SacTown Talks

SacTown Talks

By Jarhett BlonienSociety & CultureNews
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SacTown Talks episodes

  • STT#119 - Jim Wyatt

    SacTown Talks welcomes Jim Wyatt of the President of the California Entertainment Machine Association. He explains who his association represents, discusses the effect COVID-19 has had on his association members, and the downstream effects of COVID-19 closures, how CEMA has compiled best practices to meet the challenge of operating during and after the Covid-19 pandemic to protect public health, and how CEMA revenues support many local industries such as mechanics, parts suppliers, cleaning product suppliers, retailers and wholesalers, and commissions paid to restaurants, bars and retail establishments as well as funding city, county and state tax coffers.

    20 min
  • #118 - Nick Sanders

    Nick Sanders of the Sutton Law Firm discusses what political law is and how it works, how his work has changed since the shutdown, the question of remote voting in the Assembly and Senate, how the initiative and referendum process works, which initiatives have qualified and which are likely to qualify, and how the process works. He also discusses the past  and future of getting initiatives on the ballot, how signature counting works and voting by mail in California. 

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    53 min
  • #117 - Scott Ostlund

    SacTown Talks has Scott Ostlund, Senior Vice President of Lee & Associates on the pod. Scott talks about the burden being put on commercial real estate by COVID-19, how commercial property works in CA, the split-roll initiative, and who is really harmed by raising taxes. Then he discussed the difficulties of building in CA, how to fix the housing crisis, rent control in CA and the law of unintended consequences.

    51 min
  • #116 Tasha Certa

    SacTown Talks welcome the mayor of Gardena, CA, Tasha Cerda. Mayor Cerda talks about how she started in public service, the effect of COVID-19 on Gardena. She discusses how city government functions during the crisis, the coming revenue shortfalls do to COIVID-19, how deferring sales tax will hurt city governments, being the chairwoman of the California Cities for Self Reliance Joint Powers Authority and dealing with the state on gaming issues, sports betting, SB 1092 and the prospect of opening back up CA. 

    27 min
  • #115 - Sid Lakireddy

    SacTown Talks introduces the new host, Jarhett Blonien. Jarehett interviews Sid Lakireddy, the president of California Rental Housing Association. They discuss what CalRHA does, what the organizations response to COVID-19, their renters assistance proposal, possible solutions to the housing crisis, and other rental housing issues.

     

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    36 min
  • 114 - Jarhett Blonien
    Guest host Russell Lowery interviews lobbyist Jarhett Blonien. Jarhett discusses how he got into lobbying, the CA card room response to Coronavirus, tribal gaming, the looming budget crisis and the opportunity to fill gaps with sports betting, when the legislature is coming back and what it will look like and how he's approaching regulatory work, how he is using social media and digital advocacy.
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    28 min
  • #113 - Senator Bill Dodd
    Senator Bill Dodd returns to SacTown Talks. He discusses the restructuring of PGE and energy policy, what happened to SB50 and housing policy going forward, the potential for and politics around sports gaming, and presidential politics. The conversation was recorded prior to COVID-19.
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    44 min
  • #112 - John Lovell
    John Lovell is a veteran lobbyist with over 35 years working for various law enforcement clients and on animal protection issues. He discusses how differences inside political coalitions can affect results, the monetization of outrage, on bringing fresh eyes to an issue, tribes versus cardrooms in California gaming politics, in between fantastic stories from decades at the Capitol.
    20 min
  • #111 - Senator Holly Mitchell
    Senator Holly Mitchell is a California State Senator representing the 30th District. She joins us to discuss her district, the CROWN Act, meeting Oprah, the challeges faced by women in politics, the California budget procees, SB-144 and SB-555 as part of efforts to "right-size" the criminal justice system, and her campaign for LA County Board of Supervisors.
    31 min
  • #110 - Dr. Jeffrey Sulitzer, Chief Clinical Officer, Smile Direct Club
    Dr. Sulitzer is responsible for the clinical leadership of Smile Direct Club, a direct-to-consumer orthodontic aligner therapy which operates through a tele-dentistry platform. As with many disruptive technologies, the established industry has questioned these innovations. In this episode we talk about the disruption to the industry and the possibility that the California legislature becomes involved in an attempt to provide favorable market conditions for the established industry.
    28 min

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Weekly News Roundups and Conversations with California’s Leaders in Politics and Policy.