#108. Leslie Castellano | Art, Transit, And A Kinder Eureka

Scott Hammond: Ladies and gentlemen, friends and neighbors, and all those out at sea, this is Scott Hammond with the 100% Humboldt podcast in Humboldt County, California, with my dear best friend, and you're gonna say your last name. I know your first name's Leslie-

Leslie Castellano: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … but I gotta get the last name right.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah. Castellano.

Scott Hammond: Castellano. Hi, Leslie.

Leslie Castellano: Hey, Scott.

Scott Hammond: How's your day?

Leslie Castellano: Today's been busy.

Scott Hammond: Yeah?

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, I-

Leslie Castellano: I started off at 3:30 at the Skywalk .

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's right. You kinda- You had Good Morning America in Eureka.

Leslie Castellano: We did.

Scott Hammond: They were here at 3:30 in the morning?

Leslie Castellano: Yes. Yes, they were.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, Nancy Olson said she was there, and she was real tired at, like, 11:00 today.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: 11:00. Hi, Nancy. So you're, you're going on, like, fumes right now.

Leslie Castellano: It's okay. That's maybe normal.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. 3:30 in the morning, want some coffee?

Leslie Castellano: I've had a couple of rounds of coffee, so, uh-

Scott Hammond: Wow. So they have to broadcast really early for the East Coast.

Leslie Castellano: Exactly.

Scott Hammond: So that's 6:30 Eastern-

Leslie Castellano: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … Standard Time.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah, and we didn't really start broadcasting until 4:00.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Leslie Castellano: Um, but they wanted us there so we would be ready-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … when they started.

Scott Hammond: So you're up at the Skywalk in, at the zoo.

Leslie Castellano: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Wow. Jim Campbell-Spickler.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Was he there?

Leslie Castellano: He was not part of the crowd. He was present in attendance-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Leslie Castellano: … but he wasn't part of the crowd.

Leslie Castellano: They-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Leslie Castellano: … they kind of… You know, it was a good mix of people from different, you know, uh, like the, the chamber, the-

Scott Hammond: Right

Leslie Castellano: … Eureka Main Street. You know, some realtor-facing folks. Anyway, just different-

Scott Hammond: Right

Leslie Castellano: … community members there.

Scott Hammond: My friend Lucky was there from Rotary. He's a realtor.

Leslie Castellano: Oh.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Leslie Castellano: I missed him. You know, it's funny, we were just emailing yesterday, and-

Scott Hammond: It's funny

Leslie Castellano: … I sh- I, we should've chatted.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Well, hi, Lucky. Um, yeah, no, uh, that's really cool that we got represented. Was… Thank goodness it wasn't raining.

Leslie Castellano: Yes, definitely. Thankful.

Scott Hammond: Welcome to the redwoods. It's dumping rain.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: No, it's six-

Leslie Castellano: It would've changed the tone

Scott Hammond: … it's 65 and perfect all January, sorry.

Leslie Castellano: Right.

Scott Hammond: Wasn't snowing.

Leslie Castellano: Yes.

Scott Hammond: So tell us the Leslie story. What's your, what's your day job, and then I wanna hear about where you're from. Uh, AI says you're local, so that's pretty good.

Leslie Castellano: Oh, good.

Scott Hammond: We'll see how local you are.

Leslie Castellano: Right. I'm here now.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Leslie Castellano: But-

Scott Hammond: You're, you're in the moment.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I'm present with you right here.

Leslie Castellano: Exactly, very local. Um-

Scott Hammond: So you're a city councilperson.

Leslie Castellano: City councilperson.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Leslie Castellano: Um, representing Ward 1 for the city of Eureka.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: And my day job is I'm the executive director of the Inc People Center for Art and

Leslie Castellano: Culture-

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Leslie Castellano: .. here, based out of Eureka, California-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … but serving kind of mostly Humboldt County and some of the-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … wider North Coast region.

Scott Hammond: Nice. I wanted to talk all about the arts and why it's important to us and our economy, but also us as human beings.

Leslie Castellano: Right.

Scott Hammond: We'll get there. Uh, so tell me about you and where'd you go to school.

Scott Hammond: What's your-

Leslie Castellano: Okay

Scott Hammond: … what's your deal, man? What's your story?

Leslie Castellano: What's my deal? Okay.

Scott Hammond: What's the deal?

Leslie Castellano: Well, mostly I grew up in Florida.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Leslie Castellano: Um, my, a lot of my family's from Oklahoma, so I spent a little time in my kind of age one to five in Oklahoma.

Leslie Castellano: But, um, then other, the other part of my family's from Florida, so-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Leslie Castellano: … grew up in the Panhandle, so the Lower Alabama part of Florida.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: And you know, that's, like, the Gulf of Mexico, the, um… You know, so lots of, like, white sand

Leslie Castellano: beaches.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Leslie Castellano: Um, you know, oak, oak trees, bayous, Spanish moss. And then I went to school in New College in Sarasota, which is a small-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Leslie Castellano: … liberal arts college.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: Or was a small liberal arts college. It's had some changes in recent years, but-

Scott Hammond: So what did you study there?

Leslie Castellano: I studied anthropology, and then about a year and a half in,

Leslie Castellano: I decided I didn't wanna be an anthropologist, so I-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … switched to social sciences in general.

Scott Hammond: Ah.

Leslie Castellano: Um, but the anthropology kind of informed some of my thinking around art and culture and just-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … some of the framework around that.

Leslie Castellano: Um, I had like two years of credit going into college because I was dual enrolled in high school, so-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Leslie Castellano: … um, I-

Scott Hammond: So you're smart.

Leslie Castellano: I don't know. Uh-

Scott Hammond: You were advanced.

Leslie Castellano: I'm a keener, you know? Right?

Leslie Castellano: Like, um, so anyway, I, I was able to… Uh, I was only in college for a few years because I already had a lot of school under my belt.

Scott Hammond: So you, did you graduate?

Leslie Castellano: I gra- Of course.

Scott Hammond: Got a degree?

Leslie Castellano: I mean, yeah, I graduated.

Scott Hammond: Who doesn't?

Leslie Castellano: Sorry, that's weird.

Scott Hammond: Of course. Of course I did. What's… How dare you.

Scott Hammond: Yes.

Leslie Castellano: I do like to finish things I begin. That feels important.

Scott Hammond: That's good. See, anthropology kind of plays into politics perfectly.

Leslie Castellano: It does, right?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Leslie Castellano: Yes, in, you know, social s- you know, for sure thinking about, uh, how we form the, the social spaces we live in-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … how they inform us.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Leslie Castellano: You know, that kind of play between, right, like, like the, the way our experiences inform how we imagine the world, and then also how the way we live together and-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Leslie Castellano: … imagine the world then shapes our experiences.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I was gonna go back to the baseline of how history repeats itself. How we make the same mistakes over and over and over again.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: There's-

Leslie Castellano: There, there's that too

Scott Hammond: … it's not always that, but there is that, anyway.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So-

Leslie Castellano: Yeah, the, the story of human civilization is, uh, has some dark, pretty dark turns that we seem to make-

Scott Hammond: Crazy. Yeah

Leslie Castellano: … uh, again.

Scott Hammond: Oh, my s- 21-year-old's kind of a student of history, and he's reminding me-

Leslie Castellano: Hmm

Scott Hammond: … with his, some of his revisionist crazy stuff too. But another story for another day. So you gr- how did, what got you to Humboldt?

Leslie Castellano: Uh, you know, growing up in Florida, there's definitely a, a West Coast mythos that I-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … you know, as a 19, 20 year old was-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Leslie Castellano: … pretty attracted to, and had some friends, you know, did a little bit of road tripping during the summers,

Leslie Castellano: um, in my youth. And so I had come to California and then had friends that had moved out here. And so when I was kind of wrapping

Leslie Castellano: up my Uh, my coursework, um, at New College. I came out and, um, you know, wasn't intending to, like, settle in Humboldt County.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: You know, had, had some, a couple of friends who had moved here and,

Leslie Castellano: um, like, just kind of got involved in the community and then it just kind of slowly

Leslie Castellano: grew-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … and here I am-

Scott Hammond: So-

Leslie Castellano: … deeply involved now.

Scott Hammond: And it, and it got into you, yeah.

Leslie Castellano: It got into me.

Scott Hammond: That's okay. That's good.

Leslie Castellano: Yep.

Scott Hammond: Could do a… I, I would say you could do a lot worse than Humboldt County.

Leslie Castellano: Oh my gosh.

Scott Hammond: It's so amazing.

Leslie Castellano: I love it here.

Scott Hammond: That's good. What do you like about it, love about it?

Leslie Castellano: Right. Um, gosh. I mean, I think the, what first drew me, I was, and still try to be a pretty avid kind of hiker, outdoors person-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … who is just a combination of, like, mountains, rivers-

Scott Hammond: Everything

Leslie Castellano: … forest-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … ocean.

Scott Hammond: I'm married to one of you, one of your people.

Leslie Castellano: Very good. We're good people.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Leslie Castellano: We're good people. Um-

Scott Hammond: Did, she did Lamphere Dunes this week and-

Leslie Castellano: Mm

Scott Hammond: … got in trouble and- … had the permit.

Leslie Castellano: Oh, good.

Scott Hammond: Still got in trouble.

Leslie Castellano: Good job.

Scott Hammond: It's closed, but they said it was open, but it's closed.

Leslie Castellano: Right. Like, but, ugh-

Scott Hammond: But-

Leslie Castellano: I tried. I really tried to do the right thing.

Scott Hammond: I said, "Joni, you tried to do the right thing here." But yeah, she's hiked pretty

Scott Hammond: much every- everywhere. She hikes with the Fortuna group, the old, kind of the old farts

Scott Hammond: there. Um- Every Wednesday for the last 200 years, they have gone on a hike somewhere.

Leslie Castellano: Ah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, they're hardcore.

Leslie Castellano: Oh, that's great.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Leslie Castellano: Very cool.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, they're really, really neat.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Better be there early, though. They leave-

Leslie Castellano: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … right, Reese Hughes?

Leslie Castellano: Oh, good. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Hi, Reese. So… Wait, I'm talking to you, not to Reese.

Leslie Castellano: I'm like, "Hi, hi."

Scott Hammond: She's not here. So you're a hiker. Good place to hike.

Leslie Castellano: Yep, good place to hike. And then, um, so that was what first drew me here.

Leslie Castellano: Um, and the-

Scott Hammond: Wait, fave- favorite hikes?

Leslie Castellano: Oh, gosh. I mean, my favorite closest hike is Ma-le'l

Leslie Castellano: Dunes.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: Um, I've, I just… It's always wondrous, that kind of meeting place between the ocean and the dunes-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Leslie Castellano: … and the forest, and the way the dunes open up there and-

Scott Hammond: It's kind of other worldly.

Leslie Castellano: It is.

Scott Hammond: This intersection.

Leslie Castellano: I love it. Um-

Scott Hammond: You ever been there for the mosquitoes?

Leslie Castellano: I think I've been there for the mosquitoes.

Scott Hammond: One out of others, yeah.

Leslie Castellano: Or they've been there for me.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Well, it goes both ways.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah. Right. Right. Reciprocal relationship. Um, I, I really like the, um, Dolison Meadow hike that goes-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … down to the Emerald Creek. That's my favorite-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … sort of long hike. It's the one I've been to the most.

Leslie Castellano: Um-

Scott Hammond: What's the road called up by Le- Ladybird Johnson that you get there?

Leslie Castellano: Uh, is it Bald Hills Road? Is it, I think it's-

Scott Hammond: It's Bald Hills, yeah.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wow, you're two for two. You're, like, Joni's two favorite right now.

Leslie Castellano: Oh.

Scott Hammond: Maybe. I'll ask around.

Leslie Castellano: All right. Hey, Joni. We'll-

Scott Hammond: Hey, Joni

Leslie Castellano: … we should chat.

Scott Hammond: What's your third one?

Leslie Castellano: My third… Ooh. Um-

Scott Hammond: All right, Joni, this is for all the money if she gets this right.

Leslie Castellano: I know. I don't think I will. I'm sorry, Joni, ahead of time.

Scott Hammond: She's panicking. Time's running out.

Leslie Castellano: I feel like, "I didn't know it was a game show.

Leslie Castellano: Shoot."

Scott Hammond: Time's running out.

Leslie Castellano: Um-

Scott Hammond: And we do that later

Leslie Castellano: … uh, I, I think the, these, these aren't Humboldt hikes, but the Trinity Alps, I just love-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Leslie Castellano: … the Trinity Alps in general.

Leslie Castellano: And-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Leslie Castellano: … you know, last summer I went for the first time to the Marble Mountains-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Leslie Castellano: … and I've been wanting to go there for years.

Leslie Castellano: And, um-

Scott Hammond: Right

Leslie Castellano: … I was very-

Scott Hammond: Is that Siskiyou County?

Leslie Castellano: … thrilled. It is.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Leslie Castellano: It is.

Scott Hammond: Good.

Leslie Castellano: It was beautiful. Um, I wanna go again, uh, and spend, I spent a couple nights.

Scott Hammond: Did you go up 96 or 3 or way up to somewhere?

Leslie Castellano: Uh, 96 and then, ugh, I forget the road we took from there.

Scott Hammond: Way out there.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Leslie Castellano: And then maybe a local Humboldt hike. I don't know. I see, I feel like there's just a lot of ties for third.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. That's fine.

Leslie Castellano: Joni, you'll have to tell me your, your third favorite and then, uh-

Scott Hammond: I'll just, I'll, I'll, I'll pick for her. Um, probably Pr- anything in Prairie Creek, straight up.

Leslie Castellano: Okay. I do, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Pretty amazing.

Leslie Castellano: Prairie Creek is good. It's true.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah. Yep.

Scott Hammond: And I do smaller hikes.

Scott Hammond: Anyway, so hiking brought you here, kept you here.

Leslie Castellano: Yep.

Scott Hammond: What else?

Leslie Castellano: Um, well, when I first moved here, I taught preschool for five years-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Leslie Castellano: … and, um, and I kind of dove into Tai Chi, uh, studying Tai Chi, and so that was the first, like, community I formed or was part of. I was-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … not knowing at the time, I guess I have a nerdy interest in, like, doing things that, uh, cultivate collectivity. And so, you know, it's like, right, like you can go to a Tai Chi class, but I was like, "I'm gonna make a Tai Chi newsletter."

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Leslie Castellano: "And we're gonna have Tai Chi potlucks, and we're gonna get together in the morning-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Leslie Castellano: … and do Tai Chi,"

Leslie Castellano: you know?

Scott Hammond: Connection, community. That's cool.

Leslie Castellano: Exactly. So, you know, that was-

Scott Hammond: So this was your group that you grew it?

Leslie Castellano: I was not the teacher.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Leslie Castellano: For sure, no. I, I was a student.

Leslie Castellano: Um, I was-

Scott Hammond: But you brought people together

Leslie Castellano: … very, yeah. Yeah. I was definitely-

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's cool

Leslie Castellano: … a, a knitter-

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … in, in that space.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Leslie Castellano: Um, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Well, that's cool. I like that. So you stuck around and then, uh, what'd you do for work?

Leslie Castellano: Stuck around. Taught preschool for a while and then, um, I decided that, it was mid-20s, that I, you know, I'm like, "Maybe, maybe one day later I'll come back to teaching." I love working with young children, but I was like, "You know, I'm gonna explore other things." Um, at that time, Tai Chi kind of brought me to studying contact improvisation, which is a dance form based on… If you take, if you think about Aikido-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … right? Like, where you have people using, uh, like, momentum to, um, work in combat situations-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … or work against one another.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: Um, contact improvisation would be s- kind of taking those same principles, but using, like, momentum, uh, kind

Leslie Castellano: of like sensing one another's, like-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … center to work collaboratively as a dance practice.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Leslie Castellano: I kind of, I started studying contact improvisation pretty seriously, um-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Leslie Castellano: … which-

Scott Hammond: This is upright? I mean, people stand and do it?

Leslie Castellano: Yeah. It, it's a, I mean, it's a dance form. It can be pretty acrobatic. I still-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … practice and teach that dance form.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: Um-

Scott Hammond: Throw someone into a somersault?

Leslie Castellano: Yeah. I mean, I, you know, you like flip up on people's shoulders and-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Leslie Castellano: … you know, I-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Leslie Castellano: … flip people up onto my shoulders and, you know, you can kinda go back and forth-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Leslie Castellano: … like using momentum to kinda continue the-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Leslie Castellano: … the, the movement.

Scott Hammond: Parkour.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah. I mean-

Scott Hammond: People, people parkour.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah. Yeah, w- that c- I like that metaphor.

Leslie Castellano: Um, so, so anyway, uh, studied that pretty seriously and, um, which I'll get to how that informs like politics maybe.

Leslie Castellano: But, um, through that practice and through being somewhat involved with, um… At that time, I got involved with the, uh, the Biodiesel Roadshow, Sustainable Communities Biodiesel Roadshow-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Leslie Castellano: … which was a, a local group that was kind of associated with the Redwood Peace and Justice Center-

Scott Hammond: Hmm. Okay

Leslie Castellano: … that we had a big biodiesel bus and we would go and do like giant puppets and stilt walking at like protests and things like that.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Leslie Castellano: And, um,

Leslie Castellano: so-

Scott Hammond: Like Black Rock or, or-

Leslie Castellano: Not… No, you know, some of the people were going there-

Scott Hammond: Burning Man

Leslie Castellano: … for sure.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah. Uh, I mean, I've been to Burning Man, but this was sort of like, this is like, uh-

Scott Hammond: More local

Leslie Castellano: … post 9/11.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Leslie Castellano: So sort of there, there was a lot of-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Leslie Castellano: … like political activation around that time.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: Um,

Leslie Castellano: and so b- kind of both of those things I was like, "I need a place to practice dance and to make giant puppets," and so, um, found a warehouse with a couple friends in the, um, in Old Town and-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Leslie Castellano: … and that's when Synapsis was formed, which is kind of an art space, and I'm still, uh, sort of loosely holding the, the container of-

Scott Hammond: Where, where's that? Is that the one on like 2nd by Eagle House down that

Scott Hammond: way?

Leslie Castellano: No. It's on, uh, Union Street, kind of Union and Wabash, which is-

Scott Hammond: Over that

Leslie Castellano: … um, just across from that- … big Caltrans campus if you're in Humboldt County.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: Um, and it's, you know, so now it's, it's, uh, like a, a, not an old funky warehouse space, but a, like a old community hall. It's an old Finnish hall that was built in

Leslie Castellano: 1904-

Scott Hammond: Right. Right

Leslie Castellano: … that, uh, we've, uh, renovated. Uh, now we own it, renovated it, and turned it into a community space.

Scott Hammond: Did Access Humboldt do a video there with the drums, the drummers with Michelle Whitely drumming?

Leslie Castellano: I believe so, yeah. We had a drum brigade there, so there was definitely-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, they show that a lot.

Leslie Castellano: Oh, do they? That's funny.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Leslie Castellano: Okay, great.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Leslie Castellano: Thanks, Access Humboldt.

Scott Hammond: Thank, thank you, Access Humboldt. You're amazing.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, they're great. So you're doing all the things. So, uh- How, how did that-

Leslie Castellano: Maybe too many.

Scott Hammond: That's okay. You learn, you learn by doing.

Scott Hammond: So how-

Leslie Castellano: Yes

Scott Hammond: … how did that transition then to politics?

Leslie Castellano: Right. Exactly. Um, so okay.

Leslie Castellano: So, um, so contact improvisation, right? It's, it's a, ideologically it's a dance form where… And this may be a little esoteric at first, but I think-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … it, it makes sense in my body, so whatever. Um, I'm sharing it now. Anyway, it's a dance form that's, right, it's, you know… So you're in this relationship where you're, you're sensing someone else's body. It's a non-codified form, and it also, you're constantly in a relationship of change, right?

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: Because, um, you're sensing what's possible in that moment and s- and trying to kind of c- make the best out of it really-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … um, by doing something that's like creative and, uh… I mean, creative's such kind of a weird word, but, like, that's something that's, uh-

Scott Hammond: Spontaneous?

Leslie Castellano: … generative. Spontaneous and m- and I think generative of like-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … what is possible-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Leslie Castellano: … through this connectivity.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Leslie Castellano: Right? Um, and, you know, and perhaps that's like a thing of beauty-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … you know, depending on how you define beauty or at least-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Leslie Castellano: … maybe a, a space of curiosity. I think the idea of curiosity is really-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … valuable in that practice.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Leslie Castellano: And so, um, that- … kind of informed, I think, just the way I think about community and-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Leslie Castellano: … like connecting to people is like, you know, try… right? Like we, you know, in contact improvisation it's not that you don't bring skills and training to the work-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … but then you take, you know, those are your tools that you use just like political training or anything like that. But then, you know, it's in that meeting point that you're like there with another person or more than one person.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: It can be like trios or quartets or, or like group scores. But, but also this idea of like sensing another person, people, and seeing what's possible.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: Right? And doing something in a, that's collaborative and generative for the exchange that you have with one another.

Scott Hammond: Is it designed for fun? Should it be fun?

Leslie Castellano: Yeah. And it's fun.

Scott Hammond: Let's, let's do one right now.

Leslie Castellano: I mean,

Leslie Castellano: sure.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Leslie Castellano: I'm, I'm teaching a class later tonight, so-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Leslie Castellano: … you can…

Scott Hammond: Tell us about, tell us h- about that. You wanna do a shout-out on that?

Leslie Castellano: Um-

Scott Hammond: Are you adding more people all the time?

Leslie Castellano: Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Uh-

Scott Hammond: Shout it out.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah. Uh, Thursday evenings at Synapsis we do contact improvisation. There's class and jam. Sometimes there's live music.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Leslie Castellano: Um, and folks can learn what this form is.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Leslie Castellano: Um, so that-

Scott Hammond: What time? What time?

Leslie Castellano: Uh, 6:30, um, and then there's like a warmup and 7:00 there's open dancing. Sometimes the class goes longer. It sort of slightly changes week to week, but if you come at 6:30, there will be people there and dancing.

Scott Hammond: So you're gonna stay up 24 hours today, aren't you?

Leslie Castellano: I think I might. I know. I'm like, "Oh, maybe." I'm gonna tr- yeah. I know. I'm like-

Scott Hammond: Maybe I'll sit this one out.

Leslie Castellano: I have like more work to do Between, anyway, we'll see how, how far I can,

Leslie Castellano: uh, go.

Scott Hammond: So, uh, day job, you're this, you're director of Ink People.

Leslie Castellano: Yep.

Scott Hammond: And you were our neighbors at State Farm next door-

Leslie Castellano: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … and now you've moved-

Leslie Castellano: Right

Scott Hammond: … and gonna move again to-

Leslie Castellano: Yes

Scott Hammond: … downtown, new building.

Leslie Castellano: I know.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Leslie Castellano: It's very exciting.

Scott Hammond: I saw a builder coming out of there too.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah. We're, we're… There is work happening. You know, I mean, one of the

Leslie Castellano: joys of a, taking on an old building is finding the things that have, that need to be repaired-

Scott Hammond: Right

Leslie Castellano: … and, um, you know, taking care of them and kind of bringing it back to life, so.

Scott Hammond: Was it Ichabod's Billiards last time?

Leslie Castellano: It was Rose's Billiards.

Scott Hammond: And Ichabod might've been before Rose, yeah.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah. I-

Scott Hammond: But it was a pool hall and beer joint.

Leslie Castellano: It was a pool hall-

Scott Hammond: Kinda. That was fun

Leslie Castellano: … and it, it was like-

Scott Hammond: I've been in there

Leslie Castellano: … the Eureka, um, Alibi for a minute.

Scott Hammond: And Club West way back.

Leslie Castellano: It was Club West. That was when, when I first moved here, it was Club West-

Scott Hammond: Right

Leslie Castellano: … and saw some good music there. Um, so it, it's, yeah, for the Ink People, it will be a gallery,

Leslie Castellano: small venue.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Leslie Castellano: Um, our youth, um, our youth classroom is there where youths learn, like, graphic design-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … digital animation.

Scott Hammond: Music, right?

Leslie Castellano: Um, yeah, music recording.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: We, we're building in a small recording studio there.

Leslie Castellano: Um, and we're gonna have a youth-run coffee shop there that's like a workforce development project-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Leslie Castellano: … so youth will learn workforce development skills.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Leslie Castellano: Um-

Scott Hammond: I don't have to go to Starbucks.

Leslie Castellano: Right. You don't have to now also.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Scott Hammond: Yes, I know. I quit a long time ago.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah, we have so many… Oh my God, I know. I mean, it'll be a great opportunity for the youth. We do have many very good coffee shops in Old Town

Leslie Castellano: already.

Scott Hammond: Right

Leslie Castellano: But, you know.

Scott Hammond: Oh, we'll get to that when it's quiz time.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Which is coming right up. Uh, so you're, you direct all the folks and run the show, and you're, you're transitioning now 'cause you're in this whole big new building, and wow, gotta move all the stuff eventually

Scott Hammond: and go-

Leslie Castellano: Yes, we will. Yep.

Scott Hammond: Do, do the reset.

Leslie Castellano: By the end of June. I know. It's, you know, the

Leslie Castellano: building, as a project, uh, checks a lot of boxes in

Leslie Castellano: that, uh, I've been involved with the Ink People for a long time, um, as a board member, and then, you know, and so really got to know Libby

Leslie Castellano: Maynard-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … you know, in that space. And, um, you know, Libby had a vision and a dream for the Ink People to have a permanent home-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … before I became the director, and I really, uh, also felt a lot of alignment and care for that vision and dream.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Leslie Castellano: Because there's something about, I mean, one, the organization's been around since 1979 and has never really had its own space. We were in the municipal auditorium for quite a while.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: But then after that big earthquake in 2012-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Leslie Castellano: … um, we lost that space and really kind of have kinda hopped from space to space-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Leslie Castellano: … in the, uh, intermediary time.

Leslie Castellano: And anyway, so, so it's really exciting to kind of take on this project that, one, will, like, serve the community in terms of really

Leslie Castellano: amplifying-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Leslie Castellano: … the work that we do. Like, we support, you know, more than 90 different, uh, Dream Maker projects, which is our fiscal sponsorship

Leslie Castellano: program.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: And, you know, plus our youth program, plus all of the, like, placemaking, placekeeping work we do, and, you know, and to really have a space where people can gather and, you know, have those cultural exchanges, have those creative exchanges, like-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Leslie Castellano: … you know, be a support space even more so than we are now for artists and-

Scott Hammond: I like it

Leslie Castellano: … culture keepers.

Scott Hammond: I think I get it. It's nice.

Leslie Castellano: It's such a dream.

Scott Hammond: S- so why-

Leslie Castellano: It's so great

Scott Hammond: … so why, you just told us kinda what the vision is.

Leslie Castellano: Yep.

Scott Hammond: You d- you did, kinda you did. What, why are art, why is art important to me, a human being-

Leslie Castellano: Right

Scott Hammond: … on the planet?

Leslie Castellano: Oh, gosh. I mean, I think it's almost-

Scott Hammond: Er- ergo Ink People in-

Leslie Castellano: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … Eureka and Humboldt.

Leslie Castellano: I mean, I think it's almost survival right now in the sense of, right, like, like, I mean, and coming back to that kind of early root of it, like anthropology of like, okay, you know, like, the world is informing how we experience ourselves and how we experience

Leslie Castellano: one another.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: And, you know, in a world in which we're really, you know, whatever your belief system, I think, like, looking at these, you know, environmental, social, political crises, or at least instabili- like, the instability-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … and, you know, like, how do we create a space for, like, what we

Leslie Castellano: want-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … and what we care about within that?

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Leslie Castellano: And, you know, and for sure people have many ways of expressing that,

Leslie Castellano: but I, but-

Scott Hammond: Some not so healthy.

Leslie Castellano: Right.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Leslie Castellano: Also that. But, you know, like, art, culture, I think are the ways where we really,

Leslie Castellano: like,

Leslie Castellano: envision, like, our beliefs in a way that I think generates, like, possibility and care. Um-

Scott Hammond: And connection.

Leslie Castellano: And connection, exactly.

Scott Hammond: And relationships.

Leslie Castellano: You know, and it's also, I think, a way in which we try to, like, wrestle with the things that we don't understand-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … or the, or the things that are troubling us, but, you know, wrestle with them in a way that allows for transformation.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Leslie Castellano: You know, like, I think it's really easy to, you know, get on our social media and-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Leslie Castellano: … be angry and, you know, and which hopefully that's cathartic for someone. I don't know,

Leslie Castellano: you know?

Scott Hammond: I wonder anymore.

Leslie Castellano: Right? It's, you know, like, I'm like-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, I don't-

Leslie Castellano: … is this-

Scott Hammond: I wonder

Leslie Castellano: … you know, but I think often it, it ends up being these ways in which we

Leslie Castellano: actually-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Leslie Castellano: … sort of like devolve what's possible with, with our, like, connectivity-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Leslie Castellano: … with that relationship, you know? Like, I still think there are some seeds of, like, I'm like, you know, of people connecting in social media spaces, but, but, you know, like, when people are, like, creating things-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Leslie Castellano: … and especially having those, you know, like- … exchanges through, like, what they're making-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … and, you know, inviting other people into that process.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Leslie Castellano: Then I think we really do, you know, find ways to, like, arrive at connection together.

Leslie Castellano: Um-

Scott Hammond: A common ground.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah, and-

Scott Hammond: I like it

Leslie Castellano: … like, joy is important. Like-

Scott Hammond: I think about the music piece, you know?

Leslie Castellano: Right?

Scott Hammond: Kids creating music together. How, how could that be bad?

Leslie Castellano: I know. Such a dream.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. And I wonder if, if sometimes this is the space of cultural division anymore. So this is not-

Leslie Castellano: I know

Scott Hammond: … this is not probably art. I don't think, I don't think they're- I'm getting too much art going.

Scott Hammond: Anyway, um-

Leslie Castellano: I know. I-

Scott Hammond: I, I don't know. Maybe, maybe it is creative space

Leslie Castellano: … I- And yeah, I, I am on the, on the device too much myself, I think.

Leslie Castellano: Um-

Scott Hammond: Yeah. They said 80 times a day. Excuse me while I death scroll during my show. Hi, uh, can you s- Yeah, no, yeah, it's, it's some bad stats. It's just not-

Leslie Castellano: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … It, it ain't that great. There is a lot of po- potential, so to poo-poo

Scott Hammond: Facebook or-

Leslie Castellano: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … TikTok, we're not going there. It's not necessary.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Um-

Leslie Castellano: Um-

Scott Hammond: But no, I like that. I like the space of, uh, of art-

Leslie Castellano: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … what, what it creates.

Leslie Castellano: Right. I, you know, when you were talking about that, I was thinking about just, like, the… I, I think a lot, because I'm in… You know, I have the privilege of being in different spaces of, like, what are the commons, right? You know? And-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Leslie Castellano: … you know, right? Sometimes I think, like, "Oh," like, these social media spaces are, like, this, like, digital, digital commons. Or, you know? But-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Leslie Castellano: … but the way they've been, right, like, intentionally manipulated to be also, like, places of actually, like, commerce, you know, in ways that-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Leslie Castellano: … aren't, uh- … designed to center the person, you know-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Leslie Castellano: … the user, but are design… You know, right? Like, everyone knows that, like, division sells things more.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: You know, when people are-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Leslie Castellano: … sad or angry or upset, they-

Scott Hammond: I'm gonna buy something

Leslie Castellano: … buy more things, you know?

Leslie Castellano: And-

Scott Hammond: I'm gonna get that endorph- Excuse me, I gotta buy something real quick.

Leslie Castellano: Right?

Scott Hammond: Endorphin hit.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah. It's, it's wild.

Scott Hammond: Wow, look at the record I just bought, Nick.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I bought a vinyl. No.

Scott Hammond: So-

Leslie Castellano: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … I wanna bring vinyl into this in a minute, but- … yeah, it's, it's, it's an interesting dynamic 'cause we're right in the middle of it, and I think-

Leslie Castellano: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … this adds to the dysfunction and the division.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Um, and I think even more so when we're, we're fed all kinds of algorithmic crap.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: There's a diet of total division.

Leslie Castellano: Right.

Scott Hammond: And I'm not creating while I'm dividing-

Leslie Castellano: Right

Scott Hammond: … I don't think.

Leslie Castellano: Exactly. Or it's like-

Scott Hammond: Actually

Leslie Castellano: … is destruction cr- I don't, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Maybe there's creative dividers out there. How perverse-

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: … could that go down that route?

Leslie Castellano: I know. I'm like, "I think there are."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: S-

Leslie Castellano: Um.

Scott Hammond: Yes, they exist. They're really good at it, so.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So for me, I've collected vinyl since my birthday, January 2nd.

Leslie Castellano: Okay.

Scott Hammond: I got a really good stereo. Nick's got a killer stereo over here. And a really good vinyl collection, dude who is a special guest host, Scott Hammond.

Scott Hammond: So it's been really fun, and it's created community for me

Scott Hammond: to collect old and new rock and roll, and Windham Hill New Age, and freaking jazz records.

Leslie Castellano: Fun.

Scott Hammond: And make connections with people, whether live or not, in person. And the guys that I buy, I just… Like, nerding up on Miles Davis or-

Leslie Castellano: Hmm

Scott Hammond: … Led Zeppelin I.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Doesn't matter. And so- And to, and to listen to stuff and all that reminiscing, and it… Here we go, creative. I'm touching it, I'm feeling it, I'm smelling every- How weird is that? And pl- and playing the record and cleaning it.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And Jethro Tull never sounded any better.

Leslie Castellano: Right. Right, the sensorial experience, right? It's like more, you know-

Scott Hammond: All of it

Leslie Castellano: … there's the sound of the record, but also, yeah, all of this texture and history, and it's like a, you know, it's a-

Scott Hammond: It sounds-

Leslie Castellano: … kind of art object in a way

Scott Hammond: … it sounds so much better-

Leslie Castellano: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … on my stereo.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Siri, play, um, I don't know, uh, Blue Öyster Cult. And it's just, here's the song, and it's tinny, and it's okay, and I got a good speaker, but it's not… Now, if we put Blue Öyster Cult on the record player-

Leslie Castellano: Mm. Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … now there might be some dancing going down.

Leslie Castellano: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: So maybe not to that, but anyway, digress.

Leslie Castellano: All right.

Scott Hammond: So, hey, uh, give a shout-out to Ink People real quick, and then we'll, uh, move into the quiz.

Leslie Castellano: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Where you could win a fabulous… Oh, are you kidding? A Dick Taylor Tanzania bar.

Leslie Castellano: Whoa. Okay. Shout-out to the Ink People.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Shout 'em out. Uh, how do you get ahold of Ink P-

Leslie Castellano: Okay.

Scott Hammond: How do we give you a jag or a bar of gold or just a bag of 100 dollar bills?

Leslie Castellano: Sure, sure. Well, we have a great website, inkpeople.org.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: Pretty easy to find. You can email me, Leslie, L-E-S-L-I-E, @inkpeople.org. You can also call us, 707-442-8413.

Leslie Castellano: And-

Scott Hammond: 8413.

Leslie Castellano: 8413.

Scott Hammond: 442. That's 442 pa bucket. That's an old joke. All the old people in the community will, will know that. That was, um, Anderson Robinson-

Leslie Castellano: Okay.

Scott Hammond: … Insurance. Call me at 822 pa bucket.

Leslie Castellano: Oh.

Scott Hammond: It's like, "Okay, Steve, we will." Um, so we could give you things. Do you do PayPal and Venmo and all the things?

Leslie Castellano: Yeah, we do. We, we don't really do Venmo. It's a little tricky when… They don't, they haven't figured out the pathway for nonprofits in a way that's really great.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Leslie Castellano: Um-

Scott Hammond: So Cash App or Venmo?

Leslie Castellano: Yeah, we have a- … we have, yeah, PayPal, and we have a donation button there-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … on our site that, uh, any donations right now will definitely support the, the beautification, the reopening of the new building.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Leslie Castellano: Um, and then also, of course, like, our youth program, which the youth program is great. It's the Mars Project Media Arts Resource Zone, year-round free program for youths.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: Um, uh, during the school year-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Leslie Castellano: … um, we're open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 3:00 to 6:00 PM. Uh, and it's, it's really fun. We just started this… Well, last summer, we started a youth advisory panel that kind of informs the workshops and, and-

Scott Hammond: I love it

Leslie Castellano: … the things that happen, and we now have a youth board member who, like, serves as that in- intermediary between the board and the teens, and-

Scott Hammond: That's cool. I like, um-

Leslie Castellano: It's really fun

Scott Hammond: … this triggered a good memory. I, next door, we had this organization called the Ink People, and they'd have kids outside playing sax on Thursday afternoon. And it was great. I would go, "What's going on?" I'd go out and watch and kinda hang

Scott Hammond: out, and-

Leslie Castellano: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … they would jam, and it was fun. I think Stan, Stan Lee, um- Would come out and play his sax and do lessons and-

Leslie Castellano: Mm

Scott Hammond: … it was cool.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It was really fun.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah, Corey Goldman is, uh, the music-focused youth mentor, and he's an amazing

Leslie Castellano: musician-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Leslie Castellano: … multi-instrumentalist, and, um, really supports a lot of youths in, like-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Leslie Castellano: … their, like, recording projects or little, like, emergent bands and things.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Leslie Castellano: It's, it's a neat little scene back there.

Scott Hammond: Speaking about a neat scene-

Leslie Castellano: Uh-oh

Scott Hammond: … Dick Taylor Chocolates, our big sponsor. Huge. In, uh, Old Town, Eureka, which is right over here on my, uh, Eureka map. Do you see Old- where Old Town is?

Leslie Castellano: I, I-

Scott Hammond: Can you see it from there?

Leslie Castellano: I see… No.

Scott Hammond: No.

Leslie Castellano: I mean, I see Eureka and I know where Old Town is, but-

Scott Hammond: Just take, take my word, it's over there. Um, so today you're playing for all the marbles.

Leslie Castellano: Oh. Oh gosh.

Scott Hammond: This is a 65% dark chocolate Tanzania Dick Taylor chocolate bar, courtesy of Dick Taylor Chocolates.

Leslie Castellano: I'm a fan.

Scott Hammond: Are you ready?

Leslie Castellano: I…

Leslie Castellano: Maybe.

Scott Hammond: Okay. Question number one.

Leslie Castellano: Okay.

Leslie Castellano: Like, oh no.

Leslie Castellano: Okay.

Scott Hammond: I never do the pregnant pause with the bell. I kind of like, "Let's do it again." Question number one: what is life-giving for you, and what is soul-sucking and draining for you?

Leslie Castellano: Oh, life-giving. Dancing, um, camaraderie with friends. Um,

Leslie Castellano: like,

Leslie Castellano: emergent performance projects that, like, connect land practices with somatic practices and, uh… So-

Scott Hammond: Wait, what is that? I think I might know what that is, but I don't know what that is.

Leslie Castellano: This is a quiz for you.

Scott Hammond: Okay. Question number one.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Somatic practices with, with what?

Scott Hammond: Land-

Leslie Castellano: Land practices, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Leslie Castellano: Like, um, so right. So, you know, body as site, like land as site, and this idea of, right, like, I really like doing, like, somatics or, like, s- practices related, like sensing and-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Leslie Castellano: … like, moving in relationship to sensing, um, in relationship to land. So-

Scott Hammond: Or nature, nature or forest-

Leslie Castellano: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … or whatever.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So-

Leslie Castellano: I'm actually one of those people who, like, goes out into the woods and dances in

Leslie Castellano: the woods.

Scott Hammond: You're a woods dancer?

Leslie Castellano: Yeah. I am, I am.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Leslie Castellano: It's not just, like, a Saturday Night Live, like-

Scott Hammond: No

Leslie Castellano: … comic moment. It's, like, actually I'm doing that.

Scott Hammond: No, it's like I've seen some of you.

Leslie Castellano: Totally. It's-

Scott Hammond: Like down in Garberville. There's lots of wood people.

Leslie Castellano: But you can actually, like… I actually, like, put on these, like, little symposiums about it and bring together… And I like to bring pe- people who are doing, like, land cooperatives and, like, housing cooperatives and, um, you know, like, seed projects and then-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Leslie Castellano: … have them converse across with people who are doing, like, somatic practices, performance practices-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Leslie Castellano: … art practices, and kind of, like, actually talking about that there's, like, this connectivity as, like-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Leslie Castellano: … like em- like embodied practices are deeply connected to land-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Leslie Castellano: … because we are people who are in a relationship to land, whether we know it or not.

Scott Hammond: What I like about that, and I don't know if that works, but what I like about it is I think there's people that would be curious enough to go, "What is that? Let's do this-

Scott Hammond: … and try that, and be-

Leslie Castellano: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … and be discovering stuff. I don't know. It's possible. Anyway. So what's soul-sucking for you?

Leslie Castellano: Um, I mean, fear, but I think fear is soul-sucking for everyone. Um, I think… Gosh, I mean, you know, uh, doom scrolling for sure is, you know, as mentioned already.

Leslie Castellano: But I think it's, like, the way that… I think through fear people right now are just hyper-conditioned

Leslie Castellano: to, um,

Leslie Castellano: like… Okay, uh, sorry. I'm, I'm like, how do I, how do I say this without… I'm just gonna use an example, okay?

Leslie Castellano: Like, like being someone who's in a lot of spaces, I get, like, called out on social media, right? Which, you know, that's just part of life now.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: Um, which in and of itself isn't… I get it, you know? I get that people are, are, like, trying to engage with something, but I think the way that, like, those conversations take place often are… Like, there's no actual learning-

Scott Hammond: No

Leslie Castellano: … in those spaces.

Scott Hammond: Rarely.

Leslie Castellano: And, and so it's like being in a process of, like, talking about politics or community or the world where we're not willing to or also activating, right, like, like, like the capacity to learn and grow together.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: You know? And for me that's, like, so important to be in a community is that

Leslie Castellano: I, like, have to also be a learning person, you know, to do a job

Leslie Castellano: well.

Scott Hammond: Hopefully. Hopefully, yeah.

Leslie Castellano: You know? And, and I was actually thinking earlier about just the difference, right, between, like, calling out and calling in, you know? And, like, how we can, like, create a space for critique that invites change-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Leslie Castellano: … and kind of holds people, like, accountable. I think that's important.

Scott Hammond: Yes.

Leslie Castellano: But in a way that,

Leslie Castellano: like, creates the possibility for, like, action –

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … and, like, doing in relationship to it. I, I'm a kind of perpetual doer. So yeah. So I think when things just feel like they sort of create those, like, uh, devolve into, like, pinning someone in a space that doesn't allow-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Leslie Castellano: … for change, that feels pretty soul-sucking.

Scott Hammond: Right. That ro- results in all kinds of other negativity.

Leslie Castellano: Right.

Scott Hammond: So do you know my friend Dave, uh, Frank, David Frank? He's on, uh… So he, he said something just like this. He's on, um, is it Gronk, is it Gronk? It's not Gronk. It's, um… Sorry David, I'm doing your show a disservice. So he and, uh, the attorney from Sohum are on a show on Access Humboldt.

Leslie Castellano: Okay.

Scott Hammond: And he said something very similar, so you get to meet David probably at some point after this, so.

Leslie Castellano: Oh, good.

Scott Hammond: Same, same idea.

Leslie Castellano: Okay.

Scott Hammond: We could definitely get people together to talk-

Leslie Castellano: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … in a space that's safe and maybe actually-

Leslie Castellano: Exactly

Scott Hammond: … create a win.

Leslie Castellano: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Imagine that.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah. I, because I, actually I love, like-

Leslie Castellano: … encountering difference in a way where, right, I think it's healthy to challenge one another-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Leslie Castellano: … and to, to like, you know, I mean, maybe not something as formal as debate, but to really be able to actually, like, get, dig into some issues, dig into our challenges.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Leslie Castellano: Because, you know, honestly, like, if we had it figured it all out, like, we would just do the thing, right?

Scott Hammond: Right.

Leslie Castellano: We'd be like, "Cool. We- we're living in relationship to the land and we're not harming," you know, like, the environment.

Leslie Castellano: And-

Scott Hammond: We're not there yet

Leslie Castellano: … you know, everyone has food and is taken care of. And clearly we haven't figured it out because there are real

Leslie Castellano: challenges-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … that we need to address. And so to really be in a space of, like, how do we generate possibility-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … to try something in that-

Scott Hammond: And get curious

Leslie Castellano: … space. So, yeah.

Scott Hammond: So how did you arrive at that viewpoint? So- … having those kind of questions.

Leslie Castellano: Was that a te-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, que-

Leslie Castellano: Is it-

Scott Hammond: Here comes number two. This will be my que- I'll be conducting the quiz, please. Don't reach for my bell. Stay. Stay over there. So question number two. You have the whole day to do whatever you wanna do, and money's not even the problem. What do you, 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM, you got Friday off, what do you do? What's your day look like, Leslie?

Leslie Castellano: I mean-

Scott Hammond: The day off day.

Leslie Castellano: My day off, right.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Leslie Castellano: Okay. I was like, "Uh, you don't wanna know." No, um, let's

Leslie Castellano: see. Um, gosh, a day off. It's been a little while. Um, I, I mean, I, for sure I like to go be outside. I like, like, depending on how much of a day off, like, to go somewhere where, um, it's pretty quiet and, um, I can, I don't know, I like to be in a relationship of awe with the natural world, so, you know, going someplace beautiful. But, and then perhaps, you know, in the evening if I were to come back in town and not be camping or something, then I would like to go see some live

Leslie Castellano: music or-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Leslie Castellano: … a performance, a theater piece-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … or something like that, um, just because there are so many incredibly talented people. I, I love to, yeah, go see what people are making.

Scott Hammond: Wow. I like that. That's a good one. Go see live doers.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. That's why we like live music so much.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Okay. Question number three for all the marbles.

Scott Hammond: Ready?

Leslie Castellano: Okay.

Scott Hammond: What are you proud of?

Leslie Castellano: Hmm.

Scott Hammond: And then what, what, what regrets do you have?

Leslie Castellano: Personally proud of, or, like, proud of, like, like-

Scott Hammond: Proud of for you. No.

Leslie Castellano: Okay.

Scott Hammond: This is just you.

Leslie Castellano: All right. Hmm.

Scott Hammond: Any regrets? Any points of pride?

Leslie Castellano: Sure.

Leslie Castellano: Um, I mean, I'm proud of, like, the caring relationships I have with people in, in this community.

Scott Hammond: That's cool.

Leslie Castellano: Um

Scott Hammond: Love that.

Leslie Castellano: I sound like this seems so, like, silly and self-

Scott Hammond: With some exception-

Leslie Castellano: … centered, but it's true

Scott Hammond: … with some exceptions.

Leslie Castellano: I'm also proud of the, the housing that's getting built in Eureka right now, even though perhaps some people are frustrated by it. I am, uh, proud that there will be more affordable housing for

Leslie Castellano: people.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: Um, you know, and I, I understand some of the frustrations, but I, I do feel proud of what I feel is the greater good around that.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: Um, and let's see. What do I most regret? Is that what you said?

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Something, maybe a regret.

Leslie Castellano: Hmm.

Scott Hammond: Unless you have a list, in which case-

Leslie Castellano: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … yeah.

Leslie Castellano: Let's see.

Leslie Castellano: I think,

Leslie Castellano: gosh,

Leslie Castellano: um, I mean, it's not a personal regret. I really don't like resource scarcity and the way it creates, like, tension between people, but that's, that's, that's just, like, the world. Um, but I think, I mean, okay, I think personally, like, there's some part of me that's like, "Oh, like, it would be cool to go to grad school," you know?

Leslie Castellano: Like-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … like, um, I did all, I kind of, like, did my chunk of schooling, like, really early, and I've had the opportunity to study with a, a lot of different people, but it could be, it could be fun. It could be fun in a really nerdy way-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Leslie Castellano: … to go to grad school.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I was thinking of a Midwest college, like a really beautiful little town, and just go to grad school. That'd be fun.

Leslie Castellano: Right.

Scott Hammond: A couple years and just do whatever.

Leslie Castellano: Sounds relaxing. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Well, for the bonus question-

Leslie Castellano: Uh-oh

Scott Hammond: … um, how do you feel right now?

Leslie Castellano: I feel pretty, uh, joyous. Uh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Good. Good. I hope you're comfortable. Hey, guess what? You're the winner, winner, chicken dinner-

Leslie Castellano: What?

Scott Hammond: … of the Tanzania 65% dark chocolate.

Leslie Castellano: Amazing.

Scott Hammond: From Kilombero Valley. I don't even know where that is. It's in Tanzania somewhere.

Leslie Castellano: Okay.

Scott Hammond: So congrats. Enjoy.

Leslie Castellano: Thank you. Um, thank you, Scott.

Scott Hammond: That's, yeah, you're welcome. Thank, thank you Deanna Dick. She's amazing.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So, uh, let's, let's move it on here.

Scott Hammond: You ready?

Leslie Castellano: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Gonna bring it on home.

Leslie Castellano: All right.

Scott Hammond: So let's talk about, uh, Eureka and all the things, and talk about, uh, progress, I don't know, opportunities, and, uh, let's– So I formulated this question all on my own today. So we give you 5 billion for you, not for the council, but it's your money and you're a philanthropist- … and you're gonna throw five bill with a big B billion-

Leslie Castellano: Hmm

Scott Hammond: … at Eureka.

Leslie Castellano: Okay.

Scott Hammond: What are you gonna do? Where, where's it gonna go and what, what percentages go to

Scott Hammond: what?

Leslie Castellano: Okay. Ooh, okay. I wish I had a piece of paper, but that's okay.

Leslie Castellano: Um-

Scott Hammond: Just wing it.

Leslie Castellano: It'll be rough.

Scott Hammond: Just rough it.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: This is rough.

Leslie Castellano: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Rough math.

Leslie Castellano: Um-

Scott Hammond: Rough dream

Leslie Castellano: … let's see. I, I recently created a plan for a guaran- guaranteed income for artists, um, but anyway, so I would, I would do a guaranteed income program for artists in Eureka for two years, and that would be, I don't know, that's not even that much money, but, like, let's say 30 artists. I would do, create, um- Okay. I live near Wabash Street, and I think I love the zoning on Wabash. It's a neighborhood commercial zoning.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Leslie Castellano: So I would, like,

Leslie Castellano: buy up a couple of underutilized properties and, um, create, like, mixed use neighborhood commercial sites on them, so

Leslie Castellano: you know-

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh

Leslie Castellano: … like, um, like cafe, brew pub, bakery, kind- restaurants downstairs with, like, housing

Leslie Castellano: above-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … and in the back. Um, because there, there are so many people who live right there, and that-

Scott Hammond: Like the Creamery District in Arcata

Leslie Castellano: … neighborhood… Yeah, kinda like that.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Leslie Castellano: But, uh, you know, it, but, you know, perhaps even a little more. Anyway, it, that, I think that neighborhood would really benefit from that kind of development. Um, let's see. I wanna, really wanna do a parklet in front of Synapsis, so a small amount would go to a parklet.

Scott Hammond: Selfish money. You could… Some of it's for you. It's your money.

Leslie Castellano: Well, it'd be for the neighborhood.

Scott Hammond: You're the benefactor.

Leslie Castellano: People could come and, you know, it's, uh, it's, it's free for the public. But, you know, like chess, you know, just a place where people can, like, gather. I don't know. I like the idea of mini parks. Um, and I would… Gosh, maybe I would,

Leslie Castellano: like, fund some ADUs.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Leslie Castellano: Um, that would,

Leslie Castellano: uh, right, like it would be sort of like affordable housing, but also would create some economic, economic opportunity for the

Leslie Castellano: homeowner.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: But, um, but then also create housing.

Leslie Castellano: Um, and oh, the, well, we all know, like C to F Street in Old Town.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: Um, I would-

Scott Hammond: Like down Old Town.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Proper old town.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah, proper old town.

Scott Hammond: It's right over here in Eureka.

Leslie Castellano: Right there, right there.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, it's right there.

Leslie Castellano: In Eureka. I would, um, do g- like a mixed use site there that had, um, like a, kind of an outdoor park in the middle that

Leslie Castellano: was-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … um, there's a place in Sacramento that's really cool.

Leslie Castellano: It's like a,

Leslie Castellano: um, it's like a outdoor kinda like little venue, and so there would be, like, games, like outdoor games pe- people could play and maybe, like, barbecue

Leslie Castellano: things-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Leslie Castellano: … and, like, but, like, also, like a, like a, um, maybe like a brewery or, you know, some sort of beverage

Leslie Castellano: place.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: But then also there would be, like, some mix- I really like mixed use, like housing commercial, so couple of those sites kind of flanking it.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: But also, like, open space for the community there-

Scott Hammond: Very cool

Leslie Castellano: … in the center.

Scott Hammond: I like it.

Leslie Castellano: Um-

Scott Hammond: Can I do one on-

Leslie Castellano: Yes

Scott Hammond: … your five billion?

Leslie Castellano: Okay. All right.

Scott Hammond: This is kinda selfish. It's not really-

Leslie Castellano: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … that, that altruistic, but, um, I would re- revisit Halverson and put a m- an amazing convention concert venue.

Leslie Castellano: Oh, okay.

Scott Hammond: It could be a multi-use-

Leslie Castellano: No, no

Scott Hammond: … crazy thing.

Leslie Castellano: Yes. So-

Scott Hammond: State of the art with all the, all the things, all the equipment.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah. Well, I, I came up with this whole plan. We didn't get funding for it, but anyway, I, uh, to do, to basically, like, create, like, a mound that would be a stage, but then when it's not being a stage, right, it could, it could still be used by people.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Leslie Castellano: And so to create sort of like a mounded stage-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Leslie Castellano: … with, like, native gardens around it.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Leslie Castellano: And then, yeah, redo all the bathrooms and everything so that they would,

Leslie Castellano: um-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Leslie Castellano: … get, uh, be, be usable because there's actually all of this, I think, opportunity to bring, like, kind of slightly larger touring bands here. I mean, we all experienced the-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … like the fun of the Sara Bareilles show, like-

Scott Hammond: With String Cheese

Leslie Castellano: … where, you know, I think that, right, exactly, like we could really-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … like, it was so magical to see, you know, all of these folks come together and celebrate-

Scott Hammond: A lot of people

Leslie Castellano: … and oh my gosh.

Scott Hammond: For both things, right?

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Leslie Castellano: Like, really lovely, and so yeah, I think that that site really could be, could have some cool improvements there.

Scott Hammond: A lot of possibility, yeah.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And it's not gonna block anybody's vision.

Leslie Castellano: Exactly.

Scott Hammond: Carson Mansion's way up-

Leslie Castellano: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … on top of it.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah. You know, and it meets all of those, like, coastal commission kind of requirements, right? Of like, you know, if you make-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Leslie Castellano: … changes, you wanna inc- improve or-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Leslie Castellano: … increase the public use. So it, it would be, you know, you'd have to get a coastal development permit probably, but it would be something that you could easily move through-

Scott Hammond: Right

Leslie Castellano: … the process, so.

Scott Hammond: Right. So as we're winding down, I wanna know about your legacy. But before we do that, um, so all the high-rise parking, so, or

Scott Hammond: parking…

Leslie Castellano: My legacy.

Scott Hammond: We're not developing the high-rise parking yet. So I'm right downtown, and I, I got a not in my backyard moment when I looked up, and I'm going-

Scott Hammond: … "Shit, that thing's going five stories plus." And, uh-

Leslie Castellano: It's four. Yeah

Scott Hammond: … thanks… Is Miles part of that? Was he part of that whole approval of all the, the housing that you guys are mandated to do-

Leslie Castellano: Well, I mean, he's-

Scott Hammond: … by the state

Leslie Castellano: … he's city manager.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: So you know, he is, uh, his job is to kind of enact the will of council-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … you know, and the community in a way that also, like, meets what's possible and-

Scott Hammond: Is he a nice man?

Scott Hammond: Do you g-

Leslie Castellano: Miles-

Scott Hammond: Do you guys get along good?

Leslie Castellano: We get along, we get along really well.

Leslie Castellano: Um-

Scott Hammond: Hey, Miles.

Leslie Castellano: Miles, Miles is-

Scott Hammond: Miles has been on the show.

Scott Hammond: He's-

Leslie Castellano: Okay.

Scott Hammond: … I saw Miles the last three weekends. It's weird. He's like-

Leslie Castellano: Oh

Scott Hammond: … my new best friend or something.

Leslie Castellano: Oh.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Leslie Castellano: All right. Hey, Miles.

Scott Hammond: And I live in, hi, Miles, and I live in McKinleyville, so I have nothing n- I have no foundation other than-

Leslie Castellano: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … anything. So my bigger concern is-

Leslie Castellano: Okay

Scott Hammond: … is not the fact that it's happened and happening and will happen.

Leslie Castellano: Sure. Sure.

Scott Hammond: Is, is parking, 'cause I've t- I'm told, here we go, somebody on social

Scott Hammond: media, a friend of a friend, told me, told me that parking's gonna be a big issue when these, when these folks all move in.

Leslie Castellano: Right.

Scott Hammond: And it's not all low income, right? It's, it's a mix, right?

Leslie Castellano: It's affordable housing.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: So you know, they, it's, um-

Scott Hammond: Is it tiered? There's different sizes.

Leslie Castellano: It's kinda like workforce housing, would be a good way of thinking about it.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: Um, s- and I believe some of the s- some of the units are, and there are some tiers within that spectrum.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: But, um, you have to, generally speaking, I think it's like people's income is between 20 to

Leslie Castellano: $40,000-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … in that range.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: There's some great charts, don't quote me on that, but somewhere around that.

Scott Hammond: So my only concern is parking.

Leslie Castellano: Right.

Scott Hammond: Um, 'cause all the McCrae guys are, you know, 'cause even during construction, my parking is suddenly, like, rare for the 97-year-old lady that has to walk three blocks-

Leslie Castellano: Sure, sure

Scott Hammond: … now to come up … up the stairs and can't quite make it in to come and say hi.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So that, those are the concerns. So are we gonna build some parking? Is there parking built into these?

Leslie Castellano: For sure. So one of the, the big part of this is, and this, um, the big grant funding stream that supported this is the ASIC grant, Affordable Community something something.

Leslie Castellano: Um, but that includes a lot of, like, work around transit improvement.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: So I'm also on the board of Humboldt Transit Authority. When, when you're on council, you know, you're on these other boards and

Leslie Castellano: commissions-

Scott Hammond: Right

Leslie Castellano: … too. But, um-

Scott Hammond: And we'll talk about that just a second too, the-

Leslie Castellano: Oh

Scott Hammond: … the new transit center.

Leslie Castellano: Okay, great.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Leslie Castellano: Ah.

Scott Hammond: Cool.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: But go-

Leslie Castellano: We're getting into the-

Scott Hammond: Let me-

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Let me let- Let me let you finish.

Leslie Castellano: So anyway, the, there's transit built into-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … that. Um, it is on our radar that there could be a point where we reach enough parking density that we need to build a parking garage.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: According to all the studies that have been completed thus far, we're not yet to

Leslie Castellano: that point.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: But that's definitely something that's been on my radar and is on other folks' radar of, of that, you know, if we get to that density, we should, you know, reserve some sites that could be used-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Leslie Castellano: … as that. Um, you know, of course, right,

Leslie Castellano: the, you know, there's a lot of ways in which, um, you know, in relationship to our kind of like environmental responsibility, right, if we look at the climate action plan, like, we really need to be transiting, you know, using public transit more-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … using bicycles more.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: And the only way to do that is, one, to make it more available and accessible, but also, you know, to, like… And I won't, I won't say, like, to make it harder to drive-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … but to kind of create a situation people, like, start to think, like,

Leslie Castellano: "Oh," like, "it would be smart if I…" You know, like, as someone who works-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Leslie Castellano: … in Old Town-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … that is, you know, going to be experiencing some of that, like, parking challenge, you know-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … where it's like, "Okay," like, "right," like, "I need to start riding my bike more." And I know that

Leslie Castellano: that's not

Leslie Castellano: everyone's-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Leslie Castellano: … option and choice, and that's why, you know, like, the Transit Authority, we're doing a lot of work around microtransit-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … and there's-

Scott Hammond: Like a shuttle that goes around and around.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah. Well, and also, like, on-demand microtransit.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Leslie Castellano: So basically, you can, right now, you can get on the app and go in and select that you want transit to come to your house at a t- or come to a spot, a designated spot near your house at a time that works for you.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Leslie Castellano: And then you can take that bus, you know-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Leslie Castellano: … to a site, and it's much more effective. And we're also-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Leslie Castellano: … working on, like, just the, the efficiency of ride time-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … so that one of the big things is that, like, you know, in order for people to use transit, you have to get from A to B fast

Leslie Castellano: enough that-

Scott Hammond: Right

Leslie Castellano: … it works in people's day. So really working on that-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Leslie Castellano: … uh, transition as well.

Scott Hammond: So what I'm hearing then is the engineers-

Leslie Castellano: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … which are really important to all this stuff.

Scott Hammond: My-

Leslie Castellano: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … my friends are traffic engineers, and they pointed out-

Leslie Castellano: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … how the roundabout at, at Hiller and McKinleyville Avenue didn't work, and there's some reasons why, 'cause it was by

Scott Hammond: schools.

Leslie Castellano: Mm.

Scott Hammond: And there's kids.

Leslie Castellano: Right.

Scott Hammond: And so it was, it was great idea. It didn't work.

Leslie Castellano: Interesting.

Scott Hammond: So the bottom line is then the engineers say that we're not quite, we're not impacted until we are, and then-

Leslie Castellano: Right

Scott Hammond: … we can talk about it.

Leslie Castellano: Right. Exactly.

Scott Hammond: And then you're open to it.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Then we do, like, a 10-story parking structure.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Just kidding. Maybe.

Leslie Castellano: No, I mean, there, there are a couple sites in Old Town that, um, I've identified and, you know, and one of the things, sorry, that we're looking at is also, yeah, like, a little sort of, like, electric vehicle that would kind of make a loop-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Leslie Castellano: … around Old Town so that you could get from kind of one parking area

Leslie Castellano: to Old Town-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Leslie Castellano: … faster.

Scott Hammond: Love it. Okay. Cool. And then the transit center, then I gotta talk about your legacy, and then we gotta go, 'cause I know I'm starting to run out of time 'cause my, my clock's broken. But I have a sense. I know it, like, intuitively-

Leslie Castellano: Great

Scott Hammond: … like, 60 minutes.

Leslie Castellano: We're having too much fun, and then-

Scott Hammond: I'm right there

Leslie Castellano: … it's gonna be over.

Scott Hammond: Hey, Nick, where are we? I've never asked this before. Are we at, like, a… How much time do we have?

Scott Hammond: 53. Oh. So how's your day? We're doing– I've never asked N- Nick that, so I'm really, like, pretty relaxed

Scott Hammond: right now.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah. Oh, good.

Scott Hammond: So if you're just joining us, this is my friend Leslie. Um, so let's talk about the transit center.

Leslie Castellano: Okay.

Scott Hammond: 'Cause that's a great idea.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: By the way, Netherlands, pretty tough to have a car in that nation.

Leslie Castellano: Right.

Scott Hammond: Oh my gosh. We visited three times.

Leslie Castellano: The quality of life.

Scott Hammond: Oh, dude-

Leslie Castellano: Amazing

Scott Hammond: … the trains and the bikes.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It was great. Greatest thing ever. Got it… My, my son goes, T- I go, "Jesse, I missed the train. Oh, what are we gonna do?" He goes, "Dad, just, it's not a plane. Every eight minutes there's another train- "… going to the same places."

Leslie Castellano: Right.

Scott Hammond: "Maybe even more fun routes."

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And I go, "Okay, cool." So yeah, very expensive there to have a

Scott Hammond: car.

Leslie Castellano: Mm.

Scott Hammond: Like crazy craziness. And why-

Leslie Castellano: Right

Scott Hammond: … and there's no reason to.

Leslie Castellano: Right.

Scott Hammond: 'Cause you could walk or bike anywhere. So, uh, transit center downtown behind the Lost Coast Brewery.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah. Yep.

Scott Hammond: What's that gonna be? What's that all about?

Leslie Castellano: Okay. Well, um, it's gonna be transit center on the bottom floor.

Scott Hammond: And it's happening, right?

Leslie Castellano: It's happening.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Leslie Castellano: It is funded. Um, you know, they're in the working through the, the kind of finalizing the design.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: Um, you know, it's, uh, housing above, uh, transit below.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: Um, there's some, you know, Danco is building the housing and building the transit center, and then, um, there's some kind of, like, little partnerships. Like, there's a partnership with Regional Center and some of the housing there will be, um, uh, to support people with disabilities.

Scott Hammond: Cool.

Leslie Castellano: Um, a small percentage. Um, yeah, it's… I believe it's three stories of housing above.

Scott Hammond: Wow. Shout out to Regional Center.

Leslie Castellano: Yay, I know.

Scott Hammond: Good job.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Love those guys.

Leslie Castellano: Me too.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, they're really cool.

Leslie Castellano: Yep.

Scott Hammond: Special n- We have a special needs son, Gabriel.

Leslie Castellano: Ha.

Scott Hammond: And then our oldest, our 42-year-old said, "Dad, I'm pretty sure our whole family's special needs, right?" And I go, "You got it, pal." 'Cause who isn't? So anyway, so it's gonna be a whole housing above.

Leslie Castellano: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: What will the transit center do for those of us that don't know anything about what one of those is?

Leslie Castellano: Right, right. Well, I mean, already this is the m- the main connecting point for, you know, the different bus lines.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: So it will-

Scott Hammond: It'll be a hub

Leslie Castellano: … improve- It'll be a hub. It'll also be where, you know, now the kind of longer distance lines will also come through that site.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: And so-

Scott Hammond: So like Grayhou- Greyhound or whatever.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah, exactly.

Scott Hammond: What about the big tour-

Leslie Castellano: Amtrak, I think

Scott Hammond: … tour buses? I guess they- they're gonna go wherever they're gonna go.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah, I think they're often going to hotels and things is my understanding.

Scott Hammond: They could always dump people at a transit center.

Leslie Castellano: But yeah, we would- I don't think the transit center… I won't speak too much for staff, but we'll turn them away.

Scott Hammond: We'll have bikes. Yeah. And bike storage, so-

Leslie Castellano: I think there's gonna be some bike storage there

Scott Hammond: … you stick your bike there and go-

Leslie Castellano: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … on the Amtrak.

Leslie Castellano: And folks should definitely keep an eye out 'cause I, those final plans will be coming back soon.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Leslie Castellano: So, um, yeah, and there, there's a lot of kind of pedestrian-facing improvements as well-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … to bus stops and, um, crosswalks and things like that.

Scott Hammond: So that in turn creates its own kind of downtown cool hub.

Leslie Castellano: Exactly.

Scott Hammond: And business-

Leslie Castellano: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … and buzz and-

Leslie Castellano: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … vibe and-

Leslie Castellano: Yeah. You know-

Scott Hammond: Community

Leslie Castellano: … and the idea is that, right, so that also will be workforce

Leslie Castellano: housing and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … a lot of the Ink People staff works in Old Town and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … we have several staff members that bus to and fro. Um, but also that, can you imagine, you know, there's a lot of, like, the jobs in Old Town that would qualify for folks to live in that housing.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: And so, you know, it could be the person who's the barista in the

Leslie Castellano: coffee shop-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Leslie Castellano: … who now can just walk to work, right?

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Castellano: Um, and that's, I think, really, you know, and why that kind of housing is being planned is-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … that it actually is, is designed to meet the needs of people who are working in those areas-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Leslie Castellano: … to also just cut down on the need for people to drive if you're-

Scott Hammond: Right

Leslie Castellano: … already there and working there.

Scott Hammond: So you don't have to come in from McKinleyville like all of us.

Leslie Castellano: Right.

Scott Hammond: Some of us.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Leslie Castellano: You know, it's-

Scott Hammond: That makes sense. Yeah.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's, it's city center. So, uh, what are we gonna say at your celebration of life when we get to get up and give speeches about you and- What would you, what would you hope people would say?

Leslie Castellano: Um, oh. I know, I'm thinking about my death.

Leslie Castellano: No. Dark turn, Scott.

Scott Hammond: No, you're already dead.

Leslie Castellano: Right, I'm already dead. Okay, great. I'm not thinking about that right now.

Leslie Castellano: Um…

Scott Hammond: That, that already happened. This is the after.

Leslie Castellano: Great. Um, I hope they say that, um, I was kind and that I, uh, cared about the community in a way that brought opportunity for many people, uh, to live good lives. That's what I hope-

Scott Hammond: That's good

Leslie Castellano: … about my life.

Scott Hammond: That's, that's good.

Leslie Castellano: And that, uh, I made weird art in the process.

Scott Hammond: And there's some weird art.

Scott Hammond: As a result.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: There's some weird art happening. I like it. So, uh, I always like to focus on this for just a second, uh, to see if AI got you right.

Leslie Castellano: Uh-oh.

Scott Hammond: Uh, and it didn't, so it's funny. Born and raised in Eureka.

Leslie Castellano: Whoa.

Scott Hammond: Went to Humboldt State.

Leslie Castellano: Nope.

Scott Hammond: I know, right?

Leslie Castellano: No. Two for, two for two, no.

Scott Hammond: Hallucin- hallucinating. How about this one? I like this one. Leslie represents a blend of local roots, professional experience, and a transparent community-focused approach to

Scott Hammond: governance.

Leslie Castellano: Huh.

Scott Hammond: Ooh.

Leslie Castellano: That-

Scott Hammond: Very flattering.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And sounds like it's true. As a member of the Eureka City Council- … she continues to work toward a vision of a thriving, sustainable city that values its residents and natural surroundings. Her studied leadership and dedication to public service make her a key figure in Eureka's ongoing development. Mic drop. Pretty good.

Leslie Castellano: Oh, okay.

Scott Hammond: We'll take that part.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah, I guess so. Thanks-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Leslie Castellano: … AI.

Scott Hammond: Thanks.

Leslie Castellano: Aw.

Scott Hammond: Thanks, AI.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: All right. Well, hey, thanks for coming.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah. Thank you.

Scott Hammond: It's fun.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I like you.

Leslie Castellano: I like you.

Scott Hammond: Thanks. I try, do what I can.

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Um, so hey, thanks for joining us at the Hundred Percent Humboldt podcast. We do this every week from Nick's studio here at, uh, Westwood One.

Scott Hammond: And, uh-

Leslie Castellano: Thanks, Nick.

Scott Hammond: Thanks, Nick. You're amazing. And, uh, he's got Growing Pains, which is

Scott Hammond: his podcast.

Leslie Castellano: Huh.

Scott Hammond: So shout out to Growing Pains. Shout out to, uh, Dick Taylor Chocolate, to, uh, our friends at Quality Body, Ross Creech and the crew. Killer, wonderful people.

Leslie Castellano: Okay.

Scott Hammond: And, uh, also, uh, Dutch Bros., 'cause Jill is amazing. And so, uh, and we do, and we do- We– Sorry, I won't mention the other coffee place.

Leslie Castellano: Right.

Scott Hammond: Having said that, we're all over, uh, the podcast world, and we're on, uh, Access Humboldt, which is… You're a big fan, right?

Leslie Castellano: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, they're huge. And also, uh, don't forget, uh, YouTube, which is– We'll have a full hour. Anyway, next time, uh, send us money, send us cards, send us comments, like us, subscribe to us, love us, care for us. And this is Scott Hammond saying thanks, Leslie.

Leslie Castellano: Thanks, Scott.