WGBH Radio; The Callie Crossley Show

I'm Kelly Crossley and this is the Calabasas show. The city councilor Felix a Royal Mail followed his father's footsteps to the State House but he's far from standing in his shadow raised by a politician and a public schoolteacher. Public service could easily be his inheritance but he's made it his own. One of the newest and youngest elected officials on Beacon Hill. He's distinguished himself as a leader most recently by way of masterfully negotiating a contract standoff between the mayor and the firefighters union. This hour we talk to the city councilor about his big plans for being down. But first we need a team of young women who are aiming to turn us on to the notion of turning off by way of their book on energy conservation. We top it all off with a look at race and the World Cup. Up next saving energy a city's savior and soccer. From NPR News in Washington I'm Lakshmi saying Defense Secretary Robert Gates plans to meet face to face with the top U.S. military commander in

Afghanistan to explain controversial remarks made about the Obama administration. This after General Stanley McChrystal had already been summoned to the White House about the matter. NPR's Rachel Martin reports the comments are found in a Rolling Stone magazine profile of General McChrystal published this week in the piece McChrystal is described as a lone wolf. Often it odds with many top administration officials including Vice President Joe Biden and the U.S. ambassador in Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry. The interview describes McChrystal as being quote disappointed in his first Oval Office meeting with President Obama. The two disagreed about what strategy to take in Afghanistan. And last fall the president criticized McChrystal for being too open about his desire for more troops. General McChrystal issued a statement from Kabul apologizing for the magazine profile saying quote It was a mistake reflecting poor judgment. That never should have happened. Rachel Martin NPR News Washington. Britain's new government wants to hike taxes while making the deepest cuts to public spending the country seen in decades. The proposed austerity measures are rattling a lot of lawmakers but

finance minister George Osborne told the House of Commons today the blame lies on Britain's previous administration. In this budget everyone will be all set to contribute but in return we make this commitment. Everyone will share in the rewards when we succeed. When we say we're all in this together we mean it. Britain has the second highest budget deficit of any European nation. Several incumbent congressmen are facing runoff primary elections in the U.S. today including a North and South Carolina Scott Graf a member station in Charlotte reports of voters in South Carolina are choosing a Republican candidate for governor. Republican state lawmaker Nikki Haley is considered the favorite in the gubernatorial race to be Congressman Gresham Barrett. Haley nearly won this month's primary outright missing by only one percent. Today's winner will face Democrat Ventura Heen in November in North Carolina Democrats will pick a U.S. Senate candidate to face incumbent Republican Richard Burr this

fall. That runoff pits the current secretary of state against a former lawmaker and Iraq war veteran in North Carolina's eighth district a pair Republicans who waged a bitter campaign square off. One is a Tea Party favorite who's organized machine gun socials the other is a former TV sportscaster who moved to the district just in time to run for office. For NPR News I'm Scott Graf in Charlotte South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford did it again he took time off from work without telling his lieutenant governor the very thing. They got him in hot water last June. That's when Sanford acknowledged he left the U.S. to visit his mistress in Argentina. But Sanford's spokesman says the governor spent most of the Fathers Day weekend with his four sons. This is NPR News. Good afternoon I'm Kelly Crossley and this is the Calla Crossley Show with the BP oil him Ridge energy conservation seems more urgent than ever. And joining us today is a group of three young women who are doing their part to get us to kick some energy wasting Abbotts. They are

members of sprouts for hope. A Cambridge base youth focused organization that gets involved with environmental issues. And tonight at the Cambridge Public Library they are launching their ONE OF A KIND book dedicated to energy conservation. Joining me today are Maya lucky Lilly Sandberg and Mark and the group's mentor. Melissa Ludtke is also with us. Welcome to you all. Thank you Kelly. Thanks for having us. Well I first have to say congratulations to you sprouts because do you know any writers in this town are trying to get a book deal. It's about a billion of them. So there you have it. This is really great. It's pretty exciting. Melissa I want to start and let us know what sprouts for hope is all about. Well sprouts of hope is the name they came up for themselves in our living room my in my living room in January of 2007 happened to be on Martin Luther King Day and they came together because they were interested in joining roots and shoots which is a sort of community activism group for young people the Jane Goodall Dr. Jane Goodall founded back in the early 90s actually in Tanzania and has spread throughout the world. So they arrive

there as friends and they departed as sprouts of hope. And they departed with a T-shirt idea but also perhaps more importantly they departed with the motto and their motto was have a dream make a difference. And for three years that's essentially what they've been doing through a lot of projects that I hope they can tell you about including this one called energy light which is as you say being launched as a book tonight. Yes. OK Maya Tell me about how this came to be. You had an exhibit at the Cambridge Science Festival. We didn't experiment at that Cambridge Science Festival. That let families see how much energy they were using in their homes. And we used meters at this experiment we used a toaster oven light bulbs and. Your hair dryer as an example and I think this way let us see how many families didn't know about all the energy they could be saving in their homes. Were there a lot of people who were surprised.

Yes there is definitely a lot of people and I think a lot of families realize how much energy was freezing and they told us that they were never going to try to hire again. Well OK how much energy does a hair dryer use I thought it was you know pretty light usage. I'm pretty sure I heard guys use about twelve hundred twelve twelve hundred you know Watts is what this shows up on the meter. But what you see is that meter climbing we're bracing to climb and it's really quite a vivid display to people about how much it uses. OK so the kilowatt exhibit at the time came for Science Festival went from that exhibit to then a book idea tell me how that came to be. When we first started our main focus was for younger kids and their families to be able to use it. We wanted to like even though we wanted kids of all ages we thought that younger kids would be like really hyper and like and I Jack and stuff like that. So we started.

Writing in a form that younger kids would be able to experience through it like they'd be able to test the different projects and I mean different appliances with a kilowatt meter and become more aware of what certain appliances were using like their TV for example. Now when you say younger kids how old are you. I'm 14. For younger kids I think we were focusing mainly on like fourth graders and younger. OK. All right. And have you seen that if a fourth grader or somebody younger is really knows about this that they can tell the whole family. It's pretty easy to learn and see how much energy things are using. And once they see it they're like wow that's such a big number. And they just like run to their families. I know my sister when she tried it out she was really surprised. And she went to tell my parents and they were just like wow that's a lot of energy you

are using. OK. I think Cali The important thing is that I don't think any second grader for example is going to use the kill a watt meter by themselves. The book is really designed to be an experience that families share so that parents are doing this with their kids. It's not meant to be something where you send Johnny or Jane into the other room and say hey go plug this in and tell me what you find. It's really meant to be a thing that brings families together. You know in a discussion about how they use energy so it's really written with that in mind not as something just that a kid would take into their own bedroom and and look at OK we were speaking with Melissa Leckie who is a mentor for the group sprouts for hope and they are part of the Roots and Shoots organization which by the way I should let people know that was founded again you know to remind people by Jane Goodall who's a British anthropologist and she's probably best known for her work with gorillas and she's worked with them for 45 years and then she evolved from doing that work into a conservationist and then started working with young people and all of that. And she

started Roots and Shoots in 1991 and actually Cali it was chimpanzees not gorillas actually already got to die and fought as exactly right work with the gorillas which is exactly what I did with the chimpanzees which is the for she'd be the first to let you know that there's a difference. Oh yes. Everything you know that you like. Exactly. OK little fellow like why don't you help me understand how what the process was in writing a book. Kai has said you guys just started writing. I imagine you do a lot of writing at your age for school work but this is a different kind of writing. Right well we started out with brainstorming of course and then we each we assigned first drafts to do so we each took home pages that we could work on them we we had to decide on simple things like whether we wanted to use photos or drawings what size and shape we wanted the pages to be and then it was basically just minor fine tuning at the end and of course we had our photo shoot. Your laughing was it was a hard shoot. It was it was very

fun definitely. We did some crazy things we had to use the hair dryer and some by hey you know got stuck in the hair dryer we had to sit on the counter to get as close to the toaster oven as we learned a lot. But it was you know this book. Oh yeah. And was the Cambridge Public Library aware of your book right away or did you were you able to tell them about it. What happened. Well they weren't aware of it from the very beginning but Melissa to get in touch with them and we had a meeting. I'd say two months ago with them and we discussed you know how everything was going to work out and here we are where about to go to launch the book at the library would say OK there are ten thousand Roots and Shoots groups in a hundred countries. As if that's some of the information I have. Now why Roots and Shoots I found this great quote from Jane Goodall which I want to share with the listeners. Roots creep underground everywhere and make a firm foundation shoots seem very weak but to reach the light they can break open brick walls. Imagine that the brick walls are all the problems we

have inflicted on our planet. Hundreds of thousands of Roots and Shoots hundreds of thousands of young people around the world can break through these walls. We can change the world. That's from Jane Jane Goodall So I think that's a pretty strong statement. And these girls as being part of that international roots and shoots opportunity. Just recently we're able to spend literally four days in the company of Dr. Goodall and heard her say those things to many audiences and the response is always the same that people really are energized by hearing about the possibilities that youth is presenting to us through their eagerness to be involved to be engaged to show people you know that their enthusiasm for trying to bring change in a world where change can often seem difficult to find is just quite infectious. So as you say there are 10000 of these or groups around the country and it's a wonderful opportunity for kids to become engaged in their community and then become involved in this larger opportunity through the Roots and Shoots organization which is really global in nature and connects throughout the

world. Kaya did you. I guess all your life were you this aware of just being Earth friendly if you will be and conservation was a commitment that you've had since you were little because you're writing the book for younger kids. Well when I was younger I really did not know much about being green and stuff like that. But when my started the group and they came to me they were like Do you want to join this group. At first I was like Charlotte more time to hang out with friends. But as the years go on I've realized that all these new things I've learned about being greener and helping the earth and I've changed a lot over the years. If I hadn't been with Roots and Shoots I probably would have been one of those people still using all these plastic water bottles composting. Well my family compost but I would have not been like so aware of how much energy Thanks for using it like that. Yeah I wanted to point out that you know in addition to your book and the focus on this particular interview like experiment and

focus you guys have involved school and composting and using reusable lunch boxes is that right Maya. Yeah we did a huge project about wasteful lunches which is days where kids try not to bring any waste in their lunch boxes so that we could try to reduce the amount of trash in our lunch room. OK. And and then Lily won't you tell about what we've done with composting because it was you and your sister who started a petition at the school and then we took it to the school committee and tell them from there how the composting in your school started. Well composting has been a very long process for us we started out because we wanted our cafeterias to be more eco friendly we wanted biodegradable trees and we went to the school committee and they said well if you want biodegradable trays you need a way to compost them. So we started composting at our school king open and we're planning on launching it into the other schools next year. Oh wow. Yeah. OK so how many schools would there be for it potentially. We're hoping to get into all the Cambridge Public Schools I think next year we're going to put it

into two of the schools. Actually the Department of Public Works has now set up a program where they can they can work with four schools each year and I think in the transformation. So if we add it up there are about 12 or 13 schools in Cambridge so within three years they should all be doing composting and by that time hopefully what started this whole campaign which was to try to get rid of these styrofoam trays. That are terrible to use in our health. Blossom into something else and hopefully will eventually have biodegradable trays that can go right in the composting stream. And last fall maybe Kyra Mike can tell you about this we went out and visited the compost farm where the compost from their school goes to so they've now seen the whole cycle of how this happens. And they actually were able to hold the incredibly rich nutrient dirt. You know that's made from it so it was pretty exciting day. Well wow I'm just. Kyra told me that she's changed to I'm guessing that Lily and my year changed forever now right.

Yes definitely. I mean before I started with and shoots I didn't even know a global warming it. Well I didn't know anything about trying to be green and now that I am Pires and shoots I know so much about helping the environment and I know that I definitely won't go back to doing the things that I used to do for the Jutes. OK Lily can you convince everybody else outside of this circle of sprouts. Well I mean definitely. Before I started was in truth I didn't didn't really know about using energy I thought that helping the environment was just you know litter and things like that and now I know that it's there's an original and there's chemicals there's all these different things that we should be learning about. Well congratulations to you while we've been speaking with sprouts of hope members Miah lucky Lily Sandberg and Mark and the group's mentor Melissa Ludtke. Thank you all for joining us. Their book project is titled Energy light that's l i t e. You can hit their launch party tonight at the Cambridge Public Library from 6:30 to 7:30.

Coming up city councilor at large Felix Arroyo. Stay tuned to eighty nine point seven. WGBH. Support for WGBH comes from you. And from Brookline bank announcing the grand opening of two new Brookline bank branches in Wellesley Lower Falls and at the crossroads Plaza in Burlington grand opening celebrations in June. Brookline bank blog dot com. And from Comcast. Last year donating 11 million dollars to local charities and TV and Internet services valued at three point eight million annually to schools and libraries in eastern Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Moore at comcast dot com. And from the Peabody Essex Museum presenting firey pool Maya and the mythic sea. Never before seen Discovery's powerful art and a new understanding of one of the world's great ancient civilizations. P E M dot org.

The new eighty nine point seven WGBH has more. More surprise it's well today an Israeli Arab restaurant owner mashed up four tons of hummus a new world record. Imagination. That's the song to make you closer. But. There's a. More driveway moment this week. Charlie left for college and my husband was wrong it was just yesterday that he got on the bus. First listener support means more great radio as a WGBH supporter. 8. 8 8 8 8 9 7 9 4 2 4 that's the number to call or you can also do it securely online at WGBH or good afternoon. I'm Amanda Goodwin very privileged to be in the studio with Kelly Crossley in Cali. That last segment was what I love most about your show. I know that you pride yourself on giving

time to people who you're not hearing from anywhere else. And I would venture a guess that nowhere on Boston radio was sprouts of hope except on your show on eighty nine point seven. And what I like best is that it's not just it's not just a segment about the group's existence but how they're making the community a better place. I mean it was middle school kids putting out a book for elementary school kids. It's wonderful and this is the kind of connection that we talk about when we talk about the public radio connection. It's bringing in people from the community into our studios to share their stories and that's what you do here each and every day. We try to take a different twist on it I was interested in this group because as you heard them say all of them as young as they are I thought all the kids their age knew everything about conservation. I thought it was my generation that would just come into the party. So it's interesting to see that you know the greening of America is happens slowly. And then I was a little disappointed to hear about the hairdryer so now I have to figure out how many get volume into my short little do here but I'll figure something out. You

can support great radio like this with a quick call to 8 8 8 8 9 7 9 4 2 4. Are online at WGBH dot org you know Cally read a quote in that last segment from Dr Jane Goodall and that talked about a firm foundation. That's what we're trying to create here this afternoon. Help be a part of a firm foundation for more radio that's just like this. It's funny it's timely and it's for everyone. We don't send you a bill. We don't have the bulk of our services covered by advertisers. It's each individual listener doing their part and giving what they can. And when anyone gets involved today they'll be registered to an Apple II pad which I only wish I had. Unfortunately I'm not qualified to win but you are all you have to do is make a call 8 8 8 8 9 7 9 4 2 4 or online at WGBH dot org and when you get involved when you get involved this afternoon with a gift of just. $5 a month. We can say Thank thank you with a gift that's really local It's a copy of the dream lives on a portrait of the Kennedy brothers. I don't know if you caught any of this Kelly but was on Channel 5 over Memorial Day. Yeah it was a

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I'm callin Crossley and this is the Calla Crossley Show fresh from the victory of negotiating a contract standoff between the mayor and the firefighters union. My guest city councilor at large Felix Arroyo is using his momentum to take on the money lending BMA Bank of America. He joins us today to talk about the Community Reinvestment agreement legislation that he's drafting with councilor at large Stephen Murphy. Felix royal welcome back. Thanks for having me. I have I'd be remiss if I didn't mention this rather full portrait profile of you in the globe today. Yeah. You've been very busy. We have been. We were elected to sit on our hands you know. Well you're not doing it I'll tell you. Listen this bank issue is one that we have explored on this show quite a bit. And we talked about individuals banding together there's a movement of people moving their money out of big banks to local small banks because they're feeling well not well-served by large banks and also a lot of

anger about banks that took the trouble asset relief money. And so people want their money to be at home. This is sort of individuals writ large. What you're proposing here explain it. The idea is that the city of Boston budget is two point 2.4 billion dollars. I don't want the listeners to get confused I'm not saying at any one time we have to pore fambly dollars in a bank at any one time we definitely have hundreds of millions of dollars in the banks. And so we've decided and what we want to try to make happen is that you just don't get to have the city of Boston has money if you're not investing it as a bank within the city of Boston and so by investment we mean we want to look at what you're doing for homeownership opportunities in a city boss we want to look at what you're doing to refight finance people so they can take advantage of the lower interest rates. We want to look at what you're doing around foreclosure prevention. In this occasion that you do foreclose on a property do you operate on a just cause of action for the tenants that are living there willing to pay their rent. Are you lending to large developments in the city of Boston

so that the people who are tracing it back to work. And then how you take care of our small business men and women. And so that they can get make you know continue to make business and as as most know reality is the biggest industry anywhere is always small business they're the ones who hire the most people in this country. And so the idea is that what are the. We want our money to go to banks that can say yes within the city of Boston we're doing these things at a at a high rate and here's the proof. I suspect that most people suspect that when you do it that way it will be local banks and credit unions that are doing the most within the boundaries of the city of Boston. Now let's talk about why that is important is I don't think a lot of people understand that so often the bank is you know holding up I guess is the only expression I can come up with. They're right in the middle with that sort of in mortgage negotiations that people who are really trying to keep their homes maybe have fallen a little bit. But they can make it they can make the payments but they are having difficulty getting a negotiation with the

bank. And if those banks are far away and distant from them and it's a different kind of scenario than if you could walk in and talk to your banker you know there's an organization in a city Boston called city life you know which helps people who are at risk of being foreclosed upon. Very often they begin the process of trying to negotiate deals to actually purchase the property at its real value. Today's real value. Sadly the banks don't enter into that conversation with them these large banks Bank of America are included. And what I believe the reason to be is that these properties are actually more valuable to the bank today as an asset than actually being sold today. So not only is that terrible to my family that loses their property who is actually willing to buy it back but it's terrible for the neighborhood that now has an empty building in their community. And it's frankly just hypocritical for these large banks because they were more than happy to take a bailout from the government when they were experience and hard times. And you know now the you know

regular Joe and Jane as the as the saying goes we're going through a moment and we're looking at these banks that help us out I could give you a story share story when we did our hearing of a business owner. His name is Michelle Soltani. He owns the mission which is a restaurant in Mission Hill mi also as a bride to be and which is in a high square section of Jamaica Plain. He has a personal credit score of 800. That's great. That's that's an amazing credit score you should not be able to walk into a bank without them forcing a loan on you at that at that rate. He said at the hearing he couldn't get a $15000 loan to redo his air conditioning unit at his restaurant because because the banks are holding the money OK. That's absolutely no reason a person would a hundred credit score. And these are not new restaurants by the way for folks who are listening. This isn't a start up. This guy's been around for many many years. So he's got a history. Oh great history. He's been around for many many years and yet he couldn't get the loan and he expressly said he was dumbfounded. You know when he walked in he was thinking sure this is just a regular hour in his business day and he'll be out to get

the laundry do the air conditioning unit in his restaurant. He couldn't get it he had to go through unconventional ways through city season and DCs to get the money. And so when you hear stories like that you realize this isn't just our economic collapse in this country is not just lack of capital. It's really a crisis of credit it's the banks are actually holding the capital they have. And as long as they do that we won't be able to bounce back. Now obviously the banks must be aware of your efforts in moving this legislation forward and how are they responding there must be a little bit freaked out about it because that's a lot of money to remove from their coffers. Yeah. I would. I don't expect a lot of the bankers the kind of my birthday party you know. So yeah. What about you and I'm not going to hold a big party at a bank you know. Yeah you know but it's it's fine. I've learned in my five months on the city council that there's really no position you could

take where somebody is not unhappy with it. I'm comfortable with that reality. You had me on when we did the Arizona resolution the banking is very similar you know. But I actually believe on this one that the majority of the residents of Boston would agree why wouldn't they want our money to go to banks that are supporting small business owners that are supporting homeowners that are allowing people who are in threat of being foreclosed upon to have an opportunity to to correct that situation why wouldn't we want that that's that that just comes with the American spirit. You know it's a story of you know it's a history buff myself during the Great Depression when the banks were trying to take the homes of the whole community would come and stand outside of the homes during the Great Depression and basically tell the bankers and tell the sheriff's office you wait. You're definitely not kicking this person out of the home. You know I come from my house either. Whole communities would do that sort of like just in a moment without even being organized. And at some level we have to recognize we're in that moment now and we're not asking these banks for a handout we're asking them to

sit at the table renegotiate and really look at these people as human beings who are willing to pay. Now this is just another sense of to do that this is just Vegas and. I would have to say hundreds of millions of dollars in centers but I also don't want the listeners to get confused. We're not at the point now where I can tell you we're claiming victory here. You know we have the passes through the council. We have to work with the administration to put this in place. But I would say that the feeling and the sentiment I get from my colleagues is not one of confrontation over this one but one of cooperation where they see this they understand it because we go the neighborhoods and their streets foreclosed streets that are empty and going and you go why is this big doing this to people who are willing Cali I went to someone's home who had to rent check in her hand and I had to help her pack up because she was going to foreclose the park and she had to rent check and a hand she was saying I'm willing to pay the rent. And this is someone who's never Miss Wright right. We have three deckers in Boston you know Abbas You know it's like so if you owned a three decker and you get foreclosed upon it's very possible you don't even live there. It's very possible that those are three different families who are paying you rent on time have no idea that you're not paying you know.

And so very often these people say well OK I lost this landlord may Bank of America where do I send the check that I've been sending every month and the bank says keep your check I want you on the streets that's not that's not that's not the American way you know. Well you know I have to say that I we've had some banking experts in to talk about this and I say to them why does the bank want to own a house. So that's where I really maybe I'm just you know I know you studied finance so maybe you can explain. I don't get that. Why does a bank want to own a house. There's a possibility to you know get some money from it from the people who are in. I forget that you know that I study for finals I don't talk an awful lot about that most people fall asleep. But what what the reason I believe is that the property is more valuable as an asset we are now at for the housing market where it's sort of in a dip down it's the way we work it cycles up cycles down we're in a cycle down and so the bank believes that they don't want to be in the business of property managing. So that's why they're going to be victims families and young children and not worry about it because that's not the business they

want and they also don't want to be in the business of owning a home. But today the theory is OK in 2010 maybe you can get 400000 for that house but if you hold out till about 2012 2013 maybe you can get 750 is it worth the wait. These bankers don't say yes but the problem this is an indefinite hold as long as they're holding it's actually not going to come up and so it's an interesting dichotomy that we're in I don't don't necessarily understand now but I'm not a banker and I wouldn't be a good banker if I were my favorite characters Robinhood I know I would be a good banker. Yeah you're not the one that's about the life for me. OK I want you to respond to this. This comment by T.J. Crawford who is a Bank of America spokesperson. He says one point ninety six billion dollars that his company invested in Boston's under-served communities in 2009 as well as 12 million dollars in contributions made to Massachusetts charities. Now that's a lot of money so there's not a lot of very much we're doing our part so what's what's the problem.

Well then they shouldn't have a problem with this legislation because they'll be able to prove that they're doing it and they'll continue get the money. And if they have a problem with this legislation. Look I'm not saying the legislation doesn't say your bank is too big to get this money. It doesn't say that at all it simply says we have these these points we're going to great you want we want you to come in and be graded if you have a problem being graded. That says more about. If you're practices then it does about ours because the legislation does not say a bank can only be so large and so Bank of America would have every right to come in and continue to. To apply for these funds they simply have to prove that they're worrying about homeowners that they're doing homeownership opportunities in the city of Boston. They're refinancing people so they can take advantage of the lower credit scores. They're doing focus on prevention work that they operate in a just cause of action when they do foreclose on a house that they fund large development projects that put many men and women to work in the city of Boston. And I think they lend to all small businesses here in the city of Boston which if you go to any neighboring city of Boston we have a really good mix of small businesses and small business owners and so the idea is if you do all these things then you know then

the shoe doesn't fit so don't worry about it but if the shoe fits then worry about it so that's my response. I'm not going to take away the money they put into the city of Boston or the charities that they give to. I think that's great. And my suspicions are if if everything is there is on the up and up they would likely pass this test. If they don't pass this test it's not my fault or anyone else's fault. But there's some new rules that would be happening as if we were going to move this legislation through yeah. OK. Now that information I just quoted came from a piece from the Phoenix was written by Chris for own. And one of the things that I think just jumps out that people need to emphasize and you mentioned a little bit earlier is that this is really about these small business jobs. Forty five hundred small business jobs. Could be created if you really manipulate these funds in a way that that force the money back into small businesses. That's really important you know supporting business is not as bad thing as long as we put the word small in front of it in my view and that is because large business big business they have all the lobbyist they need they're always going to be taken

care of but are small business owners regular Joe and Jane. They're the ones who actually hire from the community that when we take care of them we're taking care of somebody who very likely lives in that community and they hire and so we're really saying if you really look at this this plan not only does it promote good banking practices but it also creates jobs simply by moving the money. You know and that that to me was like going to get anybody's attention in these days and times. We need jobs and I think everyone understands we need jobs if a bank supports a small business person so now they can afford to hire another cashier. There's a job at the bank supports using family. So when a family's basement is now it's an empty hole. That's right. It's because the bank that was going to finance that pulled away from the deal. The owner of the properties credits couldn't change. What happened was they froze their assets they moved away. Not only do we have that blight in the middle of downtown Boston but that was hundreds of people who were going to work there to build that project and another hundreds of people who are going to work in the finished building. That's all gone now. And so not to mention those of us who are

customers who would go there. Well you know. It was hurting. It's funny you would say that. It's also not only having that moment but it's hurting the rest of downtown Exactly. People who used to go to downtown to shop now see a whole different downtown a different reality what used to be there before. And so it's actually not just hurting that site but I would tell you that the Macy's that the marshals are the T.J. Maxx at the Wendy's that the Payless shoes at the T-Mobile all of them are hurting because the anchor used to be that building they thought OK would live a little bit without it now they've got to live a long time without it and that could really hurt all those people who work in those places. I have to say you know just using myself I mean I'm just one person but I haven't been down there since that happened so that's an example of you're not the only one. Yeah you know I don't know how the numbers have dropped dramatically. And we we have some people in there now listen you have been as I said at the beginning quite busy since you get on the city council and I was interested in this profile in the globe because they made the point that you're kind of an organizer and your dad who was on the can the first Latino on the city council was an

activist but listening to you I got to say you sound a little activist to me the difference isn't style operation for instance the idea of the legislation. Well my modus operandi is if we have an idea we have to bring in the different stakeholders from the beginning not the end. And so the banking piece we're talking about groups like my city life Greater Boston Labor Council the Carpenters Union. Small business owners like Michelle Soltani are all in that table in the beginning drafting the language so I won't move anything that doesn't have the support for instance the youth work that I'm doing. We just did a youth conference where we had about 175 teenagers which is why I appreciated the segment before we got on because who's really listening to the young people you know and I would want to focus on youth development and youth leadership opportunities and really focus on young people a city Boston. But I can't say that I'm doing that to you. If your next question is Well how many young people have I talked to. And I tell you not right. And so that's what the organizer in me does is like brings those folks in the room and really moves forward it's how we got the five this thing set up because I really believe that good

things happen when you put them all in a room and actually start to listen and so there is activist in me and you know what it is so people understand that difference that it was actually done by my father himself that's how he described the difference an article he said it was for me and my son is I was more of an activist he's more of an organizer. Yes I thought it was interesting. You know that that comparison not that one is better than the other is just a different way of thinking. Now when I look at the Arizona the anti discrimination legislation that you and Michael Ross pushed for through the city council and I look at this and I know your financial finance background I mean you really a bottom line guy in a different kind of way. You're saying if we're going to use our resources in a way that can really make social policy in the city that's what we should do. For instance I I certainly I can't even tell you the last time I shopped at a Wal-Mart and it's because I made the decision that or Sam's Club I made a decision that the company doesn't do right by

its workers and therefore doesn't do brights by thousands and thousands of Americans. And so I'm not going to support them. I do have a go to Costco because Costco pays their workers better and provide some health insurance it's a decision I make with my personal money me and my wife make together. And so I'm saying if I hold these values and I think most people will say first it's Cali if you're at a coffee shop and they treated you badly. Oh no I'm the big boy Cotterell boy can't you know seconds you know probably you probably won't. Go back you know I was probably the majority of the people and I was not my friends. Exactly you let them know they don't know how to treat people in that coffee that's right. We do it every day with our money personally so the idea is it's exactly how we should run any other organization that deals with money and that is your money and how you use it is a statement of your values and our values in the city of Boston and we don't believe in racial profiling we prove that with the legislation we did on our own values I hope will make a huge statement saying our values in the city of Boston as we believe in the little guy we believe in small business and we believe in job creation so therefore we're going to

move this legislation forward. That's how this works and I could say this Bank of America is not in the business of commenting on the work that the city council does I know that so the minute we get their comments we know we're doing something right so proud of it. Well you know what you're not standing alone because there is the Arizona legislation there are other cities that have implemented this and it seems to have worked for them. Cleveland implemented it not only that has a whole department that oversees it to make sure it's working well. You know it's funny you don't hear a lot of people use Cleveland as a model but on this one they actually are model Los Angeles is in the process of moving this right now. They're well beyond we are when I say in a process they've already voted to say this is what they want and now they're in the process of figuring out how it's going to look like. And so those are two examples of major cities that have done that. It's reality is not normal son you know. But OK listen to good ideas implement them you're halfway there. Got to leave it there but it's all very exciting and we'll have you back at some point I've been talking with city councilor at large Felix Arroyo. Thank you so much for joining us. Up next

a racial lens on the World Cup. Stay with us. Support for WGBH comes from you and from common Boston an Architecture and Design Festival June 17th to twenty seventh a theater district tour. Bike Tour of the tees new Indigo line and environmental justice talk. And over 40 other events common Boston Org and from American student assistance. All student loan borrowers deserve someone on their side. A essay provides neutral honest support that empowers borrowers and their families to successfully manage education debt. A s a dot org. And from a new window Natick featuring Hunter Douglas window treatments including silhouette luminescent and pirouetted. In new window staff can help you select the right Hunter Douglas products and will measure and install them in you window. Dot com. If you like what you're hearing on eighty nine point seven then make sure to keep listening throughout the day

with live local news from the Emily Rooney and Kelly Crossley shows stories from across the nation and around the globe with all things considered and the world. And one of a kind music and radio theater with jazz and A Prairie Home Companion. Eighty nine point seven has it all. If the new eighty nine point seven has you listening more often than please do your part right now. When 100 percent of your contribution is going right back into the programs you depend on call 8 8 8 8 9 7 9 4 2 4 4 you can give securely online at WGBH dot org 8 8 8 8 9 7 9 4 2 4 we are the ones that keep public radio going strong. Actually you are the one that keeps public radio going strong. If you can get invested right now with a gift in any amount it would be greatly appreciated Good afternoon I'm Amanda Goodwin in studio with Kelly Crossley and Kelly that last segment is another example of what I love what you do on this program you take a national issue like the economy everybody's facing it in

different ways and you make it so local with talking to someone who's literally hitting the streets and tackling this issue. Absolutely and this is actually a continuation of a conversation we've been having about. Individuals moving their money from big banks to small banks because of the reasons that a city councilor Felix Arroyo raised and so is fascinating now to see the city thinking about implementing this on a city wide scale which would mean quite a big difference and it would be a huge leverage for the city and its headline or News in the city. I mean this is one of those things that would affect everybody in Boston in the Boston area. And you're and you're giving it you know 20 minutes of real discussion here of back and forth about about what he's seeing on the streets I mean when he talked about complete streets of foreclosure My heart just kind of sank. Yeah. Because to have it be out there and be so vocal about what the status is in some of them fairly or basement downtown closed up that whole you know I mean that's really something where if you've grown up here you've

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anniversary of King and Taylor's first shared performance at this historic venue. Santa Monica Bill. You. Still. Support the legacy of public radio and secure a piece of music history at the same time. 8 8 8 8 9 7 9 4 2 4 give online at WGBH dot org. I'm Kelly Crossley and this is the Kelly Crossley Show we're talking about the World Cup with my guest Steven stark along with his son Harrison Stark he has written World Cup 2010 The Indispensable Guide to soccer and geopolitics. Stephen stark welcome great to be here.

Glad to be here between games. That's great. Oh good. Well my focus really is because I'm not really interested in the games I'm interested in. So many of the other issues that the games you know realize or highlight and one of them of course has to be race absent the tournament for the first time is set in an African country so you we have an opportunity to do that but what I think a lot of people don't know is that some of these teams and some of the players of color when they have played in other parts of the world have been beset with all kinds of racial taunting and incidents and you mentioned some of that in your book. And I wonder if I'm going to just read it just a bit of it so the shore speak to it absolutely. You say though fewer Americans are exposed to it racism sadly permeates world soccer. The black players on England's national teams have faced abuse in Croatia and Spain as fans and Roma have been known to greet black players with monkey chants whenever they touch the ball. This past year Inter Milan Mario Balotelli tellee born in Sicily to Gani and parents has been greeted by opposing fans

chanting a Negro cannot be an Italian in Russia. Fans have turned on their own black players shouting at them. Russia for Russians and throwing bananas on the field. It's a terrible problem in European soccer and European soccer authorities have not done enough to address it. What you see in a lot of these countries is that the supporters of clubs are also often tied to right wing hate groups particularly the cheaper seats obviously. And you have these sorts of incidents with club soccer in those countries that you mention. It's interesting we speculated that country the teams that came from those countries even though the players on the team might not share those racist views that they might have more trouble acclimating to play in Africa. And in fact if you look at the performance so far of Spain of Serbia of Slovakia those teams have done worse than expected. It's very interesting and gone as one victory was over Serbia so well I have to say

that a friend of mine who does follow soccer was thrilled when Spain got beat up by Switzerland because of the chanting that he knew had gone on toward some of the team members so absolutely that raised it. Now this despite the fact that the World Cup has this veneer of kind of Olympics if you will WE ARE THE WORLD. Combat Yeah. Everybody's holding hands together. And yet there is this stuff going on underneath. Well there's a contradiction on the one hand it is the war. It is an event that unites the world more people watch this cup together than any other event that exists. It's estimated almost half of half the world's population will watch the final. On the other hand what the World Cup does is to generate intense feelings of nationalism in the host not so much in the host country this time I don't think you see that in South Africa. But you see in a lot of particularly the European countries and often what we find unfortunately is that these feelings of nationalism crossed over into the A.F. ethnicity racism and things like that.

I was interested in the High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay used the World Cup as an wants to use the World Cup as an opportunity she says to both take a fresh look at the issue of racism in sport and to enhance sports tremendous potential to undermine racism xenophobia and similar forms of intolerance and wider society so this is known at at higher levels. Oh absolutely. But it's very Either they have been unwilling or they don't want to take the financial risk in these countries of going after I mean you dissension they have to ban these countries for the behavior of their supporters their fans in games and a lot of people have favored that. But without doing that I don't think you're going to be able to put you know put it to rest very much. Well it probably wasn't hurt wasn't helped rather but I anticipated going to South Africa and you you mention that in your book that leading up to the to the games there were people writing things that I have

to say. You know come close to stirring the pot right. I've referred to this piece that you mention in your book written by Louise Taylor of the UK Guardian right. She filed a piece called Why going to South Africa for the World Cup terrifies me. Right. You know you had a lot of this particular in the English press not in the American press essential as you say stirring the pot. And that's one reason why the hurricanes are the largest contingent outside of South Africans in attendance is it fans of the cup. You know I've been disappointed I have to say You mention the Olympics. What other networks have done in the past with these world wide sporting events is to use the event to introduce people to the culture of the country you saw this one in China before and when it was held in Sydney for example I don't think ESPN has done a very good job of kind of introducing us to an alternative view in a more realistic view of Africa. For all we know these games could be taking place in a television studio anywhere because what other than the horns blowing what you have is going to bring up what you people

complain about bitterly. There is no sense that this event is being held in Africa at least to me and I find that very disappointing. I thought that was an interesting point because the South African said hey this is our culture deal with it. And you know everyone is aware of the make too much noise we don't like it blah blah blah I thought that was an important statement to make from the host country. They knew this was coming they held the Confederations Cup last year the horns were just as loud if not louder. That's part of going to a sporting event in South Africa. Maybe not in other parts of Africa but they are. But again we're not getting much of a sense I think even of South Africa where certainly I mean we get a view of Mandela occasionally or Zuma but other than that again I've been disappointed now part of that I think is because the African teams haven't done particularly well so far but anyway I'm counting on my boyfriend Samuel Eto'o from Durham or unfortunate your boyfriends going home after the next game and I want to hear them listening let me know.

I don't deal with reality but here's one ugly reality that I wasn't aware of until raised by you and that on the US team not one Hispanic player and yet this is so popular in communities of color in the US and Hispanics and in this country. Yeah at the time we wrote that there wasn't there actually has been one or two at it since but yeah it's a real problem with American soccer if you look at most teams even in Western Europe. They're very diverse. They have people of all classes of all races trying to win. Yeah the German team has a Turkish per person it's got a Tunisian immigrant. If you look at our team it is overwhelmingly white and middle class very few Hispanics very few people of color and that's one reason to be perfectly honest why the team isn't as good as it could be. American soccer has done a very poor job of reaching into these communities to get those kids interested in soccer I mean the most popular team in the United States is Mexico. It's not the it's not the United States yet if you look for Mexican immigrants you know and I'm not talking the last gasp years but over

time they're nowhere to be seen. Well it's food for thought and it's a part of the games that I hope people pay attention to as they learn about it Steve is dark. Thank you so much for joining us. His book is World Cup 2010 The Indispensable Guide to soccer and geopolitics. Number. Four. Last month the Boston Pops put on an extraordinary performance in honor of three extraordinary brothers. We scaled the heights. I know it. I. Know. I did. We can do it again. We've got our pompous rules. We

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4 is the number to call WGBH dot org is the website to visit. I'm Amanda Goodwin in studio with Kelly Crossley and we would love to send you that copy of the dream lives on from the Boston Pops for your sustaining contribution of just $5 a month. 8 8 8 8 9 7 9 4 2 4 online at WGBH dot org. You know Cali. I heard a rumor that you don't like sports. But I've got to say you have some of the most interesting sport interviews anywhere on radio. Well I'm interested in the issues that that sports generally raise so that that's my way into it. I mean who isn't interested in the World Cup right now. I mean it's really it's World Cup fever has totally taken over. And if you appreciate a different approach to topics I mean there are a lot of people that cover sports but the way that you do it is unique and it stands out. And if that's something you appreciate then go ahead make a gift and do your part for the callee Crossley Show and all of the local shows that we have here on the new eighty nine point seven. It can be done with a call to 8

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