Join us in this exciting podcast episode featuring Spiro Cheriogotis, a former judge and prosecutor, who is now running for mayor of Mobile. Spiro delves into his background, from his roots in Dothan, Alabama to his experiences in law school at Alabama and his journey through the legal profession. He talks about his family, his passion for barbecue, and his vision for Mobile, Alabama. Spiro emphasizes the importance of reliable public transportation, economic development, and addressing youth gun violence. He also touches upon the potential of AI in city governance and shares personal stories about his life and values. An insightful discussion packed with compelling ideas and heartfelt reflections.

Transcript:

Spiro: My name's Spiro Cheriogotis, I'm running for mayor. I'm a former judge, former prosecutor, and happy to be here,

Marcus: This is gonna be fun and I am so excited about having you here. I really am. I'm, uh, thank you for making yourself available and yeah, you know, I'm, I'm excited about, about this, so thank

Spiro: you for the opportunity.

Spiro: Yeah. I appreciate you carving out some time to sit down

Marcus: with me. Absolutely. Well, um, this is a standard on the podcast. We want to hear a little bit about you. They don't care about me. They wanna hear some backstory. You know, did you grow up here? Where'd you go to high school? You obviously went to college.

Spiro: I did. You know,

Marcus: where'd you go to college? Are you married kids? You know, some of the backstory, just because some people may not have any idea who you are. Basic, yeah.

Spiro: Yeah. Uh, well, I, I'm not from here. I don't know if you knew that. I'm from Dothan, Alabama. Okay. So it's kind of the dry corner of South Alabama.

Spiro: Um, we weren't too far from the beach or lakes and spent a lot of time doing that. Uh, went to Northview High School. Um, I still, I have a barbecue restaurant that my dad opened and I now have, uh, that's actually right next to my old high school. Okay. Um, and we went there a few weeks back, took the team and fed 'em some of our award-winning ribs.

Spiro: And I'm, I'm a pork guy. I just, I like a regular pork sandwich. But, um, what else? I am married, married to my wife, Lucy Greer on tv. Lucy Cher got us at home. Very good. Uh, you did ask me how do you pronounce your Yes. Last name. So we do, we, we've got some cards. And we put a pronunciation key, right. So like, even Spiro is not obvious.

Spiro: I get Spiro, I get Shapiro a lot. Uh, like that happened more after the OJ case. Yeah. You know, Robert Shapiro was the attorney and I started getting a lot of Shapiros after that, but, um, I was thinking

Marcus: more of them. Shapiro, but Yeah. Yeah.

Spiro: Well he is, you know, he's come along the scene since then. Yeah. Um, but yeah.

Spiro: So my first name is Spiro, like a spear through an O. Mm-hmm. And cha goddess, I explain that it's a Greek name. Both of 'em are Greek names. If you picture a Greek goddess, you take her and you sit her in a chair. You chair a goddess. Yeah. Cha goddess. Cha goddess.

Yeah.

Spiro: Once you

Marcus: say it, it's not, it's, it is not difficult.

Marcus: It's just you don't wanna, I didn't wanna screw it up. You

Spiro: got a lot of vowels in there. Yeah. And uh, I think Ellis Allen kind of added an extra v or two in there. Yeah. But, um.

Marcus: You know. No, that's cool. We're running with it. Uh, barbecue restaurant. I'm, mm-hmm. I'm sorry. I'm gonna go back to that and just park there for

Spiro: a

Marcus: second.

Spiro: I got four kids too. They're wonderful.

Marcus: Very good.

Spiro: Yeah.

Marcus: Yeah.

Spiro: And where did you go to, actually, where did you go to college? Went to Alabama, so left. Good. You know, born Tide. Born and raised in Dothan roll tide. Uh, went to, went to undergrad at Alabama, got a biology and chemistry degree, and then, um, was actually gonna go to med school.

Spiro: And truly the, the Lord redirected my life. Yeah. Um, I was, boy, all things were good. I was headed to med school, had taken the entrance exam, done well. I was actually interviewing here at South and, uh, I don't know if you've ever had that time in your life where like everything feels like it should be going great.

Spiro: Right. And you should be excited and happy and everything's good, but you're not.

Yeah.

Spiro: And it was just like it's heading in the wrong direction internally. I just knew that. The path I was on was not right. Yeah. And, uh, and I did a lot of prayer and, uh, I'm hardheaded and the Lord was very clear with me.

Spiro: And, and I heard one word and it was law. And kind of like the next 10 years of my life, flash before my eyes and saw myself going, you know, getting to law school, speaking in front of an auditorium. Yeah. Speaking in front of, you know, arguing to a jury and I didn't see the judge thing. Um, but surprise, I've lived all that.

Spiro: So, so anyway, I, my life was redirected to law school Yeah. And truly wasn't sure I was gonna be able to get into Alabama. It was very difficult at the time to, to get in, you know, their, their, um, requirements were high and. I got in, like they accepted

Marcus: Jonathan McConnell. I mean, that's, they'll accept him.

Marcus: They'll accept

Spiro: anybody, right? I mean, that guy filled out his application in a tent in Afghanistan. So he, he's, I tell you what, yeah, I know. He's got my respect all way. He's he's a good way. Yeah. Did you guys go, were you at there at the same time? We were same. Same class. We had like your first year you have sections.

Spiro: So we were in different sections and we actually kind of bonded by having like dinner parties and we would watch that show 24.

Marcus: Okay. Yeah. That's great. Together. It was with Keanu? No, not Ke, no, not Ke uh, Keer. Sutherland. Sutherland, yeah. The other K,

Spiro: yeah, yeah, yeah. So it was still live and going on, and he became really good friends with one of our mutual friends from Dothan, John Gibbons and John used to host us and Grant Amy and our crew, and we'd watch 24 and hang out.

Spiro: Yeah. That's cool. And so we became friends that way. And then shortly after we became friends, he started his. The mes, Alabama was kidnapped by pirates taken over by pirates. And while in the middle of law school he created a multinational, you know, multimillion dollar business. And

Marcus: that's just Jonathan.

Spiro: I mean, I mean, is it Tuesday or Wednesday?

Spiro: He could truly do anything.

Marcus: Yeah, I know. I've, I've really enjoyed, we were in, uh, merging leaders together at the Chamber and I've really enjoyed, you know, getting, you know, to know him and be his friend. Yeah. And he certainly has plenty of good connections too. Yeah. Not that I'm, you know, like that's not, he's just a nice guy, you know, and for him to, you know, have done as much as he has and not be, uh, as full of himself.

Marcus: 'cause he's not, he just, he does not care. He's a Marine. He, he is a

Spiro: Marine and, you know, I don't know that he and Warren Buffett have that many traits that they share other than they're very successful. But, um, I always think of Warren Buffett when I think of him because it's not gonna ever matter how much.

Spiro: Money he makes or what he does, all these amazing things he's doing. He's gonna be humble. Jonathan McConnell living in a little reasonable home. Yeah. He just wants to spend time with his boy. Look, if, if, if Tommy's around, he's happy. Yeah. Um, and he, with the busyness of his life, the way he carves out time to make sure he spends it with, with Tommy is a beautiful thing to say.

Spiro: Yeah.

Marcus: He's a master at scheduling his life, that's for sure.

Spiro: He's got a

Marcus: schedule. Well, I find that a person's first job kind of shapes them. Mm-hmm. And so I want you to think back to what your first job was. Tell us, you know, a little bit about it and are there any lessons that you remember from that?

Spiro: Oh man.

Spiro: Well, you're hitting me home right there. But, uh, I, I clearly remember my first job. I remember my title that I gave myself. Which was warehouse manager. But, um, I was working for my dad and granddad. Mm-hmm. They had a vending and catering business. Okay. So industrial vending and catering. So every factory within about 50 miles of Dothan had our Coke machines, snack machines, coffee machines.

Spiro: Wow. Sandwich machines. There's probably some other ones I'm missing in there. Yeah. Um, but for the larger factories, we would have lunch lines that we would serve. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, um, just, you know, full service when it came to food. And I started working, I mean, I was there at the business hanging out from the age of four, you know, three and four.

Spiro: Um, but I really started working when I was nine and we were in this little shopping center at the time, right next to a baseball card shop. Mm-hmm. Which really was bad for my savings. Um, all

Marcus: the money goes from here to here. It didn't,

Spiro: it didn't even make it home.

Marcus: Yeah.

Spiro: Um, but I, I called myself warehouse manager, which meant I swept.

Spiro: I took out the trash. I, I did check in some inventory, you know, when the trucks would come and Right. So we'd have a room, you know, full of chips, full of every, you know, snack you can imagine, Cokes drinks. And then we had a cool room, which I would hide in, in the summer, but it had all the candy bars and pastries and all the other things we sold.

Spiro: So, yeah, it's really cool. It was great. And I, to answer the question, you know, what did I learn? Um, I don't know that I've learned more at any job ever than I did at Viner. Mm-hmm. And it was really from my dad. I jokingly say he was the worst boss I ever had. Uh, but he was certainly the most demanding boss I ever had.

Spiro: Right. And back then I made $5 a day. I was rich. Um, and I would sweep. I'd get out in the warehouse. We have all these pallets and you really kind of gotta get in between 'em and around 'em. And, and I, I remember I'd sweep the first time and he'd come in, walk through, he says, is this the best you can do?

Spiro: Mm-hmm. And I'd say he's. Maybe. And he's like, well, I see this, this, and this and this and this. So I'd sweep it all again. He'd come out, is this the best you can do? And I'd say, yes. And he'd say, well, what about that? What about that? What about that? And so, of course I'd clean it again, and until it was fully cleaned to his standards.

Spiro: Yeah. But what he taught me was to, you know, do your best job the first time. Yeah. Work hard every time. Uh, and you know, if you're gonna say something's your best, it better be your best. Right. And

Marcus: pay attention to the details.

Spiro: Boy. Yeah. And he, um, he taught me that I treasure those times. And, you know, really back then, dad ran the business.

Spiro: My granddad at the time, he had really helped build the business. And, you know, he, he, uh, his parents immigrated to America, rerated to Greece. He came back to America after world. Oh wow. War ii. Long story. But he, um, nobody's ever worked harder than my granddad. He used to run, you know, three and four restaurants and lounges at the same time in Birmingham, mainly, um, working 22 hours a day, you know, killing himself for the bam.

Spiro: It's a different

Marcus: generation,

Spiro: you know? I don't think we appreciate how hard some of those people had to work Yeah. To make a life in this country. Um, but he, you know, he really built the business alongside my dad. My dad started taking over pretty quickly and by the time I was nine, dad was running everything.

Spiro: Papa would just have his buddies over for breakfast every day. Right. You know, he'd, I remember him sitting in his office making phone calls to his buddies in Greece.

Yeah.

Spiro: And I'm just sit in there and listen to him, uh, speaking in Greek. And my favorite thing is he would always inevitably hit some word that he didn't know the Greek word for.

Spiro: So it would be like, you know, Buffalo do you say? Yeah. He'd go tractor trailer because of course his buddy spoke perfect English. Yeah. Uh. But, uh, I just,

Marcus: I hadn't planned on asking, asking you this 'cause I didn't know this, um, about you, but my father's Brazil. Oh, okay. And I find that there's something very different in the life experience of someone who has such a close relationship with somebody from another country.

Marcus: Yeah. Like, I think even earlier today, I called my dad and he almost couldn't get outta Portuguese.

Yeah. You

Marcus: know, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, dad English, you know, please, please. You know, and, you know, he switches. And then there's also just something like, Hey, you know, I'm, I have such an appreciation for the life that I have mm-hmm.

Marcus: The freedoms that are, you know, given to me and, and the opportunities because, you know, I know that had I been born in Brazil, I would not have had those same options and Right.

Spiro: I think it's so easy to forget that. Right. You know, we live in America, you know, it, it has its faults, but I think it's the best country in the world.

Spiro: Mm-hmm. There is nowhere where you can experience. More freedom, you know, more ability to rise, you know, based on your own hard work and effort. Um, it truly is open for business, for everyone. And yes, you'll face struggles. You, you, you own a business you like, you're, it's never gonna be smooth sailing all the time.

Spiro: No,

Marcus: it's usually not. It's, it's

Spiro: often not. Yeah. Um, you know, of course I read this book. It tells me to, to enjoy the trials, enjoy the difficulties. 'cause they're, they're building me up. They're strengthening me into the man that I need to be. Um, but yeah. So like Papa, just to tell you a little bit about his life, uh, his father and mother met very, they lived on opposite ends of Greece.

Spiro: He came to her island, which was essentially in Turkey to help build a church. Wow. And they met, fell in love, uh, decided to immigrate together to America through Ellis Island and, um, made their way down to Birmingham. Okay. A lot of Greeks in Birmingham. You know, every Greek has. A cousin, you know, and, uh, it's like the

Marcus: Italians in, um, New York.

Marcus: Yeah,

Spiro: for sure. So, you know, um, my great-grandfather, um, was building a life here and died very suddenly. He had a kidney issue, went into the hospital. Four days later he was gone. This was 1920. Well, right at 1930. Let me think about it. Right before the depression, like 32. Yeah. 30, 32. And so Grand Dale was born in 26, and I think he was six when his dad died.

Spiro: So 32. Yeah. And back then, like women didn't work. Yeah. You know, um, and so my great-grandmother Maria was here with two children. My grandfather, her, my, his sister's name is Angella. Okay. Which I've never heard that name other than hers. But, um, she was sweet, knew her for many years. Um, so they had to go back to Greece where they had family and support.

Spiro: So actually, Mr. Mal. Old man Malus, um, at Mabu Farms showed my grandfather his first, uh, olive tree. Helped them get on a boat with a lot of other Greeks going back to Greece and, uh, you know, so we've got that connection here. Um, they rerate to Greece, dropped my aunt off in Italy with an aunt, and by the time the boat gets from Italy to Greece, Italy is declared war on Greece.

Spiro: Hitler has invaded Poland. Um, world War II is kicked off, and so they are my grandfather at the time. I, I believe he was about 13, 12 13 when, um. When they got back to Greece. And so they're living in wartime Greece. And of course the Italians try to invade. They're repelled. Yeah. Hitler sends his war machine down.

Spiro: They, they win easily. My grandfather's got stories of like throwing rocks at Nazi, you know, generals and getting shot at as a teenager in the hills of Athens. That's amazing. Incredible. You know, and, and really the, the Nazis, um, the Nazis, um, strategy was to starve the Greeks. And they did. And many, you know, watching that level of poverty and, and need and death and destruction, um, that's a

Marcus: common ploy, right?

Marcus: I mean, yeah. 'cause it's amazing how you can bend somebody's will when, you know they're starving for scraps.

Spiro: You know, when you're starving, you'll do a lot Yeah. To, to to survive. Yeah. You know, it's truly survival. Um, anyway, uh, after Hitler leaves. A communist attempt to take over. PA's able, because he's a citizen born in America, he is able to get on a boat, uh, come back to New York.

Spiro: They immediately sign him up for the military. Okay. He joins the army and uh,

Marcus: and then goes back, goes,

Spiro: goes to, uh, Italy. He was actually slated to go, um, to the eastern front, like Germany. 'cause the war is over at this point. Okay. Occupation forces. Yeah. Um, and he, his buddy like helps him switch where he's going.

Spiro: So he gets to go to Italy. Okay. He speaks full, he fully speaks Italian. I can't believe they wouldn't have sent him there anyway. But, um, finds his sister after seven years of never, you know, not knowing if she's alive. Wow.

Yeah.

Spiro: Um, no communications. Um, anyway. Eventually gets back to America. Makes enough money to bring 'em both back home.

Spiro: Beats my grandmother in New York. Moves back to Birmingham. Um, you know, a lot of story after that. No,

Marcus: it's really cool. I mean, but

Spiro: that, you know, that kind of struggle. Yeah. We just don't know that. No. If you're born and raised in America, you've never experienced generally anything like that. I do think there are some people in some communities that are living that and, and we need to recognize that.

Spiro: Yeah. And we need to pour help and resources into those communities. But, um, you know, just listening to Popeye, I feel like I understand.

Marcus: Yeah. Even though I've never experienced that, it's a vastly different time, for sure. Mm-hmm. Um, not to skip around too much, but I usually ask people, 'cause I think this is more a question for me.

Marcus: Are there any books, podcasts, people or organizations that have been helpful in moving you forward in your career and all the things that you've been involved in? Yeah. Aside from this, ignore the That's good. Yeah. Campaign.

Spiro: Um. You know, one book that I've read fairly recently is Simon Sinek is The Infinite Game.

Spiro: I don't know if you've read that, but

Marcus: Is that his latest one? 'cause he's been making mine. I think there's also

Spiro: finding why, um, which I've, I've read a good bit about that. Yeah. I've got read a good bit of that one too. Um, but it really talks about, um, business and like government are, there's no way to win.

Spiro: Right? Right. Like, there's no clear end point. Like in a baseball game when the third out and the ninth inning, that's, you know, that's it. Game's over whatever the score is, that's the winner. Um, for business and government, the goal has to be constant improvement.

Marcus: Yep.

Spiro: Continually improving the outcomes.

Spiro: There's no end there. It'll, you know, it doesn't end. And so you've gotta set that goal of constant improvement. Mm-hmm. And, and not really finite goals, but infinite goals. Um, it's interesting.

Marcus: It's a good one. I, you know, he's, uh, he's been making the rounds on some podcasts lately, and I was listening to one, but he didn't get into that.

Marcus: So that's, that's an interesting take.

Spiro: That's a good

Marcus: one. Yeah. I, um, I often point to startup communities as well. I don't know if you've read that one. It's not by Simon Sinek and I can't remember who the author is. It's over there. After we get finished, I'll show it to you.

Spiro: But

Marcus: it's about the, um, it's about how government and, uh, higher education and business.

Marcus: Work together in order to foster a startup community, you know, similar to what we have with Innovation Portal. Yeah. And I, I read that, you know, probably a decade ago and, you know, um, before Innovation Portal was, you know, started and stuff like that. And yeah. Anyways, it's just a very interesting take on, you know, how all those relationships, you know, kind of work together.

Marcus: Yeah. So,

Spiro: which, you know, in, in the perfect scenario, they are working together. Correct. They're working in the same direction. Yeah. And look, we have all those puzzle pieces right here in mobile.

Marcus: We do. It doesn't seem, or it doesn't feel like we do at times. Um, you know, it's not, I don't think it's, uh, unheard of to say that.

Marcus: Like I sometimes forget that we have so many colleges Yeah. In, in this town. Four. Exactly. And it's like,

Spiro: yeah, four.

Marcus: And, and it just blows my mind that, um, I don't know, it just never, like, I've been in college towns before. And it just doesn't feel that way. And I don't, you know, like I think of, you know, uh, well I went to James Madison, so Harrisonburg, Virginia or UVA in Tuscaloosa.

Marcus: Yeah. Or Tuscaloosa or you know, in any other, it just has a feel and this just, it doesn't have that same feel. Yeah.

Spiro: I do think it, you know, based on the geographic location of our colleges, they're not really interspersed with downtown and kinda like nightlife. So I do agree with you. It doesn't really have that college town feel.

Spiro: Yeah. Although I'd love to, I'd love to develop that, see that happen. Yeah. See that happen a little bit. Maybe we can get some more college kids living downtown, you

Marcus: know, that would be good.

Spiro: Support a few more businesses or

Marcus: integrate the colleges downtown in some way and get that kind of synergy. I know there's been a lot of talk about that, so.

Spiro: Yeah. I'll throw one more book out there. Meditations. Okay. Marcus Aurelius. Very good. Really good stuff.

Marcus: Yeah. Uh. I am only hear good things about going back and reading those, but I just can't, I, I don't know. I just can't do it. Well,

Spiro: you know, that one's hard 'cause it, it was not written to be published, it was just his thoughts on just one of the few good Roman emperors writing down his thoughts Yeah.

Spiro: For himself really. And so it doesn't read, like, it doesn't have a story feel to it. Right. And it's almost like Proverbs like kind of broken up, but I don't know, I may have to

Marcus: check that out because it's, uh, the bite-sized thing kind of intrigues me, uh, because I don't feel like it would have to be something that you'd have to like sit down and read all the way through.

Marcus: But, you know, hey, I'm just want to, you know, get a quick bite, you know, or something so

Spiro: his family doesn't get any royalty. So you don't have to feel bad about just like going online and getting like the best quotes out of it. Yeah.

Marcus: For real. Yeah. Well, I have to ask, I mean, being a judge is a huge achievement.

Marcus: Uh, so I. I have to ask the question of like making a, a, you know, the decision to like leave all that behind boy and do something like this. Like what was the motive behind, what was the thinking behind making that decision? You know,

Spiro: you kinda have your heart and your brain, right? Uh, and, um, and for me, I'm a man of faith and it really boiled down to that.

Spiro: But, um, you know, one thing is, uh, I've been so enamored frankly, by the amount of progress and the positivity I've seen throughout mobile and, and during Sandy Stimson's time. Yeah. You know, I, I moved here from law school about three years before he was elected for the first time, and I remember the excitement of his campaign, this message of Unity Mobile's momentum.

Spiro: Yeah. Momentum. And I've seen that momentum. Uh, you know, of course my wife's family is in the grocery business and they're, they bought into the momentum and we got two grocery stores downtown. Mm-hmm. Um, you know, I was sitting in my office when, uh, you know, at the courthouse looking out onto downtown when that announcement came through that Sandy was not gonna run again.

Spiro: And I just thought, oh no. You know, like, what are we gonna do? We've gotta continue this progress. We have to see these things through who's gonna do it. Right. And, and that really led to me making some phone calls and trying to figure out who was gonna do it. Yeah. Um, 'cause it was, I saw it just as critical for the future of the city, um, that this momentum continue.

Spiro: And I kept running up dry and I'd, I, I'd say, oh, well this person, uh, said they were considering it, I'd call them and they were out.

Yeah.

Spiro: And, and I did that about five or six, 10 times. And, um, and really it was like. Scratching my head and I was, I said, oh, no. Like, Lord, are you talking to me?

Marcus: It's like everybody has a weird person in their, in their, uh, friend group.

Marcus: And if you don't have a weird person in your friend group, you're the weird person. Yeah. Well, if you, nobody's running, you know, but, uh, you're the one asking the questions. Does that mean that you're the one that's running?

Spiro: Uh, I just, I saw it as so critical and important and, and then I started, you know, and for me personally, it made no sense.

Spiro: Yeah. You know, I'm, I've just secured, uh, another term as judge. I love my job. Judges have how many years? Six year

Marcus: terms.

Spiro: Okay.

Marcus: Six year terms.

Spiro: So, I mean, I had just been reelected.

Marcus: And the chances of you losing an election once you're elected,

Spiro: well, nobody ran against me. That you, that Yeah. I mean,

Marcus: like, so essentially this is a job that you almost can have as long as you want.

Marcus: And judgeship is like, I mean, it, it's gotta be a good position. Oh yeah.

Spiro: Filled me up in so many ways. Yeah. I mean, you do. I will say, like I, I was taking on more of the hardships and heartaches of the world than I, I realized I could see that. Yeah. I feel, I feel for people, you know, and I really, um, it affects me when people are, heck, I almost started crying earlier at a press conference 'cause, uh, the mother of, of a, a young man who was killed, um, that I prosecuted the case was in the audience and we kinda locked eyes Wow.

Spiro: While I was talking about, you know, the pain that I've seen in my courtroom Yeah. And in courtrooms that are the result of gun violence. And I choked up right there, but, uh, held it together. Um, but, you know, being a judge is wonderful. It is. It's a blessing I never expected to have in my life. I truly felt blessed to have that job.

Spiro: And I saw change. Happen. Um, oftentimes small, you're not gonna, you know, not everybody that comes to court is looking to totally turn their life around, right? And, and until someone makes that determination, that decision to truly change, you're just, you know, you're, you're climbing a hill that can't be climbed.

Spiro: Um, but I saw people make that decision and I saw people change and I saw good things happening truly, you know, have people tell you, you saved my life. And, uh, you know, the answer is no. You did. Yeah. You know, you did. I might have pushed you in the right direction. Might highlighted the pathway. Yeah. I might have given you some good suggestions, but you chose it.

Spiro: Um, so it was wonderful. I love my job. Uh, I do miss it. Um, but the truth of a judge is you're always reacting. The thing has already happened. Right. You know, the life is already, the course is awful. You're picking up the pieces of, you know. Yeah. So trying to glue things back together as best you can and, and protect people as best you can.

Spiro: And the thing that excites me about Mayor is you can be so proactive. Yeah. You can really identify the areas of need and poor resources and time and energy, um, into those areas and see widespread change, you know, not just one life, not just one life plus their family. Um, but com entire neighborhoods, entire communities.

Spiro: Yeah. Hopefully in an entire city. Um, I just saw it as such an opportunity, and frankly, we're in such a good financial position. I, I truly feel like, um, there's so much less division in this city than there once was. Mm-hmm. I feel like we're in such a great position. Truly on the cusp. Of realizing our full potential as a city.

Spiro: Yeah. And, you know, making it feel like a college town might be part of that. And

Marcus: Well, you just, you said a word and it's that potential word that just drives me insane. And everybody always talks about mobile being the city of perpetual potential, and it's the reason why we started this podcast. Yeah. And I don't know, you and I, please don't say, but this podcast has been going for six years and well over 200 and plus episodes and you know, like not, I'm not saying that to pat myself on the back, but like, that's neat.

Marcus: I want to pour positive into the city. There are so many outlets for negative,

right.

Marcus: And so, you know, when somebody sits here, like I, I want to show the, the positive things that a business owner is doing or the share the. You know, the trials that they're going through, but how they've overcome those and, you know, things like that.

Marcus: And so, but I hate, you know, that everybody kind of still clings to that city of perpetual potential because there's a self-fulfilling prophecy that goes along with that, right?

Yes.

Marcus: And if you look back at where we have come over the last 10 years, you're, it's absolutely ridiculous. Mm-hmm. I mean, the amount of, uh, you know, job growth that has happened here and the amount of notoriety and the amount of, you know, increase in just about every aspect of our living has, has gotten better know, I mean, there's certain things a lot.

Marcus: It

Spiro: doesn't feel like it. Yeah. Crime has fallen off a cliff as well. Yeah. And

Marcus: I, you know, I mean, I, I actually have a question about that, that I'll get actually that's next. You know, that, um, you know, crime is, uh, something that everybody's concerned about. It's something that everybody's talking about, especially, you know, we just had this shooting at the Sanger Theater that, you know, I mean, I just can't think of anything more horrific than being at a kid's event and, you know, having that happen.

Marcus: Right. There's just no excuse. So do you see, do you see violence as a symptom of a larger problem? Or do you see, and I think with your experience as a judge like that, you have a unique viewpoint on that. Do you see violence as a symptom of a larger problem, or do you see violence in all of that crime as just the problem?

Spiro: No, I think it is generally a symptom of a larger problem. Um, you know, it's hard to identify the exact problem.

Marcus: Well, but I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna lead, I'm not gonna say anything other than, see, my viewpoint is that I. When the economy goes down and people are struggling, that violence and crime is gonna go up.

Marcus: Right.

Spiro: But, and, and so some people will say on that same vein that poverty is the ultimate driver of crime. Mm-hmm. But I've seen many people, um, live a life of poverty and never turn to crime. True. I've, I've seen poverty create, drive and determination and good things in people to strive, succeed. I mean, my grandfather Yeah.

Spiro: You know, like to, to fight and strive and struggle and, and gain, and find increase. Um, so to me, hopelessness is really the, the main driving force for crime. I got you. When you don't hope that there, you don't have any hope or belief or a vision for a pathway for you to find increased success, wealth, you know, improvement in your life's conditions.

Spiro: Yeah. You're not reacting all that, that's when you turn to Yeah. Well, like, Hey, all I need is a gun and I can get this guy's wallet. You know? Yeah, I can, I can do this, I can do that. Um, so the hopelessness I do think is really the common factor, and that's, that's a condition of the heart most of the time.

Spiro: Yeah. Uh, you know, I, I'm a man of faith and so I always have hope in a brighter future and, and I see pathways that we can have a brighter future, not just for the use of me, of the world, but for everybody. Mm-hmm. And, and so poverty is, is a symptom. It is an issue to be fought against and to try and show increase and, and increase people's ability to seize that opportunity.

Spiro: Yeah. And find it. Um, I don't see it as the driving force. I think it is, you know, like causation doesn't equal correlation. That doesn't equal causation.

Doesn causation.

Spiro: Yeah. And so I think it's unfair to those people who have. Have grown up in a world of poverty and have never turned to that life and have, have succeeded.

Spiro: Yeah. Have improved to say that, well, if you're impoverished, you can't do anything. You know, that's your only option. That's just not true.

Marcus: Yeah, I get it. Um, it

Spiro: might seem like your only option, but it's, that's not true.

Marcus: Yeah. I'm just, I'm, you know, as you're speaking, I'm thinking of a conversation and I, for his sake, I won't go into, uh, details, but I'm thinking of a conversation with a man that I know who has come when I look at his life and where he came from.

Marcus: He is light years away from where he was. Yep. And it has caused some strife with people from his past, including his, his family. Yeah. And what he realized was that it's unfair of him to expect them to behave any differently because if they. If they knew any better, they would've taught him because the, you know, like you assume that a mom loves their child and she would've taught him a better way of living, but she didn't because she didn't know any better.

Marcus: She didn't know it. She didn't know any better. Yeah. And so he's having to go back and say, you know what, like as much of a pain in the butt as this is, I'm gonna help and try to teach this person how to communicate at a different level so that we can have a relationship and we can mend these fences.

Marcus: Mm-hmm. And so I'm just left thinking that there's not some, um, parallel here to, you know, those that find themselves in a hopeless situation of like, well, I just don't know that. They're like, I don't know that path. Yeah. And I think they look to people in the city and I, I love when I see folks going into like the different school systems and stuff like that, especially the successful entrepreneurs that these kids look up to.

Marcus: Yes. Because, you know, like, what's the other option? You know, the drug dealer that lives down the street, he seems to be

Spiro: successful. He's got a nice car. Right. And so he's got money.

Marcus: I mean, I don't know. So I, I'm watching poetic now, but, well,

Spiro: no, but I think you're hitting on what I, I think is, I think we all have a purpose on this earth.

Spiro: I think we're all born with that purpose. And I think generally everyone's purpose is not to help themselves, but to help others.

Yeah.

Spiro: In, in some way it relates to helping others. I think that's the only true pathway to happiness is by giving of yourself to others. 100%. I'm my spiritual

Marcus: gifting is an educator, you know?

Marcus: And so even this, it's like this. I mean, this is an educational moment for me. They just get to watch.

Spiro: Yeah.

Marcus: So, um, I mean, what are your thoughts around crime though? I mean, what, is there anything there that you've kind of put out as like, Hey, this is what I think about doing, or,

Spiro: yeah, I mean, I'm not gonna talk too much about police strategies, but those are there Yeah.

Spiro: There are ways that we can reevaluate what we're doing with our current police force. Do we need to add some to that? Probably, yeah. Um. But I think there are things we can do with our current resources to really highlight and target, um, youth gun violence. 'cause that, that's, that's the most random, it is committed by young men almost exclusively between the ages of 14 and 24.

Spiro: And they haven't even reached the age of mental maturity. Yeah. You know, a young man's brain doesn't fully form prefrontal cortex. Well, maybe for you and me, uh, but no, 25 to 28, that's when that, you know, prefrontal cortex starts winning out over other portions of the brain, the more impulsive portions.

Spiro: And I've seen many young men who did come up in that way of life and did engage in gun violence and, and other things, and they grew out of it. Yeah. You know, uh, a lot of times that was after a stint in prison, you know, uh, or something else. Or they've become injured themselves and stop engaging in that way of life.

Spiro: But, um, but I've seen young men grow out of it, become. Men. Yeah. You know, real men and, and build a new life for themselves that is good and productive and good for their society and community. And, you know, frankly, you know, I was a young man once, I didn't make the most wise decisions. No. You know, we all have those.

Spiro: Yeah. I'm blessed that, you know, none of those bad decisions I've made in my life, like permanently affected the course of my life. But that is happening with a lot of young men. And, and so for one, I think the, I think the best thing that we can do to really attack gun violence is to pour into, um, young men, young men and young women and show them that.

Spiro: There is a clear pathway to success. I don't care what world you're growing up in, I don't care how bad home life is, if you will stick with me, if you will, if you'll make it a 10th grade and let me get you in a dual enrollment program so that you can graduate high school with the ability to, you know, have your electrician certificate, hvac, plumbing, welding.

Spiro: Yeah. And you can make $60,000 debt free straight outta school. That's life changing money. Yeah. Truly life changing money. And that's just the start. And you know, I know that's a real pathway to success. I use this example, but you know, I went to college. Um, and of course that is one route to potential success.

Spiro: It's also a route to a lot of student debt. Yeah. And difficulty. But, um, I have a biology degree. I was gonna go to med school, you know, it qualifies me to substitute teach maybe. Yeah. Um, uh, thank you to all the substitute teachers out there. But, um, but that's my four year degree. My friend who I really had to tutor and get through high school, school was not easy for him.

Spiro: Uh, he went straight into plumbing and electrical. He now has, you know, two houses that are paid for a boat. You know, I don't even have a boat. He's got two. Um, he's doing great. Right, right. You know, his balance sheet is better than mine. And not only did I go to college and went to law school too.

Yeah.

Spiro: So that's a real avenue to wealth and success.

Spiro: And it, I don't know that that message is, is said enough. And frankly, here in mobile, we need more welders, we need more electricians. Like we are, we are building all the time. We've got, I mean, between Austin and Airbus, they probably hire 5,000 welders today if they could. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, there's a need in our community, but, uh, just from the business aspect, but that's a real pathway to success.

Spiro: And, and yes, we need to make sure they can get there. We need to make sure we're supporting our food pantries, um, you know, our mentorship programs, our community centers that provide young people a healthy and, you know, good place to learn and play. Positive, fun, positive. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so, you know, there's, there are a lot of things.

Spiro: There are a lot of needs there, you know, but I don't see problems. I see opportunities for solutions and, and I see a lot of opportunities for real solutions. Um, I think

Marcus: sometimes, and, and maybe, and correct me if I'm wrong, but it feels like sometimes we make these problems bigger than what they, I mean, not,

Spiro: I, people you don't understand what I'm saying.

Spiro: Think people, people have that. Yeah. You know, tendency to like say, well, I can't because

Marcus: Yeah.

Spiro: You know, and, and just leave it at that. Well, I can never do that 'cause of this. Yeah. Like, I'll, I'll tell you right now, I haven't seen anybody who truly focused on a goal and who truly gave it their all that didn't get there.

Spiro: Right. You know, it's been not

Marcus: having goals and not working towards it that finds people just languishing in their own, you know, situation

Spiro: that, so yesterday I was at Dumas. Wesley, okay. And Dumas. Wesley's, they have a lot of fantastic programs. One program is, um, they take. Homeless families. Mm-hmm. And there are 18 units there, and they provide 'em a place to live.

Spiro: It's not like for three months, it's for two years. Mm-hmm. But there's a program attached to that, and it is life skills and they teach 'em all kind of, you know, wonderful things. But one of the recent graduates, um, you know, this is hearsay, but one of the recent graduates said, you know, I love having goals.

Spiro: I've never had goals in my life. And so not just having them, but being able to tick that check mark Yeah. And say Achieved, done. That's a huge thing. Next. Yeah. You know, what's next? What's next? And, and you know, and that's just something that not every parent teaches. Not every school teaches that, you know, have goals, set goals.

Spiro: Yeah. What, you know, think about your life and if, if this one thing was different, your life would be this much better. What is it? Okay. Let's go after that.

Marcus: Yeah.

Spiro: Having that goal keeps '

Marcus: em on the, on the, on a path. That's definitely a more positive path than, you know, what they could be going down upward. Um, so the median income, I'm gonna switch gears here a little bit, uh, talking about business or economic development, but the median income and mobile hovers around 50,000, 51,000 or so.

Marcus: The national median income is roughly 80,000. You know, we've seen a huge increase in the number of businesses that are moving here between Aus and the steel plant, which, yeah, I, not even a try

Spiro: not tk Am and s Cal.

Marcus: Yeah. And then, you know, like there's all, like, even today I think the Chamber sent out a, uh, an email that said that Kimber, Kimberly Clark was investing another $130 million in the plant here and stuff like that.

Marcus: You know what I mean? Like, there's, there are, there's a lot of investment in mobile and from my understanding, unemployment is also very low. Now, I would say that, I don't know, I haven't looked at the numbers enough to say whether unemployment is low because people have just left and aren't trying to find jobs or whatever.

Marcus: We can, but what can be done to get that $50,000 up? Because the, the impact of that would be so significant from the standpoint of, you know, everybody always bitches about, well, there's nothing fun to do here in Mobile. We've got Topgolf now. We've got Dave and Busters, we've got all these things that are coming here.

Spiro: New arena's gonna be pretty great.

Marcus: Yeah. The new arena. But the problem is that there's no disposable income for people to enjoy these things,

Spiro: which limits their ability to come here and

Marcus: Yeah.

Spiro: And invest here. Yeah. Um, so no, I think that's a very, uh, real issue. And, you know, look, we've got Austal and Airbus.

Spiro: They're paying pretty well. Um, a lot of people would say we need more, um, white collar jobs. Yeah. I mean, but you know, there are plenty of blue collar jobs paying more. Well, certainly more than I'm getting paid right now. Yeah. And, um, but I do think that's true. I think the airport's really gonna help with that.

Spiro: I think we can attract more higher paying jobs to our city. I, you know, I think there's a ton of fun things to do in mobile, frankly. Yeah. You know, um, you know, where else can you be like on a fishing boat in 10 minutes or, you know, soon going to, to an arena level concert. Yeah. You know, where else can you, you know, go to the home of Mardi Gras and sit here and watch people throw free stuff at you for, you know, and try not to get beamed

Marcus: in the head.

Marcus: You gotta, you

Spiro: gotta keep a, you know, keep your head on the swivel, that's for sure. Yeah. Uh, those bees, those big beads. Oof. I, I'm well aware. Um, but no, I think we got a wonderful city, but one thing that I think we can do, and what we have to do is, even though. We have air, Airbus creating jobs, also creating jobs, you know, the steel plant.

Spiro: We are not connecting those jobs well enough to our citizens. Okay. A lot of those jobs are going to people that live across the bay, out in the county, you know, south of mobile. Um, we have to make sure if we're gonna fully realize the benefit of the 5,000 jobs, 6,000 jobs, I always do the 6,000 jobs we expect to add over the next five years.

Spiro: Okay. They need to be worked by our citizens. Yeah. Mobile citizens. And so, you know, yes, higher paying jobs can help that, but if you take somebody from zero Yeah. Unemployed to fully employed, that's gonna increase that number just as quick 100% not quicker.

Yeah.

Spiro: And so one issue, um, the Chamber did a study last year, I believe, maybe two years ago now.

Spiro: I. That, uh, of unemployed individuals living in our city, and 31% said that the lack of reliable transportation was their number one hurdle to being employed. And I, I saw that as a judge. You know, I saw people that didn't have a ride, so they had to pay Uber, you know, about a quarter of their monthly income just to get down here, to go to court.

Spiro: Um, that's unsustainable when we've got people living just down Broad Street that, you know, it's gonna take them two hours on our current public transportation system to get to the middle of mobile or even downtown mobile. They can get, they can walk faster than they can get here on a bus half the time.

Spiro: Yeah, that's a problem. And, and I'm not. I, I get really tired of people pointing fingers and blaming, who cares? Fix it. Let's just fix it. Yeah. Let's find the, just because it's been someplace, it was some way, let's not, I'm not saying it's the, it's the transit worker's fault, the company's fault. I don't care whose fault it is.

Spiro: Yeah. Frankly, let's fix it.

Marcus: Yeah.

Spiro: Um, I heard

Marcus: the mayor say at one point in time, he was like, I think we could probably buy cars for everybody that uses the, the, you know, bus system and still save a lot of money because it was like $8 million or something like that, that, you know, we put out 10,

Spiro: we get about a million backs at nine.

Spiro: Yeah. Nine. Yeah. But, you know, yeah, I know he's not, he may not be wrong, he may not be wrong, but, but to me, like to really be a flourishing city and, you know, mobile is, is a big, small city. Yeah. I love that about it. Um, but you know, when you're talking about it doesn't feel like a college town. Well, a lot of the college kids up at South Alabama don't have vehicles.

Mm-hmm.

Spiro: You know, how are they gonna come enjoy the nightlife on Dolphin Street or anywhere else downtown? They don't have a ride. And you know, I'm, it's been a while since I tried to get an Uber, but um, the last time, last few times I did, there were maybe six on the road. Yeah. It's not, not exactly a, a plethora of, you know, Ubers around.

Spiro: So, you know, I don't know why that decreased and it was a great asset, but now we've got the Mogo program through the chamber, and I think that you're gonna see that increase and it's, I would call it subsidized Uber. Yeah. For lack of a better term. But, um, you know, if all of a sudden instead of these massive.

Spiro: Buses doing these long and winding routes, if we had, you know, some smaller buses, uh, that maybe, you know, were trolleys. Right, right. Trolleys to me, if you think of like old, you know, new Orleans Mobile, we used to have trolleys, Charleston, you know, trolleys kind of harken back to, um, you know, a good time, a better time for, certainly for public transportation.

Spiro: Sure. And, um, it can be fun. I think it would add to the vibe and character of our city. And all of a sudden it's a real option for a kid at south of Alabama who wants to go down to heroes and have, you know, watch a game with his friends and, uh, or you know, go out on the town for the night and not have to worry about driving home, uh, which would be unsafe.

Spiro: And boy, if we decrease DUIs and increase money spent around, you know, our restaurants and bars. That sounds good to me. Yeah, for sure. Um. So, you know, public transportation is something that I'm really honed in on. If I can activate 31% of our workforce, who's not working just by providing them reliable transportation.

Spiro: Transportation, like why are we not doing that? That seems like an a low hanging fruit kind of situation. And it, you know, it can be expensive, but if everyone, if, if it becomes a, a viable option for not just those folks who depend on it and don't have a car, but me, I have a car, but I don't always wanna drive around.

Spiro: Yeah. And sometimes it could be fun to hop on a trolley and return a bunch of emails before I even get in York. I used to

Marcus: ride the bus to work when I lived in DC Yeah. It was a 45 minute, if I was lucky, it was a 45 minute ride and I loved it. 'cause I would just sit there and read a book or, you know, listen to some music and just relax

Spiro: little me time.

Spiro: Little extra productive time, you know. Yeah. So, you know, I, I like, I would like to bring a little bit of that big city feel to mobile and, and that. Option because I want young people not just enjoying living in mobile, but wanting to move to mobile. Yeah. Like I see mobile growing. We are gonna continue to produce jobs as long as we can fill them, and we gotta make sure we can fill 'em.

Spiro: And we gotta make sure that we're bringing in the best and brightest and connecting those jobs to every neighborhood, not just the ones that are close, not just to the people with cars, but to every neighborhood. And I see public transportation as a real, you know, leveling factor. It really puts everybody on a level playing field.

Spiro: If that is, I,

Marcus: I didn't remember that. I don't, don't know that I remember that study, but I understand now why even Ben has been making some waves lately with, you know, the, the bus situation. When I read some of the information around that, I didn't, man, that's wild. I didn't, um, hadn't really thought about that.

Spiro: 31%.

Marcus: Wow. And,

Spiro: and you know, not to mention how much cheaper it is to live here. You know, you lower our cost of living. Mm-hmm. Which is already fairly low, it becomes even more attractive. Yeah. 'cause it gives, gives

Marcus: businesses more runway if they have, you know, less, uh, expenses like that. Yeah. Um, ai. Mm hmm. We are, as you would imagine, very deep in ai.

Marcus: Cool. And. My impression, and a lot of people that I respect their opinions, impression is that the next presidential election is gonna be pretty much all about AI because it's quickly becoming an a, a thing that if you're not paying attention to it, that you're gonna have to, yeah. Right. Yeah. And so I, I wanted to present the question to you of, um, you know, what are your views on ai and then do you have any plans for how you might be able to incorporate that if you were to be elected mayor?

Spiro: Um, I definitely have plans. Um, I. You know, to me one of the lowest hanging fruit options that AI, I think could immediately affect is, uh, traffic patterns. You know, we've got cameras on almost every one of our traffic signals. If instead of having these predetermined time lights that they're going off, no matter whether they're somebody sitting there or not, I'm just gonna stop you

Marcus: right there.

Marcus: We're done. We're just gonna elect this man. Okay. Golly. I'm telling you what, I can't tell you the people that, I mean, it is so frustrating to think like, if I don't time this just right, it's gonna change my trip by like 20 minutes. Yeah. I was just talking to somebody the other day and they had been told to go to, um, they had been told to go to, uh, taco Mama on Old Shell.

Marcus: And then it turns out that the people that they were supposed to meet were like over in West Mobile at San Miguel's or something like that. You know, they, they got mixed up and they were like, there is just come join

Spiro: us. There's the

Marcus: taco mama

Spiro: in West Mobile too. Maybe

Marcus: they were there. Yeah, maybe they were there.

Marcus: And they were like, well, come join us. And the people at the taco, mama and old shell were like, I don't think you understand. That's like a 30 minute drive. You'll be done by the time we get there, you know? And. It just blows me away that it's such a, it's a small town. It's not far. I'm four miles from my house here and it's gonna take me 30 minutes to get home.

Marcus: Pretty crazy. Part of that's because of McGregor, but, we'll, we're not even gonna go there. But yeah, December, December, December. I, I, yeah,

Spiro: I believe, I believe, uh, I live very close to McGregor, so Yes. Um, but no traffic. I mean, that's so easy. Like if I have a, a live video image and I've got an AI that can identify the 28 cars that are stopped at that light and none on either side.

Spiro: None anywhere else. Yeah. I can trigger that light. The AI's gonna know, you know, per vehicle, how much time it's gonna take to clear that intersection. Yeah. Then you can flip it. You know, I, I sit at a light every single day. Getting on the airport, and it doesn't matter if there are a hundred cars behind me or zero.

Spiro: Yeah. It's gonna be a green arrow for 10 seconds. Yeah. I've timed it and I've missed it more times than

Marcus: I, it's, and I also think of the, um, spring Hill, Dauphin Island, uh, spring Hill Hospital, Dauphin Island section. Oh yeah. Where, you know, I mean that whole, uh, thing, it doesn't matter. You could be there at one o'clock in the morning and you'll get stopped on Dolphin Street.

Marcus: There's nobody you know coming, but you'll sit there for four or five minutes while it changes

Spiro: if, if you drive home or, or if you drive west on Dolphin Street after it's dark, you know, I think about seven o'clock, I don't really care how fast you drive or how slow you drive. You're gonna catch every red light.

Spiro: Every light red light every time. Yeah. At a time where frankly they should probably all be flashing. Yeah. Yeah. Because yeah,

Marcus: literally nobody else on the road. Um,

Spiro: you know, some would argue we have too many lights and some of those people would be Right. Um, but no AI there I think is an easy solution.

Spiro: There are a lot of people using it. Um, for like communications with, um, city hall. A lot of cities are exploring that with, you know, text, you know, text me or questions. Yeah. You know, where do I go to do this? And, uh, AI can really assist with that. I wanna see the 3 1 1

Marcus: is another area that I, I know a lot of cities that have that type of system.

Marcus: Yeah. You know, they use it to kind of either route answer questions, you know, do things like that.

Spiro: You know, I want, I really want to bring customer service to the city of mobile. Like we have it in our shops. In our stores. Yeah. And, you know, I got a barbecue place. If you don't have customer service, you don't have customers.

Spiro: And, and mobile, I believe is losing out on customers when I have builders who don't want to build here because the permitting process is so complicated. Yeah. Um, that's a huge problem. That's an economic development issue. And so I wanna bring customer service to our city services. Um, we have it in a lot of areas.

Spiro: It could be a lot better than others. Um, if AI's gonna help with that, I'm sure gonna look at it as an option. But, but traffic, um, you know, there's some AI modeling out there that can really tell your police when and where to patrol. Mm-hmm. Um, there, there's some interesting options out there. I I, I want to vet 'em, you know, I don't believe immediately because it's ai it's automatically better.

Right.

Spiro: Um, but what's happening with ai, I do believe it's gonna revolutionize what it means to be a human in this world. And you're gonna end up using it one way or another. Um, I think we gotta guard against some of the worst parts, potential parts of it. Um, but in the end it's happening.

Marcus: So yeah. We gotta be ready for it.

Marcus: Yeah. There's no putting that cat bag in that bag for sure. No, it's just interesting 'cause when you start thinking about, um, the automations that you, you know, can, uh, you know, I mean, there's, there are a lot of opportunities, you know, there, and I just, you know. Even asking, you know, AI, like, hey, how could you help?

Marcus: Yeah. You know, I mean, you'd be surprised at sometimes what, you know, you

Spiro: get back. I, I did have one of my friends text me like a chat GPT response. Yeah. So it was like, you know, how could a ai, no, let's cut. How could AI improve the city of mobile? Yeah. And it had some ideas. Yeah.

Marcus: No, it, um, it, it'll be interesting to see how that comes to fruition.

Marcus: 'cause I know, like right now, everybody kind of has their head in the sand in regards to what, you know, what's going on. And, um, we're paying attention because just quite honestly, we feel like our jobs are on the tapered end of being automated. Right. That, you know, at some point in time, advertising has become, it's gonna become so easy.

Marcus: You're gonna put a credit card in and it's just gonna happen. Right. Um, I know that we're not, it's not imminent, but I'd like to be. Cognizant of what you know is, is happening, but it's also like, can I make my life easier? Yeah. You know, I mean, like a lot of this stuff is just a matter of, you know, what can we do to, you know, what can we do to process, you know, paperwork faster?

Marcus: What can we do to, you know, process applications faster? Yeah. You know,

Spiro: I'm, I'm using it right now. You know, we have some Zoom meetings and staff meetings, uh, just on the campaign and it, uh, summarizes and bullet points. Yeah. Everything that we talk about and the action items to, on stuff that action items and.

Spiro: Blockers, things that are holding us back. Yeah. And, um, so look, it, it's coming. I think it's valuable. It's a valuable tool. It's one that, you know, um, you gotta vet, you gotta make sure it's gonna make things better and not worse. Yeah. Um, but yeah, it's, it's coming.

Marcus: Well, it's promising. At least, you know, I mean, you have, you know, some ideas.

Marcus: 'cause I, I, to be honest, I don't know that anybody else in the campaign is talking about this and, you know, it is definitely something that you're gonna have to deal with.

Spiro: Oh yeah. Well, you know, one thing I talk about is, uh, you know, we can talk about the talking points that are facing mobile right now.

Spiro: Anybody can learn that anybody can be caught how to respond to certain things. Yeah. We have no idea what the, the issues that are coming around the corner are nobody expected. COVID. Yeah. Right. Um, so you, you need to, you need a leader who you can trust to make the good and right decision for the good of everybody, not just themselves.

Spiro: Um, you know, I, I promise to be that type of leader. No, that's good. You know, always looking for the right decision to, to do the greatest good for our city.

Marcus: Yeah. Well, I've mentioned a couple of times I live on McGregor in the construction zone and Oh, I

Spiro: think I know where you live actually. It's the black house.

Spiro: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right there. Yeah.

Marcus: Yeah. And so, um. This, if you bring up any project like this, there's a natural knee jerk reaction by most of the citizens in the, in the city. And it's not just about the projects taking a long time, it's the, it's all the impact that happens around those projects. So, for instance, McGregor closes and now Land Fair is having problems with crime because there are, you know, 10 times as amount, amount of traffic going through their neighborhood.

Marcus: And oh, by the way, all the country club roads are probably gonna have to be repaved because they weren't used to seeing this much traffic either.

Yep.

Marcus: And so when you divert traffic off of a major route, like Florida Street or McGregor, or X whatever, you know, it is, um, when you divert it for years, it, you know, it's, it's an issue.

Marcus: And having lived on that street, like, I mean, that project could have been done quicker. I'm not, I'm not, you know, I'm not gonna say that, you know, uh, they're doing a horrible job because I do think that in the end it's gonna be unbelievable. Right? Oh, it's gonna be great. I mean, the way that it's shaping the, you, you know, shaping up with the lights and the sidewalks and stuff, I really do think that it's gonna be an added benefit to the whole community, not just those of us that live on the street.

Spiro: Right. Big, big roundabout right there, which actually you look at traffic numbers for accidents. Yeah. Uh, it's gonna really improve that intersection. Um, you know, talking about the disruption that road construction can cause. Um, I think it's always important that you do look at those side effects, right?

Spiro: Uh, like, yes, we are going to have to repair more roads in the city. We're gonna have to replace some failing infrastructure in the city, and it will cause some disruption. We have to minimize that the best we can. And, you know, for my wife, my wife, I started work at nine. She did two. We didn't know each other back then.

Spiro: She started, uh, as kind of a cashier at the Greers on Florida Street. Okay. And they did a complete road project down there that was supposed to, it was scheduled to last eight months, I think it lasted two and a half, three years. Mm-hmm. Completely cut off those businesses from their customers.

Yeah,

Spiro: they did.

Spiro: If they'd have left one lane of travel through that construction, it would've saved that grocery store. I think TP Crock Myers had to close down in the same area. And so you've gotta have somebody. In city hall, somebody looking out for your businesses, your neighborhoods that are gonna be affected. You know, I never really understood why they couldn't do this side of the road.

Spiro: Let people drive on that one and then flip once that side's done. Yeah. You know, every road I've ever been down, the asphalt kind of has a line down the middle. Yeah. Why can't we just do it that way? Yeah. Like, I could drive on McGregor before we fixed it. It was, you know, it was fine. Serviceable. Yeah.

Marcus: Um, no doubt that there were need, there were, you know, it needed to be done.

Marcus: I'm not, you know, not dis discouraging it from having taken place, but it just seems like I'm a process guy.

Spiro: Yeah.

Marcus: Um, and I'm a project management guy.

Spiro: Yeah.

Marcus: And I just, you know, I'm looking at like, the connections between the handoffs. Like, Hey, we're gonna be done with this. And, and then it's like, well, the next guy, well, okay.

Marcus: You know, like, we'll get started, you know, at some point in time. And you, you know, you, when you lose. Not minutes, not hours, not days. But you know, you lose months, months or weeks. Like it, you know, it just kind of adds itself, you know, to a project. And in this situation, I just like, I always laugh 'cause you know, you get fed these videos on YouTube, which is like my favorite app of choice.

Marcus: And you know, it's like, uh, you know, a bridge in the Netherlands that's being put in over a weekend. Yeah. Overpass in

Spiro: China, done in a weekend. I've seen those videos. Um, yeah, I hear you. And you know, from a, on the, on the, um, contract side mm-hmm. With the, the construction company that you're working with, you can build in, um, incentives, penalties, if timelines aren't met.

Spiro: Um, I do think one of the difficulties we have is like, you know, Mazda is their own entity. Alabama powers their own entity, but even as they're waiting

Marcus: Yeah. But even as, so even there, there's the problem because the contractor, I know because this is how we do our, it's time and materials, right? And so I'm gonna go, well, if they're gonna put penalties in there, then I'm gonna give myself as much time as I possibly can.

Yeah.

Marcus: And that's how it, I like incentives. They grow into the time that is allotted for them. Right? Yeah. And so I'm just wondering, you know, because like, even like construction, you know, if, if you're gonna dig, um, a hole to put. A gas pipe that's 20 inches. 'cause this is what they did. If you're not familiar, they had to replace the gas pipe going down McGregor, that services West Mobile.

Marcus: Right. And it's a 20 inch pipe. If you're gonna dig a trench for that, well why don't you just dig the trench a little bit bigger and then have them run all the fiber, all the other stuff down, you know, the other side if you have to put some sort of barrier between the two because you can't have this next to that or whatever, you know what I mean?

Marcus: Like, it just seems like dig, dig once and then, because I'll tell you what happens is they dig and then they're having trouble fill in. They pave the reason why you can't do, and then they dig and then they come in and they pave and then they dig and they pave. And it's like that road has been paved no less than six times by now.

Marcus: Well, you got a front row seat for it, so, you know. Yeah. I mean it's, you know, just stuff like that. I don't know that I'm, I, I have no experience in this, but I'm just looking at it going, there's gotta be ways to like increase

Spiro: the efficiency of all of this work. See now I need you to have a conversation with like a road contractor.

Spiro: About that so I can listen to it and be educated on. Well, I just, I mean, I may

Marcus: be full of crap, you know, like, I don't know,

Spiro: you know,

Marcus: if you're out there and you work at to, you know, one of these companies that deals with this a lot, a lot, like, gimme a holler, I'll take you to lunch. I just wanna understand it.

Marcus: Yeah. It's like, because it just doesn't make any sense

Spiro: to me. You don't wanna be messing up the, the water pipe or the, the, um, fiber line if you've gotta fix something just for the gas line. So maybe there's, yeah, but it doesn't seem like you would tear up and replace the road six times every time that a utility came in and did something.

Spiro: So,

Marcus: so the other thing that that does too is situations like recently where somebody hit the pipeline, you know, if you've got a way of accessing it. Do you really have to dig up, you know, the, the street again to, you know, anyway, it, it is just a thought. Uh, 'cause I, I recognize, I know that one's

Spiro: close to your heart.

Marcus: Well, it's, and it's not even, it's not even the location, you know, because I really don't care.

Spiro: Yeah.

Marcus: It's not that big of an inconvenience. Other, other than like, Hey, I really wish they wouldn't be out there at, you know, 12 o'clock on 'em, you know, Sunday night or something like that. Which has only happened like once, so no big deal.

Yeah.

Marcus: Um, but you know, like, it just feels like there's a way to make that happen faster and the incentives idea is probably better than the punishment.

Spiro: I think. You tend to get what you want. Yeah. A little better with incentive. I did. I, well, I thought about it. You, uh, you asked a question earlier, you know, why did, why did you leave a judgeship?

Spiro: And I wanted to say one thing. Yeah. And that was that. Um. Um, you know, I believe, I tell people in my courtroom on a regular basis that I believe the universe talks to us. Mm-hmm. You know, I call 'em God. You, you call it whatever you want. Yeah. Um, and, and that is, that is truly the reason I left my judgeship, is because I listened.

Spiro: I listened and I saw opportunity. And what I love about the universe talking to us is that even if it doesn't work out the way you thought it was gonna work out mm-hmm. It will work out for your good. Yeah. Um, and I don't know why I felt it necessary to break in and say No.

Marcus: I, I think, but I, I do wanna encourage you that I think one of the most important aspects to being a, a leader is that ability to listen.

Marcus: Mm-hmm. And if you don't have that, if you can't actually hear, not just be quiet, but if you can't hear what the person is saying and also know what they're leaving out.

Mm-hmm.

Marcus: If you can't do that, then you have no, no. No business being in leadership. I, I

Spiro: will say being a judge gives pretty good training for that skill.

Spiro: Nah. All right. How do you like to unwind? How do I like to unwind? Uh, I love a good walk in the park. Uh, I do that pretty regularly. I, I do like, I kind of have a, you know, garage gym that I'll go into by myself. Yeah. And, uh, maybe put an action movie on the tv Right. And work out a little bit. Uh, I love to fish.

Spiro: I love to hunt. I really just like being outside. Um, I really enjoy hiking there. You know, there's some hiking available. We got a good trail out at South Alabama.

Yeah.

Spiro: Uh, but yeah, good long extended walks outside, little peace and quiet Little birds singing. Yeah. You know, that, uh. Little Sun Channel. You know what's

Marcus: actually, I, I have to laugh.

Marcus: I'm bitching about McGregor, all this. We have the most incredible bird population in our backyard right now. And so I, I'm embarrassed to say this, but we've turned into bird watchers, so we'll sit back there with binoculars and we have hawks. We've seen golden, uh, bald eagles. Yeah. We've seen owls. I've had, I was laying in the, uh, on our patio, uh, in one of the chairs just watching all the birds in this hawk circled by, and then came probably 30 feet above the above me and landed in a tree, you know, not, not too far.

Marcus: And I tell you, man, there's, it's impressive. It really is.

Spiro: Um, I'm gonna nerd out real quick. Sure. Uh, Cornell has an app, the University of Cornell, and it will identify birds by their song.

Marcus: Okay. And what's the, do you know the name of the app? If you'll just type in

Spiro: Cornell and Bird, you'll find it. I'll have to figure,

Marcus: yeah.

Marcus: Um, because I'm horrible at identifying birds. Yeah.

Spiro: You know, I'm not full on bird watcher. My in-laws are in fact, full on Bird Watchers. Um, never thought that was something I would be into, I'll tell you that. But, uh, but it, any other hobbies or, um, besides, you know, I've played golf really poorly. Uh, I enjoy it.

Spiro: I have a fun time, but I just don't have the time it takes to be good at golf. Um, I like pickleball. I love pickleball, actually. Uh, I, I rarely get to play it. I've never played. Oh, it's fun. Is it? It's really fun. Yeah. Um, it's cool. My, we, you know, Lucy, um, loves it, right? And, and she does. She'll get fully into something sometimes.

Spiro: Yeah. And we got fully into pickleball. Uh, her best friend was playing it. We played it like 10 times over one weekend. And she was hooked. Yeah. Uh, to the point where she was ready to try to open up a pickleball court. And thankfully the city's invested a lot of, yeah. A lot into infrastructure for that. Um.

Spiro: But no. And then, you know, of course we have four kids and a bunch of, bunch of work kids busy, and we're busy. But I really like pickleball. I generally like sports, you know? Um, sports are about the only way I can make myself run and actually enjoy it. Yeah. So, yeah,

Marcus: I, um, I, you know, I just, it's, it's an interesting sport to me.

Marcus: And I, I don't know. I listened to a podcasts and there's somebody, is it Andrew Schultz, the comedian who has just come out recently is like, he's a diehard pickleball.

It's, it's that fun. And it's,

Marcus: it's just wild to me because it's something that, you know, I hadn't seen before. And so I, I'll have to give it a shot.

Marcus: I,

Spiro: I, I know Schultz. I don't know that I've heard him talk about that. Yeah. But, um, it's, you should try it. We should go play. I will beat the crap outta you. I'm just telling. You're right. Now I'm down to

Marcus: be flogged, so. All right. I got, uh, 12 rapid fire questions, so just off the top of your head. Sure. You know, favorite type of music?

Marcus: Oof. Um, jazz. Okay. What's your favorite type of food? Greek favorite restaurant in Lower Alabama, I should say

Spiro: loosies, but, um, favorite restaurant in lower Alabama is definitely Pigout barbecue in Dothan, Alabama.

Marcus: Okay. Pigout. I'm gonna have to remember that 'cause yeah,

Spiro: I wanna

Marcus: try that now. Yeah, you should.

Marcus: Um, favorite city outside of mobile.

Spiro: Mm. Um, you know, I really like Chicago. I really vibe with Chicago. It's a pizza. Friends don't live there. The pizza's, I'm a pizza man. Like it, I probably could live off of it alone, but, uh, I don't know, it's a little thick for me, a little heavy on me. Um. But no, you know, you got the cubbies, you got the White Sox.

Spiro: They have great public transportation. It's true. There's lot to do. You got Art Architectural Boat Tour, a lot of history. Yeah. Uh, lot of nightlife. It's a, it's a,

Marcus: it's a fun city. It's a fun city. Yeah. Um, city you want to travel to, but have yet to visit. Mm-hmm.

Spiro: Lots. Uh, a lot. Let's see, key West. Very cool.

Marcus: What comes to mind when I say guilty? Pleasure. Hmm.

Spiro: Probably Sour Patch Kids.

Marcus: Okay. That's, that's a good one. That, uh, dogs, cats, or none of the above?

Spiro: Uh, all of the above, but, uh, no cats inside the house.

Marcus: Okay. Summer or winter?

Spiro: Summer.

Marcus: Favorite movie or TV show?

Spiro: Hmm. That is too hard. Oh, you know, Seinfeld growing up for sure.

Marcus: Okay. I was friends, but I get it. It. Uh, favorite holiday without, don't say Christmas. Everybody says Christmas.

Spiro: Yeah. No, I think it probably is, uh, it probably is Thanksgiving. It's kind of like all that family time getting together. It is beginning of dear season. Yeah. Uh, but yeah, like all getting together just to be together and have a nice meal and be thankful.

Spiro: Yeah. Yeah. It's, uh, like Thanksgiving. Good

Marcus: stuff. Um, favorite color? Blue. Favorite cereal? Cinnamon test. Crunch. There you go. See, now we're talking. I know. I liked you.

Spiro: And, uh, what are you most thankful for? Oh man. So much. Um, so much. Certainly my family. You know, I have such a beautiful, wonderful family that, um, you know, everything I do, uh, is because of them.

Spiro: It's for them. Um, you know, my truly, I've been blessed, you know, I will say the blessings of God. You know, God has blessed my life in so many ways. Doesn't mean I haven't struggled and had many difficulties. I have. Um. Yeah. My family, my kids, my beautiful wife. Um, I'm very thankful.

Marcus: That's an amazing answer.

Marcus: And I, I'm struck as you're saying that that is, that not the answer to a lot of the problems that we have too is the strengthening of the family and the increasing of that bond that people have with their own kin.

Spiro: You know, I, I love the message of Jesus. Yeah. You know, have no other God before me and love your neighbor and everything else takes care of itself.

Spiro: And if, and what I think we have a problem with is loving our neighbors. Uh, if we did a lot more loving our neighbor and truly hoping and wanting the best for them Yeah. And helping where we can and never hindering their progress, this world would look so much better. Um, we would have a lot less of the things we want a lot less of.

Spiro: Uh, so yeah. Um. Love your neighbor.

Marcus: Well, uh, tell people where they can find out more information if they wanna learn more about the campaign.

Spiro: Spiro for mayor.com. Uh, we're on the Facebook, we're on Instagram. My interns created a TikTok the other day. What, what is

Marcus: this? TikTok?

Spiro: Oh my gosh. Yeah. I don't know. I hear it's, it's bad, but I, I think it's pretty cool.

Spiro: Uh, so, you know, in interns, the number four, Spiro, that's awesome. On TikTok. Uh, yeah. Where else? Email me at Spiro for, at spiro for mayor.com. Uh, yeah, please check us out, look into us and, uh, let us know what we can do, uh, to make the city better. Absolutely. Well, I wanna thank you again for coming on the podcast.

Spiro: Any final thoughts or comments you'd like to share? I just appreciate what you're doing here. I appreciate the time. Um, you know, just keep spreading positivity. It's, it's a lot easier to be negative. You know, I think I. Uh, a lot of people don't want to take the energy it takes to be positive and see the positive Yeah.

Spiro: In things. And if you see, if you can see the positive in problems, your life's gonna look a lot better. Yeah. It's going to appear a lot better. Your perception of things will change completely. It's

Marcus: amazing what you can manifest when you

Spiro: change the angle that you come at things. Right. I'm telling you. See, see opportunities.

Marcus: Yeah. Well, Spiro, I appreciate your willingness to sit with me and share this journey. And also just tell us a little bit about what you plan on, you know, doing with our city if, if elected mayor. So I really, I really do appreciate your time. This was

Spiro: such a joy. I should, we should just do this like once a week.

Spiro: Great.

Marcus: On next time we'll do it on the pickleball court. How about that? Yeah. All

Spiro: right. I'll get, I'll get a good sweat bag. There you go. Ready to rock?

Marcus: Yeah. Put on, pull up the, uh, gotta get 'em high, the striped socks and stuff, so gotta get 'em high. Anyway, I do appreciate your time. Thank you. My pleasure.

Spiro: Thank you, Marcus.