And kind of like, because there's all these... Somebody goes to our site, Gepetto.comsticks.com, designs their board, and then they can add it to a catalog and we will then buy the board and we'll ship them the board 15 business days later. Because there's so much innovation happening right now. People have new ideas. They want to do crowdfunding. They want to do new devices, new stuff. So this enables that. Absolutely. This lets anybody who knows how to program can build a board. And there's an app, there's an app called Gepetto and when you do stuff in there, then you have some people checking that it's going to be okay on the PCB before it gets printed out. You don't just send it to the printing machine, right? Oh, and there's not a printing machine with the... We do have engineers inspect everything that goes through. All right, like kind of like verifies stuff and calculates things that they should be in the right place or... That's reasonably fair, some fair thing. And what's the price? Is it affordable to get things done? Well, absolutely.  And then we will ship you however many boards based on what it costs to make that board. We believe that for anybody building up to 20,000 units a year, this is by far the lowest cost of engineering plus manufacturing to get something done. Certainly the fastest. $2,000 to get set up, kind of like a license or kind of like a start. And then... Manufacturing fee. Manufacturing fee. Yes, so in order to have... So imagine that you want something manufactured. It costs us a certain amount of money to have our subcontractors build and set up their systems and tool. So in the app, how many possibilities are there with this, like lots and lots of different modules and things you can put. You can build almost anything you want in IoT. So if you wanted to build a cell phone, if you wanted to build an edge device, an edge sensor, an edge node for the IoT, you could do that. Cool.


Hello and welcome to the International Daily Roundup by People's Dispatch where we bring you some of the major developments from around the world. Let's take a look at today's headlines. Chile's Congress tables built to decriminalize elective abortions. Over 80 cases of sexual abuse found during the WHO's work in the DRC. Thousands of doctors go on strike in Paraguay to demand equal pay. Strike against understaffing by nurses at the US hospital crosses 200 days. Beginning with our first story, the lower house of Chile's parliament has tabled a bill to decriminalize elective abortions. The Chamber of Deputies approved the measure on September 28 despite opposition from the right-wing government. The motion was successful with 75 votes in favour, 68 against, and two abstentions. The proposed bill will legalize abortions up to 14 weeks of the pregnancy. The legislation will now be reviewed by the Chamber's Commission for Women and Gender Equity. The bill will be voted on again in the House and then move on to the Senate. Under current law, abortions are only legal in cases where there is a threat to life if the fetus is unviable or if the pregnancy is a result of rape. Activists argue that these abortions represent only 3% of the thousands of procedures performed in the country. According to the Humanas Corporation, 60 to 70,000 clandestine abortions are performed in Chile each year. The landmark vote in Chile took place on the global day of action for access to safe and legal abortion. Thousands of people held protests and marches in Mexico, Ecuador, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador and Peru. Abortion in Latin America is currently legal in Uruguay, Cuba, Argentina and Guyana. It is also legal in four states and Mexico City in Mexico. Moving on to our next story, 83 cases of sexual abuse have been found during the WHO's response to an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The allegations are part of an independent investigation commissioned by the agency. The report released on September 28th reviewed the period between August 2018 and June 2020. Investigators heard testimonies of 63 girls and women and 13 boys and men. There have been nine allegations of rape. Survivors stated that the perpetrators did not use birth control leading to some pregnancy. Some women were also forced to undergo abortions. Alleged victims, most of whom were already vulnerable, were also promised work in exchange for sexual relationships. Investigators have established with certainty that WHO employees were the perpetrators in 21 cases. The report stated that alleged victims were not provided with necessary support and assistance. It pointed to clear structural failures and individual negligence. Out of the 2,800 staff deployed under the WHO, only 371 took part in training to prevent sexual abuse and exploitation. The report also noted a systematic tendency to reject all reports of abuse unless they were made in writing. It pointed to failures in handling allegations in nine cities or villages. In our next story, over 3,000 doctors across Paraguay have launched a 14-day strike. Organized by the National Union of Physicians and CINAMED, they are demanding equal salary and a reduced workload. They are also demanding that shifts not exceed beyond 12 hours at a time. In June, the government reduced the workload of medical professionals between 55 and 59 years of age with 20 years' seniority. As a result, younger specialists and health workers who mostly work in public health were excluded from these provisions. The union argues that $30 million are needed to ensure equal pay. However, the national budget does not include this allocation. Striking doctors held a demonstration outside the Ministry of Health on September 28. Meanwhile, around 12 teachers and education workers' unions are set to observe a one-day strike on October 1. The protest action has been organized by the UNE-SIN Union. Teachers are demanding a 16% wage increase for the implementation of a minimum basic salary. They argue that the increase was stipulated under law years ago. However, the government has refused to comply and has stated that the increase will be limited to 6%. In our next story, we go to the United States where nurses in the state of Massachusetts have been on strike for over 200 days. Around 700 workers at the St. Vincent Medical Hospital walked out citing unsafe staffing levels. They are being represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association. The strike nearly ended in August after a tentative agreement was reached with parent company Tenet Healthcare. The deal reportedly included increases to staffing and resource nurses. It also included a wage increase from 8% to 35% by end of contract in 2024. It also offered a 3% lump sum bonus on hours worked in 2021. However, the agreement fell through after Tenet imposed a retaliatory back-to-work provision. The company has hired over 150 permanent nurses to replace the striking nurses. In the contract, it said that some of the nurses would not go back to their previous positions. The unemployment benefits given to the striking workers have also been cut. The striking nurses have filed an unfair labour practices lawsuit against Tenet. They have cited unlawful threats, retaliation and discrimination. Tenet has reportedly also awarded non-striking nurses with preferred assignments. That's all in today's episode. Stay tuned and subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Thank you.


In this presentation, we will discuss the various Level 1 DHIS-2 academies that are available as part of our revised curriculum. For the DHIS-2 Academy, we have separated this into Level 1 and Level 2 trainings. The Online Fundamentals Academy serves as the precursor to all of these other academies that are available. You can have a look about the Academy structure by viewing the DHIS-2.org website. We have provided a link within this presentation. The new Level 1 trainings are separated into three areas. This includes Customization, Information Use, and Tracker. We have described various aspects of these within this Fundamentals Level course. Each of these academies goes into much more detail looking at different types of use cases and principles associated with these concepts. Let's have a look at the Customization Academy to start. This focuses on more detailed aggregate DHIS-2 customization processes. When we went over our various sessions in the Customization module, we skipped different types of fields and concepts. Some of those will be discussed in much more detail during the Customization Academy. This includes advanced discussions on data elements, organization units, datasets, indicators, and creation of different reporting outputs. The Customization Academy also includes the configuration of data quality tools, data approval, user access, and compartmentalizing DHIS-2. We went over a brief demonstration of this in our sharing session. In practice, there may be several other issues that are discussed when this is implemented. Those principles will be discussed in more detail during the Customization Academy. The Customization Academy will also discuss in a bit more detail how we actually set up the format of importing data. It will also show more advanced use cases than have been demonstrated in this Fundamentals Level course. Next, let's have a look at the Information Use Academy. In the Fundamentals Level Academy, we looked at the various mechanics of using our various analysis tools. But we did not discuss in any detail how we can interpret that data and use it to inform decisions within our health system. The Information Use Academy promotes the use of information systems as a tool for decentralized program management. It provides participants with a more thorough understanding of data use mechanisms within DHIS-2. Within this Academy, you will also discuss data use best practices and be provided with real experiences using data to make decisions. This Academy also will provide participants with a more thorough understanding of data quality monitoring tools and mechanisms. The Information Use Academy also looks at defining core system structures that need to be in place for any information system. The last Level 1 Academy is the Tracker Academy. This looks more specifically at the management and use of Event and Tracker programs. It discusses the Event and Tracker program data model in much more detail than was discussed during the Fundamentals Level course. It also looks at the Event and Tracker web and mobile applications in more detail than was described during the Fundamentals Level Academy. In the Fundamentals Level Academy, we did not discuss any concepts related to creating Event and Tracker programs. However, in the Tracker Academy, we discussed this in quite a bit of detail. Also, the creation and implementation of program rules, program indicators, and program reminders is discussed within this Academy. If you are interested in any of these additional academies, please have a look online on the website. Also, let us know if you have any questions about further mechanisms to learn more about how to use DHIs to suit your needs.


Good morning, John. It's Thursday. So as I mentioned very briefly in my last video, I finished a draft of my book. What does that mean? It means that there's 140 something thousand words in a document and there's a beginning and a middle and an end. Are they the words that are gonna be in the final book? Some of them? Almost definitely. I went to see Tommy Orange, who wrote There, There last night. He gave like a Q&A at the University of Montana. And at one point in the talk, he referred to himself as a kind of duality.  And that's a completely different job. But one last thing that he said that really resonated with me about writing. And I can't remember exactly how he said it, but basically you have to be a reader of your own work and you have to experience it that way. You have to just like with music or with any other art, you have to try and experience the thing you made. And in that process, enjoy your own work. And I have started revising and I really enjoy this story. It's a mess, but I think it's gonna be good. I'm gonna answer some questions about writing and about the book specifically that I got on Twitter. Any question other than when is it out is irrelevant? I don't know. It's much sooner now that I finished a draft though. Lots of things still need to get done. I have a lot of people read my work before I publish it. So I don't know. What I do know is that it's happening, at least. Brittany wants to know, am I going to cry? Well, I cried in the Chipotle as I was finishing writing the book. What is the title of your new book? Are you allowed to say yet? No, I'm not. As soon as I know for sure, I'll tell you. Because what I don't want to do is be like, what about this?  I want to be like, this is it.  How many pages? The first book is 330 something pages long. This book will probably be over 400. I hope it's okay. It's a more involved story. A lot more happens. You get a lot more points of view if you know what I mean. Jennifer wants to know if it's going to be a trilogy. It's not. This is it. LifeGeek wants to know when is your deadline? My deadline was October 2nd and I missed it. And then I imposed on myself an artificial deadline of Pizzamas because... Pizzamas. Matt asks, are there any McElroy references in the book? I mean, probably. But maybe I'll go back and add one just for you. I will see there's a lot of Keanu references. Is Despacito in this book? See, now this is the problem. Now I want to add Despacito into the book. Kate asks, have any current events or development in the social media internet discourse world change the structure or focus of the sequel or given you a different perspective compared to an absolutely remarkable thing? Great question. Yeah, totally. The first book was very much about what the internet is like right now or was like a couple years ago. And this book is attempting to think about what the social internet might be like pretty far in the future. The book doesn't take place far in the future, but the world is much more different in this book than it is from our world in the first book. If that makes any sense at all, hopefully it will make sense when you read the book. What color will the cover be? I think it's going to be orange? Any new characters joining the main gang? Yes. Yes. What's been the hardest thing with this book? As I have alluded to, the book is written from multiple perspectives. So like a bunch of the previous characters are now point of view characters. They are writing the book themselves. This, it turns out, is hard. Voice is difficult and to have like to store like four or five different people's voices in my head. I have had to learn a lot, which is great. I mean, that's part of why I like making any art. It's thinking really hard about it, learning how it works, watching other people do it really well, knowing you're never going to do it that well, but then trying anyway. And MAMFMonster asks, how do you feel? And I feel really good. Like there were times that I didn't. It was stressful a lot. It was a lot of nights put in, but I feel like I got better at stuff while I worked on it. And so far I'm enjoying reading it as a revisionist. And I hope that it will hit your bookshelves sometime within the next 12 months. We'll just say that. John, I'll see you on Friday.