Latest / The Schmidt Show PDX / Expose Yourself to Politics

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Expose Yourself to Politics · The Schmidt Show PDX

• 0:00
  [music]
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_02: A quick word from our show sponsor,
• 0:09
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• 0:13
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• 0:16
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• 0:27
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• 0:29
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• 0:31
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• 0:32
  [music]
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome back.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Mike Schmidt,
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_02: former Multnomah DA,
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_02: Blazer fan, absolutely convinced that we're going undefeated this season.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_02: And of course, your favorite part-time podcaster.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, two years ago today, 20 people were running for the mayor.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_02: Three were sitting city commissioners.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_02: One was a trucking executive who, of course, ended up to go on and win.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_02: And one was a preacher's kid from Sioux Falls who's been dancing at Mary's Club since the 90s.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_02: She put up a billboard that said,
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_02: expose yourself to politics and pulled nearly 23,000 first choice votes.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_02: Leave, or Viva Las Vegas, ran on the idea that Portland's mayor should be its head storyteller.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_02: Two years later, the new government is up and running.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_02: Half the council is on the ballot in 10 days.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_02: And this summer, she was fighting the city over no parking signs outside her own club.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_02: So how's the story going?
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: We're here to talk with her and find out.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_03: But first,
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_03: we turn yet again
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: to our trash news correspondent,
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_02: Eleanor Jones, to find out what is in the news.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_02: Eleanor, what is in the news this week?
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Mike, I am so glad you asked.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: There is a lot going on.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: So of course we know the midterms are just a couple of weeks away
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: and Trump has insisted that voters think of him when they go to vote,
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: which is probably not gonna have the impact that he's hoping for.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: But he's doing everything he can to stay top of mind right now
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: from losing Ukraine's war for them to bragging
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: about how many male butts he's looking at.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: But his latest rage bait is his threat or is a new threat to turn
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: the White House press briefing room into a pool.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_02: a swimming pool.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like the press pool.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Pool.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Or rather, he wants to turn it back into a pool.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I didn't know this, but that area of the White House actually used to be a pool.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: It was built by FDR when he was doing exercises for the polio, famously.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: So Trump is acting like this latest project is about history preservation
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: and not what it actually is,
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: which is, of course, an attempt to eliminate press access to the White House.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_02: I have this visual of sharks with lasers attached to their heads and press people swimming.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think he'll do anything to humiliate press.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: So if it requires them asking questions in bathing suits, he would 100% do it.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: But interestingly...
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: He is not the first one to think about restoring the pool.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: So Hillary Clinton,
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: back when her husband was the president,
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: had actually wanted to turn the press briefing room back into a pool.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I kind of do wonder if Trump realizes that if this was Hillary's idea first,
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: if he'd still promote it.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I think really if Democrats wanted to stop Trump from doing this,
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: all they have to do is have Obama come out and say it was also a good idea,
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: or maybe Kamala chime in, and then of course he'll never touch it.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: So what's really knocked me sideways
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: about this story is I can't decide what is more disgusting.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: Trump fully evicting the media from the White House in a blatant attempt to quash
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: the First Amendment or the thought of Trump in a bathing suit.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, cool.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: Sorry about that.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_02: Sorry.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, changing subjects though, from a very disgusting man to a very hot man.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: Robert Pattinson is in a movie that's coming out, huge Oscar buzz, called Prime Time.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: So he was originally,
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: of course,
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: made famous by being the sparkling teenage vampire in Twilight,
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: but he's become an incredible leading man in his adulthood.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: So when director Lance Oppenheim was casting Prime Time,
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: he had wanted Pattinson, but he couldn't figure out how to convince him.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: But then you learn two lucky pieces of information.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: The first is that there was a ZIN shortage in America.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know what ZIN is?
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_02: It's the nicotine thing that goes in your lip?
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: it's a tiny little nicotine pouch that has all the addictive properties of smoking
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: without the fun part of smoking, which is smoking.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_02: It's sufficient.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: But it's, of course, highly addictive.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: So in America a few years ago, Zen apparently was really hard to come by.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: The second thing Offenheim learned is that Robert Pattinson was super addicted
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: to Zen, or probably still is.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: So to get his attention...
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: Oppenheim arranged for a Canadian friend to ship a bunch of zin to Robert Pattinson
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: with the script to get his attention,
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: and that is ultimately what got him in the movie.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: So if we're watching primetime and feel overwhelmed with Pattinson's devotion
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: to his craft, it's actually just his devotion to nicotine.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_02: It's the nicotine.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: It is the nicotine.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: But in other filming news, Roseanne, remember Roseanne?
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: She is coming out with a new show called Ugh.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Called Meemaw, A Modern Day Fable.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: And it's about a family of doomsday preppers.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: The tagline is God, guns, and whatever it takes.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: So Roseanne,
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: because she was canceled, well,
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: rightfully in 2018 for a slew of really racist tweets,
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: she hasn't been able to get any work, so this project is fully self-funded.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't even have a distributor yet.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: And her co-star is another MAGA personality, Randy Quaid.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Oh.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if this isn't sounding tempting enough,
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: it's also worth noting that she and Randy Quayne have several steamy makeout scenes.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_02: Steamy?
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they are called steamy.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_02: Have you seen the clip that's going viral right now on the internet of Trump giving
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_02: a speech and he like kind of vomits in his mouth like mid-speech?
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man, okay.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_02: That just happened to me.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well that is what's happening to me too.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: So...
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I've heard anything hotter than Randy Quaid and Roseanne making out
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: than at the beginning of the segment when I talked about Trump in a bathing suit.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: But sorry, I should have put a little trigger warning on this for being really disgusting.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm sorry to leave it on such a steamy note,
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: but you asked for the trash and that's what it is.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, God.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_02: The only thing that can make that worse is Kid Rock joining in,
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_02: which I'm sure will happen at some point.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_02: Special guest star.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_02: Well, Eleanor, I guess thank you for that.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_02: Sorry.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_02: Where can people find you?
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: You can find me at the Portland Mercury.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: I write the trash report and you can also find me on Instagram at Eleanor Joneser.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you very much.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks, Mike.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to the show.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_02: Viva Las Vegas or as I got to meet you and know you leave.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks, Mike.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_03: Happy to be here.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I'm super excited.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_02: It's been a while since you and I got to see each other.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_02: In fact, almost over two years now.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_03: Over two years.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_02: You were running for mayor.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_02: I was running for my second term as DA.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_02: Neither of us got those jobs.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, well.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I was going to say, how frequently do you think to yourself,
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_02: like, ah, thank God I'm not the mayor of Portland right now?
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, every time I take the stage, maybe, but...
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, it's been a little while and I think about it frequently.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_02: You know, of course, you run for the job because you want to do it.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_02: You think you can make a difference and you have a vision and then you don't get
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: the job and you're like, okay, now I can go and do some other things.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_02: So what have you been doing?
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, well, I just kind of settled back into my...
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_03: You know, before the campaign life.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm a dancer, a stripper twice a week at Mary's Club.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_03: Bartend at Bonk, like I've been doing for 16 years once a week.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_03: And then I'm a single parent of an 11 year old.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_03: So just all that comes with that.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_03: And it's great.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_03: It's very satisfying.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_03: I'm in three bands, so just living the Portland dream of the 90s.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_03: Of the 90s.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_02: Well, you know,
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_02: one of the favorite things I was thinking about this in preparation for us getting
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_02: to see each other again was how much you incorporated your daughter
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_02: into your campaign, especially the artwork.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_02: And so I just want to show you something today.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_02: I actually have with me the
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_03: Viva for
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_02: Mayor t-shirt,
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_02: which I'm very excited, and I get to pull out of my...
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_02: My dresser every once in a while and wear it and remember your run fondly and in reciprocation.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_02: And so if you're listening to this and not watching it,
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_02: I've got my Viva for Mayor t-shirt and I want to give you the honorary say yes to
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_02: the Schmidt Show t-shirt.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my gosh, that's like a Che Guevara situation.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, thank you.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_02: A supporter of mine made those for election night,
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_02: hoping, of course, that the outcome would be positive.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_02: And since it wasn't, I've been holding on to them ever since.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_02: So very limited edition, very rare.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_03: You can wear it on stage, chop it up, make a little hat for it.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_03: I would be honored.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_02: Please send me a picture.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it's so good to see you again.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think,
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_02: you kind of, I mean,
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_02: you already had a cult following before you ran for mayor and had a lot of folks
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_02: who, you know, love you, support you and were excited for your vision.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_02: But there's probably a lot of people who maybe aren't as familiar with who you are.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_02: So I figured maybe we should start with a little bit of backstory.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_02: I found out you're actually the daughter of a preacher man.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_02: Sure enough.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_02: So tell us a little bit about you.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_03: Son of a Preacher Man was my first song I ever danced to.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_03: I'm a Midwestern preacher's daughter.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_03: He's a Lutheran minister, very liberal.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_02: I love the Lutherans.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_03: I do too.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_03: I think theology, it's critical thinkers.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_03: And religion, a lot of times people think of the sheep that need guidance.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_03: There is that part of it.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_03: But my dad, he's my biggest hero.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_03: I mention him all the time.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_03: I think about how he would handle things every day.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_03: So I grew up kind of on the Lutheran circuit,
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_03: South Dakota,
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_03: Minnesota,
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_03: Wisconsin, oldest of four kids, my mom's a math teacher, high school math.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_03: But we were just taught to think about everything critically and to center people equally.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_03: And I still do that every day.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_03: And in my opinion of my career as a stripper, I am doing What he does.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_03: I'm standing in front of people and trying to make sure that they have hope and
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_03: that they are seen as a person and as an individual and then send them on their way.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_03: He doesn't necessarily agree with that, but that's the short of it.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_02: Well, maybe you could give us a story that kind of illustrates that a little bit.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_03: Illustrates my dad's.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_03: No, not your dad's.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_02: Your dad.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_02: Your ministry.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, okay.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_02: But more like, you know, how have you seen in your career, how has that shown up for people?
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_03: Well,
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_03: I worked yesterday and there's a guy who's been coming in for the past couple months
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_03: and he's very manic.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_03: He's a medical professional from Central Washington.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_03: He's going through divorce.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_03: He's kind of hard to even penetrate his mania.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_03: But yesterday, for some reason, I finally was like...
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_03: Let's go have a dance in the private area.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_03: He was open to it.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_03: All I did was just connect with him.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_03: I hugged him, and he wept.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_03: He just needed somebody.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_03: He's like, I have not been seen in six months.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_03: Nobody's seen me.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_03: And he doesn't let people see him,
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_03: but it's just like we get people like that,
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_03: and I don't care if you're Republican or black or white or Jewish or Palestinian.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_03: We see you for the individual you are and beyond those –
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_03: Those teams that you play on.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_03: And I think it's so important because then that guy needed a healing and he got
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_03: a little bit of a healing and he went back into his life and hopefully took that
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_03: with him.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I think it's so basic, right?
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_02: We forget sometimes or overthink it.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_02: It's like people need connection.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_02: People need sometimes just some human touch,
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_02: like a hug to feel seen and just have somebody they can talk to.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_02: How did that lend itself to you being like, you know what I should do?
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_02: I should be the mayor of this town.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_02: What was your journey there?
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, partly...
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_03: I did a psilocybin journey during COVID, like a deep dive with a guide, eight hours situation.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_03: And the guides were like, you got to go onto this bigger stage.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_03: Like, we need you.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_03: And I look around, I'm like, why don't we have candidates that I want to vote for?
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, well, because your friends aren't running.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_03: And why aren't you running?
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_03: And I think a lot of us, we think like that isn't our place to be up there.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_03: We don't have the qualifications, but democracy is participatory, right?
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_03: If we don't participate, we don't have a democracy, and I am just as qualified as the next guy.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_03: I've lived 52 years on Earth.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_03: I've lived all over the world.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_03: I've lived in many different communities.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_03: I have my unique ideas that I bring,
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_03: and I have certainly plenty of support in this town, so let's see.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_03: I don't need to win, but I need to bring those ideas, that community into the race, and...
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_03: I really didn't want Rene Gonzalez to be our next mayor,
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_03: and I saw that as my kid was eight, and I have to do more.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_03: Trump's running, Rene's running, and favored to win.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_03: What can I do?
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_03: I can run,
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_03: and because of ranked choice voting,
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_03: I think I can at least keep him from the mayor's seat, and that was my ceiling.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you got over 7,000 first place votes.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_02: I think you ended up in fourth or so out of like 20 candidates.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_02: So you did fifth, fifth.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_02: I promoted you.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_02: Behind the winner.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_03: And the three sitting commissioner.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_03: What were they called?
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_02: The three sitting commissioners.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you did incredible, especially first time, you know, runner or politician trying to be.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_03: No money.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_03: All volunteers.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_03: No money.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_03: I was really proud of what we accomplished together.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_02: Well, one of the things that I found compelling about your run was your articulation
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_02: of something that really resonated with me,
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_02: which is we need the mayor to be our cheerleader.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_02: Mm-hmm.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_02: We need the mayor to be out there kind of stumping for Portland and saying,
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_02: hey, there are things to be proud of.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, at the time,
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_02: of course,
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_02: I remember very well and you will too,
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_02: the whole like Portland's a Schmidt Show and everything was like doomed.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_02: Boom loop, crime out of control.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_02: I mean,
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_02: despite like evidence to the contrary and not to say that Portland doesn't have
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_02: and continue to have challenges and its issues certainly does.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_02: But like it was just so overwhelmingly negative and we kind
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_02: of lost our shine nationally as we were getting attacked by Trump.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_02: And all of this different stuff.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_02: And it was like, you were like, we need a cheerleader.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_02: We need somebody out there who is communicating the beauty,
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_02: the vision, the great people that make this community a great place to live.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_03: And I double down on that.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_03: This place is so awesome.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_03: We have such a great natural setting.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_03: We have so many engaged people in the democracy.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_03: There's just there's so many great structural pieces to Portland and Portlanders.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_03: And I think election cycles, for some reason, they belabor the negative.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_03: We were talking earlier how people seem addicted to negative news,
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_03: but I want to hear the positive.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_03: And I think.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_03: Oftentimes the people who win,
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_03: my dad in fact gave me a book long ago
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_03: that ranked every presidency throughout history on its positivity and over and
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_03: over again,
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_03: it was the positive voice that when you look at Trump,
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_03: he tells 99 lies out of 100,
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_03: but he's like, we're doing great,
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_03: we're doing great, we're doing great.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_03: Relentlessly.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, this guy sucks, but we're doing great.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's hypnotizing, but not that I was going for that.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_03: I truly believe that Portland is great and let's talk about it.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_03: Let's get people to come here.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_02: Well, one of your other focuses was really on the arts and the people,
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_02: the creatives that have really made this city the place that it became is
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_02: that iconic spot to retire from the 90s.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_02: The cliche things that Portlandia has given us, but you really wanted to bring that out.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_02: How do you see the arts community today?
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_02: Are people being supported?
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_02: Do you feel like there has been that support of the creatives?
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_03: There could always be a lot more,
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_03: but I think artists will do it regardless, and that's part of my campaign thing too.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_03: You don't really need to pay them anything.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_03: Just make sure they have a place.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_03: Make sure they have a place.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_03: A storefront or housing,
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_03: you know,
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_03: and that's why people came to,
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_03: 20 year olds came to Portland to retire is because housing was cheap.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_03: But I still see, yeah, artists making amazing art.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_03: We are really struggling with housing and cost of living.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_03: But we're doing it, and I think we're keeping the lights on.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_03: I think stripping is art in my religious system.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, absolutely.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_03: And those clubs, it's hard.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_03: It's hard for all of us.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_03: It's a small business, and it's art.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_03: And we need support, but they are keeping the lights on.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_03: They're keeping the lights on at Foster Powell.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_03: They're keeping the lights on over on Columbia Boulevard.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_03: Why doesn't Travel Portland,
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_03: the mayor, why don't we get behind the clubs and just advertise them?
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_03: People come here for Voodoo Donuts.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_03: Come here for our strip clubs.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_03: Get that energy out into every neighborhood where those clubs are thriving in spite
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_03: of your ignoring them totally.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I'm curious if you were, let's say, I mean, we're in an election cycle right now.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_02: So there are people, not the mayor.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_02: He's got two more years to continue.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_02: But other, you know, roles are up for election.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_02: If you were running right now,
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_02: would you think your message would be the same from two years ago?
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_02: Or are there things that you've kind of thought of since?
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_02: Or maybe things have changed a little bit?
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_02: Like, what would your message be to voters today?
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_02: I'm just curious.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_03: Huh.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_03: Would it be the same?
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_03: I'm definitely I would center the earth and the arts because those those things come first.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_03: Everything else can be built on top of that.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_03: But I think the mental health piece, we just see it get worse and worse.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_03: And we just need to turn the big pink into Oregon State Hospital.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_03: Number two, we need places for people to go.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_03: It is not.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um, kind to people to let them suffer on the streets and Oregon,
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_03: Oregon law needs to be changed so that we can intervene
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_03: when people are having active mental health crisis.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, Mary's was held up at knife point on a Sunday at noon.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_03: Like it's, it's, it's so random and it's so it's fueled by hopelessness.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_03: We got to tear down the whole system anyway.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_03: So you're not going on and on, but I would probably center that even more because we have to.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_03: Look to solve that.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_03: And it's not just overnight beds, obviously.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_03: And I think Keith truly believed that.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_03: But I also think he truly believed that that would win him the seat.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_03: And it did.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_03: And it did.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_03: And I think his heart's in the right place, maybe.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_03: But I don't know.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_03: He's the kind of guy who'll say what he needs to to.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I mean, here we are.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, in that race,
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_02: of course,
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_02: Keith Wilson ends up winning the mayoral seat and he ran
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_02: on ending unsheltered homelessness within his first year.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_03: Not ended.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_02: Objectively, that has not worked out.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_02: So what do you take from the mayor's first two years in his term?
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_02: What do you see as,
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_02: you know, positives or things, criticisms or opportunities for growth, as they say?
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I mean, I do see a mayor who I think is sincere and wants the best for Portland.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I guess I hope that would be the minimum of any mayor,
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_03: but I do think like his heart's in my place.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_03: But he is aligning with corporate business interests.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_03: And I mean, there's just, there's two teams like fund the businesses.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_03: So the businesses support the people or support the people.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_03: So the people make the businesses and I'm in the latter category and he's in
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_03: the former category.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think he's thrown around his weight too much,
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_03: which that's good, but he is in this election cycle.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_03: And clearly, yeah,
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_03: I don't agree with his vision of how Portland is functional on a structural level.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_03: We're different.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I feel like, you know, you ran on that Portland needs a storyteller, a cheerleader.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_02: I haven't really seen a lot of that in Portland from this mayor,
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_02: but I have seen it in other cities in New York.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, that's the kind of mayor I want and would be.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_03: New York is a completely different animal.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_03: There's far more money there to spread around.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_03: But, but we can have nice things too.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_02: So you're going to run again?
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_03: Good question.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_03: I, uh,
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_03: I told myself I would decide by spring and I want to see kind of who's thinking
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_03: of running,
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_03: obviously Keith, but just to see if my message would still be really needed.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_03: It's a huge sacrifice for you and for your family.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_03: My daughter's all on board.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_03: That's good because that's my family.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_03: And she's,
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_03: you know,
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_03: in middle school where I think you start to get a little bit more like,
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_03: oh, no, my mom is what?
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_03: She's a stripper.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_03: She's running for marriage.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, no.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_03: But she's all about it.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_03: So we'll see.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_03: I'll think about it more seriously January,
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_03: February and see who's going to throw their name in the hat.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I appreciate that because I think,
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_02: when I ran for DA the first time, It really wasn't an ideal time for me in my life.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_02: We had a three-year-old, we had one on the way.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know,
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_02: we did talk about it,
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_02: obviously, as a family, and I had my wife's support for doing that.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_02: But it also was like, Gosh, I wish I had four more years before I had to.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_02: I knew eventually I saw that I felt like I could fill a role
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_02: that wasn't being represented with criminal justice reform work in the seat.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_02: But the timing, when the window opens, sometimes you just have to go in.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_02: And I feel like had I seen the right person,
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_02: Like that I could support instead of me being the one,
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_02: I'd have been like,
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_03: yes,
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_02: you do it.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_03: Well, and we do it partly for our kids, right?
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_03: Because we want them to have nice things, beautiful world.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_03: And I do think about that too.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_03: Were I elected, that would be my last four years with my kid at home.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's pretty tough.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_03: But you know, when I ran, she was an instrumental part of the campaign.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_03: She was, she was the assistant campaign manager and she, um, like kind of lead canvasser almost.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so It was a really meaningful thing for us to do together.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_03: So there's that.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_03: There's that too.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's a great experience.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_02: You know,
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_02: I obviously,
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_02: like you,
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_02: you go to house parties, you're constantly talking, giving speeches and everything.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I always,
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_02: whenever I was giving a speech,
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_02: I'd try to bring at least my oldest son,
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_02: because my younger one was a little bit too young to really...
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_02: Participate.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_02: But I'd always have him up there standing with me where it was appropriate to do
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_02: that because I wanted him to experience it,
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_02: see me doing that, envision for himself that speaking to crowds is not scary.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, the experience.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we'll see if I traumatized him.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_02: We'll find out later.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_03: I know.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_03: Like my kid just ran for sixth grade class president at their new school
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_03: where kids have been there for like eight years.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_03: She won.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_03: I was just like, well, you know, you probably won't.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_03: Win because you're new there.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_03: You don't have so many friends.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_03: And she's like, well, that's fine.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_03: If I win, that'll be great.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_03: If I lose, I'll be just like you.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_02: That is like one of the best lessons.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_02: I know.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_02: I know.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_02: Well, congratulations to the sixth grade class president.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_03: Let her know.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_03: And one thing I also want to say as pertains to that,
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_03: like I went to her school and talked to all the fourth graders
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_03: after my campaign was done and just kind of told them like the nuts and bolts of
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_03: Of running,
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_03: but I started the talk with like, raise your hand if you think you're a leader.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_03: And to my surprise, not a single hand went up.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_03: And by the end of it, you know, I was like,
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_02: yeah, I
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_03: know.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, there are so many different types of leaders.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_03: Like a leader can be really quiet and standing against the wall and observing what's going on.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_03: That's kind of my style.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_03: Honestly, I'm a quiet observer.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_03: And then like, this part is performative.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_03: I'm an introvert,
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_03: but just so by the end of it,
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_03: they were like,
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_03: they're raising their hands and you could just see the,
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_03: The light bulb's going off in their head.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_03: Like, wait a minute.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_03: I do belong up there.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_03: I do belong.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_03: Like, my voice does matter and I have ideas.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_03: That was really cool.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_02: Well, your teacher mother would have been so proud.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_02: And my preacher dad.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_02: And your preacher dad, too.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_02: I think the other lesson is that I love that your daughter clearly took
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_02: from your campaign was, if I lose, it's okay.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I mean,
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_02: I say I,
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_02: I frequently have candidates who are running for things come to me and they want
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_02: to talk to me about what is it like?
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_02: I get advice, ask for my endorsement sometimes.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, I always say, you know, thank you for running.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_02: Like, even if I'm not going to endorse them or whatever it is,
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_02: I'm just,
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_02: you are representing a vision and there are people in our community
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_02: that don't feel heard and you are They will identify with you.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_02: There's always some people that are going to identify with you.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it's so important that people be willing to participate in our democracy.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_03: It's service.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_02: It is service.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_02: It really is.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_02: And once you're actually running a campaign and how many hours it takes and
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_02: the dedication and the volunteers and the people who show up for you and the money.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_03: And they're all looking to you.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_02: It is a civic service to even run for office.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_02: All right,
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_02: so we've talked a little bit about the mayor,
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_02: and we'll keep your future plans on ice.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_02: We're not breaking news this morning, but when you're ready to have you back on.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_02: What about the city council?
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_02: Because at the same time you were running for mayor,
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_02: it was a brand new form of government that hadn't been done before in Portland.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_02: We're now two years into that.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_02: What's your take been on city council?
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_02: How do you feel like they've been doing?
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_03: Considering it's two years into a new system, I think they're doing pretty well.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_03: Pretty well.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_03: There's been...
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_03: Areas where they are getting things done.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_03: I don't love the internecine part of it, but I mean, that's politics, right?
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's heartening that the peacock counselors got together and formed a block.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_03: Like, that's what happens.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_03: And I don't often see that happen because we don't often have that many socialists,
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_03: whatever, that progressive candidates.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_03: So I am stumping for all of the peacock people running for reelection.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_03: I think they are more than entitled to another term.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_03: I don't, like I said, don't love the internecine stuff, the name calling.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_03: I just, I'm from Minnesota.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_03: That doesn't belong.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_03: Minnesota, nice.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, what would Mom Donnie do?
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think he would do that.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_03: Come on.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_03: But you hear that some of those people are doing that with the microphone,
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_03: but then the other people are doing it behind closed doors and it's much worse.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_03: And yeah, it's just, it's gnarly.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_03: So again, they are serving and they're working so hard and I see them showing up.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, vote Mitch, vote Angelita, vote Tiffany.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_03: Dr. Esther.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_03: Steve.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_03: I like Steve.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_03: I know my progressive friends aren't all about Steve,
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_03: but I do see him as a measured voice,
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_03: and I see that he considers things from many angles and kind of votes with his...
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_03: With his heart, brain, yeah.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think he's a pretty thoughtful leader.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, exactly.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_02: What are some things, I mean,
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_02: sounds like you,
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_02: like me,
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_02: like many Portlanders are seeing what's happening in New York City,
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_02: seeing a mayor talking about,
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_02: publicly funded grocery stores in food deserts, talking about filling the potholes.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_02: I had Angelita on the program.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_02: And then doing it.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_02: And then doing it, right?
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_02: And she called it sewer socialism, which,
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_02: you know, is kind of like, That basic, the city must work, let's focus on that.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I feel like Mondami is a master at being like,
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_02: what is actually going to impact people's lives?
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously housing costs for sure, but transportation costs, food.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_02: And so what are some things that you would like to see?
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_02: Let's say that those folks get reelected, that you'd like to see on their agenda for this city?
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_03: Well, the ideas and speaking about the ideas are great,
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_03: but then how do we actually get those done?
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_03: And I think Mom Donnie's been really great at that.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_03: It's like actually getting it done.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_03: We're going to pay you to shovel snow and checks going on tomorrow.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_03: And it happens overnight.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_03: And then that groundswell of like, look, I just got 50 bucks for helping my community.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_03: That's something Portland needs.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_03: I think structurally the money in Portland,
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_03: Portlanders are so generous and we constantly are voting for,
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_03: With our dollars, you know, and then where do the dollars go?
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_03: I would love to see just like granular oversight on where each dollar goes.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_03: I'm a single mom.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_03: I'm an artist.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_03: That was part of my campaign message too.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_03: You think I can't manage a budget like this?
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_03: I know where every dollar comes from and goes and I make it stretch.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_03: But I think a lot of times in Portland it gets stuck at the top
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_03: and it doesn't reach those services.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_03: And then we have...
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_03: We have a bike lobby that is making bike lanes while the potholes are unfilled,
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_03: and then the guy dies on his bike on division.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_03: We dream of having these wonderful,
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_03: nice things, but we're not attending to just the very basics.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like the snow shoveling example is such a great example of
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_02: a mayor like just getting shit done.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I feel like – and obviously we don't have the snow situation that New York City has.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_02: So we'd have – there are other things we could do.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_02: But there are so many other things we could do.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you know,
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_02: people talk about there being,
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_02: trash on our streets,
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_02: you know, I mean,
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_02: picking up trash,
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_02: graffiti, things like that that could help make our neighborhoods cleaner.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, there are things that we could do that would be analogs to shoveling snow.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_02: And it feels like in Portland,
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_02: like someone might have that idea and they'd be like, yeah,
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_02: we could never do that, though,
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_02: because like you'd have to set up a bureaucracy and then a committee and
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_02: then you'd have to figure out and then like.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_02: Like how you would pay and we got to make sure that they don't use the money for drugs.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_02: So how are we going to make sure that they don't do that?
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_03: They're going to injure themselves and then they're going to sue us.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, but is that structurally how Portland works?
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_03: Like does it have to be?
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_02: Does it have to be?
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_02: And Madami's just like, you know, we need shovels in hands and pay them now.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_02: And they're like, all right, do it.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_02: Like that's what I think a lot of Portlanders are waiting for is they're like, let's just do it.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_02: Let's execute.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_02: Like what is the thing that we want to tackle and how do we just do it?
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, there must be structural barriers, too, because otherwise, why is it not happening?
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_03: And why do so many nonprofits just get these fraud cases?
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_03: There has to be more oversight.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_03: And I think Portlanders are yearning for that just to see where their dollars go.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_03: We keep voting to support massive supports for everything that I don't see in other...
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_03: Blue cities,
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_03: not even in Minnesota do voters vote that generously,
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_03: but then where's the oversight?
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_03: So I don't know.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_02: I loved when you were running,
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_02: you said you would bring your own fiscal conservatism to the job, right?
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_02: And people are like, wait a minute, you're a progressive but fiscal conservative.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_02: Like, wait, what is happening?
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_02: But what I hear you saying is accountability.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, well, that could be fiscally concerned.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I always try,
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_03: as a stripper,
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_03: we reach across the aisle all the time,
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_03: and that's why I think a stripper mayor would be great,
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_03: because we are not saying, you're the other team, we're not talking to you.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_03: No, we need to work together.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_03: And, yeah, it's funny, they couldn't get a read on me at all in the beginning of the campaign.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_03: People thought I was conservative,
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_03: they thought I was a Mingus acolyte,
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_03: and I'm definitely further left than any of those candidates that I was running
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_03: against, but it's funny.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_02: Because Mingus was a mentor of yours, right?
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_03: He's a friend of a friend and he was willing to have coffee with me.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I just sat down with anyone who'd have coffee with me,
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_03: you know, and, um,
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_03: and he was very helpful and just like the nuts and bolts,
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_03: like here's the treasurer's phone number.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_03: He's a great guy.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_03: Do I, do I have, you know, criticisms of the way he was a leader?
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe, but yeah.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_02: I had a, I had, um, a guest on, uh, from the Metro chamber, John Isaacs.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_02: And, and so we were talking and,
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_02: and, One of the goals of the show is I try to get perspectives out there.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_02: And so I wanted to hear his perspective on things.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_02: They have been very critical of the DSA candidates.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_02: And John himself was kind of a he's been a political operative his entire career,
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_02: but he was really involved in the Democratic Party taking control from
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_02: the Republicans because Oregon was not always a democratically controlled state.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_02: In fact, it wasn't even that long ago that we had Republicans in charge.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_02: One of the worries that John had with the DSA that he articulated was it's going
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_02: to drive people back into the kind of the moderate space or the conservative space
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_02: because they're overreaching.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_02: Do you see anything to that?
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_03: I don't, but I mean, I see the press belaboring that narrative.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_03: And I do not see that at all.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_03: In fact, like I am one of, I don't, do you know Marlene Howell?
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_03: She just seems like a person who's in this activist space who was a fan
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_03: of my campaign and invited me to a fundraiser for Tina Kotick.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_03: It was like Peace and Justice maybe with some, one of those groups.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_03: And I was shocked by the progressiveness of my elders.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_03: There were a lot of older women there,
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_03: 80s, and they were so much more progressive than I think I'm allowed to be.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_03: I think Gen X,
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_03: we have to reach across the aisles a little bit more to make coalitions,
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_03: but I was just like,
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_03: okay, okay, this is what I really want, and you're just saying it.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_03: So that was really heartening and exciting for me to see.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_02: I wonder if there's like a bell curve in our lives where it's like when we're young
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_02: and idealistic and we feel like we can just say and do and like go for the thing.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_02: And then we get older and we're like, actually, we need to work together.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_02: We need to compromise.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_02: And then you start getting to 80 again.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_03: You're like, fuck it.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_02: Can I say that on a podcast?
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, you're like, fuck it.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_02: I'm 80.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_02: You know what?
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_02: I'm just going to tell you what I think.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_02: And this is it, right?
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_02: It's like kind of this bell curve of life.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_03: Give the poor more money.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it was really exciting.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_03: So I think the DSA, let's have more of it.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_03: Housing, healthcare, supporting the environment.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_03: That's the number one issue of our time.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_03: We don't even get to even talk about it because it's like, oh, that's a pipe dream.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_02: You're going to be sorry.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_02: Housing, healthcare, environment.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_02: It's hard to imagine three more salient issues to our lives.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's why I love artists, too,
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_03: is artists inhabit this liminal space where we're not just allowed but expected
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_03: to be transgressive.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_03: And I think even my becoming a stripper,
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_03: I was looking at the structural system of art Of our society and be like,
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_03: I disagree with it a whole hog.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_03: I don't want any of these jobs.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_03: How can I exist on the edges of capitalism and still pay my rent?
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_03: How can I be an artist and still pay my rent?
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_03: And it was like stripping.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_03: And then figured out that my suspicion that it was intensely feminist
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_03: and very community supported was true.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_03: And so, yeah, that's been kind of a miracle in my life.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_03: But...
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_03: Stripping in particular, but also to be around so many artists who that is how we do it.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_03: We transgress.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_02: Let's take a quick break there for a word from our sponsor.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_02: A quick word from our show sponsor,
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_02: Dr. Adam Moret at Corbett Hill Wellness Center, people I know and trust.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_01: Hi, I'm Dr. Moret from Corbett Hill Wellness Center.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_01: I know some people worry that once they see a chiropractor, they'll have to keep coming back.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_01: That's not how I practice.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_01: I recommend the care that you need for as long as you need it.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_01: And at Corbett Hill, you have options.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_01: Chiropractic,
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_01: massage,
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_01: acupuncture, naturopathic medicine, laser treatment, shockwave therapy, and more.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_01: Care should be about what's right for you.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_01: Corbett Hill Wellness Center.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_01: Move well, feel well, live well.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_01: Visit corbethill.com.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_02: One of the things, I mean,
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_02: I've said this before,
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_02: and there's a campaign in Oregon for universal health care,
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_02: and I need to have those folks on the show so they can help us walk
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_02: through how we can make this happen.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_02: Because the HR1, the big, beautiful bill, is about to blow a hole in our state Medicaid budget.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_02: Thousands of people are going to be kicked off the rolls of our Oregon health plan.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_02: And it's going to be an absolute disaster.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_02: And one of the things that you already mentioned was people suffering
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_02: from acute mental illness and addiction and other issues that have them out on
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_02: the streets.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_02: It's just going to get worse because we are going to have even less resources to get
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_02: to those folks.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think about health care for all,
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_02: which seems like Our politics make it seem, oh, it's like such a pipe dream.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_02: It's not attainable.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yet almost every other first world nation in the country has already figured this out.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_03: And isn't it cheaper in the long run?
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_03: And isn't it cheaper in the long run?
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_02: And back to like what made me think of this is in the arts space,
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_02: like how many people take jobs or have jobs because of health care?
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_02: And how many artists have?
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_02: So, I mean,
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_02: I just think about for the art community,
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_02: a great way to support would be universal healthcare.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_03: Support your artists by voting this in.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_03: Do you know Rebecca Shun?
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_03: I'll connect you with her.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_03: I think she's a key player on that.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_03: Great.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_02: No, I know some of the folks that are behind it and they've reached out to get on
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_02: the show and I've I've had a lot of guests on and I promise I will get them
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_02: because I want to have that conversation of how we can accomplish it.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_03: So necessary.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, when we all lose our health insurance, then maybe we'll finally demand that.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_02: I kind of almost think, right?
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_02: It's like maybe things are getting so broke.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_02: The inequality is getting so stark.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_02: The billionaires building rocket ships to Mars while people can't eat is getting so obvious.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_03: We're dying.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_03: How many GoFundMes can we support?
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, exactly.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_02: For GoFundMe Healthcare.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_02: That's where this is headed.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_02: Well, let's talk a little bit about small businesses and supporting our small businesses.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, you work at Mary's as we've established downtown.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_03: Go to the strip clubs.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_03: Go to the strip clubs.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_02: Support.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_02: You had a little bubbled up parking fight situation that happened over the summer.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_02: Tell us a little bit about that.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, gosh.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_03: Wasn't this months ago already?
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I know.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_02: I'm bringing up old news.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_03: No, no.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_03: It was interesting.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_03: So Mary's has been working so hard, keeping the lights on downtown.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_03: It has been struggling.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_03: We had to move to Old Town, which is pretty dicey.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_03: And there's limited parking.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_03: They keep taking away more and more parking down there.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_03: So this one block where all of us park,
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_03: our customers park, it's between 4th and 5th on Burnside.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_03: All of a sudden, these signs appeared.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_03: No parking on that block from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. every night of the week for five months.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_02: And it was like for street cleaning?
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, for street cleaning.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_03: And it had the effect of nobody would park there during the day either
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_03: because you kind of had to really read closely to be like,
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_03: oh, I can park here until 7.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_03: But we need people to – supposedly the mayor says, everyone says people need to come downtown.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_03: I keep saying pay us,
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_03: pay our parking, pay us to park down there as my car gets broken into regularly.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_03: But then to see that was a huge slap in the face.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_03: And Mary's Club, the manager, Virginia, she wrote to the city.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_03: Half a dozen strippers wrote to the city.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_03: And I was seeing...
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_03: On our Slack,
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_03: we have a Slack channel,
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_03: you know,
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_03: like what they were writing and I'm like,
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_03: motherfucker, they're not getting any answers.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm going to, I have this platform.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_03: This is what it's for.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_03: I try to avoid Instagram as much as I can, but I just, I just like, this is bullshit.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_03: And very quickly, maybe all of our combined efforts, they took it down.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_03: And I think even there was a kind of an apology because it was so backwards in it,
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_03: but it was,
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_03: It hurt us, even those weeks that it was there, and it hurt kind of our feelings.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_03: It's like, what are you doing?
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_03: You talk about supporting us, but in action, not at all.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_03: Not even close.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_03: And Dante's is down there, too.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_03: Dante's in Star Theater.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_03: They're really keeping the lights on.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_03: Roseland.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_03: There are places that are thriving in spite of all of this.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_03: And support them.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_03: Figure out a way to support them.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like...
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_02: I'm glad it's a resolved issue.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_02: I'm glad it was resolved.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_02: It did feel to me at the time that it was like,
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_02: as soon as you went to Instagram,
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_02: then suddenly,
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_02: amazingly,
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_02: and I'm sure it was collective effort,
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_02: no doubt,
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_02: but you have a platform and a megaphone that other people don't have,
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_02: and so it was resolved, but it was sad to me that it took that.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, absolutely.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_02: And maybe one of the things that I think isn't always thought through is
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_02: the unintended consequences of – I don't know what the well-meaning policy was
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_02: behind closing those.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_02: I can suppose what I think they were trying to accomplish and whether that's good
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_02: or not, but –
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_03: The cars being there keeps that block cleaner.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_03: Like there are not campers on that block because there's people constantly going to their cars.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_03: So I don't know if that's what you're intimating.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_03: Right, but that's what I was thinking, right?
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_03: No, because everywhere else where there isn't cars, like the bus mall, it is a shit show.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_03: There's people just laying prone.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_03: There's feces.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_03: My friend got attacked by a woman in a wheelchair.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_03: And the bus clearly is coming and going, but there's no parking there.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_03: But to have people parking and walking to their car,
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_03: that's the energy we need to make the downtown healthier.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_03: We need people to go down there and walk to their cars and walk to the businesses.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_03: And they're doing that in spite of the safety risks, in spite of the feces.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_03: And so just like, come on, support.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it just feels like maybe somebody should be asking you all, what can we do to help?
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, yes, yes.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_03: Can we put a city councilor on it?
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_03: Like, hey.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, well, I know that we have some city councilor listeners to this, so hopefully somebody can.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_02: But I think that's,
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_02: you know, like, hey,
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_02: what is it that we can do to make your lives easier,
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_02: to help more customers get to you, to, you know, help support the business?
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, make parking easier and more straightforward.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_03: And how about, like...
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_03: What if it's known that from 6 to 8 p.m. every night it's free parking?
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_03: I guess a lot of times it is,
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_03: but instead of extending the parking hours,
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_03: I know that's a kitty for your money,
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_03: but what would be more important for the health of the city
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_03: to have people going down there,
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_03: supporting those businesses,
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_03: and just advertise like, oh,
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_03: it's free parking,
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_03: 5 to 9, so you can go get dinner, go see a show, make a campaign around it.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_03: It might work.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I'm curious about what other ideas you might have.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_02: My last guest that I had on was a school board member,
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_02: and obviously the Portland Public Schools is having a tough conversation right now
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_02: about potential school closures.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_02: One of the questions I asked her,
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, okay,
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_02: if you go through with closing these 14 schools, what do you do with the buildings?
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I made a joke about McMinimins, which
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_03: everybody, right?
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_02: Everyone's like, oh, yeah, obviously.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_02: But no one wants 14 more McMinimins.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_03: I know, the Airbnb industry would be crushed.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_02: But, you know, I do think about, you know, artists and opening up community spaces.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, because the lights will need to be kept on.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_02: The water needs to keep running in these buildings.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_02: If they were truly to go vacant, then, you know, you would have security.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_02: You would have to be paying for security to monitor those spaces.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_02: So it seems better to just make them used by the community.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_02: But So that's one idea.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_02: And that conversation is a tough conversation for the community.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_02: And so that needs to happen.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_02: And so we'll see where that goes.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_02: But what other ideas do you have for the way this city could support folks?
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, well, I mean,
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_03: similar to the schools that are in every neighborhood,
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_03: I'll say it again, the strip clubs are in every neighborhood.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_03: And these are acupuncture points where community gathers and it's low barrier to entry.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_03: You don't have to pay a lot to get in.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_03: Strip clubs are kind of community centers for the 21 to 91 crowd.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_03: So advertise them.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_03: I really think that we're sitting on like a gold mine.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_03: Just be like Portland, we have a history of being a center of vice.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_03: Lead into that.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_03: There's nothing immoral about strip clubs.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_03: Haven't we determined that, especially seeing what passes for morality on the bigger stages?
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, my God, right.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_03: I know.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_03: And it's just they're really sweet,
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_03: small businesses that really do,
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_03: I think, perform healing in each of our communities.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_03: I think that we could just advertise that.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_03: Travel Portland should run with it.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_03: Do some campaigns internationally.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_03: We could have – Japanese used to come in just to get a voodoo donut.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_03: Mm-hmm.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_03: A bunk sandwich.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_03: And now there is a Voodoo Donuts there.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_03: And there is a bunk sandwiches in Tokyo and Kyoto.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_03: And what if there's a Mary's Club there too?
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_03: Who knows?
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, there you go.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_03: But similarly,
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_03: the schools,
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_03: absolutely those are community centers and they need to be maintained as such.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_03: If they're not schools, I looked up how many numbers are in Gen Alpha.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_03: It's half of the previous generation.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, we're going to have to do some restructuring.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_03: But Buckman...
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_03: That needs to be a community center or very quickly it will be a den of the worst stuff.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_03: And there's so much neighborhood support for arts and artists there.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_03: There's like dog space.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_03: I think it could be amazing.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_03: Like start with that one and just make it a model for what we can do in these spaces.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_03: There's a lot of support to keep those buildings vibrant.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_03: And if you pitch it like that,
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_03: maybe people won't mourn and grieve the school closures that may be at least
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_03: in part necessary.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, one of the things that I think when I hear people talking about the schools,
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_02: it's not just a place that we send our kids between 830 and three.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_02: It's also a place that we meet up,
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_02: that sports happen, that,
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_02: people can see a play or do a thing,
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_02: so it's like it functions as much more of a hub and that could be maintained.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_03: We take pride in these buildings that we went there for school.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_03: Our favorite teacher went there and they're oftentimes just beautiful buildings.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_03: Spaces.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_03: And there's kind of parkland around it too.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_03: Like the city of Minneapolis has this cool law where there has to be a park
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_03: within like every 0.75 miles and the parks are everywhere
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_03: and they're always being used.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_03: And we could do that.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_03: We need to have housing for the people that don't have housing so we can enjoy our parks.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_03: But let's have some goals around that.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_03: Come on.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_02: So what's giving you hope about Portland right now?
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_02: What do you see as some...
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_02: Highlights are some good things.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you know,
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_02: one of the things that I like to talk about, like the leaning into our advantages.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we've talked about obviously where we're situated in terms of you can get to
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_02: the coast, you can get to the mountain, you know, wine country, food, coffee.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_02: Like there's so many things that we're good at.
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_02: We have a preschool for all program.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that was the first thing in my mind.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm just like, I've been frustrated.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, why aren't we leaning into that?
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_02: Like, why aren't we advertising to young families across this country?
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_02: Like, hey,
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_02: Portland's the place to live because we will actually pay for your child to go
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_02: to preseason.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_02: So there's things that we could lean into.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_02: And I feel like instead of leaning into our advantages, we're always on defense.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_03: And that's because the press, I think, is doing that.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_03: And it's irresponsible.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_03: We need to lead with the good stuff.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_03: And Preschool for All, certainly, I think our engagement in our democracy is really special.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_03: Like what happened with ICE and how we stood up to that.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_03: Uniquely Portland and very special.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_03: My daughter's aunt and uncle, they've got a lot of money.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_03: They're from L.A.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_03: They're looking at money.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_03: Elementary schools up here because the system in LA is just backwards
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_03: and very money buys everything.
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_03: So they're looking up here.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_03: Portland's got a humility to it that is really special.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_03: Our art scene is really special.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_03: Our strip clubs are amazing.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_03: Our river.
• 49:27
  SPEAKER_03: And I think really focusing on the river and our environment
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_03: and how those connect everybody is important.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_02: I was going to ask you about,
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_02: I know that the river is important to you, the environment's important to you.
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_02: City Hall has been talking about the CEI hub debate.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_02: I was wondering if you had thoughts on that.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_02: I had Marnie Glickman on from Braided River to talk about.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_02: And she educated me and I think to a lot of listeners about some of the proposals
• 49:57
  SPEAKER_02: that are being considered by City Hall might not actually accomplish all that much
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_02: for mitigating the potential disaster of having that much fuel on our river.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_03: It's such a bad idea and it needs to be changed and they keep kicking
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_03: the football further and further.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_03: I mean eventually it's just going to – Not be fixable, but I appreciate that.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_03: I think there are people really fighting for it.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_03: I'd love to listen to your podcast to see what's heartbreaking about the current dialogue.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_03: I mean,
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_03: why can't it make sense to everybody that we need a healthy river and we need
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_03: to not poison it?
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_03: That that should be first things first before mental health,
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_03: before keeping the lights on downtown.
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_03: We need to protect the environment for generations.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_03: And that is just a ticking time bomb.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_03: I think during the campaign,
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_03: a lot of awareness was increased,
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_03: and that's the benefit,
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_03: I guess, of belaboring the bad news because, yeah, that is serious, very serious.
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_03: And when the campaign cycle is over, it seems like it kind of goes off the radar.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_03: So I'd like to see more people focusing on that.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_03: But then, again, I'm trying to focus on the good stuff.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_03: Especially now,
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_03: like what gives me hope still is going to Mary's and just sitting there and basking
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_03: in the beauty and ingenuity of my coworkers.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_03: Like they're all small business owners and they just show up.
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_03: Whether there's money there or not, and just shine a light.
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_03: Because it's been pretty dark.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_03: It has been pretty dark times.
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_02: Well, as we mentioned,
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_02: and you've already called out some candidates,
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_02: what campaigns are you seeing that are really giving you that hope or
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_02: that you're excited to get out and support?
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_03: Giving me hope.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I think Mitch Green emphasizes positivity and And they sure do love smearing him.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_03: I, you know,
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_03: I have issues with every person and what they've been doing,
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_03: but that's, that's how it should be.
• 52:01
  SPEAKER_03: That's how it should be.
• 52:01
  SPEAKER_03: You're taking a stand on.
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_02: There's nobody that I look at and I'm like, Oh, a hundred percent of everything you've done.
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_02: I am there.
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 52:08
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, not being in New York.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, everything I see is fantastic.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, no, that, that is how it should be.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_02: There is no like perfect candidate that's going to nail everything.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_02: But in general, you know, you want people that you feel like are showing up the right way.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_02: We've talked about city.
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_02: Let's switch over to county.
• 52:29
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, yeah.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_03: Well, Shannon Singleton is my clear frontrunner, first choice for county chair.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_03: I met her at that Tina Koteck camp fundraiser, and she is just, I'd never really met her before.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_03: She's lovely, down to earth, but also she has got all of the chops.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_03: It would be so exciting to have somebody with that background and
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_03: who shares my values in the county chairs.
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_03: That's a really Important,
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_03: powerful position that,
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_03: again, as a layperson, It is hard to make sense of which chairs have the most power.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_03: Who is actually pulling the strings here?
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_02: Everybody is slapped with, oh, I'm progressive.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_02: They all use the same speak in the label.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_02: So it is really challenging to figure out,
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_02: okay, who actually shares my values or who am I most aligned with?
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_02: Because it's not like we're voting Democrat or Republican where you can be like,
• 53:22
  SPEAKER_02: oh, well, clearly I want the Democrat.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_02: You're like, everyone is Democrat on the spectrum of that, on the continuum of that.
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_02: And they all use the same buzzwords.
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_02: But what I like about Shannon is you look at her background.
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_02: You look at her history.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_02: You look at the jobs that she has held.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and if one of
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_02: the biggest challenges that's facing our community right now is homelessness, right?
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_02: And continues to be, um,
• 53:49
  SPEAKER_02: despite the best efforts of some people,
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_02: um, then you want someone who's actually been on the front lines of that.
• 53:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_03: I think your podcast really covered it well.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_03: That's why I shared it with my fans because I had no idea half of her background
• 54:05
  SPEAKER_03: and It's significant.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_03: She's humble.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_03: Like sometimes the humility of the average Portlander works against them
• 54:11
  SPEAKER_03: when they're vying for positions of leadership.
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, Tina Kotick even,
• 54:14
  SPEAKER_03: I can't believe that there's even a contest there,
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_03: but I think she does have a, there's a problem with, um,
• 54:24
  SPEAKER_03: Coms, like communication, like what she has done and the good that she has done.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_03: But Shannon, yeah, it's really important.
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_03: Multnomah County chair position is really important.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_03: And Shannon is the person that we want.
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_03: She has that.
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_03: Next week.
• 54:40
  SPEAKER_03: It's next week.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_02: I know.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_02: I know.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_02: This is coming up on us.
• 54:42
  SPEAKER_02: I mean.
• 54:44
  SPEAKER_02: If you haven't voted yet, please do so.
• 54:48
  SPEAKER_02: Earlier the better.
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_02: We had Tobias Reid on the show to talk about the importance of putting it
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_02: a Dropbox if you can.
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_02: Or if you are going to put it in the mail, make sure that it's done at least a week in advance.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_02: And if not a week in advance,
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_02: then go into the post office and get that stamp that says that you've mailed it from
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_02: the desk.
• 55:08
  SPEAKER_00: Did you do that?
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_02: I haven't voted yet.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_02: This weekend.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_02: My wife and I, we've got our ballots lined up next to each other.
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_02: We're ready to sit at the kitchen table.
• 55:17
  SPEAKER_02: And it's one of my favorite things of the year.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_02: I love it so much.
• 55:21
  SPEAKER_02: Family voting.
• 55:22
  SPEAKER_03: Family voting.
• 55:23
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, gosh, it's so amazing, this state, the way that we do it.
• 55:28
  SPEAKER_02: You get to sit down.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_02: You get to read.
• 55:31
  SPEAKER_02: You get to have a conversation.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_02: You're reading the voters pamphlet.
• 55:34
  SPEAKER_02: You can do some internet research if you want on the spot.
• 55:36
  SPEAKER_02: You can text your friend.
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_02: You can phone a friend.
• 55:38
  SPEAKER_02: You're not standing in some booth with people behind you waiting to do it.
• 55:42
  SPEAKER_02: It's true.
• 55:43
  SPEAKER_03: I've never voted that way.
• 55:44
  SPEAKER_03: I've never voted that way.
• 55:46
  SPEAKER_02: I've only done it once because I grew up in New York.
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_02: So I've only done it once, but this is so superior.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_02: It's amazing to me why everybody doesn't vote like this.
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_02: And when I was talking to our Secretary of State,
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_02: Tobias, he's like, yeah, it's also not hackable.
• 56:02
  SPEAKER_02: The ballots are paper.
• 56:04
  SPEAKER_02: And the machines that count the ballots are not connected to the internet.
• 56:08
  SPEAKER_02: So they are like old school, like, you know, you feed it into the machines, it tabulates.
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_03: No wonder they're trying to take this away from us.
• 56:14
  SPEAKER_03: No wonder.
• 56:16
  SPEAKER_02: They can't hack it.
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_02: Space lasers from Elon Musk can't hack our elections here in Oregon.
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I'm a single parent.
• 56:22
  SPEAKER_03: I do it sometimes with my kid,
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_03: but like her stepmom had her,
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_03: her birthday last Sunday and we brought over a little cake
• 56:29
  SPEAKER_03: and They were doing family voting with her mom and her dad and my daughter's dad.
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_03: And like, you know, they had the margarine and the lamb a week and they had champagne.
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_03: And I was like, this is cool.
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_02: It is so cool.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_02: And my kids aren't old enough yet to care about that.
• 56:45
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe my nine year old is getting closer.
• 56:47
  SPEAKER_02: But what a cool thing to do with your kids, right?
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_02: Before they can even, you know, actually vote themselves.
• 56:52
  SPEAKER_02: But to see their parents engaging and debating and like.
• 56:56
  SPEAKER_03: This is really important.
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_03: This is why we have nice things.
• 57:01
  SPEAKER_02: So no matter who you're going to vote for,
• 57:03
  SPEAKER_02: make sure that you do and get it into the box the sooner that you can.
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_02: Any other races we got?
• 57:11
  SPEAKER_02: There's a there is a measure on the ballot called your two cents that would allow
• 57:17
  SPEAKER_02: for citizen participation into, you know, using the budget.
• 57:22
  SPEAKER_02: Have you thought about that one at all?
• 57:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I mean, I noted with interest that Moment Week and Mercury said no to that.
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I saw that.
• 57:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'm like, why not?
• 57:31
  SPEAKER_03: And Chloe Udaly's friend and somebody I follow,
• 57:34
  SPEAKER_03: and she was like, absolutely, let's, like, why not?
• 57:37
  SPEAKER_03: I think it would feel really good for Portlanders to just see the effect of Talk
• 57:43
  SPEAKER_03: about transgressive,
• 57:44
  SPEAKER_03: here's two cents,
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_03: not literally,
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_03: but a small portion and it could be game changing and to see that and then
• 57:52
  SPEAKER_03: to hopefully expect more from the rest of our money.
• 57:56
  SPEAKER_02: One of the things that I think is positive about it is the increasing of participation.
• 58:02
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a big believer in anything that increases our civic participation.
• 58:06
  SPEAKER_02: One of the things that I felt while I was running was a lot
• 58:09
  SPEAKER_02: of people didn't know what a district attorney is or does,
• 58:12
  SPEAKER_02: and they were very susceptible to the messaging
• 58:14
  SPEAKER_02: because they didn't actually understand the system.
• 58:18
  SPEAKER_02: And so anything that gets people engaged and learning about our system
• 58:22
  SPEAKER_02: and participating, I feel like is a very positive thing.
• 58:26
  SPEAKER_03: Even if it's a giant billboard with your face on it.
• 58:30
  SPEAKER_03: Because honestly, I mean, I it wasn't really on my radar.
• 58:33
  SPEAKER_03: Like District 20, why do I care?
• 58:35
  SPEAKER_03: But, you know, I do.
• 58:36
  SPEAKER_03: I'm passionate about criminal defense.
• 58:38
  SPEAKER_03: I just never really made the connection.
• 58:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 58:41
  SPEAKER_02: And it's just a good example of one of those roles that has so much impact
• 58:46
  SPEAKER_02: on our lives, on our daily lives.
• 58:49
  SPEAKER_02: But until you come into direct contact with it, you don't understand how or why.
• 58:56
  SPEAKER_02: But one of the things that we got passed while I was DA was the ability
• 58:59
  SPEAKER_02: to help people get their records cleared.
• 59:02
  SPEAKER_02: And I've had many people come up to me since I've not been the DA and say, how do I do this?
• 59:08
  SPEAKER_02: Because the current administration's not interested in records.
• 59:11
  SPEAKER_02: And some people were facing immigration consequences because of their criminal record.
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_02: And so it's like until you run into that,
• 59:19
  SPEAKER_02: you don't understand how important who's sitting in that chair is.
• 59:22
  SPEAKER_02: And the more education we can do,
• 59:24
  SPEAKER_02: and that's just DA's one example of a less understood,
• 59:28
  SPEAKER_02: but very important, very powerful role in this city.
• 59:32
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, anything that gets more people engaged civically, I think is probably a good thing.
• 59:37
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, there is so much going around just trying to keep the lights on,
• 59:40
  SPEAKER_03: trying to keep health insurance.
• 59:41
  SPEAKER_03: It's like, wait, I have to learn about the ins and outs.
• 59:44
  SPEAKER_03: But I mean, so like it's nice when you have a giant billboard.
• 59:47
  SPEAKER_03: Like maybe there's the antagonism of the opposing forces can at least engage us.
• 59:54
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, make politics boring again.
• 59:55
  SPEAKER_03: Make politics boring again, please.
• 59:59
  SPEAKER_02: I know.
• 59:59
  SPEAKER_03: But also let's be more engaged.
• 1:00:01
  SPEAKER_02: Well, sometimes billboards lead to great podcasts.
• 1:00:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:00:07
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 1:00:07
  SPEAKER_02: Well, as we kind of wrap up this conversation,
• 1:00:10
  SPEAKER_02: what is something that you'd like to leave folks with out there as they are?
• 1:00:15
  SPEAKER_02: I think affordability is one of the biggest issues.
• 1:00:18
  SPEAKER_02: People are squeezed from every direction.
• 1:00:21
  SPEAKER_02: It's fuel prices.
• 1:00:22
  SPEAKER_02: It's energy prices.
• 1:00:24
  SPEAKER_02: It's our water bill, which is only slated to continue to go up.
• 1:00:29
  SPEAKER_02: People are squeezed right now.
• 1:00:31
  SPEAKER_02: And so it is kind of,
• 1:00:32
  SPEAKER_02: and we see what's happening in the White House and we see The insane out
• 1:00:36
  SPEAKER_02: of control graft that's happening and the bribery and the absolute cronyism.
• 1:00:41
  SPEAKER_02: And it's it's hard not to get a little bit dark and despondent, but we can't give into that.
• 1:00:47
  SPEAKER_03: No, we can't.
• 1:00:48
  SPEAKER_03: And yeah, rent and mortgage, you know, something my dad taught me long ago.
• 1:00:52
  SPEAKER_03: It's very out of the Bible.
• 1:00:54
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's just like, I don't care how poor you are.
• 1:00:57
  SPEAKER_03: Take money.
• 1:00:59
  SPEAKER_03: Take two shekels or whatever,
• 1:01:00
  SPEAKER_03: you know,
• 1:01:01
  SPEAKER_03: five bucks and give it away because that energy,
• 1:01:04
  SPEAKER_03: then you feel like I had enough to share and you instantly feel richer.
• 1:01:11
  SPEAKER_03: And the way the universe works, strippers have taught me a lot.
• 1:01:14
  SPEAKER_03: I'm a dad.
• 1:01:15
  SPEAKER_03: But like that,
• 1:01:16
  SPEAKER_03: that feeling of I can expect good things because I was able to share five dollars
• 1:01:22
  SPEAKER_03: and I can expect what I need.
• 1:01:23
  SPEAKER_03: Five dollars, it's going to come to me.
• 1:01:25
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I really, that advice has helped me more than I have acknowledged in my life.
• 1:01:31
  SPEAKER_03: And when times are really dark, like it doesn't even have to be money.
• 1:01:33
  SPEAKER_03: It can be an hour of your time or something.
• 1:01:35
  SPEAKER_03: The busier you are, the less you feel like you have that hour to share.
• 1:01:39
  SPEAKER_03: But when you do share that hour, you're like, oh, it loosens up everything.
• 1:01:43
  SPEAKER_03: So that's my advice for dark times.
• 1:01:45
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's been my experience.
• 1:01:47
  SPEAKER_02: I've volunteered with groups over the years.
• 1:01:49
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a board member of some great organizations like Street Roots,
• 1:01:53
  SPEAKER_02: for example, does incredible work.
• 1:01:55
  SPEAKER_02: And when I have gone out and I volunteered for a group that used to serve coffee,
• 1:02:01
  SPEAKER_02: I've talked about on this show before.
• 1:02:04
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like the people in my life that I've experienced that have
• 1:02:08
  SPEAKER_02: the least are also the most generous.
• 1:02:11
  SPEAKER_02: Isn't that incredible?
• 1:02:12
  SPEAKER_03: And look at the billionaires.
• 1:02:14
  SPEAKER_03: They're like scared they're going to lose it.
• 1:02:16
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, they're scared they're going to lose it.
• 1:02:17
  SPEAKER_02: And then if they do give you something,
• 1:02:19
  SPEAKER_02: which you know is for the tax write-off, then they're like, look at me.
• 1:02:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, right.
• 1:02:24
  SPEAKER_03: I have done
• 1:02:24
  SPEAKER_02: this thing.
• 1:02:25
  SPEAKER_02: And you're like,
• 1:02:26
  SPEAKER_02: what you gave is the equivalent of me giving somebody a dollar and then asking
• 1:02:30
  SPEAKER_02: for like all this praise.
• 1:02:32
  SPEAKER_02: And fealty.
• 1:02:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:02:33
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 1:02:33
  SPEAKER_02: And you're getting a write-off.
• 1:02:35
  SPEAKER_02: I was at a – We went this week and Jordan Schnitzer was on the stage
• 1:02:40
  SPEAKER_02: and he was being honored for his philanthropy.
• 1:02:43
  SPEAKER_02: And he gave a speech about how great billionaires are
• 1:02:47
  SPEAKER_02: and why we can't just all understand that it's the billionaires
• 1:02:50
  SPEAKER_02: that are really like making things happen.
• 1:02:53
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, it's so nauseating.
• 1:02:55
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, oh, well.
• 1:02:57
  SPEAKER_03: And he throws around his weight in the political arena.
• 1:03:00
  SPEAKER_03: At least the guy likes supporting the arts.
• 1:03:04
  SPEAKER_03: At least.
• 1:03:05
  SPEAKER_03: But that's not how things should work.
• 1:03:07
  SPEAKER_03: That one person gets to decide...
• 1:03:09
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, I'd rather have your taxes at my rate than your charity.
• 1:03:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:03:15
  SPEAKER_03: Well, then they can steer the ship too with what they like.
• 1:03:19
  SPEAKER_03: I was always grateful my dad wasn't on the hook for paying for my education because
• 1:03:25
  SPEAKER_03: then I had the great grace to go ahead and become a stripper.
• 1:03:29
  SPEAKER_03: Like, what if he had paid 25 grand a year for my college?
• 1:03:31
  SPEAKER_03: I would have been like, oh, I got to get a job.
• 1:03:34
  SPEAKER_03: But, you know, so there's, we don't want these billionaires funding.
• 1:03:37
  SPEAKER_03: We don't, yeah.
• 1:03:39
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I think your advice is great advice.
• 1:03:42
  SPEAKER_02: Get out there.
• 1:03:43
  SPEAKER_02: Be charitable.
• 1:03:44
  SPEAKER_02: If you don't have money, that's okay.
• 1:03:45
  SPEAKER_02: Give your time.
• 1:03:46
  SPEAKER_02: If you don't have your time, tell somebody that they matter and make a connection.
• 1:03:51
  SPEAKER_03: Come to the strip club and get a healing and support the arts.
• 1:03:55
  SPEAKER_03: Lee, thanks so much for coming on.
• 1:03:56
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much, Mike.
• 1:03:58
  SPEAKER_02: Well, thanks to our guest Leave or Viva Las Vegas.
• 1:04:00
  SPEAKER_02: Find her on stage at Mary's or on Patreon and absolutely support the arts.
• 1:04:05
  SPEAKER_02: It was great to hear what she's been up to,
• 1:04:07
  SPEAKER_02: who she is supporting in this election cycle,
• 1:04:09
  SPEAKER_02: and that maybe, just maybe, she'll be on our ballots again in the future.
• 1:04:14
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, while you're feeling generous and inspired to support the arts,
• 1:04:16
  SPEAKER_02: consider supporting your local podcasters, too.
• 1:04:19
  SPEAKER_02: We take dollar bills and we also take five star reviews.
• 1:04:23
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks to our season three sponsor, Corbett Hill Wellness.
• 1:04:27
  SPEAKER_02: If you'd like to sponsor the show, please reach out.
• 1:04:29
  SPEAKER_02: And please support the sponsors that support us.
• 1:04:32
  SPEAKER_02: If you like this episode, like it, share it, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
• 1:04:37
  SPEAKER_02: Leave a review, tell a friend, and post about it.
• 1:04:39
  SPEAKER_02: That's how a local show finds its audience.
• 1:04:42
  SPEAKER_02: And don't forget to vote.
• 1:04:43
  SPEAKER_02: Ballots are due November 3rd.
• 1:04:45
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, only two more episodes to go this season, so stay tuned and we will
• 1:04:50
  SPEAKER_01: see you next week.
• 1:04:51
  SPEAKER_02: A quick word from our show sponsor,
• 1:04:53
  SPEAKER_02: Dr. Adam Moret at Corbett Hill Wellness Center, people I know and trust.
• 1:04:57
  SPEAKER_01: Hi, I'm Dr. Moret from Corbett Hill Wellness Center.
• 1:05:00
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