Brian talks with Liz Keating this morning

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
KRCDAN Talk station. A six here fifty five KRCD Talk station.
The continuous theme here though, on this fifty five KRSE
Morning show. What's going on in the city of Cincinnati,
And welcome back to the fifty five Carsite Morning Show.
Always a pleasure, Liz Keating, former counselman. She's running again.
We hope she gets elect at least I do. Gus

(00:22):
Drekker does. Andre Ewing's got your back, Liz Keating, Welcome
back to the fifty five cars Morning Show. It's a
pleasure to have you back on the show.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Thanks for having me. It's always a pleasure to be on.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
Well, and we're excited and we hope that that voters
give you another shot. At very turbulent times and politics
in downtown Cincinnati, and surprising, I think me and everybody
else who fully is aware of how blue the city
is in terms of its democratic leanings. Mary, I have
to have Purval seems to be scrambling to respond to

(00:52):
the crime problem at least that we've gotten downtown Cincinnati.
But a little late in the day as we get
closer and closer' only a few weeks away from voting,
but he's getting it seems to have he's gone into
overdrive mode. And now we have this additional wrinkle that
maybe Police Chief Teresa Thiji might get fired. What's your
reactions as you see things unfold.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Yeah, I think it's a little too late. You know, people,
the residents of Cincinnati have long been saying they don't
feel safe. We've seen violent crime continue to tick up,
and we've heard council members, I mean, we've had candidate forums.
There's been cnet forums several weeks, for many weeks leading
up to the selection, and they are incumbent council members

(01:33):
who consistently say that these candet forums everything is fine,
we're lying about crime. Crime is going down, nothing to
see here, And they didn't want to face the facts.
They didn't want to admit what was going on. They
didn't want to listen to residents who are saying, I
just don't feel safe. Let alone. We know news every
morning there's been shooting after shooting after shooting, and they

(01:55):
don't do anything. And now all of a sudden they're
panicking and trying to make changes right before an election.
This is not how we want our city to be run.
We need leaders who are willing to face the facts
and take action right away, not try to hide it
until it's too late leading up to an election. I
just want better leadership and we need change in Cincinnati.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Well the way, and I guess looking just at the
issue of the police chief I don't personally blame police
Chief three cy Thigi for the violence in downtown Cincinnati.
She is working with a contingent of police officers, which is,
at least, as we understand it, a couple of hundred
less than what we could fully use in downtown Cincinnati.
But given the way the police chiefs are appointed and fired,

(02:38):
that that power rests soling the hands of the mayor
and the city manager, neither of whom know anything about policing.
Generally speaking, I don't know how what their role in,
what their position and those roles is that gives them
the the the knowledge and the skills necessary to select
a good police chief. But the political reality of that
is that the police chiefs beholden to the political whims

(02:59):
of those two people, which are not in the interest
of the police department. I don't think in the interests
of the city of Cincinnati. Voters will decide that. But
should we go back to the way it was before
Issue five got passed.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
Liz, I think yeah, I think that is a very
valid point. Ken Korber has been very loud about that
as well, to give that buffer. So for the listeners
who who don't know what that means, that means we
could potentially have a situation right now. The city manager
can can fire the police chief or the fire chief,

(03:30):
you know, any time for any reason. The mayor can
fire the city manager. But to put a little buffer
in place, to require a vote of city council, say
seven votes of city council, to approve the firing of somebody.
That gives them a little buffer to actually do their
job and not to sit itun and and be beholden
to the political powers and and have to deal with

(03:54):
the politicization of their jobs. I really like that idea,
and it gives them just it's much more room to
actually act in the professional manners that they're supposed to
like actually police actually make tough decisions that may not
be politically expedient for those who are in office. I
think it's a very valid point, something that we should

(04:15):
continue to debate and look at doing, because otherwise you're
going to continuously see this, especially leading into an election season.

Speaker 1 (04:21):
Well, I suppose on some level, given the nature of
how she was appointed as police chief, that her if
she is fired, the question will be, well, why are
you firing her? Is it because of these of the
violence in the city, since I and you have misallocated
the resources in the city, or is an acknowledgment that
because she follows the policies of the city manager and
I have to have pro ball that it's a reflection

(04:43):
of their own failure by appointing her in the first place,
or by dictating how she runs the office. I mean,
that's that's like blaming yourself if you fire her.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
I mean, you have to have elected officials that are
willing to stand up every single day and say I
support the police and I want the police to just
go do their jobs and not holding back and not
create a situation where they're nervous to want to go
out and do their jobs the way that they were trained.
The fact that we are waiting this long to start
going after people who are breaking the law, even minor infractions,

(05:16):
is absolutely mind boggling to me. I mean, people have
been complaining about this for a very very long time,
and then to just here this week saying Okay, we're
going to start going after you, and we're going to
come talk to you. We're going to approach you if
you are doing anything illegal. I mean the fact that
elected officials weren't supporting and encouraging the police to do

(05:36):
this so long ago. I mean, it's no wonder we're
in the situation that we are in. You've got to
be able to support the police, and you've got to
encourage in and allow the police to do their jobs
and not let politics get in the way of that.

Speaker 1 (05:50):
Amen to that. And then if they are left to
do their job, to run the job independently, make the
choices on their own, free of political pressure, and they
do a poor job, you have a legitimate justification. Hey,
we let her run the show and she failed at that.
We're gonna find somebody that does a better job, that
would be more logical and reasonable. But right now her
hands are tied. And again, if they fire her, they're

(06:12):
firing her because she bent to their Will'd be my argument. Anyway,
what do you your reaction to the Jeff Ruby Entertainment
Center closing down. I know the spin in local media
was it was some sort of rent dispute, but it
actually was not. The CEO from Ruby's said out loud
that knows because of security the rental company the property

(06:33):
owner wasn't providing adequate security. I think that's suggesting we
need better security downtown. There are employees working here and
they have concerns walking in and out of the building,
or that maybe criminals and evil types might walk into
the building. So the controversy centers around safety, and they're
not there anymore. After that, Purval was on the TV

(06:54):
last night arguing with Corey Bowman claiming Heaps brought all
kinds of businesses in a downsound. But I don't remember
any of that. Liz keating, are we losing more than
we're gaining? Where are we in terms of drawing people
into downtown Cincinnati?

Speaker 2 (07:07):
Yeah, I think we have a problem across the board.
We have seen restaurants shut down, and those restaurant owners
consistently say that it's because crime and safety isn't been
a problem and impacting their businesses. Now, we know we
are in a tough economy. We know that we already
have a lot of forces going against us, but when

(07:27):
you have this kind of economy, you know, crime spikes.
You know, mental health issues rise, and you know you
have safety issues. These are things that could have been
prevented and worked on two years ago, but it wasn't.
And now we're consistently hearing you're hearing restaurants in the banks,
you're hearing restaurants in Central Business District, you're hearing restaurants
do it in OTR. Consistently complained about that and need

(07:49):
for more police officers, more police officers walking the beat,
more security, more private detail to be able to manage
this not just from a secure standpoint and safety standpoint,
but a perception of safety so that people feel safe.
And if people don't feel safe, they are not going
to come support our businesses and those businesses are going

(08:11):
to hurt. And if we are a city that does
not support these small businesses that are the lifeblood of
our city in our community, we have a huge, huge
problem down the line. We got to be able to
do better, and we need city officials, particularly city council
step up and actually care about these businesses and make
sure they're getting the support they need from a safety standpoint.

Speaker 1 (08:32):
Well, Pauls, bring Liz Keating back. Obviously we know where
she is on crime in downtown since Sinnat, We're going
to get some other ideas she has for as she
wins the council race. Early voting is open, The Board
of Elections is open. Go cast your vote today. Make
sure Liz Keating is among the four or five you
actually vote for. Going back to Christopher Smithman's point, don't

(08:53):
vote for all nine. You don't need to do that,
Just vote for the ones you want. It's vote Liz Keating, eat,
I G vote Liz Keeting dot com. We'll bring her
back right.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
From station.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
Eight eighteen fifty five kar ce De Talk Station. So
it's a very important election in the city of Cincinnati
coming up in November, and Liz Keating's on the battle
for Sinceey City Council, joining the program this morning to
talk about that. So, as we move away from crime,
I had one of the other huge issues for the
residents of the city, and we saw this unfold and
Bond Hill and Hyde Park they collectively painted this connected

(09:29):
communities zoning rule over all of the neighborhoods without consulting
with local communities about whether they wanted it or not,
and then start making exceptions for well connected developers and
in other areas without consulting those local communities, like the
residents of Hyde Park. We all know how that worked
out for the mayor and the city council. What is
the Liz Keating approach to let's say, affordable housing. I

(09:53):
know Parvall said even again last night, he wants forty
thousand new affordable called affordable homes. Maybe you can define
that for me, because I don't know what that means
in the next ten years, but that's four thousand a year.
They haven't even come close to that goal list keeping
your reactions to property.

Speaker 2 (10:11):
Yeah, I think the number one reason why they haven't
come close to that goal is because they're not actually
having productive debate down there. I mean, if you look
at these situations, they're going all or nothing. So you've
got council members who are voting yes, just get down
there and give speeches as to why they're voting yes.
And then you've got council members they're voting no, and
they're giving speeches as to why they're voting no. So

(10:31):
they go all or nothing. A lot of these communities
are saying, yeah, we do want housing, we do want investment,
we do want something. Can you just work with us
into what fits within the design of our community. And
if it's all or nothing, everyone loses. You end up
with nothing, as you're seeing it in High Park. Whereas
a lot of the High Park neighborhood said, you know,

(10:53):
our squares old, it's been a while since we've gotten
some sort of investment. We'd be happy to have a
little bit of a facelift. You work within our current building,
can you can you work within the current design? Can
you respect the architectural history of our square? And if
you had done that, you would actually be moving forward

(11:14):
on a project right now that one fits with a
neighborhood that makes the neighborhood happy, and you'd actually have
more units than you have now. Guess how many we
have now because of the absolute failure of City Council zero.
And it's insane. If you look at the way the
city approaches development in our urban core, it is very proactive,

(11:36):
it's strategic, it's intentional, and it respects the historic architecture
of our downtown. And I've said this before. You wouldn't
build a big box apartment building on the empty parking
lot next to music Hall, you just want it. Nobody
would even fathom doing that. But when you go to
the neighborhoods that things like that are like, oh, well,

(11:57):
you're a nimbi if you don't want this, it's absolutely absurd.
Like you rarely see opposition of housing being built in
the urban core because of how careful and how intentional
they are on it. And if we can take that
same proactive approach in our neighborhoods, work with our neighborhoods
of what do you want and how do we make
this fit, you can actually be much more proactive and

(12:18):
figure out how to incentivize that kind of investment, and
particularly for disinvested neighborhoods, they can get that that added investment,
more housing units the way that fits within the neighborhood,
and you'd be much further along. If you continue this
all or nothing approach and absolutely fail and having a
productive debate, you get where you are now, which is zero.

Speaker 1 (12:42):
Well, it seems to me this kind of communities and
it's all about affordable housing. I don't know what that
word means. I know that if somebody built an apartment
complex in Hyde Park and maybe it was you know,
one hundred units and each one only had let's say
five hundred square feet. You're going to get a hell
of a lot more rent in that unit than you
are in pick one of the other fifty two neighborhoods
where maybe the crime is a lot higher, maybe the

(13:03):
amenities aren't is, maybe there's not as much shopping or
grocery store access, they're not going to command as much
rent just by virtue of location. You can't control that
unless you put in some kind of rent control, can you, Lise,
I think.

Speaker 2 (13:17):
It's more The way I look at it is is
figuring out how we can get more two, three, four
families built, because if you look on public transit lines,
you can build within neighborhoods, these smaller what you know
professionals call the missing middle housing. You're building up those,
and then more people can can actually build those. You

(13:40):
have more mom and pops that can build a two family.
It's a pathway to home ownership because somebody can buy
a two family and rent out the other side and
I'll set their mortgage, which you know brings the cost down.
But when you're buying real estate, which we all know
builds that generational wealth. But then more people can partake
in that because there aren't very many people who can't
afford to big, big apartment buildings like you're seeing in

(14:02):
the urban core. And so if you can take that approach,
and I think High Park is a perfect example. If
you look at all these cross streets around Hyghe Park Square,
like z'ms Seen and Barry in Michigan and in Erie
and Observatory, you do have a lot of two three
four families. I grew up on a street two doors
down with the four family because I lived right off
of a major road on Linwood Road. And it it

(14:27):
gives more people the opportunity easy. You allow more people
to be able to build and it off. That's the
cost to be able to create that pathway to home
ownership and generational wealth. And I think that's the best
approach because those smaller missing middle housing, the two three
four family units that fits into neighborhoods. It works. And
if you're doing it on public transit lines, if you're

(14:47):
doing in these neighborhood business districts, if you're doing it
in near schools and house centers and daycares, you know
it fits so perfectly and more people get to partake
in it.

Speaker 1 (14:57):
And I presume that's this entire conversation has to be
predicated on one of those smaller builders maybe or any
any builder actually realizing a profit by building that type
of unit as opposed to going for the full freight
really big apartments or really expensive housing.

Speaker 2 (15:15):
Is think about the number of people that could move
forward on doing that versus one massive project that takes
years and years to get all the approvals, to get
all the financing and move forward. And I think the
problem with this council is that they're, you know, they
keep this all or nothing approach and then they panic
because they haven't move forward on any numbers, and so

(15:36):
they just want one big project so they can you know,
tally up and say we got this many versus trying
to figure out how to be much more proactive and
strategic and working with the community to make it fit.
There is a way to do this. We have seen
other cities do this, and we just need council members
who are willing to take the time and actually have

(15:58):
that productive debate to figure it out.

Speaker 1 (16:00):
Early voting is open. I recommend my listeners check out
their website vote Lizkeating dot com. In spite of the
fact that we're running out of time in terms of
now in the election just a few weeks away, it's
not too late for folks to help out with your campaign,
get involved and maybe even donate. Or are we past that,
Liz Keating, Oh.

Speaker 2 (16:16):
We are absolutely not past that. All of the above.
We definitely need help and we will take any and
all help. Obviously, donations are extremely helpful, particularly at these
last few weeks to help with ads and the mailers.
We need people at the polling locations on election day
talking to your neighbors, your friends as they come in

(16:39):
to vote and in you know, getting yard signs up
and just making sure people are aware because you know,
voter turnout is extremely low on these off year elections
and that's why we end up with what we have
right now. And if you want to have a voice,
if you want to have productive debate, if you want
somebody who's going to fight crime and fight the causes

(16:59):
of crime, and if you want somebody who is going
to make sure there's potholes are filled and the roads
are paved and we actually plow snow when it snows out.
We need to have you show up. We need to
have you talking about it and make sure you got
your networks to show up to vote too.

Speaker 1 (17:14):
If those sound like great ideas, then you need to vote.
Liz Keating, I recommend people do that again.

Speaker 2 (17:19):
Vote listens ben't a great idea. Sorry, I'm interrupting you here.
That is not even a great idea. That is just
common sense. It is foundation of local government. This shouldn't
be that hard. I'm glad I said it, Cincinnati.

Speaker 1 (17:32):
I'm glad I said that.

Speaker 2 (17:34):
Change down there, right.

Speaker 1 (17:35):
I'm glad I said that because you put the exclamation
point on it. Amen, Liz Keaty, good luck. If we
don't talk between now and then, and I hope we do.
I wish you all the best, and I really just
for the benefit of the city that I love so much,
we need a new administration who can focus on this
logical and reasonable strategy. Thanks Liz Keating, keep up the
great work, and I'll wish you all the best as

(17:57):
we fast approach election day coming up.