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  Tyler Suiters  0:11 

  This special edition of CES Tech Talk is brought to you by Arlington Economic Development. Arlington works for business.

   

  Tyler Suiters  0:22 

  Hey everybody with the Consumer Technology Association, I'm Tyler Suiters. We are the owners and producers of CES, the largest, the most influential tech event on the planet. We are here to get you CES ready. The show is January 8 through the 11 2019 in Las Vegas. And there at CES, you are used to meeting innovators from all sectors of the tech biz. Global brands that are known across the world, international startups that come from virtually every country. But today we're focusing on an innovator of a different stripe, local municipalities. Today we're talking to Arlington County, Virginia representatives. That the county itself is only 26 square miles but it is home to entities that you know like the Pentagon, Arlington National Cemetery, major government players. Also a couple of Oscar winners, believe it or not, Arlington is home to Sandra Bullock and Warren Beatty. By the way, his sister Shirley MacLaine is also from Arlington. But the most famous resident from Arlington, is going to be a future resident that is Amazon. Arlington is one of two locations recently selected for HQ 2 in Amazon's nationwide search. So today the conversation about how a city or a county drives innovation and the platform technologies involved to make this transition complete. That's all coming up on this edition of CES Tech Talk.

   

  Tyler Suiters  1:56 

  With us today, three leaders from the Arlington, Virginia Economic Development team. First, Victor Hoskins who is Director of Economic Development for Arlington County. Welcome, Victor.

   

  Victor Hoskins  2:06 

  Thank you very much. Glad to be here.

   

  Tyler Suiters  2:07 

  Thank you. Aaron Miller is Director of Public Safety, Communications and Emergency management's Aaron, a big title. Glad you could find time for us.

   

  Aaron Miller  2:16 

  Glad to be here.

   

  Tyler Suiters  2:17 

  And, finally Dennis Leach is with us. Who is Director of Transportation, not as easy as that short title may sound in the Washington D.C. metro area. Dennis, thank you for being here.

   

  Tyler Suiters  2:26 

  So Arlington, Virginia, is known to many as a suburb or an immediate neighbor to Washington DC. This fall Arlingtion was thrust into the national forefront, maybe the international forefront as a future home of one of Amazon's HQ2s. What is Arlington County for those who are uninitiated in terms of, its role as an innovator, a tech space, a forward thinking tech centric government entity?

   

  Dennis Leach  2:26 

  Pleasure to be here.

   

  Victor Hoskins  2:53 

  A lot of people really did not know that Arlington is a place where most of the technology that's in your cell phone, was created. The geo positioning system, the ability to search the net on the run. Actually, the creation of the net all happened here in Arlington. Groups like DARPA the Naval Research and Air Force Research. All of those facilities are located here. So for years, we've had a base of really highly technical talent, because a lot of the government workers that were in those research arms moved out into the private sector. We have now become over time, more commercialized. We've moved away from government toward commercialization. We lost about 17,000 employees right here in Crystal City about six, seven, or eight years ago and we've been replacing them with private sector companies. Most of those are technology companies.

   

  Tyler Suiters  3:44 

  It's interesting that you you point to that talent, Victor, because those are all government entities that you were mentioning, whether that's DARPA or the military. You have a built in tech talent base here, right that many in the public sector or the private sector may not can consider I assume.

   

  Victor Hoskins  4:00 

  Yeah, actually we have quite a bit of talent in the areas of artificial intelligence, robotic design, digital, digital, from augmented reality to virtual reality. A lot of people aren't aware of that, because we're in the shadow of Washington DC. Which creates this kind of government kind of overlay, and we have the Pentagon here.

   

  Victor Hoskins  4:27 

  So those are, those are a couple of things that make it that way. But the interesting thing is that in the last really five or six years, people have begin to understand that, our presence at South by Southwest, at the Consumer Electronics Show. The fact that you guys are here. Consumer Technology Association is a big positive for us. So for us, it's just the last four or five years has really been a transition. And we've had the tech talent. But the question was, would we have the talent pipeline? And that was really what we answered in the competition for Amazon. We actually answered that question. With our Virginia Tech campus, with expansion of GMU (George Mason University) and others.

   

  Tyler Suiters  5:06 

  It's an exciting time, no question. Dennis turning to you on the transportation side. This seems to be one of the areas that are ripe in urban or suburban settings for tech innovation to really change the way we go about this.

   

  Dennis Leach  5:21 

  Sure. So Arlington is a small but very centrally located place, we have tried to position ourselves as having great transportation options. And we're always looking to build upon that. And it means more than just what you see on the surface. A lot of it is about information. So we realized, given that we have to move a lot of people and we don't have a lot of physical space. Communication technology is really important. So we were a leader in fiber optic, we now have fiber optic cabling, pretty much under every arterial street in Arlington. We've connected up all our traffic signals, over 200 CCTV cameras, that helps us better manage the transportation system. We also realize that both our workers and our residents are tech savvy, and they want information easily accessible. So we were also a leader in something called fusion screens, which is taking open source data from different providers, whether it be Metro, or ART bus service or Capital Bike Share or car sharing. Fusing it into one easy to read screen. And we're now deploying those around the county.

   

  Tyler Suiters  6:34 

  Excellent. And all of that underscores Aaron one of the challenges I think that probably falls under your purview, maybe more than most is that is a growing population density, right Arlington is not alone in this but a county that is adapting these technologies and innovation on the fly. Not just out of vision but out of need because the needs of those populations or the population changing pretty rapidly.

   

  Aaron Miller  7:01 

  Absolutely. So 26 square miles,we've got all this fun and interesting stuff chalked into that space. But, you gotta remember, DCA takes up some of that, the Pentagon as well, as Arlington National Cemetery.

   

  Tyler Suiters  7:14 

  How many people are you talking about in this 26 square miles.

   

  Aaron Miller  7:16 

  So we're talking on a day resident basis around 300,000 folks but, then you gotta figure in 47,000 which come in every day to work at the Pentagon. You've got to figure another 10s of thousands of folks that are making their way into our fortune 500 companies, that are here in Arlington. Then you've got to figure 395 (Interstate 395) and 66 (Interstate 66), which cross the Beltway to enable people to get into DC or to get to points otherwise in Maryland and elsewhere in Virginia.

   

  Tyler Suiters  7:45 

  Sure. Two major transportation arteries. You also mentioned DCA, shorthand for locals, right. Ronald Reagan National Airport, which is in Arlington as well and all the travel that goes through there. How do you move on the fly? With all these considerations in mind?

   

  Aaron Miller  8:02 

  I think two things and it's interesting, transportation plays a key role in this. I think the first is the different modes. So the multi-modal transportation options that are available. So we're not only talking here about a county which embraces mass transit in the form of the metro system like the entire region utilizes but, also buses which connect some of the larger systems. So our own ART (Arlington Transit) system. As Dennis mentioned, then you've got the ability to walk, to bike, to ride share. All of those things are enabled from a regional perspective, because we don't abide by the geopolitical boundaries when it comes to being able to move people, to move information and to really plan how we handle incidents/emergencies and things on a day to day basis.

   

  Dennis Leach  8:54 

  I'm actually going to give you a couple of examples.

   

  Tyler Suiters  8:56 

  Oh, please.

   

  Dennis Leach  8:58 

  It was actually coming from our staff and board that they felt really strongly that we needed to have a regional bike sharing system. DC had launched a very small system associated with an advertising company. But Arlington thought no, we can do better. So fast forward 2010, we jointly launched capital Bike Share with the District of Columbia. It is now the largest regional collaboration for bike share in North America. As an example, and I'll give you a second one. We also see an important role for car sharing. But we realized that our car sharing program, car2go could not survive on its own. So again, going beyond jurisdictional boundaries, going beyond the river, we joined our program with the district, which made it much healthier and so we are constantly looking for new ways to allow our residents and workers to get around here.

   

  Tyler Suiters  9:55 

  Right, two good examples. That's interesting you mentioned bicycles when we're talking about tech. But that's clearly the solution, especially in the sharing economy, right? It can get it can get to that. Victor, so we hear Aaron's and Dennis's points about not being beholden to boundaries, right? Nonetheless, a county is an entity into itself. And Arlington is a Digital County, this is a term that's relatively new to me, and that it's something of a local government term. What does that mean to you, being a Digital County?

   

  Victor Hoskins  10:27 

  So one of the things that Dennis just mentioned about that fiber being underground. We can provide really unparalleled access for our companies, for their own private superhighway underground. And that's, very unique. There are very few places in the country that have done that. In addition to that, we have monitoring systems all over the city and we're deploying more every year to monitor traffic, to monitor parking, to monitor the things that really make life easy in the city. Also even to monitor, the location of our garbage trucks, their roots and lighting systems. These are the things that, sound very mundane, but really make life very pleasant. One of the reasons why we are able to move so many people in the county, even though it's very small. Is that we provide a tremendous amount of information, not just via technology, but also through our companies. So all of this kind of works together to make us a digital place. We share as much information as possible. We're as transparent as possible. And I think all of those things really add to that infrastructure base, which is fiber and then working your way up into these individual systems.

   

  Tyler Suiters  11:35 

  Well question for the whole team then. When you say Victor, that it may not sound too exciting the benefits here, there are clear tangible benefits, as well as practical benefits for residents as well as government. What comes to mind first for each of you, in terms of the benefits delivered of being a Digital County?

   

  Dennis Leach  11:52 

  I think a couple things are, transportation is always a big issue in this region. That our residents and/or workers just have a whole lot more information at their fingertips in getting around. Even in the face of disruptions. So we really saw a test of that with something called Safe Track where Metro (Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority) had to do phase reconstruction of the core of the system.

   

  Tyler Suiters  12:13 

  And this is the subway system here in the DC area right?

   

  Dennis Leach  12:15 

  Yes, that's correct. In Arlington, it has the second highest ridership outside of the District of Columbia. But our residents and workers were still able to get around and they had the information for alternatives because of what we do here. In a way that other jurisdictions just simply don't. So I would say that's a really good example. Another is in the core of the region, a lot of special events. We have limited manpower. So how do we effectively provide support, and it's through technology. I've now worked many Marine Corps marathons. And each year that we work that event, our technology enables us to do a better job. We now have cameras pretty much on every element of that route, where we can evaluate closures when roads can be reopened and it really is powerful. It extends the ability of our staff to get things done.

   

  Tyler Suiters  13:11 

  Interesting. So Aaron, a lot of what Dennis just said, has to do with communication. That's your department.

   

  Aaron Miller  13:17 

  Yeah, I think one of the aspects that we call Connect Arlington, that sort of network of fiber allows us to do, is think outside of the physical space and really utilize the virtual space as a dimension where we operate. So we're talking about sort of how information moves back and forth. But for us on public safety, emergency management, as we talk about emerging technology. As we talk about emerging threats, that involves linking the entirety of our community, our public institutions and our research entities. That you mentioned, some of. Our citizens and our residents to be able to have information and share information. And things like like our connections to Virginia Tech's Research Center, right? Enables us then to leverage Mid Atlantic research institutions. You've got the College of William Mary, you've got other entities within the Commonwealth that are connected to that. So all facets across all of what we do, then, sort of can be leveraged from the development and analysis of our threats and vulnerabilities. To how we can be more resilient in responding to those incidents and events.

   

  Victor Hoskins  14:37 

  I was going to say is that, you mentioned earlier, Reagan National Airport, and some ways that we we work with this technology is not necessarily sitting back and waiting for an institution to respond, sometimes we help them. We connected the Reagan National Airport, actually the agency, Metropolitan Airports Authority. Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, we connected them with 1776. And they were trying to develop a facial recognition system or a recognition system that would reduce your time spent in going through the TSA lines.

   

  Tyler Suiters  15:15 

  Right. What about this across the country? Right?

   

  Victor Hoskins  15:17 

  Well, they now have this system that they're going to implement in when they build their new facility, it's actually under construction. Right now. It's a billion dollar reconstruction of the airport, it will be almost seamless from the point that you walk in the airport, which is something that probably you know, 10 years ago, five years ago, even three years ago, you couldn't have imagined, but we pushed that technology from a startup into the institution. And I think that's something unique here. That doesn't always happen. I mean, because places get so large. I've worked in Los Angeles and essentially, [Laughter]

   

  Victor Hoskins  15:40 

  Yeah, I mean the scale is so large, like I couldn't even get to the airport to talk to people. Here, I actually know them. They're actually their offices are in Arlington. So right, actually, just, four or five blocks from here. And that I think that proximity allows us to do something different with the technology that we see. So when we see something interesting, we try to find ways to mix and match companies. I think that's very unique.

   

  Tyler Suiters  15:49 

  That's a pretty good example

   

  Tyler Suiters  16:13 

  So is there a difference? Or is it simply terminology, a difference between a digital county and a smart city? Are we speaking the same language? Or are these separate entities that may go hand in hand?

   

  Dennis Leach  16:26 

  I think they're extremely compatible and sometimes use interchangeably.

   

  Tyler Suiters  16:31 

  Right, a lot of the technology you're talking about sounds very familiar in terms of the Smart City conversation.

   

  Dennis Leach  16:36 

  The Smart City is kind of a label, like are you really leveraging technology? Are you doing things in an innovative way that are really teeing you up for a better resilience in the future?

   

  Tyler Suiters  16:46 

  Well, let's talk about resilience then, which I think is to some degree, a byproduct of all of this. Aaron, is this very much in your wheelhouse? When we talk about emergency management?

   

  Aaron Miller  16:55 

  It is and I think it's really important that we in the field, begin to understand and anticipate how technology is not only going to change how we respond, but also the different kinds of threats that are going to come with that.

   

  Tyler Suiters  16:55 

  Is that more complex for a county like Arlington that is so closely integrated into Washington, D.C. Into federal government entities across the county?

   

  Aaron Miller  17:24 

  Absolutely. I think for many local governments, the thought of having to add another domain, another layer, in which you need to be cognizant of your security protocols. In which you need to be really tight on your response procedures. The sort of evolution that we saw, even in the past couple of months of growing malware threats and ransomware threats to local governments. Our connectedness means that we become an arm, an entity of some of our partners. Both private and public. We have a responsibility that, as both Victor and Dennis mentioned, make sure that we have the appropriate talent from our local community and within our local community. To help us and to partner with us to ensure that we're on really the the forefront of understanding and evolving as the technology evolves.

   

  Tyler Suiters  18:21 

  So we talked a lot about where we are right now, where Arlington County is as a Digital County, I'd like you all to look a little more in the future, maybe even beyond your current tenures. If that's comfortable, I'm not sure but, I want to offer up some broad platform technologies to each of you and see what you think these can do for your purview within city government and county government. And where it will go in the next decade or so. So, Dennis starting with you, self driving vehicles?

   

  Dennis Leach  18:53 

  I have mixed feelings about this particular topic. Because in Arlington, and again, because of our very small size, we're all about moving people not necessarily about moving vehicles. So around the country there's a lot of excitement about autonomous vehicles and it's going to be the solution to transportation. But when you have the kind of densities that we have both in terms of employment and residence. We have to move a whole lot of people by a whole lot of different means. Walking, biking, bus and rail. So we think autonomous vehicles or vehicles that have a lot of technology enhancement for people, has a role to play. Particularly around safety. But it isn't the silver bullet that suddenly, our transportation woes or our challenges are going to be resolved. I would say it's kind of naive. So we're asking a different question, which is how can the technology (the autonomous vehicle technology) be used to better serve cities? That's a question that is really being discussed pretty actively across cities around the country. As opposed to letting the technology happen and then we have to deal with the the impacts of it. Let's turn it around and say, okay how can these innovations be harnessed to make Arlington even more functional?

   

  Tyler Suiters  20:24 

  Excellent point. Victor you touched on this earlier but, artificial intelligence. You mentioned at Reagan National Airport and working with TSA to improve the passenger experience. Where does AI go forward in your mind?

   

  Victor Hoskins  20:37 

  Well, I can see AI moving into a lot of arenas that we kind of. I think of it this way. So I remember the bank teller.

   

  Tyler Suiters  20:50 

  [Laughter] Almost a thing of the past now.

   

  Victor Hoskins  20:51 

  Absolutely. And actually, almost bank branches are almost a thing of the past. I think everyone who is my age can imagine, some kind of transition happening in different pieces of work that are done right now, that would be better served automated. I always think of, not to bring up Amazon but I think of the Amazon format, where you can actually have a list of addresses that you want something sent through. Pick those things and they just go. I remembered I used to be on the phone doing that.

   

  Victor Hoskins  21:21 

  So I think that this is going to kind of move into areas, specifically in medtech. A lot of data analysis right now that's being done through algorithms will be automated. And there's a company in our town called Evolent Health. An incredible company started out with four people about seventy-eight years ago, is now over 2,500 nationwide. Basically, they help people stay healthy. They work with hospitals to keep people healthy and they do it through AI. They do it through data analysis. They do it through algorithms. I think that this artificial intelligence, identifying trends in individuals through their health profiles and then making recommendations. I mean frankly, all of us want to avoid injury. Someone may be injury prone, not know it but, through a set of large data, that'd be predictable. And you can make recommendations. So they avoid running for three hours. They could probably run for an hour and a half, but they can't run for three hours. These are the things you're trying to be healthy, and you're hurting yourself. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the data analysis is becoming so easy to do on one level, it allows us to do more predictive things. Not just in health, but this is also for crime.

   

  Victor Hoskins  22:33 

  I know right now in Los Angeles, (the Big City). They're doing a lot of predictive analysis, instead of hiring additional people. Trends looking at where hotspots are, where they occur and times of day. I think that is really where we're going to see it in service delivery for individuals on the health side. For all of us on the safety side. So I think that it's going to really pervade through all county services. This is a very creative community. We're trying things right now in house, that we would like one day to see on the street. Like me look, I know Dennis wants to keep all the cars off the street, but I could drive a car sometimes. When I drive a car I want to find a parking space. Who hasn't had the problem with driving around trying to find a parking space? And for Dennis, he can get 20% of his traffic off of the street, if he could just tell you where to park. It's just that simple. Right, Dennis?

   

  Dennis Leach  23:22 

  Correct.

   

  Tyler Suiters  23:23 

  You want to change your mind on that now, Dennis?

   

  Dennis Leach  23:25 

  [Laughter] Again, how can the technology and information be used to make this a more livable, more functional place?

   

  Tyler Suiters  23:32 

  Sure. Sure.

   

  Dennis Leach  23:33 

  As opposed to a lot of the conversation around the country, it's just excitement about the technology but, not actually thinking through what it means in urban jurisdictions.

   

  Tyler Suiters  23:43 

  Yeah the practical application,

   

  Tyler Suiters  23:45 

  Yeah, excellent. Aaron, for you a backbone technology. 5G connectivity.

   

  Dennis Leach  23:45 

  Correct

   

  Aaron Miller  23:51 

  I think what excites me is how we can connect first-responders. How we can connect emergency preparedness officials directly to residents and folks in need. We always say within our business, that 911 is the only contract that is universally across the United States honor, between local governments and its people. It is the thing that we have to do right. It is the thing that it generally impacts the worst day of someone's life. When you are calling, you need to be able to relay information quickly and efficiently. We need to be able to connect you to the right resources. So reason dispatchers and call takers ask you those questions. What is the address? What is the nature of your emergency? And they go through those clarifying questions. It is possible now and we do have places that are connecting residents who need help through text nationwide, as we talk about next gen 911. We're ramping up to be able to get pictures and video directly from folks to be able to see what's happening at the scenes of incidents. Think about being able to connect those resources more quickly, more efficiently. So instead of now, sending a whole cadre of resources, because we just don't know what's happening. We can figure out exactly what you need and when you need it. Reduce that time, and really have an impact on people's lives.

   

  Tyler Suiters  25:22 

  And in some cases do that without actually speaking to a victim or a patient.

   

  Aaron Miller  25:27 

  Absolutely, we're already using as Dennis mentioned. We've got a number of cameras across the county, mainly located across our thoroughfares and really key intersections. Where we see high rates of accidents and we're using that to be able to send the right resources. When we have motor vehicle accidents, we're using that to send the right resources. So that we can see what's happening. Like you said, without even having to interact. We can sort of be before the call in some cases.

   

  Tyler Suiters  26:01 

  Well clearly, you have a great story to tell and technology innovation are integral to the growth and the evolution of Arlington County. Why play that out at CES? Why tell that story among 180,000 tech professionals from around the world? Why are those stakeholders that you all need to engage with a specific presence, at the show in Las Vegas?

   

  Victor Hoskins  26:22 

  Well for me, from a economic development perspective. We are always looking for creative businesses, we are always looking for something to add to our mix that is different from here right now. Because that's how you get these creative technologies actually serving the needs of people. So for us, a part of it is essentially diversifying our economy. Bringing in new ideas, new concepts and new devices. I like technology, I enjoy the new devices. If you went in my house, you'd go why do you have so many phones? I'm one of those people that really enjoys using it to leverage and make my life more pleasant. I think most people are that way. For us in terms of this economy, we had this history actually of being government focus providing things to support defense. With this commercialization, we really need them not only to see us in an innovative place but, to come here and maybe even set up shop for some of their technology and some of their work.

   

  Tyler Suiters  27:22 

  So the economic development side is getting business, innovative businesses. Dennis, what about you for transportation?

   

  Dennis Leach  27:27 

  I would say that our position has been that we will shamelessly borrow good ideas from other places [Laughter]. I will just reference one initiative that we launched which is called hackathons. Like why hackathons and transportation? We're really pretty geeky about this stuff but, we don't have all the solutions. Clearly around this provision of information and making it easier for people to get around. Why not tap the incredible talent that's in this region? So we launched our first hackathon and we've had a lot of them down here in Crystal City. They are really well attended and people are excited to sit around a room with their peers, volunteering hours and hours, thinking about new ways, new platforms for information or integration with our transportation systems. I would say that we want people with innovative technical ideas and technology to come here. We are open to innovating. Again, I use the phrase shameless borrowing. There's a good idea out there, we're willing to probably test it.

   

  Tyler Suiters  28:36 

  Let's hashtag it, maybe trending soon. I like that idea. So Aaron, new businesses, new ideas, what is new at CES that you most want to leverage?

   

  Aaron Miller  28:47 

  I think building on what Dennis said. Not only is it the new ideas but, particularly on the public safety emergency management side. We don't have all the answers, we don't know what we don't know. Being able to connect with professionals across the spectrum of industry, who have technical expertise. Who are on the forefront of development and implementation of some of the cutting edge technologies. Whether that be software or hardware designs. Being able to see those things, understand what the impact is going to be. To forecast some of those things in our business, is critically important. We aren't the experts, we recognize that. So for us, it takes the whole community to be able to build that base of information. The perspective that we can gain on these ideas, the perspective that we can then bring to help understanding what it means on our side, from the public safety services side. I think that's critically important for us.

   

  Tyler Suiters  29:54 

  Well, that's a very humble take. And I do want to position Arlington County and this team as experts because, you won a national competition. One that was fiercely contested for Amazon's HQ2. Rather than go back to the where to's and why for's of how it came together. What's next? So you get the win and you celebrate for a minute and a half. And you think oh my gosh, how are we going to put this together?

   

  Victor Hoskins  30:18 

  And actually, it's interesting how we're going to put this together? And that is really where all the work is. The rubber's meeting the road now. I'm working with Dennis and a big team to work on things like the bridge from Crystal City to the airport. So that you can walk to Reagan airport

   

  Tyler Suiters  30:33 

  Cross about eight lanes or twelve lanes of traffic across various roads

   

  Victor Hoskins  30:36 

  Exactly, in a pleasant way, in an enjoyable way and have it be a great customer experience. But we are starting on the implementation side of that. Dennis has a lot of work to do on the transportation side. We're working with our housing people to make sure that there's enough housing developed, to make sure it doesn't impact the market too much. Even the permitting of the building's themselves. I mean, something is mundane is that, we're moving right along with our permits.

   

  Dennis Leach  30:59 

  I'll just mention it a couple of things to add to that. Arlington has actually a long history of reinvention, which I think set us up for this. Arlington was a completely built out suburb by the 1950s and it was declining. But the community didn't stop there. It didn't say okay, we're going to accept gradual decline. We're going to have a conversation and figure out what's next. And that led to an incredible re-positioning of the community 40 to 50 years of smart growth infill. We're in a period of reinvention again, what's next? It is, Arlington not as a government town but as one that really promotes technology. Promotes private sector initiative. So I think we're positioned for it. A lot of the things that are in our plans, were really well matched with the things that the company was looking for. Particularly in the area that I work in, which is infrastructure. We already offered a lot of transportation options, we already had a lot of capacity. It was just like knitting those things together to make it even more compelling.

   

  Tyler Suiters  32:08 

  So I will end this on an admittedly, unfair question for this team. What's your encore? What comes next? Already in the week since the Amazon announcement, Amazon has made series of major headquarter announcements or alternate headquarters, right. Google has just somewhat recently made an announcement about a major development in New York City. So yeah, this is not the newest one anymore.

   

  Aaron Miller  32:35 

  Right.

   

  Dennis Leach  32:35 

  Right.

   

  Victor Hoskins  32:36 

  Right.

   

  Tyler Suiters  32:36 

  What comes next, as far as keeping Arlington at the forefront of this?

   

  Victor Hoskins  32:39 

  Well from the economic development side, we are always looking for innovative companies and a lot of those companies are on the west coast. So, we will be talking to these companies about expansion because, companies like Salesforce that have exploded. Salesforce, I'm sure they could use a nice East Coast headquarters. It puts them come closer to Europe, closer to a new market.

   

  Tyler Suiters  33:02 

  Or closer to government.

   

  Victor Hoskins  33:03 

  Closer to government, yeah. All of these advantages of just strategically to be on the eastern seaboard. Now, whether or not they locate in Arlington, DC, Montgomery County, Fairfax County or anywhere in this region. I am happy to have them here because, they bring the new ideas and new opportunities.

   

  Tyler Suiters  33:19 

  Victor Hoskins is Director of Economic Development. Dennis Leach is Director of Transportation. Aaron Miller is Director of Public Safety, Communications and Emergency Management. All these gentlemen are with Arlington County, Virginia. A county making national and international headlines as well. Gentlemen, thanks for your time, and we'll see you in Las Vegas very soon.

   

  Aaron Miller  33:39 

  Thank you.

   

  Dennis Leach  33:39 

  Thank you.

   

  Victor Hoskins  33:39 

  Thank you Tyler, appreciate it.

   

  Tyler Suiters  33:42 

  All right, we want you to be CES Ready. So step one, download the CES app. Build your personal agenda, find your favorite exhibitors and speakers. You can sync in real time across all your devices and new for 2019, you can connect your LinkedIn account. That way you can see which of your connections are also at CES and you can hook up. Step two, go to CES.tech, that is a website with the information you need about CES 2019. Again the dates, January 8 through the 11 in Las Vegas. As always, none of this is possible without our podcasting superstars. Producer Tina Anthony and engineer John Lindsey, you guys are the best in the business. As for you. Thanks for joining this edition of CES Tech Talk. I'm Tyler Suiters. Let's talk tech again soon.