I look at the world around me and think that on a given day, you know, I may have a winner or a victory, but has it changed the world? I'm Gary Leff, Chief Financial Officer. I always find it challenging to come up with things that I feel proud of because I feel as though anything that I've done is not enough. I look at the world around me and think that on a given day, I may have a winner or a victory, but has it changed the world? And maybe I could say that the world be worse, but I also don't feel like I've succeeded. I feel pretty good about the growth and effectiveness of the organization over time and hopefully ways that I've been able to contribute to that. I remember when I first got here, we were an organization that had Monday morning staff meetings with the entire staff sitting around a conference table. So we were very small, and I don't think we were particularly focused enough. Beyond training a small number of graduate students who've certainly gone on and done some fantastic things, over time we've developed a lot of capabilities. And I think we've had an even outsized voice in intellectual debates, which had a punch above our weight. And so I feel good about being able to help make others more successful.


and welcome to Talk Story with John Weijhe. We have another interesting guest for you this afternoon. I have with me the candidate who is running for the at-large seat at the office of Hawaiian Affairs. And why is that important? Well, it's important because the office of Hawaiian Affairs was created as the vehicle to represent Hawaiians and their aspirations in the state of Hawaii. And so my guest this afternoon is Mr. Keoni Sousa. Keoni Sousa, like that. Keoni, welcome, welcome. Welcome to my show. So tell us a little bit about the office you're running for. It's the at-large seat, right? It's correct, Governor. First of all, thank you so much for having me this afternoon. I appreciate the opportunity. So I'm running for the trustee at-large position. So basically at-large, people don't know, we're representing the state of Hawaii as a whole. So not only the island of Oahu, we represent the other islands as well, the neighboring islands. And this position, you know, for me, it's very, very important. The reason why I'm seeking this position is because, you know, we definitely have roots on all of the major neighboring islands and we spend a lot of time there as well, you know, our family. Oh, you are going to represent, so the at-large seat represents the entire state of Hawaii. But as I understand it, every seat on the board of trustees for Oahu gets elected statewide. It's just that your focus as the trustee may be broader for the at-large seat. Absolutely. And also, the island seats that are up that candidates are running for. You must be a resident of that island. The at-large seat, you know, gonna focus on everything. But no matter what, every island can vote for each trustee seat, no matter if it's from a particular island or not. Everyone in the state can vote. No, you live on Oahu. On Oahu, correct. Okay. Did you grow up on Oahu? Yes, I did. So I grew up originally in Liliha. Really? Right over the hill from Liliha, Bakery, Panui Street. Oh, the street right below is actually Kunawai and Kunawai Puan and everything over there. So we grew up down there. Up till I was five years old, we actually moved out to Kapolei. My parents were. Really? Yeah, we're actually... So you're actually a long time Kapolei before the villages of Kapolei? Right, correct. And so we consider like, you know, the fine years of Kapolei, my parents were actually one of the first five to actually move out to Kapolei. We still had sugarcane yet, you know, going to Waipahu, Franklin Highway, no shopping centers. So we've seen this, this place really develop and grow. And where did you go to school? Kamehameha Schools, class of 2002. Oh, yeah, 2002. That might make you my grandson or something. I'm just kidding. But, you know, well, actually, we were, when we, when I was in the 78 Constitutional Convention, and we were developing, creating the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, it was our dream that young people like yourself would take up the mantle. So you went to Kamehameha Schools. Tell us a little bit about what you do now. How did you get there? You know, just your family, all of this so that people get to know who you are. Right on. Absolutely. Thank you. Yeah. So I, right now, I'm currently a realtor with Kodwa Becker, realty. I'm a day job. I'm also an entertainer with the Grammy-nominated Nahuku Hanoa Award winning group Nahua.  She's a fourth grader at Pune Home School. My son is six years old. He attends St. Louis School. And my beautiful baby girl, Presley, she's one. Right to my wife, Mahina. My beautiful wife, Mahina. We reside only a couple of years, like we talked about. And one of them, we get to go to Kamehameha Schools, right?  So we're really proud of them. So. Did you, where did you go to college? I did Kapiolani Community College, went to liberal arts, and then I started working. Oh, terrific. You know, my son, my son, who is the, who is the trustee now. He's a large trustee. He's not running in this election, but he also went to Kapiolani Community College. Awesome. And yeah, so you're going to have some, if you get elected, you'll have a fellow alumnus on the board with you. Interestingly enough, boy, I tell you, this is not supposed to turn out this way, but it's sort of leading there. Not only did I play a small role with the creation of the Office of Foreign Affairs, I also built the campus, Kapiolani Community College campus that was built during my tenure as governor. So you know, you're like a product of kind of a life's work. So you got three children and you live on it a couple of days too, I guess so.  Why is that?  The Office of Foreign Affairs beneficiaries are Native Hawaiians. That is the focus of this organization. And you know, I know you were a big part of starting OHA and the run from the very beginning, 1978, the Kankan Constitutional Convention, very, very important. And I know you've seen this organization grow. Even though OHA has a lot of great qualities, we still can be doing more to support its beneficiaries, who of course is going back to Native Hawaiians. Right. And so when you go out and oh boy, I have so many things, how do we get there? You know, let's start by continuing this particular conversation. Now, when you go out and you meet people, I'm assuming that you talk at least somewhat to Native Hawaiian community, what are some of their concerns? I mean, one of the issues that they particularly care about, especially doing this, not these days, doesn't necessarily have to do only with COVID, but especially doing 2020. What are Native Hawaiian people interested in? So, you know, there was a recent survey that OHA conducted. You know, in the top three, you know, from Native Hawaiian voters, of course, the top three things that they wanted to see for the future of Hawaiians. They wanted to see improved anyway. Number one, affordable housing. Number two, more representation in state government, more Native Hawaiian representation. And number three, better management of land and natural resources. So those are the three priorities. If we're going to go to, you know, the top one, we'll take the top one, for example, affordable housing. You know, my background, one of my top priorities anyway, mortgage education, I have a background in real estate. And the thing is, it's very, very important for OHA to step up to the plate and make sure that, you know, when Hawaiians get called, for example, for the HHL, Hawaiian homelands, and they finally get called, they're on the list, they finally get called. How do we support them, you know, in becoming that first-time home buyer, or supporting them financially in order for them to obtain the home? You know, if we're going to touch on the HHS and start brought it up, you know, they're two separate public trusts. And why don't you explain to people who may not know what they are, what the two trusts do and how they're different, right? Okay, how they're like, you know, what in other words, what their functions, right? Okay. Yeah. So basically, so if we're going to touch on OHA first, so OHA, you know, I know was set up in 1978 to basically get the seeded lands revenues, right? That's for the betterment of Native Hawaiians, that was the whole point. And, you know, this is going back, dating from the lands that was, you know, to kind of right the wrongs of Native Hawaiians going back to the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom in 1893. So this organization was set up. And, you know, I knew you were part of that. And basically, you guys set this up to get those seeded lands monies and kind of funnel it through programs and different things that can support Native Hawaiians. So that's what OHA is there for, the gist of it, why OHA is there. The HHL is another public trust. And they're basically set up, you know, the Hawaiian homeland, they provide housing. That is the housing for Native Hawaiians, specifically for Native Hawaiians. The thing is right now, currently, OHA does support the HHL. There's an agreement, $3 million a year for 30 years. So total of $90 million that OHA does, they have an agreement with the HHL to support housing. So somehow, one of your aspirations, obviously, is to somehow improve or become part of that, to create more affordable housing on Hawaiian homelands for beneficiaries. Absolutely. Absolutely. You have a background in housing and real estate. Now, tell me outside of supporting Hawaiian homelands, which is for 50% Hawaiians or more on the blood quantum. There are a lot of Hawaiians that maybe don't make that threshold. So if you were going to get elected into OHA, and you, how would, as you see it, based on your experience, what could OHA do to make housing affordable? Right. So, you know, one of the most rewarding things for me as a real estate agent is I get to help first-time homebuyers. And it's not only helping them get qualified, you know, through a lender or anything like that, if they don't have one, but basically giving them the confidence to move forward. Letting them know that this is the right thing to do. Showing them examples. I'm fortunate to be able to invest as well. You know, my parents taught me how to kind of, how to go about doing it. But if you don't have somebody, you know, close to you that can express those kind of things to you and show you how to do it. You know, it's going to be hard. And at that point, you know, the easiest thing for some situations is to keep renting. You know, and as a real estate agent, I definitely encourage everybody buy versus rent. That's definitely the right thing to do. And so, you know, giving them the confidence from the beginning, first-time homebuyers, and I'm going to basically apply the same strategy towards all husband beneficiaries. Show them the process, basically holding their hand. There's nothing wrong with that. You know, holding their hand all the way to the process and making them, you know, feel like they are doing the right thing and showing them examples of other Hawaiians and other young Hawaiians, especially who have invested and who, you know, it's as simple as telling them, keep a job. You have to keep a job for two years. We need to show steady income, you know, and basically, like I said, holding their hands and giving them. You have any specific kind of how would you create something that Native Hawaiians could buy? Right. So right now, I mean, when they bring up the term affordable housing, you know, I don't really like that term, but if we're going to go affordable housing, DHL is definitely the Hawaiian, you know, affordable housing instead of to help Native Hawaiians. But like you mentioned earlier, the blood quantum. So if you do, we're going to take a small break. And when we're going to take a short break now, we'll be back in a minute, folks. And when we come back, we'll hear from Keoni as to some of his ideas for housing that people can buy. Welcome back to Talk Story with John Wahee and our guest this afternoon, Keoni Suza. And Keoni is running, as we mentioned earlier, for the large seat with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Now, Keoni, you were right in the middle of telling us about one of the best, the greatest, I guess, the greatest priority for Native Hawaiians, according to a survey that's been taken, is for affordable housing. And part of the deal is for a lot of people is not knowing how to get that, you know, how to take advantage of what it's offered. And so we had just discussed the fact that you have the knowledge to help them in that process. But in addition to that, are there any ideas that you might have that could result in affordable housing? I mean, should the state, should OHA, what kind of things can be done to make housing more affordable for a family, for your family? You know, like, what would it take for a family like yours, which, you know, one husband and wife and three young children struggling to get the best education you can pay for them? What would it take to make housing affordable for families like yours, outside of Hawaiian home? Right, absolutely. So, I know we talked about the blood quantum earlier, Governor. And, you know, if you don't have that 50 percent, and you don't have the 25 percent, even for the let's see to pass it down, who is 50 percent? You know, there has to be other opportunities created. And, you know, in Hawaii already, it's very, very expensive. And it's hard to survive. I have a lot of friends and family who move off island because they go other opportunities, you know, Vegas. And now I hear of different guys going to Tennessee and Georgia, different places where you can get a brand new home for $250,000. Right. So, you know, the thing is, we are affordable housing, for example, Kakaako. We're going to bring on Kakaako, affordable housing. With the affordable housing guidelines, there's a percentage of each condo, you know, structure that's developed on there that needs to be affordable. And they start off about 450 to 500,000. Now, on top of that, there's maintenance fees. And so you have to be able to qualify, you know, in this day and age and this economy and especially during the COVID and everything went on, people losing jobs. It's not possible. So how do we help them at that point? You know, we definitely need to, it goes back to the education part. It's holding a job for two years. It's gathering the down payment. The down payment I want to touch on because that's very, very important. Even though people qualify and they can qualify for affordable housing within the guidelines, they sometimes don't have the down payment. There is the opportunity to get gift letters from your parents or, you know, a loved one or a friend who can support you at that point to help you with the process. We always explore the options with our buyers. But, you know, if you don't have that, you know, how do you see, how do you go along the process?  Like I said, they have a lot of great qualities. They do support a lot of programs, but they should be putting more money towards the mortgage education, letting them know what to do. Basically, like I said, teaming them, teaming the buyers up with past, you know, homeowners and people who are very successful in investing.  And that's why that's what I want to do. Well, I'll tell you, you know, you mentioned also something else, which I found very interesting. And that's the fact that your parents from very early on taught you how to invest and how to do that. Now, one of the things that I don't know if many people know is that OHA has a trust fund. It's not as large as Kamehameha Schools, but it is substantial. I mean, it's in the hundreds of millions of dollars. And so part of the job of a trustee is managing investments. So tell me what you contribute to that aspect of the trustee's job, because that's not something that you would normally hear about at a community meeting, but something we can bring to people's attention, you know, in this afternoon. Right. No, no, definitely. And you know, like I said, the money's in those trust funds. Definitely. So we, as OHA, there is investment, our investment portfolio consists of investing elsewhere. We have different investments out of state. And so one solution to that, bringing it back home, investing here, supporting businesses down here, using that money's where it counts. The return on investment can be greater. Like I said, even opportunities to develop the land that OHA oversees. Kakaako Makai, one great example since OHA had possession of since 2012. Kakaako Makai does a lot of groundwork that needed to be done, you know, in order for it to be ready to build. And so that is one. And my recommendation is Kakaako Makai cannot be developed anytime soon. Let's work on doing a land swap. Let's work on doing something that makes sense right now so that we can create revenue for our beneficiaries. And we don't have to say this is all we can give you. You know, we have to stop funding this program.  That was the agreement. I think right now, give or take, it's about 3%, which we get every year. And do you feel any, you feel a burden to go after that? Or how does, what are some of your thoughts about how, what we should do about that? You know, the fact that the OHA doesn't get what it's entitled to by law. Absolutely. Absolutely. So I definitely feel going after that money is a priority. It's one of my top priorities. I guess it in the meantime, we are still going to be working on creating our own revenue. You know, I guess it developing commercial, creating commercial properties to support native Hawaiian businesses. We can do something like flex homes in Kakako, where, you know, two, three story building, two stories on the top is housing. The bottom floor is actually a business. You can run your business. Opili out in Ewa, they have those, Kapolei, Mehana, they have a flex home. So that is definitely something that we should be doing on that Kakako property. That's a very interesting, very interesting point. You know, one of the things about the Office of Hawaiian Affairs is that ever since 2000 with the infamous, I call it infamous Rice v. Kaitano, U.S. Supreme Court decision, that non-Hawaiians can vote in the Ohio election. So I am sure that you have talked to non-Hawaiians and they are interested in what the Office of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs are. And how do you persuade them? How do you persuade a non-Hawaiian about the importance of OHA to Hawaiian to the Hawaiian people and vice versa to the state of Hawaii? Right. Just, yeah. No, no, definitely. That's a big, important issue. A lot of people don't vote. See, if they're not Hawaiian, they choose not to vote. And people can respect that. But when they do participate... Right, yeah. So when they do participate, first of all, a lot of them are not educated on the candidates, number one. Second, they're not educated on what the Office of Hawaiian Affairs actually does. Unfortunately, a lot of publicity that the Office of Hawaiian Affairs has to deal with, especially the trustees in the past, is negative attention on the news and in the newspaper. And so people, they kind of lose faith in the organization. They say, I don't want to have anything to do with it. But they have to understand that this organization, going back to 1978, the goal is to support Native Hawaiian beneficiaries. And everyone voting out there needs to know that that is the main goal. But how does it affect non-Hawaiian voters? By OHA supporting a Native Hawaiian business, for example, thriving Native Hawaiian business, they do well. It actually creates more tax revenue for the state, which we are all taxpayers. We are all taxpayers, exactly, for everyone. And so that's one big way. A Native Hawaiian off the streets into homes, we help them along in the home buying process. We don't have to access public resources. That also relieves the strain on taxpayers. And that's just two examples that... And I like to talk about because we can expand on that as far as non-Native Hawaiian voters. And most of the time, they don't vote because it's out of respect, like you said. Hawaiians also, they're not educated on what OHA does. And I think OHA, kind of bringing out the good in what OHA does, restoring the voice, restoring the confidence in the organization is what we need to do moving forward as OHA trustees. Very good. Now, I'm going to pivot again one more time because I am totally interested in getting to know you. And you're part of the music. Tell us a little bit about your music side. Right.  Well, it can't be anytime Hawaiians talk that you can only stay so long on the serious subject.  Tell me about your music side of your life. You know, I started playing music from a very young age. My grandmother, Monoha Ka'apana Madaris, she played music. And of course, you know, her family, the Ka'apana, the later Ka'apana, that's cousins to her. They were all musicians. She wasn't a professional musician. That's all your family is from Puna, then? Yeah. So they all connect to all the same family. Ka'apana is from Puna. Yeah. So then it's Ka'apana. And then... So my grandma actually grew up on Monoha Ka'i. Oh, Monoha Ka'i? Yeah. Yeah. So every Abraham Ka'apana of Kahlua Acha Church is actually my... So great grandfather. And so my grandma, she started playing music from a young age. So all the family parties used to have out in Lanikai and everything like that every summer.  She's a god. And not knowing that she never had an album, she never had... She wasn't ever female vocalist of the year or anything like that. But she was my grandma. And that's how my music career, basically my music foundation started. And of course, in respect to Kamehameha schools from a very young age, Kamehameha Children's Chorus, went up into Concert Glee, up in high school. And just the opportunities that stem from that, you know, being able to play outside with the old-timers. We're talking about the old-timer musicians, 40 years at Alriga Kanu Club and the Halecoa Sunday branch, Halecoa Inslee, Hale Manu and the Tevises. And Kiko Fernandez, who passed on the gig for Halecoa Inslee.  And so just, you know, the foundation is very, very important. That led to us being able to travel the world, you know, outside even the U.S. and then traveling to Japan internationally. And, you know, we get to explore different cultures. We see how they handle things and their approach on different issues that we are facing as well. You know, so the music has taken me everywhere. Even took us, like I said earlier, with Grammy nominated, took us to the Grammys.  I think that's fantastic that you have the experience of, and people ought to know that, that you would, one of the nominations, people nominated for the, the Grammys.  You know? Well, you got the, and I don't, I think anyway, that being in that kind of a discipline really molds you for life. So one of the good things is you've got to know the kupuna. You got to know your, your genealogy. So I, you know, Keone, I do want to thank you. I was hoping we'd have a chance to talk more about what the difficulties of running an Ohio election. But our time is up and I, and I wanted people to get to know you and hopefully people will tune in to this show and they will see you for who you are. So thank you. Aloha everybody. We'll see you again in two weeks. Aloha Governor. Thank you.


I have to say that we had some really great interactions. There were a lot of debates. Each one had their own points of view and therefore a very well jury that was very opinionated and therefore had, there was a lot of debate on who should make it to the list and who should not. And I think we arrived upon a common criteria in order to make sure that we are getting the right ones up there and shortlisted. So it was a great interaction and it's lovely to see inspired brilliant young minds who entered into the race and fabulous to see the kind of impact they are actually making to the industry. Some of it was very, very inspiring. Some of it was clutter-breaking actually. Some of it was a total change in behaviour and action, what it was meant to do as a campaign and therefore we saw a lot of heart felt change in and what the campaign has brought. A lot of new digital entries in there as well and it's good to see that new wave coming through and therefore a lot of digital entries this time. And therefore like I said a lot of young body work which is creative, brilliant and inspiring to some extent.


Everybody forced heat ripping six boxes of tops chrome baseball hobby 2023 for Jeffrey H. Thanks for the order Jeffrey. Good luck, man And guys, this will be the last one tonight Got more personals tomorrow.   I knew it was coming though I know It's like so many things had to happen and they all happened Christopher Morrell Josh Jung Fractor Teosca Hernandez Kobe Both are negative is Francisco Lindore Spencer Strider Refractor Marcus Strowman Gossman Prism Ricky Kade Cavalli The end to so hoppe Casas 88 rookie base auto L. E. R. Hernandez Got Prism Mitch Hannigar All right, not a great box Jeff from you guys see some better ones here Five more though Josh Jung 88 Ruchman Titans Redemption Elohim and as top strong authentic relic relic autograph variants Jersey out of Elohim and as nice refractor Chris sale Magenta speckle Kevin Gosman a 350 refractor Bryce Harper. Oh, yeah, I remember that one still one of the best ones Prism rookie Jordan Walker. Nice. 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Oh, yeah, or a sab or something like that He bought like the first One of the first whatever is the palo ben caro like set the market Orange rookie auto leave on soto 23 of 25 Nice orange rookie auto See a nice parallel here louis castillo refractor prism joe muskrove Fractor rookie michael grove We'll ding on that one jeffrey Just want to point that one out probably not worth replacing the grove rookie Green. Oh, yeah, if I if I even if I make a mistake, I'm still paying Unless it's like really like let's like hey, dude I messed up bad rookie refractor call us pares Prism rookie spencer steer reds You can like submit like bid cancellation though to the buyer, right? Like it's up to them, but you can be like, hey I messed up and I will not pay for this. Like, you know what I mean? Rookie refractor and carnausio and marlins like I actually cannot pay for this But it's whatever Yeah, anyway, yeah, that that's that's that's super incredibly incredibly rare occasion that really never happens. So Jeffery that'll do it man some decent stuff there some hobby boxes. We appreciate it. We'll get about to you


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Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has arched the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Federal Inland Revenue Service and all the relevant stakeholders to explore Executive Order 007 of 2019 to provide an alternative fund and source to finance the reconstruction of Bida Lemu Oshishi's on Guerra Road in Niger State. An emotion sponsored by Honourable Sider Mosa Abdulaii, he raised concerns that despite the approval of the Minister of Works and Housing for the redesign and reconstruction of the lawmaker noted that if the trunk a-road is reconstructed, it will enhance the western link of the country to the Zungari Hydropower project, which will generate 700 megawatts of electricity close to 10 per cent of the nation's total domestic energy. The road through the COVID-19 intervention by Femham, no rehabilitation has been carried out on the trunk a-road and its bridges since it was rehabilitated over 30 years ago. Aware that Zungari Town Place was to the ongoing 700 megawatt hydroelectric power station project embarked on by the Federal Government of Nigeria at the cost of $1.3 billion. The project is part of the Federal Government's strategies to reposition power generation emphases in the country and upon completion, we have the recognition of a strategic national asset. Also aware that the area from Bida to Zungari is a middle-rise belt with huge potentials for other agricultural products that can hugely contribute to the country's drive at food security. Concerned that the road leading to this strategic national asset, in addition to the huge agricultural endowment of the area, is in the total state of the city. Hello, hope you enjoyed the news. Please do subscribe to our YouTube channel and don't forget to hit the notification button so you get notified about fresh news updates.


Welcome to the Burlington Mayor's show for the month of May. Thanks for joining us. We have a exciting show ahead. We're gonna be talking about all of the Burlington events that are coming up this summer. We have a very busy summer plan for the downtown and the waterfront. Perhaps a record-breaking year in terms of events, something like 140 events taking place from May until October. This is an effort that we are doing for multiple reasons. I think maybe the biggest thing is it's time to get people together again. It's time to have downtown Burlington and this waterfront fully reopened after two very challenging years. We also really wanna do everything we can to help the downtown business community, which has been through the ups and downs of the pandemic for the last couple of years. We really wanna do everything we can, especially with these emergency resources that we have to help with the economic recovery. We also, as has been a big discussion in the last few weeks, saw some public safety issues last summer, some incidents that we wanna have a different kind of summer this time. And one thing we know about downtown Burlington is that when it's full and alive and full of positive events, that we see less of those problematic kind of incidents. So, here to talk about this exciting summer with me today are two of our great, two great members of the Burlington Department Head team. We have Cindy White, who is the Director of the Parks, Recreation, and Waterfront Department. And also Kara Al-Nasrawi, who has for several years now, more than two years, two and a half years, been the Church Tree Marketplace Director and is in process of becoming the Director of a new department that she's really been running it for the last couple years. We're formalizing this in the budget process we're going through right now. We are the business support and workforce development department. And Kara has also been had this sort of related hat on for some time now of running our ARPA. All these emergency funds that are coming through the city, Kara's in the leadership role, kind of point person on making that process, all the, everything involved in that work. So, thank you both for being here tonight. I know Kara, you've got a couple slides. Do you want to kind of kick things off with kind of walk us through? Are these slides going to show? Oh, there we go, perfect. I mean, but what do you think about it too? What a night to be doing this show. It's like blue sky, sunny fountains going at City Hall Park. So it's like the great like background for talking about all the great events going on in downtown. It definitely is, it definitely is. Okay, so obviously these are some of the participating departments and parts of the city that are supporting all these events. I won't go through all of these individually, but I will just highlight some of them. A lot of these 140 events are taking place in City Hall Park. A lot of these things to BCA are just very interesting and diverse. So we've got Splash Dance, which is something geared towards children. We have summer concert series. So when you're having your lunch out there during the day, you have some music to listen to. We have an evening concert series. We have movies in the park. We have local art groups and we have TED Talk style speeches and discussions in the park, which really we found, we started some of those last summer and we found that they really bring people in and people sort of huddle in a circle and it's a really nice way to exchange ideas. And of course, new this year is our BTV Market. That starts on July, excuse me, June 4th, right around the corner for us. That is going to be made up of artists, makers and small food producers. We are having 50 vendors, rotating vendors, so different ones each week, some repeating, some not. Every Saturday from 11 to three, there will also be family games out there. Think Giant Size Connect Four. There will be picnic blankets that you can grab and use. We will have live music. We will have other games for children in the fountain, which is obviously like one of our best resources that we have there. And so that is 18 Saturdays in a row and we're really looking forward to that and so hoping to have you guys come and join us. I might just forward on a little more. What are we talking about? So you're totally right. It was a beautiful day downtown and the park looked great. The park looked great. The furniture was out, the grass was well just cut. It was like a scene out of a poster today. All sorts of different. I think there was a lot of people. I don't know if there was a concert today or why it seemed like there was something on there. I think that we're starting to kick off. We were testing our sound equipment this afternoon. I saw groups of lots of little children that were just coming through. I don't know if they came from the wire, King Street Center, but it's just, it's great to see that use of City Hall Park and one of the things I thought about when I was seeing those groups of toddlers coming through the park was, can you imagine being a leader of that when you have a fountain going, that spring water on a warm day and you're asking those kids to walk through and not hit the fountain. You wonder how many of them, you know, just couldn't resist. I know sometimes they take it. They couldn't resist. They're taking it right through something. Sometimes it's just a destination. That's true. It might have been a purposeful, with a change of clothes back there. Stacy, my wife, you know, works at the King Street Center and they sometimes lead groups just to get to the fountain. Let's talk a little bit more about this BTV market, really big, new initiative. I actually, I'm not sure I quite understood. So how many, some of the vendors will be repeating some not. Over the course of the 18 Saturdays, how many different vendors do you think will on the other? Over the course of the 18 Saturdays, I think we're at 120 vendors. Wow. So it's really something new each week for people to come back for. Something new each week. There are some, we made it a flexible model. So if some vendors say, you know, maybe they produce baked goods, let's say, and they can only do that a few times during the summer because of their own personal schedule, they can just book three Saturdays during the summer. We do have some artists and makers who wanna be there every Saturday. And as you know, we've had a vibrant artist market in City Hall Park for years and some of those artists are used to coming every Saturday, so they signed up for the whole season. But we wanted to make it flexible for those who were, we're using this also as a small business incubator program, so allowing people to test out the market. They may have been producing goods at home and they need an opportunity to access a customer base, the downtown customer base, which they're not used to accessing normally. And this gives them a chance to sort of test their products. We've done some wraparound services, offering them some classes on Zoom to help them learn about merchandising, to help them learn how to market themselves for free on social media. We also have, for the first hundred visitors who come to the market, there's a tote bag. So that'll be there. We'll have some extra additional inflatable seating, which is really fun for families and kids that are going out there. Yeah, we tried to inflate it today, we had a little struggle with that, but we're working on it. Should be ready by next weekend. I'm sure it's gonna go great, it's gonna go great. And so just to really create, the vending will be happening outwards on the park and will retain the inside of the park for really family picnic. There'll be some vendors in the park in the land. There will be some, yes, absolutely. But a bunch in, we're closing down St. Paul Street again. We're closing down St. Paul, we're just trying to keep the hardscapes and then also keep flow of pedestrian traffic and all of that clear. But definitely how the park has been set up with vending on Maine and vending on St. Paul and then some in the park. Great, yeah. You know, totally pictured getting, so I get to have my relaxed Saturday morning. Yes. Go down, hit the farmer's market, pick up my veggies that I'm looking for. Of course, I'll own a bicycle because it's much more fun and it's easier. And then come up and, for me, and then come up and have lunch. And then come up and have some lunch at City Hall Park. So there'll be a variety of prepared foods. We had a committee who reviewed all the applications and we had a scoring system. And really the goal was to give people, as I said, access to a customer base that they didn't normally have and to test out their business idea and see where it would go from there. And you can keep going north and Saturday is really gonna be like market day and in the city this summer. Then come around the corner here. The bizarre happening right outside of this club. Yeah. It sounds like it's gonna be an expensive Saturday morning. In a good way though, in a good way. That's really good, like used items. That's right, there's all kinds. Yeah, yeah. Definitely. Definitely. Are any of the vendors that were a part of the winter market coming back? There are some that are coming back. Yeah, they had great success. We had vendors in the winter market who sold out a product. And we are looking to expand the winter market again this year slowly. The winter market expands more slowly because we need covered structures because of weather. But, and that way this is a little easier to handle because of the hopefully the good weather and it's easier for people to bring their wares in and out. And they're just gonna, and getting into the fountain is explicitly part of the, part of the plan. Part of the plan. Getting into the fountain. Not a requirement though. No, no. But we're gonna have some of that splash dance theme that BCA has had in the park previously, the live music and basically the picnic blankets that you can just lay out around the fountain and let the kids get in. And there's, you know, just I think the reminder too is that there's bathroom on site. Yes. We've got the Portland Loop. Great reminder. But then also, I think sometimes people forget that City Hall is open for bathrooms. You just have to go from the church street side to get in. Yep, we're keeping that open on Saturdays as well. So that's a really good point. There's two bathroom options right there. I gotta say, I think the bathrooms, we had lots of complaints about that bathrooms for years. I feel like the bathrooms are being run very well right now. I definitely think. Well, we have, Alex is amazing. I mean, we have, Alex, we get so many, I had somebody came in today making great comments about Alex who takes care of City Hall Park five days a week and he just does a fantastic job. So, and definitely those, you know, that Portland Loop has been well used. It's stood the test of time so far. Looking to do another one, right? We're looking to do another one. No promises yet. But yeah, we have to find an appropriate location but it's been a real success story and it's really just had, you know, everyone needs a public restroom. So definitely. Where is the, you know, there are other locations we're considering or it's premature? I think it's premature right now. Well, we are gonna be testing some of those wasted ones too, starting in August. The ones that do, we are. It's like, have you heard about these ones? No. It is an incubator. It's an incubator. You'll like this one. So it's an incubator program at Hula which has all those cool incubator programs. And so it is one, it's like a fancy port-a-let. And so it's not combined to sewer and water but it separates the urine from solids. And so therefore then they can use the urine I guess as like a fertilizer, that's. And so we're gonna test some. We're gonna be a pilot site for them starting in August. I think we'll probably have one down by frame. So it's kind of a cool little incubator program. Sparks does use a bunch of port-a-lets. Because we use a bunch of port-a-lets in space. So it's one of those ones where that's a space we have a port-a-let and so they look a lot nicer. And it's great to help just a local business try out a model in a sustainable way. And they use fewer chemicals or greener chemicals so the waste can be used to go back into the land. And they've used this model already and they wanted to use Burlington as sort of one of their first test locations. They had been located in Southern Vermont but they hooked up with Hula and they've moved up here. So Parks is testing them out and we're hoping that it's, they have this great model where they're almost un-tippable. They have sort of a modern look to them. You can even wrap them in your logo if you so chose. And they come and service them and then they have an agreement with landowners for the use of the waste. Say more about this listen up series. Like I feel like that, is this a new thing or do we do a little bit of this last year? We did, so I'll give, you know, Tim I had to Burlington City Arts and Zach Williamson. This was one of his, and it is exactly as it said on the screen. It's Ted Talk inspired. Yeah. What do we know about that topic? Well, so I know we've had artists in the past that have spoken about their journey and how they got to where they were. We've also had retired individuals who have come and spoken about their work and the impact they've had on the community and where maybe they see their work going forward after them. And it's a very discussion-based interview sort of model. Does he use the little stage by City Hall or where we're in? It's right in front of BCA generally as we set up. But it's all, they have microphones, so it's all audio. So you can sort of sit in the park and listen to the discussion as if you were listening on NPR, essentially. And we've definitely had just some really good responses to that, yeah. Great. And so the 140 event statistics to be clear, that's all City Hall park events or does that include some of the other? That I think is all City Hall park events. And that- I was thinking that was everything. So some of those are, you know, obviously there aren't that many days in the summer, but if we have two hours of a DJ out there encouraging children to play in the fountain, which we call Splash Dance, that's one of our events. We're also having yoga in the park sometimes. So it's that each of those events adds up. Some events are larger than others, obviously, but combined- People are coming up. We should plug Jazz Fest coming right up. Yeah, the opening is, the opening performance at the Flynn is June 3rd. And it will spill out into City Hall park. We will have stages on Church Street. I believe there's a performance at the Waterfront Park. It's down at Waterfront Park. A big one. Basically everything that's outdoors is free. And we're really happy to welcome them back. So. The great majority of the events are free. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Hasn't always been the case with Jazz Fest. It hasn't always been the case. I believe there are some ticketed events in the Flynn, but the outdoor events are free. And this year on the mall block of the Church Street Marketplace, we're going to be having a series of high school bands associated, like Jazz Bands associated with the Jazz Fest.  And I heard the Waterfront one, I don't remember the name, but I was told it's like a big deal. I've heard it's a big deal that this person is going to be down at the Waterfront and that it's going to be free. So if you're into Jazz, know that someone who's a big deal is going to the Waterfront. But I'm sure it's on their website. Get more specific information on their website. Exactly. So what else do we have here for you? Yeah, I'll give a quick marketplace update, which is the next slide. I don't know if I control the slides here. If we could forward, yep. There we go, perfect, thank you. So we've sort of revamped a little bit our cart vendor program on the marketplace. Again, with the idea that we're using it to incubate, sort of welcoming some new, we have some new immigrant and BIPOC focused carts that were coming to the street. And we definitely have some old hands, which the cart you saw on that picture, which is Skinny Pancake, who got their start in the church sheet marketplace. And we're trying to set people up with mentors to help them get used to being on the street. Another layer that we've added to our cart vendor program is a minimum attendance requirement, so we can market them on our social media. That's like a change, Kara. I mean, I think the pandemic had a big part. I hear you like the falafel. So you'll know which days it's out there. Well, no one moves it, it's gonna be back. You'll know when he's gonna be there. So we are gonna have people's schedules and we'll be able to let people know, which I think will be good for the businesses. And of course, there's weather issues and things like that, but good for the businesses and good for activation for the street. So you know who's there and who's not. And I don't know if you saw, but WCAX just did a piece. We had, we have a new flower cart on the street. Yeah, the bicycle cart. It's not one they were filming that, so I happened to walk by it. She's gray and she has sold out of her product every day she's been there. Is that right? Yeah, I feel like it's a sign of the times people want a little happy. And so that's been good. We are gonna do some pop-up food vendors in City Hall Park again on that College Street Terrace. And that's going to be grab and go. We had some great Somali food vendors last summer that were a hit and we had some bakeries selling desserts and we pair them together. You can, it's all into go containers. You can eat in the park or you can take it home. How often will that be happening? So we're working. This is one of my pet pet projects here. Yeah, I know. This is like a department head meeting on TV here, like how often car are you at that terrace? Filled. I'm gonna get that PowerPoint to you. Should we tell Stacey to opt the food budget or the dining budget? We are looking to fill as many Thursday, Friday, Saturdays as we can. Thursday, Friday, sorry, it's great. But we'll hopefully be publishing some of that and some of that. We're joking about this, but this is an important part of the plan for City Hall Park since we decided to redo it is that we really wanna make it a place that is actively used throughout the week, not just on farmer's market Saturdays. And you look around what makes a successful park often having food in the park is something that brings people there and keeps it active and vibrant. And that terrace was designed. The terrace, definitely. Someone designed with that in mind. So much. We have some like utility water issues, but we're working through those. We just increase, for anyone who wants to been there, we just increase the amps of electricity so you can have more of an ability to cook there a little bit if you need to. From the practical side, can I say it's been a success in that we have a lot more garbage coming out of that park. There you go. So that tells you.  Let's add that to BTV stat. BTV stat, how much garbage comes out of City Hall Park? And is it sorted? And is it sorted, that's right. How did they do in the recycling? I know, exactly. So we'll be having those. And for those of you who'll do a little plug who don't follow Love Burlington, if you use Instagram, it's atloveburlington. If you use the internet, it's loveburlington.org. We have event calendars on there. We also have a very descriptive calendar of BTV market where you can see which vendors are coming, which week, which Saturday, and click on them and learn more about what they're selling and where they'll be located so you can find them easily when you're there. And you'll also be able to see which bands are playing if that interests you. Love Burlington still has the whole searchable website. Love Burlington, thanks for the plug. Yes, it's a fully searchable database of small businesses throughout the city, not just downtown. So Old North End, South End. And you can sort by what you're looking for. You can sort by ownership structure. So BIPOC, women owned. You can sort by food, clothing. You can sort whether you want an experience. So whether you're looking for a gallery or something like that. And so that is constantly being updated and that's always up to date. And now we've added a whole section on the market so you can search for vendors. And so anyway, just a little plug for Love Burlington. If you're looking for, I feel like sometimes it's hard to know the information and there's so much happening in the city each weekend. So, and yeah. It's a great tool and great additional, something that really was built during the pandemic. It really was. It came out of a conversation that my team and I had had with the business community, one of those large zooms, when we were in the throes of the pandemic and people were obviously anxious and really stressed and their livelihoods depended on things. And people said, the artists have BCA and the businesses on the marketplace have the tertiary marketplace, but we need another voice for us. And out of that conversation, Love Burlington was born. And we've just had a great response from the small businesses being really pleased to have just a platform that's amplifying them. We're headed toward 10,000 followers now on Instagram. And people are checking it constantly to see what's new and where you can go and things you, I swear you don't know the city has. You can find them on Love Burlington. I'm always surprised. I don't create the content myself personally. So sometimes what I'm looking at it, I think, I didn't know that was there. But so yeah, that's how that came about. Also, as we all know, the mall is closed and in an attempt to sort of program some of that space, as I said, we have the high school bands coming in for the jazz fest. And we're also gonna have some pop-up live music with games and vendors there on Wednesdays during the summer. I wanna make sure Cindy, did you wanna talk about some rec programs? Yeah, well, yep, and I just wanted to highlight the waterfront's gonna be a great, so a lot of information on City Hall Park, but the waterfront also is gonna be really activated this summer, much more than the past two years, obviously, not quite up to 2019, but we're getting there. And I think one of the highlights coming back, I think, is the three-day Brewer Fest. That's gonna be, I would wonder if the tickets are already sold out, because everybody's looking forward to that one. Are they doing two? They're doing three. They got three, yep, three times of that. So, and then of course in the fall with the Antique Boat Society's international event happening down there. But I did wanna do a quick, that is a, oh, that's like a worldwide show. Like, this is the Antique Boat, and it's kind of, in many ways, there's just a little sadness with it. It was like, it was a Bill Truex. That was his baby that he's been working on for years and here he can't see it come to fruition, but I'm sure the community will take care of Bill's vision and it'll go off great and it'll be a really wonderful event for a community in September. Anyone watching that doesn't know, or talking about Bill Truex, long time, long time, Berlin, Tony, and really kind of an institution in town started the Truex Collins, the architecture firm on Battery Street, really one of the visionaries who created the Church Street Marketplace passed away a couple months ago now. And he had been, this had been a major project. I can't, lost track of how many times Bill would come to talk to me about this. Boat show had to be delayed because of the pandemic in the bank, right? So, it is, but I think there's gonna be a, I believe there's some memorial events coming. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just the one thing I wanna talk about, we have all these great events going on. I just want to also remind the community that we have an amazing recreation nutrition program. So there's meals, you know, as people are thinking about how to make summer work. You know, we've got the meals program going all summer. And so hopefully that allows people to save up a little bit of money because they've got some lunch provided so they can spend a little extra dollars down at, the waterfront or down at City Hall Park or on Church Street Marketplace. So it's gonna be a great summer, great summer. And again, what a day to do it on when it's like 70 degrees out there, sunny. We're gonna have a blast. We're gonna have a lot of fun in the summer. That's exactly right. So anyone watching out there trying to set up, thinking about their summer plans, that Burlington is open. There's gonna be more happening than ever. We didn't even get to the major events slide. Maybe we'll throw that up as we're wrapping up here. We, I guess we mentioned a couple of them. We're getting the first, the kickoff really always feels like happens this coming weekend with. Exactly, the marathon. It is this weekend. It is this weekend, yeah. Memorial Day weekend, the Vermont City Marathon is back and it's traditional time for the first time in three years on. Traditional time, full marathon. Full marathon. I'm gonna be looking forward to kicking it off early Sunday morning. And from there we go, we have the Jazz Fest game started next week, which we talked a little bit about, but we also Festival of Fools is coming back. Kara has this crazy new event running with the Bulls. It's not mine, it's a charity event, but yes. We're not actually bringing Pamplona Bulls here, but it sounds like it should be fun. The boat show, which we did talk a little bit about. Juneteenth coming up in less than a month has grown from a single day event and now it is really a weekend of events that are taking place around the city and more. So we're down to just our last few seconds here. Thank you all for tuning in. We'll be back again in June for another edition of the Mayor's Show. Any last thoughts you wanna leave with for people thinking about the summer? I think just get outside and have a great summer. Look forward to seeing everybody out and about. Those sound like words to summer by, so thank you all for joining us. We'll see you soon. Thanks.