Latest / The Dave Allen Show / 09/08/2026 The Dave Allen Show on 580 Live - Ric Cavender, Tom Susman, Matt Sutton

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09/08/2026 The Dave Allen Show on 580 Live - Ric Cavender, Tom Susman, Matt Sutton · The Dave Allen Show

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Speaker 1: The views and opinions expressed on this program do not
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Speaker 1: necessarily reflect the views and opinions of 580 WCHS, its employees,
0:07
Speaker 1: or WVRC Media. From the studios of WVRC Media, the country,
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Speaker 1: the United States of America, the state, West Virginia, the city, Charleston,
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Speaker 1: this is the Dave Allen Show on 580 Live. And
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Speaker 1: your host.
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Speaker 2: What we've got here is failure to communicate.
0:32
Speaker 1: He's kind of a big deal.
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Speaker 3: I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass.
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Speaker 4: And I'm all out of bubblegum.
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Speaker 1: Dave Allen.
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Speaker 4: And a good Tuesday morning to you and welcome to
0:45
Speaker 4: the show. Senior producer Ryan Nicholson is in charge of
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Speaker 4: things this morning. Guarantee Bank Hotline 304-345-5858. Tony the Taylor
0:50
Speaker 4: Tech 304-935-500. Edwin of the Jarrett Construction Studios right on time.
0:58
Speaker 4: right on budget. Visit jared-construction.com, license number WV030133. Phone calls
1:04
Speaker 4: to the show, service of Guarantee Bank, 1320 Kanawha Boulevard, Easton, Charleston.
1:08
Speaker 4: Taxing services provided by West Virginia's finest men's store, Tony
1:11
Speaker 4: the Tailor, Virginia Street in Charleston. Come check out Tony's
1:14
Speaker 4: fall lineup, including WVU and now Marshall gear as well.
1:17
Speaker 4: Check out bestmastertailor.com or Tony's Facebook page for more information.
1:21
Speaker 4: Welcome to the show. It's going to be one of
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Speaker 4: those days when you're probably going to think it's Monday
1:25
Speaker 4: all day, if you were lucky enough to have Labor
1:27
Speaker 4: Day off yesterday. Metro News meteorologist Brian Hughes says the
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Speaker 4: fog has burned away, and I have to say it
1:33
Speaker 4: was a beautiful sunrise this morning here in the Kanawha Valley.
1:35
Speaker 4: I actually posted a picture of it on Dave Allen
1:38
Speaker 4: Radio on Facebook and Add Dave A70 on X. You
1:40
Speaker 4: may want to check that out, what it looked like
1:41
Speaker 4: when I was Driving over South Charleston on my drive
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Speaker 4: into downtown Charleston this morning. Sunny today with a high
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Speaker 4: around 90. Clear tonight. Lows in the upper 60s. Tomorrow
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Speaker 4: going to warm up a bit with some sun and
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Speaker 4: highs of a low 90s. Thursday not looking too good.
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Speaker 4: Widespread showers and storms with a high in the mid 80s.
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Speaker 4: Some leftover morning rain Friday morning. Should clear out though,
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Speaker 4: they say, for high school football Friday nights with highs
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Speaker 4: of a low to mid 80s. Early call for the weekend.
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Speaker 4: Looks like rain or at least a chance of it
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Speaker 4: on Saturday. And there is so much going on this weekend.
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Speaker 4: Chilling on the elk. Ribfest, the Putnam County Homecoming, Picklepalooza,
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Speaker 4: and yes, that's a thing. We're going to talk about
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Speaker 4: that later in the week. Temps are going to be
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Speaker 4: in the upper 80s. You can follow Metro News meteorologist
2:19
Speaker 4: Brian Hughes and his team, the meteorologists, on air and
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Speaker 4: online by downloading the Metro News television app and by
2:25
Speaker 4: hitting like on your social media. Coming up, Chief of
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Speaker 4: Staff for Charleston Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin is here. Matt
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Speaker 4: Sutton is going to join me in studio. If you
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Speaker 4: have questions, comments, or concerns about anything related to the city,
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Speaker 4: Matt is the guy in the spotlight today. It's an
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Speaker 4: open line with him coming up. Also, Lots of folks
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Speaker 4: still talking about last week's business summit at the Greenbrier.
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Speaker 4: Tom Sussman was in attendance there. He's going to talk
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Speaker 4: about some of the things that were discussed there, of course,
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Speaker 4: even with the billion-dollar economic announcement that the governor revealed
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Speaker 4: there for Mason County. In normal existence, that would have
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Speaker 4: been the main story, probably the lead economic story for
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Speaker 4: a couple of years. But it got overshadowed by Justice V. Morrissey,
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Speaker 4: including the governor, appearing on talk line with T.J. and
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Speaker 4: Dave Wilson, saying, it's he's 100 percent interested in coming
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Speaker 4: back to run for governor. At least interested in having
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Speaker 4: the discussion. So Tom was there. We'll talk to him
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Speaker 4: about that. Plus, we get to your calls and text
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Speaker 4: as well. Guarantee Bank Hotline 304-345-5858. Tony B. Taylor, text 304-935-5008.
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Speaker 4: Welcome to the show now. A good friend from Charleston
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Speaker 4: Urban Works is Rick Cavender. Good morning, sir.
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Speaker 5: Good morning.
3:25
Speaker 1: How are you doing, sir?
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Speaker 4: I'm doing fine. Welcome to the show. You know, it
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Speaker 4: may not feel like fall now. But eventually fall is
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Speaker 4: going to be here, and with that will come the
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Speaker 4: October West event presented by COVA Insurance. How many years
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Speaker 4: has this been going on?
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Speaker 6: It's the 18th year.
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Speaker 7: 18th year.
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Speaker 6: Part of the year.
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Speaker 8: Would have been 19th, of course, but we had COVID.
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Speaker 4: The year we don't talk about.
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Speaker 6: That's right.
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Speaker 4: Everybody just had to stay home and party at.
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Speaker 2: Home, I guess.
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Speaker 9: Right.
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Speaker 7: All right.
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Speaker 4: So tell us about this event for people that aren't
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Speaker 4: familiar with it, how it grew from the early days
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Speaker 4: to what it is now.
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Speaker 8: October West was first created– 2008 was the first year
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Speaker 8: that this event started over, of course, on the west
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Speaker 8: side in the Elk City district of the west side
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Speaker 8: of Charleston here. And it was really– at the time,
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Speaker 8: it was sort of a smaller event, a German-themed Oktoberfest event, right?
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Speaker 8: And the point was to get people on the west side.
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Speaker 8: What was interesting is that at the time, not a
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Speaker 8: lot of businesses would actually stay open for it on
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Speaker 8: a Saturday. They would close.
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Speaker 6: Um, and so the.
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Speaker 8: Streets were open, but the businesses weren't, uh, for the
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Speaker 8: most part and, uh, still great attendance. Um, there was
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Speaker 8: really just a focus on that had a couple of
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Speaker 8: beers that were available with the focus was on, of course,
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Speaker 8: the entertainment and some food. Uh, but it was just
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Speaker 8: really to get some excitement, you know, uh, garnered for
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Speaker 8: the West side. And of course, since then, uh, back
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Speaker 8: in about 2015, we grew it into a much larger
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Speaker 8: craft beer festival, uh, Um, attendance is, you know, depending
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Speaker 8: on the year averages between 12 and 13, 1400 people. Um, and, uh,
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Speaker 8: you know, so we have over 120 beers on tap. Uh,
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Speaker 8: we have three, uh, uh, different live entertainment options happening
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Speaker 8: this year, uh, on stage on the city national bank stages. Um,
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Speaker 8: and you know, it's just a really great time. People
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Speaker 8: love this event because it happens. It starts at three o'clock. Uh,
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Speaker 8: it lasts till eight. So they still have options. They
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Speaker 8: still have a ton of things they can do after
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Speaker 8: the event's over. It's just grown into one of the
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Speaker 8: largest events in Charleston.
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Speaker 9: We're really proud of it.
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Speaker 4: And you talk about how it was so many years ago.
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Speaker 4: I mean, craft beer has always been a big part
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Speaker 4: of this. There's been craft beer forever, but it wasn't
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Speaker 4: like it is now. It wasn't such an industry for
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Speaker 4: the state of West Virginia like it is now.
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Speaker 1: That's right.
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Speaker 8: And we have certainly all of the Charleston brewers participate,
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Speaker 8: but we have several around the state that come and
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Speaker 8: participate or are represented here. By the distributors in the
5:41
Speaker 8: in the state of West Virginia here and here in
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Speaker 8: Kanawha County. So, yeah, I mean, tons of different options,
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Speaker 8: many of which are local, have some that are, of course,
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Speaker 8: out of state national options. But, you know, people really
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Speaker 8: come for everybody comes for a different reason. Some people
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Speaker 8: come for the beer. You know, if they get their
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Speaker 8: VIP ticket, you know, fifty five dollars for VIP starts
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Speaker 8: at three o'clock.
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Speaker 6: They get an extra hour.
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Speaker 8: Of the event where they can enjoy VIP beers and
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Speaker 8: enjoy the event for for an extra hour. Some people
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Speaker 8: come for the entertainment. This year, DJ EJ is back.
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Speaker 8: He's going to be on one stage the entire time.
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Speaker 8: And then we have the Holler Generals and Alan Smith
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Speaker 8: Band that will be performing.
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Speaker 4: Can we just give props to the Holler Generals for
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Speaker 4: having one of the best names ever?
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Speaker 1: Isn't that great?
6:19
Speaker 4: What kind of music do they play?
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Speaker 8: I believe they're like a– I'd say like a– Americana
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Speaker 8: folk rock type, I believe.
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Speaker 4: And who was the other act?
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Speaker 6: Alan Smith Band. Okay.
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Speaker 8: Yeah, yeah. So those stages will be full throughout the day.
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Speaker 8: And like I said, DJ EJ, he'll be playing the
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Speaker 8: entire time. Our October West games are back this year.
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Speaker 8: That's always a big hit, man. I mean, I think
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Speaker 8: a lot of folks buy their ticket to this event
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Speaker 8: to participate. In the October West games.
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Speaker 4: Or to watch other people participate. Or to watch other people.
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Speaker 4: What are some of the games that you do? Because
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Speaker 4: this is really fun. And when these things start, Rick,
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Speaker 4: I'll tell you, it's like people are kind of, especially
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Speaker 4: if they're there for the first time, they'll look over
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Speaker 4: and they'll say, what exactly? What is he doing there?
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Speaker 4: And so explain the games and what goes on there.
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Speaker 8: So they start at 5.30. They go from 5.30 to 7.30
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Speaker 8: during the event. And when you get there, you can
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Speaker 8: sign up to be a participant. There are several different games.
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Speaker 8: There's a best dress contest, which is pretty simple, right?
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Speaker 8: Just come in your best German attire. Whether you want
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Speaker 8: to be a wench or whatever the case may be,
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Speaker 8: you just show up. But then there's the sausage toss contest.
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Speaker 8: There's the keg rolling contest. The yodeling contest. And then,
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Speaker 8: of course, I think what seems to be one of
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Speaker 8: the favorites is the beer stein holding contest.
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Speaker 4: Can you explain what that is?
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Speaker 8: We set up several tables, you know, the length of
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Speaker 8: the entire grass field there at the corner of– right
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Speaker 8: there at the Old Fountain Hobby Center, right, in the
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Speaker 8: middle of Elk City. And people line up on both sides.
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Speaker 8: We fill these enormous steins up with beer. And they're
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Speaker 8: there to hold them up with their arms straight. And
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Speaker 8: whoever is the last man standing– last man or woman
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Speaker 8: standing wins.
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Speaker 4: And this is all based on traditions. I mean we're
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Speaker 4: kind of Americanizing it a little bit. Maybe even West
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Speaker 4: Virginia is in it a little bit. But these are
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Speaker 4: all based on traditions of the classic October– Festivals that
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Speaker 4: you find in places like Cincinnati and Pittsburgh and other cities.
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Speaker 4: That's right.
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Speaker 6: Yeah.
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Speaker 8: And, you know, good example, the one that happens over
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Speaker 8: in Covington, Kentucky, which that's like a three or four
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Speaker 8: day long festival.
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Speaker 1: It's incredible.
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Speaker 6: I've actually been before.
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Speaker 7: It's great.
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Speaker 8: This is sort of a condensed version of that. It's
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Speaker 8: a four hour, five hour version of that on hopefully
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Speaker 8: a beautiful.
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Speaker 6: Saturday in October.
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Speaker 8: So but yeah, so this is this is a has
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Speaker 8: become such a tradition for the city of Charleston, certainly
8:42
Speaker 8: for our organization. This is a fundraiser for our organization.
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Speaker 8: So all of the funds that are raised from ticket
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Speaker 8: sales and sponsorships, you know, after expenses are paid for this,
8:50
Speaker 8: go right back into the community throughout the implementation of
8:53
Speaker 8: our projects and programs that we have throughout the year,
8:55
Speaker 8: whether it's our facade and sign grant program, our business
8:58
Speaker 8: assistance initiatives, our marketing and assistance for our businesses, the
9:01
Speaker 8: list goes on. You know, this year in particular is
9:05
Speaker 8: a special celebration because we are going to be kicking
9:07
Speaker 8: off the construction of our Westside Gateway Lighting Initiative, which
9:09
Speaker 8: I've been on many times to talk about. That's actually
9:12
Speaker 8: starting in the next week. The construction will begin. We
9:16
Speaker 8: hope that it does, as if everything goes okay. So,
9:19
Speaker 8: you know, this particular October West is a unique celebration
9:23
Speaker 8: of the fact that this project of seven years is
9:26
Speaker 8: finally culminating.
9:27
Speaker 4: And again, explain what the project is for people that
9:30
Speaker 4: have not heard you talk about it. Break it down
9:32
Speaker 4: for us what the lighting project is.
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Speaker 8: Yeah, so we identified, you know, now seven years ago
9:36
Speaker 8: the need for– and this is based on the amount
9:38
Speaker 8: of investment that's occurred– In the Elk City District of
9:41
Speaker 8: the West Side, starting at Pennsylvania Avenue all the way
9:43
Speaker 8: down to Maryland, we've seen several buildings that have been renovated.
9:48
Speaker 8: I would say the most recent example of that would
9:51
Speaker 8: be certainly the Stats Hospital building that finished its renovation,
9:54
Speaker 8: and now that's the home of Legal Aid of West Virginia.
9:56
Speaker 8: We're talking a multimillion dollar restoration of a historic structure.
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Speaker 8: There's so many of those stories now in the Oak
10:02
Speaker 8: City District. And so we believe it was our role
10:04
Speaker 8: as an organization to preserve that investment and also continue
10:10
Speaker 8: to offer new reasons for folks to want to come
10:12
Speaker 8: over and feel comfortable from a safety perspective and aesthetic
10:15
Speaker 8: perspective and enjoy everything that's happening over on the west
10:18
Speaker 8: side and in the Oak City District. There's not just
10:20
Speaker 8: commercial properties there. There are, but certainly there are people
10:23
Speaker 8: who live above these commercial properties. There are a lot
10:25
Speaker 8: of residential properties there. So anyway, we worked with West
10:29
Speaker 8: Virginia University's theater and lighting design department to create a
10:34
Speaker 8: rendering of what this could look like. Effectively, we are
10:37
Speaker 8: replacing all of the lampposts that start at Pennsylvania Avenue
10:42
Speaker 8: all the way down to around Maryland Avenue. with more
10:45
Speaker 8: modern lampposts that not only shine down on the street
10:48
Speaker 8: more effectively and flood the sidewalks and street with more light,
10:51
Speaker 8: but also shine up onto the building facades.
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Speaker 6: That'll be cool.
10:54
Speaker 8: And those lights can change color depending on the year
10:56
Speaker 8: or time of the year, rather, whether that's a holiday
10:59
Speaker 8: celebration or what's going on. It's really kind of a
11:01
Speaker 8: first-of-its-kind project.
11:03
Speaker 4: I can see, like, when everything turns pink for Breast
11:06
Speaker 4: Cancer Awareness Month, which I think is in October, you
11:08
Speaker 4: can do that. That's kind of cool stuff.
11:10
Speaker 8: Christmas, red and green, Halloween, orange, you know. So, yeah,
11:13
Speaker 8: so that project is finally coming to fruition, coming to life.
11:18
Speaker 8: After a lot of fundraising and a lot of hard
11:20
Speaker 8: work and a lot of partnerships that we built, it's
11:22
Speaker 8: finally happening. So we're really proud of it. And, you know,
11:25
Speaker 8: we see our fundraising events like October West that are
11:28
Speaker 8: happening right in the heart of these projects that we
11:31
Speaker 8: implement as sort of a celebration of that.
11:33
Speaker 4: Again, we're talking to Rick Cavender, Charleston Urban Works. The
11:36
Speaker 4: Dave Allen Show on 580 Live brought to you in
11:37
Speaker 4: part by the all-new Generations Ford of Hurricane. This is generationsford.com.
11:41
Speaker 4: All right, exactly how does a sausage toss work? Somebody
11:44
Speaker 4: just wanted to know about that.
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Speaker 8: Now, keep in mind, every year, whenever these games are
11:49
Speaker 8: going on, I'm running around like crazy. And we have
11:51
Speaker 8: a whole team that manages the events. I have gotten
11:55
Speaker 8: to check it out a couple times and stop and watch.
11:57
Speaker 8: But I think it's based on distance. how far you
12:01
Speaker 8: and your partner can spread apart and toss the sausage
12:04
Speaker 8: back and forth to each other?
12:04
Speaker 4: I don't know. Sounds legit.
12:07
Speaker 8: People seem to have a great time doing it. But yeah,
12:11
Speaker 8: so this year, the event, we've moved the event back
12:15
Speaker 8: to October. We used to have it toward the end
12:16
Speaker 8: of September. We obviously try to work around the WVU
12:19
Speaker 8: and Marshall football schedules.
12:20
Speaker 6: As best as we can.
12:22
Speaker 4: It makes it hard, especially for WVU, because if you
12:24
Speaker 4: look ahead at the schedule right now, it's only because
12:27
Speaker 4: of television. It's only like about two weeks. Everything's TBA.
12:30
Speaker 4: I was going to take a look at their schedule earlier,
12:32
Speaker 4: and everything is Other than like the next week or two,
12:34
Speaker 4: everything's TBA.
12:35
Speaker 8: We still don't know the time. And so we're doing
12:39
Speaker 8: our best. October 3rd, we selected a while back just
12:41
Speaker 8: because we knew it was an away game. So October 3rd, Saturday,
12:46
Speaker 8: October 3rd, we're less than a month away. 3 p.m.
12:48
Speaker 8: is VIP hour.
12:50
Speaker 7: 4 p.m.
12:50
Speaker 8: Starts general admission. You can go to charlestonurbanworks.org and get
12:54
Speaker 8: your tickets today for that. All the information about the
12:56
Speaker 8: event is on the page. And we'll be adding more
12:59
Speaker 8: information very soon to that as well.
13:00
Speaker 4: I got a question here because somebody wanted to know,
13:03
Speaker 4: We talk about Elk City, that's the historic name, and
13:05
Speaker 4: the west side. Explain that.
13:07
Speaker 8: The Elk City district is in the west side of Charleston, right?
13:10
Speaker 8: So there are several what we call sort of micro
13:12
Speaker 8: districts throughout the city, right? So if you think of
13:14
Speaker 8: like five corners, that's on the west side. Elk City,
13:18
Speaker 8: what sort of sets Elk City apart, just like with
13:20
Speaker 8: the East End Historic District on Charleston's East End, is
13:24
Speaker 8: it actually has a National Register of Historic Places designation
13:27
Speaker 8: that occurred back in 2009. So the history there is,
13:31
Speaker 8: is that Elk City used to be an entire different
13:33
Speaker 8: city from the city of Charleston right back in the
13:36
Speaker 8: late 1800s, early 1900s. And Charleston annexed it into the
13:40
Speaker 8: city of Charleston at that time. So it's pretty much
13:42
Speaker 8: everything west of the Elk River wasn't actually a part
13:45
Speaker 8: of the city, the actual outline of the city. So
13:50
Speaker 8: in 2009. Our predecessor organization worked with several others to
13:54
Speaker 8: get that designation for the Elk City District. And that obviously,
13:58
Speaker 8: when you're in that designated area, if you are a
14:00
Speaker 8: property owner, you get access to tax credits that you
14:03
Speaker 8: wouldn't have access to otherwise, both state and federal tax
14:05
Speaker 8: credits if you're in those designated districts. And your property
14:09
Speaker 8: is what is considered a contributing structure. So that has
14:15
Speaker 8: regained the name of Elk City through that designation that
14:18
Speaker 8: occurred in 2009. But we've always made sure as an
14:21
Speaker 8: organization to say that it is the Elk City District
14:23
Speaker 8: of Charleston's West Side.
14:24
Speaker 7: All right.
14:25
Speaker 4: Now, can people go ahead and get their VIP tickets now?
14:27
Speaker 10: Oh, yeah.
14:27
Speaker 8: You go to charlestonerbanworks.org right now. And, of course, pardon
14:30
Speaker 8: the construction. We're getting ready to launch a new website.
14:32
Speaker 8: But if you go to our current website, it's right
14:33
Speaker 8: there on the homepage. You can click the link and
14:35
Speaker 8: you can download or, excuse me, you can buy and
14:37
Speaker 8: download your tickets today.
14:38
Speaker 11: All right.
14:39
Speaker 4: We'll have you back on before the event. Of course,
14:42
Speaker 4: our stations are always over there. We're always looking forward
14:44
Speaker 4: to it. And it's always a great time. Anytime we can.
14:47
Speaker 4: Hang out with you folks at Charleston Urban Works. Again,
14:49
Speaker 4: it's going to be October the 3rd. VIP starts at
14:51
Speaker 4: 3 o'clock. Go ahead and make your plans now. That's
14:53
Speaker 4: why we're having you on. And get your tickets now.
14:54
Speaker 1: That's exactly right.
14:55
Speaker 8: And one more thing really quickly, Dave, is, well, two
14:57
Speaker 8: quick things. Volunteers, we have great volunteers. People always sign
15:01
Speaker 8: up to pour beer and to scan tickets and to
15:04
Speaker 8: do wristbands. We always have a great response for our volunteers.
15:07
Speaker 8: But you can go to our social media page, Charleston
15:09
Speaker 8: Urban Works social media page. There's a post right toward
15:12
Speaker 8: the top, a link that you can follow to sign
15:14
Speaker 8: up as a volunteer. You get free access to the event.
15:17
Speaker 8: And you get a $ 5 food voucher that you can
15:19
Speaker 8: use at any of the food vendors. And speaking of vendors,
15:22
Speaker 8: we're still looking for more vendors. We typically have 12
15:25
Speaker 8: to 14 food and nonprofit and retail vendors that participate
15:28
Speaker 8: in this event and at Foam at the Dome every year.
15:31
Speaker 8: You can sign up to be a vendor as well.
15:32
Speaker 6: On our page.
15:33
Speaker 12: All right.
15:34
Speaker 4: Rick Caveter, appreciate you being here, my friend.
15:36
Speaker 9: Thanks, Dave.
15:36
Speaker 4: Appreciate you always. 923, the Dave Allen Show on 580 Live,
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Speaker 4: A Tuesday morning. Ryan Nicholson is our producer. They sound
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19:00
Speaker 4: South Charleston, Texas. Dave, you see Trump's small potatoes comment.
19:04
Speaker 4: Small potatoes is going to be Trump's JV team. The
19:07
Speaker 4: clown is ruining America. Thanks, MAGA, GOP, and conservative voters.
19:10
Speaker 4: You morons really showed those libs. Text, how come people,
19:15
Speaker 4: meteorologists and yourself, are surprised it's 90 in the first
19:18
Speaker 4: weeks of September? You know, the last weeks of summer.
19:20
Speaker 4: September 1st isn't the start of autumn. Labor Day isn't
19:24
Speaker 4: the start of autumn. Tuesday, September 22nd is the start
19:27
Speaker 4: of autumn. It's 90 in October. Bring on the surprise,
19:30
Speaker 4: says the texter. I mean, I think everybody wants it
19:35
Speaker 4: to be autumn. But technically, from a meteorological standpoint, Tom Sussman,
19:40
Speaker 4: it is meteorological weather. That's what Brian Hughes would say.
19:44
Speaker 11: Well, and if Brian Hughes says it, then it's got
19:46
Speaker 11: to be true.
19:46
Speaker 4: Yeah. But, I mean, I can remember one year particularly.
19:50
Speaker 4: I was talking about this every day doing– but, by
19:52
Speaker 4: the way, my birthday is September 23rd. If you want
19:54
Speaker 4: to write that down.
19:54
Speaker 7: I will, yeah.
19:55
Speaker 4: The day after, I should say, that autumn begins. I
19:58
Speaker 4: was doing a live broadcast on another station, and it
20:01
Speaker 4: was 101 degrees on September 23rd. So it does happen.
20:05
Speaker 11: Well, and I will tell you– We'll get cold in
20:08
Speaker 11: September a little bit. And then guess what? Come October,
20:12
Speaker 11: we'll have what they call Indian summer. I guess that's still.
20:15
Speaker 6: I don't think you can say that anymore.
20:16
Speaker 7: Okay.
20:17
Speaker 4: I'll be honest with you. Text, just curious, why does
20:21
Speaker 4: it seem that almost everything going on in Charleston has
20:23
Speaker 4: to do with alcohol? Well, because it's a city and
20:26
Speaker 4: people want it, obviously. And here's the thing, and I've
20:29
Speaker 4: heard that criticism before. If people didn't want it there,
20:33
Speaker 4: it wouldn't be there. You know, it's incredibly popular, Foam
20:36
Speaker 4: at the Dome and these different events. And, you know,
20:38
Speaker 4: you don't have to participate. I mean, I'm always working
20:40
Speaker 4: these events, so I'm not participating. I'm not partaking of
20:43
Speaker 4: it because I'm working.
20:44
Speaker 17: Yeah.
20:45
Speaker 11: I won't get started on the POTUS.
20:48
Speaker 7: Go ahead.
20:48
Speaker 11: Come on. I just think that we have enough issues
20:53
Speaker 11: with substance use disorder in this state. that we don't
20:56
Speaker 11: need to have people walk in the streets with open containers.
20:59
Speaker 11: And I understand why they want to do it for downtown,
21:01
Speaker 11: but I think there's a limit. So you want to
21:03
Speaker 11: do foam on the dome, you can pick to go.
21:05
Speaker 11: You want to go do some of the other ones
21:07
Speaker 11: that you just had with Rick. I get it. The POTUS,
21:10
Speaker 11: I have a little consternation with that. But then again,
21:12
Speaker 11: I'm an old guy.
21:12
Speaker 4: Well, I'm an old guy too, but I'm younger than you.
21:15
Speaker 11: That one, I just think it's just too much out
21:17
Speaker 11: in front of people.
21:18
Speaker 1: Okay.
21:18
Speaker 4: And you're entitled to your opinion.
21:19
Speaker 7: Absolutely.
21:20
Speaker 4: You're entitled to even if it's wrong. I'm kidding.
21:22
Speaker 7: All right.
21:23
Speaker 4: So you went to Greenbrier last week for the big
21:25
Speaker 4: business summit. Lots of good info came out of their networking,
21:29
Speaker 4: of course. But, you know, the governor comes out, Tom,
21:33
Speaker 4: with his major economic announcement for Mason County. But all
21:36
Speaker 4: anybody was talking about was Senator Jim Justice admitting what
21:39
Speaker 4: everyone already knew. His words 100 percent when TJ posed
21:43
Speaker 4: the question to him on talk line. 100% interested in
21:46
Speaker 4: becoming governor again, or at least exploring the option.
21:49
Speaker 11: Yeah, and that didn't surprise me. What politician is going
21:51
Speaker 11: to say... oh, I'm not doing something this far away
21:54
Speaker 11: from the election. So is he considering it? Yeah, I
21:56
Speaker 11: think he's probably considering it. But, you know, I think
21:59
Speaker 11: there's some other things that came out of the business
22:01
Speaker 11: summit that haven't been headlined. So if I can go
22:04
Speaker 11: through my top five, I mean, I'm not lettering.
22:06
Speaker 4: But now you would admit, though, that's the one everybody
22:08
Speaker 4: was talking about.
22:09
Speaker 11: Oh, that's what everybody was waiting for. Yeah, that doesn't
22:11
Speaker 11: surprise me. But Joe Manchin talked about it two years before,
22:15
Speaker 11: after he even governor, that he was thinking. I mean,
22:16
Speaker 11: it's a normal political thing to say, I'm thinking about it. Now,
22:21
Speaker 11: let's see what happens. when he gets up to next
22:24
Speaker 11: business summit and it comes time to pull the switch.
22:27
Speaker 4: Okay. There are people saying he's going to pull the
22:30
Speaker 4: switch before then, though.
22:31
Speaker 11: Well, they also said he was going to pull the
22:32
Speaker 11: switch from the stage at the business summit, too.
22:34
Speaker 6: There you go.
22:35
Speaker 11: So I don't know. So here are my top five.
22:37
Speaker 4: Top five. We need a journal.
22:38
Speaker 6: All right.
22:40
Speaker 11: One was the rumor that Brad Smith, president of Marshall,
22:43
Speaker 11: may run for governor or should run for governor. If
22:46
Speaker 11: I heard it once, I heard it a hundred times
22:48
Speaker 11: up there. Now, I don't know if his people are
22:50
Speaker 11: floating a trial balloon or if it's just conjecture or
22:52
Speaker 11: people just want normal in the governor's office. He'd kind
22:55
Speaker 11: of be a Gaston Caperton-type governor or candidate. So we're
22:58
Speaker 11: hearing that. And I'm not even sure if he's a Democrat, Republican,
23:01
Speaker 11: or he's from Marshall. Maybe he's part of the Green Party.
23:03
Speaker 4: I don't know.
23:04
Speaker 11: But, again, did hear a lot about that. State Senate
23:09
Speaker 11: President Randy Smith and his leadership team were not present
23:12
Speaker 11: at the event. And normally you'll see the Senate president,
23:15
Speaker 11: you'll see his leadership team, So when they had the
23:19
Speaker 11: legislative panel, of course, you had Speaker Hanshaw, you had
23:22
Speaker 11: House Judiciary Chair J.B. Akers, Delegate McCormick. But from the Senate,
23:26
Speaker 11: it was Senator Oliverio and Tom Takubo, both great senators,
23:31
Speaker 11: but not part of the leadership. And I think that
23:33
Speaker 11: was interesting. Chris Warner, who's our Secretary of State, was
23:37
Speaker 11: up working the event. He brought a fundraiser with him
23:40
Speaker 11: as he was meeting people. Now, if you're a Warner
23:42
Speaker 11: and you're running for reelection for Secretary of State, you
23:45
Speaker 11: don't need to raise money. for all intents and purposes.
23:48
Speaker 11: But if you're thinking about governor or a higher office,
23:50
Speaker 11: then you bring your fundraiser.
23:51
Speaker 4: Well, I mean, it does take money to be elected
23:53
Speaker 4: secretary of state.
23:54
Speaker 11: Yeah, but there's different kinds of money. I mean, it's
23:58
Speaker 11: kind of interesting. Larry Pack was there. Again, he was
24:02
Speaker 11: making the rounds, talking. He's state treasurer. There were some
24:05
Speaker 11: conjecture that if justice does run for governor, maybe Pack
24:08
Speaker 11: ends up in the U.S. Senate as kind of the replacement.
24:12
Speaker 11: I don't know. And then this business summit was, as
24:16
Speaker 11: everybody knows, was dominated by data centers, transmission lines, natural gas,
24:21
Speaker 11: some energy. But I saw some coal operators, but I
24:25
Speaker 11: really didn't see anybody from like the Coal Association leadership. Now,
24:29
Speaker 11: there are 2,000 people in the room. I may have
24:31
Speaker 11: missed them. But it just seems like this is more
24:34
Speaker 11: about natural gas and transmission. There was some health care
24:37
Speaker 11: in the room. Also, the Chamber did a great job,
24:40
Speaker 11: and I think you all have a problem in that
24:41
Speaker 11: I think TJ and Dave want to move the TalkLine
24:44
Speaker 11: studio back to the Greenbrow permanently because I don't know
24:46
Speaker 11: if it was either the food or the golf, but
24:48
Speaker 11: they seem to be having a really good time.
24:50
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, it was a good time, and it always is. And, again,
24:53
Speaker 4: the Business Summit is a very unique event, Tom, because
24:57
Speaker 4: there's not one gathering ever. That everybody is at now.
25:02
Speaker 4: I mean, sometimes maybe let's say state of the state,
25:05
Speaker 4: you know, when the governor legislates your first days of
25:08
Speaker 4: the session, it's a kind of a who's who. But
25:10
Speaker 4: from the business world, too, there's no.
25:13
Speaker 11: Other event like it. And you're up there for three days.
25:15
Speaker 7: Yeah.
25:15
Speaker 11: And you get to talk and you get to do.
25:17
Speaker 11: And that's when things like the like the Brad Smith
25:19
Speaker 11: conjecture comes out. That's where, you know. You generally want
25:24
Speaker 11: the legislative leadership there so they can figure out what
25:27
Speaker 11: people are wanting and what business wants. And there can
25:29
Speaker 11: be a back and forth. So you develop policy on
25:32
Speaker 11: both sides there, but not to have the Senate leadership there.
25:37
Speaker 11: Or I didn't see him there. That really speaks volumes
25:41
Speaker 11: about how the chamber is set up and how the
25:44
Speaker 11: Senate leadership is set up at this point.
25:46
Speaker 4: Talking to Tom Sussman. So what did you make of
25:47
Speaker 4: Senator Justice's comments that West Virginia has lost its spark?
25:52
Speaker 11: I think that is a direct, or not direct, it's
25:56
Speaker 11: an indirect slap at the current administration for not going
26:00
Speaker 11: after businesses other than data centers. There's been some discussion
26:03
Speaker 11: that a lot of what was put in place with
26:06
Speaker 11: Mike Graney and some of the folks has been pulled back.
26:10
Speaker 11: We're not doing the incentives like we used to do
26:12
Speaker 11: as a state. The departure of Chelsea Ruby is the
26:18
Speaker 11: Secretary of Tourism, but There are definitely, if you listen
26:23
Speaker 11: to Governor Morrissey, he talks about doing the basics, doing
26:27
Speaker 11: the basics, but he's not one to write checks to
26:30
Speaker 11: bring companies to the state. You know, Senator Justice is
26:34
Speaker 11: a salesman, and if he can indict and get you
26:37
Speaker 11: to come here by giving Some incentives and doing some
26:40
Speaker 11: other things, he's going to do it. So I think
26:42
Speaker 11: you have two different philosophies in that realm.
26:44
Speaker 4: I just thought it was very interesting in hearing the comments.
26:46
Speaker 4: And I was listening as I wasn't as a business,
26:49
Speaker 4: but I was listening in my office to when when
26:51
Speaker 4: Senator Justice was on talk line. But but when he
26:54
Speaker 4: said that. that West Virginia has lost its spark. I mean,
26:57
Speaker 4: Governor Morrissey and others would come out and say, well,
27:00
Speaker 4: look at all these announcements. I mean, it's like one
27:02
Speaker 4: after another, including the big one, the big one for
27:05
Speaker 4: Mason County.
27:06
Speaker 11: Yeah, and so the question becomes, and I think he
27:08
Speaker 11: also talked in his speech about diversification, or Senator Justice did.
27:13
Speaker 11: We're getting the data centers, and those are big announcements.
27:16
Speaker 11: But the question really begs itself is, what about the
27:19
Speaker 11: steel mills? What about the heavy manufacturing companies? You know,
27:22
Speaker 11: I grew up in southern West Virginia, as you did,
27:25
Speaker 11: and it was all coal all the time.
27:27
Speaker 4: Great.
27:28
Speaker 11: But if we could do data centers and we can
27:30
Speaker 11: do heavy manufacturing and we can do chemicals and we
27:33
Speaker 11: can do– and so it's a lot moving. And I
27:36
Speaker 11: think there's a feeling by some that all we're doing
27:38
Speaker 11: right now is data centers. Now, I'm sure the governor's
27:40
Speaker 11: office would disagree.
27:43
Speaker 4: Yeah, so– Talking to Tom Sussman. It's 25 away from Tampa.
27:46
Speaker 4: Dave Allen's show on 580 Live brought to you in
27:48
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27:50
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27:53
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27:53
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27:59
Speaker 4: does justice run? Is it too early, in your opinion?
28:02
Speaker 11: I would be shocked if you actually ran.
28:04
Speaker 19: Really?
28:05
Speaker 11: Well, I mean, okay, so you're in the U.S. Senate,
28:10
Speaker 11: and I've said this before. It's not a hard lift.
28:13
Speaker 11: It's a pretty nice gig, despite people talking about how
28:16
Speaker 11: frustrated they are. So do you want to come back
28:18
Speaker 11: here and put in an ugly campaign? Because, you know,
28:22
Speaker 11: one thing about Governor Morrissey, his campaigns, I mean, he
28:25
Speaker 11: does not mind throwing shade on his opponents. Do you
28:29
Speaker 11: want to go through that? Do you want to have
28:33
Speaker 11: to put up with that? So or you stay in
28:36
Speaker 11: the Senate. You've got another four years. It's not a
28:38
Speaker 11: bad gig. It may not be being one of one.
28:41
Speaker 11: But then again, if there's a crisis, if there's a pandemic,
28:45
Speaker 11: if there's a riot, for Governor Moore had to go
28:49
Speaker 11: up and there was a prison riot. I mean, you're responsible.
28:52
Speaker 11: The buck stops with you as governor. I don't know.
28:56
Speaker 11: I think being senator is a nice retirement age. Now,
29:00
Speaker 11: that may be me, but I don't know.
29:02
Speaker 4: Well, I can say, as somebody who's in the broadcasting industry,
29:05
Speaker 4: something that you know a little something about, we would say,
29:09
Speaker 4: Morrissey v.
29:10
Speaker 1: Justice, let it rain.
29:13
Speaker 9: Let it rain.
29:14
Speaker 4: Those of you that can't see me, I'm making the
29:16
Speaker 4: dollar signs.
29:17
Speaker 11: Let it rain. I think it would be a good fight,
29:19
Speaker 11: but I don't believe the governor is going to go
29:22
Speaker 11: unscathed with the campaign. But also remember this. When Governor
29:26
Speaker 11: Justice was at this point in his first term as governor,
29:29
Speaker 11: a lot of people were questioning him. Could he be reelected?
29:34
Speaker 11: And then events came, and it was COVID, and he
29:37
Speaker 11: became kind of the champion. of taking care of the people.
29:41
Speaker 11: And it's amazing how his stock rose. So again, it's
29:45
Speaker 11: a little early to be saying, well, you know, Governor
29:47
Speaker 11: Morrissey's done, he's this, he's that. But let's see how
29:50
Speaker 11: it goes in the second half of his term.
29:52
Speaker 4: Well, I don't know. I don't have any kind of
29:54
Speaker 4: insight anymore than you or anybody else does. But I
29:59
Speaker 4: think I think that Senator Justice likes the conversation.
30:04
Speaker 11: Oh, absolutely.
30:05
Speaker 4: And let's face it. When he is in D.C., with
30:10
Speaker 4: all due respect to him, he's just another person. He's
30:13
Speaker 4: not even close to being the richest person there. When
30:15
Speaker 4: he's in D.C., he's just another senator. He just sponsored
30:18
Speaker 4: his first bill, the Woody Williams thing, which was great.
30:22
Speaker 4: And I think he just likes getting back to West Virginia.
30:26
Speaker 4: You see him hold court. I mean, I mentioned that
30:29
Speaker 4: with all due respect to the late Willie Akers, my
30:31
Speaker 4: wife and I were at Willie Akers' visitation. And when
30:34
Speaker 4: Jim Justice and Willie were friends for years, when Jim
30:38
Speaker 4: Justice walks through the door, it's still everybody just stops.
30:42
Speaker 11: Well, that happened at the business summit. He came in to, like,
30:45
Speaker 11: introduce the new people that are in the Greenbrier. And
30:47
Speaker 11: there was a standing ovation, probably the most enthusiastic standing
30:51
Speaker 11: ovation ever. Of the whole event. He commands that. But
30:55
Speaker 11: the question is, do you actually want to be governor
30:58
Speaker 11: or do you want to be in center? You can say, well, yeah,
30:59
Speaker 11: you're just one of a regular senator, but you're one
31:02
Speaker 11: of 100. And that's a pretty august body to be
31:05
Speaker 11: one of 100.
31:06
Speaker 12: It is.
31:07
Speaker 7: All right.
31:07
Speaker 4: So I was not in Morgantown for the game Saturday,
31:09
Speaker 4: but it's been well documented that Governor Morris C. Tom
31:12
Speaker 4: was greeted with a lot of boos. Now, that's everything
31:15
Speaker 4: that I have read and talking to people earlier. I
31:17
Speaker 4: talked to somebody in the office was there that said
31:20
Speaker 4: it really wasn't that bad. It's been kind of exaggerated.
31:22
Speaker 4: I was watching on television. They didn't show it on TV.
31:24
Speaker 4: So I don't know. What do you make– people have
31:28
Speaker 4: said– and the Gazette has a blistering op-ed about it today.
31:32
Speaker 4: They're saying that, look, he got booed more than what
31:35
Speaker 4: any– politicians get booed no matter who it is. But
31:39
Speaker 4: it was to a different level. Now, I wasn't there,
31:41
Speaker 4: and it wasn't shown on TV. I'm relying on people
31:44
Speaker 4: that were there. What did you make of it?
31:47
Speaker 11: Well, one is people were tailgating in the lot since
31:50
Speaker 11: about 730 in the morning. So let's put that. I
31:54
Speaker 11: remember when Governor Rockefeller at the time brought John Denver
32:00
Speaker 11: to open Mountaineer Field, and Jay had just donated all
32:04
Speaker 11: this money for the school in addition to what the
32:07
Speaker 11: state had done, and they booed him. And I think
32:10
Speaker 11: John Denver said stop. Politicians and football games don't mix.
32:16
Speaker 11: As you said, throw a little alcohol in.
32:18
Speaker 18: There, too.
32:18
Speaker 11: A little alcohol in there. And, you know, the blue
32:23
Speaker 11: shirt versus white shirt.
32:25
Speaker 4: Shirt gate.
32:26
Speaker 11: It's a shirt gate thing. Again, I don't blame the governor.
32:29
Speaker 11: I blame whoever does his schedule. I mean, on the
32:34
Speaker 11: schedule should have been. This is a white-out game. Be
32:37
Speaker 11: sure to take a white shirt and put it on.
32:39
Speaker 11: I mean, the governor's governor of the state. Look, but
32:41
Speaker 11: he has advanced people who should have known better. I
32:44
Speaker 11: don't blame the governor.
32:45
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, and what Tom is referring to, in case
32:48
Speaker 4: you haven't heard, but this is also touched on in
32:50
Speaker 4: the Gazette editorial today, is that it was Pat White Day.
32:55
Speaker 4: They were retiring Pat's number five. And the governor shows
32:58
Speaker 4: up in a blue or kind of blue, I guess
33:00
Speaker 4: it was blue shirt out on the field. And people
33:02
Speaker 4: were just blistering. We know it's white out day. How
33:04
Speaker 4: did you know? Now, there's been those that come out
33:06
Speaker 4: and said, well, Pat White wasn't wearing. Well, Pat White's
33:08
Speaker 4: a coach.
33:09
Speaker 1: Right.
33:09
Speaker 4: And all the coaches were in the matching attire. So
33:12
Speaker 4: they weren't. I agree with you in the big picture
33:15
Speaker 4: of things. Is it a big deal?
33:17
Speaker 7: No. OK.
33:18
Speaker 4: However, however, because you are talking about Patrick Morrissey, who
33:22
Speaker 4: for right or wrong, Tom has always had this. This
33:25
Speaker 4: image is being kind of an outsider, not getting West Virginia.
33:28
Speaker 4: I'm not saying it's correct. I'm just saying that has
33:30
Speaker 4: been the image. It's just another thing. And you're exactly right.
33:34
Speaker 4: The comms people, I mean, I worked in state government
33:36
Speaker 4: and I worked for a secretary of state.
33:38
Speaker 7: Okay.
33:39
Speaker 4: When Secretary went out, we worked with the communications team
33:44
Speaker 4: to say, OK, he's going to Calhoun County. These are
33:46
Speaker 4: the three to five biggest stories. This is what the
33:49
Speaker 4: attire is. This is who's going to be there. And
33:52
Speaker 4: that was in– I'm not trying to throw shade on
33:54
Speaker 4: the Secretary of State's office. I'm just saying that wasn't
33:56
Speaker 4: the governor. We didn't have as many people. We did
33:59
Speaker 4: that in that office. Somebody has got to step up
34:01
Speaker 4: and say– You need to do this.
34:03
Speaker 11: When Mary Goodwin was communication director for Governor Wise and
34:08
Speaker 11: she and Bill Case, every day Bob Wise went out,
34:11
Speaker 11: he had a briefing book. And it listed everything that
34:14
Speaker 11: would happen and was going to happen during that day.
34:16
Speaker 11: And he knew what to expect because you can't expect
34:20
Speaker 11: the governor to know all. And maybe he was going
34:22
Speaker 11: to a parks thing, but instead of wearing a WVU shirt,
34:25
Speaker 11: he was wearing a West Virginia parks shirt. Nothing against
34:28
Speaker 11: advertising parks.
34:29
Speaker 12: Right.
34:29
Speaker 11: But when you're in that setting and you're the chief executive,
34:33
Speaker 11: people need to be taking care of that.
34:35
Speaker 4: And you're going to pass a Walmart at some point.
34:39
Speaker 11: Or a Go-Mart.
34:40
Speaker 4: Or they sell them in a stadium.
34:43
Speaker 11: But, again, I don't blame the governor, and it's no
34:46
Speaker 11: reason to say, well, I'm not going to vote for him.
34:48
Speaker 7: No, not at all.
34:48
Speaker 11: But it does show that there are some folks working
34:51
Speaker 11: in that office who probably are not from West Virginia.
34:53
Speaker 7: Yeah.
34:54
Speaker 11: You probably don't understand that WVU is our only professional
34:58
Speaker 11: sporting team in the state, in Marshall. But we don't
35:03
Speaker 11: have an NFL team here. So it's a little higher level.
35:06
Speaker 6: I got you.
35:07
Speaker 4: All right, Sussman, we've got to leave it there. It's
35:08
Speaker 4: always a pleasure having the show.
35:09
Speaker 6: My friend.
35:10
Speaker 4: Well, thank you, sir. I appreciate it.
35:11
Speaker 1: All right, 943.
35:12
Speaker 4: We will take a break and come back after this
35:14
Speaker 4: on The Voice of Charleston WCHS.
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Speaker 4: That's the Amos Steel Band, the official band of the
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Speaker 4: Dave Allen Show, 945. The Dave Allen Show is brought
37:46
Speaker 4: to you in part by the Charleston Dirty Birds. Birds
37:49
Speaker 4: are in high point this week to take on the Rockers.
37:51
Speaker 4: They'll close out the season with a homestand against Lexington
37:53
Speaker 4: at Go-Mart Ballpark starting Friday night. Check out DirtyBirdsBaseball.com. Coming
37:57
Speaker 4: up later today, Metro News Midday 13 News. And tonight,
37:59
Speaker 4: live anchor Amanda Barron and me, powered by Salango Law.
38:02
Speaker 4: Jeff Jenkins has the news. Dave Wilson has commentary. September
38:05
Speaker 4: is National Recovery Month.
38:06
Speaker 7: Dr.
38:07
Speaker 4: Steven Lloyd, the guy behind the miniseries Dope Sick, the
38:10
Speaker 4: guy that was all centered around is going to join
38:12
Speaker 4: me in studio along with Josh Barker, himself a former
38:15
Speaker 4: standout athlete, former legislator, higher up in state government who
38:19
Speaker 4: himself battled addiction, proving it can happen.
38:22
Speaker 6: To anyone.
38:22
Speaker 4: They're going to join us today. Rusty Webb will stop by,
38:24
Speaker 4: and of course, Open Line West Virginia. Metro News, Midday
38:27
Speaker 4: 13 News, and tonight, live anchorman to Barron and me,
38:29
Speaker 4: powered by Selango Law. On this show tomorrow, and man,
38:32
Speaker 4: there are so many things happening this weekend. Mentioned Ribfest,
38:35
Speaker 4: Chilling on the Elk, the Leah's Legacy event, Picklepalooza, so
38:40
Speaker 4: on and so forth. Also part of that, the Putnam
38:43
Speaker 4: County Homecoming in Winfield. We'll get into that coming up
38:46
Speaker 4: on the show tomorrow. Texas, the spark during the Jimbo
38:48
Speaker 4: administration was due to COVID money and federal money from
38:51
Speaker 4: Biden's administration. Trump cut that Biden money, and COVID money
38:54
Speaker 4: ran out. COVID money was going away regardless. The money
38:57
Speaker 4: Trump cut snuffed the spark, especially in southern West Virginia.
39:02
Speaker 4: West Virginia won't admit that Trump is bad for West Virginia. Texas,
39:08
Speaker 4: this just in. The governor has no clue how to
39:10
Speaker 4: relate to West Virginians. More news. That's a text. Text,
39:14
Speaker 4: POTA is too much. Drinking outdoors in public is too much.
39:18
Speaker 4: I thought this was America and conservative cry about communism
39:22
Speaker 4: and repressive government.
39:23
Speaker 7: Mr.
39:24
Speaker 4: Matt Sutton is here, chief of staff.
39:26
Speaker 1: For the Goodwin.
39:27
Speaker 4: How are you doing, man?
39:27
Speaker 6: I'm doing good, buddy. How are you doing?
39:28
Speaker 4: I'm doing fine.
39:29
Speaker 6: Good.
39:30
Speaker 5: Is going to be– it's going to be a fun weekend.
39:31
Speaker 5: It's going to be a really fun weekend. What happened
39:33
Speaker 5: with POTO?
39:34
Speaker 4: Well, it was– we were talking– somebody– we were talking
39:37
Speaker 4: about October West and we were– Somebody texted and wanted
39:44
Speaker 4: to know why so many events in Charleston have alcohol
39:46
Speaker 4: as part of it. And then Sussman said that he
39:49
Speaker 4: just kind of spoke out against POTA. He just said
39:51
Speaker 4: he thought it was a little bit much. Events like that,
39:55
Speaker 4: he said, in Tom Sussman's opinion, were fine. He said,
39:57
Speaker 4: but on a regular basis, when you have POTA, it
39:59
Speaker 4: was his opinion that it's a little much.
40:01
Speaker 7: I understand.
40:02
Speaker 10: Yeah.
40:02
Speaker 5: I mean, I think that at least here in Charleston,
40:04
Speaker 5: I think the bars and restaurants would differ.
40:06
Speaker 6: But at the same time, everybody's entitled to their opinion.
40:09
Speaker 6: All right.
40:09
Speaker 4: Have a good summer.
40:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, not too bad.
40:11
Speaker 6: It's been hot, but.
40:13
Speaker 5: I was just listening to you about the Dirty Birds.
40:15
Speaker 5: They've got like six games left or something like that.
40:17
Speaker 5: It's hard to believe it's almost the end of baseball season,
40:19
Speaker 5: which means it's the end of summer. But it's been
40:21
Speaker 5: an amazing summer in Charleston, and we'll just keep building
40:25
Speaker 5: on that momentum. So we would like for the– we'll
40:28
Speaker 5: be okay without the torrential downpour rains. We can do
40:31
Speaker 5: without that, and we can do without some of this
40:34
Speaker 5: crazy heat. I think my good friend Adam Harris said
40:36
Speaker 5: the other day, he goes, you know, we all miss
40:38
Speaker 5: the regatta, but we don't miss the regatta heat. We
40:40
Speaker 5: can do without it, but– I heard.
40:42
Speaker 4: Someone on one of the television newscasts this morning refer
40:47
Speaker 4: to August as soggiest. So how are the flood recovery
40:53
Speaker 4: efforts going?
40:53
Speaker 6: Very good.
40:54
Speaker 5: I mean, I think it's taken a lot of time.
40:56
Speaker 5: I know that some folks with the program that allows
41:01
Speaker 5: you to look at homes and see if you can
41:02
Speaker 5: buy people out based on the flood damage. We're in
41:05
Speaker 5: town and going around with our city planners, John Butterworth
41:09
Speaker 5: and Dan Vren on Friday. We continue to pick up
41:12
Speaker 5: refuse work. It's been a long recovery. It's going to
41:16
Speaker 5: be a long recovery. But I think that we really
41:19
Speaker 5: got to action quick and were able to get to
41:23
Speaker 5: people and get them what they needed really quickly. But
41:26
Speaker 5: now the work, as we all know, having dealt with
41:28
Speaker 5: floods throughout everybody's career in West Virginia, the work starts
41:31
Speaker 5: now is when the aid stops and people really begin
41:35
Speaker 5: to need help. So working very closely with the state
41:37
Speaker 5: to try to determine what exactly our damages were. turn
41:41
Speaker 5: those into FEMA, and then hopefully be able to get
41:43
Speaker 5: some assistance because, you know, obviously it wasn't just Charleston, right?
41:46
Speaker 5: It was Charleston and Kanawha County got hit, obviously Weston
41:48
Speaker 5: and Buckhannon before that, and then Fairmont and Clarksburg after us.
41:52
Speaker 6: So it was a rough couple weeks. And Martinsburg after that. Yeah,
41:54
Speaker 6: Martinsburg after that.
41:56
Speaker 5: It was a rough few weeks in West Virginia for flooding. So,
41:59
Speaker 5: you know, it's one of those things where we've just
42:01
Speaker 5: got to be ready for it, but it is very
42:03
Speaker 5: difficult to deal with, and the hard work really starts now.
42:06
Speaker 4: Someone brought up to me about the Capital Connector Project.
42:09
Speaker 4: What's going on with that?
42:09
Speaker 18: Yeah.
42:09
Speaker 5: So the Capital Connector Project, you're probably going to see
42:13
Speaker 5: an announcement here in the next week or two about
42:17
Speaker 5: putting the project out to bid. We've already put out
42:21
Speaker 5: to bid our project manager and our material sample testers.
42:26
Speaker 5: We want to go ahead and get that out of
42:27
Speaker 5: the way, but working very closely with the state and
42:29
Speaker 5: the feds. So we're ready to across the finish line
42:31
Speaker 5: in terms of getting the bid out the door. And
42:33
Speaker 5: then once we do that, it'll obviously be out to
42:36
Speaker 5: bid for a few weeks, and then we'll get the
42:37
Speaker 5: project started.
42:37
Speaker 4: Now, we don't want to presume everybody knows what we're
42:39
Speaker 4: talking about, so explain the Capital Connect.
42:40
Speaker 5: Yeah, so the Capital Connector is a project the mayor
42:42
Speaker 5: started working on back in 2020.
42:44
Speaker 6: It really– I'll say this.
42:46
Speaker 5: It goes back to the Jones administration when they turned
42:50
Speaker 5: the west side of the boulevard into three lanes and
42:52
Speaker 5: created the walking-biking path that leads to Magic Island. You know,
42:56
Speaker 5: we looked at it when Mayor Goodman got here and said,
42:58
Speaker 5: we need to finish this project. We need to come
42:59
Speaker 5: all the way down from Magic Island to the 35th
43:02
Speaker 5: Street Bridge on the boulevard and really take advantage of it.
43:05
Speaker 5: So in 2020, we started to plan. We had some
43:08
Speaker 5: time on our hands when COVID was going on. So
43:11
Speaker 5: we really put pen to paper, started to plan. We
43:13
Speaker 5: were able to get a, at the time, called a
43:15
Speaker 5: raise grant from the federal government. And we got the
43:19
Speaker 5: money to do the planning aspect. And then after we
43:22
Speaker 5: started the planning, we put in to do construction. So
43:24
Speaker 5: we've got right around $ 2 million to plan, and then
43:27
Speaker 5: we've got $ 25 million.
43:28
Speaker 6: To actually construct the project.
43:30
Speaker 5: So that money came in in 2023, and we've been
43:34
Speaker 5: working to get that– yeah, into 23. We've been working
43:37
Speaker 5: to get that project ready to go, and we're ready
43:40
Speaker 5: to go. So it's going to be– I would imagine
43:43
Speaker 5: that if we looked at sometime in late October, early
43:46
Speaker 5: November is when we'll start construction.
43:48
Speaker 6: It's going to be a big project.
43:49
Speaker 5: It's going to be a lot of fun, but really
43:50
Speaker 5: taking the boulevard and utilizing more of our riverfront, making
43:54
Speaker 5: sure that we have enough walking and biking. You know,
43:56
Speaker 5: I remember in COVID, one of the things that we
43:58
Speaker 5: saw was, if you remember all those years ago, the
44:02
Speaker 5: mayor shut down the boulevard on, you know, the weekends
44:04
Speaker 5: and allowed people just to have space to get out, right?
44:06
Speaker 5: No driving, just get out. And what we saw was
44:08
Speaker 5: people utilizing the boulevard in a way we've never seen
44:09
Speaker 5: it before. And that kind of, you know, re-sparked this
44:13
Speaker 5: This idea that we really need to make our riverfront
44:15
Speaker 5: something that is useful to us, especially as it relates
44:18
Speaker 5: to travel and tourism. So that is a big part
44:22
Speaker 5: of it. Big part of quality of life. Everybody runs
44:24
Speaker 5: and jogs up and down the boulevard. We need to
44:26
Speaker 5: create more space. We need to create a safer space.
44:28
Speaker 5: So lowering the speed limit, shrinking down the lanes and
44:31
Speaker 5: making sure that we have enough place for people to run, walk,
44:33
Speaker 5: bike and have a good time.
44:35
Speaker 6: That's really the goal here. So we're excited to get
44:37
Speaker 6: started soon.
44:38
Speaker 4: Talking to Matt Sutton again, the Chief of Staff for
44:39
Speaker 4: Charleston Mayor Amy Shuler Goodman. We'll take a break. Come
44:41
Speaker 4: back after this on The Voice of Charleston, WCHS.
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Speaker 4: Welcome back to the show. Six away from Tampa. Dave
47:03
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Speaker 4: & Morgan. If you're interested, hire Morgan & Morgan, America's
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Speaker 4: largest injury law firm. We've got Matt Sutton here, the
47:10
Speaker 4: chief of staff for Charleston. Amy Shuler Goodwin. Quick text,
47:13
Speaker 4: and we have a phone call. Text says, why did
47:14
Speaker 4: the city of Charleston remove the colorful flowers from the
47:17
Speaker 4: Loudoun Heights Bridge?
47:19
Speaker 5: It's just a time of year. I mean, they were
47:21
Speaker 5: great flowers. They lasted all year. They were starting to
47:23
Speaker 5: have issues. And it's just a time of the year
47:24
Speaker 5: where our street department and public grounds start to prep
47:28
Speaker 5: for the fall and start to prep for the colder months.
47:31
Speaker 5: So it's just the timing. Oh, yeah, they'll be back
47:33
Speaker 5: for sure. Yeah, they'll be back for sure. It wasn't
47:34
Speaker 5: just Southside Bridge. It was pretty much all over town.
47:37
Speaker 5: It's just a time of year where they can get out.
47:39
Speaker 5: They were working hard on the flood and then had
47:42
Speaker 5: some time to do this. So they started to do that. But, yeah,
47:44
Speaker 5: it's just a timing issue.
47:45
Speaker 6: So they'll be back.
47:46
Speaker 4: All right. Let's go to the phones. Let's talk to Eddie.
47:48
Speaker 4: You're on with Matt Sutton.
47:49
Speaker 7: Go ahead. Hey, Mr. Sutton. How are you today?
47:52
Speaker 6: Doing good, sir.
47:52
Speaker 1: How are you doing? I'm doing great.
47:55
Speaker 7: I have a little project you were talking about. You
47:57
Speaker 7: got a grant to do the river walk, which I
48:00
Speaker 7: appreciate that very much because I ride my scooter quite
48:03
Speaker 7: a bit on that walkway. But anyway, what I was
48:07
Speaker 7: talking about is could they get a grant to maybe
48:10
Speaker 7: get started on the– I know we can't do anything
48:13
Speaker 7: with this railroad track back here that catches on fire
48:15
Speaker 7: all the time and nothing deciding on my house and
48:19
Speaker 7: all that stuff. But I wonder if we could, I
48:23
Speaker 7: know the EPA wouldn't let us do anything unless we
48:27
Speaker 7: dug up that soil, but what if we encapsulated it
48:29
Speaker 7: just like they allow you to do for the siding
48:35
Speaker 7: on the, especially siding, as long as you encapsulate it,
48:37
Speaker 7: you're okay. Okay. I wonder if the EPA would let
48:41
Speaker 7: us tear that down and we encapsulate that and make
48:44
Speaker 7: it a safety walkway from the school. There's all kinds
48:47
Speaker 7: of kids that go back through this alley and their
48:50
Speaker 7: parents meet them right here at the alley and pick
48:53
Speaker 7: them up. Well, if we turned that into a safety
48:56
Speaker 7: walkway where they'd only have to have a couple of
48:58
Speaker 7: school crossing guards on the whole thing, like their parents
49:02
Speaker 7: could all meet on the west side, like right here
49:04
Speaker 7: at the 1200 block. all the way back to either
49:09
Speaker 7: to Florida Street, or we could go around underneath the
49:12
Speaker 7: tunnel or over the, I don't know, there's no way
49:14
Speaker 7: we could go over the tracks, I don't think.
49:16
Speaker 6: Yeah, that's an interesting idea. I mean, I think that.
49:21
Speaker 5: The biggest challenge to that bridge is that the railroad
49:25
Speaker 5: company owns it, right? And so they've got to make
49:28
Speaker 5: a lot of money.
49:30
Speaker 7: I found out they abandoned all that.
49:32
Speaker 5: Well, they still own it, though. They abandoned it for use,
49:35
Speaker 5: but they still own it. And I know because we
49:37
Speaker 5: met several months ago, so it would have been earlier
49:41
Speaker 5: this year.
49:42
Speaker 7: Well, I found out they don't even have to pay
49:44
Speaker 7: tax on the land, even.
49:46
Speaker 5: That part of it I don't know about. But I
49:48
Speaker 5: do know they still own it. They are not really
49:51
Speaker 5: interested in fixing it, obviously. So we've worked with some
49:54
Speaker 5: trail development companies. to talk about ideas of how to
49:57
Speaker 5: get some funds in in order to be able to,
50:00
Speaker 5: you know, really resurrect that area.
50:02
Speaker 6: There's a lot of trails.
50:02
Speaker 5: Being built in the eastern part of the county that
50:05
Speaker 5: we have good ideas to connect into that trust.
50:09
Speaker 7: It would be great to connect that bridge. The whole
50:11
Speaker 7: reason of keeping it was because they were going to
50:13
Speaker 7: give you that bridge. It'd be great to connect that
50:16
Speaker 7: walkway all the way to the other side and you
50:19
Speaker 7: have a loop that went all the way around Charleston.
50:21
Speaker 7: That'd be great.
50:22
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think that's the general idea. But I think
50:24
Speaker 5: your idea is a good one as well. I mean,
50:26
Speaker 5: I think we'll look into that. I mean, we have
50:27
Speaker 5: somebody who works directly with me on working for grants.
50:31
Speaker 7: It's worth looking into. I just noticed a lot of
50:34
Speaker 7: parents walk all the way to the school and walk
50:36
Speaker 7: their kids home. Well, this way they could just walk
50:39
Speaker 7: down to the 1200 block. and pick up their kid
50:43
Speaker 7: right there or walk back to the treasure. And just
50:45
Speaker 7: that way they would have a safety walkway. If they
50:48
Speaker 7: would just let us encapsulate that over top of that.
50:50
Speaker 7: I know that Chris ran over those two-foot-tall curbs. That's
50:55
Speaker 7: why it's an environmental nightmare.
50:57
Speaker 4: Okay, Eddie, we've got to wrap it up. I appreciate you.
51:00
Speaker 4: We'll look into it.
51:01
Speaker 6: Thank you.
51:02
Speaker 4: Appreciate you for being here. Appreciate you calling. Quickly, I
51:05
Speaker 4: want to ask you, lots of paving going.
51:07
Speaker 6: On in Charleston. Lots of paving.
51:08
Speaker 5: $ 5 million worth of paving going on in Charleston this year.
51:10
Speaker 5: It's a sprint to be able to get it all
51:12
Speaker 5: done before the end of the season. But we've had
51:14
Speaker 5: a lot of great success. We had to go back
51:16
Speaker 5: and do some roads that were impacted by the flood.
51:18
Speaker 5: So that got us behind schedule. But $ 5 million worth
51:21
Speaker 5: of paving going on in the city this year. And
51:24
Speaker 5: you can really see it, even going down different roads.
51:26
Speaker 5: The state's done some paving as well. But it's really
51:28
Speaker 5: had a great impact on it. And we've been moving
51:30
Speaker 5: very quickly on it. We've had to go back and,
51:32
Speaker 5: like I said, do some of the roads that the
51:35
Speaker 5: flood impacted. But it's a really big project. And to
51:38
Speaker 5: have done this much paving... Over the last six or
51:41
Speaker 5: seven years, when you think about spending right about $ 12 million,
51:45
Speaker 5: it's been a really huge impact in our city.
51:48
Speaker 4: Matt Sutton, Chief of Staff for Charleston Mayor. Amy Schuettler Goodwin.
51:50
Speaker 4: There is a City Council meeting, I think, tonight, right?
51:52
Speaker 11: Yeah.
51:52
Speaker 6: Yeah, we have a City Council meeting tonight.
51:54
Speaker 1: All right.
51:54
Speaker 4: Well, have fun.
51:55
Speaker 6: Always excited for City Council meetings.
51:57
Speaker 4: All right. Coming up tomorrow, as I said, there's so
52:00
Speaker 4: many activities going on coming up this weekend. One of
52:02
Speaker 4: those is the homecoming, the annual Putnam County homecoming happening
52:06
Speaker 4: in Winfield. We'll talk about that coming up on the
52:07
Speaker 4: show tomorrow, amongst other things as well. I'll be back
52:10
Speaker 4: later today with Metro News Midday with 13 News and
52:12
Speaker 4: tonight live anchor Amanda Barron. We'll see you then. Until then,
52:15
Speaker 4: have fun and love somebody.
52:34
Speaker 1: We're proud to live here, too.