DEPRESSION NOW? Will This be the Next Great Depression?

NEVER saw either coming from the same jet-fueled speculation

27,342 views

•Mar 26, 2020

ADULT HUMOR > Bullwinkle's Corner | Rocky and Bullwinkle | Videos For Kids

Flash-back to when we all had to memorize a Walt Whitman poem, with some extrapolations HeHe

232 views

•Mar 26, 2020

What the Federal Reserve Can Do to Fight Recession | WSJ

LENDER OF LAST RESORT. . . AND THEN WHAT?

760 views

•Mar 26, 2020

Wall Street Journal

2.07M subscribers

SUBSCRIBED

The coronavirus pandemic is disrupting the global economy. WSJ’s Greg Ip explains what the Federal Reserve can do to stem the damage. Illustration: Carlos Waters/WSJ More from the Wall Street Journal: Visit WSJ.com: http://www.wsj.com Visit the WSJ Video Center: https://wsj.com/video On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/wsj/videos/ On Twitter: https://twitter.com/WSJ On Snapchat: https://on.wsj.com/2ratjSM #WSJ #Economy #Explained

JUST SAY IT > Fed Chair says U.S. 'May Well Be In A Recession' As Coronavirus Pandemic...

3,230 views

•Mar 26, 2020

Joining TODAY for a rare and exclusive live interview, Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, acknowledges that “we may very well be in a recession, but I would point to the difference between this and a normal recession.” He says “there is nothing fundamentally wrong with our economy” and that the Fed will “aggressively and forthrightly” replace normal lending channels for businesses that have temporarily closed due to the pandemic. He says “there can also be a good rebound” and that the Fed is working to “ensure that it is as vigorous as possible,” adding that “the virus is going to dictate the timetable.” #TODAY #TodayShow #economy #recession #pandemic #JeromePowell #FederalReserve » Subscribe to TODAY: http://on.today.com/SubscribeToTODAY » Watch the latest from TODAY: http://bit.ly/LatestTODAY

MULTI-SCREEN SIMULTANEOUS > Mesa City Council Meetings In Another Dimension

Practicing "social isolation" provides a new perspective for citizens and the public to get close-up and personal at-a-safe-distance with those elected to serve in city government. . . It is indeed an eye-opener.
"Emergency" or not - in two study sessions - the new video teleconference format opens more windows on the individuals elected.
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Please Note that there are final agendas available ahead of time - usually 24 hours. However there are no attachments that have been provided for documents or links to any presentations that might have been prepared.
Perhaps that was due to an urgency, so it's an opportunity to find out what talking points either the mayor or the six councilmembers want to get across, as well as the focus chosen for:
(1) Public Safety and (2) Community Resources
_________________________________________________________________YESTERDAY'S SPECIAL AFTERNOON STUDY SESSION VIDEO TELECONFERENCE
Please note the mayor and six council members are all on the multi-image screen in addition to three other persons not identified at the start in this 1:34:42 streaming video

As a point of reference here are the council district representatives:
Take a look with an eye for who appears ready and informed and for what they have to say:
District 1 Vice Mayor Mark Freeman 
District 2 Councilmember Jeremy Whittaker
District 3 Councilmember Francisco Heredia
District 4 Councilmember Jennifer Duff
District 5 Councilmember David Luna
District 6 Councilmember Kevin Thompson
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Agenda
1 Hear a presentation, discuss, and provide direction on COVID-19 impacts, responses, and the City's future actions, focusing on Public Safety and community resources.
2 Provide and discuss updates from > the Maricopa County Department of Public Health and > the Arizona Department of Health Services on COVID-19 __________________________________________________________

YESTERDAY'S 95-MINUTE

SPECIAL STUDY SESSION Streaming Video Upload to YouTube

 (10 hours ago 10 viewers )

At the multi-screen image array there are three individuals shown other than the six Mesa City Council members who are transmitting from the locations where they are at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, working-at-home or in-the-office

Screen-grab is the Chief of Mesa Fire/Medical



_________________________________________________________________

FINAL AGENDA

FOR TOMORROW'S STUDY SESSION @ 07:30 AM

(Again no attachments or links to documents have been provided ahead of time)

1 Presentations/Action Items:

• 1-a Hear a presentation and discuss the impact of COVID-19 on City essential and non-essential operations.
• 1-b Hear a presentation, discuss, and provide direction on the impact of COVID-19 on the City’s financial position, and the City's budget forecast.
• 1-c Hear a presentation and discuss the use of state and federal funds to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

2 Current events summary including meetings and conferences attended.
3 Scheduling of meetings.
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Ring-A-Ding Dong > Neighborhood Crime Data Doesn't Match Amazon's Ring's Sales Pitches

Here's we go again! . . . from the any-spin-necessary deptRing Continues To Insist Its Cameras Reduce Crime, But Crime Data Doesn't Back Those Claims Up
Tue, Mar 24th 2020 3:15am — Tim Cushing
" . . . Last month, Cyrus Farivar undid a bit of Ring's PR song-and-dance by using public records requests and conversations with law enforcement agencies to show any claim Ring makes about crime reduction probably (and in some cases definitely) can't be linked to the presence of Ring's doorbell cameras.
CNET has done the same thing and come to the same conclusion: the deployment of Ring cameras rarely results in any notable change in property crime rates. That runs contrary to the talking points deployed by Dave Limp -- Amazon's hardware chief -- who "believes" adding Rings to neighborhoods makes neighborhoods safer. Limp needs to keep hedging.
 . . . Worse for Ring -- which has used its partnerships with law enforcement agencies to corner the market for doorbell cameras -- law enforcement agencies are saying the same thing: Ring isn't having any measurable impact on crime.
. . . But maybe it doesn't really matter to Ring if law enforcement agencies believe the crime reduction sales pitch. What ultimately matters is that end users might. After all, these cameras are installed on homes, not police departments. As long as potential customers believe crime in their area (or at least their front doorstep) will be reduced by the presence of camera, Ring can continue to increase market share."
HEADS UP + LIKE SO MANY OTHER AREAS:
"Hitting the market when things are good and keep getting better makes for pretty good PR, especially when company reps are willing to convert correlation to causation to sell devices."
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Filed Under: crime, doorbells, ring, surveillance 

Source: TechDirt 03.24.2020

 

 

 

BIG > Certainly One Way To Describe The Bridge Investment Group In Salt Lake City (and their affiliates)

Back in October 2016 they sold the 352-unit Viletta location in Mesa's Fiesta Neighborhood to The Blackstone Real Estate Partners . . . 3 weeks ago they purchased Country Club Verandas for $49.6M  (see below)

30 October 2016

YUGE $750 Million Multi-Unit Apartments Buys + New Initiatives To Invest in Seniors Housing/Medical Properties

Blackstone Group LP's Blackstone Real Estate Partners, the world's largest real estate investment firm, is purchasing a 16-property apartment portfolio in the U.S. from affiliates of Bridge Investment Group Partners. The total price for the transaction, including transactions three of the properties still pending closing, has been reported at $750 million. [Viletta location in Mesa]

News of the deal was first reported by IPE Real Estate and picked up by SNL, an affiliate of S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Twelve properties, totaling 4,024 units, sold, per public record, for a total price of $553.375 million, or an average of approximately $138,000 per unit across the portfolio, with prices ranging from $75,355 per unit for the 352-unit Viletta in Mesa, Arizona, to $252,842 per unit for the 264-unit Presidio at Rancho Del Oro in San Diego.

 

In addition to these properties, there are also properties owned under contract and expected to close by the end of November, including the 496 unit Redlands in San Bernardino and the Ellicot’s Crossing and Pinnacle Grove apartment complex in Phoenix.
The acquisition was financed with a combination of new Fannie Mae debt and assumed Fannie Mae loans on several of the properties in Washington.
ROC II, a closed-end private equity fund managed by Bridge Investment Group Partners, was the seller. . . .

READ MORE >

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Utah Firm Purchases Country Club Verandas in Mesa, Arizona

Weidner Property Management Sells 348-Unit Apartment Complex for $49.6 Million

The 348-unit Country Club Verandas apartment complex in Mesa, Arizona, was built in 1985. (IPA)

By Thomas Ferguson
CoStar Research

March 03, 2020 | 08:50 A.M.

 

Bridge Investment Group, a privately-held investment management firm based in Sandy, Utah, with $20.1 billion in assets under management, has purchased Country Club Verandas in Mesa, Arizona, from Weidner Property Management for $49.6 million, or about $143,000 per unit.

 

CoStar Group

Utah Firm Purchases Country Club Verandas in Mesa,
Arizona

Bridge Investment Group, a privately-held investment management firm based in Sandy, Utah, with $20.1 billion in assets under management, ...

3 weeks ago

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Bridge Investment targets $500M in Opportunity Zone possibilities

 

Opportunity Zones map and Bridge Investment Group chairman Robert Morse

A $12 billion real estate investment and management firm is the latest player looking to capitalize on the Opportunity Zones tax incentive development program.
Salt Lake City-based Bridge Investment Group will launch what it’s calling an Opportunity Zones initiative, targeting $500 million in “attractive opportunities” across the U.S.
The Opportunity Zones plan, part of President Trump’s tax overhaul, gives tax incentives to developers and investors for building in low-income areas. There are over 8,700 designated Opportunity Zones across nationwide.