Latest / Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott / Campaign 2024 - Tallahassee Seat 1 City Commission Candidate Louis Dilbert
Transcript
- Lewis Dilbert is a political newcomer, but he is far from new to the community of Tallahassee. It means a lot to him, and so he has decided to run for Tallahassee City Commission seat one against incumbent Jack Porter, who, I need to mention, chose to not accept an invitation to sit down and have a conversation. So this is my chat with Lewis, and I think you'll enjoy it, all right, Louis fairness disclosure for people listening. Lewis and I attend the same church together. I have known Louis and his wife Felicia for a number of years now, and so I would say we're friends and we're brothers in Christ. And so with that said, I wanted to disclose that we do have a personal relationship. But now we're going to talk about have you lost your mind? What day? You're asking me? Well? As your friend, No, I and you know what I do? Yes, I know what you do. But before we get to the snapshot of who you are for people that do not know you, right, why did you make the decision to get into a political race? Oh boy, I tell you from a spiritual perspective, I feel like that's where that's where God was leading me, right, Okay, I've always had an aspiration to serve the public in some capacity, not just do my profession in education, but do public service. Just didn't know when that time would come. And I don't know. Some days I think I am crazy for jumping into this and whatnot. But it's been a great experience, and it's been a learning experience and I'm enjoying it. I'm committed to having as much fun as possible. When you say a great experience, capsule that for me? What have you enjoyed most? Because I just tell people, even people that I think they are just genuinely crazy with what they think or believe politically right, I respect anybody that throws their hat in the ring because it is not for sissies, y, it is not for the faint of heart. So what have you enjoyed about this process? I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting people in the community, learning about issues that I may not have known there was an issue because somebody. It was an issue to somebody who lives here. And so we have and we have such a diversity of issues that people feel passionate about you hear about certain ones that sound the ones that sound you know that, hey, these they're sexy, but the sexy issues that people want to talk about all the time that are as popular, but they're the ones that they are not as popular. And you learn about those two and how much that means to that particular person, that elderly person, that veteran, that that teenager who can't even vote. And so I think I have really enjoyed meeting people and getting to learn new stuff about the communit you need that I've lived in for twenty five years. Lewis is running against incumbent Jack Porter. And before we get to any of that and start unpacking the issues that you think are important in that race, let's go ahead and give everybody a snapshot of who you are, what you've done professionally. Your background. Well, I am originally from Miami, born to two parents that migrated from Honduras back in the sixties during very tumultuous time in the country. And so they met here and they got married and have five of us, you know, and so and I have siblings that my dad had four kids before we got He got married to my mom and they live in Honduras as well, So I'm but you would turn Afro Latino and so and I but I don't speak Spanish, so that was disserviced. But nonetheless, I've been get myself for Rosetta Stone so I can learn because it's a beautiful it's a beautiful culture that we belong to. And and you know, I came here the youngest of five kids, came to Florida State in ninety eight. They didn't have had no idea that tall has to become my home. Like man, these students. I was like, Okay, I'll do education and then I'll I'll do my league. Yeah. So but I ended up getting a bachelor's degree and master's degree for Florida State, and then I my bachelor's degree was in health education and then my master's degree was in educational leadership. So my original goal was to be a principal assistant principal, but then I fell in love for being involved with campus so much, with the SGA and activities that I wanted to work at a higher education setting. So I had all this plan cut out for me, but then God cut out the middleman and I couldn't find a job teaching health education anywhere around here. They can't, asking me, well can you coach? Can you do something else? And I was like, well no, I just want to teach health education, and that was something people wanted. So I said, well fine, I couldn't find a teaching job and I wanted to stay here. So I ended up working at TCC. My first job of jobs as an academic advisor. I was a teaching college success and I was running a peer mentoring program and so so yeah, I had three jobs starting out at TCC, and then that evolved into a nineteen year career in higher education where I am currently the director of Military Veteran Affairs and a grant program called the Trio Educational Opportunity Center. So we help adult learners who are trying to go back to school to earn a ged Bachelors Associates or certificate, because a lot of people don't want to get a degree, they just want to they want training so they can start making money. They've been out of school so long they want to just go out and make money. So education, my passion. Student services is my passion. That's I want to be a college president. That's my ultimate goal. So my goal running for office is not to be president of the United States or anything. But I will go where God leads me. You know, if he says there's another opportunity after this, and if it's right for me and my family, then why not, you know. But professionally, my goal is to be a college president. Let's circle back to the motivations to enter a local race on the city commission. What kind of talk me through the process of what caused you to start that process of thinking about that, Because even if God lays something on somebody's heart, you still have that process of ruminating on it and thinking it over. Yes, what was that process like for you? What got you started? Well? I just feel right now currently I started to notice there just seemed to be a lack of civility on the commission. Right, it's a nonpartisan commission, even though everybody's technically registered as a Democrat. Right, with that lack of civility, and you know, certain individuals getting into Porter Mattlow, getting into commercials and really igniting a fire that had not been done before from what I understand with colleague Yah Yah Diane Williams Cox, and then all the started of wildfire. Now to the point that Dallas, you know, the commissioners are like, hey, I endorse this person. I endorse that person against my colleague. And I'm not saying they all need to you know, you know, agree on everything, sure, but you just have this division that just does not shake. You know, this three two divide that we talk that you hear about all the time, that does not shake. And when it comes to serving the people of this community, you can only get so far with such a stalemate. You know. We see that type of politics in the national level, and what gives us power at the local level is that we every day, every day, are with each other. We see each other all the time, and we live, work, and play in this community. So we have to be able to listen to all voices, whether they supported us or not. And so I think there are voices that are left out of our current local political structure because people are beholden to whoever is their primary supporters, funders, whoever. And I just think there's just a there needs to be more authenticity, There needs to be more concern for what again, the diversity of what this community represents, so that all citizens can feel like they have a voice somewhere amongst the five people. And I just think there's some people who don't have a voice anywhere because it's muted by what well. You know, it's interesting because you talk about the fact that it's a nonpartisan race, but wink, wink, nod, nod, No, it's not. And so to forty five percent of this community would be registered opposite of Democrat. They would be registered Republicans or independents, but not in lockstep with Democrats. And as you probably know, there's a strong feeling that those segments of the community just have no one talking on their behalf locally. You agree with that assessment. I absolutely agree with that. And there are people who probably attack me for being a regiro Democrat and coming on your show because it's more conservative leaning. But I believe it's not just leaning. It's concerned over you know. But that's what you that's what I'm willing to do. I here to the Capital Conservatives Forum, and you know, it was me representative between representive, a commission porter at Reverend Ferguson and I had a good time, you know, And we may not agree on everything, but I really believe sometimes we agree on a lot more than we think we do if we're willing to sit here and talk about how do we strategize and work together to achieve a common goal? You know? And so I think that voice, you're right, it's unfair if you're if you are on one side and you're saying it's unfair when they don't listen to us, right, But then you get in a majority and then you don't listen to them. What does that you're doing the same thing, and you know, and you know, and I just feel like, again, I understand how conservatives will make feel that they don't have a voice in the Commission. And it's funny because sometimes people come up to the Commission and they and the public speaking sector and they brand three commissioners as conservative and the other two has progressive right, and I'm like, there, there's nobody who's technically conservative on the Commission right. And so while some commissioners may have more Republican support, it still doesn't make them that they still register and they still vote in a certain way according to that political structure. And so I think when we are the beauty of a nonpartisancy is why I don't see myself running for a partisancy is because you have that flexibility. You're supposed to have that flexibility, supposed to you know, And I'll tell you this right now. Me personally, I don't. I don't feel like I have any support from the local Democratic Party. They are completely lockstep with Jack Porter. Well, and it's interesting the leadership of the party as it's led now is completely locked in and invested in Jack Porter. I would label her not even remotely a traditional Democrat or even a traditional liberal. She's an illiberal. She's an extremist. She is self identified, since we're into that these days in our country, a progressive, and so any voice that's not as extreme as hers is ruled, you know, persona non grata, right, and that is a problem in a non part of the seat where you're supposed to you're running, You're saying, I'm running in a non part of the seat to represent all Tallahasseans, those who will reside in Tallahassee. But then when you get in that seat, you're actively campaigning to gain a progressive majority. Why are we even why are we even talking about that? You know? Why not? Why are we specifically focusing on the issues that are in hand? And if you are a conservative you've come up here and say I really needs your support on this, and she's beholden to her group of people that fund her, that say, you know what you know, don't don't you do that I will, I will will cut you off, you know. And that's just the way politics works in general these days. On both sides. It's like you to go against this if you say, but from what you're saying, just don't lie. Tell the truth, you know, and if that truth results in you not having a position, then you can at least rest easy knowing that you told the truth. And truth is something that is not is frowned upon these days, you know, to get votes to win, everybody wants to win. And I was like, you know, and I know I may sign a little utopian, you know, as a first time candidate, but I'm not. I've ran campaigns as far back as two thousand and eight. I went my mentor doctor ANTIVSVC. I ran his campaign for City Commission against Debbie Lights, and then when he ran for House of Representatives. You know, I was real green, you know what I'm saying. But I enjoyed it. I did it for free, and I wanted but I believed in him and what he was represented, right, and so, but you didn't have all of this strong, you know, partisan flair. You just wanted to be able to get it and serve the people. One of the things we also didn't have that is somewhat of a recent occurrence is the effort to take a national issue that it's not in Tallahassee. It doesn't exist here, So why are we making it an issue here? The idea of nationalizing things locally that have no bearing and oh, by the way, we can't affect it. It's a national or a state issue. Let's stick with I mean, they're just Lewis. There just seems to be enough meat on the bone of things locally to deal with. Right. That seems to be a distraction from Commissioner Porter doing her job representing the people that elected her here, Right. And I think it's something that are local DC has to work on because again when I go to when I've I've been to a meeting before and you know, the dominant was, Hey, we're about to go, you know, work on abortion petitions, and I'm like, I'm not interested in doing that. You know, I think what you know, what I'm interested is what is happening on the local level. I'm saying that we can actually affect and and that's actually threatening to us on the local level, that that that what is it that we could be working on sure, and when there's certain dominant issues that a national party and a state party is saying, you all need to focus on this during this cycle. As a local that's to me, that's irresponsible because you're not You're not talking about the needs of the community. You're talking about the needs of the state. And it's about us winning at the state and national level versus you all making sure that your people are taken care of in your local community. And you know, and I may I may have I may agree and disagree with whatever the stand is, but in the end, people want to know, can they feed their families? You know, can they get a living wage? You know? Do they have access to quality jobs? You know? Can we retain these this this talent that is in our college realm and make this city attractive for them to stay. You have an entire arts community that just got decimated, right and people walk around like, Okay, this isn't the business usual, you know, or we're waiting on FEMA whatever, you know, but you have you have people who this community is growing, and and and and and again. I just feel like when you focus on the wrong things or put too much emphasis on certain things, you miss you can miss a lot of issues. And that's what I feel has happened now between the partisan fighting and internally, it really inhibits us from being able to be as effective as a governmental structure. It's interesting because it's a room full of elected Democrats, but within the Commission it is infighting. And it's fine to not agree on issues. It's the lack of collegiality and civility that seems to be present. You talked about issues that are important that affect people here, and now let's do this in two parts. Part one, going in before talking to neighbors, before talking to people, what was your own mindset of what the important issues were facing this community that we were facing. We definitely have a growing homeless population and having one facility to manage all of that, to me is it doesn't seem to be working. It's not working, and so we have to figure out how to build public private partnerships to be able to deal with some of these issues. There's the state player role on that big to the extent, you know, but if they're passing laws you know that make it harder, you know. You know, I don't agree with some of the legislation that have passed at the state level regard to where homeless people can be and things like, at the end of the day, these are the God's people, you know, These are not everybody wants to be homeless. People who want to be homeless probably have a level of by have some mental illness in there, so which some do, yeah, some do, and so you know, so what are the resources that are out there to really help these individuals get a better life. DCC offers free tuition and fees for homeless individuals. So that's so that's what my program does with, you know, with the grant program that I work with, we connect those we work at the current we work through the Curry Center to connect those individuals to education. Some of them have been in school before. They're just trying to figure out, Hey, is that possible for me to go back, And so it takes us getting out there and be in the boosts on the ground, you know, for that. So I think the homeless issue seeing that, now, how that's transitioned from Tennessee Street to Pensacola. You know that is blatantly there. And being a higher education administrator, I see firsthand that we do not retain our college graduates very well. They're on it ten before they as they get off the graduation stage, you're like peace, I'm gone, you know, And so we have to remind them of how inexpensive it is to live here and what a great starter city Telassie is to to. You know, when you first graduate, you still kind of that twenty two to twenty six years, you know, you're not you know, you still could blend in in a sense, and but there has to be a social life that you could value and that you can respect. And it also needs to be opportunities to work and earn a living that is within your skill set. So that's why I'm not against a national company coming here that might attract some of those individuals, but our local work force has to make sure they're engaged with recruiting these individuals to come to work, work for them, or whatever case it be, until they go off to whatever bigger city if they decide that because I'm an anomaly, I stayed there twenty five years, and people don't do that. I know that. So we've got we've got homelessness, we've got talent retention. What would be third? The third would be you know, with with of course, with with the with the homeless issue, you you really have affordable housing, right, and the middle class is even struggling in that sense, you know, with prices rising on things. And but I'm talking to anybody, you know, just in your friend's circle. You might account to people who just are they have their their traditional family and they and they're still struggling, even though they both are professional, they might both have master's degrees, but somehow it's just it's just life is just expensive for them. And so I think that that that of having a affordable housing is just that mean to you, because I've always struggled getting somebody to define that because it's a little bit like defining an assault weapon. Okay, well I can pick up a picture frame off my wall, or it's an assault weapon, you know what I mean? And so anything can be an assault weapons, right, what does affordable housing mean? Affordable housing is simply housing that can get that that someone who makes a living wage could really sustain themselves because if they don't have a If you put if let's say somebody is coming off of homelessness, right and you've give them five hundred dollars months of rent, it's not affordable if they don't have the job, you know, if they don't have the to to pay to pay the rent. And so it's really about having housing that that matches the medium median income of our of our of our community, of our working class citizens. And and again you're right, it's a flexible definition, you know. That's why if I'm talking to develop I'm like, Okay, you know, there's a reason why they may develop on certain times, side of town or whatever. But I really challenge them to say, hey, you know, you're you may have a real luxury development that's being built in Canopy Area whatever, you know, but have you thought about other areas of town that are are not as populous, you know, that need housing, need beautification. Is it possible to maybe build over there? Now? Is that where you see the role in certain interrupt But is that where you see, for example, the role of a commissioner to talk to those that are looking to invest and say have you considered this or does it go beyond that? In what form does a local government try to find solutions for affordable housing? However we define? Yeah, that is a great question. The commissioner's job is to be an ambassador. Right. However, we should have people that are paid in our local government to recruit quality business to our community. I can't, you know, I don't believe we have a specific person right now in our in our government local government structure that may say, hey, let me get let me get a meeting with a you know, Chick fil A or somebody we got we need on this side of town really needs some some development. You know, have you all thought about coming to Tallahassee. You know, we joke about cheesecake factory, right, you know, you could put a cheesecake factory anywhere in Tallahassee and it would be booming, right, you know, because people are just would be just excited to see something like that. So but if it did come here, you know what, I you know where I think it would go. I think it would go and an area where it is already extremely dense, you know a lot. I know, the northeast side of town gets a lot of flak. But you all who will live over there, don't don't. Don't. It's not like you're asking, hey, come on, everybody, come over here. It's what these developers come and these business come and they build and they and they get the permit. They say, I want to build over here, and that's that's what they get, you know. And there's some controversial issues here and there, like with the park and things of that sort, but that's a public but privately, if somebody wants to build a business, it's like wherever you want to do it. And I don't feel like we really do a job, a good job. It's saying, man, this area over here is real crowded. Could you possibly you want to think about you want before you resigned this permit, you want to think about maybe building over here. I mean, this is this would be a great location. So I don't know if those individuals have the skill set under the city manager, if they have the if they have the skill set to really do that, But if they don't, they need to get somebody who has a skill set to do that because that could really help with uh, diversifying businesses that are here and really making all aspects of our community a place where people feel proud of where they live. And they don't have to go too far to be able to get a basic food restaurant. If I were to suggest to you, Lewis that and we're just spitballing here. Those businesses are going into areas where they don't have as much risk of fighting crime, where it's just a little bit better for them to have a chance of being successful. They've done their market surveys, they see where Publics drops a store, because Publics doesn't drop a store anywhere unless the market survey tells them to. Right. What if I said to you, we've got to deal with the crime issues in certain pockets of the community, and your incumbent opponent is one of those fighting that, does that start to maybe become the catalyst for all of the other issues that you want to deal with. Well, I do believe with any issue you have to start with the route of where it's where, where you know why people are committee crimes, and where does it come from. That's why youth youth gun violence is a very big issue on my platform is these these young men and ladies are starting at a very early age. Oh yeah, and so if you don't even get into those elementary schools and you don't invest in programs in those elementary and and and and in middle schools, you can potentially lose it. You could lose them. And we have to make sure the family is involved with any type of rehabilitation if they're you know, whoever, the guardian, whoever is around, so that dovetails into the school system. Yeah, and they're Let me tell you something. I was appointed to a I've been in the school board district advisory council now for about six or seven years. I was appointed to a joint city county school board committee. Right, They're supposed to get together and talk about common issues. Ask me how many times we met? Zero. It's nice to get the letter this as I was appointed to that, you know, but we never met. And so if we surprise you to learn that, I've talked to somebody that is a candidate for the school board that sat on the exact same committee at a different school probably and had the exact same answer, right. Zero. These three bodies who are very connected, they don't have enough interaction. You got the county who's whack, who's kind of laughing right now at the city is say, oh, you guys got a problem over here, and then you got the school board who was in their silo, right, and you got all these silos of government structures, and then you guys get together on blueprint and some other stuff. Not at school board, but y'all two get together on these things and make decisions. But our schools are a very important part of that. You know. I'm a public education advocate. I don't care what you say. I went through the public education system. Of course it was a different time, but at the same time, it's always going to be flawed in some type of way, right, And you don't have people who want to teach twenty and thirty years anymore. Okay, so the type of teachers I had, But I digress. But you're right. That's where the school system comes in, and they have to have a more hands on role, partnership with our county and our city and minimum our county because Leon County, right and so and so. I used to be an after school director. There's value in after school programs, you know. A post pandemic, now parents have a lot more flexibility, you know, with going to get their kids and stuff. But before that, it's like, hey, I can't get off of work, so I need somebody to watch my kid until five. I'm on the education subcommittee for the council for that is a woman and girls. I'm on the education subcommittee because again, childcare is expensive, right, and people don't have a place, you know, to be able to if they're working two jobs, you know, they could potentially leaving their kids with somebody who's doctor to be invested with their development. So it's not it's not daycare. We're looking at early childhood education, so as early as three and four. We're having to make sure that the systems are in place, you know, based off of research that worse now, what we think you know works. Researcher works to be able to curb some of this problem. And we know a majority of the youth violences amongst our young men, particularly young a lot of it amongst our young men of color. And so I've been you know, I've been a part of mentoring programs. I was a mentor for Big Brothers, Big Sisters. A lot of the issues we talk about, I've been right there in them, you know. So while my name may not be the most popular, you know, I'm doing this because I feel like I know this community. I've been involved in many ways directly with this community. So when it comes to curving violence, you have to cut it off at the root and make it attractive to be educated, make it attractive to to follow the rules. But when you have if you have a broken home, if you have a jaded family structure, if you have a father who is not engaged, he can have a he can have a PhD and still not be engaged. Right, you know, if he's not engaged, and this is regardless of race, ethnicity or anything like that, that leads increases the chance of that child going off and do whatever they want want to do. And that is that is a big problem amongst our youth and it makes it scary to raise a young person in this society. Right, it sounds like you're describing something that you would like to use the Commissioner office as sort of a bully pulpit to make this issue one that has more awareness between the county and the school board. Is that fair? That is? That is absolutely fair? And you know, and then seeing if there are you know, private partners who would like to who are passionate about this issue. If I had my way, every school would have a strong relationship with the business community, you know, because you're you're surrounded by businesses, right, whether it's hey, we'll we'll hire some of the youth from that high school or you know, after school, so they have they have some jobs, you know, to come to. I know that's that's a small business. That can be difficult sometimes, right. But you know the one thing about you know, Amazon and somebody's you know, Commission Important fought against that, but they have employed a lot of people, you know a lot of people give it people income and and and that has helped to improve people's lives. So we can fight against these things, but what is the substitute? I always say, what's the plan? We can't complain and they'll have a backup plan for that. Right. So going back to the question about violence, you know, we have to make sure that on one end, that our when it comes to our police force, that they are they are they are reading the market in regards to their goals and whether they're setting that's that's that's one thing, and that we back them up and support the initiatives that are coming forth that may require some organized volunteer support. I hate to say it, you just gotta sometimes we just gotta volunteer. You know, we got to keep our faith based community involved. We can't have our church doors closed Monday through through uh through Saturday and then open up on Sunday, give a good word and then go back. We gotta have we got to have a connection to the community amongst some of these very beautiful, massive church structures. And that's that's great, you know, And this is regardless of religion. But what is we as the faith based community. How are we influencing change within the community as well regards to people living bigger, better lives. So I think it's just more conversations than when you shut people off right and you say this is the only people I'm gonna deal with, people who are friendly to me, and you cut off the conversation from even even happening. And that's what we see now. We see a lot of just listen, I don't deal with these type of people, so we're not going to even talk about it, and therefore you're less effective. I can't I can't tell you a single issue that I you know that I feel like she has really championed chem mission importer that has reached all diverse parts of this community outside of her Progressive circle. She is chosen to make the police an enemy. She is chosen to try to suggest that she was against tax increases and voted against it along with Commissioner Jeremy Mattlowe, when in reality she was opposing it because it was more money for police. It's a pretty nuanced issue that a lot of taxpayers I think are misled by. For me, I look at it and say, well, no, they didn't need to raise taxes. They could have reallocated the money that they've had and they've gotten a lot of money from property value increases and not done the tax increase. But if the issue was we're not going to fund police properly or this, well, I want police properly funded because they've been inadequately funded for a decade and a half. As you campaigned, Lewis, how are you confronting offering the actual view of that vote by Commissioner Porter on taxes. She's campaigning as an anti tax champion, but she's been in favor of taxes previously. She was just against this because it was first it was political to be against it, and it was also voting against proper funding of police. So she's not the anti tax, you know, siren, she's claiming to be. Yeah. I mean again, I've I've talked to I've talked to developers who again, when these people are trying to first come into office, they beat with everybody, and they try to get everybody support, you know, and in some cases they might get it, and then when they get in the in the in the seat, they kind of you know, flip. You know, first, you don't promise anybody anything when you go out there. I don't promise you. Hey, I'm I got your back, you know what I'm saying. But at the same time, I have always been committed to listening and doing my research and so and make it a fair choice, even if I'm the lone voice on there this against it or for it. But with her, again, that's what you get. You get that that flip flop, you know, like, Okay, well I said this one thing privately, but publicly I'm gonna say this. You know, you can guarantee when I'm telling you privately, I'm going to say publicly. You know, because again, what's again, when you are in a position where you don't have to be beholden to your to your party or your political partisanship where you really have an opportunity to freely serve people who don't always agree with you politically. Then to me, that's the most comfortable place you can be as an elected official. But you see, that's not necessarily the case most our entire commissions, not just commission importer. And so I think that we have so much work to do. And again, you know, I work with veterans every day, and again we have these silos of the community that I feel at certain times of the year we celebrate them, you know, but in regardless of the resources, they're still scouring to try to get them. You know, for example, when it comes to the homeless issue, I would prioritize I wouldn't like to prioritize a if you're going to have an additional facility to Kearney, maybe have an additional facility that specializes it serves, you know, veterans, persons with disabilities, the elderly, special populations will go to that particular one, and then the rest of the masses can go to the to the other one, you know, so that it's broken up amongst everybody in Pensacola. Because what we did is we've also told those people over there. You know, your quality of life is not important to Let's let's put this over here, student housing, you know, and low income housing around here. Perfect perfect spot, you know. And so and I'm not saying that I don't know what the ultimate thought process was behind where the location was, but but at the same time, that's what it feels like, you know, it feels like, hey, I'm going to put this over here where instead of focusing on building maybe a community, you know, where homeless people can be and they can be safe too, because they deserve safety, you know. But at the same time, it's not a it's not a it doesn't feed to them being there permanently, you know what I'm saying. And so I think we need to really expand that the resources that we have for our for those for those subpopulations of people that are experiencing homelessness, but they just need some additional you know, support or whatnot. And so so yeah, you know, and when we come to taxes again, you got to look, you know, the dollars have to make sense, right sometimes you have to look at where can we shave off money from, right, where can we save money to allocate to this for example, you have some of these projects that balloon ballooning cost someone's up with thirty forty million dollars and I'm thinking in my head, did you all count for this increase when you first made the decision? You know, and I'm not a mathematician or anything like that by any means, but again, when you think about thirty extra million dollars being spent on the project, think about where thirty million dollars can go to, right, And so it sounds like you're talking about the police department and the headquarters in that complan works well. Besides that, I've also like the airport project thinks that so what now It's like, well, we don't have the money for to finish. We got to vote for it to go to one hundred and ten million dollars because we don't have the money to But you account for that where you make the decision. If I me and you have a contract, right, and I say, okay, well this is how much you're gonna pay me. I should account for that and the price that you give me so that I'm not coming back and saying well now you got to give me another fifty million in order for me to finish. If you don't give it to me, it's going to be incomplete. And you don't want this, you don't want this to be incomplete, so our hands are tied. Again. That's an issue, Honestly, I still need to learn more about. So I'm not speaking as an expert. I'm just saying from the outside looking in, it just looks like, you know, let's make sure we have all of our ducts in a row, and we agree to do this so that we can when we make the vote, we can consciously say, Okay, this is how much is going to be, and we don't have to raise any taxes, we don't have to do any of that stuff. This is what it's going to be. And we can support our police right, same thing with any other public service officials. I know. I know there's a divide regards to the firefighters, right, and me and my wife been watching nine one one, the show and we got really hooked, you know, to it, so I know it's TV. But at the same time, with our firefighters go through every day and they're risking their lives, h is we don't want to undercut that. So I think until they get a deal they needed, they needed they need to get they needed they needed. They need to get to that table. You know, they need to get to that table and make sure they find a deal. It's fair for the taxpayers, but also fair for those people who are risking their lives to be able to make Yeah, there's first responders are among the most underpaid public servants anywhere in the country at all levels. It to me, it goes without saying. But I've got brothers that have been in law enforcement, and so I have a I have that view of it. That said, I've never thought it politically wise for unions to pick fights with people that ultimately set their salaries. But if we set that to the side, let me let me get your thoughts on Because you're running against commission reporter. She's been asked about her involvement and attendance at conferences that are run by very extremist organizations, and she's been asked simple questions like who paid for it, who paid for your travel, who paid for your accommodations, You're she's refused to answer any questions. Now, I suspect it's a matter of time before someone files an ethics charge because you have to disclose that stuff. But it's a broader issue, Lewis. It's the issue of making Tallahassee the focus of issues that aren't Tallahassee issues. They just there are issues in other communities, they're not issues here. And that's the power of local government is that they say, all politics is local, Right, you have the opportunity to really set the pace for the people in your community. And that's why I don't believe her mind is focused on Tallahassee. Whatever her aspirations are, they're not Tallahassee. And so she kind of seemingly came out of nowhere. And I tried, I've tried my best in my campaign to focus on me sure and what I can do. But yeah, inherently, when someone runs against an incumbent, you are saying I will do things better or differently, or both better and differently. Because again, with her focus being so centered on certain particular issues, there are people who still don't know who she is, you know, there are people who don't even know what our commission does. That's what that's what we need to start. Okay, when I'm out campaigning, people are like, Okay, first of all, who are you running against? You know? So that's one you know. And then secondly, so what does the commission do? You know? And these are people who are taxpayers, who are in the community who don't know what their city and their county commission does. Some people find that advantageous obviously in a political spectrum. They don't need to know what we do, because as long as they vote for me, as long as they see my sign and it's big, and they're like, oh, I know that sign, I'm voted for that, you know, not let me go to the website, let me make There's something inherently wrong, I think in general with our national politics all the way down to the local where we do not value voters being actually educated on what they're voting for and knowing what their governmental structure does. It's like, put me in office so that I can do this and I can have this influence and I can push these issues. But it's a bunch of sound bites. So I could appreciate this format, or we can talk you know, you know, because again I'm not being pushed out by you know, it's you know, yeah, and when So when people need to know what exactly their commissioners responsible for, then they could probably make more informed decisions, and so do you think that do you think that's fed by the current alignment where we have no districts, where we where you know, Commissioner Porter, Commissioner at Low, Commissioner Daily, Commissioner Richardson, Commissioner WILLIAMS. Cox. They don't have to go to certain parts of town because they don't really represent them. They live where they live, but we don't have representation. Did you know that Tallahassee is the only city in the top twenty that doesn't have districts, the only one. Yeah, and I and I and I recognized that I wouldn't need to, you know, with that issue. I'm kind of a little torn with that, right because again, what the the beauty of running a city where race is that I can go any part of the community and I can feel I can I have to get the support of those people. I don't I don't have to just get the support of of this silo of people that I represent. That's how our federal government set up our state government, and it restricts people to that particular side of town that they live on. And it really just again, I fear that if we go to districts, then what every city does it every single city that's above one hundred thousand in this state as districts. For the reasons you were talking about with Commissioner Porter, people don't know her, right, she's not out talking to people, right because she can get away with not talking to people. And that's where is it. That's a disadvantage, Right, I personally don't even know why we have a Leon and Tallasity to commission. If it was me, can I answer the question? Because I live in Leon County, I pay a utility, not the utilities. But I have no vote in Tallahassee, right, I have no representation. I live in a part of the community that I'm impacted by what happens in Tallahassee every single day of my life, right, I have no say. Right, Hey, that's what I'm saying. We don't have in Leon County. Tallahassee is the city, right. Uh, maybe South would eventually become a town, right, But but nonetheless there are all I have a Tallahassee resident, So there's not like in Miami you have Kendo, you have Parah. You have all these small towns that have their own governmental structures as well, and they make up they make up the whole Miami Dade County, right, but we have Leon County and we have City of Tallahassee, right, And a lot of people still don't know the difference, Like, so what are you responsors for? I just want I want my trash picked up, I want my utilities to make, you know, to be as low as possible, and I want a place for my kids to go play. You know, in this the future is that conversation? Are we talking about that, you know, merging in some kind of sense. I know that's not popular because some people lose their jobs and things of that sort. But maybe that might be an expanded becausolidation. Maybe that might be an expanded local government system where there's seven or eight commissioners, you know. But that's a conversation down the line. But at the same time, it's like with our city, with with with the with the the districts, that might be a conversation we need to we need to look at. But it's a concern then then, and I'm just going to be very affront with you that I, as a person of color, will only have an opportunity to represent the city if I'm in a certain area. And that's why we need to. We're so we're so siloed in this city in regards to where people live economically that that there's the risk of that being the case where where a community like the northeastie out of town may never African American and Hispanic male like we may not have the opportunity to serve and lead in that community because I can't get enough votes. And I'm not that I'm not talking about I'm not going to say these people are racist or any of that sort. People have their in all cultures, people have their prejudices in a sense, and their prefaces. And so I think that's one of the dangers that people see are concerned about if we go into district districting, is that we then become a commission that is not you don't have to go to everybody in the in the in the community to try to get their support. Yeah, some would push back and say, the reason why the county has avoided some of the issues that the city hasn't, it's because they have a large commissioners and then they have district commissioners. They have e merging of the two. That's that's that, you know, I just didn't think about that you know, I didn't think about that. And just when you make a mayor and that large position, and maybe another commissioner if you want to make an out large commissioner, but give each area. Because here's what's happening. What's happening is the Northeast is sitting back and saying, well, we pay for utilities, we pay for garbage collection, we don't have parks, we don't get any more police presence. Then I mean, we don't even have what we should have. So they're asking what are we paying for? So the word d annexation is starting to come up, and because they feel as though they don't have a say, there's nobody representing people that are a little bit more moderate in their politics, and then seeing the extremism of a couple of commissioners and they're like, okay, you know, as I've talked about on my radio program, Lewis, the Northeast decided whether Kristin Doser or John Daly was going to be the main The Northeast made that decision. They didn't have a dog in the race, they did not have a candidate that represented them, but they decided it. I think you could make the argument the same is going to happen in your race. The Northeast is going to settle it right and and then that and that's a community that again I'm I'm you know, my best to make in rows with you know, my, my, my, uh. My opponents have the benefit of being having run before and I'm a newcomer. And even while I feel like I'm the most qualified and I make the most sense, there's an advantage that my opponents have over me in a sense where they have that recognition and they've made those connections in advance, they made those deals whatever you want to call it, so that their name could be out there in bright lights and whatnot. But I don't let that discourage me. I find it. I find that I find it very rewarding and refreshing to get out on the on the street on Saturday morning and you know, and knock on doors and meet people and go to these meetings and really even some things I may not even be like, I don't know what that's about, you know, but it's interesting. I'm just naturally curious. I will go, you know. But the thing about it is, this is why maybe a scary candidate is that I'm not beholden, I don't. I'm not doing this for money because I need a job. The commissioner porter, she this is her first job, per se, right, you know, and so you know, and so I'm really the only person in my race that really doesn't. I have a full time job. I have to go to Florida and m University. I have a responsibility, and I love what I do every day. So running for commission is not about, you know what, I'm gonna get in there, and I'm gonna have to listen to what you say, because guess what if I don't. If I don't, I'm gonna be out of a job, you know. And I'm not saying our commissioners think that way, but I think that the one thing about the way things are set up in our governmental structure is that you're a age teacher may be passionate all she wants or he wants, but they can't run for public office. Why because they have to go to teach every day and they don't have the advantage of being able to go out and meet people in the middle of the day. And if you're responsible, you do it to your job and you do what you do. I have metrics I have to meet, I have reports. I'm not treating any differently because of the fact that I am running for office. Okay, so I have to be accountable, But others don't have that. So they have that advantage of being able to go about and go all over the place. And that's great. So I make best use of my time, you know, in addition to my family responsibilities as well, and so so the public the public service sector is not set up for public servants to really be in office, right you have to be in the private industry or you do not have a job or something of that sort where you don't have where you can just be a butterfly and float off over the place, okay, And and that's to their advantage. But at the same time, I'm doing the best thing I could by you know, makes respect to my job and also being out in the community as much as I can. Of course, finishing my PhD was a big, a big monkey off of my back. And so at the end of the day, those who support me were hear my message and they were here what I have to say, and they will say, you know what, you know, I'm You're right, I'm tired of the fighting I'm not getting in there to be anybody's ally. And in truth be told, the mayor should be the swing vote. He should be like, Okay, I agree with you all in this one, or I agree with you all in this one. But that's not the case, right. And I voted for the mayor, you know, him and I know each other for college and things of that sort. But and he endorsed Rudy Ferguson, and I didn't, you know, I didn't take any slack on that they have a relationship. That's what he felt doing. But I hasten to say that three or four years ago that would not have been the case. You know, the mayor would have stayed out of it. The mayor would have said no, no, no, no. It's different now. And that started with Commissioner Porter and Commissioner Mallow, you know, getting in there. And because they on it a progressive majority, they got in against Diane Williams Cots, you know, and so so again to me, there's very little room for that when you're trying to meet the needs of all of the community. And I don't I don't say that lightly at all, Preston, and and you, like I said, I I I you know, when I vote, it's going to be based off of the research that I've that I've gotten, and that the information I've gotten and the knowledge that I have, and some people will agree with it, some people won't. But I'm a person who I've served in leadership before, and I have served this community, and I have been in the trenches, and so I know what it's like to be at everyday citizen in this community and what people go through each and every day. Good way to rap, How would somebody learn a little bit more about you, find out about your vote, you know, learn how to reach out to you. Yeah, Well, first of all, they can go to my website Louis Stibber dot They have my contact information and ways they can volunteer and things of that sort. Also, my campaign is run with lou at g A five vot at gmail dot com, or they could call me at A five O five A three zero six ninety seven. Very much reachable. And again, there's so much partisanship in this whether from the media to that. You know, I'm doing everything I need to do on the grassrooms level to get my name out there, and again I believe it will be so. And the verbs will decide between not just on August twentieth, Between August tenth and August twentieth, don't forget about early voting to get out there. So it's about getting people registered, getting people engaged. I feel like there needs to be a part too of this SEG because there's still so there's still more things for us to talk about. So I look forward to coming back on your show on the other side. Thanks so much, Thank you so much.