May 1, 2025 • 55 mins
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Pastor Darren Leach, independent mayoral candidate endorsed by incumbent Mayor Keith Gaskin, shares his vision for implementing data-driven management and transparent metrics for Columbus city departments. Through his unique combination of engineering expertise and community service experience, Leach aims to rebuild neighborhoods while fostering unity among city leadership.
• Creating clear performance indicators for all city departments to ensure accountability and transparency
• Approaching infrastructure challenges with systematic analysis rather than quick fixes
• Building consensus through open communication with council members before presenting ideas
• Redeveloping the Kerr-McGee site through public-private partnerships while preventing gentrification
• Bringing nonprofit experience of "making bricks without straw" to city government
• Differentiating from Mayor Gaskin through more active communication while maintaining similar goals
This episode also features Barbara Bigelow and Amber Brislin discussing the upcoming Market Street Festival, highlighting changes to this year's layout while maintaining all the traditional festival elements.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
From the opinion page of the Commercial Dispatch.
This is Between the Headlines.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
This is Peter Imes, publisher of the Dispatch.
One of our hosts of Between theHeadlines is the managing
editor of our newsroom.
Typically, we try to keep newsand opinions separate, but
reporters have a unique insightinto the workings of local
government and their analysiscan be helpful for readers and
listeners.
The Dispatch remains committedto journalistic integrity and
(00:37):
our reporting will alwaysreflect that.
And now Between the Headlines.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
This week, on Between the Headlines, we have Darren
Leach in the studio.
We'll talk politics there.
We are pleased to have BarbaraBigelow and Amber Brislin to
talk about the Market StreetFestival coming up this weekend,
rain or shine.
But first here's a word fromour sponsor.
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And now a message frompolitical candidate Bill Strauss
.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
This is Bill Strauss, your 2025 candidate for mayor
of Columbus.
As election time draws near,ask yourself are you satisfied
with our city leadership?
What has been done to eliminateour flooding issues?
What has been done to eliminateour housing blight?
Are our streets safe?
Why have we not kept up withWest Point, starkville and
Tupelo?
We must have new leadership.
(02:18):
Out with the old and in withthe new.
Elect Bill Strauss, your newmayor.
Paid for by campaign to electBill Strauss mayor 2025.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
And now a message from political candidate Jason
Spears.
Speaker 5 (02:32):
Hello, I am Jason Spears, your Republican
candidate for City Council, ward6.
I am grateful for the citizensof Ward 6 support in the primary
and respectfully requesteveryone's continued support in
the upcoming general election.
It is time to restore fiscalresponsibility, economic growth
and optimism back to our city.
I, like you, believe we can getback on track and know that, as
(02:52):
a community, we're going tomake it happen.
I approve this message and, onJune 3rd, vote Jason Spears for
Ward 6.
Paid for by the campaign toelect Jason Spears, ward 6.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
the campaign to elect Jason Spears, ward 6.
This week, on Between theHeadlines, we are pleased to
have in the studio Pastor ofGenesis Church and Independent
Mayor candidate who holds theendorsement of incumbent Mayor
Keith Gaskin.
None other than Pastor DarrenLeach.
Welcome here today.
Thank you, I'm glad to be here.
Okay, pastor Leach, here I haveaffectionately referred to you
as the Apostle on this broadcast.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
Oh, is that what we're doing?
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Yeah, that's where it came from I saw that on the
website.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
I did.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
But you are a preacher man, right?
Yes, sir, that is a good thing,because I have heard there are
plenty of sinners to make theirway through City Hall as of late
.
Speaker 6 (03:41):
This is where we're going to start with right, as it
currently seems.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Now I know where we are.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Well.
Speaker 6 (03:49):
I'm quite the center myself.
So here we go.
I understand, and I presume youmean you go through City Hall
regularly.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Oh yeah, well.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Not as regularly as I do, that's for sure.
I got you, that's for sure.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Redeem this conversation, Zach.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
You talked to me when you announced for mayor.
Yes, we talked about namerecognition being the biggest
challenge.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
that you're going to face coming into this.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
How have you closed that gap, how do you feel you've
closed that gap and what wayshave you gone about?
Speaker 6 (04:13):
it.
I don't know if I've closed thegap, because it was a pretty
big one.
You know.
What we've done, though, iswe've done a lot of things to
just connect with people, sowe've done some canvassing,
we've done a ton of social mediastuff We've done.
We were starting to do somestuff with mass media, and our
(04:34):
focus is to continue to letpeople know what will happen.
If I'm elected mayor, I try tostay out of the negative stuff,
I try to stay out of the past,and I try to kind of keep people
looking towards.
This is what we could have ifyou elect me.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
All right.
Well, so let me just jump rightin there what we'll have if
you're elected mayor.
Now you've talked about yourengineering background.
You have an engineering degree.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Yes sir.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Okay, your campaign.
Whether this was something thatI don't know, whether it's
something that you're pushing orsomething that was thrust upon
you, but your campaign hascouched you as a man with an
engineer's mind and a servant'sheart.
Speaker 6 (05:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
All right.
So let's get down to the brasstacks of that in the practical
matter.
Sure, it's the first meeting ofyour elected.
It's the first meeting of yourelected.
It's the first meeting of yourterm.
Sure, in July, three policiesthat you would want to put
forward right away that wouldeither help engineer the city
(05:37):
better or help the city serveits citizens better.
Speaker 6 (05:40):
Specifically, You're right.
So the first thing I would dois I would meet with each
department head.
We would get very, very clearon two things.
One is what is the mission ofthis department?
What are the key performanceindicators?
The policy I will put forwardwould be make sure that we make
those transparent.
Let's post those key KPIs inplaces where people could see
(06:01):
them.
Let's visually control them sopeople could understand clearly
if things are in and out notjust the citizens but those
department leaders, so they'llknow what kind of things they
need to work on.
So when we talk about gettinggovernment to run right, you've
got to know, you've got toclearly define what run right
means right, Because what wedon't want to be is subjective.
I don't want to go into worksessions and then ask a
(06:22):
department head how are thingsgoing?
Things are going good, Right,let's clearly define what good
is.
So if, for some reason, we'retalking to say public works, we
would look at those measureslike potholes that have been
identified, potholes that havebeen eliminated Right, the
length of time the pothole, fromthe time the pothole was
identified to the length of timethat they were identified.
(06:44):
Whatever those key performancemeasures are Now, I won't do
those in a vacuum.
I will sit down with thedepartment heads to help figure
out what those things look like.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Maybe good would be defined as the water recedes so
many inches per hour, as opposedto just sitting there and
breeding mosquitoes.
Speaker 6 (07:00):
I think that may be a little bit too much
engineering-ish for everybodywhen you start talking, but
exactly what we don't want.
We know water is going to comethrough the city.
It doesn't supposed to stay,it's supposed to leave almost as
fast as it comes into the city,and what we would do is figure
out ways to measure those andthen talk about how we get them
out of there.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Who's accountable?
Speaker 6 (07:20):
I'm the whoever, so ultimately, everything falls on
the mayor ultimately, and whatthat means is I got to put the
systems in place so that thepeople that are responsible are
doing what they need to do Right.
So I will be ultimatelyaccountable, but the work there
will be other people that areresponsible.
I got to make sure that thepeople that are responsible that
(07:40):
they have the skills, the toolsand the resources to make sure
that, when people are holding meaccountable, that things are
going the way they're supposedto.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Well, as it currently stands, though somebody's at
fault for this right.
Either it's just because thecity's so old and the
infrastructure is so old and itjust is what it is, or somebody
needs to be fired, or what.
Who's at fault?
Speaker 6 (08:01):
Well, one of the things that I learned when I was
in corporate America was it'seasy to do that.
It's easy to say this is theperson that's at fault and then
kind of try to switch people out.
What's a better way to do thatis to get systems in place,
because what happens is, if youget systems in place, what you
do is take what's in your headand you put it on paper.
Once you put it on paper, thennot only can I criticize it, but
(08:21):
the person who's responsiblefor fixing it can criticize it.
As long as the thought processfor how to do this stuff is in
your head, you don't want tocriticize it.
We do it the way we do it andthat's the way we've always done
it.
But once you put it on paper,it's open to criticism.
So what we would do with thedepartment managers and this is
what I did in corporate AmericaI went into organizations.
(08:43):
I helped organizations documenttheir systems.
I help them get really, reallyclear on what their success
measures look like, and we wereable to critique those systems
and make them more efficient andmake them more effective.
Now, once I go into anorganization and I see that
something is off, one of twothings will cause it.
One is the person does not havethe skill to do it.
If they don't have the skill todo it, we will train them.
(09:05):
The other one is they don'twant to do it.
One is the person does not havethe skill to do it.
If they don't have the skill todo it, we will train them.
The other one is they don'twant to do it.
If they don't want to do it, wewill fire them.
It's just that simple.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Okay, Well, you brought up public works and that
is a particular department thathas been much maligned on two
fronts, especially over the lastfour years Performance, fair or
unfair that performance hasbeen maligned at times publicly
and equipment and equipmentneeds.
What do you see there thatneeds to be done and what
(09:36):
conversations have you had withCasey Bush about it?
Speaker 6 (09:39):
Well, what needs to be done is you have to do a
detailed analysis.
That's one of the things thatengineering taught me.
You can't sideline, quarterbackthese things.
You got to go to what we usedto call GIMBA or the shop floor.
You got to go to where thisstuff is happening and figure it
out right.
So one of the things could belet's replace all of the
equipment because it's old.
But if you were in the military, they wouldn't say that.
(10:00):
They would say let's dopreventive maintenance, and if
you do preventive maintenance,then the equipment would run
right.
So I would ask stuff like thatwhat are your systems of checks
to make sure that when you goout, you're reasonably confident
that the equipment that youdrive out the shop with, that
it's going to work?
Speaker 3 (10:16):
So is Ethel Stewart right when she talks about put
the money toward the equipment.
Is that what I'm hearing?
Speaker 6 (10:21):
No, I'm saying we have to do an analysis.
Is that what I'm hearing?
No, I'm saying we have to do ananalysis.
We don't know if it's thepeople, we don't know if it's
the equipment, we don't know ifit's the skill set.
But as we do the analysis,we're not guessing anymore.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
Total cost of ownership type stuff.
Speaker 6 (10:33):
That's part of it.
That's part of it for theequipment.
But then we also have to makesure that the people that are
operating the equipment, thatthey have the skill set that
they need and that the peoplethat are maintaining the
equipment and I believe inself-managed maintenance to a
degree, in other words, you cancheck your oil.
You may not be able to replaceyour motor, but you can check
your oil.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
So how are you going to take these reports or these
measurements and present them toyour council and to persuade
them for lack of a better way ofputting it to make an
appropriate decision that'sbased on that?
Speaker 6 (11:06):
data Right.
Why would I do that?
Speaker 3 (11:08):
Because you're the mayor right.
Speaker 6 (11:09):
No, the department manager uses that data the
department manager uses that.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Well, you got to know it though, right yeah.
Speaker 6 (11:15):
Well, that's exactly right.
That's why we have to get clearon what are the key performance
.
Okay, so let me go back to thesecond part of you.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
While we go.
You're running for mayor.
You're talking about runningthe city.
We were talking about publicworks.
What have your conversationswith Casey Bush been up until
this point?
Speaker 6 (11:31):
We've had conversations about specific
things that have happened.
I don't feel it's my place yetto go in and start telling him
how to run his operation, or totell him or to question him.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Sure, but I mean, I guess what concerns has.
Speaker 6 (11:46):
Casey brought to you.
I have a reason for that.
The reason I don't feel that isbecause Casey's busy right.
And depending on who goes intooffice right, he may have very
different ways.
He has to do it.
If, given the opportunity, I'lltake the skillset that I have
Before that it's a littlepresumptuous and a little bit
premature, I think, and that'sthe way I'm managing it.
(12:08):
So I'm paying attention tothings like budget, I'm paying
attention to some other stuff,just so I could understand how
the city is run should I getelected.
But until I get elected I don'thave a right to go in and ask
Casey and tell Casey how to doit, but you'll use this data to
push him from being busy intobeing productive and efficient,
right?
Speaker 3 (12:26):
I'm not saying it that way?
Speaker 6 (12:27):
No, I'm saying he's busy because there's a lot of
stuff going on in the city, butwhat I'm saying is what we want
to do is make sure that everydepartment is efficient and
effective and there's a measurefor those.
We got to figure out what thoseare.
Those are not obvious right now.
We will make those obvious,that's what transparency means
to me.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Well, I want to move into the engineering part of
this.
I mean what conversations haveyou had with Kevin Stafford?
Speaker 6 (12:54):
I have all kinds of conversations with Kevin
Stafford.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
What insight have you gotten from that as far as what
the city needs to do and whatyour priorities would need to be
infrastructure-wise?
First day on the job.
Speaker 6 (13:05):
Well, that's a really interesting question.
I hear it all the time Likeyou're going to walk in on the
job and instantly everything'sgoing to change.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
No, no, no, no, no I'm saying you've been running
this whole time.
Speaker 6 (13:18):
You've been running since January.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Right, okay, you have an engineering background,
right, you know who the cityengineer is.
You say you've hadconversations with him, so what
insight have you gotten fromthose?
Speaker 3 (13:27):
conversations Surely there's something that needs to
be fixed on day one.
Speaker 6 (13:31):
Well, not on day one, it's not going to be fixed on
day one, but the things that wewant to look at are
infrastructure.
Those are the things that wetalk about.
But then we also talk aboutother stuff, because I didn't
just start looking at how we dostuff in the city.
So when I went to do the changegrant that I'm sure you're
going to ask me about at somepoint in this conversation when
I went to do the change grant,we did a really detailed
(13:51):
analysis of portions of the cityso we could pick which ones we
wanted to work on.
When we noticed that, when wedid that, we noticed that there
were things like income levelsthat were low, we noticed that
not only is the infrastructureold, but, also the improvements
on land.
The buildings are old, so weneed to build more buildings.
(14:14):
We need to make sure that wehave affordable housing.
Those are the kinds of thingsthat we need.
Now, when Kevin talks aboutinfrastructure, he talks to me
about the fact that we have alot that needs to be done in a
lot of areas, and he also talksabout how there are some things
that are already being done,specifically like we need some
detention ponds right so that wecan hold up the water.
(14:35):
He talks about how we need toreally really make sure that our
ditch maintenance system isokay, because we have some spots
that are just clogged, and sothe result is, when we're
looking downstream, we see waternot flowing, but upstream it's
flooded.
Well, there's a point herewhere we got a clog.
Those are the kind ofdiscussions that we have, but
(14:56):
how to fix those?
We will have to get in thereand start talking to public
works and understand exactlywhat kind of systems they have
in place and how they do thosethings.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Well, you mentioned the change grant.
You have worked extensively inthe world of grants and trying
to get them and makingconnections and networking with
organizations that might helpy'all get grants.
Mayor Gaskin to a considerableextent pitched and pushed grant
funded projects for to to fillthese big ideas that need to be
(15:29):
done.
Okay, grant funding right nowis a tenuous situation.
Speaker 6 (15:35):
Federal funding is a nice way to put it.
Speaker 7 (15:38):
I'm trying to be diplomatic.
Speaker 6 (15:39):
Unstable.
Okay, so all right.
Well, let's use your word.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Grant funding is unstable.
You're a big idea guy.
You've got a vision for thecity.
You've talked about it.
You've talked about through thechange grant.
You talked about differentthings that could be done.
Through the second grant that'ssort of tangentially connected
to that with the solar energyand the greening you've talked
about yeah, you've talked aboutbig ideas to get these things
done and of course with thatfunding you can, but you're the
(16:05):
mayor Say funding, grant fundinghas dried up.
What changes?
Speaker 6 (16:10):
Yeah, I can't tell you how much I appreciate that
question.
See, the purpose of the grantwasn't to fund the big ideas,
it's to spark redevelopment,right?
So what?
The way it works is this See, Igot to do an analogy when I was
younger if a guy got agirlfriend, then other girls
were interested, right, youunderstand what I'm saying.
(16:30):
So what we wanted to do withthe change grant was build some
things.
How do you know this?
I believe the fifth so, buthonestly, once we start building
in an area, it stops lookinglike it's a dilapidated area and
it begins to look like theproperty's on sale.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
And that's so Rising tide lifts all boats, exactly.
Speaker 6 (16:54):
If you don't have holes in the boat Right.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (16:56):
So one of the things we were thinking about doing was
how do we patch the holes inthe community so that those
communities can be lifted aswell?
That's why it's not just changegrant, it is community change
grant.
So the purpose was to sparkredevelopment, not to institute
redevelopment.
Public-private partnerships arehow we do that.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Okay, there has been a lot said on.
I'm sorry, and by the way.
Speaker 6 (17:19):
The federal government aren't the only
people that do grants.
There are foundations that dogrants.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Donations are down all over.
Speaker 6 (17:27):
It is, it is, and I really do hope that this
interesting time begins to kindof just.
It's just so much uncertaintythat it's hard for anybody to
make decisions.
If you've been paying attention, even down in Jackson, it's
hard for them to just settle ona budget because everything is
(17:48):
so unsettled right now.
So we face that same thing,which is another point of mine.
My background and my skill setwill also allow me to maneuver
through these really, reallychallenging times when things
are not okay.
I've spent the last 17 yearsmaking bricks without straw.
That is the nonprofit world.
(18:09):
The nonprofit world is alwaysuncertain.
So being able to continue toprovide programming and continue
to be able to feed people andopen up warming, shelters and
all of that, none of that stuffwas with certainty.
All of that stuff was how do wepivot?
What do we need to do to makethis stuff happen?
I'll bring that along withengineering.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Okay, well, speaking of making bricks without straw
and this was something that thesitting mayor has had a problem
with this is a weak mayor.
Weak mayor, strong council formof government.
He's brought a lot of ideas tothis council and have gotten so
very few across the line.
His straw was needing fourvotes from the council, right,
(18:50):
and he hadn't been able to makevery many bricks.
How do you avoid that?
I mean, especially as acandidate endorsed by him, right
?
How do you?
Speaker 6 (19:00):
talk about walking the tightrope, I mean how do you
?
Speaker 1 (19:03):
I mean, I know the council may be it's going to
have a few different people onit and we know that Right.
Speaker 6 (19:08):
Well, one of the things that I always do is or
that I better said, I'm notgoing to do is I won't do any
smear campaigning, and here'swhy, at the end of this, we have
to bring leaders together,right.
And so when you start pittingsides against sides, no matter
whether you win or not, you lose, because the ultimate goal for
me is not to get the job, it'sto do the work right.
(19:31):
So if I fight like I'm tryingto get the job, I get the job,
and then nobody wants to workwith me that's a problem.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Do you think that the push for a forensic audit was a
type of smear campaign?
Speaker 6 (19:43):
I don't know if it was a smear campaign, the push
for forensic but it seemed tohave been taken that way.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
It certainly was.
Speaker 6 (19:50):
Right.
Well, I don't know if it's asmear campaign.
I'm not sure how smart it is.
Here's why, or, depending onhow far you go back how smart it
is, I'll tell you why.
One of the things that we do aswe go look for federal funds or
any other funds is you have toprove your stewardship Right,
and so if we, if we do aforensic audit that we're not
(20:12):
confident is going to show upclean for us, then we have two
problems.
Number one is or if you do it,it could go one of two ways.
Let's say it that way.
The first way is we findsomething that was wrong and
that's what we were looking for.
We clap our hands because wewere right, but then now we put
a shadow over our city.
(20:32):
So now we can't go get otherfunds Right.
That's dumb, and we're tryingto rebuild our city.
Why would we put ourselves in aposition?
Speaker 1 (20:39):
where people don't trust us.
I watched GI Joe when I wasgrowing up and you know that old
saying that knowledge is halfthe battle.
Why would you?
Speaker 6 (20:50):
Well, here's the other piece.
The other piece is if you findnothing, then you wasted time.
Now here's a third option.
Here's another option.
Another option is to we've donea really good job over the last
four years with funding right.
We build our capital fund,We've managed in a really
transparent way, and if I couldsay one thing that I really am
(21:12):
excited about or appreciative ofthis administration, it is the
ability to turn that part rightthere around.
So for the last four years, I'mconfident.
What it's going to say.
Right Now, what I want to do ismake sure that whoever I
present our city to, they havethe same level of confidence
that we have, and that is wherewe are and where we've been for
(21:34):
the last four years.
You can trust us.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Okay, so on that point with the money, so,
despite public and privatestatements made by different
people at different times, thecity isn't broke in your opinion
.
Speaker 6 (21:46):
I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
All right what is the city's financial position
according to you?
Speaker 6 (21:51):
It looked like they have about $5 million in the
capital fund, right, and thenwhen I looked at how the money
is being spent, we're spending,we're trending on track and we
have some areas where we mighteven be able to roll some money
over again this year, so thecity has gotten that kind of
stuff under control.
However, we're in a time wherenatural disasters are huge.
(22:16):
Things can happen at any moment, so you need that emergency
fund just in case the city isthrust into one of those natural
disasters.
I think we're better positionedto deal with those than we have
been in the past.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Going back to the other subject, do you feel like
the current council has been oris willing to work with you as
it stands right now?
Because from the looks of it,it doesn't look like.
I'm just going to be honestwith you it doesn't look like
they like you very much.
It doesn't look like they likeyour ideas very much.
Now I know some of that.
Just going to be honest withyou, it doesn't look like they
like you very much.
It doesn't look like they likeyour ideas very much.
Now, I know some of that'sgoing to be political because
it's election season.
Speaker 6 (22:49):
All of that is political.
Those guys, I know those guys.
We talk offline.
We have way more stuff incommon about what we want to do
than we have.
That's not.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
What do you have in common with Ethel Stewart?
Speaker 6 (23:02):
She wants to see Ward 1 better, just like I do.
She wants to see Southsidebetter.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
In what ways do y'all agree that y'all can do that.
Say she's on the council andyou're the mayor.
How can y'all work together forWard 1?
Speaker 6 (23:13):
Well, she and I have not talked about that yet.
If she wins, we will.
We will talk about it.
We will talk about details.
But I don't just know EthelStewart.
I don't just know Ethel Stewart, I know her constituents.
I know how they feel about her.
Just had a conversation Sunday.
This guy talked to me at lengthabout how he felt about her.
I won't tell you whether it was.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
But you didn't talk to her.
Speaker 6 (23:36):
I haven't talked to her in detail because we're in a
political season.
What about Pierre?
Pierre?
We chime in on each other on aregular basis.
What ward do you live in?
I live in Ward 1.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
You live in Ward 1?
.
Speaker 6 (23:49):
Where Ethel Stewart is.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Okay, all right, but your church is in Ward 4?
.
Speaker 6 (23:53):
But the church is in Ward 4.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Okay, so have you talked to Pierre?
Of course I've talked to Pierre.
Speaker 6 (23:59):
I'm telling you what Pierre and I have talked about.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
Okay, did you preach to him.
Speaker 6 (24:03):
I will tell you all the time, he and everybody else,
no, no, no, I'm just kidding,but I think that the stuff that
Pierre and I have talked abouthave been to understand one, his
concerns about some of the workthat we're trying to do.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Well, I mean, he disagrees entirely with the CAG.
He disagrees entirely withredeveloping on Kerr-McGee until
it's completely 100% certified,cleaned up, which may or may
not be a practical way oflooking at it, but that's what
he's saying publicly and that'scoming right back to his
concerns about you and the CAG.
Speaker 6 (24:38):
Right.
Well, and I can't.
All I could do with those kindsof things is share information,
and from time to time he's opento that.
He's open to just hearing theinformation.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
But if you're the mayor and he's the ward
forecounselman, you've got tohave his vote occasionally.
Well.
Speaker 6 (24:54):
I need three votes.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Okay.
Speaker 6 (24:57):
Let me say that again , I need three votes, right?
How many does he need?
Speaker 5 (25:02):
How many does he?
Speaker 6 (25:02):
need.
He needs three votes.
We're all in the same boat.
When we sit there, man, when anidea is pitched, every one of
us has got to get three otherpeople to agree with us.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
So how is your approach to getting three votes
and your approach to governingthe city as the chief executive
different from the man who'ssitting there now and endorsing
you?
Speaker 6 (25:20):
Well, the man that's sitting there now and endorsing
me.
He came into a contentioussituation, right.
The one thing that I made up mymind now, by the way, mayor
Gaskin, was like the final straw.
I didn't want to run for mayor.
Let's be crystal clear.
I have been asked about italmost since I got here, because
(25:43):
I've done a whole lot of work.
So people have asked me.
The one thing I would not dowas run against an incumbent
mayor.
So while Mayor Gaskin wassaying to me you should think
about this, and I'm saying, no,it's because he wasn't sure he
wasn't going to run and I wouldnever agree, and the one fleece
that I threw out there was Iwon't run against an incumbent
(26:06):
mayor.
So what Mayor Gaskin did was he.
He switched a whole regimeRight.
We have Robert Smith for 15, 16years, Right.
So to come in and switch thatout in a very contentious
mayoral race, that was pretty.
That pretty did a pretty goodjob of splitting the city down
the middle.
He had a task that I don't have.
(26:28):
He's more like a buffer.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Right.
Speaker 6 (26:30):
So when I come in I don't have that, because it's
not as contentious, becauseeverybody that's running will be
first-time mayors.
That was important to me.
It was important to me that theperson that's going out
wouldn't pull all of theirpolitical muscle against me.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Does that make sense?
Yeah, it makes sense.
Speaker 6 (26:47):
So with him going in with that.
It just was a different dynamicthan I have.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Okay, but I mean you're still looking at having
to build consensus and you'restill looking at having to be
your own man instead of Keith2.0.
So what are the differencesthere?
Speaker 6 (27:04):
Oh, by the way, keith and I are very different.
I like him a lot.
We're different the way we.
I'll tell you the things Ithink we have in common, or this
is probably going to sound alittle bit self-aggrandizing,
but I think he's really smart, Ithink he's really resourceful.
I think he's really smart.
(27:24):
I think he's really resourceful.
I think he's thoughtful.
I think sometimes, because ofthe amount of pushback he's had,
it's hard for him to really gethis point out because they're
pushing back so hard againsteach other.
You know, it's not just a not,it's not a philosophical
difference between the mayor andcouncil.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
The biggest complaint has been communication, and it
is huge.
It's huge.
Do you suppose that maybe inhis efforts to maintain
transparency and not wanting todo something that's, that's
dubious or against the law interms of, you know, public
leaders, this and that, thatmaybe he was therefore not?
Speaker 1 (28:05):
communicative enough.
Speaker 6 (28:06):
Yeah, I think that he walked into a contentious
situation and for four years hehad to deal with the fact that
he was in a contentioussituation.
That's the number one reason why.
Now, were you there when Ipushed the change grant?
Yes, were you there when theyvoted to?
They didn't vote.
(28:27):
They made a motion to table it.
Do you remember my what I did?
I just said, okay, well, no,we're not going to table it.
What I would prefer you to dois just vote it down, right, and
here's why I have a directinroad to the same constituents
that they do.
I've worked with their kids,I've worked with their grandkids
.
I've worked with some of theirparents and grandparents, right?
(28:49):
So I know these folks.
I do stuff in the community allthe time.
So the reason I'm trying tomake sure this race isn't
contentious is because I don'twant these same people that love
both of us to have to choose.
If I win, I will be able to getthe same support that they had,
because we're not like thatOkay, but you've talked about
(29:09):
how the situations are different.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Right you haven't talked about how you're
different and how you wouldsucceed as opposed to not Right,
so let's just takecommunication as a micro here.
How is your communication withthe council as mayor?
If you're mayor, how is yourcommunication with the council
different than what MayorGaskins has been?
Speaker 6 (29:31):
I talk to everybody Except.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
Ethel Stewart.
Speaker 6 (29:37):
I talked to Ethel Stewart.
Her husband is actually afellow graduate of Tennessee
State University.
I don't have any issues withanybody, right?
But what happens is when you'realways in a contentious
situation, you want to avoidthose conversations as much as
possible.
I don't.
That's just not how I function.
(29:58):
I function.
Let's get this stuff on paperand understand what we really
disagree on.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
So, in practice, mayor Darren Leach has an idea.
Let's run it all the waythrough like a football player.
Speaker 5 (30:11):
Let's do that.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Mayor Darren Leach has an idea doesn't know where
everybody is on it and wants toget those three votes.
Okay, so you're sitting in youroffice at city hall.
What are your steps for gettingthose three votes?
Speaker 6 (30:26):
So your your assumption is different than
Darren Leach.
Your assumption is Darren Leachhas an idea.
He wants to get his ideathrough.
That's not how I function.
The way I function is DarrenLeach has an idea.
I'll start talking tocouncilmen to make sure that the
idea makes sense to them.
And what kind of things do weneed to do to massage the idea?
How do we change the idea?
Speaker 3 (30:47):
If they hate it, do you scrap it.
Speaker 6 (30:49):
Not if they hate it.
Most of the time people don'thate the idea.
They hate portions, and it'sthe lack of communication that
doesn't allow you to clearlyidentify the portions that are
hated.
Those are tough conversations.
I'm not afraid to have those.
I've been having those all mylife.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
And you're willing to shed the things that are just,
even if it's your idea.
You're willing to shed thethings that aren't popular.
Speaker 6 (31:10):
Well, not popular.
That's not the right word.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Not passable.
Speaker 6 (31:15):
I wouldn't even say passable, not passable.
I wouldn't even say passableBecause what happens is there
may be something that can't bepassed right now, but with some
more understanding it could bepassed later.
So what I may say is there maybe some things that we don't
fully understand, but wecontinue to do the work and try
to get to the understanding.
Now you're asking me how I'mdifferent.
I don't see things that simple.
(31:37):
I see things as okay.
If he disagrees, he'll be ableto either tell me why he
disagrees, tell me why it's nota good idea and I fix it, or and
if it's a bad idea, we scrap it.
That's okay.
It's okay to scrap bad ideas,right, but if it's not a bad
idea, then we educate.
Like that building over thereon that Kermagee site.
(32:01):
I would have scrapped the wholeproject if I thought that we
were completely off.
We're not off, but they don'tknow.
We're not off and the reason isbecause they didn't go to the
meetings, so they don't talk tothe experts.
By the way, that's anotherthing that I would do.
I listen to my experts.
That's why you hire them.
You hire your experts so theycould tell you stuff and you
(32:23):
believe them.
It doesn't mean you don'tquestion, but you question for
understanding, but you trustyour experts.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
What do you say to the residents of Ward 4 who are
just worried that their eyeballsare going to turn green at
night?
Speaker 6 (32:37):
You're talking about the same ones that are living in
Ward 4 whose eyeballs have notturned green.
Yeah, no, no See, I think partof that is just some fear
mongering.
Right, there are people thatare telling folks that an issue
exists.
Speaker 3 (32:51):
On the part of whom?
Speaker 6 (32:52):
No longer exists.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
Well, who are the fear mongers?
Speaker 6 (32:54):
Those that are saying it's going to kill us.
It's going to kill us.
You know who are the fearmongers?
Those that are saying it'sgoing to kill us.
It's going to kill us.
Right, my grandmother?
Speaker 5 (33:01):
you know and you don't want to minimize the past.
Speaker 6 (33:02):
You can't do that.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
Right.
Speaker 6 (33:04):
That's true, it did happen, but the conditions under
which that happened are not thesame conditions as they are
today.
The conditions that the groundwas under is not the same
conditions today.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
A lot of people don't believe that EPA's not the same
conditions.
A lot of people don't believethat epa's telling them that
right and and and and.
We've asked people, uh, we'veasked people who believe the
other way.
We've been just as we've justbored into them just as much.
Right, you know epa saying it'sclean enough to, uh, we asked
robert on here last week.
So I mean, but a lot of peopledon't believe that.
(33:36):
How do you make them believe it?
Oh, you can't make peoplebelieve.
Speaker 6 (33:39):
That's the one thing.
That's weird.
How do?
Speaker 1 (33:40):
you get them to believe?
How do you proselytize the ideathat the EPA is?
Speaker 6 (33:44):
right.
I tell you what we try to do.
What we try to do is educatepeople, right, and when you try
to educate people, the one thingthat logic is hard for logic to
overcome is faith.
When people believe stuff, it'shard to overcome if they just
say I don't care what you say, Idon't believe you, I don't care
what you say, I don't trust theEPA.
Now let me tell you what I willshow, though.
What I will show is there areplaces all around the country
(34:07):
where this has already happened,right, and we'll continue to
get that kind of information out.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Yeah, this isn't the only Superfund site.
This isn't the only.
Speaker 6 (34:14):
Superfund site.
To think you're the onlySuperfund site will make you
scared.
Now here's the other piece.
Let me get this out and thenI'm going to let you ask the
question.
The other piece is there isthis whole other thing called
unwanted displacement orgentrification.
That happens when you don'tknow what you have your hands on
for an extended period of time.
Somebody at some point is goingto look at that property and
(34:37):
say it's not just a problem,it's on sale, and they're going
to go get that property at thatsale price and they're going to
start redeveloping that property.
My concern is to make sure thatgrandmama, who lived through
all of the suffering, that shedoesn't get priced out of her
property through taxes and otherthings after it's cleaned up.
So I'm not concerned about thefear-mongering.
(34:58):
I don't want to add insult toinjury and the people that are
fear-mongering don't know thatthat exists and it has happened
everywhere that people didn'tget ahead of it but we're ahead
of it.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
So I'm hearing you speak about private investment
on that land?
Yes, sir, okay, that's a greatconcept to me and I'm sitting
here thinking about is therespecific concessions that you
might make, just so that it'snot just rocks and gravel out
there?
Speaker 6 (35:28):
Oh yeah, wouldn't that be the worst?
Wouldn't it be the worst tojust have rocks and gravel out
there, to have this big old openspace in the middle of what
used to be a vibrant community,when we could redevelop it and
do something productive with it?
So, yes, we would look atprivate investment out there,
but we have to spark it.
We have to give the privateinvestors something to make them
(35:50):
feel like growth is startingover there.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
What about a thoroughfare Martin Luther King,
straight southward?
Speaker 6 (35:58):
Don't do that Right through my grandmama's backyard.
No.
Speaker 3 (36:03):
That would bring her land value up, though wouldn't
it?
Speaker 6 (36:06):
No, don't do that.
Don't do that.
No, that would not be somethingI would be supportive of.
Columbus has a really, reallygood community.
I don't know if we ever want tobe like a two below as fast as
two below, because it's afriendly city, has a lot of
charm to it and the more peoplethat you talk to, the more you
know how charming our city is.
I believe personally thatthey're just some sections that
(36:28):
have not had the same type ofinvestment and attention that
other sections have.
As we start getting investmentand attention to all of those
sections, columbus becomes afriendly city we want it to be.
You have a question?
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Last couple of questions that I have for you,
sure, because I know you'regoing to the day of prayer.
Speaker 6 (36:44):
I've got to go pray, and after this I'm probably
going to need more.
No, I'm just kidding.
This hasn't been bad at allOkay.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
So you talked about how willing you are to adapt
your own ideas tocross-examination from council,
right?
Speaker 4 (36:58):
All right, you talked about that.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
But there's another area of this, which is knowing a
good idea, no matter who itcomes from from the outside.
Speaker 6 (37:06):
Right.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
So if Robert Smith brings you an idea, we're
running with it.
Speaker 6 (37:09):
If it's a good idea, we're going man.
Who it is is irrelevant right.
If Stephen Jones brought a goodidea, we're running with it.
You know, I don't care who itis Bill Struth, who it is.
Here's why my ultimate goal isto rebuild our communities, and
all these guys that have run orare running have some good ideas
.
We got to pull all that stufftogether and make it happen, so
(37:31):
I don't care where the ideacomes from.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
All right.
Last thing I have for you, andnot that it did him a whole lot
of good because he lost hisprimary, but in a forum, during
the Democratic mayor's primary,one thing that Leroy Brooks said
that I thought was pretty funnyand also had some teeth to it
was no matter where you walk andI'm paraphrasing no matter
(37:55):
where you walk in Columbus,you're going to see the
footprints of Leroy Brooks,right?
All right.
So there you know.
He believes that there's sometruth to that statement, right
right, you're not as well known,right, but you've been here a
while, right?
So what are, in the community,the footprints of Darren Leach?
Speaker 6 (38:14):
Oh man, you got to.
It's weird.
I just went canvassingyesterday and when I was
canvassing yesterday, I had achance to walk up on this young
lady.
She was about 27 years old.
As a matter of fact, my wifeand I walked up on two young
ladies.
One was 20, they both were 27,28 years old and they both said
the same thing to me.
Don't you remember me Right?
(38:34):
Because we work with about athousand children through our
after school programs.
I do not know how many peoplewe fed through our feeding
programs.
I don't know how many guys callme because they've come through
our warming stations.
Our footprint is one of service.
That's what we do.
We serve, right.
And so when I, when I movedinto working with the CAG more
(38:56):
deeply and really trying tounderstand how to bring
resources to Columbus, what Irealized was this office just
gives me a chance to take thatup a notch, which is why I'm not
fighting with people, becausegetting the job is not my goal.
My footprint is to continue tobuild things or serve in ways
that make our city better, thatmake our city better.
(39:17):
Yeah, so my footprint won't beon the rocks yet, but if you
talk to people and you go intothe communities.
I'm not as unknown as you mightthink.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
I just don't go out there tooting my own horn,
because that is Well, that'sdetrimental to a mayoral
campaign.
It is right.
Speaker 6 (39:38):
You're talking about something that makes me
uncomfortable.
This is the part that makes meuncomfortable.
I thought it was weird that itwasn't until the mayor kind of
started outing me that peoplestarted talking about the fact
that I had an engineer's degree.
Well, the people in mycommunity know, they knew, you
know, they remember when I wasin independent studies in high
school.
They knew when I was a futureproblem-solving bowl champion
(40:00):
for the state of Mississippi.
They know that stuff.
They know that I've alwaysworked to solve problems.
But because I don't toot my ownhorn and I did when I was
younger don't do it now becauseof my principles.
My principles have changed.
Speaker 3 (40:13):
I got a whole other thing I'm working on right, so I
can't do that stuff, but itdoesn't mean, I didn't do it,
and so what I'm hoping is thestuff that I did will speak for
me.
That will do it.
I have enjoyed listening to youtoday.
(40:33):
I feel that you've had muchmore meat in what you've talked
about than I thought would bethere, it's not pie in the sky
stuff.
You've had some stuff to chewon on, so we are very much
grateful for you coming in thisstudio here today I appreciate
you guys letting me in one of.
Speaker 6 (40:44):
I will say one of.
The reasons I talk ingeneralities most of the time is
because of the amount of timeyou have.
You know, in two minutes you gotto give the overview right you
can't tell the details in a twominute conversation, but what
I've talked to you about todayisn't a fraction of what.
The discussions we will have tohave with different department
(41:07):
heads, with differentorganizations, with pulling
together, taken a long time toget here.
Get there to think in the firstcouple of days we're going to
get it fixed Not true.
But what we will do is we willstart to change the culture, and
it all starts with unity.
(41:27):
That's why I'm not fighting.
I'm not fighting because it'shard to talk about somebody's
parents or their kids in onesetting and then, 20 minutes
later, say, well, let's worktogether.
It ain't going to happen, right?
So if the parents and childrenare not relevant to this
conversation, let's leave themout of it and let's talk about
how we can build the city andsee whose ideas prevail.
(41:48):
That's my strategy, and I don'tcare who's running with me,
whether it's the mayor orwhether it's anybody else.
That's my strategy and I'm not.
I'm not shifting from it.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
Well.
Speaker 3 (42:02):
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Book your session today atcatfishalleycom.
I want to let you know about aforum that will be with all
three of the mayoral candidatesMr Stephen Jones, mr Darren
Leach and Mr Bill Strauss.
That is May 27th at the Lyceumat Lee, from 6 to 7 30.
(43:27):
All three have agreed to bethere and you will want to
reserve a ticket.
No cost for that ticket, butreserve that ticket at
cdispatchcom slash forum.
This forum is sponsored by theDispatch and by the Lyceum at
Lee.
Okay, mr Zach.
What do we think about PastorLeach?
Speaker 1 (43:47):
Well, you, know I thought that as specifics went
or, as you know, drilling downon his vision went, you know I
thought that today we got alittle better look than we have
in the stump speeches obviously,and, you know, maybe in some
other things that he's done.
But of course you know therehave been very few forums that
(44:09):
he's been a part of.
You know he'll be a part ofours on May 27th.
Maybe we'll drill down somemore there.
Speaker 3 (44:17):
What did you think I thought he had quite a bit of
substance and meat.
I thought that I was actuallystricken by how he spoke about
data and data collection anddata analysis.
He said that he intends totrust the experts, which is not
something you want to say inRepublican circles these days,
(44:38):
but be that the case.
When it comes to something likethat Superfund site or these
matters of engineering or movingthe city forward on a piece of
property that at one point waspolluted, I think it's very,
very important, because if wedon't listen to, or at least we
don't read, the reports onwhat's actually there, we end up
(45:01):
either living off of fear andtherefore doing nothing, or,
worse, we pull the trigger onsomething that's not financially
feasible and, you know, end upmaybe building something where
water is going to come over it,and you know I don't want to go
back on that, but you see whatI'm saying.
We've got to look at the dataand we've got to know what we're
getting into before we pull thetrigger.
Speaker 1 (45:22):
Well, one thing that that struck me because the
biggest thing that he's going tohave to do he talked about it
being a tightrope You've got asitting mayor right now that's
endorsing him that there arevery different opinions on.
There are people who really likeMayor Gaskin, really like what
(45:44):
he's done, really like him as aperson, and there are people who
are more in line with themajority of the council on that
front.
And I think a lot of thecriticism, some of the criticism
of Mayor Gaskin, has been fairand some of it hasn't been.
Some of it, has you know,bordered on childish if you want
to know the truth.
Has, you know, bordered onchildish if you want to know the
(46:05):
truth.
But having Keith's endorsement,also being willing to and able
to differentiate yourself fromhim during the campaign, it's
going to be very important forhim and I think that one of the
(46:26):
ways that he clearly expressedthat is through how he was going
to communicate, how he wasgoing to build consensus with
ideas.
And I think that you know, ifhe executes what he said today,
if that's the kind of if he winsand that's what he does, then I
think that that's going to be alot more effective than than
what Keith has done in trying tobuild consensus.
Effective than what Keith hasdone in trying to build
(46:49):
consensus and the fact that hesaid that he knows an idea, a
good idea when he hears one, andit doesn't matter who brings it
to him.
I think.
Apologies to Keith.
I think that separates him fromthe sitting mayor as well, and
I think that's going to be apretty big deal if he were to
get the seat.
I do think that he's apassionate guy and there's a big
difference between passion andresults, and there's also a big
(47:10):
difference between sitting herein a chair and saying that
something's going to work acertain way.
It'd be interesting to see justhow optimistic he would stay
the first time that he wasreally presented with the kind
of resistance that politicalpushback from the majority of
the council can render to anidea that would be interesting
to see.
Speaker 3 (47:29):
My intuition tells me that it would just roll off of
his back like duck feathers.
I mean, he was cool as acucumber in here today.
I think we grilled him fairlywell.
I would also say that theendorsement of the sitting mayor
, that's not small ball.
That's some good stuff.
That's not, you know, likeBiden endorsing Kamala.
(47:50):
That was not quite so weighty,was it.
But in here today, again,substance meat.
And I don't think that MayorGaskin's endorsement is going to
backfire on him.
I think quite the opposite.
Some of those ideas, perhaps,that Mayor Gaskin wanted to push
forward, but the resistance wasthere.
But there were people thatreally wanted to get those ideas
(48:12):
pushed forward, but they justdidn't want to do it.
With Keith Gaskin, I think theopportunity is still there and
the ground is still fertile.
Speaker 1 (48:19):
Well, you've also got another problem that we haven't
talked about for Darrenspecifically, which is the
presence of Bill Strauss in thisrace.
Bill's not going to split thevote between Darren and Steven,
it's going to be split betweenhim and Darren.
(48:41):
And that's my opinion, becausewhen you roll through Southside
and you see all the Darren Leachsigns, that tells me that
Darren is competing with Billfor space and Darren cancel each
other out at the polls than itis for any other two candidates
to cancel each other out at thepolls.
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (49:18):
We'll have to see about that one.
I'm going to really speak withPeter and see if we can go live
on election night have a livebroadcast of Between the Hit
Lines.
We're doing it live.
Speaker 1 (49:29):
I've got to cover that election, man, I'm not
going to have time to be at twoplaces at once.
Speaker 3 (49:33):
Delegation.
Speaker 1 (49:38):
All right.
Today we have with us the MainStreet Executive Director,
barbara Bigelow, and theFestival Coordinator for Main
Street, amber Brizlin, andthey're here to talk to us about
the Market Street Festival.
Are y'all excited for thisweekend?
Speaker 8 (49:52):
We are excited, yes, 29th annual 29th annual.
Speaker 1 (49:56):
Well, this one's going to be a little different
than ones in the past.
Can y'all kind of explain Iknow y'all talked about it a lot
, but can y'all explain a littlebit the changes that were made
and the rationale behind it?
Speaker 7 (50:06):
Certainly, you know we try each year to make the
festival improve from the yearbefore.
We see what works well, what wecan improve on.
So this year we are moving offof Main Street.
Main Street will be open andwe're not taking anything away
from the festival, we're justmoving it all a block south.
Speaker 5 (50:29):
Okay.
Speaker 7 (50:29):
So you can still expect everything that you've
come to love about the festivalall the vendors stages.
It does have a differentfootprint, but the main change
is the food court has relocatedto the parking lot between
College Street and 3rd AvenueSouth and the car show has
relocated to College Street.
(50:50):
The Children's Hands-On Marketwill be on College Street and
the main stage will be at thecorner of 3rd Avenue South and
5th Street South.
Speaker 8 (50:58):
You know what people don't or what we like to say is
we block off a certain number ofblocks for the festival.
We always have the same areathese areas that we've moved to
have been vacant, We've not usedthem at all.
So we're just taking areas thatwe did use, that now we can
open up to the public, and we'removing them to areas that were
(51:21):
blocked off, that we weren'teven using.
Really, Okay.
Speaker 1 (51:24):
So it just makes perfect sense.
Speaker 7 (51:25):
But the kids' area is the same, it's all the same.
And guess what?
It's a little more walkablethis year.
Speaker 8 (51:30):
That's right.
It would be great for familieswith kids.
Speaker 1 (51:33):
Speaking of families with kids, my family will be
there and they have certainthings that they need to do at
festivals Fried pickles, funnelcake, chicken on a stick.
We got all those boxes checked.
Speaker 7 (51:45):
What would a festival be with all three of those?
Okay?
Speaker 1 (51:47):
so I can tell my family we can get the fried
pickles, the funnel cake and thechicken on a stick.
Speaker 7 (51:51):
You forgot the bounce house.
Speaker 1 (51:54):
Bounce house yes.
Speaker 7 (51:57):
All the great music, the train rhymes, the music.
Of course they're going to buysome great arts and crafts.
We have some wonderful vendorscoming this year Many return
vendors, many new vendors.
Speaker 3 (52:07):
What kind of weather are y'all going to bring us this
year?
Speaker 7 (52:10):
Beautiful.
Speaker 3 (52:11):
I can't wait.
Speaker 7 (52:12):
They call it Chamber of Commerce.
Chamber of Commerce.
Speaker 3 (52:15):
Let it sprinkle on us Usually Market Street.
I'm so looking to go forwardout there and see who all has
gotten older Not myself,everybody else gets older.
But then it's the first reallyhot day of what feels like
summer, so like I'm excitedabout just a little bit of
sprinkling, you know, rain on mea little bit well, maybe it'll
sprinkle on you but hey, youknow what market street is rain
(52:41):
or shine okay, so no rain,contingency, no change, just it
is what it is.
Speaker 7 (52:47):
The show will go on.
Speaker 1 (52:49):
The show will go on, okay.
Speaker 8 (52:50):
Now, of course, we're very safety conscious.
If the weather is indeed badlightning, thunder and there's
storms and things of that nature, we don't, you know carry the
festival through.
Speaker 3 (53:00):
Zach's going to be out there like Lieutenant Dan.
If it gets bad, he's just goingto be white.
Speaker 1 (53:05):
Oh right, that's not true.
I run from rain.
Speaker 8 (53:07):
After you eat the pickle.
Speaker 1 (53:08):
That's right, I'm the chicken on the stick guy.
Speaker 7 (53:13):
My wife is the fried pickle person.
Those big turkey legs thatwe're walking around with, oh,
really, yes, oh okay, I'm goingto need to get one of those.
All right.
So last thing I I have is whendo I need to move my car?
Well, depends on where your caris.
We will begin closing a fewareas at 6 am Friday morning.
(53:33):
That's the parking lot wherethe food court will be located,
as well as Catfish Alley thoseso right outside the front door
here.
Those will close at 6 am.
All the other surrounding areaswill close at 3 pm on Friday
afternoon.
So we appreciate everyone'scooperation with that, and that
is strictly so that we can alloweverything to come in and
(53:55):
everybody set up and get readyfor the next day.
Speaker 8 (53:57):
Well, we do have the street closing information on
our website, on our Facebookpage.
It will be in all the localmedia this week so everyone can
check those venues as well tosee what will be available, what
parking lots are available andwhen the streets will close.
Speaker 7 (54:14):
And I want to add too with the opening of Main Street
this year, parking will beavailable on Main Street, so you
can walk from Main Street, youcan walk from Fifth Street North
, you can park wherever you wantto, but there is a little
closer parking this year.
Speaker 1 (54:30):
All right.
Well, we really appreciate youguys coming on and talking about
the festival.
I'm looking forward to beingthere this weekend.
Speaker 8 (54:37):
We are too, I would like to point out, if y'all
don't mind, be sure, andremember our local merchants
downtown.
Speaker 3 (54:52):
They're here for us year-round and they'll be open
on that day, offering somefabulous promos as well, so be
sure and visit them while you'rearound.
Thank you very much, that willdo it.
We thank our listeners forjoining us today.
Be sure to subscribe, share andrate, and send us your comments
.
We would love to hear from you.
Tips at cdispatchcom Again,that is, tips at cdispatchcom.
You can also follow me onFacebook or X at the Chisholm 00
.
Signing out from Catfish AlleyStudios in historic downtown
(55:14):
Columbus.
Your host has been Zach Playerand I am David Chisholm.
Until next time, let us notgrow weary in well-doing.
Y'all keep it friendly andwe'll keep it real.
Speaker 2 (55:32):
Opinions expressed on this show are those of the
speakers and not necessarilythose of the Commercial Dispatch
.
From the opinion page of the Commercial Dispatch.
This is Between the Headlines.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
This is Peter Imes, publisher of the Dispatch.
One of our hosts of Between theHeadlines is the managing
editor of our newsroom.
Typically, we try to keep newsand opinions separate, but
reporters have a unique insightinto the workings of local
government and their analysiscan be helpful for readers and
listeners.
The Dispatch remains committedto journalistic integrity and
(00:37):
our reporting will alwaysreflect that.
And now Between the Headlines.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
This week, on Between the Headlines, we have Darren
Leach in the studio.
We'll talk politics there.
We are pleased to have BarbaraBigelow and Amber Brislin to
talk about the Market StreetFestival coming up this weekend,
rain or shine.
But first here's a word fromour sponsor.
Retirement looks different foreveryone, so your plan should be
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Visit them at 1116 GardnerBoulevard or online at
lighting-columbuscom.
And now a message frompolitical candidate Bill Strauss
.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
This is Bill Strauss, your 2025 candidate for mayor
of Columbus.
As election time draws near,ask yourself are you satisfied
with our city leadership?
What has been done to eliminateour flooding issues?
What has been done to eliminateour housing blight?
Are our streets safe?
Why have we not kept up withWest Point, starkville and
Tupelo?
We must have new leadership.
(02:18):
Out with the old and in withthe new.
Elect Bill Strauss, your newmayor.
Paid for by campaign to electBill Strauss mayor 2025.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
And now a message from political candidate Jason
Spears.
Speaker 5 (02:32):
Hello, I am Jason Spears, your Republican
candidate for City Council, ward6.
I am grateful for the citizensof Ward 6 support in the primary
and respectfully requesteveryone's continued support in
the upcoming general election.
It is time to restore fiscalresponsibility, economic growth
and optimism back to our city.
I, like you, believe we can getback on track and know that, as
(02:52):
a community, we're going tomake it happen.
I approve this message and, onJune 3rd, vote Jason Spears for
Ward 6.
Paid for by the campaign toelect Jason Spears, ward 6.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
the campaign to elect Jason Spears, ward 6.
This week, on Between theHeadlines, we are pleased to
have in the studio Pastor ofGenesis Church and Independent
Mayor candidate who holds theendorsement of incumbent Mayor
Keith Gaskin.
None other than Pastor DarrenLeach.
Welcome here today.
Thank you, I'm glad to be here.
Okay, pastor Leach, here I haveaffectionately referred to you
as the Apostle on this broadcast.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
Oh, is that what we're doing?
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Yeah, that's where it came from I saw that on the
website.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
I did.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
But you are a preacher man, right?
Yes, sir, that is a good thing,because I have heard there are
plenty of sinners to make theirway through City Hall as of late
.
Speaker 6 (03:41):
This is where we're going to start with right, as it
currently seems.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Now I know where we are.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Well.
Speaker 6 (03:49):
I'm quite the center myself.
So here we go.
I understand, and I presume youmean you go through City Hall
regularly.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Oh yeah, well.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Not as regularly as I do, that's for sure.
I got you, that's for sure.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Redeem this conversation, Zach.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
You talked to me when you announced for mayor.
Yes, we talked about namerecognition being the biggest
challenge.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
that you're going to face coming into this.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
How have you closed that gap, how do you feel you've
closed that gap and what wayshave you gone about?
Speaker 6 (04:13):
it.
I don't know if I've closed thegap, because it was a pretty
big one.
You know.
What we've done, though, iswe've done a lot of things to
just connect with people, sowe've done some canvassing,
we've done a ton of social mediastuff We've done.
We were starting to do somestuff with mass media, and our
(04:34):
focus is to continue to letpeople know what will happen.
If I'm elected mayor, I try tostay out of the negative stuff,
I try to stay out of the past,and I try to kind of keep people
looking towards.
This is what we could have ifyou elect me.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
All right.
Well, so let me just jump rightin there what we'll have if
you're elected mayor.
Now you've talked about yourengineering background.
You have an engineering degree.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Yes sir.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Okay, your campaign.
Whether this was something thatI don't know, whether it's
something that you're pushing orsomething that was thrust upon
you, but your campaign hascouched you as a man with an
engineer's mind and a servant'sheart.
Speaker 6 (05:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
All right.
So let's get down to the brasstacks of that in the practical
matter.
Sure, it's the first meeting ofyour elected.
It's the first meeting of yourelected.
It's the first meeting of yourterm.
Sure, in July, three policiesthat you would want to put
forward right away that wouldeither help engineer the city
(05:37):
better or help the city serveits citizens better.
Speaker 6 (05:40):
Specifically, You're right.
So the first thing I would dois I would meet with each
department head.
We would get very, very clearon two things.
One is what is the mission ofthis department?
What are the key performanceindicators?
The policy I will put forwardwould be make sure that we make
those transparent.
Let's post those key KPIs inplaces where people could see
(06:01):
them.
Let's visually control them sopeople could understand clearly
if things are in and out notjust the citizens but those
department leaders, so they'llknow what kind of things they
need to work on.
So when we talk about gettinggovernment to run right, you've
got to know, you've got toclearly define what run right
means right, Because what wedon't want to be is subjective.
I don't want to go into worksessions and then ask a
(06:22):
department head how are thingsgoing?
Things are going good, Right,let's clearly define what good
is.
So if, for some reason, we'retalking to say public works, we
would look at those measureslike potholes that have been
identified, potholes that havebeen eliminated Right, the
length of time the pothole, fromthe time the pothole was
identified to the length of timethat they were identified.
(06:44):
Whatever those key performancemeasures are Now, I won't do
those in a vacuum.
I will sit down with thedepartment heads to help figure
out what those things look like.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Maybe good would be defined as the water recedes so
many inches per hour, as opposedto just sitting there and
breeding mosquitoes.
Speaker 6 (07:00):
I think that may be a little bit too much
engineering-ish for everybodywhen you start talking, but
exactly what we don't want.
We know water is going to comethrough the city.
It doesn't supposed to stay,it's supposed to leave almost as
fast as it comes into the city,and what we would do is figure
out ways to measure those andthen talk about how we get them
out of there.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Who's accountable?
Speaker 6 (07:20):
I'm the whoever, so ultimately, everything falls on
the mayor ultimately, and whatthat means is I got to put the
systems in place so that thepeople that are responsible are
doing what they need to do Right.
So I will be ultimatelyaccountable, but the work there
will be other people that areresponsible.
I got to make sure that thepeople that are responsible that
(07:40):
they have the skills, the toolsand the resources to make sure
that, when people are holding meaccountable, that things are
going the way they're supposedto.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Well, as it currently stands, though somebody's at
fault for this right.
Either it's just because thecity's so old and the
infrastructure is so old and itjust is what it is, or somebody
needs to be fired, or what.
Who's at fault?
Speaker 6 (08:01):
Well, one of the things that I learned when I was
in corporate America was it'seasy to do that.
It's easy to say this is theperson that's at fault and then
kind of try to switch people out.
What's a better way to do thatis to get systems in place,
because what happens is, if youget systems in place, what you
do is take what's in your headand you put it on paper.
Once you put it on paper, thennot only can I criticize it, but
(08:21):
the person who's responsiblefor fixing it can criticize it.
As long as the thought processfor how to do this stuff is in
your head, you don't want tocriticize it.
We do it the way we do it andthat's the way we've always done
it.
But once you put it on paper,it's open to criticism.
So what we would do with thedepartment managers and this is
what I did in corporate AmericaI went into organizations.
(08:43):
I helped organizations documenttheir systems.
I help them get really, reallyclear on what their success
measures look like, and we wereable to critique those systems
and make them more efficient andmake them more effective.
Now, once I go into anorganization and I see that
something is off, one of twothings will cause it.
One is the person does not havethe skill to do it.
If they don't have the skill todo it, we will train them.
(09:05):
The other one is they don'twant to do it.
One is the person does not havethe skill to do it.
If they don't have the skill todo it, we will train them.
The other one is they don'twant to do it.
If they don't want to do it, wewill fire them.
It's just that simple.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Okay, Well, you brought up public works and that
is a particular department thathas been much maligned on two
fronts, especially over the lastfour years Performance, fair or
unfair that performance hasbeen maligned at times publicly
and equipment and equipmentneeds.
What do you see there thatneeds to be done and what
(09:36):
conversations have you had withCasey Bush about it?
Speaker 6 (09:39):
Well, what needs to be done is you have to do a
detailed analysis.
That's one of the things thatengineering taught me.
You can't sideline, quarterbackthese things.
You got to go to what we usedto call GIMBA or the shop floor.
You got to go to where thisstuff is happening and figure it
out right.
So one of the things could belet's replace all of the
equipment because it's old.
But if you were in the military, they wouldn't say that.
(10:00):
They would say let's dopreventive maintenance, and if
you do preventive maintenance,then the equipment would run
right.
So I would ask stuff like thatwhat are your systems of checks
to make sure that when you goout, you're reasonably confident
that the equipment that youdrive out the shop with, that
it's going to work?
Speaker 3 (10:16):
So is Ethel Stewart right when she talks about put
the money toward the equipment.
Is that what I'm hearing?
Speaker 6 (10:21):
No, I'm saying we have to do an analysis.
Is that what I'm hearing?
No, I'm saying we have to do ananalysis.
We don't know if it's thepeople, we don't know if it's
the equipment, we don't know ifit's the skill set.
But as we do the analysis,we're not guessing anymore.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
Total cost of ownership type stuff.
Speaker 6 (10:33):
That's part of it.
That's part of it for theequipment.
But then we also have to makesure that the people that are
operating the equipment, thatthey have the skill set that
they need and that the peoplethat are maintaining the
equipment and I believe inself-managed maintenance to a
degree, in other words, you cancheck your oil.
You may not be able to replaceyour motor, but you can check
your oil.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
So how are you going to take these reports or these
measurements and present them toyour council and to persuade
them for lack of a better way ofputting it to make an
appropriate decision that'sbased on that?
Speaker 6 (11:06):
data Right.
Why would I do that?
Speaker 3 (11:08):
Because you're the mayor right.
Speaker 6 (11:09):
No, the department manager uses that data the
department manager uses that.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Well, you got to know it though, right yeah.
Speaker 6 (11:15):
Well, that's exactly right.
That's why we have to get clearon what are the key performance
.
Okay, so let me go back to thesecond part of you.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
While we go.
You're running for mayor.
You're talking about runningthe city.
We were talking about publicworks.
What have your conversationswith Casey Bush been up until
this point?
Speaker 6 (11:31):
We've had conversations about specific
things that have happened.
I don't feel it's my place yetto go in and start telling him
how to run his operation, or totell him or to question him.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Sure, but I mean, I guess what concerns has.
Speaker 6 (11:46):
Casey brought to you.
I have a reason for that.
The reason I don't feel that isbecause Casey's busy right.
And depending on who goes intooffice right, he may have very
different ways.
He has to do it.
If, given the opportunity, I'lltake the skillset that I have
Before that it's a littlepresumptuous and a little bit
premature, I think, and that'sthe way I'm managing it.
(12:08):
So I'm paying attention tothings like budget, I'm paying
attention to some other stuff,just so I could understand how
the city is run should I getelected.
But until I get elected I don'thave a right to go in and ask
Casey and tell Casey how to doit, but you'll use this data to
push him from being busy intobeing productive and efficient,
right?
Speaker 3 (12:26):
I'm not saying it that way?
Speaker 6 (12:27):
No, I'm saying he's busy because there's a lot of
stuff going on in the city, butwhat I'm saying is what we want
to do is make sure that everydepartment is efficient and
effective and there's a measurefor those.
We got to figure out what thoseare.
Those are not obvious right now.
We will make those obvious,that's what transparency means
to me.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Well, I want to move into the engineering part of
this.
I mean what conversations haveyou had with Kevin Stafford?
Speaker 6 (12:54):
I have all kinds of conversations with Kevin
Stafford.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
What insight have you gotten from that as far as what
the city needs to do and whatyour priorities would need to be
infrastructure-wise?
First day on the job.
Speaker 6 (13:05):
Well, that's a really interesting question.
I hear it all the time Likeyou're going to walk in on the
job and instantly everything'sgoing to change.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
No, no, no, no, no I'm saying you've been running
this whole time.
Speaker 6 (13:18):
You've been running since January.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Right, okay, you have an engineering background,
right, you know who the cityengineer is.
You say you've hadconversations with him, so what
insight have you gotten fromthose?
Speaker 3 (13:27):
conversations Surely there's something that needs to
be fixed on day one.
Speaker 6 (13:31):
Well, not on day one, it's not going to be fixed on
day one, but the things that wewant to look at are
infrastructure.
Those are the things that wetalk about.
But then we also talk aboutother stuff, because I didn't
just start looking at how we dostuff in the city.
So when I went to do the changegrant that I'm sure you're
going to ask me about at somepoint in this conversation when
I went to do the change grant,we did a really detailed
(13:51):
analysis of portions of the cityso we could pick which ones we
wanted to work on.
When we noticed that, when wedid that, we noticed that there
were things like income levelsthat were low, we noticed that
not only is the infrastructureold, but, also the improvements
on land.
The buildings are old, so weneed to build more buildings.
(14:14):
We need to make sure that wehave affordable housing.
Those are the kinds of thingsthat we need.
Now, when Kevin talks aboutinfrastructure, he talks to me
about the fact that we have alot that needs to be done in a
lot of areas, and he also talksabout how there are some things
that are already being done,specifically like we need some
detention ponds right so that wecan hold up the water.
(14:35):
He talks about how we need toreally really make sure that our
ditch maintenance system isokay, because we have some spots
that are just clogged, and sothe result is, when we're
looking downstream, we see waternot flowing, but upstream it's
flooded.
Well, there's a point herewhere we got a clog.
Those are the kind ofdiscussions that we have, but
(14:56):
how to fix those?
We will have to get in thereand start talking to public
works and understand exactlywhat kind of systems they have
in place and how they do thosethings.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Well, you mentioned the change grant.
You have worked extensively inthe world of grants and trying
to get them and makingconnections and networking with
organizations that might helpy'all get grants.
Mayor Gaskin to a considerableextent pitched and pushed grant
funded projects for to to fillthese big ideas that need to be
(15:29):
done.
Okay, grant funding right nowis a tenuous situation.
Speaker 6 (15:35):
Federal funding is a nice way to put it.
Speaker 7 (15:38):
I'm trying to be diplomatic.
Speaker 6 (15:39):
Unstable.
Okay, so all right.
Well, let's use your word.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Grant funding is unstable.
You're a big idea guy.
You've got a vision for thecity.
You've talked about it.
You've talked about through thechange grant.
You talked about differentthings that could be done.
Through the second grant that'ssort of tangentially connected
to that with the solar energyand the greening you've talked
about yeah, you've talked aboutbig ideas to get these things
done and of course with thatfunding you can, but you're the
(16:05):
mayor Say funding, grant fundinghas dried up.
What changes?
Speaker 6 (16:10):
Yeah, I can't tell you how much I appreciate that
question.
See, the purpose of the grantwasn't to fund the big ideas,
it's to spark redevelopment,right?
So what?
The way it works is this See, Igot to do an analogy when I was
younger if a guy got agirlfriend, then other girls
were interested, right, youunderstand what I'm saying.
(16:30):
So what we wanted to do withthe change grant was build some
things.
How do you know this?
I believe the fifth so, buthonestly, once we start building
in an area, it stops lookinglike it's a dilapidated area and
it begins to look like theproperty's on sale.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
And that's so Rising tide lifts all boats, exactly.
Speaker 6 (16:54):
If you don't have holes in the boat Right.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (16:56):
So one of the things we were thinking about doing was
how do we patch the holes inthe community so that those
communities can be lifted aswell?
That's why it's not just changegrant, it is community change
grant.
So the purpose was to sparkredevelopment, not to institute
redevelopment.
Public-private partnerships arehow we do that.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Okay, there has been a lot said on.
I'm sorry, and by the way.
Speaker 6 (17:19):
The federal government aren't the only
people that do grants.
There are foundations that dogrants.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Donations are down all over.
Speaker 6 (17:27):
It is, it is, and I really do hope that this
interesting time begins to kindof just.
It's just so much uncertaintythat it's hard for anybody to
make decisions.
If you've been paying attention, even down in Jackson, it's
hard for them to just settle ona budget because everything is
(17:48):
so unsettled right now.
So we face that same thing,which is another point of mine.
My background and my skill setwill also allow me to maneuver
through these really, reallychallenging times when things
are not okay.
I've spent the last 17 yearsmaking bricks without straw.
That is the nonprofit world.
(18:09):
The nonprofit world is alwaysuncertain.
So being able to continue toprovide programming and continue
to be able to feed people andopen up warming, shelters and
all of that, none of that stuffwas with certainty.
All of that stuff was how do wepivot?
What do we need to do to makethis stuff happen?
I'll bring that along withengineering.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Okay, well, speaking of making bricks without straw
and this was something that thesitting mayor has had a problem
with this is a weak mayor.
Weak mayor, strong council formof government.
He's brought a lot of ideas tothis council and have gotten so
very few across the line.
His straw was needing fourvotes from the council, right,
(18:50):
and he hadn't been able to makevery many bricks.
How do you avoid that?
I mean, especially as acandidate endorsed by him, right
?
How do you?
Speaker 6 (19:00):
talk about walking the tightrope, I mean how do you
?
Speaker 1 (19:03):
I mean, I know the council may be it's going to
have a few different people onit and we know that Right.
Speaker 6 (19:08):
Well, one of the things that I always do is or
that I better said, I'm notgoing to do is I won't do any
smear campaigning, and here'swhy, at the end of this, we have
to bring leaders together,right.
And so when you start pittingsides against sides, no matter
whether you win or not, you lose, because the ultimate goal for
me is not to get the job, it'sto do the work right.
(19:31):
So if I fight like I'm tryingto get the job, I get the job,
and then nobody wants to workwith me that's a problem.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Do you think that the push for a forensic audit was a
type of smear campaign?
Speaker 6 (19:43):
I don't know if it was a smear campaign, the push
for forensic but it seemed tohave been taken that way.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
It certainly was.
Speaker 6 (19:50):
Right.
Well, I don't know if it's asmear campaign.
I'm not sure how smart it is.
Here's why, or, depending onhow far you go back how smart it
is, I'll tell you why.
One of the things that we do aswe go look for federal funds or
any other funds is you have toprove your stewardship Right,
and so if we, if we do aforensic audit that we're not
(20:12):
confident is going to show upclean for us, then we have two
problems.
Number one is or if you do it,it could go one of two ways.
Let's say it that way.
The first way is we findsomething that was wrong and
that's what we were looking for.
We clap our hands because wewere right, but then now we put
a shadow over our city.
(20:32):
So now we can't go get otherfunds Right.
That's dumb, and we're tryingto rebuild our city.
Why would we put ourselves in aposition?
Speaker 1 (20:39):
where people don't trust us.
I watched GI Joe when I wasgrowing up and you know that old
saying that knowledge is halfthe battle.
Why would you?
Speaker 6 (20:50):
Well, here's the other piece.
The other piece is if you findnothing, then you wasted time.
Now here's a third option.
Here's another option.
Another option is to we've donea really good job over the last
four years with funding right.
We build our capital fund,We've managed in a really
transparent way, and if I couldsay one thing that I really am
(21:12):
excited about or appreciative ofthis administration, it is the
ability to turn that part rightthere around.
So for the last four years, I'mconfident.
What it's going to say.
Right Now, what I want to do ismake sure that whoever I
present our city to, they havethe same level of confidence
that we have, and that is wherewe are and where we've been for
(21:34):
the last four years.
You can trust us.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Okay, so on that point with the money, so,
despite public and privatestatements made by different
people at different times, thecity isn't broke in your opinion
.
Speaker 6 (21:46):
I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
All right what is the city's financial position
according to you?
Speaker 6 (21:51):
It looked like they have about $5 million in the
capital fund, right, and thenwhen I looked at how the money
is being spent, we're spending,we're trending on track and we
have some areas where we mighteven be able to roll some money
over again this year, so thecity has gotten that kind of
stuff under control.
However, we're in a time wherenatural disasters are huge.
(22:16):
Things can happen at any moment, so you need that emergency
fund just in case the city isthrust into one of those natural
disasters.
I think we're better positionedto deal with those than we have
been in the past.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Going back to the other subject, do you feel like
the current council has been oris willing to work with you as
it stands right now?
Because from the looks of it,it doesn't look like.
I'm just going to be honestwith you it doesn't look like
they like you very much.
It doesn't look like they likeyour ideas very much.
Now I know some of that.
Just going to be honest withyou, it doesn't look like they
like you very much.
It doesn't look like they likeyour ideas very much.
Now, I know some of that'sgoing to be political because
it's election season.
Speaker 6 (22:49):
All of that is political.
Those guys, I know those guys.
We talk offline.
We have way more stuff incommon about what we want to do
than we have.
That's not.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
What do you have in common with Ethel Stewart?
Speaker 6 (23:02):
She wants to see Ward 1 better, just like I do.
She wants to see Southsidebetter.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
In what ways do y'all agree that y'all can do that.
Say she's on the council andyou're the mayor.
How can y'all work together forWard 1?
Speaker 6 (23:13):
Well, she and I have not talked about that yet.
If she wins, we will.
We will talk about it.
We will talk about details.
But I don't just know EthelStewart.
I don't just know Ethel Stewart, I know her constituents.
I know how they feel about her.
Just had a conversation Sunday.
This guy talked to me at lengthabout how he felt about her.
I won't tell you whether it was.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
But you didn't talk to her.
Speaker 6 (23:36):
I haven't talked to her in detail because we're in a
political season.
What about Pierre?
Pierre?
We chime in on each other on aregular basis.
What ward do you live in?
I live in Ward 1.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
You live in Ward 1?
.
Speaker 6 (23:49):
Where Ethel Stewart is.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Okay, all right, but your church is in Ward 4?
.
Speaker 6 (23:53):
But the church is in Ward 4.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Okay, so have you talked to Pierre?
Of course I've talked to Pierre.
Speaker 6 (23:59):
I'm telling you what Pierre and I have talked about.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
Okay, did you preach to him.
Speaker 6 (24:03):
I will tell you all the time, he and everybody else,
no, no, no, I'm just kidding,but I think that the stuff that
Pierre and I have talked abouthave been to understand one, his
concerns about some of the workthat we're trying to do.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Well, I mean, he disagrees entirely with the CAG.
He disagrees entirely withredeveloping on Kerr-McGee until
it's completely 100% certified,cleaned up, which may or may
not be a practical way oflooking at it, but that's what
he's saying publicly and that'scoming right back to his
concerns about you and the CAG.
Speaker 6 (24:38):
Right.
Well, and I can't.
All I could do with those kindsof things is share information,
and from time to time he's opento that.
He's open to just hearing theinformation.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
But if you're the mayor and he's the ward
forecounselman, you've got tohave his vote occasionally.
Well.
Speaker 6 (24:54):
I need three votes.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Okay.
Speaker 6 (24:57):
Let me say that again , I need three votes, right?
How many does he need?
Speaker 5 (25:02):
How many does he?
Speaker 6 (25:02):
need.
He needs three votes.
We're all in the same boat.
When we sit there, man, when anidea is pitched, every one of
us has got to get three otherpeople to agree with us.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
So how is your approach to getting three votes
and your approach to governingthe city as the chief executive
different from the man who'ssitting there now and endorsing
you?
Speaker 6 (25:20):
Well, the man that's sitting there now and endorsing
me.
He came into a contentioussituation, right.
The one thing that I made up mymind now, by the way, mayor
Gaskin, was like the final straw.
I didn't want to run for mayor.
Let's be crystal clear.
I have been asked about italmost since I got here, because
(25:43):
I've done a whole lot of work.
So people have asked me.
The one thing I would not dowas run against an incumbent
mayor.
So while Mayor Gaskin wassaying to me you should think
about this, and I'm saying, no,it's because he wasn't sure he
wasn't going to run and I wouldnever agree, and the one fleece
that I threw out there was Iwon't run against an incumbent
(26:06):
mayor.
So what Mayor Gaskin did was he.
He switched a whole regimeRight.
We have Robert Smith for 15, 16years, Right.
So to come in and switch thatout in a very contentious
mayoral race, that was pretty.
That pretty did a pretty goodjob of splitting the city down
the middle.
He had a task that I don't have.
(26:28):
He's more like a buffer.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Right.
Speaker 6 (26:30):
So when I come in I don't have that, because it's
not as contentious, becauseeverybody that's running will be
first-time mayors.
That was important to me.
It was important to me that theperson that's going out
wouldn't pull all of theirpolitical muscle against me.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Does that make sense?
Yeah, it makes sense.
Speaker 6 (26:47):
So with him going in with that.
It just was a different dynamicthan I have.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Okay, but I mean you're still looking at having
to build consensus and you'restill looking at having to be
your own man instead of Keith2.0.
So what are the differencesthere?
Speaker 6 (27:04):
Oh, by the way, keith and I are very different.
I like him a lot.
We're different the way we.
I'll tell you the things Ithink we have in common, or this
is probably going to sound alittle bit self-aggrandizing,
but I think he's really smart, Ithink he's really resourceful.
I think he's really smart.
(27:24):
I think he's really resourceful.
I think he's thoughtful.
I think sometimes, because ofthe amount of pushback he's had,
it's hard for him to really gethis point out because they're
pushing back so hard againsteach other.
You know, it's not just a not,it's not a philosophical
difference between the mayor andcouncil.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
The biggest complaint has been communication, and it
is huge.
It's huge.
Do you suppose that maybe inhis efforts to maintain
transparency and not wanting todo something that's, that's
dubious or against the law interms of, you know, public
leaders, this and that, thatmaybe he was therefore not?
Speaker 1 (28:05):
communicative enough.
Speaker 6 (28:06):
Yeah, I think that he walked into a contentious
situation and for four years hehad to deal with the fact that
he was in a contentioussituation.
That's the number one reason why.
Now, were you there when Ipushed the change grant?
Yes, were you there when theyvoted to?
They didn't vote.
(28:27):
They made a motion to table it.
Do you remember my what I did?
I just said, okay, well, no,we're not going to table it.
What I would prefer you to dois just vote it down, right, and
here's why I have a directinroad to the same constituents
that they do.
I've worked with their kids,I've worked with their grandkids
.
I've worked with some of theirparents and grandparents, right?
(28:49):
So I know these folks.
I do stuff in the community allthe time.
So the reason I'm trying tomake sure this race isn't
contentious is because I don'twant these same people that love
both of us to have to choose.
If I win, I will be able to getthe same support that they had,
because we're not like thatOkay, but you've talked about
(29:09):
how the situations are different.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Right you haven't talked about how you're
different and how you wouldsucceed as opposed to not Right,
so let's just takecommunication as a micro here.
How is your communication withthe council as mayor?
If you're mayor, how is yourcommunication with the council
different than what MayorGaskins has been?
Speaker 6 (29:31):
I talk to everybody Except.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
Ethel Stewart.
Speaker 6 (29:37):
I talked to Ethel Stewart.
Her husband is actually afellow graduate of Tennessee
State University.
I don't have any issues withanybody, right?
But what happens is when you'realways in a contentious
situation, you want to avoidthose conversations as much as
possible.
I don't.
That's just not how I function.
(29:58):
I function.
Let's get this stuff on paperand understand what we really
disagree on.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
So, in practice, mayor Darren Leach has an idea.
Let's run it all the waythrough like a football player.
Speaker 5 (30:11):
Let's do that.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Mayor Darren Leach has an idea doesn't know where
everybody is on it and wants toget those three votes.
Okay, so you're sitting in youroffice at city hall.
What are your steps for gettingthose three votes?
Speaker 6 (30:26):
So your your assumption is different than
Darren Leach.
Your assumption is Darren Leachhas an idea.
He wants to get his ideathrough.
That's not how I function.
The way I function is DarrenLeach has an idea.
I'll start talking tocouncilmen to make sure that the
idea makes sense to them.
And what kind of things do weneed to do to massage the idea?
How do we change the idea?
Speaker 3 (30:47):
If they hate it, do you scrap it.
Speaker 6 (30:49):
Not if they hate it.
Most of the time people don'thate the idea.
They hate portions, and it'sthe lack of communication that
doesn't allow you to clearlyidentify the portions that are
hated.
Those are tough conversations.
I'm not afraid to have those.
I've been having those all mylife.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
And you're willing to shed the things that are just,
even if it's your idea.
You're willing to shed thethings that aren't popular.
Speaker 6 (31:10):
Well, not popular.
That's not the right word.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Not passable.
Speaker 6 (31:15):
I wouldn't even say passable, not passable.
I wouldn't even say passableBecause what happens is there
may be something that can't bepassed right now, but with some
more understanding it could bepassed later.
So what I may say is there maybe some things that we don't
fully understand, but wecontinue to do the work and try
to get to the understanding.
Now you're asking me how I'mdifferent.
I don't see things that simple.
(31:37):
I see things as okay.
If he disagrees, he'll be ableto either tell me why he
disagrees, tell me why it's nota good idea and I fix it, or and
if it's a bad idea, we scrap it.
That's okay.
It's okay to scrap bad ideas,right, but if it's not a bad
idea, then we educate.
Like that building over thereon that Kermagee site.
(32:01):
I would have scrapped the wholeproject if I thought that we
were completely off.
We're not off, but they don'tknow.
We're not off and the reason isbecause they didn't go to the
meetings, so they don't talk tothe experts.
By the way, that's anotherthing that I would do.
I listen to my experts.
That's why you hire them.
You hire your experts so theycould tell you stuff and you
(32:23):
believe them.
It doesn't mean you don'tquestion, but you question for
understanding, but you trustyour experts.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
What do you say to the residents of Ward 4 who are
just worried that their eyeballsare going to turn green at
night?
Speaker 6 (32:37):
You're talking about the same ones that are living in
Ward 4 whose eyeballs have notturned green.
Yeah, no, no See, I think partof that is just some fear
mongering.
Right, there are people thatare telling folks that an issue
exists.
Speaker 3 (32:51):
On the part of whom?
Speaker 6 (32:52):
No longer exists.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
Well, who are the fear mongers?
Speaker 6 (32:54):
Those that are saying it's going to kill us.
It's going to kill us.
You know who are the fearmongers?
Those that are saying it'sgoing to kill us.
It's going to kill us.
Right, my grandmother?
Speaker 5 (33:01):
you know and you don't want to minimize the past.
Speaker 6 (33:02):
You can't do that.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
Right.
Speaker 6 (33:04):
That's true, it did happen, but the conditions under
which that happened are not thesame conditions as they are
today.
The conditions that the groundwas under is not the same
conditions today.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
A lot of people don't believe that EPA's not the same
conditions.
A lot of people don't believethat epa's telling them that
right and and and and.
We've asked people, uh, we'veasked people who believe the
other way.
We've been just as we've justbored into them just as much.
Right, you know epa saying it'sclean enough to, uh, we asked
robert on here last week.
So I mean, but a lot of peopledon't believe that.
(33:36):
How do you make them believe it?
Oh, you can't make peoplebelieve.
Speaker 6 (33:39):
That's the one thing.
That's weird.
How do?
Speaker 1 (33:40):
you get them to believe?
How do you proselytize the ideathat the EPA is?
Speaker 6 (33:44):
right.
I tell you what we try to do.
What we try to do is educatepeople, right, and when you try
to educate people, the one thingthat logic is hard for logic to
overcome is faith.
When people believe stuff, it'shard to overcome if they just
say I don't care what you say, Idon't believe you, I don't care
what you say, I don't trust theEPA.
Now let me tell you what I willshow, though.
What I will show is there areplaces all around the country
(34:07):
where this has already happened,right, and we'll continue to
get that kind of information out.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Yeah, this isn't the only Superfund site.
This isn't the only.
Speaker 6 (34:14):
Superfund site.
To think you're the onlySuperfund site will make you
scared.
Now here's the other piece.
Let me get this out and thenI'm going to let you ask the
question.
The other piece is there isthis whole other thing called
unwanted displacement orgentrification.
That happens when you don'tknow what you have your hands on
for an extended period of time.
Somebody at some point is goingto look at that property and
(34:37):
say it's not just a problem,it's on sale, and they're going
to go get that property at thatsale price and they're going to
start redeveloping that property.
My concern is to make sure thatgrandmama, who lived through
all of the suffering, that shedoesn't get priced out of her
property through taxes and otherthings after it's cleaned up.
So I'm not concerned about thefear-mongering.
(34:58):
I don't want to add insult toinjury and the people that are
fear-mongering don't know thatthat exists and it has happened
everywhere that people didn'tget ahead of it but we're ahead
of it.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
So I'm hearing you speak about private investment
on that land?
Yes, sir, okay, that's a greatconcept to me and I'm sitting
here thinking about is therespecific concessions that you
might make, just so that it'snot just rocks and gravel out
there?
Speaker 6 (35:28):
Oh yeah, wouldn't that be the worst?
Wouldn't it be the worst tojust have rocks and gravel out
there, to have this big old openspace in the middle of what
used to be a vibrant community,when we could redevelop it and
do something productive with it?
So, yes, we would look atprivate investment out there,
but we have to spark it.
We have to give the privateinvestors something to make them
(35:50):
feel like growth is startingover there.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
What about a thoroughfare Martin Luther King,
straight southward?
Speaker 6 (35:58):
Don't do that Right through my grandmama's backyard.
No.
Speaker 3 (36:03):
That would bring her land value up, though wouldn't
it?
Speaker 6 (36:06):
No, don't do that.
Don't do that.
No, that would not be somethingI would be supportive of.
Columbus has a really, reallygood community.
I don't know if we ever want tobe like a two below as fast as
two below, because it's afriendly city, has a lot of
charm to it and the more peoplethat you talk to, the more you
know how charming our city is.
I believe personally thatthey're just some sections that
(36:28):
have not had the same type ofinvestment and attention that
other sections have.
As we start getting investmentand attention to all of those
sections, columbus becomes afriendly city we want it to be.
You have a question?
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Last couple of questions that I have for you,
sure, because I know you'regoing to the day of prayer.
Speaker 6 (36:44):
I've got to go pray, and after this I'm probably
going to need more.
No, I'm just kidding.
This hasn't been bad at allOkay.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
So you talked about how willing you are to adapt
your own ideas tocross-examination from council,
right?
Speaker 4 (36:58):
All right, you talked about that.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
But there's another area of this, which is knowing a
good idea, no matter who itcomes from from the outside.
Speaker 6 (37:06):
Right.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
So if Robert Smith brings you an idea, we're
running with it.
Speaker 6 (37:09):
If it's a good idea, we're going man.
Who it is is irrelevant right.
If Stephen Jones brought a goodidea, we're running with it.
You know, I don't care who itis Bill Struth, who it is.
Here's why my ultimate goal isto rebuild our communities, and
all these guys that have run orare running have some good ideas
.
We got to pull all that stufftogether and make it happen, so
(37:31):
I don't care where the ideacomes from.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
All right.
Last thing I have for you, andnot that it did him a whole lot
of good because he lost hisprimary, but in a forum, during
the Democratic mayor's primary,one thing that Leroy Brooks said
that I thought was pretty funnyand also had some teeth to it
was no matter where you walk andI'm paraphrasing no matter
(37:55):
where you walk in Columbus,you're going to see the
footprints of Leroy Brooks,right?
All right.
So there you know.
He believes that there's sometruth to that statement, right
right, you're not as well known,right, but you've been here a
while, right?
So what are, in the community,the footprints of Darren Leach?
Speaker 6 (38:14):
Oh man, you got to.
It's weird.
I just went canvassingyesterday and when I was
canvassing yesterday, I had achance to walk up on this young
lady.
She was about 27 years old.
As a matter of fact, my wifeand I walked up on two young
ladies.
One was 20, they both were 27,28 years old and they both said
the same thing to me.
Don't you remember me Right?
(38:34):
Because we work with about athousand children through our
after school programs.
I do not know how many peoplewe fed through our feeding
programs.
I don't know how many guys callme because they've come through
our warming stations.
Our footprint is one of service.
That's what we do.
We serve, right.
And so when I, when I movedinto working with the CAG more
(38:56):
deeply and really trying tounderstand how to bring
resources to Columbus, what Irealized was this office just
gives me a chance to take thatup a notch, which is why I'm not
fighting with people, becausegetting the job is not my goal.
My footprint is to continue tobuild things or serve in ways
that make our city better, thatmake our city better.
(39:17):
Yeah, so my footprint won't beon the rocks yet, but if you
talk to people and you go intothe communities.
I'm not as unknown as you mightthink.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
I just don't go out there tooting my own horn,
because that is Well, that'sdetrimental to a mayoral
campaign.
It is right.
Speaker 6 (39:38):
You're talking about something that makes me
uncomfortable.
This is the part that makes meuncomfortable.
I thought it was weird that itwasn't until the mayor kind of
started outing me that peoplestarted talking about the fact
that I had an engineer's degree.
Well, the people in mycommunity know, they knew, you
know, they remember when I wasin independent studies in high
school.
They knew when I was a futureproblem-solving bowl champion
(40:00):
for the state of Mississippi.
They know that stuff.
They know that I've alwaysworked to solve problems.
But because I don't toot my ownhorn and I did when I was
younger don't do it now becauseof my principles.
My principles have changed.
Speaker 3 (40:13):
I got a whole other thing I'm working on right, so I
can't do that stuff, but itdoesn't mean, I didn't do it,
and so what I'm hoping is thestuff that I did will speak for
me.
That will do it.
I have enjoyed listening to youtoday.
(40:33):
I feel that you've had muchmore meat in what you've talked
about than I thought would bethere, it's not pie in the sky
stuff.
You've had some stuff to chewon on, so we are very much
grateful for you coming in thisstudio here today I appreciate
you guys letting me in one of.
Speaker 6 (40:44):
I will say one of.
The reasons I talk ingeneralities most of the time is
because of the amount of timeyou have.
You know, in two minutes you gotto give the overview right you
can't tell the details in a twominute conversation, but what
I've talked to you about todayisn't a fraction of what.
The discussions we will have tohave with different department
(41:07):
heads, with differentorganizations, with pulling
together, taken a long time toget here.
Get there to think in the firstcouple of days we're going to
get it fixed Not true.
But what we will do is we willstart to change the culture, and
it all starts with unity.
(41:27):
That's why I'm not fighting.
I'm not fighting because it'shard to talk about somebody's
parents or their kids in onesetting and then, 20 minutes
later, say, well, let's worktogether.
It ain't going to happen, right?
So if the parents and childrenare not relevant to this
conversation, let's leave themout of it and let's talk about
how we can build the city andsee whose ideas prevail.
(41:48):
That's my strategy, and I don'tcare who's running with me,
whether it's the mayor orwhether it's anybody else.
That's my strategy and I'm not.
I'm not shifting from it.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
Well.
Speaker 3 (42:02):
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I want to let you know about aforum that will be with all
three of the mayoral candidatesMr Stephen Jones, mr Darren
Leach and Mr Bill Strauss.
That is May 27th at the Lyceumat Lee, from 6 to 7 30.
(43:27):
All three have agreed to bethere and you will want to
reserve a ticket.
No cost for that ticket, butreserve that ticket at
cdispatchcom slash forum.
This forum is sponsored by theDispatch and by the Lyceum at
Lee.
Okay, mr Zach.
What do we think about PastorLeach?
Speaker 1 (43:47):
Well, you, know I thought that as specifics went
or, as you know, drilling downon his vision went, you know I
thought that today we got alittle better look than we have
in the stump speeches obviously,and, you know, maybe in some
other things that he's done.
But of course you know therehave been very few forums that
(44:09):
he's been a part of.
You know he'll be a part ofours on May 27th.
Maybe we'll drill down somemore there.
Speaker 3 (44:17):
What did you think I thought he had quite a bit of
substance and meat.
I thought that I was actuallystricken by how he spoke about
data and data collection anddata analysis.
He said that he intends totrust the experts, which is not
something you want to say inRepublican circles these days,
(44:38):
but be that the case.
When it comes to something likethat Superfund site or these
matters of engineering or movingthe city forward on a piece of
property that at one point waspolluted, I think it's very,
very important, because if wedon't listen to, or at least we
don't read, the reports onwhat's actually there, we end up
(45:01):
either living off of fear andtherefore doing nothing, or,
worse, we pull the trigger onsomething that's not financially
feasible and, you know, end upmaybe building something where
water is going to come over it,and you know I don't want to go
back on that, but you see whatI'm saying.
We've got to look at the dataand we've got to know what we're
getting into before we pull thetrigger.
Speaker 1 (45:22):
Well, one thing that that struck me because the
biggest thing that he's going tohave to do he talked about it
being a tightrope You've got asitting mayor right now that's
endorsing him that there arevery different opinions on.
There are people who really likeMayor Gaskin, really like what
(45:44):
he's done, really like him as aperson, and there are people who
are more in line with themajority of the council on that
front.
And I think a lot of thecriticism, some of the criticism
of Mayor Gaskin, has been fairand some of it hasn't been.
Some of it, has you know,bordered on childish if you want
to know the truth.
Has, you know, bordered onchildish if you want to know the
(46:05):
truth.
But having Keith's endorsement,also being willing to and able
to differentiate yourself fromhim during the campaign, it's
going to be very important forhim and I think that one of the
(46:26):
ways that he clearly expressedthat is through how he was going
to communicate, how he wasgoing to build consensus with
ideas.
And I think that you know, ifhe executes what he said today,
if that's the kind of if he winsand that's what he does, then I
think that that's going to be alot more effective than than
what Keith has done in trying tobuild consensus.
Effective than what Keith hasdone in trying to build
(46:49):
consensus and the fact that hesaid that he knows an idea, a
good idea when he hears one, andit doesn't matter who brings it
to him.
I think.
Apologies to Keith.
I think that separates him fromthe sitting mayor as well, and
I think that's going to be apretty big deal if he were to
get the seat.
I do think that he's apassionate guy and there's a big
difference between passion andresults, and there's also a big
(47:10):
difference between sitting herein a chair and saying that
something's going to work acertain way.
It'd be interesting to see justhow optimistic he would stay
the first time that he wasreally presented with the kind
of resistance that politicalpushback from the majority of
the council can render to anidea that would be interesting
to see.
Speaker 3 (47:29):
My intuition tells me that it would just roll off of
his back like duck feathers.
I mean, he was cool as acucumber in here today.
I think we grilled him fairlywell.
I would also say that theendorsement of the sitting mayor
, that's not small ball.
That's some good stuff.
That's not, you know, likeBiden endorsing Kamala.
(47:50):
That was not quite so weighty,was it.
But in here today, again,substance meat.
And I don't think that MayorGaskin's endorsement is going to
backfire on him.
I think quite the opposite.
Some of those ideas, perhaps,that Mayor Gaskin wanted to push
forward, but the resistance wasthere.
But there were people thatreally wanted to get those ideas
(48:12):
pushed forward, but they justdidn't want to do it.
With Keith Gaskin, I think theopportunity is still there and
the ground is still fertile.
Speaker 1 (48:19):
Well, you've also got another problem that we haven't
talked about for Darrenspecifically, which is the
presence of Bill Strauss in thisrace.
Bill's not going to split thevote between Darren and Steven,
it's going to be split betweenhim and Darren.
(48:41):
And that's my opinion, becausewhen you roll through Southside
and you see all the Darren Leachsigns, that tells me that
Darren is competing with Billfor space and Darren cancel each
other out at the polls than itis for any other two candidates
to cancel each other out at thepolls.
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (49:18):
We'll have to see about that one.
I'm going to really speak withPeter and see if we can go live
on election night have a livebroadcast of Between the Hit
Lines.
We're doing it live.
Speaker 1 (49:29):
I've got to cover that election, man, I'm not
going to have time to be at twoplaces at once.
Speaker 3 (49:33):
Delegation.
Speaker 1 (49:38):
All right.
Today we have with us the MainStreet Executive Director,
barbara Bigelow, and theFestival Coordinator for Main
Street, amber Brizlin, andthey're here to talk to us about
the Market Street Festival.
Are y'all excited for thisweekend?
Speaker 8 (49:52):
We are excited, yes, 29th annual 29th annual.
Speaker 1 (49:56):
Well, this one's going to be a little different
than ones in the past.
Can y'all kind of explain Iknow y'all talked about it a lot
, but can y'all explain a littlebit the changes that were made
and the rationale behind it?
Speaker 7 (50:06):
Certainly, you know we try each year to make the
festival improve from the yearbefore.
We see what works well, what wecan improve on.
So this year we are moving offof Main Street.
Main Street will be open andwe're not taking anything away
from the festival, we're justmoving it all a block south.
Speaker 5 (50:29):
Okay.
Speaker 7 (50:29):
So you can still expect everything that you've
come to love about the festivalall the vendors stages.
It does have a differentfootprint, but the main change
is the food court has relocatedto the parking lot between
College Street and 3rd AvenueSouth and the car show has
relocated to College Street.
(50:50):
The Children's Hands-On Marketwill be on College Street and
the main stage will be at thecorner of 3rd Avenue South and
5th Street South.
Speaker 8 (50:58):
You know what people don't or what we like to say is
we block off a certain number ofblocks for the festival.
We always have the same areathese areas that we've moved to
have been vacant, We've not usedthem at all.
So we're just taking areas thatwe did use, that now we can
open up to the public, and we'removing them to areas that were
(51:21):
blocked off, that we weren'teven using.
Really, Okay.
Speaker 1 (51:24):
So it just makes perfect sense.
Speaker 7 (51:25):
But the kids' area is the same, it's all the same.
And guess what?
It's a little more walkablethis year.
Speaker 8 (51:30):
That's right.
It would be great for familieswith kids.
Speaker 1 (51:33):
Speaking of families with kids, my family will be
there and they have certainthings that they need to do at
festivals Fried pickles, funnelcake, chicken on a stick.
We got all those boxes checked.
Speaker 7 (51:45):
What would a festival be with all three of those?
Okay?
Speaker 1 (51:47):
so I can tell my family we can get the fried
pickles, the funnel cake and thechicken on a stick.
Speaker 7 (51:51):
You forgot the bounce house.
Speaker 1 (51:54):
Bounce house yes.
Speaker 7 (51:57):
All the great music, the train rhymes, the music.
Of course they're going to buysome great arts and crafts.
We have some wonderful vendorscoming this year Many return
vendors, many new vendors.
Speaker 3 (52:07):
What kind of weather are y'all going to bring us this
year?
Speaker 7 (52:10):
Beautiful.
Speaker 3 (52:11):
I can't wait.
Speaker 7 (52:12):
They call it Chamber of Commerce.
Chamber of Commerce.
Speaker 3 (52:15):
Let it sprinkle on us Usually Market Street.
I'm so looking to go forwardout there and see who all has
gotten older Not myself,everybody else gets older.
But then it's the first reallyhot day of what feels like
summer, so like I'm excitedabout just a little bit of
sprinkling, you know, rain on mea little bit well, maybe it'll
sprinkle on you but hey, youknow what market street is rain
(52:41):
or shine okay, so no rain,contingency, no change, just it
is what it is.
Speaker 7 (52:47):
The show will go on.
Speaker 1 (52:49):
The show will go on, okay.
Speaker 8 (52:50):
Now, of course, we're very safety conscious.
If the weather is indeed badlightning, thunder and there's
storms and things of that nature, we don't, you know carry the
festival through.
Speaker 3 (53:00):
Zach's going to be out there like Lieutenant Dan.
If it gets bad, he's just goingto be white.
Speaker 1 (53:05):
Oh right, that's not true.
I run from rain.
Speaker 8 (53:07):
After you eat the pickle.
Speaker 1 (53:08):
That's right, I'm the chicken on the stick guy.
Speaker 7 (53:13):
My wife is the fried pickle person.
Those big turkey legs thatwe're walking around with, oh,
really, yes, oh okay, I'm goingto need to get one of those.
All right.
So last thing I I have is whendo I need to move my car?
Well, depends on where your caris.
We will begin closing a fewareas at 6 am Friday morning.
(53:33):
That's the parking lot wherethe food court will be located,
as well as Catfish Alley thoseso right outside the front door
here.
Those will close at 6 am.
All the other surrounding areaswill close at 3 pm on Friday
afternoon.
So we appreciate everyone'scooperation with that, and that
is strictly so that we can alloweverything to come in and
(53:55):
everybody set up and get readyfor the next day.
Speaker 8 (53:57):
Well, we do have the street closing information on
our website, on our Facebookpage.
It will be in all the localmedia this week so everyone can
check those venues as well tosee what will be available, what
parking lots are available andwhen the streets will close.
Speaker 7 (54:14):
And I want to add too with the opening of Main Street
this year, parking will beavailable on Main Street, so you
can walk from Main Street, youcan walk from Fifth Street North
, you can park wherever you wantto, but there is a little
closer parking this year.
Speaker 1 (54:30):
All right.
Well, we really appreciate youguys coming on and talking about
the festival.
I'm looking forward to beingthere this weekend.
Speaker 8 (54:37):
We are too, I would like to point out, if y'all
don't mind, be sure, andremember our local merchants
downtown.
Speaker 3 (54:52):
They're here for us year-round and they'll be open
on that day, offering somefabulous promos as well, so be
sure and visit them while you'rearound.
Thank you very much, that willdo it.
We thank our listeners forjoining us today.
Be sure to subscribe, share andrate, and send us your comments
.
We would love to hear from you.
Tips at cdispatchcom Again,that is, tips at cdispatchcom.
You can also follow me onFacebook or X at the Chisholm 00
.
Signing out from Catfish AlleyStudios in historic downtown
(55:14):
Columbus.
Your host has been Zach Playerand I am David Chisholm.
Until next time, let us notgrow weary in well-doing.
Y'all keep it friendly andwe'll keep it real.
Speaker 2 (55:32):
Opinions expressed on this show are those of the
speakers and not necessarilythose of the Commercial Dispatch
.
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