Announcing New Podcast From A Little Beacon Blog: "Wait, What Is That?"

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Hello!

The inspiration for A Little Beacon Blog came from not knowing about things in Beacon. Could  be the timing of a Spring Egg Hunt, or it could be why the Spirit of Beacon Day started (answer: after youth inspired racial riots decades ago!).

As the City of Beacon began growing with development of apartment buildings, a reader lamented one day: "A Little Beacon Blog isn't going to be so little anymore." And here's the truth: A Little Beacon Blog has the word "little" in it for 2 reasons:

1. The assumption was that there would be a lot of blogs about Beacon. Turns out, that manifested in the form of Instagram accounts, which are awesome.

2. ALBB always focuses on the little details. Could be a rose, could be a tree, could be an honoree, could be a bench, could a wrench.


In The Beginning...

At the beginning of the pandemic, people starting recording more videos. Disconnect people from each other, and we break out of comfort zones into new mediums in order to connect. This happened at A Little Beacon Blog too, in the form of a podcast. We set up a studio in Katie's shed, which is ventilated with 2 doors, a fan and an air conditioner, and we wear masks during interviews. Plexiglass is next.
 

About The Co-Hosts...

Brandon Lillard is the co-host of this podcast, and the recording producer. Raised in the City of Beacon, some of you may remember him from that time he attended Beacon High School and created a character for himself: Mr. Beacon High. This was his way of working with many different people. Brandon went on to become a community organizer, youth mentor and podcast producer with Youth Podcast Program, and is a board member for I Am Beacon. Brandon had nudged ALBB's publisher Katie for a while (ok, 5 years) to start a podcast. When in a pandemic, she said yes.

We are so excited to announce to you today the start of the podcast extension of A Little Beacon Blog, called "Wait, What Is That?" It's a podcast dedicated to finding out the answers behind simple and hard questions. Sometimes during our interviews, we discover more questions, and pursue new topics to dig deeper. This could be about donuts made in Connecticut but named after Brooklyn, or the Federal Investigation of the Beacon Police Department many years ago.

We have 5 episodes to start you out with. Do carve the time out of your day during your commute to nowhere, or your gardening time, or your outdoor fitness time.

Many of these episodes will serve you well in your homework for issues going on right now in Beacon.

EPISODE 1: The Beginning
Brandon and Katie record their first podcast. Not sure what they were going to talk about. And then Brandon brought the Brooklyn Baking Company Donuts. Which are from Connecticut. And go…

EPISODE 2: Let's Do This
Because sometimes you just need a cup of coffee and a Popsicle. In discovering their voices, Brandon and Katie take a deep dive into that house on the corner of Cross Street that is a storefront window. Brandon remembers when it was a deli and he went there daily on his way to and from the old Beacon High School.

EPISODE 3: Former Mayor Randy Casale
Well HELLO. Our first interview is with the former Mayor of Beacon for 2 terms: Randy Casale. A born and bread Beaconite who knows everything about everything Beacon. Everything.

We interviewed Randy when he was fresh out of his political silence, during the debate about his stepson's bench and if it should be removed or moved. The original interview was 3 hours.

At the recommendation of his attorney, the podcast was edited down to 39 minutes. The bench issue has been settled for now, so he did not want to reignite.

We talk to him about his experience with the Beacon Police Department, his insistence on and fight for body cameras, and the Federal Investigation of the Beacon PD years ago.

He also discusses with us about the demotion of a Highway Superintendent, Reuben Simmons, who was demoted back down to a worker position, how a mysterious letter dis-crediting Reuben was hand-delivered to a council person's porch, how Civil Service rules worked to legally let it all happen, and if the City of Beacon had an opportunity to keep Reuben in his job, but did not take that route. Even though Randy voted for the appointment of the current Highway Superintendent, Randy said Reuben having the position be taken from him was one of his biggest regrets.

EPISODE 4: Mayor Lee Kyriacou
BAM. Our next interview was with current Mayor Lee Kyriacou. During Randy’s interview, and during the 1st biggest BLM protest in Beacon, we learned that Lee spearheaded the look-see into Beacon’s Police Department in the early 2000s, which resulted in a Federal Investigation. We wanted to learn more about that.

EPISODE 5: Reuben Simmons
Following up on what we learned earlier, we interviewed Reuben about how and why he no longer has the position of Highway Superintendent, after 1 year of serving in it. Katie worked with Reuben when he created the Rock Out For Mental Health music event last year. Many service agencies came together at one community event, which impacted a lot of people.

When Katie wrote the article about Reuben's inspiration for the event, she went to confirm his job title, which had been Highway Superintendent. Reuben worked for the Highway Department since 2002, and she was proud of his promotion. But LinkedIn showed a job descension: where he once was the Highway Superintendent, he was now Maintenance Worker. What happened?

Reuben couldn't answer at the time, as he was filing a complaint about the experience. One year later, at the first BLM sound stage, Reuben spoke out about it. Reuben walks us through the chess match of Civil Service rules which determine how a city can hire, fire, demote, and discipline employees.

Reuben says he did not know about the mystery letter until much later. A Little Beacon Blog has a copy of it, and published it with this podcast so that you can read it. Additionally, we have published the City Council Meeting from February 2019 where each City Council Member voted to appoint Reuben's co-worker to the job under a technicality. During that meeting, many from the Highway Department were in the audience (except for the 3 Black workers in the Highway Department, including Reuben, who say they were not told about the date of the appointment). The staff from the Highway Department can be heard hooting and hollering during the vote. Many on the Council laughed with them.

Reuben continues his work every day for the City, but has this to say on why he speaks out now: "I have experienced unfair treatment, harassment, and retaliation in the Highway Department that has continued after my efforts to bring a number of issues to the attention of city management and leadership. I share my story as a response to the many narratives and rumors spread by childish individuals and because I don’t want it happening to anyone else."

The letter, the public City Council meeting with the laughter, and a timeline of events have been published with this podcast. A Little Beacon Blog reached out to the City Administrator for confirmation of the timeline, and was responded to with an invitation to talk to the City's labor lawyer. While we don't need a conversation, we are awaiting an email response to our questions.

If you're following Police news with any hiring of positions, you'll want to listen to this podcast to get familiar with Civil Service chess. If you want to learn about how someone gets safely removed from a job without legal ramifications, you'll want to listen to this podcast.

EPISODE 6: Ali T. Muhammad
Ali T. Muhammad was born and raised in Beacon, NY, walking every day down a literal pathway between prison and public school, as his home was on the grounds. He walked the “school to prison pipeline” (and tells us about what that means on this podcast). His father was incarcerated for 12 years, and upon getting released, became the Chaplin for Fishkill Correctional Facility. Ali’s mother was a teacher at Rombout Middle School (and was Brandon’s teacher!).

Ali lived the life of a Black youth in Beacon, and continues to as a Black man in America. As a way to keep himself occupied and on a straight path, he began getting involved with local politics, getting elected as a Council Member for Ward 4 at an early age.

Ali served on Beacon's City Council years ago, and after a period bucking his own Democratic party, wasn't elected back. He was known to stay focused on issues of inequality for Black and poor communities, but was often dismissed. His concerns are coming back to make sense now to more people during this racial revolution. Katie and Brandon talk to Ali about those issues, including how to build a WeePlay Tot Park at Davies Terrace and other low income housing projects that are owned by private, large, wealthy real estate companies. Lots of times kids in the low income housing projects don't have access to transportation to get to city parks, and depend on taxis to get to the Beacon Pool - if they can afford the ride. We discuss this and more.

Next Up: We interview Katie's son, Cole, who wanted to talk about his feelings upon hearing that Paw Patrol might be canceled, and then fact checking the White House who in late July said it was canceled, but was in fact not. Cole tells us what he values about Paw Patrol.

Then: We'll meet our sometimes 3rd co-host, Blake Daniel Leslie, a musician, artist, actor and podcaster. And Brandon's best friend. You might recognize Blake from his days with the cover-band Skin and Bones who used to play around town.

And a few more: We have a few more interviews on deck. We interview on Wednesdays, and will release as they are produced.