Speaker 1: Don't want to be an Americans got flown back on
Speaker 1: seven hundred wlw welcome to it. We are out of
Speaker 1: the deep freeze into just the regular freeze right now,
Speaker 1: starting off today, the city has reversed it's a controversial
Speaker 1: eleven PM cut off for food trucks. I know, not
Speaker 1: too many people lining up for a slice of pie
Speaker 1: at two o'clock in the morning when it's thirty five
Speaker 1: thousand degrees below zero. But nonetheless things have been right
Speaker 1: I guess wrongs have been righted here. Initially you may
Speaker 1: recalls a public safety issue because of crime. It was
Speaker 1: a city manager office just issued an edict and declared
Speaker 1: that's it. You got to shut everything down at eleven
Speaker 1: mero on the bar's rubble at two o'clock and if
Speaker 1: you want something to eat when you're leaving at closing time,
Speaker 1: your sol The complaint was that too many people were
Speaker 1: gathering and causing problems and having street beefs. And again
Speaker 1: that sounds like an enforcement issue. Why punish the vendor.
Speaker 1: But at least a little bit of common senses have
Speaker 1: been restored, and she's been leading the charge on this.
Speaker 1: Council Member Anna Alby, welcome back.
Speaker 2: How you been good. Thanks so much for having me
Speaker 2: this story.
Speaker 1: It feels like a win, doesn't it.
Speaker 2: It does? It does. No, I'm glad that, you know,
Speaker 2: working with the administration, we were able to hit this
Speaker 2: kind of compromise to move the the end time go
Speaker 2: back to one am on Fridays and Saturdays and Sundays. Yeah. Great.
Speaker 1: It seems so punitive too that and it was sure
Speaker 1: a long city manager just simply said this is the
Speaker 1: way it's going to be, you know, kind of like
Speaker 1: an executive order almost, And that's the part that struck
Speaker 1: me is awful is the fact that there was no input.
Speaker 1: There was no input from the food truck vendors, There
Speaker 1: was no input from businesses or people. They simply move
Speaker 1: forward as like an emergency order. That was the troubling
Speaker 1: part about this because none of it made sense, but
Speaker 1: only to share a loan.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I totally agree. And right now we're in a
Speaker 2: phase where the administrations having active conversations with the Food
Speaker 2: Truck Association, which is something that it comes to member
Speaker 2: Mark Jeffries, Vice Mary Michelle when McCarney and I were
Speaker 2: all like, hey, have you talked to the food truck
Speaker 2: And initially when this edict as you call it, came
Speaker 2: down at the eleven pm cutoff. They hadn't they hadn't
Speaker 2: yet talked to them, and in fact, it took a
Speaker 2: handful of weeks in coordination through City Council to actually
Speaker 2: get the administration and the food Truck Association in contact.
Speaker 2: They even have these conversations, so they are chatting now,
Speaker 2: and my understanding is there could be more changes coming.
Speaker 2: But to me, it's this open dialogue and looking at
Speaker 2: this holistically and not just coming down with this like
Speaker 2: big eleven pm cut off without the broader conversation.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it makes sense. Did you look at any
Speaker 1: did you have any data or analysis that convinced you
Speaker 1: eleven o'clock wasn't justified?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Absolutely. So that was another thing that I really
Speaker 2: hounded administration on the very first time they showed up
Speaker 2: the Council, because they came and gave kind of an
Speaker 2: oral presentation. I said, hey, where's the data. So they
Speaker 2: did come back to us with some data points about
Speaker 2: a couple hotspot areas where food trucks typically gather. But
Speaker 2: I'll be honest, the numbers were not compelling. They kind
Speaker 2: of compared a year over year before and after this,
Speaker 2: eleven PM was put in place, and at best it
Speaker 2: was kind of a neutral implementation, and that was really
Speaker 2: what led me and couple member Jeffreys to continue to
Speaker 2: push back to say, hey, this data is not supporting that,
Speaker 2: this is making it different. Now, there could still be
Speaker 2: issues that you mentioned at the top here that you know,
Speaker 2: there were some issues of people gathering. Great, let's look
Speaker 2: at the enforcement and what's actually causing that.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: Something I've been interested in is is there something happening
Speaker 2: at the bars nearby? Is they're over serving? Are there
Speaker 2: other things happening not that that are separate from the
Speaker 2: food trucks?
Speaker 1: Right? And bars can hopital two o'clock, but the food
Speaker 1: trucks can't. And I guess this this compromise is a
Speaker 1: little bit better here too. So it's one o'clock as
Speaker 1: opposed to three am after the bar is closed. But
Speaker 1: what happens if all of a sudden, hey, we start
Speaker 1: having fights and problems around the food trucks. To me,
Speaker 1: that seems more whether it's you know, one am or
Speaker 1: three am, that's a criminal enforcement issue shouldn't be on
Speaker 1: the food truck vendors.
Speaker 2: I agree, And the one am the concept there is,
Speaker 2: give the CPD and everyone about an hour to clear
Speaker 2: out before the bar is closed, right, right, So get
Speaker 2: people home because part of the issue was people were
Speaker 2: getting out of the bars, going to the food truck
Speaker 2: and then hanging out for hours longer, well into the
Speaker 2: morning time. So this actually has that cut off a
Speaker 2: little bit before the bars get out, so people can
Speaker 2: go home and kind of clear out. So hopefully that will,
Speaker 2: you know, handle that issue with the crowds. But if
Speaker 2: there are issues going forward, to your point, let's look
Speaker 2: at what's happening, what's causing it. You know, since time police,
Speaker 2: we pride ourselves on being problem solvers, and to me,
Speaker 2: this just takes a little bit more problem solving and
Speaker 2: investigations to really figure out what's going on. If there
Speaker 2: are issues, I'm not convinced there will be knock on words. Yeah,
Speaker 2: hopefully everyone will be on their good behavior and we
Speaker 2: can enjoy everything food trucks bring to our city.
Speaker 1: Right you mentioned you know, maybe there's further discussions here
Speaker 1: with the Food Truck Association specifically, could could you wind
Speaker 1: up extending hours at some point?
Speaker 2: I think everything's on the table right now. One of
Speaker 2: the questions even to who's responsible kind of the areas
Speaker 2: around you know, how do we make sure we understand
Speaker 2: where food trucks are setting up, who's responsible in the
Speaker 2: perimeter of the food truck, you know, trash or litters
Speaker 2: left behind? So all those things are in conversation now
Speaker 2: and again at the end of the day. My goal
Speaker 2: here is one absolutely ensure safety, but two make sure
Speaker 2: these small businesses have an opportunity to grow and thrive. Right,
Speaker 2: our food trucks are often the first step into getting
Speaker 2: a brick and mortar and these are a lot of
Speaker 2: small businesses, very narrow margins, right, They're independent operators who
Speaker 2: are just trying to get a leg up here. So
Speaker 2: I'm hoping that in these conversations we can figure out
Speaker 2: for both sides here, right, public safety, the public spicks,
Speaker 2: but also say, the food truck you know, what does
Speaker 2: this industry need to grow and thrive while so making
Speaker 2: sure everyone's safe at.
Speaker 1: The end of the day and all, but we're still
Speaker 1: going to have crime. And it's a big city, so
Speaker 1: you will have that. But I think by any metric,
Speaker 1: any measure, and any you know, it doesn't pass a
Speaker 1: sniff test. As how we've been approaching crime in the
Speaker 1: city for a long time now, and it looks like
Speaker 1: the things starting to turn to the right way as
Speaker 1: opposed to giving people, you know, enough elbow space and
Speaker 1: free birth to do what they want. The problem is
Speaker 1: it just victimizes business. I bring this up because in Madisonville,
Speaker 1: I don't know if you heard the story not, it's a
Speaker 1: place called the Cheese Kkery and Liz Field is the
Speaker 1: owner there. She started her business looks like a nice
Speaker 1: little shop in that she said she's gonna have to
Speaker 1: close now. And the reason she has to close is
Speaker 1: because of what we're talking about here, and that is
Speaker 1: an element that is causing her employees to quit and drow.
Speaker 1: She can't stay open now. Part of this, of course,
Speaker 1: is the economic climate. We can't ignore the fact that
Speaker 1: their sales are down significantly because of the economy. But
Speaker 1: it doesn't help when largely female workers there are being
Speaker 1: harassed by teenagers who are running around, screaming, throwing things,
Speaker 1: stealing from the store, leaving trash around, threatening employees because
Speaker 1: they're not giving them free items. You have homeless people
Speaker 1: or homeless man confronting employees and customers makes them feel unsafe.
Speaker 1: And it's not just her, it's other businesses on the
Speaker 1: street there Madisonville, let's see the same thing. So it's
Speaker 1: not isolated. And I bring this up because Lempika by
Speaker 1: Jeff Ruby is closing and part of the concern there
Speaker 1: with safety downtown. So whether it's downtown in the central
Speaker 1: Business District or right next to the aaronof Center or
Speaker 1: in Madisonville, it's part of a bigger problem here and
Speaker 1: that is crime that is helping destroy business. In the
Speaker 1: food truck thing didn't help relative to Madisonville. I'm sure
Speaker 1: you're aware of this, and if you're on only informed
Speaker 1: you that's not a good look for the city.
Speaker 2: You know, this is Liza the Chief Sakries is a
Speaker 2: neighbors So when I saw her do her initial post
Speaker 2: on Facebook, I reached out immediately and we had CPD
Speaker 2: in contact with her. And you know, I think with
Speaker 2: the Sunday night, by Monday morning, they're reaching out and
Speaker 2: you know, I think ultimately she posted last night or yesterday,
Speaker 2: I think that she's been working with a mentor and
Speaker 2: the decision she's making is frankly, to simplify her business.
Speaker 2: So they need to grow, so they're going to focus
Speaker 2: on their one storefront and Anderson. You know, it is,
Speaker 2: to your point, is a tough economic clignment right now
Speaker 2: for small businesses, So expanding having to deal with two
Speaker 2: storefronts is obviously going to be a bigger lift than one.
Speaker 2: So the post she put most recently on Facebook was
Speaker 2: all around kind of focusing their efforts in that one
Speaker 2: store in Anderson, really kind of simplifying their operations. So
Speaker 2: I hope the best privilege. Like I said, she's a friend,
Speaker 2: she's a neighbor. I love the Chiefe Cakery. My parents
Speaker 2: live in Anderson, so I'll still be able to enjoy
Speaker 2: her products when i go down to visit them, So
Speaker 2: you know, I'm hoping the best for her. And you know, ultimately,
Speaker 2: you know, Cincinnati, we are tackling, you know, all public
Speaker 2: safety across the board head on. And we've actually in Madisonville,
Speaker 2: our crime stats have looked really good for the year,
Speaker 2: and I'm actually very proud of kind of what our
Speaker 2: neighborhood has done over the past decades plus where we
Speaker 2: are a safe neighborhood where people are out and about,
Speaker 2: And really what I'm excited for in our business district
Speaker 2: is actually more businesses in the vacant storefronts, because that's
Speaker 2: really what's going to activate the Madisonvilleusiness District is getting
Speaker 2: more people into that space, more businesses, more vitality. And
Speaker 2: that's what I want in every neighborhood, right, Like when
Speaker 2: I picture kind of what a city is, right, you
Speaker 2: want to stay kind of people bustling around, going into
Speaker 2: storefronts and all of that. So that is my goal
Speaker 2: for here at Madisonville, but across the entire city.
Speaker 1: I think part of the problem too, talking too CPD
Speaker 1: officers there and you may know this as well, in particular,
Speaker 1: one homeless person individual is causing a lot of the
Speaker 1: problems as well in cops quite honestly because of the
Speaker 1: Irish rawleys, because of the homeless coalitions and the like.
Speaker 1: If they start running those people off, individuals like that off,
Speaker 1: then you bear their wrath. And the administration seems to
Speaker 1: lean on the side of you know, the homeless and
Speaker 1: the indigen as opposed to business owners. That I think
Speaker 1: that's also part of the problem. Is that starting to change.
Speaker 1: Are we starting to have more balance or is that
Speaker 1: just simply incorrect from police officers.
Speaker 2: Well, let me just talk about so we have a
Speaker 2: gentleman in our neighborhood and he struggles with mental health.
Speaker 2: He's a known person in our neighborhood and frankly, many
Speaker 2: of the neighbors, residents, store owners here take care of him.
Speaker 2: He has frequent in other places like mad MoMA and
Speaker 2: they'll get coffee, you know, keep them warm. He'll often
Speaker 2: go into our public library that's right there. They are
Speaker 2: the staff, They're familiar with him. He is a part
Speaker 2: of our community, and frankly, having mental issues is not
Speaker 2: a crime, right Like I am not here to criminalize
Speaker 2: people who are struggling. We need to make sure we're
Speaker 2: connecting them with the care and services they need. So again,
Speaker 2: when I contact the CPD in the city administration about
Speaker 2: this whole chiefcake free thing, I made sure that we
Speaker 2: understood that this gentleman it was put in touch with
Speaker 2: the people he needed to to make sure that he
Speaker 2: was on his care plan and getting what he needs.
Speaker 2: Because again, at the end of the day, we want
Speaker 2: to make sure everyone is safe in our community and
Speaker 2: those who are struggling with mental illnesses, so we got
Speaker 2: to get them into the care that they need so
Speaker 2: everyone's face and feels comfortable.
Speaker 1: I'm fine with what you said was getting someone in
Speaker 1: need care. I mean, we just saw what happened with
Speaker 1: Rob Bryner and his wife was just terrific. Mental health
Speaker 1: looks like a significant mental health crisis. There are issues
Speaker 1: for sure with I don't know the full story yet,
Speaker 1: but uh, at some point we will uh in getting
Speaker 1: the people. You know, and this is a whole separate
Speaker 1: topic about mental health, which is a big deal for me.
Speaker 1: And you know, I focus some some of the portion
Speaker 1: of the show on that weekly because it is a
Speaker 1: problem in America.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: But you know that that attitude is great, but at
Speaker 1: the same time, you have to look at it and go, well,
Speaker 1: if they're harming and they're threatening people, they don't feel
Speaker 1: safe and workers are quitting. To me, that crosses the
Speaker 1: line and there's got to be more strict intervention on that.
Speaker 1: But it doesn't mean you're cruel because you're segregating someone
Speaker 1: or punishment or whatever it might be. I think you
Speaker 1: also can you know, have two two kid glove a
Speaker 1: feel where I mean, it's not entirely the reason why
Speaker 1: the cheese cakeory is closing, but make no mistake about it,
Speaker 1: but it's a it's a part of the reason you
Speaker 1: can't keep employees because they're afraid of this one individual.
Speaker 1: We can't have that.
Speaker 2: I agree, And you know, in this situation, I don't
Speaker 2: know all the reasons. You know, it's made her decision.
Speaker 2: Sounds like she's working with a mentor. Now. Like what
Speaker 2: I can say is there are other businesses and organizations
Speaker 2: in Madisonville that are familiar with this gentleman and have
Speaker 2: not had the same issues and he and frankly, I'll
Speaker 2: be honest. I the next day received many calls from
Speaker 2: Madisonville community leaders, community council, the business chamber, the development corporation,
Speaker 2: many of them who were worried about this gentleman safety
Speaker 2: himself because posts online were so threatening towards this man
Speaker 2: that people were going to hunt him down, that people
Speaker 2: were worried about his safety. So you know, again, we
Speaker 2: don't want to create any hype of environment where anyone put.
Speaker 1: Yeah, she is a council member, Anna, I'll be on
Speaker 1: the show. We have a new food truck law in Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: They have eased back on the restrictions closing stuff down
Speaker 1: eleven o'clock and where you can congregate, and like, is
Speaker 1: that also part of the issue too, is where the
Speaker 1: food truck set up because it seems to me the
Speaker 1: whole purpose of the food truck is putting the parking
Speaker 1: the truck where people are. We talked about different zones
Speaker 1: and areas, but uh, you know, I think, you know,
Speaker 1: within reason, it should be up to the person who
Speaker 1: owns the truck or drive truct determine where the crowd
Speaker 1: is to feed them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and right now, the ordinance that council pass right
Speaker 2: before I got on opened up those parking to kind
Speaker 2: of anywhere there's a parking space food trucks can go.
Speaker 2: They still congregate in places where you would sink right
Speaker 2: ear bars in your activities, right, you don't want to
Speaker 2: be off, you know, far away from everything. But I
Speaker 2: do think it's worth a conversation with the administration because
Speaker 2: if one of the questions is how do we make
Speaker 2: the areas around food truck safer, well, do we need
Speaker 2: to consolidate and come back to food truck zone that
Speaker 2: are in those you know, fun area areas of the
Speaker 2: town to make sure that we can have you know,
Speaker 2: maybe extra patrols in that space, or that we're actually
Speaker 2: providing additional safety with a well lisp spot. So I
Speaker 2: think there's probably a middle ground here right somewhere between,
Speaker 2: go wherever you want, and you can only be in
Speaker 2: this one spot that somehow gives us a balance into Hey,
Speaker 2: we want you to be close to where all the
Speaker 2: fun things are happening, but we also want to have
Speaker 2: an idea of where you're going to be. That way,
Speaker 2: we can make sure that you're in a spot that
Speaker 2: has you know, good lighting cameras. Maybe we have an
Speaker 2: extra officer patrol nearby just in case. So I'm hoping
Speaker 2: the conversations with the city administration, the food Truck Association
Speaker 2: can talk through all this because I think that is
Speaker 2: what will hopefully get us to the best outcome at
Speaker 2: the end.
Speaker 1: Well, ultimately, once you right size the police staff right
Speaker 1: where one hundred and fifty officers short, now we're working.
Speaker 1: We're behind the eight ball, working to try and get
Speaker 1: more on the street. But that's part of the problems.
Speaker 1: You don't have patrols out there to saturate areas where
Speaker 1: people congregate, and so you just respond and you chase
Speaker 1: calls as opposed to having a visible presence. Every time
Speaker 1: I'm downtown, I do see more mark units, whether it's
Speaker 1: CPD or sheriff's vehicles that are just simply parked there,
Speaker 1: and that's a deterrent I would think for a lot
Speaker 1: of people because they think, you know, obviously an officer
Speaker 1: is close by, and so adding more patrols and officers
Speaker 1: is going to help remedy the situation and everyone can
Speaker 1: have fun again in our city and that's what it
Speaker 1: should be about. And I'll be a council member. Thanks
Speaker 1: so much for joining the show this morning. Great to
Speaker 1: talk to you. And happy holidays.
Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks so much, Happy holidays, Take care.
Speaker 1: All the best. I got to get a news update
Speaker 1: in in just minutes on the Big one seven hundred
Speaker 1: WLW when we return here on the Scott Slan Show.
Speaker 1: Just made me think of something, how this is related
Speaker 1: to what happens Sunday at pay Corpse Stadium. Wait, what
Speaker 1: what do food trucks have to do with pay Corpse Stadium?
Speaker 1: I'll tell you coming up after news on seven hundred
Speaker 1: WW