doing here this should be and from my perspective will be an item that we return to whenever we receive the results from that work thank you thank you Councillor Traverson also to Director Tuttle for being here for that background on the RFP. Councillor Bergman is interested in offering comments and questions if there are others please let me know we'll come after. Councillor Bergman. So I support the the referral I think that we need to take the time to do this I am in favor of flexibility and trying to come up with a right approach currently to to our transportation demand management strategies I have been working to to deal with the issues raised by the affordable housing groups and believe that we have come up with something that is very workable and unacceptable in terms of the both the burdens and the benefits that we need to get as a community I do not know that without TDM that we have got the type of unanimity unanimity or consensus around the elimination of parking minimums and I say that really clearly there is an unbridled faith that if we give this major subsidy to developers that that would that the market will magically turn that into a decrease in rental housing costs or other costs I do not share that unbridled optimism in the magic of the market I'm sorry to tell those that might not not be pleased with that but that is just the way I I believe I have not seen that to to have occurred that being said I have said here before that this planet is burning and we have got to do everything we can to change the way that we do things and that includes in the transportation sector the the need for us to transition away from the use of fossil fuels in that sector 40 percent of our emissions are coming from that sector we have got a woefully inadequate transportation system here for the needs that our climate takes anybody can see that and so we have got to do everything we can to bend that curve we are fiddling while this planet burns I sometimes wish that I could speak as loudly as Todd but I don't and I know that you know some people think that we're doing a lot or we're doing enough I I see the shakes of the head I don't buy it I think we have to do more and so for me the linkage of the the the parking minimum elimination which will socialize the cost of parking while allowing the privatization of that profit is is something that I am just totally against and I I hope that we can come up with something that will move us forward I as you have heard and as you have seen I personally have I think been practical and willing to work with y'all across the boards to do the right thing and to move us as far away as far as we can but there are certain lines that that should not be crossed and I hope that we can get to the point in the ordinance committee and I will do everything I can to assist that process that we can come together with a TDM program that works for the rest of the city and in two years when we get all this study back then we'll we'll be able to take a look at that but truth be told that's a long time out and let me just end we took we had a study in 2015 it's been sitting on the shelf we had a study in 2018 it's been sitting on the shelf we can study and study and study and meanwhile the planet is burning we've got to change the way we do business thank you thank you council bergman we'll go to councillor shannon thank you president paul and um thank you council bergman I I agree with a lot a lot of what you said um as this goes back to committee and and really thank you council travers for being willing to take this back to committee and trying to find a path forward as you always do that's really a consistent pattern with you I'd like to note I I um I also have reservations about eliminating the minimum parking requirements in in the neighborhood parking districts having um reached out to my constituents and heard a lot from them but not only for that reason and particularly I had some I had some really interesting feedback I wanted to share from one constituent who I will just call the guru in the bike ped community who surprisingly when I ask the question about how do you feel about eliminating minimum parking requirements this person who's no fan of cars obviously said no I don't think you should eliminate minimum parking requirements because it's going to make it harder to get bike lanes on the street if all the cars if you don't have off-street parking then that that on-street parking is going to be more essential but then I had a chance to talk to him today actually um and get a little more of his his thoughts and detail and particularly where um there's there's advantages to slowing traffic of having cars on the street um in in the neighborhoods but in those areas where we're trying to put in bike lanes in those corridors and they have been laid out um that is a place specifically where we should be looking to require off-street parking and I don't think we've I had not heard this perspective before I think it's an important perspective and we know how challenged we are every time we want to put in bike lanes and it has it has a real impact oftentimes on our lower income neighbors I know it's my lower income neighbors that are most impacted when uh we we get parking enforcement come through the neighborhood and everybody gets ticketed and a lot of people get towed and that is devastating to our low-income neighbors who rely on their cars to get their kids to doctor's appointments to get to work because as counselor Bergman says we really don't have another system on which to rely at this point and I think there's broad agreement at this table that we need to build that system and it's very challenging because really we need a regional system what we don't just need to get from the south end to the new north end so uh I think that this provides another opportunity to try and and get this right and um thank you very much for being willing to do that thank you counselor Shannon uh don't see any other counselors um and with that we'll uh go to the mayor for some comments thank you president paul I actually want I do have some comments but also wanted to just clarify procedurally what what councilor travers is proposing here and how this affects because I don't believe there will there will need to be what I think is being characterized as material changes for this ordinance to I think get through this body and and and pass my desk so uh given that there will need to be material changes does this can you lay out how what kind of warning requirements there are and how that intersects with this idea of not coming back for another month councilor travers yeah um so we have city attorney sturdier vint here but I think I may be able to uh accurately relay what I understand um the standard is so um these changes are governed by state statute where if at this point in time where we're sort of at the end of the road with this process um if this council makes changes that are substantial enough um we would need to uh warn it again after we make those changes for a final final hearing um and so this being sent back to the ordinance committee uh to come back to this council on December 5th um I anticipate that the changes in there may be substantial enough such that if the full council were to then vote on an amended version on the 5th uh then we would need to warn it for uh a final hearing once more uh after that that is mine okay so then we would not we would not be taking action on the 5th other than to warn it for another hearing correct if whatever amended version comes out and does that start to then do we still so then you're pushing another 21 days or something beyond the 5th and does that what is there I believe we're getting near the end of the council's ability to act on this without starting the whole planning commission council once again planning commission process once again I could I confirmed that earlier today and the planning commission took final action on this in June uh which started the one year clock for us to take action and so I believe we would have sufficient time if we acted on the 5th I see okay final hearing is that correct yes go ahead that is correct that the amendment will be in a position to be acted on by the council until June of next year um there's a different kind of deadline in front of the council at this point though which is that um this ordinance as it was written for your public hearing back in August I believe it was is currently in effect that the department of permitting and inspections is currently administering this ordinance as if it were adopted and that is per state statute that um applicability will go out of effect in December so that will just it will put us in a position of no longer implementing that um basically from the end of December until your action on it okay thank you for clarifying uh everyone's clarification there that um I would think confusing those I was unclear the distinction between those two um I think it's unfortunate we're not in position to to take action tonight um I uh the um primary impact of this change will be to make it possible to build more homes in Burlington which is a hot crisis and one that uh very directly goes uh to the uh climate emergency as well making it possible to build more homes has a vastly greater impact on the climate impact this community has uh then the modest changes to our transportation patterns that we can hope to achieve through the creation of a new TDM system uh over time I'm a supporter of trying to create a TDM system uh I disagree with the characterization this is something we've studied before the the studies that have been done in 2015 and 2018 had to do with specific employer only plans uh and how those employers could increase uh their TDM impacts what we're talking about now uh is potentially I think a far more impactful uh systems creation where we would actually have a TDM we would attempt as a city to really uh be using all the levers we could just one of which uh and maybe not even what very powerful one of which is our permitting approval for new projects to create an actual uh TDM system that benefits all that really attempts to be attempts to be a comprehensive system um however even if we get that do all the work to pioneer a new system which hasn't been done anywhere in the country effectively and uh create something new that has an impact it is hard to imagine that those changes to to uh to transportation behavior will have anywhere near the impact of the difference of having a climate impact of having a home in Burlington versus another home built in the suburbs or ex-urbs of Chittenden County we know that people who live in Burlington no matter whether they use single cars or not have a vastly smaller carbon footprint than those in outerline communities and you know the word fiddling was suggested it is it is it is fiddling with the housing crisis while there are enormous demands uh for us to build new housing to to keep waiting and and keep delaying on taking an action that we know will be a pro housing action that will make it more likely that homes get built in Burlington the idea that fixing bad policy is somehow uh that has led to the dramatic overbuilding of parking uh in new construction in Burlington for decades the idea that fixing that becomes a subsidy is is a subsidy is a really kind of thing turning on its on its head um what we're debating here and what's what's at stake we should not be putting artificially we should not be allowing artificial wasteful policies to drive up the cost of housing which is what we've done for decades and we should stop doing it as soon as we can so uh I think it's unfortunate that we can't uh be moving forward with this it's clear that there um is no way to put a good TDM policy in place until we have this study uh very rarely in the decade that I've been working with this council have I seen us take action first and then study the uh policy later we've only done that a couple times I think we all can think of and bad things have flowed from that um that was the concern that was raised about the TDM policy that was put in place when we eliminated parking minimums in the downtown on transportation corridors and numerous people raised the concern that we should not be putting in place a new system until uh until the study was done but there was not the only way to get that important uh policy change at the time was to try something well now we've tried it for a couple years and we know that the TDM system as I've articulated the memo to you earlier we know the TDM systems that are in place have problems they are negatively impacting housing uh they the provisions that were written into them for compliance are not working out as intended and that's what happens when you make policy before properly studying and laying it out so uh we there's no way to do this right there's no way to do this and do it right until the study is complete it will be very unfortunate if half the this council holds up progress on housing policy uh because it can't be done simultaneous with TDM policy that isn't ready and that we're working actively on and we'll have an answer for in the future thank you President Pollard. Thank you Mayor Weinberger uh given that this is a motion to refer and seeing no other counselors in the queue will go to a vote so the motion the motion is to refer the ordinance back to the ordinance committee with a full report back or a report back to the full council at our December 5th meeting uh all those in favor of the motion please say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed please say no uh that motion passes unanimously uh which moves us on to item 8.04 uh the board of health resolution on the prevention of gun violence and for this item which will also be a referral to the council's public safety committee we have Celia Byrd with us um and uh would encourage you to come forward and um thank you so much for being here thank you so much for being with us we've tried to a lot we've allotted about 15 minutes or so for this so if you could uh give us a brief overview in the about five minutes or so and then we will go to questions from the council thank you thanks again for being here thank you uh good evening President Pollard the counselors Mayor Weinberger thank you for this opportunity to speak to you I'm Celia Byrd chair of Burlington Board of Health here with board of health member Jenny Tomzak to present on behalf of our board our resolution on the prevention of gun violence increasing gun violence in our city and the nation is a public health emergency we serve as your public health citizen advisory group and are aware that this health and safety risk concerns many many citizens so tonight we ask for your support of the public health evidence-based framework that we have written as an approach to effectively address and prevent gun violence in our city of Burlington you've received our resolution so we hope that you'll take time to consider it thoroughly Jenny's now going to describe its components so that we can answer any questions that you have tonight thank you again for if you could just make sure your microphone is on by pressing the little button in front of you so we can hear you there you go is that working okay um it should turn green yeah it's green there you go first I would like to recognize and express our deep sorrow as a community for the loss of health and life of our fellow citizens due to gun violence um in terms of the resolution you have the first section prevents the staggering human and economic toll of gun violence on our nation which disproportionately affects communities of color describes how Vermont has a higher than average rate of suicide and domestic violence homicide most often committed with guns it describes how Burlington residents voted by a two-thirds majority to enact three charter changes to address gun violence in our community which have installed in the state legislature for eight years it describes how gun violence within our city has risen dramatically recently from an average of two incidents per year for a decade to 12 14 and 25 gunfire incidents in the past three years like our nation our city is desperate for meaningful change and our mayor has responded by implementing multiple public safety initiatives as commissioners of the board of health with a duty to promote and protect the health of Burlington citizens we suggest here additional measures to address the public health crisis of gun violence in our city first we must insist that the state legislature recognize the right of Burlington citizens to enact reasonable firearm laws to protect themselves tailored to the unique circumstances of our locality you also see the list at the end where we suggest meaningful public health steps to prevent gun violence such as those which address the root causes of gun violence and have been been recommended by gun violence prevention research groups to have the highest impact we suggest creating an office of gun violence prevention to coordinate and oversee these and other initiatives and to be sure that we address gun violence with racial equity social determinants of health and trauma informed solutions we need to improve data collection and reporting to guide evidence-based initiatives and to assess their efficacy in addition we should protect and support survivors of domestic violence partner with schools and school boards to promote gun violence prevention partner with other agencies to address and prevent mental health issues provide and promote guidance of safe four-staff storage of firearms in the home and provide facilities where veterans and others can temporarily store their firearms in moments of crisis again an office of gun violence prevention would be very useful to coordinate and oversee these and other initiatives thank you Jenny before we take your questions I just would like to say that I believe and we believe as the board of health that every single person in the city of Burlington deserves to live life free of gun violence as a council you address other threats to public health by implementing reasonable solutions please act on this opportunity to continue to protect and serve your constituents and our community by using our resolution as a public health framework to prevent gun violence we hope that you bring this to the public safety committee and create a resolution that can be passed by the full council in December thank you thank you thank you Jen and thank you Celia for both being here and for this update before we go to counselor comments and questions we'll go to a motion from the chair of the council's public safety committee counselor McGee thank you president Paul I would move that we refer this resolution to the public safety committee as for the floor back after a second thank you thank you councillor McGee seconded by councillor Jang councillor McGee you have the floor back thank you thank you both so much for presenting the resolution tonight and all the members of the board of health for the substantial work that's gone into getting it to this point and bringing to the council I very much am eager to have the public safety committee get to work on this and have a council resolution back to the full body before the end of December so that we can make clear the city's commitment to gun violence prevention in anti-violence work before the legislative session begins because so many of these changes require state action before before the city can take meaningful steps to address gun violence here in the city and all forms of violence so with that said I'll open the floor up for questions I suppose and thank you thanks councillor McGee are there any councillors who would like to offer comments or have questions on the motion before us councillor travers thank you president Paul I just want to thank the board of health for the great amount of work that they put into this I know that you and your other members have been reviewing this for some time and while I'm not a member of the public safety committee I thank councillor McGee and the members of that committee for taking this on and I'm excited about what comes back you know our tools right now as a city are too limited for us to be able to address this issue I think our ordinance is right now prohibit possession of firearms only in our parks and cemeteries and other than that our ordinances only prohibit the discharge of firearms within the Burlington city limits I think Burlington voters a few years ago made it very clear that we here in Burlington wanted to be able to take more reasonable gun reform measures I'm frustrated that the legislature has not taken action on that I'm excited that you provided us this tool for us as a council to take this on and look forward to what we can get done by the end of this year such that such such that our partners at the state know where the city stands when folks get back to Montpelier come January thank you councillor travers we'll go to the mayor oh I'm sorry okay mayor wine burger thank you president paul I too wanted to thank the board of health for for taking on this really challenging issue and and coming forward with a comprehensive list of actions for us to consider I just want to assure you that the mayors that I agree with the idea that we should once again be pursuing action in Montpelier with respect to the issues that were endorsed by Burlington voters several years ago I think would be better and maybe more likely to get action in Montpelier if since there seems to be a deep resistance to local action on gun violence issues I think it would have an even more comprehensive impact if safe storage and prohibition of guns in bars and restaurants with where liquor is being served and unfinished policy work although I think some was taken with respect to domestic violence if there's any further policy opportunity there I think whether it's giving brilliant in the ability to take that action or just making that change on the on the statewide level allowing Vermont to join such liberal states as as Alaska and I believe Wyoming that have had such prohibitions in the in the past or all the other New England states that have in place safe storage requirements I think it certainly fully agree that that's an action we hope to see from the legislature this year I look forward to a council resolution that endorses that as well as well as other other steps that we can take together to to turn around this very troubling spike that we've seen this year and to make Burlingtonians safer it is it is it really makes me angry to think to see in the details of some of the gun violence that we have seen this year that had the legislature given us the ability to require safe storage that that could have impacted some of the crimes that we've seen here had the legislature given us the the authority that we really worked very hard from both voters and then in extensive testimony in Montpelier to prohibit guns and bars perhaps I would have a positive impact on the 12 late night shootings following bar closings that we've seen over the last couple of years we had had clear very troubling incidents with respect to guns and bars and before the last couple years we shouldn't have had needed this further evidence that such such change was necessary now that we have this new and fresh evidence of how much this regulation in this year is necessary let's hope we get a different reaction in Montpelier thank you thank you mayor Weinberger don't believe that there's anyone else oh i'm sorry a counselor carpenter hi i just want to thank you so much for doing this and encourage you to share your resolution with your colleagues and other communities i think the degree that we can get more communities to adopt this kind of resolution will be helpful thank you counselor carpenter uh seeing no one else in the queue uh we'll go to a vote and this would be uh the motion made by counselor McGee to refer this resolution to the public safety committee all those in favor of the motion please say aye aye and he opposed please say no uh that motion passes unanimously uh thank you both again uh cilia and jen um and the other members of the board of health for your work on this and your service to the city thank you so much thank you uh we will move on to item 8.05 um and i just need to get a chair for uh for our assistant city attorney and just give me a moment at the dinner table now by all means so we're moving on to item 8.05 um and we'll call to order the hearing regarding Orlando's bar and lounge outdoor entertainment permit the purpose of this hearing is to allow each party the opportunity to present their case which can include evidence submitted and witnesses uh they may choose to speak on their behalf we'll ask the parties to identify themselves for the record followed by each um each party beginning with the complainant who will present their case and then the respondent who has the opportunity to put on a defense of the allegations following the respondent um counselors will have the opportunity to ask questions of the parties and witnesses and after any questions from the council the hearing will be adjourned and i will announce next steps for the benefit of all the parties that are here we've allotted 30 minutes for this agenda item and on the advice of legal counsel hailey hailey mclanahan who is sitting here with me we're able to set a time limit for each side to be heard and have determined that 10 minutes not including questions from the council is reasonable uh with that we'll set a timer for 10 minutes um if we can and then invite the complainant to the table we do have to swear you in um if the complainant could come forward and identify themselves for the record and then the assistant city attorney will swear you in certainly um my name is holly bushnell so what we're talking about is just being able to have enough time for either party if they wish to offer have any rebuttal um and we'll we'll give you two minutes for that at the end so the 10 minutes will be the 10 minutes if you have witnesses that are here that's part of the 10 minutes um and then if there's we will do that obviously at the end um to the council relative to the matter under consideration tonight will be the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do if you could just go ahead and say your first and last name for our record certainly it's holly bushnell so i think with the president's permission you can start whenever you're ready okay yes please go ahead right um i uh took the opportunity to prepare a packet of information for the council before um arriving tonight and i do thank you for having that opportunity to send it in advance and for your consideration this evening um um in that packet i included an introductory letter which explains much of the situation as well as rebutting some of the information provided in a letter from brandon mossman the owner of orlandos um it also includes information on uh it includes copies of all of their entertainment permits which include applications which has their requested hours um a former sworn complaint or additional sworn complaint um from a gentleman named matt paradise who was my neighbor across the street at 115 pine street um copies of my sworn complaints uh information from the license committee meeting minutes um regarding this issue uh to give you a full background on what has gone on in the license committee and i believe um also recently submitted uh was a another um a piece of information testimony from um my downstairs neighbors um i know that was posted to board docks uh just before the meeting so i'm hopeful that you are all able to take a look at both the information that i provided and the new testimony from um my neighbors from downstairs um essentially uh what's been going on is um a long term back and forth uh where permitted hours have been very clear for orlandos bar lounge for the past three years and uh or two years rather my apologies and uh we are into the third year now and uh while there has been improvements in their ability to cease their music on time it continues to be extraordinarily loud and it continues to not end within the permitted hours on a semi-regular basis um i am not the only person who has issues with uh orlandos my neighbors in my building have had problems with them since the or problems with the entertainment rather not with them individual but individually but with their entertainment um since uh the beginning of the pandemic um that is actually the first moment when uh entertainment was allowed um on a nightly basis in that area um it had never been permitted before uh or that specific area had never been permitted before it is a right of way um and the stage does block that right of way um i think the thing that i most want to say to council is or want to point out to council is that this entertainment started as part of a COVID-19 pandemic program to help bars and restaurants through that difficult time period and while it was a great program most pandemic programings have ended and i would like to urge the council to end this one as well i have also asked a another member of the community who i know has had a negative interaction with orlandos and their business practices to speak tonight as well um and i would like to ask the aloof to come forward and give council testimony good evening thank you so before you start i'm just going to ask that we swear you in and put you under oath okay will you raise your hand please will do you swear affirm that the testimony that you're about to give relative to the cause under consideration before the council tonight will be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do you and could you just say your first and last name for our record please thea louis so i actually had a prepared statement because i thought i'd be doing this um at the beginning of the meeting in public forum so i own the tour company queen city ghost walk and over the last 20 years we've brought countless numbers of people into the city to hear burlington's ghostly history even though we have no brick and mortar store we uh i think are an important part of the community people who come to our tours come uh also to shop and to dine in the city of burlington so um there are so many wonderful pieces of our history like the story of giddy and king who was an 1800 shipbuilder who once owned the american flatbread building it used to be a favorite stop on our tour used to be being the operative term historically establishments on los and lane have cheerfully coexisted with our tour i mean for two decades um and we used to stop by a few evenings each week particularly in our busy season which is mid september through the end of october until a chilly night last october 2021 when i entered the courtyard with no bands or tables in sight we were in the center of the right of way uh i and my group and i began to tell the story of giddy and king but was interrupted by a man who approached from the doorway of orlandos and told me to leave explained that we were in a right of way i've been using for nearly 20 years at that point and that i would go when my three minute story was over but he reiterated his demand stating i was on private property when i didn't leave he moved to the doorway of the club watching while greeting customers until we exited the space this year on a very different tour i discovered orlandos seating area blocked a passage from the stairs behind the building um to and that is um a stairway that is an iron stairway that goes out behind flatbread up behind orlandos um so the passage was blocked by all of the tables and there was no way for me to take my tour across the right of way um without disturbing patrons which i would never do um i reconfigured my tour and then made a call to the city to clarify the boundaries of the right of way but that was inconclusive so i went to the club's website hoping to find the name of somebody i might discuss the situation with and what i found was that i i don't it it's not really humorous but it did make me laugh and i was i just couldn't believe it um i looked at orlandos uh web page and the home page is using a pirated version of the city of berlington logo as their own um yeah this is crazy um in his plea to the city council dated october 24th 2022 orlandos owner mr mossman reminded the city it's critical to be supportive of small businesses but i feel like he only means his small business since i'm not allowed in the right of way and since the noise from his bands drowns out other sounds um there are many nights when i can't tell my story of vermont pub and brewery because of the noise coming from the right of way there at orlandos um you know mr mossman's responses regarding his violations in his letter to the council leave me feeling that he's gotten used to operating on the belief that it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission and so i just you know i as a small business owner who complies with the rules uh as they're set out for me um i'm just completely befuddled and disturbed by this so thank you for hearing me tonight that was actually uh the entirety of what i presented i do again really just hope that you folks had an opportunity to take a look at uh the documents that are uploaded to board docs um they really do provide all of the detail for the situation and i was hoping to spare your time in person by giving you a little bit more information than you probably needed in advance so thank you very much for your consideration and uh i will leave the last two minutes uh thank you miss buchnell and uh miss louis we will now set the timer for 10 minutes and uh with that invite the respondent to the table um to put forward their case on defense of the allegations and again before you begin uh the assistant city attorney will swear you in um and any witnesses that you may have do you swear or affirm that the testimony that you're about to give to the council tonight relative to the cause under consideration will be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do thank you and could you just say your full name for yes brandon mossman um so i'm a little upset about this whole situation um i have a permit i have a consumption of permits to sell alcohol on my patio till 2 a.m councilor shannon stated in the last meeting that i was violating that that was false okay i did not violate that my permit goes till 2 a.m okay second of all we provide live music to burlington okay we have a patio we opened during covet i opened this business eight months before covet and when covet hit we had no other option to do anything but open the patio now because of this we have built our brand on the patio we've built it with live music or we put ticketed events our first ticketed event we donated the proceeds to the howard center okay i mean this is i'm just very frustrated with this and and with the the complainant the second complainant about the um her business with the the tours that in fact is private property it's not a throughway it's a private property between all three building owners that have a they have a agreement between it of what time set they are allowed to have tables out there it includes flap read it includes the building that is on the front of college tree that is owned by nick who i also was going to get a letter from as well i haven't gotten in time i was going to put it on the board dogs but i haven't got it yet um and the bennington potters our stage is placed there we have an agreement with the bennington potters people they are okay with it the one loss of lane owners and the flap read our business not only benefits us it benefits musicians our staff okay flap read the blue cat which is another restaurant that benefits from our music and it's we're being attacked by this i hope you guys are all read the letter i sent in to each council member individually i sent it to the mayor i put letters of recommendation with 50 signatures i got in one day of musicians that perform there and i'm i'm just i just don't understand how we're in a downtown district we're in the same district as church street the map that i attached here goes all the way down to battery street that is the downtown district and we're right in the heart of it we should be given the same opportunity to do business as everybody on church street okay and it's unfair it's discriminatory and i'm very i'm just i'm just infuriated with the fact that we have even come to this point when there's all this other crime in the city that's going on right now you allocated 15 minute times to gun crime but 30 minutes to this with one complaint there's one current complaint the complaint from 2020 was before we bought a seven thousand five hundred dollar sound system to help with the decimal levels okay this is i mean this is it's it's very it's a simple situation it's a business we're in the downtown district we should be given the same opportunity to do business as another business across the street which i pulled the permits from and their permit to do outdoor live music goes to 12 30 p.m. or 12 30 a.m. rather and i've got witnesses here i've got regular customers that enjoy live music i've got people that perform bands i've put letters in from bands that miss bushwell accused of playing late which aren't true okay they have spelled out the terms they played here multiple times throughout the summer and the cutout is 11 p.m. it you know it's a live music things go over the time limit it's unintentional it's unintentional and the point of the matter is if we were given the same exact permit that i have requested that you have given other businesses on church street that do the same live music that hosts the same bands that play there we would not even be having this meeting right now this is a calendar of the meetings and the bands that we've had the times they've ended i was going to put this on the dock but i just printed it out right before we got here and i mean are you guys really going to shut down a local business that has 15 employees that we opened pre-covid for outdoor live music and give art because one person is currently complaining because we went over 20 minutes you're going to shut down a business because of that because if you pull this permit this business will end and because it doesn't suffice it can't survive without the patio and i'm just frustrated with the whole matter and that's essentially where we're at that's essentially where we're at so if you guys pull the permit we shut down it doesn't affect just me it affects the 50 people that sign this waiver that play music that we pay to play there it affects the 15 employees i currently have it affects me that spent the past five years doing this and creating a patio during covid we stayed open we were the only place that could possibly try to stay open and we did and we managed to do it with the patio and it wasn't just me that created it it was the 50 people that signed this this form 50 other people that play music they don't just come and they're not just local they come from afar they come from massachusetts canada ke visitors of the city come to our patio to enjoy live music and that's what we do we have live paintings we we do private ticketed events flatbread benefits from it and they all and we communicate with them what music we have what time it starts with times and so they can tell their customers so i want to just invite a couple of the musicians up that play and um one of my regular customers will you raise your right hand please do you swear affirm that the testimony that you're about to give relative to the matter under consideration by the council tonight will be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do and can you say your full name for our record please uh josh will west so thank you for giving us this platform to speak i'm here on behalf of both orlando's bar and also um the musicians of berlington and also musicians of uh kind of new england um i'm actually a transplant of berlington i grew up in platzberg new york across the lake first started coming to berlington to see live music when i was in high school over there and was very inspired um just by the culture and the musical opportunities and outlets that berlington provided uh more so than my hometown in platzberg um i recall being probably a junior in high school about 16 years old uh coming over for a berlington jazz fest and actually seeing music in this patio um area outside flatbread and what is now orlando's i believe is magnolia's back then um providing shows all throughout jazz fest and actually spent a good amount of time year after year since then seeing music in this patio that's under discussion and after attending suny platzberg i decided to move to berlington um to vermont for the first time because of the musical opportunities and outlets that this community and the city provided you know more so than than the town of platzberg and all the opportunities that that could lead to which has led to me being able to become a full-time professional musician i play in a number of bands based out of vermont and new york and tour nationally um now that the pandemic has slowed down at least um but i just want to speak to uh you know the pandemic on that note really provided a struggle for all sorts of businesses um and for musicians you know i'm a business owner myself i i own a couple bands and manage a couple bands and it was incredible the hardships that musicians face during that time um are still facing coming out of it and um a place like orlandos that was able to you know kind of face what are we going to do are we going to shut down or can we provide an outdoor opportunity for music to kind of still thrive um and people could gather in small numbers and spaced out safely um it allowed um a safe place for musicians to to both um you know work on their their craft and continue their job um but also to continue to pay their rent um and i know a number of musicians from out of state you know that would hole up in their house for a week or 15 days whatever the guideline was at the time and and make sure that they um you know i'll wrap this up quickly uh you know reached reached a safe space past a couple negative tests so that they could travel here to also bring their craft to the city and it's it's been an amazing thing that this um club has provided it'd be a shame to see it go it directly affects us all and thank you for your time thank you uh mr mossman if you do have um items that you wanted to uh have submitted you can do that this evening if you have items that you wanted to give to lori and just ran out of time just wanted to bring up is that well i'm just asking if you haven't if you i'm just letting you know we we will have an opportunity for a buttle um miss bushnell if is there anything that you would like to offer uh for in the couple of minutes that remain and then we'll come back to you mr mossman yes i would like to just briefly bring the council's attention to a couple of things in mr mossman's testimony he stated that the cutoff time is 11 it's not the cutoff time is 11 p.m on friday nights and saturday nights the cutoff time is 10 p 10 30 p.m on all other nights this seems to be the sticking point as thursdays tend to go to 11 o'clock um that seems to be if you look at the information that i provided in um my letter that seems to be the night where things go the latest and i would just like to point out you know things do happen i uh previously worked at music festivals um for 13 years um and i know music goes over all the time all of the dates that i provided with time overages was when a band started playing an encore after 11 p.m i'm totally fine if you go over two minutes here three minutes there when your last song's going too long i understand that happens it's when you deliberately start playing another song after 11 p.m that i took offense and i that i felt like they were being deliberately um deliberately ignoring the guidelines which they requested they requested these hours in their entertainment permit application which they sent to the uh council uh and ultimately was approved by the license committee and the full council this is something they agreed on and they're not able to stick with it and i do question how many times going over your hours 20 minutes here or there becomes negligence and stops being unintentional and accidental so i think that's all i needed to say thank you great thank you very much uh mr mossman if you wanted to have two minutes to re for rebuttal you're welcome to if you could just sit down just so we can hear you yeah i that's not true i didn't request those hours those were the hours that were given to me i requested the hours of another similar business that is a block away from us which is 12 30 p.m and i pulled that permit and that is exactly what you guys as a council gave that business i don't understand why one birk one business that is one block away in the downtown district gets the opportunity to do business where i can't do business at those hours and that that is basically the bottom line it's biased it's discriminatory to our business and it's just it's just it's not fair and i actually said this to councillor shannon when she came down to do her investigation and she told me quote life isn't fair and i will swear on that and i've witnessed here to that conversation that she did say that to me thank you so to counselors uh you'll now have the opportunity to ask questions of the parties and witnesses uh are there counselors that have questions councillor carpenter and if you could just identify to whom and we'll have them come up thank you uh to mr mossman do you have a manager on site or somebody whose responsibility it is to tell the band to bands to stop playing at 10 30 or 11 they don't intend to go over that sorry and on wednesday thursday is 10 30 but that's not an interior of the business nature of live music you know i'm usually i personally sit up in the lobby and host and help with tom and he can attest to that but lately because we are so understaffed right now i've been having to bar camp because we can't find people to work right now and i've been down in the bar a lot of the nights and i've been having to bar tent and make drinks for the servers for the patio and i haven't been able to be up there but that's because we can't find people to work right now and that's the problem a lot of our servers don't want to work anymore because they can only sell alcohol out there till 11 p.m when our permit is till 2 a.m but no one wants to sit up there and silence they can't when the bands when we shut down and we can hear bands from church street blasting down the alleyway but we have to shut down and servers don't want to work there anymore because they can take but they can only sell drinks for three hours while the bands play so we're understaffed it's a whole problem we should be given the same opportunity as any other business in burlington to sell live music and drink some food as another business i mean it's it's just it's that simple it's it's not there's no other area that would be essentially like telling flap bread they can sell alcohol till midnight but we can sell till 2 a.m i mean it's a permit everybody should be given the same opportunity in burlington as a small business as another business we've never had a violation from the dlc we've never had a violation from at the fire marshal we've never had a the police there we've never had a fight we've never had an instance of overconsumption we've never had any tickets nothing no no um noise violations nothing and it's just it's just it's basically i'm i'm sorry that i'm getting a little frustrated but i feel like this is like a personal vendetta against me when i run a clean business and i've done absolutely nothing wrong yes i have had a band go over it was unintentional it wasn't what i planned to do it's not like it's not like it was an intentional circumstance where we're playing and we're talking about periods of 10 15 20 minutes it'd be one thing if it was 2 a.m we were blasting speakers out there we're not doing that we're not doing that uh council carpenter was there anything else that any other questions or of the of any other witnesses with the other party no i can't see you okay all right thank you um are there any other counselors who have any questions of any of the either of the parties or witnesses uh counselor barlow thank you president paul thank you mr mossman um i had a question about we you had uh said that it was the nature of the business and bands run over is there are there any ways you could um you know be more um proactive about ending on time yeah if we were given the same but within the limits of your current permit could you could you end on huh yeah are there things additional things you could do do the same and the fact of the matter is if this permits paul patio is the brand of the business at this point COVID did that that's the brand that's what what has become that's what it is if everyone comes to us for and that's basically is the fueling factor of the business no i thank you and i appreciate that extra context you provided thank you thank you counselor barlow are there any other counselors with questions uh counselor travers this question for you mr mossman i'm mindful the fact that maybe your patio season does not go all year round so i'm wondering if you could suggest to us um is there a certain time with winter coming up that you plan on shutting down the patio or do you plan on keeping it open when do you normally shut your patio down we usually shut it down and when last year we stayed open through this month but we haven't kept okay and but for this situation would you have any plans or did you have any plans for this winter to keep the patio open in any respect with heaters or what have you you understand that regardless of what the council does with respect to your existing outdoor entertainment permit which my understanding is the only thing before us right now is your entertainment permit and not your liquor license um that you would have to regardless of that come back to the license committee and the council for a renewal of your permit next year yes you understand that right yes i mean we renew it each year okay i have no other question yeah great thank you counselor travers uh uh there any other uh councillor shannon um thank you president paul so in our um packet of information there is uh some i actually don't know where this came from and maybe somebody can tell me perhaps miss bushnell put it on put it as part of the packet it's not clear from how it appears but it says um sound improvements for summer 2021 we are working with a sound engineer to build a collapsible stage to include ample back soundboard to take into consideration the complaints of the past from neighbors at the end of the los and lane alleyway um i do i do remember that we were told this i don't know where this particular thing was uh excerpted from it could could i have miss bushnell just respond to that sure okay and i think it may have come forward to the full full council because i remember it and i don't believe us on the license committee subcommittee at the time um so mr mossman can you tell us what happened with this yes so time permits once i found out that another similar business was 12 30 p.m and um i said that if i was granted the permit to have live music out there equivalent to that their permit i would invest some money because um for soundboard and soundboard treatment but i was denied that permit um do you have anything mentioning on on um on another note just this past season not um just basically as a courtesy to our neighbors and flap red and other businesses in the area to control the sound volume we purchased a brand new wireless sound system with all new speakers monitors that controls the decimal levels better we can walk around and control the volume we don't have to run up to the sound system like we used to because that's what we did originally open we basically threw speakers out on the patio hook bands up to speakers and play now we have a full sound system we have a sound engineer every night and yeah so those are some improvements we have done so um how would we know that these sound and the it looks to me and my memory as well is that you had pledged to us that you were going to um to create this uh collapsible stage and with the soundboard in order to address what you acknowledged was a noise problem in the area and how would we know that that was conditioned on you getting hours that i don't actually know where the evidence is that you requested a permit for 12 30 i don't see that that was the last meeting i had mentioned another business had the permit for 12 30 i actually only applied for 12 p.m. but i was denied you guys denied me that permit we have um just mr. mossman have all of the documents that we have on board doc board docs he said he related everything she'd received by close business today okay um because there is a permit on there where i'm actually not completely clear of 10 o'clock was changed to 11 o'clock or 11 o'clock was changed to 10 o'clock this is the um may 2020 to april 2021 entertainment permit application and what comes before the board we can see what the permit request is and then sometimes it's changed i mean if you go on the youtube channel did you just verbally request that but in the written application did you request that okay um so did you at any time tell the um license committee or the the full either the subcommittee of three people or this board which is the whole license committee that you would only be building um those new sound features if you were given longer hours that extend beyond the applications that we have before us and beyond the permit that was given yes because besides the matter of that i still invested money in a sound system not only for for our customers but for other businesses and other people surrounding us such as the blue cat flat bread and basically our clientele because it helps the sound levels to be more muted and more do we benefit from the music flat for benefits from a blue cat benefit passerby's from the city walk and they stand at the top and they observe the live entertainment i mean this isn't just like an us business it's kind of like a community so if we can just stick to the questions that that i ask you at this point i'd appreciate it so um we don't have any information that says you weren't going to build that unless you got longer hours did i in what form did you provide that information this committee to invest the money to do this and i was denied it you guys denied me of it the permit and i was stuck with other businesses across the street or given the permit to do 1230 that's the whole point of this conversation is that i'm not granted the same opportunity as the businessman next to me to do business and that's the problem we're in a downtown district i attached the map of the downtown district that goes all the way down to no we understand we understand that we just want to just sort of limit the answer to the question at hand um councillor shana was there anything else that you wanted to ask i'm all set thank you okay thank you uh councillor bergman um just would like to hear from both parties so the complainant and the bar when in the spring you resume outside outside music so usually we basically staff up um end of march april time to start the panel we start hiring people because we need servers up there because we have so just without getting into all the bloody details um just when when you're outside entertainment your amplified music or other music happens in the springtime yes correct and that in march april and in april april okay and uh is that from your standpoint accurate i'm not asking for a specific date obviously so may seven but but april okay thank you very much i have no other questions great thank you councillor bergman uh councillor jane yes um thank you president paul and i wanted to ask a question about process first so we are hearing from both sides and then once it's closed what's next then what i will do is um uh announce that the matter will be taken under advisement according to vsa um and i can read that off but we will go into a deliberative session pursuant to one vsa three one two um e and we'll be issuing a written decision to the parties within 30 days okay wonderful thank you i think that's very helpful so sure so that's actually a little bit of a conflict for me because my lease ends december first for my business and if this permit's pulled i'm i have to close the business down i can't survive uh functioning without the patio and without the live entertainment because that's what we built our brand on you know for our customers and everything so that essentially is what's gonna happen yeah well we will we will certainly be cognizant of that are there any other councillor jane please go ahead thank you um thank you for being here and thanks for your letter and i'm sorry that you were not able to submit your paper because i think those are relevant too so that we read them all and have a better understanding i think um anyway we can do that i think it would be better you can submit those as well please um but i wanted to circle back also to let you know that she may not be the only complainant there are also all the letters that we have received about your business and some behaviors that are not relevant to the permits that you receive i just wanted you to understand that too um and also to say that um this is and also to ask the license committee first why was his business not given um the equitable time closure than another business that's just one block away who can recall why there is discrepancies between those two why was he denied okay um i think the first license committee probably was councillor mason but councillor shannon if you know that would be great um i think we did have some discussion at the full license committee board so when this came up i was not a member of the license committee but i would just say kind of generally um how the license committee works is we we do look at the individual establishment we look at the individual circumstances um to determine the uh the appropriate hours for any given establishment and also i would draw your attention to there there are a lot of minutes in our packet um so back in august 8th 2020 um the license committee uh there was a sworn complaint back in august 2020 um for orlandos there was a motion to um motion it says motion to urge the establishment to adhere to current entertainment permit hours with end time of 11 p.m. for a 60-day probation period should there be further complaints of public hearing will be scheduled um the motion was made by uh jane stromberg seconded by jack hanson that made it unanimous as they were the only two there uh so there is um the and then on october 14th um we have a note matt parides expressed his frustration with the volume of the music coming from orlandos bar and lounge over the course of the summer stating that it is affecting his quality of life sleep and inhibiting his ability to teach over zoom to his students as his students can't can't can hear the bands over his voice he has to use headphones um sean bovez states that his organization attempted to contact matt parides to discuss the issue separately to hopefully avoid going to a hearing so we have um there's a lot of minutes here and there's a long history that had um led to this i don't actually recall and perhaps another um member might recall i don't recall a recent um request for later hours but maybe somebody else does so basically and this was going to be my next question and it's to you was orlando the same business that you complained about a couple months ago or last year i remember you coming here it was the same orlando thank thank you all right and mr blossom right i also wanted to circle back about the letter you sent to the city council it seems a city councilor come came to your establishment to do some type of investigation and i wanted to know was this recent was it about this complaint or was this was that before so can you use a microphone yeah i stepped away from the bar the band wasn't playing the band had ended at 11 in which it did um her complaint was that she said that someone had complained about i mean we know who the complainant is at this point of time that someone had complained and that's why she was uh coming to investigate but the fact of the matter was we weren't playing music live entertainment at after 11 p.m we had a one speaker from our house music the same music we play inside the bar for our customers on the patio the same customers why why are we granted permit permitted from um the liquor committee to sell alcohol to 2 a.m on the patio when we have to sell it in silence to our customers why are we not given that permit when every other business on church street is given that permit church street we've got red square re-laws right here apartment buildings brand new 60 unit apartment joe handy just built mr mossman again if you can just stick to the question please well i'm trying to answer the question thoroughly yep no my question was specific about the time in which that investigation from a consulate your establishment you said it was a summer and it was not about this specific complaint in front of us i believe it was about this it's all it was about this uh same complainant okay wonderful thank you and call it do you have something to add um i do not have further questions and um thank you thank you all great thank you councillor jing uh we're over our 30 minute limit so uh if there are no other counselors with questions we will um adjourn this hearing and the matter as i had mentioned will be taken under advisement the council will be entering into deliberative session pursuant to one vsa 312 e and will issue a written decision to the parties within 30 days um thank you to the parties for being here this evening can i just say one more thing real quick yep um so when councillor shannon came down no no no that you can't if there's some point of clarification you've had that opportunity and you have been asked questions and you have given those answers with them the hearing is adjourned thank you if you want to submit the forms that you had papers that you have with you we're happy to take that now our last item on our deliberative agenda is 8.06 which is an ordinance chapter 14 solid waste article 1 in general update of the solid waste and recycling requirements regarding separation storage and collection uh for this item uh once again i'll turn to the chair of the ordinance committee councillor travers and um did want to note also that uh i do believe we have director um not sure if we do director uh dpw director shape and spencer with us um maybe not uh councillor travers uh thank you president ball uh i would uh moved away the reading and adopt the ordinance as amended by the ordinance committee i would ask for the floor back upon a second okay thank you for that uh oh um uh thank you for that uh motion uh is there a second to that motion seconded by uh just a moment seconded by councillor McGee uh director spencer is here and we've just promoted him i believe he should be on yes there he is uh councillor travers well i'm glad director spencer is here um we are here uh in large part because of the uh good reasons that have been put forth by uh his department uh with respect to the proposal i think a number of us have heard those reasons but director spencer uh if you'd like to uh sort of give us a reminder and take an opportunity to speak to folks as to the reasoning for this uh it'd be great to hear from you great thank you councillor travers um we were pleased to work with the ordinance committee uh to address two main issues uh one was that uh we'd been receiving number of complaints from residents in the city about uh litter wind blown litter and the recycling that blows from uncovered bends uh both which clutter the city as well as ruin uh recyclable resources when they get wet and uh leave the recycling stream and two uh we have had uh several injuries from our employees uh the toaders have an automatic lift feature on the trucks so that our employees don't need to lift the toaders but the bins do not have a similar feature and as a result our employees spend a lot of the time lifting the bins that can vary in weight and we'd like to keep our workforce safe and the city clean uh there are some other cleanup items in the proposed ordinance but uh the main item here is requiring toaders and thanks to councillor travers we uh proposed an amendment today to have the ordinance into effect may first 2023 which would give us a significant time to work with the public explain the new requirements and make sure we can get out all the toaders in time before the ordinance goes into effect thanks director spencer uh i would just say on the ordinance committee thank you for councillor paul and councillor hightower for their work in particular uh on um this matter in the ordinance committee um i will just say that uh there were a couple particular areas that we've heard um concerns about um from constituents you've touched on it somewhat director spencer um i would say that uh one of them was from uh community members with mobility concerns um and i certainly appreciate the the updated language it existed in there already but the updated language that's in the ordinance now um that uh uh requires that the department of the city for those neighbors that uh do have mobility concerns with respect to using the toaders that the city will work with those neighbors to certainly accommodate those concerns um and i don't know if you wanted to speak more to that particular issue uh director spencer yes uh when residents contact us uh seeking additional support for uh serving their recycling uh we will work with those residents and provide the services necessary to make sure they're served we run a very thin operation we have four four staff who collect recycling five days a week and um we cannot provide a backdoor service for everybody in the city given our approach but on a need basis we're happy to work with individual residents and if counselors have any uh constituents in need of special assistance please have them reach out to us thanks director spencer and i would just say that the other main concern that we heard were from um folks who live on streets that have relatively narrow green belts who particularly during the winter months come close to city plows or city sidewalk plows uh express concerns about toaders potentially being uh damaged especially during the winter months and so i certainly appreciate the ordinance committee making the effort to add some language in here that would um obligate the city that in the event um city equipment or personnel do damage a totter beyond repair of normal from normal use that the city would have to replace that totter free of charge for the resident um i suppose there is just one point of clarity here which is that there is a version of the ordinance that is is on board docs that would put a may 2023 effective date um in place for this i personally thought that was important because as written for any residents who uh do not have a totter well i certainly expect um director spencer and and folks at dpw would have been more than reasonable about this as written it would immediately put folks who don't have a totter yet um in violation of the ordinance at issues so i personally thought that uh an effective date of of may of 2023 would allow folks an opportunity to learn about this to purchase their toters um and as well for individuals who have mobility concerns uh to arrange it as needed and as required by the city um so my intention here was to actually move the version with the effective date of of may of 2023 i don't know if i've properly done that to be honest but uh i don't know if an amendment is is a further amendment is in order i think that's the first that is the version that's on there um so as long as everyone's on board that that is the version that's been moved okay i see some nodding that's that's all i have great thank you councillor travers um are there any other councillors who wish to speak to this ordinance uh seeing none we will go to a vote on the motion and the motion was to waive the reading adopt the resolution as amended by the ordinance committee all those in favor of the motion please say aye aye any opposed please say no and that motion passes unanimously and that completes our deliberative agenda we have just a couple more items and that is item number nine which are committee reports are there councillors who wish to offer a committee report councillor bergman so your your charter change committee will be bringing back um i suspect at the next meeting but depending on how full it is it could get kicked over three um charter changes and i have mentioned two of them in reports first is the all legal resident voting in local elections um we're pretty happy about that and really happy about the work that the ceto office and jillian aton have has done in terms of the outreach and totally appreciate the the support that we've gotten from councillor jeng in addition to that um there is um as well pertinent to uh the redistricting conversation that we had a uh flexibility in the siting of polling places that we will be bringing back and that i think will uh make uh our job a little bit easier maybe i think i don't know if it's actually implicated in the work that we're continuing to do but at least we'll have that flexibility if there are any questions on that and the last is the rank choice voting which will come back and come back in a form which is consistent with the state statute that was adopted for city councillors that we will be um seeing um in effect on the december sixth um election in the east district and it will be for the offices of mayor uh school commissioners and ward election officials i'm not exactly sure that i got that last terminology right but it would be like the ward clerks and the inspectors of election so the idea being those are the the people that we general elect and um you know in the in the course of our march election so that those three will be coming back and with the addition of the uh redistricting we will um hopefully have four um uh four charter changes on the march ballot and i just want to thank uh councillors trivers and carpenter for really um hard work i mean to get here required us to meet a lot and we did and i think the quality of the work was excellent and i just want to thank them and and and thank all the people um uh who weighed in uh on the all of the the items very very helpful and important um thank you thank you thanks councillor bergman uh any other councillor councillor mickey thank you president ball uh the public safety committee met i believe last week my time is a little warped um we had a great discussion and we've made plans to discuss the draft of the report on the cna recommendations we will be scheduling a meeting to begin that conversation anticipate that to span a few meetings where we'll discuss the timelines that the previous public safety committee and the working group put together discuss the progress that has been made to date and what work remains which is substantial and i very much thank the previous public safety committee for the exhaustive work that they put into preparing this report and look forward to continuing that conversation as well as at our next meeting discussing the gun violence prevention resolution um so we will have that meeting scheduled soon thank you great thanks councillor mickey uh councillor travers uh the ordinance committee will be meeting on november 22nd at 4 30 p.m. we will be hearing an ordinance referred to us uh a while ago with respect to vacant buildings uh and now as of this evening we'll be uh taking up tdm and minimum maximum parking requirements looking forward to seeing folks there thank you uh any councillor chang thank you president and the racial equity inclusion belonging you'll be meeting on the 15 at 5 30 bush room and one agenda item we have is to welcome director carlson to understand the committee and the working relationship that we need to establish to support her work and to yep sorry to the racial um yeah to i don't we will be we will be also um having a discussion about the creation of the racial equity inclusion and belonging commission because it was part of the resolution that created the position and it will it tasked the committee to look into it this is just discussion nothing is coming anytime soon just to bring community members to see what what what what they think um and also we will be receiving some updates about the strategic planning uh for um that was commissioned by the r e i b committee thank you thank you councillor chang uh any other committee chairs councillor shannon thank you councillor paul uh sorry president paul so sorry that's quite all right um the PAC committee parks arts and culture committee will be meeting on november 30 at 5 p.m and um this is going to be our second meeting focusing on public safety in our parks and we don't have an agenda yet but that is the basic topic thank you great thank you uh feel like we've covered just about every committee so we're in pretty good shape here um um seeing no others we'll move on to item 10 which is uh city council general city affairs are there counselors who wish to offer comments on general city affairs if there aren't any we can move on to council president updates there's only two the one first is that we did have one person who has expressed an interest in the reparations task force um if counselors know of anyone um who is interested or anyone listening who might have an interest please let me know and the second is that uh it's sort of a pretty exciting uh we're going to have a work session at our next meeting on an alternative to board docs so there's been a there's been some that have gone on i don't know why we're laughing about that there are uh uh there are a couple of uh people in the city who have actually um done the tutorial we'll get the chance to do that as well and uh i think it's pretty exciting because it was one of the things that we uh discussed at the board retreat and now we'll have the opportunity to potentially implement um a new program um so more on that as we get closer to the meeting uh that brings us to the final item of the evening which is item 11 updates from the mayor uh mayor Weinberger the floor is yours thank you president paul two two items from may one um this friday the bfw will once again be hosting in battery park a veterans day uh ceremony at 11 a.m and uh recording in progress would invite the public and and uh everyone to to join us uh for what is always a moving event um looking a week uh beyond the btv winter market we'll be returning the city all park again this year within expanded uh footprint recording in progress there will be a um uh substantial expansion of the market from from last year the uh layout goes all the way from um from from college street uh to the uh almost all the way to to city hall and there'll be 20 more than 20 vendors there every week uh the first weekend looking at the schedule it starts it's saturday and sunday after that um all the way through christmas there are friday saturday and sunday hours and i think the final week there's even a third some thursday hours there'll be um some variety of different businesses from week to week and encourage everyone to check it out with a big success last year and hopefully even more the public's aware of it this year will be even uh a more successful way for many of our new uh small entrepreneurs to uh be introduced to the community during the during the holiday season that's all i got president paul back to you thank you uh thanks mayor weinberger so that brings us to the end of our agenda um just would ask uh for a motion to adjourn uh moved by uh councilor mcgee and seconded by councilor jang all those in favor of the motion to adjourn please say aye hi any opposed we are adjourned at 10 16 thank you for joining us this evening our next meeting is two mondays from today on november 21st uh i hope you have a good rest of your evening


ZN2-DPTTZ-OBA-2-IUST-2 is a new ZN-based metal organic framework MOF, which can efficiently remove lead and mercury ions from water. It was synthesized using a solvothermal method and characterized by various techniques including FTIR, EA, PXRD, TGA, DTA, SEM, BET, SXRD, and used to test its ability to remove lead and mercury ions from water. The results showed that IUST-2 had high removal efficiencies of over 97% and 87% respectively for lead and mercury ions within 3 minutes. This article was authored by Akram Karbali-Hoseini and Azadeh Tejaradi.


Dear Adolphe, a letter to Hitler, the national broadcasting company in cooperation with the Council for Democracy presents Dear Adolphe, a series of six narrative letters written each week by Stephen Vincent Benet, one of the nation's greatest writers. These broadcasts are based upon actual letters written to Hitler by Americans. Today's program, the sixth of the series, presents the distinguished star Joseph Schildkraut, who will relate the views of a foreign-born American as he addresses a letter to Hitler. Dear Adolphe, rice chancellor, rice leader, rice destroyer, you know my voice.  It is underground that voice in Europe, it borrows like a mole underground, it whispers like the night wind through the air, it doesn't speak loudly yet, but when it speaks, your hangman dies. But my voice comes from America, not from Europe. I speak to you, I speak to my fellow Americans, I speak for the alienborn, I speak for many stocks and many mother tongues, I speak for old, famous cities and peasant villages, for the lands where custom is old, for the fields have been tilled for many generations, the lands of our mother's milk and our father's endeavor, and I speak for the men and women who left these behind to come here. We came here to this country as children, why we came here only a few short years ago, we came with no English at all, with a few words picked up somehow, with the painful scholarly phrases you learn in books, and the scraps of old fashion slang we were so proud of knowing. We came in different clothes, different haircuts, homesick, excited, weary, looking forward, wondering, wondering if it was true, if it could be true, if America was what they said, if we would be welcomed or hated, given a place or despised, for roots are hard to tear up, Adolf, even for bread or freedom. The heart looks back for a while, even when the body has crossed an ocean. Was it true what they said, that this was a land where your stock or your birthplace or your name didn't matter beside what you were and what you could do? Was it true we'd have rights like the rest and a chance like the rest? Was it true that we could be America? Here my friend from the Lebanon. In my village in Lebanon when I was a boy, when the governor's carriage passed down the street, everyone jumped up and saluted. If you didn't salute, well, then you were due for trouble. Ours was a subject country and when our village elders found themselves oppressed, they would raise helpless hand and say, oh, it's your governor and your God. And there was no appeal from God or the governor. So when I came here at 20 with others of my compatriots, when you're little of many things, there would doubtless be governors here just like our governor. So a man examined my papers at the port of Boston, and I stood before him shaking in my boot. He was an official governor, but when he had finished with my papers, he got up and shook me by the hand. He wished me good luck in my new country. I have never forgotten that. I will never forget that. What did we find here? We found that neither race nor birth nor faith stood in the way of our advancement. We found a land that taught us the meaning of liberty and made of us three men. Now we have no other hope and no other cause. Here my friend who was born in Hungary. America is my country, and America is the home of my children. We'll be the home of their children. My eldest daughter is in love with an Irish fellow, and she told me she dreams about him in English. This surely is my country when my daughter loves an Irish fellow and dreams about him in English, and speaks to me about him in Hungarian. I know how to read, but my wife never learned how. But we both know we don't have to lick the boots of our bosses, and when my daughter's fellow, he's in the army. When he writes her a letter, it makes us all happy. What else can I tell you? I'm a citizen. I can vote. I never could do that in the old country, and I go to church, and there are no spies looking at me, and I can speak to God, and I don't have to mind Hitler. America must win. She will win. Here my friend from Germany, Adolf, the Germany you slew. I fight you because you taught me the full meaning of a verse by the poor chiller. Es kommt der Frömmste nicht in Friedenleben, wenn es dem bösen Nachbarn nicht gefährdet. A saint cannot live in peace if his wicked neighbor does not like it. I was a pacifist once, an intellectual, a thinker. You drove me out of Germany. I took refuge in France. For the first time there, I began to know what freedom is. Then you invaded France. I took part in that terrible retreat. I know what you did there. I do not want to talk about that, but I know what you did. In the end, by great good luck, I was rescued and came to the USA. And there I saw what amazed me, an organized democracy, defending its freedom. Hitler, you will never understand what America means to us. You may boast of your ability in keeping the appearance that everything is well in Germany. This society here would break down the moment when everybody should say everything is well. It gets things done by criticism and discussion by 130 million people criticizing, discussing and cooperating. And that is why you will never win this war.  They cannot be scared into panic. They will not be brought to their knees by your war of nerves. They become more decided every day your war goes on. They know they have no way, but to win it. Yes, I'm afraid you've been deceived about us, Herr Reich's Chancellor, Hitler. I'm afraid you've been badly deceived. Yes, you bought a few traitors here and there. You planted a few spies. You caused a few deluded men and women to doubt democracy. While you've even tried your oldest trick on us to get us fighting among ourselves, labor against management, protestant against Catholic, Christian against you, native born against foreign bond. But we, Adolf, we have a litmus paper and the test of democracy.  No, all is not perfect here, Herr Chancellor. But I'm a free man, and so I can tell you the truth, and I will. Yes, they talk about hunkies and daigos, mix and polacks. They say, oh, we've got a many foreigners around here. They say, well, what can you expect with all these foreigners? Yes, that's quite true. And yet, Adolf, no matter where I go, no matter what bad accent I speak, I can say I am an American and no one will dare to laugh. These are good American names. Stone, Marshall, Salt and Stahl, Magruder, Frost. These are good American names, too. The Guardia, Eisenhower, Adamic, Knudsen, Nimitz. They are all good American names, Adolf. And as we say in America, that's all. Period, Adolf. Well, I can't explain this to you, because there is no way of explaining it, and your crazy mind wouldn't understand any how. I can say that those who fight for freedom in the United States Army today have a great name in the world. But still, that isn't enough. You see, we are quietly alien-born, because after all, Adolf, we are still learning. We're even a little child, and our children come back from school so assured, and yet, with questions, while you're proud of those children, we see them grow big and free, taking rights for granted, and that's fine. That's just what we want, Adolf. But even they do not know quite the price of freedom, as we know it. Not even they. We hear those long in the land who talk of their country, our country. We know who speaks true and who speaks false, and we listen well to those who speak true, Adolf, for their fathers made this land. But even many of them do not know the price of freedom, as we know it. Not even they. We, the pilgrims of a thousand unnamed and forgotten mayflowers. Our freedom and our citizenship was bought with all we have. It was bought with a dream in our mind, the dream of a free, lucky country, where life would be good and human beings equal. It was bought with travail and poverty and the wrenching up of old memories and fear and hope and faith. Yes, Adolf, with a great price, we bought this freedom, and that price seems little today. We've paid again and again how rice chance lay, Hitler. Skin for skin we would pay it. Ten times over we would pay it, Mr. Hitler. There was a town called Lideche, Adolf Hitler. We know what happened to that town. There was a city named Rotterdam and a city named Krakow, and that is why you're against you, Adolf Hitler.  You would bring to this country the things we escaped and hated. You would poison the air and the water and the minds of our growing children. Why, you would drag them back, not even to the life we knew, Adolf. No, but to the life of a sheriff, the life of a slave. But we have tasted liberty, Adolf. We've seen liberty walking the streets. No, right. We were not at Lexington or Gettysburg. Of the names that we make today shall be names as shining, all over the country they answer, the Americans, the alien born, all over the country they answer for the free world, the good thing, the old tradition and the new. I pledge your allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. Those eight of our Greeks, Italians, Croats, Slovenians, Americans, those eight of our Romanian, Bohemians, Russians, Latvians, Norwegians, or Americans, those eight of our Danes and Swedes, Irish, French, Staniots, Americans, Americans, bumbling voices, voices with accents, very heavy accents, every accent, but meaning it, meaning every word. We, who are the tests of democracy, the litmus paper of democracy. I pledge your allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And that is all how rice chants like Hitler. That is all dear Adolf. Period. You have just heard Dear Adolf starring Joseph Schildkraut, the last of a series of six narrative letters written each week by Stephen Vincent Benet and presented by the national broadcasting company in cooperation with the Council for Democracy. The program was directed by William Sweets with original music composed by Tom Benet and conducted by Joseph Stobank. These broadcasts are based upon actual letters written to Hitler by Americans. Your letters commenting on the series will be appreciated. Copies of today's Dear Adolf letter may be secured without cost by writing directly to the Council for Democracy 11 West 42nd Street, New York City. This program came to you from New York. This is the national broadcasting company. Thank you.