The Mayor's Mixtape
Mayor Heather Graham's weekly brief of current events related to the City of Pueblo.
The Mayor's Mixtape
The Mayor's Mixtape-Episode 43
On the 43rd episode of the Mayor's Mixtape, Mayor Heather Graham hosts Council-elect Ted Hernandez on the podcast. Find out about who he is, why he decided to run for local office and what he hopes to accomplish during his time on City Council. New City Councilors will be sworn in on Monday, January 12 before the regular meeting begins at 7:00 p.m.
Like, subscribe and share the podcast with your friends. Email topic suggestions or questions to mayor@pueblo.us. Thanks for listening!
Welcome to the 43rd episode of the Mayor's Mixtape. I'm Haley Sue Robinson, Director of Public Affairs for the City of Pueblo.
Mayor, Heather Graham:I'm Heather Graham, City of Pueblo Mayor.
Ted Hernandez:And I'm Ted Hernandez, City Council Elect District 3.
Haley Sue Robinson:And it's exciting to have a guest on the podcast this morning. Um, Council Elect Hernandez, it's great to have you. Thank you for joining us this morning.
Ted Hernandez:Thank you. A pleasure to be here.
Haley Sue Robinson:Yeah. Um, I'd like to remind our listener that you can find us on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, BuzzSprout, uh, wherever you get your podcasts. You can also watch on local channel 17. And there's lots of opportunities to like, share, subscribe. And don't forget, if you have questions or topic suggestion for Mayor Graham to cover, you can email us at mayor@ pueblo.us. So, Council elect Hernandez, um, welcome to the podcast. Thanks for joining us.
Mayor, Heather Graham:You're my first city counselor I've had.
Haley Sue Robinson:Yeah, this is.
Ted Hernandez:Oh, really? In 43 episodes?
Mayor, Heather Graham:In 43 episodes, yeah.
Ted Hernandez:I'm honored, thank you.
Haley Sue Robinson:Yeah, this is exciting. Um, so you are gonna be sworn in on Monday, January 12th.
Ted Hernandez:Yes.
Haley Sue Robinson:Um, but we just thought we would maybe give the listeners an opportunity to get to know you a little bit. So um tell us a little bit about yourself and why you chose to represent District 3.
Ted Hernandez:So I'll be 64 at the end of this month. I'm a retired businessman. I still own the company, but the boys run it.
Haley Sue Robinson:Okay.
Ted Hernandez:Um I have four boys, and they are just doing a knockdown, drag out job of running the company over the last year. Last year was kind of my stepping away, and I stepped away more and more, and so they're they're doing a great job. Um worked 42 years for the same company, my company. I've uh been an owner for 30 of the 42 years that I worked there. Um built a uh statewide company uh from very, very meager beginnings. We had a I think an operating budget of 200,000 when I started, and now we're we operate all around the state of Colorado. We're the largest uh private service provider in the state of Colorado. And um, so it's it was it was nice to be able to build, but it was felt really much better to walk away the way where it was and still get paid, which is kind of nice.
Haley Sue Robinson:That's rewarding.
Ted Hernandez:Yeah. Um I decided to run for city council. I've been thinking about it for probably the last year and a half. Um for me, it really came uh to a point where uh uh a kid that I coached at Roncalli , um, a police officer who was shot. And so I talked to some of my friends on the police department and they said, well, you know, when are you gonna step forward? Because you know, we need people with kind of a business acumen. And I think that having a business acumen
Mayor, Heather Graham:Makes a difference.
Ted Hernandez:It really does make a difference. Now it doesn't it doesn't solve every issue because you government is not really business, but it it is helpful, and I thought, well, you know, now's a good time. I had pretty good reckoning recognition on the South Side, coaching there for for 30 years, so I felt really comfortable. Um so yeah, that's that's the reason why I think I can make a difference on city council, which will in turn make a difference with the city.
Haley Sue Robinson:So that's great. And um, you know, during your campaign it was Coach Ted. So what did you coach?
Ted Hernandez:Coach football. I've coached football, coached at Roncalli for uh uh 10 years. Okay, and then I moved on and coached at South High School. Uh 13th year, I just finished my 13th year at coach uh at South High, and I'll keep coaching.
Haley Sue Robinson:I I was just gonna ask, you're gonna keep coaching.
Ted Hernandez:Yeah, mentoring mentoring young men and women um is a very important aspect of my life. Um when you raise four boys, and the the interesting thing about the my four boys is that um they will tell you that they shared me with every kid I ever coached, and uh maybe sometimes more than I should have, um, but I think reaching young men, especially in Pueblo, with our social economical, social economic um makeup, it's very, very important.
Haley Sue Robinson:So that's great.
Ted Hernandez:So I'll keep going.
Haley Sue Robinson:Okay, great. Um, Mayor Graham, you first started your political career as a city councilor. Do you have any advice for council elect Hernandez as he's coming in?
Ted Hernandez:Please.
Mayor, Heather Graham:Yeah, a grow tough skin. Um
Haley Sue Robinson:Oh, yeah.
Mayor, Heather Graham:I don't know if you're passionate about something, um, figure out how to get it done. I think that that's there's always if there's a will, there's a way. Um you want something changed. You're now in in the seat of the city to do so. So um I would just say, you know, push forward. Um if you feel it's right, it's right. Um no matter what people on the outside say, you were elected. Um, and I think people share your vision um and they want to see what you're gonna bring to this community.
Ted Hernandez:Thank you.
Mayor, Heather Graham:That's great advice. I think that's it.
Haley Sue Robinson:I think that's great advice for anyone in government. Yeah, cool. Um, okay, so you'll be sworn in on Monday. Are there any like first priorities you have, maybe in your first like 90 days or your first year?
Ted Hernandez:Um so I think that what's important for me is um the condition of the South side. I've talked about it in in my campaign, really, really dissatisfied with um the the the way District 60 is managing South High School. So that that's gonna be one of the things that I go after um almost immediately, um talking to the school board and the superintendent, asking, you know, what are you really gonna do for South High School?
Haley Sue Robinson:Sure.
Ted Hernandez:Um because for me, um if uh imagine the South Side without a high school, and you can imagine the economic um depression that would happen. It already has happened. Um so I think that's important that for our community, for the South Side community, that we have a thriving, educating high school. And of course that that moves that down to middle school and elementary schools as well. But that's one of the important things that that's one of the things that are most important to me on the South Side. The city as a whole, I think we need to I think kind of really follow what the mayor has put forward uh with regards to economic development. Um it's important that we have jobs in our community. If we don't have we we don't have a tax base that we can rely on um as much as we need as the city does right now. So it to be able to build the economy and build businesses and build jobs for people, uh then we can increase our tax base, uh, which will in turn allow us to do a lot more things with the city than we're capable of doing right now. So important.
Mayor, Heather Graham:What's the enrollment right now at South? I mean like when
Ted Hernandez:722.
Mayor, Heather Graham:That's crazy. When I graduated high school, I think there was five hundred in my graduating class class and to see
Ted Hernandez:722 is is what it is right now.
Mayor, Heather Graham:And that's for the whole school.
Ted Hernandez:That's for the whole school.
Mayor, Heather Graham:That's that's insanity.
Ted Hernandez:Yeah.
Mayor, Heather Graham:It's sad. South used to be um, you know, that's where the athletes would all transfer to to go um because we were a division.
Ted Hernandez:Right. We're 4A
Mayor, Heather Graham:4A, um, so everybody wanted to come to South to play the sports and um
Ted Hernandez:and South too to this day, they're still one of the top winners of the knowledge Bowl. So we still have students who are very, very intelligent. We just don't have a whole lot of them anymore.
Haley Sue Robinson:So I I think um I I I was an athlete, but I was a golfer, so a little bit different athlete. Um, well, you all s South won a state title actually when I was in high school um for golf, but also really good at speech and debate. Um uh to your point, knowledge bowl. I I think it's just uh kind of surprising to see enrollment so low at at a school that at one point it was kind of like the premier school, and to your point, folks were moving across town or or at least commuting across town to go to South. So um I think that's a a great priority and um it's good to see those partnerships kind of come together. I think that's another piece that um mayor that's been a big priority of yours is how do we
Mayor, Heather Graham:Yeah, we don't we don't really have those partnerships now. I mean the government runs in a silo uh with the education system. So I'm I'm glad to hear that you'll be working on the
Ted Hernandez:feel I feel like um a lot of Pueblo runs in silos.
Mayor, Heather Graham:Totally.
Ted Hernandez:We have the nonprofit silos, we have city government silos, we have the education silos, uh we also have the um chamber of commerce kind of silos as well. Um so uh one of the things that I'd like to see that we do is that we kind of form some type of collaboration, which is my favorite word.
Haley Sue Robinson:Yeah.
Ted Hernandez:You heard it a lot during the campaign, of figuring out how to work together so that we could all together, we're not reinventing the will or doing the same thing in different places all the time. So we can kind of move everybody in the same direction at the same time. Which I think would be beneficial for for Pueblo.
Haley Sue Robinson:Well, and it if you think about um you know, to your point earlier about our tax base and um increasing revenue, we can do that if we all work together um with those partnerships and that collaboration. Uh so I'm I'm looking forward to seeing how those partnerships come together and maybe how we do something differently than than we have previously in order to bring back that thriving Southside community.
Ted Hernandez:Right.
Haley Sue Robinson:Yeah, that's fantastic. Um You also have been attending city council meetings regularly in person um before I think before you announced your campaign, um, and then uh since um you won in November, anything in particular that you see that's um exciting or maybe daunting even? So at meetings?
Ted Hernandez:The reason I started going before I announced is because that was kind of the I wanted to see um the dynamics of city council and how I would fit in. Um excuse me. One of the first things I noticed is uh there's lots of uh moments where city council is working really well with the mayor, but there are also some moments where it um you you got the clown show kind of call clown car show reputation that I think is is um detrimental uh in in more than one area for the city. It uh people looking in see it, and you know, I've heard many, many times, well that's Pueblo, and it really bothers me because I've lived in Pueblo my whole life, and that's not Pueblo. Pueblo is so much more than that, so much more than what people see. Um I you know, I I travel a little bit and I'm one of those people that holds the doors open for people and say good morning, and and people freak out when when they see that. You know, and so that's just kind of the way I was raised, and it's kind of my town. It's kind of the way we act here.
Haley Sue Robinson:Yeah.
Ted Hernandez:And we all know each other, and so it's we kind of but I kind of saw a little bit of the bad side of city council too, and I feel like one of that was kind of the all right, this is yeah, I've got to do this because I think that it's important that the the outside world and the citizens of Pueblo see a government that's working in their best interest and working for each for them in a in a manner that is professional.
Haley Sue Robinson:Sure.
Ted Hernandez:Um and so it's not a criticism of of any individual. It's a c I think it's a criticism of what what it has become.
Haley Sue Robinson:Sure.
Ted Hernandez:And so I think that for me it's very and very important that those things kind of change. We should not be more popular than Monday night football.
Mayor, Heather Graham:Oh my gosh. Speaking, I had a friend text me last night and say, um, no city council tonight. And I said, No, new council's not sworn in until the 12th. And she said, Well, no council and no Monday night football. What am I gonna do? I'm like, how do you even compare this to the
Ted Hernandez:Yeah, so I mean when when city council meetings, and they should be boring, put people to sleep, get business done meetings, when they become a highlight for citizenry, it's not a good thing. Not necessarily a good thing.
Haley Sue Robinson:Well, I mean, they can be a highlight when we're celebrating the wins and we're passing um good ordinances and we're listening to our citizens and and they feel informed and excited about the progress we're making. But I I think, you know, Mayor, you've talked a lot about this. Uh Pueblo's reputation is something that's important to you and how we talk about ourselves is important to you. And so um to your point, uh, Council Elect Hernandez, I I think that's something that we can all work on. Um, whether we're an elected official like either one of you or uh a city employee like myself or the general public. Uh that's one thing that here in Pueblo many times we don't do very well is speak highly of ourselves and expect good things of Pueblo because we can.
Mayor, Heather Graham:Yeah, I saw, you know, yes, speaking about good things in Pueblo, I saw yesterday that we made the top
Haley Sue Robinson:Oh yes.
Mayor, Heather Graham:It was like what was it?
Haley Sue Robinson:Top ten.
Mayor, Heather Graham:Top ten amazing places uh for new museums coming.
Haley Sue Robinson:Uh-huh.
Mayor, Heather Graham:Like worldwide.
Haley Sue Robinson:Ya, this was global.
Mayor, Heather Graham:Um, little Pueblo on the map for the Da Vinci Museum coming into town. And so it's it makes me so proud to see those types of clips, you know, scrolling across Facebook or um social media, and you see like something good about Pueblo. And so that was that was pretty awesome yesterday. I said, no way, let me scroll and see what they're talking about. And sure enough, there it was.
Haley Sue Robinson:Yeah.
Ted Hernandez:I think that's the value of working together.
Haley Sue Robinson:Yeah.
Ted Hernandez:Working across party lines. I don't think there really are locally many party lines.
Mayor, Heather Graham:Oh, there's party lines. There
Haley Sue Robinson:the mayoral talking about the
Mayor, Heather Graham:Let me tell you about the party lines.
Ted Hernandez:I know there's party lines on on the national level, even on the state level, but locally there I mean there shouldn't be.
Haley Sue Robinson:Sure.
Ted Hernandez:Um the only line there should be is the line that you cross to advance the city.
Mayor, Heather Graham:Yeah, sure. I tell people all the time, like when I come into office in the morning, I don't uh make decisions based on my political party.
Ted Hernandez:Correct.
Mayor, Heather Graham:Because those things rarely ever, those decisions rarely ever cross being political. It's just about what's best for the the community overall. It doesn't matter what your affiliation is when you come to make this decision. It's just um what's good for for the vast majority um of our community and it can be interesting as sometimes.
Ted Hernandez:I think the difficult part I I would believe about being mayor, and you and I have talked about this, is being able to um really share your successes to the masses and not just the people who are on Facebook um or the people who get to see you or come to see you or get to hear what's going on with city government. Um the that has to be super frustrating to be able to really share your successes and the successes of the city on a scale that because I hadn't heard that at all about the top ten for museums. And so those are the things and um but I'm not really on Facebook.
Mayor, Heather Graham:Yeah.
Ted Hernandez:You get on Facebook when you run because you have to.
Mayor, Heather Graham:Right.
Ted Hernandez:Um and then you get off because you want to.
Mayor, Heather Graham:Yep.
Ted Hernandez:Um, but yeah, I think that that's got to be difficult uh um for in your position to be able to share those things so people can really understand the advancing of Pueblo that you're
Mayor, Heather Graham:Yeah, we try to highlight I mean, we'll we'll be pushing that out all over today, right? When when uh the the the powers that be wanted to come and say, you know, Pueblo was one of the top ten most crime-ridden cities. I said, no, no, we're not gonna do this. Like we're gonna fight back on this because that's not what Pueblo is. And sometimes you have to change the narrative or paint the picture or make sure that um the citizens are are getting the entire scope of what's going on in the community. Um because that doesn't it doesn't happen. I mean, first thing I do when I get up in the morning is I look at the chieftain app, you know, see what's see what's on the news, see what's going on. And um unfortunately, because the chieftain is so small now, a lot of times it misses all the good things that are happening in the community, and we just really get highlighted for the bad things. So I think it's important as the government, whether it's the government's role or not, um, to share and to promote and to talk about all the good things going on in the community.
Ted Hernandez:I think that um um I've lived in Pueblo since 1962, and I've been a victim of crime one time in my entire time living in this town. Somebody broke into my car when I lived on the south side and rummaged it. But that was the only time I've ever been a victim of crime. And so when I hear people talk about um and I didn't grow up on the best sides of town for a very, very long time. Um so I, you know, I know that that there's crime out there, but I think that we highlight always highlight the bad and never highlight the good enough. So when you when you're top ten in in crime uh perspective, when people believe that, yeah um, you don't take into account that not every city even reports.
Haley Sue Robinson:True.
Ted Hernandez:So Or the same way. Or the same way, exactly.
Haley Sue Robinson:And and that was a big reason why when that information came out, we talked about how we report our crime stats, um, the way other communities report their crime stats, but then we really dug into that article and noticed that Monroe, Louisiana, they were the number nine right ahead of us. And they had no crime um stats reported for 2025 um when when that article came out. And so we were confused. How could they how could they be number nine on the list, let alone you know, we want to push back on the narrative of Pueblo being number 10, right? But how are they even number nine? And so then you kind of push the credibility of of the list that's out there and realize that the data's not the same, and you know, that's also a big reason why we started this podcast was uh the ability to sit down, have conversations that are a little more tangible and in depth than um a city council meeting and longer than a 30-second soundbite on the news or a quote in in print in the paper. Um and so talking to folks about what the city does, what the mayor's accomplished is important, and we have to get creative and be persistent so that folks understand what is happening in our community so they can be proud. It's not just telling folks uh no, that's not true, and then leave it at that. It's like this is why it's not true. Let's let's help you understand it.
Ted Hernandez:Right. Pueblo is small enough and big enough to have for where naysayers have a very big microphone, um but not big enough for them to be drowned out by the over the by the silent majority saying, wait a minute, I don't I don't see the same thing you're saying. So it's the it's the problem of of the size of town we are, I think.
Haley Sue Robinson:Sure. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Well, we're looking forward to you being sworn in on Monday. Um we're looking forward to you seeing what you can accomplish as a city counselor and how you'll work together with your fellow counselors and work together with uh Mayor Graham and how you're gonna serve District Three.
Ted Hernandez:Thank you. I'm really looking forward to it. Yes, thank you.
Haley Sue Robinson:Absolutely. Great. Um well we have a couple of upcoming events to remind our listener about uh West Side Improvement public meeting was originally scheduled in December. It's been rescheduled for this Thursday, January 8th. The meeting is from 5 to 7.30 at fire station number 11. If you can't make it in person, you can join us on the city's Facebook page for a live stream and find out about the bus stop improvements and the roundabouts at Sun Mountain Boulevard. Lots to find out there. Additionally, we'll have the swearing-in for newly elected city councilors on Monday, January 12th, and that will start before the regular meeting at 7 o'clock. And then we also have an incoming city council and outgoing city council member reception on Tuesday, January 20th, here at City Hall in the pre-function room of Memorial Hall, and that is from 5 30 to 7 30. You can come meet the new city councilors, thank our outgoing city councilors for their time served in Pueblo, and so we're excited for that. Um anything else we need to know, Mayor?
Mayor, Heather Graham:I don't think so.
Haley Sue Robinson:It's it's busy um in the office, but not as many events yet. I feel like it's towards the end of the month.
Mayor, Heather Graham:So we're planning and um making our checklist for the year in the office, and I'm excited for the new city council uh to be sworn in so we can get to work. No work happens uh without city council, right? So when we don't have meetings or there there's no approvals being made, it's like okay, let's wait till the next meeting. Let's wait till the next meeting. Um so I'm excited to work to get back to work and get the ball rolling.
Haley Sue Robinson:Yeah, absolutely. Um I'd like to remind our listener, you can email us with your questions or topic suggestions, mayor@ pueblo.us, and you can find the mayor's mixtape on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, Buzz Sprout, wherever you get your podcasts. You can also watch us on channel 17. And please like, subscribe, and share with your friends. And we will see you next week.
Ted Hernandez:Thank you.