Episode 78: Theo Offei (Watertown City Councilor-At-Large)

Meet Theo Offei! He's the most recent addition to the Watertown City Council as a Councilor-At-Large. We sat down for a wide-ranging conversation including:

-Memorizing Obama speeches as a boy in Italy and other thoughts on growing up in Reggio Emilia

-Making his way to the US through community college then earning a scholarship to transfer fully to USC

-His time in the startup and venture capital worlds (and trying to convince the organizers of Bonnaroo and Coachella to use his product)

-How family and interactions with "cool" things in the city led him to Watertown

-Why he got involved with public service through the Residents' Advisory Committee and how that gave him the itch to run for City Council

-And then what it was like getting to know neighbors through campaigning, the reality of learning the ropes once elected, and his message to Watertowners to get involved

Reach out to Theo (and other councilors) at watertown-ma.gov/city-council

Transcript

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Matt 0:03

Hi there. Welcome to the Little Local Conversations Podcast. I'm your host, Matt Hanna. Every episode, I sit down for a conversation to discover the people, places, stories, and ideas of Watertown. This time I sat down with City Councilor At-Large, Theo Offei. So let's get right into the conversation.

Theo 0:19

My name is Theo Offei. I'm a newly elected, well, I don't know, not so new anymore, Councilor on the Watertown City Council.

Matt 0:27

Feel like a veteran already?

Theo 0:29

Yeah. I moved to Watertown about six years ago. My wife grew up in Watertown. We used to live in California before that. We tried to get my in-laws to move to California. They kept saying they were gonna do it. Ultimately, it turns out they were never gonna do it.

Matt 0:46

So you're playing the long game with you.

Theo 0:48

Yeah. In the middle of COVID, we had our firstborn, and we started really thinking about it and considering like moving out here, and it was the best decision that we made. Yeah, so we have two kids now, Iggy and Cece. They're both at the Hosmer School. And that's pretty much about me. Yeah.

Matt 1:06

Awesome. Yeah, we'll get more into your involvement in Watertown. But I always like to go back in time and get the creation of the person that is now.

Theo 1:14

Yeah.

Matt 1:14

So you grew up in a very different place from Watertown. 

Theo 1:18

Right.

Matt 1:19

So tell us where you grew up and the moves you made and how those shaped you a little bit.

Theo 1:23

Yeah. I was born in Ghana, but I grew up in Italy. Dad had moved to Italy when I was six months old, or maybe not even. And we all later, when I was very young, joined him in Italy. Grew up over there until I came to the US for college, ended up in California. Graduated from the University of Southern California down in Los Angeles. At the time, we tried to start a tech startup. You know, if you're in California trying to work on a tech startup, obviously the place to be is in San Francisco. So we all ended up, me and my co-founders ended up moving to San Francisco. So that's to say, like, felt kind of fortunate that my story is a story of three continents, being born in Ghana, in Africa, growing up in Italy, in Europe, and living in the United States and having been here for a while and building my future over here. Yeah.

Matt 2:17

Yeah. What was it like growing up in Italy? Like, for people who don't know, what's it like being an Italian, you know?

Theo 2:23

Yeah, you know, it's interesting. I mean, there isn't a one mode fit all of Italy. The south is very different from the north.

Matt 2:32

What part did you grow up in?

Theo 2:33

I was in northern Italy in Reggio Emilia. The closest town to Reggio Emilia is or the city is Bologna. But it's about two hours south of Milan and about 30 minutes from Bologna. But the one thing that Reggio Emilia is known for, which funny enough these days I've noticed when I talk to people that mention a lot, is the Reggio Emilia School, which is where it was founded. It's a preschool sort of pedagogy of teaching.

Matt 3:01

It's like a Waldorf school type thing?

Theo 3:04

Yeah, sort of Montessori, that kind of stuff, but it's its own special kind. But so there isn't a one mode fit all of Italy. It's very different in terms of culture. And there are things that are known in the north, that are not known in the south, or like, you know, even the south and the north. I think it's, that's true everywhere. The interesting thing I would say about Italy is that a lot of people that grew up in Italy end up, they mostly live where they grew up. They don't travel much. There are people from Reggio Emilia that have never been to southern Italy. And there are people from southern Italy that have never been to like northern Italy. They know as much about these other places as much as you do. So it is an interesting country. It is a beautiful country. I have started having more appreciation for it since I've been living here and going back to visit. You know, obviously I didn't have the means and resources to be able to experience the country when I was growing up. What I knew was Reggio Emilia, Parma, Modena, Bologna. The farthest I went sometimes, it was Milan. And like I guess I had been to Rome a few times. But people don't get a true sense of the country besides what they read in books or they, you know. And I think that's true everywhere. But I have found that especially true, having been going back to visit my parents.

Matt 4:23

Yeah. So when you said you go back and you appreciate it more, what do you appreciate about it versus?

Theo 4:28

That it's just a beautiful country. 

Matt 4:29

It's just beautiful. 

Theo 4:30

It's just a beautiful country. I mean, it's just as simple as that. It's something that I never knew. Because, you know, when you grow up somewhere, you're like, what is the fuss about this? You know, why is everyone so like?

Matt 4:40

You have nothing to compare it to yet.

Theo 4:41

Yeah. But now when we go back and we try to, besides visiting my parents in my hometown of Reggio Emilia, we try to go to different places, and I'm like, my gosh, I can't believe this thing was there. I can't believe this. It's just a beautiful place. And the food obviously is amazing. Where I'm from, you know, in Reggio Emilia or the Emilia-Romagna, obviously is considered a gastronomic capital of the world. So yeah, diverse in the sense that Italy, just like anywhere, I don't think it's a monoculture. A Napoletano, someone from Naples, has a different, very different identity or culture than someone from Milan or Reggio Emilia. So it's been interesting to kind of have that perspective and all of that.

Matt 5:29

Just like people from Italy probably think like all Americans are the same, you know.

Theo 5:33

Right, right, right, right. No, like totally. You don't really see the distinction between California and New York, besides maybe like skyscrapers and beaches. It is interesting how people view other places from their own lenses and far away, you know.

Matt 5:50

Yeah. So, two questions here. Well, first, when you came to the States, what was your first Italian food meal and what did you think of it?

Theo 5:58

I don't know. I mean, it was probably pasta, but I've never really been that fond of Italian food in America, and I still don't. There has been a couple of restaurants that I've been to that I'm like, this actually really hits the mark. But usually there's something about it that just doesn't work. Even like the imported stuff, right? The most recent joke that we've been making is parmesan cheese. I'm like, I grew up where they make parmesan cheese and you can't find it, what they sell over here is not the same. I do appreciate American food culture though, I gotta say, because America, I think it's the only one place, maybe London, where you can get all sorts of diverse and variety of food. Go to New York City, or even in Boston, you can get whatever food from any culture that you want. You can't necessarily find that in Italy. And I think that is unique. You can eat all the pastas and the pizzas and the whatever you want in Italy, but sooner or later you may get tired of it.

Matt 6:58

No curries in Italy?

Theo 7:00

No, although I have seen an emergence of sushi and like, you know, pokebowl and Asian. It's becoming a thing. I think that's probably because it's considered or seen as fancy.

Matt 7:12

Uh-huh. I see. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool. All right. So my other question was what brought you to the United States? How did you go from this part of Italy where you said most people don't leave, and then how did you wind up in California? What was your trajectory to that path?

Theo 7:27

Yeah. I had always wanted to come to the U.S. for college. My parents always wanted me to come to the U.S. for college, but obviously, I think they had a sense, but they didn't really understand what it meant, in a sense that they didn't have the resources, they didn't have the means. So I had applied to like Georgetown and gotten into Georgetown. But obviously, the price was a real shock for an international student. I couldn't do that. So I ended up doing this exchange program in California, in Santa Cruz, California. And through that program, I was talking to the host families about it. And they were like, Well, there's this thing called community college. It's cheap. You can try that. So I was like, oh, I went and I inquired about it. And they were like, yeah, sure, come. And the price was reasonably still pretty expensive because I had to find boarding and all of that stuff. 

Matt 8:20

But a lot cheaper than Georgetown. 

Theo 8:22

Yeah, right. And even then, my parents couldn't afford it. So I had to find my way. I had always been fond of the financial market. So risking a little bit of money that my parents were like, well, we can give you that. Just they took a loan from a bank and they said that's the best they can do. You know, the rest is on you. And I'm lucky enough, my bet kind of paid off, and I was able to make my way to Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz, California. But then I won this national scholarship as a Jack Kent Cooke Scholar, and that allowed me to fully transfer to the University of Southern California. And yeah, that is pretty much the story.

Matt 9:01

Yeah. So then you got into the tech world. So what was interesting to you about the tech stuff?

Theo 9:06

You know, it was interesting. My path, I always thought, would be going to law school. I always had this idea that I was going to do like a joint degree of JD MBA. But as an international student, I saw that obviously money was, even though my scholarship would also pay for part of my grad school program. I just figured, you know, at the time Congress was talking about the startup visa. As I was getting ready to graduate, I had started thinking about, like, you know, gotten more interested. I think what I liked about the law was mostly the constitution, the U.S. Constitution, and how it was able to birth this democracy. That was something that had always been interesting to me. I was obsessed with the Supreme Court. I was very interested in like reading legal opinions from the Supreme Court and Supreme Court history and whatnot. 

Theo 10:03

But more and more I realized that was a passion. And I don't know if that was actually the path that I wanted to take because I don't think I really enjoyed any part of the law. Like I had a couple of friends in college where sometimes we would go sit in federal court and just listen to like court proceedings and processes and whatnot. I found it kind of boring. There was actually one case that kind of turned me off, at a federal court in Los Angeles where we went to sit in and it was a patent case. Like a little startup in Denver that was suing Microsoft for patent infringement. And it was the most boring thing. I just couldn't sit through it. Like, you know, usually I get excited about it. I'm like, okay, I don't think this is what I actually really want to do. 

Theo 10:44

But more and more I was getting interested, because I had a lot of friends that were part of the startup world. And I was getting more and more interested in that world. But that also coupled with, oh, maybe if I did that, I might be able to stay in the country through this startup visa. So I started learning more about it. And then I found venture capital to be incredibly fascinating. In terms of venture capital was a sort of its own beast coupled from the world of finance itself, that I didn't know much about. The thing that sort of birthed the entire financial market because they see these companies and these companies become big, and you know, the financial market get involved, like the IPO stage or what, in between the merchants acquisitions. 

Theo 11:30

So I became very, very, very interested in that world. And I wasn't necessarily looking for a problem to solve, but I had a problem, which is that I've never loved keys. I always lose them. And I had this fob in the apartment that I used to live in in college, and I would always lose it. But if you lose it, it's a lot of money to replace it. And I was like, maybe I found my problem, and this is the thing that I'm gonna work on. So I spent time recruiting friends who were designers and engineering to come work with me on it. And we ended up hoping to raise money. It was an interesting journey. It didn't work.

Matt 12:09

What was the product idea?

Theo 12:11

So initially, ultimately the goal was what became known as the Apple Air Tags. But we were starting with a much simpler solution that we were facing on campus of, you know, we built this mobile app, it's got the stickers on them. If someone loses something and you find it, anyone can communicate with that person anonymously without sharing your contact information or anything like that. Or you could just tell them that, look, I found your thing, I left it over here, bye-bye. But it was because at a time, what I was noticing was that you had Craigslist and you had Facebook. The lost and found was just like, you know, people were just posting about stuff that they've lost or they found, but there wasn't a seamless way for people to actually communicate directly with people. I thought it was an interesting problem at the time. 

Theo 13:00

I had initially, because I was going to a lot of like, you know, networking events and stuff like that. I just don't like physical stuff. So I was getting annoyed with business cards. And, you know, I initially tried to solve the problem of sharing business cards. 

Matt 13:15

Now there's a whole bunch of those apps. 

Theo 13:16

Yeah, exactly, right? Like, you know, that's one of the things in the startup world, you're either too early or you're too late. But this lost and found thing, we were trying to find what they call in the startup world a product market fit. And that never came to fruition. But we were trying to think of like, you know, what is the strategy here? Maybe we partner with music festivals and that led us to Bonnaroo and to talk to the organizers of Bonnaroo and Coachella and maybe airlines. We met with Alaska Airlines and Southwest, and it just wasn't the right product. But yeah.

Matt 13:51

So where's the next milestone in your career path then from there?

Theo 13:56

Well, I mean, I'm still very interested in venture capital. So I still follow what is happening in the venture world. You know, I'm not an engineer. Today, it's a different world, right? After we shut down code, I still had a lot of ideas. But like if you're not an engineer, back then it was incredibly hard because you have to recruit someone who is technical, what we call like technical co-founder, and it's a process of selling them your vision and stuff like that. Oftentimes, if it's not a problem that someone actually has themselves, you're asking them to commit, like maybe quit their jobs at Google or like Meta or something like that to come join you on this mission. Because I mentioned those companies, because oftentimes that's the kind of people that you're looking for, so that when it comes time to raise money, you get investors' interest. But I just found it, I was like, oh gosh, I'm not gonna do this anymore. 

Theo 14:48

But I had always been obsessed with the financial market and the financial world. Venture capital was just very interesting to me. So I fell sort of in that world of trying to get into venture capital. Was incredibly, incredibly hard, but I ended up going to work for a company that works directly with venture capitalists, which is what I did for a while and what I continue to do. And ultimately I just realized maybe I don't want to be in the tech world anymore. 

Theo 15:19

As I was at my last company, that's when we started renovating this house. And that got me very interested in real estate and I fell into the real estate world. That's what I do now. We have a property that, an historic property on the Cape, that we fully restored. Won the Dennis Historic Commission Restoration Award. And we now rent it as a short-term rental. Most of the time, if I'm not doing city council stuff, I'm like running around going to like open houses, or if I see, I could probably tell you every house that's on the market in Watertown or abutting neighborhood because that's the world that I've fallen into. It's the next step.

Matt 15:57

Yeah. So you're managing properties or you're doing specific renovations or?

Theo 16:02

Yeah, managing and also the next step for us is developing.

Matt 16:08

Gotcha. Well, I think we should maybe pivot into well, you moved into, when did you move to Watertown?

Theo 16:13

We moved to Watertown in 2020, like October 2020, in the middle of the pandemic.

Matt 16:21

So it's a different introduction to the city. But so your wife's family grew up here, and so you came back to their house. So yeah, what was it like moving to Watertown? What were your first impressions and all that?

Theo 16:34

It was interesting. I don't know. You know, my wife would tell you, when I first visited Boston with my wife, I was like, this place is not for me. I think Cambridge or Boston, I don't know, there was something about it that kind of reminded me of London. I had been, visited London when I was a kid from Italy. And through my scholarship, I also studied at the London School of Economics. And I was never really a big fan of London, really. So I was like, ah, I can see a bit of London here, you know. So I thought I was always gonna be in California forever. Then we just kept coming back. Well, obviously, my wife to come here for like Thanksgiving and other holidays and stuff like that. 

Theo 17:18

Watertown just seemed, I don't want to use the word cool, but like it just kept feeling like it was calling us in a way. And so one time we went with a couple friends that were already living here, who are actually our next door neighbors now, to Bodega. I don't know if you've been to that restaurant. And I thought that was the coolest restaurant that I'd ever been to. I don't want to say Bodega was the reason why we moved here, but I think Bodega gave us a sense of where Watertown was headed. And I also just felt like compared to most places, people seem nicer and easier. They don't seem to have this standoffish. So we just, I think the following day after Bodega, we started talking about it seriously. Maybe we should do this. And it was gonna be like a longer-term plan, maybe like five years or something like that, or even longer. 

Theo 18:14

Then COVID hit. And one of the biggest hesitations, that it wasn't necessarily an impediment, but as we're thinking about this process, it was hard to leave California. My wife especially had big friends over there, big community over there. The idea of just coming to Watertown and rebuilding a new community and stuff like that, I don't think either of us really wanted to deal with that. But when COVID hit, everybody was in their bubble. We weren't seeing people anyway. So maybe that made it easier for us to be like, okay, like time to get out of here.

Matt 18:48

I can still see you on a screen from Watertown versus in our place in California.

Theo 18:52

Exactly, yeah. So, and it's been nice to maintain those relationships and stuff. But moving here, I think, was one of the best decisions that we made. Yeah.

Matt 19:03

And so then how did you start getting involved with things going on in the city? What was that step for you?

Theo 19:09

Yeah, so when I quit my old job, I started having more free time. And my mother-in-law has been involved in the town for a very long time.

Matt 19:18

And what's her name for people who might know her?

Theo 19:20

Nancy Hammett. And so even before we moved to Watertown, we knew what was going on in the town from California because she would talk our ears off about everything that she was involved in. I don't know if it was part of the recruitment process of getting us to move to Watertown or she seemed.

Matt 19:36

You were ready to get on the ground running because you knew everything already. 

Theo 19:40

Well, not that I knew everything already, but like, you know, I mean, I had had a lot of familiarity of what was happening here, even before we moved here. Policy or community engagement is stuff that people talk about, especially families. So we'll have these conversations, all the stuff that she was doing, and she seemed busy all the time. And then obviously, like as I mentioned earlier, going back around, I had a lot more free time after I quit my job to focus on real estate. So even though I had a sense, already had a sense of what was going on in the town and all the cool things that is happening in the town. The hiring of George and the Watertown Square area plan, all of this. And also looking at a bigger picture, like what was happening in the country, was also a nudge to get involved. Like I was a political science major in college, as I mentioned earlier. 

Theo 20:38

The way I actually got interested in all of that, I was a black kid growing up in Italy and seeing, even though it wasn't a country that I lived in, but seeing Obama running for president was incredibly inspirational to me. Not that I thought, oh, maybe I could get into politics or anything like that, but I always remember that he would say something like, one voice can change a room, and if one voice can change a room, it can change a city. And I used to listen and memorize all of his speeches from the 2004 DNC convention and on the campaign trail with like yes we can and all of that. It was incredibly inspirational. So I've always enjoyed the idea of being involved in public service somehow. Then like the 2016 election, the 2020 election, and all of that happened, and you kind of feel this urge to be part of the community. And like I think Watertown is a really special place, especially with the people that live here. I felt comfortable that I can play a role or be involved somehow in this community. 

Theo 21:41

So when the resident advisory committee was being informed, my wife was like, Why don't you do that? I decided to apply for that and then luckily I was invited to join the group, and it was an amazing experience, a fantastic experience.

Matt 21:54

For people who don't know the resident advisory committee, you want to explain it a little bit?

Theo 21:58

So the resident advisory committee. Or the RAC, or rack, as it's called. It's a committee that came out of the new charter that was passed, I think, in the 2021 election. Yeah, around. Yeah. It's just an advisory group that advises the city manager on residents who want to be involved in the town by joining boards and committees. Their goal is to interview these candidates and make a recommendation to the city manager. The city manager can decide whether to take that recommendation or not, which both have happened. And it's ultimately it's just an advisory group. But that gave me a real insight into the operations of the city.

Matt 22:41

Yeah, you got to see all the committees and.

Theo 22:44

All the committees, all the boards, see what is happening with the city council. Because when you're doing that, you get more interested to know what is going on and got to meet a lot of people through that process.

Matt 22:54

I sat before you for my appointment on the public arts and culture committee. 

Theo 22:57

Right. Right.

Matt 22:59

You were a part of that group. 

Theo 23:00

Yeah. You know, get to meet people like you and get to know the people that you live with in your community, you know. So yeah, that was a monumental period for me. I kind of got an itch that I want to take this a step further, be more involved in the community. So I decided to run for city council.

Matt 23:17

Yeah. And what, was there like a specific moment where that idea popped in your head? Was there something that inspired you? Like, hey, I'm going to be a city councilor.

Theo 23:24

Yeah, I don't think, I don't think it was like that. I think it was more through a series of conversations and what was happening, what was coming up in the town. But I think one of the things that was a big realization for me is I personally believe that young people need to get involved. We keep hearing that everywhere, but I do think younger people need to get involved throughout the country. You know, if we look at our congressional representation, oftentimes politics, public service, it's almost like an untold, unspoken vibe where it's like, it's mostly, I don't want to say retirees, but like people, I want to choose my words very carefully here. But like, you know.

Matt 24:06

People who have more time.

Theo 24:08

Yeah, exactly. That get involved. But I do think because these decisions that are being made from the local level all the way to the top, it's gonna affect all of us. So having said that, something I used to say all the time, and my wife would be like, Well, you talk about it a lot, why don't you do it? And I'm like, Well, you know. And ultimately I decided to actually throw my hat in and do it. But even the campaign process was, the campaign process really got me to like really get to know Watertown, every corner of the city, get to know the people who live from the east side to the west side, north and south. And it was just a very incredible process.

Matt 24:50

What is that process like for someone who's never campaigned before? What does it involve for you?

Theo 24:54

Oh man, it's like you gotta be unafraid to introduce yourself to people you've never met before, knocking on your doors, and you're gonna get a lot of doors shot in your face and stuff. Even though Watertown, people in Watertown are the nicest people, you still gotta have a thick skin. You know, public service is like a process of competing ideas. Not everybody's gonna agree with what you stand for, so you have to be ready to defend your position. And but the positive thing about that process is just getting to know your neighbors and your community, and you come out of it with an incredibly positive view of the people where you live, is the best part of doing it. I mean, I love meeting new people, I love talking to people. But I gotta say, I was a little hesitant going and knocking on people's door. Yeah.

Matt 25:46

Did you have a favorite one or a couple that stick out of like you knocked on the door and you had an experience you completely weren't expecting that was great, or you know, something like that?

Theo 25:55

Yeah. I mean, I had a few at this point it's been, I guess it hasn't been too long. But I had people that were like, oh yeah, we've heard about you. But it was an interesting conversation that I had with someone who told me, Oh, there's no way that I was gonna vote for you from what I had read up. But after our conversation, it was like, You definitely got my vote. It's sort of like a cliche that going out and talking to people is actually one of the ways, but it's actually true because people are already making up their minds.

Matt 26:24

They make an avatar of you based on what they see.

Theo 26:26

Right. Like, you know, what is out there. So actually getting face time with those people is very incredibly, incredibly important. Yeah.

Matt 26:36

Yeah. And anything else in that, in the lead up before you joined the council that was, I don't know, that might be interesting for people to hear who don't know the behind the scenes of that process of campaigning and election day and all that stuff.

Theo 26:48

Yeah, I mean, the behind the scenes stuff was mostly having a small gathering at people's houses, which I'm incredibly grateful for for all the people that did that for me. Invited me into their home to meet your neighbors, and I did quite a bit of that. And obviously raising money, even at a local election, it's pretty expensive. So you got to get people to donate to your campaign, you know, making signs and like strategizing. We were essentially pretty much a campaign of two. It was just me and my wife. We’d deliberate about what we're gonna do next and the stuff, and like the forums and the write-ups and questionnaires and stuff like that. It's a lot of work behind the scenes. I don't know what people see, but yeah, it is a lot of work.

Matt 27:35

Yeah. And then what was it like when you finally found out that you actually got elected and you won?

Theo 27:40

Ah, I thought it was exciting. I mean, I don't know how else to say it. We found out at our campaign party at Branch Line, because the cool thing about this is you find out right away after the polls close. Will Pennington who is my neighbor across the street, and he calls and he's like, You won. I was like, You said what? He said, You won. I was like, what? It was exciting. It was an incredible moment. And it’s like, okay, we're actually really doing this.

Matt 28:05

Yeah. And then when did the moment hit and was like, all right, I gotta do some work.

Theo 28:09

Yeah. Well, I think it was the inauguration. I remember feeling like, gosh, what have I gotten myself into? But yeah, after that, you just feel the responsibility that's sort of bestowed upon you as the custodian of the city's affairs and finances and all of that. You just realize that it's an insurmountable amount of work. Which you realize when you start going through all of the council's infrastructure and stuff like that. But I think it's good work. I think it's good work, and I think it's an intellectual process that really engages you to be able to think in various ways because you're dealing with everything and like. 

Matt 28:53

You can’t have a specialty. You have to know everything.

Theo 28:56

Exactly. You don't have to know it, right? You know, you don't have to know it. That's the best part about it. We have an incredible council president. He has a lot of experience and always available for questions. We have an incredible amount of great people living in a community with deep expertise. And the way I've always approached things is you never have to have the answer to anything. You have to find someone who has the answer to talk to, ask them for their time, and be grateful when they give it to you. Obviously, being prepared and making sure you're engaging them, it’s very important. But so yeah, it can be a lot of work in that sense. But again, like I said, you also have the people in your community to count on because everybody wants to help, believe it or not. All you got to do is reach out, whether it's housing, it's transportation, it's like climate stuff, it's like senior stuff, schools or education and stuff like that. Yeah, I'm sure you can always find someone to talk to. And also, like I said, Mark, the council president, he's got a lot of institutional knowledge. He always gives you the time of the day to chat, and he's not telling you to vote one way or the other, but like you can always go to him with questions. Vinnie, all of these people. Yeah.

Matt 30:05

So yeah, it's been six months at this point. So what has been some of the biggest surprises about what you thought it would be like going in and now kind of half a year in, oh, this is how actually this works, you know?

Theo 30:16

Yeah, the biggest surprise is like the amount of work that happens behind the scene that people don't see. Like a lot of the committee work, that's where things actually happen. Yeah, because like you know, oftentimes you, I mean, not everybody, but when people think about a city council, they may think, oh, it’s the meetings that they have every other Tuesday. Maybe they do their homework. But it's a lot more than that. The emails that you get and the correspondence of people that you gotta talk to and other committee work, the executive sessions. So it is a lot of work in that sense, and a lot of times it's work that people don't necessarily see. But what was the other part of your question?

Matt 30:58

Well, it's just what was the most surprising thing about what you thought would be like coming in and then what it's actually like being on the inside?

Theo 31:05

Yeah. I mean, I knew it was gonna be a lot of work that I did know, but it's ended up being a lot more work than I thought it was gonna be. But being on the inside, it's just, it is interesting in a sense that, and I consider this politics, because I think politics is not always kumbaya and everybody like, but in Watertown, it's very strange. Everybody gets along on a council. I guess it's not strange because that's how you would want it anywhere. 

Matt 31:31

Respectfully disagree. 

Theo 31:32

Yeah, even behind closed doors, everybody gets along. You know, I thought, oh, maybe there's some battles going on in the background that we are not seeing. No. And I gotta say, like people take the work of the public very seriously. The open meeting laws. The amount of work that a lot of these councilors put in is incredible, and it kind of keeps you on your toes and makes you realize, geez, you're the new guy. You gotta keep up, you know. But everybody, everybody that's on there deeply, deeply, deeply cares about the work that they're doing on the council. And I think that's important, and it's been great to see.

Matt 32:09

Yeah. So, what do you think has been the most successful thing you've done since joining the council? And where's your vision going forward? And what do you want people to know about Watertown going forward based on that?

Theo 32:21

I think probably the most successful, it's still early to be grading myself, but the way I have sort of envisioned my first year is listening, journey, and learning. And I think I've been very successful in that. Learning how the city actually works, right? I mentioned earlier that when I was on the resident advisory council, I got a lot of insight into the city council. But now I'm actually learning how it actually works, you know, the budgeting process. Like the city council is the redevelopment authority for the Watertown Square. Talking to constituents and people in town about where they would like to see this community go. I interact with people who either agree with me or disagree with me. So I think I've been successful in that. In my fact-finding, I guess is what I'll call it. A curiosity journey, I think that's been a success. I'm not afraid to ask questions, to engage people who don't agree with me. 

Theo 33:21

This first year, that's probably the journey that I'm on, and trying to figure out like I'm the chair of the Parks and Rec committee. I am on the Climate and Energy Committee and Legislative, State and Federal Committee. I'm on the Education Committee as well. So four. There is a lot, a lot, a lot to be done. So taking it a step at a time, but with as much speed as possible. But the first six months, I think it's been a success in actually like understanding how the sausage is made. And grateful to all my colleagues who've been very incredibly welcoming and available for whatever questions I have and stuff. Yeah.

Matt 34:00

Yeah. Any last thoughts for the future for Watertown people listening?

Theo 34:04

Yeah, I mean, anyone who's listening, I think the thing that I would say is I would like to see more people get involved. I truly do believe that democracy is not a spectator sport. You've got to be involved, especially in a community like this. There is no reason why you shouldn't be because people want you to. It's such a welcoming community. So find a board or something like that. We have so many boards and committees. The Resident Advisory Committee, I know, is always looking for people, recruiting people. Maybe start there. Maybe someday you might run for city council. I don't know. But the one thing that I think is important for people to remember is that we are in this together. We keep looking after each other whether through like the policymaking process or in our day-to-day lives.

Matt 34:49

Awesome. Well, if people do want to reach out to you, where should they find you?

Theo 34:53

Yeah, I mean, my city council email is on the city council website. My phone number is on there as well. So I'm very easy to find. And I'm always happy for a chat, coffee chat, talk on the phone. 

Matt 35:04

Podcast chat. 

Theo 35:05

Podcast chat. Anytime. Yeah.

Matt 35:07

Cool. Well, thanks for taking the time to sit down and share your thoughts and stories.

Theo 35:14

Absolutely. I'm glad we were able to finally do this. Yeah. 

Matt 35:16

Awesome. Well, thank you, and bye, listeners. 

Matt 35:18

So that's it for my conversation with Theo. I'll put a link in the show notes to the city council page so you can find his contact information. If you'd like to listen to more episodes of the podcast, get to know more of your neighbors and what's going on in the city, head on over to LittleLocalConversations.com. There you can find all the episodes, information on upcoming events, which will start back up in September. If you’re listening to this when this comes out, on a little break right now. And you can also sign up for my weekly newsletter. If you like the podcast, you can also support it as a Little Local Friend, clicking on the support local conversation button in the menu. Again, find all that over at LittleLocalConversations.com. 

Matt 35:55

Alright, and I want to give a few shoutouts here to wrap things up. I want to give a thank you to the Watertown Cultural Council, who have given me a grant this year to help support the podcast. So I want to give them the appropriate credit, which is, this program is supported in part by a grant from the Watertown Cultural Council, a local agency, which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency. You can find out more about them at WatertownCulturalCouncil.org and MassCulturalCouncil.org. And a couple more shoutouts to promotional partners. First the Watertown Business Coalition. Their motto is Community is Our Business. Find out more about them and their events at WatertownBusinessCoalition.com. And lastly, Watertown News, which is a Watertown focused online newspaper. It's a great place to keep up to date with everything going on in the city. Check that out at WatertownMANews.com. So that's it. Until next time, take care.