October 18, 2024 • 29 mins
Stephanie Uchida (内田) is the assignment editor for the Tri-City Voice newspaper. She edits submissions from the public and wrangles the free-lance reporters who write for the paper.
We chatted with Stephanie while sitting in the park at Lake Elizabeth (across the street from the Tri-City Voice office).
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Coming to you straight from Fremont,
california.
This is the Fremont Podcast,dedicated to telling the stories
of the past and present of thepeople and places of the city of
Fremont, one conversation at atime.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I used to know your name, but my wife tells me that
I don't know your name anymore.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Can you tell me?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
who you are and where you work and what your job
title is.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Yes, I used to be Stephanie Gertz and now I'm
Stephanie Uchida.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Congratulations.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Yes, as of September 28th Nice, so not that long ago,
that's awesome, and where doyou work and what do you do?
Yes, I still work at Tri-CityVoice.
I'm the assignment editor, so Iedit things that people send in
.
I wrangle the freelancers, Iassign them to different things
(00:55):
and help them troubleshoot whenthey run into issues, and I
occasionally write stories forthe paper myself as well.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Correct me where I'm wrong, but I think the Tri-City
Voice gets its news stories fromtwo main places.
One, things that people send inhey, this thing is about to
happen, maybe you'd want tocover it and then also things
that you go out hunting for.
How do you go out and hunt fora story?
Speaker 3 (01:23):
It's changed recently because we were just taken over
by Weeklys or we joined Weeklys.
Like a happy transition and Ihad a lot of resources because
originally Bill and Sharon'svision for the paper was that it
would be about local eventslike arts and entertainment,
local theater, local festivals,art galleries and things like
(01:47):
that and those are somewhatregular and we kind of know when
people are having their bigshows like big festivals and
events and things like that.
So I had like all of that datato keep checking on regularly.
That was a big help.
But now for um, for weeklies,we're moving a little bit more
(02:09):
towards local government stuffand things like that, so we're
like a little bit more payingattention to what's coming up at
city council meetings, forexample, and other meetings,
like the ones for the rus CityReparations Project and things
like that.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
And for anyone who doesn't know what's the coverage
area of the Tri-City Voice, Iknow it's quite large, but for
people who don't read the paperregularly and don't look at the
banner, what cities do you guyscover?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
For weeklies.
We are going to focus more onthe Tri, the Fremont, Newark,
union, city of it all, but we'restill covering events from
Hayward and San Leandro,occasionally Oakland, especially
with Oakland Zoo and ChabotSpace and Science Center, and
also a little bit from Milpitasand the unincorporated areas too
(03:01):
, like Castor Valley.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Anything.
Like you said, castor valley,but also like cherryland and
ashland and san lorenzo yeah,those are kind of.
They're really close to haywardtoo, so like there's a lot of
overlap tell me about, like themost um surprising story that
you've worked on in the lastyear.
(03:25):
That you worked on directly,because you mentioned at the top
that your job mainly entailswrangling other people but that
you also report on occasionally.
Tell me about something in thelast one or two years where you
were really surprised by it thatyou worked on directly.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
I don't know if it's surprising, but one of the most
enjoyable stories that I did wason this owl sculpture that
students at Ohlone worked reallyhard on all semester and then
the day after it went up someonesmashed it and just completely
destroyed it.
It was like a couple years ago,like right after the spring
(04:08):
semester ended.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Oh, that's horrible.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Yeah, it was really sad and it's such a small story,
but talking to the people whoworked so hard on this and
learning how they did it andthen learning how they felt
about it being destroyed.
And then I got to do afollow-up six months later when
they made a new owl and theyresurrected their sculpture.
And it's still there and Istill go by it every time I'm at
(04:32):
Ohlone for somethingWhereabouts on campus, is it?
It's right outside the artbuilding.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Okay, cool, Good or bad.
What was your favorite story of2024?
Speaker 3 (04:43):
2024.
I had a lot of good stories.
I liked working on the oneabout vaccines for the fall
because I also had a lot ofquestions, so I could just ask
all of my questions and say itwas for my job.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Isn't that the best part of this?
Yes, you don't have to turnthat filter on.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Well, I have to be professional.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
You have to be professional, but you can just
like I want to know andtherefore I can ask.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Yes, I can actually go and contact Washington
Hospital and say can I pleasetalk with the infectious disease
expert?
Because all this about the fluand the new COVID shots, the
different types of COVID shotsand the bird flu is really
confusing me.
Can she just sit down with mefor like 30 minutes and tell me
everything?
And then they're like yes, yes,yes, we can arrange that.
(05:34):
That's great.
We'd love to be in the paper.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Full disclosure.
They are a huge sponsor.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Yes, of your paper.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah they've been with us for a long time and if
they would like to sponsor alocal podcast.
What story were you unable totell?
Uh, that you wish you could andI realized that, like you, were
unable to tell it and thereforeyou are probably not able to
tell me.
But if there's any way to skirtaround the edges of it, to talk
(06:07):
in code, to give just a kind ofbullet point summary, without
getting into the details, ifthere's any way to tell that it
existed but also admit thereweren't enough sources or there
wasn't enough time, et cetera,et cetera, I would love to know
is there a story that youcouldn't tell?
Speaker 3 (06:30):
yeah, there was one I worked on, but I felt like I
just didn't.
It was very complicated with alot of details.
I just like didn't have thetime to quite put it all
together in a way that wouldmake sense for the paper.
I was talking with Liz Ames ofBART and it was about Quarry
Lakes Parkway and whether thisis a good thing for Union City
(06:54):
or if it's going to just makeUnion City into a commuter town
or a bedroom town.
For people who don't know whatis the Quarry Lakes Parkway it's
a project to sort of oomph upthe road that runs just north of
Quarry Lakes Park and theyactually there was a little farm
(07:14):
there and they kind of had toget rid of that, like, put some
development there and build theroad there.
They're still building it, butit's also kind of ends in a
weird place, like it goesthrough the city and then just
ends at the hills and thereisn't a good highway through the
hills it's 84 and that's kindof windy.
So like this theory, like thatwe were working towards, was
(07:41):
that this is making way for moredevelopment in the hills words
was that this is making way formore development in the hills.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
What, um?
What got in the way of thestory not in the way of the
development, but what got in theway of you reporting on that?
Speaker 3 (07:52):
well, it was a long interview so I was kind of like
putting together the differentthings and like there's a lot of
facets to such a big project aswell.
So just trying to get all thoselittle details correct and also
kind of fact checking what LizAmes was telling me and going
back through some documents shegave me about city council
(08:13):
meetings and these are like thisthey have like 60 pages in
these reports and it's socomplicated and the projects
have such like hardto-understandnames as well, so it just felt
overwhelming.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Yeah shy of having a research staff dedicated
research staff, a singlereporter having to completely
become an expert, essentially.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Yes, in.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Union City's financials over the last 20
years, written literally byexperts whose job it is to write
such documents, of which youare not.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Yeah, that makes sense.
I wanted to ask because you andI, when I did try to do a
podcast for the Tri-City Voice,I wanted to work with the
reporters and that never reallytook off.
Uh, understandably, they arebusy doing their own jobs and I
was the new guy, but, uh, youwere kind enough to uh give me
(09:15):
the recordings that you weredoing for a different story and
those were lovely because youknow I mean the.
The sound quality was that of aphone, which is fine, it's a
very slice of life.
But it was great to hear.
So I just wanted to ask, likeon a personal level, all
(09:36):
reporters have like differentways of going out and reporting
and collecting.
What is your method when you goout when you're not at the
editor desk?
When you go out, what is yourmethod when you go out when
you're not at the editor desk?
When you go out, what is yourmethod of of reporting?
Speaker 3 (09:49):
I mean, sometimes I get a lot of ideas just by going
through our instagram because Ican sort of visit, like oh, I
wonder what they're doing overhere.
Like, oh, like, they have avideo of this new thing they're
working on.
That's really, really cool.
I'm going to reach out to them.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
And so a lot of your reporting happens from the desk,
and when you go out to reporton something the story I was
mentioning before you were atthe Castro Valley either the
waste, it was during COVID andthey were talking about toilet
paper.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Oh yeah, that's one of my favorite titles.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Like what's your gear ?
What's your method ofcollecting, like you know?
Is it recording everything andlistening to it later?
Is it bringing a notepad?
Is it both?
Is it some third thing?
Is it some fourth thing?
Speaker 3 (10:40):
I usually just record on my phone, like if I'm going
out to somewhere and it's justI'm meeting up with these people
, they're telling me whatthey're working on, then I just
like to have my phone outrecording because I feel like I
can stay in the moment and I'mnot focusing on jotting little
things down and because I thinkit's really hard to divide your
(11:00):
attention that way.
So this is me just recording onmy phone, like I do when I'm
talking to people for work.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Okay, I will do the same.
Thank you for playing along asthe assignment editor.
You mentioned that the majorityof your job is wrangling the
freelancers.
What is one of your favoritethings about working with a pool
of reporters?
Speaker 3 (11:29):
One of the best things about working with
reporters is just seeing whatthey come up with, even when
it's something that I found andassigned out to them.
Just seeing it come in and thennoticing, oh, you had a really
nice conversation, or wow, Ididn't know that.
I'm really glad that thisinformation is getting out there
(11:50):
and seeing their creativitythat way.
And it's even better when it'sa story that they've pitched to
me and it's already theirpassion and they go out and they
take initiative and they pursueit and then I kind of get to
help them get it out there topeople and then I kind of get to
help them get it out there topeople and it's nice to be part
(12:13):
of it.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
And tell me one negative thing about working
with all of us.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
The hardest thing about working with freelancers
is that I call it wrangling ofcats.
But a more negative way to putit is that I feel like the mom,
because I'm not really theirboss and they have other stuff
going on and I need to berespectful of that.
But then it also is a lot ofkind of gently nudging people to
(12:42):
do the things they're supposedto do, without coming off as a
nag and kind of trying to hitthat balance of okay, I am in
charge of this, I have to makesure it runs smoothly, I have to
maintain boundaries andstandards, but also, you're
adults and I'm not going to tellyou guys what to do and lay
(13:05):
down the law, because that's abit too authoritarian.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
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Do people like being askedquestions?
Speaker 3 (13:29):
I think so.
I think if you first ask themif they're open to being asked
questions, that kind of narrowsthe field a little bit to people
who actually do have time totalk and want to share about
whatever they're doing.
But I think you know everyonelikes being asked questions
about their passions, whatthey're really interested in and
(13:49):
proud of.
So I'm a very nice reporter.
I don't try to do confrontationor gotcha questions.
I just kind of try to makepeople feel comfortable and
convey that I'm actuallyinterested in what they have to
say.
So yeah, I don't know whodoesn't like that.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
What got you into the job?
Speaker 3 (14:12):
I graduated from San Jose State with a master's in
mass communications and I wasdoing a tutoring job.
That was just part-time.
I was looking for somethingelse and my parents found an ad
in Tri-City Voice because theyread it and they were like, hey,
steph, you should apply forthis something else.
And my parents found an ad inTri-City Voice because they read
it and they were like, hey,steph, you should apply for this
.
So I applied first as afreelancer writer and reporter,
(14:35):
and they happened to be lookingfor someone to do editing a
couple hours a week.
So I eventually started doingthat as well.
And then, coincidentally, theirprevious assignment editor left
for another opportunity.
So they said you're alreadyhere.
Do you want to be assignmenteditor?
Left for another opportunity.
So they said you're alreadyhere.
Do you want to be assignmenteditor?
Do you want to be the new her?
And I was like, okay.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
How long ago was that ?
How long have you worked forthe Tri-City Awards?
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Since 2019.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
What happens to a place let's say Fremont, that's
the name of this podcast.
But what happens to a place?
Let's say Fremont that's thename of this podcast.
But what happens to a placewhen there starts to become sort
of a coverage desert, notreally, but like the concept of
a food desert, but like when allthe media outlets are far away
and you do have some and we havethe Tri-City Voice, but like
(15:28):
the other major newspaper that'sowned by Bang, the Office is
over the hill and all the TVstuff is up in the two cities
the town and the city.
Like what starts to happen in aplace like this when the
coverage isn't there.
(15:52):
I mean, you guys do cover it,but you are one entity.
You literally can't covereverything.
So if all of the news coveragerests on the Tri-City voice and
then depends on people coming totown from out of town, we're
not going to get all the stories.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
It's not possible?
Speaker 2 (16:11):
What happens to a place when?
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Yeah, I think it is hard if you're not in the town,
like experiencing just theday-to-day feeling of it, like
how it feels to drive down thestreets, like where you tend to
go, like what things tend tohappen.
I guess it would be harder toactually have your finger on the
pulse of what's actuallyimportant to the people living
(16:36):
there.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
How was the ownership change for you?
Like the Tri-City Voice is nowowned by a different entity.
Bill and Sharon have retired.
You're still there.
How was the changeover for you?
Speaker 3 (16:51):
It was very positive.
I knew that Bill and Sharonwanted to retire.
They needed to retire.
They've given 20 years of theirlife to Tri-City Voice and they
were in the office six days aweek, basically around the year.
They were in the office onMonday, holidays, finishing the
paper when no one else was inthe office.
(17:12):
Um, it's a lot of work andthey're not super young, so I
was just very glad that theyfound a way to keep the paper
going and I still have a job.
Yeah, I'm very glad to not beout of a job.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Let me ask you the Tri-City Voice runs on the
massive amount of advertisingthat's in it.
I'm assuming that's stillroughly true with the new
ownership.
That's the business model.
I've noticed that people reallylike hearing about local news.
I've noticed that people reallylike hearing about local news
but they've gotten maybeaccustomed to not having to pay
(17:53):
for it.
And how do you personallyinteract with or feel about that
dichotomy of there is not alack of desire to hear about
what's going on in town and thensubscriptions are down across
the country and everyone thinksthat you can kind of get that
(18:14):
news for free, and then theyalso complain like why don't we
get coverage, that kind of stuff?
What has been your interactionwith that kind of dichotomy?
I'm not really blaming people,it's.
It's something we've been, youknow, allowed to get accustomed
to, to get these things freethings, but it has come at a
cost.
What has been your relationshipwith that?
Speaker 3 (18:36):
yeah.
For people not wanting to payfor news it's kind of yeah.
It's hard when people are usedto something being free to say
oh, no, like this is in the youhave to pay for it category.
Now, and I think with news,especially if the sensational,
(18:58):
clickbait, unreliable stuff isfree and the actual news you
have to pay for, then that canalso be an issue.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
What did you like to do when you lived here?
I mean, I know the move issomewhat recent, but what did
you like to do in Frem do whenyou lived here?
I mean, I know the move issomewhat recent, but what did
you like to do in Fremont whenyou lived here?
Speaker 3 (19:11):
Yeah, fremont is Fremont's fun.
I have to think about what Iactually like to do, because I
like to go to local restaurants,shopping.
I feel like I don't have a lotof free time.
(19:31):
I like walking at the lake.
Actually, because we're at thelake, I was close enough that I
could just walk over here afterwork in the evening when it
wasn't so hot and just kind ofvibe.
I'm trying to think about thelocal places.
I really liked aniki sushi.
There's a lot of cute littlerestaurants like that.
(19:54):
Oh, and I love megamartactually.
Um, it's like the closest placeto get the good asian sta I was
.
I really like Osaka market butit's down in Warm Springs so
it's farther.
I didn't go there as much, butif I just needed, like just
(20:16):
needed some tofu, I just neededsome kimchi, I needed some nori
sheets because I'm making spammusubis or something.
I want to get the Koreanalcohol.
It's so good.
I want to get like just a bigrice bag or like the really thin
cut pork belly or pork shoulder.
(20:37):
I can actually just go to alocal place and get those and
cook something.
I don't have to go like all theway to Mitsuwa and San Jose.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
I have recently discovered that Osaka Market is
very bikeable from BART, fromWarm Springs Bright.
It's a little bit.
You have to be a little bit ofa confident rider.
There is a stretch and thatintersection of like Warm
Springs Boulevard and whereyou're about to get on 680 is is
(21:08):
kind of scary.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
But if you just wait it out and wait your turn behind
the semi trucks and I also likebeing really close to Paseo
Padre because all the festivalshappen there so I can just walk
there and even to the downtown.
It's a bit it was a bit furtherfrom me because I was on
Gardino, okay, but it was stillnice to not have to worry about
(21:32):
parking for those events Justhead out and like, oh okay, like
here's where all the people arejust going to hang out.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
This will air in a little bit and we will have
already released by then.
We will have already releasedan episode about the like, a
concert series that washappening on the roof of the
Asher which I think, if mystreets are correct, it was
nearby where you just said andapparently it's been canceled
because the Asher's under thenew management.
But some people say that, likethe downtown or the
transportation-y part ofdowntown, like the near BART, is
(22:13):
kind of dead because it servesa purpose, because it's there to
have your house next to thetransportation.
But you're saying not so much.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
I mean, I hope not.
I really like the efforts thatFremont's making to have a cute
little downtown area near thehub and I think they are going
to keep working on it.
They're going to actually puthousing like in one corner of
the hub as well.
I think that's the like, theFremont plan, the Fremont
development plan, whatever it is.
But I think it would be greatif we could have more shopping
(22:48):
in that area, just more funstuff to do and more like
downtown housing so people canjust live there and then walk
over to Megamart, as I've done afew times, or walk over to the
hub, walk over to the Targetthere and walk over to BART if
they need to.
Yeah, living next to BART wasgreat too, because I didn't use
(23:12):
it as much as I could have.
But I remember I went up toHayward for the Lit Hop and that
was really fun because it wasreally close to the BART station
and I could drink and not worryabout driving back.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Do you have any hobbies?
Speaker 3 (23:25):
Any hobbies.
I like writing fiction in myspare time.
I don't always have enough timeto actually devote to that.
I've been playing D&D.
My husband is in the same group, so it's kind of fun.
We're just hanging out with ourfriends.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
We had an episode not too long ago about the kind of
tabletop games community here inFremont and we kind of
mentioned it on the episode.
But I wanted to give creditwhere credit is due.
We were only able to talk to afew of the shop owners and there
are a lot more.
It seems like that's a prettystrong community.
I know D&D is one of many.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
It's very like let's put down our phones and use our
imaginations and do somethingthat's a little bit
strategy-based and a little bitcreative and performative, and I
think people like differentsides of it.
So if you're very into likeokay, like here's this problem
and here's the skill set I have.
How am I going to solve it,then like some people like D&D
(24:23):
for that reason and some peoplelike the idea of I can play this
zany character and have funwith it and be silly.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
What can you recommend to people to do in
Fremont?
Speaker 3 (24:38):
I might recommend hiking some unusual spots, even
just around the lake.
Just go and walk around thelake, it's really fun.
I also like walking alongAlameda Creek.
Sometimes you can park inneighborhoods you probably
shouldn't, but it's kind of likethis weird like secret little
spot and you can kind of go offand look at the different lakes.
(24:59):
And, yeah, walking along thelakes and Niles too is really
fun.
Yeah, and I also really likeCoyote Hills and Don Edwards.
Yeah, mostly hiking stuff.
I'd probably recommend like goout and do some hiking and just
enjoy like the unusual naturallandscape that like we've worked
(25:21):
really hard to preserve inFremont it feels like a big city
, but then it feels so much lesslike a big city than when you
get further north like Oaklandand Berkeley.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
So yeah, I think people should just enjoy it and
then find an unusual littlerestaurant to go to.
What does Fremont need to?
Speaker 3 (25:47):
improve?
Hmm, that's a good question.
I think people like sometimeslike they do feel like it's less
safe.
You know, we could be better athousing people who need housing
, because sometimes, like evenaround Tri-City Voice, like you
(26:11):
see people who are just kind ofhanging out outside.
They don't quite look okay andthey're probably just chilling,
but then it is also a little bitlike like are they reactive?
Like you hope not, then you'renot sure.
So I think like there is anissue and people like don't feel
safe for that reason.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Have you ever not felt safe?
Speaker 3 (26:31):
I've once in a while, like usually, if someone you
know is just kind of doing theirthing, just chilling out, Um, I
, you know, I just like um thinkthat that's another person
minding their own business.
They may not have a place to goto, but they're not like paying
(26:52):
attention to me.
But once in a while, likethere's someone like walking
around, like kind of likeweaving into people, kind of not
like kind of shoutingunpredictably, like sometimes,
like I think once I was in therailies and like someone was
just like weaving around andthen like kind of coming close
to me and saying something butnot quite saying it to me and
(27:14):
then weaving back.
And sometimes I've gone outwalking and people, guys want to
pay me compliments and I'm like, okay, I don't know you, I'm
hoping this is just a complimentand nothing else happens.
So once in a while I feel likeI'm not quite sure, like I hope
this doesn't escalate and so farit never has for me, like no
(27:37):
one's actually like startedyelling or cussing at me or like
actually gotten up in my space,but then it is like a little
bit of an undercurrent ofnervousness where you're not
quite sure what the otherperson's thinking.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Okay, I think we're going to wrap it up, but let me
ask as long as it's been aroundthe Tri-City Voice, and as free
as it is and as many locationsas it is plunked down, not
everybody knows that it exists,so tell us why people should
start reading the Tri-City Voice.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
You can learn so much about the people who are living
here and the cool stuff thatthey're doing, and it's just
really fun to read about.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
And it comes out on which days, how often.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
Comes out every Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Is there anything else that you wanted to say?
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Not really.
I feel very lucky that I've hadnot only a job for the past
five years but I've been workingin my field and I think that's
really difficult if you're notin a STEM field in the Bay Area.
So I feel very fortunate thatstars aligned and I started
working there when I did.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Well, with that, thank you.
Thank you, thank for.
Uh, I'll let you get back toyour office, uh, which is just
over.
There we are sitting.
We are sitting for the record.
We are sitting at the park atthe chess tables.
Uh, it's nice there are peoplehere.
Uh, people should show up.
Uh, you don't have to work athome when you work from home,
that's true, come to the park.
So.
Thank you very much for yourtime.
(29:11):
I really appreciate it.
I'll let you go.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
I'm Gary Williams.
Andrew Kvet is the editor.
Scheduling and pre-interviewsby Sarah S.
Be sure to subscribe whereverit is that you listen so you
don't miss an episode.
You can find everything we make, the podcast and all of our
social media links atthefremontpodcastcom.
Join us next week on theFremont Podcast.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
This is a Muggins Media Podcast.
Coming to you straight from Fremont,
california.
This is the Fremont Podcast,dedicated to telling the stories
of the past and present of thepeople and places of the city of
Fremont, one conversation at atime.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I used to know your name, but my wife tells me that
I don't know your name anymore.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Can you tell me?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
who you are and where you work and what your job
title is.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Yes, I used to be Stephanie Gertz and now I'm
Stephanie Uchida.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Congratulations.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Yes, as of September 28th Nice, so not that long ago,
that's awesome, and where doyou work and what do you do?
Yes, I still work at Tri-CityVoice.
I'm the assignment editor, so Iedit things that people send in
.
I wrangle the freelancers, Iassign them to different things
(00:55):
and help them troubleshoot whenthey run into issues, and I
occasionally write stories forthe paper myself as well.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Correct me where I'm wrong, but I think the Tri-City
Voice gets its news stories fromtwo main places.
One, things that people send inhey, this thing is about to
happen, maybe you'd want tocover it and then also things
that you go out hunting for.
How do you go out and hunt fora story?
Speaker 3 (01:23):
It's changed recently because we were just taken over
by Weeklys or we joined Weeklys.
Like a happy transition and Ihad a lot of resources because
originally Bill and Sharon'svision for the paper was that it
would be about local eventslike arts and entertainment,
local theater, local festivals,art galleries and things like
(01:47):
that and those are somewhatregular and we kind of know when
people are having their bigshows like big festivals and
events and things like that.
So I had like all of that datato keep checking on regularly.
That was a big help.
But now for um, for weeklies,we're moving a little bit more
(02:09):
towards local government stuffand things like that, so we're
like a little bit more payingattention to what's coming up at
city council meetings, forexample, and other meetings,
like the ones for the rus CityReparations Project and things
like that.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
And for anyone who doesn't know what's the coverage
area of the Tri-City Voice, Iknow it's quite large, but for
people who don't read the paperregularly and don't look at the
banner, what cities do you guyscover?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
For weeklies.
We are going to focus more onthe Tri, the Fremont, Newark,
union, city of it all, but we'restill covering events from
Hayward and San Leandro,occasionally Oakland, especially
with Oakland Zoo and ChabotSpace and Science Center, and
also a little bit from Milpitasand the unincorporated areas too
(03:01):
, like Castor Valley.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Anything.
Like you said, castor valley,but also like cherryland and
ashland and san lorenzo yeah,those are kind of.
They're really close to haywardtoo, so like there's a lot of
overlap tell me about, like themost um surprising story that
you've worked on in the lastyear.
(03:25):
That you worked on directly,because you mentioned at the top
that your job mainly entailswrangling other people but that
you also report on occasionally.
Tell me about something in thelast one or two years where you
were really surprised by it thatyou worked on directly.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
I don't know if it's surprising, but one of the most
enjoyable stories that I did wason this owl sculpture that
students at Ohlone worked reallyhard on all semester and then
the day after it went up someonesmashed it and just completely
destroyed it.
It was like a couple years ago,like right after the spring
(04:08):
semester ended.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Oh, that's horrible.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Yeah, it was really sad and it's such a small story,
but talking to the people whoworked so hard on this and
learning how they did it andthen learning how they felt
about it being destroyed.
And then I got to do afollow-up six months later when
they made a new owl and theyresurrected their sculpture.
And it's still there and Istill go by it every time I'm at
(04:32):
Ohlone for somethingWhereabouts on campus, is it?
It's right outside the artbuilding.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Okay, cool, Good or bad.
What was your favorite story of2024?
Speaker 3 (04:43):
2024.
I had a lot of good stories.
I liked working on the oneabout vaccines for the fall
because I also had a lot ofquestions, so I could just ask
all of my questions and say itwas for my job.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Isn't that the best part of this?
Yes, you don't have to turnthat filter on.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Well, I have to be professional.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
You have to be professional, but you can just
like I want to know andtherefore I can ask.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Yes, I can actually go and contact Washington
Hospital and say can I pleasetalk with the infectious disease
expert?
Because all this about the fluand the new COVID shots, the
different types of COVID shotsand the bird flu is really
confusing me.
Can she just sit down with mefor like 30 minutes and tell me
everything?
And then they're like yes, yes,yes, we can arrange that.
(05:34):
That's great.
We'd love to be in the paper.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Full disclosure.
They are a huge sponsor.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Yes, of your paper.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah they've been with us for a long time and if
they would like to sponsor alocal podcast.
What story were you unable totell?
Uh, that you wish you could andI realized that, like you, were
unable to tell it and thereforeyou are probably not able to
tell me.
But if there's any way to skirtaround the edges of it, to talk
(06:07):
in code, to give just a kind ofbullet point summary, without
getting into the details, ifthere's any way to tell that it
existed but also admit thereweren't enough sources or there
wasn't enough time, et cetera,et cetera, I would love to know
is there a story that youcouldn't tell?
Speaker 3 (06:30):
yeah, there was one I worked on, but I felt like I
just didn't.
It was very complicated with alot of details.
I just like didn't have thetime to quite put it all
together in a way that wouldmake sense for the paper.
I was talking with Liz Ames ofBART and it was about Quarry
Lakes Parkway and whether thisis a good thing for Union City
(06:54):
or if it's going to just makeUnion City into a commuter town
or a bedroom town.
For people who don't know whatis the Quarry Lakes Parkway it's
a project to sort of oomph upthe road that runs just north of
Quarry Lakes Park and theyactually there was a little farm
(07:14):
there and they kind of had toget rid of that, like, put some
development there and build theroad there.
They're still building it, butit's also kind of ends in a
weird place, like it goesthrough the city and then just
ends at the hills and thereisn't a good highway through the
hills it's 84 and that's kindof windy.
So like this theory, like thatwe were working towards, was
(07:41):
that this is making way for moredevelopment in the hills words
was that this is making way formore development in the hills.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
What, um?
What got in the way of thestory not in the way of the
development, but what got in theway of you reporting on that?
Speaker 3 (07:52):
well, it was a long interview so I was kind of like
putting together the differentthings and like there's a lot of
facets to such a big project aswell.
So just trying to get all thoselittle details correct and also
kind of fact checking what LizAmes was telling me and going
back through some documents shegave me about city council
(08:13):
meetings and these are like thisthey have like 60 pages in
these reports and it's socomplicated and the projects
have such like hardto-understandnames as well, so it just felt
overwhelming.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Yeah shy of having a research staff dedicated
research staff, a singlereporter having to completely
become an expert, essentially.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Yes, in.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Union City's financials over the last 20
years, written literally byexperts whose job it is to write
such documents, of which youare not.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Yeah, that makes sense.
I wanted to ask because you andI, when I did try to do a
podcast for the Tri-City Voice,I wanted to work with the
reporters and that never reallytook off.
Uh, understandably, they arebusy doing their own jobs and I
was the new guy, but, uh, youwere kind enough to uh give me
(09:15):
the recordings that you weredoing for a different story and
those were lovely because youknow I mean the.
The sound quality was that of aphone, which is fine, it's a
very slice of life.
But it was great to hear.
So I just wanted to ask, likeon a personal level, all
(09:36):
reporters have like differentways of going out and reporting
and collecting.
What is your method when you goout when you're not at the
editor desk?
When you go out, what is yourmethod when you go out when
you're not at the editor desk?
When you go out, what is yourmethod of of reporting?
Speaker 3 (09:49):
I mean, sometimes I get a lot of ideas just by going
through our instagram because Ican sort of visit, like oh, I
wonder what they're doing overhere.
Like, oh, like, they have avideo of this new thing they're
working on.
That's really, really cool.
I'm going to reach out to them.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
And so a lot of your reporting happens from the desk,
and when you go out to reporton something the story I was
mentioning before you were atthe Castro Valley either the
waste, it was during COVID andthey were talking about toilet
paper.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Oh yeah, that's one of my favorite titles.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Like what's your gear ?
What's your method ofcollecting, like you know?
Is it recording everything andlistening to it later?
Is it bringing a notepad?
Is it both?
Is it some third thing?
Is it some fourth thing?
Speaker 3 (10:40):
I usually just record on my phone, like if I'm going
out to somewhere and it's justI'm meeting up with these people
, they're telling me whatthey're working on, then I just
like to have my phone outrecording because I feel like I
can stay in the moment and I'mnot focusing on jotting little
things down and because I thinkit's really hard to divide your
(11:00):
attention that way.
So this is me just recording onmy phone, like I do when I'm
talking to people for work.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Okay, I will do the same.
Thank you for playing along asthe assignment editor.
You mentioned that the majorityof your job is wrangling the
freelancers.
What is one of your favoritethings about working with a pool
of reporters?
Speaker 3 (11:29):
One of the best things about working with
reporters is just seeing whatthey come up with, even when
it's something that I found andassigned out to them.
Just seeing it come in and thennoticing, oh, you had a really
nice conversation, or wow, Ididn't know that.
I'm really glad that thisinformation is getting out there
(11:50):
and seeing their creativitythat way.
And it's even better when it'sa story that they've pitched to
me and it's already theirpassion and they go out and they
take initiative and they pursueit and then I kind of get to
help them get it out there topeople and then I kind of get to
help them get it out there topeople and it's nice to be part
(12:13):
of it.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
And tell me one negative thing about working
with all of us.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
The hardest thing about working with freelancers
is that I call it wrangling ofcats.
But a more negative way to putit is that I feel like the mom,
because I'm not really theirboss and they have other stuff
going on and I need to berespectful of that.
But then it also is a lot ofkind of gently nudging people to
(12:42):
do the things they're supposedto do, without coming off as a
nag and kind of trying to hitthat balance of okay, I am in
charge of this, I have to makesure it runs smoothly, I have to
maintain boundaries andstandards, but also, you're
adults and I'm not going to tellyou guys what to do and lay
(13:05):
down the law, because that's abit too authoritarian.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Please consider donating $1 a month on a
reoccurring basis to help thispodcast that you enjoy.
Buymeacoffeecom.
Slash the Fremont podcast.
Slash membership.
Do people like being askedquestions?
Speaker 3 (13:29):
I think so.
I think if you first ask themif they're open to being asked
questions, that kind of narrowsthe field a little bit to people
who actually do have time totalk and want to share about
whatever they're doing.
But I think you know everyonelikes being asked questions
about their passions, whatthey're really interested in and
(13:49):
proud of.
So I'm a very nice reporter.
I don't try to do confrontationor gotcha questions.
I just kind of try to makepeople feel comfortable and
convey that I'm actuallyinterested in what they have to
say.
So yeah, I don't know whodoesn't like that.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
What got you into the job?
Speaker 3 (14:12):
I graduated from San Jose State with a master's in
mass communications and I wasdoing a tutoring job.
That was just part-time.
I was looking for somethingelse and my parents found an ad
in Tri-City Voice because theyread it and they were like, hey,
steph, you should apply forthis something else.
And my parents found an ad inTri-City Voice because they read
it and they were like, hey,steph, you should apply for this
.
So I applied first as afreelancer writer and reporter,
(14:35):
and they happened to be lookingfor someone to do editing a
couple hours a week.
So I eventually started doingthat as well.
And then, coincidentally, theirprevious assignment editor left
for another opportunity.
So they said you're alreadyhere.
Do you want to be assignmenteditor?
Left for another opportunity.
So they said you're alreadyhere.
Do you want to be assignmenteditor?
Do you want to be the new her?
And I was like, okay.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
How long ago was that ?
How long have you worked forthe Tri-City Awards?
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Since 2019.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
What happens to a place let's say Fremont, that's
the name of this podcast.
But what happens to a place?
Let's say Fremont that's thename of this podcast.
But what happens to a placewhen there starts to become sort
of a coverage desert, notreally, but like the concept of
a food desert, but like when allthe media outlets are far away
and you do have some and we havethe Tri-City Voice, but like
(15:28):
the other major newspaper that'sowned by Bang, the Office is
over the hill and all the TVstuff is up in the two cities
the town and the city.
Like what starts to happen in aplace like this when the
coverage isn't there.
(15:52):
I mean, you guys do cover it,but you are one entity.
You literally can't covereverything.
So if all of the news coveragerests on the Tri-City voice and
then depends on people coming totown from out of town, we're
not going to get all the stories.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
It's not possible?
Speaker 2 (16:11):
What happens to a place when?
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Yeah, I think it is hard if you're not in the town,
like experiencing just theday-to-day feeling of it, like
how it feels to drive down thestreets, like where you tend to
go, like what things tend tohappen.
I guess it would be harder toactually have your finger on the
pulse of what's actuallyimportant to the people living
(16:36):
there.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
How was the ownership change for you?
Like the Tri-City Voice is nowowned by a different entity.
Bill and Sharon have retired.
You're still there.
How was the changeover for you?
Speaker 3 (16:51):
It was very positive.
I knew that Bill and Sharonwanted to retire.
They needed to retire.
They've given 20 years of theirlife to Tri-City Voice and they
were in the office six days aweek, basically around the year.
They were in the office onMonday, holidays, finishing the
paper when no one else was inthe office.
(17:12):
Um, it's a lot of work andthey're not super young, so I
was just very glad that theyfound a way to keep the paper
going and I still have a job.
Yeah, I'm very glad to not beout of a job.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Let me ask you the Tri-City Voice runs on the
massive amount of advertisingthat's in it.
I'm assuming that's stillroughly true with the new
ownership.
That's the business model.
I've noticed that people reallylike hearing about local news.
I've noticed that people reallylike hearing about local news
but they've gotten maybeaccustomed to not having to pay
(17:53):
for it.
And how do you personallyinteract with or feel about that
dichotomy of there is not alack of desire to hear about
what's going on in town and thensubscriptions are down across
the country and everyone thinksthat you can kind of get that
(18:14):
news for free, and then theyalso complain like why don't we
get coverage, that kind of stuff?
What has been your interactionwith that kind of dichotomy?
I'm not really blaming people,it's.
It's something we've been, youknow, allowed to get accustomed
to, to get these things freethings, but it has come at a
cost.
What has been your relationshipwith that?
Speaker 3 (18:36):
yeah.
For people not wanting to payfor news it's kind of yeah.
It's hard when people are usedto something being free to say
oh, no, like this is in the youhave to pay for it category.
Now, and I think with news,especially if the sensational,
(18:58):
clickbait, unreliable stuff isfree and the actual news you
have to pay for, then that canalso be an issue.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
What did you like to do when you lived here?
I mean, I know the move issomewhat recent, but what did
you like to do in Frem do whenyou lived here?
I mean, I know the move issomewhat recent, but what did
you like to do in Fremont whenyou lived here?
Speaker 3 (19:11):
Yeah, fremont is Fremont's fun.
I have to think about what Iactually like to do, because I
like to go to local restaurants,shopping.
I feel like I don't have a lotof free time.
(19:31):
I like walking at the lake.
Actually, because we're at thelake, I was close enough that I
could just walk over here afterwork in the evening when it
wasn't so hot and just kind ofvibe.
I'm trying to think about thelocal places.
I really liked aniki sushi.
There's a lot of cute littlerestaurants like that.
(19:54):
Oh, and I love megamartactually.
Um, it's like the closest placeto get the good asian sta I was
.
I really like Osaka market butit's down in Warm Springs so
it's farther.
I didn't go there as much, butif I just needed, like just
(20:16):
needed some tofu, I just neededsome kimchi, I needed some nori
sheets because I'm making spammusubis or something.
I want to get the Koreanalcohol.
It's so good.
I want to get like just a bigrice bag or like the really thin
cut pork belly or pork shoulder.
(20:37):
I can actually just go to alocal place and get those and
cook something.
I don't have to go like all theway to Mitsuwa and San Jose.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
I have recently discovered that Osaka Market is
very bikeable from BART, fromWarm Springs Bright.
It's a little bit.
You have to be a little bit ofa confident rider.
There is a stretch and thatintersection of like Warm
Springs Boulevard and whereyou're about to get on 680 is is
(21:08):
kind of scary.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
But if you just wait it out and wait your turn behind
the semi trucks and I also likebeing really close to Paseo
Padre because all the festivalshappen there so I can just walk
there and even to the downtown.
It's a bit it was a bit furtherfrom me because I was on
Gardino, okay, but it was stillnice to not have to worry about
(21:32):
parking for those events Justhead out and like, oh okay, like
here's where all the people arejust going to hang out.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
This will air in a little bit and we will have
already released by then.
We will have already releasedan episode about the like, a
concert series that washappening on the roof of the
Asher which I think, if mystreets are correct, it was
nearby where you just said andapparently it's been canceled
because the Asher's under thenew management.
But some people say that, likethe downtown or the
transportation-y part ofdowntown, like the near BART, is
(22:13):
kind of dead because it servesa purpose, because it's there to
have your house next to thetransportation.
But you're saying not so much.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
I mean, I hope not.
I really like the efforts thatFremont's making to have a cute
little downtown area near thehub and I think they are going
to keep working on it.
They're going to actually puthousing like in one corner of
the hub as well.
I think that's the like, theFremont plan, the Fremont
development plan, whatever it is.
But I think it would be greatif we could have more shopping
(22:48):
in that area, just more funstuff to do and more like
downtown housing so people canjust live there and then walk
over to Megamart, as I've done afew times, or walk over to the
hub, walk over to the Targetthere and walk over to BART if
they need to.
Yeah, living next to BART wasgreat too, because I didn't use
(23:12):
it as much as I could have.
But I remember I went up toHayward for the Lit Hop and that
was really fun because it wasreally close to the BART station
and I could drink and not worryabout driving back.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Do you have any hobbies?
Speaker 3 (23:25):
Any hobbies.
I like writing fiction in myspare time.
I don't always have enough timeto actually devote to that.
I've been playing D&D.
My husband is in the same group, so it's kind of fun.
We're just hanging out with ourfriends.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
We had an episode not too long ago about the kind of
tabletop games community here inFremont and we kind of
mentioned it on the episode.
But I wanted to give creditwhere credit is due.
We were only able to talk to afew of the shop owners and there
are a lot more.
It seems like that's a prettystrong community.
I know D&D is one of many.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
It's very like let's put down our phones and use our
imaginations and do somethingthat's a little bit
strategy-based and a little bitcreative and performative, and I
think people like differentsides of it.
So if you're very into likeokay, like here's this problem
and here's the skill set I have.
How am I going to solve it,then like some people like D&D
(24:23):
for that reason and some peoplelike the idea of I can play this
zany character and have funwith it and be silly.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
What can you recommend to people to do in
Fremont?
Speaker 3 (24:38):
I might recommend hiking some unusual spots, even
just around the lake.
Just go and walk around thelake, it's really fun.
I also like walking alongAlameda Creek.
Sometimes you can park inneighborhoods you probably
shouldn't, but it's kind of likethis weird like secret little
spot and you can kind of go offand look at the different lakes.
(24:59):
And, yeah, walking along thelakes and Niles too is really
fun.
Yeah, and I also really likeCoyote Hills and Don Edwards.
Yeah, mostly hiking stuff.
I'd probably recommend like goout and do some hiking and just
enjoy like the unusual naturallandscape that like we've worked
(25:21):
really hard to preserve inFremont it feels like a big city
, but then it feels so much lesslike a big city than when you
get further north like Oaklandand Berkeley.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
So yeah, I think people should just enjoy it and
then find an unusual littlerestaurant to go to.
What does Fremont need to?
Speaker 3 (25:47):
improve?
Hmm, that's a good question.
I think people like sometimeslike they do feel like it's less
safe.
You know, we could be better athousing people who need housing
, because sometimes, like evenaround Tri-City Voice, like you
(26:11):
see people who are just kind ofhanging out outside.
They don't quite look okay andthey're probably just chilling,
but then it is also a little bitlike like are they reactive?
Like you hope not, then you'renot sure.
So I think like there is anissue and people like don't feel
safe for that reason.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Have you ever not felt safe?
Speaker 3 (26:31):
I've once in a while, like usually, if someone you
know is just kind of doing theirthing, just chilling out, Um, I
, you know, I just like um thinkthat that's another person
minding their own business.
They may not have a place to goto, but they're not like paying
(26:52):
attention to me.
But once in a while, likethere's someone like walking
around, like kind of likeweaving into people, kind of not
like kind of shoutingunpredictably, like sometimes,
like I think once I was in therailies and like someone was
just like weaving around andthen like kind of coming close
to me and saying something butnot quite saying it to me and
(27:14):
then weaving back.
And sometimes I've gone outwalking and people, guys want to
pay me compliments and I'm like, okay, I don't know you, I'm
hoping this is just a complimentand nothing else happens.
So once in a while I feel likeI'm not quite sure, like I hope
this doesn't escalate and so farit never has for me, like no
(27:37):
one's actually like startedyelling or cussing at me or like
actually gotten up in my space,but then it is like a little
bit of an undercurrent ofnervousness where you're not
quite sure what the otherperson's thinking.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Okay, I think we're going to wrap it up, but let me
ask as long as it's been aroundthe Tri-City Voice, and as free
as it is and as many locationsas it is plunked down, not
everybody knows that it exists,so tell us why people should
start reading the Tri-City Voice.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
You can learn so much about the people who are living
here and the cool stuff thatthey're doing, and it's just
really fun to read about.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
And it comes out on which days, how often.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
Comes out every Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Is there anything else that you wanted to say?
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Not really.
I feel very lucky that I've hadnot only a job for the past
five years but I've been workingin my field and I think that's
really difficult if you're notin a STEM field in the Bay Area.
So I feel very fortunate thatstars aligned and I started
working there when I did.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Well, with that, thank you.
Thank you, thank for.
Uh, I'll let you get back toyour office, uh, which is just
over.
There we are sitting.
We are sitting for the record.
We are sitting at the park atthe chess tables.
Uh, it's nice there are peoplehere.
Uh, people should show up.
Uh, you don't have to work athome when you work from home,
that's true, come to the park.
So.
Thank you very much for yourtime.
(29:11):
I really appreciate it.
I'll let you go.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
I'm Gary Williams.
Andrew Kvet is the editor.
Scheduling and pre-interviewsby Sarah S.
Be sure to subscribe whereverit is that you listen so you
don't miss an episode.
You can find everything we make, the podcast and all of our
social media links atthefremontpodcastcom.
Join us next week on theFremont Podcast.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
This is a Muggins Media Podcast.
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