0:01

Hey, listeners of Other People's Pockets really

0:03

quick before we start the show. We're trying

0:05

something new. If you think you

0:08

might be a good guest for this show, could

0:10

you have a friend record of voice memo

0:12

and interview you about your personal finances

0:15

for about five minutes or fewer, and then send

0:18

us the recording at Other People's

0:20

Pockets at gmail dot

0:22

com. We are so excited

0:24

to hear your voice notes. And also, if you like

0:27

the show, tell a friend about it. Word

0:29

of mouth really gives us a boost.

0:35

Stumbling upon this box of money, I told her straight

0:37

up, Yo, I know I'm fucking up the

0:39

party here.

0:40

I understand that, like I've stepped on some shoes just

0:42

being in this room.

0:44

I'm aware that, like the record

0:46

has skipped, so I'm gonna keep on skipping

0:48

it. We are using this money for black

0:50

people.

0:51

We're going to use these wealths

0:53

for black people.

0:55

Are going to touch this money. Their lives

0:57

are going to be improved by this money. I'm saying it out loud

0:59

now so no one here gets upset or confused

1:01

later, like that's what we're doing here, because

1:03

I am here.

1:10

A few weeks ago, I was in Los Angeles

1:13

and got to record a rare in person

1:15

interview for this show, and it was so fun.

1:18

I talked to Jeremy Bowditch, who is an Echo

1:21

Park neighborhood council member in Los Angeles,

1:23

a politically active socialist, and also

1:25

a creative director in the advertising world.

1:28

Although, as with all people, any

1:30

quick descriptor of what he quote does

1:32

for a living is not necessarily

1:34

indicative of what really matters to him,

1:37

because what really matters to Jeremy are

1:39

the Lakers, breakfast, burritos, good

1:41

wine, his friends and family. Of course,

1:44

Jeremy is big on being transparent

1:46

with people about how he and his wife actually

1:48

afforded a house in La County and

1:51

what he did when he discovered his wife

1:53

had a lot of family money. And

1:56

just to be crystal clear, he doesn't actually

1:58

say it in the interview, but his wife is white,

2:00

and that's gonna be relevant if you listen to the

2:02

interview, why don't you grab a glass

2:05

of wine if you partake and have a drink

2:07

along with us, I might

2:09

allow and this is other People's Pockets

2:12

the show where I ask people how much they

2:14

make and how their finances work. So the questions

2:16

we all have about money can be a

2:18

little bit less of a mystery.

2:32

Thank you so much for joining me today. Of

2:34

course I'm so excited.

2:35

Oh excellent feelings mutual.

2:39

So really quick before we

2:41

start. I noticed that you're a wine

2:43

lover, yes, and.

2:45

So it's true.

2:46

I asked you if there's a wine

2:48

that I could bring, and you

2:51

helpfully gave me a list, which I feel

2:53

like most people would be like whatever, but

2:55

you're like, I have these very

2:57

specific wines, very

3:00

specific parts of the world, and so I took

3:02

them to the this wine store I was

3:04

on and I was like, can you please use

3:06

this as inspiration? So the guy

3:08

said, you said, a Nerello

3:11

mascaleese from Sicily, and

3:14

so he thought that this grillo.

3:18

I don't know. I don't know if you know what

3:20

this is, but he said that that would suffice.

3:25

Yeah, this is great.

3:27

Okay, it's a wild because like

3:29

the branding, everything about wine is like

3:31

branding, Like the French started branding champagne,

3:34

which isn't a year ago.

3:39

I want. I feel like I need

3:41

to see how it is opened by someone who

3:43

knows. I kind of

3:45

like butcher the whole packaging.

3:48

But because I am playing the role

3:50

of fancy winesno, which is who

3:52

I am in real life. I'm going to try and open

3:55

this capsule the way

3:57

you would get it if.

3:58

A psalm or somebodyah blah blah

4:01

were to do it.

4:01

You gotta be careful, though, because I could derail this whole

4:04

episode and just be talking about wine,

4:07

wine service, wines.

4:09

I like to drink.

4:10

And then I

4:12

thought this was a show about money and exact

4:15

not. Yeah. I think this is the first in

4:17

person interview I've done for this show. Oh

4:19

wow, yeah, I do it all remotely.

4:21

We're celebrating, cheers.

4:24

Could you please identify yourself? Who are

4:26

you? What are you?

4:26

And yeah, my name is Jeremy

4:29

Boutitch. I am an Angelino.

4:32

I'm into wine, sailing all

4:34

things Mexico, the Los Angeles

4:36

Lakers, and honestly

4:40

tearing down this capitalist hellscape brick by

4:42

brick where I can.

4:44

And that's yeah, that's me in a nutshell.

4:46

And it's interesting that in

4:49

that intro you didn't say

4:52

what you do for a living.

4:53

I like to push back against

4:55

that because I

4:59

feel like it's a recent, a very American

5:01

thing. Yes, you know, we think, oh well,

5:03

the way the natural world, the way it

5:05

is is right, like what you

5:08

do decides your value,

5:10

and you know, so king's the most

5:12

valuable, shit shovelers the least.

5:14

Where are you on this spectrum? So I know how to

5:17

relate to you when I

5:19

feel like, what we want to do, what we like to

5:21

do, who we want to be, how we spend our time,

5:23

I think says a lot more about us than what we

5:25

do, because I know personally, like in

5:28

my career, I have

5:30

been at times doing what fulfills me

5:32

and other times like, let me sort

5:34

these jobs by compensation. Take

5:37

the highest paying one

5:40

completely regardless of how I

5:42

feel, and just do that because

5:44

that's what This is a transaction, right,

5:46

my labor for money,

5:48

that money for food and shelter, and like, so

5:51

for me, like I find it a little bit disingenuous to engage

5:53

in a like oh.

5:54

Well, I love creating value my

5:57

passion and customer right, like

5:59

let's keep LinkedIn on LinkedIn.

6:01

Yeah, this is real life, and

6:03

so like for work to pay my bills,

6:05

et cetera. I've been a video editor,

6:08

I've been advertising copywriter,

6:11

associate, crave director, crave director, basically

6:14

anything that involves they getting

6:17

that commercial on TV. I've done everything

6:19

except direct it,

6:21

be in it everything else, from the guy

6:23

getting a coffee, it's the one writing the ad,

6:25

to the guy editing, to the guy.

6:27

Who sits in the couch behind the guy who edits. That's what I

6:29

do now.

6:30

I've jumped around all those little positions, and

6:33

I can straight up say that like none

6:35

of them have been like emotionally

6:37

fulfilling. That will be in the front page

6:40

of my memoir, like as a headline.

6:42

Like here lies Jeremy Boutich and here's

6:44

what he stood for.

6:45

Like yeah,

6:48

no, no, no, no, no, no, okay, yeah.

6:51

What is your story? Like

6:53

how did you get here?

6:56

My story is, uh,

7:00

Dad's in the military, no college. My

7:02

mother is a teacher. They moved to West

7:04

Germany, Wall Falls, the wait

7:07

a couple more years, maybe two, maybe one, move

7:09

back to the States. My brothers are

7:11

born overseas, so we grow

7:13

up half in Europe, half in the DC

7:16

burbs where my dad is stationed. Mother

7:18

starts teaching. Dad is

7:20

in the military. No, no high school, and

7:22

like this is at a point where like you could just get a

7:25

job, work hard, and buy a house and

7:27

feed children in.

7:28

The school and so like that. I did not

7:30

see the train coming. No one in my family.

7:33

All I thought, like, oh cool, I will also

7:35

like clock at eight am for

7:37

thirty years and also own a home and have food

7:39

and.

7:39

At the age of twenty eight, yeah, exactly,

7:42

So like I thought, things

7:44

but they were.

7:45

But I guess what I'm saying.

7:46

Is things were great up

7:48

until like I guess for all millennials, right two

7:50

thousand and eight, the bull gets pulled out way from your eyes.

7:52

Oh no, I'm thirty nine,

7:55

and so.

7:57

Yeah, I kind of had this idea growing up that

7:59

like, if you work

8:01

hard in the United States,

8:04

you better hold onto your hat because that jet

8:06

stream is gonna whisk you away to a life of.

8:08

Success and wealth and luxury.

8:11

And like it was just a couple of like early

8:14

mornings in the office and that's all it takes. Right,

8:16

You just give a lunch break. Look out, you're in the fast train to

8:18

like, you know, paid town. And

8:21

that is not my experience as

8:23

an adult, right, like, oh, hey, man,

8:26

I think everyone's out here sweating. Actually yeah,

8:28

and I look around. So my parents

8:30

did not raise me with a lot of like class

8:32

consciousness.

8:34

They were both born in the late.

8:35

Fifties and so I mean their entire

8:37

lives, right, like World War two power this

8:39

upwards until Reagan gets in. It's like they're

8:41

seeing, Oh, if you work hard, you'll

8:44

get paid more tomorrow. Repeat, repeat, repeat,

8:46

acquire, acquire, acchoir, you know, retire

8:48

in luxury. Like so, yeah,

8:51

I was raised as if

8:53

everything was fine, because at the time, it.

8:55

Was how

9:03

did you get into advertising

9:05

and all the other things you're into? Like did

9:08

something interest you there? What's that story?

9:10

I was and still am interested

9:12

in storytelling. Was kind of like touring

9:15

colleges to become an animator, and

9:17

then at one.

9:18

Of these schools, art schools, like we.

9:20

Had to walk through the film department to get

9:22

the animation department, and I saw like nineteen year

9:24

olds loading cars full of cameras

9:26

and I was like, wait, they're making their own movies.

9:28

How is that allowed?

9:30

And that kind of like opened my eyes just

9:32

more visual storytelling. So I majored in film,

9:34

moved to Los Angeles at twenty two, still

9:36

here, and yeah, just

9:38

kind.

9:39

Of like being involved

9:41

in a little bit of that.

9:42

Behind the scenes storytelling. Decision

9:44

making has always fascinated me,

9:46

always, like when I was a

9:49

teenager, you know, like yeah, I'm getting the DVD watching

9:51

the movie, but really I'm skipping to this documentary

9:53

that's eight minutes long, where they're going to tell me why

9:56

the decision was made to shoot this here and what it

9:58

means and this and that and so that

10:01

kind of has been the locusts,

10:03

I guess for what I've done to

10:06

pay my bills ever since.

10:07

Right, it's some sort.

10:08

Of TV, a

10:10

little bit of movies, mostly commercials, a

10:13

lot of reality TV, dancing

10:15

around, you know,

10:18

telling that story. At first it was editing,

10:20

then it kind of got into writing back and editing.

10:23

I've definitely been on the

10:25

corporate sponsored, brought to you by

10:28

side of media. Early on,

10:30

just realized like, okay, you can be a starving

10:33

artist. How about I be Yeah,

10:36

like let me also like you know,

10:38

go see like one car Wy movies on the weekend.

10:40

But like I live inside, you

10:42

know, like that's what I want for my

10:44

life.

10:45

And so I kind of, like

10:47

in my.

10:47

Really early twenties, kind

10:50

of gave up this idea that success

10:52

means only my name in lights and

10:54

every movie's been in town, and I realized, oh shit, you

10:56

know, it would be cool living inside, having

10:59

closed, not being hung like damn,

11:01

and so my kind of not

11:03

my goals. But like what makes

11:06

me feel successful has changed,

11:09

I'd say a lot in my twenties, a little

11:11

bit my thirties. But so yeah, just as

11:13

long as I can have some fun while

11:15

I'm also paying the bills, I'm having

11:17

a great time. So that's kind of what keeps

11:19

me in the media space.

11:21

Would you call it advertising.

11:22

Or okay, I call it advertising?

11:24

Well, what's the money? Like in advertising? How much money

11:26

do you make?

11:27

My last job, I was making one thirty four,

11:30

although I feel I was underpaid.

11:32

I have been extremely

11:34

unemployed and underemployed. So I've made twelve

11:37

thousand dollars in a year.

11:38

I've made.

11:41

Working intermittently as an editor and a grip

11:43

and a PA.

11:44

Here in La, here in La. This is all in Los Angeles.

11:47

Like when I was twenty two, my first

11:49

job out of school was like a PA running around.

11:51

I'm making like thirty six thousand dollars a year. Then

11:54

a couple years after that, I get a job editing a

11:56

TV show, But like, who's going to let a twenty

11:58

three ye old editor TV show that kind of shit? And

12:00

like it was very cheap, and so I'm

12:02

that year I made like seventy five thousand and I

12:04

thought, oh my god, I'm so wealthy.

12:06

Yeah, that did not last. Two years later, I'm

12:08

no longer doing that show.

12:09

I'm back to paying and doing other kind of stuff.

12:11

I'm back making like forty something some years

12:13

I made twenty two years.

12:15

Are full time employed.

12:16

Now we're talking like one fifteen one, twenty one,

12:19

thirty. But that's the other thing. Like my

12:22

I just did a freelance gig and

12:25

filling in for a creative director who's on a pttnity leave.

12:28

And for that job, I was like, yo, I my day

12:30

rate is ten ninety five. I went eleven hundred

12:32

a day and they were like, we'll give you eight

12:34

hundred, and I was like, okay, I'll

12:36

take it, but like, just so you know, this is

12:39

a discount.

12:39

I don't like this. Yeah.

12:40

So, like in the grand scheme of things,

12:44

if you're talking about like workers

12:46

who are still basically

12:48

living paycheck to paycheck, I think anything

12:51

like one sixty and below

12:53

you can put in that same category. I think people

12:55

making between like one sixty three

12:58

fifty four hundred are probably living

13:00

paycheck to paycheck to paycheck to paycheck. Right,

13:02

it's not in LA it's not one to one,

13:05

but it's like they get fired tomorrow.

13:07

How many mortgage payments can they

13:09

make off the strength of their savings?

13:12

And the answer I think is terrifying.

13:14

Yeah, I think if we actually were to like discuss that

13:16

openly, society might crumble.

13:19

Yes, so yeah,

13:21

I'd.

13:22

Say on production side.

13:24

Of things, it's

13:27

probably fifteen hundred a week to

13:30

sixteen hundred a week. Once you get out of production

13:32

and get into like the agency side where you're

13:35

hiring the production people to make this thing. Now

13:37

it's a little higher. Now you're getting closer to like eighteen

13:40

hundred to like two thousand a week. And my

13:43

last gig paid me eight

13:45

hundred day times five

13:47

is four thousand, so four thousand a week pre tax,

13:50

I was suspected and I knew for real.

13:52

But then I got married.

13:53

Our finances combined, and like

13:55

I went from a like working person looking paycheck

13:57

to paycheck to someone who has family money,

14:00

right, and like because of your wife,

14:03

yes, and that just seeing

14:06

different doors open. I'm

14:09

going to say this shit because it's gonna set my

14:11

wife a little bit. She's gonna get where I talked about it song

14:13

in Wikipedia. Her family started

14:15

the Kenner Toy Company.

14:16

Okay, and so I don't know what that is.

14:19

The Star Wars action figures, pound

14:21

Puppies, Spirograph,

14:23

easy bake oven, things

14:26

like that. And so in the seventies they

14:28

sold it to General Mills for

14:30

cash and stock, and so her grandfather

14:33

basically gave everybody and their kids

14:35

a little box.

14:36

Of General millstock.

14:39

And then they sold

14:41

some of that and diversified a little bit. But basically

14:43

that has been

14:46

sitting there untouched.

15:05

And how much is your mortgage?

15:07

My mortgage on my house is

15:09

not accessible to a regular working person. It's

15:13

it's forty one hundred a month, but it's

15:15

like a FHA Sally

15:18

May mortgage is like three point five percent.

15:20

That's an FHA sally Ba mortgage for people don't

15:22

know.

15:23

The government lets you put down a very

15:25

small amount of down payment. But the

15:27

problem that happens in a lot of big market, especially

15:29

in Los Angeles, is what they're

15:31

qualified.

15:32

For is a very narrow range, and it goes up every

15:34

year.

15:34

It's like good luck actually finding a house bingo

15:37

that costs that, because it

15:39

might be a lot that has no

15:41

how or whatever, like it's not even something

15:43

where you'd want to live.

15:44

And then everyone in their mother

15:47

is qualified for that same narrow

15:49

band.

15:49

That's why a house.

15:50

Then then they bid it up and then you can't afford

15:52

it.

15:52

Yes, which is why, like this was last

15:54

year's numbers, but they just the FHA

15:56

thing. Now in Nels Angeles's I had a million. You can actually

15:59

buy a million dollar house for thirty five thousand dollars

16:01

down.

16:01

That's you can get much for.

16:02

People in LA. That will get you a

16:05

condo or it will get you.

16:07

Either a condo where you want to live or a three bedroom

16:09

house and a place that you never thought you would live, you

16:11

know. And but what I realized was we

16:13

have this mortgage. It's called a private mortgage.

16:16

It's not a FAHA first time federally guaranteed

16:18

mortgage. It's not a standard mortgage.

16:20

It's not a jumbo mortgage. Those are all the retail

16:23

mortgages available. If you walk into a bank,

16:25

this is if you have a shit ton of money, they

16:28

will offer you a better rate, less

16:31

money down, and lend you more

16:33

money than is available in these standard

16:35

products. We didn't really overextend ourselves,

16:38

but like I told my wife, I was like, we

16:40

are going to use the tools

16:43

of having all this money to give

16:45

us the mortgage and financial situation

16:48

my parents had as regular

16:50

work in people. Right, Like it sucks

16:52

that takes what it takes,

16:55

but like that's what's going on.

16:56

So, okay, how much did your house cost.

17:00

Nine hundred and ninety nine thousand dollars and when did

17:02

you buy it? Not this last January

17:04

but the one before.

17:04

That January twenty twenty two

17:07

two? Okay? Yeah, okay, and

17:09

in Echo Park in Pasadena. Oh

17:12

nice, it's that's what everyone says. I'm

17:16

Pasadena is many different things.

17:17

It extremely disappointed.

17:19

I wanted to buy a house on the street where I live now that

17:21

same million dollars gets you a one bedroom,

17:23

one bath, nine hundred square foot, one

17:26

person house. That same amount of money

17:28

gets you a ten thousand square foot lot

17:30

and three bedrooms in Pasadena.

17:32

Did you have.

17:33

A down payment and if so, how much

17:35

was it? Yeah? And how did you get that downpay?

17:37

The down payment?

17:38

So, a regular mortgage

17:41

is twenty percent down, Your

17:44

federally guaranteed mortgage is three point

17:46

five percent down, and there's no one between

17:48

unless you have this like secret evil

17:51

banker shit called a private mortgage where

17:53

they give you ten percent down. So

17:55

ten percent down million dollar

17:57

house one hundred thousand dollars down payment,

18:00

and we sold

18:02

some stock to get that cash together

18:04

through the same people that are allowing us. Basically,

18:06

the people who manage the stocks and assets

18:09

that create this family wealth are like, hey, since

18:11

you keep all this wealth parked here, do you

18:13

want access to our loan products?

18:15

And are these stocks that you and your wife

18:17

have like picked out and did

18:19

well or like it's like just in her family

18:21

somewhere.

18:21

This is somebody I have money.

18:23

So what is the conversation

18:26

like between you and your wife? I

18:28

personally don't have that experience of marrying

18:30

someone with money, Like is it

18:32

awkward? Is it like dude fucking sweet

18:35

that you go whatever?

18:36

Like what is the yes and yes?

18:38

Yeah? Like yeah

18:40

what?

18:41

Everyone is different?

18:42

And my wife is a

18:44

wonderful person, but she's also extremely anxious

18:46

and so she basically her

18:49

whole life has been not

18:52

even really opening the mail that comes about

18:54

this from this like accounting firm.

18:56

She's not like every week looking at it.

18:59

She's not doing anything that She's kind of like, it's there, but I don't

19:01

want touch, I don't want to think about it.

19:02

Ah. And she told

19:04

me about the first time and I was like, well, how much is in there?

19:06

And she's like, well, I don't know. I think this much.

19:08

I'm like you think, and you're

19:10

dating. This is definitely

19:12

dating, okay, but like you know, we've been

19:14

dating for a few years.

19:15

But like just that, what did she say? She

19:18

said, like, I literally don't know. She's like,

19:20

I.

19:20

Couldn't think it could be It started.

19:22

Out four hundred thousand dollars, but

19:24

I've never looked at it and or touched it. I've never peeked

19:26

into it, never did anything in her name that's in her name.

19:28

Yeah. Yeah, And I just remember

19:31

thinking, like I'm

19:33

such a broke boy like mentality, Like the idea

19:35

that I could possess any asset.

19:38

It could be a donut, it could

19:40

be a car, a condo,

19:42

Oh I just got a ten thousand dollars check from

19:45

the job whatever. Yeah, the idea that I wouldn't

19:47

know the exact number, where

19:49

it is, how I can access it, how long

19:52

I need before I can get that cash in my hand. Like that

19:54

to me already was like oh, I'm

19:56

we are different. Yeah, this is a yeah,

19:59

And like I realize a lot of stuff, like oh my god,

20:02

this thing was set up not for her to live

20:04

her life with this is like on

20:06

top, just for you to have a little top piece, the

20:09

rest of everything else taken care of. We actually

20:12

talked to a wealth manager about it

20:14

and like had him me walk like

20:17

not only my lifetime, but that friendm dead,

20:19

Like okay, da da da da, Like what is your We

20:21

talk about what our goals were, and that's kind

20:23

of where that conversation began, because my thing

20:25

was, oh, I am black. This

20:28

country has conspired for hundreds

20:30

of years to not only deprive me of

20:32

any wealth that I might have taken

20:34

away from me, it is putting up

20:36

all kinds of barriers to

20:38

me acquiring any new wealth, up to and including

20:40

my actual physical body.

20:42

Not safe, like keep your head on a swivel, like look out.

20:44

Yeah. And so I told her straight

20:46

up, like, oh, so here's what we're going to we are going to

20:48

do with our family. It took a lot of time to get there, by

20:50

the way, but what we are going to do with our

20:52

family's money put into a

20:54

box, let it grow, bury

20:57

that box, throw the map away, tell

21:00

the kids you're not rich, and neither am

21:02

I. And then maybe like

21:04

twenty years after we die, surprise like

21:06

that was my thought process. It was like, the idea would

21:08

be create like an endowment

21:11

or whatever that generations of my family

21:13

and descendants could if they needed

21:15

a car loan, if they needed if they had

21:18

a resource, essentially like a private bank

21:20

just for them with very generous terms.

21:22

It's not just like writing you checks for rent, but

21:25

if you need to do a little something, yes, this

21:28

is available to you.

21:29

That was my vision.

21:30

But yeah, it definitely took a lot

21:32

of conversation, a lot of intentional

21:35

where are we and where do we want to be and

21:37

how do we get there?

21:38

What's the ethical way to do it? Yeah?

21:41

One of those is like divesting. I was

21:43

like, okay, so you feel bad, here's a way to not

21:45

feel so bad. Any like bomb

21:47

makers.

21:48

Right, private prisons

21:51

right.

21:51

Like not that Palestinian

21:53

kids getting their heads stomped on money.

21:55

Whatever it is like is like there's.

21:58

So many companies where it's more

22:00

gray. Yeah, and you don't know what they're

22:02

doing exactly. I mean, obviously I'm not going to invest

22:04

in private prisons, but like something

22:06

that you and me, okay,

22:09

that's.

22:09

Not obvious that we're on the phone with the money guy,

22:11

he's like, this.

22:12

Is a great investment. Yeah, you're like,

22:15

well, but you can't work with that money.

22:16

Guy.

22:17

They're like, have you seen the numbers?

22:18

Hold on before you say that, and they slide you a little thing like look,

22:20

I mean, come on, look where it's going. And then the laws

22:23

I mean, ah, big money coming. And you're

22:25

like, I get that, but we are

22:27

not doing that.

22:35

What's your net worth?

22:38

Probably between one and one five million?

22:42

Stumbling upon this box of money. I told her straight

22:44

up, my wife. I

22:46

told her mother straight up. I told her brother, like all

22:48

of them. I told these fucking like accountants

22:50

guys at this thing, like, yo, I know I'm fucking

22:53

up the party here.

22:54

I understand that. Like I've stepped on some shoes just

22:56

being in this room.

22:58

I'm aware that, like the record

23:00

has skipped, so I'm gonna keep on skipping

23:02

it. We are using this money for black

23:04

people. We're going to use these

23:06

wealths for black people. Black

23:09

people are going to touch this money. Their

23:11

lives are going to be improved by this money. I'm saying it

23:13

out loud now so no one here gets upset or

23:15

confused later, like that's what we're doing

23:17

here, because I am here, and it's.

23:19

What they say.

23:20

What do you mean way they did?

23:22

They protest?

23:23

Oh, I cause I the next thing on my mouth protest

23:26

no.

23:27

No.

23:27

But the next thing I my mouth was out of my mouth was

23:30

cut a check. My brother had just had some kids,

23:33

and I was like, I want both of them to have

23:35

an.

23:35

Account with money in their name.

23:37

And so I took five thousand dollars for

23:39

each of these children out of this thing.

23:42

And like there was some protests and BE like, no, that's what we're

23:44

doing and put it into a sort of like

23:46

Vanguard account that you

23:49

can own at three years old that no one else

23:51

can touch except for you, and so like, and

23:54

that's it.

23:54

Grow and it'll be there and it'll be like.

23:56

Twenty twenty five when they're eighteen and

23:59

they're the ones I can touch it. I gave the information

24:01

to their parents, my brother and his wife, and I was like, if

24:03

you want to add on top, here you go. Legally,

24:06

no one except for them can get in here

24:08

and pull anything out.

24:10

I can do it.

24:10

It's not even for me, So here

24:12

you go. And that's something that I like

24:15

out loud said from the get go. I

24:17

was like, first conversation we have with these people, I

24:19

am bringing this up it's like, Oh, it.

24:20

Won't be a problem. They're not gonna have a problem with that.

24:22

And I was like, okay, but just

24:25

in case they do, I want you to know

24:27

this is like a big deal for me. And there

24:30

was a little pushback, but like I let them know, like,

24:32

hey man, I'm gonna be here for a long

24:34

time and we're

24:37

going to be having this conversation about what's the best

24:39

way to use this money, what does it mean?

24:41

What's its purpose me talking

24:44

to you about that? This is an ongoing is

24:46

the first episode in a long running series. So

24:50

I want everyone to be comfortable because this is how it's going to go down.

24:52

Yeah, And since then,

24:54

I've had no problems with those guys.

24:56

It's been right.

24:57

And I mean that all speaks

25:00

to another you

25:02

know, traditional institution,

25:05

which is marriage. You know. Yeah,

25:07

Like would any of this be happening if

25:10

you weren't married? No, you know, And that's

25:12

like so not an a weird right, It's like you

25:15

have to like do the

25:17

traditional thing to like

25:20

move forward in this amazing way.

25:23

Yes. I told my brother this. He was like,

25:25

man, this is bullshit. The systems bullshit. I don't like it.

25:27

It's like you're correct, it is, it's wrong.

25:29

We should not be organizing our society in this way.

25:31

I completely agree with you, But in Los

25:33

Angeles in twenty twenty three, this is how

25:36

we have collectively agreed to do things. So

25:39

if you don't want to participate,

25:41

I genuinely am counseling you to consider

25:43

moving somewhere else, living.

25:45

Anticipate in the rat

25:48

race capitalism, et cetera.

25:49

Like you, if you want to be able

25:51

to get medical attention, yeah, without

25:54

having income, right, which I agree

25:56

with that should be allowed.

25:57

That doesn't happen here, You should consider living center

26:00

marriage Frond Like, I'm just, I'm just it's

26:02

just interesting to me because I've thought a lot

26:04

about how like marriage is, like honestly

26:07

an amazing way to consolidate.

26:09

Well, that's what it is. That's what it is. It's been

26:11

a business transaction from day one.

26:13

Right, So it's like dowries all that shit,

26:15

and it's reflected in our systems, right,

26:17

Like, you are going to have

26:19

a less difficult time financially

26:22

if you are married versus being.

26:23

Seen, I mean unless your partner

26:26

is sure.

26:27

But even letting all your money tax code.

26:29

Et cetera, Like, it's more beneficial benefits

26:31

me married people, right, and so like there

26:33

is these like systems and

26:35

like norms are not just like tradition,

26:38

it's also codified into law. It's

26:40

the way we've organized our nation.

26:43

And so like, no matter how you feel about

26:45

it, like I've I've straight up told people

26:47

like consider maybe

26:50

marrying a friend like

26:52

awesome, like on some green card shit, just like for the

26:54

tax benefits and like real estate purposes,

26:56

and like get a lawyer, make the contract up because like

26:59

it's kind of stupid, like there's no way

27:01

to access those benefits unless

27:04

you participate in the institution of marriage

27:06

and the.

27:06

Fact that it's caught off an into law and it's a very real

27:08

thing.

27:09

Like I can definitely say after doing my taxes

27:11

before married and after, yes, it's much.

27:14

Better to be married. And it's shitty

27:16

that like, yeah that is the thing's the case, but

27:19

it is. Yes, Yeah, you're not wrong.

27:34

You're a democratic socialist and

27:36

you're an Echo Park neighborhood council person.

27:39

Right, yes, do.

27:40

You get paid for that? Oh not at all?

27:43

Why I thought you did it for the money? What are you talking about,

27:46

volunteer? So yeah, what, okay, can

27:48

you explain is this the most local

27:51

unit of government, Like what is this

27:53

that you Yeah.

27:54

In nineteen ninety nine, the San Frando

27:57

Valley threatened to secede from

27:59

the City of Los Angelus over just basic racist

28:01

shit, and so the city council is like.

28:03

Don't leave, don't level, like, don't leave it light whoo.

28:06

They created the neighborhood council system

28:08

to give these people a voice and keep

28:10

them from leaving. And so the idea was, they're

28:12

ninety nine neighborhood councils. Every neighborhood

28:15

gets a body, and that

28:17

body basically gets like elevated privileges

28:19

at city Hall, which basically means

28:21

public comment for a normy is

28:23

like a minute. If you're on the neighborid council

28:25

and you filed a like community impact

28:28

statement, you get five minutes.

28:29

Okay, that's what the rules say.

28:30

Okay.

28:31

In reality, you go.

28:32

To city council meeting, you're like, I'm want

28:34

to speak up against their like we don't value

28:36

democracy, mute his microphone and like they do what they

28:38

want.

28:38

Okay, So do you have any power?

28:41

I have city stationery,

28:44

I have a GMAIL that I made myself. Again,

28:47

I can talk for three more minutes. Than you at

28:49

a city council meeting if I filed the correct paperwork,

28:52

that is it?

28:53

Do you have? Do you hold meetings of the

28:55

community and people? Yeah, okay, so

28:58

you're in like a com hub.

29:00

You're you're hearing people's complaints, You're

29:03

taking them to the city council.

29:05

Like when an ideal world, that's how it was

29:07

conceived.

29:08

In a real world, it is a place for homeowners

29:10

to gather and complain, consolidate

29:13

power, in organize against

29:15

renters and the unhouse keep the character

29:17

of the neighborhood bingo. Not keeping

29:19

the character of the neighborhood, you know, which.

29:21

Is annoying,

29:24

like pouring more and

29:26

so part of you really need to keep drinking,

29:30

I really will.

29:32

We wanted to go in there and like disrupt a lot of that, you

29:34

know, and try and like who's we. I ran

29:36

with a slate of other DSA

29:38

Socialists people.

29:39

Democratic Socialists of America.

29:41

Yeah yeah, And I also should say like I

29:43

have let my dues lapse.

29:44

I am not actively with them currently in this moment.

29:47

Why just because

29:49

it's a little too much committee meetings, a

29:51

little too many good meeting White

29:53

people who just can't for some reason find anyone

29:56

who's brown to speak in a meeting.

29:58

I just don't know what's so crazy, Like, oh, maybe

30:00

they don't exist, Like I've noticed a lot of that going

30:02

around. Anytime one of those people does speak up, it's

30:04

like, oh, no, that's not the right way to do it.

30:06

Hush, we're in charge.

30:07

And so at least that's my experience as

30:09

a member, and so I'm a little less

30:11

leading with I took the rose out of my

30:13

Twitter profile. Yeah, still

30:16

commy socialist.

30:17

I feel like that is a central problem

30:20

of being any kind of social activist,

30:22

is that you have to go to the meetings,

30:25

and then there's the people that are at the meetings,

30:28

and the people at the meetings they

30:31

want to talk and I don't want to

30:33

hang out with them. I'm

30:35

all about the cause, but I don't want

30:37

to be in a meeting with you people.

30:40

You're not wrong.

30:41

So are you going to continue

30:44

to try to be a neighborhood

30:46

council person in Pasadena?

30:48

Or is pasaging a political future?

30:50

Like what is yes for you?

30:52

Pasaden?

30:52

This was my first kind of like let me see if

30:55

I can lean in and do some local politics,

30:57

if I can make some change.

30:58

And I do feel like, we had a big

31:00

victory.

31:01

The council District

31:03

thirteen in Los Angeles used to be represented by

31:05

a guy named Mitchell Ferrell, and one of his

31:07

decisions was, during the pandemic, there

31:09

were about one hundred and eighty people sleeping

31:12

outside in Eco Park. He got

31:14

three hundred LAPD cops,

31:17

pelicopters, et cetera, swept the park in a

31:19

violin raid, pushed us around a little bit,

31:21

broke a couple of people's arms, arrested some journals, didn't

31:23

arrest.

31:23

Detained some journalists, and.

31:26

As a community, we didn't really like that, and we were like,

31:28

hey, obviously you've been planning

31:30

this in secret with homeowner groups for

31:33

months, maybe longer. That kind of

31:35

is offensive. Where are these public

31:37

forums happening?

31:38

Oh they're not public.

31:39

Oh these are secret, private, not publicly

31:42

noticed meetings. We are conducting the city's

31:44

business.

31:45

We love that.

31:46

Still ignored us, wouldn't say anything, and so

31:48

we basically just got like a bunch of socialists to

31:50

run against him. He lost

31:53

a Unisie Hernandez beat

31:56

up Gill so bad he lost in the primary.

31:58

Whose Gil Gil sidea It

32:00

was one of those three who had caught on tape along

32:02

with Kevin de Leon and I believe

32:04

Monticoverriguez Marry

32:06

Martinez, Yeah formers

32:08

making racist comments. She stepped

32:11

down in disgrace. Gil lost his race

32:13

in the primary. We were kind of

32:15

like organizing before that happened,

32:17

and the idea was, we are going

32:20

to find a humane

32:22

solution to this problem

32:26

that doesn't involve incarcerating people

32:28

who can't afford to pay rent, because that's

32:30

not a crime.

32:31

What can we do?

32:32

And then while that's happening, rumors about the lake being swept

32:35

start happening, are organizing its more intense.

32:37

He swept the lake, basically told us to go fuck

32:39

ourselves, called us like rabble rousers, and no, it

32:41

was just a few loud people. And then we fucked

32:44

him up in the election, trounced

32:46

him. And now the Los Angeles City Council

32:48

is the only city in the

32:50

United States with two with nine

32:52

even two because we only have fifteen. We have we such

32:55

underrepresented on city council.

32:58

More than ten percent of this city

33:00

council is a socialist out, police

33:03

abolitionist out, and that is

33:05

new and different in this country.

33:07

And we did that. We did that here

33:09

in LA and we are not going to stop.

33:11

We're going to keep doing that, and things

33:13

like you know, Doc Melly Mel and Black

33:15

Lives Matter Movement talking about like these guys are fucking

33:17

us up, not keeping us safe. Here are the numbers

33:19

People's Budget LA. Here's how we're spending

33:22

this money, our unrestricted funds,

33:24

Like almost two billion of it go to the police.

33:26

That's like the same military budget as Vietnam.

33:29

Why right, there was a time when it

33:31

was shut the fuck up. You can't ask those questions now.

33:33

Karen Bass just went like two weeks

33:35

ago to the People's Budget

33:38

LA presentation for the first time. The

33:40

mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, are

33:42

former mayor, invited many times, Mitchell

33:44

Ferrell, our former council member, invited

33:47

many times.

33:47

Ignore, ignored, ignor ignore.

33:49

And now I don't even think that, like Karen Bass, our mayor

33:52

is going to substantively engage

33:54

with these ideas. But to

33:56

ignore it she recognizes is that her

33:58

peril. And now we're kind of looking

34:01

around. I think the entire Southland like, oh, excuse

34:03

me, we maybe want to

34:05

have a conversation about is capitalism

34:08

as it currently is organized here?

34:10

The only way to solve our problems.

34:13

We have fifty eight thousand people living outside

34:15

in La one excuse

34:17

me, five die every

34:20

day on the street because

34:22

they can't live inside. Because

34:25

the way we decided to organize our society

34:27

means that shelter where you sleep

34:29

at night is a commodity and if

34:31

it can't enrich someone, it cannot

34:34

exist. That's where we're and so I

34:36

hope that we can force the

34:39

conversation to be expanded to look at other

34:41

solutions. Something I like to sell people just

34:43

to kind of like tickle them a little bit and get them like, oh,

34:46

social housing ninety nine

34:48

year lease, five hundred dollars a

34:50

month. They're doing it in Austria today,

34:53

they're doing it in Barcelona today. Why

34:55

can't we do it here in Los Angeles? And just

34:57

like keep saying that enough and hopefully what

34:59

I mean Pasadena where I'm in Los Angeles Cycle

35:01

Park, Hopefully someone whether

35:04

that's just members of the community coming together or someone

35:06

in power, says, that's a very good question.

35:09

Why

35:17

LA's controller, Kenneth Mahia, is a

35:19

democratic socialist. What does that mean

35:22

for the people of LA.

35:24

Kenneth is someone who was an organizer

35:26

who said I think I can actually get in here and

35:28

then did it. And what he campaigned on, which

35:30

is, this is how we're spending the

35:33

city's money. One point

35:35

seven billion dollars going to cops,

35:38

homelessness, education, parks,

35:40

green whatever you want to think about. Else, they put

35:42

a billboards all over the city that show like the disparity

35:45

and how we're spending That's what he campaigned on. And

35:47

then once he was elected, he was like, oh, well, now I'm going to

35:49

use the power of the Controller's office to audit

35:52

different city functions and let's just see

35:54

if it's efficient.

35:55

Let's see it was.

35:56

Going on, for instance, the mitch sweeping

35:58

the park airships,

36:00

that's they call the helicopters, four or

36:02

five buses for detaining

36:05

people, three hundred police,

36:07

probably half them charging over time, if not all

36:09

of them. What did that costs? And we were

36:11

all speculating and Kenneth ran the numbers.

36:13

He's like, oh, that was millions of

36:16

dollars, millions of dollars

36:18

on one day to violently

36:21

get these people out of the park. And what

36:23

he's saying, as the controller is Angelino's

36:26

would that money have been better spent literally

36:29

in the other way, maybe on rent for the people living

36:31

in the park. Oh but like oh right,

36:33

and that's what he's doing.

36:35

Right. It's kind of like, here's the system.

36:37

So much clarity in the money.

36:39

Yes, people were said back

36:41

too. People respect numbers, right, Like

36:43

numbers have an authority. You know, it's

36:46

like calculator, like people who say,

36:48

fuck your feelings, let's go brand and blah

36:50

blah blah.

36:51

If you're looking at a spreadsheet, there's

36:53

a chart.

36:54

Yeah, very difficult to

36:56

like get emotional when you're looking at raw

36:59

numbers. And I hope, I hope, And that's

37:01

what he's been doing. Hope he continues to just kind

37:03

of like shine a light on some of these city

37:05

processes and you know, look at the raw numbers

37:07

and just ask the question, is this how

37:09

we want to spend hours?

37:11

Where is the money coming from?

37:14

I don't know if you're this kind of person, but what's

37:16

the last spreadsheet you made?

37:18

The last spreadsheet I made was regarding

37:21

the house, and it was buying

37:24

materials and all the finishes and all

37:26

that stuff, and I made. You know, So

37:28

on the left, you've got systems, you know,

37:31

bathroom, kitchen, appliances,

37:34

outlets, you know, internet

37:36

stuff, doorknobs, hardware,

37:39

ball all the stuff that finishes the house. And then on

37:41

the right, I've got three columns, like

37:44

someone else is paying for it, most expensive version, the highest

37:46

money I can spend on

37:48

this and be able to sleep at night, middle

37:51

of the road, like what a like

37:53

nice builder grade version would be. And then on

37:55

the end was like, okay, lowest shelf at

37:57

home depot. You are a flipper with extreme

38:00

regard for human life, Like what

38:02

is like the shittiest light switch?

38:05

Yeah?

38:05

Like, And so we had three versions of all the

38:07

things. And then as we

38:09

were buying all this stuff putting in the house, we could decide,

38:12

Okay, you wanted the

38:14

nice this, you wanted the mid that

38:16

that means this thing this is the shittiest

38:18

option, right, and like we can change that, but that means

38:20

this or this has to change. And so that was very helpful.

38:23

What's the thing that you indulged

38:26

in in your renovation? Did you get?

38:29

Okay, tile?

38:31

Like my kind of tile we

38:33

are fireplace is a for This is for all

38:35

you tileheads.

38:36

Shout out to you guys.

38:38

Is original tile talk talk

38:41

Original Batch Elder tiles,

38:43

which is a guy Ernest Batchelder who one

38:45

hundred years ago in La was making.

38:47

Tiles sounds expensive and they

38:49

were just a.

38:49

Very common regular tiles and all kinds of something homes,

38:52

craftsman style homes. Okay, but when we bought the

38:54

house, the listing agent did a

38:56

very poor job at like making the

38:58

house something that was spend a lot

39:00

of money on, and so didn't list

39:02

that as a feature. The homeowners had painted

39:04

over it in green latex paint, and

39:06

so we got with silver like restoration

39:09

and actually had them restored by

39:11

a Todd restorer, and like that is the number

39:13

one feature of the house. Like anyone who's like in

39:15

a artistic renovation

39:18

space.

39:18

Is like, oh my god, oh these original

39:20

ugh, and.

39:21

So spending the money to have those like uncovered

39:23

and restored and painted and fixed was unnecessary,

39:27

but something that brings me a lot of joy. And

39:30

that was a lot of money, not a lot

39:32

of how much it was twenty thousand dollars

39:34

for a fireplace get restoration.

39:46

Jeremy, I could talk to you all day, but thank

39:48

you so much. This has been awesome.

39:50

Thank you so much for coming on.

39:52

Of course, yeah, thank you, it's

39:54

been a pleasure.

40:00

Thanks for listening to other people's pockets.

40:03

And hey, if you like this show, Please tell a

40:05

friend word of mouth is awesome for

40:07

us and leave a review on

40:09

Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen.

40:13

Other People's Pockets is written and hosted

40:15

by me may Allow. It's produced

40:17

by me along with Joy Sandford and Dan

40:19

Galucci. Production

40:21

health from Angela vang Our.

40:24

Executive producers are me along with Jane

40:26

Marie and Dan Galucci. A

40:28

special thanks to Batch Elder Tiles.

40:32

Other People's Pockets is a co production of

40:34

Pushkin Industries and Little Everywhere.

40:37

To find more Pushkin podcasts, listen

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41:07

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41:09

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41:12

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41:14

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41:17

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41:19

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41:21

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41:23

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41:35

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com.

41:50

Which menu item do you most

41:52

miss at Chango? Which is

41:54

a Echo Park coffee

41:57

shop that is no longer open? Which

41:59

menu item do most miss at Chango? And why?

42:02

Is it?

42:02

The breakfast burrito?

42:03

Yeah, you got it.

42:04

I mean, just the idea that you could walk

42:07

in there get a coffee and not

42:09

get someone's interpretation of something

42:11

where you have to kind of like have the context of

42:13

a burrito this other thing they're

42:15

trying to involve, right, And

42:17

it's just good and it was consistent

42:19

and it worked and yeah,