Fifty five car CD talk station. A very happy Monday, till you try to make it happy anyway. Christopher smithvan former Vice maaron Is Smith event coming over the next hour. Begin to get seven to twenty in extra ten minutes for Christopher Money Money with Brian James at eight oh five and right now, welcome back to the fifty five Cassy Morning Shore reporting for the Cincinnati Inquirer on all things related to the City Council. Sharon Cooleidge, good you
have back on the program. I hope you're well. Good morning, Cincinnati dot COM's refriends share.
It's been a couple crazy weeks over at city.
Hall, Yes it has. And thank you for enlightening us on this most recent article regarding the sixty five million dollars windfall. Something you really don't expect from the Cincinnati Council and the budgeting process they always go through. And it's dire and it's woe as me and the puncheon's underfunded, we're going to run out of money. We've got to sell a railroad. Uh no, apparently not sixty five million dollars left over from last year's budget. That's a lot of money.
Honestly, I can't keep up. It's sometimes to dire situation is sometimes there's a ton of money. It just honestly depends on the day. And I would say that line over there, and I just I cannot keep up. But yes, the carryover was sixty five million, and they have just been spending it over the last two weeks while I was working on a different story. So I really wanted to wrap it up all and let people know, you know, really what they're doing with it.
Okay, And that's fair enough, and we can be critical maybe about some or maybe not others, but we can certainly look at each line item and wonder whether or
not it's inappropriate use of our taxpayer dollars. But what you point out in the article is a little disturbing to me is that they, I mean, as you describe it, this carryover creates a quasi fall budget process without the special evening budget hearings where council, even where council invites the community to find out what the constituents want, they just kind of go on their own and decide on their own where this money.
Of well, of course you're doing it in public meetings during the days, not even FYI my most to find out more information about all of the different things in there. I just call, like you know, I don't know ten people to sort it all out, which is my job, of course, But I really do think that citizens should be able to with a tap of a button, really understand every single saying that it's not a line item in a presentation that you can find in the system.
This is a lot of money and has a lot of plans with this money, taking the city in different directions, and I think that people really have a right to know what that is. I mean, the idea that they're creating a fund for developers has gotten hardly barely a mentioned, barely a mentioned, and I think that people are very interested in that well.
Of course, five and a half million dollars for housing fund, to point out, goes to developers seeking gap financing for housing projects. This on the heels of the city's rezoning basically the entire city of Cincinnati to accommodate more multifamily and multiple unit dwellings. Perhaps are those two connected.
They certainly candy. They said, there's a multitude of projects in the pipeline. This is Friday afternoon, by the way, because normally I would it be like, well, what projects is that we still might do that. But yes, those two things could be very very connected. We just we don't know. I mean there's a lot. They rolled back the residential abatements in a way that everyone was not happy about, and then on the heels of that, there's
supposed to be an overhaul of commercial development abatements. Meanwhile, because everyone else is paying property, more property Texans than ever before. Stop me if you've heard that one before. Yeah, so come at that time. Then they never do anything. The residential abatements was so hard to get through and approve and change anything. They do nothing with the commercial abatements. Then the futurest Commission comes out and that really says
we need one hundred million dollar fund housing. Housing. Housing is, of course, you know, very business friendly, and we do need housing. I will never not say that. I get that we need affordable housing, meet all kinds of housing, but this is not what the citizens have said they want that. They want to give it to developers just to build housing. And on top of that is I'm big into transparency. I want to know every time they give money to developers.
Yeah, but's it.
I just want to know what are they doing, what are the projects? And this fund really seems to take it out of the public eye. They're going to put it under the Cincinnati Development Fund make the decisions. So I'm like, so it really quick know where the money is.
Five and a half million you reported five and a half million is being handed over to the Cincinni Development Fund, which on its own will be allocating the money. Meaning as you write, we're not the taxpayers, the voters are not going to be subject to a public vote. In other words, they are going to do whatever the hell they want. It is not you know, the council members aren't going to have to go on record for any project over another. That's all ok again, wholl I didn't
do that. The Sensor Development Fund.
Did it right, And we'll never even know, like what if it is, Like it's not some giant housing development that we're like, okay, as you see and you're like, what is that? But I think a lot of these connected community projects are not necessarily going to be unless somebody's neighbor calls. They're meant to be, you know, on the outskirts, skirts of the neighborhood, and they're meant to be big developments, So we might not even know this well, and it isn't interesting happening?
Isn't it interesting? The predicate and the initial comment you made on that, which is true. There is a huge demand for housing affordable and otherwise. Demand usually is met by you know, entrepreneurial types who want to go in and make some money, meeting the demand that already exists out there. So I just I kind of wonder how it is that the taxpayer dollars have to go to any given project.
You know, they do say over there it's hard to get financing. I mean, this is a flip side of it. Banks don't want to lend. Every project costs way more money, so it makes it hard to get your money back out. The developers do always come in and say they don't have any money, they can't afford it, and that's where the citizens come in to help them.
Well in these citizens, obviously this is being funded on their back since they didn't they didn't roll back the property taxes, and all of our properties have increased, you point out overall property values up twenty eight percent, taxes up twelve percent. So while the developers may lament their circumstance, this is a circumstance. This lack of funding and ability to meet one's you know, day to day expenses is something that happens to every single resident in the city of Cincinnati largely.
You know, it really does. I mean a Facebook group where people are trying to get their taxes reduced, and it's a really kind of heartbreaking It is the stories that you hear in that group, and you get the feeling they're working. People possibly not coming down to City Hall on Wednesdays during public comments to really give their feedback. But I think if you had a night meeting related to those or a night budgeteering and it's like, well should we give this who should we give this money to?
I'm not sure that the answer would be this sixty five million.
Right, I agree with you on that. Nor would I think the average resident of the city of Cincinnati want two and a half million to go to Woo, the Sundance film festival that doesn't impact most people's lives on a day to day basis, and I'm sure two and a half million could be better spent elsewhere to serve the residents of the city. I guess the argument is that, well, if we get Sundance. It's going to bring it a whole bunch of people. But this is just an advertising campaign.
It's not going to guarantee that it's coming here. So the money's gone. Whether or not Cincinnati gets the Sundance.
The money, well, I will say, maybe I should have been more clear about this. The money won't be spent unless we get it. It's part of a much larger bid. Okay. I have to tell you because Louisville was in the running for a Sundance and they are not on the short list, and their business career career in Louisville had a story that seventy nine million dollars was not enough, so they had porn than everything. So they had put together some sort of bid. These bids are secrets, you know.
They kind of come from the jobs, entities and things like that. And so they're trying to do so we will spend that money and when Sundance gets here, and they are talking about a gigantic economic impact. And an interesting thing about Sundance is just not the film festival. But they moved their whole headquarters here and all of the regular jobs to come with Sundance. And so I think There's a lot more to explore here on that,
but it goes with the same thing. It's like, just say, just say when you're putting forward to spending.
Now, I'll encourage my listeners to get a copy of the article and look at the breakdown, which I appreciate you doing. Cincinnati's sixty five million dollars windfall support for sundance, a developers, and a grocery store. Real quick here before we take a break, Sharon Coolis from the enquire I see that there's one point seventy five million of this
windfall for Green Project Fund. I got a million dollars to help citizens, you know, make their homes more energy efficient, a quarter a million for training workers to do green focused home assessments. And what disturbed me most was a half a million dollars to create a green which you described as an office that will serve as a pass
through for federal money given to the state. So we have another layer of bureaucracy and another layer of employee salaried workers to help facilitate federal money getting out into the community.
That was my understanding, but that seems to be a requirement to get the money the state. Actually I named it in the story The big name is escaping me. So the money flows to the federal government. It's five hundred million dollars to Ohio related to whatever the federal money is. And Mark Jeffreys and he has been talking about this. I will say this did not come at the last second. He's been talking a lot about this.
Five hundred million dollars is going to be given to the state and he wants Cincinnati to be up and ready to go. So you have to have all this preparatus kind of like requirements related to the money from the state and the federal government. And he's like, will be the only one ready to go, and so that first bite of the apple, we could stand to get a lot of money from it. Is kind of his point.
All right, Well, I have to tell you there's been a lot of discussion about this the city all that I haven't covered.
I'm looking forward to getting the balance of the work. So I expect to read more on this down the road. On the enquire from Sharon Coole Age, Sharon, let's pause and find out spending money on Kamala Harris Road projects. And some people not happy with Evan Nolan as the new council member. Be right back just a moment with more of Sharon Coolidge. First, a word for my dear friends at Fastened pro Roofing. They were just so honest and such wonderful folks. Will take great care of you.
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Fifty five KRC unless you've been.
Six twenty two ffy onive Ker City Talk Station. We just stretched the surface of the sixty five million dollars windfall expenditures with Sharon Coolids from the Cincinnion Enquirer. Again, it's worthy looking at the breakdown of where that money is going to go. At is reflective of well certain political perspectives. Moving over talk about the political perspectives, this is shameless. It doesn't matter which side of the political
edge you're on. In terms of spending taxpayer dollars to change the naming of the signs crediting Joe Biden for upcoming road projects and substituting that with Kamala Harris's name. Sharon, I must observe Joe Biden is still president, and if he's still president, does shouldn't he still get credit for the projects being done, even if it's necessary to give someone credit for it, Sharon, So, I mean.
He is still on the side. They changed it, and they changed the design, being very clear about this. They changed the design to say Biden Harris. But that is really what made it so interesting is that at the last second they added her name. The flip side of that, she was still the vice president when they designed the signs a much earlier in the year and they're getting ready to put them up, and they were like, well, he signed the law, we're going to give him credit.
And this was really flowing down and nobody really made any secret about this. They all the US Department of Transportation, the White House itself, like spokespeople for these agents. You feel like, this is about transparency, this is what we're going to do. Yet earlier in the year, when it came time to do all of this, which was asked of these agencies, of all of the cities, not just Cincinnati, to do all these urban you know, cities that are
very blue. Right, and then they felt like they needed to add her.
And then after right after Biden got the plug pulled although he is still president. Isn't it interesting that the request to spend this money was brought to you by, of course, the Biden Harris administration. It wasn't necessary, but as you point out in the reporting, it was done to score brownie points with the administration. Ah, if you capitulate to our request to give Biden and now Harris credit for the projects that will inure to your benefit. Nudge, nudge, wink wink.
You know what I have to tell you after everything we've been through, and I think all of your listeners know related to text messages, yet don't see that much stuff in text messages When you get a public records or quest for emails. Keep every once in a while, something slips through. People catch themselves a lot. Even I'm like, don't text me that call me. We try not to text a lot. Those things are public record in Ohio.
We know that, But you know when you're reading these messages coming in from different sources, there was a lot there.
To look at it, a lot, yes, and again I go back to the just to score brownie points. Tax Payer dollars should be spent to do an ad campaign for where credit to give credit anyway. Pivoting over will distress campaign, and that's well, that's what it is. I would argue Evan Nolan. He spent he replaced Mika Owens, it was her selection. He's been sworn in, and there was some outrage amongst certain members of the black community
because of course Nolan is white. Harris who his position he took his black and also a member, which I don't think matters, but of the LGBTQ community. I'm a live and let live kind of guy. I don't think that has anything to do with representation and a representative government. But that really irks some people, including folks on the NAACP, expressing disappointment and profoundly disheartened by her decision to appoint apparently a white guy. It's a harmful message. Are we
looking for competence and capability? By all accounts, he does have the competence and ability to be council member.
Absolutely, this really isn't about him, because that it's not about that. It really is about what the citizen mandate is. And I won't say it was upset. We're going to still say is upset, Like this conversation is persisting. People are like in the black community and LGBTQ, they really would like to see representation of themselves. And their argument is, and there's some interesting statistics here, is that the citizens said they wanted this seat to be held by a
black man. So if you go back to twenty twenty one, this is the overhaul of council. Right, they're on the heels of corruption. Everybody's going to be all new, everyone's term limited out. The citizens for the very first time chose a majority black city council and that was very important the black community. But then you look at the makeup of who council is and it almost is like the slaves kind of carried the day. So this was a very interesting mix of people put forward by the
Democratic Party, a very balanced council. But when you look at what citizens did when they went in the ballot box, the top five vot getters were the black members of council, and that, and so they're kind of like, this is what citizens said, Nika, and by the way, you benefited from the slate yourself, and so that's kind of their point. They're like, we are interested in this, but we are representing the citizens, and this is what the citizens said.
So that's kind of the argument that's being made. However, Nika is the sole decision maker, and I do think we're going to see a change in how appointments this company, you know, for some reason, can't fulfill their duties. I think that we will see a change to that process.
I would like to see a change in this whole idea that identity politics is important and that merit or a competence and capability is less important than filling in blanks on race and sexuality. But then again, that's just me. I want the best possible candidate running. And maybe Mika decided after interviewing the various folks that were submitted by the Democrat Party that mister Nolan Evan Nolan was the best.
Well, it was a very short interview process. She said that they have to get back to business. It's really busy. Now. I might argue that, yes, they have been doing a lot of things the last couple of weeks, but that's not exactly. There's a huge danger of City Hall of things being five four. For instance, the carryover money, Yeah, like two buckets of that I think is already been spent with one week discussions, and those I believe for
unanimous boats. I guess I couldn't say that for sure, but they certainly weren't close votes, and so we're never in danger of five to four over there. So much everything passes unanimously.
I just observe. It's not like Mika selected Liz Keating to take the seat back over. She did stick with her own party, And I have to imagine we'll give Evans some time to prove his competence or not. But I just find it and.
You'll have it, because the process is you finish out the time. It doesn't even say a lot of places are. If it's like not halfway through and everything, then you have to have a special election because somebody shouldn't be filling that term for such a long period of time. But not not that. There's no special election. So he's finishing out more than a year term.
We'll still get a little more than a year an opportunity to decide whether or not did a good job or not. Sharon Coolidge, good luck, good luck, and goode figuring out the balance of those expenditures. I'll be looking forward to your more in depth reporting on those and appreciate you joining the fifty five Carcy Morning shod and spending time with my listeners, and I today recommend my listeners check you out at Cincinnati dot com. Sharon, thank you so much. I hope you have a wonderful week.
Thanks for having me.
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