This week on The Mobile Alabama Business Podcast, we sit down with Karlos Finley, Candidate for Mayor. Listen in as we discuss his life, career journey, and how he got into the world of politics!
Produced by Blue Fish.
Transcript:
Karlos Finley:
Good day. I'm Karlos Finley, and I'm a candidate for mayor of Mobile. Elections this year are on August the 24th, and so we're trying to get our message out to as many people across the city as we possibly can so that folks understand the choices that they have. This election is about definite choices. And our biggest choice that we like to promote to the constituency is a choice for change. Our candidacy brings about and promotes significant changes within our city. We've done some things consistently for many years, and we think it's time to shake some things up a little bit and to allow more of our, what we call ordinary folks, an opportunity to succeed within our city.
Marcus Neto:
Well, introducing himself, Karlos Finley. Welcome to the podcast, Karlos.
Karlos Finley:
Thank you. Great to be here.
Marcus Neto:
Yeah, absolutely. I have a feeling this is going to be one of those podcasts where I set a timer and then I just stop you after 30 minutes and say, "We're done." But I really do appreciate you making time to come and talk, as is usually the case. I mean, in the past, we've had Stimpson on, and we've had other people that have influence in the business community.
Marcus Neto:
And I think regardless of what happens in the mayoral race, I think you and your position in the community very much warrant sitting down and having a discussion, but I do want to give you an opportunity to talk about some of the things that you see for our city. But before we do that, why don't you give us some of the backstory of Judge Finley? Where are you from? Where did you go to high school? I know you went to college, and I know you went to additional schooling after that. We know that you're married, but go ahead and talk about that a little bit. So give us some of your backstory, if you would.
Karlos Finley:
Well, I am the husband of Mrs. Kelly Finley.
Marcus Neto:
That's a good way to put it.
Karlos Finley:
And we are the proud parents of three teenagers, 15, 16, and 17 years old.
Marcus Neto:
Nice.
Karlos Finley:
The Finley household is always active. And then you add in five dogs with that.
Marcus Neto:
Golly.
Karlos Finley:
It is never a dull moment around our household. But I am a fourth generation Mobilian. Thank goodness, however, I've had the opportunity to leave our fair city and to see how others in the country live, and the fact that it's not necessarily right or wrong, it's just different. And so we want to bring some of that extracurricular or extra border experience to our city. All too often, we're getting a lot of younger people who are leaving us, so we're losing talent, and that's not necessarily a new thing. And I've witnessed that over my lifetime of living in and out of Mobile. So my paternal great-grandmother came here in the 1870s.
Marcus Neto:
Wow.
Karlos Finley:
And my maternal grandfather came here in 1918. My grandfather on my mother's side was a doctor. He moved here, and Franklin Primary Health Clinics are named in his honor. He came here from neighboring [inaudible 00:03:41] where he set up his first practice. But he's a University of Michigan graduate, and he was born in Tennessee, so for his entire life, he was always a lifelong resident of Mobile, but not a native.
Karlos Finley:
That's just kind of the sauce of our city. And my father was a pharmacist, an entrepreneur, opened the first chain of African-American drug stores in the state of Alabama here in Mobile, Finley's Drug Stores, along with his brother, John, who was the eldest of the brothers. And my mother was an educator, lifelong educator, taught high school here, started teaching in a one-room school house in Waynesboro, Mississippi.
Karlos Finley:
And she retired from Mobile County Public School systems in the '80s, but during that time, she also taught in New York City. She taught in Michigan. And we moved about after my father passed in 1975, and so I got some real experiences in understanding how things work outside of Mobile and Alabama. And they have served me well and certainly have served my ability to navigate my way through the different groups here in the city of Mobile.
Karlos Finley:
And so I'm a graduate of John L. Leflore High School, worked at Kimberly-Clark paper mill for 10 years while I got my undergrad, started my collegiate career at Bishop State Community College, moved on to University of Mobile, graduated with a bachelor's in business management from there. I'm a veteran, United States Coast Guard. So I didn't start college until I was 23 years old after my stint in the Coast Guard.
Karlos Finley:
And from there, leaving university of Mobile, I went to Miles Law School in Fairfield, Alabama, where I went to an evening program law school because I was 36 years old when I went to law school. And I worked Monday through Friday as a judicial law clerk, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. And then I went to school from 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM, Monday through Thursday. Four years in law school, passed the bar examination, first try, thank goodness, and came back home to Mobile and started working in the district attorney's office.
Karlos Finley:
I was a prosecutor for three years, prosecuted cases in juvenile court, adult court, district court, circuit court, and then was made a lucrative offer by a plaintiff's civil firm. And I became a partner at a law firm, and I served at that firm for 10 years until I went out on my own. And now I currently operate K. Fitzgerald Finley P. C. law firm, and I've been doing that for about two years now. But six years ago, the city of Mobile invested in me a judgeship, and so I serve as a part-time judge for the city of Mobile. I handle bond hearings as well as traffic courts. And I operate my law firm from a primary business perspective. So I've got two jobs. When I become mayor, it'll be the first time that I've only had one job in a lot of years.
Marcus Neto:
I was going to say, I'm tired just listening to them. That's insane. So what you're saying is you've had everything handed to you in life, is what you're saying.
Karlos Finley:
Oh, yeah.
Marcus Neto:
Yeah, give me a break.
Karlos Finley:
From my hand to my other hand.
Marcus Neto:
Yeah, exactly. So go back to that. The job at Kimberly-Clark Paper Mill, was that your first job, or was that-
Karlos Finley:
No, that was-
Marcus Neto:
No. What's your first job?
Karlos Finley:
My first job was working at a bait shop on Belleville Lake in Belleville, Michigan in the summertime.
Marcus Neto:
Nice.
Karlos Finley:
It was nice, because we lived on the Lake on one end. I worked on the other side. All my friends would come by, and I'd jump on a pair of skis, go for a ski run, come back, let the rope go, jump back on the dock, and go back to work. So it was a really great summer.
Marcus Neto:
That's not necessarily the lesson I'm looking for, but were there any lessons that you still remember from that job?
Karlos Finley:
Well, yeah. Any time we're dealing with the people. So I grew up in a drug store. And so as soon as we were old enough to lean on a broom or a mop, my dad put it in your hand and said, "Go to it. You'll figure out how it works after a while. You just stay on it." And so that's working with people, and seeing my father and my older sisters interact with people, and understanding how to serve customers. Because hey, at the end of the day, the only thing that keeps people coming back to your business is the service that you provide.
Karlos Finley:
There were several drug stores, but the service that we provided made the difference. That equates today to my law firm. There's 1,500 lawyers in Mobile County. What keeps people coming back to me is the service that I provide. And so any time you're working with the public, you understand that. Even going into the paper mill, I started off as a laborer, at the bottom. I swept floors and blew dust.
Marcus Neto:
Move this box over there, kind of thing.
Karlos Finley:
Well, no, it wasn't... Believe it or not, making paper is a very intricate process. And so it's not as simple as move this box over there. Everything works as a team. And when you're manufacturing something, you start with the raw product, and you've got to build that raw product into a finished product. And so getting papers from a tree all the way until that roll that you see on the shelf wrapped in plastic is a very serious process. And so I gave tours, actually, of the mill to prospective buyers-
Marcus Neto:
Oh, cool.
Karlos Finley:
... who were coming in. So at the time, it would be your Food Worlds, and your Bruno's, and your Delchamps, and all of those folk who came in that we wanted to have Scott tissue and Scott towels and napkins on their shelves. They would send teams of buyers in, and they want to see how we made the product. So I'd take them to the wood yard where the trees are offloaded onto a debarking machine, and then into a chipper, and then into a pulper, and then into a paper machine, which is the size of a very large building. And we had five of them at the mill. And so you're making paper at a rate of 1,200 feet a minute.
Marcus Neto:
Wow.
Karlos Finley:
And then you take that paper to another processing machine, which makes giant paper towel rolls into the ones that we see on the shelf. And they're packed into cases, and they're wrapped in polypropylene, and they're sent over to a warehouse that's two miles long from one establishment to the other, and they're loaded on the trucks and they're sent out. So it's a very involved process, but you must always remember, at the end of the day, how does your product perform for the customer, and how does it serve them best?
Marcus Neto:
Sure.
Karlos Finley:
And so you can call them widgets if you want, because that's what we're talking about in business. How does your product perform for the customer, and what do you make the buying experience like? And so I learned that at an early age, working in my dad's drug store. I understood the mechanics of that by working in a paper mill for 10 years, making it happen, because whereas I started blowing dust, I ended as a machine operator, which is the top job in the mill from a labor perspective.
Karlos Finley:
And all the while working shift work, which means that your shift changes every week. We had a seven-day backup schedule. So one week you're on 3:00 to 11:00. The next week, you're on 11:00 to 7:00. The week after that, you're on 7:00 to 3:00. And after that transposes, that's a month that's gone by, and you start over again. Well, I also went to college during the same time.
Marcus Neto:
Oh, gosh.
Karlos Finley:
Which is why it took me 10 years to get my undergraduate degree.
Marcus Neto:
Yeah. Try scheduling classes with that kind of schedule.
Karlos Finley:
Exactly. Exactly. But I'll say this. Both Bishop State and University Of Mobile were very accommodating. And I would say that I would not have been able to do that without those specific institutions, so I always give them big credit for that because I am forever grateful. And I'm also forever grateful for the union that I was a part of at Kimberly-Clark, because they negotiated the education program into the company. Whereas it was up to you to figure out how to get the classes scheduled, the company paid 100%.
Marcus Neto:
Oh, nice.
Karlos Finley:
So I've never paid for any of my undergraduate schooling, books, or anything else, because the union negotiated and bargained that.
Marcus Neto:
Yeah. No, that's good. Well, was there some experience that you had that made you want to go into law? I mean, oftentimes, I remember my first experience with the internet and sitting in a college dorm room and somebody showing me a webpage that they made, and I was fascinated by it. And then you start hearing stories about how this internet thing is going... And yes, I am dating myself, folks, but this internet thing is going to change the world and how we purchase groceries online and stuff like that. And I was like, please, nobody's going to ever do that. And here we are with choices of how we want to order dinner and groceries and all those things, Amazon that can deliver things next day, and all that jazz. But was there some experience that made you want to go into law?
Karlos Finley:
Yeah, but I would say it was a series of experiences. And you just mentioned how you got into what you do and people having a choice. Over the past year, in many instances, they did not have a choice. the only game in town was what you developed. You could only order groceries online. You could only order clothes and things of that nature. But no, I would say it would be a series of experiences as to how I ended up in law, because as a child, it was certainly not anything that I thought that I would do. But my parents were civil rights activists here in Mobile, and so justice was what that whole thing was and is about. And so as a kid, I had a front line view of what to do on a picket line.
Karlos Finley:
My mother and my sister were jailed here in the city of Mobile marching and protesting alongside of the Catholic nuns and priests who were my teachers at my school, Most Pure Heart of Mary, which was on Davis Avenue at the time. It's still in existence on Martin Luther King Avenue. And I'm very fortunate and proud that I now serve on the school board for my elementary school.
Karlos Finley:
But those experiences and the fact that my father was sentenced to 13 months in a federal penitentiary for his civil rights activities all began to kind of evolve me personally into the direction that I traveled. When your dad's sent away when you're seven years old because he's trying to make a difference for all people in your city, it gets ingrained in you that in some way, shape, or form, you want to make sure that justice is served for all peoples.
Karlos Finley:
And so then while at the paper mill, I actually started kind of representing folks from time to time in grievances. And so interacting with management on behalf of labor, that's kind of a representative thing, just like you would in a courtroom. And so I guess I kind of got bitten by the bug at that point. And then going back to being in the Coast Guard, that's law enforcement. You're just a policeman on the ocean. And so that added into the experience.
Karlos Finley:
And when I received my bachelor's degree, because my intention was to matriculate up through into management at the mill, Kimberly-Clark purchased Scott Paper Company, and they had a different philosophy relative to hiring management. Their philosophy was to hire young engineers and turn them into management, not to promote from within. And so I was met with a decision, because they made it clear to me that they were not interested in moving me into a managerial position, although they had paid for a bachelor's degree in business management.
Karlos Finley:
And so I simply asked the question and said, "Well, are you telling me that I owe you nothing, and you have no intention of moving me into a..." "Well, sure, Karlos. You don't owe us anything." I said, "Great. That's what I needed to know. And so [inaudible 00:17:26] sayonara."
Marcus Neto:
"I'm out of here."
Karlos Finley:
I've made some pretty good adjustments and investments, and stock was going through the roof. And it even split for Kimberly-Clark stock at the time, because they've been taken over by a guy named Al Dunlap, and his nickname was Chainsaw because he was famous for cutting companies up and making the stock blow up.
Marcus Neto:
Selling all the assets, yeah.
Karlos Finley:
Yeah, and so I had invested, and I got out while the getting was good, and I went into law school. And at that point, God placed mentors in my pathway. And so there were times when I was a law student and a judicial law clerk where I'd be sitting at a table for lunch and wondering, why is Karlos Finley here? Because you've got U. W. Clemon sitting at this chair, and he's the first African-American federal judge in the state of Alabama's history. You've got [Gene Veron 00:18:24], who's my boss, who's a circuit court judge. Houston Brown, who marched at Kelly Ingram Park.
Karlos Finley:
And there's all these judges, and there's me, this law clerk. And they're interested in finding out what it's like to work offshore for Chevron USA, and I'm going, "No, but what was it like out there on the ocean?" And so those kinds of experiences that are kind of surreal tend to go around. And then you add a Ralph [Couth 00:18:59] into the mix, and a Fred Gray who represented Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks, that you're sitting at a table with, and those things just kind of get poured into you as to the responsibilities that you have as a lawyer, and certainly as a jurist. And so I evolved into the person that you see sitting across the table from you today.
Marcus Neto:
Yeah. No, and I think it's just amazing how life kind of directs us in a specific direction. When I look at my own kids and look at their trajectory in life, I see things. I see them being bounced off of certain things and into a specific direction. And all that said, I think you said your father passed away in 1975.
Karlos Finley:
That's correct.
Marcus Neto:
I mean, how proud of you... And don't answer, but I mean, just as a comment to you, he must be so immensely proud of the man that you have turned out to be, that you have... Because a lot of people could sit in those same rooms and not end up where you're at. And the fact that you sit here, and regardless, and I think the mayor race is going to be very interesting this year.
Karlos Finley:
Yes it is.
Marcus Neto:
But I think regardless of what happens, you have turned out to be a man of influence in this town. And so, hats off to you for taking the initiative and turning it into something positive.
Karlos Finley:
Well, there's a certain irony about me sitting on the bench in the city of Mobile, the same city that jailed my mother and my sister, the same city that charged my father with crimes relative to his civil rights activities. And now, truth, though crushed to the ground, has risen. It's risen in me. There's now a street in this city named after my father. But in 1972, make no mistake, he was a villain to the powers that be.
Marcus Neto:
But kudos to you for turning all that, instead of making it into something negative, and making it into something positive.
Karlos Finley:
We've got to evolve, man.
Marcus Neto:
Yeah.
Karlos Finley:
We can't [crosstalk 00:21:13].
Marcus Neto:
Now, because you are a business owner, so if you were talking to someone that wanted to get started in running their own business, what's the one bit of wisdom that you would impart to them?
Karlos Finley:
Research. Do your research on the industry that you're looking to get involved in, and speak to someone who's already doing it. There's no need in, A, reinventing a wheel. And number two, most businesses are like songs. It's maybe a different arrangement, maybe a different chord structure, but someone's done it before. And in order for you to be successful at it, there's no substitute for experience. So speak with someone who has been in that business or is in a business, because you'll find that most people want to help you.
Karlos Finley:
And so if you reach out, don't be afraid, because I know a lot of younger folk or new business owners, they're afraid to ask questions because they're like, "I don't want people to know that I don't know something." Well, nobody knows anything in the beginning.
Marcus Neto:
Hey, guess what? I've been doing this for over a decade, and I still don't know anything.
Karlos Finley:
Of course. Of course. So that would be the thing that I would suggest. Research, speak with someone who's a business owner, and go to your Chambers. Go to individuals that you see who are in business and find out what they did, and replicate those things.
Marcus Neto:
Yeah. Quick plug. If you are interested in the Chamber, I'm on the Chamber Chase, so send me an email. I'll get you signed up.
Karlos Finley:
And I'm a member of the Chamber, so I understand.
Marcus Neto:
It's a powerful organization.
Karlos Finley:
It is indeed.
Marcus Neto:
Well, okay. So let's talk about the mayor race. Talk to me a little bit about... And I don't need to know why it is that you chose to run, because it's apparent from listening to your story, but how are you different than the other two candidates? Because Mayor Stimpson has said that he's running again, even though he did originally say that he was a two term and out guy, which whatever, things change.
Karlos Finley:
Yes.
Marcus Neto:
And then Fred has mentioned that he's running as well. And so, how do you see yourself fitting into that trio? What's different about what you're bringing to the table versus the other two guys?
Karlos Finley:
Number one, I'm the change candidate.
Marcus Neto:
Yeah. Yes, you are.
Karlos Finley:
Because they have been there. And their way of doing business is consistent. I'm bringing new ideas to the table. I'm the president of an organization called the Dora Franklin Finley African-American Heritage Trail. And I spoke to the Chamber last year on cultural heritage tourism, because it is the fastest-growing segment of the tourist industry. The city of Mobile is one of 319 years. There's not a lot of cities that can say that.
Karlos Finley:
We've got a very unique perspective from cultural heritage tourism. We've been ruled under five flags. But much of that history has not been told. And if anyone has visited The Legacy Museum in, excuse me, in Montgomery, which is housed inside of a slave warehouse. It's a museum housed inside of an original slave warehouse. And you go through that experience, and the first thing that they do is they have pens, holding pens, with holographic images inside of them that talk to you about their experience.
Karlos Finley:
They've just been separated from their family. They just arrived here from a ship. They've just been sold to another... That's moving and it's powerful. It's uncomfortable, but we've got to know our history so that we understand how significant it is, so that we understand how it's gotten us to the point that we are here today, and most importantly, how to equitably deliver us from those original sins.
Karlos Finley:
So here in Mobile, we're the home of the last slave ship to come into the United States and the last battle of the Civil War. Those are things that people are interested in all over the world. The Legacy Museum shows that in, excuse me, in Montgomery, that people come to visit from all over the world, and the Civil Rights Trail, which goes throughout the state of Alabama, shows that also. There were more visitors to the Civil Rights Trail last year from outside of the state of Alabama that went to the beach.
Marcus Neto:
I'm sorry. Say that again.
Karlos Finley:
It's all right.
Marcus Neto:
You're serious.
Karlos Finley:
There were more visitors-
Marcus Neto:
Wow.
Karlos Finley:
... who came to the Civil Rights Trail and Legacy Museums last year that went to the beach from outside of the state of Alabama.
Marcus Neto:
That's impressive. I did not know that.
Karlos Finley:
So most of our beach folk come from within the state of Alabama. But from outside of the state, people came to hear about the civil rights movement. That's cultural heritage tourism, and it's something that we're not even promoting here in the city of Mobile, quite frankly. We discovered Clotilda two years ago. We're moving on it slowly, but we could move much faster. We're doing a brownfield excursion currently on specific areas in Africatown, but we're now doing that because of Clotilda. If it was poisoned, it was poisoned a long time ago. Why haven't we looked for that poison prior to? Oh, because there's an economic interest now.
Karlos Finley:
That's not environmental justice. These are things that I'm bringing to the table. Let's talk about the waterfront, the riverfront here in the city of Mobile. There's not one restaurant. There's not one opportunity to gather and really look at those 800-foot freighters steam up and down that river. I'm a downtown dweller. I've lived downtown for 35 years. I've seen Dauphin Street when it was a ghost town. At 5:00 PM, I could've sworn I saw [inaudible 00:28:08] up and down it a couple of times back in the '80s.
Karlos Finley:
Now it's an entertainment mecca, but we can extend that to the river if we add some infrastructure. Currently, we're arguing about Amtrak.Amtrak knows that passenger rail takes precedent over commercial rail. They know that. It's federal statutory. So at the end of the day, regardless of what the other side, CSX or whoever else, says, they know that they take precedence. Now, when you have vision, you understand that the president of the United States is a guy named Joe Biden.
Karlos Finley:
And he rode the Amtrak home every day for 40 years from Delaware to D.C. so he could go tuck his kids in. So Amtrak's a friend of his. We're sitting around going, "I'm not going to send a letter to encourage Amtrak to come back to Mobile." The biggest impediment that we have for our riverfront is that train track, because it either blocks you out, or even worse, it traps you in.
Marcus Neto:
I thought it was that the docks were owned by the state.
Karlos Finley:
That's a part of it, but we've still got Cooper Riverside Park and the GulfQuest Museum. They're not owned by the state dock.
Marcus Neto:
For sure.
Karlos Finley:
The convention center, it's not owned by the state dock. But you bring about a great point-
Marcus Neto:
So there is space.
Karlos Finley:
... because if we approach Amtrak and we go, "You know what? We're really glad that you're coming back to Mobile, but you know, that additional traffic on that track is really going to impede our access to our riverfront even more. Here's what we need for Amtrak to invest in the city of Mobile." So if you go down... Now I'm talking to Marcus.
Marcus Neto:
Sure.
Karlos Finley:
If you go down Broad Street and it turns into Beauregard, and you get to the corner where the GM&O Railroad is to your left, 165 goes north, Water Street goes south. And when you look across, you see this thing called the Bob Hope Overpass, which goes up over the track and to the north, and sits you right down onto the north side of the state docks.
Karlos Finley:
Well, what if we got Amtrak to invest in a leg that went south, and we asked the state docks to give us 20 feet of the property from the railroad track going back towards the river? The average lane for a car to travel is nine feet wide. So if we get 20 feet, we've got a one way in and a one way out. The train is now alleviated. We've got clear ingress and egress from our riverfront without having to deal with the train. That's vision. That's what our city needs. Now, when we do that, now we can add, oh, let's say some container restaurants and little gigs down at Cooper Riverside Park, like they've got over in Spanish Fort-
Marcus Neto:
Spanish Fort.
Karlos Finley:
...and like they've got down on Perdido. I don't know if you remember or not, but 10 years ago there was a one container restaurant started at Perdido Point. You go down there now and they've got those things lined up in all kinds of different directions. It's blue.
Marcus Neto:
Yeah.
Karlos Finley:
And there are people everywhere. Well, my wife and I went on a delayed honeymoon in 2019 to Las Vegas. They've got this place called the Container Yard, and it's all these containers stacked up in different ways, configured... Very interesting. It's great for kids to come and play, for adults to be there. And containers were invented in Mobile, Alabama.
Marcus Neto:
Mobile. I know. Yeah, I've been there. And it was funny, because I'm from Washington, D.C. and King Street, and many of the streets in Alexandria as well as D.C. run straight down to the water. But King Street in particular, it's probably 10 miles long when you get off the interstate, and it doesn't turn into much until you're two miles into it. But then it is just shop after restaurant after shop after restaurant after shop.
Marcus Neto:
And on a Friday and Saturday night, it is bustling with people, and there's entertainers out there. I remember there was a guy that would set up all these different sized wineglasses. They were filled with water, and he would play them like it was an instrument, and all those things. So I, for the longest time, have wondered why Mobile doesn't have that access, so it's good to see that somebody-
Karlos Finley:
Vision.
Marcus Neto:
... has the vision for it.
Karlos Finley:
Vision. That's why. Because Cape May... not Cape May, but Cape Town, South Africa is the same way as you just described. Savannah, Georgia. Our Chamber went to Savannah two years ago-
Marcus Neto:
Two years ago, yeah.
Karlos Finley:
... and they asked them, "How does Savannah, a city of 130,000 people get 12 million visitors, and the city of Mobile of 190,000 people, only get three?" They said, "It's three things. The riverfront, the riverfront, and the riverfront."
Marcus Neto:
Right. Yeah. No, I get it. I mean, because it is definitely a draw. Just to kind of wrap up, one of the questions that I normally ask people, and this is something that they have extreme difficulty in answering, is how do you unwind?
Karlos Finley:
I go home. I look at my beautiful wife, look at our lovely children, play with our dogs. And every now and again, I'll pull my guitar out, and I'll pick a song.
Marcus Neto:
That's awesome. Well, tell people where they can find out more information about your platform. And also, one of the things I don't think you mentioned is what kind of law you practice.
Karlos Finley:
I am a civil plaintiff's lawyer, designated to that area of practice. But I tell people to contact me about any legal issue that they're having, because I work with a network of attorneys. So if it's not something that I handle, I can refer them to lawyers who handle issues specifically in that area and are versed in that area.
Marcus Neto:
Okay. And as far as the campaign goes, where can people find you? Facebook, Instagram, website?
Karlos Finley:
FinleyForMayor2021.com. That's F-I-N-L-E-Y, F-O-R, M-A-Y-O-R, 2-0-2-1, dot com. Facebook, Finley For Mayor. Instagram, Finley For Mayor 2021. Both are Finley For Mayor 2021. When you get to Twitter, it's a little different. It's Finley, number four, Mayor 21. So that's F-I-N-L-E-Y, number four, M-A-Y-O-R, 21. And that's @Finley4Mayor2021.
Marcus Neto:
Awesome.
Karlos Finley:
Everybody's welcome to this team. There's a room at the table for everyone. And if there's not, we'll go out and get a bigger table.
Marcus Neto:
Nice. Well, I want to thank you again for coming on the podcast. To wrap up, any final thoughts or comments you'd like to share?
Karlos Finley:
Yes. We're running this campaign to create more opportunities for everyone in our city. Notice of opportunities is a really big thing for us. We want to make sure that people are able to get information, able to receive information. We always say, "We want to make sure that everyone has an invitation to the bid opening, not just the grand opening."
Marcus Neto:
Right. Very good. Well, Karlos, I appreciate your willingness to sit with me and share your journey as a business owner and into this political arena. It's been great talking with you, man.
Karlos Finley:
Pleasure's been mine. Thank you very much for the opportunity.
