Hi, I'm Gene Bergman and we are right now on Burlington Progressives TV and I am the War Two City Councilor and the host for this show and I am so pleased to be here with Lena Greenberg and Dan Castragano and Joe Cain. They are three candidates for City Council and I am just going to try to navigate us in the conversation so that you get a chance to speak to people in your wards and also in the city as a whole and each other and let's start with you Lena. Why don't you just try to introduce yourself give us a brief personal and political history. Sure thing. Thanks Gene glad to be here today. My name is Lena Greenberg I use they them pronouns. I am running for Ward 5 City Council because I care about my neighbors and I want to see Burlington thrive I think with a compassionate and energetic and focused ambitious City Council we can get there I am really concerned about public safety about affordable housing about the climate crisis there's so much we can do to take care of our neighbors and we're not doing it we need to get to work we have seen a lot of stalemate in City Council and what I really want to see is us prioritize urgent action on things like reducing the demand for drugs in our city which I think will make a big dent in in crime and will keep our neighbors more safe no matter their circumstance whether you're in a home that you own or if you're sleeping in a tent we need to make big moves on the climate crisis the clock is not waiting for us to get our political act together we really need to move on counting our emissions and thinking about how to make good on that promise to weatherize rental units and make it possible for folks to navigate this really challenging climate time in a way that doesn't put undue financial burden on them we also need to make moves on new housing I am in the ward with the Southend Innovation District I want to see that be affordable housing that turns into a community in a real neighborhood not a place for luxury condos and someone said to me selling the soul of the Southend I want us to keep the soul of the Southend I grew up in New York City I watched my neighborhood get totally destroyed by development and I don't want to see that happen in Burlington I want to live here for a long time so bringing bringing all of that intention and energy to this race and really glad to have the opportunity to serve my community great we'll have a chance to explore a little bit more of all of that the platform and also your personal history it sounds really interesting Dan tell us about nice to see you again tell us about yourself that Dan and I go back we've organized a bit in this community and so why don't you give us a little brief personal history and political history and to extent to which you want to also raise the political issues of why you're you're running that'd be great cool thanks Jean yeah and good to sit between Lena and Joe fellow organizers and folks stepping up to run for City Council my name is Dan Castro Gano I use he him pronouns I'm running in Ward 4 as a progressive for City Council I'm a teacher I'm a dad I live with my partner and my son in the New North End been teaching for about 15 years and that's what I do right now I work with high school aged kids and love what I do I the last six of my seven years or so have been working specifically on climate education both in the classroom so teaching a lot of middle school kids and high school students about the climate emergency and what we have to do and then spending a couple of years coaching teachers on how to teach about the climate emergency so and I'm choosing to step up into this race because I care a lot about our city I love Burlington my family loves Burlington and have been organizing since I got here around things like climate and transportation and housing and just see these series of crises in our city and we use the term crisis right so for climate crisis for housing crisis for substance use for safety right and see the city not responding at the level appropriate for these crises that we are facing so you have an example of some of the organizing that you've done yeah definitely yeah real highlight of real highlight GM and Jean you and I worked together at first the city of the Burlington International Airport wanted to expand 11 more acres into the working-class neighborhood the Chamberlain neighborhood of South Burlington to expand the footprint of the airport which means you know more flights more emissions more noise and then the destruction of over the continued destruction of more housing sort of creeping into that neighborhood and how that impacts everybody so organizing against that and we were able to win that that organizing you know fight and yeah just care deeply about workers about families about children and organize a lot around yeah things like climate and things like housing and transportation justice I gotta tell you Dan that it was a pleasure to work with you I would love to be on the city council with all of you Dan brought such value to that fight and I think that we saved a neighborhood at least the remnants of a neighborhood you're talking about you know gentrification and displacement in New York and we'll go back to that in the similarities but it's so important that we have people who are coming in who are not bureaucrats but are really working to organize folks and and have that learned experience Joe hi so nice to see you again we've seen each other at the at the NPA and around some important international issues and I wonder if you could just introduce yourself personal history and your political history and the extent to which it bleeds into the the reasons that you're running by all means within the short period of time again yeah for sure it's nice to be here with you all I'm proud to be on this slate with other progressives who who do do good work in the community I'm running because I think the progressives have done great work in the city for decades and I'd like to continue that tradition I also I'm running because I watched the meetings and the city council meetings that is and the meetings are very frustrating I think there's a lack of urgency on council there's a tendency to kind of kick the can down the road on urgent issues climate housing tax policy you know I think there are real democratic process issues as well I'd like to see counselors paid more I'd like to see publicly funded elections I would like to see Burlington continue its long and storied history of providing you know international solidarity solidarity more broadly than than just within the city as in the issue going on in Palestine we collected signatures for an anti-apartheid pledge that we failed to get on the ballot one of the several but not for lack of not for lack of signatures yeah yeah right it was a yeah democratic process issue where one of I think three items at least that a lot of people worked hard to get on the ballot for this this March that is not going to be on the ballot because of yeah I think real issues with democratic process in the city I have a background as an economist as a professor I've done research in housing policy health policy environmental policy I am a labor economist I work at the Bureau of Labor Statistics right now calculating the unemployment rate and I've been teaching students for many years what good and bad economic policy looks like and I have a lot of ideas I I think I could you know jump in from day one and introduce agenda items that would move city policy forward that would be helpful I'd love to serve on a city council with an economist who is coming from a progressive point of view we're gonna be going through a budget that is gonna be tough to say the least we need to be able to figure out how to build more housing how to stabilize rents for example so having your expertise would be really great let's turn back and and try to blend a little bit more of your reflections on growing up and your activism and your community service because I know that you're on the MPA for example and its relationship with the reasons that you're you're running sort of like blend that a little bit more for me sure thing what I learned as a little kid is still true when we let developers make the rules we lose our communities and we can't afford to do that in Burlington we need more housing and we need housing that people can afford and want to live in one of the things I've heard from folks when knocking on doors is people go out of their way to renovate their home and make it more housing for for friends or for family members they're trying to add an ADU in their backyard and instead of getting support from the city they're faced with permitting and hurdles that they they have to clear I think helping folks be developers at a small scale will both preserve the beautiful character of our neighborhoods I love the south end I love the way it feels to walk through the south end and bike through the south end and I don't want to lose that and I think supporting folks in in doing that infill development work really will will kind of pave a way out of this crisis for us I know that when we get together and try to figure things out we do better than when folks tell us what to do or when developers tell us what to do at the NPA I've watched people who I never would have met otherwise come together and say oh here's a problem let's think creatively about how to fix it and and see movement I've been attending and watching the city council meetings for months and and seeing that we're kind of stuck in this stalemate when we can't make decisions we can't deliver for people and when we bring people together we are able to find consensus and then we can make decisions I I really value the work of facilitation and collaboration I've done a lot of that work in in the climate field and the food access and food justice field as a communications professional trying to find a way forward when it feels like we're stuck is really natural to me and seems like some of the energy we need on the council okay so last night we had the neighborhood code come before us I don't know the answer to this it's always hard to ask questions that you don't know the answer to and be out of control but but be that as it may one of the arguments for the neighborhood code or in the promotion for the time frame that we're being asked to do that is that there was a tremendous amount of public process so did the neighborhood code which is purportedly to do much of what you're talking about in terms of helping people develop their properties and infill development did that come to the word 5npa and and just give me some of your reflections on that all yeah I loved hearing about neighborhood code at the npa we had a really great meeting there was a meeting right before our npa that was about the south end innovation district so it was a nice kind of lumped opportunity for folks to just come to the Department of Public Works one time on one afternoon and get the full slate of of information about development in our neighborhood it was great to see people engage on that one of the things I'd really like to see in the future of our city and our city council is that people don't feel like their voices are getting heard and I know that there are so many community plans for I don't even know what it's called the pit city place yeah yeah yeah yeah no the there was a beautiful community plan for that there was plenty of input and resistance to the Champlain Parkway which has transformed the south end neighborhood forever we have to live with the legacy of bad planning decisions and people have good ideas I want to see there be less of a difference between what people want for their community and what actually gets gets you know pushed forward through city council and I think the neighborhood code has has those foot the planning department has done really good due diligence on on shopping and around to npa is and showing up at community led events and I want to make sure that we can really arrive with that that we're not just you know saying we're doing public input and then and then letting letting things fall apart afterwards zoning is an amazing tool it's slow we're not bulldozing neighborhoods just because we up his own them we're actually saying here's a here's a possibility here's potential for us to develop there's gonna be so many more steps so many more ways we have to approve developments and I appreciate the way the neighborhood code has kind of unfolded well that's helpful for me because they are going no I say that because I've been focused on other things like climate and so I have not focused on that and one of the complaints has been that at least in Ward one in the Hill section there hasn't been that type of engagement so there's always room for more engagement right and and I think that if we can make the engagement happen throughout the process we have fewer problems like that that is perfect Dan there are issues that prompted you to run yes why did you decide why did you decide to run now yeah just yeah like I said before just these series of crises and like where the crisis is and then the proposed solutions or the implemented solutions don't match don't match the crisis to give me some examples yeah so you know on climate we have to get to zero emissions as quickly as possible the 2019 net zero energy roadmap is flawed we have to rewrite it it doesn't count the two biggest polluters that are owned and operated by the city of Burlington which is McNeil generating station and the airport right we need a realistic plan to get to zero emissions as fast as we can that's one the second one is trans you know my platform is transportation justice and safe streets so the ability for everybody to get around the city however they want so walk bike roll public transit or drive and everybody should have the freedom to do that and if we build these robust systems especially for walking biking rolling in public transit then it makes getting around the city and through the city better for everybody even if you're driving a car so that means like bus shelters and bus stations that means protected bike lanes that means implementing with quick build infrastructure and volunteers the 2017 plan BTV walk bike plan which is just woefully out of date it's just not even close to where we should be so that's some on that and then housing is we need more housing like Lena was saying and and building housing in the biggest city in Vermont is good and it solves both the climate and housing crises at the same time I think neighborhood code is good I think it doesn't go as far as it should go there are certain neighborhoods that are still designated as RL and I know that was discussed last night is that at the very least everything should be brought up to RM including the new north end and the south end which I think have been left at RL for the most part which is I think that the rub that I heard last night where the pushback has been Ward Ward 1 as opposed to really upzoning in the other zones yeah and then the goal is to legalize housing right we have to legalize housing in both of our opponents actually in one of the neighborhood code meaning said you know let's keep it restrictive zoning and so that and the ability to have mixed use right so the goal of a city is to have mixed use and that means residential and commercial and it doesn't mean like an industrial ironworks but it means like on my street or like in throughout the whole city of Burlington having the ability to have a cafe or a bakery or a barbershop there and so it solves the housing crisis solves the climate crisis you know takes a step forward for the climate crisis because the two biggest sources of pollution are buildings and cars right so if you build more densely and people drive less you know we're more socially connected it's more joyful and you can get around however you want and sort of like leaning into the next era of Burlington and then wanted to touch on what Lena was saying too about just just process and sort of how the city is the rolls things out and like what public engagement looks like and wants that like actually listen to people and not just corporate interest and special interests and if you're checking the public engagement box just like let us know like if like this is the plan and like these are the things that aren't going to change like the Burlington-Wanooski bridge like four lanes and they're going to widen the lanes faster travel speeds more traffic violence louder like lots of stuff like that then just tell us at the beginning like and and so that you know the public process is robust and actually is meaningful. Dog and pony shows are not your public engagement. It's a waste of everybody's time. Yeah I hear you. That's right. And Joe you're running now. Why? Well I have the same vision I think that Dan and Lena have. Yeah for a city that is a nicer place to live and it's where it's easier to get around where ordinary folks are footing less of the bill. There was a reappraisal process in 2021 that shifted the burden onto residential to some extent from commercial because of lower revenues during COVID. We have a woefully out of date tax code where we have a completely flat property tax system. Buildings get taxed how they get taxed. Residential structures that is get taxed how they get taxed regardless of who owns them or how they're used. Progressives including our mayoral candidate Emma Mulvaney-Stanek are running on making that progressive so income based occupancy based just like the state does to finance the education system. I would also be in favor of a vacancy tax which is something that Democratic mayoral candidate former mayoral candidate CD Madison advocated for. You know I think we need a land value tax. Right now we have disincentives for development because if you improve the value of your home if you add an ADU your assessment will go up and your tax bill will also go up. If we just tax the land we don't disincentivize development that would go along the way towards helping with the housing crisis. Obviously most of the revenue for the city comes from property taxes comes from taxes and the tax code being regressive is surprising I think for a city that is known to be or has a reputation for being progressive and so I'd like to update the tax code and I really think we need democratic process reforms that I'm just concerned will not happen if progressives don't have a strong voice on council. Talk to us about those democratic reforms the process reforms. Yeah so I think we need a whole host of them so at the governor lieutenant governor level there is public campaign financing but it's limited it doesn't it doesn't go up to match the financing that somebody a well-financed candidate who's not taking the financing might receive. So we have a limited public financing system at the highest levels of government in the state we could extend it downward. Other states and other cities have so for instance Portland main allows at the city council level even down to the school board level if you solicit you know small donations fifty five dollar donations in Portland main then you unlock four thousand dollars of public funds that would make it much easier for you know us for us to have a representative government you know some city councils many city councils around the country treat it like a job they they pay people enough for it to be their job and what do you know they get you know diverse young yeah balanced in terms of gender and background city councils that take up the issues that we care about so you know I think it's unlikely that we're going to see progress on environmental issues on housing issues you know the tax code until we reform our democratic process well and all of you are young working people and this is good i'm a really old retired guy so this is good as well but it does speak to the difficulties that that come and the lived experiences not only of what you have lived but what you are living and experiencing that we need to have let alone the the energy that it takes to to run as a as a city council and to be a city counselor so um let's let's talk about what you're what you're hearing out on the on the campaign trail and then yeah well let let's just leave it at that what are you hearing plenty plenty to say about that good the first thing i hear at the door is folks are struggling to stay afloat people are really having a hard time paying the bills whether they are in burlington housing authority housing or if they're in a home that they own i've heard from folks across the economic spectrum that it's really hard to think about staying in burlington which is really really sad we need people we are we make up a beautiful community because of the folks who are here the folks who are committed to living and working here to raising their kids here to thinking about a future here and unless we push forward those those property tax reforms that joe was talking about unless we really think think critically about how we're making it possible for folks across the income spectrum to survive here we're going to lose what makes our community diverse it's also you know it's not just the cost side but it's also the wage absolutely right and and last night we were we were hearing about the responsibility of the city to be a good employer i think that's essential we we need living wages and thriving wages here in burlington the cost of living is incredibly high another great way we can get at that is rent rebates for folks rent tax credits and making sure that as joe was saying you know our taxation needs to be responsive to people's incomes and and you shouldn't be punished for doing something like building more housing on your on your lot and we need different different policies at the state level as well right we need health care we need child care we need paid family leave all of these kind of cornerstones of being a person and having a life that we've really left people to to figure out themselves and we've left big corporations to to suck our bank accounts dry that's not okay it's not sustainable and if we want to see this community thrive we need to take care of our people which happens at the city and the state level i gotta say i'm gonna and we'll follow up with what else you're hearing there but you know you do not hear that if you get the um the flyers from the like the two the two former democratic or the two democratic nominees for the big ones not cd for the for mayoral you don't hear anything about a critique of of a system that basically leaves everybody out on their own to to scuffle and shovel shuffle and to um while all the wealth just gets appropriated at the top and so at the very least i just want to say that it is really important at this level when we're out there on the street talking about sidewalks talking about climate and what we can do that folks are raising that issue um we have an obligation because the the democrats and the rest of the system are not going to make what is necessary and possible um available to people they are not going to push that window open that says this is this is acceptable ways of thinking and i see all the time people saying at the council level you know no we shouldn't be talking about that don't talk about that the narrow and the window gets smaller and smaller and so then we fight vigorously over little stuff so what else at the at are you hearing at the at the door well you just brought up something that i've been hearing a 10 that i'm sure every anybody who's knocking on a door in 2024 in burlington is hearing we've really left people to fend for themselves we live in a system that encourages us to leave people to fend for themselves and it's not working we are people are not feeling safe in burlington and for folks who have been here for a long time for folks who have been here for a few years we can all feel the difference and we deserve to feel safe here we need to make some common sense investments in harm reduction we need to reduce the demand for drugs in burlington people are telling me about syringes that have led to the the demolition of the playground around the corner from their house we're hearing about you know folks breaking into cars people are struggling to find warm places to sleep and to find sources of hope addiction is a symptom of hopelessness and if we start to constructively build a way out of a cycle of struggle for everybody then we'll see we'll see that change i cannot tell you how many times people have you know mourned not being not feeling safe when they walk their dog after dark or not wanting to let their kid walk home from school alone we need to invest in community safety for everybody which is going to take a really broad range of solutions i've spent a bunch of my working life in direct service helping people get food we don't have well-networked services if you get food you're not necessarily getting connected to housing you're not necessarily getting connected to health insurance or or debt relief support we have so many wonderful services in this state and then in this city we need to connect them better so that folks who do get as far as that really hard step of asking for help are really getting needs met across the spectrum dan what are you hearing yeah just you said a lot of good stuff um just wanted to um outline sort of what i'm thinking and what kind of what you were saying gene and then like pivot to that a little bit but just absolutely the yeah like the systems the systems that prioritize you know profit over human beings um so it's everything from yeah health care to our uh being in debt for going to college to just um food insecurity low wages um and people are struggling um was just in between jobs for a couple months have spent like at least six hours on the phone like figuring out health insurance and like it's not done like i still have to like do at least three or four more steps just to figure that out just so that we you know don't go bankrupt if we have a medical catastrophe um and so all these systems mean that yeah people are struggling um people are struggling um for food for housing um and for everything and agree with what lana said that um everybody deserves to feel safe in the city i deserve to feel safe my two-year-old deserves to feel safe children deserve to feel safe um and we have to holistically we have to grapple with these you know big systemic you know issues and then and take care of people today and respond appropriately so that means doing things like not displacing the displaced right i just spoke with one of my friends um at the howard center he's like there are no beds you know there are no beds we don't have you know we need emergency low barrier shelters having people sleep outside in the middle of winter children sleep outside in the middle of winter is not acceptable i know it's a complex issue i know that a lot of people from vermont come to burlington it's the biggest city we have to partner with this state but making sure that people's basic needs are being met first um and i think the core of that is housing um and making sure that everybody everybody feels safe at night um and then we can you know create those wraparound services that's like you have food you have you know job development um you know access to health care um a translation services right all those things um to make sure that everybody's taken care of and feel safe and that everybody feels safe no matter where you live in burlington yep so pivoting to the doors yeah yeah um a lot of it um housing in like affordability is like especially in the new north end is like especially if you're on a fixed income um can they stay here these are folks that own their own homes so homeowners uh saying like it's like property taxes are increasing and i think um and i think carter spoke about that last time when he was in this in these chairs um but is that like that zoning right like zoning is not a cure all but like that zoning of like that is what makes a strong city is to have um to legalize more housing so that people can live more closely together so that the tax burden is shared by more people so that we you know income sensitize it um uh and i have a lot to learn from joe on this stuff but um that all of the costs of the city and all these things that we want you know we want more social workers we want all of these things cost money yeah um and if you have more people living in a smaller amount of space then you can share those costs and so that's like um road repair and maintenance sewer electric water like all of that stuff there's there's more to go around we had this fight we had a fight over increasing the density of the city 20 25 years ago where there was a plan that then progressive mayor peter clavel put forward to increase the size of the city by 60 to 66 thousand it's been around 40 now it's like 45 and the outrage that existed at that time was you know was stunning actually so i think that we are reaping the negative benefits of of some of that um and really from my perspective and sitting where i do um the um you know the choice is austerity or figuring out the way that we're going to build a solidarity economy that raises the money to do the care that we need to take because we're all going to pay for it i mean just because you uh you don't tax it doesn't mean that you're not going to pay for it in some other ways and we are paying for it right now so i always say that austerity kills and what we need to do and it's a global phenomena that we need to um figure out the ways to uh to raise the funds that we need joe what are you hearing at the doors thanks jean i'm hearing uh similar things i think to what dan and lan are hearing uh definitely stress about finances about affordability in the downtown area ward three a lot of renters uh rents have increased quite a bit in this city in the last couple years especially with high inflation um and we don't have rent stabilization um portland main recently passed a version of rent control i've studied it and think we should implement something similar emma is also running on that i was knocking someone's door just the other day who was saying that that their rent doubled and they're on a fixed income and they're in their 80s and the lists are full for moving into affordable housing and it was one of the the famous wealthy families who who bought the house and and is trying to drive this person out and uh yeah it's it's very frustrating and it's it's not um not as uncommon as you might think so affordability the housing crisis is definitely very much on people's minds people want to be able to uh own their homes and you know people who live in my ward are mostly renters and uh don't feel like they'll necessarily ever be able to own their home and and want to uh yeah just live in live in a society that where things work different economically and i think we need fundamental change if you look at uh yeah this upcoming austerity debate that's already being previewed at the city council if you look at what the administration presented even last night uh they were saying you know how are we gonna um fill in this this shortfall upcoming well you know we can maybe grow the grand list a little bit while we aren't developing very much more housing maybe we can raise a little bit more money through fees and such um you know they talk around the major issue which is the way the whole tax system works in the way it's biased in favor of people who are well to do snowbirds go and save uh 10 15 thousand dollars a year in state income tax in Florida the state of Vermont taxes a little bit of it back through the education program and the city of burlington um lets them off the hook otherwise there there's a lot of low hanging fruit that would make you know that would increase revenues and make things more affordable i think starting the reappraisal process as soon as possible to uh rebalance after the burden was shifted towards residential properties would make sense the golf course got a 40 percent tax cut and we'll continue to get a 40 percent tax cut every year until we do another reappraisal um so you know why why should we wait another five years or however long i'm also hearing concerns about community safety people are saying they want to be able to walk their dogs in city hall park on on church street um it's it's yeah it's really sad to hear these stories and i i feel this uh you know too in our city um i certainly see see what's going on um you know there was a shooting in city hall park uh last summer um one evening i was in the park i think at the same time the evening before um you know people are are very stressed about safety and uh i'm uh you know certainly looking into what what can be done we we are hiring um you know trying to restaff the police department as aggressively as we can right now we don't give the same level of aggression in our hiring to the unsworn positions of the the uh cso's and the csl's the you know social workers for instance don't qualify for this $15,000 hiring bonus that the traditional officers do qualify for you know maybe we should hire more aggressively right now we only have four uh put on patrol four officers on patrol in the city center area on a good night um and we have uh open air drug use and other things that you know lead to a perceived lack of safety as a priority three of three for the police department i i read the chief's reports and and the tone in them is is clearly not the tone of someone who is trying to modernize the department to meet the needs that we face in our city which are you know mostly mental health issues substance substance use issues that sort of thing other police chiefs uh in in this state are making more aggressive efforts to you know modernize modernize the departments to meet the needs that that cities are facing um you know at this stage of the opioid crisis at this stage of the covid crisis so lots of discussions about safety lots of discussions about um yeah affordability and then certainly democratic process as well so it's it's it's pretty heartbreaking actually i knock a lot of the same doors that i knocked for months um trying to get petitions signed for this anti-apartheid pledge um and so it's it's sad i knock these people's doors who were really excited to sign it really grateful for the work i was doing really glad that somebody was doing something um and yeah just they they are shocked uh to hear um what happened and uh very disappointed like i am so the fact that you're going back and talking to them does that reinforce a cynicism or does it say okay we're going to we're going to keep fighting thank you so much for being out there and letting me know and carrying on the fight how how's that getting manifested um well i think people are uh waking up to the um stark difference between progressives and democrats in terms of respect for democratic process um i i think uh you know in a particular instance it might be justifiable to you know do more uh you know research and try to find consensus but if you're making the certain the certain argument over and over and over again on every issue you know for instance the police oversight measure is not going to be on the ballot in March because we didn't have proper consensus with the uh police union and the high turnover police commission you know this sort of argument is a conservative argument the democratic party is a conservative force in this city um holding back progress holding back democratic process and i think people are starting to understand that um yeah quite a bit better maybe than they used to great um before we forget we want to talk about uh some of the things that are in terms of voting so and this is important for i think all of us because all of our districts have been changed but first of all uh and i think we've got something that a slide can be shown um there you go this is information about voting and we'll know that the um ballots are going to be mailed out on the 14th they're not done yet um and it looks like we'll be getting um people should get their ballots by the 20th of February so in about three weeks um the polling places have changed ward two which now has lots of war the old ward three people vote at uh from my world the ho willer school but it's also the integrated arts academy it's a great magnus school at in your ward ward three joe they were they they were sustainability academy um and that's on it's on north street right and your ward has changed there are a number of people who used to be in ward two maybe some who have been in it were in ward five yeah i think uh the old north end used to be split um sort of the western portion was in three and the eastern portion was in two and and now it's split uh sort of very differently so north and south yeah north and south i spoke to a voter um just this morning who who told me that they uh if they hadn't spoken to me they would have gone to the wrong polling place okay and dan your ward four saint marx catholic church on north ave okay and lana at the burlington electric department on pine street and yeah many folks who were in who live in king maple which is the neighborhood i live in are either in three or five um look at the map you may have moved without without actually moving it's really just a reminder that the king maple neighborhood has long been sort of split up to to make make it such that we don't have the political representation we deserve so if thinking about that when i look at the map too yep wait if you guys get elected know that you will lose many battles so this redistricting was a battle that i fought in and lost um non-citizens who are legal residents in the uh in the united states and they live here in burlington with legal status are for the first time allowed to vote uh we had a cctv program on that just recently and there'll be there's information um at the clerk treasures you can see that in the third bullet up there and so uh that's really really important and the last thing in terms of the um the the election is that we continue not only to have early voting allowed and mail in voting but same day voter registration so a person can who is a resident of the city of burlington can actually register on election day and vote and we also now and who has a three-way race in this uh here i think i do you do so um we have ranked choice voting so it it does behoove us to um to appeal to all folks this was a democratic reform that i was happy to have uh shepherded through the charter change process and um 68 percent of the the people voted it may be a reason why they want to keep things off the ballot because things like that um i think that we've been told that we're out of time and so um let me thank you all for uh for sharing the time here i think you guys are great candidates and i look forward to uh to have a new sit and and and help me out thank you thank you


Everybody for us here ripping three boxes for Jonathan L appreciate the order Jonathan We've got the 2023 mosaic choice football for you and two boxes of 2023 Bowman Chrome University football hobby So we'll start with those we'll get to choice afterwards Appreciate the order. Let's do it.  I think Refractor Kyle Monung guy Yeah, I I've seen that dunk hot a few times and it's almost not fair because he can like handle up the court and just finish like that It doesn't even like Like you cannot stop him if you go for the ball.  Should we raise the height? Got Michael Pratt orange shimmer first bowman auto Blake shaping Nice start for you, Jonathan six of 25 Green shimmer here is first bowman Alton McCaskill This one there to 99 Alton McCaskill refractor Brock Bowers For all this time of night, huh? We got Infomercials on purple first Burma bowman LT first Berman first bowman LT over to the 499 the 399 the 399 399 First refractor auto is Emmett Moorhead. That's out of 499 Solid first box there to numbered quarterback. I was one really low-numbered We'll have half of it to go as well Marvin Harrison first jam griffin refractor What size she was on vinyama we got shakshu over here somewhere Oh Saturday Superstars Jordan Travis on the SP Awesome Jordan Travis You're gratch Jonathan on the oh, they're rarer than a case it they're definitely rather than case it A nice SP X Fractor first Noah Whittington purple refractor LT over to and again to 399 Drake may on the 55 Future Patriot Drake may Kyle McCord He wears size 20 and a half Refractor Chandler Morris I was gonna say man. I'm wearing like 10 and a half size vans right now X factor Kate Clubnick Ramblin man, Audrica steam a Marvin Harrison Jackson Arnold She liked the best player the wrong offer women. No, she actually played with the men Oh really That's pretty huge right I would think yeah, I mean like that's massive. She was the only woman out there I No way Matt, this is the last one you kid me I Got to the shop at like Like pull all nighter I got to the shop at 2 p.m. 2 p.m. Eastern refractor Jalen burger ramblin man Quinn Sean Judkins I work I work like 55 60 hours a week as it is. I think I'm good on the all nighter Purple shimmer is Oscar delt first bowman Caleb Williams 24 hour shame at some point we kind of need I guess What is this? What is this now? What is this Caleb Williams? It's 25 future of football auto Good god, what a couple of boxes You got to be kidding me Jonathan dude the Travis Saturday superstars and then the Future of football orange auto to 25 Caleb Williams Absolute monster car that one's free. That was really freaking huge green shimmer of Casey Thompson and 99 Fractor should her Sanders nice refractor Lou refractor Trey Benson. This box is just good overall. I guess the 199 Anthony got any new names you're doing Sanders just got to be something Yellow refractor first woman auto TV on Robinson That's out of 75 Like Robinson Ramblin man Jury and Dickie refractory Elijah Badger. I feel there's gonna be like a nebula in that choice box now Let's see like a Stroud nebula extractor common on guy purple many diamond first woman Emmanuel Henderson That's the 399 coolie and McIntyre all these hockey highlights. No one's on TV, huh? Yeah, we watched it pretty we watched the entire thing Matt Yeah, definitely a big coaching issue. I think it's a little bit everything right like refractor Tyler Buckner Like I don't need talent on defense is That great. Yeah, that's so pretty young It's a coaching thing. I'm sure he'll take most of the blame though That's a dirt. That's a dirt pick at the end is just Totally just bad judgment like it's something that should never be thrown Like just throw it through the back at the end. I'm like just kick that the ogle there extractor Titaro and McMillan. I think it was as bad as it sounds.   Oh Zeg choice see the Nebula now Here we go Jonathan congrats on the Caleb and the Travis so far the Jordan Travis that is It's a good bro They have like the all-star roster got silver Jamo Mosaic Archie Manning got a Mike quick auto red and yellow here. These would be to 80 That's Jerome Bettis sake one Barclay and JK Dobbins and Red and green rookies on the back are gonna be Cedric Tillman and Nolan Smith That does it Jonathan huge. Congrats on the bowman you boxes. Those were fire, dude for two boxes, especially monster and each Can't do a whole lot better. Appreciate it. We'll get it out to you You


Hello everyone this is Amit Dan of amitdan.com. Today I'll have another episode of unboxing and review video and I'll be unboxing the Travelon Anti-Thift Waste Pack. So Travelon makes anti-thrift products and I have used their products in the past so their products are durable and very user friendly and today we'll unbox this anti-thrift waste pack and I'll look at various features and I'll provide my honest and unbiased opinion. On this channel there's no affiliated link I do not take money from anyone and it was purchased using my own money so all you're going to get is non-affiliated, unbiased and honest opinion. So some of the features of this anti-thrift waste pack is it has locking compartments and slash proof construction, adjustable card proof waste strap, pull out water bottle and it has RFID blocking organizers inside and it can accommodate a waste size up to 50 inch. So let's start with the unboxing. The package came like this there's no fancy packaging so just a plastic wrapper and I'll just you know remove it from the plastic cover and we'll look at it. Okay so here is what we have and so they attached a small information card with the bag and let's take a look at it. So it says here classic collection waste pack anti-thrift travel on and if you look at the back of the card then it just you know gives you some descriptions of the various features. This one has for example slash resistant straps that water bottle here and slash resistance mesh panel and then we have RFID blocking internal pockets and locking hardware and here's some description and some other information so we'll just you know open up the bag and we'll look at it one by one. So I'm going to just remove this wire right here so looks like this one I have to cut it and I'll remove this plastic the paper card from here as well. Okay so let's take a look at it. So the first thing I'm going to look at I'll look at the waste strap and the waste strap is actually adjustable so you can see that you know you can adjust it by pulling right here and then if you want to make it longer you can just you know pull it further and it's going to get longer so it can adjust to any side up to 50 inch and then this side of the strap is fixed it cannot you know move here but if you take a look at this side there's a buckle here so let me just you know open up the buckle. Okay so the buckle has some sort of locking mechanism so once you you know slide it in then you can actually push this lever up and then you cannot open this anymore and then even this one has a cover right here so let's say you are wearing it it's not easy for anyone to just like you know open the buckle right here and run away with the bag so there's a layer of protection right there and it's kind of hidden so it's not you know easy to see so that's a good feature right there and then the waste strap there should be a cable which is supposed to be made of steel or something strong so you cannot just you know cut it or slash it or you know when you are wearing it no one can cut it away and take it take your bag away so it should be like you should have like you know a steel cable inside and when i'm touching it i can kind of feel it here but this fabric you know this fabric right here it feels like very durable as well so they are there too looks like you know steel cable on each side and then the fabric is very strong and durable at the same time another interesting feature we have here is that there's a small or tiny pocket here and if you open it up then you can actually pull out a water bottle whenever you need it you can stash in a bottle of water or let's say an umbrella or some small item in here but if you don't want to use it then you can just like you know close it and put it back so this feature actually i find it very you know handy because i don't use water or anything all the time but sometimes i do so definitely i'll be using this feature whenever i need to keep water and other times i'll not use it now let's look at the zipper so the zipper has locking mechanism right here so you can just like you know once you close it you can just lock it this way although this can be like you know opened but it's not going to be opened by thief like you know right away to put the hands in the pocket because it's going to take some time so that's a layer of protection and then i'll open up the zipper okay so here we have some great card slots and you can see that you know this is RFID protected there is a logo right here so here we have a good quantity of great card and passport slots so your passport can fit in here or you can even keep it keep some stuff in here as well and you can even you know put in some papers or boarding pass or anything in here and then there's a space for something right in here too so lots of great card slots which is a good feature and then this section right here this has you know this is slash proof fabric and material so it has like you know some sort of steel net or something that cannot be cut actually it can be cut but it's not going to be like you know the thief is not going to get a hold of it even they can damage it but they cannot take away your stuff so that's a good thing so i'll close this section another thing i just noticed that there's a small looks like pen holder right here so you know if you want to keep a pen it just fits nicely here so you know you know that you have a pen here so that's another good feature so let's close this here and we'll open the main compartment and same thing again the main compartment has locking mechanism just to prevent thief from you know opening up very easily but whenever you need it you can open up just take a few seconds extra and there is like a hook attached to the bag to lock the zipper and so what i'll do let's open the main compartment here and actually looks like this is very spacious in here it doesn't feel like when you're looking at from outside but there's a lot of space in here and then you can even you know put in a lot of stuff in here and there's another zipper compartment compartment so if you open it you can even like you know put in your passport or other papers or anything in here as well so you have lots of options with this and then let's look at this side okay so it looks like there's nothing on this side i don't see any pocket or anything but i do see that you know there's a flashlight so led flashlight if you need to look inside your bag at night so all you have to do you just need to you know turn on the flashlight and you will be able to see everything here and looks like you know they gave us tiny instructions for the flashlight which is right here and so this pocket this compartment is simple enough there's a big space here and then there's just one zipper there's just one zipper right here and then again the whole thing is slash proof so it's not that easy to get a hold of your stuff although it can be damaged okay so i just found looks like there's something else in here so there's actually another compartment and this compartment has no zipper so this is going to be attached to your body and this is going to be facing the front so this one can actually you can like you know hide something in here because it's attached to your body it's not going to be easily you know the tip kind of just sliding easily fingers or hands in here because it's inside it's touching your body and you can put in some quick items in here as well for example maybe just like you know a chapstick or a seat a bowling pass or something or anything you can think of and i believe that's all the compartments we have here okay so overall anti-thrift waste bag can be a very good travel companion you can you know stack in your passport boarding pass or other or money or other items that you don't want to lose and if you are just like you know you can keep this bag with you when you're sitting on the plane or going to the washroom because you shouldn't i never leave my passport on my seat or in the in other bag when i'm going to the washroom or anywhere because it always stays with me so this way you can feel comfortable or you can feel confident knowing that you know you have an anti-thrift bag which is slash proof or theft proof and it has all other security features and then the size is really small so the air personnel will not tell you to you know take it away and stack it on top or under your seat when you you know board the plane or when the plane when the plane takes off so it can keep it with you all the time so that's all i have today there will be more anti-thrift bags reviews coming up because i have another one which i'll do a review shortly and thank you for watching forget about subscribing to this channel forget about liking this video i'll see you shortly


But I you know I just seen over the years a lot of guys try to offenses go out and try to do what somebody else does And it's just doesn't work And you know because the guys aren't used to that and the terminology is different or you got to change everything around And maybe it doesn't really fit exactly what your personnel does So I think it's just a matter of you look at what they do and say okay How was how does that work in our system? And if it does then you steal it Did you think about doing that earlier or was that almost like the last resort after you well kind of going in statistically We kind of thought you know the the other way around that we were and we needed to double the other guy And so we kind of figured out that we were having a tough tough day with Evans back there So we we ended up doubling them and it it helped us certainly in the second half, but We really thought we were still okay until the first play about the first series there the second half And they hit the one down the sideline and we said okay We got to go do this. So that's what we did seems like you have not really price on the back end for blitzing Very often if at all is that your good sense of when to call it is that the effectiveness of the blitz? Is there an element of luck to it? Well, I hope it's more than luck, but I don't I don't really think it's necessarily My timing of when I'm calling it. I just think it's Guys are made aware of when we do this. These are the vulnerable spots And so we got to take care of those don't you know, don't don't sell the ranch and think that you're always gonna get there You know, we got a we got to act in the back end as if the blitz is not gonna get home And therefore just don't give up the big play has the hit rate been good on that. It's not bad. Not bad I mean it can always be better Is there is there anybody that he reminds you that you coached against or maybe a combination guys? I Don't know. He's got his own style. He just he's kind of his own.  It's different because Sanders wasn't necessarily out as a receiver and doing all those things You know, he's just one of those guys that is such an integral part of the entire offense It's just hard to see a guy up there in the league staffs as a receiver And has a running back and total yards and all that stuff. It just he's a dynamic Guy, I know this is way way before all you guys at the time But it's like Metcalfe back when he was with the Cleveland Browns I mean they could just put him Everywhere that they want to put him and he was such a hard matchup for everybody But I know it's a long long time ago, but that's Different style, but kind of that kind of a guide to their offense


Good morning traders, Patrick Munley here with another tip, middle chart here. I want to draw your attention today to a developing opportunity in the Euro Kiwi. You see we've had this five-way decline into the low here at the 174.69 area. We've since had a reaction off that low, which looks impulsive and we've had a corrected pullback here, which I think is going to be the B point in an ABC correction. As such, I'm watching price congestion here and the volatility bands contract, suggesting a breakout move potential and so I'm looking for a break of the 176.90 set long positions using protective stockdown at the 76.10 area, ultimately targeting an equality objective up at the 178.31 and that of course coincides with the 50% placement at 78.45. As always, traders, plan the trade, trade the plan, most importantly manage your risk. So next time, thanks very much.


And at least two of people have been reportedly killed by Fulani Hertzman in 12 communities in the west local government area of Benio State. According to an indigent of the area who took part in the recovery of the bodies, 9 persons were killed in Mbapa Council Ward, while 3 were in Mbanduande Council Ward of the local government chief in Yitamen, Kwacha, who narrowly escaped from the attack after his elder brother was killed. So the killer Hertzman came on motorcycles at about 4pm and commenced the attack at Seibai killing only men while asking women to escape with children. According to the community leader, the gunmen later moved in convoy to Kandy settlement area killing others. No official reaction from the security operatives as they were aiding in recovering the dead bodies. We are now being joined by his royal highness, Chief Daniel Abonsey, Tetsuiing, member of the Tive Area Traditional Council in Benio State. Glad to have you sir. Chief Abonsey. Yes. Can you hear me? Yes, I'm hearing you well. So far we hear that 12 people have been killed. Can you tell us exactly how it happened? First of all, the figure is under reported 14 persons were murdered in cut blood. And that is the area where my mother comes from. And I must tell you that these people have been on a business beginning from February 11th to date. Members of my soldiers have been bullied, murdered in cut blood, unprovoked by this killer Hertzman of full anti-nationality. There are fears that some persons were also abducted during the attacks of several locals were yet to be seen after the invasion. What is really on ground? As I'm talking to you, a search is still ongoing to discover or to unravel persons who are missing, small children, women, every young man. Because the area that has been visited with these holocausts is having a common border with Nassarawakwa state, which I persistently and continually describe as an axis of evil. There is, I can say, there is total, you know, there is chaos in that area. We have seen curses to the children of human existence. Is this the first time this has happened in your own community? No. I earlier told you that my community is the first community to be hit by this killer Hertzman of full anti-nationality beginning from 8th February, 2011 to date. The last attack is attack number 74 in the frequency of attacks and the 40% models, when you add together beginning from 2011, a total of 428 have been sent to the early graves. I wouldn't mind if we give you a breakdown of all these that has happened. Go ahead. In 2011, 55% were murdered, in 2012, 78% were murdered, in 2013, 3% were killed, in 2014, 49% were massacred. In 2015, 3%, and in 2016, 3%, while in 2017, no casualty was recorded. When you add the number from 2011 to 2017, you have 191, and remember in 217, the killings that just started out spanning from a period of about six, seven years, the Benway people came together. I was one among such people and made a clarion call on the Benway state governor, our indefatigable governor, Samuel Atom, to enact a law to regulate open grazing which was done on the 22nd of May, 2017. Then in 2018, when the Miati Arakaut and Hore vowed to resist the law in its implementation, in 2018, 85% were killed in Gwewa Square. I am the head of the traditional council, in 2019, 35% were murdered. In 2020? Yeah. Yeah, these figures are really very horrific to hear. I know from history that Tief people are warriors, warriors. How frustrated are you and your king's men to find yourself in a situation such as this? This is not, we are not in a confront in a war situation. People, these attacks are zeroed down sporadically and in a gorilla's time. If they hit a district, let's say today, they will go far in the west. If they have hit this in the west, they will go ahead in the north, where you think there's no semblance of threat to peace and they will murder people in their sleep. Well Chief Daniel Abonte, this is how much time will permit us to discuss this. We do feel the pains of your people. Thank you so much for your time.


Do you ever wonder what happens when the police leave? Crime scene cleaners are private companies that handle the cleanup after the police are gone. Spalling Decon is one of the nation's largest cleanup companies handling the aftermath of homicides, suicides, decompositions, hoarding, and much more. These are our stories. A water bed, which is a pain in my you know what because I got to figure out how I'm going to drain this and get this out of here. So how you doing this morning guys here we are day two at the hoard out here in Tampa. We almost got 70% of the shed done. Still got a couple of rooms left that we need to get knocked out. So we're just going to go ahead dive head first into it. Stay tuned because we're on to a lot of good things. We'll talk to you guys later. Fake dolls.  Do you like spray paint? Oh, I don't know. I like spray paint. Hey there. Grab that. Did you find anything interesting so far? No. Just a lot of toys. They getting drugged as a skull. He was on a regular basis. That's old school right there boy. It's all like a radio. This ain't got no plug to it. You can have the money off batteries. Old school radio from my time. It definitely went in that room. We heard it. It's like paint by these numbers. I called three members of my family to take me to see that. I loved it so much. They had CS's inaugural year on it. They were like Coca-colic and then I just found these. I don't know how. Raise the jar and do what you want. Tell them if anybody want to race, if they on YouTube want to race on how fast they can clean a fridge. What's he got at the bottom right now? Get in them drawers. Damn, honey, it's just a cord. That ain't no good. Hang it up in the door. I got my steel tow boat under that, man. Back it up, Keece. What's the fuck? Oh, it's Mark Keece. Push it under. The trash ain't making no easy easy job. This jumper thing. It was like a vest and then long pants. Like mint color. And this was their second year anniversary. I remember the picture that he's wearing it in. Look at the big old pills. That's cool. Oh, no. Bro, if you're popular, you know what I'm saying.  Even when we moved in, I was a little girl. Yeah, now it's not even funny. I don't even know what that is. I'm trying to get you where you can just. I'm good. I'm going to know you to get you out of there. Just go ahead and drop it to me. She just wants all these VHS tapes. Don't take it out. It's what we're going to do. Dude, that's got to say nostalgia, man. Yes, VHS tapes are still relevant, but I haven't watched a movie on the VCR in a million years. Except for my vintage Disney movies like The Lion King, The Little Mermaid and stuff like that. Oh, yeah. I'm a big Disney freak, especially when it comes to my kids. Get up to the back of the TV. You got your in and out. Video in, video out. Antenna in, rabbit ears. Change to either channel three or the channel four.  You're good to go. Yes, sir, brother. This works. I mean, it would work if we had a post that was big enough to fit in it. It would work 100%. It's heavy. It's going to take all three of us. It is heavy. It ain't going to go out. I'm trying to tell you this thing is heavy. We got to figure it out. Shit coming off here. We got a grip in this water in there. So it's like, it's towel under the bed. It must have already leaked before though. Plug this up until we tried to move it. So now that the water is leaking, I got to get it up. This is the only alternative that we have right now. So it's what we got to use to get it up. And you've got to put the water over half an inch to the top. So here we are, day two of the hoard. We got a lot of stuff accomplished. We got a majority of everything in the master bedroom. Probably 10% left to clean up. Everything in the back. All three refrigerators are out. The shed, all that's complete. We just got to get everything up off the floor itself. Bag it, trash it, dump it. Got two more bedrooms to do. Then it's just a final deep clean on day four. So we're out here for today guys. Until tomorrow, we'll catch you bright and early. Spotted Decon. That's it. Let's do it. Hey, good morning guys. We're back here day three at this board. We're wrapping up today. We're finishing out the shed right now. We got one or two more rooms to do. And then we're done. And we're out of here. It is one not to get attacked by any rats, because it's rat-festing. But the game plan really is kind of just throwing away the stuff that needs to be thrown away. If there's anything of value, we'll bring it up to the homeowner. See that? What's that? Rat urine. It's a lot of rodent droppings. Come here on that. You can mix and match them. That's awesome. Cabernet, saline, salon, salon, and we're going to pull it off.  Maple syrup jar. Did you imagine? You were like, Yes, what'd you like to do? We're finishing up this hoard here in Tampa, Florida. We wrapped everything up. We got all the trash out. The homeowner is happy. We are good. We're going to grab some of the refrigerators, throw them on the box truck. We're going to go bring them to the dump, do all our final closeout stuff. All right, so for the deep clean portion too, we have subcontracted another cleaning service to come in and do it. So we'll be knocking that portion out. The water bed situation, I know you guys were here for it when it popped and we got some water everywhere. So we put some de-hews in to make sure we figured that was the best way to get it out was by doing it that way. So we weren't going to carry it out any other way. But we put de-hews down. We dried everything up. It's all good. So it's been a fun job. And thanks for tuning in. Thanks for watching today's episode of Crime Scene Cleaning. Don't forget to subscribe to our new channel, Talking Decon, where we interview some really interesting people in the industry. But we also have some great talks about prominent serial killers and really prolific crimes. So stay tuned. Don't forget to subscribe to Talking Decon. For more information, visit any of our locations.