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Speaker 1: What's going on. Thank you so much for listening to

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this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon

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to three on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you

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want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream,

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my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron,

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go to dpeakclendarshow dot com. Make sure you hit the

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subscribe button. Get every episode for free right to your

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smartphone or tablet, And again, thank you so much for

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your support. You know me, I only work three hours

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a day, as we determined yesterday, and so this was

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quite out of the norm for me to be watching.

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The Mecklenburg County Commissioners meeting ran about four hours or

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so last night, and so I was watching it because

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they were getting ready to vote on their two point

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five billion dollar budget and that's a lot of money,

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and it's got a property tax inse inate, and so

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I wanted to hear what these commissioners had to say

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for themselves. And I turn it on and I'm watching

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and they do the you know, the proclamations the recognition

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for public art. Public art, by the way, is taxpayer

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funded art that is required in like all projects, you

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got to do a one percent budget allocation for a project,

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if it's a county project, one percent has to be

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for public art. And so it's it's a way to

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highlight all of the crap that gets purchased by whoever

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it is that makes those purchases on our behalf with

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our money, and then they decorate them all around town.

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And in some unfortunate instances in the past, these art

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installations have been honestly mistaken for garbage and have been

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thrown out. So anyway, so I'm always curious about that

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sort of thing. And then there are like the proclamations.

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It's in case you weren't aware, did you know June

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is Pride month. Yeah, so they did the Pride proclamation.

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They did a proclamation.

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Speaker 2: Oh what was.

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Speaker 1: Trying to recall? There's a lot of proclamations. Anyway, they

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ran through those, they brought people down to talk about

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the proclamations, and then they brought down the final proclamation

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people and it was gun Violence Awareness Month or day

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or gun Violence Prevention Day or so anyway, there's another

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proclamation against gun violence.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 1: They were, yes, I know, like county commissioners taking a

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bold stance against gun violence. So they have some people

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there and they're talking about it. We're against gun violence.

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We are too, Oh, everybody's against it. And then a

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woman comes down and by the way, there was, as

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far as I could tell, there were no media at

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this at this meeting last night, because if there were,

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I wouldn't have been the only person reporting on what

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it was that occurred at the very beginning of the

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meeting here during the proclamations, well about what it was

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about a probably about a half hour to an hour

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into the meeting, because you've got to sit through all

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of that stuff before you get to the two point

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five billion dollar spending plan. Anyway, so a woman comes

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down and she identifies herself as Megan Hill, a CMS

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art teacher, and things just seemed.

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Speaker 3: I'm a public school art teacher at Register subsidy.

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Speaker 4: And do you just confirmed you're here to speak to

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the Gun Violence Awareness Month proclamation? Yes, okay, I apologize,

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please continue.

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Speaker 1: Yes, weird to a point.

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Speaker 3: I am here to speak today because what pointun Violence

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Awareness Month? As as a teacher, I witnessed the daily

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impact that fear, trauma, and disinvestment have on our children.

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We asked them to learn WHILESO preparing them to hide

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in planes sight. We tell them to stay focused while

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we fail to keep them safe. I've been teaching in

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CMS for four years. I've been teaching for five and

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I'm already exhausted from trying to stay afloat in the

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system that keeps asking more and giving less. When I

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came to Charlotte, I was excited to teach third grade,

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and one of my most vivid memories though from teaching

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those years, was being told to carry on as usual

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after a student made a threat of violence at our school.

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Ten of my seventeen students showed up that day. A facility, though,

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would not have helped me in that moment, and it

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would not help me now in my new classroom with

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five gorgeous windows that face the front of the school.

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No amount of training for this facility would really prepare

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you for the moment that you might have to interact

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with a child with a weapon.

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Speaker 1: Okay, I don't know where she's going and what does

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she mean by facility here? So I'm now I'm paying attention.

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What exactly is this teacher's jam? Like's what's her game?

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She's running here?

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Speaker 3: Gun violence prevention is what would stop that child from

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ever believing that a gun is something that would answer

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their pain caused by the broken system. I teach in

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Charlott's high needs schools, where we are under resource and

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over policed, that imbalance is exactly what leads these situations.

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We do not need a new training center. What we

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need our social workers, nurses, school counselors, and trauma informed educators.

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Speaker 1: Oh now I know what she means by facility. This

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is the cub city people, the anti fat people.

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Speaker 3: We need investments in literacy, nutrition, and stability. We need care,

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not combat. Yet, when our schools are budging for lunch money,

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you were quietly moving funding into a facility. Let's be clear,

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that's not really a first turning to use for training center.

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It's also being involved with militarized police subs things like that,

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and this just feels dishonest. I do not want our

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schools used to mask this. I do not want my

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sumscruming off in a world where safety is defined by

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surveillance and force. You've moved money before you can move

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it again. I teach my since speak when something is wrong,

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and that's why I'm here. Please listen, please act, thank you.

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Speaker 1: Oh wait a minute, oh, she has supporters in the audience.

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She's with some people. This will become important to confirm.

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Speaker 4: This is the time to speak related to the Gun

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Violence Awareness Month proclamation.

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Speaker 1: Yes, oh, another speaker, all right, m.

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Speaker 5: I was also a teacher, So thank you. Today this

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county has recognized the national problem of gun violence. I

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am proud of our commissioners for doing this. Too often,

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young people are the main victims of guns. Sadly, the

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generation graduating from college right now is often called the

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school shooting generation. We have failed the youth by failing

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to prevent gun violence from spreading. This county could take

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their proclamation farther and do more to prevent gun violence

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in its schools. Right now, our commissioners are actively funding

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a project that would bring even more guns to a

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community college right next to a CMS school. Our tax

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dollars are oh no.

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Speaker 4: No, because yeah, your your remarks are out of order.

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This is not the time reform.

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Speaker 5: For this is about gun violence. It's all right next

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to you see him a school. Our talk sellers are

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paying for more guns. We are told that safety measures

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will prevent guns from leading.

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Speaker 2: We're gonna have to ask you.

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Speaker 5: To magument that pro gun people say just lock up

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the guns now.

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Speaker 6: You're in violation of NCGS one four three Desk three

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one eight zero point one seven by disrupting the meeting.

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You're subject to being escorted out of the meeting chamber

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charged with a misdemeanor if you don't cease talking.

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Speaker 1: Cut off of mic nice Melma. Yeah so all right,

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So as soon as he said you're you could be

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charged with a misdemeanor if you don't stop talking. They

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all shut up. There's a lesson here. There's a lesson.

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That's the board chair, Mark Durell.

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Speaker 2: You got your your you have to leave.

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Speaker 7: Uh, mister officer, I'd like you to escort this young

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lady out of the chamber.

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Speaker 2: Thank you.

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Speaker 8: They did.

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Speaker 1: Can you hear what they're saying. That's George Dunlap, a

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couple other commissioners and they're like, she dropped something, yeah,

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And George says, yeah, there were some other people they

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were up there. They've they've been dropping stuff.

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Speaker 2: Apparently there's some things being dropped.

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Speaker 7: There was someone sitting up here on the on the

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right hand side. What so I think if there are

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items being passed around with bugs or whatever we got

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going on.

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Speaker 2: I like the officers to please.

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Speaker 1: Wait a minute. Bugs. First thing I thought was like,

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what are they wired tapping the place? Like, what's going on? Eavesdropping? No,

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no actual bugs.

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Speaker 7: Please check that out, please, if it's going up here

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to my right, they're alive. I've got they put so

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that was the box that was being passed around up top.

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Speaker 2: Right where you are at the top of the stairs, officer.

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Speaker 7: Those five people in that section right over here were

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passing around some level of box exactly signs.

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Speaker 1: It's a box of signs. They're just signs. Uh huh, yeah,

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there's signs right, nice, Mark, Darrell Nice.

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Speaker 8: They dropped something over here.

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Speaker 2: Well, there are bugs up here. I think there's the box.

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They've got it right there at least have them all right.

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Speaker 7: We're just gonna we're gonna wait until we can get

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get order, maintain order.

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Speaker 2: It's a shame that we do this in front the

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young lady like that.

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Speaker 7: It's just shameful, shameful, shameful. You can leave, thank you

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very much. We appreciate it. Anybody who's out of order.

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If you speak out of order without being recognized, you

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will be escorted out of this chamber.

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Speaker 2: Period. There's a play time and place to be heard.

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Speaker 7: Anyone can sign up to speak, and if you don't

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sign up to speak from that where you're sitting is

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not the place to address this body. We will have order,

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we will not have disruption.

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Speaker 1: Good for him. Here's the problem, though. The Mickelberg County

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commissioners are one Democrat and the people that are dropping

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all of the bugs up there in the boxes, they

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are radical leftists, right. These are people that are sort

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of your your street troops for the Democrats, and they

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are man add the Democrats for building a law enforcement

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training facility because we don't want trained law enforcement. Well,

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in their mind, they don't want any law enforcement until

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they take over, and then they would clamp down and

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control people. That's the idea. That's why I call them

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temporary anarchists. They're not actual anarchists. They don't want to

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have a society of complete anarchy all the time. They

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just need it temporarily so they can take over and

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then they can impose their authoritarianism on others. That's all.

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So they just want a different form of government that

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they control, not you. They are impotent LARPers, but apparently

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they know how to purchase a large quantity of crickets.

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All right, So spring is here, a time of renewal

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and celebrations. You've got graduations, weddings, anniversaries and the special

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days for mom and dad. Your family's making memories that

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are going to last a lifetime. But let me ask

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you are all of those treasured moments from days gone by?

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Are they hidden away on old VCR tapes, eight millimeter films,

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photos slides? Are they preserved? Because over time, these precious

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memories can fade and deteriorate, losing the magic of yesterday.

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At Creative Video, they help you protect what matters most.

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they can be enjoyed for generations to come. I urge

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celebrate your past. Visit Creative Video today and let them

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in mint Hill, just off four eighty five. Mail orders

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are accepted to get all the details at createavideo dot com. Alrighty,

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so the Meckliberg County Commissioners holding their two point five

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billion dollar budget adoption vote last night. Media was not

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there at the beginning of the meeting, which, honestly, I mean,

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I don't blame them, because it's just an hour of

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Oh my gosh, we're doing such awesome things.

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Speaker 2: Are you great?

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Speaker 1: Oh you're great, I'm great. Oh I am too. Look

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at that, We're all so great. Is all of that

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kind of garbage that goes on at the beginning of

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the meetings. The vote came like an hour and a

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half into the meeting, but the beginning of the meeting

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when they were doing the gun violence prevention or Gun

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Violence Awareness Month proclamation. Yeah, these two one is claiming

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to be and apparently somebody went and found her on

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Facebook or LinkedIn or something, and she's still a teacher.

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She's an art teacher confirmed. I think it's a read.

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Is it regency something? Anyway, Then the second speaker gets

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up and starts talking about cop City, what they call

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cop City, what is referred to as the Central Piedmont

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Community College Law Enforcement Training Center to train law enforcement

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officers so they are better at their jobs. But to

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the the LARPing ANTIFA folks, you can't have this, and

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there's environmental also, there's an environmental component. Remember the one

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down in Atlanta, the Copcity protests in Atlanta, they were

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like so angry at the deforestation and all of that.

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So in protests last night, they speak on a proclamation,

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they get ruled out of order and then start screaming eh,

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and then they get ejected escorted out. Now that's all

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well and good. However, they dumped a bunch of crickets

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in the chamber, which then had to be taken care.

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Speaker 7: Of before we move on with the agenda, I understand

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we should probably take a recess for cleanup, Okay, everybody. Unfortunately,

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we're going to have to take a ten minute recess

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to be able to clean up the bug situation that

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we've got working apparently, So we.

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Speaker 2: Will reconvene at seven five. Let's say, I.

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Speaker 7: Want to thank Environmental Services for coming in. Thank you

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so much for your help, ma'am. And now we're going

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to move to the next portion of the agenda, which

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is public appearance.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So the Environmental Services folks came in and in

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order to clean up, they vacuumed up the crickets. Good job,

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eco warriors way to protect the environment, dumping a bunch

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of live insects, which I thought you wanted us to eat.

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But you dump a bunch of these insects all over

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the chamber, and then workers had to come in and

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suck them all up with a vacuum cleaner, murdering them.

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Commissioners released a statement regarding the incident, quote, Mecklenberg County

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condemns any inappropriate or out of order comments or other

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disruptive tactics during Board of County Commissioners' meetings or any

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other public meeting. Civil public participation is a bedrock of democracy.

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The board has made it clear that the abuse of

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public participation will not be tolerated. I think they handled

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it well. I was happy to see the admonition from

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the board chair, Mark Jurrell. I'm glad there was no

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tolerance for it. I'm glad they got ejected. But that's

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not enough. You will keep getting more of this crap

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if you do not send a message to the people

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that want to engage in it, slap them with the misdemeanors.

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You don't get to release insects into public meeting chambers

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while members of the public are there because last night

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it was crickets, but in other venues they've dumped maggots. Right,

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this is now, this is a I have seen multiple

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occasions before last night here in Charlotte from around the country,

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all various types of insects and creepy crawleyes and such.

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And if you don't crack down on this, and you

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don't do it immediately, you're going to get more of it.

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What's ironic about this is that the two speakers who

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prompted their removal because they were speaking about stuff that

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wasn't on the item that they had signed up to

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speak about. You just heard Jarell call the meeting back

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into order and they're like, now we're moving to public comments,

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and that's where you should have made your stupid statements.

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You wouldn't have been ding ding ding off of the dais.

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You would have been allowed to make your comments. But

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you don't even know the basic rules of the people

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that you're coming to talk in front of. That's how

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little respect and knowledge they have of anything outside of

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their particular field, you know. Oh yeah, there was also

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a two and a half million dollar budget vote. All right,

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00:18:02,079 --> 00:18:03,920
if you're listening to this show, You know I try

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00:18:03,920 --> 00:18:05,680
to keep up with all sorts of current events, and

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00:18:05,759 --> 00:18:07,799
I know you do too, And you've probably heard me

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00:18:07,839 --> 00:18:12,039
say get your news from multiple sources. Why well, because

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00:18:12,079 --> 00:18:14,759
it's how you detect media bias, which is why I've

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00:18:14,799 --> 00:18:18,119
been so impressed with ground News. It's an app, and

306
00:18:18,319 --> 00:18:21,240
it's a website, and it combines news from around the

307
00:18:21,240 --> 00:18:23,920
world in one place, so you can compare coverage and

308
00:18:24,079 --> 00:18:27,880
verify information. You can check it out at check dot ground,

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00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:31,240
dot news slash pete. I put the link in the

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00:18:31,240 --> 00:18:34,480
podcast description too. I started using ground News a few

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00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:37,200
months ago and more recently chose to work with them

312
00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:40,000
as an affiliate because it lets me see clearly how

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00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:43,559
stories get covered and by whom. The blind spot feature

314
00:18:43,599 --> 00:18:46,240
shows you which stories get ignored by the left and

315
00:18:46,359 --> 00:18:50,359
the right. See for yourself. Check dot ground, dot news

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00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:53,839
slash pete. Subscribe through that link and you'll get fifteen

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percent off any subscription. I use the Vantage plan to

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get unlimited access to every feature your subscription, and then

319
00:19:00,319 --> 00:19:03,160
not only helps my podcast, but it also supports ground

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00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:07,079
News as they make the media landscape more transparent. Tim

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Welcome to the show.

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Speaker 9: Hello Tim, Hey, Hey Pete. How you doing I enjoy

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00:19:11,279 --> 00:19:12,039
your show, Thanks sir.

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Speaker 1: What's going on?

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Speaker 9: I just called a little bit at last segment. Did

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you say they dropped crickets in the chambers?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, boxes of live crickets.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 9: And what did did environmental services come in and just

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step on them?

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Speaker 1: No, they came in with vacuum cleaners.

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Speaker 9: Vacuum cleaners. H Well, they.

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Speaker 1: Sucked them all up.

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Speaker 9: They could have just stepped on them and that would

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have really made them happy. But they had had to

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use pointed cowboy boots as they got in the corner,

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you know.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that would be a tough one.

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00:19:46,359 --> 00:19:46,640
Speaker 2: But no.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, they obviously are going to have to fire, or

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not fire, but to bomb the place, you know, with

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like obviously insect killer or something. But they went in

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there in about ten minutes. They ran vacuums over the

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areas and sucked all the as many of the crickets

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up as possible. Some I'm sure did get away.

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Speaker 9: And I heard I heard you say that in the

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past they had dropped Trump supporters in places like that.

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Oh no, you said maggots, not magots.

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Speaker 1: Correct. Yes, was it really your bed? It was actually

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your bed, so lamed him. I appreciate the commitment to

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the bit in sounding like an idiot. No, that absolutely

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he was all in on the bit. So I have

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the Malik's audio because this is an unrelated matter to

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the budget. Should I do this now two minutes? No,

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I'm going to move on to the budget. So they

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brought in budget director at a sorry Adrian Cox. He

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made a brief presentation to the board about sort of

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the highlights or low lights, if you will, of the budget.

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Speaker 2: Here.

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Speaker 10: The county's current tax rate is the nineteenth lowest in

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the state, and you can see the comparison to the

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other ninety nine counties on this slide. It is also

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lower than our neighboring counties and the three other largest

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counties in the state.

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Speaker 1: Oh see, so it's not that bad. We're better than

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everybody else. We have much lower rates. By the way,

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there is a reason for this because we have a

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larger property tax base. We have a larger tax base,

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we have more people, we have more expensive buildings, we

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have more wealth, we are a larger area. So there

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are all sorts of reasons for this. When you are

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a poor, less populated county, you have to have a

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higher rate in order to generate the revenue necessary to

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run the government. So as a as Beckelberg County has

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gotten bigger, our rate has gone down. So Arthur Griffin

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actually addresses this later on. He then says state unfunded

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00:22:09,240 --> 00:22:14,359
mandates equate to sixteen cents on the tax rate. He

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listed neighboring in peer counties once again in their plans

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for tax increases for the coming year.

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Speaker 10: Forsyth and Union County have just completed a revaluation and

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both of their managers are recommending increases over their revenue

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00:22:28,400 --> 00:22:32,759
neutral rates, Forsyth a four point two cent increase and

383
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Union a one point eight cent increase. Wake is also

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proposing a rate increase for the fourth year in a

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row this year for a quarter of a cent.

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Speaker 1: Right, so the media what it's going to go to now?

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The plan was for an increase of point ninety six cents,

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basically ninety six cents per one per well, okay, say

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00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:01,000
this is WSOC TV. They they're breaking it down into

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00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:03,519
ten thousand dollars increment. So I don't know why, but

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it's it's point nine to six cents per one hundred

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00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:12,920
dollars of valuation. That's always how it's been calculated. For

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00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:15,640
some reason, WSC and their story, they've got it as

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ninety six cents for ten thousand dollars of home value.

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Regardless when you do the math, it all comes out

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the same way. Right now, Mecklenburg County has a forty

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eight point thirty one per one hundred dollars of property

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value cent forty eight point three one cents per one

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00:23:36,599 --> 00:23:40,000
hundred dollars of property value, And what that works out

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00:23:40,039 --> 00:23:44,880
to be is about eighteen hundred dollars a year for

401
00:23:45,279 --> 00:23:49,680
the median priced homeowner. The median home price in Mecklimberg

402
00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:55,079
County three hundred and seventy seven thousand dollars, right three

403
00:23:55,200 --> 00:24:00,480
seventy seven, you're paying about eighteen twenty one a year

404
00:24:00,680 --> 00:24:04,880
in Mecklenberg taxes. You will now be paying eighteen fifty

405
00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:10,759
seven per year. That what is never mentioned in any

406
00:24:10,799 --> 00:24:14,759
of these discussions when you talk about tax increases is

407
00:24:14,799 --> 00:24:17,400
and it's not mentioned in this story. They don't tell

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00:24:17,440 --> 00:24:21,440
you what the current property tax bill is because a

409
00:24:21,559 --> 00:24:24,880
rate is just a rate. What does the person pay,

410
00:24:27,160 --> 00:24:30,400
Just like yesterday's discussion about teacher pay, and you know

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00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:34,880
five percent increases versus two percent increases, right, those percentage

412
00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:40,400
increases or rate increases. They equate to different amounts of

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00:24:40,519 --> 00:24:44,200
actual cash. If you make more money, a five percent

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00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:47,680
pay raise nets you more money than somebody who makes

415
00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:50,200
less money and gets the same five percent increase, they

416
00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:54,599
actually don't enjoy as much money in their pocket. The

417
00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:56,759
other thing that's never mentioned is that this is just

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00:24:56,880 --> 00:25:01,599
the county, the city of Charlotte. It takes up most

419
00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:04,960
of Mecklenburg County, I think at this point, and so

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00:25:05,039 --> 00:25:09,240
you have to also add in the city's rate and

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what people pay for that. The city property tax rate

422
00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:18,240
is twenty seven for one, and that is another one

423
00:25:18,279 --> 00:25:21,039
thousand and thirty three dollars on the median priced house.

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00:25:21,039 --> 00:25:26,559
So in other words, the median homeowner, median priced homeowner

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00:25:27,079 --> 00:25:32,720
is paying two thousand, eight hundred fifty four dollars a

426
00:25:32,839 --> 00:25:37,440
year in taxes. And that's just property tax. And that's

427
00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:40,759
just on the home. That works out to be two

428
00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:45,319
hundred thirty eight dollars per month. Do you think you're

429
00:25:45,359 --> 00:25:48,680
getting two hundred and thirty eight dollars worth of value

430
00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:52,200
if you're a city resident, do you think you're getting

431
00:25:53,599 --> 00:25:56,839
eighteen hundred and fifty seven dollars worth of value from

432
00:25:56,880 --> 00:26:02,880
the county? But you'll be happy to know they have

433
00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:06,319
cut to the bone here people. There's nothing else that

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00:26:06,359 --> 00:26:09,920
they can cut, not a single thing. They had to

435
00:26:09,960 --> 00:26:14,000
make cuts. They had to not fill positions, they had

436
00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:18,160
to not give some nonprofits some grant money. There's just

437
00:26:18,279 --> 00:26:21,119
nowhere left to cut. They have to raise your taxes.

438
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460
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Going over the Mecklenburg County budget that was approved last night,

461
00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:44,640
it's two point five billion dollars. Two point five billion dollars.

462
00:27:45,799 --> 00:27:48,480
I go away for like eight years, not to prison,

463
00:27:48,839 --> 00:27:50,400
but to Ashville, which is kind of the same thing,

464
00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:53,960
but not really. But I come back and the budget

465
00:27:54,079 --> 00:27:56,440
went from a billion to two and a half. What

466
00:27:56,519 --> 00:28:01,000
have you guys been doing down here? Everything apparently and

467
00:28:01,079 --> 00:28:04,759
nothing all at the same time. So commissioners noted that

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00:28:04,799 --> 00:28:09,279
the manager's budget recommended a one cent increase on the

469
00:28:09,359 --> 00:28:14,720
rate last year, but the county commissioners were like, oh,

470
00:28:14,759 --> 00:28:19,640
we can't possibly raise taxes one cent. It's an election year.

471
00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:23,839
I mean, sorry, the conditions don't warranted. People are hurting.

472
00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:28,680
We can't do this, inflation whatever, COVID and everything. Okay,

473
00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:31,720
so they didn't want to raise it one cent last year,

474
00:28:33,119 --> 00:28:35,279
so they only raised it by like half a cent

475
00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:40,039
last year. But now it's not an election year, so

476
00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:42,839
now they got to pay the price, and by day

477
00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:45,319
they mean you and me, we have to pay because

478
00:28:45,319 --> 00:28:47,079
we didn't pay last year. So now they're going to

479
00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:50,920
have to raise it a penny because otherwise, like they

480
00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:53,720
would have raised it a penny last year and then

481
00:28:53,759 --> 00:28:56,359
only half a cent this year, I guess. Anyway, here's

482
00:28:56,359 --> 00:28:57,680
Susan Rodriguez McDowell.

483
00:28:59,119 --> 00:29:03,000
Speaker 8: No one relishes raising property taxes, especially when doing so

484
00:29:03,279 --> 00:29:06,279
will always impact lower income folks the most as a

485
00:29:06,279 --> 00:29:07,559
proportion of their income.

486
00:29:07,680 --> 00:29:08,319
Speaker 1: But we'll do it.

487
00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:10,720
Speaker 8: That is why we provide relief as the best we can.

488
00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:14,359
But it is the folks above the lowest threshold that

489
00:29:14,440 --> 00:29:17,799
get squeezed with no recourse, and I'm truly mindful of them.

490
00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:21,079
But that is why I've advocated last year to push

491
00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:23,960
a half a cent increase to this year, so the

492
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:27,680
increase last year would be more gradual over time.

493
00:29:28,079 --> 00:29:30,920
Speaker 1: It's not so now. But it's not more gradual. It's

494
00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:33,920
the same. It's a half cent last year, a full

495
00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:36,039
cent this year. If you had done the full cent

496
00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:38,599
last year, you'd have done a half cent this year.

497
00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:42,119
It's not gradual. It's the same amount of money after

498
00:29:42,119 --> 00:29:42,960
two years.

499
00:29:43,240 --> 00:29:47,079
Speaker 8: We are adding that halfpenny plus another half. Yes, and

500
00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:50,359
we have to also be upfront and honest about the

501
00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:52,599
fact that there will be more in the near future

502
00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:56,480
with a school bond, with the school bond increase that's

503
00:29:56,480 --> 00:29:57,000
coming up.

504
00:29:57,359 --> 00:30:00,160
Speaker 1: Whoa, whoah, whah, Wait a minute, are you telling me

505
00:30:00,519 --> 00:30:02,839
that bonds raise property taxes?

506
00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:04,079
Speaker 3: Oh?

507
00:30:04,839 --> 00:30:09,079
Speaker 1: No, really, of course they do. I've been saying that

508
00:30:09,119 --> 00:30:12,400
for twenty years. They've been pitching school bonds every other year,

509
00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:17,079
every third year, and it's like, this is raising property taxes. Well,

510
00:30:17,079 --> 00:30:19,599
but the interest rates are so lowly we'd be fools

511
00:30:19,640 --> 00:30:21,880
not to borrow a billion dollars here and a billionaire

512
00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:22,359
or whatever.

513
00:30:23,319 --> 00:30:26,039
Speaker 8: And the possibility of a transportation sales.

514
00:30:25,759 --> 00:30:28,000
Speaker 1: Tax increase a double lammy company.

515
00:30:28,119 --> 00:30:31,240
Speaker 8: Huge problem for US is our state and federal governments.

516
00:30:31,720 --> 00:30:35,119
They are both failing us. They are both conspiring to

517
00:30:35,240 --> 00:30:39,400
privatize to the point of crippling taxpayers. The County is

518
00:30:39,440 --> 00:30:43,039
the bottom of this hierarchy, and your higher property taxes

519
00:30:43,039 --> 00:30:46,319
and sales taxes will be the result. Money flows to

520
00:30:46,359 --> 00:30:49,720
the most powerful, and that is how it is all

521
00:30:49,759 --> 00:30:51,200
being set up to stay.

522
00:30:51,519 --> 00:30:54,559
Speaker 1: Hmmm, I love me a good conspiracy theory. No, I don't,

523
00:30:55,599 --> 00:30:58,559
and that's not even a good one. They're conspiring to privatize.

524
00:30:58,559 --> 00:31:02,119
What are you talking about. You have many tens of millions.

525
00:31:03,039 --> 00:31:04,960
Actually it's probably more than that. At this point, one

526
00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:09,880
hundred million plus of the Mecklenburg County budget goes to nonprofits.

527
00:31:10,559 --> 00:31:13,920
It's the same concept. You guys, you're doing it yourselves.

528
00:31:14,240 --> 00:31:18,480
You voted for it yourselves last night. You're like, oh,

529
00:31:18,759 --> 00:31:21,200
we do health and human services, but there are all

530
00:31:21,240 --> 00:31:23,319
these other nonprofits and we'll just give them grants so

531
00:31:23,359 --> 00:31:27,200
they can do it. Well, that's how is that any different?

532
00:31:28,759 --> 00:31:32,400
Laura Meyer, she was the one who said that they're

533
00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:35,440
cutting it. They've cut all they can. This is these

534
00:31:35,480 --> 00:31:38,920
are deep cuts. They've cut all they can. There's nothing

535
00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:45,880
else to cut, not a single thing. They did approve

536
00:31:45,920 --> 00:31:48,880
one hundred twenty five thousand dollars for the Charlotte Pride

537
00:31:49,319 --> 00:31:53,440
Parade next year. That's in the budget. But they've cut

538
00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:57,240
all they can cut people. Also, they spend two hundred

539
00:31:57,240 --> 00:32:02,720
thousand dollars for sponsorship of the NAAP conference for ten tickets,

540
00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:06,359
ten whole tickets that they get to they get to

541
00:32:06,359 --> 00:32:10,039
give to county staff and Elaine Powell thought that everybody

542
00:32:10,039 --> 00:32:12,960
from the county got to go, and Dana Gioria was like,

543
00:32:13,079 --> 00:32:15,839
uh no, it gets us ten tickets for two hundred grand.

544
00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:18,680
But that's out of this year's budget people, this year's budget,

545
00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:21,200
so it's not part of the next year tax increase.

546
00:32:21,240 --> 00:32:24,640
It was part of this year's tax increase. All right,

547
00:32:24,640 --> 00:32:26,960
that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much

548
00:32:27,039 --> 00:32:29,079
for listening. I could not do the show without your

549
00:32:29,119 --> 00:32:31,880
support and the support of the businesses that advertise on

550
00:32:31,960 --> 00:32:34,720
the podcast, so if you'd like, please support them too

551
00:32:34,759 --> 00:32:36,440
and tell them you heard it here. You can also

552
00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:39,079
become a patron at my Patreon page or go to

553
00:32:39,200 --> 00:32:42,920
thepetecleanershow dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening,

554
00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:49,599
and don't break anything while I'm gone.

