Latest / Chuck Douglas / Columbus City Counsel

Transcript

Columbus City Counsel · Chuck Douglas

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What a weird day. What a weird day. I began
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: my day agreeing with Columbus City Council President Shannon Harden,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: and then I listened to the news and then we've
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: got a home for sale, an island for sale here
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  Speaker 1: in the state of Ohio. And you know, as a realtor,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: I'm always looking for creative language, ways to say things
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  Speaker 1: that will attract buyers to one of the houses I
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  Speaker 1: might have listed. Never did I think was once owned
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  Speaker 1: by Rutherford B. Hayes was going to be a selling
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  Speaker 1: point for a property. But apparently, Zach, you said it's
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  Speaker 1: seven acres.
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  Speaker 2: Or so is evin anchors with a three hundred and
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  Speaker 2: sixty degree view of the water, which I assumed because
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  Speaker 2: it's an island.
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  Speaker 1: An island does that yet?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah?
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  Speaker 1: No electricity, no electricity, no phone, no lights, no motor cars,
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  Speaker 1: not a single luxury.
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  Speaker 2: I think you could add that stuff if you wanted to.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, if you're rich enough to buy an.
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  Speaker 1: Island, could I add Ginger and Marianne?
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  Speaker 2: No, that's not I don't think that.
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  Speaker 1: I'm just curious, what do they want for this place?
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  Speaker 2: I think they said seven million?
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  Speaker 1: Is that all? Yeah, I'll write the check. Right now,
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  Speaker 1: we'll get I don't know, I just I honestly, it
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  Speaker 1: just doesn't seem all that appealing. I like the idea
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  Speaker 1: of having my own little island somewhere, but not there.
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  Speaker 1: If I were to buy an island, it would be
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  Speaker 1: someplace where, you know, it's tropical and no no electricity,
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  Speaker 1: no amenities of any kind. That just it seems very
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  Speaker 1: very rustic to me.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I could do it. If the amenities were there,
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  Speaker 2: that would be cool.
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  Speaker 1: But I need to be able to have lights, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: and warmth, especially there, because that's that's I mean, that's cold. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: wintertime it's cold. It's very cold. It's surrounded by cold
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  Speaker 1: water on top of that, and if it ice is up,
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  Speaker 1: it's not like you can get the fishing boats or
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  Speaker 1: the what do you know, the supply boat out there
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  Speaker 1: to bring you stuff.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it would be like a weekend thing because I couldn't. Hey,
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  Speaker 2: I need to go to the store. That's that's a task.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and that's a job. How do you put like
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  Speaker 1: supplies up? You can't stock up, you know, on groceries
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  Speaker 1: to get through the winter. If there's no power to
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  Speaker 1: refrigerate things or freeze things.
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  Speaker 2: You have somebody to fly over and drop it in like.
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  Speaker 1: What daily or you know you how long can you
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  Speaker 1: keep memorages every day? That see, you'd have to, you'd
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  Speaker 1: spend a fortune just surviving. That's uh, yeah, we'll see
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  Speaker 1: what happens. I just I don't see that being uh.
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  Speaker 1: I don't see that being a quick sale. Maybe that's
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  Speaker 1: just me.
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  Speaker 2: I don't think anybody with millions of dollars is going
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  Speaker 2: to go out there without adding electricity.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah I would, I wouldn't. Oh So, this morning, as
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: I said, I started my day by agreeing with Columbus
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  Speaker 1: City Council President Shannon Harden that does not happen. Everybody knows.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: I'm no fan of pretty much everything that happens at
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  Speaker 1: not e West broad Street. But this morning, from last
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  Speaker 1: night's city council meeting, what city council did here in
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  Speaker 1: the city of Columbus was to allocate two million dollars
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  Speaker 1: for the Columbus Promise Program, which I find a vital program,
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  Speaker 1: especially when it comes to try to do something for
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  Speaker 1: the kids in our Columbus City schools. The idea that
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: this was not a budget item is bothersome and if
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  Speaker 1: I am understanding correctly, the Council President Harden and Mayor
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: Ginther are at odds over this because the mayor essentially said,
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: it's never a budget item. We always just funded. And
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  Speaker 1: I believe, if I am understanding the President correctly, he
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  Speaker 1: said saying it needs to be a budget item. So
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: it's in black and white, these funds are allocated and
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  Speaker 1: we don't get, you know, halfway through the school year
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  Speaker 1: and say sorry, we're out of money, which I find
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  Speaker 1: a legitimate concern and a legitimate course of action. I'm
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  Speaker 1: actually I know, I know, I can't I can't believe
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  Speaker 1: I'm saying. I'm actually on the side of the Columbus
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  Speaker 1: City Council president and the council members that voted in
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  Speaker 1: favor of this last night. Now, if you're not familiar
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  Speaker 1: with the Columbus Promise program, here's what it says. If
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  Speaker 1: you are in a Columbus City school's high school and
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  Speaker 1: you maintain your grade point average while attending high school,
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  Speaker 1: you can also attend classes at Columbus State that are
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  Speaker 1: paid for. The tuition is paid for by this program.
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  Speaker 1: And in the scheme of things, you know, two million
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  Speaker 1: dollars allocated. You can tell they don't spend a bunch
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  Speaker 1: of money. What was the budget one point billion I
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  Speaker 1: think for this twenty six is what they're looking at.
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  Speaker 1: So two million dollars at a one point six billion
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  Speaker 1: dollars spending scenario is not a big deal. But these
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  Speaker 1: kids then can graduate from high school not only with
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  Speaker 1: their high school diploma, but also with an associate's degree
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  Speaker 1: from Columbus State, which allows them to transfer over to
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State if they want to, or any other state university,
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  Speaker 1: and only do two years after high school to get
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  Speaker 1: their bachelor's degree. So they've got a four year degree
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  Speaker 1: in just two years, and they are in the workforce,
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  Speaker 1: earning money and not going into four years of student
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  Speaker 1: loan debt to get that bachelor's degree. Now, because I'm
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  Speaker 1: involved with my twelevel west Side, I'm a West High
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: School cowboy, I'm involved with the alumni association there, and
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  Speaker 1: last year began chairing the scholarship committee for the students
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  Speaker 1: at West High School to help them with their college expenses.
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  Speaker 1: And I've said before, I'm very impressed with what's going
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  Speaker 1: on in that school, with the principal, with the programs.
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  Speaker 1: It's really inspiring after years of decline to see the
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  Speaker 1: just massive comeback at my high school, and I believe
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  Speaker 1: I am correct in saying I don't write this in stone,
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  Speaker 1: but I believe I am correct in saying last year,
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  Speaker 1: the graduating class at West High School had more students
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  Speaker 1: who graduated getting their school high school diploma and an
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  Speaker 1: associate's degree from Columbus State than any other high school
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  Speaker 1: in the city of Columbus. So this is something that seriously,
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  Speaker 1: it is near and dear to my heart. And those
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  Speaker 1: kids that want to go to a trade school can
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  Speaker 1: go to a trade school. Those that want to pursue
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  Speaker 1: a bachelor's degree can pursue. Those who want to go
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  Speaker 1: straight to work can come out of high schoo will
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  Speaker 1: go straight to work with an associate's degree already there,
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  Speaker 1: which is going to add to their value as a
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  Speaker 1: new employee when they enter the workforce. I have trouble
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  Speaker 1: seeing the downside of this program. I think it's all upside.
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  Speaker 1: I really think it is all upside, and why it
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  Speaker 1: is not important enough again, at least as I'm understanding it,
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  Speaker 1: to our mayor to have it as an actual funded
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  Speaker 1: item in the budget is beyond me. And so my congratulations,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: commendations and albeit likely momentary approval of Columbus City Council
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: is stated for the record, out loud, right to your face,
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: and I don't know, maybe you've been through it, maybe
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: you've got kids going through it or something. Maybe you
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: completely disagree with me. You're always welcome here. Eight two
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  Speaker 1: one nine eight eighty six eight two one double UTV
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: in or eight hundred and six to ten double UTV in.
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  Speaker 1: I just again, I think we've got a great resource
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  Speaker 1: in Columbus State being you know, it's not like we're
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  Speaker 1: overwhelmed with community college options. As a kid, I remember
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  Speaker 1: Columbus State started as CTI Columbus Technical Institute. It was
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  Speaker 1: a computer school basically, as you know, programming was all
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: the rage. Everybody was getting into technology, and they have
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  Speaker 1: evolved into something much larger, much more diverse, which is
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  Speaker 1: kind of what you know, we're trying to do as humans,
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  Speaker 1: as a city, as a culture. So I'm actually, I'm
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  Speaker 1: actually pretty pretty strongly convinced that this is something that
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  Speaker 1: exists should be funded. In fact, in addition to the funding,
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  Speaker 1: I would say that a rainy day fund, if you will,
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  Speaker 1: might be appropriate if an extraordinary number of students decide
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  Speaker 1: to take advantage of this program while they're in Columbus
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  Speaker 1: City schools. I would want to make sure that we
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  Speaker 1: can we can fund them as well. You don't want
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  Speaker 1: to turn anybody away from improving theirselves and moving faster
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  Speaker 1: as they venture out into life. So I'm good with
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  Speaker 1: this again A two one nine eight eighty six A
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  Speaker 1: two one WTV And I've got Chris standing by Chris.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: You're on the Legacy Retirement Group dot com phone lines.
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  Speaker 1: How are you?
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: I am good. I just wanted to say that when
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  Speaker 3: my boys, who are now in their thirties, were going
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  Speaker 3: to a perroprial school for high school, they had the
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  Speaker 3: opportunity to go to college classes, which was paid for
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  Speaker 3: by the state. Is that the I'm still not in place.
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  Speaker 1: Not that I know of. I'm not going to say
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  Speaker 1: it's I'm not going to say it's absolutely not, but
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  Speaker 1: not that I know of. And you know, with the
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  Speaker 1: scholarship work that I'm doing with my alumni association, I
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  Speaker 1: would think that's something I would have been told about
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  Speaker 1: or knew we had access to. So I don't think
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  Speaker 1: the state's doing anything like that.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it might be worth looking into because they went
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  Speaker 3: to Newark Catholic. So we're out in Lincoln County and
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  Speaker 3: they went to cot They were going to COTC and
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  Speaker 3: OSUN and actually getting college credits while they were in
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: high school.
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  Speaker 1: Now, when they graduated high school, did they have at
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  Speaker 1: least an associate's degree or did they just have some
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  Speaker 1: credits built up for entering college?
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  Speaker 3: They had credits built up, because I think they both
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  Speaker 3: went to OSU Newark Branch.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, No, it might be a little.
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  Speaker 3: Bit of a different program, but it was funded by
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  Speaker 3: the state.
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  Speaker 1: You say it's a been about fourteen years ago, now, yeah, because.
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  Speaker 3: Both of them are in their mid thirties now, so
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  Speaker 3: they graduated in twenty two thousand and seven, in two
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: thousand and ten.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, I appreciate you saying something about it. I'll check
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  Speaker 1: into it and see if there is a state program
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  Speaker 1: out there. I want to I want to be the
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  Speaker 1: bugle that sounds that you know, for everybody, because if
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: people don't know about it, including myself, we need to.
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  Speaker 3: Know about that, absolutely, because anything to give these kids
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  Speaker 3: a leg up with their college education.
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  Speaker 1: Chris, I appreciate your call. Thanks very much. Be careful
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: out there and try to stay warm over the next
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: few days.