Latest / World Ablaze with George Fontes / 34 - SPECIAL GUEST, CHRIS RICCI

Transcript

34 - SPECIAL GUEST, CHRIS RICCI · World Ablaze with George Fontes

• 0:00
  Download Whiskey Hell Podcast.
• 0:02
  We call attention to the mainstream media narratives weekly
• 0:05
  in hopes that you'll have fun with how ridiculous the news really is.
• 0:09
  We don't want to change your mind.
• 0:11
  We just want to give you perspective so that you can choose more wisely
• 0:14
  and be more aware.
• 0:15
  Couple that with great craft beer, hilarious stories,
• 0:18
  deep thoughts, and real conversations.
• 0:20
  We know you're going to enjoy it.
• 0:22
  Download Whiskey Hell Podcast anywhere you find outstanding shows.
• 0:30
  You are listening to a Fonz Media Network production.
• 0:42
  On this episode of World of Lays, I have with me Chris Rickey.
• 0:47
  Chris Rickey is a city council member for the city of Modesto, California, representing District 3.
• 0:53
  I wanted to get to know Chris better and find out his thoughts on how people can get more involved at the local level in an effort to instill a positive change for the better.
• 1:06
  I find Chris to be a good person who wants to offer real world solutions to problems rather than offering solutions based on party politics.
• 1:14
  This is a rare trait in a politician, and I really do wish him the best in his re-election as city council member, District 3, for the city of Modesto in California.
• 1:28
  Welcome, World of Blaze listeners, and today I have Chris Rickey on the show.
• 1:33
  I know Chris by name because we're both in the events industry.
• 1:36
  Chris was very well known for throwing some very large events and concerts, and they all involved some very well-known artists.
• 1:44
  I became interested in Chris's story when he chose to turn to politics.
• 1:51
  Chris is currently a council member for the city of Modesto, California, representing District 3,
• 1:57
  and he's currently running again for re-election for that position.
• 2:03
  I wanted to pick your brain in regard to your political journey and how people can get more involved in politics,
• 2:11
  but your story in the city of Modesto starts in 1999 when you moved to Modesto, California.
• 2:20
  Could you please tell everybody what attracted you to Modesto?
• 2:25
  Sure. Yeah, Modesto is a place that I have family here in Modesto a little bit.
• 2:31
  And so I've been going to Modesto all my life.
• 2:33
  And I realized that this city, there's just a ton of opportunity here.
• 2:37
  and I wanted to launch my own promotion business and there were just wasn't there weren't a lot of
• 2:42
  shows here and so there's just a lot of opportunity and I think that that's something that people
• 2:46
  really don't understand about Modesto is that it's a big city I mean it's over 200,000 people
• 2:52
  I think within the next 10 years we're going to be you know over a quarter million people
• 2:56
  and we lack a lot of the the features that a big city would have and so there's just a ton
• 3:04
  of opportunity and that makes it really attractive to people like me that are pretty entrepreneurial
• 3:09
  yeah and i agree with you because the i noticed we have um for example i have friends in the bay
• 3:15
  area and the bay area is kind of you know big broad brush that people paint on anything near
• 3:20
  san francisco really but um modesto being over 200 000 population then you have like cities you
• 3:26
  know people have a have this perspective that oh i'm in the bay and we're so much bigger but like
• 3:29
  cities like hayward really have a smaller population newark has a smaller population
• 3:33
  and then you come to Modesto and it's like, you know, actually in terms of people, it's much
• 3:38
  bigger. But as you said, the perception is it's smaller. The perception is we don't really have
• 3:43
  as much to offer. And there are some services that we don't have. But you came here, you started the
• 3:50
  promotion company. What got you into doing events, by the way, live events? I always wanted to ask
• 3:55
  you that. You know, I grew up, I grew up on the peninsula and I've just always been really
• 4:01
  passionate about music. You know, when I grew up in the nineties, it was just a really,
• 4:05
  it was a good time for music. You know, the music business was very strong.
• 4:11
  It was really easy to build big acts, you know, and so I would go to San Francisco and see,
• 4:17
  you know, concerts all the time. You know, I would go all over the Bay area and see, you know,
• 4:23
  my favorite bands like Social Distortion and Nine Inch Nails and all those, you know,
• 4:29
  90s 90s bands you know right and then I went when I went to college in San Diego I went to
• 4:36
  University of San Diego I got on the concert board and so I started producing these I've been going
• 4:44
  to concerts for you know years in San Francisco and then I was like wow I can bring these bands
• 4:50
  that I saw you know at the Warfield to play at my at my college and I just really got a bug for it
• 4:58
  You know, I booked like, you know, No Doubt and Sublime and Cherry Poppin' Daddies and
• 5:06
  Cake like all in one year when I was doing the concert committee and, you know, at San
• 5:10
  Diego.
• 5:11
  And I just didn't look back.
• 5:14
  That's cool.
• 5:15
  And a lot of people don't ever see the other side of it.
• 5:17
  And you were on the other side.
• 5:19
  So, I mean, can you kind of expand on that?
• 5:21
  Like how you felt in doing that?
• 5:23
  I mean, just being able to interact with actual artists, see their writers and, you know,
• 5:27
  that whole behind the scenes that makes things makes this whole thing happen.
• 5:31
  Do you mind expanding?
• 5:32
  Yeah. I mean, yeah, it's a lot of, uh,
• 5:34
  it's a lot of talking with agents and managers and, you know,
• 5:39
  I think probably the most surprising thing about the business is how little
• 5:42
  connection you really have with the artists directly. I mean, these people are,
• 5:47
  you know, they're traveling from city to city to city.
• 5:50
  And so I think it's an important thing to keep in mind when you're seeing an
• 5:54
  artist at a show. Um,
• 5:56
  But it was just helping artists get their art out there and putting them in front of an audience was just a very satisfying chapter of my life.
• 6:10
  Yeah, I also think a lot of people don't understand with artists that as much as they want to interact and are thankful for the support from the crowd, it's also a job and they have to be on time.
• 6:19
  They have schedules that they got to adhere to to make sure things are going smoothly so they can just get back on the bus and go to the next show.
• 6:26
  and I think a lot of people have misperception of what they actually are doing.
• 6:31
  You know, they are entertaining you, but at the same time, you know,
• 6:33
  they got bills of pay and they have contracts to fulfill as well.
• 6:37
  Yeah, and I mean, it's just so deep, right?
• 6:39
  Like they've got families, a lot of them have families,
• 6:42
  and their, you know, life on the road, it's brutal, you know?
• 6:46
  So I've got a lot of respect for these guys that can do this,
• 6:51
  and I think that it's been, I think people really kind of build it up
• 6:54
  to being something it's not.
• 6:55
  I mean, it's mostly just hard mentally and physically.
• 7:01
  And there's, you know, big payoffs and playing great shows.
• 7:05
  But I think it's also like it's quite a sacrifice they make to their fans.
• 7:09
  And I don't think a lot of people understand this with the larger artists.
• 7:13
  Like they themselves are a business.
• 7:15
  I mean, everybody on the road, they're supporting.
• 7:17
  They're paying those people's paychecks.
• 7:19
  They're not just showing up and, you know, helping for free.
• 7:21
  So, you know, a lot of people don't realize that as well.
• 7:24
  Yep.
• 7:25
  A lot of responsibility. You're right. It's crazy. So that leads me to this. I never knew that you did this. How, okay. How this relationship with your promotion company, which was Chris Rickey presents, correct?
• 7:40
  Yeah.
• 7:41
  Okay. How, how did you get involved in the politics side? Because I found out through your notes, you sent me that you got into actually working with candidates. Is that correct?
• 7:52
  Yeah.
• 7:52
  Yeah, so, I mean, it's a little bit deeper than that, but the catalyst for me switching into politics was really XFest.
• 8:03
  You know, XFest is defunct, and it's been defunct for almost 10 years now.
• 8:08
  But the reason why it's defunct is because of policies that were in place, you know, by the city of Modesto.
• 8:19
  Okay.
• 8:19
  So, you know, you can complain about policies and you can be angry, you know, or you can, you know, try to change those policies and try to change the government's perspective on things.
• 8:32
  And so when, you know, when the city came in and really just kind of put me out of business, I decided that I was going to try to change the city.
• 8:42
  And so that's why I started working in politics.
• 8:46
  You just took it upon yourself to make a difference from the inside.
• 8:50
  Well, it's the only way things can really change.
• 8:52
  You can try to yell at them from the outside, and sometimes that works if the government's listening.
• 9:00
  But changing people's perceptions on XFest.
• 9:04
  When I started XFest in the year 2000, Modesto, it was a very white place.
• 9:13
  You know, it was 85% Anglo.
• 9:16
  You know, today it's 50-50.
• 9:19
  And if you look at the demographics of Modesto City Schools, it's 70-30.
• 9:25
  And so we're just becoming more Hispanic every day.
• 9:29
  And one of my goals, you know, and so I'm a promoter, right?
• 9:33
  I don't care.
• 9:33
  I know what I'm promoting to.
• 9:35
  I know that the demographic for XFest was 21 to 35, period.
• 9:40
  So I need to market my stuff to younger people, younger adults, right?
• 9:47
  Yes.
• 9:47
  Well, as those demographics change, the markets for the young adults change.
• 9:52
  And as they become more Hispanic, you need to book music that attracts Hispanics.
• 9:58
  Well, the reality is that when you've got a crowd of 20,000 people and 15,000 of them are Hispanic,
• 10:05
  just back in 2016, that made the city of Modesto nervous.
• 10:10
  Got it.
• 10:11
  You know, I never knew that.
• 10:13
  So that had to be, that had to be dealt with.
• 10:15
  And I'm trying to be kind in the way I say this.
• 10:17
  I understand.
• 10:19
  Trust me.
• 10:19
  I understand.
• 10:21
  But I didn't, I didn't know that, that, that was, um, that was something that was behind
• 10:25
  one of the reasons that, that you were having a hard time, uh, during, during that period.
• 10:30
  Cause, cause it was huge and hugely successful.
• 10:33
  Everybody knew about it.
• 10:33
  And then, and then all of a sudden.
• 10:35
  Yeah.
• 10:35
  If you spoke to people at the city, I'm certain they would have different answers.
• 10:38
  Okay.
• 10:39
  but that's my answer well i mean i'd rather get it from you
• 10:43
  because you know people to this day still talk about the things that you did and they're like
• 10:50
  man i wish he would bring it back i wish you know he would just continue and you know no i don't i
• 10:55
  don't think uh a lot of people heard the real story so i'm glad that you you know laid it out
• 11:00
  because a lot of a lot of people didn't know you know if you're if you're hispanic you know right
• 11:04
  If you're Hispanic, you know, try to walk in downtown Modesto at 1130 at night in a 49ers jersey.
• 11:12
  Yeah.
• 11:13
  And see what kind of attention you get from, you know, from people.
• 11:16
  Right.
• 11:17
  Like it's, you know, it's unfortunate.
• 11:22
  Yeah.
• 11:23
  There's a lot of long term perceptions that, you know, some of them are true.
• 11:28
  Right.
• 11:29
  You know, I don't want to deny that we have gang issues.
• 11:32
  but you know my problem is that every person who's a certain way is not a gang member do you
• 11:40
  see what i'm saying no i do completely understand i mean uh there's that old you know there's that
• 11:46
  saying judging a book by its cover right and and unfortunately too many people do that they don't
• 11:50
  want to go out of the way to get to know people and know who they really are and what they can
• 11:53
  offer yeah um you know and and in the case of modesto i can speak from living here you know for
• 11:58
  X amount of years as well. It's, you know, people at that time were absolutely afraid of change.
• 12:03
  Yeah, that's right. There was, there was a lot of ingrained, good old boy, you know, type of
• 12:07
  culture out here in Modesto at that time. And they just didn't want to keep up with
• 12:12
  the changes in the demographics. They didn't want to keep up with the demands of what the population
• 12:16
  actually needed. And, um, they were just going out of their way to suppress it. They didn't want
• 12:21
  to lose what their perception of what they thought they had control of. Um, and so, yeah, it takes
• 12:26
  people like you to, to, to go out of your way and make those changes. And it sounds like that's
• 12:30
  exactly what you were doing. Yeah. And I think that like, and I want to, you know, I'm, I don't
• 12:34
  want to people to think that I'm beating on the city of Modesto. You know, they've over the last
• 12:39
  few years, they've really done some deep self-reflection. They've done like the police
• 12:45
  department, for example, has done some great training, um, in the community where they got
• 12:50
  together with people from different backgrounds And just everyone sat down and just kind of laid it out How know how do you feel about cops How do the cops feel about about these you know about different community members like
• 13:06
  all these things.
• 13:08
  And at the end of the road, when they went through it, they gained more understanding
• 13:13
  and more empathy.
• 13:14
  And that, uh, that is the, these experiences are guiding the future of, um, of departments
• 13:23
  in the city of Modesto.
• 13:23
  And I'm, I'm proud of that.
• 13:25
  that's good to hear and i i see it slowly turning into um i would say a revival of downtown
• 13:33
  you know i've seen the changes uh from being here i've seen it you know when it was um you know hot
• 13:40
  and really busy and then all of a sudden we had that slump and then this looks like it's slowly
• 13:44
  coming back and i'm sure a lot of what you just said um it really is the reason that that's
• 13:49
  starting to happen again. Yeah, I think that, you know, at least my perception is like the city
• 13:56
  tried to shut down all the clubs. They were mostly successful. But now the clubs are slowly coming
• 14:03
  back. And the question is going to be like how and when you have clubs, you're going to have some
• 14:09
  issues. And the question is going to be like how the city chooses to deal with that. And I think
• 14:14
  that kind of remains to be seen. But I think, I don't know, it'll be interesting. And I'm,
• 14:21
  you know, I'm looking forward to helping them get through it.
• 14:24
  Yeah. And so far, so good. So far, you know,
• 14:27
  so good, but, you know, it ebbs and flows, right. And so if we get, you know, another 20 clubs
• 14:32
  downtown, it's going to create a new enforcement atmosphere, you know, that the city is going to
• 14:39
  have to figure out how they want to do it. You know, and the last time they got in that situation,
• 14:44
  and they chose to just try to shut everything down.
• 14:48
  I don't know what will happen this time,
• 14:50
  but I'm hopeful it will be better.
• 14:52
  Yeah, I do too.
• 14:53
  And that's another example of fear,
• 14:56
  fear of change and the unknown.
• 14:58
  You know, just like we were talking about earlier
• 15:00
  about judging people, you know,
• 15:01
  as if they were, you know, the book,
• 15:03
  judging a book by its cover.
• 15:05
  Sorry, kind of fumbling a little bit,
• 15:06
  but you get where I'm going.
• 15:08
  Well, we're not talking about an easy subject here.
• 15:10
  No, it's not, but it's the truth.
• 15:13
  and you're not saying anything wrong.
• 15:15
  You're not.
• 15:17
  And Modesto's changing and it's changed for the better.
• 15:19
  And it's not just about Modesto.
• 15:20
  I think it's across the country this is happening.
• 15:23
  And there needs to be more change of acceptance
• 15:25
  of people in general and learning that,
• 15:27
  hey, it's not always going to be
• 15:29
  your little corner of the world forever.
• 15:31
  We're growing and it's just happening, period.
• 15:34
  So no, I'm with you.
• 15:36
  I really am.
• 15:38
  Do you mind if I go back to the digital marketing company
• 15:42
  that you got involved with a little bit or how they utilize your services.
• 15:45
  Yeah.
• 15:45
  So can you explain that relationship and how that happened?
• 15:48
  Yeah.
• 15:48
  So I wanted to get involved in the political sphere for the reasons I already kind of talked
• 15:56
  about.
• 15:57
  And I learned, I've been doing marketing, obviously, my whole life, the marketing shows,
• 16:03
  you know.
• 16:03
  And I found that digital platforms were just the best ways to communicate with people.
• 16:13
  Look at what we're doing right now.
• 16:14
  We are going to be, this is going to be put out on podcast platforms, right?
• 16:18
  Absolutely.
• 16:19
  20 years ago, that option did not exist.
• 16:23
  And we see the impact that new media is having on the world.
• 16:27
  Modesto B, not even a daily newspaper anymore.
• 16:31
  Don't even know what it is.
• 16:32
  but it's there and it just and the thing is every day it becomes less critical you know to our
• 16:39
  community because they just aren't out there no one's they don't they're getting the eyes that
• 16:44
  they used to get so they just aren't as important and so I decided I wanted to get into it and so
• 16:50
  a buddy of mine um was starting a company and I said hey I'm in I want to do it and so you know
• 17:00
  I started working with them.
• 17:02
  You know, they basically hired my company to do marketing for them for, you know, part-time, 20 hours a week.
• 17:12
  And eventually, you know, as the company grew and as, you know, I was able to be more successful, I became a partner in Compete Digital.
• 17:24
  And now that's really, that's what I do.
• 17:28
  Gotcha.
• 17:28
  Okay. So do you, I mean, can you talk about the services offered through that company?
• 17:34
  Yeah. We're a digital marketing company. We focus on causes and campaigns.
• 17:40
  Okay.
• 17:42
  And we work with people running for office and we work with people that are trying to pass legislation locally and at the state level.
• 17:51
  And it's all over the country, not just in California.
• 17:54
  that's interesting um so you're kind of on the other side of it and helping people get their
• 18:00
  campaign and and their word out and basically being known right yeah the idea is just to is
• 18:05
  just to teach people how to communicate in this really new world that has changed so rapidly you
• 18:12
  know i uh as you probably i assume you know you know i've got a very active social media
• 18:18
  posture for my council seat. And I speak to my constituents on social media every single day.
• 18:27
  And I'm running conversations with them. And we work out policy together, live and publicly,
• 18:34
  every single day. 25 years ago, you could not do that. That was not an option.
• 18:41
  And so the opportunity for candidates and causes to really educate people about what they're trying
• 18:46
  to do and have honest, transparent conversations are really there. Are there bad sides to it too?
• 18:54
  Absolutely. I mean, you see what's going on in X right now and Twitter. Yeah. I can't, you know,
• 18:59
  that's kind of a cesspool of, you know, back and forth information on all sides. It's,
• 19:04
  there's times where you're like, yeah, great free speech platform. And then the other,
• 19:07
  there's other times where like, why am I seeing porn? And why am I seeing this crazy hate speech
• 19:11
  rhetoric? Like, I don't understand. It just doesn't make any sense. It's not good.
• 19:16
  Like in the UK, you know, I don't know if you heard about the mass murder that happened, you know, with the kids at the school.
• 19:25
  But it was really bad.
• 19:27
  And, you know, on X, they posted a fake story, but it got a lot of traction saying that an immigrant had done the murders, which was totally false.
• 19:39
  But that false narrative whipped up a bunch of really angry people and they started riots in a bunch of major English cities.
• 19:46
  And so it's also, you know, as much good as it can do, as much honesty as it can have, as much transparency, as much good dialogue we can have, it also can be incredibly dangerous.
• 20:01
  Yeah, I don't mind the honesty, but I don't like the spin.
• 20:07
  And I don't agree, unfortunately, because everyone's attention spans are short.
• 20:11
  Too many people are just taking, and it's true, we're living in a world of sound bites and clips.
• 20:16
  And that's what people base all the information on instead of, you know, digging deeper.
• 20:21
  I mean, too many, too many people rely on the headlines and not really looking into the
• 20:23
  actual story.
• 20:25
  And I think that's a huge problem personally, but most people just don't have the patience
• 20:29
  to, to, to read all the info anymore, you know, and that's where the danger is because
• 20:33
  it's so easy, as you said, with the example of what happened with that story in the UK,
• 20:39
  totally taking that out of context, totally creates a situation that just boils over and
• 20:43
  it just turns into something horrible that should never have happened.
• 20:46
  yeah and i mean we also need to have a historical perspective here right like everything you said
• 20:53
  is true but if you look back you know in the 19th century people would promote stuff just through
• 21:01
  like they just create their own little newspaper or their own little newsletter and just hand it out
• 21:06
  and write absolutely preposterous things true you know um and so like this misinformation
• 21:15
  is as human as, you know, pretty much anything, right?
• 21:21
  So the misinformation hasn't really changed.
• 21:24
  We just, we went through kind of a golden period,
• 21:27
  you know, in the post-war to, you know,
• 21:32
  you know, the mid-2010s of, you know,
• 21:36
  of really having a lot of reliable multi-mass media
• 21:40
  that you could count on to actually deliver a lot of facts.
• 21:44
  I mean, they got it wrong a lot, too. You know, look at look at the Iraq war. Right. But there was a real effort, I think, to get it right.
• 21:54
  I can agree with you on that in that time period. What what what did you I mean, because you're in media, you're in marketing.
• 22:01
  What did you think was the change?
• 22:03
  Like what caused the change to become so polarized?
• 22:06
  And so, you know, going back to just taking things out of context and trying to drive a message rather than the actual message, which should just be the news.
• 22:15
  I mean, the reason that it changed from a more balanced, facts-based approach to a more political-biased approach was the change of the Fair Use Act, I think it's called.
• 22:35
  I don't know, it was under Reagan, but basically they took this act that was made that required media services to be fact-based and said, look, the First Amendment says you can say whatever you want, and this law is unconstitutional.
• 22:53
  And so ever since that's when then they launched Fox News and everything kind of changed after that.
• 22:57
  Yeah. And by the way, that actually it is correct that you shouldn't be allowed to censor people, you know, based on the First Amendment. Has it had a pretty horrific impact on the country? Yeah, it has. But we're going we're going through a change. Right.
• 23:21
  And I'm pretty positive. Like, I think we're going to find ourselves in the future in a world that, you know, it's still going to have some of this stuff, but hopefully we get to a place where we get back to that kind of more fact-based perspective and the, and the, the, the places that are, you know, delivering bad information are more marginalized like they used to be.
• 23:45
  Well, I can agree with you because I think a major problem is you should have a right to say, of course, everyone's always, you know, protect my free speech.
• 23:55
  But I also can see the other side where if it's news where you're supposed to be just reporting what is happening so people are actually informed of the truth, then that should be truthful information, I believe.
• 24:07
  and if you have a show such as let's say Fox or MSN or whoever you watch and you you see like a
• 24:13
  Hannity or a Maddow or whatever people must realize that those shows in themselves aren't so much news
• 24:19
  as they are opinion pieces people giving opinions more than they are giving the actual news and then
• 24:24
  you have other shows in those networks that actually should just be giving the news I don't
• 24:29
  I don't think it's clearly defined to the public what's really going on and I think that's where
• 24:34
  would get into trouble because I think the news should be truthful. I mean, back to the Walter
• 24:38
  Cronkite days, it was just no emotion, just, you know, here's what's happening and you form your
• 24:44
  own opinions based on the information. And now it's, it seems like they're pushing on all sides.
• 24:49
  I'm not going to, I'm not going to pick sides here, Chris. It's just, it just seems like everyone's
• 24:52
  kind of trying to hurt everybody into their own little, you know, encampment here, you know,
• 24:57
  to believe whatever, instead of just saying, you know, Hey, there was a volcano yesterday that blew
• 25:01
  at 11 a.m. and this is what happened, you know, versus there was a volcano that blew and specifically
• 25:06
  just targeted this group of people. And the reason it did is because they're bad people.
• 25:11
  You know, it's a big difference between telling the truth of the story and trying to manipulate it.
• 25:16
  That's just my opinion, by the way. But yeah, but the problem comes in and I think,
• 25:20
  you know, this is why MSN and Fox exists. But the problem comes in is when you tell the truth
• 25:28
  And you're like, yeah, the volcano got overloaded because of, and this is not possible, but because of climate change.
• 25:37
  You know what I mean?
• 25:39
  And then the people on one side, the people that are like, let's say the petroleum people are like, hey, I don't want people to know that.
• 25:49
  Come up with another reason.
• 25:50
  And so as long as the truth hurts any special interest group you going to have people mad that you delivering whatever that truth is Well and therein lies the problem Right And so that where we at People with really deep pockets on both sides are saying hey we need to get our word out
• 26:13
  over everybody else.
• 26:14
  And that's the war that's being fought right now.
• 26:18
  I mean, we agree, definitely.
• 26:21
  And it's sad to see that that's the reality.
• 26:25
  The message is based on whoever has the most money.
• 26:27
  you know, unfortunately. Well, yeah, right. It's true. It's true. Um, I got nothing, dude. I got
• 26:36
  nothing. It's just, it's the way it is right now. No, I hear you. And I'm, and I asked your opinion
• 26:41
  and you gave it and I agree with you. I mean, you're not wrong. It's all, it's all very true.
• 26:45
  You know, it is, um, when you, when you were helping people with their campaigns, I wanted to
• 26:52
  ask you, what did you learn from being on that side of it and how a campaign works and, you know,
• 26:58
  working with people running for political offices? Well, I mean, it's hard. Running for
• 27:05
  offices is really hard. I know you did. So, and you're going to be running again, correct? Am I
• 27:10
  correct in that? Yeah, you're correct. I'm running again in November. But I think that people
• 27:16
  discount the importance of their relationships in the community, you know? And so what I find is
• 27:25
  the candidates that tend to win are the people that are most connected to their communities.
• 27:32
  Your question was there, was there more? Oh, no, I basically wanted to know what you,
• 27:37
  you know, from working with candidates and marketing campaigns, whatnot, like what you
• 27:41
  learned from it you know how how it affects people in running campaigns and that being said with what
• 27:47
  you learned um if i want to i want to ask this knowing what you know now from from being on that
• 27:52
  side of marketing and helping other people campaign um knowing then what you knew now would
• 27:59
  how are you going to run your campaign differently now because you are running for city council
• 28:03
  district three city modesto yeah okay so what would you what do you would you do different this
• 28:09
  time around with your campaign? Yeah, what I'm going to do different this time around is,
• 28:14
  you know, I obviously my first time running, you know, I had limited funds. I mean, I had good
• 28:21
  funds. I had more money than anyone else in the race. Right. But but all my donors were really
• 28:26
  small. Right. And so my average donation was like two hundred dollars. And my opponents only had
• 28:33
  like, you know, 10 donations and they were like all for, you know, two, three, four thousand dollars.
• 28:38
  right oh okay um now i ended up having more because i just worked really hard but the problem
• 28:44
  when you have limited funds is that you don't have enough money to talk to all the voters right and so
• 28:50
  i think the biggest mistake i made is that i didn't cast my net wide enough
• 28:56
  to talk to all the voters about what i wanted to do because my ideas aren't
• 29:04
  conservative or liberal they're just good ideas for our community and everyone for the most part
• 29:10
  can agree with all of it you know would you say you're more down the middle or you just kind of
• 29:16
  take things on as they make sense i see my job uh as to identify problems in the community and
• 29:26
  find solutions i think that's what most politicians should do and so some people like you know i um
• 29:33
  I'm a big supporter of the Monesto Police Department.
• 29:37
  I like the fact that they have been willing to look at themselves and improve themselves
• 29:42
  since I've been in office.
• 29:45
  They've added a police, independent police review board.
• 29:48
  They've added an independent police auditor.
• 29:51
  They've added alternate response teams.
• 29:54
  They've added park rangers.
• 29:56
  They've done all these things that I've asked them to do, right?
• 29:59
  They just keep getting better.
• 30:01
  And I support that.
• 30:02
  And I support them, and I know how hard their jobs is, right?
• 30:06
  Well, there's a lot of people on the left.
• 30:09
  You can go on my Facebook page and look at my post yesterday about how amazing it is that the city of Modesto is sending our police officers up to the Baker Fire.
• 30:23
  The fire up in Chico, Butte County.
• 30:25
  Oh, I forgot where.
• 30:26
  Park Fire, I think it's called.
• 30:28
  Yeah, but there's a big one going on right now, for sure.
• 30:30
  Yeah, yeah.
• 30:31
  And they needed help.
• 30:32
  They needed help.
• 30:33
  You know, Butte County needed help evacuating people and like keeping people safe from this fire.
• 30:37
  Right.
• 30:38
  And they asked for mutual aid in Modesto Police Department, some people up there.
• 30:41
  And I said, you know, it's really great that we're able to send people up there and help other communities because mutual aid helps our neighbors when they're most in need.
• 30:52
  Right.
• 30:52
  And I had a guy call me a bootlicker for making that.
• 30:55
  Really?
• 30:56
  Making that comment.
• 30:57
  You know what I mean?
• 30:57
  What was his reasoning?
• 30:58
  Did he explain himself?
• 30:59
  That doesn't make sense.
• 31:00
  no he didn't explain himself and i of course i'm not going to try to not explain i'm just saying
• 31:06
  like yeah people i think it's a pretty i think there's good reasons to support our law enforcement
• 31:13
  and that's why i do and that's why i'm endorsed by the mass to police department because i support
• 31:17
  them and and because they do a good job and because they're willing to be introspective
• 31:22
  and make themselves better it's a good police department and we need to we need to back them up
• 31:27
  right? It's not popular with everybody. No, it isn't. That's sad. You know, we do need police
• 31:34
  officers. There's good police officers. There's people who want to make a difference and actually
• 31:38
  do their jobs. And, you know, in any industry, whether it's law enforcement or, you know,
• 31:44
  fricking, even if you're working for a large tech company, there's, there's, there's bad actors
• 31:48
  everywhere. And unfortunately, most police departments get judged by a few news stories
• 31:55
  out there. And it doesn't mean it reflects the entire department or all departments everywhere.
• 32:00
  And it's a sad thing. I mean, I agree with you in supporting the police department. If we didn't
• 32:05
  have law enforcement, we would be a city of chaos, you know, probably be teetering on anarchy.
• 32:11
  Yeah, it'd be bad. But yeah, I mean, checks and balances, period.
• 32:14
  Yeah. And I, you know, but my point is that like on any issue, there's going to be people on one
• 32:21
  side or the other that get angry at you. Absolutely. Like identify my problems and then do my best
• 32:28
  to, um, to address solution. Most of the time, those solutions, um, I try to choose the path that
• 32:37
  gets the job done and doesn't make people angry. Yeah. Yeah. But it sounds like you're,
• 32:45
  you're being objective and making the right choices, which is what most people don't do,
• 32:49
  unfortunately. So it's good to hear that that's your perspective and how you approach things.
• 32:53
  That's how I try to approach it. I admire it. I think that's the way.
• 32:57
  I've been perfect. I'll give you a good example of where I was not, where I did really poorly,
• 33:02
  right? So, because I believe in learning from your mistakes and I think everyone should do that,
• 33:07
  right? Like when you look at homelessness, one of the major causes of homelessness is just
• 33:16
  not having a place for people to go, you know?
• 33:20
  And so one of our solutions at the city of Modesto
• 33:23
  is we're doing bridge housing,
• 33:26
  which is essentially they just build houses
• 33:29
  and they're made out of like, you know,
• 33:33
  they're tiny houses.
• 33:34
  Sometimes they're made out of containers,
• 33:38
  you know, or whatever,
• 33:39
  but they're just kind of temporary edifices
• 33:42
  just to give people a place to go, right?
• 33:44
  and they don't just let anybody go into them right like usually what they'll do is they'll
• 33:49
  we've got a whole system to try to help people right so like you go to let's say you end up at
• 33:55
  the shelter and let's say you did really good you've got a job but you just don't have enough
• 33:59
  money to you know and you're you're not on drugs and you're doing like all the things you need to
• 34:03
  do but there's just nowhere for you to go you just don't make enough money to qualify for an apartment
• 34:07
  well bridge housing is a good solution because they can go into bridge housing they've got their
• 34:13
  own space they can save up some money for deposit and then when they make enough money finally and
• 34:18
  they have it all saved up and the credit's fixed they can get back into society right well we're
• 34:25
  doing a bridge we're looking at doing a when i say we the city was looking at doing a bridge housing
• 34:29
  project over in woodland west right and i didn't think it'd be that big a deal right like it's
• 34:36
  we're talking 20 units.
• 34:39
  Where was that?
• 34:40
  Where was that?
• 34:41
  In the West.
• 34:41
  That's over by,
• 34:42
  it's kind of by Wood Colony.
• 34:44
  Okay.
• 34:45
  Okay.
• 34:46
  And it was like going to be built on church land.
• 34:48
  It's just like an orchard right now,
• 34:49
  but the neighborhood was really,
• 34:53
  really pissed about it.
• 34:55
  You know,
• 34:56
  like you're going to bring these people and they're all messed up and
• 34:59
  they're going to be,
• 34:59
  they're going to bring all this violence and danger.
• 35:02
  And like people really,
• 35:03
  really mad,
• 35:05
  you know?
• 35:05
  and like i don't believe in making people really really mad you know and so i had to like go to
• 35:13
  them and say look guys this is a mistake we can't do this here and we're gonna have to find somewhere
• 35:18
  else for it uh and that's what we did together we're working on finding new places and new
• 35:23
  solutions right so that's so we've kept that in mind in new locations you know let's be very
• 35:27
  let's be very transparent with the neighborhood about what we're doing let's get that out in front
• 35:33
  of things so that people can, you know, people can react. And, and, you know, you can, some people
• 35:38
  would call it NIMBY and maybe that's right. Maybe it's wrong. Right. But as that neighborhood's
• 35:43
  representative, I have to be sensitive to how they feel about where they live.
• 35:50
  Yeah. The, I think there's a big, the homelessness is a hard one because everybody wants to fix it,
• 35:57
  but then it has to be on their terms.
• 36:01
  And there's a misconception of what a homeless person is.
• 36:07
  My dad is, so he still is a registered minister,
• 36:12
  and he'll still go out to homeless shelters and whatnot,
• 36:14
  and he'll go ahead and play music and whatnot and try to talk to families.
• 36:20
  And I remember there was a couple times I filled in
• 36:22
  because one of his musicians couldn't make it.
• 36:23
  So I was like, yeah, sure, I'll go play.
• 36:25
  and I got to talk to a few families that were literally displaced because you know they got
• 36:32
  laid off whatever happened with their job situation not their fault and somehow just
• 36:37
  ended up where they are now homeless and they're just trying to get back on track and and it is so
• 36:44
  hard for them to find resources and figure out how to do that like how do they get their life back
• 36:48
  how do they go down that pathway to getting where they were and there's a lot of those people out
• 36:52
  there on that unfortunate or displaced because of that. And everybody just thinks homeless just
• 36:57
  means dirty criminal drug, drug user. And it's not, not necessarily that's what it is. Um,
• 37:04
  a lot of people just trying to get their lives back. Some of them definitely are,
• 37:07
  but not all of them, right? Not all, but there's some, but, but it's not all. And then there's
• 37:12
  people that really just, they fell into a bad situation and they're just trying to get back to,
• 37:18
  you know, providing for their families and, and, and getting back into a home and getting their
• 37:22
  feedback on the ground yeah well it's like uh i don't want to look at this negatively right like
• 37:28
  we can just be we can beat up people like oh those people they're just not understanding and
• 37:33
  not cool because they want in their community we can argue that back and forth you're gonna have
• 37:37
  some people that say yeah they're horrible people and other people are gonna say like they're just
• 37:40
  protecting their area whatever right it's irrelevant we just can't worry about it you know
• 37:46
  the reality is, Hey, it's going to be hard,
• 37:49
  but we have to find locations that, that are,
• 37:54
  that cause the least amount of drama with people. And if you, you know,
• 38:00
  that's what you have to look for. Is it hard? Yeah. But you know what?
• 38:04
  Stuff's hard, man. Deal with it.
• 38:07
  Change is hard. Absolutely.
• 38:09
  Like we can sit here and complain and be, and be like, you know,
• 38:13
  this stinks and why can't they just let us do it our way? No.
• 38:16
  that's not how that's not how government or or people work if it was so easy everyone would be
• 38:23
  doing it you know what i mean like it's fine it's not easy i find sometimes if it's too easy you
• 38:28
  start to question yourself you're like wait a minute did i do this right yeah so like look
• 38:33
  let's accept the fact that this is going to be hard and just you know sit down at the table and
• 38:38
  get stuff done and that's what that's what we're trying to do and and hats off to the city of
• 38:42
  They've got the first bridge housing project past the council.
• 38:45
  They're building it right now at 9th and D in downtown Modesto.
• 38:49
  We've got another one that's going to be going up over by the gospel mission.
• 38:56
  It going to be small It only 10 units and it going to be for um for single women basically and you know it we moving in the right direction much slower than i wish we could but at least
• 39:11
  some projects are happening well at least there's progress being made yeah so like i can't i'm not
• 39:16
  gonna pin it on a neighborhood you know for how they feel right like we can still solve the problem
• 39:22
  yeah yeah and that's not what i was intending to do is yeah i'll just kind of bringing up you know
• 39:27
  what, what you learn by actually talking to the people who were there. Um, and I just ran into
• 39:33
  that, you know, versus just having an assumption and then you walk out going, Oh shoot, that's,
• 39:39
  that sucks. These guys had to go through that. And this was, that was basically what I was trying
• 39:44
  to say, you know? Yeah. So, um, yeah, it's good to hear what you're doing though. So then, you
• 39:51
  know, I was going to actually go back to the money thing. Um, and a lot, I don't think a lot
• 39:57
  people understand really because you said that would help you talk to more people i don't think
• 40:01
  understand why it takes so much money to campaign oh it's actually super simple really um so one of
• 40:08
  the main ways that and this is the easiest way to explain it to people so like you know all those uh
• 40:14
  those mailers you get from candidates that come in the you know come in the mail around election
• 40:19
  time and it's like vote for me because of x y and z right absolutely you know i'm talking about that
• 40:24
  Well, every one of those pieces of political mail, you have to put a stamp on it to deliver it.
• 40:31
  And so you have to pay for all those stamps and you have to pay the guy to design the piece.
• 40:37
  And you have to pay to have it printed.
• 40:40
  And so if you want to cast a wider net, you need more money to pay for more stamps to get it to more people.
• 40:47
  It's not just mailers, right?
• 40:49
  You have to do digital, right?
• 40:53
  Digital works the same way as mail.
• 40:56
  You have to pay for the impressions that are going to go to each of the voters.
• 41:00
  It's just like paying for stamps.
• 41:01
  It's just a different way of doing it.
• 41:03
  You know what I mean?
• 41:04
  You got to pay for your text messages.
• 41:07
  You should be doing text messages.
• 41:08
  You got to pay for your field team to be knocking doors.
• 41:12
  And it's just really expensive.
• 41:15
  And the bigger the district you got, the more expensive it is.
• 41:18
  yeah and that's that's why i was asking you to to expand on on the money side because a lot of
• 41:25
  people so so you're because you were already in a promotions business and marketing so you
• 41:28
  understand that side i understand that side from being involved in different businesses
• 41:33
  but the average person doesn't realize like hey when you see that ad on tv that costs money when
• 41:37
  you hear that radio ad that costs a lot of money um and most people don't realize that because
• 41:41
  the average person isn't going to buy a commercial you know or run an ad on radio or you know a
• 41:47
  podcast or wherever it is. Yeah. And they just don't see that part of it. And, you know, it's
• 41:51
  like when you hear these presidential campaigns, oh, they raise 800 million, 200 million, whatever.
• 41:55
  Some people are like, why do you need all that money? Well, so that they can get their voice
• 42:00
  out. It just doesn't happen. You have to pay for the, those opportunities to get your message
• 42:05
  across to the people. And that's the thing. The average person just doesn't understand that.
• 42:09
  And that's why I asked you that. I just, you know, I wanted to get it directly from someone who
• 42:13
  runs for office, who's a city council member running again, just directly telling people,
• 42:16
  look, this is why we need the funds. This is what it goes to.
• 42:20
  It's just, it's, you know, the job is like,
• 42:23
  my job as a council member when I'm running for office is to sell my ideas to
• 42:26
  voters. If I don't let you know what my ideas are,
• 42:31
  then how can you make an informed decision? Right.
• 42:33
  Hopefully my opponents are doing the same thing, right? Like they're gonna,
• 42:37
  and in my first election, you saw that, you know, like one of the candidates
• 42:41
  message was, Hey, I'm, I'm endorsed by the police department.
• 42:44
  one of the candidates was like hey i'm gonna hire more cops you know what i mean and my message was
• 42:52
  more like i want to try to solve problems for modesta um and in the end i did a better job
• 42:59
  of communicating that than they did in which at that time uh nobody was taking your approach
• 43:04
  you know i think people wanted problems to be solved but nobody was saying they were going to do
• 43:08
  it. You know, look, as much as I, you know, support our police department and I do, I'm one
• 43:15
  of the biggest supporters of our police department. You can't solve every problem in your community
• 43:21
  with a cop. It just doesn't do it. So how do we, we can't solve our problem, our economic
• 43:27
  challenges, you know, like our economic development challenges with a police officer. We need
• 43:32
  to invest in economic development to do that.
• 43:36
  We can't solve our housing shortage with law enforcement.
• 43:41
  So I believe we've got to take a holistic approach.
• 43:45
  Law enforcement is part of that.
• 43:47
  Having great fire coverage is part of that.
• 43:50
  But there's a lot more that goes into having a healthy, safe, thriving city.
• 43:58
  Well, there is.
• 43:59
  I used to handle the live streams
• 44:02
  that went out for a few cities on their council meetings.
• 44:05
  And I remember sitting in them.
• 44:07
  And I remember noticing,
• 44:11
  and I'm going to ask you this question, your thoughts on this,
• 44:14
  that there's a lot of people living within a city
• 44:17
  that always complain about things,
• 44:19
  but they don't get out of their way to get involved
• 44:22
  and listen to what's happening and hear the arguments
• 44:26
  and make informed decisions.
• 44:28
  And I noticed at council meetings, there was always like a handful of regulars.
• 44:31
  There wasn't, you know, I would see it pack, get packed once in a while.
• 44:35
  If there was, you know, like, let's say a citizen or someone from a high school and
• 44:40
  get a special recognition, all of a sudden the room would be packed.
• 44:43
  But on other days it'd be like, you know, 15, 20 people, sometimes, you know, more than
• 44:47
  that, but it was always the same faces.
• 44:50
  And I heard from some people because I'd say, Hey, yeah, I do the, you know, streaming
• 44:55
  for city X, you know, I won't say them all, but, and they would ask me, well, what'd you hear?
• 45:00
  And they would complain about certain things. And I'm like, well, I hear you, but you know,
• 45:06
  you got to kind of get involved if you want to make the difference or make the change. So
• 45:10
  I've always heard the argument that some people felt like there were decisions being made by only
• 45:14
  a handful of people, a few people only, and making decisions for everybody. And they complain about
• 45:21
  that. What is your thoughts on that statement? I actually love the question. The thing about
• 45:29
  our democracy, and it's such a, our democracy, we should cherish it, right? It's just such a
• 45:36
  powerful, powerful thing. And what I mean is that literally anyone in our city can come into
• 45:45
  the city in the city hall and like make a difference you know um and the reason why people
• 45:51
  don't is because it's hard it takes a dramatic investment of time to do it so sure one person
• 45:58
  can change policy at city hall but you need to come to city council you know consistently
• 46:04
  with your issue and then push your issue through you know on and on and convince the council that
• 46:11
  this is an important issue that needs to be dealt with. And the problem is most people don't. And so
• 46:18
  as a representative, what I try to do is channel what I'm hearing, you know, on the street,
• 46:23
  on social media, things that are frustrating residents. And then I try to be proactive in
• 46:30
  guiding the government to deal with those things. But then there's other things that like I haven't
• 46:35
  been able to do because I don't have enough support in the public. You know, like, for example,
• 46:41
  we've got thousands of Modestans that are that really want a uh an outdoor roller rink right
• 46:48
  a replacement for Roller King you know but they just can't put together a couple dozen people to
• 46:56
  come to the meeting every week and talk about why it's so important to Modesto right and as a result
• 47:01
  the representatives don't understand why it's so important to Modesto and so it doesn't happen
• 47:05
  you know and so like rather than looking at it like oh people suck because they don't come to
• 47:11
  the meetings no it's like you've got this magic system that you can really make stuff happen with
• 47:17
  and if you believe in what you want so much you dedicate yourself and your idea is good and you
• 47:23
  can convince the council your idea is going to happen yeah and and that goes back to getting
• 47:30
  involved at the local level. You know, people have to go out of their way to work with their
• 47:36
  elected officials if they want to advocate for change or if they want to do something that they
• 47:42
  see, you know, in their mind would be beneficial to the people in general. And it's just sitting
• 47:47
  on your couch and just hating the fact that decisions aren't being made is not going to
• 47:51
  change anything. No, I'll give you an example. Like you look at the cruising van was lifted by
• 47:56
  the city council last year. Yeah. I heard that. Yeah. Yeah. And so they made an argument. They're
• 48:03
  like, look, cruising is a family event. You know, if I have a 64 Impala convertible, that's $150,000
• 48:11
  car. Do you think that I'm going to like put that at risk by doing donuts and shenanigans with it?
• 48:17
  Like you're, you're crazy. Like the people that cruise now are a totally different breed than what
• 48:24
  you imagined 30 years ago.
• 48:30
  But that's still like breaking through people's perceptions of what cruising is in 2024 versus
• 48:38
  what it was in 1992.
• 48:40
  Yes.
• 48:41
  Really hard.
• 48:41
  Well, and the thing, for example, the cruising issue, for example, as it relates to Modesto,
• 48:48
  it's ingrained in Modesto's history.
• 48:50
  Right.
• 48:51
  You know, it was a big part of it.
• 48:52
  And I'm glad that it was repealed and allowed to happen again, because it's not like every day you're going to see a large group of people.
• 49:00
  It usually happens around graffiti time or, you know, certain special events.
• 49:03
  So it's not like every day there's just streets flooded with cars, you know, cruising.
• 49:07
  But giving them the opportunity to show off the rides, enjoy themselves, you know, it's a community cultural thing.
• 49:13
  It's not anything negative that negatively impacts Modesto.
• 49:16
  Right. But this group of people had to sell that idea.
• 49:22
  And it took them a year.
• 49:24
  But they got all this momentum.
• 49:25
  They came to the city council, and eventually they passed it.
• 49:28
  But they didn't stop at city council.
• 49:30
  They went to the state, and they had the ban made illegal across the entire state of California.
• 49:37
  That's awesome.
• 49:38
  That's a great example of getting involved.
• 49:40
  Yeah, but it just proves what I'm talking about.
• 49:43
  It's the magic of our system.
• 49:44
  And, yeah, the system is kind of broken, in my opinion, at the federal level right now.
• 49:48
  I'm hopeful that they can fix it someday
• 49:51
  And bring the people back
• 49:53
  And kind of push back
• 49:55
  The special interests a little bit
• 49:57
  You know, but
• 49:58
  At least on a local level
• 50:01
  On a state level
• 50:02
  Just regular citizens can have a dramatic
• 50:05
  Impact on policy
• 50:06
  You just have to
• 50:08
  Again, share your truth
• 50:11
  Share the truth with your representatives
• 50:13
  And convince them
• 50:15
  That that's the right thing to do
• 50:16
  well that's i can't say any better than that to be honest because that's it's all true it's all
• 50:23
  true i i'm of the mind that changing things nationally at the fed and at the federal level
• 50:29
  to me and i may be wrong and correct me but to me when it comes to policy and politics in general but
• 50:36
  i think it's more of a funnel up than a funnel down situation i i believe it gets changed at the
• 50:42
  local level, then city, you know, there's city level, local level, town level, whatever,
• 50:47
  then state, and then just goes up. So if you have a strong foundation at the base,
• 50:52
  those policies become infectious and then influence everything else as it moves up to the top.
• 50:58
  And I don't, I think that if, if you're not trying to influence change in policy at the local level,
• 51:05
  it starts in your own backyard, right? And if you're not trying to do that, then nothing's
• 51:10
  to change anywhere. And that's just, I mean, that is my opinion. I'm not saying that may be the
• 51:14
  correct for everything, but that's kind of how I view it. What is your thoughts on that?
• 51:22
  Well, I mean, I agree with you to a point, right? But the problem right now is that you've got
• 51:27
  corporations that can give unlimited amounts of money to any cause they want through the PAC system.
• 51:36
  And, you know, politicians stand up to PACs with unlimited amounts of money at their own peril.
• 51:45
  You know, and as long as kind of giving is legal, you're not going to see, you know, the changes, you know, that I think our country needs.
• 51:56
  Like an example would be, you know, on prescription drugs.
• 51:59
  You know, we have the highest prescription drug costs in the entire world.
• 52:04
  We do. And that's because the pharmaceutical companies have donated so much money to candidates and have so many packs going that it's just it's just like pulling teeth.
• 52:19
  Everything accomplished. And there's been some progress made, you know, like insulin now, Biden passed that thing.
• 52:27
  So it's only, you know, max 35 bucks a month or whatever for insulin. Wonderful.
• 52:31
  but it's just like pulling teeth you know and and you can go through every lobby there is
• 52:39
  you know about and it's just really it's it's basically we're moving a snail's pace to change
• 52:46
  things that need to be changed um because the system has made it so it's more or less impossible
• 52:53
  on what you know maybe not impossible but like incredibly difficult to sow any sort of meaningful
• 52:58
  change. Well, you're not wrong. You can't, I mean, it's hard for the average person to
• 53:03
  compete with those deep pockets. It's just not going to happen. Um, it's that as they say,
• 53:09
  money talks, unfortunately, that's the truth. Um, as far as pharmaceuticals go, I mean, I'm not
• 53:15
  going to, I'm not going to beat this topic, but you know, what's crazy is the U S is probably the
• 53:22
  largest profit center for pharmaceutical companies. And one of the only countries where you can
• 53:26
  actually advertise your pharmaceuticals to people, which is crazy.
• 53:32
  Crazy. Like, Hey, don't trust your doctor. You just tell your doctor,
• 53:35
  you want this drug, right? You know, and these are people that, you know,
• 53:38
  we're not, I'm not a doctor. I don't know. You know, you're training.
• 53:41
  I don't know if I don't think you are. I'm not like, so I'm not a doctor.
• 53:44
  I can watch this commercial. So yeah, I want to feel better or whatever.
• 53:46
  And, and, and then they kind of just blow through the side effects. Like,
• 53:49
  Oh, you know, we kind of told you, but not really. It's, it's ridiculous.
• 53:53
  and that is all
• 53:56
  as you said a result of just dealing with those
• 53:58
  really deep pockets because they're incentivized
• 54:01
  to do so
• 54:01
  and it's sad
• 54:03
  but still I think that if people get involved locally
• 54:06
  it does help make change
• 54:07
  at least take care of your backyard
• 54:09
  right
• 54:10
  and I don't know
• 54:14
  maybe eventually it will change
• 54:16
  everything up at the top
• 54:17
  at least I'm believing so I may be naive at that
• 54:20
  but I'm hoping
• 54:21
  you know i'm hoping i mean hopefully we always gotta hope for things to get better but what i'll
• 54:27
  also say man is that it doesn't matter what you know society you're in or what city you're in like
• 54:33
  you hear all this stuff you know about oh you know like chicago is is such a tough town and
• 54:39
  right and like you know i uh i spend quite a bit of time in chicago and i think it's like one of
• 54:47
  the best cities on the planet, right? But every city has their challenges. Modesto has its
• 54:55
  challenges, right? San Francisco has a different set of challenges. Biloxi, Mississippi has its
• 55:02
  own challenges. Memphis, Tennessee has a whole different set of challenges. We can go through
• 55:08
  red states, blue states, red towns, blue towns. It doesn't matter. You name any city on the planet,
• 55:14
  you can point at 10 major issues that that city has.
• 55:17
  And they're all going to be different based on, you know,
• 55:21
  the country's economy and the education level, the people,
• 55:25
  and, you know, what kind of governments they have.
• 55:27
  Like the bottom line is it doesn't matter how good we do,
• 55:31
  we're always going to have issues that we have to address.
• 55:33
  Well, yeah, and it's because those issues, as you were saying,
• 55:36
  are going to be unique to its region based on population, education, everything.
• 55:41
  I mean, you can't just throw a blanket over it and expect it to fix everything.
• 55:45
  And, you know, I understand that.
• 55:47
  And you do travel a lot, so you get to see it.
• 55:49
  Yeah.
• 55:50
  If we have nothing to fix, like, what's the point?
• 55:53
  Right.
• 55:54
  I mean, pretty much.
• 55:57
  Yeah, that's very true.
• 55:59
  As far as.
• 56:00
  Yeah, I do travel a lot, man.
• 56:01
  I just like I just got back from Spain and like they've got like it was weird, you know,
• 56:06
  like everywhere I went, there were there was like graffiti on the walls in English.
• 56:11
  saying tourists go home.
• 56:12
  Really?
• 56:13
  I couldn't leave fast enough.
• 56:15
  You know what I mean?
• 56:16
  But they're having a real issue with housing.
• 56:21
  And I totally agree with them, by the way.
• 56:24
  I rented an Airbnb.
• 56:26
  It was like $250 a night.
• 56:29
  It had two bedrooms, two bathrooms.
• 56:32
  It had a rooftop chaise lounge.
• 56:38
  You could hang out up there.
• 56:39
  and by us staying in that spot that was a place that an average you know person in barcelona
• 56:46
  couldn't you know couldn't rent it because a bunch of tourists are coming in you know and
• 56:51
  like that's something that as a city you have to consider like right you're you know you're by by
• 56:58
  you have to balance your tourism with the needs of the people that live in your city the fact that
• 57:03
  they led it to get to the point where people are actually putting anti-tourist graffiti everywhere
• 57:07
  like I'm not going back to Barcelona anytime soon I'll tell you that right now
• 57:12
  I not gonna be part of the problem but a lot of people over overlook how um something like tourism can affect the cost of living in certain areas because you just basically making your city or your town only appealing to people from the outside coming in but
• 57:30
  then it totally ignores the people actually live there and we we see that in many areas where cost
• 57:36
  of living is outpacing you know what what the people who live in those towns can actually earn
• 57:41
  for a living based on the jobs that are offered and it's getting hard in a lot of different places
• 57:46
  because of things like tourism, but we're just using tourism as an example.
• 57:50
  Yeah. I mean, like, Hey, it's not that tourism is bad. Manage your tourism. Like,
• 57:55
  right. This is hard. Like, and then in Barcelona, that's what they're going to do. They're going to
• 57:59
  like all the Airbnbs, they're pulling all their permits. And so if you want to be the visit
• 58:04
  Barcelona as a tourist, you're going to stay in a hotel like you'd probably expect to stay.
• 58:11
  And, and you know what, I think it's going to have a really good impact on their rents. And
• 58:16
  I think it's going to work. And maybe if they want to have, you know, maybe they're going to
• 58:21
  need to build more hotels, which is going to create more jobs, you know, in construction and
• 58:26
  at hotels. And in the end, this may work out really well for Barcelona, right? So we have to,
• 58:33
  you know, we shouldn't vilify tourism or share or like, you know, make it like it's this triumphant
• 58:39
  success. It's just an issue that created another issue, which is how things mostly work. I mean,
• 58:44
  Modesto's got the same problem. Just what you described, right? Like if you're an average
• 58:50
  Modesto and the average income in Modesto is about $60,000 a year. You can't buy a house.
• 58:56
  No, no, that is, that is a, you know, well, you can, you can say whatever you want in the show.
• 59:07
  It's all, it already goes explicit. I say a few choice words when I don't have guests.
• 59:11
  So don't worry about it.
• 59:13
  I was going to bring something up to that because, you know, this podcast is, you know, like most all of them.
• 59:21
  Anyone around the world can listen to it.
• 59:23
  And a lot of people equate California with either L.A. or San Francisco.
• 59:28
  We're in that area where we're not that far from what they consider the Bay.
• 59:32
  And what the sad thing is, is being in Modesto is we have, as you said, there's over 200,000 people living here.
• 59:38
  But what they don't know is the wages aren't enough for the average person because there's
• 59:43
  not a lot of the jobs that will support certain professions where, as you said, they don't
• 59:48
  earn enough to buy a house anymore.
• 59:50
  Especially after the pandemic, everything went up at least four times what it used to.
• 59:54
  So within three years, you're seeing a house that went, example, 175.
• 59:57
  And now here we're looking at, you know, 450, 575.
• 1:00:02
  You know, that's huge.
• 1:00:03
  and most people here just literally sleep here and then they spend x amount of hours on the road
• 1:00:09
  i'll give you a little backstory on my experience with that because i used to own a sales rep firm
• 1:00:13
  years ago and i represented a bunch of companies in the musical instrument professional audio video
• 1:00:19
  industry and all that and i went to all the trade shows and blah blah blah but the thing is i
• 1:00:23
  remember the the how many people would commute because you know by that time i was living in
• 1:00:28
  Modesto. And, you know, I would spend 10 hours a day on the road to visit three people. Okay. Three
• 1:00:35
  people. And there's people who do this every day just to make a living. You know, they're spending
• 1:00:39
  because of traffic three to four hours just to get to work in the Bay, wherever it may be. And then
• 1:00:44
  another three to four hours. So they're leaving at two 30 in the morning, three in the morning,
• 1:00:47
  coming back at eight or nine at night, most times. And that's a crazy way to live. And it's like,
• 1:00:54
  they can't even afford to enjoy the city that they live in because they're always commuting
• 1:00:58
  and burning themselves out.
• 1:01:00
  What is the, I just, I know you can't offer a solution,
• 1:01:04
  but I wouldn't mind getting your thought on that.
• 1:01:06
  Is there any way you think cities like Modesto
• 1:01:09
  that are considered like, oh, you guys aren't as advanced
• 1:01:12
  or up to, you know, up to par as the Bay
• 1:01:14
  when in reality, you know,
• 1:01:16
  most of the workforce is coming from cities like ours.
• 1:01:18
  So is there any way you see
• 1:01:21
  or any path you see down the road to cities like ours
• 1:01:24
  actually being able to offer the jobs
• 1:01:27
  that will actually allow people to live in the cities
• 1:01:30
  that they actually own homes in or rent in?
• 1:01:33
  I think we need to look at it maybe a different way.
• 1:01:36
  I think, you know, the short-term solution to the problem
• 1:01:40
  is just increasing supply.
• 1:01:43
  You know, we need to build more homes,
• 1:01:45
  and we need to build homes of all shapes and sizes.
• 1:01:48
  Like right now, we tend to build a lot of single-family homes,
• 1:01:53
  which is fine.
• 1:01:55
  You know, we need single-family homes too.
• 1:01:57
  but we need to see more
• 1:01:59
  smaller homes
• 1:02:01
  and we need to see more
• 1:02:02
  family options.
• 1:02:05
  So that's probably the easiest,
• 1:02:07
  most direct route.
• 1:02:09
  In terms of how do we get better jobs,
• 1:02:11
  I mean, I think the answer is
• 1:02:13
  much more complicated
• 1:02:15
  and much more difficult.
• 1:02:16
  I mean, the reality is
• 1:02:17
  we need to completely adjust our culture
• 1:02:20
  to become a culture that values education.
• 1:02:24
  We can, you know,
• 1:02:25
  there's a huge, um, you know, group out there pushing like, Oh,
• 1:02:31
  we need to do just technical education and most kids should go into technical
• 1:02:35
  education Right But what you doing by directing people to not get a go to get you know degrees and go to college is you dooming them to blue collar work for the rest of their lives
• 1:02:49
  essentially. And that's not true to everybody, but that's just the basics. And for Modesto,
• 1:02:55
  we can't attract, you know, like an Apple or, you know, an NVIDIA to come to Modesto because
• 1:03:01
  our college grad rate is, you know, 18%.
• 1:03:06
  It was on par with like some of the least educated cities in the entire country.
• 1:03:11
  And so that's, it's not a fun answer that anyone wants to hear, but it's the truth.
• 1:03:18
  You know, I, I mean, I, I'm not going to argue or against or disagree with that.
• 1:03:24
  Even, even if you talk about trades though, I, I'll give you an example in trades.
• 1:03:29
  electricians make extremely good money so do plumbers and they're they may not be the most
• 1:03:34
  glamorous jobs but they get paid extremely well especially once you move up journeymen making very
• 1:03:40
  good money good retirements but even they if they choose that pathway here are commuting to work for
• 1:03:45
  companies in the bay because they're not there's not enough contracts to support even them here
• 1:03:51
  locally and and i've seen this firsthand this is not an argument against the trades right you're
• 1:03:57
  still going to have that. No, no, you're not arguing. I didn't say you were. I was just using that as an example. You know, what I'm trying to say is I still see people having to go find those other jobs elsewhere, regardless of what profession they choose. And it's sad to see that they have to do that, or they feel they do anyway.
• 1:04:12
  Right. But the thing is, like, if you've got, you know, in a city like Modesto, we've got very healthy trades and they're doing great. Right. But what we need is that other piece on top that's like bringing in the, you know, the big corporation that wants that, you know, needs a big workforce.
• 1:04:30
  and that drives more economic development, right?
• 1:04:35
  So once you've got, you know, that big company that comes in
• 1:04:39
  and talks about how great it is and the culture's great
• 1:04:43
  and everything's great here, then you get another one
• 1:04:46
  and you get another one.
• 1:04:47
  And that's when you start being able to build, you know,
• 1:04:50
  that's when the trades are starting to work more locally
• 1:04:52
  than they are, you know, moving out into the Bay Area
• 1:04:54
  where everything's growing like gangbusters
• 1:04:56
  because that's where the workforce is.
• 1:04:58
  True.
• 1:04:59
  You know, so it's, again, it's all connected.
• 1:05:03
  Absolutely.
• 1:05:04
  One feeds the other.
• 1:05:05
  I mean, it's.
• 1:05:06
  Right.
• 1:05:06
  The, do you think, you know, we're talking local.
• 1:05:10
  So whoever's listening to this, you may not understand everything we're talking about.
• 1:05:13
  But, you know, we have Merced not that far.
• 1:05:15
  So they have the university, which has been growing like crazy.
• 1:05:19
  And I provide a lot of services for them for different things.
• 1:05:22
  And I've seen them grow over the years.
• 1:05:24
  So UC Merced, do you think that that will help attract those companies down the road to places like Modesto or even Merced or anywhere in the valley?
• 1:05:36
  Being that now there's more people that are getting educated and coming away with a degree in whatever discipline they choose.
• 1:05:45
  And we also have Stan State out in Turlock.
• 1:05:50
  Do you think UC Merced is going to help with that?
• 1:05:52
  because they've become a pretty well-recognized institution at this point.
• 1:05:57
  Yeah, I think UC Merced is a keystone to developing Merced
• 1:06:04
  and Merced County's economy.
• 1:06:06
  I don't think that the ripples will be felt in Modesto.
• 1:06:10
  I mean, Merced's more or less an hour away from here.
• 1:06:13
  It's no different than Berkeley's an hour from here too, right?
• 1:06:18
  So you're going to see like a big, you're going to see way, you know,
• 1:06:22
  ripples of the waves that, you know, appear in Modesto,
• 1:06:25
  but you're not going to see dramatic economic development here because of
• 1:06:30
  Merced, unfortunately.
• 1:06:33
  Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, okay.
• 1:06:36
  That's just my opinion. I could be wrong.
• 1:06:38
  No, no, no. It's, it, I asked, I mean, you know,
• 1:06:41
  you have a different view of things from being, you know, in,
• 1:06:44
  in city council and seeing a lot of different, um, different stuff behind the scenes, as I say,
• 1:06:49
  because, you know, I don't. So, uh, I did notice with the, with something like that though,
• 1:06:54
  in just using them again, as an example, you see Merced is I did get to meet a lot of students that
• 1:06:59
  were actually not from the Valley. They're from out of state. And so that's why I asked that
• 1:07:02
  because people are getting used to traveling, you know, applying for jobs where they have to really
• 1:07:06
  relocate and whatnot. But, um, I guess time will tell, right? We'll see.
• 1:07:10
  i mean i'd rather you be right i would hope i i mean it'd be nice but i mean either way we have
• 1:07:20
  seen changes and they and it's been a slow progression but things have been getting better
• 1:07:25
  and and it's it's getting there um i i just i just wish it was easier for you know people like
• 1:07:30
  you said to afford a house in their own backyard um and unfortunately it's not quite the case right
• 1:07:37
  now we may get there, but again, I only think I could do is stay hopeful about it.
• 1:07:43
  Yeah. I don't, I don't know if we'll get there or not, but I think that
• 1:07:47
  we're sure going to try.
• 1:07:48
  Oh yeah, absolutely.
• 1:07:50
  It's possible.
• 1:07:52
  You know I was I going to ask you another question about cause a lot of people when they go to the like the city government websites okay for example you a council member And I know that what people don understand in city government you know you know so you have
• 1:08:08
  like your city manager and they have council members, et cetera, that a lot of them, such as
• 1:08:13
  yourselves have to be involved in certain committees. And what I wanted to ask you is
• 1:08:18
  basically, can you explain to the average person why we have these committees and what they actually
• 1:08:24
  do? Like you have a few here that you sent me. So you're on a safety committee, economic development
• 1:08:28
  committee, cannabis permit review, for example. But can you explain, you know, the importance of
• 1:08:34
  these committees and why people like you need to be involved in them? Yeah, I think the committee
• 1:08:40
  is like, it's like a filter, you know? So the way this local government works is the bureaucrats
• 1:08:48
  come up with policy and then they feed that policy through to the committee and then from
• 1:08:54
  the committee it goes to the council um and there are lots of exceptions like sometimes council
• 1:09:00
  members will come up with policy that goes to the bureaucracy that goes to this the committee that
• 1:09:07
  goes to the council right but by and large most of the stuff we get is like the bureaucracy is like
• 1:09:13
  hey, our paving machine that we use to repair our streets is broken.
• 1:09:18
  We need to buy a new one.
• 1:09:19
  It's going to cost $733,000.
• 1:09:23
  And we've priced it out.
• 1:09:26
  We've gone to five different places, and here's the best price.
• 1:09:30
  What do you think, council?
• 1:09:31
  And it goes to the Economic Development Committee, and we go, well, we sure want paved streets
• 1:09:38
  are important, and if our machine's broken, we need a new one.
• 1:09:41
  Great.
• 1:09:42
  Let's invest in that.
• 1:09:43
  So the committee passes it and sends it on to council.
• 1:09:47
  Right.
• 1:09:50
  But what the committees do is if something turns out to be controversial, it offers the government a chance to go back and adjust the policy so that it has a better chance of passing when it gets to the council.
• 1:10:04
  Yeah, there's a lot.
• 1:10:06
  I think there's a perception for most people that committees are kind of just more bureaucracy and a waste of time.
• 1:10:11
  but they don't realize it's a buffer.
• 1:10:14
  It's a way, like you said, to filter and get to narrow in on the actual issue
• 1:10:21
  and fine-tune what the issue is before it actually gets to the decision makers.
• 1:10:26
  Yeah, it's like level one of decision.
• 1:10:29
  Like, hey, did you pass the minor checkpoint?
• 1:10:33
  Okay, now I get to go to the big boss.
• 1:10:37
  That's what it is.
• 1:10:38
  And the great thing about committee meetings is that they're all open to the public and you can go down there and, you know, now it's like instead of you with, you know, 200 people at City Hall, it's you with, you know, you know, two, it's you with 10 bureaucrats by yourself.
• 1:10:55
  So like the committee meetings are a really good way to connect and have good conversations with the government and with your representatives.
• 1:11:05
  Yeah, that's, that's, that's very important.
• 1:11:07
  And so another way people can get involved and really try to more time,
• 1:11:12
  man, more time.
• 1:11:13
  It is time.
• 1:11:13
  It's all time invested, you know, and it's, uh,
• 1:11:17
  unfortunately most people is they're consumed with work, you know,
• 1:11:20
  getting up at a certain time, taking care of the kids.
• 1:11:22
  They got school, everything to worry about,
• 1:11:24
  whatever's going on in their lives.
• 1:11:25
  And at the end of the day, they're like, Oh yeah,
• 1:11:26
  there's a meeting that about, Oh man,
• 1:11:28
  I think I'm just going to sit back and have a beer, you know?
• 1:11:31
  Yeah.
• 1:11:32
  And, uh, that happens, you know, life happens.
• 1:11:34
  so um i was gonna ask you if i think we'll start wrapping it up sir um is there anything you want
• 1:11:41
  to kind of promote or get out there uh to the public on the show here i mean uh i think
• 1:11:47
  communication is really important so you know following social media on your favorite platform
• 1:11:52
  i'm on facebook instagram uh and linkedin so follow me there on all those three platforms
• 1:11:59
  I'm also on TikTok, but I don't do as much content as I'd like to on TikTok just because it takes a lot of time.
• 1:12:07
  But I do post there from time to time, too.
• 1:12:11
  So join me there.
• 1:12:12
  If you want to see what I stand for, you can go to chrisrickeyforcouncil.com.
• 1:12:17
  Ricky is R-I-C-C-I.
• 1:12:19
  You'll get a good overview of some of the long-term projects I'm working on.
• 1:12:25
  And, you know, I started off my campaign with 100 ideas to make Modesto better.
• 1:12:32
  And I'm really proud that, like, we've gotten a lot of them done.
• 1:12:35
  So it's kind of cool.
• 1:12:37
  So you can go back and look at the original 100 ideas and look at what the 100 ideas look like today.
• 1:12:43
  That's cool.
• 1:12:44
  That's very cool.
• 1:12:45
  And then check and then look at achievements.
• 1:12:47
  Look at the stuff we've done.
• 1:12:48
  Yeah, that's really cool.
• 1:12:50
  Well, I appreciate your time.
• 1:12:51
  I do.
• 1:12:52
  I know you're busy and I'm glad you agreed to do this.
• 1:12:54
  and I always like talking to people, you know, and getting different perspectives. So thanks.
• 1:12:59
  And, you know, maybe down the road, we'll do this again.
• 1:13:02
  Yeah, George, this was great. Thanks for having me. You know, I really appreciate it.
• 1:13:07
  I appreciate it as well. Thank you very much. And let's stay in touch.
• 1:13:12
  Yeah, man, for sure.