Show In Progress

Show In Progress with Matt Strabone convenes a panel of current and former chairs of the San Diego County Democratic Party to review the most impactful results of Super Tuesday, from the presidential primary contests to local races. Current chair Will Rodriguez-Kennedy and former chairs Jessica Hayes and Jess Durfee join Matt to give the inside scoop on how primary delegates work, what happens in the important elections close to home, and much more. Matt kicks things off with a joke that...

Show In Progress with Matt Strabone presents its highly anticipated predictions episode for the 2020 primary election. Matt begins the episode by forgetting where he is, but recovers quickly and is then joined by award-winning Voice of San Diego journalist Andy Keatts. The pair discuss some of the region’s most interesting races: the presidential primary, U.S. Congressional Districts 50 & 53, County Board of Supervisors Districts 1 & 3, Mayor of San Diego, San Diego Council Districts 1, 3,...

This episode of Show In Progress with Matt Strabone sees the host chatting with two elected officials—San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher and California Assemblymember Tasha Boerner Horvath—about their first years in their respective offices. After some brief words about the need for serious reform to our system of checks and balances, Matt hears from Supervisor Fletcher about the county’s ability to deal with regional challenges. He then speaks with Assemblymember Boerner Horvath...

It’s the Bike Lane Episode on Show In Progress with Matt Strabone. Matt begins the show with a fun idea for getting more people to take the bus—spoiler: think frequent flyer miles on a smaller scale. Matt then interviews two people on opposite sides of the bike lane debate: Andy Hanshaw, the executive director of the San Diego County Bike Coalition, and Pat Sexton, spokesperson for Save Our 30th Street Parking. Matt concludes the proceedings with a rather literal cost-of-living joke.

Show In Progress with Matt Strabone returns after an unexpected hiatus, and Matt kicks things off with the story behind what happened. Matt also shares five commonsense proposals for ethics reform in San Diego before getting to the meat of the episode: San Diego County Measure A, a land-use initiative also known as “SOS.” He speaks first with Cody Petterson (05:12), who is the president of San Diego County Democrats for Environmental Action and a supporter of Measure A, and then chats with...

Another good candidate forum on Show In Progress with Matt Strabone this week as Matt speaks with two candidates hoping to replace termed-out Republican San Diego County Supervisor Greg Cox and represent County District 1, which encompasses the South Bay. Matt interviews Port of San Diego Commissioner Rafael Castellanos (01:20) and Southwestern Community College Trustee Nora Vargas (33:31) about their experience and the most pressing issues facing the South Bay’s communities, providing...

It’s a candidate forum on Show In Progress with Matt Strabone this week as Matt speaks with the two Democrats vying to unseat incumbent Republican San Diego County Supervisor Kristin Gaspar. Matt chats separately with Escondido City Councilmember Olga Diaz and UCSD professor Terra Lawson-Remer, asking each to share their origin stories, their top legislative priorities, and their thoughts on homelessness, transit, land use, and more. Both candidates provide a deep dive on their way of...

To be, or not to Airbnb? That is the question posed by this episode of Show In Progress with Matt Strabone. To answer it, Matt solicits two very different opinions—first he speaks with Brian Curry of Save San Diego Neighborhoods who pulls no punches with his contention that short-term vacation rentals, and whole-home rentals in particular, are illegal and should be treated that way. Matt also speaks with Matt Kiessling of the Travel Technology Association, a trade group that represents...

Show In Progress with Matt Strabone starts this week with Matt quickly looking in on how the interest groups that have long dominated San Diego might respond to changing political realities. Matt then interviews two recipients of the mythical Strabone Bump: Councilmember Monica Montgomery and Trustee Sean Elo. Councilmember Montgomery discusses how she’s been able to make City Hall more accessible to the residents of her district, and also points out the need for balance when thinking about...

Matt pays homage to the civil service to start this episode of Show In Progress with Matt Strabone and then has a wide-ranging discussion with Alejandra Sotelo-Solis, the mayor of National City, California. Mayor Sotelo-Solis shares her origin story and offers her vision for the future of her city, including her thoughts on approaching the housing and economic development challenges National City faces and her efforts to improve transparency in city government. The mayor offers clear-eyed...

Matt begins this episode of Show In Progress with Matt Strabone with the idea that voting should be an act of joy and then makes the case for choosing your preferred 2020 primary candidate with your heart rather than your head. He’s then joined by Phoebe Sweet, a political comms pro and former speechwriter to retired Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, to analyze the first two nights of Democratic presidential primary debates. The pair decides who performed well, who didn’t, and what the best...

NIMBY? YIMBY? PHIMBY? Oh my! On this episode of Show In Progress with Matt Strabone, Matt hosts a forum of sorts to break down the housing debate in San Diego once and for all. He’s joined first by Jim LaMattery, a realtor and the spokesperson for anti-development group Raise the Balloon, who argues that San Diego should pump the brakes on changes that would make it easier to change zoning rules and build denser housing. Next is Maya Rosas, president of the YIMBY Democrats of San Diego...

Show In Progress with Matt Strabone returns for a second season. In the season premiere, Matt discusses an important aspect of the ill-fated For the People Act and interviews Congressman Mike Levin about his time in Washington so far. Rep. Levin details his origin story and discusses the issues he’s focused on since taking office, including the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. Rep. Levin also talks about the Green New Deal, makes the case that House Democrats have gotten a lot done...

In the tenth episode of Show In Progress with Matt Strabone, Matt is joined by prominent political consultant Greg Scanlon (1:03) to make sense of the midterm election results and look into the crystal ball for 2020. Greg opines about some of 2018’s takeaways nationally (5:57) and the pair discuss San Diego’s city council election results and the new Democratic supermajority on the council (10:30). Nathan Fletcher’s impressive victory at the county level gets a mention (14:00) before an...

In the ninth episode of Show In Progress with Matt Strabone, Matt welcomes Voice of San Diego reporter Andy Keatts to the podcast (0:58) to talk about the upcoming elections and make predictions about some of the most-profile races in the San Diego region. With careful detail, Andy forecasts the winners in San Diego County Board of Supervisors District 4 (2:01), the 49th (4:38) and 50th (6:54) Congressional Districts, the 77th (9:14) and 76th (12:52) California Assembly Districts, and San...

In episode eight of Show In Progress with Matt Strabone, Matt points to municipal broadband as a response to the end of net neutrality (1:02) and interviews San Diego city councilwoman and possible 2020 mayoral candidate Barbara Bry. Councilwoman Bry begins by talking about her career prior to politics (3:32), how her business background impacts her work on the city council (4:26), and the new regulations on short-term vacation rentals she recently shepherded through the city council (6:50)....

In episode seven of Show In Progress with Matt Strabone, Matt explains why you should vote yes on San Diego County Measure D (1:20) and then interviews a pair of local reporters about San Diego-area congressional races that have garnered national attention. Jill Castellano of inewsource provides an overview of the race for the 49th Congressional District between Democrat Mike Levin and Republican Diane Harkey (3:16). Jill talks about the role the president and outside groups have played...

In episode six of Show In Progress with Matt Strabone, Matt talks about why buses are great (1:17) and then interviews Colin Parent, a city councilman in La Mesa, California, and a leading transit advocate in the San Diego region (3:28). Colin begins by talking about the need to invest in access to high-quality transit and the Vision Zero movement to eliminate pedestrian deaths (5:40). Colin then shares his thoughts on the dockless electric scooter craze that is sweeping cities across the...

In the fifth episode of Show In Progress with Matt Strabone, Matt discusses the underappreciated crisis of student loan debt in our country (0:55) and then interviews Sean Elo, a candidate for San Diego Community College Board. Sean shares his origin story (5:30) and talks about why community colleges should matter to everyone (10:18). Sean also shares his own experience with student loan debt (13:30), explains why it’s important to support community college professors and meet the essential...

In the fourth episode of Show In Progress with Matt Strabone, Matt offers his thoughts on fixing the housing crisis (1:00) — spoiler: we should build public housing and also encourage dense private home development where it makes sense and won’t worsen gentrification — and then interviews homeless advocate and businessman Michael McConnell about homelessness. Michael discusses the scope of the crisis and measures it against the public’s limited understanding of the complexity of the issue...