Don't want to be an Americans got flown back on seven hundred wlw welcome to it. We are out of the deep freeze into just the regular freeze right now, starting off today, the city has reversed it's a controversial eleven PM cut off for food trucks. I know, not too many people lining up for a slice of pie at two o'clock in the morning when it's thirty five thousand degrees below zero. But nonetheless things have been right I guess wrongs have been righted here. Initially you may
recalls a public safety issue because of crime. It was a city manager office just issued an edict and declared that's it. You got to shut everything down at eleven mero on the bar's rubble at two o'clock and if you want something to eat when you're leaving at closing time, your sol The complaint was that too many people were gathering and causing problems and having street beefs. And again that sounds like an enforcement issue. Why punish the vendor.
But at least a little bit of common senses have been restored, and she's been leading the charge on this. Council Member Anna Alby, welcome back.
How you been good. Thanks so much for having me this story.
It feels like a win, doesn't it.
It does? It does. No, I'm glad that, you know, working with the administration, we were able to hit this kind of compromise to move the the end time go back to one am on Fridays and Saturdays and Sundays. Yeah. Great.
It seems so punitive too that and it was sure a long city manager just simply said this is the way it's going to be, you know, kind of like an executive order almost, And that's the part that struck me is awful is the fact that there was no input. There was no input from the food truck vendors, There was no input from businesses or people. They simply move forward as like an emergency order. That was the troubling part about this because none of it made sense, but only to share a loan.
Yeah, I totally agree. And right now we're in a phase where the administrations having active conversations with the Food Truck Association, which is something that it comes to member Mark Jeffries, Vice Mary Michelle when McCarney and I were all like, hey, have you talked to the food truck And initially when this edict as you call it, came
down at the eleven pm cutoff. They hadn't they hadn't yet talked to them, and in fact, it took a handful of weeks in coordination through City Council to actually get the administration and the food Truck Association in contact. They even have these conversations, so they are chatting now, and my understanding is there could be more changes coming.
But to me, it's this open dialogue and looking at this holistically and not just coming down with this like big eleven pm cut off without the broader conversation.
Yeah, and it makes sense. Did you look at any did you have any data or analysis that convinced you eleven o'clock wasn't justified?
Yeah? Absolutely. So that was another thing that I really hounded administration on the very first time they showed up the Council, because they came and gave kind of an oral presentation. I said, hey, where's the data. So they did come back to us with some data points about a couple hotspot areas where food trucks typically gather. But
I'll be honest, the numbers were not compelling. They kind of compared a year over year before and after this, eleven PM was put in place, and at best it was kind of a neutral implementation, and that was really what led me and couple member Jeffreys to continue to push back to say, hey, this data is not supporting that, this is making it different. Now, there could still be issues that you mentioned at the top here that you know,
there were some issues of people gathering. Great, let's look at the enforcement and what's actually causing that.
Right.
Something I've been interested in is is there something happening at the bars nearby? Is they're over serving? Are there other things happening not that that are separate from the food trucks?
Right? And bars can hopital two o'clock, but the food trucks can't. And I guess this this compromise is a little bit better here too. So it's one o'clock as opposed to three am after the bar is closed. But what happens if all of a sudden, hey, we start having fights and problems around the food trucks. To me, that seems more whether it's you know, one am or three am, that's a criminal enforcement issue shouldn't be on the food truck vendors.
I agree, And the one am the concept there is, give the CPD and everyone about an hour to clear out before the bar is closed, right, right, So get people home because part of the issue was people were getting out of the bars, going to the food truck and then hanging out for hours longer, well into the morning time. So this actually has that cut off a little bit before the bars get out, so people can go home and kind of clear out. So hopefully that will,
you know, handle that issue with the crowds. But if there are issues going forward, to your point, let's look at what's happening, what's causing it. You know, since time police, we pride ourselves on being problem solvers, and to me, this just takes a little bit more problem solving and investigations to really figure out what's going on. If there
are issues, I'm not convinced there will be knock on words. Yeah, hopefully everyone will be on their good behavior and we can enjoy everything food trucks bring to our city.
Right you mentioned you know, maybe there's further discussions here with the Food Truck Association specifically, could could you wind up extending hours at some point?
I think everything's on the table right now. One of the questions even to who's responsible kind of the areas around you know, how do we make sure we understand where food trucks are setting up, who's responsible in the perimeter of the food truck, you know, trash or litters left behind? So all those things are in conversation now and again at the end of the day. My goal here is one absolutely ensure safety, but two make sure
these small businesses have an opportunity to grow and thrive. Right, our food trucks are often the first step into getting a brick and mortar and these are a lot of small businesses, very narrow margins, right, They're independent operators who
are just trying to get a leg up here. So I'm hoping that in these conversations we can figure out for both sides here, right, public safety, the public spicks, but also say, the food truck you know, what does this industry need to grow and thrive while so making sure everyone's safe at.
The end of the day and all, but we're still going to have crime. And it's a big city, so you will have that. But I think by any metric, any measure, and any you know, it doesn't pass a sniff test. As how we've been approaching crime in the city for a long time now, and it looks like the things starting to turn to the right way as opposed to giving people, you know, enough elbow space and free birth to do what they want. The problem is
it just victimizes business. I bring this up because in Madisonville, I don't know if you heard the story not, it's a place called the Cheese Kkery and Liz Field is the owner there. She started her business looks like a nice little shop in that she said she's gonna have to close now. And the reason she has to close is because of what we're talking about here, and that is an element that is causing her employees to quit and drow. She can't stay open now. Part of this, of course,
is the economic climate. We can't ignore the fact that their sales are down significantly because of the economy. But it doesn't help when largely female workers there are being harassed by teenagers who are running around, screaming, throwing things, stealing from the store, leaving trash around, threatening employees because they're not giving them free items. You have homeless people or homeless man confronting employees and customers makes them feel unsafe.
And it's not just her, it's other businesses on the street there Madisonville, let's see the same thing. So it's not isolated. And I bring this up because Lempika by Jeff Ruby is closing and part of the concern there with safety downtown. So whether it's downtown in the central Business District or right next to the aaronof Center or in Madisonville, it's part of a bigger problem here and that is crime that is helping destroy business. In the
food truck thing didn't help relative to Madisonville. I'm sure you're aware of this, and if you're on only informed you that's not a good look for the city.
You know, this is Liza the Chief Sakries is a neighbors So when I saw her do her initial post on Facebook, I reached out immediately and we had CPD in contact with her. And you know, I think with the Sunday night, by Monday morning, they're reaching out and you know, I think ultimately she posted last night or yesterday, I think that she's been working with a mentor and the decision she's making is frankly, to simplify her business. So they need to grow, so they're going to focus
on their one storefront and Anderson. You know, it is, to your point, is a tough economic clignment right now for small businesses, So expanding having to deal with two storefronts is obviously going to be a bigger lift than one. So the post she put most recently on Facebook was all around kind of focusing their efforts in that one store in Anderson, really kind of simplifying their operations. So I hope the best privilege. Like I said, she's a friend,
she's a neighbor. I love the Chiefe Cakery. My parents live in Anderson, so I'll still be able to enjoy her products when i go down to visit them, So you know, I'm hoping the best for her. And you know, ultimately, you know, Cincinnati, we are tackling, you know, all public
safety across the board head on. And we've actually in Madisonville, our crime stats have looked really good for the year, and I'm actually very proud of kind of what our neighborhood has done over the past decades plus where we are a safe neighborhood where people are out and about, And really what I'm excited for in our business district is actually more businesses in the vacant storefronts, because that's really what's going to activate the Madisonvilleusiness District is getting
more people into that space, more businesses, more vitality. And that's what I want in every neighborhood, right, Like when I picture kind of what a city is, right, you want to stay kind of people bustling around, going into storefronts and all of that. So that is my goal for here at Madisonville, but across the entire city.
I think part of the problem too, talking too CPD officers there and you may know this as well, in particular, one homeless person individual is causing a lot of the problems as well in cops quite honestly because of the Irish rawleys, because of the homeless coalitions and the like. If they start running those people off, individuals like that off, then you bear their wrath. And the administration seems to lean on the side of you know, the homeless and
the indigen as opposed to business owners. That I think that's also part of the problem. Is that starting to change. Are we starting to have more balance or is that just simply incorrect from police officers.
Well, let me just talk about so we have a gentleman in our neighborhood and he struggles with mental health. He's a known person in our neighborhood and frankly, many of the neighbors, residents, store owners here take care of him. He has frequent in other places like mad MoMA and they'll get coffee, you know, keep them warm. He'll often go into our public library that's right there. They are
the staff, They're familiar with him. He is a part of our community, and frankly, having mental issues is not a crime, right Like I am not here to criminalize people who are struggling. We need to make sure we're
connecting them with the care and services they need. So again, when I contact the CPD in the city administration about this whole chiefcake free thing, I made sure that we understood that this gentleman it was put in touch with the people he needed to to make sure that he was on his care plan and getting what he needs.
Because again, at the end of the day, we want to make sure everyone is safe in our community and those who are struggling with mental illnesses, so we got to get them into the care that they need so everyone's face and feels comfortable.
I'm fine with what you said was getting someone in need care. I mean, we just saw what happened with Rob Bryner and his wife was just terrific. Mental health looks like a significant mental health crisis. There are issues for sure with I don't know the full story yet, but uh, at some point we will uh in getting the people. You know, and this is a whole separate topic about mental health, which is a big deal for me.
And you know, I focus some some of the portion of the show on that weekly because it is a problem in America.
Uh.
But you know that that attitude is great, but at the same time, you have to look at it and go, well, if they're harming and they're threatening people, they don't feel safe and workers are quitting. To me, that crosses the line and there's got to be more strict intervention on that. But it doesn't mean you're cruel because you're segregating someone
or punishment or whatever it might be. I think you also can you know, have two two kid glove a feel where I mean, it's not entirely the reason why the cheese cakeory is closing, but make no mistake about it, but it's a it's a part of the reason you can't keep employees because they're afraid of this one individual. We can't have that.
I agree, And you know, in this situation, I don't know all the reasons. You know, it's made her decision. Sounds like she's working with a mentor. Now. Like what I can say is there are other businesses and organizations in Madisonville that are familiar with this gentleman and have not had the same issues and he and frankly, I'll
be honest. I the next day received many calls from Madisonville community leaders, community council, the business chamber, the development corporation, many of them who were worried about this gentleman safety himself because posts online were so threatening towards this man that people were going to hunt him down, that people were worried about his safety. So you know, again, we don't want to create any hype of environment where anyone put.
Yeah, she is a council member, Anna, I'll be on the show. We have a new food truck law in Cincinnati. They have eased back on the restrictions closing stuff down eleven o'clock and where you can congregate, and like, is that also part of the issue too, is where the food truck set up because it seems to me the whole purpose of the food truck is putting the parking
the truck where people are. We talked about different zones and areas, but uh, you know, I think, you know, within reason, it should be up to the person who owns the truck or drive truct determine where the crowd is to feed them.
Yeah, and right now, the ordinance that council pass right before I got on opened up those parking to kind of anywhere there's a parking space food trucks can go. They still congregate in places where you would sink right ear bars in your activities, right, you don't want to
be off, you know, far away from everything. But I do think it's worth a conversation with the administration because if one of the questions is how do we make the areas around food truck safer, well, do we need to consolidate and come back to food truck zone that are in those you know, fun area areas of the town to make sure that we can have you know, maybe extra patrols in that space, or that we're actually
providing additional safety with a well lisp spot. So I think there's probably a middle ground here right somewhere between, go wherever you want, and you can only be in this one spot that somehow gives us a balance into Hey, we want you to be close to where all the fun things are happening, but we also want to have an idea of where you're going to be. That way, we can make sure that you're in a spot that has you know, good lighting cameras. Maybe we have an
extra officer patrol nearby just in case. So I'm hoping the conversations with the city administration, the food Truck Association can talk through all this because I think that is what will hopefully get us to the best outcome at the end.
Well, ultimately, once you right size the police staff right where one hundred and fifty officers short, now we're working. We're behind the eight ball, working to try and get more on the street. But that's part of the problems. You don't have patrols out there to saturate areas where people congregate, and so you just respond and you chase
calls as opposed to having a visible presence. Every time I'm downtown, I do see more mark units, whether it's CPD or sheriff's vehicles that are just simply parked there, and that's a deterrent I would think for a lot of people because they think, you know, obviously an officer is close by, and so adding more patrols and officers is going to help remedy the situation and everyone can have fun again in our city and that's what it should be about. And I'll be a council member. Thanks
so much for joining the show this morning. Great to talk to you. And happy holidays.
Yeah, thanks so much, Happy holidays, Take care.
All the best. I got to get a news update in in just minutes on the Big one seven hundred WLW when we return here on the Scott Slan Show. Just made me think of something, how this is related to what happens Sunday at pay Corpse Stadium. Wait, what what do food trucks have to do with pay Corpse Stadium? I'll tell you coming up after news on seven hundred WW