Will Flanagan
The very first guest of this podcast is going to be somebody who has been a friend of mine. Somebody who when I first ran for city council reached out to me and said to me, you know what? You're gonna lose this race if you don't do the following. And I said, get out of here. He's no.
Speaker 1:You're gonna lose the race if you don't listen to me. And I was 23 years old and when you're 23 years old, you think you know everything. There's not a damn person out there that isn't, who wasn't 24 who think they were smarter than everybody around them. And I've had a lot of people in my career that have had a huge impact on me personally and professionally and politically. And this individual says to me, if you don't do a, b, c, and d, you're gonna lose.
Speaker 1:Now this was when a lot of people wanted to be a city councilor. 33 people ran for city council. This was the Jazel career year when Jazel came in who's in you know, went to jail and all this other stuff. Maybe I'll see if I can get him on my podcast. And he said you gotta do the following things.
Speaker 1:If you don't do it, you're gonna lose. And I said there's no way I'm losing. And I listened to him. And he said you're losing right now. You need to get the endorsement from the Herald News, you said to me.
Speaker 1:You need to get the firefighter endorsement. You gotta get out there and you gotta show personality. And you're not doing any of those things. And I listened to him. And I was honored to have come in second place that year out of nowhere.
Speaker 1:And I've been fortunate enough every single time I've ran for city council to win. I've lost a mayor's race. That was a shit show. But other than that, I'm happy to be a city councilor. And if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be where I am today.
Speaker 1:And somebody who, in my opinion, was one of the best mayors this city has ever had, somebody who has turned from mayor to an entrepreneur who's had some struggles, who had an episode that I'd love to get into with you shortly and see how you got through that, is Will Flanagan.
Speaker 2:I'm honored to be here. But even more importantly, I'm just wanna stop by saying how proud I am of you. I follow you very closely, Cliff, and from all the great work you do on the city council to the businesses you've been able to open, like New York Bagel and Rogers and Almax Diner, to the real estate, none of it's easy. And to be as young as you were to do it and how, good you have done it. I I just wanna say as a friend, I'm proud of you and to be here as your first guest.
Speaker 2:It's, I'm honored.
Speaker 1:Well, we wanna make sure the ratings high. Wanna figure somebody as popular as you and trending as you, we wanna get on. So do you remember the first time we met?
Speaker 2:I think so but refresh my memory.
Speaker 1:We were at Durfee High School in the gym. Okay. And I went up to you and you were mayor. And you said to me, I asked you, I wanna be on a board. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And you you were busy and popular, still are. And you said, yeah, you wanna get on a board. Send an email to my secretary and I'll think about it. And I said, screw this guy. Like, I I want a board job.
Speaker 1:I wanna do something. I wanna be part of the city. And then we really didn't get to know each other until after, you know, I first ran for city council Right. And we were out of office. And I remembered that.
Speaker 1:Not not necessarily saying that was a negative experience because all our experiences have been great. But that meant meant to that meant to tell me like if I want something, I'm gonna work for it. I'm not just gonna meet a mayor or a person out there and hope to be given something.
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 1:And and reflecting back on that, I don't know if you remember that, but that's how it all kinda
Speaker 2:started. I do. I I do remember it. And for my train of thought or my quick response to you that day, I probably didn't know you. Right?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So as when I was mayor or even in my life today, I'm quicker to do something for somebody if I know them. And I think that's just human nature. If you know the person, you trust the person, you can rely on the person, you take a chance on them. It's tougher to do something for somebody when you don't know them because it's more of a gamble, right? So if somebody approaches you, in the gymnasium like you did and says, I wanna be on a board or, you know, I want an appointment to something.
Speaker 2:And those are pretty common, you know, to get when you're mayor. Those questions or those requests. You're probably more apt to do something once you get to know them or once you get to see who the person is. But if I had taken that chance on you, I'm sure you would have done fine.
Speaker 1:I wanna reflect on that for a moment because I don't Sean Kadim tells me this story all the time. He goes, there was no more popular mayor in Four River than Will Flanagan. I said, get the hell out of here. He goes, no. I'm telling you.
Speaker 1:When Will left the office and walked down South Main Street to go to Dunkin' Donuts or go to a cafe, people would stop because you were like famous. You were like the famous mayor that Fall River had. And you came into Fall River and many people in Fall River know the story. You beat a very very you came out of nowhere that
Speaker 2:year.
Speaker 1:Right? There was like everybody on the city council ran for mayor. You were going against a state rep that was, you know, the highest high up in Boston, Bob Carr.
Speaker 2:Very powerful, man.
Speaker 1:Very powerful. And you came out of absolutely nowhere. And I remember seeing you at events and I'm like, who is this guy? And you knocked on every single door. You did everything you could.
Speaker 1:And you came in and you beat Kathy Ann Rivera after coming in second place that year. And you came in and you became mayor. You were so popular. Why do you think he was so damn popular?
Speaker 2:Because I was able to relate to the people. I knew the struggle that they were going through, because I was also going through it with them. And taking it back to 2008, 2009 when I ran for office, I think I announced probably around Thanksgiving of two thousand and eight, nobody knew who I really was. Maybe the amount of people who personally knew me, you can count on two of your hands. But I knew I was going to win that race.
Speaker 2:Most people thought I had no chance in hell. People thought, you know, I was delusional.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I did both those things.
Speaker 2:Think you're delusional. I knew I was going to win because I was able to identify that the city was going in a direction that the people were not supportive of. And they were looking for, although these might be buzzwords, hope and change. They wanted something different. And Bob Carrere, great man, served the community and so for so many years, people were looking for something different.
Speaker 2:And I was that something different. But I knew I wasn't going to win unless I went out there and I did the work. And that was by meeting people. I knew if I spent just a couple of minutes with somebody, I could show them who I was and why they should vote for me. And just spent every day knocking on doors, going to events, meeting people, being everywhere I could be to show people that I was serious about the job.
Speaker 2:I was an expert in what needed to get done, and I knew I could take the city to places that has never been before, in places that the people wanted to go to. And on that preliminary night in September, we finished in the top two. Mhmm. And then it was just an avalanche of support. The floodgates opened, and people just were joining the team from all walks of life, from the city and beyond.
Speaker 2:People wanting to be a part of the campaign. And we finished with the highest amount of votes probably within the last thirty years. Nobody's ever got more votes than we did back in 2009 in a local election. So it was an opportunity to be something better, something different, and that's what we provided. And for the, you know, three terms that I was there, I wanna say we did a lot a lot of good for the city.
Speaker 2:And projects that we had worked on back in 2014 are coming to fruition today, like, you know, Route 70 9, the waterfront development, projects that we put together in the Industrial Park and the Commerce Park. So it takes a lot of time to get things done as mayor. But to go back to your question, I knew I was going to win because I was serious about it, and I was committed to doing it.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. So you're you're mayor, and you're probably one of the more popular mayors from like a fame perspective. And I think you're the first mayor that got things from a public perception. You were always out. You were always out at every event.
Speaker 1:You started the trend in Fall River, I believe. I've told you this. Of the mayor having to be at every event Yes. At every ribbon cutting, at a opening of an envelope. You're there.
Speaker 1:The mayor is there. And you started that trend in Fall River. You're here. Everybody's here. I'm here.
Speaker 1:Like, I don't think you ever missed anything. Nope. And then following you, every mayor thereafter tried to replicate what you did. And you were popular at it. Do you think that's something that is sustainable for a future mayor to continue to do?
Speaker 1:Is that is it different today than it was then?
Speaker 2:It could be. I wouldn't know unless I was there doing it to give you a better perspective on it. And we probably were the first administration to bring social media into the mayor's office. Prior to me being elected, there really was no Facebook or TikTok or Instagram. That's something we started using, when we were elected, And it allowed people to stay connected to the mayor's office twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.
Speaker 2:Prior to that, you would maybe see the mayor at a grocery store, make an appointment to see him, maybe seeing him at an event. But now you had access twenty four hours a day to the mayor's office. By text message, you know, direct message, you can say, got a pothole that needs to be fixed. My son or daughter's having an issue in school. There's a nuisance at my house or in my neighborhood.
Speaker 2:Is it sustainable? Yes. But it takes a lot of work to do. Mhmm. You need a mayor who's committed to doing it.
Speaker 2:If you want to have a life outside of the mayor's office, it might not be easy to do. Mhmm. When I was mayor, I was 29 years old, no children, less responsibility. Dedication was a 100% to that office. If you have responsibilities outside of that office, it might be a little tougher to do because now you're juggling your son's baseball game against a ribbon cutting.
Speaker 1:Or something. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:A school committee meeting against a funeral. So you have to stop making choices and decisions. It's easier for somebody to do that job who can dedicate a 100% of their time to it.
Speaker 1:You're mayor, obviously, you got recalled. You have regrets?
Speaker 2:About the recall?
Speaker 1:You had years of success, and then you had this very short window of everything changing real fast. And you got recalled, and then you lost, and you were out of office. What did you what did you learn? What would you have done differently? And what regrets do you have?
Speaker 2:I learned a lot. I learned a lot, especially from that recall election.
Speaker 1:Did you think that recall was gonna happen at first? No. Did you think it was a joke? Like, there's no way they're gonna recall me
Speaker 2:I wouldn't say it was a joke because the people who were doing it were serious about it, But I didn't think it was going to happen. But there was a series of misfortunate events that just took place one after the other, that allowed me, to finish in second place and not win that election. Would I have done things differently? Yes. Looking back at some of the reasons people were upset with me, I probably would not have made the same decisions that caused the people to be upset.
Speaker 1:Like what?
Speaker 2:The purple bags being one of them. You know, that was a major issue that people just did not like in the city, and there were other issues along the way. So would I have done things differently? Yes. A 100%.
Speaker 2:Do I have regrets? Yes and no. Because a lot of great things happened to me after leaving office, things that may have not have happened if I stayed there. My life probably would have went in a different path. But I was enjoying the job, and you or other people ask me what's so good about being mayor.
Speaker 2:It's the ability to get things done and help people that you couldn't do in any other job. Mhmm. You look at other executive jobs being CEO of a business, you're you're working within your own little microcosm. A governor is removed kinda from the people. He just can't walk into the State house and see the governor.
Speaker 2:The president's really far removed, from his or her electorate. The mayor, you're there. The people can touch you. They walk into government center. And being able to work on projects, help people, make changes, improve things, there's no other job like it.
Speaker 1:Really?
Speaker 2:Yeah. There's no other job like it.
Speaker 1:So you're you're done and you're no longer mayor anymore. What was that day like?
Speaker 2:Little surreal. You know, you and I often joke about this, you know, I tell it in a comedic fashion. When I would wake up in the morning to start my day, there was already 20 calls, text messages, emails, appointments waiting. The day I lost, I thought my phone was broken because the amount of activity wasn't there. It was dead.
Speaker 2:Nobody was calling. There were no meetings on the schedule. Life changed.
Speaker 1:And it wasn't even like you had a transition period. It was like zero call, you're done. Done. Get your stuff out of the office.
Speaker 2:Correct. There was no wind down period. It just hit the brakes and stopped.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:So it was surreal to go from a 100 miles an hour to hitting the brakes and coming to a screeching halt. The only thing I can probably relate it to, because I've talked to these people in in that realm or atmosphere, it's like a champion or an athlete who's no longer playing in the big game. Right? Or a celebrity who's no longer making movies. Like, when it stops, it stops.
Speaker 2:So it stopped. And when you're out, you're out. Because even though you keep that title, people still refer to me as mayor. Mhmm. When you're longer mayor, you're longer mayor.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. Some the amount of respect that some people gave you probably was a false respect because they're respecting the job or they're respecting the title. Right? Life definitely changed, and it was surreal to see the changes happen so quickly.
Speaker 1:Ever gonna run again?
Speaker 2:I can see myself running again. Yeah. I don't think you ever lose the passion for public service. If you have it, you have it.
Speaker 1:What would be the first thing you'd do?
Speaker 2:Get right to work. You know? Whether it's bringing more jobs to the city, cutting taxes, making life better for the people. Because people are struggling right now. I've never seen Fall River hurt and struggle so much.
Speaker 2:The amount of homelessness in the community, the amount of drug addiction, poverty, people just are beat up. They're beat up in the city.
Speaker 1:Do you relate this back to o eight? Same same time, different circumstances? Worse. Why is it worse in your eyes?
Speaker 2:Because the world's changed, Cliff. People always love nostalgia. They love a better time in their life, memories of being a child, or things were easier. But it's real, you know. The world is getting more difficult to live in.
Speaker 2:Everything costs more. People are making less. Life is changing and not always for the better. Wealth is concentrated in so few people. It's it's difficult to survive today.
Speaker 2:And the majority of people in Fall River are not even living paycheck to paycheck anymore because they're so far behind. The amount of people I talk to that have so much credit card debt, are behind on their car payment, are getting things repossessed, struggling to make rent. I talked to a gentleman yesterday who his landlord sold their building, and he's afraid because he doesn't know what the new landlord's going to do. Even if goes up $5 on the rent, he can't afford it. So the first thing me or you as anybody would do as mayor, I think, would start working to find a way to make life easier in the city.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. You changed from a Democrat a couple years ago to a Republican
Speaker 2:Mhmm.
Speaker 1:Right after Trump dominated Fall River in an election. Why the hell did you do that?
Speaker 2:Had less to do with Trump and more to do with me. I just did not identify with the Democratic Party anymore. And I didn't leave the party. The party left me.
Speaker 1:You sound like Bernie Sanders.
Speaker 2:Well, I don't know if Bernie said that or not, but I'll take your word for it. I just didn't identify with the party. Yeah. No. I still have friends and and Democrats.
Speaker 2:And for me, it's less about party and more about common sense. But I felt that, especially at the time I changed, the common sense had left the party.
Speaker 1:Yeah. There's no question that, you know, I and I say say this and as controversial as this may be, I really believe that the the the Democratic party may have lost its way Mhmm. Over the last seven to ten years. What do you stand for is what we're trying to find out. Right?
Speaker 1:What are your priorities? I believe separate and apart from whether I'm a democrat or a republican, the republican party, very similar to what you did when you ran for mayor, pull at the heartstrings of everyday people. Like, Trump got elected because he sat there and said he's gonna reduce taxes on he's gonna reduce taxes. He's reduce no taxes on tips, no taxes on overtime. He's gonna get gas prices down.
Speaker 1:He's gonna get groceries down. You ran, you're eliminate the the water storm water fee. Like, peep they pulled at the heartstrings of everyday people. And I don't know if the Democratic party has successfully been able to do that. And listen, if you're a Democrat, that's okay.
Speaker 1:If you're a Republican, that's fine too. But the problem is the message in local, national, any kind of office, I believe needs to resonate with people. And I have a hard time finding the Democratic party being able to successfully do that right now.
Speaker 2:Sometimes either party. You got people who are too far left or too far right. But if you look at Fall River, the majority of people voted for Trump. Mhmm. And to talk to those people who and I'm talking to the lifelong Fall River resident, the person who graduated from Durfee or Diamond or Bishop Conley, you know, who went to Sacred Hot Church or Spirit of Santa or Santa Christa or Saint Michael's, those people, they are about common sense.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. They're about family, hard work, doing what's right, and having a good quality of life. Those are core values, principles that are instilled in the people who were born and raised here. And when you look at the Democratic Party and why they they were they were losing so many elections, they weren't really focused on that. They were focused on issues that were not going to really improve the quality of life of the people who were born and raised here.
Speaker 2:And people like Trump, whether you like him or hate him, were talking that language. Mhmm. Like you said, reducing cost, focusing on the homeland, making communities safer Mhmm. That resonated with people. And if you can find a candidate who can actually do that, their chance of getting elected greatly increases.
Speaker 2:Because people need they need something better.
Speaker 1:I wanna go to something now that is kinda crazy that happened to you and and I still think about it, you know, how long ago was this now that you had that
Speaker 2:The attack.
Speaker 1:The attack. October. October. October 2025. You're at your business.
Speaker 1:You go somewhere, grab candy, I think told me. You came back, you got stabbed. You fell down, got back up. You were on life support. I was texting your family checking in on you.
Speaker 1:I checked in on you. A lot of people have. What the heck happened? How did it all go down? You recovered so wonderfully.
Speaker 1:Yeah. You have children. I mean, it's just like it's, I couldn't believe it. And I look at the, I saw the video and I was like, I know that guy. Like, that guy's my friend.
Speaker 1:Why did they do that to that guy? Right? So, walk us through what happened that day and how you got through it and where we're at today.
Speaker 2:The only way I got through that was God. God was with me. By my side that whole time never left me. I believe all the prayers pulled me through because I was dead. October twentieth, Monday, probably around 05:00 in the afternoon, I'm at Cosmopolitan on Hartwell Street, my place of business.
Speaker 2:And Halloween's about a week away. So I said, you know, it's a nice day out. Wanna take a walk to Walgreens and buy Halloween candy. Take some home to the kids, put some in the store for the customers, just, you know, being a good dad or a good business owner. So I walk.
Speaker 2:It's within walking distance. I enjoy to walk. I like the exercise. We all need it. And on my way to Walgreens, just a normal walk, normal day, people saying hi to me.
Speaker 2:Couple of cars beeping the horn, you know, just normal day in the life of me. On the way back, nothing out of the ordinary, walking by Tecumseh Mills on Hartwell Street, and I feel a thunderous blow to the left side of my face. I thought something fell out of the sky. That's how hot I was hit. And when I turn around, there's this man, tall, you know, crazy beard, crazy hair, tattoos on his face, throwing punches what I thought were punches at me, but he's really stabbing me.
Speaker 2:And he's saying to me, die mother effer. Die mother effer. You think this is funny? And I'm in shock trying to defend myself, block the blows, throw a punch or two back, but, I was getting hurt too bad. And I took a step backwards to create some distance between him and I, and I fell down.
Speaker 2:I I had Crocs on. I slipped out of my shoes. I didn't know the man. Never seen him before in my life. It was unprovoked.
Speaker 2:Didn't say anything to him. He just attacked me from behind. Cowardly thing to do to hurt somebody from behind, but that's what he did. And he ran away. I popped back up, adrenaline rush took over my body, and I was going to walk back to work.
Speaker 2:I was gonna go back to work, tell my staff I was just attacked, call the police, and, you know, probably go to the hospital. I didn't think I was hurt as bad as I was.
Speaker 1:Do you know at that time you were stabbed by No. You just felt you were just punched or hit?
Speaker 2:Yeah. I thought I was just punched, but I'm bleeding. And I'm starting to cough up blood too. Because what happened was when he stabbed me, he stabbed me on the left side of my eye, which started swelling up, and I couldn't see out of my eye. It was scary.
Speaker 2:He stabbed me on the left side of my throat, which was tremendous pain. But the right side is where he punctured my esophagus. That's how deep he went. So I was bleeding internally, so the blood was rushing into my stomach and my lungs. But when I would cough, was able to cough it up and cough it out.
Speaker 2:So I'm starting to bleed, pretty badly at that point. Fortunately for me, there were some senior citizens outside at Tecumseh Mill who were convincing me to stay with them, and not go any further. They were putting napkins in my stab wounds trying to stop the bleeding from from happening, and they convinced me to call 911 because I wasn't going to. I was gonna keep walking. So I called 911.
Speaker 2:I told him I was stabbed. And as the adrenaline starting to subside, I felt life starting to come out of my body. And I told the emergency operator, I think I'm dying. You need to get here quickly. And they did.
Speaker 2:And I can tell I was in pretty bad shape when the officer's face turned white when he saw me. He was scared for me, and I'm sure they've seen a lot. So when I can tell he was concerned, I knew I was in rough shape. So they load me on to the ambulance immediately. They make the decision to take me to Saint Luke's, which is a trauma center.
Speaker 2:If I go to Charlton or Saint Anne's, I probably don't make it. I'm not saying they're bad hospitals, but they don't have the trauma center there. And the EMT operator told me when we get there, you're gonna be a pretty popular person. Everybody's gonna be working on you because just be prepared for that. And when I they roll me into the trauma center, it's probably about a team of 10 doctors and nurses waiting for me because I was a stat one, you know, critical at that point.
Speaker 2:And they put me in the, CAT scan. I'm choking on my own blood. I'm rough shape. I can't see. I'm blind in my left eye.
Speaker 2:And one of the doctors, the ENT doctor, doctor Batonfield, I heard her talking to another doctor, and she said, you know, we gotta get him on life support or we're going to lose him. And I was like, woah woah, time out. You know, what's going on? You know, I'm not going on life support.
Speaker 1:You're talking still.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I'm aware. I said, I'm not going on life support because you hear all those bad stories about ventilators and respirators during COVID. And, you know, I was concerned about going on one that if I did, I probably wouldn't wake back up. She goes, oh, no.
Speaker 2:You're going on life support, or you're not gonna make it. I said, well, I wanna stay awake for this. She goes, you're not making any decisions right now. She said, I'm just letting you know we're gonna sedate you. You're going on life support, and we're gonna do what we can to save your life.
Speaker 2:I said, well, I like to spend some time with my family before you do that because I'm not sure if I'm waking up again. She goes, no. You're going under now. And then the other doctor was like, no. Think his family's here.
Speaker 2:Give him one second with his family. Family came in. We hugged, kissed, said our goodbyes, and and, you know, that was it. Next time I woke up was probably twelve hours later in my hospital bed on life support. Jesus.
Speaker 1:So the doctors at Saint Luke's, you probably have amazing things to say.
Speaker 2:Saved my life. Yeah. They were amazing. I spent a week in intensive care, round the clock coverage. And to be on a respirator for a week, life support, you you can't imagine how quickly you lose your muscle dexterity.
Speaker 2:You can't walk. You can't even move to spending a week in bed. You're so weakened. So you have to learn how to walk again. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I had to learn how to eat again because they punctured my esophagus. It was, it was a long road, but nine months later, seven months later, here I am and I feel back to a 100%.
Speaker 1:So a 100% normal, you can see, you can see fine, you Yeah. Do you have any side effects?
Speaker 2:Pain.
Speaker 1:Just pain in the area where you got stabbed?
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Wow. Looking back at that, you know, being somebody who's as busy as we both are, you go through life realizing that you're unstoppable sometimes. You have that unstoppable feel to you. Like, hit yourself or like, nothing's gonna slow me down. And then something slowed you down.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. And your life was literally essentially turned upside down. Almost died.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:Looking back at that terrible event that occurred, how do you put it into perspective?
Speaker 2:Life can change in a second for the good or for the bad. And when you are dying, I think you're about to die, you really stop putting things in perspective on what matters the most. Things you might have been putting off, things you weren't really focusing on, things you weren't prioritizing. It puts in perspective. And to get a second chance on life like I did, because people have died for less.
Speaker 2:I was stabbed five times, multiple times in the neck. By the grace of God, he missed an artery. By the grace of God, they were able to stop the bleeding. I got over three pints of blood in a transfusion. I had a heart attack on the respirator.
Speaker 2:I stroked out on the respirator. It was really bad for me. But to take a step back say, okay. I got a second chance on life. No way am I gonna fuck it up.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. Right? God said to me, for whatever reason, you're gonna live another day. So the fact that he spared my life and gave me a second chance to live, I do everything I can in my personal life to make it right.
Speaker 1:What do you do differently today than you do?
Speaker 2:I'll keep that personal to me, Cliff. But there are a lot of changes I made in my life that I can say, you know, thank you to God for. Mhmm. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So, I mean, story is just unbelievable. I mean, the fact that you're here, the fact that you're able to talk about it, the fact that you're able to go to work every single day is truly a blessing. And I'm sure you feel absolutely blessed that you had somebody looking over you at that time. Yes. And it kind of brings into perspective, like from my standpoint, you know, take a moment and slow down and appreciate everything that you have around you sometimes.
Speaker 1:Because we oftentimes have a tendency to not recognize how important your family is or the people that are around you are. And more importantly, the things that people get all worked up about and get pissed off about and get mad about and get enraged about is just absolute bullshit.
Speaker 2:None of it matters?
Speaker 1:It doesn't matter because, you know, you could've you have two kids? Yeah. And, the two kids that you have could've been without a dad.
Speaker 2:Imagine that.
Speaker 1:And, that is just like, holy shit. Right? And, and here we are, locally, nationally, life, getting all pissed off and upset about things that aren't even that important. Getting mad at somebody because they looked at you the wrong way. Mhmm.
Speaker 1:Getting mad at an elected official because you voted a certain way. Saying you're corrupt and all these other things. Like when people say to me, and I'm sure you can relate to this. Why don't you get so mad about that? Well, because that's not the end of the world.
Speaker 1:There's far more important things that could have happened, or far more devastating things that could have happened to me, that could have put my life upside down.
Speaker 2:Mhmm.
Speaker 1:I'm fortunate enough to have a wonderful family. Small little family, but a good family. And if anything would have happened to them, that that would control my day. Right? So don't you think you realize that putting things into perspective and realizing that the little things that people get all jerked off about really isn't that important?
Speaker 2:Every day's a gift. Every day's a gift. And unless you've gone through a life changing or life altering experience, you may not understand that. But it's really about putting things in perspective, prioritizing the things that matter, and really just focusing on the positive things. I agree.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Well, I'm happy to call you a friend. I've known you for a long time and you've had a tremendous impact on me from personally, professionally, politically speaking. To kinda wrap this up and and put this in put a bow on this, what's next for Will Flanagan? Where does it go for you next?
Speaker 2:Still just focusing on life and focusing on business and entrepreneurship and seeing what the next business is. Fortunate for me, getting in the cannabis industry, I got in at the ground level. So I was able to build something beautiful, that I get a very good return on in life and owning multiple businesses. Now, you know, I worked hard at that. What the next ground level project is, you know, I don't know.
Speaker 2:There are opportunities for me to get involved in some businesses. I I feel that AI is the next ground level business. I've been meeting with folks who are in that field who are developing AI platforms and programs, and I really feel that artificial intelligence is what's going to be dominating the economy in the foreseeable future. There will be not one aspect of life that is not affected by AI, whether it's education, health care, real estate, law. I don't care what it is.
Speaker 2:AI is going to play a role in it. And for those who don't know about AI, I encourage you to get involved with these programs, whether it's something as simple as ChatGPT or something more complex and more further developed. I've been meeting with a lot of people who are developing these AI programs, and they just really blow my mind on what they're able to do. Ten, fifteen years ago, you were able to compress these files or decode these type of files. Now in a mere matter of seconds, I'm seeing these programs, whether they're educational or medical, do things that would take the human mind weeks to, accomplish or a basic computer hours to accomplish.
Speaker 2:So trying to identify that next ground level, ground floor industry to invest in and be a part of, and I I really think it's AI.
Speaker 1:You know what really makes me laugh when it comes to AI is that people who didn't know how to write emails, all of a sudden know how to write
Speaker 2:emails. Sure.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean? Like, I I've known like, for example, I've known people for like these same people for fifteen years, and I would never get a email from them the way I do now. It's like, oh my goodness, you have a doctorate degree. Right? It's amazing.
Speaker 1:It it it's amazing to me that their intelligence level has quadrupled as a result of an AI thing that sends emails for people. And you can immediately tell if you know somebody for as long as you've known them that they sent you an email that was AI written. Like, that takes a lot of work for me to go into an AI app, type an email, say this, you know, call this person an asshole in a nice way, period. And then it sends this wonderful email. I mean, like, yeah, you're not gonna need paralegals anymore.
Speaker 1:You might not need, you know, people to do certain things. My question to you is this though. Is there any profession that is gonna be exempt that's gonna besides farming, can maybe that probably could be impacted. That is gonna be AI proof. Like like, that you'll be in a profession that you don't have to worry AI is gonna take over your job and we're all gonna be freaking robots?
Speaker 2:No. It's there's not one sector of the economy that I can think of where AI won't have an impact on it. Even farming, just to tell you how much fertilizer to use or when to, you know, reap your crop or where to plant it. It's amazing. And I relate it to things that I can relate to.
Speaker 2:I think about education. As a middle schooler or a high schooler, studying algebra or geometry, learning something new in science or, reading a novel. All of the student has to do now is take a picture of it, and I'll show you step by step how to do it. Give me a synopsis on Romeo and Juliet. Show me the results or the hypotheses of this science problem.
Speaker 2:I'm concerned that it's going to make people less intelligent Yes. Because you're relying upon it so much. You're not learning how to ride the bike. You're just riding the bike or the bike's riding for you. But there are no wrong answers.
Speaker 2:And I think about medicine and how amazing it will be because we're getting there, where you're able to identify at birth or even prebirth whether somebody is prone to cancer. Not saying you gotta get cancer, but you have the cancer genes in your body at birth. What that means for preventative medicine and helping sick people and keeping people alive longer or less, pain and struggle with sickness. There's a revolution taking place, and we're fortunate enough to be able to witness it. Think about history and all the different revolutions that have taken place, whether it's the industrial revolution or the golden age or the bronze age, whatever it may be, to see this AI tech boom happening.
Speaker 2:A lot of people are gonna become billionaires off of it, and it will change our life forever.
Speaker 1:Amazing. Amazing. So the world that we live in fifteen years from now is probably gonna be a tad bit different than the world that we're living in right now. And I guess you could always say that for every generation
Speaker 2:Every generation.
Speaker 1:Decade or anything like that. So it it is really amazing. I hope real estate agents are not, you know, become extinct as a result of AI. Mean, you still need a person to show a house. I mean, we gotta be walking into restaurants and robots are gonna be taking our order.
Speaker 1:Yes. Robots gonna be cooking for us.
Speaker 2:They already are. You ever see the tels the Tesla diner? No. You haven't seen the Tesla diner? No.
Speaker 2:In Los Angeles, the Tesla diner, Elon Musk, Tesla, everything's robotic. There's no people. The robots cook the food, serve the food. No cashiers, everything's automated.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:It's a fully autonomous nonliving human being diner. Think about Almax. Unbelievable. What that would look like.
Speaker 1:Unbelievable. Well, I guess I might as well just keep buying stocks because I'll be out of a job in fifteen years. Ten years by the Doubt it. I don't know. Who knows?
Speaker 1:Well, truthfully, this was I wanna say I couldn't have had a more powerful guest for my first episode of this podcast that we're launching and we're we're doing. 11 more will be coming out very, very soon. Truthfully, Will, it's it's it's an honor to be your friend. It's an honor to have been able to stay in touch with you over these years. And, damn, it's it's it's amazing that you're sitting here after everything that you've gone through.
Speaker 2:And I wanna give you your flowers too, Cliff. Don't stop what you're doing. You are effective in government. The city is fortunate to have you as an elected official. I hope city council isn't your last stop in public service, because you're honest, you're hardworking, and you get it.
Speaker 2:And you relate to the people of the city. I know you were joking around that sometimes people who don't know you may think you're a little stiff or robotic, but that's not you at all. I think once people get to know you, they actually see that you're somebody with a heart who cares. And to care about the city like you do, to invest in it like you do, is something special. So
Speaker 1:Thank you.
Speaker 2:Don't don't quit. Keep going.
Speaker 1:Thank you. I appreciate it. There are there are certainly times where you sit back and say, why the hell am I doing this? Right? Whether it's in political office or doing whatever you're doing, it's like, why am I doing this?
Speaker 2:You don't need the money.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And it's like, you know, I look back at it and say, well, because I can't stop trying to help people and trying to do things the right way and be ethical and come from a place of integrity. Like, really that's all I think about. And of course, you get the haters out there in the world who are saying, I'm only successful because of politics. But there are times where you wanna quit, though.
Speaker 1:There are times you wanna quit. But I also wonder, what would it be like, what would city government be like without me? And what would my life be without it?
Speaker 2:Mhmm.
Speaker 1:And I think about that sometimes too. But who knows what the future holds? Just like for you, like you have other aspirations. Do I? Yes.
Speaker 1:When will that be? Who knows?
Speaker 2:Who knows?
Speaker 1:Who knows. But I'm happy to be here and putting a bow on this I wanna say, I'm happy to be a friend. I'm happy that you did this with me. Likewise. Thank you for coming.
Speaker 1:And this is just the start of what I think is gonna be something special, but it's gonna be really hard to top this.
Speaker 2:No. I like what you're doing here. The city needs more of this. I think about the traditional media that we've grown up with and that has been part of so many of the lives of people here, and it's not what it used to be. And it's getting smaller and smaller and smaller to have a platform like you do and have the resources available like you do to build this.
Speaker 2:Hopefully, the people see this as a, a medium for them to stay connected to the community because there's less and less opportunity for that.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Well, I appreciate that. Thanks, Will, for for being our guest. And, you know, stick around for future episodes. We're we're gonna try to make this as dynamic and fun as possible.
Speaker 1:We're looking forward to the next episode and, thanks for listening.
