testing. Oh, there you go. So, we're going to start this over. Welcome everyone. I would now like to call the March 14th, 2023, Longmont City Council study session to order. The live stream can be viewed for this meeting at the city's YouTube channel. Longmont Public Media.org watch. You can also watch it there or Comcast Channels 8 or 880. Let's have a roll call, please, Don. Mayor Peck. Present. Councilmember Dahlgefairing. Here. Councilmember Martin. Here. Councilmember McCoy. Present. Mayor Pro Tem Rodriguez. Here. Councilmember Waters. Here. Councilmember Yarbrough. Here. Mayor Yvacorm. Thank you. Let's stand for the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag. Anyone wishing to speak at first call, public invited to be heard. We'll need to add his or her name to the list outside the council chambers. Only those on the list will be invited to speak at the first public invited to be heard. Each speaker is limited to three minutes and we would like your name and address. Do we have any motions to direct the city manager to add agenda items to future meetings? Seeing none, we'll go right onto the public invited to be heard. So the first person on her list is Sherri Malloy. All right, you're good. Good evening, Sherri Malloy, 1632 Sherman Way, here in support of the Button Rock Management Plan.  I suspect the main opposition you may hear from tonight is about prohibiting dogs. Hopefully dogs will not be your main consideration as our city leaders to support this well researched, developed and comprehensive management plan. That said, I'll speak about dogs. Due to the exponential increase in human usage and resulting presence of dogs, this development to prohibit them is long overdue. Parks are suited for dogs. Some natural areas are too, but not Button Rock or at least not anymore. Button Rock is managed as a protected preserve with forests, wildlife and riparian areas that are all impacted by both human and dog traffic. The entire preserve is a sensitive ecological habitat with an abundance of wildlife including deer, cougars, bobcats, turkey, raptors, declining abird squirrels and much more. Many years ago, I saw either badger or wolverine at Button Rock. It's also our water supply, so requires extra protection. Because of increased usage, more restrictions and protections are needed to protect this preserve. We've impacted and taken more than our share of habitat from wildlife in the plains. We need to restrict the negative impacts of humans and access in our foothills and beyond. Our natural areas are not our personal playground. Sometimes access needs to be limited. Simply put, no dog should be at Button Rock and no new trail should be developed there. I've lived in Longmont and hiked at Button Rock since 1984, almost 40 years. I have become increasingly concerned at the damage I've seen over the years and especially the last three. All of our natural places have been loved to damage since COVID as people sought out safer outdoor recreation. That coupled with our population growth has created a mess that needs relief. Summers and weekends are nuts at Button Rock. So many people in cars. There's so much land erosion and trail shortcuts. Trails have become wide from people avoiding mud and runners seeking softer ground. People go off trail for views, photos to relieve themselves, picnic or just explore. The land suffers with native plants trampled, wildlife disturbed, habitat harmed and invasive species spread.  I've always had a dog. Of course, my beloved always leashed dogs enjoyed Button Rock. They also enjoyed our neighborhood in Lou Miller Park and really anywhere I walked them. For the last several years, I left Seamus at home. It was hard, but I had to take responsibility for my part in contributing to the harm I saw at Button Rock. Button Rock is our only preserve in Longmont. It's a privilege to have any access. My father always said with privilege comes responsibility. This preserve deserves our respect and responsible management. Perhibiting dogs is a sacrifice worth making to help safeguard this gem. A former council did so at Sandstone Ranch. Now it's your turn. It's important. Thank you. Thank you, Sherry. Jack Brannon. My name is Jack Brannon and I live at near Button Rock Preserve. And I'd like to just tell you about the problems that your director of parks has brought onto the property owners in this area. There's specifically in the new Button Rock Preserve Management Plan on page 93 in the top right column. It says there are additional approximately 30 parking spaces on the overflow about a mile from the parking lot in Button Rock. This is a new parking lot that used to be a turnaround for large vehicles. And it's extremely dangerous for your visitors to walk down the dirt road there. And it's causing lots of problems there. And I would just like to say that that that is not a parking area. It's a turnaround. Thanks. Thank you, Jack. Shaquille DeLau. Shaquille DeLau into 19 Francis Street. Mayor and members of council, like a lot of other people in our community, I know that some of you had signs on your lawn that said, quote, science is real as a statement of your values these past few years. The statement science is real is a powerful one. It endorses the philosophy of truth and the power of systematic investigation to make sense of the world around us. It knows that these are ways to make the world a better place for the people living in it. I'm here to ask the city tonight to use a scientific method to make the city better. The problem is urgent. I did not know Anthony O'Meel, but the story of his death saddened me and reading of the love of his neighbors made me sad for them. I know that you know that Anthony died when he was hit by a car. The car was the proximate cause, but it was not the root cause. The root cause is a failure of traffic engineering. I am not a traffic engineer, but I know that there was a failure of traffic engineering because Anthony O'Meel was dead. The transportation advisory board just reviewed the third avenue plan yesterday and it calls for crossing improvements at the place where he died third and Pratt. Eventually, someday. But as we stand here tonight, six months later, every other pedestrian who crosses at that intersection is just as likely to die. I will be crossing at that intersection tonight on my way home. Will I die? This past weekend at the retreat, the city council put on its agenda Vision Zero, a commitment to improve pedestrian safety through improvements to the design of our transportation infrastructure. The city often cites as an example Jersey City, which achieved zero traffic deaths last year. In conversations with city staff, my friends and I have heard them say that Longmont will never be able to do the same thing unless it embraces something called tactical urbanism that Jersey City used to test out quick inexpensive improvements before committing to pouring concrete. You can learn a lot about how to improve an intersection and do it pretty quickly with a few traffic cones and a bucket of paint. We could do it tonight before this meeting even ended. And if we acted with a sense of urgency that this problem deserves, the staff we've spoken to about it say that we're not doing tactical urbanism because of bureaucracy and a culture of an action. Let's see if we can find a way to make this intersection safer for everyone and collect the data we need to inform a more permanent solution. Maybe we discovered that it doesn't make sense to change the intersection at all. And it's fine the way it is. We'll pick up the traffic cones and clean up the paint just as quickly as they were put down. But maybe it'll work and we'll have made the city a better place right now. And maybe in that process we can make sure that no one else dies the same preventable death while we wait for the infrastructure improvements that we desperately need. Thank you. Thank you, Shaquille. Antoinette Kemper. Antoinette Kemper, Fifth Avenue. Good evening. Equality is the essential idea that everyone should have the same and equal opportunity. Equity means treating people unequally in order to engineer equal outcomes. Recently, J.C. Cooper, a transgender woman, won a lawsuit against USA powerlifting for banning transgender women from competing in the women's division. Since the case was filed, USA powerlifting established a division for transgender athletes, but the presiding judge said forbidding athletes from competing based on their gender identity violates the Minnesota Human Rights Act. I've been a competitive powerlifter for the past 30 plus years and compete in USA powerlifting. The reason many of us choose to compete in this federation is because it conducts drug testing and we're seeking a level playing field. There are multiple other federations that don't drug test. USA powerlifting originally barred transgender athletes from competing based on its anti-doping policy. All forms of hormone therapy are banned in and out of competition even if prescribed by a doctor and no therapeutic use exemptions are granted. Lifters who require hormone therapy can't compete in USA powerlifting, but transgender people require hormone therapy. Allowing transgender women to compete with biological women erases all the progress we've made as athletes. A transgender woman despite hormone therapy and reduced testosterone levels still has higher bone and muscle density, a larger bone structure, and stronger connective tissue. Every person given an unfair advantage denies another an opportunity. We compete by gender, weight, class, and age because of the obvious differences in natural strength based on these factors, but Cooper claims trans athletes deserve equitable opportunity and a separate trans division doesn't provide a viable chance to compete, but due to biological women competing against her have a viable chance to compete. How many women will be discouraged from competing in the sport that so many have found to be personally empowering? This is one example of equity gone wrong. Equity is based on the premise that most people are bigoted, racist, sexist, homophobic, etc., and the only way certain groups of people can succeed is if they are given an advantage. I reject this divisive theory and believe most people are in fact good. America was rooted in equality and freedom. Equality of rights is being banned in favor of equity. An equal playing field doesn't guarantee equal outcome, nor should it. Not everyone has the same abilities, but an unequal playing field is simply discrimination. In 1983, I walked up the Bring Me Men ramp at the Air Force Academy as part of the eighth class with women. 40 years later, biological men are receiving awards as women on International Women's Day while biological women stand on the sidelines. We are going backwards. Thank you. Thank you, Antoinette. Kerry Adams. Good evening, Mayor and Council members. Kerry Adams, 500 Lashley Street in Longmont, Colorado. I am here for two reasons tonight. First of all, to thank you for your support of the things that you do for public education and especially for our students at Silver Creek High School. We appreciate your support with our cultural events like our MLK event and our Lunar New Year event, and we appreciate you being part of the work that you do in our community. I think our community is a great example of a positive partnership between businesses, between nonprofits, between government, and with public schools. Tonight, I also would like to introduce some of our students. Our seniors went through school during COVID, and our seniors do capstone projects, and we are very proud of our young people and the work that they are doing in our community. They are going to be coming through council and sharing a few things that they are doing with their capstone projects to see the work that our students are doing. Currently, our kids have put in over 4,300 volunteer hours in our community and around the world, and so we are very proud of them. They'll be sharing some of those things that they're working on. Each one of these students has a mentor in our community that works with them and guides them and directs them, and we are so grateful for the adults in our community who help with that and who help the lead and guide. Thank you, Council Member Marsh, for supporting our students as you serve as a mentor for one of our students. Public education in a lot of areas is under scrutiny, and what I hope tonight and in the next few weeks as you hear the work that our students are doing in the school district, in the community, in the businesses and around the world, that you'll be proud of them and that you will see that our future is in good hands and that you'll continue to support public education in all the good that we believe our young students are doing. Thank you. Thank you, Kerry. Maya Kaplan. Maya Kaplan, 4901 Nelson Road. Greetings, Mayor and Council Members. Normalize mental illness. A phrase I'm sure all of you have heard countless times in your lives, but why should society just focus on normalizing mental illness when we can work on normalizing the mind as a whole? With the current setup of school curriculum, kids aren't likely to learn about their brains until high school, and even then it's only if they elect to take certain classes like psychology. This is why I've created Many Minds Matter, a program that strives to teach elementary schoolers a holistic viewpoint of their brains. Rather than teaching about mental illness as a fatal flaw that someone can be burdened with, I have spent the year trying to emphasize the intricate underworkings of the brain that make us who we are. Throughout my partnership with a therapist at Mindfully and the Lyons Elementary School Counselor, we have been able to generate monthly lessons that each focalize on a different aspect of the mind. These lessons have ranged from activities like brain anatomy, speed dating, or decision-making style skits. These are then taught to second and third grade classes by me once a month. By teaching mental illness as just one subsection of a larger picture, I strive to enforce that the brain is something more than just what leads to diagnosis. Whether it was talking about emotions or communication skills, every discussion has linked a what can happen to why it might happen. When society only glorifies the struggles we can face, kids may grow up feeling worthless or broken. I know I sure did. This is why I believe we should go beyond normalizing just mental illness and start normalizing the mind as a whole. And please remember that Many Minds Matter. Thank you, Maya. Catherine O'Connor. I'm sorry, it was Caitlyn. Caitlyn O'Connor, 4901 Nelson Road. Good evening, council members. My name is Caitlyn O'Connor, and I am a senior at Silver Creek High School. I'm also a member of the Silver Creek Leadership Academy. One blood donation can save up to three lives. And for my senior capstone project, I am organizing a series of blood drives and monetary donation events in a project known as Blood for the Better. Every year over 75 patients die from not receiving a blood transfusion. And when I was 13 years old, I was one of those patients unable to receive a blood transfusion. While I am fortunate enough to still be with us despite not receiving a blood donation, I wanted to ensure that no patient in need of blood was unable to receive a transfusion. Last October, I held a blood drive at Silver Creek, partnered with the Blood Donation Agency by Talent and my mentor, Mr. Sardinia, a counselor at Silver Creek High School. The drive was open to students and staff members, and I received over 40 donations and exposed many students to their first time donating blood. In addition to this drive, I am receiving monetary donations to the Global Blood Fund, an organization that encourages safe blood donation in developing countries. To wrap up this project, I am planning on hosting my second drive on April 21st and hope to receive just as many, if not more donors. I strongly encourage everyone in this room to donate blood because you are always somebody's type. Thank you. Thank you, Caitlin. Hailey Pierce. Hailey Pierce, 4901 Nelson Road. Good evening, City Council. I'm a senior in the Silver Creek Leadership Academy, and I created Little Public Pantries as my capstone project. My goal is to help support those in need in the Longmont community. Little Public Pantries are refurbished newspaper boxes that are filled with non-perishable foods such as canned goods, dried pasta, granola bars, and much more, as well as the basic toiletries. Currently, I have two locations in Longmont. One is at Faith Point Baptist Church and one is at Longmont's United Church of Christ. I fill these pantries once a month to ensure that they are never empty. Next year, the SLA sophomore class, Community and Local Leadership, will be filling the pantries for me as I'll be in college. Additionally, community members have been placing anonymous donations directly in the pantries, further ensuring that they are never empty. These unexpected donations suggest to me that the pantries are not only helping members in the community, but also bringing our community together in a small way. I know people personally that in this community that are too proud to ask for or even receive help, Little Public Pantries allows people to anonymously take what they need without risking their pride. Everyone deserves access to basic necessities without facing judgment. Little Public Pantries provides a safe place for anyone to take what they need and others are already donating what they can. Little Public Pantries brings together and supports members of this community and I am so proud of the difference my project has made on the lives of others. Thank you. Thank you, Hailey. Natalie Vendershaft. Natalie Vendershaft, 4901 Nelson Road. Good evening, everyone. My name is Natalie and I just turned 18 years old this past December and my favorite book is The Secret History by Donna Tartt. I heard about it online and read it over winter break and I enjoyed it immensely. I'd highly recommend it to anyone in this room. But I haven't always been 18 and in love with The Secret History. When I was 12 I was obsessed with Percy Jackson and at eight I learned the wonders of Charlie's Chocolate Factory and at five I discovered what really happens when you give a mouse a cookie. Anyone who loves stories knows the joy of reading starts young, which is how I came to the idea for my capstone project between the pages. Between the pages is a continuation of a previous project done in 2019 by another senior. It aims to provide a free book fair for kids who attend a Longmont Title I elementary school whose parents may not be able to afford their own books for the home. The books are acquired through donations from around the community which provides an excellent opportunity for families whose children are not are older now to clear out books they no longer need. The books are redistributed and will be reused for generations for kids to find their passions. And after sorting and going through all the books recently I can proudly say that we've collected over 1600 children's books for a book fair to be held at Mountain View Elementary School this Friday, March 17th. These donations were collected from two rounds of donating in November and February with collections been located at Blue Mountain Elementary School, Atona Middle School, and Silver Creek. My goal was to get 1000 books in total in order for each child to take home three to four stories but I'm beyond excited to have that goal blown out of the water. And after volunteering at the Usborne Book Fair this past year to get some experience I also decided to raise funds to be able to purchase book bags and bookmarks for the students to be able to take home with their books. My hope is that through this project I can help encourage young people to remember that the only reading they do doesn't have to be for school and that there is joy to be had in reading books on your own time too. I know that I still live being able to sit down with a good book and I'm even planning to study creative writing at CU Boulder next year and so if even a few kids can look back one day and remember fondly the books that they picked then I'd consider this project a success. Thank you. Thank you Natalie. Miranda Beasley. Hello to City Council members. My name is Miranda Beasley and I'm from 4901 Nelson Road, Longmont Colorado. As a participant of SCLA my senior capstone project is called The Family Meal. I spent the last year and a half working on it in order to help those affected by the Marshall fire. I believe that this project is still necessary. People who have lost their homes in large crises like the Marshall fire often have their immediate needs replaced from bedding to furniture to cleaning supplies. Material heirlooms such as cookbooks containing treasured recipes or family photos are much harder to come by. I cannot replace individual books or photos but I hope that I can lessen the severity of the impact and bring people who have been through so much some solace in the form of good food. At this point in my project I have a finished cookbook complete with over 50 in-color family recipes from around the community. Some of them come from the Longmont Senior Center, some come from family and friends, and some of them come directly from the administration of the St. Wayne Valley School District. They're all from different cultures and families and each special in their own way. I plan on distributing my finished product through a combination of community centers and Facebook groups as well as a page on a site called Cheddarup that would allow me to have an online place to track how many people use my book. Along with a free PDF of the cookbook for anyone to use I'm going to collect donations on that web page that can then be given to charities like the Sister Carmen Center in order to offer further support to those in need. Thank you for your time. Thank you Miranda. Max and I'm going to be very interested in how you pronounce your last name. Max Shearer 4901 Nelson Road. Need a hand? I do and so do millions of individuals around the country and around the world. Whether they're received by amputees or people born with a limb difference prosthetics of all types can help build confidence self-respect and provide the ability to accomplish many new tasks. However many children and adults are living day to day without having access to prosthetic devices. I've grown up lucky to have access to this technology receiving free devices from the Shriners Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City. Every year as I grow my family and I fly out to Salt Lake City for new prostheses. However this journey is not accessible nor convenient for many families. If only there was a way to distribute high quality prosthetic devices for no cost which could be accessed locally within two weeks. This is precisely what my capstone project Enable Longmont seeks to achieve. Enable Longmont is a partnership with the non-profit organization Enable, a worldwide group of engineers and humanitarians who provide 3D printed prosthetics to their local communities. As a student studying at Silver Creek High School I joined a nearby Enable chapter called The Helping Hands of Littleton and under the tutelage of Mr. Nate Munro my enthusiastic and incredibly welcoming mentor I began 3D printing. Last month I finished building my first 3D printed prosthetic hand the Enable Phoenix Hand V3 and I have recently been recognized as a volunteer maker by Enable and I'm currently working on a new prosthetic design that would allow for a more precise grip. I documented my entire project on the Enable Longmont Instagram page and as of earlier March Enable Longmont has been declared an official chapter of the non-profit organization. The great benefit of 3D printed prosthetics is that they are extremely light and very cheap to make compared to the expensive carbon fiber hands that I've had in the past. As children grow and change 3D printed prosthetics provide scalable designs that can fit any disability. I consider myself lucky to have been born with only one hand. My situation has given me an important perspective that lends itself to designing prosthetic limbs where I can use my own body to test out the hands and ascertain what each individual wants to get out of their own prosthetic device. As I finish this semester I hope to have made several different prototypes for new devices expanded my Enable chapter in the community and been able to help those in need by providing prosthetics. In the future I hope to study biomedical engineering and I hope that my project will inspire you all to explore 3D printing as a way to build your own solutions and to take creativity into your own hands. Thank you. Thank you Max. Liliana Sanchez. Hello my name is Liliana Sanchez um 900 South Frost Street. I'm a 17 year old girl living in Longmont Colorado. I've been accepted into Colorado State University and I plan on pursuing psychology in order to help the youth of tomorrow lead better lives. I have a 4.0 GPA. I've done over 120 hours of community service during high school and I continue to be a positive role model for my two younger siblings. Someone may look at me and think I have a bright future ahead of me but the truth of the matter is that our nation is under attack. By who you might ask the answer is simple. Conoco oil. The Biden administration has recently approved a Conoco decades long oil drilling venture in the National Petroleum Reserve which is owned by the federal government in Alaska dubbed the Willow Project. While oil and fossil fuels are not a new or recent argumentative topic amongst the government and its people the truth is that the Willow Project will have devastating effects on the land our wildlife and the entire world. By the Biden administration's own estimates the Willow Project will release 9.2 million metric tons of carbon emissions into the air per year. This goes back on the president's promise to have our carbon emissions by 2030 and this will undoubtedly not only harm the American people for momentary profit but will bring about immense harm to the planet as a whole. It's time to stop looking at climate change as a party issue. This is a human issue an oil company issue and will negatively be affecting all walks of life if we don't do something about it.   I'm speaking out as a fearful youth not only for my own sake but for the sake of my siblings whose futures are being stripped away before they even had the chance to begin. I want them to be able to grow old and enjoy the beauty our earth has to offer to be able to have their own children start their own families and not have to worry about the shifting seasons and plummeting air quality. I'm not asking for immediate action but I am asking for your support against irreversible climate change. We as Colorado people take pride in our beautiful environment but none of that will matter if the Willow Project goes forward. I've never done environmental activism before but now is the time. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to steal my future back and I urge you to do the same for our children their children and every child thereafter. Thank you. Thank you Liliana. Lance Whitaker. I'm in council. My name is Lance Whitaker. I live at 1750 Collier Street. I support House Bill 191-230 as you all know. I'd like to let you know today is National Potato Chip Day. It is also National Butterfly Awareness Day. It is also March 14th which is Pi Day and as many of you may or may not know that you can take any number combination no matter how large or small and you can find it in Pi. Of course in my Pi you find cherries.  Thank you Lance. Gary Hodges. Oh good evening council members. Mayor thank you for this time. My name is Gary Hodges. I'm at 2148 Stewart Street. I'm here to speak on Button Rock and one other topic of five time. So my son who couldn't be here tonight he sent me some notes. He wanted me to come down here and speak. He makes use of Button Rock quite extensively. He's in town fishing so he has these comments which I've peppered in some of my own. On dogs he thinks keep the current dog rules he said but increase the number of waste bins provide trash bags. On the fishing program note he doesn't think any changes to the fishing program is necessary and my addition to that is I did briefly get a chance to read over some of that today and I think adding day passes as a mistake is just going to increase pressure on the fishing and also on the use of the area which it seems like that's one of the issues. He said let's see on update rules and regulations to correspond to present day needs and visitor numbers. He would like to see bikes allowed so that you could ride up there. I'd say I might like that too. I've enjoyed going up there with him a few times but I can't do it anymore. It's just too much of a hike for me my knees my feet can't handle it anymore so it's kind of sad I can't make use of it and I don't know maybe if I walked a bike up and they could ride it down maybe I could go. He had a topic here use management zoning to protect resources I assume that came from something. He doesn't think there's any need for additional zoning but he was worried that it might end up closing some areas of the lake or some shoreline and he didn't think that was necessary and he was really worried having fish out lake extensively that at times there would be some areas of that lake that were closed off. Create a sign package for for the preserve etc he thinks the trails are clear and easy to follow as far as prescribed burning goes he thinks that's fine. In the future consider entry fee and or shuttle transportation for public input and his comment on that is he doesn't think shuttles are good idea and his comment I thought was funny get there early if you want a spot but he did say if a fee is implemented the fishing permit he thinks the fee should be included with the permit and I actually I thought that was actually a nice idea but here's my comment here's something a little out of the box how about cutting down on the number of parking spaces if you just want to limit the people there I mean just cut the parking spaces in half or whatever. Good grief well I'm not going to get to my other topic it's one I've been wanting to talk to for a while but that's fine I'll leave it with 30 seconds left and thank you for your time have a good evening. We always have next week Gary. Diana Barra. Hi my name is Diana Barra and I live at 1306 Carnation Circle. On March 9 three bills regarding the reproductive health I also call that abortion were introduced in the Senate they are all set for committee hearings tomorrow these bills will negatively impact families and communities throughout the state. First bill is SB 23190 it's called the deceptive trade practice pregnancy related services. One of the four prime sponsors is represented Karen McCormick this bill is an attack on pregnancy centers it calls them anti-abortion centers fake clinics that are aimed to prevent abortions by persuading people that adoption or parenting parenting is a better option. They also say that these anti-abortion centers are the ground level presence of well coordinated anti-choice movement seems like they're giving them more choices as opposed to just abortion. This bill goes on to outlaw abortion reversal drugs and gives language that is threatening to to the future of crisis pregnancy centers throughout Colorado. SB 189 increasing access to reproductive health care this is an expansion of HP 221279 the reproductive health equity act now law that allows abortions up to birth and to find a human fetus as not human only tissue and has no right to life. This bill will require employers individual and small group plans to provide coverage for reproductive health care and treatments including abortion sterilization and sexually transmitted infections. It allows patients to use Medicaid transportation for abortion services you will be subsidizing the cost of these abortions with increased health insurance premiums and your tax dollars. SB 189 with a minors consent and that's age 12 allows a health care provider to furnish contraceptive procedures supplies and information to the minor including abortions without notification to or the consent of the minors parent legal guardian or a person having decision-making responsibility for the minor. It will expand the reproductive health care program administered by the Department of Health Care to include family planning related services such as abortion and allow individuals under 19 to apply for and enroll themselves in the program. SB 188 is called the protection protections for accessing reproductive health care one of the prime sponsors the senator Sonia Yawrez Lewis prevents the state this prevents the state from recognizing or engaging in any criminal prosecutions or civil lawsuits for anyone who recedes provides or assists in abortions and gender affirming care. It also prevents state employees from participating in any such interstate investigations and I do believe that this is unconstitutional according to state law. Thank you Diana. Jamie Cimo. Jamie Cimo 517 Independence Drive Mayor Peck and city counselors tonight you will be voting on whether to accept the button rock preserve management plan update either with or without changes or to reject it. I'm asking you to vote to accept it the last time the management plan was revised was 30 years ago in those 30 years things have changed climate changes made the front range drier and more fire prone. In addition Longmont's population has greatly increased along with development visitation rates to the preserve have also skyrocketed particularly over the last decade with over 50,000 hikers and over 40,000 vehicles visiting in 2021 the last year for which full data are available. It is imperative to take these changes into account which the updated management plan does button rock is the source of our drinking water and was purchased to protect the quality and delivery of that water protecting the reservoir also protects the sensitive surrounding ecosystem with its accompanying wildlife and native plants recreation has been allowed to preserve since it was opened in the 1960s but it's always taken a backseat to watershed and habitat preservation protection the aspect of the management plan update that you've most likely heard the most from the public about is the proposed prohibition of dogs at button rock I'm for this prohibition there are plenty of other areas for people to take their dogs both on and off leash rather than a sensitive ecological preserve that doubles as a source of our city's water your dog does not have to go everywhere you do I'm regularly at golden ponds in Rogers Grove and I've seen both bagged and unbagged dogways scattered along the paths and these are parks within city limits that have trash cans it is not only disgusting but a health hazard to have the same lack of consideration in close proximity to our drinking water source in addition the presence of dogs negatively impacts the movement habits of native wildlife species and off leash dogs don't respect established trails as button rock is an ecological preserve these are all unacceptable consequences of dog visitation again I say your dog doesn't have to go everywhere you go dogs aren't allowed at sandstone ranch and most people obey this restriction there is an even greater reason to predict prohibit dogs at button rock so I urge you to accept the button rock preserve management plan update without change thank you thank you Jamie steve altschuler steve altschuler 1555 Taylor Drive I want to apologize for my clapping I've known half of those kids since they were five years old and they were in preschool with my own daughter so it's kind of neat watching them grow up and come here and talk there's a variety of things I'd like to cover tonight I'm going to ask Dr. Waters a rhetorical question because I know you're not supposed to respond you just did how many genders are there there are two genders we all know that but we're allowing people in school and other places to grow up believing there's as many genders as they want there to be and my expression is a woman that wants to be a man who wants to be secretariat and have sex with a camel is not a gender it's just a weird proclivity but everyone's talking so much about identity or if you think you're this or if you want to be that then you are and for two years I've been telling people I'm a six foot eight black man named LeBron James I've yet to receive a check from the Los Angeles Lakers you know we are we are not whatever we think we are we are what we are we are male we are female that's it and one of the things that's going on now some other people are talking about bills coming down the pike and I would love for the Longmont City Council to speak up to our state government and let them know what people here in Longmont feel they're trying to pass a bill where a 12 year old can choose what sex they want to be they can have either puberty blockers or a sex change operation that their teacher or principal can direct them towards without even telling their parent that is so insane and we need people with some sanity step up and say this is not right the brain isn't fully developed until early to mid 20s and there are so many cases where 14 and 15 year olds have changed their sex had their gender parts removed and then later in their 20s they regret it and now a woman can never have a child and men are defaced forever there was recently a bill where our own government is trying to pass a law I forget which state or if it's a federal bill so forgive me for that but there's something where they want people under 25 they want it to be illegal to have them charged with murder if they kill someone because they say their brain is not fully developed so they're saying that and at the same time they're saying a 12 year old can choose their gender and have sex surgery done and doctors and teachers are going to be outlawed from even telling the parents it's insane when I was a kid there was a thing called I call bullshit if someone's telling you a story that makes no sense people need to stand up and say this is absurd one of the laws that's passing right now that change horses has to do with guns where they want you to be 21 to be to buy a gun but you can be 18 and serve in the military there is so much stupidity going on I really hope that the city council will step up and help us with the state boards thank you steve strider strider benston yeah thank you strider benston 951 west 17th uh this is uh an example of a uh democratic public discussion last weekend city council I mean it was excellent back and forth and dealing with a lot of stuff but since we have a developing upon us gerrymandered districts a culture of hatred and gun proliferation it's very rare to actually hear a democratic discussion to where people can come to a conclusion or a compromise and and find out how to build our society better um this is uh it's big time I mean the the gun culture there were close to 50 000 people killed in gun with guns in this country uh last year it's way way up and most of those are suicides 80 percent of the suicides if they didn't have a gun might go to a counselor and get over the suicide kick uh there are so many things the button rock thing um one time I came down from a run when I lived out there and I saw two adolescent mountain lions just going across the road uh nature still has some rights left in this world and we need to keep them up um the thing about the abortion back in the 20s when the Ku Klux Klan took over Colorado and almost the country their number one target was Catholics and so they were totally on opposite sides on the abortion thing and then till in the 50s and 60s they decided to all less pull us together into a right wing proto-nazi movement to take over the country using that kind of discrimination that's that's kind of what's going on now what I was wanting to talk about was uh the bank uh failures almost collapsed and Elizabeth Warren has an article in the New York Times today she started the consumer financial protection bureau but the only way they could get it passed was to prevent her from being in charge of it so then she decided all right I'll run for senate and she became a senator uh Warren and I voted for her for president last time but anyway the point is uh if you don't have regulations you don't have a government you don't have a functional society Tomasino Campanella wrote in about 1596 city of the sun he said a society without government is about 300 people thank you strider we have to have a society that functions thank you thank you seeing no one else on the list I'm going to close first uh call public invited to be heard uh do we have any special presentations or reports no great thanks uh so now we're under our study session items Lance have a moment of silence for Pat Schroeder today please just a moment of silence for her I'm not sure everybody knows who Pat Schroeder was Lance okay thank you and she was only able to hold half a seat Lance so thank you she had to share thank you strider thank you I I don't think we are going to have a moment of silence for uh Pat Schroeder I don't think this is the venue to do that Lance but I will personally okay so now we're on to our study session items the first one is the draft button rock preserve management plan good evening mayor and council David bell director parks and natural resources it's a little over four years since I was down here doing probably exactly what I'll do tonight which is really introducing a great staff that has been working four years on a project that was supposed to be two years um and we throw out the same piece that you know COVID really stepped in and changed the way we're doing our work in that it also changed the way that we saw how the public could use our parks too with those increases so during that four years the staff has been doing a great job continue working with our consultants and pulling together to this product that we know we've had a long evening already is going to go longer we're trying to get through a lot of information as quickly as possible but I will then introduce the staff pretty quickly um we have price Hadley who was our watershed senior watershed ranger at button rock preserve Ken Houston our water resource manager Jim Crick is our ecosystem manager we have scott sievers who is our um natural resource technician and then I will turn it over to Danielle Cassidy who is going to be the um lead who has been the lead project manager on this and she will try to move through this as quickly as possible thank you David mayor peck and council members um thank you for the time tonight I have a 30 minute presentation which I will get through in 15 or less the best that I can so I'm going to go fast but I'll cover all the important things so this this this presentation is divided into six parts roughly following how the plan is laid out so purpose and need how we developed it and um results and uh recommendations so this is button rock preserve it's in the foothills west of lions the green shows you that it is mostly surrounded by public land that's mostly forest service in the southeast you can see some boulder county properties also public land and then in the central north you can see some of the private land uh which is accessed through the main gate of button rock preserve um button rock preserve as you've already heard tonight is the only preserve in longmont system um we have parks trails greenways open spaces um but long button rock preserve is the only preserve that we have so it's unique the purpose of button rock preserve and I'm going to take a minute on this one because this is this is the underpinning of everything else that I'm going to say uh the purpose of button rock preserve is to protect preserve conserve restore and sustain button rock preserves municipal drinking water storage and supply native ecosystems wildlife habitat and cultural resources and perpetuity to support preserve management and enhance the ecological fun function of button rock preserve natural systems as well as the greater saint frane creek watershed in which it presides and to prescribe areas suitable for passive use in addition to areas closed for resource protection facility protection or public safety so this plan um also advances city council's goals in terms of the um 2019 climate emergency resolution in the areas of adaptation and resilience as well as the 2020 work plan goal b2 to protect and respect our natural public amenities other plans that um are are important to this plan include our 2018 open space master plan the 2019 wildlife management plan and the 2021 sustainability plan why why a management plan now because we haven't done it before is why and we needed to do it and um because of the purpose that I just went over with you and because of everything else that I'm going to say in the coming slides in terms of present day needs at the preserve and present day um impacts so in terms of how we developed the plan uh we had uh three consulting groups help us with data collection and uh planning facilitation colorado natural heritage program river restoration which did the hydrology and dhm design which did the facilitation and then over on the right you'll see all of the agency partners that we had in this plan and on our technical advisory committee uh we had a robust public involvement process as well we had three public meetings for public surveys we informed three advisory boards and we came to council at interim times during the planning process to update you the main goals of uh button rock preserve are to protect the water quality delivery storage and infrastructure conserve the biodiversity and then third provide passive recreational opportunities that do not adversely affect goals one and two so in terms of baseline data collection chnp the consulting um the out of colorado state university collected the botany and zoology data river restoration collected the hydrology data and other data that we collected throughout the process are road and trail conditions in terms of doing gis mapping we conducted a sign inventory cultural resource cultural resources data collection and infrastructure as well as a visitor use data collection process looking at visitation the rules and regulations staffing levels and the different types of recreation we also did a literature review throughout the process and so that informed some of the science as well so now on to results this is just a timeline especially for council members who haven't had the advantage of being here for our various interim updates the button rock preserve opened to the public in 1965 and then in the 1990s we started seeing more and more use so we decided that we needed to formalize our trail system um and then in the early 1990s we slowly started adding different types of recreation so fishing became allowed dog walking rock climbing um and then we started seeing uh in the 2010s a jump in visitor use then we had the flood and then we saw another jump in visitor use and then um we kicked off this management plan process in 2019 after staff came to council in 2018 looking for dog policy updates it was decided that we should do this comprehensive plan and collect the scientific data and see what we really do have at the preserve so in terms of visitor use this has been mentioned tonight too long months population has grown by 39 percent since 2000 and we know from our public surveys from this plan that uh 65 to 74 percent of the people visiting the preserve have a longmont zip code um and the rest of the slides just kind of speak for themselves you can see the numbers there in 2018 we started using um infrared trail counters and started counting cars as well as um hikers um we conducted four public surveys and these are some of the results in public survey number two people were asking for more restrooms and more trash cans which is just i i think indicative of the fact that we have a lot of people up there a lot of use a lot of trash being um made um public survey three and public survey four you can see that um we had good participation in each of these surveys public survey four went over um the proposed code updates that are part of this management plan and um the public agreed with 13 of the 14 proposed updates this plan was taken to the advisory boards in february all three advisory boards voted to accept the plan sustainability um provided you with a letter of support that was attached to today's packet parks and recreation is accepting of the plan with the caveat that they were split on the dog recommendation in terms of science um bun rock preserve is absolutely incredible in terms of the plants and wildlife that we have up there we have six in just one summer of data collection this is just one short summer and it's not it's just baseline data usually more more years of data collection are are typical but in this one baseline data collection round we found six rare plants four rare plant communities four rare bats um eight bat species total and there are 19 bat species in all of colorado so that's almost half the species represented in our little preserve um cnhp found 65 bird species and citizen science found 117 bird species and button rock um in terms of what domestic dogs do in a protected preserve they do have immediate impacts in all these various categories um they do displace wildlife both physically and in terms of timing for their natural things that they want to do like reproduction or travel um birds never habituate we have various ground nesting bird species at button rock towns and solid tear wild turkeys so they do stress out the wildlife um in a local study that took place at haul ranch um they found that humans have an impact on wildlife on the trail but when humans are accompanied by dogs both on and off leash their impact is increased they looked in this study at impact 200 meters from the trail so 100 meters on either side and they looked at ungulates like mule deer so all of these are haul ranch so these all these same species occur at button rock small mammals were mice and rabbits ground squirrels squirrels they're all impacted more um by dogs accompanying humans than humans alone in terms of hydrology what we found is that we have 13 different drainage basins at button rock and if you can picture the steep slopes all those drainage basins all the rain and snow melt and whatever environmental pollutants are are there they do end up in our reservoirs and our creek um in terms of dog waste it has impact on water soil and native biodiversity these are some of the things that um are the result and these are some of the pictures um the dog waste pictures are from the preserve um in summary button rock preserve has extremely high native biodiversity 85 percent of the species uh the plant uh and plant community species up there are native um it has a rich cultural history and unique hydrology and what we're what we're dealing with and what we're looking to find balance for is the increasing recreation pressure and we want to protect the water and preserve first um water quality sampling is um going to start giving us some results in the end of 2023 we're looking to increase staffing and update the rules and expand the forest stewardship program and really expand the volunteer and education programming that we offer because one thing that we really saw in the comments from the public surveys is that people are looking for a way to give back people really care about button rock preserve and they want to know how they can help so uh in terms of recommendations as you know we are recommending prohibiting dogs at button rock for all the reasons that i've covered but also to be a good neighbor uh to boulder county when they planned haul ranch their connector trail that they share with us their button rock trail that leads into button rock they do not allow um horses or bikes on that trail because they are not allowed in button rock so then the public isn't confused about where they are in terms of the boundary it's a it's also a porous border um so it's it's not just that one connector trail that the that people can access the two different um open spaces um in terms of dog lease enforcement in the last in 2021 in 2022 it's been the top code violation that rangers have seen up there and then um this has also been mentioned tonight there are are quite a few um other places for people to go and get outdoors with their dogs here alone in the city of longmont but also in lots of other places around the front range um our next recommendation is management zones and um each management zone so there are five management zones that we're recommending and they each have a unique set of desired conditions so that's you know the optimal range of natural cultural recreation and development that is appropriate in that zone and then finally um at the end of the plan we have a management action table where we've divided out actions and um goals that we would like to achieve in a time frame for each so it's either going to be in the short term one to three years mid term three to five years long term over five years or ongoing or both um and then level of importance one two or three in these categories and then we are looking to repeal and reenact the button rock management code um with the rules and regulation updates that are part of this plan and that is the end of my presentation you did well okay i didn't time myself how was it very good under 15 okay do we have any comments or questions from our counselors this is great thank you very much it was well well done and it gave us a very concise reason as to why you are doing all of this so thank you thank you look at these people up here they need questions okay counselor waters thank you thanks mayor peck thank dan y'all thanks um i think i was in the prab meeting in 2018 when this whole thing when you brought this to prab and and got it going right got it launched does that recall we talked that night about the likelihood that whenever this came together dogs would be the biggest issue you know of all the other recommendation so uh you may you may or may not you probably don't have answers to the questions that i have but just to kind of reinforce some what you've heard but if any of the others do it would be helpful um anybody know how many miles of trails we have in long month that's where i'm thinking david david over a hundred over a hundred so over a hundred miles of trails how many of those miles are dogs are we prohibiting dogs on leash leashes barely any barely anywhere we're prohibiting dogs are those hundred miles are there any of those hundred miles where dogs can't be on a leash there are places in yeah the sandstone ranch nature area we prohibit dogs all right that's it yes do you just how many state and federal parks do we have in colorado a number thousands of miles many of places where you can be with your dog on a leash right in your point that this what differentiates this from from trails greenways state parks federal you know parks is this is a preserve it's primary purpose not the only but primary purpose is water storage and water quality is the highest priority correct correct as you described snow melt and runoff on those street steep slopes what what is the effect when we're when there's dog waste left uh in those in those watersheds right and in the melt occurs or the rain occurs what's the effect on on the reservoir itself well the status of water quality for the dog waste that gets left behind that doesn't get picked up it either it stays there for a long time because we know dog waste doesn't decompose readily or quickly so it either affects the soil um or it ends up in the source water yeah and that's before we account for the effects on all the other the rest of the environmental concerns when wildlife or other flora and fauna correct in the area so um you know we heard references to parking i mean i i've been in those conversations where in fact we've heard from our rangers about uh just the nightmare right of trying to manage just the traffic that comes up and it and keep parking cars where they're supposed to be uh and and make certain their areas for people to turn around and in exit um so all those recommendations in terms of permits uh regulating or trying to control the number of visitors whether it's through day passes i i think the whole bundle of recommendations make sense if dogs are the biggest issue i i think we ought to be really clear that our first priority we got a balanced competing interest but the first priority first concern has to be water quality preserving that as is pristine of water storage as we can possibly do so i i love the work you've done i appreciate the recommendations i'm sympathetic to dog i'm a dog lover i'm sympathetic to dog lovers i'd love to be i don't like my wife won't let me have a dog if i'd not run from mayor my wife said i could have a dog you should know that i wish i had a dog now so but anyway i appreciate you i wasn't looking for one i appreciate your work and and i support these recommendations totally so um i wouldn't make a comment because uh david bell had told me this when we started this idea in 2018 2019 it isn't and for the public it isn't just the dog waste it's also the urine because you can you know you pick up the dog waste but the urine also affects our water and um there's no way to not we don't collect that so um it isn't it isn't a punishment for dog owners to not take their dog up there it is a why it's called a preserve it's a preservation so uh thank you very much i thought this was done very well uh mayor council absent any uh we're going to bring this back to you we wanted to make the presentation tonight study session so you could hear it council had any changes we could react to it but we're ready to bring those at the next council meeting okay um i do want to it was brought up by in public invited to be heard about the parking area that was a truck turnaround david can you explain that for us sure again mayor council david bell director parks natural resources um one of the challenges that we face up there is we do have limited parking and what we saw with the public and how determined they were especially during covet to get out and do stuff was that once that parking lot filled up boulder county parks or boulder county allows for parking on rural roads so that's part of the parking policy if you can park along a public road and be out of the flow of traffic that's their intent they're very hesitant to remove that because that really is what they expect people to do they don't have other parking places so during 2020 we were able to work with boulder county to get temporary no parking signs along one side of the road just so we could emergency vehicles through we had another area that where's used to be called and can correct me the old school bus turnaround and that was a spot that had gotten widened out and cars are parking and they're kind of haphazardly part of that is on city's property we tried to organize that so that the cars could park in a more organized fashion the other side of the road is boulder county property i believe can might have some other information on that but on that again it's county road we had county transportation come up and say our people allowed to park in this area can we do something to help with that and they said yes people can work there and the the plan you have in place is probably the best we can do so it's a wide spot so we're allowing people to park on both sides of the road and allows for that emergency vehicles to get back and forth through there and again if we remove that people still can just park along the side of the road it really is county policy does it prevent uh buses trucks from turning there or even cars if they need to go but does that prevent that from happening i i will go with the car piece i know cars can turn around you know we i've been up on the weekends so i do it so if there's cars up they need to turn around they can turn around there with vehicles on both sides we made sure that emergency vehicles could pass through that spot um as far as i i don't know if now with parking on both sides if a school bus could actually turn around in there but again what you typically see is that high use where you have parking on both sides of parking lots bill is going to be on the the weekends on those nice days so we don't typically see that when we would probably have school buses up there and then again one of the reasons we get some comments about why don't we have more parking down below again that is kind of working there our fire um agencies so they have access down at the gate to get vehicles in there too so we really have tried to make sure that we're allowing for emergency vehicle access and as much parking in a safe manner as possible okay and you probably said this in the report but um is this open year round yes okay thank you you're welcome thank you councilman thank you be our pet um i have a procedural question um because the council communication says that gives us options um to accept direct for revision or not accept and yet uh you also said it would be brought formally to council during the next regular session uh are you asking for direction this evening uh to know whether to make modifications before then correct yes then i would like to move that we accept the plan as written for formalization in the coming session okay that's been moved by councilor martin seconded by councilor mccoy to uh approve acceptance of the um button rock management plan uh is there any more discussion seeing none let's vote on that to get my screen back so that carries uh unanimously so thank you team you did great thank you may or sandy had no bills for no bills for for review tonight so there's nothing for sandy to present on on that one just okay then we are mayor and council comments do we have any comments from uh anyone on council councilor hidduckle faring you know i just um where's sandy where'd she go there you are i just wanted to throw it again thank you so much oh actually all of staff for putting together a very well organized um very well presented retreat um it was ever yeah it was it was i want you to come to our district and help us plan some stuff because it was it couldn't be beat so but thank you very much so i just wanted to to shout out i was able to to walk away with a very clear understanding of our work plan where where are all of our priorities that um that opportunity to just talk as a as a group so thank you very much and i would like to uh tell everyone that prpa is celebrating 50 years of utility service for the four cities in our uh that own this utility and they've done a great job i think we didn't go down when it really snowed and hit below zero so they've done a great job the other thing is that this weekend in denver is the indian festival where different tribes come together and do some competition and dancing etc pow wow i knew that shakita would know the right word so um and it's going to be all weekend at the coliseum denver coliseum so if you have time to go and watch it's incredible we are in now city manager comments no comments mayor council city attorney yugin no comments mayor thank you uh can i have a motion to adjourn it's been moved by councillor mccoy seconded by councillor doggal that we adjourn let's vote okay that passes unanimously we are adjourned


Today we're gathered in formal convocation to celebrate the 240th commencement exercises at Purdue University. Please rise and join in singing our national anthem and then remain standing for the invocation offered today by Father Patrick Bacowskis, Pastor and Director of Campus Ministry, St. Thomas Aquinas. There was a woman who died not so very long ago who has inspired millions of people by her life's example and her encouragement for all of us to be attentive to a higher, more purposeful calling. In the places where Mother Teresa of Calcutta lived and worked, she would have these words placed on the walls. And as you go forth today from Purdue, may this reflection she had in front of her every day inspire you as well. People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win. Some false friends and some true enemies succeed anyway. If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you. Be honest and frank anyway. What you spend years building someone could destroy overnight. Build anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today, people will often forget. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough. Give the world the best you've got anyway. You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God. It was never between you and them anyway. This is the moment. This is the moment. This is the time. And make some sense at last. This is the day. I never expected this. To be addressing you with me in an empty hall and you far away. Wherever you're watching this virtual ceremony, I hope you're surrounded by people you love, people who helped you reach this moment of achievement. As is my practice, I wrote a commencement speech over last Christmas at a time when COVID-19 had only recently gotten its name. I chose a theme without any clue what was coming. In a different year, I might have felt obliged to start over. But as things have unfolded, the events of recent months have in some ways made my chosen topic seem at least as relevant as the day I wrote it. So here goes. Welcome, graduates and friends, to this day of celebration. Those of you in the caps and gowns are gathered to celebrate the great accomplishment that is a degree from Purdue University. Meanwhile, your parents are, I know, quietly celebrating the clearing of the final tuition check. Congratulations to you all. Purdue celebrated its own landmark this year, our 150th anniversary. Since it coincided with the 50th anniversary of the moon landing by our most famous alum, Neil Armstrong's stories were abundant. My favorite claims that later in life, Commander Armstrong took the telling corny lame jokes about the moon. And when nobody laughed, he'd say, well, I guess you had to be there. A year or so ago, a major national journalist visited our campus and later wrote a gracious, complimentary article about what he saw here. While I enjoyed his accounts of the progress and successful results he thought he'd witnessed, my favorite part of the column was a single phrase, basically a throwaway line. He described Purdue as a happy place. That got me wondering how many college campuses these days would strike a visitor quite that way. I hope it's been that kind of place for you. We know you've worked hard and fought through a lot of pressure. You'll probably remember that. Just wait for those scary dreams where you haven't studied for the test or can't find the exam room. But I hope that among your memories of these years, I was happy there, is prominent among them. I've reflected on that more and more during your last couple years with us. Your parents love you and are proud of you, but from time to time they also must worry about you. That's what we parents do. I hope it's okay if I worry about you and your future's a little also. I've sometimes used these commencements to fret out loud about trends that trouble me in that big wide world you're about to enter. In recent years I've spoken about the tribalism that now divides Americans. I've talked about the seeming shortage of emotional resilience and grit in your peer group. Twice I've found myself urging graduates to guard against the so-called big sort, the tendency for young people of your quality and educational attainment to cluster together professionally and socially and to drift apart from those of different backgrounds. But one thing I never expected to worry about, but now do a little, is you being lonely. I have known you and met thousands of you personally in an environment that despite our size does a pretty good job of getting people together, creating bonds among them. A thousand clubs, dozens of faith-based organizations, our Greek system and maybe our best examples of true communities are co-op residential houses where students not only live but cook, clean and do repairs together. And most recently, the learning communities where thousands of boiler makers live in mutual support with others who are studying the same subject matter. But elsewhere, the academic journals and lay periodicals are now filled with research about the, quote, epidemic of loneliness, quote, in our society. Surveys report record numbers of Americans living alone and suffering from strong feelings of isolation. Many view it as a new public health crisis linked to rising rates of depression, anxiety, even suicide. A lack of strong social relationships has been found to raise the risk of premature death by as much as 50%. It's as bad for you as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. It's not just an American phenomenon. The government of Britain has appointed a minister for loneliness. And all this was before anyone heard of COVID-19. Most startling and alarming are studies finding that the worst loneliness today is not among adults or the elderly, but in your age group. Astonishing percentages of today's young people say they have few, if any, close friends. Dating and other traditional forms of youthful interaction have declined sharply. The University of Southern California recently named a director of belonging. And while the title may be unique, I'm sure the idea is not. We humans are social creatures, or as sometimes said, relational beings. The ability to communicate, interact, and collaborate is what defines us and what assured our evolution as the dominant civilizing species on this planet. We thrive on contact with others. We suffer severely from its absence. The worst punishment we impose on a heinous criminal is solitary confinement. Much of our literature and religious tradition thinks of hell as a state of total permanent aloneness. So an outbreak of loneliness is worth worrying about, especially where those with the longest to live are a big part of it. In the case of your elders, sociologists can identify some obvious causes. Plummeting birth rates play a role. Having fewer children and fewer siblings limits the opportunity for caring contact. In a short two decades, the percentage of retirement age citizens living within 10 miles of their children in the same neighborhood with any relative or having a good friend living nearby dropped by double digits. It's easy to see how that leads to greater loneliness. But particularly in the case of your age cohort, there is no doubt that the sudden eruption dominance of what we call social media, I often think anti-social media would be a better term, has played a huge role. Some scholars put all the blame there. One major article was titled, have smartphones destroyed a generation? It wasn't supposed to be this way. The original promise of all the Facebooks and Twitters was that they would connect us in wonderful new ways. But connection over a text message or what is often a glamorized presentation of one's daily life just isn't the same as in-person contact. In fact, it often turns out to separate and alienate its users more than it brings them together. I remain concerned that as members of the new knowledge aristocracy, absent a little special effort, you will rarely make friends different from yourselves. Now, studying the growing evidence about isolation, I'm concerned that you, the first age group raised entirely in the iPhone era, won't make many friends at all. In my own college days, a briefly famous Harvard professor offered probably the worst advice ever given to a younger generation. Encouraging both drug use and a non-productive lifestyle, Dr. Timothy Leary suggested, quote, turn on, tune in, drop out. Lately, I've been thinking the best advice one could give you, tomorrow's leaders, might be the exact opposite. Turn off, tune out, drop in. As in, turn off the phone more often, tune out the video screen, drop in personally on friends old and new. For most of human history, personal contact was hard to avoid. Suddenly, our digital age can mean it requires extra effort. Confession being good for the soul, it's only right that I make one here. I am not a good role model for the advice I'm foisting on you. I have not devoted the time I should have to deepen acquaintances into true friendships or to stay in closer touch with the old friends I do have. I've let the call of work get in the way. I've told myself that jobs of broad responsibility mean that one can't get too close to coworkers and colleagues.  I regret it, and I'm the worst for it. You can do better. The same research that is documenting the loneliness epidemic reveals ways to immunize oneself against it. Geographic rootedness makes a difference. People who live in the same community for extended periods are far less likely to be lonely. The great CS Lewis wrote, friendship is the greatest of worldly goods, the chief happiness of life. If I had to give a piece of advice to a young person about where to live, I would say sacrifice almost everything to live near your friends. Having a religious affiliation also correlates strongly with feelings of connectedness. And nothing statistically reduces the chance of loneliness more than marriage, especially marriage with children. It's a sermon for another Sunday, but I do hope most of you will not miss the joy and the lifelong education of raising children. I promise it's life's greatest reward and the best graduate school you'll ever attend. I heard about one wise guy commencement speaker who instructed his audience, remember in life it's not who you know, it's whom. I've thought of that as just a joke, but in our new situation it takes on a more serious tone. A lot of your success and happiness will depend on whom you know and know well. The author Gore Vidal once said, we never know when we are happy only when we were. I hope in your case that proves way too cynical, that there'll be countless moments when you are truly happy and know it. But I also hope that when you reflect back on times when you were happy, your days at this university will rank high among them. And when people ask you, what was it about Purdue that made it such a great place for you? You can just answer, well, I guess you had to be there. I know great achievements lie ahead for you. My wish for you is that so do great friendships. Hail Purdue and each of you. Mr. President, the candidates for doctoral degrees will be presented by Linda J. Mason, Dean of the Graduate School. Mr. President, these students have successfully completed the requirements of the Graduate School with the approval of the faculty and I now present them to you to receive the Doctor of Philosophy degree. Exercising the authority of the trustees of Purdue University, legally vested by the people of the state of Indiana and upon the recommendation of the Purdue faculty, I now confer upon you who have fulfilled the highest requirements of this university, the Doctor of Philosophy degree with all the rights, privileges, duties and responsibilities of that degree. I now ask our orders to read aloud the names of all students who are earning Doctors of Philosophy. Graduates, I invite you to have your special designee to hood you and present your diploma now. Be sure to capture a photo of this to share with us.  Mr. President, these students have successfully fulfilled the requirements for the master's degree. With the permission of the faculty, they're now presented to you to receive the master's diploma. Thank you, Dean Mason. Exercising the authority of the trustees of Purdue University, legally vested by the people of the state of Indiana, and upon the recommendation of the Purdue faculty, I now confer upon you who have fulfilled the stated requirements, the master's degree, with all the rights, privileges, duties, and responsibilities of that degree. As evidence of your achievement, you will now receive an appropriately inscribed diploma. I now ask our orders to read aloud the names of all students who are earning master's degrees. Graduates, I invite you to have your special designee present your diploma to you now. Be sure to capture a photo of this to share with us.  The audience is invited to sing the Purdue hymn. The words are located inside the front cover of the program and will be projected. Will you please stand? Okay, it's official. You are now graduates of Purdue University. We honor these graduates for their hard work and accomplishments, but they'd be the first to tell us they did not make the journey alone. So will the graduates please take this moment to offer thanks and appreciation to your parents, grandparents, spouses, brothers, sisters, and other family members and friends for their long and loving support that brought you to this moment. It's appropriate at this time that we give special recognition to those graduates who have demonstrated outstanding scholastic achievement, leadership, and service to the university community. You can read the names of the recipients of those recognitions in your commencement program. Additional special awards have been noted on your division's ceremony page. On behalf of the trustees and the faculty, congratulations on your accomplishments. We're counting on you to continue making exceptional contributions in all your future endeavors. Some of our graduates received red, white, and blue cords signifying that they are veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces. They deserve our recognition and our sincere gratitude for their patriotism. Today, you are standing on the edge of possibility. We pause to give thanks for the deep sense of accomplishment, pride, and hope of this very moment. We pause today to reflect on your time here and the hope for your future. We gather with abundant joy and overwhelming gratitude. We pray the experience here embodies our vision of education as an engaged and dynamic partnership between the university and the wider world. The work here has never been merely for personal use but always for public good. And so today we celebrate collective commitment to creating a better and more just world. May we appreciate the joy of this day and may the dedication and patient perseverance that has brought us to this moment carry us forth to create a world marked by peace, justice, and compassion beyond measure. Go forth to do the good work set before you. Be tireless. Seek the common good. Love and nurture the people and things you value. Attend to your work with integrity so that what you believe may be what you do. And when you feel as if you might become defeated, think back on this day and know that you already have accomplished much. May you be blessed and may your lives be a blessing to all of us. Amen. You shall go out with joy. You shall go out with joy. Joy, joy, joy. As we conclude today's commencement ceremony, thank you for joining this celebration of our newest Boilermaker graduates. On behalf of the trustees, faculty, and all the Purdue family, I bid you farewell, Godspeed, Hail Purdue.