Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
King Robinson on Flooding, Food Deserts and Heat Islands in NOLA
2 Playsin 5 hours
Some neighborhoods flood every time it rains hard. Others barely notice. Some communities have fresh food around the corner. Others drive miles for a vegetable. Most people treat those as separate problems. Preston "King" Robinson says they are the same problem wearing different clothes, and that the decisions behind them were made generations before Katrina ever showed up.
King is the founder of Garden Picasso, and he grew up in the Seventh Ward, where flooding was so routine nobody thought to question it. He beat cancer at seventeen, went into chemical engineering, and came back home with a different way of seeing his own city, one that starts three feet under the soil instead of at the curb. In this conversation he breaks down why the city sinks, what the pumps can actually handle, why concrete makes a neighborhood hotter and angrier, and how a vacant lot can be turned into something that holds water, grows food, and pays somebody.
Bruce and King get into Katrina and what people in those neighborhoods still say they heard that night, gentrification moving street by street, gumbo filé and what New Orleans does to an ingredient, and an employee model built around people most companies skip over entirely. It is a conversation about landscaping the way a house is about lumber.
#NewOrleans #NOLA #GardenPicasso #Flooding #StormwaterManagement #GreenInfrastructure #FoodDeserts #HeatIsland #EnvironmentalJustice #BlackBusiness #HurricaneKatrina #ClimateResilience #CommunityDevelopment #blackentrepreneurs #unsolicitedperspectives
Chapters:
00:00:00 How King Robinson is rebuilding New Orleans from the soil up 🌊🌱🏠
00:05:11 Growing up surrounded by culture and community in New Orleans 🎺⚜❤
00:07:34 Escaping Katrina and feeling like refugees inside our America 🌊🚗🏚
00:09:58 Realizing which New Orleans wards flood while others never do 🌊🏘💧
00:11:45 Beating cancer at seventeen and choosing to build something 💪🌱🔬
00:15:41 Why stormwater capacity matters for every New Orleans home now 📏🌧🏠
00:17:12 How old pipes and unstable soil keep New Orleans slowly sinking 🕳🏙💦
00:21:12 How New Orleans was designed to fail long before Katrina hit 🏙🌊🚧
00:23:04 The levee theories, the gentrification, and saving the Quarter 🌊🏙💰
00:26:51 Heat islands explain why some communities suffer far more heat ☀🏙🌡
00:29:06 How food deserts, concrete, and flooding remain deeply connected 🥬🧱🌊
00:32:04 Garden Picasso uses science to keep New Orleans from sinking 🌱🔬🏙
00:34:14 Okra, gumbo filé, and the food culture that defines the city 🍲🌽🌶
00:37:11 The Goldman Sachs pivot from one and a half to eight inches 💧📈🌱
00:44:15 Coastal cities prove New Orleans does not have to be abandoned 🌊🏙🌍
00:45:22 The Pathway First model for hiring the overlooked and unhoused 🏠🌱🙌
00:47:36 One decision away and why we invest in our people far too late 💡🤝🌱
00:49:11 Why community transformation needs support before real success 🌍🙌🌱
This isn't just content — it's a conversation. Subscribe, hit the bell, and drop a comment. What you think matters here.
Want the unfiltered version? The takes we don't soften, the extra conversations, the real behind-the-scenes?
🔓 YouTube Membership: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL4HuzYPchKvoajwR9MLxSQ/join
💸 Patreon: patreon.com/unsolicitedperspectives
Full episodes, clips, merch, and everything Unsolicited Perspectives in one place: 🌐 www.unsolicitedperspectives.com
See you in the next one.#UnsolicitedPerspectives #BlackCulture #BlackPodcast #SocialCommentary #CurrentEvents #PopCulture #Podcast #BlackHistory #Entertainment
Beat Provided By https://freebeats.io | Produced By White Hot
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Unsolicited Perspectives
00:00:00
Speaker
What if the biggest problems in our neighborhoods aren't accidents at all? We gonna get into it. Let's get it!
00:00:18
Speaker
Welcome. First of all, welcome. This is Unsolicited Perspectives. I am your host, Bruce Anthony, here to lead the conversation in important events and topics that are shaping today's society. Join the conversation and follow us wherever you get your audio podcasts. Subscribe to our YouTube channel for our video podcasts, YouTube exclusive content, and our YouTube membership.
00:00:36
Speaker
Rate, review, comment, share. Share with your friends, share with your family, hell, even share with your enemies. On today's episode, we're sitting down with Preston King Robinson, founder of Garden Picasso. We're going to explore how yesterday's decisions still shape our communities today and what it really takes to rebuild neighborhoods from the ground up.
00:00:57
Speaker
But that's enough of the intro. Let's get to the show.
Neighborhood Disparities and Historical Impacts
00:01:07
Speaker
Every once in a while, we have a conversation that forces us to look at something we've accepted as normal and ask a simple question. Was it always supposed to be this way? When heavy rain comes, some neighborhoods flood over and over again while others barely notice.
00:01:22
Speaker
Some communities have access to fresh food around the corner while others have to drive miles just to buy vegetables. Some places seem to attract investment while others spend decades waiting for someone to care.
00:01:35
Speaker
Most people see these as separate issues. Today's guest says they're all connected. Not because of bad luck, not because of coincidence, but because of decisions that were made generations ago whose consequences are still showing up today.
Preston's Community Rebuilding Journey
00:01:50
Speaker
Our guest, Preston King-Romerson, didn't just decide to talk about these problems. After surviving one of the biggest battles of his own life, he returned home with a different mission. He wanted to build something that actually changes the conditions people are living in.
00:02:04
Speaker
His company isn't simply cleaning up vacant land. He's transforming forgotten spaces into places that help manage flooding, produce food for the community, and create opportunities for people who've often been overlooked by society.
00:02:19
Speaker
What I find interesting about this conversation isn't really about landscaping. It's about opportunity. It's about ownership. It's about asking whether we can repair communities by investing in people who already live there instead of waiting for someone else to save them.
Driving Community Change with Personal Experiences
00:02:36
Speaker
We're also going to talk about how the past continues to shape the present, why certain neighborhoods always seem to be carrying the heaviest of burdens, and what it looks like to create meaningful work inside of temporary solutions.
00:02:48
Speaker
We're also... Going to be talking about how one person's personal journey became the catalyst for changing entire communities. This is one of those conversations that remind us that real change doesn't always begin in City Hall.
00:03:01
Speaker
Sometimes it starts with somebody willing to pick up a shovel, plant a seed, and refuse to believe things have to stay the way they've always been. So without further ado, Preston King Robinson.
Growing Up in New Orleans and Cultural Insights
00:03:15
Speaker
As I said at the top, I'm here with Preston King Robinson, the founder of Garden Picasso. King, it is a pleasure to have you on the show. I'm really excited to talk about this particular subject because this is new to me. This is new information. Typically, i have somewhat of an understanding before I have somebody on of what we're going to be talking about. But this this is new.
00:03:37
Speaker
So I'm excited to have you on the show. Thank you for coming on the show. I'm excited to get this going. Of course, man. I appreciate you, you know, giving me the opportunity opportunityated to spread, you know, what needs to be known about stormwater management, especially while i'm from the New Orleans, you know?
00:03:52
Speaker
And you're not that you're not the only person who is is new to, you know, a lot of people hear about it. They can see that the but the bed with climate change, we get way more rain, ah way more intense heat summers.
00:04:03
Speaker
So, A lot of people, that' are like, oh yeah, I can use this, but they don't really understand the importance of it and how it can benefit the community.
Hurricane Katrina's Impact and Community Resilience
00:04:13
Speaker
It can benefit that individual, like financially, because it's big. You can also as a property protection plan with that.
00:04:20
Speaker
You know how it helps, you know, the overall stability of the individual whose property is on and the community that the property is in. Okay. All right. Well, you brought up something, and I like to start off every interview with Let's Go Back.
00:04:37
Speaker
let's Let's take it back. Tell me what it was like for you growing up in New Orleans, home of Master P and Cash Money Records. I know New Orleans got more than that. Yeah, man. Master P and Cash Money Records, but tell me what it was like growing up in New Orleans. And then...
00:04:55
Speaker
When did you start to notice that certain parts of the city would flood and other parts wouldn't? So, I mean, when I grew up, it was, it's like the Southern hospitality that you think it is. That's literally the epitome of New Orleans.
00:05:13
Speaker
I grew up in a time where your neighbor, if you got in trouble, your neighbor could, could, uh, you know, punish you basically, you know, cause they know your people.
00:05:23
Speaker
So that's the kind of, it's very community based, which is kind of, I mean, into what I'm doing right now. So literally out street lights, you know what saying? Out to the street lights on, we have the, the candlelight around the corner. I'm saying we have a certain and freedom that a lot of people don't have.
00:05:41
Speaker
You know, like when people watch movies and they like, oh, like when a TV shows you come up, you're where are your kids? That's the kind of error in the water, you I'm saying? So, but it was always all love, you know what Always good food, always good people, you know what saying?
00:05:55
Speaker
And... Uh, even though we had hurricanes, you know, and stuff like that, we, we never had to actually leave for a hurricane until Katrina for real. So, but everything like, I, I love my childhood. I believe a lot. Everything about it from the the people, the food. And even as I got older, I didn't even realize that as children, we're learning our language, like the Creole, the New Orleans speak that we have, like the lingo, like all that is French bass.
00:06:21
Speaker
And I didn't even realize that. So a lot of the slang, like, if you could like, like we say buku a lot. You know, like that's literally French. That's literally French. It means, it means a lot. So that though, and like right now, it would be like, like some people, like when they're talking about a woman or a female, they're attracted to that be like my love fee, which is fee is literally a girl in French. So it's just, it's interesting. As I got older, I'm like, okay, like we would speak in French way before. I mean, even though.
00:06:47
Speaker
So just just get that that culture part, you know what I'm saying? You get you never feel like you missing out on something. And even as I began to travel, like internationally, as I got older, I felt like i you know like I always knew all of these people because there's so many different cultures and influences on world.
00:07:06
Speaker
So how old were you when Katrina hit? So Katrina was like 0, 4, 0, 5. So I was probably like 12, 13. Yeah, i think I was 13 when Katrina hit because I had just started at St. Elk, uh,
00:07:25
Speaker
Cause I had went to St. Long the year before that was the first day they had the eighth grade. They i just started the eighth So I went there for that. And then we left to go to Florida and I was going to go back to ninth grade. And that's when Katrina had them.
00:07:38
Speaker
And that was like, for me, that was like the first time that we had a hurricane that we actually had to leave for. And it was... And i was like, and it was really crazy for me because like we had been through category three storms and like just literally sitting in the house like we'll watch the rain, go outside and play during the eye the storm and then come back inside for the half.
00:08:02
Speaker
So like, it was, it was pretty crazy. And then just to see all of the traffic, like there's a, there's a place like it's like literally 45 minutes from New Orleans, because New Orleans is very small. Like you can get from one side to the other side in 15 minutes. You know what I'm saying?
00:08:17
Speaker
Like a trip that would have normally taken us like 45 minutes probably took us like 13 or 14 hours because of all the traffic that was back there because everybody was trying to leave. So it was, wow it was an experience for sure.
00:08:28
Speaker
But fortunately, like we ended up, we had, we had ended up leaving, you know, so we didn't get caught in all of the, the detrimental aftermath, like a lot of other New Orleanians. But yeah. You know, we definitely still have that kind of vibe, you know, like the the refugees are not all country when we went to other states, you know what I'm saying? Because... everybody like, oh, they see what's happening us, but they're like, oh, we don't want, you know, the them to come and kind of take what we got, you know, the crap bucke mustset that a lot of people have, you know what I mean? So that was definitely an interest time, for sure.
00:08:59
Speaker
Uh, you bring up the fact that y'all had... would go out there and play in hurricanes, you know, and hide hurricane and run back in with the storm. and And a lot of your work has to do with certain areas that would get flooded. And this is going before Katrina. We're going to get into that later. But when was it, what age was it that you first came where, oh, this area is always flooding and these areas don't ever flood?
00:09:29
Speaker
Well, it's funny because being in New Orleans is kind you don't, use it's one of those things that's so regular for you, well, you don't even really think about it like that. You what I'm saying? I'm from the Southern Whale, so that's really like,
00:09:40
Speaker
Where flooding takes place it is in like the seven wall, like the upper and lower night wall for real. So like when me being from the seven wall like this, it's just like regular, like you just kind of praying and you just like, okay, like as long as it don't come up in my house, like we good. you know I'm saying? Because the energy like the cycle a couple hours.
00:09:58
Speaker
But it really wasn't until I got older and I really started doing, you know, my own business started really looking at and started working in different areas of the city where you see, oh, ah you know, there's areas like the uptown area or like the the garden district area, you know I'm saying? They have all of these big oak trees, you know I'm saying? All of this lush green landscapes and all this. And you like, I mean, they flood because it's New Orleans, but like the,
00:10:22
Speaker
consistency and the frequency of them flooding is not as much, or it takes a lot more rain to cause the same amount of flooding, the same volume of flooding that, you know, they had in like the neighborhood that I came up in.
00:10:35
Speaker
So I want to get into the fact that you, your your work, but I want to get into how you started your work.
Cancer's Influence on Preston's Life and Career
00:10:45
Speaker
You battled cancer and you won.
00:10:48
Speaker
You battled cancer and you won. You came out on the other side and you choose you chose to build something instead of strictly just speaking out. Can you tell me about when you got to that point that you wanted to start a company to to help with this specific problem and how that battle of cancer kind of pushed you in that direction?
00:11:11
Speaker
Absolutely. So... I had cancer literally right as I graduated high school. So my six, so right as I turned 17 was when I found that I had cancer.
00:11:23
Speaker
And then my mindset, like I've always been and super optimist. There's no downside type of person. You know what I'm saying? Unless like it's right in my face. So even when they told me it's like, oh, you got cancer. And I'm like, okay, what's the next steps?
00:11:36
Speaker
Like, how can we, you know, get it popping? So. What like after I finished, like I ended up going into chemical engineering in at LSU and i took a, and of course, in the course year, to take biochemistry and other, other like natural science classes. So in biochemistry, you know, we all know that plants eat light to make, you know, oxygen, but the breakdown of it like was really so like Then that that I like started my home, like small garden, like in my backyard.
00:12:05
Speaker
o So I'm the type and I'm the type person, I'm a perfectionist for real. So once I really dig into something, I'm like, yo, I want to be a best at this. So I went to go, I got my horticultural, my Master Gardener license from LSU during that time. And then I also started, I'm like, okay, I can get the knowledge portion, but this is a hands-on type of field. So then I started, I was a laborer for a couple of local landscaping companies.
00:12:28
Speaker
And then I noticed I'm just like, yo, I can do this. I can start this and do this myself. So when I moved to New Orleans, I started, like the first thing that I started noticing was like, we have all of this culture and all of these, you know, these different color houses. Cause you know, in New Orleans, it's all the houses is like purple, blue, yellow, you know what saying?
00:12:47
Speaker
So, but of the lawns look the same. Like it's all just green. Like it's just, just grass, you what saying? oh like just not enough flavor. And I'm just like, how can we make the outdoor space like an extent of the indoor space?
00:13:03
Speaker
So initially it was just like purely aesthetic. But as I started working for different landscaping companies and New Orleans, I realized that While they do provide like a ah great aesthetic, they're not solving a deeper issue.
00:13:21
Speaker
That's just pretty much the surface level issue. So when we had a cancer and coming through it I realized that, you know, and then being a chemical engineer, knowing that while studying a chemical engineering, knowing like the like the stuff that we see is just the, call like the effects of a deeper cause. You know what I'm saying? So like people get like, they see old landscape. men Okay. Like.
00:13:43
Speaker
It solves a problem of the aesthetics, but what deeper causes us what deeper purposes it serves? So then that's when I kind of started looking into. the stormwater management and how, you know, and that's when i started learning about actual green infrastructure and how you can use living, breathing, saying you know, ah soils to actually absorb water to help specific, to to change different, like, characteristics of that specific property. So, like, what I found out, I think, uh,
00:14:14
Speaker
Four years ago, I was at a bit the Water Challenge, which is pretty much like a pitch competition on how we will, you know, how we work with how we work with water in the ones because that's such a thing.
00:14:25
Speaker
And what I learned doing my research is that The areas that I ah plan on affecting the most, which is like the Southern water, the lower nine water areas, like all of the like historic black areas, islands, they have all of these different effects, all of these different color, like things that happen to them. So the heat island effect, the food deserts, like the the flooding, like all of those things can be solved with landscaping.
00:14:50
Speaker
Hmm. what i What I realized was that it's not just landscape, it's like a deeper, like a deeper infrastructure that needs to be taken care of. them So what we do is like what we do now and how we transition into how we, are well our main goal when we do any grain infrastructure installation or even design, or even when we're talking to people about their property is just like to get them to to understand that the most important thing is to
00:15:21
Speaker
figure out how many gallons of stormwater that their property can absorb per hour. Because that's the most important metric. And with New Orleans, we get probably almost the most rain in the country. I think maybe Seattle might be like close to us, ah about but, but with us being like our, with our city being below sea level already, it causes us to flood like way more because our water saturation level is so it's almost, it's like almost zero. So literally if it, if if we get an inch and like, if we did an inch of rain in an hour,
00:15:57
Speaker
Like that is the, like, in most, in most places, is that's like the most that the water table can handle up with before it starts to flood and the water can go nowhere. Right. Okay. Yeah. So what we do is we pretty much go in and we diagnose the property as it is currently and say, okay, this is how much stormwater that your property can manage on the property without i pushing it off onto the streets, because that's a, that's really what the solution is currently and has is to just,
00:16:28
Speaker
Basically, put the problem off to make it the city problem. Okay. Yeah. Like rock realistically, like this, put the water into the street and let the city drainage handle it. But the thing is, with New Orleans being the oldest city in the country, our pipes are exactly like the ancient, you know what mean? So like they can't, they just can't handle the the volume that it's currently getting. And especially because top of that, it's a lot of like politics with it. So like a lot of the pumps are intermittent, you know what saying? In certain areas, which, you know, we can't, I can't control none of that. So I'm only focused on what I can control, which is, you know, edifling maintenance, stormwater management, trying to spread the word to make people understand how important it is.
00:17:13
Speaker
Especially because yeah, okay. That's the flood in, you know, during the rain, but also, and which is what was saying earlier, like the property protection is they have what's called like a super wet cycle and then a super dry cycle.
00:17:28
Speaker
And then with the clay soil that we have in New Orleans, those two cycles is literally what makes the city sink because the clay gets really, really wet and it expands and then they go through those super, super high dry periods and then it just cracks and it crumbles, which is what causes all of the sinking, the major potholes in the city.
00:17:46
Speaker
Like, all the credit, and a lot of people don't understand it, but if you, like, the the way, which is why the way that we implement our, like, methodology, it keeps all of the water on the property so that you don't have those extremes of desiccation and saturation. It's kind of like a baseline so that way the water, it doesn't stay saturated, but it's not wet enough to where when it does dry, it like, creates spaces, you know, that your house falls into, so.
Flooding Challenges and Sustainable Solutions
00:18:24
Speaker
Okay, so, King, it seems as you're describing what it is that you do now and the fact that you battled and beat cancer, especially you getting interested in the the photosynthesis and and the life of a plant and the how sunlight is is doing and then doing the landscaping. And it seems, and I could be wrong, but it seems like when you had your experience with cancer that that life became a really important thing for you to understand, maybe? Was this something that you always had, or do you think that your battle with cancer put it into a new perspective of life
00:19:08
Speaker
So I've always been like a science and math kid, like my entire life, but, and I don't think that I really put that much thought into it until you just asked me the question, but i do but I do very distinctively remember like when I was going to try to find my major, it had to be something with bio, like biology and chemical and chemical nature, like something like that. So I bounced around a couple of different things. So I did, i was in biochemical uh, I was in my, ah my major was biochemical at first, and then i changed to food science and then I changed to chemical engineering, which i I think I landed on chemical engineering because it exist it is exactly that. It's like learning how the base, like the base blocks of something are and then building from building up from there.
00:19:57
Speaker
So I do think that While it may have not been apparent at the time, I definitely think that me overcoming that, me overcoming cancer and and just my science lead like my science-y background before then has led me into the major that I ended up pursuing because it's exactly what you're saying. It's looking at stuff from the deep, deep inside and then building it up from there instead of working it from the outside in.
00:20:26
Speaker
Yeah. A lot of people, when they think about New Orleans and they think about flooding and some of the work that you're specifically doing, they they their their nexus point is Hurricane Katrina.
00:20:40
Speaker
But you often talk about, now, it this all started before Hurricane Katrina through the actual planning of the city. You talked a little bit about some of the complications that the city has just from being below sea level and...
00:20:59
Speaker
the The nature of it. But how was the actual planning, the foundation of the city? How did that lead to some of the devastation that we saw that eventually led to Hurricane Katrina and and that devastation?
00:21:17
Speaker
So I do know that like with, with, that with New Orleans already being below sea level and it's funny because I was just talking to my grandma about this like a couple of weeks ago and she was telling me, cause she's staying in Bagatown, which is what we call Bagatown, which is, in a seven-way. But what she was saying is like those areas where she still lives right now used to be kind of like I don't want to say farmland areas, but they used to raise their own animals, like pigs, ducks, rabbits, chickens, and all of that. And then literally a house that's around the corner from my grandmother's current house, she was saying, she was telling me, she was like, oh, that house used to be a watering hole for the animals. Oh, okay.
00:21:56
Speaker
And I was like, I was like, wow. So that, that made me think about it from a different perspective. Cause it's like, this was already like, not, not like purposefully, you know what saying? Said to like, if something happened, it's going to be underwater, but through, you know, years of small little insignificant or what people consider insignificant details happening, and you know what saying? Like it built up this.
00:22:19
Speaker
But also i think the major thing, and a lot of people are like have this idealism is that they blew the levees or like the levees somehow failed only in that one part.
00:22:31
Speaker
And the idealism that I've seen a lot is that that was done so that way one they can begin the gentrification of the Lower Night Ward and Seven Ward, which you can see, i mean, if you can see it now, like you can see that it the gentrification is very, very apparent.
00:22:49
Speaker
And then also so they can save the French Quarter, because that's the real, that's the gem, that's the real moneymaker. And I think a lot of people have this idealism because a very similar thing happened with Hurricane Bessie back in, I think, what, 65?
00:23:06
Speaker
Hmm. Where they blew the levees or the way the storm hit, it hit very similar to how Hurricane Katrina hit. Yeah, precisely. And then they were saying that, and I haven't done deep, deep research on this, but from what I have been like heard and listened to it, they heard, they, I don't know if it was confirmed or not, but it's a lot of people that said they blew the levers back then.
00:23:29
Speaker
And then even now with Katrina, there's people that live on that side that say that they heard explosions. yeah So, but you know, I'm i'm sure it will take some deep, you know, confirmation and, you know, money and deep pockets to get that to be, you know, told up front, you know, but.
00:23:46
Speaker
like I think, I'm not gonna say that, out it just seems like that is a very logical thing, especially if they did it before, you know what I'm saying? it Especially with, you know, the climate change and how stuff is going right now. If you go to those areas that used to be considered, you know, the hood, quote unquote, you know what saying? But it's literally just...
00:24:04
Speaker
families living out there. You know I'm If you go to the historic black neighborhoods, it's all you see people walk jogging at night, know what I'm saying? By themselves now. And you know, you you know, yeah, yeah. this The signs, you know what I'm saying? the ha Which is, I mean, it's good. It's good at the city's bringing in this new revenue, but it's just, it's just, you know, signs that you can see. And, uh, they had a, I want to say off of, they have a ah neighborhood called Broadmoor, which is kind of like a, it's,
00:24:33
Speaker
It's kind of like a mix, you know what saying? Because New Orleans is very street by street. So you can go on one street and it's like the houses are like, you know, they're like renters in the houses of families that have been living there for years and years and years and years. And then literally the next street over is two story, three story houses. You know what I'm saying? And it's like where like, you can tell that these, the price value of these houses is is is a lot more than these houses over here. And it's literally just one street over. So one block over.
00:25:01
Speaker
So just that type of differentiation, I can see it, know i'm saying? Everybody else is seeing it, but my thing is, is like, i I really started my company. So, I mean, of course I started, so I wanted to have have my own company and not work for nobody. You know I'm saying? Make my own hours, but as I've grown and you know, gotten older, ah it's really become more community-based for sure because i'm like, if I can give back to my city, especially in by doing one thing, which is, i keep I keep saying landscaping, but it's really, it's so much deeper than that. You know what i'm saying? But it's the colloquial, the layman term is landscaping because that's really that's what people know it as. You know what i'm saying? So if I can provide all of these other outcomes, you know i'm saying? Like minimizing the heat island effect,
00:25:49
Speaker
because everybody know that when you hot, you get more upset. Everybody knows that, but it's it it's just, it's just so interesting that when you look at the numbers, it's okay. These, at these neighborhoods that have all of these, these heat island effects, these food deserts, you know what i'm saying? They're more like, like they're more violent during the summertime than the winter time. And it's like, why is that? It's because of the heat island effect. They just get, it's, it's hotter over there. Like, and I want to say it's not a nominal thing. I want to say if you have shade, I think it's 10 or 15 degrees difference.
00:26:21
Speaker
Mm-hmm. I'm standing every stand, which is a big difference. So. That is just, you know, if I can stop the heat island effect, if I can ah minimize the heat island effect, if I can minimize the food desert, if I can raise the community collaboration with each other, you know what I'm saying? So that way the neighborhoods can get back to how they were when I was little, like when I was younger, you know, that that would be...
00:26:43
Speaker
the pinnacle Yeah. Me and my sister often talk about food deserts. She lives in Atlanta, and she's in a food desert, is but it's not as bad as it used to be. It takes 10 or 15 minutes to get to the local grocery store.
00:26:57
Speaker
But you there's a correlation in New Orleans with these food deserts and these flood zones. One, what... what Can you tell me about this correlation of why it exists? And two, you talk about bringing down the heat by creating more shade. You had a specific term, but it was tough for me to catch it. How can you cooler?
00:27:19
Speaker
cooler just being outside when, of course, we got global warming and things are getting hotter. is Every summer is the hottest summer that there's ever been. I'm tired of these hot summers. You can find a way to make things cooler. I'm all for it. So explain to me the correlation between nude the food deserts and the flood zones, and then how can we cool down these areas that you're saying are really heated?
00:27:47
Speaker
All right, so from what I found in New Orleans is, and i i want i don't want to say it's so a I don't want to say it's a correlation in the sense that because these are food deserts, they flood or because they flood their food deserts. okay I will say that the correlation from my aspect is that these places that flood,
00:28:07
Speaker
that also have food deserts can be solved by one overall solution, which is what we call sponge nodes because they absorb water.
00:28:19
Speaker
But what other people may call like community gardens, but like a like a taken like taking blighted lots in those areas and turning them into community gardens because The thing is, a lot of and i think a lot of the reasons why that stuff floods and like I said, the other neighborhoods that are greener just in general don't flood is because of the gray infrastructure. There's so much pavement, there's so much concrete, you know because they're trying to maximize like parking spaces or like apartment complexes or whatever. So all of that, one, and that that does a couple of different things. One, because
00:28:56
Speaker
it is solid, it's just gonna radiate the heat back into the air, which is what causes the heat island effect. And then secondarily, s there's no, if it's if it's all gray infrastructure, the water literally can't absorb into the ground.
00:29:11
Speaker
ah So the it's gets it gets pushed off, on it gets pushed onto the pumps, which can't handle that rainwater. Like i I just did a... ah I just did an and a social media post on Instagram last week about an article stating that currently, right now, the pumps in the city can only manage... In the first hour of a storm, the pumps can only handle one inch of rain.
00:29:38
Speaker
and And every hour after that, it can only handle a half an inch of rain. Which is like literally nothing. ah yeah You know, and that's, and that's right now. So its just imagine how it was like, you know, 10 years ago.
00:29:53
Speaker
Yeah. So that's why it's, and that's why like, it's so much more pertinent now because like I said, it's a lot of, I feel like it's politics everywhere, but I feel because New Orleans is so small, the politics hit the, it's cut like the communities way harder.
00:30:07
Speaker
So that's why like, i'm like Trying to work with as many people as possible, been trying to be an advocate so that people can start taking these solutions into their own hands pretty much.
Garden Picasso's Mission Against Sinking New Orleans
00:30:22
Speaker
So let's talk about your company. Because we've handed towards what you do, but we haven't gone into specifics. Can you break down what it is that your company does? And then I want to know about when you go into these communities to work, what's the reception like?
00:30:40
Speaker
So my company stops New Orleans from sinking. Okay. that's the that's the That's the baseline. And the way that we do that is through soil science and landscape engineering. ah gra Landscape engineering and green infrastructure practices more aptly.
00:30:57
Speaker
And I mean, especially because i come from a place of love and support and love. of service, I've not had any negative interactions with anybody. You know what I'm saying? like If anything, people are looking to learn more about it, you know, especially with, especially right now in the climate that we have where it's like, we don't know what's in the food.
00:31:21
Speaker
We don't know that even if we do know what's in the food, it's crazy expensive. So people are looking to do, you know, more things, more DIY things. So they're looking for the information.
00:31:32
Speaker
So That's why I'm like, okay, this is I mean, I've been, I've been doing this for six years now, officially with my business. So now that, you know, starting to get more traction with socially, you know, like with being organic or doing stuff yourself or having your own garden or like how you can grow so much food in such a small space, you know, now that it's becoming more prominent, I think it's, it's, it's great because I can get, just get to speak and teach people about this because my thing is, of course, it'd be great if I get more business, but if you,
00:32:01
Speaker
getting knowledge from this, and then you start a garden, if I could turn a black thumb into a green thumb, like, that's really my goal. Yeah, because I can tell you from personal experience, I don't have a green thumb. I've killed many of plants, so I don't know if I'd be able to grow my own food, but that's good to know that there's a company out there that can at least teach you how to do these things.
00:32:24
Speaker
When you grow food, because New Orleans is known for its food, And you have these food deserts. What type of crops are you growing that is culturally significant to the people that live in New Orleans?
00:32:42
Speaker
So I would say, like, one of the... one of the ah lot of the stuff that is okra. And i people in New Orleans, they like, they either love it or they hate it But I think that's definitely like a New Orleans thing. you know I'm saying? Like, okra gumbo, like, fried okra. You know what I'm saying?
00:33:00
Speaker
The other stuff I really don't think is, I don't think it's more like the ingredients, you know i'm saying? Unless like you're looking at like an andouille saucers or something like that. But that's more like the seasonings are around it. You know and i'm saying? And how you put them together. Like I was talking to ah talking to my mama the other day and we was talking to my brother about how to make gumbo.
00:33:19
Speaker
You know what saying? Like, I made it for the first time, like, ah maybe a year ago or something like that. And so I was on, I'm like, yo, what do I need to do? that So, like, she had me making it. I'm a big cook anyway, so I love, like, I'm a big, big foodie. I mean, I feel like you can't be from New Orleans and can't be a foodie.
00:33:38
Speaker
But, ah so, like, as we as I'm going through she like... okay, t like I'm tasting it through the thorn through and I'm like, okay, it tastes good, it tastes good, it tastes good, dah, dah, dah. So like at the end, we add what's called a, like a gumbo filet.
00:33:51
Speaker
Okay. And like you, like that changes the entire, like it really changes the the whole dish. Like it turns it from like chicken and sausage soup into gumbo. You know what I'm saying? So that's kind of like, that's that little like extra thing that that's, that's what New Orleans is. Like New Orleans is like the filet for everything else, you know what i'm saying? so cause you can come here you can get, you can go somewhere and get catfish, you know saying?
00:34:17
Speaker
And you can come here and get catfish, but it's just, it's that little extra, oh, like, I don't know what they did. It's like, maybe they they did something with the, like the cornmeal or something, or like maybe the catfish is just fresher or, you know what I'm saying? So it's it's not necessarily the ingredients themselves, but it's like how we treat the ingredients and mend them all together.
00:34:35
Speaker
h And so does that start with the garden? Yeah, i mean, you got to have good, if you want to have a good product, you got to have a good ingredients to begin with, for sure. Right. Yeah.
00:34:46
Speaker
Is there one person or one project that really proves that really, that you're really the most proud of and and that you can look back as as a fellow business owner, there are times when you're like, man, what am I doing here? You know, is this, am I, is this working?
00:35:06
Speaker
Was there a moment, a person, a project where you were like, you know what, this is the reason why I'm doing all of this? So I've had a couple different projects like that, but, and they've been more, like when I first started, it it was kind of like the aesthetics. Oh, wow, look what a look what I turned your yard into.
00:35:25
Speaker
And so that you can enjoy it and not come out here and, you know, like it be an eyesore. So I've had a couple of those, but I was i would say like my greatest, One was the, like my recent one. So I just finished the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program.
00:35:39
Speaker
And through that program, it literally made me change my entire, pivot my entire business model. So the actual first design that we did with this new business model really showed me like, okay, this is why I'm doing this because We pretty much turned their property from absorbing one and a half inches of stormwater an hour to absorbing eight inches of stormwater an hour.
00:36:06
Speaker
Wow. Okay. Wow. and yeah what was it about What was it about the change in your business model that that made that drastic change in their property?
00:36:19
Speaker
I was just more aesthetics focused before i pivoted. And then once I pivoted, it I really... leaned on my scientific background, like my, my deep knowledge aspect, you know, and looking at it, not just like we was talking about earlier, not from the top down, but from the inside, from the base layers and looking at it up, which is why now we look at, we check the soil composition, like three feet deep, three feet deep.
00:36:45
Speaker
We check the microbiology that's in your soil and we check the nutrient content that's in your soil because all three of those things work in tandem to help build the absorption rate of, for the stormwater.
00:36:58
Speaker
And then if you, and that's, that's just as a base. And then, but we also saw me being very sciencey and loving all of that stuff. So we pick plants. I mean, first we pick plants specific and native to our climate.
00:37:11
Speaker
Secondarily, we look at the trend, we look at the transpiration rates of each plant. but that way So that way we can know, okay, we can know the rate we can calculate a rate that that plant is going to absorb water and release it back into the air. That is also how you cool down heat islands.
00:37:29
Speaker
Because you you put more, the first thing that cools them down is less concrete, less less surface to radiate heat. That's the first thing.
00:37:41
Speaker
The second thing is the plants, you know, they're providing transpiration, which means they're putting water into the air, which in New Orleans, it could make it, I mean, it's already humid, you know i'm saying? So it it could make it a little more humid, but that still takes away from, you know, like the heat island effect.
00:37:59
Speaker
And then, you know, like a lot of the stuff that they do have in New Orleans, a lot of the shade trees, you know like the oaks and like all of the stuff, you plant those in, know, like depending on how you plant them, you know, like you can create different shade spots, at which also helps with the heat island effect.
00:38:15
Speaker
m ah How do you balance balance working with clients that, because you've you've stepped back from the aesthetics and put more emphasis on the science. How do you make that register with the client? Because they say, look, I want these plants. I want these type of crops. And you're like, well,
00:38:40
Speaker
that that won't work here because our environment is not conducive for that to to that plant or that crop to to grow and to prosper." And they're like, well, i this is these these are the colors that I kind of want this landscape to look like. And you're like, yeah, that's great.
00:38:57
Speaker
But also we need to do these other things so you're not living on a heat island and also not having too much water run off. So and like how do you balance that ah your new business philosophy, your new business strategy with kind of clients saying, i don't care about that. I just want it to look pretty.
00:39:18
Speaker
Patience and understanding. I'm learning. i just got married two years ago. So my communication levels have gone up astronomically.
00:39:32
Speaker
That'll do it. That'll do it. So that so that is is t has taught me patience and understanding because the thing is people hire you because they don't know how to do it.
00:39:44
Speaker
Like when you go to the doctor, you don't tell a doctor, you tell a doctor, okay, this is what I feel like is wrong with me. You don't tell it like the doctor gives you a prescription. you know You don't tell the doctor like, yo, that's not gonna work for me unless you've tried it before and it hasn't specifically worked. But you know i'm saying? If you haven't, then you're gonna just take it and and go about your day.
00:40:03
Speaker
So I try to approach my clients like that. It's okay, I understand you have this vision and we're gonna try to get you as close to that vision as we can, but we also need to be realistic.
00:40:14
Speaker
you know And if you don't want to be realistic, that's perfectly fine. It's just going to cost you more money because now we have to be out here to meticulously maintain it because you have chosen and wanted all of these non-native plants. You know, all of these plants that hate wet feet and we live in a humid area or you want these, you know, these sun-tolerant plants under your house in the shade. and it's like Yeah, we can we can do what we can for you, but...
00:40:42
Speaker
I just, I just am very upfront. You know what I'm saying? I feel like being from New Orleans, like everybody's like that. You know It's like, I'm just like, I'm telling you how it is. Like, you know what I'm saying? It's like, you can go with me or you can not go with me. Like you can go with the next person if you want and they can do it.
00:40:56
Speaker
And then, you know, in six months, going calling me anyway. rick But like, I try to present it to where like, I give the client as much information as I can so that that that way they can make a sound decision. And that way, even if you don't go with me, at least I did everything that I can do to help you.
00:41:12
Speaker
True, true.
00:41:22
Speaker
When people look back on this work that you're doing years from now, years from now, what do you want them to feel about what was built and who helped build it?
00:41:37
Speaker
i would what i would like I would like to see that I would like it to be an influence, to be like, if you want, be like, like and it sounds cliche, but it's be the change you want to see, like for real.
00:41:50
Speaker
You know, it's like, especially right now, there's this big, there's all of this like hype around like an exodus from New Orleans because of all of the flood and all of the water and all of that. And I just, it's just like a shock factor. And I think it's more, I think it's, I think there's also like them trying to, pilot them politicking, trying to get the natives out and get more like gentrification in. That's what I think.
00:42:11
Speaker
You know what i'm saying? Like a scare tactic pretty much. But because the way I look at it, and I'm like, yo, they have all of these coastal countries that literally live on water, like Venice. Literally, they just use boats to get around. You know what i'm saying? Like, i saw I saw an article that I think it was in the mall in the Middle East, basically. they They actually manufactured an island, like, at you know, that like a city, like, on the water. So it's like...
00:42:40
Speaker
All of this hype about like, we can't do it and we gotta leave, like, i like it's so it's so bogus. You know what i'm saying? I think it's just gonna take a ah mindset shift and for the community to actually, you know what I'm saying, start being the change they wanna see.
00:42:57
Speaker
And like, even if you don't know where to start, like, at least just be curious and ask questions. You know what i'm saying? Yeah.
Empowering the Community with Pathway First Program
00:43:03
Speaker
So, King, you have an interesting employee model that that I would love for you to share to the audience because I think it's ah a really cool concept. So can you explain to me and the audience what your employee model is like?
00:43:20
Speaker
Absolutely. I would love to. So we have what's called a Pathway First program. And what that is is which means that some of our employees, we specifically gather from unhoused neighbors or from reentry individuals.
00:43:35
Speaker
And the plan with this is once we have really gotten this off the ground is those individuals that we hired through the Pathway First program, will be getting an above wage rate so that way they don't feel like they are, you know, struggling or needing for anything. On top of that, for our reentry individuals, we will, you know, provide them with legal counseling so they don't have to worry about that, as well as like mental health assistance. As and financial assistance and financial assistance from the standpoint of we're going to help you, you know, get your stuff set up so that you can live your life every day, but also so that you can plan for the future and teach you how to invest your money, you know, and then also with the investing, we will match one to one for their investments. So that way, you know, they can have a nest egg because the whole thing is,
00:44:24
Speaker
I want to assist people with not having a scarcity mindset because there's too much money out here for for for that, like literally. Well, there was, I think a lot of the billionaires are are snatching it up. But yes, there the the the the concept is there is money out here to be getting it. And I love the fact that you are helping people get a get a leg up, but also propping them up so that when they go off on their own, they can be successful on their own. You're setting them up for a success. So I love that concept.
00:44:56
Speaker
Exactly. And that that's literally what we plan to do. We want to set them up so that that so that they can stay employed with us and become a higher up and become a leader and have their own crews and their own teams. Or if they want to go and if they have other passions, we will assist them with getting the certifications or the education, you know, the knowledge base that they can go and pursue their passions. We just want to be as of service in as many ways to those individuals as we can, because that's the one that gets skipped over.
00:45:25
Speaker
And a lot of the times it's like, those are people that's from our neighborhood. You know what You don't know what circumstance has led them to that because everybody, I heard this, I heard this, this saying, and it made so much sense. Every person is one decision away from being like that.
00:45:39
Speaker
Yes. Yeah. Everybody is one, one one decision single decision. yep and it And it could be a minute decision. It could be like literally split. And this is most, most times it's says it's a split second decision. Mm-hmm.
00:45:53
Speaker
So like when you realize like how close you are to that, like regardless of who you are, like it makes you look at everything differently. Yeah. All right, man. I love that. Ladies and gentlemen, Preston King Robinson, the founder of Garden Picasso. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Man, look, this was a class, a tutorial, because you threw some stuff out there. And I was like, now i don't know nothing about that. either I need to read a little bit more. And and they I never would have thought of heat deserts.
00:46:27
Speaker
I live in Washington, D.C., which is was 1 million degrees this past 4th of July weekend. And we got concrete everywhere. And I'm like, this is kind of the part of the reason why it's so hot.
00:46:39
Speaker
There's not a lot of green space. So that's that's interest interesting that you that you brought that up. That's something I didn't know about. it So thank you so much for coming on the show and enlightening us to to all of this. I really appreciate it.
00:46:52
Speaker
Of course, man. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. This was this was an experience for sure. Yeah, it was my pleasure. Before we end, i want to leave you with one last thought.
00:47:04
Speaker
When most people hear the word landscaping, they think about curb appeal. They think about making a yard look nice or increasing property value. But after talking to King today, I don't think I'll ever hear that word the same way again.
00:47:16
Speaker
Because what he's doing through Garden Picasso isn't just landscaping. He's helping neighborhoods hold water instead of flooding. He's creating green spaces in communities that have gone generations without them.
00:47:28
Speaker
He's helping address food deserts. He's creating jobs and teaching skills. He's hiring people from the very communities he's trying to improve, which means every project isn't just changing the land, it's creating opportunities for people who already live there.
00:47:44
Speaker
That's a completely different way of thinking. He's not waiting for someone to save his community. He's becoming part of the solution. And I hope that's something that we all can support.
00:47:55
Speaker
We spend a lot of time talking about what government should do, and government does have a responsibility. We talk about what corporations should do, and corporations should also have a responsibility.
00:48:08
Speaker
We talk about what our neighbors should do, and yes, communities have to show up for one another. But somewhere in all those conversations, we have to ask ourselves another question.
00:48:19
Speaker
what responsibility belongs to me? Because if we're always waiting on someone else to make the first move, we shouldn't be surprised when nothing moves at all. Not everybody can redesign a city's stormwater system.
00:48:34
Speaker
Not everybody can start a company. But everybody can ask themselves one simple question. What problem am I uniquely equipped to solve?
00:48:46
Speaker
Because that's really what purpose is. It's finding where your gifts meet someone else's needs. That's what I saw in King today. A young man who took his education, his life experience, surviving cancer, and his love for his hometown and turned it into something bigger than himself.
00:49:04
Speaker
And I hope Garden Picasso succeeds. Not just because it's a good business, but because communities all over this country need more people who believe the places we've written off are still worth investing in.
00:49:18
Speaker
Because here's what I've learned. Communities don't change because somebody shows up with all the answers. Communities change when somebody decides they're worth fighting for before everyone else sees their value.
00:49:31
Speaker
But here's the uncomfortable part people don't want to talk about. We love celebrating people after they transform the neighborhood. We put them on stages, we give them awards, and they tell their story.
00:49:43
Speaker
But when they're just getting started, when they're asking for support, when they're trying to build something that actually helps people, we usually look the other way. Maybe the reason so many communities stay the same isn't because we don't have enough people willing to work.
00:49:59
Speaker
Maybe it's because we don't recognize them until the work is already done. The next person who could transform your community may already be there. But if we only invest in people after they succeed, we shouldn't be surprised when so many dreams never get the chance to become reality.
00:50:15
Speaker
Because by the time we finally recognize their value, we've already missed our opportunity to help build the future We all said we wanted. Ladies and gentlemen, I wanna thank you for listening.
00:50:29
Speaker
I wanna thank you for watching. And until next time, as always, I'll holla.
00:50:39
Speaker
That was a hell of a show. Thank you for rocking with us here on Unsolicited Perspectives with Bruce Anthony. Now, before you go, don't forget to follow, subscribe, comment, and share our podcast wherever you're listening or watching it to it. Pass it along to your friends. If you enjoy it, that means the people that you rock will will enjoy it also. So share the wealth, share the knowledge, share the noise.
00:51:01
Speaker
And for all those people that say, well, I don't have a YouTube. If you have a Gmail account, you have a YouTube. Subscribe to our YouTube channel where you can actually watch our video podcast and YouTube exclusive content. great to read But The Real Party is on our Patreon page. After Hours Uncensored and Talkin' Straight-ish. After Hours Uncensored is another show with my sister. And once again, the key word there is uncensored. Those are exclusively on our Patreon page.
00:51:26
Speaker
Jump onto our website at unsolicitedperspective.com. for all things us. That's where you can get all of our audio, video, our blogs, and even buy our merch. And if you really feel generous and want to help us out, you can donate on our donations page.
00:51:41
Speaker
Donations go strictly to improving our software and hardware so we can keep giving you guys good content that you can... clearly listened to and that you can clearly see. So any donation would be appreciated. Most importantly, I want to say thank you.
00:51:55
Speaker
Thank you. Thank you for listening and watching and supporting us. And I'll catch you next time. Audi 5000. Peace.