#36. Hometown Chronicles: Gregg Foster’s Journey through Humboldt’s Redwoods and Community Spirit

Scott Hammond: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to 100% Humboldt, where we, uh, talk

Scott Hammond: to people that make a difference in Humboldt. I'm Scott Hammond and my best- new best friend.

Gregg Foster: Oh, there you go.

Scott Hammond: Hi, Gregg.

Gregg Foster: A difference. W- you didn't say a positive difference or a negative difference, just a difference.

Scott Hammond: Gregg Foster, my, my new best friend, who makes a positive difference in Humboldt.

Gregg Foster: Oh, perfect. Perfect.

Scott Hammond: Humb-

Gregg Foster: And is 100% Humboldt.

Scott Hammond: You are. You were born and bred?

Gregg Foster: Yep.

Scott Hammond: Really?

Gregg Foster: I was bred and born, yes.

Scott Hammond: Or- It's, it's good to know that-

Gregg Foster: In that order. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's TMI, man. Were you… So are you from Ferndale originally?

Gregg Foster: No, no, I live in Ferndale now, but I was born, uh, in Garberville, 'cause that's where the hospital was.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Gregg Foster: And then, uh, grew up in Miranda.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Gregg Foster: And, uh, moved away from there in 1983, although I came back in the summers for a couple summers.

Scott Hammond: That's fun.

Gregg Foster: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Summer days in Miranda.

Gregg Foster: Oh, it's beautiful. It's beautiful.

Scott Hammond: So we just saw, um, Tommy Emmanuel and his, uh, one of his guitar players. Actually, he was a slide guitar player. Uh, Dobro. He w- he grew up down there, and he was-

Gregg Foster: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … remembering all the stories of summers at grandma's.

Gregg Foster: Oh, yeah. Yeah, no.

Scott Hammond: I think in Miranda or somewhere close to Miranda.

Gregg Foster: It could be, yeah. I mean, there was… When I was a kid in Miranda, we had, you know, at least, uh, one, two, three, four operating sort of resorts or motels.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Gregg Foster: And, uh, and so a lot of people came down and, uh, from up here-

Scott Hammond: Fun

Gregg Foster: … to enjoy the sun.

Scott Hammond: They said they'd do the chores in the morning and swim all day.

Gregg Foster: Yep, yep. Well, and it's funny because there were two, uh, motels with pools in Miranda, one being the Miranda Gardens and the other being the Whispering-

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah

Gregg Foster: … Pines, which is up on the hill.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Gregg Foster: And, uh, townie kids like us were never allowed to go in the Whisper- uh, excuse me, Miranda Gardens-

Scott Hammond: Why?

Gregg Foster: … Pool.

Scott Hammond: 'Cause a resort?

Gregg Foster: Oh, you know, they don't want the townie kids in there. These are for the fancy Eureka people. Um, but Whispering Pines would allow us, but only after we did… We would sweep. So they would give us brooms, and we'd have to sweep all the sidewalks and everything around, then we can go in the pool.

Scott Hammond: Then you could jump in.

Gregg Foster: Yep, yep.

Scott Hammond: You dirty local people.

Gregg Foster: I know, I know, with our, you know, like grimy cutoff shorts or whatever they would worry about us.

Scott Hammond: The, the muddy Miranda kids.

Gregg Foster: Exactly.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: Well, I always say I just, I was a dirt road kid. I didn't live on a paved street until I was, uh, 18 and went off to school.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Gregg Foster: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So tell us the, tell us the journey. You went to UC Davis.

Gregg Foster: I did.

Scott Hammond: But you went to S- uh, to South Fork?

Gregg Foster: South Fork High, yeah. My parents were school teachers there.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.

Gregg Foster: And, uh, South Fork High School, and graduated in 1983.

Gregg Foster: And then-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Gregg Foster: … uh, off to UC Davis, and, uh-

Scott Hammond: Great school

Gregg Foster: … five years there, and then worked in Sacramento for a few years, and then came

Gregg Foster: back here.

Scott Hammond: I, I was look- what'd you study in, at Davis?

Gregg Foster: I was a poli sci public service.

Gregg Foster: So I was-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Gregg Foster: … local government, state government-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … with an emphasis on less book learning and more doing. So I spent a lot-

Scott Hammond: Nice

Gregg Foster: … of time, uh, working in local p- politics down there. In fact, I was a paid, uh, the, the student body, I was a student that got paid to be a lobbyist to the city and the county when I was there, and I actually had a-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Gregg Foster: … staff and, um, we tracked and did all the work, um, you know, to represent student interests to both the city of Davis and the county of Yolo.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: I did that for a couple years and, um-

Scott Hammond: What a gig.

Gregg Foster: Oh, yeah, it was fun. It was a lot of fun. I had an office on campus.

Scott Hammond: As a student?

Gregg Foster: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I had an office on campus-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Gregg Foster: … and, um, you know, you know, a staff and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … and we tracked all the stuff, and then I went to all the meetings and got on all the committees in those towns-

Scott Hammond: Right

Gregg Foster: … and-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Gregg Foster: … and, uh, we made a big difference actually. We, we really did, um… We were, we were very good organizers back there, pretty practical-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … about things as well and so.

Scott Hammond: And Davis is such a great town.

Gregg Foster: It was. My, my uncle was a football coach there for many years, and, uh, he retired as head coach there in 1992.

Scott Hammond: The Aggies?

Gregg Foster: Yeah, the Aggs.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: Go Aggs.

Scott Hammond: Aggs.

Gregg Foster: And so it was a big family tradition to go, be going down there all the time anyway, and so my brother and sister went there and my cousins.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Gregg Foster: You know, my uncle and aunt went there. Everybody went there.

Scott Hammond: Not to be confused with the A&M Aggies in College Station, Texas.

Gregg Foster: No, no, no.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: This is the UC Davis-

Scott Hammond: Different Aggies

Gregg Foster: … UC Davis Aggies. Yeah, those are California-

Scott Hammond: They have hand signals down there. They're, they're a whole-

Gregg Foster: Oh, yeah

Scott Hammond: … whole group of-

Gregg Foster: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. No, it was, uh, you know, it, back then it was a division two, um, non-scholarship school.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Gregg Foster: And, um, and won, I don't know, like 35 straight league champions-

Scott Hammond: Right

Gregg Foster: … or something, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Oh, they would come up and just kick Humboldt's tail-

Gregg Foster: Oh, yeah

Scott Hammond: … all the time.

Gregg Foster: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: But they were in the same league, Humboldt and Sac and Davis.

Gregg Foster: Yeah, it was the… Back in the day, it was, uh, called the Division II Far West Conference, and it was Chico State, San Francisco State-

Scott Hammond: That's right

Gregg Foster: … uh, uh, uh, Humboldt, um, and you know, a lot of them have all dropped. Sac State and Davis still have football, but everybody else has pretty much dropped

Gregg Foster: it.

Scott Hammond: Too bad.

Gregg Foster: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: I sat next to the Cal, Cal Poly president. That always comes up in the, in, in this show.

Gregg Foster: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It, it, Humboldt State? No, that's Cal Poly.

Gregg Foster: Cal Poly. Oh, yeah. No, no, no, you gotta-

Scott Hammond: You gotta get it right

Gregg Foster: … there's no such thing as Humboldt State.

Scott Hammond: And I said, "When are you bringing back the football program?"

Gregg Foster: Oh, yeah, I'm sure that was a…

Scott Hammond: I, and I go, "KHSU." He goes, "Well, we have KHSU." I go, "It's, it's a feed,

Scott Hammond: dude."

Gregg Foster: Right, it's Sacramento.

Scott Hammond: He was nice. I mean, he's a great guy. I like, I like Tom, so. So what, what's your current r- So you, you graduated Davis, then you went, worked in Sac?

Gregg Foster: Worked in Sac.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Gregg Foster: Worked in policy, um, and, and did some other fun stuff. I helped produce events. I, it, I worked, I worked, I worked for a nonprofit that, um, was an association of elected officials statewide, and we did work there in policy. And then I got hired by a consulting firm, and, um, I was 25 years old, uh, and they made me a project manager, which is, you know, pretty cool. Um, and what I found out was they, they did that because I was the type of person who would just take on any assignment they gave me. And I said, "Well, I'll figure it out," right?

Gregg Foster: So-

Scott Hammond: Mr. Action.

Gregg Foster: I did everything from, you know, uh, doing, uh, working with Ernst & Young and doing an analysis of the bottle bill program, and we wrote legislation around-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Gregg Foster: … reforming that.

Scott Hammond: Recycling?

Gregg Foster: To… Yeah, yeah, and then producing the… I produced the 1990 Earth Day concert for the state capital

Gregg Foster: and, uh-

Scott Hammond: Oh, cool stuff.

Gregg Foster: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Who played there, The Dead?

Gregg Foster: We had, uh, uh, Johnny Otis was our headliner, but we had mostly, uh, uh, bands that were in the area at the time in, in Sacramento, some of the bigger bands and-

Scott Hammond: That's pretty cool.

Gregg Foster: Yeah, we did live, you know, live radio and TV.

Scott Hammond: Is this the same bill that Wes Chesbro kinda, or he was on, he was on that, that agency that I was, uh-

Gregg Foster: Correct. Yeah, yeah. No, in fact, that's where I met Wesley, was way back my first job, uh, with this local government commission. Um, he was, at the time, a county board, you know, on the board of supervisors here, and I met him through there.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Gregg Foster: And, um, and then, uh, we got to know each other much better because I was writing regulations for the new bill that passed-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … and he was appointed to the board, and so we knew each other.

Scott Hammond: Perfect.

Gregg Foster: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You're both Humboldt guys.

Gregg Foster: We were, yeah, yeah. Yeah, although he's not originally from here, so-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Gregg Foster: … he's almost local. He's only been here-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Gregg Foster: … like 50 years, so.

Scott Hammond: See, I think he, he was the one that admitted that he was not, he's not actually a Humboldt grad. He did go to Hum-

Gregg Foster: Right, right. Yeah, exactly

Scott Hammond: … Humboldt State at the time, I can say itI can say that word. But he goes, "Yeah." And, and the president, he goes, he goes, "I'm not actually a grad." He goes, "I know."

Gregg Foster: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: But an alumnus is anybody that attended.

Gregg Foster: Oh, there you go. Perfect.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. So it's-

Gregg Foster: And he did pretty well for himself, I think.

Scott Hammond: Oh, what a, what a nice man.

Gregg Foster: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: What a great guy.

Gregg Foster: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So what's your current role? What are you, what are you doing? Well, let- let's bring you from Sac.

Gregg Foster: Sure.

Scott Hammond: So you came back to Humboldt.

Gregg Foster: Moved back to Humboldt in 1991.

Scott Hammond: Yep.

Gregg Foster: Um, at the tender age of 26, and, uh, went to work, uh, with a friend of mine, uh, named Margaret Gainer-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … in Arcata.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Gregg Foster: And, um, what really allowed me to move back was, um, in the few years that I'd been in Sacramento, I'd kind of built up a client network, customer network statewide, so I could come back up here. Um, but most of my work in consulting and, and, uh, was, was done outside the area. So I traveled all the time.

Scott Hammond: So you had connections to Sac.

Gregg Foster: Yeah, in Sac and Southern California.

Scott Hammond: That United flight was really vital to you.

Gregg Foster: You know, we had, uh, we had, uh, those little, little puddle jumpers back

Gregg Foster: then.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.

Gregg Foster: Um, we also had, uh, back then we had American Eagle, who was flying to San Jose, so I could fly on that.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Gregg Foster: Um, Sacramento, San Francisco.

Scott Hammond: Alaska to-

Gregg Foster: Alaska up north.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: You know, back then.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: Um, but-

Scott Hammond: We'll get to airlines in a minute.

Gregg Foster: Oh, yeah, I'll talk all day about that.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: Um, but it was, you know, it, it kinda… It, it's interesting you don't think about these things, um, un- except when you start looking back, you know? That really sort of understanding, uh, how our business worked. And we got up to 11 employees, and we had an office here and an office in, in

Gregg Foster: Oakland.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Gregg Foster: Um-

Scott Hammond: With Maggie?

Gregg Foster: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Gregg Foster: Yeah. Um, you know, we realized how important it was for anyone wanting to do this kind of work to be here, to be connected.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Gregg Foster: And of course we didn't have the internet.

Gregg Foster: So-

Scott Hammond: Lots of phones and fax.

Gregg Foster: Yeah, phones and faxes and, and the air- air- airplanes.

Scott Hammond: And airplanes. And letters.

Gregg Foster: And letters, yeah.

Scott Hammond: It was on paper. The… They had paper letters.

Gregg Foster: Yeah, it's so funny. You-

Scott Hammond: Weird.

Gregg Foster: You printed them out and you signed them

Scott Hammond: And newspapers.

Gregg Foster: Exactly, and big newspapers and, uh… You know, funny, when I came up here, uh, uh, you know, I said, uh, "You know, um, you can transmit documents," this is pre-internet, "but you can transmit documents through the phone line." And we, uh, I said, "Well, let's get a modem."

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Gregg Foster: And there was an old program called ProComm, and you would, like, call the person on the other side, and it's like, "Okay, your settings are this. My settings are this. Let's make sure they match." And then we'd transmit a document

Gregg Foster: that way.

Scott Hammond: That's pre-fax?

Gregg Foster: Oh g- well, no, we had faxes too, but you know, this way you could, like, send it to them and they could edit it and then-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Gregg Foster: … send it back.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Gregg Foster: You know? And that's where things-

Scott Hammond: That's pretty cool

Gregg Foster: … 2400 baud modem, so you know, it was just like-

Scott Hammond: All day.

Gregg Foster: Oh, yeah. You know, it's just text, you know. It's just like, wow, look at that, you know-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Gregg Foster: … it's going, you know.

Scott Hammond: It's a three-page doc.

Gregg Foster: Well, and you know, we only had one phone line, so it was like, uh, if someone was calling in, then it was, "Don't answer the phone. I got it plugged into the modem."

Scott Hammond: Right.

Gregg Foster: Or the-

Scott Hammond: There's a big sign on the phone, "Don't touch it."

Gregg Foster: Yeah, exactly, so-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Gregg Foster: … yeah, pretty, pretty, um… But it, you know, as, as I said, you know, having that experience, um, sort of informed, uh, some of my, you know, work m- the subsequent 30 years.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Gregg Foster: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Sure. So all those connections in Sac served you well when you came back.

Gregg Foster: Oh, absolutely, yeah. That's, uh, the-

Scott Hammond: That's good

Gregg Foster: … Sacramento and San Francisco Bay Area.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, like, we need those guys to make change up here.

Gregg Foster: Yeah. Yeah, you know, and it was just… 'Cause there wasn't gonna be enough work up here in the field, uh, in work that I had, you know, sort of cultivated in the few years I was down there outside of sc- you know, after school. Um, so i- you know, it was like, okay, well, I brought my work with

Gregg Foster: me. Um-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … and of course Maggie had a good network and, and connections throughout the

Gregg Foster: state.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Gregg Foster: And so we were able to… I did that for five years and then-

Scott Hammond: What was the nature of her work in agency? What, she was a consultant?

Gregg Foster: We were a consulting firm, yeah. We did a lot of work-

Scott Hammond: Government?

Gregg Foster: … uh, solid waste, uh, solid waste education, um, a lot of recycling programs. And, and it was, you know, a heady time at the time. In 1989, the s- the state, you know, passed a bill that said you had to recycle 50% of your solid waste.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Gregg Foster: And, um, so we went out there and did a lot of consulting on how to do that-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Gregg Foster: … and a lot of public education and, uh, marketing kinda information.

Scott Hammond: Good.

Gregg Foster: And yeah. That was fun.

Scott Hammond: Good.

Gregg Foster: It was fun.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: We recycle like crazy.

Gregg Foster: Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, it, it, people don't sort of remember what it was like before this bill passed, but you know, the, the recycling programs were-

Scott Hammond: Oh, my gosh

Gregg Foster: … were few and far between.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Oh, and some, you know, when we visit Boise, Idaho, or

Scott Hammond: wherever, even Medford, they d- they don't-

Gregg Foster: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: They rec- there's some recycling, but it's-

Gregg Foster: Yeah. No

Scott Hammond: … Wait, don't throw that… Well, we don't recycle it, Dad, so there it goes.

Gregg Foster: Well, you know, what I… Uh, uh, what was interesting at the time is, of course, recycling was all about, like, well, you know, put it in the bin and take it away. And I ended up starting to work on the other side of the, of the-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Gregg Foster: … uh, coin on that, which was how do you, uh, develop markets, uh, for this material, right?

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Gregg Foster: 'Cause, um, and we had friends that we worked with quite a bit that were, you know, a lot of the paper was going overseas, so they were paper brokers and we worked for the scrap-

Scott Hammond: Interesting

Gregg Foster: … you know, we got hired by the scrap industry to do work, and some of the others.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Gregg Foster: And, um, you know, it was like, oh, how do we develop markets?

Gregg Foster: Um, and, uh, uh, just before I'd come up, I'd worked on a program, uh, and, and wrote regulations, um, for a state loan program-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Gregg Foster: … uh, that was gonna invest in, uh, manufacturers to use recycled materials. It's called the Recycling Market Development Zone program.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Gregg Foster: And, uh, so that's where I started learning about lending.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Gregg Foster: 'Cause I never… People goes, "Wow, what, you know, what, you went to business school and all that."

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Gregg Foster: 'Cause I've been a lender for now almost 30 years.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Gregg Foster: And it's like, "Well, no."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: Never had an accounting class.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I learned it in real school.

Gregg Foster: Right, yeah, you learned it in the trenches really.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. So you worked for Redwood Capital Bank?

Gregg Foster: I did. Um, so, uh, when I left, uh, Maggie, uh, Gainer Associates, I went and worked at Humboldt Bay Area Foundation for a few years.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Gregg Foster: And we, we did some work in economic development around there.

Scott Hammond: Peter Pennekamp?

Gregg Foster: Peter, yeah, and Kathy Moxon and I worked together.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Gregg Foster: Um, and then in 1999, Redwood Region Economic Development Commission job came up-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Gregg Foster: … and I applied for that and got that. Um, and I've been doing that-… almost continuously since then. I've actually quit that job twice.

Scott Hammond: Right, 'cause you went back and forth.

Gregg Foster: Yeah. So I was there for eight years, then I quit to go work with Patrick Cleary, uh, who was a friend of mine, uh, and, uh, helped run-

Scott Hammond: Paper

Gregg Foster: Yeah, exactly. Uh, helped run the radio stations, uh, KHUM, KSLG, and The Point for, for a couple years.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Gregg Foster: Um, and then, uh-

Scott Hammond: Those are the big years, right?

Gregg Foster: M-

Scott Hammond: Kind of formative

Gregg Foster: They were. Well, it was funny 'cause, you know, and, and what was great timing is I was like, "Oh, sure, let's go into smart mark- market radio that's-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … supporting by, supported by advertising," right when the recession hit. So, you know-

Scott Hammond: Perfect. Perfect timing

Gregg Foster: … it was, it was scary, although we built sales through that-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … and that was just primarily, I think.

Scott Hammond: Did you live in Ferndale then?

Gregg Foster: I did, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Let me show everybody where Ferndale is on my handy-dandy map.

Gregg Foster: Oh, yeah, there it is. It's-

Scott Hammond: It's map time.

Gregg Foster: It's map time.

Scott Hammond: Ferndale's right over here by Fortuna.

Gregg Foster: It is.

Scott Hammond: I don't really wanna say the two in concert. Well, I could.

Gregg Foster: Well, you know, there is a love-hate relationship of, between Fortuna, and what I always say is Fortunans love, would love to live in Ferndale and,

Gregg Foster: uh, no-

Scott Hammond: Right

Gregg Foster: … it's not true. But yeah, I live in Ferndale. We moved, I moved from Arcata to Ferndale-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … in 1997.

Scott Hammond: My wife just hiked Russ Park and did that whole thing.

Gregg Foster: Oh, it's beautiful.

Scott Hammond: She said it was amazing. She-

Gregg Foster: It's a real hidden gem there.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. She saw these neat flowers and-

Gregg Foster: Oh, gosh. The… Yeah, the, uh, uh, this time of year and, and a little bit later, um, the flowers up there are

Gregg Foster: amazing.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: And it's a big old-growth spruce forest, and it's, it's

Gregg Foster: really neat.

Scott Hammond: So for those that don't know, Ferndale's a Victorian village.

Gregg Foster: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: People come from all over the world to come see it.

Gregg Foster: Right, right.

Scott Hammond: And it's kind of a special-

Gregg Foster: Yeah, the whole town is, like, a National Historic Place-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, yeah

Gregg Foster: … uh, you know, landmark, and, uh-

Scott Hammond: And I bet it's great off-season.

Gregg Foster: You know, uh, it's, it's… I think it's great all year, but, uh, but it does get

Gregg Foster: more-

Scott Hammond: Good answer

Gregg Foster: … crowded, good crowded in the summer.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: A little more crowded in the summer.

Scott Hammond: The fair and-

Gregg Foster: Yeah, yeah

Scott Hammond: … tourism.

Gregg Foster: But that's all fun. Yeah. We, we moved there in '97, and then, you know, the kids were raised there and-

Scott Hammond: Super friendly though. I mean-

Gregg Foster: One of them still live there.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Gregg Foster: Yeah, I think so. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I like the steeple and the c- shows that Paul does over there.

Gregg Foster: Oh, amazing stuff.

Scott Hammond: Church. Yeah.

Gregg Foster: Yeah. Amazing stuff. And he's done a great… You know, he and actually it was another guy before him, did a great job of, uh, restoring that church-

Scott Hammond: Oh, it's beautiful

Gregg Foster: … 'cause it was pretty much run down and abandoned when I moved to town in 1997.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Magical church.

Gregg Foster: It is be- it's gorgeous now.

Gregg Foster: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And then Tuyas Tacos. Gloria does a great job over there.

Gregg Foster: Yeah. One of our, one of REDEC's customers.

Scott Hammond: Oh, is that right?

Gregg Foster: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: How about The Jersey Boys? Are they, uh-

Gregg Foster: Yeah. We-

Scott Hammond: Is it Jersey Scoops?

Gregg Foster: Jersey Scoops and Lolita, we financed that as well at REDEC.

Scott Hammond: Oh, did you?

Gregg Foster: Yep.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Joanie, uh, says it's fabulous. We've, like, we've gotta go and go check it out and…

Gregg Foster: Ferndale's been great. I mean, REDEC, we've actually provided loans to a blacksmith

Gregg Foster: shop and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … Ferndale Pizza, the Red Front Store, Tuyas, Golden Gate

Gregg Foster: Mercantile-

Scott Hammond: Man

Gregg Foster: … Frances Ena's Fire Repair. Yeah, so we've done a lot of financing.

Scott Hammond: What about the North Coast Journals store the, with the local products?

Gregg Foster: Yeah, they did that themselves. But that's a great little store. I don't know anyone there.

Scott Hammond: What's it called?

Gregg Foster: Uh, oh, gosh. Homes- Humboldt Hometown or something like that.

Scott Hammond: Pretty cool. Like, I don't-

Gregg Foster: I mean, we just say the old bank, right?

Gregg Foster: But-

Scott Hammond: It's the it's the old bank.

Gregg Foster: It's the old bank.

Scott Hammond: Should get Los Bagels to move down there.

Gregg Foster: Oh, there you go. There you go, yeah. Well, we have Patch's Pastries just opened, so now we have i- ice cream and, and-

Scott Hammond: Oh, nice

Gregg Foster: … these pastries. And then The Farmer's Daughter just expanded.

Gregg Foster: So-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … um, that's a great little store too, so.

Scott Hammond: Who was the… Was it Joe Coaches that used to be the blacksmith?

Gregg Foster: Blacksmith shop, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Is he still living?

Gregg Foster: No, he passed away. But years ago we helped, uh, him working with, uh, Six Rivers Bank and, uh-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Gregg Foster: … who's also passed away. Uh, and, uh, we helped them, uh-

Scott Hammond: The bank

Gregg Foster: … expand into a second building.

Gregg Foster: Um-

Scott Hammond: The bank passed away.

Gregg Foster: Yeah, yeah, the Six Rivers Bank is, is gone.

Gregg Foster: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Remember him as being a nice guy. We brought a bunch of student… I was a, a student at Humboldt doing student work with, uh, other kids, and we did a field trip there.

Gregg Foster: Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: He was a cool guy.

Gregg Foster: Oh, yeah. No, he's a really cool guy.

Scott Hammond: And then Hobart, uh, hi- his shop and-

Gregg Foster: Right

Scott Hammond: … everything was down there then too.

Gregg Foster: Oh, and we also financed The Mind's Eye, uh, coffee shop that's in there.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.

Gregg Foster: I just-

Scott Hammond: That's a nice coffee shop.

Gregg Foster: That's another one that we did, yeah. So we've, we've been pretty heavily invested.

Scott Hammond: So you've been up to Hobart's place when he was living-

Gregg Foster: Oh, yeah, back in the day.

Scott Hammond: That was-

Gregg Foster: Yeah, that was a crazy spot

Scott Hammond: … that was a, that was creepy. I went up there and I go, "I'm, I'm pretty dull when it comes to spiritual stuff."

Gregg Foster: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I was in there and I'm going, "Shit, I'm… This is weird stuff here."

Gregg Foster: Yeah, yeah. He was quite the, quite the-

Scott Hammond: I'm feel- feeling something weird here

Gregg Foster: … well, and you know, the downstairs is all that sort of unfinished redwood barn wood with the-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … sculptures on it and everything, and it's like, God forbid anybody drop a cigarette or set-

Scott Hammond: Just like-

Gregg Foster: … the place on fire. It'll-

Scott Hammond: … flame

Gregg Foster: … it'll be gone in a minute. But-

Scott Hammond: It's, it's all-

Gregg Foster: … it survived. It survived

Scott Hammond: … it's all redwood, folks.

Gregg Foster: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. So, uh, tell us more about your current role. What, what, what… You've, you've… So you went back and forth from KHUM and worked-

Gregg Foster: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … with them. Where else did you… And then we'll come back to your, your job that

Scott Hammond: you-

Gregg Foster: Sure, sure. So I left-

Scott Hammond: Your current job that you've left several times.

Gregg Foster: Right. Yeah. I have left, I have quit only twice. I've returned three times. But-

Scott Hammond: But they brought you back. That's the main thing.

Gregg Foster: They did. Yeah, that's it. Exactly. So then I, I, yeah, so I did a couple years at Lost Coast Communications.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Gregg Foster: Um, and then, uh, came back to REDEC in '09.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Gregg Foster: Worked there for a few years.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Gregg Foster: Um, they'd had some personnel issues and stuff that I came and helped fix-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … and got it back up on its feet. Um, and then one day, John Dalby comes in, gives me a holler and says, "Hey, let's go to coffee." And so I did.

Scott Hammond: Uh-oh. Here-

Gregg Foster: And he says, you know, "Why don't you come work with Redwood Capital Bank?" And I said, "Well, that'd be fun." You know, I did, I'd been a lender at that point-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … uh, for quite a while. And, um, it was a good opportunity to go over there and sort of learn how banks do it. Um, and I did that-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Gregg Foster: … for three years. And then-

Scott Hammond: Successful banks.

Gregg Foster: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, well, and they're just… You know, next, this month is their 20th anniversary.

Scott Hammond: It's so hard to believe. It's like-

Gregg Foster: Yeah, no, exactly

Scott Hammond: … and Costco's been here 150 years.

Gregg Foster: Yeah, exactly.

Scott Hammond: Where did time go?

Gregg Foster: I know. Uh, no, and that's, you know, it… I do remember when he was forming it. I still have his card somewhere that says, you know, John Dalby, you know, Re-

Scott Hammond: Humboldt

Gregg Foster: … Humboldt, I mean Bank.

Scott Hammond: Humboldt Bank.

Gregg Foster: Oh, I have the Humboldt Bank, but I also have Redwood Capital Bank, parenthesis, in

Gregg Foster: formation.

Scott Hammond: In for-

Gregg Foster: Yeah, and I still have his card.

Scott Hammond: There's a collectible.

Gregg Foster: Yeah, exactly. So, uh, so yeah, I went, uh, and did commercial lending there for a few years.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Gregg Foster: Helped open the branch in Arcata-

Scott Hammond: Nice

Gregg Foster: … and, uh, developed that.

Scott Hammond: And he's a nice guy.

Gregg Foster: Yeah, he is.

Scott Hammond: How does he… How do you figure his following works? I mean, he's like Mick Jagger. He just brings people with him.

Gregg Foster: Maybe so. Well, I wasn't loyal. I ended up leaving and, uh-

Scott Hammond: Except for you

Gregg Foster: … yeah, exactly. Except for me. Then tw- 2015, I went back to REDEC, and I've been-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Gregg Foster: … there ever since. And that's probably my last job change, 'cause I'm getting too old to keep hopping around.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. You're what? You're 50?

Gregg Foster: I'm 58.

Scott Hammond: Oh, you're 58.

Gregg Foster: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Sorry, my bad.

Gregg Foster: On the cusp-

Scott Hammond: Nice try at flattery

Gregg Foster: … co- yeah, on the cusp of 59. I'll be 59 in June.

Scott Hammond: Nice. So I wanna talk about the current job and what you do, and I wanna talk about

Scott Hammond: airlines.

Gregg Foster: Sure.

Scott Hammond: And then I wanna talk about what you see, what the current needs are and

Scott Hammond: what-

Gregg Foster: Oh, yeah, sure

Scott Hammond: … what we'll need to be and where we're going. C- Is that okay?

Gregg Foster: Oh, absolutely.

Scott Hammond: Let's do that. So-

Gregg Foster: It's your show

Scott Hammond: … so hey, no, your show.

Gregg Foster: I'm j- I mean, you locked the door-

Scott Hammond: It's your show

Gregg Foster: … from the inside. I can't get out.

Gregg Foster: So-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, you're stuck, man

Gregg Foster: … I'm s- I'm stuck here.

Scott Hammond: Nick, don't let him go anywhere.

Gregg Foster: Yeah. I'm, I'm not going anywhere, you know.

Scott Hammond: His name's Nick.

Gregg Foster: Yeah. Just remember to feed me later.

Scott Hammond: So, so, uh, where do we start?

Scott Hammond: Um, w- so what is your job title? What do you do now specifically?

Gregg Foster: So I'm executive director of Redwood Region Economic Development

Gregg Foster: Commission.

Scott Hammond: Were you always the director or-

Gregg Foster: I was always the executive director. Yeah, I was hired as the boss and just remained there. Um, and, um, so our primary… I mean, there's two things, two ways to describe REDEC, what it is and what it does, right? And so what we do primarily is lend money to small businesses and organizations, local organizations-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Gregg Foster: … who can't get funding through tr- sort of traditional sources-

Scott Hammond: Got it

Gregg Foster: … um, or can't get all the funding they need.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Gregg Foster: Um, so, um, that could be a startup. It could be someone who hasn't got a long history, maybe someone who's having some issues in their business.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Gregg Foster: Whatever. Um, and, um-

Scott Hammond: Would that include c- the cannabis industry?

Gregg Foster: We couldn't do that. Um-

Scott Hammond: There's some regs around that?

Gregg Foster: Yeah, yeah, 'cause we were, we were originally capitalized by the federal government. Um, and as a result, we can't play in the cannabis space.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, I know.

Gregg Foster: Yeah. But that was all… You know, quite honestly, it was a space that, that didn't need that when it was building here. It, like-

Scott Hammond: 'Cause there was a lot of money coming in

Gregg Foster: … a lot of investment capital and that. And now when it needs it, it's probably not a place I'd put it.

Scott Hammond: It's right. Yeah. It's-

Gregg Foster: You know, um, because, uh, so we right now, I think we have 58 or 59 businesses and organizations-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Gregg Foster: … in our portfolio.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Gregg Foster: Probably about $10 to $12 million out right now.

Gregg Foster: Um-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Gregg Foster: … some of that's Headwaters Fund money from the county 'cause we participate loans

Gregg Foster: with them.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Gregg Foster: Um, and, uh, so it's… That's a blast. I mean, I just love doing that. Um, and, um, we've done, you know, a lot of the marquee businesses around here. One that's just celebrating its 20th anniversary is Six Rivers Brewery.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Gregg Foster: We financed that. We did, we partic-

Scott Hammond: Success, yeah.

Gregg Foster: Yeah, yeah. We participated with Redwood Capital Bank and, and did the loan for the Dick Taylor expansion and-

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow

Gregg Foster: … the Eagle House, we did that, um, in Eureka.

Scott Hammond: Those are all big ones, yeah.

Gregg Foster: Yeah, yeah, and then all the ones I might-

Scott Hammond: I mean, you mean Dick Taylor?

Gregg Foster: Yeah. Dick, Dick Taylor.

Scott Hammond: This, this Dick Taylor?

Gregg Foster: Dick Taylor.

Scott Hammond: Dick Taylor Chocolates.

Gregg Foster: Bean to bar right here in Eureka, California.

Scott Hammond: Hey, Dusty. Hi, Adam.

Gregg Foster: Yeah, I, I watched the, uh, Adam, uh, podcast.

Gregg Foster: That was-

Scott Hammond: Bean to bar, I like it. Yeah.

Gregg Foster: Yeah, that's what they say. We're bean to bar, all in one spot.

Scott Hammond: You gave me an analogy. If you bought a $5,000 bottle of scotch-

Gregg Foster: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … it's the equivalent of a $10 Dick Taylor chocolate bar in terms of… It's the top of the-

Gregg Foster: No, uh, yeah

Scott Hammond: … top of the mark cho-

Gregg Foster: Sure, sure

Scott Hammond: … chocolate.

Gregg Foster: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And, and I go-

Gregg Foster: Which is-

Scott Hammond: … I think chocolate's a better deal.

Gregg Foster: Um, yeah, I, you know, I couldn't probably tell the difference… Uh, maybe I could of a 5,000 to, uh, you know, something considerably less than a

Gregg Foster: scotch, but-

Scott Hammond: Right

Gregg Foster: … uh, but yeah, Dick Taylor is, you know, I, uh, it's… The only thing I don't like about it is it's right near my office.

Scott Hammond: Ah.

Gregg Foster: And so it's hard to resist going over there.

Gregg Foster: And-

Scott Hammond: I thought you were gonna say, "I never go 'cause it's like when you live by Disneyland, you never go to Disney."

Gregg Foster: Oh, yeah, no. It's, it's hard, and especially when I get out in the morning and they're roasting beans or doing something-

Scott Hammond: Oh my gosh

Gregg Foster: … everything smells like chocolate.

Scott Hammond: And their coffee is really quite good.

Gregg Foster: Oh, God, it's delicious.

Scott Hammond: Their mocha is-

Gregg Foster: Delicious, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, Joanie has to stop there a lot. And so- So that's a cool part of your job. You get to see-

Gregg Foster: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … the success stories like that.

Gregg Foster: So I think, you know, I mean, I think about twen- doing this since 1999, and I, I haven't fig- You know, I… One of these days I'll just sit down and tick through every business that we've-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Gregg Foster: … been able to help over the years.

Scott Hammond: That's cool.

Gregg Foster: Um, Eel River Brewery, you know, we did their new brew house in Scotia-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Gregg Foster: … and then helped them with their expansion that they just opened a new brew house in, you know. So we've done a lot of-

Scott Hammond: Is that, is that the Scotia Hotel?

Gregg Foster: We did that one as well, Scotia Lodge, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Okay. And that's a restaurant, right?

Gregg Foster: A restaurant and hotel, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Who runs that?

Gregg Foster: Uh, John and Amy O'Connor, uh-

Scott Hammond: Humboldt Bay Social?

Gregg Foster: Yeah, Humboldt… Yeah, they have the El- Humboldt Bay Social as well.

Scott Hammond: Nice. And so y- you're saying there's a brewery down there now?

Gregg Foster: Well, the Eel River, uh, it, the, uh, Eel River Brewery that's based in, in Fortuna-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Gregg Foster: … the, when they went to expand their brew house, uh, they, they did that in an old mill building in Scotia.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Gregg Foster: And, uh, and that went for quite a while, and now they've just basically expanded that brew house and brought it back next to their, um, restaurant and facility-

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's cool

Gregg Foster: … in Fortuna. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Gregg Foster: So yeah, it's kinda fun. We've, uh, you know, we've done all sorts of different kind of businesses.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Gregg Foster: And it's, uh, it's a lot of fun. Not all succeed, but you know, we have a pretty good track record.

Scott Hammond: So is Ross and Arcata Economic-

Gregg Foster: Correct

Scott Hammond: … kind of a parallel bu-

Gregg Foster: Yeah, we always say we're friend- we're collaborative competitors, so you know, we do compete some for, for business.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Gregg Foster: Um, uh, but we're both relatively small. So you know, in terms of the total need out there, uh, you know, there's, there's plenty to go around. But we've also, um, we've also worked together.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: So we've done loans where w- each of us has a piece and we've-

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's nice

Gregg Foster: … yeah, so.

Scott Hammond: And he's a great guy.

Gregg Foster: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, and but we worked together for a long time.

Scott Hammond: And John Dalby's nice.

Gregg Foster: Yeah. We're all nice, right?

Scott Hammond: Dude, John, John and I were in a men's group, he, and he's just, like, harassing me, and I, I go, "What, what's going on?" They go, "If he doesn't harass you, he probably doesn't like you."

Gregg Foster: Right. Exactly.

Scott Hammond: I go-

Gregg Foster: There you go

Scott Hammond: … "Oh, he, oh, he must love me."

Gregg Foster: Yeah, there you go.

Scott Hammond: So-

Gregg Foster: Right.

Scott Hammond: There you go.

Gregg Foster: There's a bell curve. It's like, uh, he was harassing me 'cause he likes me. Now what, where am I? Where am I?

Scott Hammond: Now it's love.

Gregg Foster: Yeah, it's love. Now it goes to hate. There you go.

Scott Hammond: So tell me about airlines and y- your role in bringing airlines here-

Gregg Foster: Sure

Scott Hammond: … and, and why they come and go, and the, the, the deregulation under Reagan

Scott Hammond: and…

Gregg Foster: Well, you know, um, it's, it's funny. Uh, I kind of, uh, just like lending, it's one of those things I just sort of stumbled into.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Gregg Foster: Um, and in 2003… You know, and it goes back to what I said earlier, which is being, connecting Humboldt County

Gregg Foster: was v- uh, incredibly important for sort of the next wave of business, I th- you know, I thought. And so, um, I went to a conference in San Diego in, like,

Gregg Foster: 2000, 2001, and, um, I went to a session where they're talking aboutSmall businesses graduating out of UC, uh, UC San Diego, uh, technology incubator. And I… The, the moderator was a guy who I became friends with, who was an editor of the San Diego Business Journal. And I said, "Do you know where Humboldt is?" And he goes, "Yeah, I do, in fact. You know, I've been up there." And I was like- Sure … "So, you know, what of these people would… You know, what could we offer these folks coming out of these tech incubators? And maybe they even move up there." And he says, "I only wanna know two questions. How good is your broadband, and how good is your air service?" Whoa. And at the time it was like neither was great. Right. Um, broadband certainly wasn't. Um- Yeah … uh, air service was okay. W- you know, we still had… We had United and, and American. We had a single cable going- Right … down to Willits getting chopped off. Well, yeah, but at that time, that didn't exist. Mm. So, um- Okay … so we were still on a microwave system there. Close. So I came back and I said, "Okay, so air service and broadband, that's where I'm gonna focus for a long time." Yeah. I didn't think it'd be this long, but- … but it, it was. And so, um, so in 2003, the, uh, then airport manager, a woman by the name of, uh, Teresa Askew, contacted me and says, "Hey, um, we're working with this consultant and the City of Redding, and we're putting together a grant application to the federal government, and the goal is to get Alaska Airlines to start flying to Los Angeles. Can you help with that? I need a letter of support." Wow. And I said, "Well, sure. I can do a letter of support. That's easy." So I wrote a letter of support, and they didn't get the grant. And the feedback was that there wasn't enough demonstration of local community support and- Yeah. Okay … for it. Just a guy writing a letter, and… So I said, "Okay, Teresa." Mm-hmm. "Turn me loose," right? And so- … I ended up getting a bunch of letters from all the politicians and everything, and we actually raised money from people to do as a match. Um, and we ended up, uh, getting the grant. The City of R- Redding was the lead on that. Huh. And so we got the grant, and, um, subsequently, uh, they put in what was called a minimum revenue guarantee, which was kind of a new thing back then. Mm-hmm. Um, and that's a contract that's kind of an incentive contract. Like, if they do, if they do well, you don't have to pay them, but if they don't do well, you pay them a little bit. And that's out of that grant money- You're right … that pot of money. Exactly. Exactly. So we put that in place. Well, then we thought, well, you know, what we don't want to have to do is provide the incentive or, you know, uh, and we want them to

Gregg Foster: succeed. So,

Gregg Foster: uh, I, you know, I was like, "Well, how do you advertise? What kind of marketing program are you doing for this?" Mm-hmm. And I was like, "Oh, well, yeah. We should, should." So we started doing local marketing for that. Um, that service started in 2000, June of 2005.

Gregg Foster: Mm-hmm. Um, later that year, I get a call from the consultant, uh, 'cause I thought it was a one-off for me, right? Mm-hmm. Okay. You know, we get donated a bunch of advertising at Lost Coast to talk about- That's cool … Alaska and, you know. And we brought Alaska here. Yeah. And, and, and got Alaska to go to LA. Um, and then so I thought that was kind of a one-off. I was kind of going, "You know, how's it performing?" Kind of staying in touch. But I was working, uh, a couple years later at Lost Coast Communications, and I get a call from the consultant and

Gregg Foster: said, "Hey, Delta might wanna service your territory and go to,

Gregg Foster: uh, Salt Lake City." Salt Lake, yeah. "You guys interested?" And I said, "Well, I'm, I'm just working at a radio station now, but- … but let me, let me… Yeah, I'm sure we-" Spinning final.

Gregg Foster: Yeah. Right. So, uh, so the airport manager at the time and the public works director, uh, and I, uh, and the consultant, we put together this big presentation. We went down to Atlanta, did the presentation to a room full of people about- Wow

Gregg Foster: … why they should invest here. And, um, so Delta decided… And I get a call, and I, you know, I had my, like, first cellphone at the time. Uh, you know, like, oh, I got a call on my cellphone. Cool. And, uh, you know, I had to go out, you know, pull the antenna up and go out in the parking lot. And, uh, and Delta had said, "Yeah, we'll do it, and but you need to provide a half million dollars in incentives and a half million dollars in pre-sold tickets," um- I remember that now. Yeah … in order to do that. Yeah, and, and you got to do… You got about six weeks to get this all in place, and we did it. So, you know, I worked with REDEC, uh, um, who I wasn't employed with at the time, and, and, and, uh, just a huge community coalition, uh, came together and really helped that. Um- Who was the director of REDEC then? Uh, it was a woman by the name of Madeline Holtkamp, and she was only there for about a year- Gotcha … and, and left.

Gregg Foster: But, um, so we built this, you know, and a huge coalition of people, um, local businesses, everything else. Um- That's a lot of pre-sold tickets. Yeah. It was. It was. And everybody got… What they got was a Delta card that had- A voucher … cash value on it, right. You could use it.

Gregg Foster: Um- Huh … so we did that. Um, the service, you know, at the time, this is like… Oh, gosh. I'm, I'm trying to think. It started in '07, so it must've been '06, '05. So just before the recession, right? Right before, yeah. So the service starts. Oil goes to $140 a barrel, which is, like, air- all the airlines are losing money. Going nuts. And then, uh, that was the first half of the service. Second half of the service, the recession hits. There you go. And so it was like, well, great. So that service lasted a little over a year. Um, but had great usage, you know. And, um, but the whole industry was collapsing. So- Yeah … we lost that service.

Gregg Foster: And, um, and then s- not too long after that is when Alaska, uh, pulled out of the market as well. Um- Yeah. Our, our friend was the, um, manager of the local depot. Oh, okay. Brandy, Brandon? He's a great guy. Yeah, yeah. And yeah, no, and you know, it was… We were really the victims, quite honestly, of,

Gregg Foster: um, just national and international po- uh, economics at the time. Yeah. And we, we, we suffered as a result.

Gregg Foster: So, um, but not, not deterred and not daunted. We just kept at it. And, um, r- I did a recruitment, worked hard. We had, um, actually negotiated a contract with American Airlines to do Los Angeles service here starting in June of 2012. Mm-hmm. But-Well, it might have been later than June, but it doesn't matter. Anyway, we had a good contract with them. Uh, w- we negotiated them down from two million to 500,000 in

Gregg Foster: in a-

Scott Hammond: Pretty good

Gregg Foster: … conference room or, uh, uh, in, in Tampa, Florida, at a

Gregg Foster: conference.

Scott Hammond: Is that where they're based?

Gregg Foster: No, no. It was an airline conference going on there, and we met with their VP and, and, uh, it was Emily Jacobs and I. And, uh, we came back with this great deal, and unfortunately it was an election year here.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Gregg Foster: And one of the candidates who was running ran these anti-American airlines ads. "How dare we give incentives to da, da, da, da."

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Gregg Foster: So what we thought was the support we would have when we got back from the county did evaporated. Uh-

Scott Hammond: That person get elected?

Gregg Foster: Yeah. They're not on the board anymore.

Gregg Foster: But, uh-

Scott Hammond: Phew

Gregg Foster: … yeah, so.

Scott Hammond: I'm not mentioning names, but it rhymes-

Gregg Foster: No, I, yeah

Scott Hammond: … rhymes with, uh

Gregg Foster: Rest- r- r- uh, yeah. Rhymes with, uh, Benel, let's just say. Anyway, um, so

Scott Hammond: Let me think.

Gregg Foster: Or Benel. Yeah. Um, and so, um, uh, unfortunately, um, I- y- you know, American had already stuck us in their schedule and, um-

Scott Hammond: Here they come, right?

Gregg Foster: … and were selling tickets, and then the deal fell apart.

Scott Hammond: Oh, man.

Gregg Foster: And-

Scott Hammond: But they did come, right? Weren't they here for a-

Gregg Foster: Well, later. Later.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Gregg Foster: But they, they, um… So we pivoted and started working on getting, uh, United to do the

Gregg Foster: same. And we were still talking to… We'd talk to five or six airlines-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … three or four times a year, um, and do our presentations to

Gregg Foster: them.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Gregg Foster: And, uh, we had a draft contract in 2012 with United to do the same thing-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Gregg Foster: … and then United killed it. Um, we kept at them, and they started in 2018. So these things are long developers, right?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: Um, and, um, so we, I became the, you know, Fly Humboldt. We started that. It was a big, uh, countywide collaboration. Um, you know, we had the top employers involved. We had everybody involved. So we did the, you know, we did the two that we were our, our biggest, um, recruits was the LA and Denver, and those started in 2018 and 2019.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Gregg Foster: Um, and then once, you know, once service starts happening, people take notice, and so some of the other airlines took notice, I think.

Gregg Foster: And-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … and then we saw Avelo come in, and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … and American for a while to Phoenix.

Gregg Foster: And-

Scott Hammond: And Avelo still does Burbank?

Gregg Foster: Yes, they do.

Scott Hammond: But, but not Vegas.

Gregg Foster: No, no. They've been– They started Vegas. They did not have a good schedule. Um, and, and to be s- uh, and to be clear, I'm not long, I'm no longer involved in the air service-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Gregg Foster: … uh, here. Um, the county decided to go a different direction, as they say. I was like, "It's the only job I've ever been fired from that I never was paid to do." But, um-

Scott Hammond: Like a Seinfeld episode.

Gregg Foster: Yeah, yeah. So the county, you know, there was a lot of,

Gregg Foster: um, there was a lot of changes that occurred in the county. One of the things– I was chair of the Aviation Advisory Committee at-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Gregg Foster: … uh, part of this period of time.

Gregg Foster: Um, and I, I kept saying, "You know, we can manage this place better." And,

Gregg Foster: um-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Gregg Foster: … so for n- for six, eight years, we pushed to have a big management

Gregg Foster: study done.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Gregg Foster: And that occurred, I think it was 2018 when it was

Gregg Foster: done, 2019.

Scott Hammond: Management of the airport?

Gregg Foster: Aviation system, yeah. Um, and, uh, the management study was pretty pointed in its criticisms of how, how f- especially the finances were being handled.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Gregg Foster: And, um, uh, after that study was published, the FAA,

Gregg Foster: um, uh, gave a management letter basically saying, "You need to fix this, or you're gonna have to reimburse, uh, the federal government $50 million."

Scott Hammond: Crazy.

Gregg Foster: And then there was a lawsuit, and the s- United States government sued the county.

Scott Hammond: Whoa.

Gregg Foster: And this all occurred in, like, I guess 2019, 2020.

Gregg Foster: And, um, and, uh, shortly thereafter, I th- uh, my, you know, my phone quit ringing. They didn't need my help anymore.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Gregg Foster: So I think-

Scott Hammond: And then COVID, yeah.

Gregg Foster: Yeah, exactly. So it, you know, now they've, they've taken that, that program inside the county. It's running out of County Economic Development.

Scott Hammond: And they've extended the runway. That, that was part of it, right?

Gregg Foster: Well, that was done before. Yeah. So we have– Interestingly, REDEC provided financing, uh, to the county to both the terminal and runway expansion projects.

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Gregg Foster: Yeah, yeah. Um, to fund retention, you know, 'cause it takes a long time to get

Gregg Foster: there.

Scott Hammond: You guys are everywhere.

Gregg Foster: We, you know, we, we, we've done a lot.

Gregg Foster: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: It's pretty exciting.

Scott Hammond: It's funny, so airlines, uh, uh, play– is close to home for all of us.

Gregg Foster: Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's literally close to my home. It's about a quarter mile away.

Gregg Foster: Right, yeah. Okay, cool.

Scott Hammond: So, so some of those planes that go off are bigger, it seems like-

Gregg Foster: Right

Scott Hammond: … or louder.

Gregg Foster: Oh, yeah. Absolutely.

Scott Hammond: And the, and the, uh-

Gregg Foster: Not necessarily louder, but they are bigger.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, and it's interesting 'cause coming home, you can see how much people are traveling 'cause they're in the third lot down.

Scott Hammond: It's full.

Gregg Foster: Right. And, you know, there's this, this thing. I mean, when I started airline recruiting, um, work in 2013– or 2004, 2005, you know, the biggest plane we had was a 76, uh,

Gregg Foster: seater here-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … that was called the, the big prop plane that Alaska ran. It's called a Dash-

Scott Hammond: Right

Gregg Foster: … 8 or a Q400, depending on which they were running in. Um, that was a big turboprop. And then our other planes that we ran were, you know, 19-seat jet streams and 30-seat Embraer Brasilias.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Gregg Foster: And, um, those were 30, 32 seats, depending on configuration.

Gregg Foster: And so, um, you know, now we're running EMB-175s, which are– or EM-1– E175s, which are 75, 76

Gregg Foster: seats-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … um, running the, uh, 737, which is 189 seats.

Scott Hammond: Those are bigger, yeah.

Gregg Foster: Uh, these are huge aircraft.

Scott Hammond: Are those United?

Gregg Foster: Uh, the, uh, Avelo runs the 737.

Scott Hammond: You can tell they're louder.

Gregg Foster: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: Um, and then, um, United's running, uh, 50, 50 and

Gregg Foster: 75 or 70.

Scott Hammond: Is Avelo twice a week now, right? Is it or did they-

Gregg Foster: Uh, they're going up to four-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Gregg Foster: … uh, I think now. They, they run a l- they run a– throw in an extra departure, uh, in the high season. Um-

Scott Hammond: Gotcha

Gregg Foster: … yeah. And they just established a crew base, um, in Santa Rosa. So Santa Rosa just got four more Avelo destinations. So-

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's cool

Gregg Foster: … Santa Rosa's a really big place. And it's funny-

Scott Hammond: It is

Gregg Foster: … after I recruited Delta, um, and we had a lot of success, and we're g- making some names for ourselves outside the area-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … on this r- you know, recruitment and stuff. 'Cause we were really leaders, um, in certainly small airports-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … in using these financial incentives and doing all this stuff. Um-I had a county supervisor call me from Sonoma County- Oh … guy n- by the name of Paul Kelly. And, uh, he was friends with Glen Goldann, who had lived up here. Sure, I knew Glen. Yeah. He was my landlord, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well- Yeah … and, uh, and Glen had said, "Call Gregg." You know, 'cause at the time Santa Rosa didn't have any air service, um, and- At all? At all. 'Cause now it's huge. Right, yeah, exactly. They're remodeled and everything. Right. So Paul and I had a number of calls together, and he's like, you know, "How do you, how do you do this recruitment?" I said, "Okay, well, here's the firm we use." Yeah. "I'm no expert," right? "But here's the firm we use." Wow. "And here's, you know, build your business support first in the community and-" Oh, yeah … get your political support. And know that you have to invest, and also know that it's, um, a long-term process that eventually should pay off." And they are. They're still growing, right? Right. And so they got… You know, they had no service. They, they, they, I guess, you know, put together an air service fund and got the community behind it and, and pressured and, you know, really worked on United to get a service. Some of this is you sharing the, the secret sauce in how to do that. Right. Well, I still… It's interesting it's interesting, I still get calls from out of the area. People want, you know, like, "Hey, how did you do this?" Or, or- Best job you never had. Right, right. Exactly, exactly. I don't get calls from here, but I get calls from out of the area. So- Oh, yeah … it, it's nice. And, you know- It's how it works … things happens, right? Things happen. Um, you know, the, the… I always wanna leave things better than I found them. Sure. And I, I think I left the air service system here much better than when I found it. And, uh- Sounds like it was a leader in how to do it. Um, so- Yeah, I'm one of the old guard now. I, I, you know- Yeah … I literally went to- Now you're the old guy, yeah … I went to the co- a conference, uh, a couple years ago, I think one, one of my last air service conferences, and they asked the question. It was a session being led by the airport manager of Phoenix. And, uh, they said, "Well, how many of you, you know, have done these certain things?" And I kept- Mm-hmm … raising my hand. They go, "Well, God, you keep raising your hand. How long you been doing this?" And- Put your, put your hand down over there. Yeah. And I have a lot of friends in the industry, and they were just like, "Oh, yeah," you know. And, um, and they said, "Well, when did you do your first MRG?" And I said, "Well, we did one with, uh, in an air travel bank in 2004 and '05." Uh- Huh … put it in place for a service that started around then.

Gregg Foster: And, uh, they're, and they're just like, "Oh my gosh." You know? That was re- really old. You're really old. Yeah. Exactly. It's like- You're a vet. You're right, you're right. So that was really fun. And we did that and broadband stuff at the same time. Mm-hmm. And so, you know, we got into, um, the first, uh, the fight to get the first fiber optic line here, and REDEC got really involved in that. Um- That's the one that goes down 101 through Willits. Correct, yeah. And then once we got the first one done, I was working with us, and then the Redwood Technology Consortium, we started advocating for a second one. Mm-hmm. And Patrick talked to you on the podcast about, you know, "Hey," we contacted PG&E and said, "Hey, you know, we wanna build a fiber optic line." Yeah. You know, "We don't know what we're…" You know, we're kinda all

Gregg Foster: bluff. Um, but we said, "We wanna build this new second fiber optic line. Can we use your right of way for free?" And it was just a total hail Mary. And they said, they said sure? They said yes. It was funny because Jack McCown, who was the director of business development, he's just long since retired, but, uh, at PG&E, he, he calls and, uh, s- you know, he's talking to us and he's like, "You know, we're actually pretty intrigued by this idea." And- Hmm … and then he said, "Is the Ivanhoe still there in Ferndale?" And I said, "Yeah." And he goes, "Oh, I love the Ivanhoe. Okay, I'm coming up." And so he came up and- Tell you what, we're having dinner- You're right, yeah … and you're buying. Right. And so we went down and met with him, and then he introduced us to the company that PG&E was using- Oh … to build their fiber network. And- Whoa … and that was in two, gosh, two, well, it must have been 2007, 2000- That's going over th- Highway 36? Highway 36, yes. Let's go back to the map. Yeah. So, so 101 runs up and down this way. It does, it does. And then 36 is over here at Fortuna. Goes to Fortuna. So they had it all the way to Red Bluff, right? They went to Cottonwood, yeah, but- Cottonwood, yeah … yeah, pretty close. Yeah, that was a big switch over there. Uh- Cottonwood, it's not very warm in the summer. No. No, so that was built over the, the, um… And, and then Connie Stewart got involved and helped a lot with raising, uh, public funds to, uh, from the California Advanced Services Fund and, uh, to, to fund that project. And we built, uh, the second fiber optic line from Eureka to Cottonwood. And so then we had a second service. So if one went down, the other one would- Redundancy- Yeah … is everything, yeah. Yep. And now if you look at it, they're building, you know, we're, we've got a fiber optic line going from Eureka to Singapore- Right … that's being built right now. And- When will that be done? Uh, it's, it's soon. I mean, they, they, they- Do they just… Is it just ships dumping fiber as they- They, they, they're rolling the big spools of fiber across- All the way across the ocean … and it's not just fiber. They have to, have to build facilities in the bottom of the ocean, which are power regenerators to, to regenerate the signal- Huh … as it's coming across, and some other stuff. And then there's another company that's building an- a line, and this is all private at this point- Mm-hmm … uh, from, um, from the basically the intertie at the, uh, the, uh, Harbor District over to Redding. So we'll have another one going east. We'll have, you know, one going- Wow … north and south. We'll have one going- How will they build that? Will it be, um, over- They're working on it right now. Yeah. So, so along 299, not just- Okay … in the highway, but along that, that general path. Got it. So some of it's, um- Huh. Yeah. So anyway, it's really kind of exciting 'cause we went… I mean, literally, I remember before the first fiber optic line when I worked in Arcata, and again, we were doing a lot of work out of the area. And when it was really rainy, we couldn't even call out of Humboldt County because the- Sure, yeah … microwave system was… Microwaves lose capacity when it's bad weather. Right. So it was like, "Oh, this is no good." You couldn't send a fax, you know. What are we gonna do? Yeah, right. It's like, "God, we gotta fix-" '64 flood. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, the, those, the, what I… You know, the things that we were dealing with in 1991, I'm still working on now. So the airport- So the fi- the fiber hub is where, in Arcata, right, where Copeland Lumber used to be? Yeah. So there's a big- Is that the company?

Gregg Foster: … there's a big, um, uh, facility there that will… It's like a server facility so people can, um, buy in there and, and put their stuff. And- Huh … I, I think that, you know, my, my hunch, and, and IThis is not rocket science, not just my hunch

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … i- is that once these projects are complete, we'll see a lot of other people coming up and saying, "Okay, yeah. You know, could we-"

Scott Hammond: We could build a plant in Rio Dell.

Gregg Foster: We're, you know, the Humboldt County, especially Humboldt Bay, will have one of the best, you know, fiber networks in the world.

Scott Hammond: That's pretty cool.

Gregg Foster: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's a pretty big thing, right?

Gregg Foster: It is. It is. Well, and what's funny is, you know, we have this, that project, and we have, uh, the Nordic Aquafarms project, which is sort of quietly-

Scott Hammond: Huge

Gregg Foster: … going forward now, and it's huge. And both of them sort of gotten kicked off the front page 'cause of the offshore wind stuff. So i- it just goes to show how different my job is, and all of our jobs are now, than they were 25 years ago.

Scott Hammond: Shifted, yeah.

Gregg Foster: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So the offshore wind things that go, too, that's still-

Gregg Foster: Well, you know-

Scott Hammond: … moving forward

Gregg Foster: … it's, it's a, it's a, we wanna try. Yeah, I mean, there's some major hurdles to get over still. Um, the biggest one, and we don't hear a lot about, is that they can't transport power out of here because there's not enough transmission capacity.

Scott Hammond: Interesting.

Gregg Foster: Um, Schatz Energy Lab did a study that says that build the transmission infrastructure to get the power out is anywhere from seven to $40 billion depending-

Scott Hammond: I thought they would've worked on that before they thought about-

Gregg Foster: Well-

Scott Hammond: … generating power

Gregg Foster: … yeah, uh, yeah, you know, um- … it's, it's supposedly all happening at the same time. But, you know, uh, the, the, the thing the offshore wind needs is two things, right? Uh, one of is the ability to actually transport the electrons. Um, and the other is actual identification and, and, um, knowing the pricing and everything for the, where they're gonna sell that power.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Gregg Foster: So those are called power purchase contracts.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Gregg Foster: And, um, so yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wouldn't they sell it back to PG&E over in the Valley?

Gregg Foster: Well, it, it all goes to the Cal ISO, which is, um, the California Independent System Operator. They're the ones that really manage the grid, and-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Gregg Foster: … um, they don't buy power necessarily, but they, you know, you have… Like in Humboldt County, we have a power purchaser, which is the Redwood Coast Energy Authority, right?

Scott Hammond: Right.

Gregg Foster: And they buy power and then sell it.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Gregg Foster: Um, so, you know, you gotta identify markets, um, 'cause, you know, ultimately it's a business, right? And you… It takes a certain amount of your, you're making widgets, in this case you're making electrons-

Scott Hammond: Right

Gregg Foster: … and you gotta sell that electron for more than you-

Scott Hammond: Than you

Gregg Foster: … it costs to make it, right?

Scott Hammond: It costs.

Gregg Foster: And so, um, the rules of business always apply, right?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: Revenue has to exceed expense.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: I don't care what you're doing, right?

Scott Hammond: Yeah. No, I agree.

Gregg Foster: So-

Scott Hammond: I, so I, I had two questions for you-

Gregg Foster: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … that I wanna talk about your legacy and what's on your tombstone and all that. Who are, who are you, what do you want?

Gregg Foster: Right.

Scott Hammond: Um, so you've served on a bunch of boards.

Gregg Foster: I have. I've been on many boards.

Scott Hammond: I mean, you're… You know, I, I'm on my first board. I'm on the, uh, um, uh, Hum- I'll think of it-

Gregg Foster: You can't remember where you are.

Scott Hammond: I can't. Uh, what was your name?

Gregg Foster: That's okay.

Scott Hammond: I'll tell you in a minute. I'm on my first board. It's really exciting.

Gregg Foster: Nice.

Scott Hammond: I've been to one meeting.

Gregg Foster: Yeah, right.

Scott Hammond: You've been to, like, on 1,000 boards. I'm looking at this guy-

Gregg Foster: It was about 20. About 20 different boards.

Gregg Foster: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: This guy's got a huge board resume.

Gregg Foster: Yeah, I know. I know. It's the sector.

Scott Hammond: You, but you never get bored.

Gregg Foster: I never will, no.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I like it. And, and that's great service. So of, of all these boards, um, and, and, and then business people you've done business with, what… Couple of memorable stories that, that you're happy, proud about. "I got to serve under Rex." I, I… What- whoever. What, what's your-

Gregg Foster: You know, I'm, I-

Scott Hammond: Any, anything come to mind?

Gregg Foster: Uh, you know, I'm, I'm most proud at REDC, uh, when I look, go up and down the street and I can, uh, look at… And when I say REDC, it's not me, it's, it's the team.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Gregg Foster: I mean, REDC is a team. Um-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Gregg Foster: … uh, I couldn't work without them, they couldn't work without me.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Gregg Foster: Um, uh, but we, when we go up and down the street and see the businesses that we financed and, you know, see them like-

Scott Hammond: Cool

Gregg Foster: … Talia and Meredith like, "We're celebrating our 20th anniversary."

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.

Gregg Foster: It's like, oh my gosh.

Scott Hammond: Six Rivers. Yeah.

Gregg Foster: It was 20 years ago. Right. And, uh-

Scott Hammond: And they've expanded out. They got their patio and pool.

Gregg Foster: Right. You know, and I, if I go into Eagle House and I'm having dinner at the tavern

Gregg Foster: and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … and Tim Metz, one of the owners, or, you know, one of the owners comes up and he goes, "You know, we couldn't have done this without you," I mean, that feels great, right? You know-

Scott Hammond: Pretty warm feeling, yeah

Gregg Foster: … you're making, you're making a real difference. Um, that's good. Uh, in terms of the board service, well, gosh, there's been so… I can't even remember all the boards that I've been on. But one of the things I do, um, uh, uh, that, that popped to my mind this morning is, um, the Discovery Museum and they're doing the Perilous Pledge, which is a really fun-

Scott Hammond: Coming right up, right?

Gregg Foster: … event. Yeah, exactly. And I was the co-founder of that event.

Gregg Foster: Um-

Scott Hammond: Really? Okay, cool

Gregg Foster: … when I was president of the board of, of-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … the, uh, Discovery Museum back then.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Gregg Foster: And jumped off that first year.

Scott Hammond: They're right next door. They're a good neighbor.

Gregg Foster: Oh, yeah. They're… And, um, great organization. It's back, you know, back when we were down in Old Town.

Gregg Foster: Um, so, you know, those are the things I like. You know, it's like, oh, yeah, I, I was able to do, use whatever skills I have.

Scott Hammond: This event is still ongoing.

Gregg Foster: Right. Right. And a great organization that we helped move forward.

Scott Hammond: Bless the organization.

Gregg Foster: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: Um, you know, I'm not a… It's funny, I, like I said earlier, I didn't b- go to business school and I didn't g- uh, do that. But, you know, after 25 years of lending and working for businesses and probably $50, $60 million in financings I've done-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … in Humboldt County, or I don't even know how much, but-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … you know, if I figure if I got 10 under my belt right now, then, you know, over 25 years, there's gotta be more, right?

Scott Hammond: Right. So-

Gregg Foster: Um, but, uh, you know, one of the things I bring to these boards is, um, and one of the things I really stress for these nonprofits and organizations is really mind your finances, right?

Gregg Foster: No margin-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Gregg Foster: … equals no mission.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Gregg Foster: And, um, and, uh, so I've been… You know, I'm treasurer of two boards right now.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Gregg Foster: I'm on the investment comm- or on the, um, uh, finance committee for another organization.

Scott Hammond: So you look at numbers. You're a spreadsheet guy.

Gregg Foster: Kind of, yeah. You know, I… And, and not in, like, an accounting s- piece, but it's like, okay, tell me the story, right? What's, what's happening here? And, and, um-And balance sheets more than profit and loss statements. Just like-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … tell me where you are and, and try to ask those questions. It's really important for board may-members to understand that.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Gregg Foster: Um, and, and so many people join boards 'cause they're really passionate about the topic, right?

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Gregg Foster: They're very mission oriented.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Gregg Foster: Um, and the finance stuff kinda goes by the side.

Gregg Foster: You know-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Gregg Foster: … I don't understand it. I don't wanna act like I don't understand it, so I don't ask any questions.

Scott Hammond: So I don't look at it.

Gregg Foster: Right. Yeah, it's boring. Let's talk about the programs we're doing.

Scott Hammond: I'm gonna denial.

Gregg Foster: Right. Right. Well, and so as I said, no martian… mar- no margin equals no mission.

Scott Hammond: No mission.

Gregg Foster: Right? Because you don't have the money, you're not gonna, you're not gonna be able to do all the cool stuff.

Scott Hammond: It's like retirement, no health, no money.

Gregg Foster: Right, exactly.

Scott Hammond: How fun is that?

Gregg Foster: Yeah, exactly. So, so I've helped a number of nonprofits well with that, both either on their board-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … or we've actually done some funding for-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … for organizations that we- hit a, hit a patch.

Gregg Foster: Um-

Scott Hammond: How about a couple people that were fun to work with along the way?

Gregg Foster: Oh my gosh.

Scott Hammond: You mentioned a couple already in Dalby.

Gregg Foster: There's so many, you know, um-

Scott Hammond: Pa- Patrick of course.

Gregg Foster: Yeah. You know, there's so many.

Gregg Foster: I, uh, uh,

Gregg Foster: y- y- I hate to point people out because then I, I'm gonna leave someone out that I didn't mean to-

Scott Hammond: Right

Gregg Foster: … you know? Um-

Scott Hammond: All, everyone was fun.

Gregg Foster: Right. Well, you know, not everyone.

Gregg Foster: Um

Scott Hammond: Oh, come on.

Gregg Foster: I can say that for sure, not everyone was fun to work with.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. You were on that list.

Gregg Foster: Right. Right. But, um, you know, one of the things, and, and, uh, you know, I've lived here essentially almost all my life, and I've been on board, m- involved in so many organizations and, and worked with so many businesses. And, you know, my board is 19, or they have… There's actually 16 that have appointed, but 19 local jurisdictions. So I have an-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Gregg Foster: … you know, anytime I have 16 elected officials on my board of directors.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Gregg Foster: Um, and so, uh, you know, I can't get away with anything in this town 'cause everybody knows me.

Gregg Foster: And so-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Gregg Foster: … so, uh, so, but I, you have to say, I'm a people person. I really enjoy to, enjoy working with people-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, absolutely

Gregg Foster: … um, and trying to get them towards, um, a place where, you know, we're, we're focused on a, a pretty hard, uh, target, you know, uh, objective. Um, I'm pretty impatient with a lot of talk-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … um, except it, when it's coming from me, of course.

Gregg Foster: Um, but-

Scott Hammond: That's different.

Gregg Foster: Yeah. I have this sort of ADD approach to meetings, and it's like 15, 20 minutes and if it's not exciting or not moving forward, I'm bouncing out of my chair and walking

Gregg Foster: around.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Gregg Foster: You know?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: It's like, uh, uh, uh.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Who isn't?

Gregg Foster: Right. Yeah. Um- But you know, the thing about doing finance is it's, it's meaningful, right? It's, it's… You can't flub it.

Gregg Foster: It-

Scott Hammond: Well, it tells stories.

Gregg Foster: Yeah. Yeah. And, and these things have to work, right, you know, and the money has to go out and it has to come back. Your business has to make money.

Gregg Foster: And, um-

Scott Hammond: It's a scorecard.

Gregg Foster: Right. Right. And so you can't fake that or fluff it over, you know-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Gregg Foster: … with a lot of words.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: It's like you gotta pay your bills, right?

Scott Hammond: And often, is it too much money the problem? That's usually-

Gregg Foster: Right

Scott Hammond: … not the problem.

Gregg Foster: Right. Right. No. Yeah. And so, um, there's some bus- you know, there's some, I, I, I… Just looking around at the businesses that we financed over

Gregg Foster: the years-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … you know, from, you know, Orick to Garberville and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … Willow Creek and everywhere in between.

Scott Hammond: Pretty gratifying.

Gregg Foster: Yeah, it's kinda cool. Kinda cool.

Scott Hammond: That's long-term legacy stuff.

Gregg Foster: Well, you know, I mean, I, we, we helped, you know, I, I think the financing is obviously important-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … but the owners are doing 98% of the work.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: Right? I just-

Scott Hammond: Well, you got it started

Gregg Foster: … I put a little s- I took, put a little fuel in the tank, but they're, they're driving the tractor, right?

Scott Hammond: I like that im-

Gregg Foster: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … good metaphor.

Gregg Foster: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So I always end with this. Who are you? What do you want? And, and what's it say on Gregg's tombstone?

Gregg Foster: Oh, okay. Well, uh, I'm Gregg Foster.

Gregg Foster: Reverend-

Scott Hammond: Could have been cheaper

Gregg Foster: … Second Avenue. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's right.

Gregg Foster: Uh, yeah, yeah. Child of Southern Humboldt.

Gregg Foster: Um, and, uh, what do I want? Um, uh, you know, health and happiness. I got great kids. Um-

Scott Hammond: Nice

Gregg Foster: … you know, my son and his wife live in Ferndale in the house he grew up in.

Scott Hammond: Whoa.

Gregg Foster: My second son lives down in Watsonville with his partner, and they are great, great kids. And they-

Scott Hammond: Are you a grandpa?

Gregg Foster: Huh?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: No, not yet. Not yet.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Gregg Foster: Uh, I suspect, you know, at some point.

Scott Hammond: Probably happen. Yeah.

Gregg Foster: Yeah. And, and the nice thing as I age is that my, my oldest son married a physical therapist, so-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Gregg Foster: … she's right up the street. So, you know-

Scott Hammond: Ah

Gregg Foster: … it's like, oh, I got a little… You know? Um, that's great. You know, my parents l- my parents live down the street, so, like, my parents, my son, and-

Scott Hammond: Still living?

Gregg Foster: Yeah. Oh yeah, they're, they're 82 and 84.

Gregg Foster: They live-

Scott Hammond: That's great

Gregg Foster: … so we're all together as family and it's-

Scott Hammond: That's awesome

Gregg Foster: … that's great. So that's, that's kinda all I really want.

Gregg Foster: Have fun.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: Uh, uh, um, and I want it to stop raining this weekend so I can go out and work in the

Gregg Foster: yard.

Scott Hammond: Well, it stopped today. It's beautiful.

Gregg Foster: Right. And I guess my tombstone is, "He left it better than he found it." And that-

Scott Hammond: Nice

Gregg Foster: … that's really all I want. I'm a, I'm a… You know, I moved back here. Um, I had this sort of career path laid out when I got out of college and, um, it wasn't gonna involve coming back to Humboldt.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Gregg Foster: But I came back to Humboldt and, and, you know, without being… I, I try not to be parochial, um, but I'm certainly a hometowner. Um, and, and, you know,

Gregg Foster: I think, um, y- you know, I, we have kind of a rosy… We, everybody has a rosy look of when they grew up, right? 'Cause you had no responsibility as a kid.

Gregg Foster: You can go-

Scott Hammond: Right

Gregg Foster: … "This place was great when we were kids."

Scott Hammond: The projects were awesome.

Gregg Foster: Yeah, the g- you know, we were… This place was just great when we were kids. And, you know, it's still great now. Um, and it's different. I think, you know, we're going through a lot of transition

Gregg Foster: now. Um, when I started this job, it was how do we stop the bleeding-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Gregg Foster: … and, and try to help people turn it around. And now it's, oh my gosh, uh, you know, we've got all these projects, all this-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … stuff going on. But for me, um, I really focus my attention, you know, on helping folks that maybe aren't, um, getting all that direct largesse.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Gregg Foster: And also, like, the communities that are still suffering. Southern Humboldt, my home area-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Gregg Foster: … you know, uh, Orick, uh-

Scott Hammond: Big time

Gregg Foster: … Willow Creek. It-

Scott Hammond: Well, it's boom and bust with cannabis, right?

Gregg Foster: Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

Scott Hammond: You wanna talk about that for 10 seconds? That, that, that is- … it is busting, right?

Gregg Foster: It, oh, it, no, I, the numbers are there.

Scott Hammond: It's busted.

Gregg Foster: Busted. Okay.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: You know, and-

Scott Hammond: Past tense

Gregg Foster: … and, and that ripples all the way through the county, um-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Gregg Foster: … because, um, there was a lot of cash that fell out of the system over the last few years.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Gregg Foster: And that was spent everywhere, right?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: That was-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Gregg Foster: … spent, uh, on cars, on, on diesel, on,

Gregg Foster: on-

Scott Hammond: All the way down the line

Gregg Foster: … clothes, on, you know, everything.

Scott Hammond: Jewelry.

Gregg Foster: And so when you draw that much cash out of an area, you know, everyone's sort of feeling it.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: And, um, so while we have this promise of something that might happen in 10 years with offshore wind-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Right now we're in limbo land.

Gregg Foster: We gotta, yeah, we gotta, really gotta focus on, I think, you know, who needs our help right now.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: Um, and so, you know, I'm not the one that goes on all the junkets to the offshore. You know, it's like, "Let's go to Europe and look at offshore wind and learn about it." It's like, "Nah, I'm not interested."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: Right? You know, I'm gonna stay here-

Scott Hammond: Work on it

Gregg Foster: … and, and I'm gonna be an irritant on behalf of the town of Orick or Southern Humboldt or that-

Scott Hammond: Right

Gregg Foster: … 'cause these are the people who need help now.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Gregg Foster: And maybe it's just 'cause I'm a dirt road kid, and that's where my, uh-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, that's your passion

Gregg Foster: … that's where my, my heart lies.

Gregg Foster: But-

Scott Hammond: That's good

Gregg Foster: … yeah.

Scott Hammond: Hey, one last question.

Gregg Foster: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Po- political question.

Gregg Foster: Oh, gosh.

Scott Hammond: I know you're going to work-

Gregg Foster: I work for a board of elected officials, so watch me, watch me punt that question.

Scott Hammond: Why did Scott do this to me? So I used to visit your office, and y- your office is full of political

Scott Hammond: memorabilia.

Gregg Foster: Oh, yeah, yeah. That's cool. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's all I wanted to say.

Gregg Foster: Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's just got some, you got some cool shit on the wall.

Gregg Foster: I do, and I wish I'd, I, you know, I, I, I don't have as many walls now 'cause I moved into the building downtown.

Scott Hammond: You got Nixon and Reagan and-

Gregg Foster: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … Clinton and you got-

Gregg Foster: Oh yeah, I got a ton of political, uh, presidential buttons going back to the '30s. And-

Scott Hammond: PolSci major, why not?

Gregg Foster: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And then at home I've got, you know, tons of pamphlets and bumper stickers and everything up in the attic.

Scott Hammond: That's funny.

Gregg Foster: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's pretty nerdy.

Gregg Foster: It is very nerdy. Yeah. Yeah. No, I don't, I-

Scott Hammond: That's good

Gregg Foster: … I'll admit that all day. All day. I'm a nerd.

Scott Hammond: Hey, appreciate it. Uh-

Gregg Foster: No, it's fun

Scott Hammond: … appreciate you being here, Gregg.

Gregg Foster: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Gregg Foster: It's good.

Scott Hammond: Thanks for the good talk.

Gregg Foster: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And, um, yeah, hope to have you back.

Scott Hammond: And, um-

Gregg Foster: 78% of what I said was true, so.

Scott Hammond: That's pretty good stats, actually.

Gregg Foster: Yeah, that's pretty good.

Scott Hammond: That's-

Gregg Foster: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … coming from a numbers guy.

Gregg Foster: Yeah. Exactly.

Scott Hammond: Thanks again for coming.

Gregg Foster: Oh, thank you. We'll see ya.

Scott Hammond: Take care.