WEBVTT - 7-22-26: More CMS News 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:29.480 Hi Oh, Let's go hi Oh, Let's go oh, Let's 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:32.320 go oh, Let's go. 0:00:34.360 --> 0:00:38.760 One O seven point nine FM, Double BT. My name 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:41.239 is Brett Jensen, and you are listening to this Wednesday 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:44.440 night edition of Breaking with Brett Jensen. As always, we 0:00:44.479 --> 0:00:47.160 are going to go up until seven o'clock tonight, seven 0:00:47.200 --> 0:00:50.199 oh four five, seven oh one oh seven nine. That 0:00:50.320 --> 0:00:53.280 is the telephone number. That is also the WBT text 0:00:53.320 --> 0:00:56.920 line driven by Liberty Buick GMC and boys and girls 0:00:56.960 --> 0:01:00.240 follow me on x at Brett Underscore Jensen all the 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:03.360 letters and breaking news in and around the Charlotte area, 0:01:03.880 --> 0:01:06.839 and we've got a lot of different things we're gonna 0:01:06.840 --> 0:01:12.000 get into tonight. Victoria Wallington put out a video and 0:01:12.040 --> 0:01:14.280 so we're gonna break it break down her video about 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:16.319 the I seventy seven toilines. We're gonna break it, break 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:21.240 it down, but we're gonna start off tonight was CMS 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:27.560 and doctor Crystal Hill and the school board. Crystal Hill 0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:29.600 is the superintendent for those of you who do not 0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:31.679 know or those of you who do not live in 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:32.639 Mclimburg County. 0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:36.320 So there's. 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:42.600 The school board met today around four o'clock in a 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:47.800 closed session. But I would probably be there right now 0:01:47.920 --> 0:01:50.880 doing my show from the Government Center, waiting for them 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:55.600 to come out. But the closed session about Crystal Hill 0:01:55.920 --> 0:02:01.040 was done virtually, So that's why your boy is sitting 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:03.840 in the studio right now. Otherwise I would be doing 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:08.320 this show live from the Government Center right now, waiting 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:11.400 on the school board to come out if let's say 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:14.919 they came out at five point thirty, and then trying 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:18.040 to get people to talk and maybe I could get 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:20.000 back to the studio in time. I don't, you know, 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:22.920 it just depends because this Government Center is like eight 0:02:23.000 --> 0:02:31.360 minutes from here. So but yes, that is that's what 0:02:31.400 --> 0:02:40.000 I would have been doing. But here's the thing. There's 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:43.520 a lot going on, and like I was on with 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:49.560 Vince Cokeley this morning, and Vince Cokeley asked me what 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:51.280 I thought was gonna happen to Crystal Hill. And by 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:53.520 the way, you need to listen because I've got some 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:55.440 breaking news for you that you will not hear anywhere 0:02:55.440 --> 0:03:01.560 else concerning CMS and how a major, major person in 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:06.680 the hierarchy of Crystal Hill has resigned. And from what 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:11.240 I've been told, does it have anything out there? Meaning 0:03:12.000 --> 0:03:14.560 you're resigning without having something else set up? 0:03:16.840 --> 0:03:19.120 So we'll get into that in a minute. 0:03:19.400 --> 0:03:22.000 By the way, just for the record, found out about 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:26.079 this last week like around as a matter of fact, 0:03:26.120 --> 0:03:30.600 the day it happened. So anyways, we'll get into that momentarily. 0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:35.760 So Vince Quackley asked me this morning on a show 0:03:35.760 --> 0:03:38.240 at today M what I thought was going to happen 0:03:38.240 --> 0:03:44.120 to Crystal Hill, and I said, without question, I am 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:50.760 ninety nine percent positive she has served her last days 0:03:50.920 --> 0:03:57.000 as active superintendent with CMS. Granted, she's still getting paid 0:03:57.120 --> 0:04:01.160 while on suspension, suspended with pay. That is the goal 0:04:01.280 --> 0:04:05.840 of every human in America. Don't work, get full pay, 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:07.600 suspended with pay. 0:04:07.920 --> 0:04:12.840 That is the goal of every American, not fired with 0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:18.920 a severance, not vacation, suspended with pay. We should all 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:23.960 be so lucky getting a full paycheck without having to 0:04:24.000 --> 0:04:24.800 do a damn thing. 0:04:26.160 --> 0:04:29.920 So anyways, the fact that she was suspended with pay 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:31.920 and is currently suspended with pay, and by the way, 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:36.960 got a big fat pay raise retroactive while being suspended 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:40.880 with pain. But here's the thing, here's why Crystal Hill 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:43.880 I believe has served her last day as acting superintendent 0:04:43.880 --> 0:04:45.600 because she is not acting superintendent. 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:47.960 That is Melissa Balkknight, one of her. 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:52.159 BFFs that I'm not even joking like I am being 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:55.760 dead serious. Came in from Gaston County, and I can 0:04:55.760 --> 0:04:57.520 tell you a lot of people from Gaston County are going, 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:00.760 thank god she's not here anymore. She can go CMS 0:05:00.920 --> 0:05:04.000 and ruined CMS. There are a lot of people that 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:06.520 I spoke to in Gaston County that we're happy Melissa 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:09.760 Bultmate came along with her BFF or as they call 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:14.839 it in the Central Office CMS, Central Office FOC. 0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:16.200 Friends of Crystal. 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:20.920 FOC and then the NCAA and T mafia. Those are 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:23.760 the two terms. If you went to NCAT or you're 0:05:23.800 --> 0:05:26.640 a FOC, you got a good chance of getting hired 0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:28.600 and a good chance of making two hundred thousand dollars 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:32.080 a year. And by the way, we'll just create a 0:05:32.120 --> 0:05:34.240 position for you and give you two hundred thousand dollars 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:39.760 a year. So anyways, here's why I believe she has 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:43.920 served her last day as acting superintendent. You have suspended 0:05:43.960 --> 0:05:48.640 her with pay. That means, as a board, you believe 0:05:48.720 --> 0:05:52.520 she has done something wrong. There is an investigation by 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:56.279 a law firm trying to figure out what has happened. 0:05:57.000 --> 0:06:00.960 Here's what I've been told by my multiple sources, and 0:06:01.040 --> 0:06:03.559 I think you guys know by now over these lasts 0:06:03.560 --> 0:06:07.120 that started in September tenth, twenty eighteen, nearly eight years, 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:10.640 there is not a single soul in Mecclnberg County that 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:13.960 has more CMS sources than I do. There's a reason 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:18.440 why yours truly has broken the story of the last 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:22.560 three superintendent's getting fired. Even though the school board comes 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:26.760 and goes, everyone kept thinking it was all the people 0:06:26.760 --> 0:06:29.000 on the school board telling me, see that's where you're wrong. 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:31.440 School board people come and go. It was never school 0:06:31.480 --> 0:06:37.240 board people. Never was, never is schoolboard people you can 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:40.160 only count on for a certain amount of time before 0:06:40.200 --> 0:06:40.919 they're gone. 0:06:42.800 --> 0:06:44.760 You have to get people who are lifers. 0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:53.359 So anyways, but with that being said, Christal Hill was 0:06:53.400 --> 0:06:56.040 suspended with pay because the school believes that she has 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:58.839 done something wrong, whether it's the twenty something cars that 0:06:58.880 --> 0:07:01.560 she's given out to all her focs and NCAA T 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:07.280 mafia again Friends of Crystal twenty two people making over 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:09.960 two hundred thousand dollars a year, while Wake County, a 0:07:10.000 --> 0:07:13.400 bigger school system and by all accounts, a better school 0:07:13.440 --> 0:07:18.680 system and a safer school system, only has three people 0:07:18.720 --> 0:07:20.680 making over two hundred thousand dollars a year. So not 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:23.240 only are these people getting cars, they're all getting this 0:07:23.440 --> 0:07:25.520 ridiculous amount of money, more money than they've ever made 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:27.760 in their entire lives, so that the retirement will be 0:07:27.800 --> 0:07:30.760 padded and they can literally retire when they're fifty to 0:07:30.840 --> 0:07:32.960 fifty five sixty and not have to worry about a thing. 0:07:33.520 --> 0:07:33.720 Right. 0:07:36.240 --> 0:07:38.920 So, now that the school board has suspended her with pay, 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:41.280 are you going to bring her back? 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:43.240 Of course not. 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:47.160 You can't because as a school board, especially Stephanie Snead 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:51.119 who buy most accounts, people believe that she has major, 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:54.600 much bigger political aspirations, whether it's mayor or to take 0:07:54.600 --> 0:08:00.120 the place of Alma Adams. You've got major egg on 0:08:00.160 --> 0:08:02.400 your face. And if you bring Crystal back, you know 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:05.680 what you've done. You've empowered her, You've emboldened her. Go 0:08:05.720 --> 0:08:08.680 and see, told you, I haven't done anything wrong. So 0:08:08.760 --> 0:08:10.600 I'm just gonna keep doing what I'm doing, and you 0:08:10.640 --> 0:08:13.600 know what, I might even double down on what I'm doing. 0:08:14.040 --> 0:08:15.360 It's like Oprah Winfrey. 0:08:15.560 --> 0:08:17.400 You get a car, and you get a car, and 0:08:17.440 --> 0:08:25.920 you get a car and you get a car. Right, Okay, 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:33.800 So that's why she can't come back. You embolden her, 0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:36.200 you empower her. And we're also by the way, she 0:08:36.360 --> 0:08:37.680 has not been very effective. 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:38.920 How do we U say? How do you how can 0:08:38.960 --> 0:08:39.520 you say that? Bright? 0:08:39.720 --> 0:08:42.360 Well, she's had three different plans of organization in three 0:08:42.400 --> 0:08:45.560 consecutive years. What quality leader has that? You know what, 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:49.959 here's my plan twelve months later. Man, this plan sucks. 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:53.000 Here's a new plan. Twelve months later. Man, this plan sucks. 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:53.959 Here's a new plan. 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:54.880 Three straight years. 0:08:54.920 --> 0:08:59.720 She's done that completely change the structure and organization will 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:04.199 within the hierarchy of CMS. But you know what I mean, 0:09:04.240 --> 0:09:07.000 this all goes back on the board. You get what 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:10.040 you pay for. You knew what you had in Ernest 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:14.800 Winston zero point zero experience state literally had you change 0:09:14.840 --> 0:09:16.280 the rules in order it in for him to get 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:20.560 the job, literally change the rules, and you swore you'd 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:22.840 never make that mistake again, getting someone for the fourteenth 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:26.360 or seventeenth biggest district in the country with no experience. 0:09:27.280 --> 0:09:31.640 Crystal Hill had zero point zero experience and was like. 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:35.760 Not exactly in charge of a lot of things at 0:09:35.840 --> 0:09:39.480 Cobert's County Schools. From everything I was told that when 0:09:39.520 --> 0:09:42.480 they made her like assistant superintendent or whatever it was. 0:09:42.520 --> 0:09:44.080 It was basically just to get her out of the way, 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:46.600 sort of like the vice president. 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:48.000 Just get out of the way. 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:52.319 Just stand to the side, stay out of the way, 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:56.439 go to the ribbon cuttings, go and like shake hands 0:09:56.440 --> 0:09:59.600 at schools, shake the hands, kiss the babies. 0:10:01.640 --> 0:10:05.080 So zero experience. So what she do. She brought in. 0:10:04.960 --> 0:10:10.439 All her BFFs, the FOC friends of Crystal and ncat 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:13.560 went to NC andt here's a check, here's a check 0:10:15.120 --> 0:10:20.520 Kelly Klutz, like her name was mud in Cabars County 0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:29.640 and in charge of finances and now she's in charge 0:10:29.640 --> 0:10:34.840 of finances here. And as I reported, that was a 0:10:34.880 --> 0:10:37.640 disaster from the beginning. And I asked Crystal Hill about it, 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:40.160 and she's like, well, that's not accurate. And guess what, 0:10:40.160 --> 0:10:42.480 it was one hundred percent accurate everything that reported about 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:46.160 all the people being fired or quitting just in that 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:49.000 finance department. I think at one point, I know it 0:10:49.040 --> 0:10:50.720 was fourteen and I think it got up to eighteen. 0:10:54.280 --> 0:10:59.920 So do I think Crystal Hill's coming back. No, But they, 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:02.080 from what I understand, they were just getting an update 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:04.280 on everything. But I will tell you this from all 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:07.240 my sources, that I have spoken to, and now I much 0:11:07.240 --> 0:11:08.960 to say this earlier when I was talking about sources 0:11:09.320 --> 0:11:13.960 that have a crued from all my sources, and there 0:11:13.960 --> 0:11:18.720 are multiple, many more than anyone else in this city has. 0:11:21.120 --> 0:11:24.440 They were doing the investigations, this law firm, investigating and 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:29.160 interviewing people, and it would be like me interviewing Lonnie 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:33.200 and then all of a sudden, Lonnie dropping something about 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:37.160 Travers and Bernie. Well, now I got to interview Travers 0:11:37.160 --> 0:11:41.679 and Bernie and guess what. They start talking about Keith 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:44.880 Young and they start talking about Mark Garrison, and then 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:46.640 they start talking about Jim z Oki and things that 0:11:46.679 --> 0:11:47.240 were going. 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:48.640 On crazy with that, and I so now I got. 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:51.120 To interview these three people, and they kept having to 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:53.240 go down this rabbit hole because it kept getting deeper 0:11:53.280 --> 0:11:56.160 and deeper and deeper, and the more they investigated and 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:57.160 spoke to people. 0:11:57.160 --> 0:12:01.280 The wider it got, the more people. 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:05.360 So that's what I've been told from day one that 0:12:05.360 --> 0:12:07.160 has been going on that caught a lot of people 0:12:07.160 --> 0:12:08.080 off guard. 0:12:08.640 --> 0:12:10.000 A lot of people apparently. 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:13.080 Have a lot of things to say, especially people that 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:15.560 no longer work at seam as people that were either 0:12:15.600 --> 0:12:18.680 fired or said I am. 0:12:18.559 --> 0:12:26.480 Out so that's what I've been told. I don't know. 0:12:28.320 --> 0:12:30.160 What the end result is or if and when a 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:32.640 decision will be made, no idea about that as I 0:12:32.679 --> 0:12:35.120 talk to you right now, but I do have some 0:12:35.160 --> 0:12:36.360 breaking news when we come back. 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:47.600 Welcome back to Breaking with Brod Johnson. I don't know 0:12:47.600 --> 0:12:49.520 how I follow that and keep it straight face, but 0:12:49.559 --> 0:12:51.800 we'll try, Okay. 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:52.199 So. 0:12:57.600 --> 0:13:03.240 Angela would Angela Wood is the chief Human Resource officer 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:11.480 for CMS. Multiple people last week told me that she 0:13:11.640 --> 0:13:21.360 had resigned. Chief Human Resource Officer had resigned. She hasn't 0:13:21.400 --> 0:13:24.280 been there that long, so you need to know that 0:13:24.520 --> 0:13:30.240 she's only been there since December twenty twenty five. Prior 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:32.800 to that, she was the assistant I mean associates super 0:13:32.800 --> 0:13:35.240 wide in her job since December twenty twenty five. 0:13:35.280 --> 0:13:36.320 I want to make sure I got that clear. 0:13:36.360 --> 0:13:38.960 She was in her job as Chief Human Resource Officer 0:13:39.000 --> 0:13:42.400 at CMS since December twenty twenty five. Prior to that, 0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:45.800 she was the Associate Superintendent of human Resources at CMS 0:13:46.559 --> 0:13:50.160 from starting in July twenty twenty three. Prior to that, 0:13:50.240 --> 0:13:53.800 she was the assistant superintendent of human Resources at Stanley 0:13:53.800 --> 0:13:57.840 County Schools It's ALBUMARO then. Prior to that human resources 0:13:57.880 --> 0:14:01.720 director at Union County Schools. She was only there, not 0:14:01.760 --> 0:14:07.320 even a year. She was only at She was only 0:14:07.440 --> 0:14:14.280 at Stanley County Schools for exactly one year, human resource 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:18.720 director at Cabert's County Schools for a few months, just 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:24.160 a few months from April to October, and then human 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:26.600 resource coordinator at Cambart's County school is part of that 0:14:26.800 --> 0:14:29.880 for six years from twenty fifteen to twenty twenty one. 0:14:30.760 --> 0:14:32.800 And prior to that, she was an assistant principal in 0:14:32.800 --> 0:14:36.080 Cabert's County Schools for twelve or for two years. 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:37.640 From twenty thirteen to twenty fifteen. 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:47.040 So she was a friend of Crystal's FOC. That's literally 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:51.000 what they call them in Central Office at the CMS headquarters. 0:14:51.000 --> 0:14:55.000 They say, oh, that's at FOC, friends of Crystal. Oh 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:58.760 that's part of the NCAA and T mafia. That's not 0:14:58.880 --> 0:15:02.440 my words. These are words coming from people from within 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:06.960 the main office at CMS, the headquarters. These are my words. 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:09.240 These are the people who work there. This is what 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:14.040 they're saying. So usually when you leave at that position, 0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:19.880 you say, like if I resigned tomorrow, said hey, I've 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:24.520 accepted a job with like I went I decided to 0:15:24.560 --> 0:15:27.600 go back to Fox Sports dot Com and you turn 0:15:27.640 --> 0:15:28.360 in your resignation. 0:15:28.520 --> 0:15:29.200 I am accepting. 0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:33.360 I'm turning in my resignation because I've accepted a job wherever. 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:41.240 Right from my understanding, Angela Wood did not do that. 0:15:42.760 --> 0:15:47.400 She just said, see, you wouldn't want to be and 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:53.560 then she gave six weeks notice. But again an foc 0:15:54.400 --> 0:15:56.920 Now there's a lot of speculation as to why she's leaving. 0:15:59.800 --> 0:16:03.320 Is are you leaving quitting as opposed to being fired? 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:08.280 Because you know, let's be honest, I have no idea, 0:16:08.640 --> 0:16:11.040 but we know how this works in the world of business. 0:16:12.720 --> 0:16:15.880 Lonnie. Would you rather be fired or would you rather quit? 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:20.640 And there's especially at that level when you're making over 0:16:20.640 --> 0:16:21.800 two hundred thousand dollars a year. 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:25.520 Would you rather be fired or would you rather quit? Quit? Yeah? 0:16:25.640 --> 0:16:27.720 Yeah, absolutely? You know why because you don't want on 0:16:27.720 --> 0:16:29.840 your resume that you are fired. Because when they call 0:16:29.920 --> 0:16:31.960 human resources, they can say, oh, she was fired. 0:16:32.600 --> 0:16:35.320 I think they can say that. I know there's some 0:16:35.440 --> 0:16:37.040 kind of things of what you can and can't say 0:16:37.200 --> 0:16:38.479 with human resources. 0:16:39.000 --> 0:16:41.200 Now, some people say, oh, no, you're going to have 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:44.800 to fire me, because if you get fired, then you 0:16:44.840 --> 0:16:48.640 get to collect unemployment. But at that level, unemployment's are 0:16:48.680 --> 0:16:51.360 relevant when you're making two twenty five a year. If 0:16:51.360 --> 0:16:53.480 you haven't saved up and you're making two twenty five 0:16:53.520 --> 0:16:55.960 a year, If you're making twenty thousand dollars a year 0:16:56.080 --> 0:17:02.480 or a month and you can't survive, you got a problem, 0:17:02.600 --> 0:17:05.960 at least in short term, you got a problem. So 0:17:06.119 --> 0:17:09.879 Angela would chief human resources officer from everything that I 0:17:09.920 --> 0:17:13.600 was told, turned it in her resignation last week and 0:17:13.640 --> 0:17:20.440 it was this gave a six week notice. That's that's 0:17:20.440 --> 0:17:24.800 pretty telling. Is it purely coincidental? While all this stuff 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:27.320 was going on with Crystal and you talk about all 0:17:27.359 --> 0:17:29.879 these cars and all these contracts and everything else. 0:17:30.480 --> 0:17:30.879 I don't know. 0:17:32.480 --> 0:17:36.760 And someone like Kelly Klutz is she is she gonna 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:39.160 have to resign for the second time in her tenure 0:17:40.480 --> 0:17:42.640 being the chief financial officer of the school district. 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:46.879 She had to in compariss is she gonna have to 0:17:46.920 --> 0:17:49.880 do it here? I don't know. I don't know. 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:53.160 How many of those people are still driving the cars 0:17:53.200 --> 0:17:57.919 that they were given. There's a minimum twenty one or 0:17:57.960 --> 0:18:00.280 twenty twenty one, but I was told was more or not. 0:18:02.400 --> 0:18:07.520 So anyways, you're not gonna hear that info anywhere else 0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:11.639 in this city. Again, these are all coming from people 0:18:12.480 --> 0:18:14.439 very familiar with the situation that told me all this 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:19.160 last week and then again today. So I just wanted 0:18:19.200 --> 0:18:20.880 to pass that along for you. When I find out 0:18:21.080 --> 0:18:26.119 you find out, welcome back to breaking with Brad. 0:18:26.000 --> 0:18:28.280 Jensipers to go up until seven o'clock and then TJ 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:30.520 and the Bear Richie will take you from seven to nine. 0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:31.120 All right. 0:18:31.280 --> 0:18:36.399 So, Charlotte City Council Member Victoria Wallington put out a 0:18:36.520 --> 0:18:42.280 video on Facebook where she discusses the ice seventy seven tolanes. 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:45.439 Now, I will tell you. 0:18:46.840 --> 0:18:54.520 She is highly educated, exceptionally educated. That doesn't mean that 0:18:54.600 --> 0:18:57.720 she's right on things. That doesn't mean that she's woke 0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:05.120 or conservative or whatever. But it just means that she's educated. 0:19:05.359 --> 0:19:07.480 But again, it doesn't mean that she's right. Just means 0:19:07.480 --> 0:19:16.480 that she's educated. And she's got her doctorate degree. And 0:19:19.440 --> 0:19:23.720 the thing is is that you know, she went University 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:30.480 of Florida, got a mechanical engineering degree, got a Master's 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:35.159 of Science from UNC Charlotte and Engineering, and she also 0:19:35.320 --> 0:19:40.680 got a infrastructure or doctorate in infrastructure and environmental systems, 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:45.240 economic mobility and stuff like that and a graduate certificate 0:19:45.280 --> 0:19:47.520 in public policy research and analysis. 0:19:48.720 --> 0:19:50.840 All right, so then now you know her background. 0:19:52.000 --> 0:19:55.360 She put out this video about the I seventy seven 0:19:55.400 --> 0:19:57.320 tollis so what we're going to do is we're going 0:19:57.359 --> 0:19:59.960 to analyze this video or audio video. 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:02.080 But I just took the audio of the video. 0:20:02.840 --> 0:20:07.199 You know, again, we're still talking about seventy seven. Sadly, yes, me, 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:10.440 I'm an engineer, a policy researcher, and an elected official. 0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:12.720 My child's not to have all the answers, but it 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:15.560 is to ask the right question. I help lead the 0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:18.760 vote to recind seventy seven South. Not because I'm against 0:20:18.840 --> 0:20:22.719 mobility investment. I'm not, but because as an engineer, I 0:20:22.760 --> 0:20:24.800 just couldn't get a straight answer on what problem we 0:20:24.800 --> 0:20:25.760 were actually solving. 0:20:27.440 --> 0:20:31.920 Okay, what problem we're actually solving. They have done all 0:20:31.920 --> 0:20:35.960 these studies, and unless I have my information wrong, I 0:20:35.960 --> 0:20:38.640 believe it's nine of the top ten most congested areas 0:20:38.840 --> 0:20:41.160 in the state of North Carolina, or on I seventy 0:20:41.200 --> 0:20:43.080 seven between Carolin's Boulevard and Uptown. 0:20:44.640 --> 0:20:47.560 I think that's right. And if it's not. 0:20:47.560 --> 0:20:49.560 That it's damn close to nine out of the top 0:20:49.600 --> 0:20:50.560 ten in the entire state. 0:20:50.560 --> 0:20:51.280 Of North Carolina. 0:20:52.320 --> 0:20:58.080 So that's one thing widening the lanes. Because let me 0:20:58.080 --> 0:20:59.840 tell you something. Every day that I come here to 0:20:59.840 --> 0:21:04.400 the station across I'm on Wilkinson Boulevard to seventy seven 0:21:04.440 --> 0:21:07.399 going into Wilkinson, I cross over ICE seventy seven, and 0:21:07.480 --> 0:21:10.200 I looked to my left on I seventy seven where 0:21:10.359 --> 0:21:14.359 Woodlawn goes into the exit ramp goes into seventy seven South. 0:21:15.200 --> 0:21:17.040 It stopped at a dead stop. 0:21:17.520 --> 0:21:22.040 Every single day, every single day, it's dead stopped like 0:21:22.240 --> 0:21:23.919 nothing but bright red lights. 0:21:24.440 --> 0:21:26.320 So that's the problem. 0:21:26.359 --> 0:21:30.400 It's going to solve is expanding it and giving more 0:21:30.440 --> 0:21:32.479 writers more options. 0:21:32.160 --> 0:21:33.120 As opposed to. 0:21:33.320 --> 0:21:36.919 Being dead stuck in traffic and taken an hour to 0:21:36.960 --> 0:21:38.760 get home if you live in South Charlotte. 0:21:39.160 --> 0:21:43.120 And now here we go again, same project, same corridor, 0:21:43.280 --> 0:21:47.439 same conversation. So my question isn't widen or don't widen? 0:21:48.080 --> 0:21:52.800 My question is simply, what changed If I seventy seven 0:21:52.880 --> 0:21:55.960 South failed the test before, what new analysis makes it pass? 0:21:56.040 --> 0:21:59.000 Now? Okay, here's the new analysis. 0:22:00.560 --> 0:22:05.880 The reason it failed before wasn't because they thought expanding 0:22:05.920 --> 0:22:09.080 I seventy seven was a bad idea, engineering wise or 0:22:09.080 --> 0:22:10.320 infrastructure wise. 0:22:11.200 --> 0:22:15.480 Because it passed. It passed from the forget go, don't 0:22:15.520 --> 0:22:16.520 forget this thing. 0:22:16.440 --> 0:22:21.200 Passed, and that's why the NCDOT spent more than sixty 0:22:21.240 --> 0:22:26.320 three million dollars. What changed, here's exactly what changed. They 0:22:26.400 --> 0:22:30.400 turned it into a race issue. That's exactly what they did. 0:22:31.240 --> 0:22:36.040 Twenty nine houses. That's the number of houses impacted by this. Now, 0:22:36.320 --> 0:22:39.560 some can say an entire neighborhood, and there's been history, and. 0:22:40.320 --> 0:22:41.879 I get it. But I got news for you. 0:22:42.480 --> 0:22:45.080 That's not the only neighborhood that's ever been impacted by 0:22:45.080 --> 0:22:49.040 a road being expanded in the city of Charlotte. How 0:22:49.040 --> 0:22:52.679 about I seventy seven toll lanes from uptown all the 0:22:52.680 --> 0:22:55.080 way to Davidson. So you tell me there were no 0:22:55.119 --> 0:23:02.560 neighborhoods impacted all the way to Davidson. Okay, So here's 0:23:02.560 --> 0:23:06.119 another thing. So they turned it into a race issue. 0:23:06.359 --> 0:23:10.399 Even though your city council voted for this and everyone else, 0:23:11.560 --> 0:23:15.920 they turned it into a race issue. And because there's 0:23:16.440 --> 0:23:22.399 what one white person on city council, I think. I 0:23:22.400 --> 0:23:27.440 think there's one white person at Driggs. I think everyone else, 0:23:27.480 --> 0:23:33.280 whether it's Asian, Hispanic, or black, I think that makes 0:23:33.320 --> 0:23:35.240 up the rest of the city. 0:23:35.280 --> 0:23:37.040 Council. 0:23:37.200 --> 0:23:40.080 So with that being said, it was turned into a 0:23:40.200 --> 0:23:45.080 race issue, not a people issue. Oh and you know 0:23:45.119 --> 0:23:48.840 why they're also now revisiting this because the state just 0:23:48.880 --> 0:23:52.240 passed a law on the budget that said, yeah, Charlotte, 0:23:52.440 --> 0:23:54.400 you have to write back and check for sixty three 0:23:54.440 --> 0:23:56.840 million dollars. And Cornelis is like, well, we can't afford that, 0:23:57.119 --> 0:23:59.600 and Minhill's like we can't afford that, and Monroe's like 0:23:59.640 --> 0:24:02.439 we can afford that. So all these small towns are like, 0:24:02.640 --> 0:24:05.480 we can't afford that. We can't just struct a check. 0:24:06.640 --> 0:24:08.520 So guess what, we're gonna vote for it, and we're 0:24:08.520 --> 0:24:12.719 gonna put all the money on Matthews and Muckleburg County 0:24:13.359 --> 0:24:15.720 and the city is Charlotte. You three are not going 0:24:15.760 --> 0:24:20.160 to be responsible for having to pay this back. That's 0:24:20.200 --> 0:24:25.120 what's changed. You voted for it. You turned it into 0:24:25.119 --> 0:24:29.479 a race issue, NCDOT, and the state legislature said you 0:24:29.560 --> 0:24:31.480 now have to pay back the sixty three million dollars 0:24:31.480 --> 0:24:32.840 because you had initially voted for it. 0:24:33.760 --> 0:24:36.160 That's what's changed. Don't act like you don't know. 0:24:37.000 --> 0:24:39.359 Because if the answer is, well, nothing changed, but the 0:24:39.400 --> 0:24:43.640 pressure did. That's not a transportation decision that's a political one. 0:24:43.680 --> 0:24:45.080 Wearing an engineering. 0:24:44.640 --> 0:24:50.720 Costume political decision. No, No, turning it into a race issue. 0:24:50.960 --> 0:24:53.960 You made it a political situation by turning it into 0:24:54.040 --> 0:24:56.439