The Scoop with Tanya Flanagan

Wesley Knight 0:00
This is a KU NB studios original program. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

Tanya Flanagan 0:19
Good morning, and thank you for joining me for the scoop with Tonya Flanagan, I'm so happy you decided to wake up and start your day with me here on the scoop, where we talk about life, joy, funny moments, trending topics and so much more. We promise to keep you in the know and find out what you know. So let's get started. You

Tanya Flanagan 0:47
Good morning Las Vegas, and welcome to another issue of the scoop with me. Tanya Flanagan, here in KU NB, 91.5 jazz and more. I want to thank you for waking up and joining me tuning into the show. Hope you continuously enjoy the programming here on the station. We do our very best to bring you the best of what we have. As always, I look forward to our weekly conversations and trying to bring you interesting and entertaining people that will allow you to learn more about the great state of Nevada, the city of Las Vegas, the people who are here, what they do and how they make a difference in each and every one of our lives. Today, I welcome to the show a dear friend of mine, a woman who I admire greatly. It is Father's Day, and of course, I want to give a huge shout out to all the dads. This is a woman who kind of wears two hats. Her son has a wonderful father, but she is an amazing mom who has always been a day one down for her son, a mother, but we are talking about that aspect of her life and every other aspect of it. So I want to welcome to the show. Asha Jones, good morning.

Asha Jones 1:49
Asha, thank you. Good morning. Good morning. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. Intro, my son. He does have a great Dave, but I always say kids need all, all of us, mom, dad, the village, grandma, grandpa, but yeah. And, you know, he's my,

Tanya Flanagan 2:05
you and I, I, you know, I love that. Every time I see him, whether it a lot of time passes or doesn't, he always says, hey. He says, Hey, Auntie. And right, it is so special when you have a friend, and you know that the child has been raised to believe in the village, and Christian family believes in the village. And I remember him as a young brain now, a grown man doing his own thing and walking and following in your footsteps and giving back to the community, because you have always been a proponent of service. And so, you know, I think your motto is essentially, if we are not serving, what are we doing? We're here to serve. We're here to give and to improve and to uplift. So you are exemplary of that, and you are a great example of what he has grown into and who he has become. And I just say thank you, and I tip my hat. And people talk about getting flowers while you are alive, that intro is sincere. It is heartfelt, because you are a woman who as a friend, I appreciate but as a person, I just admire you, who you are, what you've done, your walks and and the the mindset behind why you do the things that you do. So So folks, what we're going to do is station this morning, and we're going to talk about all of the different things that the dynamic and amazing Asha Jones does, in addition to just being a good friend and making you laugh, while also handling business in a tremendous way with an energy level that is should be something that we could bottle it and sell it, I promise you you would buy it so you could do as many things as she does in one day, every day. Well,

Asha Jones 3:45
we met in service. So, you know, I like to be with like minded people. It's so funny now you see people out and it's like, what do we have this weekend? We know we're going to be out working and serving the community. And that's honestly, like they said, that's your rent for being on Earth. It's so many people who need help. And I just, I want to do my part. Well.

Tanya Flanagan 4:07
I want to say that, you know, you do so much right now to pay the rent. You are the Vice President of Corporate affairs for bright line, the rail project to connect Southern Nevada and Southern California. So I do want to mention, I want people to know that in addition to all of the amounts of community service that you do, you do have an actual job that you go to every day, and

Asha Jones 4:33
that's exciting. We are, how is this? How is the transformative project coming? You know, how is the transformative project going? Give us a little bit. I'll tell you, I am growing up in Vegas. I'm not allowed to say I was born and raised. Anthony Manor says I can't say it because I moved here when I was three. So I've always heard about this project. I mean, I think going all the way back to definitely high school, maybe middle school, there was this we need to train. How do we connect? Las Vegas and Southern California, and you know, this is under bright line, they've been able to bring it closer than anybody else. And I mean literally, right now, we're in the final stages of contract negotiations with our contractors so that we can begin the work. I actually just went and prior to this call, visited with some businesses along the alignment, just as we want them to know what's coming the big thing is, how do we communicate this? We know that Nevada, state flower is the orange comb. So when people hear that there's about to be construction, they want to know how they're going to be impacted. So that is what we've been working on, that my team both here in California and Nevada, I'm sorry, Nevada and California have been working on is making sure that we know the community. We know who we're impacting, and then we also know who we're benefiting. We know that the folks driving into Las Vegas, there's a significant percentage, I want to say it's about 60% that come from the Inland Empire area. Sometimes people in LA just fly. But the people that are driving, not that we don't have people driving from LA, but they're in that area where our station is going to be. So our station is in Rancho Cucamonga, one of them, and it will sit on top of the Metrolink station. So just like on the East Coast, you take the train, you get off, you go down the escalator, get on your next train, and you can go everywhere that Metrolinx goes, which is La all the other cities around there. And then in between, we have the Apple Valley Station, or Victor valley station, we call it, and we have the Hesperia station for the folks moving along the Inland Empire. And you're going to be able to go from Las Vegas to Rancho in about two hours, from Las Vegas into LA in about two hours and 40 minutes. And people are like, Oh, but I can fly in an hour. Well, you can fly in an hour, but yes, I account for the time it takes to get to the airport, get through the processing and all of that stuff, and you're definitely around two hours at a minimum. So we don't think that we're going to overtake air traffic by any means, but we're going to be another option for people who want to get to Vegas and want to do it in style. Like the thing about brightline is it's an experience. It's not just I'm getting on the train. It's designed to be comfortable. It's designed for you to be able to work while you're there, if you're on the train, you know, with the Wi Fi and the tables, or be social. When I took the train in Florida, from Miami to Orlando, there's about five stops, and every stop, I tried to change my feet so that I could experience sitting face to face with someone, sitting by myself, sitting next to someone, and how I engaged with people, that the trains are bright, they're comfortable, the aisles are wide, every aisle you can get a wheelchair down. So when you just compare to what we experience with air traffic right now, and even driving, I had the misfortune of being on the highway when we have a lithium battery fire, so it took me about nine hours to get from Las Vegas to Orange County, and that I was going to California, the people coming to Vegas spent days. So we just want to help alleviate some of the congestion that we see on the 15. And this is one option, and looking forward to just bringing it to fruition.

Tanya Flanagan 8:21
Well, I love it, and I love the update, and I like that you say it's going to be fun, and I do think it's going to be an experience, and not necessarily. It will be some competition to air travel and people who want to do their own driving. But I think if you want to travel as a group, if you want to get on the train with your girls and be next to one another and do a day, I don't know, the garment district or something, here's a way to get there. And you don't have to drive and or you don't have to fly. You don't have different travel times. You just kind of all go. So I think, I think it's an overdue transportation option and solution. And I think it's part of, you know, innovation and moving forward and growth for this region, not just our state, but the west coast, the region. Because when you get into, like you said you were in Florida, and when you get into those spaces in southeastern cities and eastern cities on the East Coast, so train is just such a common thing. You just hop on and you get from here to there. And it's not something that we ever think about, but it is an option that we definitely should have international countries. Whenever you travel, you see these high speed rail options that connect with the different spaces, different cities and destinations in Europe and overseas. And so it's really neat that we are making this headway and bringing this option to people as a transportation solution. And I appreciate the effort being put into place to look at how it affects commuters to be able to communicate to people what they can expect, to let them understand their options. And to create the ease of for some people who are really uncomfortable with traveling by plane, because there are some and as you get older, sometimes your health just changes, and traveling by airplane can become a hindrance as well. This provides another option, and so that's

Asha Jones 10:18
a party car that I can't wait for us to use. Fauci Oh yeah. If you're ever by the office, you can do, we have the Oculus, so you can see what it's like. So it's, it's a, there's a bar. You can change the lighting and the screens to match whichever if you're coming out here for a Raiders game or you're going to LA for a rams game and you want to party all the way there, bachelorette parties, birthday parties. You can tailor everything. There's food and drinks. And, like I said, it really is an experience, and that's something we want, you know, folks, to know, this is it's not just about movement, but it's about movement in ways that you can enjoy it now. You can also just get on there, close your eyes and, you know, wake up in wherever you want to be, but

Tanya Flanagan 11:06
we are trying or, you know, get on there and read a book and not have to worry about driving without the window. But I wanted to ask you, in the spirit of Vegas and how we do things as entertainment capital of the world, was there a party component to this train? Was there a way for your group to get together and hang out. And it is a travel experience, and it starts from the moment you leave here until you get where you're going, etc. So the moment you leave California and you come here, your party, your experience, begins at, you know, on the train. So I'm glad you talked about that and confirmed my suspicions that there would be a party component. So this is exciting.

Asha Jones 11:47
Go ahead, no, I was just gonna say you can, when you book your ticket, you're able to book your ticket from door to door. So we're working with Uber and Lyft and all of that, where it's one seamless operation, even if you're going into LA on Metrolink. So it's one ticket. You're not having to get off and go get another ticket. You're able to book everything right there, working with the casinos on the strip on how we connect folks. We really want this to be, you know, kind of a luxury experience, or you can just enjoy it, and you don't have to worry about all the other things, waiting and figuring out how you're going to move to the next spot. A lot of on site parking for people who want to park and ride, lot of room for Uber and Lyft to pull up. You know, we call it the kiss and drop. We have we work building and designing our stations to have the capacity to really serve everybody efficiently.

Tanya Flanagan 12:38
It sounds like you guys are really thinking through every aspect of how to make this complete and how to make it a complement to what is already here in Las Vegas, and also what people can expect when they arrive at the different destination points in Southern California. And so I applaud you on on that component of making it just so seamless for people to have a complete experience. And I'm assuming you'll have groups of people that Well, I know when I used to work in gaming, we would do this rollout where different segments of our for lack of a better audience, our employee base, would experience different aspects of the new feature that was going to come online in the casino so as to provide the feedback that we needed before we did the official grand opening. So we do these sort of soft openings and have the employee serve as that initial audience. I'm assuming you have something like that in mind, where maybe it is certain sorts of the population that will be that test that test population as you get ready, with the soft opening once you're ready.

Asha Jones 13:44
And it's interesting, you bring up testing, because that's going to be one of the major I always tell people they're going to see the train moving before they can get on the train. Just by federal guidelines, we have to do a significant amount of testing, so you'll see it shooting back and forth. And actually, our testing is in Nevada. So while only 37 miles of the track is in Nevada, the rest of it is in California, the testing portion will be here, and that is something we're going to, you know, test every portion from accessing the training. There is food available, there's our there's two different levels of tickets. Food and drink are available on both, but on one that you get it for free, it's kind of included in your ticket. There's lounges in the stations that allow you to begin your experience as soon as you get there. The other good thing is the train, you don't have to be there an hour before while. We do have security, and it is a TSA, like it's not TSA, but it's still a metal detector, and all of that you put your bags through, it moves a lot quicker. So in in Miami, I can get to the station 20 minutes before my train go grab a drink, you know, a snack, and five minutes before my train, they call and I just walk right on so we. Know that. We know that it's possible that's a good thing. We've done this before. While high speed rail is not in the country yet, we're on a freight run in Florida, but we the customer service portion, and that's actually something we measure ourselves against. Some of the largest national companies when it comes to customer satisfaction and how they feel. You know, taking part and it we we use that. That's our guide. So we definitely will have, you know, opportunities to test and figure out what works and make sure that everything is clicking on all cylinders as we're going

Tanya Flanagan 15:34
passenger count. So, so what's the passenger count on on a train? Because I'm thinking as we're talking about the testing and the preparation components, the planning and you talked about parking, you talked about Uber service. So it sounds like a person could literally order Uber from their front door to the train station depot, for lack of a better way to describe it, get on this come into the train, sort of waiting area or whatever center, wait to get a do lounge, have a drink, maybe eat a snack, get on the train. Go where they're going. Have another ticket for a transportation pickup there to take them to their final destination, of say, it's a hotel downtown Los Angeles or something like that. So what's the passenger capacity? Is there parking? Like an ample parking relative to the passengers? Or do you just assume, you know, what does that look like? No, we're

Asha Jones 16:33
definitely parking is, is a big, big part of what we're trying to do, because we need people to, you know, park and ride. I'll give you an example. Our Southern California station, which is in Rancho, will have 3700 parking spaces. And in a parking structure, we want to go up, you know, and making good use of the land that we're using. The train holds 450 passengers per train. Our trains can be coupled. So if we needed to move more people, you know, say Nevada, Cuba Las Vegas keeps getting the Super Bowl, and we needed to move a lot of people, we can couple the trains together to move more people. We're starting with 1010, trains. Our trains are going to be developed in New York, be created in New York, upstate New York. Siemens American pioneer is the name, and it is the first of its kind in the United States. And the thing about high speed rail, we're bringing a new industry to Nevada. So one of the things I'm working on is connecting with workforce partners and academic partners on how we create a training program for you know, because we have to develop our own workforce. No one here knows how to work on electric trains yet, so we have to create that. And I just, you know, economic development and business development has always been something I enjoy doing, and knowing that we're bringing this new industry so everything from how to drive the train to how to work on the trains, to the traditional hospitality industry. You know that we have in Nevada already, we'll be doing all of that too. Our trains will be interoperable with California High Speed Rail, so that if we ever have to get on the same tracks or need to do whatever we're able to do that, they haven't named their training provider yet, but that's a commitment that we have made together, because we want to see this industry advance. You know, just across the country,

Tanya Flanagan 18:28
I love hearing about the workforce development component, because you're so right. And every day I remember there are conversations about how we diversify our workforce, how we bring new industry here, new job opportunities, new, you know, new ways for people to to be successful here and to build a life. And so it is exciting to hear that the train is going to be one of the drivers of a new a new workforce, a new direction for people who live here to go I don't know what the workforce numbers look like yet, but the exponential reach of teachers, of training programs, of apprenticeships, of internship and the different levels, from hospitality to engineers to operators, all of the components that will come into place, I think it's so exciting to hear what this new venture is going to do for our city in terms of employment and business opportunity. Do you also see additional businesses growing out of having the rail service like new businesses coming to Las Vegas? Because now it's this will change the game. If you were considering working here and still living there, or living here and working there, as in California, you now can go back and forth to work in a matter of two hours. Have an almost mobile office where you get the work done before you get there. What are the hours looking like that? You think it will run? Is it a super early in the morning till late at night? Isn't a 24 hour thing? Yeah.

Asha Jones 20:04
So we are going to be running the train every hour on the hour. I believe it's for I don't want to say wrong. I want to say it's like 16 hours out of the way that it'll be running. It might be more. I have to confirm that. But every hour on the hour, folks will be coming in and out. The other thing that is unique about the business development aspect. In Las Vegas, we have 110 acres for our station, our station, including parking and everything, will only take about 20 acres. So that other 90 acres is going to be developed. And in Miami, when we did that, when you look at what was there before we built and then what it became, it really changed the landscape. It brought more business by virtue of us being there. We did build business towers, residential towers. We put a grocery store in, and this was a neighborhood that hadn't had a grocery store in over 40 years, and we're still constantly seeing development happen in that area, because the station is there. So we expect that to happen, and not just at the Vegas station, but at the Rancho station. Victor Valley, Hesperia, something else that's unique about the Hesperia station, people are already commuting from the Inland Empire to LA to go to work, and they're spending approximately two hours on, you know, each way driving. So one of the things we've carved out with this various stations, this was an agreement with San Bernardino County, is that we would have some dedicated commuter rail for those folks. So there will be three trains in the morning and three in the evening that are specifically focused on moving people from Rancho to his barrier. So taking what was a two hour commute and turning it into, you know, 3040, minutes, what it will be for them. We know that people are going to be in both places. People already work in California and live in Las Vegas, so now they'll have another option on how they get there. I'm excited to see what, what becomes of that. I feel like Vegas, we are building all the way to the state line. I can only imagine in 10 years, what it's going to look like as we continue to build. And the same thing in California. My mother lives in Orange County, and one of her friends got a house in Apple Valley because she got more house for her money. She does have to commute, you know, about an hour and a half, almost two hours for but she's a professor, she only has to go in one or two days a week. And so people are doing that because it's cheaper to live in San Bernardino County than it is in LA County. And I think we're going to see that. So I think what's possible. The other thing is, this is the first we've we know that they're talking about it in Texas. We know that we're already looking at places. Our motto is connecting city pairs that are too long to drive and too short to fly. So Texas, there's active discussion of connecting Dallas and Houston. If you ever driven across Texas, you know that that is no joke. There's other city pairs, Atlanta, Charlotte, St Louis to Chicago, places people hadn't thought about Seattle to Portland.

Tanya Flanagan 23:16
Do you see it happening on the opposite side of our state? Do you see it? Do you see it? What? Directions, right? I know, like, is it and when? Okay, so, right? The connection between Las Vegas to Phoenix, but also the bottom of the state to the top of the state, I think we would go, because every you know, I just came back from going back and forth from the top to the bottom, Carson City down to Las Vegas. And every flight is packed to capacity. Every seat is taken. And I think the frequency of travel between the top of the Northern Nevada the Southern Nevada, if you could do it by train, if, because it's not really mountainous, it's very flat, not massive. So

Asha Jones 24:04
it's like we have some time in that one. It's just a matter of the numbers. There's enough people who want to move back and forth between that area other than

Tanya Flanagan 24:20
right time. Every weekend, look at both and look at the water. We're getting close to it actually under five minutes. This conversation has been so, so interesting. And folks, I want to say before time gets too short, if you think listening to this woman talk about what's coming with rail, what's happening with economic development, with job diversification in our state. Let me say to you, she is going to be the honoree at the black girl magic Juneteenth Jubilee luncheon on June 18. I believe it is. So it's coming up next week. Very well deserved honor at the upcoming luncheon. So there's six. Information. And I don't know if you know exactly how to find the tickets. I can give the website or put it on my social media. People can find this pef.org

Asha Jones 25:10
and I'll shoot it over to you. But pef.org

Tanya Flanagan 25:14
It's the Public Education Foundation's annual Black girl magic lunge and the ASHA Jones, Vice President of Corporate affairs for bright line West, the train project, is going to be the an honoree this year at the luncheon. And the luncheon again is on June 18, and where are they having it this year? I missed that detail when I was looking at a place that I'm I wasn't familiar with you. They're called War studios

Asha Jones 25:43
out here in the southwest. So I've never been there. It's W, O, R, R, E studios. Every year they try to find a different venue, you know, keep it fresh, which I like. So it is in the southwest. It's going to be a time I know you've been before. We have fun. I found every year. So to be honored is really like, Hey, I do the honorary,

Tanya Flanagan 26:06
you know, and it's another opportunity to do what we love to do. And let's get people that we adore and we appreciate their flowers while they can smell them. Commissioner, former commissioner Lawrence weekly used to always say, present people with their flowers while they can smell them and enjoy them. And so I am delighted to know that you are going to be recognized. I hope that I'm able to make it. I know that there's something else happening that day that comes with my schedule. So I'm hoping that I can juggle my life enough to witness the honoring of you at this luncheon that recognizes women in the community who were doing exceptional and amazing things that's worth commendation and mention, and so kudos to you for being among the honorees. They've honored Mayor Pamela Barnes brown in the past, and some other dynamic folks who do different things in the community. Dr Beverly Mathis is part of the Public Education Foundation, longtime educator. So just a, you know, this community is full of really amazing women who do good work, and I am a huge fan of you. And here to say, you do great work, and thank you for the work that you do. I don't know if you have any social media handles that you want to share. No, you're not really that type of a puzzle that we can we can find you, but folks, just every so often, Google it. Follow the journey, see what's coming next if you want to be engaged, and know how you can do things that make a huge difference in your community. Let me tell you, she is an example of greatness, a gift to her parents, a gift to the community, a gift to her son, a gift to her friends. And I want to thank you for being the gift that you are, and thank you for spending time with me this morning here on the show.

Asha Jones 27:49
So thank you for that. Thank you, and thank you for the opportunity. I'm telling you. I mean you and I have been on this journey, and I'm really, I'm, you know, you're happy with the work you've done like not that we were stopping, but I look back over my life Like the song says church, and I just believe that we're in the position we need to be in, and we're doing really good work. So as folks,

Tanya Flanagan 28:15
we have energy. There's that faith you where you supposed to be doing what you're supposed to be doing. Know that God is in it, and there is a plan with that. We are running out of time. Thank you for joining us. Have a great week. Stay safe, stay hydrated. See you next time. I want to thank you for tuning in to the scoop with me. Tonya Flanagan, and I want to invite you to get social with me. I'm on Facebook and Twitter. My name is my handle, T, a n, y, A F, l, a n, a G, A N. You can also find me on Instagram at Tanya Alma Nice. Flanagan, and if you have a thought, an opinion or a suggestion, don't hesitate to shoot me an email to tonya.flanagan@unlv.edu Thanks again for joining in. Stay safe and have a great week. You.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai