Evan Meyer welcomes California State Senator, Ben Allen on this episode of Meyerside Chats. Interested in any of the civic topics below? Please tune in to Meyerside Chats on the Santa Monica Daily Press
Recorded July 1, 2022
Evan Meyer welcomes California State Senator, Ben Allen on this episode of Meyerside Chats. Interested in any of the civic topics below? Please tune in to Meyerside Chats on the Santa Monica Daily Press.
California State Senator Ben Allen was elected in 2014 (and reelected in 2018) to represent the 26th Senate District covering the Westside, Hollywood, and coastal South Bay communities of Los Angeles County. Ben chairs the Senate’s Environmental Quality Committee and co-chairs the Legislature’s Environmental Caucus, is a member of the Legislative Jewish Caucus, chairs the Legislature’s Joint Committee on the Arts, and the Senate Select Committee on Aerospace and Defense. He previously served as Chair of the Education Committee (2017-2019) and Chair of the Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee (2015-2016).
Meyerside Chats seeks to eliminate the "us and them" narrative and toxic polarization by praising those who lead by example, virtuous community leadership, and authentic conversation. The intent is to showcase the humanity in those that take on the often thankless jobs of public service through civil discourse, and honoring differing points of view.
Summary
- Ben’s lovely Beard. 0:00
- New SB54 plastics policy signed by Newsom, authored by Ben. 3:00
- Very little press attention, yet so much power at the state level 6:00
- State-level vs federal-level news 10:00
- The conflict of private companies distributing public information. 11:30
- Lots of ways to engage in the system and have your voice heard. 13:30
- Pushing social media companies to better their algorithms. 14:30
- What is a fact? 15:30
- Social Dilemma / BraverAngels.org 17:30
- Bond agencies charge communities higher interest rates to cities without local press. 20:00
- The public confusion around the process of writing policy. 25:00
- Policies are almost always a product of compromise. 28:00
- Policies evoke infinite possibilities of outcomes that need to be considered while the actual vote for the policy is binary 32:30
- Where Ben gets his news from. 35:30
- What overhauling changes need to be made in government in order to rebuild trust with its people. 39:00
- The important, yet "pernicious force" of money in politics. 43:00
- What power should be granted to the State versus Federal government? 50:00
- The issue of equal representation in the senate. 57:30
- People power, Georgia, and the 2020 elections. 58:30
- Urban vs Rural politics. 1:04:00
- Ben's final words 1:08:00
