Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft - City of Alameda Mayor

Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft is the outgoing two-term Mayor of the City of Alameda.

Host Scott Piehler talks with Her Honor about a career in public service that began with a campaign to build the new library, and eventually led to the Mayor’s office, where she was tasked with helping guide the city through the COVID-19 pandemic, which began a mere 15 months into her first term. 

Show note: This episode originally aired on KCSM-HD2 on Sunday, August 16, 2026
 
Full show archive for all past episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@TheAlamedaConnection

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:05

Good morning, and welcome to the Alameda Connection on KCSM HD2. I'm your host, Scott Peeler. A public service career that began with a campaign to build a new Alameda Library eventually led to the mayor's office for two consecutive terms. My guest this morning is Alameda Mayor Marilyn Esse Ashtraft. As her two terms as mayor come to a close, we'll take a look back at a career that included stops on the Planning Board and the City Council, as well as helping to guide the city through the COVID-19 pandemic, which began a mere 15 months into her first term as mayor. We'll also take a look ahead as we discuss in-progress projects that will help define the legacy of a public servant and Alameda resident who's called the Island City home since early childhood. That's Alameda Mayor Marilyn Ezie Ashcraft, my guest this morning here on the Alameda Connection on KCSMHD2. Well, good morning, Mayor, and welcome to the Alameda Connection.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

It is lovely to be here. Thank you for inviting me.

SPEAKER_02 1:05

Glad to get you on. First of all, no one can accuse you of being a carpet bagger. Edison Elementary, Lincoln Middle, AHS, and raised two kids in Alameda.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

But I'm not a native and I'm not fifth generation. I'm actually a San Francisco native, but you are correct. By the time I started school, my parents had moved from San Francisco to Alameda. So then I went all through the public school system here.

SPEAKER_02 1:29

So background, how did your family come to be in Alameda?

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Born in San Francisco, but then my parents moved to Southern California. That's where my dad's job took him. He worked for the federal government. When I was around four, his job transferred to the Bay Area. My parents knew someone who was a landlord. They found a very nice apartment to rent on Pearl Street. Okay. So that's how I ended up going to Edison, Lincoln, and Alameda High.

SPEAKER_02 1:55

Let's look at your pre-public service career. What drew you to the study of law?

SPEAKER_00 1:59

I am a proud UC Davis graduate, go Aggies. When I was at Davis, I was studying human development. I thought I was interested in working with special needs kids, and I did some of that work. I did some internships. Somewhere along the line, I saw an internship posted for YOLO County Probation Department. It was the juvenile probation department, and I liked working with kids. So I did this internship. I then applied for and was hired to work part-time at the YOLO County Juvenile Hall. While there at the Juvenile Hall, these job announcements would come through. And one day this announcement came across the desk, and instead of the printed seal of the county, it was hand-drawn like redwood trees and eye-catching. And it was for Plumas County, which is up in the Feather River Canyon, beautiful county, way up Highway 70. I thought this sounds intriguing. So I responded to that. I got invited for an interview. I remember because it was an early morning interview. So I did the logical thing that a student who didn't have a lot of money would do. I drove part way up and I camped at maybe Lake Oroville or someplace, and then got dressed in my interview clothes the next morning and drove up the Feather River Canyon. I always think it's a good idea to read the local paper and kind of get a little background knowledge. So I stopped at the Rex All Drugs. It still had a counter there. I said, I went to buy a newspaper, but it's from last Thursday and today's Saturday. Do you have the current one? That is the current one. So that's when you realize you're not in Kansas anymore. Anyway, I was hired, my first job out of college, a probation officer in this small county that literally had four probation officers, including the chief. So we just divided the county in quadrants and we each had our quadrant, but I was the only woman probation officer at the time. From time to time, my colleagues would say, Marilyn, this case really needs a female probation officer, P.O., they called us. So consequently, I got to know the entire county, all the sheriff's deputies at the different substations. I only recently realized it occurred to me that I was fresh out of college, you know, ripe old age of 22. Of my adult caseload, most of them were older than me. But anyway, it was an amazing experience.

SPEAKER_02 4:28

How long did that last?

SPEAKER_00 4:29

So I worked there about three years. To this day, I say it's the job that taught me the most about human life, human nature, that kids don't get to choose the home they're born into. They just arrive. Some of them win the lottery at birth, and others not so much. The kids I worked with tended to be raising themselves with the same degree of success you would expect. Right. Children raising children. It also was a job where I really felt I could make a difference, especially with the juveniles, but also with the adults and just learning the roadblocks that they had faced that led them to where they are and how we need to do better as a society.

SPEAKER_02 5:07

In 2000, co-chair to build our library.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

Well, it really started back in 1996. I have twins, and I was staying home for a little bit when they were young. And one day a friend of mine called and said, Marilyn, we're doing this campaign to build a new library. We need help phone banking. Can you help? The library was such an important part of my life growing up. So I couldn't say no to that. That measure failed badly. It was the year 1996, was also the year that Alameda learned that the federal government was closing the Alameda Naval Air Station. That was the absolute wrong time to bring a library measure to the voters. The bike bridge that goes from Bay Farm to the main island was being uh built by Caltrans, I might add, not the city, but it didn't matter. It was something got stuck and it was in the up position for the longest time to go. You can't even build a bike. How are you gonna build a library? And there was nothing you could say. It was awful. And we didn't even get 50% of the vote. But a group of us got together afterwards to kind of do a postmortem and say, okay, where did we go wrong? Somewhere along the line, we heard about this seminar the state library was giving in Sacramento. We drove up, sat in the front row. I'm a lawyer, I had my legal pads, and I just took copious notes. And they would say, you know, when you run a library campaign, you would always do this and we didn't do that. And then they say, and you would never do this. We did that. And then they told us you have to commission a public opinion poll to learn. And so we learned so much. And we went back and somehow we started this group called Library 2000. And somehow we just thought that at the turn of the millennium we would do this again. And we did, and this time around, fundraising was a breeze. We were able to commission a poll from one of the top pollsters around, Brian Godby. He came back, he said, You were close to passing before there's even been a campaign to educate people. We were able to hire a top-notch campaign consultant, Larry Tramatola from Oakland. He was great to work with. And this time we passed the measure with 78.8% of the vote. That really was my start in public service.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

A lot of people would go through something like that and say, Alameda, lo, I have served you. I am out. But then Planning Board, Economic Development Commission, Alameda Hospital Board of Directors. What kept you going at it?

SPEAKER_00 7:41

My next stop was to serve on the Alameda Hospital Board of Directors. Dennis Pagonis, at the time, the owner of Harbor Bay Realty, called one day and said, You know, Marilyn, there's an opening on the hospital board, and we'd like you to interview. And I said, You know, Dennis, I don't have a lot of time. Kids are still young. I'm doing this, I'm doing that. And he said, It won't take much of your time. Famous. Oh man. So I went to meet the board, was interviewed. They offered me the position. I joked that I'd barely sat in my chair when they said, So, Marilyn, the hospital is hemorrhaging money. We need to create a healthcare district that can levy a parcel tax. We really need to bring a two-pronged ballot measure. And I said, I think the board should definitely take that up. And the chair said, We are, and we'd like you to chair it. And I said, with my vast experience of one campaign under my belt, and they said, Uh-huh, you did so well. And this was high stakes because Alameda Hospital has more than 500 employees who would be out of jobs. If our hospital and its emergency room weren't there, those 18,000 emergency room patients a year are going to be flooding other area emergency rooms. I told them if I do this, I want Larry Tramatola to be our consultant. And he did, and we won, not with 78.8%, but with like 68.8%, and the hospital is still there. One thing led to another. The mayor at the time, Beverly Johnson, she called me one day and said, I want to appoint you to the planning board, so submit an application. That is not the way I do it. But nonetheless, I said, Okay, and I was appointed to the planning board. Planning board is a great front seat to so much of what the city does.

SPEAKER_02 9:25

So let's talk about council 2012. What made you say, well, let's take next step?

SPEAKER_00 9:30

I just felt like I'd learned a lot from serving on the planning board, and it was time to try my hand at serving in elective office. I actually ran in 2010 the first time, but I lost. Okay. What I always say when I'm talking to school groups, students, scouts, or whatever is don't give up because you didn't succeed the first time. I mean, so your soccer team or your little team plays and loses, you're not gonna give up the sport. You're gonna say, Oh, what did I learn? How do we do better? Let's train more. And so I'm very thankful to a few folks in town that I knew, but not that well, who called and said, We want you to do this again or we're gonna help you. And this time I put together a much broader coalition. And this time I came in first when I ran again in 2012 and became vice mayor. I will say nobody does anything alone. Right. Even as mayor, I have exactly one vote, and I would say with one vote, you do exactly nothing. So you have to be able to collaborate, to compromise a little bit. Don't give up your values and your morals, but don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good either.

SPEAKER_02 10:36

Once you got on council, what did you learn and what surprised you?

SPEAKER_00 10:39

I learned always be willing to meet with people, to listen to them, not to say, oh, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that. I learned that that's so important to keep doing. I'm really grateful for the folks who come and speak at council, but there's a saying, I think I learned it in the League of California Cities at a meeting once it's called STPs, which are the same 10 people who show up. And I mean, I love that. It is great, and I I admire that kind of civic engagement. But as a council person, you have to remember we are a city of 79,000.

SPEAKER_01 11:13

Right.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

These STPs do not represent everyone. Certainly we listen to them, we take that into account, but I always say you have to think about who's not at the table, who couldn't come to a council meeting because of childcare, they're working late, they don't have the ability, don't have internet at home, whatever. So we have to have broad enough vision to see all different perspectives, and then at the end of the day, make the decision that's best for the city.

SPEAKER_02 11:39

So six years on the council, two years left on your term, what prompts the decision to, hey, let's try for mayor.

SPEAKER_00 11:44

There was a mayor at the time who I just felt wasn't doing the best job for the city. And I was in the middle of my second term, so if it didn't go well, I was still going to be serving with this person who was never too happy with me to begin with, but would be even less happy with me. I love going door to door. Not everybody does. It is like one of my favorite things to do. By and large, you're so well received when you do that. When I ran for re-election as mayor, it was even more fun because I'd ring a doorbell, they'd open the door and go, the mayor of Alameda is on to what do I owe the pleasure? Mayor, what are you doing out here on a hot day? Do you want to come in? What are you doing out here in the rain? Do you need an umbrella? People appreciate you coming to them. They can throw out some suggestions, concerns that they have. I love it.

SPEAKER_02 12:33

2018, I moved my daughter to Alameda from Georgia in September. You take office December of that year. 15 months later, COVID. What was that like?

SPEAKER_00 12:42

Do you remember the cruise ship that um Yeah, even back in Georgia, we were well aware of that.

SPEAKER_02 12:48

You're following that? Well aware of that.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

My husband and I had tickets to a musical at the Orpheum Theater. We're going up the escalator to the level where our seats were. I could feel my work phone buzzing, and it's the governor's office.

SPEAKER_01 13:03

Oh, goodness.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

And I said, Oh, I feel like I should take that. So I stepped aside, a little quiet alcove, and they said, the governor wants the mayors of Alameda and Oakland on a call at eight o'clock tonight. And I said, Okay. I went up to an usher and I said, Hi, I'm an East Bay mayor, and the governor's office wants a call at eight o'clock, which is, of course, curtain time. Is there some place where I could go? And she said, Oh, let me take you to an office without asking. Do you have identification? Who are you? I mean, I have my business card, but an East Bay mayor. But I also quickly texted or called our city manager. Eric Levitt was our city manager at the time. He was pushing his grocery card in one of the safe ways. And I said, Hey, I think you would want to be on this call too. It was pretty sobering. I think we had county public health officials, state public health officials, and they were saying that this cruise ship needs to dock. There were passengers who had been diagnosed with COVID, but also ones who didn't have enough medication because they had only brought a certain amount of medication for whatever their issues were. And they were literally deciding between the Port of Oakland and Alameda Point. We talked about it and decided for a number of reasons that the Port of Oakland had the greater space and facilities and all that. And because it was a cruise ship that had nationals of other countries, like there was a bus that came for the Canadians. I just had this lump in the pit of my stomach, just thinking something is happening and we don't really know, and I don't have a full understanding. What I also remember is that very quickly the public health apparatus from the state, but especially at the county level, sprang into action. They were watching these cases saying something's going on. And so they were actually coming out, developing the protocol, and Alameda County actually declared the public health emergency at least a day before Governor Newsom did for the state. From then on, they did a briefing conference call for all of the city officials, county officials. They always started with the cities and they went alphabetically every time. Alameda, and because I was following the news around the country where some public health officials were almost literally under attack. So I always started my comments with first and foremost, I want to say thank you to all of you, to the public health officials, the doctors and nurses, the frontline workers who are keeping us safe. We so appreciate that. And you know, once you set the tone, every succeeding speaker did the same thing. And I just wanted to make sure they knew they were appreciated. I took copious notes. The information was shifting by the week. And sometimes in the middle of the week, they'd message and say, Okay, now we don't want you to do this, do that instead. That I think contributed hugely to the city of Alameda's keeping our COVID numbers relatively low. We were among the lowest, not the lowest, but maybe like third or fourth lowest deaths and and reporting. Your vaccination rates were the envy of everyone. Vaccination rates were amazing because we have smart, receptive, responsive residents. And I started doing the Alameda Journal at the time was publishing, I think both online and in print, and they asked me to do a weekly article. It was how I kept people informed. And then it was really gratifying when I'd be walking down the street and someone would stop me and say, Mayor, I love that last calm. Thank you so much. So people were paying attention. It was a little bit of a double-edged sword because our numbers were so relatively low. We could not get a vaccine clinic to set up an alameda for the longest time. One day the county health department called and said, Mayor, would you like us to host a vaccine clinic? And I said, I think that's what I've been saying for a month. But yes, yes, I would love that. And so they said, Okay, we have got 300 doses. We're thinking Mastic Senior Center. I said, I love it, that's brilliant. We're on, and so I put together this Mayor's COVID-19 vaccine task force. We sprang into action, we helped volunteer with the folks in line and getting their documents, messaging them ahead of time, cleaning the chairs after they sat in the waiting area. And one of my fabulous volunteers, Ruth Abbey, who's very active with CASA, said, I am going to start a wait list because we don't want to waste a single vial. We have 300 vials. And so she compiled a wait list of people she'd asked, You didn't get on the list, but would you be available Saturday afternoon to come very quickly? And our fire chief Nick Luby's wife is a registered nurse. The two of them volunteered and she was in the observation area. At the end of that day, we administered 318 vaccinations because there's always a little more left in the vial. These seniors who were in line, they were telling me some of them hadn't left their houses. They were having their groceries, their meals delivered, and so they're outside seeing people. It will be one of the most satisfying things I've done as mayor.

SPEAKER_02 18:22

Switch gears a little bit. People are not familiar. Alameda runs on a council manager system, sometimes called the strong manager system. If you were giving Civics 101, what is the mechanics of the way that program, that system works?

SPEAKER_00 18:34

First, you have to step back and know that the city council as a body has three direct reports, and those three are the city manager, the city attorney, and the city clerk. It is true that the city manager is the CEO of the city. He is in charge of all the department heads except those other two, the clerk and the city attorney. He answers to the city council, but at the same time, every other department head answers to him. He's the administrator. What I think is the best possible way to do it is a collaborative style. We talk about this. You stay out of each other's lanes, but I offer my opinions respectfully and I listen to him. And I have a saying that they're probably so tired of around City Hall, but that you can't overcommunicate. So the city manager and I, we have a standing meeting once a week. He certainly meets regularly with the council members who are willing to meet with him. Not everybody wants that level of interaction. Well, I'd known Jerry a number of years, great background, and also Canadian by birth and and raised in Canada. My my dad was Canadian. I will say he has that lovely calm civility about him that is really an asset.

SPEAKER_02 19:52

It's rare to find a rattled Canadian. They're usually pretty level. When you're talking with other mayors in the Bay Area, is there anything that they say, oh golly, Marilyn, it must be nice to have the thing that you have in Alameda? Is there something they envy?

SPEAKER_00 20:06

I think mayors have mayor envy. And people will come over and say, Oh, I love what you've been able to do with the bicycle infrastructure. Oh my goodness, you're downtown. We are pretty lucky to have not one but two downtown. It's fun to show off your city. A number of them are envious that we were able to place an infrastructure bond on the November ballot. We still need to pass it, but we're hopeful. I think that we just we try to learn from each other and help each other out. We don't need to reinvent the wheel. I'll get a call. Hey, how did you handle this issue? Got any tips? And I love doing that. So yeah, we we stay in touch.

SPEAKER_02 20:44

I'm gonna ask you the prickliest question of our time together. The Alameda permitting process. I understand a lot of that's from the state, some of it's from the county. We're making some of it better. What else can be done?

SPEAKER_00 20:56

That's such a great question. I've talked to Jerry about this. I do also want to emphasize that he's only been here. I think it's maybe been a month.

SPEAKER_01 21:03

Right.

SPEAKER_00 21:03

But it is something I've talked to him about. I hear from people, and that's one of the things I learned. People reach out to the mayor. I have this problem. I have this problem. Sometimes it's not something I can address, but I know who to send it to. But I also tell people this is so helpful. You are my eyes and ears around the city because I just wouldn't know. One of the things that I've learned, if you have to go before the historic advisory board because you have a property that's on the list and you want to make some changes, it costs you $3,000 for the privilege of doing that. They want more information, you have to come back. It costs you another $3,000. I've been talking to the city manager and Andrew Thomas, who's our former planning director who's now doing some interim work for us. We have to realize that we, the city, could be the impediment to some of these properties being improved because it's going to be costly and also time. Money. If you have too many hoops you have to jump through and it takes so long to get from one step to the next, people just gonna throw up their hands and say, I'm not doing it, or worse yet, if you don't live on a main street, you might decide not to seek permits. Really a bad idea. Just want to emphasize that. For a homeowner, it's already really costly to live in Alameda to buy here. Very possibly you bought maybe the frog among princes, that house that needs some TLC, and you can do that, but you're paying a mortgage, you're paying property taxes. So you've got all these expenses, and yet you want to add an extra bedroom for your child or what have you. We've got to be more user-friendly, not have people coming back and back. And that's maximize what you can do online. There's ways that we can save people both time and money. I know you you interviewed Abby Thorne Lyman, our base reuse and economic development director, and that's something that's important to her with our commercial tenants or folks who are interested in buying property. So, yes, we can do better. We can do better. And Jerry just has a great perspective. He is a planner by profession. And he's worked in cities like South San Francisco, and he's very dialed in. So I think he's gonna bring some great new ideas for how we can do better.

SPEAKER_02 23:16

As your terms winding down, any regrets?

SPEAKER_00 23:19

No, I'm so glad I said yes to working on the campaigns I worked on. It has been such an honor and a privilege to serve the amazing residents of the city. There's still some projects that I will not finish before the end of my term, but I'm trying as best I can to position them to succeed. And one of them is the um bicycle pedestrian bridge that will most likely go across the estuary where little woodstock goes back and forth. It reminds us that while we're an island with four bridges, all of our bridges are on the east end of the island. Right. Bay Farm, High Street, Fruitvale, Park Street. If you're on the west end of the island and you want to cross by car or bicycle if you have the guts to go through that path, you're an ambulance, you're an AC Transit, you're a firetruck, you're a police vehicle. Your one means of ingress and egress is the tube. And look what happens when the tube is going to be partially out of commission. They'll try to do the majority of the work overnight, but it's just shown us that it's a matter of geographical equity. So the bridge, while it would be for pedestrians and bicycles only, it will be engineered to accommodate emergency vehicles. And so for all the folks on the west end of the island, and that's certainly where we're adding the majority of our new housing, that is just going to be a lifeline for them. So we've gotten millions of dollars already that has brought the project as far as it is on the environmental stage is next. And I'm vice chair of the Alameda County Transportation Commission and I serve on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. I talk to our elected officials. I'm hearing in DC regularly. So I'm just making sure that we're as well positioned as possible to take that bridge to the next step and eventually um complete it in my lifetime.

SPEAKER_02 25:06

Post my oral plans, any?

SPEAKER_00 25:08

Do a little traveling, spend a little time with my husband, and I'm still considering some possible opportunities. And then succession planning, getting the right people in place in elected office. And quite frankly, the selection of the new city manager, Jerry Bowden, was part of my succession plan, and I'm just thrilled to have him at the helm.

SPEAKER_02 25:26

Okay, here's the question everybody gets, and it's probably the most problematic for you of all my guests. But you've got company coming in from out of town. Yeah. You have to take them to three meals. It can be breakfast, lunch, dinner, it can be three dinners, it can be bites and notches, with the understanding the choices four through 105 are equally as good.

SPEAKER_00 25:43

Yes, right, right, right.

SPEAKER_02 25:45

What three restaurants are you going to?

SPEAKER_00 25:47

And and just for the record, breakfast is my favorite meal to go out to. One that I love, and it's a little off the beaten track, is Mosley's Cafe.

SPEAKER_02 25:55

Oh, Mosley's is one of my favorites.

SPEAKER_00 25:57

And you know they've expanded.

SPEAKER_02 25:58

And Scott is amazing. Scott is incredible.

SPEAKER_00 26:00

And they've expanded because there must have been some business that relocated next to Bay Boats. They took that space where you go in and order now, and the menus expanded, and they do a great job. So you can't go wrong with Mosley's. There's a new Mexican restaurant called Lena that is on Central.

SPEAKER_02 26:19

That's a little comedy code location.

SPEAKER_00 26:21

Yes, exactly. And it's so beautiful what they've done in there. It's a family from Berkeley, and they come from Guanajuato in Mexico. And you will see some of your favorites on the menu, but you will see things you you never see on the menu. And go with a group because then you can all order different plates and try. And oh my goodness, it's not exactly a meal, but you could make it a meal. I do love Tucker's ice cream. That's a meal. Yeah, well, you know, there's Life is Short, eat dessert first. So I guess you could put that there. But no, not only do I love their ice cream, but I love how supportive they are of the community. They've been sponsors of the Alameda Free Library's summer reading program since forever. They sponsor soccer teams and little league teams. They're just community partners.

SPEAKER_02 27:10

City websites, socials, way people can keep up with what's going on in town.

SPEAKER_00 27:14

We have a city website. Go there. Social media. We've got our Facebook, we've got our Instagram. But also, I am very gratified that Almeda Post carries my monthly newspaper article. I was telling a journalist one time, I don't know how you do these deadlines that you're under. I have a stomachache every Sunday night, knowing that I'm on deadline Monday. And he goes, Yeah, welcome to my world. Follow all that. Those are like the official, hear it from the horse's mouth. And then I always say, get involved in your community. There's so many opportunities to volunteer. Consider applying to serve on a city border commission. That's on the city's website, alamedusa.gov, under the your government tab. You probably have some passion or some interest, maybe a couple that really makes sense to share. I took a walk with one of my commissioners from a border commission yesterday. She's the mother of a two-year-old. And she has her day job, and she's still just thrilled to share her time and talent with the city.

SPEAKER_02 28:13

Mayor Marilyn Ezie Ashcraft, the mayor of Alameda, California. Thank you so much for spending time with us on the Alameda Connection.

SPEAKER_00 28:19

This this was so much fun. Thank you for having me and for persevering, because I know it was a challenge getting me scheduled, but this was so much fun. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 28:27

Well, you have a busy schedule, but I'm really, really annoyingly persistent. So it was a good combination.

SPEAKER_00 28:34

That is the best way to be. I am too.

SPEAKER_02 28:37

Take care.

SPEAKER_00 28:38

You as well. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 28:42

Thanks again to Mayor Marilyn Ezie Ashcraft for spending time with us here this morning on the Alameda Connection. To keep up with what's going on in the Bay Area's Island City, you can head to the city's website, which is alamedaca.gov. You can also find them on LinkedIn at city-of-alameda. On Facebook, just City of Alameda, and on Instagram, you might take a moment, their Instagram handle is Love Our Island. Up next week on the Alameda Connection, we're shipping out. My guest will be Eileen Zed, the Harbor Master of Alameda Marina, and as an officer with the Iwan Yacht Club, one of the principal organizers behind the annual women's sailing seminar coming up in September. That's Eileen Zed, next week on the Alameda Connection. Thanks as always to the California Historical Radio Society for providing our space for this week's sit down with the mayor. And thanks as always to guitarist Bill Hart for our theme music. The song is Beachside Isle, the album is Watch the Sky. I'm Scott Fieler. I'll catch you next week, the Alameda Connection, Sunday morning at 8 on KCSM HD 2.