Latest / Brian Thomas / Scott Wartman - Cincinnati Illegal Immigrant Defense Fund

Transcript

Scott Wartman - Cincinnati Illegal Immigrant Defense Fund · Brian Thomas

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  Speaker 1: Just I have eight oh six here at fifty five
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  Speaker 1: KRC decalk station. Happy Friday Eve, of course it being
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  Speaker 1: Friday Eve. I heard media aviation expert Jay Rattleft at
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  Speaker 1: bottom of the hour. I love my conversations with Jay,
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  Speaker 1: and I hope you feel the same way. In the meantime, though,
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  Speaker 1: I'm so pleased welcome back to the fifty five CARSC
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  Speaker 1: Morning Show. I feel like it's been too long from
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  Speaker 1: the Cincinnti Inquirer actually doing local reporting. You find on
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  Speaker 1: my line at cincinnti dot com. Scott Whartman, welcome back
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  Speaker 1: to the morning show. It's great having you on this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Great to be here, Thanks for having me.
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  Speaker 1: Good morning, well, and thank you for bringing it to
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  Speaker 1: our attention what's going on Sincinny City Council. You know,
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  Speaker 1: we don't get a lot of information out of them.
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  Speaker 1: Quite often they're not really willing to comment on any
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  Speaker 1: given topic. Any give a call to the baftab's office
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  Speaker 1: and calls are not returned immediately. I see that regularly
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  Speaker 1: mentioned in your articles on Cincinnati reporting. But the other
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  Speaker 1: day there were a couple of rest I bet you have.
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  Speaker 1: Can I ask you just interroject real quick here does
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  Speaker 1: it do you get frustrated by that? I mean that
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  Speaker 1: seems to me if just from my observations and you're
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  Speaker 1: involved directly with reaching out to council people and the
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  Speaker 1: mayor's office and the city manager's office, does it frustrate
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  Speaker 1: you to get the no comment or no call return
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  Speaker 1: response a lot?
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  Speaker 2: I mean one of the things with reporting actually, because
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  Speaker 2: a lot of my reporting is based on public records
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  Speaker 2: and also talking to like residents, It's up to anyone
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  Speaker 2: that wants to talk to us or doesn't want to
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  Speaker 2: talk to talk to me. I mean, the story is
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  Speaker 2: gonna happen either way, so it never really kills us.
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  Speaker 2: It's never killed a story by someone not talking to me.
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  Speaker 2: So I mean honestly, I mean I think public officials
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  Speaker 2: should talk, yeah, and should, but it is it's up
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  Speaker 2: to them. Scott.
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  Speaker 1: That becomes a subtle point that you're making in the article.
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  Speaker 1: It is important for them to talk to us. It
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  Speaker 1: is important for them to explain what the hell they're
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  Speaker 1: doing and what motivates them that they don't and that
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  Speaker 1: you gave them then opportunity they passed on it, I
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  Speaker 1: think is a story in and of itself.
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  Speaker 2: Scott mm hmm. I mean that's fair enough. All right.
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  Speaker 1: Now let's move over to these resolutions. Counselman Ryan James,
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  Speaker 1: I guess the newest member, along with I believe Anna Albie,
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  Speaker 1: were behind I think to a certain degree, Mark Jefferies
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  Speaker 1: as well. Two separate proposals to deal with immigrants immigrants
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  Speaker 1: facing deportation, which you know my listening audience would probably
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  Speaker 1: suggest illegal immigrants. If they face deportation, then there's no
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  Speaker 1: there's not a lawful basis for them being here. But
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  Speaker 1: I guess since you just mentioned you talk to residents
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  Speaker 1: that will be I suppose members of the residents of
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  Speaker 1: the various fifty two communities. I thought we didn't have
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  Speaker 1: any money. I thought they were trying to close a
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  Speaker 1: budget hole. And in times when they're closing a budget hole,
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  Speaker 1: they need to either cut or they need to find
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  Speaker 1: other sources of revenue. They are talking about increasing the
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  Speaker 1: income tax downtown. Don't think that's a good marketing tool
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  Speaker 1: for getting people in. But if they need to raise
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  Speaker 1: income taxes in order to plug the hole for what
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  Speaker 1: they're promising already, is it even appropriate to start discussing
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  Speaker 1: about expanding and providing resources money and otherwise legal fees
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  Speaker 1: as well for immigrants. What are the people in the
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  Speaker 1: fifty two communities the residents say about something like that.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I have not on this issue, specifically, on the
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  Speaker 2: immigration proposals, I've not had it because they were just
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  Speaker 2: introduced this week. I have not had a chance to
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  Speaker 2: do any comprehensive polling on that. The city council has
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  Speaker 2: had residents come to them wanting them to do something,
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  Speaker 2: take some action against ICE enforcement, and this is kind
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  Speaker 2: of a response to the concerns that they've heard in
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  Speaker 2: council meetings.
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  Speaker 1: All right, Well, of course, city resources are not obligated
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  Speaker 1: to and there's no obligation for anybody in the city
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  Speaker 1: government or even law enforcement to assist ICE in its
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  Speaker 1: federal law enforcement efforts. I get that, But then there's
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  Speaker 1: resisting ICE and also helping people avoid ice, which seems
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  Speaker 1: to be a big, maybe a broader problem. But in
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  Speaker 1: a budget situation where there's very limited resources and not
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  Speaker 1: a lot of flexibility, I mean, I'm just looking at
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  Speaker 1: the idea of providing free legal assistance. So one of
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  Speaker 1: the motions that actually passed, I think it was unanimously.
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  Speaker 1: You reported on it. These access to Council group. They
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  Speaker 1: apparently have allocated two hundred and ten thousand dollars to
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  Speaker 1: go to this group, which is described as providing free
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  Speaker 1: legal representation for those facing eviction. If this group is
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  Speaker 1: providing free legal representation, as a lawyer, I kind of
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  Speaker 1: read that as pro bono. Pro Bono means there's no
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  Speaker 1: billable hours. So why would any money need to be
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  Speaker 1: allocated to a group that's providing free legal assistance in
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  Speaker 1: the first instance.
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  Speaker 2: And that group is my understanding, that's going towards like tenants,
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  Speaker 2: that's not that one's not immigration. There's the one that's immigration.
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  Speaker 2: It's two hundred and ten thousand. That's to the Immigrant
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  Speaker 2: and Law Refugee Center. They didn't return my calls the center.
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  Speaker 2: They said they don't do media interviews. But the part
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  Speaker 2: of that will go towards because they do represent people
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  Speaker 2: facing deportation. Part of it will go to that, some
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  Speaker 2: of it will go to some assistance to their families
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  Speaker 2: and families in the immigrant community. I mean, it's a
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  Speaker 2: valid question on where cities should be, where the city
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  Speaker 2: should be spending the money. Ye, my understanding is this
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  Speaker 2: is part of money that wasn't spent last year. It's
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  Speaker 2: this carryover budget, which is a technical it's long game.
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  Speaker 2: It's still city money. But right now they're hashing out
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  Speaker 2: what to do with this money that wasn't spent last year.
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  Speaker 2: And this is based on what they had heard from
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  Speaker 2: residents in the community, like we need you to take
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  Speaker 2: a stand against ice. This has been their response to it.
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  Speaker 1: Well, it makes me kind of question the percentage of
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  Speaker 1: people in the community that actually view this as a priority.
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  Speaker 1: Why not just put leave the money in the general
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  Speaker 1: fund to help address the outstanding budget definite that we're
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  Speaker 1: dealing with. That's the logical response from Brian Thomas. But
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  Speaker 1: is this really an issue that people are clamoring for
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  Speaker 1: or is it just the squeaky wheels out there representing
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  Speaker 1: a small slice of the population of the city that
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  Speaker 1: are demanding this and they're just in the face of
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  Speaker 1: everyone making it making the council people perceive this to
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  Speaker 1: be a huge demand. I guess I struggle to find
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  Speaker 1: where this actual demand is coming from.
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  Speaker 2: Well, that is the always the big trick, big question
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  Speaker 2: that you know, even I mean I struggle with when
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  Speaker 2: I write these stories because what you hear online, what
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  Speaker 2: you see at council meetings, could be different than what
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  Speaker 2: you go. You know what you hear door the door.
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  Speaker 2: I will say when I was talking to voters coming
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  Speaker 2: out of the polls in Cincinnati for the city council
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  Speaker 2: and the mayoral race, everyone I talked to, I maybe
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  Speaker 2: talked to maybe twenty some voters the day of all
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  Speaker 2: cited their pleasure at the Trump administration is why they
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  Speaker 2: voted Democrats. So it does seem like these national issues,
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  Speaker 2: particularly in the city, are driving a lot of voters.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think that's a sad commentary on the city.
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  Speaker 1: They have so much on their plate as it relates
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  Speaker 1: to actual matters over which they have control, and yet
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  Speaker 1: you know, we find them building solar farms because they
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  Speaker 1: think the City of Cincinnati's a mission is somehow going
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  Speaker 1: to impact the global emissions, and we know that to
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  Speaker 1: be just impossible. So fair to allocate resources properly, I
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  Speaker 1: think is an ongoing problem. That's again from the subjective
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  Speaker 1: opinion of Brian Thomas. Did you see Todd Zinzer's report
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  Speaker 1: on the railroad money and how they're just stuffing the
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  Speaker 1: railroad money into a general fund to earn interest that's
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  Speaker 1: going into the general fund, which suggests maybe they're going
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  Speaker 1: to use that money for things that aren't related to
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  Speaker 1: existing infrastructure. Scott Ortman, I.
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  Speaker 2: Have I haven't had a chance to look into that yet.
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  Speaker 2: I mean by understanding, they can not do that. It
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  Speaker 2: has to go to existing infrastructure. I do know they're
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  Speaker 2: having trouble right now spending all that money coming in
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  Speaker 2: faster than they can get it out the door. I
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  Speaker 2: have not seen any concrete proposal to use it for
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  Speaker 2: anything other than you know, what it was intended for.
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  Speaker 2: If that does happen, I mean, that's going to create
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  Speaker 2: a huge political fight. Yeah, because the the it was
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  Speaker 2: clear in the legislation it can only be used for
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  Speaker 2: roads or like existing like buildings like you know, rec centers, whatever.
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  Speaker 2: They can't use it to build like new things like
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  Speaker 2: an arena or anything like that.
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  Speaker 1: Right, Well, that's the way it was supposed to. But
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  Speaker 1: I think everyone, including me, was raising concerns early on
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  Speaker 1: that they're going to play fast and loose with what
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  Speaker 1: existing infrastructure means. But once you've removed it the money
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  Speaker 1: from the control of the board, the Railroad Board which
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  Speaker 1: makes these allocations, it then lands in the lap of council.
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  Speaker 1: As Zin's are reported. You know, they've only spent like
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  Speaker 1: a small percentage of the actual money. They've got the
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  Speaker 1: rest of the multiple millions of dollars of sitting in
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  Speaker 1: this account. And wait a second, we've got four to
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  Speaker 1: five hundred million dollars in behind infrastructure needs, roads and
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  Speaker 1: bridges and existing infrastructure. All these projects are so far behind,
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  Speaker 1: and they keep getting further and further behind. Isn't that
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  Speaker 1: right there in and of itself, what the money's designed for?
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  Speaker 1: And why aren't they pushing harder to get those existing
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  Speaker 1: projects done? They already know they exist.
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  Speaker 2: Scott, Yeah, Well, from what everyone's told me when I've
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  Speaker 2: talked to them about the railroad fence being council members,
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  Speaker 2: they want to use for existing infrastructure. So I mean,
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  Speaker 2: I haven't had again a chance to verify whether it's
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  Speaker 2: going to be used for something else. I've not, you know,
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  Speaker 2: independently heard that. But if it isn't used for what
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  Speaker 2: was intended, I would imagine there would be some legal
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  Speaker 2: challenges for that. So there are plenty of people in
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  Speaker 2: the community that would be willing to file something to
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  Speaker 2: raise an object that.
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  Speaker 1: Scott Warton from the Sinceana Enquirer something tells me and
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  Speaker 1: are just chuckling about that they've already drafted the complaint.
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  Speaker 1: It's just waiting for the moment to file it properly
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  Speaker 1: and let me at least pivot over real quick. You
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  Speaker 1: probably are familiar with the person known as Signal ninety
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  Speaker 1: nine and her reporting on things relating to crime in
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  Speaker 1: downtown since saying she's gonna be on my program tomorrow.
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  Speaker 1: But she just reported yesterday that they have created a
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  Speaker 1: new violence reduction manager in the city. Manager Sherry Long
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  Speaker 1: has promoted a woman named Kate Bell, who, by all
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  Speaker 1: accounts at least from Signal niney nine reporting, has basically
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  Speaker 1: a communications degree and a graphic design degree. And she
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  Speaker 1: is asking out loud, wait a second, there's no law
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  Speaker 1: enforcement background here. What in the hell is a violence
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  Speaker 1: reduction manager? Shouldn't have something to do with law enforcement
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  Speaker 1: by way of training? And was the job posted? Were
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  Speaker 1: their qualifications? Listen, there's so many swirling questions about this,
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  Speaker 1: but here we go. Do you know anything about Kate
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  Speaker 1: Bell or the violence reduction manager position that was just created?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I saw that. I do know, and this predates
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  Speaker 2: my time covering the city beat. It has existed for
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  Speaker 2: at least the last two years. There were, because when
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  Speaker 2: I saw that post, I looked into you know, what's
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  Speaker 2: previously been reported on it. There have been at least
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  Speaker 2: two other violence reduction managers in the last like two
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  Speaker 2: or three years, So it's not an entirely new position evidently,
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  Speaker 2: but it's something I'll have to look into. I don't
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  Speaker 2: know like exactly when that was created and what that
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  Speaker 2: person's supposed to do precisely.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, Well, we in the community are really hoping that
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  Speaker 1: you do that reporting because it's swirling mystery and there's
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  Speaker 1: obviously a whole lot of questions around this, And clearly
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  Speaker 1: we have a problem with violence in downtown Cincinnati, and
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  Speaker 1: I know they've been struggling to address it. What's the
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  Speaker 1: job role, what's the description? If this position has been
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  Speaker 1: around for a while, what did it accomplish previously? Great
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  Speaker 1: questions to ask, and thankfully we have Scott Wartman at
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  Speaker 1: least to look into it. You can find Scott and
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  Speaker 1: since I inquire online at Cincinnati dot com, recommend you
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  Speaker 1: check them out. And Scott, I'm glad we've got you
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  Speaker 1: out there. I really I weep for the future of
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  Speaker 1: the world where we don't have really good, you know,
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  Speaker 1: quality local reporting, I mean, local reporting is going the
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  Speaker 1: way of the DODO in an Internet world. So keep
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  Speaker 1: up the work and keep and keep asking the questions
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  Speaker 1: we sure have the are sure are waiting for the answer. Scott.
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  Speaker 2: I really appreciate that, and I feel privileged to be
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  Speaker 2: able to do this work.
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  Speaker 1: And you know you always have a welcome spot here
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  Speaker 1: on the fifty five Krcrey Morning Show. Scott Wortman Cincinnati
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  Speaker 1: dot com. You have a wonderful week, and thanks for
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  Speaker 1: your time with my listeners today. I truly appreciate it,
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  Speaker 1: and I know they do as well. It's eight eighteen
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  Speaker 1: right now, fifty five k CD