89% of you said let's keep the poll cards YouTube announced. They're going to remove on June 10th 2020 in four days Here is the poll I conducted in yesterday's video where 67 of you replied Overwhelmingly. Yes, don't remove them poll cards are these things that you can put in the iCard where you can ask your audience a poll and This was the one where 89% of you said let's keep the poll cards now YouTube may have been removing a lot of features, but look they've added a lot of features, too You can now see when your viewers are on YouTube Before you had to do a complicated thing with Google Analytics to figure out how many people are watching your channel When now they put it all for you here So you can see that at 6 p.m Is the most is the best time for me to publish a video because that's when most of my audience is on YouTube They've also added this feature where you can see your entire history of comments So one of you asked me how many comments are on Freedom Central? I didn't know but there is the report in YouTube analytics that says 1.1 million total comments across all the freedom and they show you what days you were spiking on August 20th 2014 like six years ago. We had our one of our biggest comment days were 15,000 people commented And there are 15,000 comments. Some of you probably commented more than once. There was another spike on December 23rd But we haven't had any spikes Lately so clearly we need to do a better job of Engaging with our audience to get more people commenting. What do you think Freedom Family? But back to the issue which is goodbye poll cards. These are going away on June 10th And there is an official YouTube help article so Zortech said hey YouTube's website is a mess Removing stuff that shouldn't be removed. I think the YouTube needs a poll to its management maybe In their defense YouTube on the official YouTube help article wrote that poll cards are will be discontinued after June 10th This feature was rarely used and we're moving and we are removing them to focus on other creator tools. I Don't know what rarely used means according to YouTube, but to be honest I Haven't seen many polls in videos. I watch have you seen many polls in videos? You watch tell me down there in the comments below Clearly according to my poll you love these things and you want them, but really have creators been not using them and Let's read a few more of your comments Freedom Family I started doing exercise. How many of you exercise regularly? Let's start a poll so Ariane said me and I Asked him what kind of exercise he says he does flips Ariane I'd love to see you do flips show me these flips. I can't do a flip I can't even do a cartwheel if I try to do a cartwheel. It looks like a really sad cartwheel Tech dunk said thanks for the mention just crossed 5k subs high five man 5,000 subs is an amazing milestone. Congrats to you and Keep growing. Actually, I did reply to him here Congrats, yeah, because if I subs at the time there were 91% but now it's 89% Some of you said no, you don't want poll cards So we read Zortek's comment Ah, this is funny man. He he asked me the question Does freedom channel have close to million comments? Yes or no, and yes We have exactly 1.1 million comments to be exact and I'll show you in a future video where I found it But very quickly you can go to the date Filter of the new YouTube analytics and then you have to choose under more metrics. There is a lot of them here guys comments added and That will give you this kind of report for your channel You can also see the daily comment report comment count, which is cool. It shows you like how many comments were added each day So you can tell when your audience is engaging with you Okay, back to the comments. I think we're at the end here. Yes So did I miss any relevant comments? I think that's it guys So I'll do a better job of reading your comments, but I will focus on the relevant ones So leave good comments thoughtful comments comments that help each other grow together as a family Because that is the spirit of freedom And I'd also love to know guys if you're familiar with this when your viewers are on YouTube report I didn't know it existed to be honest. I found it under the audience tab of the channel analytics and And it's kind of hidden you have to scroll down to see it I wonder what other goodies YouTube has not told us about or has made it a little bit of a Easter egg hunt for us to discover all these cool things in the new YouTube studio like this when your viewers are on YouTube will hunt and I'll make videos about each cool thing as I come across it so we can all help each other grow together as a family But for now The YouTube poll cards are going away in four days. So use them. Try them out on your channel. Oh last thing I had one of our Close and personal friends tell me that he found a way to use Chapters in the new in music promo videos very effectively. Let me show you what he did roll it So obviously it's a music promo video and look he put Where the verse starts He put where the chorus starts verse to Chorus to you can see it all in his comments here the channel owner Alex Aka zero miss Coon told me about this and I wanted to highlight it So all of you can see how YouTube chapters can help you click that I to see the video I made about YouTube chapters in case you don't know about this cool new feature and I hope you find it helpful in making you grow faster on YouTube I certainly use it in all of my videos as well. All right. Let's end this video. Who am I? I am your Papa George your George Sunpai your Obi-Wan George Nobi and many other names you the beautiful freedom family Has given me and if you have any new names for me, please share with share them down there in the comments below I'll give a shout out to anyone who makes up a cool new name for Papa George I am the CEO and founder of freedom For freedom and the freedom family, but we all help each other grow together as a family Hope you're not getting tired of hearing that. I'm certainly not getting tired of saying it A little bit earlier in this video. I talked about exercise again I did a jog to the ocean ran or swam jumped into the ocean swam for 30 minutes and then jog back this time with my wife and I lost another 0.3 kilograms guys. I'm now 82 point Six right 82.9 before 82.6. Yes, and yes That's because I've lost a lot of water from the running But I've noticed that even after I've had a full meal or the next day. I am Lighter than I used to be so I encourage you to do swimming and jogging and cycling and all those aerobic things that help you lose weight if you're a little Chubby like I am so my goal is to get into the like 75 kilogram range Hopefully over the next three or four months. Let's see if I can do it What's your goal in exercise for fitness or strength? I'd love to hear down there in the comments below And should we make videos about a fitness challenge like we used to in the past? I would love to do that and Give me a little time to get a little skinnier before I start something like that Because you don't want to see this chub on YouTube Well, maybe you do. I don't know. Let's let's find out. All right, freedom family. I Hope you keep safe during these crazy COVID times Things are beginning to relax here in Dubai. We are Seeing people on the beach now. We are seeing people come back to the malls We are seeing gyms reopening kids are still not going back to classes. That won't be until September everyone's being basically homeschooled with online courses as I'm pretty sure that's the standard across the world for most countries anyway But yeah, I really can't wait for this COVID-19 craziness to Go away and get back to normal. Hopefully soon All right, freedom family. I am George and you've been watching Click that I to partner with freedom and join the freedom family so we can all grow Together you get many perks like position music. You also get epidemic sound A lot of other access to royalty-free videos Sponsorships and many things to help you grow Just click the links down there in the description below to get involved in our community our forums our Discord chat servers meet our graphics team meet our community team all of that on discord and the forums What are you waiting for get started and we will grow together as a family because this is the freedom family You are part of it. We are all part of it and we're all growing together To get more George click that big F that will subscribe you to freedom Central home of the George show and PewDiePie gave one of you freedom family a big shout out click that video to see the shout out and to see our new 3d sets for you and Click that video to see what YouTube recommends you watch next


This is stock number 70299A. We are here at Summit Automotive in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin and we are checking out this 2008 Mitsubishi Fuzo flatbed. This is an FE 125 as the 4.9 liter four-cylinder diesel motor. From this HD video you will be able to tell the overall condition of the vehicle. You can hear that it runs nice and smooth. I drove this up and down the road a little bit. It actually rides pretty nice considering it's a huge flatbed. A couple little dings in the door there, nothing major. We shoot all of our videos in 1080p so if you have HD capabilities on your computer tablet or smartphone device turn them on now. Because it's like we're here, it's like you're right here looking at the truck with me. In the front we have VF Goodrich commercial TA tires. These are LT215, 85R16 tires. It comes with the, these are steel rims with the wheel simulators and these tires have about half the tread left in the front. So we have a flatbed on here. This is 16 foot three inches long by 8 feet wide and the, it's got long wood planks as the base on it with a steel border. Got holes for stakes, put the stake bed on there. Has a receiver hitch and seven pin wiring on the back. And for the most part this is a pretty nice truck in pretty nice condition considering the gear and miles on it. So it has the headache rack right there. This is the fuel tank. Looks like it's 33 gallons that you can fit on that fuel tank or in that fuel tank. On the back we have firestone transforced tires and the wheel simulators of course. Frame and underbodies in really nice condition. No major corrosion. A little bit what you'd expect but for the most part really nice condition. We want to make sure our customers get the most accurate representation of the vehicle as possible so that when you get here there's absolutely no surprises. That's where the motor is. This vehicle has been fully inspected by our shop. Has a fresh oil change and is 100% ready to go. Inside you get the blue clock captain's chair. Got the heavy-duty rubber floors and we got power windows and power locks on this vehicle. Blueface instrument cluster and this one has 97,601 miles. Has a Panasonic CD player as aftermarket brake controller. Smells very clean in this vehicle. Don't believe it's ever been smoked in. Passenger seats in really nice condition. No rips or tears. And overall it's really nice on the interior. That's really all we got to show on this one but we like doing the videos and making sure that our customers are getting the most accurate representation so that they can make a smart buying decision before they get here. Like I said drove this down the road rides really nice, runs really smooth and to see more pictures of this one or one of our other 400 new and used cars, trucks, SUVs, minivans, Wranglers, halftons, three-quarter tons, one tons, flatbeds, dump trucks, you name it. We got it.  Videos of every single used vehicle that we have. All at summitauto.com. Thank you so much for checking out the video. If you like this one, want to make it yours, give us a call right now<PHONE_NUMBER>. Ask for one of our sales associates to make this Mitsubishi Fuzo yours today. Once again that number is<PHONE_NUMBER>. Thanks again for checking out the video. If you want to check out more go to youtube.com slash summit auto. Remember remember to like, subscribe, and share on this video and all the videos you see there. In fact in a second you'll see a link to subscribe to our YouTube channel on your left. A link to more heavy-duty truck videos like this one on your right. If you haven't been to our website on the bottom, a link to this truck on our website, click those check us out and we really look forward to helping you with this super clean 2008 Mitsubishi Fuzo. Thanks again.


This is stock number HA449A. We are here at Summit Automotive in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. You're new and used Jeep headquarters today. We are checking out this super clean 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland Edition This vehicle has the 3.6 liter Pentastar V6 motor and from this HD video You will be able to tell that this Jeep is extremely clean all the way around inside and out white ivory Tri-coat metallic is the color. We shoot all of our videos in 1080p So if you have HD capabilities on your computer tablet or smartphone device Turn them on right now because it is like you're right here looking at the vehicle with me And definitely your best way to check out the vehicle Before seeing it in person comes with the painted and polished aluminum 20 inch rims Bridgestone The Copia 26550 R20 tires and these tires have probably about 60 to 70 percent of the tread left on them Really dig this white ivory tri-coat color comes with the LED running lights the LED fog lights and the HID headlamps Chrome trimmed grille the hood itself is in really nice condition I didn't see any dents or dings on the front bumper and the passenger side fender is an excellent condition as well No dents or dings passenger side rim No scuffs or scrapes and as you go down this side of the vehicle You can see just how clean the body is how reflective and mirror like that paint is We take these HD videos So if you are far away or even if you're close by and just can't make a trip down You can still see the vehicle hear the vehicle and of confidence in what you're looking at before you even get here You can see it as the vista glass roof And on this side didn't see any dents didn't see any dings very very clean This back rim is an excellent condition as well and the back tires have just as much tread as front tires Coming around to the back of the vehicle. You'll notice all that sparkle in the paint there Really like that white ivory Full towing package which includes a receiver hitch four pin and seven pin wiring The rear gate is an excellent condition as well. And this is a power lift gate You also get the LED tail lamps Back storage area is very clean. It has a factory Subwoofer back here and you get the factory sunshade has a spare tire back here as well And to close this gate you press this button.  These mirrors are power fold in and power fold out Get the nice wood grain trim And as we hop inside the vehicle here you can see that this one has 11,544 miles You get the 7-inch TFT display Outside temperature compass display as well as a digital speedometer You can change what it says on each of these corners to say whatever you'd like it to say comes with the heated wood grain trims steering wheel and leather wrapped cruise controls on the right Blue tooth and information center controls on the left also has audio controls on the back of the steering wheel This one comes with the 8.4 4c radio, which means that it has Android Auto and Apple CarPlay capabilities This one also has the factory navigation system on it and FM and Sirius XM radio capabilities to Backup camera shows up right there as well And you can do your climate Your heated and cooled seat buttons your heated steering wheel and you can do the backup camera without even putting it in reverse kind of a neat feature push button start stop Has the dual climate control This is for your parking sensors your start stop Capabilities you can turn that off you got eco mode sport mode and stability control You get the eight speed automatic transmission You also have the quadra lift system here so you can raise and lower the height of the vehicle You have your quadra track tools to system with your snow sand auto mud and rock Select terrains as well as a four-wheel drive low downhill assist control and a neutral feature for flat towing This one has the remote start on it as well and the power rear gate Passenger seat and floor mat are in excellent condition as well. No rips or tears on that seat This one has the power Sunroof and the power vista roof here or just the fixed glass vista roof. I should say That front panel does slide open Up here you get your home link Buttons for your garage door security systems and lane systems as well as your map lights You also get assist and SOS in the mirror and those are features of the vehicle that you don't have to pay subscriptions for We will take a quick look at the back seats and then we will check out under the hood these back seats are heated and Are very clean as well just as clean as the front seats no rips or tears back here There's that latch These back seats are heated factory floor mats They're heated seat buttons your usb's and then a hundred fifteen volt hundred fifty watt plug-in these seats full down Almost completely flat.  It's a really nice feature And we'll take a quick look under the hood. I Would personally like to thank you for checking out the video today Hopefully from this HD video you will have been able to tell just how clean this Jeep is all the way around Inside and out under the hood. We have the 3.6 liter pentastar v6 motor engine base very clean runs very smooth This Jeep has been fully safety and inspected by our service shop has a fresh oil and filter change all the fluids have been checked and topped off Jeep has been gone through mechanically 100% and is 100% ready to go to see more pictures of this Jeep or one of our other 450 new and used cars trucks SUVs mini vans Wranglers half tons three quarter tons one tons you name it. We got it go to our website www.summitauto.com full pictures and descriptions of every single vehicle from two locations all at summit auto.com And if you'd like to check out more HD videos You can go to youtube.com slash summit auto remember to like subscribe and share on this video and all the videos that you see there In fact in a second you will see a link to subscribe to our YouTube channel on your left It linked more used inventory videos like this one on your right if you've not been to our website on the bottom Link to this vehicle on our website click those checks out and we really look forward to helping with this super clean 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee overland white ivory tri-coat metallic. Thanks again


Hi you guys! Lindsay here. Welcome back to my channel, Inside the Hymn. I am pretty excited about the sewing plans that I have for March. I feel like I have been more realistic and critical of myself in terms of what I can actually get done in a month. You'll see in my February makes video, like things just completely off the rails, which is okay because I still made some really beautiful things, but I want to really kind of use my plans as like an actual like guideline for the month rather than just like getting caught up in a whim here and there. It kind of goes back to my a little bit of my resolutions video and a little bit of the like how to save money. I feel like when you get real spontaneous then you just start spending money like crazy and then the things that you bought the previous month or even the previous couple months just kind of that's how your stash builds right whenever you have a plan to do something and then you just change your mind and go in a completely different direction. So I'm re-focusing, re-centering myself and my March plans are all things that I'm really really really excited about so I think that that'll help me stay focused. So where should we begin? I have my whole stack here. I guess let's start with so my style. This month's pattern is the Cali shirt end or shirt dress from Closet Case Patterns. Love Closet Case Patterns patterns. I feel like she always does a really great job and I also feel like her designs are a little more unexpected. They're a little bit more not fashion forward. I mean they're not like avant-garde or anything but they aren't your basics you know and the shirt the Cali shirt dress is a really good example of that. It has like a gazillion different options for you to kind of really make it your own but basically it is a like I said shirt or shirt dress. It has three different lengths like kind of like a cropped top a tunic length and then like a dress length then you can do a full exposed button placket a hidden button placket or a half placket then you can do a collar band or a full collar and are there sleeve options too? I can't remember. I'm going off memory. A ton of different options so what I think I want is the cropped shirt maybe not as cropped as she's designed it. Her design I want to say the crop top barely covers like a high-waisted pant or skirt or something and I just don't really wear high-waisted stuff so I want it to be able to cover everything comfortably in like regular height pants and skirts but I do want it to be kind of a neutral kind of something that I can wear with a bunch of different things um and I also want I think Sunny thinks someone's at the door Sunny come here um but I also do want to kind of fall into that trend of the denim on denim which I think can be really cute and kind of perfect for spring so this is the color of my denim for the ginger jeans that I'm working on still working on but this is like the back yoke piece anyways this is the color of my ginger jeans that I'm making or really any really super dark denim and then I have this chambray and I thought that if I made the crop top version with and wore it with the dark denim that would be really cute together and chambray is like pretty perfect for a short dress because you know holds the irons and presses really well it's really easy to sew um so for those finicky collar bits or placket parts um the chambray is gonna be really really really great so I'm kind of excited and it's gonna be a cute outfit and then I can also wear this top um with white jeans um or even like pattern shorts or I mean like a ton of different things so I'm just really excited to have like a good neutral surprisingly I don't have a chambray spring or summer top I have like button-up chambray ready to wear honestly they don't fit very well so I don't really wear them that much um but other than that I really don't have a ton of chambray I think it was just like so popular that I was like resisting it was like it's too it's too normal I need something not as like mainstream you know I think I was resisting it but I I mean I've had this in my stash forever I don't even remember where I got it um but it's like a really nice cotton chambray so excited about that for the cali dress or shirt um the next thing that I am going to be working on is like is this going to be the month of like the solids I don't have a single print except for one I have one print in this whole party this month that's interesting that's so not like me maybe I am feeling like I need some more staples um in my wardrobe because you know as you change into the seasons you're like what do I have to wear and like nothing's really going together maybe that's it anyways so sneak peek little heads up in my makes video is this dress this fabric was a moo moo like this huge shapeless dress that I got from Goodwill and I refashioned it into this and I chose buttock 6 3 1 9 for it um because again when I do my refashions I like for them to be made up of smaller bodice pieces because it's easier to fit them on an existing garment um and oh surprisingly this is meant for so oh no no no that's just like okay sorry digress anyways and so I chose this and I made it up and I was like I love this pattern this is like really really great I love the super wide I don't know if you can see it in the shop but has like um probably three or four inch wide waistband princess teams in the front and the back half lined and then a simple pleated box pleated kind of a line flared skirt and I wasn't really thinking much about it because it's kind of just like a simple you know fit and flare up made a thousand times but I don't know I just really love it's very very comfortable it just fits really well I didn't have to make any modifications so I said I need to make another one of this and you know for me remaking something is pretty rare like I am normally a one and done type girl um so yeah I want to remake it and I found this beautiful um like uh slob linen from joanne and it's very soft I think I'm 99% sure it has rayon in it if I remember correctly I'll put a link in the description box if they're selling this one online if not then I'll just put as much as I can remember about it so you can take it to your store and try and find it yourself if you want but it's um I want to say cross woven black and then like a topi grayish beige color um so it can read well with blacks but it also reads well with like khakis and neutrals and things like that which I thought was really versatile so I want to make the dress out of this and I think that'll just be super cute a linen dress here in Charleston is basically like a go-to uniform because it's just so hot and humid here that um you need something like super breathable so yeah I'll be making this um in a dress and then to go with it and also with lots and lots and lots of other things I picked up this new vogue pattern vogue 7 9 7 5 and it's this really cute set of jackets with different trims and so they have a cropped jacket and then a longer I think which like E is longer with cute little patch pockets again with the princess seams um but I love this one with the bow ribbon detail so the ribbon comes up the center front and then ties into a little bow I think that's so adorable um and so for that again I picked up a neutral because I wanted to be able to wear it with a bunch of different things so I grabbed a black twill again from Joanne simple black 100 cotton twill oh no it has stretch in it so it has it does have some kind of lycra or something in it um but just your basic black with black grosgrain ribbon so not super shiny um and a little bit of texture I thought would add like a nice touch to the black on black you know so they from far away maybe you can't tell but up close you know there's like some visual interest going on sounding so designary um but um but yeah I just thought you know obviously these two together but you can wear a black jacket with just about anything and I don't have a little black jacket I have a navy one I have a pink one I have a beige one an olive one but not black so I want to make a black one at for this as like an outfit but also with many many other things so yeah I'm excited about this little duo um okay and then speaking of refashion as I mentioned the dress pattern for this dress here butter x6319 here is my lovely before um for the refashion in March this is the before obviously um but it's just a basic I don't know like a shirt dress with a half placket a little collar band collar um long sleeves with cuffs it has a split hem and you know what I'm looking for garments to refashion I love to find them like this because it's basically like one big piece of fabric you know what I mean like there's really not a lot to cut around um and that gives you like a lot of space to you know reposition other pattern pieces to make it into something new I do kind of feel a little bit obligated to try and work in the half placket with the band I mean because that is like so much work um but I don't know what's going to happen to the rest of it I don't have a plan yet um for what's going to happen below the half placket I mean obviously some shaping around the shoulders and you know cinch in the waist but beyond that I'm not I'm not too sure what I'm going to end up doing with this but it's a beautiful teal turquoise color and it has like it's almost like a um swiss dot kind of I guess I don't know there's not a lot of information on the tag at all um about I mean there's not even any um fabric info anywhere there's like I don't know if this was like I don't know what happened oh and also it's I remember now that I went from when I bought this check out these super weird pockets okay so you have the dress like this and then you put your hand into the pocket here and it's flat with the with the side seam like you know how normally they go into the like your pockets go into the front of your body these go straight down the side of you how interesting is that right um so I don't even know how they did that maybe I don't know so that's the that's the pocket which is just I'm not very fun and interesting but yeah so there's no like tags or anything in here that say anything about what it's made from but I'm thinking polyester maybe some cotton in here but it feels pretty polyester-y which is fine so anyways so that's my other plan um and the beauty of that is that those don't take super super long they're usually not that involved um and then the last thing you guys might have seen this if you follow mccalls mccall pattern company or simplicity creative group on instagram or facebook but they are doing a royal wedding so along and I am one of the hosts um I was given new look six five two six which is this really pretty fit and flair dress like similar to this one in that it has like a really wide band the band on that one is a little bit higher up more like an um pier waist um with two bodice options you either have a v-neck with like a pretty like almost like a scallop to it or a crossover with some pleats on the side and then different um variations for skirt lengths um and so I have a fabric picked out for what I'm going to use um it is a cotton sateen so if you guys saw my video that I posted um was it I don't know last week sometime with the navy and cream wrap dress um that was made from cotton sateen as well I had a fantastic time making that dress I loved working with cotton sateen so I'm excited to use it again um but since this is for like a royal wedding or like a springtime wedding I wanted to do something really big something kind of bold um very romantic feeling um so it's basically like a huge pop poppy the flower poppies and their bright red set on like a creamy white background um so it's very big very bold and I just think that those huge poppies are going to set off really well in such a dramatic like fit and flair dress so if you don't know about the project um there are five of us bloggers each sewing a different pattern that was chosen by the fans of mccalls and simplicity social media accounts which is just super cool and then each of us are going to be doing a sew along with our project with our pattern and the fabric that we chose so I think I want to say there are eight videos in the series so you'll start seeing those roll out this month and hopefully you like the pattern that I will be sewing and you want to join me in sewing this for the royal wedding there are going to be giveaways there's going to be a contest all kinds of fun stuff so head to um either mccalls mccall pattern company or simplicity creative groups social media accounts and there will be lots of information there that they can get out to you probably faster than I can but so that's all part of March and also April 2 so that'll be a lot of fun I'm really excited about um the opportunity and just sewing that dress is going to be so much fun I think it's going to be really beautiful and just to kind of participate in all of the hullabaloo of Megan and Harry and the Royals you know it'll be a lot of fun so that is it believe it or not I just had those few things like I said I'm kind of trying to regroup and stay focused I do have a couple of works in progress leftover from February that will be sprinkled in as well so you may see me working on those on my socials but let me know what you guys are planning on sewing in March let me know if you're going to be participating in the royal wedding so along with me or anyone else and I just can't wait to hear what everybody's working on until next time I'll see you soon bye


Recently, members from the 175th Wing Mission Support Group completed their annual training at Aviano Air Base in Italy. The 31st Communication Squadron has been very helpful in assisting us and making sure that we were ready to hit the ground running when we got here. This training is very important for our members to see what it is to be on an active duty air base first and foremost. Their processes are somewhat similar, but yet different. We don't have all the equipment on our base, so to be able to go where they have different equipment and see different things is tremendous to us. Working here in Aviano with my counterparts means a great deal to me. I think working with such a diverse group of people really brings us together and being able to bring that back home and share that energy makes the mission possible. Here at Aviano, we are working in the mailroom and just making sure that the mail is being sent, it's being received, and that customers are getting the mail. I think it provides a great deal of morale, members receiving their care packages and letters from their loved ones, and I think it brings a smell to their face and it makes the mission possible. It's not just about getting the training that you need, but also building relationships with the active duty here on base and getting to know how the active duty works and letting the active duty know how the Air National Guard works. I think we've got such a great group here to make a good impression for the Maryland Air National Guard. Reporting for the 175th Wing, this is Airman 1st Class, Allie Utner.


Welcome to Coast the Coast. My name is Lily Weinberg. I'm here joined with my colleague Lily and Corral. We are thrilled to have you for our fourth episode. How's it going, Lilyanne? It started on mute, Lily. It's going well. How are you? How was the long weekend? It was good. It was a rainy day. It was actually three days of rainy days in Miami, but by all is all as well. That's how it goes. So, tell us, kick us off a bit and tell us a bit about Coast to Coast, what we're up to. Well, for hopefully folks that are have been watching us a couple a couple weeks now, Coast to Coast is a deep dive into cities and all of the major trends and issues that are bubbling up for city officials, urban planners, city dwellers around public spaces and life. So, we're excited to continually have these wonderful individuals really join us and talk about their work and tell us how they're trying to mitigate all of the crisis that's happening in the world. It's been really interesting and a lot of fun. So, today I'm really excited about our topic today and we'll be talking about how cities can better leverage streets for people. So, we'll examine how streets can be a part of the solution for economic and social recovery and we have two experts joining us. They come from different perspectives in different fields. One is thinking about the usage of streets for a downtown and its businesses and the other is working in neighborhoods, reimagining how streets can really be leveraged for community members. It shouldn't be a really interesting conversation. Is there anything interesting that you want to learn about, Lillian? I think, well, I'd just be curious to see what they are going to share with us about the use of public spaces. There's a lot of conversation out there, especially in this last week around how do we think about the equity questions, a lot of stuff that we've discussed. And then also, you know, I think what's interesting about both of these individuals is they're really creatively rethinking these spaces and there's a lot of like the creativity being around play and things like that. And last week, we had a lot of questions about the role of art in public spaces. So, I'm really interested in seeing how that kind of creative spirit really can help us make these spaces more livable. We'll dig into that. That sounds great. I think it should be a lot of fun. So, I am thrilled to welcome our guests. We have Shalina Oddbert and Rafael Clemente. Please join us. So, Shalina Oddbert is the co-founder and executive director of KDI Design. She is also in our inaugural Night Public Spaces Fellowship. How's it going, Shalina? Great, Lily. Nice to see you. Thanks for having me. Good to see you. And then we have Rafael Clemente, the executive director of West Palm Beach Downtown Development Authority. West Palm Beach is also a Night City and Rafael has been a great friend of Night's. Welcome, Rafael. Good afternoon and good morning to some of you. Hi, Lily. Good to see you. Good to see you. And this is truly a coast to coast episode. We have Shalina who's in LA and we have Rafael who's in West Palm Beach. So, we are covering the entire United States. So, let's dive right in. And I first want to tell you a bit about how this is going to work. So, we have 15 minutes between you guys and me. We will do rapid fire questions, okay? And then Lillian's going to pop up and be joining and filtering up questions from the audience. So, audience members, please use your Q and A button for questions. Or you can also be joining us on Facebook Live, hashtag Night Live. We will be monitoring the questions there too. So, thrilled to begin. So, Shalina, I would love to start with you. And I would like to have you set some framing for us. If you can tell us a bit from your perspective, what is the opportunity of leveraging streets for public spaces? Sure. Well, the opportunity is tremendous. And I think the way that I've been thinking about this over the last couple of months is less about reimagining the street because the street, actually, if we look back to its origin story, already holds a lot of answers for us. So, I like to think about it more of remembering the street and remembering about how streets originated and what their original purpose was. And so, I think we are all familiar with what streets did at the end of the 19th century. They were kind of the inverse of what they are today. Pedestrians dominated the roads and cars were the rarity. They were the intruders. People, you know, there are great stories and old New York Times articles that talk about people, the streets being covered with people and boys running up and down the streets, delivering telegrams and you could even get your nails manicured on the street. In fact, streets were kind of the entirety of streets were these scramble crossings where people would step off the sidewalk and into the street and over to chat with someone at a moment's notice. And so, I think, and in fact, there are plenty of places around the world where streets still function that way. And so, I think the opportunity is really just to remember that origin story and take lessons from it. And in a time, like the one that we're in now, look to that past as a as an inspiration and as a cue for what we can do in our present. That's great. And I love that remembering our streets. And I think that's also really applicable for you, Raphael. As you think about downtown West Palm Beach. What do you see as a from a practitioner standpoint, the opportunity for streets, especially in the economic recovery? I think Shalina friended perfectly about remembering what our streets were originally designed for and the purposes that they served, not just as places of commerce, but of social gathering and human interaction. You know, in the early days of the pandemic, there was a lot of social gathering and human interaction. You know, in West Palm Beach, we have been testing, probing, measuring and carefully designing our public spaces for a long time. I love to say that we have benefited tremendously from very good urban planning going back, you know, already really to the to the first plan with John Nolan for our city. And coming forward to current day or present time. We've had some of the best in the business. Help advise our city on how we can design our public spaces. And we've, we've, we've missed some opportunities for sure, but we've certainly capitalized on the best majority of them. And I don't think that we could do what we're doing right now in response to COVID-19 without the great work of so many people prior to today. So, but, but tell me a bit more about, about, you know, what, what you're doing. And I would love for us to flash up a picture of, of how you're leveraging the streets for businesses. So we all know that in many states, reopening has been allowed in Florida. Our governor has allowed businesses to reopen, but at a reduced capacity. So much of our downtown district are locally owned businesses, predominantly on our ground floor, our restaurant and retail. And for these businesses to even consider survival right now, they have to find a way to serve customers and still abide by the law that's in place right now. So we started working immediately with the, with the team in the office at the downtown development authority and with city leadership to come up with a program that would allow our merchants to be able to, to survive. And it literally is a, it's a life and death time for them all. So we went into action and started rolling out a program that became known as dining on the spot. And what it is is just adaptively reusing public space, some of its streets. Our main street, is a recently done curbless design. It's just a traditional street with a curb and two motor vehicle lanes and on street parking. And we worked with the businesses in that location, as well as with city leadership, public safety officials to get this design approved and in place probably within about a week. And nothing fancy, but again, it's just a traditional street with a curb and two motor vehicle lanes and on street parking. And we worked with the businesses in that location, so it's just a traditional street with a curb and two motor vehicle lanes and on street parking. And so it's just a traditional street with a curb and two motor vehicle lanes and on street parking. And so that's something fancy, but again in many places this would be considered undoable or even illegal. And so, and, and my understanding is you also used, you know, temporary use permits. We also linked in the chat box of an article for you to dig in deeper about, about how West Palm Beach did this. Leveraging not just, not just the streets, but the streets. So I think it's really interesting to be able to be that nimble and to be able to open up to be able to, you know, get more space outside for businesses. So Shalina, I want to pivot a little bit over to you because you're really thinking about this at a neighborhood level. And how do you see streets as playing a role in the economic recovery? Also something we've been thinking a lot about. So I guess at the neighborhood level and particularly in some of the most recent neighborhoods, low income communities of color in the city of Los Angeles and really across the country. We know that moving around the city is, is causing all kinds of new hardships, particularly for those that rely on public transit or communities that really rely on these deep social networks to make things work day to day. So I see an opportunity for the street really at the block level to kind of become the new city. In our office, we've been calling it the five minute city. So first you return the street primarily to people and it's not to exclude the car. In fact, there's this great story from when cars first began to intrude on streets. So there was a, there used to be a guy that would carry a flag down the street to let people know that the car was coming. So it's not to exclude the car permanently, but just to kind of put it back in a kind of secondary role on the street. And then once we've done that, I, then you ask the city to begin to travel to its residents. And I think that that isn't so hard for us to imagine. We already know how the ice cream truck comes to visit us at the block level. Some of us may be familiar with a mobile library truck that comes to our neighborhood or a fruit vendor. And so we just tried to think about this at kind of a scaled up level. And then we started to think about, you know, how could you be able, how could you reconfigure the street to be a place of service delivery? Can the natural history museum bring its mobile museum to your street rather than you needing to cross the city to engage in culture that way. We're looking at here. No problem. So this is, this is just a beginning. Study on what that could look like. And then you can create these little parklets of these kind of stations across the street where someone could, when regulations allow, give you a haircut on the side of the road or give, do that manicure that you've been dying to have done, or do something more cultural and, and entertaining by pulling up the Los Angeles library mobile van and inviting them into your community to maybe do a story hour. And the options are endless. We, we began to catalog all of the things that are already mobile within the city of LA. And we have a list pages long of cultural things, basic amenities, and all kinds of things in between that, that really just need a place to land. And of course the street at the block level can very easily accommodate that. And, and then of course there are street vendors who really have provided the kind of lifeblood of amenities across our cities, in some cities legally and in some cities just recently, that have recently gone through the fight like Los Angeles to make street bending legal. I think there's a huge untapped possibility there and we should be enlisting their help to, and contracting them to help us keep our cities running at this block level. Absolutely. And that's one of the things we've been thinking of. And where can, you said that you have a list of mobile services. They can, can folks go to your website for, for services in LA? No, not yet. Maybe that's a good place to put it. This is the internal study to think about how we can invite people onto these slow streets that we're helping the city to create. Got it. Okay. And we also, we are linking to a really interesting article that goes deeper into what KDI design is doing. And then we also just flashed up a picture of how you're thinking about also play. Can you just briefly tell us about how you think about play for, at a street level and at a neighborhood level? Sure. Well, going back to this original idea of looking to our past and what streets, how streets used to primarily function within a neighborhood. You don't even have to go back as far as to the turn of the century, the 19th century to know that streets were used as playgrounds. I think probably many of us either played in the streets ourselves or heard stories of our parents playing in the streets. And, and so we've been building on that idea in the city of Los Angeles through a play streets program. That's been ongoing for the past few years. And in the time of COVID, we simply began to ask ourselves, how can we adapt that play streets program? How can we adapt that play streets program to work in a time of social distancing? So what does touchless play look like? How do we create opportunities for playful learning? Because so many kids will have been out of school for the summer and away from learning opportunities. And so we're thinking about that, not just in Los Angeles, but also with the city of Philadelphia, which has a very long running play streets program and is really committed to continuing that throughout the summer in a way that also has new opportunities for learning and cultural exchange during this unusual summer. Absolutely. I think all the parents are wondering, how do we get this to work? Touchless play. We are dying to know. I know Lillian and I are certainly following this closely. So that's really interesting. Thanks for sharing. So Rafael, I want to pivot a little bit to you. We only have a couple of more minutes left before Lillian jump in. You know, the stakes are really high, right? For you and for our communities across the country. You know, this is a pandemic. And so I'm wondering, you know, what are you tracking and measuring during this phase of opening up? And how will you remain nimble ready to pivot during this process? Because it's a pretty dynamic process, I would imagine. It is. And, and, well, we're measuring right away, of course, business revenues. Are we able to make an impact with the effort and investment of public dollars and public space into the program? What we've done is create a grid system effectively in public space. And that could be on the street. It could be in a park or parking lot. Even our private property that's publicly accessible to allow these dining areas or retail spaces to spill out into. So we're using, we're using public space, public life principles, really, Lillian. And we're measuring not just how many people are using this space, but how are they using it? Are they lingering in the space? Are they assembling themselves distance wise in groups? A big concern very honestly right now is our people adhering to safe distancing guidelines. So we're paying close attention to that. And we're also looking to measure public perception. Do people feel safe coming back to patronize? And, and experience public life. Not just patronize business, but to experience public life in our, in our urban center. Because, you know, the people are the lifeblood of the place. So if they're having an hesitation of returning, we need to be able to adjust to those things. Right, right. Shalina, do you want to add anything I need in there? I would agree with everything that Rafael said. I guess I would just maybe add. Or emphasize a point that Rafael made, which is about who's using it. I would also extend that to say who knows about it. I think it's really important as we think about how we make these new systems available across our city, that we're doing it in a way that really make sure that the places that need it most, the places that we're already lacking infrastructure and lacking access prior to the pandemic are first in line. Yeah. Or at the front of the line to receive this new infrastructure, these new opportunities for economic invigoration and for cultural and social opportunities, as opposed to focusing them solely on the places where we know they're going to be successful because they're already that vibrancy and economic activity in the first place. So the fantastic point is really important. That really hits upon the equity lens, right? You know, how do we make this equitable and inclusive? So, so I'm going to pause here. We are, we are at 16 minutes of chatting. So, so I want to call in Lillian. There's a rapid fire tons of questions coming in Lillian. Take it over please. Yeah. Great conversation. Thank you very much. And I'm going to start with Shalina and Raphael. One first question to start off with is around leadership. And this actually is a question that also harkens back to one of our previous guests. Can you talk a little bit about what's the kind of leadership that needs to be in place at the city level? So maybe Shalina, you as it as sort of an outside of the city expert, tell us a little bit about what do you think is required in the leader? And then maybe Raphael, can you tell us a little bit about what's the kind of leadership that needs to be able to get this done so quickly. So any thoughts, Shalina? I think it's pretty simple. I think. From leaders, you need. Leaders that are ready to look outside of the traditional toolbox. Because that's what this pandemic is calling. Calling upon us to do across every system. So we have a lot of people that are willing to take calculated risks and willing to move things in ways that they haven't been moved before. So that we can take a chance, see what works. If it doesn't work, move pivot immediately and get to things that can be functional over the next two, three, six months as quickly as possible because that's what our city needs. We won't get everything right, right away. We don't move quickly to, and with the best information that we have to put things out into the public. We may miss the window to really have an impact at all. That's a great point. Raphael, any thoughts about sort of what it's taken for you to get this work moving? Well, as I mentioned earlier, when we started the session, that this has been an incremental building up of willingness and learning at the leadership level at the very top from our mayor and commission on down to my board of directors at the DDA, but also in our community. And we've done a lot of hard work to be sure that the leaders in our community, whether they're our elected officials or our influencers in our community residents and business owners, have the information and the understanding of what works and what doesn't work. And that we've been able to bring them into the process from the start. I think that engaging the leadership in that way and involving them, giving them the assurance that this is whatever we're doing, we're going to be doing in the best way possible. We're going to be monitoring and measuring and carefully approaching it. Giving them the confidence to make that decision has been the key for us to get it done. Great. There's another set of questions that's really come up around. How do we make sure that there's the right set of balance?  We need to be able to deliver and run business. So can you talk a little bit about how we strike the right balance? And then also maybe some specific criteria. A couple of folks asked, are there specific criteria that you're seeing used to develop which streets are slow? What does this really look like? I think folks are wondering, do we just stop all cars or all movement? What are some real examples of how this is really rolling out? Either of you. I'll just say a couple of quick things. And that's why I brought up the man with the flag back in 1908 because there were really good systems even back then to ensure that cars could access these same streets for all the things that the person who raised the question pointed out. And so it's just, it's not about eliminating the cars. It's just about thinking about our streets more as a network and thinking about how a network of streets serves both pedestrians and other modes of travel and vehicles so that you arrive at this balance that allows both types of service and opportunity to coexist. And I'm sure Rafael has some great examples. So I'll stop there for now. Yeah. Yes. Yes. And I'll give, I'll just give a concrete example from our most recent efforts in West Palm. Our main street, Clematis was just recently redone. And through the design process with Dover coal and local stakeholders and city officials. One thing that we realized through measuring was that the amount of space allocated to cars versus people was completely lopsided. It was backwards. The number of human beings out of their cars using the street was significantly more than the number of vehicles using the street, especially at peak hour times. But the amount of space of that, of that main street corridor, the fat, the majority of it was dedicated to motor vehicle movement at storage. Parking spaces and travel lanes. So what we did was rebalance the street was balanced the street in an appropriate way. The initial response was how are we going to park, how are we going to do deliveries, et cetera. But as we've seen the various phases, the blocks of the streetscape project come to reality. We're now having people asking for more. In fact, the latest, the latest phase of the project, the vast majority of the stakeholders in those blocks said, you know what, get rid of all the parking, just leave a pickup and drop off area and a delivery space. And let us have more, more room for human beings to spill out into the public realm. So as Charlene said, yes, it's a balance, but there is also this cognitive process of getting our heads around the fact that, that creating more space for people doesn't mean eliminating cars. It means rebalancing our public spaces. Actually in our urban centers. That's a great example about the pickup and drop off space because there were a couple of questions about what do we do with gig drivers? What do we do with deliveries or curb management? And it seems like you could just rethink the space. You can assign it and then create some of that balance you're talking about. There was a good question here around ADA and accessibility. Can you both talk about how you're thinking about accessibility in your work? Because yeah, I mean, I think we're assuming, I know I live in Los Angeles and one of the big issues we have is our sidewalks are destroyed by a lot of street trees. And so we've had a lot of issues with ADA compliance and being able to really navigate the street. Can you talk about how you're dealing with that issue? And how you ensure that it is truly accessible? Yeah, I would just say the thing that we are doing in our office is approaching it like we would any design process, even though it's temporary and even though it has to be quick. I think, I guess we would say that temporary and quick doesn't mean that it can, it just needs to be kind of the lowest common denominator. It still needs to work for everyone. It still needs to be inclusive for everyone. And so whether we're talking, if we're talking about something as simple as touchless play, that's touchless play that works for people of all abilities, of all ages and of all types. And so it's simply for me that the answer to that question is about process. The way that we bring all of these things online, whether they be a programmatic intervention or physical intervention, it really needs to start with inclusion and equity at the heart of it. And if it doesn't, if we try to push those things aside in the name of urgency or expediency, then we are missing the real question and the real challenge that is before us. It is to do these things for everyone in a way that is equitable. And that includes people of all types and abilities. Yeah. Yeah, I'll just add that, you know, yes, the process. As Shalina pointed out is, is, you know, that's the very beginning.  In terms of keeping things going. Urban place management and quality public realm. Outcomes are all about continuously monitoring and repairing and fixing and measuring and reevaluating your place. And access is, you know, at the very top of the list, access for all, you know, an equitable access program. Is a, is a critical element for everyone. So whether it's a permanent heartscape project. Like a streetscape or whether it's a, a responsive adaptive program like dining on the spot. We're always looking at, um, at access and through the permitting process, you know, obviously with our city, those things are always looked at and then we monitor to make sure that they stay in place. Great. Well, I'm going to turn it over to Lily to close it out. There's some great questions around how does zoning change after this? What do we think about smart infrastructure? Um, but maybe we can tackle those offline and that Lily, um, hop on and, and wrap us up. That was excellent. Thank you so much. Lillian. Um, thank you, Raphael, Shalina. That was fantastic. There are tons of questions. Um, so we are going to be flashing up, um, your Twitter handles. Um, so if you want to continue the conversation, um, please, please do continue. Um, I also saw a lot of questions around, um, uh, uh, touchless play, uh, Shalina. And if that's a real thing and it is a real thing. Um, so, so it's really, really exciting. Um, and on the streets of Philadelphia in just a few months. Ah, yes. Um, and we, we heard from Catherine last week about that. Um, so thank you both. Um, again, for, for joining us for this, for this quick episode on how we can leverage streets, um, within our communities. I really heard a lot about engagement and inclusivity, equity as being at the heart of it. So thank you so much for, for taking the time. Um, Lillian, can you tell us a bit about what we're going to be discussing next week? Yeah. So we're going to start to talk a little bit more about the role of technology. So the last question around smart infrastructure. Um, is a really good one and we're inviting Anthony Townsend, who is the author of smart cities, which was a book that came out in 2013 and it has a new book coming out called ghost road. And so as you know, Lily transportation mobility has been highly impacted by this, um, pandemic. And so one of the things that he's really going to be talking to us is there's both positives and negatives obviously to these autonomous vehicles and the autonomous future. And Anthony's going to help us dissect all that. And so we hope everybody can join us next week for that conversation. Same place, same time, Tuesdays, uh, 1pm Eastern. Um, and look forward to seeing everyone on coast to coast next week. See you next week. Take care.