Futurewise Executive Director Alex Brennan came by the Collaboratory and talked urban growth boundaries, development, and housing.

UpZones podcast

Upisode #53: Alex Brennan

We're back! Washington State Association for Justice Executive Director Liz Berry stops by the new digs to talk about her firsthand experience with gun violence, Washington's inability -- or unwillingness -- to raise tax revenue, and her legendary cousin Glen.

Upisode #52: Liz Berry

Classic upisode! Or, re-run! Longtime advocate and 2017 mayoral finalist Cary Moon swings by the bookstore and raps with Ian about growing up in the Midwest, land planning in Seattle, and the value of our city's connection to the water. She explains the distinction between the successful public park (a city project) and the viaduct (a controversial state project) and discusses what she learned -- and what confirmed that she already knew -- during her run.

Classic Upisode: Cary Moon

Classic upisode! Or, re-run! Real estate expert and Civic Minute founder Sol Villarreal stops by the book store to chat about the housing market, trust in business and politics, and engage in a rigorous debate with Ian about our social expectations for elected officials.

Classic Upisode: Sol Villarreal

It's Cascadia Day! Ian gets together with a gang of the region's top subject matter experts to discuss how we define the region, how we think about the region, and what's next for the millions of people who call Cascadia home. Cascadia Magazine founder Andrew Engelson, Tarika Powell of Sightline Institute, Cascadia Rail co-founder Paige Malott, and iconic Cascadian poet Nadine Maestas take turns schooling Ian and the live audience on their perspectives about Cascadia's future.

LIVE Cascadia Day Upisode

Celebrated Slovenian/American avant-garde artist Milenko Matanovic, also known for his tireless and effective community organizing here in the U.S., came by the bookstore for a philosophical barnburner while the "Puzzle Break" was in full swing next door. He shares his passion for that most democratic of institutions, the public meeting, and breaks down how important it is to a functional relationship with the government (and how easy it is to abuse).

Upisode 50! Season two finale feat. Milenko Matanovic

John Cracolici of Cascadia Rail stops by the bookstore and walks Ian through his journey from Pike Market grocer to transit activist to geostructural engineer. He details the vision for a region-wide high-speed rail system and why it's not as far off or expensive as you might think.

Upisode #49: Jon Cracolici

Political and communications guru Amanda Finney stopped by the bookstore for a chat on running the HRC primary in Louisianna and where that ill-fated 2016 campaign went wrong. She and Ian discuss what they both see as the real divide in America, which is less about left versus right and more about one's identity in place. She urges Seattlites to get into more dinner table arguments with their uncles.

Upisode #48: Amanda Finney

Seattle housing advocates Laura Loe and Ethan Goodman stopped by the bookstore for what started out as an update on pro-housing, anti-homelessness legislation and turning into a sprawling rumination on life changes, self-empowered community development, the uselessness of "supply and demand" as a basic rhetorical device, and even the status of the left/liberal divide as it applies to housing and urban planning policy. Both gave reasons to be optimistic, as well as concerned, about the future of urbanist policy in Seattle.

Upisode #47: Laura Loe & Ethan P Goodman

Decorated Seattle photojournalist Alex Garland stopped by the book store during business hours for a lively conversation about his work documenting moments of change across the city and even beyond Seattle. He recounts how "the Occupy moment" galvanized some of the most effective politics of the current era even if it didn't necessarily achieve concrete objectives; he walks Ian through the closure of the downtown viaduct, weighing in on the dangerous beauty and massive waste involved in such a project; he encourages listeners to see queer artists of color before they are pushed forever out of Seattle

Upisode #46: Alex Garland

Poet, playwright and Seattle Latino Film Festival Founder & CEO Jorge Enrique Gonzalez Pacheco swings by the bookstore and chats with Ian about his early artistic life in Cuba, where he incurred severe government side-eye with his hagiography to the pre-revolution days, and how his poetry stemmed from an inability to related to his widowed father. He talks about his migration to Miami, via Mexico, and the random string of events that led him not only to Seattle but to organizing a major cultural event in the city, now a decade old.

Upisode #45: Jorge Enrique Gonzalez Pacheco

Seattle's Chief Librarian Marcellus Turner stopped by the bookstore -- he got there before any staff did! -- and looked back on his career in library administration, which dates back to the 4th grade in Mississippi. He details the challenges to the Seattle Public Library system in the face of such rapid socioeconomic change, explains why people love libraries so much, and lists the strangest encounters he's ever had with patrons.

Upisode #44: Marcellus Turner

Restauranteur Yenvy Pham brings Ian the best sweetbread ever baked or eaten and between bites, the two talk about the managed uplift of Little Saigon as the city changes around it, and sometimes changes it, too. Yenvy, whose parents founded Pho Bac after coming to Seattle as Vietnam War refugees, describes how nightlife can "activate" the community, making it safer and prosperous, even though fixed community investment can be difficult for refugees and other immigrant communities.

Upisode #43: Yenvy Pham

Ian interviews Gabriel Bello Diaz, founder of Efficio Custom Products and the new Hyena Culture maker space collaborative. They discuss "the east coast grind," their shared Puerto Rican heritage, and the challenge of being technical in two languages. Gabriel shares his thoughts on using tech to make a city better, not just richer, including diffusing policy conflict, standing up maker spaces for actual makers (not just tinkerers), and introducing creative engineering in public schools.

Upisode #42: Gabriel Bello Diaz

Organizer and real estate strategist Bo Zhang talks about how her experience in rural Japan shaped her sense of community -- and how lack of community creates trauma. Bo fills Ian in on her family struggles and how they impacted her decision to enter a technical career; they discuss the difference between "free market" and "capitalism," what Bo thinks was a major political failure on her part, and the Bramble Project, a group focusing on the corners of the real estate industry that intersect with community development and neighborhood-level social structure.

Upisode #41: Boting Zhang

UpZones podcast features stories from the people building a richer, more cosmopolitan new Seattle. Host Ian Martinez, a former journalist and Obama Administration adviser, brings his unique conversational manner to long-form interviews with community leaders in the arts, politics & activism, business, and general civic life.

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UpZones podcast

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