tonight and kqed newsroom we speak about the findings of the january 6 commission and the current gridlock in washington. >> plus mayor recently stepped down leaving san jose. we talk with him about his legacy and lessons learned from being in office. and we take a visit to san francisco's iconic ferry building. coming from kqed headquarters in san francisco, this friday, january 6, 2023. >> hello and welcome. this is kqed newsroom and i

am priya david clemens. i hope you're having a great start to the new year and i happy to be back with you on this wet and windy week. let's turn now to washington. the shocking attack on the nation's capital still feels so fresh. it is hard to believe it took place two years ago today. the violence carried out by the members of the far right still echoes loudly. a different sort of far right power on display this week as a group of 20 ultraconservatives caused chaos. joining me now to discuss his of congress member row, thank you for joining us. taking a few minutes to step away from all the action. >> thank you priya , happy new year happy new year to everyone in the bay area watching. >> can you tell us a little bit

about why this is such a big ú we all have been talking about the talk in washington and the problems with electing a speaker with that slim republican majority. why does the speaker position matter so much tran08 >> we are all members elect. before members of congress can be sworn in you have to elect a speaker of the house. until we have a speaker of the house we basically don't have a functioning congress. declare war, we can't appropriate any money. we are right now without a functional government until we get a speaker of the house. >> it also means that the people who are newly elected into office can't be sworn in so maybe i should be calling you representative elect right now. >> none of us can be sworn in.

by january 13th, members elect me start getting paid. i don't know the details. more important and that is the country's work can't take place. if congress literally can't do anything. it is unprecedented because mccarthy had two months after november to work this out. i don't understand why he went through those deals in november or december. the biggest concern i have is if it is so hard for him to get the votes a speaker imagine how hard to govern. we have some scary votes coming up. imagine of this country falls on the and not raising it. that would cause a global recession and it would be catastrophic. people should be concerned about our availability to govern. >> what does this mean, the fact that such a slim majority of ultraconservatives can kind of hold d.c. hostage like this?

>> you put it exactly correctly. kevin mccarthy today and level i just it is finally making some progress. he got some people to flip but he has done that by basically giving away the entire barn. úh far right about the drastic cuts in spending. about a potential raising the debt ceiling. these will have catastrophic consequences for the working class, middle-class america and for our own prestige as america. we never defaulted on our credit before and i am concerned about the promises that he is making to an extreme group to get votes. >> this is not your first week in washington. you have been a representative for some time tell me what feels like to be there this week. is there a strong sense of conflict, aggression, tension? is there frustration and patience through this process, what is it like.

>> to the first day there was a bit of novelty, and has never happened that someone hasn't gotten the vote of speaker or the first ballot in 100 years. as he started to going to vote number 4, five, six. there was just in exasperation and a real concern and anxiousness about what deals are being made with the far right to get there vote and that is a concern not just shared by democrats but many republicans. >> there is some historical precedents for this happening, but 1923. 100 years ago was the last time there was such a delay in installing a new speaker. we have had decades of more peaceful transitions, easier transitions. why is this issue coming up now? america has really grown and evolved in the years since then. >> has grown and evolved but

it matters a lot more. it mattered in 1923 but this was before world war ii and became the world undisputed superpower. now in america it affects millions of lives. we aren't the dominant global economy. it has huge consequnces and i think it is happening because of the dysfunction of the republican party. the fact that they had two months and could not come to a consensus of a speaker shows they are very disunited and have extreme elements in their party that wants to blow up institutions. that is what they say, the aaron washington trying to blow up institutions. it is a concerning time for the country. >> anything else on this topic right now, congress member that you would like to share. >> the first african-american to lead a party, the democrats have shown remarkable unity.

i think you will eventually be a great speaker and a great leader. >> i want to turn now to the january 6 commission. january 6 was two years ago today. are you feeling reverberations of what happened then in washington, being there again now. what is it like for you? >> priya it is a reminder that , that day i was locked up actually in this office. but it is also a reminder of democracy. it gave me a sense of optimism that our democracy is very resilient and ultimately that the democratic way of life in america will prevail. it is important to remind

ourselves of how fragile democracy is, the threat of it and to reaffirm our commitment to the american democratic. >> there is also been referrals by the january 6 commission over to the justice department and they are recommending criminal charges be brought against donald trump and others. do you think he will be charged? >> i think that is a decision for attorney general to make. obviously i have expressed condemnation and what he did, but it is not for politicians to a pine in legal matters. impeccable integrity and should be beyond politics and i want him to go where the facts take it. >> what you think about the waning power of president trump , recently announced election bid has been underwhelming to say the least.

his support for candidates in the most recent election did not do very much in certain cases it seems to have hurt them. what do you think about this shift. >> catching on that it really isn't consistent with our principles and it has caught up to him. you had kevin mccarthy still groveling to donald trump for trump's endorsement. i don't think the republican party has been rid of trumpism and it would be a mistake to underestimate trumpism which is why support our president, president biden and whatever i can to strengthen his hand. >> last, i want to ask you about regulation that is out there that your future. political publish an article and named you as someone that is actively exploring a bid?

are you? >> i am very happy representing silicon valley i think it is one of the biggest forms in the nation if not the world. i candidly people have approached me about it but my inclination right now is to continue to represent silicon valley. >> do you agree with some who say that it is time for senator feinstein to see her position. >> i would be shocked if she runs for re-election . i don't think that would be appropriate . i think it is her decision to serve out her time and i don't think she should be pressured in not serving on her term. >> congress member, ro khanna. i hope you have a quieter weekend and this all wraps up. thank you for taking time. >> let's see if we can get this done. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> after two terms in office,

sam accardo finished his final year as mayor of san jose. the 10th largest hoodie in the country. during that time he led the city through pension reform, new housing developments a mass shooting at the valley transportation railyard and a spike in homelessness. mayor sam liccardo joins us right now. thank you for joining us. >> great to be here priya. >> is january 6 and we are looking back at what happened and what is to come with the investigations. where were you on january's ex? >> i remember getting a call from my dad saying they were storming the capital and i thought he was watching some crazy feed online or something. couldn't possibly be true. i didn't believe it. it is still hard to believe and imagine. >> when he started to see it unfold, i think it hits all of us viscerally at that moment. how did it impact you and did

influence the course of your work as a leader for the next couple of years at all? >> it makes us reflect on what is important about our democracy. the most hallowed of democratic institutions, the right to vote, elections, how critical that is. we have been working through our own challenges in itself a and san jose. now we are grappling with an issue with 2000 residents who don't have the opportunity to vote for their councilmember. >> what happened? >> there was a decision by the council to appoint someone to represent these two districts as you can imagine, if you are a resident of those two districts you might resent that. it is important for us to remember it is not about folks who are charging up the capital steps in viking hat, those are extreme examples. it is not morally equivalent to a decision by a council to say, we are just going to appoint

representatives instead of allowing you to vote. it is important for us to recognize we have a role to protect. a hallowed institution in institutions like city hall we have to take it seriously. >> here you are, looking back at eight years in office as mayor. as you think back on it, what stands out to you as a lesson in leadership that you have had to learn over the last eight years? >> i think you come into office with a lot of ideas about what you are going to do to transform a place to try to make for better policy to prove quality of life for the community. i have been reminded more than once that the best thing you can do is stop and listen. sometimes you learn it the hard way. but, usually it is a community leader that is outspoken as community leaders have to be to be effective. i remember one in particular very outspoken woman, who sadly we just lost. a spanish speaker who told me

very clear terms what her community needed and it wasn't what i assumed. >> what was the difference there? >> we were focused on things like getting parks built and things for communities that traditionally are overlooked in our city. she reminded me that it was about the people. that it wasn't just about building things, it was about building relationships in the community. both police as well is having the programs for youth and not she critically wanted it. that was a gut check for me. these are the kind of things we need is leaders, the honest conversations where someone says, you might think you are trying to help us that you are not. >> where you think you have been able to help san jose in your time as mayor? >> i would like to think of it as reorienting the refocus of the city. we have been in a lot of battles over pension reform, 1000 employees flee city hall

including about 600 police officers. we are still licking her ones from the great recession and we have moved that focus from the past to the future. getting people to talk about how for example, we bring art to san jose which we have started and will continue. how we can help a couple thousand first-generation students get on a pathway to college. how we can build an incredible campus for google and thousands of homes in the downtown area. those kinds of projects, preserving thousands of acres in coyote valley for future generations. getting a community focus on making san jose the next great city. of the united states. i think that i believe will be a great contribution together. >> let me talk with you a little about san jose. it is the largest city in the bay area, 1.1 millionpeople in the 10th largest in the nation.

yet, somehow you also aim to skate under the radar a lot. >> we do. >> what is that about? >> we like it that way. all the attention goes elsewhere and things still managed to work out all right. we aren't an attention grabbing group. i think we have a lot of very diverse city and innovative city. but i think we're all pretty focused on doing extraordinary things within, obviously in the heart of silicon valley. but it is not about grabbing attention. i like that about our community. it is very accessible, unlike other communities that are a bit more hierarchal and people come to san jose and with a few years have a impact on the community because we are more open source. we are open to everyone and proud of the fact that we are a place for about 40% of our adults came from a foreign country. that is a kind of environment

and community i think where creativity thrives and diversity really works. >> how much is the idtyenof ti innovation, technology, being such a representative silicon valley? >> obviously important, since we are the largest city in the valley. but i would say for many years, city hall no one has paid attention to the creativity of the community. what we are focused on his when i came in was creating a team of folks who would do nothing except engage outside city hall. with creative people in our community. for example we just launched a few weeks ago an initiative working with students to create úa portal to enable the public access to police misconduct records in ways that previously they hadn't. just relying on college students who are interested in contribution discourse and relying on their web skills for example. more and more i think we are seeing as city hall,

responsive and embracing the innovation around us. >> i also coming to the beginning of a development project after six years in the making. you have finally broken ground and you have been part of championing create mixed-use space in downtown san jose and a part of san jose that was does utilize a four. tell us about what the vision is for that google space and what you expected to create for the city. >> san jose we grew up in the 50s and 60s and grew very rapidly. we have a city that is largely adult, suburban, lots of folks stuck on suburban city freeways. we fashion a city that was built for cars into a city built for people. this google project enables us to accelerate that work. it is not just about building

it is about integrating housing and in this case google has made a huge commitment to their credit. built 4000 homes, one quarter of them will be rent restricted and affordable. integrated with retail and restaurants and of course campus as well. the size of it is obviously very significant, twice the size of apple world headquarters. this is tremendous for a downtown that has struggled through the decades. creating a court that we know the city of san jose deserves. >> would you pointed that is one of the key moments of your legacy of having been mayor? would you say the gun control initiative for example you put forward in the changes you have made their or the pension reform or filling out your police department? which of these pieces do you feel as you look back, you think this is your legacy and where you wanted san jose to go? >> i can't say it is any one

thing. it really is around creating the sense that this is a city that for so long has been on a verge of really accomplishing tremendous things collectively. now, everybody is pushing together to get there. it doesn't mean we're agreeing on everything, that certainly does not happen in big cities. but for example in this google development, the fact we have very diverse groups, pro- business, prolabor, environmental groups all pushing together on this. it is significant and it has resulted in, to google's credit, a tremendous amount of investment in nonprofits, affordable housing and other kinds of things that will revitalize our city. >> as mayor, you presided over a time when there was a deadly mass shooting in the san francisco bay area in 2021 i gunmen shot and killed 9 people at a railyard. then committed suicide himself. how does that impact your thinking on guns and gun

control? >> i think like every big city mayor we are all just struggling for answers. there is no simple answer, there is no somehow or another that prevents the next mass shooting. we have actually suffered through three separate incidents that are classified as mass shootings and we frankly have had an easier time in many big cities as we look at the data which is awful to imagine. i had been pushing forward on several initiatives to see how we could do better. what ultimately emerged through several months of work with the community was trying to find a pathway given all the constraints we have, federal law, state law, et cetera to actually be able to make our neighborhood safer. in a world, in a country where we have 400 million guns we aren't going to suddenly turn back time and turn back the

tide of proliferation of guns in our city or country. we can make gun ownership safer. what we ultimately introduce or gun insurance requirement and a fee requirement where we could use that revenue and violence prevention. we are still in the midst of implementing those things. úthe effective january 1st. the fees will be imposed in a matter of months i suspect as we are emerging from court battles. but what we hope is be are providing some opportunity for other cities and other state to look at this. i get a lot of calls from other mayors saying let us know when you are done because we want to try this too. we don't think there is any one solution, there will be a lot of solutions. but at least we have a way to make gun ownership safer. >> you have called homelessness the biggest failure of san jose. you have done some work to

reduce homelessness, made attempts while in office. you are out now and onto the next. what needs to be done in san jose going forward to address the needs of the unhoused? >> that is every big city in the western united states. i am guessing the number 1 problem in those cities based on my conversations with mayors is, no one has figured it out. we are learning a lot and with the benefit of experience of other cities, particularly with mayors in california. we feel each other's ideas and we have been building toward better solutions. one is prevention. we know it is much more cost- effective and reduces a lot of human misery if we can get to families before they get the notice of eviction. we are seeing a lot of success with prevention programs in san jose, oakland and other cities. secondly we are learning about ways to build housing more cost efficiently and faster. in 2015 reply lighted programs

to convert motels to housing and we did that a couple of times and the governor since has taken that statewide and it has done great work. we are also building prefabricated housing which we just tried during the middle the pandemic. what we discovered was rather than taking five or six years to build an apartment building, $800,000 a unit which is what it cost right now in the bay area. we can do it in a fraction of that cost. and in a matter of months rather than years. really being able to accelerate and hail those efforts is going to be a pathway to success for the good news is my success right now, is focused on that. >> you you have, your family has a long history in california and in san jose as well. you have now served as mayor for eight years. what is next for former mayor, sam liccardo. there was hopes you would run

for congress in the future. >> no hopes for now. i promise myself and my wife that i would take a few weeks to think about it. i wanted to put all my focus and you racing to the finish line and running through the tape so that is what i have done and i will take the time in the next couple of weeks to sort it out. >> we are looking forward to an announcement if that is to come in the coming weeks, you're welcome to come back and share that on the show. >> good luck to you. thank you priya. >> thank you so much. >> san francisco's ferry building opened in 1898 as a transportation hub for anyone arriving to the city by train. for many years the ferry was the only way travelers and commuters could reach the east bay. the building survived both the 1906 and 1989 earthquakes. it is this week's look at something beautiful. ♪ ♪ [ music ] ♪ ♪ [ music ]

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>> beautiful. i had no idea there was a tattoo of mahatma gandhi there. i will have to go check that out. that is the end of our show for tonight you can email us or find kqed.org you can also reach me on social media. thank you for joining us. we will see right back here next friday night. have a great weekend.

yamiche: divided government and a divided gop. >> a speaker has not been elected. yamiche: multiple rounds of votes over several days and there is still no speaker of the house. >> we won't elect anyone that will unite the republican party, kevin mccarthy is not that person. yamiche: republican kevin mccarthy becomes the first person to repeatedly lose the speakers ballot in more than 100 years, but he is gaining ground after closed-door meetings, concessions, and compromise. meanwhile -- >> we can work together, we can get things done, we can move the nation forward. yamiche: president biden enters this new time with a high-profile show of bipartisanship.

plus, the na