The Rancho Cordova Podcast

Welcome to the Rancho Cordova Podcast brought to you by the Rancho Cordova Film Office.

While we continue to take a break for the month of December as we put together a great slate of shows for our new season that will launch January 3rd of 2024, this month we are going to replay some of our most listened to and popular episodes.

This week we are delighted to replay the conversation I had with Curt Haven.

Curt was the first employee at the City of Rancho Cordova upon the city’s incorporation back in 2003. For over 20 years, Curt had a great career with the City of Rancho Cordova and was instrumental in building this city in the powerhouse it is today. Today, Curt is affectionally referred to by city leaders as “number one”…meaning the first employee of Rancho Cordova.

Curt and I had a great conversation, I really enjoyed sitting down with him. We hope you enjoy this replay.

Today's podcast was taped 4 weeks ago, and we saved it to launch this week in honor of Veterans dat. 

On this week show we speak to Merryl Tengesdal a retired career military officer who is the first and only Black woman to fly the United Sates Airforce's U-2 spy plane used for specialized high-altitude reconnaissance missions. She is one of five women and only the fourth Black person to be in the U-2 program. She shares the plane's nickname, The Dragon Lady.

Tengesdal is a military veteran, aviator, and commander who served in both the US Navy and the US Air Force. Tengesdal had also served in the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan, and served as Director of Inspections for The Air Force Inspector General from October 2015 through August 2017, retiring at the rank of United States Air Force Colonel.

Col. Tengesdal is a true hero and a formidable and accomplished woman. I really enjoyed our conversation and I think you will also. 

On this week's episode we speak with Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester.

During our conversation, we really got to know Kathy Lester and we discussed all things policing in the City of Sacramento.

One of our missions here at the rancho Cordova film office is to organize and put on the California Capital Documentary Film Festival that this year takes place on Saturday, September 29 and Sunday October 1. The film festival screens over 50 films at three screening locations over the two days. This will be the second year of the festival and this year is shaping up to be a great event.  

The main screening location is at Rancho Cordova City Hall where we turn the City Council Chambers into a movie theatre. We bring in a giant screen and state of the art projection and sound system. The second screen is also at Rancho Cordova City Hall in the American River Room and the third is at the new RC Youth Center where they also have state of the art screening facilities.

Over the past 2-3 weeks we have been talking to film makers whose films we are screening. On this week’s episode I’m delighted to be speaking with Colleen Brown the Director of JOE 238.

JOE238 deals with the sudden death of Sacramento Police Officer Joe Chairez who collapsed while making an arrest, he was rushed to UC Davis Medical Center where tragically he died of a brain aneurism. Joe had always made it clear that if anything happened to him he wanted all his organs donated.

JOE238 looks at who Joe was, his untimely death and his father’s, Jess Chairez quest to keep Joe’s memory alive and to bring light and awareness to organ donation and how important that is.

I thoroughly enjoyed speaking to Coleen about her film and I think you will enjoy hearing this story.

Yvette Collins and the 1984 Lady Lancers racked up a 32-1 record on their way to the Section Championship and is considered the best girls basketball team in Cordova High history.  Today she owns and operates an academy for young children in Ghana, West Africa. 

The most important and long-lasting institution in Rancho Cordova history has been Mather Field which would become Mather Air Force Base and today is Mather Airport.

For 100 years, Mather has drawn people from around the country and the world. But as the old saying goes, people’s memories are good, but short. And that is what makes the contribution of former Mather Wing Commander Col. Robert J. Martinelli so important.

Col. Martinelli’s contributions to Mather have actually spanned more than 30 years. He first came to Mather during the Cold War to train at the beginning of his long Air Forcecareer and years later he returned as its commander to close it down when the peace dividend was paid in 1992.  

Col Martinelli had a distinguished career in the United Sates Air Force.

Bob Martinelli, who began his military career flying combat missions over Vietnam, later served in various command and administrative postings, including an assignment at the Pentagon. In the ’90s, with the Cold War over and Saddam Hussein defeated for the first time, the military began to downsize. During that time Martinelli oversaw a $200 million expansion of one base to accommodate the relocation of troops and equipment. Locally, he later supervised drawdown and eventual closings of both Mather and McClellan Air Force Bases.

Upon his retirement he Bob went to work with Sacramento City College as Vice President and chief financial officer. City College, one of four colleges in the Los Rios Community College District. The Los Rios system provides education, training and career development opportunities for some 80,000 students annually in over 70 career fields.

Today Bob is a member of the board of directors of the California Capital Air Show which is one of the largest and most respected airshow in the united states today.

I thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with Col Martinelli and I hope you do too.

In today's episode, we have a conversation with a pair of directors. We'll be hearing from Iyad H. Amer, the director of "The Long Road to Hope - Ending Parkinson Disease," ," and Chris Casaceli, the director of "Our World in Our Words."

If you’d like to find out more about the documentary film festival please visit our website at www.Calcapdocfest.org where you will find information on all the films we are screening, view the trailers, check out the screening schedule, get information on the screening locations, and look at the various packages we have as far as getting tickets which we have purposefully kept very low and affordable.

So please sit back and be inspired by these weeks interviews with our documentary film makers. I hope you enjoy the show and we hope to see you at the California Capital International Documentary Film Festival

On today's episode we speak with Darcy Brewer, Executive Director at California Capital Airshow. 

Darcy has always had a mission to inspire and educate young people using the power & magic of flight. She set her sights on accomplishing this through highlighting the important role aviation plays in history, showcasing the innovation and opportunity found in aviation, aerospace, and military service careers and by honoring those who serve by sharing their stories and experiences every step of the way.

Darcy also serves as the executive director for the nonprofit California Capital Airshow, on the International Council of Air Shows Board of Directors and is active in a variety of organizations promoting pilot safety, proficiency, and youth STEM education as well as scholarship, internship, and mentor programs.

A long time pilot, flying is her passion and she has a level of enthusiasm about aviation that is contagious. When she is not at an airport (which is rare!), she loves flying the Alaska wild and exploring small airports across the western United States in vintage airplanes.

Today we have a conversation with Congressman Ami Bera, M.D. who has represented Sacramento County in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2013. The 6th Congressional District is located just east and north of California's capitol city, and lies entirely within Sacramento County.

Representative Bera is currently a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where he serves as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, Central Asia, and Nonproliferation. He is also a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Congressman Bera is the longest-serving Indian American serving in Congress.

During Congressman Bera's twenty-year medical career, he worked to improve the availability, quality, and affordability of healthcare. After graduating from medical school in 1991, he did his residency in internal medicine at California Pacific Medical Center, eventually becoming chief resident. He went on to practice medicine in the Sacramento area, serving in various leadership roles for MedClinicMedical Group. Chief among his contributions was improving the clinical efficiency of the practice. He then served as medical director of care management for Mercy Healthcare, where he developed and implemented a comprehensive care management strategy for the seven-hospital system.

Congressman Bera went on to put his medical experience to work for his community, serving Sacramento County as Chief Medical Officer.

He has lived in Sacramento County for over 20 years with his wife Janine, who is also a medical doctor.

I hope you enjoy this episode of the Rancho Cordova Podcast.

In today's episode, we have a conversation with a pair of directors. We'll be hearing from Steven Nye, the director of "Losing Grip," and Ismael Villasenor, the director of "The Happiness Line."

Our show's initial portion will be conducted in English, followed by our inaugural international interview segment, which will be in Spanish.

Over the next 6 weeks or so leading up to the festival, we will be presenting a series of shows every Friday that will feature the documentaries we are showing. We will talk with the filmmakers about their films, and the host for this series of shows will be two of the young guys who work with us here at the film office, Daniel Aniceto and Rafael Portillo, both are avid filmmakers and understand the process of making films.