1 00:00:04,879 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: What's going on. Thank you so much for listening to 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:09,640 this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon 3 00:00:09,679 --> 00:00:12,519 to three on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you 4 00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:16,719 want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, 5 00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:18,719 my daily show prep with all of the links, become 6 00:00:18,719 --> 00:00:22,359 a patron, go to thepeteclendershow dot com. Make sure you 7 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:24,920 hit the subscribe button. Get every episode for free right 8 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:27,320 to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so 9 00:00:27,399 --> 00:00:30,760 much for your support. So we got the wildfires out 10 00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:33,039 in California. As I was going over in the last hour, 11 00:00:33,079 --> 00:00:36,200 we went through a lot of the details there. Bad policy, 12 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:40,520 bad politics, bad priorities. I have a bunch of emails here. 13 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:44,439 I will read through a couple of the only the 14 00:00:44,439 --> 00:00:49,719 best ones, only the best. But I also just saw 15 00:00:50,679 --> 00:00:55,079 the there's a clip here and I'm hesitant to play 16 00:00:55,079 --> 00:00:58,600 it just because it's on the Joe Rogan podcast. Remember 17 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:01,520 when Donald Trump in the election. It's like a couple 18 00:01:01,719 --> 00:01:04,040 I guess a couple months ago, two months ago, he 19 00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:08,000 went on the Joe Rogan podcast. And because it's a 20 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:10,719 podcast and it's Joe Rogan, I'm afraid because I haven't 21 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:13,840 screened it yet. So I don't know if there's any 22 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:19,079 cussin involved, but this clip, it's like a seven minute 23 00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:25,959 clip of Trump talking about this exact problem, this exact problem. 24 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:30,400 He talks about the Delta smelt. He talks about how 25 00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:35,120 they have all this water. He specifically discusses that the 26 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:39,159 rain water is being wasted by being directed into the 27 00:01:39,159 --> 00:01:42,640 Pacific Ocean. He says, you know, in Los Angeles. 28 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:44,680 Speaker 2: You can't get proper amounts of water in order to 29 00:01:44,719 --> 00:01:47,400 protect a tiny little fish. The water up north, it 30 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:52,560 gets routed into the Pacific Ocean. Millions and millions of water, 31 00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:55,760 of gallons of water gets poured into the Pacific. 32 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:57,799 Speaker 1: And then he says he got it all done. Nobody 33 00:01:57,799 --> 00:02:01,359 could believe it. It was the bestlah blah blah. You 34 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:04,319 got so much water. And he says to Governor Newsom, 35 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:07,799 all you have to do is sign a contract or 36 00:02:07,799 --> 00:02:11,000 an agreement or something. And Newsom wouldn't do it. He 37 00:02:11,039 --> 00:02:13,520 didn't want to sign. He says. Every time I go 38 00:02:13,599 --> 00:02:16,680 to California, I say, you have so much water. They 39 00:02:16,719 --> 00:02:19,400 don't know it. I'm telling you, people living in Beverly Hills, 40 00:02:19,479 --> 00:02:22,439 they turn off the water. Same thing with the electric 41 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:28,479 These are choices, These are choices that are made by 42 00:02:28,599 --> 00:02:33,199 politicians who are pandering for reelection, pandering for money so 43 00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:36,919 they can get re elected, right, pandering so they can 44 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:42,159 keep their salaries. Some of them believe this stuff, sure, 45 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:46,000 although I don't know what you I don't know, Like, 46 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:49,800 how do you defend this? How do you defend what 47 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:51,919 we are seeing right now? How do you defend that 48 00:02:53,919 --> 00:02:57,439 to say, no, no, we're going to We're going to 49 00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:01,960 dehydrate you know, the state of California, or half of 50 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:05,639 the state of California. We're gonna just send all the 51 00:03:05,639 --> 00:03:10,000 water away because of some little tiny fish to save 52 00:03:10,039 --> 00:03:13,280 this little tiny fish. And this isn't just a California problem, obviously, 53 00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:17,759 this happens everywhere in North Carolina. Remember the heels splitter muscle, 54 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:21,960 remember that one, right, And look, I understand, you know, 55 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:26,240 protecting ecosystems and the amount of damage that can be 56 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:28,599 done and that sort of thing. But if you want, 57 00:03:28,639 --> 00:03:33,159 like if you want to stop development, then just stop development, 58 00:03:34,159 --> 00:03:36,439 that's what you need to do. But what you're doing 59 00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:42,319 right now is creating really dangerous circumstances. And until people 60 00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:45,639 are held accountable for it at the ballot box or 61 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:50,840 maybe even criminally or civilly liable. This doesn't change. And 62 00:03:51,039 --> 00:03:53,479 I don't live in California, never have lived in California. 63 00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:56,400 I've only visited it once. That was enough for me. 64 00:03:56,560 --> 00:04:00,879 But I mean that was San Francisco. So no, they 65 00:04:00,879 --> 00:04:04,240 didn't have the Pooh map at that time. But I 66 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:07,599 would have actually gone around. I would have gone to 67 00:04:07,680 --> 00:04:11,280 check to see how accurate the poop app was. But 68 00:04:11,759 --> 00:04:17,800 I digress. Brett writing into Pete at thepeteclendarshow dot com, 69 00:04:18,279 --> 00:04:20,600 he says, Pete, where did all the massive snowfall in 70 00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:24,240 California go? Answer? Not the reservoirs. It was sent to 71 00:04:24,279 --> 00:04:27,120 the Pacific Ocean. I got an email from a friend 72 00:04:27,160 --> 00:04:31,480 in California. Their fire hydrants are empty. Citizens are using 73 00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:38,959 garden hoses, David says, with respect to the fires in LA. 74 00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:44,519 When solar panels burn, they leave behind toxic ash. All 75 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:48,399 these LA homes with solar panels are polluting the air 76 00:04:48,519 --> 00:04:52,399 and land. Should the EPA step in and find California 77 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:56,920 for poor environmental management by limiting water supply, poor forest management, 78 00:04:56,959 --> 00:05:06,199 and pushing solar panels in fire hazard areas? I before it. Seriously, 79 00:05:06,519 --> 00:05:09,399 I don't know any other way at this point to 80 00:05:09,519 --> 00:05:13,519 combat this kind of stuff because the people who are 81 00:05:13,519 --> 00:05:19,720 making these decisions have incentives that align with a continuation 82 00:05:19,879 --> 00:05:23,759 of making these really bad decisions, and until they are 83 00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:27,240 punished in some way, I don't know how that changes. Now. 84 00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:29,360 Maybe voters wake up and they're like, you know what, 85 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:33,879 We're going to choose a different direction. But I don't 86 00:05:33,879 --> 00:05:39,480 think they will, because politics and political alignment, particularly in 87 00:05:39,519 --> 00:05:42,319 a state like California, and particularly in an area like 88 00:05:42,399 --> 00:05:46,800 Los Angeles, it is their identities. People have adopted their 89 00:05:46,839 --> 00:05:52,040 politics as their identity, and so they can't divorce themselves 90 00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:57,480 from it. Like if you've been out there advocating for 91 00:05:57,839 --> 00:06:01,920 the Delta smelt right, if you've been out there saying no, 92 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:04,079 it's okay for us to turn off our water, and 93 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:06,959 your neighbors are grumbling that they can't water their lawns 94 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:09,360 or something, and you're the one that's out there, you know, 95 00:06:09,519 --> 00:06:14,680 morally preening to the neighborhood virtue, signaling that you're better 96 00:06:14,759 --> 00:06:19,399 than they are because you're okay with dehydration, You're okay 97 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:23,279 with the increased fire hazards. You know, you're okay with 98 00:06:23,519 --> 00:06:26,399 with this approach and these policies. How do you turn 99 00:06:26,480 --> 00:06:31,199 around and go back on that right because you've elevated 100 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:36,240 it to not only your identity, you have a personal 101 00:06:36,319 --> 00:06:41,079 stake in this, but you've also gone on the record 102 00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:43,439 of saying that this is the better way to go 103 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:49,079 and that this is what the environment requires. So how 104 00:06:49,079 --> 00:06:51,439 do you change your mind for any other reason? Like 105 00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:54,800 because there wouldn't be any new science about this. Everything 106 00:06:54,920 --> 00:06:59,040 is already known about why these fires accelerate. Oh, by 107 00:06:59,079 --> 00:07:05,279 the way, I also saw where was it here? Ah? Yes, 108 00:07:05,639 --> 00:07:11,839 libs of TikTok, did you know in Los Angeles last 109 00:07:11,959 --> 00:07:14,959 year or I guess twenty twenty three? Two years ago, 110 00:07:16,759 --> 00:07:22,560 there were almost just shy of fourteen thousand homeless fires 111 00:07:23,160 --> 00:07:26,560 in LA. It was thirteen thy nine hundred and nine 112 00:07:26,839 --> 00:07:31,959 fires that were started by homeless people. Beginning in twenty 113 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:38,160 twenty one, Homeless encampment fires accounted for eighty percent of 114 00:07:38,319 --> 00:07:45,759 fires in downtown Los Angeles. Just three years prior, there 115 00:07:45,800 --> 00:07:51,279 was an average of seven encampment fires every day, seven 116 00:07:51,439 --> 00:07:56,000 a day in twenty eighteen. By three years later, that 117 00:07:56,120 --> 00:08:00,360 number had tripled. In twenty twenty three, a massive fire, 118 00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:05,120 likely started by a homeless person, shut down a major freeway, 119 00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:08,879 putting LA's notorious traffic into a gridlock for days, and 120 00:08:09,040 --> 00:08:13,439 just a quick reminder, California spent twenty four billion dollars 121 00:08:13,600 --> 00:08:19,759 on homelessness and the problem got worse because the entities 122 00:08:19,800 --> 00:08:27,040 and individuals making money serving the homeless have an incentive 123 00:08:28,519 --> 00:08:32,120 that the homeless problem get worse because if the homeless 124 00:08:32,159 --> 00:08:36,480 problem gets better and there are no homeless people to serve, 125 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:40,600 then you don't get paid and your organization is no 126 00:08:40,720 --> 00:08:46,159 longer necessary. Right, So you want to serve more clients, 127 00:08:46,440 --> 00:08:49,919 You want to have more customers. Right. The incentive structure 128 00:08:51,159 --> 00:08:54,600 is aligned to not solve the problem. And that doesn't 129 00:08:54,639 --> 00:08:57,360 mean there aren't people with good intentions and doing it 130 00:08:57,399 --> 00:08:59,279 for the right reasons and really trying to make a 131 00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:02,639 difference and an impact. Sure there are those people. Absolutely, 132 00:09:02,879 --> 00:09:06,480 there are entities and organizations that try to help people 133 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:10,159 like the Absolutely. The problem is when government becomes the 134 00:09:10,240 --> 00:09:14,200 funding agent and these organizations then get hooked on that 135 00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:18,600 government grant, the incentive is for them to keep getting 136 00:09:18,639 --> 00:09:21,720 the grants. Here's a great idea. How about making an 137 00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:25,080 escape to a really special and secluded getaway in western 138 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:27,559 North Carolina. Just a quick drive up the mountain and 139 00:09:27,639 --> 00:09:31,679 cabins of Asheville is your connection. Whether you're celebrating an anniversary, 140 00:09:31,840 --> 00:09:34,360 a honeymoon, maybe you want to plan a memorable proposal, 141 00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:37,000 or get family and friends together for a big old reunion. 142 00:09:37,279 --> 00:09:40,360 Cabins of Asheville has the ideal spot for you where 143 00:09:40,399 --> 00:09:42,960 you can reconnect with your loved ones and the things 144 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:46,600 that truly matter. Nestled within the breath taking fourteen thousand 145 00:09:46,600 --> 00:09:49,799 acres of the Pisga National Forest, their cabins offer a 146 00:09:49,879 --> 00:09:52,519 serene escape in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. 147 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:55,240 Centrally located between Ashville and the entrance of the Great 148 00:09:55,279 --> 00:09:59,120 Smoky Mountain National Park. It's the perfect balance of seclusion 149 00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:03,879 and proxiy to all the local attractions with hot tubs, fireplaces, 150 00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:08,120 air conditioning, smart TVs, Wi Fi grills, outdoor tables and 151 00:10:08,200 --> 00:10:12,519 your own private covered porch. Choose from thirteen cabins, six cottages, 152 00:10:12,600 --> 00:10:16,559 two villas, and a great lodge with eleven king sized bedrooms. 153 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:19,919 Cabins of Ashville has the ideal spot for you for 154 00:10:20,039 --> 00:10:23,799 any occasion, and they have pet friendly accommodations. Call her 155 00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:27,159 text eight two eight, three, six seven seventy sixty eight 156 00:10:27,519 --> 00:10:29,600 or check out all there is to offer at cabins 157 00:10:29,639 --> 00:10:33,159 Offashville dot Com and make memories that'll last a lifetime. 158 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:38,559 Got a message here from Seth to Pete at thepetecleanershow 159 00:10:38,639 --> 00:10:41,440 dot com. First, I'd like to say it's good to 160 00:10:41,480 --> 00:10:43,879 hear your voice on the radio again. Thank you, Seth. 161 00:10:43,879 --> 00:10:47,000 I appreciate that the people on the West Coast need 162 00:10:47,080 --> 00:10:50,759 to pretend that it's Donald Trump telling them not to 163 00:10:50,879 --> 00:10:54,759 burn the underbrush and give a big middle finger to 164 00:10:54,799 --> 00:10:58,080 their government, just like they do to anything. Trump says 165 00:10:58,399 --> 00:11:00,519 that whole sesspool of the US has none to blame 166 00:11:00,519 --> 00:11:03,159 but themselves for all the problems they have for lack 167 00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:08,919 of action. This is different than the disaster in western 168 00:11:08,919 --> 00:11:14,000 North Carolina in that they knew these types of hazards 169 00:11:14,720 --> 00:11:18,679 were coming right. This is a regular occurrence, and there 170 00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:22,960 are all sorts of mitigation programs and such that they 171 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:26,960 know can work, and Californians have decided to not do 172 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:31,039 those things. They keep electing people that continue to not 173 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:34,600 do those things, and so there is a bit of 174 00:11:34,639 --> 00:11:37,679 a difference here. Now, I'm not interested in checking people's 175 00:11:37,759 --> 00:11:43,240 voter cards, you know, before getting them evacuated from these 176 00:11:43,279 --> 00:11:46,399 disaster areas. Obviously, it doesn't matter to me, if the 177 00:11:46,440 --> 00:11:51,720 home that a firefighter is trying to save is the 178 00:11:51,759 --> 00:11:56,320 home of a Democrat or a Republican, it doesn't matter. Right, 179 00:11:56,360 --> 00:12:00,559 the emergency response does not take into account the political 180 00:12:00,639 --> 00:12:05,320 identification of the people they're trying to save. That being said, 181 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:11,200 there needs to be a recognition that the policies that 182 00:12:11,279 --> 00:12:16,360 have been enacted and the priorities that these leaders have 183 00:12:16,759 --> 00:12:23,639 adopted are incorrect. I said it after COVID, right after 184 00:12:23,840 --> 00:12:28,240 the pandemic, and Governor Roy Cooper here in North Carolina, 185 00:12:28,320 --> 00:12:32,840 and he opened everything back up but grudgingly that there 186 00:12:32,879 --> 00:12:37,279 needs to be an after action report. There needs to 187 00:12:37,320 --> 00:12:40,200 be what is often referred to as a post mortem, 188 00:12:40,600 --> 00:12:44,120 an autopsy, if you will. There has to be some 189 00:12:44,159 --> 00:12:47,480 sort of an assessment about what they got right and 190 00:12:47,519 --> 00:12:52,600 what they got wrong. And that's not to drag and 191 00:12:52,759 --> 00:12:56,639 criticize the people that made the decisions. I mean, yes, 192 00:12:56,759 --> 00:12:59,679 those things will happen, no doubt. In fact, I would 193 00:12:59,679 --> 00:13:04,159 probably we participate in some of that criticism. However, the 194 00:13:04,200 --> 00:13:08,399 more important reason why you do those types of reports 195 00:13:08,480 --> 00:13:11,720 is so you don't make mistakes again. So if you 196 00:13:11,840 --> 00:13:16,759 have another situation that arises, you have a blueprint of 197 00:13:16,840 --> 00:13:19,240 things that work and things that don't and if you 198 00:13:19,559 --> 00:13:22,360 unless you're going to tell me, which apparently Roy Cooper 199 00:13:22,399 --> 00:13:26,799 and to my well, I am, I am still amazed. 200 00:13:27,039 --> 00:13:28,720 I am, and I don't know why. Maybe I'm a 201 00:13:28,759 --> 00:13:32,600 Pollyanna on this. I expected some media people to at 202 00:13:32,679 --> 00:13:36,320 least ask the guy before he left office, did you 203 00:13:36,399 --> 00:13:41,000 get a single thing wrong in your pandemic response? That's 204 00:13:41,039 --> 00:13:44,679 the question that needs to be asked, whether it's the pandemic, 205 00:13:45,120 --> 00:13:48,879 or it's Hurricane Helene recovery and relief, or it's the 206 00:13:48,919 --> 00:13:55,200 wildfire situation in California? Did local leaders, did politicians, did 207 00:13:55,279 --> 00:13:59,320 policies get anything wrong? I know you want to talk 208 00:13:59,320 --> 00:14:02,120 about all the things that you've done that look good 209 00:14:02,159 --> 00:14:05,080 for you, right, you want all of the good press. 210 00:14:05,279 --> 00:14:09,360 I get that. I don't care. Okay, I don't care 211 00:14:09,399 --> 00:14:12,279 to listen to all the things that you want pats 212 00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:15,000 on the back for. I am more interested in an 213 00:14:15,039 --> 00:14:19,240 honest assessment that identifies things that you got wrong. Not 214 00:14:19,399 --> 00:14:22,519 so I can criticize, but so we can say, don't 215 00:14:22,519 --> 00:14:26,440 do that again, don't do that again. Hey, you know, 216 00:14:26,559 --> 00:14:30,360 we postpone that controlled burn in this area and then 217 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:32,799 oh my gosh, a wildfire came through and has destroyed 218 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:36,200 thousands and thousands of acres and thousands of structures and 219 00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:39,960 probably killed a bunch of people. Like, well, let's not 220 00:14:40,039 --> 00:14:42,960 do that again. Maybe we should do some controlled burns 221 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:46,039 from now on, right, Maybe keep them on a schedule, 222 00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:50,639 remove them from some political whim that apparently the administration 223 00:14:50,840 --> 00:14:52,480 had that the FED said, oh, we don't want to 224 00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:53,919 do this because if it's out of control, it could 225 00:14:53,960 --> 00:14:56,600 hurt the Democrats reelection chances. So why don't we take 226 00:14:56,639 --> 00:15:01,960 that decision away from these politicians? Just spitballing here? All right, 227 00:15:02,039 --> 00:15:04,679 I hope you had a happy holiday season. But tell 228 00:15:04,759 --> 00:15:07,320 me if something like this happened at your house. Your 229 00:15:07,320 --> 00:15:09,799 family and friends are gathered around, Maybe y'all are in 230 00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:13,440 the living room, you're laughing, swapping stories, reminiscing, and then 231 00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:17,399 somebody says, hey, Dad, remember those old VHS tapes? Did 232 00:15:17,480 --> 00:15:20,080 you ever get them transferred? And then the room gets 233 00:15:20,120 --> 00:15:23,679 all quiet. All eyes are on Dad, who says, oh, 234 00:15:23,759 --> 00:15:25,759 you know, well, I've been meaning to but I just 235 00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:28,799 having gotten around to it. Look, don't let those priceless 236 00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:31,759 memories sit in a box for another year, all right? 237 00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:34,720 Create a video has been helping families in the Charlotte 238 00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:38,559 area preserve their history since nineteen ninety seven. Simply bring 239 00:15:38,559 --> 00:15:42,000 in your old camquarder tapes and Creative Video will transfer 240 00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:45,279 them to a USB flash drive for just fourteen ninety 241 00:15:45,279 --> 00:15:47,639 five per tape. You have a big collection, They've got 242 00:15:47,639 --> 00:15:50,759 a discount for you. And next year, instead of talking 243 00:15:50,799 --> 00:15:55,600 about those memories, imagine gathering the family to watch them together. 244 00:15:55,840 --> 00:15:58,480 Talk about a memorable gift. So do what I did. 245 00:15:58,519 --> 00:16:02,360 Trust the experts at Create Video, conveniently located in mint 246 00:16:02,399 --> 00:16:05,240 Hill right off I four eighty five and online at 247 00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:09,039 create a Video dot com. So from fires out in 248 00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:15,559 California to the flooding in western North Carolina from Hurricane Helene, 249 00:16:16,240 --> 00:16:19,200 we have some updates there. Leslie Coolba writing at the 250 00:16:19,279 --> 00:16:24,960 tribunetrib Papers dot com as the website. On October thirtieth, 251 00:16:25,559 --> 00:16:28,960 HUD informed the City of Ashville that it was going 252 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:33,080 to be getting an additional one point seven five million 253 00:16:33,159 --> 00:16:40,279 dollars from the CDBG fund that is Community Development Block 254 00:16:40,360 --> 00:16:44,639 Grant and part of that fund is the Designated Disaster 255 00:16:44,720 --> 00:16:50,279 Recovery Fund. Before receiving any money, however, the staff says 256 00:16:50,279 --> 00:16:53,759 that the quote council City Council will need to authorize 257 00:16:53,799 --> 00:17:00,879 the submission to HUD of amendments to their annual action Plan. 258 00:17:02,279 --> 00:17:06,440 And they have to update their goals for the disaster 259 00:17:06,519 --> 00:17:11,559 recovery in some twenty twenty through twenty twenty four consolidated 260 00:17:11,599 --> 00:17:16,160 plan and that'll give a concise summary of the actions 261 00:17:16,200 --> 00:17:19,119 and activities that'll be used to address the disaster recovery. Right, 262 00:17:19,119 --> 00:17:21,519 so they need to have a plan. And part of this, look, 263 00:17:21,599 --> 00:17:25,599 I understand why GOVC does this stuff because it's a 264 00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:28,119 grant program. And if they were to turn around and say, 265 00:17:28,119 --> 00:17:30,640 all right, here's a check for one point seven million 266 00:17:30,680 --> 00:17:33,200 dollars to the City of Ashville, and there's no plan 267 00:17:33,319 --> 00:17:35,880 to spend it, there's no plan for you know, what 268 00:17:35,920 --> 00:17:37,839 it's going to be used for. And then the City 269 00:17:37,880 --> 00:17:41,680 of Ashville does something really stupid and uses it to replace, 270 00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:45,079 you know, sidewalks because fat tourists jump up and down 271 00:17:45,079 --> 00:17:49,039 and break the sidewalks. And I'm not kidding, by the 272 00:17:49,079 --> 00:17:51,039 way on that, and I mean not that fat tourists 273 00:17:51,039 --> 00:17:53,119 to breaking sidewalks, but that's what the City of Asheville 274 00:17:53,359 --> 00:17:56,440 years ago. The city council blamed all the tourists for 275 00:17:56,519 --> 00:18:02,640 why their sidewalks were in such disrepair. They blame tourists, 276 00:18:03,240 --> 00:18:08,000 like guys a sidewalk, people walking on a sidewalk, it's 277 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:11,519 going to take about seventy years for that sidewalk to decompose. 278 00:18:13,279 --> 00:18:16,119 The life cycle on a sidewalk is like seventy to 279 00:18:16,160 --> 00:18:19,920 eighty years. And so no, it's not because of a 280 00:18:19,920 --> 00:18:22,799 whole bunch of tourists walking on your sidewalks. It's because you, 281 00:18:22,880 --> 00:18:28,880 guys have not what prioritized the spending. You've taken money 282 00:18:29,319 --> 00:18:31,640 that you should have spent or should have set aside 283 00:18:31,680 --> 00:18:35,559 for sidewalk repairs and replacement, and you've used it for 284 00:18:35,720 --> 00:18:40,839 other things. You see, and this gets too a fundamental 285 00:18:40,960 --> 00:18:44,319 difference in the way people see spending, whether it is 286 00:18:44,799 --> 00:18:49,079 at the governmental level or even in their own household budgets, 287 00:18:49,119 --> 00:18:53,160 which is, see a penny, spend a penny, and that 288 00:18:53,319 --> 00:18:57,559 is not a long term viable strategy. You will eventually 289 00:18:58,119 --> 00:19:03,440 go bankrupt, you will eventually become insolvent if you are 290 00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:05,920 doing it in your household. If you are gov co well, 291 00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:08,599 you could just keep taxing people until, of course you 292 00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:11,640 hit sort of that death spiral right where now people 293 00:19:11,640 --> 00:19:13,440 don't want to live in your place because it's too 294 00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:16,960 expensive and it's too crummy, and so people leave and 295 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:19,519 then you have to raise taxes, which creates, you know, 296 00:19:19,599 --> 00:19:21,759 more of an incentive for people to leave, and you 297 00:19:21,839 --> 00:19:26,000 end up in this death spiral when you get the 298 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:29,720 revenue in. And they know this, by the way, they 299 00:19:29,720 --> 00:19:34,880 do reserve studies on the long term replacement costs for 300 00:19:35,319 --> 00:19:38,279 sidewalks and roads and all this stuff. They have all 301 00:19:38,319 --> 00:19:42,559 of these plans, they have all these projections, and they 302 00:19:42,799 --> 00:19:45,519 take the money in and rather than designate it for 303 00:19:45,599 --> 00:19:52,279 the reserves to fund adequately the replacement on infrastructure, they don't. 304 00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:54,759 They spend it. They see a penny and they spend it, 305 00:19:55,119 --> 00:19:57,079 and then they're like, we don't have any money to 306 00:19:57,119 --> 00:20:01,319 replace sidewalks. Yeah, because you're spending all of this other 307 00:20:01,400 --> 00:20:04,759 money on other things that you shouldn't have been spending 308 00:20:04,799 --> 00:20:07,720 it on because it is not one of your core services. 309 00:20:08,039 --> 00:20:13,799 You have prioritized other things above the core service. When 310 00:20:15,240 --> 00:20:20,440 Los Angeles cuts its fire department by seventeen or twenty 311 00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:23,160 million dollars whatever it was in this year's budget cycle, 312 00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:26,240 that is a deprioritization. And you could say, well, they 313 00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:28,599 had a budget crisis or crunch and they needed to 314 00:20:28,599 --> 00:20:31,799 fill a deficit. I get all of that, sure, But 315 00:20:31,880 --> 00:20:36,319 as Joe Biden's dad told him, Joe, guys having got 316 00:20:36,400 --> 00:20:40,759 a right and we all know what that means. Don't 317 00:20:40,759 --> 00:20:43,480 tell me what your priorities are, show me your budget. 318 00:20:43,519 --> 00:20:47,319 That's what Joe Biden has said for decades, right. I 319 00:20:47,359 --> 00:20:49,240 don't know if his father actually ever said that to him, 320 00:20:49,240 --> 00:20:52,720 but it does make sense. It's one of the few 321 00:20:52,759 --> 00:20:55,799 things that Joe Biden has probably ever uttered that is true. 322 00:20:56,359 --> 00:21:01,119 And if you have a budget that is diverting money 323 00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:07,039 away from sidewalks, police fire, the courts, right, these are 324 00:21:07,079 --> 00:21:09,920 the things that the government is supposed to be doing. 325 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:14,480 Although some would argue against the sidewalks and roads, and 326 00:21:14,559 --> 00:21:19,720 that's a whole different debate, but most people concur that 327 00:21:19,759 --> 00:21:22,599 these are the core services that government needs to do. 328 00:21:22,720 --> 00:21:25,200 And if you're not doing those things, right, do you 329 00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:28,880 really think you've earned the right to start doing all 330 00:21:28,880 --> 00:21:32,200 these other things. You keep spending more and more and 331 00:21:32,240 --> 00:21:36,440 more and more money. And Charlotte is the same way, right, 332 00:21:36,599 --> 00:21:41,519 Charlotte is under this exact same pressure. They keep spending 333 00:21:41,680 --> 00:21:44,000 more and more money on all of these nice to 334 00:21:44,039 --> 00:21:48,039 have things or want to have things and not need 335 00:21:48,039 --> 00:21:53,440 to have things. Out in Asheville, same thing. There is 336 00:21:53,519 --> 00:21:58,200 a common denominator in all of those jurisdictions, but I digress. 337 00:21:58,400 --> 00:22:02,720 Asheville's Community Development Vision Manager, James Shelton, explained to the 338 00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:06,880 city council that the high administrative burden was needed for 339 00:22:07,039 --> 00:22:12,000 expedition and oversight of disbursements. Shelton said that Helene cost 340 00:22:12,039 --> 00:22:16,279 the Ashville metro area about eighty two hundred jobs, or 341 00:22:16,319 --> 00:22:18,720 four percent of the labor force, which would raise the 342 00:22:18,759 --> 00:22:24,000 unemployment rate to almost eleven percent. That's the whole area. 343 00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:29,119 To help the City of Ashville contributed about seven hundred 344 00:22:29,119 --> 00:22:33,400 thousand dollars from the CDBG funds that it already had 345 00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:39,960 on hand to an organization called Mountain biz Works, and 346 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:42,759 they have a Rebuilding Together grant fund and so the 347 00:22:42,839 --> 00:22:45,119 idea there is to get people jobs and training and 348 00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:48,920 that sort of thing. To council surprise, no funds had 349 00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:53,079 been drawn down from that grant, though, Shelton said that 350 00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:56,240 Mountain biz Works, which was the pass through agency for 351 00:22:56,319 --> 00:22:59,759 the funds, was currently reviewing and scoring the applications and 352 00:22:59,839 --> 00:23:03,480 interviews would begin later this month. What's the hold up? 353 00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:06,119 City has the money? They passed it on to Mountain 354 00:23:06,160 --> 00:23:08,920 Biz Works. Mountain biz Works is now going to pass 355 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:11,240 it on to some other organizations. But they got to 356 00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:14,039 do all of the applications and they're totally going through it. 357 00:23:14,079 --> 00:23:16,000 I mean, it's been what four or five months since 358 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:18,680 Helene hit. What's the hold up? Well, they don't have 359 00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:22,160 the capacity. In other words, the catastrophe was so big 360 00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:26,079 that these organizations don't have the infrastructure to get this 361 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:32,119 stuff done in a timely manner. One of the many 362 00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:36,000 challenges in this kind of disaster recovery and relief operation. 363 00:23:36,799 --> 00:23:38,599 All right, if you're listening to this show, you know 364 00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:40,680 I try to keep up with all sorts of current events, 365 00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:42,759 and I know you do too, And you've probably heard 366 00:23:42,759 --> 00:23:46,839 me say get your news from multiple sources. Why Well, 367 00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:49,599 because it's how you detect media bias, which is why 368 00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:52,799 I've been so impressed with ground News. It's an app 369 00:23:53,039 --> 00:23:56,200 and it's a website, and it combines news from around 370 00:23:56,240 --> 00:23:58,640 the world in one place, so you can compare coverage 371 00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:01,640 and verify information. You can check it out at check 372 00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:06,079 dot ground, dot news slash Pete. I put the link 373 00:24:06,119 --> 00:24:09,240 in the podcast description too. I started using ground News 374 00:24:09,279 --> 00:24:11,960 a few months ago and more recently chose to work 375 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:14,039 with them as an affiliate because it lets me see 376 00:24:14,079 --> 00:24:17,920 clearly how stories get covered and by whom. The blind 377 00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:20,720 spot feature shows you which stories get ignored by the 378 00:24:20,799 --> 00:24:24,519 left and the right. See for yourself. Check dot Ground 379 00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:28,400 dot news slash Pete. Subscribe through that link and you'll 380 00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:31,599 get fifteen percent off any subscription. I use the Vantage 381 00:24:31,599 --> 00:24:35,079 plan to get unlimited access to every feature. Your subscription 382 00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:37,880 then not only helps my podcast, but it also supports 383 00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:41,160 Ground News as they make the media landscape more transparent. 384 00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:45,160 Bill says in an email to Pete at the Pete 385 00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:49,279 calendarshow dot com. Pete, I have quite a few relatives 386 00:24:49,319 --> 00:24:52,799 in California. There are a lot of conservatives. They're just 387 00:24:52,920 --> 00:24:58,240 outweighed or outnumbered by the wackos. Much like Mecklenburg County. 388 00:24:58,279 --> 00:25:01,079 We are suffering under the Democrats city and county rule 389 00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:03,759 by a thin majority, and then they get to gerrymander 390 00:25:03,799 --> 00:25:06,960 the districts. We're going to become California Mecklenburg County if 391 00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:09,920 we don't watch out. Love you so glad you're back 392 00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:12,160 from vacation. Thank you, Bill, I appreciate it. I'm glad 393 00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:12,640 to be back. 394 00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:13,319 Speaker 2: Glad to be back. 395 00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:15,359 Speaker 1: Yeah, this is a problem and so when I say, 396 00:25:15,559 --> 00:25:18,240 you know, people need to realize that these are the 397 00:25:18,319 --> 00:25:22,759 ramifications of their decisions. I'm not really talking about conservatives 398 00:25:22,759 --> 00:25:26,920 on this stuff. These are Democrats. But look, Republicans do 399 00:25:27,039 --> 00:25:29,960 this as well. Republicans, you know, when they run the 400 00:25:30,039 --> 00:25:33,000 roost in a certain town or county, they will also 401 00:25:33,160 --> 00:25:37,240 lose sight of their core service mandates and their priorities. 402 00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:44,279 Absolutely you look at you know, Republican run jurisdictions all 403 00:25:44,319 --> 00:25:46,799 over the country, and they do things that are outside 404 00:25:46,839 --> 00:25:52,279 of the core services. So it's not strictly limited to Democrats. However, 405 00:25:52,559 --> 00:25:56,839 it is way more pronounced long Democrats, just because they 406 00:25:56,880 --> 00:25:59,599 have a different philosophy when it comes to the spending. 407 00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:02,319 As I said, see a penny, spend a penny, which 408 00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:06,160 Jan says, Come on, Pete, see a penny, spend a penny. 409 00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:08,559 You used to live in Ashville, You've seen gov Co 410 00:26:08,759 --> 00:26:12,079 work for years. It's not see a penny, spend a penny. 411 00:26:12,359 --> 00:26:15,480 It's see a penny, spend a dollar and malign anyone 412 00:26:15,519 --> 00:26:19,200 who disagrees. Okay, that's fair. So see a penny spend 413 00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:23,720 a dime. How about that? Jan says, I have two 414 00:26:23,799 --> 00:26:27,960 degrees in forestry, fire ecology was part of my education. 415 00:26:28,279 --> 00:26:32,599 While intensive management cannot stop the fires out west, because 416 00:26:32,640 --> 00:26:35,799 it is a fire maintained ecosystem, it will lower the 417 00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:39,880 degree of catastrophic events. I saw a bumper sticker that said, 418 00:26:40,319 --> 00:26:45,599 being stupid should hurt it most assuredly does in this case, right, Like, 419 00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:47,720 this is true? So what they found. I remember reading 420 00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:50,960 a story about this. Gosh, it must have been twenty 421 00:26:51,039 --> 00:26:52,960 years ago or something, I don't even remember. It was 422 00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:56,279 so long ago, and it was talking about some massive 423 00:26:56,319 --> 00:27:00,960 wildfires that had raged across like the mid West or something, 424 00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:08,119 and these scientists were all surprised to see this growth 425 00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:12,200 occurring of some kind of tree that they thought didn't 426 00:27:12,240 --> 00:27:17,400 exist anymore or something, because the tree was not reproducing 427 00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:22,839 except like the extreme fire. The temperatures were needed for 428 00:27:22,920 --> 00:27:27,839 this particular tree to procreate something like that, and so 429 00:27:28,039 --> 00:27:31,160 they were astounded to see this. And it's like, well, 430 00:27:32,039 --> 00:27:34,279 you had a wildfire that burned all this stuff. And 431 00:27:34,319 --> 00:27:38,519 so when they were trying to just prevent all wildfires, 432 00:27:38,559 --> 00:27:40,599 that used to be what they did, just prevent everything, 433 00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:43,559 no wildfires, and then they realized, oh no, we can't 434 00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:47,160 do that because it's actually going to kill these ecosystems, right, 435 00:27:47,200 --> 00:27:49,640 so you have to have, as Jen just said, a 436 00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:53,720 fire maintained ecosystem. Fire has to be part of this 437 00:27:54,599 --> 00:27:58,160 of the ecosystem. But that doesn't mean you don't control it. 438 00:27:58,440 --> 00:28:01,680 That's why you have the controlled earns. And for some reason, 439 00:28:01,839 --> 00:28:05,880 just like nuclear the quote, progressives don't want to see 440 00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:11,400 that happen, but that's the natural order of things out 441 00:28:11,440 --> 00:28:16,200 in western North Carolina. The Business North Carolina Daily Digest 442 00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:22,680 their daily newsletter that they put out Business NC dot com. 443 00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:26,720 They say that it remains unclear how many properties are damaged. 444 00:28:26,839 --> 00:28:30,039 It's not a criticism, it's a reflection of conflicting information. 445 00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:34,920 In the most recent Office of State State Budget and 446 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:38,519 Management Report, one hundred and thirty three page report quotes 447 00:28:38,599 --> 00:28:42,200 officials saying that they expect about seventy three thousand, seven 448 00:28:42,279 --> 00:28:47,599 hundred homes total to be damaged, so seventy four thousand homes. 449 00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:52,319 A few pages later, it suggested that based on individual 450 00:28:52,359 --> 00:28:56,720 assistance claims to date, the estimate could be between one 451 00:28:56,799 --> 00:28:59,240 hundred and twenty one thousand and all the way up 452 00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:03,279 to one hundred thirty two thousand homes damaged. They just 453 00:29:03,440 --> 00:29:07,759 don't know at this point. The smaller number refers to 454 00:29:07,839 --> 00:29:12,920 homes that have FEMA verified damage, but the state believes 455 00:29:13,160 --> 00:29:17,680 the actual number could be much much higher. Meanwhile, the 456 00:29:17,720 --> 00:29:22,200 new governor, Roy two D two aka Josh Stein, he 457 00:29:22,240 --> 00:29:25,759 did a tour the other day and on his first 458 00:29:25,799 --> 00:29:29,319 day in office, he announced five executive orders and he 459 00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:36,039 is sidelining the Roy Cooper created ENCORE, the North Carolina 460 00:29:36,119 --> 00:29:40,680 Office of Recovery and Resiliency. That's the department or agency 461 00:29:40,880 --> 00:29:44,920 that Roy Cooper set up when the hurricanes hit down 462 00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:50,319 east and was at Florence and Matthew and there are 463 00:29:50,359 --> 00:29:53,599 people and it's been over eight years since Matthew and 464 00:29:53,839 --> 00:29:58,240 they still haven't gotten replacement homes. So what's going to 465 00:29:58,279 --> 00:30:01,559 happen in Western North Carolina is going to be run 466 00:30:01,599 --> 00:30:05,640 through the Governor's Recovery Office for Western North Carolina, So 467 00:30:05,720 --> 00:30:08,680 right out of the Governor's Office g the Governor's Recovery 468 00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:12,480 Office or GROWNC or as I like to call it 469 00:30:13,759 --> 00:30:16,119 grow N See. Yeah, well that makes sense. All right. 470 00:30:16,160 --> 00:30:18,519 That'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much 471 00:30:18,519 --> 00:30:20,599 for listening. I could not do the show without your 472 00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:23,400 support and the support of the businesses that advertise on 473 00:30:23,440 --> 00:30:26,200 the podcast. So if you'd like Please support them too 474 00:30:26,279 --> 00:30:27,960 and tell them you heard it here. You can also 475 00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:30,559 become a patron at my Patreon page or go to 476 00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:34,400 dpetecleanershow dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening, 477 00:30:34,519 --> 00:30:41,440 and don't break anything while I'm gone.