Boys Band Panel | Newsmakers with JR

0:00Hi again, everybody and welcome to a boys band edition of Newsmakers TV. I'm Jerry Roberts. It is Friday, September 25th, just over six weeks till the November 3rd election. I am joined by our All Star panel of top local journalist, Dick Welsh, editor and columnist extraordinaire for the Santa Barbara Independent, Ryan P. Cruz, a staff writer and moderator extraordinaire for the Santa Barbara Independent and Josh Malina, man of many hats, not least of which is editor of the news press and founder of the popular Santa Barbara Talks podcast. Thank you all for joining me. I'm sorry we have no more time to talk now that I've introduced you all. All right, there's only a couple of subjects this week that are dominating. Let's start with rent control. Now we'll talk about elections because it's all kind of the same story. Rent stabilization, I know Ryan, you prefer to call it. The ordinance Tuesday,

1:03night, once again, six or eight hours of our lives that will never have back. They passed something after a big fight over something else between two erstwhile allies, Kristen Snedden and Wendy San Maria. Ryan, can you sort it out for us? What exactly happened? I'll try my best. It was a strange ending to what's been at least 10 months to a year in the city process and then more behind the scenes of people pushing for this rent stabilization program. What happened is they did pass the ordinance and what the argument was about and why it almost fell through it the last second, which was I think everybody in the room when people were questioning whether they're going to have the four votes necessary, I think people were a little frustrated like we've been doing this months and months and now we're at this kind of final stage. What had happened is over these housing exemptions and affordable housing exemptions, the units controlled by housing authority and section

2:05eight, deed, deed restricted housing. The ordinance had matched state law originally to only do what's allowed by state law, not specifically exempt these units. Housing authority came in and said, you know, having this in the extra regulatory restriction over us, you know, that's going to cut in on our bottom line at some point in the way it's going to add another restriction. These units are already regulated. They're already deed restricted affordable, but you know, housing advocates have been kind of saying all along that some of the units that housing authority or some of the units that are section eight, these landlords aren't always taking care of them. They can fall into disrepair and what happens in those if there's not a level of them being able to go through this petition process or be covered by this rent stabilization. So Megan Harmon and Wendy San Maria who have been on the same side of supporting this ordinance, this whole way, you know, Megan Jew her red line of these exemptions are going to be part of this or this is not going forward. And that, you know,

3:10everybody kind of took a step back and try to figure out how this is going to move forward. Is this going to, you know, this falling apart at the last moment would have been a huge, a huge deal. And even despite all together was a huge deal. So Wendy, you know, she, she pushed back and and Wendy wanted to add, you know, the tenants that are covered by these units. If we, if we add this exemption, can the tenants at least participate in a petition process where if their unit is in disrepair, they can petition for, you know, a rent adjustment. I think that that was more Megan was more legislatively adept. Yes. And the question. And Wendy, I think the way Wendy challenged Megan of saying, you know, you don't support affordable tenants. I think that was misconstruing what, you know, was going on in this discussion. I understand, you know, these tenants do need the process for this and I understand the, the, the spots she was trying to take. But I think the, that back and forth really

4:11derailed the whole conversations and it made them split this vote into, okay, we're going to, we're going to do the ordinance simply with staff recommendations with a few little tweaks that everybody agreed on. And the four that had usually agreed on rent stabilization voted that forward. That's Wendy, Megan, Kristen Stettin and Oscar Gutierrez. Now that went past. And there was a second motion and that was to add these exemptions anyway. You know, Megan, she teamed up with Randy Rouse, Eric Friedman and Mike Jordan, who voted against the ordinance in that previous vote. And they kind of tacked on these exemptions anyway, you know, kind of forced it on onto this. And, you know, it was kind of ugly end to something that had been pushed, pushed through this whole way. And people had kind of agreed on one side. And it was just a symptom of what we're seeing of, you know, even something where people had it would agree, you know, it's still falling apart. And they're still leaving this door open of next week on consent.

5:12You know, it's going to get pulled. Is it going to get bifurcated? Is it going to be a split vote? Is it going to have the votes? Are we going to have this uncertainty again? You know, I think the citizens and on both sides, I think landlords and tenants both want security. And so, yeah, we don't know what's going to go. Nick, Nick, I want to ask you about your column. Santa Barbara rent control ordinance moves forward despite many unknown costs. I think that qualifies us under statement of the year. But it was a very tough column. And you pointed out a number of really, you know, I don't know, surprising things. They seem to come as a surprise to Kristen Sneddon, who's been one of the leading exponents of this. Well, I think let me back back a little bit to what Ryan was talking about first, because there's a big over section 8 housing exemptions and these were listed. You know, it's sounds a little bit like Harrison or it's Hayes and Technical.

6:16That those numbers are basically 10% of the cities affordable housing stocks. It's not a small number. And particularly like 3,000 of those are section 8 housing. And section 8 housing goes to private landlords who was really paying tenants that was otherwise buying a home in the Santa Barbara housing market. And as Ryan pointed out, and as advocates point out, some of them are not getting inspected. Maybe it's really sweet enough. They're not upcaps the way they say. So there's really evidence of that. Did they present any evidence? Yeah, that's just an assertion. It's an assertion. They presented some numbers. They have tennis. They have clients. What does it have a housing authority say about that? The housing authority says these numbers are hugely exaggerated.

7:18And I had probably this morning with a mental health care provider who deals with section 8 tennis from the housing authority. He says, man, we get respected every year. And they don't forget about it. And they come back to make sure that we did what we were supposed to have done. Can I say one thing here? And then I'll just say it was right. We're deep in the weeds here. Deep. What about the politics? Well, no, hold on. I just, I want to let Nick finish. But on this point, I want to chime in. My father lives in a section 8 apartment. It's a privately owned apartment. He has a section 8 voucher from the housing authority. And obviously, one example is not an example for everyone. But section 8 is federal housing money. Yeah. And his apartment is almost over regulating. I mean, there is so much inspection that goes on

8:20to make sure that everything is on the up and up. Now, he's a senior. He lives in senior housing. But in my experience, he's getting a great opportunity through the housing authority. And this program is working now. Obviously, there may be other home property owners out there have a different situation. But they are inspected. They check everything. I've got to be over there to communicate with them. So in that experience, and so I have nothing good to say about the housing authority and the section 8 voucher program. Well, that's a, you know, that's an example of one, but it's a powerful one. And as you go back, I mean, 3,000 of the 4,000 units of affordable housing in the city of San Barbara are section 8. And right now, there's a rating list of about 1,500 people. The rating list is so long is that they haven't even taken new applications for the last three years. So they need for new lands

9:23orders to set forward and say, Hey, we want to participate. Is immense. This is a big block foundation. So, you know, that stabilization is going to encourage more. But let me make my point. Yeah. And so the idea that you would put a new regulatory mantle on these lands orders and these property owners is not always to make anybody want to set forward. It's probably going to make some people want to. That was Megan's point. That was my, and I just thought, I mean, as I was sitting there listening, I'm just going, wow, we're at the last, but at the 11th hour, 59th minute, 59th session, and they haven't figured out consensus on something as it's not a incidental thing. That was massive. And that was, and that's was the thrust of your column, which I greatly appreciate it, and then which people should all go read if they want to get a good

10:25handle on this, which is there's so many of these things. And they're not insignificant things that even even the rental registry fee is not, it's not locked in yet. And, you know, they flooded that. That's right. I mean, you wrote, uh, uh, the program could require seven staff members. And as expected to cost somewhere between $2,000,000,000 a year with the registry, expected covers as much as the remaining 500,000 may need to come from the city's general fund. So even the cost of doing it are unclear. Well, it was interesting when you said Maria, who was perhaps the most empathic, uh, advocate on the council. Maybe we need to slow this thing down because we don't know this house. And even I have a hard time, you know, justifying something when we don't know the cost. And it's just, I don't know, I mean, I feel like somebody's coming into a very long shaggy dog. So, well, here's, and here's where the

11:26politics get interesting. And Josh, let me ask you this because I'm just, uh, uh, uh, an old geyser political reporter. But what I see going on here is they're going to try to push this past this magical January 1st deadline until they get the next council, which is going to be the people's Republic of Santa Barbara. They're going to be sick folks for these thing moans at most likely. And they're going to jam through the exemptions and everything else. What do you know? I mean, there is a there is a two paranoid. No, I think there's, well, okay, well, let me chime in. You know, there may be a behind the scenes sort of play with this conversation to put it off until the new year, a new council. You won't have Megan Harmon on the city council anymore. She's the only one who's going to, uh, sort of fight for these exemptions in a big bowl. Then you don't have Eric Friedman in District five. The question is when they pull it off of consent and talk about

12:29this on Tuesday is Megan, because she's kind of the swing vote here. Is she going to say no, and it's going to pass? Or is she going to say fine, let's wait and get these things sorted out. I guess if you keep the tenants in mind, you know, you probably want to get this done soon as possible, because the tenants are the ones who are struggling. If you're doing the political thing, maybe you want to wait until you have a 100% with different council members. Oh, no, what is that? Let me just ask what basic, what is the magic of the January 1st deadline? Is there, is there anything legal or what is that about? There is a legal or I can answer real quick. There is a legal risk to extending the temporary moratorium. Uh, city attorney said there it, it's not a certainty that there would be more lawsuits, but it opens them up to a longer, a little bit more of a legal risk when they extend it, you know, it would be going on to two

13:31years now with a temporary rent freeze with zero rent increases. So that is kind of why that push. And I think, I think pushing it longer, you know, political move or not, I think the way the public will receive it is just another, okay, we just can't finish, figure out something again. I think that would just make not only the tenants, everybody more frustrated and I'd hate to see a political move. Neck you and just you were going to disagree with Josh. Well, I think what's really going on here is more the certainty that whatever is approved will be subject to a referendum. And if you are an advocate of the ordinance, you do not want to have the referendum on the march, uh, about next year. What that is? What march balance? Is this election of votes? So if we're going on the ballot, it will be on the march ballot next year. It will be a special election. There will be a special election. There will be a special

14:31election. And so, March is a road turnout vote. And if the tenants have any hope of prevailing, they need the highest turnout vote they can get, and that would be November. So the strategic fight that I think is going on behind the scenes now is tell me, tell me, you know, manipulate the delays to get it to November. I don't know that they can. I think it's an uphill fight. I don't think they should get them from here. But November, you have, you know, a lot more, um, you know, liberal, you know, activist, younger, uh, you have a better turnout. March will be very those outweighs. So, Jim, let me just try to sort the levels of politics going on. So we have the council, the intro council politics with this sort of, uh, weird fight between, not weird, but obscure, if you will, uh, fight between Wendy San Maria and Megan Herman,

15:36Erstwile allies. We have that. We have the, the broader citywide thing where the opponents, the the department owners and real estate industry are apparently moving ahead with a referendum to repeal the whole thing before it's even gone. And then, well, it's, it's not past yet. So if it passes next week, this process would start where the outside parties can file for this referendum, then they're prepared to do that, right? There's, there's rumors that that's just like state street that the ideas to file these papers, collect these signatures and get as many signatures as possible and get that, I think it's 5,500 or so that they'd need, uh, within 30 days. And if they meet that target, then it would go to city council. And then it would be, they both would be put on the March election if they went through, um, you know, still a lot of unanswered questions. And just for the city, just, just as a, as a outside, even on a journalist, but as a city resident, it's just kind of frustrating to, it's like four years now in state street and rent stabilizer,

16:39and we're still, you know, is it done? Is it not done? It's near the finish line? Where is the finish line? Every time we're at the finish line? Oh, wait, there's another, you know, vote, another referendum, you know, it feels like we're at the finish line. Or Josh, let me add a third level of politics here, which is a mayor's race, which is going on. And obviously, Chris and Snedden has been very much in favor of all this. Eric Friedman's been against, but then, um, I just want to read from next excellent column, which I, perhaps everyone should go read. Um, council member in ardent rent stabilization, we're throwing a Kristen Snedden now running for mayor, express surprise, um, to learn last night, just how complicated and messy it will be to figure out of what is or what is not a fair rate to return. Frankly, I was surprised to learn she surprised, who's a night seemed really late in the game for this sort of realization, considering that Kristen has been involved in this process

17:40going on nine years now. Josh, how does this all play into the mayor's race? Well, just a quick thing. I think we are at the finish line. It's just, you know, are we going to prove what Megan Harmon wanted or are we going to delay and do the politics thing? I bet the renters would want to approve as soon as possible. I think Ryan was sort of getting at that. I love Nick. Would you differentiate between the renters and the tenants union there, because maybe the tenants union would like the more political solution? I'm going to plead the fifth there. They are advocating for tenants. Um, so I don't, I don't know, but let me let me get back to a Nick's question or to the question about Nick, which is, I love Nick's column. It was great. It was amazing because, you know, I think Kristen, I think a lot of Kristen, however, this is straight out of her playbook. She does this all the time. So it was great to see another journalist point this out. She did the same thing with the budget. She act like she didn't know that they were spending down the reserves. And then right there in

18:44front of everybody, she fained surprise. And I think the question about Kristen is, are you fainting surprise for some weird reason, or do you actually not know? And Nick definitely caught her on this one and wrote about it, which I think is appropriate. We need to be holding these elected officials accountable. Um, does net and benefit from this being put off till later? Definitely, definitely. She does. She's, you know, the number one thing, if I will, if I may, that Kristen Snetting is focused on right now is Nick Welsh and the independence endorsement. This is a huge deal for her. So when she's in a spat with Nick, this is not good. So she's trying to fix it right away. And I don't know what Nick and Mary Ann and the team over there are going to do, but I do know in a close mayor's race, that endorsement is really, really going to matter. So I do think that Snetting is talking too much and making things too complicated. And it's hard to know where she stands

19:44on some of these issues. And Nick pointed this out and his column. Nick, Joshua ledges you are the chief power broker of Santa Barbara. How do you respond? Not guilty. I think the independence endorsement, you know, I, I, it's a number I've booked out of my butt, I think we make a 3% plus or minus. But I think sometimes a 3% makes a difference. I, I think, you know, you have Reddysons, Moton, who knows how or why she's in this race or what she's doing. She's like, the, the two sex comment. But I think making all these references from the 70s and 80s and nobody has any idea which I'm sorry. You got you got old Clint East with movies, you know, references in your column too. Go ahead. It's just like, she's going to take a few points

20:49off of fishing. And then, I mean, I think this is for you to go anyway, I, you know, it's sort of off of fishing as a frontrunner. And Eric says, sort of a good luck buddy. I think it's going to be a lot tighter. I do too. I got a four page color brochure in the mail from America. It is the first mail I got. So four pages. Yeah. Four pages. Well, that is Eric's shipping as for it's beast. I think I think it's mostly pictures. I mean, it was mostly pictures of his family to be. Yeah. All right. So we, we have established that, that yes, Kristen's worried about the independent endorsement. Nick is tap dancing around the question. So let's leave the Mars race for now. Ryan, you've been doing the Lord's work all over town moderating these four council reforms for districts four, five and six. I guess four is coming up on Monday,

21:55but five and six you've had. Well, what's your, what's been your takeaway? I mean, it's been good to, I've tried to ask the kid. Can it's a different questions, you know, not just the hot topics to see where they stand. Obviously on the hot topics, because I think those are what builders want to hear from. But, you know, I would say in district five, I was, I was impressed by James Zerlin Den. I haven't really heard much from him. I don't know how big of a, you know, bump is going to get it the polls, but I think that he impressed people as a, as a good option to, to come across is very serious. Yeah. I think he ends the leader in that race. He's got all the endorsements and a lot of name recognition, but I think that the forum was a good time for James to kind of to speak out on things. And, you know, he wasn't really playing the middle. He definitely was strong on no, no flock, you know, protecting immigrants. And he liked rent stabilization, but he thought this one was a little strict. So I thought he was very genuine in that one. And district six, that was a very,

22:58I went to crowded race. That one's really interesting. You know, it was interesting to see Gabe and Alex and their kind of, you know, you know, you know, you know, Gabe kind of saying, praising or it's time on the, on the police commission and Alex saying, like, oh, I have the, I have the police union and the teachers union and you worked with them. And, you know, that was, that was interesting to see that. But I think they all showed who they are. And that's kind of what we want to do with this to show who they are and let the voters kind of, it's pretty simple in this election. A lot of these races, if you're a voter and you have certain values, it's pretty clear with where these guys stand. And these candidates. So I'm hopeful that we keep doing that. Thank you. You're taking away from watching the council candidates. Nick. Oh, you know, I'm sort of amazed that these people I've never heard of before, who kind of seem to show up at a nowhere are able to hum a, the way more than hum a few bars and face it. And I'm

24:01sort of, you know, the fact that they can put themselves out there without a whole lot of external support is really impressive. You know, I was really impressed, you know, Ryan Boyup earned it in the fifth. But he talks about ice. You talk about James or Lyndon? Yeah, James or Lyndon. When he talks about ice and what the city could do, he was specific and from the heart. And and and he said, I haven't heard other chances being, you know, everybody's well upset. But he had actually specific ideas, but he also, you know, thought there was a movie quality to it. I was, yeah, he's interesting. His background is a chef and in the hospitality industry, but he talks about it. And I think it comes across as his sensibility that he does see the voters

25:02and the citizens as customers. I mean, he did that. There's a very sort of service quality to the whole thing. Josh, what do you got to say about five and six? It was back to school night when Ryan had five. He didn't check in with me on scheduling. So I wasn't able to attend, but I've heard from a lot of people and I heard that people like Zerland and that he's sort of trending up. And what I told him at our debate was you got to raise money. I think he's the kind of guy if he started a year ago and actually went through the process and tried to raise money. He could be a guy who's giving you in a run for his money. You know, we'll see, but he's he's definitely getting better with every debate. And the district was at six, the downtown one, which I did cover, which was on Monday. And I thought the independent did a really good job in asking a diversity of eclectic questions. There were a lot of questions. I liked that it was 90 minutes or so. And we got to

26:05hear on more than just like the poor sort of thing. So I like that. Behind the scenes, Josh wanted a large to be 90 minutes. And I said, no, half a way. Jerry said, I don't even do 90 minutes for the presidential debate. So I said, fine, I defer to Jerry. No, okay. But I thought it was great. I think that the Alexander Stober gave us Cabedo like one and two race is really interesting to me. I mean, Gabe's likely to win. He's likely to win big. However, it's still early and it like to go to Nick's point where the heck did Alexander Stober come from? Like he this guy is dripping with charisma. He's so happy and positive. He smiles the whole time. I've never smiled for an hour in my life in anything. This guy's doing it in a debate. And he makes it really fun and interesting. He sells real estate. What do you? I pay. I've deal with a lot of realtors and they don't all have that kind of light. So, no, no, you're always saying to mean things about them. They're not dressed so you're house. This guy's got a little bit of an X factor that I think you maybe

27:10overlooking. I don't think he can win, but who knows? I don't know if I would say it's an X-axis, so much as an X-axis factor. I mean, I was, I was, that's a net. Is that shy on the X-axis? He is so happy. He is happy. Yeah. And I think it shines. And I think he's going to get a few votes from somebody because people like, oh, happy energy. I like this guy. So those guys are one and two. I have to say Jason Carlton throws me for a loop because he was really strong on ice. I thought, you know, you talked about his grandfather, but then he has these like deep conservative tendencies also that kind of show up. And so I don't know. It's the second time he's he's run. But well, since it is a, a boy's band episode of newsmakers, I will point out that we haven't mentioned the two women who are running here. Kevin Kathel in District five and Annabelle Laney in District six. What

28:10do you guys make of them? Well, I think Kevin is definitely an outsider in that race. I wasn't sure if some of the her answers weren't as in depth. It seemed like, I don't know if it wasn't well researched or if she didn't know like what she wanted to do on certain subjects. But I think that wasn't really as impressive as, you know, James stood out and Ian was is obviously the front runner in that. And Annabella is also kind of an outsider in the sense where she's from the community. She's embedded it in certain aspects of the community. But, you know, she's coming in with a lot of these, you know, not really attending the meetings or not really speaking in public a lot before. And that's kind of important when, when I'm looking at interviewing with candidates and stuff, you know, James, I've seen him before he was running speak at city council meetings. I've seen Ian speak at city council meetings. Alex, not so much. I haven't, I haven't seen much of him. He, he pretty much came out of nowhere just like Josh said, like Gabe Jason's been around. So,

29:10so I don't know if if that's why Annabella might be an outsider in that race. Well, in the orange and the end of the head, you think, you think Annabella should be to get a seat in a city commission. And, you know, there's this sort of unpredictable, contrary, curiosity, intelligence that she brings. You know, she was, she was, she was $1.5 personally. She would be looking at dollars and says, and I think we probably should use some dollars and say people around that city. Jason, you know, he was all over the place, but you know, you hear people who are sort of, they live at the street level and they are in touch with things that a lot of people who run for office aren't. And you think it's, you thought, wow, there has to be a position, you know, for some of the organizations who put in those public works and infrastructure and, you know, ways to do things,

30:14the ways not to do things. And for people who have enjoyed the perpetual Tallah's Haji Derby of city streets instruction, that might be helpful. Yeah, I think Annabella, I think you're right. You know, if she was on a commission or something, but I, I think she has a lot of political talent and she, she has a very nice way of about her and she's so genuine and authentic. And the thing she talks about really come across in that, you know, Kevin, who was sort of the, I don't know, the front runner to be the chief foil to Ian Baroque and five at the beginning, she kind of comes across like as I hate to quote myself, but in the all important power rankings, you know, the journey is the destination. She's having so much fun doing this and, oh, people at, why are you running? Oh, people ask me to run. I'm always a little nervous when there were a person's reason for running is, oh, people ask me to run. Oh, okay, that, you know,

31:17it's, it's kind of like she, she doesn't understand. She's in a fight, you know, it's like pick a fight with the guy who's ahead somehow. There's certainly, you know, plenty of material to do that with, but yeah, I've been a little disappointed in that. All right. Okay, so Ryan, Monday night, district four, that's really the still the most interesting race of all, I think. Devon Wardlaw is the choice of the Democratic Party, Monty Wilson, is running as sort of the moderate. He's raised more money than anybody and those reports are coming out again next week. Those two and then, you know, Jason Dominguez, former City Council person has been in there. And then the the dark horse, Genebieve Tafesco has two Zs in that spelling is kind of coming on too. She's got a lot of support. I, you know, sort of sub-rosus support from them women and maybe,

32:21yeah, I would categorize it maybe, maybe like grassroots online. She's got a lot of people that are commenting online and, you know, in other people's comments saying vote for Genevieve. So she has a lot of, you know, support in the community. I think she can make a good dent. Jason, we haven't seen him out and about as much, you know, he's been voted, he's been elected before, but I think this time he hasn't really been in the forefront as much as we've seen in the past. So, you know, that one's going to be a really interesting race. I'm really interested to see what the candidates say on Monday. You know, I'm going to hopefully have some good questions. So they all can show who they are and, you know, where are you having this one? You keep shifting the venues for your. We do it. We try to do it in the district. So I see, but you know, that's more than air. You ought to have more than air. Air is great. I was the best thing one. You know, district sticks was at the labaro and then this one's going to district four is going to be at Unitarian. All right. You know what I would like, Jerry and Ryan is to see a, you know, a number one columnist in this town.

33:27Tell the true story of the behind the scenes effort to trash Devon Wardlow among these women's organizations, because I think that's a story that needs to be told as the WPC and them women did not make an endorsement in this content. That's a big deal. Nor do they endorse Kristen Snin. And where there's smoke, there's fire and they will say, oh, it's two tough candidates and we couldn't reach 60%. There's much more to the story and, you know, the only thing that can do it. Well, I heard this morning, I had a coffee with a guy whose wife is on the WPC boys and he saw me that Eric Freeman won the endorsement of the WPC. He won more votes. He didn't get the 60%. No, there was a Canadian screening committee and they recommended Eris.

34:27And but that WPC recommended Eric. But again, this is an answer that it has to go up the food chain and it has to be approved by the membership another committee and that's the many boxes. And so they didn't hit the 60% plus point. It's interesting. There's a life and that is a, you know, there's certain, you know, as we all know from the emails we get, you know, there's some influential people and them women that don't like Devon because she was a pot lobbyist, you know, not to put too fine a point on it. And then of course, in your paper, Josh, Eileen White Reid famously a tractor over the her position as a government affairs person for AI companies for those, you

35:27know, we're going to put us under 24 seven surveillance. So it's not like there's no, there's no substance to why people are unhappy with. No, I don't, I don't, what I'm trying to say is that, you know, this, here's the deal. Genevieve Tafasquez gets in the race. Why did she get in the race? Was she supported by Kristen Snetten or not? Was this somebody who meant to foil Devon? These foil efforts now playing out behind the scenes to get stop these endorsements of Devon Ward though, I'm not advocating for any candidate, but this is a story I think that's really fascinating. Right. And interesting. And also, Nick, it sounds to me like Josh has a half written, you ought to just go, you know, the rest is just typing here, Josh, come on. You know, we need you to write this story. I'm too busy trying to do morning newsletters to, you know, keep up with the crew and, you know, write about Ryan's forums. But yes, I may get to it, but if Nick wants to do it, I would love to. I would motion to it Josh.

36:31No, it is, it is kind of interesting that the two largest of political women's organizational organizations that they can't. And you have a very, you know, suitable woman candidate for a manor who doesn't get the endorsement as kind of interesting. Of course, it also Devon, Devon, Ian and Gabe are like 100% aligned on their votes on these things. They're like 99%. There's not a lot of difference. And Devon's been on the planning commission. It's, it's like, well, somebody just step forward and say what's really going on here, because it doesn't make sense at all. All right. We look forward to that column, Josh. I, I, I hope it'll be out in time for the weekend so I can mention it in my wrap up over the weekend. All right. Well, that was, that was an exhilarating 35 minutes or so. Thanks, fellas. So we got rent stabilization,

37:33maybe, maybe not. We got Wendy versus Megan. How's that going to go? We got, maybe they'll kick the whole thing over till the next council when they have the, you know, Soviet Union style vote, where everybody puts our hand in the air at the same time. And then we have these four fascinating campaigns, which I think are still wide open for the most part, a couple of, maybe not so much. So six weeks to go. Thank you, fellas, for speaking with this morning. Thank you all for watching. And we'll see you next time on newsmakers. All right. Thank you.