SacTown Talks

Kevin Faulconer is the Mayor of San Diego. San Diego is the largest US-City with a republican Mayor. We talk New Way California, the Republican brand under President Trump, CEQA, housing, transportation and more.

John Laird is a candidate for California Senate District 17 (Santa Cruz), the former Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency, and the first openly LGBT man to serve in the State legislature along with his colleague Mark Leno.

Hosts Gibran Maciel🔥 & Scott Lay🔥 break down the top political headlines in California politics and policy.

Interested in becoming a sponsor or coming on the show? Send either of us a message: [email protected], [email protected]

Holly Mitchell is a California State Senator representing the 30th State Senate District in Los Angeles. We talk about her perspectives as a black woman in politics today, encouraging more women to run, her work as the Chair of the Senate Budget Committee, and talk about peace officer use of force standards.

Hosts Gibran Maciel🔥 & Scott Lay🔥 break down the top political headlines in California politics and policy.

Interested in becoming a sponsor or coming on the show? Send either of us a message: [email protected], [email protected]

Mike Madrid is a Republican political consultant and a nationally recognized expert on Latino voting trends. He is also partner at Grassroots Lab, and is currently teaching a seminar course at the University of Southern California titled "Race, Class and Partisanship; America and The Great Transformation.”

Hosts Gibran Maciel🔥 & Scott Lay🔥 break down the top political headlines in California politics and policy.

Brian Maienschein is a member of the California State Assembly, representing the 77th district which encompasses North County San Diego and the City of Poway. Maienschein has developed a reputation as a moderate and centrist member of the State Legislature - a mark of distinction in an increasingly polarized environment.

Known for crossing the aisle and working with both parties, Maienschein has always eschewed the labels of party politics. However, he recently changed his party affiliation from Republican to Democratic due to the increasingly far-right positions of the republican parties, and degradation of the brand due to its association with President Trump. As Maienschein says in our talk, he has two teenage daughters and cannot defend the actions, tone or rhetoric of the President.

Join us for our inaugural episode - we throw the script out and just have a conversation. We cover his party switch, the dynamics of both parties in the State Legislature, talk about the power dynamics in San Diego politics and the folks who were looking to take Maienschein out, review the Governor Gavin Newsom's State of the State address, and talk about Maienschein’s passion for ending homelessness.

Navid Dehghan is the designer, owner and founder of Extra Cheese CA a graphic t-shirt and apparel company. Navid's designs focus on the pop-imagery of the last thirty years. His draws from urban, indie, artistic, and surreal genres to create iconic streetwear.

He is also currently operating a pop-up store at the WAL Public Market where you can you browse ExtraCheese branded clothing as well as vintage items he curated for the store.

Mark Rosso a local grassroots organizer advocating for municipal broadband in Sacramento. The idea is that the city would provide broadband to residents on a not-for-profit basis. Private companies could still offer broadband but would have to actually compete for clients, unlike the current situation where all-too many areas have only one broadband provider.

Rosso is also a staffer in the California State Assembly. He has worked on utilities and parks issues statewide including Proposition 68.

Locally, Mark has worked on securing funds for the Del Rio Trail as well as recently rallying support for the creation of a park at Sutter's Landing.

We talk about municipal broadband and politics generally.