Latest / Between the Headlines: Columbus / Military Road Obstacle and Mall Tax Incentive Goes Sour; Mayoral Candidate Bill Strauss Joins Us

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Military Road Obstacle and Mall Tax Incentive Goes Sour; Mayoral Candidate Bill Strauss Joins Us · Between the Headlines: Columbus

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: From the opinion page of the Commercial Dispatch.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: This is Between the Headlines.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: This is Peter Imes, publisher of the Dispatch.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: One of our hosts of Between the Headlines is the managing editor of our newsroom.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Typically, we try to keep news and opinions separate, but reporters have a unique insight into the workings of local government and their analysis can be helpful for readers and listeners.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: The dispatch remains committed to journalistic integrity and our reporting will always reflect that.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: And now Between the Headlines.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: And now.
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: Between the Headlines.
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: This week, on Between the Headlines, columbus residents are outraged over a random chunk of concrete permanently blocking one lane of Military Road, and Bill Strauss is here to talk about it, and Joe Max Higgins absolutely unloads on the whole group for their lack of progress on Columbus Place.
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: But first here's a word from our sponsors.
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  Speaker 3: Visit them at 1116 Gardner Boulevard or online at lighting-columbuscom.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: And now a message from political candidate Bill Strauss.
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: This is Bill Strauss, your 2025 candidate for mayor of Columbus.
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: As election time draws near, ask yourself are you satisfied with our city leadership?
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: What has been done to eliminate our flooding issues?
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: What has been done to eliminate our housing blight?
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: Are our streets safe?
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: Why have we not kept up with West Point, starkville and Tupelo?
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: We must have new leadership.
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: Out with the old and in with the new.
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: Elect Bill Strauss, your new mayor.
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: Paid for by campaign to elect Bill Strauss mayor 2025.
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: And now a message from political candidate Jason Spears.
• 2:41
  Speaker 5: Hello, I am Jason Spears, your Republican candidate for City Council, ward 6.
• 2:45
  Speaker 5: I am grateful for the citizens of Ward 6 support in the primary and respectfully request everyone's continued support in the upcoming general election.
• 2:53
  Speaker 5: It is time to restore fiscal responsibility, economic growth and optimism back to our city.
• 2:58
  Speaker 5: I, like you, believe we can get back on track and know that, as a community, we're going to make it happen.
• 3:04
  Speaker 5: I approve this message and, on June 3rd, vote Jason Spears for Ward 6.
• 3:08
  Speaker 5: Paid for by the campaign to elect Jason Spears, ward 6.
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: You are listening to Between the Headlines, with the best fed husband in the Golden Triangle and managing editor of the Commercial Dispatch, Mr Zach Player, and my name is David Chisholm.
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: By the way, Zach's wife is a culinary artist.
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: He's not calling me fat guys.
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: Contributor to the food section in the paper.
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: Top headline today is a sand trap right there on the edge of Military Road Would you use a wedge out of that, or would you use a putter driver?
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: What would you?
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Would you use a wedge out of that, or would you use a putter driver like, what would you use to get a ball out of that?
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: I'd use.
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: I'd use a wedge, for sure.
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: It's needs a little sand in it, though it's mostly dirt right now.
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: I think they would call it unfinished I would use champion towing to get out of it.
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: So, mr zach, explain to me what this chiquito banana or whatever, it is all right.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: Well thing is uh, bill and I were having a discussion, before we started recording, of whether we would call it a chicane or a chai cane.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: I'm not.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: I'm not entirely sure.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: What do we decide on there, bill?
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: well, what I told you is if you're a tea drinker, we call it a chai cane, and if you're're a tea drinker, we call it a chai cane, and if you're not a tea drinker, probably just a chican.
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: I think either way would probably suffice.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: Well, I know how to spell it, but I don't necessarily know how to say it and how much does this chai cane cost?
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: Well, my information was it was $14,300.
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: I could build a decorative fountain out of bricks for that kind of money.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: Why have you done it, though?
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: Have I done it, and would you put it on military road if you did?
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: Well, the thing is it would need an insurance contract on it, because it would get plowed over quite quickly.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Well, Bill, you kind of opened the floodgates for discussion on Facebook with your criticism of this thing.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: Let's start with you here.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: What are your problems with this deal?
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: Well, let me kind of go back to the beginning.
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: When I first saw it about three or four weeks ago I think probably the day they were still finishing the concrete I was kind of surprised when I saw it and I kind of pulled over.
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: I thought, well, what the heck is that?
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: And, um, and you know, they, they I called Kevin and he, he explained it to me.
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: I said, okay, kevin, well, you know, uh, you've explained it, and you know, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna post it until you know, until it's completed, you know, and and see what, see what it looks like.
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: So, anyway, um, weeks passed and you passed, and it was starting to become an issue, and so I just said, well, it doesn't look like anything's getting done on it.
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: And so then I decided it was probably time to post it.
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: And, yeah, I've gotten about 25,000 views on it, so it's a hot topic.
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's wild.
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: And to be honest with you, bill, when I first saw that post I said, my goodness, bill Strauss is on on the commode and he's putting together what is this?
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: And but then I went and and I actually checked this thing out and I'm like, my goodness, this is in the wrong lane here.
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: Like it was, it was different than I thought it was going to be you go through the intersection and if you're diddling on your phone or just in any way not, paying attention, yeah you're gonna face plant in this thing you should probably not text and drive david.
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: Well, for sure.
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: But what if you're on a motorcycle like that could be a potential fatal well, if you glance off of that chicane, you may end up in the light post that's right beside it also.
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: That'll zap you, kill you.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: Speaking of why does Kevin Stafford believe this is the safe thing to put here?
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: Well, that's what they designed.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: They're trying to slow down traffic there.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: From what I understand, you know, while Stephen Jones, ward 5 Councilman, also running for mayor, brought the concern to Kevin due to accidents at the intersection, kevin said the real problem is visibility coming up on there.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: I'm just going to be honest with you.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: I've driven up on this coming from.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: I've been driving south and approached this from the south.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: Fourth Avenue yeah a couple of times and coming up military to coming up that direction.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: I've approached it that way a couple of times.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: I didn't have a problem.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: I didn't have a problem getting around it, I didn't have a problem seeing it.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: It didn't surprise me.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: I don't text and drive.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: My only real problem with this project and Kevin to an extent agrees with me here, based on what he said in the story but they did it backward.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: You know they're talking about we're adding this and we're going to have the, you know, a speed zone and we're going to have signage warning that this is coming.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: They did it backward, like whether it was the contractor who did it backward or the city who organized it backward.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: Whoever's fault it is, they did it backward.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: People are going to complain about something new in their neighbor and they have a right to.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: I mean, new is bad and especially if they don't understand it.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: But you know people complain about roundabouts all the time.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: I personally don't like driving through them either, but I also see their utility In this particular case.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: They just did it backward.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: What you do in my mind.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: Of course I'm not an engineer or a contractor, but what makes sense to me as a Rube is you lower the speed zone first.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: You say you know speed zone ahead, we're going to lower it to 20 around this area.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: You get people used to slowing down to 20 in the area.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: Then you put signs up that says construction zone ahead.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: Then you build the area.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: Then you put signs up that says construction zone ahead.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: Then you build the thing.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: Then once you finish it, you put signs up that say I don't know what the sign would say I don't think chicane ahead would really suffice because people don't really know what that word is.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: But I don't know what you put on the sign.
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: Reaching you wallet.
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: I want to buy one of them.
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: Obstruction in the lane ahead, move over or something.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: I don't know what you would do with the sack, but to me, if you do it in that order, you at least mitigate the valid complaints about the thing, but why do you need concrete?
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: Everything you've said does not necessitate this thing that somebody's going to crash into.
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: I don't think people are going to crash into it as much as you think.
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: I think a speed bump would have been sufficient there.
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: That slows people down and you know, I think that the citizens ought to drive by there and take a look themselves.
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: Come down fourth and see if it's really.
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: If you can't see down Military Road because I can see about a half mile Now, they say, well, there's a hill in the way, but I mean, I'm in a pretty low car, I don't have any problems.
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: Turning right from that is going to be a treat, but again if you do the striping and just move cars, you don't need two lanes there, just move them to the middle, let there be extra shoulder.
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: That would not be $14,500.
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: Be 14,500 dead gum dollars.
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: You brought up the traffic circle.
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: How long did it take Columbus to learn how to?
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: navigate that dog bone.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: Have they learned yet?
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: I nearly get hit in that thing every day.
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: They're pretty good.
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: I go to the one in the military and they're doing better.
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: Every now and then someone will dead stop in front of you.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: When traffic circles were put on military down toward Lion Hills or down near Blue Cut, and when the traffic circle was put in front of Harvey's, I rolled my eyes at that, I grumbled at that.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: I was like I don't want to drive through that because nobody knows how to drive through them.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: I'm going to have to teach myself something new.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: I don't like these things.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: It just seems unnecessary, turns out.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: I'm kind of like Bill, you know, with the exception of a couple of people who will occasionally stop in the middle still and not really know what to do.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: That happens less and less and traffic flow is better and it's safer.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: It is so, so, and that was the last big kevin stafford idea that everybody kind of rolled their eyes at.
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: But this is the new run over a traffic circle.
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: You're just going to make a youtube video.
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: You run into this thing listen bill.
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: Let me run into this thing.
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: You could be at memorial funeral home exactly think how fast do you have to be going.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: The speed limit in that zone is going to be 20 miles an hour.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: My only problem is it isn't already 20 miles an hour.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: Ask my rack and pinion.
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: There there's a 10 mile an hour speed limit on the big curve before you get to the two churches.
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: They're just right.
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: In that same area people don't go 10 miles an hour, even though it's a, it's a hook.
• 11:31
  Speaker 4: It's got a huge curve there.
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: If you make it 10, they're still going to drive through there at 30.
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: You know that at 30 or 40 they're still going through there and someone's going to hit that chai cane and they're going to end up in that light pole.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: And if there's no sign in front of it warning them, then it's the city's fault.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: But if it's not a sign up there warning, if there is a sign up there warning them that's coming and that the speed zone has changed and they run into it because they're on their phone or they're driving too fast or whatever that's reckless driving, and that's not the city's fault.
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: Yeah, but being the city's fault doesn't matter.
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: We don't want a citizen getting hurt or killed.
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: That's the thing.
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: We're out there to make the roads safe for our citizens, not to put hazards in their way.
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: Well, it has to do with this memory thing that we've got going.
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: It's not just that Southerners don't like change, dude, we can't change.
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: I can't tell you how many times I have run the stop sign in Caledonia.
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: The school's been there for what?
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: Nine years, or something.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: think about this if you're the marshal in caledonia, be looking out for that please don't on alabama street.
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: How many people do you know, still refer to that as 82?
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: Okay, we've got grandchildren.
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: Ok, it's been Alabama Street, or, at worst, highway 182, for 40 years.
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: Ok, somebody tells me they're going to Taco Bell on 82.
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: There's no Taco Bell on the freeway.
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: I've got better.
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: I don't say that to them directly, but I sure think it.
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: We don't like change.
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: I'm telling you somebody is going to face plant.
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: There was a wreck on Main Street just a few minutes ago that you know we had.
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: We had to get the camera pictures of and and I mean you know you've got stoplights there but it just people just don't pay attention.
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: They just turn in front of folks and go on and you know you end up with wrecks.
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: It's just going to happen.
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: Every road coming out of on the military has got a terrible angle on it.
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: You have have to look way back.
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: So I mean the road was, you know it is what it is, but you know it's a dangerous road inherently.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: One more suggestion for the thing to take the negative into the positive.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: I want to turn the conversation a little bit after that.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: I looked at that and of course I'm a gardener.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: So anytime that I see any kind of embankment that you can put dirt in, my mind wanders into gardening.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: I think what they could do to you know, maybe take the sting off of some of the criticism, at least from the people who live around that.
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: I was looking at the size of it.
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: You could get, I think, maybe a basil plant, an oregano, maybe some thyme in there.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: Have a neighborhood herb garden, not mint.
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: You don't want to plant mint in there because that's all you'll have.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: Colin krieger wants to cook something nice one day for his family.
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: He walked down there, cut him some basil off yeah, I don't think I'm not going to be standing there when they well, I love when those cars come plowing through I don't think that columbus would plant those particular herbs there.
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: I think it would be something else, just to be honest with you.
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: More revenue for the city.
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: Can I ask you your opinion about this, speaking of roads and stuff, this paving proposal and how the money gets shifted around?
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: Do you think that certain wards should all get the same amount or do you think it should be?
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: traffic count only as far as the allocation of my opinion is that when you're allocating money for roads, it needs to be done in a professional manner.
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: You need someone who's familiar with the roads, which ones need to be paid first, and then go in that order.
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: I'm fine with the heavy traffic ones, but any professional would take that into account.
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: You're going to pave your heavy traffic roads first, but we have a lot of roads that get paved that I see that probably don't need it near as much as others, simply because it may not be in their ward.
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: The city is the city.
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: We're all together, we're better together in this, and on this case we should have a professional who says, hey, these are the roads that need it first, and then we'll move on to the lesser ones and whichever ones need it, the most.
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: So put a different way.
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: Should pretty neighborhoods or quote unquote ugly neighborhoods get special treatment?
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: Absolutely not.
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: No, no neighborhood should get special treatment should be based just exactly on the condition of the road.
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: Should get special treatment should be based just exactly on the condition of the road.
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: And now, if you know, obviously you might push one back that may not have any traffic at all on it.
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: Do a good job patching it.
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: But any professional would say, hey, not much traffic here, we can patch this.
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: It'll be safe until we, until we're able to pay.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, they have that priority list already.
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: Yeah, but the priority list is done by the councilman in their ward already.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but the priority list is done by the councilman in their ward.
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: Well, no, the priority list is done by Neil Schaefer, or is done by Kevin Stafford, the council has the discretion to follow it or not, right, well, and some of them may or some of them may not follow it.
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: I'm just saying the priority list should be put down by the professional and then done in that order as needed.
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: That would be my opinion.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: Okay, going back to the Facebook post about the chai cane.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: Back to the chai cane it looks like you know, at first you were gaining a lot of ground.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: There are a lot of cheerleaders for your point.
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: At first.
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: Okay, the worm has turned on that a little bit.
• 16:43
  Speaker 4: I haven't seen that.
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: I think it's viral status.
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: It's already gone viral.
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: I don't seen that, but I think it's viral status.
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: It's already gone viral.
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: I don't think there's anyone that can see it Right.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean you said you haven't seen any of the negative criticism at this point.
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: Out of, I think, 180 comments on this one post, maybe two or three, ok, not many.
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: All right Well and nothing had to do with the chai cane itself.
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: I think it more had to do with, maybe, the neighborhood, the neighbors.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: As someone who is coming out of private life and has introduced yourself into the public realm as a public figure and a hopeful public official, how have you embraced or dealt with or navigated the personal attacks, the character attacks or just constructive criticism from the citizenry of your record, your ideas, that sort of thing?
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: Well, honestly, the criticisms on my posts have been few and mostly from four or five people.
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: It seems to be the same people over and over that are attacking me, and my policy was that I wanted to read what they were saying about me because, you know, I'm sure there's plenty.
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: I need to live and learn and, of course, when they got ugly, I was forced to take a post down.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: What post did you take down?
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: It was on the East Columbus, it was on the gym where we had the man cave, and it was a wonderful event and all of a sudden, you know I'm getting attacked, like you know, you don't know what goes on over here.
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: And I said well, you know, I agree with you, I don't know what goes on here sometimes, but can I be a part of the solution?
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: Right, and that's what I'm trying to learn different areas of the city and the needs.
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: And you know I've been throughout the city a lot.
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: You know I've been in real estate for 20 years now.
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: I've seen a lot of the city.
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: I work with a lot of the people who are building in these areas, these blighted areas.
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: They're building new structures, new things, new housing, and so I've seen a lot of these areas.
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: But I mean, you know I'm not as familiar as I should be with some of the areas and I'm trying to familiarize myself with those.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: Okay, it sounds like you've, based on what you just said and things that I've heard, you say, other places.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: It seems like you have listened to that and are trying to get more places, but I mean Well, absolutely, you called me a downtown guy yeah, yeah.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: I did.
• 19:19
  Speaker 4: That's where I live and that's what I see on a daily basis.
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: But I also drive down Military Road to where I work at Caldwell Banker and I drive through Martin Luther King.
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: I drive all those areas and I see what's going on in a lot of different areas, but I've expanded my horizon over there.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: Okay, well, what have you learned from that?
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: Well, I've learned that we have a lot of fantastic citizens in this town who really are just looking for good leadership.
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: Just looking for good leadership.
• 19:45
  Speaker 4: You know we need better planning on our blighted areas.
• 19:48
  Speaker 4: I met three citizens outside the library the other day and they said what are you going to do about the blight?
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: I said well, I said you know, we've got to tackle that immediately.
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: And they said you know, some people have nice houses in there and they've got a bad house next to it that may be a crack house.
• 20:07
  Speaker 4: Someone's boarded it up, not being used, and that house is dragging down the value of their properties.
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: If we can get areas cleared where we can have developers come in, they'll build new houses there.
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: We're having it on the south side over here.
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: You know you've got Tate Village, you've got another contractor's built a couple houses over there, and then the J5 group built in Sanfield beautiful houses.
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: That's what we need tearing down the old and bringing in the new so that they have affordable housing.
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: You mentioned tearing down.
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: What do you think of Robert Johnson IV's plan to allow the city to help facilitate tree removal?
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: Allow the city to help facilitate tree removal Because a lot of blight is from the trees being up next to the building and causing the damage to come prematurely.
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: You know that's kind of a private issue.
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: I think we would just have to take that.
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: Maybe we can put something together for that, where there's some monies.
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: And he was saying that the city would not pay for it per se.
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: They would share in the cost.
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: Well, I think that's a good idea because that would help.
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: You know, the light and water is very good about that.
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: If there's something near a line, if the light and water can do it near a line, then I think help preserving the value of our houses.
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: If we can give these people some help when they need it, I think that's a good idea.
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: I think it's a very good idea.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: Has there been anywhere in Columbus that prior to you running for mayor, you'd never been.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: Never been in the facility, never been in the neighborhood that you've been since you've announced running.
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: No, I've been in every area of Columbus.
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: Now one that I did visit was, I guess you would say, part of Memphis town, but on the north side, and it's gotten so much worse since the last time I was there.
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: I probably hadn't been there in a year or two, and it just seems like it just gets worse.
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: The houses that are there are not being repaired.
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: So many of them.
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: The roofs may have been damaged in storms, and once that happens, you know it doesn't take long for a house to deteriorate when you don't have a good.
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: Well, a lot of those aren't even owner-occupied Well, they don't seem to be occupied at all, unless there's squatters in them.
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: We hear about that all the time.
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: But, for example, colin Krieger, he redid a house right off military and he's tackling a house that was a I believe it was a parsonage right there on military, which that house has been vacant.
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: I know for at least 10 years.
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: I it's been vacant, I know for at least 10 years.
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: I showed it when it was on the market, probably six, seven years ago.
• 22:28
  Speaker 4: So I commend him for doing that and that's what we need.
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: We need private money to come in and we need private money to start rebuilding these houses.
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: That'll help us a lot and if the city can facilitate that in some way, that would be great.
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: Is squatting technically legal around here.
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: Not that I know of Well what if you have like 18 registered voters in the same house.
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: I'm curious if that's like an ordinance violation of some type.
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: Well, that would definitely be a code violation, I'm sure in a submarine.
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: It's OK, kenny Wiggle on that.
• 23:03
  Speaker 4: I think Kenny Wiggle can give you the answer on that better than I can, but I think you would probably be on a code violation there.
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: Oh, man You're listening to Between the Headlines.
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: With Zach and David, we're going to transition to Joe Max laying the smack down in his letter to the whole group.
• 23:19
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• 24:25
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: So in a letter written by Mr Joe Max Higgins, he lays the smack down to the whole group.
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: Where are we on this?
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, and that letter was a response from Joe Max to John Mulherin, with the whole group, you know, john essentially writes to Joe Max and company we need a new tax incentive deal because we can't abide by the structure of the one we agreed to.
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: And Mulherin was basically saying well, we can't come up with our paperwork.
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we don't have our paperwork, so we're not providing.
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: And Joe Max's response to this in his letter is, I think, almost you know this is what he said to us.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: It's in the story today is, if you, if you didn't know what you were signing, why the hell did you sign it?
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: And so just a little bit of background the Cliff Notes you can't fulfill what you're signing.
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: Right, exactly, bill what you're signing, right exactly.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: And the Cliff Notes version of the background here is you know, whole group buys the.
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: Buys Lee Mall the failing Lee Mall 2019 in auction.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: They want to renovate it, turn it inside out into this outdoor facing shopping center.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: They get tax incentives from the city and the county.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: Now part of this is giving them, for up to 15 years, the value of their what would be the collections on the added value of the property, a certain percentage of that over time, and the other part of it was the added value of the new sales tax over that time to reimburse them for renovations, which, frankly, they've done a pretty good job with.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: That looks nice over there, but it's empty.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: More on that in a moment, but what we saw, though, is just the real simple version of this.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: In order to determine what the new sales tax is, you have to determine what the old sales tax was.
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so the county side of this deal is okay, yeah.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: County side of the deal is okay and part of the city side of the deal, because they're getting, I think, ad valorem too on their part.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: But the sales tax side of this is, I mean, it's just toast they have to have, because they can't determine how much sales tax was being what's called their sales tax basis.
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: Baseline.
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: They can't determine what that baseline is, because in order to get that, the companies have to tell them.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: The companies refused and then most of them disappeared, and so now they're in a place to where they're saying there's no way for us to determine what our sales tax basis is.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: Can we please renegotiate this deal and Joe Max?
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: Told them you know, yeah, he's not having it.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: He didn't tell him to kick rocks, he told him he'd still work with him.
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: But he is not for doubling as a doubling down on a bad deal yeah, and he's calling the first deal a colossal waste of everybody's time yeah, and, and we all know that is the polite version of what I can only imagine, like, just just go with me here.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: You know that he had, uh, meryl and betsy behind him as he was typing this thing and every time he typed an expletive they said no, joe max, and he was having a backspace, okay, and type it the more diplomatic way, but you can, you can see, you can hear and you can feel Jomax in this, despite its diplomacy.
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: I've got a dumb fella's question about this.
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: All right, if they don't have a baseline for the establishment of their sales tax credit, why don't we just issue a $0.00 check to the whole group?
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: Okay, you don't have a baseline, therefore you don't get any money back.
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: What am I missing?
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: Here, I mean that's Because it seems manufactured.
• 28:34
  Speaker 4: I would be for hammering out a new deal.
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: I mean, we want to keep these folks on our side.
• 28:38
  Speaker 4: You know that's a major piece of property in this town Probably the most valuable piece of real estate in Columbus is sitting there and we need more tax dollars out of it.
• 28:48
  Speaker 4: Hammer out a deal that's a little more beneficial to the city of Columbus.
• 28:51
  Speaker 4: We need the tax money.
• 28:52
  Speaker 4: They got a sweet deal on the purchase so their taxes were lowered a lot.
• 28:59
  Speaker 4: They were down to three and a half million I think.
• 29:01
  Speaker 4: Now they're about 4.6 last I saw on their basis.
• 29:03
  Speaker 4: Hammer out a new deal.
• 29:04
  Speaker 4: It's good for everybody.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: Okay, I see what you're saying, but here's what Joe Max is saying.
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: I tend to agree with him.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: You're supposed to know your business.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: You've told everybody that you've got dozens of these things all over the Southeast.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: Why was this a surprise to you, like what was so unique about this particular situation?
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: Because they didn't give him the numbers Right.
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: The numbers are held under wraps, understandably so.
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: David, other businesses and other shopping centers for whatever tax incentives they have there.
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: I mean this should be something that they saw coming or they saw as a potential issue prior to Tuesday or whenever.
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: John sent Jomax this letter.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: This didn't sneak up on them and they didn't talk about it and so it says to me that maybe whole group didn't or doesn't know what they're doing.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: You know, or something worse that you know.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: They thought when this goes belly up, we'll just get another one.
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: And now you've got Jomax saying y'all should have known this better in advance, like y'all are the.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: Y'all are professional retail developers.
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: This should not have been hard for you, this should not have been an issue for you.
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: Interestingly, they accuse the retailers of faking the revenue numbers.
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: Okay, think about Hobby Lobby faking the revenue numbers.
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: I mean that's like accusing Chick-fil-A of not paying their tithes.
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, I don't know enough about that business to say whether that's something that would happen or not low valuation on Lee Mall.
• 30:48
  Speaker 4: If the deal doesn't go through, kick the deal out.
• 30:50
  Speaker 4: As they make improvements, the taxes will be adjusted, the ad valorem taxes will be adjusted and if they can't fulfill the other part, then they just won't get it.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: They'll survive.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: In my opinion, they gave them a deal they didn't uphold to their end of the bargain.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: That's right, deal's moot, deal's gone.
• 31:12
  Speaker 3: You're on the hook for that.
• 31:12
  Speaker 3: Whose fault is it, though?
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: Isn't it partly the retailer's fault?
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: I mean?
• 31:16
  Speaker 4: okay, question no, I don't think so Check this out.
• 31:18
  Speaker 4: I don't think it's the retailer's fault.
• 31:19
  Speaker 4: Retailer don't want to give out their private information.
• 31:21
  Speaker 4: They don't want to give out.
• 31:23
  Speaker 3: Well, they're being requested to sign a release to the link and the link gets that information directly from mdor.
• 31:30
  Speaker 3: Okay, and if for some reason, it gets leaked, then that opens up the link to a big-time lawsuit it also compromises should they perhaps be a little more trusting of the link, or no, or?
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's up to them, it's up to them.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: The fact remains that cato and hobby lobby and Planet Fitness they did not say to the city and the county give us a tax incentive and we'll do this Whole Group did that and then they failed.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: So I think they're on the hook for it.
• 32:03
  Speaker 4: I do too.
• 32:03
  Speaker 4: I mean, they already have the taxes lowered, which was legitimate.
• 32:08
  Speaker 4: They bought it for $3.5 million.
• 32:09
  Speaker 4: That's legitimate, and they're paying very little tax on it at this point.
• 32:17
  Speaker 4: Now you know they're investing for the future.
• 32:18
  Speaker 4: It's going to be a very valuable property at some point.
• 32:19
  Speaker 4: I think they'll do a good job with it, and but I think you know they blew the deal.
• 32:23
  Speaker 4: You know I'm for just moving on and just part of Joe.
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: OK, so let me jump in here.
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: Part of Joe Max's criticism of it is that that there might be an inappropriate relationship there If whole group is talking to the mayor to end around the link or the county or the council.
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: I mean, is that appropriate?
• 33:01
  Speaker 3: I think that's garbage talk.
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: Why would they need to do that?
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: I mean it's not reading the room very well, because you know Keith can't get anything much done on the council.
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: So I don't know how Keith can't get anything much done on the council.
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: So I don't know how he's going to get anything done with the link and it's an open secret that he and Jomax don't get along.
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: So I don't see where Keith going to Jomax and saying look, a hole came to me.
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: Let's do this would ever work.
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: And Keith doesn't have the unilateral power to force things through.
• 33:32
  Speaker 3: Well, Bill, I agree with you.
• 33:33
  Speaker 3: They need to strike a deal and they need to make it happen.
• 33:36
  Speaker 3: They need to strike a deal, that's right.
• 33:37
  Speaker 4: And let the city council go over it and if they approve, it you know it'll be like a new deal Again the deal they had.
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: They said they could do, and that was three years ago.
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: Now they can't do it.
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: So I think, it is what it is.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: No, scrap it and let them live with the consequences.
• 33:52
  Speaker 4: That's fine with me, if that's what this it's going to ultimately be, up to the city council.
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: So, as mayor, do you recommend a new deal?
• 33:59
  Speaker 4: As mayor I would say listen to them and see what they propose.
• 34:03
  Speaker 4: I would make sure it's a little better deal for the city because a lot of these giveaways I've not been all for, lot of these giveaways I've not been all for, you know, there have been several of these giveaways that have not been good for the city because it stretches out so many years down the road.
• 34:16
  Speaker 4: I've seen one that I know that they approved for two years.
• 34:19
  Speaker 4: They're going to revisit and, if I may, I'll revisit it because you know, from what I understand, they painted and they put new furniture.
• 34:26
  Speaker 4: So I don't like buying someone else's furniture for a business.
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: Well, I want to go back to sort of the timeline here.
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: They came in.
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: They're going to inside out, make this a big retail hub.
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: So plan A didn't work.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: That place is empty.
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: The renovations look nice, but the place is empty.
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: The right tenants.
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: They're saying we don't care that these tenants are leaving, we're going to get the right tenants coming in.
• 34:50
  Speaker 3: But they're not coming in, they're not signing on.
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: Why don't they at least talk about kicking them out?
• 34:54
  Speaker 3: Be done with them.
• 34:55
  Speaker 3: I mean, there's not anybody there, ain't any hardly to kick out?
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: they've left on their own, but you know.
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: But plan b now is to turn large swaths of the back into medical and office space, which isn't going to get you the sales tax revenue that retail will.
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: And now we find out they're incapable of doing their basic due diligence on a tax incentive that they asked for.
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: So I think the project is a wash.
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: I mean it's out to sea and I don't know if it's recoverable or what the end product will even look like.
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: Now you asked a while ago whose fault it is.
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: How much of it is Hull's fault?
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: I don't know, how much of it is just the retail market generally.
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: I don't know that either, but what I do know.
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: What I do know is that tax receipts are not growing in Columbus at the rate that they have over the last three years.
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: They're struggling and there's worry there.
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: Citi's currently behind the pace to make its budget on sales tax revenue, which means they're going to cut something at the end of the year if they don't catch up Now.
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: Obviously that can change with five months left in the fiscal year.
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: But by comparison, you know Starkville, where Columbus has routinely kicked Starkville's behind on sales tax revenue and sales tax revenue growth, especially over the last three or four years.
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: Startful's up 10% year to date, five months to go, but they're up 10% and they're going to blow their budgeted number out of the water.
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: They're going to end up getting to buy extra things or add to their capital fund or their general fund reserves if they stay on the pace that they're on.
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: And their sports teams aren't even doing that good.
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: Imagine if the baseball team actually was decent.
• 36:37
  Speaker 4: But, zach, you know the city of Columbus.
• 36:39
  Speaker 4: We've had a little issue maintaining our businesses here and some of it's due to our leadership in the city, not, you know, not being there to help recruit business, fussing and fighting over matters.
• 36:50
  Speaker 4: You know we've got to get a solid plan together for recruiting businesses into the city and help the whole group, not try and do anything to hurt them, but help them to bring in businesses here.
• 37:01
  Speaker 4: Make this a friendly environment.
• 37:03
  Speaker 4: Make Columbus, you know, a place where business wants to locate.
• 37:07
  Speaker 4: I'm afraid that we've gotten a little reputation out there that this is not a good business city, it's not a business friendly city.
• 37:15
  Speaker 4: We don't want that.
• 37:16
  Speaker 3: If I were Grandpa Hull, I would turn the air conditioner off and sweat them out of there, kind of like what the legislature is doing to MSMS.
• 37:25
  Speaker 3: You know what I mean?
• 37:26
  Speaker 3: They'll come up with them numbers, they'll let us know.
• 37:30
  Speaker 3: Listen, I'm not anti-business at all.
• 37:33
  Speaker 3: I hope that every single tenant does well, whether it be there or someone else.
• 37:38
  Speaker 3: But that particular property, to your point bill, it's right there, dead center to the gateway to all of what we've got here, and it needs to be top of the top and they need to get this deal done.
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: Joe Max knows what he's doing, okay, he is holding their feet to the fire, and if he's mad, then he knows why he's mad.
• 37:58
  Speaker 4: I think he's doing the right thing Hold their feet to the fire.
• 38:00
  Speaker 4: All right, and if we have to scrap the deal, scrap the deal with them.
• 38:04
  Speaker 3: Mr Hull, if you're listening, I hope you come on the program.
• 38:06
  Speaker 3: We would love to have you and love to see what you plan on doing to help get this thing underway, because we're not as patient as you are, we're just not.
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: Well, Bill, we really appreciate you coming on the show.
• 38:20
  Speaker 4: I appreciate y'all having me, and one more thing I want to say is remember June 3rd is the election.
• 38:25
  Speaker 4: Everybody we need to get out and vote.
• 38:28
  Speaker 4: Have a say in your community.
• 38:31
  Speaker 4: Let us hear what you want from your community.
• 38:33
  Speaker 4: The vote is so important.
• 38:36
  Speaker 4: Let your voice be heard and vote for Bill Strauss, mayor 2025.
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: All right, stick around for the postgame.
• 38:43
  Speaker 3: Thanks, bill.
• 38:44
  Speaker 4: Thank you sir.
• 38:45
  Speaker 3: All right, that was Bill Strauss, independent candidate for mayor.
• 38:49
  Speaker 3: And just so our listeners know, we have had Leroy on here and Stephen Jones and we will be inviting Darren Leach to be on the program as well.
• 38:58
  Speaker 3: So as we close up today, a story kind of hit me by surprise in here.
• 39:05
  Speaker 3: Local rappers lyrics, social media lead to drug bust of Mr Art Hank Davis, age 26.
• 39:15
  Speaker 3: What is going on here?
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: Evidently Hank was a little too honest in his art form and led the sheriff's office deputies right to him.
• 39:29
  Speaker 3: So he disclosed the location of his operation trapping on maple street.
• 39:36
  Speaker 3: The sting unit began investigating davis after receiving tips from confidential informants claiming he was selling controlled substances in the columbus area, and ended up being a what a pound of meth on top of handguns semi-automatic.
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: A lot of drugs and a little bit of guns.
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: But you know, the funny part about that story to me is at the bottom, where Sheriff Eddie Hawkins says it reminds him how important it is for people to report suspicious activity, and I agree with that.
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: I think it's very important to do that.
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: But I also think the point missed here is that discretion is the better part of valor.
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: Maybe don't tell the police exactly what you're doing and exactly where you're doing it.
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: Where you're doing it Well.
• 40:29
  Speaker 3: whatever makes the law enforcement job easier, I am in favor of even if that involves listening to local artist music.
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: Yep, well, you know, you should support local artists.
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: We have whole nonprofits for that in the area.
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: But there's one thing that I want to talk about.
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: It's sort of tangentially related to the Chaykane again, but it deals with Tuesday's council meeting.
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: There's a very troubling pattern that I'm starting to see and it needs to stop go, or so I can't remember exactly what meeting.
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: Ward 6 Councilwoman Jacqueline DiCicco was questioning an agenda item where Mickens was going to be traveling with George Irby somewhere for some conference.
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: It was out on the East Coast somewhere.
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: She asked why does Mickens need to go, which I mean, is a reasonable question if you're supposed to be, you know, taking care of taxpayer money?
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: Mickens wasn't super rude about it, but he refused to answer a question, just said I'm not going to answer that.
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: Okay, fast forward to Tuesday, where the newly minted Democratic nominee for mayor, stephen Jones, has requested that Kevin Stafford design and build this chai cane in the middle of Military Road.
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: Councilwoman DiCicco says hey, I've got constituents who are concerned about this.
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: They're calling me about it.
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: Can somebody tell me what this is and why it is and how it's supposed to work?
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and what the devil.
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, by that time our reporter had been out there to interview Stephen and Kevin and we had a story that was ready to go in Wednesday's paper.
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: And that was.
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: And while we appreciated the plug from Stephen Jones, that's what he responded with he said.
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: Because she said what am I supposed to tell my constituents or these people we're calling about this thing in the middle of Military Road?
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: And Stephen responds tell them to read the paper.
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: It's going to be in there.
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: And she says well, tell them to read the paper.
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: Can you not just tell me something now, give me some insight now?
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: And he looked at her and he said next, and then he turned his face away from her.
• 42:52
  Speaker 3: Oh boy.
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: I mean, you're the odds-on favorite to be the mayor.
• 43:00
  Speaker 3: Well, you were, Stephen.
• 43:03
  Speaker 3: You're going to have to respect your elders, sir.
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: Well, just your peers, your peers.
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: Because here's the thing If Jones and obviously Mickens and others, they're not viewing her as a peer for some reason.
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: Maybe I don't know what reason it is, maybe it's because she's not running for reelection.
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: They've only got to deal with her for the next couple of months.
• 43:24
  Speaker 3: So she's a lame duck.
• 43:25
  Speaker 3: A lame duck Just answer her question Right.
• 43:28
  Speaker 3: Be respectful.
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: And or at least treat her like a colleague while she legally is your colleague on that, council and she is.
• 43:36
  Speaker 3: But that's just, that's just wrong.
• 43:38
  Speaker 3: She needs to bend him over her knee and just old-fashioned spank him.
• 43:43
  Speaker 3: For that.
• 43:43
  Speaker 3: You are a servant of the people and it is a meeting.
• 43:48
  Speaker 3: The purpose of a meeting is to exchange information, hopefully in a cordial fashion.
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: That's just uncalled for well, I mean, if she was on the other foot, if he asked a question and keith or jackie or anybody on that council had the temerity to be like next and not answer it or he would be fit to be tied, he would think that he deserved more respect than that one better yeah what if rusty green did that to ethel stewart?
• 44:17
  Speaker 3: oh my god, which one cnn will be in town never happen?
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: it would never happen because you know I don't agree with everything rusty rusty's respectful guy.
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: He would not do that.
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: It's very troubling to me that a person who is the democratic nominee for mayor and the odds-on favorite to win that race, in my opinion has the capacity in a public forum like that to treat anybody that way, much less somebody who's supposed to be his peer on that council, joseph Mickens.
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: Now he's going, but Joseph Mickens and Stephen Jones have been the primary purveyors of Bible verses from that council table for the last four years Do unto others, as you would have others do unto you, and that standard is without exception.
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: And if Stephen's going to make exceptions, we may have a long four years on our hands, but he's better than that.
• 45:12
  Speaker 3: So I would just, I would just challenge him to be better than that.
• 45:14
  Speaker 3: We're Southern folk, ok, we just don't do that around here.
• 45:18
  Speaker 3: It's just not going to fly long term.
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I really appreciated the plug for the paper, but at the same time, not at the expense of the golden rule, and I would feel differently about it if it had already been in the paper and she had just missed it.
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: And she was up there grandstanding.
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: She wasn't grandstanding, she was trying to get an answer to a question.
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: He just didn't think that she was on his level.
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: And guess what, if you're going to be a public servant, the least of these, yeah.
• 45:48
  Speaker 3: The least of these.
• 45:49
  Speaker 3: Least of these.
• 45:49
  Speaker 3: Now to the mail.
• 45:50
  Speaker 3: We had one listener that piped in said basically I enjoyed listening to the podcast episodes about storm drainage in Columbus.
• 46:01
  Speaker 3: The deep dive into how and why Columbus has inadequate drainage was important and I hope others will appreciate that Storm drainage isn't glamorous but it can significantly impact people's lives.
• 46:11
  Speaker 3: I also laughed, which was highly appreciated, so thank you for that, sir.
• 46:17
  Speaker 3: I tell you what hey hats off to us If we're able to make somebody laugh about flooding.
• 46:24
  Speaker 3: That's not too shabby.
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: I would say, yeah, that's got to be a rarity.
• 46:28
  Speaker 3: That will do it.
• 46:29
  Speaker 3: We want to thank our listeners for joining us today.
• 46:32
  Speaker 3: Be sure to subscribe, share and rate, and send us your comments.
• 46:35
  Speaker 3: Tell us what you think about today's show.
• 46:38
  Speaker 3: We would love to hear from you.
• 46:39
  Speaker 3: Tips at cdispatchcom.
• 46:40
  Speaker 3: Again, tips at cdispatchcom.
• 46:44
  Speaker 3: Read the paper.
• 46:44
  Speaker 3: You can also follow me on Facebook or X at dchism00.
• 46:49
  Speaker 3: Signing off until next week from Catfish Alley Studios in historic downtown Columbus.
• 46:55
  Speaker 3: Your host has been Zach Player and I am David Chisholm.
• 46:59
  Speaker 3: Until next time, keep it Southern, keep it friendly and we'll keep it real.
• 47:12
  Speaker 2: Opinions expressed on this show are those of the speakers and not necessarily those of the commercial dispatch.