Latest / Brian Thomas / Cory Bowman: Finding solutions to the problems downtown

Transcript

Cory Bowman: Finding solutions to the problems downtown · Brian Thomas

0:00
Speaker 1: 605, coming up at 606 at 55 KRC Detox Station.
0:04
Speaker 1: Ryan Thomas here. Glad to be here. Glad to see
0:07
Speaker 1: Joe Strzok, where he belongs, executive producer. And I'm glad
0:09
Speaker 1: to see Corey Bowman's on the phone this morning. Former
0:11
Speaker 1: mayoral candidate Corey Bowman, business owner in the city of
0:13
Speaker 1: Cincinnati and pastor of a church in the city of Cincinnati. Corey,
0:17
Speaker 1: great to have you back on the show. How have
0:18
Speaker 1: you been, man?
0:20
Speaker 2: Been great. How are you doing, sir?
0:22
Speaker 1: I am fine, I can report. And so, state of
0:25
Speaker 1: the city, what's your impression on how things are going
0:27
Speaker 1: in downtown Cincinnati? I'm going to have to address... I'll
0:30
Speaker 1: get your reaction on this proposal from city council because
0:32
Speaker 1: apparently people are stealing guns from cars. And so the
0:35
Speaker 1: city wants to impose an obligation on property, on parking
0:38
Speaker 1: lots and garage owners to hire a 24-7 security guard
0:43
Speaker 1: or install cameras. I'm just laughing out loud over this.
0:47
Speaker 1: But generally speaking, before we get into that specific issue,
0:51
Speaker 1: how are things going in your particular neighborhood? I know
0:53
Speaker 1: you've had a lot of problems with crime. Um, I
0:56
Speaker 1: flock cameras have become an issue. So we're moving toward
0:58
Speaker 1: requiring cameras from private businesses and, and eliminating the public
1:02
Speaker 1: owned for controlled flock cameras. So a lot to unpackage here, Corey,
1:06
Speaker 1: but you're living in the middle of it all. How
1:08
Speaker 1: are things in your neighborhood?
1:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, we're, um, as a pastor of the river church, Cincinnati,
1:16
Speaker 2: and as co-owner of King's arms coffee shop, we're in
1:19
Speaker 2: the West end for anybody that doesn't know we're right
1:21
Speaker 2: by the soccer stadium. Um, And, you know, we're kind
1:25
Speaker 2: of in between where the Cincinnati Children's Museum is and
1:29
Speaker 2: Central Parkway. So in our area, we've got about 67,000 residents.
1:33
Speaker 2: A lot of the issues that you see in the city,
1:36
Speaker 2: a lot of them are highlighted in the area that
1:38
Speaker 2: we're in. We experienced the crime. We experienced a lot
1:41
Speaker 2: of failed policies of the city. That's actually what led
1:44
Speaker 2: us to run for mayor of Cincinnati to begin with.
1:48
Speaker 2: I would say that. In some aspects, you kind of
1:51
Speaker 2: feel like it's Groundhog Day. We kind of experience the
1:53
Speaker 2: same stuff over and over every year about the same
1:57
Speaker 2: time when it comes to the shootings. And then at
1:59
Speaker 2: the same time, you still feel like it's Groundhog Day
2:03
Speaker 2: when it comes to the solutions. You just mentioned it
2:07
Speaker 2: right there when it came to the parking garage. One
2:10
Speaker 2: of my good friends actually is the owner of a
2:12
Speaker 2: parking garage, and we found out about this actually at
2:15
Speaker 2: the beginning of summer. he saw the gentleman that was
2:20
Speaker 2: maybe the proposed 24 hour surveillance guy that was walking around.
2:24
Speaker 2: And the guy just knew right off the bat that
2:27
Speaker 2: they were going to try to demonize the parking lot owners.
2:30
Speaker 2: One thing I will say is that in the city
2:33
Speaker 2: of Cincinnati, a lot of times they put the blame
2:36
Speaker 2: on the people that are the, least likely to be
2:40
Speaker 2: able to defend themselves. And a lot of times that
2:42
Speaker 2: has to do with the business owners. So we're seeing
2:45
Speaker 2: that with local business owners when it comes to the
2:48
Speaker 2: shootings or violence that's happening, instead of putting the blame
2:52
Speaker 2: or putting the solution on the city, they put on
2:55
Speaker 2: the business owners and say, hey, we're going to find you,
2:57
Speaker 2: we're going to dock you if anything happens around your area. Well,
3:01
Speaker 2: that's happening in the parking garages as well. They're trying
3:04
Speaker 2: to blame these guns for growing feet and then just
3:07
Speaker 2: walking out of the car as and causing violence in
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Speaker 2: our city, but we all know that's the individual. It's
3:13
Speaker 2: the criminals on the streets that are causing the crimes,
3:16
Speaker 2: and that's what we need to focus on when it
3:18
Speaker 2: comes to law enforcement and the public safety budget.
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Speaker 1: Perhaps, I don't know, treating crime as it should be
3:24
Speaker 1: treated and dealing with it harshly in the court system.
3:27
Speaker 1: If people are advised in advance by way of prior prosecutions,
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Speaker 1: and strict law enforcement, then they might be less inclined
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Speaker 1: to rip people off and break into cars and steal guns.
3:39
Speaker 1: But sadly, we don't have a justice system that cares
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Speaker 1: a whit about prosecuting criminals. We let them out. The
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Speaker 1: revolving door of the justice system. So I would argue
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Speaker 1: that advocating for harsher criminal penalties would do a whole
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Speaker 1: lot more to stop this crime on the streets of
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Speaker 1: Cincinnati than while requiring private garage owners to install cameras
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Speaker 1: or hire personnel.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, this is what we saw last year, and
4:03
Speaker 2: these are issues that we tried to bring out during
4:06
Speaker 2: the mayoral election, and it's the same thing. The election
4:11
Speaker 2: that we're about to see in November, I keep telling
4:13
Speaker 2: people because obviously there's the state and the federal elections,
4:16
Speaker 2: but in Cincinnati, the most important elections that we have
4:19
Speaker 2: are the judicial candidates that are on the ballot. We've
4:23
Speaker 2: got great judges like Chris McDowell. Betsy Sunderman, Leah Dinkellocher.
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Speaker 2: But then also you have one of the biggest issues
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Speaker 2: in our city is youth violence. Yes. And we have
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Speaker 2: a juvenile court judge that's on the ballot, and it's
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Speaker 2: Susan Lukin. And I would encourage everybody that's listening, you've
4:43
Speaker 2: got to go out and vote this November or even
4:45
Speaker 2: in the early voting to see a change in the
4:48
Speaker 2: juvenile system. Because I've talked to the judges from behind
4:51
Speaker 2: the scenes, and Chris McDowell was one of them. He
4:54
Speaker 2: said that Whenever the people go through the actual judicial
4:59
Speaker 2: system for the first time as an 18-year-old, and let's
5:03
Speaker 2: say they've gone through the system when they were in
5:05
Speaker 2: their teens, they are shocked whenever they get any type
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Speaker 2: of conviction when they're 18 because that's not what they
5:12
Speaker 2: experienced when they were in the youth. What we're seeing
5:15
Speaker 2: is that there's a difference between restorative justice and preventative justice.
5:20
Speaker 2: And that's the two sides of the coin when it
5:22
Speaker 2: comes to conservative judges that are going to hold criminals
5:26
Speaker 2: accountable versus ones that are going to just try to
5:29
Speaker 2: be a babysitter to the city, try to be the
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Speaker 2: mom and dad to the city and take the place
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Speaker 2: of what really the family should be doing in the
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Speaker 2: court system.
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Speaker 1: Well, that's kind of an odd way of looking at it.
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Speaker 1: If they're going to be the family for the young
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Speaker 1: people committing acts of violence, they should be harsh on
5:43
Speaker 1: them because, you know, that's what moms and dads typically do.
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Speaker 1: You know, if you do anything wrong in my household
5:49
Speaker 1: growing up, you're likely going to be punished in some way,
5:51
Speaker 1: maybe a spanking, but discipline was definitely the order of
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Speaker 1: the day. And that was to prevent you from doing
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Speaker 1: something stupid again. So treating them soft on crime is
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Speaker 1: the exact opposite of what these young people need. They
6:02
Speaker 1: apparently are lacking discipline at home. They don't have any
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Speaker 1: ethics or morals are willing to steal from people or
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Speaker 1: commit acts of violence. Somebody has got to be a
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Speaker 1: strong parent in the room. And if it's the justice system,
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Speaker 1: they haven't gotten the memo.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, I'll say this too. Um, I'm not talking
6:17
Speaker 2: from the outside in the suburbs. We are actively involved
6:20
Speaker 2: in the city. And one thing, if you talk to
6:22
Speaker 2: anybody in the community, if you talk to the single
6:24
Speaker 2: moms or the families that live in these downtown areas,
6:28
Speaker 2: they want justice the same. They want the criminals on
6:30
Speaker 2: the street. You know, there's this mentality, especially on the
6:34
Speaker 2: outskirts of the city or between a lot of other people,
6:37
Speaker 2: that the entire community is at fault or the entire
6:41
Speaker 2: community is that way. But let's be real. The crime
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Speaker 2: that's happening is being done by a very small percentage
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Speaker 2: of people. And in a city the size of Cincinnati,
6:52
Speaker 2: you're talking about 300 to 500 people. The majority of
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Speaker 2: crime that's being done is being done by repeat offenders
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Speaker 2: that have gone through the system, some of them 18,
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Speaker 2: 19 times when it comes to arrests and convictions and
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Speaker 2: warrants or whatever that might be, some of them. are
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Speaker 2: there's active warrants on them that they aren't being pursued.
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Speaker 2: Some of them are breaking parole. But these are done
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Speaker 2: by a very small percentage of people. And it's wreaking
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Speaker 2: havoc on the entire city. And the people in the community,
7:21
Speaker 2: those single moms I talk to on a daily basis,
7:24
Speaker 2: the people that are living in the inner city, They
7:27
Speaker 2: want justice. They want crime taken care of. They're the
7:30
Speaker 2: ones that say, no, bring the cops. We want a
7:32
Speaker 2: relationship with the cops. We want them to protect and
7:35
Speaker 2: serve our city, but we want these criminals off the
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Speaker 2: street because we're tired of our children not feeling safe
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Speaker 2: on the street just the same.
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Speaker 1: Well, I guess my question is, do you sense that
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Speaker 1: that perception, we need more police, it makes perfect sense
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Speaker 1: to me. If you're in a crime-ridden neighborhood, you would
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Speaker 1: want more police officers. That's your place. That's where you live.
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Speaker 1: Do you get a sense that it's a majority of
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Speaker 1: people that feel that way and somehow this weird, woke,
8:00
Speaker 1: corrupt minority has taken over the law enforcement attitudes and
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Speaker 1: believes this soft on crime approach is what's good for
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Speaker 1: everybody in downtown?
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Speaker 2: Well, I think that mentality definitely has been more prevalent.
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Speaker 2: But when we ask for more police, one thing I'm
8:16
Speaker 2: seeing on social media is that people, whenever you talk
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Speaker 2: about law enforcement and more police, a lot of people
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Speaker 2: will claim that, oh, you're just wanting a military state.
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Speaker 2: You're just wanting the police to run the street. Let's
8:28
Speaker 2: look at the current state of the police department. Right now,
8:31
Speaker 2: what we have is complement levels, which is the debt.
8:35
Speaker 2: So every police force, you have a suggested number. of
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Speaker 2: police officers that is needed bare minimum to take care
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Speaker 2: of the city's crime. Right now, we're 20% below that
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Speaker 2: line right now. And the way that I've been talking
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Speaker 2: with some police officers, when they see all the drama
8:54
Speaker 2: that's happening behind the scenes, a lot of them are
8:57
Speaker 2: entering into retirement over the next few years. And there's
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Speaker 2: no guarantee that they're going to stay on the force
9:02
Speaker 2: like many police officers have done in the past. So
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Speaker 2: you're talking about potentially 20 to 30 percent understaffed police
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Speaker 2: force in a major city in America. So we're not
9:13
Speaker 2: necessarily asking for an overabundance of police force. We're just
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Speaker 2: asking for at least the compliment levels to be up.
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Speaker 2: We're just asking for at least the number of employees
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Speaker 2: that's recommended to take care of our city to be
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Speaker 2: up there. And that's not what's happening. There's many reasons
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Speaker 2: why those compliment levels aren't up. whether it be because
9:32
Speaker 2: of lack of lateral hiring initiatives, whether it be lack
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Speaker 2: of morale, people just aren't applying like they should, people
9:40
Speaker 2: entering into retirement. But that's what we're asking for is
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Speaker 2: a culture shift to happen in the police department to
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Speaker 2: where people are wanting to work for the Cincinnati Police
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Speaker 2: Department and that we bring those compliment levels up to
9:52
Speaker 2: at least to where we're not 20 to 30 percent understaffed.
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Speaker 1: Well, we'll pause on that note. We'll bring cory bowman
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Speaker 1: back up more to talk to him about but i
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Speaker 1: i'm thinking maybe perhaps one of the reasons we're having
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Speaker 1: such a difficult time luring police officers into the city
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Speaker 1: of cincinnati lateral or new recruits um we may have
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Speaker 1: a leadership problem if you don't have support for the
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Speaker 1: police department coming from leadership not a good sign to
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Speaker 1: those who might want to protect and serve within the
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Speaker 1: city limits more with cory bowman at sickly talk station
10:18
Speaker 1: 620 here, 55KRCD Talk Station, Brian Thomas with Corey Bowman,
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Speaker 1: former mayoral candidate, business owner, King's Arms Coffee. Get yourself
10:27
Speaker 1: down there and get yourself a real good cup of
10:28
Speaker 1: joe and visit the east side of Cincinnati, King's Arms
10:32
Speaker 1: Coffee right there at Baymiller and York Street. So close
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Speaker 1: to TQL Stadium. You think that neighborhood would be really
10:38
Speaker 1: solid and a very safe place to live? Corey, I
10:40
Speaker 1: guess maybe it's not the case, but does have massive potential.
10:43
Speaker 1: Is that why you chose to establish your business and
10:45
Speaker 1: church there on that side of town?
10:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, we love every part of Cincinnati, but
10:51
Speaker 2: there's something extremely special about the West End. I really
10:55
Speaker 2: believe that it has, I mean, if you come to
10:57
Speaker 2: the neighborhood, you see the historic buildings, the character behind it,
11:01
Speaker 2: and even the community. The community is just such an
11:04
Speaker 2: incredible tight-knit community that really wants to see change, that
11:08
Speaker 2: really wants to see improvement. And you mentioned about the
11:12
Speaker 2: safety of the neighborhood. I think it's actually valid to
11:15
Speaker 2: mention that ever since we started our coffee shop, we
11:19
Speaker 2: haven't been broken into one time in almost four years.
11:23
Speaker 2: And you see many businesses downtown that experience issues where
11:28
Speaker 2: windows are broken or broken into at least one time.
11:31
Speaker 2: We haven't experienced that one time. And I tell people,
11:33
Speaker 2: It's not necessarily because we've got some high-tech security system
11:37
Speaker 2: with sharks with lasers on their head outside. It's because
11:42
Speaker 2: the community actually wants us to be there and thrive.
11:45
Speaker 2: And I say that if you start businesses in these areas,
11:48
Speaker 2: if you want to see change, you've got to see development.
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Speaker 2: You've got to see proper things take place. And also,
11:55
Speaker 2: we see the police regularly patrol our area just because
11:59
Speaker 2: they want to keep the area with the coffee shop safe.
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Speaker 1: Well, and talk about it. I remember back in the
12:05
Speaker 1: 80s when I used to work at the Hamilton County Courthouse,
12:08
Speaker 1: Dayton Street just fascinated me because those old millionaire row
12:12
Speaker 1: homes are still intact. They are still as gorgeous as hell. And,
12:16
Speaker 1: you know, comparatively affordable, obviously, because the neighborhood is a
12:20
Speaker 1: little bit more dicey from a crime perspective. But holy cow.
12:23
Speaker 1: I mean, the potential still exists for that. The investment
12:26
Speaker 1: opportunity is still there. I mean, are there still a
12:28
Speaker 1: whole lot of those homes available for purchase? Because I
12:31
Speaker 1: don't know why, you know, you get Over the Rhine
12:34
Speaker 1: being developed, and that was all the emphasis there after
12:36
Speaker 1: Washington Park got rehabbed. And I get it, potential and
12:39
Speaker 1: opportunity there as well, but sort of a missed opportunity
12:42
Speaker 1: like a few blocks away in your neighborhood.
12:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's literally Billionaire's Road, Dayton Street is one block away,
12:50
Speaker 2: and we get customers that live on Dayton Street every
12:53
Speaker 2: day that come into our shop for their morning cup
12:55
Speaker 2: of coffee. And there's a lot of development, a lot
12:58
Speaker 2: of rehab that's taking place on a couple of homes
13:01
Speaker 2: on the street. But then there's a lot of just
13:04
Speaker 2: timeless homes there that have had people living there for decades.
13:09
Speaker 2: You know, there's actually many movies that have been filmed
13:13
Speaker 2: on Dayton Street and in the area as well. So
13:16
Speaker 2: it is a very amazing community to be a part of.
13:19
Speaker 2: But I will say this, that when I speak to
13:21
Speaker 2: those residents, people on both sides of the aisle politically say,
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Speaker 2: They want change because they see the potential. Every new
13:28
Speaker 2: person that we get in the coffee shop, it's so funny,
13:32
Speaker 2: we get visitors every week that come in because they're
13:34
Speaker 2: either visiting the Children's Museum or going to a game.
13:38
Speaker 2: And they Google us and they find us and they say,
13:40
Speaker 2: what's this neighborhood like? Is it up and coming? And
13:43
Speaker 2: I just say, you know, it's a running joke. It's
13:45
Speaker 2: been up and coming for the last 50 years. Yeah.
13:49
Speaker 2: Just because you see development, but it operates a little
13:52
Speaker 2: bit slower than a lot of people would like. But
13:55
Speaker 2: a lot of that has to do with either the
13:56
Speaker 2: policies that we're encountering or just the perception of how
14:01
Speaker 2: people view the neighborhood.
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Speaker 1: Well, do you feel left out or ignored? Again, I'll
14:05
Speaker 1: contrast your neighborhood and all of the potential it obviously
14:09
Speaker 1: has versus over the Rhine and the Central Business District downtown,
14:14
Speaker 1: which seems to get the lion's share of the allocation
14:16
Speaker 1: of the limited police force we have. Do I have
14:18
Speaker 1: a proper understanding of that?
14:21
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, a lot of it has to do with stakeholders.
14:24
Speaker 2: You know, when you hear the mayor get up and
14:26
Speaker 2: speak about, you know, whether it be if there's a
14:29
Speaker 2: shooting that happened in Fountain Square or if there is
14:31
Speaker 2: a shooting that would happen in OTR, the press conference
14:35
Speaker 2: is always that we are there for our stakeholders. We
14:37
Speaker 2: all need to come together and find solutions for that.
14:40
Speaker 2: What he's talking about is that in those areas, you've
14:42
Speaker 2: had a concentrated conversation. investment. You've had a lot of
14:46
Speaker 2: people get together and get on board to be able
14:49
Speaker 2: to invest in the community. And also that includes government subsidies, grants,
14:53
Speaker 2: tax abatements, all sorts of stuff. It's like there's this
14:56
Speaker 2: collective effort to be able to revitalize the neighborhood. Now
15:00
Speaker 2: in the West End, the main thing that we get
15:04
Speaker 2: a collective effort on is putting more affordable housing in
15:07
Speaker 2: the West. Even today, you're seeing cranes that are on
15:12
Speaker 2: the West and they're building more government subsidized housing. Now,
15:16
Speaker 2: here's the thing. When it comes to affordable housing, government
15:19
Speaker 2: subsidized housing, I'm kind of an outlier, I feel like,
15:22
Speaker 2: in my own party because I believe that some of
15:24
Speaker 2: these benefits and these subsidies need to exist because I
15:28
Speaker 2: see people that are hurting, that are in need. But
15:32
Speaker 2: it needs to be a hand up, not a hand out.
15:35
Speaker 2: And in our current neighborhood, you're looking at roughly over
15:39
Speaker 2: 60 percent, at least, if not more, of government subsidized housing.
15:44
Speaker 2: What that is, is that that's concentrated poverty. Concentrated poverty
15:48
Speaker 2: will always lead to concentrated crime, no matter how you
15:51
Speaker 2: see it. And who really suffers is the families and
15:54
Speaker 2: communities that are just trying to get a leg up
15:57
Speaker 2: by utilizing this housing for a temporary time. At least
16:00
Speaker 2: you would hope so.
16:02
Speaker 1: We'll bring Corey Bowman back, talk a little bit more. And, again,
16:04
Speaker 1: I'm going to have to ask you about KRC, the
16:07
Speaker 1: talk station. It is 631, 55 KRC, the talk station.
16:14
Speaker 1: Brian Thomas talking with Corey Bowman, former mayoral candidate, but
16:17
Speaker 1: established businessman and resident. I think I inadvertently said East
16:21
Speaker 1: End a moment ago, and it's West End because we
16:23
Speaker 1: talked about his neighborhood, his coffee shop in King's Arms.
16:26
Speaker 1: If you're over in the neighborhood close to TQL Stadium,
16:28
Speaker 1: swing on in. Say hi to Corey and the crew.
16:30
Speaker 1: Is it National Coffee Day? Joe Strecker, it's National Coffee Day. Corey,
16:34
Speaker 1: did you know that?
16:37
Speaker 2: Well, I should know it at least. I know. I'm
16:39
Speaker 2: a coffee shop owner, but for us, every day is
16:41
Speaker 2: National Coffee Day.
16:43
Speaker 1: All right. Well, since we're talking about law enforcement, you
16:45
Speaker 1: mentioned the, we know, I think all my listening audience
16:47
Speaker 1: knows there's a significant reduction in the contingent of police officers.
16:52
Speaker 1: You mentioned we're 20% below what we need statistically. And
16:55
Speaker 1: I think that's consistent with the numbers I've heard from, uh,
16:58
Speaker 1: Ken Coburn, FOP president. We need more officers, but more
17:01
Speaker 1: and more are retiring. They're taking early retirement, which is
17:04
Speaker 1: a red flag. They are leaving to go to other
17:06
Speaker 1: jurisdictions and maybe become an officer in Warren County, where
17:09
Speaker 1: I think things are a little bit better from a
17:12
Speaker 1: police department respect standpoint. But what do you say, and
17:15
Speaker 1: do you believe that the administration, Burr of All, and
17:18
Speaker 1: City Manager Long, and the people they hang out with,
17:21
Speaker 1: like Iris Rowley, who they pay hundreds of thousands of
17:23
Speaker 1: dollars for, who is an absolute anti-police advocate. She's one
17:27
Speaker 1: of the queens of the defund police movement downtown. The
17:32
Speaker 1: optics are really bad if you're trying to increase the
17:34
Speaker 1: number of officers. Now, the city is trying to attract officers,
17:37
Speaker 1: isn't it, Corey?
17:41
Speaker 2: To their ability, I believe they are. Obviously, the police department,
17:44
Speaker 2: they want to fill those compliment levels, but the perception
17:49
Speaker 2: of the department internally and on the outside, I believe
17:52
Speaker 2: is hindering a lot of it. You know, when we
17:54
Speaker 2: do lateral hires, I think the last lateral hire class
17:58
Speaker 2: was either non-existent or you had a handful. You're seeing
18:03
Speaker 2: people come through the academy, but it is a struggle
18:06
Speaker 2: to try to recruit and to get people to be
18:09
Speaker 2: as excited as they once were. You know, I keep
18:12
Speaker 2: getting told by officers and people that used to be
18:15
Speaker 2: a part of the department that there was a time
18:18
Speaker 2: where if you had recruitment for the CPD, that they
18:22
Speaker 2: would be filling the convention center with applicants. And nowadays,
18:26
Speaker 2: that's not the case. It's almost like you have to
18:29
Speaker 2: compel people to try to come to the department. And
18:34
Speaker 2: a lot of that boils down to the perception of
18:36
Speaker 2: the leadership, the morale, and how things are going to
18:40
Speaker 2: be perceived once you get there. The majority of the
18:42
Speaker 2: officers that I speak to, I don't speak to them
18:45
Speaker 2: about red or blue issues. What they say is that
18:48
Speaker 2: the politics have taken over where everything in their job
18:53
Speaker 2: is involving all these politics and kind of walking on
18:57
Speaker 2: eggshells when it comes to certain things instead of just
19:00
Speaker 2: doing what they were hired to do, which is to
19:02
Speaker 2: protect and serve. They have their training. They have their accountability.
19:06
Speaker 2: They need to be able to go out and do
19:08
Speaker 2: their job, but they're constantly having to worry about what
19:11
Speaker 2: does the leadership look like? What does the directive look
19:14
Speaker 2: like as far as low-level crime prevention and and patrolling.
19:18
Speaker 2: And those are mental gymnastics that these officers should not
19:22
Speaker 2: be having to go through if they're putting their lives
19:25
Speaker 2: on the line every day.
19:26
Speaker 1: Well, and then pivoting back over again, I have to
19:29
Speaker 1: be critical of the judicial system, meaning the Democrats, the
19:31
Speaker 1: council members, the mayor, all obviously advocating for these woke judges,
19:36
Speaker 1: including the juvenile court judge Bloom, who is very lenient
19:40
Speaker 1: on crime. The officers, I hear time and time again,
19:44
Speaker 1: are frustrated about the revolving door. What's the point of
19:47
Speaker 1: picking somebody up if they're just going to be let go?
19:50
Speaker 1: It's a pointless exercise.
19:52
Speaker 2: I hear the same thing from the officers. They'll say
19:54
Speaker 2: that they'll go to book somebody and then in the
19:58
Speaker 2: middle of doing their paperwork, they'll get the notification that
20:01
Speaker 2: the person's already been released right back on the street.
20:04
Speaker 2: And for a lot of them, they just don't see
20:07
Speaker 2: the point of it. They just know the system. They
20:09
Speaker 2: know what it'll go through. And that's why I keep
20:11
Speaker 2: saying that in November, if you really believe in Cincinnati,
20:15
Speaker 2: if you want to get involved in local politics, you know,
20:18
Speaker 2: support these judges that are on the ballot, like Susan
20:21
Speaker 2: Lucan and Chris McDowell, because this is an important, this
20:27
Speaker 2: not only is an important election, but it's an important
20:29
Speaker 2: time in our city to where I was actually speaking
20:32
Speaker 2: with the Claremont Young Republicans last night at their headquarters
20:35
Speaker 2: in Batavia. And I said that the big thing you've
20:38
Speaker 2: got to do is realize we can't always just be
20:41
Speaker 2: on the defensive and watch people leave cities like Cincinnati.
20:45
Speaker 2: We've got to be on the offensive. We've got to
20:47
Speaker 2: be able to take ground and be able to stand
20:50
Speaker 2: in the places where we can stand. And this November,
20:52
Speaker 2: people can stand for the judges because that's a huge
20:56
Speaker 2: part in helping our police officers that just want to
20:59
Speaker 2: protect and serve on our streets.
21:01
Speaker 1: Well, given the political makeup of downtown Cincinnati, I think
21:03
Speaker 1: it's safe to assume that the vast majority of residents
21:05
Speaker 1: are Democrats. I mean, look at the election results from
21:09
Speaker 1: the last year. So with that in mind, if what
21:13
Speaker 1: you say, Corey Bowman, is an accurate observation of what
21:15
Speaker 1: people really want, which is more law enforcement officers in
21:18
Speaker 1: their neighborhood because it reduces crime, then you have to
21:21
Speaker 1: understand as a resident of the city, you're going to
21:23
Speaker 1: have to just go ahead and vote Republican because the
21:26
Speaker 1: Democrat agenda is against your will. It is a polar
21:31
Speaker 1: opposite of what you in any given neighborhood in the
21:34
Speaker 1: city want. You want to get tough on crime? You
21:37
Speaker 1: cannot vote the blue ticket. So just ignore the judicial
21:40
Speaker 1: component of the blue ticket and grab the pink slip,
21:43
Speaker 1: hold your nose, and vote for the Republican judges. And
21:45
Speaker 1: you shouldn't have to hold your nose because they're going
21:47
Speaker 1: to deliver on what you want. We'll bring Corey back. Corey,
21:51
Speaker 1: you're a pastor. You're a minister. Are there still, do
21:54
Speaker 1: ministers and the people of faith still have an influence
21:58
Speaker 1: over young people? Are young people still going to church?
22:01
Speaker 1: KRC Detox Station. 241 at 55, KRC Detox Station, Brian
22:06
Speaker 1: Thomas Witt, Corey Bowman. He ran for mayor. He's a
22:10
Speaker 1: business owner. We talked about King's Arms Coffee in the
22:13
Speaker 1: West End, which you should stop by and get a
22:14
Speaker 1: cup of Joe, National Coffee Day anyway. The River Church,
22:17
Speaker 1: that's your church right there at Clark and John Street, right, Corey?
22:22
Speaker 2: Yes, sir. Yeah. We've been, um, been there. We've been
22:25
Speaker 2: having our church for six years now.
22:27
Speaker 1: And it is a, it's a really beautiful, it's a
22:29
Speaker 1: big building. I was just checking it out on Google
22:31
Speaker 1: maps and here, here's an interesting comment. As I asked
22:33
Speaker 1: you about, uh, the influence of preachers and, uh, ministers
22:37
Speaker 1: on the population. This is an amazing church, church run
22:40
Speaker 1: reviewer with an amazing preacher. I will be attending again.
22:43
Speaker 1: We'll be bringing my seven year old daughter with me
22:46
Speaker 1: next time. She too. And I know we'll enjoy the
22:48
Speaker 1: field just the same as, uh, at home as I did,
22:51
Speaker 1: felt present, heard and felt. Thank you for having us.
22:53
Speaker 1: God moves us and does things and crosses paths for
22:56
Speaker 1: a reason. Amen. Just one of the multiple five-star reviews
23:00
Speaker 1: you got there, Corey. People like and enjoy being in
23:02
Speaker 1: your church. Do young people still go to church? Do
23:04
Speaker 1: they still have faith? Do ministers and preachers and people
23:08
Speaker 1: of faith like you have any influence over the young
23:10
Speaker 1: people in the community anymore, Corey?
23:13
Speaker 2: Well, I think it's definitely hitting at the heart of
23:16
Speaker 2: all the issues that we're speaking about. You know, when
23:18
Speaker 2: we talk about the judges, when we talk about the
23:20
Speaker 2: crime in the city, we talk about everything going on.
23:23
Speaker 2: This is all having to do with the home life,
23:26
Speaker 2: all having to do with what does the family look like,
23:28
Speaker 2: and then how can we influence young people? You know,
23:31
Speaker 2: I don't know if you saw, but recently, it was
23:34
Speaker 2: last Tuesday, we just had a youth night at our church,
23:38
Speaker 2: and we called it Activate. And what we've been doing
23:40
Speaker 2: is we partnered with the Ohio State Patrols, and Landon Robinson,
23:45
Speaker 2: who is a Naval Academy graduate who got drafted to
23:49
Speaker 2: the Cincinnati Bengals. He has an amazing foundation. Also, Drake Kirkpatrick,
23:54
Speaker 2: who's actively involved in the downtown area. We partnered with
23:57
Speaker 2: all these guys, and we had a youth night. And
23:59
Speaker 2: that night, we had the entire football team for Taft
24:03
Speaker 2: High School, along with many other youth that came in
24:06
Speaker 2: and heard great testimony, motivational speaking, career paths, And then
24:11
Speaker 2: at the end of it, we prayed with them all
24:13
Speaker 2: and gave them opportunity to dedicate their lives to Jesus
24:16
Speaker 2: and invite them to church. That's one of the many
24:18
Speaker 2: ways that we're trying to make an impact from the
24:20
Speaker 2: ground up. You know, it's not just for us. It
24:22
Speaker 2: was never just about a political race. It was about
24:25
Speaker 2: making the impact. And one way you can do that
24:28
Speaker 2: is starting in these young people's lives. I do see,
24:31
Speaker 2: you asked if we're seeing young people come to church.
24:34
Speaker 2: We are seeing numbers that indicate that. But the biggest
24:38
Speaker 2: thing I see is There's a hunger for it. There's
24:41
Speaker 2: definitely a desire from this next generation for something different.
24:45
Speaker 2: They want something real. And from my perspective, I believe
24:48
Speaker 2: that relationship with Jesus and a proper community church that's
24:53
Speaker 2: going to be able to provide that family atmosphere and
24:55
Speaker 2: discipleship is one of the key answers to that.
24:58
Speaker 1: Well, and part of the disturbing element that I at
25:01
Speaker 1: least perceive in your living downtown and being a minister
25:04
Speaker 1: in downtown is that quite often ministers will definitely gravitate
25:10
Speaker 1: toward and talk about politics and who people should vote for,
25:14
Speaker 1: as opposed to, again, connecting people with the higher power
25:18
Speaker 1: and connecting people with Jesus Christ in the case of
25:21
Speaker 1: Christian churches. I don't know that that's doing Christianity a service.
25:25
Speaker 1: I believe that ministers should be focusing on relationships with God.
25:31
Speaker 1: Too many of them are politicized. At least that's the
25:33
Speaker 1: perception I get.
25:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's definitely a lot on the extreme when it
25:39
Speaker 2: comes to politics and preachers. I believe that we have
25:43
Speaker 2: the right from a constitutional standpoint to have a voice,
25:46
Speaker 2: to be able to have an opinion on certain things
25:48
Speaker 2: if it is clearly affecting what we believe is right
25:52
Speaker 2: in the Christian faith and what we believe in the Bible.
25:55
Speaker 2: But let's not forget that we have to keep the
25:57
Speaker 2: main thing the main thing. We don't worship politics. We
26:00
Speaker 2: don't worship religion. government authority, we worship God and we
26:05
Speaker 2: worship the God that sent his son to die on
26:08
Speaker 2: the cross for us. And the moment that you stray
26:11
Speaker 2: away from that and you make it your mission to
26:13
Speaker 2: be able to, you know, impact politics, you lose sight
26:16
Speaker 2: of the fact that we've got to bring people to
26:19
Speaker 2: a greater reality that there is a life after death.
26:22
Speaker 2: There is hope. For after this, but then also we
26:26
Speaker 2: can bring that hope here, not necessarily through just political change,
26:30
Speaker 2: but through a spiritual change. You know, Vivek Ramaswamy actually
26:33
Speaker 2: said it multiple times. He was in our church at
26:35
Speaker 2: a meeting and he said, we're in a spiritual crisis
26:38
Speaker 2: right now. Charlie Kirk, I shook hands with him two
26:42
Speaker 2: weeks before the assassination happened. And he got up on
26:45
Speaker 2: the platform that night and said, we are in a
26:47
Speaker 2: spiritual crisis. We have to see a spiritual awakening to
26:51
Speaker 2: be able to see true change. This isn't just about
26:54
Speaker 2: a political movement. This is a movement of people that
26:56
Speaker 2: are hungry for change from a spiritual level. And I
26:59
Speaker 2: believe that obviously the Bible and our relationship with Jesus
27:03
Speaker 2: is the key to that.
27:05
Speaker 1: And I understand that. And the problem that I always
27:08
Speaker 1: gravitate toward, you know, Marxism, socialism, they reject religion outright,
27:12
Speaker 1: which gives people I think a sense of hopelessness, you know,
27:16
Speaker 1: and the only place they can turn because they don't
27:18
Speaker 1: have faith in a higher power and some perhaps future
27:20
Speaker 1: where things are going to be grandiose is they got
27:22
Speaker 1: to turn to government for their hope. It's like the
27:26
Speaker 1: last bastion of hope is government. That's a scary place
27:29
Speaker 1: to be. But if you have a good relationship with
27:32
Speaker 1: God and a higher power, you know, it transcends your
27:34
Speaker 1: relationship with the state. And that's the fear that, you know,
27:37
Speaker 1: communists have of a religion.
27:40
Speaker 2: No, you're exactly true. You know, there's a Bible verse
27:42
Speaker 2: that says that we seek first the kingdom of God
27:45
Speaker 2: and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added
27:48
Speaker 2: unto it. Before that scripture, it talks about don't worry
27:51
Speaker 2: about what you eat or what you wear. It's not
27:54
Speaker 2: encouraging you to not wear anything or not eat anything.
27:57
Speaker 2: It's just basically saying, if you keep the priority toward
28:01
Speaker 2: the eternal things, the things that mean more after this life, well,
28:05
Speaker 2: then all the other things are going to line up.
28:07
Speaker 2: And I believe that everything that we're talking about politics-wise
28:11
Speaker 2: and policy, if we can get people's hearts toward the
28:14
Speaker 2: right thing from an internal standpoint, the conservative values, the
28:19
Speaker 2: policies that we want to see that's going to impact
28:22
Speaker 2: the crime in our city, that's going to impact the community,
28:25
Speaker 2: those things follow suit as long as we keep the
28:28
Speaker 2: driving force as we're here for a higher purpose. We're
28:31
Speaker 2: here for a higher calling. I believe that's why many
28:34
Speaker 2: people gravitated toward our campaign last year. You know, I
28:37
Speaker 2: saw many candidates that you could just tell this is
28:40
Speaker 2: their job application. When they run a race, they're just
28:43
Speaker 2: trying to get into a career choice of politics. But
28:46
Speaker 2: then there's those politicians or those people that are running
28:50
Speaker 2: for office that you could just tell there's a conviction
28:52
Speaker 2: in their heart that they have to run this race.
28:55
Speaker 2: because they have to inspire change from a deeper meaning.
28:58
Speaker 2: And I believe that that's what we need to see
29:00
Speaker 2: more often in the politics, is people that have those
29:03
Speaker 2: convictions that won't compromise on things, and they're doing it
29:07
Speaker 2: for a higher purpose.
29:09
Speaker 1: I'll just chime in and say, amen, Corey Bowman.
29:11
Speaker 2: Hang out, brother.
29:12
Speaker 1: We're going to talk to you a couple more minutes
29:13
Speaker 1: in the next segment. We'll get his final concluding thoughts.
29:15
Speaker 1: It's been a pleasure having you on so far. Corey,
29:17
Speaker 1: we'll wrap things up in a moment. 653 at 55KRCD
29:22
Speaker 1: Talk Station.
29:23
Speaker 2: Dr.
29:23
Speaker 1: Jay Rizzo, right from the top of the hour news,
29:24
Speaker 1: go through the Empower U seminars coming up. And without
29:27
Speaker 1: further ado, we've got one more segment here with Corey Bowman,
29:30
Speaker 1: former mayoral candidate, talking about the issues that he deals
29:33
Speaker 1: with each and every day at West End at downtown Cincinnati.
29:35
Speaker 1: Real close to TQL Stadium, you know, I keep going
29:37
Speaker 1: back to that neighborhood. I just imagine it would be.
29:40
Speaker 1: it has so much growth potential. But, you know, you
29:43
Speaker 1: go back to the idea that city council apparently is
29:45
Speaker 1: not interested in that neighborhood getting redeveloped since they're concentrating
29:49
Speaker 1: more and more government housing there. So as you pointed out,
29:54
Speaker 1: statistically proven, the high concentrations of subsidized housing, those neighborhoods
29:59
Speaker 1: typically have a lot of crime. I mean, it's why
30:01
Speaker 1: Cabrini Green in Chicago doesn't exist anymore. It's why they
30:04
Speaker 1: tore down the Robert Taylor homes in Chicago. Those neighborhoods
30:07
Speaker 1: were absolutely horrific danger zones in terms of crime. That's
30:11
Speaker 1: where all the concentrated low-income housing was. So do you
30:14
Speaker 1: get the impression the city is not interested in converting
30:17
Speaker 1: your neighborhood like they did in Over the Rhine to
30:20
Speaker 1: this wonderful urban hipster paradise, which they ultimately got criticized for, Corey?
30:26
Speaker 2: Well, I think the biggest thing is that, you know,
30:28
Speaker 2: I think the intentions of people are, I don't think
30:31
Speaker 2: they sit in a room and say, well, we don't
30:33
Speaker 2: want the West End to thrive at all. I think
30:36
Speaker 2: it's more so just their approach to it is just
30:39
Speaker 2: totally off base. When you see the concentrated amount of
30:43
Speaker 2: affordable housing, subsidized housing there, and then also let's not
30:47
Speaker 2: fail to mention that a lot of these subsidized housing
30:50
Speaker 2: is run by, you know, for lack of better words, slumlords.
30:53
Speaker 2: You know, a lot of them that a lot of
30:55
Speaker 2: the residents that are currently in my church, their landlords
31:00
Speaker 2: do not take care of them when it comes to
31:03
Speaker 2: the proper maintenance of the buildings, when it comes to,
31:06
Speaker 2: I mean, I know a single mom that lived in
31:08
Speaker 2: one of these housings and her and her kids haven't
31:10
Speaker 2: had heat or AC in their apartment ever since they've
31:14
Speaker 2: been there, but then they live under threat of eviction
31:17
Speaker 2: if they complain from the landlord. Now, these landlords are
31:21
Speaker 2: very well-funded By city funding. A lot of them are
31:25
Speaker 2: getting upwards of even a million dollar grants for some
31:28
Speaker 2: of these organizations. But yet there's constant problems when it
31:32
Speaker 2: comes to the tenants and those relationships. But the tenants
31:35
Speaker 2: have nowhere else to go because they're on these programs.
31:38
Speaker 2: So I think that that's something that we're fighting for
31:41
Speaker 2: right now. because it's not just about the affordable housing
31:45
Speaker 2: and demonizing that process. It's about how it's being funded
31:49
Speaker 2: right now. You can just tell that the money is
31:51
Speaker 2: being funneled through these landlords, and it's not been going
31:56
Speaker 2: to the right things that it needs to, and the
31:59
Speaker 2: residents are suffering because of it.
32:01
Speaker 1: Well, an apartment with no heat is uninhabitable. So, yeah,
32:04
Speaker 1: got problems there. And you hear about council paying lip
32:06
Speaker 1: service to holding landlords accountable, but here you have them
32:09
Speaker 1: subsidizing landlords who aren't held accountable. Seems like an easy solution. Gee,
32:13
Speaker 1: if we only had a different mayor. Corey Bowman, that
32:16
Speaker 1: would have been a better option as far as I'm concerned. Corey,
32:18
Speaker 1: maybe we'll do it again down the road sometime. We'll
32:20
Speaker 1: see if we can't get you elected. But in the meantime,
32:22
Speaker 1: keep having great concern for the city. Keep up the
32:24
Speaker 1: great work at your church. And best of luck with
32:27
Speaker 1: your business, King's Arms Coffee. I recommend my listeners swing
32:29
Speaker 1: on in there from time to time. Buy a cup
32:31
Speaker 1: of Joe. Probably run into a lot of police officers there.
32:34
Speaker 1: I know they like you, Corey. Corey Bowman, anything last
32:36
Speaker 1: words before we part company this morning?
32:39
Speaker 2: Brian, I would just say thank you so much to
32:41
Speaker 2: you and your listeners for having me. The entirety of
32:44
Speaker 2: last year during the campaign and even beyond, you guys
32:47
Speaker 2: are truly making an impact in the city with bringing
32:49
Speaker 2: these issues to light, and I'm very thankful for you all,
32:52
Speaker 2: and including Joe Strecker in the back.
32:54
Speaker 1: Oh, and we're happy that you're doing what you're doing,
32:56
Speaker 1: and I'm happy to bring you on here to highlight
32:57
Speaker 1: the work that you continue to do. You obviously have
33:00
Speaker 1: care and concern for the city. Corey Bowman, we will
33:03
Speaker 1: have you on again real soon. Take care of yourself,
33:05
Speaker 1: and best of health, and love to you and your family.