 Hey, thanks for tuning into the City Considerers. We're back here in the Davis Media Access Studio here in Davis, California. I'm your host, Autumn Lab A, Renault. And this is a place where we take a few minutes out to talk with our elected officials, our city leaders, and get the scoop on what's going on in our fair burg. Today's guest wears so many hats, it boggles the mind. Scientist, advocate, activist, small business owner, mother, grandmother, and now city council member. And by virtue of being the highest vote getter in the recent election, our mayor pro tem and our mayor in two years, I'd like to welcome Gloria Partida. Thank you. Gloria, thanks for being with us today. Thank you for having me. Last time you and I did any kind of hanging out was actually on the big day of giving when we were busy organizing what turned into a, that was a big event. Yes, and it was fun. It was fun. Promoted nonprofits and built community, which is what I'm all about. So, and it was great to do that with you and with Davis Media Access. And as founder of the Davis Phoenix Coalition, your organization and Davis Media Access have done some partnering over the last couple of years. And we really appreciate your work to promote equity and inclusion throughout the town. It's something you brought to bear on your campaign. It's something that I think is gonna be a part of all your work. Moving forward. And on that note, one of the things in your campaign you spoke about was the importance of including those issues, equity and inclusion as we look at large scale planning processes. And by that we mean when we look at housing, when we look at infrastructure and development. So now that you're on the dais and getting into this, how do we ensure that that actually happens moving forward? And what are some of the things that you're doing? So, I think that when people think about me, they think about equity as you said. And social justice because that is what I have sort of done most of my advocacy around. But one of the things that kind of drew me to the public service and to being on City Council was that I did see an opportunity to promote that citywide. But one of the ways that is most interesting to me for doing that is something that I don't think people think about too often and that is economic development. So economic development I think is really important for us in Davis because I think it's something that we have kind of, being kind of a slow growth city, have shied away from. And it's not something that we really is kind of at the top of our list. I mean, it's at the top of the list for a lot of people but I think that when you think about a small town you don't think about the economic development so much. But economic development is really important for equity because it provides jobs and it provides a bigger tax base. And when you have a bigger tax base and your finances, the shitty finances are in better shape or they are maintained in a better shape, that allows the city to do more equitable programs for youth and that's what I'm really, really interested in. For instance, this past summer of Tracy Tomaski and my co-chair for the Phoenix Coalition and I were talking about wouldn't it be great if we could give scholarships or buy pool passes for kids who are going between the sixth and seventh grade because there is some studies that show that for instance that's the year that most kids start smoking, right? That start to experiment with tobacco and it's a year that you lose a lot of kids. You lose a lot of kids in the summer between the sixth and seventh grade. And so something as simple as giving out pool passes to at-risk kids would really kind of level the playing field for a lot of youth. And there are a lot of great, Parks and Rec is just a wonderful vehicle to sort of catch kids. It's a great safety net for our youth. And so that's where I see the connection between equity and economic development. And so I think that that is really important. And you're right that year between sixth and seventh when they're transitioning into what we have in Davis' middle school is, you know, I've just raised three kids. It's a critical developmental point. Let's unpack economic development just a little bit though because I think what I've learned when talking to people about it, they hear that and they think, oh, big box stores. And Davis, you know, we're not about big box stores but it actually touches the community on a lot of different levels. Can we talk about some other ways that that plays out? And so the biggest and most obvious is partnering with the university. And as you know, we're just kind of working our way through negotiations with the university and their long range development plan. Right, that's been big news recently. And that is big news. And I think that I'm very, very hopeful and it sounds like we are going to be able to promote a good relationship building with the university and hopefully we can get through that process and come out of it with a stronger relationship. And part of that relationship I'm hoping is to be able to tap into the innovation that's there and be able to have, you know, maybe if we can't get like a big research park like what they're doing in Sacramento, we can get little incubators, spaces or places that the university can sort of explore ideas and then maybe go somewhere where there is more land or maybe we can take a look at what we have available and do some assessments about, you know, what are our strengths in the city and where do we have space and where do we have interest and do some outreach around those areas? Well, research park, since you brought it up, it's one of those issues that has been talked about in Davis and there have been various iterations of it that have come forward and really haven't materialized. I like this idea of smaller instead of, you know, looking at a big hole that we can't really, you know, get our brains around. I'm thinking about the nugget headquarters that was approved last week and I read that there's some, a little bit of room for some research. So maybe we can squeeze things in here and there. And the connection with the university, of course, one of the big touchstones there is housing and the shortage of affordable housing for students and therefore students taking up a lot of the other, you know, rentals in town. So I hope that that's something that we'll continue to work on. I attend at UC Davis in the late 80s, graduated from here and it makes me sad to think about when I hear about students sleeping in cars or students who have really long commutes because they simply can't afford to live here or even if they can, they can't find a place to live because the vacancy rate is effectively, you know, zero. Right. And I think that, again, you know, that is something that we can't, you know, we can't rely on the university to do completely. And I absolutely agree that they need to meet a percentage but the reality is that we are going to have to tackle our housing shortage, you know, be that for students or be that for people who are here because, you know, as you say, you were a student at UC Davis. I was a student at UC Davis. I've had, you know, children that have gone off to college. And one of the realities is that kids don't want to live on campus, right? I mean, kids will live on campus for a couple of years but it's kind of a natural progression that they're going to want to go off of campus. They want the freedom. They want the autonomy, absolutely. And it's frankly cheaper to live off of campus. And so that, you know, regardless of how much the university builds, there, you know, we are going to have students that are going to live in the city. Yeah. So these are big issues we're talking about. Getting down to the nitty gritty. I know that you attended a lot of council meetings and you've been very involved in city life for a long time. So I think that, you know, sitting up on the dais is, that's new, but it's not that different from you've been involved. Have you come across anything? Have you met anything that has really surprised you yet? Or have also have you encountered an issue that is new to you that is now, you know, becoming more important to you? And I realize that maybe that's your question. It hasn't been that long. But what's your sense of the larger field so far, you know? You know, I really can't say because I really do still feel like I'm getting my feet under me. There's a ton of reading that has to happen. And what is surprising to me is the variety of things that you run across and you know, you get a lot of emails, you get a ton of emails from citizens and from, you know, other entities that want you to pay attention to certain topics or certain issues. And sometimes that can be a little overwhelming because I want to be, you know, I don't want to ignore anything and I want to make sure that I'm thorough and all of that. So that has been a little surprising because it's a lot to field. Yeah, and you can't be an expert on all topics. And so I know I've, working with other council members of the years, I see that people, you know, kind of have their, the projects they feel the most well-versed in and then they have to, but you have to pay attention to so much when you're up there. You do, yeah. But what has surprised me about that is, and what I've appreciated is that it has kind of opened my view more to, you know, because when you're doing whatever it is that you're doing, you see what's in front of you. You get in your groove. Yeah, you get your groove. And so you don't realize that there are, you know, just all these other issues that are here. And so that has been great. So I consider myself like a learner. I really, really am charged by, you know, learning about things and figuring things out. And so I kind of feel like this is a perfect place for me. And so I'm really enjoying that part of it. Do you feel a lot of responsibilities on your shoulders? You are, Rochelle, of course, rolled off. Council, you're the only woman on Council. You're our Latina. You are, we have not had a Council member like you before who came to the table with equity and inclusion as their main, you know, tenants of what you believe and what you want to move forward. Well, as I said in my acceptance, you know, it says a lot about our city. So, you know, right now in this, right now in the time that we are, you're seeing, you know, you're seeing Latinx children that are being used as a tool to close opportunity. And so I am so grateful to this community that has managed to keep the doors open for opportunity. And I just, I think that it does say a lot about us. It says, you know, a lot about what our values are. And so, yeah, it is, it does feel, I do feel the weight of it. But I also feel supported in that endeavor because I know that, you know, that this is where my community stands. And so I did have like one lovely experience where I had this Latina mom come over with her two daughters because one of the daughters who was around 10 wanted to meet me. Nice. And so that was very validating. So you're modeling that? Yeah. Which is great. And my daughter just started, my daughter just started her first year of residency in LA. And so she's kind of back in the neighborhoods that we grew up in or that I grew up in and that's where my kids were at. And she says that whenever she sees like a young, teenage single mom come in that she looks at her and she says, you know, you could be mayor one day. So that is like, that's like really, it warms my heart. That's very awesome. And I'm confident that you're up to the task and more. And I think we're very fortunate to have you here as an elected council member and mayor pro tem. So thank you for your service. And thanks for making time to come in and chat with us today. As I said earlier, the door will be open and we will have you back. And you know, happy to talk about single issues or just checking and see how it's going from time to time. Okay, I look forward to that. Great, thanks so much Gloria. All right. And thank you for tuning in. You've been watching the city considers here on Davis Media Access. This is a program that airs on Tuesday evenings at 615 PM, right before council meetings. You can also find it online at dctv.davismedia.org or on our YouTube channel. And thanks for tuning in.