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Inside DreamHack Atlanta: New Features, Esports, and a Growing Georgia Gaming Community [Podcast]

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UrbanEBB, DreamHack Atlanta

DreamHack Atlanta 2024, from October 4-6

In this episode of UrbanEBB, Rico talks with Lyndsay Postell from DreamHack Atlanta to discuss the excitement surrounding this year’s event. Lyndsay reveals new experiences, including a tabletop gaming tavern and robotics demonstrations, while sharing how DreamHack continues to evolve with its diverse community of gamers, cosplayers, and tech enthusiasts. Whether you’re into competitive esports, casual LAN parties, or discovering the latest indie games, DreamHack has something for everyone!

Join us as Lyndsay dives into how DreamHack Atlanta is growing its family-friendly offerings while staying true to its hardcore gaming roots. From cosplay competitions to charity events and creator hubs, this year’s event promises to be an unforgettable weekend for gaming fans of all ages. Don’t miss this insider look at one of the biggest gaming festivals in North America!

Timestamp:
00:00:00 – DreamHack Atlanta
00:01:24 – Excitement for Upcoming Events and Mobile Esports
00:02:52 – Innovative Products and Exciting Partnerships
00:04:43 – Enhancing E-Sports and Gaming Community Experiences
00:08:43 – Millennials Bringing Kids and Family to Gaming Events
00:10:06 – A Family and Community Affair
00:13:03 – Indie Playground at Dreamhack
00:15:30 – Dreamhack Dallas Boosts Indie Developers
00:18:03 – Vibrant Atlanta Cosplay Community Shines at DreamHack
00:22:10 – Call of Duty Championship Weekend
00:24:36 – Passionate Creator Hub and Exciting Guests
00:26:35 – Charity Initiatives and Live Streaming
00:29:23 – Celebrating Atlanta’s Tech Community and STEM Initiatives

Podcast Transcript

Transcript:

00:00:00 – Rico Figliolini

Hey, everyone. This is Rico Figliolini, host of UrbanEbb here in Peachtree Corners, the city that lives and breathes smart city stuff just north of Atlanta. And we have a great guest today from DreamHack Atlanta, Lyndsay Postell. Hey, Lyndsay. Thanks for joining us.

00:00:18 – Lyndsay Postell

Hey, thanks for having me. I’m so excited to talk about DreamHack and get to hang out with you for a bit.

00:00:24 – Rico Figliolini

Yes, me too. I’ve been going to DreamHack for the last three years. Two of my kids are actually following me there this year.

00:00:32 – Lyndsay Postell

Oh, that’s so fun.

00:00:33          Rico Figliolini

Yeah, they’re going to be doing some social media, some stuff like that. One of them wants to be a creator, so she’s checking it out also.

00:00:40 – Lyndsay Postell

Oh, I’m so excited.

00:00:40 – Rico Figliolini

She’s excited. She actually just bought all her gaming stuff computer set up everything.

00:00:49 – Lyndsay Postell

Did you get like the whole pc rig, the cool headphones and everything?

00:00:52 – Rico Figliolini

Yes, everything. The chair, I mean everything. And everything matches because she’s a girl. So everything has to match.

00:01:01 – Lyndsay Postell

Oh, you gotta have, all of my stuff is white like I love everything to look like really white and clean. So I get that.

00:01:06 – Rico Figliolini

There you go. And that’s exactly what she did. Everything’s white. Even the CPU, looking inside the CPU, it’s all white in there. So it costs a bit more but, you know.

00:01:16 – Lyndsay Postell

Yeah, it’s worth it. It’s worth it.

00:01:20 – Rico Figliolini

Apparently. So she’ll be coming, too. So we’re all excited. We can’t wait to get there next weekend the 4th through the 6th.

00:01:23 – Lyndsay Postell

Yeah October 4th through the 6th

00:01:27 – Rico Figliolini

Yeah, yeah. So it’s going to be cool and I can’t wait for the Call of Duty mobile championship either. Million dollar prize.

00:01:39 – Lyndsay Postell

I know it’s amazing.

00:01:41 – Rico Figliolini

I know, it’s incredible.

00:01:42 – Lyndsay Postell

And, I mean, I think that I applaud the people who compete in COD Mobile or any mobile esports incredibly because I feel like I fat thumb things so incredibly. Like, I’m terrible at mobile anything. So, yeah, you’ll see me playing Candy Crush. They can handle COD Mobile. I’ll be on Candy Crush.

00:02:05 – Rico Figliolini

You know what’s funny? My daughter has me. We’re in a group, family group, playing Fortnite. But then I’m off playing Call of Duty on my mobile device sometimes. I get to Legendary every season, but I can’t get enough points that make sense. These guys are just ripping it over there.

00:02:19 – Lyndsay Postell

I know. It’s insane. It’s insane. Some of the skills and how quick people are on those little screens, I don’t get it. I’ll stay to event planning and organization, but I absolutely love seeing it happen because it’s like magic.

00:02:35 – Rico Figliolini

It’s fantastic. So tell me, so this year is going to be big, right? Every year is a little bigger than the last, I think. What big changes are coming this year to ‘24, to DreamHack?

00:02:46 – Lyndsay Postell

That is a super great question. So like the product team and the partner, I mean, everybody’s been working super, super hard to continue innovating and making new products. One of the things I’m really excited about is the new tabletop tavern. So we are using one of the auditoriums and turning it into this like D&D tavern that people can go and enjoy live experiences and one shots and really dive into that tabletop experience. And I mean, that’s just one of the things like we’re partnering as well with Georgia First Robotics to work with the community, but also bring robotics to the show.

00:03:14 – Rico Figliolini

That’s a student-driven thing, isn’t it?

00:03:16 – Yes. So it’s a 5013C or C3. I always get that wrong. And it’s just a phenomenal org. And I think they work with K through 12 all the way into the college space. And they have a little Lego League that’s so sweet for like the younger kids but it’s really, really cool, so excited about that. And small spoiler, we might have some of the bots running around during registration in the registration area for people but you didn’t hear that from me.

00:04:00 – Rico Figliolini

That would be great. I can’t wait to see it. As far as this week, I know Atlanta, Georgia is becoming a bigger gaming environment, space, I think. There’s a lot more startups here. So it’s just more so than some people might think. The same way that Texas is big in anime. Who would think Texas would be big in anime?

00:04:24 – Lyndsay Postell

Yeah.

00:04:25 – Rico Figliolini

So, and Georgia is the same way, I feel like. who would think Georgia is like big in the space. So the week that DreamHack is happening here next week is Games Week Georgia. Which is sort of an overlay of other things, right? Esports summit, creative summit. How do you all, you know, how does that enhance the experience? How are you all collaborating?

00:04:48 – Lyndsay Postell

Yeah, yeah. So super excited to be working with Skillshot and Ghost Gaming on the Georgia games. Or the, I always mess it up, Games Week Georgia activations. But I mean one of our big goals and especially I mean, my official title is product manager of communities and associations. So one of the things that we always try to do is really work with the local community, work with the local orgs that are there that are really empowering the community. The fellow gamers, the fellow nerds, the fellow fans. So, really excited for Games Week Georgia. I mean, Skillshot and Ghost are both amazing partners. And by doing this, we’re able to give people a broader experience. DreamHack is of course kind of the the cherry on top and, you know, the masterpiece at the end of the week. But this allows everyone in the community to be able to network and engage and go to different events that might be more specific to their type of gaming or what they’re interested in, in the gaming ecosystem. So this is, I want to say, our second year doing Games Week Georgia. I might be wrong on that, but it’s been just amazing working with them like they are so, so phenomenal and i’m really excited to stop by a lot of the events myself honestly.

00:06:11 – Rico Figliolini

Yeah, I think it’s going to be great for you know professionals even the casual gamer to be attending some of this stuff because the future is changing right? It’s exploding, trends in this market.

00:06:21 – Lyndsay Postell

Yeah. Well and that’s also something that’s like really important to us is every single product we build at DreamHack, we want to make sure that we have something for everybody. So whether it’s like you’re just interested in gaming, you’re a professional gamer, you’re in the collegiate sphere, whatever it is, we want to make sure that you can go to DreamHack and still have a weekend full of activities and things to participate in. And I think that we’ve really been, like you mentioned, kind of the ecosystem growing. And I think that’s really accurate. I think that the gaming ecosystem as a whole has been really blowing up, especially COVID was a really interesting time for all of gamers, because a lot of people who weren’t gamers threw themselves into gaming. And now that we are, you know, back out of that bubble, people really want to come together and meet those online friends and, you know, build those communities together. So, well, I’m, I mean, I’m just, I’m really excited to see. There’s always one moment that I catch during every show that I’ve seen. And there’s many more, but there’s always like two friends that run up and hug and it’s their first time seeing each other. And it’s like, you know, these best friends from online getting together and getting to enjoy the weekend. And I’m really excited about that. And, you know, we have community gatherings, which are similar to like community meetups, all for that. And yeah, not to get all hallmark-y, but I really love how the community comes together for DreamHack for sure.

00:07:51 – Rico Figliolini

You know, it’s amazing. I think sort of my generation of parents and stuff look at their kids and they’re like, they’re socked away in their room and stuff. They’re playing on, you know, they’re playing on their games. They’re on Discord. I mean, even my youngest, who’s almost 21, he’s communicating with his friends all online. And then they show up to these conventions. It’s almost like, well, that’s the complete opposite because now they’re socially outbound. And my daughter, who’s the middle child, she’s playing with gamers on the West Coast. So there’s a three-hour time difference. So she’s playing until three in the morning sometimes, whereas she’s midnight, you know? And so it’s crazy.

00:08:36 – Lyndsay Postell

Yeah. No, I mean, it’s awesome. I also feel like what we’re seeing in kind of the millennial generation having kids is we’re starting to see like a lot of these millennials grew up playing PC games or console games. And so we’re seeing these really cute moments with like their kids growing up. And one of the really cool things, I think it was my second DreamHack ever. This will be my eighth DreamHack. But I was talking to someone and they had their like two-year-old kid with them. And they were I’ve been going to DreamHack for years. I’ve been to the ones in Sweden. I’ve been all over for DreamHack. And now my daughter is here with me and this is so cool. And that was just like sold for me. I was like, okay, this is one of my favorite memories. So yeah.

00:09:20 – Rico Figliolini

And I can, and I can see that because I think it was last year maybe or the year before, I met a couple from Wisconsin, young couple, 12-year-old kid. The father drove from Wisconsin to Atlanta to make sure he carried, he had the CPU for the bring your own computer, right? And so he brought it. He didn’t trust it on the plane. His wife flew with the kid. He drove all the way in and they met up and he was playing Fortnite the rest of the afternoon and the rest of the day, I guess, or weekend.

00:09:52 – Lyndsay Postell

Oh my gosh.

00:09:52 – Rico Figliolini

It’s a family affair.

00:09:53 – Lyndsay Postell

Yeah, it is a family affair. And it’s also, it’s, you know, it’s a community affair, if you will. You get to meet your friends or watch some of your favorite like competitive gamers compete against each other or you know watch the cosplay competition or if you’re into cosplay you can enjoy all of the perks of the cosplay corner and the meetups and gatherings and yeah that particular story is really cool. And the byoc is our big bring your own computer LAN party that’s like the staple of DreamHack. And it’s on Friday. Seeing everyone wheeling in their you know chairs and these giant totes and PCs and like the commitment of the gamers that come to dreamhack for byoc is incredible. But the atmosphere is unmatched when we’re all set up. It’s incredible.

00:10:52 – Rico Figliolini

Do you, doing it for eight years now, I mean, you saw the growth of it from eight years ago. Do you see the type of person changing that you see there?

00:11:00 – Lyndsay Postell

Yeah. So, and I apologize, my eighth DreamHack. So, you know, we have about two to three each year.

00:11:09 – Rico Figliolini

So yeah, that’s true.

00:11:10 – Lyndsay Postell

But I think I do. I mean, I think back to my first DreamHack. And I think the biggest difference is that we’re seeing a lot more families coming in. And we’re seeing a younger crowd starting to really come in and it’s been really cool. But we still have that amazing core like hardcore gamers. Our byoc crowd, the competitive crowd. So it’s not that it’s changing in a way. I think it’s more growing and that just kind of speaks to the products that we build and how it’s becoming more inclusive for everybody, which I think is pretty cool.

00:11:48 – Rico Figliolini

Yeah, I think so too. If you go to, if anyone that goes to the website to find out more information, there’s a lot of stuff going on. It’s just like, there’s something for everybody in that list of speakers, events during the weekend. Yeah. So many things.

00:12:07 – Lyndsay Postell

Yeah. I mean, we have the DreamHack Theater, which is our panels room, which is just packed full of incredible panels. Our community campground is where the community gatherings happen. And that’s packed full. We have the largest artist alley and indie playground that we’ve ever had in North America. And I think the largest indie playground that DreamHack has ever had and you know there’s going to be like many events happening like the indie mixer and you know it’s going to be, it’s going to be a really good show. I’m really excited for it. I’m ready to get on the plane and be there.

00:12:43 – Rico Figliolini

And you’re coming from Cincinnati. So that’s where the weather is better on the day that we’re recording this because the hurricane Helene is coming in.

00:12:52 – Lyndsay Postell

Oh my gosh. Yeah. Sending love to all of my friends in Atlanta right now. Cause I know that’s rough.

00:12:58 – Rico Figliolini

Kind of calm right now, but it’s going to be crazy later. So tell us also a little bit more about the indie playground. What does that look like? What does it encompass?

00:13:12 – Lyndsay Postell

Yeah, so I’m super biased because I am the product manager that gets to oversee the indie playground. But the indie playground, we always try to work with local or just phenomenal indie orgs to help curate the space. So we’re working with orgs like Women in Gaming International, IGDA. We’re working with GGDA, which is the Georgia Game Developers Association, the Indie Cluster. We’re working with Black Voices in Gaming as well. And so what this looks like is this time we will have around 60 different indie developers all exhibiting different games. A lot of them are not out yet. A lot of them are demos. So it’s kind of the first time that people can come and play these games or play test them.

00:14:00 – Rico Figliolini

Oh, okay.

00:14:02 – Lyndsay Postell

We have a little mixer happening on Friday just for the developers and some publishers as well. Because overseeing the indie playground, I think, yes, we want to create something that’s incredible for the attendees, but we also want to create something that’s really, really accessible and valuable for the developers who are taking the time to travel out and be there and exhibit and spend hours and hours on the show floor talking. And so one of the ways we do that currently is we waive all of the booth fees for the indie developers to make it like to lower the barrier for people to be able to exhibit or develop. Because some of these people are, you know, they, some of these developers, it’s just them. And, you know, it’s just their kind of their baby and their project and we want to support them and try to get as many eyes as we can. And so we also have something in our, the DreamHack app if you download that called Quests and we have quests all through the festival. And one of the quests is to run to the indie playground and wish list one of the games that you enjoy or vote in an audience choice award, which we do throughout the weekend. So I could talk about the indie playground for forever. You might have to stop me because it’s like my favorite.

00:15:14 – Rico Figliolini

Well, I could see why too. I mean, there was someone from, your team told us about DreamHack Dallas, where one of the indie game developers a few days later, ended up getting a VC calling them and investing in their company.

00:15:26 – Lyndsay Postell

Yes. So that’s Banjo Toad Studio. They’re absolutely phenomenal. So if you guys stop at DreamHack, make sure to check them out. But yeah, they have a game called 1000 Cuts. The developer is so sweet and so kind, but he emailed us. And this was before we even sent him, you know, information about Atlanta. And he said, hey, I just want to thank you guys. Because of DreamHack, we’re now fully funded. And I was like, oh, my gosh, that’s incredible. And, you know, it really, it validates the work that we’re doing for sure. But I was just so happy for that developer. And I’m really excited for the developers that are going to be in Atlanta as well.

00:15:59 – Rico Figliolini

Sure. And he’ll be there too. You know, it just gives a whole different value to it. It’s not just a gaming place. You know, so it’s completely different now. You know, the other thing going on, obviously, that we can’t ignore, besides VR that has been around for a while, right? But the AI-driven games, driven games also like you know like real engine and other software. Do you see, what do you see as a future for DreamHack festivals like or is there anything happening now in this festival about with VR and AI driven stuff?

00:16:42 – Lyndsay Postell

Yeah, no, that’s a really good question. So for, we do have a huge like VR free play area where people can come in and do all these VR games. And it’s always, it’s really really fun to do but also to watch because, I mean, I’m sure you’ve all seen the clips online of people like you know going crazy with VR sets on and you have no idea what’s happening but it’s entertaining on both sides right? So it’s just a really, really cool activation. I mean as far as AI, that’s mainly the developers you know like if they use AI programs to build their games or help code out games. But as far as DreamHack currently that is all us, that is still us and Excel sheets and a lot of Slack messages. And yeah.

00:17:31 – Rico Figliolini

Okay. Well, let’s move away from the gaming for a little bit because cosplay is a big thing also. And I think there’s a lot more programming going on. And you’re overseeing it. So tell us a little bit about that, that community and how that’s going to be, what that’s going to look like here in the next week or so.

00:17:49 – Lyndsay Postell

Yeah, absolutely. So first of all, the first thing to state about the Atlanta cosplay community is they are so passionate. It is such an incredible, vibrant community. And this is the first time where cosplay has been on my plate that I’ve been overseeing it for Atlanta so I’m really excited to get to work with them. We’re gonna have a phenomenal cosplay competition on Saturday on our main stage. I believe that starts at 4 p.m and then we also are going to have a community gathering with Beltline cosplay we have photo cubes attached to the cosplay corner for photo shoots for cosplayers and all attendees whoever would like to come up and take like really cool themed photos. The cosplay corner itself has a lounge inside of it just for cosplayers to be able to sneak away. I always say take the wig off kick the heels off for a second and be able to rest and relax so really excited to get to work with the Atlanta community firsthand for the first time and yeah. Dallas was the first time that the new cosplay team took over cosplay and it was so phenomenal so I’m really excited to be able to bring that and you know multiply that by the passion of the community.

00:18:58 – Rico Figliolini

I’m really excited to see it.

00:19:01 – Lyndsay Postell

We also have a drag show called the Drag and Drop Drag Show that’s happening on Friday and then all of the drag artists that we have do cosplays of various game characters. So it’s really fun like everything we do. Even though you would think like oh, why is drag, how does that relate to gaming like, oh easy they’re, you know characters. So it’ll be really fun. There’s going to be a lot of entertaining stuff. Main stage is going to be packed.

00:19:30 – Rico Figliolini

Wow. It’s going to be exciting. I mean there’s such a massive crowd that’s going to be attending. I’m sure you know we have Atlanta, we have local flavor, we have people coming in from local communities. How do you handle international gamers that may be coming into Atlanta? How does that work?

00:19:48 – Lyndsay Postell

Yeah, I mean, we do have people from all over the States, all like tons of different countries that fly into a DreamHack. And it’s not even just for our big competitions like the COD Mobile stuff. It’s really for all of the content, for the BYOC, for the experience. So, I mean, one of the biggest things that we do is we just really try to focus on accessibility as a whole, because obviously, we have every type of walk of life coming in. And so we want to make sure that anyone can sit down and understand what’s happening on main stage or enjoy the COD Mobile Tournament or whatever is happening. So the best way to kind of support international gamers is just making sure that everything we do is thought of from every single angle and every single walk of life. And so it’s accessible for everybody. But yeah, it is really cool when I’m walking around and I’m hearing all these different dialects and languages and it’s like, wow, this is really incredible. It’s really fun.

00:20:49 – Rico Figliolini

Yeah. I mean, it’s between that and everything else going on.

00:20:53 – Lyndsay Postell

Yeah.

00:20:54 – Rico Figliolini

Esports is another big thing, right? Competition within that. We hadn’t really spoken about that yet. And I know that’s been there, too, especially with the gaming side of it and the betting side of it also if you will. Well the franchises of it. So tell us, you know, a little bit about that type of draw and what’s coming here as far as Esports goes.

00:21:15 – Lyndsay Postell

Yeah, so just off the top of my head, I know we have like 20 Esports competitions that’ll be happening. Starting with the big one million dollar COD Mobile Tournament, all the way down to, we will have a ton of tournaments happening in our free play area that any attendee can walk up, sign up for and play. So there’s going to be, I mean, off the top of my head, kind of any game title you can think of. I think there’s going to be a tournament that a lot of people can engage in. And so it’ll be really exciting. If you want to come and compete or try, you know, playing something in Freeplay Rico, you should, because it’d be really fun.

00:21:51 – Rico Figliolini

Yeah, I think so. I think I’ll do that. Yeah. As far as COD, the Call of Duty part, is that championship through the whole weekend, or is that, how is that going to actually work?

00:22:04 – Lyndsay Postell

So super transparently, I don’t have that schedule off the top of my head. I know it is on our website if there’s more info there, but I am 99% sure that is through the entire weekend because I mean, the hype of that has been building up around that is, you know, going to last a week.

00:22:24 – Rico Figliolini

I mean, yeah, it’s a big thing. A million dollars. No one’s going to like, not look at that. As far as the, you know, we’ve spoken about the other stuff, the artist alley, I’m sure there’s, that’s going to be huge as well. I liked it last year, but there’s the conference part or the vendor part as well, right?

00:22:48 – Lyndsay Postell

Yeah. Yeah. So like I mentioned, I mean, we’re going to have the largest Artist Alley and Indie Expo we’ve ever had. But the expo itself is also the largest expo that we have had as well. I mean, we have more stores, more businesses, more merch that’s coming in. One thing that’s really notable is we are going to have, we have something called the Georgia Pavilion, which is a section inside of the expo with local Georgia businesses that we bring in and, you know, make sure that we want to also highlight the Georgia ecosystem. Again, working with the community. So they will be in the expo. They’ll have a nice section there so yeah the expo will be really cool. That’s also where the Georgia First Robotics stuff will be throughout the weekend if you want to come check them out and learn more about them as well. Yeah, the expo is going to be really cool this year.

00:23:38 – Rico Figliolini

Cool. Have we touched upon what, you know, I mean there’s so much going on there.

00:23:44 – Lyndsay Postell

Yeah, I mean, I think the one thing that I do want to mention that I don’t think I’ve talked about yet is the creators that we have coming to the show. So we have over 500 approved creators that are going to be there from all different types of streaming platforms. And we have something called the Creator Hub where you can literally just walk by and it’s like lined with PCs of your favorite streamers and creators just streaming live there. So like your daughter will be super excited to see that.

00:24:16 – Rico Figliolini

I think so.

00:24:17 – Lyndsay Postell

Yeah. But it’s really phenomenal. And the Creator Hub team are, again, I know I keep saying it’s so cool and everyone’s so passionate, but it’s, it’s true. Like they are very passionate about taking care of the creators. So there will be meet and greets as well at the creator hub. You know, we’re going to have on Main Stage, Dimension 20 and like Brennan Lee Mulligan coming back again. And there will be a meet and greet with him at the creator hub. You know, some of the big names that we’re going to have there are like Dr. Lupo, you know, so there’s incredible names. And I love the Creator Hub.

00:24:54 – Rico Figliolini

Yeah, I forget who it was. I think it was last year. Maybe it was the year before they were in a cube in the middle. So what was that? That was like he was there.

00:25:00 – Lyndsay Postell

Oh, yeah. So that was Ludwig.

00:25:05 – Rico Figliolini

Ludwig. That was 72 hours he was in there?

00:25:07 – Lyndsay Postell

Yes, he was in there for 72 hours and I think he made like two times his charity goal. But that was that was so fun. And I mean I have to give you an insider peek it was even funnier after the festival closed and it was just like the staff cleaning up and getting everything ready for the next day and he was still just kind of in the box and we were like, Hi Ludwig, sorry we can’t help you, hope you’re okay. You know like just walking around this empty convention center, I mean BYOC was going on like you know across the convention hall but it was really just him alone in this box at night. And I felt a little bad, but it was phenomenal. It was for charity.

00:25:52 – Rico Figliolini

People loved it.

00:25:54 – Lyndsay Postell

Yeah, it was super, super fun. I mean, last year we also had T-Pain came by and he streamed at the Creator Hub. And I mean, this year with Dr. Lupo and Brennan Lee Mulligan and Anjali and like a bunch of different people coming in. I’m really excited. We also, the one other thing I don’t think I’ve touched on is the charity work that we do. So that’s something that I help oversee as well. And we’re going to have six incredible charities also stationed in the expo. And we have a week-long stream-a-thon that’s hosted by a creator called BB Jess. She’s also our main stage host for Atlanta. And that week-long stream-a-thon with a bunch of different creators leads all the way up to Sunday on the main stage where we close out the stream-a-thon. And all of that money goes directly to those six incredible charities. So that’s always really, really fun. And the charities love it. They get to come up on stage and do fun little games and skits with BB Jess. And so I’m really excited about that. And that’s part of our Dream Big initiative, which oversees, that’s kind of what we call our charity leg. So yeah.

00:27:09 – Rico Figliolini

That’s cool to see that you all are giving back to the community like that. Are you guys streaming as well online like Twitch or any of the other platforms? So if someone can’t come can they watch it?

00:27:20 – Lyndsay Postell

Yeah so some of our content will be streamed. Some of our content can’t be streamed, you know, just because of music or whatever it is. But if you, a lot of our channels are like DreamHack on Twitch, or, you know, DreamHack NA, I would also definitely check us out on our Twitter or our Instagrams, which is DreamHack North America or the umbrella kind of DreamHack account, because we’ll be posting about that as well. So yeah, I think that, for example, I believe the Cosplay competition will be streamed, which will be really exciting. And I think that’s going to be on just the main DreamHack channel. But don’t quote me on that because it might be, we have a couple of side channels. So if you look up DreamHack, you’ll find it on Twitch.

00:28:06 – Rico Figliolini

Right. Right. So DreamHack, they can either Google DreamHack Atlanta or come to DreamHack.com/Atlanta, I guess. Cool. I think, you know, I think we’ve covered everything. There’s anything you think, Lyndsay, that we should be adding to this? Let me know.

00:28:28 – Lyndsay Postell

No. I mean, I just want to like, I want to thank Atlanta for having us back again. This is, you know, we’re celebrating, I think, our sixth year back in Atlanta. And it’s one of the, DreamHack is one of the longest running North American festivals at this point. And it’s just really such an honor to be back in Atlanta. It’s one of my personal favorite cities. I mean, the community is just full of legends and vibrancy and community. So it’s always just an honor to get to work with like the school districts and you know help out the collegiate students and help out all the students. And Atlanta is just amazing so just a huge thank you, while I’m on the podcast, to Atlanta in general for having us back because it’s phenomenal.

00:29:16 – Rico Figliolini

For sure. And being that I’m based in Gwinnett county out of Peachtree Corners we do a lot of stuff with autonomous vehicles. I mean, we’re out there doing things with technology that other cities are not. So we have a STEM school here in Peachtree Corners, STEM high school. They may probably be participating with the robotics part as well. So there’s a lot going on. And I think that there’s a lot of people that are going to want to drive, come out there and be there for the weekend. Yeah. I’m excited myself, but Lyndsay, I appreciate you coming out and talking to me.

00:29:53 – Lyndsay Postell

Thank you for having me. Yeah. I hope to see you and I hope to see your daughter streaming at the creator hub or hanging out at the creator hub if possible. That’ll be really cool.

00:30:02 – Rico Figliolini

Great. Thank you. Again, say hi to Nick and everyone else. Appreciate you being here and everyone that’s watching and listening to this, if you have any questions put them in the comments. I’ll make sure we will get those answered. And do share this with other people and check the links in the show notes in case you can’t find anything but I’ll have a few links in there as well. But thank you, Lyndsay. Appreciate you being with me. Stay safe out there, okay?

00:30:29 – Lyndsay Postell

It’s been a pleasure. Yeah, you too. Stay safe with the hurricane coming in and we’ll see you at DreamHack.

00:30:33 – Rico Figliolini

We made it through with the power, so we’re all good so far.

00:30:37 – Lyndsay Postell

That’s all that matters.

00:30:39 – Rico Figliolini

Thank you. Bye, Lyndsay.

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Peachtree Corners Life

From Corporate to Sci-Fi Author: Jill Tew Discusses ‘The Dividing Sky’ [Podcast]

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Balancing Creativity and Parenting: Jill Tew’s Journey

In this episode of Peachtree Corners Life, Rico Figliolini sits down with debut author Jill Tew to discuss her gripping sci-fi novel The Dividing Sky. Jill shares her fascinating journey from a corporate career to becoming a published author, revealing how her love for science fiction and storytelling shaped her path.

Dive into the themes of worldbuilding, dystopian futures, and emotional experiences that form the core of her book. Jill also opens up about the evolving publishing landscape, offering insight into how authors today must stay agile and seize new opportunities. Plus, hear her thoughts on balancing writing with parenting and her excitement for her upcoming middle-grade novel with Disney.

This episode is perfect for fans of sci-fi, aspiring writers, and anyone curious about the creative process behind a debut novel. Tune in to discover more about The Dividing Sky and Jill Tew’s captivating writing journey!

Resources:
The Dividing Sky on Penguin Random House: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/736783/the-dividing-sky-by-jill-tew/
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/764010/freedom-fire-kaya-morgans-crowning-achievement-by-jill-tew
Jill Tew’s Website: https://www.jilltew.com/books

Timestamp:
00:00:00 – From Corporate to Creative and Spreadsheets to Sci-Fi
00:08:12 – Exploring the Dividing Sky, A Dystopian Tale
00:13:17 – Worldbuilding Responsibility for Sci-Fi Authors
00:17:49 – Exploring Mixed Media Formats for Storytelling
00:20:43 – The Evolving Publishing Landscape
00:26:22 – Balancing Writing and Parenting
00:28:00 – Writing Tricks and Techniques
00:30:02 – A Young Black Girl’s Renaissance Faire Journey
00:32:11 – Writing for Young Readers
00:33:06 – Capturing Friendship, Uncertainty, and the Power of Perspective
00:35:40 – Closing Thoughts

Podcast Transcript

00:00:00 – Rico Figliolini

Hi, everyone. This is Rico Figliolini, host of Peachtree Corners Life, a podcast here in the city of Peachtree Corners in the county of Gwinnett, just north of Atlanta. So I want to welcome you all for visiting with us today. We have a first-time author, Jill Tew, who’s visiting with us, who lives here in Peachtree Corners, actually, as well. Hey, Jill.

00:00:20 – Jill Tew

Thanks for having me. Yeah, thank you.

00:00:23 – Rico Figliolini

This is great. I mean, I just love the idea of being an author myself. I’m sure I have a book in me somewhere, but I can appreciate the endeavors of a first-time writer and author doing this. Yours is actually called The Dividing Sky and is available on Penguin Publishing, their website, and anywhere else that you can find a book.

00:00:50 – Jill Tew

Anywhere books are sold. Yeah, Amazon, Barnes & Noble. I’ll always shout out local indie bookstores. If it’s not on the shelf, you can always make a request.

00:00:58 – Rico Figliolini

Excellent. So you were born in Georgia. You went away for college. You ended up in Denver for a few years, and then you came back to Georgia. Tell us a little bit about yourself, who you are and where you’ve been in life.

00:01:14 – Jill Tew

Yeah, absolutely. So I grew up not far from here in the Dunwoody, Sandy Springs area. When I was growing up, it was Dunwoody, and then they incorporated, and so that changed.

00:01:22 – Rico Figliolini

Right.

00:01:23 – Jill Tew

And yeah, I grew up, I always loved writing and storytelling and went away for college to do something more practical. I thought that that was kind of what I was supposed to do. So I went away to school in Philadelphia at an undergraduate business degree and did that and was convinced that that was what I was going to do. I was going to go be an international businesswoman. And I was on the right track. You know, I graduated, I did pretty well in school, I got a very sort of like prestigious corporate job out of school, I was a management consultant. So I was working in New York advising major corporations. And yeah, after that, you know, I decided that maybe the corporate environment wasn’t quite for me, but I still loved business and I loved solving problems that way. And so I ended up moving out to Denver and worked at a startup for another couple of years. That startup ended up getting acquired by Comcast and it was kind of a really cool process to be a part of from start to finish. And that was when the time that I realized that I still had this like creative bug in me from when I was younger and I began to pursue writing as a hobby. And then a few years later, as things kind of shifted, the pandemic happened and I was growing in my craft. Then it shifted from being, you know, less of a hobby to more of, you know, a full kind of wholehearted pursuit. And now it’s a career.

00:02:47 – Rico Figliolini

Cool. What did, when you were younger let’s say, I don’t know growing up being a tween and stuff, what was your, did you have any, did you see yourself being creative at that point? What transpired even at that age? Because usually it seems to start young.

00:02:58 – Jill Tew

Yeah, totally. So it’s funny, you know, I never had any like visual art ability so I never thought of myself as like a creative person because I was like, oh I can’t paint or draw for beans. But I loved wordplay and so I loved like making things rhyme and making up funny like poems and like parodies of songs. My favorite book when I was growing up was actually my rhyming dictionary because I would use it to just like make up funny stories and poems and stuff. I loved books you know, I loved, I think, storytelling in all of its forms. So my favorite at that point ended up being musicals. So I, again, kind of love musicals for the storytelling ability. And I would find myself, you know, watching, you know, science fiction movies or books, or shows, excuse me, or when I was a little bit older, the Lord of the Rings trilogy came out. And I would just like, think about these worlds and thinking about these adventures and, you know, kind of come up with some of my own. I never wrote any fan fiction, but I read it heavily. And I just loved, you know, kind of imagining the different places that these stories could take me. And looking back now, it all kind of clicks. And I see, you know, where that spark kind of started. I loved writing stories and creative writing in school, but when I pivoted to that point of more pragmatic and practical approach, I should have known that eventually I was going to end up circling back.

00:04:17 – Rico Figliolini

That’s funny. So was science fiction, fantasy, was that area mainly your interest?

00:04:23 – Jill Tew

Yeah, mainly. I grew up you know reading animorphs. That was probably my first like science fiction love as a kid. I watched this show that not everyone remembers but if you know you know. There was a show that ran like the late 90s early 2000s called Farscape and it was like yeah. So it’s like Jim Henson Studios, like Muppets in space, but for like adults, like, you know, just like the best, like found family space opera of these like kooky alien characters coming together. I imprinted really hard on that show actually. And I feel like that was kind of where I got the bug.

00:05:00 – Rico Figliolini

Okay, cool. I agree. You listen, people get it from different places and depending on your age, it’s just, you know, it goes. I mean, my kids are voracious readers, and they’re into fantasy, sci-fi as well. Lord of the Rings was like a 13-year-old kid reading it. It’s a dense piece of work also.

00:05:21 – Jill Tew

Yeah, absolutely.

00:05:25 – Rico Figliolini

I can see that. So with the work you’ve done, you know, getting into it as a hobby, how’d you get into it as a hobby? What were you doing as far as writing profiles, short stories, trying to pull together a novel idea? How’d that work?

00:05:38 – Jill Tew

Yeah, it’s really funny. I have some friends who kind of started writing with short stories. I have a lot of friends actually that feel like they’re either good at short stories or novels. And like very few can really do both because they’re very different kind of media, like very different formats.

00:05:52 – Rico Figliolini

Sure.

00:05:53 – Jill Tew

So for me, you know, when I thought about a story, when my first story came to me, it really was this kind of bigger story that needed kind of a full length novel. I was at the startup job on the verge of burnout. And some coworkers thought that we should go see a movie after work. And so we went to the theater and it was Divergent. It was that movie that came out probably a decade ago. And walking home from the theater, I remember like that spark, like reigniting in me and me saying like, oh my gosh, like I’ve been missing this. Like this is what I want to do. I don’t want to make spreadsheets for the rest of my life, I just want to tell a story and I went home and instead of like working on work that night I started like plotting out this novel that I had in my head. It was the idea for like a parallel universe like sci-fi story and seven years later that story got me my agent. And then we went on submission and which means like you take the story to publishers and see if they want it. That book did not sell. But while it was out to editors, I ended up writing the book that became my debut, The Dividing Sky. So yeah, that was kind of the beginning of the journey was seeing Divergent and remembering that part of who I was.

00:07:01 – Rico Figliolini

Yeah, Divergent. That was a YA novel that that movie was based on. A trilogy, I think, even because they came out with some more stories.

00:07:09 – Jill Tew

Yeah.

00:07:10 – Rico Figliolini

Yeah. I love the process of writing the whole idea of doing it. You know, reading up on and listen to, you know, podcasts about writing the craft, like you said, because it is a craft, right? It’s an artisan craft almost in some ways. But putting things together, usually most authors that I’ve heard about or read about say that first book is usually that exercise of writing. But it’s not the book that ever gets published. It’s always the second or third book that might get you there. So is this book a duology, a trilogy, or is it a one-off book?

00:07:47 – Jill Tew

Yeah, right now it’s a standalone, I think. So actually I should say that next fall, actually I’m publishing The Penguin Random House again, a book that you could think of as like a companion novel. So it’s another kind of dystopian romance. It’s about a hundred years before the events of this book. So it kind of sets up how we get here, but you can read them in either order, honestly. Readers have been clamoring for a sequel already for The Dividing Sky. And so I am putting some thoughts together about what I want to pitch to my editors. It definitely has, it’s not a cliffhanger, but it leaves some questions open-ended at the end. There’s room for more. And so I’ve been thinking about where else the story might go.

00:08:28 – Rico Figliolini

Yeah. No, I could tell. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but just the synopsis of what the story is about. It takes place in 2364. It’s an 18-year-old Liv Newman. Interesting storyline about what she does.

00:08:43 – Jill Tew

Yeah.

00:08:43 – Rico Figliolini

And that the rookie police force person, I guess, Adrienne Rowe, that follows her and finds her, and she’s lost all her memory, even though memory is part of her job. So, I mean, it’s just I think it’s such a great premise, and I can see how it could go further. You’ve done a lot of good reviews, it seems. Kirkus Reviews called your debut a gutsy novel. You’ve had other reviews in there and your comparisons even to Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower. What does it feel to be talked about like that? You know, to get those reviews?

00:09:21 – Jill Tew

Yeah, it’s a lot. I mean, when I finished it, and we were kind of wrapping up the editing process, I knew it was something special. But you never know, you know? I think, a lot of the power of those reviews comes in, like, who they assign to read it. And all you can do as a reader, as an author, honestly, is like, hope your book finds its people, like at every level, even, you know, bookstores. And so when I saw those star reviews, my first thought was like, oh my gosh, like this book might have a shot at like finding its people. And, you know, I mean like any author I think would like dream of being compared to Octavia Butler. I feel like I don’t want the book to be like overhyped, but you know, it’s funny. Like, I mean, I love Parable of the Sower. I love that book and Octavia Butler, her writing was brilliant. I think when I reread Octavia Butler or the Parable of the Sower this past year, I was reminded of how much of that story kind of seeped into my authorial DNA. In that book, the main character has this sort of like, you could call it a gift or a curse or just ability to feel like the physical things that others feel you know like if somebody gets punched in the face like she feels that pain and this idea of like a character like having empathy for like extreme like speculative like couldn’t possibly be real like empathy for others in that way has leaked into my DNA for sure. I think you know Liv in the Dividing Sky she’s what we call an emo proxy meaning that her job is actually to read books, watch movies, look at blades of grass blowing in the wind or sunsets, and have emotional experiences about those things. And then sell those emotional experiences, those emotional memories to wealthy clients who are too busy working to live life for themselves. And so this idea of transferring emotions, of channeling an emotion so that someone else can experience it, I feel like is tangential to that ability and Parable of the Sower in a lot of ways.

00:11:13 – Rico Figliolini

I love that idea. I mean, the fact that we look at COVID, we look at the sense of loss of personal connections with people, eventually losing you know I could see that it’s sad world almost a dystopian world where you literally have to work through other people’s emotions. Which is really what we do with social media right? When we scroll through TikTok for about 30 minutes we’re living through other people’s lives. It’s not that much different.

00:11:39 – Jill Tew

Yeah.

00:11:39 – Rico Figliolini

So is there, and as you know, every book always says, none of this is based on real events or real characters or people, but you know, an author writes from what they know a bit, right? Is there a particular part that was difficult to write or a particular part that you felt more deeply about in this book?

00:12:01 – Jill Tew

Yeah, that’s a really good question. So I think, there’s the world of the book starts off and it’s called the Metro. And it’s sort of this like hyper capitalist world where everything is hinged around productivity. And so you’re only valuable insofar as you can earn money for this mega corporation that we call Life Corp in the book. And that’s why everyone is so, you know, focused on working is because like, that’s how you get not only money, you know your productivity score dictates you know where you can live what you can do kind of just like the confines of your life. And so like of course you’re going to outsource reading books or child care or you know repair work or like dates with your wife to like proxies who will go and handle that for you. Now Liv and Adrian end up discovering this other community outside of the borders of the Metro called the Outerlands. And there are people out there who have been kind of vilified. But the closer they get to this community, the more they realize that they have a very different way of living that feels more connected and feels more like in harmony and is slower paced and appreciates the value of human life, not for being productive, but just for being intrinsically valuable. And that was hard. I mean, I did some thinking about what I wanted that world to look like, because, you know, I think as an author, like you’re going to be depicting a society that is like, you know, in some ways, kind of what you’re saying, what we should like swing closer towards or keep in mind, something that’s supposed to show, you know, what could be be possible. And you have to like take that responsibility really seriously. So I thought a lot about the elements I wanted to highlight and you know what I wanted to kind of telegraph as yeah, like a way of life that is you know maybe more in balance.

00:13:37 – Rico Figliolini

Yeah. I mean you’re not too far off with the, with what you were saying before about how work or credits may affect your life because, I mean China does that right?

00:13:42 – Jill Tew

Oh yeah, the social credit, exactly, right.

00:13:48 – Rico Figliolini

And we’re not that far from that. I mean, we’re stepping towards it a little bit because even credit ratings, it used to be that apartment rent wasn’t counted in that. Now it is. Utilities and the use of utilities is being counted in that. It wasn’t before.

00:14:10 – Jill Tew

Yeah.

00:14:11 – Rico Figliolini

So I don’t think we’re too far from that social credit kind of deal.

00:14:13 – Jill Tew

I agree. Yeah.

00:14:15 – Rico Figliolini

So, and you do take responsibility as an author to be able to, I mean, as a reader, I take responsibility of what I want, what I like. So it’s a two-way thing, two-way street, right? To a degree like that?

00:14:31 – Jill Tew

Yeah, absolutely.

00:14:32 – Rico Figliolini

But I like where you’re going with that. World building is a very difficult thing.

00:14:36 – Jill Tew

It’s hard. It’s real hard. Yeah.

00:14:38 – Rico Figliolini

I mean, you do it well. I think people realize that without even putting too much thought into it they all of a sudden realize they’re in it and they like it. A bit like Blade Runner.

00:14:52 – Jill Tew

Yeah, exactly. I mean, I think you know all of those stories. I think it’s funny as a sci-fi author and like dystopian author especially like you just realize you’ve been like swimming in this like ether and like all these ideas and you know there’s like androids in my book you know like all these things have just kind of like seeped into like your, the compost pile that you’re using to you know to grow your story.

00:15:13 – Rico Figliolini

Definitely, for sure. So where do you find, so you mentioned like movies, a couple of movies and stuff and obviously some books. Are there other books of sci-fi or movies or shows besides Farscape and some of the ones you’ve mentioned already that you’ve taken inspiration from?

00:15:28 – Jill Tew

Yeah, definitely those. You know, I mean, I haven’t really, I haven’t sold a book in space yet, but like I love Battlestar Galactica. That’s kind of like a classic space, you know, space story. What was I talking to somebody in an interview the other day about when I was younger, there were these two movies that came out back to back that were both about like androids that like you know kind of bordered on being human. So one was like AI, the Haley Joel Osment movie but he was like a little boy almost like a pinocchio metaphor. And then the other one was Bicentennial Man with Robin Williams.

00:16:00 – Rico Figliolini

Yes.

00:16:06 – Jill Tew

Where he lives over like 200 years. And I think those books, I mean the movies came out like back to back and I just feel like there was a moment there where everyone was kind of thinking about like technology and humanity and like where do you draw the line. And I think like I always wrestle with those ideas. The android character in Dividing Sky, Naz is Adrian’s like partner on the force. They’re like buddied up and he like he’s got a heart of gold right? Heart of like chrome and gold, I guess. But he you know, for being you know a robot essentially like he cares a lot about his partner. And I wanted to kind of subvert the idea of an android being clinical and like hard and cold and have one who’s like prime directive really was like the care of his partner. And there’s a book that is a little bit more recent it’s another like YA sci-fi book a trilogy actually, called the Illuminae Files. So if anyone’s listening and like has a young reader in your life that likes science fiction, this book is fantastic. It’s like a mixed media format so instead of just like prose on the page it’s told through like chat transcripts and like security camera footage and like all this really cool like artifacts. It’s a really fun read and also great on audiobook so I would highly recommend that one as well.

00:17:18 – Rico Figliolini

Okay. I haven’t heard about that one yet. But I guess trending today, I mean, you see, my kids are into YA novels too, or at least they were in YA novels. They’re into young adult novels, maybe, right? And so there’s trends out there, right? Different ways of writing. Like you said, I mean, it could be multimedia. It could be transcripts. It could be just different ways of doing it. Do you find, are there any, is there anything out there that’s trending that you think would work for you even for you to do?

00:17:53 – Jill Tew

I like, it’s my dream to someday do like a full mixed media like mixed format book like that’d be awesome. There are a few of those in Dividing Sky like we have some like police reports there’s some doodles in there that are really cute. We have like a scientific study abstract and a job description actually opens up the book so there’s like some fun little things we did in there from a design perspective to kind of make the world feel more fleshed out. But I would love to be able to play around with different mixed media formats because it’s almost like a puzzle coming together even more than like a novel already is. It’s like thinking about what elements you pull from like the real world that you’ve created to give a full picture of the story. So I think that’s really cool.

00:18:34 – Rico Figliolini

I’m curious. Your book is probably available as an audible.

00:18:38 – Jill Tew

Yeah. Oh, the audio book is fantastic. So we have two amazing voices. The story is dual POV. So it’s Liv’s perspective and Adrian’s perspective. And so we have two narrators, which is great. So Kaya Freight does Liv’s voice, and she is like a well-known anime voice actress. She does a bunch of audiobooks. She just did the voice of Violet from Fourth Wing on the like full cast edition of the audiobook so she’s amazing. And then Junior Nyong’o did Adrian’s voice and he’s a fantastic actor in his own right. He’s done a few audiobooks as well I think some things for the stage. He’s also Lupita Nyong’o’s little brother which is really cool too. So they both did a fantastic job. I’m like so, I’m a big like audiobook, I have like a high standard for audio books. And so I was like, okay, like can’t get just anybody. But I’m so pleased with how it turned out.

00:19:30 – Rico Figliolini

Yeah, no, I can appreciate that. When I go on my two, three mile walks, I always listen to a novel or something. And if I hear a really good performance or voice, I always look for what other stories they’ve read.

00:19:42 – Jill Tew

Yeah, exactly.

00:19:42 – Rico Figliolini

Because I mean, just, you can have a really bad reader or performer just.

00:19:51 – Jill Tew

They can ruin a great book, yes. That’s happened to me, unfortunately, a few times when I’ve listened. It’s like, ugh, yeah.

00:19:55 – Rico Figliolini

Yeah, same on that, but it goes that way sometimes. So you’ve gone through the process of writing your book, publishing it. I’m sure it took a little time to, like you said, it took seven years to get an agent. You wrote the book for seven years, but your first book.

00:20:09 – Jill Tew

Yeah.

00:20:12 – Rico Figliolini

And you got an agent. Were you surprised about the process of actually, behind the scenes process of what it took to get the book published?

00:20:19 – Jill Tew

Yeah. So the process of going on submission, I think, was more straightforward. It’s basically like getting an agent, but like all over again. So, you know, you send the manuscript out to editors, you know, your agent ideally has relationships with different editors and publishing houses. And, you know, in science fiction and speculative work, especially, it just takes a long time because editors are also editing books they’ve already acquired. So they’re editing those things. They’re reading a bunch of submissions every day, every week. So the time it took, like that was kind of expected for me. The Dividing Sky actually sold in like five or six weeks, which was pretty fast. And that was amazing. But yeah, so after that, I think, you know, I knew that it would take about 18 months to two years for the book to come out after that, which is about right. So we sold it in October 2022. It just came out. So that’s about right. And over that time period, yeah, you’re editing more at the high level story structure level. And then you go into line edits. So that’s like at the prose level. And then you get to copy edits, which is like typos. So all of that takes, you know, months and months and months. You know, I think what might have been surprising to me is that, you know, a year before the book even comes out, that’s when like marketing and sales and like cover conversations really kick off. And so, you know, you might be working with your editor for a year before that, but it’s like that one year timeline like starts like now all of a sudden it’s a real thing for like everybody else at the publisher. So that part’s always really exciting. So now we’ve got, we’re going through that process now for my next YA book.

00:21:55 – Rico Figliolini

Gotcha, okay. And publishing has changed right? So I mean you have Amazon selling books you have Audible selling books on credit. So authors aren’t making the millions that they used to make before, let’s say. And it was definitely an exclusive club to some degree, right? Where you can make at least a full-time living between a book and then talking tours and stuff like that. Did you find anything about that that was surprising?

00:22:27 – Jill Tew

Yeah, you know, I don’t have much to compare it to because I’m an author now. But you know, from what I gather, you know, I think the biggest thing that’s changed is that people’s attention is just split in so many different ways. And that has upstream effects, right? So if people don’t read the way that they used to, you know, we have so many different things vying for our attention between, you know, the different streaming services and social media, and, you know, all the other forms of media out there, video games. And so I think authors are not, you know, one of only a handful of different forms of entertainment anymore. There’s so much more out there. And so, yeah, I think it’s harder. You know, I think publishing houses definitely feel this, you know, both because, you know the big five publishing houses that they have their own like traditional way of doing things that now may not be as effective and because new players are entering the fray. Like TikTok has their own publishing house now called Bindery. And Bindery partners with local TikTok influencers to like who become editors and like kind of curate their own stable of authors and then promote them through you know going viral on TikTok. And so you know there’s all, and it’s working really well. I mean, I have good friends that have Bindery deals and they’re being treated very well. And I think for authors it’s a totally viable path. So yeah it’s just fascinating to see and then also even downstream you have like book boxes so they’re these companies that will create these beautiful exclusive editions of books and kind of spray the edges and maybe redo the cover and put the illustrations inside and now they have their own publishing houses as well. So they’ve spent years getting to know what readers want really, really well. And now they’re like great, like we can just go buy that we don’t have to pay the publisher to acquire the licenses for these books, we’ll just edit and like have our own authors. And so I think from all these different angles, publishers are feeling this push of like, okay, how do we get closer to readers, but also explore these new channels of marketing, right? I think it’s kind of a free-for-all right now. And I think, yeah, authors can just stay agile and nimble and kind of react to what the market’s doing and just try to seize opportunity where it comes honestly.

00:24:29 – Rico Figliolini

Yeah and hopefully that you know maybe one of these becomes a Netflix series or movie or something, right?

00:24:35 – Jill Tew

Yeah.

00:24:40 – Rico Figliolini

With all the streaming services looking for content and stuff it’s unbelievable. And with ChatGPT. I’ve had a few friends that think they’re authors now because they can just get ChatGPT to write a piece for them. It’s amazing. It’s not that easy.

00:24:57 – Jill Tew

No, it’s not. And like you, if you don’t enjoy the like puzzle and like mental exercise that is writing, maybe being an author is not for you. Like you should enjoy, it’s hard, but you should enjoy the process.

00:25:10 – Rico Figliolini

Yes, that’s for sure. It is hard. And it’s, if you’re not willing to spend weeks, months and several years on it, then just drop it. You’re a parent of two kids, two young kids. I think one of them is starting school, maybe shortly? How do you balance? Writing is different than a 9-to-5 job, and it’s even different than some of these remote or hybrid jobs. Because someone could say, well, you can write almost any time. Although your creativity might be good at 6 to 7 in the morning maybe, or maybe at night after the kids go to sleep. So how do you balance that? How does that work for you creatively?

00:25:49 – Jill Tew

Absolutely. So yeah, so when I, before I got an agent, when I was like, when they were very young, I would write mostly at night. Now I write in the morning. So, you know, you can write anywhere. But for me, like once my kids are awake, like a good half of my brain is just like tuned in to wherever they are, like whatever they might need. Even if like I’m in the basement of my office and they’re upstairs, like you hear the pitter patter of little feet and I’m like, oh, like there goes like a chunk of my focus. So I need to write when they’re asleep. So, yeah, I get up early. I write, my like dedicated writing time is usually in the morning from like 6:30 to 8:00 or so. And now because my oldest is in like full time school now and my youngest is in a half day preschool program, I have more of the time during like waking hours to write. But you know, I’m still a full-time mom so my you know, I’m doing grocery shopping, I’m doing laundry. Like that time gets filled with other things too. So I really protect that 6:00 to 6:30 to 8:00 time and I can get a lot done in that time. If I’m like plotting out my story and I know what the next scene is and I know, you know, what I need to happen and what conversations need to happen in that part of the book, I can bang it out. You know, as long as I’m just like keeping that time and like holding it sacred and getting up every morning to do it a little bit at a time, I can chip away at a manuscript.

00:27:11 – Rico Figliolini

Do you set up an outline? Do you start with an outline?

00:27:15 – Jill Tew

I do. Yeah. Some authors can be more kind of like flexible and kind of discover, you know, where their story takes them. I always outline. I’m a plotter, as they say. So I plot out my story. I made spreadsheets for a living, you know, before I was an author. Now I make them for my like outlines and my revisions. Love a good spreadsheet still. And yeah, I need that. Yeah.

00:27:37 – Rico Figliolini

Do you create profiles for some of your characters or do you let them tell you where they go as you’re writing?

00:27:44 – Jill Tew

Yeah. Some authors do that and have like a big story bible. I’m not, I don’t do that only because I know that it will make me procrastinate. Like I could spend forever building that out and then never actually get to the story. So I kind of let, I have like a few character details that I use in service of like figuring out how the plot works. And then the rest of it, I kind of build in over the course of revisions as things kind of flesh themselves out. Yeah.

00:28:06 – Rico Figliolini

Are you a bit of a procrastinator?

00:28:09 – Jill Tew

I’m not, but I can get in my head about like a story not being good enough to get started and I think that’s the biggest thing when you’re writing. Even, you know, for an established author writing the next thing and like that blank page is always scary. So yeah, if I don’t just like start then like I can get in my head and say like, oh let’s wait you know, a few more days. Like just, nope, just got to do it. You cannot revise what doesn’t exist. So you have to start first.

00:28:29 – Rico Figliolini

That’s good. I love that. Do you set goals for yourself, like word counts or time or anything like that?

00:28:37 – Jill Tew

Yeah, I try, you know, I’m generous with myself because I know that I, if I’m not careful, I’ll burn out. And then like that goal won’t be hit anyway. So especially when I’m on my own deadlines, not my editor’s deadlines, I try to take it easy, you know. I can do 1000 words a day pretty reliably. And so you know, that gets like three months later, that’s a full book, right? So that’s kind of usually my pace. And I do like to kind of backwards plan and think about, okay, by the end of the week, I want to be at this chapter. By the end of the month, I want to be here. That way I just know that I’m on track. Or that I need to adjust my plan if I’m falling behind or, you know, sometimes as you’re writing, you’re like, oh, like that scene actually belongs somewhere else. Or I can like accomplish that in a paragraph instead. So you’re always revising, like you’re not holding it too tightly, but I like a good plan. It just helps me know where I’m going.

00:29:26 – Rico Figliolini

I know the kids are kind of young, but the oldest, what does she feel about mom being a writer and author?

00:29:34 – Jill Tew

Oh my gosh. Yeah. So the moment they began to kind of finally get it actually was last February. I sold my middle grade book, which is like a nine to twelve year old reader, kind of like that’s like younger than young adult right? I sold two books to Disney. So my first one, my first Disney book’s coming out in April. But when I told them that it was with Disney, they were like, oh, Disney, like we get it. That was amazing. And then actually like three days ago, I was going to, we were picking up Mellow Mushroom for dinner. And we went to Johns Creek Books and Gifts, which is like right down the street. And my book is there. And so I was like, our oh, pizza’s not ready yet. Let’s just go in this bookstore. So my oldest was with me. And I was like, hey, do you see anything that looks familiar? And like her eyes popped out of her head. I think for her, she was like, oh, like mommy writes real books. And they’re like in the stores. And that was, I think she was like proud, but like also just like over, like it was very cute. But yeah she like, she couldn’t believe it so that was really cool.

00:30:33 – Rico Figliolini

Yeah, that must have been a great feeling.

00:30:35 – Jill Tew

Yeah, I mean she, you know, like the whole house, my husband’s been amazing about this too. Just like the whole house has been like, mommy’s books coming out. So we have like just keep track of like whose birthdays come in like the calendar year and so it’s like, oh like daddy’s birthday, mommy’s birthday, you know my youngest, my oldest, whatever. And they slotted my book’s birthday in there so they’re like, mommy’s book’s birthday. And then yeah, and then Christmas. And so yeah. So it’s been like a big thing we’ve been building up to so yeah.

00:31:00 – Rico Figliolini

That’s fun. Now you did mention a middle grade book you wrote. So tell us a few you know tell us about that.

00:31:10 – Jill Tew

Yeah. So that’s coming out April 1st. Oh I have that, I’ll show you the cover because it’s very cute. So that book is, it’s called Kaya Morgan’s Crowning Achievement and it’s about a, let’s see put the camera, a black girl growing up in suburban Atlanta who is competing to be crowned the first black queen of her local Renaissance Festival summer camp. And it’s really good. I loved the Renaissance Festival growing up. It was a big part of my nerd awakening, probably. And there’s just so much in here about this girl kind of discovering where she belongs and what she’s interested in, even as society tells her that maybe those things don’t make sense for who she is. And also a bunch of Renaissance Faire puns in here.

00:31:54 – Rico Figliolini

So that’s great. And that’s a great festival. First of all, anyone that lives in Atlanta should be able to visit.

00:31:59 – Jill Tew

It’s amazing. Yeah, I go every year. So, yeah, that one’s coming out in April. And Disney has, it’s been great to work with too. It’s kind of fun to think about younger kids and readers that are maybe still looking for, they don’t know that they’re readers yet. They’re looking for the right book to hook them. And so I think a lot about the reader looking at this on the shelf and saying, okay, maybe I can get into books.

00:32:13 – Rico Figliolini

So that’s a lot different to write than a YA novel.

00:32:21 – Jill Tew

Yeah.

00:32:22 – Rico Figliolini

I mean, did that process take longer? Is it the same agent or you had to find a different agent?

00:32:30 – Jill Tew

Yeah. Same agent, different publisher, obviously. So yeah, for this one, you know, it’s interesting. You know, I love a good love story. There’s no romance in my middle grade, right? So where’s my romance arc? But that’s okay. There’s a friendship arc, which is really good. And yeah, the voice is different. I think younger kids, I think even for a young adult, like in YA, everything is so immediate and urgent, but for middle grade, even more so, right? So your best friend doesn’t invite you to the birthday party, your world is crashing. It’s crumbling down, right? And so it was fun to kind of get back into my like 12-year-old headspace. Remember what it was like, like not knowing who I was going to be, like who I was going to end up becoming. There’s a lot of that uncertainty and like, who am I, where do I fit in? It was fun to revisit that and kind of provide, you know, one perspective.

00:33:20 – Rico Figliolini

That’d be interesting for your kids to pick that up as they get older.

00:33:24 – Jill Tew

Yeah exactly. It’s different yeah.

00:33:37 – Rico Figliolini

Yes, critiquing mom on, I don’t know about this mom.

00:33:38 – Jill Tew

Yeah I can’t wait. Yeah my oldest is still, she loves her like Dog Man and Captain Underpants right now. But I think as she gets older she’s like, she’s close to getting ready for this. yeah we’re going

00:33:42 – Rico Figliolini

Yeah, I remember Captain Underpants, my kids bought those too. Actually, because of the school book fair, it’s scholastic books and stuff.

00:33:50 – Jill Tew

Yeah.

00:33:56 – Rico Figliolini

How far out do you think? I know you’re working on the other book. So how far out do you plan? I mean, or are you taking it as you go?

00:34:08 – Jill Tew

Yeah, I think I take it as I go. I mean, I have a few books, book ideas in me. So right now I’m actually, I need to start drafting. My second Disney book comes out April, 2026. So I need to start drafting that. I have the outline ready to go, but that’s kind of where I’m at in terms of my like workload. After that, I have no other contracted books yet. We’re on submission with an adult space opera, which I’m holding my, crossing my fingers for. But I’m excited to have some time in the early part of next year for a book that like, is not under contract, like nobody else knows about like, I just want to like play around again. Because I think, like, you know, it’s amazing to have book deals. But you know, there’s, you know pluses and minuses to everything and I miss that feeling of like this is just for me. So I’m excited to get back into that.

00:34:51 – Rico Figliolini

That’s cool. So have we missed anything that you’d like to cover that’s maybe, that I didn’t quite get to?

00:34:59 – Jill Tew

I don’t think so. I think that’s me.

00:35:02 – Rico Figliolini

Do you want to show us the cover of your new book? Do you have that?

00:35:04 – Jill Tew

Yeah, I do. Let’s see. This is The Dividing Sky, which this cover is absolutely gorgeous. It gives me all of the science fiction, romance vibes. Yeah, they did it, so pretty.

00:35:17 – Rico Figliolini

Yeah. Excellent. Well, we’ve been speaking to Jill Tew, author, first-time author, lots of books out at this point with Disney and this first novel. Appreciate you spending time with us. And it’s great to see, you know, Peachtree Corners has a lot going on and it’s good to see, again, I’d love the opportunity to talk to different people from different areas of different professions, different skill sets. So this was great. Love talking about the, talking shop to some degree, although I don’t do writing, I publish magazines, but that’s about it.

00:35:53 – Jill Tew

It’s all connected. Absolutely. Thank you so much for this and for having the spotlight. I love the city. When we were moving back, it was top of our list. So we’re so happy to be here.

00:36:02 – Rico Figliolini

Great to have you. Hang in with me for a minute. I just want to sign off a little bit, but I also want to tell everyone EV Remodeling Inc. is our sponsor for these podcasts and for our publications. So check them out. Eli lives here in Peachtree Corners with his family. They do great work from start to finish. So no matter what you’re doing, whether it’s one room or all the rooms in your house, you should visit them. So EVRemodelingInc.com is where you can get that info. And if you’re listening to this through our website or wherever you’re listening, I’ll have links in the show notes. So this way you can find more about Jill’s books and about the Disney book as well. We’ll have that link as well. So thank you all for being with us. Appreciate it.

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Peachtree Corners Life

Ruwa Romman’s Re-Election Bid: Addressing Housing, Taxes and Transportation in Gwinnett [Podcast]

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Ruwa Romman

Early voting is open; Election Day, November 5

In this episode of Peachtree Corners Life, Georgia State Representative Ruwa Romman returns to discuss her re-election campaign for House District 97, covering Peachtree Corners, Norcross, Berkeley Lake and Duluth. Join host Rico Figliolini as they dive into pressing issues, including Gwinnett County’s rapidly growing population, the urgent need for infrastructure improvements, and the impact of the upcoming transit referendum. Ruwa also shares her insights on housing affordability, the role of public transportation and how small changes in tax law could affect both local businesses and homeowners. She emphasizes the importance of civic engagement, recounting how a local election was decided by just four votes. Don’t miss this insightful conversation about the future of Gwinnett and the power of your vote.

Resources:

Ruwa’s website: https://www.ruwa4georgia.com/
Ruwa’s House email: Ruwa.Romman@House.GA.Gov
The Georgia My Voter Page has all of your voting information, including your polling location and which districts you fall in. You can also request and fill out your absentee ballot on your My Voter Page, or by visiting this Gwinnett County specific page.

“Gwinnett is growing very rapidly. And if we don’t start this now, we’re going to run into a lot of problems in the future where we’re going to see a situation where our infrastructure can’t actually handle how many people are coming in. It’s not going to be able to handle the businesses that want to come here. It’s not going to be able to handle the kind of growth that would bring better jobs and that would improve our communities. And the sooner we can start prepping our infrastructure for that kind of a demand, the less disruptive it’s going to be.”

Timestamp:

00:00:00 – Candidate Ruwa Romman Discusses Georgia State House District 97 Re-election
00:01:31 – Concerns over Statewide Homestead Tax Exemption
00:07:16 – Keeping Tax Cases Local and Efficient
00:09:49 – Vague Tax Exemption Amendment
00:12:18 – Tax Loopholes and Small Business Impact
00:14:50 – Gwinnett County Transit Referendum
00:23:46 – Convenient Airport Transportation Options
00:25:54 – The Need for Public Transportation and Infrastructure Improvements
00:28:00 – Addressing the Housing Crisis
00:31:40 – Challenges of Profit-Driven Development
00:34:03 – Home Buying and Energy Costs
00:36:41 – Negotiating Monopoly Power on the Grid
00:39:47 – Importance of Civic Engagement and Voting
00:41:25 – Voting Tips: Early, In-Person, and Ballot Drop-Off Options
00:43:38 – Importance of Voting In-Person and Ballot Drop-Off
00:46:09 – Navigating Voter Registration and Provisional Ballots
00:49:05 – Advocating for Public Service and Effective Governance

Podcast Transcript

00:00:00 – Rico Figliolini

Hi, everyone. This is Rico Figliolini, host of Peachtree Corners Life here in Gwinnett County. Beautiful day, although it started out freezing this morning, but we’re up to about 62 right now. We’re here with a candidate that’s running for re-election, Ruwa Romman. Hey, Ruwa, how are you?

00:00:19 – Ruwa Romman

I’m good, thanks. How are you doing?

00:00:21 – Rico Figliolini

Good. Good, thank you. Ruwa is running for Georgia State Rep House District 97. Actually, she’s running for re-election. She’s been in the term for one term, I believe. And so it’s time for a re-election, right? She represents, the area that she represents is Peachtree Corners, Berkeley Lake, Duluth. That’s about those three cities mainly, right?

00:00:44 – Ruwa Romman

Yeah, it’s four. So it’s Berkeley Lake, Duluth, Norcross, and Peachtree Corners.

00:00:50 – Rico Figliolini

And as far as Peachtree Corners goes, it’s about a little bit more than half the city.

00:00:55 – Ruwa Romman

Yep.

00:00:56          Rico Figliolini

I believe, if it looks right.

00:00:58 – Ruwa Romman

Yeah.

00:00:59 – Rico Figliolini

So we’re going to hop right into this. We’ve interviewed her, the person running against her, Michael Corbin, a week or two ago. So he’s out there. So you can listen to that interview if you like. Find it out on our website. So this one, we’re going to be discussing a few issues we may not have touched upon with Michael Corbin. One of them is the constitutional amendments that are coming in this, actually, that’s going to be on the ballot this November. So, and you all should be aware of it. So one of them, the biggest one we’ll start off with, to me is the biggest one, because I’m a homeowner, so I can be a little soft on this, is a statewide exemption to local homestead tax. So why don’t you tell us a little bit about, you know, in brief, what that means to a homeowner who, they’re in Peachtree Corners?

00:01:47 – Ruwa Romman

Absolutely. So what it does is it puts a cap on how much home assessments can go up by about 3% per year. So what it’s doing is it’s essentially limiting the increases to property taxes. The cons, however, is that it’s kind of multifold, right? When we were working during session, we knew that housing costs were a big problem and we really wanted to reduce those costs. But what ended up happening is that we passed a bunch of referendums, including the Gwinnett one that we recently got passed. This is one of the other ones that got passed. So I’d originally voted yes for it. I’ll be voting no for it at the ballot box specifically because when you are adding on so many exemptions, one on top of the other very quickly, it can become very disruptive, particularly for local municipalities. So what do I mean by that? If a city or county’s funding is disrupted too quickly, suddenly you’ll start to see even slower responses to things like potholes, streetlights being off, school funding, you name it. So what we’re trying to do, at least for me personally with my vote, is that I’m trying to strike a balance between not shocking our municipalities too much and then shifting the burden onto our cities and our counties. I just don’t think that’s fair with the way that the bill is going to end up working out because we already passed the Gwinnett Homestead exemption.

00:03:10 – Rico Figliolini

So what is the? Okay. So if I look at my property tax, right? The way it works is that an assessment is made. Most people will know this, right? So usually it’s 40% of your market value of the home, which means that the county or the municipality doesn’t have to increase your millage rate. But in effect, because of the appraisal, your property tax can’t go up. So nothing is owed on it, just the appraisal’s done, and your property tax can be 20% higher. My property tax essentially I mean, won’t say 20% higher, but it was probably 12-13% higher. Due to COVID, right? Because it was then it went up, assessed, and they don’t assess every year I mean, they do, it doesn’t always change every year. So I think we’ve gone through that struggle where I don’t foresee a 12% increase again.

00:04:12 – Ruwa Romman

Yeah. No, no, no. And we’ve already increased your homestead exemption. So all of this, the reason I’m worried about this bill in particular is it sets a statewide standard, but the problem is municipalities and counties are very different. And my worry is that, you know, as an example of Peachtree Corners, say they’ve decreased your tax bill, which people should have seen at least either their taxes not go up this year or go up by only a much smaller margin. Some people actually saw a decrease in their tax assessments this year. But the hope is that with the Gwinnett one specifically, it is tailored to Gwinnett residents. The problem with this bill is it creates sort of a weird opt-out mechanism that can create some problems for municipalities and counties that I’m worried about. So it’s more of a logistics thing. And what I tell people is that when it comes to constitutional amendments, if you have a concern, it’s actually okay to vote no, because it’s easier to get it back on the ballot next time around than it is to take it off or revoke it.

00:05:11 – Rico Figliolini

Okay. So, but the next time around would be two years from now, if it goes through the process.

00:05:15 – Ruwa Romman

We can decide. We can actually do anytime. So the Gwinnett homestead exemption was immediately put on the ballot during, like immediately during the primaries.

00:05:26 – Rico Figliolini

Okay, alright. So in your opinion this shouldn’t, this cap of three percent would wreck havoc possibly with our county or you’re talking about statewide with a variety of counties?

00:05:38 – Ruwa Romman

And we’ve seen this in California as well where it has increased things like homelessness and been very, very disruptive. A lot of times when people talk about, you know, I don’t like to dunk on California, but this, when I was doing research on this, and that’s why we actually did our guide a little later, is I was doing research on how this has worked in other states. And what we found is when you do this kind of a statewide mechanism or whatever the case may be, you end up seeing all of these unintended consequences down the road that you didn’t really expect, right? You had good intentions, you want to lower costs, which is great. But my recommendation to people is do it by county or municipality instead, because then you’re able to tailor it for your specific district or location. The other thing I will say is that this referendum in particular did not have a fiscal note. So we don’t actually know how this would impact even statewide revenue related matters. So say, for example, there is a small business program that has been vital in bringing small businesses to Gwinnett County or Peachtree Corners, whatever the case may be, we could inadvertently defund that program and then lose out on that tax revenue for the city. And then you start to see services go down in quality over time. So for me, the fact that I don’t know how much this is going to cost us, I don’t know how much this will be disruptive on top of the Gwinnett one that we’ve already passed. It gave me pause and that’s why I switched from yes to a no.

00:07:10 – Rico Figliolini

Okay. And people can appeal their assessment. So, I mean, it’s not like they can’t go out and appeal it. And what you’re saying is really to keep it local. It’s almost like a Republican thing, right? Keep, yeah. Keep the power local versus.

00:07:25 – Ruwa Romman

Big local. Yeah, I’m a big local person and fan, so…

00:07:28 – Rico Figliolini

Right, so keep it local. You know, if we don’t like what’s happening at the county level, I know in Peachtree Corners, there is no millage rate, but at the county level, obviously, there is. So if you have a problem there, you can either appeal your assessment or, listen, just vote the county commissioner out, that’s like voting these things in like this. So let’s move on to tax court in the judicial system and what that means in brief.

00:07:53 – Ruwa Romman

Yeah, so I am going to be voting yes on this one because I think that we need to remove tax cases from your general queue. I would much rather that a case where somebody is waiting for their case to be adjudicated to not have their life hang in limbo because of a tax case that’s taking up a lot of time. The other thing is that tax cases require a lot of expertise that not every judge might have. And the hope is it would relieve the burden on the criminal justice system as well. Now, some of the cons on that one is obviously that means that the governor gets to appoint those judges, not us as people, we don’t get to vote for them. So less oversight. The other one that people had mentioned to me recently is that if you have a tax case, it might be a little more burdensome or costly if you’re low income. But for me, I really think that we should just kind of take those because there’s such a niche type of law that, you know, take it out of the generic queue and put it in its own queue because then, you know, businesses can kind of deal with their own stuff and not take up the court’s time. But again, per usual, if you have concerns with it, vote no and let’s fix it.

00:09:04 – Rico Figliolini

So just, is there, I mean, I’m sure there’s statistics about who is in the tax courts, not tax courts, but you know, how many people, what the demographics are, like, is it majority business people that are going to these? Okay.

00:09:24 – Ruwa Romman

So it’s majority businesses, but you know, with everything that happens with systems, you’re always going to have a small group of people that could be negatively impacted. We don’t, unfortunately you don’t actually have that much research on it. I wish we did, but we do know that when it comes to businesses, they do want to be able to finish their cases sooner rather than later. And this would be an opportunity to do that. But again, as I always say, when it comes to constitutional amendments, if you have concerns, err on the side of no. I just think in this case, the positives outweigh the negatives, but I totally understand if people think the opposite.

00:09:58 – Rico Figliolini

Okay. Referendum A, not one, two, but A, is tax exemption for tangible personal property.

00:10:02 – Ruwa Romman

Yeah. So I voted no on this one during session, and will be voting no on this one at the ballot box. There’s a few reasons for this. One, we don’t actually fully describe what we mean by, tangible property is the term that is being used for this specific amendment. It’s basically tax exemption for certain types of tangible personal property. We kind of define it, we kind of don’t. There’s a lot of room for people to take advantage. So somebody could take this tax exemption. And what it does, it actually raises the exemption from 7,000 to 20,000 and just a lot of room for misuse. And the intention was to help businesses. But the reality of the situation is that it would mostly help larger companies and corporations and could actually inadvertently hurt small businesses. Because the way that small businesses do their taxes, I’m not really sure that they’re going to be able to benefit from this as much and could actually be hurt. Because again, we have a lot of programs that support small businesses and this might be taking away from that support.

00:11:09 – Rico Figliolini

So I read something online about this particular piece just recently, and I agree with you. It was vague. I mean, it didn’t say exactly what it was, but it did say along the lines, it gave an example, for example. So maybe it’s a bad example, but what they gave is, let’s say you buy a computer system. It’s a $5,000 system. You’re paying sales tax on it. The tangible personal or the tangible property tax, you have to pay an additional tax on that equipment, if I understand correctly.

00:11:44 – Ruwa Romman

Yeah, and it depends on how you’re using it too. So it depends on the usage. It depends on what it’s generating. It depends on the equipment and how it’s used in your business. And that’s why I’m saying it’s so vague that what you’re bringing up makes total sense. You’re like, okay, you’ve already paid taxes on it once. Why are you paying taxes on it again if you’re using it for your business? The problem is that the way that taxes get itemized, the concern is that there is going to be a lot of ability to misuse this and it would cause a decrease in revenue. And we would take away programs that actually help small businesses to succeed. And the next thing you know, these larger corporations are benefiting in a way that was supposed to help you as a small business owner, but actually ends up hurting you in the long run.

00:12:31 – Rico Figliolini

So, but the larger businesses, I mean, this is a maximum of 20,000. The larger business, 20,000 is like a drop in a bucket or is it per?

00:12:40 – Ruwa Romman

Again, it totally depends on how it’s set up. And that’s what I’m saying. It’s, these are like, this specific referendum was written in such a way that I voted for it, no, on the house floor. And will be voting for it, no, again, because it was kind of ran through. There was no, and I don’t, and I need to like quadruple check this, but I looked for a fiscal note, I couldn’t really find one that would tell me how much this would cost or the impact it would have on our state. For me, I can’t even tell you to make a decision on this appropriately because I can’t even give you adequate numbers to say, yeah, it’s only 20,000, not a big deal, drop in the bucket for a large business, but a big deal for a smaller business. But I don’t even know if that smaller business could even qualify or what hoops they have to run through or what items count kind of thing. And on top of that, I don’t even know how much it would cost us in the long run to be able to give you like a ‘yes’ recommendation.

00:13:37 – Rico Figliolini

So if anyone wants to find out about this particular referendum, I mean, any of these three, they can go, I’ll have links on in the show notes, but it should be easy enough to find where they are.

00:13:49 – Ruwa Romman

Yeah. So we have put up a voter guide on all of our social media channels. I’ve got to just finish it on Facebook, but right now it’s on Instagram. Actually, no, it’s everywhere. It’s on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, blue sky, wherever you get your information. We posted the entire guide for everybody to be able to access. And it goes through the pros and cons of each one. I also go through how I voted for it during session and how I’ll be voting for it at the ballot box and why. Because I do believe in that transparency, right? Like you can disagree with me on, hey, we need to lower these taxes at all costs possible. Like, cool, totally no problem. I just never want people to question what their elected official is doing and why.

00:14:28 – Rico Figliolini

I appreciate that transparency. So even if you change your vote and you decided to vote yes or no, it’s good to know why you changed that. Alright. So let’s move away from that a little bit. There’s another referendum coming up just for Gwinnett County, and that’s the transit referendum. I think on infrastructure concerns here in Peachtree Corners, I mean, we’re mainly a car city, if you will, and the autonomous vehicle Technology Park thing just drives that. It almost feels like Michigan sometimes. So how do you think this referendum would address our issues or impact us locally here in Peachtree Corners?

00:15:08 – Ruwa Romman

Yeah. So one of the things that I’ve noticed, for example, is that in my district alone, we have four different cities and three of them are downtown centers. So they have festivals, they have events, they have a lot of incredible activities, and it comes with a lot of traffic. And so what I tell people is imagine if you could take a convenient bus to the fall festival in Duluth or, for example, to any of the Norcross festivities that happen in addition to the Peachtree Corners festivities. Because suddenly you don’t have to worry about parking. You don’t have to worry about getting stuck in traffic. You don’t have to worry about any of that kind of stuff. So this transit referendum specifically would pay for 115 miles of quick ride BRT light is what it’s called. And what’s really great about BRT light is that it’s almost as fast as a train without needing to build the infrastructure for trains. It would do almost 26 miles of bus routes. It would have nearly 346 miles of county ride services, 20 transit transfer centers, two airport connectors. And for Peachtree Corners specifically, there is going to be one of those airport connector routes in Peachtree Corners.

00:16:27 – Rico Figliolini

Now, this would connect to the Doraville station or?

00:16:33 – Ruwa Romman

These are like express buses. So to give you an example, right now, I can drive about 10 minutes to Sugarloaf Mills and I can take a bus and it will take me directly to downtown and only has four stops downtown before I get to the Capitol. So on days when I don’t have late evening events at the Capitol during session, I will literally take the bus and spend that hour that I would have spent in traffic responding to emails or getting work done or doing calls or whatever the case may be. And I’ll be in the HOV lane. And it’s incredibly, I mean, I’m kind of skeptical about buses, to be honest with you, but I decided to try it. And I was very pleasantly surprised. It’s a clean bus, has Wi-Fi, is full every single time I’ve taken it to the point that they’ve now had to run buses every five minutes during rush hour, because the buses will overfill and people will have to go onto the next one. So it would be similar to that kind of an experience. Think of like a charter bus with the nice seats and the cushions and things like that. And the hope is to build that out for the entire county. Now, it’s going to be a 30-year project because infrastructure takes time to build, but it starts with the most dense areas such as Lawrenceville and works its way out. So over time, what you’ll see is you’ll see a decrease in traffic because there’s less cars on the road. Instead of having 40 cars, it’s going to be just one bus. And I don’t know if any, you know, for the listeners who have to commute, it just gets so, so awful.

00:18:00 – Rico Figliolini

Yeah, it’s interesting because with remote work now and hybrid work still being in place, I don’t think that’s going to go anywhere. If anything, it just brought me more hybrid rather than just dedicated remotely working. But coming from New York, I mean, and having lived here since ‘95, I can see some, there’s good reasons in my mind. Like there’s the Long Island Railroad. There’s other rail systems or even express bus systems that are coach seats and stuff that work really well. You paid a premium for that above the normal bus payment. And they were clean and they were safe and stuff. Different than the bus, than the train system, at least in New York at the time. And even here sometimes you hear things happening on MARTA. MARTA’s not always the safest or the best that it can be, just because of the nature of the beast, I guess. But I can see why there would be some resistance to this a little bit with regard to spending the amount of money. That’s going to be, what’s the total cost like over the period of time for this referendum?

00:19:15 – Ruwa Romman

It’s a one percent levied. I gotta double check the number but.

00:19:23 – Rico Figliolini

It’s a one penny tax actually. It’s a one penny tax on your sales tax. So it would be adding one more penny to any Equinet sales tax, right? And so over time, we’re talking billions of dollars being raised to be used. And it’s, like you said, it’s not really a train system. It’s not bringing, it’s not spending, you know, billion dollars to do two miles a track or something.

00:19:45 – Ruwa Romman

No, no, no. This is like, the way I’ve explained it to people is that it’s like the biggest bang for your buck right? We don’t have the density to justify train. And this is Gwinnett. This is like, by Gwinnett for Gwinnett kind of a program that focuses on only Gwinnett. I mean obviously it’s trying to also, you know, connect people to other transit systems in the area. But if there’s a, in our guide, there’s actually a map that will show you where it’s going to be a county ride, what’s called a quick ride, and actually Peachtree Corners, Norcross are both on the quick ride route. The county ride will include all of Peachtree Corners, Duluth, Norcross, and Berkeley Lake. You have the airport ride also connects into Peachtree Corners.

00:20:36 – Rico Figliolini

When you say airport ride? That goes straight to the airport?

00:20:39 – Ruwa Romman

Correct. So there’s going to be what’s called 20 new transit stations. One of them is going to be in Peachtree Corners. The other one’s going to be in Norcross. And the third one’s going to be in Duluth. So all of these downtown centers where we have a lot of people, you’ll actually be able to access at least one and up to four. So county ride, quick ride, rapid ride, and airport ride along these transfer stations and facilities. So one of them is going to be here in Peachtree Corners.

00:21:08 – Rico Figliolini

Okay. So if I wanted to go to the airport, what I’m getting at, is I could go to that hub, I could be dropped off here in Peachtree Corners, pick up the bus, and it takes you with some stops along the way, maybe. It’ll take you all the way to the airport. There’s no additional, there’s no jumping off, getting onto a different system to get to the airport.

00:21:30 – Ruwa Romman

It’s still the same system. Based on this map, there might be a transfer to the airport line, but you can also just park and ride. So you can just park your car, which is what I do with the Gwinnett one. And the, based on, I’m trying to see like, there’s a, it’s called Hartsfield Jackson ride and I’m actually trying to open it up.

00:21:49 – Rico Figliolini

So the one from Gwinnett county or from Peachtree Corners or these micro hubs, they won’t take you directly to the airport. You would still have to make a transfer somewhere?

00:22:01 – Ruwa Romman

Yes. Or drive your car directly to the airport. You would still have to make a transfer somewhere. I’m reading the map as we’re talking right now because I don’t have it memorized, but there, because like the, it’s a quick ride or a county ride. Well, you can either take that to connect you to the airport express bus because they don’t want to do any stops. They want somebody to be able to get on the bus and go directly to the airport. Or you can, I’m trying to find where the hub is.

00:22:22 – Rico Figliolini

Okay. So you can go there. So that’s my point because originally some of these things were, you get on it, you get to, let’s say, the Doraville MARTA Station, you hop on and then you get to the airport. But what I’m hearing is that if you’re hopping on the Peachtree Corners hub or Duluth or Norcross, that you go directly from here to the airport without making any jumps anywhere.

00:22:46 – Ruwa Romman

Exactly. Exactly.

00:22:49 – Rico Figliolini

So, I mean, I find that more convenient than having to stop somewhere, get off, walk, get another transfer, wait for that. Okay. So it’s straight.

00:23:02 – Ruwa Romman

Yeah. So if you have a car, I’m trying to see where the nearest hub is. There’s obviously the Indian Trail, like Greyhound one but I can’t, like the bus route, I’m like looking at the bus route. It starts at the Mall of Georgia, goes down to Sugarloaf Mills, goes down to the Gwinnett transit center at Gwinnett Place, Indian Trail. I can’t fully read what that says. It’s like OFS or something like that. It’s like right behind Norcross. But that one, any of these are on the route to Hartsfield-Jackson, and you don’t have to transfer. You just park, get on the bus, and it’ll take you directly to the airport.

00:23:38 – Rico Figliolini

Gotcha. Okay. Alright, cool. So this way everyone knows some of that. We’ll have a link also to that map. And so this way people can check that out also. There’s pros and cons, obviously, and we’ll try to find those links for people that want to look at that. Because it is a penny that’s being added to our sales tax, and it’s a commitment that will stay there for quite a few years, I think.

00:24:09 – Ruwa Romman

Yeah, when building it, it’ll be about no more than 30 years. And the reason for it is that when you’re building this kind of infrastructure, whether it’s ordering buses or one of the things they’re going to do is these buses are going to have the traffic, like they’re going to coordinate with the traffic system. So if you’re on a bus, it’ll always be a green light. You don’t have to stop at traffic lights. You don’t have to get caught in that traffic. Some of them will actually have their own lane. So they have to designate some of the lanes for rapid transit bus as well. So a lot of that, again, going back to the biggest bang for your buck, you’re not laying down tracks. You’re not trying to rebuild stuff. It’s actually more technology-based. And the other cool thing is that for some of these quick transit ones, they’re going to be electric. So you don’t have to deal with the fumes of buses, increased exhaust, that kind of thing. But it does take time. So that was one of my cons is that it’ll take time for all this to be rolled out to the county.

00:24:59 – Rico Figliolini

For sure. I mean, there’s all sorts of things, legality and public hearings and stuff for these types of things to even set up the hubs, the micro hubs, like in Peachtree Corners. Like, where would that be? I know it’s on a map somewhere, suggested, but the ultimate place that it would be would take time and public hearings and stuff like that, I guess. But this is different than the last time the transit referendum was on the ballot, because that last time included, I think, a MARTA or several MARTA stops. I think it was at least one. And I think that was to Mall of Georgia.

00:25:31 – Ruwa Romman

Yep. Hello. I love cats.

00:25:35 – Rico Figliolini

I’ve got three of them. Do you want to take one?

00:25:37 – Ruwa Romman

Awesome. I’ve got two. But it’s great. Look, I’m a huge, I will say this. There is very little that I miss about my time in school in DC. But the one thing I do miss is having access to public transportation because it was just so nice not to have to sit in traffic. I could get so much work done. You know, you can be on your phone, you can relax, you can read. It’s just, I don’t like traffic and anything that will make that better would go a long way. And I will say too, Gwinnett is growing very rapidly. And if we don’t start this now, we’re going to run into a lot of problems in the future where we’re going to see a situation where our infrastructure can’t actually handle how many people are coming in. It’s not gonna be able to handle the businesses that want to come here. It’s not gonna be able to handle like the kind of growth that would bring better jobs and that would improve our communities and that kind of thing. We end up facing a ceiling, but the problem is people are still coming and we’re going to have, you know, hopefully more families and more kids and that kind of thing. And the sooner we can start prepping the, our infrastructure for that kind of a demand, the less disruptive it’s going to be.

00:26:44 – Rico Figliolini

And I agree with you on that. We’re seeing more apartments being built, multifamily. People aren’t buying as many houses because of the nature of mortgage rates and there’s less land to build on.

00:27:03 – Ruwa Romman

And we don’t buy these corporations. I mean it’s so infuriating.

00:27:05 – Rico Figliolini

Yes. I mean the trend is build to rent. I mean it’s just like crazy the amount of private industry purchasing these homes that you’re gonna, even in subdivisions where you’re gonna just, you know, rent them out to other people. And there’s a trend among younger people anyway to rent at this point because they can’t do the buying. And we were talking about it during one episode with the city manager about having affordable housing. How do you create that? How can you incentivize that or force that? Sometimes incentives don’t work. We literally have to force certain things. So when there’s not enough affordable housing and you have a need for labor, maybe the transit system is certainly one way to do that.

00:27:53 – Ruwa Romman

Yep. Yeah.

00:27:56 – Rico Figliolini

Let’s move on to, so let’s see, we’ve done the transit. Though there’s feedback. Alright. A little guy likes to chew on wires sometimes. Get electrocuted. So there’s feedback from the community, I think, that would be, that you’re hearing probably, especially if you’re campaigning, going door to door and stuff. So what type of feedback are you getting, whether it’s national thoughts or just local? What are the pressing issues that you’re seeing from this district?

00:28:30 – Ruwa Romman

Yeah, so my favorite part about campaigning, and for those who don’t know, as state representatives, we don’t actually get staff, right? So the nice thing about campaign season is it gives us an opportunity to fundraise and get staff and be able to door knock. And I’ll go and door knock myself. Well, everyone on the team canvases, it doesn’t matter if you’re the candidate or if you’re brand new, everyone’s doing the work. And what’s been really amazing to me is the fact that there are some things that haven’t changed, right? People have concerns about fully funding education, the size of classrooms for their kids. You know, how do we retain teachers because teachers are leaving, they’re burning out. You know, making sure kids have access to the best educators, taking care of those educators, that kind of thing. But the thing that has gotten like more, like we’ve seen more at the doors over time is actually, we were just talking about, which is housing. Whether that includes HOA oversight. Some people are starting to realize that there are these companies taking over HOA duties and it’s causing a lot of problems. One of the things I learned, and again, this is why housing is always harder for state people, because there’s so much that happens on a city and county level that is a little more complicated. But one thing I learned recently talking to one of our city council members is that companies are coming in and buying single family homes. They’re pricing out young families and it’s terrible, right? Cities are actually not allowed to have a database to track how many of these homes are up for rent versus being sold to actual families. And there are these laws that we have on the books in Georgia that preempt local ability to actually handle some of this part of the housing crisis.

00:30:12 – Rico Figliolini

Yeah, that’s true. I heard the same thing, actually.

00:30:15 – Ruwa Romman

Yeah. And so people at the doors will say things like, I wanted to, for example, move or get a larger home, but I can’t because we’re being priced out everywhere. I’ll tell you that there’s a house on the corner here that is $200,000 more than when we first bought our house in 2020. And it’s only been four years. And I don’t think, it’s not, I mean, it’s a great home. It’s a beautiful home, but I don’t think it’s worth half a million dollars. And so you’re seeing this insane housing market. And people keep talking about, well, we just need to build. They want us to lower standards in order to be able to build more, but that’s just not true. All you’re doing is making homes less safe and you’re just letting them pocket the extra part of their profit. So how do we, like you said, is there a way to force it? Is there a way to incentivize it? Is there a way to, you know, I think we use a lot of carrots here in Georgia because we really do care about being the number one place to do business. But the reality is that companies are profit driven. And if there are no consequences to not following the law, the law is just a suggestion at that point.

00:31:21 – Rico Figliolini

I mean, I totally agree. I mean, I was just speaking to someone else here in the city about a particular development that went up. The schematics for it or the renderings for it doesn’t look, the building itself does not look like the renderings that are given because they ended up using slightly different materials and stuff. And so when rezonings are done for, let’s say, multifamily and stuff, cities, counties, they want to allow, like you said, some room for innovative, creative work, right? But the problem is it is profit-driven. And when you have profit-driven, profit drives over everything else on that list. And if they can get away with using slightly cheaper materials, or if you say landscape, these got to be, you know, you got to replace all the trees, they’ll put in one-inch radius trees versus three-inch radius trees. Unless you specifically condition these things, they will not do it. Yeah, so that is a problem. The database for knowing whether a building’s bought, at least privately, like through an LLC or corporation, is out there. It can be found. In fact, there’s an app that interacts with it.

00:32:40 – Ruwa Romman

Like officially, you as a city, you cannot set it up yourself, and I think that’s just insane.

00:32:47 – Rico Figliolini

Yes it is. And in fact I’m looking at actually collecting that data at some point and publishing it because I believe there’s at least 12 to 16 percent that may be owned privately in the city.

00:33:00 – Ruwa Romman

Even worse. In Atlanta, 40% of single family homes are now owned by private corporations. They are no longer on the market. They are up for rent. These aren’t like people who have two homes and renting one out for college kids. These are actual hedge funds who are buying up these portfolio of homes. And sometimes they’ll just sit on them and then sell them for a profit. And the next one will sell for a profit. And suddenly the cost of a home doubles, even though no updates were made to it or very little, like, you know, shallow updates were made to it.

00:33:52 – Rico Figliolini

Right. Just cosmetic.

00:33:54 – Ruwa Romman

Yeah. And if, I’m a new family or a young family or a young couple, like me and my husband are. I’m telling you, the reason I’m in the house I’m in right now is that the agent for the people who are trying to buy it to rent was so aggressive that she scared away the family. They had already outbid us. I’m serious. They had outbid us. We thought we weren’t going to get this house. And the agent for the family came back and said, look, they were very turned off by how aggressive that agent was. And even though your offer is lower, they’re willing to accept it. And we got really lucky. But it can, I mean, it’s tough. It’s really, really hard. And you add that on, you add the increase of everything else, utilities. So we don’t have an option of who you pick as your energy provider. And Georgia Power has increased our utilities four times. Four times.

00:34:27 – Rico Figliolini

Isn’t that amazing? Because they’re supposed to be capped at the amount of profit they’re allowed to take in a year. And yet you keep getting. And I’m sure the Georgia Power raised your tax because of the nuclear plant that went online that took them years and billions and billions of dollars over. It’s just ridiculous.

00:34:44 – Ruwa Romman

Yep. That’s what I say when I say about consequences. So I sit on the Energy Utility and Telecoms Committee. And to tell you how this worked and I’m a Georgia Power customer and it’s driving me crazy. And we are trying to figure out a way to allow for more community solar and solar options for homes so that way we can drive down energy costs. We’ve seen this work in other states. It’s really, really important for us to be able to create some form of competition because Georgia Power is a legal monopoly and it’s supposed to be held responsible by the Public Service Commission, but they’re not really fully doing that right now. And to your point about like Plant Fogel, everyone’s like, oh, we’re going to make it 25% clean energy. And I’m sitting here and I’m looking at these graphs and 2% of it is solar. 2%. We have farmers who would love to lease out their lands to solar companies and become solar facilities because what it does, it creates revenue for the farmer to then maintain the rest of their land and not have to sell this land that’s been in the family for a long time. But because Georgia Power is not, like keeps, I mean the only bills they come after are solar bills. It is wild.

00:35:50 – Rico Figliolini

Yeah. Well they’re protecting an entity that’s why. And even in some states where they’re allowed to put solar and you’re allowed to feed it back to the grid and get paid for it you still have to pay an infrastructure fee because obviously there’s an infrastructure that has to be maintained.

00:36:08 – Ruwa Romman

I told Georgia Power, I said, I completely understand. You guys do, and they do. I like to be fair. They do a very great job of maintaining the infrastructure grid. But if you have a monopoly mostly on that grid and you’re part of the grid, can we come to a negotiation? And I’ve asked, I actually got yelled up at the CEO for asking this because she was like, we came up with the rebate rates already. You don’t need to reopen that can of worms. I was like, but what does that range look like? Can you explain it to me? Can you tell me how many cents on the dollar is required for you to be able to handle more solar and maintain the integrity of the grid? And they don’t want to answer that question.

00:36:45 – Rico Figliolini

Yeah. They may not have the answer to it even, but they don’t care to get it. Because if they, like you said, the information data is important, right? If you have that information, then you have to make it. If you don’t research that information, but you sort of know the answer, then you don’t have to worry about it.

00:37:01 – Ruwa Romman

Yeah. So if your bill went up, please email us, especially to my house email. It’s Ruwa.Romman@house.ga.gov. Because I do want to see how much people’s bills have gone up and I can actually bring that up during committee hearings and talk about it.

00:37:16 – Rico Figliolini

Good. That’s excellent. And just to tap one more thing on the private businesses buying property. I mean, the reason that that works out for them too, I think, is because there’s a tax advantage, right? They get to write off the mortgage, the interest rates and stuff, but they get to amortize the property because it’s an investment on their side.

00:37:36 – Ruwa Romman

Okay. So nobody knows this. I’m so glad you know this. I actually co-authored a bill on this with Representative Spencer Fry and nobody would move it. And it was really weird to me. So I’m going to try it again if I’m reelected. But the way that it works is that if, like you said, commercial property degrades over time. So businesses actually get a tax break on that commercial property. Well, they now count homes that actually appreciate in value over time to get that same tax break, right? So they’re like double dipping, it’s awful. So we wrote a bill. And part of the concern was some people who own small businesses will also own their home under that small business. So we didn’t want to go after single family homes. So I actually helped write this part where it said that if you are the business owner and your address is in Georgia, you can be exempt from this. But everybody else you can no longer get that like absolutely not.

00:38:28 – Rico Figliolini

So that would help to a degree, I can see. Although I can see the other side of that setting up a Georgia corporation that’s a subsidiary of a larger company, I mean those things can’t.

00:38:40 – Ruwa Romman

So they can’t have multiple homes. You can’t like, yeah, it was also to take away like any multiple home type, whatever the case may be.

00:38:47 – Rico Figliolini

Or maximum number or something that you can’t have more than two homes or something.

00:38:52 – Ruwa Romman

Exactly. Yep.

00:38:53 – Rico Figliolini

That’s great, Ruwa.

00:38:59 – Ruwa Romman

Very few people knew about this. And I was like, why don’t we just write a bill? And so we did.

00:39:05 – Rico Figliolini

Why not? You know, you could write a bill about it. Yeah, no, I appreciate you even thinking about that because most people don’t know that. Let’s talk a little bit, because we got just a little bit more time, about voting, right? What that looks like. You know, you’re an incumbent, you’re running for reelection, you have opposition from the Republican party, obviously. What did you want to say about that?

00:39:31 – Ruwa Romman

Yeah. So I have, I’ve been an organizer way longer than I’ve been an elected official, in addition to like my professional life.

00:39:38 – Rico Figliolini

Which by the way, what do you do for your professional life?

00:39:41 – Ruwa Romman

I used to be at Deloitte. Now I’m just like a freelance consultant now that I work, you know, now that I’m an elected official. But, you know, the thing that I really care about is I really want people to be civically engaged. And that starts with us filling out our entire ballot. Everyone always talks about the presidential. There’s so much, you know, energy and focus on that. But like we talked about at the very beginning, on our ballot is obviously the presidential. We’ve got our members of Congress. You’ve got your state senators, state house. You’ve got your referendums. You’ve got your county commissioners. So our county commissioner is Kirkland Carden, who’s amazing. And he’s up for reelection this year. And so please, I cannot stress enough, not only voting, but also filling out your entire ballot. We have people who will go vote and they’ll leave the rest of their ballot blank. And it’s a big problem. So if you have any questions or you’re not sure about something on your ballot, we’re doing a BYOB. So bring your own ballot to our GOTV rally, which is going to be at Shorty Howell Park this Saturday on the 19th. And you can actually vote early in any voting location in Gwinnett because it’s early voting. So as long as you’re in the county, you can vote anywhere. Between now and November 1st. And voting locations are open seven to seven. It’s really easy. There’s no lines. So highly recommend people go because, and the reason I mentioned this part is it took me three tries to vote in the primary this year. The first time we got there just a little too late. The second time I opened my wallet and my ID wasn’t with me. I happened to have taken it out like at an appointment or something. I forgot to put it back in. So it definitely took three times, three times is just the charm. So I always tell people don’t leave it until the last minute. You never know what’s going to come up. You never know what’s going to happen. If you request an absentee ballot, if you don’t get it back and mail it back by the 25th, it’s kind of my arbitrary personal deadline because of just mail delays. Please go vote in person. Just let them know to like, hey, I requested one, either got it or didn’t get it. And I would prefer to vote in person and they’ll be able to help you vote in person. But please, please go vote early. It’s really easy, really quick. If you have questions or want to go vote with someone, come vote with me on Saturday the 19th at Shorty Howell. We’ll have really great food, snacks. It’ll be from one to three and we want to make it fun.

00:42:03 – Rico Figliolini

And I think some of the early voting locations are at least.

00:42:10 – Ruwa Romman

Pinckneyville and Shorty Howell are the two in our district.

00:42:12 – Rico Figliolini

So Pinckneyville Recreation Center?

00:42:14 – Ruwa Romman

Yes. It’s the one that’s on the Main Peachtree Industrial, not in the back where the park is.

00:42:20 – Rico Figliolini

Correct. Okay, cool. So you have absentee ballot also, like you said. And those are counted based on when they arrive at the polling place or based on the postmark?

00:42:38 – Ruwa Romman

Most people say postmark. But again I don’t want to risk it. And I just tell people, please put it in. Because here’s the other thing, you can drop it off. So anywhere that there’s a voting location, sorry, not anywhere. During early voting, some of the locations have ballot drop boxes. You can check that out on the Gwinnett County website.

00:42:54 – Rico Figliolini

Pickneyville Park has one, the recreation center. There’s a drop box. Shorty Howell does not.

00:42:59 – Ruwa Romman

Yep. So please, that’s actually, if you have a ballot and you’re able to physically go, please put it in a ballot box by election day. I’m just really worried because there have been a lot of mail delays. There have been a lot of like just weirdness happening. Even if something is posted, it’s not getting where it’s supposed to be. So I just don’t want to run into an issue where somebody relies on USPS to mail their ballot. And it’s awful because this is what happens when you defund stuff, right? Suddenly services are worse. And people don’t know this. USPS is actually a constitutionally mandated thing. So unlike UPS and FedEx, they’re actually required to reach everybody no matter how far they are. Versus these corporations that can just say, well, we’re not going to deliver to you. And so it just makes it all worse. So that’s my long story spiel of if you do absentee, one, if you run into issues, reach out to us, two, drop it off. And three, if you’re not able to complete that process by the 25th, please go vote in person.

00:44:06 – Rico Figliolini

Okay. Do you see, have you seen any, you know, with 300,000 people voted on the first day of early voting, which is a record in the state of Georgia. And so apparently, you know, I think, I forget what the, I don’t know what the breakout was, whether it was like 40 odd percent Republican, because you could tell from the data, I think, where the breakouts are. And I don’t know, 20 odd percent was like independents or something. Are you seeing or hearing, I know this is early still, but any issues with voter suppression or anything like that?

00:44:40 – Ruwa Romman

So, you know, what I tell people is that we have, over the past decade, have had to build the kind of organizing infrastructure to be able to get around a lot of that. So thankfully, we’re at a point now where a lot of people in Georgia know what to expect if they run into any issues. The one that I keep hearing most recently is that people will go on mvp.sos.ga.gov. That is your My Voter page. So mvp.sos.ga.gov. And they will log on and they will see that it’ll say their voter status is inactive. And so people have been feeling like, oh, I can’t go vote. So if you log on and you see that it says inactive, you can still go vote. That is totally okay. We did have a few people that tried to log in and their entire voter page is gone. It’ll give them an error. If that’s the case, reach out to us. We can connect you to a hotline that can help you figure that out. Some cases like that, but nothing too crazy.

00:45:37 – Rico Figliolini

So does that mean, so if they don’t see it online, but I go to a voting place, right? And they find my name in the database because they’re connected they’re going to find it. Let’s say I’m fine to vote, if for some reason they don’t see it there but I know I voted two years ago in a primary or something and so I should still be in there, can I take, can I request a ballot? I forget what you call that ballot.

00:46:05 – Ruwa Romman

Provisional.

00:46:07 – Rico Figliolini

Provisional. Thank you. I can ask for a provisional ballot and call that?

00:46:13 – Ruwa Romman

So the rule of thumb is before you get to that stage, very kindly and politely ask them to either pull up your address. There are different ways to do this, right? They can pull it up by your address. They can pull it up by your driver’s license number. And the reason I say that the provisional ballot should be your last resort is that once you submit a provisional ballot, you actually have to physically go to the voter registration location. It’s like the headquarters for Gwinnett. And you have to go and show up in person to fix your ballot. So I always tell people very politely, because this happened to me when I moved back after grad school, the person couldn’t find me in the system and she kept insisting I wasn’t in there. And so she was able to find me through my address rather than my name and it worked out. So, you know, first and foremost, try and be very polite about it. They’re doing their jobs. And then obviously as a last resort, yes, go ahead and request a provisional ballot, but be prepared to go down to the registration office to finish out what you need to get finished out for your ballot.

00:47:11 – Rico Figliolini

Can people register to vote still? Or is it too late at this point?

00:47:16 – Ruwa Romman

No, the deadline was October 7th.

00:47:21 – Rico Figliolini

October 7th. So, final words, is there anything else you would like to talk about before we sign off?

00:47:27 – Ruwa Romman

No, like I said if you run into any issues voting, finding out where to vote, your absentee ballot, whatever the case may be, feel free to reach out to us. You can, you know we’re on social media but the best place to do it is to email us at Info@Ruwa4Georgia.com. We are tracking cases and helping constituents vote. If you have any questions, feel free to ask us too about your ballot. You’re not sure who to vote for. I’m happy to give you my opinion. I’m very, you know, I try to be very transparent about that. And, you know, just please remember, I remind people that my city council member won his race by four votes in a runoff. So even if you think your vote doesn’t matter, particularly in a swing state like Georgia, it matters so much. So, you know, take a few minutes, go vote early, make it an event, take your friends and your family and yeah, happy voting.

00:48:21 – Rico Figliolini

Great. So on that note, I appreciate you being with me, Ruwa. Thank you. And in fact, you know what? Why don’t I get off for a second and then you give us your one-minute pitch. Even though you just did it a little bit like that, but definitely use this moment to give that pitch and ask for the vote.

00:48:44 – Ruwa Romman

Thank you. So my name is Ruwa Romman. I am the Georgia State Representative for House District 97, and I’m running for re-election. I ran because I wanted to put public service back into politics, and I want to keep doing that work. In my first term, I’ve been able to pass a bill out of the House. It ran out of time, so we’re going to keep working on it to designate EMS as an essential service. So I’ve worked on healthcare issues. I’ve worked on education issues by fully funding education this year, including the Hope Scholarship. I want to keep working on that. You know, when it comes to just making government work better for all of us, that continues to be my number one priority. And so if I’m reelected, I want to keep doing the work that I have been doing and advocating for you at the Capitol in every way that I can. But thank you for your support originally and I hope to have it again come November 5th.

00:49:33 – Rico Figliolini

Thank you for doing that. Hang in there with me for a minute, but everyone else, thank you for being with us. I appreciate you listening to the podcast. If you’re listening to this on like Apple or Spotify, leave a review. Love that because that’s an easy way for people to find us then. If you’re watching this on YouTube or Facebook, do leave comments if you like and we’ll see if there’s any questions you have that we can answer those for you. Otherwise, there’ll be links in the show notes on the website. But thank you again. Appreciate everyone joining us.

00:50:01 – Ruwa Romman

Thanks, y’all.

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Podcast

Michael Corbin on School Safety, Teacher Pay and Election Integrity [Podcast]

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Michael Corbin

In this episode of Peachtree Corners Life, Rico Figliolini interviews Michael Corbin, the Republican candidate for Georgia State House District 97. With his background as a parent and husband to a Gwinnett County public school teacher, Corbin shares his deep commitment to school safety, advocating for immediate actions like enhanced security measures, mental health resources and more school resource officers. They dive into topics such as using state-of-the-art technology to protect schools and fostering a safer learning environment without making schools feel like prisons.

The conversation also spans broader issues, from the importance of teacher pay to ensuring fair and secure elections in Georgia. Corbin emphasizes his dedication to making housing more affordable for teachers and public servants while also supporting job creation in tech-focused communities like Peachtree Corners. Tune in to hear Corbin’s thoughtful perspectives on the future of Georgia’s schools, housing, and government.

Resources:
Michael Corbin’s Campaign Website: https://www.corbinforga.com/
Michael’s email: Michael.Corbin@corbinforga.com

Timestamp:
00:00:00 – Michael Corbin’s Perspective
00:04:11 – Securing Schools and Practical Measures to Protect Our Kids
00:06:48 – Addressing Mental Health and Warning Signs in School Shootings
00:09:51 – Leveraging Technology for Student Safety
00:11:48 – Addressing Teacher Pay and Affordable Housing for Educators
00:17:27 – Cost of Living Adjustments for Teachers
00:21:29 – Leveraging State Support for Tech Hub Development
00:26:30 – Identifying and Fostering Technical Aptitude in Students
00:28:48 – Balancing Healthcare Access and Affordability
00:31:36 – Healthcare Costs Crushing Middle-Class Americans
00:33:30 – The Real Costs of Natural Disasters
00:35:13 – Navigating Disaster Recovery for Businesses
00:38:53 – Ensuring Secure and Accessible Elections in Georgia
00:40:53 – Secure Elections and Voter ID in Georgia
00:45:01 – Importance of Accessible Voter IDs
00:49:02 – Voting for Candidates with Your Interests in Mind

Podcast Transcript

00:00:00 – Rico Figliolini

Hey, everyone. This is Rico Figliolini, host of Peachtree Corners Life here in the city of Peachtree Corners, Gwinnett County, Georgia. I have a special guest tonight that we’re going to be spending some time with. Tonight, I say, because it’s Thursday at 8 o’clock p.m. and nothing ever stops around here. We just keep going on. So it’ll be an interesting time with Michael Corbin, who’s running for Georgia State House District 97 as a Republican candidate. Hey, Michael, thanks for joining us.

00:00:32 – Michael Corbin

Hey, Rico. Thanks for having me. It’s always a pleasure. I was on a couple of years ago when I was running for Congressional District 7 at the time. And yeah, thank you for doing this and having candidates on so voters can hear directly from us and get a little bit more background about just also our stance on some of the issues.

00:00:52  – Rico Figliolini

For sure. The candidate interviews, funny enough, days or a week leading up to election is always the most searched on our website. So it’s always good to see that people actually look. It’s good that people are looking.

00:01:06 – Michael Corbin

Yeah, that’s good to know. Yeah, that people are looking and researching the candidates before they cast their vote.

00:01:13 – Rico Figliolini

Yeah, that does my heart well to see that. We’re going to be touching on a lot of subjects here tonight. We’re going to be touching a bit on school safety and education, public safety in general, jobs in the economy, healthcare, voting, election integrity, I forget too, its technology and online safety. So a bunch of topics that we’re going to start off with. Let’s get right into it. School safety and education. I know that obviously with more shootings going on, more active shootings, whether it’s schools or it’s a candidate like Donald Trump out in the field making speeches, there’s just a lot going on. It seems a lot more violent for some reason this year than most. But schools have, from some of the recent shootings, it just becomes, you almost feel like if you’re watching enough TikTok and Instagram, it feels like it’s happening all the time. But we should attend to school safety, right? I think one of the proposals you made was obviously, as many candidates do, that we should be looking to create a safer environment in our schools to protect our children from active shooters. So I guess the question would be, can you elaborate a little bit on what those solutions might look like? What are your thoughts about implementing what should be done along those lines?

00:02:41 – Michael Corbin

Yeah, definitely. And it is near and dear to my heart. Number one, both of my children are in public school here in the state of Georgia, right in our community. And you don’t want to be a parent worrying about your kid, not coming home at whatever level it is. They’re in elementary school now, but time flies and they’ll be getting into middle school as well as high school soon. And just to mention, it was a few weeks ago, right after Appalachee, there was a middle school student that was found with a gun for Duluth Middle School, which is where my daughters will be going. It’s where I went to middle school. So it’s near and dear to my heart. And my wife is a public school teacher here in Gwinnett County. So I am highly invested in this. There’s a lot of people that I think, you know, propose, I would say, feel good, do nothing proposals out there. Number one, because they’re too partisan in nature, you know, with red flag laws and gun safety. Those are such high overarching discussions that are going to take so long. And I’m tired of it. We, there’s things that we can do and we can do now to protect our kids. And yes, we need to, we need to look at some of the issues when it comes to gun safety and mental health and things of that nature. But why are we waiting to protect our kids? Why do we have metal detectors in airports to protect people that are traveling? Why do state legislators have to have people that come through the Capitol doors get screened for guns, right? So there’s all these technologies that are out there that we’re using in other places, courthouses, that we’re not putting into our schools. Why? That’s the question that I ask. That should be the most bipartisan thing that we can talk about is investing in the technology, security assessments and gaps to make our school safe. And nobody wants their kid going and feeling like they’re in prison. But I’d rather have my kid going to where I know somebody is going in and out of the school. And they’re being screened by and these days, I’m in technology, we have very state-of-the-art metal detectors that aren’t these you know 1980s looking metal detectors that you see and have. If you picture in your head they can be embedded in walls, you can put them in to where it doesn’t look like a prison. And we have the money as a state to spend on this, and we’re not doing it. You know, so you asked about your question, just to get back to that, but, you know, nobody likes to hear mandate, but, you know, we need to mandate having security assessments. Where are the gaps at every school? And then we need to make sure that those gaps are filled with the technology that’s available. You know, talking about metal detectors, cameras, alarms, at all ingress and egress points, entry exit points. Another simple thing that we can do is hire more school resource officers. You know, those jobs can exist. There’s people that want to do it. And you can maintain a ratio of student resource officers to student body enrollment. And then also, you know, mental health, right? We don’t have the mental health experts in our school system to identify. And once it has been identified to adequately deal with those people that may be vulnerable to using a gun or some type of violence. There’s a lot of things we can do right now.

00:06:34 – Rico Figliolini

Would it make sense to, obviously you want to prioritize things, right? Past shooters have always been a mental issue or family issues that starts it off. I don’t want to lessen the importance of metal detectors in schools, but if you look at the state of Georgia, how many times has an active shooter happened in the state of Georgia? How many schools do we have actually out there? And what type of investment would that be? I think that a lot of times that we find out that a child is just not being listened to. And if they were, we would know what the problem is, right? Several of these shooters had already been in touch with either school officials or police, and they weren’t taken seriously, right? So we’re prioritizing getting social psychologists into the schools, staff of that nature first, makes sense, and then work your way through. Because budgeting, you know how that works. It takes two years to budget a bill out of the senate or even that, right?

00:07:48 – Michael Corbin

Right. And it does and I agree. You know you have to, all of them were not really in, I would say an order of priority. Getting one of those things that I listed in action would be great and then work your way towards what you can work towards, because there will be an investment. You got to get it passed from a budget perspective. But I do believe that it can be done. There can be something that’s put in place. But yeah, we need people that can identify and deal with those situations and isolate those situations when it comes to known issues of mental health. Now, there’s going to be some that slip by, right? Even the best of mental health experts, the people that are around them, that’s going to happen. But I agree with you. Like most of these that we hear about, there were warning signs and there just weren’t adequate enough resources to take care of or help the individual that was affected. So I think that that’s an easier entry point in. And then the second piece is you’re not going to be able to catch all of it. And not all of them, a lot of them do have mental health, but some of them just could, it could just be somebody that, you know, wanted, gang violence, something else that, that comes up. So, you know, the technology would still have to cover for that because that person may not have been identified with somebody with a mental health issue. So it’s really kind of all encompassing, but I think we have to really have that comprehensive program in place to protect our students because they shouldn’t have to worry about going to school and dying and parents shouldn’t have to worry about sending their kids to school to die. I grew up through the Columbine, you know, school shooting. That was my senior year in high school. And it was kind of one of the first times it really hit home for everybody. And it was a very odd time. And even me, you know, as a high school senior, big football player, I was scared to death to go to school. We had no resources there to protect us. So I don’t want my kids growing up in that. I know nobody wants their kids growing up in that state.

00:09:54 – Rico Figliolini

Yeah, of course not. Like you said, the technology allows the ability if it’s done that way, to install these things so then you don’t feel like you’re in prison. Because that’s the biggest thing. I mean, I went to a public high school in Brooklyn, and that particular high school did not have, back then, those types of metal detectors. Although there was another high school a little further away from us that did, that I visited. And you could tell the night and day. I mean, it just felt like you were in a high, you know, in almost a high maximum security prison to some degree. You know, and they had to chain the doors shut and stuff. I mean, here in Georgia today, I mean, you have kids sometimes, I won’t say which particular high school it was, public high school, but the kids would just leave the building when they pleased and would just hang out somewhere not too far from there because that’s where they can either wait until the end of the school day and then go home or do whatever they were doing, but they would leave. They’d just walk out through the parking lot, just hang out somewhere at some office park or something. And you can’t stop them. The same way you can’t stop anyone from really walking into the building either. So you’re right. Having detection would be helpful, I guess.

00:11:14 – Michael Corbin

Yeah. And to your point, we have such great technology now that we can leverage to where students don’t have to feel that way and they can still be protected. Unlike, you know, back, when I was in high school or you were in high school, if they walked those in, were those archaic looking metal detectors and you felt like you’re going you’re into prison.

00:11:36 – Rico Figliolini

Yeah, for sure. So let’s stick on education a little bit and let’s talk a little bit about teacher pay, you know, specific steps about what it would mean to raise teacher pay, whether it’s a salary, a bonus, a signing bonus. What is the adequate amount? I mean, I know that sometimes these departments like the police, they have their tasks or they understand they need to hire a certain amount. They budgeted that money, and yet they cannot get enough candidates to fill the spots even. So I guess that works hand in hand. What do you see as a solution to something like that?

00:12:18 – Michael Corbin

You know, I do have to applaud Governor Kemp. He’s put a lot of emphasis on raising teacher pay. And I think that’s a great first step, but I think we need to continue doing that. And I think there’s reasonable ways to do it based off of inflation, but also just based off of certain criteria factors when it comes to really poverty level. When we’re looking at a teacher’s base salary, take my wife out of it. If she was raising our two kids and living in Peachtree Corners, well, she wouldn’t be living here. She can’t afford, she wouldn’t be able to afford it. It’s not attainable. So the problem is, you know, we don’t budget for it and we don’t feel like it’s necessary, I think as a society to pay teachers the amount of money that they’re worth. And eventually what happens in any industry is you will get unqualified people doing those jobs because people will move on to get higher paying jobs or they’ll quit. And my wife sees that all the time, especially in struggling school districts, right? We talk about, not to pivot away from teacher pay because teacher pay, there can be a, let’s just call it a path to progress kind of system put into place. We’ve got it in the corporate world. We can have it in the public service world as well when it comes to teachers. But the funny thing and is, it’s not funny, it’s teachers that teach in the hardest school districts sometimes get paid less or they still get paid the equal of teachers that are working in safer school districts with less transient families and their jobs are so much more challenging right? And we did pass the you know the voucher for the bottom 25 percent schools right you know to be able to take your child out and use that money to apply it somewhere else. And I think that’s a great thing for underperforming school districts. But the second step to that is we need to be able to pay teachers that are in those districts or attract teachers that want to be in those districts a higher wage. Otherwise, what’s going to change? If you have teachers that are not performing well today, we’re not able to incentivize those from a monetary perspective to do better or to attract people to get into a tougher situation and try to make education better in those areas, then we’re just going to be in a really bad cycle. So it kind of goes hand in hand, right? I think it depends on the school system you’re in, depends on where you’re teaching, and also depends on where that school ranks, how much you should get paid.

00:15:18 – Rico Figliolini

Right. True, for sure. And every county is not equal, right? And every district is not equal I know for example in where we live in Peachtree Corners, Simpsonwood, Simpson Elementary you  know the PTA raises lots of money because of the affluence of the parents in the area and they share some of that with some sister schools so they’re not just keeping it to Simpson. But if you’re able to do that, that’s good. And if you’re in a district that can’t, then, well, that becomes a problem, right? Affordable housing is another issue. Not that I want to segue to that yet, but affordable housing for teachers that can actually live in the community that they’re teaching would be nice. You can’t do that in Peachtree Corners because there is not affordable housing here. I think housing starts, for the most part, any new housing now starts at like $400,000. Is that a starter home? Not really. Not for anyone that teaches or if there are two teachers in the family. So maybe, you know, do you see housing as being an issue as well? I mean, do you see the state looking at taking some responsibility for crafting the ability to have affordable housing in communities, but incentivizing developers to actually create affordable housing? Because they can, if they want to, if the rules are in the right place they can you’d have to restrict who buys those houses this way private companies like the biggest trend right now is is build to rent versus build to sell and things are moving that in that way because most people can’t afford to buy a house, although you’re probably paying the same in rent as you would for a mortgage, if you could get that mortgage. So it’s no different. In some cases, you’re paying even more in rent than you would for a mortgage. So do you see the state doing something along those lines economically to help? What do you think that could look like from your point of view?

00:17:23 – Michael Corbin

I would think it would be a cost of living adjustment based on where they’re teaching for housing specifically. So I wouldn’t say it would be government-owned housing or anything like that to put them in, but I think you can look at it from a cost of living adjustment. You do that in the corporate world today, right? If you move from Atlanta to New York to take a job, you get most companies will give you a cost of living adjustment to make sure that you can have the same type of lifestyle or at least similar based on where you’re coming from to where you’re going to based on housing prices, all the other different economic factors that are going to influence you. So if we’re doing that at the corporate level across many states and even countries, I’m pretty sure we can fix it here with counties and school districts. Data is not that hard to really gather. And thanks to AI, it can spit it out pretty dang quick in terms of what those adjustments probably would be. I’m not saying we’re going to use AI to do that, but it’s not rocket science. But to answer your question, yes. If you’re living in Peachtree Corners or an area that, that has a, you know, higher standard of living just to be able to get by and you don’t want to have to drive three hours to work because that’s what’s happening in a lot of cases, then there could be a cost of living adjustment that would be able to help bridge that gap when it comes to housing, whether it’s buying or renting.

00:19:02 – Rico Figliolini

And you’re right. I mean, there are people that are traveling and all sorts of things. There are a couple of people I know that work in Peachtree Corners, and they live in Sugar Hill or Beaufort, and they’re driving south here. So, yeah, because they can’t afford to live here, and yet they work in the city of Peachtree Corners. I think as many people work in the city sometimes as work outside the city is the way that it was pointed out at one point. I don’t know if that stat has changed, but with new housing coming in, new apartments, new townhomes, these things aren’t cheap. $750,000 starting. I don’t know who can afford to buy that. When I was at the Peachtree Aquinas Festival, a couple came by, a young couple. They found out that the boyfriend was a real estate agent. They’re late 20s, early 30s maybe. And they were looking at buying a townhouse on the green. You know, those things are like easy, $750, $800.

00:20:01 – Michael Corbin

Yeah. They’re like mini brownstones in New York. It’s like they, you know, put them on their beautiful townhomes list.

00:20:13 – Rico Figliolini

Oh yeah, they’re really nice townhomes. And you want to listen to the concert across the way sit out on your patio and do that.

00:20:18 – Michael Corbin

Exactly, exactly. So yeah it’s a nice area. There’s been a lot of building going around, you know at Peachtree Corners and say, hey, that’s where I want to start my life? And not many. It’s expensive.

00:20:54 – Rico Figliolini

So let’s talk a little bit like that because you’ll be representing, if you’re elected, District 97 represents more than Peachtree Corners, but Peachtree Corners is part of that representation, right? A great bit of it, yeah. And, you know, we look at ourselves as a smart city. Different cities, like Alpharetta has like 700 different tech companies, let’s say there, right? They’re probably one of the most populous of the smallest cities outside Atlanta with tech companies. What do you see the state’s responsibility in to be able to help a place like ours, like Peachtree? I want to be centric to Peachtree Corners. What could you leverage to help create jobs here or support small businesses or startups in the city of Peachtree Corners? How should the state be working with localities like us?

00:21:56 – Michael Corbin

Yeah, to me, it’s about just making it easier to do business, right? When it comes to Peachtree Corners, there’s a very specific plan. And I know that. You know, it’s, we’re a tech hub or we’re going to continue doing that with incubation of tech. And we’re going to continue attracting that type of talent here. We’re providing easy access for companies to come in here and whether that’s, you know, through some type of, want to call it a stimulus, but, you know, some sort of incentives that we can give to different cities based off of what type of industries that that city is trying to attract to their communities would be huge, right? Because cities are all in competition with each other. And yeah, so you’re trying to attract tech companies, Alpharetta is trying to attract tech companies, the city of Atlanta is, and you have to really get it specific to what those cities are trying to attract. And that’s where we’re at in our community. We’re not in an industrial community in South Georgia or a farming community. To support the businesses that want to go there long-term and that the state has the backs of those communities based on the type of business that they’re trying to cultivate within their communities. Because schools and businesses are the lifeline of communities when it comes to their success or failure, if the schools start to fail and the businesses start to fail, the people start to leave their houses, the housing market crashes and you end up with a failed city. So you have to invest in business and you have to invest in the businesses that those cities want to attract. And you have to invest in the school systems that are in those, in those areas as well.

00:24:07 – Rico Figliolini

For sure. When you go back just to the 20th century, when Ford decided to make his line of cars and stuff, how to educate the plant workers to be able to operate the systems right? So it’s no different today in a way, right? You have to have an educated workforce to be able to do things. So, for example, Intuitive Robotics, which is building their campus here in the middle of Peachtree Corners, they have 500 jobs. They look to expand to 1,200 jobs. They’re always constantly recruiting. It’s an assemblage plant, so they don’t manufacture anything, but they put things together there. The parts come from other places, but they need skilled labor to be able to do that. And they look at what they can hire local, and they don’t need, necessarily college level. If you have a kid graduating from a good STEM school that does not want to spend four years in college because they feel, I’ve learned CAD, I’ve learned 3D printing, I understand coding, they could go right out in the workforce through Melchior and be trained in that environment. Do you see, you know, I mean, we don’t have shop classes, for example. I mean, you don’t learn, unless you’re in a STEM school, you’re not able to learn any niche stuff like that, right? Do you see any changes needed in the school system to be able to accommodate the kids that don’t want to go to college at that level and be indebted $100,000 and then decide that what they went for, they’re not going to be doing that job. They’re going to be doing something else. Because that’s what’s happening for the most part. If you’re not a doctor or an accountant, you’re doing philosophy or psychology, you might not end up in the job that you think you want.

00:26:09 – Michael Corbin

Yeah, I think it needs to be identified. And there needs to be a pathway for those students. I think, you know, not everything in life is linear and maybe they change their mind. But there are kids that, you know, and students that have that aptitude and that’s what they want to do. And there needs to be curriculum that will foster that, number one. And number two, be able to identify and make sure that those students are on the right path. Because there are a lot of great programs out there. I mean, Gwinnett Tech’s one school system here in Georgia, just down the road, that does miraculous things when it comes to scholarships, to training and all kinds of different trades, and not just kids out of high school. I mean, there’s adults that can get in there, get trained and come out and be making 80, 90, and be making 120 thousand dollars with no liberal arts degree, college, no master’s degree, no nothing. And they love what they do. So I think you have to identify that. But you also have to have those classes for those students that have been identified, because I don’t think every, if you force all the students into it, some of them are just going to take up spots of people that really are serious about it. So I think you have to identify it, get them in there, cultivate it and get them on a path that will either send them to a technical college or a technical program, depending on what their decision is after high school. But I mean, we’ve got, you know, Paul Duke STEM. So I mean that is, you know every time my wife goes in there because they have training in there for her for Gwinnett county she’s like, this place is ridiculous like you should see it. I still have not seen it. You know, they just don’t, it’s hard, which it should be, it’s hard to get into a school. So I can’t just go in there. I would have to go maybe with my wife while she was going there for some training or something. But she’s like, you know, it’s amazing. So we need to be building more of those. I think we’re blessed to have that in our community so close by.

00:28:22 – Rico Figliolini

For sure. Let’s talk a little.

00:28:24 – Michael Corbin

To your point, just, yeah, sorry, go ahead.

00:28:25 – Rico Figliolini

No, go ahead.

00:28:28 – Michael Corbin

To your point, I think we are producing too many people that go into college. And there’s a high percentage of those folks that could go into the working force immediately. And businesses are looking for that talent, to your point, that we could be tapping into right here in our backyard and keeping those businesses here and keeping the talent here and helping the community. I don’t think that’s happening. I think that we can make sure that that happens by funding those programs at the public school level.

00:28:58 – Rico Figliolini

So keeping businesses here, I guess part of that, you know, so part of it’s education, part of it is taxation, part of it’s health care costs for their employees and for the company. One of the things you talk about is the continuing rise of health care. And especially for people that need specialists, you know, out of pocket becomes more expensive. Everything’s just becoming more expensive. I mean, whether you’re going shopping or wherever you’re going, healthcare is no different. Although that doesn’t really have a price that you can look at. You don’t usually see the price until way after you get the bill of the explanation of benefits all of a sudden. And you may not realize how much you’re out of pocket. How do you see your position if you were to win the seat? You know, what innovative solutions would be in mind when it comes to healthcare in the state of Georgia?

00:29:59 – Michael Corbin

Yeah, you know, there’s been a lot talked about when it comes to health care. You know, Kemp has the Pathways program that he pushes outside of, you know, expanding Medicare here in the state of Georgia. But when it comes to just having health care in general, let’s just take it back to a general statement here. You know, everybody should have access to healthcare, whether you want to, whether you want to say it’s, you know, a socialist thing, a non-socialist thing, I think it’s a human thing. But at the same time, people that can afford healthcare shouldn’t be price gouged. So there’s that balance. And I think it comes with competition in that space. Working in the corporate world for over 20 years now, I mean, I haven’t put a percentage on it, but it would have to be 50% at least higher than I probably did when I first entered the workforce after college for medical expenses.  And at that time I didn’t even have a family, but you know, it’s so hard. And I’ve seen so many people that I’ve worked with get crushed in a year, literally crushed in a year financially because of the healthcare program that they have. I had a friend with hip surgery. And then his wife had multiple medical visits. And with the high deductible and premium, ate up everything, things that could have been socked away for savings for them for retirement, for their kids. And in my opinion, the insurance companies, the medical industries are ripping off and taking advantage of middle-class Americans. I think it’s a universal right to have healthcare, but I also think it’s a universal wrong to punish those that are middle-class Americans that don’t have very much choice other than to take what’s given them by their company. There’s no competition really. They go out and they shop it right? Per se, the companies do. But how can you really trust that? When they talked about price transparency, you get the statement in the mail afterwards. You see what they charge, you don’t see the cost. I don’t see what they paid. No. I would love to see their margins.

00:32:27 – Rico Figliolini

Yes. I mean, the cost and the pays. Yeah, you don’t. And even if you’re using healthcare.gov to do comparisons between plans, let’s say if you went out yourself to do it, right? There’s so many. It’s not a price per price. It’s not apples to apples. It’s like car insurance in a way. You know, someone says, well, I can get that cheaper. Sure you can. But, you know, you’re getting the same liability coverage, same comprehensive insurance. There’s too many variables to be able to say, to be able to shop it smartly. You almost need AI to actually do it for you. Because this way at least you can get a sense of what the real costs are, which is going to be also something that’s going to be happening. And I’m sure the state, the elected officials, as well as some of the insurance commissioners are going to have to look at. Now with what happened with Hurricane Helene coming through and causing billions of dollars in damage, it’s probably the most expensive hurricane in a century. I’ve seen insurance companies leave a state because they just can’t afford to insure anyone in that state. I mean, most people, I think in the state of Georgia, I think the percentage was less than 1% of the people that had huge flood damage are insured for flood damage. Most insurance doesn’t carry that. And so they’re going to be looking at FEMA, if FEMA even can help them in the short term. It can help them in the short term. Do you,  there’s businesses that are affected by it too, see, just like Ingles shopping center locally, for example. Their main distribution was out of the Carolinas, completely flooded. Probably some of their servers were damaged there too. They were taking the financial charges from their stores because they’re only accepting cash at this store, for example, in Peachtree Corners. They’re not even accepting card.

00:34:28 – Michael Corbin

Yeah. Well, we shop there all the time. My wife went there on Monday or Tuesday, and they were only accepting cash. The lines were so long, she had to go up to Lidl.

00:34:36 – Rico Figliolini

Really?

00:34:40 – Michael Corbin

Yes. We never shopped there, but yeah, she didn’t have time to wait.

00:34:49 – Rico Figliolini

Yeah. I mean, and I shopped there a pretty decent amount of times and, just, having seen that there almost felt like, what’s happening here, wow. But you know, that’s one store. Previlex gets most of this stuff coming out of Florida. Wasn’t as bad, I guess, as South Carolina. But how do you work with businesses then, that are being hit by insurance and how they have to provide it to their employees? Disasters like this happening, how do you cut through red tape? How do you make businesses able to survive in situations like this? Can the state do anything along those lines?

00:35:26 – Michael Corbin

The state probably can, but I also want to look at the insurance companies, those that say, we can’t afford to insure people in the state anymore. If you’re saying that you’re going to make an exit from the state, then your entrance to the state should be that much more rigorous when it comes to checking your books. If you’re going to tell me that you’re that broken when it comes your financials, then I need to see your books. If you’ve been doing business in our state for 10 years and we had one natural disaster and now you’re saying you’re going to exit, I want to see your books. So if there’s going to be laws about if you’re going to be doing business in our state as an insurer. And I don’t want to make it completely ridiculous or almost impossible, but there’s companies that want to come in and do business, insurance companies in the state of Georgia. But if you tell them, hey, here’s the guidelines, if you enter, if you try to exit, this is what we’re going to do when we look. We’re going to look at your books. We’re going to look at your profitability. We’re going to see what you guys were doing because if you were not adequately keeping enough cash on hand to be able to help out your customers to where you’re now so razor thin and you can’t survive another national disaster, then you shouldn’t probably ever been here in the first place. Or you just mismanaged your finances.

00:36:49 –  Rico Figliolini

And there’s been insurance companies like health insurance companies that have left the state because they don’t want to insure here anymore to one reason or another.

00:37:00 – Michael Corbin

But I don’t think they, and I’ll have to fact check myself on this one, but I don’t think there’s penalties for them leaving.

00:37:09 – Rico Figliolini

I don’t believe so.

00:37:09 – Michael Corbin

So they get in, and we let them in because we want the business. But if you want in, what is the penalty to get out because things may have changed or maybe they didn’t change? And you just want to get out right?

00:37:28 – Rico Figliolini

That’s when you need a real strong insurance commissioner that doesn’t bend to the will of the companies. But you need the legislation in place, I think, right? To be able to… You do. You have to have the laws to hold them accountable. Yeah. Let’s move away from that a little bit. We’re obviously heading towards November. The VP debate was recent, and it was a bit of a snooze. I think most people were just like, I hear people say, well, fell asleep during part of it and stuff. I mean, they were very nice to each other, which was good. It was a little different than usual, right? I think they both spoke well, although not that I’m a Trump supporter, but J.D. Vance actually spoke better, I think, than Walz. Probably a little bit more experience, maybe. But, you know, we’re moving towards that. We’re moving towards an election where Georgia may or may not be a swing state, probably is. You know one of the things that I think you mentioned is voter and election integrity and the voting down the ballot right because do people follow down the ballot. Do they stop at some point? You know, what is, so I guess that’s the topic that will get hotter as we get closer to the elections, although early voting has already started in some states. I think it has started. I think it started in Georgia.

00:39:03 – Michael Corbin

Right. Early, 15th in Georgia, but absentee voting has already started. North Carolina has already started, I believe, early voting, yeah. That’s another major issue there because a lot of them can’t vote because they’re obviously, the disaster.

00:39:23 – Rico Figliolini

So how do you ensure what do you, you know, how do you ensure elections are going to be secure and accessible to every voter in the state of Georgia? I mean, are you comfortable with the way the system’s run at this point?

00:39:38 – Michael Corbin

So, you know, this is always one of those issues that bothers me, you know, being a Republican because you can’t make everybody happy. Like it’s, hey, are you a Kemp supporter? Are you a Trump supporter? Did you believe the election was stolen? Did you not believe it was stolen? And, you know, the past is the past. And I think, you know, we had some flaws in our election process, right? Without voter IDs, I think most, if not all states, there’s only a few, and Georgia was one of them that didn’t have that. And a lot of blame got pushed on to Raffensperger and to Kemp, but nobody foresaw COVID happening, right? Massive absentee balloting coming in. So he’s fixed it. You know, and I think there’s going to be much more secure elections. I think it’s being taken seriously. I think Kemp has been a good governor of the state. He’s got like a 60 percent approval rating, which is, you know, fantastic. I mean, even among Democrats, he’s got a pretty high approval rating. So he’s done a great thing when it comes to, he’s done a lot of great things, I think, for the state of Georgia. It’s just this internal battle between, do you think the voting is still going to be fair and secure here in Georgia? And yes, I do. From a technology perspective, people say they can or can’t be hacked. It would take a lot and those machines are pretty, I would say from a technology perspective, pretty archaic. It would be very obvious that they were. So I feel confident that the votes that are cast are going to be correct and that we’re going to have a fair election. You know, when it comes to whether people think the laws that were passed are fair or not, I think that just comes down to people wanting to win. And you know, and what is more fair and what is less fair, but, you know, most states have always had a photo ID to vote and you have to have a photo ID to prove who you are for just about anything in life. And one of the most important things that we have in our country is to vote and you should be able to prove that you are who you say you are. And that is one of the biggest things that’s going to safeguard our elections moving forward. There’s too many other hosts of conspiracy theories that I don’t entertain or get into. And as a Republican, people will gripe up and down about me because I’m not going to entertain that because I’m going to look forward and look forward to what we fix and making sure that every vote cast is one that’s going to be true and valid.

00:42:36 – Rico Figliolini

Great. I mean, I feel the same. I mean, looking forward makes sense. And voter ID, I just don’t understand why no one would want that. Because you have to, if you buy cigarettes or alcohol, you have to show an ID to be able to do those things in life. And like you said, most things you have to show some sort of identification. And to say that we don’t need that for voting, there’s no respect then for the system that so many people have died for. I mean, I just don’t get that.

00:43:17 – Michael Corbin

Yeah, I don’t get it either. And it was very disheartening back when that bill was passed and you saw even Major League Baseball go as far to take the All-Star game out of Atlanta over that. Why african-americans, not people born of the dominican or venezuela or curacao or anywhere else, african-americans that are truly from america why that’s dwindled and dwindled and dwindled and he is calling out the state of Georgia racist. He polled, I think, all five African-American players in Major League Baseball now to get their opinion in the United States, not outside of the United States, Mr. Commissioner, and taking money out of the state of Georgia over political stances. So it was very disheartening to see that you would play politics and hurt the economy of a city over something that was so simple, like you just mentioned, showing an ID.

00:44:43 – Rico Figliolini

Yeah, that doesn’t, an ID being racist. Yeah, I don’t. That doesn’t mean anyone’s racist. If anything, I think what might have helped, and I don’t think the bill provided it, is that an easy pathway to get that ID. Because not everyone needs a driver’s license, right? So a state photo ID, you know, you shouldn’t have to travel 30 miles away to be able to get that. To make it as easy as possible for anyone that needs an ID to be able to get it at least the initial time in their life and then they can renew it later online or it lasts for 10 years, just like a passport lasts for 10 years, and then you have to renew a passport, right? It’s no different. I mean, if it’s just, as long as there’s no barriers to getting an ID, a photo ID, then there should be no problem with that. But I think that’s, you know, where people get into the muck and stuff.

00:45:41 – Michael Corbin

Yeah, and, you know, there could have been, you know, some provisional. You know, I would just say, flip notes to that bill of, you know, we will be building out, you know, more centers to be able to get voter IDs based on areas where they’re lacking. You know, I think that would have been something that was, would be very prudent. And saying that, hey, you know, if there are gaps, we will do an assessment and see if there are gaps when it comes to people’s accessibility to get, to being able to get to a physical location, to get an ID. And we will build that out and make sure that those are, you know, whether they’re smaller, let’s call them satellite offices and not a major DMV, way to get there and get those licenses or I call it licenses, voter ID, call it just an identification card. So I agree. I haven’t actually, being completely transparent, dug into the data to see how many centers there are based on the population, based on travel. But, you know, there’s probably some room for, or I would say opportunity for growth there.

00:46:56 – Rico Figliolini

Okay. So I have, we’re actually at a good point to start winding down on the interview. What have we not spoken about that you think that we, you want to share in the next few minutes. Any issues that you want to cover that we haven’t?

00:47:14 – Michael Corbin

I would say we’ve covered a lot of them. You know, I would just urge any voters that are, that do look this up, because voters do look it up you know when they come down to the ballot, whether it’s them standing in line, looking at their phone, being like, I saw Mike Corbin sign, let me look at his website, what the heck is he about? I mean, sometimes it takes that, and sometimes people just go up and down the ballot. What we have to, and this is starting to become a potential threat in our government at all levels, local, state, and federal, is down-the-ballot voting. And more so in state than anything because they’re often overlooked, but they’re very important. And they impact your life faster than any federal legislation. And Peachtree Corners does even quicker. So people don’t pay attention. People need to pay attention to what people like me are running for. Why I even ran, why I even care. And it’s because I love this community. I love this state. And you have to make sure that who you’re voting for has your back. And if you don’t feel like they do, then don’t vote for them. And there’s some nefarious characters out there that have now determined and have made public that they know they can get in regardless and push their own agenda and not really even care about their own party because it’s not really their party. They just will get on a ballot because they’ll get into a district where they know that down the ballot will win because it’s a Democrat or Republican district. So I just urge people to really look into the backgrounds of the candidates that are running, especially for state office, because you may end up with people in there that don’t have Georgia’s best interest, don’t have America’s best interest in mind, and eventually it will become a national security threat. So people just need to really look into that because there is a blueprint out there for people to infiltrate into our government at the state level and continue to work their way up at the federal level.

00:49:29 – Rico Figliolini

If anyone wants to find out more about Michael Corbin, where would they go?

00:49:35 – Michael Corbin

It’s www.CorbinForGA.com

00:49:41 – Rico Figliolini

All right, cool. So if anyone has any comments, you could leave it in the comments, either on here, if you’re watching it on Facebook or on YouTube. If you’re listening to this as an audio podcast or from the website, I’ll have show notes so you could find these links as well. Early voting starts the 15th, we said. And in-person voting is November 5th, if I remember that right.

00:50:07 – Michael Corbin

Yep, that’s correct. All the early voting locations are on the Secretary of State website, as well as the Gwinnett Elections website.

00:50:16 – Rico Figliolini

Excellent. And if anyone wants to reach you directly, how would they email you, or where would they email or call?

00:50:23 – Michael Corbin

You can email me directly anytime. People do all the time. I will respond right back. So it’s just michael.corbin@corbinforgeorgia.com.

00:50:35 – Rico Figliolini

Excellent. Alright Michael, I appreciate you being with me this evening and having this discussion. Everyone else that’s listening, so why don’t you hang in there for a second, but everyone else that’s listening, there’ll be other interviews over the next few weeks. Certainly look at the candidates that are representing not only, you know, in the state house, but where they’re representing, right? So the majority of District 97 is Peachtree Corners. So you should really understand who’s representing you. And like Michael said, look into the backgrounds of everyone, where they stand on certain issues and such. Whatever is important to you, and make sure that you go out and vote. Thank you, everyone.

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