Speaker 1: Don't want to be an American.
Speaker 2: Welcome to We got lots going on this morning in
Speaker 2: scottslone show on seven hundred W WELW.
Speaker 1: I don't have to tell you.
Speaker 2: The government's reopened and we've got Epstein files to talk about.
Speaker 2: In just so much more, a little closer to home,
Speaker 2: Cincinnati proposing a stricter nine to five curfew for miners
Speaker 2: under eighteen on short Fine. We're talking about this yesterday
Speaker 2: with other council members, so short Finding, you see, and
Speaker 2: it's gonna be a think between Daniel Street and Corey
Speaker 2: and it moved out of committee and now Consul's a
Speaker 2: whole vote for this thing. And so the idea is
Speaker 2: we have crime that since they've been cracking down on
Speaker 2: Fountain Square in downtown and OTR that we're seeing juveniles
Speaker 2: in particular move towards short Vine. And of course we
Speaker 2: had a fifteen year old charge with murder in April.
Speaker 2: Remember the shooting outside of the liquor store Halloween weekend.
Speaker 2: There was gunfly fire and a bunch of tons of
Speaker 2: UC students out there in costume enjoying the fun of
Speaker 2: Halloween weekend that was upset by gunfire. Fortunately, no one
Speaker 2: was struck there and so we're going to try another
Speaker 2: curfew here of many curfews. She is counselmer reelect Meka
Speaker 2: Owhen's joining the show this morning on seven hundred WW Mika,
Speaker 2: welcome back and congratulations.
Speaker 1: By the way, thank you, Scott.
Speaker 3: I am very happy to do that your listeners and
Speaker 3: the voters of this city and trusting me to get
Speaker 3: back to work in the city Hall. There's so much
Speaker 3: for us to do. Safety is at the top of
Speaker 3: the list, uh, you know, and no one moves to
Speaker 3: a city where they don't feel safe until it's important
Speaker 3: that we make sure that every single neighborhood feels that way.
Speaker 3: So building more housing, transportations, so many things for us
Speaker 3: to accomplish.
Speaker 1: Were you surprised do you finish third? Overall?
Speaker 3: You know, I never take anything for granted. You know,
Speaker 3: you run a race, and you run at this it's
Speaker 3: your first time running, and so I am just grateful
Speaker 3: that again, folks, you know, decided that the work that
Speaker 3: I've been doing is valuable to moving this city forward.
Speaker 3: And at the end of the day, you know, it's
Speaker 3: like the placement is great, but for voters to say yes,
Speaker 3: I want you to represent me, represents the city at large.
Speaker 3: That is a huge responsibility, and so it's really about
Speaker 3: getting back and doing their work.
Speaker 1: Good, good, good.
Speaker 2: I want to name recognition obviously, but finishing third and
Speaker 2: ahead of another bunch of other prominent Democrats is pretty
Speaker 2: big final point on the election because this is obviously
Speaker 2: concerning as well. We know that the Charter Rights three
Speaker 2: is a Democratic sweep on council. Democrats had a great
Speaker 2: night like yourself on Tuesday election night, but relative to
Speaker 2: the Charter Rights who made a lot of noise, and
Speaker 2: I think they made some really strong arguments about getting
Speaker 2: serious about public safety. And even though they didn't place
Speaker 2: and it was a sweep, do you still listen to
Speaker 2: that and go, well, you know what, there's a lot
Speaker 2: of animosity here and we've handled things poorly relative to
Speaker 2: crime here in Cincinnati. Do you get a message from
Speaker 2: the voters on that, you know?
Speaker 3: I would say the voters have entrusted and have looked
Speaker 3: to the city's budget to understand that we are investing
Speaker 3: in public safety and it's a continual investment, and so
Speaker 3: I think voters see that we are taking that seriously
Speaker 3: and crime. Getting a handle on crime takes a lot
Speaker 3: of components, one of which your CPD you know, environment improves,
Speaker 3: improved communities, investments in communities, young people having opportunities. These
Speaker 3: are all factors. But certainly the way that we respond
Speaker 3: and give the resources to CPD uh and the laws
Speaker 3: and policies that we would create around that are also
Speaker 3: very very important.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then that's the outlart too, is we have
Speaker 2: to wait for all these police recruits and classes to
Speaker 2: come to fruition before we see the fruits of that.
Speaker 2: So it's going to be a while before all this happens,
Speaker 2: and we're still going to have, sadly some crime going on.
Speaker 1: I mentioned what's going in and around you.
Speaker 2: Ce Mika Owens, one of the people who were interviewed
Speaker 2: out there, said, hey, listen, now we put a curfew
Speaker 2: up here, the crowd comes up, Well, they'll just move
Speaker 2: somewhere else. Are we just playing like whack a mole
Speaker 2: with this problem?
Speaker 3: You know, I don't think we're playing black them all.
Speaker 3: I think we're being very responsive. And certainly, again, you know,
Speaker 3: you apply the resources where you see there might be problems,
Speaker 3: and at the end of the day, and it's so
Speaker 3: important that our young people feel safe. Those that are
Speaker 3: you know, going to uce to to further their education.
Speaker 3: No one should live in an environment where gunshots become
Speaker 3: the norm, and so it's it's all hands on deck.
Speaker 3: You know, we're knowing that that folks are stilling done
Speaker 3: out of vehicles, and so it's important that people keep
Speaker 3: their firearms stored properly in the city of Cincinnati, including
Speaker 3: in your home and in the car. So it's you know,
Speaker 3: it's something that we're not taking our foot off to deat.
Speaker 2: Well, not only that, I mean, let's talk about this
Speaker 2: from a consumer spurtsvactive here. We know the trouble that
Speaker 2: colleges are going through. The bubble feels like it is
Speaker 2: deflating and sometimes rapidly the value of a college degree
Speaker 2: for what you pay for worse as you get that's
Speaker 2: a can But as we have fewer students and schools,
Speaker 2: some schools going out of business, let's put it that way.
Speaker 2: We're seeing that across the country, if not in Ohio.
Speaker 2: Now we all of a sudden, you know, we have
Speaker 2: schools that are vying going to be vying shortly for
Speaker 2: kids to come there. If crime is a huge factor
Speaker 2: in and around universitys, Cincinnati does that hurt enrollment. Is
Speaker 2: that a concern of the administration you see be the city.
Speaker 3: Well, I'm not talked directly to see it administration, but
Speaker 3: certainly if you know any time that again, people perception
Speaker 3: of safety is not one that is positive. And certainly
Speaker 3: people will make decisions on where they go, where they
Speaker 3: invest their money, where they send their young people to school,
Speaker 3: and so absolutely from not only a community perspective, but
Speaker 3: from a talent perspective as well. And so when we
Speaker 3: as not only a state but a city, are competing
Speaker 3: with other places, it's important that you know, young people
Speaker 3: feel like they can come to Cincinnati, get an education,
Speaker 3: and ultimately stay here as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Mika Owens.
Speaker 2: With the problems you have with this, of course, is
Speaker 2: that this is going to crack down on teenagers, those
Speaker 2: under eighteen and short vindor you see from nine to
Speaker 2: five it's gonna be nine to five curfew. Other In fact,
Speaker 2: we have all these staggered curf kind of like parking.
Speaker 2: You know, the different parking zones across the city. I
Speaker 2: can figure that with an app but in one area
Speaker 2: I can be eighteen and it's eleven o'clock. Here it's
Speaker 2: nine o'clock here, it's that can be kind of confusing
Speaker 2: relative to enforcement, But the more important element is the
Speaker 2: fact that you're now restricting eighteen year olds around a
Speaker 2: whole bunch of other eighteen year olds are going to
Speaker 2: be there. The bulk of those go to UC or
Speaker 2: any college for that matter, and the eighteen to twenty
Speaker 2: year old range. How do you discern the people who
Speaker 2: should be there versus the ones that should no? Or
Speaker 2: does this simply stop people from going out after nine
Speaker 2: o'clock in a college campus and generally going to school?
Speaker 1: Myself, I remember the days, you know.
Speaker 2: You'd stay up till three, four, five o'clock in the
Speaker 2: morning sometimes because the way your body clock works. How
Speaker 2: is that going to work with these students that are
Speaker 2: out spending money and joining their lives versus those who
Speaker 2: shouldn't be there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, certainly, I think this is going to be something
Speaker 3: that CPD and you see are going to have to
Speaker 3: work out through our shirt MoU. But ultimately, again, it's
Speaker 3: about making this environment safe, which, by the way, I'm
Speaker 3: sure you're aware that you know, Chief Isaac, the chief
Speaker 3: of DC suggested that this was a good step forward
Speaker 3: as well, and so you know, we're taking in all
Speaker 3: of the information and data, and you know, the city
Speaker 3: the administration is not making just decisions and silos. But
Speaker 3: you know, listening to CPD is important in this as well.
Speaker 3: But ultimately, you know this is going to take business owners.
Speaker 3: You see CPD young people communication to make sure that
Speaker 3: people are safe, but also making sure that there are
Speaker 3: no unintended consequences. And you know, as it relates to
Speaker 3: business owners, I too, you know I went to Miami
Speaker 3: and so uptown, yes was that place that you you
Speaker 3: went on on the weekends and patronized businesses And so
Speaker 3: ultimately we want to make sure that our businesses are
Speaker 3: not suffering. And so this will again be the continued
Speaker 3: part of the conversation. And I certainly am invested in
Speaker 3: working with the administration on these things, including our food
Speaker 3: trucks right, making sure that food trucks even looking at
Speaker 3: you know, where they might be able to be so
Speaker 3: that they can continue to gain business and people, you know,
Speaker 3: will patronize our small businesses.
Speaker 1: Do you agree with the eleven o'clock food truck band?
Speaker 3: Again, I think it was a response to what the
Speaker 3: administration and TGD saw with the fight that happened. You know,
Speaker 3: people congregating at three o'clock in the morning around food
Speaker 3: trucks is not the best idea, and so I think
Speaker 3: having something that is more consistent, something that also helps
Speaker 3: to create more of an economic, you know, development opportunity.
Speaker 3: When we think about food trucks that want are certified,
Speaker 3: you have the health certification, you're doing all the right things,
Speaker 3: you have a place to do business, and the city
Speaker 3: is creating a foundation for that. I think these are
Speaker 3: all things that are part of the tools and so
Speaker 3: again I think what's important is that we're not doing
Speaker 3: these things blanketly, but also making sure that we are
Speaker 3: coming back and reviewing what are any unintended consequences and
Speaker 3: how might we create solutions around that.
Speaker 1: I'll be honest with the MECO.
Speaker 2: And it feels punitive to me as a business owner
Speaker 2: in that, you know, I'm out there selling a product
Speaker 2: to people I don't know their background. I had a
Speaker 2: new background checks when somebody buys a hot dog, nor
Speaker 2: should you. And then because of some few bad actors,
Speaker 2: I have to shut down eleven o'clock when I could
Speaker 2: be making pretty good money. And let's face it, I
Speaker 2: don't know what the options are. Clifton at midnight or
Speaker 2: one o'clock or two o'clock in the morning when the
Speaker 2: bar's closed. But I know, as you went to Miami,
Speaker 2: there's a lot of windows, says, food trucks up there now,
Speaker 2: robots and everything else. And so you know, you can
Speaker 2: get food on the campus of Miami. That's a little
Speaker 2: different that you see. But the point is there's a
Speaker 2: market there for that, and someone created a business and
Speaker 2: models satisfy that. It's kind of like going, hey, you
Speaker 2: know what, we had a problem with people stealing cars,
Speaker 2: are driving the recklessly on the street to downtown Cincinnati,
Speaker 2: which we see all the time now with the sheriff
Speaker 2: or the State Highway Patrol helicopters.
Speaker 1: You know what we're gonna do. We're having a curfew now.
Speaker 2: You can't drive on the streets after eleven o'clock because
Speaker 2: some people are driving too fast.
Speaker 1: Isn't it the same thing?
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, you know, I certainly hear that from members
Speaker 3: of the community, and so I think our best response
Speaker 3: right now is to one create an environment that build states,
Speaker 3: you know, create a baseline for even understanding the economic
Speaker 3: impacts to our small businesses, our food trucks specifically, and
Speaker 3: so by way of you know, really creating an environment
Speaker 3: where we know where people are, you know, how to
Speaker 3: get a spot. All of those things help to really
Speaker 3: shape an environment that's probably an improvement and where we
Speaker 3: are now. But again, I am very committed to working
Speaker 3: with the administration to make sure that their solutions rather
Speaker 3: than you know, people thinking they are obstacles orthdencies. So
Speaker 3: it is something that I again I am hearing and
Speaker 3: it's something that is a priority for me to follow
Speaker 3: up on.
Speaker 2: Council memorial Coltlock Mika Owens on the show on seven
Speaker 2: hundred WLWN talking about the curfew proposal. Downtown Law and
Speaker 2: Public Safety voted on this. It moved out of committee
Speaker 2: to Council as a whole. Now they'll vote equal, will
Speaker 2: vote on this shortly to propose as a nine to
Speaker 2: five curfew on short find. You see, because of the
Speaker 2: problems they had there, we saw some of the violent
Speaker 2: crime move from Fountain Square OTR and downtown to Clifton
Speaker 2: and that's a no go because we saw what happened
Speaker 2: on Halloween. We saw a fatal shooting back in April,
Speaker 2: and it's not good when you have college students around
Speaker 2: and you know, mom and dad foot the bill or
Speaker 2: you're you're taking out a lot of money for college education.
Speaker 2: Public safety at this level should not be concern and
Speaker 2: yet it is because of the nature of the urban campus.
Speaker 2: And we're talking about that vote coming up here on
Speaker 2: the show on seven hundred WLW. Back to the curfew itself,
Speaker 2: because we had the curfews, downtown, city wide curfew, the
Speaker 2: curfew of the banks. We've got this curfew you have
Speaker 2: the same time. We've been doing this since what August,
Speaker 2: So it's a fairly okay sample size, I think, and
Speaker 2: now that summer's over. But we have the curfew centers
Speaker 2: where we'll take teams and drop them off, and there's
Speaker 2: only been four teams taken the queue for curfew center downtown.
Speaker 2: Is that because do you think the terms is working
Speaker 2: or is it simply because it's under enforced.
Speaker 3: I think it's working, and so which is a good thing.
Speaker 3: We certainly don't want to see a curf youth center
Speaker 3: filled with young people, and so I think people are
Speaker 3: being compliant and that is what that is what's important here.
Speaker 3: And so you know again and the curfew center being
Speaker 3: a place that if one has to go there there
Speaker 3: are services and support systems that that will help to
Speaker 3: not only get people to young people to back home,
Speaker 3: but also additional resources that maybe needed. So I think
Speaker 3: we're turning in a good direction right now, and again
Speaker 3: I think that's because of the partners that have helped
Speaker 3: to communicate her few boundaries and expectations, and so I
Speaker 3: think we'll have to continue to do that and continue
Speaker 3: to again and monitor what is the success and products
Speaker 3: that we're making here.
Speaker 2: I'll point out, Mika that if you go back to
Speaker 2: one of the two big events, the shooting and the
Speaker 2: gun play over Halloween weekend, but the one in April
Speaker 2: or the fifteen year old charged with murdering I think
Speaker 2: the man name is Kyle Merrick, and a horrific crime
Speaker 2: at that. If you witness the street crime, it's absolutely
Speaker 2: depraved that at the time of day that happened that
Speaker 2: wouldn't have been prevented by a curfew. So is this
Speaker 2: a time of day issue or is this more of
Speaker 2: a youth violence issue? And if so, that's greater than
Speaker 2: a curfew.
Speaker 3: I think it's both. It's important to know that young people,
Speaker 3: if they're supposed to be in school, that they are
Speaker 3: in school. For one, it's important and that takes you know,
Speaker 3: the village. This is that that helps support young people,
Speaker 3: the environment, but there is also a need that within
Speaker 3: the conversation of safe to young people, we've got to
Speaker 3: provide more hope and options and opportunity for young people.
Speaker 3: And so again, if young people one, they should be
Speaker 3: in school, it's a s full age. And also what
Speaker 3: kind of skills and training and opportunities and resources and
Speaker 3: outlets do we have for young people, which is why
Speaker 3: you know, coming back into city Hall, this is such
Speaker 3: a priority for me. Uh. You know, one, there are
Speaker 3: lots of games on the streets where young people have
Speaker 3: access to and so that becomes an issue as well.
Speaker 3: But it's one that the city has to be in
Speaker 3: partnership with the state, has to be in partnership with
Speaker 3: the federal government to really get a handle on this.
Speaker 3: Of course, supporting the constitution absolutely, but young people have
Speaker 3: access to fire arms and is not good for our community.
Speaker 3: It's not good for policing. And this is also part
Speaker 3: of you know, what makes officers safe to do this job.
Speaker 3: So when we think about recruiting people, you know, this
Speaker 3: is a part of that. And so we have to
Speaker 3: make sure that this job that people feel safe doing
Speaker 3: this job. We have to make sure that young people
Speaker 3: are in the right places, and so it's going to
Speaker 3: take Again. This is just you know, a continued conversation,
Speaker 3: and these are actually things that I am looking at
Speaker 3: as well, in from good timers.
Speaker 1: Gay gotcha.
Speaker 2: Finally, I live in Warren County and we had the
Speaker 2: other day an incident there where an individual was driving
Speaker 2: was rush hour traffic. He passed somebody. They took offense
Speaker 2: to it. The guy comes after him, chases him, he
Speaker 2: takes off anyway, long story, shirt dude pulls out a
Speaker 2: gun and puts I think a round in the back,
Speaker 2: which car fires around at him. And the end result
Speaker 2: was this individual shot was stopped by the State Highway
Speaker 2: Patrol because somebody called it a nine to one one
Speaker 2: where he went to Warren County jail. He's being held
Speaker 2: on a five hundred thousand dollars bound half a million
Speaker 2: dollar bond for that. I don't know what his history is,
Speaker 2: but I look at that in Warren County people a
Speaker 2: weren't County aren't going to say for that nonsense. I
Speaker 2: look at Hamlin County though. These are youthful offenders with
Speaker 2: guns and they're released sometimes in their own recognizance extremely
Speaker 2: little bond, and I think that just encourages more of
Speaker 2: the same behavior. What message can you get to judges
Speaker 2: to start going, hey, you know what, Warren Butler, Claremont County,
Speaker 2: they don't mess around when somebody is involved with a
Speaker 2: gun crime. And if you have a gun at your disability,
Speaker 2: god help you. We should be throwing the book at you.
Speaker 2: From a federal perspective, that's a strong message to these individuals.
Speaker 2: But yet it feels like they're being treated with kid gloves.
Speaker 2: Why and what role do you have as a counsel
Speaker 2: person to make that change if needed?
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, you're pointing out that there is you know,
Speaker 3: this is a three sixty issue and so that means
Speaker 3: the courts have to respond as well. And I absolutely
Speaker 3: agree that someone who is a violent offender been convicted
Speaker 3: of the selonies and should not own a firearm. You know,
Speaker 3: those are reasons tonot have someone back on the street.
Speaker 3: So I think it's important that that that we won
Speaker 3: are are sentencing in the in the right way bonds
Speaker 3: And I'm not an attorney, but whatever the maximum should be,
Speaker 3: then that's what it should be. But also let's make
Speaker 3: sure we're creating as it relates to juveniles, we're creating
Speaker 3: more of the upstroom opportunity to say one, not only okay,
Speaker 3: you shouldn't be with a you know, a llegal firearm
Speaker 3: on the street, but also let's make sure we are
Speaker 3: moving people into more of a productive place in their lives.
Speaker 3: And so certainly this takes the court system to be
Speaker 3: a part of that.
Speaker 1: All right, how are you going to vote on that?
Speaker 3: You know today is we'll see what happens this afternoon.
Speaker 3: But I am certainly someone who is supporting public safety initiatives.
Speaker 3: We're listening to CPD on these things as well. Uh.
Speaker 3: And so I want to make sure that we as
Speaker 3: a city are responding in all of the appropriate ways
Speaker 3: that to keep our community safe, make game people feel safe,
Speaker 3: all of us showing that we can walk down M
Speaker 3: Street in the city of Cincinnati and not be alarmed
Speaker 3: by gunshots or violent crime. Uh. And so this is us,
Speaker 3: you know, again, showing up. But also it doesn't stop there.
Speaker 3: It is uh, you know, what might we need to
Speaker 3: do to improve going forward? And say those are the
Speaker 3: questions that remains.
Speaker 2: Okay, so well, if those questions are answered, you say
Speaker 2: yes on us.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, got it.
Speaker 3: I don't see reasons to not support this.
Speaker 2: Council Member Mika Owens appreciate the time, as always, answered,
Speaker 2: Hip and I congratulations again on the big win.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much. I'm looking forward to getting back
Speaker 3: to work for sure.
Speaker 1: All right, let's go, let's go, all right, Thanks, take care.
Speaker 2: We got to get a news update in and more
Speaker 2: to follow on this, and of course we'll dive into
Speaker 2: the Epstein file dump just ahead here on the Scott's
Speaker 2: Loan Show, seven hundred w