An Act of the Senedd Cymru to make provision about planning
Transfer of powers
1 Transfer of powers to local planning boards
(1) The Town and Country Planning Act 1990 is amended as follows.
(2) For section (1B), substitute—

(1B) In Wales, the local planning authority for a county or a county borough is the local planning board established by the Welsh Planning Agency for the county or county borough.

Welsh Planning Agency
2 Welsh Planning Agency
(1) The Welsh Planning Agency is established.
(2) It is a body corporate.
(3) Schedule 1 makes further provision about the Welsh Planning Agency.
Local planning boards
3 Local planning boards
(1) The Welsh Planning Agency must establish bodies called local planning boards in accordance with this section.
(2) There must be one local planning board for each county and county borough.
(3) Each local planning board is to be established by order made by the Welsh Planning Agency for an area within Wales.
(4) The area for which a local planning board is established must not coincide or overlap with the area of any other local planning board.
(5) The Welsh Planning Agency must ensure that, at all times on and after the appointed day, the areas of local planning boards together cover the whole of Wales.
(6) An order establishing a local planning board must provide for the constitution of the board, either by setting out the constitution or by making provision by reference to a published document where it is set out.
(7) The Welsh Planning Agency must publish orders under this section.
(8) In this section “the appointed day” means a day appointed under this subsection by regulations made by the Welsh Ministers.
(9) Schedule 2 makes further provision about local planning boards.
Final provisions
4 Commencement
(1) This Act comes into force 1 year after Royal Assent.
5 Short title
(1) This Act may be known as the Planning (Welsh Planning Agency and Local Planning Boards) (Wales) Act 2023.
SCHEDULES
SCHEDULE 1
WELSH PLANNING AGENCY
Appointment of members
1 (1)The Welsh Planning Agency is to consist of—

(a) a member appointed by the Welsh Ministers to chair the Welsh Planning Agency, and
(b) other members appointed by the Welsh Ministers.

(2) The Welsh Ministers may appoint a person as a member only if the Senedd Cymru has approved the appointment.
(3) In appointing members, the Welsh Ministers must have regard, among other things, to the desirability of ensuring that the membership (taken as a whole) has expertise or experience in—

(a) law relating to planning,
(b) housing policy,
(c) planning policy, and
(d) other matters which the Welsh Ministers consider relevant to planning and housing.

(4) A member is appointed for such period not exceeding 4 years as the Welsh Ministers determine.
(5) The Welsh Ministers may reappoint a person as a member if—

(a) the person—

(i) is a member at the time of reappointment, or
(ii) ceased to be a member not more than 3 months before the date of reappointment, and

(b) the person has not previously been reappointed.

(6) Sub-paragraphs (2) and (4) apply to the reappointment of a person as a member as they apply to the appointment of a person as a member.
(7) The Welsh Ministers may determine other terms and conditions of membership in relation to matters not covered by this Act.
Persons who may not be members
2 (1) The Scottish Ministers may not appoint a person as a member if sub-paragraph (2) or (4) applies to the person.
(2) This sub-paragraph applies to a person who is—

(a) a member of—

(i) the Scottish Parliament,
(ii) the House of Commons,
(iii) the House of Lords,
(iv) Senedd Cymru, or
(v) the Northern Ireland Assembly,

(b)a member of the Welsh Government,
(c) a Minister of the Crown,
(d) an office-holder in the Welsh Administration,
(e) an office-holder of the Crown in right of Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom,
(f) the holder of any other relevant elective office as defined by paragraph 1(8) of schedule 7 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000,
(g) a civil servant.

(3) Sub-paragraph (2) does not apply to a person who is a councillor or an employee of a local authority.
(4) This sub-paragraph applies to a person who is or has been—

(a) insolvent,
(b) disqualified as a company director under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986,
(c) disqualified as a charity trustee under the Charities Act 2011,
(d) disqualified under a disqualification provision analogous to either of those mentioned in paragraphs (b) and (c) anywhere in the world.

(4) For the purpose of sub-paragraph (3)(a), a person is or has been insolvent if—

(a) the person’s estate is or has been sequestrated,
(b) the person has granted a trust deed for creditors or has made a composition or arrangement with creditors,
(c) the person is or has been the subject of any other kind of arrangement analogous to either of those mentioned in paragraphs (a) and (b) anywhere in the world.

Members’ remuneration and expenses
3 (1)The Welsh Planning Agency may pay—

(a) its members, and
(b) the members of any local planning board established by it, such remuneration as it may, with the approval of the Scottish Ministers, determine.

(2) The Welsh Planning Agency may pay—

(a) its members, and
(b) the members of any local planning board established by it, such sums as it may, with the approval of the Scottish Ministers, determine in respect of expenses incurred by them in performing their functions.

Early termination of membership
4 (1) A person’s membership of the Welsh Planning Agency ends if—

(a) the person gives notice in writing to the Welsh Ministers and the Llywydd of the Senedd that the person resigns,
(b) the person becomes disqualified from being a member,
(c) the Welsh Ministers give the person notice in writing that the person is removed from being a member.

(2) The Welsh Ministers may remove a member under sub-paragraph (1)(c) only if—

(a) the member has been absent, without permission or reasonable excuse, from meetings of the Welsh Planning Agency for a period of longer than 3 consecutive months,
(b) the member has been convicted of a criminal offence, or
(c) the Welsh Ministers consider that the member is—

(i) unable to perform the member’s functions, or
(ii) unsuitable to continue as a member.

(3) Where they propose to give a person, other than the person who is the member appointed to chair the Welsh Planning Agency, notice under sub-paragraph (1)(c) that the person is to be removed from being a member, the Welsh Ministers must consult the member appointed to chair the Welsh Planning Agency.
(4) The Welsh Ministers may remove a member under sub-paragraph (1)(c) only with the approval of the Senedd Cymru.
(5) For the purpose of sub-paragraph (1)(b), a person becomes disqualified from being a member if paragraph 3(2) or (4) applies to the person.
Chief executive and other staff
5 (1) The Welsh Planning Agency is to have, as a member of staff, a chief executive.
(2) The chief executive may not be a member of the Welsh Planning Agency.
(3)The Welsh Ministers are to appoint the first chief executive with the approval of the Senedd Cymru.
(4) The Welsh Planning Agency is to appoint each subsequent chief executive.
(5) The Welsh Planning Agency may appoint other staff.
(6) The chief executive and other staff are to be appointed on such terms and conditions as the Welsh Planning Agency, with the approval of the Welsh Ministers, determines.
Authority to perform functions
6 (1) The Welsh Planning Agency may authorise—

(a) any of its members,
(b) any local planning board established by it,
(c) its chief executive, or
(d) any other member of its staff, to perform such of its functions (and to such extent) as it may determine.

(2) The giving of authority under sub-paragraph (1) to perform a function does not—

(a) affect the Welsh Planning Agency’s responsibility for the performance of the function, or
(b) prevent the Welsh Planning Agency from performing the function itself.

Regulation of procedure
7 The Welsh Planning Agency may regulate its own procedure (including quorum) and that of any local planning board.
Validity of things done
8 The validity of anything done by the Welsh Planning Agency or a local planning board is not affected by—

(a) a vacancy in membership,
(b)a defect in the appointment of a member,
(c) the disqualification of a person from being a member after appointment.

General powers
9 The Welsh Planning Agency may do anything which appears to it—

(a) to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of, or in connection with, the performance of its functions, or
(b) to be otherwise conducive to the performance of its functions.

Annual report
10 (1) The Welsh Planning Agency must, as soon as practicable after the end of each financial year—

(a) prepare and publish a report on its activities during that year,
(b) send a copy of the report to the Welsh Ministers, and
(c) lay a copy of the report before the Senedd Cymru.

(2) It is for the Welsh Planning Agency to determine the form and content of each report.
Ministerial direction
11 (1) The Welsh Ministers may direct the Welsh Planning Agency to exercise its powers in a specified way.
(2) A direction under subsection (1) must—
(a) be in writing, and
(b) be published (as soon as practicable after it is communicated to the Welsh Planning Agency), and
(c) set out the Welsh Ministers’ reasons for making it.
(3) The Welsh Ministers may revise or revoke a direction under subsection (1).
(6) Subsection (3) applies to the revision or revocation of a direction under subsection (1) as it applies to such a direction.
Resources
12 (1) The Welsh Ministers must seek to ensure that the amount of resources allocated for use by the Welsh Planning Agency is reasonably sufficient to enable it to perform its functions.
(2) Each report prepared under paragraph 11 must include an assessment by the Welsh Planning Agency of whether the amount of resources allocated for use by it in the financial year to which the report relates was sufficient to enable it to perform its functions.
(3) Sub-paragraph (2) does not affect the generality of paragraph 11(2).
SCHEDULE 2
LOCAL PLANNING BOARDS
1 (1) Local planning boards are to consist of members appointed by the council of the county or county borough (“the council”) which the local planning board’s area covers.
Early termination of membership
2 (1) A person’s membership of a local planning board ends if—
(a) the person gives notice in writing to the council and the Welsh Planning Agency that the person resigns,
(b) the person becomes disqualified from being a member,
(c) the council give the person notice in writing that the person is removed from being a member.
(2) The council may remove a member under sub-paragraph (1)(c) only if—
(a) the member has been absent, without permission or reasonable excuse, from meetings of the local planning board for a period of longer than 3 consecutive months,
(b) the member has been convicted of a criminal offence, or
(c) the council consider that the member is—
(i) unable to perform the member’s functions, or
(ii) unsuitable to continue as a member.
(3) The council may remove a member under sub-paragraph (1)(c) only with the approval of the Welsh Planning Agency.
(4) For the purpose of sub-paragraph (1)(b), a person becomes disqualified from being a member if paragraph 1(3) applies to the person.
(5) The council may appoint a person as a member only if the Welsh Planning Agency has approved the appointment.
(6) A council may not appoint a person if they are—
(a) ineligible to be a member of the Welsh Planning Agency, or
(b) a member of the Welsh Planning Agency.
(7) In appointing members, the council must have regard, among other things, to the desirability of ensuring that the membership (taken as a whole) has expertise or experience in—

(a) law relating to planning,
(b) housing policy,
(c) planning policy, and
(d) other matters which the Welsh Planning Agency consider relevant to planning and housing.

(8) A member is appointed for such period not exceeding 4 years as the council determine.
(9) The council may reappoint a person as a member if—

(a) the person—

(i) is a member at the time of reappointment, or
(ii) ceased to be a member not more than 3 months before the date of reappointment, and

(b) the person has not previously been reappointed.

(10) Sub-paragraphs (2) and (4) apply to the reappointment of a person as a member as they apply to the appointment of a person as a member.
(11) The Welsh Planning Agency may determine other terms and conditions of membership in relation to matters not covered by this Act.
General powers
12 (1) A local planning board may do anything which appears to it—
(a) to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of, or in connection with, the performance of its functions, or
(b) to be otherwise conducive to the performance of its functions.
(2) In exercising its powers, a local planning board must have regard to the National Development Framework for Wales.
Directions from the Welsh Planning Agency
13 (1) The Welsh Planning Agency may direct a local planning board to exercise its powers in a specified way.
(2) A direction under subsection (1) must—
(a) be in writing, and
(b) be published (as soon as practicable after it is communicated to the planning board), and
(c) set out the Welsh Planning Agency’s reasons for making it.
(3) The Welsh Planning Agency may revise or revoke a direction under subsection (1).
(14) Subsection (3) applies to the revision or revocation of a direction under subsection (1) as it applies to such a direction.
This bill is submitted by the Rt. Hon. LightningMinion CBE OM KT PC on behalf of Welsh Labour. Parts of this bill are inspired by the following real-life acts: UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Continuity) (Scotland) Act 2021, Health and Care Act 2022; and mhocholyrood’s Planning (Scotland) Act 2022.
Opening Speech:
LLywydd,
This bill overhauls the planning process by delegating the planning responsibilities of councils to new local planning boards under the direction of a new national planning agency, the Welsh Planning Agency, modelled off the Scottish Housing Agency I introduced in Scotland through the Planning (Scotland) Act 2022. By creating a new agency for housing and planning, we can ensure that house building is getting the priority it needs to solve Wales’ housing crisis, and to ensure that local “Not In My Backyard” councillors cannot block housing developments for no good reason.
The members of the Welsh Planning Agency will be formed of members nominated by the Welsh government and approved (or rejected) by the Senedd. The local planning boards, of which there will be one for each principal authority, will in turn be formed of members nominated by the local council and approved (or rejected) by the Welsh Planning Agency. This will ensure that local planning boards retain an element of local control and local representation while also ensuring that NIMBY sentiment isn’t represented on local planning boards, helping fix Wales’ shortage of housing.
Debate on this bill shall end on Friday 2nd June 2023 at 10pm BST

Sirens, Police Cars, Fire Trucks, and Ambulances:

• Police scanner (live info)
• PulsePoint app (live info)
• Police log (on a few hours delay)
• Whatcom County Jail Bookings
• Bellingham Police Department Twitter

Traffic and Transit Incidents:

• Real-time alerts for I-5, SR 11 (Chuckanut Dr), SR 539 (Guide Meridian), SR 542 (Sunset Dr and Mount Baker Hwy), SR 548 (Grandview Rd, Blaine Rd, and Peace Portal Dr)
• WSDOT North Twitter
• WTA Twitter
• Bellingham Traffic Cameras

Gunshots, Explosions, and Assorted Booms:

• A handy month-by-month guide to those booms
• "Gunshots" are usually just cars backfiring: How Does Anti-Lag Work, and Why Am I Now Deaf?
• Is it June, July, or August? Probably fireworks at the baseball stadium: Bellingham Bells Schedule
• Is it very cold or windy? Might be a transformer explosion; check for nearby power outages
• Live near one of Bellingham's many railways? Might be train cars banging together
• Live near the waterfront? Might be recycled metal being loaded at the port
• Have PTSD from the pipeline explosion and need more reassurance that the boom you heard was benign? Check the City of Bellingham Emergency Communications channels -- if something major actually happened then there would be an alert about it
• "Boomhorses" are a /Bellingham injoke about the frequent boomposting in this sub
• Posting "what was that boom?" during a storm gets a roasting, so check the weather first

Smoke, Steam, and Haze:

• The plume in downtown Bellingham is steam from the PSE Encogen power plant
• The plumes in the Ferndale/Blaine area are mostly steam from the Ferndale Refinery and Cherry Point Refinery
• The plume from Mount Baker is volcanic steam venting
• May-October is wildfire season. If you want to know where the smoke is coming from, check the Northwest Fire Science Consortium and the Northwest Large Fire Interactive Web Map
• If you want to know how concerned you should be, check the Washington's Air Monitoring Network Smoke Forecast and the PurpleAir Air Quality Map

Strange Lights in the Sky:

• Bunches of white lights moving across the sky together are StarLink satellite launches. For confirmation, check their launch schedule. Bellingham seems to be under the flight path of the ones out of Florida. Previously on /Bellingham: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
• The blue circular light reflecting off the clouds at night is coming from the Bellingham Towers
• The pink/purple glow on the northern horizon is from grow lights in Canadian greenhouses
• The occasional pulsing orange glow low on the horizon in the direction of Blaine/Ferndale is flaring from the Ferndale Refinery or Cherry Point Refinery. Previously on /Bellingham: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
• Greenish lights low on the northern horizon could be the Northern Lights, so check the NOAA Aurora Forecast
• Bright blue-green flashes when it's cold or windy are most likely the aforementioned transformer explosions
• Other strange lights are most likely annual meteor showers, planetary conjunctions, or fireballs, so check the Calendar of Astronomical Events and American Meteor Society Recent Events
• Posting "what was that flash?" during a storm gets a roasting, so check the weather first
• If none of the above explain what you saw then maybe lay off the shrooms ;)

White Fluff in the Sky in May:

• Those are cottonwood seeds and they don't trigger pollen allergies
• Previously on /Bellingham: 1 2 3 4

Giant Rocks on Trucks:

• They're for the Mouth of the Columbia River Jetty System Major Rehabilitation Project
• More info: What's the Deal With: Those big boulders on trailers? and Skagit County Greenschist Headed to the Columbia
• Previously on /Bellingham: 1 2 3 4 5 6

Local News and Major Events:

• City of Bellingham News Releases
• City of Bellingham Twitter
• Cascadia Daily News: Local
• KGMI News Radio: Local
• Bellingham Hearld: Local
• Annual Bellingham and Whatcom County Events

**retaliation after you file a complaint, improper discipline, workplace harassment
Hi legaladvice
I am trying to see if my wife has a case against her old employer. She just quit this past Saturday after a horrible and inflammatory manager-to-employee meeting held Friday. To preface, this all occurred in Howard County, MD.
Here are the details:

• She started this job in June of 2022, and has received consistent harassment from a maintenance manager. My wife was a leasing manager for an apartment/townhome complex. From the beginning, the relationship with the maintenance manager has been hostile. Every time she contacted him for questions or ticket inquiries, he would respond aggressively, would yell & curse, and berate her about even asking questions at all. This made it extremely difficult to do her job from the beginning as she needed to be able to commute maintenance inquiries back to the tenant/contractors who are asking for said info.
  
• 3 Months into this job, the maintenance manager, after yelling at her about something mundane, stood up and got in her face, acting as though he wanted to get physical to shut her down. This is when she first complained to management about her treatment from the said maintenance manager.
  
• Since this incident, he never changed his tune, continued to be verbally aggressive and combative, which leads her to believe he did not receive proper discipline from management.
  
• Now the incident that made her quit.
  

o Part of her job is coordinating with maintenance and Government housing programs to make sure a unit can pass a state inspection before a tenant using government assistance can move in. About a month ago (late April/early may), a unit she was coordinating failed inspections, and the maintenance person in charge was the same one who has been harassing her. (the maintenance manager)
o The maintenance manager was hostile about this situation and was not communicative about the fixes needed to pass inspection, and the unit had failed for a second time. She went to management again to complain about the treatment she was receiving from the maintenance manager. At this time, the property manager and the maintenance manager are fully aware of the fixes that need to be made to pass inspection.
o The unit fails for a third time. When my wife called the maintenance manager about the 4th inspection being scheduled and if the fixes had been completed, the maintenance manager screams at her, and lies about the day he received the list of things needed to be fixed. He said he just received it the other day. (When he has had it for weeks at this point). My wife called the property manager immediately. When she described how the maintenance manager has been treating her about this situation and since she has started this position, the property manager said his behavior “is verbally abusive”. The property manager also said her, and another office worker have also received this kind of treatment from the maintenance manager before as well.
o A couple days later, the day of the 4th inspection, my Wife went to the unit and saw some items on the list of needed fixes were still not completed.
o She texted photos of the unit to the property manager, and went back to the main office. She went to the property managers office to discuss this situation and all the incidents of maintenance requests not being done in a timely manner. The property manager texted the photos to the maintenance manager and called him herself. He yelled at her, and tried to act like he still didn’t know what needed to be done. The property manager told my wife to go back to unit and describe to the maintenance manager what needs to be done in detail (something she has already done). My wife said “If you send me back there, and he continues to treat me abusively, I am going to curse him out, I am tired of this treatment”. The property manager said Okay and sent her anyway.
o At the unit in question, My wife meets the maintenance manager at the door. When she was about to enter the unit, the maintenance manager grabs her shoulder. My wife says to him “do not fucking touch me”, brushed him off, and walks in the unit.
o At the front door, the first thing he does is “correct my language” about the unit and fixes. Being super combative about the list of fixes and what the property manager had sent him photos of. My wife says “do we have to fight about this, or can I just show you what needs to be done?”. She begins showing him different things that need to be fixed, and he yells at her the entire time saying these items cannot be fixed. My wife responds saying “then you can fucking explain to the inspectors why that is this time”. She goes to hand him the keys to the unit, and the maintenance manager grabs her hand and holds onto it, trying to make her not leave. After she had yelled at him to not touch her multiple times. My wife yelled again, “do not fucking touch me!” she yanked her hand back from him and left the unit.
o She goes back to the main office, and she immediately tells the property manager what happened (briefly) that she did indeed curse him out and he grabbed her. She didn’t get to tell the full story because the property manager was heading into a meeting at the time.
o After that meeting, the property manager left the office entirely, so my wife wasn’t able to share the full details of the ordeal, but she was able to tell the full story to the assistant property manager.
o The next day, the property manager called my wife and said “I understand both sides of this situation.” This made my wife confused and she said back “I will respond with the energy that I am met with from here on out”.
 The property manager had previously given my wife assurances that she should stand up for herself. That my wife could ask people to leave if they were being harassing. Basically, giving my wife a sense of autonomy about where to draw the line.
o A few days later, My wife officially meet with the property manager about what had occurred at the unit. The property manager said my wifes behavior was unprofessional, and that “corporate would have written you up for this had they known”. (the property manager was talking about the cursing…. Which the maintenance manager does ALL THE TIME to the office workers). When my wife reminded The property manager that she said she was going to curse the maintenance manager out if she was sent to the unit and if he got aggressive with her, the property manager said, “I cannot control your actions”. The property manager could’ve gone to the unit herself and met the maintenance manager but chose to send my wife knowing this situation was unraveling. When my wife mentioned the maintenance manager getting physical and grabbing her, the property manager brushed it off completely saying “you did not make me aware of that”. (even though my wife mentioned it before the property manager left the office that day) However, My wife later learned that the maintenance manager told the property manager that my wife yelled “don’t fucking touch me”. So, the property manager did in fact know that the situation got physical, and still chose to verbally berate my wife and call her reaction unprofessional.
o Here is where the retaliation comes in. Since March of this year, my wife and the property manager came to a gentlemans agreement that my wife would work one less day (4 days a week) while still being paid for full time work. My wife suffers from chronic pain, and there is a surgery scheduled for August to address it, and the property manager let her work one less day a week since that helped manage the pain while still being able to work. After the meeting about the unit and the maintenance manager, the property manager said my wife would begin coming into the office 5 days a week, saying she had “officially asked corporate” about her working one less day a week, and they had “listed my wife’s Job”. This is a clear sign of retaliation. The property manager has known about the upcoming surgery and my wife’s health issues, but chose to punish her anyway.
o Not only did she receive unjust punishment for an abusive situation, but she was also made to feel unsafe and uncomfortable at work knowing the property manager is okay with things getting physical. My wife had complained several times about the abuse she was receiving, and nothing was ever done. It seems the property manager was trying to silence her about the situation to get her to move on. Because of not feeling safe in that environment any longer, she quit the next day.
So, do you think my wife has a case? Happy to provide more details if asked.

Pretty much what the title says. I've been looking for a new job for a while now in public health. Here's a little bit of a back ground so you can all understand where I come from and can hopefully give me some advice based on the person I am and my work history.
After graduating high school I decided to go the community college route because I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. While attending community college I was also working part time at a law firm as a records clerk. This is a job I kept for 11 years, being let go in 2018. My supervisor was great and provided flexible hours according to my school schedule. Even when I decided to take a long break from school she allowed me to go full time and part time when needed. Through the first eight to nine years there was a lot of that because I didn't know what I wanted to study.
When I actually started my undergrad I knew that I wanted to get into health because I recently started working out and I enjoyed the benefits (more energy, feeling better). I decided to study in Kinesiology and finished my undergrad in 2019. That same year I was looking for a job in my field but was unable to find one that paid decent. I was also looking into applying for a graduate program in Public Health. I'm skipping a lot here but let's say that I landed on Public Health because of the ability to help the masses instead of one individual (I was looking into physical therapy before this).
I was accepted into the Masters Program and completed in January 2022, so it has been a while now.
I will also mention that in 2019 I did find a job as a dispatcher for a delivery company for Cannabis Products. I work from home and as much as anyone would think that the people who work in the industry must consume it, I actually don't lol don't drink either. I'm sure this might hurt my chances looking for a job but I don't want to lie and I'm not a good liar lol I'm still currently at the job. It involves a lot of use of data as well as customer service so I'm no stranger to data and interacting with people. However, I am an introvert so I do prefer working from home and working with data rather than interacting too much. But it is definitely not a problem since I have the experience.
I honestly don't know where to look and where to go for jobs. The few ones I do find with Data need years of experience and applications I have never heard of. Any advice or how to go about this will help. I looked at the county jobs as well and I don't see any postings in Data Analyst, especially entry level, which I'm more than happy to take on if it helps me acquire the skills necessary for the higher levels. If you have any questions, just ask away. Thank you.

I'm back in Cannes for the third year in a row! I can gladly say that this festival is more than worth the effort, even though it takes a lot of work to make it magical. I've been able to continually attend thanks to the 3 Days in Cannes program, which is offered to people aged 18-28. For any of you in that age range, I highly recommend you take up the opportunity to attend!
You can check out a ton of pictures I took on my Instagram Account and other reactions at my Letterboxd. While I didn't get any personal pictures with celebrities like last year, I did briefly cross paths with Alice Rohrwacher after the premiere of La Chimera, Nanni Moretti on his way to the closing ceremony, and Jonathan Glazer as he was walking away from his photoshoot with the Grand Prix.
Just as I have done with the 2021 and 2022 editions with this post, I’m going to share my thoughts on the 13 films I saw (a new record!), as well as reactions I heard from people about other films. I’ll also give my Oscar prognosis on each one.
I'll list them in the order I saw them, and then give a final ranking at the end. This was probably the weakest edition of the three years I've been. But don't let that statement mislead you, because a bad year is still pretty good.
And before you comment, I was NOT able to see any of the out-of-competition premieres like Killers of the Flower Moon, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, or Elemental. I also won't be covering them in this post since those movies have been widely talked about and will be major talking points for months to come.

FILMS I SAW

A BRIGHTER TOMORROW
My Review: With his own version of Bardo, Nanni Moretti provides humorous meta commentary on his personal and professional life, as well as the state of modern filmmaking.
While not all that innovative or groundbreaking, it's still light and breezy enough to be a good time. (6/10)
Oscar Prognosis: It received much worse reviews than I anticipated. Moretti has never been on the Academy's radar either, and it looks almost certain that La Chimera will be Italy's submission for the International Feature category.
ABOUT DRY GRASSES
My Review: 197 minutes with the biggest asshole in all of Turkey. Will definitely require (and deserve) a rewatch at some point, although I'm not exactly sure I'll ever have the ambition to dive back into this again. (6/10)
Oscar Prognosis: My dissatisfaction puts me in the minority, as many other people walked away thinking this was one of Ceylan's best. It's ultra talky and ultra slow (just like all Ceylan films). Merve Dizdar's win for Best Actress was fully deserved, as she provides a much more interesting character arc compared to the main "protagonist."
Ceylan has represented Turkey numerous times for Best International Feature, but he has yet to be nominated. I doubt this will be the film to crack him in, as it's respected more than loved. It also doesn't have a US distributor, so we'll have to see who picks it up.
MONSTER
My Review: Kore-eda brings Rashomon into the modern age with Monster, a movie that is both much more gentle and deadlier than it's title implies. While I hope be goes back to writing his own scripts, Kore-eda's touch as a director is still undeniable, especially during the final two acts. (7/10)
Oscar Prognosis: This film is eerily similar to Lukas Dhont's Close from last year, which I mean in the best way possible. Shoplifters remains as Kore-eda's only film to receive Oscar attention. I don't think Monster will bring him back, especially with Japan likely to submit Miyazaki's How Do You Live?.
MAY DECEMBER
My Review: Grab the marshmallows and graham crackers because Todd Haynes is bringing the camp! Portman and Moore have delicious chemistry, with Charles Melton taking over from Austin Butler as the new CW movie star. I'm hoping the Netflix acquisition will allow a new generation of cinephiles to appreciate Haynes. (7/10)
Oscar Prognosis: I want to give major props to everyone involved with this film for not spoiling just how silly it is. Portman and Moore are going BIG with their performances, and so Is Todd Hayne's direction. This is "trash" handled by masters of the craft. I'm kind of doubtful of it being a big Oscar player on account of its weirdness. If anything, maybe the screenplay and Portman can get in with the last slots. We'll know more once Netflix outlines their release strategy for it, as I don't know if they'll bring back into the conversation with the fall festivals, or just kind of toss it aside.
LAST SUMMER
My Review: Nothing like climbing the Lumiere steps at 7am to watch some stepmom-stepson action. To be honest, I only saw this so I could see at least one movie in the Grand Theatre, as everything else from schedule was one of the secondary theaters. (6/10)
Oscar Prognosis: Won't be submitted by France, nor does it have good reviews. No chance whatsoever. It's not like a Catherine Breillat film was going to gel with the Oscar's anyway.
THE ZONE OF INTEREST
My Review: Sickening in the most calculated way possible, The Zone of Interest is Jonathan Glazer's answer to the question of how evil can exist unchecked. Soak it all in during your first watch, because I doubt you'll ever want to view the world this way again. (8/10)
Oscar Prognosis: This is going to be the movie that critics will rally around during the season, so don't be surprised if NYFCC and/or LAFCA throw it their laurels. There's rumors that A24 will be releasing it around December, meaning they're likely to tour it around all of the major fall festivals.
I know we've been going by the "one international director nominated per year" rule for a while now, but I think we need to look at it a little more specifically. Every international directing nominee in the expanded era has been for a movie that won a prize at Cannes: 2011: Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist); 2012: Michael Haneke (Amour); 2018: Paweł Pawlikowski (Cold War); 2019: Bong Joon-ho (Parasite); 2020*: Thomas Vinterberg (Another Round); 2021: Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car); 2022: Ruben Östlund (Triangle of Sadness). Glazer could, and probably will, join that list. This is such a directorial showcase that that specific branch has been known to favor.
However, I wouldn't go around thinking this will be a strong contender in many other categories. This is a cold arthouse movie that is a miserable watch, meaning it could be a turnoff for a good chunk of voters. Think of it more like a Terrence Malick movie.
The script and the actors, while great, aren't the things the movie focuses on, nor are they the features you walk away most impressed by. Mica Levi's score is incredibly haunting, but it rarely featured (maybe less than 25% of the movie), so I'm not sure how much traction it will get.
It's likely between the UK and Poland for submitting it for Best International Feature. My money is on Poland considering that's where a good chunk of the funds came from, and the story is more closely connected to that region. Whoever submits it, this will be one of the major contenders.
FIREBRAND
My Review: I'm a simple man. I see some costumes and hear a big score, I'm satisfied. This could have used a little more directorial flair (which slightly begs the question for why it was even here to begin with), but Vikander and Law make up for that with their fiery performances. (7/10)
Oscar Prognosis: It only had an outside chance to begin with, and the reviews have mostly sunken any sliver of hope. Dune: Part Two, Killers of the Flower Moon, Oppenheimer, and Barbie are likely to crowd the craft categories, making it extremely doubtful this gets in anywhere. Jude Law's performance is a standout, but there won't be any passion for the movie to take him anywhere. This really should have been a TIFF Gala premiere.
BLACK FLIES
My Review: You might as well walk into this movie with a headache because you're going to get one five minutes in. You might as well not watch this movie if you're squeamish to blood and needles. You might as well not watch this movie if you want to watch interesting characters in an original story. You might as well not watch this movie. (5/10)
Oscar Prognosis: There really needs to be limit out in place for how much Sean Penn can be at Cannes, because his output these past few years has been putrid. No Oscar chances, nor will anyone probably see it.
ANATOMY OF A FALL
My Review: Disappointing isn't the right word (since I still liked it), but there was something special missing that prevented me from loving it like everyone else. 150 minutes doesn't necessarily fly by, no matter how flawless Sandra Huller's performance is. Maybe Saint Omer filled me up on French courtroom dramas and I'm still not ready for more? (7/10)
Oscar Prognosis: I didn't think Neon would get much out of Triangle of Sadness last year, so I don't want to count them out again. This will likely be France's submission for Best International Feature, and possibly be their best chance to win the category after years of a disappointment. Similar to Jonathan Glazer, Sandra Hüller's lead performance will be a critic's favorite. I'm doubtful about Best Picture and any of the other top categories, but I could see still see it happening if other big contenders start dropping off.
PERFECT DAYS
My Review: The serenity of doing the mundane, and the bliss we could all achieve if we didn't overcomplicate everything we do. One of those movies that sounds terrible on paper, and yet is oh so beautiful. Watch this on a calm summer day with some tea. (7/10)
Oscar Prognosis: This a Japanese-German co-production, so either country could submit it. Wenders has never been nominated in the Best International Feature category (although that's mostly because it's been forever since he made a good narrative feature). With Neon also behind it, there's an outside shot of a nomination.
BANEL & ADAMA
My Review: I've always had a blind spot for African films, so I felt compelled to let this be a mini-introduction. Plus, it's barely 80 minutes so it slotted easily into my schedule. It has a bold style about it, with some striking cinematography and music cues. A stronger narrative would have lifted it higher. A great debut, and I'd be happy to watch Sy's next film if it were to come back to the festival. (6/10)
Oscar Prognosis: It doesn't have a US distributor, nor do I think will get a US release in time for contention. It won't matter, as the reviews are tepid and the movie doesn't have the gravitas to stay noticed.
ASTEROID CITY
My Review: By far the strangest film in his already strange filmography, Asteroid City is Wes Anderson's attempt at a Christopher Nolan movie. It's got all the trappings you've come to love (or hate), with some really interesting methods to express its ideas. I'm already planning more than one rewatch once it opens in theaters! (8/10)
Oscar Prognosis: I'm a Wes Anderson apologist (The French Dispatch still remains one of my all-time favorite movies after seeing it at Cannes 2021), so don't think my rave reaction will be uniformly applied. This movie is way weirder than you think it's going to be, which is evidenced by the divided critical reactions.
As with all Anderson projects, it's impeccably crafted. But with The French Dispatch being blanked in a relatively weaker year, I'm not so sure this will crack any categories. Maybe Best Production Design, but there are so many other heavy hitters I'd predict first.
THE OLD OAK
My Review: This was rumored for a prize, which would have absolutely pissed me off. Painfully flat and oversimplified, with way too much time spent speechifying instead of actually building characters. Basically boils down to "racism is bad" and ends without resolving the main plot and one of the subplots. (4/10)
Oscar Prognosis: Ken Loach is not an Oscar player, so don't expect anything.
Ranking of Films I Saw

1. The Zone of Interest
2. Asteroid City
3. Monster
4. Firebrand
5. Anatomy of a Fall
6. Perfect Days
7. May December
8. A Brighter Tomorrow
9. About Dry Grasses
10. Banel & Adama
11. Last Summer
12. Black Flies
13. The Old Oak

FILMS I WASN’T ABLE TO SEE

*I’m only going to talk about the films that I heard about from other people and might stand a chance of actually getting released in America for Oscar contention. You have to remember that about 1/3 of the films at Cannes never get released outside of their native country*
FALLEN LEAVES
It won the Jury Prize and was acquired by Mubi, so there's some hope it gets into the Best International Feature category. Kaurismäki has been nominated before, and I expect this to pop up at the fall festivals.
LA CHIMERA
The reviews from highbrow critics have been great, but there was a much more mixed reaction from the "regular" people I talked to. I expect Italy to submit it, and it has a decent chance of getting nominated.
THE POT AU FEU
This was definitely the surprise of the festival. It premiered pretty late and it immediately became the talk of the town the day after. It still doesn't have US distribution, so I'm not sure what prospects it has. Honestly, the best case scenario is that it becomes a cult classic years later and inspires some food-themed screenings at indie cinemas.
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These are my thoughts on what I experienced at Cannes this year. If you have any questions about the films, or anything about the festival in general, feel free to comment below or DM me.

How does it look? Looking to apply for Front of House position at Chick-Fil-A this summer.

I wanna start by saying sorry for the long thread I got carried away but I asure you it is worth reading.
I worked for Lowes from Feb 2020-Dec 2022 When I was told to resign over my hernia. (I made a separate thread about that a while back)
The entire time I worked there we were short staffed because of the “worker shortage” but in reality that was BS. Here are just a few reasons why our store could not hold employees. I am genuinely curios if anyone had similar experienced at their stores?
1 Lying about the worker shortage.

• During the first 2 years of my employment I never had a single vacation day approved they always denied them or left them pending. When asked why my manager simply replied “we can’t afford for you to take off” “we don’t have enough people in your department” or “this job is too important”
• This peaked during the summer of 2021 when we were at 60% staff and yet management claimed they could not find anyone to hire. However employees knew people who tried to apply and were told there were no positions available.
• We had a hiring event where so many people showed up for interviews they sent some home at the end of the night because they ran out of time and yet only 2 people were hired and they told us “No one accepted the job”/” Everyone failed the drug test” (depending on who you asked). Again though same as before we found out they told applicants “all positions were filled”.

2 Last minute schedule changes.

• This was constant. They could not make a good schedule if one bit them in the @$$.
• One time last year me and a friend decided to work on my car one day i was scheduled off but the night before (actually that morning at like 12 AM) as I clocked out I was informed I had to work that day by my manager (he hadn't even changed my schedule yet) I told him I was working on my car and couldn't but he told me I had to. So the next day I am working on my car and I call out unfortunately my manager answered and tells me “you knew you had to work so I am not accepting this call out”. I got a no call no show. :(
• One week I was only scheduled 15 hours for the week. So on a day off I got some hours at another job to work late. At noon on lunch I see I have a text informing me I am to come in at 5. I text back saying ill be late cuz I get off at 5 and I am an hour away. I arrive to work at 6 and am immediately pulled into the office by my supervisor who started ranting at me for being late. When I tell him I was at my other job and that I was originally off he says “Look your loyalty is to Lowes and Lowes first anything less will have you terminated” :/. He then proceeds to rant about how the younger generation (I’m 29 BTW) does not want to work anymore and how companies were failing because of us. What I would give for a recording of that “meeting”?

3 Ignoring Availability:

• We had so many people quit because their availability was not honored after being hired.
• One example was a coworker I’ll call D. D had a full 9-5 job and got this job for extra money. He specifically told them before being hired he could not work Saturdays. Despite this shortly after starting they scheduled him Saturdays and would not budge. D called out every Saturday for 9 months before being fired. Upon firing D our manager stated if D couldn’t work Saturdays why the fuck did he get a job here. Uhm ok but you knew he couldn’t so why the fuck did you hire him.
• D’s replacement starts work but starts at 6 rather than 5 like the rest of the unloaders. He states that he gets off his other job at 5 (oh no here we go again I thought). We told him about D and how they may not honor his availability either. Literally the next FUCKING WEEK his schedule is changed to 5 and when he asked the manager about it he is told “this job is more important, you need to be here by 5” so he quits.
• D’s replacements replacement is a young guy fresh out of high school who does not own a car. He gets the job because they advertised it as a 4 hour part time shift 5-9PM. He states it is perfect because his dad can pick him up from work. He is horrified to learn he is not allowed to leave until tasks are done and the 4 hour claim is BULLSHIT. I wind up bringing him home a lot as his dad is long in bed before we leave. Eventually he also quits stating to me that he would rather have a job he can walk to than beg for rides. :/. Our supervisor then mocks him the following day stating “If he does not have a car than he should not have gotten a job” Like REALLY WTF not everyone is privileged enough to have a car fresh out of school WTH Also in my town Lowes pays minimum wage so beggars can't be choosers.
• They also did this in other departments telling employees in college that Lowes was more important than their college classes.

4 No vacations for you

• I already briefly touched on this but vacations were nearly impossible to get. On top of what I stated in #1 Vacations were almost always denied on the grounds this job is too important and “we can’t afford for you to take off”
• I had a supervisor tell me “Vacations are a sin unto capitalism you’re just an associate you don’t need a fucking vacation” (I have witnesses to this)

5 Disrespect/mistreatment.

• We were constantly belittled and talked down to. My most recent supervisor would tell us on a near weekly basis that we were expendable and they could replace us whenever the f@#$ they wanted.
• On nights we had no truck we would be assigned to different departments. The problem was our supervisors had priority complexes and did not want to listen to other managers or supervisors.
• One night I was working top stock in electrical. And my supervisor upon walking in (an hour after I started) found me and immediately told me I was doing it wrong. After explaining I was doing what the manager told me he walked off. Later came back and yelled at me again to which I told him to talk to the manager. He then proceeds to walk to the back, page the entire store to call me an insubordinate fool and tell me I am being written up for insubordination.
• Hell I had the nickname by one of my supervisors as “That Autistic (F word for bundle of sticks)”

6 Held hostages.

• So mentioned briefly already for the unloaders the advertised shift 5-9pm was a lie and we actually could not leave until the job was done, but do to things like short staffing, messy bays, cleaning up trash and putting away appliances before we started, most nights we would not get done till 10 at the earliest.
• Because the store closed at 9 and 8 pm during COVID we were at the mercy of our supervisors to let us out. The problem was they would refuse if the job was not done. Other times they would make us wait sometimes as much as an hour before letting us out.
• We had one guy who was only there a few days who got tired of being forced to stay late. So one night after waiting to be let out for over an hour he just unlocks the door and walks out setting off the alarm. The following day he is pulled into the office and terminated.
• Even on nights when we were done we still had to wait to be let out. Some supervisors were worse than others. One had the attitude of ill let you out when I let you out. If it was just one person waiting like on my shift a lot we would sometimes wait hours on him.

7 No breaks allowed

• This was not store wide but rather pertained to my shift. As unloaders we were not allowed a break until the truck was done but by the time truck was does it was long after our shift ended most nights.
• On nights when it was a large truck and just one or 2 of us to unload we would sometimes work 7 hours No break or lunch.

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Sorry for the long thread I made this to blow off a bit of steam while recovering from surgery and for documentation purposes. I originally decided not to post as it felt like one giant rambling complaint but was encouraged to by some former coworkers.

I just don't know if I'm wrong for wanting to change my son's school. My son was in our assigned elementary school before he got accepted into a public charter school (basically, tuition-free private school).
He's been in the charter school for one year and doing well. He's made some friends and academically succeeding. I just don't like the school. It's purely selfish reasons for wanted to go back to public school. He did well in the public school, but we just thought this new school would be better overall.
This charter school is new this year, just opened fall 2022. It is a k-12 school, so very, very big. It's still under construction, so you have to drive through construction areas to pick up/drop off children. There are no buses. ALL students need to be picked up or dropped off. We have to carpool with another family to make this work. It's now down to about an hour in the driveline, so it's gotten better. At the very beginning, it took close to 4 hours for pickup, and the school made the local news.
There is a dress code and he keeps getting violations because his hair touches his ears or touches his eyebrows. Other students have much longer hair, so I'm confused by the selective dress code enforcement. He got suspended for a day for saying the word "gay" to someone. Not saying he shouldn't be punished, but I think suspension was harsh. When we talked to the teachers about it, we were told that this was the next logical step for punishment.
The charter school is on a different schedule than our high schooler (9th grade) So, spring break is different for each child. Teacher workdays are different days, etc. It would be tough to schedule vacations together.
Overall, it would be easier for us for him to ride a bus to and from school, with our work schedules. It would be nice to have both children available for vacations. And both schools, academically, were the same.
Am I a horrible parent for changing his school, when he said he doesn't want to?

Continued from Part 3

Fuck Tha Police Pt 1 – Best Buy Disappears

Best Buy was a huge problem for the detectives. First, how the hell did Adnan get there? Jay denied seeing Hae’s car in the lot and he was not sharp enough to later put together the fact that the Sentra was already at the Park N Ride when he picked up Adnan from the Best Buy. Hae’s car was sitting in the same spot where Jay would see it for the first time later close to 7 PM that evening. This indicates the involvement of at least one other accomplice who drove Adnan from the Park N Ride to the Best Buy. Second, it’s a fucking Best Buy. There were certainly security cameras covering the parking lot. This was 1999. Thomas Edison had taken credit for inventing the movie camera more than 100 years earlier. There was a national news story in 1997 when a security camera at a Louisiana Walmart captured a guy who murdered his ex in the parking lot. Florida Today, August 3, 1997, p. 19A (and several other papers). Yeah, Walmart with its inventory of low-end shitty merchandise. Not judging–I’ve shopped there. That’s how I know. Compare that to Best Buy’s mid-range electronics/appliances. Just saying that Best Buy had at least as much interest as Walmart with regard to security. The Baltimore Sun reported the installation of security cameras covering the parking lots in malls and other locations almost 2 years before Hae’s murder. The Baltimore Sun in Carroll, April 18, 1997, p. 5B; The Baltimore Sun in Howard, February 13, 1997, p.4B. Sure, this is anecdotal, but as you will see, there is specific evidence in the police file proving that the cops were treating any security camera footage from Best Buy like it was radioactive.
Fifteen years after Hae’s murder, Sarah Koenig stated in Episode 4 of Serial that “there probably weren’t security cameras in the Best Buy parking lot back in 1999. And that there certainly is no mention of any security footage in the police reports.” (emphasis added). Having recently gone back and found that part of Sarah saying this in the podcast made me realize even more how the cards were stacked against her. I don’t think Sarah had the same police file that I have. Props to SSR and Frankie Hellis for the MPIA requests and making them available in their native format instead of fucking them up by robbing them of the context in which they were produced by organizing them in timelines that seem helpful to the uninitiated, but only add to the confusion and background noise. Sarah may have only been working with the cherry picked information that Rabia Chaudry shared with her. Otherwise, she would have mentioned the subpoena to Best Buy that is in the police file, which we will discuss shortly. If Sarah had this subpoena, she should not hold herself out as an investigative journalist. Actually, that’s not entirely fair. The subpoena by itself is suspicious, but it is the context and timing of the subpoena that are damning. Even decent investigative journalists could miss that. The bottom line was that any security camera footage from Best Buy would create more questions than answers. If the footage shows Adnan getting picked up by Jay with Hae’s car nowhere in sight, how did he get there? If the footage showed Adnan getting dropped off by an unknown accomplice but the footage is too grainy to see who or make out a license plate, who is this person?
This is where Ritz and Macgillivary show that they attended Bilal’s seminar on fabricating evidence. Fortunately for us, they were shitty students. The detectives needed a story from Jay that would precede Adnan’s subsequent alibis. A story that would put Jay’s viewing of Hae’s body before Adnan was seen by anyone at track practice. A story that would shrink the time between when Hae was last seen alive and when the only witness they had saw her dead. Shrinking that window and putting Adnan in possession of Hae's body shortly after she was last seen alive would improve the case for making Adnan responsible for the murder. This new story would change Adnan’s situation from likely avoiding a misdemeanor charge for unlawful disposal of a body to almost certainly being convicted of 1st degree murder. Before you read on, take a moment to review the judge’s instructions to the jury in Adnan’s trial for the requirements to determine if a person is guilty of 1st degree murder–particularly the importance of intent. Trial Tr. 2/25/1999, 36:25 - 38:8. This will provide context for Jay’s emphasis about Adnan supposedly announcing his plans to kill Hae that Jay somehow never shared with Jen.
Jay’s inclusion of Best Buy almost guaranteed that the case would never close. The cops had no leads on how Adnan got there. No leads on who dropped him off. To make matters worse, any security camera footage would only serve to confirm the participation of an unknown accomplice.
Thus, the cops told Jay to forget Best Buy.
Like it never happened. They moved the location where Jay picked up Adnan after school to the strip on Edmondson Ave. near where Adnan dumped Hae’s car after disposing of her body. The cops didn't make Jay move the pick up to the Park N Ride because, like Jay, they did not put it together that Hae's car was sitting there since about 3 PM on January 13th. Morons. They had Jay change the story to have Adnan specifically tell him that he was going to kill Hae earlier in the day on January 13. MPIA 233. If that had happened, Jay would have shared it with Jen. They made Jay lay it on thick by making him say that Adnan proudly declared that he murdered Hae when he popped the trunk open at Edmondson Ave. MPIA 238. Recall that Jen never said that Jay told her that Adnan admitted he did it. It was now BCPD’s turn to make Jay do their bidding under the threat of dire consequences. And Jay, having waived his rights and lacking the means to defend himself, had no recourse and again was compelled to play along. I mocked Susan Simpson quite a bit for the tapping sounds that could be heard during Jay’s statement, because if the cops were going to entirely invent Jay’s version as Susan alleges, why not simply give him a script? Contrary to Susan’s assertion, the detectives made up parts of Jay’s testimony. Parts that required their prompting him. Parts that would fit with some of what actually happened. I might have come to that conclusion sooner if Susan wasn’t so goddamn annoying.
What the cops did here is particularly fucked up because they effectively coerced Jay into falsely admitting to increased involvement in Hae’s murder. Also, his statement read like Jay was a legal scholar who understood the importance of establishing intent to secure a murder1 conviction. While forcing him to change his story, the detectives also increased the probable cause that would normally compel them to lodge charges against Jay. They had everything they needed to put the bracelets on him but they didn’t. “Ok, you’ve admitted to being an accessory in a murder we’ve been investigating for the past few weeks. Can we give you a lift home?” At one point during the 2/28/99 interview while the recorder was off, Jay asked the detectives how he can go about getting a lawyer. Trial Tr., 2/10/1999 at 49:5-10. Jay stated during trial that the detectives asked why he would want one and gave him no guidance. Id. at 52:7-12. Of course, they were not going to charge Jay after that. If they did, he could ask for a public defender and that’s the end of their puppet. They liked that Jay was putty in their hands. They liked that they could leave their options open and force him to say whatever was necessary whenever it was necessary to make their case. Thus, Jay continued to be batted around as a plaything for the next six months by the cops with no charges brought against him and no lawyer representing him. Placing Jay in legal limbo for that length of time is beyond cruel and truly a shit situation.
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FUCK THA POLICE PT. 2 - The PAPERWORK SNAFU RE BEST BUY

Remember all that shit I wrote about a dozen paragraphs earlier about the purpose and process for police progress reports? Here is where they come into play. Because the detectives conjured a sizable portion of Jay’s testimony, they hedged on committing it immediately to paper. They needed to be sure that they had the best version of the story before they started sending out grand jury summonses for witness testimony. Thus, after faithfully and promptly documenting the progress of the investigation, they sat on preparing reports of Jay and Jen’s recorded statements for more than two weeks. The dumbshit detectives were so enthralled at their manipulation of Jay Wilds and the story that they invented for him that they apparently forgot the entirety of Jen’s statement. That includes not only the substance of her interview but also the fact that she was less pliable than Jay because she retained a lawyer. On March 15, 1999, the day before grand jury subpoenas would be served, the detectives prepared their progress reports for Jen and Jay’s recorded statements from February 27th and February 28, respectively. The progress report for Jen’s statement has to be seen to be believed.
First, not one fucking word about Best Buy. You know, the place where she said Jay told her that Adnan killed Hae. Jen literally referred to Best Buy a dozen times during her statement. It was the only location that Jay told her about specifically besides Kristi's apartment that she shared with the detectives. Instead, the report mentions several places that Jen never spoke of. The 600 Block of Franklintown Road. The 4400 block of N Franklintown Road. The report mentions Adnan burying Hae in a shallow grave after she repeatedly stated that Jay told her that he did not know where the body was buried. Then there is the description of Hae’s car. You know. The one that Jen said she never saw before and knew nothing about. Despite her explicitly telling the cops that she had no knowledge about the car Hae drove, the report explicitly mentions the 1998 Nissan Sentra. Despite Jen stating that she did not know the trunk of which car Jay saw Hae’s body, the report about her interview puts it in the Sentra. The report about Jen’s interview also indicates that Hae’s car was parked near 600 Edgewood Street.
For those who attempt to argue that the report was intended to be a composite of information that was collected from both Jay and Jen, look at every other fucking progress report in this case. MPIA 15-105. When multiple things happen in a single day, there is a separate report for each task/incident. Each report covers a separate and discrete subject. Also, if the report of Jen’s statement was intended to be a composite of Jen and Jay’s statements, then why the fuck is there a separate report for Jay’s statement that was prepared on the same day as Jen’s? And why in the name of Circuit City is there no mention of Best Buy anywhere in the report? For those who are not scholars of big box electronic store history, Circuit City stores began disappearing around the time of this case because they could not compete with Best Buy. Yep, nothing makes an already mediocre joke worse than having to explain it.
The detectives sat down with the prosecutor on the morning of March 15 after preparing the bullshit progress reports to go over next steps for the grand jury proceedings. Whether it was because the detectives were ignorant, sloppy or both, someone finally thought to check the report on Jen’s interview against the actual transcript. The morons realized that most of the report chronicling Jen’s recorded statement was fan fiction. Jesus. I don’t even like saying that about other people’s writing when it actually applies. But what made them shit themselves was remembering that Jen had legal representation. That meant that they were stuck with what she said in her recorded statement. They were stuck with fucking Best Buy.
While Jen’s statement was etched in stone, Jay, who was still uncharged and still lacked legal representation, was still pliable. Thus, the detectives dragged Jay back to the homicide office to fix their fuck up. Their story is that they brought him back in because his story did not match the location data from Adnan’s phone. That is complete horse shit. While it is true that the cops were in possession of the location data from Adnan’s phone, the ignorant, lazy fucks did nothing with it. Actually, they had the location data before Jay’s first interview too. At any rate, take a look at Jay’s March 15, 1999 interview transcript and tell me how many times the detectives refer to the location data. I’ll save you some time, but feel free to confirm: ZERO. The subsequent communications with AT&T suggest that the location work was not done until closer to when Jay was finally charged in early September 1999. MPIA 1477-1480. And look at the timings of Jay’s March 15, 1999 interview. He was brought in at 3:05 PM and signed the waiver of his right to counsel at 3:15 PM. MPIA 265. His recorded statement did not begin until 6:20 PM–more than three fucking hours later! Yeah, I know, Susan…thank you, but shut the fuck up because you were still way off.
To eliminate the fact that Adnan was dropped off at the Best Buy lot by an unknown accomplice, Hae’s car now magically appeared at the Best Buy. The trunk pop that never happened during the day time moved from Edmondson Ave. to the Best Buy parking lot too. Hae’s car was now driven from the Best Buy to the Park N Ride while Jay followed in Adnan’s Honda. Even the dumbest plot would have had Jay meet Adnan at the Park N Ride instead of doing this idiotic convoy from the Best Buy to the Park N Ride. For the record, that is not “come and get me.” There was no one to “get” if Adnan had Hae’s car. It’s “come and follow me for no fucking reason.” What could the detectives do? Jen had saddled them with Best Buy and this implausible story is the best they could come up with in a few hours. Remember, they not only had to invent major parts of Jay’s story, but they also had to make it consistent with Jen’s locked version and drill it into Jay’s head so that he could regurgitate it on tape.
In their overzealous effort to paint a target on Adnan, the cops made Jay say that Adnan told him the day before on January 12, 1999 that he was going to kill Hae. MPIA 310. But then the detectives’ “stupid Bilal” went into overdrive and they made Jay say that he told Jen on January 12th that Adnan was going to kill Hae. MPIA 312. This was the detectives making like music producer Bruce Dickinson where they kept demanding more intent like it was cowbell.
To conceal the fuck up of their March 15, 1999 progress reports, the detectives subsequently prepared new reports dated April 27, 1999 to cover Jen and Jay’s recorded statements from February. MPIA 66-67. Yeah, two fucking months later. This time the cops learned their lesson and were more careful to not include any substantive information. What if they needed to change the story again? No explanation is provided for why these duplicative reports were prepared. My guess is that they were supposed to borrow Rabia Chaudry’s paper shredder and destroy the March 15, 1999 reports but got sloppy and forgot. When you never get called out for this shit, why bother? Alternatively, these sanitized duplicate reports may have been prepared for trial purposes so that they would not have to share the fan-fiction one with the defense. Gutierrez would have torn Macgillivary a new asshole if she was given the 3/15/99 version of the progress report about Jen’s 2/27/99 interview. The 4/27/99 version of the report gave her nothing.
​

FUCK THA POLICE PT. 3 - THE BEST BUY SUBPOENA

Having “fixed” Jay’s statement while forcing him to make fantastically ridiculous explanations for the wild changes that are directly attributable to the detectives’ incompetence while making us think it was due to Jay’s dishonesty, they were ready to hand out grand jury summonses. The first set went out on March 16, 1999 to Jen, Saad Chaudry and Bilal Ahmed ordering them to appear the next day. What is really interesting from this point forward is the information that the cops sought and, more importantly, what they did not seek.
Both Jay and Jen told the cops about several pieces of evidence that were tossed in dumpsters during the evening of January 13, 1999. These included Hae’s keys, wallet, shovels and clothing. On March 19, 1999, more than two months after all that shit went into the dumpsters, Macgillivary contacted BFI waste management service to inquire about the following info:

• Pickup schedule for the locations where they were told the items were discarded;
• The drivers’ manifest that logs details about the pickups;
• The date when each dumpster was emptied;
• The location where the contents were disposed.

Given that most commercial dumpsters are emptied weekly, those that allegedly contained the items sought by the cops were emptied at least 9 fucking times by March 19, 1999. Also, Maryland of 1999 was big on incinerating trash with over 100 incinerators located throughout the state. The Baltimore Sun, June 14, 2000 at p. 1A. Not good for the environment and really not good for evidence you hope to recover. Anything that went into the dumpsters 9 weeks earlier was likely reduced to ash. Yet the detectives pressed on with this quixotic quest. They might as well have subpoenaed hell demanding the production of the proverbial snowball. You would think that there would be other, more readily available evidence of high relevance that they should seek. Oh, they did seek testimony of other individuals and served subpoenas to gather additional information, including:

• On April 3, they also served subpoenas on the news programs for five different TV stations for all news, videos, reports, etc. about the case. MPIA 92. They clearly are aware that the such a thing as video footage exists.
• Adnan’s bank records were also subpoenaed on April 3rd. MPIA 96.
• On April 7th, subpoenas were served on Jay’s employers at Southwestern Video and the drug store for his work records. MPIA 95 and 99.
• Jen’s employment records were subpoenaed the same day as Jay’s. MPIA 100.
• Also on that day, the detectives conferred with Assistant States Attorney (ASA), Vicki Wash, and served additional subpoenas on Yaser Ali, Imran Hasnuddin and Adnan’s brother, Tanveer. MPIA 101.

April 13, 1999 was a busy day for the detectives and prosecutors. They dragged Jay in at 7:00 AM for yet another interview early in the morning to get the final details of the story straight. MPIA 104, 336. This interview was not recorded and, according to Jay, the detectives did not even take notes. Trial Tr. 2/10/1999 at 154:3-14. Of course, no charges were brought against Jay and he waived his right to counsel. After violating Jay’s rights again, the detectives reviewed their progress reports with ASA Wash and presented the case to the grand jury after which Adnan was indicted for first degree murder. MPIA 104.
The description above of the evidence that was requested before Adnan was indicted on April 13, 1999 underscores a glaring omission. If you’re paying attention, you already know what it is, but I’m gonna build it up anyway. The detectives and the prosecutor obviously realized the omission themselves and–taking a page from Bilal–tried too hard and revealed their scheme. Recall that the bullshit the cops were pushing was that Adnan murdered Hae in the Best Buy parking lot. And, of course, Adnan then inexplicably popped the trunk open in broad daylight in a ridiculously public spot to show Jay Hae’s body. The cops and prosecution should have left well enough alone and not concerned themselves with optics. But, like Bilal, they could not stop themselves. They thought that it would look weird if they never subpoenaed Best Buy when all this ridiculous criminal activity was supposedly happening at that location. Thus, on the same fucking day that Adnan was indicted, a subpoena was served on Best Buys [sic]. MPIA 105 and 1250-1253 (the AdnanSyedWiki does not include the fax coversheet showing the time the fax was sent). But did these corrupt fucks request footage from security cameras? No. They requested “all journal rolls, records and employment records for January 13, 1999.” That’s like serving a subpoena on AT&T for Adnan’s dental records. Four weeks earlier, they asked for locations of garbage from dumpsters that were emptied nine times and likely incinerated but were not interested in requesting whether there was any security camera footage that, according to their bullshit narrative, would have captured the actual murder and presentation of the victim’s dead body. Oh, and they did this after Adnan was already indicted. The subpoena to “Best Buys” was faxed at 4:20 PM. MPIA 1253. Are you fucking kidding me? Because such footage would have been toxic to their bullshit narrative. If anyone later asked them if they subpoenaed Best Buy, they could now say, “yeah, but they didn’t have anything.” Because what the cops and prosecutors should have asked for was so obvious, no one would inquire, "what did you specifically request?"
The footage would have been problematic for the defense as well. If it was requested and showed Adnan getting dropped off by an unknown accomplice and subsequently picked up by Jay, Adnan would not exactly come off looking like the golden boy they hoped the jury would see. Because Adnan was already on record telling the cops that he went to track practice after school with no mention of a detour to Best Buy. MPIA 814. Neither the prosecution nor the defense wanted any part of any security camera footage from Best Buy. It was the evidentiary equivalent of Bilal Ahmed.
At the same time, Gutierrez could have used the failure to seek let alone show footage from Best Buy to skewer the detectives. It would have been like playing chicken though because what if the detectives had actually been sloppy and forgot to ask? It seems like a ridiculously obvious thing to request given the importance of what the prosecution alleged went down at that location. Emphasizing the police and prosecutor’s failure to pursue or present that evidence was a prime opportunity to hammer reasonable doubt into the heads of the jury. Actually, Cristina could have done that during closing arguments. She even mentioned Jen suggesting that "there's a camera at Best Buy." Trial Tr. 2/25/2000 at 91:1-2. But Gutierrez used it in the context of Jay changing his story. Damn, she could have won the case on that issue:

Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, the state has indeed presented a strong case against Adnan Syed. They presented a sole eye witness whose story changed by the minute. That witness said that Adnan told him that he murdered Hae Min Lee. He said that Adnan proudly popped open the trunk of a car in the Best Buy parking lot and showed him the victim's body. Remember, the state wants you to believe that Adnan Syed strangled the victim in the vehicle and then dragged her dead body out of the car in broad daylight in the parking lot of a location for the busiest consumer electronics retailer in America during business hours and placed it in the trunk. Not one witness noticed that. Not a single shopper. Not a single employee.
But who needs a witness when you have security cameras! We were overwhelmed with the state's presentation of security camera footage of all this happening in broad daylight. They showed us footage of the victim's car pulling up to the Best Buy lot. They showed us footage of the car shaking suggesting the physical struggle that took place inside. They showed us footage of the victim's body being dragged out of the car and dumped into the trunk. And they showed us Adnan Syed popping the trunk open to show the victim's body to the state's sole eye witness.
Wait...they did not show any such footage, did they? But this was a Best Buy parking lot in the middle of the day. Surely the first thing the investigating officers did was request the security camera footage, right? No. They waited until after Adnan Syed was indicted and that afternoon, they faxed a subpoena to "Best Buys" for optics. How do we know it was optics? Because they subpoena only requested, and I quote, "all journal rolls, records and employment records for January 13, 1999." Not a single word about security camera footage. They did not request it because they did not want any security camera footage. Because they knew what their sole eye witness with the ever-changing narrative told you did not happen. As you deliberate whether this 17-year old boy should be found guilty of murder, you must ask yourselves why the state did not want you to see the security camera footage.

I'm not sure that a judge would allow that because you're not supposed to talk about evidence that was not presented. But that's not exactly the same thing. You're not talking about what the security camera did or did not show, just that it was obvious evidence that the state inexplicably failed to present. That is, if the state actually believed its own case. At any rate, this is hindsight and it was a strategic call that could have blown up in Gutierrez’s face. Because she was not privy to the information that we have today. She didn’t know what the tape would show. It would be insane for her to suggest evidence that could help the state make it’s case if there ended up being a new trial in the future. Accordingly, I don’t see that as a fuck up.
As to the footage itself, it likely would have been too grainy to identify the person who dropped off Adnan at the Best Buy parking lot. Let's focus on that for a moment to see if we can get a more clear picture.
On to Part 5...Hang in there!

The struggle is real, y'all! lol. Saw this in our town's fish wrap. Too funny. I mean, not for the guy, but I totally understand the temptation.
https://sanduskyregister.com/news/461707/firefighter-resigns-after-theft-charge/
Firefighter resigns after theft charge
PERKINS TWP. — A Sandusky firefighter allegedly caught stealing Pokémon cards last week resigned before a disciplinary hearing.
Chase T. Green, 27, of the 1000 block of Wyndham Lane, pleaded not guilty to one count of theft, a first-degree misdemeanor.
Just before 3 p.m. on May 19, police were called to a business in the 5500 block of Milan Road (U.S. 250) for a theft complaint.
Green allegedly held packs of bubble gum under boxes of Pokémon cards at a self-checkout kiosk, according to a Perkins Township police report. The gum scanned but the Pokémon cards did not.
The three boxes of cards that were not scanned had a total value of more than $85. After paying for the gum, Green reportedly attempted to leave the store without paying for the cards.
Green repeatedly told the arresting officer that he was worried about losing his job.
“He stated he thought he could scan the two items together and he didn’t look at the amount,” the report states.
He was taken to Erie County Jail. A family member arrived later and posted bond.
Green had a hearing scheduled Thursday to learn what discipline would be handed down from Sandusky Fire Department.
But he resigned from his position before the hearing.
Green’s first shift with the department was in March 2022, according to a social media post.

Order, Order
We turn now to a vote on amendments on the Planning (Welsh Planning Agency and Local Planning Boards) (Wales) Bill.

Planning (Welsh Planning Agency and Local Planning Boards) (Wales) Bill 2023

An Act of the Senedd Cymru to make provision about planning
Transfer of powers
1 Transfer of powers to local planning boards
(1) The Town and Country Planning Act 1990 is amended as follows.
(2) For section (1B), substitute—

(1B) In Wales, the local planning authority for a county or a county borough is the local planning board established by the Welsh Planning Agency for the county or county borough.

Welsh Planning Agency
2 Welsh Planning Agency
(1) The Welsh Planning Agency is established.
(2) It is a body corporate.
(3) Schedule 1 makes further provision about the Welsh Planning Agency.
Local planning boards
3 Local planning boards
(1) The Welsh Planning Agency must establish bodies called local planning boards in accordance with this section.
(2) There must be one local planning board for each county and county borough.
(3) Each local planning board is to be established by order made by the Welsh Planning Agency for an area within Wales.
(4) The area for which a local planning board is established must not coincide or overlap with the area of any other local planning board.
(5) The Welsh Planning Agency must ensure that, at all times on and after the appointed day, the areas of local planning boards together cover the whole of Wales.
(6) An order establishing a local planning board must provide for the constitution of the board, either by setting out the constitution or by making provision by reference to a published document where it is set out.
(7) The Welsh Planning Agency must publish orders under this section.
(8) In this section “the appointed day” means a day appointed under this subsection by regulations made by the Welsh Ministers.
(9) Schedule 2 makes further provision about local planning boards.
Final provisions
4 Commencement
(1) This Act comes into force 1 year after Royal Assent.
5 Short title
(1) This Act may be known as the Planning (Welsh Planning Agency and Local Planning Boards) (Wales) Act 2023.
SCHEDULES
SCHEDULE 1
WELSH PLANNING AGENCY
Appointment of members
1 (1)The Welsh Planning Agency is to consist of—

(a) a member appointed by the Welsh Ministers to chair the Welsh Planning Agency, and
(b) other members appointed by the Welsh Ministers.

(2) The Welsh Ministers may appoint a person as a member only if the Senedd Cymru has approved the appointment.
(3) In appointing members, the Welsh Ministers must have regard, among other things, to the desirability of ensuring that the membership (taken as a whole) has expertise or experience in—

(a) law relating to planning,
(b) housing policy,
(c) planning policy, and
(d) other matters which the Welsh Ministers consider relevant to planning and housing.

(4) A member is appointed for such period not exceeding 4 years as the Welsh Ministers determine.
(5) The Welsh Ministers may reappoint a person as a member if—

(a) the person—

(i) is a member at the time of reappointment, or
(ii) ceased to be a member not more than 3 months before the date of reappointment, and

(b) the person has not previously been reappointed.

(6) Sub-paragraphs (2) and (4) apply to the reappointment of a person as a member as they apply to the appointment of a person as a member.
(7) The Welsh Ministers may determine other terms and conditions of membership in relation to matters not covered by this Act.
Persons who may not be members
2 (1) The Welsh Ministers may not appoint a person as a member if sub-paragraph (2) or (4) applies to the person.
(2) This sub-paragraph applies to a person who is—

(a) a member of—

(i) the Scottish Parliament,
(ii) the House of Commons,
(iii) the House of Lords,
(iv) Senedd Cymru, or
(v) the Northern Ireland Assembly,

(b)a member of the Welsh Government,
(c) a Minister of the Crown,
(d) an office-holder in the Welsh Administration,
(e) an office-holder of the Crown in right of Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom,
(f) the holder of any other relevant elective office as defined by paragraph 1(8) of schedule 7 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000,
(g) a civil servant.

(3) Sub-paragraph (2) does not apply to a person who is a councillor or an employee of a local authority.
(4) This sub-paragraph applies to a person who is or has been—

(a) insolvent,
(b) disqualified as a company director under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986,
(c) disqualified as a charity trustee under the Charities Act 2011,
(d) disqualified under a disqualification provision analogous to either of those mentioned in paragraphs (b) and (c) anywhere in the world.

(4) For the purpose of sub-paragraph (3)(a), a person is or has been insolvent if—

(a) the person’s estate is or has been sequestrated,
(b) the person has granted a trust deed for creditors or has made a composition or arrangement with creditors,
(c) the person is or has been the subject of any other kind of arrangement analogous to either of those mentioned in paragraphs (a) and (b) anywhere in the world.

Members’ remuneration and expenses
3 (1)The Welsh Planning Agency may pay—

(a) its members, and
(b) the members of any local planning board established by it, such remuneration as it may, with the approval of the Welsh Ministers, determine.

(2) The Welsh Planning Agency may pay—

(a) its members, and
(b) the members of any local planning board established by it, such sums as it may, with the approval of the Welsh Ministers, determine in respect of expenses incurred by them in performing their functions.

Early termination of membership
4 (1) A person’s membership of the Welsh Planning Agency ends if—

(a) the person gives notice in writing to the Welsh Ministers and the Llywydd of the Senedd that the person resigns,
(b) the person becomes disqualified from being a member,
(c) the Welsh Ministers give the person notice in writing that the person is removed from being a member.

(2) The Welsh Ministers may remove a member under sub-paragraph (1)(c) only if—

(a) the member has been absent, without permission or reasonable excuse, from meetings of the Welsh Planning Agency for a period of longer than 3 consecutive months,
(b) the member has been convicted of a criminal offence, or
(c) the Welsh Ministers consider that the member is—

(i) unable to perform the member’s functions, or
(ii) unsuitable to continue as a member.

(3) Where they propose to give a person, other than the person who is the member appointed to chair the Welsh Planning Agency, notice under sub-paragraph (1)(c) that the person is to be removed from being a member, the Welsh Ministers must consult the member appointed to chair the Welsh Planning Agency.
(4) The Welsh Ministers may remove a member under sub-paragraph (1)(c) only with the approval of the Senedd Cymru.
(5) For the purpose of sub-paragraph (1)(b), a person becomes disqualified from being a member if paragraph 3(2) or (4) applies to the person.
Chief executive and other staff
5 (1) The Welsh Planning Agency is to have, as a member of staff, a chief executive.
(2) The chief executive may not be a member of the Welsh Planning Agency.
(3)The Welsh Ministers are to appoint the first chief executive with the approval of the Senedd Cymru.
(4) The Welsh Planning Agency is to appoint each subsequent chief executive.
(5) The Welsh Planning Agency may appoint other staff.
(6) The chief executive and other staff are to be appointed on such terms and conditions as the Welsh Planning Agency, with the approval of the Welsh Ministers, determines.
Authority to perform functions
6 (1) The Welsh Planning Agency may authorise—

(a) any of its members,
(b) any local planning board established by it,
(c) its chief executive, or
(d) any other member of its staff, to perform such of its functions (and to such extent) as it may determine.

(2) The giving of authority under sub-paragraph (1) to perform a function does not—

(a) affect the Welsh Planning Agency’s responsibility for the performance of the function, or
(b) prevent the Welsh Planning Agency from performing the function itself.

Regulation of procedure
7 The Welsh Planning Agency may regulate its own procedure (including quorum) and that of any local planning board.
Validity of things done
8 The validity of anything done by the Welsh Planning Agency or a local planning board is not affected by—

(a) a vacancy in membership,
(b)a defect in the appointment of a member,
(c) the disqualification of a person from being a member after appointment.

General powers
10 The Welsh Planning Agency may do anything which appears to it—

(a) to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of, or in connection with, the performance of its functions, or
(b) to be otherwise conducive to the performance of its functions.

Annual report
10 (1) The Welsh Planning Agency must, as soon as practicable after the end of each financial year—

(a) prepare and publish a report on its activities during that year,
(b) send a copy of the report to the Welsh Ministers, and
(c) lay a copy of the report before the Senedd Cymru.

(2) It is for the Welsh Planning Agency to determine the form and content of each report.
Resources
11 (1) The Welsh Ministers must seek to ensure that the amount of resources allocated for use by the Welsh Planning Agency is reasonably sufficient to enable it to perform its functions.
(2) Each report prepared under paragraph 11 must include an assessment by the Welsh Planning Agency of whether the amount of resources allocated for use by it in the financial year to which the report relates was sufficient to enable it to perform its functions.
(3) Sub-paragraph (2) does not affect the generality of paragraph 11(2).
SCHEDULE 2
LOCAL PLANNING BOARDS
1 (1) Local planning boards are to consist of members appointed by the council of the county or county borough (“the council”) which the local planning board’s area covers.
(2) The council may appoint a person as a member only if the Welsh Planning Agency has approved the appointment.
(3) In appointing members, the council must have regard, among other things, to the desirability of ensuring that the membership (taken as a whole) has expertise or experience in—

(a) law relating to planning,
(b) housing policy,
(c) planning policy, and
(d) other matters which the Welsh Planning Agency consider relevant to planning and housing.

(4) A member is appointed for such period not exceeding 4 years as the council determine.
(5) The council may reappoint a person as a member if—

(a) the person—

(i) is a member at the time of reappointment, or
(ii) ceased to be a member not more than 3 months before the date of reappointment, and

(b) the person has not previously been reappointed.

(6) Sub-paragraphs (2) and (4) apply to the reappointment of a person as a member as they apply to the appointment of a person as a member.
(7) The Welsh Planning Agency may determine other terms and conditions of membership in relation to matters not covered by this Act.
This bill is submitted by the Rt. Hon. LightningMinion CBE OM KT PC on behalf of Welsh Labour. Parts of this bill are inspired by the following real-life acts: UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Continuity) (Scotland) Act 2021, Health and Care Act 2022; and mhocholyrood’s Planning (Scotland) Act 2022.
Opening Speech:
LLywydd,
This bill overhauls the planning process by delegating the planning responsibilities of councils to new local planning boards under the direction of a new national planning agency, the Welsh Planning Agency, modelled off the Scottish Housing Agency I introduced in Scotland through the Planning (Scotland) Act 2022. By creating a new agency for housing and planning, we can ensure that house building is getting the priority it needs to solve Wales’ housing crisis, and to ensure that local “Not In My Backyard” councillors cannot block housing developments for no good reason.
The members of the Welsh Planning Agency will be formed of members nominated by the Welsh government and approved (or rejected) by the Senedd. The local planning boards, of which there will be one for each principal authority, will in turn be formed of members nominated by the local council and approved (or rejected) by the Welsh Planning Agency. This will ensure that local planning boards retain an element of local control and local representation while also ensuring that NIMBY sentiment isn’t represented on local planning boards, helping fix Wales’ shortage of housing.

A01

In Schedule 1, before Paragraph 11 insert the following and renumber subsequent paragraphs:
Ministerial direction
11 (1) The Welsh Ministers may direct the Welsh Planning Agency to exercise its powers in a specified way.
(2) A direction under subsection (1) must—
(a) be in writing, and
(b) be published (as soon as practicable after it is communicated to the Welsh Planning Agency), and
(c) set out the Welsh Ministers’ reasons for making it.
(3) The Welsh Ministers may revise or revoke a direction under subsection (1).
(6) Subsection (3) applies to the revision or revocation of a direction under subsection (1) as it applies to such a direction.
Explanatory Note: allows the Welsh Government to make directions to the Welsh Planning Agency
The amendment was submitted by u/LightningMinion

A02

In Schedule 2 insert the following after paragraph 1(2) and renumber subsequent sections:
(3) A council may not appoint a person if they are—
(a) ineligible to be a member of the Welsh Planning Agency, or
(b) a member of the Welsh Planning Agency.
Explanatory Note: bans members of the Welsh Planning Agency, all elected politicians and civil servants (except councillors and council employees), and those who are insolvent or disqualified as business directors from being members of local planning boards.
The amendment was submitted by u/LightningMinion

A03

In Schedule 2, after paragraph 1 insert:
Early termination of membership
2 (1) A person’s membership of a local planning board ends if—
(a) the person gives notice in writing to the council and the Welsh Planning Agency that the person resigns,
(b) the person becomes disqualified from being a member,
(c) the council give the person notice in writing that the person is removed from being a member.
(2) The council may remove a member under sub-paragraph (1)(c) only if—
(a) the member has been absent, without permission or reasonable excuse, from meetings of the local planning board for a period of longer than 3 consecutive months,
(b) the member has been convicted of a criminal offence, or
(c) the council consider that the member is—
(i) unable to perform the member’s functions, or
(ii) unsuitable to continue as a member.
(3) The council may remove a member under sub-paragraph (1)(c) only with the approval of the Welsh Planning Agency.
(4) For the purpose of sub-paragraph (1)(b), a person becomes disqualified from being a member if paragraph 1(3) applies to the person.
Explanatory Note: allows a council to remove a member of their local planning board in certain situations (the person resigns, is disqualified from being a member, fails to attend meetings, is otherwise unsuitable as a member of the board). Note that this amendment relies on this other amendment
The amendment was submitted by u/LightningMinion

A04

At the end of Schedule 2, insert (with appropriate numbering):
General powers
2 (1) A local planning board may do anything which appears to it—
(a) to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of, or in connection with, the performance of its functions, or
(b) to be otherwise conducive to the performance of its functions.
(2) In exercising its powers, a local planning board must have regard to the National Development Framework for Wales.
The amendment was submitted by u/LightningMinion

A05

At the end of Schedule 2, insert (with the appropriate numbering):
Directions from the Welsh Planning Agency
4 (1) The Welsh Planning Agency may direct a local planning board to exercise its powers in a specified way.
(2) A direction under subsection (1) must—
(a) be in writing, and
(b) be published (as soon as practicable after it is communicated to the planning board), and
(c) set out the Welsh Planning Agency’s reasons for making it.
(3) The Welsh Planning Agency may revise or revoke a direction under subsection (1).
(6) Subsection (3) applies to the revision or revocation of a direction under subsection (1) as it applies to such a direction.
Explanatory Note: allows the Welsh Planning Agency to make directions to local planning boards
The amendment was submitted by u/LightningMinion
Voting on this bill will end at the close of business on 28th May at 10pm BST

Order, Order
We turn now to a vote on the Planning (Welsh Planning Agency and Local Planning Boards) (Wales) Bill.

Planning (Welsh Planning Agency and Local Planning Boards) (Wales) Bill 2023

An Act of the Senedd Cymru to make provision about planning
Transfer of powers
1 Transfer of powers to local planning boards
(1) The Town and Country Planning Act 1990 is amended as follows.
(2) For section (1B), substitute—

(1B) In Wales, the local planning authority for a county or a county borough is the local planning board established by the Welsh Planning Agency for the county or county borough.

Welsh Planning Agency
2 Welsh Planning Agency
(1) The Welsh Planning Agency is established.
(2) It is a body corporate.
(3) Schedule 1 makes further provision about the Welsh Planning Agency.
Local planning boards
3 Local planning boards
(1) The Welsh Planning Agency must establish bodies called local planning boards in accordance with this section.
(2) There must be one local planning board for each county and county borough.
(3) Each local planning board is to be established by order made by the Welsh Planning Agency for an area within Wales.
(4) The area for which a local planning board is established must not coincide or overlap with the area of any other local planning board.
(5) The Welsh Planning Agency must ensure that, at all times on and after the appointed day, the areas of local planning boards together cover the whole of Wales.
(6) An order establishing a local planning board must provide for the constitution of the board, either by setting out the constitution or by making provision by reference to a published document where it is set out.
(7) The Welsh Planning Agency must publish orders under this section.
(8) In this section “the appointed day” means a day appointed under this subsection by regulations made by the Welsh Ministers.
(9) Schedule 2 makes further provision about local planning boards.
Final provisions
4 Commencement
(1) This Act comes into force 1 year after Royal Assent.
5 Short title
(1) This Act may be known as the Planning (Welsh Planning Agency and Local Planning Boards) (Wales) Act 2023.
SCHEDULES
SCHEDULE 1
WELSH PLANNING AGENCY
Appointment of members
1 (1)The Welsh Planning Agency is to consist of—

(a) a member appointed by the Welsh Ministers to chair the Welsh Planning Agency, and
(b) other members appointed by the Welsh Ministers.

(2) The Welsh Ministers may appoint a person as a member only if the Senedd Cymru has approved the appointment.
(3) In appointing members, the Welsh Ministers must have regard, among other things, to the desirability of ensuring that the membership (taken as a whole) has expertise or experience in—

(a) law relating to planning,
(b) housing policy,
(c) planning policy, and
(d) other matters which the Welsh Ministers consider relevant to planning and housing.

(4) A member is appointed for such period not exceeding 4 years as the Welsh Ministers determine.
(5) The Welsh Ministers may reappoint a person as a member if—

(a) the person—

(i) is a member at the time of reappointment, or
(ii) ceased to be a member not more than 3 months before the date of reappointment, and

(b) the person has not previously been reappointed.

(6) Sub-paragraphs (2) and (4) apply to the reappointment of a person as a member as they apply to the appointment of a person as a member.
(7) The Welsh Ministers may determine other terms and conditions of membership in relation to matters not covered by this Act.
Persons who may not be members
2 (1) The Scottish Ministers may not appoint a person as a member if sub-paragraph (2) or (4) applies to the person.
(2) This sub-paragraph applies to a person who is—

(a) a member of—

(i) the Scottish Parliament,
(ii) the House of Commons,
(iii) the House of Lords,
(iv) Senedd Cymru, or
(v) the Northern Ireland Assembly,

(b)a member of the Welsh Government,
(c) a Minister of the Crown,
(d) an office-holder in the Welsh Administration,
(e) an office-holder of the Crown in right of Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom,
(f) the holder of any other relevant elective office as defined by paragraph 1(8) of schedule 7 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000,
(g) a civil servant.

(3) Sub-paragraph (2) does not apply to a person who is a councillor or an employee of a local authority.
(4) This sub-paragraph applies to a person who is or has been—

(a) insolvent,
(b) disqualified as a company director under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986,
(c) disqualified as a charity trustee under the Charities Act 2011,
(d) disqualified under a disqualification provision analogous to either of those mentioned in paragraphs (b) and (c) anywhere in the world.

(4) For the purpose of sub-paragraph (3)(a), a person is or has been insolvent if—

(a) the person’s estate is or has been sequestrated,
(b) the person has granted a trust deed for creditors or has made a composition or arrangement with creditors,
(c) the person is or has been the subject of any other kind of arrangement analogous to either of those mentioned in paragraphs (a) and (b) anywhere in the world.

Members’ remuneration and expenses
3 (1)The Welsh Planning Agency may pay—

(a) its members, and
(b) the members of any local planning board established by it, such remuneration as it may, with the approval of the Scottish Ministers, determine.

(2) The Welsh Planning Agency may pay—

(a) its members, and
(b) the members of any local planning board established by it, such sums as it may, with the approval of the Scottish Ministers, determine in respect of expenses incurred by them in performing their functions.

Early termination of membership
4 (1) A person’s membership of the Welsh Planning Agency ends if—

(a) the person gives notice in writing to the Welsh Ministers and the Llywydd of the Senedd that the person resigns,
(b) the person becomes disqualified from being a member,
(c) the Welsh Ministers give the person notice in writing that the person is removed from being a member.

(2) The Welsh Ministers may remove a member under sub-paragraph (1)(c) only if—

(a) the member has been absent, without permission or reasonable excuse, from meetings of the Welsh Planning Agency for a period of longer than 3 consecutive months,
(b) the member has been convicted of a criminal offence, or
(c) the Welsh Ministers consider that the member is—

(i) unable to perform the member’s functions, or
(ii) unsuitable to continue as a member.

(3) Where they propose to give a person, other than the person who is the member appointed to chair the Welsh Planning Agency, notice under sub-paragraph (1)(c) that the person is to be removed from being a member, the Welsh Ministers must consult the member appointed to chair the Welsh Planning Agency.
(4) The Welsh Ministers may remove a member under sub-paragraph (1)(c) only with the approval of the Senedd Cymru.
(5) For the purpose of sub-paragraph (1)(b), a person becomes disqualified from being a member if paragraph 3(2) or (4) applies to the person.
Chief executive and other staff
5 (1) The Welsh Planning Agency is to have, as a member of staff, a chief executive.
(2) The chief executive may not be a member of the Welsh Planning Agency.
(3)The Welsh Ministers are to appoint the first chief executive with the approval of the Senedd Cymru.
(4) The Welsh Planning Agency is to appoint each subsequent chief executive.
(5) The Welsh Planning Agency may appoint other staff.
(6) The chief executive and other staff are to be appointed on such terms and conditions as the Welsh Planning Agency, with the approval of the Welsh Ministers, determines.
Authority to perform functions
6 (1) The Welsh Planning Agency may authorise—

(a) any of its members,
(b) any local planning board established by it,
(c) its chief executive, or
(d) any other member of its staff, to perform such of its functions (and to such extent) as it may determine.

(2) The giving of authority under sub-paragraph (1) to perform a function does not—

(a) affect the Welsh Planning Agency’s responsibility for the performance of the function, or
(b) prevent the Welsh Planning Agency from performing the function itself.

Regulation of procedure
7 The Welsh Planning Agency may regulate its own procedure (including quorum) and that of any local planning board.
Validity of things done
8 The validity of anything done by the Welsh Planning Agency or a local planning board is not affected by—

(a) a vacancy in membership,
(b)a defect in the appointment of a member,
(c) the disqualification of a person from being a member after appointment.

General powers
10 The Welsh Planning Agency may do anything which appears to it—

(a) to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of, or in connection with, the performance of its functions, or
(b) to be otherwise conducive to the performance of its functions.

Annual report
10 (1) The Welsh Planning Agency must, as soon as practicable after the end of each financial year—

(a) prepare and publish a report on its activities during that year,
(b) send a copy of the report to the Welsh Ministers, and
(c) lay a copy of the report before the Senedd Cymru.

(2) It is for the Welsh Planning Agency to determine the form and content of each report.
Resources
11 (1) The Welsh Ministers must seek to ensure that the amount of resources allocated for use by the Welsh Planning Agency is reasonably sufficient to enable it to perform its functions.
(2) Each report prepared under paragraph 11 must include an assessment by the Welsh Planning Agency of whether the amount of resources allocated for use by it in the financial year to which the report relates was sufficient to enable it to perform its functions.
(3) Sub-paragraph (2) does not affect the generality of paragraph 11(2).
SCHEDULE 2
LOCAL PLANNING BOARDS
1 (1) Local planning boards are to consist of members appointed by the council of the county or county borough (“the council”) which the local planning board’s area covers.
(2) The council may appoint a person as a member only if the Welsh Planning Agency has approved the appointment.
(3) In appointing members, the council must have regard, among other things, to the desirability of ensuring that the membership (taken as a whole) has expertise or experience in—

(a) law relating to planning,
(b) housing policy,
(c) planning policy, and
(d) other matters which the Welsh Planning Agency consider relevant to planning and housing.

(4) A member is appointed for such period not exceeding 4 years as the council determine.
(5) The council may reappoint a person as a member if—

(a) the person—

(i) is a member at the time of reappointment, or
(ii) ceased to be a member not more than 3 months before the date of reappointment, and

(b) the person has not previously been reappointed.

(6) Sub-paragraphs (2) and (4) apply to the reappointment of a person as a member as they apply to the appointment of a person as a member.
(7) The Welsh Planning Agency may determine other terms and conditions of membership in relation to matters not covered by this Act.
This bill is submitted by the Rt. Hon. LightningMinion CBE OM KT PC on behalf of Welsh Labour. Parts of this bill are inspired by the following real-life acts: UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Continuity) (Scotland) Act 2021, Health and Care Act 2022; and mhocholyrood’s Planning (Scotland) Act 2022.
Opening Speech:
LLywydd,
This bill overhauls the planning process by delegating the planning responsibilities of councils to new local planning boards under the direction of a new national planning agency, the Welsh Planning Agency, modelled off the Scottish Housing Agency I introduced in Scotland through the Planning (Scotland) Act 2022. By creating a new agency for housing and planning, we can ensure that house building is getting the priority it needs to solve Wales’ housing crisis, and to ensure that local “Not In My Backyard” councillors cannot block housing developments for no good reason.
The members of the Welsh Planning Agency will be formed of members nominated by the Welsh government and approved (or rejected) by the Senedd. The local planning boards, of which there will be one for each principal authority, will in turn be formed of members nominated by the local council and approved (or rejected) by the Welsh Planning Agency. This will ensure that local planning boards retain an element of local control and local representation while also ensuring that NIMBY sentiment isn’t represented on local planning boards, helping fix Wales’ shortage of housing.
Link to the Debate
Voting on this bill will end at the close of business on 28th May at 10pm BST

This might turn into a long one, so I'll try to keep it organized and use the right acronyms. I've been lurking for a long time, but I created this account specifically to make this post.
Background:
I (30f) have been in a relationship with my SO (39f) for 3 years. We were long distance, with me traveling to her a lot, for a little over a year, and I moved to her area in 2021 as she has a daughter (SD11). I bought a house and we all moved in. During that time, we had SD 50% of the time. Recently, due to the issues I will get into, we switched to EOWE during the school year and EOW in the summewhen there is no school.
The issues here lie with the relationship between SO and BM. I am using BM here for ease, but I think it's important to state that my SO and her Ex Wife(BM) were married, used a sperm donor to conceive, and my SO in stated on SD's birth certificate PLUS she adopted her legally (same sex marriage was not legal everywhere in the US at that time, so they double covered their bases). SO and BM divorced when SD was 3.
When they were married, BM pulled SO away from her family to the point that they didn't even speak until they were divorced. She did the same with her own mother and new wife's mother. Basically anyone who doesn't worship the ground BM walks on gets cut off.
Fast forward to today:
BM is becoming increasingly difficult to co-parent with. She is mean, talks badly about SO, tells SD that SO is NOT her mother and only signed a piece of paper and that's the only reason she's her mom, etc etc. She is very truly trying to separate SO and SD but making it so SO doesn't like/want to be around SO and making it so hard for SO to co-parent that she gives up. That is BM's goal. She wants herself, SD, and her new wife to be a happy family without SO involved. Everything she does (even the things she does for the benefit of SD) really comes down to the fact that she does not want SO in SD's life.
Everything we do is hindered by BM. We go on vacation without SD? She tells SD we don't want her with us so she gets mad at SO and me. We try to take SD on vacation or visit my family for a holiday? She tells SD that my family (who we vacation with/visit because they're our of state, but much closer than SO's family who is across the county) is not SD's family and makes her feel guilty about being with us. She insists that SD is with her during the school week for 'consistency', but then trashed SO saying she doesn't want to parent. She tells SD that she is not allowed to call me mom, (I never asked her to, but she willingly stated to and I told her she could call me what ever she wants) and I am not allowed to help out with rides, etc. because I'm not her parent, but if I don't show up with SO to drop SD off at soccer, I'm not involved and don't care about SD. We literally can't win. I could elaborate forever but TL;DR is _no matter what we do, BM will do everything in her power to make sure we look like bad people/parents_.
The past two years of this dynamic has destroyed my relationship with SO. We cannot do anything without BM getting involved and trying to control out lives.
The emotional abuse that BM does to SD is awful. I feed so badly for her. She is constantly making SD choose between SO and BM, makes her feel guilty for loving her other mom or wanting to spend time with us. Won't let her call SO mom at her house and only refers to her as her first name and makes SD do the same. Tells her she hates me; SD has told SO and I outright "mommy hates [my name]", etc etc. SD has also been to multiple therapists who suggested she may have autism and BM pulls her out as soon as it's mentioned. She needs support and BM is not giving it to her. Once, SO scheduled an appointment for SD (after she and BM discussed getting SD into therapy) and BM got mad and cancelled the appointment because she needed to be the one to do it.
We have both been in extensive therapy to deal with this. There are only three options that I see:

1. Just let BM have her way and see SD EOWE and deal with her bs.
2. Take her to court for custody (my SO would not mentally/emotionally survive a legal battle, nor can we afford it, so this is really not an option for her) or
3. Let BM have her perfect family and hope that SD will want to spend school vacations and some summer time with SO or maybe come back around when she's older and realized that BM pushed SO out of her life.

​
I obviously can't make this decision for SO, but I don't think out relationship is going to survive if we keep letting BM have such a negative impact on our lives and relationship. I love SO, so much. But I don't love what has become of our relationship and I don't love my life right now.
Please help with your opinions or suggestions or own experiences or anything you can offer.

You own a van…turned away. There’s a piece of wood…turned away. They don’t like your face…turned away. Not willing to pay extra for a service provided by taxes…turned away.
I’ve been fighting this fight for about 7 years now. And I don’t wanna put anyone on blast publicly. But I’m out of options. Maybe 5 years ago I managed to get an email back and forth with the head of DPW. And his fix was putting my plate on a special list (which he never did) then he got replaced. But also that doesn’t fix it for other people. So I’m still dealing with this. This location is a few blocks from my house. And I can’t use it. I get turned away every time because my daily driver is a van “without side windows or seats in the back”. Why does that make me not a regular resident? it’s a tiny Toyota panel van from the 80s. Not a commercial vehicle. On top of that I live very close to the location. I’ve had mattresses and bulk trash thrown over my fence into my back yard. And I know exactly why. Because people trying to do the right thing and not dumping their stuff in the woods are getting turned away. The small empty lot by the train tracks on 26th and Huntingdon often looks like a broken furniture store. There has to be a better way to regulate this process. It’s going to end up there. And y’all gotta pick it up anyway. And it’s all going to the same place at the end of the day. Here’s a short list of my experiences at this location.
-turned away for a 1.5 foot long piece of 2x4 that was visible on top of bagged actual trash (regular pickup truck) -turned away for having a van without side windows or seats 5 times -turned away for having a small….very small piece of drywall with actual trash (regular pickup truck) -turned away then asked for a $20 bribe to let me dump (van) 3 times -turned away cause I had just a refrigerator, and told I need to go to reisterstown location and get weighed and pay for it. Which I did, but when I got there I couldn’t because you need to pay for a special license to even get weighed and pay for it. -turned away cause the truck had “too much bulk trash” in the back (yesterday)
Every time this happens I have to bother my long retired father to drive with me to Hunt Valley and use the county dump with his license. Which isn’t fair. Seriously there has to be a better way to regulate these “rules”
edit : adding this cause it seems like some people think I’m just hating on them. That’s not the purpose of this. I always respect the workers there, I’m always nice to them. Even when they’re not nice back. Sometimes it’s great. Sometimes it’s impossible. This is more about the vague rules set in place. Which isn’t the workers fault (other then the ones asking for bribes). And I understand that. I would just love to see a working system for this. In the county they scan ID and let you go and you can only go so many times. And it works. Down here it feels more like a roll of the dice. After spending all day loading a truck (for some people a truck that costs them money to rent) will they or won’t they let you do the thing?

Bio from The Festival Voice

Artist Biography by Daniel Karasek
Tyler Childers is an Americana artist from the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky. He grew up in Lawrence County, Kentucky, and has played guitar since childhood. When he grew into adulthood, Tyler moved to Lexington where he joined a band called the Food Stamps. He then began his solo career in 2011 with the self-released album Bottles & Bibles. After five years, Miles Miller, a friend of Tyler and the drummer for Sturgill Simpson, introduced the two, leading Sturgill to produce Tyler’s second record Purgatory which came in 2017 via Thirty Tigers. Two years later, Tyler released his third album Country Squire which had the Grammy-nominated single “All Your’n” for Best Country Solo Performance. His fourth album Long Violent History came in 2020 and also earned a Grammy nomination. The album topped the folk chart and hit number 45 on the Billboard 200. In 2022, Tyler released Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven?, a triple album that featured eight original songs performed three ways: a live set with the Food Stamps, an overdubbed rendition, and a “Joyful Noise” version.

 
Genre: Country, Bluegrass, Americana, Folk
Scheduled: Saturday
Songs & Sets:
Tyler Childers - Way of the Triune God (Live From Red Rocks)
Tyler Childers - Whitehouse Road
Tyler Childers Feathered Indians
Tyler Childers - Nose On The Grindstone OurVinyl Sessions
Tyler Childers - All Your'n (Official Video)
Have you seen Tyler Childers before? Please share your experience and favorite songs.
 

Days Until Bonnaroo: 22

Remember to drink water and warm up those high fives!
 
Link to previous AotD post

When is bulk trash pickup in wildwood? My parents don’t speak English and I’m trying to help them out but the only information I can find for bulk trash pickup is not for the county

I just need to vent a little about this year's GFNY, and maybe also raise awareness for anyone considering this ride in the future, or for people who may have felt burned this year.
This was my third or fourth GFNY, first since the pandemic.
Part I
Did GFNY con the 50 mile riders into keeping their registration after eliminating the 50 mile option?
First, a question: were those who signed up for 50 miles offered a refund after they changed the course and eliminated the 50 mile option?
Their email "GFNY updates course for pro race in NYC" sent 1 month before race day said:

What happens to the medium distance?
We have been looking into other middle distance solutions. However, we can’t cut the long distance short by using an earlier turnaround point because slower middle distance riders would mix with the leaders of the long distance race. And with the professional race at the front, this is not viable.
Riders signed up for the medium distance receive an email with further instructions.

I wonder what was in that email to the medium distance riders.
At packet pickup I knew full well I was not prepared for the 100 that I'd signed up for. I'd missed this above email so I thought I would simply change my distance to 50. A rep at the expo's Athlete Solutions told me there was no longer a 50 mile option and: "We think if you can do 50 to Bear Mountain you should have no trouble with the 85 mile course [since you're not going up Bear Mtn]."
I immediately raised my eyebrow at this suggestion.
I'm very experienced on the route up to Bear Mountain, and I know the rest of the course from the times I've done GFNY in the past. The back 50 is an order of magnitude more difficult than the ride up to Bear. I think there is at least as much total elevation gain and the climbs are much tougher. Tack on 35 miles and clearly what the rep was saying was utter BS.
He assured me there would be busses back from the rest stops so I figured, whatever, I'll ride to Ramapo or West New York and bus back to the finish. But because I knew the course, I knew I would have to go really easy from the start to handle the climbs through Rockland County.
Then on race day I watched as all the riders - experienced, amateur and total novice - blow past me on River Road and I realized: Holy shit, the organizers told all the 50 mile riders the same thing they told me.
Sure enough, as we began the climb up Gate Hill I started to see all the novice riders who had passed me earlier struggling, walking or just plain bonked out sitting on the road side. Overheard one guy stopped by an emergency crew right after that first steep grade up into the hills ask one of the staff or EMTs: "That's the steepest part, right?" Sorry buddy. Cheesecote is steeper. "Not quite," I said as I rode past.
Spoke to one guy as we climbed Gate Hill who told me "I figure if I can do Bear Mountain I can manage this." Probably he figured that because that's what the organizers told him. I hope he made it and I'm sure if he did he'll feel great and it will have been worth it.
But for all those dozens of riders who crashed out and just sat down to wait for the cleanup car, it's hard to imagine it was very fun. If I were them I'd be pissed. Probably they blame themselves. Shame on GFNY.
Part II
GFNY has lost its sheen and is no longer worth the price. The organization was laughably inadequate. The behavior of riders was offensive. The ride has lost the support of the community.
It was always my habit to tell people how great of a ride GFNY was. It's expensive, yes, but the support was amazing. The medium and long distance options provided great flexibility. The communities were welcoming, The atmosphere was big and full of camaraderie.
This year was a shitshow.

• The ride no longer has priority access to roads. Police still work to give you right of way, and I appreciate that, but many roads are open to traffic much earlier. Bikers and cars were frequently competing for space.
• Annoyed drivers honk at cyclists. I was honked at once, presumably for not using a 12 inch shoulder, and I heard at least a couple others get honked at at various points throughout the ride.
• At the start corrals, dozens of men climbed over the outer bridge railing to take a piss off the side. Staff made no objection, despite this being specifically prohibited in the race guide. (Something I'd never seen in previous years - either the warning in the guide or the actual act)
• Also in the start corrals, police had to threaten people who crossed onto the inbound lanes while waiting around.
• TRASH EVERYWHERE. I'm used to seeing the occasional goo packet from that asshole biker or accidental falling from pockets, but some stretches of the course looked like one big garbage dump. I saw one resident bringing in his trash can from the roadside. The ground around it was littered with energy wrappers. He was clearly annoyed, picked them up and threw them back into the street. I apologized to him. He said nothing.
• Road hazards were not marked: broken up asphalt on fast corners, 6 inch deep and 6 inch wide utility holes, nothing had been outlined with paint to warn riders. Maybe they never did this and I'm confusing it with other events, but I thought it was standard and couldn't believe it when I narrowly avoided riding over them.
• After getting a bus ride back from Ramapo we were dropped in a parking lot a few blocks from the park. When asked how we should get back into the park, staff shrugged. We took the circuitous route to the back side of the expo and were told we couldn't come in with our bikes. What were we supposed to do? The only option seemed to be to ride back onto the course and cross the finish line.
• https://www.reddit.com/NYCbike/comments/13nz7jd/gfnyyou_cant_win_finish_line_sprint_ruined_by_ca
• Waited in line for 20 minutes for a charcoal brick of a burger and a bag of potato chips. I think I remember pasta and meatballs and salad a few years ago?
• Someone dumped 4x too much electrolyte into the coolers at the rest stop, or dumped it in and never stirred it. When I tried it in the middle of my climb up Gate Hill I got a gulp of concentrated mouthwash.
• My fault for not realizing there was no longer a Manhattan Expo, but as it stands, getting to Fort Lee the weekend of the race when you live in NYC and don't have a car is a total pain. Not doing that again.

GFNY has always had a large international ridership, but this year it seemed the vast majority was international. These groups require more comprehensive introduction to the rules and culture of riding in the States and it seems like GFNY failed at that this year.
Communities used to feel very welcoming and enthusiastic. This year the ride didn't go through Piermont. Presumably we weren't welcome. Felt just as much antagonism as I did enthusiasm. Can't say I blame the locals.
Perhaps all the NY/NJ riders have already figured out how terrible the ride is now and I'm the idiot for not doing any research. I just had had such great experiences in the past I didn't have any reason to doubt their ability to put on a stellar event.
Anyway, end rant. I had a fine ride because I had already set my expectations very low by the time I got out of the corrals, and maybe all those people I saw sat down exhausted had a fine time too. I hope so. But it was not worth the money or hassle and I won't be doing it again.