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Tord Björk | 12 December Initiative,Action,civil disobedience,Climate,Friends of the Earth,International action,Klimaforum,police,political culture,popular movements,Propaganda,Repression,Summits | Sunday, March 14th, 2010
The mass meeting in the Valby hall 17th of December was a lost left wing opportunity to support the climate justice protesters. One can wonder why. In scale it had only two indoor competitors. Al Gore was supposed to speak at an indoor mass meeting organized by Berlingske, the most conservative daily in Denmark since 250 years. 3 000 tickets were sold but refunded as Al Gore chose to not come. The main stream climate campaigners gave walk over to the left. The other competitor was the other mass activity in Valby during COP15, the so called climate prison with the infamous cages were the detained got pepper sprayed by the authorities if they protested to much against their degrading treatment. In total almost 2 000 were detained during COP15, most of them in this Valby temporary prison. According to reports the protest spirit in this prison were at times as high as in the Valby hall, and maybe more lasting.
The ALBA mass meting on December 17 waspart of a dynamic between three other mass activities, see: http://www.aktivism.info/socialforumjourney/?p=742
The ALBA mass meeting was perfectly timed and placed in relation to the political process of inside and outside activities during COP15 7th to 19th of December 2009. In Copenhagen four mass activities were organised to politically intervene in the climate negotiations and/or build an independent climate justice movement. All four complementing each other both in form and their political direction. The December 12 demonstration built on the idea of a low common denominator and large variety of expressions, even contradictory. A market place for demands mainly to put pressure on governments for a "real deal" and thus state centric in its dominant appeal. The Klimaforum starting on December 7 with a political unified goal to challenge the ideology and practical proposals followed by the dominant forces inside COP15 more focused system critique and on movement building and diverse local solutions. The Reclaim power mass action on December 16 challenging the official conference directly by attempting at disrupting it during a day of mass civil disobedience. And finally the mass meeting on December 17 with presidents from Venezuela and Bolivia supporting sustainable alternatives to the present model of development promoted by COP15 with a socialist state centric tendency at the bottom.
The mass meeting came the day after protests reached a peak when civil disobedience activists both on the outside and the inside demanded system change not climate change in the Reclaim power action. The mass action could succeed in political practice. Although the action was violently stopped by the police when the two groups were less then 50 meters from each others the protesters got full support from the tribune inside the general assembly of UNFCC by the president of Bolivia and Venezuela. What the mass action failed to do physically against a violent police force it succeeded by building a political alliance across the wall around Bella center.
Thus the presidents of the ALBA countries and those Danish organizations that arranged a mass meeting with them the following day had the best of opportunities to take initiatives for moving the struggle ahead. Morales or Chavez would certainly not stopping the Danish organisers to take such a political intiative. On the contrary they supported the protesters goal of system change as well as protested against the heavy repression. The situation was considerably helped by the facts that for the first time ever the police of a host country of a UN meeting had been violently attacking accredited UN delegates when they wanted to leave the official venue and furthermore that 918 demonstrators had randomly been arrested during a mass demonstration some days earlier in an act of police violence against democratic rights which probably lack any precedence in Europe the last 50 years. People from almost any kind of movement, young conservationists, Hare Krishna, Friends of the Earth and Attac members, Socialists and people's high school students. For some reason had the Danish organisers not acted collectively defending their demonstrators. Some actually supported the police as the Social Democrats while the spokes person for the organisers made a press statement about disproportionate police behaviour as if these acts of diverging messages to the media was sufficient reaction on the massive degrading and anti democratic treatment of demonstrators.
The political content was already worked out in unity at the Klimaforum in the declaration process ending in the demand System Change – not climate change, something that all actors agreed to from the Climate justice bloc that was attacked in the demonstration on December 12 to the Reclaim power action to the ALBA presidents. The title of the mass meeting in the Valby hall fitted well in – ALBA a solidarity and sustainable alternative. A politically better situation for a system critical movement of movements had not occurred in many years when peasants, environmentalists, indigenous, women, workers, antiimperialists, pacifists and above all young people were building a long term political program for climate justice. The great obstacles had been differences in tactics and the extreme level of repression.
Formal Danish organisation whether left-wing, environmental, trade unions or others had all with one exception been advocating that the problem were activists and especially activists that wanted to use civil disobedience at the official COP15 venue. This in their eyes would result in immediate violence which had to be avoided at any cost. In Denmark the formal system critical organizations stated in chorus it is impossilble to defend any civil disobedience at a legal assembly as the UN. Thus the Danish activist network that jointly organized the Reclaim power action together with global mass movements as Via Campesina, Jubilee South and People's Movement on Climate Change was isolated by all formal organisations in Denmark as a threat to mass mobilisation in the form of a broad demonstration together with NGOs and celebrities as speakers.
Many actually accused the Reclaim power action for the new laws and extreme repressive police tactics that emerged in Denmark,. This trend has been going on for many years in Denmark both during the present right wing governments and earlier during the centre-left governments. By challenging this trend towards escalating repression those claiming the need of non-violent actions at Bella Center was accused of causing growing repression and thus also threatening the necessary large scale mobilisation for the broad December 12 demonstration. If only people stayed away from any confrontational actions, maybe did some civil disobedience far away from the politicians, police repression would be so much less was the political thinking behind this attitude. For many people from the third world this kind of Danish thinking was completely impossible to understand as if repression is the result of that some organizes non-violent direct actions and confrontational protest and not the result of social relationships and material conditions in society.
By December 17 there had been all chances to discuss the matter with the movements from the rest of the world willing to take part in the Reclaim power action as they had been in Copenhagen for more than a weak. The Danish system critical organisations whether ecological or left wing had all chances to have a dialogue with their international cooperation partners. After all the Climate Summit was not only a Danish business.
Preparing for anti repression demonstration at Klimaforum December 17. Photo Tord Björk
By December 17 it was also obviously clear to everyone that the Danish formal organizations were wrong. No violence was caused by the activists during the December 16 action at all. The very little bit of violence during COP15 had taken place on Saturday outside the demonstration close to Christiania when a policemen was reported being hit by a stone although no reports claimed any serious harm. Property damage was also not the case during the Reclaim power action and very little on December 12, a dozen windows broken by demonstrators who were forced into the main demonstrations contrary to their plans to go elsewhere. The repression excesses by the Danish state were completely exposed as outrageous to anyone able of doing some political work.
It was with other words a perfect situation to make a collective support for democratic rights against the governmental and right wing xenophobian and climate sceptical Danish People's party to drastically raise already extreme repression laws and police tactics against protesters. 918 people had been arrested for doing nothing in a normal demonstration and then had the police used many kinds of violence to prevent a joint inside-outside People's Assembly close to the fences of the Bella center area. If there was any chance to revert this drastic attack on democratic rights in Denmark with great risks for the rest of Europe and the world it was now.
There was certainly a sufficient number of left- wing organizations arranging the mass meeting. They included five local trade unions, four communist parties and the red Green alliance, Friendship organisation with Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea and Bolivia as well as some solidarity organizations with Latin America and the world and Artists for Peace.
Many of these organizations of course produced individual statements as did any serious environmental organisation or Amnesty protesting against the mass arrests. But to do something in common was far beyond what the Danish left-wing organizations thought of as necessary. Collective action and mass movement is a common word in the language of these organisation, but when this collective action is needed and the mass movement exist and is under attack the response from these formal left wing organisation is a refusal to do anything about it.
This extremist position to allow the police to freely use the new anti democratic laws which the Trade Union Central in Copenhagen called police state laws needs an explanation. Why can we not anymore in a common European state trust the left-wing to defend popular movements, let alone their own interests anymore?
The resources were at hand. One of the Communist parties arranging the mass meeting publishes a daily, actually the only daily linked to any left wing party in Denmark. The parliamentary Social democrats, Socialist People's Party and the Red Green Alliance long ago let their dailies and even weeklies sometimes pass away and lack own strong media to reach out with their message. But Arbejderen, The Worker, exists and reaches out to quite a few as it is the only left-wing daily in the whole country with more than 4 000 subscribers. Furthermore has most of the Communist parties as well as the Red Green Alliance youth groups that are quite a lot involved in the street actions going on and do not lack organizational capacity if needed. There is capacity to mobilize in Copenhagen among the left. Some hours after the police struck against oil war refugees from Iraq and violently started to deport them from the Brorson church in Copenhagen half a year ago 20 000 demonstrated in a fast reaction.
But this time the leftwingers chose to avoid initiating a Danish collective action to protest against the heavy repression in spite of that it would have been very simple to get broad support also from organizations as Friends of the Earth International and about any international organisation present. The only thing needed would actually have been to join the initiative on the way already for a demonstration the next day on December 18. The Valby hall meeting would be an excellent opportunity for Danish organizations to take a lead in mobilizing the Danish people against the degrading treatements and arrests. After all Danish organizations can better mobilize people in Copenhagen and follow up on the necessary anti repression work in this country than international organisations can do.
But the Danish left-wing rather clapped their hands when Chavez and Morales protested against the repression on the streets of Copenhagen than wanted to do something about it themselves with the support of the ALBA presidents.
So why did they chose to stay passive against their own self interest and against the need of the global mass movements that they so much talk about in their newspapers?
There are at least some factors behind this lack of solidarity. One is isolation. The formal left wing in Denmark had chosen to organise their own activities far from any interest in cooperating internationally or as a force inside movement building mass activities as the Klimaforum or Climate Justice Action. Only the cooperation with main stream NGOs who chose celebrities or party leaders as speakers for the demonstration was to them of interest as they could use this lowest common denominator activity to brand their own organization rather than to contribute to building a mass movement.
Thus contrary to e.g. Sweden during European Social Forum did the Cuban friendship association state that they were only interested in making their own activities at Klimaforum and not as the Swedish Cuban association state that they wanted both to make their own activities and contribute to the common work during ESF. In Sweden the Cuban association representatives became a coordinator of the program group and did many other tasks for the common good, in Denmark the main initiator behind the ALBA meeting, which officially was part of the Klimaforum program but placed elsewhere due to lack of sufficiently big hall, was the Danish Cuban Association who chose to isolate itself from any common responsibility for the Klimaforum.
And so did all their left wing cooperation partners that arranged the ALBA meeting. Why do something to enable a mass movement to evolve when one can sit in isolation to clap the hands in hope that people on the other side of the planet shall make the revolution for you or walk in a demonstration branding your organization were the media message is to a large degree controlled by NGO celebrities?
Furthermore the Danish organizers had no links to their international counterparts. The kind of traditional state centric left wing politics which dominates the organisers of the ALBA meeting have its strong counterparts on the international arena in the People's Movement on Climate Change as well of course in the ALBA countries. PMCC was the most loyal of all international networks towards all mass activities in Copenhagen not imposing it own will but giving strength from the very beginning to common efforts thus uniting the Danish and international partners. While many other international networks had much of their own agenda and only slowly started to be interested in such an initiative as Klimaforum PMCC was there from the very start to the end. They insisted on the need for stating that the economic system have to change and national sovereignty as important but for the rest they at many times in the Klimaforum declaration process could contribute with consensus formulations from their long time work with mass movement cooperation mainly in the South and with migrant communities in the North. When I in October informed them about the ALBA meeting they knew nothing about it although it had been initiated already in the summer and PMCC had been clearly visible at the international CJA preparatory meetings in Copenhagen. But the Danish left wing is primarily internationalist in words and primarily with those in power at state level it seems. Internationalism in practice in the climate justice movement was not what interested the Danish Left wing 2009.
Reclaim power banner during the December 18 anti repression march, Photo Avenirclima.info
Another reason for the lack of interest in solidarity with the international movement in Copenhagen was that many left wing organisations in Denmark had been strongly advocating against the reclaim power action and instead promoted the December 12 demonstration. Their argument was that it would be impossible for the public to understand why a civil disobedience action took place to establish a People's Assembly inside the Bella center area. If the mass movements from the South as Via Campesina which most of these left wing organisations strongly claim they support as long as they organise heroic struggles far from Denmark saw such a need, that was not of interest to discuss. Danish organisations are primarily Danish organizations and as such racist. It is useful to use Via Campesina as an exotic example in their propaganda but not as a cooperation partner then maybe something is at risk. The control freak of any Danish organization seems than to become a maniac against even his own interest with the exception of very few individuals or organisations that alone have to carry the burden of the many.
The daily Arbejderen was one of these left wing spaces used by representatives of the Communist party owning the paper to state that the Reclaim power action was bad and the demonstration on the December 12 was the good alternative. The chair of the construction workers union in Denmark who was the only Danish key note speaker at the ALBA mass meeting had the same opinion in a letter published in a few Danish dailies signed also by a fisherman and a peasant, both chairpersons of other social movement organisations. It took a very long time before any system critical formal organisation made their strong opinions against the Reclaim power action public but once they did so it seems as if nothing anymore can change their mind, even when it is clear that they were wrong.
The Danish super model that was selected speaker at the December 12 demonstration was on one main Danish television channel the only political messenger of the 100 000 voices in the demonstration. Between pictures of her catwalking in her model career she stated that there are quarrels in any family and so there is at COP15 but in the end the problems will be solved. The message of how police were beating UN accredited persons on their way to the People´s Assembly December 16 could not be misunderstood, the claims by some or many formal Danish organisations that the activists would become violent was shown to be completely false and the action got full support from Morales and Chavez from the inside. But why bother.
The activists had objected to the wise persons in the formal Danish organisations and thus had both them and all the 918 mass arrested in the December 12 demonstration broken a golden Danish rule, always trust a COP and their definition of what is violence. What the Danish left-wing might do is issuing individual press releases, but more cannot be expected. After all, heavy repression with targeted arrests of almost all spokespersons of a non violent civil disobedience action, is what one deserves if one have gone against the advice of all formal Danish left wing organizations and dared to unite with mass movements from all over the world in front of the nose of the hitherto monopoly actors in Danish radical solidarity work.
The organisers of the ALBA meeting had of course different possibilities of doing something. The organization that seems to have been most positive towards Reclaim power was a communist party still looking upon Stalin as an important ideologue. Their capacity to mobilize many was limited both in terms of Danish support and any links to central international climate justice organizations. The Red Green Alliance had the opposite position and actually excellent possibilities both in Denmark and the rest of the world. They had the chance as a modern radical left-wing party and one of the few that at least for a while even had a proper agricultural programme strongly present in Summit protests since Amsterdam 1997 and in the global justice movement. They also played a central role in organizing of the December 12 demonstration, or at least one of their International Socialist members. On photos from the preparations for the ALBA meeting one can see Thomas Eisler from Red Green Alliance, member of the national board of the party and active in the Fourth international as well as European Social Forum last year.
Especially interesting it is that in 2002 the Red Green Alliance did a very good anti repression work from the early start of the preparations ot the EU Summit protests in December that year. Together with representatives from the Socialist People´s Party they acted as parliamentary shields when activists crossed the borders and at street actions constantly using the parliament as a tribune for the movement. The autonom or what also can be labelled libertarian leftist movement coming from the house occupation and anti fascists action networks used the opportunity for organizing a non-violent civil disobedience action at the Bella center. People dressed up in protective gear with some 700 supporters were able to push themselves into the Bella center area a little bit, a political statement was made and the political action dissolved without any escalation of violence. Thus the statements by formal Danish organizations that such a kind of non-violent action at a legislative assembly was impossible in Denmark without escalating into violence was false. It had been done before with a similar right wing government. and that time without governmental spokes persons inside welcoming the content and the form of the protest and full support from some global mass movements more than fully possible.
But not to the Danish formal left. It was not so that key organization did not know of the good experience from 2002. On the contrary. The organisation that arranged the action in 2002, Global Roots or Globale Rødder do not exist anymore. But many of the organisers of the action in 2002 are still politically very active. Quite a few are now employed at the parliamentary office of Red Green Alliance. Palle Dragsted, earlier international secretary of the party, now media secretary is one of them.
So how come than that the Red Green Alliance did not use the great opportunity to initiate broad protests together with many other Danish organizations and international networks on December 18 to free the climate prisoners and protest against mass arrests? The structural reason is simple. Since 2002 the party have drastically changed. Not on the surface but in the core of its way to act politically. In 2002 the party put a lot of energy including staff into be part of movement mobilisation. Now the same resources are instead put into media communication. Movements are interesting if they can deliver sound bites that the party can use occasionally in the parliament or in their press releases. It is not any longer of interest to be loyal to a movement and part of their daily struggle. Thus Red Green Alliance spokes persons can talk about in the media that it would be better if the police used the dialogue tactic which successfully was used to avoid escalation of repression in 2002, not to be self critical about the change of the way the party itself relates to movements in risk of getting repressed.
One of the actors in this change of the political culture of the Red Green Alliance are the organisers of the autonom non-violent action in 2002. Once they themselves were able to achieve a professional career in the party they seem to gladly abandon the solidarity character of the party that once helped them when they were movement activists and instead making the party more integrated to professional media and parliamentary arenas.
They are still able to mobilise. Many of the old global roots people have been behind the massive mobilisation against the deportation of the Iraqi refugees defending church asylum. But doing action during COP15 the old global roots activists saw as not useful as there were to many policemen to challenge. Rather contribute to such actions as Shut it down against the coal power plant in Copenhagen in September last year or actions after COP15 but not during was their mantra among them. They were quite a few, often male, half cynical, and always well informed about the latest thing to know for a radical belonging to a common culture in many different left wing organisations in Denmark. Interestingly this seems to include avoiding mobilisation against repression.
Thus what we see in Denmark is that all strands of the formally organised left wing are equally passive when it comes to strengthen the climate justice movement and the general struggle to protect democratic rights for everyone with the exception of individual activists in Klimax and Climate Collective and to some degree left wing youth organisations. Some of these youth organizations linked to political parties were as one could expect part of organising ad hoc protest at the Valby climate prison on December 12. But these left wing youth organisations were not organisers of the Valby hall mass meeting and seems in general be regarded by their parent parties as marginal youth phenomena not to be taken much seriously.
The different communist parties are mainly competing with each other. The trade unions whether social democratic or not are stretched between a perceived importance of good relationships with the government and the daily struggle against the further brutalisation of working conditions. They experience how their pickets against privatization of services are broken by the police with false promises of releasing an arrested picket leader. They criticized the hooligan law package as an attempt to repress all popular movements and non-violent actions, whether pickets, strikes or environmental protests and stated that they were expressions of a police state mentality. All social democratic and other trade unions in Copenhagen protested but the Social democrats seemed not impressed who supported the mass arrest of more than 900 innocent people to not talk about the government.
The Socialist People's Party spokes person also supported the police and only after many protested withdraw the support somewhat for the police. The Red Green alliance with its two minority trotskyist fractions and a main stream that do not know what to do is at the moment not much of a party, more of a branding operation to support differing professional careers with the help of much volunteer work but little coherent strategy.
The autonom left is interestingly also very central in the lack of the support against repression of the climate justice movement. The same kind of Danish mechanism that we saw in the case of the Communist party owning the daily Arbejderen and the construction workers union seems to be working also here although the arguments against direct action at Bella center are the opposite. We do not support the actions so we refuse also to protest against repression of the actions. The autonom left did to a great part avoid supporting action during COP15 due to an analysis based on the pragmatic idea that the police force was to strong to be able to win any substantial victory. As isolated in its Danish box as the rest of the left in Denmark to establish a discussion in solidarity with movements coming from abroad was uninteresting. To win a struggle in action was mainly seen in physical terms and numbers of participants, not political terms and ability to create new political horizons and alliances. Thus in their international contacts with their allies in other countries they put forward their scepticism including sharp criticism on how weakly CJA actions were prepared. Something they, with their sometimes longer experience, could have positively improved but chose not to. It was more interesting to be a clever observer than to intervene side by side with people from other countries coming and taking the risks these Danish autonom did not want to take. And as they did not support the actions they as many other Danish left wingers tend to avoid the immediate necessary strong anti repression response needed in December during COP15.
The result of the lack of leftwing support for mass mobilisation against repression of COP15 protests can be seen in such things as that Greenpeace activists in prison after a Gala dinner action get a very high degree of support and attention while the rest of the climate protesters get support to quite a large extent in falling degree due to if they have organisational backing or not. The massive mobilisation to support all repressed climate activists have lacked were it is needed most, in Denmark thanks to the lack of formal organisations supporting such a mass mobilisation.
[…] The lost left wing opportunity […]
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Harnessing the Roots
Who doesn't love themselves some vintage Hermès? Well I know I do so of course we couldn't wait to check out the latest exhibit in Beverly Hills. The exhibit is free to the public but it ends tomorrow! So if you're in the LA area get your tushy over the hill and check it out. "Harnessing the Roots" is designed by Bruno Gaudichon, the curator of "La Piscine" Museum of Art and Industry in Roubaix, France, who worked with scenographer Laurence Fontaine. Together, they decided to arrange the objects by theme rather than chronology, focusing on harnesses and their metamorphoses.
The exhibit explores the history of the house, which was founded in 1837 by Thierry Hermès, through a series of objects that highlight iconic themes, colors and motifs from the brand's origins as a harness-maker and saddler up to the present day. The creations highlighted in the exhibition include objects and curios sourced from the personal collection of Emile Hermès collection; the house's archive, and its contemporary fashion, lifestyle and accessories lines. The objects are complemented by documentary archives and a film from 1962 in which Robert Dumas, heir and director of Hermès from 1951 to 1978, explains the art of saddle-making.
The five themes are Brides de Gala, Le cheval et son habit, Le motif de la selle, En boucles and Lanières, in otherwords bridles, riding habits, saddles, clothes and accessories. The items in the exhibition were drawn from three different sources: the Emile Hermès collection housed at the Hermès flagship on rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore in Paris; the Hermès Conservatory of Creations; and Hermès's contemporary fashion, lifestyle and accessories collections. Gaudichon worked with scenographer Laurence Fontaine to arrange the objects in a thematic narrative. The five themes are Brides de Gala; the Horse and Its Tack; the Saddle; Buckled Up; and Ties and Straps. These objects are complemented by a 1962 film in which Robert Dumas, heir and director of Hermès from 1951 to 1978, explains the art of saddle making.
"Harnessing the Roots" made its debut in Shanghai last year and Beverly Hills will be its only stop in the U.S. for 2018. So get there it only runs to April 7…tomorrow.
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An Abundance Of Liquidity
Debt funds, construction finance, office lending. There is seemingly no end to the capital markets' largeness these days but some caveats are in order.
Just two years ago, Starwood Property Trust told its shareholders about its first foreclosure on a loan that was net leased to a single grocery tenant that filed for bankruptcy. The 440,000-square-foot distribution center had a loan balance of $17 million, CFO Rina Paniry reminded shareholders on a more recent call for the first quarter of 2021. "Over the past two years, we leveraged the Starwood platform to release and market the property, Paniry said. The property was sold this quarter for $31 million, "a very successful outcome for our shareholders."
A pandemic intervened in the middle of that process, of course, and grocery stores in general have proven to be resilient to the worst of economic trends. Nevertheless, Paniry's news speaks volumes about lending in general for commercial real estate these days: times are good even as we battle the (hopefully) last vestiges of Covid-19. And by extension, funding is abundant, coming from both established players and new entrants alike.
Starwood Property Trust, for example, originated $2.2 billion across 12 loans for an average loan size of $184 million for the quarter. These were offset by $1.1 billion in loan repayments, bringing its commercial lending portfolio to a record $11.2 billion at quarter end, according to Paniry.
Even distressed and special situation borrowers can often find the necessary capital to complete deals, thanks to a plethora of funds lined up for this very purpose. To name one example: Earlier this year Machine Investment Group, which focuses on opportunistic, distressed and special situations investments across the US, provided a $208 million recapitalization of a hospitality portfolio located in Hollywood, CA.  With the package, sponsor Relevant Group is now completing the construction of the two hotels by this summer.
A Bountiful Picture
A year ago, it was a vastly different picture. The pandemic, it had become obvious, would not be clearing up by summer or fall. Furthermore, its effect on the commercial real estate industry was unclear, especially with the office asset class. In response, many of the traditional commercial real estate debt providers, including life insurance companies, slowed down their lending pace. Underwriting got significantly tighter.
The situation could not be more different today. "They are hitting it full force this year," says Brian Stoffers, global president of debt and structured finance for capital markets at CBRE. "The banks, especially the big money center banks, pulled back for three or four months. Now, they're hitting it big."
Even the office sector, whose future is admittedly still unclear, is attracting funding. Boston Properties, for example, recently announced a $2-billion joint venture with two unnamed sovereign wealth funds to target this asset class.
The investment venture will help Boston Properties better compete for opportunities in its core markets, which remain competitive, according to comments CEO Owen Thomas made during the REIT's first quarter earnings call. The REIT and its partners will commit up to $1 billion each and have the opportunity to invest one-third of the equity in each identified deal at their discretion.
"We believe this venture, with approximately $2 billion of investment capacity, provides us the financial resources and return enhancement to be an even more nimble and competitive participant in the acquisitions market," Thomas said.
In addition to the traditional players, newcomers are also entering the space. "The big new entries are really these different debt funds," Stoffers says. "I think investors are looking at risk-adjusted returns. And they're saying, 'You know, in this low-rate environment, these debt funds are offering pretty decent yields. And in most of their lending, there's an equity slug on top of what they're giving them in the way of debt.'"
Given the environment, Stoffers says these funds are viewed as a good, risk-adjusted bet by investors. "They're out there, and they're out there in big numbers," he says.
This is an issue that Berkadia has been following through its debt fund tracker. As of early May 2021, Berkadia recorded close to 130 different debt funds, according to Hilary Provinse, executive vice president and head of mortgage banking at the company.
"Those are either private equity, debt fund vehicles or some operators who have raised funds where they're investing either preferred equity or debt into different parts of the stack," Provinse says. "So there's just a ton of liquidity on the debt funds."
For office assets with tenancy issues, debt funds will typically provide the reserves and work with the borrowers. "It's not across the board, but the money is coming back to the office," Stoffers says.
Even if they're working at home one or two days a week, Stoffers says people are coming back to the office. "Therefore, lenders are doing more and more in the way of office financing," Stoffers says.
Stoffers says the situation is similar in retail. While essential retail has done well throughout the pandemic, strip centers and restaurants are coming back.
"We're finding money for nearly all forms of retail right now," Stoffers says. "It might be a little more expensive money [for retail], but there is money out there."
In the hotel space, there is also plenty of money available. "We're very active in the hotel space right now from an equity and a debt perspective," Stoffers says. "There is no shortage of capital for hotels. We do think that the convention hotels are going to take the longest to return. But some of the drive-to destinations are doing incredibly well."
With all of this competition in the debt market, buyers are benefitting. Stoffers says loan-to-values are higher at the margins and spreads are lower. Treasury's underlying index for longer-term fixed-rate deals has gone up.
"The floating rates indexes haven't really moved much," Stoffers says. "That's where they're getting aggressive on the cost of the money. It is not so much with the underwriting because there is so much equity out there. Borrowers aren't having trouble raising equity. Lower loan-to-values is not an issue."
Chasing Fewer Deals, Certain Assets
The picture is not completely rosy, of course. Perhaps most worrisome for borrowers is that a good bit of this capital is only looking for certain types of deals.
"As we get adjusted to a new world and from what we see in the Fed space, in particular, there is a lot of capital chasing essentially fewer product types of asset classes," says John Hofmann, commercial production team leader for KeyBank. "What you have is a slight supply-demand imbalance."
US sales volumes fell 32% versus 2019, according to Real Capital Analytics. And, in January, RCA showed a 58% decrease in year-over-year transaction volume. "All of us in the debt capital markets rely on assets trading hands," Hofmann says. "And the transaction activity is more muted. But we expect that to pick up here very shortly."
Hofmann says sponsors in the asset classes that were more resilient to COVID are "getting incredible terms—better terms than they were getting pre-COVID."
"We see a lot of demand for multifamily, industrial and self-storage."
"Multifamily, industrial and self-storage continue to be our favorite asset class in terms of where they are now versus pre-COVID."
Hofmann also notes that debt providers prefer acquisitions. "If it's a new transaction at a new basis, we see a lot of demand for that," he says. "Where you see less demand is on refinance and those other asset classes [retail and hospitality], but they are starting to come back," Hofmann says.
Despite the recovery, Hofmann says lender investment committees are tightly scrutinizing harder-hit asset classes. "I think everyone's investment committees now are tougher," Hofmann says. "I think they're harder."
As part of this process, Hofmann says people are focused on tenant health. "People are asking different questions," Hofmann says. "It's focused on the collections, the tenant financials and I think most importantly, the resiliency of the cash flow coming out of COVID."
Another area where lenders are trying to be cautious is new construction. This, of course, has always been the case—since there are any number of risks that could delay or even halt development, including securing entitlements, labor or materials, lenders understandably require more from borrowers on ground-up development.
But in this market, where multiple players are offering debt for apartment projects, lenders are finding they have to get a little more competitive.
"Typically banks' construction lending is usually at 60%, 65% or maybe 70% [loan to value], says Steve Rosenberg, CEO of Greystone. "However, a borrower just came to us looking for 90% construction financing. They got it. It wasn't from us, but they got it. We've almost never seen that before."
Looking at that one anecdote, it might appear that developers need to put less skin in the game to build new apartment projects. But that doesn't mean lenders are necessarily making irrational decisions.
Despite an increase in new groups coming in and providing debt, Rosenberg doesn't see any flashing red lights, at least not in multifamily construction. "I am not seeing anyone doing anything where I shake my head and say, 'Well, this is really idiotic," Rosenberg says. "I'm not seeing that, but you can see where lenders are pushing the envelope. Do I see a yellow light there? I don't know. It doesn't feel like it. I'm not seeing unsafe lending. I'm not seeing anything like we saw in the subprime market."
Still, there are some concerns about development costs that could threaten projects.
"They are putting some of the properties that were going to be constructed on the sidelines," Rosenberg says. "So no question about it. Costs are going up and the equity may not be able to achieve the yields that it needs to in order to move ahead."
The issue may be even more critical on affordable housing projects where margins are already tight. "We even see it on the affordable side," Rosenberg says. "Those deals are pretty tight, and with the increase in construction costs, we definitely see some projects that don't work now."
Rosenberg is excited about some construction financing products out there, particularly loans from the Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy program. These loans help commercial real estate owners make energy efficient, water conservation and renewable energy improvements to their buildings. Greystone is launching a C-PACE division for these loans.
"I'm very excited about [C-PACE loans] because obviously, we want to promote energy efficiency and green investments," Rosenberg says. "I like the idea of the C-PACE where a property owner can assess themselves a tax and essentially finance it because it has a priority lien in front of the first mortgage. You can raise capital at a relatively low cost of funds. And C-PACE can be used for potentially 20% to 30% of the capital stack on new construction."
Debt Sources Abound for Multifamily
But if lenders have doubts about certain types of new construction and the office asset class, there is no hesitation on their part for multifamily.
Fundamentals in the multifamily asset class have largely recovered from the pandemic in terms of leasing and rent growth. Lenders have taken note, not that they ever completely abandoned this favored asset class.
"We're definitely seeing the economy opening up and the asset classes that we've participated in, particularly on the multifamily side, valued as high as ever," Rosenberg says. "Multifamily pricing has not come down at all. It has become even more of a global asset class than it was before."
That popularity is attracting capital from all corners. "We're seeing even more sources of capital coming in, and we're having to compete harder and get even more aggressive and creative," Rosenberg says. "The asset class itself is a hot asset class. We're seeing a lot of capital chasing it."
The terms on loans are also getting better for borrowers. "If anything, we're going up the capital stack to compete better," Rosenberg says.
Rosenberg says there was an expectation that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would focus on affordable housing and become less aggressive in the market-rate business. And, in the process, their credit box would become even tighter. But that hasn't materialized.
"They started out that way [backing off], but the reality is they haven't been able to achieve the volumes that they anticipated achieving," Rosenberg says. "So we're seeing even those boxes opening up a little bit."
While it is mainly the same players competing on the permanent side, a host of new entrants have entered the bridge space. And, existing asset managers are allocating more capital to the multifamily asset class.
"On the bridge and repositioning financing, the competition is coming from individuals or entities that are asset managers," Rosenberg says. "So whether it's a Blackstone or an Apollo, everyone has got a transitional loan program these days."
REITs are even jumping into the bridge lending space. "We're even seeing large, publicly traded real estate ownership companies coming to market with a debt product," Rosenberg says. "It's not a long-term debt product. Everyone wants to get some additional yield. So we're seeing traditional owners utilizing their cash to make loans."
REITs can take advantage of the arbitrage between what they're paying in their dividend and what they're earning on bridge loans.
"If their average cost of funds is 2.5% or 3% and they can lend money out at 6% or 7%, that's huge," Rosenberg says. "It makes a lot of sense. They know the asset class because they've been on the equity side of it. So they understand the assets and they've got easy access to cheap capital. Why shouldn't they participate? It makes a lot of sense."
The net effect of all of this competition is better terms for borrowers. "Sometimes it's good to be a lender," Rosenberg says. "Other times, it's good to be a borrower. This is one of those times where it's pretty good to be a borrower."
A New Type of Private Equity
One interesting development in the midst of all this liquidity is the fairly new trend of developers turning into private equity providers as well.
One recent example is Al. Neyer, a 125-year-old commercial real estate development and design-build firm, which just closed its first real estate investment fund. The company has raised $110 million from 105 investors and expects to fund $300 million in class-A industrial projects.
"Until now, Al. Neyer would raise equity on a project-by-project basis," according to a spokesperson. "Over the past several years, the company has experienced explosive growth, becoming 100% employee-owned in 2014 and expanding to Nashville in 2015 and Raleigh in 2019."
The firm has a pipeline of 20 projects that could mean as much as 12 million square feet of industrial space, given the demand from e-commerce and manufacturing. Neyer expects to "deploy all the equity within 12 to 18 months, and plan to launch additional funds once all equity is deployed."
Neyer isn't the only real estate with a burgeoning private equity arm. Boundary Cos., a Bethesda, MD-based firm founded in 2014, recently revealed having closed its first investment fund. Although Boundary didn't disclose the amount of the fund, it did say it expected to undertake $300 million in investments.
Although firms raising their own money isn't "uncommon," Peter C. Lewis, chairman of Wharton Equity Partners, says, "You are seeing a little more traction." One reason is financial self-interest for both the real estate firms and investors. Without private equity middlemen, the business gets more of the profit and limited partners have less investment dilution.
Projects like those of Neyer and Boundary are likely to be attractive because of their targeted nature. "Investments must also be very focused on sectors that are likely to outperform," Paul Getty, CEO of First Guardian Group, says. "Both of these funds are targeting very hot sectors—last mile distribution centers and storage, which can also be a type of distribution center for smaller retailers and mom and pop entrepreneurs."
"Real estate operators are getting smarter," Lewis says. "They're coming to the conclusion that it's better to do this in house."
But if they can't, there is a world of capital waiting to accommodate them.
Source: "An Abundance Of Liquidity"


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For the patients wearing an artificial eye fundamentally contributes to a fast rehabilitation. It provides a natural appearance and is a big help for the patient to interact with the people around him or her.
For the treatment of babies it is particularly important to make new artificial eyes in regular intervals so that the eye socket of the child may continue to grow.
This patient carries a Bulbus shell (Skleral shell) which is worn over the eye ball, which is blind.


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text:
package aclRestful

import (
	"encoding/json"
	"fmt"
	"net/http"

	"github.com/emicklei/go-restful"
	"github.com/ibm-security-innovation/libsecurity-go/acl"
	en "github.com/ibm-security-innovation/libsecurity-go/entity"
	defs "github.com/ibm-security-innovation/libsecurity-go/defs"
	cr "github.com/ibm-security-innovation/libsecurity-go/restful/common-restful"
	"github.com/ibm-security-innovation/libsecurity-go/restful/libsecurity-restful"
)

const (
	aclPrefix          = "/acl"
	entityComment      = "Entity name (All for 'world')"
	resourceComment    = "Resource (Entity) name"
	permissionComment  = "permission"
	descriptionComment = "permission description"
	entityToken        = "entity"
	resourceToken      = "resource"
	permissionsToken   = "permissions"
	descriptionToken   = "description"
	entityNameParam    = "entity-name"
	resourceNameParam  = "resource-name"
	permissionParam    = "permission"
	descriptionParam   = "description"
)

var (
	servicePath string //= cr.ServicePathPrefix + "/acl"
)

// AclRestful : Acl restful structure
type AclRestful struct {
	st *libsecurityRestful.LibsecurityRestful
}

type resource struct {
	ResourceName string
	UserName     string
	Permission   string
}

func init() {
	initCommandToPath()
}

// NewAclRestful : return a pointer to the AclRestful structure
func NewAclRestful() *AclRestful {
	return &AclRestful{}
}

// SetData : initialize the AclRestful structure
func (a *AclRestful) SetData(stR *libsecurityRestful.LibsecurityRestful) {
	a.st = stR
}

func (a AclRestful) getURLPath(request *restful.Request, path string, name string) cr.URL {
	return cr.URL{URL: fmt.Sprintf("%v/%v/%v", servicePath, path, name)}
}

func (a *AclRestful) setError(response *restful.Response, httpStatusCode int, err error) {
	data, _ := json.Marshal(cr.Error{Code: httpStatusCode, Message: fmt.Sprintf("%v", err)})
	response.WriteErrorString(httpStatusCode, string(data))
}

func (a *AclRestful) getResourceAclData(request *restful.Request, response *restful.Response) (*acl.Acl, *resource, error) {
	var aclInfo resource
	var aclData *acl.Acl

	aclInfo.UserName = request.PathParameter(entityNameParam)
	aclInfo.ResourceName = request.PathParameter(resourceNameParam)
	aclInfo.Permission = request.PathParameter(permissionParam)
	data, err := cr.GetPropertyData(aclInfo.ResourceName, defs.AclPropertyName, a.st.UsersList)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, &aclInfo, err
	}
	aclData, ok := data.(*acl.Acl)
	if ok == false {
		return nil, &aclInfo, fmt.Errorf("ACL for resource '%v' is not valid", aclInfo.ResourceName)
	}
	return aclData, &aclInfo, nil
}

func (a *AclRestful) addAclToResource(request *restful.Request, response *restful.Response, resourceName string, newAcl *acl.Acl) bool {
	err := a.st.UsersList.AddPropertyToEntity(resourceName, defs.AclPropertyName, newAcl)
	if err != nil {
		a.setError(response, http.StatusNotFound, err)
		return false
	}
	return true
}

func (a *AclRestful) restAddAclToResource(request *restful.Request, response *restful.Response) {
	var a1 *acl.Acl
	resourceName := request.PathParameter(resourceNameParam)

	err := request.ReadEntity(&a1)
	if err != nil {
		a1 = acl.NewACL()
	}
	if a.addAclToResource(request, response, resourceName, a1) == false {
		return
	}
	response.WriteHeaderAndEntity(http.StatusCreated, a.getURLPath(request, resourceToken, resourceName))
}

func (a *AclRestful) restGetAclOfResource(request *restful.Request, response *restful.Response) {
	data, _, err := a.getResourceAclData(request, response)
	if err != nil {
		a.setError(response, http.StatusNotFound, err)
		return
	}
	response.WriteHeaderAndEntity(http.StatusOK, data)
}

func (a *AclRestful) restDeleteAclFromResource(request *restful.Request, response *restful.Response) {
	resourceName := request.PathParameter(resourceNameParam)
	err := a.st.UsersList.RemovePropertyFromEntity(resourceName, defs.AclPropertyName)
	if err != nil {
		a.setError(response, http.StatusBadRequest, err)
	} else {
		response.WriteHeader(http.StatusNoContent)
	}
}

func (a AclRestful) restCheckPermission(request *restful.Request, response *restful.Response) {
	a1, aclInfo, err := a.getResourceAclData(request, response)
	if err != nil {
		a.setError(response, http.StatusNotFound, err)
		return
	}
	if a1 == nil {
		a.setError(response, http.StatusNotFound, err)
		return
	}
	ok := false
	status := http.StatusOK
	if a1 != nil && aclInfo != nil {
		ok = acl.CheckUserPermission(a.st.UsersList, aclInfo.UserName, aclInfo.ResourceName, en.Permission(aclInfo.Permission))
	}
	str := fmt.Sprintf("Permission '%v' is allowed", aclInfo.Permission)
	if ok == false {
		str = fmt.Sprintf("Permission '%v' doesn't allowed", aclInfo.Permission)
		status = http.StatusNotFound
	}
	res := cr.Match{Match: ok, Message: str}
	response.WriteHeaderAndEntity(status, res)
}

func (a AclRestful) restSetPermission(request *restful.Request, response *restful.Response) {
	a1, aclInfo, err := a.getResourceAclData(request, response)
	if err != nil {
		a.setError(response, http.StatusNotFound, err)
		return
	}
	if a1 == nil {
		eAcl := acl.NewACL()
		a.addAclToResource(request, response, aclInfo.ResourceName, eAcl)
		a1, aclInfo, err = a.getResourceAclData(request, response)
		if err != nil {
			a.setError(response, http.StatusInternalServerError, err)
			return
		}
	}
	err = a1.AddPermissionToEntity(a.st.UsersList, aclInfo.UserName, en.Permission(aclInfo.Permission))
	if err != nil {
		a.setError(response, http.StatusNotFound, err)
	} else {
		response.WriteHeaderAndEntity(http.StatusCreated, a.getURLPath(request, entityToken, fmt.Sprintf("%v/%v/%v/%v/%v", aclInfo.UserName, resourceToken, aclInfo.ResourceName, permissionsToken, aclInfo.Permission)))
	}
}

func (a AclRestful) restDeletePermission(request *restful.Request, response *restful.Response) {
	aclData, aclInfo, err := a.getResourceAclData(request, response)
	if err != nil {
		a.setError(response, http.StatusNotFound, err)
		return
	}
	err = aclData.RemovePermissionFromEntity(aclInfo.UserName, en.Permission(aclInfo.Permission))
	if err != nil {
		a.setError(response, http.StatusNotFound, err)
	} else {
		response.WriteHeader(http.StatusNoContent)
	}
}

func (a AclRestful) restGetAllPermissions(request *restful.Request, response *restful.Response) {
	aclData, _, err := a.getResourceAclData(request, response)
	if err != nil {
		a.setError(response, http.StatusNotFound, err)
		return
	}
	res := aclData.GetAllPermissions()
	data := []string{}
	for name := range res {
		data = append(data, string(name))
	}
	response.WriteHeaderAndEntity(http.StatusOK, data)
}

func (a AclRestful) restGetAllPermissionsOfEntity(request *restful.Request, response *restful.Response) {
	userName := request.PathParameter(entityNameParam)
	resourceName := request.PathParameter(resourceNameParam)
	res, err := acl.GetUserPermissions(a.st.UsersList, userName, resourceName)
	if err != nil {
		a.setError(response, http.StatusNotFound, err)
		return
	}
	data := []string{}
	for name := range res {
		data = append(data, string(name))
	}
	response.WriteHeaderAndEntity(http.StatusOK, data)
}

func (a AclRestful) restGetWhoUsesAResourcePermission(request *restful.Request, response *restful.Response) {
	resourceName := request.PathParameter(resourceNameParam)
	permission := request.PathParameter(permissionParam)
	res := acl.GetWhoUseAPermission(a.st.UsersList, resourceName, permission)
	data := []string{}
	for name := range res {
		data = append(data, name)
	}
	response.WriteHeaderAndEntity(http.StatusOK, data)
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Q: In Paw, how can I use the response from a previous call, as a value in the body of another call? I use parsed values from previous responses for parts of the URL, or as the key in a JSON object.  However, I can't seem to be able to use them as the value of a field in a JSON object.
When I right click on the key, I have the option to do that,

but not when I right click on the value field.

I have tried following the instructions in the documentation, but the options listed in the documentation aren't available in the value portion of the JSON object in the body.  Would someone please explain how to do this.

A: Unfortunately, this is not possible because you're in a Number field. You can do this only on String fields for now. We're working on a fix for a future version, but it's not there yet.
The only alternative you can use is to format all your JSON, except this field, and convert to Text. The JSON structure will be preserved, and you can explicitly set the field inline with the text.
A quick screencast so show what I'm saying: http://cl.ly/141Y06380u2x
In this case you'll need to manually set a Content-Type: application/json header.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Amy Scurria
Music by Amy Scurria. Securing her first commission by age 19 and her first orchestral premiere by 24, Amy Scurria quickly became one of the premiere up and coming composers of her time. Her accomplishments include performances and commissions by the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the LongLeaf Opera Company, Sigma Alpha Iota and Fort Wayne Philharmonic, the Vermont Youth Orchestra, Youth Pro Musica, the Shepherd College Concert Choir, and many others. She has had performances throughout the U.S., England, Brazil, Spain, Portugal, France, and Japan. Her studies include a bachelors in music composition from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, a masters in music composition from the Peabody Conservatory, composition studies at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ as a young teenager, and further study at La Schola Cantorum (currently named the EAMA) in Paris, France. After working for ten years as an independent composer, Amy has returned to school to earn her PhD in music composition at Duke University where she has recently become an ABD PhD candidate. Amy was invited to collaborate with conductor Sara Jobin and famed feminist author Carol Gilligan and son, Jonathan Gilligan on a new opera, Pearl, based on Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter and is currently working on this project as part of her dissertation. She believes that "Music is a powerful and unusual language that, when spoken well, can reach the deepest part of the human spirit."
Amy Scurria's tracks
Go to Sleep, My Little Baby by Amy Scurria
Heart of the Earth by Amy Scurria
What the Soul Remembers Radio Play on In the Spotlight by Amy Scurria
Jesus Loves the Little Children / Jesus Loves Me Medley by Amy Scurria
Angels by Amy Scurria
Scurria Mayclover Meadow by Amy Scurria
Morning Creativity by Amy Scurria
"God Gave Me The Child" from Pearl the Opera by Amy Scurria
Meditation Music for Your Life Unleashed by Amy Scurria
Sarasvati by Amy Scurria
Amy Scurria's likes
Amy Scurria's playlists
Amy Scurria's tracks
Amy Scurria's comments


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text:
In Scotland, 14 million Trees Have Been Cut Down to Make Way for Wind Farms
21 wind farms have been constructed on forestry land
Almost 14 million trees have been felled in Scotland to make way for wind turbines.
The Scottish Government expects to generate 100% of its electricity from renewable sources this year, but there are concerns about striking a balance between green energy and forest preservation.
According to new data from Forestry and Land Scotland, 13.9 million trees have been felled since 2000 to make way for 21 wind farm projects.
Six wind farms have been constructed in Argyle and Bute, with three each in Dumfries and Galloway and East Ayrshire.
Over the last 20 years, the Highlands have seen three wind farms built in place of trees, as has Moray, and South Lanarkshire has seen two wind farms built in place of forestry.
Arecleoch wind farm in South Ayrshire was also built at the expense of trees.
The Scottish Government has moved to reassure the public that more trees have been planted, but it is unclear how many of these are mature plants that play a larger role in converting carbon into oxygen.
A Scottish conservation charity that has planted nearly two million trees across the Highlands believes that wind farms and trees are both important for lowering carbon levels.
"It seems deeply ironic that trees are being felled to make way for windfarms when both healthy growing forests and renewable energy are important in resolving the global climate emergency," said Steve Micklewright, CEO of Trees for Life.
"Woodlands that are ancient or have high conservation value should not be felled in large numbers because other rare and endangered plants and animals may be lost as well." In other cases, such as plantations where the trees would have been harvested anyway, a more practical approach would be to ensure that the timber is used for buildings or other purposes that do not release the carbon stored in the trees back into the atmosphere."
Filed Under: News Tagged With: Scotland
This Giant Tarantula Species Keeps A Tiny Frog As Pet
Satellite Images of The United Kingdom Taken One Year Apart Show the Devastation Caused by A Heatwave
Photographer Captures Proud Lion Standing Triumphantly on a Hill of Bones
The oldest animal on the planet, Jonathan, is about 189 years old
The Masters Of Camouflage, Meet Vietnamese Mossy Frogs
Bindi and Robert Irwin pay tribute to their dad in honor of 'Steve Irwin Day'
Amazing Footage Of A Beluga Whale Be a friend And Play Peek-A-Boo With A Seagull


text:
Committees > Historic Committees > 2013 - 2014
CMIS Organisation Structure
To exercise the Council's functions in relation to all appeals, licensing and registration, as specified in Schedule 1 to the Local Authorities (Functions and Responsibilities) (England) Regulations 2000 (as amended) other than those that fall within the remit of the Licensing Committee.
To exercise the Council's functions in relation to:- Matters arising out of internal audit and control reports; the scope of internal audit activity; review of the adequacy of governance and risk management arrangements and internal control; consideration of matters arising from external audit as are referred to it by the External Auditor, including the management of the budget in respect of these functions.
To exercise the Council's functions in relation to Town & Country Planning and Development Control as specified in Schedule 1 to the Local Authorities (Functions and Responsibilities) (England) Regulations 2000 (as amended)
Responsible for all functions of the authority, including all matters specifically reserved to Council by regulation and statute. It approves and keeps under review the Constitution of the Council, appoints, and where necessary, dismisses the Leader/Spokesperson of the Council, approves procedures for and the appointment of the Committees and such other bodies as the Council may decide. It appoints Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen of Committees and determines their membership. It makes appointments to outside organisations. It adopts statutory and major non-statutory policies, including best value performance plan; community care plan; community strategy; crime & disorder reduction strategy; Development Plan; Corporate Plan; Plans or Strategies for the control of the Council's borrowing or capital expenditure; Plans or Strategies or draft plans or strategies for any of the above descriptions which have to be submitted to the Secretary of State or a Minister for approval; Food Safety Service Plan; Housing Investment Programme; Local Agenda 21 Strategy; IS/ICT Strategy; Asset Management Plan; Leisure and Cultural Strategy; Licensing Policy Statement; Gambling Policy Statement. It approves the Members' allowances scheme and the Council's budget and Council Tax for the District. It provides an opportunity for members of the public to ask questions or make statements about any aspects of Council policy. It receives reports from its Committees and officers. It promotes and opposes Bills and Orders in Parliament. It carries out any other functions required by Statute to be discharged by the Council. It makes and revokes Byelaws. It deals with matters relating to elections. It determines any decision of a Policy Committee, not yet implemented, referred to it by the Review Committee. It considers proposals to establish, dissolve or group Parish Councils and fixes the number of Parish Councillors. It authorises applications to the Secretary of State for the transfer of housnig land or stock owned by the Council and discusses Notices of Motion submitted in accordance with the Rules of Procedure.
Local Development Framework Sub-Committee
To review and report on the contents of Development Plan Documents.
To exercise functions under the Licensing Act 2003, the Gambling Act 2005 and all associated or amending legislation.
Licensing Sub-Committee
To determine applications made under the Licensing Act 2003 and the Gambling Act 2005, in respect of which relevant representations have been made and not withdrawn.
To make recommendations to the Council in relation to the budget, policy framework and the approval, amendment or modification of any plan or strategy forming part of the Council's budget or policy framework and to act in respect of every other function, subject to those matters reserved to Council and the Review Committee; to refer to the Review Committee any issue for detailed consideration and report and to consider the recommendations of the Review Committee either arising from an issue related to it or where a decision of the Executive has been called in for review.


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text:
The moment they've all been waiting for: Philipp Lahm (front l.) takes reception of the championship plate from League Association president Dr. Reinhard Rauball (c.)
Lahm : "A special moment"
Munich - The FC Bayern Munich players returned to the pitch one by one after Saturday's 3-0 home win against FC Augsburg, passing through a guard of honour comprising some of the club's many legends of Bundesliga years gone by.
Last out was the man about to formally take possession of the championship shield from League Association president Dr. Reinhard Rauball. For skipper Philipp Lahm, Munich born and bred, getting his hands on the coveted trophy after two seasons without a title was doubly sweet, as he explained in an interview after the ceremony.
Question: Philipp Lahm, this is the first time you've got to lift the championship shield as captain. How did it feel?
Philipp Lahm: Special. When you consider the players who have had the privilege of getting their hands on the plate first in the past, it was really a special moment in my career.
Question: Was it even more satisfying on the back of two seasons without a Bundesliga title for FC Bayern?
Lahm: FC Bayern aim to win the German title every season. This time around we've certainly done it in style, breaking a few records along the way. And, again, looking at the teams who set those records across 50 years of the Bundesliga, it's really quite something. But we're not done yet, we have two more opportunities to crown our season in a fortnight and three weeks' time.
Question: So will the league title celebrations be relatively moderate - or will you have to dispense with them altogether?
Lahm: At our age, if two weeks isn't long enough for a bit of rest and recuperation, we're doing something wrong in life.
Question: Now that you have the plate in your hands, how confident are you about adding the Champions League trophy as well?
Lahm: It's going to be hard work, all the way. So far this season we've put in that work, a lot of it, and now we want to reap the rewards. Next up, it's the Champions League final and we're going to have to turn in another top-notch performance to win it. After that, there's the DFB Cup final, another occasion we'll need to rise to. It's not so easy, but we'll be giving it our absolute all. We've come very close in the past - obviously, we want to get our hands on the thing now.
Question: For the moment, though, you must just be looking forward to getting out on the city hall balcony?
Lahm: For sure, it's always fantastic to celebrate in front of so many people. There's going to be no shortage of fans lining the streets and around the Marienplatz.. That's always tremendous. And it's especially memorable for those players winning their first league title.
Gregor Nentwig reporting from Munich


text:
Q: php array and foreach? Below is my code I am trying to get to work but I really have very little knowledge of array and foreach.  So it doesn't work correctly
I need to show a dropdown select form to the browser with the contents of the array
I also need to have the item selected if it is == to $mycountry
Lastly, I would like to show the USA and UK at the top of my list
Can anyone tell me how I can do al this
<?PHP
$countries = array(
"217" => "Turkenistan",
"218" => "Turks and Caicos Islands",
"219" => "Tuvalu",
"220" => "Uganda",
"221" => "Ukraine",
"222" => "United Arab Emirates",
"223" => "United Kingdom (Great Britain)",
"224" => "United States");

$mycountry = 224;
?>

<select name="country" style="width:180px;" onChange="do_get_rest_popup(this.value)" />
<?php
$countryCounter = 1;
$amtOfCountries = count($countries);
//foreach ($country as $id => $c) {
for( $_top=0; $_top < $amtOfCountries; $_top++ ){
    if ($countryCounter == $amtOfCountries) {
        echo "<option value=\"$countries[0]\" SELECTED>$countries[1]</option>";
    }  else {
        echo "<option value=\"$countries[0]\">$countries[1]</option>";
        $countryCounter++;
    }
}
?>
</select>

A: foreach ($countries as $key => $country) {
    $selected = ""
    if ($key == $mycountry) $selected = ' selected="selected" ';
    print '<option value=' . $key . $selected . '>' . $country . '</option>';
}

Basically, for every element within the array, you are breaking it into its key and its value (ie $countreis[key] = value). Once you get your head around arrays (and they can be very confusing) it will make coding a million times easier.
(For some reason the syntax highlighting / formatting is not working in my code...)

A: I'm going to guess you are looking for:
foreach($countries as $id => $country) {
    echo '<option value="$id"' . ($mycountry==$id?'selected="selected"':'') . '>' . $country . '</option>';
}

As for making sure that the U.S. and U.K. are on top, make sure that those 2 are on top of your array (that would be the very easiest).

A: You should put US and UK at the top of your array and then use something like:
foreach($countries as $row => $value) {
    echo "<option value=\"$row\"" + ($row == 'usa' ? 'SELECTED') + ">$value</option>";
}

and you should use selected="selected" instead of SELECTED


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Taking yet another phone call from NFL scouts who can never know too much, Ron Souza patiently answered questions from someone representing the Atlanta Falcons last spring.
As offensive coordinator for Pleasant Valley High School in Chico, Calif., Souza had worked closely with quarterback Aaron Rodgers, projected by many to be the first overall selection in last April's NFL draft.
What perplexed this personnel man was how the potential first pick in the draft just seemed to emerge out of nowhere. How could he have not been recruited out of high school? What was a bright kid like this doing at a junior college his first year out of Pleasant Valley.
It must have been drugs, right? And or alcohol? "I told the guy, `No, he doesn't drink. He's very religious. He might have one beer, but he's a very, very religious kid,' " Souza said. "He said, `We do research and most kids with the ability Aaron Rodgers has are identified by the time they're 16 or 17. And for this guy to pop out of nowhere, there's got to be some baggage. What is it?' "I talked to him until I was blue in the face. I said, `No, we're not hiding anything. He is what he is.' " And Aaron Rodgers is shaping up to be someone extraordinary.
An impending transition We're seeing it happening right before our very eyes this fall, another once-in-a-lifetime talent losing out to the undefeated reality known as time.
When did the enthusiastic kid who came out of nowhere to heave that clutch touchdown pass to Kittrick Taylor seemingly yesterday take on that grayish tint in his hair? When did he become that lumbering old man, physically reduced by both so many thousands of vicious hits and the silent ravages of age? Is that really the same the same Brett Favre back there, heaving desperation passes for an 0-4 team behind a substandard offensive line? Oh, he can still break receivers' fingers with that bazooka arm of his, but the all-too-brief intersection of peak mental and physical prowess for any elite athlete is slipping away for him.
The Favre of 2005 is the Mickey Mantle of 1967, the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of 1986 and the Michael Jordan of 2002. There's obviously still something there, but we're seeing it more in sporadic spurts rather than reliable gushes these days.
More and more, his aging body is not able to cash the checks that his mind writes.
Time is running short for the last man who will ever wear No. 4 for the Green Bay Packers.
Dressing inconspicuously 10 or so feet to the left of Favre's empty locker - the main entrance into the Packers' dressing room separates their two lockers - is Aaron Rodgers. Projecting an aura of studious, businessness-like efficiency, a kid who was 8 years old when Favre took his first snap for the Packers, realizes the awesome weight that has been placed on his shoulders.
For better or worse, he gets to be what Jay Leno was to Johnny Carson. What Don Horn was to Bart Starr. What Dan Rather was to Walter Cronkite.
It's a unique opportunity that only a select few can handle. Some take the ball and run with it. Others stumble and skin their knees, the weight of the legend they're trying to replace keeping them on the ground.
So just what is it like to be all of 21 years old and be burdened - there's no other word for it than that - with the responsibility of replacing one of the most popular athletes ever to play professional sports? Just how much pressure do you feel, Aaron Charles Rodgers, better known to friends as "A-Rod?" "No much right now," said Rodgers, his eyes aimed mostly away from his interviewer as he speaks. "I know my role on this team and it's to be the backup and study and learn from Brett and try to get better each day in practice. Obviously, when my time does come, be it next year or two or three years down the road, I'm going to be expected to play well.
"But the expectations people put on me are not going to be able to exceed the ones I put on myself. I'm a perfectionist and I expect to play well." It sounds good, to be sure. Still, talk is cheap. When the time comes when Favre finally doesn't get back on his feet after another hit or when his internal clock strikes midnight, just who will be that kid snapping on his chin strap as he trots onto the field? Let's face it. During the last half century, the Packers have rolled snake eyes with a franchise quarterback exactly twice and both Starr and Favre could be regarded as fluky strokes of luck.
The other men who dared to try to become franchise quarterbacks for this team didn't for any number of reasons.
Don Horn, personally chosen as Starr's successor by Vince Lombardi, was betrayed early by creaky knees, followed by a clash with the Packers' hierarchy.
Lynn Dickey, personally chosen by Starr to lead the Packers back to prominence under his watch, saw a few years of excellence, but was constantly victimized by lead feet and a propensity for interceptions.
And Rich Campbell, Starr's second attempt to find the right man, was a disaster from the onset. A story still circulates that the first time Packers coaches saw him throw wobbly passes at a mini camp after he was made the sixth overall pick in the 1981 draft, they looked at each other with shock and distress.
And now comes Rodgers, ironically from the same University of California-Berkley program where Campbell played.
Will he develop into a reasonable facsimile of Starr or Favre? Or will he get the people who drafted him fired? An impending moment Let's guess that Favre, shell-shocked from something like a 5-11 record and a few too many hard hits, decides to call it quits after this season. And let's guess that Rodgers is anointed his replacement for the 2006 season and spends the entire offseason cramming for the biggest test of his life.
Exactly who will be wearing the No. 12 jersey that Dickey once wore? What will his thought processes be? With how much passion will his heart beat? Exactly what will he be able to make happen during the precious few seconds every quarterback has before 300-pound linemen are bearing down on him? Ask those who have known Rodgers and it's almost impossible to believe that the Packers' future won't be in such able hands.
No, he almost certainly won't be another Favre, understand. But as far as replacements go, what's wrong with being what Carl Yastrzemski was to Ted Williams? "He just has the intangibles, which you really can't describe," Souza said. "He has a feel for the game, but he has a burning desire to be successful and a complete knowledge and understanding of why something athletically works and doesn't work.
"At the same time, he can motivate people around him. He has that aura and when he steps into a huddle, he just has the command and the respect and he just makes everyone better around him.
"He's not a rah-rah, loud type of guy. He's kind of a quiet leader. He can be. Don't get me wrong. He can wear many hats - whatever it takes to motivate people around him." Work your way behind Rodgers' natural defenses - a 21-year-old kid in the position he's in certainly is going to watch what he says when so many reporters are sticking microphones in his face - and you'll find such an enticing blend of motivations.
It starts with his father, Dr. Edward Rodgers, a chiropractor in Chico, Calif., who learned so much wisdom at an early age and passed it on to Aaron, the middle of his three sons.
From 1973-76, Edward Rodgers was a gifted, yet less-than-passionate offensive lineman for Chico State. Always vulnerable to the party life that is so available to kids in his position, Edwards Rodgers never passed up a night of drinking. Marijuana used to be appealing to him on occasion in those days, as well.
One day, at the end of his career, Chico State assistant coach Pete Reihlman pulled Rodgers aside and told him something he remembers to this day. Something that haunts him.
"He told me I could have been the best offensive lineman in Chico history if I would have worked at it and I just didn't work at it in the offseason," Rodgers said.
As time passed, Edward Rodgers married Darla, and became the father of sons Luke, Aaron and Jordan. Stung by the realization that he had wasted so much at an earlier age, Edward Rodgers regularly made time for his sons, counseling them to make the most out of what they had.
He threw footballs to them in the backyard as the Rodgers family relocated from Chico to Ukiah, Calif., to Beaverton, Ore., and then back to Chico. He talked to them. He warned them.
And as he spoke, Aaron Rodgers listened.
"I had a great upbringing with two awesome parents," Aaron Rodgers said. "I was raised in the church and understood right from wrong right away. I think just watching my friends and seeing the stuff they were dealing with and the problems they got into made me not want to do it.
"Growing up, my dad told us that drinking in college kind of prevented him from becoming the player he wanted to be. That kind of scared me into not doing any of that stuff." And then there was the environment in which Aaron and his two brothers were raised. The house was clean. Food was always on the table. And there was always love. But as Edward Rodgers struggled to make ends meet before finally becoming a chiropractor, there was never anything much.
From that environment, Aaron Rodgers developed a strong work ethic.
"I think my greatest motivation is making my parents proud and seeing the sacrifices they made," Aaron Rodgers said. "We grew up without a lot of money and dad moving from job to job and doing different things and going shopping maybe once a year for clothes and wearing the same pair of shoes for basketball that I wore for school.
"Growing up and not having a lot I think taught me a lot about life. And I saw how hard my dad worked. Now he's doing real well and that just showed me that hard work pays off." The whole package So far, this Rodgers' kid is shaping up pretty well, wouldn't you say? Still, there's so much more.
So bright is Rodgers that he had a 4.0 grade-point average at Pleasant Valley High School in Chico, Calif., scored a 1400 on his SAT and academically advanced out of Butte Junior College in California after just one year.
"He knew the offense probably better than I did and I was the one calling the plays," Butte coach Craig Rigsbee said. "I guarantee you he knows that Packers' offense inside and out and this is his first year there. And he's not getting any reps because the first guy takes them all and he understands that.
"But he knows that offense pretty good and if he got into a regular-season game, I think he would be well-prepared." Just as Rodgers was as Pleasant Valley's quarterback as a junior and senior in 2000 and '01.
"We have an offense that's pretty complicated," Souza said. "It's a college offense with the ability to audible. He could check at the line of scrimmage and call a play audible. A lot of times he would just put a hand up to me, like, `I got it.' "He'd literally run a series of plays down the field. When he was a JV player, we were playing Grant High School. Now Grant is where Onterrio Smith and Dante Stallworth played. Year in and year out, it's the top school athletically in Sacramento.
Facing an undefeated team as a JV, he single-handedly beat Grant just by audibiling down the field. That's the first thing that jumps out at you about him - his very analytical mind. He could see what people could and couldn't do and create his own match.
Arm strength? Surely he isn't on a Favre level here, but who is? At the same time, there is a more than adequate arm with which to follow through on what Rodgers sees on the field.
"He's got a great release and a great arm," Rigsbee said. "He gets rid of the ball fast. I laughed at some of the reports I read, that his arm was only average. His arm is not average. He's got a great arm." More than anything, Rodgers has an attitude. An angry attitude that nevertheless shapes up as a positive attitude. After slipping all the way from the first pick in the draft to the Packers' 24th selection, Rodgers has plenty to prove.
Through in that attitude with everything else and there doesn't seem to be anyway he won't be a worthy successor to Favre.
"I've kind of been the underdog story my entire career, passed over out of high school, passed over at junior college, didn't start my first four games at Cal and that stuff just makes me work that much harder," he said.
"And then going No. 24 in the draft when I think I'm a top-five value pick just makes me have that much bigger of a chip on my shoulder and that much more to prove." The time is rapidly approaching when Rodgers will have so much to prove.
The Aaron Rodgers file NAME: Aaron Charles Rodgers.
BORN: Dec. 2, 1983 in Chico, Calif.
HEIGHT, WEIGHT: 6-foot-2, 223 pounds.
HIGH SCHOOL: Pleasant Valley in Chico, Calif.
COLLEGE: After playing for Butte Junior College near Chico, Calif., in 2002, Rodgers signed with the University of California-Berkley. During the 2003 and '04 seasons, he completed 424 of 665 passes (63.8 percent) for 5,469 yards with 43 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. At Butte, he passed for 2,408 yards, with 28 touchdowns and just four interceptions.
DRAFTED: Rodgers was drafted as the 24th overall selection in the NFL draft last April. He was largely expected to be the first player taken in the draft, but the San Francisco 49ers passed on him in favor of Utah quarterback Alex Smith.


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Q: Error: Invalid value of type string for mapStateToProps argument when connecting component ConnectedForm I'm having a from adding article and following is the form
components/form.js
                import React ,{ Component } from 'react';
            import {connect} from 'react-redux';
            import uuidvl from 'uuid';
            import { addArticle } from '../actions/index';
            const mapDispatchtoProps= dispatch=>{
                return{
                    addArticle:article =>dispatch(addArticle(article))
                };
            };
            class ConnectedForm extends Component{
                constructor(){
                    super();
                    this.state={
                        title:''
                    }
                }
                handleChange(eVal,nm){
                    this.setState({[eVal.target.id]:eVal.target.value})
                }
                handleSubmit(ev){
                    ev.preventDefault();
                    const { title }=this.state;
                    const id = uuidvl();
                    this.props.addArticle({ title , id });
                    this.setState({title:''});
                }
                render(){
                    const {title}=this.state;
                    return(

                            <form onSubmit={this.handleSubmit.bind(this)}>
                                <input type='text' value={title} id="title" onChange={(e)=>this.handleChange(e.target.value,'article')}/>
                                <button type="submit">Add</button>
                            </form>

                    );
                }
            }
            const Form =connect('null',mapDispatchtoProps)(ConnectedForm);//**1**
            export default Form;

components/list.js
            import React from 'react';
            import { connect } from 'react-redux';
            const mapStateToProps=  state =>{
                return { articles :state.articles};
            }
            const connectedList = ({ articles }) =>(
                articles.map(e=>(

{e.title}

                ))
            );
            const List= connect(mapStateToProps)(connectedList);////**2**
            export default List;

I'm getting this error
Error: Invalid value of type string for mapStateToProps argument when connecting component ConnectedForm.
src/index.js
   <Provider store={store}>
    <Router>
        <Switch>
            <Route exact path="/" component={App}/>
            <Route path="/components/Form" component={Form}/>
        </Switch>
    </Router>
  </Provider>

Can anyone please lemme know where I'm going wrong
?

A: Pass null as a keyword without the quotes as connect API checks for an object. As you passed  string, type validation present in the API implementation threw the error :
const Form =connect(null,mapDispatchtoProps)(ConnectedForm);


Throughout August, Recofloor's special summer Love2shop Promotion is encouraging more flooring companies to recycle their waste vinyl flooring - and be in with a chance to win a fantastic shopping prize.
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Today there are more biomedical HIV prevention strategies available than ever before. Success in turning the tide of the epidemic depends on delivering these tools at scale for immediate impact. At the same time, we need to be sure that emerging strategies are piloted, integrated and scaled up as part of continued prevention innovation. And over the long-term, we need to continue the search for an AIDS vaccine and a cure. AVAC's focus is on an advocacy agenda that spans, unites and clarifies these three areas.


After a weekend of activities and tests, the all-new women-only W Series has announced the definitive list of names that will progress to the final round of the selection process.
The 54 hopefuls from around the globe have been demonstrating their skills on and off the track in Melk, Austria over the weekend. Now, 28 women have been chosen to test the W Series challenger in Spain in March. This will be the final part of the process before the series kicks off in May, supporting the DTM calendar.
Four judges had the task of whittling down the talented bunch of racers. David Coulthard, Alex Wurz, Lyn St James and Dave Ryan have now reached a decision.
The skills that they were assessed on included fitness challenges, media tasks and their own Race of Champions on-track shootout.
Be sure to keep an eye out for an in-depth look at the successful women over the next few weeks.