Latest / The Lawtino™ / Bridging Communities: Immigration, Culture, and Leadership in Escondido

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Bridging Communities: Immigration, Culture, and Leadership in Escondido · The Lawtino™

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Latino Podcast, where we amplify the voices of Latino professionals, entrepreneurs, and leaders coming together to educate, inspire, and connect across one of the most dynamic binational regions in the world: bicultural, premium, powerful.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_03: Hey, it's Sean Gomez.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to this episode of the Latino, where we discuss the intersection of law and our Latino communities.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_03: We have uh with us uh lawyers, judges, uh elected officials, community, and thought leaders, and we have great conversations about who they are, you know, where they come from, what makes them go, and also uh issues, you know, that are um affecting our communities.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_03: Um I'm joined, as always, by my co-head co-host, uh David Arreguin, who is uh trial attorney with us here at Gomez Trial Attorneys, originally a guest, um now in charge of our Mexico, uh, California, U.S.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_03: corridor and our practice along the border serving our binational uh clients and communities.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_03: Um, welcome, David.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_03: Always a great treat to be with you.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, John.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's always my pleasure and it's an honor to be here, of course.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_03: Uh this um episode is always brought to you by our perennial sponsor, Gomez Trial Attorneys.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_03: Gomez Trial Attorneys is a national consumer rights law firm.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, we represent victims of personal injury, um, employment wrongs, civil rights violations, dangerous and defective products.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_03: And we do it.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_03: Um, we say we are binational, binacional, bicultural, bicultural, and best in class.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_03: So we again serve our clients on both sides of the border in the English and Spanish languages and at the very highest levels of legal excellence.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_03: And so, uh, David, why don't you, as we do, uh introduce our guest for today?
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_03: We're honored with a very special guest and a good friend of ours.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, of course.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: And it's an honor to have uh Mr.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: Joe Garcia here today, who I recently met on a Paco Pablo's exhibition up in Escondido.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: We'll get to hear a little bit about that and his involvement with the arts, uh the binational arts, I want to say.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: And then uh after like a week, I actually met him at Univision.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: So that was a nice surprise, uh, which led to this today.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: So, Joe, welcome.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we want to hear from you.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: Why don't you tell us a little bit about your background, where you're from, uh, your ties to Vicki maybe.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_02: Wonderful.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_02: Well, thank you.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_02: It's been awesome to be able to get to know you.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_02: And it's true, it was such a wonderful surprise when we are at Univision, how to get up at four o'clock in the morning, you know, and comb my hair.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_02: Oh no, hold on, my hair's gone.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but you know, how to wash my face, get up, and then to see you walk in all of a sudden, that was a treat to be able to reconnect.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for the invitation.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I um have I'm a native Californian, third generation born here in California.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and it's been such a joy to be able to be involved in the community.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_02: I've been a church pastor full-time for 35 years.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_02: That's my calling, my vocation, and my full-time job.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_02: And last for the last six years since 2020, I've had the honor to be elected to the city council in the city of Escondido.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I grew up here at the border.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I was born in Santa Ana.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_02: We had a tragic accident.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: Parents sold a home.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we moved to Tijuana, had never lived in Mexico, my mother had not lived in Mexico.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I didn't speak any language, I didn't speak any Spanish at all.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_02: So I went from third grade to first grade.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, so immediately just to kind of pick up the language, and uh nine years I lived there, and it became an incredible blessing because I pastor Spanish-speaking churches.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: So every weekend I get to preach in Spanish, I visit in Spanish, I chat in Spanish.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, so it that's a little bit about me, uh, where I come from, uh, father of uh three wonderful children, uh, and uh they've uh done very well for themselves.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_02: Uh they've done many, many things, Ivy Leaguers and and have worked in the White House.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_02: I've done all kinds of things, and I'm very honored to call myself their their father.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I've remarried since then I lost my wife to cancer uh almost nine years ago.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_02: I was alone for many, many years and then remarried a wonderful lady, and through that family now have a whole uh number of children too.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_02: So I I'm raising again.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_02: So that's about me, where I come from, what I what I do, uh, what has impacted my life.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sure as we chat, that'll begin to come out in a more organic fashion.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_03: Well, tell us about um, thank you for that introduction.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_03: That's quite a story.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, some of our viewers, or I guess our viewers and our listeners are maybe not from San Diego.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_03: We have a kind of a national following, international, um, also.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_03: But tell us about escondido, because not everybody knows about this place, you know, uh, who lives there, what it's all about.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's to me, like growing up here, like escondido is like a cool place because it's got so many different little pockets of of people and things going on.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_03: So tell us about escondido.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_02: Well, escondido is a great place, it's uh the fourth largest city in San Diego County.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we have about 152,000 population.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_02: Out of the population, 52% are Latino or Latino descent, with a very large uh percentage of that of mono uh lingual.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_02: Uh just in general, escondido is a word in Spanish which means hidden.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_02: And uh escondido is beginning now to people to discover escondido's potential, I think, because we're we're we're we're stopping from being hidden in that valley.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it's right on the quarter of 15 and 78.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_02: So for economic development, it's great.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and it just has so many things we're going through through changes right now, working on downtown.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_02: Now people are beginning to come and say, oh wow, we didn't know that you had such a beautiful downtown, walkable restaurants, a lot of fun, a lot of uh uh attractions going on there.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_02: We have our mall, we have our center for the arts, uh, which is a big deal uh here in North County.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_02: They've been working very hard to make that the epicenter of arts, uh Latino arts, uh binational, international.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_02: We'll talk about that a little later.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so that's uh a little bit about escondido.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: So I guess at this point it's a hidden gem.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you call it like that, right?
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: Escondido.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, escondido.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I think it's great, you know, because escondido, a lot of people know it also for like all the wineries out there, which it seems to be attracting a lot of the uh population from San Diego, which is closer than Temecula.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I went to this Orthodia winery, which attracts a big population as well.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: Beautiful mountains.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: Is that like a big part of your tourism now?
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like the wineries and all these uh touristic places?
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it is.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_02: In fact, I was in Washington, D.C.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_02: last week for the National League of Cities.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_02: And as you get to know people, you meet people, you're chatting in the mixers.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_02: I was chatting with somebody who said, Oh, I've gone to the wineries in Temecula, which is just down the road.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_02: And I said, Oh, well, that's great.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_02: We have plenty of wineries in Escondido.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_02: Said, oh, that's great.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna go next because I didn't like the ones in Temecula, is what she said.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_02: And Orphelia was one of the first ones that came to mind.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and not only that, we have uh uh craft beer also.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_02: Uh that's a big deal in in escondido.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_02: Uh some of these places attract so much uh uh clientele.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_02: U now I don't drink, all right.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_02: So I can't give you any personal experiences on that, but certainly what I hear is that there is the best to be found in escondido.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_03: You said uh you gave a a figure, I think you said like it was more than 50%.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_03: More than 50% of your population is Latino.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and you said many of them uh only speak Spanish?
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_02: Or monolingual, yes.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm I remember last time we visited, you know, there's a particular state in Mexico where uh a lot of these folks come from.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_03: Talk to us about that and kind of how um you know your constituents can trace their legacy back to a particular part of Mexico.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_02: Well, and and I'll I'll do that through through an example of one of our binational events that that that we have done.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_02: A number uh years ago, I uh took it upon myself to begin to research sister cities.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I brought that uh a policy to the full council and they approved it.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_02: And uh we chose three cities in Mexico to have sister cities, two of them Oaxaca, one of them in uh uh Mexico City.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_02: And um, part of the policy requires that there be a group of people, and this is where this ties into Escondido.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: And a lot of our uh constituents are from Oaxaca.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_02: So that was first I discovered that that was really nice to be able to discover that.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_02: But then we talked about specifically the two cities in Oaxaca, San Jacinto de Amipas y Simatlán de Álvarez, come to find out that people actually in Escondido were from there.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_02: So when we we celebrate uh El Grito in Escondido, we've been doing that now for a few years during Música in La Plaza, which is an event that the Center for the Arts puts together.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_02: And uh they give us a little time there, and then we have the whole uh whole grito.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_02: Well, this last year we had La Senadora Um Karina Ruiz, la senadora migrante.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, she's from Oaxaca.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_02: She she was uh uh came out and celebrated with us.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_02: One of the mayors of our sister city came out, San Jacinto de Milpas, uh el alcalde Alejandro Diaz came out too.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_02: And people felt connected because now all of a sudden they had someone in escondido that they could talk to about what was going on back home.
• 10:57
  unknown: Wow.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_02: So that was awesome to be able to see that, to experience that, and just looking forward to have this event continue to grow.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_02: So great connection, connecting people.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: And what would you say attracts them to escondido?
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I can imagine that maybe family moved there, friends moved there, and they start hearing great things about escondido.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: That's one of the reasons why they moved there, right?
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, I believe that.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_02: I moved to Escondido 26 years ago, and uh it's been when I've had to leave for short periods of time, it's they've had to push me out, and I've made sure that I've come right back.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_02: Escondido, when it comes to Escondido, like I mentioned, it has easy access to the freeway to be able to get to places if you work outside of town.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, there's a lot of investment going on in Escondido, so people are beginning to find uh better paying jobs in Escondido.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, one of the largest industries in Escondido is uh medical.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_02: It's the hospital.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_02: Palomar Hospital is the largest uh hospital district in the state of California, and they're our number one employer in the city itself.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but there's a lot of creativity going on, there's a lot of art going on, a lot of murals, these beautiful murals that you have here.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_02: You can find uh sister murals, I'll call them that.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_02: In Escondido, we have a lot of that which attracts to our community.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we have great parks uh in our community.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_02: So there's a lot of esconditos at that size that you can still feel the community, the family, the connection.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_02: When you go to the park, there's people you know.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_02: You walk by and you say hi.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, not that big where you just kind of lose connection and everybody's on to their own.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_02: So Escondido's still there.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_02: I remember a number of years ago when everything was shut down around 5 p.m.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it was still that home small town mentality.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_02: It's grown from there.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_02: Now you can find fast food open later.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_02: You know, the good healthy stuff.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but that's a little bit about Escondido, specifically prices.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Escondido prices for homes are about the lowest in the entire county.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and you still have uh you're well connected to Riverside County, which is uh just uh 20 minutes away.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Orange County, probably about 30 minutes away.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_02: So Escondido is just a nice central place.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_02: It's uh attractive, it has a lot of things going on, and uh it's great for families.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_03: So, what what uh what are the issues?
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_03: You know, you're you've been part of leadership in the city for a while now.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we see all this development, all this cool stuff going on.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_03: You know, what are the challenges of you know, a city leader in Escondido now, or what are the challenges that the city is facing or dealing with now?
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_02: Escondido has for many, many years uh been famous, unfortunately, been famous for uh taking a long time for developers to be able to get their permits and to be able to get into uh and complete their projects.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_02: So we uh hired a new city manager a few years back, and uh there's been a culture change going on in the city.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_02: We've been cross-training our people, we've been pulling contracts from having uh outside organizations uh deal with issues on development permits or inspections.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_02: And we've been discovering that sometimes they assign different inspectors, and different inspectors have different requirements.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_02: They all may have one set of rules, but oh well, you need to move this.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_02: And but a different inspector might say, no, you don't have, no, no, no, you really don't have to do that.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_02: I want you to do this.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_02: And we discovered that things like that have been dragging on our permitting process.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_02: So we brought in not only the new city manager, but he's brought in a series of other leaders.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_02: We brought uh different departments together to streamline to make this much more efficient, and we're beginning to see those uh efforts pay off.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so economically, that's one of the challenges that we continue uh uh to have.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um there's always the the issues that that the city that that that cities face uh when it comes to infrastructure.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I'm I'm happy to say I was in DC last week, and I my responsibility, part of my responsibility was to speak to our Congress members, our senators, and uh um and ask them to fulfill uh uh requests that we had put in.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_02: And a number of years ago, uh we were approved for$34 million uh for infrastructure to help with flooding and things like that.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_02: And that comes in chunks.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_02: So we went to ask for$3 million to make that difference because obviously when it rains and it's excessive, uh, that impairs and makes dangerous the roads.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so that's another challenge, but we're working on that.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_02: We've had great success.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_02: And well, there's always community challenges uh to bring the community together, questions, uh things like that.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_02: Right now, the hot topic everybody's talking about is is uh immigration ice.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and uh Escondido unfortunately has had uh the research is showing us that they're uh among the top, if not number one, when it comes for deportations.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um so that is a hot topic that uh has developed over the years here in Escondido.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, well, we're we got to the point where we discovered city council, we were unaware that uh our police department had a contract with HSI for uh their agents to train in our um firing range.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_02: Uh well when we became aware of that, that that obviously became a very hot topic, hot discussion.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and it was put for a presentation before city council.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that happened, and uh there was a lot of uh community members and a lot of people, more people from outside of the community uh expressing uh their feelings about that.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh one of our colleagues uh made a motion to rescind the contract, to cancel the contract.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it failed uh because of a lack of a second.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so people are unhappy.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_02: For me personally, I uh uh didn't second the motion simply because I believe that if we would have canceled that contract, Escondido would have been in a much, much uh tougher place with more and more and more uh presence of ice.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and it would have become, like I said publicly, it would have become a mini Minneapolis.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_02: And I was concerned about that, and and I didn't want to participate to help that happen in Escondido.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_02: So it's been a tough one.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, people are unhappy, people are angry, and rightly so.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_02: Uh people uh families are being affected, Latino families.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_02: Most of us, uh a lot of us are mixed families, uh, or we know someone.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_02: And as a church pastor, uh I sit with church members uh that have a brother, a sister, uh a son or a daughter that has been deported.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I sit there with them and and we cry together and and and we console.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_02: Uh one of the experiences that that that uh my community was was um uh they were oh what's the word I'm looking for?
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want to say uh they had no idea that I had experience in my own uh self.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_02: I had experienced immigration issues over the years.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_02: Uh immigration officers have put handcuffs on me.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_02: I'm coming from church, and uh now they're walking with my Bible in their hand as they're walking me from one place to another, handcuffed.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so I've been detained at uh immigration checkpoints.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_02: Uh you know, I've experienced that, and and that's hurtful and difficult.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_02: That all was, it's part of my life, but I can't decide.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_02: I I can't make a decision solely based on that.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_02: I have to do what I truly believe is the best uh for my city to try to keep it as peaceful as possible.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_02: But that is a tough one that's going on uh right now.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_03: And so let me um let me see if you know, uh maybe not all of our listeners kind of caught what you said, but basically, um you have your own police department out there, Escondido Police, and they have they have a firing range.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_03: And and they have a very nice firing range.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_03: Is it outdoor?
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_03: Indoor?
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_03: It's outdoor.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_03: Outdoor, yeah.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and so uh as part of one of the agencies that contracts with Escondido PD to use their firing range, is uh Homeland Security, which would under its umbrella encompass ice.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_03: Is that right?
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_02: That is correct.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_02: And you know what?
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for for making that clarification.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_02: Uh as this um the information was developing and and the chief was working with with uh the personnel on the signing of the contract and all that, it came to us that the specific agents that would be training escondido were not going to be immigration information uh uh enforcement officers.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_02: There were going to be officers dealing agents dealing with child uh exploitation, uh other uh uh uh drugs, uh uh trafficking, human trafficking, uh, other things like that.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_02: Those were the departments uh within the umbrella department that were going to be training in escondido.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_02: Sad to me was that when we did uh have public comment, people came and spoke, and there were some saying that because of this, escondido was going to have 200 officers, 400 plus the 200 that were already there.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so now we're looking at 400.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_02: We had other people saying that 30 that 20% of escondido would be deported.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_02: That's 30,000 people, and of course that is not the case, and that concerned me.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_02: And I I brought that publicly, that that scared our community.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_02: And why would that want to be done?
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so yeah, in escondido, the training would be uh would happen with with agents that are not uh there to be enforcing uh uh any immigration laws.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_03: So these would be non Immigration enforcement officers, but the work for the Department of Homeland Security.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_03: And so the idea that this would bring more enforcement activities or officers to the city based on what you saw, and you have some experience working with law enforcement over the years, that just wasn't going to be the case.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_03: Is that fair to say?
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_03: And these are these are good guy federal agents.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I uh spoke to many federal agents, retired, active.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_02: I spoke to uh federal prosecutors, I spoke to Border Patrol uh lawyers that actually work for Border Patrol.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_02: I spoke to the Latino community, both uh documented and undocumented, just casual conversations.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_02: And I would explain my reasoning and why I was concerned.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_02: And undoubtedly, I uh would get a resounding, you know what, Joe, I hadn't thought about that.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think you're right.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_02: That will happen if the contract is canceled.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_02: Uh but I did sit down with uh a couple of people uh that completely disagree with me.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_02: And we sat for about an hour and a half.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_02: We didn't come to an agreement, but I think we ended with a respectful tone.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_02: Uh they said, Well, Joe, we hope that you're right.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_02: That escondido doesn't become any worse.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_02: And I said, you know, with all respect, I hope you're wrong that what you believe is going to happen, it doesn't happen in our community.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_02: But they did uh say, Joe, did you speak to anyone in Minneapolis?
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_02: You mentioned Minneapolis, and I said, no, I haven't.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_02: And they said, Joe, we challenge you, we asked you, and I gave them my word.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_02: I said, I will speak out.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_02: And I've now made contact with uh a council member in uh a neighboring city, like in Escondido, Escondido San Marcos, a neighboring city who's gonna help me get in touch to be able to talk with them how this came about, what happened and the challenges.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, because I gave my word, I'm gonna look into it as best as I can.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_02: And uh that's that's what we're doing.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_03: And and you know, I I know we were talking a little bit also off uh mic, you know, it was your concern that, you know, this very public issue, namely the contract between uh DHS and Escondido, if the city of Escondido as a government, you know, issued this very public decision canceling the contract, you were worried that that would be the thing that would make ICE presence worse or more um uh there there might be some reason then to single out escondido and say, hey, don't mess with us, we're gonna send our guys in.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_03: You're gonna you're gonna see what happens when you cross us.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_02: My idea was always my my concern, and and what I wanted is to make sure that we didn't put ourselves in that place.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_02: We just didn't want to do that.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_02: And uh uh it's it's a tough one.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_02: It's really hard because no matter what direction you you head in, uh somebody's gonna be unhappy.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_02: And uh they've they've shown me that they're they're very unhappy.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_02: But anybody that would give me time, uh actually with this, this uh these um people, these community members, that uh I was walking out of a uh uh escondito PD awards uh ceremony, and I was about a half a block away when somebody came out of their business uh to let me know that they disagreed with what I had said, and they had some choice words to describe me.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, so I came right back and uh they invited me to sit down and and they invited me for a drink.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_02: I I don't drink, but I accepted water, and we ended up chatting for about an hour and a half, and and I think it was a healthy dialogue, and uh uh so that's something that that I think we all should do.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_03: To be sure, yeah, I don't think we do it enough.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we we have we get so into you know our thought of how the world is, and then we attach that to every issue that comes before us, and then if someone disagrees with us on an issue, we think they must be a bad person or or they're just wrong.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_03: And it sounds like, you know, the people that have issue with you and your failure to second that motion are really looking for the same thing, and that is, you know, um, safety and security and way of life for all Escondido residents, to include maybe those that are uh might be subject to these enforcement actions.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like Joel said, that uh healthy dialogue, right?
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we, you know, as civil attorneys, personal injury attorneys, we consistently disagree with what defense counsel says.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_01: However, sometimes for you know the best interest of our client, we got to have that healthy dialogue.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, when that healthy dialogue doesn't happen, things don't really flow.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: So just the fact that you mentioned healthy dialogue, that means that you know things are happening.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we're sure uh at least I'll speak for myself, uh, uh want that healthy dialogue because at least what gives us an opportunity to understand each other.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_02: We may disagree, uh, but if we understand each other, we can see each other as humans uh rather than just somebody that I really dislike or or I really hate because they they don't see things the way I do.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but ultimately, I think, at least for me, uh, it was an issue that I I really believe that uh it's helping escondido to be a little safer.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_02: Is there presence?
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_02: Is there a presence uh uh regularly, some say on a daily basis?
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, it happens, uh, but at the same time, I wouldn't want to see an increase.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_02: And uh to this at this point, I haven't seen one uh yet.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_02: And knocking on wood, as they say, right?
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I was pretty loud, sorry.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_03: No, it's good.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_03: We need we need the sound effects.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: I know at one point in your batch, he like pulled out your phone and playing like music and things like that because thinking about something.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: It took him a little while, but then he was able to kept it I felt we actually appreciate that it gives a little impact to your argument, right?
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_01: Right, good, good.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, like we've been we've been looking at that community out there.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I know it's not it's a pocket.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um back in, I want to say like 2014, 2015, uh, I was spending a little bit more time in escondido.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm going back to your uh sense of community, the fact that people feel like a community.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I had the chance to go to Escondido Swap Meet where they still have like these community balls.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_01: And when I when I was there, it felt like people like kneeling each other.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so there was a sense of connection and the local bands, people were there to support them.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: Like you said, that's something that distinguishes Escondido, right, from some of the other cities in in San Diego.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Sandy, um, Escondido has a lot of that community sense.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, there's a lot of events in Escondido that are small events that that community independent communities or neighborhoods uh put together.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and those are always something that that's interesting, fun, and it brings uh people together.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I've been surprised that I walk through a park and I and I know someone, be it from my son's school or or be it from a meeting, or uh someone that I recognize that came to city council to express something that was important for them.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, and all of a sudden it gives us a chance to connect.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_02: And and I think that's something wonderful that Escondido has, and I certainly hope that we never lose that.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: And focusing on the arts, because you keep mentioning arts and you know culture, what's what is the reason behind it?
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_01: Why is Escondido so strong uh when it comes to the arts?
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_01: We have Pab Paco Pablos here, who's also very into the arts.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: He has these initiatives with you.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, what is the reason behind it?
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_01: Do you have a local artist that are just there living there, or are they moved there for that particular reason?
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I think when I first was elected, uh I began to notice the arts uh more and more in Escondido.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we've had, ever since I lived in Escondido, the Center for the Arts.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_02: It's a gym, underutilized gym.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it is uh top-notch.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_02: We have great performers, two theaters, 1500, one, the other 500.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_02: Uh that's together with we can use outside venues on the park.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it is it is top-notch.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_02: It's just really, we've had world premieres there that are now heading out to other parts of the world to continue.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_02: So there was already some kind of a foundation there for the arts itself.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, the city has an art commission, and they were focusing on developing a lot of uh murals in escondido.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_02: So we decided to have right in downtown the it's called AliArt.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_02: It's right off of Grand, which is right somewhere in the settle, the city uh center of the city.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_02: And you can go and see the murals and hit with your phone the QR code and get the history, the background, the information on that.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_02: So you have all of that already going on in the city.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and then we begin to discover as that's going on the local artists.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_02: Uh recently there was a uh contest for uh the mayor's uh art, uh, and that was just a local, uh, some artists decided they wanted to do that, and there was, I think there were close to a hundred submissions, and that was that was awesome.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_02: Then one day, Paco Pablos uh makes an appointment uh to see the mayor.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_02: The mayor uh calls me and says, Hey, calls me, and I was in my office and said, Hey Joe, why don't you come on over uh and uh meet Paco Pablo?
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_02: So Paco and I, we met at that point, and uh he was talking about some interest that he had uh of developing art but binationally.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um and it so happened that when I was in uh Mexico City to sign the MOUs with one of our sister cities, that it was the launch itself for the first ever digital art uh contest in Mexico at the Cámara de Diputados in Mexico City, there for the Congress.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so I was there, so I had a chance to participate to represent Escondido.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_02: Paco Pablos is one of our local artists.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, the art was going to be showcased once the uh they were chosen uh in escandido, and that was the event that you came to.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so I represented the city at that moment since I was already there.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_02: And uh recently it just concluded, and Paco is actually in Guadalajara right now promoting uh that event as it comes into a second year, and we certainly hope that we have a chance to showcase next year the winners.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_02: And what I would love to do is to have some of our own winners in escondido and show their work in in Mexico.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so those are some of the binational events that are that are going on uh between escondido and uh just kind of in general Mexico.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_03: Super cool.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I have a I have a uh a question a little different, you know, and you're talking about this coming together of you know these Mexico cities, Mexican artists, you know, and your city and artists from Escondido.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_03: What about, you know, because I have this conception, being from San Diego, maybe, of Escondido, like at some point being a bunch of like white ranchers, like big, big, you know, pieces of land, um, very white, you know, and but now we have this, you know, community within Escondido of um largely Spanish-speaking, you know, immigrants or people from states like Oaxaca, Mexico.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_03: And so um just as a model for other places, you know, how do those people come together and work?
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_03: And and what does that all look like and how is it, you know, um transformed over the years based on what you see?
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that that's uh probably a very complicated question and answer, right?
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_02: Uh intentionally, intentionally a lot of PDF.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_02: He's death in you, Joe.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of P going on.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um Escondido has a colored past.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's a tough past that Escondido has.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_02: Uh my children, when they worked in the White House and they said over from Escondido, they knew who Escondido was.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_02: It wasn't because of good things.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_02: Uh there were times where Escondido was uh in the news or decisions that had been made that were directly uh harming the um immigrant community, the undocumented community, and those stopped.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_02: At that time it it created a shift where the Latinos began to desire to be elected, to be represented, to have a seat at the table, to say.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_02: And uh there began to be uh uh uh Hispanos elected to city council, and we continue with that now.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_02: Uh now we have uh there are four of us that are of Latino descent uh on city council.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um and we all have different shades and ideas and how we how how how well we identify with and our own uh uh histories.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um that community, I believe as a pastor, I've had the opportunity to be able to do funerals and weddings and quincenas and in the community itself in escondido.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_02: I no longer pastor in escondido, uh, but I still get invited.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_02: Joe, will you do a quincenera?
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_02: Will you do a funeral?
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_02: Will you do, and I think that's where you see the real community because it'll be in uh an apartment complex parking lot where they're gonna celebrate a wedding or they're gonna celebrate a uh uh quincenera, and the family comes together, and in in our culture, people bring, you know, and I remember a long time ago when I had started as a pastor, and uh somebody said, Oh, esta fiesta, this party, es de traje.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_02: And I took a traje, like you know, suit to the word Spanish, right, in my tie and stuff, and they kind of laughed at me and said, Pastor, es de traje que traje yo algo, traigo comida, traigo, and I got it, and I think that is one of the most beautiful things that continue in escondido that brings that community together, that it's still that simple things.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_02: I have an uh uh some friends, uh, she runs a wonderful organization called Calisclan Baile Folclórico, and she put together an event, went up to the ranchos in in uh uh Valley Center and put together this event, the Wapango, and brought some professional dancers from the states that represent that type of dance.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_02: And she had, I would say, about a thousand people just show up and she got sponsors, and everybody was having fun and music and dancing and a contest that it was all family, not blood family, but there was that family connection, and that continues in escondido.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and I and I think that's very unique to our community.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_03: Amazing.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_01: Love that.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think definitely community is the way to go.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, joke.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_01: I think uh everything that we have for you today, I think it's just amazing.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, just the fact that you're doing things for the community, maybe not what people want to hear, but the fact that you're taking action and taking decisions in the best interest of your community.
• 39:04
  unknown: Right.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_03: So, what's going on now for you?
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_03: You got your two churches, you're doing that, you got these kids doing great things, you know, you're uh on the council, deputy mayor.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_03: What's what's next for you?
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_02: Well, uh 2026, it's a year of election for for me.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm running for for uh re-election to my seat in district two.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so that's off and and running as as we continue to look for ways to make escondido uh uh a better place for our community, a better place for business, a better place for the arts.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I sit on, uh I requested that we have a sister cities uh subcommittee.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_02: And we had our very first meeting yesterday.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_02: Wonderful, healthy dialogue uh with one of my council members, uh colleagues.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_02: And uh now we're trying to take the policy that I wrote and now clean it up, fix it.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_02: Now we've been in this for a little over a year, and now we say, okay, these are the changes that need to happen.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_02: We need more clarity here.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_02: We need to strike this, we need to move that.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_02: And all of those things just keep bringing up we can make something better.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_02: We can make something better, better community events, better organized, bigger uh cultural events.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I brought to the table the discussion of uh binational events.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_02: Escondido, I think, is poised uh where we can begin to host these binational events.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_02: In fact, I just got invited by the San Diego Chamber of Commerce uh to go to uh Washington, D.C.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_02: to begin to uh discuss our region in general.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and I was very excited to receive the invitation and uh to accept that and and uh be able to participate next month on on that.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I'll be talking specifically about immigration reform, which I believe is something that is what we need to work on in order to be able to get past what's going on uh currently.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_02: But for me, I now continue in the ministry, continue working my my job after 35 years, I'll continue doing that.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but it's uh re-election time and you know, we're out there and doing what we need to do and representing the community in ways that that should that that I believe we should do.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_03: Now, if if we have listeners, maybe they're stakeholders in Escondido, maybe not.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe they they just listen and say, man, I like this guy because you know he talks about sitting down, having conversations, building dialogue, building community, building consensus.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_03: Seems like a good leader.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_03: So if they want to support your campaign, like where can they?
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_03: Is it online?
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_03: Is there a way they can donate online or support your campaign online?
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_02: Well, thank you for that.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_02: That that's very, very uh I appreciate that.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_02: Uh yeah, you can go online to joeforescondito.com.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_02: Joeforescondito, and it's not, it's the letters FOR, Joe4escondido.com.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_02: And uh yeah, you can do that.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_02: You you can uh or you can write to me.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_02: I'll give you my personal email, not my city email, uh, but my personal email is really easy.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_02: Pastor, like pastor pastor, Pastor Garcia, all uh one word, Pastor Garcia 777, right?
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_02: Not 666.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_02: And that's my big joke when I say my email, pastor Garcia777 at gmail.com and reach out, send me an email, and we can connect.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I I hang out at different places for for uh coffee, and there we go.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I'd be happy to do that.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_03: And you also have um I think a good uh social media presence.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I think last time you were saying maybe like your wife's good at pushing you on that.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so people want to follow you on Instagram.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_03: Like, what's what's your handle?
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Councilmember Joe Garcia.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_02: Councilmember Joe Garcia.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, you'll be able to find me there in the different social platforms and and connect.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, there's uh my wife is very good at that, and she has taken me from two or three likes to a few more than that.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_01: That's what you need, especially when you want to make escondido an economic engine for North County, you know.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_03: And so um, you know, if if you know, we're lawyers, you know, we always are looking to help, you know, escondido um sounds like, you know, and from our time there has been a cool community, you know, uh, how can professionals that want to get out there and help your constituents, you know, how can they get involved?
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_03: What what advice would you give?
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_02: Well, if you're from Escondido, one of the best things that you can do is get on one of the commissions.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_02: Because as you get on one of the commissions in the city, you begin to have a voice.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_02: You begin to be able to explore.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_02: You begin to be able to share what's going on in Escondido.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_02: That's one way.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_02: Another thing that I talk to, and specifically, I talk to pastors a lot about this.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_02: Build relationships.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_02: Build relationships with those that are elected.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_02: And when you begin to begin, when you begin to build those relationships, then you see a phone call and you're excited to take it.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_02: Doesn't mean you agree, but you take the call because there's a relationship there.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_02: And I believe that we need to be able to have that dialogue and push each other.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_02: Don't just sit down with somebody you agree with, sit with somebody that you disagree with too.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_02: So you both can grow.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_02: So get involved, build the relationships, invest in Escondido.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_02: We have Japan.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_02: I had a delegation come see me to discuss baseball between kids.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_02: Just a very simple, you know, an idea.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_02: But we also have other areas of Japan investing almost$100 million into the mall in Escondido.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_02: So when you're when you're having these dialogues, when you're investing in the community, when you're investing time in the community, you get to know the community in a way that you come in and you share with us and we say, oh wow, I hadn't thought about that.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_02: That's a great idea.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_02: We should do that.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_02: And it was sounded like a great idea.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_02: So now we've gotten to the point where we need now uh more of an official uh organization.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_02: And that's what we're working on.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_02: Now we're beginning to have discussions so we can do that.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_02: So get involved, spend time, invest your time, invest your money, build a business there, live in escondido, build relationships, be part of the community, and you will make a difference.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_02: And it'll be a blessing, not only for you, but for the community, for your family too.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like even for those outsiders like ourselves, actually driving up there, visit wineries, visit downtown, uh, and like them all.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I saw that you guys are doing like pretty good things out there.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_01: It seems like it's in renovation, remodeling.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_01: So uh good luck with that.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_03: So here's a hypothetical, you know, it's uh we're coming up on like high school football season, and they have like a little round robin, you know, game.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_03: Like back when I play, we had this little preseason thing.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_03: I think you would play like a half, I forget what they called it.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_03: But say you had like Escondido, San Pasqual, Orange Glen, they all play each other in a in a round robin.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_03: Who are you rooting for?
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_03: Who's your team?
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I you know, that's that's like when I as a church pastor, I've been in that with soccer games, and they'll say, Pastor, aquí en Leva, who you know, who's who you're rooting for, right?
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I'll always say it's the church that I'm currently at, you know.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_02: So, well, when I was in escondido, escondido, you know, and now it's it's uh the churches that I'm at now, but it would be escondido, of course.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I I love my community, uh it would be escondido all the way.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_03: Escondido all the way.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_03: All right, so you know, wrapping up, if if you um were able to write in the sky, like with clouds, you know, for all the world to see, you know, um something that you wanted people to read and to reflect upon, your words, you know, of guidance for the world that you have up in the sky, what would you write?
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_02: Follow the golden rule.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_02: Follow the golden rule.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_02: Follow the golden rule.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_02: And then if you don't know what it is, go look it up.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_02: Go look it up so you can understand what that is.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um I believe that if we we all do that, if we all do that, there would it be a different world in which we live.
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_03: I love it.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_03: I agree.
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_03: It's uh it's a lesson that we often return to in our little weekly Bible studies here.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_03: There's a lot of talk of that kind of thing.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_03: So um, if you don't know it, look up the golden rule.
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_03: That way it'll stick with you guys, and then you can do a little work on it.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_03: But um, as always, uh great, great privilege to see you.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_03: You always bring such joy and energy and vitality, you know, to everything that you do.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I think that comes from, you know, probably your your faith, you know, like it's just, you know, so vibrant in you.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_03: It just comes out and you have such a love for the people and the issues in your community and and life, you know, that's nice to see.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_03: So thank you for spending your time with us.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for the invitation.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_02: This has been great.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, both.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_02: No, thank you for being here.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_03: Awesome.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_03: So that wraps um this episode of the La Chino.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_03: If you like us, if you like what you heard, if you like the episode, please uh give us a thumbs up, follow us, share us.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_03: We want to get the word out, and don't forget to uh support um what was the website?
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_02: Joe for escondito.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_03: Joe for escondido is that easy.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_03: Joe for escondito.com.com.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_03: Um our deputy mayor, uh community leader is a great you know guy to have out there, you know, leading the charge uh for a growing and dynamic and vibrant community and all of its members.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_03: So uh thank you again.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_03: Uh that's this concludes uh this episode of the La Tino podcast.