Latest / The Chuck ToddCast / Interview Only w/ Mayor Yemi Mobolade - The Independent Mayor Making The Case For Post-Partisan Politics

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Interview Only w/ Mayor Yemi Mobolade - The Independent Mayor Making The Case For Post-Partisan Politics · The Chuck ToddCast

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Speaker 1: As many of you know, very fascinated with this current
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Speaker 1: period of American politics where we have a lot of
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Speaker 1: frustration with the two major parties and you see various attempts.
1:51
Speaker 1: Sometimes it's in red states you see independent candidates. I
1:54
Speaker 1: featured them here. In some blue states where you see
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Speaker 1: independence that may lean wright, but there's been very few
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Speaker 1: examples of independence winning and governing. But one of those
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Speaker 1: places where we've seen that recently is in Colorado Springs.
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Speaker 1: And my guest right now is the mayor of Colorado Springs,
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Speaker 1: Mayor Yemmy Mobilade. Everybody calls him mayor Yemmy, like mayor Pete,
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Speaker 1: mister mayor.
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Speaker 3: Welcome to the Podcastuck, it's an honor to be on
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Speaker 3: your show. Truly, thank you for having me.
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Speaker 1: Thank you for saying that. So look when the most interesting.
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Speaker 1: I mean, in some ways, you were a big splash
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Speaker 1: to me when you first got elected, not just because
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Speaker 1: you got elected as an independent, but you hired your
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Speaker 1: opponent to be your chief of staff. That is what
2:40
Speaker 1: everybody's like, WHOA, this is different. Okay, walk me through
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Speaker 1: that campaign and what you were thinking on hiring your opponent.
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Speaker 4: Yeah.
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Speaker 3: At the end of the day, I was elected to
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Speaker 3: do a job. And the job I was elected to
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Speaker 3: do transcend red and blue. Transcence politics. It's about human flourishing.
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Speaker 3: It's about city flourishing. It's about a quality of life,
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Speaker 3: and Americans are feeling the pain of They feel like
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Speaker 3: they're losing that. And when you are elected by your people,
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Speaker 3: your representative, they expect you to get the job done.
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Speaker 3: While most Americans do hold a political identity, when it
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Speaker 3: comes to the quality of life, they really do not care.
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Speaker 3: And when I was running, I meant it when I
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Speaker 3: said that this leader embraces the team of rivals approach.
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Speaker 3: I am an immigrant. I have this August eleven. In
3:42
Speaker 3: a couple of months would be my thirty year anniversary
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Speaker 3: when I came into this country right the Chicago O'Hare airport,
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Speaker 3: went to college in Indiana and South Bend, Indiana. And
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Speaker 3: one of my connections to the American story is that
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Speaker 3: I share a birthday with a Braham Lincoln, and I'm
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Speaker 3: drawn into that period of American history because I'm drawn
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Speaker 3: to his story.
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Speaker 4: And division in our country was.
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Speaker 3: Present, was present at that time in the mid eighteen hundreds,
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Speaker 3: and we have a president that united the country at
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Speaker 3: all odds, and one of the examples he showed was
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Speaker 3: his ability to bring in the best talent, regardless of
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Speaker 3: whether or not they were rivals of his. And so
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Speaker 3: my leadership, while it feels new and fresh in these times,
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Speaker 3: and I'm happy that there are some good reminders of
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Speaker 3: who we've always been as Americans, I want to be clear.
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Speaker 4: This is old school.
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Speaker 3: So we're bringing We're bringing old school leadership and making
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Speaker 3: it new school at a time that desperately needs new
4:41
Speaker 3: examples of political leadership.
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Speaker 1: Let's talk about Colorado Springs. I'm gonna I'm gonna paint
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Speaker 1: a picture for you that's that of what some people.
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Speaker 2: If you've think you know.
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Speaker 1: Colorado for a long time in politics, and certainly the
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Speaker 1: politics you know, in the nineties, Colorado Springs was the
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Speaker 1: home of cultural conservatism, yes, absolutely, Now Colorado Springs also
5:06
Speaker 1: home of the Air Force Academy. Yes now, and it's
5:12
Speaker 1: which is an army base. Yeah, so army and Air Force.
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Speaker 4: Right.
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Speaker 2: Yes, So.
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Speaker 1: I think for some people of a certain era, and
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Speaker 1: I'll put myself there to see an independent get elected
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Speaker 1: as a surprise, somebody not not from from you know,
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Speaker 1: obviously from from the right side of the aisle. But
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Speaker 1: there had been some evidence of the last decade I've
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Speaker 1: seen in that congressional district got a bit more competitive
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Speaker 1: and you start to see and and a lot of
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Speaker 1: that I think is you chalk it up to Colorado Springs.
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Speaker 2: But you chose to move there, and I'm just curious
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Speaker 2: how it.
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Speaker 1: Clearly you embedded yourself in the community pretty quickly right
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Speaker 1: to be asked to be mayor. And I'm just curious,
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Speaker 1: how would you describe how you were able to convince
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Speaker 1: people that have probably lived there a lot longer than
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Speaker 1: you have that you'd be the best person.
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Speaker 3: That's a great question, And Chuck, I'm still trying to
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Speaker 3: figure it out.
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Speaker 4: If I'm being honest.
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Speaker 1: How do you feel like you connected? Tell me how
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Speaker 1: you connected it? You clearly have connected to the community.
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Speaker 1: I do you believe it is?
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Speaker 4: Is it?
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Speaker 2: Faith?
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Speaker 4: Is it?
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Speaker 2: What is it?
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Speaker 4: It's all the above, it truly is.
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Speaker 3: I am the first non Republican to be elected since
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Speaker 3: Colorado Springs started doing mayor election elections in nineteen seventy nine,
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Speaker 3: the year I was born. I am a true independent.
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Speaker 3: In fact, I take a lot of pride in being
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Speaker 3: dead center. I It's complicated, Chuck, and this is the
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Speaker 3: politics of most Americans. We try to put them in
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Speaker 3: these polarized and opposite and I when you sit down
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Speaker 3: and actually talk with people, you realize it's it's competent.
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Speaker 3: It's complicated. I'm a business leader in Colorado Springs. I'm
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Speaker 3: I'm an immigrant. I'm the first black mayor as well.
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Speaker 3: I am I am a business I'm a former pastor
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Speaker 3: in Colorado Springs. You can already see pieces of my
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Speaker 3: story that it's hard to box me. And even though
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Speaker 3: people try to box me, and I and I went.
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Speaker 3: I ran for office because I love this community and
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Speaker 3: I want to be the change that I do want
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Speaker 3: to see in the world. It's nobody else's response. We
7:27
Speaker 3: can we can complain about the state of affairs. We
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Speaker 3: can say, Okay, what are we going to do about it?
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Speaker 3: And part of me chuck between us. I wanted to
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Speaker 3: see what it looks like to have a regular person
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Speaker 3: with a compelling message and people the silent majority like
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Speaker 3: me that I'm not supposed to be in politics that
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Speaker 3: actually should be running away. I have a front row
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Speaker 3: seat into this experience. And I still hate politics, I
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Speaker 3: want to be clear, but I love public service and
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Speaker 3: it's rewarding and meaningful to serve.
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Speaker 4: Politics suck.
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Speaker 3: But I wanted to see is it possible for a
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Speaker 3: regular person with a story like mine to disrupt the
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Speaker 3: world of politics as an independent and this miracle story.
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Speaker 4: I'm still trying. I'm still trying to wake up on
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Speaker 4: this dream.
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Speaker 3: And I put out a message that was compelling, that
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Speaker 3: connected with the hearts and minds of Americans and it
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Speaker 3: paid off. And it shows you that there is an
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Speaker 3: appetite for different kind of leadership that is not red
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Speaker 3: or blue, that is about a shared vision about the
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Speaker 3: future of our florishan as Americans.
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Speaker 1: Well, let's talk about some of the challenges you're dealing
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Speaker 1: with right now as mayor. Probably the biggest one or
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Speaker 1: at least symbolically that nationally people may be wondering about,
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Speaker 1: is the loss of the Space Command to Huntsville. And
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Speaker 1: you know, this is a delegate political situation. As a city,
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Speaker 1: you chose not to sue and instead, I think there's
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Speaker 1: still an attempt to cooperate. You know, sometimes these decisions
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Speaker 1: are very partisan. It feels as if he wanted to
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Speaker 1: reward a red state over a blue state. That's how
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Speaker 1: you feel, is if you guys got caught in the
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Speaker 1: middle of that.
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Speaker 3: Because absolutely, yeah, yeah, absolutely, I came into office and
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Speaker 3: the decision was reversed. So before President Trump left in
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Speaker 3: twenty twenty, he moved it to Alabama. Biden came moved
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Speaker 3: it back to Colorado, but he thought with two different
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Speaker 3: president and it got reversed. But behind it all a
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Speaker 3: group of Americans he rose, who wake up every day
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Speaker 3: to serve our country. When I speak with them, they're
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Speaker 3: caught up in this political dynamic. Do I want to
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Speaker 3: lose BACE Command? Absolutely not. We are proud military community, Chuck.
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Speaker 3: One hundred thousand veterans, forty five thousand active service members.
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Speaker 3: That's about When you think about it, that's almost about
10:01
Speaker 3: one hundred and fifty thousand.
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Speaker 4: We're a city of half a million.
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Speaker 3: We're talking about a quarter of a population of our
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Speaker 3: city of military oriented, high quality of life. This is
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Speaker 3: a top city for many of our military members in
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Speaker 3: many ways. I'm wearing this right, white and blue today
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Speaker 3: because I got to participate for Carson in the memorial
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Speaker 3: service to honor our fallen.
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Speaker 4: That is who we are.
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Speaker 3: So we fought hard to keep Space Command in this
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Speaker 3: city that rightfully belongs. I can't do anything about politics,
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Speaker 3: but what I can do is to understand the political
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Speaker 3: dynamics around is what is the best decision for both
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Speaker 3: the active members of our active military members that are
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Speaker 3: serving Space Command, the civilians here from them, as well
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Speaker 3: as how do we keep moving forward as a community.
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Speaker 3: While we knew that decision was coming, and I'm proud
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Speaker 3: to say that I still have a great relationship with
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Speaker 3: the Command of Space Command. We've actually developed I've developed
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Speaker 3: a good relationship with Huntsville, the city that's moving to.
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Speaker 3: I've connected with the mayor. We're going to work together
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Speaker 3: on behalf of military members and in behalf of this country.
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Speaker 3: And to his credit, when I met him at actually
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Speaker 3: General white In's house. He looked at me and said, Mayor,
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Speaker 3: don't worry. We're going to take good care of your people.
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Speaker 3: That's another mayor. That is putting politics, I mean putting
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Speaker 3: people ahead of politics.
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Speaker 4: So we do the best with that is leadership.
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Speaker 3: We do the best with the political dynamics, and at
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Speaker 3: the same time, we find ways to fill in the gap.
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Speaker 4: And I'm proud to say so.
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Speaker 3: Many more opportunities are coming to Colorado Springs, even though
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Speaker 3: Space Command is moving.
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Speaker 1: So it sounds like, I mean, you could have picked
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Speaker 1: up you could have filed a lawsuit, picked a political fight.
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Speaker 1: It might have made some people feel emotionally better. It's
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Speaker 1: also possible bull he could have decided to take more
12:04
Speaker 1: away from Colorado Springs, right, right, I mean, I assume
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Speaker 1: these are the type of things you guys had to
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Speaker 1: think about every day.
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Speaker 4: I still get criticized for not suing. I'm both.
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Speaker 3: I want to be clear on both sides, because there's
12:23
Speaker 3: in Colorado.
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Speaker 1: But I don't know what a lawsuit as much as
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Speaker 1: I understand I'm you know, I'm sitting here going lawsuit
12:30
Speaker 1: against the administration, right, good luck?
12:34
Speaker 2: Right? I mean, I you know.
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Speaker 3: I am the chief executive in my city organization. In fact,
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Speaker 3: I was at a DC trip and I had interviews
12:44
Speaker 3: with two or three media folks over there, and he
12:47
Speaker 3: asked me about my opinion, and I said, whether or
12:50
Speaker 3: not you agree with the president, I understand it is
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Speaker 3: within his purview. I make decisions every day on behalf
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Speaker 3: of the city. Every time I make it decision, half
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Speaker 3: of the people are happy, the other half not happy.
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Speaker 3: It is within his purview. So in that way, the
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Speaker 3: President is within his right. I don't like that decision.
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Speaker 3: We fought hard to make a case to keep it here.
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Speaker 3: We worked hard, Chuck to keep it here. Every time
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Speaker 3: I'm in DC, I'm at the White House. I did
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Speaker 3: that under Biden's administration. I'm also doing that other President Trump.
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Speaker 3: It's my job to advocate for the city and in
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Speaker 3: my case, advocating for our military members as well their spouses.
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Speaker 4: And family members.
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Speaker 3: We fought hard to keep it, but the President moved that,
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Speaker 3: and he's within his right suing. It's really just political posture,
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Speaker 3: and I think Americans are tired of political postrate.
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Speaker 1: So you're running for reelection, and so why do you
13:49
Speaker 1: believe you deserve another term?
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Speaker 3: Because One, my leadership is still needed more than ever.
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Speaker 3: We're talking about this independent way of leading, a leadership
14:04
Speaker 3: that is not tied to red or blue, but a
14:05
Speaker 3: shared vision about the future of my city.
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Speaker 4: Two.
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Speaker 3: I am proud of my accomplishments. This city is a
14:14
Speaker 3: lot safer than when I first took office. We have
14:17
Speaker 3: hired nearly three hundred officers in a very short amount
14:20
Speaker 3: of time. You know, you think about where we've come
14:23
Speaker 3: from in terms of twenty twenty George Floyd, and how
14:27
Speaker 3: that has that impact on our police department, and to
14:31
Speaker 3: see this wave of officers leave, and now we have
14:35
Speaker 3: strengthened the force. A nine one one call center operation
14:38
Speaker 3: is it fully staffed the first time since twenty eighteen.
14:42
Speaker 3: What that means is now eighty six percent of calls
14:44
Speaker 3: and now answered under twenty seconds or less. We have
14:47
Speaker 3: improved response times from twenty four minutes to eleven minutes.
14:52
Speaker 3: Practically every area of the data we're showing an impressive decline.
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Speaker 3: We have brought the community together in ways. We talk
15:02
Speaker 3: about my chief of staff, who was my political rival.
15:06
Speaker 3: Here's what's happened in Colorado Springs. A police chief, deputy
15:10
Speaker 3: chief of police in the same room as a formerly
15:12
Speaker 3: incarcerated resident working on public safety priorities and policies together.
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Speaker 3: That is a kind of leadership I have brought to
15:21
Speaker 3: the city, and it is a leadership that has moved
15:24
Speaker 3: us forward and have had so many deliverables. I haven't
15:27
Speaker 3: even talked about economic development at a time where affordability
15:30
Speaker 3: is a pain point. We are have had the most
15:33
Speaker 3: economic development wins in our cities history. And it takes
15:36
Speaker 3: a different kind of leadership that doesn't start from red
15:39
Speaker 3: or blue, but sees opportunity and brings people together to
15:42
Speaker 3: accomplish those deliverables.
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Speaker 1: There's some things you can't do that's out of your
15:47
Speaker 1: purview that people may think is in your purview, but
15:50
Speaker 1: maybe it belongs to the state or it belongs to
15:51
Speaker 1: the Feds, and I know that that can do. And
15:54
Speaker 1: sometimes photo take they don't want to hear, yeah, but right,
15:59
Speaker 1: you know they just want to here.
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Speaker 2: But what's something.
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Speaker 1: That you're dealing with the state on that you wish
16:06
Speaker 1: the state understood should be more of a priority than
16:09
Speaker 1: they make it.
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Speaker 3: Oh, your truck in Colorado Springs politics? My guess is
16:14
Speaker 3: your trucking Colorado politics? And one of this immigrant and
16:21
Speaker 3: outside looking in now participating fully in the American experiment experience.
16:28
Speaker 3: I've only been a citizen, not that long. We're talking
16:33
Speaker 3: six seven years ago. When I finally was able to
16:36
Speaker 3: I've been in the country was thirty and so to
16:38
Speaker 3: be able to vote and not just vote, but also
16:40
Speaker 3: run for office.
16:41
Speaker 4: And the reason why that's important is I.
16:43
Speaker 3: Came from a world of tribalism, political tribalism, where a
16:49
Speaker 3: world that we were taught your main mission is for
16:53
Speaker 3: your tribe to dominate and to lead and destroy the
16:56
Speaker 3: other tribe. When you look at many parts of the
16:59
Speaker 3: world that operates that way, you see very little progress.
17:02
Speaker 3: You see the same challenges over and over. I chose
17:05
Speaker 3: this country that I love so much, and one of
17:08
Speaker 3: the thin parts of this that I love about our
17:11
Speaker 3: country is this thing we call democracy. The very essence
17:15
Speaker 3: of democracy welcomes the competition of ideas and values that
17:21
Speaker 3: is changing on the national level, surely on the state level.
17:26
Speaker 3: I have no issues against my democratic colleagues, but we
17:30
Speaker 3: have a state that is led primarily by Democrats, and
17:33
Speaker 3: because we lack the competition of ideas, we're now hurt
17:38
Speaker 3: in the areas of public safety, in the areas of
17:41
Speaker 3: economic opportunity.
17:42
Speaker 4: You name it. I mean the.
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Speaker 3: Recent rankings came out and Colorado is now the third
17:48
Speaker 3: most expensive place to live in a country. That is
17:50
Speaker 3: not a rank and that proud that I'm proud of.
17:53
Speaker 3: And so I can't do much about the bills that
18:00
Speaker 3: get push forward in a state level, that gets signed
18:04
Speaker 3: into law.
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Speaker 4: We do our best to get ahead of it.
18:06
Speaker 3: We do our best to welcome our state legislators into
18:10
Speaker 3: our local dynamic thing. I sometimes I give them toward
18:13
Speaker 3: let's go into business tour, talk to business owners, talk
18:16
Speaker 3: to staff, get the real story so that you can
18:19
Speaker 3: represent us well. And that is frustrating as heck, not
18:23
Speaker 3: much I can.
18:24
Speaker 1: How would you describe your how would you describe your
18:26
Speaker 1: relationship with the governor?
18:28
Speaker 4: It's good, I am.
18:29
Speaker 3: I take I take great pride in having a good
18:32
Speaker 3: relationship with with leaders from.
18:34
Speaker 4: Both all sides of the aisle. I have I have.
18:38
Speaker 3: I have relationships that spend all the way from MAGA
18:41
Speaker 3: to DSA.
18:42
Speaker 4: Now I am frustrated with because.
18:46
Speaker 3: I I my my idealism believes that if I can
18:52
Speaker 3: meet with them, if I could sit with them, if
18:54
Speaker 3: we can we can debate the issues we I believe
18:58
Speaker 3: in task conflict over real relationship conflict. Where we're getting
19:01
Speaker 3: at as a country is we're name calling and we
19:04
Speaker 3: need a debate around the issues. And sometimes that works,
19:08
Speaker 3: but many times I feel like people are stuck in
19:12
Speaker 3: those values and chuck, I gotta be honest. I got
19:14
Speaker 3: to be honest. I get weary in this work of unity.
19:20
Speaker 3: It is harder. It's so hard. I met with a
19:24
Speaker 3: group of leaders today two evenings ago, and leaders that
19:28
Speaker 3: I get to see in the community, and they represent
19:32
Speaker 3: these I would call the silent majority. And though this
19:36
Speaker 3: leader put his arms on me and said thank you
19:39
Speaker 3: for fighting for unity, and I just got really teary
19:42
Speaker 3: and I said, I'm weary. I don't know how long
19:45
Speaker 3: I can do it. I said, I'm tired. I'm working hard.
19:48
Speaker 3: I maybe this dream is just a pipe dream, it's
19:51
Speaker 3: not real. And he looked at me and he said,
19:54
Speaker 3: there's so many of us that are like you in
19:56
Speaker 3: this city. Keep going. We're behind you. We don't up
20:00
Speaker 3: at city Hall. We're not calling you office, but we
20:03
Speaker 3: do exist. We see you. We represent a big group
20:06
Speaker 3: of Americans that love the work you're doing. Keep going.
20:10
Speaker 3: And that was really important for me to hear.
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21:54
Speaker 1: I look, you wouldn't have gotten elected if there wasn't
21:56
Speaker 1: that belief. I mean, there clearly is an exhaustion. It's
22:01
Speaker 1: out there. And you know, in some ways you have
22:03
Speaker 1: an advantage because you you've identified your advantage. You've been
22:09
Speaker 1: both you've been able to be here as an observer
22:13
Speaker 1: and at the same time, you came from somewhere where
22:16
Speaker 1: you have a comparative and it's it is this, you know,
22:20
Speaker 1: And I and I think my guess is people like
22:23
Speaker 1: the fact that you can see it that way and
22:27
Speaker 1: realize it's yeah, that's work. Yeah, you know, we know
22:32
Speaker 1: it doesn't work. And and you know, look, I I
22:35
Speaker 1: I bow at the altar of the of the cliche.
22:37
Speaker 2: Politics ab horrors of vacuum.
22:39
Speaker 1: And it's why politics ab horrors of vacuum, meaning there's
22:44
Speaker 1: always a desire for a check, always a desire for
22:51
Speaker 1: some sort of you know, ful crome, right whatever, and
22:55
Speaker 1: and so you know this stuff goes in cycles. You know,
22:59
Speaker 1: I think I think the lack of two party competition
23:02
Speaker 1: in Colorado is a is a certain brand of Republicanism.
23:06
Speaker 1: And you know the Romney Republican Party can be competitive
23:09
Speaker 1: in Colorado.
23:10
Speaker 4: Right yeah, I I.
23:14
Speaker 1: On the Republican side than the and then of course,
23:16
Speaker 1: you know that's why the Democratic tent looks bigger at
23:18
Speaker 1: the moment.
23:19
Speaker 3: I think Eastern Colorado. No, that that that that is
23:23
Speaker 3: well said. I I long for the days. You have
23:26
Speaker 3: a former governor of Colorado, Governor Ritter, who was after
23:31
Speaker 3: Governor Owens, who is a Republican governor. Governor Ritter is
23:34
Speaker 3: a Democratic governor. I remember when Governor Rider said, I'm
23:39
Speaker 3: a conservative Democrat. I'm a pro life Democrat. I'm not
23:42
Speaker 3: even sure my party accepts me anymore. And that's what
23:46
Speaker 3: I mean that it's complicated. That's what Colorado used to be,
23:49
Speaker 3: the pink, purple is state where.
23:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's there's a few states out there that I
23:55
Speaker 1: think have an allergy to this brand of conservatism.
23:59
Speaker 4: Well, I'll say our state is no longer purple. I
24:01
Speaker 4: think it's my.
24:03
Speaker 3: City, my city, and I believe that we are the
24:07
Speaker 3: last stronghold to decent.
24:11
Speaker 4: Good politics in the state.
24:12
Speaker 3: I think the road to a future Colorado runs through
24:16
Speaker 3: Colorado Springs. We are going to teach the state in
24:18
Speaker 3: the world what good not just good politics, but good
24:22
Speaker 3: policies look like. And we and hire Wayne. It's a
24:28
Speaker 3: great example of that. Let me, can I tell you
24:29
Speaker 3: a little bit more of that relationship?
24:31
Speaker 1: Well, I'm just curious. So you guys running against each other? Yeah,
24:34
Speaker 1: did you attack each other like on substance?
24:37
Speaker 2: I'm sure you did.
24:38
Speaker 3: Me.
24:39
Speaker 1: Let me just Wayne, why do you believe you should
24:42
Speaker 1: have been mayor and not him?
24:43
Speaker 3: That's a great question, because now I've brought him onto
24:47
Speaker 3: my team.
24:47
Speaker 4: Man, you're good.
24:49
Speaker 2: But she decided you didn't think he was qualified for
24:52
Speaker 2: the job.
24:52
Speaker 4: Why No, I didn't. I don't. I did not say
24:56
Speaker 4: it was not qualified.
24:57
Speaker 3: Let's be clear, Wayne, how Because Wayne is a former
24:59
Speaker 3: sy Categoria of State for the state of Colorado. Wayne
25:02
Speaker 3: is a former city council member. Wayne is a former
25:06
Speaker 3: county commissioner two terms. Wayne is a former county clerk
25:11
Speaker 3: and recorder. You can see he clearly has twenty plus
25:14
Speaker 3: years of experience. What I bring to the table is
25:18
Speaker 3: a different level of leadership than politics. Wayne ran his
25:24
Speaker 3: campaign that was more traditional, and when you go from
25:28
Speaker 3: Redo Blue into the political dynamics of Colorado Springs and
25:31
Speaker 3: most American municipalities have this challenge. You have a good
25:37
Speaker 3: boys club, a political dynamic.
25:39
Speaker 4: It's not even about Redo Blue.
25:40
Speaker 3: It is about just a small group of people that
25:44
Speaker 3: make decisions on behalf of everyone. And I represent a
25:47
Speaker 3: new generation of the table's bigger disables longer, Let's get
25:51
Speaker 3: more voices at the table to help shape the future
25:54
Speaker 3: of our city. And that was the main difference. We
25:57
Speaker 3: started with a field of twelve. Of us six seven
26:01
Speaker 3: of them all had political experience. I'm a political newcomer.
26:05
Speaker 3: I am given a message that resonates with people. I'm
26:09
Speaker 3: also keep in mind I also have a lot of
26:12
Speaker 3: community leadership. My leadership, what I was saying, has been tried,
26:17
Speaker 3: tested and proven. Everything I've done up to that point
26:21
Speaker 3: was about radical collaboration, bringing people together to accomplish things
26:26
Speaker 3: that are bigger than any one of us. This community
26:29
Speaker 3: was willing to give that a chance. And I also
26:32
Speaker 3: ran a campaign that was clean. I was attacked, some
26:38
Speaker 3: of the candidates attacked each other, but my campaign was
26:40
Speaker 3: clean and that sent a message throughout a lot of
26:43
Speaker 3: residents and they wanted to give that type of leadership
26:46
Speaker 3: a try.
26:49
Speaker 1: So I want to talk about a few things that
26:51
Speaker 1: many cities deal with. And you know so right now,
26:56
Speaker 1: data centers are this are a pain point in every
27:01
Speaker 1: local community, it seems in the country.
27:03
Speaker 4: Were you in my meeting this morning?
27:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, so that's what so I just did.
27:08
Speaker 1: I was just just came out of an interview with
27:10
Speaker 1: the Congressman Frankly on the East Coast, who represents probably
27:15
Speaker 1: on the East coast, one of the hubs of the
27:17
Speaker 1: data centers at the moment, Louden County, Virginia.
27:22
Speaker 2: And just the public's on.
27:24
Speaker 1: Fire on it, you know, And whether it's about the
27:28
Speaker 1: issue itself or just AI scares them, I don't know which.
27:32
Speaker 1: How how is it playing in your community? And what's
27:36
Speaker 1: where are you on this?
27:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, this is fleshing out in real time. It's interesting
27:41
Speaker 3: you asked that question. I had a meeting this morning.
27:44
Speaker 3: I called an emergency meeting seven o'clock yesterday morning to
27:48
Speaker 3: bring the key leaders around around his issue and to
27:52
Speaker 3: ensure that we create a better we have a better strategy,
27:56
Speaker 3: and we create alignment. And this is one of those areas, Chuck,
27:58
Speaker 3: that I feel like where my leadership shines, because here
28:02
Speaker 3: is the current crisis now in most many American cities
28:06
Speaker 3: and now we're dealing with this is you are. You
28:10
Speaker 3: only have one of two options. Either you are pro
28:13
Speaker 3: data center and growth of all costs, or you are
28:16
Speaker 3: against it because of all the issues, whether it's environment,
28:21
Speaker 3: AI taking jobs, and there's a long list of them.
28:25
Speaker 3: The answer is in the middle. In seminary, I learned
28:28
Speaker 3: a term called churchham quid. It's Latin for a third way.
28:33
Speaker 3: Churchham quid means a sense of belonging to two opposing values,
28:37
Speaker 3: but neither one of them are the answers. The answer,
28:40
Speaker 3: the sweet spot is in the middle, and we are
28:42
Speaker 3: in the We're right in the center of developing that
28:45
Speaker 3: middle solution of a balanced but responsible growth. We must
28:51
Speaker 3: grow as a city. I do not want to become
28:53
Speaker 3: a ghost down. We need to add more jobs, we
28:55
Speaker 3: need more housing, like most American cities, but we cannot
28:58
Speaker 3: do it in a way that is tone deaf and
29:00
Speaker 3: not listen to the values and the needs of our residents.
29:04
Speaker 3: And so it's it's around policies that allow us to
29:08
Speaker 3: say what do we say yes to, what do we
29:10
Speaker 3: say no to? And how do we put on display
29:13
Speaker 3: to our residents all their needs around infrastructure concerns of
29:16
Speaker 3: which they believe that these data centers will take away
29:20
Speaker 3: from their quality.
29:21
Speaker 1: I mean, let me put a few things at you,
29:23
Speaker 1: because it's there are a few ideas circulating, and it's
29:29
Speaker 1: in some ways it's just what this member of Congress
29:32
Speaker 1: is sort of through out there, not as just different
29:35
Speaker 1: ideas that are being debated that these data centers because
29:39
Speaker 1: they can become security concerns. They've been attacked in when
29:43
Speaker 1: that's another reason some communities are nervous about them, that
29:47
Speaker 1: they ought to only be on military basis.
29:49
Speaker 4: M hm. Again, have you been have you what you're
29:54
Speaker 4: my meetings? Yeah, and that's what makes coloratists bring in
29:57
Speaker 4: such a unique city.
29:58
Speaker 1: I was just going to say in that sense, Yeah,
30:00
Speaker 1: you know, you guys have a big military base.
30:03
Speaker 4: They have their military installations.
30:06
Speaker 1: Right, and they have plenty of access to power that
30:09
Speaker 1: doesn't disrupt your community.
30:11
Speaker 2: I assume correct, Yeah, with it.
30:15
Speaker 3: So I over the weekend, I called two of the
30:17
Speaker 3: four stars just to get their perspective. And I called
30:19
Speaker 3: the two start to get their perspective to What I
30:22
Speaker 3: love about our military partners is that they're like me.
30:25
Speaker 4: And this is why, by the way, some of my.
30:27
Speaker 3: Best relationships chuck when it comes to politics, believe it
30:31
Speaker 3: or not, Some of my best relationships with how military
30:34
Speaker 3: partners and also how Western folks, the cowboys, and what
30:39
Speaker 3: they have in common is just old school traditional work
30:43
Speaker 3: ethics or good people and they see that in me.
30:45
Speaker 3: Our military partners will say we like it because may
30:48
Speaker 3: are you a mission critical So checking in with our
30:51
Speaker 3: military partners, they actually share the same values.
30:55
Speaker 4: Around data centers.
30:56
Speaker 3: One of the things non negotiable is I heard that
30:59
Speaker 3: data storage is really important in terms of our nation security.
31:03
Speaker 3: We need it too, is and we don't want anything
31:07
Speaker 3: that takes away from our quality of life because we
31:10
Speaker 3: two are members of this community and we depend on
31:13
Speaker 3: our utility infrastructure for our standard operations. Yes, yes, yes,
31:18
Speaker 3: I love it that they are and it so how
31:21
Speaker 3: do we get to how do we get to yes,
31:23
Speaker 3: were the things that support our operations. And I've since learned,
31:26
Speaker 3: like you said, yeah, there are some data centers that
31:29
Speaker 3: will reside within the installations. There are and because of
31:34
Speaker 3: you know, higher classification and security needs, there are some
31:37
Speaker 3: too that they've told me will be outside of the installation.
31:41
Speaker 3: And these are data centers that support the contracts the
31:47
Speaker 3: Boeings and the aerospace defense companies that do support the military.
31:52
Speaker 3: So it puts us in a very unique place in
31:54
Speaker 3: terms of what I can help champion and as a
31:57
Speaker 3: mayor and what I frankly have to say no too,
32:00
Speaker 3: because there are certainly through our sholds where if it's
32:05
Speaker 3: going to have a big impact in my community, I
32:09
Speaker 3: would not be a good mayor to sit on the sidelines.
32:12
Speaker 1: What's your one of those red lines? You must have
32:14
Speaker 1: a couple of red lines? Well we have we have
32:17
Speaker 1: so right now.
32:18
Speaker 3: So Colorado Springs, Colordo Springs has its own utilities that
32:23
Speaker 3: provides power, water, stormwater and what's that?
32:29
Speaker 4: Oh, yes, and sewort. Yeah.
32:30
Speaker 3: And it's a city owned enterprise. It's its own business
32:34
Speaker 3: and functions as itself. It's supposed to be profitable and
32:37
Speaker 3: help reduce the the the great payers cost, it's working
32:43
Speaker 3: and because we get to control those decisions. It's a
32:45
Speaker 3: it's a government run entity, so we're benefiting compared to
32:48
Speaker 3: a number of communities where it's run by private entities.
32:52
Speaker 3: So we are looking at it in terms of where
32:55
Speaker 3: are those threasholds, for example, anything ten megawatts and bigger.
33:00
Speaker 3: We have terrorists and we put the ownership on the
33:04
Speaker 3: data center and many, many, many times we expect them.
33:06
Speaker 4: To say no, thank you.
33:09
Speaker 3: So Tim, Mega Watson and Less our utility company will
33:13
Speaker 3: support not just data centers, but the Swire, Coca Colas
33:18
Speaker 3: and Freedom Lay and many of these companies that also
33:21
Speaker 3: need power for their operations. So that those are things
33:24
Speaker 3: that we have put in place. And we've done the
33:26
Speaker 3: same thing too with on water conservation and restriction. We
33:30
Speaker 3: we have been I'm really proud of my city that
33:32
Speaker 3: we have been way ahead of the times that we're
33:36
Speaker 3: in right now, as I check in with my colleagues
33:39
Speaker 3: across the state and across the country, many of them
33:42
Speaker 3: are trying to enact a lot of the things that
33:44
Speaker 3: we as a city had have already done.
33:50
Speaker 4: Well.
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35:36
Speaker 2: So you expect to.
35:38
Speaker 1: Exp have more data centers expanding color in color response
35:43
Speaker 1: not necessary.
35:45
Speaker 4: I expect to have a data center.
35:48
Speaker 3: Well two, I don't know yet, but we're not going
35:51
Speaker 3: to be the community I just says, come because so
35:56
Speaker 3: we're tightening our we're tightened our policies to ensure that
36:01
Speaker 3: any projects, not just data centers.
36:04
Speaker 4: Data centers are now the new.
36:08
Speaker 3: Political weaponize, right, no, no, no, And as we fight over
36:13
Speaker 3: the new weaponize, and sometimes we missed that the fact
36:17
Speaker 3: that what if there's a project that is about to
36:19
Speaker 3: come to our city as actually requests a more power
36:22
Speaker 3: than the data center, we'll say no to.
36:24
Speaker 4: So we have to look under the hood.
36:26
Speaker 3: And so we in Colorados we talk about large load users, okay,
36:32
Speaker 3: and our utility company is very intentional about we're not
36:36
Speaker 3: just weaponizing that. We're looking. We're assessing the right companies
36:40
Speaker 3: as a whole. Colorado Spain says yes too, and frankly,
36:44
Speaker 3: we say no to.
36:48
Speaker 1: Do you feel that because you have a little more
36:51
Speaker 1: control of your utilities, you have a little more leverage
36:54
Speaker 1: we do.
36:55
Speaker 3: I'm frankly our residents have more control with you because
36:57
Speaker 3: it's a and it's our border. Directors are a nine
37:01
Speaker 3: city council member board, so we do have that in
37:04
Speaker 3: some ways that advantage.
37:07
Speaker 4: I also think we.
37:10
Speaker 3: It's weird to bring it back to me, but we're
37:13
Speaker 3: living in a time where independent leadership is needed more
37:17
Speaker 3: than ever. I am independent of special interest groups. I
37:20
Speaker 3: am independent of red blue. I get to make decisions
37:24
Speaker 3: that are in the best interests of my community. I
37:26
Speaker 3: am forty seven years old, I am four three years
37:29
Speaker 3: into a four year term. Lord willing, I get to
37:31
Speaker 3: serve four more years and guess what, I am going
37:34
Speaker 3: to be a community member in this city.
37:36
Speaker 4: So I get to live with the decisions that I make.
37:39
Speaker 3: So I am not just fighting as for the right
37:42
Speaker 3: decisions as mayor. I am fighting for the right decisions
37:45
Speaker 3: you know when I am not when I'm for fifty
37:47
Speaker 3: three at fifty two years old, and my kids are
37:50
Speaker 3: living in this in this community either benefiting of being
37:54
Speaker 3: hurt by the decisions that I made in my time
37:56
Speaker 3: of service.
37:59
Speaker 1: The upside of these data centers is that they do
38:03
Speaker 1: it's a way to bring some more tax dollars, right.
38:06
Speaker 3: Absolutely, uh to pay for things, and I need it.
38:09
Speaker 3: I want to be clear, what do you I.
38:11
Speaker 1: Was just gonna say, I'm sure there's some residents who
38:14
Speaker 1: don't like hearing that that you're going to consider this.
38:18
Speaker 2: What do you tell them? Tell them, tell them why
38:21
Speaker 2: these tax dollars matter.
38:22
Speaker 3: So much well to those residents. And you've you've asked me,
38:26
Speaker 3: asked me to fix your pop poles. You've asked me
38:30
Speaker 3: to repave your roads. You've you've said you need more
38:34
Speaker 3: police presence in our community. You've said that you we
38:38
Speaker 3: have to do something about traffic safety, about road rage
38:42
Speaker 3: and some of the a lot of number of these issues.
38:45
Speaker 3: You've said that right now, you you want higher paying jobs.
38:50
Speaker 3: You've said that you it's it's hard to live in
38:52
Speaker 3: this in this community, and we have to go after
38:55
Speaker 3: some of those of companies and and provide meaningful incentive.
39:00
Speaker 3: Everything that my residents have asked me to do demands money.
39:05
Speaker 3: Our city budget in the city outside the thirty ninth
39:10
Speaker 3: largest city in the country, our city budget is minimum.
39:14
Speaker 3: When I check in with my colleagues, I'm all from jealous,
39:17
Speaker 3: not that they don't have needs, but they have much
39:20
Speaker 3: three to four times their budget size, and so you
39:23
Speaker 3: can't have it both ways. What is because we have
39:27
Speaker 3: competing interests and that's what I mean again independent leadership.
39:30
Speaker 3: To sit in the middle of these competing and.
39:33
Speaker 1: The data set argument's harder. I mean because it doesn't
39:37
Speaker 1: create jobs.
39:39
Speaker 3: No, it doesn't. And as an economic developer, I'm aware
39:44
Speaker 3: of that. Yeah, in fact, five six, seven years ago
39:47
Speaker 3: and we were saying no because it doesn't great job.
39:50
Speaker 3: But what we do know too is that their technology
39:53
Speaker 3: is evolving. But that's not even why when making I
39:58
Speaker 3: have to look at everything from a very from an
40:01
Speaker 3: area that is calculated, systematic. We believe the right project
40:07
Speaker 3: could bring the right investment, and that investment could be
40:12
Speaker 3: used to further other investment in the city. What I'm
40:14
Speaker 3: not saying is that we're going to be a city
40:16
Speaker 3: open to all data centers. What I am saying is
40:20
Speaker 3: that we're going to go through a criteria. We're going
40:23
Speaker 3: to have policies to who we say yes to that
40:27
Speaker 3: I don't know how many we're going to see. Is
40:29
Speaker 3: that one is that too? But we're not going to
40:30
Speaker 3: be the community that says welcome. We're going to look
40:33
Speaker 3: at it in a very calculated form to say what
40:36
Speaker 3: does our community need and how can we take those
40:38
Speaker 3: revenues to actually court jobs that court companies that actually
40:44
Speaker 3: provide more jobs for our residents. These things are not
40:48
Speaker 3: a yes or they're not binary. They are very much systematic,
40:53
Speaker 3: calculated all about strategies. One decision that unlocks opportunity for
40:58
Speaker 3: more opportunities.
41:00
Speaker 1: All right, before I let you go, I'm going to
41:03
Speaker 1: hit you with one more, which is on housing. I'm
41:05
Speaker 1: very familiar with Pensacola, which is another military community, and
41:10
Speaker 1: it is over the last five years they have suddenly
41:13
Speaker 1: started to run out of housing and run out of Reynolds.
41:17
Speaker 1: And my guess is you're running into some similar issues
41:21
Speaker 1: in Colorado Springs. It's just like Pensacola, there are desirable
41:24
Speaker 1: places to live.
41:25
Speaker 2: People keep coming. You've got government.
41:27
Speaker 1: Contractors, a lot of temporary housing, all these things that
41:30
Speaker 1: are that there's demands on that. Sometimes a smaller city
41:36
Speaker 1: like yours doesn't have that capacity and desperately needs You know,
41:43
Speaker 1: what is your housing situation.
41:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's like many cities across the country, Colorado
41:51
Speaker 3: Springs is not immune to the housing crisis in many ways.
41:55
Speaker 3: What makes ours so unique is, like you said, Pensacola,
41:58
Speaker 3: we are We're not only a desirable city from military partners,
42:01
Speaker 3: we are a desirable city for the country.
42:04
Speaker 4: I mean for.
42:06
Speaker 1: Seven years we were showing up in there. So you're
42:08
Speaker 1: like all these other people. You move to Colorado and
42:10
Speaker 1: you never leave.
42:11
Speaker 2: Trust me.
42:12
Speaker 1: I hear that from my real from Native Colorado and says, yeah,
42:15
Speaker 1: everybody who visits, don't visit because nobody leaves.
42:18
Speaker 4: Yes, that's what they say. Don't don't tell them we're
42:20
Speaker 4: desirable city. When we promote those rankings, people say.
42:24
Speaker 2: Stop, stop, we don't want that to become more people, right.
42:27
Speaker 4: No, more people.
42:28
Speaker 3: But and we you know, we were hit like many
42:31
Speaker 3: cities around the Great Recession. So at this current season,
42:36
Speaker 3: we are twenty seven thousand units short of the housing
42:39
Speaker 3: that we need. And when you project to about twenty
42:42
Speaker 3: thirty two twenty thirty five, that's another six we're about
42:45
Speaker 3: sixty thousand short. So what are we doing about it?
42:49
Speaker 3: It's an all hands on deck approach, same thing with homelessness,
42:53
Speaker 3: all hands and deck approach.
42:55
Speaker 4: From the zoning laws that we we that.
42:58
Speaker 3: I have control over to promote more housing, to the
43:01
Speaker 3: rapid response process, through the permitting process that I can
43:05
Speaker 3: use to encourage your development to to get to ribbon
43:10
Speaker 3: cuttings faster, to move at the speed of business. To
43:14
Speaker 3: our partnerships with the state and a lock unlock and
43:17
Speaker 3: funding there, to a partnership with the FEDS. And because
43:20
Speaker 3: of a lot of the hot funding that we have received,
43:22
Speaker 3: a lot of that money that has come through me
43:25
Speaker 3: in the last three years have now resulted in about
43:27
Speaker 3: three thousand units that are currently open under construction, are
43:32
Speaker 3: about to be open to our partnerships with the private developers,
43:38
Speaker 3: and many of them now are being a.
43:40
Speaker 4: Part of the house.
43:41
Speaker 1: What is the biggest what's the biggest hold up? What
43:43
Speaker 1: is the is it? What what keeps this from because
43:48
Speaker 1: a lot of places are short, catch up is that.
43:51
Speaker 2: That's just what it is, just catch up that lot
43:53
Speaker 2: enough we have.
43:53
Speaker 3: We're playing catch up because the recession, after the recession
43:57
Speaker 3: of OA, not much development is what's happening.
44:02
Speaker 4: People were developed with hesitant.
44:05
Speaker 2: You get a surge of population during COVID and.
44:07
Speaker 4: We then we got a surge of population Colorado Springs.
44:10
Speaker 3: When I moved in twenty ten, moved from we were
44:12
Speaker 3: that city where young people were saying, well, the city
44:16
Speaker 3: is not cool enough. Now for two years, Zilla name
44:19
Speaker 3: does the number one and two city for young people
44:22
Speaker 3: to move in, and so now it's it's it's plain
44:26
Speaker 3: catch up. We need to unlock the supply and the
44:27
Speaker 3: diversity of housing. But frankly, it's also connected to what
44:32
Speaker 3: we talked about the role of the state and in
44:35
Speaker 3: legislation that the state often passes. It actually makes our
44:40
Speaker 3: job harder. That makes it harder for.
44:42
Speaker 2: Something that they passed that made one of them.
44:45
Speaker 4: Is a construction defect.
44:47
Speaker 3: The trial attorneys have these perfection scenario for them where
44:51
Speaker 3: they can sue developers, primarily around condos.
44:55
Speaker 4: They work with owners.
44:56
Speaker 3: So when there are mistakes that are made in and
45:00
Speaker 3: some of them a minor in these housing developments, they
45:03
Speaker 3: work with the owners, and I don't want to minimize
45:06
Speaker 3: you as an owner. We're owners and you buy a
45:09
Speaker 3: home and you go, that's not what I purchase. But
45:11
Speaker 3: what we've been asking from the state is the right
45:14
Speaker 3: to remedy for these builders to go back and make
45:17
Speaker 3: it right. But right now, the way the laws are
45:20
Speaker 3: set up, it really penalizes the develop us from millions
45:23
Speaker 3: and millions of dollars. So what they've said is we're
45:25
Speaker 3: not building condos and town homes anymore, and so we
45:28
Speaker 3: have this missing gap of.
45:32
Speaker 1: That's what do you feel like is the the status
45:35
Speaker 1: of housing you're missing the most exactly.
45:37
Speaker 4: That's what I say.
45:38
Speaker 3: It's multi faceted. It's multi there's so many solutions. It's
45:43
Speaker 3: not just one thing. That's a number of things that
45:46
Speaker 3: we have to address to unlock the supply of housing.
45:49
Speaker 3: And one that is really near and there, to me, Chuck,
45:52
Speaker 3: is just housing innovation. The building materials are way too expensive.
45:57
Speaker 3: We're trying to do the same thing that we've been
46:01
Speaker 3: doing for the last eighty years and expect the result
46:04
Speaker 3: to be different. I'm a big proponent of we have
46:07
Speaker 3: to start thinking of new ways to build homes. Weather
46:10
Speaker 3: it's three manufacturing, whether it's manufactured homes. I live in
46:14
Speaker 3: a home that was built eighteen ninety eight. I live
46:17
Speaker 3: in a historic part of Colorado Springs. If you try
46:20
Speaker 3: to build the type of house that I live in
46:22
Speaker 3: today that was that is about eight hundred thousand, but
46:27
Speaker 3: it would be probably three million. But we don't build
46:30
Speaker 3: homes the same way that we used to back then.
46:33
Speaker 3: But we've been building homes the same way over the
46:35
Speaker 3: last eighty years, and it's time to start rethinking how
46:39
Speaker 3: we build homes in a way that still retains a
46:41
Speaker 3: quality and value of those homes, to catch up to
46:44
Speaker 3: speed of this most innovative technologically time that we live
46:49
Speaker 3: in human history.
46:52
Speaker 2: Mary Emmy, it's been great to get to know you.
46:56
Speaker 4: Thank you.
46:58
Speaker 1: Got to be passionate about a lot of is chuck no, no, no,
47:01
Speaker 1: I mean I get.
47:02
Speaker 4: A reminder of why why I'm doing this?
47:04
Speaker 1: Thank you, And you know, I also want, you know, people,
47:06
Speaker 1: both to get to know independent leadership, but frankly to
47:09
Speaker 1: talk about issues that everybody's talking about in their own
47:11
Speaker 1: neighborhoods and just hear how's one community tackling it right.
47:15
Speaker 2: And it's been interesting.
47:18
Speaker 3: This would be some final way I really do believe
47:20
Speaker 3: the leadership of our future, whether even if you're red
47:23
Speaker 3: of blue, it's still you have to be.
47:26
Speaker 4: You have to have some level of independent leadership. I
47:29
Speaker 4: think so.
47:30
Speaker 1: Look, our first president was an independent. Hmmm, come on,
47:36
Speaker 1: you know, and there's something there's something something to be
47:39
Speaker 1: said about it. But uh, you know we only apparently
47:43
Speaker 1: tried it once.
47:46
Speaker 4: That we preach. You can say that again.
47:50
Speaker 3: No, thank you for the role you're doing and telling
47:52
Speaker 3: these stories, and I hope our conversation.
47:55
Speaker 1: Can bring hope. It's about these things. Know, the polls
48:01
Speaker 1: always tell you they want to elect an independent, but
48:03
Speaker 1: then you know they never vote necessarily the way they
48:07
Speaker 1: say not funny, yeah, and so, but once they see
48:13
Speaker 1: it in action, then you know that's what you have
48:15
Speaker 1: to do. It just takes time, one one office at
48:18
Speaker 1: a time. Maryami, good luck, Thank you,