Bill cunning in the Great American. Of course, I get a hundred, sometimes thousands of emails a day from various sources. That one stood out like a sore thumb. When I hear the name of Trumpy and an email, it perks
me up and I pay attention. So a few days ago, a young man named Jackson Trumpy sent me an email about living in OTR and what happens in OTR and he doesn't get a whole bunch of concern from the city of Cincinnati because of what's happening in and around Saint Francis Seraph Ministries on the Republic Street right off Liberty in the north end of OTR. And as you know as a listener, I've driven by that area frequently, and I've pointed out on the air and off the
air that things don't look good there. That is not kind to have homeless individuals living on the streets, is not kind. To have people that are hungry in sias doing things in garbage cans, is not right. To have the mentally ill living on the streets. And so when this email was sent to me by a young man, twenty six year old Jackson Trumpy, I read it and it goes on to say, I've been a resident of Northern OTR, north of Finley Market for eight months now.
I chose to move downtown because I believe in the fun urban atmosphere revitalization happening in OTR. I don't want to be part of the future. However, I want to bring a serious and ongoing public safety threat, in public decency and quality of life to Cincinnatians in general, and Jackson Trumpy. I can say this welcome for the first
time to the Bill Cunningham Show and Jackson. First of all me I say that those of us who knew him, those of us who worked with your grandpa Bob Trumpy, have his memories with us often because he taught us so much about radio. And as I said to you off the air, that when he left this earth a few months ago, he left a hole in broadcasting, also a hole in your family. I would ask you, first of all, what was your relationship with your grandpa Bob Trumpy,
the Great Number eighty four? And how much do you miss him?
Yeah, thanks for having me on the show. It's an honor to be here. Yeah, our whole family misses him a whole lot. We were very close with him. We lived not far away. He lived in Glendale, Ohio, so we visited him quite frequently growing up. He used to come to all my games. He would never miss a sports game for myself or my sisters. And I really appreciate the kind words that you and your colleague said on seven hundred. We were all listening.
Well, thank you, Jackson. I spoke to him a few months before his death. It was about a collateral matter. And his exterior was hard as Chinese calculus, but inside you the heart the size of the state of Texas. And he created sports talk. He did Olympics, he did the Masters, he did the Major League Baseball, football, basket boxing. He was a great broadcaster, recognized he's in the NFL. It got the Peter Roselle Award, for God's sakes, and I followed him for something like ten to fifteen years
on this radio station. I learned radio more from him than from anyone else. So whatever success I've had for the past gosh forty three years, the foundation of that success was listening and watching your grandpa, Bob Trumpy. Now let's get onto your column. You talk about the core. The problem is large daily congregations of persons around Saint Francis. Sarah, explain why you sent me this and explain what you have observed.
Yeah, well, before I start, I just want to say that I do think Saint Francis Sarah, mynasteries is doing a really good deed and helping those who are in need and cheating hundreds of meals today approximately three point fifty from what I was been told, to those who are struggling with homelessness. It helps create a small measure of stability in some of these people's lives who pretty
much face constant uncertainty. And I don't really think that this is of fault of Saint Francis, but the whole issue I think kind of stems around where this is where their site is located here since living in OTR and as you said, when you pass this area on Republic Street, you can look north up Republic Street and there are anywhere from fifty to one hundred people that are just in that alley kind of set up. There is just trash everywhere, and there's been a lot of
crime within this one block area. And I just think with the amount of growth and economic development that the city is trying to put in the Northern I believe the location of this dude pantry is directly hindering the progress of.
That So Jackson Trumpet, you'd almost call it a failure of compassion. And we need drug treatment facilities, we need alcohol treatment facilities, we need insanity assistance people with mental
health problems. And it's not kind, it's not understanding. It's not helpful to have people living on the streets, that have people fornicating on the streets, to have people using drugs on the streets, to have the negative impact on residents like you and workers and visitors, and Northern OTR is directly affected by the location of this homeless and
food kitchen. So your idea is to provide those services, but not necessarily in an area in which there are many businesses and people living, correct.
Right, I mean where the site is located in the heart of revitalization zone that the city and like three CDC are working to bring back to life. However, the crime that goes on around this food pantry is uh, it's it's pretty shocking to say the least. I can recall at least three homicides this year, the latest being on August sixth, twenty twenty five, when a woman was
struck in the head by bullet. I went onto the city's website and I actually looked at the crime that's for this singular block some of the things that I've seen. They don't show you all the crimes, but they do list. Uh, there's been six shootings, three of them have been fatal. The other three people were hit and no one, no
one died. There's been a total of thirty five different theft reports and for total offenses reported within that area is over eighty and that's just within the singular block of Republic Street and Liberty Street. So as you can look up for yourself on the city website, there is a ton of crime and law enforcement assets being sent there all the time.
And I would assume Jackson Trumpy that the police have told me they're told not to interfere when crimes are being committed because the city doesn't want it to be in They went the statistics to prove one thing. If you seen in uniform scout patrol cars, police in uniform driving by and ignoring this while it's going.
On, Yeah, I mean, I definitely have. I'm sure that they're aware of what's going on down there.
Again, I don't.
Really think it's St. Francis's fault that this is going on, but I think what they're doing is really good, and as human beings, we have a moral responsibility to help those in need and help them get back on their
feet to live a more positive life. But I just wanted to bring this kind of whole thing and shed some light on it because I think myself and a lot of other people that are living in the area notice kind of what's going on there on a daily basis, and I know that people do not feel comfortable walking around that area just because of all the crime. There's just widespread trash, people sleeping in doorways, it's I mean,
aggressive panhandling, open drug use. If you drive by there and kind of look down that alley, it's not uncommon that you'll see someone doing the typical zombie lean where they're kind of just blumped over like they just did something and it's not a good look. And for the whole growth of the city and the whole initiative for them to get economic growth into Northern OTR, it's just directly hindering that process. Since I moved in in April.
There have been very nice renovated storefronts all around this area, and I can't recall any of them being leased like they are all still vacant. No, a lot of the apartment buildings are. They have a lot of rooms left. And I believe that this problem right here is directly correlated to that.
Yeah, your email to me talks about sexual intercourse in the middle of Republic. Street officers and business owners have told me that women and men engage in sexual acts in public on a regular basis. It's simply what occurs. Shot victims and also open air drug use, aggressive harassment, widespread litter, and it's been going on for years and years. I had on a business owner Privy Bar is a few blocks over and they had seven people shot outside
the Privy Bar in the month of November. But we're told by the mayor, who by the way, has left town at this point in others that things are better. Your email says to me, Jackson Trumpy, you emailed have to have purerival the city manager, Jean Michelle Kearney, Cca an Albi Victoria Parks. When you get a hold of them for this widespread and you talk about crimes being committed every day, there's dozens and dozens or more crimes being committed, but they don't go on the on the
on the blotder because no one's arrested. The police just ignore the crime. Therefore, crime is down by some categories. But when you contact the city officials as the grandson of Bob Trumpy, what respond once do you get of any?
I mean, they basically just acknowledged my concern. They told me that the ministry is a longstanding, privately owned nonprofit that's been there since the seventies. It is privately owned and they cannot legally force the organization to do anything. They told me that they would reach out to Paint Transis and address the illegal behavior and contacts and tell
them to contact poliefs when necessary. They also told me that my email had been forwarded to the CPD District one neighborhood Liaison sergeant and once he got that email, he would respond to me with information on how they're going to make the situation better and resolve it. I have not heard anything, which is kind of why I wanted to reach out to you, because I just think this issue needs to be addressed, and as a young
person living downtown in OTR. I feel like we need our voices to be heard as well.
One might ask why did you agree to move? Why did you go to OTR, Because I assume you know ahead of time, before you moved there, about seven months ago, that what you'd be facing, what was your motivation and putting yourself in that environment, then complaining about it, what's your motivation and going there in the first place.
Well, I have a decent amount of friends that live downtown. It's a really fun it's a really fun area. You have all the action there. You have the Bangles, the Reds, the FCC. There is a lot of development going on downtown. I also work in Kentucky, so I had to move somewhere that I could be closer to work. My previous drive to work was almost an hour there and back every day. But you can ride the street car to
get anywhere. There's a ton of really good restaurants and local festivals and street fairs and many other activities to do, and it's just a fun environment. However, I think that we have this problem just like all other cities do. I just think that we need to be better out of dressing it.
A friend of mine who works with Saint Francis, Serah said they used to open the doors of the church to allow people inside the church itself. The Franciscans run it, but it got so bad inside the church, those who run the ministry Saint Francis said, we can't do this anymore. There was a urination on floors, on pews, there were sexual acts committed inside the church itself, that there were drug use inside the church. It got so bad after months and months and months of putting up with it,
they locked the doors. While it's true the city can't control what happens inside of a church. It can control what happens on Republic, it can't control what happens on Liberty. That's their direct responsibility. Saint Francis does not control Republic Street, and they have these activities from fifty to one hundred people happening daily. Is a city problem that the county's
trying to address. But it's the city police that are being told don't do anything, because the cops say, if we start arresting people in and around Saint Francis, Sarah and OTR, it doesn't do any good because they arrest them put them in the jail. They're released immediately, they don't show up for court, then a warrants issued to cape Is for their arrest. Then they're arrested, sent back to the jail. Then you go to judge and the judges say, they've been arrested two hundred times. Nothing we
can do. Put them back on the street. It used to be and the good old days. You might recall we had Longview State Mental Hospital. In fact, when I was in the Attorney General's office, i represented the state to put people with profound mental difficulties or drug or alcoholic use in law, you state mental hospital until they dried out or until they got their lives together. There was about seven hundred and fifty people a long View State Mental Hospital. That's where those persons were in the
nineteen forties, fifties, sixties, and seventies. That's the solution is still arresting him. The cops will tell you makes no difference. What difference They go back to Republic Street and keep using drugs. You've got to put them in an environment where they can't leave, in which they have to get better, and if they don't get better, then they don't leave. Does that make sense to you? Oh?
Yeah, I totally agree with what you said. There's a lot of stuff that I see downtown that you know, probably people in other cities always see as well, but when you see it in person through itself, it's pretty
shocking the first time. But yeah, Saint Francis, I know they can't control the individuals that are outside, even I know they were on many of their services and they do a great deed, And I'm not suggesting that we take that away in any form or kind of like kick them out, But I just there's too much that goes on in this area, in the center of this redevelopment district, and there's a lot that the city is trying to do, but they're but they're really just hindering
themselves with this site being in the center of Northern OTR and just having this this constant like fifty to one hundred plus people roaming around constantly, and you know, just making some people feel uncomfortable.
I bet have you thought about Jackson Trumpy? Have you thought about leaving and saying I can't do it anymore? Are you willing to stay with it for a little bit longer?
No, I'm I'm not considering leaving. I'm not to that point yet, But I mean, who knows, we're all be in a year, but no, I am not to that point yet.
All right, Jackson Trumpy, once again, your father, your grandfather, is held in high esteem, and may his memory bring you comfort. And Jackson Trump, I'm glad you got a hold of me. I'm glad I think your grandpa would be happy with a kind of grandson that your mom and dad and he helped develop. And whenever you want to have further contact with the big One, you get a hold of me, and I'll do my best to get the message out. And the adults have got to
take adult responsibilities for these kinds of things. I mean, maybe not pay criminals eight point two million dollars. Maybe it's better to use that money to reinstitute a in house facility that you can't leave until you're better, and if you don't get better, you can't leave. A few hundred cannot kill the life of one, hundreds of thousands of people. Jackson Trumpy, once again, thanks for coming on the Bill Cunningham Show, and Merry Christmas to you and yours.
Thank you, Jackson, thank you, I appreciate it.
God bless America. Let's continue with more of it. The city will spend eight point two million dollars paying criminal, serious money, but they won't solve the problems that their policies have created. Bill Cunningham, News Radio seven hundred ww