Latest / Why Not Today? with Leslie Kane / Why Not Today? Season 1 - Episode 9 with Lisa Merkel, Former Mayor of Herndon, VA

Transcript

Why Not Today? Season 1 - Episode 9 with Lisa Merkel, Former Mayor of Herndon, VA · Why Not Today? with Leslie Kane

• 0:00
  All right, we are live.
• 0:02
  Hello, my name is Leslie Cain.
• 0:04
  I'm the host of the Why Not Today podcast.
• 0:07
  This is a podcast to celebrate people
• 0:09
  who have been courageous and said, why not today?
• 0:12
  I started this podcast in honor of my father,
• 0:14
  Patrick Cain, who often did say, why not today?
• 0:18
  I'm based in Reston, Virginia,
• 0:19
  a planned community right outside Washington, DC,
• 0:22
  and thanks for joining us today.
• 0:24
  And I'm super excited for my guests, Lisa Mirkel,
• 0:27
  and I know Lisa from lots of different connections,
• 0:31
  but I've never really had much of a conversation with you.
• 0:34
  So I'm excited to get to know you
• 0:37
  and kind of your Why Not Today story.
• 0:38
  I've been inspired by you
• 0:39
  and just heard cool things about you.
• 0:43
  So before we hear about Lisa, let's talk about connections.
• 0:47
  You never know when you're gonna meet someone,
• 0:49
  where it'll lead and how it'll connect in your life.
• 0:51
  And so like with you, Lisa, you're involved in Herndon,
• 0:54
  which my dad was, and we'll kind of talk about that later,
• 0:57
  but I think we saw each other at a best of rest in,
• 1:00
  and I know you go to the coffee house,
• 1:03
  you just never know who that person is
• 1:05
  that you're gonna meet that's gonna lead you
• 1:06
  to somebody else down the line.
• 1:08
  Just never know who those connections are.
• 1:10
  So I always say, if somebody introduces you
• 1:13
  or wants you to meet someone,
• 1:15
  then meet them cause you just never ever know.
• 1:17
  So again, thank you, Lisa, for joining us today.
• 1:20
  And so as I said, I know Lisa because she worked
• 1:25
  with the town of Herndon,
• 1:27
  and I was very touched when my mom brought
• 1:32
  some Herndon memorabilia when my dad worked
• 1:34
  on the revitalization of Herndon.
• 1:39
  And you sat and talked to my mom for an over an hour,
• 1:41
  and I just meant so much to her to hear his stories.
• 1:43
  And so tell us a little about you.
• 1:45
  And I always ask, what's a fun fact
• 1:47
  that people might know about Lisa?
• 1:51
  So, well, I'm Lisa Merkel.
• 1:54
  I've lived in Herndon for 20 years now.
• 1:56
  So to some, I'm still new in town.
• 1:58
  I was gonna say, you are me.
• 2:00
  That's right.
• 2:02
  Yeah, I grew up in the deep South in Montgomery, Alabama
• 2:05
  and moved here in to Northern Virginia in 1996,
• 2:07
  right after I got married.
• 2:08
  My husband was in the Air Force at the time.
• 2:11
  And we got here and I loved the diversity,
• 2:15
  all of the exciting things that there are to do here.
• 2:18
  And I was a teacher in Fairfax County.
• 2:20
  So it was, there's not a better place to be a teacher.
• 2:24
  So that's-
• 2:25
  What's your teacher?
• 2:26
  I taught at a school called Garfield Elementary.
• 2:29
  It's down right at the mixing bowl in Springfield.
• 2:32
  It's a public school.
• 2:33
  It was only about 320 kids.
• 2:35
  It was the best.
• 2:36
  So-
• 2:37
  I did not know that about you.
• 2:38
  Yeah, so I was a teacher first.
• 2:40
  And what's funny is I still think of myself as a teacher,
• 2:42
  but I was actually involved with Herndon politics
• 2:45
  and planning for longer than I was a teacher.
• 2:47
  So I always say, mom, teacher, mayor.
• 2:49
  That's-
• 2:50
  Yeah, that's-
• 2:50
  And I guess the fun fact about me,
• 2:52
  I mean, you just heard my dog bark. I think,
• 2:54
  I am a card carrying cat person
• 2:56
  who was completely convinced by my daughter
• 2:59
  over three years of PowerPoint presentations to get a dog.
• 3:03
  So now we have a tiny dog who rules the house.
• 3:06
  And who knew I would be a dog person?
• 3:09
  You know, they just kind of grow on you.
• 3:12
  I'm, you know, as a kid, we had dogs,
• 3:13
  but I've never had one personally
• 3:15
  and a good friend of mine has one,
• 3:17
  but I spent a lot of time with.
• 3:18
  And like totally in love with this dog
• 3:21
  and it's such a dog and yeah,
• 3:24
  it's an unconditional love.
• 3:26
  So, well, thanks again for being on
• 3:28
  and we're excited to hear your story.
• 3:29
  So I always start with asking, what does courage mean to you?
• 3:34
  You know, I thought about this when you first mentioned
• 3:36
  that question would be something we talked about.
• 3:39
  And, you know, I think courage means a lot of different things,
• 3:43
  but in my experience, courage has often been when
• 3:48
  you try to do the right thing,
• 3:50
  even when that doesn't seem the easiest
• 3:52
  or what everybody else is doing.
• 3:54
  And that may sound kind of like a canned answer,
• 3:57
  but there's been a few times in my life
• 3:58
  when I've had to, you know, be brave and do something
• 4:02
  that seemed a little against the grain.
• 4:04
  But when you try to do what's right,
• 4:06
  my mom always told me, you know, you try to do what's right,
• 4:09
  things, good things will happen.
• 4:10
  And it's not always easy, but when you can sleep well at night,
• 4:14
  I think you've made good decisions.
• 4:17
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 4:18
  Totally.
• 4:19
  And, you know, with your May,
• 4:23
  were you town council before you were mayor of Herndon?
• 4:25
  So I ran for town council in 2010
• 4:28
  and I was served as the vice mayor for one term.
• 4:30
  And then I ran for mayor in 2012 and every two years
• 4:35
  until I did not seek reelection in 2020.
• 4:38
  Okay, so you were mayor for how many years?
• 4:40
  Eight and a half years.
• 4:41
  Wow, that's one.
• 4:42
  So for those of you listening to the podcast
• 4:44
  and maybe listening from somewhere not in Northern Virginia,
• 4:48
  Herndon is the town right next to where I live in Reston
• 4:51
  and grew up and I actually went to Herndon High School.
• 4:54
  And so it was like one in the same pretty much.
• 4:58
  Yeah, actually when I went to high school
• 5:00
  was the year of South Lakes,
• 5:01
  which is the Reston High School open.
• 5:03
  And so we all went to Herndon and media together
• 5:06
  and then they split us up and I went to Herndon
• 5:09
  and a lot of friends went to South Lakes.
• 5:10
  So kind of got those mutual friends.
• 5:12
  But Herndon, gosh, how old is Herndon?
• 5:16
  I mean, I can talk about Herndon all day long.
• 5:20
  So it was actually incorporated in 1879.
• 5:23
  Wow.
• 5:24
  So it's been around for a while
• 5:25
  and it is especially if you don't live in the area.
• 5:28
  Herndon is actually an incorporated town
• 5:29
  with its own government, its own police force.
• 5:32
  It's most of Northern Virginia
• 5:34
  is unincorporated parts of Fairfax County,
• 5:36
  like Reston is a planned community,
• 5:38
  but they don't have a mayor and a town council
• 5:40
  that other governing boards,
• 5:41
  but it's not an actual government.
• 5:43
  So yeah.
• 5:44
  So the difference between where I grew up in Reston and Herndon
• 5:47
  which literally is right next door
• 5:49
  is that Reston is only 59 years old,
• 5:55
  started established in 1963.
• 5:58
  And it is a planned community as opposed to an older place.
• 6:02
  And it's very new looking compared to other places.
• 6:07
  Interesting in traveling myself all around the country.
• 6:09
  You see all these older towns, like what a cool thing.
• 6:13
  But in Reston definitely grew up around me.
• 6:15
  I live there when I was two.
• 6:17
  So people always ask,
• 6:18
  is it culture shock?
• 6:21
  Do you like the change?
• 6:22
  My dad was a city planner and revitalized town.
• 6:24
  So that's how we grew up knowing those,
• 6:27
  that was the thought that we had.
• 6:29
  It's a good thing to have growth.
• 6:31
  Definitely changed.
• 6:32
  So talk about your career.
• 6:36
  How did you get into city council
• 6:37
  and wanting to run for mayor?
• 6:39
  For me, that seems like such a bold courageous thing
• 6:42
  because public eye, I'm mad, is kind of scary in my eyes.
• 6:46
  Well, when I think back about it,
• 6:47
  I'm like, what was I thinking?
• 6:49
  I mean, I had no background in public policy.
• 6:53
  I was an elementary school teacher.
• 6:55
  And I always made the joke,
• 6:56
  but it actually is true that my classroom experience
• 6:59
  with elementary school kids was surprisingly relevant
• 7:02
  for the job of being here.
• 7:03
  But I'll try to make the story brief.
• 7:09
  Dave and I, that's my husband,
• 7:12
  we've been married for almost 26 years.
• 7:14
  We moved to this area and we lived in Alexandria.
• 7:17
  And then when we went to buy a house,
• 7:18
  we ended up moving further west
• 7:20
  because we couldn't afford to buy where we had been renting.
• 7:23
  And that's how I found Herndon.
• 7:25
  And I never made this part of my stump speech,
• 7:27
  but I would say when we came out here,
• 7:29
  I'm like, who lives out here?
• 7:30
  Like I'd only ever been out in this area
• 7:32
  to go to Dulles Airport.
• 7:35
  But we ended up living just outside of the town.
• 7:39
  We found ourselves always in the town
• 7:41
  going to Friday Night Live
• 7:42
  and Jimmy's Old Town Tavern and all the places
• 7:46
  I'm sure that you go to as well in the town.
• 7:48
  And we always liked old houses.
• 7:51
  And at that time we didn't have children.
• 7:53
  So we would go to open houses all the time
• 7:55
  in Arlington and Falls Church and those sorts of areas
• 7:57
  because that's where most of them were.
• 7:58
  And it was, you know, someday,
• 8:00
  we'll be able to buy an older home.
• 8:03
  Then one day, back, this is long enough ago
• 8:05
  that we didn't have children.
• 8:06
  So we had all kinds of time to read the newspaper
• 8:08
  and we actually got a real newspaper.
• 8:10
  And we would, I know, back every Sunday,
• 8:13
  we would read the post and Dave said to me,
• 8:15
  he's like, hey, one of those old houses,
• 8:17
  you know, in downtown Herndon is an open house today.
• 8:19
  We should go look at it.
• 8:20
  And I was like, oh, yeah, that'd be great.
• 8:21
  So we came and looked at the house
• 8:22
  I'm sitting in right now.
• 8:24
  So you know how the story ends.
• 8:25
  But it looks like we already lived here.
• 8:28
  It was in our price range.
• 8:30
  It was a little bit of a stretch at the time,
• 8:31
  but since it was further away from the city,
• 8:33
  it was more affordable, which is,
• 8:35
  I came to learn that's a lot of why people end up
• 8:38
  in the Herndon and Reston area,
• 8:40
  as opposed to closer inside the Beltway.
• 8:43
  And six weeks later, we moved in.
• 8:46
  So a little bit I know, I mean,
• 8:49
  I didn't even know there was a mayor and town council,
• 8:51
  honestly, when we moved into this house
• 8:54
  and a mayor, the town election was happening in May
• 8:57
  and we moved in in April and two of the mayor candidates
• 8:59
  saw us out in the yard and stopped to talk to us.
• 9:02
  And I remember going, oh my gosh, that's so cute.
• 9:04
  Like the mayor, we're stopping by.
• 9:07
  How are we living?
• 9:08
  Right.
• 9:09
  So anyway, I loved living here and back at that time.
• 9:15
  So that was in 2002 when we moved into this house.
• 9:18
  And shortly after that is when the big daily
• 9:22
  we're dispute was started to happen in the town of Herndon.
• 9:25
  And I know that if anybody's listening to this from far away,
• 9:27
  hopefully you're like, I have no idea what you're talking about.
• 9:30
  But if you live here at the time,
• 9:31
  it was really tumultuous and just terrible.
• 9:35
  So I'm new here in town.
• 9:37
  I love my cute little town and, you know,
• 9:39
  walk into the library in the farmer's market
• 9:41
  and all of a sudden we're on CNN about immigration issues.
• 9:44
  And I had friends of mine who would reach out to me and go,
• 9:49
  wait, isn't that where you live?
• 9:50
  I thought you loved it there.
• 9:52
  And I'm like, I do.
• 9:53
  It's not really like this.
• 9:54
  Like it's just a few, you know,
• 9:56
  loud people that have gotten the attention
• 9:58
  of some interested groups and the media loves that, right?
• 10:02
  I didn't understand all that at the time.
• 10:03
  But so I started to go into council meetings and,
• 10:07
  well, first I had little tiny children.
• 10:09
  So I would watch the council meetings on television mostly,
• 10:12
  but sorry, I talk a lot.
• 10:15
  But that's what we're here for.
• 10:17
  I'm here to hear your story.
• 10:19
  So, you know, we had started our family and, you know,
• 10:23
  the news was just trying not to be vague on the podcast,
• 10:27
  but there were just a lot of terrible things coming out
• 10:30
  about Herndon that really wasn't the experience
• 10:33
  that I was having.
• 10:33
  I lived halfway between the town hall, literally,
• 10:36
  between the town hall and the 7-Eleven,
• 10:38
  where the day labor dispute was, you know, originating.
• 10:42
  And I'm like, you know, it is just the story
• 10:44
  that's being told is not the right story.
• 10:47
  And the immigration issue,
• 10:52
  the too long don't read of it was there were people
• 10:55
  in the town were looking to start a day labor center
• 10:57
  where the gentleman that stand at the 7-Eleven could go
• 11:00
  and get work and learn English and things like that.
• 11:03
  And there's a big controversy, lots of things,
• 11:05
  but one of the issues that the opponents of that
• 11:08
  were adamant about was, you know,
• 11:11
  that they did not want to provide services
• 11:12
  to people who were not in the country legally able to work.
• 11:18
  And so I started thinking, well, you know,
• 11:22
  I'd never thought about this issue.
• 11:23
  I'm like, well, I mean, I kind of get where they're coming from.
• 11:25
  So why isn't it that simple?
• 11:27
  And so it turns out it's not simple.
• 11:31
  And so I started reading minutes
• 11:32
  because I'm a nerd of the meetings to it.
• 11:35
  Because every time people would say, well, why don't we do this?
• 11:37
  Well, that had come up and there were reasons why,
• 11:39
  you know, the different avenues didn't work.
• 11:41
  So eventually there was a big flip in our town council
• 11:46
  where a new group of people came in
• 11:47
  and they closed the day labor center
• 11:49
  and they passed some ordinance, not ordinances,
• 11:52
  like as it was resolutions, you know,
• 11:54
  declaring English the official language of the town
• 11:57
  and, you know, 35% of our population is Spanish speaking
• 12:01
  and or from other countries.
• 12:03
  And we live in an incredibly diverse area.
• 12:06
  And I just thought, you know, this just does not feel right.
• 12:09
  So I started going to council meetings
• 12:12
  and trying to pay attention and got into some debates
• 12:15
  with some of the council members and who were like, who is this?
• 12:19
  We've never seen her in our life.
• 12:21
  I love that you were learning and educating yourself and.
• 12:25
  Well, yeah, I mean, if there's one thing that everybody,
• 12:29
  I hope, can can realize, and I think right now our country is,
• 12:32
  you know, so divided, nothing is as simple as sound bites.
• 12:37
  As if it was, it would already be fixed
• 12:38
  and we'd be talking about something else.
• 12:40
  You know, it was courageous for you to take the time,
• 12:43
  especially with little people.
• 12:44
  And it's kind of like what's that saying, not my backyard.
• 12:47
  Or, you know, you don't really pay attention.
• 12:49
  You're going to complain about it, but not do anything about it.
• 12:51
  Well, my mom always said, you know, you can complain.
• 12:53
  She may have used a more salty word,
• 12:55
  but or you can try to do something about it.
• 12:58
  So also when we had first moved into the town,
• 13:04
  we knew nothing about development.
• 13:06
  I did not know that people had been working like your father
• 13:09
  to try and revitalize the downtown for 30 years, even at that time.
• 13:14
  So we moved here. We're like, oh, my gosh, it's just,
• 13:16
  I wonder what they're going to build down there.
• 13:17
  Like something great is going to happen.
• 13:19
  And then I realize, right, I know.
• 13:21
  Yeah, the the pinpoint of the night I decided to run for council,
• 13:26
  my husband, I would always joke and go, you're going to be the mayor one day.
• 13:28
  And I was like, you're out of your mind.
• 13:30
  Like, you know, I hate politics. I'm not doing that.
• 13:33
  But there was a project that was being looked at for the downtown area.
• 13:38
  It was going to be an extended stay high end hotel
• 13:41
  that had a lot of support from the community.
• 13:43
  The developer had spent a lot of outreach time in the town.
• 13:47
  And of course, it was controversial
• 13:48
  because every time you want to build anything anywhere, it's controversial.
• 13:52
  But how long support in a year or so of time went on
• 13:56
  and when it reached the town council level, they voted against it
• 14:00
  because they said it was too tall, even though it read the height limit
• 14:05
  at that time was 50 feet in downtown and it was 50 feet.
• 14:08
  And so I remember watching it that night and I said to my husband,
• 14:11
  I'm like, because Lila, who just walked up the stairs was a baby in my arms.
• 14:15
  And I said, I've got to run for town council.
• 14:18
  Like, I'm like, I don't know anything about, you know, land use and real estate.
• 14:23
  But this is a this is a bad decision for the town.
• 14:28
  And it was on top of all of the negative press we've been getting.
• 14:33
  So I don't know.
• 14:33
  Sounds like an instant kind of decision.
• 14:36
  Like, I'm going to do this.
• 14:38
  Yeah. And I'd look back and I'm like, oh, my gosh,
• 14:41
  I thought my kids were getting old because they were two and five.
• 14:44
  And now they're 14 and 17, almost 18.
• 14:50
  Yeah, I think maybe I really didn't know exactly what I was getting into
• 14:53
  as far as politics and it's probably why I went for it.
• 14:57
  Sometimes I think we need to do that, you know, to, you know,
• 15:01
  if you have that idea in your heart, just to have the courage to say,
• 15:03
  I'm going to try it. I don't know what it looks like.
• 15:05
  And that's kind of what I do with this podcast.
• 15:07
  And I'm not sure how it's going to evolve and what it's going to look like.
• 15:10
  But I'm going to put my toe in the water.
• 15:11
  And I did that with my Mary Caker too.
• 15:13
  I just, I mean, I tried and who knows.
• 15:16
  And so how long were you on town council before you ran for mayor?
• 15:20
  I served one term. OK. I served one term.
• 15:23
  So two years. That's awesome.
• 15:25
  When you say you're a four term mayor, people think it's like 20 years,
• 15:29
  but it's only two year terms, but it's all in marketing.
• 15:32
  What's cool for me is because I know the history of Herman.
• 15:35
  And a lot of, you know, what I thought of Herman was old school men.
• 15:41
  And it's kind of cool to have a younger woman as mayor.
• 15:45
  So like, and I always talk about the end of connection, my dad,
• 15:48
  but because this is so relevant.
• 15:50
  My dad worked on the redevelopment.
• 15:52
  They herned it. The town herned and hired my dad.
• 15:55
  Gosh, I don't know how long ago, because he's passed away nine years ago.
• 16:00
  He had a stroke in 2000.
• 16:02
  So that's 22 years ago.
• 16:03
  And it was before that. So probably 30 some years ago.
• 16:06
  Was it the infamous charrette that we talk about all the time
• 16:09
  that happened back in like maybe the 80s?
• 16:12
  Maybe. You know, I was come in college or out, but I don't remember.
• 16:16
  So probably early late 80s, 90s, that when he worked with Mr. Downer
• 16:20
  and a lot of different people in the town,
• 16:23
  I was actually talking to some of the other day, I'm like,
• 16:25
  there's this group of people I know that are my dad's friends
• 16:28
  that now I've connected with.
• 16:30
  And then like my friends.
• 16:32
  So when it's kind of connected.
• 16:33
  But yeah, he was working on things and had,
• 16:35
  my dad was always a super forward thinker.
• 16:38
  And came up with ideas that were way ahead of his time.
• 16:41
  And it's kind of cool now, past, when he's passed away
• 16:46
  and watching you as mayor, some of the ideas he had that you put in place.
• 16:50
  Not knowing that it was even his idea like one is a sign welcoming you to hermit.
• 16:55
  I mean, it's simple and we're like, sure dad, whatever.
• 16:58
  But it's a cool thing that was something he talked about for years.
• 17:02
  Well, and, you know, it's funny.
• 17:04
  You know, it's funny, one of my critics early on said that,
• 17:08
  well, you know, Lisa Merkel just thinks the town is a redecorating project,
• 17:13
  which is insulting in a lot of ways.
• 17:15
  But I kind of was like, kind of in some ways it is.
• 17:18
  Yeah, I mean, they were being flipped.
• 17:21
  But I mean, it's little things like a welcome welcome sign.
• 17:24
  And, you know, we didn't just pop up a sign like every other jurisdiction
• 17:27
  that has all the rotary symbol and all those things on it.
• 17:29
  I mean, something that, you know, if you look at the signs,
• 17:31
  they have the railroad, the train wheels at the top,
• 17:36
  because that was our legacy.
• 17:38
  We were put on the map that we were a dairy farm in the 1800s.
• 17:42
  And the W&OD trail that's now, you know, the bike and walking trail was the railroad.
• 17:47
  And the big industry for the town at the time was dairy farms would send their milk into the city.
• 17:52
  And so we were trying to, you know, pay homage to that.
• 17:55
  And which I don't think I've ever noticed that on the sign.
• 17:57
  I'm going to have to look at it again.
• 17:59
  And very well thought out.
• 18:00
  I mean, we, the council, you know, passed legislation to let the committee,
• 18:05
  and, you know, to pursue that.
• 18:07
  But we had groups of individuals that spent more than a year,
• 18:11
  not just like, let's decorate a cute sign, like, let's make it mean something and stand out.
• 18:15
  And they're in all seven entrances to the town.
• 18:18
  Wow, I did not know that.
• 18:20
  Taylor, I'm so glad.
• 18:21
  Yay.
• 18:22
  So really proud of, there's a lot of little, little things like that
• 18:26
  that I'm really proud of that we accomplished over the the 10 years that I was able to serve.
• 18:30
  And unfortunately, people don't notice that they see all the fight of all the silly things.
• 18:33
  And sure, well, you know, we could talk about that, but we're not talking about the good things and things like that.
• 18:40
  So, you know, what I love about Herndon is that, you know, it is a small town.
• 18:46
  I mean, the rumor mill, there's the rumor mill you have to appreciate.
• 18:52
  Reston's probably got some of the similar things.
• 18:54
  Oh, yeah.
• 18:55
  With Chris Cross.
• 18:57
  But we, you know, we always, the first time my mother came and visited us after we moved in this house, she looked around and she said, you are never moving back home.
• 19:04
  Are you?
• 19:05
  And she was, and I said, this is home.
• 19:08
  I mean, it's got the best of both worlds.
• 19:10
  It's got the small town feel.
• 19:12
  It's got, you know, your neighbors, you can find your mayor.
• 19:16
  But we're in the middle of Washington, D.C.
• 19:20
  Area with all of the amenities, all of the diversity, all of the opportunity and, you know, you can buy anything you want, any type of shop in the world, all of the restaurants.
• 19:30
  And I would always say as mayor, you know, we're 30 minutes from D.C. where you can hop on Amtrak and, you know, be in New York City in four hours or we're half an hour from the Skyline Drive almost.
• 19:41
  So that's what I love about her.
• 19:43
  Yeah.
• 19:44
  And I think that, you know, we've just were exposed to culture and country and everything and just like you said with diversity, there's so much diversity in the area.
• 19:55
  You know, growing up in Reston as a small town, I mean, it grew up with me because I was almost as old as Reston.
• 20:03
  And so I used to say when we moved to Reston now I'm like, I've lived there since I was two.
• 20:09
  And he's like, when my parents moved to Reston, word seven was a dirt road. Oh my gosh.
• 20:14
  So Bob Simon, who started Reston, obviously, I adore him.
• 20:20
  I got the chance to meet him and you know I was at a lot of events with him but it was always in Reston and there would be like the beehive of people like who always wanted to be around him so I never would, you know, approached him at those things.
• 20:30
  And so I was like, I'm going to be at the event in Herndon at Art Space, our art gallery downtown and it was a Martin Luther King Jr. Foundation event and I was like, all right, he's in my town now I'm going to go and introduce myself and it was so lovely and I
• 20:42
  introduced myself said I was the mayor and we talked for a minute and then he looked at me and he said, did you say that you are the mayor.
• 20:47
  And I said, yes sir, you know, I'm the mayor and he says, Well, how did you let that happen to you.
• 20:54
  I said, I know so we went to lunch several times and it just he was just a dear he was, I learned a lot from him. Yeah, very wise.
• 21:03
  So yeah you talked about courage doing things that are hard and doing the right thing. And so I'm sure as mayor and politics.
• 21:12
  I've interviewed two people on my podcast were running have not reached that office yet, but I'm sure being in politics.
• 21:21
  There's a lot of things that you're going to do that you know are right, but people don't agree with that's got to be hard.
• 21:29
  Yeah. So, I guess the questions always ask, you know what courage means but then what advice would you give to somebody else that wants to get into politics.
• 21:37
  We have a mutual friend that is going to be running for Herndon town council I think it was just announced that she'll have to be on here.
• 21:44
  Okay, I know who you're talking about.
• 21:46
  So, but, you know, for me actually the rest of the association they asked me to run for their board years ago, and this was long before cell phones and I was out of town and hadn't even gotten home or given an answer and they had people calling me telling me
• 21:59
  they were going to run my campaign what they're going to do I'm like,
• 22:03
  I don't have courage to do that. That is not my path. I'm more like, let me help behind the scenes but I'm not going to be the upfront person so what advice would you give to somebody that has that inkling to be mayor run for office or just do the scary
• 22:20
  things to do the right thing.
• 22:22
  Well, the number one thing is you have got to like people. If you are not a people person this is not a job for you. And I'll just leave it at that.
• 22:35
  I would talk to Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts a lot they were there, they would come in and talk about being mayor and you know I always said you know and this is true in the town.
• 22:44
  Other places might have different criteria but really the only criteria for being the mayor in the or on the town council in the town of Herndon is you have to be a registered voter and live in the town.
• 22:54
  And I would always talk to little kids and say people think you know you need to be a lawyer or a realtor you need to have lots of money and you know, none of that's true I said if you love your town and you want to make it a better place, and you really enjoy people.
• 23:09
  That's really all that matters.
• 23:12
  And that's the reason that I have not run for higher office I get asked about it often. And it does not appeal to me at all because I always said I didn't run for mayor and town council because I love politics I actually like politics less and less as the years go by.
• 23:28
  I loved Herndon, and I really just thought you know this place is, it's lovely as it is it has such potential. And I just wanted to make it the best place it could be.
• 23:41
  And it's really cool like now even two years later I haven't I haven't been in office since 2021 January 1 was the first day that I was out of office, and there's still things that are happening, because if progress is slow, especially in a pandemic.
• 23:54
  And I'm like, look at that sidewalk we have we approved that like five years ago. And my kids are like, good job mother you know.
• 24:02
  You know, it's kind of cool that you're so involved in community and so out there because you think of, like my view of not knowing but mayor, politics are like untouchable, but I would see you out in the mountain around and your friends with people and out.
• 24:18
  And I'm like, I'm not doing it live or at the lake and brew house and doing things with people. And so it just, that's part of your life and it's interesting people often said, and told me or said, your dad was a mayor of rests and I'm like well first of all rest and doesn't have a mayor and
• 24:32
  they always thought he developed it but she didn't he was just extremely involved and I think just what you said you have to like people and care about your community and that's where he do. And he was very I don't know if you know this but help start the rest chamber.
• 24:48
  And it wasn't because his business was local. He, his clients were all over the country because he did urban redevelopment and rest and was new so it wasn't being redeveloped obviously, but he started the chamber because he was raising a family with six kids in the community and wanted to support.
• 25:04
  And I didn't get his connections and what he did until after you had a stroke and so it was 2000 and I literally walking through parking lots and people would stop me like how's your dad Michael, who are you and how do you know who my dad is.
• 25:19
  I remember my nieces and nephews that grew up in sterling were volunteering at the Y one time and they had like their sports sweatshirt on that have their last name and people would stop it. And they're like how do they know who we are and it's just getting involved and
• 25:37
  like people getting involved caring about your community and I've actually had people say to me now, oh, you're the mayor of rest and I'm like, no, I just know a lot of people and connected and have my hands and lots of different places, and a part of the community, which is how I was raised.
• 25:51
  Well, and that that's the absolute best part about having served as the mayor is all the people that I got to meet. Yeah, I should say, almost all of the people that I got to meet.
• 26:03
  Yeah, but I mean really it's, it is a cool perspective and you're her in a small it's four square miles 4.2 square miles I would always get reminded of the point to but.
• 26:13
  And I mean I've been on every street in the town. I've no people, you know, not my best friends in the world but people that I that I know in every neighborhood.
• 26:23
  It's just a really cool perspective. And I think that now that I'm not doing it. I realized like what a, what a really remarkable experience it was because you know when when you're in the middle of it it's just what you know it's just what I'm doing.
• 26:38
  And I didn't mean for mayor and council because I you know wanted that you know, I mean, don't get me wrong, it's really cool to be the mayor of your town.
• 26:45
  But it wasn't about that. And people would say to me oh you're just like you're just out, you know, you're just out with people and I'm like, I live here yeah I've got kids.
• 26:56
  We talked before doing this she said, your kids don't didn't think any, you know, mom was just mayor they don't think anything of it. And I kind of feel like that's kind of how I felt with my dad like it's just my dad is nothing spectacular.
• 27:11
  And then your kids or teachers said something about and your dad's the mayor right and she was like, Oh, no, my mom is the mayor my dad.
• 27:19
  Yay.
• 27:21
  So what are the gifts you'd say you receive from being the mayor and being involved.
• 27:27
  Oh my gosh, it really is tangible but intangible.
• 27:32
  I mean, I am an extrovert extrovert so the pandemic just, I did not know what to do with myself. I just have met so many different people.
• 27:42
  It may not be the most exciting answer but it is the truth.
• 27:48
  I want to know, we have someone that you should definitely consider talking to on your podcast and there was a lady in town and she and her wife run growing kids therapy center, and she's a speech therapist who works with non communicating autistic young adults mostly.
• 28:08
  And we got to know each other through some social things but she's a remarkable things there's a, a Sundance film festival film about the work that not not specifically about her but about the kinds of work that she does and some of the students that she's
• 28:27
  worked with. We started recognizing autism acceptance month in the town, because of her and not not awareness. You know she said you everybody's aware, we need to accept it.
• 28:42
  I'm not like giving her show now but we her some of her young adults who were non verbal, but very communicative joined our youth advisory council, and we did a lot of things to get them involved in the community and people have moved to her and so that their
• 28:57
  children can be one of her clients.
• 29:01
  I love to talk to her. And I know how would I ever have met her. It's very unlikely that I would have crossed paths with her other than I love the inclusion so are a lot of people that watch this or probably know that my youngest sister has Down syndrome.
• 29:16
  And my dad was very if you know this was very instrumental and part of starting Gabriel homes.
• 29:22
  You know what that is right. Yeah, so Gabriel homes is a group home for adults with disabilities. And so he started that I know they have more than one or two homes and her name. Yeah, yeah.
• 29:34
  I'm in rest and so yeah kind of see cool to see the inclusion.
• 29:39
  Yeah, so you know I always say you know her name is a place or hometown for everyone a matter. You know what you look like where you come from what language you speak who you love. And I started adding or how you communicate because of getting know Elizabeth growing
• 29:54
  kids and her clients. So yeah grown up and rest and as I said Herman was right there and go to high schools kind of like I feel like I'm both of them.
• 30:02
  I'm not going to talk about you. Okay, official.
• 30:10
  All right, so I think we've talked about everything we're going to talk about. I was talking about the connection with my dad which I pretty much went through. And it was kind of a cool story.
• 30:17
  You shared with me share with everybody the story of how you said you never knew my dad but you knew my dad. Yeah, so you mentioned Richard Downer earlier.
• 30:26
  He was instrumental in me getting involved in the town. He asked me we got to know each other through the imagination library and he said have you ever thought about getting involved in the town and I was like, yeah, you know I have and so he loves to say that that he, I always tell him that
• 30:41
  I always tell people if you're not happy with how things are you know went with me talk to Richard it's his fault. But he, I actually did not realize who your dad was until after he passed away. Richard Downer was talking about that he had passed away and was telling
• 30:58
  me about him and I said, Oh my gosh, I saw him at the Y, all the time. When my kids were little I joined the Y and rest in because I went to family in the area and I needed to work out and I felt safely being you know my my son when he was a baby with the
• 31:14
  guy. And your dad was always there he was very noted and I realized like I was one of the guys that guy because everybody knew him. And you know he he had an iPad so you know he was very recognizable, but we never I mean I never went up to him and talk to him and at that
• 31:29
  point I had not even considered doing any of this, you know town council stuff. But when I realized that was your dad.
• 31:37
  I was just like, Oh my gosh, I wish I should have gone up like you said I should have gone up and talk to him because you can tell that there was something there's something about him.
• 31:45
  And then
• 31:46
  I talked about his iPad and and I don't even have anything with me here but the logo I've created for why not today. It says why not today, and it has his logo which I don't have the stuff with me but I do have a tattoo on me, never thought it'd be a tattoo girl but yeah I passed in a handlebar moustache so we all got him when he was
• 32:07
  sick. And that's been the logo and it's kind of funny where it evolved is that's how we signed everything was iPad and he actually had a stamp. And so, after he passed away which he'd been sick but it was totally unexpected it was like, went to the dentist the day he passed away, kind of crazy.
• 32:25
  But so the day or two after he passed away.
• 32:30
  We were talking my mom's like we should have done this and I want to do this. And so my brothers, or somebody's like we can take his ashes and spread them those places well we're Catholic and you can't spread ashes you have to bury him.
• 32:41
  And so my brother said, and I got it wrong my first podcast I got corrected so flat Stanley is that the right.
• 32:56
  So we do flat path. So the logo has, we have flat path, and for the first year after passed away it still is out there like it was a pumpkin carved into pumpkin it was in the snow it was in the sand it was at the Taj Mahal.
• 33:13
  And so it was on the Great Wall of China, my dad went to Notre Dame we took it to a Notre Dame game so people took the flat path logo all over, and that's kind of how the why not today brand got branded so I do have.
• 33:27
  And I'll share probably on the site we're looking on finalizing website stuff soon but we have got cups that say why not today t shirts to say why not today vinyl share par, because I think more people need to say why not today, and be courageous because we all have those ideas in our head.
• 33:42
  But it's a few that just take them and do something with it.
• 33:48
  So yeah, so it's kind of cool and, and I love I talked in the beginning about connections is kind of cool the connection so I always say Mr downer because he was my dad's friend and his kids and I went to high school together.
• 34:00
  So his daughter Doreen is married to Jay Meadows who owns Meadows farm and my one of my, yes nothing young, yeah my youngest niece is now working for me to farm. So the whole world is kind of gone back in a circle.
• 34:15
  Not on purpose but all the connections are still there. Well I really wish I had the opportunity to to get to know your dad I know that you and your mom brought me a box of clippings and articles that were in his office that were all about her and and I still have them I really need to give them to the her
• 34:33
  and historical society but I cannot let go of them quite yet. But we need to get together because I would like to see him now, you know, when he was doing that, and he didn't really realize what he was doing, and now I'm older and remarkable.
• 34:46
  I actually, I actually use one of those and I bet your dad would love this.
• 34:51
  I think it's the downtown development hearings that we had because people are always oh it's too tall, you know, it's four stories, you know, but that's too tall for her and and at one time in the 80s. And I don't know if your dad was instrumental in this or not but probably, there was a development that was being considered
• 35:06
  and I think it had 11 stories down there and I was like, listen guys, back in the 80s.
• 35:15
  Yeah, so it's, it's lovely I haven't looked through that in a little while but it meant so much to me that you guys brought that to me and I will.
• 35:26
  I know it meant a ton to my mom that you just sat and listened to her and heard her story so much that I'm telling you the people that I have had the opportunity to cross paths with.
• 35:35
  I tell everyone run for mayor of your town is the best job in politics I'm convinced of it.
• 35:40
  Yeah, I can't rest and so I'll just keep.
• 35:43
  I'll just keep going.
• 35:45
  I don't think that's going to happen.
• 35:48
  Who knows who knows where I'm going to end up. So, where can people find you what's next, what are you doing now.
• 35:54
  Well, I am currently I'm a board member at next stop theater here in town it's our professional theater company it was Elden Street players for many years.
• 36:03
  I'm spending my kind of professional time doing it's not a full time job but it's it's important and exciting. My son's about to head off the college in the fall so trying to figure out all of those things and my daughter's got to start high school and you know I'm just basking in, you know, it's, I feel like in some
• 36:23
  ways they mean more now than they did when they were when they were little. Yeah, they may are working out well having little kids because it's very flexible and, except for Tuesday night meetings right but.
• 36:33
  So yeah, and then you can find me around her name, of course, I still have my website up it's Lisa Merkel calm it's a little outdated because it was my campaign site but it's got a lot of photos and things that I really love so I still have that active.
• 36:47
  You can reach me at Lisa Merkel at gmail.com I'd love to hear from from people who watch this and I can talk about her and it all day long.
• 36:56
  Okay, well I will also.
• 36:59
  We're going to go to YouTube we haven't got there yet so when you're watching this you may see us on YouTube and just may listen to us for the podcast is on Spotify and iTunes, and then I do have an Instagram and a Facebook page that I will share your contact
• 37:13
  information and if you want to share with other people.
• 37:16
  So I can see you're Lisa Merkel on Facebook you can also find me I still post on my old mayor page here and there but.
• 37:23
  Okay, well thanks Lisa for sharing with say learn all kinds of things and definitely want to get to know you better.
• 37:28
  I'm going to try to go to Friday night live on the first if you're going to be there.
• 37:33
  I should be I should be this week I'm not going to be able to make it which I hate because it's like my favorite thing but yeah, I'm very like.
• 37:41
  I'm like, I'm going to be there something that I know who runs it is my friend Laura, and I always like Friday night live used to be our high school reunion you knew everybody and it was small and quaint, and now it's huge I'm like why do you keep.
• 37:56
  I don't want all these people.
• 37:59
  I don't want to be in a coffee or something when you're Friday night live was the first place that I felt like I could let my little kids run a little bit away from me and not worry that that you know something would happen to them and you know you do see all your neighbors
• 38:13
  there it's like a family reunion every every May when it starts back.
• 38:16
  Absolutely so, as I said you can find the why not today podcast on Spotify or iTunes we are going to go to YouTube soon and working on a website and so I do have I said some merchandise if anybody wants to spread the word about why not today and Lisa.
• 38:32
  Thank you for joining us. It was great to get to know you have heard about so much about you.
• 38:37
  I'm going to talk about more so be encouraged by me as an honor my pleasure. So say why not today and do those things that take courage so thanks again for joining us. And that's it for why not today this week.