Latest / Brian Thomas / Scott Wartman - City of Cincinnati Politics

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Scott Wartman - City of Cincinnati Politics · Brian Thomas

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  Speaker 1: For a month fifty five KOSS the talk station.
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  Speaker 2: Eight twenty nine here for the five KRCD Talk station.
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  Speaker 2: Happy Wednesday to you. I hope you have been a
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  Speaker 2: good one. Welcome back. It's been too long from the
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  Speaker 2: Cincinnaian quiry. You can find on the line at Cincinnati
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  Speaker 2: dot com. Scott Wortman. Pleasure to have you back on
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  Speaker 2: the program. Scott, I hope you're well.
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  Speaker 1: I'm excellent, great to be back. How are you doing.
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  Speaker 2: I'm doing fine, really actually quite well, living my best
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  Speaker 2: life right now. Scott. I'm happy to say.
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  Speaker 1: I love to hear it.
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  Speaker 2: This is obviously a really exciting time. Politics is always
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  Speaker 2: exciting for people like you and me, we dwellers following politics,
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  Speaker 2: which is what you do. Of course, with the big
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  Speaker 2: race coming up the first week in November, voters going
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  Speaker 2: to get an opportunity to maybe change the direction of
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  Speaker 2: downtown Cincinnati. Maybe not the election. Most notably, let's pivot
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  Speaker 2: over and look at the mayoral race. I have to
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  Speaker 2: have provol versus Corey Bowman. And what real quick I
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  Speaker 2: got to get this out of the way, Scott Wortman.
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  Speaker 2: What does everybody always have to say? Jd Vance's half
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  Speaker 2: a broad or JD Vance's brother. When referring to Corey Bowman,
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  Speaker 2: it's almost like a default insert in every article that
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  Speaker 2: I read.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I mean that that is everything seems the
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  Speaker 1: politically at least, and actually a lot of news stories
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  Speaker 1: go back to the White House. And I mean it
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  Speaker 1: is something that when people look for news and could
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  Speaker 1: we see what people read. President Trump and the vice
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  Speaker 1: president drives a lot of interest. So, I mean that's
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  Speaker 1: what people are interested in.
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  Speaker 2: But he's Corey Bowman. I have I've interviewed him here
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  Speaker 2: in the Morning Show many times. I've met him in
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  Speaker 2: person many times have been in events where he spoke,
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  Speaker 2: and I mean, he doesn't bring up his brother, he
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  Speaker 2: doesn't bring up president. He certainly is not campaign as
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  Speaker 2: a MAGA person. But then again, he got a f
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  Speaker 2: tab purval with all these campaign adds with Donald Trump
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  Speaker 2: and Jade Vance's picture on it telling the residents of
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  Speaker 2: the city to save us from MAGA, as if they're
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  Speaker 2: going to come in and run things in the city.
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  Speaker 1: Sure, I mean it's still I mean, I don't know
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  Speaker 1: any way that that's going to not be a big
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  Speaker 1: part of the race, since again, the White House drives
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  Speaker 1: so many strong emotions and has been very divisive, So
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  Speaker 1: I mean, I don't see I don't see that changing anytime.
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  Speaker 2: So I don't either. But then again, if I had
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  Speaker 2: a record I was running on, I might want to
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  Speaker 2: prop up my record and talk about all the things
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  Speaker 2: that I've accomplished and why I am a better choice
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  Speaker 2: than the unknown, politically experienced Corey Bowlman. I haven't heard
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  Speaker 2: have to have Purvoll do that, and of late, the dominant.
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  Speaker 1: Corey has made that argument. Yeah in debates too as well.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, okay, I mean that's that's really my only
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  Speaker 2: point to bring it up. I trust me. I'm painfully
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  Speaker 2: aware of how that gets clicks Maga Trump. That always
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  Speaker 2: gets clicks, and of course that can drive clicks on articles.
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  Speaker 2: But after Purple has been running around at least up
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  Speaker 2: until recent moments in time saying that there is no
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  Speaker 2: crime problem in the city. Crime is down, it's a
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  Speaker 2: problem of perception. And yet just yesterday he talked about
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  Speaker 2: this ongoing gun violence in the wake of what five
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  Speaker 2: shootings in the last couple of days, calling it absolutely
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  Speaker 2: intolerable and announcing new measures. He's put in the Critical
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  Speaker 2: Disturbance Response Team and SWAT team down at Fountain Square
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  Speaker 2: between two and ten pm every day. That's something brand new.
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  Speaker 2: He's encouraging council members to create an earlier curfew for
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  Speaker 2: Fountain Square, maybe starting at six pm. That just happened.
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  Speaker 2: A lot of people were clamoring for action earlier. We
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  Speaker 2: know we're down on police resources. They've been talking about
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  Speaker 2: lateral hires and new classes for a long time. That's
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  Speaker 2: a slow, slow process. So I guess because of the election,
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  Speaker 2: is he now appreciating the problem that the residents of
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  Speaker 2: downtown Cincinnati perceive.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, I can't speak like why, you know, whether
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  Speaker 1: it's different in his mind than before the election, but
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  Speaker 1: I mean it is definitely the dominant issue that's not
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  Speaker 1: going to go away, even probably after November, the November election.
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  Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean it's something that every day, even
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  Speaker 1: with the statistics which show city wide, you know, it's
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  Speaker 1: not gone up, but in downtown and some of the
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  Speaker 1: urban areas there there is an uptick in crime and
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  Speaker 1: then shootings. Downtown. I believe it's like eight more shootings
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  Speaker 1: year the date than last year. But yeah, I don't
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  Speaker 1: it's definitely something that he can't ignore right well, and
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  Speaker 1: when you have high profile one. I'm sorry. So when
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  Speaker 1: you have high profile ones like in shooting right in
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  Speaker 1: Fountain Square at the heart of the city, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: there's no way to I mean, that's a lot of
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  Speaker 1: people witnessed it, you know, first hand.
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  Speaker 2: Well, and then you have this recent development I was
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  Speaker 2: just talking about before we we we took the break
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  Speaker 2: to bring you on Ruby's closing down its events center,
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  Speaker 2: and they cited a problem with their lease and the landlord.
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  Speaker 2: But they did say it was basically safety related, like
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  Speaker 2: maybe providing something like security at the front door, which
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  Speaker 2: doesn't have any security. So even though it's the least
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  Speaker 2: dispute over security, this boils down to security in downtown Cincinnati.
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  Speaker 2: So there's one entity that's now gone, and it's not
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  Speaker 2: the first business to close shopp in downtown because of this. People,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, people vote with their feet quite often.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I haven't spoken with Jeff Ruby directly about this,
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  Speaker 1: but from what I saw in the statement though, I
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  Speaker 1: think they did make it clear that it was a
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  Speaker 1: landlord tenant dispute, So I mean, I don't know have
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  Speaker 1: any inside information on it beyond that, but it did
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  Speaker 1: seem like they wanted to make it clear that it
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  Speaker 1: wasn't the other issues that were involved in it. So
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  Speaker 1: beyond that, I don't know what's driving that decision. But
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  Speaker 1: I haven't seen him. I haven't seen him blame crime
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  Speaker 1: specifically on that. Well.
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  Speaker 2: Brittany Ruby Miller, who's the CEO the and released the
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  Speaker 2: statement with regard to that, did talk about the safety
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  Speaker 2: at the front door, but I'll grant you it was
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  Speaker 2: a released dispute. But in a follow up statement, she
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  Speaker 2: concluded with a comment. While first saying she doesn't want
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  Speaker 2: to get into politics, she concluded with change only happens
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  Speaker 2: when the pain of staying the same exceeds the pain
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  Speaker 2: of change. So to me, that's a suggestion maybe a
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  Speaker 2: change of administration is necessary to deal with the crime problem.
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  Speaker 1: I haven't seen that statement, but I mean yet, it
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  Speaker 1: does seem like that it could be where she's gone
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  Speaker 1: with that.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. Do you do any internal polling or polling
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  Speaker 2: with regard to how things are shaking out? I know
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  Speaker 2: it as small as the council race and the mayor
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  Speaker 2: races relative to national elections and statewide elections, we don't
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  Speaker 2: get nearly as much polling. But have you seen that
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  Speaker 2: polling information at all related to this race.
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  Speaker 1: No, And we actually looked into that and we put
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  Speaker 1: some bids out for some firms that do polling, and
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  Speaker 1: we didn't get any bites on it. And I talked
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  Speaker 1: with the candidates and no, there has not been any
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  Speaker 1: polling on this race. So it's basically just anecdotal. And
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  Speaker 1: I mean, you have the primary to go on, but
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  Speaker 1: that's about it. So it's pretty much anyone's gas.
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  Speaker 2: Well, in addition to crime, obviously that's on the number
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  Speaker 2: one conversation talking point with regard to what's going on downtown.
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  Speaker 2: We have the I guess four hundred miles of roads
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  Speaker 2: that need to be repaid. That's been a problem that's
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  Speaker 2: been building for years and years. But when you're out
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  Speaker 2: and about and you're talking about this race, do you
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  Speaker 2: hear the idea of zoning come up? I know, we
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  Speaker 2: had this massive problem with Hyde Park and they revolted
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  Speaker 2: and wanted it to be put on the ballot. They
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  Speaker 2: were successful in getting the development there put the brakes
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  Speaker 2: put on it. But what of all the other communities,
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  Speaker 2: Bondhill and everybody else who's now underneath this umbrella called
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  Speaker 2: connected communities, which is a one size fits all approach
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  Speaker 2: for all of downtown Cincinnati.
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  Speaker 1: I hear the zoning issue, like when it comes up
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  Speaker 1: in regards to the community councils, do they have enough
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  Speaker 1: input or are they being ignored? And that's usually from
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  Speaker 1: people that are like plugged in and engage. But I
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  Speaker 1: don't know how much of that is for like the
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  Speaker 1: general populace. I mean, one of the big issues when
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  Speaker 1: I first took over this beat in this bring what
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  Speaker 1: was speed bumps and potholes, And it's kind of like
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  Speaker 1: the basic services. So I mean, I do think zoning
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  Speaker 1: is an issue, but I don't know if it's going
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  Speaker 1: to move the needle one way or the other in
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  Speaker 1: the election.
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  Speaker 2: Well man, moving the needle one way or there? You
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  Speaker 2: talk about plugged in and engageing. We got a chuckle
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  Speaker 2: out of me on that one. The voter turnout in
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  Speaker 2: downtown today is pretty poor. I think what ten percent
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  Speaker 2: and maybe fifteen percent. Do you see this election as
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  Speaker 2: resulting in a higher voter turnout? I mean, if you
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  Speaker 2: had to read tea leaves into as we fast approach November,
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  Speaker 2: Scott Ortman, do you think more people are going to
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  Speaker 2: actually show up in this one?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, this is my first one full time on
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  Speaker 1: the city election. But my experience with elections in general,
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  Speaker 1: and this could be different because I mean, I think
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  Speaker 1: I do think more people in the last I would
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  Speaker 1: say ten years are coming out to vote and paying
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  Speaker 1: attention to politics. But these off year elections where there
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  Speaker 1: isn't like a major but there isn't a congressional race,
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  Speaker 1: or there isn't a presidential race, probably not. It's still
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  Speaker 1: probably going to be a lower turnout. I haven't I
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  Speaker 1: haven't yet spoken to the Board of Elections on their predictions.
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  Speaker 1: I don't even know if they have a projection yet
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  Speaker 1: on it. But probably it will be better than the primary,
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  Speaker 1: but it's probably still not. It's probably gonna I mean,
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  Speaker 1: I don't I hesitate to give a actual prediction, but
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  Speaker 1: it's not going to be like in a presidential race
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  Speaker 1: or even in a congressional race. I wouldn't think.
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  Speaker 2: So don't expect a fifty percent turnout in downtown since
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  Speaker 2: say for this one, Scott, I suppose we can.
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  Speaker 1: I would think not.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, but you know, but it illustrates the point, you know,
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  Speaker 2: in and off your election, your vote matters so much
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  Speaker 2: more than it would in any other election cycle. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: it's it seems to me it should serve as a
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  Speaker 2: great incentive for the city residents to show up and vote.
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  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I mean that's what democracy is all about.
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  Speaker 1: And as they you know, the cliche goes. But the
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  Speaker 1: cliche a reason if you don't vote, you can't complain,
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  Speaker 1: Scott Warmanton, you shouldn't, at.
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  Speaker 2: Least well, you shouldn't, clearly, Scott Wormanton saying, inquire since
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  Speaker 2: anty dot commis or you find, Scott any other observations
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  Speaker 2: you want to pass along to my listeners that you've
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  Speaker 2: encountered as you've been following this race.
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  Speaker 1: Scott, Well, I mean, I think the big question this
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  Speaker 1: race is whether a non Democrat can get on city council.
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  Speaker 1: I mean that's going to be because I think it
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  Speaker 1: is possible, but it's it's very tough because it's one
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  Speaker 1: of those things. And this is also what's so hard
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  Speaker 1: to predict elections. What you hear and see online, Again,
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  Speaker 1: those are for people that are plugged in, but isn't
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  Speaker 1: necessarily how the general population votes.
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  Speaker 2: Uh.
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  Speaker 1: And so at least in the last like four or
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  Speaker 1: five city elections, the Democratic slate card has been incredibly
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  Speaker 1: influential on the overall voting public. In the city. So
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  Speaker 1: whether whether that holds true or not, I think a
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  Speaker 1: few people might be able to break through, but whether
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  Speaker 1: they will or not, that is I'll be very interested
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  Speaker 1: to see.
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  Speaker 2: Well as a you know, encouragement for my listeners. Everybody
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  Speaker 2: else is considering voting if you perceive crime as being
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  Speaker 2: a problem. There are judicial races that people need to
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  Speaker 2: pay close attention to. And you talk about having to
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  Speaker 2: be a weed dweller. If you don't have any interaction
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  Speaker 2: with the judicial system, you're only tangentially even thinking about it.
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  Speaker 2: People tend to gloss over the judicial races, but they
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  Speaker 2: are critical.
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  Speaker 1: Oh yeah. And the issue with why they often will
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  Speaker 1: get a lot of attention is because of ethics rules.
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  Speaker 1: They judicial candidates are limited in what they can say
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  Speaker 1: and you know what they can say in interviews and
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  Speaker 1: stump speeches, so they often do get overlooked. But yeah,
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  Speaker 1: they have a tremendous impact on the laws and what
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  Speaker 1: people see out there.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, no advisory opinions from judges, that's a violation of
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  Speaker 2: the rules of ethics. Scott Ortman from the Cincinna in
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  Speaker 2: Choir my listeners and I be following you on Cinsinni
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  Speaker 2: dot com and reading what you have to write about it,
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  Speaker 2: and we'll all keep our popcorn not as we fast
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  Speaker 2: approach November.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you, Broan, I appreciate it.
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  Speaker 2: Always a pleasure, Scott, Take care and have a great day.
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  Speaker 2: Eight forty one. Right now fifty five kr C you
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  Speaker 2: talk station phone lines are open. Feel free to call.