Latest / Day Drinking With Dog / Tony G For Milford joins the show!

Transcript

Tony G For Milford joins the show! · Day Drinking With Dog

• 0:01
  Viva Tequila Seltzer, the number one hart Seltzer in the world and the official
• 0:06
  heart Seltzer of day. Drinking with dog Ditch them Alt add tequila. Well,
• 0:12
  going back, everybody, I got my good friend Tony G is back
• 0:15
  in the house. We are two weeks, just two Measley weeks away from
• 0:18
  November seventh, the day we vote for the mayor of Milford and a lot
• 0:22
  of other stuff in Milford. Tony, thanks for taking time out of your
• 0:26
  busy schedule to pop in and say hello to me. Yeah, I appreciate
• 0:30
  you inviting me back. It's great to be here. And that sweatshirt looks
• 0:34
  great. Yeah, yeah, we're watching on YouTube that Tony G sweatshirt.
• 0:40
  I got the sign behind me from the last time you were here, I
• 0:42
  got the logo over your head. I'm just gonna come right out and say
• 0:45
  it. I'm endorsing you for mayor of Milford, not just because you're on
• 0:50
  the show, but because a lot of reasons. To be honest with you,
• 0:54
  I've seen a lot of your videos. I know you've been fundraising a
• 0:57
  lot. I have a lot of friends within the small business industry within Milford
• 1:00
  that I'll endorse you and know you're probably the not probably, you are the
• 1:04
  right guy for the job. And again, thanks for coming and let's get
• 1:10
  down to some stuff you're running on and we're gonna start right out with I
• 1:15
  think we talked about this last time on the show, but what inspired you
• 1:19
  to run for the mayor Milford. So first i'd like to say thank you
• 1:23
  very much for the endorsement. I truly appreciate it. And you know,
• 1:32
  I've been in local government. Public service is what I like to describe my
• 1:38
  job. It's public service, and it's become a part of me. It's
• 1:44
  grown through my tenure as Alderman. So I've really come to a point in
• 1:49
  my life where I know what people expect from their local government, from their
• 1:56
  city government, and I want to meet those needs of the people. I'm
• 1:59
  proud to be from Milford. It's it's it's a great uh city to grow
• 2:05
  up in. It's given me so much opportunity. So it's like my way
• 2:07
  of giving back, and it's something that you know, just evolved. This
• 2:15
  was not a plan. I never thought that I would actually be, you
• 2:19
  know, in the position where I can run. But I do have the
• 2:23
  experience. I do have, you know, the the energy to make a
• 2:29
  difference, you know, in the city in a positive way. So that's
• 2:34
  what really compelled me to run excellent. Uh, let's get into the brass
• 2:40
  tacks of some of the stuff you're running on, as far as like a
• 2:45
  current budget of the town. How do you plan to allocate resources towards our
• 2:50
  most pressing needs such as education, law enforcement, public safety especially, you
• 2:55
  know, in the climate we live in now, I feel a lot of
• 2:59
  people don't really feel safe, even in a town like Milford, which is
• 3:05
  quite striking in the times we live in. I wouldn't have said that ten
• 3:08
  years ago. But Patty look to go about that, and you know,
• 3:14
  I don't know if it's a percentage thing or you're allocare a certain money for
• 3:16
  that and that. What are your plans there? Well, that comes with
• 3:21
  my knowledge of balancing sixteen budgets and being on the board, and I've had
• 3:27
  the privilege of working side by side with three mayors, so I've had a
• 3:31
  front row seat to allocating a fiscal responsible budget and it will be challenging.
• 3:40
  We've actually balanced budgets and recessions, We've balanced budgets with surpluses, So I
• 3:47
  think right now economically at this time. We have to obviously fund be responsible
• 3:55
  and funding for education, we have to be responsible in funding for public safety.
• 4:00
  I'd like to put some more additional funding behind public safety because, as
• 4:06
  you know, and as you mentioned, that seems to be the biggest issue
• 4:11
  that Milford faces as a city, and that's something that everyone can speak to.
• 4:17
  I've knocked on several doors, you know, I've had several people that
• 4:24
  have brought it up to me and they've experienced, you know, crime firsthand.
• 4:29
  So you know, I'm willing to have the political courage to move forward
• 4:33
  and make sure that the police chief has everything that he needs to become successful
• 4:42
  because obviously, I think we might have spoke about it last time. You
• 4:46
  know, the police department has trouble with retention, keeping police officers, recruiting
• 4:51
  police officers. That's another challenge. I'd like to see if we can incentivize
• 4:58
  people to lot to become police officers in Milford, and I think that we
• 5:04
  could certainly accomplish that. Yeah, you know, I think it was we
• 5:09
  discussed about how many exits there are in Milford, Yes, and you know,
• 5:14
  we have a lot, and so the crime necessarily isn't internal to the
• 5:18
  city. It is a lot of external you know, ninety five people come
• 5:24
  off. I mean, I've had it in my own complex. You know,
• 5:26
  cars broken into wheels, taken right off, the cars left on egg
• 5:30
  crates, you know, at four in the morning, the Peorn rain,
• 5:33
  you know, where I live. You know, I talk to a lot
• 5:35
  of the neighbors and they have their concerns. You know, we talk about
• 5:41
  you know, gating the community, but you know a lot of them are
• 5:44
  renters, and you know, the owners that don't live there don't want to
• 5:46
  pay the extra h o a's and you know, it always comes down to
• 5:49
  money, you know, especially with stuff like that for the private sector,
• 5:54
  but the public. You know, I almost feel it's an impossible task that
• 6:00
  you know, you can't you can't monitor all of this, but definitely,
• 6:05
  you know, with you know, advancing in technology and cameras and security,
• 6:11
  you know, I think that's something we could look to in the future to
• 6:15
  really try to see what's going on out there, because a lot of this
• 6:17
  is I literally got up and went golf the next morning. The car crossed
• 6:21
  the way from you had no tires. I was sleeping, yeah, and
• 6:25
  I don't sleep. I didn't hear it, you know, like it's it's
• 6:29
  it's definitely a concern amongst a lot of people. I know that. So
• 6:31
  Milford's a big target for that type of crime. I mean, you know,
• 6:38
  people come in from out of town. Obviously it's easy on, easy
• 6:42
  off. We actually have eight exits off of you know, between ninety five
• 6:46
  and the Meritt park Way. So you know, as your next mayor,
• 6:51
  I would like to work with the Governor's office. I would like to call
• 6:55
  the governor, reach out to him and see if we can have more resources
• 6:58
  on the ninety five or state police, and also on the parkway, the
• 7:04
  Merit Parkway corridor, because I feel like this is the entrance and the exit
• 7:10
  of these people coming in that commit these crimes. And I think he would
• 7:17
  probably agree with me, and I would push back and hope that he would
• 7:23
  support us in that way. You know, this is a great city.
• 7:27
  You know, we're not used to this influx of crime. I would also
• 7:30
  like to work with the state delegation, the state reps, the state senators
• 7:34
  to see if they can possibly look at amending in some respect the Police Accountability
• 7:40
  Bill so the police officers have a little more flexibility. I think you know,
• 7:47
  from what I'm being told, they're not allowed to chase, you know,
• 7:53
  and I agree that, you know, a chase would be probably you
• 7:56
  know, put innocent people at risk. But I feel like, you know,
• 8:01
  it's incentivizing these criminals in some respect, and we have to be aware
• 8:05
  of that and we have to you know, make adjustments along the way to
• 8:11
  better patrol. And I'm willing to put the resources. I'm willing to have
• 8:18
  the discussions with the police chief. I've always worked well with the police chief.
• 8:22
  I've advocated for four additional police officers. You know. Originally, when
• 8:28
  when crime started to spike, the people on the other side of the aisle
• 8:33
  were very defiant. They didn't want to add it into the budget. And
• 8:37
  at that point in time, it would not have even raised our property taxes.
• 8:41
  And that's what's really you know, surprised me, and I wanted to
• 8:46
  be proactive. So now we have to not only solve the problem, but
• 8:52
  we have to play catch up. And you know, it's putting us,
• 8:56
  you know, under unnecessary pressure. You come there, do you feel like
• 9:01
  you just said the property taxes, you know, where they were, we
• 9:05
  could afford it. Did we miss that window? I would say yes,
• 9:09
  And that's a great point, and the reason being is the economy has changed
• 9:13
  since COVID. We have a lot of vacant office space buildings, as you
• 9:18
  know, which the property tax rate is predicated on the vacancy, So these
• 9:28
  buildings are empty and we're realizing less revenue. So that's a challenge. And
• 9:37
  that's something else, you know that I want to address as your next mayor,
• 9:41
  is being creative and allowing some of these buildings to be used in a
• 9:48
  multi purpose way, a mixed use way so we can get them filled up
• 9:52
  right and and and realize that revenue. Because you know, we're in economic
• 9:58
  times where every dollar matters and fiscal accountability is the key. So I know
• 10:05
  what needs to be done, and I've heard it from the people themselves,
• 10:09
  and I'm ready to get to work. Right off the subject slightly. I
• 10:13
  went to the grocery store yesterday, and you know who hasn't noticed the prices
• 10:18
  and the inflation on a national level and local I literally bought a case of
• 10:24
  water, maybe ten items eighty dollars and I'm just like, this wasn't even
• 10:33
  me shopping. This is just picking up a couple of things, you know,
• 10:37
  like and I don't know, yesterday hit me differently. I'm like,
• 10:41
  eighty fucking dollars, what are we even doing here? You know? And
• 10:46
  in the town of Milford, you know, it's affluent. You know,
• 10:50
  there's a lot of people that you know, kind of come and go work
• 10:54
  in the city, take the train, don't necessarily really back into this community.
• 11:01
  They just kind of live here, you know what I mean, that's
• 11:05
  not the majority. But moving forward, trying to get more cops, trying
• 11:09
  to get you know, education and everything. Is it if we don't get
• 11:16
  the people to come in and live and or the office spaces and if we
• 11:20
  don't fill that up, what is like plan B? What is is it
• 11:26
  raising taxes? And I know that's always the you never say that when you're
• 11:28
  running for something, But you know, is that a logical next step or
• 11:33
  or is it riding the storm out a little bit? Like, you know,
• 11:35
  it just can't keep going up. It has to level out, it
• 11:39
  has to go back down. Whether you're a Democrat or Republican. In the
• 11:43
  national eye, like something almost has to give, you know. But as
• 11:48
  a you know, I don't want to call it a small town. Milford's
• 11:50
  pretty big. But as a mayor. As mayor of Milford, you know,
• 11:52
  how would you how do you navigate that? I mean, it's it's
• 11:56
  it's not a great time to jump in and say, oh, we've got
• 11:58
  this surplus of money, let's do this, this this, Like you said,
• 12:01
  you have to be creative, you have to work with the community.
• 12:05
  You know. I don't even know if this is a question. It's more
• 12:07
  of an observation. But no, it's it's I see the question within it,
• 12:11
  and I appreciate it because that's where my business background comes in to play.
• 12:16
  A thirty five year business owner from my company. You have to promote
• 12:24
  and you have to attract new business. But at the same time, I
• 12:26
  want to do a business outreach and retain the businesses that are here and see
• 12:31
  what their needs are and see how we can help them grow. And you
• 12:35
  know, the mall project, I'll speak to that because that zone was just
• 12:41
  changed to mix use to allow. That was approved. It was approved by
• 12:45
  the Planning and Zoning Board. Centennial Malls. It's a big national company.
• 12:50
  They own malls all over the country. So are they not west Field anymore?
• 12:54
  No, No, it's under under new ownership. They're they're willing to
• 12:58
  make a huge investment in Milford. But it's a new it's a new mall
• 13:03
  of of our time. It's it's not the conventional, you know, indoor
• 13:09
  mall. It's a hybrid. It's going to be half outside, half inside.
• 13:13
  It's gonna have a walking trail. It's gonna have kiosks, you know,
• 13:18
  it's going to have restaurants. It may have a medical building. You
• 13:22
  know, I'm pushing. I would like to push for an entertainment venue.
• 13:26
  There's gonna be you know, luxury apartments where ten percent affordability, so people
• 13:31
  can live there, they can learn there. There could be an educational hub
• 13:35
  of a college, a community college, you know, all these different things,
• 13:41
  you know, entertainment all wrapped up into one. I think that's brilliant.
• 13:46
  I think that's what we need. It's in the right location. It's
• 13:50
  right off A ninety five, we have the parking, we have the exit
• 13:54
  ramps as you as you mentioned before. You know, it's right off one
• 14:00
  in ninety five. So I think it's a natural. Are these properties succeeding
• 14:05
  countrywide nationwide? I mean, would we be one of the first to actually
• 14:09
  kind of implement something like this, or is there a roadmap to this,
• 14:13
  I mean, is there one out in Indiana's I mean, is this good?
• 14:16
  This is something I never really researched. I've been following what's been going
• 14:20
  on. So I was at the meeting when they did the presentation. I
• 14:26
  saw the renderings, but there is data on it. It's out in the
• 14:30
  Midwest. It's very successful. Once again, you know, it's not just
• 14:35
  retail, right, okay, because we know that the Amazon's affected a lot
• 14:39
  of these stores, we've actually lost. They made it a point when they
• 14:45
  did the presentation. I think it was twenty one to twenty three stores that
• 14:50
  left them all. So we have to reinvent ourselves. And I think that's
• 14:54
  where the vision and the business background comes in, because when we bring in
• 14:58
  that type of revenue, new revenue, tax revenue, that takes the pressure
• 15:03
  off of the homeowners, the people that have owned their houses here, the
• 15:07
  people that grew up here, the people that want to stay here, like
• 15:11
  our seniors, and makes it more affordable because now the tax base is shifting.
• 15:18
  So we have to, you know, continue to grow our economic development.
• 15:24
  And I think that's key. How many how many house do you use?
• 15:28
  Und It's what are they talking about? So it was phase one.
• 15:33
  It's two hundred and fifty and once again these are you know, all rentals,
• 15:37
  no purchasing, all rentals. The demographic is, you know, thirty
• 15:41
  five year old professional people. A lot of seniors are downsizing. They're selling
• 15:48
  their homes. They're making you know, good good money on their houses.
• 15:54
  They'd much rather rent it's it's easier living. They want to be part of
• 15:58
  a unity, a walkable community such as the mall. So you know,
• 16:03
  there's different demographics. It's not just you know, young people, it's it's
• 16:08
  a good mix of of of different people. And I think it's going to
• 16:12
  be bring a very positive culture to Milford. What's the ETA on these so
• 16:19
  you know, I know it's a good Yeah, actually it's a good point.
• 16:26
  I wish it was happening sooner than later. But by the time they
• 16:29
  put the shovel in the ground, yeah, it's going to be a couple
• 16:32
  of years out, I think. But you know, we have to plan.
• 16:37
  And that's the one thing about coming from a business background, you're always
• 16:41
  planning ahead, planning for the future. And I know that I can bring
• 16:45
  that quality to the to the Mayor's office, right, you know, malls
• 16:48
  like you said, with Amazon and stuff, we've seen a lot of you
• 16:53
  know, businesses go out. You know, I'm sure Rent is astronomical there.
• 16:57
  We've seen restaurants going in one hundred times there, you know. Now
• 17:03
  PF Chains is coming in. I believe, yes, the old Knickerbockers.
• 17:07
  But then it was something else after that. I think, yes, Louise's
• 17:10
  Bobar Louis or something. I I hope just as a as an outsider looking
• 17:15
  in that one. Obviously it works because it does create plenty of tax revenue
• 17:21
  for the town. But I envision, you know, I think the big
• 17:25
  box stores are kind of dead, you know, agreed. You know there's
• 17:29
  no seers anymore. I mean, the Target's there, but you know it's
• 17:33
  not they don't even have employees there. You walk into Target to buy something,
• 17:36
  you're you know, thirty deep in line waiting for a fucking automatic teller.
• 17:40
  Uh you're on your own. You're on your own, you know.
• 17:42
  Or or it's you know, ten people sitting in their cars waiting for someone
• 17:45
  to bring it out to him, you know, the old the post COVID
• 17:48
  thing. I would love to see, like all those apartments and what's the
• 17:52
  place isn't there like a a housing complex on Wheeler's farm that's for like art,
• 17:59
  artsy people. I don't want to people it like that, but I
• 18:02
  remember when it was being built it was you're referring to the muse. Yes,
• 18:06
  yeah, it's a young vibe there. They have a community room,
• 18:11
  a pool, I believe, you know, a rec room with you can
• 18:14
  exercise there, you can have a pool table. You know. These you
• 18:18
  know when we talk about apartments, you know there's amenities attached. So,
• 18:22
  like I said before, these are you know, professional people. These are
• 18:26
  people. There's police officers, teachers, firemen, you know, gives them
• 18:33
  a place to start, you know, where they can not only work in
• 18:37
  Milford, but live in Milford and't afford to live there, and then build
• 18:41
  up their nest egg and then eventually fall in love with Milford and decide to
• 18:45
  buy Iron here. I mean, that's really the turnaround that you want,
• 18:48
  and there's data to support that. So I think that it's going to pay
• 18:52
  dividends. I feel strongly about it. You know, the worst thing you
• 18:57
  could do. And I know you know this is nothing because that mall will
• 19:03
  close up and leave, It'll just vacant. I'd much rather see something like
• 19:07
  this. Then to your point, a huge distribution center or one building like
• 19:14
  an Amazon right now, great, they hire people and create jobs. But
• 19:19
  but that's not the best use of that land. That's that's what it comes
• 19:23
  down to. It comes down to value. You have to create value.
• 19:27
  So is the subway property today's the day they officially went to Shelton. Uh?
• 19:33
  Is that just gonna be another soy and a bit drive or is that
• 19:38
  going to be occupied or it's been purchased. There's there's a contract. There's
• 19:44
  a local business in Milford that distributes foreign auto parts that's growing exponentially, like
• 19:51
  very fast. Someone purchased it, an investor that's willing to put up a
• 19:57
  big warehouse distribution center, allowing this business to stay in Milford. I talked
• 20:04
  about retention, retaining businesses. It's important. So I think in that case
• 20:11
  we spoke about the office space. It's antiquated, it's outdated. So what's
• 20:18
  the best purpose of that land. It's an industrial zone there. It sits
• 20:22
  in an industrial zone right off of a big drive or subway drive. We
• 20:29
  have to rename it now. Yeah, yeah, so I think you know
• 20:33
  it's it's something that is going to bring more tax revenue. It's a newer
• 20:40
  building. It's probably going to be state of the art. You know,
• 20:42
  these warehouses that they build now, they don't look like warehouses. They're very
• 20:48
  tastefully done. The landscaping is going to be top notch, and it's going
• 20:52
  to be far enough off the road. And once again it's off ninety five,
• 20:56
  so it fits into the logistics parts of what Milford offers, you know,
• 21:02
  business. I actually rent this from Susan who was the sister of the
• 21:07
  owner. Okay, she was CEO for like three or four years back in
• 21:11
  the day. Yes she's out of it now, but yes, but yeah,
• 21:15
  she was a CEO of Subway for a few years back in the day.
• 21:18
  But there are some emotions there. I mean, you know, it's
• 21:22
  it's started here. It did, it did, and you know, maybe
• 21:25
  someday, somewhere down the road we can you know, revisit them coming here.
• 21:30
  You know, in some respect, I would always leave that door open.
• 21:36
  And you know, I didn't know that they were leaving. I didn't
• 21:38
  even know or hear about that they were, you know, even considering leaving.
• 21:44
  But that gets back to my business outreach. You know, you can't
• 21:47
  take any business that's in Milford today. For granted, you have to communicate
• 21:51
  with your businesses because they may well be looking to leave, and maybe you
• 21:56
  can save that from happening, or stop that from happening and say, hey,
• 22:00
  I didn't know you were looking to leave. Oh, well, you
• 22:02
  know, we're looking to go in a different direction, you know, and
• 22:06
  that that would come up in a conversation, and maybe through economic development,
• 22:14
  we can find a better fit for them somewhere within the city if they're looking
• 22:18
  to move, or we can help them, you know, expand so you
• 22:23
  know, once again, I think it's very important to be proactive in everything
• 22:30
  that you do, especially you know, running a city. Right. I've
• 22:33
  always you know, we'll move on from the subject in a second, but
• 22:37
  I've always been you know, I've had many businesses on this show, and
• 22:42
  just off the top of my head, I think three are no longer in
• 22:45
  business. Wow. And two of them actually they were all in the restaurant
• 22:48
  world. Okay. And then I see where the I'm not going to name
• 22:53
  anybody, but I see where the businesses are and they're still empty. And
• 22:57
  a lot of the problems they couldn't stay was rent. Okay, you know,
• 23:02
  because rent is a big overhead that is not profitable. It's it's you
• 23:06
  know, like anything in life, it's you pay to stay. And then
• 23:11
  I see these sitting just empty and vacant for you know, a year,
• 23:15
  two three. Do these landlords just have so much fricking money that they don't
• 23:21
  really give a shit? Or is it all tax right offable? Like why
• 23:25
  not you know, work with your if you're a landlord, I can understand
• 23:29
  about a renter for you know, an apartment, but for a business,
• 23:33
  I don't know. I've never been a landlord, so I don't know.
• 23:37
  I don't know the business side of that. But the common sense side to
• 23:41
  me tells me, wouldn't you rather lower the rent by three hundred a month
• 23:45
  over the next three years instead of it being vacant vacant for two and you
• 23:49
  lose all of that revenue? Or am I just that's not how the world
• 23:53
  works? Well, you know, coming from a family business background, I
• 23:57
  mean through my experience varience, that's how I work. You know. I
• 24:02
  want to make it flexible and easy. I want people to succeed in Milford.
• 24:07
  So if it's a matter of me, you know, having to lower
• 24:11
  something to keep the business viable. You know, I see the benefit in
• 24:18
  that, and I know landlords that do just that, and those are probably
• 24:22
  some of the landlords that are from the area that understand. You know,
• 24:27
  Milford is a very diverse community. It's it's it's a blue collar community at
• 24:33
  heart. There's a lot of people that you know, live paycheck to paycheck,
• 24:41
  and some of these businesses, you know, are struggling, like like
• 24:45
  everybody else. Just because you own a business doesn't mean that it's it's easy
• 24:51
  or you have a leg up. I mean it's a sacrifice. And I
• 24:53
  know a lot of people have kept the doors open as long as they possibly
• 24:56
  could in order to wait or or or hope that the market turns around.
• 25:04
  I think to your point, we're in the middle of a market correction right
• 25:08
  now with some of these spaces. I don't know what the financing is attached
• 25:12
  to them, but you know, there's a lot of properties that are owned
• 25:17
  by corporations and sometimes they will write it out or sometimes they'll just let it
• 25:25
  go, you know, and it'll end up in foreclosure, and that brings
• 25:29
  up other opportunities. But I would like to take an inventory of these properties
• 25:34
  that you're referring to whether it's an empty restaurant or an empty store, and
• 25:40
  reach out once again and see what's going on. What is it are you?
• 25:44
  Are you asking for too much rent? Why isn't this being rented?
• 25:48
  Are you getting calls? Can we help and assist through economic development to find
• 25:52
  a use for that property, or can we entertain maybe changing the use of
• 25:56
  the property in order to attract something else to get it, you know,
• 26:02
  up and running. So it's working, right, it's and it's it's tragic
• 26:07
  to see, you know, because yeah, well people that own small businesses
• 26:11
  that's all they do. You know, it's a it's a twenty four to
• 26:14
  seven job. It is, it is. And you know, I I've
• 26:18
  done it. I've you know, you work in your business, you know,
• 26:22
  they it's not just something that you own like a car, right,
• 26:26
  you work in it every day and and you have to appreciate it. And
• 26:30
  and that's why I feel strongly about you know, local business, family owned
• 26:36
  business. You know, even even the big businesses that come in and invest
• 26:41
  in Milford. You know, I try to support the whole community. And
• 26:47
  you know, because together, collectively is what makes us stronger. So we
• 26:52
  have to have you know, all of these different different types of businesses in
• 26:59
  order to attract people to come to Milford. You know, people complain about
• 27:03
  the traffic too. Oh yeah. But it's funny through my campaigning. You
• 27:07
  know, if I'm in a restaurant and I'm sitting next to someone, I'll
• 27:11
  just randomly ask them, are you from Milford And they're not. They're from
• 27:15
  Orange and you know this from tending bar. They're from Strafford, they're from
• 27:18
  West Haven, right. We want those people to come here to support our
• 27:23
  business. So I'm like you in the sense I'm a little mini mayor,
• 27:29
  and I'll explain so like this has happened probably three or four times in the
• 27:33
  last five years in Milford, meet Bartending. I get a lot of people
• 27:37
  from New York Long Island up to up you know, up in Rhode Island,
• 27:42
  and they come in and I wait on them and they asked me about
• 27:47
  the town, and I, like you can ask anyone I work with.
• 27:49
  I am like, I love this town. It's got everything you need.
• 27:55
  You know. I tend to stay away from the Post Road unless I need
• 27:56
  to go to the mall or I need to, you know, go to
• 27:59
  Kergarten or something on there that I need something from. But everything's attainable.
• 28:03
  Everything you need in Milford. You know. He got beaches and major hotels
• 28:07
  and you could walk to a train station and get to two different major cities.
• 28:11
  Three really. And I've had for sure three couples that have come back
• 28:19
  to me within six months and told me that they bought in Milford because of
• 28:26
  what I said to them. And I didn't remember who the fun they were.
• 28:32
  And then to be like, oh, well you were, we had
• 28:33
  this. You were our waiter, you know. In the winter time,
• 28:36
  I'm like, you know, and I'm like, listen, I see a
• 28:38
  gazillion fricking people and I probably lie to half of them about how my day's
• 28:41
  going. You know, that's how the job is. But like and then
• 28:45
  I would start to remember who they were because they told me where they were
• 28:48
  from and h and it just happened. This past summer, lady was in
• 28:52
  town and she was with her daughter, and she was from California, and
• 28:59
  she ordered two lots of roles to go and then the seven minutes I had
• 29:03
  to talk to her, I convinced her and gave her a number of a
• 29:07
  of a you know, a real estate person in Milford that could really help
• 29:08
  her out. And she came back a month ago and said, I bought
• 29:14
  that by the beach. I love it, you know, thank you so
• 29:15
  much. And you know, it really is a it's a it's a great
• 29:19
  town. And you know, if if you listen to my show all the
• 29:22
  time, I'm always talking about Milford, I love it. And well that's
• 29:26
  something to be proud of, you know, to promote your community and and
• 29:32
  and where you live and sharing your experiences firsthand, you know. And that's
• 29:37
  you know, something that you know, I appreciate, you know that that
• 29:41
  you've always done. And and that's why I'm here today because I'm a fan
• 29:45
  of yours. And you've always kept it real and positive, you know,
• 29:48
  even when you're working, you know, and you're just talking to people,
• 29:52
  you know, And I'm the same way. I like to share, you
• 29:56
  know, things that excite me. And Milford is an exciting place, I
• 30:00
  mean, and and you know, some people don't know the potential, you
• 30:06
  know, and and we're like right on the cusp. I mean, we
• 30:07
  could do some really great things here. You know, we have the resources
• 30:12
  to do them. You know, we have the people that want to see
• 30:18
  you know, see it get better and become easier and more accessible. So
• 30:25
  you know, there's a lot of work that's going to go into it,
• 30:26
  but we're going to get there, and I'm confident in doing that. We
• 30:30
  were just talking about traffic and all that. You know, how how can
• 30:34
  we improve our transportation infrastructure here? Uh? You know, Downtown's downtown.
• 30:41
  I mean a lot of downtowns have that problem, especially around in the morning
• 30:45
  or at rush hour and stuff. I've learned how to get around downtown,
• 30:49
  you know, if they've lived there for so long. Sure, sure,
• 30:52
  And even when I go to work, I don't go I don't go buy
• 30:55
  it. I go down and around and I you know, we parked behind
• 30:57
  the post office, you know, So I know little ways to get around
• 31:00
  downtown. But you know, it's not just downtown that has the traffic problems.
• 31:03
  But you know, I'm no traffic guy. I just don't know how
• 31:08
  to get around stuff. But what are some plans or you know, so
• 31:15
  ideas, Right, everything starts with an idea. Through my tenure on the
• 31:21
  board of Alderman, obviously we facilitate grants and we've always supported the Connecticut Transit,
• 31:26
  which does a great and amazing job on the bus lines. And a
• 31:30
  lot of these newer apartments that I'm sure we're going to talk about are on
• 31:36
  bus lines for a reason, because people, the younger people are more apt
• 31:44
  to use public transportation, you know, the ubers, the buses, the
• 31:49
  train you mentioned. You know, people will come from Fairfield to Milford to
• 31:53
  spend the night and they'll take the train here. But what's interesting to me
• 31:56
  is all of us that live in and you know, the neighborhoods, why
• 32:01
  not think about getting smaller buses into the neighborhoods, you know, the very
• 32:10
  you know, like the Lexington Green, right and yeah, and and and
• 32:16
  shuttle the people downtown. So if there's a bunch of people that are all
• 32:20
  friends, hey let's go out and nobody wants to drive, and nobody has
• 32:23
  to drive, and and looking at that, and that's a small quick run
• 32:30
  that can be done. And it could be just maybe on the weekends.
• 32:34
  I'm not saying every day, but maybe in the summertime, maybe just certain
• 32:38
  times of the year, and and be able to fund that and and and
• 32:44
  have people really truly use it and get some of the downtown traffic, you
• 32:50
  know, away from Milford. Because New Haven a have, like you said,
• 32:52
  is used because people don't want to go to the post road because they
• 32:55
  live in Milford and they know better. But now you see new even have.
• 33:00
  I could tell you coming into the center of town on certain days,
• 33:04
  you know, Thursday, a Friday after work. If I got to get
• 33:07
  to work on a Friday at four, what should take three minutes is probably
• 33:12
  fifteenth just just new have aff coming in. You know. I don't break
• 33:16
  off of it until until one am. I golf golf. Yeah, when
• 33:22
  I break off, and then I go around and you know, doing these
• 33:27
  little shuttles and maybe a different type of bus, maybe something that's a little
• 33:30
  more you know, you know, something cool, something that's you know,
• 33:35
  a little more hip, right, you know, to entice people to to
• 33:39
  use public transportation and educate people. And so I think as a local,
• 33:45
  you know, resident only downtown Milford bus you know stops it lexingon Draine.
• 33:52
  You know, maybe you know, just for the beach communities that want to
• 33:57
  go downtown for the night. The bus picks you up at a certain time,
• 34:01
  you know, then it brings you back at a certon time, you
• 34:04
  know, one in the morning. After that you're on your own. Get
• 34:07
  an uber, right, yeah, I mean or to whatever you want to
• 34:12
  go. Why not? Why not? Why not have the conversation, why
• 34:15
  not form a committee? Why not look into something like that, you know,
• 34:20
  and it brings the community closer because well, it would probably have to
• 34:27
  be funded through well, well I know that taxpayer money for me to hop
• 34:30
  on it not back. Well yeah, I could see that, you know,
• 34:35
  and maybe just seasonal, just you know, depending on what's happening,
• 34:40
  you know, maybe for the Oyster Festival. Maybe the people that want to
• 34:44
  go to the Oyster Festival, like myself, I live in North Milford.
• 34:49
  I have to drive downtown. I have to find somewhere to park to go
• 34:52
  to the Oyster Festival. Maybe for that one day, let's just start with
• 34:57
  something and see how it works. Sure, maybe that one day, you
• 35:00
  know, there's something that we can you know, use to get people to
• 35:06
  the Oyster Festival without having to worry about exactly or pay to park, or
• 35:13
  worry about where they're going to park. You know, that's all. It's
• 35:16
  very simple. You know. I've learned too that sometimes people overthink things.
• 35:23
  Let's just try something. Let's just you know, take the first step.
• 35:29
  If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. I think bus off to you
• 35:36
  just never know, you just you just never know, and these things evolve
• 35:39
  and and listen if it's gonna help with you know, keeping cars off the
• 35:44
  road with less traffic. And you know, nobody likes to be in traffic.
• 35:47
  It's frustrating, you know. I'll be the first to admit that,
• 35:52
  you know, especially if you don't live far away. You're in town,
• 35:55
  but you're trying to get downtown. So I I my brother lives up in
• 36:02
  South Deerfield, well, he lives in Greenfield, and if I lives in
• 36:05
  South Yarfield. I was up there like a week and a half ago,
• 36:07
  and you know, up there, it just float around. There's no traffic,
• 36:14
  and I'm leaving, I'm coming home, and I just looked at my
• 36:15
  brother, said, you know, I could never live up here. There's
• 36:19
  not enough hustle and bustle for me. I don't I never want to live
• 36:21
  in a city, but I don't want to live in the boon docks either.
• 36:23
  That's what I love about Milford. I'm like, I do envy your
• 36:28
  traffic though, because you don't have any yeah, you know. And then
• 36:31
  sure enough I hit Springfield, Mass and then it's fucking traffic, you know.
• 36:35
  But yeah, I mean there's always ideas. There's always Hey, you
• 36:38
  go to Boston, they have a tea, yep. Right. I mean
• 36:42
  I'm not saying I have a tea all the time. But if you had
• 36:45
  some type of transportation that went through the neighborhoods, like a trolley, you
• 36:50
  know, certain times of the year, you know, in the summer months,
• 36:52
  because that's when a lot of out of towners come in day, right,
• 36:57
  And if we can you know, help move people around in our community
• 37:02
  in that fashion, I think it's fun. You know. I think people
• 37:06
  would would probably enjoy it every once in a while, right, I'd take
• 37:10
  it, just just to take it, sure, you know. Uh.
• 37:14
  So we were talking about housing with them all affordable housing in Milford. First,
• 37:20
  can you explain what affordable housing means? Because I go on the site.
• 37:24
  You know, you live in Milford, right, And I don't want
• 37:28
  to call people ignorant, but I think a lot of people take the term
• 37:30
  the wrong way. Yes, So what is the you know, Layman's terms
• 37:35
  definition of affordable housing. So I don't know why this happened, but affordable
• 37:39
  affordable housing got a bad name, right, you know, we talk about
• 37:45
  affordable insurance, we talk about affordable health insurance, we talk about you know,
• 37:52
  affordable an yeah, a pharmaceutical, affordable energy, and then when it
• 38:00
  comes to housing, everybody panics. So I think they think it's Section eight.
• 38:06
  It's not. It's not. It's not it's affordable. It's you know,
• 38:10
  wrong with that either. No, what it does is it introduces the
• 38:15
  people that are the working people, like I mentioned earlier, and it gives
• 38:20
  them an opportunity to live in the same town or the same city that they
• 38:27
  work in that maybe they couldn't afford to live here and they'd have to live
• 38:31
  outside of Milford, let's take New Haven for example, and then they have
• 38:37
  to worry about transportation to getting to work. And it brings them in the
• 38:43
  community. It makes them part of the community. And it's based on income.
• 38:46
  It's based on income. So affordable affordable can can mean a different you
• 38:52
  know type of you know, sliding scale depending on what people make. So
• 39:00
  so we know firsthand that apartments in Milford, especially downtown, the newer ones,
• 39:06
  tend to be pricey. They they're over two thousand dollars a month for
• 39:09
  a one bedroom. They could be twenty one hundred, so affordable in this
• 39:15
  respect, you know, specific to Milford right now, based on the market,
• 39:22
  could be probably I would imagine, you know, a few hundred dollars
• 39:27
  less, which makes a big difference in somebody's life. I mean that could
• 39:30
  be the car payment, right, that could be you know, the savings
• 39:36
  you know that you could realize by living in an affordable apartment. And what
• 39:42
  people need to understand is these buildings and these projects, you know, will
• 39:46
  only allow a certain percentage, right, isn't each town required? They are
• 39:53
  by state less. Well, the one that was just passed at the mall
• 40:00
  is was past that ten percent, but I can tell you there was a
• 40:04
  lot of people that wanted to see that get increased to fifteen or even twenty
• 40:09
  percent to open up more units, right, And that's a conversation that we
• 40:15
  could probably have moving forward. This is Phase one, two hundred and fifty
• 40:20
  apartments. Ten percent. But that percentage, you know, doesn't necessarily mean
• 40:24
  it could change, It could be increased, you know, there could be
• 40:29
  a conversation depending on you know, now, is that percentage per unit or
• 40:34
  per town, I mean per like you know, per building, per building.
• 40:38
  Okay, yeah, so ten percent of the two hundred and fifty ten
• 40:44
  units has to be affordable right by right, So each building, depending on
• 40:50
  the amount of units it would it would different. Now I've seen some affordable
• 40:52
  housing pricing in Milford. Okay, it doesn't seem that for rental, rental,
• 40:58
  rental, Yeah, no, no, it's once again, I mean,
• 41:01
  you know, it's people that are starting out. It's professional people,
• 41:06
  people out of college that just get a job in the city and they're making
• 41:09
  a decent wage and they can't afford to live in New York. So they
• 41:13
  take the train and they live in Milford. They live right in the tod
• 41:16
  district, right downtown. They get off the train and they walking into their
• 41:21
  apartment. I mean, and those are probably a lot of your customers that
• 41:24
  you probably see. Yeah, and they're younger. Yeah. So you know,
• 41:31
  we are always evolving. You have to embrace change. You have to
• 41:37
  you know, just plan ahead, you have to do your homework. Everything's
• 41:40
  data driven, you know, and you just have to have responsible development.
• 41:45
  And as long as it's you know, there for the best of the community,
• 41:52
  you know it will it will bring prosperity. Now, now, when
• 41:57
  you were mayor, how do you how to engage the community, so you
• 42:01
  know, their voices are heard in certain events or or decision making processes of
• 42:07
  mayor. I know it's a tough job and you can't please everybody, especially
• 42:13
  in the you know, the world we live in now and everyone you know,
• 42:15
  we have a voting community, we have a you know, we have
• 42:19
  a business community, we have and everyone has personal interests and stuff. How
• 42:24
  do you feel you can you know, reach each individual. I know it's
• 42:29
  impossible to sit down with everybody, but you know, in a broader spectrum,
• 42:32
  you know, make sure that this you know, the tax paying citizens
• 42:37
  of Milford feel like they're you know, they've been heard and understand. Well.
• 42:43
  I've gained a lot of that knowledge being a sitting alderman and answering to
• 42:46
  my constituents through the years for different concerns that they may have, you know,
• 42:52
  in regards to some of the subjects that we've talked about, whether it's
• 42:57
  crime, development over development, education. So it's an open door policy.
• 43:06
  You're the representative of over fifty thousand people, regardless of whether they own a
• 43:10
  business or not, regardless if they rent or they own a home. I
• 43:16
  think the people of Milford have an understanding that Milford as a community, you
• 43:23
  know, looks out for each other. So it's something you know that you
• 43:30
  have to do day in and day out. You have to make sure that
• 43:34
  the decisions that are made through collaboration, through forming a committee, from people
• 43:38
  coming to the Board of Aldermen meetings and speaking at the public hearing and voicing
• 43:44
  their concerns. You know, what's happening in their neighborhood, or what's changed
• 43:47
  in their neighborhood, or what could be approved upon in their neighborhood. That's
• 43:52
  where you have to be a great listener. And I've always you know,
• 43:55
  listen to people, collaborate with people, and you'll owe always find a middle
• 44:00
  ground. I can tell you we've come a long way. We've had great
• 44:05
  success throughout the city, throughout whether the mayor, from one mayor to the
• 44:13
  next. I think people see that in the people that they elect for these
• 44:20
  positions. I'm confident in Milford. I'm confident that they look to people that
• 44:24
  have the experience that can offer, you know, their time, that are
• 44:30
  great listeners. You know, I think that We've been blessed with with great
• 44:36
  public servants in our city, and I want to continue in that tradition and
• 44:40
  always being a public servant, not a politician, a public servant. And
• 44:47
  that's the key, you know, to keep that mindset. I grew up
• 44:51
  here. I'm a humble guy. You know. I appreciate everyone's you know,
• 44:58
  hardships, listen to their hardships, and I try to help people.
• 45:02
  And I think, you know, if you're honest and you put your best
• 45:07
  foot forward, you know you can, you know, find find that solution
• 45:13
  to most problems. Yeah. And one thing I know this is really just
• 45:17
  the second time we've sat down and chatted, yes, is you are running
• 45:21
  a very clean campaign. You're running you know, you're not attacking anybody,
• 45:30
  and I think that's very commendable. Thank you. I have received text messages
• 45:36
  on the contrary from other parties just leave it with that, and I think
• 45:40
  it's you know, this is just me talking, not you. I think
• 45:45
  it's it's disheartening. I actually feel it's counterproductive. I think it's actually in
• 45:52
  your favor when people see these text messages that I've been getting. And and
• 46:00
  the one thing I'll leave it on this note is I love how they still
• 46:02
  leave the option at the end of these messages to hit one or six on
• 46:07
  who you're going to vote for. And just so you know, you're six.
• 46:15
  Yeah, but you know, I appreciate you, you know, bringing
• 46:20
  that to light. I can tell you. You know, I'm very proud
• 46:23
  of my public service. I'm proud that I come from a family business background.
• 46:30
  You know, I'm a product of Milford, right, I mean,
• 46:32
  I went through the public school system. My parents moved here to start businesses.
• 46:37
  That was the American dream, that was their dream and and Milford offered
• 46:42
  the opportunity. And you know, I've contributed to my family business, you
• 46:49
  know, with my brothers, and you know that's something that I think if
• 46:54
  anyone had to experience what I've experienced, it's it's all positive, you know.
• 46:59
  And I I truly believe in positivity and putting positive vibes out in society,
• 47:05
  out in a community, especially if you want a job and you want
• 47:08
  to represent yourself as a leader. There's no room for negativity. There really
• 47:15
  isn't. And you know, that's never happened in Milford before, you know,
• 47:21
  and it's unfortunate that that it's happening now. But I have my high
• 47:28
  road is always the right road. Well, you know, I trust the
• 47:31
  people in Milford. I trust the voters. I have faith in them,
• 47:37
  and I know that they truly, you know, believe in a positive Milford.
• 47:43
  And I think that come election Day their voices will be heard. I
• 47:46
  believe they will too. You know one thing I always learned in my I
• 47:50
  think it was I was working the Marriott, one of my first man in
• 47:52
  the jobs. I was really young, and I think it's a good lesson
• 47:58
  in life. Was like my first day of the job, I was just
• 48:00
  bartend and then I got promoted to be a manager. My manager above me
• 48:06
  always says, you know, when you come into a new job, have
• 48:09
  fresh eyes, you know. And basically what that means is, you know,
• 48:14
  there might be you know, Joe who's been managing the restaurant for six
• 48:17
  years who walked by the same dirty table and it just became just that's what
• 48:24
  it was, the dirty, dirty table, you know, you know,
• 48:29
  and fresh eyes come in and why is this table dirty? Or a window
• 48:32
  whatever you want to call it, you know, like why is it?
• 48:35
  Why is this dirty? You know? And I feel you talking about visions
• 48:38
  and trying new things and and you know, just the bus idea and all
• 48:44
  that I think is, you know what a talent. And I'm not saying
• 48:45
  this town is stagnant at all. I'm not saying they're set in their ways.
• 48:49
  But fresh eyes, someone that knows the community very well, I think
• 48:53
  is you know, just don't go old hat, don't vote the row you
• 48:57
  vote because that's what you've always been doing. Listen, listen to what Tony's
• 49:02
  saying, uh, you know, and and and make your decision that way.
• 49:07
  You know, Just don't vote party lines. I mean, I know
• 49:10
  I'm Republican, and yes I'm voting for Tony, but I've never sat down
• 49:15
  with the person running against you. I've never seen her say anything, and
• 49:21
  I'm not I'm sure she's very intelligent. I'm sure she knows. You know,
• 49:23
  she's been in the public sector for a long time. But you know,
• 49:29
  I formed my opinion through your actions, through sitting with me here,
• 49:35
  through your fundraisers, and I'm sure you still got a couple left before the
• 49:38
  big day, and you know, I couldn't be more proud of you taking
• 49:44
  initiative. As a business owner. You could just sit back and be like,
• 49:47
  you know, I'm a business owner. I'm getting older, I don't
• 49:51
  need this, but that here you are, and because you love this town
• 49:55
  absolutely, you know. And and I know a lot of people that love
• 50:00
  you and appreciate a lot I don't thank you. A lot of small business
• 50:01
  owners thank you that support you and stick up for you. And uh and
• 50:07
  uh, I think it'll have a good outcome next Tuesdays. Well, thank
• 50:10
  you. I mean just what you said. That's what inspires me. I
• 50:14
  get inspired by my friends, my family, you know, people that have
• 50:17
  known me, that grew up with me. And and that's really the enjoyment
• 50:23
  that I get out of public service, you know. And I I don't
• 50:28
  have all the ideas, but I have some pretty good ones. But I
• 50:31
  can tell you I'm very open minded to two new ideas to people making suggestions.
• 50:37
  I've learned from people you know that makes the best leaders and is a
• 50:42
  team under you And well, thank you. And and there's great people in
• 50:45
  this city that that work, you know, day in and day out for
• 50:50
  the best interests of the community. And I want to inspire them. I
• 50:53
  want them to feel good about going to work and feel good about what they're
• 50:58
  doing, you know, and build people up, you know. And at
• 51:02
  the same time, you know, we all share in the success. And
• 51:07
  this is something I think the timing is right. I think people truly want
• 51:12
  to be inspired. You know, people don't want negative vibes, they don't
• 51:17
  want negative messaging in their lives. There's just too much information out there to
• 51:22
  begin with. And when you start going down that road, it's it's it's
• 51:28
  not the road to success. You know. We all approach things differently.
• 51:31
  And I can tell you in my life, being true to myself, being
• 51:37
  honest with people, has paid dividends. And that's who I am, you
• 51:42
  know, and I'm a strong believer in that. You know, what you
• 51:45
  put into something is what you get out of it. And I've volunteered,
• 51:50
  you know, twenty years of public service. It was four years on the
• 51:53
  zoning board, sixteen on the board of Aldermen, and at the same time
• 51:57
  built a family business, you know, with the help of my family.
• 52:00
  My brother is my father, you know, my mother owns a business in
• 52:05
  town. She's a hairdresser. I mean, it just goes on and on,
• 52:08
  and you know, we've always you know, supported each other, and
• 52:13
  I want to support the community. I want I want to continue that that
• 52:16
  support and that hard work. As as as your mayor, I see the
• 52:22
  passion in your eyes. Thank you for something that you really want and you
• 52:25
  know, the best of luck to you. I will be there. What
• 52:29
  if I vote, I voted Foreign for what time are you going to be
• 52:32
  at Foreign? So I could so sometime I'll probably be there early. Foreign
• 52:37
  High is a big polling places. I'll probably go there first and go to
• 52:43
  Harborside, Orange, AB. Those three are the top three. So we're
• 52:46
  doing a lot of signage, you know, getting the message out. I
• 52:51
  got this LED sign Yeah, we can move it around we we we have
• 52:57
  it now. We're going to have it in different locations. It's like a
• 53:00
  truck kind of thing. It's not a truck, but it's like a trailer
• 53:06
  with with the LED billboard. So we've you know, reserved it from We
• 53:10
  had it yesterday and right up until election day. So if you know the
• 53:15
  people that are listening, they can very well see it, you know,
• 53:20
  around town. We're gonna move it strategically. We're going to try to cover
• 53:23
  all the ground and I selfie, yeah, yeah, it's it's really cool.
• 53:29
  Our headquarters is on the corner of North Street and the Post Roade across
• 53:34
  Yeah, Patriot Bank. It was there last night. Where's the election night
• 53:37
  for you? There? We're probably gonna go to the Kimberly. We'll be
• 53:42
  there during the day, but we're gonna have we need a bigger space for
• 53:45
  the night. So you know, we we're hoping that it's going to be
• 53:50
  a big win for Milford and we were inviting people to come, you know,
• 53:55
  hopefully have a good celebration. Since you're the man with that is,
• 54:00
  I got one last question for you and I'll let you go. So this
• 54:05
  is more of a national problem and it's hit home for me. My father,
• 54:09
  he's eighty and long story short, he's basically being scammed online and I
• 54:15
  went up last Saturday to rectify the situation. He lives up in you know,
• 54:20
  South Effield, mass So he's you know, an hour and a half
• 54:22
  away from me. My brother lives close, but you know, he's struggling
• 54:24
  trying to get through to my dad as well. Basically, you know,
• 54:29
  he's being asked online for money and he's confused. He said he's lived by
• 54:36
  himself for probably twenty years, a little lonely. I would guess he doesn't
• 54:39
  listen to the show. So I really don't care what I say about him.
• 54:43
  But Dad, I love you, I mean it, But you know
• 54:45
  he's in for you know, a couple grand He doesn't know who he's talking
• 54:50
  to. He thinks he knows who he's talking to. He's never met anybody.
• 54:54
  We took his phone, we took his Facebook down. Actually we didn't
• 54:59
  fully take his phone. Wanted him to change his phone number. Basically,
• 55:01
  where I'm going with this is awareness. I know I did read some stuff
• 55:07
  in Milford, you know, I know the police will come out with something
• 55:09
  like, you know there's a new scam out there, whether it's an eBay
• 55:14
  scam or something or you know, this is just a week ago. And
• 55:19
  I deleted every contact he had in his phone and blocked him and he's still
• 55:22
  getting them. And you know, I did my own research figured out it
• 55:25
  was people from probably Nigeria that are pretending to be people locally in Massachusetts that
• 55:32
  you know, have a daughter that needs an inhaler or you know something,
• 55:37
  and he's falling you know, hook line and sinker for this. So my
• 55:43
  one question would be, I know Milford's very good for adult uh you know,
• 55:49
  they have the classes for adults, you know, through the community to
• 55:52
  go learn how to sew or knit or navigate the internet. And then I
• 55:59
  see these progressive commers, you know, the ones where the guys like don't
• 56:00
  become your parents and one about like Facebook and dming and all this stuff.
• 56:06
  Yeah, you know, I just would love more. Oh, you know,
• 56:09
  And I feel my father's passed the point of no return with this stuff
• 56:13
  unless we just literally treat them like a baby and take everything away from them.
• 56:16
  Yeah. But I think, you know, we need some kind of
• 56:20
  awareness because it's only gonna get worse with AI. I'm telling you you will
• 56:24
  not be able to This could be all made up right here in about two
• 56:28
  years. Wow, you know. And I think it's you know, the
• 56:31
  bad people are always going to be bad, and they're gonna try and take
• 56:34
  advantage and the elder that uses ones because they didn't grow up with this technology.
• 56:37
  Yeah, my dad's only been on Facebook for a couple of years.
• 56:39
  He does not know how to navigate it. He doesn't know the pitfalls of
• 56:43
  it. Just yesterday, I got an Instagram message for somebody pretending to be
• 56:50
  somebody I know in Milford who's a business owner that doesn't have an Instagram account,
• 56:53
  which literally raised I don't remember them having an Instagram account, and they
• 56:58
  were asking me for one hundred dollars to help them out with their children and
• 57:00
  went on so far like I laugh it off. I actually text the person.
• 57:04
  I'm like, yo, you've been hacked, you know, like I
• 57:06
  get it. How do we get I wish you know anyone that just it's
• 57:10
  almost like having a driver's license. You know, if you can't, if
• 57:15
  you can't navigate this or understand really what's going on, you shouldn't have it,
• 57:21
  especially you know, if you know, like I said, my father's
• 57:23
  lost some money and it's you know, we're resorting to law enforcement now,
• 57:30
  but what are they gonna do? You know again, it's not really a
• 57:34
  question, it's more of like it's you, what ideas would you have?
• 57:37
  And I think, you know, obviously as education would be the first,
• 57:42
  but as people get older, you know, maybe senile or dementia sets in.
• 57:46
  It's just that's what these people go after. And it's sad, but
• 57:50
  they're winning. They're winning, right, right, And how do we win
• 57:53
  this battle? So I don't mean it for the town, no, No,
• 57:58
  but you know, I appreciate you sharing that story. That's a personal
• 58:00
  story, right, I mean, I know it's your dad, so it
• 58:05
  hits home. I talked to my brother about yesterday. Yeah, mention this.
• 58:07
  We have to and it's upsetting, it is, but you trying to
• 58:12
  be proactive in the sense that putting it out there to make other people aware
• 58:17
  of what's happening, like myself, right, we have aging parents, so
• 58:22
  we and you know, it's funny because they said one of the specific data
• 58:28
  measures that came out. I went to a Board of ed Education meeting last
• 58:30
  night and they did a presentation. We have a growing fifty five and older
• 58:37
  community at Milford, so you know, people are retiring here, you know,
• 58:43
  the elderly people. We have magnificent facilities for seniors. So I guess
• 58:51
  you know, having the conversation with with your family, with the elderly people,
• 58:57
  whether it's your grandparents or your parents in your in your situation, and
• 59:06
  it's hard because you don't want to take their phone away because then they feel
• 59:09
  like they lost their independence, you know, because you know they're older,
• 59:15
  and uh, you know, it's it's such a difficult thing because to go
• 59:20
  through it, Yeah, to go through it like with somebody that you love,
• 59:24
  and you know, I would love to talk to the police chief about
• 59:29
  it to see if there is some way to reach out to these people specifically,
• 59:34
  you know, to be preventative, almost have a day for it,
• 59:37
  you know, like just to you know, it's a national could be you
• 59:42
  know, whether it's you know, scamming, catfishing, whatever, so you
• 59:45
  know, national navigating the internet day like or just you know, you know,
• 59:50
  for some people, it's so simple. If somebody is asking for money,
• 59:53
  yeah, on any of these sites, it's time. It's a crime.
• 59:59
  It right, it's a crime. So that's why, you know,
• 1:00:01
  my first reaction is to reach out to the police department to see how they
• 1:00:05
  would bring the awareness and the education piece to the elderly and then maybe partner
• 1:00:09
  with the Senior Center and do some kind of senior prevention counsel. You know,
• 1:00:15
  we do have committees that are set up for seniors and maybe as you're
• 1:00:22
  sitting there taking some initiative with this, being that this is something you know
• 1:00:28
  that you're bringing to light and most people hopefully don't have that negative experience,
• 1:00:35
  you know, where it affects their loved ones, and putting it out there
• 1:00:38
  so they can educate the seniors and their families at the same time, did
• 1:00:45
  you get the families that how to approach their parents right or just check up
• 1:00:49
  on them, or have someone come in and speak to the seniors at the
• 1:00:52
  senior center why they're there during the day, and like to your point,
• 1:00:55
  making a day of it, and whether it could be a police officer,
• 1:01:00
  you know, or it could be a victim. It could be a victim,
• 1:01:04
  or it could be yourself saying, hey, this happened to my dad.
• 1:01:07
  You know, my dad's on a fixed income. You know, he's
• 1:01:10
  a great, big hearted man, and they take advantage of that. And
• 1:01:16
  that's really the sadness in it all. And and the people that become victims,
• 1:01:22
  they're almost ashamed and they don't want to talk about it, and you
• 1:01:29
  know, they don't want to share that experience. But if they share it
• 1:01:31
  in the right venue and they help it from not happening to someone else,
• 1:01:37
  that's the reward. So I would certainly, I would certainly make it part
• 1:01:44
  of my conversation with seniors, you know, when I'm in front of you
• 1:01:47
  know, people, to make them aware of it. And you know,
• 1:01:52
  I think that that's, you know, something that needs to be talked about.
• 1:01:57
  I mean, because it's happening in real time, you know, and
• 1:02:00
  they're gonna get any better. No, no, no, and you know,
• 1:02:05
  having open you know, dialogue is the first step. One last thing
• 1:02:09
  just st annoying me. Okay, you know you live in Milford. I
• 1:02:14
  don't know who the admins are, right, but I subject to submit a
• 1:02:20
  lot of my shows that support local business, right, I submit the podcast
• 1:02:25
  on it. They've done, they've done a couple over the three years I've
• 1:02:30
  been doing this almost but they didn't do last weeks. They didn't do a
• 1:02:34
  couple of a month ago. And I'm gonna submit yours. And you know,
• 1:02:39
  if it's it's their prerogative, they can do what they want. But
• 1:02:43
  some of the ship that I see that gets fucking posted on there and becomes
• 1:02:47
  just a firestorm of you know how bad the internet can be, you know,
• 1:02:52
  so there's nothing to you. This is not ranting. Put this show
• 1:02:57
  on the air, please, Like I want people in to know that you
• 1:03:00
  sat down with me that don't know me, that you know, like they
• 1:03:02
  could. There's a lot of members on you know you live in Milford on
• 1:03:06
  Facebook? Okay, so just just help me to understand a little a little
• 1:03:10
  more clear. So there's a site called you know you live in Milford,
• 1:03:14
  right, and people can post like hey, who what you know, who
• 1:03:17
  recommends Chinese? You know what Chinese restaurant do you recommend? They won't allow
• 1:03:22
  you to post. Well, I don't know, they don't haven't approved it.
• 1:03:23
  So I did one with Jordan. This kild Jordan last week? Or
• 1:03:27
  when's the boxing ring over by the police department? Right? You know,
• 1:03:30
  small business owner just started out wanted to you know, he's getting traction through
• 1:03:35
  my show and through his own promotion, and this is just extra, you
• 1:03:38
  know, even if it hits one person that you know what, I didn't
• 1:03:43
  like the boxing place over here, Maybe I'll try the boxing place over there.
• 1:03:46
  I don't know who census that or I don't know either. That's a
• 1:03:50
  great question because I don't know. I just figured that it was a community
• 1:03:53
  of people and everything that was put on there was you know, maybe I
• 1:04:00
  have a bad rep. I don't know. I really don't know. I
• 1:04:04
  but is there anything like in your personal opinion that we well we I will
• 1:04:09
  certainly promote it on my end throw my website, that's all. I'm not
• 1:04:15
  sure how that works or how it was set up originally. I don't think
• 1:04:19
  that the city has but our last show got through it did, so I
• 1:04:25
  only I only send shows in that are that are you know, relevant to
• 1:04:28
  Milford, because I'll do shows like you know, I did one with you
• 1:04:31
  know, Steve Phillips from the Mets and we just talked baseball whatever. I
• 1:04:34
  didn't submit that one, but you business owners in Milford. I just wish
• 1:04:39
  they would all go through even if they want to listen to the show,
• 1:04:42
  and just make sure do you think that they're watching it and then deciding I
• 1:04:45
  don't think so. I don't think so. I just think I like but
• 1:04:48
  like I said, I see some of the stuff that comes through on the
• 1:04:50
  site, and like now like half the people post anonymously instead of putting their
• 1:04:55
  name to something, and I don't know, it's more of a I just
• 1:05:00
  is it most recently or is this my west? I haven't been posted yet
• 1:05:03
  with Do you think there's been a change of who's I don't know, honestly,
• 1:05:08
  I don't know. Maybe somebody's uh, you know, I just you
• 1:05:11
  know, there's there's a couple of sites. I just I just feel,
• 1:05:15
  you know, my love for the town. Yeah, And when I have
• 1:05:17
  someone on locally, I would like to broaden the horizons of people. You
• 1:05:23
  know, I don't have a gazillion followers on my sites, you know,
• 1:05:27
  so I figured, you know, with twenty thousand members of that community,
• 1:05:30
  absolutely even if ten people listened and one people one person want to go box,
• 1:05:34
  then there we go. Well, you know, for an example,
• 1:05:38
  if you didn't reach out to me, right, you know, I you
• 1:05:42
  know, I wouldn't be aware of you know, the things and the conversations
• 1:05:45
  that you've had, you know about the community. I think anything that has
• 1:05:49
  to do with Milford, what would be allowable, right, you know,
• 1:05:54
  on that site because it's specific to Milford, right, you know, and
• 1:05:58
  the people here at this table, you and I we're we're both here and
• 1:06:01
  we're fighting the good fight, you know, and we want to make things
• 1:06:05
  better for everyone. So I would love he just gets overlooked. I don't
• 1:06:10
  have any qualms with them. I'm just like, yeah, you know,
• 1:06:13
  it's just a link. It's all posting. It's a link to the show,
• 1:06:16
  and that's it. And then it's like they decide, I don't even
• 1:06:21
  know if you get declined. It may just be sitting and you know,
• 1:06:26
  the internet space and they just wipe it. Yeah, I'm a Tinder date.
• 1:06:31
  Well they just left me. I'm glad that you know you mentioned that
• 1:06:40
  to me, because I will certainly, you know, look into it channel.
• 1:06:45
  I don't even know, honestly, I don't. I don't even know
• 1:06:48
  who I would approach, Like, I don't know who's behind the curtain.
• 1:06:54
  I mean, I'm sure I could research the pagency, who the admins are
• 1:06:59
  and all that. I I don't have time for that. Ship. I'm
• 1:07:01
  like, you know, this is local, this is local. I appreciate
• 1:07:04
  you. You're a real guy, you know, and and I I just
• 1:07:11
  you know, connect with you, you know, on on on a real
• 1:07:15
  level for sure. And I like what you're doing. And I told you
• 1:07:17
  this last time. You know, you're a fan of mine, and I'm
• 1:07:20
  a fan of yours, you know. And and we're kind of like in
• 1:07:25
  this thing together. And I look forward to coming back here as as mayor
• 1:07:30
  and to talk to you about the issues that you're hearing about or things that
• 1:07:33
  are happening to you personally, whether it's you or your family. I mean,
• 1:07:38
  these are the things that you know interest me and the things that I
• 1:07:41
  deeply care about. Real talk, real people and real time, real time,
• 1:07:46
  real quickly. Yeah, my owner, Richie con I want an extended
• 1:07:53
  invitation to you Saturday at Stonebridge. I think we have a five K zombie
• 1:07:57
  run finishing there, okay with the rub Runners playing. The weather's supposed to
• 1:08:00
  be seventy five and beautiful. Let's do it. So you just you knew
• 1:08:03
  I was talking last night. Is that Tony's coming on the show? Oh
• 1:08:06
  yeah, write them down Saturday. It's gonna be great. It's kind of
• 1:08:09
  our last patio day too. Oh. With coming to an end and for
• 1:08:15
  you finish up on this, what do you have any fundraisers last minute coming
• 1:08:17
  up? No, I I honestly I don't. I'm doing meet and greets
• 1:08:21
  at people's houses. People are opening up their living rooms to me nice,
• 1:08:27
  which is very very you know, great in a sense. I get to
• 1:08:31
  meet the neighbors and friends of friends, and so I enjoy doing those.
• 1:08:38
  I've done, you know, a host of fundraisers throughout the campaign. We
• 1:08:42
  had a great time. You know. We did one at at stone Bridge
• 1:08:45
  if you were away. Yeah, but we had the Utube Nation band there
• 1:08:48
  which was a big hit. You know, and you know, I want
• 1:08:51
  people to you know, enjoy themselves, you know when they come and you
• 1:08:57
  know, we've had a blast. I've got a great campaign. Committee.
• 1:09:00
  They support me, They do all the work. So you got a Maxie
• 1:09:05
  Max, one of the kids from stone Bridge. I see some of the
• 1:09:10
  pictures. Yeah yeah, yes, yeah, yes, yeah, yeah yeah,
• 1:09:16
  exactly the day, you know. Speaking of Bayview, I walked in
• 1:09:21
  that Fourth of July parade. You threw me at, did I? Yeah.
• 1:09:27
  But that's a great community there. Well, I'm waiting for the house
• 1:09:30
  prices to come down so I can move back into it. People love I
• 1:09:33
  gotta tell you, people love Bayview and and it's it's just it's one of
• 1:09:39
  those beach communities that you know, has so much history, so many families
• 1:09:43
  I've met. You know, I really enjoy spending time down a baby.
• 1:09:46
  Yeah, it's awesome down there, all right, Tony g two weeks go
• 1:09:51
  vote. I can't harp on it enough. You know, when I was
• 1:09:55
  younger, I kind of I feel like the young kids nowadays vote more than
• 1:10:00
  when we were younger. I gotta tell you a lot of young people have
• 1:10:03
  come to headquarters, asked for signs, ask to volunteer. Yeah that's awesome.
• 1:10:09
  They're really engaged in in their beliefs, you know, and it's inspiring
• 1:10:15
  to me. And you know, I hope that they get inspired, and
• 1:10:18
  I always tell them, you know, you could do this. You could
• 1:10:20
  become a public servant. You could you know, serve on a boarding commission,
• 1:10:25
  and who knows, maybe maybe one day you'll be the next mayor,
• 1:10:29
  you know. And that's how it starts. I mean it starts at a
• 1:10:30
  grassroots level. We got some new signs coming out. You'll see them soon.
• 1:10:36
  It's gonna be it's gonna be vote roa B for Tony G. I
• 1:10:44
  like it. So I need you to come out and support the team.
• 1:10:47
  Now, can we go down to headquarters? What are the hours at headquarters?
• 1:10:50
  So headquarters mostly we're there on the weekends, but we'll be there Thursday
• 1:10:55
  night. We have a meeting there Thursday night at seven o'clock. The doors
• 1:10:58
  will be open. It's a public meeting. People could come in. They
• 1:11:01
  could actually sit in on the meeting. They could see how we, you
• 1:11:04
  know, address our town committee. The volunteers will be there, so I
• 1:11:11
  would say, if you for not doing it on Thursday nights, stop by.
• 1:11:13
  Maybe the big led sign will be there. You can't miss to see
• 1:11:16
  that. So it's exciting stuff. It's it's coming to the end. We're
• 1:11:20
  in the fourth quarter and I'm ready to put it in the end zone.
• 1:11:25
  And I appreciate your support because you've been, you know, helping me the
• 1:11:28
  whole way through and it means a lot. You got my endorsement, you
• 1:11:33
  got my vote. Thank you vote Roe B for there it is there,
• 1:11:39
  it is. Thanks so much, my friend. Great luck in two weeks.
• 1:11:43
  But I need one promise for you from you. Okay, you win,
• 1:11:46
  which you will, let's say, I like the confidence. Sometime next
• 1:11:50
  year, yes, yeah, winter time after the super Bowl, after the
• 1:11:55
  super Bowl, you will do like a uh, we'll do with pod.
• 1:11:59
  Okay, you have to clean your slate. Okay, we're gonna have some
• 1:12:02
  cocktails. Okay, it is day drinking with r Yeah you know, I
• 1:12:09
  know. Hey, listen, I know the ex mayor liked his beers.
• 1:12:13
  Let's okay, shy here, So okay, I'm not saying we're gonna throw
• 1:12:16
  back six martinis, but we'll have a couple of vivas because the show is
• 1:12:19
  sponsored back. We'll celebrate. We'll celebrate a couple of drinks and uh and
• 1:12:26
  we'll you know, together look at the vision in the future of milk.
• 1:12:29
  All right, that's that's a deal. That's all right. Tony, thanks
• 1:12:31
  so much again. I'm sure i'll see you before two weeks from now,
• 1:12:35
  but uh, i'll hunt you down. On Tuesday, November seventh, you
• 1:12:40
  get a little selfie with you and a nice handshake. I appreciate my friend than you