Eureka City Councilmember and artist Leslie Castellano offers two humble ideals for Eureka politics. "If I can create policies that support joy and longevity, I think that's really valuable."
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You might think that the by-the-book bureaucracy of city governance might be not be where artistic endeavors become reality. But Castellano says they have something in common: world-building. "There's that sense of, ‘what is the world we're making’? And, you know, in performance, maybe you're saying it's an imagined world. In politics, there's a sense of, 'We're world-making, so how do we imagine the world we want to be in?"
In a wide-ranging conversation at Eureka City Hall, Castellano discusses housing, her community endeavors, and how art and civics can improve life for Eurekans.
TRANSCRIPT
CARVAJAL: Well, welcome to Talk Humboldt! We are coming to you from the Council chambers for the Eureka City Council. And we have one of the people who makes those big decisions in support of our community, and that is Leslie Castellano. Leslie, thank you so much for being on Talk Humboldt with us.
CASTELLANO: Thanks so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here with both of you.
CARVAJAL: Well, it is really a thrill to have you. And I'm new to the community. I just made the move from very South Georgia, right on the Georgia/Florida line. I have learned that you made a very similar trek coming from Florida to Humboldt County. How did you get here and what do you love about it? Why’d you stay?
CASTELLANO: Well, I mostly grew up in Florida, not entirely, but mostly in Niceville, Florida.
CARVAJAL: I know Niceville.
CASTELLANO: Home of the Boggy Bayou Mullet Festival.
CARVAJAL: I didn’t know that!
FLAMER: That's a fact!
CASTELLANO: Very, very world renowned. I think growing up in the South, there’s this mythos of California and sort of ideas of what society could be, what community could be. The art community, what drew me here as well as, I was - and still am - a pretty avid outdoors person. And so that's what brought me here.
CARVAJAL: And then at some point you decide ‘I'm going to run for city council’, right? And what helped you make that decision? And then maybe tell us what it means to be a city councilor.
CASTELLANO: Is there a normal way of running for city council? You know, I have always had an interest in things like civics and community and kind of world-making. You know, when I moved out here, I started an arts and culture program called Synapsis. We teach classes and study performance and then also bring together people for workshops and community events.
I've always been a kind of ‘if someone wants to do something, say yes and help try to make it happen’ sort of person, you know? And so people come in like, ‘hey, I want to do this political education workshop’ and like, ‘yeah, okay, let's, let's do it’. And, you know, I didn't ever see myself as a politician, you know, that wasn't a life goal.
But I saw myself as a civically engaged artist and in performance making we’re also world making. And so if we start to think about that sense of, ‘what is the world we're making’? And, you know, in performance, maybe you're saying it's an imagined world in politics, there's a sense of, okay, we're in world making and how do we imagine the world we want to be in?
And in performance, we say, ‘okay, and what is the stuff of this world that we use to get there’? And in politics, you know, it's like, okay, ‘what are the, you know, social structures of this world that we use to get to the world that we want to be in together’?
FLAMER: How has the definition of being a politician changed with our public in the last couple of years that you've had to deal with? Because how they view it affects how you do it.
CASTELLANO: Right? It’s so true. It’s really true. I think there's just a lot of fear about power and what that means and how it's articulated. You know, sometimes people are just mad and they're not ready to necessarily, like, engage in change, you know, and becoming an elected person. All of a sudden, I'm a part of these systems that we have to wrestle with.
And I think there could be more experiencing of electeds as people who are in a learning relationship with the community and then developing expertise to then like, articulate that.
CARVAJAL: What are you excited about right now related to the city? You know, give our listeners a chance to see what's on the horizon.
CASTELLANO: I mean, I'm very excited about the housing that is currently being built.
FLAMER: I just drove by it!
CASTELLANO: Yeah, there's cranes in Eureka. There's more housing being built right now than I think has been built in decades. There's so much good data around, if people have affordable housing, they reinvest that money back into the community. So I think it's just good for our economy. You know, I'm excited about bike lanes too.
FLAMER: Bike lanes!
CARVAJAL: I just dropped my bike off to get service because where I was at, there were no bike lanes. I actually got ran off the road the last time I was on it several years ago. So I love what you just said. It's one of the reasons I love being here.
CASTELLANO: You know, and now we have this great bike lane between Arcata and Eureka. Yeah. And then I would be remiss in not talking about all of the art and culture.
FLAMER: All these things. It's just beautiful.
CASTELLANO: You know, Arts Alive and Friday Night Markets, all of the festivals. You know, like the murals, the mural festivals that have happened? Art and culture is a way that people come to, like, experience one another, experience joy together, develop a deeper understanding and connectivity between one another. There's a lot of data around, you know, if tourists make decisions to come to places based on, like if it's beautiful and also if there are community events or things that they like, and they'll extend their stay.
And, you know, even just doing a lot of the work around like more of, like, Wiyot storytelling happening like on the streets of Eureka, it’s really exciting to see. The Wiyot Tribe is also building a housing development just down the street here as well. And it's a neat time to see the sense of place I think is really developing.
FLAMER: I'm curious about something. I had an idea of what it meant to be a president of a college. I walked into it saying, ‘here's what I expect.’ And when you finally get there, you say, ‘it's not really what I expected. It's really different.’
Talk to us about what you expected as a council person and what you're actually receiving as a council president.
CASTELLANO: I'm a doer by nature. Like, let's do things right.
FLAMER: So I think I know where are you going with this…
CASTELLANO: And so, you know, when I got elected, I was like, ‘okay, let's do something’.
We create the guidelines and structures and staff does the things, you know, and that was a big, big learning curve. And we're fortunate in the city of Eureka that our staff are also doers. So I'm like ‘okay I see you. You're ready to do things’. And that was a big learning experience.
And then also we have a neat council and that we all come from different places and all of us are working class in some way. You know, how we push and pull on the issues together, you know, in public. That was definitely a learning curve as well.
You know, we're whole people up here. You know, we're complex. We have a lot of interests. And you know, I think that kind of joy really also supports what I bring to politics is just this commitment to like human joy and like, if I can create policies that support joy and longevity, I think that's really valuable.
ANNCR: From the Eureka City Council chambers, you've been listening to Council member Leslie Castellano with Keith Flamer of CR and Richard Carvajal of Cal Poly Humboldt. This has been Talk Humboldt and to listen to back episodes. Subscribe to the podcast or visit KHSU.org.
