Podcasts about intergovernmental relations

On Nick Ferrari at Breakfast:Pat McFadden, Minister for Intergovernmental Relations, talks to Nick about the Prime Minister's plan to increase the use of AI in the UK. Former MP Sarah Wollaston discusses the devastating state of the NHS, as we see reports of hospitals advertising for 'corridor nurses'.Nick also discusses the use of AI in education and whether it is beneficial for teachers and children. On a similar theme, Nick also speaks to a fertility expert, who discusses the increased use of artificial intelligence in IVF treatment.All of this and more on Nick Ferrari: The Whole Show Podcast.

NATHALIE RAYES Nathalie Rayes serves as  U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Croatia. Ambassador Rayes has led a distinguished career in public service and served previously as the president and CEO of Latino Victory.  Prior to joining Latino Victory, Rayes was vice president of public affairs for Grupo Salinas in the United States and executive director of Fundación Azteca America.  Earlier in her career, she managed the Los Angeles Mayor's Office of Intergovernmental Relations, International Trade, and Protocol, and established the city's first Office of Immigrant Affairs. She has served as a prominent member of multiple boards, to include as President Biden's appointee to the United States Institute of Peace, President Obama's appointee to the board of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and chair of the board of directors of the Hispanic Federation and the advisory group for Hispanas Organized for Political Equality (HOPE) Binational Fellowship. She has been recognized for her many contributions to public service, including the AL DÍA Archetype Ambassador Manuel Torres Award.  She was named among the 25 most powerful Latinas in the United States by People en Español Magazine, and was among the Top 10 Líderes by Hispanic Executive Magazine in 2021.  Rayes was recognized in the Huffington Post's “40 Under 40 Latinos in Foreign Policy” in 2015. Ambassador Rayes has a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and a Master's in Public Policy from UCLA.  She is fluent in Spanish and conversational in Arabic. Ambassador Rayes is married to Dr. Tarek Samad, an accomplished neuroscientist, and they have two sons, Julian and Alexander. RELATED LINKS Wikipedia US Embassy in Croatia With the 173rd Airborne Brigade Q&A with Daily Bruin (UCLA) GENERAL INFO| TOP OF THE GAME: Official website: https://topofthegame-thepod.com/ RSS Feed: https://feed.podbean.com/topofthegame-thepod/feed.xml Hosting service show website: https://topofthegame-thepod.podbean.com/ Javier's LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/javiersaade  SUPPORT & CONNECT: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/96934564 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551086203755 Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOPOFGAMEpod Subscribe on Podbean: https://www.podbean.com/site/podcatcher/index/blog/vLKLE1SKjf6G Email us: info@topofthegame-thepod.com   THANK YOU FOR LISTENING – AVAILABLE ON ALL MAJOR PLATFORMS

Brian interviews Christian Leuprecht. Christian is the Class of 1965 Professor in Leadership, Department of Political Science and Economics, Royal Military College; Director, Institute of Intergovernmental Relations, School of Policy Studies, Queen's University. Christian Leuprecht talks about his op ed “Let's reassure our American neighbours that Canada has their back” discussing “Mr. Trump's threat of tariffs in exchange for concessions on illegal migration, narcotics enforcement, and organized crime.”

On this episode of The Women in the Arena, we have the pleasure of interviewing the Honorable Dr. Kimberly A. McClain. Dr. McClain is an accomplished leader with an extensive career spanning over 30 years across academia, defense, financial services, government, and international relations. Her expertise encompasses critical areas such as aviation, cybersecurity, defense acquisition, legislative affairs, public policy, risk management, strategic communication, security cooperation, and strategic planning.Her time in the U.S. Air Force, where she served both in active duty and reserves, culminating in her retirement as a Reserve aviator with 29 years of service. In January 2021, she joined the Biden Administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Legislative Affairs at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Later, she was confirmed by the U.S. Senate and sworn in on January 3, 2023, as Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In this episode, we explore the significance of public service and the impactful initiatives Dr. McClain is leading at HUD. We discuss the challenges of housing affordability and the legislative efforts aimed at making housing more affordable, safe, and accessible for all Americans. You won't want to miss this episode, filled with valuable insights from an incredibly impactful woman. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This long-awaited discussion with maritime economic expert and travelling Oxford scholar Donald J. Savoie is upon us. With a staggering intellect on the topic, experience working with Prime Ministers like Brian Mulroney, and a different take on globalization, you won't want to miss this.  More about Donald J. Savoie.    Donald Joseph Savoie CC ONB FRSC (born 1947) is a Canadian public administration and regional economic development scholar. He serves as a professor at l'Université de Moncton. In 2015, he was awarded the Killam Prize for his contribution to the field of social sciences.[1][2] Biography[edit] Savoie has published many books, journal articles, and essays in edited collections.[3] His publications include Federal–Provincial Collaboration, Breaking the Bargain: Public Servants, Ministers, and Parliament, Governing from the Centre: The Concentration of Power in Canadian Politics, Thatcher, Reagan, Mulroney: In Search of a New Bureaucracy,[4] and What Is Government Good At? A Canadian Answer. His biography Harrison McCain: Single-Minded Purpose was shortlisted for the National Business Book Award (2014).[5] He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1993[6] and promoted to Companion of the Order of Canada in 2022.[7] Publications Federal–Provincial Collaboration, Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1981 An overview of the importance of federal–provincial relations on regional development: the restructuring of 1982, Moncton: Canadian Institute for Research on Regional Development, 1984 (ISBN 0-88659-003-5) Regional Economic Development: Canada's Search for Solutions, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1986, reprinted 1987. La lutte pour le développement: le cas du Nord Est, Québec, Les presses de l'Université du Québec, 1988. Regional Policy in a Changing World, New York: Plenum Press, 1990. The Politics of Public Spending in Canada, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1990, reprinted 1990 and 1991. The Politics of Language, Kingston: Institute of Intergovernmental Relations, Queen's University, 1991, 23 p. ( ISBN 0-88911-586-9 ) Regional Economic Development: Canada's Search for Solutions, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1992, 341 p. Globalization and Governance, Ottawa: Canadian Centre for Management Development, 1993, 37 p. ( ISBN 0-662-98781-0 ) Thatcher, Reagan, Mulroney: In Search of a New Bureaucracy, Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1994, reprinted 1994, 1995. Rethinking Canada's regional development policy: a view of the Atlantic, Moncton: Canadian Institute for Research on Regional Development, 1997, 67 p. Governing from the Centre: The Concentration of Power in Canadian Politics Archived 7 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999, reprinted 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2006. Community Economic Development in Atlantic Canada: False Hope or Panacea, Moncton: Canadian Institute for Research on Regional Development, 2000, 131 p. Aboriginal Economic Development in New Brunswick [permanent dead link], Moncton: Canadian Institute for Research on Regional Development, 2000, 143 p. Pulling Against Gravity: Economic Development in New Brunswick During the McKenna Years, Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2001 Breaking the Bargain: Public Servants, Ministers, and Parliament Archived 15 September 2014 at archive.today, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003, reprinted 2003, 2004, 336 p. Visiting Grandchildren: Economic Development in the Maritimes Archived 7 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006, reprinted 2006. Court Government and the Collapse of Accountability in Canada and the United Kingdom Archived 7 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008, reprinted 2008. I'm From Bouctouche, Me, Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2009, 316 p. (A memoir.) Power: Where Is It?, Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2010. Whatever Happened to the Music Teacher? How Government Decides How and Why, Montreal, McGill-Queen's University Press, 2013, reprinted 2014, 336 p. Harrison McCain: Single-Minded Purpose, Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2013, 336 p. What Is Government Good At?: A Canadian Answer, Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2015, reprinted 2016, 388 p. Looking for Bootstraps: Economic Development in the Maritimes, Halifax: Nimbus Publishing, 2017, 440 p. Democracy in Canada: The Disintegration of Our Institutions Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2019, 504 p. Thanks for the Business: K.C. Irving, Arthur Irving and the Story of Irving Oil, Halifax: Nimbus, 2020. With B. Guy Peters (eds.)[edit] New Challenges of Governance, Ottawa: Canadian Centre for Management / Presses de l'Université Laval, 1995, 306 p. ( ISBN 2 -7637-7445-8 ) Managing Incoherence: The dilemma of coordination and accountability, Ottawa: Canadian Centre for Management Development, 1995 ( ISBN 0-662-61696-0 ) Taking Stock: Assessing Public Sector Reforms, Québec: Presses de l'Université Laval, 1998, 311 p. ( ISBN 2-7637-7574-8 ) Governance in the Twenty-first Century: Revitalizing the Public Service, Québec: Presses de l'Université Laval, 2001, 328 p. ( ISBN 2-7637-7765-1 ) With Ralph Winter (eds.)[edit] Les provinces maritimes : un regard sur l'avenir / The Maritime Provinces: looking to the future, Moncton: Canadian Institute for Research on Regional Development, 1994, 288 p (. ISBN 0-88659-027-2 ) With Maurice Beaudin[edit] The Struggle for Development: the case of the North East, Moncton: Presses de l'Université du Québec / Canadian Institute for Research on Regional Development, 1988, 282 p. New Brunswick in 2000, Moncton: Canadian Institute for Research on Regional Development, 1989, 200 p. ( ISBN 0-88659-018-3 ) The challenges of the fishing industry in New Brunswick, Moncton: Acadia Publishing, 1992, 282 p. ( ISBN 2-7600-0208-X ) With André Raynauld[edit] Essais sur le développement régional, Montreal: University Press of Montreal, 1986, 242 p. ( ISBN 2-7606-0735-6 )    

Patty Mulvihill joined the League of Oregon Cities organization as assistant general counsel in 2016, then served as general counsel for four years prior to her appointment as executive director. Under her leadership, Mulvihill: ●       Led the development of the LOC's current five-year strategic plan; ●       Represented the LOC on key statewide committees to address the homelessness crisis; ●       Successfully oversaw and managed all LOC's operations, fiscal activities and staffing for five departments: Communications & Marketing, Finance, Intergovernmental Relations, Legal Research, and Member & Administrative Services; ●       Developed and oversaw the LOC's Fiscal Year 2023 budget; ●       Strengthened staff morale and retention by building an internal culture of trust; ●       Strengthened internal financial controls; ●       Coordinated municipal lobbying efforts and built relationships with public and private organizations; and ●       Served as an information resource for citizens, media, legislators and the business community. Prior to joining the LOC, Mulvihill served the city of Bloomington, Ind. for 12 years, first as an assistant city attorney from 2004-14, then as the city's lead attorney from 2014-16.  She earned her bachelor's degree and juris doctorate from Indiana University.  Mulvihill is a member of the Oregon State Bar and the Indiana State Bar and has earned certifications from Cornell University (Diversity and Inclusion), Boise State University (Conflict Management), the Leadership Strategies Institute (Effective Facilitation) and the HR Training Center (HR Generalist). League of Oregon Cities

This is a special episode recorded live in Bozeman at the premiere of the important new short film titled "Good Fire, Bad Fire: Inside the Race to Restore America's Forests." - On the evening of May 16, 2024, around 200 folks gathered at Bozeman's Museum of the Rockies to watch the 15-minute film, which captures the breathtaking beauty of our nation's forests and delves into the urgent crisis threatening their existence. Following the screening, I moderated a panel discussion featuring an extremely impressive line-up of some of the nation's leading conservationists and forest-health experts. The on-stage conversation gave us the opportunity to dig deeper into some of the issues raised by the film, and glean valuable insights into the importance of responsible forest management from ecological, recreational, economic, and policy perspectives. - “Good Fire, Bad Fire” was directed by filmmaker Eric Ian, and produced by the team at the Property and Environment Research Center, better known as PERC, who also hosted the event.  The panelists you'll hear in this episode are:   Brian Ferebee, Chief Executive of Intergovernmental Relations for the U.S. Forest Service Randy Newberg, renowned conservationist and Host of Fresh Tracks and Hunt Talk with Randy Newberg Morgan Varner, Director of Fire Research at Tall Timbers Corey Lewellen, District Ranger for the Bozeman Ranger District Hannah Downey, Policy Director at PERC Brian Yablonski, CEO of PERC (and a past Mountain & Prairie podcast guest)   I could've spoken with each of these experts individually for several hours, but having them all share a stage and combine their wide range of expertise into a single conversation was a powerfully educational experience. - While you can listen to this episode on its own, I would strongly encourage you to first spend 15 minutes watching “Good Fire, Bad Fire” as a primer.  There's a link in the episode notes and it's embedded on the episode webpage. - I'd also encourage you to check out the episode notes for a full list of all of the topics we discussed, which included everything from a history of fire as a resource management tool to the Forest Service's evolving approach to wildfires and forest health. We talked about forest health's impact on hunting and fishing, the pros and cons of policies such as the ESA and NEPA, on-the-ground success stories, optimistic good news about the future of forest health, and much more. There were tons of resources mentioned, all of which are listed and linked on this episode's webpage. - A huge thanks to Brian Yablonski and the team at PERC for creating such an important film and for inviting me to participate in such an enlightening conversation. I hope you enjoy the film as much as I did, and I hope that this discussion provides some new insights into the all-important issue of forest health in the American West. --- WATCH THE FILM: "Good Fire, Bad Fire" Full episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/good-fire-bad-fire/ --- TOPICS DISCUSSED: 3:15 - Introductions  6:15 - Where the USFS stands right now on its approach to wildfire and forest health (Brian F) 8:45 - A hunter and public lands advocate's perspective on the state of the forests (Randy) 10:30 - A brief history of how fire became a resource management tool in the US and before the US (Morgan) 13:45 - Discussing obstacles to the forest management work described in Good Fire, Bad Fire (Corey) 18:00 - How we can streamline large federal processes like the ESA and NEPA (Hannah) 21:00 - Why PERC became involved in this forestry work (Brian Y) 23:15 - What is preventing ideal progress on forest management in Montana (Brian F) 27:30 - How Randy would recommend hunters and anglers take action and advocate for forest health 31:00 - Discussing how lessons in forest management from the Southeast can impact forestry in MT (Morgan) 35:15 - On-the-ground success stories in forest management (Corey) 39:45 - An example of fire outpacing procedure, and the impacts that can have (Hannah) 41:15 - How discussions of conservation and forestry are received by elected officials (Hannah) 43:00 - Predictions for the next five years of forest management (Morgan and Randy) 47:15 - Brian Y's optimistic take on the state of forest stewardship --- ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE: Mountain & Prairie - All Episodes Mountain & Prairie Shop Mountain & Prairie on Instagram Upcoming Events About Ed Roberson Support Mountain & Prairie Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts

In the latest episode of Nopixafterdark, Aaron sat down with Altmann R. Pannell, MPA, Director of Government Relations over the Mid-Atlantic Region Coca-Cola Consolidated Davion Percy, Vice President of Community Relations & Public Policy with Luminis Health, and Maurice Simpson, Jr., JD Senior State Government Affairs Manager at Constellation- these three Government Relations Executives have been friends for over a decade. They shared their life stories and discussed how they became friends while working together in Prince George's County Government. Their motto is “Stronger Together”. Tune in to learn more about their journey and how they continue to make an impact in their communities and Annapolis. #Nopixafterdark #communitysupport i#governmentrelations #Friendship #Annapolis Bios Altmann R. Pannell is a native of Petersburg, Virginia, who began his career of service through his achievement of the Boy Scouts of America, Eagle Scout Rank during his matriculation through high school. Altmann earned a B.A. in African American Studies with a focus in Public Policy from the University of Maryland College Park in 2009 and a Master of Public Administration with a focus in Public Policy from Bowie State University in 2016. Upon graduation, Altmann began his career in the arena of politics and government relations serving under three elected officials in the State of Maryland for over 10 years. In March 2016, Altmann began working in the Non-Profit Sector of the District of Columbia for Food & Friends Inc., as the Manager of Intergovernmental Relations and Public Funding. After a successful service career with Food & Friends, Altmann continued to strive for higher aspirations and worked for the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA) in 2019 as the Director of Government and External Affairs. During his tenure at IACLEA, Altmann directly interacted with and advocated to, members of the U.S. Congress, the Executive Administration, and federal government agencies in the public safety arena. In pursuit of enhancing best practices and striving to find solutions to problems in the policing community, Altmann worked tirelessly to bring different perspectives to difficult conversations addressing community policing in America. During his time at IACLEA, he was also tasked to lead the COVID-19 Rapid Response Task Force for the nation's Colleges and Universities at the onset and throughout the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the early Spring of 2021, Altmann was presented with an excellent opportunity to join Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc., as the Director of Government Relations over the Mid-Atlantic Region. Coca-Cola Consolidated is the largest independent bottler of Coca-Cola in the United States. Since that time, Altmann has continued to work to raise awareness surrounding the positive economic, environmental, social, and sustainable impact that his company and The Coca-Cola brand have on the region and country as a whole. Davion Percy is a Government Relations Executive with nearly 2 decades of experience in Government and Politics. He began his career by working in Prince George's County Government. While with the county, he worked for 5 years. The executive branch and another 5 years in the legislative branch before taking so government relations job at Alexander & Cleaver, P.A. (A&C). He quickly rose through the ranks of A&C, becoming Vice President of Government Relations before leaving to launch his firm, Percy Public Affairs. He now serves Luminis Health as its Vice President of Community Relations & Public Policy.   Maurice Simpson Jr. JD has established himself as a leader in government, grassroots politics, and the private sector. As Senior Manager of State Government Affairs for Constellation, the nation's largest clean energy provider, Maurice leads the company's legislative and regulatory efforts to modernize energy policies for customers in Maryland, DC and Delaware. Prior to joining Constellation, Maurice spent over 7 years in public service as an aide to the Prince George's County Council. He was elected president of the Prince George's County Young Democrats and served as an At-Large Member of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Youth Council. With over 60,000 votes, Maurice was elected one of the youngest Delegates to the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Maurice is native of Prince George's County, Maryland where he serves on the board of Ardmore Enterprises, a local non-profit that empowers people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. He is an active member of the Prince George's County NAACP and First Baptist Church of Glenarden.

Patty Mulvihill joined the League of Oregon Cities organization as assistant general counsel in 2016, then served as general counsel for four years prior to her appointment as executive director. Under her leadership, Mulvihill: ●       Led the development of the LOC's current five-year strategic plan; ●       Represented the LOC on key statewide committees to address the homelessness crisis; ●       Successfully oversaw and managed all LOC's operations, fiscal activities and staffing for five departments: Communications & Marketing, Finance, Intergovernmental Relations, Legal Research, and Member & Administrative Services; ●       Developed and oversaw the LOC's Fiscal Year 2023 budget; ●       Strengthened staff morale and retention by building an internal culture of trust; ●       Strengthened internal financial controls; ●       Coordinated municipal lobbying efforts and built relationships with public and private organizations; and ●       Served as an information resource for citizens, media, legislators and the business community. Prior to joining the LOC, Mulvihill served the city of Bloomington, Ind. for 12 years, first as an assistant city attorney from 2004-14, then as the city's lead attorney from 2014-16.  She earned her bachelor's degree and juris doctorate from Indiana University.  Mulvihill is a member of the Oregon State Bar and the Indiana State Bar and has earned certifications from Cornell University (Diversity and Inclusion), Boise State University (Conflict Management), the Leadership Strategies Institute (Effective Facilitation) and the HR Training Center (HR Generalist). League of Oregon Cities

Neurodiversity has become an important topic in the Australian public sector. With research suggesting that teams can be 30 per cent more productive with neurodivergent professionals, workplaces stand much to gain from greater inclusivity. Yet, many public sector workplaces can still do more to be neurodiversity inclusive.In this rerun of our most popular Work with Purpose episodes in 2023, we revisit a conversation featuring three public service thought leaders: Lee Steel, Ability Network Champion and First Assistant Secretary, Intergovernmental Relations and Reform, Robin Edmonds, Assistant Director, Media Reform Branch at the Department of Infrastructure and co-founder and co-chair of the cross-agency APS+ Neurodiversity Community of Practice, and Andrew Pfeiffer, Ability Network Executive and Adviser, BETA at PM&C. They discussed what public sector workplaces could look like in 2028 and how to better support neurodivergent individuals.Show notes:The inaugural APS Diversity and inclusion report 2022 (APSC)Business benefits of employing people with disability (Australian Network on Disability)Creating an accessible and inclusive workplace (Australian Human Rights Commission) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In part two, Grace provides an in-depth look at some of the most pressing housing issues facing Anaheim right now. Given her over 20 years of experience managing housing programs in LA County, Grace has a unique perspective on the "silver tsunami"—the coming wave of aging Baby Boomers who will require accessible, affordable senior housing options. Grace discusses whether she is observing similar housing affordability challenges and shortages in Anaheim as in LA, two regions facing considerable pressure. Tune in to be inspired by Grace's seasoned leadership in tackling these urgent housing issues to empower Anaheim's most vulnerable seniors.About Grace Ruiz-Stepter: Ms. Ruiz-Stepter has over twenty-eight years of experience managing various housing and community development programs. Currently, she holds the dual roles of Director of Housing and Community Development for the City of Anaheim and Executive Director of the Anaheim Housing Authority.Her responsibilities include overseeing all affordable housing development programs in Anaheim, including the Housing Choice Voucher program, which provides rental subsidies to over 6,800 in Anaheim; oversight of the Workforce Development program; and federal entitlement programs including the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) and the HOME Investment Partnership Program. These programs provide valuable financial resources needed to address varying housing and community needs and can be leveraged with other public and private resources to address community needs.Under her leadership, the Anaheim Housing Authority has produced over 500 new units of affordable housing in the past five years and is on track to produce another 500 to 800 units in the next five years, building on a rich history of affordable housing production in Anaheim. Her work has involved working collaboratively with the Anaheim City Department to adopt creative land use policies and engaging in extensive community revitalization initiatives to address distressed neighborhoods.Ms. Stepter also oversees Anaheim's Homeless Response System of Care. In this role, she manages a committed team of professionals who work collaboratively with city departments to address individual, business, and community needs. Her team oversees street outreach engagement, shelter operations, and funding for social service providers. With her team, she is engaged in securing new ideas and resources to support the homelessness system of care. She is also actively engaged in regional and state efforts to identify and implement proven best practices.Ms. Stepter began her professional career at the Los Angeles County Housing and Community Development Agency, where she advanced from front-line work into leadership positions. She held the position of Housing Choice Voucher Manager and later Intergovernmental Relations and Public Information for the agency. She joined Quadel Consulting Corporation in 2001. Quadel is a leading consulting agency that provides program management, training, and consulting to the affordable housing industry. At Quadel, she served as the Housing Choice Voucher Director for the Memphis Housing Authority. She is credited with transforming a long-standing, troubled MHA program into a high-performing one in just two years.In addition to her work in Anaheim, Ms. Stepter is involved with and has held leadership positions in various professional associations, including the California Association of Housing Authorities (CAHA), the statewide organization that represents all public agencies in California. She currently serves on the United Way of Orange County, the United to End Homelessness Leadership Council, and is co-chair of the Orange County Continuum of Care Housing Committee. She was also just sworn in (October 2023) as the National Chair for Community and Revitalization for NAHRO, the largest national affordable housing organization, representing more than 17,000 individual members and associates and 2,500 agency members (including housing authorities, CD departments, and redevelopment agencies)

Federalism: An Overview. 1. Defining Federalism. Federalism is a system of government in which power is divided between a central (national) government and regional (state) governments. Each level of government has its own set of powers and responsibilities. Significance: Federalism aims to balance the authority of the national government with the autonomy of individual states, fostering a cooperative and decentralized governance structure. Example: The federal government has the power to regulate interstate commerce, while states have the authority to establish and enforce laws within their borders. Powers of the Federal Government. 1. Enumerated Powers. The Constitution grants specific powers to the federal government, known as enumerated powers. These include the power to coin money, regulate commerce, declare war, and establish post offices. Significance: Enumerated powers delineate the areas in which the federal government has authority, creating a framework for its actions. Example: The federal government's authority to regulate interstate commerce has been invoked in cases involving national economic policies. 2. Implied Powers. Implied powers are not explicitly stated in the Constitution but are considered necessary for the federal government to carry out its enumerated powers effectively. These powers are derived from the necessary and proper clause. Significance: Implied powers allow the federal government flexibility in addressing new challenges and situations that may not have been foreseen by the framers. Example: The establishment of a national bank, as justified by Congress in McCulloch v Maryland (1819), illustrates the application of implied powers. Powers Reserved to the States. 1. Reserved Powers. The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution reserves powers not delegated to the federal government to the states. These reserved powers encompass areas such as education, criminal law, and regulation of intrastate commerce. Significance: Reserved powers highlight the autonomy of states in managing internal affairs and tailoring policies to local needs. Example: State laws regarding education standards and curriculum exemplify the exercise of reserved powers. 2. Concurrent Powers. Some powers are shared by both the federal government and the states, known as concurrent powers. These include the power to tax, maintain courts, and establish and enforce laws. Significance: Concurrent powers reflect the cooperative nature of the federal system, allowing both levels of government to act in certain domains. Example: Both federal and state governments have the authority to levy taxes, with each level contributing to the overall tax structure. Intergovernmental Relations. 1. Cooperative Federalism. Cooperative federalism refers to a model of intergovernmental relations in which the federal government and states work together to address complex issues. This often involves shared funding and joint programs. Significance: Cooperative federalism recognizes that challenges such as economic crises and public health require collaborative efforts between different levels of government. Example: Programs like Medicaid, which involve both federal and state funding, exemplify cooperative federalism. 2. Coercive Federalism. Coercive federalism occurs when the federal government imposes its will on the states through mandates or conditions attached to funding. Significance: Coercive federalism raises questions about the balance between federal and state authority, particularly when conditions may infringe on state prerogatives. Example: Requirements attached to federal education funding that mandate specific policies or standards illustrate coercive federalism. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/law-school/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/law-school/support

This week's ChangeMaker podcast features Grace Ruiz-Stepter, Director of the Housing and Community Development Department for the City of Anaheim. Katie welcomes Grace, a highly accomplished housing program manager with over 20 years of experience overseeing federal and local initiatives to provide affordable housing and spur community development. Before joining Anaheim, Grace held leadership roles managing critical housing programs at the Housing Authority of Los Angeles County. Throughout her career, she has helped expand access to affordable housing and empowered communities through her tireless advocacy and skilled leadership. On the show, Grace and Katie will have an inspiring conversation about Grace's journey to leadership and her vision for creating more affordable, equitable housing solutions. Grace shares the challenges that drive her in this work, the creative strategies she's leading in Anaheim, and advice for other systems changers looking to make an impact in their cities. Tune in for an insightful and uplifting discussion about how Grace and others are creating meaningful change from within government agencies. You'll come away motivated and equipped to create change in your community.About Grace Ruiz-Stepter: Ms. Ruiz-Stepter has over twenty-eight years of experience managing various housing and community development programs. Currently, she holds the dual role of Director of Housing and Community Development for the City of Anaheim and Executive Director of the Anaheim Housing Authority.Her responsibilities include overseeing all affordable housing development programs for Anaheim, including the Housing Choice Voucher program which provides rental subsidies to over 6,800 in Anaheim, oversight of the Workforce Development program and federal entitlement programs including Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) and the HOME Investment Partnership Program. These programs provide valuable financial resources needed to address varying housing and community needs and can be leveraged with other public and private resources to address community needs.Under her leadership, the Anaheim Housing Authority has produced over 500 new units of affordable housing in the past five years and is on track to produce another 500 to 800 units in the next five years, building on a rich history of affordable housing production in Anaheim. Her work has involved working collaboratively with Anaheim City Department to adopt creative land use policies, engaging in extensive community revitalization initiatives to address distressed neighborhoods.Ms. Stepter also oversees Anaheim's Homeless Response System of Care.In this role, she manages a committed team of professionals who work collaboratively with City Departments to address individual, business, and community needs. Her team oversees street outreach engagement, shelter operations and funding to social services providers. With her team, she is engaged in securing new ideas and resources to support the homelessness system of care. She is also actively engaged in regional and State efforts to identify and implement proven best practices.Ms. Stepter began her professional career at the Los Angeles County Housing and Community Development Agency, where she advanced from front line work into leadership positions. She held the position of Housing Choice Voucher Manager and later Intergovernmental Relations and Public Information for the Agency. She joined Quadel Consulting Corporation in 2001. Quadel is a leading consulting agency that provides program management, training, and consulting to the affordable housing industry. At Quadel, she served as the Housing Choice Voucher Director for the Memphis Housing Authority. She is credited with transforming a long standing troubled MHA program to high-performing in just two years.In addition to her work in Anaheim, Ms. Stepter is involved with and has held leadership positions in various professional associations including the California Association of Housing Authorities (CAHA), the Statewide organization that represents all Public Agencies in California. She currently serves on the United Way of Orange County, United to End Homelessness Leadership Council and is Co-Chair of the Orange County Continuum of Care Housing Committee. She was also just sworn in (October 2023) as that National Chair for Community and Revitalization for NAHRO, the largest national affordable housing organization representing more than 17,000 individual members and associates and 2,500 agency members (including housing authorities, CD departments, redevelopment agencies)

Sintra Hoffman is the President and Chief Executive Officer of WESTMARC, representing the West Valley of Metro Phoenix where she has the pleasure of working with 15 communities, over 3,000 square miles and home to 1.8 million residents. With 25 years of experience in federal, state, local and non-profit leadership, Sintra is a natural convener, bringing key stakeholders together to advance the region's economic vitality and improve the quality of life for her community. She previously served as Assistant Division Director for the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) leading the Office of Public Affairs to build and sustain relationships in Arizona's cities, towns, counties, tribes and business community and support infrastructure investments statewide. Prior to her time at ADOT, she spent 10 years with the City of Surprise, serving as the Director of Intergovernmental Relations and Deputy City Manager, focusing on policy development and economic sustainability for the community.Sintra serves on several boards to focus on improving the quality of life and economic vitality in the West Valley and statewide:Arizona Highway Users Group, Vice PresidentAmerican Business Immigration Coalition Advisory Board Estrella Mountain Community College - President's Community Advisory CouncilGlendale Community College – President's Community Advisory Council Grand Canyon University – Honors College Advisory Board Interstate 11 Corridor Coalition Board of DirectorsNew Pathways for Youth Advisory Board Phoenix Children's Hospital West Valley Foundation Board The Vista - Center for the Arts Advisory Board White Tank Mountains Conservancy Board of Directors Sintra was recognized by the Phoenix Business Journal as a Most Admired Leader in 2023 and one of 25 Outstanding Women in Business in 2022. Previously Arizona Business Magazine recognized her as one of the Most Influential Women in 2016. In 2019 she was recognized by Estrella Mountain Community College as their Education Hero and also received BMO Bank's Women Who Lead award. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and Master's of Administration in Public Administration. She spends her leisure time traveling the globe, hiking, staying active and of course, networking and building new relationships! Website: www.westmarc.orgFacebook: facebook.com/WESTMARCAZTwitter: twitter.com/WESTMARCLinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/westmarcInstagram: instagram.com/westmarc_azMac and Bleu is the hot new podcast dedicated to all things related to building Arizona. Topics discussed range from construction, economic development, supply chain, and market segments.Mac & Bleu also includes diversity in construction, local politics affecting construction, women in construction, construction technology, and more.The host JJ Levenske of Bleuwave have their finger on the pulse of the people building Arizona.The show brings in the brightest minds in their perspective positions and industries and JJ has the unique ability to touch on the subject matter that you want to hear.If you want to know who's building Arizona, tune in and subscribe to Mac and Bleu today!___________________________________________________________________________________JJ Levenske is a seasoned construction executive with over 30 years of experience in the commercial and industrial sectors.From pre-construction services to complex quality controls and close-outs, he brings a commitment to delivering the highest levels of professionalism and customer service.

There is zero early support on the Milwaukee County Board to spend taxpayer funds on the hundreds of millions of dollars of improvements at the Brewers' ballpark. The county's Committee on Intergovernmental Relations on Monday unanimously voted for a resolution opposing the use of any local tax dollars to pay for upgrades at American Family Field. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wisconsininfocus/support

Neurodiversity has become an important topic in the Australian public sector. With research suggesting that teams can be 30 per cent more productive with neurodivergent professionals, workplaces stand much to gain from greater inclusivity. Yet, many public sector workplaces can still do more to be neurodiversity inclusive.This time, we feature three public service thought leaders in the field, Lee Steel, Ability Network Champion and First Assistant Secretary, Intergovernmental Relations and Reform from PM&C (Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet), Robin Edmonds, Inclusion and Diversity Adviser and Co-Chair of the Ability Network at PM&C, and Andrew Pfeiffer, Ability Network Executive and Adviser at PM&C. They discuss what public sector workplaces could look like in 2028 and how to better support neurodivergent individuals.For resources relevant to this episode, visit: https://contentgroup.com.au/work_with_purpose/ep-77-embracing-neurodiversity-in-the-public-sector/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Simon Rose taking a well-earned break and with continuing debate swirling around the merits of Brexit, we bring you one of our interviews recorded at a critical point, with just a week to go until the public voted in what was the most important 'once in a generation' referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union. Juliette Foster, then host of Investment Perspectives, was joined on the line by the then Secretary of State for Justice and prominent Leave campaigner, Michael Gove, who is now Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the latest episode of AECOM's Talking Infrastructure podcast, we hear from Michael Gove MP, the former (and soon to be reappointed) Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations, on the importance of strong local leadership and taking an integrated approach to deliver levelling up at the scale and pace required.Gove was speaking at the 2022 Conservative Party Conference during an AECOM-sponsored panel event convened by thinktank Policy Exchange. He was joined by Councillor Abi Brown from Stoke-on-Trent City Council; Ben Derbyshire, former President of the Royal Institute of British Architects; Ike Ijeh, Head of Housing, Architecture and Urban Space at Policy Exchange; and Jonathan Moore, Head of Project, Programme and Cost Management, North of England at AECOM.

On this midweek show, Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell joins Crystal for an extensive conversation about public safety in Seattle. Their discussion ranges from how to handle an officer shortage with a long hiring pipeline, the Harrell administration's approach to encampment sweeps, how safety involves more than just policing, and the thought process on creating a third department (beyond Fire and Police). The importance of negotiating the SPOG contract in removing obstacles to progress is covered, as well as the thinking behind hotspot policing and strategic use of limited public safety resources. The show wraps up with what steps we can all take to help create positive change and make our streets safer. As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. Find the host, Crystal, on Twitter at @finchfrii and find Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell at @RuleSeven.   Resources “Seattle clears Woodland Park homeless encampment after months of trying to place people into shelter” by Greg Kim from The Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/homeless/seattle-clears-woodland-park-homeless-encampment-after-months-of-trying-to-place-people-into-shelter/   “Harrell Outlines Public Safety Strategies: Expanding Policing, ‘Hot Spots' Focus, Police Response Alternatives” by Elizabeth Turnbull from the South Seattle Emerald: https://southseattleemerald.com/2022/02/04/harrell-outlines-public-safety-strategies-expanding-policing-hot-spots-focus-police-response-alternatives/   Community Police Commission (CPC) - Police Accountability Recommendations Tracker (PART): https://www.seattle.gov/community-police-commission/our-work/recommendations-tracker   Community Police Commission (CPC) - Accountability Ordinance Tracker: https://www.seattle.gov/community-police-commission/our-work/accountability-ordinance-tracker   Washington State Office of Independent Investigations - Final Bill Report for ESHB 1267: https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2021-22/Pdf/Bill%20Reports/House/1267-S.E%20HBR%20FBR%2021.pdf?q=20220517001510   “Harrell Touts Arrests at Longtime Downtown Hot Spot in ‘Operation New Day' Announcement” by Paul Kiefer from PubliCola: https://publicola.com/2022/03/04/harrell-touts-arrests-at-longtime-downtown-hot-spot-in-operation-new-day-announcement/   “Harrell says he ‘inherited a mess,' will solve crime issues by putting arrests first, social services second” by Sarah Grace Taylor from The Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/harrell-says-he-inherited-a-mess-will-solve-crime-issues-by-putting-arrests-first-social-services-second/   One Seattle Day of Service - May 21: https://www.seattle.gov/mayor/one-seattle-initiatives/day-of-service   Transcript [00:00:00] Crystal Fincher: Welcome to Hacks & Wonks. I'm Crystal Fincher, and I'm a political consultant and your host. On this show, we talk with policy wonks and political hacks to gather insight into local politics and policy in Washington State through the lens of those doing the work with behind-the-scenes perspectives on what's happening, why it's happening, and what you can do about it. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show are always available at officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes. Well today, I'm pleased to welcome Senior Deputy Mayor of Seattle, Monisha Harrell, back to the program. Welcome back. [00:00:47] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Thanks for having me. [00:00:48] Crystal Fincher: Thanks for coming. Well, I suppose this is your first time as the Senior Deputy Mayor - your many, many previous roles and titles and accolades from before this proceeded you - but now you're in the role of Senior Deputy Mayor of Seattle in the Bruce Harrell administration. And how's it going? [00:01:12] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: It's been a fast four and a half months - I think it's a little bit like dog years - each week feels like a year, and there's nothing like on-the-job learning. [00:01:27] Crystal Fincher: Nothing like on-the-job learning. Now, what are you doing? What are you responsible for? [00:01:33] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: So my portfolio includes Fire, Police, Office of Emergency Management, Office of Intergovernmental Relations, Budget, and HR. [00:01:51] Crystal Fincher: And nothing else - that's it? [00:01:55] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: I have a few things. I have a few things in the - I say anything that'll wake you up in the middle of the night is in my portfolio. It's helpful to have all those things in one place, and we're trying to envision the future of the City. There's a lot of work that has followed me from my previous experiences that I now have an opportunity to be able to put some of that visioning into practice in helping to lead the City, so it's exciting. I like it. It's a new take on some work that I've been doing for a long time. [00:02:32] Crystal Fincher: Well and you've certainly worked in several areas of the public safety spectrum in several different roles. Now this is part of your portfolio in this role. So I do want to talk about just the - a number of things - starting in terms of public safety and the conversations that we're having - that are lively and starting off conversations, just this week, with regard to staffing in SPD and moving forward. And I think, as we're looking about it, certainly we've talked on the program before about it - whether or not people agree with the need for more SPD officers, the City is moving forward with hiring more SPD officers and talking about that being part of the solution, or your plan for helping to make people safer. But with that, even if we were to hire 50 people today, that is actually a really long pipeline and those folks aren't going to be making it onto the streets for a while. So if we're talking about public safety, that might be a solution for the fall or next year, but what - short of adding more officers, which can't happen - can be done right now to help intervene in the rising crime levels. [00:03:58] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Yeah, that's a good question. We have to prepare for the short-, mid-, and long-term. And so one of the things that we've been doing in the short-term is civilianizing some positions that were previously certified positions. And so that helps us to be able to spread out our resources a little bit more - taking some internal positions, be they administrative or other, where we've asked - does this position need to be a law enforcement officer, a certified law enforcement officer, or can this be a civilian or a civilianized position and moving those to civilianized positions? So that is a short term solution - we are currently working on that, the chief has currently been working on that for the last several months. And so we're working through extending our resources through that. And that's a great long-term solution as well - analyzing what has to be a certified position and what can be a civilianized position. In the midterm, we do have to recruit folks to be willing to go into the academy. And policing across the country - there's a shortage of officers across the country. I don't know one department right now that is fully subscribed, that has all of the officers that it needs. We have seen a lot of people, especially officers, leaving the workforce over the course of the last couple of years. It's been a toll. It's been a toll on absolutely everybody. And in particular, as we've been having discussions - deep, deep discussions - around policing and the future of policing, some people in the profession have taken a look at whether or not they want to continue in that line of service. Some have been retirement age and some have decided that they want to take different paths - but those are all culminating in this moment. We have people - good people - who have reached an inflection point in their life and want to do something different. Some of them may turn towards policing, many of them have turned to other ways to support and help the community. So we have to talk to - and on the long end of the pipeline, it's talking to a lot of our young folks and seeing if there are people who want to be part of the future of what policing will be. And not looking at what it is now, but looking at what it could be for the future - and being a part of that, and being willing to step into something that is wholly uncertain at this moment. What policing is today is different than it was 10, 20 years ago, will be different than what it will be 10, 20 years from now. And so there has to be a willingness to embrace some of the uncertainty and wanting to be - and be willing to be - a part of what it could be in the future and shaping that. [00:07:15] Crystal Fincher: So is it possible to make people safer in the existing staffing footprint that we're going to be dealing with for the near term? [00:07:25] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Safer is - I think safer involves more than just policing. Safer involves getting more mental health support, safer involves better conflict resolution solutions beyond guns, safer is never going to be a police-only solution - and so we have to, candidly, be able to walk and chew gum in terms of yes, working on our policing shortages and working on shoring up our mental health systems, our physical health systems. Acknowledging that even if we have community members who had food on their table, a roof over their heads, jobs to attend to, their financial needs - the last couple of years haven't left many people in better mental and physical health than they were prior to 2020. And so even those who have had all of the means are still going to be unstable in some way and need help and need support. So safety really looks like - how do we build a larger support system and safety net to even catch those who wouldn't otherwise be considered vulnerable? [00:09:12] Crystal Fincher: Well, you know I agree with that. And I guess that's why it has been confounding in some of the actions that have been taken, whether it's some of the hotspot policing or the sweeps of encampments, where there certainly has been a lot of talk about having those kinds of supports and interventions and people reaching out to be there, but that being absent in so many of those situations where we are seeing predominantly public safety-led, and some of those situations only law enforcement-led, sweep or intervention. And looking at whether that can effectively address the problem and whether that's really delivering on the vision that you laid out. How do you explain that? [00:10:06] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Absolutely. So I think that people only see a portion and it's really hard. People only see a portion of what we're doing - of what any administration or any government agency is doing. Some of the things that are not as readily accessible is how much transitional housing we have actually opened up and made available over the course of the last few months - we have done an amazing job in terms of making transitional housing available and getting people into that transitional housing. In terms of some of the encampment removals, we've made a tremendous number of referrals and we've gotten people help and support that have been on the streets for years. Some of these stories of people being living on the streets for five years - that is never going to be a success. It's not a success that somebody lives in the street in the same spot for five years. That is an absolute dead end, and we should never be satisfied with somebody having that as an outcome and that as an option. And we have done quite a bit, this administration has done quite a bit, in terms of getting resources to many of those folks. [00:11:27] Crystal Fincher: So are you disputing that some of those have taken place without that outreach taken, done at first? Are you saying that that has occurred with all of them? [00:11:39] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Every person has been given the opportunity for support services - they're offered that. They don't always take it, and some people might not be in a place to be able to take it at that time period. I will talk a little bit about the Woodland Park encampment removal. There were, I think, 85 referrals made from the Woodland Park encampment. And those are real offers of help that we're getting out to folks in that we're making spaces available for them to be able to come indoors. Not everybody is ready for that, and certainly there were - there have been more people who have come on site who have needed help and support, and we're still working on getting supports for those folks. But when we have something open, we're trying to get people in it. [00:12:41] Crystal Fincher: So would it then be a fair characterization to say, in the case of an encampment sweep or a hotspot enforcement, if - or I guess that's a different situation - looking at encampment sweep. If a person there hasn't had contact with a, whether it's a caseworker or service provider - someone with a connection to services available to them if they are ready to go, that meet their circumstances, that they meet the qualifications to go into. If that doesn't happen, that is not your policy, that would be something going wrong in the process and not what you had ordered to be carried out? [00:13:32] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: So we don't have as many resources to allow people to pick their exact type of transitional housing. There have been times where we've said, there is a tiny home available and people might decline that because they would rather have a hotel, or there might be a tiny home available within a particular village and they don't want to go to that area of town. We don't have control over all of the inventory available, but we make something available. [00:14:09] Crystal Fincher: So something is always available for someone? [00:14:13] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: When we are doing - when we are doing removals, we make offers of support. There is a crew that goes out in advance that makes an offer of support prior to the removal. [00:14:26] Crystal Fincher: And so one of the issues, and it's been covered - in looking at offers of support. There seem to be some disconnects in what is available and what people need. And some really understandable and justifiable reasons why people may not be able to go to a shelter. Sometimes the situation may be - hey, shelter requires people be in by 7:00 or 8:00 PM, I have a job that requires me to be there later or to leave earlier. And so I can't keep my job and both go into the shelter. Obviously, keeping the job is something that preserves a pathway into housing. In those situations, does the City have a responsibility to find something more suitable, or to wait on sweeping them until there is something more suitable available? [00:15:25] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: So the removals are based on a number of different criteria and we'll be sharing more about that criteria in the coming weeks. There are some occasions where there is a safety reason to need to engage in a removal. And some of those safety reasons might be if there is a lot of - if there are some gun violence in that area or if there has been - and I'm just going off of specific instances that have increased the need for removals - if there was a sexual harassment, sexual assault incident within an encampment. There are any number of reasons - a number of fires that have been occurring in an encampment - those might be public safety reasons where we would prioritize dispersement in those cases. And so we use all of the resources that we have available - doesn't mean that we're going to have exactly what they need at that moment. We do our absolute best. Some people will be able to tell us what they are hoping for and if there's a match, we will try to match it. But this is also where the Regional Homelessness Authority comes in. This is part of taking the regional solution - we have 84 square miles in the City of Seattle to be able to accommodate folks. There is more housing available outside the region, and we want to make sure that there are options available for folks all over. That's part of why, when I refer to something like the Woodland Park encampment - we had services for everybody that was at Woodland Park during the time that we took the inventory of the area. Those people received housing and new people came in because they knew that the people at that encampment were able to access housing. And so we're trying to get to as many places and as many people as we possibly can, and we need the support and the help of the regional authority to be able to bring their resources to bear, to be able to get more transitional housing faster. [00:18:05] Crystal Fincher: Gotcha. In terms of just community-based interventions overall, certainly some of those are useful in and addressing some of the issues that the unhoused population is dealing with, others are direct interventions to help prevent crime and people from being victimized - with lots of evidence to show that they're very effective interventions. And the Harrell administration - you have talked about the intention to establish that - it looks like the last place where that left off was Mayor Harrell saying that there was an evaluation of some of the partners and service providers that you would potentially be working with. Where does that stand and what is that evaluation based on? [00:18:58] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Yeah, we're asking a lot of our providers to share with us what they've been doing with the resources that they are being provided by the City. And we're looking at the effectiveness rate - the rates with which people are able to support the community based on the resources provided. We had two - I don't want to call them necessarily summits, they weren't really summits - but they were information fact-gathering sessions with the providers who are doing that work - to be able to let them tell us how they're able to use their resources, and what else we could do to support them in their work. [00:19:53] Crystal Fincher: So what are you hearing from that? [00:19:56] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: We are hearing a lot of need, quite candidly. There is a lot of need, particularly in and around as we spoke about earlier, mental health supports, emotional supports. Some folks are meeting communities' need to just be connected with one another in order to better manage their challenges. And we're really trying to assess who has set up systems to be able to make greater advances with more resources if they were provided to them. There are certainly some services that I think people have heard quite a bit about that have had pretty good levels of success, and we're trying to figure out how to get some of those organizations more resources. And there are some organizations candidly that didn't fare as well through the pandemic, where their organizations might not be as strong as they were before and they may be in a position where they have to regroup before they're ready to receive more supports from the City. So we're evaluating all of those things, but we've seen a lot of really good things out there. Organizations like JustCare, for example, they've been able to remain pretty steady and and do some great work across the City. And certainly they've been resourced to do some great work, but we're looking at all of the, all of our providers out there who have a part of the puzzle piece that we need in this moment. [00:21:51] Crystal Fincher: So in short - taking a look at, hey, you've had resources. Have you demonstrated that you have used the tax dollars that you've received to further the mission and deliver results, when it comes to tangible increases in prevention of crime, interventions, reduction of recidivism - metrics like that. [00:22:18] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Absolutely. And then also looking at whether or not we've got the right mix. Do we have enough across the spectrum of the needs that are required? Do we have enough in the healthcare arena, both mental and physical? Do we have enough in the internship and apprenticeship arena to ensure that particularly folks have access to being able to set up their futures for themselves? Those are all of the things that we have to look at because we have a finite number of resources - as a city, we have to manage and take care of all of our basic functions. And then what we have, we have to be really - we have to really pay attention to - are we using these dollars effectively because we don't have the endless pot that we would want. [00:23:11] Crystal Fincher: Right. So basically, are you getting a bang for your buck, is the money that you're spending resulting in safer streets? [00:23:20] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Exactly. And not just safer streets, but prosperity for those who have access. Part of safer streets is - there are components of economic justice that are related to that. I don't think people - if they have to resort to any sort of stealing, I don't think they do it because they want to do it. I think they do it because there is a need that's not being met, so how else can we meet that need? Is it through additional education? Is it through apprenticeships? So stronger work opportunities, better paying jobs, access to education - we have to look at that whole ecosystem because it's not one lever. If it was one lever, somebody would've pulled it a long time ago. [00:24:13] Crystal Fincher: That makes sense. And as I look at it, especially with - looking at the money that we're putting into community-based interventions, it is not an unlimited budget, need to make sure that that money is delivering a result. It makes sense to do the same thing with the police department, doesn't it? Are you using that same kind of evaluation to determine if the police department should receive more funding, if we should pull back and redirect to other areas? [00:24:42] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: And that's exactly what we were doing when I mentioned earlier - looking at positions and seeing which positions can be civilianized, looking at the job functions and trying to evaluate whether or not those job functions need to be certified in order to be effective. And so we're looking at the whole ecosystem of that. One of the things that I think we talked about before was the third department that would be on par with Police and Fire. What does that third department look like? What services still need to be met in an emergency situation that we need to dispatch, where Police or Fire are not the solution in that instance? We've talked about the history of EMTs and EMS, where you would no longer send police to a heart attack, but there was a time period where that's exactly what you did. And so we're looking at what are the calls that don't need a a law enforcement response or a fire response? What are the needs that are not being met and how do we put that department together? We're working on that - our goal, our hope is to have a white paper and structure for that third department by the end of this year, that we would then begin to structure in 2023 for a 2024 deployment. [00:26:16] Crystal Fincher: So then am I hearing that it's a possibility that some of those community-based interventions, non-law enforcement-based interventions may be made functions of the City within a public safety department that doesn't have a sworn officer. So you're looking to build up that infrastructure. So that actually may not occur from service providers that you're partnering with today? That may be an internal thing? [00:26:45] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Absolutely. It's also part of - what I will say is - we are looking at the functions that are provided and of course, if that's the case, the third department will be just, will be a professional entity, just like fire and law enforcement - where there will be a curriculum and a program and the proper certifications for whatever is needed within that body of work. It will be a professionalized entity that is able to respond to 911 calls that meet their unique skillset. [00:27:20] Crystal Fincher: Okay. Have you received - which makes sense - have you received pushback from SPD on civilianizing parts of it? There were some - there was a recent report about responses to 911 calls potentially being handled by alternate responders that they recently pushed back on. Are you hearing that, and how are you working through that? [00:27:44] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: I think that's natural and I think that's to be expected. It is part of - would I want that? No, I want everybody to work together and I think by and large people are working together. But it's the job of their police union to push and try to negotiate and try to get as much for their members as they possibly can. We know that some of it is founded, and some of it is just part of what they have to do in trying to negotiate for their next upcoming contracts. What they see is - they might see - well, that used to be a body of work that pertained to us, and we don't want to lose that body of work. But the truth of the matter is policing is many different professions rolled under one title. They're not all the same. Somebody who is on a beat isn't necessarily trained to be an effective detective. Somebody who might be doing homicide might not be right for a domestic assault. There are different skillsets, there are different trainings - and depending upon the line that an officer wants to go into, they might need a different career development path. So we really have to look at the body of work and whether or not it fits in with solving some of those crimes and getting justice in that way and if not, there might be instances where the presence of a uniform could escalate a situation. And there's somebody who has not got a weapon on the other side - then we don't want to send a certified officer into that particular situation - that might not be a best fit for them. We know that labor will want to negotiate that and those are some things that we'll have to address. And there are some where labor might want to negotiate that and we say - but that's not, that's not within the purview of your scope anyway. So it's a conversation. [00:30:18] Crystal Fincher: It's a conversation. And as you just brought up, that conversation is about to be codified into a new Seattle Police Officers Guild contract, and you will be at the negotiating table. And there there's been lots of discussions in the greater conversation about the role that police officers have and the larger public safety conversation and how and whether their interventions do result in people being less likely to be victimized. Lots of conversations about what is appropriate, what's not appropriate to be in a contract, what oversight should be more independent and not internal. So I guess starting out, are there, especially in light of the prior public safety ordinance that had a lot of reforms in there - some of them rolled back with the contract - are you looking to reimplement those? What approach are you taking in this negotiation? [00:31:27] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: So our prioritization is absolutely on accountability. We have to move forward aggressively on accountability for many different reasons, not not the least of which is we have a consent decree that - at this moment, it's not benefiting the City or the people of the City to still have this as an operating standard or practice for the City. It reminds me of - there's this old Thomas Jefferson quote that kind of refers to - if you wear the clothes, if you try to wear the clothes that fits you as a boy as a man, it doesn't work. And to me, that's where we are with the consent decree - we are 10 years into this and those clothes no longer fit - we have moved well beyond that. And if we want to get to what the future of policing is, we need to move past this past that is not even close to the picture of where we want to be. And so it has to be a prioritization on accountability - that has to be everything. And I know some people - going back to the other part of what we were talking about - some people will want to jump ahead and say, well, let's negotiate what the third department looks like and the trading off of those roles. The police contract is only three years and we're already one year into a three-year contract. We can negotiate the roles of that next contract in the next cycle. We're one year into a three-year contract, so we have to focus on accountability - that has to be our number one goal. And then once we get the right accountability measures in place, within the next contract we can start negotiating roles and responsibilities as pertains to what might be a third public safety department. [00:33:45] Crystal Fincher: There've been several recommendations related to collective bargaining from lots of entities, including the CPC. Some of those including fully implementing the reforms in the accountability law, removing limits on civilianization of OPA and ensuring civilian investigators have the same powers as their sworn counterparts, removing clauses in the contract that take precedence over local laws including that accountability ordinance, the police being empowered to place an employee on leave without pay, and ensuring OPA has authority to investigate allegations of criminal misconduct. Do you agree that those should be implemented in this new contract? [00:34:37] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: You named so many that I just want to say that the answer is yes. But let me - that's bad radio to be like, the answer is just yes - but the answer is yes. And I'll just pull out a couple of them that are of particular interest - civilianization of investigators at OPA - I think that is something that we need to seriously explore for many different reasons, but let me just go on a couple. One of which is - the statewide Office of Independent Investigations that we'll eventually move to - it was envisioned to eventually be a civilianized body so that there were no conflicts of interest in those investigations. And we have to look at the same thing for SPD - that these are officers that are being forced to investigate their fellow officers. That can't be a good place to be. It can't be a good place to be to - you're working in one department and you're working alongside your team, and then you move and have a rotation to the next department. And in that next rotation, you're having to investigate the people that you were just working alongside of. And I use this example because - no matter how many firewalls you put up, there is always going to be the potential - and a strong potential - for conflict of interest. Crystal, you and I have known each other for a really long time and - we're not that old, we've known each other for a little while - and we would both do our jobs if we had to do an investigation. And yet I think that the way that we've crossed paths over the years, it would be really hard to be an absolutely unbiased independent investigator if something were to come up, because I know you're a good person. And I wouldn't believe that you would do anything terrible, so it would be hard for me to say and now I want to investigate you. And then when my rotation in this department is over, now I just want to go back to working alongside you. That's a tough place to be. And I think that exploring the civilianization of investigators at OPA - it protects us from some of those potential conflicts of interest, and we really have to take a hard look at that. [00:37:04] Crystal Fincher: And not just civilianization, but giving them - removing the limits to make sure that they have the same power and authority in all instances of investigation. Because I think that's been a frustrating part - to be like, well, I'm not part of the police department - even the elements that are civilians just being kneecapped and not having the authority to fully investigate or to make any recommendations that hold any weight. Is that part of your vision, and what you plan to negotiate is also providing them with that authority? [00:37:47] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Absolutely. And again, following the statewide model of the Office of Independent Investigations that will follow the same path. We'll see who races each other first to that finish line, but very much following the same model. And the one thing I want to just clarify for folks - sometimes people hear the term "civilianization" and they think sloppy or not as professional - we are talking about professional investigators that just may not be certified officers. And there are a ton of highly trained professional investigators in a lot of different professions that could have skillsets that apply to the work that would be needed for these types of investigations. I'll give you an example is - there's always forensic auditors for things like financial accounting crimes - they may not be law enforcement officers, but they are trained professionals in forensic accounting who can help with some of this criminal problem solving. There could be people who are forensic anthropologists or other such things, who know how to contain a crime scene and who know how to collect the evidence. When we say civilianized, we're not talking about anything less than the highest level of professionalism. It just means that they are not trained officers in the way that they would respond to an immediate and imminent crisis. [00:39:28] Crystal Fincher: That makes sense and is certainly valid. We've seen that operate very successfully in similar areas. And I think an even bigger deal - we're seeing the current system not working, so a change is in order. So is that a red line for you in this negotiation? Is that something that you're starting with as a foundational this is where we need to be? [00:39:54] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: It will probably take us, it will take us more than this contract to get to a fully civilianized team, investigative team at OPA, but we certainly want to begin to move in that direction where we have very professional civilian investigators available to us for that work. And I believe that there's going to be a bigger demand for that particular career going forward. I do believe that sometimes Seattle is on the frontline of a lot of this work, but where and how we make these things successful, we will see them roll out in other areas across the state and across the country. [00:40:44] Crystal Fincher: So it's possible that we walk out on the other side of this contract and there are still situations where the police are investigating themselves. [00:40:53] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: For certain things. So, as the Office of Independent Investigation gets set up, they will take all lethal use of force - that will go to the state regardless - that body of work will go to the state. As pertains to any accusations of sexual harassment or sexual assault, that will go to the state. So we are going to, we absolutely will honor state law. And quite honestly, I think folks should be grateful that the state is doing that work. I think that what they're setting up will be revolutionary in order to ensuring that we have unbiased, less-biased investigations. And do I believe you can eliminate bias 100% entirely? I would love to say yes, I don't know if that's ever completely possible, but I think we can get to a system that is more accountable and more transparent for everybody involved. [00:42:02] Crystal Fincher: As we look forward in the short-term and some of the interventions that are going, do you expect a continuation or more deployments of the hotspot policing strategy? [00:42:18] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: I think that while we have limited resources, we have to be really strategic about where and how we deploy them. And so, I wouldn't call it hotspot policing because it's a little more nuanced than that, but what I would say is when you have limited resources, you have to be really, really strategic about where and how you deploy them. And that's what we're having to do - we're having to look at the areas that are in the greatest need and providing resources to those areas in those moments. And so we look at things like - what are the big events coming up in and around the City and how do we deploy in order to make sure that yes, we can cover the Mariners game, the Sounders game, a concert at Climate Pledge, because we are short-staffed and that there's no quick way to make up for that. This has been a while in the making and even if we had all of the body signed up right now, we still only have one Criminal Justice Training Center to run all of the state's recruits through. So we're going to have to be strategic for a little while - we can't, we don't have the staffing at every precinct and in every neighborhood that we would want to have. And so that means looking at what is on our social calendars, trying to get people back to normal, right? This is - it has been many years since we've had a full cadre of parades and outdoor events, and we want people to be able to get back into life again and get back into life safely. So how do we have the Torchlight Parade with such a limited number of officers available to staff? How do we have one of my favorites, the Pride Parade, with a limited number of officers to staff? So we really have to be a lot more strategic and it means that we really have to look at the chess board. I think what people see are hotspots and it's not as much hotspots as we have to be more predictive about where we go and strategically plan for that. [00:45:01] Crystal Fincher: And I can see that - I guess the challenge, as you articulate that, the mayor certainly articulated certain spots that were spots of emphasis that were going to be receiving increased patrols and resources and have folks stationed basically there full-time to, I think as he talks about, calm the area. So it seems like there have been point - that kind of thing has been referred to by lots of different terms, whether it's a hotspot or an emphasis patrol or however we want to characterize it, we are focusing our admittedly limited number of resources in a concentrated area. And are we expecting, are you expecting to deploy resources in concentrated areas, not talking about surrounding events that may happen, but on day-to-day, as we saw before - Tuesday through Friday in a place - is that part of an ongoing strategy, or have we seen the last of that? [00:46:16] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: It has to be a little bit of both. And so I'll give you an example - some of where people have seen us focus have been in areas where there have been increases in gun violence - and so Third Avenue is an example. So what people saw is they saw us move the mobile precinct to the Third Avenue area right after we had two incidents - two pretty painful incidents - of gun violence deaths in that area. And what that additional patrol allowed us to do was to be able to add more investigative resources to both of those cases. And we've made - we have two suspects that have been arrested for both of those shootings on Third Avenue where - it was an area that there was an increased amount of gun violence. And two, all murders are painful. It is particularly challenging when one of them is really just a child, a 15-year old. And because of the police work that we - the police and the officers were able to put in that area - to be able to canvass and collect the camera information from in and around the area, we were able to bring forth two suspects in both of those murders. And so, that is part of the job. It's not just about patrolling for what is happening in the moment. It's also patrolling and doing the detective work to solve crimes that we know have been happening in that area, that families will want answers for. [00:48:14] Crystal Fincher: Well, I think that's an excellent point. I actually think there's a very strong case to be made for increasing the deployment of resources in investigative roles. It seems like that's actually an area of unique specialty and opportunity, and results that come from that can yield long-lasting results. So it feels like people in the City see that, it seems like that's been widely acknowledged. However, when we have these conversations about - hey, we're short staffing, the conversations are - we have to move people out of these investigative roles, these victim liaison and services roles - a lot of things that get at preventing behavior from people who are currently doing it. So does it make sense to continue to move people away from those investigative roles onto patrol, especially in these conversations as we continue to identify areas where patrol doesn't seem like the most effective intervention? [00:49:29] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Yeah, we need both. It's - this is the Catch-22. We need both. We have to find ways to be able to, in some ways, tamp down ongoing incidents. And sometimes the presence of a mobile precinct can do that, can be a little bit of what just helps take some of the fire out of the air. There's some things that we've done over the course of the last few years - back in the olden times when people used to go out, for example, and they talked about - well, instead of everything closing at the same time every night, what if we were to stagger release hours from some of the different clubs and bars? For the young people listening, who don't remember what clubs and bars are, and that was a way to not push everybody who might have a little bit of alcohol in their system out into the street at the same time. So we are having to do a little bit of column A a little bit of column B because we have imperfect resources. [00:50:40] Crystal Fincher: Well, and seem to be saying - we need to do all we can to meet patrol numbers, and we will take from other areas to deploy on patrol - that's what the chief was saying. Should we continue taking, or should we rebalance, because both are going to happen. Should we be deploying back in the detective arena and investing more in actually trying to solve some of these crimes and find some of the people who are doing them? [00:51:16] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: For those people who are trained to be detectives, we are doing everything we can to get them back to their primary functions. And in the meantime, taking a try to do-no-harm approach, which is in not letting people continue to get victimized as we're trying to do that. And that's why I said it's gotta be a little from column A and a little from column B, because we have to solve crimes that have occurred and we have to do what we can to prevent additional crimes from occurring. Not everybody is trained to be a detective, but for those who have those trainings and have those skills, we want to be able to give them all of the resources we can to get them back on those jobs. [00:52:05] Crystal Fincher: And you've been very generous with your time - we are just about to wrap up. I think the last question - we could cover a ton - but appreciate getting through the chunk that we did today. You talk about some of those emphasis patrols or areas where more resources are being deployed - whatever name it's going by. With those, there was a press conference that even Chief Diaz seemed to acknowledge that those increased patrols and having the mobile unit nearby does have an effect on that area during that time. But he brought up instances in this current iteration, and certainly we've seen in prior iterations, where the result isn't that the crime stops, it moves to other neighborhoods. And it sets up a situation where it looks like - for moneyed interests, for downtown interests, they're getting super special police deployments in the name of safety. And sure it may improve things on that block while those police are there, but it actually is moving that activity elsewhere in the City. And he said they were working on trying to track that. And are we succeeding? Is that the best expenditure of resources if that's the result that we're getting, which is seemingly - hey sure, maybe a win for those businesses on that block, but a loss for the neighborhood and the residents that are receiving that activity. Should we - is that the most effective way to address that? Is that the most equitable way to address that for everybody in the City? [00:54:03] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: I would say that there is still a benefit to having those resources visible and available. And think about when somebody - there might be an area where people are used to speeding and then they put up the electronic board that says you're going this fast, and it reminds people to slow down. Sometimes the visual cues that we use for some of the public safety is just - you're in this area and you might have something that might pop off, but just calm down. It's a visual reminder to calm down, a visual reminder. And that doesn't necessarily always move someplace else, but it can be a reminder to - this is not your time and this is not your moment. We can't stop every single incident from occurring, but we certainly want to be able to give people pause before they might do something that would be regrettable later. So, it's not the perfect system. It's certainly not the perfect system, but there are benefits across the board if we can get people to think about how they might seek help, or how maybe just the presence can calm people down, or how we can even regain a sense of normalcy to an area that might draw in more foot traffic - and where there is more foot traffic and more positive activity than in the absence of nothing which can create some negative activity. We're bringing people back to an area that would allow us to get some good activity back on the streets. One of the best approaches for public safety, quite candidly, is for people to start going out again - filling up those spaces with positive activity, filling up those spaces with positive engagement - because where you have more eyes and positive activity, you actually need less policing. [00:56:24] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely true. And I guess my question is, even in a situation where - okay, you do that, you intimidate someone away and they aren't doing that there. In the instance that they're then moving somewhere else, we have not necessarily successfully intervened in their activity, but have moved it. [00:56:49] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: I don't think it's a hundred percent though. I do think that there are places where you can put in positive activity and attract positive activity response. So I think about some of our young folks where the hours where they would get in the most trouble would be those immediate hours after school. If they are in a space that is filled with positive activity, then perhaps they will adopt and take on that positive activity. If they're in a space where there is negative activity, then they can take on that negative activity. That's the case where it's not just it would move to a different place. It's - you're giving idle hands an opportunity to do something more productive. And that's what I'm talking about filling that positive activity space - not everybody would necessarily fill that space with the sort of activity that we wouldn't care for if we get more more positive engagement in those areas. [00:57:47] Crystal Fincher: I certainly agree about the benefit of positive engagement. I am certainly hoping that maybe we can envision a time where we actually deploy resources surrounding positive activities and positive connection to opportunities - in that kind of emphasis patrol and intervention that we have. But I appreciate the time that you've taken to speak with us and help us understand better what's going on in the City and what you're up to, and certainly look forward to following as we continue to go along. [00:58:27] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Well, this is a conversation, it's a dialogue. We've got a lot of work to do. There's no one group that has all of the answers, and so I appreciate the opportunity to come on and speak with you. And I know we get a lot of feedback and that's good, because we listened to the feedback and we'll make adjustments as we go along, but we're trying to do everything we can to make sure that we get the City back on track. [00:58:54] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. Okay, I'm going to sneak in one more question. You talk about you get a lot of feedback - is there something that people can do, or a way to engage that you think is a great opportunity to get involved in making a difference, helping to create positive change, helping to keep our streets safer? Is there one thing that you would recommend that they could do to be a part of that? [00:59:14] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: I'm going to give you two things. So the first thing is I'm going to mention our One Seattle Day of Service on May 21st, and just say that it's more than about just cleaning up some aspects of our city and helping us put some positive activity out there. It's also about a sense of building community with one another - that we're really hoping that everybody who comes to the Day of Service will find somebody new that they haven't connected with, that they haven't built community with and be willing to reconnect with society in doing some positive work together. So I'll talk about that because I think that there are significant benefits to our mental health - to rebuild positive social skills and positive social relationships. So that's one thing that if people were like, I don't have a lot of time on my calendar, but I can commit to a couple hours on one day. And then the other thing that I would say is - we need to return to the old scripture - being our brother's keeper. And that may mean reaching out to nonprofit organizations that are doing this great work. We will help their dollar stretch farther when we provide them resources through serving on boards, through providing hands-on activity or volunteer opportunities to help them further their missions. And so anything that we can do to pitch in and to add - whether or not that is - maybe even it's reaching out and having lunch with a young person and providing them paths that they might not have otherwise thought of, letting them know young or old - quite candidly in this one - that somebody out there cares and will listen to them. We have a lot of - our older folks - and I know you are wrapping up, I'm sorry - but I'm just gonna make this one last pitch. We have a lot of older folks who've actually struggled through this pandemic. They have suffered from withdrawal because their social structures have been pulled from them, and older folks who withdraw from society have higher instances of high blood pressure and hypertension - all of those things that result from depression and not having a social network around you, can result in physical health loss as well as mental health loss. And so being a part of - I know it's a tough time period because COVID is still out there, but the ability to reconnect with one another as humans - social skills deteriorate a little bit when we're not with each other. And so just taking these moments to rebuild our social skills, having some patience with each other, but rebuilding them together. When our City gets healthier in all aspects, especially mentally healthier, we'll be able to help each other better. [01:02:26] Crystal Fincher: I agree with that. Thank you so much for your time, Monisha. [01:02:30] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Thank you. [01:02:31] Crystal Fincher: I thank you all for listening to Hacks & Wonks on KVRU 105.7 FM. The producer of Hacks & Wonks is Lisl Stadler with assistance from Shannon Cheng. You can find me on Twitter @finchfrii, spelled F-I-N-C-H-F-R-I-I. Now you can follow Hacks & Wonks on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts - just type "Hacks & Wonks" into the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to get our Friday almost-live shows and our midweek show delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, leave a review wherever you listen to Hacks & Wonks. You can also get a full transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced in the show at officialhacksandwonks.com and in the episode notes. Thanks for tuning in - we'll talk to you next time.

On this midweek show, Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell joins Crystal for an extensive conversation about public safety in Seattle. Their discussion ranges from how to handle an officer shortage with a long hiring pipeline, the Harrell administration's approach to encampment sweeps, how safety involves more than just policing, and the thought process on creating a third department (beyond Fire and Police). The importance of negotiating the SPOG contract in removing obstacles to progress is covered, as well as the thinking behind hotspot policing and strategic use of limited public safety resources. The show wraps up with what steps we can all take to help create positive change and make our streets safer. As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. Find the host, Crystal, on Twitter at @finchfrii and find Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell at @RuleSeven.   Resources “Seattle clears Woodland Park homeless encampment after months of trying to place people into shelter” by Greg Kim from The Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/homeless/seattle-clears-woodland-park-homeless-encampment-after-months-of-trying-to-place-people-into-shelter/   “Harrell Outlines Public Safety Strategies: Expanding Policing, ‘Hot Spots' Focus, Police Response Alternatives” by Elizabeth Turnbull from the South Seattle Emerald: https://southseattleemerald.com/2022/02/04/harrell-outlines-public-safety-strategies-expanding-policing-hot-spots-focus-police-response-alternatives/   Community Police Commission (CPC) - Police Accountability Recommendations Tracker (PART): https://www.seattle.gov/community-police-commission/our-work/recommendations-tracker   Community Police Commission (CPC) - Accountability Ordinance Tracker: https://www.seattle.gov/community-police-commission/our-work/accountability-ordinance-tracker   Washington State Office of Independent Investigations - Final Bill Report for ESHB 1267: https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2021-22/Pdf/Bill%20Reports/House/1267-S.E%20HBR%20FBR%2021.pdf?q=20220517001510   “Harrell Touts Arrests at Longtime Downtown Hot Spot in ‘Operation New Day' Announcement” by Paul Kiefer from PubliCola: https://publicola.com/2022/03/04/harrell-touts-arrests-at-longtime-downtown-hot-spot-in-operation-new-day-announcement/   “Harrell says he ‘inherited a mess,' will solve crime issues by putting arrests first, social services second” by Sarah Grace Taylor from The Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/harrell-says-he-inherited-a-mess-will-solve-crime-issues-by-putting-arrests-first-social-services-second/   One Seattle Day of Service - May 21: https://www.seattle.gov/mayor/one-seattle-initiatives/day-of-service Transcript [00:00:00] Crystal Fincher: Welcome to Hacks & Wonks. I'm Crystal Fincher, and I'm a political consultant and your host. On this show, we talk with policy wonks and political hacks to gather insight into local politics and policy in Washington State through the lens of those doing the work with behind-the-scenes perspectives on what's happening, why it's happening, and what you can do about it. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show are always available at officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes. Well today, I'm pleased to welcome Senior Deputy Mayor of Seattle, Monisha Harrell, back to the program. Welcome back. [00:00:47] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Thanks for having me. [00:00:48] Crystal Fincher: Thanks for coming. Well, I suppose this is your first time as the Senior Deputy Mayor - your many, many previous roles and titles and accolades from before this proceeded you - but now you're in the role of Senior Deputy Mayor of Seattle in the Bruce Harrell administration. And how's it going? [00:01:12] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: It's been a fast four and a half months - I think it's a little bit like dog years - each week feels like a year, and there's nothing like on-the-job learning. [00:01:27] Crystal Fincher: Nothing like on-the-job learning. Now, what are you doing? What are you responsible for? [00:01:33] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: So my portfolio includes Fire, Police, Office of Emergency Management, Office of Intergovernmental Relations, Budget, and HR. [00:01:51] Crystal Fincher: And nothing else - that's it? [00:01:55] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: I have a few things. I have a few things in the - I say anything that'll wake you up in the middle of the night is in my portfolio. It's helpful to have all those things in one place, and we're trying to envision the future of the City. There's a lot of work that has followed me from my previous experiences that I now have an opportunity to be able to put some of that visioning into practice in helping to lead the City, so it's exciting. I like it. It's a new take on some work that I've been doing for a long time. [00:02:32] Crystal Fincher: Well and you've certainly worked in several areas of the public safety spectrum in several different roles. Now this is part of your portfolio in this role. So I do want to talk about just the - a number of things - starting in terms of public safety and the conversations that we're having - that are lively and starting off conversations, just this week, with regard to staffing in SPD and moving forward. And I think, as we're looking about it, certainly we've talked on the program before about it - whether or not people agree with the need for more SPD officers, the City is moving forward with hiring more SPD officers and talking about that being part of the solution, or your plan for helping to make people safer. But with that, even if we were to hire 50 people today, that is actually a really long pipeline and those folks aren't going to be making it onto the streets for a while. So if we're talking about public safety, that might be a solution for the fall or next year, but what - short of adding more officers, which can't happen - can be done right now to help intervene in the rising crime levels. [00:03:58] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Yeah, that's a good question. We have to prepare for the short-, mid-, and long-term. And so one of the things that we've been doing in the short-term is civilianizing some positions that were previously certified positions. And so that helps us to be able to spread out our resources a little bit more - taking some internal positions, be they administrative or other, where we've asked - does this position need to be a law enforcement officer, a certified law enforcement officer, or can this be a civilian or a civilianized position and moving those to civilianized positions? So that is a short term solution - we are currently working on that, the chief has currently been working on that for the last several months. And so we're working through extending our resources through that. And that's a great long-term solution as well - analyzing what has to be a certified position and what can be a civilianized position. In the midterm, we do have to recruit folks to be willing to go into the academy. And policing across the country - there's a shortage of officers across the country. I don't know one department right now that is fully subscribed, that has all of the officers that it needs. We have seen a lot of people, especially officers, leaving the workforce over the course of the last couple of years. It's been a toll. It's been a toll on absolutely everybody. And in particular, as we've been having discussions - deep, deep discussions - around policing and the future of policing, some people in the profession have taken a look at whether or not they want to continue in that line of service. Some have been retirement age and some have decided that they want to take different paths - but those are all culminating in this moment. We have people - good people - who have reached an inflection point in their life and want to do something different. Some of them may turn towards policing, many of them have turned to other ways to support and help the community. So we have to talk to - and on the long end of the pipeline, it's talking to a lot of our young folks and seeing if there are people who want to be part of the future of what policing will be. And not looking at what it is now, but looking at what it could be for the future - and being a part of that, and being willing to step into something that is wholly uncertain at this moment. What policing is today is different than it was 10, 20 years ago, will be different than what it will be 10, 20 years from now. And so there has to be a willingness to embrace some of the uncertainty and wanting to be - and be willing to be - a part of what it could be in the future and shaping that. [00:07:15] Crystal Fincher: So is it possible to make people safer in the existing staffing footprint that we're going to be dealing with for the near term? [00:07:25] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Safer is - I think safer involves more than just policing. Safer involves getting more mental health support, safer involves better conflict resolution solutions beyond guns, safer is never going to be a police-only solution - and so we have to, candidly, be able to walk and chew gum in terms of yes, working on our policing shortages and working on shoring up our mental health systems, our physical health systems. Acknowledging that even if we have community members who had food on their table, a roof over their heads, jobs to attend to, their financial needs - the last couple of years haven't left many people in better mental and physical health than they were prior to 2020. And so even those who have had all of the means are still going to be unstable in some way and need help and need support. So safety really looks like - how do we build a larger support system and safety net to even catch those who wouldn't otherwise be considered vulnerable? [00:09:12] Crystal Fincher: Well, you know I agree with that. And I guess that's why it has been confounding in some of the actions that have been taken, whether it's some of the hotspot policing or the sweeps of encampments, where there certainly has been a lot of talk about having those kinds of supports and interventions and people reaching out to be there, but that being absent in so many of those situations where we are seeing predominantly public safety-led, and some of those situations only law enforcement-led, sweep or intervention. And looking at whether that can effectively address the problem and whether that's really delivering on the vision that you laid out. How do you explain that? [00:10:06] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Absolutely. So I think that people only see a portion and it's really hard. People only see a portion of what we're doing - of what any administration or any government agency is doing. Some of the things that are not as readily accessible is how much transitional housing we have actually opened up and made available over the course of the last few months - we have done an amazing job in terms of making transitional housing available and getting people into that transitional housing. In terms of some of the encampment removals, we've made a tremendous number of referrals and we've gotten people help and support that have been on the streets for years. Some of these stories of people being living on the streets for five years - that is never going to be a success. It's not a success that somebody lives in the street in the same spot for five years. That is an absolute dead end, and we should never be satisfied with somebody having that as an outcome and that as an option. And we have done quite a bit, this administration has done quite a bit, in terms of getting resources to many of those folks. [00:11:27] Crystal Fincher: So are you disputing that some of those have taken place without that outreach taken, done at first? Are you saying that that has occurred with all of them? [00:11:39] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Every person has been given the opportunity for support services - they're offered that. They don't always take it, and some people might not be in a place to be able to take it at that time period. I will talk a little bit about the Woodland Park encampment removal. There were, I think, 85 referrals made from the Woodland Park encampment. And those are real offers of help that we're getting out to folks in that we're making spaces available for them to be able to come indoors. Not everybody is ready for that, and certainly there were - there have been more people who have come on site who have needed help and support, and we're still working on getting supports for those folks. But when we have something open, we're trying to get people in it. [00:12:41] Crystal Fincher: So would it then be a fair characterization to say, in the case of an encampment sweep or a hotspot enforcement, if - or I guess that's a different situation - looking at encampment sweep. If a person there hasn't had contact with a, whether it's a caseworker or service provider - someone with a connection to services available to them if they are ready to go, that meet their circumstances, that they meet the qualifications to go into. If that doesn't happen, that is not your policy, that would be something going wrong in the process and not what you had ordered to be carried out? [00:13:32] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: So we don't have as many resources to allow people to pick their exact type of transitional housing. There have been times where we've said, there is a tiny home available and people might decline that because they would rather have a hotel, or there might be a tiny home available within a particular village and they don't want to go to that area of town. We don't have control over all of the inventory available, but we make something available. [00:14:09] Crystal Fincher: So something is always available for someone? [00:14:13] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: When we are doing - when we are doing removals, we make offers of support. There is a crew that goes out in advance that makes an offer of support prior to the removal. [00:14:26] Crystal Fincher: And so one of the issues, and it's been covered - in looking at offers of support. There seem to be some disconnects in what is available and what people need. And some really understandable and justifiable reasons why people may not be able to go to a shelter. Sometimes the situation may be - hey, shelter requires people be in by 7:00 or 8:00 PM, I have a job that requires me to be there later or to leave earlier. And so I can't keep my job and both go into the shelter. Obviously, keeping the job is something that preserves a pathway into housing. In those situations, does the City have a responsibility to find something more suitable, or to wait on sweeping them until there is something more suitable available? [00:15:25] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: So the removals are based on a number of different criteria and we'll be sharing more about that criteria in the coming weeks. There are some occasions where there is a safety reason to need to engage in a removal. And some of those safety reasons might be if there is a lot of - if there are some gun violence in that area or if there has been - and I'm just going off of specific instances that have increased the need for removals - if there was a sexual harassment, sexual assault incident within an encampment. There are any number of reasons - a number of fires that have been occurring in an encampment - those might be public safety reasons where we would prioritize dispersement in those cases. And so we use all of the resources that we have available - doesn't mean that we're going to have exactly what they need at that moment. We do our absolute best. Some people will be able to tell us what they are hoping for and if there's a match, we will try to match it. But this is also where the Regional Homelessness Authority comes in. This is part of taking the regional solution - we have 84 square miles in the City of Seattle to be able to accommodate folks. There is more housing available outside the region, and we want to make sure that there are options available for folks all over. That's part of why, when I refer to something like the Woodland Park encampment - we had services for everybody that was at Woodland Park during the time that we took the inventory of the area. Those people received housing and new people came in because they knew that the people at that encampment were able to access housing. And so we're trying to get to as many places and as many people as we possibly can, and we need the support and the help of the regional authority to be able to bring their resources to bear, to be able to get more transitional housing faster. [00:18:05] Crystal Fincher: Gotcha. In terms of just community-based interventions overall, certainly some of those are useful in and addressing some of the issues that the unhoused population is dealing with, others are direct interventions to help prevent crime and people from being victimized - with lots of evidence to show that they're very effective interventions. And the Harrell administration - you have talked about the intention to establish that - it looks like the last place where that left off was Mayor Harrell saying that there was an evaluation of some of the partners and service providers that you would potentially be working with. Where does that stand and what is that evaluation based on? [00:18:58] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Yeah, we're asking a lot of our providers to share with us what they've been doing with the resources that they are being provided by the City. And we're looking at the effectiveness rate - the rates with which people are able to support the community based on the resources provided. We had two - I don't want to call them necessarily summits, they weren't really summits - but they were information fact-gathering sessions with the providers who are doing that work - to be able to let them tell us how they're able to use their resources, and what else we could do to support them in their work. [00:19:53] Crystal Fincher: So what are you hearing from that? [00:19:56] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: We are hearing a lot of need, quite candidly. There is a lot of need, particularly in and around as we spoke about earlier, mental health supports, emotional supports. Some folks are meeting communities' need to just be connected with one another in order to better manage their challenges. And we're really trying to assess who has set up systems to be able to make greater advances with more resources if they were provided to them. There are certainly some services that I think people have heard quite a bit about that have had pretty good levels of success, and we're trying to figure out how to get some of those organizations more resources. And there are some organizations candidly that didn't fare as well through the pandemic, where their organizations might not be as strong as they were before and they may be in a position where they have to regroup before they're ready to receive more supports from the City. So we're evaluating all of those things, but we've seen a lot of really good things out there. Organizations like JustCare, for example, they've been able to remain pretty steady and and do some great work across the City. And certainly they've been resourced to do some great work, but we're looking at all of the, all of our providers out there who have a part of the puzzle piece that we need in this moment. [00:21:51] Crystal Fincher: So in short - taking a look at, hey, you've had resources. Have you demonstrated that you have used the tax dollars that you've received to further the mission and deliver results, when it comes to tangible increases in prevention of crime, interventions, reduction of recidivism - metrics like that. [00:22:18] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Absolutely. And then also looking at whether or not we've got the right mix. Do we have enough across the spectrum of the needs that are required? Do we have enough in the healthcare arena, both mental and physical? Do we have enough in the internship and apprenticeship arena to ensure that particularly folks have access to being able to set up their futures for themselves? Those are all of the things that we have to look at because we have a finite number of resources - as a city, we have to manage and take care of all of our basic functions. And then what we have, we have to be really - we have to really pay attention to - are we using these dollars effectively because we don't have the endless pot that we would want. [00:23:11] Crystal Fincher: Right. So basically, are you getting a bang for your buck, is the money that you're spending resulting in safer streets? [00:23:20] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Exactly. And not just safer streets, but prosperity for those who have access. Part of safer streets is - there are components of economic justice that are related to that. I don't think people - if they have to resort to any sort of stealing, I don't think they do it because they want to do it. I think they do it because there is a need that's not being met, so how else can we meet that need? Is it through additional education? Is it through apprenticeships? So stronger work opportunities, better paying jobs, access to education - we have to look at that whole ecosystem because it's not one lever. If it was one lever, somebody would've pulled it a long time ago. [00:24:13] Crystal Fincher: That makes sense. And as I look at it, especially with - looking at the money that we're putting into community-based interventions, it is not an unlimited budget, need to make sure that that money is delivering a result. It makes sense to do the same thing with the police department, doesn't it? Are you using that same kind of evaluation to determine if the police department should receive more funding, if we should pull back and redirect to other areas? [00:24:42] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: And that's exactly what we were doing when I mentioned earlier - looking at positions and seeing which positions can be civilianized, looking at the job functions and trying to evaluate whether or not those job functions need to be certified in order to be effective. And so we're looking at the whole ecosystem of that. One of the things that I think we talked about before was the third department that would be on par with Police and Fire. What does that third department look like? What services still need to be met in an emergency situation that we need to dispatch, where Police or Fire are not the solution in that instance? We've talked about the history of EMTs and EMS, where you would no longer send police to a heart attack, but there was a time period where that's exactly what you did. And so we're looking at what are the calls that don't need a a law enforcement response or a fire response? What are the needs that are not being met and how do we put that department together? We're working on that - our goal, our hope is to have a white paper and structure for that third department by the end of this year, that we would then begin to structure in 2023 for a 2024 deployment. [00:26:16] Crystal Fincher: So then am I hearing that it's a possibility that some of those community-based interventions, non-law enforcement-based interventions may be made functions of the City within a public safety department that doesn't have a sworn officer. So you're looking to build up that infrastructure. So that actually may not occur from service providers that you're partnering with today? That may be an internal thing? [00:26:45] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Absolutely. It's also part of - what I will say is - we are looking at the functions that are provided and of course, if that's the case, the third department will be just, will be a professional entity, just like fire and law enforcement - where there will be a curriculum and a program and the proper certifications for whatever is needed within that body of work. It will be a professionalized entity that is able to respond to 911 calls that meet their unique skillset. [00:27:20] Crystal Fincher: Okay. Have you received - which makes sense - have you received pushback from SPD on civilianizing parts of it? There were some - there was a recent report about responses to 911 calls potentially being handled by alternate responders that they recently pushed back on. Are you hearing that, and how are you working through that? [00:27:44] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: I think that's natural and I think that's to be expected. It is part of - would I want that? No, I want everybody to work together and I think by and large people are working together. But it's the job of their police union to push and try to negotiate and try to get as much for their members as they possibly can. We know that some of it is founded, and some of it is just part of what they have to do in trying to negotiate for their next upcoming contracts. What they see is - they might see - well, that used to be a body of work that pertained to us, and we don't want to lose that body of work. But the truth of the matter is policing is many different professions rolled under one title. They're not all the same. Somebody who is on a beat isn't necessarily trained to be an effective detective. Somebody who might be doing homicide might not be right for a domestic assault. There are different skillsets, there are different trainings - and depending upon the line that an officer wants to go into, they might need a different career development path. So we really have to look at the body of work and whether or not it fits in with solving some of those crimes and getting justice in that way and if not, there might be instances where the presence of a uniform could escalate a situation. And there's somebody who has not got a weapon on the other side - then we don't want to send a certified officer into that particular situation - that might not be a best fit for them. We know that labor will want to negotiate that and those are some things that we'll have to address. And there are some where labor might want to negotiate that and we say - but that's not, that's not within the purview of your scope anyway. So it's a conversation. [00:30:18] Crystal Fincher: It's a conversation. And as you just brought up, that conversation is about to be codified into a new Seattle Police Officers Guild contract, and you will be at the negotiating table. And there there's been lots of discussions in the greater conversation about the role that police officers have and the larger public safety conversation and how and whether their interventions do result in people being less likely to be victimized. Lots of conversations about what is appropriate, what's not appropriate to be in a contract, what oversight should be more independent and not internal. So I guess starting out, are there, especially in light of the prior public safety ordinance that had a lot of reforms in there - some of them rolled back with the contract - are you looking to reimplement those? What approach are you taking in this negotiation? [00:31:27] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: So our prioritization is absolutely on accountability. We have to move forward aggressively on accountability for many different reasons, not not the least of which is we have a consent decree that - at this moment, it's not benefiting the City or the people of the City to still have this as an operating standard or practice for the City. It reminds me of - there's this old Thomas Jefferson quote that kind of refers to - if you wear the clothes, if you try to wear the clothes that fits you as a boy as a man, it doesn't work. And to me, that's where we are with the consent decree - we are 10 years into this and those clothes no longer fit - we have moved well beyond that. And if we want to get to what the future of policing is, we need to move past this past that is not even close to the picture of where we want to be. And so it has to be a prioritization on accountability - that has to be everything. And I know some people - going back to the other part of what we were talking about - some people will want to jump ahead and say, well, let's negotiate what the third department looks like and the trading off of those roles. The police contract is only three years and we're already one year into a three-year contract. We can negotiate the roles of that next contract in the next cycle. We're one year into a three-year contract, so we have to focus on accountability - that has to be our number one goal. And then once we get the right accountability measures in place, within the next contract we can start negotiating roles and responsibilities as pertains to what might be a third public safety department. [00:33:45] Crystal Fincher: There've been several recommendations related to collective bargaining from lots of entities, including the CPC. Some of those including fully implementing the reforms in the accountability law, removing limits on civilianization of OPA and ensuring civilian investigators have the same powers as their sworn counterparts, removing clauses in the contract that take precedence over local laws including that accountability ordinance, the police being empowered to place an employee on leave without pay, and ensuring OPA has authority to investigate allegations of criminal misconduct. Do you agree that those should be implemented in this new contract? [00:34:37] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: You named so many that I just want to say that the answer is yes. But let me - that's bad radio to be like, the answer is just yes - but the answer is yes. And I'll just pull out a couple of them that are of particular interest - civilianization of investigators at OPA - I think that is something that we need to seriously explore for many different reasons, but let me just go on a couple. One of which is - the statewide Office of Independent Investigations that we'll eventually move to - it was envisioned to eventually be a civilianized body so that there were no conflicts of interest in those investigations. And we have to look at the same thing for SPD - that these are officers that are being forced to investigate their fellow officers. That can't be a good place to be. It can't be a good place to be to - you're working in one department and you're working alongside your team, and then you move and have a rotation to the next department. And in that next rotation, you're having to investigate the people that you were just working alongside of. And I use this example because - no matter how many firewalls you put up, there is always going to be the potential - and a strong potential - for conflict of interest. Crystal, you and I have known each other for a really long time and - we're not that old, we've known each other for a little while - and we would both do our jobs if we had to do an investigation. And yet I think that the way that we've crossed paths over the years, it would be really hard to be an absolutely unbiased independent investigator if something were to come up, because I know you're a good person. And I wouldn't believe that you would do anything terrible, so it would be hard for me to say and now I want to investigate you. And then when my rotation in this department is over, now I just want to go back to working alongside you. That's a tough place to be. And I think that exploring the civilianization of investigators at OPA - it protects us from some of those potential conflicts of interest, and we really have to take a hard look at that. [00:37:04] Crystal Fincher: And not just civilianization, but giving them - removing the limits to make sure that they have the same power and authority in all instances of investigation. Because I think that's been a frustrating part - to be like, well, I'm not part of the police department - even the elements that are civilians just being kneecapped and not having the authority to fully investigate or to make any recommendations that hold any weight. Is that part of your vision, and what you plan to negotiate is also providing them with that authority? [00:37:47] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Absolutely. And again, following the statewide model of the Office of Independent Investigations that will follow the same path. We'll see who races each other first to that finish line, but very much following the same model. And the one thing I want to just clarify for folks - sometimes people hear the term "civilianization" and they think sloppy or not as professional - we are talking about professional investigators that just may not be certified officers. And there are a ton of highly trained professional investigators in a lot of different professions that could have skillsets that apply to the work that would be needed for these types of investigations. I'll give you an example is - there's always forensic auditors for things like financial accounting crimes - they may not be law enforcement officers, but they are trained professionals in forensic accounting who can help with some of this criminal problem solving. There could be people who are forensic anthropologists or other such things, who know how to contain a crime scene and who know how to collect the evidence. When we say civilianized, we're not talking about anything less than the highest level of professionalism. It just means that they are not trained officers in the way that they would respond to an immediate and imminent crisis. [00:39:28] Crystal Fincher: That makes sense and is certainly valid. We've seen that operate very successfully in similar areas. And I think an even bigger deal - we're seeing the current system not working, so a change is in order. So is that a red line for you in this negotiation? Is that something that you're starting with as a foundational this is where we need to be? [00:39:54] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: It will probably take us, it will take us more than this contract to get to a fully civilianized team, investigative team at OPA, but we certainly want to begin to move in that direction where we have very professional civilian investigators available to us for that work. And I believe that there's going to be a bigger demand for that particular career going forward. I do believe that sometimes Seattle is on the frontline of a lot of this work, but where and how we make these things successful, we will see them roll out in other areas across the state and across the country. [00:40:44] Crystal Fincher: So it's possible that we walk out on the other side of this contract and there are still situations where the police are investigating themselves. [00:40:53] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: For certain things. So, as the Office of Independent Investigation gets set up, they will take all lethal use of force - that will go to the state regardless - that body of work will go to the state. As pertains to any accusations of sexual harassment or sexual assault, that will go to the state. So we are going to, we absolutely will honor state law. And quite honestly, I think folks should be grateful that the state is doing that work. I think that what they're setting up will be revolutionary in order to ensuring that we have unbiased, less-biased investigations. And do I believe you can eliminate bias 100% entirely? I would love to say yes, I don't know if that's ever completely possible, but I think we can get to a system that is more accountable and more transparent for everybody involved. [00:42:02] Crystal Fincher: As we look forward in the short-term and some of the interventions that are going, do you expect a continuation or more deployments of the hotspot policing strategy? [00:42:18] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: I think that while we have limited resources, we have to be really strategic about where and how we deploy them. And so, I wouldn't call it hotspot policing because it's a little more nuanced than that, but what I would say is when you have limited resources, you have to be really, really strategic about where and how you deploy them. And that's what we're having to do - we're having to look at the areas that are in the greatest need and providing resources to those areas in those moments. And so we look at things like - what are the big events coming up in and around the City and how do we deploy in order to make sure that yes, we can cover the Mariners game, the Sounders game, a concert at Climate Pledge, because we are short-staffed and that there's no quick way to make up for that. This has been a while in the making and even if we had all of the body signed up right now, we still only have one Criminal Justice Training Center to run all of the state's recruits through. So we're going to have to be strategic for a little while - we can't, we don't have the staffing at every precinct and in every neighborhood that we would want to have. And so that means looking at what is on our social calendars, trying to get people back to normal, right? This is - it has been many years since we've had a full cadre of parades and outdoor events, and we want people to be able to get back into life again and get back into life safely. So how do we have the Torchlight Parade with such a limited number of officers available to staff? How do we have one of my favorites, the Pride Parade, with a limited number of officers to staff? So we really have to be a lot more strategic and it means that we really have to look at the chess board. I think what people see are hotspots and it's not as much hotspots as we have to be more predictive about where we go and strategically plan for that. [00:45:01] Crystal Fincher: And I can see that - I guess the challenge, as you articulate that, the mayor certainly articulated certain spots that were spots of emphasis that were going to be receiving increased patrols and resources and have folks stationed basically there full-time to, I think as he talks about, calm the area. So it seems like there have been point - that kind of thing has been referred to by lots of different terms, whether it's a hotspot or an emphasis patrol or however we want to characterize it, we are focusing our admittedly limited number of resources in a concentrated area. And are we expecting, are you expecting to deploy resources in concentrated areas, not talking about surrounding events that may happen, but on day-to-day, as we saw before - Tuesday through Friday in a place - is that part of an ongoing strategy, or have we seen the last of that? [00:46:16] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: It has to be a little bit of both. And so I'll give you an example - some of where people have seen us focus have been in areas where there have been increases in gun violence - and so Third Avenue is an example. So what people saw is they saw us move the mobile precinct to the Third Avenue area right after we had two incidents - two pretty painful incidents - of gun violence deaths in that area. And what that additional patrol allowed us to do was to be able to add more investigative resources to both of those cases. And we've made - we have two suspects that have been arrested for both of those shootings on Third Avenue where - it was an area that there was an increased amount of gun violence. And two, all murders are painful. It is particularly challenging when one of them is really just a child, a 15-year old. And because of the police work that we - the police and the officers were able to put in that area - to be able to canvass and collect the camera information from in and around the area, we were able to bring forth two suspects in both of those murders. And so, that is part of the job. It's not just about patrolling for what is happening in the moment. It's also patrolling and doing the detective work to solve crimes that we know have been happening in that area, that families will want answers for. [00:48:14] Crystal Fincher: Well, I think that's an excellent point. I actually think there's a very strong case to be made for increasing the deployment of resources in investigative roles. It seems like that's actually an area of unique specialty and opportunity, and results that come from that can yield long-lasting results. So it feels like people in the City see that, it seems like that's been widely acknowledged. However, when we have these conversations about - hey, we're short staffing, the conversations are - we have to move people out of these investigative roles, these victim liaison and services roles - a lot of things that get at preventing behavior from people who are currently doing it. So does it make sense to continue to move people away from those investigative roles onto patrol, especially in these conversations as we continue to identify areas where patrol doesn't seem like the most effective intervention? [00:49:29] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Yeah, we need both. It's - this is the Catch-22. We need both. We have to find ways to be able to, in some ways, tamp down ongoing incidents. And sometimes the presence of a mobile precinct can do that, can be a little bit of what just helps take some of the fire out of the air. There's some things that we've done over the course of the last few years - back in the olden times when people used to go out, for example, and they talked about - well, instead of everything closing at the same time every night, what if we were to stagger release hours from some of the different clubs and bars? For the young people listening, who don't remember what clubs and bars are, and that was a way to not push everybody who might have a little bit of alcohol in their system out into the street at the same time. So we are having to do a little bit of column A a little bit of column B because we have imperfect resources. [00:50:40] Crystal Fincher: Well, and seem to be saying - we need to do all we can to meet patrol numbers, and we will take from other areas to deploy on patrol - that's what the chief was saying. Should we continue taking, or should we rebalance, because both are going to happen. Should we be deploying back in the detective arena and investing more in actually trying to solve some of these crimes and find some of the people who are doing them? [00:51:16] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: For those people who are trained to be detectives, we are doing everything we can to get them back to their primary functions. And in the meantime, taking a try to do-no-harm approach, which is in not letting people continue to get victimized as we're trying to do that. And that's why I said it's gotta be a little from column A and a little from column B, because we have to solve crimes that have occurred and we have to do what we can to prevent additional crimes from occurring. Not everybody is trained to be a detective, but for those who have those trainings and have those skills, we want to be able to give them all of the resources we can to get them back on those jobs. [00:52:05] Crystal Fincher: And you've been very generous with your time - we are just about to wrap up. I think the last question - we could cover a ton - but appreciate getting through the chunk that we did today. You talk about some of those emphasis patrols or areas where more resources are being deployed - whatever name it's going by. With those, there was a press conference that even Chief Diaz seemed to acknowledge that those increased patrols and having the mobile unit nearby does have an effect on that area during that time. But he brought up instances in this current iteration, and certainly we've seen in prior iterations, where the result isn't that the crime stops, it moves to other neighborhoods. And it sets up a situation where it looks like - for moneyed interests, for downtown interests, they're getting super special police deployments in the name of safety. And sure it may improve things on that block while those police are there, but it actually is moving that activity elsewhere in the City. And he said they were working on trying to track that. And are we succeeding? Is that the best expenditure of resources if that's the result that we're getting, which is seemingly - hey sure, maybe a win for those businesses on that block, but a loss for the neighborhood and the residents that are receiving that activity. Should we - is that the most effective way to address that? Is that the most equitable way to address that for everybody in the City? [00:54:03] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: I would say that there is still a benefit to having those resources visible and available. And think about when somebody - there might be an area where people are used to speeding and then they put up the electronic board that says you're going this fast, and it reminds people to slow down. Sometimes the visual cues that we use for some of the public safety is just - you're in this area and you might have something that might pop off, but just calm down. It's a visual reminder to calm down, a visual reminder. And that doesn't necessarily always move someplace else, but it can be a reminder to - this is not your time and this is not your moment. We can't stop every single incident from occurring, but we certainly want to be able to give people pause before they might do something that would be regrettable later. So, it's not the perfect system. It's certainly not the perfect system, but there are benefits across the board if we can get people to think about how they might seek help, or how maybe just the presence can calm people down, or how we can even regain a sense of normalcy to an area that might draw in more foot traffic - and where there is more foot traffic and more positive activity than in the absence of nothing which can create some negative activity. We're bringing people back to an area that would allow us to get some good activity back on the streets. One of the best approaches for public safety, quite candidly, is for people to start going out again - filling up those spaces with positive activity, filling up those spaces with positive engagement - because where you have more eyes and positive activity, you actually need less policing. [00:56:24] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely true. And I guess my question is, even in a situation where - okay, you do that, you intimidate someone away and they aren't doing that there. In the instance that they're then moving somewhere else, we have not necessarily successfully intervened in their activity, but have moved it. [00:56:49] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: I don't think it's a hundred percent though. I do think that there are places where you can put in positive activity and attract positive activity response. So I think about some of our young folks where the hours where they would get in the most trouble would be those immediate hours after school. If they are in a space that is filled with positive activity, then perhaps they will adopt and take on that positive activity. If they're in a space where there is negative activity, then they can take on that negative activity. That's the case where it's not just it would move to a different place. It's - you're giving idle hands an opportunity to do something more productive. And that's what I'm talking about filling that positive activity space - not everybody would necessarily fill that space with the sort of activity that we wouldn't care for if we get more more positive engagement in those areas. [00:57:47] Crystal Fincher: I certainly agree about the benefit of positive engagement. I am certainly hoping that maybe we can envision a time where we actually deploy resources surrounding positive activities and positive connection to opportunities - in that kind of emphasis patrol and intervention that we have. But I appreciate the time that you've taken to speak with us and help us understand better what's going on in the City and what you're up to, and certainly look forward to following as we continue to go along. [00:58:27] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Well, this is a conversation, it's a dialogue. We've got a lot of work to do. There's no one group that has all of the answers, and so I appreciate the opportunity to come on and speak with you. And I know we get a lot of feedback and that's good, because we listened to the feedback and we'll make adjustments as we go along, but we're trying to do everything we can to make sure that we get the City back on track. [00:58:54] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. Okay, I'm going to sneak in one more question. You talk about you get a lot of feedback - is there something that people can do, or a way to engage that you think is a great opportunity to get involved in making a difference, helping to create positive change, helping to keep our streets safer? Is there one thing that you would recommend that they could do to be a part of that? [00:59:14] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: I'm going to give you two things. So the first thing is I'm going to mention our One Seattle Day of Service on May 21st, and just say that it's more than about just cleaning up some aspects of our city and helping us put some positive activity out there. It's also about a sense of building community with one another - that we're really hoping that everybody who comes to the Day of Service will find somebody new that they haven't connected with, that they haven't built community with and be willing to reconnect with society in doing some positive work together. So I'll talk about that because I think that there are significant benefits to our mental health - to rebuild positive social skills and positive social relationships. So that's one thing that if people were like, I don't have a lot of time on my calendar, but I can commit to a couple hours on one day. And then the other thing that I would say is - we need to return to the old scripture - being our brother's keeper. And that may mean reaching out to nonprofit organizations that are doing this great work. We will help their dollar stretch farther when we provide them resources through serving on boards, through providing hands-on activity or volunteer opportunities to help them further their missions. And so anything that we can do to pitch in and to add - whether or not that is - maybe even it's reaching out and having lunch with a young person and providing them paths that they might not have otherwise thought of, letting them know young or old - quite candidly in this one - that somebody out there cares and will listen to them. We have a lot of - our older folks - and I know you are wrapping up, I'm sorry - but I'm just gonna make this one last pitch. We have a lot of older folks who've actually struggled through this pandemic. They have suffered from withdrawal because their social structures have been pulled from them, and older folks who withdraw from society have higher instances of high blood pressure and hypertension - all of those things that result from depression and not having a social network around you, can result in physical health loss as well as mental health loss. And so being a part of - I know it's a tough time period because COVID is still out there, but the ability to reconnect with one another as humans - social skills deteriorate a little bit when we're not with each other. And so just taking these moments to rebuild our social skills, having some patience with each other, but rebuilding them together. When our City gets healthier in all aspects, especially mentally healthier, we'll be able to help each other better. [01:02:26] Crystal Fincher: I agree with that. Thank you so much for your time, Monisha. [01:02:30] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Thank you. [01:02:31] Crystal Fincher: I thank you all for listening to Hacks & Wonks on KVRU 105.7 FM. The producer of Hacks & Wonks is Lisl Stadler with assistance from Shannon Cheng. You can find me on Twitter @finchfrii, spelled F-I-N-C-H-F-R-I-I. Now you can follow Hacks & Wonks on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts - just type "Hacks & Wonks" into the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to get our Friday almost-live shows and our midweek show delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, leave a review wherever you listen to Hacks & Wonks. You can also get a full transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced in the show at officialhacksandwonks.com and in the episode notes. Thanks for tuning in - we'll talk to you next time.

Tune back in to season 3 of the Keeping it Riel Podcast as we are joined by Intergovernmental Relations Coordinator Wyatt Telford and Youth Programming Assistant Cara Paul!

April 13, 2022 | Episode 84 Shawn & Brian are visited by Athalie Malone who lost her sight after suffering a stroke. She discusses how she turned that challenge into a blessing for others. Athalie Malone was born December 28, 1965 on the beautiful island of St. Thomas in the United States Virgin Islands. She moved to San Antonio in 1980 and proudly graduated from SGRH Royal in 1983. Ms. Malone attended Bethune-Cookman University, where she studied Business Administration. Due to health she did not finish her last year. She worked in the private sector and ecumenical sector of San Antonio from 1987 to 2007 at which time she lost her vision. Additionally appointed to Via Metropolitan Transit Board September 2019. Currently serves on the Intergovernmental Relations & Public Affairs Committee, Chairperson Audit Committee and Board Secretary. Past President and current member National Federation of the Blind Past Board member, & Secretary current member of San Lighthouse Lions Co-chair National White Cane Awareness Day Chairperson Disability Access Advisory Committee Mentioned: https://nfb.org/ https://whitecaneday.org/ — Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/just_two_dads/ Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/just-two-dads/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justtwodads Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wearejusttwodads YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-GN4T9fkHEVR5R_16w_7bw #AthalieMalone #WhiteCaneDay #SightVsVision #justTwoDads

In this week's episode of First Lady and Friends, Utah's First Lady, Abby Cox, is joined by Mike Mower (Senior Advisor of Community Outreach and Intergovernmental Relations) and Liz Mower(Community Activist) to talk about the beginnings of their relationship, what life was like raising a blended family, and some great tips when it comes to blending families together. Then we dive into their work with the local refugee communities in the state, some of the amazing opportunities that are available for all Utahns to help with refugees coming into the state, and why connecting to others is such an integral part of our state. We also talk about their passion for bringing people of different faiths together within the state, how former guest, Pamela Atkinson, has helped paved the way to bridge all of Utah's religious communities, and some of the amazing stories that have come from the 123 Challenge and #ShowUpForService. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest: Christian Leuprecht, Professor (in Leadership) at the Royal Military College of Canada and (Director of the Institute of Intergovernmental Relations in the School of Policy Studies at) Queen's University. His latest book is 'Intelligence as Democratic Statecraft', published by Oxford University Press. Senior fellow at the Macdonald Laurier Institute.

For the last show of the year, we have the first part of a discussion with Executive Director of America Walks and former mayor of Seattle Mike McGinn about how the City's response to the recent snowstorm and Harrell's recent appointees highlight opportunities for the incoming administration to both learn from and leave behind the past as they stand up a government to lead us into 2022 and beyond.  As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. Find the host, Crystal Fincher on Twitter at @finchfrii and find today's co-host, Mike McGinn, at @mayormcginn. More info is available at officialhacksandwonks.com.   Resources: “Why Sweden Clears Snow-Covered Walkways Before Roads” by Angie Schmitt from Streetsblog USA: https://usa.streetsblog.org/2018/01/24/why-sweden-clears-walkways-before-roads/   Disability Rights Washington - Disability Mobility Initiative: https://www.disabilityrightswa.org/programs/disabilitymobility/   “Does Adding an Extra Driving Lane Make Traffic Worse?” by David Stockin from Drivetribe: https://drivetribe.com/p/does-adding-an-extra-driving-lane-E6FPiVJnQSCPun1-pS-Q-A?iid=Ic6o2PzdQcaGewi7L9kSbw   “The Fundamental Law of Road Congestion: Evidence from US Cities” by Gilles Duranton and Matthew A. Turner from American Economic Review 101: https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/aer.101.6.2616   “'Zombie highways,' mass transit failures: PBS 'News Hour' takes look at Birmingham” by Bob Sims from Advance Local: https://www.al.com/spotnews/2009/08/zombie_highways_mass_transit_f.html   “Inslee's Proposed 2022 Budget Plugs Holes in Highway Megaprojects” by Ryan Packer from The Urbanist: https://www.theurbanist.org/2021/12/27/inslees-proposed-2022-budget-plugs-holes-in-highway-megaprojects/   “Seattle Mayor-elect Harrell names niece deputy mayor, lists other appointments” by Sarah Grace Taylor from The Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/bruce-harrell-announces-key-cabinet-members-appoints-niece-as-deputy-mayor/   “Seattle Mayor-elect Harrell appoints final deputy mayor, other leaders before taking office” by Sarah Grace Taylor from The Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/seattle-mayor-elect-harrell-appoints-final-deputy-mayor-other-leaders-before-taking-office/   Transcript: [00:00:00] Crystal Fincher: Welcome to Hacks & Wonks. I'm Crystal Fincher, and I'm a political consultant and your host. On this show, we talk with policy wonks and political hacks to gather insight into local politics and policy in Washington State through the lens of those doing the work with behind-the-scenes perspectives on what's happening, why it's happening, and what you can do about it. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show are always available at officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes. Today, we're continuing our Friday almost-live shows where we review the news of the week with a co-host. Welcome back to the program, friend of the show and today's co-host: activist, community leader, former mayor of Seattle, and Executive Director of America Walks - the excellent Mike McGinn. [00:00:57] Mike McGinn: I'm glad to be here, Crystal. [00:00:59] Crystal Fincher: Glad to have you here, as we close out 2021 and tiptoe gingerly into 2022 - and just wanted to talk, not just about what's happening this week, but contextualize it and what's happening through the year. And there was no one better to do that with than Mike McGinn, with so much context just in organizing and urbanism land use policy - and few things you picked up as mayor of Seattle. So this week, we are in the midst of seemingly unending snow that we're dealing with - it snowed on Christmas, it is snowing right now as we're recording on Friday morning, temperatures have not been above freezing all week, they're just supposed to get above freezing today - briefly - before we get some more snow perhaps this weekend. And so we've been blanketed with the snow, mobility has been a challenge, sidewalks have been treacherous - and please shovel your sidewalks, folks - but there's been no cohesive strategy and a ton of people haven't. Our streets have been a mess. Also, it's been freezing and dangerous for people who are unsheltered and we have an imperfect emergency response. And we've talked many times about our responsibility to keep our neighbors safe from extreme climate - heat in the summer and now freezing cold, which can be lethal if you're out there. And so as you're looking at what we're dealing with, what does it tell you about where we're at in Seattle? [00:02:50] Mike McGinn: Well, first of all, I just want to say that it goes from an old mayor to a new mayor at midnight on the 31st, or the first minute of January 1 - and I actually went outside to check the weather the second I became mayor, right? Because I was actually thinking about at the time - what would it be like to enter office if there was something happening? And that's happening right now to Bruce Harrell. So clearly the response that you see to a snowstorm is based on muscle memory and work that's done years and months in advance. So for example, I believe they're still substantially using the road clearing plan that we adopted - and I took office a year after a snowstorm that really showed some weaknesses in the snow response of the City of Seattle. And so there were a lot of big changes made after that. And we still follow that strategy. But there are things - [00:03:52] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, we lost the mayor over that snow response. [00:03:55] Mike McGinn: Yeah, that was big deal. And at the time, this City didn't really use salt, it pushed snow to the middle of the road - not to the edges. And we got a long, cold stretch so it froze in the middle so people couldn't make turns - all the streets were icy. It really had really dramatic effects on the City and the City's residents. And that was a big deal. So we changed a lot of that - the focus now is on plowing the transit routes first, we even shared online the GPS of where they were going. And we use salt because it turns out actually - all that sand has an effect too on the City's systems and storm drains. And the salt was not that big a deal, not as big a deal environmentally. So we made all those changes but it still took us a couple of snowstorms to really get it right. The very first one - there was freezing on the West Seattle Bridge and it shut down stuff. And the brine that was used on the roadways in advance of the storm wasn't powerful enough. So Bruce Harrell will be coming in and it's not like he can change all of that stuff in the past. But it's - one thing I learned though, was it's - a mayor does make a difference in the moment to moment, because there are decisions that have to be made. And we are seeing some of that right now, right? Like as we discover the City can't open up the winter shelters that it wants to open up because people are having trouble getting in to man those shelters because of the conditions. So we have an Emergency Operations Center that opens. I discovered that you want to be there before the snow starts falling, or the ice, or the wind, or whatever the issue is. And you stay there through it for a couple of reasons. One is that you might be able to help facilitate some decisions - you might be able to make a phone call to another arm of government. But I think it's also just a show of support for the City employees that are doing the work. They know it's important when the mayor is there and it matters to them. So for this to be happening during a transition, hopefully everybody is in a position to keep pushing. But this is really something that I hope Durkan and Harrell are working on because there are people, and particularly the least powerful among us, who are counting on the City to innovate and come up with different ideas and different solutions to take care of people in circumstances like this. And I remember being down at EOC, in the Emergency Operations Center, and overhearing the conversations of people on the phone who are working to try to get people to treatments they needed. And just dealing with the situations that come up - that maybe there's a City resource that can be used in that moment to help people. And you need that attention to detail and attention to the developing circumstances to be able to do that. You don't want to read about it the next day - that a bad thing happened and nobody was there to help from the City who should have been. [00:07:12] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, completely agree. And as I look at this, just looking more forward, we're in a continuing, worsening climate crisis. And we are seeing more extreme temperatures than we've seen in decades - right now on the cold side. We saw that on the hot side earlier this year. And so it seems that we should be preparing for more extreme and more prolonged weather events of all different types. And so to your point, you put in place and largely constructed a snow response strategy after the catastrophic failure that helped to lead to you - [00:07:55] Mike McGinn: 2009. Yeah. [00:07:56] Crystal Fincher: - to being in office. Yeah. And it has been updated since then, but now we're at this time and it is foreseeable that these staffing issues as we move forward are going to be - there're issues with staffing for these kinds of services when we're not facing this kind of an extreme challenge - it only gets worse when we are. How do we plan to be more resilient as we move forward? How do we plan to make sure that we have more than just a bare bones, nighttime, get out at 7:00 AM, shelter - and it's still freezing outside and we're putting people out there. How do we focus on perhaps not forcing people into congregate shelter? Are there better options that we can provide even in an emergency situation? So really there's a big opportunity for the Harrell administration, as we move forward, to update this plan and this policy and this capacity. And a lot of people would be surprised to understand that government provides a lot of services - not directly - I mean, they certainly do their share of direct services, but they contract with a lot of companies and service providers. And even what we're asking them to do is the same as it has been. And we need to talk about updating that and making sure that they have the type of capacity to respond to this and that they're prepared for a response for today and not the response of 10 or 20 or 30 years ago. Everything is demanding more updated, more relevant, responsive, resilient solutions. And I see this as a big op opportunity for the Harrell administration to take on. And one that's going to have more consequences if they don't. [00:09:42] Mike McGinn: Well, that use of the word resilient too - and it's worth looking at that because the pandemic certainly exposed every weakness in our society, and exposed the way in which inequality works at multiple levels - and who was exposed to harm because of the pandemic, whether it was the disease itself or the loss of a job or exposure to the disease, all of these things - and who didn't. It's a stress test on the system and a snowstorm is a stress test on the system too. And one of the things - you look at car commercials and they just love to show these big, robust vehicles muscling through the snow like there's some fantasy of freedom associated with that. But what we know from snowstorms, as an example, or flooding - is that it's a very fragile system - that a transportation system that relies on every individual, that they need a big vehicle to navigate the system - that system doesn't work. It doesn't take much stress to tackle that. Whereas if you have neighborhoods that are built around walkability - the ability to get down to the grocery store and pick up what you need, or get to a pharmacy, or get from your home to staff the emergency shelter. So that resiliency isn't just the walkability, but actually affordable housing throughout the City. So that the people who take care of the City can afford to live in the City and close to a bus route that might be operating - because we have enough snow plows to handle the arterials, but we don't have enough snow plows to handle every residential street. So there's all of these even more fundamental things we can do to create a resilient place. And I remember that once in a snowstorm long before I was mayor and I walked home. I walked home from downtown to Wallingford where I was living. And I felt pretty good about it - like if something went wrong, there was probably a public house along the way where I could stop in and get warm. I was going to make it and people could still have a semblance of their daily lives. Whereas the person driving out to Issaquah might have been leaving their car out by the side of the road in a snow drift, wondering what to do next and how to get home. So these are just a resiliency that filters through everything. And we should be looking at our cities when the sun is shining and the weather is great, we should be looking at our cities with, Well, how do we make it so that people can afford to live here so they can meet their daily needs? And it goes to snow clearing strategy as well. And we were talking a little bit about this before the show started. In Sweden, they went and studied and made a conclusion that they should clear the sidewalks before the roads, because the people who were using the sidewalks tended to be more women than men and tended to be on very important trips - for childcare, for getting to work and the like. And we're now developing a set of protected bike lanes around the City. And we got a little snow plowing machine for that - I don't know what they named it yet, but I forget, there was a whole naming thing going on for that - but the idea that if you had a connected network of those places, you could plow those. And that meant somebody in a wheelchair, if they could get from their front door to that lane, they could have a clear path to the neighborhood store. They wouldn't be isolated in their homes by the ice - that is what happens now to somebody who is disabled. So looking at the strategies and rules we have around snow clearing of sidewalks, how - maintenance of sidewalks. Right now, it's the job of private property owners. And we started sending out crews - we were just starting to get at this - we started sending out crews to clear the corners downtown, because the snow plows of course piled up snow at the corners. But we were sending out crews with shovels. Well, why not hire a bunch of people with shovels to go out and make sure that there's clear paths on all the curb ramps where people need them, which is a lot of the City. But these are the types of policy choices we can make about what we prioritize. And of course it's going to take money and it's going to take a different viewpoint. First, it's going to take a change of view - that maybe the person in the single-occupancy vehicle isn't the most important user of the transportation system that needs to be prioritized. It's the everyday trips that people who don't have vehicles need - center our transportation system around them, and we'll have a transportation system in which we all benefit from really great accessible neighborhoods. [00:14:46] Crystal Fincher: Yeah. I completely agree. And to your point - for me, there was a term that was used a lot in the prior federal administration - prior administrations were picking winners and losers. And really that's what we do when we talk about transit and prioritization of cars. We are really eliminating the choice for people to walk, or bike, or roll, or to do anything but drive. We've made that so inaccesible and hard for people that - if people want to drive, great, but there are so many people who dislike so many elements of driving - dealing with traffic, dealing with parking, dealing with trying to be out on these roads and can you make it up a hill or not? And just the inflexibility of the system to support cars that we continue dumping money into. And if we actually did prioritize transit choice - that hey, you know what? If you end up driving, okay. But what we're not going to do is make it impossible for you to walk, for you to ride your bike. I mean, I saw a picture online this morning of right now in the middle of the snow and someone attempting to walk on Aurora. And they're basically walking on the side of the street because the sidewalks are just snow and ice - in the middle of this extremely dangerous road when conditions are ideal. And now they're driving on an icy snowy street. And you just look at that and have a sense of impending doom and dread because you know how dangerous that is on a clear, sunny, dry day. And we are forcing people to walk in the median, we're forcing wheelchair users to roll in the street because it is just impossible to do that on a sidewalk where a sidewalk exists. [00:16:40] Mike McGinn: Yeah. If they can even make it down past the ice that's on the sidewalk outside their front door to reach that place. So yeah, we were talking about prioritization and money. I highly recommend by the way - what the State Legislature will be making decisions in the coming year about - where money should go. There's a lot of federal money heading to the states right now as part of the infrastructure bill. And I really commend to people in the state of Washington, across the state, but certainly the listeners here for Rainier Valley Radio and whoever else we've attracted to this podcast. Thank you, Crystal for your work for building and promoting this thing. The Disability Mobility Initiative is a partnership spearheaded by Disability Rights Washington, but they partnered with Front and Centered - they partnered with other advocates. And what they want to do is put the needs of non-drivers at the center of transportation policy. So that was the philosophy I was talking about earlier. Because I think a lot of our transportation, and you'll see this in advocacy organizations - there's some advocacy organizations that are like, look, the powers that be are going to build their highways. They got all the power. And our job is just to try to fit in around the cars somehow in the policy making too. Maybe we should get a little bit more. Now transportation is now the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the state, in the country. It's behind this extreme weather. It's one of the things behind this extreme weather we're having. So it's a good reason to change it by itself. But how about a philosophy that instead of trying to fit in around this dangerous polluting activity, instead we said, well, how about we make it so that cars fit in around people, that we start to get the ability of people to walk to their daily needs, to walk to transit - and transit, by the way, as a middle leg of a walking trip says the Executive Director of America Walks - me. [00:18:47] Crystal Fincher: It's true. [00:18:49] Mike McGinn: It's true - mostly, mostly. I guess there's some Park and Rides out there, but it's mostly the middle leg of a walking trip. It extends how far you can walk by quite a bit, I've discovered. So why not build a whole system around that and then figure out how to fit in the vehicles around that that you still need. And that is how places were built until we abandoned the good sense of building walkable town centers and walkable business districts in order to prioritize jamming cars through them. So this is a big philosophy change and what's beautiful about the Disability Mobility Initiative is it's centering the needs of non-drivers. And again, that's great for everybody. And that's an approach that Washington state transportation advocacy is needed. And enough of, let the highway builders have their highways. Maybe we'll get a few dollars for the things we care about. Let's get the dollars in the right place to start with. [00:19:52] Crystal Fincher: Yeah. And huge point in the coming months - there's going to be a lot of decisions made on this transportation package. We do know and have a ton of data that expanding highways does not improve traffic, which is often how it's sold. And so let's actually improve people's commutes no matter how they choose to take them, which is going to take a massive rebalancing of the share of our transportation budget that we spend on cars versus the share that we spend on everything else that - that's such a large portion of our community uses. So appreciate that. [00:20:27] Mike McGinn: Nationally and locally, there's an issue. There's a phrase out there. There's something they call zombie highways. These are the highways that were drawn up in the heyday of the highway building era. And the reason they're called zombie highways is because they're still out there soaking up money for planning, and people are still trying to figure out how to raise the money to build them. 509 extension, which will - everybody goes, "Oh, great. It'll connect I-5 to that dead-end 509 by the airport." Yeah. It'll also send tens of thousands more cars a day through South Park, which wants to get rid of another highway that was built in the past that isn't so good anymore. We've got to stop funding the ideas from the 70s - 1970s - and start funding the ideas for the 2020s. And it seems like now would be a good time to think about that. [00:21:17] Crystal Fincher: Now would be an excellent time. There was a great article in The Urbanist about this, this past week, and talking about the - Inslee's proposed budget and a significant amount going to highway expansion. And even conversations within Seattle of - do we have one bridge over Montlake versus two, and relying on old projections that are no longer needed and an increasing realization that hey, we don't need what we thought was needed 30 years ago, 20 years ago. Why are we still relying on the same projections? And I recall there was a mayor around a decade ago that had several conversations about this in terms of a tunnel, and few other things, which actually turned out to be correct. So yeah. [00:22:07] Mike McGinn: Oh my God. And yeah - no - for the listeners that don't know, I thought - if you were around then, you knew. If you're new, maybe this is history. I thought we should not replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct with the tunnel highway. I thought we should invest in transit along that corridor. And there was not a single elected official in the state of Washington who would side with me on that, except for Councilmember Mike O'Brien at the time. The entire City Council, one of whom is now our mayor, thought that building a highway on the waterfront for $4 billion - and by the way, they promised at the time that then there wouldn't be a highway on the surface - and it turns out, they still need lots of lanes on the surface too is what they're saying. So we haven't let go of this magical thinking that more lanes will lead to a better transportation system, when what we know is that more lanes just leads to more vehicles and lots of other places too besides that highway. And that's a big source of the pollution we have and challenges we face. And it doesn't scale, doesn't stand up to bad weather. It doesn't scale and it's not a question of ideology. I like to say it's a question of geometry. If everybody is surrounded by a car, they don't fit in a city. You just can't fit them all. You just can't fit it all. It's just math. So be nice if we could figure that out. Yeah. [00:23:29] Crystal Fincher: Yeah. I mean, I learned a lot of lessons from you in that too. I did not start off agreeing with where you're at - I'm like, "What do you mean? Just roads and transit - that's not going to be enough." And I was wrong. Lots of people were wrong. And lots of lessons to be learned throughout that. And one of the points that you made then was just like, "Hey, these projections are all out of whack. There's no way that this works and it creates so many problems when you count on capacity, then tolling on that capacity." And then that doesn't happen. Then what? Then what happens? And then the promise of no cost overrun. But anyway, we don't need to go back there. We can do year in review, but we won't do a decade in review here. [00:24:18] Mike McGinn: There is a transition here. There is a pivot here - because one of the topics that we've talked about out is - topic of the week is there's going to be a new mayor. There's going to be a new mayor, but we're learning a lot more about his administration. And he did replace his transportation chief, and he's announced some new people he's going to come in. So the history of the past is still with us in the present. But let's talk about the present then. [00:24:45] Crystal Fincher: Well, let's talk about the present. And to your point, Harrell announced the final round of his major appointees, deputy mayors - among those that were recently announced, big deputy mayor heading intergovernmental relations, intergovernmental office relations - I forget what the exact title is - but Gael Tarleton, former port commissioner, former legislator. Gael Tarleton - background in security and issues related to Russia. And Gael was a big supporter of Sara Nelson, a supporter of Bruce Harrell - certainly an indication of the direction that is being signaled in terms of policy, I would think. [00:25:36] Mike McGinn: Well, I think there's a mixed bag of appointees. And I don't know everybody that's listed, but there are a number of people I do know. And for the one thing is - there are a lot of names, I'm not quite sure how to describe this - it's like there's some type of special LinkedIn that you have to be on in order to be hired by Murray, Durkan, or Harrell. Right? [00:26:09] Crystal Fincher: Well, let me list some of them instead of - qualifying that. In the first round, a lot of them - Monisha Harrell, who is the senior deputy mayor and shares a last name with mayor, soon-to-be mayor Bruce Harrell, because she is his niece, but has a lengthy resume of her own. And I certainly will say, have seen - certainly there are a lot of people not excited about Bruce Harrell being mayor and that has led to some justifiable critiques of who he has slated for his administration. But what I don't want to feed into is just tossing people out, or their accomplishments out - especially women of color - their accomplishments out just because they're working in this administration. I try and keep my critiques policy focused. And I don't want to suggest that Monisha Harrell is not worthy of holding the position of senior deputy mayor at all. She's a board chair of Equal Rights Washington, member of the National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund - extremely competent. And we'll see how that manifests within this Harrell administration. Tiffany Washington is going to be the deputy mayor of housing and homelessness, the deputy mayor of external relations - is that what Gael did? Is that intergovernmental - [00:27:36] Mike McGinn: That's Gael Tarleton. That's Gael Tarleton. [00:27:38] Crystal Fincher: Okay. That was - I'm looking at one of two articles - this one's by Sarah Grace Taylor. And part two, so yes, Gael Tarleton. And then some appointees from folks who worked in Harrell's office before. So two former employees of a City Council office, Jennifer Samuels, and - let me see - Jeremy Racca. [00:28:09] Mike McGinn: Yeah. [00:28:10] Crystal Fincher: Jeremy Racca, who worked as a former LA. So it's going to be an interesting time. Kendee Yamaguchi will serve as mayor of external relations, Gael Tarleton is the interim director of the Office of Intergovernmental Relations. As we talked about last week, and you just mentioned, there's going to be a new SDOT head. So Derrick Wheeler-Smith is going to be the interim director of the Seattle Office for Civil Rights. And it's really interesting to see a number of these appointees hold the title of interim. So I don't know what that means, and if they are planning on transitioning into that role, seeking others, but there are a number who still hold the title of interim. So these could change over time, but that's who we're looking at now. And Tim Burgess - former Councilmember, former mayor Tim Burgess - is going to be influential within this administration. So certainly a lot of names that we have heard, were used to hearing from 10, 15 years ago, are now back - as recently as 5 years ago for some of them. But here we are. So certainly a shift in tone and direction from - [00:29:34] Mike McGinn: It's really interesting, because you are right to point out - there are names that are new to city government and then there are names that we have not seen before. And that's why I said, it's something of a mixed bag. And it starts one to wondering - what direction does he go? And I think that's where a lot of people are in right now - is the reading of the tea leaves, right? Like what will be Bruce Harrell's priorities as mayor? And how will he govern? And people look to appointments as part of that question. I have to say - Burgess and Tarleton both give me pause - because both of them, specifically on these issues we were just talking about, represented an older view. And the firing of Sam Zimbabwe, who's a pretty competent administrator and a professional, and was mostly under the radar during his term. He wasn't out there either upstaging the mayor or making the mayor look bad - just being a dedicated civil servant. That gave me pause about - what does it mean for policy that Sam Zimbabwe was let go when there're so many other positions to fill. Like trying to get a new transportation head while you're trying to also get a new police chief and all sorts of other positions - why take that on? And it gives me fear that what we're going to see is that somebody was complaining that maybe Sam was building too many bike lanes or something. And that was the impression I got from reading The Seattle Times article on that - that somebody in Bruce's camp - and I remember Bruce saying something to the effect of, "I'll tell you what? I'm not going to lead with bike lanes," he said, during the forum, which was kind of a peering into Bruce's soul on transportation there, for a second. And so that's bad. I think it's bad. I think it's a real challenge coming in, as mayor Harrell will be, coming in with the incumbent not going to be there. So all of the department heads and the people in city government, they didn't know who the mayor was going to be for a long time. And so - or whether they would have jobs. So in that situation, you see people leave. And I had the same experience because my predecessor lost in the primary. So everybody knew from August onwards that there would be a new mayor. And even after I took office, there were people who had applied for and received great jobs, and they'd come to me and say I'm leaving for the Obama administration or I'm leaving for a new national position. And there were about four of those. And each one of those searches is important and time-consuming and requires the mayor's personal attention because you really want good people in there. And I think that there's been a fair bit of turnover and interims. And so I think that's going to be one of the challenges for mayor Harrell - is standing up government, so to speak - not just forming his own office and how that functions, but also seeing how - getting the department heads in place to realize his vision. Circling back to Burgess and Tarleton, both of those just give me a lot of concern because I just don't think either of them - to the degree that Burgess in charge of special projects is going to have some strategic leadership in this - that just gives me concern because I saw what he prioritized and what he didn't prioritize as a City Council president. And I just hope that Bruce will be listening to some more progressive voices in his administration than Tim Burgess. [00:33:26] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, certainly - and Burgess's support and involvement in the Compassion Seattle campaign that was there to codify sweeps in the City Charter certainly gave a number of people pause. And the criticisms of progress attempting to be made in terms of the SPD and public safety in a meaningful way for everyone in the City - certainly a divergence in a lot of what has turned out to be popular opinion in the City and where Tim Burgess was at. And I think that, to me, probably more than anything symbolizes just the conversation - recalling the many conversations during your term that you had with the Council, and where the Council was at, is a very different place than where the Council is at - and by implication, where the residents of Seattle who are electing that Council, is at. The residents have made a turn in who they are electing and supporting in recalls for their Councilmembers. And so that is very different than some of the rhetoric that we've heard back when folks were in office. And certainly during this election cycle in 2021 throughout these campaigns. [00:34:49] Mike McGinn: One of the things that I admire about Bruce Harrell, and mayor Harrell in a day or two, mayor-elect now but mayor Harrell - is when Tim Burgess wanted to pass an anti-panhandling statute, it was Bruce Harrell deciding to listen to the Human Rights Commission and vote against it, that meant that that didn't become law. And another thing that - [00:35:14] Crystal Fincher: Yeah. He was the deciding vote. It really rested on where he was going to be at. [00:35:17] Mike McGinn: He kind of cracked it open too, honestly. When he said he would vote against it, that opened the path for Mike O'Brien to come in as well. And so I could veto that and not have the veto overridden on that. And he also spearheaded the effort to get - that felons didn't have to check a box saying whether or not they had been a felon previously when trying to get rental housing. And that said something about who Bruce wanted to support. I recall, late in my term, I was meeting with the Black pastors. I met regularly with them, and they were asking me a series of questions. They would ask me why had Council president Burgess not funded the Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative the way I'd asked for additional funds. And I tried to explain to them about how Tim didn't think there was good enough data to support that. And they asked me about why Tim Burgess had not expanded a program for returning felons called Career Bridge. And I explained to them again that Tim didn't think there was good enough data. And then they asked why he had cut a program in Rainier Valley, just eliminated it from the budget, as the chair. And I'm sorry, I can't remember quite the name of the program, but again it was a program that worked in Rainier Beach. And I explained again - and they're all looking at me and I realized, they're actually asking me a different question. They said, "Why is that, though? Why is that?" And I answered them - because the point they were making is that, why was it the programs for poor people and Black people that were subject to this exacting scrutiny for effectiveness in the City budget, whereas other things seemed to fly through. I had a great conversation with Girmay Zahilay about the King County Council - they just walked on some type of relief for the Convention Center. He said, "Yeah, if it was a program for poor people, we have this long exacting process to decide whether or not we can afford it or whether or not it's good. But if it's for other people, if it's for the big donors, it just flies through." And this is my concern. So when I look at this new administration, I'm looking for the Bruce Harrell that stood up against the anti-panhandling statute and stood up for the rights of people returning to the community from prison, and to not fall for that. And I'm really hopeful that the idea that we can't spend public money on programs to assist people until we know they're perfect is not the voice listened to in this process as well. And I think this is going to be a really big test of the new administration because Bruce came in with a coalition that doesn't like taxes, the business community doesn't want taxes. And will he stand up to them like he stood up to them on the anti-panhandling statute. And that's the Bruce that I want to - that's the mayor I want to see in Bruce Harrell and I hope he does it. [00:38:20] Crystal Fincher: I feel the same. And to your point, in the mix of appointees, some of them certainly give me pause, others give me hope. I mean, there are certainly people who have done a lot of good work. I mean, I look at work Monisha Harrell has done, I look at work that Marco Lowe has done - I mean, the guy who wrote the book on transitions - and just very competent, and talking about the importance of these searches and getting the right people in place. As the Chief Operating Officer, just really focusing on execution within the City, which is major. You can have a great idea - Durkan had some good ideas that she was just not able to execute. And another lesson I learned during your tenure and administration was just how important the actual ability to manage - to manage people, to execute on programs and policy, and to not just set a goal, but to be able to work through the implementation of it and make sure that it actually delivers on the promise that it initially had. I think that was one of the major challenges of the Durkan administration and one that I think Harrell has the opportunity to do much better on. [00:39:37] Mike McGinn: Yeah. And I think oftentimes what's covered in the media are the disagreements in policy between the City Council and the mayor. And so we see - what's the policy on sweeps, what's the policy on police officers, or the like. But there's so many things that - it really exists in the executive branch and there's nothing the City Council can do to make the City work better - that's a management function and an executive branch function. And I think that this is a place where the City really needs to rebuild its muscle memory, to rebuild its strength on execution on a lot of things. And again, there are people in departments who I'm sure are executing great right now, but what I just saw - so much of that is dependent ultimately on getting that alignment through the department director and to the top. [00:40:42] Crystal Fincher: I always appreciate you and your insight. I always appreciate your ability to reflect and to look at what you did. And you're like, "Hey, this went really well, could have done this better." And I have certainly learned a lot from that over the years. So I thank all of you for listening to Hacks & Wonks on this Thursday, December 30th, 2021. It's December 30th, oh my gosh. The producer of Hacks & Wonks is Lisl Stadler with assistance by Shannon Cheng. And our insightful co-host today was activist, community leader, and former mayor of Seattle, and Executive Director of America Walks, Mike McGinn. You can find Mike on Twitter @mayormcginn. That's M-C-G-I-N-N. You can find me on Twitter @finchfrii, spelled F-I-N-C-H-F-R-I-I. Now you can follow Hacks & Wonks on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts. Just type "Hacks & Wonks" into the search bar, be sure to subscribe to get the full versions of our Friday almost-live shows and our midweek show delivered to your podcast feed. You can also get a full transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced in the show at officialhacksandwonks.com and in the episode notes. Get boosted, stay away from the Omicron Rona - it's getting everybody out there - please be safe and be kind to your neighbors. And we'll see you in 2022.

HARLINGEN, TEXAS - One of the top political events of the year in the Rio Grande Valley was the retirement announcement of state Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr.The Brownsville Democrat began his public service in 1971, becoming Cameron County Treasurer and later Cameron County Commissioner. After having served two terms in the Texas House of Representatives, he was elected to the Texas Senate in 1991. He is third in seniority and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Relations. On Nov. 4, at his Harlingen district office, Lucio announced he would be retiring at the end of his current term. After his speech, Lucio took questions from reporters. This podcast contains that Q&A.

HARLINGEN, TEXAS - One of the top political events of the year in the Rio Grande Valley was the retirement announcement of state Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr.The Brownsville Democrat began his public service in 1971, becoming Cameron County Treasurer and later Cameron County Commissioner. After having served two terms in the Texas House of Representatives, he was elected to the Texas Senate in 1991. He is third in seniority and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Relations. On Nov. 4, at his Harlingen district office, Lucio announced he would be retiring at the end of his current term. Excluding a Q&A with reporters, this podcast contains all of the remarks he made at the event.

“After years of hypocrisy and bungled forecasts of doom, the budget deficit no longer provokes panic,” economist Max Sawicky recently wrote in In These Times. “The elites need a new bogeyman, otherwise Congress might actually spend us into happiness. Now, the new monster in the closet is Inflation.” With all eyes on President Joe Biden's Build Back Better plan, which would entail massive and sorely needed social investments in education, healthcare, childcare, clean energy, and more, a familiar chorus of budgetary hand-wringers has emerged to argue that such social spending is the cause of increased inflation. As Sawicky argues, that's nonsense.In this segment of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc and Sawicky break down the current levels of inflation and discuss the political motivations behind the moral panic over inflation, which is essentially a new form of old-school deficit hawkery. Max Sawicky is an economist, writer, and senior research fellow at the Center for Economic and Policy Research; he has worked at the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, the Economic Policy Institute, and the Government Accountability Office.Tune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Monday and Thursday on TRNN.Pre-Production/Studio: Stephen Frank, Dwayne GladdenPost Production: Stephen FrankHelp us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-mssSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-stGet The Marc Steiner Show updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-stLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

“After years of hypocrisy and bungled forecasts of doom, the budget deficit no longer provokes panic,” economist Max Sawicky recently wrote in In These Times. “The elites need a new bogeyman, otherwise Congress might actually spend us into happiness. Now, the new monster in the closet is Inflation.” With all eyes on President Joe Biden's Build Back Better plan, which would entail massive and sorely needed social investments in education, healthcare, childcare, clean energy, and more, a familiar chorus of budgetary hand-wringers has emerged to argue that such social spending is the cause of increased inflation. As Sawicky argues, that's nonsense.In this segment of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc and Sawicky break down the current levels of inflation and discuss the political motivations behind the moral panic over inflation, which is essentially a new form of old-school deficit hawkery. Max Sawicky is an economist, writer, and senior research fellow at the Center for Economic and Policy Research; he has worked at the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, the Economic Policy Institute, and the Government Accountability Office.Tune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Monday and Thursday on TRNN.Pre-Production/Studio: Stephen Frank, Dwayne GladdenPost Production: Stephen FrankHelp us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-mssSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-stGet The Marc Steiner Show updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-stLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

The media circus surrounding Democrats' internal battle over infrastructure spending and the Build Back Better Act can make us focus too intently on the individual representatives involved and ignore the bigger picture. But the fact of the matter is the lives of many Americans, our ability to seriously address the climate crisis, and the upcoming outcome of the midterm elections all hang in the balance. On this segment of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc is joined by a lively panel of guests—Max Sawicky, Karen Dolan, and Bill Fletcher Jr.—to discuss the drastic implications of the battle unfolding on Capitol Hill right now.Max Sawicky is an economist, writer, and senior research fellow at the Center for Economic and Policy Research; he has worked at the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, the Economic Policy Institute, and the Government Accountability Office. Karen Dolan is a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and currently directs the Criminalization of Race and Poverty project; her public scholarship and activism focus on anti-poverty issues, juvenile justice, criminal justice reform, and transgender rights with a focus on race, gender, and gender identity. Bill Fletcher Jr. has been an activist since his teen years and previously served as a senior staff person in the national AFL-CIO; he is the former president of TransAfrica Forum, a senior scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies, and the author of numerous works of fiction and non-fiction, including ‘They're Bankrupting Us!' And 20 Other Myths about Unions and The Man Who Fell from the Sky.Tune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Tuesday on TRNN.

The media circus surrounding Democrats' internal battle over infrastructure spending and the Build Back Better Act can make us focus too intently on the individual representatives involved and ignore the bigger picture. But the fact of the matter is the lives of many Americans, our ability to seriously address the climate crisis, and the upcoming outcome of the midterm elections all hang in the balance. On this segment of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc is joined by a lively panel of guests—Max Sawicky, Karen Dolan, and Bill Fletcher Jr.—to discuss the drastic implications of the battle unfolding on Capitol Hill right now.Max Sawicky is an economist, writer, and senior research fellow at the Center for Economic and Policy Research; he has worked at the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, the Economic Policy Institute, and the Government Accountability Office. Karen Dolan is a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and currently directs the Criminalization of Race and Poverty project; her public scholarship and activism focus on anti-poverty issues, juvenile justice, criminal justice reform, and transgender rights with a focus on race, gender, and gender identity. Bill Fletcher Jr. has been an activist since his teen years and previously served as a senior staff person in the national AFL-CIO; he is the former president of TransAfrica Forum, a senior scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies, and the author of numerous works of fiction and non-fiction, including ‘They're Bankrupting Us!' And 20 Other Myths about Unions and The Man Who Fell from the Sky.Tune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Tuesday on TRNN.

Catch up on what you missed on an episode of The Richard Syrett. Munk Senior Fellow at MacDonald-Laurier Institute & Director, Institute of Intergovernmental Relations at Queen's University, Christian Leuprecht on why Canada needs to ban Huawei's involvement in 5G. Small-town family physician & freedom-lover, Dr. Patrick Phillips on his disciplinary hearing with the College of Physicians and Surgeons. caWsbar Founding Member, Writer at The Post Millennial, Co-Host of the podcast: “Gender Critical Story Hour,” Amy Eileen Hamm fights back against radical gender ideology. Lou returns for News Not in The News. Accidental and Unofficial COVID Data Analyst, Kelly Brown on adverse effects for children and young adults post-vaccination. Plus, Policy Analyst and Outreach Coordinator at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute & a part of Muskowekwan First Nation, Melissa Mbarki speaks on National Day of Truth & Reconciliation.

Guest Jamie Green navigates her journey of homelessness, teenage pregnancy, a substance use disorder and depression to choosing herself. Jamie Green, Healthcare Advocacy CoordinatorJamie Green serves as the Healthcare Advocacy Coordinator at the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS/Medicaid) – Department of Community Advocacy and Intergovernmental Relations, Office of Individual and Family Affairs. Jamie is a Certified Peer Support and Family Support Specialist with advanced training in Health & Wellness and Health Coaching and has extensive experience in navigating the public Behavioral Health System both professionally and personally. She has past experience in program development, implementation and facilitation of a Whole Health Wellness Program focused on self-activation, efficacy and resiliency. Jamie currently uses her lived experience as a person in recovery (mental health diagnosis and substance use disorder) to advocate for statewide system change with a goal of making access to integrated health care seamless to the member and available. Meeting individuals where they are at and walking with them to a healthier place, same goal for all of us!Jamie recently was a speaker at National Association for Medicaid Directors 2021,  NATCON 2018 and Connections Conference 2019.

State of the Arts Episode 22: Mother's Day Special just published! This week an unprecedented, thrilling new episode of State of the Arts. I am joined on my podcast by my mother, Caroline Osborne who is a classically trained pianist, ballroom dance hobbyist, world traveler and classic cinema enthusiast. Born and raised in Hong Kong while it was still a British commonwealth, she grew up speaking both Cantonese and English. She was educated in private Vatican-run schools, always achieving high honors. Discovering a passion for classical piano at twelve years old, she was trained by private instructors hired by my grandparents. She ultimately passed all her exams at the British Academy of Music. She graduated from Saint Francis College with an honors degree in Liberal Arts. A classmate of my mom's just happened to be pen pals with my dad and eventually played matchmaker, introducing the two. They fell in love and were married in New York City. For thirty two years my mom worked in civil service for the New York Office of Management & Budget, Intergovernmental Relations, State Legislation, and the Mayor's Office. Her music accomplishments include playing at Belen Manuel's Annual Snug Harbor Recital, playing hymns at the Our Lady Star of the Sea Healing Service under the leadership of Monsignor Jeffery Conway and jamming on her keyboard at events held by the family dining establishment, Hometown Restaurant. Generous, adventurous, intelligent and tenacious, my mom was and still is an exemplary role model. She helped me become who I am today. Because of her boldness, as a teen I unashamedly let my peers know that I preferred classic jazz over boy bands, three inch pumps over Doc Martins, and the '55 Brooklyn Dodgers over the '98 Yankees. Because of her discipline, I pushed myself hard to stay in honors from junior high school to college where I graduated on the dean's list. Because of her sophistication, my childhood was a culturally rich experience. I am so blessed to have my wonderful, amazing mother on this episode of my podcast.

State of the Arts Episode 22: Mother's Day Special just published! This week an unprecedented, thrilling new episode of State of the Arts. I am joined on my podcast by my mother, Caroline Osborne who is a classically trained pianist, ballroom dance hobbyist, world traveler and classic cinema enthusiast. Born and raised in Hong Kong while it was still a British commonwealth, she grew up speaking both Cantonese and English. She was educated in private Vatican-run schools, always achieving high honors. Discovering a passion for classical piano at twelve years old, she was trained by private instructors hired by my grandparents. She ultimately passed all her exams at the British Academy of Music. She graduated from Saint Francis College with an honors degree in Liberal Arts. A classmate of my mom's just happened to be pen pals with my dad and eventually played matchmaker, introducing the two. They fell in love and were married in New York City. For thirty two years my mom worked in civil service for the New York Office of Management & Budget, Intergovernmental Relations, State Legislation, and the Mayor's Office. Her music accomplishments include playing at Belen Manuel's Annual Snug Harbor Recital, playing hymns at the Our Lady Star of the Sea Healing Service under the leadership of Monsignor Jeffery Conway and jamming on her keyboard at events held by the family dining establishment, Hometown Restaurant. Generous, adventurous, intelligent and tenacious, my mom was and still is an exemplary role model. She helped me become who I am today. Because of her boldness, as a teen I unashamedly let my peers know that I preferred classic jazz over boy bands, three inch pumps over Doc Martins, and the '55 Brooklyn Dodgers over the '98 Yankees. Because of her discipline, I pushed myself hard to stay in honors from junior high school to college where I graduated on the dean's list. Because of her sophistication, my childhood was a culturally rich experience. I am so blessed to have my wonderful, amazing mother on this episode of my podcast. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

The pandemic's economic repercussions will be with us for some time to come.  It will be of utmost importance to many of us in the entrepreneurial and industry spheres to leverage all potential assistance to our businesses that we can muster. Not just from a triage standpoint; for many of us opportunity will result from the latent business activity likely to occur as the public space opens again. In this episode we spoke with Kevin regarding what the MA Office of Business Development (MOBD) does for its constituents.  You'll learn how you can leverage their office for your enterprise. We also touched upon interesting data regarding industry in Massachusetts and industries that are consistently re-locating to the Commonwealth.   You may find some surprises.  Getting Started: MA Office of Business Development Learning more: EDIP Program Learning More: REDO Program Kevin J. Kuros has been engaged in business development for much of his 30-year professional career. For the past two years, Kuros has been the Central MA Regional Director for the MA Office of Business Development, the Baker Polito Administration's economic development agency. Prior to joining MOBD, Kuros spent eight years in the Massachusetts Legislature as the State Representative for the 8th Worcester District, consisting of the towns of Bellingham, Blackstone, Millville, and Uxbridge. As a legislator, his committee assignments included: the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies (8 years), the Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government (6 years), the House Committee on Technology and Intergovernmental Relations (2 years), and the House Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets (2 years). Prior to being elected to the Legislature, Kuros spent nearly 20 years in the private sector as a branch manager for an information technology and management consulting firm. In that role he had full operational responsibility for the business development and management of the Massachusetts branch of the firm. This experience provided him with wide-ranging industry exposure, with clients in the manufacturing, education, health care, retail, apparel, entertainment, and non-profit industries. The firm was focused on helping its clients sustain and grow their businesses through process improvement and the better utilization of information technology. Kuros holds a bachelor's degree in Quantitative Business Analysis from Penn State University. He, his wife Linda, their sons Alex and Andy, and their three dogs live in Uxbridge.    

The pandemic wrought economic devastation unseen since at least the Great Depression and government intervention in the economy on a scale comparable only to the two great World Wars. The shake-up in our urban economies has been far-reaching, with even more fundamental changes to sectors, drivers, demand, and structures still on the horizon, poorly understood. Opportunities to lead are becoming apparent, as are more radical opportunities to take hold of the need for new understanding of what the economy and wealth are for. What do we know so far about how has the game changed and the economic direction in which we are heading? Speakers: Tamara Vrooman, CEO of YVR and Chancellor of SFU Matti Siemiatycki, University of Toronto School of Cities Lynsey Thornton, Shopify Vancouver Angela Marie MacDougall, Executive Director, Battered Women Support Services, Co-Chair of Feminists Deliver Wade Grant, Intergovernmental Relations, Musqueam Nation Moderator: Peter Hall, Professor and Associate Dean, SFU Urban Studies

Tiffany was on the podcast today to discuss here leadership journey from Bend, OR to Pullman, WA, to Seattle, WA through many career and developmental opportunities post college graduation from Washington State. She has an energetic passionate story of risk, change, growth and development that ultimately brought her home to Bend. Her career changed again as she entered the foray of politics. She has come full circle to a place that is new exciting personally and professionally. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/mark-molina4/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/mark-molina4/support

COVID-19 has tested Canada’s intergovernmental system. With the stakes as high as they are, it’s crucial that all levels of government continue to meet, communicate, and try to work together. To make that process a little easier, this week’s podcast has lessons for policymakers on successful cooperation in the face of complex intergovernmental challenges. Charles Breton, executive director of our new Centre of Excellence on the Canadian Federation, moderates a discussion between Mireille Paquet, Robert Schertzer, and Roxanna Benoit. Mireille and Robert, who are associate professors of political science at Concordia University and the University of Toronto respectively, share findings from their recently released study with the Centre of Excellence, "Irregular Border Crossings and Asylum Seekers in Canada: A Complex Intergovernmental Problem." Meanwhile, Roxanna brings insights on intergovernmental collaboration, drawing on her experience in the public service, including as Alberta’s former deputy minister of International and Intergovernmental Relations. This discussion was originally recorded as a webinar by the Institute of Public Administration of Canada for its recent conference. Read the study here: https://on-irpp.org/3neOikf Download for free. New episodes every other Wednesday. Tweet your questions and comments to @IRPP or @charlesbreton.

Today, I'm talking with Ben Bitter about government policy-making, and how governments can shape the environments in which we live, and how we can participate in these processes to help our governments enact decisions that can enrich our families' lives. Ben has a Masters degree in Public Administration from Arizona State University, and a Bachelors degree in Political Science (with minors in Spanish and Statistics) from Brigham Young University. He has worked at all levels of government, interning for a United States Congressman, before moving to the state level in the Utah Legislature, and then finding his home in local government. Ben has previously been a city manager (the highest appointed position in a city), and now serves the Town of Florence, Arizona as its Assistant to the Town Manager and Intergovernmental Relations and Communications Manager. Ben is a father of three girls, and is married to his role model and best friend, who happens to moonlight as an Emergency Room nurse in her spare time. Local governments are service providers. Each year, budget decisions are made that affect the lives of those living within the community! Ben's advice is to become acquainted with the policy-making process and model civic involvement for your kids! Connect with Ben: http://twitter.com/BenjaminRBitter Ben's gift to us is available inside the Family Success Toolbox. He showed us where to learn about your local, state, and federal representatives. Sign up at www.homeandfamilyculture.com to get access to all the tools and resources for your family culture movement! Get more resources for your intentional family culture by joining the Family Success Toolbox at www.homeandfamilyculture.com or Text CULTURE to (917) 905-8801.

A “road map” to reopening Hamilton’s economy following the coronavirus pandemic has been presented to city council. Emergency Operations Centre Director Paul Johnson says the strategy is driven by the Ontario government’s emergency orders, and lays out a gradual plan for the reopening of municipal facilities and the restarting of city programs and services. Here to elaborate on the “road map” is Paul Johnson, himself! Guest: Paul Johnson Director of our Emergency Operations Centre, City of Hamilton - The Supreme Court of British Columbia dismissed Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou‘s argument that her case didn’t meet the standard of “double criminality,” where the fraud charges she’s facing in the United States would also be considered a crime in Canada. That drew sharp condemnation from both Huawei and the Chinese embassy in Ottawa, which once again called on Canada to immediately release her.  Guest: Christian Leuprecht – Class of 1965 Professor in leadership at the Royal Military College, Director of the Institute of Intergovernmental Relations at Queen’s University, and a Senior Fellow at Macdonald-Laurier Institute - Elissa Freeman, PR expert, joins the show to discuss Donald Trump’s latest feud which this time is with Twitter. Trump received the fact-check sticker when he tweeted "There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent." He provided no evidence of that claim, and Twitter added a warning label to the post and linked to a page that described the claims as "unsubstantiated". Guest: Elissa Freeman. Public Relations Consultant, Huffington Post, Canada.com and PR Daily

William Gilmartin has led a life committed to public service. He spent over 44 years in Washington with the Army, Congressional offices, and reaching the level of Assistant Secretary of Congress and Intergovernmental Relations for HUD under President Clinton. He recounts the leaders who worked across the aisle to strengthen HUD and make every effort to help families with affordable housing. Over time he’s seen housing drop off the Congressional radar, lost in a dark cloud of partisanship that only seems to be growing. He details what must change and the heroes who are that are pushing to make affordable housing the priority it ought to be.

Today's discussion includes unique career journeys, the power of networking and crisis leadership with Gitane De Silva. Gitane previously served as Alberta’s Deputy Minister of International and Intergovernmental Relations, she also worked in Canada’s Foreign Service for over a decade specializing in Canada-U.S. relations. She had held various posts in the U.S. including Consul General of Canada in Chicago and Head of the Environment and Fisheries section at the Canadian Embassy in Washington. She has also worked as Director of Canada-U.S. Advocacy and Mission Liaison and Director of U.S. Transboundary Affairs at Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada in Ottawa. In January 2016, Gitane was appointed Alberta’s Representative to the U.S. in Washington, D.C. where she led Alberta’s trade and diplomatic work in the U.S. and led Alberta’s Washington Office. Gitane is now back in Alberta, based in Calgary, Advising the Department of Energy.

Donna and Rachel are friends who aren’t afraid to ask questions, laugh loudly, obsess freely and covet vintage items. The pair created the Smart Mouth Life Podcast to celebrate women who run their mouths and the world. Today's episode features Mayor Pro Tem Julie Eiselt who ran for Charlotte City Council in 2015 and is in her second term on the council, serving at-large and as Mayor Pro Tem. Julie chairs the Transportation & Planning Committee, and serves on the Intergovernmental Relations and Economic Development Committees. In the community, Julie serves as a board member for the Blumenthal Performing Arts and The Relatives.​

Canada and the World, Ep. 33: How does the world see Canada? A podcast series from OpenCanada.org and the Balsillie School of International Affairs. Is Canada the idealistic, ambitious, liberal country it purports to be when it comes to its role in the world? Does the world see it that way? Not a simple question. This episode brings four critical thinkers together to break down the questions, myths and popular ideas surrounding Canada’s interaction on the global stage. How does the view of Canada vary depending on who is doing the looking, from friendly state allies to the foreign societies where Canadian actors are involved? If Canada is seen as one of the last defenders of liberal democracy, is it hypocritical or has it delivered? And, especially during election time, why does Canada promise to “punch above its weight,” when limited resources and security considerations mean priorities are necessary? Listen as Christian Leuprecht, Claire Wählen, Aisha Ahmad and Steve Saideman join Bessma Momani in Ottawa to discuss. Our host Bessma Momani is professor at the Balsillie School of International Affairs and University of Waterloo and a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. She’s also a non-resident senior fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington, D.C. and a Fulbright Scholar. She has been non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. and a 2015 Fellow at the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation. She’s a frequent analyst and expert on international affairs in Canadian and global media. This week’s guests Christian Leuprecht is a professor of political science and economics at the Royal Military College of Canada and an Eisenhower fellow at the NATO Defence College in Rome. He is cross-appointed with the department of political studies and the school of policy studies at Queen’s University, where he is affiliated with the Queen’s Centre for International and Defence Policy and the Institute of Intergovernmental Relations. He is also a Munk senior fellow in security and defence at the Macdonald Laurier Institute. Claire Wählen is the program director for NATO’s 70th anniversary celebrations in Canada through the NATO Association of Canada, as well as a junior research fellow. She holds a Bachelor in Journalism (Honours) with a double honour in Political Science from the University of King’s College and Dalhousie University respectively. She is also a former parliamentary reporter for iPolitics.ca. Aisha Ahmad is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Toronto, a senior researcher at the Munk School of Global Affairs, and the author of Jihad & Co.: Black Markets and Islamist Power. Stephen Saideman holds the Paterson Chair in International Affairs at Carleton University’s Norman Paterson School of International Affairs. He has written four books: The Ties That Divide: Ethnic Politics, Foreign Policy and International Conflict; For Kin or Country: Xenophobia, Nationalism and War (with R. William Ayres); NATO in Afghanistan: Fighting Together, Fighting Alone (with David Auerswald); and Adapting in the Dust: Lessons Learned from Canada’s War in Afghanistan, as well as articles and chapters on nationalism, ethnic conflict, civil war, alliance dynamics, and civil-military relations. Canada and The World is produced and edited by Matthew Markudis.

On this episode, I’m joined in the studio by Jim McCauley, the LOC’s new Legislative Director. Jim and I talk about his new role at the League, his goals for the Intergovernmental Relations team and the unique perspective he brings to the job. Jim's email: jmccauley@orcities.org

Barbara Bry, San Diego City Council Member, District 1 joins Executive Growth to discuss how she represents San Diego’s First City Council District and serves as chair of the Committee on Budget and Government Efficiency. Bry also serves as vice chair of the Public Safety and Livable Neighborhoods Committee, and is a member of both the Committee on Rules and the Committee on Economic Development and Intergovernmental Relations. She was sworn into office on December 12, 2016. The Council President Pro Tem has prioritized neighborhood improvements throughout her district. In Carmel Valley, Torrey Hills, Del Mar Mesa, and Del Mar Heights, Bry’s office worked to reset dangerous traffic signals, reopen the Carmel Valley Rec Center pool after repairs, paint out graffiti, repair potholes, remove traffic view-blocking vegetation, and secure signage to improve pedestrian safety. In University City and La Jolla, Bry’s office convened a commuter roundtable to address the transportation needs of the largest employment hub in region (UTC/Torrey Pines Mesa), installed pylons to prevent illegal turns, and completed dozens of right-of-way repairs. Bry has also led and supported several citywide initiatives. As vice chair of Public Safety, she advocated for securing an independent search firm for the selection of a new police chief and pushed for a significant pay increase for the SDPD to help recruit and retain officers. She also helped to defeat an unnecessary special election, which saved taxpayers $5 million. To improve transparency, Bry led an effort to revise Charter Section 225 and move forward with an ordinance that will require the City to collect and disclose the identities of any individual or entity involved in a business transaction with the City. Under Bry’s leadership as chair of the Budget Committee, the City adopted a fiscally responsible FY 2018 Budget that sustains essential neighborhood services, enhances public safety, restores funding for the arts, designates funding for the implementation of the Climate Action Plan, and supports other important City services. Council President Pro Tem Bry’s top priorities for 2018 include police recruitment and retention, regulating short-term rentals, advancing a community choice energy program, addressing workplace sexual harassment and pay equity, moving forward with the fire station at UCSD, and creating a thriving and inclusive innovation economy. Barbara Bry is a high-tech entrepreneur and community leader who worked her way through college and graduate school, earning a Master’s Degree in Business from Harvard. Barbara was on the founding team of several local high-tech companies, including ProFlowers.com, which has created hundreds of local jobs. She is co-founder of Atcom/Info, one of the first companies to develop technology for Internet kiosks and high-speed Internet access in hotel rooms. Additionally, she served as the first associate director of CONNECT, and is the founder of Athena San Diego, the leading organization for women in the San Diego tech and life sciences community. Barbara has deep roots in the community and has lived in San Diego for more than 35 years. She is married to Neil Senturia, raised her two daughters here, and is a proud grandmother. Kim Walpole, Co-Founder & CEO, Trials.ai joins Bob to discuss how she feels companies that run trials stand to lose billions of dollars per year because of failures related to recruitment, retention, protocol deviations and corrupted data. Trials.ai is fixing the two root causes of these failures: Study Design & Execution, that result in 50% of effective treatments failing FDA approval. Our platform applies artificial intelligence to make the process of conducting clinical trials safer, faster and easier. Now the FDA is forcing change industry wide by mandating standardized study data be submitted electronically. With 50% of research still being done on paper, this creates a major shift in how these companies collect and handle data that must be synthesized and submitted electronically for FDA approval. Trials.ai is building an intelligent technology platform that makes it simple to run and manage trials:  We leverage AI to optimize study design, create intelligent workflow automation, provide predictive analytics and recommendations based on study health and end points. Our goal is to provide Sponsors, Sites & CRO’s with the smart tools they need to make the clinical trials management process faster, cheaper and easier. BISTalk ran for over 2 years as a drive-time show on ESPN radio in San Diego as part of their experiment in ‘alternative’ non-sports business programming. ESPN returned to all sports programming and BISTalk took it as an opportunity to join the 21’st century with a rebrand and a relaunch as the Executive Growth Podcast.

Ken Davis is joined by four veterans of the Harold Washington years in Chicago. Jacky Grimshaw was the mayor’s Director of Intergovernmental Relations and is currently Vice President for Policy at the Center for Neighborhood Technology. Patrick O’Connor was (and still is) the Alderman of the 40th Ward. Cheryl Corley was City Hall reporter for WBEZ and is currently Midwest/Chicago correspondent for NPR. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia was elected Alderman during Washington’s term and was part of the realignment of the City Council that awarded Washington majority control of the Council. He’s currently 7th District Commissioner at the Cook County Board. The guests tell behind-the-scenes stories about their interactions with Washington, who died in office thirty years ago this weekend. The panel also looks at the Washington legacy and speculates about how Washington, had he survived and been re-elected, might have grappled with the difficult issues Chicago is facing today. This program was produced by Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV).

n January 2017 Canada’s oil-rich province of Alberta took the unprecedented step of instituting a carbon tax. Combined with a cap on greenhouse emissions from the Oil Sands, the bulk of the province’s economy is now party to one of the most encompassing efforts to date in North America to address global warming. Alberta’s senior diplomatic representative to the United States, Gitane De Silva, talks about the province’s climate goals and the process by which Albertan industry, environmentalists and government found common ground to get the tax passed. Gitane De Silva is Alberta’s Senior Representative to the United States. Prior to her current appointment, she served as Deputy Minister of Alberta International and Intergovernmental Relations. Before joining the Alberta Civil Service, Ms. De Silva was Consul General of Canada in Chicago.

Federalism and climate change, a Policy Options Podcast. The Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change is the largest intergovernmental project to combat climate change in Canada’s history. Meeting the goals laid out in the framework will depend on effective coordination among Ottawa, the provinces, and the territories in their climate change mitigation efforts. However, this will not be an easy task, given the provinces and territories’ different economic situations. What are the factors that will determine how and how well governments coordinate with one another? Tracy Snoddon and Debora VanNijnatten, both associate professors at Wilfrid Laurier University, answered that question in a recent IRPP publication titled Carbon Pricing and Intergovernmental Relations in Canada. They stopped by the podcast to share their insights on the issue. Download for Free. New episodes every second Tuesday. See Tracy Snoddon and Debora VanNijnatten's IRPP Insight “Carbon Pricing and Intergovernmental Relations in Canada" at http://on-irpp.org/2g39k3r

Host Dustin Haisler speaks with Kristi Wyatt, Director of Communications and Intergovernmental Relations for the City of San Marcos,

Host Dustin Haisler speaks with Kristi Wyatt, Director of Communications and Intergovernmental Relations for the City of San Marcos, about audience development as part of an overall engagement strategy.

The Empire Club of Canada Presents: Rachel Notley, Premier of Alberta With State of the Province and Its Economy Premier Rachel Notley will speak on the state of the province and its economy, and will discuss the Government of Alberta's key fiscal, economic, social and environmental priorities at a time of both remarkable challenge and opportunity for Alberta. Premier of Alberta biography: Rachel Notley was sworn in as Alberta's 17th Premier on May 24, 2015. She leads Alberta's first New Democratic government, with a strong majority and a diverse caucus, including the highest percentage of women of any government in Canada. She also serves as Minister of International and Intergovernmental Relations. Rachel Anne Notley was born on April 17, 1964, in Edmonton, Alberta, and raised in Fairview. The area is part of a constituency now named for her father, Grant Notley, a long time and well respected MLA who served as the leader of the province's first NDP Opposition. Her mother, Sandy, was also a strong influence in Rachel's life, taking her to protest marches before her tenth birthday and shaping a social conscience that continues to guide her. Rachel Notley completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science at the University of Alberta, and earned a law degree at Osgoode Hall Law School. Her legal career focused on labour law, workers' compensation advocacy, and workplace health and safety issues. She worked for several labour unions in Alberta and British Columbia, and also served as an advisor to BC's Attorney General. In 2008, Rachel followed in her father's footsteps and was elected as an NDP MLA, serving the constituency of Edmonton Strathcona. She was subsequently re elected in 2012 with the highest share of the vote of any MLA in the province. She became party leader on October 18, 2014, and was elected to her third term as MLA on May 5, 2015, in the same historic election that saw the NDP sweep the Progressive Conservative party from office after almost 44 years. Rachel Notley represents a new generation of Albertans. Her party ran on a platform of creating jobs, restoring honest and open government, preserving and building the health care and education systems, and rebalancing government revenues to make them more fair. This vision, with a balance between a strong economy, environmental responsible justice, was welcomed by Albertans, who elected NDP candidates in more than 50 of Alberta's 87 ridings. Rachel and her husband, Lou Arab, live with their two teenage children in Edmonton. Speaker: The Hon. Rachel Notley, Premier of Alberta *The content presented is free of charge but please note that the Empire Club of Canada retains copyright. Neither the speeches themselves nor any part of their content may be used for any purpose other than personal interest or research without the explicit permission of the Empire Club of Canada.* *Views and Opinions Expressed Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the speakers or panelists are those of the speakers or panelists and do not necessarily reflect or represent the official views and opinions, policy or position held by The Empire Club of Canada.*

Betty Nixon started her work career as a high school teacher in Anniston, Ala. and eventually became a Metro Councilwoman and two-time mayoral candidate in Nashville/Davidson County; Videos during the time of her campaign: http://youtu.be/aFzqJG7sU6c, http://youtu.be/Egn2zgckYLU, http://youtu.be/ZojONV4X7dw.  She was Deputy press secretary to Tenn. Gov. Ray Blanton; Managed a few campaigns: including the state campaign for Mondale/Ferraro presidential campaign, state campaign manager for U.S. Sen. Jim Sasser for his successful 1988 re-election campaign and served as as a professional staff member of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations.  She chaired the board for the Metro Election Commission.  She worked at Vanderbilt University as the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Community, Neighborhood and Government Relations. Betty also attends West End UMC and was willing to host my Modern Day Flapper release and 30th birthday party – all my friends were inspired by her! · She is the fourth generation to be college educated (and for someone born in the late 1930s that is incredible to me)!· She went to college to find a husband and had to figure out something else… how much of my non-traditional script is because life didn’t work out like I thought it would?·  Mary Catherine Bateson author of Composing a Life.·  Is the idea of balance a privilege afforded to me because of women like Betty?·  Betty’s daughter Mignon Nixon teaches at The Courtauld Institute of Art in London, UK.  She studies sexuality and aggression in art since 1945, focusing in particular on questions of feminism and gender politics. She is the author of Fantastic Reality: Louise Bourgeois and a Story of Modern Art (MIT Press/October Books, 2005) and the editor of the Eva Hesse October File (MIT Press/October Files, 2002). She is a co-editor of October magazine (New York).· She explains the privilege to be involved at the tipping point of feminism and civil rights in 1960s.· Rural Women experience power – The 50s model verses pre-50s model· Powerhouse meeting for the 1984 election talking about Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman to run for vice president on a major party ticket.   o Betty Friedan – women’s rights activist and author of Feminine Mystique (1963):    o Carol Bellamy   o Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority and the Feminist Majority Foundation.   o Mary Landrieu -- United States Senator from the State of Louisiana    o Sharon Percy Rockefeller – wife of West Virginia Senator John Davison "Jay" Rockefeller IV. ·  Amendment One in Tennessee ·  Hume Fogg in Nashville:   My school was Rochelle School of the Arts in Lakeland, FL·  We need to learn to live out diversity in our lives!·  A discussion of fear and scarcity: economic disparity in the US.  Video I referenced: http://youtu.be/QPKKQnijnsM·  Gloria Steinem – a leader of the women’s movement in the 1960s and 70s ·   Bella Abzug -- New Yorker, feminist, antiwar activist, politician and lawyer:

On July 1st a new law took effect in Tennessee that allows prosecutors to pursue criminal assault charges if the mother uses illegal drugs during pregnancy. Although it had widespread bipartisan support and is designed to fight Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, some believe it to be an unconstitutional infraction on privacy, equal protection, and due process. On this episode of Lawyer 2 Lawyer, host J. Craig Williams interviews Tennessee House Representative Mike Carter and Legal Director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee Thomas Castelli. Together they discuss maximum penalties, the law's effect on demographics, and treatment based defenses to punishment. Tune in to hear why the Tennessee General Assembly believes this law is their only option and the reasons the ACLU is fighting it. Thomas H. Castelli is the Legal Director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee. Prior to joining the ACLU, he provided litigation counsel to businesses and law firms with Counsel on Call and was a founding partner with Castelli and Knox, LLP, a small general practice firm with an emphasis on employment discrimination and wrongful discharge. He also worked as an associate at Schulten, Ward and Turner, LLP as well as Sutherland, Asbill and Brennan, LLP, where he focused on employment, construction, bankruptcy and general business litigation. He is a native Tennessean who grew up in Murfreesboro. The Honorable Mike Carter is a House Representative in the Tennessee General Assembly. He is a life-long resident of Ooltewah, Tennessee and practiced law for twenty years before being appointed as Judge, now retired, in 1997 by then Governor Don Sundquist. In 2009, Mr. Carter served as Special Assistant to then County Mayor Claude Ramsey. In 2012, he ran unopposed as a State Representative to serve the people of the newly created 29th District of Tennessee. Carter serves on the House Civil Justice Committee, House Finance Ways and Means Committee, and the House Ethics Committee. He also serves on TACIR (Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations) and the House Judicial Oversight Panel. Special thanks to our sponsor, Clio.

Substance abuse among Veterans is a growing problem in our country, but help is available. We'll be joined by Dave Dyer, an Army veteran, infantry scout from the 10th Mountain Division who served in Afghanistan from 2006 to 2007 and who's currently with the SHARP Team of the Dept. of Veteran's Services (a peer specialist focused on chronically homeless veterans and providing all aspects of crisis intervention), and Matthew McKenna, Director of Communications & Intergovernmental Relations, Department of Veterans' Services. We're also joined by Justin Enggasser, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine, Lecturer in Psychology at Harvard Medical School, and Section Chief for Substance Abuse Treatment Services at VA Boston Healthcare System. Dr. Enggasser has published research in the areas of substance abuse, depression, and PTSD. He is currently involved in projects developing and testing new treatment models and treatment delivery methods for co-occurring substance abuse and PTSD.

Political power and performance assessment at the federal level is examined by two distinguished public servants followed by a question and answer session. Robert J. Shea, Counselor to the Deputy Director for Management at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) discusses the oversight powers and procedures of the executive branch over federal programs, particularly through the use of the Performance Assesment Rating Tool (P.A.R.T.). Professor Paul Posner, Director of the Master of Public Administration Program at George Mason University and former director of Federal Budget and Intergovernmental Relations at the Government Accountablilty Office (GAO) discusses federal oversight powers of Congress. Both speakers are welcomed and introduced by Professor Lynne Weikart, Associate Professor at the School of Public Affairs. The event takes place March 27, 2006 as part of Baruch College's 2006 Public Affairs Week.

At the last Alberta general election, only 41% of registered voters exercised their right to vote – an historical low for the province. Although those that voted gave the Stelmach government a massive majority of 86 percent of the seats at the Legislature, the mandate, in fact, came from less than one-quarter of the electorate. This questions the health of democracy in Alberta. Low turnout at the polls is symptomatic of a serious lack of commitment by the electorate. Voter apathy may have been helped by years of domination of Conservative governments and a perceived lack of viable alternatives. If informed public debate is the lifeblood of democracy, the time may have come to consider reforming our political process. How can we ensure that issues of concern to Albertans are subjected to rigorous debate at the Legislature before they become the law of the land? Speaker: Bridget Pastoor MLA Bridget Pastoor was elected to her second term as the MLA for Lethbridge-East on March 3, 2008. She currently serves as a member of the Privileges and Elections, Standing Orders and Printing Committee and as deputy chair of the Standing Committee on Health. In addition, she serves as the Official Opposition Deputy Whip, the Shadow Minister for Seniors and Community Supports, the Shadow Minister for International and Intergovernmental Relations, and the Shadow Minister for Municipal Affairs. Ms. Pastoor is also Deputy Leader of the Alberta Liberal Party. Prior to entering provincial politics, Bridget served as an alderwoman on Lethbridge City Council from 1998 to 2004. Ms Pastoor began her career with Air Canada. After raising three children, she returned to school and graduated from Lethbridge College as a registered nurse, later qualifying as a geriatric specialist from Grant MacEwan. Bridget worked as an RN at the Edith Cavell care centre from 1990 to 2004.