S1,E30: Councilwoman Eva Lopez Chavez

When we think of Salt Lake City, we envision a vibrant community at the crossroads of tradition and innovation. Join us for our milestone 30th episode as Councilwoman Eva Lopez Chavez, the first Gen Z leader in the area, guides us through the city's journey toward a brighter future. Her insights shed light on the immense transformation Salt Lake City has undergone since its last Olympics, painting a picture of the infrastructure developments, environmental challenges, and the intimate interplay of growth and community character preservation.

As pioneers in our own right, we walk alongside Councilwoman Chavez discussing the critical role of local governance in building community impact and resilience. Together, we uncover the significance of grassroots change and celebrate the rich cultural tapestry that weaves through our city's history. From the Olympic legacy to the urgency of innovative urban planning, our chat reveals the essence of creative disruption—where being a 'guerrilla bureaucrat' might just be the key to keeping pace with our evolving needs.

Finally, we anchor our thoughts in the role of each resident in shaping the future of our city. Environmental stewardship isn't just a policy issue; it's a personal commitment to our unique ecosystem, as we confront the declining levels of the Great Salt Lake and the scourge of air pollution. Councilwoman Chavez's call to action is clear: engage, participate, and let your voice be heard. As we close, we invite you to join us in this collaborative endeavor to chart a course for a sustainable and thriving Salt Lake City, honoring its Olympic aspirations and its heart.

Please be sure to like, review, follow, subscribe and share the podcast with your friends and family! See you next time 

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Chapters

• 0:12 Building a Better Salt Lake City
• 9:21 Building Community Impact and Resilience
• 13:39 Building an Equitable Community Vision
• 21:11 Salt Lake City Growth and Development
• 24:11 Building a Future City Together
• 29:53 Environmental Challenges and Solutions in Utah
• 37:01 Better Air Quality for Healthier Society
• 45:18 City Parks and Olympic Legacy Development
• 49:25 Defining the Relationship and Sustainability
• 53:24 Building a Better Salt Lake City
• 59:43 Community Engagement and Social Media Presence

Transcript

Erik Nilsson: 0:12

What is up everybody and welcome back to the Small Lake City Podcast. I'm your host, eric Nilsson, excited to bring to you episode number 30, the Big Three Zero. I can't believe it's almost been six months since launching the podcast and we've done 30 episodes. It's crazy to see how much everything has kept going and growing and so grateful for everybody for following along, listening along and sharing all of these episodes with your friends and family. So so much gratitude for all of you. I'm excited to keep bringing you more podcasts as we move forward, Starting with this one where we're going to jump back into politics.

Erik Nilsson: 0:47

So we've had a number of political guests, ranging from the federal level all the way down to the local level and nonprofits, but really want to talk about the core of Salt Lake City itself. So our guest this week is better known as Councilwoman Ava Lopez Chavez, the councilwoman that covers the heart of Utah, the heart of Salt Lake, the downtown area, and now there's a lot of changes going on, a lot of sports teams wanting to move in, a lot of investment going into the area, looking forward to the Olympics and what that's going to do, especially comparing to what happened when the Olympics came to Salt Lake the last time and how much that changed. I mean that's when we got things like Gateway, the Spaghetti Bowl or like the I-215, i-80, i-15 connecting in the middle there downtown. We got the Kearns Olympic Oval, we got all the Olympic stuff up in Park City in the ski jumps. So it's fun to see how much that's changed. But really focusing on what we can do in this next phase of the Olympics to help get more infrastructure and support to keep growing this amazing city.

Erik Nilsson: 1:45

So talk to Ava about a lot of these issues, a lot of what she's focusing on and as well as some of the hot topics that I know that a lot of Utahns care a lot about about the environment, the Great Salt Lake levels, as well as how many people are moving here and how do we support that. So excited to share this conversation with you. She's amazing. I'm so excited to see how she's going to further blossom and grow in politics and in the local area, because she's just so eager to help and make the world a better place and just such a different taste of representation that we've had before. Very young she's only 27 years old and serving on city council the first real Gen Z leader that we've had. So excited to continue to watch her career, but excited to introduce you all to her. So let's hear from our Kamba Enjoy.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 2:32

Oh yeah, we will go from there. Ava Lopez, we will go.

Erik Nilsson: 2:34

That's great From there. Ava Lopez Chavez. Yes, so many consonants.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 2:43

It's even longer than that. Actually, that's just the shortened version.

Erik Nilsson: 2:48

Cool. No, I'm excited. I know that we this is kind of so. I would like to start with, like how we ended up, like sitting down together, because this one was a funny one for me, because I mean, you probably remember it just as well, I was only a couple weeks ago. But I'm sitting at Edison working and I am very much compartmentalized. If I'm working, my brain is just blinders up, focused, ready to go, and all of a sudden you come up to me. You're like hey, I didn't recognize who you were, I who you were. I've seen you here, but I didn't recognize until I saw the stickers on your computer.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 3:14

Yeah, I was going to say it was the sticker on the back and in my head.

Erik Nilsson: 3:16

I was like what stickers do I have in my computer? Because I have like I've just always had them on my computer, so at work I always know which one's mine. And then I was like oh, small Lake City. I was like, oh wait, she probably recognized a good one. And I was like what just happened? But it did.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 3:38

You're like wait.

Erik Nilsson: 3:39

Yeah, it was You're like did a small lake city miracle just occur in front of me? Well, and it's like I always joke about it, but they always just like randomly happen all the time now, Like they always do if you're from here and you run into people you know Totally, I was gonna say but once you start chasing that energy, it just compounds on itself.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 3:56

It's done well, yeah.

Erik Nilsson: 3:57

But it's always been super fun.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 3:59

Hey the compounding interest of being a Salt Laker is that you're going to diversify your portfolio of friends and end up in every industry and next thing you know, you're on a podcast.

Erik Nilsson: 4:07

There you go. That's the end goal, right? Just make sure everything comes together in that way, oh man. But yeah, I mean I'm super excited because, like, obviously, I met you and then did my homework on kind of you, where you cover, and it's such like I mean you cover downtown, downtown, that is your All the actions happening in the state. Yeah, exactly, and I mean there's been so many different topics that have come up recently, from sports to green belts, I mean investing in all sorts of different ways into our economy. So I'm excited to sit down and hear more about the whys and whats of what are going on. But before I want to kind of set the tone of kind of how you got to be where you're at.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 4:43

Yeah, I mean I tell people all the time. I'm like if I can do it, you can do it too. I'm just another dreamer in the world that had a big dream and pursued it right. I woke up. I it right. I woke up, I remember it was february 18th called my mom and dad, and it's this stark moment. I'm looking in the mirror and I'm going oh my gosh, after five years of working with mayor mendenhall, I think I have something different to offer this city. Um, and I can even go further back.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 5:07

No, let's go to the beginning yeah I mean like the real beginning of my origin story, if you will, and and I like to think of it as like this anti-hero story, like I have my character arc.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 5:18

Yes, and this character arc, I start out really angry.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 5:21

As a child, my family was undocumented and, in short, I saw what terrible policy can do to separate families. So I kind of it was like from age eight till now I've been on this rampage, just this war path, to help advocate for families and for people that want to bridge into opportunities, want to break through right, want to pursue their dreams and goals and foundations. So fast forward into you know, I was born here but I was raised in Southern Idaho, got to move back at the end of 2014. And then in 2015, I started school and I just kind of was like what do I do? What do I study? Like I'm the first in my family to go to college and I was like I guess I'll study political science, got involved with the Democratic Party, got involved with some nonprofits and, before you know it, 10 years later, I'm elected right, and it really is. It's like it sounds so simple to say it. You know, if I had a Negroni in my hand, maybe I'd be a little more emotional about it there you go.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 6:18

But seriously, it really has been this like lifelong dream of mine to be an elected person, to learn urban planning and to justify right like righteous policies, if you will that invest and further bridge these gaps that I see in communities, and in many ways we'll talk about them through different segments, like Japantown. Today we have the ability in Salt Lake City, between 100 South, 200 South, 200 West and 300 West, this little sliver by the Buddhist temple on the backside of the Salt Lake Convention Center, adjacent from the Delta Center, thanks to National Hockey League moving in, and rumor has it it's not confirmed, but uh, arizona coyotes might become the utah something we'll see if they keep their name. Um, but uh, thanks to this project and thanks to ryan smith's innovation in the downtown right, somebody actually seeing a future for downtown besides the people that live here we get to reimagine, bringing back this community that was completely eliminated by the city and the county in the 1970s and 80s. So these are some of the really cool projects where I get to live out that dream and I feel like I was just an artist handed, you know, the ability to put a stroke on a canvas and rewrite the history of Salt Lake City all over again. So for me it means a lot because it's full circle I'm 27,.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 7:39

Right, it's almost full 30 years of having this journey, having this story where my family can add its layer of sediment to Salt Lake City's history, and to really change it and to make it a path that justifies the future right, one that everybody can leave a legacy behind. I talk about leaving this footprint behind, but, like physically, literally every day we walk these streets and the way we walk, it is planned, it's made out, it's justified by the city right. The way we invest in communities is the exact ability that we're building today, and so we have to plan for a future, and it's gotta be a future that includes all of us. Yeah.

Erik Nilsson: 8:15

Yeah, and I mean I love that. Everything started with you growing up in this community, in the society, that kind of you're an afterthought, you're out of this terrible policy that you saw the impacts of, and really it's like, I don't want to say like chip on your shoulder, so to speak, but like it kind of it.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 8:30

did you know what it toughened me? I was like this kid having these legal conversations with adults. Being like you know, I think the world could be better and this is what I would do about it. What about you, chuck?

Erik Nilsson: 8:40

And then you get to spend the time with Aaron Mendenhall. I mean, in the time when you were working with Aaron, did you know that your next step was going to try to be in local politics, or is there something that you learned or something that made that moment?

Eva Lopez Chavez: 9:02

And there were other advisors, like I think of Rebecca Chavez-Hawk when she was serving at the House of Reps. I just absolutely adored her. There's a lot of other colleagues, but what clicked for me at the municipal level was this, and it was. You know, there's obviously lots of great idols and advisors and you know people that I would consider mentors to this day. That influenced me. But really it's amazing what you can see.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 9:24

It's an actual dollar goes a long way into a neighborhood and repairing a sidewalk and helping get a kid to school, you know, and paying a crosswalk guard, helping a senior center, for example, or to build a pharmacy or grocery store. I mean these have so just compelling compounding investments right that bring dividends into community and you just can't replace it. You can't replace that impact. So I never had this dream of the federal level, but I think in some ways I was like you know, maybe I do need to go to the, to DC, to go make change. Or what really opened my mind completely was or you could do it in your backyard. Do it in your own backyard today Totally, and it will have this great impact on your state and maybe that impact from your state will have an impact at the federal level. So instead of top down approach, I've really adopted this community ground level framework of you know, organic resiliency can really build longitude all the way from the bottom up.

Erik Nilsson: 10:18

Yeah, and I think that's such an interesting way to think about it too, because I want to go back to your example of like Japantown, which if you were to look at downtown Salt Lake City and you were to say which streets do I feel like I've never spent any time on, I never hear anybody going about. It is literally that strip between second and third west on uh.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 10:39

Second no, yeah, first between uh-huh yeah yeah, second one.

Erik Nilsson: 10:41

And then you like I remember the first time I think it was in like early 20s I got walking home or like walking to my parking spot from the jazz was like wait, why have I? Like, what is this? Yeah, it was so different and so I do love that. That gets to play, uh, a big part in I mean the coming here. Because I mean, for people who don't know, utah has a pretty rich Asian-American history, both good and bad, absolutely. And it's so funny because I lived in Seattle for a time, which has a huge Asian culture, a huge Chinatown market, so much good Asian food it was my favorite cuisine of all time. And then you go back and you're like, wait, there literally was like so much history here, from, I mean, building the railroad and having this be the ending spot of it all and the Asian population playing such a big role into there.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 11:37

And I love that we are championing that more because again it and to justify it and also bring back that culture, that diversity right and implement it in our city long term so that all generations of Salt Lakers can learn about it, enjoy it and to really appreciate and celebrate it as a part of Salt Lake City's rich history too. It's exciting to me and I think what's brilliant is there's Japanese descendants. That post-World War II is how they ended up. They have this lineage, but they're so proud to be part of Salt Lake's history. Yeah, so the message that we want and also to you know, to Ryan Smith, to the investors, different developers that have stakeholder, have a stakeholder in our downtown is that all of us want to celebrate the downtown and celebrate its diverse aspects. That's what you can't replicate, that anywhere else in Utah. It's so niche and specific to Salt Lake City. It makes me really proud to represent it as somebody that's from a diverse community too.

Erik Nilsson: 12:22

Yeah, and it's been interesting to see if there's been, I mean, other forces kind of trying to pull it away where I mean going back to like Ryan Smith and talking about bringing the jazz, like pointing them out in the Miller's, wanting to move the bees all the way out to daybreak. But if, like mlb team happens, then it's like, oh, like, we see the checkers and chess that you're playing. But I mean, how do you feel? Well, let's not go there quite yet. Um, uh, but yeah, I mean, I guess, going back to like the election itself. So you go and you run for office, which again is like an amazing step to do, and like I mean the first step of everything. But when you they announced that you won and you knew that this was going to be your new position, I mean, what was that felt like? Was there a mantle on your back or how did that feel?

Eva Lopez Chavez: 13:03

Yeah, I mean, I would say I was so depleted at that point that I was there to celebrate my team. I was like you guys did it and they're like, no, you did it. I want to go to bed. I haven't seen my family in months, you know, and it really started to hit. I think I understood the responsibility. I was excited, you know. I would tell people I'm like I just want to get to work. And there's this moment and period of rest that you take after the election, and I really did. I gave it my all. I was like, if I'm going to do this, I love winning, I'm super competitive. This is why I play sports and I have to win. Like in my mind, it was never a doubt that I would lose because I had the science, I had the backing.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 13:40

But also, there's something about being authentic in today's political arena that is hard to replicate and it's not something you're taught. I think it's the humility of life experiences and being able to say I know what I know and I know what I don't know, and I know where to seek and listen to those that know more than I and to constructively advocate and build arguments and build policy around that. So, you know, I do thank my experience that I had at the mayor's office to help me bridge those gaps. And now it's been, you know, about three, three and a half months in office and already I've seen how much power and authority words have to change community to bring investment. It feels like gaps in my own, you know, in my own knowledge base. We're just filled. So now I am not blind. I feel like this veil was uncovered. My job now and I tell my constituents, my neighbors, my job is to remove that veil so that you don't carry that fog and you can see from my perspective too.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 14:37

I'm not always going to get it right, but to know that you have access to another human that experiences salt lake the way you do, it's so important. Yeah right, I'm not a developer, I'm a renter. Yeah, I'm someone that's, uh, the first of the gen z generation to kind of step into power and authority. And I think for me that compels me further to find my voice as an elected official and to advocate for the salt lake that we want and the salt lake that we deserve. We absolutely deserve a diverse, a dense, a walkable city, one with clean air, one with affordable rents and a pathway to home ownership. I want people to be invested in salt lake city long term. So when we're all old ladies, old gentlemen, old people right in the city, we can look back and say we shake our fists and go, we did that we built the city.

Erik Nilsson: 15:19

you know cue the song we built this city. I'll start working on the remix for the election campaign. I love it, but I mean I think that's exactly it. I mean I think there's a lot of people who get so frustrated when we see I mean there's kind of two schools of thought right, there's a people who are like, oh my gosh, it's changed. I want it back the way it was. I don't want anything.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 15:38

I miss the small lake city. Why does it feel so big? I get whiplash. Every day there's a new skyscraper popping up. I can't afford these rents. There's so much traffic. What's going on to small lake? What's happening?

Erik Nilsson: 15:49

Exactly. And then there's this other group that it's almost like hey, I know change is happening, but I want to to be ours because at the end of the day, it's our city and we want it to be the way that we want to. And I like the things I mean, like you'd highlighted that, I mean comparing what I've experienced in other bigger cities compared to salt lake are things that we like don't have. I mean one I love having a walkable city and being able to walk around. Experience it, experience people, like even such a small detail of like walking past the same people almost every day, or like experiencing the street that you would always have with your windows up if you were driving around. Like it's those little details that start to really make a community feel that way. And then it helps us all experience all of those things better, especially as we see.

Erik Nilsson: 16:29

I mean all of these new. I mean the ones that look good, the new good buildings. But also I feel like there's a lot of people who see this change and kind of feel frustrated that it's in this direction and they don't really feel like they have any sort of control and they just watch it. All kind of change in the way that they want to. And then there's these negative repercussions of rent costs skyrocketing, houses skyrocketing, and it's hard because I mean comparing to Seattle. I saw how high house prices can get, and then it's just like Seattle. It's not as extreme, but there is geographic limits to the Salt Lake area and how many houses and everything else that we can build, and so it's nice to know that there are solutions, but at the same time, it can get pretty bad and especially, it's interesting.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 17:12

You know my approach to this all is. It's called being a guerrilla bureaucrat and basically that means you know the rules, you know the system, but you're gonna, you're gonna break them, we're gonna break them, we're gonna change them. It's not just through policy, it's finding creative solutions to help tamper or change the way we're approaching things as a city so that we're not so dense about it. Right to be malleable. Today there's more remote workers.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 17:36

I just learned 23% of our office space is vacant. To me that poses the question we need housing. There's office space available. What could we do to approach this in terms of housing? Or what does that mean about the square footage price? Right, we see all over America today cities, capital cities in particular, where the commercial real estate is starting to fall down. In Ohio I saw I believe it was Cleveland, you know this commercial building sold for 98% under value. That's unheard of in today's housing market, you know, and those were apartments. But again, we're starting to see these ebbs and flows. For me, I physically feel it. I mean there's the anxiety of when am I going to become a homeowner? I'm saving.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 18:11

I'm doing all the things right. You know mom and dad said to do this. And owner, I'm saving. I'm doing all the things right. You know mom and dad said to do this and it's still not working. Why not?

Eva Lopez Chavez: 18:22

We just live in these dire circumstances, but they require leadership that acts in a way that approaches it from the sensitivity of the economics but also the actual people facing these realities. When wages are on the rise, cities are the first line of defense to help people. We're the safety net that's encapsulating all of it. So, every symptom that we see today, every social ill that people see and say, why does Salt Lake City face that? Well, we're trying to constantly build that wider net, build that tent so that people don't fall through these cracks.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 18:48

At the end of the day, that's how I'm approaching it, with the values of every dollar has to build back our community, because I know that's the Salt Lake City I fell in love with and that's the Salt Lake City I'd like to help build and promote for each and every one of us. That's what I care about. I mean we can get so specific about it, but at the end of the day, you know, urban planning is about building human centric design and investing in the places where people feel that they belong and they feel a responsibility and stewardship towards, whether that's the Great Salt Lake, whether it's your downtown or it's just your little neck of the woods, right, I mean sincerely. Every neighborhood in this city matters and there are neighbors and communities that are fighting to keep it, that are fighting to invest in it. So I'm listening.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 19:30

If there's any takeaway from any listeners that I'm actively listening and I hope that people ask more questions of us. That's called accountability and that's important for government too. We function, we get our authority from the people that elect us, and that means that we are equals in this. It's not because I carry a title that I have to promote my values. No, it's that we need to move in tandem both the community members and the elected officials that represent them. That's how we're going to make and shift our city towards a more equitable place of belonging for everyone.

Erik Nilsson: 20:02

For sure, and I think that's such an important I mean, that's what everybody wants, right? We all do want to have that sense of community, we want to have some sense of ownership. When there's a sense of ownership, there's a higher sense of stewardship and accountability. And I think it's so important, like you said, because, again, like you are elected by the people to be represented about the people. They don't elect you because she's got the best ideas.

Erik Nilsson: 20:22

She does this like go do it, we'll be over here, and I think that's an important thing to remind ourselves of is this is our city and we put the people in the place. But today we're the ones that that do need to take that action. But it does take action from us and it does take some sort of, um, uh, reliance and trust at all. And if there's trust that needs to be built back, then there's a way to do that. But I, I mean, I think there's a lot of people that can, um, align with your approach and way of thinking, especially, I mean, in the heart and center and core of I mean not only just Salt Lake, but Utah. And I'm curious, like when you were thinking about running for office, I mean, is there any particular reason you chose the area that you did, or was that just?

Eva Lopez Chavez: 21:02

I mean, I had been living here 10 years. So I wouldn't say I chose it right. I would say more so this is the community that chose me right. Like this is the community that invited me from the very beginning. I remember I was so scared to move to salt lake I mean, seriously, I'm this idaho small town girl moving into the big city and I remember I'd visited twice on vacation.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 21:20

Uh, once I remember watching this must have been 2012, because oven and the chipmunks came out- I went to watch it at the gateway there we go, the first thing I do, you know, I move into my apartment at the landing. I go to the gateway and I'm going. Why is it empty? I remember having memories as a kid being like it was packed.

Erik Nilsson: 21:35

This is like what happened.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 21:37

And to ask, like a staff attendant, and they were like no, you need to go to City Creek. I'm like what the heck is City Creek? Now we know. And then my other memory was Hogle Zoo, and it was so iconic this moment because it was 08 and President Obama was running for the first time. And I remember going there and seeing all these signs of people, you know, calling for this president and me, again, being from Idaho, being like, oh my gosh, like could he be elected, you know, could the first African-American president be elected in the United States?

Eva Lopez Chavez: 22:06

And these are just two very distinct memories of Salt Lake City that I think were so different and catalyzing. And to come back full circle and go, wow, this is a very downtown, the district that brought me those memories and it is completely different from what I remember as a kid. But now I have this story to tell with it. So, you know, I, in many ways, like, I'm so glad that I do represent the downtown, though, because it is the crossroads of not just our state in the West, you know, I say Salt Lake City, all paths lead to Rome, all roads lead to road, all roads lead to Salt Lake City, and all you know, all of the intersections of the Rocky Mountain West is here in Utah, it's in Salt Lake City. It's why we have so much growth today.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 22:46

And it's why we have the hottest housing market still around the country, which is causing some of these symptoms we face as a city.

Erik Nilsson: 22:52

Yeah, lots of growing pains. And I mean I think it's so interesting to see how much Salt Lake has grown and it's because of, like, its core tenants and what we know it to be. I mean I've sat down with enough people now to know, like general themes of why people live here. I mean there's amazing access to the outdoors. Cost of living it's not as valid as it once was, but still, ooh, 10 years ago was perfect, oh, the greatest. And then, like the one that always comes up, is like oh, there's an international airport very close by that I can get anywhere I want to.

Erik Nilsson: 23:20

And then I mean, obviously we have, I mean, central in the country for so much logistical. I mean that's kind of where, like, the Northwest Corridor has been so helpful for us. Is that a lot of this logistical needs that not only we need but the country needs and to be a part of that. And so I guess, as you think about, I mean, your role and like what's coming I know you alluded to it before, but what are some of the key pillars that you are focusing on and want to make the biggest difference with?

Eva Lopez Chavez: 23:42

Oh yeah, I mean the biggest one, that, and I measure these values from the perspective of bringing families into downtown. Regardless of what you call family, all of us belong to community, to families that we build ourselves, and to do that it requires an approach to care for our environment. It means looking at our parks, investment in green space, right, investment in our air quality and our Great Salt Lake. It also means looking at affordable housing. When we say that we talk about rents, I'm talking about a pathway to true homeownership.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 24:11

I just got back from a conference where we looked at, you know, what does it take for cities to incur liability so that developers can take risk on high rise condos? You know, these are the type of approaches that we need to look at as a city and then to look at public safety not just from the lens of policing, but also to look at it from a place of economic diversity right, when people feel safe coming into your downtown, having these transactions, investing, whether that's as a business owner or as a future homeowner, making sure that people feel that place of belonging. And so I talk about it in terms of public safety, but really it's a place of belonging for people. And these are my three pillars for the next 12 months.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 24:49

What I see long-term for the district is to build a future that holds the potential to bring people and communities full-time into downtown to really become that 18-hour city that we're meant to be, so that people are mobile, are actively walking, enjoying the place that they belong in. I mean, I just imagine this place and I think this is what investors like Ryan Smith see. They see a city where people live, walk, approach, entertainment right, they take risk on their dreams in our downtown. That's such a huge responsibility and to me it's such a beautiful part of Salt Lake City is that dreamers come into our city because they believe they can make it happen here.

Erik Nilsson: 25:25

Totally. And it's interesting to see because when you look at the history of Utah, and especially with the things that have drawn the biggest economic impact, it usually is dovetailed. Really, we had a lot of not only like from our own population demographic of having those roles bringing those sales like customer success. Customer support and then has become so much more robust as there's been so much success but there's been policy paired with that to give that economic incentive to be here. And the silly example is like movies and entertainment that's been filmed here Because I mean I went to East high school or east I mean high school musical was filmed. All of like our disney channel movies were filmed here because we had the best, like I mean incentives for people to go film movies here.

Erik Nilsson: 26:17

And so I think there is an opportunity, like you said to, for the role of the city, the role of the district, to be able to say, hey, listen, if we do want to have affordable housing, we have to create, um, enough economic tailwinds to make this happen. And like one easy thing that I hear a lot from developers is like I mean the risk that they have to assume in the difference between building a building of condos and a building of apartments. Essentially it's the same build. I mean, right, god be differences. But the builder's like oh, if I build condos now, I'm liable for the next one, five, 10 years. Compared to this I sell.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 26:50

Right, single sale. They're done yeah.

Erik Nilsson: 26:52

And so I think there are some things that we can do, because, I mean, it's so. It's hard to hear people where it's like, oh cool, I was trying to save up, like no-transcript, I like what you said. Where it's like, where this I can't remember the exact verbiage you had, but it's like people should be able to have a way to be where they want to be and feel the most accepted and seen. And so I mean, when I was going through my home buying process, everyone's like well, why don't you just go to Lehigh? Why don't you go to Saratoga? Why don't you go to Eagle Merrill? Why don't you go up to like Farmington? I'm like, and I might get made fun of for this, but I want to be, I do like being in the NMT and I don't I wouldn't settle and be like well, I want to go to Saratoga Springs because it's like cheaper, I'd probably go, I'll just rent here Like I'd rather, I'd rather be in Salt Lake.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 27:56

There's so much pride in being a Salt Laker and I think this is what I feel. I just got back from a conference in New York city and everyone's going gosh, don't have access to outdoors. I'm like you know the lifestyle I have over there I wake up, I go to the gym, I run a trail, I go back home, I prepare for the workday. Right, I can take all these meetings, I can go to events, I can go paddleboard. At the end of all of it, I come back, I dress down, you know, or dress up for the night. I mean, there's just so much you can compartmentalize and compact into one day here where your 24 hours are. They're just so fulfilling in Salt Lake City, all filled with community, all filled with the outdoors and nature and all the pleasuries of the city, and I'm going. No, I miss my city. I want to be there. This is my home. I want to be an old lady in Salt Lake City. I deserve to age in place here.

Erik Nilsson: 28:44

Yeah, yeah, and like that's what I always talk to people about, cause I'll talk to people and be like, oh yeah, you saw, like so boring, there's nothing going on. I'm like, yeah, maybe to you, but also the nice thing is like this is an easy place to live and like everything's very accessible, a very high quality of life, a very so I mean it's like, yeah, cool, you want to go to New York, go to New York for the weekend. Like cause I, there's a lot of places that are beautiful.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 29:17

I have an international airport that will take me there in no time, yeah, and then I get to go back to my beautiful I mean a lot of those costs, because that was one example.

Erik Nilsson: 29:29

You said that the city can come help and find ways and creative solutions to get there. I mean, as you think about tackling those issues, I mean what are some of like the more tactical things that you think about to get the job done?

Eva Lopez Chavez: 29:39

It's all in our budgeting process and also our redevelopment agency. And you know, without getting too far into the weeds, the point is that your city sets the priorities for how we invest these dollars into the weeds. The point is that your city sets the priorities for how we invest these dollars. There's actually nothing that prevents us from investing in these type of housing models. That would diversify our portfolio. If the market's not meeting us where we need it to be, we have to be the ones that come up and literally play ball to build that supply out for people. Otherwise, if we don't do it, housing takes generations I mean literally decades to build out to have long lasting impact. This is important to us.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 30:15

I think I read an article that said Daybreak is over halfway done, being built, but the original plan calls for much more housing. You know the point is another housing development that they're breaking ground on. There's so many more that the state's looking at. But Salt Lake City also has the ability to build and we see that our skyline changing, but it's not reflecting the housing needs that we need. It starts with housing. People need to be housed.

Erik Nilsson: 30:33

Their basic needs right masdell's hierarchy basically need to be met so that people can be happy, be fulfilled and be innovative and be creative and build the community that we deserve and the one that we love and see yeah, yeah, no, I love that and and kind of going back to one of those next pillars you had, is, I mean, the environment itself, and I mean obviously Utah is especially Salt Lake, is faced with a lot of interesting environmental issues.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 30:57

that are very unique Catastrophic conundrum yes, unique to Utah.

Erik Nilsson: 31:01

Yeah, exactly, I mean like the two that everyone talks about. I mean it's, I mean air quality and the great Salt Lake Cause, like there's people's like, oh, like, even if I could afford to buy a house, do I want to buy a house if this place?

Eva Lopez Chavez: 31:10

is right. It's like the climate clock countdown. It's like wait five years. Five years till what? Yeah?

Erik Nilsson: 31:14

is that real, yeah, exactly and so I mean and it's always been and I've had other people on the podcast who have said um similar things about like, oh, there's nothing we can do, it is what it is and go from there. But I mean like, as far as far as the nonprofits and people that you work with, I mean, what are some of the ideas we're floating and what do you think that we could do?

Eva Lopez Chavez: 31:32

I mean, I would rebuke that and say, no, there's absolutely. We are empowered to act. And what's important is, you know, the state did something really critical that people forget about, which is the Great Salt Lake is half its current size. We cut it in half so that we wouldn't further erode it, so that we could contain the water levels and at least help that. Salt lake city corporation is one of the largest water shareholders and we have a brilliant uh director that oversees this, named laura briefer, and she's amazing, laura, if you're listening, I'm so proud of you because you have the foresight of saving and containing millions of gallon cubic uh feet of water to be pushed literally through our sewage system, through our water lines, into the Great Salt Lake in a way that's sustainable, that's eco-friendly and that's helping perpetuate this environment, so that we can have this amazing snow that we have.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 32:22

You know, you may have heard of it but no wonder it's bringing us the Olympics, guys, we should do everything we can to preserve it. But also, uh truly, our whole ecosystem relies on this saline body of water. I mean, it's like our dead sea. It's actually a place that I love because I learned how to sail on it. Oh, I go row. Yeah, it's got some of some of the best sailing you'll find on the planet randomly in this ecosystem. Um, it's just so amazing. I mean, it just goes to show the world is so complex and beautiful.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 32:48

We're the stewards that were given this land. We need to take care of it. I think for us, what I've learned is we work in systems that we need to measure and perpetuate good science behind it and data collection. So part of this is setting a target height for the lake. We need to know its depth and its height and when it falls below, we need to act in a way that perpetuates water conservation so that we can access that flow to water more easily and directly impact the Great Salt Lake's flow. We saw that a few years ago. I mean, we're still in the sustaining drought and, in short, everybody has the responsibility to play. It's harder to maybe measure water consumption, but really, truly like, using less water has a direct impact on the Great Salt Lake. But the other ways that we need to target it is, you know, coming up with creative policies where our water rights and this is more of a state issue, but our water rights are complex where farmers feel the need to use them, because if you don't use them, you lose them. That's that's the whole point in utah. Luckily, governor cox stepped in and said okay, we're going to allow you to lease or sell your water rights without you having to lose them permanently, because that's valuable too. So you know, there's lots of ways to consolidate water rights. Luckily, other attorneys do this work for me, so I guess I'll just regurgitate what we're doing, but setting that target date will help us greatly, I think.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 34:02

Also, just acknowledging we live in a desert. We need to adapt to it, right? So lake city is looking at, you know, vegetation. We just changed our landscaping ordinance so people could have more of the ability to do zero scaping without further burning the city. With climate change, that means the core heat of our city needs to be lowered a bit. We are seeing extreme uh changes also in temperature. Uh, you know, vegas is crazy. Salt lake city gets really hot. We're starting to have those 110 degree days every. I think I experienced it twice last year where I wouldn't even step outside unless I was in Echo Reservoir or in somebody's school Exactly. No, I need to be in water. It's too hot.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 34:43

But these are some of the changes, and I think something that really makes me think more about just ecological systems is we're going to see more and more climate refugees in our city, and this is a huge debate happening on the national scale. But really even here we saw people during the pandemic come to Salt Lake City, move here, americans moving in because they wanted access to the outdoors. We're going to see that, on top of you know, this ongoing drought, we don't have enough water for the people that want to move here. So it's up to cities like us to think smarter about how we use our water, and I'm really proud to say that actually we consume less water today and more efficiently than we did in the 80s. That's amazing. So it just goes. Human innovation goes a long way, and your city's definitely looking at innovative ways to spread every water droplet throughout the valley.

Erik Nilsson: 35:31

Yeah, I mean it's.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 35:32

There's so much science behind this. Oh, I can't even imagine.

Erik Nilsson: 35:35

Especially, it's amazing Thinking about all the ins and outs and where it all goes, and I mean especially, like you said. I mean so much of this has to do with, I mean vegetation and people, I mean their own livelihoods and their farms. And again it's like oh, if I have this water right, if I don't use it I'm going to lose it. So why wouldn't I use it? And let you tell me what I can do and being able to take a little bit of that back to your point. Like Salt Lake is growing in population. That trend isn't changing. If not, it's accelerating, and we have to be able to a point where it's like a dune stillsuit, where it just collects all of our bodies, evaporation and sweat and just recirculate that every day.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 36:13

We definitely don't want to live out dune.

Erik Nilsson: 36:14

Yeah, no, thank you.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 36:15

Beautiful cinematography. We want to leave it in fiction, not in reality.

Erik Nilsson: 36:19

True Leave.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 36:21

Zendaya and Timothy.

Erik Nilsson: 36:22

Chow. But yeah, I also kind of want to talk about air quality. I mean because one of my good friends, david Garbett, o2, utah. He's been someone who's very adamant about what we can do to have air quality. I know he passed some legislation last year that helped a lot with the toxic pollution, a lot of the heavy chemicals, especially heavy metals, out of the air From getting to where we need to be, knowing that there's more people coming. I mean, what do you think is part of that playbook to get our air quality a little better?

Eva Lopez Chavez: 37:01

Yeah, I mean. The reality is there is pollutant matter today that's really bad and affecting us disproportionately, where if you live on the West side, you're more likely to incur and to have asthma over time that's induced by poor air quality exposure. Right, Just point blank. This is coming from the very tires that we use every day. Release this terrible pollutant matter to the Great Salt Lake eroding, drying up. These are intersecting issues that feed into each other. The misfortune of a drying lake is that you reveal all these toxic minerals and asbestos and arsenic that's just trapped in the water that otherwise wouldn't affect us. Now it's prematurely melting the snow and it's air that we breathe consistently, and so I think we need to be one, we need all of us. Every salt laker needs to think very specifically about the air we breathe. Right, this is a matter that is serious. Uh, it does scare me personally when I saw I saw an npr report today saying what, what's utah doing?

Erik Nilsson: 37:56

about it.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 37:57

It's kind of like you know what are we not doing we're growing our inland port, guys, we need to look, look how many jobs we're building. And uh, again, I'm approaching this from indoor air. I like to be a pragmatic, I like to think of myself that way, at least, and I'm going okay, this seems like a very big issue. That's a statewide issue that we can try to caress and to deploy with our state legislators and our leaders, but if they don't want to listen, you know ultimately what's the impact we can have. And again, as a city council member, I'm thinking indoor air quality, making sure that this pollutant matter doesn't permeate our brains, because it does. I learned that from physicians for better, healthier environments. They had a whole, you know data presentation on this and it was just amazing. I was like, wow, this permeates directly from your nostrils into your brain memory. I mean, it's just a direct poison to your brain. That's really scary, that's terrible. That's like worse than blood talks.

Erik Nilsson: 38:53

Yeah, just go out for a nice run out and see if you hide in the middle of the inversion.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 38:56

Yeah, and you know so I'm going. Okay. We spend the majority of our lives indoors. This is a fact. This is disproportionately hurting our elderly population and our youngest minds, meaning youth K through 12 or younger. And how do we protect them? You know how do we actually protect it so that the most vulnerable class of people can actually be protected, and it's through air quality. Through HEPA filters, we have ways of filtering our air and doing this.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 39:21

So, while we're trying to save the Great Salt Lake, while we're trying to regulate the type of dust particles and construction, and, you know, energy that's really hurting us, because it's also energy use that's providing all this carbon pollution, you know how do we protect these people?

Eva Lopez Chavez: 39:38

And that's the approach I'm trying to take is to say, hey, yes, there's some real terrible, you know happenings in the world that I don't have the solution for quite yet, and scientists are warning us, but none of us seem to come together as policymakers. So in the meantime, how do we protect the people that want to just enjoy life and maybe live in bliss a little bit? I look at my little sister, who I tell people. This is my role model. This little 10-year-old is going to change the world one day and just tells me what to do and I'm going. They deserve a high quality of life. You know they deserve to inherit a world that's a little bit better and functions a little bit better too. How do we protect them? And a simple solution like an indoor air filter can really go a long way, you know. So, providing that type of gap and you know, for us it's education, it's also cost of the air quality and then making sure we distribute them. That's going to have long-term outstanding effects and prevent future asthma or health.

Erik Nilsson: 40:29

Uh, dilution, you know this, this erosion in our actual lungs yeah, and it's always like one thing I was talking about some friends the other week it's. It's like kind of frustrating in today's world because, like a lot of people will look at policymakers, public officials, be like, well, fix it, fix everything.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 40:45

They're like you. You are the one to blame. You obviously are the one that holds the magic wand.

Erik Nilsson: 40:49

And then it's like I mean I have friends that drive like these huge diesel trucks. I'm like I hate the air quality. I'm like, well, you know, maybe don't you know, make it worse or drive alone everywhere or water your lawn 50 times a day, like I lived my last place. I lived, I lived across the street from this guy and he was probably out there six hours a day just watering his lawn with a hose in hand and like everybody in the neighborhood's like is he okay? Like what's going on? Like he's just watering his lawn and we're like, hey man, like maybe don't.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 41:19

like you'll be fine, the world's on fire. You don't have to do that Exactly. Yeah, I mean, the point is there's creative solutions to everything. If you really go digging into issues, there's actually ways that people can advocate to their you know city council members, their legislators, their federal Congress people for some actual tangible solutions. That's the approach I like to take, you know, and something I'd like to mention is remind people you have access to a high pass, you have access to UTA, right to transit. I mean, there's lots of ways to do it.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 41:48

The more we use these solutions, these products and services that we're trying to provide, the more we it's almost like the proof of burden that we need to further invest in these operations that make a healthier, livable society. That's all we're trying to do. So, you know, if you haven't ridden the bus, I would challenge everyone to take it once a year. Take transit, you'll get to meet new people. I mean, it's really a great experience, I think for many of us we grew up in suburbia learning like, hey, I'm going to be able to drive one day. That's freedom to me. You know, what's really freeing is living in a place that you feel safe, that you know the environment's not going to cost you years of your life that you know you can appreciate and value.

Erik Nilsson: 42:33

And that's what we're trying to build. You know, that's real freedom and wealth. Yeah, and, like I, I do think that is somewhere where salt lake is lacking and it's hard because, again, we have so much history and culture of being. Like I have a car, I'm going to go everywhere via my car. Yeah, and to your point, like, yeah, there's like that that freeing aspect of it, especially when we think about, like, accessing the outdoors and and part of the draw that brings everybody here.

Erik Nilsson: 42:50

But it's like, on the same part of it, it's like um, uh, I remember when I was living in uh hardware back a couple years ago and it was nice because like, oh, like front runners, literally across the street, I'm gonna buy an electric scooter and I'm gonna go hop on, and like I was very practical about it because like, okay, if I get on front runner, I can have internet there, which means there's only eight minutes of downtime from the station to the office compared to 30 minutes door to door. Right, and I was like, cool, let's do it. And it was great. I mean, I had a really good time.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 43:19

It was fun, like every morning, like working on the train, and I'd look over and I'd see like, yeah, it's beautiful, air condition, wi-fi, lots of people packed in it, and that's what we need is to teach people hey, you can access this and still have a high quality of life. You know, it's not a burden to actually be transit friendly. It's a great thing and you're going to be able to see the world from a different lens and perspective that otherwise you wouldn't advocate for. You know, if we're just advocating for car centric spaces, you're never going to build up these beautiful niche neighborhoods that everybody craves and wants. But the hindrance is actually car centricity.

Erik Nilsson: 43:52

That's the hindrance yeah, yeah, it's all a reliance on the crutch of our own. Yeah, um, I also want to go back to kind of your the way that you were proposing community and I like like how you were talking about a lot of I mean, the green initiatives, making sure they're using parks, because I mean, I think there has been a culture change over the past 10 years, especially as, like, more people move to salt lake. They appreciate a lot of these things we used to take for granted. Yeah, where I remember when I was like starting to run more, like 10 years ago, I'd go go on a lap around Sugarhouse Park and there'd be maybe like five of us, and then now, if it's a nice day, you are popping and weaving through people, and so I know that that's not true for necessarily all of, like, the bigger parks around the Salt Lake area, but I mean, how do you think about making sure those spaces are utilized more than some of the initiatives that you're working on to make sure that we get those you?

Eva Lopez Chavez: 44:39

know, and parks are a secret way for cities to conserve land that otherwise would be developed. And it's a really great way to be a great steward for future generations is to have a park, you know, in your neighborhood, from a pocket park to a regional park. Sugar House Park is a regional park. You know Pioneer Park, regional park, but then we have all these nooks and crannies, like Dinwoody Park is actually a park in the downtown but it's leased currently to the restaurant Ivy and Varley, but it's a downtown park. Right, we have Gilgal Gardens, beautiful sculptures to be found there, little pocket park also, and it's city owned assets. And you know, the way I see it is that we need to, you know, increase their and promote their use by investing in them. It's not just for safety but also for beautification, for the ability to rest. I mean, I have this great dream of turning our Liberty Park and Sugar House Park, for example, and even Pioneer Park. These are the gems, these are the prized jewels of our city, our crown jewels that should be shown off to the world. And soon, when we have the Olympic stage, I hope that these are places of congregating so that everybody can see how beautiful we and what pride we take in our parks and our public spaces, and they just reflect the beautiful mountainous wildlands all around us, from the Great Salt Lake to our beautiful Wasatch Mountains. I think this is what we have to show off to the world is that this city is so unique to any other landscape you'll find, and that Utah itself is so beautiful that we might as well be this terrestrial planet. That's why so many people come here to film and shoot as if it were Mars. I mean, we're just so diverse in our nature and our different terrain and again, I look at these parks and go. They should be a reflection of that and also they should be a place where people feel that they can come and congregate and have fun, read a book, take their kid on a walk, or come bring the dog, or challenge themselves and play some sports.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 46:32

So you know, we're having lots of conversations this budget season. I'd love to hear from people that want that. Hopefully, they believe in in that too. But if you'd like to see a change, come talk to me. You know, come talk to your council members and let them know. Hey, I want to see something different, or I think there's something missing in this park like pickleball courts. We see, we see an uprise in them and that's great. It's a great. Uh, I hope it's not a trend. I'm a pickleball enthusiastic myself and, uh, I I'd love to see more people appreciate that and go out.

Erik Nilsson: 46:59

Yeah, I mean kind of going to the overall theme. It's like it's our spaces, our places, and so if there's a way that we want to, I mean engage with it and experience it, and we have ideas and odds are if you're thinking that you're not the only one so being able to bring those to the table and say this is what we want and here's how we're going to do it. I mean even like use an example, saying, well, I want to see something better, so I'm going to go and do it, and so I'm going to go run for city council, I'm going to do it and I'm going to start working on these things, which I mean obviously like very formal, very I've done a pointed thing to do. And I mean also going back to like our own personal accountability. Like nothing's going to change, unless something you alluded to of the olympics, because it's been interesting the more that I've seen, I mean headline after headline. I actually ran into my friend's dad, so I live by like kind of handlebar oh yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Erik Nilsson: 47:51

I stopped by. He's like, oh, you guys go sit and have a beer. And one of my friend's dads was there, who I mean? Real estate developer, uh, pretty well known in the area and we just like sat there and talked for like 30 minutes, like I literally just took a picture, like is this your dad? He's like, yeah, why is he here? I don't know, let me find out. And then we sat there and talked about it.

Erik Nilsson: 48:08

But I mean, anybody who's been here for since I mean 2002 or before then you realize how pivotal that moment and all of those dollars went, because we had things like the Kearns Olympic Oval, we had the whole ski jumps and long jumps up in Park City, we have Gateway, we had the Spaghetti Bowl that was built, we had tracks and so much of these things that we take for granted but are such a huge piece of the way that we experienced the city and the area. Now, as you look forward towards 2034, what are some of these similar projects that you think we could do to have that same sort of impact for us, not only just to have a great face to show for the world, but then also have a lasting legacy that we can use to continue our growth.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 48:52

Oh, I love this because I think it starts with the Community Benefit Agreement, which was one of my projects as a college student. I was working with Utah Coalition of La Raza, which is a Latino rights organization, and the idea was we come up as a community, we come together. City Council is the one that approves the Olympics, so I'm excited to be on that. We're crossing our fingers that everybody approves of this and from today's news it looks like the International Olympic Committee is fully on board and no longer teasing us.

Erik Nilsson: 49:26

I mean it's pretty much set in sediment and uh like that point in a relationship when you can both agree that you like each other and you know we're dtr more games.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 49:31

Yeah, yeah, we're defining the relationship. We're committed to each other exactly. And, uh, we're about to say I love you it's just a beautiful part. Yeah, I was gonna say oof you, that's a beautiful part. Yeah, I was gonna say it's a really great time. It's it's called being vulnerable.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 49:45

What about vulnerabilities, to look at the community and go, hey, this isn't just symbolic, actually. Could we agree to some boundaries? Could we agree, in this relationship that we have with the Olympic Committee, that we're going to promote housing in a way that actually helps build that pathway that I'm talking about? By the way, air quality is actually a huge component to why we're going to have snow in the future or not. If we allow the further erosion of our Great Salt Lake and other pollutant matters to enter our air and atmosphere, it hurts and undermines our ability to keep snow on those caps.

Erik Nilsson: 50:19

Lake effect isn't just a bar everybody goes to on Second Stop.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 50:23

Yes, it's not Although that's a great bar and if you love jazz, that's the place to go no, it's actual science occurring. I mean, again, the world's best snow on Earth, right On the planet, is here because we have saline, this high salinity lake, that evapor, you know, evaporates, condenses over mountains and the perspiration that comes out of it is snowfall that's fluffy and light and makes the best gnar on the planet. So, uh, to protect that, we have to actually protect our great salt lake. So I'm hopeful that, uh, climate scientists across the world can kind of come and intervene and provide us data. But you know, in many ways I understand the frustration that constituents feel. I'm really. I get upset and angered at times when I'm going how much more data do we need? Because time is of the essence and time is this limited component that we just don't have enough of anymore. So great that we're getting the Olympics.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 51:18

But I'm more interested right now in the contractual agreement that we're going to have with our community and say, and long term, how do I look at constituents and my neighbors and my friends and say, hey, we made the best decision that's going to benefit all of us. It's not just going to be a giant party for the world, but it's going to be a party that celebrates you, salt Lake. It's going to be a time that we're going to look at each restaurant, each business owner, each neighborhood and celebrate you and your different identities, and we're going to uplift your voices and we're going to make sure that the world knows that Salt Lake cares about its environment, salt Lake cares about bringing and inviting people in, and that this is a place where dreamers make things happen and we do good here. Right that we care about families, we care about our unsheltered neighbors and we care about uplifting each other. That's the Salt Lake city, I know, yeah, yeah.

Erik Nilsson: 52:04

Yeah, I mean I brought it up multiple times before, but I mean it all comes back to me of the I mean the phrase in terms of like Deseret, that everybody I mean if you're from here, you know it, especially if you're any sort of LDS, then you also know it. But I find it the more I talk to people, especially like in diverse backgrounds and diverse I mean industries and places. I mean I mean when I'm talking with Blake Motosinski and he's like, oh, the tech community here is so close knit and like people will help each other and rely on each other to create this community. And then the art world. I've learned from so many people that it's such a collaborative place and thing to do and they can even in the restaurant industry and hearing of like the founders of Baby's Bagels and the founder of Arlo letting them use their kitchen so they can refine their recipe, and so I think it's such an interesting dynamic that I think a lot of us are forgetting just over all the strenuous things that have gone on in the past like five years, but to realize that, hey, we are this workhorse that works better together when we're all you know, and working together towards a common goal and I do think that the Olympics is a great common goal that we can all rally behind Because, like when I was, when you're talking about how can we get the contractual benefits of investing in our communities, investing in our homes, our backyards, and you think I mean it doesn't happen anymore, but like all of the old Olympics, they used to throw where.

Erik Nilsson: 53:25

It's like ruins now, because they just said, oh, we're going to do it in this cool place. Everybody shows up, they build it great, and it's gone and well, a, that should have never happened, but we learned from our mistakes, thankfully, and the more that we can be like hey, like we understand there's like a responsibility on us to create this environment, this atmosphere, these venues, but at the same time, like how do we do this? The, the people who live here can continue to use it and abuse it and do whatever we need with it in the future, like even something like this domino effect of, I mean, like the kern's olympic oval. Uh-huh, like I'm not a speed. Actually I've met someone here. She actually remember he's a speed skater.

Erik Nilsson: 53:57

Her name's sir, anyway, I digress, that's amazing, um, but like I grew up playing like indoor lacrosse there, because they have look under lacrosse in the in the winters when I was growing up, and so it's like, while it, no one could look at that be like, well, I don't play hockey or like speed skating, like yeah, but there's also so many other things that it benefits the community. That isn't just like a mall or a freeway, and so I think the more that we can be vigilant especially have people who are in those conversations being vigilant of how can we make sure that these dollars go a long way, because, like you almost started with being able to see how much impact a single dollar can have, or all this money invested in a single place, like we can use that.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 54:32

I want people to imagine this. Salt Lake City is small, but it's follow ground that could we could sow seeds of investment that actually bring back these fruitful trees to everybody. That's an abundance where everybody can take part in right. And for me, I envision I talk about this as that at some point Athens was this great innovative place where thought leaders, innovators, came, and Salt Lake City is my version of Athens. To me, and hopefully to everybody that's listening, is that they can see themselves, imagine themselves in a future of Salt Lake where they're invested, they're tied to this land, whether it's through housing, a business again, right, a community, some sort of place that brings them that sense of belonging.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 55:11

That's what we're dealing with today and I think when we talk about you alluded to this earlier trust right, it's an actual, non-tangible asset that government needs, that this institution I work with and needs to actually build progress in a way that is comforting to those that literally pay into this system. And so, at least for me, I think it's a very delicate fabric. If I erode it then shame on me, because it's so hard to build and it's too easy to undermine. So for me, that's why I talk about an actual community benefit agreement with the Olympics is a contractual agreement that holds your government officials accountable to these actual tenants. Right, we're in this relationship together. We're saying we're setting the boundaries because, babe, I love you and I want to respect you.

Erik Nilsson: 55:56

Yeah, we're going to have a healthy relationship.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 55:59

Yes, we're going to have a healthy relationship? Yes, we're going to have a secure attachment.

Erik Nilsson: 56:03

This is going to be the healthiest relationship no codependencies, no toxic behavior, no gaslighting. That's right. Only the good stuff. That's right. Yeah, what else do you want to talk? What else is on your mind as far as being the Councilwoman, eva Lopez Chavez, outside of Olympics? Air quality, environment, affordable housing. I think that's a lot of things, but yeah, anything else you want to cover?

Eva Lopez Chavez: 56:22

Gosh. I mean, we talked a lot about third spaces and I think the whole point goes is that downtown's building back and it's building back better baby. And this isn't Joe Biden's pitch. This is my pitch to Salt Lake City and it's a baseball pitch. It's also what do they call it when you strike a hockey puck? Oh, a slap shot, Slap, yes, Is it a slap shot?

Eva Lopez Chavez: 56:41

Okay, this is my slap shot of Salt Lake also, you know, is that we shouldn't be afraid. Let's dig a little deeper, please, please, please, get to know your council members, get to know your elected officials. We're better off as a community when we can each have and hold each other accountable but also feel the responsibility of sharing common humanity with each other. That's really important. But disagree with us, you know, and I'm not going to be up here saying disagree. Better, disagree with me because I am listening.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 57:09

You know, I think there's lots of hard decisions we make, but part of leadership is to guide us forward as a community, and so I hope that whoever can listen can sense, or get a little bit of sense of how I'm valuing decision-making. Every day I'm bombarded with the most, you know, zaniest and zealous questions I've ever experienced in my life. But it's those values of community first and family values that guide me and hopefully to me, with my diverse background, with my experiences, that's able to guide us to a fulfilling, a safe, a community-led community for salt lake city that's built by us and for us yeah, and I think I mean, obviously, age in politics is a very hot topic, uh, recently.

Erik Nilsson: 57:49

but I mean, if you look at all the pictures of everybody who's currently under I mean all of our local government it's nice to have some fresh blood, fresh faces, fresh perspectives, especially when you kind of hear more of the stories of what I mean not generalizing too much, but your peers up there, um, you do bring a press, fresh perspective. You do have a very different background than a lot of them and it didn't not just by appearance, making it the easiest differentiation, but, um, having these values and being wanting to improve them, wanting to transparent, wanting to have that trust and wanting to really be a tool and a resource for your own constituents Because if you win, they win, we all win Then why wouldn't we work together on this? The least divisive we can be, the better outcomes we're going to have.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 58:32

Absolutely. That's right and, like I said from the beginning, if I can do this, you can do this too. I hope this inspires somebody to think about running in the future. I really think we'd be better off as a society if every one of us took the chance and became a candidate. It would change your whole world perspective and open your eyes, because these institutions we uphold them. Just remember all the power and authority that comes to us. We're just the funnels. I tell people. We're the pass-through, we're the middle manager and really it's the constituents that get to determine the direction of the city yeah, or else you don't have a job anymore.

Erik Nilsson: 59:03

They just vote someone else does it. Um, but cool. I want to wrap up with two questions. I always end with uh, number one if you could have someone on the small lake city podcast and hear their story, what they're up to, who would you want to hear from?

Eva Lopez Chavez: 59:14

oh, that's a good one, that's a really good one. Oh, that's interesting. Let's see there's. There's some really great people I've heard stories from. Hmm, hold on that one, I'm gonna think on. What's your second? Second question I feel like I know too many people I mean it's like the blessing and the curse right I was like, oh gosh, there's so many people, who has the best story?

Erik Nilsson: 59:37

it's either like an in and out menu or a cheesecake factory menu, and filtering through both are very two different tasks, um. And then secondly, if you could sorry, if you want to find out more about you, um, a lot of your topics and things you're passionate about. What's the best place to find you and more information?

Eva Lopez Chavez: 59:52

okay, perfect, I have the answer for both, so I'll start with the first question, you should have david abara on this podcast. Okay, yeah, he he's, I think, think, most famously known, recently at least, for being someone that was a mayoral candidate, but he's actually a ride or die for Salt Lake City just a champion of the city.

Eva Lopez Chavez: 1:00:10

That, I think, is misunderstood, as am I right, as are all of us, and I think he'd be fabulous to have on here, just like longtime Salt Lake perspective. He's the guy to do it. I really that, I really I really think people given yeah, I think people should hear from him. The second one is you can find me really easily on Instagram. I'm really not on Facebook, I'm really not on Twitter X anymore, but or you can, you know, email me. I would put my number out there, but you know we'll save that for another day, but find me on Instagram. But you know we'll save that for another day, but find me on instagram it's eva for council, so aba f-o-r council.

Erik Nilsson: 1:00:43

That's it. There we go, yeah. So make sure to follow her, show up, go to city council meetings, meet her every tuesday. It's our city. We gotta fight for the one that we want. But it was so nice to sit down with you and hear a little bit more about what we're working on and working towards, and excited to see I mean, all the stuff that you're accomplishing and very excited to see what else happens in your