Marty and the Governor Live from Arts Landing

I'm Tobin Heath and I'm Kristen Press. We're World Cup champions, Olympians, and the host of the recap show. Week in and week out, we sit down with sports legends, cultural icons, and global change makers to talk everything from clutch games to causes that matter. This is about creating the future of women's sports, a future that's honest, inclusive, and real. Join us for our reimagined journey. Follow and listen to the recap show wherever you get your podcasts. Arts Landing rocks. This development is perfect. And I mean perfect. You've got to come down here. This development is what we're all about. This development will bring us back to where we need to be. This development, you know, they call this, my man Aaron Stauber was down here yesterday, my billionaire buddy. And he said, this is, Pittsburgh's Central Park. It's absolutely beautiful. And it's absolutely an opportunity for us to blossom. Same with Market Square. I suggest you try it out. I suggest you come down here, bring your family down here. There's artwork. There's a stage. An insane amount of entertainment. A lot of folks. doing a lot of wonderful things. Market Square the same way. None of this happens, by the way, without the governor. None of it happens without the governor. And I mean that, not just political stuff. The governor made sure that this was going to be important to growing Pittsburgh. Governor, come over here, my friend. He's saying hello to my wife.

and he's made sure to bring his own wife. Oh my gosh, you brought his wife today. It's a wonderful, wonderful thing. How are you, sir? It's a pleasure, man. Oh, my God, your beautiful wife. What's up, right? What's up, man? How are you? How are you? Fabulous. Are we on right now? Yeah, we're on. We're live. Governor, no BS. You know, I'm a straight shooter. Without you... Arts Landing is not here, sir. You got to feel that, right? I feel it. I feel it. You know, when we got together in my office in Harrisburg two years ago and said, we want to do something big for downtown, we brought business and labor, the foundations, public sector, private sector, everybody together. We decided we were going to invest in converting a whole bunch of these office buildings into residential. But we also said we got to invest in our three primary community gathering places. Create Arts Landing, invest in Market Square, reinvest in Point State Park. All three of those community spaces were open in time for the draft. I think people thought we were crazy we were going to get done. We did. And look at this place, Martin. It was like a Goodyear Tire shop or something that was falling apart. Now look at these people hanging out. They're happy. And the most beautiful thing about an urban park like this is you're going to show up, meet somebody you didn't know, have a conversation with someone that. you know, you didn't know before. And guess what? You don't care who they voted for. Right on. You don't care about differences. You just are enjoying this wonderful public space and coming together. It's an amazing thing. Governor, if you don't do that, my man, this could be three, four, five years down the road, if ever, sir, right? Seriously. We pushed it hard. Yeah. We pushed it hard. We had a lot of amazing partners who got this done with us. You know, the cynics, ah, none of this happens without the dress. So what? So what? Yeah. We knew the draft would not only be awesome for four days for football fans. And look, you're seeing it, right? But we also, I knew we needed to use it as a catalyst for driving investment, driving change. And so it was not just the catalyst leading up to it. Marty, we're going to have some huge announcements coming out of the draft. that we'll be talking about in a couple weeks here. I've spent, frankly, most of my time, probably over 90% of my time, not doing football stuff, but trying to generate business here in the Commonwealth. And it's going really well. What's amazing is I'll talk to these CEOs who come here for the first time and go, Man, I didn't realize Pittsburgh was like this. So I think it's exceeding their expectations. And they're saying, we want to follow up and consider, you know, X, Y, Z. And we're going to get that done. You live this and know this because you're in Philly and you see this, what I call them all over the grind. So the concern, and this is real, as soon as you go, as soon as these fences come down here in a market square, the drugs return. Hey there, I'm Kendra Adachi and my show The Lazy Genius Podcast helps you be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't and you get to decide what matters. I'm not here to tell you what to do. I'm here to give you a new way to see. Episodes of the Lazy Genius podcast are full of compassionate time management tips and permission slips to do what makes sense for you. New episodes drop every Monday.

Follow and listen to the Lazy Genius podcast on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. The teenage thugs return and the fear factor returns. Have you expressed this that we need to protect these areas so that the public feels I can bring my kids out here, sir? Yeah, for sure. And look, you've been rightfully so sounding the alarm. about the need to both clean up downtown and make sure it's safe. And I think we all heard you loud and clear. I believe that safety is foundational to everything. You're not going to go to the park. You're not going to locate your business. You're not going to move your family to an area that is not safe. That's why we've invested so much in public safety. And I got to tell you, I got partners in Allegheny County and the city of Pittsburgh now who are investing. in making sure these communities are safe. I thought it was very interesting when we're meeting with site selectors. These are the people that choose where to locate businesses. One of the things they were very, very appreciative of is the work the county's done to address homelessness. There's work that still needs to be done, but that allows people to say, I want to put my business here. I was talking to one CEO. who would bring in talent, put them up at a hotel, and they used to have to walk through Market Square to get to their headquarters, and there were homeless people, there were crimes, there were drugs, there was crime, there was drugs, and now what you're seeing is a Market Square where these would-be employees are going, heck, I could hang out here, I could eat there, I could go to the bars, I'd go to the oyster house, I could do these things, and that to me is a sign of how investing in that quality of life stuff is now paying off. Without these sorts of initiatives, sir, these cities die. And you believe, as I believe, that it's paramount that these cities thrive. Yes, sir? Yeah, absolutely. Look, I think a strong and vibrant Pittsburgh leads to a strong and vibrant Pennsylvania. I would say the same thing about Philly. I'd say the same thing about Lancaster, about Erie, and so many other wonderful towns. If they are strong, if they are safe, if we have businesses located in those communities, that's great for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. What do you think about this, man? This blew me away last night. It's unbelievable, right? Look, I think people thought we were nuts when I started saying, we're going to have the biggest crowd ever in the NFL draft. Last night, we set a night one record. Yes. 320,000 people came down here. It was unbelievable, unbelievable. I think we're poised for another record setting night tonight. It's incredible. I'll tell you what's super cool, right? Like you and our big sports fans. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you go to a game, and it's... two jerseys it is the home team and it's the visitors who were brave enough to show up right this is kind of wild right you got jerseys from every team from every community and maybe with the exception of the browns fans and the cowboys fans who are never really welcome in pittsburg or anywhere in pennsylvania people it's just love man it's just love it's beautiful it's incredible to see people from all different parts of country i'll i'll grab somebody say where are you from That's cool. You ever been here before? No. Where did you eat last night? What are your plans? It's really special. Can we ask your wife real quick what she thinks at Pittsburgh? I don't know. I don't know. Lori Josh Shapiro doesn't do a whole lot of interviews. I don't know that you're going to get right on, but she's having a whole lot of fun. Hey, yeah, looks like you're going to be wearing a tank top.

Dude, you're kidding me. Come on, man. I think Pat McAfee's wearing that suit. Come on, man. I will say, I will say. No, he's true. He's wearing that suit. Pat McAfee and I made a bet before the flyers pens are. It's really cool. Yeah. If the flyers lose, I got to wear a tank top to work. And if the pens lose, he's got to wear a suit. And I'm thinking I'm not going to have to go. I'm not going suns out guns out to the capital. No, man. It's a pleasure to have you. I like that we have hope and opportunity, sir. Yeah. Hope and opportunity in a place where that hasn't been flourishing recently. You can feel it. It's palpable. And I said this to a couple of the business leaders who were thinking about their next move and considering Pittsburgh. I said, this will not show up on your spreadsheet. Yeah. You go to make your decision. But the vibes in this city have never been better. It's exciting. And you feel like you're part of a rebirth right now. And I said these companies, you want to get in on the ground floor. Right now, by the way, more affordable to get in right now. And I'm telling you, this is going to be great for your employees. And it's pretty amazing what we got going on here. And let me say this. There's always this grind and mope in the about. Feds can't work with state local. They did here, man. We all working ass, sir. Kick an ass. Look, I'll work with anybody that wants to benefit our communities. We work federal, state, local. Let me give you an example of that. You know what you didn't hear about last night? Any crime. You know, you didn't hear about it last night? Any sort of wide-scale instance. I think we had a few heat-related things or whatever. But that's because law enforcement at every level, we've drilled for this, we've practiced for this, we've invested in this, and we all worked together. I just spent about an hour of my morning with the First Lady over at Point State Park thanking law enforcement for the incredible work they did yesterday. They got three more days. It's going to be a little hot today. And I just wanted them to know how much we appreciate them and how much the community appreciates them. And it warms my heart to see a police officer walk by, whatever uniform, state police, Pittsburgh, whatever, walk by and a kid walks over to them and wants to take their picture. Right on. Or a family just says, hey, thank you for your service. It's a beautiful thing. Our police are doing an amazing job. And in closing, without. Josh Shapiro, this does not exist. Arts Landing. That's not me kissing up. It's a fact. And we respect and admire that, sir. For folks who say politicians get nothing accomplished. Very cool. We're getting a lot of stuff done in Pennsylvania. Marty, thank you, man. It's a pleasure, man. Good to be with you. My man. Thank you, man. No tangtop. We'll be right back.

You've built a great podcast. That content's solid. The audience is growing, but the money still not where it should be. That's where the Odyssey Creator Lab comes in. We host your podcast for free so you can keep doing your thing while our experienced sales team does their thing. Finding advertisers and bringing in revenue, no fees, no stress, just real monetization. Apply now at creators.odicy.com and let us show you the money.