Latest / Brian Thomas / Brian chats with Todd Zinser 4/10/2026

Transcript

Brian chats with Todd Zinser 4/10/2026 · Brian Thomas

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Speaker 1: Seven five fifty above KERCD Talk Station. Have a very
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Speaker 1: happy Fridays figure around all hour here because in studio
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Speaker 1: my plus Todd Zenzer. So he decides to retire for
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Speaker 1: being an inspector jenner for the United States of America
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Speaker 1: for years and years and years, you know, looking for fraud,
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Speaker 1: waste and abuse and making sure the eyes are properly
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Speaker 1: died or the teaser properly crossed. And learned a lot
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Speaker 1: in that experience. So after he retires, what does he
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Speaker 1: do in his retirement. He isn't sitting around or playing golf.
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Speaker 1: He is being the inspector general for no money for
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Speaker 1: the city of Cincinnati. And man, Todd Zenzer, you have
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Speaker 1: done some great work exposing well, I think we can
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Speaker 1: boil it down what seems to be just batcrap insanity
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Speaker 1: from the council, the mayor, and the city manager and
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Speaker 1: those that surround them. Good morning, Todd Zenser, thanks for
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Speaker 1: coming in.
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Speaker 2: Good morning Brian.
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Speaker 1: Thank you. Yeah, I've been following your Citizen Watchdog. That's
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Speaker 1: the podcast. That's where you find Todd on Facebook, and
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Speaker 1: that's where you will see the accompanying exhibits that he
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Speaker 1: regularly gives to the City of Cincinnati and asks questions
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Speaker 1: about how can this be and never gets answers. But
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Speaker 1: the question themselves are always built on and predicated on facts,
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Speaker 1: Todd Unlike the random musings of politicians, you know, lying
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Speaker 1: to us, or you know, hiding the truth or not
1:27
Speaker 1: even addressing the truth. You always come armed and that
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Speaker 1: is a valuable thing you're doing for the city, even
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Speaker 1: though obviously some don't appreciate it. Let's talk about one
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Speaker 1: of your posts from the other day now. Apparently, as
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Speaker 1: a consequence, as you've explained to me off air, as
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Speaker 1: a consequence of the post sit and Feld pastor criminal
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Speaker 1: issues involving accepting payments in order to you know, get
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Speaker 1: positive votes, there was a reform, certain reforms that were
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Speaker 1: put in place, and from the reforms sprung this idea
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Speaker 1: that you flagged the other day about clients that are
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Speaker 1: paying money to be represented before the City of Cincinnati
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Speaker 1: to ensure that they continue to get money flowing to
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Speaker 1: their non governmental organizations.
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Speaker 2: That's a big part of it.
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Speaker 1: Yes, So the history is the city's been handing over
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Speaker 1: cash some random NGOs and they're running a risk of
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Speaker 1: having that cash stopped, so they go out and they
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Speaker 1: hire a law firm to go in front of the
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Speaker 1: city council. So the money trail you have obviously traced
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Speaker 1: is they get money from the taxpayers and then use
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Speaker 1: that money to hire a law firm to ensure that
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Speaker 1: they continue to get money from taxpayers. Right.
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Speaker 2: There are several of those cases that I saw on
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Speaker 2: the documents that were submitted to the city from this.
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Speaker 2: They call them legislative agents and their lobbyists lobbyists, right,
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Speaker 2: But this reform is actually I believe Steve Gooden was
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Speaker 2: the person that pushed this reform to have these legislative
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Speaker 2: agents disclose who they're working for and what issues they're
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Speaker 2: working on. And so there is a report online, but
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Speaker 2: it's not very good in terms of when they have
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Speaker 2: to report and when they drop off. So this particular
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Speaker 2: list was predicated on this legislative agent leaving her lobby
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Speaker 2: firm and I think she went out on her own
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Speaker 2: and as a result, she had to list all the
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Speaker 2: clients that she was representing as a termination.
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Speaker 1: Filing because it's an obligation as a consequence of the
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Speaker 1: reform law the year did. That's right now, is the
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Speaker 1: way the law or the change or the whatever provision
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Speaker 1: provides for this disclosure. Is it very clear, does it
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Speaker 1: clearly identify the amount, quality, level of information that they
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Speaker 1: must submit or is it kind of loosey goosey, because
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Speaker 1: what I hear from you is what's been reported is
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Speaker 1: kind of hazy, not real clear.
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Speaker 2: Right, it's not. There's two problems. Is the amount of
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Speaker 2: detail that's required, which is not very much. But the
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Speaker 2: other is the timing issue of when they have to
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Speaker 2: file and then when they have to update their filing
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Speaker 2: and things like that. And it's not just it's not
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Speaker 2: a very useful report.
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Speaker 1: Well, you've obviously identified areas that could be fixed. So
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Speaker 1: with a subsequent change, you can have a date deadline
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Speaker 1: by which you must submit maybe penalties or just the
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Speaker 1: fair to comply with the guidelines here in results in
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Speaker 1: your never being able to receive money from the City
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Speaker 1: of Cincinnati taxpayers. And we could go on and on
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Speaker 1: about filling in the holes, and that exists there. So
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Speaker 1: I guess the sort of rhetorical question, because I know
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Speaker 1: the answer is no, is do you think they'll do
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Speaker 1: anything about it?
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Speaker 2: Not this city council.
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Speaker 1: Todd. Do elections have consequences, So let's illustrate some of
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Speaker 1: the ones you're talking about. Do I mean, do we
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Speaker 1: know how much money these organizations have been receiving.
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Speaker 2: No, that's all you don't. That's all between the client
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Speaker 2: and the lobbyist.
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Speaker 1: Okay, And who is responsible ultimately for saying, okay, particular Angio,
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Speaker 1: we are going to select you to get the money.
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Speaker 1: Is that a since any council approved list or is
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Speaker 1: this something that share along the city manager or I
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Speaker 1: have to have provoll have the unique authority to do well.
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Speaker 2: Think I think that's the main question, Brian. I found
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Speaker 2: that I don't even I don't even know at this
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Speaker 2: point how many NGOs or nonprofits receive grants from the city.
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Speaker 2: I've counted just in one set of programs on the
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Speaker 2: general fund side, I counted two hundred and thirty five.
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Speaker 2: Now there are some overlap there, so it's probably closer
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Speaker 2: to two hundred. But that's just one set of programs.
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Speaker 2: There are thirty four different grant programs that the city
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Speaker 2: runs from both the general Fund and then what they
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Speaker 2: call the Community Development Grant program, which comes from from
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Speaker 2: the federal government. So they got local money, they got
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Speaker 2: state money, they got federal money, and they spend most
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Speaker 2: of the year distributing that money.
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Speaker 1: And the decision on whether or not to distribute is
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Speaker 1: not clearly known to you who has that authority. I mean,
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Speaker 1: I thought previously you had said that Mara have to
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Speaker 1: have parvol can randomly just pick and choose what you
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Speaker 1: wan is.
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Speaker 2: That's one of the programs. That's the leverage support program.
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Speaker 2: And if you look at the budget, you have to
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Speaker 2: wonder the way it works. The NGOs or the nonprofits
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Speaker 2: apply for the grant to the city manager. She comes
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Speaker 2: up with her recommendations, and then both the mayor and
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Speaker 2: the city council members can put make adjustments to the
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Speaker 2: city manager's amount. And what I found is that over
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Speaker 2: the last six years those adjustments by the mayor and
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Speaker 2: the city council costs the city an additional seven million dollars.
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Speaker 2: So the city manager comes in with her amount, and
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Speaker 2: then the mayor in the city council go through the
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Speaker 2: list and they say, well, I want to give that
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Speaker 2: one fifty thousand more dollars. We want to give this
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Speaker 2: one an additional one hundred thousand dollars, and then they
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Speaker 2: vote on they vote on it.
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Speaker 1: Okay, let me pause and ask you this question. How
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Speaker 1: do they determine the additional amount that they claim is necessary.
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Speaker 1: Is there any supporting documentation? I was specifically told that
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Speaker 1: for one of additional fifty thousand dollars, they weren't going
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Speaker 1: to be able accomplished X, Y, and Z goals, which
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Speaker 1: is what we want them to accomplish. Anything like that
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Speaker 1: go along with the additional ask No, so they pull
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Speaker 1: one out of their sphincter. They just reach around and
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Speaker 1: say one hundred thousand dollars.
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Speaker 2: Right, that's my concern and what I have I've told
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Speaker 2: I've told this to the council this year and last year.
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Speaker 2: The least you could do is when you submit your
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Speaker 2: list of adjustments, which is what they do. They submit
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Speaker 2: a list of adjustments that they want to make. Is
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Speaker 2: the least you could do is when you submit that list,
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Speaker 2: you could put a little attestation on the bottom. I
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Speaker 2: do not have a conflict of interest with any of
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Speaker 2: these organizations.
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Speaker 1: Okay, so fair enough, we know that the mayor himself
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Speaker 1: has a conflict of interest with organizations that are getting money.
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Speaker 1: Remind my listeners out there, and maybe some of the
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Speaker 1: council members might have people listening on their behalf. That
8:19
Speaker 1: specific point that you had previously brought up.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I've actually gone down and asked the mayor
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Speaker 2: during public comments, this shouldn't you shouldn't do this. But
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Speaker 2: I don't think anything's changed, and I brought it up
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Speaker 2: again at a budget hearing this year. Is that I found,
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Speaker 2: just by chance that the mayor sits on the board
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Speaker 2: of directors of an outfit called Centrifuse, which is a
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Speaker 2: entrepreneur support supporting organization. And they I'm sure they do
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Speaker 2: great work, but we've been giving them a quarter of
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Speaker 2: a million dollars every year. And that the normal everyday
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Speaker 2: citizen looks at that and says, you mean the CEO
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Speaker 2: of that group is earning three hundred thousand dollars a
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Speaker 2: year and the city has to give them a quarter
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Speaker 2: of a million dollars. And then there's another one called Compass.
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Speaker 2: I found. I found this is actually disclosed on his
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Speaker 2: financial statement or his financial disclosures. Yeah, of the mayor,
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Speaker 2: Centrifus is not declared, but he did declare that he
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Speaker 2: sits on the board of an outfit called Compass, which
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Speaker 2: deals with immigration advocacy and things like that.
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Speaker 1: And that's the one where the CEO is making three
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Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars. No, that's that's that's Centri Centrally. Okay,
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Speaker 1: see I'm already confused. Yes, mentioned a handful of these organizations.
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Speaker 1: So the ultimate point being, the mayor sits on boards
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Speaker 1: of directors on NGOs that receive city money, and he
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Speaker 1: has the authority to increase, decrease, or otherwise approve or
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Speaker 1: add an NGO to the list of group's receiving.
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Speaker 2: I haven't seen that yet, but they definitely can add money.
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Speaker 2: And one of the council members actually asked me the
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Speaker 2: other day, well, the mayor doesn't vote on the budget
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Speaker 2: or doesn't vote on ordinances, and I said, yeah, but
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Speaker 2: the charter says that the budget is a product of
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Speaker 2: both the mayor and the city.
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Speaker 1: Manager, and he also enjoys the ability to control funding levels.
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Speaker 1: So there is a whole lot of input from the mayor.
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Speaker 1: And even if he doesn't, I mean, if he's out
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Speaker 1: of the of the process to a certain degree, he's
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Speaker 1: the mayor of the city, and I think his word
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Speaker 1: and his suggestions carry a bit of weight. Todd Friday
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Speaker 1: Todd Zenz are our own citizen watchdog friend of everybody
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Speaker 1: in the City of Cincinnati, whether they realize it or
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Speaker 1: not identifying absolute unbelievable, Todd. I was just telling you off,
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Speaker 1: I really appreciate what you're doing. But every time you
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Speaker 1: and I talk and you talk about this stuff, it
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Speaker 1: is damn depressing.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's tough to it's it's tough to deal with.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, I imagine and over and over again that you're
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Speaker 1: always met with just a stone wall of non response. Basically,
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Speaker 1: you ask them for a lot of information, they just
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Speaker 1: look at you or don't even bother paying attention to
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Speaker 1: what you're asking and bring up important questions, they don't
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Speaker 1: answer them. I mean, what is the point of showing
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Speaker 1: up at a city council being and being able to
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Speaker 1: speak or ask questions for two minutes or whatever if
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Speaker 1: they're not going to respond to them. They're just going
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Speaker 1: to stare at their cell phones, which is what I
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Speaker 1: hear they do all the time.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, see it. It seems fruitless, But I use the
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Speaker 2: what I call the Wayne Gretzky approach. Wayne Gretzky is
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Speaker 2: is famous for saying, you miss one hundred percent of
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Speaker 2: the shots that you don't take, And so I just
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Speaker 2: go down and keep, you know, try to keep plugging away.
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Speaker 1: Well as I just sort of suggest it off air
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Speaker 1: that maybe just maybe you are doing the work for
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Speaker 1: some US prosecutor in gathering all this information and providing
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Speaker 1: the foundation for perhaps some sort of criminal investigation. Who knows,
12:07
Speaker 1: maybe there'll be a Grand Jarry indictment coming down for
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Speaker 1: all this thisany I don't want to call shenanigan. This
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Speaker 1: is just clearly on paper. How in the hell do
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Speaker 1: these organizations get the money? And how is it that
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Speaker 1: Mayor Purval can sit on a board of directors and
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Speaker 1: direct money to that organization? This is taxpayer dollars. Yeah,
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Speaker 1: I mean, what a obvious conflict of interest.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, and for somebody like me that sees that, I
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Speaker 2: mean spent my careers telling secretaries of cabinet departments that
12:37
Speaker 2: you set the tone at the top, you set the
12:40
Speaker 2: tone at the top for the rest of the organization,
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Speaker 2: and if you're not complying with the rules, the people
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Speaker 2: that work for you are not going to comply with.
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Speaker 1: Well maybe that's the point. Well, this is exactly what
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Speaker 1: he wants brought about. Yeah, it looks the systems loosey goosey.
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Speaker 1: We have all the opportunity of the world because there's
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Speaker 1: no ability to trace this start handing money out to
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Speaker 1: our favorite organizations. You know what's going to happ come
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Speaker 1: election day. All of them, all two hundred plus are
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Speaker 1: going to join together and support us this administration with
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Speaker 1: funding and with going door to door and handing out flyers.
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Speaker 1: They know their life depends upon it because I have
13:13
Speaker 1: to have Pervoll and Share along on my side. Are
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Speaker 1: going to be able to make sure that they continue
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Speaker 1: getting the money.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. For example, they couple of years ago they decided
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Speaker 2: to go with what they call a Human Services Fund
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Speaker 2: that they they delegate that to the United Way. Well,
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Speaker 2: and so you're already two steps into trying to find
13:31
Speaker 2: out what's going on. And that program over the last
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Speaker 2: six years has spent almost fifty million dollars. And this
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Speaker 2: past year or this year actually twenty six there are
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Speaker 2: seventy three grantees that are getting money through the United
13:46
Speaker 2: Way for various initiatives like violence, anti violence programs and
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Speaker 2: food programs. And it's all done through the United Way.
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Speaker 1: So money goes the United Way, which is a form
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Speaker 1: of cloaking the unother Way takes its sizeable slice off
14:04
Speaker 1: the top for its fat salaries and administrative budget, which
14:07
Speaker 1: is massive. So the remaining money, which is supposed to
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Speaker 1: go out into the world to do charitable good, goes
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Speaker 1: to an NGO, and that's where another CEO, the NGO
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Speaker 1: slices off its fat paying salary, and so a trickle
14:18
Speaker 1: comes in ultimately for whatever good this is supposed to
14:20
Speaker 1: be directed toward. And do we have any accounting as
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Speaker 1: to whether or not the organization, after this circuitous process,
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Speaker 1: gets the money that they actually did something positive with it. No,
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Speaker 1: that's nothing.
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Speaker 2: That is the big problem that I see with all
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Speaker 2: this money that goes out to all these nonprofits as
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Speaker 2: you really don't know not a thing what you're what
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Speaker 2: you're getting for your money, what the report is, and
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Speaker 2: if the if they're reporting it to the city, the
14:43
Speaker 2: city's not making it public. And you have asked for it, well,
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Speaker 2: I've asked for certain of them, not all of them.
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Speaker 2: But yeah, it's just it's just very frustrating to have
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Speaker 2: all of all of these layers and it's like a
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Speaker 2: ball of spaghetti trying to figure out, you know, who's
15:00
Speaker 2: getting what.
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Speaker 1: Well, did you ever think that it is ball spaghetti
15:03
Speaker 1: for the purposes that we're dealing with right now? So
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Speaker 1: you Todd Zenzer can't find out and they can continue
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Speaker 1: the well funding these organizations that are obviously so politically
15:13
Speaker 1: beneficial to them, but not those out in the city
15:16
Speaker 1: of Cincinnati who are feeling like they're nothing, their problems
15:19
Speaker 1: from not being addressed at all. We'll continue with Todd
15:21
Speaker 1: Zenzer and find out how in the hell is it
15:23
Speaker 1: they came up with eight million dollars for the Farmer
15:25
Speaker 1: Music Center. Yes, that's related to the controversies where we've
15:28
Speaker 1: already talked about this morning and we are still thirty
15:31
Speaker 1: plus million dollars in the hole with a budget.
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Speaker 2: Todd twenty nine point five.
15:35
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, eight million dollars. Hey, here you go, seven
15:39
Speaker 1: thirty here fifty about KCD talk station, Citizen Watchdog in Citia.
15:43
Speaker 1: His name's Todd Zenzer's definitely a few So if you're
15:45
Speaker 1: a resident of the city of Cincinna, you want to
15:47
Speaker 1: know what they're doing with the taxpayer dollars they're taken
15:50
Speaker 1: out of your check and how they're spending the money,
15:52
Speaker 1: maybe even some railroad money. Follow Todd Enzer on Facebook,
15:54
Speaker 1: listen to Citizen Watchdog the podcast, and of course listen
15:58
Speaker 1: to this podcast. Refer to your friends. They're not listening
16:00
Speaker 1: to Todd this morning, this has been thoroughly enlightening and frightening. So,
16:04
Speaker 1: moving away from the NGO's getting money, Todd's inser, how
16:06
Speaker 1: in the hell is it that the Farmer Music Senator project,
16:09
Speaker 1: which is that new CSO run music venue over where
16:13
Speaker 1: a sunlight pool used to be. So they take away
16:15
Speaker 1: our pool from us so building a brand new music
16:17
Speaker 1: venue even though there are two there already PNC and riverbend.
16:21
Speaker 1: That was always confusing to me. So whatever, But they
16:24
Speaker 1: didn't ask the City of Cincinnati for any money when
16:26
Speaker 1: they put put the project through, did they?
16:28
Speaker 2: I don't think they didn't, right.
16:29
Speaker 1: And then Long comes at some point in time and
16:33
Speaker 1: ask of the city council for eight million dollars, which
16:36
Speaker 1: the city council approved, arguing that the return on investment,
16:41
Speaker 1: the foot traffic and the money that will come into
16:44
Speaker 1: the area will benefit the City of Cincinnati the tune
16:46
Speaker 1: of like nine billion dollars or something. They always pull
16:48
Speaker 1: out a figure to justify the expenditure of money. But
16:52
Speaker 1: they gave the expenditure of money after already saying we
16:54
Speaker 1: are thirty million dollars in the hole from a budget standpoint,
16:58
Speaker 1: and since the project was being built. Anyway, We're going
17:02
Speaker 1: to get the return on investment whether or not the
17:04
Speaker 1: city gives them money. That was the dumbest thing I
17:06
Speaker 1: ever heard. Look at that one. What this project was online.
17:09
Speaker 1: It's getting pretty to be improved or complete. They never
17:12
Speaker 1: wanted any money from you, and you're going to get
17:13
Speaker 1: the benefit without having to pay a dime. That was
17:15
Speaker 1: a better scenario. Where did the money come from? Todd?
17:18
Speaker 2: Well, what's what's really unusual about this is that the
17:21
Speaker 2: money hasn't actually been allocated yet in the budget. What
17:25
Speaker 2: they did was they voted to require the city manager
17:32
Speaker 2: to put it in the budget and then it will
17:34
Speaker 2: be voted upon with the overall budget. So it still
17:37
Speaker 2: has not been approved.
17:39
Speaker 1: Is this an all or nothing approved budget? Can they
17:41
Speaker 1: line it them things out as a collective city council?
17:44
Speaker 1: If I get five people joining together saying no, no, no,
17:46
Speaker 1: we're not going to fund this and strike it out.
17:48
Speaker 2: They could Yeah, okay, they have you know, they have
17:50
Speaker 2: the ultimate vote on what's in the budget, and the
17:53
Speaker 2: budget is you know, the budget is a plan, that's
17:56
Speaker 2: all it is. And they they move money around all
17:59
Speaker 2: year long, every meeting, they're moving money around. But on Farmer. Yes,
18:04
Speaker 2: people have been asking if we're you know, in debt
18:07
Speaker 2: like this or have a projected deficit, how can we
18:10
Speaker 2: add eight million dollars to it. Well, their answer to that,
18:13
Speaker 2: I believe, is that, well, it's not going to come
18:16
Speaker 2: out of the general fund and so it won't impact
18:20
Speaker 2: the projected deficit. We're going to take this money out
18:22
Speaker 2: of our general capital fund.
18:25
Speaker 1: Okay, for the benefit of my listeners and me, explain
18:29
Speaker 1: the difference between the two and how they can say,
18:32
Speaker 1: we got a thirty million dollar hole in the budget,
18:34
Speaker 1: but we still have money in these capital budget. And
18:36
Speaker 1: the also the growing trend to do exactly what you
18:40
Speaker 1: just thumbnail explained to us. So what's what's this?
18:43
Speaker 2: So the general fund is very flexible and that's where
18:47
Speaker 2: most of the city spends its tax money. They have
18:51
Speaker 2: total discretion on how to do that. And then the
18:54
Speaker 2: capital budget is a distinct, separate budget and so that
19:01
Speaker 2: includes all of the the tax levy revenues and things
19:06
Speaker 2: like that, all the like the railroad money is in there,
19:10
Speaker 2: and the money in the capital budget has a lot
19:13
Speaker 2: of restrictions and specific uses that the city has to follow.
19:18
Speaker 2: But there is part of it that's called a general
19:21
Speaker 2: capital fund.
19:21
Speaker 1: So there's a slush fund. Within the slush fund, there
19:24
Speaker 1: is a subset of the capital budget. Is this separate
19:28
Speaker 1: sche right?
19:29
Speaker 2: Okay, So here's here's where the city the city is.
19:32
Speaker 2: Here's where the city is confusing things because like on
19:35
Speaker 2: Farm the Farmer Music Center, that is a plain and
19:38
Speaker 2: simple a subsidy. A subsidy is not a capital project.
19:44
Speaker 2: And so the city is now funding capital product funding
19:51
Speaker 2: projects as capital projects when really what they're doing is
19:55
Speaker 2: subsidizing somebody else's capital project. And what I what I've
20:00
Speaker 2: written into the city about is well, what do your
20:03
Speaker 2: auditors say about that? Because their auditors are going to
20:06
Speaker 2: come in at the end of the year. They're going
20:08
Speaker 2: to look at this and they're going to say, why
20:09
Speaker 2: did you classify that as a capital expense when it
20:13
Speaker 2: was a subsidy? And it really gets down to their
20:16
Speaker 2: financial statements.
20:18
Speaker 1: Okay, and at this point we don't know how that's
20:20
Speaker 1: going to turn out. No, you've raised the point issue
20:23
Speaker 1: ahead of time. This is clearly not a capital budget expenditure.
20:27
Speaker 2: Yes, and there are accounting rules that the city has
20:31
Speaker 2: to follow.
20:32
Speaker 1: The generally generally accept the accounting standards or something.
20:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, something like that. But there's specific standards for state
20:39
Speaker 2: and local governments.
20:41
Speaker 1: And.
20:42
Speaker 2: The rules say that this is a not a capital expense.
20:48
Speaker 2: The city has to gain some type of ownership interest
20:51
Speaker 2: or it has to be some kind of city owned
20:53
Speaker 2: asset that is, you know, benefiting from this payment or
20:57
Speaker 2: these moneys, and that's just not the case. How we
21:00
Speaker 2: find that on these projects that the city council wants
21:03
Speaker 2: to fund, or these NGOs that they want to fund,
21:06
Speaker 2: Like if NGO XYZ wants to build a brick and
21:10
Speaker 2: mortar office, the city will give them money, and they'll
21:15
Speaker 2: try to call that a capital expense for the city
21:18
Speaker 2: when the building is not a city building, not.
21:21
Speaker 1: A city building, and the city doesn't acquire any ownership
21:24
Speaker 1: interest by giving them money.
21:25
Speaker 2: That's right, So none of that is really capital expenses.
21:28
Speaker 2: The city got a briefing the other day from their
21:31
Speaker 2: advisor that advises them on like how to keep their
21:35
Speaker 2: credit rating, and two members of city council asks the advisors,
21:43
Speaker 2: can we fund economic development through the capital budget? These
21:52
Speaker 2: are they call these things economic development?
21:54
Speaker 1: Literally anything is it would fall into the umbrella of
21:57
Speaker 1: economic development.
21:58
Speaker 2: Right, just like all these programs they improvement in.
22:00
Speaker 1: A neighborhood that spurs economic development.
22:04
Speaker 2: It could be public safety. Everything's either public safety or
22:08
Speaker 2: economic development. But the advisor certainly did not say yes.
22:16
Speaker 2: He hedged, and you know they know where their bread
22:20
Speaker 2: is buttered. Uh. So they're supposed to come back at
22:23
Speaker 2: the end of May and address that question.
22:26
Speaker 1: Todd Zinzer will be there comping up with some forty
22:30
Speaker 1: two if you about KC City talxation enlightening, absolutely frightening
22:34
Speaker 1: and scary. Absolutely Todd Zinzer in studio, our citizen watchdog
22:38
Speaker 1: acting as the unofficial inspector generalist City of Cincinnati, pivoting
22:42
Speaker 1: over and this this talking about NGOs receiving cash from
22:47
Speaker 1: from the city taxpayers via the council and a city
22:51
Speaker 1: manager and after have par ball apparently by stuffing them
22:54
Speaker 1: into the capital budget to mask them. Uh. The agenda
22:58
Speaker 1: came out of the Budget, Finance and Government Committee meeting
23:00
Speaker 1: from the other day, just a couple of days ago,
23:02
Speaker 1: with memos from each member of council concerning their budget
23:05
Speaker 1: priorities for fiscal year twenty twenty seven. So pretty sizable
23:10
Speaker 1: list totally thirty four million, seven hundred and fifty six
23:14
Speaker 1: thousand dollars you've identified let's talk about some of these, like,
23:17
Speaker 1: for example, Seth Walsh has a ten point three five
23:21
Speaker 1: million dollar ask, followed actually seventeen million plus from jam
23:30
Speaker 1: Michelle lemon Kearny. Scotty Johnson's down for four point five million.
23:34
Speaker 1: Just let's look at these. Let's start with with with
23:36
Speaker 1: jam Mishell lemon Kearni. What is seventeen million plus dollars
23:40
Speaker 1: that she wants the taxpayers to pay for? What's that
23:43
Speaker 1: going for? Todd?
23:44
Speaker 2: Well, there's a whole there's a whole list of them, Brian.
23:47
Speaker 1: Well, give me a big one, the biggest. I know
23:49
Speaker 1: which one you're gonna give you. It's I asked it god.
23:51
Speaker 2: The biggest one is something that she's calling the Cincinnati
23:55
Speaker 2: Real Estate Reparations Program, and it's for things like home repairs,
24:03
Speaker 2: home ownership, residential and commercial purchasing. Help the link win
24:08
Speaker 2: property taxes. So this is the second.
24:12
Speaker 1: I mean.
24:14
Speaker 2: She has introduced something previously that she used the term reparations.
24:18
Speaker 2: It was actually a precursor to this one. But what
24:23
Speaker 2: they will do is they'll set up a program. It'll
24:25
Speaker 2: be income based and it may be targeting. They're rising
24:31
Speaker 2: fifteen neighborhoods. That's another invention of hers and we just
24:37
Speaker 2: don't know what that looks like right now. But she
24:39
Speaker 2: wants to put five million dollars in the budget to
24:41
Speaker 2: fund this program and then they'll build the program out
24:44
Speaker 2: from that.
24:45
Speaker 1: Well, I guess since the word reparation is on it,
24:48
Speaker 1: usually that is allegedly designed to address the sins of
24:51
Speaker 1: the historical ill treatment of the black community. Is this
24:55
Speaker 1: money allocated only to people seeking this assistance for members
25:00
Speaker 1: of the black community. So if like an Asian guy
25:03
Speaker 1: showed up, or maybe like an Irish person that used
25:06
Speaker 1: to get trumped on and their rights used to be
25:07
Speaker 1: stepped on as well, could they apply or do you
25:10
Speaker 1: think that's outside of the realm.
25:11
Speaker 2: Well, they tried to. They tried to set up a
25:14
Speaker 2: Rising fifteen fund for the railroad money, where a certain
25:18
Speaker 2: amount of the railroad money would go to the rising
25:21
Speaker 2: fifteen neighborhoods.
25:23
Speaker 1: In pre existing infrastructure Todd And when I.
25:27
Speaker 2: When I looked at the support for that program, they
25:32
Speaker 2: listed the economic analysis that supported that program. They listed
25:36
Speaker 2: two factors. One was race and one was income. And
25:41
Speaker 2: I wrote, and I said, I don't think it's appropriate
25:43
Speaker 2: to make government funding decisions based on race.
25:46
Speaker 1: You can't. There's already been several recent cases that have
25:49
Speaker 1: addressed that outright, Oh you can't.
25:50
Speaker 2: So that never passed. They never came back and voted
25:54
Speaker 2: in that. So since then they have tried to come
25:57
Speaker 2: up with some other programs like that, and I think
26:00
Speaker 2: they're wise enough now to not base everything on race.
26:04
Speaker 2: So they've got like the big one is an income factor.
26:07
Speaker 1: Well, I guess there's what's on paper, and then there's
26:10
Speaker 1: how it's done in execution.
26:12
Speaker 2: Yes, the same thing with the budget. I mean they like,
26:15
Speaker 2: designating something a capital expense in the budget does not
26:18
Speaker 2: mean it's a capital expense. No, it does your financial statement.
26:21
Speaker 1: And trying to put in the railroad budget doesn't mean
26:23
Speaker 1: it is an existing infrastructure project, which clearly a reparations program.
26:27
Speaker 2: Is not right and would set up an entirely separate,
26:31
Speaker 2: different oversight problem. And I mean the railroad money's a
26:36
Speaker 2: mess to begin with.
26:37
Speaker 1: You. Yeah, oh, well, we've got one more with Todd
26:41
Speaker 1: Zenzer before we get to Jack Evan's doing a special
26:44
Speaker 1: Big Picture for a Friday Jackie on after the top
26:46
Speaker 1: of the UR News, and we'll get to one of
26:48
Speaker 1: the other asks from the various council members and the
26:51
Speaker 1: agenda that we just talked about, the Seth Walsh ask
26:54
Speaker 1: of ten million dollars. Seventh, if you want, if you've
26:57
Speaker 1: about KC Detalxtation, Happy Friday, crime stopper bag Guy the
27:01
Speaker 1: Week normally hear from Officer Tiviny Greens not on the phone,
27:03
Speaker 1: but we still have a bad guy of the Week
27:05
Speaker 1: there on the blog. Paid fifty five krseea dot com.
27:07
Speaker 1: Darwin Adams. Two counts of felony strangulation, felony burglary, two
27:12
Speaker 1: counts of misdemeanor domestic violence, misdemeanor telecommunications harassment, great physical
27:17
Speaker 1: altercation happened. He grabbed the victim by the throat, choked him,
27:20
Speaker 1: made it difficult for the victim to breathe anyway. He's
27:22
Speaker 1: described as a blackmail forty four five eleven, one sixty
27:25
Speaker 1: five history of drug and trafficking, possession, weapons offenses. Last
27:29
Speaker 1: known to live on Vassar Court in Wenton Hills. Crime
27:33
Speaker 1: stoppers five one, three, three, five, two thirty forty All
27:35
Speaker 1: the information you remain anonymous, eligible for a cash reward.
27:38
Speaker 1: It's right there a fifty five car see dot com
27:40
Speaker 1: right here in front of me. Todd Zinzer, citizen watchdog.
27:42
Speaker 1: We're going through some of the Budget and Finance Committee
27:45
Speaker 1: asks and he calls some earmarks, which he hopes really
27:48
Speaker 1: irks the city. Council members Albie and James didn't ask
27:52
Speaker 1: for anything. Nolan Owens didn't have anything on their list.
27:55
Speaker 1: But the big ones are of course Jammas show lemon
27:57
Speaker 1: Kearney's seventeen point one million dollars, he got, Scottie Johnson
28:01
Speaker 1: with five point three million, two point six for Jeffreys,
28:05
Speaker 1: and Walsh's a standout of ten point three to five million.
28:08
Speaker 1: Now the Farmer Music Center eight million dollars. That was
28:13
Speaker 1: council Member Albi's idea, right.
28:15
Speaker 2: Well, she was the manager of the resolution, yes, and she.
28:18
Speaker 1: Passed the resolution saying we're going to give eight million dollars.
28:22
Speaker 1: But hers is at zero. Isn't this where the eight
28:24
Speaker 1: million dollars would have showed up.
28:27
Speaker 2: That's what I looked for, is like, what is she
28:29
Speaker 2: going to say about the Farmer Music Center? Is this
28:31
Speaker 2: a priority of hers? So when I looked at her memo,
28:35
Speaker 2: it was more of a political The ones that say
28:38
Speaker 2: zero just didn't specify dollar amounts and recipients.
28:41
Speaker 1: They did express preferences for policies. Or for allocations.
28:45
Speaker 2: For example, in miss Albi's memo with respect to Farmer,
28:49
Speaker 2: all she said was continue to support the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
28:54
Speaker 2: All right, so that's the ode word for.
28:56
Speaker 1: Farm Farmer Music Center. But the allocation ass this earmark
29:00
Speaker 1: came out from Seth Walsh. Yeah.
29:02
Speaker 2: Well, it was interesting because during the meeting when they
29:06
Speaker 2: were debating the resolution, and a debate in city council
29:09
Speaker 2: is a rare thing, so I was happy to see it.
29:14
Speaker 2: The two members of council who were pushing the eight
29:17
Speaker 2: million dollars the hardest were Seth Walsh and Mika Owens,
29:22
Speaker 2: And as coincidence would have it, they are both running
29:26
Speaker 2: for office this year. Seth Walsh is running for state
29:28
Speaker 2: Treasurer and Mika Owens is in a primary for the
29:32
Speaker 2: County Commission. Oh my, and they're the ones pushing the
29:36
Speaker 2: eight million.
29:37
Speaker 1: Well, and you mentioned County Commission. We have Signal ninety
29:41
Speaker 1: nine following criminal justice along the same lines as you
29:44
Speaker 1: are following city's City Council. No one is doing this
29:47
Speaker 1: for the County Aunty Commissioner budget. So if there's someone
29:50
Speaker 1: out there that feels they have the ability to capacity,
29:52
Speaker 1: like Todd Zinzer and Signal ninety nine. They deal with
29:54
Speaker 1: county issues. The jail is one of the biggest expenditures
29:58
Speaker 1: in the funding of the Sheriff's department. I know, I
30:00
Speaker 1: know you've got some concerns about those moneies. Yes, so
30:03
Speaker 1: if you're interested in a job, we could use you
30:05
Speaker 1: out there. And again, going back to the memos and
30:08
Speaker 1: the earmarks, you said, not one of the memos prepared
30:13
Speaker 1: by each of the council members even mentions the hole,
30:16
Speaker 1: the thirty roughly thirty million dollar budget hole. Not a mention.
30:19
Speaker 2: Nope. The closest they come is to say, maintain the program.
30:24
Speaker 2: May maintain the program. I don't think they use the
30:27
Speaker 2: word at current levels. But they're not asking for more
30:31
Speaker 2: money for that program. They just want to continue the program.
30:33
Speaker 1: And only in government is leaving the things status quo
30:36
Speaker 1: even considered a cut because what about inflation is actually
30:40
Speaker 1: less money than Yeah, okay, shut up. Well, and Christopher
30:43
Speaker 1: Smithlman is listening watch the debt rating, says christ And
30:46
Speaker 1: you alluded to that earlier.
30:47
Speaker 2: Right, So these actually was Jeffreys and Cramerdin asked the
30:52
Speaker 2: advisor it was a they have important company as the
30:55
Speaker 2: advisor and they've been using them for a long time now,
30:58
Speaker 2: specifically as can we use the capital funds for economic
31:06
Speaker 2: development purposes? Huh And the answer was not a resounding yes.
31:11
Speaker 2: He didn't say the advisor didn't say no, but he
31:13
Speaker 2: didn't say yes. And so that's going to be the
31:16
Speaker 2: issue when part two of their presentation, which is supposed
31:20
Speaker 2: to be coming at the end of May.
31:23
Speaker 1: Wow, well, I know my popcorn will be out waiting
31:26
Speaker 1: for your next analysis about generally Shenanigan's going on in
31:29
Speaker 1: the city budgeting process, among anything else, everything else. Todd Zenzer,
31:32
Speaker 1: you're doing great work. Whether again they like it or not,
31:36
Speaker 1: you're doing great work for the City of Cincinnati. I
31:38
Speaker 1: appreciate it. I know my listeners do as well. And
31:40
Speaker 1: thank you for spending time here this morning. It's been fantastic,
31:42
Speaker 1: my friend. Thank you, Brian, certainly enlightening. And this is
31:46
Speaker 1: the city of Cincinnati. I mean, you know, Dan, Well,
31:49
Speaker 1: we're finding out all kinds of fraud, wasted abuse in
31:51
Speaker 1: the federal government level. It's like the City of Cincinnati
31:54
Speaker 1: on steroids, geometrically larger.
31:57
Speaker 2: Right. See, At the federal level, the Congress always use
32:02
Speaker 2: a budget gimmick that they use is they identify a
32:05
Speaker 2: certain dollar amount and say that the igs are going
32:08
Speaker 2: to find all of this and we're going to save
32:09
Speaker 2: this much money through oversight. The city can't even say
32:13
Speaker 2: that because they have no oversight capacity. They can't even
32:16
Speaker 2: use that gimmick.
32:17
Speaker 1: Higher todds inzer Folks stick around, Jack ADDM with a
32:20
Speaker 1: special Big Picture coming up after the top of the
32:23
Speaker 1: hour news, followed by well Jack Windsor from the hot
32:26
Speaker 1: Press never Ad at eight thirty. I hope you can
32:27
Speaker 1: stick around.