Hialeah, Florida’s New and Young Mayor

00:00:00:04 – 00:00:03:40
David Martin
This is the Good Government show.

00:00:03:45 – 00:00:20:44
Bryan Calvo
In Hialeah. Our former government is a strong mayor, so I’m both the political figurehead, but I’m also the city manager. Listen, we were seeing it in our city. It’s stuff that we’re seeing nationwide. People are kind of ready for a generational shift in politics.

00:00:20:49 – 00:00:39:48
Bryan Calvo
Government is so nasty and politics is so dirty. And, you know, there’s all these issues and all these interests. And I always said, you know, if I don’t do it, who’s going to do it? A lot of times when we talk about city government, you know, even though it’s a city, people want to feel like it’s run in a neighborly way.

00:00:39:48 – 00:00:55:56
Bryan Calvo
They want to have access. They want to be able to, you know, literally touch the mayor. Right. And that’s something you don’t get from other levels of government. Not everybody’s going to run for office, but anybody can be a part of the conversation.

00:00:56:01 – 00:01:01:37
Bryan Calvo
I always believe that government can really do wonderful things if it’s run by the right people.

00:01:01:41 – 00:01:20:59
David Martin
When he was elected, Brian Calvo was the youngest mayor ever elected at Hialeah, Florida. This is a city in Miami and has a long and not always scandal free history. But the new mayor says he’s going to change all that, and he wasted no time getting started. Welcome to the Good Government show. I’m Dave Martin. First, help us share the message of good government by liking us and sharing us where we are.

00:01:20:59 – 00:01:36:54
David Martin
In your favorite social media. Make sure to review us and cherish everywhere. We all need to talk about good government. Brian Calvo is just 20 years old and he’s the mayor of Hialeah. He’s not the youngest mayor ever elected in America. That was an 18 year old in Michigan, but he is young to be a mayor and the mayor of a big city.

00:01:36:56 – 00:01:52:36
David Martin
Hialeah is in Miami-Dade County. It’s a separate city, but it is in fact, the sixth largest city in Florida. It is about half the size of the city of Miami. He said running for office, he thought that his age, or rather, his youth, was an asset. He said he thinks people are ready for a generational shift in government.

00:01:52:38 – 00:02:12:54
David Martin
I say it’s great to see young people running for office and getting involved. In his first days in office, he hit the ground running. He signed five executive orders, all of which essentially made government more open, more transparent. He got accolades from members of the city council and the former mayor. The mayor recently created a program that offers free rent to start up businesses moving into city owned spaces.

00:02:12:56 – 00:02:32:46
David Martin
He also created a homeowners association to help residents who feel they haven’t been getting a fair deal from their condo or co-op boards. So far in his first year, he’s also streamlined city government and offered a one time stimulus check to older, low income homeowners. He also created a task force that’s looking into highly a businesses doing business with the Cuban government.

00:02:32:48 – 00:02:46:04
David Martin
Hialeah has a huge Cuban and Latin population and strongly anti-Communist. Like I said, he sets the ground running. Coming up, the youngest mayor of Hialeah, Florida, mayor Brian Calvo.

00:02:46:09 – 00:03:16:09
David Martin
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00:03:16:09 – 00:03:39:32
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00:03:39:34 – 00:03:46:24
David Martin
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00:03:46:29 – 00:04:04:47
David Martin
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00:04:04:52 – 00:04:13:51
David Martin
Welcome to The Good Government Show. I’m happy to have with me Bryan Calvo, who was the new mayor of Hialeah, Florida, back in my old hometown in Miami. Welcome to the Good Government Show.

00:04:13:54 – 00:04:14:56
Bryan Calvo
Thank you. Thank you for having me.

00:04:14:59 – 00:04:19:37
David Martin
And you are, as I understand it, you’ve been told, the youngest mayor in America.

00:04:19:39 – 00:04:32:19
Bryan Calvo
That’s right, that’s right. Especially when we talk about major cities. Hialeah is a city where we have over 300,000 residents. So, you know, to be and it’s my hometown. Most importantly, so to be able to come back and serve, I think it’s a beautiful thing.

00:04:32:22 – 00:04:35:33
David Martin
And I’ve never asked another mayor this question before. How old are you?

00:04:35:33 – 00:04:37:40
Bryan Calvo
I’m 28. I’m 28 years old.

00:04:37:43 – 00:04:41:14
David Martin
That’s right. All right. 20 years old. And how long have you been mayor?

00:04:41:16 – 00:04:43:09
Bryan Calvo
So I’ve been mayor just about two weeks.

00:04:43:09 – 00:04:48:09
David Martin
Two weeks. We’re recording this in January. So you just you just took office. Highlights of the first two weeks.

00:04:48:09 – 00:05:09:48
Bryan Calvo
You know, it’s been a lot because in Hialeah, our former government is a strong mayor. So I’m both the political figurehead, but I’m also the city manager okay. And when we’re talking about Hialeah, it’s a half $1 billion budget. Like I said, 300,000 plus residents. We have 1500 employees. And we’re a completely self functioning city, meaning we have our own police, our own fire, own public works, etc., etc..

00:05:09:48 – 00:05:23:50
Bryan Calvo
So it’s a lot it’s a lot to to transition and to pick up. But it’s been a lot of fun. It’s been a lot of fun, and we’ve been able to get a lot of stuff done in a short amount of time, signing five executive orders and working through a host of difficult issues.

00:05:23:52 – 00:05:29:45
David Martin
What on earth made the people of Hialeah decide that you, at 28 years old, were going to be the man to lead their city?

00:05:29:47 – 00:05:48:27
Bryan Calvo
You know, a lot of people would ask me that, and they would tell me, you know, is your youth hurting you? Right? Is it hurting your candidacy because people are saying, well, you’re too young or two in experience? Actually, I’d like to think and based on the conversations I had with residents, it was probably my biggest asset because, listen, we were seeing it in our city.

00:05:48:29 – 00:06:08:45
Bryan Calvo
It’s stuff that we’re seeing nationwide. People are kind of ready for a generational shift in politics, and it was very clear and very obvious to the voter without having to say anything, that my candidacy was one of change simply, if nothing else, because of my age. Now, even though I’m young, I’m also the first attorney in our city’s history to hold the office of mayor.

00:06:08:47 – 00:06:15:32
Bryan Calvo
Really? I’m also the first person graduated from Harvard to hold that office. So I brought a lot to the table. And I think that’s what cut through a lot of the noise.

00:06:15:35 – 00:06:23:56
David Martin
And what made you think, at the ripe old age of 28, that you could lead a large city? I mean, highly is is a is a big part of Miami.

00:06:23:58 – 00:06:42:21
Bryan Calvo
So, you know, I wasn’t walking into it blind. I was a council member in the city for four years, so I understood. And you know how the government worked from the inside. I understood the city’s finances before even considering running, and I understood exactly what needed to happen. What were the levers of government we needed to to press?

00:06:42:21 – 00:07:00:37
Bryan Calvo
For example, one of the issues that were running across is highly is not a young city where over a hundred years old, so a lot of the processes are antiquated. We still use a lot of paper based stuff. A lot of the frustrations you hear from the residents are that it’s so difficult to open up a water account, so difficult to get a building permit and to open up a business.

00:07:00:37 – 00:07:17:19
Bryan Calvo
You can be waiting up to two years. So a lot of my messaging had to do with that. As a young candidate, how I can bring technology and some of these other things to the table to clean up those processes in an efficient way. So we’re not costing more money to the taxpayer, but at the same time make everything more efficient.

00:07:17:21 – 00:07:42:05
David Martin
Being from Miami, I know this to be true. Hialeah has a history of trouble in government. I won’t use the word corruption, but they certainly have had. I think previous mayors have been indicted. I think previous mayors have been arrested. There have been a lot of problems in the city of Hialeah, you know, stretching back over years, years when we’re talking about why are we willing to take all that on in that history on.

00:07:42:08 – 00:07:42:46
Bryan Calvo
You know.

00:07:42:53 – 00:07:44:15
David Martin
Is that a fair representation?

00:07:44:17 – 00:07:48:51
Bryan Calvo
Look, I think Hialeah has had issues, other cities have had issues. Miami has had a lot of issues.

00:07:48:51 – 00:07:49:31
David Martin
Certainly.

00:07:49:31 – 00:08:10:35
Bryan Calvo
The point is this, look, it’s a it’s not business as usual in our city, right? My candidacy shows that people want, you know, an honest, transparent government. Those are such overused terms in politics. Gets to the point nobody even knows what that means. But for me, what it means is very simple. There’s an issue that needs to be fixed.

00:08:10:40 – 00:08:40:31
Bryan Calvo
Being able to communicate what I’m going to do, how we made that decision, I think goes a very long way. And if nothing else, governing with integrity is so, so, so important. And that’s where I showcase, I guess, that legal background and acumen that, you know, when we design even our city code, just even in the small stuff, putting the scales of justice and saying, this is going to be a government that is guided by that principle of integrity, of reform, and also moving forward and looking towards the progress that we can deliver.

00:08:40:33 – 00:08:48:52
David Martin
24 years old, you decided to run for City Council. What were you thinking at 24? Lots of people are like, you know, playing football or softball league.

00:08:48:54 – 00:09:07:41
Bryan Calvo
Maybe I wasn’t thinking, I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. You know, when I, when I ran at 24, the conversation I had back then was a lot of people would ask me, why are you running? You know, are you crazy? Government is so nasty and politics is so dirty. And, you know, there’s all these issues and all these interests.

00:09:07:41 – 00:09:29:11
Bryan Calvo
And I always said, you know, if I don’t do it, who’s going to do it? That’s a little, you know, I think tough. But I think it’s real that, you know, we kind of have to have that desire of public service in us. That’s something that I always had as a kid. It’s like at the end of the day, I’m a product of my parents, and it’s what my parents instilled in me growing up and being able to give back to to my own community.

00:09:29:16 – 00:09:46:08
Bryan Calvo
What a council member makes basically is, you know, pennies, right? You don’t do it for the money. You do it because you want to improve your your city. And then getting in there. When I was a council member my first year, I remember kind of lifting up the hood and saying, wow, it’s actually worse than people told me it would be.

00:09:46:10 – 00:10:06:35
Bryan Calvo
I didn’t know it would be this bad, but I very quickly grew up, if nothing else, professionally, I grew up and understood, you know, the road I was traveling and how to navigate some things. And some days are very, very high moments and you get great wins and other days you, you know, you look down, you say, wow, this, you know, this is not what I signed up for.

00:10:06:35 – 00:10:14:18
Bryan Calvo
But navigating those four years, I truly felt in my heart that I would be the best candidate to lead the city forward as its next mayor.

00:10:14:20 – 00:10:18:42
David Martin
The person you beat out as mayor. Are they part of the city now? Still?

00:10:18:44 – 00:10:38:09
Bryan Calvo
So I ran in a five person race. Two of the people there were actually incumbents. One was the sitting interim mayor of the city, and the other person was another council member who had served as the president of the council for many years, both backed by the machine and backed by a lot of resources and special interests and what have you.

00:10:38:09 – 00:11:02:51
Bryan Calvo
And then there was two other sort of outside candidates. So we were a group of five. I ran for almost a year knocking on doors. It was it was primarily my candidacy was based on grassroots efforts. I knocked personally as the candidate over 15,000 homes, which is a number, you say, and you almost don’t even believe. But I would every single day chip away, chip away.

00:11:02:51 – 00:11:20:02
Bryan Calvo
And I would be tracking that over the course of a year, Monday through Sunday. I would be doing that. And then obviously I had a great volunteer network of people that were helping me, and collectively, we knocked well over 50,000 doors. So that canvasing really made a huge difference.

00:11:20:07 – 00:11:23:26
David Martin
What was your reaction to people when they saw you and they said, hi, I’m running from there.

00:11:23:28 – 00:11:40:44
Bryan Calvo
They loved it. They loved it because, you know, a lot of times when we talk about city government, you know, even though it’s a city, people want to feel like it’s run in a neighborly way. They want to have access. They want to be able to, you know, literally touch the mayor. Right. And that’s something you don’t get from other levels of government.

00:11:40:44 – 00:12:05:33
Bryan Calvo
So I really felt that that was the game changer in my campaign. I don’t think if if I wouldn’t have done that, even if I would have had the same message, even if I would have had everything the same, I don’t think I would have had as much success as I did. I end up winning outright without the need to go to a general election, because I went with 52% in a crowded five way field, so I beat out second place by 32 points.

00:12:05:33 – 00:12:08:49
Bryan Calvo
There was a 32 point margin between first and second place.

00:12:08:52 – 00:12:15:10
David Martin
Is it difficult to manage people who are twice your age, who’ve been there ten times as long?

00:12:15:18 – 00:12:31:36
Bryan Calvo
Well, you get the obviously the condescending and the sarcastic and you know, I know better, but that’s vulnerable to a very clear attack, which is, well, if you know better. Why didn’t you just do it, you know, why are we still facing these problems? You’ve been there X amount of years and you still haven’t done it, and now you’re promising you’re going to do it.

00:12:31:41 – 00:12:37:31
Bryan Calvo
And so again, my youth I think was was a huge asset to to making that distinction clear.

00:12:37:31 – 00:12:39:33
David Martin
You said you signed five executive orders.

00:12:39:36 – 00:12:40:07
Bryan Calvo
That’s right.

00:12:40:09 – 00:12:41:19
David Martin
So your first day.

00:12:41:19 – 00:12:55:44
Bryan Calvo
So beautifully I think done in the sense of the communications angle, which I literally saw in, I put my hand down from the Bible, and I immediately sat down with a pen and started signing, signing away different things that we had.

00:12:55:47 – 00:12:58:03
David Martin
So over the executive orders, what are your what’s your agenda?

00:12:58:06 – 00:13:20:38
Bryan Calvo
So the first one was the elimination of pensions for elected officials. It was a huge point in our campaign. Obviously people wanted to in our city was very clear that they wanted our elected officials not to have a lifelong pension. After X number of years of service in government, that they should be compensated for their time there in the office, but not lifetime.

00:13:20:38 – 00:13:38:25
Bryan Calvo
We have former mayors in our city that are making over 300,000 a year, sitting at home because they were mayors 20 years ago, and so that was very important to eliminate something that I did immediately through executive order. So I, as mayor, will not collect a single dime after I leave office. The second one had to do with.

00:13:38:27 – 00:13:41:43
David Martin
Let’s talk about that one. Sure. You did that. How did that go over?

00:13:41:44 – 00:13:55:43
Bryan Calvo
I think it went went over well with residents, obviously with the elected officials, they maybe weren’t as happy with it. But again, I mean, they saw that, you know, I had the backing, the clear backing of our residents. And so, you know, you had to kind of lick your wounds.

00:13:55:53 – 00:13:58:47
David Martin
From a financial point of view for the city of Hialeah. Did it have to be done?

00:13:58:57 – 00:14:05:59
Bryan Calvo
It represents enormous savings. You know, we’re talking about collectively, well over $2 million that that were saved. So what is.

00:14:06:06 – 00:14:07:54
David Martin
That what are you going to do with that bonus money?

00:14:07:54 – 00:14:29:22
Bryan Calvo
So, you know, one of the proposals that I had was we have a lot of seniors in our community and a lot of these seniors, you know, especially they’re living on a on a fixed pension, fixed income, when one of the one of the persons in the in the couple passes away, the person that remains there, they’re at risk of losing their home, especially because we have some of the highest insurance rates across Florida.

00:14:29:22 – 00:14:47:37
Bryan Calvo
We have, you know, our our tax rates are quite high. So one of my proposals has been throughout the campaign that for people over 65, being able to give them a tax break, basically a full write off on their tax bill for the city. And so basically we’re using these funds to to be able to fund basically that program.

00:14:47:37 – 00:14:49:15
David Martin
That’s number one. What were the other four.

00:14:49:16 – 00:15:13:43
Bryan Calvo
So the second one had to do with contracts. So our city, you know, half $1 billion budget, there’s many, many contracts over 160 contracts that for more than ten years have never been put out to bid. And so basically it’s been a review, a complete internal audit of all of our contracting system. Throw a bunch of these contracts back up for review and bidding, with the goal of again, saving money for our residents.

00:15:13:45 – 00:15:37:42
Bryan Calvo
Going back to that first goal, which is to be able to further fund this 65 and over tax write off. Essentially, that’s the second one. The third one had to do with basically an audit of our city’s public works department. It’s a department that’s facing enormous, enormous issues. We’re getting sued as a city, $18 million by the county for lack of payment on on water bills.

00:15:37:42 – 00:15:59:19
Bryan Calvo
We own our own water municipality, but we do run our sewer through Miami-Dade County. Who’s the only one that’s permitted to to clean up sewer water. So that represents an enormous fiscal impact to our city. And in their like most of the country, we have huge infrastructure challenges. We have an aging, crippling infrastructure that’s over 60, 70 years old.

00:15:59:19 – 00:16:24:39
Bryan Calvo
And because the population of the city has has expanded in the last ten years, we’ve grown more than 100,000 residents. There’s a lot of strain. And that strains development and strains being able to bring businesses to the city. So I’ve asked immediately to get a list within 120 days, an audit of the department where we’re at. And number two, a list of solutions that I can take immediate action on to start remedying some of these issues.

00:16:24:39 – 00:16:45:16
Bryan Calvo
Obviously, we know it’s not going to get fixed overnight, but we need to very aggressively move and chart a path forward. The next order has to do with our 901 communications department. While I was on the council, there was a lot of issues where residents were complaining that they were calling 901 and they weren’t getting their phone call answered, if you can believe that.

00:16:45:16 – 00:16:56:54
Bryan Calvo
And when I was on the council, we pulled that data and we were seeing that it was upwards of 4 to 5000 calls were being missed on a monthly basis. And our 901 communications. So what I did is.

00:16:56:56 – 00:16:59:32
David Martin
That’s a lot of calls. That’s a lot of calls for 911.

00:16:59:34 – 00:17:19:28
Bryan Calvo
That’s a lot of calls. And it has to do with with staffing shortages, something that we’re seeing across the country. There are staffing shortages, a very specific job. You need state certification. It takes eight months of training in order to be able to sit in one of these positions. The pay is not always there. The burnout is very high, as you can imagine.

00:17:19:28 – 00:17:41:29
Bryan Calvo
So when I was on the council, I charted a path forward for us to start hiring and retaining more personnel. And basically what I’ve done is I’ve ordered a complete revision of where we’re at today that I take over as mayor so we can see, you know, is there anything else that needs to be done and how we can implement that as quickly as possible to make sure, like I said, 100% of our calls need to be answered.

00:17:41:29 – 00:17:43:39
Bryan Calvo
It’s that simple. Yeah.

00:17:43:53 – 00:17:46:08
David Martin
Yeah, 100% of all time calls.

00:17:46:12 – 00:17:48:15
Bryan Calvo
Should be answered. Crazy concept.

00:17:48:17 – 00:17:50:10
David Martin
So I’m hearing a lot of good government.

00:17:50:10 – 00:18:17:20
Bryan Calvo
So right. And so the last one. So we as a city we’re actually one of the most Hispanic cities in the United States. 87% of our population is a Cuban origin. And so we were tracking obviously, what was happening in Venezuela over the past month or so. And a lot of our residents have been complaining that in Cuba, there’s a lot of businesses here in our city from the Cuban government that are operating in their money laundering.

00:18:17:22 – 00:18:33:57
Bryan Calvo
One of the statistics nationwide is that one of Hialeah ZIP codes, which is 33012. It is the according to the FBI, the location with the highest amount of money laundering in the nation. And so we’ve seen the stuff going on, obviously.

00:18:34:02 – 00:18:36:21
David Martin
Congratulations on being number one.

00:18:36:26 – 00:18:58:06
Bryan Calvo
Number one and something. Right. Yeah. So I’ve said, look, I want to put together a task force. And that’s what I signed into executive order, put in a task force to revise money laundering for businesses that, you know, maybe money laundering for the Cuban government. But just generally speaking, we need to crack down on this. We do have a good economic crimes department, but they need a lot more help.

00:18:58:06 – 00:19:05:41
Bryan Calvo
They need a lot more resources, and we need to be able to partner with state and federal to be able to push these cases along. So that’s exactly what we’re going to do.

00:19:05:44 – 00:19:08:36
David Martin
So five executive orders. Any other goals as mayor.

00:19:08:39 – 00:19:33:23
Bryan Calvo
So right now over the next six months it’s being able to do a lot of the turnover. So a lot of the directors I have 17 directors that report directly to me and that basically, you know, I’m doing basically a Swot analysis of every single department seeing where the strengths are, where the weaknesses are, where the opportunities lay, and then deciding personnel wise, which are the directors that I’m going to keep, which are the ones that I’m going to change.

00:19:33:23 – 00:19:36:56
Bryan Calvo
Because again, I am a city manager as well as being the strong mayor.

00:19:36:58 – 00:19:42:41
David Martin
Is there something in Hialeah that Hialeah really needs that you’re trying to that you would like to see implemented in your term?

00:19:42:41 – 00:20:06:14
Bryan Calvo
We need to take the city to the next level. I think there’s a stagnation economically. We were a manufacturing town for many, many years, especially in the 90s. We saw a lot of these businesses leave through NAFTA and for other reasons. The point is, we need a path forward as a city right now, if you look at what the number one sector is for business development, it’s healthcare, right.

00:20:06:16 – 00:20:34:33
Bryan Calvo
But healthcare is a little limited, especially when you have, you know, students from our schools graduating. They want to have a diverse career choices. So I think bringing in a lot of nationwide companies is going to be important. Miami is getting a lot of attention. South Florida is getting international attention, especially this year. So if we can channel a lot of that investment and opportunity towards a working sound like Hialeah and bring more manufacturing, especially aerospace, there’s a lot of things going on in that region.

00:20:34:33 – 00:20:44:26
Bryan Calvo
I think we can we can make huge improvements to the quality of life over residents and keep more of our young people in the city so they don’t leave off to look for careers elsewhere.

00:20:44:28 – 00:20:57:06
David Martin
A lot of the conversation here at the Conference of Mayors, we’re recording this in January, has been about immigration enforcement. Yeah. You’re from Hialeah? Sure. A very Hispanic city, I believe. If it’s not 100%, it’s probably 98%.

00:20:57:08 – 00:20:59:01
Bryan Calvo
Yeah, I think it’s 92%.

00:20:59:03 – 00:21:01:13
David Martin
92%. Hispanic Hispanic.

00:21:01:13 – 00:21:04:56
Bryan Calvo
87 is Cuban. And then the remainder is others.

00:21:05:00 – 00:21:08:15
David Martin
Are you concerned and are the people concerned? And what are you hearing?

00:21:08:17 – 00:21:29:35
Bryan Calvo
Do you know, although you hear a lot of concern and I understand and stuff that’s going around nationwide in our city specifically, we haven’t had any raids by Ice. We haven’t had, you know, people are still living normally. And again, you know, like you cited most of the Spanish city in the country. So listen, sometimes, you know, everybody has a different experience through this.

00:21:29:35 – 00:21:37:54
Bryan Calvo
And if issues change over the course of the next few months, we’ll look at it then. But right now it’s not a top priority. It just isn’t based on what we’re seeing.

00:21:37:56 – 00:21:42:05
David Martin
Have you been talking with mayors in anticipation of it becoming a problem?

00:21:42:08 – 00:22:07:04
Bryan Calvo
We have certainly. And, you know, there’s all these like, agreements and stuff that the state basically was asking all the cities to sign. So we do have those in our local agreements. But again, one of the things that I’ve said from the beginning, throughout my candidacy is, you know, our local police officers, they have to be focused on one thing, is making sure the city is safe, and that means enforcing our own laws as a city, our ordinances and obviously state laws.

00:22:07:06 – 00:22:19:22
Bryan Calvo
So, you know, for the foreseeable future, I don’t I don’t believe that they should be doing any immigration enforcement. And again, Ice, for whatever reason, has not done anything in our city as of yet.

00:22:19:25 – 00:22:21:24
David Martin
As of yet. Well good luck.

00:22:21:25 – 00:22:22:34
Bryan Calvo
Thank you, thank you.

00:22:22:37 – 00:22:24:58
David Martin
That was the hard part. Now we’re going to get to the easy part.

00:22:25:00 – 00:22:29:22
Bryan Calvo
Okay.

00:22:29:27 – 00:22:53:13
David Martin
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00:22:53:13 – 00:23:04:41
David Martin
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00:23:04:46 – 00:23:30:20
David Martin
After you get done with this episode. Hear more good government stories with our friends at How to Really Run a City for members Kasim Reed of Atlanta and Michael Nutter of Philadelphia, and their co-host, journalist and author Larry Platt talk with guests and other mayors about how to really get stuff done in cities around the nation. Check them out where you’re listening now or through their nonprofit news site, The Philadelphia Citizen.

00:23:30:25 – 00:23:34:35
David Martin
Arts.

00:23:34:39 – 00:24:00:00
Narrator
Across America, there is a growing demand for leadership that delivers results over rhetoric. The Good Government Institute brings together proven ideas, principled leaders, and real world solutions to strengthen how we govern not by reinventing the system, but by advancing what already works. On our flagship podcast, The Good Government Show, we highlight the leaders behind that progress, demonstrating how effective governance begins with listening, respect and a commitment to serve.

00:24:00:02 – 00:24:05:47
Narrator
Visit Good Gov Institute to learn more.

00:24:05:52 – 00:24:12:47
David Martin
All right. We have a list of questions I ask every mayor. It’s the hardest question though is first what is good government. Define it.

00:24:12:52 – 00:24:31:24
Bryan Calvo
You know good government to me is not being just a good mayor a good politician. It’s about transcending and making it better for the people that come ahead. So what does that mean to me? Fixing a lot of our charter, fixing a lot of our ordinances, making it so that you have a balance of power between the legislative and the executive.

00:24:31:26 – 00:24:44:18
Bryan Calvo
Good government brings also transparency. Again, overused term, but it allows people to have knowledge and access to information on a timely basis so they can understand what decisions are being made and why they’re being made.

00:24:44:21 – 00:24:50:04
David Martin
If people are frustrated with government like you were, what should they do? I mean, not everybody’s going to run for office.

00:24:50:06 – 00:25:10:19
Bryan Calvo
Not everybody’s going to run for office, but anybody can be a part of the conversation. And that means attending the council meetings. That means maybe something as simple as engaging with social media, writing a comment, giving us your opinion, calling City Hall, writing to our office. I think all those things let us, you know, get everybody’s point of view.

00:25:10:22 – 00:25:14:02
Bryan Calvo
Then when we’re making that decision, it’s going to be something more equitable to everybody.

00:25:14:05 – 00:25:17:16
David Martin
What made you go into public service back in 24?

00:25:17:19 – 00:25:37:27
Bryan Calvo
Look, something I’ve always liked as a as a young kid, I remember doing food drives literally in middle school, we were picking up food. We were doing a homeless outreach. We were engaging with youth offenders. So that stuff that I always did as a kid, something I always enjoyed, and then it was a natural progression when I went to college, that’s exactly what I studied, what I loved doing.

00:25:37:27 – 00:25:46:03
Bryan Calvo
And look, I always believed that government can really do wonderful things if it’s run by the right people. And so that’s why I wanted to run in and to serve my community.

00:25:46:05 – 00:25:47:43
David Martin
Who inspires you?

00:25:47:48 – 00:26:03:40
Bryan Calvo
I honestly have to give it to my parents. My parents were always people that showed service, you know, put there, you know, they were hard working jobs. And then at the end of the day when they clocked out, they would go and help others. And so I take a lot of the credit of who I am because of them.

00:26:03:42 – 00:26:07:04
David Martin
Do you have anyone in government or politics who I do not. Who inspires you?

00:26:07:04 – 00:26:27:12
Bryan Calvo
I do not. Well, I’ve had a question was going if any of my family has been in policy, I don’t have that look. I read the biographies of many of our presidents and elected officials. And, you know, I, I like JFK, I like, you know, some of the stuff Lincoln did. I mean, you know, at the end of the day, no one is perfect.

00:26:27:15 – 00:26:36:07
Bryan Calvo
No elected official is perfect. I think you can get good and bad from everybody and just learn and be yourself. Also, not to mimic others, but be yourself and unauthenticated.

00:26:36:09 – 00:26:40:19
David Martin
So this goes way back. Were you president of your high school class or something like that?

00:26:40:21 – 00:26:47:40
Bryan Calvo
You know, it’s funny, I ran for class president. I lost that, but it’s the only election I’ve lost. The other ones I’ve won.

00:26:47:42 – 00:26:56:15
David Martin
All right. Very good. So, four years in city council, two weeks here in January as mayor. What would you like people to know about government? They don’t know.

00:26:56:20 – 00:27:02:34
Bryan Calvo
What would I like people to know about government? Well, it’s it’s a blood sport. It’s not for the.

00:27:02:34 – 00:27:06:00
David Martin
Weak, but no one said it’s a blood sport.

00:27:06:05 – 00:27:31:01
Bryan Calvo
Bloodsport. It’s a blood forced look. And so, you know, as much as it affects you personally, you know, whether you let that get to you or not, it affects your family, you know? So it really requires a strong nucleus, a family nucleus, friends, family, surrounding yourself by good people to kind of, you know, cut, cut through some of the noise and some of the haters out there and just do do the things for the right reasons.

00:27:31:04 – 00:27:36:52
David Martin
You’re 28 years old. You’ve just been elected mayor of Hialeah. Do you feel like you’re restoring people’s faith in government?

00:27:36:54 – 00:27:54:17
Bryan Calvo
I think so. I see it in people’s eyes each and every day. When I. When I walk through my community, people are excited. They’re energized. They’re mobilized in a way that I hadn’t seen in a very long time or ever. And a lot of people, a lot of the old timers that they’ve been around, they said, wow, we haven’t seen this energy in a very, very long time.

00:27:54:17 – 00:27:55:12
Bryan Calvo
So yes, I do.

00:27:55:14 – 00:28:01:55
David Martin
All right. So next time I come to Miami, I’m going to leave Coconut Grove. I’m going to come to Hialeah. Where are you taking me? What are we having?

00:28:01:57 – 00:28:03:16
Bryan Calvo
What’s you know, we.

00:28:03:16 – 00:28:03:33
David Martin
Have.

00:28:03:35 – 00:28:09:16
Bryan Calvo
What do we best? The best French restaurant in Miami Dade is actually in Hialeah.

00:28:09:18 – 00:28:09:57
David Martin
The best French.

00:28:09:57 – 00:28:29:10
Bryan Calvo
Restaurant, best French restaurant is called la forza francesa. The French strawberry. Okay, is the translation. It’s a Cuban that married somebody in Paris. French woman. And they moved to Hialeah and they opened it up. And it’s rated one of the best in the state in French food. But best of Miami Dade. Wow. Believe it or not. So we can go there.

00:28:29:12 – 00:28:34:42
David Martin
All right, all right. So we’re going to have French in Hialeah. That’s that’ll be different. Let’s do it. What do you do for fun?

00:28:34:43 – 00:28:40:00
Bryan Calvo
So I’m an avid scuba diver. Spear fisher I’m also pilot.

00:28:40:02 – 00:28:40:55
David Martin
Do that in the keys.

00:28:40:57 – 00:28:56:58
Bryan Calvo
And down in the keys a lot. Yeah. Cross over to the Bahamas as well. I love boating and love diving, and I’m also a pilot, so I got my license ten years ago. Not for a career purpose, but just to as a hobby. And so something I enjoy doing just kind of clear the mind for a bit and just, you know.

00:28:57:03 – 00:28:59:13
David Martin
Fly over to the Bahamas, get, get.

00:28:59:18 – 00:29:01:13
Bryan Calvo
Come back and come back. Exactly. All right. You got.

00:29:01:13 – 00:29:08:14
David Martin
It right. This is the good government show. We always like to bring it back to good government. Tell me about a good government project that you’re really excited about getting off the ground.

00:29:08:15 – 00:29:28:25
Bryan Calvo
So I’m launching a complete review of our charter. And one of those things is, you know, we have our elections on odd numbered years. The number of voters that actually participate in some of these municipal elections, it’s only about 10%. Turnout is what we see. So we’re working right now to shift those elections to the even years so we can get more engagement.

00:29:28:25 – 00:29:42:32
Bryan Calvo
And I think based on what we’ve seen, we can get as high as 80%. And I think that’ll really fix a lot of the issues you’ve seen because your, your local representatives are going to represent you better when you have a larger percentage share of the population engaged in that process.

00:29:42:32 – 00:29:49:58
David Martin
I had a conversation with the folks from Citizens Union in New York. That is exactly what they said. So you are lining up with New York City?

00:29:50:00 – 00:29:50:22
Bryan Calvo
Oh, look.

00:29:50:22 – 00:30:04:14
David Martin
At that. Look at you. Brian Calvo, the youngest mayor, possibly in America, certainly the youngest mayor in the history of Hialeah. Thank you for coming. And thank you. Two weeks. Good luck. I will be back here next year and we will sit down next year. And I want to.

00:30:04:18 – 00:30:04:45
Bryan Calvo
Recap.

00:30:04:57 – 00:30:07:18
David Martin
I want to hear your first year when we’ll see you.

00:30:07:23 – 00:30:11:49
Bryan Calvo
Thank you. Thank you so much.

00:30:11:54 – 00:30:33:21
David Martin
The Good Government Institute has a new partner, the Charles F Kettering Foundation. I really like their podcast to context, and I bet you will too. They have a new series called Democracy Under Construction. The show is hosted by historian Alex Lovett, and he looks back at the first 250 years of U.S. history. Alex digs into the moments that have pushed us towards an inclusive democracy.

00:30:33:24 – 00:30:41:52
David Martin
You can find it where you’re listening right now, or visit Kettering and give them a follow.

00:30:41:57 – 00:30:59:49
David Martin
Want to hear more about good government? Check out another show I host leading Iowa Good Government in Iowa cities. I host the show with Brad Kavanagh, mayor of Dubuque, Iowa, and the immediate past president of the Iowa League of Cities. Together, we talked to leaders in Iowa cities. We talk about what works and what good government looks like in Iowa.

00:30:59:54 – 00:31:07:58
David Martin
Join us right here. We’re listening. Now that’s leading Iowa. Good government in Iowa cities.

00:31:08:03 – 00:31:27:59
David Martin
What if Lincoln hadn’t been shot? What if World War One hadn’t happened? Jim Ludlow, Good Government show executive producer, explores both those ideas in two books in Lincoln Beyond the Bullet he imagines that Lincoln lives in while cousins, he imagines what would have happened if three kings, all cousins, hadn’t blundered their way into war. What if? Think about it.

00:31:28:01 – 00:31:34:37
David Martin
Go to Good Institute and order a copy.

00:31:34:42 – 00:31:56:55
David Martin
As we discussed, Hialeah hasn’t always had a track record for good government, but Mayor Brian Calvo says he’s putting the city government back on the right track. He says, quote, and if nothing else, governing with integrity is so, so, so important. It is. And when it’s done right, it’s good government. It’s nice to see persistence. I mean, hey, he lost his high school class election, but he says he’s won every race since then.

00:31:56:57 – 00:32:12:35
David Martin
Now he’s mayor of Hialeah, Florida. A good bounce back. And I got to check out a French restaurant Hialeah. I mean, I love a Royce, but I also love a good French restaurant in the heart of Miami’s Cuban community. That’s our show. Thanks for listening. Please like us and shares with your friends and review us right here where you’re listening, and check out our website.

00:32:12:37 – 00:32:26:17
David Martin
Good Government show for extras. Help us keep telling stories of good government and action everywhere. Join us again for another episode right here. I’m Dave Martin and this is the Good Government show.

00:32:26:22 – 00:33:04:34
David Martin
The Good Government Show is produced by the Good Government Institute, a nonprofit organization promoting civic engagement and civic education. All donations to the show help promote trust in government. You can donate at Good Govt Institute. That’s good govt institute. Executive producers are Jim Ludlow, Dave Martin, that’s me and David Snyder. Jason Stershic is our editor and producer. Join us again to hear good stories about our government right here on The Good Government Show.

00:33:04:39 – 00:33:07:41
Narrator
This podcast is part of the democracy Group.

**This transcription was created using digital tools and has not been edited by a live person. We apologize for any discrepancies or errors.