WEBVTT - Snapchat's High-Stakes Clash With Its Neighbors on Venice Beach 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:12.280 Way down. So walking around Venice, the beach town in 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:15.960 Los Angeles, not the tourist destination in Italy, you see 0:00:16.000 --> 0:00:19.480 the most eclectic mix of people. About twenty years ago 0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:22.160 you could actually have parrots and snakes on you and 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:25.000 take photos and that sort of change. They didn't want 0:00:25.000 --> 0:00:26.920 a lot of wildlife on the borderwalk. But now you 0:00:26.960 --> 0:00:31.480 have tattoo artists, you have Hanna tattoo, t shirt sales people, psychics, 0:00:31.880 --> 0:00:36.720 palm readers, dancers, you have. That's decent Moore, his essential 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:39.680 character for today. He's lived in Venice for more than 0:00:39.720 --> 0:00:42.720 twenty years now. It's a normality and that's part of 0:00:42.720 --> 0:00:44.879 the culture here. And they're all over from the you know, 0:00:44.920 --> 0:00:47.519 all different parts of the world. You know, musicians that 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:49.560 want to get a break. Yeah, Janis Joplin walking on 0:00:49.600 --> 0:00:52.560 the streets, Jim Morrison doing poetry back in the day. 0:00:52.560 --> 0:00:54.680 I mean, you have that creative spirit and you don't 0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:56.320 know who you're standing next to that could be the 0:00:56.360 --> 0:01:01.800 next rock star. But lately new elements have joined this quirky, 0:01:01.960 --> 0:01:06.399 vibrant mix. So this is now Snapchat. The white building 0:01:06.400 --> 0:01:10.200 across Snapchat. This blue building right here is Snapchat that 0:01:10.280 --> 0:01:14.160 used to be an apartment complex for Ages. I've drove 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:18.240 by last night and there were you haul moving bands 0:01:18.360 --> 0:01:22.200 moving residents out of these apartments. So this literally has 0:01:22.160 --> 0:01:26.480 happened within the last month. That's Jason talking with Jim Rob, 0:01:26.680 --> 0:01:31.440 another concern resident of Venice. Jim's lived here for even 0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:37.480 longer than Jason has. Since. You see corporate badges, clip 0:01:37.520 --> 0:01:42.640 to belt loops, private security guards patrolling public sidewalks, homes 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:46.160 and offices that changed hands recently to a single owner 0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:48.960 that always keeps the blinds closed to keep their work 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:54.000 a mystery. Some locals are terrified that their quirky, bohemian 0:01:54.080 --> 0:01:58.800 paradise is turning into the sterile corporate campus a beachfront 0:01:58.840 --> 0:02:01.840 office park for snap app, which is a parent company 0:02:01.880 --> 0:02:05.559 of the social media app Snapchat. And Jason and Jim 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:07.960 were concerned enough to invite us to l A to 0:02:08.160 --> 0:02:18.160 see what's going on. Hi, I'm Sarah Fryar and I'm 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:21.560 aki Ito, And this week on Decrypted, we're taking you 0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:25.320 to the historic beach town where snap is rapidly expanding. 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:29.360 You'll hear from residents, business owners, politician, and this being 0:02:29.440 --> 0:02:33.519 southern California, maybe even a celebrity or two. Yeah. All 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:37.280 these people who are mad, sad, anxious for a variety 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:40.640 of reasons we'll get into today. And people in Venice 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:43.760 worry it's just about to get a whole lot worse 0:02:44.160 --> 0:02:46.800 with Snaps. I p o plan for March that's going 0:02:46.840 --> 0:02:49.320 to make a lot of money for its young employees. 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:53.280 So what is Snap's obligation to this beach town and 0:02:53.520 --> 0:02:57.160 what can they do to try to fix this paranoia 0:02:57.200 --> 0:03:15.760 and mistrust with their neighbors. Stay with us to find now. So, Sarah, 0:03:15.840 --> 0:03:18.680 you and I visited Venice Southern Week. It was a 0:03:18.680 --> 0:03:21.880 gorgeous day. I was sweating in this long sleeve shirt 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:25.480 I'd worn from San Francisco. And what struck me as 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:28.400 we walked around with Jason and Jim was it's not 0:03:28.480 --> 0:03:31.960 like we're talking about this gigantic building going up. It's 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:34.560 really different from what we see here in Silicon Valley. 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:37.720 Like Google has this whole campus in Mountain View, where 0:03:37.920 --> 0:03:41.040 Twitter has their headquarters in the skyscraper in mid market 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:45.080 San Francisco. This is a bunch of tiny buildings, in 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:48.920 some cases just one or two floors, scattered all around 0:03:48.960 --> 0:03:52.760 the most touristy and residential parts of town, right on 0:03:52.800 --> 0:03:56.720 the beach in many cases, and these buildings aren't labeled 0:03:56.760 --> 0:03:59.839 with the Snapchat logo that yellow and white ghosts we've 0:03:59.840 --> 0:04:03.640 all scene, or even the company's name. As a tourist 0:04:03.720 --> 0:04:06.880 visiting Venice, you might not even know that Snap was 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:10.320 there unless you knew what you were looking for. Like 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:14.559 the presidents of security guards up front wearing park ranger hats, 0:04:14.600 --> 0:04:17.280 and the vans that are shuttling their workers to and 0:04:17.320 --> 0:04:20.719 from snaps various buildings, and the fact that they're blinds 0:04:20.720 --> 0:04:23.360 are all drawn when this gorgeous beaches right in front 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:26.880 of them. Snap is known for its secrecy, but a 0:04:26.920 --> 0:04:29.599 lot of residents don't know what they do and don't 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:32.440 know how to feel about them, and the lack of 0:04:32.440 --> 0:04:34.919 transparency everywhere just made it to the point where it's like, 0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:37.520 all right, if we want to find transparency, let's at 0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:39.800 least speak to the people in the community. Let's hear 0:04:39.839 --> 0:04:42.680 their voices, and then let's do our investigation and see 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:44.640 what's actually going on with the zoning, going on, with 0:04:44.720 --> 0:04:46.760 the real estate going on with it all, because there's 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:48.520 a lot of opinion, there's a lot of rumors, but 0:04:48.600 --> 0:04:53.240 actually to uncover and see what they're doing and what's going. Yeah, 0:04:53.640 --> 0:04:57.839 the destic time and we're Jason was Paris Hilton's manager 0:04:57.960 --> 0:05:01.240 for ten years, and now he represents people who are 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:04.640 professional video game players, which, by the way, is a 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:07.880 totally fascinating world of its own and something we're going 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:11.560 to feature on this podcast in the very near future. Anyway, 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:14.440 that's all to say, Jason is not your typical local 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:17.880 community activists. He said, he's just kind of stumbled into 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:19.839 all this about a couple of months ago when he 0:05:19.880 --> 0:05:22.800 saw Evan Spiegel, who's the CEO of Snap, on the 0:05:22.839 --> 0:05:26.040 roof of the art gallery next to his office. Jason 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:29.040 worried that if Snap was buying that art gallery, his 0:05:29.240 --> 0:05:32.240 office might be next. So that's where you saw Evan 0:05:32.800 --> 0:05:34.560 walking up there on the roof here, Yeah, he was 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:36.520 up on the roof there. How did you tell with him? 0:05:36.680 --> 0:05:39.599 You can see where's jeans, white shoes, white shirt, and 0:05:39.640 --> 0:05:43.599 he looks like Evan Spiegel. You pretty much so has 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:46.240 like if you brand yourself, I mean, Zucker Works got 0:05:46.240 --> 0:05:48.560 a hoodie. Evan's got his white shoes and white shirt 0:05:48.720 --> 0:05:51.920 and you know they all kind of jobs had his turtlenecks, 0:05:51.920 --> 0:05:54.480 so you kind of know what they look like. But 0:05:54.640 --> 0:05:58.520 maybe Evan Spiegel, just like Art, Jason and his fellow 0:05:58.560 --> 0:06:02.120 residence are not a sense sure what SNAP owns, but 0:06:02.360 --> 0:06:05.880 they're trying to connect the dots like d I Y detectives. 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:09.000 On their walks around the city. They're noting where snaps 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:12.200 fans are parked and SNAP security guards are placed, and 0:06:12.240 --> 0:06:14.680 they're digging through the city property records to see if 0:06:14.680 --> 0:06:18.040 they can find hints of what SNAP owns. Here's Jason 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:20.560 talking to a local business owner, Patrick Liberty, who we 0:06:20.680 --> 0:06:24.000 ran into on the Venice boardwalk. Well, they owned Gingerbreight Court. 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:26.480 Now they own it. Yeah, they bought it from Yeah, 0:06:26.520 --> 0:06:28.400 and they're slowly going to take everybody out. So the 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:31.000 back has already been leased. You sure they bought it, Yeah, 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:34.280 they bought it. Who told you that it's under the zoning? 0:06:34.360 --> 0:06:40.080 The addresses match other addresses, nobody does, and they and 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:42.600 they bought and they bought it when the Snap was 0:06:42.720 --> 0:06:44.800 open back in the day. So it's probably one of 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:47.359 the first purchases that they did with anybody knowing. Nobody 0:06:47.440 --> 0:06:51.000 knew that. I heard that they were behind this and 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:53.680 they building the building. They are and they found out 0:06:53.680 --> 0:06:55.200 and that kind of threw a Crowbar. We're going to 0:06:55.279 --> 0:06:57.719 go speak with Martha Cherish, who's the one that kind 0:06:57.720 --> 0:07:05.960 of spearheaded to stop. It's that, I guess they The 0:07:06.279 --> 0:07:09.600 Gingerbread Court they're talking about here is one of the 0:07:09.600 --> 0:07:13.600 most famous buildings in town. It's right on the boardwalk, 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:18.480 this brick structure, originally owned by Charlie Chaplin. It's got 0:07:18.520 --> 0:07:22.200 a short alleyway lined by small shops. Jason and Jim 0:07:22.240 --> 0:07:24.080 showed us a print out of a spreadsheet and a 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:27.520 map they've compiled with twenty buildings that they think are 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:31.000 currently owned released by the company. We ran this list 0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:33.640 by a person familiar with SNAPS real estate holdings, who 0:07:33.960 --> 0:07:37.960 told us it contained several errors, but that person did 0:07:38.000 --> 0:07:40.760 confirm that Jason was right about the ginger By Court, 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:46.239 at least the part that's office space. As we're walking 0:07:46.280 --> 0:07:49.280 down the boardwalk, we talked to some artists around the 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:53.160 same age as SNAPS employees. They sleep on the beach, 0:07:53.320 --> 0:07:56.840 they paint on scrap wood, They sell their art on 0:07:56.880 --> 0:08:00.880 the boardwalk right in front of SNAPS offices. But they 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:03.920 said the employees never stopped to buy their art or 0:08:04.040 --> 0:08:07.280 even taking interest. They said that they don't even say Hi. 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:12.040 Patrick Liberty. That business owner who we met earlier told 0:08:12.080 --> 0:08:15.200 a similar story. He runs Venice Liberty, a T shirt 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:18.480 shop on the boardwalk, and he lost his parking spot 0:08:18.520 --> 0:08:22.480 when Snap occupied some space nearby. He's tried over and 0:08:22.600 --> 0:08:25.000 over to get them to make an exception, at least 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:28.320 for a long time resident. I wrote him a letter, 0:08:28.560 --> 0:08:31.120 gave a T shirt. So I go up there. You 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:34.199 can't even ring the buzzer up at sixty four marketing 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:36.160 men without two guards on either side of you think, 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:37.560 and I help you. And I said, well, I got 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:41.680 this letter, and I want to I could never get pasted. 0:08:41.679 --> 0:08:43.480 The first time I gave it to security guard because 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:45.480 that's all I could get past. And the second time 0:08:45.800 --> 0:08:48.200 I come back with another letter, you know, and even more. 0:08:48.559 --> 0:08:51.000 And by the third letter in the T shirt, I'm going, hey, 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:53.480 look man, you know it's just a parking spot. You 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:55.960 know you've got lots of them. I live here, and 0:08:56.000 --> 0:08:57.560 you know you came and took it, took it away 0:08:57.600 --> 0:08:59.200 from his beat. You know, I got mad at her. 0:09:00.240 --> 0:09:02.400 I could never The only person I ever solways the 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:05.280 security guard, these guys walking around in khakis. That's as 0:09:05.320 --> 0:09:08.520 far as I ever got. You cannot email and you 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:12.440 can't call him, you can't see them. Patrick said that 0:09:12.640 --> 0:09:15.920 since Snap moved into the area, sales at his T 0:09:16.040 --> 0:09:19.800 shirt shop haven't grown enough to offset the increase in rent. 0:09:20.440 --> 0:09:22.679 We met up with another guy who got priced out 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:27.200 of his storefront altogether. His name Cesario Montano and goes 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:30.640 by the nickname Block. Snapchat just bought this whole street up. 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:33.880 So like my shop was right in that red building, 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:37.320 that's an historical building. But the rent is going crazy 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:40.280 around here. You know, Block closed down his own shop 0:09:40.360 --> 0:09:43.760 about a year ago. According to the real estate brokerage 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:47.640 c b r E, asking rents for off space in 0:09:47.760 --> 0:09:52.560 Venice have more than doubled just over the last three years. 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:56.360 You know, Snaps bringing in this over abundance of wealth. 0:09:57.720 --> 0:10:01.280 Nobody could compete with billion dollars. How much money did 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:04.760 they make? How much they're worth? Billions? Right, so they 0:10:04.800 --> 0:10:07.120 got a few money, they're coming over a few. Here's 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:09.760 three million. Get out. I don't care. I want it, 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:12.880 I want the street, I want it, I want silicone beach. 0:10:21.800 --> 0:10:24.120 The funny thing was, as we were talking to Block, 0:10:24.320 --> 0:10:26.920 he saw one of his old friends and called her over. 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:30.439 She had just been hired by Snapped, improved the company's 0:10:30.480 --> 0:10:34.640 relationship with the community. But on top of being media shy, 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:37.600 Snap is in what's known as a quiet period ahead 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:40.560 of its March i p O, which means it's not 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:44.360 supposed to be publicly commenting on its business. Once Block's 0:10:44.400 --> 0:10:47.160 friend figured out who we were, she excused herself and 0:10:47.200 --> 0:10:50.400 walked away, saying she couldn't talk to the press. And 0:10:50.480 --> 0:10:52.200 by the way, this i p O is going to 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:56.160 bring even more money into the community. To Evans, Spiegel 0:10:56.200 --> 0:10:59.400 alone may make more than five hundred million dollars just 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:02.160 from the i p O, and the early employees and 0:11:02.240 --> 0:11:05.280 executives of the company will soon finally be able to 0:11:05.320 --> 0:11:09.240 cash out on their stakes. As we just heard, Block 0:11:09.400 --> 0:11:12.920 is suspicious of all this money. But it's not like 0:11:13.000 --> 0:11:15.840 he's not used to hanging out with rich people. He's 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:18.800 a photographer and works a lot with the music industry. 0:11:19.360 --> 0:11:21.760 And you just kind of gradually mentioned to us at 0:11:21.800 --> 0:11:24.320 one point that he was hanging out with Brihanna at 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:28.280 a Grammy's after party the night before. In Venice, people 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:32.160 are proud of their local stars. They'll say, that's where 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:35.679 Robert Downey Jr. Has a house, That's where Arnold Schwarzenegger 0:11:35.800 --> 0:11:39.120 used to work out. But there's something about these tech 0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:43.200 guys that rubs them the wrong way. They don't want 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:45.120 to talk to you in the local bars anymore. They 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:47.120 don't really associate with you if you're not if you 0:11:47.120 --> 0:11:51.360 don't have tech vocabulary, they don't. They're like, you're a local, 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:52.839 You're look at the way I addressed you know, I'm 0:11:52.840 --> 0:11:55.760 from around here. They have nothing to say to me. 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:58.960 They're like, I have nothing in common with you. I'm 0:11:59.000 --> 0:12:01.440 here to do my tech job. And that's kind of 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:05.720 the attitude. Our next stop on our Whirlwind tour was 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:09.480 a spiritual community center run by the actor Andrew Keegan. 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:11.680 If you need a visual, this is the guy who 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:14.920 played Joey, the antagonists in the film Ten Things I 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:19.800 Hate About You. There's obviously so many different issues going 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:23.920 on in our community, and again, my focus here in 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:28.720 this space is really bringing community members together that are 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:31.640 the ones that are like us in the middle of 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:34.480 all of this, and we really would love to see them, 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:36.600 you know, put some of their resources and really that 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:41.040 integration idea of involving their employees and getting to know 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:45.800 community members, you know, um, not just walking by them 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:49.320 half in jest. He also had one last tidbit of advice. 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:52.280 Snapchat just needs to throw us a big party. That's 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:56.520 the solution, I think from this sponsor a big party, 0:12:56.840 --> 0:12:59.680 I can understand the sentiment. I mean, I remember as 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:01.880 a kid it going to Venice with my family and 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:04.319 seeing all the culture and the skateboarding and the art, 0:13:04.880 --> 0:13:07.839 getting lost in the crowd rollerblading. Yeah, this was my 0:13:08.000 --> 0:13:11.160 first time in Venice, but I was completely swept up 0:13:11.160 --> 0:13:14.560 by its charm to The tallest building we saw was 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:18.520 maybe four stories high. The beachfront was lined with mom 0:13:18.520 --> 0:13:22.440 and pop stores, not a single brand like Starbucks on 0:13:22.480 --> 0:13:25.640 the boardwalk, more than a couple of whips of pot. 0:13:25.760 --> 0:13:29.800 There's something really sentimental about Venice. And then here comes 0:13:29.880 --> 0:13:32.480 this red hot startup making an app that a lot 0:13:32.559 --> 0:13:36.240 of the residents don't use and don't understand, buying up 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:39.680 or leasing what seems like everything that becomes available. Run 0:13:39.679 --> 0:13:42.640 by this twenty six year old rich guy. It's pretty 0:13:42.679 --> 0:13:45.280 symbolic of this clash of history with a new hot thing, 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:50.840 which is ironic because presumably it's exactly this renegade artist, 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:56.679 independent skateboarding hip culture that Venice has preserved that attracted 0:13:56.679 --> 0:13:59.800 Evan Spiegel to Venice in the first place. He went 0:13:59.840 --> 0:14:03.439 to college at Stanford, right in the heart of Silicon Valley, 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:06.920 and yet he left all those sprawling corporate campuses in 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:10.360 VC firms for Venice, where he's had to buy and 0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:14.920 least these tiny buildings piecemeal. Evan Spegel even talked about 0:14:14.960 --> 0:14:17.319 it in a video of the company made for investors 0:14:17.320 --> 0:14:19.320 for the I p O. It was filmed in the 0:14:19.360 --> 0:14:22.040 Blue House on the Boardwalk, right where the company got 0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:25.680 its first office. He and co founder and CTO Bobby 0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:29.880 Murphy exude pride and nostalgia for those early days when 0:14:29.880 --> 0:14:33.880 they first decided on Venice. I can remember when we 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:36.600 first got this building as our office. There were eight 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:38.600 of us, and you know, our dream had always been 0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:40.760 to have an office on the beach. You right here, 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:42.160 you know, there used to be a table, and this 0:14:42.200 --> 0:14:44.440 is where we built stories and where we planned the 0:14:44.480 --> 0:14:47.800 evolution of the product that the world has experienced in 0:14:47.840 --> 0:14:50.200 the last few years. It's pretty surreal being here. I mean, 0:14:50.280 --> 0:14:53.080 I can distinctly remember that the first day that myself, Evan, 0:14:53.800 --> 0:14:55.760 David and Daniel came here to check out this place, 0:14:55.800 --> 0:14:57.800 and we thought it was pretty big for what we 0:14:57.840 --> 0:14:59.960 needed at the time. I think within just a few 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:01.680 of months he filled this place of the brand of 0:15:01.680 --> 0:15:05.040 about people. There's just a really, really exciting time that 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:07.280 was the period of this company. To be fair to Snap, 0:15:07.360 --> 0:15:10.600 they're not the first to spark change in Venice. It's 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:14.120 been a long time coming. Google came even before Snap, 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:17.000 taking up two blocks of buildings maybe a ten minute 0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:20.360 walk inland from the beach, and there's Abbot Kenney Boulevard 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:23.160 which has all these fancy shops and restaurants on it. 0:15:23.760 --> 0:15:26.160 This is what Lulio told me. He works for real 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:30.480 estate brokerage in Venice. Um, so Snap's not new, you know, 0:15:30.600 --> 0:15:33.640 they're just here with Google replacing some things that were 0:15:33.680 --> 0:15:39.680 here before. Um, it's just that. Um, the the people 0:15:39.680 --> 0:15:43.000 who seem to have an issue with what's going on 0:15:43.080 --> 0:15:48.000 with prices increasing on real estate, prices increasing for rent, 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:53.000 the lack of commercial vacancy space to put a office 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:58.480 or a restaurant or retail space. You know those folks. UM, 0:15:58.600 --> 0:16:00.640 I don't think anything would ever make those folks happy. 0:16:02.560 --> 0:16:06.160 As Snap rapidly added more employees, it could have looked 0:16:06.160 --> 0:16:09.320 to other beach towns in l A. There's Santa Monica, 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:12.480 on one side, which is way built up, and there's 0:16:12.560 --> 0:16:16.600 Playa del Rey where Google and Yahoo have campuses. There's 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:20.320 tons of office space there too. Yeah, those areas welcome 0:16:20.400 --> 0:16:23.600 tech companies with open arms. And I really think of 0:16:23.640 --> 0:16:26.360 any other town and city desperate to attract jobs in 0:16:26.400 --> 0:16:29.840 the face of a changing economy. That's something that Mark 0:16:29.960 --> 0:16:33.080 Ravick talked about when Jason and Jim took us to 0:16:33.120 --> 0:16:36.200 go meet him in a cafe. Mark is running for 0:16:36.240 --> 0:16:39.560 a seat on the Los Angeles City Council to represent 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:44.000 Venice and its surrounding neighborhoods. The clash between local residents 0:16:44.000 --> 0:16:47.040 and Snap has become a key issue in the race. 0:16:47.680 --> 0:16:52.760 The primary takes place on March seven. My sense is 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:56.320 that they are simply an add on to the UM 0:16:56.600 --> 0:17:01.120 direction that at the Venice and this entire coastal area 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:04.479 stretching all the way, oddly, stretching all the way from 0:17:04.520 --> 0:17:08.920 Santa Monica down to Elsa Gundo, in this marriage of 0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:17.480 Internet marketing and and and in film and TV content UM. 0:17:17.680 --> 0:17:21.280 And it's really for me exciting to see. And I 0:17:21.400 --> 0:17:26.960 don't see a downside UM at all, because one of 0:17:26.960 --> 0:17:29.000 the things comes when comes with it is a lot 0:17:29.080 --> 0:17:33.320 of discretionary dollars on behalf of those employees, and they're 0:17:33.480 --> 0:17:37.800 spending it to boost the economy in really remarkable way. 0:17:38.240 --> 0:17:41.879 This was not what Jason wanted to hear. He showed 0:17:41.880 --> 0:17:44.760 Mark that map of all the places you think snap 0:17:44.800 --> 0:17:48.600 owns or is trying to lease. Mark countered that those 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:53.080 twenty or so properties are infinitesimal compared to the total 0:17:53.200 --> 0:17:56.600 real estate in Venice. And that's when things got heated. 0:17:57.280 --> 0:17:58.719 It's all right for you to have an office there, 0:17:58.800 --> 0:18:00.480 but not all all right first up to to have 0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:02.199 an office there, I wouldn't be able to have an 0:18:02.200 --> 0:18:04.320 office with them. No, no, no, you're not following you. 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:06.439 It's okay for you to have an office there, but 0:18:06.480 --> 0:18:08.760 not okay for Snapchat to have an office there. Why 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:11.520 is your office more important than their office? I guess 0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:14.080 it's not good because it's your office, I guess. I 0:18:14.119 --> 0:18:16.040 guess it's not a good thing to be a resident 0:18:16.000 --> 0:18:18.640 of Venice. When you leave, somebody will, you know, rent 0:18:18.640 --> 0:18:23.280 your place and they'll be a resident. I'm being the 0:18:23.280 --> 0:18:27.080 devil's advocate here, But isn't isn't What you're rejecting to 0:18:27.240 --> 0:18:29.399 is change and the fact that change might affect you 0:18:30.040 --> 0:18:34.360 as opposed to the use because office to office, why 0:18:34.400 --> 0:18:36.960 can't I use it? Why? You know, why should I 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:43.200 be pushed out? Um, because we do exist in a 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:48.440 capitalist society and they'll pay more than you with Again, 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:50.760 you may not like that, but that is what's what's 0:18:50.800 --> 0:18:54.479 going on. So how are you as a council member 0:18:54.920 --> 0:18:58.600 to be to represent us with that attitude? Gonna get 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:03.320 support from residents saying hey, deal with change. I may not. 0:19:03.720 --> 0:19:13.000 You know, one has to say what one believes. Then 0:19:13.040 --> 0:19:17.920 we hopped into Jason's Thunderbird and we drove to Robin 0:19:18.040 --> 0:19:21.639 Rudis Sill's house on the beach. Robbin's also running in 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:24.879 the city council race, and we've recounted the conversation we 0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:28.000 just had with Mark drivek No, I don't think any 0:19:28.000 --> 0:19:32.199 anybody in Venice grey except well yeah, but um, you know, 0:19:33.400 --> 0:19:38.640 it's it's not really a stimulus because um, it's taking 0:19:39.119 --> 0:19:42.280 uh some some of the people have the higher paid jobs, 0:19:42.320 --> 0:19:44.320 you know, it's not a sort of the medium or 0:19:44.320 --> 0:19:48.000 lower paid jobs that we would probably need here in Venice. Also, 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:52.159 they're getting this huge tax um credit from the city, 0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:57.440 so they're not even getting a stimulus to tax business taxes. 0:19:57.680 --> 0:20:01.600 Um really so just come in here, have all these people, 0:20:02.000 --> 0:20:05.160 you know, drive up the prices of our homes, take 0:20:05.320 --> 0:20:10.920 our residential units and turn them into offices. And we're 0:20:10.920 --> 0:20:13.920 not talking just a few, We're talking a lot of 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:16.840 a lot of that has been done. And I wouldn't 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:19.920 say that's the gift at all. That's had a very 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:27.320 detrimental impact on Venice because losing housing has caused people 0:20:27.359 --> 0:20:29.760 to have to move out of Venice that thought they'd 0:20:29.760 --> 0:20:33.000 be here all their lives, you know, so being they're 0:20:33.040 --> 0:20:35.520 being forced out because of this. This point came up 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:39.040 in our conversations with a lot of other residents too, 0:20:39.280 --> 0:20:42.600 who think snaps breaking the law by having offices in 0:20:42.720 --> 0:20:46.479 residential areas. But here's what the real estate agent LU 0:20:46.600 --> 0:20:49.560 said about that. You know, the majority of the places 0:20:49.600 --> 0:20:52.800 that these folks have taken have been you know, commercially 0:20:53.520 --> 0:20:57.040 zone properties, and if the closest thing that they would 0:20:57.040 --> 0:21:02.199 be too, you know, residential, would be live workspace in 0:21:02.240 --> 0:21:05.200 a commercial zone that just happens to have the use 0:21:05.280 --> 0:21:09.240 code of live work I'm not an attorney, but you know, 0:21:09.320 --> 0:21:12.000 if you if you if you look at the letter 0:21:12.040 --> 0:21:14.800 of the law on the way that you know that 0:21:15.040 --> 0:21:17.920 code is loosely written, it can be interpreted several ways, 0:21:18.800 --> 0:21:22.399 and the community members who actually have interactions with Snap 0:21:22.440 --> 0:21:27.520 employees do have some pretty nice things to say. Here's 0:21:27.640 --> 0:21:31.760 Kristen Poulia, the CEO of ps Arts, a local nonprofit 0:21:31.840 --> 0:21:36.520 supporting the arts for kids. We work with many corporate 0:21:36.840 --> 0:21:39.639 partners in our schools, and I don't think I've had 0:21:39.760 --> 0:21:42.520 nearly the amount of face time, nearly the amount of 0:21:42.920 --> 0:21:47.960 volunteer activity that Snap has has put forward. And then 0:21:48.000 --> 0:21:53.760 on top of that, the financial commitment has been so thoughtful. 0:21:53.840 --> 0:21:55.920 You know that they come to us as the experts, 0:21:55.960 --> 0:21:58.240 They say, what is it that the kids need, what 0:21:58.440 --> 0:22:01.119 is going to be the best for this community, and 0:22:01.160 --> 0:22:04.000 they let us design it. So I think they have 0:22:04.119 --> 0:22:12.440 been incredibly responsible UM contributors un characteristically so. She talked 0:22:12.440 --> 0:22:16.600 about Snap employees painting with the kids, sticking around longer 0:22:16.640 --> 0:22:20.919 than necessary, coming up with ideas for new programs. And 0:22:20.960 --> 0:22:23.800 here's Barry Cohen, the principle of a local elementary school, 0:22:24.280 --> 0:22:27.440 you know, dealing with some other companies nearby and trying 0:22:27.480 --> 0:22:30.800 to scare funds from them for different programs. It's been 0:22:30.840 --> 0:22:33.600 a lot more red tape. UM. I feel like with 0:22:33.680 --> 0:22:36.320 snap it was. They said, this is a good thing. 0:22:36.400 --> 0:22:41.800 We want to do it um and they did. At 0:22:41.840 --> 0:22:44.199 the end of the night, Jason and Jim organized a 0:22:44.240 --> 0:22:46.960 cocktail hour for us at a bar next to Jason's office. 0:22:47.320 --> 0:22:49.560 It was called the Canal Club. He had been telling 0:22:49.560 --> 0:22:51.280 people all day that they could show up if they 0:22:51.280 --> 0:22:53.640 wanted to talk to a couple of reporters. We didn't 0:22:53.680 --> 0:22:56.440 know what to expect. They took us to this room 0:22:56.440 --> 0:22:59.480 in the back and I counted at least forty people 0:22:59.560 --> 0:23:03.040 in there, everyone from a young mother holding a baby 0:23:03.480 --> 0:23:05.359 to a couple of people who looked old enough to 0:23:05.400 --> 0:23:09.119 be grandparents. They sat around a few big tables that 0:23:09.160 --> 0:23:12.360 were pushed together, and when the seats filled up, more 0:23:12.480 --> 0:23:16.719 people crammed into the back of the room standing up. 0:23:17.040 --> 0:23:20.120 Yeah is you could just give your name and say 0:23:20.160 --> 0:23:22.879 why you came and what's going on in your world. 0:23:23.680 --> 0:23:25.840 We passed around the mike for the people who wanted 0:23:25.880 --> 0:23:31.880 to talk. The real reason, the real reason all these 0:23:31.880 --> 0:23:34.280