And say a prayer for the Archbishop Dennis Snur who finds himself in difficult situations
in the local hospital. He asks me to pass along to some that he
needs your prayers. Tony Benner is going to start saying the Rosary. I'm
not sure Tony Benner knows what the rosary is, but he tells me he's
going to start saying win for the archbishop who's sick. But until then,
of course, speaking about sick. David Young is the Warren County Commissioner,
and just for the purposes of this great telephone call, we're going to put
him in charge of Hamilton County in the City of Cincinnati. We texted earlier
this morning and he said, Hey, by the way, what's the main
topic? And I said, Commission Chaos, Bengals Lease, future Commissions,
ignored police, standing down, campus riots, and more. And you say,
oh, great, David Young, Commissioner of Warren County, welcome to
the Bill Cunningham Show. And first of all the chaos, let's deal with
the Futures Commission, in which the City of Cincinnati got together the mothers and
the fathers, the mamas and the papas of Cincinnati, the CEO of Parcter
and Gamble, Procter and God and more. These are the experts. They
put a few community leaders in there just to say we did. And they
came up with a slew of recommendations, including selling the water plant, selling
golf courses, selling it all, taking the retirement system in the City of
Cincinnati, give it to pr S, plus all these other about raising taxes
more for garbage pickup, et cetera. Just give me an overview if afterb
puival, your good friend would get ahold of you and Saint David Young.
Warren County is out of debt, out of hawk, you live within your
means. It's a great place to live. The schools are functioning, the
police have powers in Warren County. What two or three pieces of information would
you pass on afterbt puival to improve the city of Cincinnati. Afternoon, Willie
how was actually in a meeting with them with the esteem mayor last week.
Nice enough guy, I like the mayor. But yeah, they've got a
tough, tough job down there. And and honestly, I'm actually reading you
know when you told me, uh, you know, hours and hours ago
what the topics were doing today. I've spent minutes and minutes researching these different
topics, and I think I've come up with somewhat of a solution. Oh.
I don't know if you know this, but I'm sitting up. I'm
sitting up. I've got a pen and paper. Go give me to me.
You could write this one down, all right. Government, Government should
live what's in its means, and there's an end within means. Okay.
Number two, government can't do everything for all residents and do all for all.
Okay, I got that written down. Now tell me in a concrete
way the Futures Commission, and if you've got Ampta a pair of all whispering
in his ear, tell me the top two or three practical things that must
be done. Number One, that their spending is out of whack. And
this is what happens in governments. That a lot of times governments. One
of the little secrets of governments is people. A lot of times. When
I first took office, like twenty years ago, to work in the public
sector, and you know, you knew this from way back when in the
prosecutor's officer what have you, that government employees generally made less than private sector
employees. But there was a couple of advantages of being a government employee for
making less money than the private sector. Number one, generally you had better
job security. You know, government generally doesn't fire you or lay you off
like private sectors do. And then number two was the retirement plan. Yep,
the retirement plan that government employees have is off the hook. Back in
my investment days, I used to manage a bunch of four on one K
plans for different employers around town. And it's not even close how good government
pensions because most people do four on one cage now where you put a discretionary
amount of money in and it grows based on stock market or what have you,
and then at the end, hopefully you have more than a million bucks.
And that system works when you do that stuff for a very long period
of time. You put a little bit of money in, you invest it,
you invest in America and generally not generally, it does work over thirty
forty year periods of time. However, what doesn't work necessarily is a defined
benefit plan where based on how much money you work earn, we the employer,
are going to promise to pay you a percentage of your salary. That
was always based on these guarantees, and we know one thing with the economy
is guarantees don't happen very much, especially when you're based on these high rates
of returns and these ten percent interest rates and things like that. So Cincinnati
found itself in a situation. What I learned was their pension plan is way,
way, way upside down. They owe I forget it, tens of
millions. It's not one hundred million dollars of unfunded pension liability, and that
has to be there. So there was suggestions in this features reportable, you
know, turn that over to the state's pension board. Right, they don't
want it because it's so upside down. Four hundred million is the number that's
been reported in the enquire that the City of Cincinnati is upside down four hundred
million dollars and the easy solution is to sell the golf courses or sell the
Cincinnati water works. Get more than four hundred million dollars, pay that off
and the state will accept. Well, the state pers I know the members
of the board, they want nothing to do with the City of Cincinnati accepting
them into the state pension plan because they don't trust the ability of the City
of Cincinnati to make any payments of any type. And they don't want to
sell the water, and they don't want to sell the golf courses. They
had to sell, I guess the railroad because of the great deal for one
point six billion dollars to Norfolk Southern, and that did happen. However,
the city, and when you talk to council members who give interviews, they
say one thing they're not going to do is sell the water and sell the
golf courses. They're not going to do that. In fact, for that
to happen, the voters have got to step up and agree to do that,
and they won't do it. So they got five thousand retired employees and
about another five thousand coming and a four hundred million dollar hole. The only
way to do it is to sell an asset, to try to get them
to go to PERS, which prs will not accept. And so assuming none
of that happens, assuming pers will not accept them into the state system,
and assuming the city will not sell, what happens sell the assets? What
happens. Right to fully fund its pension obligations, the city needs to contribute
sixty million a year until twenty forty five. It paid about forty two million
dollars in the current fiscal year, so it's upside down eighteen million dollars per
year. Yeah, and the total comes to three hundred and ninety million dollars
to plug that hole. So that's not going away. So as bad as
the city's budget is right now, it's actually much worse because it's eighteen million
dollars unfunded pension liability in there too, so out of their one point six
billion dollar budget, Willie, it's it's not a good situation. And I
think this goes to what you and I have talked about for a long period
of time. Government and people always ask, well, how is one county
in such a great financial shape? You know, people say we're the best,
not just the state, maybe the nation. It's a very easy answer.
When you live within your means, you don't promise everything to everyone.
Taxpayer money is not like going into the candy store. It's easy to really
quote unquote buy votes. You start handing out money. What do you think
they're doing in Washington right now with ending student debt. They're buying votes one
hundred and seventy five billion dollars to four and a half million people. They're
trying to buy votes with money we don't have because he is messed up and
as jacked up as the City of Cincinnati financial structure is. You know what's
worse, Willie, the federal government. How about one trillion dollars of new
money is barred every one hundred days. So let's put that issue to the
side. You're telling me they got a little bit of a problem here,
like four hundred million, and it grows every year, and by twenty years
from now, it's going to be a billion dollars. They won't deal with
that because it is too painful. Number two, I want to get you
on in the Bengals. Lease. We all love the Bengals, want them
to stay. The window is open. And when I talk to your friend
Alisha Reese, she tells me that other cities like Kansas City with the Chiefs,
in Chicago with the Bears, the NFL and the owners of the club
are putting in hundreds of millions of dollars, in fact, billions of dollars
to build new stadiums, to refurbish their president stadiums. When the issue was
on the ballot in Kansas City, it went't down hard like a cold butt
on a hot July afternoon. You had Patrick Mahomes, you had Kelsey,
everybody talking about Taylor Swift, singing songs about it. The voters had a
chance vote and it was fifty eight percent. Not no, fifty eight percent.
Hell no, we're not contributing hundreds of millions or billions of dollars to
the Hunt family, who are worth about twelve billion dollars. So you got
the Bengals lease coming up, and we all went to Bengals to stay.
I think they are going to stay, but the county says, no,
Moss, we can't afford it. Solve the Bengals lease. David Young,
I would look at something a little bit outside of the box and try to
be creative. There is something called new community authorities, which under Ohio law
says in a particular district that one district that's clearly defined has certain abilities,
including certain taxation aspects. That with something like this, I would look at
doing some sort of a user fee, that is, it's an increase to
the sales tax in a specific district. Because again, it is a hard
sell to people. I'm not a sports fan, I'm not this you know,
why would I pay for this. So this is a kind of a
backdoor way of user fees that users. You know, it's like a gas
tax. You know who maintains the highways, well, people that drive on
it unless you're in the electric vehicle, and now all of a sudden,
you're not paying a gas tax, which is you know, a systemic problem
long term. But with the Bengals lease, I would look at doing something
creative with trying to get there's so many people that go to that district and
we all know keeping the Bengals in town is a big deal. That's one
of the reasons we were so involved with keeping the tennis tournament in town because
there's an impression and a perception that Greater Cincinnati, Warren County, City of
Mason they're major league towns. And when major league sporting teams or events start
leaving you, that sends a message to the marketplace of well, maybe they
don't have it going on there, Maybe my free market capital investment for a
tennis tournament or owning an NFL franchise should maybe go somewhere else. And then
all of a sudden, those employers that in a competitive world or saying where
do I want to expand or place my new secondary corporate headquarters, or an
international company looking to come to the US and go into the Midwest. Where
am I going to invest my hard earned capital? We wait a second.
If the perception is this was a major league city and now people are starting
to flee, not just a little bit, but maybe even in droves,
Man, do I want to invest there? So you're talking about a user
fee from the river, maybe the Central Parkway. Of course, you got
Saint Francis Serah with hundreds of homeless degenerates fornicating and copulating and pooping and peeing
in public. That's a different issue. We'll get that's issue number three.
Put that off to the side. So you're saying a special user's fee from
the river may up up to Central Parkway. So for those who specifically benefit
from that, much like Sycamore Township was so wise to tax people like Tony
Bender living working in this special tax district in Kenwood. But if you live
in Sycamore Township, work in Sycamore Township, of course you don't pay the
tax, which is a very important aspect of this. But nonetheless, tax
those who don't have a vote, and then they will collect the money benefit
Sycamore Township, and a way we go. Let's go to issue number three,
which is the more the easy one to solve. We've taken care of
the Futures Commission, We've taken care of the pension system, we've taken care
of the Bengals lease. Now we've got a bigger problem, which is Cincinnati
Public schools, which is an F. The state have testing and there's an
F, there's a G, and an H. They're down to H at
this point. Before they get to an F, they're below F. Seventy
five percent of black boys don't attend. They're chronically absent. You have massive
lawlessness in which kids are running rampant on the banks, going nuts. You
have beatings taking place on Fountain Square and also in Government Square. You have
bus routes in which individuals put their life in their hand getting on a bus.
They might have your head treated like a soccer ball kicked around. Then
you go to juvenile court. Nothing happens there, you get released. You
can be literally a murderer and get out of juvenile court without much punishment.
So, having solved these other two important problems, let's get David Young.
Initial number three, chronically absenteeism, no education about twenty five thousand dollars per
kid per year. You graduate with a certificate but not a diploma, What
would you do with the school system go? A very wise person once told
me that if you do I believe three very simple things, you have like
a ninety chance of doing well in life. Let me ride this. Number
one, don't get arrested in other worse nor do not become a criminal.
That's number one, Tony Bender, write that down. Don't be a criminal,
okay. Number two. Number two, graduate from high school, which
may not be worth anything, but you can say, look, I graduated,
m u's I got my I got a high school discipline, showed discipline
that you showed up. Number three, don't have kids out of wedlock,
because what happens then is we're re being what we sewed because that model,
which was actually your statistics, which you're the wise guy, wise man that
actually told me this was those three things contribute to you know, ninety something
percent success rate. So what's happened is people have not followed that the last
couple of decades, and now all of a sudden, the kids that I
feel for those kids I have a heart for those kids. They don't know
any better. No one's told them no. Most of the time, single
parent household, where all of a sudden, people are not paying them attention.
And the number one thing is they don't have any discipline, Willy.
No one's telling them no, there's no ramifications for actions. Oh, you're
allowed to do this because you've been blanked. You know throughout your life you
have red hair, you have this, or you have some problem that makes
you special, and therefore you don't have to comply with rules. So now
we're seeing it on the college campuses, Willy. So you have eighteen nineteen
year olds that are going spitting in cops spaces, saying let's kill this entire
ethnic group or what have you, And all of a sudden they get in
the cops space, and all of a sudden, the cop is picking them
up, them throwing them to the ground, and they're like, oh,
my goodness, I can't believe they've ever done this. Of course, that's
what the police are going to do if you do that to them, or
at least back when you and I were growing up, that would be a
normal Friday night if I if I mess around with the wrong Blue ash Or
Montgomery cop and said the wrong thing. I was going to be on the
hood of their car, and I guess what, I wasn't going to do
that again. So we have issues resolved at this point. There's a movement
of foot to take the homeless, which should be mentally ill, drug addicted,
reconstitute Longview State Mental Hospital. Put them in a facility until they can
quit pooping in public and quit dealing with drugs and fornicating. For five dollars,
put them a long View State Mental Hospital they used to be have five
hundred beds there. We have a functional court system that holds people accountable.
And if we do those simple things, people won't be move into Warren County
because right now people go to Boone County, Warren County, getting County,
Butler County, they go to Lawrensburg. Get the hell out. We can't
take it anymore. So if you do those three simple things, take care
of the city when it comes to their financial mismanagement, take care of the
Bengals, lease and then tell kids, don't be a criminal, graduate from
high school, don't have kids out of wedlock, and by the way,
work do those things. It's simple David Young, if available, will you
come and conduct a course in Hamilton County in the City of Cincinnati to tell
have to have parival and others there is a better way, Willie. I
mean, I would be happy to hold a masterclass on government efficiency and how
to do things. But honestly, I don't think anybody south of Fieldsrtle would
ever attend. They have their own way of doing things. And that's one
of the problems with today's world, Willy. Once you placate and play up
to a certain constitution Tucy that you believe got you into office, and they're
the only people that can keep you into office, then all of a sudden,
you're not going to do anything, which is what your both to office
really is. That you're going to do what's best in all loss of the
constitution of the State of Ohio. You're going to do what's best for the
people you represent. But a lot of times our politicians don't necessarily do that.
They do what's best for getting them reelected, and they don't make the
hard choices that sometimes go against the constituencies that voted them in. Because we're
in a representative democracy, we represent the people. It's not a straight democracy,
Willie. We don't vote on every issue, so they elect people to
represent you. I tell you what, David Young, you're available. I
talked to Rob Sanders, he's available. I talked to Jesse Brewer, He's
available a master class. I will contact city Council and the Hamlin County Commission
to say if they will listen. David Young, once again, thank you
for coming on the Old Cunningham Show. May God bless you and God bless
America. David Young, thank you very much. Pleasure, God bless you,
William, God bless Warren County, Hell and blessing everybody. Right now,
let's continue with more if a line becomes available. Five one, three,
seven, four, nine, seven thousand reads in the podres tonight from
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