WEBVTT - Mayor Corey Woods on The Black Future Under Kamala Harris (Part 1) 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:02.520 Broadcasting from the Hip Hop Weekly Studios. 0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:04.920 I'd like to welcome you to another episode of Civic Cipher, 0:00:04.920 --> 0:00:08.719 where our mission is to foster allyship empathy and understanding. 0:00:08.760 --> 0:00:11.080 I am your host, ramses Jah, and we are going 0:00:11.119 --> 0:00:16.480 to do something a little different today. We recently were 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:22.520 able to have a conversation with a mayor of tim Pi, Arizona, 0:00:23.040 --> 0:00:27.120 who is a black man and who felt like it 0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:31.440 was important for us to have a conversation about the 0:00:31.440 --> 0:00:37.320 potential black future under a Kamala Harris administration. This was 0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:40.760 a particular interest to us because black men, if you 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:47.879 follow the show, have been dealing with a lot of 0:00:48.280 --> 0:00:51.880 forces that we have not dealt with in the past, 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:56.920 not the least of which is disinformation and misinformation, and 0:00:57.000 --> 0:01:00.920 at present, having an opportunity to elect the first black 0:01:01.000 --> 0:01:06.400 woman to the highest position in the world, you know, 0:01:06.440 --> 0:01:09.440 we felt like the challenges that black men are up 0:01:09.480 --> 0:01:16.840 against are they're they're significant, but the opportunity is also significant. 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:21.240 And this gentleman, again he is an elected official, he 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:23.160 was able to offer some insight that we thought would 0:01:23.200 --> 0:01:26.280 be very helpful. And so the format of today's show 0:01:26.319 --> 0:01:29.400 is going to sound a little different. We have recorded 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:33.440 this conversation and we want to share it with you 0:01:33.600 --> 0:01:37.080 almost in its entirety, but of course, uh, you know, 0:01:37.280 --> 0:01:40.319 time constraints. So if you want the full version, of course, 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:42.679 you're welcome to check out Civiccipher dot com. But we 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:44.679 are going to forego a lot of the features that 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:46.839 we normally hit you with this week because we felt 0:01:46.880 --> 0:01:51.160 that this conversation was just that important. And so, without 0:01:51.200 --> 0:01:54.720 further ado, this is myself, Ramsey's jaw to Ward and 0:01:54.760 --> 0:01:57.200 the mayor of Timpi, Arizona, Corey Woods, right here on 0:01:57.200 --> 0:01:57.920 Civic Cipher. 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:02.600 You know, one of the things things that Q and 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:08.240 I brush up against being from Arizona is that we 0:02:08.360 --> 0:02:11.640 are on a national stage, but we're not in a 0:02:11.680 --> 0:02:13.800 city like New York. We're not in a city like 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:19.399 Los Angeles, and that's good and that's bad. Obviously, there's 0:02:19.440 --> 0:02:21.079 a lot of things that are happening in places like 0:02:21.160 --> 0:02:25.880 Atlanta for the types of conversations that we have on 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:32.079 this show, so we miss out on some of those things. 0:02:33.160 --> 0:02:38.640 But every so often we get the reality of our situation, 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:42.520 which is that we live in a swing state. We 0:02:42.560 --> 0:02:44.920 live in a state that really matters in terms of 0:02:44.960 --> 0:02:49.760 shaping the political future. Of this country, and we live 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:54.600 in a state where we do have our own fair 0:02:54.680 --> 0:03:00.840 share of black excellence, and today we are going to 0:03:00.880 --> 0:03:05.880 celebrate some of that black excellence by having a conversation 0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:10.480 with someone from our own backyard. He goes by the 0:03:10.560 --> 0:03:13.720 name of Corey Woods. Now I'm going to let him 0:03:14.280 --> 0:03:18.400 give himself a proper introduction, but I really want to 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:20.440 set up the conversation that I think that we're about 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:25.799 to have for those who are longtime listeners of the show. 0:03:26.000 --> 0:03:30.120 You know that Q and I have had to, along 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:36.360 with you, our listener, navigate this. You know, the politics 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:42.240 in this country, and certainly within the last six months, 0:03:42.520 --> 0:03:47.840 so much has changed. We went from being very concerned 0:03:47.840 --> 0:03:55.240 about our future to having some hope and becoming organized 0:03:55.800 --> 0:04:01.880 and galvanizing our support and leveraging our platforms to try 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:04.040 to create the changes that we want to see in 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:09.920 the world. And I'd say in the same last six months, 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:14.840 we've received lots of support from obviously you are listeners, 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:18.680 but folks that we had never really anticipated being connected with. 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:24.520 And I think that today will ultimately be a testament 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:30.039 to that. So back to today's guest, Corey Woods. Around here 0:04:30.160 --> 0:04:34.960 where we live, he's him. He's him, He's the man, 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:41.880 and he's someone that makes us all very proud. He's 0:04:41.920 --> 0:04:45.040 the mayor of Timp, Arizona. And for those who are 0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:50.640 not familiar with Arizona, Timp is where Arizona State University is. 0:04:50.960 --> 0:04:56.239 Timp is just a magnificent city. And to know that 0:04:56.839 --> 0:05:02.400 the mayor of that city is a black man who 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:05.400 is someone that we again we can all be proud of, 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:09.520 is just a feather in our cat for those of 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:13.160 us that live here today, we want to talk about 0:05:14.200 --> 0:05:19.000 obviously what it means to vote locally and to you know, 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:22.520 stay engaged in your local politics. We also want to 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:26.640 have a conversation about the goings on nationally because obviously, 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:31.200 in the same last six months, we now have Kamala Harris, 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:35.480 as you know, the person on top of the Democratic ticket, 0:05:36.040 --> 0:05:39.559 and that changes things and there are still some folks 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:44.840 who are trying to find their place in this elect 0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:49.799 this election season. And my hope is that today's conversation 0:05:49.920 --> 0:05:51.960 will help us kind of sit through the rest of 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:54.239 the weeds and understand. 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:54.600 What the wood is. 0:05:54.640 --> 0:05:56.200 So welcome to the show. 0:05:56.600 --> 0:05:58.520 So much for having me, really appreciate being. 0:05:58.360 --> 0:06:01.640 Here, and and again I didn't give enough of your background. 0:06:01.880 --> 0:06:03.120 I established who you are, but. 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:05.719 Talk to us a bit about kind of your journey 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:07.560 to becoming the mayor of Tempe. 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:10.680 Sure, happy to So I moved to Arizona back in 0:06:10.760 --> 0:06:12.520 June of two thousand and three. So I've been here 0:06:12.520 --> 0:06:15.640 for a little over twenty one years, and originally came 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:19.040 to be a graduate student at Arizota State University. And 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:21.000 my thought initially was I was going to get a 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:23.919 master's degree and spend a couple of years here in Tempe, 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:26.680 and then go somewhere else and get a doctorate. Because 0:06:26.680 --> 0:06:28.839 my thought process was I was going to become a 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:31.880 college professor. And after about a year and a half 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:34.680 of being here, I really fell in love with temp 0:06:34.880 --> 0:06:36.479 and I fell in love with the state of Arizona 0:06:36.600 --> 0:06:38.839 in general, and so I made the decision that I 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:42.159 wanted to stay. I ended up in two thousand and five, 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:45.599 only two years after arriving, running for the city council 0:06:45.800 --> 0:06:48.920 in Tempe, and that was actually not a successful venture. 0:06:48.960 --> 0:06:51.280 That first time. I was a person who'd been in 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:54.520 student government my entire life, probably from fifth grade all 0:06:54.520 --> 0:06:58.000 the way through my sophomore year of college, and thought 0:06:58.000 --> 0:07:00.200 to myself, Oh, this is probably very much of the same. 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:02.599 I mean, I've run a lot of races, much smaller 0:07:02.680 --> 0:07:05.479 races for student government and been very successful, but that 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:08.279 was the first time I really understood how politics worked 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:10.480 at a much bigger level. At that point, it was 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:13.160 a city about one hundred and seventy five thousand people, 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:17.000 and they had a lot of very deep familial connections 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:18.720 to people. They had a lot of those folks in 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:20.920 Tempe had gone to school together, they had gone to 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:23.119 church together, they babysat one another's kids. 0:07:23.440 --> 0:07:24.200 And here I was. 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:26.400 I was a twenty six, twenty seven year old guy 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:29.320 who didn't really have much history in the city other 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:31.840 than being a grad student at what is the largest 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:35.400 public university in the entire country, and so didn't win 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:38.480 that race, but got more involved in the community. I 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:40.480 had a lot of folks who reached out after I 0:07:40.560 --> 0:07:42.840 didn't win, who said, look, we don't want you to 0:07:42.880 --> 0:07:46.040 think that we didn't like you. We just didn't know you. 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:48.800 The other people who were running were people who had 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:51.320 They had been around for a long time, and so 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:53.520 we just had much more familiarity with them. But we 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:56.040 would encourage you, if you really want to stay here, 0:07:56.080 --> 0:07:59.119 to get involved. And next thing, you know, from being 0:07:59.200 --> 0:08:02.440 on I wasn't on any boards or commissions or anything 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:04.720 of that nature. Within about two or three months, all 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:07.200 of a sudden, I was on five people said, hey, 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:09.280 I was impressed with what you did, and if you 0:08:09.360 --> 0:08:13.120 were interested in helping people out who were experiencing food insecurity, 0:08:13.200 --> 0:08:15.080 or who were struggling to pay their rent or or 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:18.400 threatening to have their lights turned off because of insufficient payment. 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:21.160 You know, there's a board called the Attempee Community Action 0:08:21.240 --> 0:08:23.680 Agency Board and they help people with all that, and 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:25.520 you could be a really good young voice to be 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:28.560 part of that group. I talked a lot about youth 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:31.160 issues and how we can set up our young people 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:33.480 to be successful moving forward into the future. And so 0:08:33.559 --> 0:08:35.360 people came and said, well, you know, the Boys and 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:37.360 Girls Club board has a spot for someone like you 0:08:37.400 --> 0:08:39.200 and if you would like to join, you should join. 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:42.880 And so that kept happening. So gradually I'm now involved 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:45.680 in all of these things. And about a year later, 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:48.040 there was a seat that was coming open on the 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:50.120 City Council in two thousand and eight, and I had 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:52.720 a number of people who reached out and said, would 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:55.439 you consider running again? And you know, at that point, 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:57.800 being a little bit more sophisticated at the ripe age 0:08:57.800 --> 0:09:01.439 of twenty eight, I said, well, look, are you gonna 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:03.920 support me if I run? Are you just asking? Because 0:09:03.960 --> 0:09:06.720 you know, I mean, sometimes people see traffic accidents on 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:08.560 the side of the road, and many times people slow 0:09:08.600 --> 0:09:10.360 down to see what's going on, but they don't stop 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:12.960 to help. They just watch and then they drive away. 0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:16.480 But when enough people said no, I really I want 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:18.680 to help, you know. I'll help you knock on some 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:20.839 doors and make some phone calls. I'll write you a 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:23.440 check myself. We'll open up our home and invite our 0:09:23.480 --> 0:09:25.240 neighbors and our friends and the folks that we go 0:09:25.240 --> 0:09:27.880 to church with. And I said, at that point, you know, 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:29.920 then you got yourself a candidate. And so I was 0:09:29.960 --> 0:09:31.880 fortunate that at the age of twenty nine, I got 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:35.160 elected to the city council. I was probably the second 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:37.719 or third youngest council member to ever win. I was 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:40.600 the first African American council member to ever win. And 0:09:40.840 --> 0:09:43.680 that surprises people a lot because Tempee's been around since 0:09:43.720 --> 0:09:47.480 eighteen seventy four, and so the notion that that was 0:09:47.520 --> 0:09:49.720 the first time a black person got on the city 0:09:49.760 --> 0:09:51.440 council in two thousand and eight to a lot of 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:54.320 people was very shocking, but indeed that's what it was. 0:09:54.800 --> 0:09:57.640 And so it was fortunate to serve two terms on council. 0:09:57.679 --> 0:09:59.959 So I was there from twenty eight to twenty sixteen 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:02.640 and spend a lot of time working on affordable housing 0:10:02.679 --> 0:10:07.280 and economic development and improving transportation infrastructure. And we're one 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:09.520 of the few cities that doesn't have term limits, so 0:10:09.559 --> 0:10:11.920 I could have run for a third term, but I 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:14.160 was thirty seven at that point and thought, you know, 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:16.079 most of my life has been spent at this point 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:20.600 doing public service work. You also in politics, especially in 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:23.719 these jobs for the state legislature and city council, you 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:26.400 don't make any real money. And because people see you 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:28.240 walking around in a suit and they go, oh, you 0:10:28.320 --> 0:10:30.680 must be making a good living, I'm like, nope. And 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:33.280 if I'm making a good living, it's because I'm working 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:36.560 another job that really is my primary job, that allows 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:38.120 me to keep a roof over my head and have 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:41.720 a car payment every month. So I thought to myself 0:10:41.720 --> 0:10:43.920 at thirty seven, I'd like to kind of take on 0:10:43.960 --> 0:10:46.200 some new challenges, and to do that, I think it's 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:48.520 time to probably step away from politics, at least for 0:10:48.600 --> 0:10:51.920 the time being, and that's what I did. In July 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:54.720 twenty sixteen, I left. But about a year or so 0:10:54.840 --> 0:10:57.679 after I was out, I began to think that maybe 0:10:57.679 --> 0:11:00.320 I want to go back, but maybe I to go 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:03.160 back in the role of mayor because I'll have a 0:11:03.200 --> 0:11:06.120 little bit more authority and a little bit more frankly 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:09.640 influence to really drive the agenda for the city of 0:11:09.679 --> 0:11:12.000 ten be as opposed to just having the opportunity to 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:14.959 vote on a Thursday night. Council members many times have 0:11:15.080 --> 0:11:17.760 the ability we all have one vote per person. I 0:11:17.800 --> 0:11:19.679 have one vote. Every one of my council members is 0:11:19.720 --> 0:11:22.280 one vote. But the mayor is the one who typically 0:11:22.320 --> 0:11:26.120 gets interviewed by the press. They're the ones who people 0:11:26.160 --> 0:11:28.600 tend to come to the most to say what's the 0:11:28.640 --> 0:11:31.719 direction on this project or what's the overall vision and 0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:34.040 the sort of narrative for the city. And I wanted 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:38.160 the opportunity to present that. So it was fortunate enough 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:40.720 to run in twenty twenty. I won in March of 0:11:40.720 --> 0:11:43.079 twenty twenty, assumed office in July of twenty twenty, and 0:11:43.080 --> 0:11:45.800 not a very quiet time and the history of this 0:11:45.880 --> 0:11:48.800 country during the middle of the COVID pandemic. Matter of fact, 0:11:49.440 --> 0:11:53.360 I won on March tenth of twenty twenty, and about 0:11:53.360 --> 0:11:56.040 two days later, on the twelfth, was when pretty much 0:11:56.080 --> 0:11:59.000 everything shut down due to the COVID nineteen pandemic. And 0:11:59.040 --> 0:12:01.480 I remember my consult at the time came to me, 0:12:01.920 --> 0:12:05.560 Eric Chalmers, and Eric said to me, you know, well, hey, 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:07.560 I mean, you were the first black mayor of the 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:09.679 city of temp We're going to get tons of run 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:11.960 out of this. They're gonna be talking about this for weeks. 0:12:12.240 --> 0:12:14.800 And two days later, pretty much everyone told people, you know, 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:17.040 take your laptop and your power cable and go home 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:19.400 and don't come back until we tell you to come back. 0:12:19.440 --> 0:12:21.920 So I did about one full day of interviews and 0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:24.640 then it was over that I was home with everybody else. 0:12:25.480 --> 0:12:27.240 But it's been it's been a wild ride. 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:29.240 I mean I was fortunate and I served that you know, 0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:32.320 first four years, and got reelected this past March. I 0:12:32.400 --> 0:12:34.680 was fortunate not to have an opponent in my reelection, 0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:36.439 so I got about ninety five percent of the vote 0:12:36.800 --> 0:12:39.560 and started my second term this past July second. So 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:42.760 I'm very very new to this second term. But just 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:45.000 like the first term, I have a very big agenda 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:46.720 and a lot of things I'd like to accomplish. But 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:48.480 you know that's a little bit about me. But I'm 0:12:48.480 --> 0:12:50.000 just excited to be here both of you today. 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:53.600 So TIMP is a really easy place to fall in 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:56.560 love with. I came to Arizona February of two thousand 0:12:56.559 --> 0:12:58.760 and three. I was supposed to be here for three 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:02.440 days one years ago, so you know, I had a 0:13:02.559 --> 0:13:05.560 very very similar experience to you. Came and never left. 0:13:06.440 --> 0:13:09.280 You have a very interesting role. You have your constituents 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:11.880 here and timpe who are you responsible for? You answer 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:16.160 to who you legislate on behalf of. But the stakes 0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:18.960 of the political process in this country right now are 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:21.960 very high, and people like yourself and other leaders from 0:13:22.000 --> 0:13:25.960 around the country are doing their job for their city, 0:13:26.000 --> 0:13:29.880 for their state, for the area they represent, but also 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:33.360 getting involved on a national level to shape these very 0:13:33.440 --> 0:13:35.800 very high stake outcomes that we have facing us. 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:36.079 Now. 0:13:36.720 --> 0:13:40.960 What are some things that Vice President Harris has done 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:45.360 or should do in your opinion, to engage with those 0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:48.520 who may have supported her in the past but are 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:50.600 still trying to figure out how they're going to vote, 0:13:50.679 --> 0:13:53.880 or things that she can do to earn the votes, 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:56.200 especially for those that look like us black men. 0:13:56.960 --> 0:13:59.480 So one of the main reasons why I'm supporting her 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:01.920 is the number one issue that I've worked on during 0:14:02.000 --> 0:14:05.800 my now thirteen years of being intellected office in TEMP 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:09.480 is housing, and of the two candidates running, she is 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:12.800 the only one, from my perspective, with a very proactive, 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:15.559 forward thinking plan for how to address the housing crisis 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:19.080 in this country. We have a real housing affordability crisis 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:21.480 in this country. We also have a real housing supply 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:25.080 shortage in this country, and the Vice president's plan is 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:28.360 talking about finding a way to build three million new 0:14:28.400 --> 0:14:32.760 homes in our country, which are desperately needed. We need 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:36.200 more affordable and attainable housing for people who truly need it. 0:14:36.400 --> 0:14:39.400 But part of the problem also is the lack of 0:14:39.440 --> 0:14:44.280 housing supply causes the cost or price of the existing 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:47.520 homes to drive way up. Because if people know, like 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:49.800 if you live in an apartment complex, which I do, 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:51.520 we can talk about that a little bit later as 0:14:51.560 --> 0:14:53.440 well lived there for four and a half years, right 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:55.840 in the heart of downtown TEMP. If there is not 0:14:55.920 --> 0:14:59.400 a lot of apartments or multi family units in your area, 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:02.160 and your landlord at the company can charge you whatever 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:04.200 they want to charge you, because their perspective is, well, 0:15:04.200 --> 0:15:04.520 where are. 0:15:04.440 --> 0:15:04.920 You going to go? 0:15:05.440 --> 0:15:07.120 You could threaten them and say I'm going to leave 0:15:07.120 --> 0:15:08.880 and go somewhere down the street, then well, good luck 0:15:08.880 --> 0:15:11.120 trying to go down the street. So the benefit of 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:14.720 having more units and more competition in the marketplace is 0:15:14.760 --> 0:15:17.720 it has the ability to stabilize the rent someone and 0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:20.080 perhaps bring them down. Matter back to the city of Tempe. 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:22.320 Over the last six months, we actually saw about a 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:26.080 three percent decrease in apartment rates in our community, and 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:29.160 that's largely because we're greenlighting so many more units in 0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:32.360 the affordable, workforce and market rate categories for people who 0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:35.200 need housing. And so when I see the Vice president's 0:15:35.200 --> 0:15:38.080 plan and talking about how do we build three million 0:15:38.120 --> 0:15:42.400 more homes across this country to give people opportunities whether 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:45.880 they're home ownership or rental, that's really, from my perspective, 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:48.920 the kind of forward thinking leadership I want out of 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:52.160 a presidential candidate. When we're talking about a twenty five 0:15:52.200 --> 0:15:56.520 thousand dollars first time home buyers credit for people who 0:15:56.520 --> 0:15:58.600 are looking to purchase on because as we know, a 0:15:58.640 --> 0:16:01.080 lot of younger people have frank give it up on 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:03.960 the whole dream of home ownership. That was something I mean, 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:06.560 I'm almost forty six, where you know, that was something 0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:09.120 we still very much believed was within reach. And I 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:11.760 have owned a home at one point in my adult life. 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:13.320 But there are a lot of people I know in 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:16.400 their twenties who've just said, I don't think I'll ever 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:18.600 own a home when I look at the cost of housing, 0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:20.920 when I look at interest rates, when I look at 0:16:20.920 --> 0:16:22.720 how much I have to pay for rent just on 0:16:22.760 --> 0:16:24.840 a monthly basis, how am I ever supposed to save 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:28.240 enough money to put aside a ten, fifteen or twenty 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:31.320 percent down payment so I can actually achieve home ownership 0:16:31.320 --> 0:16:34.200 at some point in my life. So the housing issue 0:16:34.200 --> 0:16:36.800 for me is very critical, and for me, it's probably 0:16:36.800 --> 0:16:40.120 the most important issue that this country faces. And she's 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:43.280 the only candidate I see who's actually having a real 0:16:43.360 --> 0:16:46.880 conversation with not just the black community but Americans in 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:51.080 general about how do we not only accreate increase housing affordability, 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:53.360 but how do we actually put more supply into the 0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:56.520 marketplace so people who want homes have the opportunity to 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:57.200 do to obtain them. 0:16:57.320 --> 0:17:03.720 You know, there's about you know, housing supply One of 0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:05.720 the things that I learned recently, and you can speak 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:09.159 to this, perhaps more intelligently than I can, is that 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:15.920 incentivizing builders to build housing that's affordable is it can 0:17:15.960 --> 0:17:19.760 be challenging because builders have a tendency to want to 0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:26.320 build luxury housing units. They can charge a premium their 0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:30.560 maintenance and whatever the operating costs are minimal or whatever 0:17:30.600 --> 0:17:34.240 their motivations are. I'm sure they're fiscal capitalism. 0:17:33.800 --> 0:17:36.680 Of course, but. 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:42.840 You know, when it comes to which candidate can actually 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:46.240 bring about some real change for real. 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:50.399 People, well, and a luxury housing developer who has a 0:17:50.560 --> 0:17:53.320 history of not renting to people who look like the 0:17:53.359 --> 0:17:56.240 three of us, you know, so that's obviously critically important 0:17:56.280 --> 0:17:58.520 to me. Not only was he many times building housing 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:00.879 that wasn't attainable for a lot of people in our 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:04.199 country because of income levels, but even if people like 0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:06.240 you and I or the three of us walked in 0:18:06.320 --> 0:18:08.720 with the cash or with the credit to actually rent, 0:18:08.960 --> 0:18:10.880 we would have likely been turned away for some kind 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:13.119 of phony reason as to why they didn't want us 0:18:13.119 --> 0:18:15.240 in his apartment complex. So, you know, that kind of 0:18:15.280 --> 0:18:18.040 track record, to me, is very critically important when I'm 0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:20.119 thinking about the character of the person who should be 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:22.439 sitting in the oval office of the first place. But 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:25.600 when I look at zoning in general, and I understand 0:18:26.160 --> 0:18:29.040 why zoning exists, but it also has some very troubling 0:18:29.119 --> 0:18:30.560 roots in a lot of ways. I mean, it was 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:33.359 created sort of back in the nineteen twenties as a 0:18:33.400 --> 0:18:36.520 way sometimes to do rentline, to keep certain people out 0:18:36.520 --> 0:18:40.919 of certain neighborhoods, people who folks thought were undesirable or 0:18:40.960 --> 0:18:44.359 objectionable people. And so, you know, I understand why it 0:18:44.440 --> 0:18:46.280 still exists, and I think the system has been set 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:47.960 up in such a way that you're always going to 0:18:48.000 --> 0:18:51.879 have some form of zoning in local cities in towns, 0:18:51.960 --> 0:18:55.119 so the elected officials and residents have some ability to 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:57.240 sort of dictate the course of where things will go. 0:18:57.640 --> 0:18:59.879 But I also don't think that zoning policies should be 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:02.840 so onerous that it makes it hard to build anything 0:19:02.920 --> 0:19:06.600 other than single family detached houses. And sometimes that is 0:19:06.640 --> 0:19:09.919 still very much to the case. Zoning can be a 0:19:10.040 --> 0:19:14.199 real impediment to developers building anything, or it simply slows 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:16.040 down the process so much that a lot of people 0:19:16.119 --> 0:19:18.600 simply just throw up their hands and walk away. And 0:19:18.680 --> 0:19:21.520 so I've been very very encouraged by what I've heard 0:19:21.520 --> 0:19:24.040 from Vice President Harris, but also you know, watching the 0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:27.800 Democratic National Convention and hearing former President Obama have that 0:19:27.880 --> 0:19:30.040 conversation and say, look, we have to do we have 0:19:30.080 --> 0:19:33.080 to talk have a real conversation in this country about 0:19:33.160 --> 0:19:35.560 zoning reform so we can try to find ways to 0:19:35.600 --> 0:19:37.320 remove some of the red tape and some of the 0:19:37.359 --> 0:19:41.439 barriers that either preventing additional homes from being built and 0:19:41.480 --> 0:19:45.000 of course therefore preventing people from actually obtaining quality housing 0:19:45.040 --> 0:19:47.320 that they need to survive and raise their kids and 0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:50.080 live a happy, comfortable life. So we have to have 0:19:50.160 --> 0:19:54.520 these conversations. And I only hear one political party really 0:19:54.560 --> 0:19:58.000 having that conversation at a national level, and I only 0:19:58.000 --> 0:20:01.040 hear one candidate, which is Vice Preident Harris, during this 0:20:01.160 --> 0:20:04.280 cycle actually really have a good conversation. And I say 0:20:04.280 --> 0:20:07.520 that because, look, I watch both conventions. I was at 0:20:07.560 --> 0:20:10.560 the Democratic National Convention this year in Chicago, so I 0:20:10.560 --> 0:20:12.800 spent four nights out in Chicago going to all the 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:15.359 different events and listening to the speakers. But I also 0:20:15.600 --> 0:20:18.560 watched the Republican National Convention on TV because I do 0:20:18.560 --> 0:20:21.719 think it's critically important to understand what both sides are 0:20:21.760 --> 0:20:25.000 saying when we're having very important policy decisions that have 0:20:25.080 --> 0:20:27.639 the ability to determine the future of this country. And 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:31.720 I didn't hear much conversation about this during the RNC. 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:35.440 I heard the conversations from, as I said, Vice President 0:20:35.480 --> 0:20:38.119 Harris and former President Barack Obama. They were the ones 0:20:38.160 --> 0:20:41.040 talking about zoning reform. They were the ones talking about 0:20:41.040 --> 0:20:43.760 building more units. They were the ones talking about twenty 0:20:43.760 --> 0:20:46.160 five thousand dollars worth of down payment assistance to first 0:20:46.160 --> 0:20:48.480 time home buyers. And they were the only ones talking 0:20:48.520 --> 0:20:51.280