April 17, 2025 • 47 mins
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Columbus residents are expressing outrage over a $14,300 concrete barrier installed on Military Road, designed as a traffic-calming "chicane" that has become a flashpoint for debate about public safety and infrastructure spending. Meanwhile, Link CEO Joe Max Higgins takes the mall owners to task for their failure to fulfill tax incentive obligations for Columbus Place development.
• Bill Strauss discusses his mayoral platform and strategies for addressing neighborhood blight
• Columbus currently falling behind on projected sales tax revenue while Starkville shows 10% growth
• Concerns about respectful dialogue between Columbus City Council members as elections approach
Remember to vote on June 3rd! Your participation matters in determining the future of Columbus leadership.
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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.
And now.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Between the Headlines .
This week, on Between theHeadlines, columbus residents
are outraged over a random chunkof concrete permanently
blocking one lane of MilitaryRoad, and Bill Strauss is here
to talk about it, and Joe MaxHiggins absolutely unloads on
the whole group for their lackof progress on Columbus Place.
(01:05):
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And now a message frompolitical candidate Bill Strauss
.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
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.
(02:28):
Out with the old and in withthe new.
Elect Bill Strauss, your newmayor.
Paid for by campaign to electBill Strauss mayor 2025.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
And now a message from political candidate Jason
Spears.
Speaker 5 (02:41):
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
(03:02):
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 (03:14):
You are listening to Between the Headlines, with the
best fed husband in the GoldenTriangle and managing editor of
the Commercial Dispatch, Mr ZachPlayer, and my name is David
Chisholm.
By the way, Zach's wife is aculinary artist.
He's not calling me fat guys.
Contributor to the food sectionin the paper.
(03:35):
Top headline today is a sandtrap right there on the edge of
Military Road Would you use awedge out of that, or would you
use a putter driver?
Speaker 1 (03:43):
What would you?
Would you use a wedge out ofthat, or would you use a putter
driver like, what would you useto get a ball out of that?
Speaker 4 (03:49):
I'd use.
I'd use a wedge, for sure.
It's needs a little sand in it,though it's mostly dirt right
now.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
I think they would call it unfinished I would use
champion towing to get out of it.
So, mr zach, explain to me whatthis chiquito banana or
whatever, it is all right.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Well thing is uh, bill and I were having a
discussion, before we startedrecording, of whether we would
call it a chicane or a chai cane.
I'm not.
I'm not entirely sure.
What do we decide on there,bill?
Speaker 4 (04:19):
well, what I told you is if you're a tea drinker, we
call it a chai cane, and ifyou're're a tea drinker, we call
it a chai cane, and if you'renot a tea drinker, probably just
a chican.
I think either way wouldprobably suffice.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Well, I know how to spell it, but I don't
necessarily know how to say itand how much does this chai cane
cost?
Speaker 4 (04:36):
Well, my information was it was $14,300.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
I could build a decorative fountain out of
bricks for that kind of money.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Why have you done it, though?
Have I done it, and would youput it on military road if you
did?
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Well, the thing is it would need an insurance
contract on it, because it wouldget plowed over quite quickly.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Well, Bill, you kind of opened the floodgates for
discussion on Facebook with yourcriticism of this thing.
Let's start with you here.
What are your problems withthis deal?
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Well, let me kind of go back to the beginning.
When I first saw it about threeor four weeks ago I think
probably the day they were stillfinishing the concrete I was
kind of surprised when I saw itand I kind of pulled over.
I thought, well, what the heckis that?
And, um, and you know, they,they I called Kevin and he, he
explained it to me.
I said, okay, kevin, well, youknow, uh, you've explained it,
(05:31):
and you know, I'm not gonna, I'mnot gonna post it until you
know, until it's completed, youknow, and and see what, see what
it looks like.
So, anyway, um, weeks passedand you passed, and it was
starting to become an issue, andso I just said, well, it
doesn't look like anything'sgetting done on it.
And so then I decided it wasprobably time to post it.
And, yeah, I've gotten about25,000 views on it, so it's a
(05:56):
hot topic.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Yeah, that's wild.
And to be honest with you, bill, when I first saw that post I
said, my goodness, bill Straussis on on the commode and he's
putting together what is this?
And but then I went and and Iactually checked this thing out
and I'm like, my goodness, thisis in the wrong lane here.
Like it was, it was differentthan I thought it was going to
(06:18):
be you go through theintersection and if you're
diddling on your phone or justin any way not, paying attention
, yeah you're gonna face plantin this thing you should
probably not text and drivedavid.
Well, for sure.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
But what if you're on a motorcycle like that could be
a potential fatal well, if youglance off of that chicane, you
may end up in the light postthat's right beside it also.
That'll zap you, kill you.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Speaking of why does Kevin Stafford believe this is
the safe thing to put here?
Well, that's what they designed.
They're trying to slow downtraffic there.
From what I understand, youknow, while Stephen Jones, ward
5 Councilman, also running formayor, brought the concern to
Kevin due to accidents at theintersection, kevin said the
real problem is visibilitycoming up on there.
I'm just going to be honestwith you.
I've driven up on this comingfrom.
(07:12):
You know.
I've been driving south andapproached this from the south.
Fourth Avenue yeah a couple oftimes and coming up military to
coming up that direction.
I've approached it that way acouple of times.
I didn't have a problem.
I didn't have a problem gettingaround it, I didn't have a
problem seeing it.
It didn't surprise me.
I don't text and drive.
(07:33):
My only real problem with thisproject and Kevin to an extent
agrees with me here, based onwhat he said in the story but
they did it backward.
You know they're talking aboutwe're adding this and we're
going to have the, you know, aspeed zone and we're going to
have signage warning that thisis coming.
(07:54):
They did it backward, likewhether it was the contractor
who did it backward or the citywho organized it backward.
Whoever's fault it is, they didit backward.
People are going to complainabout something new in their
neighbor and they have a rightto.
I mean, new is bad andespecially if they don't
understand it.
But you know people complainabout roundabouts all the time.
I personally don't like drivingthrough them either, but I also
(08:19):
see their utility In thisparticular case.
They just did it backward.
What you do in my mind.
Of course I'm not an engineeror a contractor, but what makes
sense to me as a Rube is youlower the speed zone first.
You say you know speed zoneahead, we're going to lower it
to 20 around this area.
You get people used to slowingdown to 20 in the area.
(08:41):
Then you put signs up that saysconstruction zone ahead.
Then you build the area.
Then you put signs up that saysconstruction zone ahead.
Then you build the thing.
Then once you finish it, youput signs up that say I don't
know what the sign would say Idon't think chicane ahead would
really suffice because peopledon't really know what that word
is.
But I don't know what you puton the sign.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Reaching you wallet.
I want to buy one of them.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Obstruction in the lane ahead, move over or
something.
I don't know what you would dowith the sack, but to me, if you
do it in that order, you atleast mitigate the valid
complaints about the thing, butwhy do you need concrete?
Speaker 3 (09:20):
Everything you've said does not necessitate this
thing that somebody's going tocrash into.
I don't think people are goingto crash into it as much as you
think.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
I think a speed bump would have been sufficient there
.
That slows people down and youknow, I think that the citizens
ought to drive by there and takea look themselves.
Come down fourth and see ifit's really.
If you can't see down MilitaryRoad because I can see about a
half mile Now, they say, well,there's a hill in the way, but I
mean, I'm in a pretty low car,I don't have any problems.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Turning right from that is going to be a treat, but
again if you do the stripingand just move cars, you don't
need two lanes there, just movethem to the middle, let there be
extra shoulder.
That would not be $14,500.
Be 14,500 dead gum dollars.
You brought up the trafficcircle.
How long did it take Columbusto learn how to?
Speaker 1 (10:08):
navigate that dog bone.
Have they learned yet?
Speaker 4 (10:12):
I nearly get hit in that thing every day.
They're pretty good.
I go to the one in the militaryand they're doing better.
Every now and then someone willdead stop in front of you.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
When traffic circles were put on military down toward
Lion Hills or down near BlueCut, and when the traffic circle
was put in front of Harvey's, Irolled my eyes at that, I
grumbled at that.
I was like I don't want todrive through that because
nobody knows how to drivethrough them.
I'm going to have to teachmyself something new.
I don't like these things.
It just seems unnecessary,turns out.
(10:41):
I'm kind of like Bill, you know, with the exception of a couple
of people who will occasionallystop in the middle still and
not really know what to do.
That happens less and less andtraffic flow is better and it's
safer.
It is so, so, and that was thelast big kevin stafford idea
that everybody kind of rolledtheir eyes at.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
But this is the new run over a traffic circle.
You're just going to make ayoutube video.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
You run into this thing listen bill.
Let me run into this thing.
You could be at memorialfuneral home exactly think how
fast do you have to be going.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
The speed limit in that zone is going to be 20
miles an hour.
My only problem is it isn'talready 20 miles an hour.
Ask my rack and pinion.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
There there's a 10 mile an hour speed limit on the
big curve before you get to thetwo churches.
They're just right.
In that same area people don'tgo 10 miles an hour, even though
it's a, it's a hook.
It's got a huge curve there.
If you make it 10, they'restill going to drive through
there at 30.
You know that at 30 or 40they're still going through
there and someone's going to hitthat chai cane and they're
going to end up in that lightpole.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
And if there's no sign in front of it warning them
, then it's the city's fault.
But if it's not a sign up therewarning, if there is a sign up
there warning them that's comingand that the speed zone has
changed and they run into itbecause they're on their phone
or they're driving too fast orwhatever that's reckless driving
, and that's not the city'sfault.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
Yeah, but being the city's fault doesn't matter.
We don't want a citizen gettinghurt or killed.
That's the thing.
We're out there to make theroads safe for our citizens, not
to put hazards in their way.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Well, it has to do with this memory thing that
we've got going.
It's not just that Southernersdon't like change, dude, we
can't change.
I can't tell you how many timesI have run the stop sign in
Caledonia.
The school's been there forwhat?
Nine years, or something.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
think about this if you're the marshal in caledonia,
be looking out for that pleasedon't on alabama street.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
How many people do you know, still refer to that as
82?
Okay, we've got grandchildren.
Ok, it's been Alabama Street,or, at worst, highway 182, for
40 years.
Ok, somebody tells me they'regoing to Taco Bell on 82.
There's no Taco Bell on thefreeway.
(12:56):
I've got better.
I don't say that to themdirectly, but I sure think it.
We don't like change.
I'm telling you somebody isgoing to face plant.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
There was a wreck on Main Street just a few minutes
ago that you know we had.
We had to get the camerapictures of and and I mean you
know you've got stoplights therebut it just people just don't
pay attention.
They just turn in front offolks and go on and you know you
end up with wrecks.
It's just going to happen.
Every road coming out of on themilitary has got a terrible
angle on it.
You have have to look way back.
So I mean the road was, youknow it is what it is, but you
(13:27):
know it's a dangerous roadinherently.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
One more suggestion for the thing to take the
negative into the positive.
I want to turn the conversationa little bit after that.
I looked at that and of courseI'm a gardener.
So anytime that I see any kindof embankment that you can put
dirt in, my mind wanders intogardening.
I think what they could do toyou know, maybe take the sting
(13:52):
off of some of the criticism, atleast from the people who live
around that.
I was looking at the size of it.
You could get, I think, maybe abasil plant, an oregano, maybe
some thyme in there.
Have a neighborhood herb garden, not mint.
You don't want to plant mint inthere because that's all you'll
have.
Colin krieger wants to cooksomething nice one day for his
(14:14):
family.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
He walked down there, cut him some basil off yeah, I
don't think I'm not going to bestanding there when they well, I
love when those cars comeplowing through I don't think
that columbus would plant thoseparticular herbs there.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
I think it would be something else, just to be
honest with you.
More revenue for the city.
Can I ask you your opinionabout this, speaking of roads
and stuff, this paving proposaland how the money gets shifted
around?
Do you think that certain wardsshould all get the same amount
or do you think it should be?
Speaker 4 (14:50):
traffic count only as far as the allocation of my
opinion is that when you'reallocating money for roads, it
needs to be done in aprofessional manner.
You need someone who's familiarwith the roads, which ones need
to be paid first, and then goin that order.
I'm fine with the heavy trafficones, but any professional
would take that into account.
You're going to pave your heavytraffic roads first, but we
(15:13):
have a lot of roads that getpaved that I see that probably
don't need it near as much asothers, simply because it may
not be in their ward.
The city is the city.
We're all together, we'rebetter together in this, and on
this case we should have aprofessional who says, hey,
these are the roads that need itfirst, and then we'll move on
to the lesser ones and whicheverones need it, the most.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
So put a different way.
Should pretty neighborhoods orquote unquote ugly neighborhoods
get special treatment?
Speaker 4 (15:40):
Absolutely not.
No, no neighborhood should getspecial treatment should be
based just exactly on thecondition of the road.
Should get special treatmentshould be based just exactly on
the condition of the road.
And now, if you know, obviouslyyou might push one back that
may not have any traffic at allon it.
Do a good job patching it.
But any professional would say,hey, not much traffic here, we
can patch this.
It'll be safe until we, untilwe're able to pay.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Well, you know, they have that priority list already.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
Yeah, but the priority list is done by the
councilman in their ward already.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Yeah, but the priority list is done by the
councilman in their ward.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
Well, no, the priority list is done by Neil
Schaefer, or is done by KevinStafford, the council has the
discretion to follow it or not,right, well, and some of them
may or some of them may notfollow it.
I'm just saying the prioritylist should be put down by the
professional and then done inthat order as needed.
That would be my opinion.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Okay, going back to the Facebook post about the chai
cane.
Back to the chai cane it lookslike you know, at first you were
gaining a lot of ground.
There are a lot of cheerleadersfor your point.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
At first.
Okay, the worm has turned onthat a little bit.
I haven't seen that.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
I think it's viral status.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
It's already gone viral.
I don't seen that, but I thinkit's viral status.
It's already gone viral.
I don't think there's anyonethat can see it Right.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Well, I mean you said you haven't seen any of the
negative criticism at this point.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
Out of, I think, 180 comments on this one post, maybe
two or three, ok, not many.
All right Well and nothing hadto do with the chai cane itself.
I think it more had to do with,maybe, the neighborhood, the
neighbors.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
As someone who is coming out of private life and
has introduced yourself into thepublic realm as a public figure
and a hopeful public official,how have you embraced or dealt
with or navigated the personalattacks, the character attacks
(17:37):
or just constructive criticismfrom the citizenry of your
record, your ideas, that sort ofthing?
Speaker 4 (17:45):
Well, honestly, the criticisms on my posts have been
few and mostly from four orfive people.
It seems to be the same peopleover and over that are attacking
me, and my policy was that Iwanted to read what they were
saying about me because, youknow, I'm sure there's plenty.
I need to live and learn and,of course, when they got ugly, I
(18:06):
was forced to take a post down.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
What post did you take down?
Speaker 4 (18:09):
It was on the East Columbus, it was on the gym
where we had the man cave, andit was a wonderful event and all
of a sudden, you know I'mgetting attacked, like you know,
you don't know what goes onover here.
And I said well, you know, Iagree with you, I don't know
what goes on here sometimes, butcan I be a part of the solution
?
Right, and that's what I'mtrying to learn different areas
of the city and the needs.
(18:31):
And you know I've beenthroughout the city a lot.
You know I've been in realestate for 20 years now.
I've seen a lot of the city.
I work with a lot of the peoplewho are building in these areas
, these blighted areas.
They're building new structures, new things, new housing, and
so I've seen a lot of theseareas.
But I mean, you know I'm not asfamiliar as I should be with
(18:53):
some of the areas and I'm tryingto familiarize myself with
those.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Okay, it sounds like you've, based on what you just
said and things that I've heard,you say, other places.
It seems like you have listenedto that and are trying to get
more places, but I mean Well,absolutely, you called me a
downtown guy yeah, yeah.
I did.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
That's where I live and that's what I see on a daily
basis.
But I also drive down MilitaryRoad to where I work at Caldwell
Banker and I drive throughMartin Luther King.
I drive all those areas and Isee what's going on in a lot of
different areas, but I'veexpanded my horizon over there.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Okay, well, what have you learned from that?
Speaker 4 (19:38):
Well, I've learned that we have a lot of fantastic
citizens in this town who reallyare just looking for good
leadership.
Just looking for goodleadership.
You know we need betterplanning on our blighted areas.
I met three citizens outsidethe library the other day and
they said what are you going todo about the blight?
I said well, I said you know,we've got to tackle that
(19:59):
immediately.
And they said you know, somepeople have nice houses in there
and they've got a bad housenext to it that may be a crack
house.
Someone's boarded it up, notbeing used, and that house is
dragging down the value of theirproperties.
If we can get areas clearedwhere we can have developers
come in, they'll build newhouses there.
We're having it on the southside over here.
(20:21):
You know you've got TateVillage, you've got another
contractor's built a couplehouses over there, and then the
J5 group built in Sanfieldbeautiful houses.
That's what we need tearingdown the old and bringing in the
new so that they haveaffordable housing.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
You mentioned tearing down.
What do you think of RobertJohnson IV's plan to allow the
city to help facilitate treeremoval?
Allow the city to helpfacilitate tree removal Because
a lot of blight is from thetrees being up next to the
building and causing the damageto come prematurely.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
You know that's kind of a private issue.
I think we would just have totake that.
Maybe we can put somethingtogether for that, where there's
some monies.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
And he was saying that the city would not pay for
it per se.
They would share in the cost.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
Well, I think that's a good idea because that would
help.
You know, the light and wateris very good about that.
If there's something near aline, if the light and water can
do it near a line, then I thinkhelp preserving the value of
our houses.
If we can give these peoplesome help when they need it, I
think that's a good idea.
I think it's a very good idea.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Has there been anywhere in Columbus that prior
to you running for mayor, you'dnever been.
Never been in the facility,never been in the neighborhood
that you've been since you'veannounced running.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
No, I've been in every area of Columbus.
Now one that I did visit was, Iguess you would say, part of
Memphis town, but on the northside, and it's gotten so much
worse since the last time I wasthere.
I probably hadn't been there ina year or two, and it just
seems like it just gets worse.
The houses that are there arenot being repaired.
So many of them.
(21:57):
The roofs may have been damagedin storms, and once that
happens, you know it doesn'ttake long for a house to
deteriorate when you don't havea good.
Well, a lot of those aren't evenowner-occupied Well, they don't
seem to be occupied at all,unless there's squatters in them
.
We hear about that all the time.
But, for example, colin Krieger, he redid a house right off
military and he's tackling ahouse that was a I believe it
(22:18):
was a parsonage right there onmilitary, which that house has
been vacant.
I know for at least 10 years.
I it's been vacant, I know forat least 10 years.
I showed it when it was on themarket, probably six, seven
years ago.
So I commend him for doing thatand that's what we need.
We need private money to comein and we need private money to
start rebuilding these houses.
That'll help us a lot and if thecity can facilitate that in
(22:40):
some way, that would be great.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Is squatting technically legal around here.
Not that I know of Well what ifyou have like 18 registered
voters in the same house.
I'm curious if that's like anordinance violation of some type
.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
Well, that would definitely be a code violation,
I'm sure in a submarine.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
It's OK, kenny Wiggle on that.
Speaker 4 (23:03):
I think Kenny Wiggle can give you the answer on that
better than I can, but I thinkyou would probably be on a code
violation there.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Oh, man You're listening to Between the
Headlines.
With Zach and David, we'regoing to transition to Joe Max
laying the smack down in hisletter to the whole group.
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All right.
So in a letter written by MrJoe Max Higgins, he lays the
smack down to the whole group.
Where are we on this?
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Well, you know, and that letter was a response from
Joe Max to John Mulherin, withthe whole group, you know, john
essentially writes to Joe Maxand company we need a new tax
incentive deal because we can'tabide by the structure of the
one we agreed to.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
And Mulherin was basically saying well, we can't
come up with our paperwork.
Yeah, we don't have ourpaperwork, so we're not
providing.
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
And Joe Max's response to this in his letter
is, I think, almost you knowthis is what he said to us.
It's in the story today is, ifyou, if you didn't know what you
were signing, why the hell didyou sign it?
And so just a little bit ofbackground the Cliff Notes you
can't fulfill what you'resigning.
Right, exactly, bill what you'resigning, right exactly.
(25:31):
And the Cliff Notes version ofthe background here is you know,
whole group buys the.
Buys Lee Mall the failing LeeMall 2019 in auction.
They want to renovate it, turnit inside out into this outdoor
facing shopping center.
They get tax incentives fromthe city and the county.
Now part of this is giving them, for up to 15 years, the value
(25:57):
of their what would be thecollections on the added value
of the property, a certainpercentage of that over time,
and the other part of it was theadded value of the new sales
tax over that time to reimbursethem for renovations, which,
(26:17):
frankly, they've done a prettygood job with.
That looks nice over there, butit's empty.
More on that in a moment, butwhat we saw, though, is just the
real simple version of this.
In order to determine what thenew sales tax is, you have to
determine what the old sales taxwas.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
Yeah, so the county side of this deal is okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
County side of the deal is okay and part of the
city side of the deal, becausethey're getting, I think, ad
valorem too on their part.
But the sales tax side of thisis, I mean, it's just toast they
have to have, because theycan't determine how much sales
tax was being what's calledtheir sales tax basis.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Baseline.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
They can't determine what that baseline is, because
in order to get that, thecompanies have to tell them.
The companies refused and thenmost of them disappeared, and so
now they're in a place to wherethey're saying there's no way
for us to determine what oursales tax basis is.
Can we please renegotiate thisdeal and Joe Max?
(27:22):
Told them you know, yeah, he'snot having it.
He didn't tell him to kickrocks, he told him he'd still
work with him.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
But he is not for doubling as a doubling down on a
bad deal yeah, and he's callingthe first deal a colossal waste
of everybody's time yeah, and,and we all know that is the
polite version of what I canonly imagine, like, just just go
with me here.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
You know that he had, uh, meryl and betsy behind him
as he was typing this thing andevery time he typed an expletive
they said no, joe max, and hewas having a backspace, okay,
and type it the more diplomaticway, but you can, you can see,
you can hear and you can feelJomax in this, despite its
diplomacy.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
I've got a dumb fella's question about this.
All right, if they don't have abaseline for the establishment
of their sales tax credit, whydon't we just issue a $0.00
check to the whole group?
Okay, you don't have a baseline, therefore you don't get any
money back.
What am I missing?
Here, I mean that's Because itseems manufactured.
Speaker 4 (28:34):
I would be for hammering out a new deal.
I mean, we want to keep thesefolks on our side.
You know that's a major pieceof property in this town
Probably the most valuable pieceof real estate in Columbus is
sitting there and we need moretax dollars out of it.
Hammer out a deal that's alittle more beneficial to the
city of Columbus.
We need the tax money.
They got a sweet deal on thepurchase so their taxes were
(28:59):
lowered a lot.
They were down to three and ahalf million I think.
Now they're about 4.6 last Isaw on their basis.
Hammer out a new deal.
It's good for everybody.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Okay, I see what you're saying, but here's what
Joe Max is saying.
I tend to agree with him.
You're supposed to know yourbusiness.
You've told everybody thatyou've got dozens of these
things all over the Southeast.
Why was this a surprise to you,like what was so unique about
this particular situation?
Speaker 3 (29:24):
Because they didn't give him the numbers Right.
The numbers are held underwraps, understandably so.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
David, other businesses and other shopping
centers for whatever taxincentives they have there.
I mean this should be somethingthat they saw coming or they
saw as a potential issue priorto Tuesday or whenever.
John sent Jomax this letter.
This didn't sneak up on them andthey didn't talk about it and
(29:54):
so it says to me that maybewhole group didn't or doesn't
know what they're doing.
You know, or something worsethat you know.
They thought when this goesbelly up, we'll just get another
one.
And now you've got Jomax sayingy'all should have known this
better in advance, like y'allare the.
Y'all are professional retaildevelopers.
(30:17):
This should not have been hardfor you, this should not have
been an issue for you.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
Interestingly, they accuse the retailers of faking
the revenue numbers.
Okay, think about Hobby Lobbyfaking the revenue numbers.
I mean that's like accusingChick-fil-A of not paying their
tithes.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Well, you know, I don't know enough about that
business to say whether that'ssomething that would happen or
not low valuation on Lee Mall.
Speaker 4 (30:48):
If the deal doesn't go through, kick the deal out.
As they make improvements, thetaxes will be adjusted, the ad
valorem taxes will be adjustedand if they can't fulfill the
other part, then they just won'tget it.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
They'll survive.
In my opinion, they gave them adeal they didn't uphold to
their end of the bargain.
That's right, deal's moot,deal's gone.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
You're on the hook for that.
Whose fault is it, though?
Isn't it partly the retailer'sfault?
I mean?
Speaker 4 (31:16):
okay, question no, I don't think so Check this out.
I don't think it's theretailer's fault.
Retailer don't want to give outtheir private information.
They don't want to give out.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
Well, they're being requested to sign a release to
the link and the link gets thatinformation directly from mdor.
Okay, and if for some reason,it gets leaked, then that opens
up the link to a big-timelawsuit it also compromises
should they perhaps be a littlemore trusting of the link, or no
(31:44):
, or?
Speaker 1 (31:45):
I mean, that's up to them, it's up to them.
The fact remains that cato andhobby lobby and Planet Fitness
they did not say to the city andthe county give us a tax
incentive and we'll do thisWhole Group did that and then
they failed.
So I think they're on the hookfor it.
Speaker 4 (32:03):
I do too.
I mean, they already have thetaxes lowered, which was
legitimate.
They bought it for $3.5 million.
That's legitimate, and they'repaying very little tax on it at
this point.
Now you know they're investingfor the future.
It's going to be a veryvaluable property at some point.
I think they'll do a good jobwith it, and but I think you
know they blew the deal.
You know I'm for just moving onand just part of Joe.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
OK, so let me jump in here.
Part of Joe Max's criticism ofit is that that there might be
an inappropriate relationshipthere If whole group is talking
(32:55):
to the mayor to end around thelink or the county or the
council.
I mean, is that appropriate?
Speaker 3 (33:01):
I think that's garbage talk.
Why would they need to do that?
Speaker 1 (33:05):
I mean it's not reading the room very well,
because you know Keith can't getanything much done on the
council.
So I don't know how Keith can'tget anything much done on the
council.
So I don't know how he's goingto get anything done with the
link and it's an open secretthat he and Jomax don't get
along.
So I don't see where Keithgoing to Jomax and saying look,
a hole came to me.
Let's do this would ever work.
(33:27):
And Keith doesn't have theunilateral power to force things
through.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
Well, Bill, I agree with you.
They need to strike a deal andthey need to make it happen.
They need to strike a deal,that's right.
Speaker 4 (33:37):
And let the city council go over it and if they
approve, it you know it'll belike a new deal Again the deal
they had.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
They said they could do, and that was three years ago
.
Now they can't do it.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
So I think, it is what it is.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
No, scrap it and let them live with the consequences.
Speaker 4 (33:52):
That's fine with me, if that's what this it's going
to ultimately be, up to the citycouncil.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
So, as mayor, do you recommend a new deal?
Speaker 4 (33:59):
As mayor I would say listen to them and see what they
propose.
I would make sure it's a littlebetter deal for the city
because a lot of these giveawaysI've not been all for, lot of
these giveaways I've not beenall for, you know, there have
been several of these giveawaysthat have not been good for the
city because it stretches out somany years down the road.
I've seen one that I know thatthey approved for two years.
(34:19):
They're going to revisit and,if I may, I'll revisit it
because you know, from what Iunderstand, they painted and
they put new furniture.
So I don't like buying someoneelse's furniture for a business.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
Well, I want to go back to sort of the timeline
here.
They came in.
They're going to inside out,make this a big retail hub.
So plan A didn't work.
That place is empty.
The renovations look nice, butthe place is empty.
The right tenants.
They're saying we don't carethat these tenants are leaving,
we're going to get the righttenants coming in.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
But they're not coming in, they're not signing
on.
Why don't they at least talkabout kicking them out?
Be done with them.
I mean, there's not anybodythere, ain't any hardly to kick
out?
Speaker 1 (34:59):
they've left on their own, but you know.
But plan b now is to turn largeswaths of the back into medical
and office space, which isn'tgoing to get you the sales tax
revenue that retail will.
And now we find out they'reincapable of doing their basic
due diligence on a tax incentivethat they asked for.
So I think the project is awash.
(35:19):
I mean it's out to sea and Idon't know if it's recoverable
or what the end product willeven look like.
Now you asked a while ago whosefault it is.
How much of it is Hull's fault?
I don't know, how much of it isjust the retail market
generally.
I don't know that either, butwhat I do know.
What I do know is that taxreceipts are not growing in
(35:41):
Columbus at the rate that theyhave over the last three years.
They're struggling and there'sworry there.
Citi's currently behind thepace to make its budget on sales
tax revenue, which meansthey're going to cut something
at the end of the year if theydon't catch up Now.
Obviously that can change withfive months left in the fiscal
year.
But by comparison, you knowStarkville, where Columbus has
(36:04):
routinely kicked Starkville'sbehind on sales tax revenue and
sales tax revenue growth,especially over the last three
or four years.
Startful's up 10% year to date,five months to go, but they're
up 10% and they're going to blowtheir budgeted number out of
the water.
They're going to end up gettingto buy extra things or add to
(36:24):
their capital fund or theirgeneral fund reserves if they
stay on the pace that they're on.
And their sports teams aren'teven doing that good.
Imagine if the baseball teamactually was decent.
Speaker 4 (36:37):
But, zach, you know the city of Columbus.
We've had a little issuemaintaining our businesses here
and some of it's due to ourleadership in the city, not, you
know, not being there to helprecruit business, fussing and
fighting over matters.
You know we've got to get asolid plan together for
recruiting businesses into thecity and help the whole group,
(36:57):
not try and do anything to hurtthem, but help them to bring in
businesses here.
Make this a friendlyenvironment.
Make Columbus, you know, aplace where business wants to
locate.
I'm afraid that we've gotten alittle reputation out there that
this is not a good businesscity, it's not a business
friendly city.
We don't want that.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
If I were Grandpa Hull, I would turn the air
conditioner off and sweat themout of there, kind of like what
the legislature is doing to MSMS.
You know what I mean?
They'll come up with themnumbers, they'll let us know.
Listen, I'm not anti-businessat all.
I hope that every single tenantdoes well, whether it be there
(37:38):
or someone else.
But that particular property,to your point bill, it's right
there, dead center to thegateway to all of what we've got
here, and it needs to be top ofthe top and they need to get
this deal done.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
Joe Max knows what he's doing, okay, he is holding
their feet to the fire, and ifhe's mad, then he knows why he's
mad.
Speaker 4 (37:58):
I think he's doing the right thing Hold their feet
to the fire.
All right, and if we have toscrap the deal, scrap the deal
with them.
Speaker 3 (38:04):
Mr Hull, if you're listening, I hope you come on
the program.
We would love to have you andlove to see what you plan on
doing to help get this thingunderway, because we're not as
patient as you are, we're justnot.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
Well, Bill, we really appreciate you coming on the
show.
Speaker 4 (38:20):
I appreciate y'all having me, and one more thing I
want to say is remember June 3rdis the election.
Everybody we need to get outand vote.
Have a say in your community.
Let us hear what you want fromyour community.
The vote is so important.
Let your voice be heard andvote for Bill Strauss, mayor
2025.
Speaker 3 (38:41):
All right, stick around for the postgame.
Thanks, bill.
Speaker 4 (38:44):
Thank you sir.
Speaker 3 (38:45):
All right, that was Bill Strauss, independent
candidate for mayor.
And just so our listeners know,we have had Leroy on here and
Stephen Jones and we will beinviting Darren Leach to be on
the program as well.
So as we close up today, astory kind of hit me by surprise
(39:05):
in here.
Local rappers lyrics, socialmedia lead to drug bust of Mr
Art Hank Davis, age 26.
What is going on here?
Speaker 1 (39:18):
Evidently Hank was a little too honest in his art
form and led the sheriff'soffice deputies right to him.
Speaker 3 (39:29):
So he disclosed the location of his operation
trapping on maple street.
The sting unit beganinvestigating davis after
receiving tips from confidentialinformants claiming he was
selling controlled substances inthe columbus area, and ended up
(39:50):
being a what a pound of meth ontop of handguns semi-automatic.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
A lot of drugs and a little bit of guns.
But you know, the funny partabout that story to me is at the
bottom, where Sheriff EddieHawkins says it reminds him how
important it is for people toreport suspicious activity, and
I agree with that.
I think it's very important todo that.
But I also think the pointmissed here is that discretion
(40:18):
is the better part of valor.
Maybe don't tell the policeexactly what you're doing and
exactly where you're doing it.
Where you're doing it Well.
Speaker 3 (40:29):
whatever makes the law enforcement job easier, I am
in favor of even if thatinvolves listening to local
artist music.
Speaker 1 (40:42):
Yep, well, you know, you should support local artists
.
We have whole nonprofits forthat in the area.
But there's one thing that Iwant to talk about.
It's sort of tangentiallyrelated to the Chaykane again,
but it deals with Tuesday'scouncil meeting.
There's a very troublingpattern that I'm starting to see
and it needs to stop go, or soI can't remember exactly what
(41:15):
meeting.
Ward 6 Councilwoman JacquelineDiCicco was questioning an
agenda item where Mickens wasgoing to be traveling with
George Irby somewhere for someconference.
It was out on the East Coastsomewhere.
She asked why does Mickens needto go, which I mean, is a
reasonable question if you'resupposed to be, you know, taking
care of taxpayer money?
(41:36):
Mickens wasn't super rude aboutit, but he refused to answer a
question, just said I'm notgoing to answer that.
Okay, fast forward to Tuesday,where the newly minted
Democratic nominee for mayor,stephen Jones, has requested
that Kevin Stafford design andbuild this chai cane in the
(41:59):
middle of Military Road.
Councilwoman DiCicco says hey,I've got constituents who are
concerned about this.
They're calling me about it.
Can somebody tell me what thisis and why it is and how it's
supposed to work?
Yeah, and what the devil.
Yeah, by that time our reporterhad been out there to interview
Stephen and Kevin and we had astory that was ready to go in
(42:21):
Wednesday's paper.
And that was.
And while we appreciated theplug from Stephen Jones, that's
what he responded with he said.
Because she said what am Isupposed to tell my constituents
or these people we're callingabout this thing in the middle
of Military Road?
And Stephen responds tell themto read the paper.
It's going to be in there.
And she says well, tell them toread the paper.
(42:42):
Can you not just tell mesomething now, give me some
insight now?
And he looked at her and hesaid next, and then he turned
his face away from her.
Speaker 3 (42:52):
Oh boy.
Speaker 1 (42:56):
I mean, you're the odds-on favorite to be the mayor
.
Speaker 3 (43:00):
Well, you were, Stephen.
You're going to have to respectyour elders, sir.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
Well, just your peers , your peers.
Because here's the thing IfJones and obviously Mickens and
others, they're not viewing heras a peer for some reason.
Maybe I don't know what reasonit is, maybe it's because she's
not running for reelection.
They've only got to deal withher for the next couple of
months.
Speaker 3 (43:24):
So she's a lame duck.
A lame duck Just answer herquestion Right.
Be respectful.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
And or at least treat her like a colleague while she
legally is your colleague onthat, council and she is.
Speaker 3 (43:36):
But that's just, that's just wrong.
She needs to bend him over herknee and just old-fashioned
spank him.
For that.
You are a servant of the peopleand it is a meeting.
The purpose of a meeting is toexchange information, hopefully
in a cordial fashion.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
That's just uncalled for well, I mean, if she was on
the other foot, if he asked aquestion and keith or jackie or
anybody on that council had thetemerity to be like next and not
answer it or he would be fit tobe tied, he would think that he
deserved more respect than thatone better yeah what if rusty
green did that to ethel stewart?
Speaker 3 (44:17):
oh my god, which one cnn will be in town never happen
?
Speaker 1 (44:22):
it would never happen because you know I don't agree
with everything rusty rusty'srespectful guy.
He would not do that.
It's very troubling to me thata person who is the democratic
nominee for mayor and theodds-on favorite to win that
race, in my opinion has thecapacity in a public forum like
that to treat anybody that way,much less somebody who's
(44:45):
supposed to be his peer on thatcouncil, joseph Mickens.
Now he's going, but JosephMickens and Stephen Jones have
been the primary purveyors ofBible verses from that council
table for the last four years Dounto others, as you would have
others do unto you, and thatstandard is without exception.
(45:06):
And if Stephen's going to makeexceptions, we may have a long
four years on our hands, buthe's better than that.
Speaker 3 (45:12):
So I would just, I would just challenge him to be
better than that.
We're Southern folk, ok, wejust don't do that around here.
It's just not going to fly longterm.
Speaker 1 (45:21):
Yeah, I really appreciated the plug for the
paper, but at the same time, notat the expense of the golden
rule, and I would feeldifferently about it if it had
already been in the paper andshe had just missed it.
And she was up theregrandstanding.
She wasn't grandstanding, shewas trying to get an answer to a
question.
He just didn't think that shewas on his level.
And guess what, if you're goingto be a public servant, the
(45:46):
least of these, yeah.
Speaker 3 (45:48):
The least of these.
Least of these.
Now to the mail.
We had one listener that pipedin said basically I enjoyed
listening to the podcastepisodes about storm drainage in
Columbus.
The deep dive into how and whyColumbus has inadequate drainage
was important and I hope otherswill appreciate that Storm
drainage isn't glamorous but itcan significantly impact
(46:10):
people's lives.
I also laughed, which washighly appreciated, so thank you
for that, sir.
I tell you what hey hats off tous If we're able to make
somebody laugh about flooding.
That's not too shabby.
Speaker 1 (46:26):
I would say, yeah, that's got to be a rarity.
Speaker 3 (46:28):
That will do it.
We want to thank our listenersfor joining us today.
Be sure to subscribe, share andrate, and send us your comments
.
Tell us what you think abouttoday's show.
We would love to hear from you.
Tips at cdispatchcom.
Again, tips at cdispatchcom.
Read the paper.
You can also follow me onFacebook or X at dchism00.
(46:49):
Signing off until next weekfrom Catfish Alley Studios in
historic downtown Columbus.
Your host has been Zach Playerand I am David Chisholm.
Until next time, keep itSouthern, keep it friendly and
we'll keep it real.
Speaker 2 (47:12):
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.
And now.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Between the Headlines .
This week, on Between theHeadlines, columbus residents
are outraged over a random chunkof concrete permanently
blocking one lane of MilitaryRoad, and Bill Strauss is here
to talk about it, and Joe MaxHiggins absolutely unloads on
the whole group for their lackof progress on Columbus Place.
(01:05):
But first here's a word fromour sponsors.
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(01:49):
also define a home With lighting, unlimited and uncommon living.
You can expect more.
Visit them at 1116 GardnerBoulevard or online at
lighting-columbuscom.
And now a message frompolitical candidate Bill Strauss
.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
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.
(02:28):
Out with the old and in withthe new.
Elect Bill Strauss, your newmayor.
Paid for by campaign to electBill Strauss mayor 2025.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
And now a message from political candidate Jason
Spears.
Speaker 5 (02:41):
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
(03:02):
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 (03:14):
You are listening to Between the Headlines, with the
best fed husband in the GoldenTriangle and managing editor of
the Commercial Dispatch, Mr ZachPlayer, and my name is David
Chisholm.
By the way, Zach's wife is aculinary artist.
He's not calling me fat guys.
Contributor to the food sectionin the paper.
(03:35):
Top headline today is a sandtrap right there on the edge of
Military Road Would you use awedge out of that, or would you
use a putter driver?
Speaker 1 (03:43):
What would you?
Would you use a wedge out ofthat, or would you use a putter
driver like, what would you useto get a ball out of that?
Speaker 4 (03:49):
I'd use.
I'd use a wedge, for sure.
It's needs a little sand in it,though it's mostly dirt right
now.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
I think they would call it unfinished I would use
champion towing to get out of it.
So, mr zach, explain to me whatthis chiquito banana or
whatever, it is all right.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Well thing is uh, bill and I were having a
discussion, before we startedrecording, of whether we would
call it a chicane or a chai cane.
I'm not.
I'm not entirely sure.
What do we decide on there,bill?
Speaker 4 (04:19):
well, what I told you is if you're a tea drinker, we
call it a chai cane, and ifyou're're a tea drinker, we call
it a chai cane, and if you'renot a tea drinker, probably just
a chican.
I think either way wouldprobably suffice.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Well, I know how to spell it, but I don't
necessarily know how to say itand how much does this chai cane
cost?
Speaker 4 (04:36):
Well, my information was it was $14,300.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
I could build a decorative fountain out of
bricks for that kind of money.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Why have you done it, though?
Have I done it, and would youput it on military road if you
did?
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Well, the thing is it would need an insurance
contract on it, because it wouldget plowed over quite quickly.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Well, Bill, you kind of opened the floodgates for
discussion on Facebook with yourcriticism of this thing.
Let's start with you here.
What are your problems withthis deal?
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Well, let me kind of go back to the beginning.
When I first saw it about threeor four weeks ago I think
probably the day they were stillfinishing the concrete I was
kind of surprised when I saw itand I kind of pulled over.
I thought, well, what the heckis that?
And, um, and you know, they,they I called Kevin and he, he
explained it to me.
I said, okay, kevin, well, youknow, uh, you've explained it,
(05:31):
and you know, I'm not gonna, I'mnot gonna post it until you
know, until it's completed, youknow, and and see what, see what
it looks like.
So, anyway, um, weeks passedand you passed, and it was
starting to become an issue, andso I just said, well, it
doesn't look like anything'sgetting done on it.
And so then I decided it wasprobably time to post it.
And, yeah, I've gotten about25,000 views on it, so it's a
(05:56):
hot topic.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Yeah, that's wild.
And to be honest with you, bill, when I first saw that post I
said, my goodness, bill Straussis on on the commode and he's
putting together what is this?
And but then I went and and Iactually checked this thing out
and I'm like, my goodness, thisis in the wrong lane here.
Like it was, it was differentthan I thought it was going to
(06:18):
be you go through theintersection and if you're
diddling on your phone or justin any way not, paying attention
, yeah you're gonna face plantin this thing you should
probably not text and drivedavid.
Well, for sure.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
But what if you're on a motorcycle like that could be
a potential fatal well, if youglance off of that chicane, you
may end up in the light postthat's right beside it also.
That'll zap you, kill you.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Speaking of why does Kevin Stafford believe this is
the safe thing to put here?
Well, that's what they designed.
They're trying to slow downtraffic there.
From what I understand, youknow, while Stephen Jones, ward
5 Councilman, also running formayor, brought the concern to
Kevin due to accidents at theintersection, kevin said the
real problem is visibilitycoming up on there.
I'm just going to be honestwith you.
I've driven up on this comingfrom.
(07:12):
You know.
I've been driving south andapproached this from the south.
Fourth Avenue yeah a couple oftimes and coming up military to
coming up that direction.
I've approached it that way acouple of times.
I didn't have a problem.
I didn't have a problem gettingaround it, I didn't have a
problem seeing it.
It didn't surprise me.
I don't text and drive.
(07:33):
My only real problem with thisproject and Kevin to an extent
agrees with me here, based onwhat he said in the story but
they did it backward.
You know they're talking aboutwe're adding this and we're
going to have the, you know, aspeed zone and we're going to
have signage warning that thisis coming.
(07:54):
They did it backward, likewhether it was the contractor
who did it backward or the citywho organized it backward.
Whoever's fault it is, they didit backward.
People are going to complainabout something new in their
neighbor and they have a rightto.
I mean, new is bad andespecially if they don't
understand it.
But you know people complainabout roundabouts all the time.
I personally don't like drivingthrough them either, but I also
(08:19):
see their utility In thisparticular case.
They just did it backward.
What you do in my mind.
Of course I'm not an engineeror a contractor, but what makes
sense to me as a Rube is youlower the speed zone first.
You say you know speed zoneahead, we're going to lower it
to 20 around this area.
You get people used to slowingdown to 20 in the area.
(08:41):
Then you put signs up that saysconstruction zone ahead.
Then you build the area.
Then you put signs up that saysconstruction zone ahead.
Then you build the thing.
Then once you finish it, youput signs up that say I don't
know what the sign would say Idon't think chicane ahead would
really suffice because peopledon't really know what that word
is.
But I don't know what you puton the sign.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Reaching you wallet.
I want to buy one of them.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Obstruction in the lane ahead, move over or
something.
I don't know what you would dowith the sack, but to me, if you
do it in that order, you atleast mitigate the valid
complaints about the thing, butwhy do you need concrete?
Speaker 3 (09:20):
Everything you've said does not necessitate this
thing that somebody's going tocrash into.
I don't think people are goingto crash into it as much as you
think.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
I think a speed bump would have been sufficient there
.
That slows people down and youknow, I think that the citizens
ought to drive by there and takea look themselves.
Come down fourth and see ifit's really.
If you can't see down MilitaryRoad because I can see about a
half mile Now, they say, well,there's a hill in the way, but I
mean, I'm in a pretty low car,I don't have any problems.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Turning right from that is going to be a treat, but
again if you do the stripingand just move cars, you don't
need two lanes there, just movethem to the middle, let there be
extra shoulder.
That would not be $14,500.
Be 14,500 dead gum dollars.
You brought up the trafficcircle.
How long did it take Columbusto learn how to?
Speaker 1 (10:08):
navigate that dog bone.
Have they learned yet?
Speaker 4 (10:12):
I nearly get hit in that thing every day.
They're pretty good.
I go to the one in the militaryand they're doing better.
Every now and then someone willdead stop in front of you.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
When traffic circles were put on military down toward
Lion Hills or down near BlueCut, and when the traffic circle
was put in front of Harvey's, Irolled my eyes at that, I
grumbled at that.
I was like I don't want todrive through that because
nobody knows how to drivethrough them.
I'm going to have to teachmyself something new.
I don't like these things.
It just seems unnecessary,turns out.
(10:41):
I'm kind of like Bill, you know, with the exception of a couple
of people who will occasionallystop in the middle still and
not really know what to do.
That happens less and less andtraffic flow is better and it's
safer.
It is so, so, and that was thelast big kevin stafford idea
that everybody kind of rolledtheir eyes at.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
But this is the new run over a traffic circle.
You're just going to make ayoutube video.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
You run into this thing listen bill.
Let me run into this thing.
You could be at memorialfuneral home exactly think how
fast do you have to be going.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
The speed limit in that zone is going to be 20
miles an hour.
My only problem is it isn'talready 20 miles an hour.
Ask my rack and pinion.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
There there's a 10 mile an hour speed limit on the
big curve before you get to thetwo churches.
They're just right.
In that same area people don'tgo 10 miles an hour, even though
it's a, it's a hook.
It's got a huge curve there.
If you make it 10, they'restill going to drive through
there at 30.
You know that at 30 or 40they're still going through
there and someone's going to hitthat chai cane and they're
going to end up in that lightpole.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
And if there's no sign in front of it warning them
, then it's the city's fault.
But if it's not a sign up therewarning, if there is a sign up
there warning them that's comingand that the speed zone has
changed and they run into itbecause they're on their phone
or they're driving too fast orwhatever that's reckless driving
, and that's not the city'sfault.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
Yeah, but being the city's fault doesn't matter.
We don't want a citizen gettinghurt or killed.
That's the thing.
We're out there to make theroads safe for our citizens, not
to put hazards in their way.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Well, it has to do with this memory thing that
we've got going.
It's not just that Southernersdon't like change, dude, we
can't change.
I can't tell you how many timesI have run the stop sign in
Caledonia.
The school's been there forwhat?
Nine years, or something.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
think about this if you're the marshal in caledonia,
be looking out for that pleasedon't on alabama street.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
How many people do you know, still refer to that as
82?
Okay, we've got grandchildren.
Ok, it's been Alabama Street,or, at worst, highway 182, for
40 years.
Ok, somebody tells me they'regoing to Taco Bell on 82.
There's no Taco Bell on thefreeway.
(12:56):
I've got better.
I don't say that to themdirectly, but I sure think it.
We don't like change.
I'm telling you somebody isgoing to face plant.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
There was a wreck on Main Street just a few minutes
ago that you know we had.
We had to get the camerapictures of and and I mean you
know you've got stoplights therebut it just people just don't
pay attention.
They just turn in front offolks and go on and you know you
end up with wrecks.
It's just going to happen.
Every road coming out of on themilitary has got a terrible
angle on it.
You have have to look way back.
So I mean the road was, youknow it is what it is, but you
(13:27):
know it's a dangerous roadinherently.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
One more suggestion for the thing to take the
negative into the positive.
I want to turn the conversationa little bit after that.
I looked at that and of courseI'm a gardener.
So anytime that I see any kindof embankment that you can put
dirt in, my mind wanders intogardening.
I think what they could do toyou know, maybe take the sting
(13:52):
off of some of the criticism, atleast from the people who live
around that.
I was looking at the size of it.
You could get, I think, maybe abasil plant, an oregano, maybe
some thyme in there.
Have a neighborhood herb garden, not mint.
You don't want to plant mint inthere because that's all you'll
have.
Colin krieger wants to cooksomething nice one day for his
(14:14):
family.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
He walked down there, cut him some basil off yeah, I
don't think I'm not going to bestanding there when they well, I
love when those cars comeplowing through I don't think
that columbus would plant thoseparticular herbs there.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
I think it would be something else, just to be
honest with you.
More revenue for the city.
Can I ask you your opinionabout this, speaking of roads
and stuff, this paving proposaland how the money gets shifted
around?
Do you think that certain wardsshould all get the same amount
or do you think it should be?
Speaker 4 (14:50):
traffic count only as far as the allocation of my
opinion is that when you'reallocating money for roads, it
needs to be done in aprofessional manner.
You need someone who's familiarwith the roads, which ones need
to be paid first, and then goin that order.
I'm fine with the heavy trafficones, but any professional
would take that into account.
You're going to pave your heavytraffic roads first, but we
(15:13):
have a lot of roads that getpaved that I see that probably
don't need it near as much asothers, simply because it may
not be in their ward.
The city is the city.
We're all together, we'rebetter together in this, and on
this case we should have aprofessional who says, hey,
these are the roads that need itfirst, and then we'll move on
to the lesser ones and whicheverones need it, the most.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
So put a different way.
Should pretty neighborhoods orquote unquote ugly neighborhoods
get special treatment?
Speaker 4 (15:40):
Absolutely not.
No, no neighborhood should getspecial treatment should be
based just exactly on thecondition of the road.
Should get special treatmentshould be based just exactly on
the condition of the road.
And now, if you know, obviouslyyou might push one back that
may not have any traffic at allon it.
Do a good job patching it.
But any professional would say,hey, not much traffic here, we
can patch this.
It'll be safe until we, untilwe're able to pay.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Well, you know, they have that priority list already.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
Yeah, but the priority list is done by the
councilman in their ward already.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Yeah, but the priority list is done by the
councilman in their ward.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
Well, no, the priority list is done by Neil
Schaefer, or is done by KevinStafford, the council has the
discretion to follow it or not,right, well, and some of them
may or some of them may notfollow it.
I'm just saying the prioritylist should be put down by the
professional and then done inthat order as needed.
That would be my opinion.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Okay, going back to the Facebook post about the chai
cane.
Back to the chai cane it lookslike you know, at first you were
gaining a lot of ground.
There are a lot of cheerleadersfor your point.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
At first.
Okay, the worm has turned onthat a little bit.
I haven't seen that.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
I think it's viral status.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
It's already gone viral.
I don't seen that, but I thinkit's viral status.
It's already gone viral.
I don't think there's anyonethat can see it Right.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Well, I mean you said you haven't seen any of the
negative criticism at this point.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
Out of, I think, 180 comments on this one post, maybe
two or three, ok, not many.
All right Well and nothing hadto do with the chai cane itself.
I think it more had to do with,maybe, the neighborhood, the
neighbors.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
As someone who is coming out of private life and
has introduced yourself into thepublic realm as a public figure
and a hopeful public official,how have you embraced or dealt
with or navigated the personalattacks, the character attacks
(17:37):
or just constructive criticismfrom the citizenry of your
record, your ideas, that sort ofthing?
Speaker 4 (17:45):
Well, honestly, the criticisms on my posts have been
few and mostly from four orfive people.
It seems to be the same peopleover and over that are attacking
me, and my policy was that Iwanted to read what they were
saying about me because, youknow, I'm sure there's plenty.
I need to live and learn and,of course, when they got ugly, I
(18:06):
was forced to take a post down.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
What post did you take down?
Speaker 4 (18:09):
It was on the East Columbus, it was on the gym
where we had the man cave, andit was a wonderful event and all
of a sudden, you know I'mgetting attacked, like you know,
you don't know what goes onover here.
And I said well, you know, Iagree with you, I don't know
what goes on here sometimes, butcan I be a part of the solution
?
Right, and that's what I'mtrying to learn different areas
of the city and the needs.
(18:31):
And you know I've beenthroughout the city a lot.
You know I've been in realestate for 20 years now.
I've seen a lot of the city.
I work with a lot of the peoplewho are building in these areas
, these blighted areas.
They're building new structures, new things, new housing, and
so I've seen a lot of theseareas.
But I mean, you know I'm not asfamiliar as I should be with
(18:53):
some of the areas and I'm tryingto familiarize myself with
those.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Okay, it sounds like you've, based on what you just
said and things that I've heard,you say, other places.
It seems like you have listenedto that and are trying to get
more places, but I mean Well,absolutely, you called me a
downtown guy yeah, yeah.
I did.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
That's where I live and that's what I see on a daily
basis.
But I also drive down MilitaryRoad to where I work at Caldwell
Banker and I drive throughMartin Luther King.
I drive all those areas and Isee what's going on in a lot of
different areas, but I'veexpanded my horizon over there.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Okay, well, what have you learned from that?
Speaker 4 (19:38):
Well, I've learned that we have a lot of fantastic
citizens in this town who reallyare just looking for good
leadership.
Just looking for goodleadership.
You know we need betterplanning on our blighted areas.
I met three citizens outsidethe library the other day and
they said what are you going todo about the blight?
I said well, I said you know,we've got to tackle that
(19:59):
immediately.
And they said you know, somepeople have nice houses in there
and they've got a bad housenext to it that may be a crack
house.
Someone's boarded it up, notbeing used, and that house is
dragging down the value of theirproperties.
If we can get areas clearedwhere we can have developers
come in, they'll build newhouses there.
We're having it on the southside over here.
(20:21):
You know you've got TateVillage, you've got another
contractor's built a couplehouses over there, and then the
J5 group built in Sanfieldbeautiful houses.
That's what we need tearingdown the old and bringing in the
new so that they haveaffordable housing.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
You mentioned tearing down.
What do you think of RobertJohnson IV's plan to allow the
city to help facilitate treeremoval?
Allow the city to helpfacilitate tree removal Because
a lot of blight is from thetrees being up next to the
building and causing the damageto come prematurely.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
You know that's kind of a private issue.
I think we would just have totake that.
Maybe we can put somethingtogether for that, where there's
some monies.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
And he was saying that the city would not pay for
it per se.
They would share in the cost.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
Well, I think that's a good idea because that would
help.
You know, the light and wateris very good about that.
If there's something near aline, if the light and water can
do it near a line, then I thinkhelp preserving the value of
our houses.
If we can give these peoplesome help when they need it, I
think that's a good idea.
I think it's a very good idea.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Has there been anywhere in Columbus that prior
to you running for mayor, you'dnever been.
Never been in the facility,never been in the neighborhood
that you've been since you'veannounced running.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
No, I've been in every area of Columbus.
Now one that I did visit was, Iguess you would say, part of
Memphis town, but on the northside, and it's gotten so much
worse since the last time I wasthere.
I probably hadn't been there ina year or two, and it just
seems like it just gets worse.
The houses that are there arenot being repaired.
So many of them.
(21:57):
The roofs may have been damagedin storms, and once that
happens, you know it doesn'ttake long for a house to
deteriorate when you don't havea good.
Well, a lot of those aren't evenowner-occupied Well, they don't
seem to be occupied at all,unless there's squatters in them
.
We hear about that all the time.
But, for example, colin Krieger, he redid a house right off
military and he's tackling ahouse that was a I believe it
(22:18):
was a parsonage right there onmilitary, which that house has
been vacant.
I know for at least 10 years.
I it's been vacant, I know forat least 10 years.
I showed it when it was on themarket, probably six, seven
years ago.
So I commend him for doing thatand that's what we need.
We need private money to comein and we need private money to
start rebuilding these houses.
That'll help us a lot and if thecity can facilitate that in
(22:40):
some way, that would be great.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Is squatting technically legal around here.
Not that I know of Well what ifyou have like 18 registered
voters in the same house.
I'm curious if that's like anordinance violation of some type
.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
Well, that would definitely be a code violation,
I'm sure in a submarine.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
It's OK, kenny Wiggle on that.
Speaker 4 (23:03):
I think Kenny Wiggle can give you the answer on that
better than I can, but I thinkyou would probably be on a code
violation there.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Oh, man You're listening to Between the
Headlines.
With Zach and David, we'regoing to transition to Joe Max
laying the smack down in hisletter to the whole group.
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All right.
So in a letter written by MrJoe Max Higgins, he lays the
smack down to the whole group.
Where are we on this?
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Well, you know, and that letter was a response from
Joe Max to John Mulherin, withthe whole group, you know, john
essentially writes to Joe Maxand company we need a new tax
incentive deal because we can'tabide by the structure of the
one we agreed to.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
And Mulherin was basically saying well, we can't
come up with our paperwork.
Yeah, we don't have ourpaperwork, so we're not
providing.
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
And Joe Max's response to this in his letter
is, I think, almost you knowthis is what he said to us.
It's in the story today is, ifyou, if you didn't know what you
were signing, why the hell didyou sign it?
And so just a little bit ofbackground the Cliff Notes you
can't fulfill what you'resigning.
Right, exactly, bill what you'resigning, right exactly.
(25:31):
And the Cliff Notes version ofthe background here is you know,
whole group buys the.
Buys Lee Mall the failing LeeMall 2019 in auction.
They want to renovate it, turnit inside out into this outdoor
facing shopping center.
They get tax incentives fromthe city and the county.
Now part of this is giving them, for up to 15 years, the value
(25:57):
of their what would be thecollections on the added value
of the property, a certainpercentage of that over time,
and the other part of it was theadded value of the new sales
tax over that time to reimbursethem for renovations, which,
(26:17):
frankly, they've done a prettygood job with.
That looks nice over there, butit's empty.
More on that in a moment, butwhat we saw, though, is just the
real simple version of this.
In order to determine what thenew sales tax is, you have to
determine what the old sales taxwas.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
Yeah, so the county side of this deal is okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
County side of the deal is okay and part of the
city side of the deal, becausethey're getting, I think, ad
valorem too on their part.
But the sales tax side of thisis, I mean, it's just toast they
have to have, because theycan't determine how much sales
tax was being what's calledtheir sales tax basis.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Baseline.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
They can't determine what that baseline is, because
in order to get that, thecompanies have to tell them.
The companies refused and thenmost of them disappeared, and so
now they're in a place to wherethey're saying there's no way
for us to determine what oursales tax basis is.
Can we please renegotiate thisdeal and Joe Max?
(27:22):
Told them you know, yeah, he'snot having it.
He didn't tell him to kickrocks, he told him he'd still
work with him.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
But he is not for doubling as a doubling down on a
bad deal yeah, and he's callingthe first deal a colossal waste
of everybody's time yeah, and,and we all know that is the
polite version of what I canonly imagine, like, just just go
with me here.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
You know that he had, uh, meryl and betsy behind him
as he was typing this thing andevery time he typed an expletive
they said no, joe max, and hewas having a backspace, okay,
and type it the more diplomaticway, but you can, you can see,
you can hear and you can feelJomax in this, despite its
diplomacy.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
I've got a dumb fella's question about this.
All right, if they don't have abaseline for the establishment
of their sales tax credit, whydon't we just issue a $0.00
check to the whole group?
Okay, you don't have a baseline, therefore you don't get any
money back.
What am I missing?
Here, I mean that's Because itseems manufactured.
Speaker 4 (28:34):
I would be for hammering out a new deal.
I mean, we want to keep thesefolks on our side.
You know that's a major pieceof property in this town
Probably the most valuable pieceof real estate in Columbus is
sitting there and we need moretax dollars out of it.
Hammer out a deal that's alittle more beneficial to the
city of Columbus.
We need the tax money.
They got a sweet deal on thepurchase so their taxes were
(28:59):
lowered a lot.
They were down to three and ahalf million I think.
Now they're about 4.6 last Isaw on their basis.
Hammer out a new deal.
It's good for everybody.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Okay, I see what you're saying, but here's what
Joe Max is saying.
I tend to agree with him.
You're supposed to know yourbusiness.
You've told everybody thatyou've got dozens of these
things all over the Southeast.
Why was this a surprise to you,like what was so unique about
this particular situation?
Speaker 3 (29:24):
Because they didn't give him the numbers Right.
The numbers are held underwraps, understandably so.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
David, other businesses and other shopping
centers for whatever taxincentives they have there.
I mean this should be somethingthat they saw coming or they
saw as a potential issue priorto Tuesday or whenever.
John sent Jomax this letter.
This didn't sneak up on them andthey didn't talk about it and
(29:54):
so it says to me that maybewhole group didn't or doesn't
know what they're doing.
You know, or something worsethat you know.
They thought when this goesbelly up, we'll just get another
one.
And now you've got Jomax sayingy'all should have known this
better in advance, like y'allare the.
Y'all are professional retaildevelopers.
(30:17):
This should not have been hardfor you, this should not have
been an issue for you.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
Interestingly, they accuse the retailers of faking
the revenue numbers.
Okay, think about Hobby Lobbyfaking the revenue numbers.
I mean that's like accusingChick-fil-A of not paying their
tithes.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Well, you know, I don't know enough about that
business to say whether that'ssomething that would happen or
not low valuation on Lee Mall.
Speaker 4 (30:48):
If the deal doesn't go through, kick the deal out.
As they make improvements, thetaxes will be adjusted, the ad
valorem taxes will be adjustedand if they can't fulfill the
other part, then they just won'tget it.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
They'll survive.
In my opinion, they gave them adeal they didn't uphold to
their end of the bargain.
That's right, deal's moot,deal's gone.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
You're on the hook for that.
Whose fault is it, though?
Isn't it partly the retailer'sfault?
I mean?
Speaker 4 (31:16):
okay, question no, I don't think so Check this out.
I don't think it's theretailer's fault.
Retailer don't want to give outtheir private information.
They don't want to give out.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
Well, they're being requested to sign a release to
the link and the link gets thatinformation directly from mdor.
Okay, and if for some reason,it gets leaked, then that opens
up the link to a big-timelawsuit it also compromises
should they perhaps be a littlemore trusting of the link, or no
(31:44):
, or?
Speaker 1 (31:45):
I mean, that's up to them, it's up to them.
The fact remains that cato andhobby lobby and Planet Fitness
they did not say to the city andthe county give us a tax
incentive and we'll do thisWhole Group did that and then
they failed.
So I think they're on the hookfor it.
Speaker 4 (32:03):
I do too.
I mean, they already have thetaxes lowered, which was
legitimate.
They bought it for $3.5 million.
That's legitimate, and they'repaying very little tax on it at
this point.
Now you know they're investingfor the future.
It's going to be a veryvaluable property at some point.
I think they'll do a good jobwith it, and but I think you
know they blew the deal.
You know I'm for just moving onand just part of Joe.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
OK, so let me jump in here.
Part of Joe Max's criticism ofit is that that there might be
an inappropriate relationshipthere If whole group is talking
(32:55):
to the mayor to end around thelink or the county or the
council.
I mean, is that appropriate?
Speaker 3 (33:01):
I think that's garbage talk.
Why would they need to do that?
Speaker 1 (33:05):
I mean it's not reading the room very well,
because you know Keith can't getanything much done on the
council.
So I don't know how Keith can'tget anything much done on the
council.
So I don't know how he's goingto get anything done with the
link and it's an open secretthat he and Jomax don't get
along.
So I don't see where Keithgoing to Jomax and saying look,
a hole came to me.
Let's do this would ever work.
(33:27):
And Keith doesn't have theunilateral power to force things
through.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
Well, Bill, I agree with you.
They need to strike a deal andthey need to make it happen.
They need to strike a deal,that's right.
Speaker 4 (33:37):
And let the city council go over it and if they
approve, it you know it'll belike a new deal Again the deal
they had.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
They said they could do, and that was three years ago
.
Now they can't do it.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
So I think, it is what it is.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
No, scrap it and let them live with the consequences.
Speaker 4 (33:52):
That's fine with me, if that's what this it's going
to ultimately be, up to the citycouncil.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
So, as mayor, do you recommend a new deal?
Speaker 4 (33:59):
As mayor I would say listen to them and see what they
propose.
I would make sure it's a littlebetter deal for the city
because a lot of these giveawaysI've not been all for, lot of
these giveaways I've not beenall for, you know, there have
been several of these giveawaysthat have not been good for the
city because it stretches out somany years down the road.
I've seen one that I know thatthey approved for two years.
(34:19):
They're going to revisit and,if I may, I'll revisit it
because you know, from what Iunderstand, they painted and
they put new furniture.
So I don't like buying someoneelse's furniture for a business.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
Well, I want to go back to sort of the timeline
here.
They came in.
They're going to inside out,make this a big retail hub.
So plan A didn't work.
That place is empty.
The renovations look nice, butthe place is empty.
The right tenants.
They're saying we don't carethat these tenants are leaving,
we're going to get the righttenants coming in.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
But they're not coming in, they're not signing
on.
Why don't they at least talkabout kicking them out?
Be done with them.
I mean, there's not anybodythere, ain't any hardly to kick
out?
Speaker 1 (34:59):
they've left on their own, but you know.
But plan b now is to turn largeswaths of the back into medical
and office space, which isn'tgoing to get you the sales tax
revenue that retail will.
And now we find out they'reincapable of doing their basic
due diligence on a tax incentivethat they asked for.
So I think the project is awash.
(35:19):
I mean it's out to sea and Idon't know if it's recoverable
or what the end product willeven look like.
Now you asked a while ago whosefault it is.
How much of it is Hull's fault?
I don't know, how much of it isjust the retail market
generally.
I don't know that either, butwhat I do know.
What I do know is that taxreceipts are not growing in
(35:41):
Columbus at the rate that theyhave over the last three years.
They're struggling and there'sworry there.
Citi's currently behind thepace to make its budget on sales
tax revenue, which meansthey're going to cut something
at the end of the year if theydon't catch up Now.
Obviously that can change withfive months left in the fiscal
year.
But by comparison, you knowStarkville, where Columbus has
(36:04):
routinely kicked Starkville'sbehind on sales tax revenue and
sales tax revenue growth,especially over the last three
or four years.
Startful's up 10% year to date,five months to go, but they're
up 10% and they're going to blowtheir budgeted number out of
the water.
They're going to end up gettingto buy extra things or add to
(36:24):
their capital fund or theirgeneral fund reserves if they
stay on the pace that they're on.
And their sports teams aren'teven doing that good.
Imagine if the baseball teamactually was decent.
Speaker 4 (36:37):
But, zach, you know the city of Columbus.
We've had a little issuemaintaining our businesses here
and some of it's due to ourleadership in the city, not, you
know, not being there to helprecruit business, fussing and
fighting over matters.
You know we've got to get asolid plan together for
recruiting businesses into thecity and help the whole group,
(36:57):
not try and do anything to hurtthem, but help them to bring in
businesses here.
Make this a friendlyenvironment.
Make Columbus, you know, aplace where business wants to
locate.
I'm afraid that we've gotten alittle reputation out there that
this is not a good businesscity, it's not a business
friendly city.
We don't want that.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
If I were Grandpa Hull, I would turn the air
conditioner off and sweat themout of there, kind of like what
the legislature is doing to MSMS.
You know what I mean?
They'll come up with themnumbers, they'll let us know.
Listen, I'm not anti-businessat all.
I hope that every single tenantdoes well, whether it be there
(37:38):
or someone else.
But that particular property,to your point bill, it's right
there, dead center to thegateway to all of what we've got
here, and it needs to be top ofthe top and they need to get
this deal done.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
Joe Max knows what he's doing, okay, he is holding
their feet to the fire, and ifhe's mad, then he knows why he's
mad.
Speaker 4 (37:58):
I think he's doing the right thing Hold their feet
to the fire.
All right, and if we have toscrap the deal, scrap the deal
with them.
Speaker 3 (38:04):
Mr Hull, if you're listening, I hope you come on
the program.
We would love to have you andlove to see what you plan on
doing to help get this thingunderway, because we're not as
patient as you are, we're justnot.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
Well, Bill, we really appreciate you coming on the
show.
Speaker 4 (38:20):
I appreciate y'all having me, and one more thing I
want to say is remember June 3rdis the election.
Everybody we need to get outand vote.
Have a say in your community.
Let us hear what you want fromyour community.
The vote is so important.
Let your voice be heard andvote for Bill Strauss, mayor
2025.
Speaker 3 (38:41):
All right, stick around for the postgame.
Thanks, bill.
Speaker 4 (38:44):
Thank you sir.
Speaker 3 (38:45):
All right, that was Bill Strauss, independent
candidate for mayor.
And just so our listeners know,we have had Leroy on here and
Stephen Jones and we will beinviting Darren Leach to be on
the program as well.
So as we close up today, astory kind of hit me by surprise
(39:05):
in here.
Local rappers lyrics, socialmedia lead to drug bust of Mr
Art Hank Davis, age 26.
What is going on here?
Speaker 1 (39:18):
Evidently Hank was a little too honest in his art
form and led the sheriff'soffice deputies right to him.
Speaker 3 (39:29):
So he disclosed the location of his operation
trapping on maple street.
The sting unit beganinvestigating davis after
receiving tips from confidentialinformants claiming he was
selling controlled substances inthe columbus area, and ended up
(39:50):
being a what a pound of meth ontop of handguns semi-automatic.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
A lot of drugs and a little bit of guns.
But you know, the funny partabout that story to me is at the
bottom, where Sheriff EddieHawkins says it reminds him how
important it is for people toreport suspicious activity, and
I agree with that.
I think it's very important todo that.
But I also think the pointmissed here is that discretion
(40:18):
is the better part of valor.
Maybe don't tell the policeexactly what you're doing and
exactly where you're doing it.
Where you're doing it Well.
Speaker 3 (40:29):
whatever makes the law enforcement job easier, I am
in favor of even if thatinvolves listening to local
artist music.
Speaker 1 (40:42):
Yep, well, you know, you should support local artists
.
We have whole nonprofits forthat in the area.
But there's one thing that Iwant to talk about.
It's sort of tangentiallyrelated to the Chaykane again,
but it deals with Tuesday'scouncil meeting.
There's a very troublingpattern that I'm starting to see
and it needs to stop go, or soI can't remember exactly what
(41:15):
meeting.
Ward 6 Councilwoman JacquelineDiCicco was questioning an
agenda item where Mickens wasgoing to be traveling with
George Irby somewhere for someconference.
It was out on the East Coastsomewhere.
She asked why does Mickens needto go, which I mean, is a
reasonable question if you'resupposed to be, you know, taking
care of taxpayer money?
(41:36):
Mickens wasn't super rude aboutit, but he refused to answer a
question, just said I'm notgoing to answer that.
Okay, fast forward to Tuesday,where the newly minted
Democratic nominee for mayor,stephen Jones, has requested
that Kevin Stafford design andbuild this chai cane in the
(41:59):
middle of Military Road.
Councilwoman DiCicco says hey,I've got constituents who are
concerned about this.
They're calling me about it.
Can somebody tell me what thisis and why it is and how it's
supposed to work?
Yeah, and what the devil.
Yeah, by that time our reporterhad been out there to interview
Stephen and Kevin and we had astory that was ready to go in
(42:21):
Wednesday's paper.
And that was.
And while we appreciated theplug from Stephen Jones, that's
what he responded with he said.
Because she said what am Isupposed to tell my constituents
or these people we're callingabout this thing in the middle
of Military Road?
And Stephen responds tell themto read the paper.
It's going to be in there.
And she says well, tell them toread the paper.
(42:42):
Can you not just tell mesomething now, give me some
insight now?
And he looked at her and hesaid next, and then he turned
his face away from her.
Speaker 3 (42:52):
Oh boy.
Speaker 1 (42:56):
I mean, you're the odds-on favorite to be the mayor
.
Speaker 3 (43:00):
Well, you were, Stephen.
You're going to have to respectyour elders, sir.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
Well, just your peers , your peers.
Because here's the thing IfJones and obviously Mickens and
others, they're not viewing heras a peer for some reason.
Maybe I don't know what reasonit is, maybe it's because she's
not running for reelection.
They've only got to deal withher for the next couple of
months.
Speaker 3 (43:24):
So she's a lame duck.
A lame duck Just answer herquestion Right.
Be respectful.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
And or at least treat her like a colleague while she
legally is your colleague onthat, council and she is.
Speaker 3 (43:36):
But that's just, that's just wrong.
She needs to bend him over herknee and just old-fashioned
spank him.
For that.
You are a servant of the peopleand it is a meeting.
The purpose of a meeting is toexchange information, hopefully
in a cordial fashion.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
That's just uncalled for well, I mean, if she was on
the other foot, if he asked aquestion and keith or jackie or
anybody on that council had thetemerity to be like next and not
answer it or he would be fit tobe tied, he would think that he
deserved more respect than thatone better yeah what if rusty
green did that to ethel stewart?
Speaker 3 (44:17):
oh my god, which one cnn will be in town never happen
?
Speaker 1 (44:22):
it would never happen because you know I don't agree
with everything rusty rusty'srespectful guy.
He would not do that.
It's very troubling to me thata person who is the democratic
nominee for mayor and theodds-on favorite to win that
race, in my opinion has thecapacity in a public forum like
that to treat anybody that way,much less somebody who's
(44:45):
supposed to be his peer on thatcouncil, joseph Mickens.
Now he's going, but JosephMickens and Stephen Jones have
been the primary purveyors ofBible verses from that council
table for the last four years Dounto others, as you would have
others do unto you, and thatstandard is without exception.
(45:06):
And if Stephen's going to makeexceptions, we may have a long
four years on our hands, buthe's better than that.
Speaker 3 (45:12):
So I would just, I would just challenge him to be
better than that.
We're Southern folk, ok, wejust don't do that around here.
It's just not going to fly longterm.
Speaker 1 (45:21):
Yeah, I really appreciated the plug for the
paper, but at the same time, notat the expense of the golden
rule, and I would feeldifferently about it if it had
already been in the paper andshe had just missed it.
And she was up theregrandstanding.
She wasn't grandstanding, shewas trying to get an answer to a
question.
He just didn't think that shewas on his level.
And guess what, if you're goingto be a public servant, the
(45:46):
least of these, yeah.
Speaker 3 (45:48):
The least of these.
Least of these.
Now to the mail.
We had one listener that pipedin said basically I enjoyed
listening to the podcastepisodes about storm drainage in
Columbus.
The deep dive into how and whyColumbus has inadequate drainage
was important and I hope otherswill appreciate that Storm
drainage isn't glamorous but itcan significantly impact
(46:10):
people's lives.
I also laughed, which washighly appreciated, so thank you
for that, sir.
I tell you what hey hats off tous If we're able to make
somebody laugh about flooding.
That's not too shabby.
Speaker 1 (46:26):
I would say, yeah, that's got to be a rarity.
Speaker 3 (46:28):
That will do it.
We want to thank our listenersfor joining us today.
Be sure to subscribe, share andrate, and send us your comments
.
Tell us what you think abouttoday's show.
We would love to hear from you.
Tips at cdispatchcom.
Again, tips at cdispatchcom.
Read the paper.
You can also follow me onFacebook or X at dchism00.
(46:49):
Signing off until next weekfrom Catfish Alley Studios in
historic downtown Columbus.
Your host has been Zach Playerand I am David Chisholm.
Until next time, keep itSouthern, keep it friendly and
we'll keep it real.
Speaker 2 (47:12):
Opinions expressed on this show are those of the
speakers and not necessarilythose of the commercial dispatch
.
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