[Danielle Balocca]: Hey listeners, this is Danielle. And Shelley. Shelley is a radical Dravidian and racial equity activist.
[Chelli Keshavan]: And Danielle is a community mobilizer and changemaker. And this is the Medford Bites podcast. Every two weeks, we chew on the issues facing Medford and deliver bites of information about the city by lifting the expertise of our guests.
[Danielle Balocca]: Join us in discussion about what you hope for the future of Medford. And as always, tell us where you like to eat. All right, thanks for being here with me today. If you don't mind just introducing yourself with your name, pronouns, and who you are.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sure, thanks so much for having me. My name is Zida Ortiz. She, her, aya pronouns. I am originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and came here to the Boston area to go to school, and currently live in Malden, Massachusetts. And I am running to be the next state representative for the 35th Middlesex, which includes Medford and Malden. Thanks for having me.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, thank you. And so I know you're a Malden resident, but I'll ask you the same question we ask everyone on this podcast, which is, what is your favorite place to eat in Medford, and what do you like to eat there?
[SPEAKER_01]: See, now this is a hard question. You're already hitting me with something pretty hard. My initial go-to Medford place is Tenoch. I love a good torta. And everyone who works there is Mexican, so I get to get a little taste of home every time I go. But I'm not gonna lie, I love a burger at Snappy Patty's and a nice Caesar salad too. So I've got a few little spots I like to go to over there, depending on the flavor I have in my mouth.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, I feel like El Tacuba has really overshadowed Tenoche recently, so we don't hear as much of it, but it is a very popular one here.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just love, again, it's a quick, the greatest stuff about Mexican food is you can have a sit down meal or a quick grab and go. And to me, the grab and go is always kind of, we're always on the move, so we got to keep it moving even when we're eating.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, I imagine you're very busy these days. So, um, yes, yeah, I wonder if you could just sort of talk us through a little bit about how you arrived at this moment sort of what's motivating you to run for this position.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sure, thanks. Well, you know, I've always been a helper. As I mentioned. I'm a child of Mexican American immigrants and growing up in Oklahoma, there weren't a lot of us. So serving our community and taking care of one another was something that was really important to my parents and a lesson that they taught me. We were fortunate enough to, with a good paying union job, my father was able to get, became a member of the machinist union and we were solidly middle class. So it was always important to help those around us that weren't doing as well. That public service followed me through my college years. And obviously, as an adult, you have to start figuring out how to take care of yourself. So I did that for a few years. But I was always interested in advocating for different things. Reproductive rights was something that was really under attack in the 90s with taxon clinics and things like that, so I was an escort for a while. I had a lot of gay friends, and when marriage equality came up, it was something that was really important to me as well, so I advocated for that. And I realized that I still had that yearning. I was working in healthcare as an administrator, and I was doing help there. I was helping people get tests approved. I was helping people understand and navigate the dizzying insurance systems or the scary diagnosis that they were facing and being able to really interpret and break it down into very simple language so they understood what was next and how we get to what the next step is. And that all changed for me when my mother-in-law got sick and I had to be the interpreter for our family. Like I was the one that was explaining to my husband and his family what was going on with his mom. and ended up having to leave my job to care for my mother. And with that caretaker role, it really opened my eyes to how desperately our healthcare system is broken and also how we're not taking care, unless you have a support system, an internalized support system, as a society, we're not taking care of people who are elderly, ill, disabled, and that we really needed to do something about it. And I remember sitting at my mother-in-law's hospital bed when I told her I quit my job. She was just devastated. She was like, why would you do that? You need a job. And I said, no, we need to take care of you. And that's the priority right now. And I said, as God is my witness, I don't know how and I don't know when and I don't know how I'm gonna get there, but I want my job to be eliminated. I don't think an insurance verification specialist is something that needs to exist in the universe. And it seems corny, but it's kind of how I got started. And I took care of her and she only survived maybe about a year after I quit my job, but she passed away and four months later, Trump got elected and it just put a fire under my tail. And I was like, this is it, this is what I have to do. I don't know what I'm gonna do, I don't know how I'm gonna do it, but I dove in. And I became a full-time activist. And activism came so naturally to me. And I never realized how much I had been advocating and pushing things along in my natural just way of being. And I, as an activist, as a full-time activist, I jumped into it 110%. And with that activism, I was able to not only start to advocate, you know, against the Trump immigration deportation machine. I was able to stand up for, you know, the Muslim ban, women's rights, all sorts of things. And I realized that on the federal level, we had a great group of Congress people, you know, like they were fighting for the same thing. So it seemed ridiculous to constantly be calling Catherine Clark to save the ADA or save this or save that. And so I found the State House was a place that I could really evoke change. And at the State House, I started lobbying for things like the Safe Communities Act, which was a bill that would ensure due process for everyone in this country, which in, again, I'm not a constitutional law person, but in my eyes, it should be expanded to cover anyone who resides in this country, full stop. Everyone should have their day. And then, again, just little by little, I started advocating and working, and I was able to become a leader in the Indivisible movement, and I helped found the Indivisible Massachusetts State Group, and I was part of their board. I also started doing work with MoveOn nationally and was able to work on different presidential elections, things like that. I was a proud supporter of Julián Castro last 2020. But that work also helped me realize that it was really happening on the ground, the closer as you, as we mentioned earlier, the closer you get to municipal work. the more localized it is, the more change you can actually create. And with that, I got really involved during the pandemic, as you said, with a mutual aid group. And we, I was one of the founders of a mutual aid group in Malden, which we were able to help hundreds of people, again, navigate a dizzying system, figuring out how to fill out unemployment. You know, people were immediately unemployed and had no idea, had never been without a job and didn't know how to file for unemployment. People didn't know how to file for RAFT or any of the other housing monies that were out there. And every day we were getting calls from people who were either food insecure, housing insecure, scared of how to manipulate and manage through the government stuff. And we were able to find support for them. We created a food pantry out of the Kung Fu Academy here in Malden and, you know, distributed hundreds of meals, not only, you know, the meals on wheel stuff, but we were able to create culturally competent meals for folks. So we had a We had a Chinese, we had the Chinese elders day where we would, and it was one of my favorite things to do is to deliver meals to Chinese elders every Friday afternoon. And, you know, making sure we had masa on hand and other, you know, ethnically competent foods. And that work really taught me that advocacy, when paired with government work, you can really evoke change. advocating for housing rights and figuring out how to keep people in their house, I was able to push the mayor here in Malden to create a moratorium on evictions. And we were the first city in the state to do that. And with that work, I was able to build upon that and we created the housing stability department here. And in that in that creation since I believe 2000 I'm sorry 2021 we've been able to keep 2000 people in their homes. not just in Malden, but in their actual home that they still live in. And it's an amazing, it's amazingly transformative to see that, you know, you have this idea and then watch it kind of grow. It's not, I didn't imagine I would create a bureaucracy or a department, but to be able to solve the problem of keeping people in their house was so, monumental to me that it really proved to me that, you know, one person with enough support and enough gumption can make things make change. That being said, to run for office, I never thought that I was the front of the store kind of person, but I've really been compelled and asked by so many of my neighbors, like, why aren't you leading? And honestly, the question is, it turned out to be a really good question. They say that you have to ask women at least seven times to run for office before they do. And, you know, I had a lot of family obligations that kind of held me back from really trying to put my all into this. And those, you know, having long conversations with my family, they are ready, and so I was ready.
[Danielle Balocca]: Oh, it's a great, great story. Sorry, was there anything else you're gonna add?
[SPEAKER_01]: No, no, no, I just yeah, I didn't like I'm like, you're talking too much. You should know.
[Danielle Balocca]: No, no, no one wants to hear me. I think it's a it's a really nice like picture of how you sort of saw what the needs were in your community and you like acted on them and made some of them happen. I also, it feels like, you know, Malden as a city is doing a great job in terms of, you know, prioritizing like equity and inclusion and I really loved how you talked about the culturally appropriate meals. You know, I think that's definitely something that Medford is working on a little bit, but could definitely use some support there. I kind of wonder how you think about just those themes of equity inclusion and how that, you know, that position in the state house could help, you know, with more progress in those areas.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, let's be honest. Again, part of the, you know, the whole MAGA movement is to move us all back, right? Like, when that man came down on that escalator and basically called me and the rest of, you know, other Mexicans, murderers, rapists, and thieves, like, it put a chill down my spine. And I've always been Mexican, I'm always, you know, like, luckily I live in New England, so sometimes I look a little paler, so maybe I pass, but it is something that I've always been, you know, it's something that I face. And again, it's nothing like facing the problems that our Black brothers and sisters face. But I have been stopped by the police. I have been harassed. I have been a victim of police violence. So I relate and understand. And so I think that I bring that type of lens into this work. And obviously, when the Black Lives Matter movement really got going, It was, I thought, transformative. And I wish that that energy was still kind of moving us forward. I think that it's kind of died down. But to my work that I've done with the lens of equity inclusion, I was part of a racial equity group here in Malden that was able to start having conversations. Because honestly, I think that that's one of the biggest problems that we have, is that we don't have a common language and a common understanding of what bias and prejudice and racism is. And I think people don't know what they don't know. And so even just starting with conversations, and some people would be like, no, we need action. And I'm like, right, but if we can't start at a solid baseline of what we all understand to be true, and how to name, like, when someone says this is offensive to me, you shouldn't argue with them. It's offensive to them. Accept that. apologize and and learn just like that's it sounds super basic but like I tell people this all the time racial equity work 90% of it is internalized you need to do your work you shouldn't be policing other people you need to call people in because that's the other thing that I think that happens a lot in in in the movement is that people want people to be all on the same level. And we're all on a journey. We're on the, I call it the road to enlightenment. And we're not all in the same place. And so we have to not accept racism, but just correct kindly. I always say correction is a kindness. And I'm telling you this, that you're saying something that is offensive to other people so that you don't offend somebody and that they also don't like lose their mind on you because you've said something offensive. Like I'm trying to save you from creating harm and having that guilt and harm to carry. So I do think that that's something that we absolutely, as a city, country, nation, state, everyone has to do this work. And if we're going to really, and it has to center the humanity of each other. I mean, because in the end, that's what racism is. It's a dehumanization of another person because they're different than you. And I think when you frame it like that, it kind of takes the energy out of like, you're calling me a racist, you're calling me a bigot, you're calling me, you know, whatever. And it's really about seeing, you know, everyone's human.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah. No, thank you. And so in terms of that and sort of the bigger picture, are there different priorities that you have in terms of making change if you were elected?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, I'll be honest, you know, the State House is still very male dominated. There's, you know, not a lot of women, not a lot of people of color. Not a lot of everything but guys named Brad or Dan. And so it's going to be a challenge, and it is a male-dominated, you know, politics is a male-dominated space. So understanding that and bringing that lens in. Some of the priorities I would have that didn't get past this cycle, officially ended last week, is, again, I center a lot of the work that I want to do ideally around healthcare, but sometimes other things take a priority. Maternal health is something that I think needs to take a priority. I myself was, you know, a victim of bias in the healthcare system as a patient and almost died two times during obstetrical issues that I had. And I know for a fact that there was, you know, again, some biases going on. I was told, oh, you can't be in that much pain, you know. And when I passed out and came to, the first thing I remember hearing is the nurse telling me there's no way you can be in that much pain, saying, well, I guess you got the attention you wanted, huh? Like I was attention seeking by passing out. But I'd lost a liter of blood, so that is why I was unconscious. It seems like very trivial, but this is the experience of black and brown women, especially in healthcare. And that hospital, to its credit, has done a lot of work to get better. But I don't think it needs to be hospital, hospital. I think it needs to be a kind of a statewide movement that we do. And then in general, women's health, where, you know, nobody invests in what does this medicine do to women, what, you know, with our hormones and things like that. So I think in that aspect, you know, again, it's an intersectionality of both being a feminist and caring about racial equity. Other things that I think definitely need to be addressed with regards to is housing. housing situation is terrible and also it affects black and brown people even tougher. The rental rate here in Malden is 57% and I believe it's 48% in Medford. So that is a lot of people who can't afford to get to get onto the path of home ownership and to have generational wealth that they can pass down. And so I think addressing the housing crisis, but with the lens of racial equity is something that needs to be focused on as well.
[Danielle Balocca]: I think too, especially in Medford or sometimes Medford, it's the renters are pretty underrepresented in terms of like the impact on the community. And so I think having a representation at the state level would be really powerful.
[SPEAKER_01]: And again, I'll be honest, there are three people at the State House that are renters. I would be the fourth. So I think that that's also a lens that, again, the identities that I hold are sometimes visual and sometimes not. And so I think that that also is important. There's a lot of advocacy around housing, and again, I think that everyone should have the access to be a homeowner, or if your choice is to rent, that should be your choice to rent. And I think that we need to create a system that is equitable, that if you are an elder who wants to age in place, we should figure out how to make that happen. You shouldn't have to give up your home because you can't afford the taxes anymore. And I also think that young people who want to set up roots in our communities should have access to do that as well. I think, like you said, a lot of people want to put down roots and become part of a community, a larger sense of themselves, but it is so difficult because you don't know how secure your housing will be from year to year. Right. And it's just, it's a roll of the dice. I've been very fortunate, but you know, not everyone has that, that luck.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, totally. So one question that's a little more specific about the race, I think, you know, the current position has been held by the same person who's a Medford resident for a long time. And I think some of the, you know, he has a good following of loyal voters in Medford and probably some in Malden as well, but some of the feedback has been, the other two candidates running for this position live in Malden, are Malden residents. So I think there is some worry from some Medford voters that maybe the city of Medford would be less of a priority for somebody who's living in Malden, so I wonder what you think about that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, I'll be honest with you, I think that there's actually a lot of work to be done in Medford, and I would like to be that person that helps it. I'm not going to say that I am an expert on Medford, I'm not going to say that I know or I see or anything like that, but again, just doing general kind of things that and talking to people on the doors is what I've gained my knowledge from. So just so you know. And one of the biggest complaints are the roads, right? And I mean, again, I am interested in doing all these high-level things and these intellectual things, but you've got to get the basics right, too. And so I did some research. I found a website that kind of rates different roads and roadway systems and you know Malden's roads are at 82% and Medford's are at 57. So I'd like to see that come up for Medford and I bet a lot of people would. Now what can I do at the state house? Here's what I can do at the state house. I can't fix your pothole. I can't. But I can make sure that the chapter 90 money is getting down to Medford City Hall, so that your city, your municipality can get that work done. And again, I hear a lot of people say, well, if the hall delivers, and I'm like, well, that's great. I don't know where then the mechanism is breaking down. because your roads are still terrible. And I say that with love and kindness that, again, our roads in Massachusetts are terrible to begin with, but I have been on some roads that have reminded me of some backwoods country roads. And so again, it's not a big topic, but I do think that that's something that could be improved upon. With regards to other things that I've heard, again, I know that education and the building of the high school is something that is also on the minds of lots of voters. And I can say that I was the chair of Progressive Massachusetts, which is a statewide organization. And ourselves, as part of the raise up coalition, which is a large progressive coalition that moves bills ahead, we were able to run to not 10,000 doors for the fair share amendment, which was the millionaires tax. And we helped get that passed. Now, there was a lot of opposition, we had big money against us, but because we were able to organize, get people on doors and talk to voters, we were able to get that passed. And that money is specifically earmarked for schools and for roads. So I think it could help with both of those things. And I have, again, while it's not Medford specific, I have created, helped create a statewide thing that will trickle down to Medford. where I want to hear from more Medford voters, and I want to hear from more people in Medford. As an organizer, that's one of the things that you learn. You have to meet people where they're at. You have to meet people where they're at, even when you don't agree with them. Because you have to figure out what the pain point is, right? Like, what is causing them to feel this way? And with my extensive organizing experience, I've learned that you might have a vision for what you think the solution is, but until you can build consensus around a solution, you can't move forward. You can't just push things through because you think you know it's the right way. You have to get by. And buy-in takes time, and buy-in takes education, and buy-in takes building relationships. And that is something that I really value in the work that I do. It is something that really brings a lot of fulfillment in the organizing work that I do, because I've been able to build these relationships over the last, you know, eight, nine years with folks where we might not agree on this issue, but I respect that you have this issue. And later on, we're able to kind of circle back and work together, because I have shown that person the respect, yet just held my opinion. And with that work, I want to take that to the statehouse. I want to take that to the statehouse, because I think that that's one of the biggest problems that's going on at the statehouse right now, is there's a lack of consensus, there's a lack of organization, and there's a lack of of drive to get things passed. This past session, and again, I don't know how much you know about the state house, but this past session was the least productive of the last few cycles that I can think of. And we have a super majority. We have a Democratic supermajority and I can understand the excuses when it was like, well, we have a Republican governor, they're going to veto this, they're going to veto that. And they did, you know, like there's lots of work that I did. The Roe Act, for example, that codified Roe versus Wade. My opponent, the incumbent, was like, you know, it's against my religion, I can't vote for it. And I was like, but you don't understand, they're going to overturn this. And he told me, you know, you're being hyperbolic, there's no way they're going to overturn Roe. And this was in 2018, so it was still the law. But I still pushed and I organized with Planned Parenthood and I organized with the ACLU and with Progressive Mass and the Indivisible Women to get the Roe Act passed. The governor, Governor Baker vetoed it and we had to go back to the legislature, get the super majority, and then it passed. But there's no excuse for that now. We have a democratic governor. And the housing bill was watered down. There's all sorts of things that haven't passed, and we still don't know what the housing bill is going to look like, because the governor hasn't signed it yet. But we're hoping, again, fingers crossed, that affordable housing, which is a crisis, gets addressed. But the, you know, the two-year cycle is over as of last week. So there's not much legislation that's going to pass between now and next January at the start of the new cycle. And so it's disheartening. There's a lot of climate action that could have been taken care of. There's a lot of, there's so many things. Again, the maternal health one is the one that hurts me the most is because it had consensus and then just died on the vine basically.
[Danielle Balocca]: I think I knew that about the vote for the Roe Act and I think that what I'm hearing you say is like the importance about listening to the people that you're representing and hearing what they have to say and kind of those priorities moving them forward and that your personal religious views. I didn't hear you say any of those so that's concerning. Yeah, yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm wondering, though, if there's any other things that you want to promote in your time, like, you know, I know there's a. Well, I mean, the biggest the biggest thing, right, is my my big three priorities is infrastructure, transportation. I also think the MBTA, you know, while there's been a huge investment in the MBTA, we were knocking doors up by Lawrence Memorial, and I knocked the door of an elderly woman whose bus was taken away. And that was her only way of getting into Medford Center. And so she's become a shut-in. Now, she's 80-something years old. She can't walk down the hill and walk back up the hill. And that bus was her only way of getting to the senior center, getting to the things. And there have been a lot of bus services that have been cut in both cities that I would like to see back. I mean, one of the reasons that I moved to this area was because there was a lot of public transportation and I did not own a car when I first moved here. And I think investing in public transportation is going to get more people off the roads, which will lessen traffic and be better for the environment. And that's the other problem that we really, I think, fundamentally as a planet, we need to address is the environmental issues that are happening. And, you know, I would love to see, you know, fully renewable energy by 2035, but it's looking more and more like it's going to be realistically 2050. that means that we need to start figuring out how we make our communities more resilient to climate change and the differing things that happen. And lastly, I mean, obviously, it's housing. I think that every part of Massachusetts has a different housing crisis, and the solutions for Medford are going to be different than the solutions for Malden. And I think that one of the quick things that we can do is have someone at the State House who will approve local solutions through a thing called home petitions. I don't know if you know what... Yeah, home petitions. Yeah. And so I think that that's been an obstacle that would not be an obstacle if I were elected. Thank you. Yeah. No, again, I really do think that every city and town is different, and that the solutions that work here in Medford might not work in Boston, might not work in Malden, might not work there. And we need to find things that fit our communities and our communities. And you have some great evidence of doing that in Malden so far. Yeah, yeah. And again, honestly, sometimes it's just as simple as creating, you know, like giving people access. Like one of the biggest things that's helped so many people is that we have a lawyer of the day at housing court two days a week. And so you don't have to pay them, the city pays for it and they're able to represent you and give you advice and mediate if it's just, you know, mediating with your landlord. We've also helped people, you know, get out of mortgage, their mortgage problems as well. So it's not just for renters, it's for homeowners as well, people who've fallen behind on their mortgage or need to re-negotiate how they're paying or what. So I think Again, like I said, I think there's lots of solutions. We just have to find what's right for everyone and get consensus to build behind it. And honestly, of all the things of, you know, again, I want to create change. I think the biggest change that needs, the biggest help that our government right now needs is at the statehouse. Like I said, I don't think that there's a person sitting down and saying, let's work on this together. Even if it's two or three bills, like let's you and I get together. There is a progressive caucus at the statehouse. but the Progressive Caucus doesn't have a priorities list like the Black and Latino Caucus or the LGBTQ Caucus. And I think that someone coming in and saying, hey, I'm an organizer, what do you think is important? What do you think the priority is? And it's just, again, asking people and finding consensus. We can then start building an agenda that we can then all get behind and push. And it sounds pretty basic, but it's what I really think needs to needs to happen right now. Yeah.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah. And I think that I think like, you know, most people, regardless of their like political leanings, would agree with that, you know, wanting to be heard by by politicians, wanting to have an impact. And so, you know, I think it sounds like an approach that maybe we've moved away from. And sometimes I think in in Medford, it's a little bit like you have to be in a certain position. Yeah, or like, you know, you have to have, like, whatever, like, you have to have access to that person, right? So, like, you have to have the time, you have to have, like, the connections, you have to have, like, the ability. Yeah, and I think that, yeah, that's challenging.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I will say this, that's something, again, one of the roles of this job is constituent services, And that, I think, is the most important thing. Again, to me, that's the thing that I think is my jam, is being able to talk to people, hear what their problems are, hear what their complaints are, and be able to have a conversation with them and try to figure out how to solve the puzzle of their problem. And it's really, again, it's one of the things that I realized, this was the path to my purpose, was that I like to help people. It's something that I'm naturally drawn to. I translate for people. I've translated my whole life from English to Spanish to medical jargon, and now I'm doing political jargon. Like, let me explain to you what this all means. And in teaching and explaining, it's where I find my joy. It's where I, you know, I could sit here and talk for hours to you about it. And I think that a lot of people need that, especially when it comes to government, because they don't have time to learn all the nibbly bits like I do. And if somebody can explain it to them, like I said, when I'm elected, there are going to be votes that some people don't like, and there are going to be votes that people love. And I'm willing to have a conversation with people about it. and I'm willing to be transparent and say, look, I voted for X because of Y and Z. I heard from these people, I heard from these people, this is the end. And you might not agree with me, but I will have a conversation with you and I will talk to you about it. And I want input because one of the things that I think people don't understand is like, at the state house, there are 8,000 bills that are filed every year. And of those 8,000 bills, maybe 100 get passed. So no one's going to read 8,000 bills. And so if something is important to you, I want to hear about it from you. And because it might not be on my radar, and it might not be something that I am familiar with, but I will always listen to a constituent about why they're passionate about a thing. and what impact it could do to either themselves, their community, or their city.
[Danielle Balocca]: Well, thank you for that. And I do wish we had hours to talk about this.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Yes, yes, sorry. I have been like, la, la, la, la, la.
[Danielle Balocca]: That's great. But before we wrap it up, is there anything else that you want to share with us or want to let us know about?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, basically, I thank you for having me. I appreciate the opportunity to talk to people and get get my message out. I am going to be doing a meet and greet at Colleen's on the 13th. So people want to actually talk to me and, you know, ask me a question. I'll be there with my I'm not sure what kind of ice cream I'm going to get. But that's the place I like to listen to the place I like to haunt sometimes.
[Unidentified]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: in the late hours, so you might catch me there, nine or 10 o'clock at night, right before they close. But I am running for office, not out of ego, but as a calling to serve. And I hope that I'll be given the opportunity to do that, because I really do think that I could help both communities, Medford getting the schools taken care of, making sure that, you know, the basics are taken care of, but also centering, you know, again, how diverse our communities are, and making sure that everybody's heard and has a seat at the table, or at least has the opportunity to speak to me and talk to me with whatever way they need.
[Danielle Balocca]: Thank you. Yeah, and there's a primary September 3rd, is that right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, the election is September 3rd. It's the Tuesday after Labor Day, so case you're going away, make sure you vote by mail. And you can request those ballots at City Hall till August 24th. And I believe that's when early voting starts as well.
[Danielle Balocca]: Great. Well, thank you so much. Thank you. I appreciate the conversation. Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. The Medford Bites podcast is produced and moderated by Danielle Balacca and Shelly Keshaman. Music is made by Hendrick Guidonis. We'd love to hear what you think about the podcast. You can reach out to us by email at medfordpod at gmail.com, or you can rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts. Thanks so much for listening. Guys, what's the name of the podcast? Never Bites!