UpZones podcast

Futurewise Executive Director Alex Brennan came by the Collaboratory and talked urban growth boundaries, development, and housing.

We're back! Washington State Association for Justice Executive Director Liz Berry stops by the new digs to talk about her firsthand experience with gun violence, Washington's inability -- or unwillingness -- to raise tax revenue, and her legendary cousin Glen.

Classic upisode! Or, re-run! Longtime advocate and 2017 mayoral finalist Cary Moon swings by the bookstore and raps with Ian about growing up in the Midwest, land planning in Seattle, and the value of our city's connection to the water. She explains the distinction between the successful public park (a city project) and the viaduct (a controversial state project) and discusses what she learned -- and what confirmed that she already knew -- during her run.

Classic upisode! Or, re-run! Real estate expert and Civic Minute founder Sol Villarreal stops by the book store to chat about the housing market, trust in business and politics, and engage in a rigorous debate with Ian about our social expectations for elected officials.

It's Cascadia Day! Ian gets together with a gang of the region's top subject matter experts to discuss how we define the region, how we think about the region, and what's next for the millions of people who call Cascadia home. Cascadia Magazine founder Andrew Engelson, Tarika Powell of Sightline Institute, Cascadia Rail co-founder Paige Malott, and iconic Cascadian poet Nadine Maestas take turns schooling Ian and the live audience on their perspectives about Cascadia's future.

Celebrated Slovenian/American avant-garde artist Milenko Matanovic, also known for his tireless and effective community organizing here in the U.S., came by the bookstore for a philosophical barnburner while the "Puzzle Break" was in full swing next door. He shares his passion for that most democratic of institutions, the public meeting, and breaks down how important it is to a functional relationship with the government (and how easy it is to abuse).

John Cracolici of Cascadia Rail stops by the bookstore and walks Ian through his journey from Pike Market grocer to transit activist to geostructural engineer. He details the vision for a region-wide high-speed rail system and why it's not as far off or expensive as you might think.

Political and communications guru Amanda Finney stopped by the bookstore for a chat on running the HRC primary in Louisianna and where that ill-fated 2016 campaign went wrong. She and Ian discuss what they both see as the real divide in America, which is less about left versus right and more about one's identity in place. She urges Seattlites to get into more dinner table arguments with their uncles.

Seattle housing advocates Laura Loe and Ethan Goodman stopped by the bookstore for what started out as an update on pro-housing, anti-homelessness legislation and turning into a sprawling rumination on life changes, self-empowered community development, the uselessness of "supply and demand" as a basic rhetorical device, and even the status of the left/liberal divide as it applies to housing and urban planning policy. Both gave reasons to be optimistic, as well as concerned, about the future of urbanist policy in Seattle.

Decorated Seattle photojournalist Alex Garland stopped by the book store during business hours for a lively conversation about his work documenting moments of change across the city and even beyond Seattle. He recounts how "the Occupy moment" galvanized some of the most effective politics of the current era even if it didn't necessarily achieve concrete objectives; he walks Ian through the closure of the downtown viaduct, weighing in on the dangerous beauty and massive waste involved in such a project; he encourages listeners to see queer artists of color before they are pushed forever out of Seattle

Poet, playwright and Seattle Latino Film Festival Founder & CEO Jorge Enrique Gonzalez Pacheco swings by the bookstore and chats with Ian about his early artistic life in Cuba, where he incurred severe government side-eye with his hagiography to the pre-revolution days, and how his poetry stemmed from an inability to related to his widowed father. He talks about his migration to Miami, via Mexico, and the random string of events that led him not only to Seattle but to organizing a major cultural event in the city, now a decade old.

Seattle's Chief Librarian Marcellus Turner stopped by the bookstore -- he got there before any staff did! -- and looked back on his career in library administration, which dates back to the 4th grade in Mississippi. He details the challenges to the Seattle Public Library system in the face of such rapid socioeconomic change, explains why people love libraries so much, and lists the strangest encounters he's ever had with patrons.

Restauranteur Yenvy Pham brings Ian the best sweetbread ever baked or eaten and between bites, the two talk about the managed uplift of Little Saigon as the city changes around it, and sometimes changes it, too. Yenvy, whose parents founded Pho Bac after coming to Seattle as Vietnam War refugees, describes how nightlife can "activate" the community, making it safer and prosperous, even though fixed community investment can be difficult for refugees and other immigrant communities.

Ian interviews Gabriel Bello Diaz, founder of Efficio Custom Products and the new Hyena Culture maker space collaborative. They discuss "the east coast grind," their shared Puerto Rican heritage, and the challenge of being technical in two languages. Gabriel shares his thoughts on using tech to make a city better, not just richer, including diffusing policy conflict, standing up maker spaces for actual makers (not just tinkerers), and introducing creative engineering in public schools.

Organizer and real estate strategist Bo Zhang talks about how her experience in rural Japan shaped her sense of community -- and how lack of community creates trauma. Bo fills Ian in on her family struggles and how they impacted her decision to enter a technical career; they discuss the difference between "free market" and "capitalism," what Bo thinks was a major political failure on her part, and the Bramble Project, a group focusing on the corners of the real estate industry that intersect with community development and neighborhood-level social structure.

Reproductive justice advocate Kirsten Harris-Talley stopped by the bookstore and recounted her whirlwind 51 days as a city councilmember; she sheds light on how the "dominoes had to fall" for such an unlikely event to occur and also shares how her uniquely prepared team stepped into place just in time for budget season, "the Super Bowl of the city council." Kirsten then walks Ian through her unique childhood as a biracial, churchgoing youth in the rural poverty of small-town Missouri, and how that spells out so much of the contemporary political moment. The two discuss ideology v. leadership style as a barometer for elected officials, and Kirsten plugs the work being done by her group Surge Reproductive Justice.

Featuring three of the best conversations this season, this week's episode focuses on the best of the unpublished UpZones interviews: Ian and journalist Casey Jaywork discuss "truth" in journalism in the postmodern moment; architect and MOAR co-founder Matt Hutchins updates Ian on the state of cottages, mother-in-law cottages, and other infill properties in Seattle; and public intellectual slash humorist extraordinaire Doug Abbott has a bold idea over soup.

After an epic hagiography about the new zoning laws in the Twin Cities, Ian welcomes good friend and local CEO Seena Mortazavi to the bookshop and the two discuss growing up in the Middle East (with a stint bravely roller-blading the wild hills of Vancouver, Canada) and living in Bangladesh and Tajikistan; Seena explains for UpZones' listeners what microfinance is, exactly, and how it enables those at the very bottom of the economic ladder to participate in "the lubricant of the economy" -- credit, which is as much a community endeavor as a capitalistic one. Staying on theme, Seena describes his company Chronus, a mentoring software company endeavoring to make money while doing good for the community.

South Seattle Emerald interim Managing Editor Aaron Burkhalter talks about his career in local journalism in the Pacific Northwest and how much the coverage needs of the south side have changed as the city's population has grown. Aaron explains how the SSE has achieved a truly mobile newsroom that keeps costs down and allows its staff the flexibility to be out in the community.

Transit Riders' Union General Secretary Katie Wilson swings by and talks about growing up in Binghamton, NY, settling down in Seattle based on the killer library resources, and the paradoxes of labor organizing in the age of global capital. She explains the challenge inherent in convincing low-income members that transit funded by one of the most regressive tax schemes in the country is still worth it, and adds her voice to the growing chorus in support of the MASS campaign.

The Urbanist Executive Director Owen Pickford stops by and chats with Ian about his urban evolution from smalltown Ohio, through Madison, Wisconsin to London, Mumbai, Austin and finally Seattle. They discuss what makes a policy or a change "good" based on whom it's impacting -- can broad, region-wide initiatives be tailored so they also serve the local communities they most put at risk? Owen describes the MASS campaign and urges listeners to get involved.

Seattle poet, playwright, longtime former advice columnist, and book-publishing industry impresario Greg Brisendine popped by the bookstore for a chat about finding the balance between day job and night moves -- between carreer and passion for the thousands of artists and innovators who don't make enough money to live off of art. Greg and Ian perform a love poem to HTML, and Greg describes the "risk paradox" of the book publishing industry in the early 2000s. Ian and his pal Doug Abbott discuss a cure for Internet trolls over a bowl of chicken dumpling soup.

Longtime advocate and former mayoral finalist Cary Moon swings by the bookstore and raps with Ian about growing up in the Midwest, land planning in Seattle, and the value of our city's connection to the water. She explains the distinction between the successful public park (a city project) and the viaduct (a controversial state project) and discusses what she learned -- and what confirmed that she already knew -- during her 2017 run.

University of Washington Law School professor Hugh Spitzer stopped by the bookstore for a free-flowing discussion on how Washington State's founding history played into the national populist, and then progressive, movements popular in the state's earliest years, and how state constitutions don't only reflect political culture, they create it, too. After a brief history on the follies of Seattle transit, Professor Spitzer sets Ian straight on the distinction between a "home-rule" and a "Dillon-rule" state, although Ian remains unconvinced that Seattle has sufficient leeway to tax itself.

It's showtime! Ian interviews Ellen Abram and Ryan Purcell of the Williams Project about their desire to pay good actors a living wage to make cutting-edge theater that's still accessible to the community, the discontents of artistic "success," and what "pay what you can" really means for patrons of all economic strata. They discuss the eerie contemporary resonance of their new show, "A Bright Room Called Day," despite having been authored in the mid-1980s.

In celebration of Capitol Hill Art Walk, UpZones hosted its first ever live recording, with three of the key voices in the Seattle arts scene. Iconic muralist Ryan "Henry" Ward and Seattle emcee Messiah Jenkins join Randy Engstrom, Director of Seattle's Office of Arts & Culture, for a discussion about the state of public art in the city. This free-flowing panel discussion touches on the temporal nature of public art, the paradox of being an artist in a growing city, and "the artist's hustle."

Designer and Amplifier Deputy Director Cleo Barnett talks with Ian about the difference between New Zealand and the US. Cleo then recounts the story of the "We the People" campaign's origins during the inauguration of January 2017. She then explains Amplifier's business and educational model and plugs its latest campaign, "We the Future."

Longtime decorated PNW architect and Lid I-5 co-founder John Feit stops by the bookstore to clarify the confusion around his name, then he brings Ian up to speed on the distinctions between drawing-based and policy-based urban design philosophies; he has a clear favorite. Then he walks Ian through his Lid I-5 project to "heal Seattle’s freeway scar" by replacing the I-5 canyon with parks, commerce, and affordable housing.

Aiko Schaefer has worked for 20 years to promote economic justice and elect good people to office; she stopped by the bookstore to chat with Ian and discuss Ballot Initiative 1631, the most ambitious climate policy advanced since the Obama Administration left office. They discussed organizing, living in Indiana, and the false narrative that says identity politics the evironment are at odds.

After a brief celebration of one season of UpZones under the books, Ian hears from Boundless founder and CEO Xiao Wang, a Chinese-American immigrant whose local company is tackling the information problems that plague nearly all immigration processes in the U.S. He discusses the feeling of seeing couples allowed to stay together after years of trying, and what his immigrant parents think of his risky career choices.

After a championship-level rant about the Showbox and related housing issues, Ian sits with poet, photographer, and public artist Shin Yu Pai, a 2014 Stranger Genius Award nominee whose work has appeared throughout the U.S., Japan, China, Taiwan, The United Kingdom, and Canada. The pair discuss "when you know" about a career in writing and what makes "good" versus merely honest writing; Shin Yu shares her thoughts on form, and then the conversation turns to what it means to be a public artist in a time of great civic change.

Inveterate hockey fans Jackson Taylor and Doug Abbott swung by the bookstore late at night to rap about the soon-to-be-named NHL team everyone expects to be playing home games in Seattle Center by 2020 or 2021. They discussed the importance of alliteration, clever regional wordplay, and, of course, callbacks to historical team names and local landmarks. Early candidates like "The Seattle Freeze" and "The Cascadia Kraken" were examined but ultimately discarded for the consensus top choices, which the Oak Group should immediately trademark and pursue.

Seattle City Council staffer and inveterate local activist Michael Maddux stopped by to pet the dog and it turned into a conversation about organizing; about being a homeless teen; about working through inevitable policy fights without hating your opponents; about Tim Eyman's awful 1% rule; and -- like so many other conversations in Seattle right now -- about homelessness. He emphasized the importance of thanking elected officials when they do the right thing, or else all they hear is criticism from the bad guys.

Lauded Seattle journalist Erica C Barnett stops by the bookstore for a chat about discourse in late capitalism, oppressive zoning laws, and the significance of and norms around political endorsements by local newspapers. It gets real. She also shares her views on the topic of "experience" in elected office -- for better and for worse, and previews some upcoming coverage on How San Francisco is handling homelessness.

State Legislature candidate Joe Nguyen swings by to talk about the dynamics of being an underdog, how to build momentum around a shared goal, and being the potential first Vietnamese American ever elected to the Legislature. Joe tells Ian stories from his childhood as the son of refugees, including having to janitor at his own high school and being the one to find his father after a tragic accident.

Town Hall neighborhood fellow Jordan Alam pays us a visit and raps with Ian about equity in art, our role as gentrifiers -- all of us -- to make civic arts more inclusive and representative. Jordan and Ian dive deep on the importance of "moments" and how being present in them calls on deep empathy, deep technical skill, and deep awareness. Then resident wiseacre Doug Abbott drops in and suggests a mind-blowing new idea for how to deal with the Current Resident(tm) of the White House.

Tech veteran, local entrepreneur and founder and executive director of the Pan-African Center for Empowerment (PACE)Arif Gursel stops by and holds forth on how "entrepreneurship" is just a fancy word for "hustle," recounting how he learned that as a young boy in a snowstorm.  He and Ian connect on the need for black and POC spaces in innovation and tech just like other areas because structural biases don't magically disappear when there's profit at stake.  Ian is then joined by CoBuy founder Matthew Holmes, a former financier who's new startup is devoted to allowing groups of unrelated or unmarried people take part in home-ownership, even in an accelerating Seattle market.  Both founders left words of wisdom and calls for listeners to engage in their projects.

Journalist and fellow podcast host Michael Hobbes sees just about every city in America making the same housing-supply mistakes the San Francisco has over the past two decades; counter-intuitively, he rates Seattle as doing better than many on the housing front. Michael and Ian split hairs over "free markets" vs. "capitalism" and whether either can save us at this point. Both agree on Michael's hot take on hot takes.

Affordability advocate Laura Loe interrupts a date (!) to swing by the bookstore and gave Ian a brief history of YIMBYism in Seattle; discussed why housing and urbanist advocates can so often be very lonely in their work; and painted a picture of the challenges facing density advocates so often torn between the two "poles" of the political left. Then she went back to her date.

Will man ever colonize alien planets? Unlikely. But we can make Cascadia a thriving, special place right here on Earth. Cascadia Magazine founder and publisher Andrew Engelson comes by the bookstore, and suggests that celebrating the culture of the region may be one of the keys to navigating the massive change occurring here. Ian then speaks with CriticalNW organizer Daniel Azoulai about Burning Man, what a "regional burn" is, and how his organization is trying to engage the more diverse members of the Seattle community.

Seattle Tech 4 Housing founder Ethan P. Goodman came by the bookstore smack in the middle of the utter craziness that was the fight over the Seattle "headcount tax." Ethan shared his inspiration for jumping into the fight for more--and more affordable--housing, why a run-of-the-mill tech worker has an obligation to get involved, and then defends the controversial tax in the context of Seattle's limited revenue-generation options.

Longtime competitive athlete and founder of the Duncan Connection Tiana Duncan stops by the bookstore. She and Ian discuss the role fitness can fill in building social relationships and thawing the "Seattle freeze," especially in scenarios where it's acceptable to throw shade at the instructor. Then, Cascadia Underground and Cascadia Media founder Brandon Letsinger finally sits down and raps with Ian about the inspiration for creating a culturally autonomous region in the Pacific Northwest, warning against those who use the regional identity for nefarious racial purposes.

Jennifer Zeyl came by the bookstore and discussed artistic excellence, something she knows a great deal about as Artistic Director of Intiman Theater, one of the Seattle's indispensable -- and arguably most important -- theater companies. While the dogs frolicked about, Ian and Jennifer went back and forth on the impact that recent demographic and economic changes are having on the theater community, and what Jennifer thinks the incoming tech business transplants can do to integrate better with the Seattle arts community.

Ever-present at Seattle City Council events, planning meetings, and social media posts, Seattle for Growth's Roger Valdez visits the bookstore and takes Ian through the history of zoning in the US -- which he calls "a 20th-Century solution to a 19th-Century problem." His critiques of the unnecessary bureaucracy implicit in Seattle's -- and other cities' governments -- sparks a debate about the value of growth regulation. Also, a full-fledged concert rages in the background, because that's how Horizon Books rolls.

Another week, another pair of guests challenge Ian's convictions. Hugo House co-founder Linda Breneman talks growing up nuclear, dishes on the origins of Hugo House, and debates Ian on the nature of reliable information today. Then Dr. Teresa Swanson of the University of Washington and March for Science Seattle describes exactly what makes the scientific method different and why scientists need to be better activists.

Grist.org CEO and former Washington State legislator Brady Piñero Walkinshaw stops by the bookstore and talks about growing up in a rural town on the Canadian border and how to advocate for density and against climate change -- spoiler: even Ian feels pain at one of his solutions. Brady then challenges one of Ian's biggest personal takeaways from the 2016 election.

Three of Seattle's most relevant and interesting spoken word poets sit with Ian to discuss life, the universe, and when to just give up and call an Uber. The legendary Imani Sims details a tumultuous spiritual journey that is still only just taking shape. Reigning Grand Slam Champion Ben Yisrael compares Fort Worth, TX to Seattle, and explains why he thinks slam poetry is leaving something on the table as an art form. Chelsey Brown explains how she balances motherhood, art, and youth advocacy on no sleep.

KUOW Seattle's mid-day host Bill Radke walks Ian through his history as a radio host, including why he lost interest in news comedy following 9-11, and why he prefers not to be "the opinionated one" -- especially about what to do in response to Seattle's rapid growth. His personal recommendation is mindful skepticism, which he says allows us to treat ourselves and others as mere storytellers.

Seattle City Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda shows off her unique combination of policy chops and passion for urbanization, while shouting out her favorite bar spot in Seattle. Ian is then joined in the studio by Matt Hutchins of CAST Architecture, a pioneer in local density advocacy and a tireless agitator for more housing.

Marcos Martinez of Casa Latina stops by the studio for a chat on the history of Latino activism and the forces and influences that shaped his life and career. Ian's dog Kanye gets in on the action and hijinks ensue.

Ian hops on the phone with Kenneth Arthur, Managing Editor of Field Gulls -- the primary source of knowledge and analysis for all things Seahawks -- to discuss how he got into sports blogging and whether the 'Hawks will stay relevant in the Pacific Northwest. Ian is then joined by out-of-the-box marketer Doug Abbott of DouglassM Digital for a detailed analysis of which cities Seattle should steal an NBA team from.