#111. Peggy Murphy: How Humboldt County Grows Business Without Selling Out

Scott Hammond: Ladies and gentlemen, friends and neighbors, and those out at sea, it's Scott Hammond with the 100% Humboldt podcast. S- you're number 111, by the way.

Peggy Murphy: Oh.

Scott Hammond: Oh, hey.

Peggy Murphy: Seems like it's a good number.

Scott Hammond: With wh- yeah, it's a good number. With my new best friend, Peggy Murphy.

Scott Hammond: Hi, Peggy.

Peggy Murphy: Hello.

Scott Hammond: Tell us, uh, who you are, what do you do, where do you hail from?

Peggy Murphy: Sure. My name is Peggy Murphy. I am the economic development director for the county of Humboldt.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Peggy Murphy: I've been here for 10 years. Prior to that, Bay Area and Seattle, and even before that, here again.

Scott Hammond: Oh, really?

Peggy Murphy: So.

Scott Hammond: Wanna h- wanna go back and talk about all that. Tell us about economic… What, what does that do? What do you do day, day to day, generally?

Peggy Murphy: There is no regular day to day.

Peggy Murphy: Um-

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's probably good.

Peggy Murphy: It's fun. Sometimes it makes it challenging. I think the cornerstones of what we do in our avit- office are business services, so really the traditional economic development of business attraction and recruitment efforts-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … um, really to see more industry come into our area, and then, uh, business expansion and retention efforts.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Peggy Murphy: So ensuring that our local businesses have the supports that they need to stay in our community or expand.

Scott Hammond: You mean businesses like-

Peggy Murphy: Yes

Scott Hammond: … mine?

Peggy Murphy: Correct.

Scott Hammond: I never highlight this.

Peggy Murphy: Mm-hmm. Um, and then our office also supports workforce development, so we have-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Peggy Murphy: … a workforce development team. We house the county's, uh, workforce development board, which is a

Peggy Murphy: federally-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … required board to receive federal allocations.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: We also house what used to be known as the job market locally, has been rebranded as the Humboldt Workforce Coalition-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Peggy Murphy: … and does direct participant services. So we have a team of vocational counselors-

Scott Hammond: Right. Love those guys

Peggy Murphy: … providing hands-on services to community members that need employment help.

Scott Hammond: Wow. So I just thought you were fifth floor. I mean, AI saw me you're fifth floor up there doing records.

Peggy Murphy: I'm not gonna lie, I saw your first one, I was like, "I have no clue what vinyl records," like…

Scott Hammond: Custodian of vinyl records? This is not what you do.

Peggy Murphy: That is not me, no. I think that might be, uh, the recorder's office.

Scott Hammond: So our, uh, AI is, um, not working today. Wait, what do they call it? They call it hallucinating, right?

Peggy Murphy: Uh, it's trying.

Scott Hammond: All right. Our AI is on acid, I think, so we're not gonna worry about that. So, uh, tell us, w- where were you born? Where were you raised? Uh, where'd you go to school?

Peggy Murphy: Um, I was born in Lexington, Kentucky, but-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Peggy Murphy: … moved to California before I turned one, and so born and raised in Livermore. My dad worked for the national lab, and my mom was a wine chemist for Wente and Kunkel and Rutzoff.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Peggy Murphy: Um, and then I came up to Humboldt for college. Loved it here, but like-

Scott Hammond: What'd you study?

Peggy Murphy: Um, I have an interdisciplinary studies degree, really focused on environmental

Peggy Murphy: science.

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's cool. Did you write your own?

Peggy Murphy: I did, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wow, respect.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's cool. People were doing that when I was there.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah, it was fun. It was fun 'cause, of course, I've got the creative side, and so it allowed me to do a more technical approach-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Peggy Murphy: … with some creativity to it, which I really liked.

Scott Hammond: I like that, yeah. I had the opportunity, and I go, "Well, eh."

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So I, I kind of ended up with a conglomeration of a liberal arts degree with… Kind of wrote it-

Peggy Murphy: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … sorta.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah, that's kinda how I ended up at the-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Peggy Murphy: … interdisciplinary. I always had that conglomeration. I was like, "I'll make something out of this."

Scott Hammond: Right. I have business, I have theater.

Peggy Murphy: Yep.

Scott Hammond: I have, um, PE and-

Peggy Murphy: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … rec and all the things. So yeah, Humboldt State.

Peggy Murphy: Yep.

Scott Hammond: Now Cal Poly.

Peggy Murphy: Correct, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wow, Livermore. So your, your mom's a wino?

Scott Hammond: No, kidding.

Peggy Murphy: Mm-hmm. Sure is.

Scott Hammond: She is.

Peggy Murphy: She's actually-

Scott Hammond: She's-

Peggy Murphy: She actually, um-

Scott Hammond: A wine chemist, that's cool

Peggy Murphy: … they like their wine. What's more interesting, I think, about my mom is she's actually from Poland. She moved here a couple years before I was born-

Scott Hammond: Wow. Wow

Peggy Murphy: … um, and has her master's in chemistry, and kind of just landed there because my dad got his job at the lab and-

Scott Hammond: Wow. Did they meet in Poland?

Peggy Murphy: No, they met in Kentucky as post-docs.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow. Is that a school?

Peggy Murphy: Uh, no, University of Kentucky, just doing their postdoctorate

Peggy Murphy: program.

Scott Hammond: Gotcha.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Is that in Lexington?

Peggy Murphy: Yes. Uh, the kind of fun story behind that is Poland was still communist at the time, and-

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow

Peggy Murphy: … my dad already had the job for the federal government, and they told him he could not marry a communist.

Scott Hammond: Oh, hilarious.

Peggy Murphy: And my mom's, uh, visa for that work had a two-year return requirement.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Peggy Murphy: Um, so they wanted to get married, got told by the federal government that they could not, and so my mom got, um, citizenship in England.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Peggy Murphy: Uh, which apparently at the time only took a few months. So she got citizenship in England. My dad flew over to England. They got married in a courthouse in England. He flew back to the US, she went back to Poland, and then he petitioned, uh, Feinstein and Boxer for almost two years to get her over earlier.

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Peggy Murphy: They allowed it about a month before her two years was up.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Peggy Murphy: So my parents celebrate two anniversaries: when they were married and when she came

Peggy Murphy: to the US.

Scott Hammond: That's a cool story.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Creative workaround.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. My other fun story about that is when I was about seven, two men in big black suits come to our front door-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Peggy Murphy: … 'cause they had just figured out my parents had done that. So nine years later.

Scott Hammond: Sometimes it takes the-

Peggy Murphy: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … feds a little while to catch up.

Peggy Murphy: And by then, you know, it was well after communism had fallen.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Peggy Murphy: So.

Scott Hammond: That's a good story. I love it.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, a lot of Poles where I'm from in Sioux City, Iowa.

Peggy Murphy: Mm. Oh, sure.

Scott Hammond: A big Polish town.

Peggy Murphy: So good pierogi.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, my dad used to talk about it. Um, so you went to Humboldt and got your… What'd you do after you got your degree?

Peggy Murphy: Um, I went home for a little while. My dad was going through some medical issues.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: So went home, helped around there, and then when things got better, I started just putting in applications all over the

Peggy Murphy: country-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Peggy Murphy: … to places I thought would be fun to live.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Peggy Murphy: Got a hit from the University of Washington in Seattle.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Peggy Murphy: Took that job, moved up there. Had only been there once when I was a child and knew no one, and it was great.

Scott Hammond: Perfect. We will go to the land of the unknown.

Peggy Murphy: Yes. Yeah. I was adventurous then.

Scott Hammond: The spa.

Peggy Murphy: Yes.

Scott Hammond: I used to get out a lot more.

Peggy Murphy: Yes, same.

Scott Hammond: I used to do a lot more things. So we have a new, uh, saying besides "Let's get curious" in our marriage. Uh, let, let me reframe that. And Jodi and I, being of advanced maturity- … are trying new things.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So let's get curious. Let's, let's have fun. The other, uh, Pastor Jason and I, um, in Arcata, we have a new saying. It's, uh, "Let's see where this goes."

Peggy Murphy: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So sometimes it's fun just to do-

Peggy Murphy: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … different things.

Peggy Murphy: Figure out how it's gonna-

Scott Hammond: It could go sideways-

Peggy Murphy: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … and then you c- and you just walk away or whatever.

Peggy Murphy: But if you're prepared that that's a possibility, it's much easier.

Scott Hammond: We were at a wine tasting, oddly enough, and let's see where this goes. And it, it was… went great. Starts pulling out ports and all kinds of stuff. So, uh, as your mom is a wine chemist-

Peggy Murphy: Well-

Scott Hammond: … I'm gonna get on that 'cause I have a little bit of interest in wine. Um, so she probably drinks, like, killer wine. I imagine she gets all the reserves from everywhere.

Peggy Murphy: This is the irony of my parents, and something I love about them, is they will buy the cheapest wine to the most expensive wine.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Peggy Murphy: And half the time they like the cheaper wine.

Scott Hammond: The bo-

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Let's get some of that boxed wine from-

Peggy Murphy: Oh, yeah. It's a, it's a funny thing 'cause my husband and I will buy them, like, gifts for Christmas.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Peggy Murphy: And then my siblings and whatnot, and this one brother-in-law, they will always buy, like, the very expensive bottle of wine.

Scott Hammond: The killer something.

Peggy Murphy: And it's always the, like, Christmas Eve wine, and half the time my parents are like, "What happened to that $2 bottle from Trader Joe's?"

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: You know?

Scott Hammond: Where's my box?

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: Sorry.

Scott Hammond: From Costco.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. So I don't know if the years of chemistry really led, led to the refined palate you're hoping for.

Scott Hammond: Right. Right, right. I know they do a lot of chemistry, uh, chemist- uh, chemistry tricks at the end with the wine to-

Peggy Murphy: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … kinda get it to taste right.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. So a lot of those Lodi wines, and-

Peggy Murphy: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … my son went to UC Davis, which is-

Peggy Murphy: Sure

Scott Hammond: … got a big wine program.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So anyway, how do we get off into wine? I don't know. So, uh, Humboldt, then what'd you do up in Seattle?

Peggy Murphy: Uh, my first job up there was doing environmental and occupational health

Peggy Murphy: sciences-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Peggy Murphy: … for the University of Washington. It was a very interesting study based on, um, diesel exhaust fumes causing asthma in children.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Peggy Murphy: That was not the fun, interesting part.

Peggy Murphy: Um, but-

Scott Hammond: Hmm. Is it true? Is there a correlation?

Peggy Murphy: Uh, t- it's been 20 years, but I believe they did find a correlation.

Scott Hammond: I could see that. Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: Um, my actual job was driving a Prius around Seattle with a entire air monitoring kit in the backseat-

Scott Hammond: Cool

Peggy Murphy: … that looked like a giant bomb structure.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Peggy Murphy: It covered my whole backseat, all windows down, rain or shine.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Peggy Murphy: This was 2007-ish, so a Garmin on the front telling me what the bus route was, a video camera recording everything.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Peggy Murphy: And the whole time I had to have a bus behind me running its route with

Peggy Murphy: kids on it.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Peggy Murphy: And the thing was, if you lost the bus for more than three minutes, you had to rerun the route at a later date.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.

Peggy Murphy: And the bus drivers hated us. They felt like they were… we were in their way.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Peggy Murphy: They were trying to lose us.

Peggy Murphy: They would-

Scott Hammond: In a Prius anyway

Peggy Murphy: … you know, they would turn their turn signal on, then not turn, and you would

Peggy Murphy: just turn. And so it was, it was a fun job, but then I had a partner that was always on the bus with the same air monitoring kit. And so we would take those samples to see what the ambient was in the Prius ahead of the bus, and then what the-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Peggy Murphy: … exposure was for the children on the bus.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Peggy Murphy: Then we went into the schools and had them do spirometry testing, and we'd do a sampling. So it'd be kids that walked to school, kids that-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … drove to school, kids that took the bus to school, and we'd have them blow up these balloons and do these tests, and then we did it again at the end of the day right before getting on the bus.

Scott Hammond: So it's in their, in their lungs.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah, so it's right off the bus, and then right before getting on the bus, and then we'd ride the bus back.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Peggy Murphy: And, uh, definitely a ragtag bunch of post-college

Peggy Murphy: kids.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Peggy Murphy: Lots of cursing on those video cameras, you know?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: Right. Lost, lost buses.

Scott Hammond: And not just the bus drivers.

Peggy Murphy: No, no. Well, the bus drivers, you know, they're behind us, but it would be them-

Scott Hammond: Can't even hear 'em.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. It'd be them being like, "Oh, I'm gonna ditch you," and they would turn their turn signal on, and you would turn, and they would keep going straight.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Peggy Murphy: And you're sitting there cussing and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Peggy Murphy: … you know, trying to catch the bus again so you didn't have to do it again.

Scott Hammond: Well, you're a college student and you're in a Prius, so you're kind of open-

Peggy Murphy: Yes

Scott Hammond: … open game at that point.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. So I did that, and then, uh, when that study ended, I actually went through a workforce development program, very similar, actually the exact same ones that we run out of our office today.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: Um, went back to school, got a degree in, uh, web design, visual design. Did websites for a while-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Peggy Murphy: … and then got a job through that working at Google Maps, doing-

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow

Peggy Murphy: … a lot of the mapping.

Scott Hammond: In Palo Alto, or?

Peggy Murphy: No, in Seattle.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Peggy Murphy: Or, well, outside of Seattle-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … in Bellingham area. Um, or not, I'm sorry, not Bellingham. Whatever's across the water. Bellevue.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: Bellevue area.

Scott Hammond: Close enough.

Peggy Murphy: Um, it's a couple hours away from Bellingham.

Scott Hammond: Yes.

Peggy Murphy: You know, bees here. We're working with the bees in Seattle area. Um, did that and then, uh, met my husband in there-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … somewhere, and we decided to move back to the Bay Area, get

Peggy Murphy: married.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Peggy Murphy: Went back to the Bay Area, got married. Uh, spent a while trying to find a house. Bought a house in Oakland around the time we had the art gallery-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Peggy Murphy: … and-

Scott Hammond: So you had your own gallery in Oakland?

Peggy Murphy: We did, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Cool.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Like downtown or?

Peggy Murphy: It was, uh, on Franklin, between Franklin, 15th

Peggy Murphy: and 14th.

Scott Hammond: I know exactly where that is.

Peggy Murphy: Oh.

Scott Hammond: I'm kidding. I have no idea.

Peggy Murphy: Oh. Some people sometimes do, which surprises me.

Scott Hammond: I know Lake Merritt.

Peggy Murphy: Yes, not far off of Lake Merritt.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Peggy Murphy: Maybe three or four blocks.

Scott Hammond: I know Alameda.

Peggy Murphy: Yes, yes.

Scott Hammond: And I know-

Peggy Murphy: Not close to Alameda. No.

Scott Hammond: Have you ever been to Forbidden Island, which is a tiki bar?

Peggy Murphy: Oh, yeah. My husband's big on tiki bars. His goal is to open-

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's cool

Peggy Murphy: … a tiki bar here.

Scott Hammond: Oh, I gotta meet this guy.

Peggy Murphy: Like, this is, like, his goal. We're not big drinkers either, so I find this to be a fun goal.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: But yeah.

Scott Hammond: Might, might be profitable. He's not gonna drink.

Peggy Murphy: It, I know.

Scott Hammond: He will not be drinking the profits.

Peggy Murphy: None of your own supply there. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. So there's a, a couple tiki bars in Oakland too, I think, that are-

Peggy Murphy: I think it-

Scott Hammond: Trader Vic's starts

Peggy Murphy: … Trader Vic's, yeah, which may have closed or wasn't-

Scott Hammond: Could have.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah, I'm not sure.

Scott Hammond: I think the Mai Tai was invented in Oakland in World War II.

Peggy Murphy: That's what I heard, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Rumor has

Scott Hammond: it.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: I believe it.

Scott Hammond: No, no, uh, Forbidden Island, we used to go with my wife and-

Peggy Murphy: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … her son, and w- it would just be-

Peggy Murphy: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … magical and fun. We had-

Peggy Murphy: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … Miami Dave would serve us.

Peggy Murphy: Oh, fun. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: What's up, Miami Dave?

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You ever see this? He's colorful character, we'll just say that.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah, I love it.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, I know. So, uh, y- Oakland, and then you sold and came up here?

Peggy Murphy: Yeah, so, um- About 2014, when we found out that I was pregnant with our child, we weren't living in the greatest neighborhood. You know, we were two working artists. We didn't mind so much. Our house was gorgeous.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: It was a mid-century modern, actually built, custom built for the, uh, band leader for Finocchio's-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Peggy Murphy: … which was the original drag bar in San Francisco, even coined the term drag

Peggy Murphy: queen.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Peggy Murphy: Um, and it was beautiful. It was floor-to-ceiling windows. It had been built out for her to be the band leader-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Peggy Murphy: … so she would have practices in there. It had a specific place for the piano.

Peggy Murphy: It had-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Peggy Murphy: … it was just gorgeous.

Scott Hammond: Cool house.

Peggy Murphy: But in a very unfortunate neighborhood.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Peggy Murphy: Which, again, was fine for us when we were just artists-

Scott Hammond: Right

Peggy Murphy: … you know, bumbling around the Bay Area. But then once a kid was coming into the picture, we were not in a position to send him to the schools we would want to.

Scott Hammond: Things change.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. So put the house on the market, um, and then put an offer in on a house here that had some permitting issues, and so we low-balled. Full disclosure, completely low-balled.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: Um, and the woman said no, which was probably pretty reasonable of her.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: And so we bought a van, and we were gonna drive around the country until we figured

Peggy Murphy: out-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Peggy Murphy: … where we wanted to be, and the day-

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh

Peggy Murphy: … we were set to leave, she came back and said yes.

Scott Hammond: Ah.

Peggy Murphy: And I just remember sitting there in my parents' living room deciding if we were getting in the van and driving around the country or driving up to Humboldt.

Scott Hammond: Oh, nice.

Peggy Murphy: And we decided on Humboldt.

Scott Hammond: Red pill, blue pill.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. And very happy with the decision.

Scott Hammond: And you never had to live in the van down by the river.

Peggy Murphy: Uh, yeah, hopefully not. I mean, we don't know what the future holds here.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Uh, for those of you that got the reference. Uh, if you're just joining us, it's my new best friend, Peggy Murphy, from the County of Humboldt, and I'm Scott Hammond, and we're doing episode number one

Scott Hammond: eleven. We have a one eleven in progress, you might say. See what I kinda did with that?

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: I see it. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, got it. Yeah, thought I'd get a one, one hopefully.

Scott Hammond: Uh, so now you're, you're back here, and you're working for the county yet?

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. Uh, no.

Scott Hammond: Economic development.

Peggy Murphy: Uh, got here, um, took a while to, you know, get on our feet, figure out what we were doing, and, uh, then I got a job for the Small Business Development Center, worked there-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … for few years, and then COVID hit.

Peggy Murphy: And-

Scott Hammond: This is on E Street, when in-

Peggy Murphy: Yeah, in the Prosperity Center building, yeah.

Scott Hammond: My friend, my, one of my best friends in the world, Hi Ron-

Peggy Murphy: Oh, yeah

Scott Hammond: … owns, owns the whole building.

Peggy Murphy: Yes. Love Ron.

Scott Hammond: Do you know Ron Pileggi?

Peggy Murphy: Yes, yes, and you're gonna have to remind me his wife's name.

Scott Hammond: Uh, Sandy.

Peggy Murphy: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: Yes, both very kind people.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: They're very sweet.

Scott Hammond: They are super sweet.

Peggy Murphy: During-

Scott Hammond: They live upstairs in a little apartment.

Peggy Murphy: Yes, exactly. So during COVID, because-

Scott Hammond: You should see that apartment now. It's super cool.

Peggy Murphy: Oh, really? I haven't seen it in years, but during COVID, uh, you know, we were all on lockdown, but I was running workshops still. And so I would come in so that I wasn't doing them from home with my kid running around and my dogs-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Peggy Murphy: … and all that. And they would be in the apartment, and the door to their apartment was right behind me.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Peggy Murphy: So there's, like, countless workshops where you just see the door open and Ron stick his head out and then,

Peggy Murphy: you know.

Scott Hammond: It's the coast guard.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's fun. So that was y- that's your desk right there.

Peggy Murphy: It was, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Totally. Yeah, 'cause we would've-

Peggy Murphy: Mm

Scott Hammond: … hung out with them and probably, yeah, anyway.

Peggy Murphy: Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, so we go way back 'cause you used to do Toastmasters next door-

Peggy Murphy: Mm

Scott Hammond: … and Greg Foster was there-

Peggy Murphy: Yep

Scott Hammond: … and, and Michael, uh, Craft and-

Peggy Murphy: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: …

Scott Hammond: um, oh, Janet, uh-

Peggy Murphy: And Janet DePace, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Janet DePace.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Hi, Janet.

Peggy Murphy: Actually had lunch with her the other day.

Scott Hammond: Really?

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So she coined the term when I was introducing at Toastmasters, she introduced me as Recreation Administration Humboldt State. She goes, "You married, you mar- you majored in recess?" I go, "Yeah, that's good. I like that."

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I did.

Peggy Murphy: Glad to see that.

Scott Hammond: I'm a recess guy.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So, um, you worked for those guys, and then-

Peggy Murphy: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … and then what?

Peggy Murphy: Um, then somewhere in the whole COVID thing, I decided it was time to start seeing whether, what other opportunities were out there.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: I mean, not gonna lie, it wasn't a hugely fun period to work for the SBDC during COVID.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: We were going through all the PPP loans, the EIDL loans. I mean, I think we did great work overall.

Peggy Murphy: It just-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Peggy Murphy: … was tough talking to all the businesses that really were struggling-

Scott Hammond: Right

Peggy Murphy: … didn't know what to do, and we were supposed to be a resource-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … for what to do, and we also didn't necessarily always know what to do.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Peggy Murphy: So-

Scott Hammond: There was no manual for all of it.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. And, you know, building the ship as you sail it.

Peggy Murphy: So-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Peggy Murphy: … uh, started looking around, applied for some jobs, landed an interview with the county and the economic development office-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … and was hired to run Project Trellis, the cannabis business support program.

Scott Hammond: Oh, right. Right.

Peggy Murphy: The initial intention there had been to actually turn it into an SBDC for cannabis businesses-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Peggy Murphy: … because cannabis can't, uh, tap into federally funded programs still to this day. So no SBDC services, no-

Scott Hammond: Right

Peggy Murphy: … workforce development services.

Scott Hammond: No marketing, no anything.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. So, um, that was the original intent, but then I come in to find, you know, start talking to the state, and that was not the intent of the state's funding. So we had to revamp the program, ran it differently.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Peggy Murphy: Continues to run to this day.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: We've put out well over 12 million in-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Peggy Murphy: … state funding into our local cannabis community, which I think we all know is a drop in the bucket in reality for them.

Scott Hammond: Right. Right.

Peggy Murphy: But, you know, at least, at least we've got some type of business support-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … and hopefully it is helping some folks.

Scott Hammond: So what's your take on the boom, boom and bust of that industry? What, what caused that? Where's it at? Where's it going? Um, but so now we're gonna get into economic development.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. Um-

Scott Hammond: It's, it's kind of a mess, right?

Peggy Murphy: Yeah, and I think, you know, the common things that are absolutely true is it went from unregulated to highly regulated.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: The costs are absurd.

Scott Hammond: The taxation's been crazy, right?

Peggy Murphy: Yeah, and not just the local tax, the state aspect, but also-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … like the state licensing fees and the separation of licensing so that you have to have a license for this, then a license for that, then a license for that.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Peggy Murphy: All just to get your product to market, which means you've created this supply chain of all these people that need to get paid-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Peggy Murphy: … along the way, which reduces the-

Scott Hammond: Profitability

Peggy Murphy: … right, and at the same time-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Peggy Murphy: … with an oversaturated market, your profit has already been gouged, so now you're also just paying an entire supply chain

Peggy Murphy: on a

Peggy Murphy: … quarter, if not a tenth of what your product used to be worth.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Peggy Murphy: Um-

Scott Hammond: It's a bad combo.

Peggy Murphy: There's also the hard part with Humboldt where we became such a destination for cannabis because you wanted to be able to hide.

Peggy Murphy: You know-

Scott Hammond: Right

Peggy Murphy: … you wanted to be in the hills, you wanted to be out of sight.

Scott Hammond: Remote.

Peggy Murphy: When things legalize, you wanna be on the I-5 next to your,

Peggy Murphy: you know-

Scott Hammond: Santa Barbara

Peggy Murphy: … distributor next to your… Yeah, and so-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Peggy Murphy: … what we see is those areas that have that access and the population base.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. We're, we're driving up to Santa Barbara, gonna get some weed.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, it's funny 'cause, uh, I don't know that I'm a huge fan of cannabis, but I am definitely not a fan of big government and rip-off taxation.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I mean, as a business owner, I have a, I have a fifth employee. It's called Uncle Gavin-

Peggy Murphy: Oh, yeah

Scott Hammond: … and, and Uncle Sam, and maybe they're a conglomerate of, of somebody that doesn't really do that much for me that I can

Scott Hammond: tell.

Peggy Murphy: Right. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And they're a high-paid employee.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah, and it's always the, like, concept of someone at the top determining how something at the bottom should work without knowing the

Peggy Murphy: community-

Scott Hammond: Right

Peggy Murphy: … knowing the-

Scott Hammond: Right

Peggy Murphy: … local needs or the actual system.

Scott Hammond: So the taxation and the way they pulled all this off for the grower, the cannabis grower, back to weed, that plus, uh, legalization supply and demand was kind of a death knell for some, I would imagine.

Peggy Murphy: Oh, yeah. I mean, we've seen a dramatic increase, or increase if only, a dramatic decrease in the amount of operations in the county.

Scott Hammond: And tax revenue. Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. Oh, yeah, absolutely.

Scott Hammond: They say Garberville's a really sad place right now.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Which is kinda sad.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: 'Cause, I don't know. I don't know. I, I… We're all boom and bust. I mean, it's like the whole– America's built on boom and bust. So is Humboldt.

Peggy Murphy: Yes, and part of what I th- I don't know if it's the issue, part of the thought process behind what we're trying to do in our office is move away from boom and bust.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: Move away from this business and industry that relies on natural resources-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … and extraction of those, and really looking at what opportunities there are to

Peggy Murphy: bring-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Peggy Murphy: … industry in that's different, that's more like what we see in other

Peggy Murphy: areas-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Peggy Murphy: … that isn't contingent on how much you can grow or-

Scott Hammond: Right

Peggy Murphy: … how many trees you can cut or how many fish you can fish.

Scott Hammond: Right. Funny you're here 'cause this is kind of a theme of the last three or four weeks. I, there's a thread in the podcast.

Peggy Murphy: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: And that is, what are we doing here?

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I, w-where are we going? 'Cause we got, we got homelessness. No one's got-

Peggy Murphy: Mm. Mm

Scott Hammond: … great idea. Everybody's got great ideas. Got healthcare, you got housing, and you got job, joblessness, and it's… or, you know, I don't– My son Mike is a smart 21-year-old. He's got, he's laying it down, man. He goes, "I don't have a lot of job options here, Dad."

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And so I'm wondering, somebody mentioned, uh, remote workers.

Peggy Murphy: Yep.

Scott Hammond: And I'm going, "Okay, how do you get them here, and how do you keep them here?" And, oh, I think people that work remote that wanna live in Humboldt are probably here.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah, I mean, it's funny you say that 'cause we've had some recent conversations with remote workers to ask exactly why they ended up in Humboldt.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Peggy Murphy: And what was interesting to me in the conversations is their primary answer was that most of them have to check in to their place of employment once a week, once a month-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … something like that. So they pick this location because of the flights available-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Peggy Murphy: … or the easy access to the Bay Area-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Peggy Murphy: … or Los Angeles-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Peggy Murphy: … or wherever their main-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … site is. So it's been on my mind, especially with the April 8th launch of the Seattle flight-

Scott Hammond: I know. I was gonna mention that

Peggy Murphy: … with, yeah, with the major-

Scott Hammond: Jennifer brought that up

Peggy Murphy: … tech. Okay, yeah. With a major, like, tech

Peggy Murphy: workforce-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … what could we potentially reap out of that for remote workforce?

Scott Hammond: So if we went to Seattle and said, "Hey, you wanna move to Humboldt?"

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Ro- "Hey, remote workers at Bo-"

Peggy Murphy: I mean-

Scott Hammond: "… at Boeing."

Peggy Murphy: Yeah, right.

Scott Hammond: Or Kirkland.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah, or the Googles or the Microsofts or the

Peggy Murphy: Amazons or-

Scott Hammond: Costco.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Peggy Murphy: Absolutely.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Peggy Murphy: And, you know, some of that has to do with recognizing that we do have a housing

Peggy Murphy: issue, too.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Peggy Murphy: And so what-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Peggy Murphy: … is that just bottlenecking a bigger issue?

Scott Hammond: Right.

Peggy Murphy: But also you see them spend their money in our community

Peggy Murphy: then.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: We don't see the, like, incremental growth of, say, retail sales tax out of them having a business here that contributes-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … to retail sales tax.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Peggy Murphy: We would see the incremental component of them spending their money locally.

Scott Hammond: Whereas Amazon came to McKinleyville and grew some jobs, and that'd be different, even though that's arguable and not really where I wanna go.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. That, I don't know if I wanna touch that one.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. I mean, it-

Scott Hammond: Steve Madrone does.

Peggy Murphy: Yes, and I will let him.

Scott Hammond: Hi, Steve. Hi, Steve.

Peggy Murphy: Yes. Yes, yes. Yeah, and I mean, I think there's something to say for being considerate of what type of development we do and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Peggy Murphy: … whether the overall is really bringing in the needs. Because part of what we're really looking at for our office is how do we increase our tax base.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: Because the things that you just mentioned, the homelessness, the drug issues, psychiatric issues, a lot of those, like-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … basic human need issues-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … are supported through tax base.

Scott Hammond: Right, and roads.

Peggy Murphy: Mm-hmm. Roads, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Central Avenue sucks, man. McKinleyville? Come on, Steve.

Peggy Murphy: Uh, hmm, again, not touching that one.

Peggy Murphy: Um-

Scott Hammond: Somebody said there's money set aside for that. Is that true?

Peggy Murphy: Uh, I… You would have to ask, I believe, Public Works.

Scott Hammond: I see-

Peggy Murphy: That's not in my-

Scott Hammond: I see we're not touching that one. We're gonna touch-

Peggy Murphy: I mean, I, I honestly don't actually have an answer for that one.

Peggy Murphy: Um-

Scott Hammond: But bigger picture is there-

Peggy Murphy: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … it takes a tax base-

Peggy Murphy: Yes

Scott Hammond: … with jobs and companies.

Peggy Murphy: And we have a great entrepreneurial economy locally.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: We have wonderful people with great drive.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: We are one of the areas, though, has some of the smallest, uh, outside investment into our area, though.

Scott Hammond: Interesting.

Peggy Murphy: And so there's something to think about in that.

Scott Hammond: Amongst counties in Humboldt.

Peggy Murphy: Um, amongst-

Scott Hammond: Or counties in California.

Peggy Murphy: Uh, yes, and I believe actually the number, it looks pretty dismal when you look nationally, too, for where we kind of fall in that investment piece.

Scott Hammond: That's kind of a trip.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: And so it's-

Scott Hammond: I guess 'cause of distance, right? Geo-geography.

Peggy Murphy: But that, and we've long had a we will do it ourselves-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Peggy Murphy: … mentality, which isn't always bad, but-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … you know, for Local growth opportunities-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … it's important to understand that outside investment doesn't mean 4,000 new people in our community. It-

Scott Hammond: Right

Peggy Murphy: … sometimes just means some money to develop and-

Scott Hammond: Or does it?

Peggy Murphy: … build and expand your base.

Scott Hammond: Or nuclear waste or something worse.

Peggy Murphy: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. It's, it's-

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So I, I think as I've grown up as a young man with long hair, hard to believe,

Scott Hammond: folks-

Scott Hammond: … um, you know, for 40, 50 years in Humboldt, I've watched… My perception is not in my backyard-

Peggy Murphy: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … and we're so fricking picky about everything and every… And it's like, and so pretty soon you go, "Hey, you're not just picky. You're doing a not in my backyard. I caught you."

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: What, what are you, what, what up with that, uh, person who, or company or big giant business that doesn't want a Home Depot or blah, blah? Let's, let's just go on and on. So the bottom line is, uh, what… And now we got $6 gas.

Peggy Murphy: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: We got outrageous real estate prices. I mean, the deck is stacked against us in so many ways and, and, and all the us's that work two and three jobs and still can't fricking afford a home.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Like, what? And so that, after you're through th- through the frustration and navigating homelessness and navigating all the things,

Scott Hammond: um, to have leadership in play in county/city level that says, "No, we're not doing that. We're gonna just do this other thing," it's like, um, I, I think we've got to grow smart, right? I mean, w- g- guide me along here. I'm, I'm, I'm ran-

Peggy Murphy: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … I'm, I'm ranting quietly- … that, um, that there's got to be smart development, right?

Peggy Murphy: Yes. Yes.

Scott Hammond: Smart jobs.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. Yeah. We really need to be very conscientious that when we talk about development, we're not bringing in something that our community doesn't want.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: Um, one thing that's been interesting for our office is we do respond to requests for information for potential development-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … for entities interested in developing or growing or whatnot.

Scott Hammond: Trader Joe's?

Peggy Murphy: That's a whole nother story. Um, no, we don't receive them for Trader Joe's. Uh, these tend to be more heavy industrial entities.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Peggy Murphy: We saw a very dramatic shift with the new administration going away from a lot more, like, clean energy opportunities, things that actually align very much with our community values-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … and, uh, needs. And we've seen it-

Scott Hammond: Instead, instead of going away from that.

Peggy Murphy: We've seen it shift heavily towards-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … nuclear opportunities-

Scott Hammond: Mm. Oil

Peggy Murphy: … towards, uh, y- yes, and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … defense opportunities-

Scott Hammond: Interesting

Peggy Murphy: … things like that. So it's al- also a very interesting time to be trying to be very conscientious of how we develop-

Scott Hammond: Right

Peggy Murphy: … because the opportunities aren't the same they were three, four, six…

Scott Hammond: So blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be broken.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. So we continue to look, but-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Peggy Murphy: … we do really keep the community in mind.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: There is a point, though, where I think you have to weigh what's, you know, the greater good.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Peggy Murphy: And sometimes it is saying no to something.

Peggy Murphy: Other times-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Peggy Murphy: … it's, you know, welcoming something with thoughtful manner to do so. So, like, a lot of the community benefits-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Peggy Murphy: … agreement conversations that were happening around wind.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: There's abilities to have conversations that leverage-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … what our community needs if we have concerns, but the development is

Peggy Murphy: worthwhile.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. And compromise. I guess that's-

Peggy Murphy: Mm

Scott Hammond: … gotta come into this, right?

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I, um, yeah, the concern is, uh, my concern is sometimes the bigger voices win the day who are not necessarily a majority.

Peggy Murphy: We call them the STPs, the same 10 people.

Scott Hammond: Ah, I like that.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: They have a name.

Peggy Murphy: Yes. Yes.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: And, you know-

Scott Hammond: That's who they are

Peggy Murphy: … it doesn't mean that their voice isn't important. It just means it's not always the last voice that you need to listen to.

Scott Hammond: Right. I like that. And, you know, and sit down. You've had your say. I've, I've seen a c- couple of those go and, you know, y- it played out. It didn't go your way, and now it's done, and the voting's done. W- why don't you sit down?

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Have a seat. We're gonna… You can, you can weigh in on the next one.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: 'Cause, yeah, and sometimes it, we're not really satisfied with that. Well, cool. I, I wanna know more about economic development after you win a Dick Taylor chocolate bar.

Peggy Murphy: Oh, yay. My favorite.

Scott Hammond: What are you talking about? Oh, the brown butter-

Peggy Murphy: Ooh

Scott Hammond: … brought to you by-

Peggy Murphy: Dick Taylor

Scott Hammond: … Adam Dick-

Peggy Murphy: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … Dustin Taylor.

Peggy Murphy: Yes.

Scott Hammond: And they're ma- You know what? They both married up like I did. They have smart wives-

Peggy Murphy: Yes

Scott Hammond: … who support them and because their, because their wives are amazing, they get to

Scott Hammond: be amazing.

Peggy Murphy: I appreciate that.

Scott Hammond: Be- behind every good man. Hey, um, so let's do the quiz. Are you ready?

Peggy Murphy: Sure. Hopefully.

Scott Hammond: Where's, where's my bell? Where's all my props, Nick? There they are.

Peggy Murphy: I don't know if I was prepared for a quiz.

Scott Hammond: All right. This will be fun.

Peggy Murphy: Oh.

Scott Hammond: Maybe we'll, maybe we can-

Peggy Murphy: This is the introvert in me loving this.

Scott Hammond: You're going, "Yes, is it trivia?" Question number one: Favorite tiki drink?

Peggy Murphy: Oh, I think I'm a classic mai tai.

Scott Hammond: Classic mai tai.

Peggy Murphy: Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Peggy Murphy: Well-

Scott Hammond: You ever heard of the na- What is it called?

Scott Hammond: Navy, uh, uh… I'll think about it later. Question number two: You get a whole day to do whatever you wanna do. Money's not the question here.

Peggy Murphy: Mm.

Scott Hammond: And, uh, what are you gonna do?

Peggy Murphy: Locally?

Scott Hammond: Yeah, locally.

Peggy Murphy: Um, ooh.

Scott Hammond: What's your best day ever? Well-

Peggy Murphy: I would probably go to Renata's for a crepe, end up at the beach for a bit.

Scott Hammond: Ooh, which beach?

Peggy Murphy: Mm, Dry Lagoon probably.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Good choice.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. I love agate hunting. Um, end up up there, would hit Miller Farms on the way home, buy some plants, and spend the afternoon in my yard.

Scott Hammond: Miller's.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Don and Dick Miller, legends.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Miller Farms. That's, that's a, no one's ever had that choice. And then do what at home?

Peggy Murphy: Uh, garden.

Scott Hammond: Garden.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Okay. Garden therapy, okay.

Peggy Murphy: Maybe spend, spend some time-

Scott Hammond: Cool

Peggy Murphy: … in our redwoods, yeah.

Scott Hammond: What gives you a, a brain bleed in, metaphorically, in terms of drives you crazy, hurts your heart?

Peggy Murphy: I think it's the, oof- Uh, in this line of work, specifically the insane amount of bureaucracy to make a difference.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Peggy Murphy: And I think the more hurts my heart is having an amazing office full of really amazing staff that are-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Peggy Murphy: … working really hard every day-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Peggy Murphy: … in a very uphill battle-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Peggy Murphy: … to, to improve things.

Scott Hammond: So you're quite the leader then.

Peggy Murphy: I, my staff is amazing.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Peggy Murphy: They do all the work.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I know that feeling.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: All my staff are younger and smarter, quicker.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's great.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah, and motivated, and they love-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Peggy Murphy: … their community, and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Peggy Murphy: … it's just, yeah.

Scott Hammond: They don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. And sometimes it's hard to look around the office and see them all working so hard and knowing-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Peggy Murphy: … that things are happening at the state and federal level we can't change that-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Peggy Murphy: … impede the work they're doing, that especially with HR one requirements coming down soon-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Peggy Murphy: … for work requirements, our office is preparing to help our community as best they can to make sure people keep their medical and SNAP benefits and-

Scott Hammond: Good. I like that

Peggy Murphy: … it's gonna be a huge lift with no extra funding, no extra staffing and-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Peggy Murphy: … you know.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Peggy Murphy: And they're all happy to take on that work and figure out best ways for our

Peggy Murphy: community.

Scott Hammond: Wow. You got a cool crew.

Peggy Murphy: They're amazing.

Scott Hammond: I like that.

Peggy Murphy: Every single one of them.

Scott Hammond: You know what, what's her name said, J- uh, Jessica?

Peggy Murphy: Mm. Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: She said a lot of people j- I don't know if she said this. Somebody said this recently. A lot of people that came from the marijuana industry came back into the workforce-

Peggy Murphy: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … and made it better.

Peggy Murphy: Mm.

Scott Hammond: 'Cause th- they had a lot of cream of the crop at 50 bucks an hour cash, making 75 an hour in real life.

Peggy Murphy: Yep.

Scott Hammond: Came back and, and took, you know-

Peggy Murphy: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … other, other real, other real jobs.

Peggy Murphy: Well, yeah. Other jobs.

Scott Hammond: Other, other jobs that-

Peggy Murphy: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … it was all work, and it was all real.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Uh, hey, number, question number three: What gives you life and fills you up?

Peggy Murphy: I mean, my family. I have a wonderful husband and great son, and-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Peggy Murphy: … they're just lovely. If I could spend all the time at the beach with them, that

Peggy Murphy: would be it.

Scott Hammond: Is he an only child?

Peggy Murphy: He is, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Oh, guess who else was?

Peggy Murphy: Who?

Scott Hammond: Me.

Peggy Murphy: Oh.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: Me too. Okay. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: My mo- my mo- mom raised me in San Diego, National City-

Peggy Murphy: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … even better, and, uh, what, what do you do when you're that guy? You go to Humboldt and meet Joni and have nine kids.

Peggy Murphy: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we'll see what happens with mine.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: He's only 10, so I'm not prepared there yet.

Scott Hammond: Oh, no. It's great being an only child. You, it's… I don't, I never do any different. Okay, last question. You ready?

Peggy Murphy: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: If you could hike on one trail in Humboldt, what trail would you go for a, a walk on?

Peggy Murphy: Tall Trees.

Scott Hammond: Tall Trees?

Peggy Murphy: I love Tall Trees Loop.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Peggy Murphy: It's my favorite place to take folks.

Peggy Murphy: I-

Scott Hammond: Tall Trees meaning, um-

Peggy Murphy: Out Bald Hills.

Scott Hammond: Bald Hills? Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Oh, so Bald Hills and then walk down?

Peggy Murphy: Yeah, if you… Have you ever done the hike? It's the hike that takes you to the base of the tree from the National Geographic

Peggy Murphy: magazine.

Scott Hammond: No, my wife does it constantly.

Peggy Murphy: Oh, yeah, I love that hike. Partially I love that hike because at the top, if you're there at the right time when the fog in, rolls in-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Peggy Murphy: … it looks like you're above the clouds.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: It's amazing. And then the hike is gorgeous-

Scott Hammond: Beautiful

Peggy Murphy: … and-

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah. We go, we go all the way out to the end where the la… Is it the purple flowers that all bloom?

Peggy Murphy: Oh, the lupine.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, the lupine-

Peggy Murphy: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … bloom. What's that? It, it's another hike. We went, done, did that one before.

Peggy Murphy: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: But we'll do Prairie Creek and stuff.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Always fun.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Nice. So that's a little bit of an elevation drop too.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah, it is.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: Don't forget water.

Scott Hammond: It's super easy going down.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's the best part.

Peggy Murphy: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Go for a swim, hang out.

Peggy Murphy: And then the uphill is always the, "Oh, my God, are we almost there?"

Scott Hammond: Right. Right. We have a secret swimming hole on Redwood Creek.

Peggy Murphy: Ooh.

Scott Hammond: Don't tell… If you, if we told you-

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: … we'd have to kill you. It's amazing. So in the summer it's quite nice up there.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. No one tells their secret s- secret swimming holes.

Scott Hammond: No, but they're fine with that.

Peggy Murphy: I'm not telling mine.

Scott Hammond: You just look it up. ChatGPT.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: They, Chat knows them all.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Well, hey, congrats to you, my friend, have won a, uh, dark chocolate, brown butter, nibs and sea salt, 73% Uganda dark chocolate bar.

Peggy Murphy: Well, thank you so much.

Scott Hammond: Courtesy of our friends at Dick Taylor.

Peggy Murphy: I will enjoy that.

Scott Hammond: You will.

Peggy Murphy: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: It's delicious. Goes good with wine. You're going, "What's up with the wine, dude?"

Peggy Murphy: I grew up with a wine chemist for a mom, not unusual.

Scott Hammond: Right. She's always talking about wine. I don't know. So tell me about economic… Let's go back to economic-

Peggy Murphy: Mm

Scott Hammond: … development. Um, some of the, like, top three programs that you guys are about, so you said used to be the job market. I'm familiar with that.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah, and now known as-

Scott Hammond: And now

Peggy Murphy: … the Humboldt Workforce Coalition.

Scott Hammond: Correct.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah, that's probably our biggest-

Scott Hammond: That's the main one. And so, and then the difference between SBDC and the Prosperity Center, and they were all in one, one-

Peggy Murphy: Mm. Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … you guys are on E Street, but they're actually, there's two different things. One of them's up at Humboldt now, right?

Scott Hammond: At Cal Poly?

Peggy Murphy: No.

Scott Hammond: Or no, it's in, it's in Arcata.

Peggy Murphy: The SBDC is in Arcata now. Yeah. So the Prosperity Center was just the name of that building, which was basically a-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Peggy Murphy: … collaboration of multiple entities that were working towards the

Peggy Murphy: same-

Scott Hammond: And Greg is with SBDC?

Peggy Murphy: Greg is with REDAC, Redwood Region Economic Development Commission.

Scott Hammond: There, so there's so many, it's an alphabet soup for me.

Peggy Murphy: Yes. And I think also in that building, the Film Commission was in there as well.

Scott Hammond: Cassandra was there.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Peggy Murphy: When Nate was still there as well.

Peggy Murphy: Um, and then, uh, for a time when I first started, Humboldt Made was still in

Peggy Murphy: there.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Wow.

Peggy Murphy: I'm trying to think of who else. There was a few other people that had offices in there.

Scott Hammond: Kind of an incubator of sorts.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah, it was in-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Peggy Murphy: … intended to kind of get all the, not all of them, but some of the key players of-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … in the economic development.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, Scott Kumarcz used to do workshops-

Peggy Murphy: Oh, yeah

Scott Hammond: … and marketing and stuff.

Peggy Murphy: Absolutely. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Scott.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: He's-

Scott Hammond: He's my good friend.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. He and, uh, Marianne, love them.

Scott Hammond: Oh, they're great.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. He introduced me to Toastmasters and then-

Peggy Murphy: Oh, sure

Scott Hammond: … and then the NSA.

Peggy Murphy: Okay. Okay.

Scott Hammond: National Speakers Association.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. Okay.

Scott Hammond: So we would, uh, here, let me connect this. We would go down to Oakland to that waterfront hotel-

Peggy Murphy: Mm

Scott Hammond: … and do workshops at the, whatever it is now. It's like it's two now, but-

Peggy Murphy: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … they're right there. And, um, what an a- amazing dude.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. Yeah. I love them both. They're wonderful.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: They were a great part of my time at SBDC.

Scott Hammond: Oh, nice. So, uh, yeah, he would come and do workshops, right?

Peggy Murphy: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And Jeff Smaller and-

Peggy Murphy: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … all of us.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Ex-Toastmaster types.

Peggy Murphy: Yep.

Scott Hammond: So tell me more about, so how, how are we gonna economic develop Humboldt?

Peggy Murphy: Um, oof, I mean, we're trying.

Peggy Murphy: Uh,

Peggy Murphy: I think…

Peggy Murphy: So taking kind of a step back on all of it, we- every five years we do an industry study. Prior, we called it the Targets of Opportunity. This last one was called Project Rebound.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Peggy Murphy: It had a lot of resilience and, um, a focus on what we do if another pandemic happens or-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Peggy Murphy: … earthquake happens or things like that, but really focused on economic

Peggy Murphy: resiliency.

Scott Hammond: Do you guys finance it and do the study or hire it out?

Peggy Murphy: Uh, we hire it out. We, especially over the past few years… I mean, we're a very small staff. We are a staff of 12 currently.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Peggy Murphy: Well, maybe we're at 13 right now.

Peggy Murphy: Um, but-

Scott Hammond: Are you in the county building downtown?

Peggy Murphy: We're over by the old Harley-Davidson in the Plaza building-

Scott Hammond: Over there

Peggy Murphy: … with child support.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: Um-

Scott Hammond: Humboldt Bank building?

Peggy Murphy: Mm-hmm. Yeah, that one. But eight of… Seven or eight of our 12, 13 employees are all our workforce development team.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Peggy Murphy: So, you know, small team. Um, and so we, we do get consultants to do that work of… You know, a five-year goal for me would be eventually that we are doing that type of work in-house.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Peggy Murphy: Um, but we get that study done, and it analyzes our local area to figure out what our top industries are so that we're focused.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Peggy Murphy: We're not just, you know, buckshotting everywhere trying to make-

Scott Hammond: Right on

Peggy Murphy: … uh, impacts that fall flat 'cause we're just too spread too thin. And even then, we have nine target industry clusters-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Peggy Murphy: … which is still a lot for a small team.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: Um, we then get the comprehensive economic development strategy and our local and regional workforce development plans built off of that industry study-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Peggy Murphy: … so that we align both our workforce and our business and economic development strategies on the same concepts.

Scott Hammond: So are you kind of betting on an industry that's coming on that's gonna come on strong or…?

Peggy Murphy: Well, so these ones focus on existing industries.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: So these are really like the agriculture-

Scott Hammond: Tourism

Peggy Murphy: … fisheries. Yes, tourism's in there. And then we're taking those, and we're going through them, and we're looking at what we can do on the economic development side to do business attraction or recruitment, but also really importantly for our region-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Peggy Murphy: … uh, retention expansion of our businesses. So what value adds can we provide to the commu- to those industries, communities? Um, and then as we do that, how are we preparing those businesses with the workforce they need to support that?

Scott Hammond: Oh. So training.

Peggy Murphy: And so-

Scott Hammond: Training.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. So our workforce team is coming in at the same time preparing people to take

Peggy Murphy: on-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … what we're hoping is expansion of jobs in those-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … those industries based on what we do on the economic development side. Um, that said though, to your point, we are definitely looking at other industries and things that don't exist locally-

Scott Hammond: Ah

Peggy Murphy: … to see what we can potentially bring in.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Peggy Murphy: Things that are more, I wouldn't wanna say cutting edge, but more on the, like, nationwide scalable industries.

Peggy Murphy: I mean-

Scott Hammond: Clean tech.

Peggy Murphy: Clean tech. Um, even things in, potentially in drone, robotics technologies, things like that. We are paying close attention, of course, to the federal administration to see where funding will likely be placed so that we can take advantage of that because realistically, none of this happens unless we're funded. Um, but we're also paying very close attention to the state's

Peggy Murphy: blueprint-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Peggy Murphy: … for economic development and in that are specific industries we do not have locally that the state has indicated they will be putting money towards.

Scott Hammond: Ah.

Peggy Murphy: And so we are paying attention to that and seeing-

Scott Hammond: Good

Peggy Murphy: … if that's a way to bring industry in locally-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Peggy Murphy: … with good-paying jobs and hopefully then spur entrepreneurship around that as well.

Scott Hammond: Love it. So you're layered, man. You gotta be looking, playing all the bets.

Peggy Murphy: We're definitely looking at different levels-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Peggy Murphy: … and figuring out how we can make those impacts. The one thing that I always kind of make sure that people understand though is this is a long game.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, this isn't overnight.

Peggy Murphy: You know, economic development is not you'll see this change next month or even next

Peggy Murphy: year.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Peggy Murphy: You're more likely to see the impacts of what we're doing today in five to 10 years.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: And that's a hard conversation with economic development because people are hurting

Peggy Murphy: now.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Peggy Murphy: And they wanna see the change now.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: And with the way our funding works being primarily grant-funded office-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Peggy Murphy: … or getting funding through the board of supervisors, it's an annual review

Peggy Murphy: basically.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: We're basically coming back every year and being like-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Peggy Murphy: … "Do we need… Can we get more money?"

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Peggy Murphy: "Can we continue being sustained?" And there's not always the attitude of you've made incremental progress towards your five-year goal. It's a we haven't seen the, the change yet.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: And so we're always in the cycle of also defending the-

Scott Hammond: Right

Peggy Murphy: … the progress and working towards the larger goal.

Scott Hammond: Defend that thesis.

Peggy Murphy: Ah. Every day.

Scott Hammond: Folks, life is a long game.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Not just economics, but everything's a long game.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Parenting is kinda like that.

Peggy Murphy: Well, that's the thing is the long game in my end is that I have a 10-year-old, and I hope that by the time he's looking for a job, like your 21-year-old-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Peggy Murphy: … he's not saying that there isn't anything locally.

Scott Hammond: Doesn't have to leave and go to Redding or-

Peggy Murphy: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … Medford or-

Peggy Murphy: Or Seattle like I did.

Scott Hammond: Or Seattle. Heaven forbid.

Peggy Murphy: Well, there's a flight now. I mean-

Scott Hammond: Seattle's cool.

Peggy Murphy: Great.

Scott Hammond: I like Seattle. So i- if y- so economic development, so you're do- you do trainings

Scott Hammond: and, and you f- foster that. So, um, if you find an industry that you really wanna be all over and help, do you have tools to bless an indust- an entire industry? And do you, do you have t- levers that you can like, I don't know, kick tourism in the, in the pants real hard and help it?

Peggy Murphy: I'll touch on tourism in a second. If… A lot of times what we're looking at is heavy industrial because-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Peggy Murphy: … that's really like the manufacturing, that end of it. Um, we do have some tools. We have an enhanced infrastructure finance district

Peggy Murphy: for-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Peggy Murphy: … the Samoa Peninsula, so everything south of the bridge falls into that.

Scott Hammond: Ah.

Peggy Murphy: It creates an incremental component into, of property tax into a

Peggy Murphy: pool-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Peggy Murphy: … where we can do infrastructure updates, things like that, that need to happen so that we can get a site build ready.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: A lot of those are brownfields, so there's brownfield remediation work needed-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Peggy Murphy: … sewers needed, things like that.

Scott Hammond: But there's land to do that stuff.

Peggy Murphy: Right.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: Um, but a lot of times they're not in a developable State right now.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: And so that, uh, has the opportunity through that incremental property tax growth, uh, to put funding into a pool where we can make those changes there.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Peggy Murphy: So we can then go to businesses in those industries who are interested and say, "We have a completely development-ready plot for you."

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Cool. So you have some power, some, some discretion.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. I mean, it's at the will of inflation and property taxes.

Scott Hammond: Some tool- some tools.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. Um, and then we have some other things. One of the things our office does is site selection work for potential

Peggy Murphy: industries.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Peggy Murphy: So we do work with our local developers and landowners to solicit their properties to potential development and-

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow

Peggy Murphy: … industry.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Peggy Murphy: And we do act as a concierge service, then setting up meetings. Say, they need to meet with Planning and Building, or they need to meet with the Coastal Commission.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: Or we work heavily with the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development for state incentive programs, and so we will introduce them there and help them.

Scott Hammond: What a little network-

Peggy Murphy: Yep

Scott Hammond: … world there.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah, everything that we do is- … a collaborative process.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: There's absolutely nothing that we do that we can do alone, so we really re- rely on partners and systems.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I was gonna ask about money. Could we get, can we get some money from you, or is that, do you just have partners? Do you push people to partners?

Peggy Murphy: Um, I mean, it depends on what we're talking about.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: Um, w- we don't have holdings of funds to just do things

Peggy Murphy: with.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: Um, our workforce development programs run an RFP every four years for, uh, youth providers.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Peggy Murphy: And so that is a way for people that want-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … to provide youth services-

Scott Hammond: Ah

Peggy Murphy: … to get some funding out of our programs to be able to run those.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Peggy Murphy: Um, and then we do have the Headwaters fund, which I'm sure you've had someone on here before to talk about that.

Scott Hammond: Sure. Do you have a chunk of it? Is that how that works?

Peggy Murphy: That one-

Scott Hammond: Or do you administer it?

Peggy Murphy: We administer it, but we also u- it has a revolving loan fund that is done through, the funds go through REDEC and North

Peggy Murphy: Edge into-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … their lending. Um, but then the interest off of those comes into a grant fund-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Peggy Murphy: … which we do granting. I think our cap on a grant is

Peggy Murphy: 100,000.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Peggy Murphy: Um, and so we do that, and that's actually open to public entities and nonprofits for projects that will lead

Peggy Murphy: to-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Peggy Murphy: … economic development or job creation.

Scott Hammond: How much money was that when it all came through?

Peggy Murphy: Oh, I should know off the top of my head.

Scott Hammond: Is it about-

Peggy Murphy: 120 million.

Scott Hammond: And then it's grown 'cause it's been invested.

Peggy Murphy: It's about the same.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah, it's about the same right now.

Scott Hammond: Which actually is pretty cool considering they probably gave a lot of it away,

Scott Hammond: right?

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. I mean, it's lended out.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: Some things don't work out, other things do.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: But there is a requirement of a certain amount staying within-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … an investment pool.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: And, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Somebody was talking about the new, uh, economic development, uh, contest that-

Peggy Murphy: Oh, Startup Humboldt. Yeah

Scott Hammond: … remember the Arc- the Arc leaders used to do it, now the new guys.

Peggy Murphy: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: What… Tell us about that. Do you know much?

Peggy Murphy: I, you know, we… That's through SBDC and, uh, their partnership with, remind me, um, uh, the venture capitalist group.

Scott Hammond: Right. What's his name?

Peggy Murphy: Oh, yeah. I'm gonna blank out.

Peggy Murphy: I shouldn't.

Scott Hammond: It's the guy.

Peggy Murphy: Um, but- … it's a partnership between those folks to try to encourage and support new economic development projects locally.

Scott Hammond: And that one's cool 'cause it's accountable all the way through, right?

Peggy Murphy: Yes. No, that one's lovely. Um, the Headwaters Fund did provide them a small grant for their-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … marketing efforts.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: Other than that, we're just cheerleaders for it. It's a great-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Peggy Murphy: … opportunity.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, I like it.

Peggy Murphy: We fully support it. We are pleased to see who is in the running for it and think-

Scott Hammond: Right

Peggy Murphy: … they're great projects.

Scott Hammond: And there's not just one grand prize winner, but there could be, but there's a pool of money that's gonna be dispersed.

Peggy Murphy: That's my understanding, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Huh. What's it called again?

Peggy Murphy: Startup Humboldt.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I like it.

Peggy Murphy: So, yeah, it's great, and it's wonderful.

Scott Hammond: Who, who's the person?

Peggy Murphy: Um, you know, I mostly speak with Will Franklin, who's the director for the Small Business Development Center.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: He's heavily involved, and-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Peggy Murphy: … so he's my person for it.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. No. Hey, Will. I know Will a little bit.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Um, so I had a question about, uh, something in Arcata.

Peggy Murphy: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: So Copeland Lumber, Copeland Lumber used to be, um, uh, McKinney Lumber, and now it's a giant cable that goes to Singapore.

Peggy Murphy: Oh, the… Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Or it-

Peggy Murphy: The broadband cable, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, so what, what does that actually do in terms of its, um… What does it actually achieve, that, that cable that comes here?

Scott Hammond: Does it-

Peggy Murphy: Well, I mean, it'll be the connectivity to provide broadband through our area into some of the harder to reach

Peggy Murphy: areas. Um-

Scott Hammond: It goes rural, so it could come out-

Peggy Murphy: Yep

Scott Hammond: … go up to Hoopa.

Peggy Murphy: The 299 project definitely going through-

Scott Hammond: Miller Creek and-

Peggy Murphy: Yeah, Hoopa and all of that.

Scott Hammond: Trinity Valley.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah, that's a absolute Connie Stewart project.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: Again, we are huge cheerleaders for her.

Peggy Murphy: Love-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Peggy Murphy: … seeing that happen.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: That conversation's been around since I was in college here.

Scott Hammond: It's not a big jobs thing. It's, it, it, but it's a infrastructure-

Peggy Murphy: It's infrastructure-

Scott Hammond: … mover

Peggy Murphy: … but it's also, you know, it's a digging project in the long run-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Peggy Murphy: … to get that in, so it's huge. It's a construction-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … project, so definitely a workforce-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … project with that. And then the overall infrastructure definitely leads to potential development. You know, businesses need to know that they have good, solid-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Peggy Murphy: … Wi-Fi, especially if we're trying to attract remote workers or-

Scott Hammond: Right. But it's bigger than a redundancy f- to Optimum or Satellite. It's, it's, it's a bigger-

Peggy Murphy: It's the actual access-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Peggy Murphy: … yeah, that we have not had before.

Scott Hammond: So it's the backbone.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah, it's everything we've needed for-

Scott Hammond: So is it working? Is our backbone working or…

Peggy Murphy: Uh, well, I don't believe that the last mile projects have started yet. I think they're starting soon, and I may be totally wrong-

Scott Hammond: So some-

Peggy Murphy: … on the timing, but-

Scott Hammond: … somebody will flip a switch and we'll, we'll have access to-

Peggy Murphy: I mean, it's probably not-

Scott Hammond: … faster-

Peggy Murphy: … that simple.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: But if only it was.

Scott Hammond: Don't you p-

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Don't you people just press buttons out there?

Peggy Murphy: Yes. This is the whole it's a 5 to 10-year project point.

Scott Hammond: Dang it.

Peggy Murphy: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Oh, you said things are slow.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. Yes. It's not gonna happen next month, but it-

Scott Hammond: Dang it

Peggy Murphy: … you know, huge progress over the years and-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Peggy Murphy: … absolutely a selling point when we're talking to businesses.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: Especially the ones that are looking at rural communities.

Scott Hammond: So you did good on the quiz. Let's see how y- the… I wanna ask some Humboldt questions.

Peggy Murphy: Okay.

Scott Hammond: What do, what do you like about Humboldt County?

Peggy Murphy: I mean, the community.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: I feel like I know that at any point if I needed something, my child needed something, my husband needed something-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … there's someone that will come help us.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: And then there's the River Days and the friends and- I feel like coming from the Bay Area, especially-

Peggy Murphy: … you know, we of course ha- I grew up there, I have my friends there, but it, there's this whole different depth to the community here that's just amazing.

Scott Hammond: That's cool. And there's no River Days-

Peggy Murphy: Mm.

Scott Hammond: There.

Peggy Murphy: You can try.

Scott Hammond: We went to the Delta-

Peggy Murphy: Yes.

Scott Hammond: … twice this summer.

Peggy Murphy: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. No, it's different, yeah.

Peggy Murphy: It is.

Scott Hammond: It's… Yeah, so the, the, the, the geography makes the difference.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah, and the tenacity of the people-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … and the resilience that we see.

Peggy Murphy: I mean-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: Mm.

Scott Hammond: So our hot date night for, uh, COVID was get in the Odyssey

Scott Hammond: van, drive-

Peggy Murphy: Mm

Scott Hammond: … from McKinleyville to, uh, Camel Rock-

Peggy Murphy: Oh, true

Scott Hammond: … on Scenic Drive.

Peggy Murphy: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Throw those van doors open, baby-

Peggy Murphy: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … and the sun's-

Peggy Murphy: Have a picnic

Scott Hammond: … coming in, and have a picnic-

Peggy Murphy: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … just right there.

Peggy Murphy: Love it.

Scott Hammond: Watch people surfing.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: We saw a guy parasail.

Peggy Murphy: Oh, wow.

Scott Hammond: He ran off the cliff like five times.

Peggy Murphy: Oi.

Scott Hammond: And didn't die.

Peggy Murphy: Oi.

Scott Hammond: I know, it's going-

Peggy Murphy: Gives me anxiety just thinking about it

Scott Hammond: … I'm going, I'm going, "Oh, this guy."

Peggy Murphy: Good for him.

Scott Hammond: He, and he's, a, and he, he would just get this r- fast run and go for it, and it's

Scott Hammond: like-

Peggy Murphy: Wow

Scott Hammond: … "Where are you from, bro?"

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: "Oh, I'm from Ashland, Oregon."

Peggy Murphy: Well, I mean, I think that's one of the things, your point about, uh, your brief point about tourism earlier. Outdoor recreation is one of our biggest-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … uh, drivers of tourism locally.

Scott Hammond: Right, right.

Peggy Murphy: We saw a boom in it even during COVID, and it's, we're-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Peggy Murphy: … coming back strong on that. In fact, I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but Cal Poly Humboldt, in partnership with our office and some other folks, is putting on an outdoor recreation summit this year to talk about what we can do to-

Scott Hammond: Really?

Peggy Murphy: … grow outdoor recreation, especially in the tou- travel and tourism industries.

Scott Hammond: Very cool. Where's that gonna be?

Peggy Murphy: Oof. It's at the, what, the Humboldt Bay Aquatic Center, I believe-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Peggy Murphy: … in June.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: This year it's-

Scott Hammond: On the bay.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: It's-

Scott Hammond: That'd be neat.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So people from around wherever and-

Peggy Murphy: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … come and talk about it.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Like that.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Um, what do you not like about Humboldt? What do you, what do you loathe? I wouldn't ask that. I would…

Scott Hammond: What, what, what's not your favorite?

Peggy Murphy: The invasive blackberry bushes.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Peggy Murphy: You know?

Scott Hammond: It's a good, safe answer.

Peggy Murphy: I don't know. For anyone with gardens, I mean-

Scott Hammond: I hate those blackberries

Peggy Murphy: … yes, I've been picking, uh, thorns out of my hands for 10 years. Um-

Scott Hammond: Fog for 20 days in a row.

Peggy Murphy: I love the fog.

Scott Hammond: Oh, you're a fog lover.

Peggy Murphy: Oh, I love it.

Scott Hammond: Oh, you and my son, Jesse.

Peggy Murphy: I love it. I love watching it roll in. I'm up- … in Eland, right kind of at the fog line, and so we get the kind of late afternoon roll in. It's beautiful. Um-

Scott Hammond: We get that a lot in McKinleyville by the airport. In fact, we… I often pray for the people at 10:00-

Peggy Murphy: Oh, gosh, I know

Scott Hammond: … coming in from LA on the flight 'cause you-

Peggy Murphy: Circle

Scott Hammond: … 'cause we're, they circle once. No, sometimes they-

Peggy Murphy: Oh, I've done three times

Scott Hammond: … sometimes they don't circle.

Peggy Murphy: Oh, they just head right back.

Scott Hammond: Jodi watches them on the flight tracker.

Peggy Murphy: Oh, I'm sure.

Scott Hammond: She goes-

Peggy Murphy: "Oh, they're going back."

Scott Hammond: They get one pass.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's like rookie, rookie pilot.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And sometimes the, the other guy, the other night did three.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: When they come in at, you go, "Oh, there's th- gotta be nothing more deflating than-

Peggy Murphy: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … like an all-day flight and coming home, and I'm gonna see my-

Peggy Murphy: Oh, we have a-

Scott Hammond: … sweethearts, and I'm back in San Francisco."

Peggy Murphy: Yes. We, myself and some coworkers went to a conference a couple years ago, and I'm on the California Workforce Association board, so I had to stay a couple days longer.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Peggy Murphy: Drop the two folks off at the airport that are going home before me. That night, get a call thinking, "Oh, they're just telling me they're home." Nope. They've been rerouted back to SFO and are looking for a hotel room.

Scott Hammond: Bummer.

Peggy Murphy: So the next morning- … they're taking off again. I'm at my board meeting for half the day and then going to the airport that afternoon. As I'm returning the rental car, they are calling me on repeat, and I'm like, "Oh."

Scott Hammond: This isn't good.

Peggy Murphy: And I answer the phone right as I return the rental car, and the staff member's like, "Don't return the rental car."

Scott Hammond: Oh, no.

Peggy Murphy: Because their flight went out that morning, came back.

Scott Hammond: Oh, no.

Peggy Murphy: And then my flight is, I look at it, had been moved back three hours, and-

Scott Hammond: Keep that rental car. Come get us

Peggy Murphy: … so we just got a new rental car and drove home.

Scott Hammond: Easier.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: But, you know, yeah, I, I, it's, that's quirky about us. I don't know if that even bothers me. We understand that. We know our area. We know what's happening.

Scott Hammond: It's funny how you accommodate that. You go, "Oh"-

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I, I, it's hateful for me. I would hate it, but then, you know, I would go, "Okay."

Peggy Murphy: No, I'm proud of our airport and what it can do. I think it's wonderful.

Scott Hammond: I think peop- I think a lot of pilots take the, the easy pass anymore. They used to land them-

Peggy Murphy: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … um, pretty regular in fo- in not thick fog, but fog.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. I think, though, if I was to name my one thing I probably hate the most about Humboldt is this… And, and it's not even actually about Humboldt. It's about the fact as an ultra-rural area-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … we're very misunderstood-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Peggy Murphy: … at the state and federal level what, what rural really means.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Peggy Murphy: We find that a lot of times in our systems, Fairfield is considered rural or San Bernardino or-

Scott Hammond: What?

Peggy Murphy: And so we're having this conversation. We're like, "No, no, no, no."

Scott Hammond: You don't, yeah.

Peggy Murphy: "That you're, like, an hour to a major-

Scott Hammond: Santa Rosa

Peggy Murphy: … three, 30 million population district."

Scott Hammond: Right.

Peggy Murphy: Like, you're not understanding our level of rural.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Peggy Murphy: And that comes up in a lot of the development conversations.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Peggy Murphy: And the, the misunderstanding of how that impacts our area and our ability to develop and attract good, sustainable business-

Scott Hammond: That's a big miss, yeah

Peggy Murphy: … it's a, it's very hard, and I think-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Peggy Murphy: … that my biggest frustration is that our policymakers-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Peggy Murphy: … either don't understand or are choosing not to fully understand-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Peggy Murphy: … or are choosing not to make the investment.

Scott Hammond: Right. You're in rural Napa. Wait.

Peggy Murphy: I mean, we've had-

Scott Hammond: Santa Rosa.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah, we've had that conversation too.

Scott Hammond: Burbank is pretty rural.

Peggy Murphy: A good example is we see at the state level on the California Workforce Development Board, with whom we have a great relationship-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … their farthest north appointment for their workforce board is

Peggy Murphy: Connolly.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Peggy Murphy: So out of the Santa Rosa area.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Peggy Murphy: No one from anywhere north of that.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Peggy Murphy: The whole state workforce board.

Scott Hammond: Wow, that's not good.

Peggy Murphy: We also see it with CALED, which is our California Economic Developers group.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: I mean, wonderful, uh, organization, but similarly, I think farthest north is actually, I think, our former director, Scott Adair, with Santa Rosa.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's not good.

Peggy Murphy: And so how does our area have a voice if we're not at the table?

Scott Hammond: Right.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: We don't.

Peggy Murphy: It's probably my biggest-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Peggy Murphy: … biggest hatred, frustration.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, that's a hard one. Would be a hard one.

Peggy Murphy: And constantly banging on the door of, "How do we get a seat on your board?"

Scott Hammond: So, uh, if you're just joining us, you're really late to the show. Which is fine. Thank you for coming, uh, with my new best friend, Peggy Murphy. Hey, so as we wrap it up here, what would you like to talk about? What's, what's, what's on your pet, um, pet program stuff that we- you would like us, us- usuns to know about out there with what y'all are doing? Since I'm talking rural now.

Peggy Murphy: Oh, gee, I mean, you brought up tourism, so probably worth talking about what we're doing with-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … a relatively large marketing analysis that we've ha- been having done recently. Um, few years back when, uh, the county chose to stop funding the Humboldt County Visitors Bureau-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … and move to a different model, our office was tasked with running an RFP for an entity to do an analysis of our marketing currently.

Scott Hammond: An RF- RFP meaning?

Peggy Murphy: Oh, thank you. I'm sorry. Uh, a request for proposals.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Peggy Murphy: So public process to make sure that we're getting a consultant or contractor through an appropriate, transparent means.

Peggy Murphy: Um, we picked a contractor, and over the last, uh, six to nine months, they've been working on this analysis that includes a asset inventory and a strategy for moving forward.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: Uh, we are expecting that to go before our board on April 28th.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Peggy Murphy: And we're looking forward to that.

Peggy Murphy: It will discuss beyond just how to spend more money on marketing for our region-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … but also some of the aspects of what we need to do to become really tourism-ready.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: And the focus is really there on how do we increase the amount of visitors to our area-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … within our capacity, and not just increase them, but how do we extend their stays?

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Peggy Murphy: Because the thing is what we, we, you know, no one here wants to be overrun with tourists. We already get a lot of tourists during certain seasons. What we wanna see is longer stays that mean-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … more tax dollars again.

Scott Hammond: And some ships.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah, yeah. So diff- what are-

Scott Hammond: If they're lucky

Peggy Murphy: … the different avenues? I mean, our new flights are a great-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … a great part of that.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: Um, but I think it'll be an interesting conversation because the county, of course, does have invested-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Peggy Murphy: … uh, transient occupancy tax dollars into our county's marketing.

Scott Hammond: And I think the five supes are pretty behind tourism.

Peggy Murphy: Yes, absolutely.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah, definitely. And, you know, each of their districts has a

Peggy Murphy: different component of tourism-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Peggy Murphy: … impact in tourism, needs-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … around tourism.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Peggy Murphy: And so it's a really multifaceted conversation that-

Scott Hammond: I like it

Peggy Murphy: … I'm hoping leads to some really positive changes for our area.

Scott Hammond: So we can get behind that.

Peggy Murphy: I sure hope so.

Scott Hammond: So as we wrap, tell us, tell us what you wanna be remembered for.

Peggy Murphy: It's funny, my kid asked me this the other day, and- … I told him for being your mom.

Peggy Murphy: Um.

Scott Hammond: That's a good, good answer.

Peggy Murphy: Probably not the answer for this one, but, you know, I mean-

Scott Hammond: I was a great mom.

Peggy Murphy: At the end of the day, I mean, I just hope that for myself

Peggy Murphy: that, you know, when I'm older, I can look back and see that I made a marked difference. I don't-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Peggy Murphy: … I don't think there's a panacea. I don't think that anyone's gonna change everything overnight.

Peggy Murphy: I just-

Scott Hammond: Right

Peggy Murphy: … hope that I can look back and see that I moved the needle and had a positive impact.

Scott Hammond: Love it.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I love that realistic kinda look going, "Yep, I made a good difference."

Peggy Murphy: It's hard to not be-

Scott Hammond: It was good

Peggy Murphy: … realistic in the long run or to-

Scott Hammond: And I blew my kids up. They just were awful, and I was a terrible parent. That keeps coming up at our, our adult kids. Yeah. They, it's a joke. It's kind of an ongoing joke. Well, that was our– And Joanie goes, "That's our job."

Peggy Murphy: What?

Scott Hammond: "To really mess you up so you can have the comeback."

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: All the therapy that you're gonna need.

Peggy Murphy: Well, I always think of it, you know, we all talk about what our parents did to us,

Peggy Murphy: and then-

Scott Hammond: Right

Peggy Murphy: … you know.

Scott Hammond: And we came out normal, right?

Peggy Murphy: Oh, yeah, totally normal. Um, but I think often, like, none of us have a handbook for any of this.

Peggy Murphy: We're just-

Scott Hammond: Nothing

Peggy Murphy: … doing our darnedest to do a good job by it.

Scott Hammond: We're millennia into this-

Peggy Murphy: Yeah. Oh, yeah

Scott Hammond: … parenting thing, and it's like, "What?"

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: There's no owner's manual for this person.

Peggy Murphy: I actually tell my child that a lot, that, like, especially if I don't handle sit- a situation well-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Peggy Murphy: … it's that, you know, I don't have a manual telling me how to handle every situation and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Peggy Murphy: … you know, it's kinda true with everything else.

Scott Hammond: Right. My oldest goes, "Hey, you know, your good, your best was probably not good enough." I'm going-

Peggy Murphy: Wait till he tries.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, good luck. You got two daughters that are wild children. You're gonna have fun.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So it'll be fun watching you, Jesse.

Peggy Murphy: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Love you, Jess. Well, thanks for coming, Peggy.

Peggy Murphy: Of course. Thanks for having me. This was fun.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Hey, and if you guys, uh, like to, uh, like us or subscribe or send money or gold bullion- … or just, uh, make a comment, we'd love that. Uh, Scott Hammond on all the podcast platforms. We're on Access Humboldt. We're on YouTube. We're all the things, and, uh, thanks for joining us. Uh, like a good neighbor. I've never ended a podcast by saying

Scott Hammond: that. Thanks for coming.

Peggy Murphy: I don't know if I believe that.

Scott Hammond: Thanks for coming.

Peggy Murphy: Thank you.