 Hello Columbia, and welcome to City View, where we bring you an inside view of the City of Columbia. I'm your host, Alicia Utsi. In our top story, Columbia continues to be open for business. Recently, a grand opening ceremony and a ribbon cutting was held for Bermano Place, the site of the former Midlands Plaza Shopping Center. This new plaza has been renovated and is now home to 35 businesses owned by local small business owners. When I ran for secretary of state back in 1978, my hit was right next to the post office in this building. So I come here today to join all of you in renewing a long term commitment not just to this community, but to this site itself, faith, the substance of things so far, the evidence of things unseen. You may not see it today, but I have faith that you will in a not too distant future. And now, we continue to be open for business on the other side of town. We're in Five Points at the new Falafel King location, which recently opened at 2020 Jervais Street. And so I've had the honor of getting to know him over the last several years and be able to learn from him about how to open a small business, learn from the rich experiences that he has as an immigrant that came and chose to make Columbia his home, and learn from him about all of the different things that he's seen through his opening of multiple businesses throughout this city. And so to Muhammad Uncle, I really appreciate your continued investment in Columbia. I am lucky to call you a friend and it is an honor to be here for such a special occasion at the opening of Falafel King. And speaking of business, Mayor Daniel J. Rickerman was recently featured during a Chamber of Commerce issues forum discussing how Columbia and the Midlands is open for business. I will tell you every day we're getting up. We're trying to figure out what we can do to improve the quality of life here in Columbia. And we've adapted open for business, open for innovation, open for suggestions, open for dialogue, truly an open community, trying to be very transparent and deal with the issues that are before us and you've seen as we've started. And not only are we open for business, we're also open for sustainability. Columbia has recently been doing the best it can to go green and stay green. Recently, Mayor Daniel J. Rickerman was a featured speaker during the Climate Ready conference, which was held at USC and sponsored by the city's Climate Protection Action Committee. Well, so often the conversation on climate change focuses on the global level or the national level or the state level. But municipalities are really important, too. So cities and counties, they're on the front lines when you have extreme heat events or flooding, and they're the winners or the losers in the new global, in the new green economy. So this conference is about focusing on what's happening at the city level, what needs to happen at the city level, and what kind of options and possibilities we have here for Columbia. And speaking of going green, the mayor went from talking about sustainability to actually planting wildflowers during the annual wildflower planting recently here in our city. This is one of two sites in the city where part of our overall beautification plan that we're going to continue to plant and create something for people to look at as they come in and go, wow, that's incredible. It's beautiful and it's something that we can be proud of. We will continue as we move forward through the city, work in our beautification. If it's planting trees, planting wildflowers, trimming and cleaning up brush, making sure that our city is as beautiful as it's sold. Not only is planting wildflowers a way to beautify our city, but also cleaning up is a great way. Recently, a community cleanup was co-sponsored by the Columbia Police Department and Server Connect. Councilman Ed McDowell was on site during the cleanup and talked about how it would benefit the MLK neighborhood. Every community, I think, you know that if a community is clean, it's safe. So in addition to all of those things that are taking place, we are just thrilled to have our CPD officers with us today. They are not only with us, but they've got hands-on. They've got gloves. They are picking up litter within this community. And of course, it is critically important that that partnership continues to expand itself. And as we continue our green theme, recently the City's Climate Protection Action Committee, along with Parks and Recreation, hosted a tour during Earth Hour. The tour featured Boyd Allen and all of its beauty. And Earth Hour tries to draw attention to things that we can do for climate change and also how it impacts the environment. And the plants, the diverse plants on the island kind of help, too. So we want to educate people, and we want people to understand that there are things that they can do. And there are things in their own backyard that are meaningful, and they need to be familiar with them. And this is a treasure, truly. And talking about green theme, recently five points went green, completely green, during the St. Patrick's Day Parade and Festival. After two years of not holding the festival during the pandemic, everyone was excited about returning to five points and returning to the festivities. One of the highlights of this year's Festival and Parade was our grand marshal. Mayor Daniel J. Rickerman was the marshal for this year's parade, and he was joined by City Council members, Aditi Bustles, and Councilman Will Brennan. Well, that wraps up City View, where we have brought you an inside view of the City of Columbia. Thank you for joining us, and stay tuned to City TV on Spectrum Channel 1301, as well as Amazon and Roku. Also, connect with us on our social media platforms, on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and visit our website 24 hours a day for your information connection. As always, we thank you for joining us, and remember, we are Columbia.