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Real Estate Daily News Buzz is designed to give news snippets to readers that our (yet to be award winning) editors thought you could use to start your day. They come from various business perspectives, real estate, government, the Fed, local news, and the stock markets to save you time. Here you will find the headlines and what the news buzz of the day will be.
Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 76.42 points, or 0.4 percent, to 19,887.38. The Standard & Poor's 500 index slid 8.08 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,268.90. The Nasdaq rose 10.76 points, or 0.2 percent, to 5,531.82.
U.S. benchmark crude oil fell $2.03, or 3.8 percent, to close at $51.96 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, which is used to price oil sold internationally, slid $2.16, or 3.8 percent, to close at $54.94 a barrel in London. In other energy trading, wholesale gasoline lost 6 cents to $1.57 a gallon and heating oil fell 7 cents to $1.64 a gallon. Natural gas futures shed 18 cents, or 5.5 percent, to $3.10 per 1,000 cubic feet.
CITY COUNCIL TO DECIDE ON TAX INCENTIVE FOR DEVELOPMENT NEAR TUCSON CONVENTION CENTER - The Mayor and Tucson City Council tomorrow will discuss whether to grant a tax incentive to HSL Properties to help build apartments and retail at the downtown site where La Placita Village stands today. The business complex would be torn down to make room for the new development. HSL is asking the City for the Government Property Lease Excise Tax (GPLET) incentive that allows for eight years of property tax abatement. The application outlines that project-generated construction sales tax revenue would be used toward public improvements. HSL says the project would create 150 construction jobs that pay between $30,000 to $65,000. The proposed development would include 246 market-rate apartments. Construction is expected to cost an estimated $42 million and take 28 months to complete. In a letter sent to neighbors, HSL said demolition would begin this May. Before that can happen, the project is required to go through an independent audit process which the Tucson City Council must approve. Mayor and Council agenda materials (item 3): https://bit.ly/2jlDSyj
Mars buying pet health care company VCA in $7.7B deal — Mars is buying the pet health care company VCA in a deal valued at around $7.7 billion. Mars will pay $93 for each share of VCA Inc. That's a 31 percent premium to the Los Angeles company's Friday closing price of $70.77. The companies said Monday that the deal also includes $1.4 billion in debt. VCA has nearly 800 animal hospitals and 60 diagnostic laboratories in the U.S. and Canada. Mars Inc. is the food and drinks company that owns the Wrigley brand and it also has a pet care division.
UnitedHealth buying Surgical Care for $2.3 billion — UnitedHealth Group is buying surgical center operator Surgical Care Affiliates for about $2.3 billion in a cash-and-stock deal that will add to its outpatient holdings. The nation's largest health insurer will add Surgical Care to its Optum health services unit, which has 20,000 affiliated physicians and hundreds of facilities. Surgical Care operates 205 surgical facilities and partners with about 3,000 physicians. The acquisition will be funded with between 51 percent and 80 percent of UnitedHealth stock. The remainder will be in cash.
McDonald's sells China business in deal worth up to $2.1B — Fast-food giant McDonald's is selling a controlling stake in its China business to a group of investors led by state-owned Chinese conglomerate Citic in a deal worth up to $2.1 billion, the companies said Monday. The transaction is part of a global business overhaul being carried out by the American company to keep up with changing tastes that have resulted in declining sales. Under the terms of the deal, Citic Ltd. and its investment management unit Citic Capital will acquire 52 percent of the business while another partner, Washington-based private equity firm The Carlyle Group, will own 28 percent. McDonald's will retain a 20 percent stake.
Credit card spending jumped in November — Consumers increased their borrowing in November at the fastest pace in three months. Total borrowing in November climbed $24.5 billion, compared to a smaller $16.2 billion in October, the Federal Reserve reported Monday. The increase pushed total debt to a fresh record of $3.75 trillion. The acceleration reflected a big jump in the category that covers credit card debt, which rose $11 billion, compared to a much smaller $2.4 billion increase in October. It was the largest monthly advance since March and was a good sign at the start of the holiday shopping season.
2017: Year of the Renter "New York renters would be the first to tell you that rents go in only one direction: up. But after a long and relentless climb to historic highs, the momentum has stalled. With renters unwilling, or unable, to pay ever higher sums, rents have largely flatlined. And it seems we have come to the year of the renter's market. In Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, inventories and vacancies are up, and landlords are offering new tenants discounts, like several months of free rent and no broker's fee. In the Bronx and Staten Island, rents are holding steady because those boroughs did not experience the same rapid rent escalations or volume of new development. But that could change when new rental buildings open in both boroughs this year and in 2018." (New York Times)
The Limited Is Closing All 250 of Its Stores "And another bites the dust. Women's apparel chain The Limited on Sunday began closing all 250 of its stores across the United States and is slashing 4,000 jobs, the latest casualty of shopping's move online and the growth of fast fashion chains. And just like Chico's, Ann Taylor and other women's apparel stores struggling with big drops in sales, The Limited has been struggling with shifts in consumer behavior and interest, a greater number of rivals and longer store leases. 'In an increasingly challenging environment for mall-based retail and women's apparel, we are very disappointed that the company has had to make the difficult decision to close its retail locations,' Sun Capital said in a statement." (Fortune)
Economy Watch: BLS Data Points to Strong Employment Market "Besides reasonably good job growth for December, and a higher monthly spike in wages than in many years, Friday's employment report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics included other data nuggets highlighting the state of the job market (and of the retail industry). For instance, according to the BLS, retailers hired seasonal workers at a lower pace during the 2016 holidays than in the last few years. Perhaps retailers were a little worried about the sales season (which was decent, as it turned out), or about their longer-term prospects—such as Macy's, which is closing a lot of its stores this year. There is also The Limited, which just last week closed all of its stores. In any case, retailers hired 673,000 net workers in October, November and December, down from just over 739,000 for the same period last year." (Commercial Property Executive)
Report: Prince left behind $25 million in real estate, a cash horde, and 67 gold bars "It turns out that Prince wasn't just an incredible musician, but also a prolific real estate investor—and maybe a closet gold bug. The enigmatic singer had acquired $25.4 million worth of real estate and other personal property at the time of his death last year, according to a file released on Friday by Carver County District Court, reported on by the Star Tribune. Carver County is located southwest of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Records from the ongoing probate case also revealed Prince stockpiled cash and 67 gold bars, while eschewing stocks." (CNBC)
Trump's son-in-law poised to resign as CEO of real estate company "Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of President-elect Donald Trump, is preparing to resign as chief executive from his real estate development company, his attorney said Saturday in a statement, in a move designed to reduce conflict-of-interest concerns as Kushner ponders a position in the White House. Although plans are not yet final, the statement from WilmerHale partner Jamie Gorelick said that Kushner "is committed to complying with federal ethics laws." Kushner would also "divest substantial assets" and "recuse from particular matters that would have a direct and predictable effect on his remaining financial interests." Kushner's planned move was first reported by the New York Times in a story exploring his pursuit of a joint venture with a Chinese financial group to redevelop a Manhattan property." (Washington Post)
Check out where Trump's billionaire appointees are living in… "[VIDEO] Billionaire presidential appointees and super rich politicos are descending on the nation's capital thanks to President-elect Trump." (CNBC)
CitizenM developing pre-fab hotel on the Bowery "Hotel developer and operator citizenM is planning the 20-story, 300-room project at 185 Bowery. A Dutch company constructed the building in Poland and shipped it to New York in 210 pieces. CitizenM, which has nine hotels operating and 14 in development, has used modular construction to build the majority of its properties in Europe, where the technique is widespread, the Wall Street Journal reported. While the method isn't always less expensive than traditional construction, it does allow for quicker assembly. CitizenM's hotel, co-owned by Brack Capital Real Estate, is expected to take three to four months to finish, compared to six to nine months using traditional methods. It will also cut down about 1,200 truck deliveries to the site." (The Real Deal)
HPI Closes Fourth Multifamily Equity Fund "On the last day of 2016, Hamilton Point Investments closed its HPI Real Estate Fund IV LLC (HPI Fund IV). Altogether, the Reg D private equity fund raised $85 million through 27 independent broker-dealers and registered investment advisors. Thus far, the fund has acquired seven multifamily properties. A further four apartment acquisitions are scheduled to close in January and February of the New Year. HPI expects to fully deploy the remainder of the fund's equity in one additional acquisition during the first quarter of 2017. The fourth fund is a successor to three other successful funds. HPI Fund I went full cycle in 2014 with a 14.5 percent IRR net to investors, while HPI Fund II went full cycle in 2016 with a 14.6 percent IRR net to investors. Both funds had hold periods of just over four years. HPI is targeting a late 2017 liquidation of HPI Fund III, which would result in another four-year term. Investors are still eager to put equity into multifamily. "HPI saw no decline in its ability raise and deploy capital in 2016, despite the DOL Fiduciary Rule, FINRA Rule 1502 and REIT and BDC sales dropping by as much as 75 percent for the year," said HPI co-founder David Kelsey."(MultiHousing News)
Downtown LA construction boom is largest in nearly a century "The Downtown LA skyline has changed considerably in just the past few years, with the Wilshire Grand now nearly complete and the first of four buildings in the towering Metropolis complex just about move-in ready. Plenty of other major projects are on the way—in South Park and beyond—and the pace of new development is now on pace to eclipse the skyscraper boom that reshaped the area in the 1980s, according to the LA Times. In fact, the Times reports that the number of large projects since 2010 is the highest Downtown has seen since the 1920s. In all, 79 developments of 50,000 square feet or larger have been built or are under construction since the beginning of the decade. That compares to 64 projects in the '80s and 155 in the '20s. Still, while developers from all over the world descend upon Downtown, the pace of growth citywide is still well below where it was in decades past. That's particularly true in one crucial area: housing." (Los Angeles Curbed)
Grant Park apartment tower gets $203 million construction loan "Developer Crescent Heights has started putting up one of Chicago's tallest residential buildings, after landing a $203 million loan. Crescent Heights unveiled the name of the 76-story building, One Grant Park, and said in a statement today that it has begun construction. The 792-unit luxury apartment project is backed by a $203 million construction loan from Little Rock, Ark.-based Bank of the Ozarks, Crescent Heights spokesman Abe Tekippe said. The loan is for the first phase of a planned two connected towers. Crescent Heights has not disclosed specific plans for the second connected tower or for an expected third phase just east of the connected towers. Miami-based Crescent Heights said One Grant Park will open in early 2019. Rising to 829 feet, the building at the southern end of Grant Park will be among Chicago's 20 tallest." (Crain's Chicago Business)


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The Plaid Shacket has been a standout trend this season. I've rounded up some of my favorites below.
A couple follow-ups as my holiday shopping is starting to trickle in. I took advantage of The Great Black Friday sale. I picked up a pair of Daisy Army Pants (size down runs big) and a couple Shrunken Sweatshirts. To check out all the sale at The Great click here. Also tons of really cute new arrivals here which I will get into later in the week.
- Isabel Marant Elayo Plaid Long Coat SSENSE, $695 & Isabel Marant Sweatshirt. First picture.
- Sandro Vana Checked Wool Blend Jacket Bloomingdale's, $640. Second picture.
- Joe Coat Sezanne, $320. New arrival.
- Buffalo Check Collared Jacket H&M, $69.99.
- Walton Plaid Shirt Jacket Madewell, $228.
- Bobbie Plaid Shirt Jacket Anthropologie, $178.
- Oversized Check Coat Mango, $149.99.
- Check Tweed Jacket Mango, $149.99.
Photo: Sar Escudero Collagevintage & Sophia Rosemary

subset: commoncrawl


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By the end of today, we COULD possibly be down 0-1 in the series.
By tomorrow evening, it COULD possibly be 0-2.
You know what, I DON'T CARE!!!
I'm so sick of every second-hand coach walking around like a Negative Nancy talking about how the Brewers are going to get swept and how much the team sucks and how the bullpen can't possibly make it through the playoffs.
Even if I did agree with these assessments (which I don't) - I don't want to hear it!
Why can't people just revel in this feeling that we haven't had for 26 years? Is it so hard to ask that I could bask in the happiness of a postseason appearance for as long as possible before the potential of the rug being ripped out from under me?
You know what? It's possible we'll get swept. It's possible we'll not be able to hit homeruns and Gallardo won't be able to pitch as lights out as he did last weekend.
It's also possible that the balls will fly out of Citizen's Bank Park. It's possible that the pitching staff will continue to far outplay expectations.
Hell, it's possible the Jeff Suppan signing could suddenly become worthwhile, as his strength in October is EXACTLY why we signed him
At this point, anything is possible. That's it. Just possible. All the whining and worrying and bitching and moaning and complaining won't change the product on the field over the next week or so.
Maybe it's fun for you to pick everything apart to the nth degree so that you think you have every pitch figured out before they're ever thrown. Maybe I could have even been on that train during the season.
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But now I just want to relish every instant of this situation that looked so far from happening just 2 weeks ago. And I don't want you to pull me out of my revelry.
October is different. This team far surpassed expectations over the final few games. Kirk Gibson could barely walk, but it didn't matter because he hit the homer instead. October isn't rational. It doesn't matter what happened before now. The postseason isn't about who has the biggest payroll or the best players. Look at the Patriots and the Giants last season.
October's about regressing a bit and remembering when you didn't know about WHIP and OPS and ERA. It's about being a fan like you were when you were a kid - when all that mattered was seeing your team. It's about forgetting all the baggage and just doing a little dance the fact that we've got bonus baseball going on and that hasn't happened here since I was in diapers.
October's about suspending reality and just cheering for your team. I know the Brewers aren't perfect. I know there are flaws and that on paper, this team probably shouldn't be here. I'm not an idiot and I'm not in denial. I'm just going to enjoy every second of however long our October lasts. It's been 26 years, people. It's entirely possible the next time this happens, I'll be 53 years old. Or older. I'm not wasting any second of enjoyment about this experience. And I'm certainly not going to spend it drowning in negativity.
So just shut up and enjoy the ride. And if you can't do that, shut up so I can enjoy the ride.
Is that too much to ask?


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Browse your product documentation including release notes and installers
This document serves as a repository for CB Response 7.2 product documentation and release notes.
Product Documentation
You can download each document individually, or you can download all guides via the attached zip file.
CB Response 7.2 User Guide
CB Response 7.2 Integration Guide
CB Response 7.2 Server/Cluster Management Guide
CB Response 7.2 Server Configuration (cb.conf) Guide
CB Response 7.2 Unified View User Guide
CB Response 7.2 Operating Environment Requirements Guide (OER)
Release Notes
CB Response 7.2.0 Server Release Notes
CB Response 7.2.0 Unified View Release Notes
FYI - The link to download all the guides is returning a 404, at least for me.Edit: Should have been more clear. The link at the top of the page, download all guides, doesn't work for me but the download link in the attachments section does.
@swor thank you for heads up - should be fixed.


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Kings Place is an iconic prime mixed-use building located on the Regents Canal in Central London and is in close proximity to King's Cross St Pancras Station. Built in 2008, Kings Place consists of 31,000m2 of open plan office space, across eight floors. The ground and lower floors incorporate two world class concert halls as well as arts, events and restaurant facilities.
RPS carried out a BREEAM In-Use assessment for Kings Place, on both Parts 1 (asset rating) and 2 (building management). After working effectively with the building management team a BREEAM rating of Excellent (Part 1) and Outstanding (Part 2) was achieved.
The Outstanding rating of 95% achieved in Kings Pace is the highest operational sustainability rating ever accomplished in the UK and one of the highest ratings ever achieved under BREEAM certification globally.
Kings Place was the winner of the Offices In-Use category at the BREEAM Awards 2017.
Project name
Kings place
Services provided
RPS has been working closely with the global real estate services provider, which manages Kings Place, to ensure high sustainability standards in their new and operational buildings. The BREEAM In-Use assessment at Kings Place helped support this programme by incorporating a targeted programme of incremental improvements within the property's operations and activities.
The RPS team guided the building management team to achieve sustainable building management. To accomplish this, we advised on making bespoke changes to the operation of Kings Place. These included: changes aiming to reduce and accurately monitor energy and water consumption; commissioning internal light and air quality surveys to better understand occupier health & wellbeing; installing secure cycle racks and shower facilities to support green travel; enhancing the existing green roof to encourage greater biodiversity and providing separate collection of recyclable waste to meet occupier needs.
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ATL Food Chatter: January 10, 2012
(To receive the Chatter and other culinary tidbits directly in your inbox, sign up for our weekly dining newsletter)
Last week Brian Lewis, owner of Westside hotspot Bocado, announced that he is opening his second restaurant, STG Trattoria, in Buckhead in March. The biggest details, kept artfully under wraps, were the hiring of his dream team: Joshua Hopkins, who recently departed Abattoir, and Adam Waller, former Sotto Sotto sous chef.
STG Trattoria is slated to open in March at Buckhead Plaza, 102 West Paces Ferry Road, across the street from the new Pano's. The 3,500-square-foot neighborhood spot, designed by ai3, will seat one hundred inside and forty on the patio. Chef Hopkins's menu will feature wood-fired pizzas but include other creative Italian fare like pastas and charcuterie as well. In a telephone interview, the erudite Lewis shared some of the project's other details:
Q: What inspired you to create the STG Trattoria concept. Will it be an Italian-themed Bocado?
BL: When we were looking to expand, we looked at the New York market to gauge trends. We noticed that people wanted comfortable, chef-driven and budget-conscious menus. The Bocado model was useful because it had all of those characteristics. So I'd say that we are taking the techniques and passion of Bocado and introducing it into Buckhead.
Q: With your success on the Westside, why did you choose Buckhead for your second project?
BL: It is a very mature market and, after looking at the market data, we felt that it was underserved in the type of casual dining that we are creating at STG.
Q: How did you recruit Joshua Hopkins and Adam Waller to the project and how were you able to maintain the confidentiality that surrounded the planning and recruitment?
BL: They both wanted to connect to projects that are soulful and authentic and STG Trattoria fit that bill. In Joshua's case, he wanted to finish his duties Abattoir without any complications and be classy about it. Adam felt that STG was a better fit for him than Escorpion.
Q: Describe some of the key elements of the menu and how they incorporate the central theme of an authentic trattoria?
BL: I went to New York and trained at Keste, one of New York's best pizzerias, where I learned the techniques of authentic pizza making. Joshua of course brings great skill to the art of making charcuterie. And Adam is bringing all of the years of experience leading the kitchen at Sotto Sotto.
Q: Your brother, James Lewis, who owns Bettola, an Italian restaurant in Birmingham that specializes in pizza and pastas, was recently named one of the best new chefs in the country by Food & Wine magazine. Did he have some input into the concept and will we be seeing him anytime soon at STG?
BL: He will do some dinners with us and possibly collaborate on some dishes.
Atlanta Business Chronicle reported on two businessmen have started a Southern whiskey brand called American Spirit Whisky. The clear distilled whiskey is being served in local restos like Holeman & Finch.
Ron Eyester, chef and owner of Rosebud and the Family Dog, will cook at the James Beard House on February 16. His menu's theme will be the celebration of the anniversary of the Beatles appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show on February 16th, 1964.
Time magazine's columnist Josh Ozersky has proclaimed metro Atlanta based Waffle House the "Great American Restaurant" in an online column. Ozesky notes proletarian nature of the Waffle House experience as the basis of his proclamation.
RestaurantInformer.com reports that Halperns' Purveyors of Steak and Seafood has become the first Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Chain of Custody certified seafood distributor in Atlanta. The MSC Chain of Custody certification that assures chefs and customers that the seafood can be traced back to a fishery that is certified in sustainability practices.
Cheshire Bridge. Woodfire Grill's bar manager, Blake Morley, was featured on Eatocracy's 5@5 column discussing "5 ways to break out of your cocktail comfort zone."
Decatur. No. 246 has adjusted the availability of its chef's counter seating by opening the hours to any time of the evening Monday through Thursday. The restaurant will still maintain the 6:30 or 9:30 slot options for weekend nights.
Downtown. O'Terrill's Irish Pub has closed after 7 years.
Kirkwood. What Now Atlanta is reporting that The Pullman (to open at 1992 Hosea Williams Jr. Drive ) tweeted its launch date as January 13. on Friday, January 13th.
Midtown. In response to a tweet by the AJC Food and More team, the Four Seasons noted that its restaurant, Park 75, is undergoing a "simple refresh" and will reopen tomorrow, January 11.
What Now Atlanta is reporting that the Georgian Terrace Hotel has filed a permit with the city of Atlanta for a "yet to be named" bar concept focused on interpretations of classic cocktails, artisan beers and other unusual finds, along with a "modern snack bar" that is slated to open by late spring. Seiber Design, Inc. is the project's architect.
After a four-year run, Straights, entertainer Chris "Ludacris" Bridges' Asian fusion spot, has closed. Various media, including the AJC, have quoted a release from Bridges implying that he is closing his Midtown spot to concentrate on his new resto, Chicken N Beer, at Hartsfield Jackson International Airport.
Reynoldstown. Joseph Ward, former sous chef at Woodfire Grill, is now the executive chef at H. Harper Station.
Sandy Springs. Billy Holcomb of RestaurantsATL tweeted the coming-soon sign in front of Ariana Afghan Cuisine at 5785 Roswell Rd, across from Ruth's Chris.
Southwest Atlanta. Jackson, Mississippi soul food fave The Big Apple Inn will open an Atlanta spot at Ralph Abernathy Boulevard in March. Look for pig ear sandwiches and an array of tamales on its menu.
Vinings. The Grape in Vinings Crossings shopping center has closed.
Question of the Week: What Hooters-like chain will be opening their first Georgia location in Buckhead this summer?
PS . The answer to last week's QOTW—What four-star Atlanta hotel is seeking a local chef to helm its new restaurant concept?—is the St. Regis, which will soon announce a local chef for the space originally slated to house the "new" Panos, according to Curbed.
Do you have restaurant openings, closings, or other news to share? Email James Oxendine at email@example.com


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Judy Terry - I would like to introduce the members of the Cemetery Committee and David Turocy, Superintendent of Highways and Grounds.
The very first thing I would like to do is to make sure that we all understand the area in town that we are talking about -- the new section of the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. I would like to get you oriented. After we give you a little background about the process that we have been going through for the last year, I will present the draft proposal that we have put together. I hope you've had a chance to pick up a copy. Then we will open it up for discussion. I don't think that this is going to take very long to go through the background.
We have a map of Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and this is the old section, Bedford Road is down here. This is the corner of Partridge Lane. All of this land is owned by the cemetery. This is wetlands into this area and the new Sleepy Hollow North Cemetery is what I'm outlining here right now. This is Asparagus Farm, the farm building and the housing is this area. This is Sleepy Hollow North that we are discussing this evening, just to orient you, it is part of Phase I of Sleepy Hollow North. It continues on up here and we will be looking at that later on.
The old section of Sleepy Hollow, a very small part of it was opened in 1823 and it was called the New Burying Ground. Authors Ridge was opened in 1855 and those two cemeteries make up what we now call Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. Just to give you some idea of the size, the old section of Sleepy Hollow is 30 acres. It has approximately 6,000 grave sites in it. Sleepy Hollow North, the new cemetery, that we will opening hopefully in a year and a half is about 15 acres and it will have a grave capacity of 3,700 graves.
In the past year while the Cemetery Committee has been considering a Jewish section of Sleepy Hollow North, we have learned that religious Jews have no other option but to be buried in consecrated ground that is marked as separate from unconsecrated burial ground. A request for the inclusion of a consecrated Jewish section in Sleepy Hollow North was made in 1989 when the development of the cemetery expansion was first discussed. Because development of the expansion area was postponed, a decision by the Cemetery Committee concerning the Jewish section was similarly postponed.
The topic has been raised again by Norma Shapiro at the Committee's April 11, 1996
meeting. At the Committee's request, Norma presented at the October 10, 1996 meeting a
formal proposal on behalf of the Jewish community for the development of an area consecrated
for Jewish burials in Sleepy Hollow North. At this meeting, Committee members and members of the public identified issues that needed to be addressed to help the Committee make a decision as to the appropriateness of such a section. In subsequent meetings the Committee and representatives of the Department of Public Works reviewed the technical issues presented and arrived at tentative resolutions if the policy decision to proceed with such a section were adopted. It was determined that there are no significant technical issues that could not be met with minor accommodations and that there would be little or no additional cost to the town from including such a section for Jewish burials. The Committee determined that a significant change such as this most appropriately would be determined by the Board of Selectmen and that the role of the Committee would be to recommend to the Selectmen whether to proceed.
We plan to vote on a recommendation at our April 17 meeting, which is next Thursday night, and I believe we will be on the Selectmen's schedule to make a recommendation at their meeting on Tuesday, April 22. [This meeting was changed to May 12.]
We needed to understand the requirements of a Jewish section. A consecrated Jewish section must be separated from other sections by at least six feet and with a physical barrier such as shrubs, pathway, roadway or fence. A Jewish cemetery should be dedicated with a service and special rites before any burial occurs. The graves should be large enough so that there is two feet between coffins. Sunday burials may be necessary because there is no embalming and Jewish law requires prompt burial after death usually within 24 hours. No Jewish burials are permitted on the Jewish sabbath which is Saturday or on Jewish holidays. No human images or figures are permitted on gravestones or in the section. Non-Jewish religious symbols are religious expressions which likewise are not be permitted. No disinternments from Jewish graves would be permitted without rabbinical or judicial approval.
We had a meeting on October 10 to discuss the proposal and at that meeting at which a number of people attended that meeting, we identified a number of issues that would have to be considered as we worked our way toward the development of a possible proposal. Based on the proposal from Norma Shapiro and from what we learned of what was necessary in order to have a consecrated Jewish section in the cemetery, these are the items that we identified as being issues: the location and size of the section; the size of individual graves; whether we could accommodate Sunday burials, in the past we have not done this; how we would handle the requirement for quick burial, at this point we have a 36-hour requirement and we would have to make some accommodations in order to accommodate the quick burial need; we would have to change the deed and monument permits to reflect the descriptions on the stones in the Jewish section; how would we accommodate similar requests from other groups and were there other groups that might be making similar requests; is there an interest in the community and what is the scope of this interest; is it legal to have a Jewish section in a town owned cemetery?
David Turocy - There are two different issues. One is the impact on the cemetery layout itself, the physical needs of the section, and the second question is the impact on cemetery operations. When you look at the layout, there are four questions that we had to answer: size of the graves, size of the area, separation methodology and location. Size of the graves is an issue because there should be two feet of separation between the caskets. Simply a casket is two foot by seven foot. Our standard grave size is 3 1/2 feet. That would not be quite enough room to have two feet between the caskets in each successive burial space. We had to look at increasing the size and increase it to four foot by ten burial space without a real significant impact on the cemetery layout itself. There would be of course some fewer graves, but we can still measure a four foot by ten foot area in that section. The size of the area to be set aside Judy had mentioned in Sleepy Hollow North is planned to have 3700 graves. We could possibly increase that by some method. I looked at the largest number possible and 5000 graves might be possible in all of our expansion area. Considering the Jewish population is about 3% that means I need 150 graves in this area. I also believe that there is a pent up demand since we haven't sold any like this so I'm sure initially there will be an increase in graves sold so I should count on more than 150. So I looked for an area that would fit between 200 and 250 graves. The third question was separation methodology and as Judy mentioned that could be a road or shrubs. It doesn't have to be a gated area. I know there are some misconceptions out there that people have. Perhaps what I should best do is discuss the separation methodology and the location at the same time.
This is Bedford Street, this is the Asparagus Farm, this is the plan of Phase I of Sleepy Hollow North, this is the entrance off Bedford Street. This is a little secondary road to the housing authority housing here. This is just access to their road. That is only going to be open when there are actual funerals. That will have a chain across it and won't be used normally. The lightly shaded portion here is Phase I that we want to develop first. That should get us through the first 10 years so that is the part that we are going to concentrate on developing initially. This is where we're going to have all of the burials in the first ten years we're in operation. What I recommend is this spot right here for a proposed Jewish section, particularly those first two areas there. That is about 100 graves there and if you take all that area, it is about 250. I'd like to develop those first two areas and get about 100 graves in there before we move on. This would do a number of things putting it here.
We've got separation methodology in that we've got the road here and there and up there. There are no plans to develop here or here. So we don't need to do a significant amount of changes to provide any separation. Along this edge there is a eight-foot path that is already included in our plans. What we'll do is plant some shrubs there to provide greater separation. So that's the only thing that we physically have to change with our plan right now to provide any of the separation, so it could be very easily done. Now the choice of where to put this, I chose this section for several reasons. One, it's very close to where we are developing right now. It's not off in a corner, it is very much an integral part of Sleepy Hollow North Phase I that we are working on. Second, it also provides a lot of time to determine size. It gives us plenty of room to expand all of this part of the elipse and we can come down and expand it here and come back around here. By that time we will have a much better feel for it. Is it sized just right? Do we need to increase it? In which case we could take those shrubs out and move it this way or if it is too big, we can move the shrubs in that way. So it gives us a lot of time before we have to make any decisions. The third thing, it is a very attractive area. As I mentioned, it is right where we're going to be developing right across in this phase. This elipse has a ceremonial center that is kind of the centerpiece of this cemetery. It's very close to that and I think it is an attractive part to put it in. I think it works out very well in that it is easy to incorporate in our design, it's very attractive and it gives us a lot of time to look at any options in terms of size change.
The next thing we had to look at was the impact on operations - the accommodations necessary for Sunday burials as currently we don't have any Sunday burials. We do it on Saturday. There is an overtime charge and that's passed on to the customer. We looked at it if this is necessary, we do it and we do it just in this section. Initially we had a two parcel division that would be quite a burden to be available every weekend if this comes up, and we've got some reorganization in Public Works, we have some more people available that could help out so we think we could meet the demand of the Jewish community for Sunday burials, and we also think it appropriate that if we could open it up for Jewish burials that we could open it up to anyone who wants to be buried on Sunday. I don't expect there will be a lot of demand for that. We've talked to some people who tell us that typically Sunday is not the day that is chosen, so it shouldn't be a significant impact, but I think we can support that. We'll work with anyone in the community to support Sunday burials. Again there will be overtime charges that will be passed on but I'll have the people available.
There is a 36-hour notification policy. I would like to maintain that as a baseline and I'm still going to say we need 36 hours, but in all cases we will try to work with the individuals. If we can deal with it in 24 hours by all means, we will do that. I have some concerns in the winter time. If there is a lot of frost in the ground, it just takes at least 12 hours before you can put in a machine to actually thaw out the ground so we can dig it. So we reserve the right to keep that 36 hours in there, but I can tell you we will work with anyone if there really is a need to do it in less than 36 hours.
Changes necessary on cemetery fees - this is very simple. I've got a copy of the permit. It basically outlines all the requirements and all that we're going to do is add one line to it that says anyone buried in this section refer to cemetery rules and regulations. That part will discuss about no human images or whatever other requirements are needed. So there won't be a significant change to the permit. It will be spelled out in the regulations itself.
Requirements for other denominations for separate sections. We don't know what the requirements are. I've talked to other public cemeteries who have a Jewish section and they have had other similar requests. We don't know of any other groups that may want one, but if that comes up, we're willing to look at it exactly the same way we're looking at this issue, on a case-by-case basis, look at the impact on the cemetery or cemetery operations and we will make a decision based on that. We can't anticipate any because I haven't heard of any such requirements as of yet.
The financial impact - again I look at two things. The first is in terms of development. We are going to grade off that area and do all the contour sculpting and seeding when we do the rest of the cemetery, so that's not going to increase any cost to us. We will have to plant some more shrubs but I think that is also to be incorporated in the cost. We've got a lot of trees and shrubs that are going in the cemetery so to add some more won't be a significant change to that. The second part is the grave size. As I said instead of 3 1/2 by 10, these graves are 4 by 10. I think it is probably appropriate that we would increase the cost of those graves, and we would do it based on the size ratios. These graves would be 8/7s the size of what we currently use, and for example, our rates right now are $800, $400 for the lot and $400 for special care, but just for discussion sake if you round it to $1000 for our standard gravesite, this would increase it to $1143 so I will be proposing an increase just proportional to the increase of footage in that gravesite. I think it is also consistent with some of our other new sections because we're also talking about we have different rates for different lots. We have one area that is right by a pond and when we laid out this cemetery expansion, those are premium lots because of the view, they are being charged more. It is an important topic and again I just want to raise the issue that we've already looked at, there must be some fluctuations in the rate. So this is not something totally different just for this section. I don't think that is a very significant issue.
Judy Terry - What I'd like to do now is to walk you real briefly through the draft proposal. I hope everyone has a copy of it and then we'll open up the meeting for questions or comments. We have as David told you identified a site. Initially it was 100 graves, and it is set off by the road and by the paths and there is potential for expansion. The consecration that is required by the Jewish community, the arrangements for that will be the responsibility of the Jewish community. The grave size will be 4' by 10' and the cost of the gravesites will be reflected by the larger size of the grave. Sunday burials can be accommodated. This option will be available to all denominations and there will be overtime charged to the users. Burial within 24 hours will be accommodated if possible. The gravestones in this consecrated area will have no human images or figures and there will be no non-Jewish religious symbols or expressions. The town's responsibility for administering this area will be to inform all potential buyers of the existence of the section, we will inform potential buyers of the additional cost and inform potential buyers of the gravestone limitations. As listed on the board and described by me, all the other rules of the Town cemetery will apply. That's the proposal and that is the background, and now I would like to open it up for everyone who has come this evening to comment if they so wish. I'd like you to identify yourself so that we know who is here, and if you feel comfortable and would like to be heard a little more clearly on the tape, this microphone is not to project your voice but is for the video tape. Feel free to comment, that's why we're here. That's why we're having the meeting, we'd like to hear what interested people would like to tell us. Susan Shaw, Bedford Road - My question is how when everything else is separated, church and state, how can you take a section of town owned land and give it to any one? I don't understand how that can be done?
Mitch Eckel - I am an attorney so I got delegated the opportunity to address this issue. First, let us say that town counsel has reviewed it and has told us there is no problem. We don't view this as taking public property for private purposes. We view it as basically extending what appears to be a minor accommodation and we will allow others to be buried in there as well. So the answer is we don't see it as a taking of public property. It's simply an accommodation for a sizeable minority of the community that otherwise cannot be buried here, at least if they want to observe their religious tradition.
There are all sorts of uses of property that have minor accommodations for groups of one form or another. One of the things that is interesting is that you may have seen a year ago there was a case involving the creche and whether it could be put on public property. The short answer was well, the creche can be viewed as something other than a religious symbol. We don't think that this is anything more than a minor accommodation. If other non-Jewish persons want to be buried within that section, they can be. All they have to do is conform to the rules. We are basically excluding the Jewish community that is religious if we don't make these somewhat minor accommodations.
David Stephens, Philip Farm Road - It seems to me that in all the parks and cemeteries you have equal access without prior restrictions or prior requirements to sites for burial. This is an exception to that. To be buried in this spot you are required to adopt the restrictions imposed on all who are buried in that site. That is a constraint on access.
Judy Terry - If I'm understanding your question correctly, we already have some restrictions on other sites. We are certainly able to restrict what is on gravestones. We restrict the sizes of gravestones at this time in certain areas. It is part of our mandate to write the regulations for the gravesites in our cemetery, and this happens to be something that we think is necessary to include. Would anyone like to speak to that? Anyone else like to speak to that or disagree with me?
The town counsel did not find that there is a problem with this. His research found nothing that would prevent Concord from allowing a section of Sleepy Hollow North to be consecrated as a Jewish cemetery. Any other comments?
Polly Atwood, Co-Chair, Concord-Carlisle Human Rights Council - I would like to make a statement on behalf of the Human Rights Council. "We are fortunate, in Concord, to have many residents who are members of the Jewish community. They are citizens of Concord, and pay taxes - as we all do. Their taxes pay for municipal services that we all receive - schools, police and fire departments, etc. The Sleepy Hollow Cemetery is part of that package in that it's use is available to any Concord resident. At present, members of the Jewish community can be buried there only if they waive the conditions specifically required by the customs and practices of their faith, a faith that defined their lives and culture while living.
The questions of exclusiveness and exclusion have been raised in relation to this proposal; at present, the only people excluded from Sleepy Hollow are those whose religious rituals are incompatible with the current layout and regulations of the cemetery. Accommodation to allow people freedom in religious practice is just and fair - just as accommodation for equal access to buildings for persons with disabilities is recognized as just and fair by the law. The proposal put forward by the Committee adjusts the regulations so that all Concord residents are afforded the same opportunity to be buried in the community in which they have lived, and with the rites of their faith.
The C-CHRC Executive Board urges the Committee to recommend implementation of the proposed Jewish section to the Concord Board of Selectmen, and urges the Selectmen, in their turn, to act on that recommendation."
David Orlinoff, Main Street - Nine years ago this month I was privileged to stand right over there and address the Planning Board and other town bodies to propose our plans to build a synagogue. I was very proud to say that then and since the Town of Concord has been very supportive of the Jewish community. The requirements that we have laid out are appropriate to the Jewish population of Concord. I think as Polly suggests in her statement from the Human Rights Council that this proposal reflects the very enlightened approach by the Town of Concord to try to meet the needs of all citizens without calling out in a severe manner things that would either unfairly or to an extreme single them out, yet at the same time create an accommodation of the proposal. The fact that there is a road in between reflects a very progressive kind of approach to it and personally I appreciate the thought that has gone into the proposal. I think that the people who feel barred at this point from participating fully in all aspects of Concord could feel very encouraged by the positive presentation that the Committee has made. I would like to support this proposal. I do not speak for the organized Jewish community except as a member of it.
Lloyd Simon, current President of Congregation Kerem Shalom - I want to express the appreciation of my congregation to Concord for considering the proposal. I'd like to talk about the dedication of Kerem Shalom that happened in 1989 and the outpouring of people who walked with us to our new home from the First Parish Church. Since that time our numbers have tripled. This is the next logical step.
Reverend David Barney, Trinity Episcopal Church - This year I'm president of the Clergy Lay Association of Concord, but I speak only on my own behalf. The Clergy Lay Association has discussed this proposal positively at our last meeting this week, but I can't speak for all of them. That is from a religious or faith perspective I see no drawback, I see every advantage to this plan. We can have some satisfaction and happiness that we live in a town where there are a number of different kinds of faiths and good people of no faith at all who live together profitably, and it seems to me it is just one good way of continuing the good deed and the kind of honor in a community that I really value. I thank you for all the creativity of this proposal. Joel Andrews, Main Street - I am a member of Kerem Shalom and I'm also very interested in history and an associate member of the Concord Historical Commission and I would like to make two points. One is that our other neighboring communities that have similar arrangements perhaps we could know exactly how Lexington and Bedford and there are several others as well and really things have gone very smoothly in talking to people in those communities. Can you tell me exactly how many communities there are with similar arrangements?
Judy Terry - Sudbury has that arrangement also and I'm not aware of any other immediate surrounding towns. Acton also has a Jewish section.
Joel Andrews - So there is precedent in some of our neighboring towns and there is also precedent in American History. I thought I would just read a very short section about a Jewish cemetery. The year, 1656. The city, New Amsterdam for those who are in the know, later became New York. So 350 years ago the first Jewish settlers to this country came to New Amsterdam in 1654 and for two years feverishly faced with a very hostile community and in the two years that they settled there, came before the city council with a similar type of request and were granted a city burial ground. So the two points may link communities, it goes well and there is a 350 year American precedent.
Juliet Casey, Bedford Street - What's going to happen to the purchase agreement? Back in 1989 you paid $100 deposit for the lot you picked out and within 60 days you had to purchase the lot. Now is that going to be changed for everyone. Now my family would love 20 plots. Can I go pick them out and not pay anything down? We have no objection to the Jewish being buried but why can't they come up and purchase the lots like everyone else. If someone wants five plots, you pay for them.
David Turocy - I would not plan on changing anything.
Juliet Casey - But you're going to set aside an area of 250 graves. Back in 1989 Norma Shapiro told us 3% of the population was Jewish. It hasn't grown too much, and she said then that in the past ten years, they had 5 burials. It's right in the committee meeting report. Well, it will take a lot of years to fill up all those graves. And we have to abide by their regulations if we want to be buried there.
Mitch Eckel - The gravesites are not identified for anyone in particular. What we are doing is accommodating a particular religious tradition. The point doesn't seem to follow that simply because we are setting aside and allowing a group to follow their religion means that we're discriminating against others. Anyone can buy their plot right now. If you want to buy 20 plots, I believe you can if you are a resident of the town.
Judy Terry - I think that we are missing a point here. The section has been marked off will be the first area that is used has some outlined areas that can be used for expansion, it doesn't have to be used for expansion. It will be determined as we see the need and the use as the years go by. We have it open for non-Jewish use. It's just an area that would not be used otherwise right away. It's not on the schedule to be used within the first ten years and we said, "Ah, this looks like it makes sense," but we're not saying it's reserved for anyone for any group.
Once we open this area. Once we develop this as grave sites we will know what we are doing and at that time I can answer the question. If you would like to buy a gravesite in this area at least for the first few years, the answer is yes, that your gravestone would need to fall within the restrictions that we're putting on the gravestones in that area. However, this little section if in ten years from now, there are only two graves here and we decide that there isn't the need that we thought and we deconsecrate it, then there will be no restrictions other than the restrictions of the entire cemetery. It will depend on the need that is shown and the number of graves that are purchased and used. So I can't look into the future. I have no way and I don't believe anybody here as a way of knowing 10 years, 15, 30 years from now, how much of this property is going to be used for Jewish graves?
Josephine Mazzeo, Old Bedford Road - I'm very confused at this point. Is it 100 plots, 250 plots? There are no direct answers. No facts.
Judy Terry - Let me directly answer that. The original section is approximately 100. This area is not going to be developed for anyone right away, but it's been identified as a very logical expansion for the Jewish cemetery and the total area, if it used and needed, would be about 250 graves, but it's just identified here.
Josephine Mazzeo - You mean all those plot patches are for the 250 graves. That's the whole area that is going to be set aside for their burials? I'm very confused, I'll grant you that.
Judy Terry - Let me try again. This section right here is the initial section that I believe will be consecrated if we go forward with this Jewish section of the cemetery. There are 100 grave sites in here. This is only a figment of our imagination right now. We say that this would equal approximately another 150 and would make a very logical expansion, we're not saying we are going to expand, we cannot look into a crystal ball in the future, we may expand there. It is simply logical to do so if the need is there.
Josephine Mazzeo - You mean both of those portions are set aside for the Jewish burial area if they need it in future years.
Judy Terry - And if we decide to do it.
Josephine Mazzeo - How many Jewish population do we have in Concord? I don't know, I'm just asking.
Judy Terry - We have approximately 5%. There are 16,000 people in Concord, 10% would be 1600, so it's perhaps 3000 individuals. Census is not required to ask a person what their religion is, we don't know for sure.
Josephine Mazzeo - In all fairness to all the other residents in Concord, do you think it's fair to set aside all that land for in case of expansion? I don't think that's fair.
Judy Terry - I'm sorry, I'll say it again. We are not setting it aside, we are identifying it for possible use.
Josephine Mazzeo - Well, that's the same thing in my book.
[Unidentified Speaker] - Is it true that the area within the circle on the other side of the road constitutes approximately 3000 perpetual gravesites?
David Turocy - What you see on this map is probably about 2500 or 2600 graves in all of this. We see a road here. There is another five acres for possible expansion so that will give us the 3700 graves. There's a possibility we could even with creativity get it up to 5000 so that will be another 1200 right here. So what you see highlighted here is about 2500.
[Same unidentified speaker] - And we're talking about setting aside about 200 on the other side. Thank you.
David Drachman, Barrett's Mill Road - Could you give us some idea of how long 3700 graves will be projected to last?
David Turocy - About 50 years.
David Drachman - So it seems unlikely we will run out of space.
Lynn Kass, Cambridge Turnpike - What I'm imagining is there is a temporary halt on
purchasing new grave sites and because of that this new section for various phases of
development and the section inside the oval and below the oval is being developed for the
traditional use in Concord and the section that is darkened is potentially to be developed for the Jewish community. Is that accurate?
Judy Terry - Everything about that is accurate except that we do sell graves in the old Sleepy Hollow if there is a death, if there is a need. There is a moratorium on buying pre-need.
Lynn Kass - This woman over here was saying for example, she would like to buy 20 gravesites. If she wanted to when the new section is open, could she buy 20 gravesites inside the oval?
Judy Terry - Yes.
Lynn Kass - So, it is not as though by setting aside that section we are depriving anybody of their right to buy in the new section.
Judy Terry - That is correct.
Lynn Kass - So, we may not be paying attention in my opinion to the other ones that are available. I wasn't quite aware that they would be available also.
Judy Terry - They will be available at the same. We are focusing our energies right now on developing and preparing and having available the gravesites in the new Sleepy Hollow North which we hope will be ready by next summer.
Phebe Ham, Musterfield Road - I try not to look at this just as a religious problem but also as administrative situation. I talked to one or two cemetery administrators who say that generally they have the same regulations for the entire cemetery. I went to Lexington and I thought they had a Jewish section. Here you say the requirements of the Jewish section are such and such with gravesites of 4' by 10'. In Lexington the gravesites for all graves is 3' by 10' in the Jewish section, so it seems it might be better to have the same gravesite size throughout the cemetery as some cemeteries do. They have the same gravesite size for all denominations, and as you said we have a sizeable minority, so I just wondered if you ever considered having the same size plots for everybody because there may be times in the future when other minorities might also want special plots or special sizes or bigger or something. It might be better to have the same size for everybody. Why is the requirement for this Jewish section so different from the Lexington cemetery?
Judy Terry - This is simply a proposal and whether we decide to make them a different size or not, we haven't voted on that yet and we certainly will take that under consideration in our discussion. We're not going to make a decision right now.
Mitch Eckel - Your point is well taken.
Judy Terry - We have that noted and we will make that a part of our discussion. Norma, did you want to speak to that?
Norma Shapiro, Allen Farm Lane - I just wanted to say in making the request, the gravesite size is one of the requirements of a Jewish burial ground. At the time the Lexington decision was made first in 1959 they actually were dividing their cemetery into a number of different sections. That decision excludes some Jews from being buried there. Some Jews will not be comfortable being buried in a gravesite that does not conform with those requirements, so they would have to be buried elsewhere. I think that when the Cemetery Committee decides whether to be inclusive enough to include those of us who would like to have the proposal accepted as is or whether or not there will be some people who will be excluded in this section.
Margaret Laible, Philip Farm Road - My question is about the map in a way. It looks like it is so far in from Bedford Road. It looks like the cemetery is very close to the road.
David Turocy - Well, it will be right up against Bedford Street eventually.
Margaret Laible - The road will be that far back?
Judy Terry - We haven't made the road yet. These are staked out. This is an engineering map and it should be accurate.
Margaret Laible - I think Sleepy Hollow is such a beautiful cemetery with all sorts of people buried there. I understand there are Jews buried there, there are Catholics buried there, why do we need to have a separate place at this time for another religion that can't be buried as the rest of us? We all live together.
Judy Terry - I can understand that that is your opinion.
David Orlinoff - I think it is important to separate wanting to be versus needing to be. You see
I think it's not really possible if you are a member of a significant majority of 95-97% to
understand that some parts of the other 3-5% feel excluded by the decisions that you can experience, and I don't mean to set this up as a you and they or you and me or we and they, that's
not my point. My point is that most religions that I know of have certain rules about certain
aspects of a lifestyle. It happens that Jewish tradition development over a period of time in
which Jews were not allowed to participate fully as citizens wherever they were. Whether that is
the cause or the effect it does happen to be a case that certain Jewish traditions which some parts
of Jewish community take part in and some don't, require or indicate that certain customs be
followed at the time of burial. Now it is true that there are Jewish people that are buried in
Sleepy Hollow. I've attended Jewish burials in Sleepy Hollow. However, it's also true that
members of the Jewish community who have died while being residents of Concord felt
excluded, their families felt they could not make the decision to bury them in Sleepy Hollow
because their tradition prohibited or Concord prohibited being buried in close proximity to a
gravestone that might bear a non-Jewish religious symbol such as a cross. It is true that we like
to think of ourselves as all one. We like to think that. On the other hand when you are one of
3%, it's a little hard to think of ourselves as all one when some people are saying that they have
an objection to setting aside 3% of 3700 graves that will take 50 years to fulfill and the only two
requirements that somebody to be buried there has to agree to is to be buried in a larger grave and
to agree to certain restrictions as to what the headstones would be. That seems to me pretty
democratic. You have 3600 grave sites where that is not a problem and you have 100 or 150
where you can make another decision. Is that an unreasonable burden for 97% of the population
to bear? I don't think so. And I do think that a substantial number of the Jewish people in
Concord will feel more comfortable making burial decisions for members of their family if they know that they don't have to choose between observing some important customs of their religion or being buried in unconsecrated ground and right now there is a substantial majority in town who are in that position. I think this proposal would allow those people who otherwise would not be able to be buried in Sleepy Hollow.
Joel Andrews - Just briefly, the mathematics without a slide rule or computer, if there is 17,000 people in the town of Concord 5% is approximately 850. The potential for the number of graves in the general section is 5000 and 250 max in the Jewish section, that's 5%. So 5% max is roughly 5% of the population. Sounds like a pretty good match to me.
Juliet Casey - We don't object to the Jewish people being buried there. But I and a lot of other people object to the fact that you're saving this property for them. If they want the gravesites, let them pay for them just as the rest of us do. It's only fair, isn't it?
Mitch Eckel - You're missing the point. There is going to be no cost to the town in setting this land aside. This land will be graded the same way everything else is.
Josephine Mazzeo - Now if someone lives here and their mother died that lived in Cambridge, will they be buried there too?
Judy Terry - Today, if my mother died, my mother lives in St. Louis, Missouri, if I wanted to purchase a gravesite and to have her buried here, she could be. You can bury your mother here. It's the way the cemetery is set up today and it very well may happen. It won't happen any more in the Jewish section than it would in the rest of the cemetery.
Josephine Mazzeo - I was under the impression that you had to be a Concord resident to be buried in Sleepy Hollow.
Judy Terry - You have to be a Concord resident to purchase the grave. Only people who live in town can purchase it but it can be used for people who live outside of town. You cannot sell it to them. You have to continue to own the grave but you can bury your relatives there.
Iris Shur, Strawberry Hill Road - Everyone will be paying for their grave up front. When I want a grave, I will pay for it.
Josephine Mazzeo - But there will be lots saved without any money.
Iris Shur - Well, that is a section that is consecrated, but the lot itself will not be reserved without someone paying, just the same as you would.
Josephine Mazzeo - Is that right? I didn't get that.
John Casey, Jr., Bedford Street - The road that comes in off Bedford Street seems very much at a 90 degree angle to Bedford Street. I know that there is access to public housing past 391 Bedford Street right now. I'm wondering first of all has there been any impact studies done with this new road coming in. Is there any wetland consideration of that road? Do we need that road when there is already access to the proposed cemetery off 391 Bedford Street?
Judy Terry - You know, this is something that we have discussed before and this isn't the purpose of the meeting this evening. I really don't want to discuss the designing of the cemetery unless the entire committee would like to do that. We're hear to discuss the Jewish section. David, can you briefly speak to that?
David Turocy - We have looked at the impact of that road from a traffic and safety point of view where there is a better line of sight and that exit was by far the best for the line of sight to get out on Bedford Street. Also the housing authority access I think is smaller than what we'll have as an entrance to that. So we have concerns with sight and also just the appearance. We want an attractive appearance to the cemetery rather than turning down somebody's driveway and turning off on a side road to get to the cemetery. We wanted an entrance where we would have immediate access to it. That's why the entrance is off Bedford Street.
Chris Whelan, Town Manager - I don't think the purpose of this meeting was to talk about the design itself. I didn't ask any of the staff to be prepared, but I did ask the police chief who assigned the safety officer to look at that section along with the town engineer and the town planner. The three of them did look at that site to confirm that the line of sight at that location will not interfere with the view. The location at the entrance to the housing authority would be less advantageous.
Norma Shapiro - I just want to thank the committee. I know that this has been a lot of hard work for the committee members. The issues as they were aired tonight were aired pretty much over the course of last year and there has been a lot of investigation put in by all the members of the committee and especially the staff. They've been very cooperative and helpful in the way that everybody went about trying to find out information and do what I think is in the best interests of what will turn out to be a majority of the citizens of town who want to be inclusive and want to have the town include all of us who live here in town. So thank you very much.
David Stephens - I don't think the questions have to do primarily with religions or with minorities for that matter. I think the issue before us really is whether or not the committee serves the whole town, whether it is the 3%-5% or 95%-97%, that is the charge of the committee as I understand it. So the issue really before the committee as I see it is whether or not the essential conveniences or costs of making this arrangement may be offset by equivalent consensus of the town. I'm not here to make a judgment on that tonight. But the issue is really whether or not the committee can explain to the selectmen, us and the rest of the town those offseting costs and benefits to the community are real, tangible and expendable. That is the only way the decision should be made in my opinion. It is not based on the question of minorities, histories, bigotry or inconvenience, it is a simple question of whether or not the committee is going to defend its position and its proposal on the basis of the town as a whole. I've heard some things tonight. The opening comments were very vague I'll have to say. You did not give very good credence, just we can do this, we can do that. I think you're going to have to do better than that when you appear before the selectmen and before the town. You're going to have to give them some concrete basis for your assumptions.
[Hearing was closed at 9:00 p.m.]
At the Cemetery Committee's meeting on April 17, 1997 with all members present a unanimous vote was cast to approve the proposal for a Jewish section at Sleepy Hollow North and that decision to be presented to the Board of Selectmen for confirmation.
On May 12, 1997, the Cemetery Committee did a presentation before the Board of Selectmen for confirmation of their decision since it was precedent setting.
Jewish Section Proposal (DRAFT)
1. A site has been identified in Sleepy Hollow North that is set off from the rest of the cemetery by a road and a natural path. This section could be developed for approximately 100 grave sites with room in the adjacent area for an additional 175 grave sites if there is need. Although estimating future need is an inexact science, the 100 grave site appears to be sufficient for at least 35 years and possibly much longer. If the need is less than expected, a portion of the section can be deconsecrated and used for non-Jewish burials with the appropriate physical barrier separating it from the consecrated site.
2. The site will be consecrated as required by Jewish law and tradition. Arrangements for this consecration will be the responsibility of the Jewish community.
3. Current standard grave size in Sleepy Hollow is 3.5 X 10 feet. In order to allow a 2 foot separation between caskets in the Jewish section, graves will be 4 X 10. Although actual prices have not been determined, the cost of a Jewish grave site will be proportionately higher to reflect the additional size of the grave.
4. According to cemetery staff, Sunday burials can be accommodated as needed. This option will be offered to all denominations. Overtime payments to staff will be charged to the users.
5. The staff has also indicated that in most cases the requirement for prompt burial can be accommodated. However, if the ground is frozen and a frost box is required to thaw the burial site, 36 hours of preparation time may be necessary.
6. The requirement that no human images or figures or non-Jewish religious symbols or expressions be permitted on gravestones or in the Jewish section will be dealt with by a deed restriction, perhaps cross referencing the cemetery regulations for detail.
7. The Town will administer the Jewish section by informing those who wish to buy plots of the existence of the section, of any additional costs and of the limitations on "graven images" and other non-Jewish religious expressions on gravestones or markers. Anyone who agrees to these arrangements may purchase a plot in the Jewish section.
8. Except as listed above, other rules of the Town Cemetery will apply.
A consecrated Jewish section must be separated from other sections by at least six feet and with a physical barrier such as shrubs, pathway, roadway or fence.
A Jewish cemetery should be dedicated with a service and special rites before any burial occurs.
The graves should be large enough so there is 2 feet between coffins.
Sunday burials may be necessary because there is no embalming and Jewish law requires prompt burial after death (usually within 24 hours). No Jewish burials are permitted on the Jewish Sabbath (Saturday) or on Jewish holidays
No human images or figures are permitted on gravestones or in the section. Non-Jewish religious symbols or religious expressions would likewise not be permitted.
No disinterments from Jewish graves would be permitted without rabbinical or judicial approval.
April 1, 1997


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The busier I get, the less I get done...
The faster I go, the less I progress...
The Bible?! I don't have time to read that. I'll hear it on Sunday anyway...
Prayer? God knows my heart and the Holy Spirit can read my mind...
I cannot stop to pick him up,
appointments won't allow...
to get into a conversation--
I cannot see how...
I don't have time to listen to
that man that said "Hello..."
Have I too many things to do
to really get to know?
Who are those people growing up
before my very eyes?
It seems each time I stop and look
they are another size!
Who is that woman in my home?
Her beauty changes not,
but if I have to ask these, what
priorities have I got?
"O where did I ignore that compass
keeping me on track?
Each chapter and each verse of such--
Lord, have I been that slack?
Stable me again upon
that course that prospers all:
where I am guided by Your Spirit--
answering Your call."
Repentance. It MUST be from the heart! It MUST start in the home. It MUST be done if I am to be effective at all...ANYWHERE!
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
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World Athletics approves suspended Russian track federation's doping reform plan
Plan of action includes funding more athlete testing, encouraging whistleblowers
Russia moved a step closer to having its longstanding suspension from track and field lifted after a new plan of doping reforms was approved Monday by World Athletics.
The plan was written by a commission set up by the Russian track federation and tasks it with implementing a series of "immediate actions" with deadlines at various points this year. That includes funding more testing of athletes, a crackdown on Russian regions with doping problems, encouraging whistleblowers and giving athletes more of a voice in how the sport is run.
The plan also contains a detailed admission of past wrongdoing, including by the federation, though it doesn't address any involvement by the Russian state in doping or coverups.
"A history of extensive and sometimes blatant anti-doping rule violations involving athletes, coaches and officials is acknowledged," the plan states. "The root causes of an extensive doping and covering-up culture involving athletes, coaches and officials arose from inheriting a post-Soviet doping culture aimed at winning by all means including doping."
"This is not the end but the beginning of a long journey, with an incredible amount of work for RusAF to do to rebuild trust," World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said. "The international experts believe the team that is now in place will be able to deliver on the milestones they have put in place."
The approval didn't come in time for Russia to send athletes to this week's European indoor championships in Poland. World Athletics said its council will discuss on March 17 and 18 whether to restart issuing exemptions so individual athletes can compete at international events as "authorized neutral athletes."
World Athletics also has a limit of 10 athletes on any Russian track team for major events like the Olympics, far smaller than usual.


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Review of
The world in my mind, my mind in the world by Igor Aleksander, Exeter, Imprint Academic, 196 pp, £17.95 hbk ISBN 1 84540 021 6, published 17 May 2005, and
Consciousness: creeping up on the hard problem by Jeffrey Gray, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 341 pp, hbk ISBN 0 19 852090 5 £29.95 published 17 June 2004
(This is the version submitted. It may have been edited before publication.)
These two books – both on the hard problem of consciousness – could hardly be more different. Igor Aleksander, an engineer whose ideas are inspired by building robots, wonders what is required to make them conscious. Jeffrey Gray, a well-known psychologist who died last year, amassed a vast amount of evidence from neuroscience, philosophy and psychology to construct his own solution to what some people believe is the last remaining mystery for science.
Both begin by outlining the "hard problem", a phrase coined by philosopher Dave Chalmers. The problem is to understand how subjective experiences, or "what it's like to be", can arise from the activity of physical brain cells; or, to put it a different way, to explain how the redness of red or the ineffable smell of lavender (those qualities that philosophers call "qualia") can be created by the brain. This really does seem to be a mystery because brains and private feelings appear to be utterly different kinds of thing – so how can one explain the other?
Amidst all the confusion there are two major responses to the mystery. On one side the "nothing extra" camp believes that once all the structures and functions of the brain have been explained there will be no mystery left over – as happened with "phlogiston" or the once mysterious "life force". In other words, there is no such thing as "consciousness itself" and the task is to reduce consciousness to something else. Some versions equate consciousness with the functions the brain carries out. Some claim that consciousness simply is brain activity. The trouble is that so far no one has explained how this can be so.
Closer to everyday intuitions is the "something extra" side, who believe that consciousness is, as it seems to be, something additional to other brain functions, with its own powers, properties and functions. Here the task is to understand how something so peculiar and indefinable can possibly be produced by the brain or correlated with brain activity. In this view consciousness really is mysterious, and the hard problem is really hard.
Aleksander puts himself firmly in the reductionist "nothing extra" camp by saying that mechanism and sensation are as inseparable as H2O and water – they are identical. So he is not looking for the neural correlates of consciousness but for the "Neural IDENTITY of Being Conscious". Conscious sensations are neural activity, he says, because believing anything else would be tantamount to believing in ghosts. He proposes five axioms that derive from his own first-person, conscious experience, including the feeling of experiencing an outside world, having memories, selective attention, planning, and emotions. He then sets about explaining how these can be applied both to artificial systems such as robots and to living ones such as ourselves.
The critical function, according to Aleksander, is the process he calls "depiction", a kind of very rich, multimodal representation of the world whose contents become what we are conscious of. However, Aleksander never explains what is meant by this identity, nor why the contents of such depictions end up as subjective experiences when the contents of other kinds of representation do not.
Some people, myself included, have argued that consciousness is an illusion. Aleksander rejects this idea but gets into a fearful muddle in the process. He seems to confuse the idea of visual illusions, when we make mistakes about what is out there in the world, with what is known as "Grand Illusion" theory when we make mistakes about the nature of our own experience, for example, wrongly believing that we experience a stream of rich and detailed representations of the world when in fact we have only fleeting scraps of perception and an illusion of richness and continuity.
Aleksander's most important contribution is in considering how a machine could be conscious and what would make it so, but in the end I was not convinced by his claim that the process of depiction holds the key. Although he claims that mechanism and conscious experiences are the same thing, he still lapses into saying that the brain "generates" or "supports" consciousness as though consciousness were, after all, a mysterious added extra.
Jeffrey Grey, by contrast, does not shrink from tackling the mystery head on. Indeed he fully embraces the idea that the brain generates qualia, and tries to explain how. For example, there is the difficult question of what consciousness is for and why it evolved. If you think that brain activity and subjective experiences are the same thing (or that functions such as perception and memory are) then you have no problem with evolution because natural selection favours those functions and abilities, and you do not have to explain consciousness as well. But if, like Gray, you think that consciousness is an added extra then you have to explain what it is for.
According to Gray, qualia are indeed added extras. He even suggests, I think uniquely among consciousness theorists, that the pairings between meanings and qualia are potentially flexible – that evolution might have attached different qualia to different functions, or none at all. So there must be a reason why they are linked up the way they are. He claims that qualia, once created, can be put to the service of a great variety of cognitive processes. So they have very important functions that are quite separate from the functions of the brain processes that create them.
The function of qualia cannot be the fast on-line control of behaviours, even though it may feel that way. Gray explains why not using both everyday examples – such as the tennis player who hits the ball back long before she can have consciously seen it coming – and detailed descriptions of many fascinating experiments. It is precisely such experimental findings that have led many theorists to treat consciousness as an illusion, or as nothing but the functions of the brain, or even as an epiphenomenon, but not Gray. Instead he suggests that consciousness acts as a late error detection mechanism. The human cognitive system relies on a comparator system that, in discrete moments of about a tenth of a second, makes plans, generates predictions about what will happen next, and compares them with sensory perceptions. All this is done unconsciously but then the outputs of the comparator, the mismatches, finally "enter consciousness". Once "in consciousness" the slow time-scale there ensures that we experience a smooth and stable constructed world, and errors can be detected for improving future actions.
Gray's is an unusual and daring theory but I don't think it works because it leaves the central mystery intact. What does it mean to say that something "enters consciousness"? Is consciousness some kind of place in the brain or mind? Or, if not, what happens to neural activity to make it turn into, or create, or generate, qualia? I don't believe the theory provides answers. Nevertheless this is a superb book. Gray's descriptions of the experiments are clear and accurate, his explanations of the competing theories are lucid and helpful, and his own theory is an interesting challenge to all of us still tearing our hair out over the mysteries of consciousness. Everyone working in consciousness studies should read it.


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The Best Things To Do In Cape Town
Situated near Table Mountain National Park, Cape Town is the jewel of South Africa. It's diverse culture, range of cuisines and breathtaking sites make it one of the top destinations in Africa. The location of Cape Town right on the water and surrounded by a national park means that there are countless natural landscapes to visit during a trip to this region. Beautifully cultivated gardens such as the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens and the Company's Gardens, a historic spot in Cape Town, provides visitors with a relaxing escape after exploring the urban layout. Its proximity to the ocean as well as Table Mountain National Park means that you can go surfing early in the morning and then hiking or biking throughout the hills and mountains in afternoon. Whether you like to get outdoors and participate in recreational activities or you prefer a more urban setting such shopping and dining, Cape Town caters to nearly every world traveler.
The art and culture scene in Cape Town is equally as mesmerizing. From brightly colored façades and African influence, this city uniquely blends a variety of creative arts into one cohesive atmosphere. The city also features a range of socioeconomic and income levels, which creates quite a visible contrasts between downtown and the settlements of Cape Flats. However, no matter where you visit, each neighborhood has its own ambience and charm — whether it's picking up fresh produce from the organic market or browsing the various shops to pick up a souvenir.
Like many other countries on the continent, South Africa — and Cape Town in particular — has a blend of religious and cultural lifestyles that are evident no matter where you go. The city's long history, which dates back to European and Afrikaner descent, is still prevalent throughout many communities and neighborhoods — these different blends of cultures and migrants allow Cape Town to be diverse in its cuisine, religious lifestyle and arts.
Cape Town in recent years has grown to be a world destination for wine and vineyards — two of the most popular estates being Franschhoek and Stellenbosch, which are both a short drive away from the city.
Robben Island
Take a tour to Robben Island – seven kilometres off the coast of Cape Town – and learn about the mixed history of this amazing country. Whilst the island has a history going back centuries, it is infamous for holding political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela, who called the prison home for eighteen years. Interestingly, three of the former prisoners have become the President of South Africa! The tour will visit all the important historical sites, and the museum will relive the experiences of the freedom fighters held here.
Table Mountain and Cableway
The iconic Table Top Mountain is on the list for every visitor to Cape Town; it just wouldn't be the same if you missed it! While you can hike or drive to the top, why not take the cableway, and save your strength for the magnificent walks on offer when you arrive at the peak? With beautiful scenery, each walk is spectacular, and offers countless photo opportunities of the local wildlife.
Chapman's Peak Drive
Just twenty minutes from Cape Town is the spectacular Chapman's Peak Drive. Head to Hout Bay, where you can explore the boutique shops, visit the harbour, and start the amazing 5.5 mile drive towards Noordholt. The road hugs the cliff and the views are just amazing! There are plenty of stops along the way, so take your time and soak up the natural beauty of this land. Once you arrive in the artistic town of Noordholt, meander through the streets and grab a bite to eat before you return home.
Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve
For a smorgasbord of outdoor fun and spectacular views, head to the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. Visit the Buffelsfontein Visitor Centre to plan your day and take in some of the magnificent views, and then as you explore the park, discover a diversity of wildlife such as zebras, eland and even baboons. There are lots of outdoor activities to enjoy, including hiking, fishing, surfing, and for divers, the shipwrecks are a favourite! Then take in the lighthouse and explore Cape Point, where there are great restaurants to enjoy when you need a break – it is after all a big day out!
Aquila Game Reserve
Only two hours from Cape Town, the Aquila Game Reserve combines the thrill of a safari with luxury you can only dream about. With tours by vehicle, horseback, and quadbike – all available – be in awe of the elephants, rhino's, lions, leopards and buffalo in their natural environment, as you get up close with the supervision of your guide. Keep an eye out for the plentiful birdlife, and share stories of the day in the luxury of your lodge, or back at your accommodation in Cape Town.
Castle of Good Hope
Built in 1679, the castle of Good Hope was initially a military supply station, but then evolved into the military headquarters and seat of the administration. It is the oldest remaining building from the colonial era. Today, the museum recognises the colonial era, and also those who resisted its expansion. Explore the paintings, artefacts and furnishings, and take time to study the statues of the four heroes who resisted the colonial conquests.
Victoria & Alfred Waterfront
When you have finished exploring the museums and attractions that surround the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, take time out to just relax. Spread over 120 hectares, what was originally a jetty back in the 1600's, has evolved into a complex of harbours, shops, restaurants and pubs. Stroll through the markets and join the locals; soak up the views and people-watch as you enjoy a meal and a drink, or two!
Cape Point Nature Reserve
Just 60 kilometres from Cape Town, you will find the beautiful scenery of the Cape Point Nature Reserve. Spread over 16,000 acres – and boasting 25 miles of coastline – take one of the many trails to explore the tidal pools, and soak up the magnificent coastal scenery as you watch for whales migrating between June and October. The park is a kaleidoscope of birds and plants, with zebra and eland calling it home. And make sure you visit the lighthouse, taking the funicular railway to the top of the cliff on which it sits!
Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens
Set on the slopes of Table Mountain, the splendour of Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens is as striking as it gets. As you wander through the gardens exploring the feast of plants on display, enjoy the many sculptures that are scattered throughout the park. In addition to the many hiking trails, you can also take the tree canopy walk and experience the magnificent views, as you meander through – and above – the trees.
Langa Township
Langa Township is the largest, and one of the oldest townships in Cape Town. Established in 1927, it was a centre of the resistance to apartheid! Take a guided tour and experience the culture, learn about the history, and better understand the challenges the locals face, as you visit locations and monuments that remember those who resisted oppression.
Signal Hill
For magnificent views of Cape Town, with Table Mountain as a backdrop, you can't go past Signal Hill. The summit is 350 metres high, with travel photographers from around the world flocking here for that perfect sunset shot. Once you reach the top, enjoy the 360 degree views, and keep an eye out for the guinea fowls that call the mountain home. If you're lucky, you might just catch the locals taking a break for some paragliding!
Camps Bay
The next time you visit Cape Town, make sure you take some time to explore the nearby Camps Bay, a trendy suburb with a village atmosphere, where a great beach of soft white sand is complemented by boutique shops and splendid restaurants and cafes. It's a great place to relax while you admire the striking Twelve Apostles Mountains, and you can even stay to experience the beautiful sunset from the beach. Not far from Camps Bay you will also find Oudekraal Beach, which is often quieter and has plenty of nice picnic spots overlooking the water!
Cape Winelands
Located just a short drive north-east of Cape Town, the South African region of Cape Winelands is one that should be at the very top of any visitors to-do list! As the name suggests, Cape Winelands is most well-known for its beautiful vineyards, and with so many amazing wineries on offer, it's hard to know exactly where to start. There really is only one way to experience it though, and that is to dive right in, head-first! Explore the many picturesque villages and towns throughout, learn about the fascinating history of this incredible region, and take in the abundance of delectable food and wine until you burst with pure happiness and joy – that is indeed what travelling is all about!
The Atlantic Coast
The Atlantic Coast near Cape Town is dotted with wealthy suburbs and small, seaside villages. You'll find a variety of ocean activities; many of the small villages are the gateways to secret surf spots. Within these communities, you'll find vibrant nightlife, art galleries and trendy hotspots – gourmands take note, as some of these suburbs have high-end restaurants waiting to astound your palate.
Related Links
World Regions
South Africa
Cape Town
Cities & Towns


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How to choose a tea table
Tea table is a manifestation of dominant temperament, so you must pay attention to some details when choosing a tea table. These details often determine the overall beauty, so how to choose a tea table?
First of all, pay attention to the safety of the tea table. The tea table is placed in a place where you move frequently, so the corners and corners of the tea table should be handled well. When choosing, we can choose a more rounded style.
Secondly, considering the color depth, the metal and glass tea table can give people a bright feeling and have the visual effect of expanding the space; while the calm, dark-colored wooden tea table is suitable for larger classical spaces. Therefore, when choosing a tea table, it depends on the indoor environment of the home, so that the living room can give people a harmonious feeling.
Finally, it is necessary to refer to the size of the space, which is the basis for considering the size and shape of the tea table. If the space is not large, a small oval tea table is better. The soft shape makes the space look relaxed and not cramped. Such as: a realistic and fashionable square tea table. The size of this tea table is characterized by novel styles, rigorous structure, ingenious design, and calm colors, which show the user's firm, calm mature character and deep connotation of life. Detailed description: The top of the tea table is tempered glass, and the bottom is a panel. The bottom of the tea table is equipped with a space for items, which is convenient and practical.
How to choose a tea table


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7th meeting of the audit network
17 October 2023 - 18 October 2023
UNAHOTELS T Hotel Cagliari, Cagliari
09 April 2019
The 4th meeting of the Consultation and Coordination Group of ENI CBC programmes will take place in Rome on 9 April.
The meeting will take stock of recent developments and be devoted to exchange on the on-going processes related to ENI CBC, and the preliminary outcomes of the ROM missions. The meeting will also provide a platform to exchange on preparation for the post-2020 period, including a discussion on the key contents of the draft regulations and the core milestones of the programming exercise.
As in previous meetings, DG NEAR offers the possibility to arrange bilateral appointments upon request. If interested, please tick this option when registering for the meeting. Moreover, you can use the opportunity to submit your questions to DG NEAR by filling in the appropriate box.
Registration will remain open until Friday 15 March, noon time.
Participation is generally limited to two representatives per programme (reserved for heads of Managing Authorities and Joint Technical Secretariats). The meeting venue is to be confirmed. The detailed agenda is available here: DG Near_ENI CBC_CCG_meeting Rome
Registrations are closed for this event.