Speaker 1: It is the fixed California hour on the John Phillips Show.
Speaker 1: Johnny's on vacation, so it's Randy Wang here and the
Speaker 1: phone number is eight hundred two two two five two
Speaker 1: two two one eight hundred two two two five two
Speaker 1: two two. You can email us at Johnny Don't Like
Speaker 1: show at gmail dot com, search for the podcast of
Speaker 1: the John Phillips Show wherever you get in podcasts, and
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Speaker 1: all the stories that we're talking about today, the California
Speaker 1: Report at Randywangradio dot substack dot com. If you put
Speaker 1: in your email address, I'll it'll get sent to you
Speaker 1: for free every single day. Our next guest is running
Speaker 1: for Attorney General in the state of California against current
Speaker 1: Attorney General Rob Bonta. Excuse me Bonta. Michael Gates. His
Speaker 1: website is Gates the Number four ag dot com. Michael Gates,
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the John Phillips Show.
Speaker 2: Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: So for a quick introduction in case people don't know
Speaker 1: who you are, who are you and why are you
Speaker 1: running for AG?
Speaker 2: So, first of all, I want to thank you. I
Speaker 2: appear on the John Phillips Voter Guide. So that's super awesome.
Speaker 2: Excuse me very much. Appreciate being supported and getting the
Speaker 2: word out. So I'm a lifelong resident of Huntington Beach.
Speaker 2: I've lived in California nearly my whole life. I was
Speaker 2: the City Attorney of Huntington Beach for ten years. That's
Speaker 2: an elected position. I am a family man. I've been
Speaker 2: righted almost thirty years, have five kids and four grandkids.
Speaker 2: But as I said, I was the City Attorney of
Speaker 2: Huntington Beach for ten years, and then I worked in
Speaker 2: the Trump administration last year at the Department of Justice,
Speaker 2: at the highest levels of government that you can serve.
Speaker 2: And then after about almost a year of that, I
Speaker 2: came home again to get into this race to fight
Speaker 2: for California. I spent ten years as the City Attorney
Speaker 2: of Huntington Beach fighting for California, fighting against Sacramento. I've
Speaker 2: had a number of battles against Rob Bonta, a number
Speaker 2: of them in court. He never showed up, obviously, but
Speaker 2: his attorneys did and we beat him on a number
Speaker 2: of occasions. I'm the architect did the voter id lawn
Speaker 2: Huntington Beach. The architect of hunting to Beach's declaration that's
Speaker 2: a non sanctuary city, and Hunting to Beach is not
Speaker 2: a sanctuary city. In the crazy state of California. We
Speaker 2: consider it the land of the Free and home of
Speaker 2: the brave because we uphold and defend the rule of law.
Speaker 2: We maintain law and order in hunting to Beach, and
Speaker 2: I was so tough on crime as the top prosecutor
Speaker 2: for the city of hunting to Beach that California. I'm sorry.
Speaker 2: Huntington Beach is now counted among the top ten safest
Speaker 2: cities in the entire state of California out of nearly
Speaker 2: five hundred cities. So Huntington Beach is extremely safe. And
Speaker 2: it is a large city. It's the twenty third largest
Speaker 2: city in the state of California. And even though it's
Speaker 2: one of the larger cities, we have made it one
Speaker 2: of the safest cities. And that's because we were tough
Speaker 2: on crime. We prosecuted very aggressively and kept our streets
Speaker 2: and neighborhoods safe and clean. And so huntings to Beach
Speaker 2: is great, and I want to do that for every
Speaker 2: city in the state of California. Reduce crime, uphold uphold
Speaker 2: and defend the rule of law, uphold and defend election
Speaker 2: integrity throughout the state of California, and frankly, defend the
Speaker 2: constitutional rights of everyday Californians. You can see with the
Speaker 2: Stop Nick Shirley Act, which is Rob Bonta's wife's pet project,
Speaker 2: and the legislature now they're trying to silence by depriving
Speaker 2: people of their constitutional rights, California their First Amendment rights.
Speaker 2: They're trying to silence citizen journalists and everyday Americans who
Speaker 2: live in California. And so I'm going to be there
Speaker 2: on the opposite side of that. I'm going to defend
Speaker 2: the constitutional rights of our citizens in California. So you know,
Speaker 2: the bottom line is that could go on and on
Speaker 2: and on. There's a whole host of things that I'm
Speaker 2: going to do. Second Amendment compliance, First Amendment compliance, federal
Speaker 2: immigration law compliance, election law compliance. List is long. But
Speaker 2: at the end of the day, if everybody knows that
Speaker 2: if they elect me, Michael Gates for Attorney General, we
Speaker 2: are going to return to a law and order state.
Speaker 2: California will be a law abiding state again when I'm
Speaker 2: the Attorney General.
Speaker 1: Now, one of the things that You've got plenty of
Speaker 1: experience with being the former city attorney for Huntington Beach.
Speaker 1: That Huntington Beach was the target of a lot of
Speaker 1: attacks coming from not just Gavin Newsom, but specifically Rob
Speaker 1: Bont's office, And one of their big sticking points was
Speaker 1: while Huntington Beach is the twenty third biggest city, that
Speaker 1: it wasn't big enough. They have used all kinds of
Speaker 1: different lawsuits and housing accountability units to go after cities
Speaker 1: that they say are not building enough housing based on
Speaker 1: Sacramento's goals. Do you think that is an appropriate responsibility
Speaker 1: from the Attorney General.
Speaker 3: No.
Speaker 2: I mean he's been using his office hoped as a
Speaker 2: weapon as a tool against cities that want to make
Speaker 2: decisions for themselves, against everyday Californians who just want to
Speaker 2: be law abiding and have their constitutional rights protected. And
Speaker 2: what Newsom has done with his political agenda to say,
Speaker 2: we want to have more housing, we want to have
Speaker 2: high density housing in every city in the state of California.
Speaker 2: But what he's really doing is targeting beach cities and
Speaker 2: other well developed cities. So just so the audience knows,
Speaker 2: five percent of California's population lives in five percent, only
Speaker 2: five percent of the state of California. So those are
Speaker 2: the developed areas of the state. So the state is
Speaker 2: only about five to six percent developed, and ninety five
Speaker 2: percent of the population lives in that five percent. So
Speaker 2: rather than looking at areas that are undeveloped for new housing,
Speaker 2: rather than looking for those undeveloped areas of California for
Speaker 2: new housing. Basically, these mandates are saying, we now, these
Speaker 2: cities that are fully developed have to redevelop into the
Speaker 2: image and likeness of Sacramento, into the image and likeness
Speaker 2: of what Newsom wants for us. But that's highly destructive.
Speaker 2: It destroys our environment. Our infrastructure can't handle it, It
Speaker 2: destroys the infrastructure, police and fire resources can't handle that
Speaker 2: kind of massive densification of our already developed cities. And
Speaker 2: so it's highly destructive. And what is Rob Bonta do.
Speaker 2: He goes out and he's now suing cities and he
Speaker 2: sued Huntington Beach. I fought him for years court and
Speaker 2: frankly Todate. Even after years of litigation and fighting, Huntington
Speaker 2: Beach has not acquiesced, It has not surrendered, It has
Speaker 2: not adopted a high density housing program for the city.
Speaker 2: Why Because we're fighting tooth and nail against Sacramento and
Speaker 2: rob Bont's weaponization of his office to preserve the way
Speaker 2: of life in hunting to Beach that the citizens when
Speaker 2: they moved here, brought into And so we're you know,
Speaker 2: we are at war. I mean we're war worth Sacramento.
Speaker 2: We're at worth rob Bonta. I have fought him many, many,
Speaker 2: many times, as you mentioned, including fighting him with Sacramento
Speaker 2: wrongfully withheld millions of dollars of tax reimbursements from Hunting
Speaker 2: to Beach taxpayers. I won in court and got a
Speaker 2: judgment in Huntington Beach's favor against rob Bonta and Newsom
Speaker 2: and brought that thirty eight million dollars of tax payer
Speaker 2: money from Sacramento to Huntington Beach taxpayers. So when you fight,
Speaker 2: you can win. When you fight, you win. If you
Speaker 2: never fight, you never win. And so that's been my attitude.
Speaker 2: I've always been fighting for Hunting to Beach and now
Speaker 2: is Attorney General. I want to go to Sacramento to
Speaker 2: fight for everyday Californians in Sacramento. I trust me. I'm
Speaker 2: not going there to make friends I'm gonna make plenty
Speaker 2: of enemies. I'm going to go there, represent the people,
Speaker 2: fight for the people, and return California to a law
Speaker 2: and order state.
Speaker 1: We're speaking with Michael Gates, running for Attorney General. The
Speaker 1: website is Gates the Number FOURAG dot com. Now, one
Speaker 1: of the conversations that everyone in the state of California
Speaker 1: is having right now is dealing with the rampant waste, fraud,
Speaker 1: and abuse that we see with our taxpayer dollars, specifically
Speaker 1: when it comes to one of the biggest line items
Speaker 1: in the budget, and that is medical. Of course, there's
Speaker 1: been a lot of headlines about the hospice centers specifically
Speaker 1: operating in Van Eyes, that we're doing all kinds of
Speaker 1: fake billing with st sole and Social Security numbers. But
Speaker 1: there's even new ones that we have discovered. Just in
Speaker 1: the last week, NBC in the Bay Area did this
Speaker 1: incredible expose on how taxicab companies are billing medical four
Speaker 1: dollars a mile to pick up the homeless in San
Speaker 1: Francisco and drive them to a methodone clinic two counties away.
Speaker 1: And apparently this is all completely above So, as AG,
Speaker 1: what would you be doing to crack down on all
Speaker 1: different kinds of wastes of taxpayer money. They are going
Speaker 1: to nonsense like that.
Speaker 2: We are going to come down hard on the waste, fraud,
Speaker 2: and abuse, and all the NGOs and third parties who
Speaker 2: are stealing from the taxpayer and also stealing from the
Speaker 2: people who are expecting to receive services from government programs
Speaker 2: who are now not receiving those services because the money
Speaker 2: has been stolen. This is not only unethical, it's immoral,
Speaker 2: and it's illegal, and we're going to be tough. So
Speaker 2: what justice looks like for me is, and just to
Speaker 2: be abundantly clear about this, what justice means to me
Speaker 2: is not lengthy and protracted investigations that lead to nowhere.
Speaker 2: All of Americans and all of Californians are fed up with, oh,
Speaker 2: we see another problem, let's investigate. Whatever happened to that investigation. Nothing.
Speaker 2: What's going to happen in my book when I'm on
Speaker 2: the job is we are going to be swift and
Speaker 2: diligent with justice. We already know where the fraud is,
Speaker 2: we know where the locations are. We are going to
Speaker 2: identify the individuals, we are going to indict them, we
Speaker 2: are going to prosecute them and put them behind bars,
Speaker 2: and I'm going to use the criminal justice system to
Speaker 2: claw back that money. We're going to get that money back.
Speaker 2: We're going to sell the small islands, the mansions, the yachts,
Speaker 2: We're going to liquidate all the assets, and we're going
Speaker 2: to return it to the taxpayer, because that's where that
Speaker 2: tax money belongs, with the taxpayer or with those in
Speaker 2: need of services who are expecting those services. Rob Bonta
Speaker 2: was installed. He was appointed by Newsom in twenty twenty one,
Speaker 2: so five years ago as a political appointment. He was
Speaker 2: a professional politician. Before that, he spent ten years in
Speaker 2: the legislature. Rob Bonta is not a real lawyer. He
Speaker 2: has a JD. But he's a professional politician. Newsom put
Speaker 2: him there literally to run interference on the truth, on
Speaker 2: justice and on criminal justice and to cover for corruption.
Speaker 2: And what has happened over the past five years since
Speaker 2: Bonta has been in office, the waste Fronen abuse has
Speaker 2: ballooned to nearly five hundred billion dollars over the past
Speaker 2: the same five years. The same five years, so the
Speaker 2: waste Fronden abuse has now ballooned owned to nearly five
Speaker 2: hundred billion over the last five years, and Rob Bonta
Speaker 2: has been there the whole time. A state auditor just
Speaker 2: came out with a report. So in California we have
Speaker 2: a state auditor. It's an independent agency. They audit government agencies,
Speaker 2: including with this waste Froeden abuse issue. The auditor's report
Speaker 2: identified that Newsome and Bonta had been told about reports
Speaker 2: of waste frauden abuse and did nothing about it. So,
Speaker 2: quite literally, Bonta has known about this for years. He
Speaker 2: has known about the waste fraden abuse for years and
Speaker 2: has done nothing about it. He hasn't announced any investigations
Speaker 2: or even asked any tough questions. He's literally let it happen.
Speaker 2: Why because he knows who's taking the money, who has
Speaker 2: benefited from the money. A lot of it are partisan groups,
Speaker 2: far left partisan groups who have benefited from the money.
Speaker 2: He knows that, so he let it happen so that
Speaker 2: they would be funded at the expense of taxpayers and
Speaker 2: at the expense of the needy. Those in the programs
Speaker 2: who are supposed to benefit from the programs now not
Speaker 2: getting those service. So Rob Bonta is a terrible actor.
Speaker 2: And I just want people in California to wake up
Speaker 2: and realize everybody's pointing the finger at Newsome. He's definitely
Speaker 2: a bad actor and all this. He's got his fingerprints
Speaker 2: all over this. But Rob Bonta has known about it.
Speaker 2: As a top law enforcement officer in the state, he
Speaker 2: should have been investigating and stopping this, and he has
Speaker 2: done nothing for five years. Rob Bonta is as guilty
Speaker 2: as anybody else. And so we need a new Attorney
Speaker 2: general so I can get in there and I can
Speaker 2: clean things up. And this gravy train of voice rodden
Speaker 2: abuse to all these third parties who are doing wrong
Speaker 2: by the taxpayer and by the services. It's coming to
Speaker 2: an end.
Speaker 1: We're speaking with Michael Gates. Let's talk about the homelessness issue,
Speaker 1: where a couple of years ago the Supreme Court changed
Speaker 1: course on the Grant's past decision, where once again cities
Speaker 1: and counties were able to enforce anti camping laws and
Speaker 1: be able to enforce anti camping ordinances. Nobody can just
Speaker 1: sit there and take over public space. You've heard Gavin
Speaker 1: Newsom on press conference after press conference, without naming any names,
Speaker 1: saying no more excuses. We all need to be held accountable,
Speaker 1: clean up the dam encampments. But you have the largest
Speaker 1: county in the state, that being Los Angeles County, where
Speaker 1: the Board of Supervisors and the City of Los Angeles,
Speaker 1: the mayor, and the city council all refuse to be
Speaker 1: enforcing those laws. As attorney general, should it be the
Speaker 1: state to be able to hold those counties accountable when
Speaker 1: they refuse to enforce the law.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So the way it works that the Attorney General
Speaker 2: is not just a figurehead or the lawyer for the governor.
Speaker 2: The Attorney General has a whole host of independent authority.
Speaker 2: I will have purview over all fifty eight sheriffs for
Speaker 2: the counties and all fifty district attorneys throughout the state
Speaker 2: of California. I will work with the sheriffs and the
Speaker 2: district attorneys on a daily basis, and we will work
Speaker 2: with local law enforcement agencies to enforce the law. What
Speaker 2: I did in Huntington Beach a city attorney and the
Speaker 2: top prosecutor, I enforced the law aggressively. We got our
Speaker 2: homeless population dropped by over sixty percent because we enforced
Speaker 2: the anti camping, anti loitering, and other anti vagrancy laws
Speaker 2: on the books. So there are anti homelessness laws on
Speaker 2: the books statewide and in localities that are not being enforced.
Speaker 2: And that's a political choice. But when i'm attorney General,
Speaker 2: like I said, I'm going to work with the Sheriff's
Speaker 2: department and all the district attorneys and even local law enforcement.
Speaker 2: We will get people off the streets. It's inhumane to
Speaker 2: have them on the streets. People say they're living on
Speaker 2: the streets. Honestly, let's be honest, ladies and gentlemen. They're
Speaker 2: not living on the streets. They're dying on the streets.
Speaker 2: And if they're not dying quickly, they're just dying of
Speaker 2: slow death. Nobody survives on the streets like that. We've
Speaker 2: got to get these people. The human thing to do
Speaker 2: is get them off the streets into county level services,
Speaker 2: which there are plenty of resources for. We see at
Speaker 2: Orange County, LA County and other counties, plenty of resources
Speaker 2: for these to help these people, whether it's food, shelter,
Speaker 2: mental health, VA services, legal services, all kinds of services
Speaker 2: develop at the county level. Get them up off the
Speaker 2: street into county services and oftentimes back we saw on
Speaker 2: Hunting to Beach when we were aggressive about enforcing the
Speaker 2: laws and getting people in a humanitarian way, up off
Speaker 2: the street and into county level services. They got back home,
Speaker 2: they were reunited with their families. So it's all about
Speaker 2: rolling up your sleeves and doing the work. It's all
Speaker 2: about a lot less talk and a lot more action.
Speaker 2: The laws are there, you just need the willpower and
Speaker 2: the effort to actually do it. I did it hunting
Speaker 2: to Beach very very successfully. I will do it for
Speaker 2: the state of California.
Speaker 1: We're speaking with Michael Gates, who's running for Attorney General
Speaker 1: gatesfourag dot com. Here's an interesting that one I'd like
Speaker 1: to get into here. You know, you're a b to
Speaker 1: charge of enforcing the laws that are on the books
Speaker 1: in the state of California. And several years ago the
Speaker 1: state of California voted to legalize recreational marijuana, but the
Speaker 1: enforcement of the illegal market has been laxed to almost
Speaker 1: nonexistent to where the idea passed to voters was if
Speaker 1: we legalize and regulate and tax this product, it will
Speaker 1: get rid of the black market. The black market today
Speaker 1: is bigger than before Props sixty four past. So what
Speaker 1: do you think is the Attorney general's role in cracking
Speaker 1: down on illegal grows, illegal storefronts, what have you. The
Speaker 1: illegal cannabis market that is thriving in the state of California,
Speaker 1: putting the legal market out of business.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Again. So I'm going to work with all my
Speaker 2: fifty eight district attorneys, and that means all of their agencies,
Speaker 2: all of their departments. So every prosecutor in the state
Speaker 2: of California ultimately will have to answer to me, frankly,
Speaker 2: whether their deputy prosecutors achieved, assistant whatever. Working for the
Speaker 2: district attorneys, they will all be working with me. Is
Speaker 2: likewise with the sheriff's department, They're all going to be
Speaker 2: working with me. So there's a tremendous a tremendous law
Speaker 2: enforcement apparatus present in California that's not being utilized by
Speaker 2: the ag because he's not only absent on criminal law enforcement,
Speaker 2: but he's also absent on civil law enforcement. He's really
Speaker 2: checked out, and frankly, he caddles criminals and really has
Speaker 2: created a lawless society here in California. And he hasn't
Speaker 2: that he's not ashamed of it. He has embraced it.
Speaker 2: And that's to your point. There are laws on the
Speaker 2: books that can be enforced, and we are going to
Speaker 2: enforce them. If nothing else. I want people to know
Speaker 2: that when I have served and leave office, that they
Speaker 2: say Michael Gates returns California to a law and order state.
Speaker 2: And when you enforce the law, a lot of good
Speaker 2: can happen. I see exactly what you're talking about with
Speaker 2: the illegal to black market. It's only proliferated. And you'll
Speaker 2: see too that if you follow the money all that,
Speaker 2: a lot of that money goes back to politicians. And
Speaker 2: so we're going to put an end to that. Like
Speaker 2: I said, we have to be a law and order state.
Speaker 2: If we're going to prosper, if our families are going
Speaker 2: to be safe, if our businesses are going to be
Speaker 2: safe in business districts. We can only be safe and
Speaker 2: prosper if we are a law and order state. And
Speaker 2: so that's the theme right here, and that's what that's
Speaker 2: my highest priority. It protects the vulnerable in our society.
Speaker 2: It protects our businesses, it protects our families, it protects
Speaker 2: every aspect of society when we uphold and defend the
Speaker 2: rule of law. And we are a law in order state.
Speaker 2: Right now, we are lawless, not thanks to Newsom but
Speaker 2: thanks to Rob Bonta, our current attorney general, he has
Speaker 2: got to go. His poll numbers are tanking. Everybody knows
Speaker 2: he's a disaster, but we need the voters to actually
Speaker 2: replace him, replace him with somebody who's gonna hold and
Speaker 2: defend the rule of law, and that's me. I will
Speaker 2: absolutely return California to a law and order state.
Speaker 1: The website is Gates the number four AG dot com.
Speaker 1: Gates the number four AG dot com. Michael Gates running
Speaker 1: for California Attorney General. Thank you so much for joining
Speaker 1: us today.
Speaker 2: Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: It's Randy Wang here flying solo all week. The phone
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Speaker 1: This is a strange thing to say, but San Francisco
Speaker 1: is making it really hard for fishermen to fish at
Speaker 1: Fisherman's Wharf. I guess it really is just going to
Speaker 1: turn into a tourist trap. I mean, if you just
Speaker 1: walk up and down the Embarcadero, it's gorgeous, so you know,
Speaker 1: you can call it a tourist trap all you want.
Speaker 1: But all right, let's see what's happening to Fisherman's Wharf.
Speaker 1: Here is ABC seven the Bay and they're building a
Speaker 1: better Bay Area reporter, the wonderful Leanne Melendez.
Speaker 4: Fisherman's Wharf is being transformed into a modern, vibrant public space,
Speaker 4: but local fishermen are concerned that the encroaching commercial developments
Speaker 4: will push them out.
Speaker 1: And you still call it Fisherman's wharf if no one's fishing.
Speaker 5: ABC seven eyewitness use Building a Better Bay Area reporter
Speaker 5: Lean Melendez here to explain why are they're concerned that
Speaker 5: the wharf will no longer be a fishing hub that
Speaker 5: it has been for decades.
Speaker 1: I can't even And if you're not even gonna have
Speaker 1: the fishing at the Fisherman's Wharf, are you even gonna
Speaker 1: need the casting club at Golden Gate Park, which I
Speaker 1: just found out that was a thing that is really cool.
Speaker 1: There's a little pond where you can learn how to
Speaker 1: fish at Golden Gate Park.
Speaker 6: I can't even imagine that right now. They have such
Speaker 6: a hard career, hard job. I mean the elements, it's cold,
Speaker 6: the fog, the water, I mean, unpredictable from your yeah, exactly.
Speaker 6: So we are not talking about restrict.
Speaker 1: Usually fishermen got to get up at like four am
Speaker 1: to be able to get that first catch. And yeah,
Speaker 1: those cold San Francisco mornings, that is rough.
Speaker 6: The elements, it's cold, the fog, the water, I mean, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 6: So we are not talking about restrictions on commercial crabbing
Speaker 6: or the fact that fishing for salmon was closed to
Speaker 6: them for the past three years. Of course, all of
Speaker 6: that hurts.
Speaker 1: Wait, we do California salmon? No thanks? I mean, what
Speaker 1: does it say about the salmon in the Pacific Ocean
Speaker 1: that pretty much every grocery store you're getting it from Europe?
Speaker 6: Or the fact that fishing or Alaska.
Speaker 1: If you want to spend a whole lot of money,
Speaker 1: or the.
Speaker 6: Fact that fishing for salmon was closed to them for
Speaker 6: the past three years. Of course, all of that hurts
Speaker 6: the local fishermen. What they have been complaining about are
Speaker 6: the conditions at the wharf that have made it hard
Speaker 6: to operate what they wanted, simple to preserve a way
Speaker 6: of life. Tourists from all over the world come to
Speaker 6: Fishermen's Wharf to eat dungeness, crab and seafood. Call it
Speaker 6: a tourist trap, but without commercial fishermen, this attraction would
Speaker 6: probably not exist.
Speaker 1: They lean into the tourist trappist of it, you know,
Speaker 1: but I have heard so many places that I enjoy
Speaker 1: being called a tourist trap. It's just if you know
Speaker 1: where you're spending your money, you're fine.
Speaker 6: It was first set aside in nineteen.
Speaker 1: Ex except for Hollywood Boulevard, that is a tourist trap.
Speaker 1: There's nothing fun about Hollywood Boulevard.
Speaker 6: It was first set aside in nineteen hundred for commercial
Speaker 6: fishing boats. Several years later, Italian immigrant fishermen dominated the
Speaker 6: area using the Monterey Clipper boat. One of those was
Speaker 6: Nino Alioto, seen here repairing his nets. Today we found
Speaker 6: his great grandson cleaning the same boat used by Nino
Speaker 6: the Golden Gate.
Speaker 1: South Boy. A whole line of fishmongers. I respect that,
Speaker 1: but that's that's a family stench.
Speaker 6: Sell Alioto is Nino's grandson. He showed us a picture
Speaker 6: of the boat carrying five tons of herring. Back then,
Speaker 6: the Monterey Clipper boats were made and maintained right here
Speaker 6: at this machine shop at Fisherman's Wharf that no longer exists.
Speaker 1: Don't have a mission. What happens if you get a
Speaker 1: hole in the boat.
Speaker 3: Don't have a machine shop, but don't have a shop
Speaker 3: that we could do some woodworking on our boats. Okay,
Speaker 3: besides the machine shop, you also need a shot that
Speaker 3: we can work on our boats. He's a wooden boast.
Speaker 3: They don't last forever. These boats are almost one hundred
Speaker 3: years old, and they need love.
Speaker 1: The prize they're lasting now, wow.
Speaker 3: And they need love.
Speaker 6: They need care where do you take them.
Speaker 3: Right now, there's only one place left.
Speaker 6: We found that place between the Mission Bay and dog
Speaker 6: Patch neighborhoods. Boat owners have to take the boats out
Speaker 6: of the water and bring them here, an expense they
Speaker 6: would rather not incur.
Speaker 1: There's nowhere near Fisherman's Wharf to get your boat having
Speaker 1: maintenance done on it, getting it fixed, So you have
Speaker 1: to put it on the land and you have to
Speaker 1: drive it to dog Patch.
Speaker 6: Boat owners have to take the boats out of the
Speaker 6: water and bring them here, and expense they would rather
Speaker 6: not incur. In the nineteen seventies and eighties, the wharf
Speaker 6: transitioned into a tourist destination. Since then, fishermen have complained
Speaker 6: that it has been a challenge to coexist.
Speaker 7: But if you're driving a trailer full of gear down
Speaker 7: the highway or down one of these roads and there's
Speaker 7: waymo cars stopped and pedestrians acrossing the street, it can
Speaker 7: take you a long time just to navigate the local roads.
Speaker 1: Okay, someone's got sour grapes. I don't know if you
Speaker 1: can blame the plight of the fishermen on the Weymos.
Speaker 1: I was in so many waymos over the weekend in
Speaker 1: San Francisco. They drive better than the human drivers. You
Speaker 1: can blame that though there's so much pedestrian traffic. I
Speaker 1: can't get to the dock. But I don't think you
Speaker 1: need to blame it on the robots. You're just coming
Speaker 1: off as anti robot.
Speaker 6: Logistically, it's been even harder to operate in the last
Speaker 6: few years. Currently, there is no working fuel dock at
Speaker 6: Fishermen's Wharf.
Speaker 1: Okay, so you can't get your boat maintenance done at
Speaker 1: Fisherman's Wharf, you can't fuel up at Fisherman's wharf. Yeah,
Speaker 1: these are some essential facilities what we might want if
Speaker 1: we want to continue to have fishermen at Fisherman's Wharf,
Speaker 1: and if we don't think you got to change the name.
Speaker 6: A twenty twenty diesel leak forced its closure and cleanup
Speaker 6: is still ongoing. For the past six years, they have
Speaker 6: relied on this diesel truck that goes back and forth
Speaker 6: to bring them the fuel needed for their boats. The
Speaker 6: San Francisco Port has promised to have the fuel dock
Speaker 6: once again operating by spring twenty twenty seven.
Speaker 1: Has a long time to have to deal with that process.
Speaker 6: And then there's the bok.
Speaker 1: To add to the already nightmares traffic of San Francisco,
Speaker 1: a giant diesel truck has to constantly go back and
Speaker 1: forth because the fuel deep boat's been busted for six years.
Speaker 6: And then there's the matter of the ice machine. Any
Speaker 6: sensible person knows that freshly caught fish should be placed
Speaker 6: on ice immediately to keep it from spoiling.
Speaker 1: Yes, unless you are a fish purist from Alaska and
Speaker 1: you try to off the books get some unflash frozen fish.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that I would try it because I
Speaker 1: don't like parasites, but the Alaska fish purists claim that
Speaker 1: the fish will taste better than anything you've ever tried
Speaker 1: in your life.
Speaker 6: Any sensible person knows that freshly caught fish should be
Speaker 6: placed on ice immediately to keep it from spoiling.
Speaker 7: They're just trying to keep it going. But the parts
Speaker 7: have to be fabricated. They you can't order apart. It
Speaker 7: has to be made.
Speaker 6: It's that old fishermen say. The port is doing what
Speaker 6: it can, but more often than not, it doesn't work.
Speaker 6: So fish markets continue to wait.
Speaker 1: So we don't even have the ice machine working. You
Speaker 1: can buy those things at costco now.
Speaker 6: So fish markets continue to produce their own ice on
Speaker 6: a small scale. You won't find a full time specialized
Speaker 6: diesel mechanics stationed apth of wharf like there used to be.
Speaker 6: Those who come here are more like your jack of
Speaker 6: all trades engine mechanic.
Speaker 3: What we have are people who know how to fix
Speaker 3: diesel engines. Sort of they do it as a hobby
Speaker 3: and not as a real mechanic that used.
Speaker 8: To be here.
Speaker 1: This is a real thing that happens for so many
Speaker 1: different kinds of categories. You know, as technology improves, as
Speaker 1: equipment changes, you actually get to a point where you
Speaker 1: run out of people that know how to fix all
Speaker 1: of this aged infrastructure.
Speaker 3: Sort of they do it as a hobby and not
Speaker 3: as a real mechanic that used to be here. We
Speaker 3: also don't have a channery where you can go in
Speaker 3: and actually buy fishing gear and materials that you need
Speaker 3: for you both.
Speaker 6: The old chandlery used to occupy the entire block that's
Speaker 6: been downsized, and today T shirts and hoodies are the
Speaker 6: main items, and any fishing supplies are found in the
Speaker 6: back of the store.
Speaker 1: Okay, that's pretty sad. Gotta make way for the T
Speaker 1: shirts and hoodies, so put the bait and the tackle
Speaker 1: and the hooks, keep that all on the back.
Speaker 6: That's been downsized and today T shirts and hoodies are
Speaker 6: the main items and any fishing supplies are found in
Speaker 6: the back of the store. Fishermen would like to have
Speaker 6: a larger storage facility. Some are forced to keep their
Speaker 6: gear outside where they can be damaged by the elements.
Speaker 6: With so many challenges, will this ever be the commercial
Speaker 6: fish hub that it once was?
Speaker 3: To get it beat It.
Speaker 1: Doesn't sound like it, but we should do something to
Speaker 1: preserve it if we're going to still call it Fisherman's wharf.
Speaker 3: To get it back to where it used to be
Speaker 3: will never happen. That we have to realize. To get
Speaker 3: it back as best we can a long run, we
Speaker 3: have to wait and see.
Speaker 2: We really thought that there was going to be a
Speaker 2: need for the port to invest.
Speaker 6: Last week, commercial fishermen came to listen to the ten
Speaker 6: million dollar plan by the Port to modernize the wharf
Speaker 6: and how it will impact them. Part of that transformation
Speaker 6: included the demolition of the iconic Aliotos restaurant, which will
Speaker 6: now be a public plaza. The future of the other
Speaker 6: older businesses is unknown, but the port has promised to
Speaker 6: support the fishing industry by upgrading some of the facilities.
Speaker 7: I'm not sure what the future brings, but we do
Speaker 7: have to work together with the port and with the
Speaker 7: tourism part aspect or part of this harbor as well.
Speaker 6: Barnett, like most of us, refuse to even speculate that
Speaker 6: this may well be the end of a storied era.
Speaker 6: And what is true is that for decades they have
Speaker 6: learned to adapt in order to survive. But for some
Speaker 6: that could mean shifting to other locations like Half Moon
Speaker 6: Bay or even Bodega Bay.
Speaker 1: I mean, I hear great things about the fish and
Speaker 1: Bodega Bay, but that's in a whole other county.
Speaker 6: Now. What I heard them say is keep it authentic.
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, you know, there are are as much a
Speaker 5: part of the warf in so many ways as the sea.
Speaker 4: Lions, just part of the fact, and you would think
Speaker 4: that their success and the modernization should just go hand
Speaker 4: in hand. We're keeping the history there.
Speaker 1: If it's just the aquarium and a bunch of restaurants
Speaker 1: and T shirt shops, it does lose a little bit
Speaker 1: of that authentic flavor, right, and.
Speaker 6: History that has I mean spanned for more than one
Speaker 6: hundred years.
Speaker 5: Are it's a treasure?
Speaker 3: All right?
Speaker 5: Thanks man?
Speaker 1: So there you go some the issues affecting the actual
Speaker 1: fishermen that are still trying to do their job at
Speaker 1: Fisherman's Wharf. A major milestone happened over the weekend when
Speaker 1: it comes to La Metro, as they finally unveiled the
Speaker 1: extension of the D Line. They used to call it
Speaker 1: the Purple Line, and in fact, in every story years
Speaker 1: later they'll say, you know the one that was the
Speaker 1: Purple Line. This is the one at Wiltshire Boulevard. It
Speaker 1: went to Koreatown. Now it goes all the way to
Speaker 1: the Miracle Mile and to Beverly Grove, almost hitting Beverly Hills.
Speaker 1: So is this the big game changer everyone was waiting
Speaker 1: for for La Metro or does it still not really
Speaker 1: go anywhere? For more, here is CBSLA. Oh boy, don't
Speaker 1: make me play that old tape of ride in the
Speaker 1: Expo Line.
Speaker 5: Metro's much anticipated D Line extension is now open.
Speaker 6: It's anaugural trip. Was it twelve thirty today.
Speaker 5: And cbsla's Joy Benentt joined the excited riders.
Speaker 3: She's live at the woolsher and Fairfax Station with how
Speaker 3: it all went down.
Speaker 9: Joy you guys, it was so fun. I've realized I've
Speaker 9: covered quite a few of these since I've been here,
Speaker 9: the first one back in twenty twelve when they opened
Speaker 9: the Expo line, and it's just been amazing to see
Speaker 9: how much Metro has expanded since then and today.
Speaker 1: It has expanded a lot, but it still doesn't really
Speaker 1: go to a whole lot of places. If you live
Speaker 1: in the San Fernando Valley, which two million of the
Speaker 1: four million residents of the city live in, it still
Speaker 1: doesn't really go anywhere. In fact, they don't even have
Speaker 1: a train in most of the valley. They have a bus,
Speaker 1: and the bus only does a small portion of the
Speaker 1: spatial area that is the valley.
Speaker 9: And today was just more icing on the cake, so
Speaker 9: to speak. Not a lot of folks out here now
Speaker 9: as I turn around, but that was not the case
Speaker 9: just a few minutes ago. As this place has been
Speaker 9: packed since twelve thirty.
Speaker 1: I will say, if there's any neighborhood that could use
Speaker 1: some public transit that's not already impeding traffic, getting to
Speaker 1: the Miracle Mile is a nightmare. It's not close to
Speaker 1: any freeway so you've either got to cut through West La,
Speaker 1: you've got to cut through Hollywood. There's no good way
Speaker 1: to get down there. And I should know because I
Speaker 1: used to work down in that area. I used to
Speaker 1: work at kls X ninety seven point one, the FM
Speaker 1: talk station, when they were at fifty six to seventy
Speaker 1: Wilshire Boulevard, and I commuted twice a day, every single
Speaker 1: day to Houser and Wilshire, right next to Fairfax in Wiltshire.
Speaker 1: And it was a nightmare. You know how much emotional
Speaker 1: eating I had to do in the drive through to
Speaker 1: just deal with that commute.
Speaker 9: It felt like a party on the boulevard welcome line
Speaker 9: as folks waited in line on Wilshire Boulevard.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, they call it the D Line now. And
Speaker 1: they started selling these shirts that say ride the d yep.
Speaker 1: They sold out.
Speaker 9: And went underground and the platform please to ride the
Speaker 9: hottest ticket in town.
Speaker 1: We live in downtown and we've been waiting. Of course,
Speaker 1: let's all forget that this project is way over budget
Speaker 1: and way late, but sure, let's celebrate that we finally
Speaker 1: are opening something. We live in downtown and we've been
Speaker 1: waiting for this opening.
Speaker 6: On board than d.
Speaker 1: Lie And look, it is nice that we are connecting
Speaker 1: more parts of the city, but that can be a
Speaker 1: double edged sword because we don't strictly enforce who gets
Speaker 1: on and who gets off of these trains. You don't
Speaker 1: want to have happened to the West LA area where
Speaker 1: this thing is going to end up. What happened to
Speaker 1: Santa Monica. There's been a lot of problems with Santa
Speaker 1: Monica over the last ten years. But you ask anybody
Speaker 1: in the know and they will tell you when the
Speaker 1: Expo Line went all the way from downtown LA to
Speaker 1: downtown Santa Monica, it was a quick trip for the
Speaker 1: drug addicts and the homeless to relocate to that city.
Speaker 9: On board than D Line with Greg Cher.
Speaker 2: In La we don't have cars, so we take public
Speaker 2: charge station everywhere, so there's a whole new neighborhood of opportunity.
Speaker 1: I don't know how you do that in La I
Speaker 1: really don't. I can see how you can do it
Speaker 1: in a city like San Francisco. I do not know
Speaker 1: how you get around this city without a car. There's
Speaker 1: a whole new neighborhood of opportunities for us.
Speaker 9: There are new ways to explore our City, which is
Speaker 9: the premise of the campaign and the project, because I
Speaker 9: feel like a lot of public transportation focuses on work
Speaker 9: and school and stop, but.
Speaker 6: Not really the fun corridors.
Speaker 1: Intel Now, that's right. You can take this thing to
Speaker 1: the Lebrea tarpits woo right intil now until now, and
Speaker 1: it's just going to keep going.
Speaker 6: I work in Century City, so I'm so excited for
Speaker 6: when Face two opens next year.
Speaker 9: It's a sentiment we found on every platform as droves
Speaker 9: of people rush to explore the artwork at the stations
Speaker 9: and what stood above them Wilsha Boulevard.
Speaker 1: Even want to go to lack One not have to
Speaker 1: pay twenty dollars for parking.
Speaker 4: People who are visiting from out of town in LA.
Speaker 4: This is so important because I want to go to
Speaker 4: like the tourist areas in downtown and I don't.
Speaker 1: Have a car. You don't want to go to downtown.
Speaker 1: No no, no, no, no, no no no. I don't
Speaker 1: know what touristic things you think there are to do downtown.
Speaker 1: Don't do it.
Speaker 8: Car.
Speaker 9: The d Line, formerly known as the Purple Line, will
Speaker 9: now connect passengers from downtown to Korea Town, the Miracle Mile,
Speaker 9: and eventually Beverly Hills.
Speaker 6: Century City Westwood.
Speaker 1: At Beverly Hills is going to have to make sure
Speaker 1: there is all kinds of security at that station, because
Speaker 1: the last thing that city wants is the riff raff
Speaker 1: ending up in Bevere. It's got to Henry and Anaheim. Henry, Hello, Hello,
Speaker 1: how are you Randy doing great?
Speaker 8: Hey? You know what, I love your show. I'd love
Speaker 8: it when you fill in for John. I'm a longtime
Speaker 8: listener and I think you do a great job. I
Speaker 8: kudos to you, thank you. But I have to do
Speaker 8: a little bit of questioning, you know, you say about
Speaker 8: the pot shops and how bad they are and the
Speaker 8: illegal ones and everything else. First of all, I want
Speaker 8: to qualify this. I live in Orange County, so there
Speaker 8: is a huge difference. I have been a pot smoker
Speaker 8: for a very long time.
Speaker 1: And.
Speaker 8: Yeah, the illegal stores would pop up on a fairly
Speaker 8: regular basis, but the state controlled stores are very expensive
Speaker 8: and you can get some of the bootleg stuff for
Speaker 8: a little bit less.
Speaker 1: Oh. That's one of the major problems here, Henri, is
Speaker 1: that we have all ver tax this product immediately, and
Speaker 1: because we don't enforce going after the illegal market, people
Speaker 1: that want to do it the right way at a
Speaker 1: total disadvantage. We're at a time, but thank you so
Speaker 1: much for the call, my friend. It's Randy Wang here
Speaker 1: on the John Phillips Show.