Scott Wartman - City of Cincinnati Politics

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
For a month fifty five KOSS the talk station.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
Eight twenty nine here for the five KRCD Talk station.
Happy Wednesday to you. I hope you have been a
good one. Welcome back. It's been too long from the
Cincinnaian quiry. You can find on the line at Cincinnati
dot com. Scott Wortman. Pleasure to have you back on
the program. Scott, I hope you're well.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
I'm excellent, great to be back. How are you doing.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
I'm doing fine, really actually quite well, living my best
life right now. Scott. I'm happy to say.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
I love to hear it.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
This is obviously a really exciting time. Politics is always
exciting for people like you and me, we dwellers following politics,
which is what you do. Of course, with the big
race coming up the first week in November, voters going
to get an opportunity to maybe change the direction of
downtown Cincinnati. Maybe not the election. Most notably, let's pivot
over and look at the mayoral race. I have to

(00:50):
have provol versus Corey Bowman. And what real quick I
got to get this out of the way, Scott Wortman.
What does everybody always have to say? Jd Vance's half
a broad or JD Vance's brother. When referring to Corey Bowman,
it's almost like a default insert in every article that
I read.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Yeah, well, I mean that that is everything seems the
politically at least, and actually a lot of news stories
go back to the White House. And I mean it
is something that when people look for news and could
we see what people read. President Trump and the vice

(01:27):
president drives a lot of interest. So, I mean that's
what people are interested in.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
But he's Corey Bowman. I have I've interviewed him here
in the Morning Show many times. I've met him in
person many times have been in events where he spoke,
and I mean, he doesn't bring up his brother, he
doesn't bring up president. He certainly is not campaign as
a MAGA person. But then again, he got a f
tab purval with all these campaign adds with Donald Trump
and Jade Vance's picture on it telling the residents of
the city to save us from MAGA, as if they're

(01:54):
going to come in and run things in the city.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
Sure, I mean it's still I mean, I don't know
any way that that's going to not be a big
part of the race, since again, the White House drives
so many strong emotions and has been very divisive, So
I mean, I don't see I don't see that changing anytime.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
So I don't either. But then again, if I had
a record I was running on, I might want to
prop up my record and talk about all the things
that I've accomplished and why I am a better choice
than the unknown, politically experienced Corey Bowlman. I haven't heard
have to have Purvoll do that, and of late, the dominant.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
Corey has made that argument. Yeah in debates too as well.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
Yeah, yeah, okay, I mean that's that's really my only
point to bring it up. I trust me. I'm painfully
aware of how that gets clicks Maga Trump. That always
gets clicks, and of course that can drive clicks on articles.
But after Purple has been running around at least up
until recent moments in time saying that there is no
crime problem in the city. Crime is down, it's a
problem of perception. And yet just yesterday he talked about

(02:54):
this ongoing gun violence in the wake of what five
shootings in the last couple of days, calling it absolutely
intolerable and announcing new measures. He's put in the Critical
Disturbance Response Team and SWAT team down at Fountain Square
between two and ten pm every day. That's something brand new.
He's encouraging council members to create an earlier curfew for
Fountain Square, maybe starting at six pm. That just happened.

(03:16):
A lot of people were clamoring for action earlier. We
know we're down on police resources. They've been talking about
lateral hires and new classes for a long time. That's
a slow, slow process. So I guess because of the election,
is he now appreciating the problem that the residents of
downtown Cincinnati perceive.

Speaker 1 (03:34):
I mean, I can't speak like why, you know, whether
it's different in his mind than before the election, but
I mean it is definitely the dominant issue that's not
going to go away, even probably after November, the November election.
But yeah, I mean it's something that every day, even

(03:56):
with the statistics which show city wide, you know, it's
not gone up, but in downtown and some of the
urban areas there there is an uptick in crime and
then shootings. Downtown. I believe it's like eight more shootings
year the date than last year. But yeah, I don't

(04:18):
it's definitely something that he can't ignore right well, and
when you have high profile one. I'm sorry. So when
you have high profile ones like in shooting right in
Fountain Square at the heart of the city, I mean,
there's no way to I mean, that's a lot of
people witnessed it, you know, first hand.

Speaker 2 (04:36):
Well, and then you have this recent development I was
just talking about before we we we took the break
to bring you on Ruby's closing down its events center,
and they cited a problem with their lease and the landlord.
But they did say it was basically safety related, like
maybe providing something like security at the front door, which
doesn't have any security. So even though it's the least
dispute over security, this boils down to security in downtown Cincinnati.

(05:01):
So there's one entity that's now gone, and it's not
the first business to close shopp in downtown because of this. People,
I mean, people vote with their feet quite often.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
Yeah, And I haven't spoken with Jeff Ruby directly about this,
but from what I saw in the statement though, I
think they did make it clear that it was a
landlord tenant dispute, So I mean, I don't know have
any inside information on it beyond that, but it did
seem like they wanted to make it clear that it
wasn't the other issues that were involved in it. So

(05:32):
beyond that, I don't know what's driving that decision. But
I haven't seen him. I haven't seen him blame crime
specifically on that. Well.

Speaker 2 (05:40):
Brittany Ruby Miller, who's the CEO the and released the
statement with regard to that, did talk about the safety
at the front door, but I'll grant you it was
a released dispute. But in a follow up statement, she
concluded with a comment. While first saying she doesn't want
to get into politics, she concluded with change only happens
when the pain of staying the same exceeds the pain

(06:01):
of change. So to me, that's a suggestion maybe a
change of administration is necessary to deal with the crime problem.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
I haven't seen that statement, but I mean yet, it
does seem like that it could be where she's gone
with that.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
Yeah, definitely. Do you do any internal polling or polling
with regard to how things are shaking out? I know
it as small as the council race and the mayor
races relative to national elections and statewide elections, we don't
get nearly as much polling. But have you seen that
polling information at all related to this race.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
No, And we actually looked into that and we put
some bids out for some firms that do polling, and
we didn't get any bites on it. And I talked
with the candidates and no, there has not been any
polling on this race. So it's basically just anecdotal. And
I mean, you have the primary to go on, but

(06:54):
that's about it. So it's pretty much anyone's gas.

Speaker 2 (06:57):
Well, in addition to crime, obviously that's on the number
one conversation talking point with regard to what's going on downtown.
We have the I guess four hundred miles of roads
that need to be repaid. That's been a problem that's
been building for years and years. But when you're out
and about and you're talking about this race, do you
hear the idea of zoning come up? I know, we

(07:18):
had this massive problem with Hyde Park and they revolted
and wanted it to be put on the ballot. They
were successful in getting the development there put the brakes
put on it. But what of all the other communities,
Bondhill and everybody else who's now underneath this umbrella called
connected communities, which is a one size fits all approach
for all of downtown Cincinnati.

Speaker 1 (07:38):
I hear the zoning issue, like when it comes up
in regards to the community councils, do they have enough
input or are they being ignored? And that's usually from
people that are like plugged in and engage. But I
don't know how much of that is for like the
general populace. I mean, one of the big issues when
I first took over this beat in this bring what

(08:01):
was speed bumps and potholes, And it's kind of like
the basic services. So I mean, I do think zoning
is an issue, but I don't know if it's going
to move the needle one way or the other in
the election.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
Well man, moving the needle one way or there? You
talk about plugged in and engageing. We got a chuckle
out of me on that one. The voter turnout in
downtown today is pretty poor. I think what ten percent
and maybe fifteen percent. Do you see this election as
resulting in a higher voter turnout? I mean, if you
had to read tea leaves into as we fast approach November,
Scott Ortman, do you think more people are going to

(08:38):
actually show up in this one?

Speaker 1 (08:40):
I mean, this is my first one full time on
the city election. But my experience with elections in general,
and this could be different because I mean, I think
I do think more people in the last I would
say ten years are coming out to vote and paying
attention to politics. But these off year elections where there
isn't like a major but there isn't a congressional race,

(09:03):
or there isn't a presidential race, probably not. It's still
probably going to be a lower turnout. I haven't I
haven't yet spoken to the Board of Elections on their predictions.
I don't even know if they have a projection yet
on it. But probably it will be better than the primary,
but it's probably still not. It's probably gonna I mean,

(09:24):
I don't I hesitate to give a actual prediction, but
it's not going to be like in a presidential race
or even in a congressional race. I wouldn't think.

Speaker 2 (09:34):
So don't expect a fifty percent turnout in downtown since
say for this one, Scott, I suppose we can.

Speaker 1 (09:38):
I would think not.

Speaker 2 (09:39):
Yeah, but you know, but it illustrates the point, you know,
in and off your election, your vote matters so much
more than it would in any other election cycle. I mean,
it's it seems to me it should serve as a
great incentive for the city residents to show up and vote.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
Oh yeah, I mean that's what democracy is all about.
And as they you know, the cliche goes. But the
cliche a reason if you don't vote, you can't complain,
Scott Warmanton, you shouldn't, at.

Speaker 2 (10:04):
Least well, you shouldn't, clearly, Scott Wormanton saying, inquire since
anty dot commis or you find, Scott any other observations
you want to pass along to my listeners that you've
encountered as you've been following this race.

Speaker 1 (10:13):
Scott, Well, I mean, I think the big question this
race is whether a non Democrat can get on city council.
I mean that's going to be because I think it
is possible, but it's it's very tough because it's one
of those things. And this is also what's so hard
to predict elections. What you hear and see online, Again,

(10:34):
those are for people that are plugged in, but isn't
necessarily how the general population votes.

Speaker 2 (10:41):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (10:41):
And so at least in the last like four or
five city elections, the Democratic slate card has been incredibly
influential on the overall voting public. In the city. So
whether whether that holds true or not, I think a
few people might be able to break through, but whether

(11:03):
they will or not, that is I'll be very interested
to see.

Speaker 2 (11:08):
Well as a you know, encouragement for my listeners. Everybody
else is considering voting if you perceive crime as being
a problem. There are judicial races that people need to
pay close attention to. And you talk about having to
be a weed dweller. If you don't have any interaction
with the judicial system, you're only tangentially even thinking about it.
People tend to gloss over the judicial races, but they
are critical.

Speaker 1 (11:29):
Oh yeah. And the issue with why they often will
get a lot of attention is because of ethics rules.
They judicial candidates are limited in what they can say
and you know what they can say in interviews and
stump speeches, so they often do get overlooked. But yeah,
they have a tremendous impact on the laws and what
people see out there.

Speaker 2 (11:48):
Yeah, no advisory opinions from judges, that's a violation of
the rules of ethics. Scott Ortman from the Cincinna in
Choir my listeners and I be following you on Cinsinni
dot com and reading what you have to write about it,
and we'll all keep our popcorn not as we fast
approach November.

Speaker 1 (12:02):
Thank you, Broan, I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (12:03):
Always a pleasure, Scott, Take care and have a great day.
Eight forty one. Right now fifty five kr C you
talk station phone lines are open. Feel free to call.