Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:15):
It's seven oh five here at fifty five k CUD
talk station. Love when guests are in studio, and I
love talking to todds Zenser, even though the content roo've
always revealed shenanigans, most notably in the city of Cincinnati.
He is the citizen Watchdog and the citizen of the
City of Cincinnati. I think go you a debt of
gratitude for the work that you do and your focus
(00:36):
and your willingness to stick at something and look behind
all the look at all the details and the documents
behind the scene to point out the mismanagement of basically
finances and well the government generally speaking. Good to have
you back in studio, Todd Zenzer, thank you, good morning,
Good morning. And you can get his podcasts where you
get your podcast Citizen Watchdog Citizen Watchdog podcast where he
(00:58):
goes into detail about all these things he reveals. Let's
start with I know you're behind and helping assist with
getting signatures for the Save Hyde Park Square ballot initiative,
which is a referendum to nullify the council's April twenty
third decision depriving the residents of the Hyde Park area
from their rights to control their destiny in terms of zoning.
(01:20):
And I had the guy who was I can't remember
what the name of the site was, but he has
the depictions of what this monstrosity hotel and all these
upgrades will look like, and it just looms so large
over the existing high you have to see it to
fully understand it. I mean, because if you hear's someone
talking about, well, the elevation is only going to go
(01:42):
up in an X number of feet, but when you
see what that's going to mean for the look of
Hyde Park Square, it's like, oh my lord, it's it's bad.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
One of the witnesses that I don't know if it
was at the council meeting or at the planning commission
said imagine if you've ever ever been to the Arc.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Exhibit yeah in Kentucky.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah, she said, imagine that arc sitting on Hyde Park Square.
That's what she described it as.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Oh wow, that is a really great way of describing it,
because that thing is just monstrous.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah. So that's what they're that's what they're looking at.
And this is this is a true petition drive. This
isn't just for you know, for show. They're actually out
there gathering signatures on petitions.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yeah, and from my conversation with you off air before
we started this morning, they're aread you've already got thousands
of signatures on this petition.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yeah, they're making progress great.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
And my understanding is you've got to have a minimum
of ten thousand, but you want to get a lot
more than that, because some of the signatures get thrown out,
like someone else that lives outside of the city signs it,
and that that won't count exactly. All right, So you've
been around town doing signature gathering and I understand you've
got some some events coming up in locations where the
(02:55):
the petition can be signed.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yes, the next one is tomorrow afternoon in pleasant Ridge
from two to five pm at the Nine Giant Brewery
on Montgomery Road.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Nine Giant Brewery, sixty ninety five Montgomery Road between two
and five pm. Stop on end. You don't have to
have a beer, but why wouldn't you and sign the petition.
And now there are people walking around downtown and hanging
out and dives and places like that to get these signatures.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yeah, the Hyde Park citizens have mobilized in a big way.
Good and yeah, they're all over the place.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Well, and there's an incentive for people who don't aren't
impacted by the Hyde Park development. It's just because again
the right to control your own neighborhood, your own your
own community. They're all different. I mean, there's a lot
of different communities in the city since say the Bondhill
was the victim of this kind of thing, and so
Bondhill residents because they got burned by Cincinni council trumping
what they wanted, well, get out there and sign the petition.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Absolutely, and it's not going to stop. There's a new
initiative now that the city is coming up with where
they want to rezone our hillsides so that they can
develop our hillsides. It's called the Hillside Initiative. The hillsides
are I don't I haven't looked a lot into it yet,
but there's a Hillside Trust that basically is responsible for
(04:17):
preserving all these hillsides, and the city is out there
engaging in community engagement asking people not whether or not
we should develop the hillsides, what would you like to
see developed on the hillsides. That's how they operate.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
They start from that foregone conclusion that this will happen.
So here's give me your input exactly.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
And it's very important that people pay attention. This is
another sneak attack, just like connected communities, and we really
need to pay attention to what's going on here. We're
gonna we're gonna lose our hillsides to developers next.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Okay, well, what does it mean to develop the hillsides anyway?
What are their proposals for it?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
They'll put housing or they'll put you know.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
These connected communities for focused like small multi unit buildings
and things.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
That's the thing. They haven't really shown their cars yet.
They're out there asking the public about it, but they
haven't really shown their card yet. But the hillsides, from
what I understand, make up like twenty percent of the
land in the city, So they want to go after
that and open it up to development.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
So are they going to bring back inclines then, because
they don't want us drive in cars.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
I would love to see the price ill inclient come back,
but that's not going to happen.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Just for nostalgia proprix exactly like San Francisco's street car
is not exactly the best mode of community a mode
of transportation, but it's cute to see but it's.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
The folks in Hyde Park Square are out there. You know,
they're they're doing work for all of us on this
petition drive.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
I agree, And let's face it, every single neighborhood in
the city since then. He was a victim of this
when they foisted connected communities without everybody, without hearing from people.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
So it's been done to everyone, and then they go
and give a waiver for these well connected developers A
phrase I got for you from you in Hyde Park
to waive connected communities concept in Hyde Park Square.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yeah, it's funny. We were when we were collecting signatures
last night. Somebody actually came in and said, oh, these
well connected developers.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Oh that's great, that's great listening to Todd Zenzer And
you know, it's the truth. I mean what I mean.
It just it reveals so much about where the loyalty
of the elected officials, the council members and the and
the mayor are. It's not their constituents.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
It doesn't seem to be Brian, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Well, elections can have consequences, and we are going to
get an opportunity. Well, citizens of Cincinnati are going to
get an opportunity to maybe vote for different people in November. Yes,
how optimistic are you that that's going to happen?
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Well, one good sign is that, from what I understand,
the Democrats were supposed to come out with their slate
their slate card by now, and they've pushed them back totally.
So they maybe having some difficulty trying to figure out
who they should run for council. I mean, the mayor
of course is set, but the Blue ticket or the
(07:09):
Democrats isn't settled.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Yet, So perhaps some infighting, maybe even over zoning issues
inside the Democrat party.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
I'm not sure. You know, they have one vacancy that
they have to fill. There's one incumbent that's not Victoria
Parks is not running again, so there's one empty slot,
so there's probably disagreements about who should fill that slot.
And then I think there may be some incumbent council
(07:38):
members who aren't aren't a sure thing for the ticket.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Really, yeah, is anybody out loud running against like, for example,
either connected communities or what was done to Hyde Park
as a Democrat? Like here, I am a Democrat. I
want to run for since a city council and I
object completely to what they did to the residents of
High Park.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Oh yeah, there are definitely Democrats who are concerned about
what went on. And I think what you're going to
see is the Charter Committee is working on coming up
with a slate I would hope. So, I mean, and
those that slate is not going to be one party
or another. It's going to be it's going to be
(08:18):
a combination of independence or Republicans, some Democrats.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Well isn't that kind of what the Charter Committee is
all about.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Yes, that's exactly right.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
It's common sense government, correct.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
So we'll see what happens there. I mean, I think
there's going to be some competition.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Well, I'd like to see that, and I'd like to
see some you know, some reporting on it, you know,
people talking about the issues, raising awareness that there is
a choice that you have, that it may be represent
you better as a resident of the City of Cincinnati.
I mean, it's going to take all of that. A
well oiled campaign.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah, you're going to see You're going to see social media.
There's going to be the Charter Committee is refreshing their website.
I do believe they're very serious about challenging the incumbents here.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Good good, Well, you've got the fifty five CASEE Morning
Show to spread the word about those alternatives, because there's
got to be a change, and you have a multitude
of reasons why other than just this one issue, the
zoning issue of why there needs to be a change.
And we're going to continue with Todd Zenzer and talk
about some of that. Remember it's Citizen Watchdog is his podcast.
Make sure you find that to stay up on what's
(09:26):
going on the City of Cincinnati seven to fifteen. Right
now the fifty five KRC Detalk station. Brian Thomas was
Citizen Watchdog Todd Zenzer in the studio. Let's pivot over
to another area of mismanagement by city government. That will
be the equipment used to clear our roads and service
our roads and things of that nature. And we found
(09:47):
out it was only January this year. Hell, they didn't
even plow a lot of the roads up like a
Mount Adams and the like. A lot of equipment apparently,
as we learned at the time, was out of commission,
and they also had manpower issues, which we can talk
about odds Inzer, you investigated this, what did you learn, well,
your investigation.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Well, what I did, I'm I'm trying to keep track
or come up with these deficits that the city has.
They have a deficit on their pension liability of oh,
eight hundred plus million dollars. They've got to close that
gap in twenty years, which would take about forty million
dollars a year. And then we have the infamous four
(10:29):
hundred million dollars in deferred infrastructure maintenance. Right by the way,
I've never seen a list that totals four hundred million.
I've seen lists of total two hundred and fifty and
two hundred. They've never produced a list of that four
hundred million, but that's the number they use. In fact,
when we were in the throes of the campaign, they
said it was five hundred million.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
But why would they want to admit to something that
makes them look even more incompetent by inflating that figure.
If they had hanging it's only two hundred and fifty million,
we can manage that, we'll catch up eventually. But by
saying it's four hundred or five hundred million dollars, they've
acknowledged that they have ignored a problem in road maintenance
for even worse than what we perceive it to be.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Yeah, well, they did that so that people would vote
to sell the railway.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Oh Lord, is that the reason?
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Yes, exactly. And then I was then when this snow,
this winter storm Blair came up and we had twenty
of our snowplows out of commission or broken down, it
indicated the problem with this fleet maintenance.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
So much like ignoring the pension, much like ignoring the roads,
this is ignoring the fleet right over time.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
That's right. So I found this report from the internal
audit manager in the city. So I looked into that
operation I don't know, a few months ago and had
some observations. I was somewhat critical. But they issued a
report and it stands out among their reports because it's
almost twenty pages long and it's got twelve Fine. You
(12:00):
look at their other reports and they're all like six
seven pages long, and they got a couple of observations,
but this was a fairly hard hitting report and it
had twelve findings, which is very unusual. And some basic things. Well,
they have a forty five percent of fifteen hundred vehicles
(12:24):
are out of life cycle.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
So almost half of all of the vehicles they have
are out. What does out of life cycle mean? Specifically?
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Right. So in their fleet management, they keep track of
how old the vehicle is, how many miles it has,
what it's a maintenance record looks like, and they have
a software that helps them manage the fleet, and they
come up with this indicator of out of life cycle.
And this audit report found that six hundred and eighty
(12:54):
almost seven hundred of their vehicles are out of life
cycle and they had three big categories. But the total
cost to replace all those is eighty two million dollars.
Oh great, And so you have the pension liability, you
have the deferred maintenance, you have the vehicle of purchase
and replacement. And I'm sure there are other deficits out there,
(13:17):
we just don't know what they are right now. But
those three items total one point three billion.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Dollars billion with a B.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Yes, And you don't see any activity in council to
address this.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Well, do you think the council members are even aware
of this?
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Well, I think they are generally aware of it.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Yeah, generally, But I'm talking about Todd Zenzer level awareness,
where you have the actual dollars. You look at the
reports that exist, this report that you're referring to that
allowed you to crunch the numbers that identified all these
different problems. It came out over a year ago, right.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Yeah, came out in January of twenty four. And if
the council and the city manager and the mayor read
the report, I don't see how they couldn't have come
up with some kind of action to to to fix it.
Because here's here's what's funny, because.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
They're too busy chiefs in their green new deal tail exactly.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
But here's the thing. If they truly believed what they
were saying about climate change and the fact that all
these that that all these storms and and weather issues
and and and and all of that is caused by
greenhouse gases, you'd think they would have looked at this
(14:34):
report and said, oh my god, we're going to have
all this bad weather coming. We better, we better make
sure we're prepared.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
They don't.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
They can't possibly believe all this. They don't Green Cincinnati
Plan and all the disasters that are going to happen
because they're not they're not uh uh managing for it.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Well, we'll talk more about this since a green plan
coming up. But the whole notion that the City of
cincinnat within these geographic limitations that it has can have
some sort of, you know, plausible impact on the global climate.
Is just a joke that anyone thinks that that is.
It's just it's nonsense, and it's obviously there's something else
(15:16):
behind the curtain of these green energy projects, and gee,
I wonder what it is. Seven twenty five ifty five
KARO City Talk Station more with Todd Zenzer or Citizen
Watchdog a thirty fifty five Krcity Talks station. I hope
you're having a happy Friday. I always enjoy my conversation
with Todd Zenzer, the enlightening they are in times doing
the heavy lifting and paying attention to the important bottom
(15:37):
line figures for the city government. What's out there, what
needs to be done, what's being neglected, and where they're
focusing their attention. And you alluded to it. We just
mentioned it, the green Energy Plan, which I think I
learned from you or someone else that at least may
I have to have purvol and quite a few other
members of the council view everything from a lens of
(15:59):
green New Deal sort of focus, as well as DEI Yes.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
When he was interviewed about their twenty twenty three green
Cincinnati plan. The mayor said that any everything that comes
across his desk he views through two lenses, equity and climate.
And I don't even know what that means, to be honest,
I don't either, but he's very committed and.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Ought to be committed.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
The Green Cincinnati Plan is very very extreme. I mean
it is. They put so much effort and planning into
that thing. I've asked for any records that will show
what the cost of the Green City Plan is in
terms of what a cost to put it together, and
I asked for the same information on connected communities. I
(16:50):
haven't gotten anything back yet. Of course you have it,
but it is the Green Cincinnati Plan is just very
very extreme.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
You know, for example, Phell, let's talk about the example.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Five different types of equity are outlined in the plan.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
How does equity save the planet.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Brian, I don't know about all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Money goes out the door to fund what non government
organizations are putting together studies and doing focus groups and
that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Yeah, I've I've been looking at the nonprofits and external
organizations that the city gives money to, and my count
is up to two hundred and fourteen, So.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Two hundred and fourteen hands in the cookie jar.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Meanwhile, we got over a billion dollars in outstanding debt
and maintenance and upgrade needs.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Yeah. And what seventy one organizations are given money under
the Green Cincinnati Plan.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
And do we have any idea what they're doing?
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Well, and we know what they got the money for generally,
but were there's no report back on what they actually
do with the money.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Well, see, that's there's something like that. USAID revealed when
DOGE took a look at that, they found that money
went out the door, but they never followed up like
for example, you know, studying I don't know, transgender mice
or pick your favorite example of money millions of dollars squad. Yeah,
did anything get accomplished by the recipients of the money
or was it just money that went to some identified
(18:25):
not for profit or non government or governmental organizations who
purported to address whatever issue they were told to do.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Yeah. So they have a number of grant programs that
they operate. There's there's fourteen competitive grant programs that the
city operates with either federal money, state money, Cincinnati money.
But on the there's a category called leverage support in
addition to the Green Cincinnati Plan, in addition to the
(18:55):
Act for Sense program. In addition to that's the other one,
A Safe and Clean is another program. And they have
all these programs where all these nonprofits and and the
amounts range from like nine hundred dollars to two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars. And so they have all these
(19:18):
organizations getting money, and we really don't have a good
handle on exactly how they're managing that money. And there's
just a lot of risk there for a lot of leakage,
a lot of misappropriation. And I've found one audit of
one recipient in the last several years, and it was
(19:39):
a pretty good They had some pretty good findings actually,
and that that should have caused them to look at
a lot more of these organizations than they have looked
at and well.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Boiled down to its most basic points, what do the
audit reveal about that one organization? It was recipient of
the taxpayer dollars.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
So this is it was kind of surprising because this
is the region Economic Development Initiative, and so this is
an initiative with other local governments and the let me
see if I can find the results here real.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Quickly, Well, why are you doing that? We can talk,
We can have further about this because we can't put
this subject matter to rest and because we're coming up
on a break here. But I must observe that you know,
some entity out there is getting a quarter of a
million dollars. We don't know exactly what they're doing or
what they're accomplishing, but those entities employ people. A salary
must be paid because this isn't all volunteer work going
out there, That's right. So you we are basically so
(20:33):
after the salary is paid, what what did you get
in return for paying that person's salary? What's left over
from that that allocation to cover whatever costs associated with
whatever work they're doing.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Yeah, well, there are some of these groups that they
have they have millions of dollars in assets that are
getting these big nonprofits and they're getting two hundred, two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars from the city. One of them,
the CEO, is making over four hundred thousand.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Dollars bactly what I'm talking about right there.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
And it's like, why do you need r two hundred
thousand dollars if they're able to pay your CEO over
four hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Well maybe because that's some of that money's going to
come back to fund campaigns to get city council members
and the mayor re elected. Seven thirty five fifty five
kr CD talk station seven forty one if you five
KRCD talk station talking with Todd Zenzer says in Watchdog,
former Inspector General for the United States. Looking at what
information is available, and it's kind of frightening stuff when
(21:29):
it comes to finding out how many of these outside
organizations are being funded by the city since an eighty
dollars in the name of the Green Energy Plan or
whatever the hell it's called. And Todd's revealed already this
morning of one over one billion dollars in outstanding obligations,
and there could be a whole lot more than that.
We're talking about the equipment eighty two million dollars worth
(21:49):
of out of lifestyle equipment, which is exactly why the
plows weren't running around January four hundred or between two
hundred and fifty and four million dollars in road repairs
that are outstanding and behind do so add that to
the list and eight hundred and fifty million dollars in
outstanding pension allocation behind the eight ball by eight hundred
(22:11):
and fifty million dollars. So there's your billion plus right there.
And as it turns out, a lot of money flowing
out of the city since then, he going to these
couple of one hundred different outside entities, mostly in the
name of green energy and green new deal kind of crap,
none of which we have any control overs. But that's
where the nefarious part comes in. You know, we can't
change the climate just by taking steps in that direction.
(22:34):
With the city of Cincinnati on its own, we're all
breathing the same air globally, so there's got to be
something nefarious about it. And as it turns out, a
lot of people making a lot of money off the
tax dollars going out to these organizations, and yet they
can't show what they've done in return for the money.
They can't even account for where the money was directed.
You had that audit you mentioned, and you pulled it out,
(22:54):
So explain to my listeners about that one, because it's
just it's illustrative.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Well, one of the groups that are getting a lot
of money from the city is called the Regional Economic
Development Initiative and that's a group of local governments and
the internal audit manager just tissued a report in April
end of April this year, so a few weeks ago,
(23:19):
and their audit and again I've been critical of them
in the past, but again this audit identified had four findings.
Number one and the way they the way they were
these findings, it's way too gentle, you know, they try
not to offend people by hitting them too hard. But
number one is contract management review and oversight, need.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Improvement, need improvement.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Yes, and they identified, for example, fourteen thousand dollars spent
by that group with no supporting documents, so it's.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
You can't audit it.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Well, that's that's another finding. Oh. Another finding is a
third party is unable to verify the terms of the contract.
So what that's saying is that somebody coming in from
the outside to try that tries to figure out whether
you're complying with the contract. They're not able to do
that because of the way that the organization is maintaining
(24:16):
their records. Another one is payroll journals contain insufficient information
to determine whether contractual terms are upheld. What that means
is that this organization is not keeping track of how
much time their employees are spending on city matters because
that's what gets build to the city. So they can't
(24:39):
even tell you how much of the money they pay
their employees is for work that went to the city.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
And this is just one. This is just one.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
This is one that's been around a long time. There's
been getting money from the city for a long time.
This isn't one of these small, you know, little nonprofits.
This is a well established organization. It's very, very shocking
to me.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
It is I'd like to say unbelievable. No, but it's
totally believable under the current administration and how it's been
operating now for the past several decades. This eight hundred
and fifty million dollar hole, this billion plus dollar hole
we just went through and you talked about earlier, didn't
happen overnight, that's right. How many years the Democrats been
in control of the City of Cincinnati A long time?
(25:23):
Uh huh, long time. This happened on their watch.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
And this council and this mayor are engaging in the
same kind of conduct that led to these deficits. They're
they're not paying attention to how much money they're spending
on other things other than these deficits.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
And maybe we can bring back up the railroad sale,
because you mentioned how they use these numbers to parlay
us into believing the sale of the railroad is going
to help see if it actually did help the situation
at all under the current circumstances. Seven fifty coming up
with seven fifty one if you've have k City Talks
one more segment here with Todd Zenzers, citizen watchdog, former
inspector General, and he is doing as much suspecting as
(26:06):
he can with the books being cooked in downtown Cincinnati.
You had mentioned off air, are you mentioned on the
air about these two hundred plus organizations that all have
their hand in the cookie jar. They're not regularly audited.
The one audit you were able to find show that
they were not well capable of even being audited. They
didn't know where the money was going, how it was being spent.
So that's probably illustrative of probably every other of the
(26:29):
couple of one hundred of these organizations. But you mentioned
how much it's expanded. The number of these organizations has expanded,
The hands in the cookie jar have increased exponentially over
the past ten years.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Right, there's all kinds. There's various lists of these organizations
in different categories. The main one that I got interested
in was the leverage support category. And back in twenty
fifteen in the budget in twenty fifteen, I could only
find a half a dozen out external organizations are not
(27:00):
profits that shared about five million dollars. So fast forward
to twenty twenty five, we've got over two hundred sharing
twenty five million dollars. And it's just grown and grown.
In fact, a couple years ago under this administration, this
current administration, they had so many of these groups that
(27:20):
they had to restructure the budget and create additional categories
to put these groups in. It used to be one
leverage support category. Now they've got three of those categories,
and they've got several other programs like Act for Cinci
where they just give they give money. After Act for Sincy,
I think there's like forty one groups the Green Cincinnati Plan,
(27:43):
there's like seventy one out external organizations that get money.
And if you remember our conversation about clienteleism, that was
about the political dynamic that's created, the bond that's created
between the incumbents and these grant recipients.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Yeah, well they're out there putting banners up and getting
petitions signed and campaigning on behalf of the officials.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Well yes, but in addition to that, you've got to
look at the oversight of these organizations. And that's not
going on either.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Who decides what organizations get money? How is any individual
or because I'm going to put my name on that list? Yeah, well,
for to sign.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Up for Leverage support, there's an annual application process. Surprise,
not surprisingly, the same organizations seem to get funded every year. Yeah,
I'm sure, but there's an application process that the city
manager's office reviews and recommends the organizations that receive money
(28:47):
and how much they get and now get this. Once
that happens, the city manager's recommendations go to the mayor,
and the mayor can add or subtract, and there's nothing
written about that process how the mayor comes to determine
those amounts, and then it goes to the council and
the council can add and subtract, and there's nothing to
(29:09):
say how they do their decision making there. So, for example,
in twenty twenty five, through that process, they added one
point five million dollars to this city manager's recommendations, just arbitrarily.
There's something wrong with that process.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Really, Yes, I hadn't noticed to. And so if Purvol,
this Parvol can add one of these an additional group,
that means that that person, that group that empty has
not gone through the city manager review process. You spoke of, Well,
not whether we can take any comfort in that process
by itself, but if you go the list then goes
(29:47):
to Purvol and he can add to it. He could
add someone who hasn't even gone through the review process.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
That's right. So the the interesting thing is, and I
did a podcast on this, we called it the Missing Audit.
The previous mayor, John Grantley and the city council, after
the scandal, commissioned an audit of the economic development projects
(30:14):
and they hired an audit firm out of Chicago named
Crow and Crow issued a draft report in December twenty
twenty two, and it included a recommendation about that very process.
It says that's not a good process. It's ripe for corruption.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Yes it is.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
So did the city do anything about that? No, they
basically buried that report. I finally got just the other day,
I had a records request for Let's see, I see
the draft report. Where's the final report? So I didn't
know whether they just canceled the thing or buried it
or what. So I did a record request for it.
I finally got the documents and there was a one
(30:59):
year gap between the draft report and there is a
final report dated November of twenty three. But what happened
in the interim between the city and this audit firm
is very mysterious. I've never seen anything like it, to
be honest with.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
You, Todd Zenzer, always revealing things that you've never seen
anything like it, in spite of the fact that you've
been doing this kind of work now for decades, former
Inspector General Todd and you did it on a federal
level too. I mean, this is ah todds Enzer Citizen Watchdog.
Find a podcast, check it out and thank you again
on behalf of all the residents of the city of
Cincinnati for the work you're doing. And you know it
(31:39):
reveals a lot. Think about if it's this bad in
the city of Cincinnati, how bad do you think it
is on a federal government level. Todd Zenzer will have
you back in studio hopefully soon. It's always a pleasure
having here my friends. Thanks around, folks, Thank you my pleasure.
Alyssa McClanahan local author with the Reason, a book on
the reasons why Zimmer got shut down, Zimmer the movement
that defeated a nuclear power plant. That plus so here
(32:00):
about the Law Enforcement Expo at eight thirty. I'll be
right back
It's seven oh five here at fifty five k CUD
talk station. Love when guests are in studio, and I
love talking to todds Zenser, even though the content roo've
always revealed shenanigans, most notably in the city of Cincinnati.
He is the citizen Watchdog and the citizen of the
City of Cincinnati. I think go you a debt of
gratitude for the work that you do and your focus
(00:36):
and your willingness to stick at something and look behind
all the look at all the details and the documents
behind the scene to point out the mismanagement of basically
finances and well the government generally speaking. Good to have
you back in studio, Todd Zenzer, thank you, good morning,
Good morning. And you can get his podcasts where you
get your podcast Citizen Watchdog Citizen Watchdog podcast where he
(00:58):
goes into detail about all these things he reveals. Let's
start with I know you're behind and helping assist with
getting signatures for the Save Hyde Park Square ballot initiative,
which is a referendum to nullify the council's April twenty
third decision depriving the residents of the Hyde Park area
from their rights to control their destiny in terms of zoning.
(01:20):
And I had the guy who was I can't remember
what the name of the site was, but he has
the depictions of what this monstrosity hotel and all these
upgrades will look like, and it just looms so large
over the existing high you have to see it to
fully understand it. I mean, because if you hear's someone
talking about, well, the elevation is only going to go
(01:42):
up in an X number of feet, but when you
see what that's going to mean for the look of
Hyde Park Square, it's like, oh my lord, it's it's bad.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
One of the witnesses that I don't know if it
was at the council meeting or at the planning commission
said imagine if you've ever ever been to the Arc.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Exhibit yeah in Kentucky.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah, she said, imagine that arc sitting on Hyde Park Square.
That's what she described it as.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Oh wow, that is a really great way of describing it,
because that thing is just monstrous.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah. So that's what they're that's what they're looking at.
And this is this is a true petition drive. This
isn't just for you know, for show. They're actually out
there gathering signatures on petitions.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yeah, and from my conversation with you off air before
we started this morning, they're aread you've already got thousands
of signatures on this petition.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yeah, they're making progress great.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
And my understanding is you've got to have a minimum
of ten thousand, but you want to get a lot
more than that, because some of the signatures get thrown out,
like someone else that lives outside of the city signs it,
and that that won't count exactly. All right, So you've
been around town doing signature gathering and I understand you've
got some some events coming up in locations where the
(02:55):
the petition can be signed.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yes, the next one is tomorrow afternoon in pleasant Ridge
from two to five pm at the Nine Giant Brewery
on Montgomery Road.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Nine Giant Brewery, sixty ninety five Montgomery Road between two
and five pm. Stop on end. You don't have to
have a beer, but why wouldn't you and sign the petition.
And now there are people walking around downtown and hanging
out and dives and places like that to get these signatures.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yeah, the Hyde Park citizens have mobilized in a big way.
Good and yeah, they're all over the place.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Well, and there's an incentive for people who don't aren't
impacted by the Hyde Park development. It's just because again
the right to control your own neighborhood, your own your
own community. They're all different. I mean, there's a lot
of different communities in the city since say the Bondhill
was the victim of this kind of thing, and so
Bondhill residents because they got burned by Cincinni council trumping
what they wanted, well, get out there and sign the petition.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Absolutely, and it's not going to stop. There's a new
initiative now that the city is coming up with where
they want to rezone our hillsides so that they can
develop our hillsides. It's called the Hillside Initiative. The hillsides
are I don't I haven't looked a lot into it yet,
but there's a Hillside Trust that basically is responsible for
(04:17):
preserving all these hillsides, and the city is out there
engaging in community engagement asking people not whether or not
we should develop the hillsides, what would you like to
see developed on the hillsides. That's how they operate.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
They start from that foregone conclusion that this will happen.
So here's give me your input exactly.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
And it's very important that people pay attention. This is
another sneak attack, just like connected communities, and we really
need to pay attention to what's going on here. We're
gonna we're gonna lose our hillsides to developers next.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Okay, well, what does it mean to develop the hillsides anyway?
What are their proposals for it?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
They'll put housing or they'll put you know.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
These connected communities for focused like small multi unit buildings
and things.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
That's the thing. They haven't really shown their cars yet.
They're out there asking the public about it, but they
haven't really shown their card yet. But the hillsides, from
what I understand, make up like twenty percent of the
land in the city, So they want to go after
that and open it up to development.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
So are they going to bring back inclines then, because
they don't want us drive in cars.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
I would love to see the price ill inclient come back,
but that's not going to happen.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Just for nostalgia proprix exactly like San Francisco's street car
is not exactly the best mode of community a mode
of transportation, but it's cute to see but it's.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
The folks in Hyde Park Square are out there. You know,
they're they're doing work for all of us on this
petition drive.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
I agree, And let's face it, every single neighborhood in
the city since then. He was a victim of this
when they foisted connected communities without everybody, without hearing from people.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
So it's been done to everyone, and then they go
and give a waiver for these well connected developers A
phrase I got for you from you in Hyde Park
to waive connected communities concept in Hyde Park Square.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yeah, it's funny. We were when we were collecting signatures
last night. Somebody actually came in and said, oh, these
well connected developers.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Oh that's great, that's great listening to Todd Zenzer And
you know, it's the truth. I mean what I mean.
It just it reveals so much about where the loyalty
of the elected officials, the council members and the and
the mayor are. It's not their constituents.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
It doesn't seem to be Brian, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Well, elections can have consequences, and we are going to
get an opportunity. Well, citizens of Cincinnati are going to
get an opportunity to maybe vote for different people in November. Yes,
how optimistic are you that that's going to happen?
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Well, one good sign is that, from what I understand,
the Democrats were supposed to come out with their slate
their slate card by now, and they've pushed them back totally.
So they maybe having some difficulty trying to figure out
who they should run for council. I mean, the mayor
of course is set, but the Blue ticket or the
(07:09):
Democrats isn't settled.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Yet, So perhaps some infighting, maybe even over zoning issues
inside the Democrat party.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
I'm not sure. You know, they have one vacancy that
they have to fill. There's one incumbent that's not Victoria
Parks is not running again, so there's one empty slot,
so there's probably disagreements about who should fill that slot.
And then I think there may be some incumbent council
(07:38):
members who aren't aren't a sure thing for the ticket.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Really, yeah, is anybody out loud running against like, for example,
either connected communities or what was done to Hyde Park
as a Democrat? Like here, I am a Democrat. I
want to run for since a city council and I
object completely to what they did to the residents of
High Park.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Oh yeah, there are definitely Democrats who are concerned about
what went on. And I think what you're going to
see is the Charter Committee is working on coming up
with a slate I would hope. So, I mean, and
those that slate is not going to be one party
or another. It's going to be it's going to be
(08:18):
a combination of independence or Republicans, some Democrats.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Well isn't that kind of what the Charter Committee is
all about.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Yes, that's exactly right.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
It's common sense government, correct.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
So we'll see what happens there. I mean, I think
there's going to be some competition.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Well, I'd like to see that, and I'd like to
see some you know, some reporting on it, you know,
people talking about the issues, raising awareness that there is
a choice that you have, that it may be represent
you better as a resident of the City of Cincinnati.
I mean, it's going to take all of that. A
well oiled campaign.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah, you're going to see You're going to see social media.
There's going to be the Charter Committee is refreshing their website.
I do believe they're very serious about challenging the incumbents here.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Good good, Well, you've got the fifty five CASEE Morning
Show to spread the word about those alternatives, because there's
got to be a change, and you have a multitude
of reasons why other than just this one issue, the
zoning issue of why there needs to be a change.
And we're going to continue with Todd Zenzer and talk
about some of that. Remember it's Citizen Watchdog is his podcast.
Make sure you find that to stay up on what's
(09:26):
going on the City of Cincinnati seven to fifteen. Right
now the fifty five KRC Detalk station. Brian Thomas was
Citizen Watchdog Todd Zenzer in the studio. Let's pivot over
to another area of mismanagement by city government. That will
be the equipment used to clear our roads and service
our roads and things of that nature. And we found
(09:47):
out it was only January this year. Hell, they didn't
even plow a lot of the roads up like a
Mount Adams and the like. A lot of equipment apparently,
as we learned at the time, was out of commission,
and they also had manpower issues, which we can talk
about odds Inzer, you investigated this, what did you learn, well,
your investigation.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Well, what I did, I'm I'm trying to keep track
or come up with these deficits that the city has.
They have a deficit on their pension liability of oh,
eight hundred plus million dollars. They've got to close that
gap in twenty years, which would take about forty million
dollars a year. And then we have the infamous four
(10:29):
hundred million dollars in deferred infrastructure maintenance. Right by the way,
I've never seen a list that totals four hundred million.
I've seen lists of total two hundred and fifty and
two hundred. They've never produced a list of that four
hundred million, but that's the number they use. In fact,
when we were in the throes of the campaign, they
said it was five hundred million.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
But why would they want to admit to something that
makes them look even more incompetent by inflating that figure.
If they had hanging it's only two hundred and fifty million,
we can manage that, we'll catch up eventually. But by
saying it's four hundred or five hundred million dollars, they've
acknowledged that they have ignored a problem in road maintenance
for even worse than what we perceive it to be.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Yeah, well, they did that so that people would vote
to sell the railway.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Oh Lord, is that the reason?
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Yes, exactly. And then I was then when this snow,
this winter storm Blair came up and we had twenty
of our snowplows out of commission or broken down, it
indicated the problem with this fleet maintenance.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
So much like ignoring the pension, much like ignoring the roads,
this is ignoring the fleet right over time.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
That's right. So I found this report from the internal
audit manager in the city. So I looked into that
operation I don't know, a few months ago and had
some observations. I was somewhat critical. But they issued a
report and it stands out among their reports because it's
almost twenty pages long and it's got twelve Fine. You
(12:00):
look at their other reports and they're all like six
seven pages long, and they got a couple of observations,
but this was a fairly hard hitting report and it
had twelve findings, which is very unusual. And some basic things. Well,
they have a forty five percent of fifteen hundred vehicles
(12:24):
are out of life cycle.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
So almost half of all of the vehicles they have
are out. What does out of life cycle mean? Specifically?
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Right. So in their fleet management, they keep track of
how old the vehicle is, how many miles it has,
what it's a maintenance record looks like, and they have
a software that helps them manage the fleet, and they
come up with this indicator of out of life cycle.
And this audit report found that six hundred and eighty
(12:54):
almost seven hundred of their vehicles are out of life
cycle and they had three big categories. But the total
cost to replace all those is eighty two million dollars.
Oh great, And so you have the pension liability, you
have the deferred maintenance, you have the vehicle of purchase
and replacement. And I'm sure there are other deficits out there,
(13:17):
we just don't know what they are right now. But
those three items total one point three billion.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Dollars billion with a B.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Yes, And you don't see any activity in council to
address this.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Well, do you think the council members are even aware
of this?
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Well, I think they are generally aware of it.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Yeah, generally, But I'm talking about Todd Zenzer level awareness,
where you have the actual dollars. You look at the
reports that exist, this report that you're referring to that
allowed you to crunch the numbers that identified all these
different problems. It came out over a year ago, right.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Yeah, came out in January of twenty four. And if
the council and the city manager and the mayor read
the report, I don't see how they couldn't have come
up with some kind of action to to to fix it.
Because here's here's what's funny, because.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
They're too busy chiefs in their green new deal tail exactly.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
But here's the thing. If they truly believed what they
were saying about climate change and the fact that all
these that that all these storms and and weather issues
and and and and all of that is caused by
greenhouse gases, you'd think they would have looked at this
(14:34):
report and said, oh my god, we're going to have
all this bad weather coming. We better, we better make
sure we're prepared.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
They don't.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
They can't possibly believe all this. They don't Green Cincinnati
Plan and all the disasters that are going to happen
because they're not they're not uh uh managing for it.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Well, we'll talk more about this since a green plan
coming up. But the whole notion that the City of
cincinnat within these geographic limitations that it has can have
some sort of, you know, plausible impact on the global climate.
Is just a joke that anyone thinks that that is.
It's just it's nonsense, and it's obviously there's something else
(15:16):
behind the curtain of these green energy projects, and gee,
I wonder what it is. Seven twenty five ifty five
KARO City Talk Station more with Todd Zenzer or Citizen
Watchdog a thirty fifty five Krcity Talks station. I hope
you're having a happy Friday. I always enjoy my conversation
with Todd Zenzer, the enlightening they are in times doing
the heavy lifting and paying attention to the important bottom
(15:37):
line figures for the city government. What's out there, what
needs to be done, what's being neglected, and where they're
focusing their attention. And you alluded to it. We just
mentioned it, the green Energy Plan, which I think I
learned from you or someone else that at least may
I have to have purvol and quite a few other
members of the council view everything from a lens of
(15:59):
green New Deal sort of focus, as well as DEI Yes.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
When he was interviewed about their twenty twenty three green
Cincinnati plan. The mayor said that any everything that comes
across his desk he views through two lenses, equity and climate.
And I don't even know what that means, to be honest,
I don't either, but he's very committed and.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Ought to be committed.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
The Green Cincinnati Plan is very very extreme. I mean
it is. They put so much effort and planning into
that thing. I've asked for any records that will show
what the cost of the Green City Plan is in
terms of what a cost to put it together, and
I asked for the same information on connected communities. I
(16:50):
haven't gotten anything back yet. Of course you have it,
but it is the Green Cincinnati Plan is just very
very extreme.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
You know, for example, Phell, let's talk about the example.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Five different types of equity are outlined in the plan.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
How does equity save the planet.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Brian, I don't know about all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Money goes out the door to fund what non government
organizations are putting together studies and doing focus groups and
that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Yeah, I've I've been looking at the nonprofits and external
organizations that the city gives money to, and my count
is up to two hundred and fourteen, So.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Two hundred and fourteen hands in the cookie jar.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Meanwhile, we got over a billion dollars in outstanding debt
and maintenance and upgrade needs.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Yeah. And what seventy one organizations are given money under
the Green Cincinnati Plan.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
And do we have any idea what they're doing?
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Well, and we know what they got the money for generally,
but were there's no report back on what they actually
do with the money.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Well, see, that's there's something like that. USAID revealed when
DOGE took a look at that, they found that money
went out the door, but they never followed up like
for example, you know, studying I don't know, transgender mice
or pick your favorite example of money millions of dollars squad. Yeah,
did anything get accomplished by the recipients of the money
or was it just money that went to some identified
(18:25):
not for profit or non government or governmental organizations who
purported to address whatever issue they were told to do.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Yeah. So they have a number of grant programs that
they operate. There's there's fourteen competitive grant programs that the
city operates with either federal money, state money, Cincinnati money.
But on the there's a category called leverage support in
addition to the Green Cincinnati Plan, in addition to the
(18:55):
Act for Sense program. In addition to that's the other one,
A Safe and Clean is another program. And they have
all these programs where all these nonprofits and and the
amounts range from like nine hundred dollars to two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars. And so they have all these
(19:18):
organizations getting money, and we really don't have a good
handle on exactly how they're managing that money. And there's
just a lot of risk there for a lot of leakage,
a lot of misappropriation. And I've found one audit of
one recipient in the last several years, and it was
(19:39):
a pretty good They had some pretty good findings actually,
and that that should have caused them to look at
a lot more of these organizations than they have looked
at and well.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Boiled down to its most basic points, what do the
audit reveal about that one organization? It was recipient of
the taxpayer dollars.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
So this is it was kind of surprising because this
is the region Economic Development Initiative, and so this is
an initiative with other local governments and the let me
see if I can find the results here real.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Quickly, Well, why are you doing that? We can talk,
We can have further about this because we can't put
this subject matter to rest and because we're coming up
on a break here. But I must observe that you know,
some entity out there is getting a quarter of a
million dollars. We don't know exactly what they're doing or
what they're accomplishing, but those entities employ people. A salary
must be paid because this isn't all volunteer work going
out there, That's right. So you we are basically so
(20:33):
after the salary is paid, what what did you get
in return for paying that person's salary? What's left over
from that that allocation to cover whatever costs associated with
whatever work they're doing.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Yeah, well, there are some of these groups that they
have they have millions of dollars in assets that are
getting these big nonprofits and they're getting two hundred, two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars from the city. One of them,
the CEO, is making over four hundred thousand.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Dollars bactly what I'm talking about right there.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
And it's like, why do you need r two hundred
thousand dollars if they're able to pay your CEO over
four hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Well maybe because that's some of that money's going to
come back to fund campaigns to get city council members
and the mayor re elected. Seven thirty five fifty five
kr CD talk station seven forty one if you five
KRCD talk station talking with Todd Zenzer says in Watchdog,
former Inspector General for the United States. Looking at what
information is available, and it's kind of frightening stuff when
(21:29):
it comes to finding out how many of these outside
organizations are being funded by the city since an eighty
dollars in the name of the Green Energy Plan or
whatever the hell it's called. And Todd's revealed already this
morning of one over one billion dollars in outstanding obligations,
and there could be a whole lot more than that.
We're talking about the equipment eighty two million dollars worth
(21:49):
of out of lifestyle equipment, which is exactly why the
plows weren't running around January four hundred or between two
hundred and fifty and four million dollars in road repairs
that are outstanding and behind do so add that to
the list and eight hundred and fifty million dollars in
outstanding pension allocation behind the eight ball by eight hundred
(22:11):
and fifty million dollars. So there's your billion plus right there.
And as it turns out, a lot of money flowing
out of the city since then, he going to these
couple of one hundred different outside entities, mostly in the
name of green energy and green new deal kind of crap,
none of which we have any control overs. But that's
where the nefarious part comes in. You know, we can't
change the climate just by taking steps in that direction.
(22:34):
With the city of Cincinnati on its own, we're all
breathing the same air globally, so there's got to be
something nefarious about it. And as it turns out, a
lot of people making a lot of money off the
tax dollars going out to these organizations, and yet they
can't show what they've done in return for the money.
They can't even account for where the money was directed.
You had that audit you mentioned, and you pulled it out,
(22:54):
So explain to my listeners about that one, because it's
just it's illustrative.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Well, one of the groups that are getting a lot
of money from the city is called the Regional Economic
Development Initiative and that's a group of local governments and
the internal audit manager just tissued a report in April
end of April this year, so a few weeks ago,
(23:19):
and their audit and again I've been critical of them
in the past, but again this audit identified had four findings.
Number one and the way they the way they were
these findings, it's way too gentle, you know, they try
not to offend people by hitting them too hard. But
number one is contract management review and oversight, need.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Improvement, need improvement.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Yes, and they identified, for example, fourteen thousand dollars spent
by that group with no supporting documents, so it's.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
You can't audit it.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Well, that's that's another finding. Oh. Another finding is a
third party is unable to verify the terms of the contract.
So what that's saying is that somebody coming in from
the outside to try that tries to figure out whether
you're complying with the contract. They're not able to do
that because of the way that the organization is maintaining
(24:16):
their records. Another one is payroll journals contain insufficient information
to determine whether contractual terms are upheld. What that means
is that this organization is not keeping track of how
much time their employees are spending on city matters because
that's what gets build to the city. So they can't
(24:39):
even tell you how much of the money they pay
their employees is for work that went to the city.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
And this is just one. This is just one.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
This is one that's been around a long time. There's
been getting money from the city for a long time.
This isn't one of these small, you know, little nonprofits.
This is a well established organization. It's very, very shocking
to me.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
It is I'd like to say unbelievable. No, but it's
totally believable under the current administration and how it's been
operating now for the past several decades. This eight hundred
and fifty million dollar hole, this billion plus dollar hole
we just went through and you talked about earlier, didn't
happen overnight, that's right. How many years the Democrats been
in control of the City of Cincinnati A long time?
(25:23):
Uh huh, long time. This happened on their watch.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
And this council and this mayor are engaging in the
same kind of conduct that led to these deficits. They're
they're not paying attention to how much money they're spending
on other things other than these deficits.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
And maybe we can bring back up the railroad sale,
because you mentioned how they use these numbers to parlay
us into believing the sale of the railroad is going
to help see if it actually did help the situation
at all under the current circumstances. Seven fifty coming up
with seven fifty one if you've have k City Talks
one more segment here with Todd Zenzers, citizen watchdog, former
inspector General, and he is doing as much suspecting as
(26:06):
he can with the books being cooked in downtown Cincinnati.
You had mentioned off air, are you mentioned on the
air about these two hundred plus organizations that all have
their hand in the cookie jar. They're not regularly audited.
The one audit you were able to find show that
they were not well capable of even being audited. They
didn't know where the money was going, how it was being spent.
So that's probably illustrative of probably every other of the
(26:29):
couple of one hundred of these organizations. But you mentioned
how much it's expanded. The number of these organizations has expanded,
The hands in the cookie jar have increased exponentially over
the past ten years.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Right, there's all kinds. There's various lists of these organizations
in different categories. The main one that I got interested
in was the leverage support category. And back in twenty
fifteen in the budget in twenty fifteen, I could only
find a half a dozen out external organizations are not
(27:00):
profits that shared about five million dollars. So fast forward
to twenty twenty five, we've got over two hundred sharing
twenty five million dollars. And it's just grown and grown.
In fact, a couple years ago under this administration, this
current administration, they had so many of these groups that
(27:20):
they had to restructure the budget and create additional categories
to put these groups in. It used to be one
leverage support category. Now they've got three of those categories,
and they've got several other programs like Act for Cinci
where they just give they give money. After Act for Sincy,
I think there's like forty one groups the Green Cincinnati Plan,
(27:43):
there's like seventy one out external organizations that get money.
And if you remember our conversation about clienteleism, that was
about the political dynamic that's created, the bond that's created
between the incumbents and these grant recipients.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Yeah, well they're out there putting banners up and getting
petitions signed and campaigning on behalf of the officials.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Well yes, but in addition to that, you've got to
look at the oversight of these organizations. And that's not
going on either.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Who decides what organizations get money? How is any individual
or because I'm going to put my name on that list? Yeah, well,
for to sign.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Up for Leverage support, there's an annual application process. Surprise,
not surprisingly, the same organizations seem to get funded every year. Yeah,
I'm sure, but there's an application process that the city
manager's office reviews and recommends the organizations that receive money
(28:47):
and how much they get and now get this. Once
that happens, the city manager's recommendations go to the mayor,
and the mayor can add or subtract, and there's nothing
written about that process how the mayor comes to determine
those amounts, and then it goes to the council and
the council can add and subtract, and there's nothing to
(29:09):
say how they do their decision making there. So, for example,
in twenty twenty five, through that process, they added one
point five million dollars to this city manager's recommendations, just arbitrarily.
There's something wrong with that process.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Really, Yes, I hadn't noticed to. And so if Purvol,
this Parvol can add one of these an additional group,
that means that that person, that group that empty has
not gone through the city manager review process. You spoke of, Well,
not whether we can take any comfort in that process
by itself, but if you go the list then goes
(29:47):
to Purvol and he can add to it. He could
add someone who hasn't even gone through the review process.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
That's right. So the the interesting thing is, and I
did a podcast on this, we called it the Missing Audit.
The previous mayor, John Grantley and the city council, after
the scandal, commissioned an audit of the economic development projects
(30:14):
and they hired an audit firm out of Chicago named
Crow and Crow issued a draft report in December twenty
twenty two, and it included a recommendation about that very process.
It says that's not a good process. It's ripe for corruption.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Yes it is.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
So did the city do anything about that? No, they
basically buried that report. I finally got just the other day,
I had a records request for Let's see, I see
the draft report. Where's the final report? So I didn't
know whether they just canceled the thing or buried it
or what. So I did a record request for it.
I finally got the documents and there was a one
(30:59):
year gap between the draft report and there is a
final report dated November of twenty three. But what happened
in the interim between the city and this audit firm
is very mysterious. I've never seen anything like it, to
be honest with.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
You, Todd Zenzer, always revealing things that you've never seen
anything like it, in spite of the fact that you've
been doing this kind of work now for decades, former
Inspector General Todd and you did it on a federal
level too. I mean, this is ah todds Enzer Citizen Watchdog.
Find a podcast, check it out and thank you again
on behalf of all the residents of the city of
Cincinnati for the work you're doing. And you know it
(31:39):
reveals a lot. Think about if it's this bad in
the city of Cincinnati, how bad do you think it
is on a federal government level. Todd Zenzer will have
you back in studio hopefully soon. It's always a pleasure
having here my friends. Thanks around, folks, Thank you my pleasure.
Alyssa McClanahan local author with the Reason, a book on
the reasons why Zimmer got shut down, Zimmer the movement
that defeated a nuclear power plant. That plus so here
(32:00):
about the Law Enforcement Expo at eight thirty. I'll be
right back
Brian Thomas News
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