We're going to be able to get everybody tested, found audio video, all that good stuff or did we get, was Planner Shekali still having an issue. It looks like Planner Shekali is still having an issue, so we are messaging with her to try to remedy that. Okay, so I was, yeah, we're just getting about to be 430, so I was thinking maybe we'll just hang on it so we can get her here and see you now. Well, with that, then, I guess we'll start. So let's have everybody turn on their cameras there. That'd be great. And we'll get rockin' and rollin' here. Oh, but you can't hear still, Monet? Monet, are you still having a technical issue? Well, we can work that on the background, I think, so she can start hearing everybody, but we'll get her here. Everybody? Okay. So welcome to, I can't remember what day it is, August 4th, regularly scheduled meeting of the Design Review Board of City Santa Rosa. They'll pursuant to Government Code Section 54953e and the recommendation of the Health Officer County of Sonoma. Design Review Board members will be available virtually by navigating to www.zoom.us slash join or by calling toll-free<PHONE_NUMBER>7 and for both of those you can use the meeting ID 816-1176-1047. Public access to the meeting is through the Zoom platform and you can provide comments during the very specified public comment as well. The meeting is available at the City's website at srcity.org slash Design Review Board. The meeting is live-streamed on the City's website at santa-rosa.legistar.com slash calendar. You click on the in-progress link to view the meeting. The meeting is also available on Comcast Channel 28 and you can also tune in on the City of Santa Rosa's YouTube channel, youtube.com slash City of Santa Rosa. With that, I will turn it over to the recording secretary for a roll call. Thank you. Let the record reflect that all members are present. Were you able to hear my roll call? We were. Excellent. I was pulling something up on my little iPad here. I didn't have it up. With that, we will move on to the meeting minutes. I believe I understand this correctly. We have to have the majority of the people that were in attendance at the meeting to be able to approve the minutes. We have to do each of these individually because the two of them I wasn't present at. We can't do them as a chunk. With that, the January 6th meeting minutes, does anybody have a question? Everybody was at that meeting with the exception of our two recently retired BRB members, I guess. Everybody else was there. The four of us excluding Mark. I think we can move that into the record now, Michelle. And then March 17th was a meeting that I was not at. But John, Adam, Mark were there. And that's the majority of who is there. So do you guys have any issues with the meeting minutes from that meeting? No. So with Michael wasn't there. So with no changes from those guys, we will enter March 17th into the record. And then finally May 19th. I believe I was the only one absent. Everybody else was there. So did you four have an issue with the minutes from that study session before the meeting? No. So with that, we will enter May 19th into the record. So fantastic. So I know we've had that January 6th one. Kind of as an outlier because we haven't seen to have all of us here to approve that kind of funny. Okay. So now item three public comment. This is where we like to hear public comment on items not on the agenda. Thank you so much. And I'm not seeing any hands at this time. Okay. So with that, we will close item three public comment and move on to item four. We would like to address the board on permanent domain to our purview. Now would be the time so you can raise your hand in the zoom meeting and you'll be recognized by the recording secretary. So I will turn it over the recording secretary now to recognize public comment on items not on the agenda. So I'm going to move on to item four, which is board business. This is where we read the board's statement of purpose. Zoning code chapter 20. 52.030 F project review review authority shall consider location design site plan configuration and the overall effect of the proposed project upon surrounding properties and the city in general review shall be conducted by comparing applicable zoning code standards and requirements consistency of the project and the city's design guidelines, architectural criteria for special areas and other applicable city requirements, e.g. the city policy statements and development plans. So with that we'll go on to item 4.2 board member reports. Are there any board member reports this evening? And then item 4.3 other we recently had a board member leave us Sheila Wolski and so I just wanted to thank her for her service on the board. I believe Sheila had to leave due to a conflict of interest of serving on the board. So thank you very much Sheila for serving on the board. And then also I had kind of been holding off to mention anything about this and then then we haven't had a meeting unfortunately. We're going to do a little bit more later in the year once we can finalize the resolution I think is what it's called but Warren Hedgepeth sadly passed away a couple months ago and we just hadn't had a meeting to recognize him and we're still going to do that in a more formal way and a more with resolutions for other things and city staff still working on that and they've been working really hard on that. I think it's almost done but I did want to let everybody know that was in process. So with that that concludes board member reports and other so anything else you guys have any comments on those items? No? Okay. Alright so with that I will turn it over to our once again new staff liaison Amy Nicholson thank you chair waggle and members of the board good afternoon it is nice to see you all we've had a few months off of meetings so happy to be back and happy to be back as the staff is onto this board thank you chair for your comments about board member Hedgepeth and yes we look forward to coming out with the more formal recognition of his service I also kind of tagging on to your comments about board member Wolski we certainly appreciate her contribution to this board and the reason she's not on the board anymore is because she's one of the five new planners that have recently joined the city so it's very exciting we're very happy to have her so you'll be seeing her soon in a different capacity so we have a total of three new development review planners she was one and then we hired one new planner for our advanced planning team so we're very excited to be fully staffed once again and yeah they all look forward to coming before you and then your future and then finally on the staff note I just wanted to recognize that Michelle Montoya who was formerly the reporting secretary she is here tonight but Eileen Cleary will be the recording secretary from here going forward and Eileen is fantastic and we're in great hands with her we will definitely miss Michelle she's amazing and we'll probably still see her again helping to support as needed but I just wanted to thank Michelle for all of her wonderful work Eileen so that concludes my department report thank you thanks Amy yeah I figured I'd leave the announcement of Sheila's recent hire at the city to you and not spoil the surprise there a little bit alright so with that we'll go on to item six statements of abstention does anybody excuse me does anyone have any statements of abstention on the schedule item 8.1 tonight alright seeing none we will go to item 7 consent items there are none and so with that we will move on to item 8.1 which is the scheduled item for the evening that is a public hearing for 420 Mendocino ERUR previously certified by DC Design Review 420 Mendocino Avenue DR22-020 and so with that we will turn it over to Planner Sakali for a staff report okay thank you chair and good afternoon board members so let me share my power point I'm using the new computer so just be patient I will get there okay and here okay here so as you mentioned the project is located at 420 Mendocino Avenue and the proposed project would consist of demolition of an existing two commercial buildings and construction of an approximately 172,000 square foot 8 story building comprised of a grand floor commercial space and 161 unit multi-family housing project that would include studios one bedroom and two bedroom units and also a 100 space garage the grand floor would include commercial and amenities spaces and an outdoor courtyard and here is the project location along Mendocino Avenue Bridie Street and Fifth Street the site is located in downtown Santa Rosa and is surrounded by commercial and mix use buildings and here are some of the photos of the existing buildings on the site that are going to be demolished and the existing surface parking lot which is here and about the general plan and zone the zone is core mix use which is consistent with the general plan land use designation the zone has a maximum floor area ratio range from 3 to 8 and residential uses are permitted by right in the zone also two parcels that are along Mendocino Avenue and Fifth Street both are between downtown station area combined industry the intent of this zone is to create walkable environments by establishing development form and streetscape standards a brief history of the project so in 2018 the project was reviewed by the design review board as a concept and the same year the project was approved by the zoning administrator meeting at that time the project was approved for only two parcels the parcels on Mendocino and Riley Avenue so this year April of this year the applicant submitted a new project adding the third parcel at the corner of Riley and Fifth Street and making some exterior changes to the project the project site is located between downtown station area specific plan priority development area and as you may know those project that have residential they come to the design review board as a concept and then they go to the zoning administrator for review however to allow a more streamlined review of the previously approved project the planning director elected to elevate the review of this project to the design review instead of the zoning administrator so instead of having a one concept design review and then the zoning administrator went into the design review for a final decision and here is the site plan for the proposed project the two main residential entrances would be located one on Mendocino Avenue and the other one on Fifth Street which would be connected to a small private parcel that would also access a private courtyard the commercial space and the common space would be located on the same street frontages the parking garage entrance which mechanical room and bike room and trash room will be located along Riley Street there is no minimum parking spaces required for the project that are within a downtown station area specific plan however the applicant is providing 100 parking spaces within a proposed garage and here is one of the building sections that shows location of the staff parking, bike room the commercial space that can be used as a restaurant and the two parcel that have the downtown station area combined in this week also have the active grand floor overlay new developments the active grand floor overlay need to provide design features that would optimize the pedestrian experience the project includes features such as building overhang pieces of interior along the street ornamental planting boxes clear glazing window and commercial space also the parcel along fifth street has another overlay called downtown transitional standards overlay buildings in this zone shall step back a minimum of six feet above the fifth floor or as approved by the review authority as you can see here the proposed building is not stepping back above the fifth floor as a result the applicant is requesting the review authority to avoid the requirement of the fifth floor step back because they want to maintain the previously approved project to be consistent with what was approved in 2018 and this slide shows the grand floor plan which includes the private outdoor space with some landscape features the commercial space and the common space also two of the residential units would be located on the third floor and here is the north elevation and there would be another private terrace or balcony on the third floor here being showing the red square rectangular and this is the sap elevation there is also a roof they propose on the eighth floor along Vendocino avenue here is also showing the rectangular and this is the east elevation which is along the street the entrance to the garage will be placed along the street some units as you can see would include some private balconies would be minimum of 40 square feet and this is west elevation here is another private courtyard and again some of the units would include balconies facing the courtyard that again has prepared a presentation a thorough presentation and will discuss the proposed project in greater detail and the proposed building would incorporate various materials into the exterior designs such as textured concrete, hardy siding metal cladding glaze opening, open metal mesh screening, wood siding and metal balconies this slide shows materials and color details that will also be explained by the architect during the applicant's presentation and here is a 3D view of the building from endocino avenue and the project has been reviewed in compliance with the california environmental quality act and qualifies for 3 exemptions the project is consistent with the downtown station area specific plan and the general plan and also qualifies for an infill development public comment staff has received two emails one expressing this pleasure with the project due to the height and size of the building staff responded to the email and explained how the zone allows a story building and it meets the floor area requirement and the second email was in support of the project stating that the building of the size density right in the center of the downtown core will do wonders for the businesses in this area and appreciates how the project has expanded to include the frontage space along fifth street and with that the planning and economic development department recommends that the design review board by resolution for an a story building located at 420 Mendocino avenue this was my presentation I'm available to answer questions the applicant team has prepared also a presentation that I'm going to share it if boards have no questions from the staff today right now actually what we've done in the past money is just roll right into the applicant presentation and then have questions about staff in the applicant we found it seems to speed up things for us so if you could get the applicant set up and while we're doing that I'm just going to run through everybody on ex parte disclosure because this is a public hearing so does anybody have any ex parte disclosure regarding this project did any did the app can reach out at all okay so not seeing any ex parte disclosure we'll just move on to the applicants presentation and I don't have any ex parte disclosure either so sorry to jump in if the applicants could raise their hand for me please all good Michelle please keep me honest okay they should all have speaking permissions now hello can you hear me yes hi my name is Aaron Landrous I am the project architect for the project part of David Bigger architects I want to thank the designer view board those joining from the public we have spent a lot of time thinking about how this project could benefit the downtown area those who live there and those who would like to move there and we're excited to share some more details about it next slide so as my name mentioned this project has a history that has started in 2018 and this is a comparison of that project versus the proposed scheme by the numbers so we're maintaining the same height we've squeezed an additional level within that same building envelope to get some more units we're going from 128 to 161 units and we've also we're proposing increasing the parking yield to 100 spaces for the project next slide we're attaching some imagery here to that project history this is the 2018 proposal next slide so this was the original proposal occupying all three parcels that were currently proposing development for next slide we reduced the scale of the project to develop only two of those three parcels leaving the parcel on Mendocino and Riley undeveloped next slide so next slide so now we're back to where we started developing all three parcels and next slide and one more and so just here's a comparison of all three iterations of the project at a glance next slide you can see the aerial view here and we'll also kind of show some before and proposed imagery later on in the presentation next slide so here's some diagrams just explaining the design intent and some of the building features we're trying to enhance the corners of the projects with premium materials this is where we'd like to use a standing seam metal to help articulate these corners next slide we're also proposing as mentioned private balconies private rooftop garden and podium area we're in these spaces both looking to provide benefit to the building occupant interest to the facade and also to the streetscape below as pedestrians can pick up on the activity in some of these spaces next slide we are as Monet mentioned mindful of the goal of activating the street and the downtown area and so you can see highlighted red here how we're trying to maintain continuity in this commercial zone around the ground level that commercial space we're providing on exactly right there fifth and Riley and then our main residential lobby is going to be transparent we're going to have lots of planting we're really looking to enhance the pedestrian experience here at the ground floor next slide here's a snapshot of where the residential portions of the building will be eight stories which will be occupied by units with a handful of units there on level one and two next we're going to optimize the roof for solar next slide again to also enhance the performance of the building we're going to have sunshades articulating our openings this will also add depth and interest to the building facade next slide here's that ground floor plan again that Monet presented our main building entry lobby is off of Mendocino but again as Monet mentioned residents will also be able to enter off of fifth street in that private pedestrian passage next this is a level two plan some residential units here also some residential amenity spaces on the southern portion of the plan and that's our double height garage plan northwest next here's a typical residential floor next here are renderings so this is the view off of Mendocino you can see that double height glass we're also introducing an additional street tree along this facade to help maintain the cadence of planting on this street next slide here's a comparison of our previous project in 2018 which is what we're proposing now so you can see we're maintaining a lot of the same design cues with those vertical sunshades and premium materials at the corners next slide here's a close up of our proposed building entry off of Mendocino next slide yeah what we had previously was what we have now next slide here is that commercial space on fifth and Riley next slide here is that view in comparison to the previous proposal so as you can see we're trying to maintain some of the same design language with double height concrete walls sandwiching some transparent storefront and here's the view along Riley and as compared to the floor thank you thanks for your review and consideration of this project we appreciate that I just wanted to before we go into questions I wanted to just when we saw this project last was the chair I believe and there were a couple of comments made during that and I went back and I looked at the I don't think Adam you were on the board the very very first time I think maybe the second time but there were a couple comments and I just wanted to read them out real quick because I think they'd actually address them in the redesign which is kind of interesting just my thought study the number of elevators and stairs for public safety and ease of convenience study a possible increase of sidewalk width on Riley Street consider less textural concrete finishes the board form aspire to meet the outstanding material pallet presented at concept review and explore whether a secure entry or a vestibule for the bicycle area can be worked into the project plan maximize landscaping in public spaces so I just wanted to reiterate those were the original comments from the originally proposed project and this is now the historical context this is the third time we've seen this project because the first time was kind of the same size it is now at least from a footprint standpoint and then the second time I believe the applicant lost an option on one of the parcels so they have to scale the project back and that's where the reduced what kind of permitted and then it sounds like they've got the option back on the third parcel now and so they can increase the project size again so I thought that's really that's just what I remembered from the project being I think the longest ten-year member of the board right now and I just thought that would be helpful maybe to cue off some questions that you guys might have both of the applicant and or staff so we'll go to that we'll just go to questions and then we'll do public comment does sound good everybody or do you want to do public comment first it's up to you guys I like public comment first it allows us to really address some questions in that format it's probably a better approach and let's do that yeah let's do that then so if the three members of the applicant team could lower their hands that way we don't call on you guys for public comment so what we'll do right now is we'll ask we'll open up public comment John go ahead when you say open up public it is a public hearing so you can open up the public hearing right okay thank you I got to open up the public hearing yeah sorry thanks for the language so I'm going to open up the public hearing now Drew can you hear me yeah my sound I don't know if it was my zoom or whatever it cut out for the last part of the presentation and the first part of your comments afterwards I want to make sure never could hear me so things a little weird yeah we can we got to Adam okay great okay yeah so let's open up the public hearing and I'm going to turn it over to the recording secretary to manage the attendees so please raise your hand if you would like to make a comment on this project and so I will turn it over to the recording secretary thank you so much Kajmer to you if you could please start by stating your name for the record my name is Jackie can you hear me hello hey Jackie one second it looks like we lost our timers so let's let staff get that worked out and then we'll turn it back over to you thanks want to make sure you get your three minutes not a you know don't want to short change it at all so let's wait for city staff to get that three that timer back up for you give me just one moment my computer is not playing nicely we've got the timer Michelle and so whenever you're ready let's turn it over to the public commenter and please state your name and for the record and usually you know if you like you live nearby or something like that that's also very helpful so should I go hello let's wait for Michelle to I was just waiting for Michelle to get off here so when you start counting Jackie please proceed okay I actually live very close to this project at the corner of Humboldt and 7th Street and I'm concerned about the project on a number of levels the traffic impact that would happen on my street because I think they would come out of Rilinga right down 7th and the parking issue I'm a little bit worried that there's going to only be 100 parking spaces for 161 units my main concern is I'm not real happy with the design this doesn't look Mediterranean this doesn't look like some quaint building that people would come and marvel at at a you know in a white country town and it doesn't seem to fit it looks like brutalist architecture to me it's black it's steel it's unappealing on a number of levels everyone who's seen it the fly put the fly on next door everyone who's seen it thought it was not very nice looking but mostly I'm concerned because these are all going to be market unit apartments as far as I can tell nobody's told me different we have enough market unit apartments right now you have to be making over $75,000 a year to afford a $2,400 one bedroom apartment in this town and many of them are going bacon right now and what we need is apartments for the working poor and people who are making minimum wage so maybe if they were willing to turn over 50 of these units for the working poor and a few of them are just on their salary or their yearly income I could possibly get behind this project but like I said I'm still concerned about the architecture the aesthetics and the fact it's going to have a profound impact on the Cherry Street Historical District which is where I live and we're a you know a collection of historic homes Victorian homes and this completely conflicts with the neighborhood it conflicts with what's going on in railroad square with what's going on on 4th Street as well. We already have a huge apartment being built over here on 4th Street over by Cancer Park and it's, I think, 100 odd units. It's all market rate apartments. So I question the need for another massive eight-story market rate apartment building in this town right now when housing is so dire for so many people. And so anyway, that's my comment and I just want to give my two cents. So thank you. Thank you for your comments. We appreciate it. Looks like there's maybe one more, Michelle. Mark, you've been given permission to speak. If you'd like to proceed. Yeah, thanks. Can you hear me okay? Yes. Okay, my name is Mark Franzer. I live on the edge of downtown and I want to say this project actually looks great. I think it's exactly the type of development we need right now. I mean, if we're serious at all about addressing the climate change crisis, we're going to have to start allowing dense and filled development. And this is it in spades. And the other good thing I like about it is you don't really need a car in order to live there.  You're by the transit mall. And it's generally pretty walkable neighborhood down there. I mean, downtown's probably the most walkable area in Santa Rosa. So if you're going to build housing, this is the place to do it. So I think this is a perfect fit. And finally, I just want to address the other big crisis that's going on in California and actually the nation, which is the housing crisis. And I think this does something about that, too, because the loss of supply and demand still exists. You increase the supply of housing, the price goes down. This is going to increase the supply of housing. I can't see it. Not having some positive effect on bringing down rents and bringing down the cost. So that's about it. It's a great fit for Santa Rosa and a great fit for downtown. And as someone lives on the edge of downtown, I'd be delighted to see this thing get built. And that's my whole comic, sorry. I don't have anything else to say. Thanks, Mark. We appreciate you. I'm not seeing any of the raised hands, Michelle. So I guess did we receive any other late correspondence that wasn't in the agenda packet today? We did not. Okay. Any voicemails at the city's various phone lines? No. Okay. Awesome. So with that, it sounds like it's time to close the public hearing. So I will close the public hearing now. And then we'll turn it back over to the board and we'll go around the horn here for let's do questions of staff on the applicant and then we'll go to comments because I think because we need to do a we need to do a motion and all that good stuff. So let's go to questions and I'm going to put Board Member McHugh in the hot seat today. John, you're up. Well, thank you. Thank you, Drew. I do not have any questions. So thank you very much. How did I know? How did you know? All right. How did I know you wouldn't have any questions? I don't know. Okay, great. So let's go to Board Member Staff for questions of this of staff and the applicant. Well, I'm going to throw out a question that is to the staff and applicants and anyone else with some architecture shops. I'm looking at the lot. First of all, this is an attractive well designed building. And I love the structure like this going up. I'm looking at the part of that of that block that is not part of this project. There are those two-story buildings right along Mendocino that are still there. I'm guessing that at some point, I mean, our assumption has to be that at some point in the future those are going to rise in height as well. And does that create any kind of design considerations for the pedestrian walkway and for those parts of the facade on this structure or consideration? So a broad question if anyone has any thoughts. I feel like that's a question to the architect, the architect team. And it looks like we have one of the architects raising his hand. So both of the architects. Yeah, hi. I'm Daniel Simons, Principal of David Bake Architects. And yeah, so that's actually historic building the one, the two-story one. So it won't be developed. So I think that the nature of that courtyard is going to stay pretty intact in the future. It would be much harder. Thank you. That's good information. Yeah. I think somebody just redeveloped the historic building. Well, not redeveloped, like they repaired it and painted it. I worked downtown not far from here. So I feel like that building just got redone a little bit either by Kogler, Banker, Compass or something who was in there. So I remember that was a question with one of the original presentations as well. And that was deemed to be off limits there. Yeah. I think the to your question, Mark, the possibility of redevelopment perhaps exists in the building that's on the corner of Fifth and Mendocino. That could eventually get redeveloped, torn down, changed or otherwise altered because they don't believe it has any specific ties to a historic property. So that one would is potentially up for grabs in the future. But I think maybe the design team has some other thoughts on this. You can really only design within the confines of the parcels that you're given by your client. So you've got to do the best with what you've got in order to kind of achieve the client's goals and also perhaps your own goals in terms of design and also site access and things like that in terms of and then also whatever is required for code in terms of fire access or those types of things. Maybe they can that might help too if they can maybe speak to your question there maybe with those parameters. Yeah, I think that the other thing that we found is that when you build something like this interblock passage that we've created then it becomes part of the context for the next building. So it's kind of incumbent on the the new development to respond to that and actually sometimes it inspires them to either reinforce that or you know and so I mean that's how that's how cities are built they accrete kind of over time incrementally so and like I said the historic building really does even with that corner lapping an opportunity for redevelopment I think a lot of that mid-block space that we're talking about is going to remain the character that we're designing into it is going to be there. That's very helpful. Thank you for that Daniel Any other questions Mark? No Okay Board Member Sharon Any questions of applicant or staff? Just one about the pedestrian pass-through and just wanted to confirm a report but that's that will be there are locked gates that will be locked it's not going to be open to public during at least daytime hours. Correct Okay Thank you that's all for me Thanks Adam and then Vice Chair Birch questions of the staff and yeah the only the only thing I thought the question that I have is maybe and I don't want to put staff on the spot but in order to maybe speak to the speaker in the public hearing I know we've got some pretty defined objectives for the number of units that we would like to build over a period of time be they market rate or affordable I didn't know if there was any comment on affordable versus market rate or how this project was being handled and secondly I didn't know if staff would want to indicate sort of if I'm not mistaken we're not meeting state goals for production of residential units were behind so I don't think that there's any necessarily good time to put on the brakes but maybe staff can speak to that and even throw some numbers out yeah well maybe while staff looking at Michael the thing that you're mentioning is really important so if members of the public are not familiar with this it's called Rena the Rena numbers right and so each municipality kind of has a number of units that they're supposed to hit and it's potentially tied to is you can maybe not get funding and so hitting the numbers are very important Rena is regional housing needs assessment I think or HNA I think yes any other comments on that sure yes so Rena can be regional housing needs allocation or assessment I've heard both be used but it is a requirement from the state and then that's passed through the regional government the city plan for a certain number of residential units over a period of time and believe it's I'm not remembering if it's seven or eight years and then those units are broken down into household income levels so typically half of the units would be for above moderate households or market rate and then the other half would be for lower income households we are actually moving to the housing element right now and so we're about to start a new Rena cycle and so what I can tell you is the city currently has not built all the units that it has planned for for our last Rena cycle we have done better in our market rate category but certainly adopted the downtown specific plan almost two years ago which envisioned quite a few of the city's housing units being located within this area that has close or access to many services and transit as well so and then just to add on to the affordable housing comment this project will be required to contribute to the production of affordable housing through payment of housing impact fee or in Luffy which is paid at the time of building permit issuance and then that money is distributed through the city's housing authority and it's given to affordable housing project so while this particular project might not include affordable housing units they will pay fees which will be used for affordable housing so we will see affordable housing in affordable housing elsewhere does that answer the question yeah thank you I just think refreshing the board and the public on the context of the entire situation housing. So I think it's fair to answer the public for questions they ask or concerns that they have and so I appreciate taking the time to do it. As far as the project itself goes, the architecture, the building, I do not have any questions at this time. Thanks Michael. I guess that the question I had was probably for the applicant. I think it's in the design narrative and there's like micro studios, studios, and then can you guys, I know the work that DBA has done in San Francisco is fairly pioneering in terms of kind of unit size and kind of amenities and units. Can you can you guys speak a little bit to the importance of kind of those different types of you know unit dimensions and and and why having that I guess you know mix of unit types is critical and kind of a development like this. Yeah I can speak to that. So related to the issue of affordability, we think that it's important provide a diverse array of unit types and sizes and so you know studio versus a micro studio, a micro studio will be a studio with a smaller footprint same with you know a junior one bedroom as compared to a one bedroom. So we with this building we kind of want to open up units at a variety of price points for people who are wanting to live in a variety of living situations. So I don't know if that addresses your question but that's what we're doing here with our our different unit types. I mean I think it does right. I mean you know market rate housing is defined by the footprint of the unit right. And so if a unit is smaller then obviously it's kind of cost-wise hopefully one would think right. And so providing you know a diversity of unit typologies and sizes you know provides the opportunity for various types of inhabitants right. So you may have a single person run out of a micro studio and they work down the street so they don't have a car right. And so they they just you know ride the elevator down walk downstairs walk to the office whatever right.  And so I think that's you know just some examples of where different you know square footages are important because they provide flexibility in the type of occupants and renters that would be in this housing development. So I was asking the question to try to help me also answer what Vice Chair Verst asked about kind of market rate versus affordable versus diversity of you know unit typology which also then lends itself to connectivity to other things right within you know the infrastructure and fabric of a city. So anyway so I think that's it for questions. Amy can you help me here. So this is because this is a previously approved project we still is this a modification to design review is this brand spanking new. I just can't I think it's a month I want to make sure we get it right. I believe and Ms. Shekali can correct me if I'm wrong that we are looking at this. I mean we recognize this was previously reviewed by the board and a different version was approved by the zoning administrator but this was filed as a new application and I think the resolution just reads as it's a new design review project. Yeah that's true. Yeah I was having trouble. I can't open up the resolution for whatever reason on my iPad. So I was that's part of why I was asking. I just wanted to help the board you know as they move forward to try to you know make a resume. But anyway Monet I interrupted sorry. But Corey because at the time it was approved was under different zoning code. It was CD downtime commercial and now we have a different zone and also they have made changes to the facade and added new like a unit. It was 120 something and now 161. So we are treating it as a total new project. Okay so seeing does anybody have any additional questions for staff or the applicant? Okay so I'd be looking so now I'm looking to the board to do a motion on this project. Remember we've got three options a motion to approve a motion to deny and a motion to continue. I'll venture a motion to approve the resolution of the design review board the city of Santa Rosa granting design review approval for a 172 644 square foot 161 unit multifamily housing project with ground floor commercial and amenities spaces and 100 space garage located at 420 Mendocino Avenue and zero Riley Street and 611 Fifth Street AP numbers 009-026-009 009-026-014 and 009-026-006 file number dr-22-020 and wave the reading of the text. Thank you Vice Chair Birch. I'm looking for a second. We looks like we got two seconds there one from John and one from Mark so who wants it? Two. All right we'll put Mark down in a second. I think I heard him first. All right so there is now a motion on the table so we'll go around and we'll get some comments and I'll write some notes and see if we've got some conditions to add to the project so with that I will go to board member Sharon for his comments. Okay all right thank you Drew and thank you Mone for bringing this to us and for a wonderful presentation as usual. Thank you to Project Team for bringing this back to us. I was excited to see this come back I did get to see it before and I'm excited to see it again and thank you for the rejiggering the design and adding to it and enhancing it. I think you did a wonderful job. You're cutting out pretty good. Yeah it's Zoom's been I decided to go on an upgrade Odyssey right before I logged in maybe it come back to me I don't know. Yeah let me so just so you know what I did is I dialed in with my phone so you like disconnect your headphones and you can say there's an option you know use phone to dial in and it gives you like a little participant ID that may work for you it works for me I use it a lot for work and stuff because Zoom just and teams seem to act up so we'll come back to you while maybe you figure that out. So let's go to board members that for comment. I'll just reiterate what I mentioned before that this seems like an attract or it is an attractive well-designed project I like seeing the different iterations I'm glad that we have more units and then we're taking advantage of all three of those lots and beyond that I don't have any comments I'm looking forward to seeing this could build. Thanks Mark. Board member McHugh do you have any comments? I do I very much like the project and I like the design and I like the idea that we're building it downtown because I think we need residential development downtown and so I'm excited about that and I certainly like the changes that the applicant has made from the original proposal I think it makes it a much more attractive building. I also want to speak to the comments regarding the size of the building and the eight stories and near of historical districts and that sort of thing in the sense that you know the city is in a transition period from the town it used to be becoming the city it's about to become and I think that there's that conflict that we have but at the same time I really do believe that we do need a viable downtown and we need people living down there and so what I'm suggesting is is that this is the type of project that will attract people to downtown and be a boon for the businesses that are there so those are my comments. Thanks John appreciate you Adam did we get your sound worked out you think? We'll find out. I can hear you so let's do it. Is it cutting out at all? No it's good. Okay so I guess it was the maybe the earbuds or something or maybe it's zoom have a talking to this computer after this. Okay well I don't know if you could hear anything that I said before but just wanted to thank once again thank you for a wonderful presentation as usual and for the applicants bringing a very solid project and a really good update to what we saw before I remember the presentation the proposal before and this is a really great iteration and adds a lot to what you already had is a great project and it also continues the great work that the big architects already do all over the Bay Area and the country so thank you for doing this here and yes it's I'll echo my fellow board members comments that this is a great project I don't have too much feedback really I think that the design is an innovative one in how it is fitting into the site and wraps around on that corner I really appreciate the infill aspect of it I do appreciate the courtyard that you're providing there wrapping around the historic buildings in that corner it's really you know you have an enforced setback really designed setback with that courtyard there and so you have this large massive building but it's not going to be imposing over the the that corner it's actually stepped back and so it's a great opportunity and I think that you've maximized your the potential for the design of that area and so really well done there I do think that um yeah your your um the architects point about this is how buildings are very cities are made um is that um typologies come through and are innovated and it respond to each other um and this is responding to some of the new typologies that are happening um now um right around the corner there are new buildings that have gone up and are going up and will go up and this is going to fit right in um and um I also think that it you know it does not just mirror anything that's that's either there or is proposed and is providing um some new visual interest and um a new um massing for for that area and is going to be a real great asset for that corridor the Mendocino corridor particular and for um for the courthouse square in downtown area um also uh one of the public comments was mentioning um how this is going to be um you know there's the new theater that's going in um right around the corner from this and this is um yeah you know we're having a confluence of amenities and housing um and services ideally and that is how cities are made and that's how people come and that's how people are attracted and this is going to bring um a lot of people um and is you know there's there's um parking involved but there's also um plenty of of amenities um for um non-car centric um living as well and so um I think that the design is wonderful um and your um site planning is is is really great and uh thanks for bringing it and um I really look forward to seeing this um becoming part of the city so thanks very much thanks adam and uh we'll go to vice chair birch for his color great thank you yeah I was uh on the board when we approved the project in 2018 I took a hiatus and um wondered even as recently as a as a couple of months ago about where this project went and I kept telling people there was this fantastic project on mendicino and it was really great to see it really show up here uh alive and back at its original size I love the connection between the two streets and the opportunity that that passageway provides residents to have a couple of ways in and out of the building onto a quieter street out on the mendicino um I really like the uh updates to the facade I think that um the massing was always great I think some of the materials we looked at in 2018 were a bit fussier this is cleaner this is this just has a stronger character I think um it's not trying to hide behind anything too soft and it's just going to be a great addition to downtown I think that it's really important to build um build buildings and build cities in an honest way in the time that you are building and developing those cities and I think that John your point about the transition from a town to a city being a bit painful but it is happening and uh we don't want uh we you know we don't need a we don't need a fake stone plan on the bottom of of a eight-story residential building we need this really wonderful innovative inset overhang porch that creates some room around the base I appreciate it it appears as though that's gotten a bit deeper since the 2018 um version if I'm not mistaken there was a little bit there is more sidewalk there uh and more room so I think it's a great project I you know we've covered all the reasons that we need these projects downtown and um this is uh you know eight stories it is is tall building for Santa Rosa eight stories designed to this level which is a couple gears uh which is a couple gears above and beyond what a lot of other projects that we're seeing at three and four stories this building has taken its responsibility this design has taken its responsibility at going up to eight stories and being downtown and said we're going to we're going to make this something to look at at that scale and I think people are going to be really impressed if this project is uh executed at as designed here we're going to be really it's going to be an impressive building to see downtown so nothing but positive things to say appreciate the the design team and the developer uh staying at this and we can't wait to see it get built so thanks Michael um so actually I I had one question about an architectural thing and I I got lost in what I was uh in my questions earlier so the hardy siding that's indicated on your sheet A11 um the the photo shows uh hardy siding that's got kind of multiple layers of thicknesses to it um but then the you know obviously the elevation is relatively flat and it's probably a product of whether there are CAD or whatever you guys are using um is the intention to have uh that kind of multi-dimensional textural hardy siding it's got very depth to it and Michelle the architects raised his hand you could help me there hello can you hear me yes I can yeah so um you're addressing what's called out as material E in this elevation here uh the siding on the on the intermediate on the intermediate facades between the corner volumes yeah so the um the proposal is to is to clad those areas either yeah with with that we call it random batten siding um uh or with a um a vertical hardy board so we want to we want to maintain some verticality we want to create as much depth and shadows we can and so we're kind of exploring um what the best option would be between those those two applications of hardy yeah the reason I'm asking is because you know when we condition a project right and you know what you have presented in here we say yes that's good and then you submit something to for permits for instance and say there's a differentiation and like let's say I don't know you guys are like you know what the cost of random random depth batten or whatever ends up being you know too high or whatever you and you're like yep you know we're just going to go with the uh hardy reveal system and be done with it right that uh that then becomes an uh a potential issue for the for city staff because then they have to review it uh for substantial conformance with the documents that were submitted and so that's that's why I just wanted some I think some clarity on what was being presented because I think what you're proposing is really unique and interesting right because it creates depth and shadow lines and things in a relatively simple material um and you're not doing any you know you're not buying a fancy product to do it you're you're just you know utilizing essentially board and batten in a in a more creative way and so um but that's why I bring it up if that makes sense yeah yeah absolutely um okay cool so yeah I mean I like what you've proposed and so when we you know obviously vote on this that'll be what you're held to install um obviously if there's a change you know that would be up to city staff to determine if it potentially needs to come back to drb for approval or whatever or if it's just something they can do at the director level um but just be aware of that I guess is what I was saying so thanks for responding I appreciate that um so yeah I'm I'm gonna agree with everybody else I you know we we really like this project uh four four years ago when we saw it um and I think we were all disappointed when it got smaller in scale and so it's actually really nice to see it back and it's uh original kind of post footprint and then also you guys got creative in terms of utilizing a different structural system I think which gave you the eighth floor uh which is nice um so you're you're getting more density more units in the same square footage and so you're achieving that far uh in a in a in a more substantial way which is fantastic um um I you know I mentioned all the comments we had four years ago and and the reason I say that is I think that that the overall design has improved in those areas I think the pedestrian walkway along the buildings has um it's it's it's got a little bit more room to it it was a little bit tighter I think before memory serve um and I know I remember I think it was Henry Wicks who had a he had a concern about kind of the width of it from a security standpoint so it's really nice to see that it's kind of enlarged a little bit um you know I the there were fins along Riley Street concrete fins I think in kind of a rhythm that I kind of appreciated before but um so what Michael was saying I think what you've done by removing that and kind of pulling back the Mendocino uh facade as well and providing just a little bit more pedestrian space I think it's it's happening on all four side or three sides four whatever everything except the north side you're managing create a more friendly pedestrian environment and so while I like the fins I think the solution now is a more pedestrian friendly uh scenario uh particularly because Riley Street is is one way and it's kind of sometimes a little gested with cars parked on one side and so I think giving a little bit more room to the pedestrian along there is is going to be really nice um so beyond the the finished comments about you know that being obviously uh contained within the project if it move if it changes um but that would be a condition I didn't hear any conditions from anybody else um so with that I think we'll go to a roll call vote is that cool with everybody all right so I'll turn it over to the recording secretary and Michelle I'd like to have a roll call vote on the motion absolutely board member McHugh hi board member Sharon hi board member step hi vice chair birch hi and chair weigel I and that passes with five eyes no abstentions or absences just uh just so I bring out we only have five board members at the current moment but with that um thank you applicant team your project is now passed unanimously from the d r d rb we appreciate your application and your presence here tonight and we I think I can speak for everybody I look forward to seeing this project getting built um yes I know we've yeah we've got a lot of a lot of other crazy housing development going on right now and this would really add to the add to it which would be fantastic so thank you um so with that I think we'll go to item nine which is adjournment unless we have anything else Amy no nothing else thank you all very much all right with that we are adjourned at five forty one have a good one


My name is Habiba Kora, I work at Hakkina Sharia Initiative. I'm a training CBA for change because I work with community members who have experienced direct impacts of climate change and I'm looking forward to building my capacity and skills and learning what tools and approaches others have used so that I can come back and work with my communities to improve their resilience to climate change.


He cut, he cut it Oh, Gyoru shiru, good bye, good bye, bye, bye The last time when I worked in a toast restaurant The hamam owner invited us to come to the hamam The tour is the best So we're going right now And I think maybe it's good timing to go there Because it's usually raining So I thought I'd know how to take a bath So I did I think this is a very rich neighborhood Hotel Mellas, Istanbul Looks really nice Let's go inside We're entering Wow Oh, looks very nice We can wait here? It's a very luxurious hotel So I'll be waiting Oh, Merhaba This is our host Very luxury Yeah, this place is named like just freshly opened I will show you around everything inside How do you feel today? Dirty and filthy? Yeah, a little bit lazy That's the place to be right now For relaxing For relaxing, for cleaning, for everything Oh, what would you like? Coffee tea? Do you like Turkish coffee, Brian? Yes, tabin Tabin Turkish coffee Do you have to go downstairs? Big place actually, it's more than 1000 square meters Oh, let's go How did you tell him? How did you tell him?  But usually it's like this It's a bit mild This is a bit strong The temperature is 70 degrees Wow, it's hot This is steam room, okay? It's about 50 degrees So, this is hamam?  It's present Oh, thank you, thank you That's a gift Yeah, shaving? Shaving? Oh, I want to try Oh, this place I want to try Okay, so what are we going to use? We're going to use this to make a bubble Then, you ready for the knife?  Yes I bet, I bet, I bet Sorunday, what's yours? Sorunday, sorunday You want the right one or the left one? Which one do you give up? This? Yeah, sure I think right one, right one Okay Please We have message if you want to pray 2 times 2 times We have message If you don't do it after it's in your shape, he will do it for you Thank you Oh my God Oh, thank you Thank you Thank you How do you feel?   I feel like I'm a baby You know, this is just the beginning Oh, really? Oh, I feel like I'm a baby And the cream Massage Oh, my head So slippery Really, really Oh, my skin got better I think it's a little thin It's soft Smooth, smooth Slippery Very soft Chocky dance It's not good Let's go, let's go Let's take a photo Let's take a photo Let's take a photo Let's take a photo together Yes, together Wow, this is sauna table H-T-M-R H-T-M-R All right, you get ready I'll meet you outside Let's take a photo Take your clothes off Who's getting it? Hello, guys What's up, guys? We will go sauna For the first time ever Yeah, for the first time ever Let's go Let's go, brother Let's go Let's go in I can't see the front I can't see the front Love shot, wow This is heaven Chocky dance, Chocky dance Wow, very nice, very nice So what are we gonna do?  You lie down Very nice Chocky dance Clean, fresh So, brother, how was today? It was as always 10 out of 10 They were so nice to us For no reason I think the traditional Hamam style Really nice Very interesting and very relaxing I mean, I need to thank the owner Thank you so much Relax Reborn clean Reborn clean I feel like I'm a baby Okay, so this is a... Melas Melas Melas We are in Melas Thanks for inviting me No problem So good, so good Chocky dance Chocky dance Chocky dance Chocky dance Chocky dance Gereus Gereus Gereus Gereus Gereus Thank you so much Thank you Wow, it was so much fun As expected of Turkey Turkey is the country of hospitality Agree? Agree Bye


Hey Gems, welcome back to my channel. So if you watched my previous video about my pregnancy update, then you are most likely expecting to see this video of me talking more about what I experienced or what I am experiencing with prenatal depression. I was supposed to film this video yesterday because I filmed like four different videos yesterday and you know I was just in the mood and my spirits was much higher than today but I still want to get this out. So as I mentioned in my previous video, I was diagnosed with prenatal depression. I didn't even know that existed, I didn't know it was a thing. The only reason I ended up doing some research to figure out what was going on with me is because I knew what I was feeling was different than what I felt during my first pregnancy. So even though when I was pregnant with my son, I was sick and you know still going to work and you know I had a lot going on. I didn't feel so low. I didn't have problems thinking positive. I not once rushed through my pregnancy saying things like I can't wait for this to be over or I can't wait to be finished being pregnant. Like I never rushed through my pregnancy. I always embraced every moment of it. However with this pregnancy in the beginning, it was really hard for me to do that and I couldn't pinpoint why and then with me feeling like that, I felt guilty, would just add it to it and this continued for a while and I kind of just kept signing it off as oh you're pregnant, it's just hormones, you're fine. But I just kept telling myself like but I didn't feel like this before like this is something isn't right like I shouldn't feel this down. I literally went through this in silence with myself like I didn't tell my fiancé, I didn't tell any family members, I didn't tell anybody exactly what I was feeling because I thought it would come off as me complaining and I was not trying to complain at all. However just deep down that intuition, that gut feeling, I just knew it wasn't normal like normal in terms of what I'm feeling isn't just the pregnancy hormonal symptoms. It's something deeper. So that's when I went and I did some research. I think I googled like is it possible to be depressed while pregnant. I googled something like that and then the term perinatal slash prenatal depression came up. Now I didn't know like something like that exists, I'm only aware of postpartum depression which actually happens after you have the baby. So I was kind of shocked yet relieved that this was a thing. I was relieved because at least now I knew what was going on and now I can implement things to feel better. Before I just felt like I was going crazy because I couldn't pinpoint what it was. I couldn't verbally explain to anybody what I was feeling and what I was going through. So I felt so alone, I felt so down. I was just literally at one of the lowest of lows in my life and I know that sounds bad. I know that sounds bad but like that's literally just how I felt at the time. Perinatal depression occurs during or after pregnancy. So that's the complete term perinatal depression that is broken up into while you're pregnant and then after you have the baby. So while you're pregnant it's called prenatal depression and then after you have the baby it's called postpartum depression. When I found this out I started doing more research. I went to YouTube looking up videos to see if anybody was sharing their story. I found a few videos, not much, but I found a handful of videos. I watched some of them and I was like okay this makes sense now. It was finally like making sense to me and I was able to just wrap my head around everything. So that helped a lot in itself just finding out what was really going on with myself. So perinatal depression is basically a mood disorder that can affect women during pregnancy or after childbirth. So for me it's during my pregnancy and there's not just one thing that triggers it. You can't just pinpoint the cause and just feel like voila it's fixed. It could be a combination of things that trigger your perinatal depression and every woman may experience different symptoms. Some of the symptoms that I was feeling was just feeling very, I remember feeling very guilty, very overwhelmed, tired and fatigued and I know tiredness and fatigue comes along with regular pregnancy but this was different. I couldn't sleep at night at all. For weeks I was not getting sleep. I literally would go to bed and I'm just laying there trying to go to sleep and I cannot sleep. I remember one night that I actually just never went to sleep. My eyes were open, I saw the sun come up, like I didn't get any sleep at all. I was having trouble concentrating and getting things done that I would normally do, whether it was making my products, even recording a video, doing yoga. Everything that I knew that I loved doing and would do on a daily basis, I was having a hard time bringing myself to do it and with that I felt like I wasn't getting anything accomplished within which then added to my me feeling down because I felt like I was just helpless, hopeless. It was just a lot of negative thoughts and energy and I hated it. I wish that it was as simple as me just flicking the switch and turning it off but no matter what I did it just would not go away. The feeling of just feeling so down and sad, it just didn't go away no matter what I did. I am trying to hold it together y'all. I also had trouble eating. I had no appetite after a while. When I first found out I was pregnant those first two weeks after, I was eating a lot but once this feeling kicked in, like I couldn't eat, I didn't have an appetite, I would literally try and force myself to eat just so that I know I'm providing my baby with nutrients because the thing is that while feeling like this and while going through this, I felt so guilty. I felt guilty because I had a Sunday I needed to take care of that needed my attention and I just didn't have the energy to do the things I would normally do so I just, I kind of just wanted to pass the time away. I would wake up in the morning just waiting for nighttime to come just so that the day would be over. And that's no way to live y'all like that is, that is depression. That is depression, okay? And I've never experienced that to that extent before, never in my life. So perinatal depression can be very mild or it could be very severe. I would not consider my case severe because I've never had thoughts of harming myself or my unborn baby. So I wouldn't say I had a severe case, but I do know that what I was feeling was not normal for just pregnancy. It was something deeper. I just want, I was just so concerned the whole time about my unborn child and my son. I just felt like with me feeling like that I'm passing a lot of negative energy to my baby. I felt like maybe I wasn't providing my baby with the nutrients it needed. Even though I was taking like my prenatal and all of drinking my teas and stuff, like being that I didn't have an appetite and all of that, like I just felt like I was doing my body and my baby of his service. And that added to the sadness that added to me feeling down. And then on the other hand, I'm already a mother, so I need to take care of my son. And I felt so overwhelmed during the day because there were days that I'm home alone with my son and I'm literally just crying all day. I'm literally just crying all day and I'm trying to keep him busy and keep him occupied so that he's not just watching me cry all day. And that was hard within itself because even though I didn't want to cry and I wanted to stop crying, it's like I just couldn't turn it off, it just kept coming. It came to the point where like I had to talk to my fiance and tell him like a few days out of the week you're going to have to just take him with you. That's what it came down to. So you know, eventually like I said when I figured out what was going on with me, we implemented certain things so that I can feel better.  I think it was like April 17th or something of just one of those days I was having. I don't think I recorded it with intentions of uploading it or doing anything, but I was literally scrolling through my phone yesterday and saw it and was like, I rewatched it and all of those thoughts and feelings came back and I was like, this would give it a better breakdown or better insight of what I was feeling in that moment. So I'm going to insert that video here. I'm really having a rough day. I think I literally spent my whole day crying so far. Don't mind how I look, but it's pregnancy. But it's being very, very funny. I'm finding it to be more challenging than my previous pregnancy with Josiah. I don't know, but I didn't come to this conclusion today, but when I did come to it, I was pregnant. Yeah, this pregnancy was a surprise and everything and I had no plans on being pregnant right now, but I pulled past the end of the day to be a baby as a lesson. It's not like I didn't want more children. So like I accepted it, but I am having a hard time on a daily basis with all these symptoms and it's driving me crazy. Like I literally some days feel like I'm just depressed and I can't do anything about it. And with that, I'm like constantly worried about the baby and you know, if he or she is getting everything it needs, I'm not doing anything to affect the growth and development. Because right now I struggle with appetite. I'm throwing up a lot. Sometimes I have to make myself throw up just to feel better. It's a lot. It's hard, especially days when, you know, it's just me and Josiah home, which is most of the time right now is really hard on me. And this morning I just I felt so overwhelmed, so emotional. So just defeated that I just couldn't help but to cry. And I cried and I cried.  I'm outside now feeling Josiah because he woke up from his nap. Even before that, like I was inside putting Josiah down for his nap. He would not go to sleep. No matter what I did, he would just cry. And he usually don't do that. Like he would go to sleep and he knows time for a nap. But today he just gave me a hard time and I just sat there and cried with him. I sat there and cried with him because I just I was so tired. It's just this pregnancy is just so different. I'm spitting again. I'm walking around with the most of my part is the slash mucus. That's like literally opposite. And yes, it is a pregnancy symptom. I even looked it up because I was like, how do I get rid of this? I'm like sick. I might do apricot. Just during pregnancy, your body produces more mucus. Mucus and that could that could end up in your throat as well. I was congested, literally always hocking up trying to get rid of the mucus. And it's like you walk and more calm. Like it's like a never ending cycle. The only time I and whenever I swallow is like a ball just in my throat. And that makes me gag, which then makes me vomit. I just sometimes feel defeated. And I'm not going to say every day is absolutely the worst. But this pregnancy as a whole so far is actually very difficult for me. I feel like it's harder than what to say because what to say. Even though I have a mucus in my throat, it wasn't this severe and it didn't last so long. I just decided to get some fresh air, try and clear my mind and be strong enough to take care of my child. Literally that's all my energy goes into right now is taking care of your child. I'm just going to end this video. Just wanted to vent a little bit. That's quite frankly like when I talk to people about what I'm feeling. Yeah, they're there to listen, but like nobody really understands what I'm feeling. Yeah, I have friends that have baby, but when I talk about my symptom, they're like that didn't happen to me. So I just feel like nobody really understands and it makes me feel alone in that sense. But it is what it is. The only thing that's really keeping me through this pregnancy is knowing the joy I'm going to feel. When I get to hold my baby for the first time, but everything else was just like I'm literally taking it one day at a time. And when I wake up, it's like I'm counting down the hours to like go to sleep again just to that time as fast as possible. It's not a good way to live and I'm just hoping that I'm not passing no negative energy to my baby, but it's really hard for me right now. Either shortly before or shortly after that video is when I knew I just needed more help. I even recorded that video. How I even found out that what I was going through was prenatal depression. Like I said, I went and Google something and it came up. So after that, I called my midwife and I explained to her how I was feeling and that, you know, this is different than my first pregnancy and I'm concerned or whatever. So she did an evaluation with me, asking me certain questions and giving me a scale to choose from. And at the end of it, she was like, well, you're definitely depressed. At that point, she gave me certain tips and tricks of things to implement on a daily basis to help me feel better. For one, going outside more, getting fresh air, getting more sunlight, exercising, what else? Making sure my vitamin D levels were up because before I found out I was pregnant, my vitamin D level was very low, which is not surprising because ever since I started working from home, I didn't really have a reason to go out. So that's just less sun I was getting. There would be days that I wouldn't even leave my house at all in terms of just walking outside. So my vitamin D levels were not where they should be at all.  What else? She said ask for help. Like don't be afraid to verbally ask for help. And that's one thing I wasn't doing. I wasn't expressing that, yo, I really need help right now. And I was just keeping everything in and I was making things worse. So after I spoke to my midwife, I of course spoke to my fiancee. I try and broke down to him what I was feeling, what I was going through. That's when we implemented certain things. I can taking my son with him a few days out of the week, me getting more fresh air and going outside more and trying to be active, even if it's just taking a walk around my community. So I started doing those things and within a couple of weeks, I started to have way more good days than bad days. However, I knew that's not all I needed. I knew I also needed just more help on a daily basis. So that is when I asked my mom, like, you think it would be possible for one of my sisters to come up. And although she wanted to send them, and mind you at this point, I didn't tell my mother what I was going through. I didn't tell anybody except for my fiancee yet that I was experiencing the prenatal depression. So I asked her without her even knowing why. And although she wanted to send them or they wanted to come, it just wasn't realistic or ideal for them to come. Because like I said, they all do work. And I wouldn't be able to pay them while they're up there. And if they're not working, they don't get paid and they have their own responsibilities. So my mother, she suggested that maybe we ask my fiancee's sister to come down, even though she's still in high school, you know, at that time school was, I think school was out because of the whole virus thing. And it's not like she like had a job or something. So she was like, maybe ask her instead, since, you know, she already lives in the States. And maybe that would be easier. So I told my fiance to call his mother and ask him. And I honestly don't know how that conversation went. But for whatever reason, she said that his sister couldn't come. And she actually suggested that I send my son to them. I just remember hearing him on the phone saying, I doubt it, but I'll ask her. I don't know the details of the conversation, but I remember hearing that part. So when he got off the phone, he asked me. And I immediately broke down. I broke down because I was already feeling how I was feeling. And it wasn't that I was trying to get rid of my son. Like he is what was keeping me going. He was what was getting me through the day. So for somebody to want to take that away from me, I felt like my world was just crumbling. And I was like, no, he can't go. No, he can't go. I didn't even say why. I just said, no, he can't go.  Like at least explain to me why. But at that point I was already in tears. I couldn't verbally explain myself. I was just crying and saying, no, he can't go. No, he can't go. After I calmed down, I was able to verbally explain to him like why I don't want him to go. And he was like, okay, I understand. But you need help. So what is the other solution? And I just remember crying and crying and like feeling so hopeless because yes, I need help, but I don't want to send him away. Like he's still young. And not only did I need him there with me because that boy, he is what was literally getting me through the day. He does certain things that just made me laugh randomly or put a smile on my face. Like there was no way I could send him away or there was no way that I could be away from him during this time, even though I was going through a hard time. So that was the day that I called my mother, crying, bawling my eyes out, begging, asking for someone to please come get me. Please come help me, whatever. And that's when my mother was like, okay, I'm going to come for you. I can't stay up there, but I'm going to come up and then travel back down with you so that you have help and don't have to travel by yourself. I was, I felt so defeated that even though I didn't want to have my son away from his father either, because him and his father is like this, I just, I felt so defeated that I said, okay, come for me, please. Okay. And two days, it took like two days and she brought her plane ticket. Couple of days after that, we both bought our plane ticket to fly back down to the Virgin Islands. During that span of time of waiting to leave Florida to come here, I just continued to try and have more good days than bad, which did actually happen. I still implemented the certain things like, you know, getting more fresh air, getting more sun, making sure I take, making sure I maintain my vitamin D levels and all of that. I continued doing those things and it did help, but ultimately I needed help with my son more and when my mom came up, it just, it was even a bigger relief off of me because, you know, she would take over, she would take over sometimes and just, you know, deal with him. He loves to read and he'll bring you one book and when you finish that one book, best believe he's bringing you seven more books on his show. So stuff like that. She would be the one reading book after book to him, kind of just keeping him busy because he's young. He was also doing this toddler regression thing where he was just so attached to me that he always wanted me to lift him up and comfort him and he would be cranky and whiny. And so just like how I was going to change this, he was as well because it's a new journey for all of us. He knew something was different with me. He knew something was going on with me and he didn't know how to handle it either. So I tried not to be too hard on him either. So it was just a lot of different components. I'm losing my sunlight. I need to hurry up. It was just a lot of different components. So it's kind of hard to just say one thing helped me. It was just a combination of things that helped me. And now being back home in the Virgin Islands has been even better because I'm getting way more sun. I'm outside so much more. I'm able to go to the beach, which is literally my happy place. And I just feel overall so much better. So, so, so much better. I've only had, I would say, three down days since I've been here. And I've been here going on a month so far. So that's just such a huge improvement in itself. Today my spirits wasn't as high as they were yesterday, but it's not to the point where I feel just overwhelmed and low and can't get anything done and crying and all of that. I'm not, I'm not at that today. But in total, I think I had like three days that I just, you know, would break down crying and I didn't know why exactly. And I would just go outside and sit in the sun and breathe and just kind of focus my, turn my attention inwards and just focus on me. And that helps. It really does. I still find it hard to kind of be productive sometimes. And I, I'm always like meant to be fighting with myself, trying to convince myself that it's okay to just take this downtime and focus on me and relax and take care of myself. But there's a lot that I also have going on. It's life. And regardless of that part of my pregnancy, it's literally, it's been a, it has literally been a blessing to me because it's opened up my eyes in so many different ways. And I feel blessed that I am able to come to this realization and growth during this pregnancy. That's a whole other topic in itself really, but I've really improved and grew since I found out I'm pregnant. And I think that was the universe way of pushing me beyond what I thought I can do and can be, if that makes sense. So yeah, all in all, I do feel better, but I wanted to film this video so that other women knew that they're not alone at all. And I want to build a community with women, like-minded women, like-minded mothers, like-minded parents period, that we're all going through a journey of growth and improvement because it's very easy to be surrounded by people and still feel alone. And when you know that there's others out there that may be experiencing some of the same things you are, it makes it just a little bit easier. One thing that all of this has taught me as well is how to let go. And by let go, I mean of let go of expectations, let go of ideas and people and thoughts that may no longer serve you. And there's a lot of that that has been going on. In fact, the few people that I did reach out to and tell them what I was experiencing, I feel like they didn't even take me serious. They weren't there for me the way I thought they would be. The two people that was really there for me in terms of people that I consider my friend or sister or somebody close to me, I didn't expect them to be that. And the people that I expected to be that was not that. So it just, it just allowed me to let go of expectations, let go of what I think people should do or think people should treat, or how I think people should treat me and all of that. And I'm so much more at peace. This has nothing to do with no one but me, okay? So like, I don't want anyone to like act like I'm doing shade or anything. It has nothing to do with that. I'm just saying that I've come to realizations that helped me feel better during this process. And I'm content with that and I'm okay with that. Everybody have their own lives and have their own things they're going through. And I can't expect people to drop what they're doing and what they're going through to come to my aid. And at the time I did, because I've done the same for them in the past or know that I would have done the same for them. But it is what it is, man. I could say that some of the things that I think triggered the depression is not just the surprise of the pregnancy because like I said, I do want more children. Well, I did want more children so the pregnancy I was able to still embrace. I think it was more so that I came into 2020 with all these plans and ideas. And I had decided that oh, I'm going to focus on my business and grow my business and expand and launch new products and do this. I signed up for literally so many events from January up until like September. And I was only able to do like two of them. The virus kind of canceled the rest, which was to me just everything kind of came together because even the stuff that I should have been doing, I didn't have to not do it because of my pregnancy. It was more so the whole COVID-19 thing that kind of shut that down. So it just gave me more room to focus on myself and focus on my growth and think about the things that I really want to do and what is really important to me and how I really want to live my life. And oh, I'm saying I'm the lack. But that was helpful. It really gave me time to turn my attention inward literally and focus on myself. And I think I'm in such a much better place now, mentally, spiritually, definitely, and emotionally. So I can't say that those changes are just the one thing that caused my depression. Another thing that really weighed heavy on me is the fact that when I found out I was pregnant again, I felt so guilty because I felt like I was cutting my son's time short. I felt like I was doing him a disservice. And I know it sounds crazy, but this is just how I felt at the time. I felt like I was doing him a disservice by bringing another baby on board and he's only one because now I have to share my attention and I have to split everything. And I felt like, what if I can't, you know? So these were all these thoughts going in my head. And at the same time I was potty training him. Getting pregnant made me have to wean him much quicker than I had planned to. What else? Because my breast was so sore. I did continue to nurse him even after I found out I was pregnant, but that only lasted a few weeks because my breasts and nipples were so sore that it was so painful to continue nursing him. And that was a journey in itself, just trying to wean him and get him on 100% solids. So all of these changes were just happening so rapidly that it just made me feel too overwhelmed. Anyways, my son is now home. I hope you guys enjoyed this. I hope that you were able to take something of value from it and that even if this isn't something that you've experienced yourself, it just opened your mind up to some of the things that women go through when they're pregnant and maybe gives you an idea of how to help them, you know? But I hope you enjoyed this video. I wish you all love, light and prosperity and you guys will see me in my next one. Peace. This is proof, figure, and it's magic and everything you do is in our nerves, proof, figure.


packaging that we manufacture 100% in our shop. So here is a quick lineup of some of the examples that show the evolution of the Omni packaging from the beginning of 3D printing some part to the final version of the Omni packaging for the existing Omni, which then also became very similar to the Vong. And then it got us to the point where I was like, you know, the carbure was kind of nice because it's not plastic, but it just didn't have that premium feel to it. So I was like, well, how can we make it better? And that's when the question came up regarding, well, maybe we'd get rid of the cardboard. It's a little bit too big and bulky. If we use metal, we can downsize it because we don't use much wall thickness and we can get it to be much closer to the actual size of the product. And then so we started playing around with metal, downsized the cap, 3D printed it to get kind of a feel for what it is. This one looks kind of rough because we did a quick machine to put a little bit of texture on it. And then I tried to color it all in with the Sharpie, which, believe it or not, Sharpie doesn't bond that well to aluminum. But it just, it gave a little bit of an idea of representation in terms of what this packaging could look like. Found a company that could make us some anodized aluminum tubing that was just the right size and that they would make it black for us to begin with. While we were waiting for the actual black anodized tubing to come in, I was working on some methods to darken up the wood. Take the mouthpiece and we put it on our custom design hot plate to burnish it. It's kind of a slow process. If we're really focusing on it, probably be a few hundred. The black tubing was on its way. It's like, well, how are we going to finish it up? Huh. Can we put a laser in our CNC machine? This is the machine that we integrated the laser into to make the omni packaging. Because then we could machine it, we could put in geometry, we could cut it to length, and we could laser everything in it at the same time. And that's what you'll see here is some of the first goals with the laser, just trying to get it dialed in. So we can see we've got various things just kind of laser all over the place, figuring out where it's going to go, trying to get the settings just right. So we end up with a readable barcode. It was a pretty interesting challenge. The close to production model, you can see that we've got the barcode pretty nice. The machining is pretty consistent. Got the coloration on the wood pretty nice. And then the final actual device, we ended up changing the logo for the obsidian just a little bit. Got the machining a lot more consistent. The barcode looking better. And there it is, just that really nice looking device.


Tyler Ninja Blevins has become a household name. He's been featured on the news, he's exploding on Twitch, and a lot of people watch this guy on a daily basis just to play a video game. But the question we're asking today is, why is Ninja not only the best at Fortnite, but why is he the best at life advice? Stay tuned. We got this, we won. Let's go, baby! Yeah! What is up, everybody? This is Chris from the Rewired Soul, where we talk about the problem, but focus on the solution. And if you are new to my channel, I'm always making videos to help you out with your mental health, so make sure that you subscribe and stay tuned. But yeah, so before I get into the topic of Tyler Ninja Blevins, I just wanted to kind of talk about myself for a second because a lot of you are new here, you don't know me that well. But anyways, I actually used to be in the professional gaming scene a long time ago. Like gaming has always been a huge, huge, huge part of my life. But if you wanna learn more about my eSports career, go ahead and check out the info card up there. I made an entire video about my rise in the eSports industry and my fall due to addiction. So lately, I've been really getting into Fortnite. I actually kind of got into it when my girlfriend and I went to go visit her family.  I'm like, this is actually kind of fun. And it's awesome because now my son and I, we get to play it. I'm a workaholic, and this has been kind of like my time because I work full time. I make all these videos for you beautiful people out there. And Fortnite has kind of been like my relaxing time and more quality time I get to spend with my son. But anyways, like I wanna invite all of you, like I will put my Epic Games name right here. It's MSTZ Bootman. If you wanna add me and you wanna play sometime, I've played with a couple of the subscribers. We have a blast. So if you wanna add me, go for it. But also my son and I stream over on my second channel. It's called Dilly and Dad. I kind of let my son run the show. But anyways, do me a favor.  Let's try to get my little boy up to a thousand subscribers, okay?   But something I like to do, I like to watch Twitch streamers. Ninja's one of my favorites. And I've seen them on podcasts and interviews and things like that. When I'm doing other things or just passing the time, I'll just have Ninja's stream up and I'm watching him play. But for those of you who don't know how Twitch works, people can donate money and things like that to help support the streamer. It's kind of like what we do here on YouTube with super chats and things like that. And sometimes Ninja gets donations and he'll read people's comments and people ask questions. And what I've been fascinated by, and this is the real topic of this video, what I've been fascinated by is that people ask Ninja for life advice. Really interesting. I mean, I recommend if you're actually impressed, which I obviously truly believe that you are. If you say you are, you should reach out to a psychiatrist, try to talk to somebody about it and work on improving your life while using my stream as an outlet to be happy, obviously. But you can't just only rely on my stream. I'm sitting there and I'm just so fascinated by it. I'm so fascinated by human nature. Like he is a professional gamer. Why are people asking him life advice?  I want you guys to question me. If you check out the comments, I'm very active in there. I love back and forth. I love kind of debating and discussing topics, not in a mean way, but like I'm always open to new ideas because I don't know everything. So I do want to say that, like my word is not like the ultimate authority. I appreciate you all coming to me for my knowledge and my experience, but I do want you to go out and try these things and see what works for you and maybe give me some new information that maybe I can make videos on. But I think it's important that we always look at the source, the source of where this information's coming from and why we hold certain people to such high standards. If any of you watched my Nicole Arbor video where she was depression shaming people. Only one person can get you out of depression and that is you.   I was talking about that. Like why would anybody take mental health advice from her, right? So when it comes to Ninja, when it comes to Ninja, he's actually a great guy. He is a really, really good person. If you see other people talking about Ninja, he's just a nice guy who tries to be as selfless as possible. He tries to give back over on his Twitch stream. He's done fundraising for different charitable organizations like St. Jude's and he does other streams where he raises money for other organizations.  He's a really, really good person. So like even though I'm telling you to check the source, like Ninja's actually a really good role model. Recently he's gotten some pushback from fans because he's trying to tone down his language because he acknowledges that he has a young audience. People like sell out and da, da, da, da. But like this is just a really good guy. Like he's not constantly thinking about himself. So when I work with clients or when I talk to other people struggling with their mental health or just a life that's unmanageable, I often say like try to ask yourself, what would this person say? What would this person do in that situation? Somebody that you look up to, someone who you think has a good moral code. Ask yourself that and that'll kind of help guide your thinking and guide your actions because a lot of us struggle from poor mental health because we run off our own thoughts and our own actions which keep getting us into trouble. But for example, Tyler Ninja Blevins, like yes, he is a world famous Twitch streamer. The dude is making millions of dollars, right? But he is completely honest with people and he says, look, the only reason I'm allowed to do what I do is because I put school first. I went to school, I did all my homework, I passed test, I got good grades and then I would come home and I would grind in video games. Like he's setting a good example for kids but I want you to kind of question yourself and ask yourself like, who are the people in the celebrity limelight that you're looking up to? Is it like, is it people like Ninja or is it people like, I don't know, the Kardashians? You know what I'm saying? And like, that's just really important because I see so many people who just assume this person's rich and famous so they must lead a good life. And when you think about that, like those two things don't often go together. Like there's no reason why those two things should correlate. Like just because a person acts and they're in movies and on TV doesn't make them a good person automatically. Just because a person owns a business or makes a lot of money doesn't automatically make them a good person. Like for example, I often say this to my clients and I'm gonna say it to all of you too. I do my best to be the exact same person that you see here outside, right?  All of the traits that I give you through these videos, I try to do them to the best of my ability when I'm out in public as well. So just kind of keep that in mind. I just want you guys to kind of start asking yourself, who do you look up to? Who do you idolize? And why is that? Why is that? Let's do this, let's do a fun game. Down in the comments below, tell me maybe somebody in celebrity culture who you look up to and tell me why. Tell me why. I'm interested to see, is it money, is it fame, is it fortune or is it because they get involved with charities? Is it because they help other people out? You know what I mean? So anyways, anyways, again, please, please, please. Like I said, if I provided you any value ever, ever, ever, go check out my son's channel, Dilly and Dad. I will link it in the description. Subscribe to his channel. Let's try to get this kid to 1,000 subscribers, all right? But anyways, if you liked this video, please give it a thumbs up. And if you are new here again, I'm always making videos to help you out with your mental health. Make sure you click that little round subscribe button. And if you wanna check out some other videos on this channel, you can click or tap right there. Actually, there's the Esports video, right there. All right, thanks again so, so much for watching and I'll see you next time.