Hi, Billy cunning in the Great American Happy Thanksgiving to all. In fact, tomorrow we've scheduled Western Southern CEO John Barrett to talk about his race on Thanksgiving morning, and also Governor Mike DeWine will be here, I think, expressing regret about allowing gambling casino in the state of Ohio and sports betting, and also what's happening with marijuana. But until then, Denise tree House is head of the Hamley County Commissioners. She runs the county with an iron grip. And Denise
tree House, welcome again to the Bill Cunningham Show. And Denise, how are you?
I'm good? Did you just say the governor's coming down to run the turkey trot?
Actually, John Barrett's going to invite him to run with him. But if that happens, I want pictures of that.
Would you agree?
I do too. I'm coming down if that's the case.
All right, let's talk about since first I want to issue thanks to the Drea House family.
Are you ready for this?
I'm with baited.
Breath because you know, things occur for a reason, I think, and there were many years ago you may not recall in the late nineteen seventies early nineteen eighties, when I was coming into Cincinnati back from Toledo Law School. I grew up here, but I got Toledo Law School. I had a good time there. I wanted to come back home. So I go and B Larson hires me in the Hamlet County Public Defender's office to be an assistant public defender. And from that I went to see Jerry Springer and
I said I wanted to get into politics. And at that point, Jerry Springer was the mayor for the second Ideation, and he said, well, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll call Saco Weathy and let's see if we can help you out. So I spoke to Jerry, I met Sacho Weeathy, and from that I met Don Dreehouse, and I met Carol Grow and I met PAMs and Dusty Rose. In other words, those are the head Democrats in the county, would you agree?
Oh yeah, the old Guard, the old Guard.
And they put me in the AG's office with Anthony J. Celebreezy and then William Brown and I tried cases on behalf of the age and from that I ran for political office two times, lost each time as a Democrat. But when I think about Thanksgiving coming up, I'm thinking about your dad. I'm thinking about SOCCO, I'm thinking about Pam, and I'm thinking about Carol. And now their daughter is running Hamley County Commission. So I want to say thank
you to the Treehouse family. Without all that being involved, I would not be here today.
That is a lovely sentiment. Two things, though, I do not run the county on my own, just to be clear, there are three of us. And the other thing I'm treated about, what did you run for?
Well?
I ran for state representative in the House twenty six House district and Saco says, look, if I put you in the AG's office, we want you to run for something.
I said, Well, I live in Madeira.
I'm a Democrat in Madeira and at the time that wasn't the most popular place to be and so I ran against Helen Helen Fix. You recall a state rep named Helen Fix. She was there for like fifteen or twenty years. And I came up with this motto, and the motto was the Fix is in, get the Fix out, vote the man, vote Cunningham.
And how did you lose that race?
I lost like seventy two to twenty eight, and.
So on that point.
Years decades go by, about five or six years ago, you know, I had a hard Voul replaced by Carriacus at Christ and so he changed offices on the second floor the building there, and so I go up there and I'm looking for Dean Carriacus's new office on the second floor of the Christ Hospital building. And I walk up to the to the administration desk. This little woman is sitting there. She had to be in the nineties. And I said, ma'am, can you tell me where doctor
Dean carry Outs's new offices. She looked up and said, the fix is in, get the fix out. Both the man Voth Cunningham and I looked it and I said, amazing, I said, are you Helen, Yes, I am, he said.
She said that had that slogan.
Go oh my gosh, that's amazing like her that, I said.
I said, this is wonderful. What have you been doing well?
I retired and then I ran for the County Commission and I didn't do well, and so I just went into I voluntary. I said, can I get a picture taken with you? She said, I would love it, So I I got, I run around the desk, put my my phone up, got a picture of me and Helen Fix, and sadly she died about two years later. So then I get a call from Bill Site. You know Bill Sites stay represented.
But this is what politics does, right, It's just I got to tell you it brings people together.
Go ahead.
So I get a call from him.
But two or three years ago, said did you run against Helen Fix in like nineteen seventy eight? I said, wow, I said, how I did? She said, well, he said, well, she died and I have to do a remembrance on the floor of the House in Columbus about Helen Fix. And I gave him some you know some things I did. And and you talk about how secute his life is that there's Helen Fix, the fixes in, get the Fix out, vote the man, vote Countingham.
Do you remember?
Think that's a pretty clever slogan. I think that's very clever.
I'm not sure it would work today, but you know, I thought, you know, I'll play the gender card a little bit. You know, women in seventy eight weren't exactly.
Like today. You ladies control everything, the county cap I.
Can't condone that I mean, Lily, if you were sexispect, then you know I can't. But here we are, here, we are in a new day.
You're telling me. I mean, men, we had our time, but it's over. And whenever I think about you, I think about don I think about Socco and Pam, I think about Dusty and anyway, let's go on to current events, so to speak.
Oh but listen, they were such a tight knit group and they loved what they did. They just they were at the Board of Elections making sure everybody got to vote, and they just were so committed to what they were doing. That was really those were good days for the Democrats, and now they're better.
But you were just a little girl then, weren't you, Like you were like five or ten years old.
Well, you know, when my dad ran in sixty eight, I was five and so but I remember that campaign. I mean, we drove around the neighborhood with a bullhorn on the top of the station wagon and we sang songs treehouse songs to German music. I mean, it was crazy, and we all dressed up in red, white and blue and took photos with styrochrome you know, hats on and with the bumper stickers on the front. I mean, you know, we love that stuff and we still love it. I
mean it's it's in our blood. And we do really enjoy getting out and meeting people and campaigning. I mean it's it's fun.
Yeah.
I like to think you're the old guard, but not really, but not compared to getting there.
You're getting there.
I'm getting there.
The Democratic Party used to be in the Veneyards, You're now you're in the mansion House. And and now now the Republicans. The Republicans are on your lips. Yeah, let's talk about issues number one. What happened Friday night was just unbelievable between you were there and I think, what can we do that more often? And you know, my running mate Rocky Boyman controls high school sports with an iron grip. We do the games here at thirteen sixty.
If there could be some union or some understanding that contact high school sports with as Rocky been in touch with you about it, making this an annual event.
Yeah, I've talked to Rocky and that's the expectation is that Friday will serve as a model for what we can do next year in years beyond. Katie Blackburn was down there as well, and so I've touch based with her also and said, you know, that was just such a great night for this community. The kids were fired up, the adults were fired up. I mean, it was just a great night. And it was terrible weather by the way, but but boy did they put a show on with the jumbo tron and the ticker tape with Saint X
and Elder on it. So I'm super excited that we could get that done. And a lot of credit goes to the Bengals for reaching out the OHSAA and making sure that they were on board and then getting everybody down there. Willie. It's a huge operation when you think about the concessions and the parking and the security and all the things, and all those people down there working on that Friday night. It was just amazing.
Why did come together so quickly? Because and I guess why why didn't OHSA think about it ahead of time? And why because when I spoke to you on Monday, you and Katie got it done like Tuesday morning, right, it was done.
It was quick, and I and credit where credits do? You're the one that brought it to my attention, So I'm grateful for that. And then I brought it to Katie's attention and then we all work together to get it done.
Well, well, I'm making a nanda.
I'm not sure Elder's ever going to be undefeated, untied, unscored on ever again at that point, and say next is always going to be there. But I bet there's always going to be a GCL school. I almost bet you that, or maybe Lakota West, Lakota East something, maybe Cole Raine will arrive again. Unlikely, but nonetheless, thank you. And you have more control over the stadium now than you had before. Correct, after the new lease was signed.
Well, that's right, yeah, and it's all part of the new lease where we said we want to use the county asset, which belongs to the taxpayers, for more than just football games for the Bengals, and so these high school football games are part of it. Concerts are part of it. You know, there's a lot that we've been thinking through, but one other thing related to football. So you know, I was contacted then after we got this all worked out, then the folks from Anderson were contacting
my office. Let me take like a hundred an eighty email because they wanted their game to be played at pay Corps, and it was too late to get that done. But we need to think next year about teams that you know, are from all over the county, from every community, having an opportunity to play there. And so maybe you know, it's a Saturday with more than one game, the logistics
would be a little bit easier in that case. Or you know, we got to we got to think more broadly than just you know, I was thrilled that Division one was there, uh and the champion, you know, the regional championships were played there. But we're going to have to make sure that others have an opportunity to So I'm super excited about next year and years beyond.
Could you imagine starting like at one o'clock and having having four games. I got a hold of Beechwood and Covcat. They would love to play at pay Course Stadium. Let's not forget one third of the market. I would think one third of the business to the Bengals come from northern Kentucky. And why not have a Kentucky game, an Indiana game, and two Ohio games or three Ohio games in one Kentucky game. Rob Sanders and that group would
love to play at pay court. And let's face the sales tax revenues generated from Northern Kentuckians as millions of dollars every year. They want to be invested. And that's even though it's not direct. Would you be open to the idea of love allowing one game to be played by maybe Cuvkath against speech Wood something like that.
Well, at this point, I'm open to all ideas, but I to be clear, my focus, of course is going to be a Hamilton County and making sure Hamilton County teams get I mean, yeah it is. It is their stadium after all. But you know, open to anything. I mean,
it could be more than one weekend. I mean, we need to think through this and figure out what we can do by way of Bengal schedule, concert schedules and high school football games because when people think about that stadium, they want high school football games played in that stadium and so and we wrote it into the least for a reason, right, and so now we're this is our response so far, but we need to use this as a model moving forward, and the Bengals are obviously open
to it. So it's a new day when it comes to some of these different kind of events down the stadium.
Now, there's several big plots between pay Corps and the Great American Ballpark that are vacant and open. I've seen the inchoir, the city in the county go back and forth. Can you tell us the status of those large plots between the two stadiums that are at this point vacant and what is your plan?
Yeah, So the Urban Design Review Committee presented to both the county and the city last week to give us their best ideas. And this is a group that's city, the county or at the table the Bengals, the Red but we have the other retailers down there weighing in music venues, some of the retailers the Freedom Center, and so we need to take a look at this. It was our first time seeing it. So it's got a
lot of residential in it. It's got some retail, commercial, it's got a hotel which I thought was interesting on it. It's got a little bit of office which I'm not sure that comes to fruition. But anyway, we've got a plan in front of us now, and so it's exciting. I mean, I'm anxious to get this done right, to finish out the banks. So Lot twenty four, the biggest, has the infrastructure already built. So this is the infrastructure that lifts it out of the floodplain and creates that
parking underneath. And then we need to do similar to the other lots that are still vacant, do that under build and then make sure that we've got some appropriate development on top.
What is a brand new twenty thousand seat arena fit in that plan? Does it fit more at TQL or does it fit more on the riverfront which already has the infrastructure.
Well, I have said all along that if we're going to build a new arena, we should take advantage of our built infrastructure, and so that is parking, and that is other assets that belong to the taxpayers, to the public. And so obviously the location down on the riverfront allows for us to use all the parking that's already built down there. I mean it's being used now by the arena, so we know it can accommodate that. And I've seen some renderings where they have taken down the old arena
and then built new on that same footprint. It moves a little bit and expands a little bit, but it's down in that area. And then, of course the other two options are the space up by the Convention Center that will be made available through the reconfiguration of the Brent Spence Bridge. There's about eight acres to the west of the Convention Center that's going to be freed up, so that's something to think about. And then the other location is up by FC in the west end.
And who's going to make that decision at the arena? Because I call them the masters of the universe. On one hand, you got John Barrett, You've got Casteline, you got the Brown Family, you have the banks. On the other hand, you have Carl Linder, you have the farmers, you have Jeff Birding, you have TQL the masters of the universe.
Are those two going to fight with each other?
Well, I hope not. I mean I hope that we can come together. And then the other you know, you left out the taxpayers. I mean, I know what you're saying, but the public, you know, should have a say in this too as to what they think. And then the other piece of this, by the way, is that we have not figured out a financial stack for this. I mean, you know, in the end we need to have the
financing together. We are nowhere near having that completed. And so, you know, while I think it's important to talk about the sighting of a new arena, I think it's secondary to who's going to pay for it.
So if somebody with deep pockets walks up and says, if it's seven eight hundred million, I'll put in five hundred million. Whoever pays for the band calls the music.
Oh well, that would that would be something to think about. That has not happened. But but you know, we we need to bring all the partners together for sure, and I've talked to both you know, Phil Castellini and Jeff Birding about these locations, and so there is a desire to do this together. And so I don't know that people will be antagonistic about it. I think we need
to sort it out. But there are real positives and negatives to all of these sites, and we need to think it through as a community.
You know, Charlie Lucan told me at the time that we ought to cover the Fort Washington way, we should cover that in seventy one that would gather ten to twenty acres.
Is that in your plan too, to put.
A cover on the top of that, which would recover a bunch of acreage.
Yeah. So those are called the Fort Washington Waite Caps. That's been on the drawing board for a while. I remember coming here when I did in twenty seventeen, and Fortune was talking about it back then. It's expensive, but it has been built to do it, so all the infrastructure is there. We just need the money to do
the caps themselves. And so in the last couple of years, the Chamber of Commerce, the city, and the county have all advocated to the federal government to say, hey, this would be a real benefit to the businesses that are already there, and we eate more energy down there, and we asked them to help pay for that that I can't remember. I think it was a Tiger Fund. I can't remember exactly, but we did not win that bid. But we continue to advocate to the Fed to help us pay for those caps.
Oh and I got JD. Vance and we have Bernie Marina who we got John Houston. How about how about that?
Yeah, No, you know, we've we've reached out and we've we've advocated for this. You know, it's hard, Willie, because there's so many things going on right now that are really exciting by way of economic development. But you know, the one we just completed is the Convention Center, and that was the city county collaboration. And now we've got a headquarter hotel going in across the street to the south.
And I don't know if you've seen the site to the east where the Millennium used to stand, but man, oh man, it is amazing. The landscaping is beautiful. They've got an ice rink down there right now, there's a dog park, so it's going to be active year round. But it is just amazing some of the investments that have been made very recently by the city in the county to bring economic development to this region. So you know, we can't do it all at once because we don't
have the revenue to do that. But I do think we're forging forward in a way that we haven't, you know, in the last maybe decade or so, with the city and the county in lockstep.
Anise tree house. Thank you.
Maybe one day I'll be a Democrat again. With Soacco and Pam and Carroll and Don and Jerry and Dusty Rhodes, wouldn't that be something?
It was fun with their love for what they were doing really translated out right, and you knew they loved what they were doing, and we all love that they loved doing it right. They were great for this.
Community, wonderful people.
All right, Denise tree House, thanks for coming on the Bill Cunningham Show. We'll do it again and thank you.
All right.
Thanks Willy, God bless you.
Let's continue with more memories like the Corners of My mind. A News Radio seven hundred WLW