The Paper Trail Podcast Paul Myers

Paul and Ryan talk about Terra Bella residents' concerns over Ever Well's attempted expansion plans and Dinuba's successful avoidance of legislation that threatened its sales tax agreement with Best Buy.

Paul's realtor, Jordan Mulroony, joins the podcast to talk about the local realtor market. With housing inventory tight in Tulare County (but also all over California), realtors are feeling the pressure to help potential home buyers find a home. Where most realtors expirement with cheesy social media marketing, Jordan has taken the much longer road of crafting long term relationships in his community.
Jordan talks about his community engagement projects, the lengths he'll go to work with another realtor for a client, and how the lack of housing leads to homelessness. 
Jordan can be found on social at jordan.mulrooney on Instagram.
He can also be found on his Re/Max website here.

Paul and Ryan discuss the follow-up to the TCRTA debacle and the potential for a Visalia Cannabis Tax.
Richard Tree, Porterville Transit Director, and Porterville City Management respond to the accusations made by the TCRTA, stating that Tree disclosed his family involvement with subcontractors under Transdev's bid. They also address the concern about Tree's relationship with SM Transit while being the Transit Director of Porterville.
Visalia is considering a cannabis tax in anticipation of a potential state mandate requiring cities to allow for cannabis deliveries. The city council is debating the rate that tax should be and voted unanimously to continue developing a ballot measure to tax cannabis, which could appear on the November 2024 ballot.

Rock Yard Tavern owner Landon Wilcox joins Paul on the podcast today.
Landon has been a fellow Exeter-ite his whole life, but he became a local business stakeholder since he opened the Rock Yard Tavern in 2017. He named the business after his father's landscaping business. Landon's father, Nick, would collect large rocks for people to decorate their yards with. But where he would store them became affectionately knowns as the "rock yard." Landon remembers playing in the rock yard with his brothers as kids. 
On this episode though, Landon and Paul talk about the business end of running a small town bar in Exeter. They talk about the hurdles that face small businesses, how Landon made a pivotal suggestion to Paul prior to the pandemic and how much of a grind it is to have a day job plus his business on the side. 
You can learn more about Landon and his wife Janie (co-owner of the tavern) here.
And follow the Rock Yard Tavern on IG here, and on Facebook here.

Paul and Ryan discuss the backlash over the City of Visalia's new logo, which residents have called ugly and uninspired. They also cover the results of the California Congressional District 20 special general election, in which Vince Fong is leading Mike Boudreaux by a significant margin. They break down the fundraising and spending numbers for both candidates and analyze the factors that may have contributed to Fong's success.

Paul introduces KVPR's (Valley Public Radio) News Director Cres Rodriguez on the podcast. Cres has been a reporter all over the Valley in several different mediums and outlets. He took his first management role with KVPR, but he's been angling for an editorship since the beginning.
Cres tells Paul where he's found leadership so far in his short career, what diversity does for a newsroom, the recent push for DEI in journalism and what makes for a good journalist.
You can find out more about Cres @cres_guez on X and you can check out KVPR for more Valley News.