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Hearing audio

ZBA Hearing - February 11, 2026

Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA)Feb 11, 20264h 31m

Thank you.

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Good morning, everyone.

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My name is Bill Bergman and I will be chairing this meeting of the Philadelphia Zoning Board

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of Adjustment.

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With me is our board vice chair, Tadetta Graham.

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Good morning, President, Mr. Chairman.

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Our board secretary, Cheryl L. Gaston.

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Present, Mr. Chairman.

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Our board member, Michael Johns.

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Present, Mr. Chairman.

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Board member, Ty O'Wynn.

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Present, Mr. Chairman.

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Our board member, Ryan McAdams.

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Present, Mr. Chairman.

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Also, here is our board attorney, Hillary Emerson, our zoning board director, Ian Haggerty,

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and our board administrator, Lakeisha Dandy.

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Recording of this hearing will be posted on the ZB website.

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By participating, you consent to be recorded.

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This is an in-person meeting with remote capabilities, whether remote or in person.

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If you're called to speak, you must state and spell your name and then wait to be sworn in.

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Once you've been sworn in, please state your name each time before beginning your testimony.

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Any person may enter their appearance to become an interested party.

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There are three ways to enter your appearance.

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You can identify the case address on your Zoom webinar, you can see a staff member, or you can call the ZBA appearance line by the close of business.

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Call 267-270-5548.

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Leave a message that includes your email address and the address of the property of the appeal case.

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The following guidance is for remote attendees.

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First, when directed by the chair, you must raise your virtual hand in order to be recognized to speak.

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second if you're called to testify you'll be prompted to join as a panelist please accept

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the request and turn on your camera third the webinar q a is for questions about the hearing

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do not comment on cases in the q a and fourth if you are participating by phone press star nine

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to raise your hand and star six to unmute for our in-person attendees please refrain from talking

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eating, or drinking during the hearings. Verbal and physical aggression will not be tolerated.

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Restrooms are across from the elevators. A water fountain is just outside the room to the right.

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When speaking on the record, you must speak directly into the microphone in order to be

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heard by all attendees and the court reporter. In the event of an emergency, please follow the

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directions given over the public address system or by the staff. The main exit is through the

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double doors at the rear the nearest stairwell is to the left outside the

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doors case of an evacuation the rally point is at Love Park directly across

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Art Street please remain here so we can account for you so let's look at our

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schedule for this morning with you yeah

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number one we should call Vern okay number one MI 2021 004 387 6809 Woodland Avenue Vern Anastasio

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is the attorney. Good morning, Chair. This is Jasmine, and I will be your co-host for this

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morning's session. Vern Anastasio will be rejoining us as a panelist. Good morning, Mr. Chair,

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members of the board. Morning. Counsel, could you please state your name as spelled for the

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stenographer? Yes, sir. It's Vern Anastasio, A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O. Do you swear or affirm to

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tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Could you give us an update on

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the 6809 Woodland Avenue. Yep. We're very close. We just received this morning a letter of non

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opposition from the RCO. However, the last mailing that we did was over about two years ago. And

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Attorney Emerson did say we do need an updated one. So I'm asking for a short continuance just

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so I can do one final mailing. And then we can come back and button this case up. Yes. So I'm

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and then we can come back and button this case up yes so i'm on our council yes yeah so so mr

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on our council.

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anastasio so there's actually a little bit of confusion on this one because a resumptive

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hearing was requested but when we went and looked back at the notes this the record when this was

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heard back in 2024 was actually closed pending a letter from the rco um so okay okay so the board

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so the board had not previously authorized reopening the record and having a hearing on

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this matter okay but we did but we did discuss it and because um because today um because there is

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now an amended refusal that is a different use than was previously discussed at the prior hearing

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um the board is going to to reopen the record so we can have it so we can discuss the the new

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proposed use um and and the chair will give you a date for that resumption hearing so that's

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That's perfectly reasonable.

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Yep.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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So MI-2021-004-387-6809 Woodland Avenue.

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That case is continued to 428-26 at 9.30 a.m.

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Thank you, Mr. Chair.

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Okay.

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I'm going to call number 2, number 3, number 4, and number 10 together.

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So number two is MI 2024-005-757-9212 North Delaware Avenue.

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Number three is MI 2024-005-759-9214 North Delaware Avenue.

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And number four is MI 2024-005-889216 North Delaware Avenue.

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And number 10 is MI 2024-006-068-9218-North-Delraveno.

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Jennifer Bazzillo is the attorney.

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Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the board.

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I am here.

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Hold on.

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Could you please state your name?

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Sure.

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Sorry.

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Spelled for the stenographer.

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Yes.

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Jennifer Positlo, B as in boy, A as in apple, Z as in zebra, Y, D as in David, L as in Larry, O as in Oscar.

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Right.

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Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?

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I do.

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Could you give us an update on these four cases?

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So we haven't been able to have a meeting with the community group yet.

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I'm hoping I've reached out again to schedule that meeting. This project happened before that group

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one time before but it was about five years ago and it's you know I wasn't the attorney then so

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we're hoping to have another meeting. I think I previously said if that if there isn't a meeting

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that takes place before the next scheduled listing we will just notify the neighbors and we will

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proceed all right um so uh council this has been going on for a long time yeah um we we don't even

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have any exhibits yeah um so sorry mr chair there's a hand raised from joe carson i believe

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he may be the rco um in this matter mr carson joe has been allowed to speak hi mr carson could you

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please state your name and spell for the sonographer certainly uh joe carson uh joe

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c-a-r-s-o-n right i do swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth

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i do mr carson you heard what council had to say am i correct yes uh we have uh not been able to

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connect we as an rco when we saw this listing reached out to um uh miss miss uh jennifer there

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and Basidlo and

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you know we haven't been able to connect

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we have brought this topic up

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in our meetings and

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we there is

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hasn't been an appetite for

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more conversation on it

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although we certainly can bubble it up again

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all right

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so

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Jennifer and

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RCO

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chair

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we're going to vote to dismiss

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all four of these cases

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and we will waive the two-year rule wonderful we just can't keep bringing this back okay okay you

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know you'll we'll waive the rule so i'll i'll say them all together and then so number two

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mi 2024 005 757 92 12 north delver number three mi 2024 0055 759 92 14 north delver

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MI 2024-005-788-9216, North Delaware.

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And number 10, MI 2024-006-068-9216.

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MI 2024-006-068-9218 North Delaware I vote to dismiss and recommend that the two-year rule be

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waived Michael Johns Johns I vote to dismiss and recommend that the brain be a waived

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Cheryl Gadsden I vote to dismiss with waiver of the two-year rule

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Tanita Graham, I vote to dismiss with waiver of the two-year rule.

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And McAdams, I vote to dismiss with waiver of the two-year rule.

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Eileen, I vote to dismiss with waiver of the two-year rule.

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All right.

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Thank you, counsel.

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Thank you.

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I also have another matter that I am submitting a withdrawal of.

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I just wanted to make sure that was on the record as well.

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I saw that, yeah.

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Okay, great.

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Thank you.

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I'll take care of that.

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Thank you.

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All right.

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So number six.

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Hillary, there's people in the audience.

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Am I correct?

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uh yes that is correct um we're looking for m i m i 2024-005-972-4530 blake's blackston street

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elvin epinat diaz is the uh owner um do we have an interpreter yes we do have an interpreter

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um mr stephen albain is here to interpret on the zoom

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Stephen Albain has been promoted to panelists.

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Good morning.

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My name is Stephen Albain, A-U-B-A-I-N, interpreter ID YM288.

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I'll be the Spanish interpreter.

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right do you swear or affirm that you will interpret accurately completely and impartially

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from english to spanish and from spanish to english to the best of your ability yes i do

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so could you please call for me uh elvin ipin and diaz is the current owner i believe he's

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sitting right here so why don't you start and this is the k-lingle different than that all right

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the interpreter will call you

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why don't you do that for me

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do me this favor

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please tell him to state his name first

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and spell it

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Así que denos su nombre y deletréelo.

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Elvin Armando y Pina Díaz.

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E-L-B-I-N.

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A-R-M-A-N-D-O.

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Juría afirma decir la verdad, toda la verdad y nada más que la verdad.

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Sí.

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Yes.

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I'm sorry, Mr. Chair, Mr. Robin, can you just provide the spelling for the stenographer?

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Thank you.

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Yes, and there's the interpreter speaking.

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He wasn't done spelling his name.

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He spelled Elvin Armando, so E-L-V-I-N, and Armando, A-R-M-A-N-D-O.

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Is your last name, yeah, yes, Diaz is your last name, or Epina Diaz, is that your last

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name?

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Y su apellido, ¿es Epenin o es Díaz?

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Epina Díaz.

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Y del término, por favor, and I'm asking for the spelling.

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I-P-I-N-A.

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D-I-A-Z.

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The interpreter calls verification.

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Epina es I-P-E-N-A.

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Sí.

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So, it's I-P-E-N-A, second last name, D-I-A-Z.

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Okay, so could you tell him we have no updated exhibits?

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Así que no tenemos evidencias actualizadas.

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so i was i was supposedly paying someone to represent me on this case um for this open

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porch and i've been paying this person for three years while the construction has been going on

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i don't know now if i'm being scammed um okay so uh i i think what we're going to have

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Okay, so I think what we're going to have to do is continue this case, right?

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And then, I guess, Ian, could we refer them to someone they could report this fraud to, all right?

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So, could you tell him that we're going to continue the case, right?

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Because it's not ready to go, and that we would refer him to someone he could talk to about being scammed, all right?

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So we're going to continue this case for another date, because he's not prepared to proceed, and we're going to refer to someone who could talk about that, and they're going to refer to someone who can talk about that.

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6, 9, 25, 9, 30.

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Así que este caso, MI 2024, 005972, 4530 Blackstone Street,

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va a ser continuado a junio 9 del domín 26 a la 9 y media.

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Okay.

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All right.

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Thank you very much for coming in.

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We do appreciate it, please.

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And interpreter, as usual, thank you for helping us.

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All right.

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And thank you for using the service.

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Okay.

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