The LoCo Experience

BONUS EPISODE - #5 Hot Nugs Conversation with Emily Francis for Mayor of the City of Fort Collins

• Ava Munos • Season 5

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Emily Francis is a candidate for Fort Collins Mayor, and joined me for the fifth episode of our Hot Nugs Conversations - a collaboration between LoCo Think Tank, Matador Mexican Grill, Old Town Spice Shop, and The LoCo Experience Podcast.  

Please visit www.emilyforfc.com to learn more about her platform, and make sure to vote by or before November 4, 2025!  

The LoCo Experience Podcast is sponsored by: Purpose Driven Wealth Thrivent: Learn more

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

Speaker 6:

Emily Francis is a candidate for Fort Collins Mayor. And join me for the fifth episode of our Hot Nugs Conversations, A collaboration between Loco Think Tank Matador Mexican Grill, old Town Spice Shop, and the Loco Experience Podcast. Please visit www.emilyforfc.com to learn more about our platform and make sure to vote by or before November 4th, 2025.

Speaker:

Welcome back to the Loco Experience Podcast. My guest today is Emily Francis and she is the Mayor Pot in Fort Collins Pot. Tem Pot. Uh, she is a council member for District six and she is also my final guest in the Hot NS conversation series, uh, with a very custom. Menu compared to the other candidates.

Speaker 2:

Yes. Thank you for accommodating.'cause

Speaker:

you're allergic to everything. I am allergic to everything. Just about everything. And you have a wonderful, uh, onesie pants suit kind of thing on. I really enjoy that. Thank you. I have to say, you might be the best dressed so far. I'll take it. Uh, just edgy out, Adam. Oh, I, it's a tough

Speaker 2:

competition out there for the seven of us.

Speaker:

Um, well, what I start with everybody so far is really like a two minute, hi, I'm Emily and this is a little bit about me and this is kind of why I would wanna be your mayor.

Speaker 2:

Okay, great. Yeah, I feel like I at this point should be able to, you know, off the top of my head, but I think every time it's different. So,

Speaker:

well, it's a format, you know, I know it's a different format,

Speaker 2:

so. So, yes, I'm Emily Francis. I'm running for mayor, uh, this November. And just a little bit about me. I was born and raised here in Fort Collins. Um, I am the one of three Lampkins gr uh, running for mayor, I believe Scotty D Right. And Adam are also for, for high school graduates, but I'm the only one Who was which? Adam? Born here. Adam Eggleston. Okay. Yep. So, you know, we beat out Jenny'cause she's an Impala, but

Speaker:

Scotty v was, uh, Sean Godby from Old Town Spice Shop's history teacher when he was a senior.

Speaker 2:

You know, Fort Collins is a small town.'cause Susan Gutowski at one point was my teacher. Is that right? It just continues to get small. And my sister went to high school, Scotty V So it, it just, he's probably easy to remember. Yeah. This is the beauty of Fort Collins, you know. Um, so, and, and so I did, I grew up in Fort Collins. I feel like when you grow up in Fort Collins, you have to say where you went to school, which is Laurel Lusher and Fort Collins High School.

Speaker 4:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

And I also graduated from CSU, uh, and then I in natural resources. Okay. So I have a bachelor in natural resources. Alright. Yeah. And I actually worked for the city for a little bit in their, uh, at that time it was FC Moves. Uh, well now it's FC Moves and their bike department. Oh sure. And I did bike to work day and, uh, getting kids on bikes and Oh, cool. Improvements and things like that. And really fell in love with more of the built environment and community and went to get my master's in public health and at Portland State University. Okay. I. Now say nobody really knew what public health was until 2019. Now a lot of people know what public health is. Well,

Speaker:

2019 or 2020.

Speaker 2:

Well, 2019 is when the pandemic actually started. Well, sure, yeah. But nobody really heard much about it until really about it. January. So, uh, so 2020, yes. Uh, now more people know what public health is. I don't work on the, uh, the disease side. I work in the community side. Community health, like

Speaker:

communications wise and stuff.

Speaker 2:

No. I actually work with communities on how do you address health disparities and what are the root causes of differences in people's quality of life and length of life. And these are really boiled down to what they call social determinants of health, which is access to education, healthcare, your built environment, housing, things like that. That all pretty much determines Yeah. Your quality of life.

Speaker:

Well, I think, and curiosity about health.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Right. Like,'cause if you just listen to your doctor, that doesn't mean you're gonna be healthy. No. Like, you better work on an active lifestyle and some diet and a whole bunch of stuff in addition to that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. But public health really gets down to the root of why can some people access healthy foods? Yeah. Why are some people able, you know, a lot of it has to do with income. Your, yeah. The environment around you. How conducive is it? Well, just awareness even. Yeah. Right. Yeah.

Speaker:

And it is, it's a burden to cook with fresh foods. It compared to cooking processed. Well you have to know

Speaker 2:

how, so you have to have somebody who probably taught you at one point. So I was on the board for the Matthews house for a time. Oh, okay. And they would

Speaker:

do, uh, zoom book classes mm-hmm. And stuff. Mm-hmm. But it would also open doors, uh, uh, to just what is a healthy lifestyle. Yeah. You know, and,'cause I'm from North Dakota where, you know, everybody's heavy.

Speaker 2:

It is. Yeah. You know, and it's a different culture and Right. Different. Yeah. Yeah. But if you wanna bend that a little bit bit, you

Speaker:

gotta start with a. What's public health look like? Yeah. Alright.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So that's what I got my master's in. Okay. And, uh, came back to Fort Collins.

Speaker:

Sorry, I'm stretching out past two minutes, but it's my fault. Okay.

Speaker 2:

As long as I get the full time. Okay. But, you know, I moved back to Fort Collins and, you know, as a, as a kid in Fort Collins when it was smaller and still today, I think Fort Collins really raised me and, uh, I really wanted to give back to the community. I, and so I have worked mainly in public service. So I did Meals on Wheels and senior nutrition programs. Okay. And then I moved into community organizing with mobile home park residents on how do you just wanna create a better quality of life. And a lot of that focused on preservation protection in mobile home parks.

Speaker 4:

Sure.

Speaker 2:

And this has really, really got into local government. I started working with, um, county commissioners and the city council at the time, and really was a liaison between how do you work with residents who maybe in their home country interacting with the government wasn't safe. And then how do you work with elected officials on working with people, um, who don't know how to navigate the system. Okay. And so did a lot of bridge building, worked a lot with, um,

Speaker:

and that's what path to City Council came from that really? Yeah. So

Speaker 2:

I ran in, in 2019 and got elected, uh, for the first time. I was the first millennial elected. Okay. The first, the youngest, uh, person elected since, uh, the eighties. And then, um, you know, I've always really focused on how do we make sure that every resident in Fort Collins has access to a good quality of life. And you can just see the disparities in town. You can see that people have different access. You can see that people are struggling with different things. And at the time, city Council, in my opinion, wasn't really focused a lot on that. And so that's why I have led a lot with things like housing, um, housing affordability, affordability in general. Supporting the working class has always kind of been my, my focus on city council. Uh, and then I was elected as mayor pro tem in 2021, and that's elected by city Council. Okay. And that's kind of, there's kind of two roles to Mayor pro tem. One is I fill in for the mayor when they're out of town, so I'm acting mayor when they're not here. I run meetings, I step in and Okay. I also attend every single leadership meeting with the mayor. And the city management and planning agenda, things like this. So always really closely aligned. Kinda their second set of eyes almost. Yeah. And then I'm also there to represent council, right? Sure. So I work with council members and I, the mayor's representing the city. Don't let the mayor get away from Yeah. Anything shady. Well, she's representing the city. I'm representing council. Uh, and so I was elected, uh, 2021, and then I was reelected to city. I hijack, I was reelected to city council in 2023. Okay. And reelected as mayor pro Tegan

Speaker:

in 2023. And then, but the why part I haven't heard you. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Well, you know,

Speaker 2:

we took up the time with the public health, but the why is, so, the why is, you know, there's, there's the part that I've done the job and I know what the job entails and I feel like I have been in the role. And part of that is, you know, the mayor is one of seven. And they don't have any more voting power than anyone else on city council. You can't do anything without three other council members supporting you. Right. It's not, there's a, I think sometimes a misperception that the mayor can have initiatives and do these things. That's not how for, cause government works. Yeah. But they are the figurehead. Right. And their words do carry more weight. Right. Even though if they're one of seven

Speaker:

Yeah. Even if they're one of the opposing.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And so why for me is, you know, I've done the job, I've, I've been in, uh, that role before and I just feel like we're at a really critical point in Fort Collins. We are moving from a large town to a small city. We have these really big issues that we're, that we're struggling with between growth and development, but maintaining our character. We have limited resources now we have limited dollars. And I think it's one really important to have continuity. In that leadership. And then two, I really feel like from being Fort Collins, from understanding and being working class for most of my life and, and when people talk about housing affordability and affordability in general, it's really important to have someone who has had those lived experiences and can bring that into office and feel like they're representing Fort Collins when they're stepping in as mayor.

Speaker:

Alright.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Thanks. Our chicken's probably getting a little bit cold. That's true. Sorry. But it's okay. Our first, uh, so how we're gonna do this, by the way, and you get to choose your favorite from among these I'm

Speaker 2:

so excited.

Speaker:

Uh, blends. Okay. Um, but we're going to sample it.

Speaker 2:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

Then we're gonna talk about it.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Speaker:

And then I'll ask the first question.

Speaker 2:

Okay. This is great.

Speaker:

And you can just swing that microphone out to like reach and grab your thing. Okay. Oh, and Ava, will you bring us some napkins when you bring the next, uh, sample in please. Sorry, we forgot. So this is salt, pepper, garlic. Alright. Just SSPG.

Speaker 2:

It's just the basic SPG. Yes. Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

I totally need to put that on my shelf. Like just have a spot for it for that.

Speaker 2:

You know, there's something about real, really good salt and pepper.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

Well, in the salt with a coarseness that you can actually mm-hmm. Catch mm-hmm. From time to time. Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. It's got crunch. Whether,

Speaker:

whether you're dipping, you probably don't eat steak or I do eat steak. Okay. Yeah. You dip it in a coarse salt sometimes. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. When it's just so nice. Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2:

It does. It's good.

Speaker:

I mean, chicken okay too. Mm-hmm. Just

Speaker 2:

quick chicken, by the way.

Speaker 3:

Mm-hmm. Alright,

Speaker:

so tasting notes on the SPG. Mm-hmm. I presume this is from Old Town Spice Shop. Yeah. Most of this stuff is, mm-hmm. The guys were sharing the responsibility before, but it's with the sauces. Uh. Do you, do you keep an sb PG on your shelf?

Speaker 2:

You know, I'm just an old school. Like they're separate. Yeah. Yeah. You know, we're not mixed together. You put those three on things sometimes. Yep. Mm-hmm. Yeah. But, um, you know, I do have, I do like the flaky salt, so I like the crunch. Yeah. And, um,

Speaker:

what would you use that on in your kitchen?

Speaker 2:

Mm. I mean, I feel like you can use that in everything. Yeah.'cause it's like a holy trifecta. Something that I had in the drawer. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And it's already pre-made. Yeah. Probably in the right ratio.'cause I can't get those ratios Right. To save my life, but, um, fair enough. I like it.

Speaker:

My first question is from James Merley with Story Path Creative and he said, what's your fondest story to share about the people, our community in Fort Collins?

Speaker 2:

This fondest story Yes. About people in Fort Collins. I'm, I'm gonna, I know you sent these to me, but I, you know

Speaker:

Yeah. I like that you come in fresh. I always do. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Um, you know, for me. Uh, and I don't remember if this is a question later on about what makes, what's my favorite thing about Fort Collins, but it is the people. And so when I think about the fondest story, it's hard because I just think Fort Collins is full of great people. Okay. And no matter how much we're growing or changing, to me the heart of the community is, it has always been there.

Speaker 4:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And it's just because the people are great, just like we were talking about earlier. I mean, like how many connections there are, how it's still a small town in so many ways. Yeah. How people are full of kindness. And, um,

Speaker:

would you like to name two people that you don't like?

Speaker 2:

No.

Speaker:

Would you, would you like to name two people that you especially like or have a story about?

Speaker 2:

Well, so I'll tell, I, I've told this story before and, but, um, I'll, I'll tell it again because it's one of my favorite. Memories of growing up in Fort Collins is, uh, I grew up for a while in what is now the natural resources building for the city out on Hoffman Mill Road. It's kind of off the bike trail. Oh yeah. It's a white house with green. And so I lived there until the city bought it and, uh, interesting. Relocated me. No. Yeah. Um, so I grew up there. Yeah. Folks probably in a pretty penny. Well, we, we were renters, um, but Oh, I see. Gotcha. And, uh, you know, it was, it was just a great experience living there.'cause the ponds are there, there've ever been ponds over there. And, um, but it was right next to the bike trail. And when I was a kid, uh, I had these aspirations to be a, a baker and have my own business and Okay. When I was a kid, I would haul down. A table and baked goods. Oh, to the bike path. Nice. Which I think now would be illegal, but in the time it was not.

Speaker:

Whatever it shouldn't be. It

Speaker 2:

shouldn't be. And had business cards had a catering menu,

Speaker:

did you have specialty items like brownies were like a specialty item,

Speaker 2:

you know, rice Krispy treats. Probably lemonade. Alright. Uh, you know, we had like, my cousin and I had the whole thing, business cards, catering. We were there for us. And

Speaker:

did you move some product?

Speaker 2:

It's really difficult to move products when people on a bike path. Okay. But here's where the wonderful people at Fort Colleges come in, right. Is one, it's, people would go, they just

Speaker:

give you money and don't even take product, give money

Speaker 2:

and not take things. Two is sometimes they would go home and then come back with money. Oh gosh. Because who wants like a brownie mid run and then what do you do with it? You know? So they'd come back. And then also, um, at the time it's where they trained, uh, the canine unit for the police. And those police officers would walk down and, and buy things and then bring it back. They'd probably best buy me out to make me feel better. But see that's the, you know,

Speaker:

you had the cute advantage like. If that's true. If you imagine me as some ugly kid setting up a stand out there saying, Hey, got some big stuff, Uhhuh, they'd be like, yeah. Anyway. Yeah,

Speaker 2:

yeah. Just kidding. So, um, you know, it's just like good job an inopportune time. Yeah. To have a treat.

Speaker:

Well, it didn't sprout, uh, wings, so, no, that's sad.

Speaker 2:

I know, but

Speaker:

I'm sure you met a lot of interesting people. I

Speaker 2:

did. Yeah.

Speaker:

We're ready. What do we got here? Ranch. Oh, this is the ranch. The

Speaker 2:

ranch classic.

Speaker:

This is the classic ranch from, uh, Matador.

Speaker 2:

Oh. I didn't know if it's Hidden Valley, but I think it's Matador. Yes. No, this is actually, uh oh. I'll take my floor. They, they make their own

Speaker:

ranch. Thank you, Ava.

Speaker 2:

Thank you.

Speaker:

So we can taste first. Great. And then I'll go into question two. So I'm from North Dakota mm-hmm. As I mentioned, and. In North Dakota, everything gets dipped in ranch. Pretty much.

Speaker 2:

So now I know, I wanna know your tasting notes on how this ranch stacks up to a ranch expert.

Speaker:

I mean, it's pretty much a specimen ranch. I don't know, like isn't there really just kind of one recipe? I apparently not. Do you think, I mean, like, I assume there's different qualities of like buttermilk and Yes. And, and cracked black pepper or whatever other ingredients.

Speaker 2:

Also the consistency, right? Thicker run. Yeah.

Speaker:

Yep, yep. Yeah. Um, but mostly the flavor of ranch is the flavor of ranch.

Speaker 2:

It's, it,

Speaker:

although it would be interesting, we could do a whole show on like Wishbone Ranch versus you could do a whole taste testing of different, you know, like five different ranches. Yes,

Speaker 2:

yes.

Speaker:

God, that would be boring as hell.

Speaker 2:

I don't know. I had a friend doing a, a, a taste testing for, um. They're opening a, a bar and they wanted to have coffee on coffee just in case we did a taste testing on instant coffees.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

After 12 instant coffees, I mean, one that's hard to taste. 12, 12 different instant coffees.

Speaker:

The, uh, the Starbucks Viva, mm-hmm. Whatever. Mm-hmm. Is pretty solid.

Speaker 2:

Well, the, I can tell you the one that won, which is, which was Mount Hagen.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

And then the 365 Whole Foods was second.

Speaker:

And do they sell it in like a big container? Mm-hmm. So you just put a scoop in there and do it? Yeah. Maybe we should do that for our camping more instead of like, it's great opportunity instead like screwing around with like a Spanish coffee maker or a French press or whatever you to Well that one you can also

Speaker 2:

dissolve in cold. So you can make cold coffee.

Speaker:

Oh, nice. It's key. Yeah. What was it again?

Speaker 2:

Mount Hagen, I think. Mount

Speaker:

Hagen? Yeah. Okay. Mm-hmm. Mount Hagen. If you'd like to sponsor this episode of the Local Experience Podcast, please contact me, um, from Paul Michelson of Matador Mexican Grill. Mm-hmm. What is your plan to help support small businesses to start and grow in Northern Colorado?

Speaker 2:

Oh, this is a great question and I think one that the city has much opportunity, uh, space that we can to do better, to do better. Okay. Oh yeah, sorry. Yeah. Thank you for catching my, I was like on a different thought path. I was like, not finishing that sentence. You actually, I, it was me actually like, you know, it's hard. I mean, putting words on the table. Yeah. Well, I mean, you meant to just leave off the table. Yeah. I mean, we announced city council for six years. It's sometimes hard to say. The city can do, you know? Well, and

Speaker:

can the city do better? Like, oh yeah. I think so. Yeah. What, what would you, you know, what would you have them do? I think, you

Speaker 2:

know, just talking to small business owners, it is so difficult to open a business. Yeah. It's confusing. It, there's so many regulations and, you know, the, the development review process, the hoops you have to jump through, just navigating it, I think is really difficult as somebody who just wants to come in. Your neighbor, you know, mom and pop are just like, I just wanna do this thing. You're like, it's not that easy. I'm

Speaker:

leasing this space. It was a restaurant before. Yeah. What do I have to do to make it my restaurant now I store

Speaker 2:

and I'm gonna have to pay$112,000 for a tap fee. Like, okay. You know, like, so these things that we really need to look at of what barriers are we putting up? Okay. Why are we making it so complicated? Why is it take so long and why is it so expensive for someone to just go through the process? Yeah. And then just, and and why do you

Speaker:

think?

Speaker 2:

I think it's just best intentions around over time. Yeah. Of, you know, we create rules for a reason. Something happened, we add a new one, and then over time you money, it takes all this

Speaker:

enforcement mechanism and stuff like that.

Speaker 2:

And then so many approvals and there's so many different departments involved and you know, we just kind of need to get back to simplicity and the basics.

Speaker:

So do you slot in on the more kind of libertine side when it comes to business especially?

Speaker 2:

Mm. Tell me what you mean by that.

Speaker:

Like, I could do kinda what I want as long as I don't hurt anybody.

Speaker 2:

No, no, no,

Speaker:

no.

Speaker 2:

Not that far.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

You know, but we don't need so many rules and regulations. Gotcha. So some, yeah. Still need liquor licenses. Oh yeah. We still need the health and safety. Food service. Food inspections are good. Yeah. Let's, let's go with health and safety as baseline for these things.

Speaker:

But I agree actually that somebody said that on a podcast I was listening to recently about. Health and safety being kind of first and foremost. Mm-hmm. And public safety and stuff. And then if we've still got revenues, then we can focus on some of these beautiful places and Yeah. Other services and stuff, but yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I mean, our, our sales tax in the city is declining. Yeah. We're, we're gonna, we are going to have to look at, well,

Speaker:

without all these development fees though, how are we gonna balance the budget?

Speaker 2:

Well, development fees, fees only pay for certain things. Right. They do not fix our budget problems. Uh, and so development review fees are part of it. And just'cause you're a new business doesn't mean you go through development review.

Speaker:

Right. Usually you can't afford it for years. Exactly. You start a business in a rent space, it's gonna take you years to figure out how to years through, through development years. Maybe later you can buy a building or build something

Speaker 2:

Uhhuh. Yeah. And by then fees will have gone up

Speaker:

a lot. Mm-hmm. Fair. Um, I think we're ready for number three. Asu. Are you guys ready for us? And we can put our empties right in there. Thank you. This is the chicken and guacamole, the

Speaker 2:

guacamole, sands tomato sauce, sands tomato. Yes. So, oh, you'd be chicken with avocado. You'd

Speaker:

be terrified. In my household, I, I currently have about the area of half of that table, uh, covered in tomatoes. Mm-hmm. On my kitchen countertops. Mm-hmm. Because my tomato harvest has been tremendous. That's awesome. I've got tomatoes. Very happy for you bursting out of my ears. Um, and I've eaten so many. This is great. Yeah. Yeah. What would happen if you ate a tomato?

Speaker 2:

Oh, I just, uh,

Speaker:

like a whole one, like a big old, bigger than my fist. I would not be able to move my hands tomorrow. Really? It

Speaker 2:

would just be red. It'd be really achy. Okay. I would like you get like such, I want to, you know, I have trouble formulated senses as it is and noticed it gets more difficult when you have to finish half my sentence for me. No, I just do that. I'm rude that way. Uh,

Speaker:

I think I had, but it means I'm listening. Yeah,

Speaker 2:

that's true. That's true.

Speaker:

Um, thank you for being kind. Um, let's see what you think about this. Guacamole. Sounds, sounds, tomato. Are you gonna also try the Yes, I will.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Speaker:

I

Speaker 5:

love

Speaker:

guacamole

Speaker 2:

guys. Oh yeah. You know, my partner's allergic to avocado, so. Oh,

Speaker:

that's sad. It

Speaker 2:

is a sad for him, but a win for me.

Speaker:

But wouldn't you eat more avocado overall if he liked to?

Speaker 2:

Well, I don't have to share any avocados with him.

Speaker:

That's fair. Yeah. I'm, as I said, from North Dakota, but my mom grew up in California. Mm. Mm-hmm. So she brought back a love for avocados. Mm-hmm. So we were like some of the only avocado eaten people in the county. Did they

Speaker 2:

just bring in the avocado, the grocery store just for you?

Speaker:

No, they would get'em here and there and buy'em, like, buy four of'em and put'em in the fridge. We eat up until they were like, well they wouldn't, they would just go right away. Like they would always get in right away. So it didn't matter.

Speaker 2:

I've heard, and I've never done it, that if you put a ripe avocado and a glass of water, then it keeps it from ripening more. Hmm. So I'll have to try it out.

Speaker:

Seems reasonable. Mm-hmm. I mean, it wouldn't allow any further oxidization. That's true.

Speaker 2:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

Um, so what would you like to say about that guacamole?

Speaker 2:

I mean, those avocados are people peak ripeness

Speaker:

perfect.

Speaker 2:

Don't you think? Yeah. They're full flavor. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes you get the avocado Mm. And it's not, it's not Right. And then you can't do anything about it.

Speaker:

Yeah. It's kind of sad when you're like. I, I, I put avocados in my salads mostly, probably. Mm-hmm. And so you, you peel it and everything seems fine and then you cut it and you're like, Ooh, it's too crispy. Yeah. It's not gonna taste very, there's

Speaker 2:

no going back after that. Yeah.

Speaker:

I just throw it in there anyway. It's not gonna hurt you. No, no. But you know, it's just not as good. It's

Speaker 2:

not as good as it could have been.

Speaker:

So from, uh, mayor Emeritus Wade Troxel mm-hmm. Fort Collins has been described as the Choice city of Colorado and is known for beers, bikes, and bands and more. What is your vision for the evolving brand of Fort Collins and what might 30 years from now we be known for?

Speaker 2:

Well, I don't think I'm ever gonna be as catchy as beer bikes and bands, so I don't have a name for it, but I can, I can tell you what I think about. Yeah.'cause I'm not gonna have a name, uh, a cool name. But, um, what I think about is I want Fort Collins to be a place of opportunity. And by that I mean, you know. We just talked about small businesses. Yeah. How hard it is. Totally hear about affordable housing and how difficult it is for people to stay in Fort Collins and live here. And what if we were a place where people could afford to live here? What if people could move here and do what they dream of? What if people were like, I can go to Fort Collins and I can live my best life. And I just think that's what I think about. I think, you know, the more and more people I talk to people, you know, through campaign events or city council, door knocking, people are having a hard time.

Speaker:

Yeah, for sure. Weather for sure. I mean, it was, yeah. When I moved here in 99 Yeah. My rent doubled and my salary went up A pittance.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Yeah. And that opportunity gets, and the thing is, when we don't have a lot of expendable income and we're spending it all on housing or childcare or, you know, the rising cost of goods, uh, people more and more are just so worried about how they're gonna, so

Speaker:

how do you, how do you, how do you fix that though?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I think it's good. You've

Speaker:

been studying, it sounds like, for a while. Yeah. It's your focus area. But do you have. Solutions.

Speaker 2:

I mean, I think what's one is hard is what can you do in a municipality? And I think that's really where we have to focus on. And I think one is, uh, what, like we talked about with small businesses, how do we make things easier and simpler? Yeah. We've built up so many processes. Simplify, let's simplify, let's deregulate, deregulate to a certain point. Um, you know, also like, why don't we take the perspective of the customer, the residents are the city's customers. Let's, like, we need, we need to be more customer friendly and more customer oriented and not so regulatory focused. While health, safety and public safety is important, you know, we really have to think about how are we serving the residents of Fort Collins and how do we maintain the things that we have built? Uh, but we, you know, we can do things to make housing easier to build, to meet the needs of our residents. Uh, where, when it comes to, I mean, one of the

Speaker:

costs of housing. Inflation is like all the, you gotta insulate it this much. Mm-hmm. All these kind of things. Mm-hmm. And, you know, build, put this many trees in when you replace the

Speaker 2:

Yep. Yep. But like, well, and, but

Speaker:

do you not want those things though?

Speaker 2:

No. We all want those things, but I think what happens is when you become world class and everything

Speaker:

Yeah. They're all,

Speaker 2:

there's a price to pay. There's a price to pay. Yeah. And then they compete. How do you have world class tree policy and world class solar panels?

Speaker 5:

Right.

Speaker 2:

How do you have, and and then also a water efficiency plan. You know, there are competing interests that we're talking about. Yeah. And so I think for Collins is getting to a place where we're gonna have to have really hard conversations about what do we wanna prioritize, where do we wanna go? We can build the most sustainable city who's, who's gonna live here? Who's gonna be able to afford it? That's a different city than we're, than we're thinking about.

Speaker:

That's such a great, I live in Old Town and actually. I could put solar panels on my place now because I, I cut some cottonwoods out so that I could build a property and I had to get permission on that. Mm-hmm. You know? Mm-hmm. Um, but now I could have solar.

Speaker 3:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

Which is nice, but also, like my whole side of the block on my street is warmer now. Yeah. Like all me and all my neighbors are warmer for having cut down those big ass old cottonwoods, you know? But at least they didn't follow anybody. It's a tradeoff. That's important, but I feel like I should be the decider. Yeah. Top to bottom. Like, I shouldn't have to ask my city's permission to cut down a tree on my property,

Speaker 2:

and that's where we may be going.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So I think it, you know, it's these, it's, we get really complicated in these tradeoffs and I think on one off. We all think that sounds good. Of course we want a tree policy where we're thinking about our canopy and we're thinking about cooling and we're thinking about tree. We're tree city USA.

Speaker 5:

Sure.

Speaker 2:

And and then we go over and we say, oh, of course we want to move to an electric grid and we want everyone to have access to solar panels. A hundred percent. But when you keep looking at these things in silos, you're never looking at the big picture. And that's where we're getting into trouble.

Speaker:

So, uh, so maybe it's like looking at the big picture is our theme. Uh, yeah. Something ish. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah, I Big pictures. Awesome. It is big pictures are awesome. Someone has to think about the big picture. The future look bright. Yeah, look bright. Yeah. What are we doing now? I think it's the third one there I think. Or this next one here. This is pesto Parmesan olive oil dip.

Speaker 5:

Oh.

Speaker:

So this is another old tone spice shop offering.

Speaker 2:

I, I was surprised they didn't go with a wasabi or horseradish. I

Speaker:

know. I kind of was too. I think just isn't something that they really carry or have access to normally.

Speaker 4:

Mm.

Speaker 3:

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm

Speaker:

mm. It's got the nice coness again. Mm-hmm. Yes. Of the spice.

Speaker 2:

Yes. What's in this one?

Speaker:

Well, it says pesto Parmesan olive oil dip. If you want more information than that, you're gonna have to read it.'cause I don't, I'm too, I can't, I don't have eyes that do that kind of stuff anymore.

Speaker 2:

Well, as the name says, it does have Parmesan cheese. Basil, garlic and salt.

Speaker:

Hmm. Pretty simple

Speaker 2:

as the pesto Parmesan. Yes. Dip basil, Parmesan.

Speaker:

Do you make homemade pesto?

Speaker 2:

I sometimes do. Yeah.

Speaker:

I made a few batches this year. My basil wasn't as productive as last year. Mm-hmm. But it was still pretty good. Mm-hmm. Um, but I've become a pesto believer.

Speaker 2:

Were you not before?

Speaker:

No. Wow. I don't know why. Mostly just because they usually put pesto in with like. Chicken or shrimp. Mm-hmm. And a lot of times I want some beef,

Speaker 2:

but you can have pesto on beef.

Speaker:

I could, I suppose. Yeah. It seems kind of weird, but I'm gonna actually make a, uh, like a multilayer lasagna. We have an Italian exchange student.

Speaker 3:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

And I want do an lasagna with one layer of just pesto.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Uh, but also a layer of meat sauce, so it's like red and green fight kind of thing. There

Speaker 2:

you go.

Speaker:

Should be fun.

Speaker 2:

I, I've been into lasagna lately

Speaker:

and I made the last one with, uh, zucchini as instead of pasta noodles, but

Speaker 3:

mm-hmm.

Speaker:

I heard recently well do that for one layer, but then used pasta noodles too.'cause then a pasta will suck up all that extra I was gonna ask. Yeah. Moisture from the zucchini. I salted them first and missed them, but it's still hard to get enough moisture outta those. It's, it's so, um, so I'm gonna use that advice next time.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Sounds like you cook a lot.

Speaker:

I do. Yeah. Nice. I, uh. My wife is very pampered. Yeah. Just kidding. Not good, Jill. It's true. Um, next question is from Sean Godby, old Town Spice Shop. Sorry, I got the hiccup of bumps for a moment. The proposal for paid on street parking in Fort Collins mm-hmm. Aims to address revenue and parking turnover. How do you plan to balance the city's need for revenue and parking management with the concerns of business owners and customers re regarding accessibility and affordability?

Speaker 2:

Mm. Okay. Good question. We just talked about this city council.

Speaker:

Not surprised. It's been probably a hot topic lately.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Yes and no. You know, we've been talking about it, I think for two years now. Okay. I mean, it's coming on. Oh, so it's not a new thing And city council? No, it's, I think it's just like,

Speaker:

it feels like to a lot of the, yeah. Community is like,

Speaker 2:

oh, what

Speaker:

do you mean? We're talking about putting not free parking out there.

Speaker 2:

I know. Surprisingly not everyone tunes into the hottest show in town on Tuesday nights, but Yes. Well, if

Speaker:

stuff doesn't leak out necessarily either,'cause a lot of stuff gets talked about and then it never gets done. Yep. Just'cause it's the nature of government or it's government

Speaker 2:

takes a long time. Yeah. You know?'cause I think it has been almost two years, but here we are. But now we're actually talking about how do we move forward? Yeah. So council's given direction to Yes, move forward with paid parking, but how are we gonna move forward?

Speaker:

Oh really? Like, yes, we are doing paid parking, but then we haven't voted on it, but

Speaker 2:

it's a yes. Like how do we create a plan around what this is going to look like? Okay. Because we think we

Speaker:

should do this. Yeah. Yeah. The consultants said we should.

Speaker 2:

Well, I mean, the consultants say your model's upside down, which you go to any other city and usually the. The street parking, premium parking is paid for. Right? Right. Garage is either free or discounted. Uh, and so we do have an upside down model and our garages are a dollar an hour, which is pretty cheap. Pretty deal. Great deals.

Speaker:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Uh, you know, and the thing, but it's like

Speaker:

a little reward when you get a free spot. Mm,

Speaker 2:

that is true. Yeah. But how many times do you circle around the block to look for parking downtown?

Speaker:

Um, I never do because I live at downtown in an old town and mm-hmm. So I'll just park a little farther and I ride motorcycle a lot, so I just park in the abundant motorcycle parking. You city of Fort Col. You're welcome. Should require that everywhere.

Speaker 3:

Yes.

Speaker:

Even at, it's so annoying when I go not to beat that drum, but when I go to like a big box store

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker:

And they've got like six handicap spots Yeah. That I can't park in.

Speaker 3:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

And then it's like busy for quite a while. And then I've gotta park, you know, down there by the second cart corral at Safeway. Yep. Where they could have just had like one little motorcycle parking only that nobody else could park in.

Speaker 2:

This is true.

Speaker:

Um, but, but I, I actually like it when I give special privileges, which is one of the reasons. I ride motorcycle. Yeah. But they've busted me now two times on this stupid riverside photo radar thing. Yeah.'cause every day I leave here on my big bike that you see and I, I go through first gear and I hit second gear and then I cool it down. Mm-hmm. And settle it down before I have to turn left on Mulberry. But right when I come outta second gear is right When the stupid flash goes

Speaker 2:

pop. I mean that means you're going 11 over the speed limit.

Speaker 5:

Yeah. And those fuckers have no right to,

Speaker:

there's nobody around me. The water is wide open. I'm not hurting. It doesn't matter hurting anybody. It's not available at all. It's not about the number of people on the roads. Such freaking scam harvest. They put it in places where it's, where it should be faster speed if they

Speaker 2:

put it in places where people speed. Right.

Speaker:

Because the people are saying to themselves, it's safe to go faster than this here.

Speaker 2:

Well, we overbuilt our roads. Which signal that you can drive faster? Well, because we overbuilt straight roads. Like

Speaker:

when it's busy, I slow down. Like if there's traffic, I slow down. But. I don't dunno. It's a, I dunno. Anyway, get, I'm also a fan, motorcycle

Speaker 2:

parking. I drive a motorcycle and I'm not great at tight turnarounds. And

Speaker:

you deserve to have a special authority that lets you go 15 to 25 miles an hour faster than everybody else in every situation about that, especially in canyons.

Speaker 2:

I, well, I don't know about that, but

Speaker:

I'm just saying, I mean, it's appropriate.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker:

If 85-year-old lady is driving, you know,

Speaker 2:

uh,

Speaker:

old Buicks Yeah. Can go this speed. I have to go the same speed on my sport bike. Or an

Speaker 2:

85-year-old driving an RV, towing whatever it's for. Towing a Jeep, you know,

Speaker:

it's, it's injust. Equality, you can take it up at equality is times injust and this is one of those cases where I should not have to follow the same rules. Thanks Eva for Thank you. Kidding us back on track?

Speaker 2:

I don't think we ever answered the question.

Speaker:

Um, what question was it? I don't know.

Speaker 2:

Oh. The paid dream on parking. Thanks. I mean, we can just keep going. Not answer, but um, I think to get your, it's those shots. Oh. Would you like to have

Speaker:

an infinity shot? What is that? It's a mix of all the different La Coors? No. That, uh, have been through the podcast over the last two or three months.

Speaker 2:

Wow. I do not. Okay. But thank you. Alright. Alright. Well then

Speaker:

let's go ahead. Paid parking. Paid paid parking. Yes. So listening something, something. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I mean,

Speaker:

what do you, what do you wanna do from here?

Speaker 2:

Do, do you want me to answer the question? Yeah, I do. Do you think we answered it all? Okay. Well, no, I don't think we did. I think, you know, either way we're paying for the parking. I'll say that. Mm. Right now we're subsidizing it through the general fund. So do we want to subsidize it through the general fund or would we rather use that for other things? Yeah. That's the choice. We can continue to subsidize it. We just won't pay for other things. Yeah. So do we shift it on to residents and, and then have visitors pay that and, and have that model? Yeah, I think it's a, it makes more sense.

Speaker:

Okay. So generally in favor, moderate pricing. I suppose

Speaker 2:

it's gonna be, I mean, if our dollars are, don't think we're, I mean, we hit strangle

Speaker:

a golden goose, right? Yeah. Like if people stop coming downtown because you gotta pay for parking lot at that place. That's, I

Speaker 2:

don't think that's, and if you look at the, the map of how far they think people walk, it's very little. Yeah. So people I think we walk Yeah. More than that and not much, you know, so it's a tight, it's a tight ring of where you're gonna park. Free parking outside of that garage is still available. Yeah. Uh, you know, I think boulder's like$8 an hour to park down. It's something ridiculous. We're not going that high. We're going, I think we talked about a dollar dollar 50. Okay. We're keeping it reasonable. Alright. We're keeping it for cols listening.

Speaker:

Thanks. Yeah. What do we got here? This must be the Parmesan garlic popcorn seasoning.

Speaker 2:

Alright. What's the difference between.

Speaker:

Well know Basil, I presume. Oh, sans pesto. Finer. A finer CORs city. Okay.

Speaker 2:

Alright.

Speaker:

I think

Speaker 2:

but this one's a different color. Wait. Yeah. This must

Speaker:

Is this one? No, sorry. I lied to you. Down home pickle shake.

Speaker 2:

Oh, right. I don't know if I've ever had pickled chicken. Yeah, you're like, this

Speaker:

doesn't seem like popcorn.

Speaker 2:

I wanna know what you put pickle shake on. Generally,

Speaker:

what would I put pickle shake on?

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Probably the most likely thing in my lifestyle would be a Bloody Mary. Mm.

Speaker 2:

Like the rim of a Bloody Mary. Mm-hmm. That's a good point. Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

I like a little pickle juice in my Bloody Mary. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So that would be. Kind of picky.

Speaker 2:

I like pickle juice. So this is working out. What was that? Nice.

Speaker:

It was me one That's kind of picky. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Like bri, the pickle. The pickle, uh, sunflower seeds. Oh yeah. Like those are so gross.

Speaker 2:

What about the pickle potato chips?

Speaker:

No, no, no. Gross. Like salt and pepper or something like that? Just the classics. Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Alright. I

Speaker:

mean, I don't Okay. For a barbecue or whatever the pickle, that would be the only thing I would ever use that on is the, but it seems that you would, uh, what, what would you actually use it for? I don't know. In a, in a practical environment.

Speaker 2:

I'm not opposed to it. I just don't know what I would.

Speaker:

So just bloody areas too.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Okay. Just my V eight. Um,

Speaker:

next, next question. Alright. Is that how we do this? Um, how would you rate the city of Fort Collins on its homelessness initiatives in recent decades and recent years, and what changes would you recommend to their programs going forward?

Speaker 2:

Mm. Is this like a scale of one to 10? Like what are we writing?

Speaker:

Um, hmm. No, I, I don't know. Yeah, sure, sure. Scale of one to 10. I don't know. Let's do, I, I didn't

Speaker 2:

know where the question was going. Yeah, well, like, you know,

Speaker:

do you, do you think they're doing good job, bad job? Here's where I would Yeah. Change it. Like, I

Speaker 2:

think, I think we're doing a good job for the resources we have.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

You know, we have really limited funding for housing and that includes the houseless and so. You know, with the resources that we have and the Yeah. Things we've been the state able to allocate.

Speaker:

We don't have any money now. They're like, we don't money the Fed are like, we're not doing that anymore. Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2:

Nope. And, uh, and then the city, you know, has been asked more if you think about the evolution of what a city's been asked to do over the decades. Yeah. Housing. It, it used to be a government function than it went away. Now it's coming back. Think about like what we're being asked to do. We're, and the local level being asked more and more, the state's passing things on down to us and we, we don't have bigger, they're not giving us money to, so it's mandate with no money to do the thing. I mean, just across the board we've had different mandates that have no money and so we're just stretched thin and thinner.

Speaker:

What, like putting people up at night when it's cold and stuff like that? Or what do you mean? Oh, not just with homelessness. Okay. Just with, you know, just in general state bills without fiscal notes. Just, yep. Fair.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So I think governor's p is good at that. Yeah. So I think as far as our programs, you know, during, uh. COVID. When we had the ARPA dollars, that's when we started the mental health officers and that was a great call. I think that has been an excellent program to invest in.

Speaker:

There was a lot of, uh, mental health problems created by that crisis.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, definitely. And uh, or a response to the crisis, perhaps. Yep. Yeah. I mean, tons of people lost their homes. Evictions. Sure. Like so many things. Right. Lost jobs. People are still recovering from the pandemic and True. It's, we don't talk about it. We just, one day it was gone and you know, we're just like back to normal. What is normal? You know? Sorry about telling you to took that COVID shot stuff. Yeah. Co stuff turn out bad. So, you know. Um, but you know, I think that was excellent to have. Officers are the first ones to respond usually to those, and, you know, having officers trained in mental health and how to respond and the hope team and outreach Fort Collins, these are excellent things we're moving towards. Okay. But until we have enough homes for people, I mean, homes are the foundation of stability.

Speaker:

So like, but real, real homes cost a lot of money. They do. Like what do you think about like. Um, we drove down Putter Canyon yesterday and saw the mm-hmm. Uh, little, uh, cabin City mm-hmm. That, uh mm-hmm. Danny has built up there in putter Park.

Speaker 3:

Yep.

Speaker:

Like, should there be more cost effective, like even a condo? A hundred percent, 400 grand. Like, and a lot of people can't afford the mortgage on a$400,000 just to build

Speaker 2:

an apartment.

Speaker:

Right.

Speaker 2:

Is four is$500,000.$420,000 right now. Really? Just to build it.

Speaker:

Oh God. That's stupid.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. You look at what the housing authorities, they're projecting, I mean Right. It's, it's not like it's a luxury apartment.

Speaker:

Right. Well, and, and I've got a, it's not here today, but my ambulance camper. Yeah. My 89 Ford.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker:

I could live in that somewhere. Yeah. For a year.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. And,

Speaker:

and wipe down with gloss and maintain a regular dude's job. Mm-hmm. Yep. Uh, but I couldn't because somebody would have me towed for parking front of their place.

Speaker 3:

Yes, they would. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker:

So like, tell me what the like non-traditional solutions to that are.

Speaker 2:

I think we just had to think out of the box and, and more creatively, more compassionately and quicker. We need quicker solutions. Yeah. Time is

Speaker:

money in that space for sure.

Speaker 2:

I mean, you just think about the people who need help or need stability and I mean, you know, for a long time I went to Northside, Alan Center and for my gym and the number of families that come in there to get their kids ready for school. So those are kids living in their car. Like this isn't just about

Speaker:

Yeah. You know, those are, is that, is that facility full? Is it well utilized?

Speaker 2:

The north side? Yeah. Well, it's a gym for

Speaker:

Yeah, I know, but is it, is it,

Speaker 2:

mm-hmm. People use it. I mean Yeah. But

Speaker:

is it fully utilized? Should there be more

Speaker 5:

places like that?

Speaker 2:

Well, they're not, I mean, it's not like a place to come get your kids ready for school. It's just where they have their resources. Right, right, right. And so we need. Well, we need more access to resources for folks and we need temporary housing. And you think about, I think PSD has a thousand students a year that are unhoused. Yeah. Yeah. How is that acceptable for cost? But what does the city

Speaker:

subsidize though to make it affordable for them? Or like what's the Well,

Speaker 2:

we could definitely make it easier to build more creative solutions. Okay. And you know, there housing has just had a resistance to evolving Yeah. Of how we build it. You, you look at, we built cul-de-sacs. Yeah.

Speaker:

And we build them on lots from between 4,600 square feet and 6,000 square feet. Yeah. Well, and the limitations on condo building and the liability around that have made Colorado impossible to do that. Well, definitely.

Speaker 2:

And well, and And then you just also think about the advances, you think about the advances of agriculture over the past 50 years. Yeah. And how far that's come. How far has housing come? Yeah. Are we still doing stick-built homes?

Speaker:

So you wanna take a bulldozer to the regulations in the housing economy?

Speaker 2:

No, I just think, you know, we could do things like de-stigmatize modular homes. Okay. You know, we could do tiny homes. There's a lot of options. Agreed. Yeah. Agreed. Yeah.

Speaker:

Old ambulances.

Speaker 2:

Old ambulances, stuff like that.

Speaker:

Um, so we have, uh, eight questions and sauces. Mm-hmm. And only seven were sent out. Okay. So, um, this one is a surprise, Uhhuh, and it's our grab bag from the traditional

Speaker 3:

podcast. Okay.

Speaker:

So everybody in I'm very excited in the full podcast has to pull three and answer all three. Uhhuh. You have to answer one, but you may answer up to three. So grab three balls out of there.

Speaker 2:

Right.

Speaker:

And you got all three. Yeah. Great. And then, uh, in any order we can, oh, wait. First we have to do this. We have to taste this and do the tasting notes. Do you think you can balance? Yes. The, I think this is the Parmesan one. No, this is the popcorn salt.

Speaker 2:

Parmesan popcorn? Oh yes. That one. And the same

Speaker:

without the basil?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Sam's basil.

Speaker:

Ooh. It tastes kind of cheesy.

Speaker 2:

I think it's'cause it's Parmesan.

Speaker:

Oh duh. But very cheesy. Mm-hmm. More so than I expected. This is

Speaker 2:

true,

Speaker:

but yum. I like that. Mm-hmm.

Speaker 3:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

Or salty. I tried to, I tried to breathe it a little bit. It was pretty fine. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And that's why it's popcorn salt. This is true. Otherwise true. Otherwise, I'd say cos salt.

Speaker 5:

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Okay. I'm gonna

Speaker:

do that. Do that. Oh, do you want any milk? No, you, I don't Make me fart all day.

Speaker 2:

I know you're trying to kill me in some way on the show. If I can just make you laugh. That accomplishes most of my, there you go.

Speaker:

Um, would you like to start? Okay, number nine. Number nine. What's the strangest way you've ever injured yourself?

Speaker 2:

The strangest way. Yes. Okay. Hold on. I have to think about that. I do injure myself quite frequently, but then they all kind of seems Oh, strangest way.

Speaker 5:

Yeah. Like, oops, I did again,

Speaker 2:

I, I know. I, I think I'm just gonna think about it more. So you have to keep singing. We can pass on that one. Singing that song you want.

Speaker 5:

I did it again. I don't know the words with your heart. That's all words. What's that?

Speaker 2:

I played with your heart. I played

Speaker 5:

with your heart.

Speaker 2:

Got lost in the game.

Speaker 5:

Got lost

Speaker 2:

it.

Speaker 5:

I don't know anything. I was just thinking

Speaker 2:

about the producers. I don't think it's strange, but one time I did fall through a wicker chair. Okay. Yeah, it was like,

Speaker:

it was getting, like, it would've been in the backyard for a while too long, and he just went, you know, it was like a

Speaker 2:

square, it's like wood here.

Speaker:

Mm. Yeah. Kind of wicker here. I was. And the woven kind of like from the inside out.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. You know, I was in college, I was of course hanging out my prayer flags as you do in college and, um, okay. Just broke and my entire shin went down the front of the, the wood on the inside.

Speaker:

Oh.

Speaker 2:

And so it scraped off.

Speaker:

Oh, that's my whole

Speaker 2:

front shin.

Speaker:

Oh yeah. That was less pleasant. I was imagining you like stuck in a little wicked chair. No, because it collapsed. No, definitely injured myself. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, that sounds,

Speaker 2:

although last week I tripped over a pebble about a hundred feet at the end of the trail and just annihilated my knee, so

Speaker:

Yeah. But that's not strange so much. It's not strange.

Speaker 2:

It was just probably epic to watch.

Speaker:

Well, you're not required to answer any more questions, but you may.

Speaker 2:

All right. Let's do it.

Speaker:

Uh, next number, uh, 29 29. We're mostly a business owners podcast. Yeah. And the question is, what's been the most surprising thing about running your business? I

Speaker 2:

mean, I did have a business as we talked about.

Speaker:

You want, you wanna talk about it for that no one carries

Speaker 2:

cash when they're on the bike trail.

Speaker:

Yeah. Yeah. So that was the business. Okay. Yeah. What was that was the most surprising thing about it was people weren't packing when, why don't you wanna eat a brownie while you're running? I don't understand. Right. Seems like I'd be hungry if I run that far.

Speaker 2:

I would.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

I mean, I run and I eat brownies while I run. You learned a fair bit.

Speaker:

Learned a fair bit,

Speaker 2:

yeah. Um, last one, 13.

Speaker:

What's a book, movie or podcast that's had a big impact on you or the way you think about something?

Speaker 2:

You know, if somebody asked me about this'cause they wanted my favorites and I don't have favorites. Well, would it have

Speaker:

to be a favorite? That would, I know it doesn't have to be a favorite. What we're looking for here is something that changed. Oh, you want me to take those?

Speaker 2:

Oh, sure. Thank you. Don't want you to have to hold my

Speaker:

ball.

Speaker 2:

I really was trying to retrain myself from making a lot of jokes about that, so thank you. I make jokes around here. Please. Thank you. Um, something, okay. That's

Speaker:

actually changed how you thought about something. Like, I can think of something recently is the, the telepathy tapes. Mm. I'm talking about the nonverbal mm-hmm. Autistic kids mm-hmm. That can read their parents' minds mm-hmm. And stuff like that. Yeah. That's way out there.

Speaker 2:

That is way out there.

Speaker:

Yeah. But it's probably real.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Maybe it's the next phase. Maybe all these vaccines have actually created to lead into our next super race.

Speaker 2:

Wow. I mean,

Speaker:

of telepathy kids.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I mean there's like a whole universe where people can communicate and we don't even know about it. Yeah. That are humans.

Speaker:

Well, and maybe the vaccines aren't just to something too, don't, I don't know. I'm just saying. But the worst actually, everybody's like increasing their vaccines now because they want to produce the next Elon Musk. That's true. They're like, who doesn't want a kid that's super can't spread? Okay, well we can't discuss this

Speaker 2:

thing that deals, two things are correlated. I don't know.

Speaker:

It seems like everybody's doing it. Just saying. I mean, just'cause everyone's doing it. No, I'm not a living in this situation. I'm a public health professional. Um, okay. We're supposed to try this. Oh yeah.

Speaker 2:

This one's black garlic, I think.

Speaker:

Yes, it is. I think I'm, I'm excited about this. I am too. Is it like dried?

Speaker 2:

I don't think so. They were mashing it earlier. Oh.

Speaker:

Yeah. Black garlic cloves. Oh yeah. It's kind of sticky, icky. I kind of, I'm excited about this.

Speaker 2:

I'm worried and excited. Finally. Something challenging for you. Work, work headed. That's not what I was expecting it to taste like.

Speaker:

It almost has like a mushroomy

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Kind of tone at the end. Mm-hmm. I mean, I could taste certain, only taste the garlic. Mm-hmm. Um, being all full of love and stuff, but it does have kind of that mm-hmm. Kind of wraparound.

Speaker 2:

It's not as pungent as I thought it was garlic pungent as I thought it's gonna be. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

Um, if I had a fresh, uh, clove of garlic here, could you just eat that straight up? I

Speaker 2:

think I would burn.

Speaker:

Oh yeah. It burns lot. Yeah. Yeah. So, no, but you could do it, don't I? I could, but you could.

Speaker 3:

Sure. Yeah. We

Speaker:

should have done that, guys. Um,

Speaker 3:

yeah.

Speaker:

I'm always up for a garlic shooter. Actually. I've been giving, uh. Uh, ginger shots. Mm-hmm. My wife. Mm-hmm. And my host exchange student because they've been kind of on the mend of getting sick. Mm-hmm. Uh, which they hate, but they do it. Mm-hmm. Because it makes'em healthier

Speaker 2:

if you do that. Like ginger, garlic, lemon. Yep.

Speaker:

Lemon.

Speaker 2:

Some lemon. Kind of lemon juice. Pepper if you want. Straight up lemon juice and cayenne pepper. Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

But not cayenne for you either. Mm-hmm. No, but some of those things. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker:

It makes the bad stuff go away.

Speaker 2:

Are we rebranding the name of this one?'cause it can't be hot takes.

Speaker:

No, we're the hot nugs conversations. It can't be hot nugs. Oh yeah. We don't have, because we don't

Speaker 2:

have nugs, nor are they hot. Speak for yourself.

Speaker 5:

Hot chicken. Hot.

Speaker 2:

It's not hot chicken. It's not

Speaker:

hot. Well, no, but there's limitations. Um, uh uh, I guess I'll just try to make you sweat with this next question. Okay. How can the city of Fort Collins maintain financial strength in light of declining sales tax collection trends? What mix of cost cutting and revenue enhancements would you envision? Mm-hmm. We kind of drifted into this a little bit already, but We did. Yeah. Um, would you like to kind of expand, like do you think we can turn the tide on sales taxes, or is that just gonna kind of keep slipping?

Speaker 2:

Well, we could, we could turn the tide on sales tax. Okay. If we wanna invest in those things

Speaker:

and, but you don't know if we do?

Speaker 2:

Well, you know, I think, um,

Speaker:

in what things?

Speaker 2:

Oh, right, because I didn't finish my sentence. Yeah. You know, I think that we could really focus on, uh. How are we bringing in more revenue? Is that through small businesses? Is it through other employers? Right. A lot of people that I talk to, housing affordability is one thing, but job opportunity is a, is the second biggest thing. Yeah. Finding a job that pays a livable wage.

Speaker:

So we'd rather have more like manufacturing jobs and stuff than more retail sales. Yeah, exactly. And the taxes that come with it.

Speaker 2:

How are we looking at how are we providing job opportunities for people, which could bring in sales revenue and more expendable income.

Speaker 4:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

When you have people spending so much money on housing and childcare and price of goods going up, yeah. They're not spending as much money. We also have a changing population where we haven't really seen a big, I think we've been pretty relatively flat. No, kids don't move here anymore. Old people move here now. Yeah. To be with their

Speaker:

kids spend and their grandkids spend.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. And so we haven't seen a population increase, but we've seen a change in demographic. All of these are playing into our sales tax. Yeah. And so I do think, you know, Fort Collins for a long time has. Kind of rested on its laurels of we don't, we haven't really gone out and tracked too cool for school. You know, well, bike, Bess band, brute, whatever, you know, one more of this. Yeah. Even though it, yeah. Like it's,

Speaker:

it's not hot, but it's good. It's not hot. Yeah. Anyway, keep going. Um,

Speaker 2:

you know, and we haven't really stepped into, do we need to plaque, uh, attract employers? Do we need to attract better job opportunities? Mm-hmm. A lot of people see it as pro-growth, pro development. I see it as taking care of the people that live here. Uh, we have to have job opportunities.

Speaker:

So is that the balance? Like some of your supporters don't really want growth and others realize that we need jobs and it's like, ah.

Speaker 2:

I mean, it depends on how you look at it. If we just want to. To become a retirement community with the college, we can definitely go that down that path. But I don't think that's tourist

Speaker 5:

town too.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I don't think that's what Fort Collins wants. Yeah. You know, and but with that, I mean, we have to evolve. You know, we ha we can't be static. We have to evolve. We have to look at how do we attract better job opportunities. And then on the expense side, we, you know, Fort Collins has been really lucky with having excess revenues for a really long time. Yeah. Yeah. We've built amazing things. We have beautiful parks, we have beautiful buildings. And I think more and more we're gonna have to look at, well, are we gonna be able to sustain that? Yeah. And how are we gonna pay for it? What about the operations maintenance? Yeah. You know, and what is the quality of service and quality of life that Fort Collins is expecting? Yeah. You know? And is that. Feasible. Uh, we could have a few really nice things or we could have a more, could City

Speaker:

Park Lake sponsored by local think tank. Yes. There you go. Nice sign there.

Speaker 2:

Just slide that in. Just putting that out there. A thousand bucks a year. I'm in Nice big

Speaker 3:

eight by 16 sign. There you go.

Speaker:

What is this last, this is the, uh, they were bragging about this, the red shewan peppercorn.

Speaker 3:

Oh yeah. I feel like it sounds spicy, but it's not going. I'm is supposed be kind of fun.

Speaker:

Yeah, right. Let us down again. We'll see. This looks Hmm? I hear a crunch.

Speaker 2:

It looks sneezy. Spicy, but,

Speaker:

mm. Nice. Coarse salt again.

Speaker 2:

Mm-hmm. Coarse pepper too.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

I mean that's probably about as spicy as you ever get. Yeah. I don't do

Speaker 2:

well, I mean like wasabi or horse radish. Yeah. You know, different kind of spice. But yeah,

Speaker:

we could have gone there with you. It's true. Perhaps should have, but

Speaker 2:

I'm not upset. There was. So

Speaker:

I think just fresh garlic is what she probably should have. Like Exactly. Just fresh

Speaker 2:

grated garlic

Speaker:

or a jitter shot. Mm-hmm. Without the uh mm-hmm. What? There was something in the jitters. Oh, the cayenne pepper.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. Yeah. Right.

Speaker:

But you can have lemon juice. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Speaker 3:

Uh,

Speaker:

apple cider vinegar. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Oh, we should have done jitter shots. That would've been fun.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker:

The last question mm-hmm. Is, uh, your loco experience. Okay. So your legit craziest experience of your lifetime that you're willing to share with our listeners and be damned who won't vote for you if they think your story is too crazy.

Speaker 2:

My. My most, like in my life, most crazy experience in your life? Most crazy.

Speaker:

Just, uh, it could be a moment, a day, a semester abroad, a near death experience. I don't know. Whatever comes to mind when I say your craziest experience of your lifetime.

Speaker 2:

Hmm. I gotta think about this.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

What did other people

Speaker:

say? Um,

Speaker 2:

are you gonna share yours?

Speaker:

I don't even know. I've got so many. Just your, I

Speaker 2:

won't hold you to the most, the

Speaker:

most or the, yeah. A crazy experience. Yeah. Um, I was just telling these guys about in my first anniversary trip, and I've told this story on the podcast. Mm-hmm. At least once before, but, um, we were trying to go from Lake City to, um. Re mm-hmm. Via Engineers Pass and our 88 Jeep Cherokee. And we were like at the very top, and it was like 32 degrees and sunny. And so it was like so slippery you couldn't even walk on it. Mm-hmm. But I was a rookie and I didn't have it in low range, just low gear. And we started sliding and I didn't have antilock brakes and like to literally not go off the road and go down like a 45 degree angle for 1500 feet and die before we hit the tree line. Mm-hmm. I had to accelerate instead of braking and drift through this basically 270 degree bank curve, um, on this top of the mountain. And we did, but like, I was probably gonna be dead. Wow. Like if you just took a snapshot when we started sliding. Yeah. Most people would've been dead. Uh, be, but I was a country kid that's been drifting and driving and trying to find the edge of traction my whole life. There you go. And I didn't wanna die that day.

Speaker 2:

Are you also part of the Fast and Furious crew?

Speaker:

No. No. That's too dangerous for me. Like, like

Speaker 2:

Country Fast in Furious. Oh yes. That yeah, for sure. The country Fast and Furious. I think that could be a spinoff. Yeah.

Speaker:

Like kids in my town, you know, they would find an old car in the pasture and get the engine running and go turn it into a, a circle track, race car.

Speaker 3:

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And

Speaker:

stuff. And just dumb stuff. Yeah. Um, but no, I've never gone looking for trouble. They don't look for trouble. Trouble hide though always looks for me. Yeah. Um, so yeah. Whatever. That's one particular story. And we were talking about,'cause Paul told a story about being out in the booties of Egypt and just about dying on my podcast with him recently. Mm-hmm. And his kids were like, I never heard that story before Dad. He is like, yeah, I didn't really want you to know that. Um, and so I didn't tell Jill this story for a while. Yeah. Uhhuh. So if you've ever. You know, if you ever run somebody over and like had to put the body in the side of the road, she can't say that to like go bury it later or something. No, you're running from air. So couldn't even share story, even share that story, even if it was true. It's true. It is true. No, it's not true. But I wouldn't be able to share it. Yeah, i's true. Couldn't be able to share it. Yeah. Wanted get elected.

Speaker 2:

Also, I drove like a geo metro in high school, so it's not like I would murder. I mean, you could rub somebody over, but you could, it would

Speaker:

cause a lot of damage to the car. It would. Yes. Exactly. Not the human, it would get the car. You couldn't get away with it. Yeah. Yeah. It'd just be like them imprinted on the front,

Speaker 2:

like Well, they would be fine. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker:

Well never know. I mean, it's still a car.

Speaker 2:

That's true. That's true. So

Speaker:

nothing like that? No, uh, no hidden bodies. But have you ever been arrested?

Speaker 2:

Uh, no. I've never been. Re I had to think about that, but no, I've never been arrested. Yeah, I know it's kind of boring. No broken

Speaker:

bones.

Speaker 2:

Um,

Speaker:

near death experiences.

Speaker 2:

I've only been, you, you spend six

Speaker:

months in a Marxist camp in China or anything like that. No. No, none.

Speaker 2:

I did, I did. Uh, sorry, I'm not trying to apply your remarks. I just, well, was like, oh my God, though, any story I tell is not gonna be cool because I've never murdered someone been ERs. But, uh, you know, six months in Marcus camp, but

Speaker:

not yet. Not yet. I mean, there's still time. There is still time things are going, you know? Yeah. Oh, did you hear that, uh, that Israel recognized the UK as a. Palestinians State recently. That was kind

Speaker 2:

of them. It's for, for psychology. Sorry. It's terrible. It was, that was Blon being said that. Oh my gosh. Alright, we got, we'll get back on track. Alright, well I don't know if it's the craziest story, but, uh, but it's something we can wrap this thing up. We can, yeah, we can wrap it up. So, um, a friend of mine, when I was in my twenties, we went and worked in, uh, hostel in Turkey for three months. What part of Turkey? In the southern part of Turkey. Okay. In Olympus. It's kind of like a tourist town for Turkish people. Okay. Uh, we ended up leaving after a week for various reasons, but, uh, we ended up not knowing what to do for the. Other nine weeks we were there. Right.

Speaker:

Oh, so you went to sign up for this thing? Yeah. And then you're like, no, we're not doing this. No, I'm not living here.

Speaker 2:

I mean, it was like bunk bed, like two bunk beds and the, it was very moldy and it was just like, so we were sold, like Olympus is like, uh, you can go running. Its gorgeous and climbing, and it's on the beach. It's beautiful. But we had to work like eight to 10 hours a day every day. Right. And we got paid in alcohol and cigarettes and lodging. And so after a week I was like, I've not, I'm outta this deal. I'm not doing this. I'm not doing this. So, but then, you know, we're in our twenties and we're like, well. Yeah, we were supposed to be in Turkey for three months, so whatever we gonna do, like somebody

Speaker:

should surely give us a camel or whatever. Yeah. Something.

Speaker 2:

So we, uh, end up, we went to, we flew over to Croatia.

Speaker:

Oh.

Speaker 2:

And we're like, well, we just landed there. And we're like, I don't know what I'm gonna do.

Speaker:

You, you need a visa or anything? It was just No, you were cool. We just

Speaker 2:

fly over. Yeah. And, uh, so we ended up running a Chevy Spark. Oh,

Speaker:

cool.

Speaker 2:

And we lived in it for 12 days. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's a very luxurious car you've ever seen. I drove actually back from.

Speaker:

My wife got her first COVID. Yeah. Uh, and we drove back from California in a Chevy Spark Park and a Chevy Spark. Lots of leg room. Yeah. Only it's only six Joe Rogan episodes from Palm Desert to Fort Collins. Yeah. Anyway, continue.

Speaker 2:

So we lived in this, uh, Chevy Spark. Thankfully my friend is, uh, shorter than I am, so she took up the backseat and I slept in the, oh goodness. Somebody always had us sleep in the driver's seat because we would park in neighborhoods and that re reclines back all the way. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, we, because this was kind of before Croatia was really touristy and so

Speaker:

Dang,

Speaker 2:

we just didn't really, so

Speaker:

what did you do with selves? We

Speaker 2:

would kind of sleep overnight. But then what we would do is wake up and go find a beach and then go sleep on it. But Croatia has private beaches. Yeah. So inevitably someone would walk down the beach and yell at us, Hey, get outta the fuck outta here, or get outta my private property.

Speaker 5:

Interesting. So

Speaker 2:

then we'd like drive around, find different towns, go swimming, you know. But, uh, one night we were camped kind of in this field and, you know, we

Speaker:

trying to get away from the hustle and bustle and being yelled at all the time. Yes.

Speaker 2:

So we were trying to sleep and there was just like, you know when you're out and you're just like, there's someone here. You know, and you're just like, but we had cloth up on the windows, you know, and things like this. Right? And you don't wanna like look out, right? You're just like, so we're just sitting there and I'm in the driver's seat and my friend crawls up into the passenger seat and we're just like, like you can kind of hear things and who knows if it's your mind, but we're just like, there's someone out there. So you didn't peak, you know, we didn't peak. But what we ended up doing is just you had to turn it on, put it in drive and floor it as fast as you can and then take the window covering off. Well the window covering off.

Speaker:

And what you don't dunno if there's any way there. I dunno. I dunno. You're also in like

Speaker 2:

back country Croatian dirt roads in a Chevy Spark. Two in the morning. Tuck yourself into it though. Yeah, we did. We did. So. Yeah. I never, I'll never know if there was someone there, but now Chevy Sparks have a, a special place in my heart. I really like that story. Yeah. Yeah. It was a great, it was a great adventure. Well,

Speaker:

I hope you enjoyed your time here today. I had a great time. You good luck in November. Thank you. Thanks for having me. And oh, and do you know which one of those you would like to choose?

Speaker 2:

They're also good.

Speaker:

They are. I would choose the biggest one'cause I'm from North Dakota. The valley proposition is,

Speaker 2:

that's amazing. What was your favorite?

Speaker:

Um, probably the popcorn salt. Oh, I really like that. Yeah. Becausecause, you don't really get Parmesan flavor on popcorn very often. That's true. Or like fall. It's such a robust flavor. Yeah. That would stick right in your popcorn and be like I know,

Speaker 2:

but the black garlic was so unique.

Speaker:

Yeah, that too.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Alright.

Speaker:

Yeah. We can talk about it later. That's true. I don't have favorites. You don't have to do it on this episode. That'd be great. Yeah. You don't want, wanna alienate any of the uh,

Speaker 2:

I don't want the other spices to feel bad about themselves. Thanks much. Thank you for having me. Bye for now.

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Curt Bear

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