It's seven oh six here at about gar City Talk Station, right. Ain't even a happy one till you. Brian Thomas always happy to talk to Todd's Zenzer, and we're gonna be doing that. You also gonna be hearing him tonight if you can log into empower Youoamerica dot org from the comfort of your own home or show up at two
twenty five North on Boulevard. We spoke earlier in the week already with on early Cincinnati history, the topic of Jeff Cease's discussion tonight that's at seven o'clock, but also on the plate for the Empower Youth Seminar Todd Zenzer. He is a brilliant guy, retired Inspector General of the US Department of Commerce and spent thirty one years conducting audits
and investigation of federal officials programs and operations. So he's got some really special skills and talents in terms of legislation and think and issues that affect the city and the county General or tonight as well as right now, he's going to give us a little information about the Connected Community Cincinnati Connected Communities Plan. Todd, Welcome back to the morning show. My friend always good having you on the show.
Good morning, Brian, How are you.
I'm doing fine, doing fine. Good CINCINNTI Connected Communities, the City Council. Where are we on this before we get to details, because some of my listeners are being like, what Cincinnati Connected Community is all about? Did they vote on it yet? Is it a foregone conclusion? Is it done for the city of Cincinnati, or is there still more chatter and talk about it.
Well, there's still chattering talk about it, but yeah, back in June, the city Council enacted an ordinance that rezoned the significant part of the city as part of this plan to increase density in the city. So what they did is they've identified a number of corridors transit corridors in the city, seven of them, and along those corridors, they've identified fifth neighborhood business districts, and so they've eliminated single family housing zones either a quarter mile or a
half mile around those neighborhood business districts. So, if you live within a quarter mile or a half mile of these corridors and business districts, and you used to have single family zoning, now it's middle housing. So, for example, if you have a if you're in a single family home and a neighborhood that was zoned single family and you're near one of these business districts, you have a vacant lot next door. Under this new ordinance, a developer can come in build an apartment building up to a
four unit or larger, sometimes right next door. They've eliminated the minimum parking requirement, so whoever moves into those apartments park on the street. And it's really this takeover of single family homes in the city. And they're certainly chatter on our part trying to challenge this, and we've got some actions going on, and then what a pass ordinance. There were three members of city Council who voted against it,
including the Vice mayor. And what she has done is she's basically acknowledged that there are problems with this ordinance and now she has a big task force engaging the community and a number of different subcommittees that she's formed. And it's really taken on the form of the type of community engagement that should have been done with connected communities in the first place. Oh so we'll see if anything happens with that, but there is still a lot going on.
Yes, okay, Now, let me just paint a worst case scenario type a situation. Now, you know, look over to New York and yes, the mayor is under indictment there under and we don't know if it has anything to do with the illegal immigrant situation. We're going to find out today. But hotels, really beautiful four star hotels that
were once profitable, enter COVID nineteen. They're empty. Enter an influx of tens of thousands of new illegal immigrants, and a city willing to pay the full room rate to the hotel owner to house illegal immigrants on the taxpayer dollars. Of course, the owner of the hotel's like, fine, I'm getting one hundred percent of the room rental rate. I'm happy, I'm making. I have profit now where I had none before.
Is it possible that for that scenario to unfold any new let's say, six unit dwelling in an otherwise single family residential neighborhood. They build it, and then all we've got an illegal immigrant problem. Let's just pay the owners of that building the house illegal immigrants. He gets his profit or she gets our profit, and we found a place for them to stay.
Well, that's the thing Brian. Under this ordinance, again, in these areas, it's kind of like the wild West. You really don't know what's going to happen, who's going to come in, who's going to build, what, what type of tenants these rental units are going to have. It. It's really a lot of uncertainty on the part of the citizens that have purchased these homes or have that own these properties, and that's one of the big problems with it.
They've experimented citywide, painted the whole city with a broad brush rather than going neighborhood by neighborhood, and we just don't really know what's going to happen.
Well, that's something you brought up previously on this issue that some communities wanted to adopt this, but the city is divided up into multiple different communities and some wanted to reject it. The city is just imposing this on everyone without their saying it, and that of course can rub people the wrong way. Most notably in a situation where these hypotheticals come up and we don't have any answers to how it would ultimately play out, I think
I'd be a little perturbed with my life. Officials many answers the question todd z Ins are on why they won't have more open discussion on this. They don't want to face these questions.
No, they don't want to face these questions. And the way it looks, Brian, is that more and more as we look into this, there is definitely a straight line between the National Democrat Party and what's going on here and the whole issue of Agenda twenty thirty that the UN put out. And people don't really have time to
look into all all of these things. But you've got this Agenda twenty thirty that the UN has put out, You've got the Great Reset by the World Economic Forum, and within those different global plans they talk about sustainable cities and communities, and this is the type of things that are promoted or provided for in connected communities. It has an element of the Green New Deal in there. They have the whole idea of equity and all of these things that are promulgated in these UN and World
Economic Forum programs or agendas. And you know it's right here, It's right here in Cincinnati. This is the way it happens.
This connected communities concept has been rolled out in other areas in the country.
Oh absolutely, this is going on all over the country. What we've done is we've traced it back to a group called the Urban Land Institute, which one of these global nonprofits that goes in and influences local communities on
various issues, including housing. And they came in with a technical advisory panel back in twenty twenty one, maybe even earlier than that, and in June of twenty one, they issued a report to the city and if you look at this, and it had to deal with developmental transportation corridors. If you look at that report, it's recked. The things that it recommends in that report you will find in
connected communities. It's like a blueprint for connected communities. But yet they want to tell the citizens of Cincinnati that this is all bottoms up. We went to the community and asked, you know, for their input and things like that.
That was all a charade. They had this plan, you know, hatched in June of twenty twenty one, and then they just brought it forward, including rejecting the density ordinance that Liz Keating put forward that they voted down in twenty twenty two to make room for this new plan.
Well, well, constituents be damned. I guess is what this boils down to. I'm going to do whatever the hell they want. And now, in rolling this out in other cities, has it had any effect? I mean, did it bring about the intended result, which is a higher concentration and higher density population.
No, this is like I said, this is going on over all over the country, and the city that they hold up as a model is Minneapolis. In Minneapolis, this is I don't know, probably four or five years ago,
they eliminated all single family housing across the city. And yes, they're housing availability has increased, but when you look at how that's happened, it's increased because they've had a substantial increase in twenty unit developments, apartment buildings with twenty units, not the four unit issue, not the four unit apartment
buildings that connected communities is talking about. And that's the only way, and it's the only city that has any result like that, And you can find cities like Chicago, for example, where it is they've tried it for ten years. It has very limited benefits. So it's it's unproven, and we kept trying to say that to the city council, but obviously sell on deaf ears.
Well, you don't fall on deaf ears. Todd Zen's are you going to be speaking tonight? Empower you America dot org? Are you going to speak after Jeff? Orre you going to be speaking in front of Jeff? What time is your appointed slot?
I think I'm the opening act at seven.
Seven pm, So log in and from the comfort of your own home or head on up to two twenty five North and Boulevard if it's convenient for you to do so and see it live. Jeff sees the historian, calmness and author who's going to talk about the city of Cincinnati and it's history, and then of course beginning
with Todd zens or breaking down SINCINNTI connected communities. Todd, I cannot thank you for your tireless enough, for your tireless efforts on this one and spreading the information to people who otherwise wouldn't even know about it, because well, our elected officials don't want them to know about it.
That's right, that's right, and it's part of this one party government here we have here in Cincinnati.
We have an opportunity to reject that in a couple of weeks here, folks, in November is election day. Thanks Todd. We'll look forward to the presentation tonight. Put it down your calendar, folks. Empower Youamerica dot org. We'll talk against soon. Todd seven to seventeen fifty five KC detalk station. Plum type plumbing, it's always plumbing done right. To live by the model plumbing done right, and it will be I've seen it happen in my very own home and a
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