One year on the job with the Mayor of Berkeley

00:00:00:04 – 00:00:03:33
David Martin
This is the good government show.

00:00:03:38 – 00:00:19:18
Adena Ishii
The best job ever. The best job I’ve ever had. It’s. It’s engaging. I learn a lot. Every single day I get a chance to interact with my community in a really deep way. It’s just. It’s exciting.

00:00:19:22 – 00:00:28:12
Adena Ishii
At the end of the day, I’m a public servant. That’s my job is to make sure our community has what it needs.

00:00:28:17 – 00:00:39:26
Adena Ishii
My work has been constantly about advocating for people, for the community, for housing, for services, resources.

00:00:39:31 – 00:00:49:52
Adena Ishii
Every day I wake up knowing that I get an opportunity to continue to serve my community in a way that can be very impactful.

00:00:49:57 – 00:01:09:31
David Martin
One of the fun things I get to do on this job is catch up with government leaders after I get to know them a little bit. I first met Adena Ishi right after she’d been elected mayor of Berkeley, California. On this episode, I get to catch up with her. Welcome to the Good Government show. I’m Dave Martin. First, help us show the message of good government by liking us and sharing us where we are on social media.

00:01:09:34 – 00:01:26:26
David Martin
I know Meridian Ishi will make sure of us and share our show everywhere she’s going to. We all need to talk about good government. So after I met the mayor, she put me on her mailing list and I can tell you. She’s a great communicator. She’s constantly updating constituents about what she’s doing and what’s going on in Berkeley.

00:01:26:26 – 00:01:46:41
David Martin
And she can be pretty up front when she talks about challenges to the city. One of her recent emails was her announcing 13 local artists whose works will be on display in City Hall. It’s not going to change the world, except maybe for those artists, but it’s another way Mayor Ishi connects with the citizens of Berkeley, and she’ll tell you that being out and about in your city is a great way to meet and greet the people of her city.

00:01:46:55 – 00:02:01:57
David Martin
As to what she learned after her first year, she said, being mayor is the best job in the world. So coming up, my conversation with Berkeley, California mayor Adena Ishi and her thoughts after her first year in office.

00:02:02:02 – 00:02:28:43
David Martin
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00:02:28:46 – 00:02:53:11
David Martin
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00:02:53:13 – 00:03:02:13
David Martin
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00:03:02:17 – 00:03:20:28
David Martin
Once you wrap up this episode of The Good Government Show, give a listen to our friends over at Good News for lefties. This daily podcast highlights news stories that show there’s more good news out there. Other people in government are really trying to do the right thing. That’s good news for lefties. Listen where you’re listening now.

00:03:20:33 – 00:03:25:26
David Martin
Welcome back, Mara Adena Ishii of Berkeley, California. Good to have you back on the show.

00:03:25:28 – 00:03:26:24
Adena Ishii
Good to be back.

00:03:26:26 – 00:03:32:32
David Martin
So this is the good government show we talked about a year ago when you were a brand new mayor. How’s it going?

00:03:32:35 – 00:03:33:23
Adena Ishii
It’s going great.

00:03:33:25 – 00:03:34:11
David Martin
It’s going great.

00:03:34:13 – 00:03:37:08
Adena Ishii
Yeah. I love my job. It is literally the best job.

00:03:37:10 – 00:03:37:54
David Martin
The best job.

00:03:38:08 – 00:03:49:55
Adena Ishii
The best job ever. The best job I’ve ever had. It’s. It’s engaging. I learn a lot. Every single day. I get a chance to interact with my community in a really deep way. It’s just it’s exciting.

00:03:49:58 – 00:03:58:25
David Martin
It’s great. When we spoke last year, you were just starting out. What has changed in what you thought the job was going to be to what it is?

00:03:58:26 – 00:04:14:08
Adena Ishii
I think I had a really good understanding of what the job was going to be. And I feel like when we talked about this last year, I might have said the same thing. And you were like, well, let’s talk about it next year. We’ll see. But but here we are here later. And and actually, yeah, I feel like I came in with both eyes open.

00:04:14:13 – 00:04:35:36
Adena Ishii
I would say that one challenge that I wasn’t fully expecting, I knew it was going to be somewhat of a challenge, but is how the federal administration’s impacting our city in terms of grants that have been lost in terms of the threat of Ice. I think that those are things that I didn’t expect to be quite as involved in.

00:04:35:38 – 00:04:47:18
David Martin
So you’ve got a quick education in federal government and you. Yeah. And what has that led you to determine? How much power do you have? I mean, what, you know, like how do you deal with.

00:04:47:23 – 00:05:05:27
Adena Ishii
Yeah, that’s a great question. So for example, the grants so we’ve lost grant funding for vaccines, for the arts, for trees in our city. And our city staff have worked to find other grants that can help to fund these, these things in our city. And I think that’s really.

00:05:05:39 – 00:05:06:36
David Martin
Have you been successful?

00:05:06:39 – 00:05:26:40
Adena Ishii
Yeah, we have been successful in finding some other opportunities for funding. And this is like, that’s actually what I feel like is the importance of local government is that even if the federal government says, actually, this is no longer our priority or we don’t believe in climate change or equity, therefore you can’t have this grant anymore. We’re the ones who have to pick up the slack.

00:05:26:40 – 00:05:47:05
Adena Ishii
We’re the ones who have to figure it out. And so, you know, I’m really proud to be involved in a local level because this really gives us an opportunity to to protect our communities. Even when there was a government shutdown that really impacted people in our local community. And I think sometimes when you’re in the federal level, you don’t really see those direct impacts.

00:05:47:05 – 00:05:55:41
Adena Ishii
And we were the ones who were trying to support our Berkeley Food Network. We’re trying to get resources out to the community. We’re trying to make sure folks could eat well.

00:05:55:41 – 00:06:02:33
David Martin
That’s important. Have you been able to secure enough local funding to make up for the shortfall from the federal government?

00:06:02:35 – 00:06:23:41
Adena Ishii
Oh, no. I mean, we’re losing funding on the federal level. We’re also losing funding on the state level. And that’s not just because we’re being punished. It’s it’s actually just because what’s happening right now with the economy and and so, yeah, we’re constantly trying to find other sources of funding looking to increase our revenues. I’ve been really excited about increasing tourism to our city.

00:06:23:41 – 00:06:37:05
Adena Ishii
So come visit the city of Berkeley. We have a tourism bureau called Visit Berkeley, which does really incredible work and and shows, you know, all the great museums and events and restaurants that we have in our city.

00:06:37:07 – 00:06:41:19
David Martin
Well, you just brought it up. So I will ask, why should I visit Berkeley? What’s the coolest thing?

00:06:41:21 – 00:07:04:56
Adena Ishii
Yeah. Oh my gosh. Oh I can’t say what the coolest thing is, but I mean, we have a world renowned university. Of course, you see, Berkeley is an incredible, incredible campus. The campus itself is just gorgeous. But, you know, we’re in the Bay area. We have beautiful weather. We have incredible food, really, really fresh food. You know, we’ve got the Gilman wine block, which is where we have a lot of wineries and breweries.

00:07:04:56 – 00:07:18:00
Adena Ishii
We’ve got, you know, Fourth Street with our shopping. We’ve got Telegraph Avenue, which has all of your, you know, Berkeley hippie kind of needs your tie dye, your patches, you know, your bong shops, very, very Berkeley things.

00:07:18:02 – 00:07:19:28
David Martin
Okay. Where do you frequent?

00:07:19:31 – 00:07:37:58
Adena Ishii
Oh, gosh. I’m all over the city. Yes. There’s always something to do in our city. Yeah. I mean, I’m everywhere. I have to be, you know, and I love it. I love visiting the local stores. I like to visit our schools, our non-profits. There’s always something happening. It’s just, like, impossible to be bored in our city.

00:07:38:01 – 00:07:54:50
David Martin
So one of the many reasons why I can’t forget you is because I got on your email list and I get emails from you regularly at least once a week. Which leads me to believe, you know, based on what I see and read when the emails come in. And I actually do read them. You are very, very busy.

00:07:54:53 – 00:08:01:16
David Martin
You are out in the. You are out in the city. You are you are meeting people. You are at events everywhere. How is that helped?

00:08:01:19 – 00:08:20:01
Adena Ishii
I think it means that I have a really good pulse on what’s going on in our city. People let me know when they see an issue that they want the city to work on, things that we could be doing better, things that we’re doing well. I think it’s just so helpful to be out in the community. You really get a chance to understand the people and understand their needs.

00:08:20:01 – 00:08:25:22
Adena Ishii
And at the end of the day, I’m a public servant. That’s my job is to make sure our community has what it means.

00:08:25:24 – 00:08:28:46
David Martin
What’s the reaction you get from the people when they meet you in person?

00:08:28:48 – 00:08:54:25
Adena Ishii
Oh, people are so excited to see me out in the community. Okay. And I actually think that it’s the most fun for me to see kids. Kids are so excited, even if they don’t fully understand what a mayor does. They know that I have an important job in the city and meeting, especially the young Asian children. I think that they especially young Asian girls, they’re really excited to see a mayor that reflects them.

00:08:54:39 – 00:09:05:50
Adena Ishii
And their parents tell me. They’ll say things like, wow, like she looks like me. And that’s just it’s so exciting to hear that and hopefully that I’m inspiring the next generation of leaders.

00:09:05:51 – 00:09:08:41
David Martin
Well, I was going to ask, is any little girl come up to and said, I want to be the mayor?

00:09:08:46 – 00:09:11:55
Adena Ishii
Not yet, but I hope so, I hope so. I’d love to hear that.

00:09:11:58 – 00:09:14:09
David Martin
Okay. Do you routinely go to schools?

00:09:14:09 – 00:09:26:16
Adena Ishii
I get invited quite frequently. I’m a lot at Berkeley City College and UC Berkeley, but I’d love to go visit more elementary schools. I think those those students have really, really good questions, especially in the city of Berkeley.

00:09:26:18 – 00:09:29:13
David Martin
That’s what I was going to ask you. What’s up? What’s a great question to kids have asked?

00:09:29:16 – 00:09:45:44
Adena Ishii
Oh, yeah. I mean, they ask me a lot why I want to be mayor. You know what? What does a mayor do? But I really like that in the city of Berkeley, they’ll ask me questions like, what are you doing around supporting indigenous people’s rights? I’m like, wow, that’s a great question. You know, there’s more work that we need to be doing there.

00:09:45:46 – 00:09:48:10
David Martin
We have eight year old ask you that question. You’re like, oh.

00:09:48:15 – 00:10:03:16
Adena Ishii
I love that. You know, they’re like, you know, what do you think about what’s happening around the world? You know, are you supporting us when it comes to ice? And, you know, I get to tell them we’re a sanctuary city. We’re the first sanctuary city in the nation. And I get to talk about all the work that we’re doing there.

00:10:03:19 – 00:10:12:37
Adena Ishii
I actually lead our Sanctuary City Task Force, which meets monthly. And it’s exciting to be able to talk about that to two young kids who are really interested in learning.

00:10:12:37 – 00:10:20:58
David Martin
How concerned are you in Berkeley, where there are a lot of immigrants about what’s going on federally at the federal level, especially around Ice and immigration?

00:10:20:58 – 00:10:45:40
Adena Ishii
We are very concerned. In the city of Berkeley, you may have heard that there was a threat of an ice surge in the Bay area, and we were really battering down the hatches, I think, as the expression, you know, since the beginning of January 2025, we reaffirmed our sanctuary city status. As I mentioned, you know, we’re the oldest sanctuary city in the nation, and I’m leading a sanctuary city task force.

00:10:45:40 – 00:11:09:10
Adena Ishii
We’re meeting with nonprofits, legal organizations, healthcare organizations, educational institutions to make sure that we have an organized response. If and when I do come to our city, we want to make sure people are supported. We want to make sure they have access to food. We want to make sure families have plans so that their children won’t get left at school, waiting for their parent to come pick them up, and then find out that they’ve been deported.

00:11:09:12 – 00:11:19:07
David Martin
As mayor. Is there much you can do? I mean, the way the government is structured, you know, the federal government can can come in and do kind of what they want, right?

00:11:19:09 – 00:11:37:49
Adena Ishii
There’s a lot of the federal government can do. And like I mentioned, I think all of the things that we are doing are really important. We also set aside funding for a defense fund. We actually made our sanctuary city policy part of law in our city. We are looking at ice free zones. It’s a policy we’ve already asked our city attorney to look into.

00:11:37:51 – 00:11:59:52
Adena Ishii
We’ve joined amicus briefs with the city of Minneapolis. And, you know, our have also put out resolutions that we’re sending to our elected officials. We’re asking our elected officials on the state and federal level to be strong advocates, to really stand up and say that this is absolutely unacceptable, what the federal government is doing, ISIS kidnaping people on the street, including children.

00:11:59:57 – 00:12:11:16
Adena Ishii
This is the time, absolutely, to speak up. And and we know that our residents are out there. They’re protesting. They care about this issue, too. So being a voice here in Washington, D.C., is really important for me.

00:12:11:18 – 00:12:21:49
David Martin
As a new mayor and a young mayor. How how have you developed a relationship with all the people who work in the city, many of whom have been there much longer than you’ve been alive?

00:12:21:53 – 00:12:47:59
Adena Ishii
I don’t know about longer than I’ve been alive, but we definitely have had many long term staffers. And I think that really speaks to how great it is to work for the city of Berkeley, and I’m very proud of that. I love actually just going around our city hall and walking into our other city buildings. I’ve gone down to our corporation yard and talked to folks in public works, and I think that building those relationships is so essential to being a good mayor.

00:12:48:01 – 00:13:00:39
Adena Ishii
Really understanding what our city staff do on a daily basis, what kinds of things that they need, what do they like, what don’t they like? It really helps me figure out how to make sure we’re continuing to run our city in a way that’s going to be successful.

00:13:00:41 – 00:13:09:15
David Martin
What have you learned from one of these longtime city employees who have brought you down and said, Madam Mayor, let me explain how this works.

00:13:09:19 – 00:13:29:13
Adena Ishii
Yeah. Oh my gosh, I’ve learned so much. I got a chance to look into the sewer systems. This is something I’ve actually requested from the very beginning. I’ve done a sit alone with dispatch. I’ve done a ride along with Berkeley Police Department and our fire department as well. It’s really great to just see, like, how does the community interact with them?

00:13:29:13 – 00:13:41:28
Adena Ishii
For instance, on the fire truck, when we’ve got the sirens running, we have people who actually don’t pull over to the side of the road. That was so shocking to me. I’m like, how is that possible? So, you know, making sure people.

00:13:41:28 – 00:13:42:27
David Martin
Live in New York City?

00:13:42:32 – 00:13:46:03
Adena Ishii
Yeah, I absolutely do not live in New York City.

00:13:46:08 – 00:13:48:29
David Martin
But there must have been a steep learning curve fee.

00:13:48:31 – 00:13:53:29
Adena Ishii
Yeah. I mean, I think you’re always learning. I mean, that’s just a part of life, right?

00:13:53:31 – 00:13:53:43
David Martin
Right.

00:13:53:45 – 00:14:12:52
Adena Ishii
Sure. And I don’t think that I ever felt like, oh, this is so overwhelming. You know, people said that to me at the beginning. They’re like, oh, you must be drinking from a fire hose, and I don’t. That’s first of all, that’s like a terrible expression that sounds like, you know. No, it’s just like, that’s an awful expression.

00:14:12:52 – 00:14:31:22
Adena Ishii
And also it didn’t feel that way. Okay. You know, I felt very calm, very grounded. I have staff that is very supportive. I have a great relationship with our city manager. I get along well with our council members. So many mayors here I know can’t say that. And I think that really helped to make me feel like, okay, we’ve got this, we’ve got this under control.

00:14:31:24 – 00:14:37:40
David Martin
Well, then obviously you did something to foster that feeling of cooperation and working together.

00:14:37:43 – 00:14:56:51
Adena Ishii
Yeah. I mean, this is a good government show. So I think it’s going to say the one thing that I am very, very, very proud of is like, of course, the policy stuff is important, but we’ve worked really hard to build respect and collegiality on the council itself. And, you know, before I took office, we had two city council members leave.

00:14:56:54 – 00:15:17:04
Adena Ishii
They said, you know, this is toxic and broken. And I came in with people saying, oh, you know, how are you going to do that with the city council? Like, they don’t get along. And we’ve worked really hard to make sure that people, you know, get to know each other just as human beings, that we build community, that we talk about our shared values and our vision for the city and what are we going to work on together.

00:15:17:04 – 00:15:39:32
Adena Ishii
And I think that’s really helped to give people a sense of ease that they can do the work that they want to do. And even if we disagree, we’re going to have a conversation about it and treat each other with respect. Civil discourse is bedrock of our democracy. And if you watch our City Council meetings, you can see that, you know, we even laugh with each other, which I feel like is so unusual on those city councils.

00:15:39:32 – 00:15:41:46
David Martin
It does sound like good government is happening in Berkeley.

00:15:41:49 – 00:15:43:48
Adena Ishii
Yes, absolutely. I’m very proud of that.

00:15:43:51 – 00:15:46:39
David Martin
What’s been your biggest surprise in your in your first year as mayor?

00:15:46:41 – 00:16:13:20
Adena Ishii
I mean, like we said, what’s happening with the federal government? I knew it was going to be challenging and the way in which we’ve had to organize, you know, I think has been has been really impressive to me, honestly. Like, I think our community, especially the grassroots organizing that’s going on there, it’s really it’s just like it makes me so proud of our residents.

00:16:13:23 – 00:16:15:20
David Martin
What projects have you been able to get off the ground?

00:16:15:23 – 00:16:37:36
Adena Ishii
Yeah, we are working on so much right now. It’s I think, like I said, the Sanctuary City work that we’re doing is really massive. There are some really big pieces of policy that we’ve moved forward, including just recently, we have been able to condo wise ADUs in our city, basically creating more opportunities for folks to buy homes, which is very exciting.

00:16:37:43 – 00:16:59:51
Adena Ishii
We also passed the minimal housing ordinance. We’ve been doing a lot of work around our infrastructure, making sure we’re we’re getting these projects out into the city. I just did a groundbreaking for our African American Holistic Resource Center in South Berkeley, which is a historically redlined neighborhood, and really proud that we’re getting that project off the ground. We’ve got a lot of funds from our city.

00:16:59:54 – 00:17:13:10
Adena Ishii
People have been very generous. Our voters have been very generous in passing these measures that allow us to take care of our city’s crumbling infrastructure, our streets, our parks, our libraries, and and that really makes our city a better place to live.

00:17:13:12 – 00:17:26:57
David Martin
You’re here at the Conference of Mayors, where you are one of the founders of mayors across America. Have you been able to make relationships and work with other mayors? And, you know, do you have have buddies you can call up and go, how did you do this?

00:17:26:59 – 00:17:43:15
Adena Ishii
Yeah, absolutely. I have spent a lot of time, you know, speaking with the mayors here. I really admire Mayor Gloria, mayor of San Diego. He’s been really supportive even since I came last year, has given great advice, has, you know, checked in with me.

00:17:43:17 – 00:17:47:00
David Martin
I had Gloria of San Diego. He’s he’s been a guest on the show as well.

00:17:47:03 – 00:17:58:28
Adena Ishii
Yes. Yeah. He’s wonderful. Yeah. And then also to connect with, you know, other female mayors, other young mayors, other API mayors. So that’s been that’s been a really good opportunity to connect here.

00:17:58:31 – 00:18:03:26
David Martin
Now, you just told me about something which I thought was kind of cool. You’re having a brunch with other new young mayors?

00:18:03:28 – 00:18:03:57
Adena Ishii
Yes.

00:18:03:59 – 00:18:04:59
David Martin
Tell me about this.

00:18:05:02 – 00:18:20:41
Adena Ishii
Yeah, well, I mean, it really started last year when I was sort of looking around and I was like, oh, I might be the youngest mayor here. I’m not sure if we figured out last year if I was this year, I know I’m not, which is good. But I was like, we really need a space for young mayors and an opportunity for us to have a conversation.

00:18:20:41 – 00:18:39:24
Adena Ishii
And then we were kind of like, what is young? And we sort of joke, it’s under 60, maybe under 50. But it’s true. There aren’t that many of us. And so just right now we’re creating a space. We’ve got a little chat going, and we’re going to have much together and just talk about what does it mean to be a young mayor.

00:18:39:28 – 00:18:42:11
Adena Ishii
Young ish is what we call our young ish mayors.

00:18:42:14 – 00:18:43:27
David Martin
And how is this good government?

00:18:43:28 – 00:19:11:24
Adena Ishii
I think when when we have mayors that are new incoming, it can be overwhelming. You can feel unsupported. I think like there are a lot of people who will have very low expectations for you. And so if we want our elected leaders to be confident, to continue to support the next generation, to be taken seriously, these are all things that ways that I think that we can support each other and being successful and therefore having a better government.

00:19:11:26 – 00:19:23:16
David Martin
You were just in a session called Honoring Leadership in the Arts. What’s the state of the arts in America that you that you’ve come up against? And I know you said there were some arts projects. Berkeley is certainly an art city. What’s going on.

00:19:23:19 – 00:19:44:12
Adena Ishii
In the state of our nation? One of the biggest concerns that I have is that we are moving away from equity in the arts. We are no longer having these conversations about access to arts today. Actually, they were talking about making sure that children understand, you know what, arts is not just a hobby. It can actually be a career.

00:19:44:17 – 00:20:04:54
Adena Ishii
And that’s what something else that I want to make sure that we’re supporting in our city as well. We have so many different playhouses. We have art museums. There are so many artists who have been successful. We have we have art collectives in our city. I’m just really I’m really proud of our ability to to support the arts.

00:20:04:54 – 00:20:08:40
Adena Ishii
And I want to make sure that we’re continuing to support the arts in our city as well.

00:20:08:42 – 00:20:14:54
David Martin
Why is supporting the arts with money that could go to other places? Why is that money well spent?

00:20:14:56 – 00:20:39:33
Adena Ishii
Yeah, well, if you want to look at the economic argument, actually, if you put more funding towards arts, culture, events, things like that, that actually is better economically for your city, it’s one of the things that brings people in. For instance, I was talking about tourism earlier and, you know, people actually come to see our art museums, to see our artists, to go to plays from around the Bay area and even from other places around the country.

00:20:39:33 – 00:20:59:03
Adena Ishii
And so, you know, folks don’t always think about that as an, as an economic argument. You really should be you should be talking about that. But then also there’s like the health impacts, the fact that there’s culture, the fact that like being able to express yourself as a human being is really essential to kind of just being a human being, you know?

00:20:59:08 – 00:21:16:29
Adena Ishii
Yeah. And there are there’s so many other impacts. You know, also today they were talking about how veterans who are dealing with trauma, how arts can be very helpful for them. I just think that there are so many benefits, both economic individual, just human.

00:21:16:31 – 00:21:25:02
David Martin
Just human. Good answer. We’re going to come right back and we’re going to ask you the hard questions okay.

00:21:25:06 – 00:21:48:53
David Martin
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00:22:00:40 – 00:22:25:44
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 memories, 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.

00:22:25:48 – 00:22:29:43
David Martin
Podcasts.

00:22:29:48 – 00:22:44:35
David Martin
So you have asked these before. We’ve changed the law out a little bit, so we’ll hopefully we’ll get a fresh take on on our questionnaire answers. The first question I’m sure you remember is what is good government? But more importantly, has your definition of good government changed in the last year?

00:22:44:38 – 00:23:11:26
Adena Ishii
Oh my gosh, I can’t even remember what I told you last year. I’m sure I talked about I’m sure I talked about the importance of democracy, the importance of civic engagement, people’s ability to have civil discourse, all things that I would still say today. Absolutely. It’s so important that as elected leaders that we are really holding ourselves to a higher standard, that we’re being respectful with each other and respectful to the people in our community.

00:23:11:29 – 00:23:12:31
Adena Ishii
I think that’s essential.

00:23:12:31 – 00:23:20:59
David Martin
When you’re out meeting with people and talking with them. Do they express any frustration and what are their complaints? What do they bring them up to you?

00:23:21:02 – 00:23:44:44
Adena Ishii
It’s interesting that you say that because I expected that to happen more. As mayor, I expect people to come up and say, hey, I don’t like this, or there’s a pothole on my street. And actually people have been very respectful of of not of not bogging me down, like at the grocery store, you know, they might be telling me about something that’s going on, but usually they’ll right my office if they have any complaints.

00:23:44:44 – 00:23:54:14
Adena Ishii
And I think that that’s good because, you know, it’s important to also be just a human being in my community as well, be able to go to the grocery store, be able to go to dinner with my family.

00:23:54:17 – 00:23:57:52
David Martin
As I recall, you started off working for the legal voters.

00:23:58:04 – 00:23:59:02
Adena Ishii
Yeah. That’s right.

00:23:59:04 – 00:24:05:37
David Martin
What made you decide that, you know, government and voting rights was where you wanted to spend your career?

00:24:05:38 – 00:24:45:57
Adena Ishii
I really come at this from a public service angle. When I was a student at Berkeley City College, there were massive budget cuts to education, and I was helping to organize my peers, to go up to Sacramento to fight for more money, for education. And and my work has been constantly about advocating for people, for the community, for housing, for services, resources, you know, and that’s really what I see my role as mayor as to not only, of course, making policies that do those things, but also making sure I’m advocating on behalf of my community in Sacramento, in Washington, D.C. and it’s a different kind of voice that you’re bringing as mayor, of course, of

00:24:45:57 – 00:24:46:23
Adena Ishii
a city.

00:24:46:26 – 00:24:54:11
David Martin
So I spoke with the mayor yesterday who had been mayor for like 24 years. Wow, wow. Do you see yourself running Berkeley for 24 years?

00:24:54:13 – 00:25:11:55
Adena Ishii
That’s a very long time. I know about 24. I don’t know about 24 years. I mean, this job, as fun as it is, as much as I love it, I don’t know if I can do it for 24 years. I I’m also a millennial. You know, normally we don’t hold jobs for very long.

00:25:12:00 – 00:25:13:41
David Martin
Have you talked to my daughter?

00:25:13:45 – 00:25:14:57
Adena Ishii
I’m joking, of course.

00:25:15:00 – 00:25:21:04
David Martin
What would you like people to know about government? I mean, what have you learned in the last year that you didn’t know? And what would you like people to know about?

00:25:21:07 – 00:25:42:20
Adena Ishii
I’m not sure if I’ve necessarily learned anything about government, like my philosophy hasn’t changed, but I do think it’s important for people to know just what an important, important role you’re playing in the community. You know how young people are looking up to you, how you need to set a good example, how it’s important for for people to speak up.

00:25:42:20 – 00:25:44:34
Adena Ishii
And it’s really not for the faint of heart.

00:25:44:36 – 00:25:53:31
David Martin
No, it’s not for the faint of heart. And it’s hard and it’s not easy, and sometimes it’s not as rewarding as you’d like it to be. What do you say to that?

00:25:53:33 – 00:26:08:18
Adena Ishii
Yeah. And also it’s worth it. And also it’s worth it. I love my job, like I said, and. And every day I wake up knowing that I get an opportunity to continue to serve my community in a way that can be very impactful.

00:26:08:21 – 00:26:18:22
David Martin
There is, across the nation, a lack of faith in government, a lack of faith in government leaders. What part do you play in in knocking that down and restoring people’s faith in government?

00:26:18:25 – 00:26:22:03
Adena Ishii
I’m sure I said this last year and I think it’s still true.

00:26:22:08 – 00:26:22:53
David Martin
There’s a new question.

00:26:22:56 – 00:26:41:16
Adena Ishii
Okay. All right. Well, I know I’m pretty sure I’ve talked about this before with you because, you know, that just means they’re not looking at what’s happening on the local level because we are constantly doing things on the local level. And yeah, sure, some of those things do take a long time, like programs and building housing and things like that.

00:26:41:16 – 00:26:48:09
Adena Ishii
And also, you know, if you’re on my newsletter, you’re seeing that we are constantly doing stuff throughout the city and people want.

00:26:48:09 – 00:26:49:06
David Martin
To see it doing stuff throughout.

00:26:49:06 – 00:26:53:18
Adena Ishii
The city. You know, you should sign up for our email list.

00:26:53:23 – 00:26:58:56
David Martin
I do at Am and I do, I do read them. What’s the best part about being mayor of Berkeley?

00:26:59:01 – 00:27:26:18
Adena Ishii
The people I love connecting with, people. I love hearing their stories. I love when they’re telling me about something that they want to see different their dreams, their hopes. And it gives me an opportunity to to see what we can do differently and how I can support them in that. And I realized many, many years ago that my life’s purpose is to support people in getting to their next level, whatever that is.

00:27:26:21 – 00:27:46:46
Adena Ishii
And sometimes that means like making sure they have access to basic needs like food and housing, and other times it’s like, okay, you know, how do I make sure we’re supporting education? How are we supporting families in our city? How are we supporting their ability to to live in our city? It really just depends. But this job really helps me fulfill that purpose.

00:27:46:48 – 00:27:49:24
David Martin
Do you ever not smile?

00:27:49:29 – 00:27:55:29
Adena Ishii
I am I. You have to be an optimist in this job. You have to believe that.

00:27:55:29 – 00:28:02:55
Adena Ishii
There’s got to be a better way, that there’s more that we can do that, that there’s so many possibilities out there. So, yeah, I think I smile a lot because.

00:28:02:57 – 00:28:07:09
David Martin
Yes, you do. I’ve never seen you not smile. What keeps you up at night?

00:28:07:21 – 00:28:26:53
Adena Ishii
Oh, gosh. So many things. No. You know, I actually I don’t know if you’ve watched the show severance, but basically they go into a job and it kind of like, does little brain switch and, and they’re sort of in their any stage and then they leave and their in their Audi. And I say that because I really try very hard to compartmentalize.

00:28:26:58 – 00:28:48:37
Adena Ishii
There are very few things that actually keep me up at night, but there are definitely things that I’m thinking about throughout the day. And I would say it’s exactly what’s happening right now with the federal government, with ice invasions that are happening. I’m concerned about our democracy. I’m concerned about just my people in the city of Berkeley, you know, being able to eat, being able to live, being able to just afford to be in our city.

00:28:48:42 – 00:28:51:18
Adena Ishii
Those are things I do worry about a lot.

00:28:51:20 – 00:29:07:46
David Martin
You talked about the fact that you were a tourism booster for Berkeley. Yeah. The question I usually ask at this point is, what’s your favorite dish? You talked about your your restaurant scene. If someone was coming to Berkeley, where’s the one place you’d make sure that you took them?

00:29:07:51 – 00:29:09:29
Adena Ishii
Oh, that’s so challenging.

00:29:09:31 – 00:29:10:31
David Martin
Good.

00:29:10:36 – 00:29:17:50
Adena Ishii
What is one thing that I really love to do is take them to a little plant, which is a Thai restaurant in our downtown.

00:29:17:52 – 00:29:18:31
David Martin
Okay.

00:29:18:36 – 00:29:35:08
Adena Ishii
It’s really a special kind of home for me. When I was a student at Berkeley City College, I would go there and get their lunch specials. And, you know, throughout my time living in the city of Berkeley, you know, I’ve always gone back there and taking people there, but there are so many good places to eat in the city.

00:29:35:11 – 00:29:38:54
Adena Ishii
It’s like you could get any kind of food and it would be good.

00:29:39:03 – 00:29:46:15
David Martin
It would be good. Well, listen, a local Thai place is always good. Do you read about yourself? Have you been reading? Do you read about yourself in the papers and in the media?

00:29:46:20 – 00:30:07:21
Adena Ishii
You know, I will sometimes read an article to see how it’s covered, how they’re talking about it. If I feel like they’re giving a fair perspective, because I think that that is important. And my staff, do you know a lot of the reading for me to also, because the thing is, sometimes, you know, I mean, we haven’t had any bad articles at all.

00:30:07:21 – 00:30:20:51
Adena Ishii
But like, for instance, I don’t read the comments. You know, I think I said this last year, too, I really I’m going to hold to that. I think it’s important not to reach many of the comments, because sometimes people can say things that are are very sad and upsetting.

00:30:20:53 – 00:30:22:49
David Martin
Yeah, well, that’s social media, right?

00:30:22:53 – 00:30:33:10
Adena Ishii
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Because when you’re anonymous and you just think you can say whatever you want. That’s what happens so much. People just say whatever wilds crazy thing is on their mind.

00:30:33:14 – 00:30:38:57
David Martin
This is the good government show. We always bring it back to a good government. Tell me about a good government project that you’re excited about.

00:30:39:02 – 00:31:04:22
Adena Ishii
We are working on something right now that I’m calling Berkeley Core, which is basically an opportunity for people to get more engaged and involved in our city. We have so many different nonprofit organizations, community organizations, neighborhood organizations that are doing awesome work in our city, and we really want to plug people into them and help to organize them and and give them more, more tools so that they can do what they’ve already been doing in their city.

00:31:04:22 – 00:31:28:04
Adena Ishii
Just our city, just better. And so I’m really excited to get that off the ground. We had a Martin Luther King Junior day of service this year. We had over 100 people come out to do work in our waterfront area, our Marina, Cesar Chavez Park, and also to to do some volunteer shifts at the Dorothy Day House, which which serves our unhoused population.

00:31:28:06 – 00:31:30:59
Adena Ishii
I’m really proud of that. And I can’t wait to like double it next year.

00:31:31:13 – 00:31:33:44
David Martin
Double it next year. Well, now we have something to talk about next year.

00:31:33:47 – 00:31:35:25
Adena Ishii
Yes, absolutely.

00:31:35:30 – 00:31:46:03
David Martin
It is always a pleasure to see you. It is always a pleasure to see you smile. Adena Ishii, the mayor of Berkeley. One year on the job. So far, so good. Yes. One down, 23 more to go.

00:31:46:08 – 00:31:48:03
Adena Ishii
That’s right. Maybe, maybe.

00:31:48:12 – 00:31:49:03
David Martin
Thanks for coming back.

00:31:49:05 – 00:31:53:43
Adena Ishii
Thank you for having me. Cheers.

00:31:53:48 – 00:32:15:15
David Martin
The Good Government Institute has a new partner, the Charles F Kettering Foundation. I really like their podcast of 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.

00:32:15:18 – 00:32:23:46
David Martin
You can find it where you’re listening right now, or visit Kettering and give them a follow.

00:32:23:51 – 00:32:41:45
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.

00:32:41:47 – 00:32:49:06
David Martin
Join us right here. We’re listening. Now that’s leading Iowa. Good government in Iowa cities.

00:32:49:11 – 00:33:11:22
David Martin
It was called the War to End All Wars. But it didn’t. Three royal cousins, all kings, one from England, one from Germany and one from Russia blundered their way into a war, a completely avoidable war that left millions dead in the trenches across Europe. Good government show executive producer Jim Ludlow details the blunders, mistakes and bluster that started World War One that didn’t end all wars.

00:33:11:26 – 00:33:27:49
David Martin
The book The Royal Cousins details the events and creates an alternative history. Imagine of World War One never happened. It didn’t have to. Just read it yourself. Download the book today on Amazon. It’s just $0.99 and a timely look at history.

00:33:27:54 – 00:33:43:47
David Martin
Here’s why. Being America can be one of the most challenging jobs in government. And I’ve heard this from many mayors. It’s the closest job to the people. Mayors are out in the cities. They serve for all but a small handful of really big city mayors. They live down the street. They drive to work. You see them in their stores and restaurants.

00:33:43:48 – 00:34:01:19
David Martin
When Berkeley Mayor Adena, she says that mayors like herself are the ones who have to pick up the slack. End quote. She knows what she’s talking about for her city. The buck stops with her and she’s up for the challenge. That’s what you want from a mayor, and that’s good government. So help the mayor out as she helps her city visit Berkeley.

00:34:01:19 – 00:34:17:22
David Martin
I think I’ll head over to Telegraph Road. I wonder if I still fit in with the Berkeley hippies. I’ll give it a try. That’s our show. Thanks for listening. Please like us and share this with your friends. And review us right here where you’re listening. And check out our website. Good government show for extras. Help us keep telling stories of good government and action everywhere.

00:34:17:25 – 00:34:26:36
David Martin
Join us again for another episode right here. I’m Dave Martin and this is the Good Government show.

00:34:26:41 – 00:35:05:32
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 Stirk is our editor and producer. Join us again to hear good stories about our government right here on The Good Government Show.

00:35:05:36 – 00:35:08:41
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.