About Evan Meyer
Tech entrepreneur and civic leader - he founded mygovtools.org, a platform to drive government efficiency, constituent representation, and civic engagement; BeautifyEarth.com, a platform accelerating urban beautification through art; and its sister nonprofit, transforming schools in underserved areas. He also co-founded RideAmigos.com, a platform that optimizes commuter travel globally. Previously, he served as District Director for the California State Senate and led many civic initiatives in Santa Monica. Through seminars and his podcast Meyerside Chats, Evan inspires civic engagement, innovation, and cultural growth.
He loves the outdoors, is a master of creative projects, is an avid muralist and musician, and finds the world fascinating in every regard.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Evan Meyer (00:00):
Hey everyone, and thank you for joining today.
have Santa Monica, mayor LanaNegretti back again from our
last time with council WomanTracy Park with Los Angeles in
our part two version of theRegional Collaboration Series.
So this time with AssemblymanRick Ber, thank you for joining
(00:24):
us.
Thank you for being here.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur (00:26):
You are welcome.
Glad, glad to be here.
Evan Meyer (00:29):
Um, last time was really, was really fun.
We had a good a greatconversation.
I'm excited to continue theconversation around the
collaboration, crossjurisdictional partnerships, and
especially around our reallydifficult issues like
homelessness, transportation,housing crime, public safety and
all that.
So we know that stuff isimportant but it's a matter of
actually getting it done andhaving those conversations
(00:51):
across these.
These lines.
So, it's exciting to, to have alocal a local elected as along
with a state electedrepresentative to be able to
have this conversation.
And let's just start with youassemblyman Zaur.
does that mean to you?
When I say crush jurisdictionalcollaboration or regional
partnerships?
comes up for you personally,professionally?
Assemblyman Rick Zbur (01:13):
Well, you know, I represent my, my
district starts over in GriffithPark and I go over the hill into
Universal City and UniversalStudios, and then run all the
way along Santa MonicaBoulevard, out to Santa Monica.
So I've got Hollywood, westHollywood, Beverly Hills
Westwood west LA and SantaMonica.
And so I've got four cities inmy district and I view my role
(01:34):
as really helping.
Local elected officialsaccomplish the things that they
wanna accomplish for theircities.
And that is a big part of myresponsibility.
You know, some of my job isreally to listen and to
understand how I, what I need todo at the state level to help
our local elected officials.
And you know, I try my best tomaintain good good working
(01:54):
relationships with all four withthe elected officials in all
four cities.
And luckily I've got likeamazing elected officials that I
get to work with, including ourmayor.
So.
Evan Meyer (02:03):
and, and how about you, mayor?
What, what comes up for you inwhen you hear that?
Mayor Lana Negrete (02:09):
well, it's being able to, again, building
on relationships, that's key forme.
So being able to text ourassembly member is something I
don't take for granted.
Being able to call him up or hisfield staff, and.
Get immediate responses andimmediate involvement.
I mean, through the fires.
It meant working with Caltrans.
(02:30):
It has developed into somethingthat's really neat.
We're actually working on a billtogether and assembly members of
Bur brought it forward, whichwas an issue that we realized
during the fire needed to beaddressed, which was how we deal
with animals.
So, everything frominstantaneous small and big
issues in the moment torealizing that maybe we need to
(02:51):
talk about creating a bill andhaving our assembly member be
the author of that.
So it's.
Really great to have thatpersonal relationship and to
continue to be in communicationso that when you need something,
you can get to it much quicker.
And oftentimes you're working atthe same speed at the same time
(03:11):
on a lot of the same issues.
And so it kind of feels like,you know, even though he's our
assembly member, he knows somuch about what's going on in
Santa Monica and has great staffmembers that are also locally
showing up to all our meetings.
I mean, it just feels like he'sright next door to us, even
though a few days a week he hasto be up in Sacramento.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur (03:29):
Well, that's so nice of you to say
that, mayor.
I appreciate that.
You know, I remember when whenthe fires were happening and I.
In addition to the bill that themayor talked about, which, you
know, Santa Monica and her workin you know, during the, during
the, the fires was a big part ofthe inspiration for that bill.
But even before that the waythat I.
(03:50):
And I hadn't worked for thatwith the mayor that much'cause
she had just moved into her roleas mayor.
One of the things I remember herdoing was calling and telling me
that they were they had put ina, the city of Santa Monica had
put in a request for NationalGuard, protection for the
neighborhoods because so many,such a large part of Santa
Monica had been evacuated duringthe fire.
And of course, people wereafraid to leave their homes
(04:13):
unattended and, you know.
Protecting the safety of peoplein Santa Monica in part was
about making sure that peoplefelt secure and leaving their
homes.
And, I remember the mayor calledme up and said that there, you
know, they had put in a requestand it was just sort of sitting
there.
And I remember going to thespeaker of the assembly at the
governor's office and I think wegot you aid in about a day, I
(04:35):
think from that, at that point.
Yeah.
So,
Mayor Lana Negrete (04:38):
within less than 24 hours,
Assemblyman Rick Zbur (04:40):
yeah.
Mayor Lana Negrete (04:41):
say.
With the relationship that we'vedeveloped the assembly member
has been so great in bringing mealong and introducing me to the
speaker of the house.
There was a lot of emergencymeetings during the fires and he
made sure that I was at thetable, so things were moving
really quickly.
I wasn't always gettingnecessarily invitations, and so
he was making sure.
(05:02):
I was attending all thesecrucial meetings and he
continues to keep me involvedand invite me to different
events to continue tocollaborate and work with other
local leaders and state leaders.
And so, you know, that's how itkind of works.
We pull our, our fellow electedsup through the ranks and
assembly members of Burr.
I mean, I really consider him afriend and a joy to work with
(05:23):
because he genuinely does that.
I feel like there's been timesI've walked into a room and not
known anyone.
During the fires, he brought mein in terms of like, look, it
was my first time being mayor.
I was also just really new tobeing an elected leader, just
to, you know, two and a halfyears under my belt at the time.
So, or maybe three years Iguess.
But he's really just been agreat mentor too, I would say.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur (05:45):
Yeah, well, I, you didn't need a lot
of mentoring.
You got a pretty sophisticatedmayor, so, who, who really knows
how to fight for this, for thepeople of Santa Monica.
So it's been a, it is reallybeen a pleasure working with her
and, and the other members ofthe council, but, but the mayor
in particular.
Evan Meyer (06:01):
Do, do you feel that, I guess either of you, do
you feel that there'sopportunities for improvement
when it comes to, maybe not justbetween you both, but perhaps in
California in general?
When it comes to these types ofcollaborations, what, what do
you recommend for other, forother districts or what can be
(06:21):
done?
To make it so that, especiallyin solving these difficult
issues that can become the norm.
We talked about an example with,you know, the fires.
How about, for example, withhomelessness?
Do you see that being done andwhat could be done to make it
easier?
Assemblyman Rick Zbur (06:40):
Well, so I mean, first of all, I think
one of the things I'd like tosay is that it's a real honor to
represent Santa Monica becauseSanta Monica is one of those
laboratories of experimentationin which a lot of what the city
does is at the cutting edge and.
A, the, the mayor talked aboutone of the bills that, you know,
she and I and the city areworking together now.
(07:00):
The FOUND Act, which is a billthat is focused on making sure
that cities, when they updatetheir emergency plans during a
mandatory evacuation that.
Provisions are made forevacuating pets and the people
can ident, can find their petsif they have to leave their
home.
And you know, it recognizes thefact that pets are parts of the
family.
(07:20):
I have four bills now, and I'veonly been in office for.
Two and a half years now thatare actually modeled after
things that were done in SantaMonica.
The found act was one of them.
I, I remember the city was, youknow, city understood that there
was a gap in caring for pets andactually, you know, took steps
to make sure that that pets werebeing taken care of.
And that's the model for thisbill on homelessness.
(07:42):
the, you know, carried a bill inmy first year well, two bills in
my first year.
One, one, which was passed whichwas AB 1620, which was a bill
that allowed tenants in.
Rent control departments thatwere in the second floor to move
down to first floor units whenthey, if they had a disability
or as they were becoming older.
And that was actually somethingthat the city of Santa Monica
(08:04):
and West Hollywood togetheridentified the problem.
They actually had tenants thatthey knew.
Were trapped in second floorapartments.
And and, you know, they broughtthat to my attention and we
carried a bill on behalf of bothcities and got that signed into
law.
Another bill, which we, weshelved this year only
temporarily because of thebudget, but the California
(08:25):
Housing Security Act is a rentsubsidy program to try to keep
people in their homes.
And it's modeled after whatSanta Monica's already doing.
And of course, Santa Monica.
Does it have the resourcesnecessary to really make that
program the, what it needs to bein order to really address
homelessness as robustly as weneed to do?
But that's modeled after whatSanta Monica did.
(08:47):
And then last but not least I'vegot another bill AB 39, which is
requires local electrificationplanning.
It requires cities to put plansin for how you you know, where
you're gonna put in electricvehicle chargers strategies for.
Electrifying homes to meetclimate change needs, and that's
modeled after a plan that thecity of Santa Monica has already
(09:07):
adopted.
So, you know, one of the thingsthat I'm really fortunate on is
that I've got both in SantaMonica and in West Hollywood and
Beverly Hills on the publicsafety front.
Beverly Hills is really a leaderin that in that area as well.
But I've got three cities thatare really at the cutting edge
of things and really inleadership positions, and it
allows me to sort of take thosethings and try to expand them
(09:29):
statewide.
Mayor Lana Negrete (09:30):
I think what I'll say to answer your question
on the other end, so a lot ofthe stuff we just discussed is
yes preventative you know, billsto make sure that people don't
lose their home is definitelyone key of homelessness and one
issue that we.
At the forefront on, we also area program service rich
community.
But in terms of answering yourquestion as it pertains to like,
(09:54):
how do you work with yourleaders as a local leader?
I'll just give an example that'smost recent.
Our governor has made anannouncement about you know,
directing comm local governmentsto address encampments.
And for a city like SantaMonica, who's already had a.
Laws doesn't mean a lot for us.
What it means is that I'm moreconcerned now that other
(10:14):
jurisdictions around us as theystart to really address their
encampment laws.
What does that mean for SantaMonica as a service rich city?
Are we gonna see an influx offolks who are being shoved off
and out of the streets intoSanta Monica?
And so I would say that.
where this relationship is keybecause, our assembly member
(10:35):
oversees four cities.
Our senator oversees an evenbroader district.
I have a relationship as doesassembly members of Bur with Ben
Allen.
I mean, I grew up with BenAllen, another person I can just
text.
But that relationship like Ihave with Tracy Park, the
standing dinners I have withLindsay Horvath working with
assembly members of Bur Island,that allows me to say, Hey guys.
(10:58):
This is coming down the pi, thisis how it's gonna affect Santa
Monica, and I wanna talk to theother regions and make sure we
have a plan.
And if I don't have thatrelationship with the, a more
rapidly evolving door of howleadership changes maybe in
local government, then ourassembly member can help
coordinate that.
So I would say that that abilityto communicate at that level, I
(11:19):
don't think has consistentlyalways been there for everybody
in leadership.
And it's so crucial because for.
On a small scale, but a hugeimpact.
We had a traffic issue withCaltrans closing the number one
lane on the freeway.
Tracy Park and I went out andmade a video.
We made a lot of noise and I hadto lean on assembly members and
(11:39):
Van Allen, but got, you know.
The right person on the phonefrom Cal District seven, and
we're actually able to addressthat number one lane finally
this week.
But it was only because assemblymembers of Burr's office was
like literally two, three timesa week following up on it.
Our police department was, Iwas, I had Tracy Park doing it.
I was calling Lindsay Marbeth.
(12:01):
That pressure bubbled it to thetop and it than it would've.
But it was only that pressure.
If we didn't have that, I don'tthink we would've even heard our
concern addressed.
And so as it pertains tohomelessness, I think it's
important because we can reallysay, well, this is our problem
(12:21):
in Santa Monica.
And because we have strongencampment laws, because we have
these other preventativemeasures in place, and because
we have so many services, wehave a different subset of
issues we need to address.
And the assembly member, knowingthat West Hollywood and the
other cities may have differentissues.
That's how we can kind of likework together, but it's not
always like that in government.
Evan Meyer (12:44):
Yeah, do.
Do you feel that there's a setof best practices that would be.
Template templatizable in asense around these kinds of
things?
Is it just sort of real timecommunication when something
arises?
Is it something that we can sortof share with others to show
that like, this is when thingsdo happen, these are some of the
steps that we can go through tomake sure that people and cities
(13:06):
are operating effectively andcoming together and working with
their state electeds.
Mayor Lana Negrete (13:10):
mean, I think there's like a lot of
events that we all get invitedto, and it's not sort of laid
out that way, but it's knownthat.
Even though you're attendingsome event about a specific
topic, maybe it's about traffic,maybe it's about homelessness.
It's really about getting in theroom and spending that first
mingle hour connecting with yourother local electeds to develop
this relationship, but to reallybe more impactful and effective
(13:33):
given the fact that in citycouncil, in Santa Monica and
West Hollywood and Culver Cityand other areas, it's a
part-time job.
Unlike in the city of LA whereit's a full-time job with a
salary and staff, people mightnot be going to these events.
So what would be useful is tohave a one stop.
Communication piece to go towhere you can connect with your
(13:57):
local leaders and it would youright there, who is in charge of
what, who's connected, who likean org chart and you can click
on it and message.
Now look, we have everybody'semails.
Sure.
But when you first get elected,you don't necessarily have that
all.
You're not handed like, here'sall the staff workers for your
assembly member.
Here's all the things that theycan help you with and who
(14:19):
they're in charge of.
So honestly, if there was thistype of tool that you could use
where you could go in there andnot to just plug Gov tools, but
I'll just say that like if therewas a way to Google and search
as an elected and find out allthe emails in Subverse staff and
who it can send in message toright away within a system about
an issue.
And it would automaticallyupdate me and follow up, and
(14:41):
other jurisdictions could seeit.
Oh, city of Santa Monica ismessaging about this issue on
the 10 freeway that's affectingus, or City of Santa Monica just
rolled out.
They have 10 new beds in theirshelter, but they're having a
problem with this other issuethat has to do with
homelessness.
Let's see if we can help.
That would be really coolbecause I think that would allow
us to have one place to look andit would see what everybody's
(15:03):
already working on.
I can't tell you how many timesI've called and ran something up
a flagpole to a governmentdepartment where they said, oh,
somebody else has already beenworking on that.
Let me circle back with thatperson and it creates this let
me circle back model that we doin government and everyone's
circling back and running upflagpoles that nothing gets done
if we had it all in onetransparent space.
(15:26):
it's even more constituents cansee it.
It doesn't need to be private.
It should be that you could seeand type in City of Santa
Monica.
Outstanding issues.
that's the 10 freeway waitingfor a response from Cal seven.
District Zebu staff could go inthere and say, let me see and
look in.
Oh, Santa Monica's waiting for aresponse.
Let me see how I can help.
And that chat was live.
(15:46):
Wow.
That would be a game changer.
I mean, I think that would be areally cool technology or tool
that we could put in place thatwould let our constituency that
we are working.
'cause I'm sure.
The assembly member can tellyou, we work a lot of hours, and
I don't think our constituentsrealize the amount of little
things that we're working onthat are just as important as
the big things that.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur (16:08):
I think you've just developed a new bill
idea for next year.
Mayor Lana Negrete (16:12):
Well, we have, I have an idea for you.
It's called Gov Tools.
I'm being serious, but I mean,it probably should be a bill or
a program that's rolled out, but
Assemblyman Rick Zbur (16:20):
Yep.
Mayor Lana Negrete (16:20):
I think it's the one thing that seems the
most obvious that everybodycould benefit from, and it's
fully transparent.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur (16:27):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think my best, what I wouldsay, my best practice is not as
techy because I'm older than themayor is, and so I I go, I go to
old school things, but I thinkit's really just always making
sure that you are, I.
Keeping relationships with theother elected officials that
serve the public strong andwarm, and that you always
(16:52):
approach every person with anassumption of best intentions.
You know, we you know, I don'tagree with every single elected
official on every single thingin my district.
And they don't agree with me oneverything, but I think, you
know, I think we both have goodworking relationships with
pretty much everyone thatrepresents other people in the,
(17:14):
in, in the areas that we cover.
And it's because, you know, ifyou always make the, the, your
top priority, I.
Helping people in your district.
Then you put aside all the, youknow, all the other things that
sometimes come up in politicallife.
and you're willing to work withpeople who are, you know, more
conservative than you, or moreprogressive than you, or, you
(17:35):
know, different than you we'reall different and unique.
And and that, that's sort of, Ithink the, the thing that I, I'm
just, I'm really thankful for interms of the elected officials
that cover.
The area that I represent, Ithink it's an amazingly
committed group of people.
You know, the public I think,doesn't understand sometimes how
you know, it's easy to becomeangry because there are a lot of
(17:57):
problems that are affectingpeople's lives on from a
day-to-day basis.
You know, I mean, people arebarely, some people are barely
making ends meet.
Some people are not housed.
People are on the verge ofhomelessness.
Others have lost their jobs.
And you know, it's easy tobecome frustrated and angry and
but you know, when you're in therole I am, one of the things
(18:17):
that it makes me, you know, I.
Optimistic about the future,even when the challenges seem
are, is just that I, I, I wouldsay without a doubt, the elected
officials that at every level ofgovernment are in it for the
right reasons and actually aretrying their best to make the
lives better for people in our,in our communities.
I.
Evan Meyer (18:38):
Do you think?
Do you think that?
Most people in politics, Do youfeel that in, in your
experience, that that's the typeof people that you deal with?
In general.
I don't wanna, you know, have topinpoint, but like in general,
do you feel like that's what youget out of being an assembly
(18:59):
member and, and, or does it, isit just locally that you
experienced that?
Assemblyman Rick Zbur (19:06):
I think, I think it's brought, I mean,
you know, there are politicalrivalries that happen in all the
communities that I represent,and I think the, the folks that
are successful ultimately inaccomplishing things are people
that sort of put politicalrivalries aside and really try
to help the community and and Ithink ultimately.
That's what happens, you know,most of the time, most of the
(19:28):
time in my area.
But I think that's also true in,you know, among my colleagues.
You know, it's, we don't,there's a lot of people I don't
agree with on certain things andespecially on the other side of
the aisle right now.
But but I still, even with thosefolks, you know, there's a group
of folks that you know, that I,while they disagree with me,
they actually have authentic.
Views that, you know they,they're, they are, you know, I
(19:51):
think they're misguided, butthey're trying to make the
community better.
I just think that theirprescriptions are not that
great.
But, you know, you try to findcommon ground on the areas where
they are.
I mean, for example, I'm, I'mworking really hard and I know
that Mayor Negreti has actuallybeen really helpful and some
others in the council on tryingto get the film tax credit
reauthorized and, and increased.
(20:12):
I mean, that's gonna be a,that's a huge, huge.
Need for the whole area that Irepresent.
It's important for workers inSanta Monica.
The, I mean, the tourismindustry in Santa Monica really
depends on having a thrivingfilm and television tax
industry.
And you know, there's people on,you know, there are republicans
(20:34):
there are supporting that bill.
And frankly getting that throughbecause it's viewed, you know,
there's some folks in otherparts of the state.
Who think that it's you know, agiveaway to Los Angeles and not
understanding that this is ajobs bill, you know, where you
have to build the support personby person.
And so, you know, I've gotrepublicans that are supporting.
Evan Meyer (20:55):
That's great.
It's, it's, it's great to seethat you've been successful in
building those, You know, crosspolitical borders and being able
to do that successfully.
And so congratulations on that.
I think that's what's needed,regardless of who you are and
what party you are.
Right?
it's an important skill.
It's an important the abilityto, and there, there seems to be
(21:16):
a lot of, some good movementcoming along with people being
able to have, find their commonground and have.
Dialogue.
We, we, we seem to have lostthat for a while in, in a lot of
ways.
And, and there, there does seemto be some some movement towards
getting it back from, from whatI can tell.
But has been a great.
(21:39):
Time with both of you.
Thank you for sharing this.
We're about at the end hereunfortunately, but we could do a
quick lightning round on ifthere's any last words that you
wanna share about what youthink, what you'd like to see as
it, as it relates to this in thefuture, and, and, and what we
can do here to to, to cometogether and solve these, these
(22:01):
issues.
So any, any, any last words onthat?
Assemblyman Rick Zbur (22:05):
I think I would just like to say that, I
mean, I really appreciate themayor's leadership in the city
of Santa Monica and the othermembers of the council.
You know, we haven't, we haven'ttalked all about a lot of things
that we're working on together,including issues that are
affecting the Santa Monicabudget, affecting the budget of
Santa Monica College.
We're in a big budget crunchright now in the city.
(22:25):
From the mayor has been up inSacramento a bunch of times
advocating for needs of thecity.
And you know, I just peopleshould understand how attentive
and committed their electedofficials has.
Head of Monica are.
I mean, it's a really, a, a, areally extraordinary group of
people and I'm very honored tohave the opportunity to work
with, with Mayor Negreti and,and the other members of the
(22:48):
council.
Mayor Lana Negrete (22:50):
I would just say that continuing to reach
across the aisle even within ourcity council, you know, people
thought, oh, because people ranon a slate that there would be.
No congeniality there would beno working together.
And, and that is not the case.
I maybe it's not ironic.
I think we all are people andserving and we all agree on the
(23:11):
three priorities for SantaMonica, and so we already have
so much common ground how we getthere.
We might have differingopinions, but I think we all
respect other, we respectpassionate and rooted in.
Our belief that it's gonna dogood for the community.
So we allow each other the spaceto express that.
We try to support a happy medianto get there and we respect when
(23:34):
just completely on opposite endsof it.
And what I enjoy is that when wewalk away from city council
'cause it wasn't always likethis, we all still, even after I
would say a passionate evening,we all still smile and say
goodnight to each other andenjoy each other's.
You know, company outside of it.
So working together anddeveloping relationships is key.
(23:54):
I encourage people to do thatwith their elected officials to
get their voices heard, and Ienjoy.
I always encourage people tojoin commissions and boards and
get involved as much as you canto understand who your elected
officials are.
Evan Meyer (24:10):
Wonderful.
well thank you both very muchfor, for being here.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you for your, yourknowledge, your wisdom, and and
for serving our community anddoing it honorably.
We will see you next time.
Have a, have a wonderfulevening.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur (24:27):
thanks a lot.
It's really nice to get to knowyou on this.
Take care.
Hey everyone, and thank you for joining today.
have Santa Monica, mayor LanaNegretti back again from our
last time with council WomanTracy Park with Los Angeles in
our part two version of theRegional Collaboration Series.
So this time with AssemblymanRick Ber, thank you for joining
(00:24):
us.
Thank you for being here.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur (00:26):
You are welcome.
Glad, glad to be here.
Evan Meyer (00:29):
Um, last time was really, was really fun.
We had a good a greatconversation.
I'm excited to continue theconversation around the
collaboration, crossjurisdictional partnerships, and
especially around our reallydifficult issues like
homelessness, transportation,housing crime, public safety and
all that.
So we know that stuff isimportant but it's a matter of
actually getting it done andhaving those conversations
(00:51):
across these.
These lines.
So, it's exciting to, to have alocal a local elected as along
with a state electedrepresentative to be able to
have this conversation.
And let's just start with youassemblyman Zaur.
does that mean to you?
When I say crush jurisdictionalcollaboration or regional
partnerships?
comes up for you personally,professionally?
Assemblyman Rick Zbur (01:13):
Well, you know, I represent my, my
district starts over in GriffithPark and I go over the hill into
Universal City and UniversalStudios, and then run all the
way along Santa MonicaBoulevard, out to Santa Monica.
So I've got Hollywood, westHollywood, Beverly Hills
Westwood west LA and SantaMonica.
And so I've got four cities inmy district and I view my role
(01:34):
as really helping.
Local elected officialsaccomplish the things that they
wanna accomplish for theircities.
And that is a big part of myresponsibility.
You know, some of my job isreally to listen and to
understand how I, what I need todo at the state level to help
our local elected officials.
And you know, I try my best tomaintain good good working
(01:54):
relationships with all four withthe elected officials in all
four cities.
And luckily I've got likeamazing elected officials that I
get to work with, including ourmayor.
So.
Evan Meyer (02:03):
and, and how about you, mayor?
What, what comes up for you inwhen you hear that?
Mayor Lana Negrete (02:09):
well, it's being able to, again, building
on relationships, that's key forme.
So being able to text ourassembly member is something I
don't take for granted.
Being able to call him up or hisfield staff, and.
Get immediate responses andimmediate involvement.
I mean, through the fires.
It meant working with Caltrans.
(02:30):
It has developed into somethingthat's really neat.
We're actually working on a billtogether and assembly members of
Bur brought it forward, whichwas an issue that we realized
during the fire needed to beaddressed, which was how we deal
with animals.
So, everything frominstantaneous small and big
issues in the moment torealizing that maybe we need to
(02:51):
talk about creating a bill andhaving our assembly member be
the author of that.
So it's.
Really great to have thatpersonal relationship and to
continue to be in communicationso that when you need something,
you can get to it much quicker.
And oftentimes you're working atthe same speed at the same time
(03:11):
on a lot of the same issues.
And so it kind of feels like,you know, even though he's our
assembly member, he knows somuch about what's going on in
Santa Monica and has great staffmembers that are also locally
showing up to all our meetings.
I mean, it just feels like he'sright next door to us, even
though a few days a week he hasto be up in Sacramento.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur (03:29):
Well, that's so nice of you to say
that, mayor.
I appreciate that.
You know, I remember when whenthe fires were happening and I.
In addition to the bill that themayor talked about, which, you
know, Santa Monica and her workin you know, during the, during
the, the fires was a big part ofthe inspiration for that bill.
But even before that the waythat I.
(03:50):
And I hadn't worked for thatwith the mayor that much'cause
she had just moved into her roleas mayor.
One of the things I remember herdoing was calling and telling me
that they were they had put ina, the city of Santa Monica had
put in a request for NationalGuard, protection for the
neighborhoods because so many,such a large part of Santa
Monica had been evacuated duringthe fire.
And of course, people wereafraid to leave their homes
(04:13):
unattended and, you know.
Protecting the safety of peoplein Santa Monica in part was
about making sure that peoplefelt secure and leaving their
homes.
And, I remember the mayor calledme up and said that there, you
know, they had put in a requestand it was just sort of sitting
there.
And I remember going to thespeaker of the assembly at the
governor's office and I think wegot you aid in about a day, I
(04:35):
think from that, at that point.
Yeah.
So,
Mayor Lana Negrete (04:38):
within less than 24 hours,
Assemblyman Rick Zbur (04:40):
yeah.
Mayor Lana Negrete (04:41):
say.
With the relationship that we'vedeveloped the assembly member
has been so great in bringing mealong and introducing me to the
speaker of the house.
There was a lot of emergencymeetings during the fires and he
made sure that I was at thetable, so things were moving
really quickly.
I wasn't always gettingnecessarily invitations, and so
he was making sure.
(05:02):
I was attending all thesecrucial meetings and he
continues to keep me involvedand invite me to different
events to continue tocollaborate and work with other
local leaders and state leaders.
And so, you know, that's how itkind of works.
We pull our, our fellow electedsup through the ranks and
assembly members of Burr.
I mean, I really consider him afriend and a joy to work with
(05:23):
because he genuinely does that.
I feel like there's been timesI've walked into a room and not
known anyone.
During the fires, he brought mein in terms of like, look, it
was my first time being mayor.
I was also just really new tobeing an elected leader, just
to, you know, two and a halfyears under my belt at the time.
So, or maybe three years Iguess.
But he's really just been agreat mentor too, I would say.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur (05:45):
Yeah, well, I, you didn't need a lot
of mentoring.
You got a pretty sophisticatedmayor, so, who, who really knows
how to fight for this, for thepeople of Santa Monica.
So it's been a, it is reallybeen a pleasure working with her
and, and the other members ofthe council, but, but the mayor
in particular.
Evan Meyer (06:01):
Do, do you feel that, I guess either of you, do
you feel that there'sopportunities for improvement
when it comes to, maybe not justbetween you both, but perhaps in
California in general?
When it comes to these types ofcollaborations, what, what do
you recommend for other, forother districts or what can be
(06:21):
done?
To make it so that, especiallyin solving these difficult
issues that can become the norm.
We talked about an example with,you know, the fires.
How about, for example, withhomelessness?
Do you see that being done andwhat could be done to make it
easier?
Assemblyman Rick Zbur (06:40):
Well, so I mean, first of all, I think
one of the things I'd like tosay is that it's a real honor to
represent Santa Monica becauseSanta Monica is one of those
laboratories of experimentationin which a lot of what the city
does is at the cutting edge and.
A, the, the mayor talked aboutone of the bills that, you know,
she and I and the city areworking together now.
(07:00):
The FOUND Act, which is a billthat is focused on making sure
that cities, when they updatetheir emergency plans during a
mandatory evacuation that.
Provisions are made forevacuating pets and the people
can ident, can find their petsif they have to leave their
home.
And you know, it recognizes thefact that pets are parts of the
family.
(07:20):
I have four bills now, and I'veonly been in office for.
Two and a half years now thatare actually modeled after
things that were done in SantaMonica.
The found act was one of them.
I, I remember the city was, youknow, city understood that there
was a gap in caring for pets andactually, you know, took steps
to make sure that that pets werebeing taken care of.
And that's the model for thisbill on homelessness.
(07:42):
the, you know, carried a bill inmy first year well, two bills in
my first year.
One, one, which was passed whichwas AB 1620, which was a bill
that allowed tenants in.
Rent control departments thatwere in the second floor to move
down to first floor units whenthey, if they had a disability
or as they were becoming older.
And that was actually somethingthat the city of Santa Monica
(08:04):
and West Hollywood togetheridentified the problem.
They actually had tenants thatthey knew.
Were trapped in second floorapartments.
And and, you know, they broughtthat to my attention and we
carried a bill on behalf of bothcities and got that signed into
law.
Another bill, which we, weshelved this year only
temporarily because of thebudget, but the California
(08:25):
Housing Security Act is a rentsubsidy program to try to keep
people in their homes.
And it's modeled after whatSanta Monica's already doing.
And of course, Santa Monica.
Does it have the resourcesnecessary to really make that
program the, what it needs to bein order to really address
homelessness as robustly as weneed to do?
But that's modeled after whatSanta Monica did.
(08:47):
And then last but not least I'vegot another bill AB 39, which is
requires local electrificationplanning.
It requires cities to put plansin for how you you know, where
you're gonna put in electricvehicle chargers strategies for.
Electrifying homes to meetclimate change needs, and that's
modeled after a plan that thecity of Santa Monica has already
(09:07):
adopted.
So, you know, one of the thingsthat I'm really fortunate on is
that I've got both in SantaMonica and in West Hollywood and
Beverly Hills on the publicsafety front.
Beverly Hills is really a leaderin that in that area as well.
But I've got three cities thatare really at the cutting edge
of things and really inleadership positions, and it
allows me to sort of take thosethings and try to expand them
(09:29):
statewide.
Mayor Lana Negrete (09:30):
I think what I'll say to answer your question
on the other end, so a lot ofthe stuff we just discussed is
yes preventative you know, billsto make sure that people don't
lose their home is definitelyone key of homelessness and one
issue that we.
At the forefront on, we also area program service rich
community.
But in terms of answering yourquestion as it pertains to like,
(09:54):
how do you work with yourleaders as a local leader?
I'll just give an example that'smost recent.
Our governor has made anannouncement about you know,
directing comm local governmentsto address encampments.
And for a city like SantaMonica, who's already had a.
Laws doesn't mean a lot for us.
What it means is that I'm moreconcerned now that other
(10:14):
jurisdictions around us as theystart to really address their
encampment laws.
What does that mean for SantaMonica as a service rich city?
Are we gonna see an influx offolks who are being shoved off
and out of the streets intoSanta Monica?
And so I would say that.
where this relationship is keybecause, our assembly member
(10:35):
oversees four cities.
Our senator oversees an evenbroader district.
I have a relationship as doesassembly members of Bur with Ben
Allen.
I mean, I grew up with BenAllen, another person I can just
text.
But that relationship like Ihave with Tracy Park, the
standing dinners I have withLindsay Horvath working with
assembly members of Bur Island,that allows me to say, Hey guys.
(10:58):
This is coming down the pi, thisis how it's gonna affect Santa
Monica, and I wanna talk to theother regions and make sure we
have a plan.
And if I don't have thatrelationship with the, a more
rapidly evolving door of howleadership changes maybe in
local government, then ourassembly member can help
coordinate that.
So I would say that that abilityto communicate at that level, I
(11:19):
don't think has consistentlyalways been there for everybody
in leadership.
And it's so crucial because for.
On a small scale, but a hugeimpact.
We had a traffic issue withCaltrans closing the number one
lane on the freeway.
Tracy Park and I went out andmade a video.
We made a lot of noise and I hadto lean on assembly members and
(11:39):
Van Allen, but got, you know.
The right person on the phonefrom Cal District seven, and
we're actually able to addressthat number one lane finally
this week.
But it was only because assemblymembers of Burr's office was
like literally two, three timesa week following up on it.
Our police department was, Iwas, I had Tracy Park doing it.
I was calling Lindsay Marbeth.
(12:01):
That pressure bubbled it to thetop and it than it would've.
But it was only that pressure.
If we didn't have that, I don'tthink we would've even heard our
concern addressed.
And so as it pertains tohomelessness, I think it's
important because we can reallysay, well, this is our problem
(12:21):
in Santa Monica.
And because we have strongencampment laws, because we have
these other preventativemeasures in place, and because
we have so many services, wehave a different subset of
issues we need to address.
And the assembly member, knowingthat West Hollywood and the
other cities may have differentissues.
That's how we can kind of likework together, but it's not
always like that in government.
Evan Meyer (12:44):
Yeah, do.
Do you feel that there's a setof best practices that would be.
Template templatizable in asense around these kinds of
things?
Is it just sort of real timecommunication when something
arises?
Is it something that we can sortof share with others to show
that like, this is when thingsdo happen, these are some of the
steps that we can go through tomake sure that people and cities
(13:06):
are operating effectively andcoming together and working with
their state electeds.
Mayor Lana Negrete (13:10):
mean, I think there's like a lot of
events that we all get invitedto, and it's not sort of laid
out that way, but it's knownthat.
Even though you're attendingsome event about a specific
topic, maybe it's about traffic,maybe it's about homelessness.
It's really about getting in theroom and spending that first
mingle hour connecting with yourother local electeds to develop
this relationship, but to reallybe more impactful and effective
(13:33):
given the fact that in citycouncil, in Santa Monica and
West Hollywood and Culver Cityand other areas, it's a
part-time job.
Unlike in the city of LA whereit's a full-time job with a
salary and staff, people mightnot be going to these events.
So what would be useful is tohave a one stop.
Communication piece to go towhere you can connect with your
(13:57):
local leaders and it would youright there, who is in charge of
what, who's connected, who likean org chart and you can click
on it and message.
Now look, we have everybody'semails.
Sure.
But when you first get elected,you don't necessarily have that
all.
You're not handed like, here'sall the staff workers for your
assembly member.
Here's all the things that theycan help you with and who
(14:19):
they're in charge of.
So honestly, if there was thistype of tool that you could use
where you could go in there andnot to just plug Gov tools, but
I'll just say that like if therewas a way to Google and search
as an elected and find out allthe emails in Subverse staff and
who it can send in message toright away within a system about
an issue.
And it would automaticallyupdate me and follow up, and
(14:41):
other jurisdictions could seeit.
Oh, city of Santa Monica ismessaging about this issue on
the 10 freeway that's affectingus, or City of Santa Monica just
rolled out.
They have 10 new beds in theirshelter, but they're having a
problem with this other issuethat has to do with
homelessness.
Let's see if we can help.
That would be really coolbecause I think that would allow
us to have one place to look andit would see what everybody's
(15:03):
already working on.
I can't tell you how many timesI've called and ran something up
a flagpole to a governmentdepartment where they said, oh,
somebody else has already beenworking on that.
Let me circle back with thatperson and it creates this let
me circle back model that we doin government and everyone's
circling back and running upflagpoles that nothing gets done
if we had it all in onetransparent space.
(15:26):
it's even more constituents cansee it.
It doesn't need to be private.
It should be that you could seeand type in City of Santa
Monica.
Outstanding issues.
that's the 10 freeway waitingfor a response from Cal seven.
District Zebu staff could go inthere and say, let me see and
look in.
Oh, Santa Monica's waiting for aresponse.
Let me see how I can help.
And that chat was live.
(15:46):
Wow.
That would be a game changer.
I mean, I think that would be areally cool technology or tool
that we could put in place thatwould let our constituency that
we are working.
'cause I'm sure.
The assembly member can tellyou, we work a lot of hours, and
I don't think our constituentsrealize the amount of little
things that we're working onthat are just as important as
the big things that.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur (16:08):
I think you've just developed a new bill
idea for next year.
Mayor Lana Negrete (16:12):
Well, we have, I have an idea for you.
It's called Gov Tools.
I'm being serious, but I mean,it probably should be a bill or
a program that's rolled out, but
Assemblyman Rick Zbur (16:20):
Yep.
Mayor Lana Negrete (16:20):
I think it's the one thing that seems the
most obvious that everybodycould benefit from, and it's
fully transparent.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur (16:27):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think my best, what I wouldsay, my best practice is not as
techy because I'm older than themayor is, and so I I go, I go to
old school things, but I thinkit's really just always making
sure that you are, I.
Keeping relationships with theother elected officials that
serve the public strong andwarm, and that you always
(16:52):
approach every person with anassumption of best intentions.
You know, we you know, I don'tagree with every single elected
official on every single thingin my district.
And they don't agree with me oneverything, but I think, you
know, I think we both have goodworking relationships with
pretty much everyone thatrepresents other people in the,
(17:14):
in, in the areas that we cover.
And it's because, you know, ifyou always make the, the, your
top priority, I.
Helping people in your district.
Then you put aside all the, youknow, all the other things that
sometimes come up in politicallife.
and you're willing to work withpeople who are, you know, more
conservative than you, or moreprogressive than you, or, you
(17:35):
know, different than you we'reall different and unique.
And and that, that's sort of, Ithink the, the thing that I, I'm
just, I'm really thankful for interms of the elected officials
that cover.
The area that I represent, Ithink it's an amazingly
committed group of people.
You know, the public I think,doesn't understand sometimes how
you know, it's easy to becomeangry because there are a lot of
(17:57):
problems that are affectingpeople's lives on from a
day-to-day basis.
You know, I mean, people arebarely, some people are barely
making ends meet.
Some people are not housed.
People are on the verge ofhomelessness.
Others have lost their jobs.
And you know, it's easy tobecome frustrated and angry and
but you know, when you're in therole I am, one of the things
(18:17):
that it makes me, you know, I.
Optimistic about the future,even when the challenges seem
are, is just that I, I, I wouldsay without a doubt, the elected
officials that at every level ofgovernment are in it for the
right reasons and actually aretrying their best to make the
lives better for people in our,in our communities.
I.
Evan Meyer (18:38):
Do you think?
Do you think that?
Most people in politics, Do youfeel that in, in your
experience, that that's the typeof people that you deal with?
In general.
I don't wanna, you know, have topinpoint, but like in general,
do you feel like that's what youget out of being an assembly
(18:59):
member and, and, or does it, isit just locally that you
experienced that?
Assemblyman Rick Zbur (19:06):
I think, I think it's brought, I mean,
you know, there are politicalrivalries that happen in all the
communities that I represent,and I think the, the folks that
are successful ultimately inaccomplishing things are people
that sort of put politicalrivalries aside and really try
to help the community and and Ithink ultimately.
That's what happens, you know,most of the time, most of the
(19:28):
time in my area.
But I think that's also true in,you know, among my colleagues.
You know, it's, we don't,there's a lot of people I don't
agree with on certain things andespecially on the other side of
the aisle right now.
But but I still, even with thosefolks, you know, there's a group
of folks that you know, that I,while they disagree with me,
they actually have authentic.
Views that, you know they,they're, they are, you know, I
(19:51):
think they're misguided, butthey're trying to make the
community better.
I just think that theirprescriptions are not that
great.
But, you know, you try to findcommon ground on the areas where
they are.
I mean, for example, I'm, I'mworking really hard and I know
that Mayor Negreti has actuallybeen really helpful and some
others in the council on tryingto get the film tax credit
reauthorized and, and increased.
(20:12):
I mean, that's gonna be a,that's a huge, huge.
Need for the whole area that Irepresent.
It's important for workers inSanta Monica.
The, I mean, the tourismindustry in Santa Monica really
depends on having a thrivingfilm and television tax
industry.
And you know, there's people on,you know, there are republicans
(20:34):
there are supporting that bill.
And frankly getting that throughbecause it's viewed, you know,
there's some folks in otherparts of the state.
Who think that it's you know, agiveaway to Los Angeles and not
understanding that this is ajobs bill, you know, where you
have to build the support personby person.
And so, you know, I've gotrepublicans that are supporting.
Evan Meyer (20:55):
That's great.
It's, it's, it's great to seethat you've been successful in
building those, You know, crosspolitical borders and being able
to do that successfully.
And so congratulations on that.
I think that's what's needed,regardless of who you are and
what party you are.
Right?
it's an important skill.
It's an important the abilityto, and there, there seems to be
(21:16):
a lot of, some good movementcoming along with people being
able to have, find their commonground and have.
Dialogue.
We, we, we seem to have lostthat for a while in, in a lot of
ways.
And, and there, there does seemto be some some movement towards
getting it back from, from whatI can tell.
But has been a great.
(21:39):
Time with both of you.
Thank you for sharing this.
We're about at the end hereunfortunately, but we could do a
quick lightning round on ifthere's any last words that you
wanna share about what youthink, what you'd like to see as
it, as it relates to this in thefuture, and, and, and what we
can do here to to, to cometogether and solve these, these
(22:01):
issues.
So any, any, any last words onthat?
Assemblyman Rick Zbur (22:05):
I think I would just like to say that, I
mean, I really appreciate themayor's leadership in the city
of Santa Monica and the othermembers of the council.
You know, we haven't, we haven'ttalked all about a lot of things
that we're working on together,including issues that are
affecting the Santa Monicabudget, affecting the budget of
Santa Monica College.
We're in a big budget crunchright now in the city.
(22:25):
From the mayor has been up inSacramento a bunch of times
advocating for needs of thecity.
And you know, I just peopleshould understand how attentive
and committed their electedofficials has.
Head of Monica are.
I mean, it's a really, a, a, areally extraordinary group of
people and I'm very honored tohave the opportunity to work
with, with Mayor Negreti and,and the other members of the
(22:48):
council.
Mayor Lana Negrete (22:50):
I would just say that continuing to reach
across the aisle even within ourcity council, you know, people
thought, oh, because people ranon a slate that there would be.
No congeniality there would beno working together.
And, and that is not the case.
I maybe it's not ironic.
I think we all are people andserving and we all agree on the
(23:11):
three priorities for SantaMonica, and so we already have
so much common ground how we getthere.
We might have differingopinions, but I think we all
respect other, we respectpassionate and rooted in.
Our belief that it's gonna dogood for the community.
So we allow each other the spaceto express that.
We try to support a happy medianto get there and we respect when
(23:34):
just completely on opposite endsof it.
And what I enjoy is that when wewalk away from city council
'cause it wasn't always likethis, we all still, even after I
would say a passionate evening,we all still smile and say
goodnight to each other andenjoy each other's.
You know, company outside of it.
So working together anddeveloping relationships is key.
(23:54):
I encourage people to do thatwith their elected officials to
get their voices heard, and Ienjoy.
I always encourage people tojoin commissions and boards and
get involved as much as you canto understand who your elected
officials are.
Evan Meyer (24:10):
Wonderful.
well thank you both very muchfor, for being here.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you for your, yourknowledge, your wisdom, and and
for serving our community anddoing it honorably.
We will see you next time.
Have a, have a wonderfulevening.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur (24:27):
thanks a lot.
It's really nice to get to knowyou on this.
Take care.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.