September 10, 2026 • 17 mins
Steve Goodin talks with Willie about how to fix the crime issues in Clifton near the University of Cincinnati, and with the youth around Cincinnati.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Philly Cunningham, the great American. Welcome to Thursday afternoon in
the Tri-State.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
The Colts and Reds baseball thing got off today. Back
out in Milwaukee Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. And the Dodgers
come here for four big games next week. Last night
they were baseball non-competitive.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
It was a 14-1.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
I think the Reds scored half a safety. Not sure
how that.
Speaker 4 (00:25):
Happened, but I think Della Cruz hit one into the
Outside of Chavez Ravine. So we'll see what happens to
Reds baseball. And they have three in Milwaukee. And then
they come back home. And they go against the Dodgers
and the Cubs. And the 76 Reds are going to
be reformed. And they'll play them a couple times. And
let's see what happens. But until then, coming up later,
we'll be an expert on Iran and Iraq. There's a
(00:48):
country song by Alan Jackson in which he says, most
Americans can't spell Iran or Iraq. But somehow, once again,
we are entwined with the hate in the Middle East. Jonah,
you and I now. Steve Gooden, former council member, also
an eminent attorney. Before we talk about all the problems
at Clifton, there was a country song by the great
(01:08):
Alan Jackson, since retired, about Americans can't spell Iran or Iraq.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
I think we can spell it. You and I can
spell it.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
But can you justify what the Trumpster has been doing
the past six months? And if we simply leave with
the Muslims, the Arabs, to simply begin killing themselves, which
they've done for centuries, and they don't have us to
kill anymore.
Speaker 5 (01:28):
Yeah, I think that's about right. I mean, look, I mean,
I don't get this one. You know, I mean, look,
I try to give the president every bit of the doubt.
But this is one where we have passed on Iran
and invading Iran and fighting with them many, many, many times.
There's like about 90 million people there. It's roughly the
size of two Texas's. It's not like Iraq, where we
(01:50):
went into a very weak military and a very centralized
government and knocked it off. And I think this idea
that these youth in Iran are going to rise up
and support us, which is always part of it, I mean,
that's a myth, too. I mean, I know they've got
some pretty girls there who want to wear blue jeans
and stuff, and that's great. But every time they rise
up and protest, they get killed. And that's what we're
(02:11):
dealing with there. They have straight-ahore moves and the ability
to really, really impact not just oil but our fertilizers
and all kinds of things that we need and buy here.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
So, you know, it's a terrible thing. So I hope
they got a plan.
Speaker 5 (02:26):
I hope there's something they know that we don't know
that probably is. But in the short term, the idea
that they were just going to bomb them into surrendering,
which is what Lindsey Graham kind of said in his
last interview before he died, that's never worked.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
They're too big.
Speaker 5 (02:41):
There's too many of them, and they're too dug in.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
And we're not going to land troops and take Tehran
like we bagged it. We're not going to do that
because politically that would be suicide. And so what we
have to do is bomb them back to the Stone
Age and say we want to come home. And whatever happens, happens.
And that's what should happen, but it won't happen. And
let's talk about what's happening now in city council. You
have many years spent there in council. And now when
(03:07):
Clifton business owners say to me and Tony Bender, my producer,
we're losing our asses. This is not the way to
conduct business. Why can't the police do their job, arrest
the wrongdoers, lock them up, have judges that would sentence
these armed thugs to prison and open up the businesses?
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Am I missing something here?
Speaker 3 (03:28):
No, you're not.
Speaker 5 (03:29):
I mean, it's just that the chickens are finally coming
home to roost in a part of the city where,
you know, which has always been very sympathetic to the
Democratic council members. You know, when you're having people in Clifton,
whether it be up at UC or in the Clifton Gaslight,
where you're hearing complaints from businesses, too, when you're hearing
those leftists saying that this has gone too far. It's really, really,
(03:50):
really gone too far. I mean, we've had a horrific
opening week or two weeks at UC. It's the biggest
freshman class they've ever brought in. I mean, you know, Pinto,
the president up there, has these grand plans to make
UC as big as OSU.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
They're on their way. They're building new housing.
Speaker 5 (04:07):
Just what they haven't corrected for is the fact that
we have a woefully understaffed police department. And we have
the neighborhoods that Clifton abuts are still have rampant drug dealing, violence,
young kids running around with guns. And they have no plan,
no safety plan, no nothing. And we have a complete
lack of police officers to actually do the kind of
(04:28):
proactive policing that will be required to kind of deal
with it.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
So what they're doing is they're shutting down whole streets. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
You can't come here.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
The problem is, yeah, you just, so, so it is one,
it is a solution. I'll give them credit for that.
It is one, it is a response and it's not
wholly irrational.
Speaker 5 (04:47):
The problem are you have all these mom and pop
businesses that are along those areas, particularly streets like Calhoun, uh,
that are dependent upon, upon the student business and who, uh,
you know, don't do a.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Lot in the summer.
Speaker 5 (04:59):
And here they come back in, you know, August, September,
ready to, uh, serve their their fast food and draft
beer and all the things that they do to make
a living there and uh and they literally have their
streets shut down and i've been seeing on social media
some of these places have to close down by nine
ten o'clock and anyone in that in those student businesses
will tell you you do your businesses your majority of
(05:20):
your business late at night So it's been brutal. So
they're caught in the middle of this as well. You know,
the cynical part of me was to say, congrats, guys,
you voted for this.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
People have been telling you this for years.
Speaker 5 (05:32):
But it really is just the chickens coming home to roost.
And it's unfortunate that it's happening there in Clifton. And
I never thought I'd see a day where there would
be petitions from parents to the president of the university
and city council telling them we need more police on
the ground here. We are worried about our kids here. Particularly,
you know, these freshmen who are coming in 18, 19
(05:53):
years old and really are just kind of sitting ducks
for this bad stuff.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
Well, the other thing, I had Ken Cobra on yesterday,
the head of the FOP. These coppers are working 60
to 80 hours a week each. And when an officer
goes to work, it takes about an hour to suit up.
You got to put all the stuff on. It takes
about an hour to take the suits off and then
they calm down a little bit. And they're working 60
to 80 hours a week. All of them are making
north of $ 100, 000 a year, some $ 150, 000 a year being
(06:20):
a cop.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
And that's good.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
But at some point, you say, I got my mental
and my physical health to worry about. We need 300
to 500 more cops hired immediately. They have a recruit
class going. You have to bring in 50 to 70
new cops every year just to break even with those
retiring on the other side. which they're not bringing in
50 to 70 a year. So the thin blue line
(06:42):
is cracking.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
It's breaking.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
And they cannot keep doing this. The sheriff's department is
also overwhelmed. They mainly have patrol duties in the townships,
et cetera. So you don't see the black shirts in Clifton.
You always see only CPD. And there's no sense on
city council. Scotty Johnson, he is a lucid moment every
now and then. And he said, well, we're going to
(07:05):
have a big powwow yesterday. And he said, now let's
wait a little bit longer until I guess UC's got
some more home games. Basketball is about to start and
the businesses are dying. We're telling the world that the
police and city council can't handle a couple hundred thugs
with guns. Instead of arresting them, Bill Belichick would say,
Steve Gooden, three words, do your job.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Just do your job. Arrest the wrongdoers. Find out who
they are.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
Take them off the streets and pray to God in
room A. You have a judge down there like Judge
Dinkelhocker who's going to give them a high bond for
having guns and lock them up.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
What's wrong with that approach?
Speaker 5 (07:42):
Well, nothing, and God bless Judge Dinkelhocker, but we know
it's even worse than that. I mean, one of the
things that kind of broke out on social media this
week is someone leaked from the 2020 Auburn building, which
is the juvenile jail, which is where a lot of
these folks should be held. Someone leaked a list of
charges that the judges have said, do not hold these kids,
(08:05):
do not even give them a bond, just send them home.
So there's like a no bond list, and it includes
some pretty nasty stuff, a lot of misdemeanors, possession of
criminal tools, people who might be involved in a burglary.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Things of that nature.
Speaker 5 (08:20):
So that juvenile jail is a huge source of frustration
for the police officers. King Cobra will tell you that.
The prosecutors will tell you that when they're allowed to.
It is a truly catch-and-release type situation. There's no consequence
for these young offenders. They're back on the street literally
within a matter of hours. They're literally just, you know,
sign a piece of paper and say, hey, we won't
(08:42):
do anything bad until our court case is heard. And
they're right back on the street. So it's not even
just the setting of low bonds. It is that in
the juvenile court system, they're not holding anybody. They're being told,
you know, often bonds aren't an issue in juvenile court either.
You hold them or you don't. They are being given,
the magistrates are being given explicit directions not to hold
(09:03):
the majority of kids on the majority of offenses. And
you can see that on the street, too. And I mean, look,
in terms of police staffing, we have the same, we
have actually fewer police than we had in 2005. And
in 2005, we had roughly 20,000 fewer people living in
the city. Plus, now we have all these extra students,
all these new attractions, you know, with the ballpark and
(09:25):
the new ballparks and.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
TQL, stadium, all this stuff.
Speaker 5 (09:30):
So it's just common sense that we need at least
300 more police officers, maybe more. but in a more
robust relationship with the Sheriff's Department. And none of that's
happening because that's not a politically popular thing to say
to the city. These guys in the mayor and the
council members are kowtowing to a very small group of
people in the city who are very progressive, very anti-law enforcement.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
They got Iris Rowley working right there in.
Speaker 5 (09:55):
City Hall, harassing police officers while being paid by the city.
It's a huge morale issue. So you add Iris Rowley
plus staffing, plus the juvenile court policies, and who wants
to be a cop and no sir? None.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
Well, Judge Carrie Bloom, a uber leftist, she's a member
of the Democratic Socialists of America. She's in charge of
juvenile court. And she does not think kids... use the
word kids, 17-year-olds who commit serious crimes should be held accountable.
And that's her philosophy. And she's running for re-election. And
I'll bet you a hot fudge Sunday or a three-way
at Skyline there in Clifton that she's going to easily
(10:32):
win because the Democratic voter will march up to the
polling places and poll the blue ticket. And you're like
a city voter, including been on city council. What's the
sense of the Democratic voter in the city when there's
mayhem When there's rioting, when there's bars downtown OTR that
have to have 20 police units out in front, when
(10:55):
UC and Pill Hill should be the shining city on
the hill for us, all the investments by Christ Hospital
and UC and Good Samaritan, et cetera, they're all there,
thousands and thousands, along with, I guess, about 45,000 students
at UC.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
And the voters seemingly don't care. Can you tell me why?
Speaker 5 (11:14):
Well, yeah, I think I can. I talk to these people.
I live amongst the leftists, okay? And when they will
deem to talk to me after they call me a
fascist and so forth, and once we get past that.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
You know, what they say is the same thing.
Speaker 5 (11:29):
Yeah, what they say is the same thing every time,
which is they agree 100% that the city's doing a
terrible job on all these things. You know, they're critical
of folks like Carrie Bloom. They're critical of the mayor
in small settings. But then when they go to the polls,
they're going to go out. They don't vote for local elections.
They're going because they're fired up about Donald Trump. They're
(11:51):
fired up about Amy Acton, whatever it is. And they
get that blue slate and they vote right down it.
And they I had one of my neighbors told me
once that she was always afraid to vote accidentally for
someone who might support Donald Trump in some way or
be on the other side. She was afraid. So that's
why she didn't veer off the slate at all. So,
(12:14):
I mean, that's what happens to slate voting.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
It's very disciplined.
Speaker 5 (12:17):
But then you do have people in the Democratic Party.
who feel that people like you and I are wrongfully
attacking people like Judge Carrie Bloom. They think that to
be asking these questions and to be calling out this stuff,
that that's unfair somehow.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Really, hey, what about the kids? Why do you want
to give these kids records? What about the children? The
dead children don't matter.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
But the children, you know, the other children are there.
And they're right.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
A lot of these kids are coming from horrible situations.
That's true.
Speaker 5 (12:46):
But just letting them go and do more crime doesn't
help them or anyone else.
Speaker 4 (12:50):
Lastly, Steve Gooden, there's now a movement on city council
to extend the streetcar, which I thought, you know, it
began 10 years ago, almost this day. And city council
members are talking about extending the streetcar up Hill Hill,
up Mount Auburn, into UC, maybe take it south, go
into Covington, Newport, loop around Independence, maybe go a little
south of Frankfurt, come back up through Louisville and bring
it back up into Cincinnati, then into Columbus. And I'm thinking,
(13:13):
number one, the inquiry did this big study that seemed
to indicate the promises of the streetcar.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Have not been met. By the way, it's free. We
spent almost.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
180 million dollars on the streetcar, it's free. And no
one paid for that except 180 million. And it's all
free to ride. And it goes in areas, according to
the experts, that people don't want to go. And it
goes from Findlay Market basically downtown to the banks and back.
That's about it. And it's kind of like an amusement ride.
Joe Dieters at the time said it would be a
(13:41):
homeless encampment. Many parts of the day it is. And
they'll be like Veloraptors waiting for the tourists to come by. Yes,
that's true too. And so can you address whether or
not Tony Bender wants to know if all that money
from the so-called railroad can be used for the streetcar?
And would they do it? Because we can't get potholes fixed.
We can't get the Western Hills Viaduct fixed with that money.
(14:01):
But we want to spend the money on streetcars that
don't work. You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 5 (14:05):
Well, the streetcar was, number one, was a total disgrace.
I was one of the people out there saying, like,
of all the needs that we had in the city
at the time, then and now, nearly $ 200 million on
a streetcar is absurd. I mean, it is an amenity.
It is a street. It is true. It isn't like
an amusement park ride. It is an amusement park ride.
(14:25):
It's like the old monorail at Kings Island. You know,
like kids used to get on it.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Yeah, it's ridiculous, and it's just.
Speaker 5 (14:32):
Something, it's a feel-good thing. It doesn't get any, it's
not public transit, it's just absurd. But the idea that
they might try to somehow raid that railroad trust for that,
I mean, that's a very predictable thing. I predict that
there's already people trying to, and lawyers trying to carve
up to see whether or not that counts as, quote, existing.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Infrastructure, which is what they're, you know, when.
Speaker 5 (14:52):
Everyone, when people voted for that railroad thing, I did not,
but when people who did vote for it, you know,
they sold it to the citizens saying, fuck. We're going
to repair existing infrastructure, which we all thought existing infrastructure
meant potholes. Now existing infrastructure, it seems like, can mean anything.
And the streetcar, I guess, is infrastructure. So get ready
for some of your tax dollars, or an effort anyway,
(15:15):
to be made to spend some of your hard-earned tax
dollars and the sale of that railroad on expanding this boondoggle.
It remains a boondoggle. It has never made a dollar.
It is subsidized by charities now, largely, and trusts. It
is a money loser. It is just a goofy thing.
But there are people who look at it with like
an almost religious fervor that it is somehow and believe
(15:35):
it has elevated our city in some way. And I
don't know what they're smoking, but it's crazy.
Speaker 4 (15:41):
No printing on the side of those cigarettes. All I
can say is city council. And if you keep getting
elected by wide margins, I think this time you have
to have pure of all. the great director of Eftabistan,
got 80 percent of the vote. So if you're Eftabistan
and you got 80 percent of the vote, you're thinking,
I'm doing exactly what the people want me to do.
I'll give them more of the same. And that's sad.
(16:01):
But Steve Gooden, we got to run. And I was
going to ask you briefly, can you give me a
minute on where you were on 9-11-01? And how did
you find out about the 846 murders taking place at
the World Trade Center?
Speaker 3 (16:14):
I remember it very distinctly.
Speaker 5 (16:16):
I was a young prosecutor doing a bind over case
in front of Judge Sylvia Hendon when her bailiff walked
in and said, hey, there's something happened here. We need
to take a break. And we all went back into
her chambers and turned on her television and watched it
right there. And it was an absolutely chilling moment. I
remember it with joy. we remember it just like it
(16:38):
was yesterday. And I remember we, we wrapped up our
business and, and went home and just sat in front
of the television for the whole day and tried to
understand it. I remember my wife at the time being, uh, uh,
eight months pregnant with our.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
First child, our first child.
Speaker 5 (16:53):
And just thinking, you know, what, what, what is this
world going to be? And I was a reservist at
the time. So I also figured my, my life was
about to change and it sure did. So I was
gone about two years.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Steve Gooden. Thank you very much.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
We'll talk again on that, but, uh, It's unfortunate you
weren't elected to council. The people of Cincinnati get what
they deserve, and they certainly have. Well, they're getting it.
They're getting it good and hard. I kind of like
that kind of talk. But, Steve Gooden, thank you very
much for coming on the Bill Cunningham Show.
Speaker 5 (17:19):
Take care.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
Thank you, Steve. Let's continue with more. You get the
government they deserve. On NewsRadio 700, WLW.
Philly Cunningham, the great American. Welcome to Thursday afternoon in
the Tri-State.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
The Colts and Reds baseball thing got off today. Back
out in Milwaukee Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. And the Dodgers
come here for four big games next week. Last night
they were baseball non-competitive.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
It was a 14-1.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
I think the Reds scored half a safety. Not sure
how that.
Speaker 4 (00:25):
Happened, but I think Della Cruz hit one into the
Outside of Chavez Ravine. So we'll see what happens to
Reds baseball. And they have three in Milwaukee. And then
they come back home. And they go against the Dodgers
and the Cubs. And the 76 Reds are going to
be reformed. And they'll play them a couple times. And
let's see what happens. But until then, coming up later,
we'll be an expert on Iran and Iraq. There's a
(00:48):
country song by Alan Jackson in which he says, most
Americans can't spell Iran or Iraq. But somehow, once again,
we are entwined with the hate in the Middle East. Jonah,
you and I now. Steve Gooden, former council member, also
an eminent attorney. Before we talk about all the problems
at Clifton, there was a country song by the great
(01:08):
Alan Jackson, since retired, about Americans can't spell Iran or Iraq.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
I think we can spell it. You and I can
spell it.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
But can you justify what the Trumpster has been doing
the past six months? And if we simply leave with
the Muslims, the Arabs, to simply begin killing themselves, which
they've done for centuries, and they don't have us to
kill anymore.
Speaker 5 (01:28):
Yeah, I think that's about right. I mean, look, I mean,
I don't get this one. You know, I mean, look,
I try to give the president every bit of the doubt.
But this is one where we have passed on Iran
and invading Iran and fighting with them many, many, many times.
There's like about 90 million people there. It's roughly the
size of two Texas's. It's not like Iraq, where we
(01:50):
went into a very weak military and a very centralized
government and knocked it off. And I think this idea
that these youth in Iran are going to rise up
and support us, which is always part of it, I mean,
that's a myth, too. I mean, I know they've got
some pretty girls there who want to wear blue jeans
and stuff, and that's great. But every time they rise
up and protest, they get killed. And that's what we're
(02:11):
dealing with there. They have straight-ahore moves and the ability
to really, really impact not just oil but our fertilizers
and all kinds of things that we need and buy here.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
So, you know, it's a terrible thing. So I hope
they got a plan.
Speaker 5 (02:26):
I hope there's something they know that we don't know
that probably is. But in the short term, the idea
that they were just going to bomb them into surrendering,
which is what Lindsey Graham kind of said in his
last interview before he died, that's never worked.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
They're too big.
Speaker 5 (02:41):
There's too many of them, and they're too dug in.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
And we're not going to land troops and take Tehran
like we bagged it. We're not going to do that
because politically that would be suicide. And so what we
have to do is bomb them back to the Stone
Age and say we want to come home. And whatever happens, happens.
And that's what should happen, but it won't happen. And
let's talk about what's happening now in city council. You
have many years spent there in council. And now when
(03:07):
Clifton business owners say to me and Tony Bender, my producer,
we're losing our asses. This is not the way to
conduct business. Why can't the police do their job, arrest
the wrongdoers, lock them up, have judges that would sentence
these armed thugs to prison and open up the businesses?
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Am I missing something here?
Speaker 3 (03:28):
No, you're not.
Speaker 5 (03:29):
I mean, it's just that the chickens are finally coming
home to roost in a part of the city where,
you know, which has always been very sympathetic to the
Democratic council members. You know, when you're having people in Clifton,
whether it be up at UC or in the Clifton Gaslight,
where you're hearing complaints from businesses, too, when you're hearing
those leftists saying that this has gone too far. It's really, really,
(03:50):
really gone too far. I mean, we've had a horrific
opening week or two weeks at UC. It's the biggest
freshman class they've ever brought in. I mean, you know, Pinto,
the president up there, has these grand plans to make
UC as big as OSU.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
They're on their way. They're building new housing.
Speaker 5 (04:07):
Just what they haven't corrected for is the fact that
we have a woefully understaffed police department. And we have
the neighborhoods that Clifton abuts are still have rampant drug dealing, violence,
young kids running around with guns. And they have no plan,
no safety plan, no nothing. And we have a complete
lack of police officers to actually do the kind of
(04:28):
proactive policing that will be required to kind of deal
with it.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
So what they're doing is they're shutting down whole streets. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
You can't come here.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
The problem is, yeah, you just, so, so it is one,
it is a solution. I'll give them credit for that.
It is one, it is a response and it's not
wholly irrational.
Speaker 5 (04:47):
The problem are you have all these mom and pop
businesses that are along those areas, particularly streets like Calhoun, uh,
that are dependent upon, upon the student business and who, uh,
you know, don't do a.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Lot in the summer.
Speaker 5 (04:59):
And here they come back in, you know, August, September,
ready to, uh, serve their their fast food and draft
beer and all the things that they do to make
a living there and uh and they literally have their
streets shut down and i've been seeing on social media
some of these places have to close down by nine
ten o'clock and anyone in that in those student businesses
will tell you you do your businesses your majority of
(05:20):
your business late at night So it's been brutal. So
they're caught in the middle of this as well. You know,
the cynical part of me was to say, congrats, guys,
you voted for this.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
People have been telling you this for years.
Speaker 5 (05:32):
But it really is just the chickens coming home to roost.
And it's unfortunate that it's happening there in Clifton. And
I never thought I'd see a day where there would
be petitions from parents to the president of the university
and city council telling them we need more police on
the ground here. We are worried about our kids here. Particularly,
you know, these freshmen who are coming in 18, 19
(05:53):
years old and really are just kind of sitting ducks
for this bad stuff.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
Well, the other thing, I had Ken Cobra on yesterday,
the head of the FOP. These coppers are working 60
to 80 hours a week each. And when an officer
goes to work, it takes about an hour to suit up.
You got to put all the stuff on. It takes
about an hour to take the suits off and then
they calm down a little bit. And they're working 60
to 80 hours a week. All of them are making
north of $ 100, 000 a year, some $ 150, 000 a year being
(06:20):
a cop.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
And that's good.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
But at some point, you say, I got my mental
and my physical health to worry about. We need 300
to 500 more cops hired immediately. They have a recruit
class going. You have to bring in 50 to 70
new cops every year just to break even with those
retiring on the other side. which they're not bringing in
50 to 70 a year. So the thin blue line
(06:42):
is cracking.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
It's breaking.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
And they cannot keep doing this. The sheriff's department is
also overwhelmed. They mainly have patrol duties in the townships,
et cetera. So you don't see the black shirts in Clifton.
You always see only CPD. And there's no sense on
city council. Scotty Johnson, he is a lucid moment every
now and then. And he said, well, we're going to
(07:05):
have a big powwow yesterday. And he said, now let's
wait a little bit longer until I guess UC's got
some more home games. Basketball is about to start and
the businesses are dying. We're telling the world that the
police and city council can't handle a couple hundred thugs
with guns. Instead of arresting them, Bill Belichick would say,
Steve Gooden, three words, do your job.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Just do your job. Arrest the wrongdoers. Find out who
they are.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
Take them off the streets and pray to God in
room A. You have a judge down there like Judge
Dinkelhocker who's going to give them a high bond for
having guns and lock them up.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
What's wrong with that approach?
Speaker 5 (07:42):
Well, nothing, and God bless Judge Dinkelhocker, but we know
it's even worse than that. I mean, one of the
things that kind of broke out on social media this
week is someone leaked from the 2020 Auburn building, which
is the juvenile jail, which is where a lot of
these folks should be held. Someone leaked a list of
charges that the judges have said, do not hold these kids,
(08:05):
do not even give them a bond, just send them home.
So there's like a no bond list, and it includes
some pretty nasty stuff, a lot of misdemeanors, possession of
criminal tools, people who might be involved in a burglary.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Things of that nature.
Speaker 5 (08:20):
So that juvenile jail is a huge source of frustration
for the police officers. King Cobra will tell you that.
The prosecutors will tell you that when they're allowed to.
It is a truly catch-and-release type situation. There's no consequence
for these young offenders. They're back on the street literally
within a matter of hours. They're literally just, you know,
sign a piece of paper and say, hey, we won't
(08:42):
do anything bad until our court case is heard. And
they're right back on the street. So it's not even
just the setting of low bonds. It is that in
the juvenile court system, they're not holding anybody. They're being told,
you know, often bonds aren't an issue in juvenile court either.
You hold them or you don't. They are being given,
the magistrates are being given explicit directions not to hold
(09:03):
the majority of kids on the majority of offenses. And
you can see that on the street, too. And I mean, look,
in terms of police staffing, we have the same, we
have actually fewer police than we had in 2005. And
in 2005, we had roughly 20,000 fewer people living in
the city. Plus, now we have all these extra students,
all these new attractions, you know, with the ballpark and
(09:25):
the new ballparks and.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
TQL, stadium, all this stuff.
Speaker 5 (09:30):
So it's just common sense that we need at least
300 more police officers, maybe more. but in a more
robust relationship with the Sheriff's Department. And none of that's
happening because that's not a politically popular thing to say
to the city. These guys in the mayor and the
council members are kowtowing to a very small group of
people in the city who are very progressive, very anti-law enforcement.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
They got Iris Rowley working right there in.
Speaker 5 (09:55):
City Hall, harassing police officers while being paid by the city.
It's a huge morale issue. So you add Iris Rowley
plus staffing, plus the juvenile court policies, and who wants
to be a cop and no sir? None.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
Well, Judge Carrie Bloom, a uber leftist, she's a member
of the Democratic Socialists of America. She's in charge of
juvenile court. And she does not think kids... use the
word kids, 17-year-olds who commit serious crimes should be held accountable.
And that's her philosophy. And she's running for re-election. And
I'll bet you a hot fudge Sunday or a three-way
at Skyline there in Clifton that she's going to easily
(10:32):
win because the Democratic voter will march up to the
polling places and poll the blue ticket. And you're like
a city voter, including been on city council. What's the
sense of the Democratic voter in the city when there's
mayhem When there's rioting, when there's bars downtown OTR that
have to have 20 police units out in front, when
(10:55):
UC and Pill Hill should be the shining city on
the hill for us, all the investments by Christ Hospital
and UC and Good Samaritan, et cetera, they're all there,
thousands and thousands, along with, I guess, about 45,000 students
at UC.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
And the voters seemingly don't care. Can you tell me why?
Speaker 5 (11:14):
Well, yeah, I think I can. I talk to these people.
I live amongst the leftists, okay? And when they will
deem to talk to me after they call me a
fascist and so forth, and once we get past that.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
You know, what they say is the same thing.
Speaker 5 (11:29):
Yeah, what they say is the same thing every time,
which is they agree 100% that the city's doing a
terrible job on all these things. You know, they're critical
of folks like Carrie Bloom. They're critical of the mayor
in small settings. But then when they go to the polls,
they're going to go out. They don't vote for local elections.
They're going because they're fired up about Donald Trump. They're
(11:51):
fired up about Amy Acton, whatever it is. And they
get that blue slate and they vote right down it.
And they I had one of my neighbors told me
once that she was always afraid to vote accidentally for
someone who might support Donald Trump in some way or
be on the other side. She was afraid. So that's
why she didn't veer off the slate at all. So,
(12:14):
I mean, that's what happens to slate voting.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
It's very disciplined.
Speaker 5 (12:17):
But then you do have people in the Democratic Party.
who feel that people like you and I are wrongfully
attacking people like Judge Carrie Bloom. They think that to
be asking these questions and to be calling out this stuff,
that that's unfair somehow.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Really, hey, what about the kids? Why do you want
to give these kids records? What about the children? The
dead children don't matter.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
But the children, you know, the other children are there.
And they're right.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
A lot of these kids are coming from horrible situations.
That's true.
Speaker 5 (12:46):
But just letting them go and do more crime doesn't
help them or anyone else.
Speaker 4 (12:50):
Lastly, Steve Gooden, there's now a movement on city council
to extend the streetcar, which I thought, you know, it
began 10 years ago, almost this day. And city council
members are talking about extending the streetcar up Hill Hill,
up Mount Auburn, into UC, maybe take it south, go
into Covington, Newport, loop around Independence, maybe go a little
south of Frankfurt, come back up through Louisville and bring
it back up into Cincinnati, then into Columbus. And I'm thinking,
(13:13):
number one, the inquiry did this big study that seemed
to indicate the promises of the streetcar.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Have not been met. By the way, it's free. We
spent almost.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
180 million dollars on the streetcar, it's free. And no
one paid for that except 180 million. And it's all
free to ride. And it goes in areas, according to
the experts, that people don't want to go. And it
goes from Findlay Market basically downtown to the banks and back.
That's about it. And it's kind of like an amusement ride.
Joe Dieters at the time said it would be a
(13:41):
homeless encampment. Many parts of the day it is. And
they'll be like Veloraptors waiting for the tourists to come by. Yes,
that's true too. And so can you address whether or
not Tony Bender wants to know if all that money
from the so-called railroad can be used for the streetcar?
And would they do it? Because we can't get potholes fixed.
We can't get the Western Hills Viaduct fixed with that money.
(14:01):
But we want to spend the money on streetcars that
don't work. You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 5 (14:05):
Well, the streetcar was, number one, was a total disgrace.
I was one of the people out there saying, like,
of all the needs that we had in the city
at the time, then and now, nearly $ 200 million on
a streetcar is absurd. I mean, it is an amenity.
It is a street. It is true. It isn't like
an amusement park ride. It is an amusement park ride.
(14:25):
It's like the old monorail at Kings Island. You know,
like kids used to get on it.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Yeah, it's ridiculous, and it's just.
Speaker 5 (14:32):
Something, it's a feel-good thing. It doesn't get any, it's
not public transit, it's just absurd. But the idea that
they might try to somehow raid that railroad trust for that,
I mean, that's a very predictable thing. I predict that
there's already people trying to, and lawyers trying to carve
up to see whether or not that counts as, quote, existing.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Infrastructure, which is what they're, you know, when.
Speaker 5 (14:52):
Everyone, when people voted for that railroad thing, I did not,
but when people who did vote for it, you know,
they sold it to the citizens saying, fuck. We're going
to repair existing infrastructure, which we all thought existing infrastructure
meant potholes. Now existing infrastructure, it seems like, can mean anything.
And the streetcar, I guess, is infrastructure. So get ready
for some of your tax dollars, or an effort anyway,
(15:15):
to be made to spend some of your hard-earned tax
dollars and the sale of that railroad on expanding this boondoggle.
It remains a boondoggle. It has never made a dollar.
It is subsidized by charities now, largely, and trusts. It
is a money loser. It is just a goofy thing.
But there are people who look at it with like
an almost religious fervor that it is somehow and believe
(15:35):
it has elevated our city in some way. And I
don't know what they're smoking, but it's crazy.
Speaker 4 (15:41):
No printing on the side of those cigarettes. All I
can say is city council. And if you keep getting
elected by wide margins, I think this time you have
to have pure of all. the great director of Eftabistan,
got 80 percent of the vote. So if you're Eftabistan
and you got 80 percent of the vote, you're thinking,
I'm doing exactly what the people want me to do.
I'll give them more of the same. And that's sad.
(16:01):
But Steve Gooden, we got to run. And I was
going to ask you briefly, can you give me a
minute on where you were on 9-11-01? And how did
you find out about the 846 murders taking place at
the World Trade Center?
Speaker 3 (16:14):
I remember it very distinctly.
Speaker 5 (16:16):
I was a young prosecutor doing a bind over case
in front of Judge Sylvia Hendon when her bailiff walked
in and said, hey, there's something happened here. We need
to take a break. And we all went back into
her chambers and turned on her television and watched it
right there. And it was an absolutely chilling moment. I
remember it with joy. we remember it just like it
(16:38):
was yesterday. And I remember we, we wrapped up our
business and, and went home and just sat in front
of the television for the whole day and tried to
understand it. I remember my wife at the time being, uh, uh,
eight months pregnant with our.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
First child, our first child.
Speaker 5 (16:53):
And just thinking, you know, what, what, what is this
world going to be? And I was a reservist at
the time. So I also figured my, my life was
about to change and it sure did. So I was
gone about two years.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Steve Gooden. Thank you very much.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
We'll talk again on that, but, uh, It's unfortunate you
weren't elected to council. The people of Cincinnati get what
they deserve, and they certainly have. Well, they're getting it.
They're getting it good and hard. I kind of like
that kind of talk. But, Steve Gooden, thank you very
much for coming on the Bill Cunningham Show.
Speaker 5 (17:19):
Take care.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
Thank you, Steve. Let's continue with more. You get the
government they deserve. On NewsRadio 700, WLW.
Bill Cunningham News
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