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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 your smartphone or tablet, and again, thank you so

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much for your support. So this may surprise you might

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want to sit down for this, but the Charlotte Observer

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has done a deep dive into the data, which is good.

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I'm not bashing the Observer here for this. This is

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actual journalism. They did a deep dive into data from

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the Charlotte Area Transit System or CATS, and the headline reads,

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violent riders flout passenger bands from CATS trains and buses.

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I know, who would have thought that a system that

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doesn't prevent people from getting on and off the trains

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at the open platforms right, there's no turnstiles there. It's

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just sort of an honor system. Who would have thought

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that people who get banned from the train or buses

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would ignore the band.

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Speaker 2: It's beyond me.

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Speaker 1: Why would people engaged in violence against other passengers or

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the drivers of the buses. Right they're engaging in criminal activity.

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They're ignoring the laws against engaging in violence against other

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people that they would ignore a band like we told

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you you're not allowed on this train, and they're back

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on the train. Here's the story from Amber Godet or

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Goadet g a U d e T. Gaudet Godeu. Anyway,

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when Oscar Solarzano stabbed another passenger aboard the Charlotte Area

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Transit System's Blue Rail the Links Blue Rail train back

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in December. Again, this is a different stabbing on the

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train than the Arena Zarutzka stabbing from the summer last year.

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This was the second stabbing Oscar Solarzano. He was not

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supposed to be on the train at all. He had

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been banned from using cat's transportation a few months earlier,

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but violent riders flouting bands is a common occurrence on CATS,

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according to the transit system's own records from the last

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two years. More than a dozen banned riders last year

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were banned again for another offense. During the periods when

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they were prohibited from using the system. So they get

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banned and then they come back on the train and

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do something else, or back on a bus and do

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something else.

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Speaker 2: And there were more than a dozen such people.

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Speaker 1: So, in other words, rather than like I would not

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have gone with this sort of Anondyne kind of framing

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with the headline that they flout the bands. The bands

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don't work. Okay, the bands don't work. The reason they

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don't work is because there is no enforcement. The ability

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to say no to somebody carries with it an implied

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use of force. That is always the case, always the case,

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if somebody wants you to do something and you don't

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want to do it, and you say no, The implication

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there is that if you're going to try to, like

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if I say no, and you really want me to

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do something, you're going to have to force me to

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do it. And if I say no and you try

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to force me to do it, then I'm going to

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meet your force with force from myself. The ability to

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say no has the implication of force behind it. So

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when you're saying you are not allowed on this train

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or bus any longer you are banned, can I come

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on the bus? No? That carries with it the implied

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use of force. But if there is no force ever

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to be applied, then there is essentially no ban. It

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does not work. The only way it works is if

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you catch the person violating the first ban, and you

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can catch them and then you can try to charge

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them with a criminal offense, which is force. It's the

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force of the government to detain you, to take your

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liberty or your property by way of a fine or something.

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Many of the people had been charged with serious crimes

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like assaulting security officers or bus operators and train operators,

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or weapons possession or threatening drivers. Cat's representative, Brett Baldeck,

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declined to make the interim CEO Brent Cagele or Chief

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Safety and Security Officer Eric O's niece Ostness Osnis.

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Speaker 2: That's how he pronounces that.

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Speaker 1: Did not make either of these men available for interview

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or to directly answer questions from The Charlotte Observer about

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the findings. Baldeck instead provided a copy of the cat's

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exclusion policy, which was already public. That policy says low

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level misdemeanors like loitering or disorderly conduct, rule violations, repeated

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fair evasion these things can earn riders a six month

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suspension riders who are cited for violent offenses like assault

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or property damage, weapons possession, or sexual crimes, they can

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be banned for one year. In a December tenth news release,

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Cagle said that there are several challenges to enforcing the bands.

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Speaker 2: You don't say yeah, well, the.

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Speaker 1: Original design of the open platforms would be a major obstacle,

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a challenge, if you will, because you can't keep people

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from getting on the bus or sorry, getting on the train.

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You can't keep people from getting on the train if

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you can't keep people from getting on the platform, and

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when the platforms are built at street level, and all

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you have to do is walk up and punch in

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some code on a kiosk in order to get a ticket,

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or alternatively not do that and just jump on the

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train when the door's open, right, if you don't have

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anybody there to say no, with the implied use of

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force behind that, no people are going to get on

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the train. That press release from December tenth went on

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to state tens of thousands of people ride cats vehicles

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every day and monitoring everyone entering the system is not

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feasible at this time, as there is no practical way

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to identify an excluded individual as they bord there's just

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no way to do it. So what's the point of

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the bands. It's all retroactive. It's after you do something bit,

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after you've sexually assaulted somebody, or after you've robbed them,

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after you beat up the bus driver or something, then

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then we'll ban you. But then if you get back

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on the bus, different driver or something at a different location,

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we're not going to know. And so yeah, you're gonna

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be able to ride the bus then until you, you know,

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commit some other kind of violation, and then we're gonna

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we're gonna we're gonna ban you again. CATS is exploring

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facial recognition technology to help identify band riders. That's a

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good step, but that's going to cost money. Law enforcement

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personnel with jurisdiction on CATS, as well as authorized transit

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system staff and others, can enforce the bands. According to

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the agency's written policy, band riders receive written notice at

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the time the ban is issued. So after you're done

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whipping up on the passenger, the driver comes over and says,

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you're a band off this bus. Here's your band sheet,

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here's your here's your notice. Take this piece of paper

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with you.

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Speaker 2: Don't hit me.

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Speaker 1: Sullerzano, thirty three years old, was banned for a year

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on October twenty eight, twenty twenty five, for having a

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large knife on light rail property. The undocumented immigrant had

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been twice deported to his home country of Honduras in

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the years leading up to the stabbing. That would have

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been during the Biden era. He had come back in

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twice deported. Now he's a two time felon at a

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federal level. But for some reason, even after having a

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large knife on light rail property and being a felon

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twice deported, for some reason, he was not handed over

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to Ice.

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Speaker 2: Wonder why Gary.

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Number on the text line says Charlotte just needs its

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own modern version of the Guardian Angels like New York

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had in the seventies and eighties.

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Speaker 2: What color would the berets be? Would they be read?

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Speaker 1: Um? Kevin says, Pete, your sarcasm is not helping on

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those banned on the light rail. Beside the band, they

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need to give them a tick that they will not

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pay that will keep them from riding on the train again.

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That or cutting off one finger every time they are

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caught on the train again. Just one finger, though Kevin

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says he's not a monster here, like that's that's fair.

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But also you would know then how many times they

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violated the policy.

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Speaker 2: We'll take the thumb's last fine.

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Speaker 1: Back to this story at the Charlotte Observer about this guy,

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Oscar Solarzano, who was caught on the train with a

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very large knife, banned for a year, but did not

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adhere to the band, got back on the train and

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then stabbed somebody with the very large knife. He had

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gotten a six month ban for public intoxication at an

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unnamed Cat's location the very next day after the first

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ban went into effect, so he gets banned for the knife.

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The next day he's drunk at one of the platforms

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and he gets cited. He gets a six month ban,

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but he already had a ban. Cat's security and Charlotte

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Meckleberg police officers who responded did not have visibility into

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the prior day's exclusion. In other words, when the cops

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show up, they don't know he's been banned. They don't

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know that he was banned the prior day, and Kat

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says that was due to a data entry error. Solarzano

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would have then received an indefinite band if they had known,

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but they didn't because you know, data entry. Cat's records

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obtained by the Charlotte Observer indicate that the data entry

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error that the transit system said prevented officers from seeing

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Solarzano's previous offense on October ninth may not have been

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an isolated event. Although Solarzano was banned twice in twenty

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twenty five, his name does not appear in Katz's internal

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list of riders banned that year.

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Speaker 2: Provided to the Observer.

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Speaker 1: It's not clear how many other banned riders were also

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left off the list. So when the Charlotte Observers said,

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give us a list of everybody that was banned in

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twenty twenty five, Oscar Solarzano's name is not on the list,

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but supposedly he got two bands, So how many other

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people are not on the list that got bands? Like?

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Whatever this system is that they are running. It is

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not working. It is not a system at all. Yesterday

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we talked about the Federal Transit Administration audit of the

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cat's system, which found that the rates of crimes against

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passengers is three times higher than the national average. The

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rate of assault on cat's transit workers is five times

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the national average. The piece concludes that passengers who received

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multiple bands often continue to pose problems. During twenty twenty

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four and twenty twenty five, more than eighty percent of

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those riders were banned again within six months of being

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allowed back on the system. Does this sound familiar? Does

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this phenomena sound familiar? It does to me. This is

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the frequent flyer program. This is what we see at

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the jailhouse. You have a small percentage, and by small,

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I mean probably somewhere in the neighborhood of ten to

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twenty percent of all the people that get arrested every

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year are repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat offenders. A small

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percentage account for a large majority of the arrests. And

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it's the same on the transit system. You've asked us

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to keep approving sales tax increases with the promises of

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mass transit for all, and you can't keep people safe

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and you're the ban system sucks. But again, why should

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you change course?

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Speaker 2: Really?

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Speaker 1: When people keep voting these referenda into place and people

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keep saying, take more of my money. Sure, Sometimes repeat

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bands happen quickly. For example, one rider, Christopher Alexander, was

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banned for a year on May fourteenth, twenty twenty five,

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for assaulting a security officer. He was banned again two

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days later for assaulting a cat's contractor on the Blue

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Line platform. Another writer received a one year ban on

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April twentieth for assaulting a cat's employee second degree trespass,

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as well as disorderly conduct. Five days later, that rider

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got another one year ban for simple assault. Although CATS

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records do not specify who was assaulted. I don't know

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what the answer is, short of closing up all of

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the platforms, putting turnstiles in them, staffing security at the

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entrances to all of the platforms, yeah, I don't know. Actually,

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you know, holding people accountable if you're going to be

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if you're going to be you know, attacking people on

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these trains and buses, drivers or passengers. I don't care

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if you're engaging in this kind of anti social criminal behavior.

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There has to be some punishment for it. And I'm

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not talking about a piece of paper that says you're

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not allowed on the train again for six months.

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Speaker 2: You should never attacked the driver.

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Speaker 1: Six months, right, There has to be some other form

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of punishment. Without punishment, there is absolutely no deterrent effect.

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Speaker 2: Now.

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Speaker 1: I know there are people that are gonna say, well, actually,

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this doesn't act as any kind of a deterrent.

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Speaker 2: You know what.

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Speaker 1: First off, I don't agree with that. But secondly, let's

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assume that's the case. But if you're in jail, guess

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what you're not doing. You're not on the bus attacking

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the driver. You're not on the train attacking passengers because

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you're in jail. So even if it's not a deterrent

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to change your behavior, to change your antisocial mental disorder,

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whatever it is, well, at least it is a deterrent

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to other victims getting victimized because now you're just not present.

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Speaking of assault, did North Carolina leaders mislead the public

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about salt supplies?

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Speaker 2: It's assault, it's salt. It's like a play on where's okay? Anyway?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, apparently North Carolina officials say that the local governments

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that they were talking to before the snowstorm and ice storm.

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They were talking to the supplies that the state had

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ready to go to clear the roads, and they may

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have said something or things that may have been misunderstood

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by the local officials.

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Speaker 2: And what they what the locals seemed.

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Speaker 1: To misunderstand, was that that they didn't have enough salt

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for everybody to do the roads. But that's that's that

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was not true. They just misunderstood what they were saying.

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All right, I hope you had a happy holiday season.

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But tell me if something like this happened at your house.

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00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:31,839
Your family and friends are gathered around, Maybe y'all are

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00:18:31,839 --> 00:18:35,279
in the living room and you're laughing, swapping stories, reminiscing,

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00:18:35,319 --> 00:18:39,279
and then somebody says, hey, Dad, remember those old VHS tapes?

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00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:41,920
Did you ever get them transferred? And then the room

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00:18:41,960 --> 00:18:45,759
gets all quiet. All eyes are on Dad, who says, oh,

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00:18:45,839 --> 00:18:47,880
you know, well, I've been meaning to but I just

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00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:50,880
having gotten around to it. Look, don't let those priceless

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00:18:50,920 --> 00:18:53,839
memories sit in a box for another year, all right.

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00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:56,799
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295
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296
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297
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about those memories, imagine gathering the family to watch them together.

298
00:19:17,920 --> 00:19:20,599
Talk about a memorable gift. So do what I did.

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Hill right off I four eighty five and online at

301
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create avideo dot com. Another piece from the Charlotte Observer,

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00:19:31,839 --> 00:19:37,319
this from Nora O'Neill. North Carolina officials say local governments

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may have misunderstood discussions about the state's road salt availability

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ahead of this weekend snowstorm may misunderstood now. The mayor

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00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:58,079
of Munroe, Robert Burns, took aim at Governor Josh Stein

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in a widely scene post on Twitter formerly known as

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x saying municipalities were warned before the storm the North

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Carolina faced a shortage of road salt and needed to

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be selective in treating the roads. By the way, Charlotte

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Mecklemburg emergency officials say they also received that same warning.

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State officials however, told the Charlotte Observer, No, no, no,

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they had enough salt on hand to treat major roadways.

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Any limits that were discussed ahead of the storm were

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about how the supplies would be shared, not whether the

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state was prepared. See, so we don't have a shortage

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here at the state. I don't know what you're talking about.

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00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:52,119
We don't have a shortage. We're just saying we don't

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have enough to share. That's what this is what they're

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going with. This is the line. Okay, I mean that

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is one way to play this, Burns told. This is

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Mayor of Monroe, Robert Burns. He told the Charlotte Observer

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he received information about salt availability during a Union County

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emergency management briefing that was held before the storm hit.

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He said officials in that briefing were told that there

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was a state wide shortage of salt and brine, so

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no martinis people, and that the North Carolina Department of

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Transportation would prioritize major roads.

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Speaker 2: First. I don't know.

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Speaker 1: I like, I'm not an expert on the salting and

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the brining. Yes on the martinis, but no, not really

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on the salting and the brining. But it does sound

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to me like they're basically saying the same thing, right, Like,

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the locals are saying that the state told them there's

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not enough salt for them to share the supplies with

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the locals, so we're going to concentrate on the major

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roads first.

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Speaker 2: And the state is saying, no, no, no, we never

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said that.

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Speaker 1: They must have misunderstood while we were saying was that

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there's not enough supplies to share with them, So we're

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going to focus on the major roads first.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 1: Doesn't that sound It kind of sounds like the same thing.

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Burn said, They told us there was a statewide shortage.

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They said they were going to have to be selective. Yeah,

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they'd have to prioritize what to do with their resources.

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After the storm hit, Burn said he became well, he

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says he became frustrated, But I wonder if he was

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actually frustrated, But he says he became frustrated when state

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leaders publicly pushed back on claims of a shortage. Burn said,

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somebody's not telling them the truth. If there was a mistake,

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just own it and fix it. Days before the snow arrived,

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Governor Josh Stein expressed confidence in the state supply levels

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during a visit on January twenty ninth to an nc

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DOT facility in Raleigh. He said the DOT employees felt

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confident that they had enough salt and sand to help

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handle another storm following the ice storm the prior weekend.

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Charlotte Mecklenburg Emergency Management spokesperson Page Grande said the agency

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also received a briefing related to limited salt availability. In

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an email to the Observer, she said the agency was

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informed early last week by Emergency Management about a nation

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wide shortage of road salt and brine. The agency said

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that it worked with state and local partners to ensure

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adequate supplies were available across Mecklenburg County across the country. Meanwhile,

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cities and towns have reported a shortage of road salt,

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including in Vermont, Ohio, and New York. Have you, by

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the way, have you seen any videos out of New

368
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York City?

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Speaker 2: Not all?

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Speaker 1: I mean, first off, not only did they allow like

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more than a dozen homeless people to freeze to death,

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because that's the that's the warmth of collectivism Under Zoron Mamdani,

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00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:18,839
he refused to go and round up the homeless before

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00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:21,480
the big storm hit, just leaving them out on the

375
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streets and like more than a dozen of them froze

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to death. And now there's video because like the streets

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haven't been plowed, so like for all of the for

378
00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:36,559
all the Yankees and the Midwesterners who have you know,

379
00:24:36,599 --> 00:24:40,039
relocated to the Charlotte area and they're all complaining about

380
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the streets not being plowed. Like okay, like we have

381
00:24:43,640 --> 00:24:47,480
like one plow. Okay, we've got we have. We have

382
00:24:47,559 --> 00:24:49,440
not seen this kind of a storm in more than

383
00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:53,599
twenty years. Okay, we should not be prepared like Minnesota

384
00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:56,839
or Vermont or New York City. We should not have

385
00:24:56,920 --> 00:24:59,880
a fleet of plows ready to roll because we only

386
00:25:00,039 --> 00:25:03,839
get this kind of a snow very infrequently. But New

387
00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:09,039
York they do have plows and they have not been

388
00:25:09,079 --> 00:25:13,200
able to plow the streets for like it's it's been

389
00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:16,880
like a week. And the videos coming out of New

390
00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:19,640
York City. So because the streets aren't getting plowed, you

391
00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:24,400
know what else doesn't happen trash pick up. And this

392
00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:27,000
would if you've never been up to New York City,

393
00:25:27,359 --> 00:25:31,079
this would blow your mind. Like they still use guys

394
00:25:31,119 --> 00:25:33,640
on the backs of the trucks. They don't have the

395
00:25:33,799 --> 00:25:35,400
arm that comes out and picks up the can and

396
00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:41,039
dumps it. So all the shops, all the businesses and

397
00:25:41,359 --> 00:25:44,720
residents they take their trash and they put it on

398
00:25:44,759 --> 00:25:47,960
the sidewalk at the curb, and then the trucks pull

399
00:25:48,079 --> 00:25:50,240
up and guys jump off the back, pick up the bags,

400
00:25:50,279 --> 00:25:52,400
throw it in the back of the truck, and of course,

401
00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:54,440
you know, you get some leakage and bags break, and

402
00:25:54,440 --> 00:25:55,920
that's why New York City smells.

403
00:25:56,160 --> 00:25:59,640
Speaker 2: But well one of the reasons. But they haven't been

404
00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:00,880
able to pick up trash.

405
00:26:01,359 --> 00:26:06,720
Speaker 1: So now you have the the piles of snow and

406
00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:11,079
you have the piles of trash, and it's all mixed

407
00:26:11,119 --> 00:26:14,839
together because they're not picking up the trash. And I

408
00:26:14,839 --> 00:26:19,240
saw one video from some guys last night. They've got

409
00:26:19,279 --> 00:26:22,920
some equipment out there the city does. They've got some

410
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:26,160
equipment rolling down the street where apparently they had been

411
00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:30,480
able to plow like one lane or something on the street,

412
00:26:30,839 --> 00:26:34,319
and then they came back through and started spreading the

413
00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:38,680
snow across the whole street. Rather than have like a

414
00:26:38,759 --> 00:26:42,720
lane open, they spread the snow that had been plowed

415
00:26:42,759 --> 00:26:45,000
to the side. They spread that and they spread it

416
00:26:45,039 --> 00:26:50,359
around or something, which is totally something a Kami would do.

417
00:26:50,559 --> 00:26:53,319
Speaker 2: Right, They're going to redistribute the snow.

418
00:26:53,079 --> 00:26:57,240
Speaker 1: Equally across the street, so everybody has to drive on

419
00:26:57,279 --> 00:27:04,960
the street. This is like, this is a colossal failure

420
00:27:05,839 --> 00:27:11,880
of competence and governance, right, your first test as the

421
00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:18,480
new mayor, and it's a snowstorm and he has failed miserably. Well,

422
00:27:18,519 --> 00:27:21,039
I shouldn't say that, because out in front of his

423
00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:26,720
residence at Gracie Mansion, that street was plapted. So just

424
00:27:26,839 --> 00:27:30,799
like any good communist area, right, any commedy jurisdiction got

425
00:27:30,799 --> 00:27:33,119
to take care of the party officials. All right, If

426
00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:34,920
you're listening to this show, you know I try to

427
00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:36,799
keep up with all sorts of current events, and I

428
00:27:36,799 --> 00:27:39,000
know you do too, And you've probably heard me say

429
00:27:39,119 --> 00:27:41,359
get your news from multiple sources.

430
00:27:41,839 --> 00:27:42,119
Speaker 2: Why.

431
00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:45,240
Speaker 1: Well, because it's how you detect media bias, which is

432
00:27:45,240 --> 00:27:48,359
why I've been so impressed with ground News. It's an

433
00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:51,759
app and it's a website and it combines news from

434
00:27:51,839 --> 00:27:54,000
around the world in one place so you can compare

435
00:27:54,079 --> 00:27:57,079
coverage and verify information. You can check it out at

436
00:27:57,240 --> 00:28:01,680
check dot ground dot news slash Pete. I put the

437
00:28:01,759 --> 00:28:04,839
link in the podcast description too. I started using ground

438
00:28:04,920 --> 00:28:07,599
News a few months ago and more recently, chose to

439
00:28:07,640 --> 00:28:09,599
work with them as an affiliate because it lets me

440
00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:13,480
see clearly how stories get covered and by whom. The

441
00:28:13,519 --> 00:28:16,480
blind spot feature shows you which stories get ignored by

442
00:28:16,559 --> 00:28:17,759
the left and the right.

443
00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:18,759
Speaker 2: See for yourself.

444
00:28:19,039 --> 00:28:23,519
Speaker 1: Check dot Ground, dot News slash Pete. Subscribe through that

445
00:28:23,599 --> 00:28:26,559
link and you'll get fifteen percent off any subscription. I

446
00:28:26,680 --> 00:28:30,000
use the Vantage plan to get unlimited access to every feature.

447
00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:32,960
Your subscription then not only helps my podcast, but it

448
00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:36,160
also supports Ground News as they make the media landscape

449
00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:39,960
more transparent. From the Charlotte Observer story on the uh

450
00:28:40,519 --> 00:28:44,279
salt shortage that wasn't or maybe was, I'm really sure

451
00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:50,400
state officials say that. Look, there's a perfectly reasonable explanation

452
00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:53,720
as to why the local officials thought that the state

453
00:28:53,799 --> 00:28:57,119
had told them that there was a shortage of salt

454
00:28:57,200 --> 00:29:01,880
supplies ahead of the snowstorm. They say the difference in

455
00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:08,640
accounts reflects how resources were managed, not a lack of preparation,

456
00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:14,279
which I'm not really clear if that's like, are you

457
00:29:14,319 --> 00:29:17,720
actually addressing it? Seems to me to be a pretty

458
00:29:17,759 --> 00:29:23,079
straightforward question. Did you say that there was a statewide

459
00:29:23,079 --> 00:29:26,480
shortage or did you not say that because you've got

460
00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:31,319
Charlotte Emergency Management and you have the mayor of Monroe

461
00:29:32,240 --> 00:29:35,519
at a Union County Emergency Management meeting, and they're both

462
00:29:35,599 --> 00:29:38,680
saying that you guys told them that there was a

463
00:29:38,720 --> 00:29:45,680
statewide shortage of salt supplies and there's a nationwide shortage

464
00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:48,839
of salt ahead of the snowstorm. Which makes sense because

465
00:29:49,359 --> 00:29:52,960
like we just went through two rounds of these snowstorms

466
00:29:52,960 --> 00:29:57,599
across the country, so it would make sense to me

467
00:29:57,680 --> 00:30:00,599
if there was a shortage. And I'm not blaming and

468
00:30:00,680 --> 00:30:03,759
see DOT for the shortage. I mean, you can only

469
00:30:03,799 --> 00:30:06,279
make so much salt, you know, at the salt factories

470
00:30:06,319 --> 00:30:07,319
wherever they are located.

471
00:30:07,359 --> 00:30:07,799
Speaker 2: I don't know.

472
00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:11,599
Speaker 1: Now, sand, on the other hand, seems like we could,

473
00:30:11,960 --> 00:30:13,640
you know, just get a whole bunch of sand from

474
00:30:13,680 --> 00:30:17,200
the coast. I mean, you got a bunch of houses

475
00:30:17,240 --> 00:30:20,400
that are already falling into the ocean, so like just

476
00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:24,039
take the sand that they were sitting on. I'm just

477
00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:29,200
kidding people, just I'm not saying to knock people's homes down.

478
00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:37,839
Aaron Moody, nc DOT Assistant communications director said in a

479
00:30:37,839 --> 00:30:42,920
written statement to the Observer that the department communicated to

480
00:30:43,039 --> 00:30:45,240
some local officials ahead of the storm that it would

481
00:30:45,240 --> 00:30:48,680
not be able to share salt supplies.

482
00:30:49,599 --> 00:30:50,039
Speaker 2: It couldn't.

483
00:30:50,160 --> 00:30:54,519
Speaker 1: It wouldn't share the supplies with municipalities. Why, Well, it

484
00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:59,000
had to preserve its resources for the state maintained roads

485
00:30:59,359 --> 00:31:05,359
like interstates and highways. Okay, I'm just going to run

486
00:31:05,359 --> 00:31:12,440
a quick thought experiment here. Why would you not share

487
00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:16,880
your supplies with the municipalities if you thought you had

488
00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:19,519
enough salt for the storm.

489
00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:22,160
Speaker 2: To share with municipalities.

490
00:31:23,839 --> 00:31:27,079
Speaker 1: Right, the fact that you're telling them we're not going

491
00:31:27,119 --> 00:31:31,079
to be able to share our supplies with you would

492
00:31:31,119 --> 00:31:35,799
indicate that you don't have enough supplies to share with you,

493
00:31:36,680 --> 00:31:41,359
which might lead somebody to believe that you don't have

494
00:31:41,519 --> 00:31:45,640
enough supplies of salt to share with the municipalities because

495
00:31:45,680 --> 00:31:49,680
you told them that. So you're on your own, municipalities, like,

496
00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:52,119
we're going to do our roads. We got to focus

497
00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:55,960
on our roads first. Again, totally understand, and again back

498
00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:58,920
to back storms means you are limited in the amount

499
00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:02,279
of time you have to be doing the clearing from

500
00:32:02,319 --> 00:32:03,279
the first storm.

501
00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:05,480
Speaker 2: You know you got impassable roads.

502
00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:08,119
Speaker 1: If you're trying to get new salt deliveries in like

503
00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:10,880
that's a difficult thing to do because you've got icy

504
00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:14,160
roads and you're still applying the salt and the brining

505
00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:15,920
and all of that. So it makes sense to me,

506
00:32:17,039 --> 00:32:20,119
it makes sense that you would tell municipalities like, guys like,

507
00:32:20,559 --> 00:32:23,680
we're up against it here. We're running all of these crews,

508
00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:25,720
we're dumping all of this salt. We just did it

509
00:32:25,759 --> 00:32:27,680
this weekend, we got to do it next weekend. And

510
00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:29,920
so we're not going to have enough for you. That

511
00:32:30,079 --> 00:32:33,880
means that there's not enough for you. So it is

512
00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:36,400
completely understandable why the people that are being told there's

513
00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:38,240
not enough for them would think that there is a

514
00:32:38,359 --> 00:32:43,680
quote shortage because you are short, right, Because theoretically, again

515
00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:47,319
I'm just just running this thought experiment out, like wouldn't

516
00:32:47,880 --> 00:32:51,079
if you had, say, three weeks between the storms, you

517
00:32:51,160 --> 00:32:54,160
probably would have purchased more salt and then you could

518
00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:55,720
have shared in those supplies.

519
00:32:56,400 --> 00:32:56,599
Speaker 2: Right.

520
00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:04,720
Speaker 1: The confusion, says Moody, I think there's some confusion over

521
00:33:04,759 --> 00:33:08,839
the amount of salt NCDOT had on hand versus the

522
00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:13,680
availability of resources to share with local agencies. Well, yes,

523
00:33:14,279 --> 00:33:18,759
mister Moody, because like you know what your supplies are,

524
00:33:19,039 --> 00:33:21,279
and so when you said you don't have enough supplies

525
00:33:21,319 --> 00:33:25,440
for them. They heard, you don't have enough supplies for them.

526
00:33:26,720 --> 00:33:27,079
Speaker 2: He says.

527
00:33:27,079 --> 00:33:30,799
Speaker 1: The department advised local governments, public works departments, and emergency

528
00:33:30,799 --> 00:33:35,559
management agencies to coordinate directly with private suppliers or contracted

529
00:33:35,559 --> 00:33:38,519
local vendors for their salt or treatment needs.

530
00:33:38,720 --> 00:33:41,759
Speaker 2: Right, because you have a shortage, you don't have enough.

531
00:33:42,160 --> 00:33:43,759
That's what that means.

532
00:33:45,240 --> 00:33:47,920
Speaker 1: Why can't you just say that, Well, apparently they did

533
00:33:47,960 --> 00:33:50,920
say it, according to all these people that heard them

534
00:33:50,960 --> 00:33:53,480
say it. Then said, hey, there's a shortage, and you're like, oh,

535
00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:55,880
we don't have a shortage, We just don't have enough supplies.

536
00:33:57,880 --> 00:33:58,400
Speaker 2: They had one.

537
00:33:58,319 --> 00:34:00,960
Speaker 1: Hundred thousand tons of salt on one hand going into

538
00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:03,920
this week's storm and pre treated roads with three and

539
00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:06,759
a half million gallons of brine. The agency said it

540
00:34:06,799 --> 00:34:10,840
followed standard procedures that prioritize interstates, highways, and other major

541
00:34:10,880 --> 00:34:15,039
connectors and worked with suppliers to restock salt during the storm.

542
00:34:15,559 --> 00:34:18,480
Stein told reporters the state expects to have fifty thousand

543
00:34:18,559 --> 00:34:21,400
tons of salt on hand within the next few days.

544
00:34:21,880 --> 00:34:24,840
This was on Tuesday before the storm, and entered the

545
00:34:24,840 --> 00:34:27,639
recent winter weather stretch with enough supply to handle three

546
00:34:27,920 --> 00:34:31,519
major storms. He said, the state has sent requests to

547
00:34:31,639 --> 00:34:34,960
states with surplus salt to help replenish its salt bank,

548
00:34:35,719 --> 00:34:38,159
so they have wait, wait, hang on a second, they

549
00:34:38,159 --> 00:34:43,119
have surpluses, So you're asking the states that have surpluses

550
00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:49,159
if you can have some of their salt because you

551
00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:55,719
have a not surplus, which would also be called a shortage.

552
00:34:56,679 --> 00:34:58,119
Speaker 2: That's what that means.

553
00:34:59,320 --> 00:35:04,920
Speaker 1: So much time is spent with just trying before you

554
00:35:04,960 --> 00:35:08,920
can even have a debate about the thing. Like, so

555
00:35:09,119 --> 00:35:14,280
much time is wasted playing these stupid word games because

556
00:35:14,559 --> 00:35:17,639
nobody wants the boss in this case, Josh Stein to

557
00:35:17,760 --> 00:35:21,400
look like he wasn't like Johnny on top of everything,

558
00:35:21,559 --> 00:35:25,320
like he handled this perfectly. Everybody's so worried about the

559
00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:29,239
perception of failure. Just admit, yeah, two storms back to

560
00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:30,920
back weekends. We ran out assault.

561
00:35:31,320 --> 00:35:33,639
Speaker 2: Just say that. All right.

562
00:35:33,679 --> 00:35:36,000
Speaker 1: That'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much

563
00:35:36,039 --> 00:35:38,039
for listening. I could not do the show without your

564
00:35:38,119 --> 00:35:40,880
support and the support of the businesses that advertise on

565
00:35:40,960 --> 00:35:43,719
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566
00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:45,440
and tell them you heard it here. You can also

567
00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:48,079
become a patron at my Patreon page or go to

568
00:35:48,199 --> 00:35:51,920
vpetecallanershow dot com again, thank you so much for listening,

569
00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:59,039
and don't break anything while I'm gone.