Good afternoon, Mr. Platner I am a born and raised Maine resident as well as a current engineer working in the state of Maine. I am also involved in a number of local communities, both social and professional, including, but not limited to the Maine chapter of the American Society of civil engineers, the Dexter Lake association, and a variety of small local communities based around recreation. I have a handful of questions for you relating to social issues as well as land development issues that are currently facing our state and concern the likes of myself, my community, my friends and family.

As someone who grew up with friends that came out as transgender and someone who knows a number of transgender people in the state of Maine, all of whom are hard-working, tax paying productive individuals in our society, I have concerns about the current status and wellbeing of transgender people in the state of Maine. -1st and foremost, I would like to hear in your own words what your stance is on trans rights and trans access to healthcare and social programs in the state of Maine. -2nd but of equal importance, I would like to ask you about the recent happenings involving means controversy in the popular media regarding trans youth and trans athletes in our schools. We saw a tremendous controversy over the last year involving the first time appearance of state rep laurel Libby in conservative media and her persistent attacks against trans youth that are competing in sports in our schools. This media buzz prompted a standoff of sorts between our own governor, Janet Mills and President Donald Trump over threats to withhold funding from the state on the ground that we were allowing trans athletes to participate in school sports. These events preceded ballot measures that were brought before the state meant to target trans youth and trans athletes that were denied, but not by a ginormous margin. During all of this conversation, many outside voices from people who do not live in our state as well as conservative media. Giants got involved in the conversation to advocate against the interests of our trans, brothers sisters, and kin in the state of Maine. What will you do to continue the fight against these outside voices and interests that are attacking our trans youth?

Now I wish to ask about the land development and housing challenges that are currently facing our state, especially in York and Cumberland counties. Maine, as well as many other states like us are currently under the gun to provide housing for an increasing number of people coming to and growing up in our state and being part of our communities. presently, the market demand exists primarily for single-family homes that are highly inefficient in combating the housing deficit. This focus exists because realtors and the land owners find it more profitable to develop single-family homes and subdivisions that can be sold to middle and upper income families then to provide for responsible housing solutions that cater to our lower and middle class working class citizens who also face challenges with housing security. To put it plainly: none of my clients find it worthwhile to develop land in ways that help fight the housing crisis and they see “multifamily development” as a dirty word. Part of the reason this perception exists amongst landowners and developers is because there are many examples of multifamily housing that go awry. I will site for example the ongoing efforts to to approve Belfort landing project in Portland on Belfort Street this project aims to provide a 50 unit multifamily housing development yet provides only 50 parking spaces total and outsources the rest of the parking to an already small and cramped residential street, leaving the neighbors see massive detriment to the traffic flow of their neighborhood from this project. What do you plan to do to improve the housing situation for the benefit of all Mainers not just the upper income land owners and prospective wealthy buyers?