Talk Of The Neighborhoods

0:00Good evening and welcome to the Talk of the Neighborhoods. Tonight we're going to be joined by Jamaica Plain State Representative Sam Montano to talk about what's happening up on Beacon Hill on these wild and crazy times, and then we'll be joined later by James Hills, the co-founder and host of Jabba with Jimmy to talk about what six years of Jabba with Jimmy has done in terms of promoting the black community and giving a voice to the voiceless in the streets. We're broadcasting live here from the studios and Eggleston Square and simultaneously Simon Casting on 102.9 WBCA. If they're talking about it in Boston, we're talking about it here on Talk of the Neighborhoods.

1:02Good evening, I'm Dave Halbert and for Joe Heisler. Right now we're joined by Jamaica Plain State Representative Sam Montano. Sam is the currently sitting representative of the 15th Suffolk District consisting of the communities of Jamaica Plain, the back of the hill and Eggleston Square where we sit right now. Sam's background is in community organizing with a focus on affordable housing and environmental justice. The free time Sam enjoys riding, reading, biking all over the district and throughout the trails and rails of Massachusetts and we're so happy to have him there. Sam, thanks so much for being here. Thanks for having me. Yeah, wonderful. I went on my first bike ride yesterday. Ah, and of course now it's snowing outside, which is wild. Can you believe it? I know. Just wait for the weather to change. That's always like they say. But it is a lot, speaking of seasons, it's a season of change up on Beacon Hill, there's a whole lot happening.

2:04Obviously you and your colleagues in the legislature are dealing with a lot in terms of the federal government in particular and what their actions are doing here on the streets, Boston streets of the 15th Suffolk District. So I'm wondering for you now that we're moving our way through, a little over halfway through the session, what have been your priorities to fight for and advocate for this legislative session? Well, it's never what you think it's going to be at the start of the year. Obviously, the Trump administration coming in was a big concern that a lot of people had and they wanted to, a lot of people in Jamaica Plain, which is a politically active, engaged, very like policy-literate district, wanted to engage quickly and get on the defensive. But the State House is not a reactionary body, the State House is a slow legislative body, and so we were kind of waiting to see what happened, what came down the pipe. I think it was, I think what we've seen federally has been a lot more destructive than any of us kind of anticipated it to be, and so priorities are still making sure that folks have access to housing that they can afford in the district, that they can afford to stay here if they want. But we've also had to pivot to really strong protections for immigrants in our community.

3:07I think that we're seeing right now at the federal level, Haitians are fighting to be able to continue to stay in Massachusetts. We're fighting for folks to be able to continue to get access to due process on their rights in Massachusetts and make sure that they are able to receive SNAP. I think we're currently doing our budget, ways and means hearing tour across the state, and we're hearing that SNAP, while isn't necessarily losing funding, has less people enrolled, so they've given themselves a cut and we're concerned what that means for folks on the ground who we know are food insecure, and maybe they're not all here in Jamaica plain, but across Boston, we definitely are dealing with a lot of food insecurity. So we've gone from maybe doing preventative legislation to protect people's access from data mining, AI, all the things that are kind of coming down the pipeline to technology to just having to respond to people needing food, needing housing, needing everyday sort of healthcare access that's been cut because of the federal government. So a little bit of everything, kind of. It really does run the gamut, and so I'm curious, you talked a little bit about immigration, and that's one that's obviously not just here locally, but across the country,

4:10and can top of mind for many, many months, the impact of ICE and their actions, of course, obviously we've seen everything that happened in Minnesota in particular of late, and there was announcement just the other day from the mayor's office about a public private partnership between the city and numerous nonprofit and philanthropic organizations in the city and support of our immigrant communities. And so I'm wondering, what are your colleagues at the state house thinking in terms of, as you said, you're in the midst of the budget, and of course we're going to chat about that, but as you're thinking about the policy interventions, the financial interventions and supports that you're providing to match what you're seeing at the municipal level and in our nonprofit communities. So the Black and Latino caucus, which I remember, there's 26 of us, and it's a bicameral, bipartisan, for the first time, body in the legislature. There's four Black and Brown folks on the Senate side and 22 on the House side. We filed a piece of legislation called the Protect Act, and we wanted to make sure that

5:12the legislation that we were enacting in Massachusetts is something that the state has power to legally enforce. And I think that's kind of where we've been sitting for the last year and a half as the federal government is cracked down on immigration and been divisive in a lot of ways. We've seen through federal cases across the United States whether it was California's mass ban or requiring federal agents to wear identification that the state is really limited in what we can do. And we need the federal government to act, we need Congress to act, to reign in ICE. And so what we've really focused on in Massachusetts and in the legislature is what can we actually enforce and what do we have power over? So how can we empower our AG, how can we empower our courts to protect themselves and to protect folks in the commonwealth who, for the most part, aren't violent criminals on the streets who need to be apprehended? Not the worst of the worst, as they were saying. Not even, I think, the worst of the best. The Black and Latino caucus hasn't publicized this a lot, but we did go visit Plymouth and

6:16we did go see the folks who were detained there. We found out that several million dollars in surplus from that Plymouth prison receives from their contract with ICE goes into our Massachusetts general fund and we have made an advocacy ask for that money to go into legal defense for immigrants. So we're putting more money in the AG's office. We're making sure that access to multilingual education is safeguarded in our public schools. We're putting more money into legal defense with Mira and we're trying to enact these provisions so that courts are safe, so that schools are safe places, libraries are safe places. But in a body, as though we are all democratic, as diverse as this democratic body is, there's different perspectives, there's different conversations happening. And so the house has had a forum, not a hearing forum on the protect act and we're hoping that soon we can move it through the house process and hopefully potentially be able to take a vote on it soon and enact these protections and then we'll see what the senate responds and how they'll act.

7:17But we also saw that the governor recently sent out in a supplemental budget, so she was looking for something I think that would move quickly, a supplemental budget will move quickly in the legislature and she puts some protections in there for folks in courts, for folks in highly specific safe spaces, public spaces, and trying to respond to the fears I think that a lot of people are having, and rightly so, as people get picked up, we sell someone, the 14-year-old girl the other day who was picked up and sent right out of the state, right? We want to make sure that folks, if they are picked up, can at least stand mass a day or two so that we can get them the legal help as fast as possible because the sooner they get legal help, the sooner they're able to return to their families and if folks get shipped out of state, it's much harder to get them back, it's much harder to get them help, it's much harder to get them released. So it's a little bit of a catch of 22 and a lot of ways too. So as you were saying, it's a diverse body, 160 members representing all 351 cities and towns in the Commonwealth, you and your colleagues in the House, and your 40 counterparts in the Senate, a lot of different voices, your job, of course, is to represent the folks in

8:20the perspectives of what's happening here in the 15th Suffolk, where once again we sit and write down the street. And this district is a very vibrant district, very diverse districts, right? And I'm wondering, what are you hearing when you're out, when you're talking with constituents, you know, there's a very strong and business community here, are they seeing kind of the drops in, you know, foot traffic that people are commenting on and we're going to communities and other parts of the state, are people worried about, you know, keeping businesses open? Are they worried about families being torn apart? And if so, what are they asking you for as far as support and advocacy? I would say it ranges in Jamaica plain. So we have folks who have public housing, mobile vouchers, who in the past have been here with domestic violence visas and other things that normally are fine, let go. And for whatever reason, it may be they're like laid on paperwork or maybe they've had like a medical thing that's different, they are losing their voucher. So we have folks who are, they're pushing folks to be, to leave as much as possible, right?

9:20This woman no longer has access to snap, but she no longer has access to her subsidy, but her child does. And so that still drives her rent up. So we see in city with stuff like that coming from the federal government at the voucher level, at the housing voucher level, we see folks in businesses, Eglistan did get a drop-off in traffic and foot traffic for a little, but we also see the neighborhood is ready to fight back. Tomorrow, there's a fundraiser, it's spontaneous celebrations that the community is putting on. And they're last, I think a few months ago, we raised $4,000 to give out to local businesses and organizations doing mutual aid food distribution, right? So Jamaica Plain is scared. I think they're ready to defend our neighbors, ready to defend the people that need to be defended in the community, in other parts of the community. There's Luce, which is a large group in Massachusetts that kind of does awareness and verification of ice sightings in certain places. A few months ago now, I think Luce was able to verify that ice was in Eglistan and within

10:2320 minutes, tens of neighbors showed up to documents and to have the backs of the business owners there, to make sure that if anything happens, they were able to verify and document and provide evidence moving forward, but it's a community that's engaged in this community that wants to make a difference. And it's a community I think that continues to care about each other and continue to get involved. And that's why we see this mutual aid in addition to the policy and advocacy work and the activism work and the people going to the marches and showing up. I hear from my constituents all the time. Even though I'm pretty sure they know we agree, they still want to make sure that I know how they're feeling about something. And they're pushing me constantly to get more done to the state house, and I take that and I try to push my colleagues to get to the same place. But it also does help if we have a large-scale, statewide organizing tactic to get everyone to, yes, wherever we want it to be, at least for immigration protection services. Absolutely. I'm sure we could stay and speak about the intricacies of this and the impact for the entire time here. We want to make sure we touch on a few other things. So shifting a little bit of the conversation, as you said, there's been funding the supplemental

11:25budget. The budget itself, right? And you're in the midst of the ways and means hearings that are going on in different areas all over the Commonwealth. And I'm wondering what is the status? The word that is out there right now is that revenues down, everybody's going to have to tighten their belt a little bit, take a little bit of a haircut from good services, public aid, and locally that kind of a thing. So when you and your colleagues are having these discussions, when you're advocating for the 15th and you're advocating as part of the Boston delegation, what are you hearing from the ways and means side of things and what are you fighting for? Well, I don't think revenues down. I think revenues the same, but we have more holes to fill. So we're bringing in the same amount of money and tax collection each year. We're just contending with federal cuts that have, that have typically been things that have been funded by the federal government that we haven't had to fund at the state level. So now we're doing more with the same amount. I think we've all pretty much gotten on board with level funding this year. I think this year is going to be tough, but not as tough as next year will be.

12:25Next will be even more difficult to navigate, especially as the Medicare and Medicaid cuts go in. We see people get off that. We know that more people will be off snap. We're going to have to be supplementing those gaps at the state level. And so there's a lot of conversation about what it will look like to address that, whether it's a progressive taxation, which we know is hard, has to go through the constitutional change. There is different surcharges that can go on top of things. There's different ways to raise revenue, but we're also trying to be affordable, affordable place for people to be, right? So who then pays that, and what does that look like? And I think that those are the nuances that we're trying to navigate as we contend with more coals to fill, and less to fill with, right? I would say that everyone's kind of in it together, and everyone's trying to be very conscious and conscientious of not seeming greedy and not taking more than our fair share. But obviously there's a ton of amazing programs in the commonwealth that are going to be struggling and that are going to be faced with cuts, and it's quite frightening. And I think it is something we really need to pay attention to as we get into the midterms

13:29and make sure that we send a Congress back to the United States who can prevent further damage being done to our budgets in these ways. And so, as you and your legislative colleagues are looking at that, as you said, more holes to fill, and that's really stemming from a lot of the federal action or inaction on a number of issues. What are you thinking in terms of policy interventions changes to how you're budgeting moving forward, you know, just in case something like this happens again, so that we don't find ourselves in a similar kind of a situation? Well, we do have the rainy day fund, right, which has been bolstered by the ARPA by years of great tax returns, and we've been able to set aside all that money. It's $8.6 billion, which seems like a ton, but you know, that's taken a long time to get to, and that's taken a long time for us to save up. It's also what gives us a really great bond rating, which allows us to put our bonds out and to be able to collect a good interest and to get our projects funded that we want that costs more in our bigger investments. So, you know, it's complicated to entapping that rainy day fund, but I think we do need

14:29to have really hard and really, it's kind of, it's like the issue right now with the rent control, right? If we enact rent control, investors will no longer invest in mass because they can't get as much return on their investment as they want to, right? It's not that it's suddenly impossible to develop housing, it's that they can't get as much investment as they want, right? The same thing for, I think, these surchargers on extreme wealth, we're watching California, I tried to do a surcharge on extreme wealth, we're worried that people will take their money and leave, right? And then we won't, it's easy to enact these taxes, it's hard to collect on them, and so I think we have to figure out how to do that, and it's not something that's guaranteed. So we're seeing amazing returns right now from the fair share amendment, which is the 4% surcharge after a million dollars that goes to education and transportation, and it's been bringing in billions of dollars for us and really saving education and saving the tea, but we don't know what that's going to look like long term. And so I think if that is continuing to be successful long term, we can have the conversation about creating a different revenue stream that's also progressive for our general budget and try to save that money, but, you know, I don't do the budget, so.

15:32Not yet. Not yet. So you'd pivot kind of naturally there, as you were saying about rent control. Recordals, one of the items that's on the ballot this year is from a ballot issue, a record number currently qualified ballot in questions, and you all in legislature are in the negotiation phase, as it were, about what these ballot initiatives look like, how many of them are going to continue on to the next phase, and need to get even more signatures in order to appear on the ballot in November. So in a broad sense, you know, what are you thinking in terms of all these ballot initiatives? Do you think it's a good thing, a bad thing, or you're originally from California, kind of the home of ballot question activism in that way? And what do you say to those who say the reason for all these ballot initiatives is that, as you said, it's not necessarily a reactionary body in some people would like it to be in the legislature, and that it moves at a slower pace, and I think some people may be comfortable with. I mean, I think some of the ballot questions are bad, right? Like the one lowering our, from 5% to 4% are income tax rate, like that's going to

16:35really hurt the state's budget, and really hurt how we're able to pay for a lot of important things, right? Some of you have about a billion dollars less than revenue or more. I don't know, right? It's a lot less. It's like significant cuts. So like things like that, there's also things that, you know, there's one that's relative to public records that I think we can all get behind, I think most of us are fine with like making things public records. There's ones that are about our stipends and how we're paid, which I think will be, I think people think it will be helpful for equity, but I think it will prevent a lot of people from getting into politics, who would otherwise want to, because how else it's hard to afford to live and rent in Boston and do it on a limited salary. It's, I think, there are those, and then there are ones like rent control where it's been 30 years. The legislature isn't going to respond to it on the legislative cycle. And so rent control wanted to go to the ballot, and so there's ones that have been organizing for a long time, and then there's ones that are kind of just impatient and want to get on the ballot. And I think it is complicated to legislate, oftentimes, a ballot measure ends up having

17:36to come back and be reverted, because it's, you know, it has to be succinct in a certain word count in space, and it can't be too long, and it can't be more than one question. It has to be only one question. There's lots of parameters around it, and you can't legislate with like one question, right? So we often end up having to come back and flesh it out, take it up, look it under advisement, and so it's a really blunt tool by which to move legislation. And I understand people are frustrated, but I don't think it's a good, consistent way by which we should continue to address issues that people might have with the pace of the legislature. I think it's, it, it's not nuanced, and it might end up causing more trouble than good in the end. Even though I did participate in it, right, with the director of all the questions. Well, to that point, you know, you're having the conversation, once again, you're one voice out of 159 in the house. When you're talking with your colleagues, do you feel any kind of appetite for, hey, maybe we need to change a little bit in some of the approach that we're taking to the policy making in response to what we're hearing?

18:38Yes, and I think I've only been in there two terms, four years, right? There's people who have been in there for a really long time, and they've seen, you know, I'm very much a believer in intergenerationally working with other people. And so there's perspective and ideas and ways to do things that people have seen, and for whatever reason, I think we should move things slower. I do think that, like, there are things that we do respond to that require rapid responses when, for instance, Roe was defeated, and we did, we responded with the Roe act here in Massachusetts to make sure that abortion continued to be protected. We moved quickly on that, and we were able to respond quickly to protect people's access to health care, and then there's other things where, you know, it's a big thing that's going to change, and maybe two years isn't fast enough to talk to everyone we need to talk to about what's changing, why it's changing, and how that impact will infect the rest of the commonwealth. If we're legislating, we don't want to legislate for two years, and then realize, oh, we really messed that up and have to go back and touch it again, right? We want to legislate for the long term without having to tweak every year, because we did

19:39it quickly without talking to more people and creating a well-rounded, robust piece of legislation. Look at me. Who am I? Well, you know, pivoting to two of the ballot questions, a particular election reform that are out there, one on same day voter registration, and another on shifting once again to your home state of California, all party primaries that we've seen there, and moving away from our current partisan primary structure. There are those who advocate on both, say, this is going to open it up, bring more people in to the democratic process, and there are those on the other side, particularly for the all-party reform that say this will actually be going counter to empowering communities, especially marginalized communities, and I'm wondering, are you hearing anything about that? And do you have any particular thoughts relative to either of those, once again, having that kind of personal experience in addition to being in this position? I mean, I think same day voter registration is great. I know my community supports it, and I'm in support of it. I haven't spoken to my colleagues about it as a whole, as far as like to figure out where everyone else stands, but I think it would be great. I think we're watching as the federal government tries to make it harder for our people to

20:41vote, and anything we can do in Massachusetts to allow folks to engage in the process in whatever way this possible for them would be helpful, especially for instance, this year, September 1st, this primary day, right? How many people are going to be moving, right? Wouldn't it be easy if, whenever people move, they're like, oh, I don't know if I'm here from there, right? Wouldn't it be easy if they just were able to come and vote instead of having a potentially depressed turnout because of the primary September 1st this year? For the other one, I think it's always interesting to know the backstory of the person who's pushing that forward, so the person who's pushing that forward, ran for governor and was upset that they couldn't get through the process on the democratic side as it stands now, right? And so there's that history with that ballot question being pushed. But I do think it is potentially more harmful than helpful. And I don't know that we've done enough education around it in Massachusetts for anyone to really have like a better opinion than that at this point. It's pretty new. Like if I talk to people about it in general, unless they're like my really engaged election

21:41law constituents, most people don't know what it is, and I have to kind of try to break it down to them. So there's a lot of work I think that that ballot question has to do if they want to be the contender. Well, to that work, and to your time, as you said, you know, you're coming up four years, that's about two years since we've had you here on the show, so wonderful to see you again. But how do you feel you've grown over this time, right? You've had a few more years, another re-election campaign out in the streets of the 15th, talking to voters and things like that. How do you approach your work every day up on the hill now relative to the last time? So are you worried when you started? This is definitely the kind of job where the more time you're in it, the better you understand it and the more comfortable I think you feel navigating it the first two years. There's no, they don't give you an annual on how to be a legislator, right? They just drop you in there and you're like, if people are nice and they want to help you and you can ask questions, but it takes you really like stepping up and making time and making the space and asking those questions. And there's a lot of minds and pitfalls to fall into. And the second term, I've felt much more confident in the schedule of the body and understanding how the body works.

22:43I feel like I know my community better than I already did and I knew it pretty well. I feel like I've built better relationships with people and I have decided how I want to navigate this role and what that means for me to navigate it, right? I'm very communicative with my constituents and I like telling them, okay, this is why I made this decision and this is why I took this role and this is why I decided to move this way and this is why I voted against this. And like laying it all out and if we disagree on the strategy of the tactic, that's one thing, but I want to make sure that they know that I'm not just thinking in a silo, right? I'm thinking about everything else that we're trying to move to. So it's been fun. It's been exciting. It's been stressful. It's been painful at times when you're considering how much people in Boston are struggling still with everyday needs and there's only so much we can do to help, right? Like for housing is something I care about a lot. We've had a lot of older folks get displaced from the community and I can't know where else in Boston to put them, right? They're just completely priced out of the city and so they don't have savings, maybe

23:43they don't have family for whatever reason. So things like that are hard and then there's also like the joys of community celebration and watching my community come together into mutual aid for each other and legislative wins that I've had a few legislative wins that have been exciting and I never thought I would pass and see these things move. So it's been great. It's been a makes-bag. It's a job that you can never, I think, understand until you've been in it either. It's weird. Well, in our last few minutes here, I just want to ask you, is there a particular policy issue in 30 seconds or less that you think is under the radar that people need to be paying a little bit more attention to? Definitely AI. I think everyone needs to take, it's completely, it's moving way faster. We saw the governor signed a contract for the state government to use AI in our executive offices and we don't really know what that means. I think it's something people should plug into and be aware of because your information is being sold and we don't really know what's happening with it, right? We don't know what's going on and how it's being used to power these GPT cloud devices that we're using. It's crazy.

24:44There you go. And we're here in the spring and of course, sportsman city like Boston, I'm curious. Are you, what's more exciting, is it the Celtics to have a playoff push right now and then you're playing well and we're always happy to see Jason Tatum back on the court, is it the marathon, which everybody's favorite, your colleague, Representative Suza. I know it's one of the folks running this year and or Red Sox opening day or something else. I love baseball. I'm from Los Angeles. I grew up with the Dodgers, but I'm a Red Sox fan too, Celtics obviously. I hope that they can make the push this year, but I'm a huge baseball fan. There's nothing better than a baseball game in the summer. There you go. And if folks want to stay in contact with you to be in that communication, how is the best way to do it? I would definitely say email. So Samantha dot m-o-n-t-a-n-o at mahouse.gov, and I might take it there too because I read my own email to get back to you, but I will respond to you, I promise. Well, I can say that is actually a true fact, that's all we got here in the first place. So Representative San Juan, thank you so much, appreciate it. Thanks, Dave.

25:44And when we come back, James Hill is from Java with Jimmy. And we're back. Thank you, James Hill.

26:54Thank you, brother. Well, like we said, six years, six years. So when this started, right, you were there, you were home, you were looking for ways to engage like many of us were, and thinking about how you could give voice to some of the voices out there as we've discussed in the past. Did you see it being this? No. No. And I'll be honest, I used to laugh at my pastor because at his pastoral anniversary, he would be sensitive. If you say anything to him, he would just cry, and now close to the anniversary, I'm like that. So I said that to say that you asking me that almost got me choked up. No. Okay, it was one day, one day that after Governor Baker said, you know, we needed to stay home from working in healthcare, working in government, being part of the black community. I just knew that what we saw exacerbated in our community, I knew it was going to happen. And then on March 24th, six years later, every once in a while, it still, it baffles me,

28:04it was still here. And the way that it's grown and the impact that it's having and the influence, I still every now and then get surprised. So at the beginning, you know, you're getting up, you have this idea. You're out there, let's figure out what this platform is, how can we engage now? It's more of a process. Like you said, it's been six years, you know, you have a little bit of a routine around it. Yes. So really, how has, how have things changed so much for you and kind of your approach to the work and how you interact with guests, how you get guests here from where you were six years ago? With the getting the guest, I believe, and I, you know, I realize this two years into it, it's because of relationships and travel with Jimmy is what it is and by some considered a credible voice, not just because of March 24th, 2020, it was everything before that. You know, we were in the hall together, activism. And so the relationships is how I get the guests. I will, as simply, I had to mayor on the day after the second snowmageddon. That was via the text, hey, does the mayor have five minutes to just give us an update

29:07about the snow. To the point about what has changed, tech has definitely changed. I'm in a process now of needing to upgrade. I haven't upgraded my laptop or cameras in a couple of years and it bothers me. A major foundational thing for me that it hasn't really changed, but I think it's a reinforced or reinvigorated priority that stays consistent throughout the time of the platform, but accuracy of information. I believe both locally and also nationally, the importance of accurate information around local policies or even healthcare, you know, now I think that that, for me, it hasn't changed, but the intensity and the level of responsibility. The more the influence, the more, you know, the more impact the platform has, I do feel

30:09heavy. What has changed is the weight of the responsibility. It does feel heavier now, it really does. To that point. You know, Joe with Jimmy has really become a form, right? You said, you have everybody from the mayor, you've had members of Congress, you know, and all the way, you know, not down, but in a different space, right, to folks who work at the community level who don't have that kind of platform and can't get it as easily as some of these other folks can. And so it's been this kind of equating space, right, between these different voices. And so I'm wondering as folks have come, have they used this platform in some ways as a form? In a virtually, in some ways, for development of an agenda, how do you feel the show plays a role in that process? I'm laughing because Mia Grace, a very good friend of mine a few weeks ago, she was commenting on a show, and I'm not sure, I think it was either the snow or P3 or something, and that particular day, I think we had like 207 comments.

31:11Mia hit me up and said, your show is like a community meeting. And at first, I said, no, it's not, because you know, sometimes community meetings can be a little chaotic, but I do embrace that. I do see it, I would say more as a community meeting rather than a town hall, but yes, I do believe that if not just in one show, over a period of time of repeated topics or repeated guests, I believe it does take on a town hall or community meeting approach we're hearing from community. The reason I have the elected zone is to convey to them what the community is saying, not that they don't know, but also for the community to hear, in my space, a very different conversation that you will not hear or legacy in mainstream media that is very much informed by what I gauge is happening in community. Absolutely. Well, to that point, right?

32:12The conversation that you have forming a building block, you know, there's a, as somebody who watches every now and then, looks at those comments, there's a lot of dynamic discussion there about things that are happening in the community, but also what the response is could and should be. Yes, absolutely. And I'm wondering, how do you see, you know, the show, how do you see the broader conversation because the show, the conversation is, we all know, it doesn't end when the show concludes every day. So how do you see that as a building block of creating a policy agenda, social action agenda, social justice agenda, for certain communities in the city? Actively right now, and if you may have seen some posts, posts, this thing with the P3, and for those that are watching that may not know what we're talking about, basically a post-Overland, there was a belief that the black developers and others were going to develop it, things change at the very last minute out of the mayor's office, and it caused Black Boston to be like, wait, what? And on the platform, I raised it, I had Reverend Brown on and others.

33:17So to answer your question, it is a building block. Those that watch, that comment, and then those that watch, that don't comment, because I've gotten texts about the show, there's no comments. And so the policy makers are watching. They are watching. I try to ask questions to generate a consensus from the community. And so it is a building block. Right now, I have a question going about a black Boston agenda. And so post the show, and when the camera goes off, there are the phone calls, there are the texts, there are the emails that are in relationship to the topic of the show, or there's follow-ups sometimes, or more conversation about, or with the people that were on the show. And then sometimes, not as much now as I used to, but in addition to the show, and just social media comments on my page sometimes, I would proactively convey to some people,

34:18leadership, hey, I'm seeing this trend on social media, hey, this is coming down on the pike you might want to, and so I do see it as a building block of many building blocks in our community. But the civic engagement here lately has, it's really picked up. I am very surprised, but I'm happy about it. I am surprised about it, but on one hand, I'm not because that is one of the pillars in part of the goal for mobilization toward action, you know, toward equitable quality of life for everyone. So, long way of saying yes, it is a building block. And you know, as you said, you sit here almost on the eve of six years, thinking about the past of the show, but now looking towards the future, right? Things continue, a pace, they continue to grow, you've been at Boston Mobile Libraries, the WGBHGGOs, you've been all over, you've been in magazines, you've been profiled, all these different things, and I'm curious, what do you see the future of job with Jimmy

35:21looking like? What success look like for you? We're back here, speaking about this a year from now. That I have, what is successful like for me, I'm going to be very real, that I have an intern with me that is, you know, getting some social media stuff while I'm here with you to the most miniscule thing or most minimal thing, to the greatest thing is I do want a platform. And what I mean by that is, let's say being in shutdown tomorrow. And you and I talked and you say, you know, Jimmy, I really miss, you know, doing this. All right, Dave, well, you know, either you can come to my house or bring my stuff somewhere and you can come and do Dave, don't us with Dave, you know, all my platform, you know what I mean? I am better embracing that it is more than me. And these six years of lessons learned and being a community voice, I think is further amplified by more community voices.

36:22And so a year from now, maybe two years from now, job with Jimmy.com, but, you know, similar to being in this website, you got a menu of watching morning and after dark and then watching Dave and watching Darren or something like that. I do want to, what's the word, syndicate and offer the platform to young people. This year is going to be a focus on young people. I think with a lot of conversations going on, I haven't heard that youth voice. So it definitely expansion more people on my platform and youth. That's what's next for me. Absolutely. Well, to pivot a little bit, you know, from the show and to kind of the conversations they're in. So the Boston Public Health Commission recently released the first report and a series that they're going to have about addressing health disparities among different communities here in Boston, closing the gap and examination of life expectancy among black residents in

37:23Boston. You come from a public health background, had a long time experience there and leading into those initial conversations that got the show up and off the ground. And just a few pulled bullet points here and curious about what you're hearing, what you think these speak to in terms of conversations in the community. For example, from 2013 to 2024, it says the life expectancy gap between black residents and their neighbors doubled from 3.3 years to 6.6 years. That between 2022 and 2024, black women here in the city had an average life expectancy of 80.1 years, about 6.4 fewer than their counterparts in the city. And during that same period, black men had an average life expectancy of 71.8 years, 9.3 years fewer than other men in Boston, giving the black community here the lowest life expectancy of all groups in terms of this analysis. Now obviously there's a lot of empirical data there, but at an experiential level, I'm wondering, you know, the causes that folks are saying, right, lack of access to medical

38:27care, lack of access to healthy food, you know, the impact of violence in our streets. The impact of substance use disorder and other things. How does that speak to you as somebody, not only who speaks about the policy issues, but who has lived in this community for so long? A few things there. I had a conversation with the psychiatrist a few weeks ago when we talked about anxiety and depression. And in that conversation, we talked about the undercurrent of systems that perpetuate those four bullets that you talk about. Iyana Pressley said a few years ago, I don't know if you remember her in a former governor baker had an exchange at the MLK breakfast. I was there. You remember that? He said something in and what kind of a rant. Yes, because I believe at that point she was talking about, we don't need more data. And I know that's a risky statement. Nothing, I won't say, I have not looked at the whole report. But I don't believe that I'm going to be overly surprised by any of the data in that report.

39:34Based on the fact that I lived this, I have family members, I've had to advocate in the healthcare space. And so for me, those four bullets that you named, I view them as byproducts of continued system constraints that lead to things like the impact of not having a solid black economic development, a lot of opportunities for black people to get jobs or start businesses and whatever we want to say about the healthcare and insurance industry now, they have the ability to have private insurance. We know that most of our population and most of those data points are on public assistance. And a good portion of them are on public assistance, some are working hard and overtime and three jobs. But even in that, that's an economic impact because they can't make ends meet. So, you're skipping the doctor, you're making a choice between medication, remember Maminno

40:36had food and fuel some years ago, so you're making those choices. Even in that, we're back here again, there's nothing new under the sun. That data for me is just another affirmation that if we really want to have an impact on the health and wealth of black Bostonians, we have to get to the root of the problem that causes what I consider, they're real, but I consider them of that they're byproducts of an undercurrent, excuse me, an undercurrent of a very strong undercurrent of system constraints, racism and capitalism. And so, the point of these reports is it's putting a put out there by the Public Health Commission others, is to lift these stories up, to bring attention on them. And from the mayor's office, using this as a platform to talk about some of the interventions that they're trying to do in terms of funding, in terms of programming, increased things that are hopefully going to address some of those byproducts as you call them.

41:39And I'm wondering, to take a step back, is it a too little too late and by that, we're into now the second term of this administration. You've been a long time and vocal supporter, particularly in this last election cycle of Mayor Wu, and there's been a lot of conversation on the platform about what that relationship looks like, has that relationship fundamentally changed in a way and hasn't been broken in any way? It hasn't been broken. I believe that it hasn't changed. Mayor Wu knows that when it comes down to what she's a friend, but if I believe, and she said it on the show, I know I know I'll come here and there'll be questions of accountability. Some people may not think it's accountable enough, but it has changed in a manner. I believe that the demonstration of what I have said and have had to hear in there kind of push back on some things. This P3 thing for me, it changed my perspective on how I view system constraints.

42:44Decades and generations, generations old constraints, and so we're cool, but it's known that I don't agree with a lot of how, when you mentioned the second term, how the administration came out to gate, particularly with the black community in the second term, had me like, wait, what? What wrong and indifferent would people want to believe or not? There is a perception that her hands were in, Brian, Borrell, the black man, not getting the city council presidency. Then there was P3. And those should brother Shagun Iruh was on his way out, and a lot of us knew he wasn't going to do a full second term. His grandmother was sick, mother lost, and the great late mother lost, and a deaconess, 12th Baptist made her, say, a posse, posse, posse, posse, yeah, that one. They made her a deacon a couple of weeks ago, and you know, that expedited his departure,

43:49but Shagun said to me, and he said it to the media, so it's public, I will need to confirm nor deny that that decision pushed him out the door, I don't want to say pushed him out the door. He made a decision earlier to leave. I said all that to say that black Boston is in the second term, and I think it was an article that Yabu Miller wrote, that we're not at a full stock, particularly with the mayor, but we're at the crosswalk at a yellow light, and maybe a couple of people in the car on their phone, on a GPS in the car trying to figure out, okay, where are we going, and what are we doing? And right now, we're still at the light, until there is demonstration to commit, to make hold in some sense, a lot of people involved with P3, I don't know, in the second term,

44:52as of right now, what the mayor's legacy will be with the black community, I hope it turns out well, not for her, but for the benefit of us. And so, it's interesting, but my ten toes down on the black community and making decisions, and the last thing I'll say about this is, we had a valid presumption, you talked about the campaign trail, we had a valid presumption that you were going to do up until, you know, the mayor's under the radar from the federal government, some things that a mayor could do, you know, back in the day, she couldn't do now, not saying that she would break the law before, but, you know, there may be some things that she may want to do, but we know that the White House is looking at her, and they would love for an optic, even if she got out, and it wasn't anything real, they would love for optic for her to walk out in handcuffs. You know, so, having that understanding still doesn't negate the fact that something

45:55major needs to happen for black Boston is sustainable, and has a generational impact. And so, in a few minutes that we have, we'll just have to touch on that, one of the next big conversations that's been ongoing is the Blue Hole Avenue redesign, and the potential for the Blue Hole Avenue redesign, do you think that is a potential course correction and inflection point for the mayor? My concern about the Blue Hole Ave, one lane bust lane, is that if that proceeds a lot, there are a lot of people in Boston that right now that feel that they are not being heard by this administration, by other elected at different levels, and Blue Hole Ave for me, I just rolled down, first of all, before we get to the bust lane, can we get the potholes fixed? It's bad out there. There is a community meeting coming up, a listening session at Minier Coal Pepper and Brian Morella having soon, and I think that that is going to be a, that's going to be

46:55a shift, I believe, in this decision. If I understand right, the money has been allocated, but I believe that there is some flexibility to shift that to improvement, and that may not have to be a bust lane. You know, so I, that particular issue remains to be seen, but unfortunately, I support white stadium, but a lot of people didn't. A lot of people feel that the combo of Madison Park, white stadium, and Blue Hole Ave, and those are in black communities, they feel that not being listened to in what the community wants isn't being honored. Absolutely. Well, we're about to wrap, but before that point, I know it goes fast. I didn't let you go with saying, well, I've got to have your prediction. You know, you've been on the list of most influential Bostonians and Boston magazine. You've moved up in the rankings every year. Where do you think you're going to make it in the top 10? First of all, who said that? Huh? You said top 10? Oh, just, yeah. What did you, what did you hear? I didn't hear anything. I don't know.

47:56I will neither deny nor confirm any awareness of if I'm even on the list this year. It is an honor, and I'll just end this part with this. I never started out for recognition, but when the recognition happens, that makes it so much more worthy because peers, colleagues, whatever feel that I'm having an impact. Great. And if folks want to stay in contact with you, where do they find it? Everything is at Java with Jimmy on all social media platforms, and info at Java with Jimmy.com if you would like to email me. Well, Jim tells us always. Thank you. And I just say, I'm proud of you, man, as someone that may be a couple of years before you doing this, but I'm enjoying you, man. Thank you. I never want to know this respect to being in, but if you ever want to come do something on Java with Jimmy, let me know. Thank you so much. Thank you, brother. And thank you so much to James Hills and to State Representative Sam Antonio. As always, if it's happening between Charles Town and Hyde Park, West Roxbury, to East Boston or anywhere else across the hub, we will be talking about it right here on Talk with the Neighborhoods. Until next time, thank you so much.