#108. Leslie Castellano--Art, Transit, And A Kinder Eureka

What if the way we move our bodies could change how we move a city forward? We sit down with artist-organizer and Eureka Councilmember Leslie Castellano to explore how dance, art, housing, and transit can pull a fractured community back into rhythm. From Florida’s Gulf Coast to Humboldt’s dunes, Leslie traces a path that runs through Tai Chi, contact improvisation, and the founding of Synapsis—each step teaching her to listen, share weight, and build momentum together.

We dig into why art isn’t a luxury but a survival skill in a time of noise and division. Leslie shares how the Ink People’s new permanent home will bring a gallery, youth classrooms, a recording studio, and a youth-run coffee shop under one roof—giving teens real tools for creativity, workforce skills, and belonging. We talk fiscal sponsorships for 90-plus projects, music mentors who help young bands record, and the power of spaces that make it easy to show up and make something new.

Then we get practical about the city we want to live in. Leslie lays out a grounded vision: mixed-use blocks on Wabash, ADUs that add both homes and homeowner equity, and small parklets that spark street life. We unpack the funded Eureka Transit Center—transit hub below, workforce housing above—plus microtransit on-demand, better bike storage, and faster connections that make buses a real option. Parking pressures, data-driven thresholds, and when a garage makes sense all get honest airtime. Along the way, we celebrate vinyl’s tactile joy, live shows that bond strangers, and the kind of “calling in” that turns critique into learning.

If you care about rebuilding the commons—where neighbors meet, create, and move—this conversation offers both heart and a roadmap. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves Humboldt, and leave a review telling us: what would you build first?

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:30

Ladies and gentlemen, friends and neighbors, and all those out at sea, this is Scott Hammond with a 100% Humboldt Podcast in Humboldt County, California, with my do best friend. And you're going to say your last name. I know your first name's Leslie, but I got to get the last name right.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Castellano.

SPEAKER_04 0:45

Castellano. Hi, Leslie.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Hey Scott.

SPEAKER_04 0:47

How's your day?

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Today's been busy.

SPEAKER_04 0:49

Yeah?

SPEAKER_00 0:50

Yeah. It started off at 3 30 at the Skywalk.

SPEAKER_04 0:54

Oh, that's right. You kinda we had Good Morning America. They were here at 3 30 in the morning?

SPEAKER_00 0:59

Yes. Yes, they were.

SPEAKER_04 1:01

Yeah, Nancy Olson said she was there and she was real tired at like 11 today. Hi, Nancy. So you're you're going on like fumes right now.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

It's okay. That's maybe normal.

SPEAKER_04 1:12

Yeah. 3 30 in the morning. Want some coffee?

SPEAKER_00 1:15

I've had a couple of rounds of coffee.

SPEAKER_04 1:18

So uh so they have to broadcast really early for the East Coast.

SPEAKER_00 1:22

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 1:22

So that's 6 30 Eastern standard time.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Yeah, and we didn't really start broadcasting until four. Um but they wanted us there so we would be ready when they started.

SPEAKER_04 1:32

So you're up at the Skywalk in at the zoo.

SPEAKER_00 1:35

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 1:36

Wow. Jim Campbell Spickler.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:39

Was he there?

SPEAKER_00 1:40

He was not part of the crowd. He was present in attendance, but he wasn't part of the crowd. They they kind of, you know, it was a good mix of people from different, you know, uh like the the chamber, the Eureka Main Street, you know, some realtor-facing folks. Anyway, just different community members there.

SPEAKER_04 1:59

My friend Lucky was there from Rotary. He's a realtor.

SPEAKER_00 2:02

Oh, I missed him. You know, it's funny. We were just emailing yesterday and I I we should have chatted.

SPEAKER_04 2:08

Yeah. Well, hi, Lucky. Um Yeah, no, uh, that's really cool that we got represented. Was it thank goodness it wasn't raining?

SPEAKER_00 2:15

Yes, definitely. Thank you. Yeah. It would have changed the tone.

SPEAKER_04 2:22

It's 65 and perfect all January, sorry.

SPEAKER_00 2:25

Right.

SPEAKER_04 2:26

So tell us the Leslie story. What's your what's your day job? And then I want to hear about where you're from. AI says you're local, so that's pretty good.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

Oh, good.

SPEAKER_04 2:34

We'll see how local you're right.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

I'm here now.

SPEAKER_04 2:37

Yeah, you're you're in the moment.

unknown 2:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:39

I'm present with you, right?

SPEAKER_00 2:41

Exactly. Very local.

SPEAKER_04 2:42

Um So you're a city council person.

SPEAKER_00 2:44

City council person. Um representing Ward One for the City of Eureka. And my day job is I'm the executive director of the Inc. People Center for Art and Culture here, based out of Eureka, California, but serving kind of mostly Humboldt County and some of the wider North Coast region.

SPEAKER_04 3:01

Aaron Powell Nice. I wanted to talk all about the arts and why it's important to us and our economy, but also us as human beings.

SPEAKER_02 3:09

Right.

SPEAKER_04 3:09

We'll get there. Uh so tell me about you and where did you go to school? What's your what's your deal, man? What's your story?

SPEAKER_00 3:17

What's my deal? Okay. Well, mostly I grew up in Florida.

SPEAKER_02 3:21

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

Um my a lot of my family's from Oklahoma, so I spent a little time in my kind of age one to five in Oklahoma. But um then other the other part of my family's from Florida. So grew up in the panhandle, so the lower Alabama part of Florida. And, you know, that's like the Gulf of Mexico, the um, you know, so lots of like white sand beaches, um, you know, oak, oak trees, bayous, Spanish moss. And then I went to school in New College in Sarasota, which is a small liberal arts college, or was a small liberal arts college. It's had some changes in recent years.

SPEAKER_04 4:02

So what did you study there?

SPEAKER_00 4:03

I studied anthropology, and then about a year and a half in, I decided I didn't want to be an anthropologist, so I switched to social sciences in general. Um but the anthropology kind of informed some of my thinking around art and culture and just some of the framework around that. Um, I had like two years of credit going into college because I was dual enrolled in high school. So um I So you're smart. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 4:37

You were advanced.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

I'm a keener, you know, right? Um so anyway, I I was able to uh I was only in college for a few years because I already had a lot of school under my belt.

SPEAKER_04 4:50

So you did you graduate?

SPEAKER_00 4:51

I gr of course. I mean, yeah, I graduated. Sorry, that's weird. Of course.

SPEAKER_04 4:57

Of course I did. How dare you?

unknown 5:00

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 5:01

I do like to finish things I begin. That feels important.

SPEAKER_04 5:04

So anthropology kind of plays into politics perfectly.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

Aaron Powell It does, right? Yeah, it's in you know, social, you know, for sure, thinking about uh how we form the the social spaces we live in, how they inform us. You know, that kind of play between the way our experiences inform how we imagine the world, and then also how the way we live together and imagine the world then shapes our experiences.

SPEAKER_04 5:35

Aaron Powell I was gonna go back to the baseline of how history repeats itself. How we make the same mistakes over and over and over again.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

Aaron Powell Yeah. There there's that too.

SPEAKER_04 5:45

It's not always that, but there is that anyway.

SPEAKER_00 5:47

Yeah. Yeah. The the story of human civilization is uh has some dark pretty dark turns that we seem to make. Crazy, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:56

Oh, my 21-year-old's kind of a student of history, and he's reminding me with his some of his revisionist crazy stuff too. But another story for another day. So you gr how did what got you to humble?

From Florida Roots To Humboldt Home

SPEAKER_00 6:08

Um you know, growing up in Florida, there's definitely a a West Coast mythos that I, you know, as a 19, 20-year-old was pretty attracted to and had some friends, you know, did a little bit of road tripping during the summers um in my youth. And so had come to California and then had friends that had moved out here. And so when I was kind of wrapping up my uh my coursework um at New College, I came out and um, you know, wasn't intending to like settle in Humboldt County, you know, had had some a couple of friends who had moved here and um like just kind of got involved in the community and then it just kind of slowly grew and here I am deeply involved now.

SPEAKER_04 7:06

And it got into you, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:07

It got into me.

SPEAKER_04 7:08

That's okay. That's good.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

Yeah. Oh my gosh. I love it here.

SPEAKER_04 7:15

That's good. What do you like about it? Love about it.

SPEAKER_00 7:17

Right. Um, gosh. I mean, I think that what first drew me, I was and still tried to be a pretty avid kind of hiker, outdoors person, who was just a combination of like mountains, rivers, everything. Forest, ocean.

SPEAKER_04 7:35

I married to one of you, one of your people.

SPEAKER_00 7:38

Very good. We're good people. We're good people.

SPEAKER_04 7:41

She did lamp for dunes this week and got in trouble and had the permit.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

Oh, good. She still got in trouble. It's closed.

SPEAKER_04 7:49

But they said it was open, but it's closed.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

Right. Like, but uh I tried. I really tried to do the right thing.

SPEAKER_04 7:54

I said, Jody, you tried to do the right thing here. But yeah, she's hiked pretty much every everywhere. She hikes with the Fortuna group, the old kind of the old farts. They're uh every Wednesday for the last two hundred years, they have gone on a hike somewhere. Yeah, they're hardcore.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Oh, that's great. Very cool.

SPEAKER_04 8:11

Yeah, they're really really good. Better be there early though. They leave.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:15

Right, Reese Hughes?

SPEAKER_00 8:17

Hi Reese.

SPEAKER_04 8:18

So wait, I'm talking to you, not to Reese.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

I'm like, hi, hi.

SPEAKER_04 8:23

So you're a hiker. Good place to hike.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

Yep, good place to hike. And then um so that was what first drew me here.

SPEAKER_04 8:31

Um and the favorite favorite hikes?

SPEAKER_00 8:33

Oh gosh. I mean, my favorite closest hike is Millel Dunes. Um I I just it's always wondrous that kind of meeting place between the ocean and the dunes and the forest and the way the dunes open up there.

SPEAKER_04 8:49

And it's kind of otherworldly too. It is intersection.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

Love it.

SPEAKER_04 8:52

Um, ever been there for the mosquitoes?

SPEAKER_00 8:55

I think I've been there for the mosquitoes. Or they've been there for me.

SPEAKER_04 8:59

Yeah. Well, it goes both ways.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

Yeah. Right, right. Reciprocal relationship. Um I I really like the um Dulleson Meadow hike that goes down to the Emerald Creek. That's my favorite sort of long hike. The one I've been to the most road called up by Lady Bird Johnson. Is that Bald Hills Road? Is it Bald Hills? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:23

Wow, you're two for two. You're like Jody's two favorite right now.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

Oh.

SPEAKER_04 9:27

Maybe. All right.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

Hey Jody, we'll we should chat.

SPEAKER_04 9:31

What's your third one?

SPEAKER_00 9:32

My third. Ooh.

SPEAKER_04 9:34

Um All right, Jody, this is for all the money if she gets this right.

SPEAKER_00 9:37

I know. I don't think I will. I'm sorry, Jody, ahead of time.

SPEAKER_04 9:40

She's panicking.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

I was like, I didn't know it was a game show. Shoot. Um we do that later. I I think the these these aren't Humboldt hikes, but the Trinity Alps, I just love the Trinity Alps in general. And you know, last summer I went for the first time to the Marble Mountains and I've been wanting to go there for years. And um Right.

SPEAKER_04 9:59

I was very thrilled.

SPEAKER_00 10:02

It is. It is. It was beautiful. Um I want to go again uh and spend I spent a couple nights. Did you go up ninety-six or three or way up uh ninety-six and then I forget the road we took from there. Way up there. Yeah. Wow. And then the local Humboldt hike. I don't know. I see I feel like there's just a lot of ties for third.

SPEAKER_04 10:25

That's fine.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Jonah, you'll have to tell me your your third favorite, and then uh I'll just I'll I'll I'll pick for her.

SPEAKER_04 10:31

Um probably pr anything in Prairie Creek straight up.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

Okay. I do yeah. Prairie Creek is good. It's true. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:40

And I do smaller hikes. Anyway. So hiking brought you here, kept you here. Yep. What else?

SPEAKER_00 10:48

Um well when I first moved here, I taught preschool for five years. And um and I kind of dove into Tai Chi, uh studying Tai Chi. And so that was the first like community I formed or was part of. I was not knowing at the time. I guess I have a nerdy interest in like doing things that uh cultivate collectivity. And so, you know, it's like, right? Like you can go to a Tai Chi class, but I was like, I'm gonna make a Tai Chi newsletter, and we're gonna have Tai Chi potlucks, and we're gonna get together in the morning and do Tai Chi.

unknown 11:28

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 11:29

Exactly. So, you know, that was So this was your group that you grew it? I was not the teacher, for sure, no. I I was a student. Um very yeah, yeah. I was definitely uh a knitter in in that space. Yeah. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:45

Well, that's cool. I like that. So you stuck around and then uh what'd you do for work?

Hiking The North Coast And Beyond

SPEAKER_00 11:50

Aaron Powell Stuck around. Taught preschool for a while, and then um I decided that this is mid-20s, that I, you know, I'm like, maybe, maybe one day later I'll come back to teaching. I love working with young children, but I was like, you know, I'm gonna explore other things. Um at that time, Tai Chi kind of brought me to studying contact improvisation, which is a dance form based on if you take, if you think about Aikido, right? Like where you have people using uh like momentum to um work in combat situations or work against one another. Um contact improvisation would be kind of taking those same principles, but using like momentum, uh kind of like sensing one another's like center to work collaboratively as a dance practice. And so um I kind of I started studying contact improvisation pretty seriously.

SPEAKER_04 12:49

Um Is this upright? I mean, do people stand and do it?

SPEAKER_00 12:53

Yeah, it it's a I mean it's a dance form. It can be pretty acrobatic. I still practice and teach that dance form.

SPEAKER_04 13:00

Um throw someone into a somersault.

SPEAKER_00 13:03

Yeah. I mean, I you know, you like flip up on people's shoulders and you know, I flip people up onto my shoulders and you know, you can kind of go back and forth like using momentum to kind of continue the the the movement.

SPEAKER_03 13:17

Parkour. Yeah, people people parkour.

SPEAKER_00 13:20

Yeah, yeah, that could I like that metaphor. Um so so anyway, uh study that pretty seriously and um which I'll get to how that informs like politics maybe, but um through that practice and through being somewhat involved with um at that time I got involved with the uh the Biodiesel Road Show, Sustainable Communities Biodiesel Road Show, which was uh a local group that was kind of associated with the Redwood Peace and Justice Center that we had a big biodiesel bus and we would go and do like giant puppets and stilt walking at like protest and things like that. And um so like Black Rock or not, no, you know, some of the people were going there for sure. Yeah. I mean, I've been to Bernie Man, but this was sort of like this is like uh post-9-11. So sort of there there was a lot of like political activation around that time. Um and so kind of both of those things. I was like, I need a place to practice dance and to make giant puppets. And so um found a warehouse with a couple friends in the um in Old Town, and and that's when Synapsis was formed, which is kind of an art space, and I'm still uh sort of loosely holding the container of where's that?

SPEAKER_04 14:49

Is that the one on like second by Eagle House down that way?

SPEAKER_00 14:53

No, it's on uh Union Street, kind of Union and Wabash, which is um just across from that big Caltrans campus, if you're in Humboldt County. Um and it's you know, so now it's it's a like a not an old funky warehouse space, but a like uh old community hall. It's an old Finnish hall that was built in 1904 that uh we've uh renovated. Uh now we own it, renovated it and turned it into a community space.

SPEAKER_04 15:25

Did Access Humboldt do uh video there with the drums, the drummers with I believe so.

SPEAKER_00 15:30

Yeah, we had a drum brigade there. So there was definitely shown that a lot. Oh, do they? That's funny. Okay, great. Thanks, Access Humboldt.

SPEAKER_04 15:38

Thank you, Access Humboldt. You're amazing.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 15:40

Yeah, they're great. So you're doing all the things. So uh how how did that's okay. You learn learn by doing. So how how did that transition then to politics?

SPEAKER_00 15:53

Right, exactly. Um so okay. So um so contact improvisation, right? It's it's a ideologically, it's a dance form where, and this may be a little esoteric at first, but I think it it makes sense in my body, so whatever. Um I'm sharing it now. Anyway, it's a dance form that's right, it's you know, so you're in this relationship where you're you're sensing someone else's body. It's a non-codified form, and it also you're constantly in a relationship of change, right? Because um, you're sensing what's possible in that moment and and trying to kind of make the best out of it, really, um, by doing something that's like creative and uh I mean, uh creative is such kind of a weird word, but like that's something that's uh spontaneous? Generative, spontaneous, and I think generative of like what is possible through this connectivity, right? Um and you know, and perhaps that's like a thing of beauty, you know, depending on how you define beauty, or at least maybe a a space of curiosity. I think the idea of curiosity is really valuable in that practice. And so um that kind of informed, I think just the way I think about community and like connecting to people is like, you know, try right. Like we, you know, in contact improvisation, it's not that you don't bring skills and training to the work, but then you take, you know, those are your tools that you use, just like political training or anything like that. But then, you know, it's in that meeting point that you're like there with another person or more than one person. It can be like trios or quartets or or like group scores. But but also this idea of like sensing another person, people, and seeing what's possible, right? And doing something in a that's collaborative and generative for the exchange that you have with one another.

SPEAKER_04 17:55

Designed for fun? Should it be fun?

SPEAKER_00 17:57

Yeah, and it's fun.

SPEAKER_04 17:58

Let's let's do one right now.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

I mean, sure. I'm sure I'm teaching a class later tonight.

SPEAKER_04 18:05

So you can tell us about tell us uh about that. You want to do a shout-out on that? Are you adding more people all the time?

SPEAKER_00 18:11

Sure. Yeah, yeah. Uh shout it out. Yeah. Uh Thursday evenings at Synapsis, we do uh contact improvisation. There's class and jam. Sometimes there's live music.

SPEAKER_04 18:21

Wow.

From Tai Chi To Contact Improvisation

SPEAKER_00 18:22

Um, and folks can learn what this form is.

SPEAKER_04 18:25

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

Um what time? Uh 6 30. Um, and then there's like a warm-up and seven, there's open dancing. Sometimes the class goes longer. It sort of slightly changes week to week. But if you come at 6 30, there'll be people there and dancing.

SPEAKER_04 18:40

So you're gonna stay up 24 hours today, aren't you?

SPEAKER_00 18:43

I think I might I know. I'm like, oh maybe. I'm gonna yeah, I'm gonna. Yeah, sit this one out. I have like more work to do between anyway. We'll see how how far I can uh go.

SPEAKER_04 18:56

So uh day job, you're this director of Ing People.

SPEAKER_00 18:59

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 19:00

And you were our neighbors at State Farm next door, and now you've moved and gonna move again to downtown new building.

SPEAKER_00 19:05

I know. It's very exciting.

SPEAKER_04 19:07

I saw a builder coming out of there too.

SPEAKER_00 19:09

Yeah, we're we're there is work happening. You know, I mean, one of the joys of a taking on an old building is finding the things that have that need to be repaired and um, you know, taking care of them and kind of bringing it back to life.

SPEAKER_04 19:28

So was it Ichabod's billiards last time?

SPEAKER_00 19:31

It was Rose's billiards.

SPEAKER_04 19:33

And Ichabod might have been before Rose, yeah. Yeah. But it was a pool hall and beard joints.

SPEAKER_00 19:38

It was a pool hall. It was fun. It was like the Eureka um alibi for a minute.

SPEAKER_04 19:45

Club West, way back.

SPEAKER_00 19:46

Club West. That was when when I first moved here, it was Club West and saw some good music there. Um so it it's yeah, for the Ink people, it will be a gallery, small venue. Um, our youth um our youth classroom is there where youth learn like graphic design, digital animation.

SPEAKER_03 20:07

Music recording.

SPEAKER_00 20:08

Um, yeah, music recording. We we're building in a small recording studio there. Um and we're gonna have a youth-run coffee shop there that's like a workforce development project. So youth will learn workforce development skills.

SPEAKER_04 20:21

I don't have to go to Starbucks.

SPEAKER_00 20:23

Right. You don't have to now, also.

SPEAKER_04 20:27

Yes, I know. I quit a long time ago.

SPEAKER_00 20:29

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:30

We have so many. Oh my god, I know. I mean, it'll be a great opportunity for the youth. We do have many very good coffee shops in Old Town already.

SPEAKER_04 20:39

But we'll get to that when it's quiz time. Yeah. Which is coming right up. Uh so you're you direct all the folks and run the show, and you're you're transitioning now because you're in this whole big new building, and wow, gotta move all the stuff eventually and yes we will.

SPEAKER_00 20:55

Yep. By the end of channel. I know. It's you know, the building as a project uh checks a lot of boxes in that uh I I've been involved with the Inc. people for a long time um as a board member and then, you know, and so really got to know Libby Maynard, you know, in that space. And um, you know, Libby had a vision and a dream for the Inc. people to have a permanent home before I became the director. And I really uh also felt a lot of alignment and care for that vision and dream because there's something about, I mean, one, the organization's been around since 1979 and has never really had its own space. We were in the municipal auditorium for quite a while. But then after that big earthquake in 2012, um, we lost that space and really kind of have kind of hopped from space to space in the uh intermediary time. And anyway, so so it's really exciting to kind of take on this project that one will like serve the community in terms of really amplifying the work that we do. Like we support, you know, more than 90 different uh DreamMaker projects, which is our fiscal sponsorship program, and you know, plus our youth program, plus all of the like placemaking, placekeeping work we do, and you know, and to really have a space where people can gather and you know have those cultural exchanges, have those creative exchanges, like you know, be a support space, even more so than we are now for our. Artists and culture keepers.

SPEAKER_04 22:31

I think I get it. It's nice.

SPEAKER_00 22:33

It's such a dream. It's so great.

SPEAKER_04 22:35

So why you just told us kind of what the vision is. You did you did kind of you did. What why are art why is art important to me, a human being on the planet?

SPEAKER_00 22:47

Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_04 22:48

I mean, I think it's almost like ergo ig people in Eureka and Humboldt.

SPEAKER_00 22:53

I mean, I think it's almost survival right now, in the sense of right, like like I mean, and coming back to that kind of early root of like anthropology of like, okay, you know, like the world is informing how we experience ourselves and how we experience one another. And, you know, in a world in which we're really, you know, whatever your belief system, I think, like looking at these, you know, environmental, social, political crises, or at least instabil, like the instability and you know like how do we create a space for like what we want and what we care about within that? And you know, and for sure people have many ways of expressing that, but I some not so healthy. Right. Yeah. Also that. But you know, like art, culture, I think, are the ways where we really like envision like our beliefs in a way that I think generates like possibility and care. And connection. And connection, exactly. You know, and it's also I think a way in which we try to like wrestle with the things that we don't understand or the or the things that are troubling us, but you know, wrestle with them in a way that allows for transformation. Yeah. You know, like I think it's really easy to, you know, get on our social media and be angry, you know, and which hopefully that's cathartic for someone. I don't know. You know.

SPEAKER_04 24:21

I wonder anymore.

SPEAKER_00 24:22

Right. It's you know, like I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_04 24:24

I wonder.

SPEAKER_00 24:25

You know, but I think often it it ends up being these ways in which we actually sort of like devolve what's possible with with our like connectivity with that relationship, you know. Like I still think there are some seeds of like, I'm like, you know, of people connecting in social media spaces, but but you know, like when people are like creating things and especially having those, you know, like exchanges through like what they're making and you know, inviting other people into that process. Yeah. And I think we really do, you know, find ways to like arrive at connection together.

SPEAKER_04 25:01

Common ground.

SPEAKER_00 25:02

Yeah. And like joy is important.

SPEAKER_04 25:04

I think about the music piece. You know, kids creating music together. How could that be bad?

SPEAKER_00 25:09

Aaron Powell I know. Such a dream.

SPEAKER_04 25:11

Aaron Powell And I wonder if if sometimes this is the space of cultural division anymore. So this is not probably art. I don't think I don't think they're I'm getting too much art going. Anyway.

SPEAKER_00 25:25

Um I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 25:27

Maybe maybe it is great space.

SPEAKER_00 25:29

And yeah, I I am on the on the device too much myself, I think.

SPEAKER_04 25:34

They said eighty times a day. Excuse me while I death scroll during my show. Hi. Yeah, no, yeah, it's it's some bad stats. It's just not it it ain't that great. There is a lot of potential. So to poo-poo Facebook or TikTok, we're not going there. It's not necessary.

SPEAKER_00 25:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:51

Um, I like that. I like the space of uh of art, what it creates.

SPEAKER_00 25:56

Aaron Powell Right. I you know, when you're talking about that, I was thinking about just like the I I think a lot because I'm in, you know, I have the privilege of being in different spaces of like what are the commons, right? You know, and and you know, right. Sometimes I think like, oh, like these social media spaces are like this, like digital, digital commons, or you know, but but the way they've been right, like intentionally manipulated to be also like places of actually like commerce, you know, in ways that aren't uh designed to center the person, you know, the user, but are designed, you know, right? Like everyone knows that like division sells things more. You know, and people are sad or angry or upset, they buy more things, you know.

SPEAKER_04 26:39

Excuse me, I gotta buy something real quick. Right? Endorphin hit.

Founding Synapsis And Community Arts

SPEAKER_00 26:42

Yeah. It's it's wild.

SPEAKER_04 26:44

Look at the record I just bought, Nick. I bought a vinyl. So I want to bring vinyl into this in a minute. But yeah, it's it's it's an interesting dynamic because we're right in the middle of it. And I think this adds to the dysfunction and the division. Um I think even more so when we're we're fed all kinds of algorithmic crap.

SPEAKER_00 27:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:05

Yeah. There's a diet of total division.

SPEAKER_00 27:08

Right.

SPEAKER_04 27:08

And I'm not creating while I'm dividing. Right.

SPEAKER_00 27:11

Exactly. Or it's like, is destruction? I don't yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:14

Maybe there's creative dividers out there. How perverse could that go down that route?

SPEAKER_00 27:18

Like I think there are.

SPEAKER_04 27:21

Yes, they exist. They're really good at it. So for me, I've collected vinyl since my birthday, January 2nd. Okay. I got a really good stereo. Nick's got a killer stereo over there, and a really good vinyl collection due to his uh special guest host Scott Hammond. So it's been really fun and it's created community for me to collect old and new rock and roll and Wyndham Hill New Age and freaking jazz records and make connections with people, whether live or not, in person, and the guys that I buy, I just like nerding up on Miles Davis or Led Zeppelin One.

SPEAKER_00 28:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:04

Doesn't matter. And so, and to and to listen to stuff and all that reminiscent and it here we go, creative. I'm touching it, I'm feeling it, I'm smelling every how weird is that? And play and playing the record and cleaning it. And Jethro Tall never sounded any better.

SPEAKER_00 28:19

Right. Right. The sensorial experience, right? It's like more you know, there's the sound of the record, but also, yeah, all of this texture and history, and it's like a, you know, it's a kind of art object in a way. It sounds so much better. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:31

Siri, play um, I don't know, uh Blue Oyster Colt. And it's just, here's the song, and it's tinny, and it's okay, and I got a good speaker, but it's not. Now, if we put Blue Oyster Colt on the record player, nah, there might be some dancing going down.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 28:47

So maybe not to that. But anyway, I digress.

SPEAKER_01 28:50

Hi.

SPEAKER_04 28:51

So hey, uh, give a shout out to Ink people real quick, and then we'll uh move into the quiz where you could win a fabulous. Oh, are you kidding? A Dick Taylor Tanzania bar.

SPEAKER_00 29:02

Whoa. Okay. Shout out to the Ink people.

SPEAKER_04 29:04

Yeah. Shout them out. Uh, how do you get a hold of the Ink? How do we give you a jag or a bar of gold or just a bag of hundreds?

SPEAKER_00 29:11

Sure, sure. Well, we have a great website, inkpeople.org. Pretty easy to find. You can email me, Leslie L E S L I E at Inkpeople.org. You can also call us 707-442-8413. 8413.

SPEAKER_04 29:30

4423. That's 442-packet. That's an old joke. Only old people in the community will will know that. That was um Anderson Robinson insurance. Call me at 822pa Bucket.

SPEAKER_02 29:45

Oh.

SPEAKER_04 29:45

It's like, okay, Steve, we will. Um so we could give you things. Do you do PayPal and Venmo and all the things?

SPEAKER_00 29:52

Yeah, we do that. We we don't really do Venmo. It's a little tricky when they don't they haven't figured out the pathway for nonprofits in a way that's really great. Um so Cash App or Yeah, we have a we have yeah, PayPal and we have a donation button there on our site that uh any donations right now will definitely support the the beautification, the reopening of the new building. Um, and then also, of course, like our youth program, which the youth program is great. It's the Mars Project Media Arts Resource Zone, year-round free program for youth. Um uh during the school year, um, we're open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 3 to 6 PM. Uh, and it's it's really fun. We just started this, well, last summer we started a youth advisory panel that kind of informs the workshops and and things that happen. And we now have a youth board member who like serves as that in intermediary between the board and the teens. And that's cool.

SPEAKER_04 30:50

I like it. It's really fun. Next door, we had this organization called the Ink People, and they'd have kids outside playing sax on Thursday afternoon. And it was great. I'm going, what's going on? I'd go out and watch and kind of hang out, and they would jam and it was fun. I think Stan Stanley um would come out and play sax and do lessons and it was cool.

SPEAKER_00 31:11

Yeah. Yeah. Corey Goldman is uh the music-focused youth mentor, and he's an amazing musician, multi-instrumentalist, and um really supports a lot of youth and like their like recording projects or little like emergent bands and things. It's it's a neat little scene back there. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_04 31:32

Speaking about a neat scene, the Taylor Chocolates, our big sponsor, huge, in uh Old Town Eureka, which is right over here on my uh Eureka map. Do you see old where Old Town is?

How Dance Informs Civic Leadership

SPEAKER_00 31:43

I I see it for the yeah. I see no I mean I see Eureka and I know where Old Town is.

SPEAKER_04 31:51

Um so today you're playing for all the marbles.

SPEAKER_00 31:54

Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_04 31:55

This is a 65% dark chocolate Tanzania Dick Taylor chocolate bar. Courtesy of Dick Taylor chocolates.

SPEAKER_00 32:01

I'm a fan.

SPEAKER_04 32:02

Are you ready?

SPEAKER_00 32:03

I maybe.

SPEAKER_04 32:05

Okay. Question number one.

SPEAKER_00 32:07

Okay. Like, oh no.

SPEAKER_02 32:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 32:12

I never do the pregnant pause with the bell. I kinda like let's do it again. Question number one. What is life-giving for you and what is soul sucking and draining for you?

SPEAKER_00 32:22

Oh, life-giving dancing, um, camaraderie with friends, um like emergent performance projects that like connect land practices with somatic practices. And oh wait, what is that?

SPEAKER_04 32:45

I think I might know what that is, but I don't know what that is.

SPEAKER_00 32:48

This is a quiz for you.

SPEAKER_04 32:50

Question number one.

unknown 32:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:52

Somatic practices with with what? Land practice?

SPEAKER_00 32:54

Land practices, yeah. Like um, so right. So, you know, body as sight, like land as sight, and this idea of, right, like I really like doing like somatics of like practice related, like sensing and like moving in relationship to sensing, um, in relationship to land.

SPEAKER_04 33:15

Or nature or forest or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 33:17

Yeah. I'm actually one of those people who like goes out into the woods and dances in the woods.

SPEAKER_04 33:21

You're a woods dancer.

SPEAKER_00 33:22

Yeah, I am. I am. It's not just like a Saturday Live like comic moment. It's like actually I'm doing you. Totally.

SPEAKER_04 33:31

It's like down in Garberville.

SPEAKER_00 33:34

There's lots of things. But you can actually like actually like put on these like little symposiums about it and bring together and I like to bring people together people who are doing like land cooperatives and like housing cooperatives and um you know, like seed projects, and then have them converse across with people who are doing like somatic practices, performance practices, art practices, and kind of like actually talking about that. There's like this connectivity as like like embodied practices are deeply connected to land because we are people who are in relationship to land, whether we know it or not.

SPEAKER_04 34:11

What I like about that, and I don't know if that works, but what I like about it is I think there's people that would be curious enough to go, what is that? Let's do this and try that and be and be discovering stuff. I don't know, it's possible. Anyway. So what's soul sucking for you?

SPEAKER_00 34:29

Um I mean fear, but I think fear is soul sucking for everyone. Um I think gosh, I mean, you know, doom scrolling for sure, is you know, as mentioned already. But I think it's like the way that I think through thear, people right now are just hyper conditioned to um like okay. Sorry, I'm I'm like, how do I how do I say this without I'm just gonna use an example, okay? Like like being someone who's in a lot of spaces, I get like called out on social media, right? Which, you know, that's just part of life now. Um which in and of itself isn't I get it, you know, I get that people are are like trying to engage with something, but I think the way that like those conversations take place often are like there's no actual learning in those spaces.

SPEAKER_03 35:36

Rarely.

SPEAKER_00 35:37

And and so it's like being in a process of like talking about politics or community or the world where we're not willing to or also activating right like the capacity to learn and grow together. You know, and for me that's like so important to being in a community is that I like have to also be a learning person, you know, to do a job well.

SPEAKER_03 36:02

Hopefully.

Thursday Night Contact Improv Invite

SPEAKER_00 36:03

And I was actually thinking earlier about just the difference right between like calling out and calling in, you know, and like how we can like create a space for critique that invites change and kind of holds people like accountable. I think that's important, but in a way that like creates the possibility for like action and like doing in relationship to it. I I'm a kind of perpetual doer. So yeah. So I think when things just feel like they sort of create those like uh devolve into like pinning someone in a space that doesn't allow for change that feels pretty soul sucking.

SPEAKER_04 36:42

Right. That wrote results in all kinds of other negativity. So do you know my friend Dave uh David Frank? He's on uh so you he said something just like this. He's on um is it Gronk is it Gronk? It's not Gronk, it's um sorry David, I'm doing your show to disservice. So he and uh the attorney from SoHum are on a show on Axis Humble. Okay and he said something very similar, so you get to meet David probably at some point after this. So good. Same same idea. We could definitely get people together to talk in a space that's safe and maybe actually Exactly create a win.

SPEAKER_00 37:19

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 37:20

Imagine that.

SPEAKER_00 37:21

Yeah. I because I actually I love like encountering difference in a way where right, I think it's healthy to challenge one another and to to like, you know, I mean, maybe not something as formal as debate, but to really be able to actually like get dig into some issues, dig into our challenges. Because, you know, honestly, like if we had it figured all out, like we would just do the thing, right? We'd be like, cool, we we're living in relationship to the land and we're not harming, you know, like the environment and we're not gonna be able to do that. You know, everyone has food and is taking care of it. And clearly we haven't figured it out because there are real challenges that we need to address. And so to really be in a space of like how do we generate possibility to try something in that space. So yeah.

SPEAKER_04 38:09

So how did you arrive at that viewpoint? So having those kind of questions.

SPEAKER_00 38:12

Is that a test?

SPEAKER_04 38:13

Yeah, here comes number two. This will be my quiz. I'll be conducting the quiz, please. Don't reach for my bell. Stay. Stay over there. So, question number two. You have the whole day to do whatever you want to do, and money's not even the problem. What do you 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.? You got Friday off. What do you do? What's your day look like, Leslie?

SPEAKER_00 38:35

I mean The day off.

SPEAKER_04 38:37

A day off, right.

New Ink People Home And Youth Studio

SPEAKER_00 38:38

Okay. I was like, uh, you don't want to know. I know. Um, let's see. Um gosh, a day off. It's been a little while. Um I I mean, I for sure I like to go be outside. I like like, depending on how much of a day off, like to go somewhere where um it's pretty quiet. And um I can, I don't know, I like to be in a relationship of awe with the natural world. So, you know, going someplace beautiful. But and then perhaps, you know, in the evening, if I were to come back in town and not be camping or something, then I would like to go see some live music or a performance, a theater piece or something like that. Um, just because there are so many incredibly talented people. I I love to yeah, go see what people are making.

SPEAKER_04 39:33

Wow, I like that. That's a good one. Go see live doers.

SPEAKER_00 39:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 39:38

Yeah. That's why we like live music so much.

unknown 39:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 39:42

Question number three for all the marvels. Ready?

SPEAKER_00 39:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 39:48

What are you proud of? And then what what what regrets do you have?

SPEAKER_00 39:57

Personally proud of, or like proud of? Like for you.

SPEAKER_04 40:00

No, it doesn't just you.

SPEAKER_00 40:02

All right.

SPEAKER_04 40:04

Any regrets, any points of pride?

SPEAKER_00 40:06

Sure. Um I mean, I'm proud of like the caring relationships I have with people in in this community.

SPEAKER_04 40:18

That's cool.

SPEAKER_00 40:18

Love that. Silly is a good idea.

SPEAKER_04 40:22

With some exceptions.

SPEAKER_00 40:26

I'm also proud of the housing that's getting built in Eureka right now, even though perhaps some people are frustrated by it. I am uh proud that there will be more affordable housing for people. Um you know, and I I understand some of the frustrations, but I I do feel proud of what I feel is the greater good around that. Um and let's see, what do I most regret?

SPEAKER_04 40:51

Yeah, something maybe a regret. Unless you have a list, in which case let's see.

SPEAKER_01 41:03

I think gosh.

SPEAKER_00 41:08

Um I mean it's not a personal regret. I really don't like resource scarcity and the way it creates like tension between people. That's that's that's just like the world. Um, but I think I mean, okay. I think personally, like there's some part of me that's like, ah, like it would be cool to go to grad school, you know. Like like um I did all I kind of like did my chunk of schooling like really early. And I've had the opportunity to study with a a lot of different people, but it could be it could be fun. It could be fun in a really nerdy way to go to grad school.

SPEAKER_04 41:42

Yeah. I was thinking of a Midwest college, like a really beautiful little town and just go to grad school. That'd be fun. A couple of years and just do whatever. Yeah. Well, for the bonus question.

SPEAKER_00 41:54

Uh-oh.

SPEAKER_04 41:55

Um how do you feel right now?

SPEAKER_00 41:59

I feel pretty uh joyous. Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 42:03

Good. Good. I hope you're comfortable. Hey, guess what? You're the winner-winner, check a dinner of the Tanzania 65% dark chocolate.

SPEAKER_00 42:11

Amazing.

SPEAKER_04 42:12

Kilo Barrow Valley. I don't even know where that is. It's in Tanzania somewhere.

SPEAKER_00 42:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 42:17

So congrats.

SPEAKER_00 42:18

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 42:20

Thank you, Scott. Yeah, you're welcome. Thank you, Deanna. Dick, she's amazing. So uh let's let's move it on here. You ready? Okay. We're gonna bring it on home.

SPEAKER_00 42:29

All right.

SPEAKER_04 42:29

So let's talk about uh Eureka and all the things and talk about uh progress, I don't know, opportunities and uh let's so I formulated this question all on my own today. So we give you five billion for you, not for the council, but it's your money and you're a philanthropist, and you're gonna throw five bill with a big B billion at Eureka.

SPEAKER_00 42:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 42:53

What are you gonna do? Where do you where's it gonna go and what what percentages go to what?

SPEAKER_00 42:58

Okay. Ooh, okay. I wish I had a piece of paper, but that's okay. Um this is rough, rough math. Um Rough dream. Let's see. I I recently created a plan for a guaranteed income for artists. Um anyway, uh so I would I would do a guaranteed income program for artists in Eureka for two years, and that would be I don't know, that's not even that much money. But like, let's say 30 artists. I would do create um okay. I live near Wabash Street, and I think I love the zoning on Wabash. It's uh neighborhood commercial zoning. So I would like buy up a couple of underutilized properties and um create like mixed-use neighborhood commercial sites on them. So, you know, like um like cafe, brew pub, bakery kind restaurants downstairs with like housing above and in the back, um, because there are so many people who live right there.

SPEAKER_04 43:58

It's a creamery district. Neighborhood.

SPEAKER_00 44:00

Yeah, I kind of like that. But uh, you know, but you know, perhaps even a little more. Anyway, it that I think that neighborhood would really benefit from that kind of development. Um let's see. I want to really want to do a parklet in front of synapses. So a small amount would go to a parklet.

SPEAKER_04 44:16

Selfish money. You could some of it's for you. It's your money.

SPEAKER_00 44:21

Well, it'd be for the neighborhood. People can come and you know, it's not it's it's free for the public. But you know, like chest, you know, just a place where people can like gather. I don't know. I like The idea of mini parks. And I would, gosh, maybe I would like fund some ADUs that would uh right. Like it would be sort of like affordable housing, but also would create some economic economic opportunity for the homeowner. But um but then also create housing. Um and oh the well, we all know like C to F Street in Old Town.

SPEAKER_04 45:03

Um I would like to Old Town, proper old town. Proper old town. It's right over here in Eureka.

Why Art Matters For Human Connection

SPEAKER_00 45:09

Right there. Yeah, it's right there. In Eureka. I would um do like a mixed-use site there that had um like a kind of an outdoor park in the middle that was um there's a place in Sacramento that's really cool. It's like a um it's like an outdoor kind of like little venue. And so there would be like games, like outdoor games keep people could play, maybe like barbecue things and like, but like also like a like a um maybe like a brewery or you know, some sort of beverage place. But then also there would be like some mixed I really like mixed use like housing commercials. So a couple of those sites kind of flanking it, but also like open space for the community there in the center.

SPEAKER_04 45:52

I like it. Um can I do one on five billion?

SPEAKER_00 45:55

Okay, all right.

SPEAKER_04 45:56

This is kind of selfish. This is not really that altruistic, but um I would re-revisit Halverson and put an amazing convention, concert, venue. Okay, it could be a multi-use crazy thing.

SPEAKER_00 46:07

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 46:07

So state of the art with all the all the things, all the equipment.

SPEAKER_00 46:10

Yeah. Well, I I came up with this whole plan. We didn't get funded for it, but anyway, uh to do to basically like create like a mound that would be a stage, but then when it's not being a stage, right, it could it could still be used by people. And so to create sort of like a mounded stage with like native gardens around it and then yeah, redo all the bathrooms and everything so that they would um get uh be be usable because there's actually all of this, I think, opportunity to bring like kind of slightly larger touring bands here. I mean, we all experienced the like the fun of the Sarah Borella show, like where, you know, I think that, right, exactly. Like we could really like it was so magical to see, you know, all these folks come together and celebrate and really lovely. And so yeah, I think that that site really could be could have some cool improvements, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:05

And it's not gonna block anybody's vision. Exactly. Carson Mansion's way up on top of it.

SPEAKER_00 47:10

Yeah, you know, and it meets all of those like coastal commission kind of requirements, right? Of like, you know, if you make changes, you want to imp improve or increase the public use. So it it would be, you know, you'd have to get a coastal development permit, probably, but it would be something that you could easily move through the process.

SPEAKER_04 47:26

So as we're winding down, I want to know about your legacy. But before we do that, um so all the high-rise parking, so uh parking. We're not developing high-rise parking yet. So I'm right downtown and I I got a knot in my backyard moment when I looked up and I'm going, shit, that thing's going five stories plus. And uh is Miles part of that? Was he part of that whole approval of all the the housing that you guys are mandated to do?

SPEAKER_00 47:53

Aaron Powell Well, I mean, he's he's city manager, so you know, he is uh his job is to kind of enact the will of council, you know, and the community in a way that also like meets what's possible.

SPEAKER_04 48:05

Is she a nice man Miles? Do you guys get along good?

SPEAKER_00 48:11

We get along we get along really well. Um Hey Miles. Miles Miles is Miles has been on the show.

SPEAKER_04 48:18

So Miles the last three weekends is weird. He's like my new best friend or something.

SPEAKER_00 48:21

Oh, all right. Hey Miles.

SPEAKER_04 48:23

And I live in Hi Miles, and I live in McKinleyville, so I have nothing I have no foundation other than anything. So my bigger concern is not the fact that it's happened and happening and will happen. It's it's parking. Because I've told I'm told, here we go, somebody on social media, a friend of a friend, told me told me that parking is going to be a big issue when these when these folks all move in. And it's not all low income, right? It's it's a mix, right?

SPEAKER_00 48:50

Aaron Powell It's affordable housing. So, you know, they it's um Is it tiered? There's different like workforce housing would be a good way of thinking about it. Um and I believe some of the some of the units are and there are some tiers within that spectrum, but um you have to generally speaking, I think it's like people's income is between$20,000 to$40,000 in that range. There's some great charts, don't quote me on that, but somewhere around that.

SPEAKER_04 49:20

So my only concern is parking. Um because all the McRae guys are, you know, because even during construction, my parking is suddenly like rare for the 97-year-old lady that has to walk three blocks now to come up the stairs and can't quite make it in to come and say hi. So that those are the concerns. So are we going to build some parking? Is there parking built into these?

SPEAKER_00 49:41

For sure. So one of the the big part of this is and this um the big grant funding stream that supported this is the A6 Grant affordable community, something something. Um but that includes a lot of like work around transit improvement. So I'm also on the board of Humble Transit Authority. When when you're on council, you know, you're on the these other boards and commissions too.

SPEAKER_04 50:06

But um, we'll talk about that just a second, too, the the new transit center.

SPEAKER_00 50:09

Okay, great. Yeah. Yeah. We're getting into this.

SPEAKER_04 50:12

Yeah, let me let me let you finish.

SPEAKER_00 50:14

So anyway, there's transit built into that. Um it is on our radar that there could be a point where we reach enough parking density that we need to build a parking garage. According to all the studies that have been completed thus far, we're not yet to that point. But that's definitely something that's been on my radar and is on other folks' radar of that, you know, if we get to that density, we should, you know, reserve some sites that could be used as that. Um, of course, right, the you know, there's a lot of ways in which, you know, in relationship to our kind of like environmental responsibility, right? If we look at the climate action plan, like we really need to be transiting, you know, using public transit more, using bicycles more. And the only way to do that is one, to make it more available and accessible, but also, you know, to like and I won't I won't say like to make it harder to drive, but to kind of create a situation people like start to think like, oh, like it would be smart if I, you know, like as someone who works in old town that is, you know, going to be experiencing some of that like parking challenge, you know, where it's like, okay, like right, like I need to start riding my bike more. And I know that that's not everyone's option and choice. And that's why, you know, like the transit authority, we're doing a lot of work around microtransit and like a shuttle that goes around and round. Yeah, well, and also like on-demand microtransit. So basically you can right now, you can get on the app and go in and select that you want transit to come to your house at a time or come to a spot, a designated spot near your house at a time that works for you. And then you can take that bus, you know, to a site and it's much more effective. And we're also working on like just the the efficiency of ride time. So that one of the big things is that like, you know, in order for people to use transit, you have to get from A to B fast enough that it works in people's days. So really working on that uh transition as well.

SPEAKER_04 52:26

Aaron Powell So what I'm hearing then is the engineers, which are really important to all this stuff. My my friends are traffic engineers and they pointed out how the roundabout at Hiller and McKinleyville Avenue didn't work, and there's some reasons why. Because it was by schools. And there's kids. So it was it was a great idea. It didn't work. So the bottom line is then the engineers say that we're not quite we're not impacted until we are. And then we could talk about it.

SPEAKER_01 52:52

Right. Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 52:52

And then you're open to it. Then we could do it like a 10-story parking structure.

unknown 52:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 52:56

Just kidding.

SPEAKER_00 52:57

Yeah, I mean, there's there are a couple sites in Old Town that um have identified and you know, and one of the things that we're looking at is also, yeah, like a little sort of like electric vehicle that would kind of make a loop around Old Town so that you could get from kind of one parking area to Old Town faster.

SPEAKER_04 53:16

Love it. Okay. Cool. And then the transit center, then I gotta talk about your legacy, and then we gotta go because I know I'm starting to run out of time because my my clock's broken. But I have a sense I know it like intuitively, like 60 minutes.

SPEAKER_00 53:29

Having too much fun, and then it's gonna be okay.

SPEAKER_04 53:31

Hey Nick, where are we? I've never asked this before. Are we at like at how much time do we have?

SPEAKER_01 53:35

53.

SPEAKER_04 53:36

Oh. So how's your day? I've never asked Nick that, so I'm really like pretty relaxed right now.

SPEAKER_02 53:45

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_04 53:45

So if you're just joining us, it's my friend Leslie. Um let's talk about the transit center.

SPEAKER_00 53:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 53:52

Because that's a great idea.

SPEAKER_00 53:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 53:54

By the way, the Netherlands, pretty tough to have a car in that nation.

SPEAKER_00 53:57

Right.

SPEAKER_04 53:58

Oh my gosh. We visited.

SPEAKER_00 53:59

Quality of life.

SPEAKER_04 54:00

Oh, dude, the trains and the bikes. It was great. Greatest thing ever. Got it. My my son goes, I go, Jesse, I missed the train. Oh, what are we gonna do? He goes, Dad, just it's not a plane. Every eight minutes, there's another train going to the same places. Maybe even more fun routes. Yeah. And I go, okay, cool. So yeah, very expensive there to have a car. Like crazy, craziness. And why and there's no reason to.

SPEAKER_00 54:27

Right.

SPEAKER_04 54:28

Because you could walk or bike anywhere. So uh transit center downtown, behind Los Coast Brewery.

SPEAKER_00 54:34

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 54:34

What's that gonna be? What's that all about?

SPEAKER_00 54:36

Okay, well, um, it's gonna be transit center on the bottom floor.

SPEAKER_04 54:41

It's happening, right?

Vinyl, Sensory Joy, And Community

SPEAKER_00 54:42

It's happening. It is funded. Um, you know, they're in the working through the the kind of finalizing the design. Um, you know, it's uh housing above, uh transit below. Um there's some, you know, Danco is building the housing and building the transit center. And then um there's some kind of like little partnerships, like there's a partnership with regional center, and some of the housing there will be um uh to support people with disabilities, um, a small percentage. Um yeah, it's I believe it's three stories of housing above.

SPEAKER_04 55:19

Wow. Shout out to Regional Center.

SPEAKER_00 55:21

Yay, I know.

SPEAKER_04 55:21

Good job.

SPEAKER_00 55:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 55:22

Love those guys.

SPEAKER_00 55:23

Me too.

SPEAKER_04 55:24

Yeah, they're really cool.

SPEAKER_00 55:25

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 55:26

Special need we have a special son Gabriel. And then our oldest, our 42-year-old, said, Dad, I'm pretty sure our whole family's special needs, right? And I go, You got it, pal. Who because who is it? So anyway, so it's gonna be a whole housing above. What will the transit center do for those of us that don't know anything about what one of those is?

SPEAKER_00 55:45

Well, I mean, already this is the the main connecting point for you know the different bus lines. So it will be a hub. It'll be a hub. It will also be where you know now the kind of longer distance lines will also come through that site. Yeah, exactly. Amtrak.

SPEAKER_04 56:04

I guess they they're gonna go wherever they're gonna go.

SPEAKER_00 56:06

Trevor Burrus, Jr. Yeah. I think they're often going to hotels and things, is my understanding.

SPEAKER_04 56:09

Aaron Powell They could always dump people at a transit center. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_00 56:11

But yeah, we would I don't think the transit center, I won't speak too much for staff.

SPEAKER_04 56:16

So we'll have bikes and bike storage.

SPEAKER_00 56:19

I think there's gonna be some bike storage there. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_04 56:21

Stick your bike there and go on the Amtrak.

SPEAKER_00 56:22

And folks should definitely keep an eye out because I those final plans will be coming back soon. So um yeah, and there's there's a lot of kind of pedestrian-facing improvements as well to bus stops and um crosswalks and things like that.

SPEAKER_04 56:37

Aaron Powell So that in turn creates its own kind of downtown cool hub.

SPEAKER_00 56:41

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 56:41

And business and buzz and vibe.

SPEAKER_00 56:45

Yeah, you know, and the idea is that, right? So that also will be workforce housing. And a lot of the Ink people staff works in Old Town. And we have several staff members that bust to and fro. Um, but also that can you imagine, you know, there's a lot of like the jobs in Old Town that would qualify for folks to live in that housing. And so, you know, it could be the person who's the barista in the coffee shop who now can just walk to work, right? Um and that's I think really, you know, and why that kind of housing is being planned is that it actually is is designed to meet the needs of people who are working in those areas to also just cut down on the need for people to drive if you're already there and working there. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_04 57:29

So you don't have to come in from McKinleyville like all of us. Some of us. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 57:33

You know, it's that makes sense. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 57:35

It's it's city center. So uh what are we going to say at your celebration of life when we get to get up and give speeches about you? And what would you what would you hope people would say?

SPEAKER_00 57:45

Um I'm thinking about my death. No. Dark turns got it. No, you're already dead. Right. I'm already dead. Okay, great. I'm not thinking about that right now.

SPEAKER_04 57:57

Um that already happened. This is the after.

Support The Ink People: How To Give

SPEAKER_00 58:00

Um I hope they say that um I was kind and that I uh cared about the community in a way that brought opportunity for many people uh to live good lives. That's what I hope about my life. And that uh I made weird art in the process.

SPEAKER_04 58:19

Aaron Powell And there's some weird art as a result. There's some weird art happening. I like it. So uh I always like to focus on this for just a second uh to see if AI got you right. Uh oh. Uh and it didn't. So it's funny. Born and raised in Eureka.

SPEAKER_00 58:36

Whoa.

SPEAKER_04 58:37

Went to Humboldt State.

SPEAKER_00 58:39

No, I know, right? No, two for two for two, no.

SPEAKER_04 58:42

Hallucin hallucinating. How about this one? I like this one. Leslie represents a blend of local roots, professional experience, and a transparent, community-focused approach to governance. Very flattering. Sounds like it's true. As a member of the Eureka City Council, she continues to work toward a vision of a thriving, sustainable city that values its residents and natural surroundings. Her studied leadership and dedication to public service make her a key figure in Eureka's ongoing development. Mic drop. Pretty good.

SPEAKER_00 59:14

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 59:15

We'll take that part.

SPEAKER_00 59:16

Yeah, I guess so. Thanks. AI. Thanks.

SPEAKER_04 59:20

Thanks, AI.

SPEAKER_00 59:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 59:22

All right. Well, hey, thanks for coming.

SPEAKER_01 59:24

Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_04 59:25

It's fun.

SPEAKER_01 59:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 59:26

I like you.

SPEAKER_01 59:27

I like you.

SPEAKER_04 59:28

Thanks. I try to do what I can.

SPEAKER_01 59:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 59:31

Um so hey, thanks for joining us on the 100% humble podcast. We do this every week from Nick's studio here at uh Westwood One. And uh Thanks, Nick. Thanks, Nick. You're amazing. And uh he's got Growing Pains, which is his podcast. So shout out to Growing Pains. Shout out to uh Dick Taylor Chocolate, to uh our friends at Quality Body, Ross Creech and the crew, killer, wonderful people. Okay, and uh also uh Dutch Bros, because Jill is amazing. And so uh and we don't and we don't we sorry, I won't mention the other coffee place.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:02

Right.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:03

Having said that, we're all over uh the podcast world and we're on uh uh Access Humble, which is you're a big fan, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:10

Yeah, they're huge. And also uh don't forget uh YouTube, which is we'll have a full hour. Anyway, next time uh send us money, send us cards, send us comments, like us, subscribe to us, love us, care for us. And this is Scott Hammond saying, Thanks, Leslie.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:25

Thanks, Scott.