Speaker 1: Bill Cunningham, the great American of course, Reds bos talk
Speaker 1: books off about five forty tonight. I'm sorry, six forty tonight.
Speaker 1: Fort'cock begins about six oh five with Lance's first pitch
Speaker 1: about seven forty in Kansas City, the Reds won yesterday.
Speaker 1: Who knows what happens tonight? Better listen to find out.
Speaker 1: But yours truly for the first time, and I don't know,
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five years found myself at the Taste of Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: Got down there about twelve fifteen, twelve thirty yesterday, Memorial
Speaker 1: Day itself, walked around good crowds. A little bit of
Speaker 1: yelling and screaming happening with some of the protesters. Their
Speaker 1: life's miserable. They want you to be miserable, But I
Speaker 1: was not miserable. I was happy, Jon of you, and
Speaker 1: I now is Brendan call Cull, Brendan call the CEO
Speaker 1: of the Chamber of Commerce, in charge of October Fest,
Speaker 1: in charge of the tasting so much more, and Brendan
Speaker 1: call former chief of staff to Chas Lucan, Welcome again
Speaker 1: to the Bill Cunningham Show. And Brendan give the American
Speaker 1: people first of all. The day after give you overview
Speaker 1: what happened the last three or four days with the
Speaker 1: taste it.
Speaker 2: It was a beautiful day. You know. My favorite part
Speaker 2: is being down there with these restaurant owners. And I
Speaker 2: know I saw you walking around.
Speaker 1: With your crew.
Speaker 2: It was really nice to just bump into you on
Speaker 2: Fifth on Fifth Street there in the shadow of Procter
Speaker 2: and Gambles World headquarters.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: You know, my favorite part of three days is talking
Speaker 2: to these restaurant owners who are down there themselves working
Speaker 2: these booths and they're meeting customers and talking to people.
Speaker 2: It was awesome and people were in such good spirit
Speaker 2: all weekend. People were chill. We had no incidents of
Speaker 2: any sort. We had more than eighty vendors all weekend long,
Speaker 2: which is the most that we've we've ever had a
Speaker 2: bunch of new vendors. You know, hundreds of thousands of
Speaker 2: people came through all week and long. And it was dry,
Speaker 2: which you know, from a Chamber of Commerce perspective, we
Speaker 2: like it when it doesn't rain on these events. And
Speaker 2: it was great.
Speaker 1: How many restaurant tours, how many people showed up Saturday, Sunday, Monday.
Speaker 1: Give me a full.
Speaker 2: Report, you know, I don't We don't really do the
Speaker 2: exact estimate of number of people who came through, but
Speaker 2: it was certainly consistent with previous years. Hundreds of thousands
Speaker 2: of people we know come and visit the event. We
Speaker 2: had more than eighty food vendors, particularly Findley Market. The
Speaker 2: team at Finley Market, which is just this gem in
Speaker 2: our city food culture. You know, they had more than
Speaker 2: two dozen different food vendors down there, from ice cream
Speaker 2: to oysters. I mean, somebody who's this restaurant Send which
Speaker 2: is opening a new restaurant in Findley Market, was serving
Speaker 2: oysters on the halfshell. And you know, that's a level
Speaker 2: up from Taste to Cincinnati. And I love seeing that.
Speaker 2: I love that you can come down there and explore
Speaker 2: all this different kind of food that you can get
Speaker 2: here in our community.
Speaker 1: Now I'm reading a letter to the You may have
Speaker 1: seen it. Protesters were louder than the music at the taste.
Speaker 1: Some people find reason to complain, but I think that's
Speaker 1: part of the culture, part of the beauty. I don't
Speaker 1: engage with protesters as simply watch and move on, let
Speaker 1: them have their day. But Deborah Busey. B Usse identified
Speaker 1: herself from Liberty Township the home of Richard K. Jones.
Speaker 1: Citizens should not have to put up with this city council.
Speaker 1: Should they do something about this, or where they all
Speaker 1: stay out in the suburbs, I don't know. Give me
Speaker 1: your analysis. I saw some loud screaming.
Speaker 2: You know, I worked at I worked at city Hall
Speaker 2: for just a few days if you remember, about five years.
Speaker 2: And I'm fairly certain that is even with all of
Speaker 2: their infinite powers at eight oh one Plumb Street, the
Speaker 2: First Amendment does not enter into their purview. And so yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean I I saw some of those folks who
Speaker 2: carry signs. They're usually there every year. They're not inside
Speaker 2: the event, but you know, that's that's part of America, part.
Speaker 1: Of the deal. And somebody wanted me to sign a
Speaker 1: petition to take away qualified immunity for police officers. I said,
Speaker 1: I respectfully declined. You should know more about that issue
Speaker 1: before you pass around such a stupid idea. Also, there
Speaker 1: was an incident with Brian helped.
Speaker 2: If you had a judge there, If you had a
Speaker 2: judge there, they could have helped explain some of that too.
Speaker 1: Well, I did have one with me and we simply
Speaker 1: move on.
Speaker 2: I know. Well, yeah, he moved right on exactly.
Speaker 1: But another one I'm down there. It was outside of
Speaker 1: the Taste itself. It was on Fountain Square where there
Speaker 1: was some kid who had broke into some cars and
Speaker 1: they police think they identified him, and he left the
Speaker 1: Taste about one am on Sunday morning. The Taste I
Speaker 1: then closed about eleven and he was identified. And then
Speaker 1: he had a gun with him and he got to
Speaker 1: Fountain Square, turned around and pointed the gun at the cop.
Speaker 1: Fortunately the cop had out of taser and tasted him
Speaker 1: and down he went. That was dangerous. You're like a
Speaker 1: city dweller. I go in now and then to monitor events.
Speaker 1: Do you Censor's more crime? Car break ins, burglaries happening
Speaker 1: now than there's been during the reign of you and
Speaker 1: Charlie O.
Speaker 2: No. I Actually I look at these numbers pretty carefully,
Speaker 2: and look, the perception matters. I mean, you want everybody
Speaker 2: should feel safe in their city. Everybody should feel safe
Speaker 2: in their community. So I put a lot of stock
Speaker 2: into how people feel and what people say. The numbers
Speaker 2: are in. The numbers have been coming down, you know,
Speaker 2: I think certainly what I would tell you is that
Speaker 2: the Cincinnati Police Department Hamilton County Sheriff's Department. They were
Speaker 2: out in force with us this weekend. And you know,
Speaker 2: we talk a lot about the food vendors and the
Speaker 2: beer volunteers and our team who works on this event.
Speaker 2: You can't put on an event like Taste of Cincinnati,
Speaker 2: which are whole communities proud of without the good people
Speaker 2: of public safety and Hamilton County in Cincinnati. And you
Speaker 2: know they had We have them all on scene. Sometimes
Speaker 2: you see them and sometimes you don't. That's the way
Speaker 2: we want it. But their job is to keep people
Speaker 2: safe and we had We had zero incidents within the
Speaker 2: Taste footprints this year. It was tremendously safe weekend in
Speaker 2: downtown Cincinnati. And frankly, the most safe experiences are when
Speaker 2: there's a lot of people around, and so when we
Speaker 2: do events like this, you know, it's a great way
Speaker 2: to get people down and explore the city and do
Speaker 2: it in a safe way. So again that partnership we
Speaker 2: have with the good men and women of since I Police,
Speaker 2: Hamlon County Sheriff's Fire Department, all those public safety folks
Speaker 2: who helped make sure the city runs well. They just
Speaker 2: did a great job this weekend.
Speaker 1: Brendon call. I noticed that booth there you could sign
Speaker 1: up to be a police officer. I'm sure it's a
Speaker 1: long grigamo row sign up to be a firefighter. My
Speaker 1: good friend Tim Dickey, who's a firefighter, who's hanging around
Speaker 1: registering people. Isn't it a problem in today's world to
Speaker 1: get men and women to become cops and firefighters? Difficult?
Speaker 2: It is difficult. I mean, they are working very hard
Speaker 2: to recruit classes. And I think this is a national
Speaker 2: this is a national issue. It's not it's certainly not
Speaker 2: unique to Cincinnati, you know. I do know that getting
Speaker 2: the pay right, getting a pension right has been an
Speaker 2: important piece of the puzzle, and that the City of
Speaker 2: Cincinnati police and fire recruits. They're working really hard to
Speaker 2: fill those classes right now. But these are the most
Speaker 2: honorable jobs, you know, in a community, and so I
Speaker 2: hope more and more young people consider that as a career.
Speaker 2: And when, frankly, when they ask us every year to
Speaker 2: help recruit in an event like this, we always say
Speaker 2: yes because it's a it's a great way to get
Speaker 2: in touch with people who might see this is a
Speaker 2: career option. You know.
Speaker 1: Brendan Call of the Chamber have put me in charge.
Speaker 1: Every cop in firefighters starts off at one hundred thousand
Speaker 1: dollars a year plus benefits. A way to attract more talent,
Speaker 1: which is always in competition, is to pay more money.
Speaker 1: I'm led to believe that if you're a CEO in
Speaker 1: the jail or a cop, you make about sixty two
Speaker 1: thousand dollars by the time you pay taxes. That means
Speaker 1: you make forty thousand dollars a year. Start off at
Speaker 1: one hundred, go up from that and you get a
Speaker 1: much many more applicants and better quality because you want
Speaker 1: to have a career. The pensions are pretty nice, but
Speaker 1: you can't attract great talent to stand uh to do
Speaker 1: what they have to do. Ninety nine percent of the time.
Speaker 1: It's just boredom perpetuating a one percent of sheer terror
Speaker 1: they have to go through. Would you agree with me
Speaker 1: that cops should be paid one hundred thousand a year
Speaker 1: to start.
Speaker 2: Well, I don't know if that's exact right now. What
Speaker 2: I do know is that you know these are all
Speaker 2: negotiated contracts. And I remember my days of the city,
Speaker 2: and I remember some of the work that we did
Speaker 2: with the Futures Commission and what I can tell you
Speaker 2: if you're if you're a young person or a youngish
Speaker 2: person and you're considering this as a career, being a
Speaker 2: police officer or a firefighter, or a sheriff deputy or
Speaker 2: any of number of those things can be very lucrative
Speaker 2: and you you work hard, and yes, it's the most
Speaker 2: you know, you're you're on an edge. How would you
Speaker 2: describe it as that one percent of the time terror?
Speaker 2: These are critically important roles in a community, and you
Speaker 2: save lives, You impact lives by the way most of
Speaker 2: the time in an incredibly positive way. You know, it's
Speaker 2: not always that it's an arrest. Sometimes it's just helping
Speaker 2: out a neighbor or helping out somebody who's in a
Speaker 2: moment where they need. You know, we call them when
Speaker 2: we have a lost kid. Some kids get you know,
Speaker 2: separated from their parents at an event. You know what
Speaker 2: that sheered terror feels like you can't find your kid
Speaker 2: for fifteen minutes, that's it, And it's a simple a
Speaker 2: police department. They help us with that, and so you
Speaker 2: think about the impact that that officer has on the
Speaker 2: lives of the people.
Speaker 1: These are just.
Speaker 2: Hugely important jobs. And so I tell anybody if you're
Speaker 2: considering that as a career, your pension is great. You know,
Speaker 2: you get to a point where you can retire and
Speaker 2: live a great life. And so these are these are
Speaker 2: great jobs. You can sign up really easily to take
Speaker 2: those tests.
Speaker 1: Brend and call I have a question here from a
Speaker 1: banks type person. How come it wasn't on the Banks
Speaker 1: You've moved it a around a little bit. Why'd you
Speaker 1: move to Fifth Street?
Speaker 2: Well, so I've been at the Chamber of ten years
Speaker 2: and it has been on Fifth Street, I think at
Speaker 2: least twenty and prior to that, if you remember, it
Speaker 2: was up on Central Parkway and that was fun and
Speaker 2: and the and the reason that it is not further
Speaker 2: west on Fifth Street, I will tell you, is because
Speaker 2: the streetcar tracks are in some of the roads in
Speaker 2: that past, and we find a lot of people use
Speaker 2: the street part to get in and out of tasas
Speaker 2: Cincinnati from a parking perspective, and it helps them get
Speaker 2: to other parts of town. So we used that west
Speaker 2: west or east side of Fifth Street.
Speaker 1: Same thing with Octoberfest.
Speaker 2: Octoberfest is now down at that was always on Fifth
Speaker 2: Street too, and then we moved it last year. What
Speaker 2: was on Fifth Street, and then it moved to second
Speaker 2: and third, and that that poses some logistical challenge when
Speaker 2: the Reds are in town or if the Bengals are
Speaker 2: in town. And so h october Fest is now at
Speaker 2: Sawyer Point and we will be back at Sawyer Point
Speaker 2: this year. And that's a phenomenal location. I feel like
Speaker 2: when I saw that for the first time, my colleague
Speaker 2: Chelsea Yorke envisioned that and that that's where it's meant
Speaker 2: to be. It feels like German beer gardens. It feels
Speaker 2: like what it's like in Munich. It's a you know,
Speaker 2: it's an awesome space.
Speaker 1: Lastly, do you and Charlie Lucan thought about seizing power
Speaker 1: once again taking over eight to one Plum Street. He
Speaker 1: could be the mayor. You could be the chief of staff,
Speaker 1: kind of like Halderman and Erlickman. You could be in charge,
Speaker 1: and when he's getting older, you can control the mayorship
Speaker 1: like those around Biden controlled the presidency. Have you thought
Speaker 1: about maybe you and Luken seizing power once again?
Speaker 2: You know, I've never thought of that.
Speaker 1: What about Charlie's getting older now, doesn't know what he's
Speaker 1: doing a lot of times you could control.
Speaker 2: Everything we had, we had, we've had, we have secret
Speaker 2: meetings to plot the future. Sure still to this day.
Speaker 2: And Charlie's a very good friend. He's doing extraordinarily well.
Speaker 2: I saw him out at takes the Cincinnati this weekend too,
Speaker 2: and so he was, what was your favorite food down there?
Speaker 1: I had a Bahama Mama with some sour kraut. Then
Speaker 1: I had a vanilla cream puff got it all over me.
Speaker 1: I looked like a fool.
Speaker 2: I had the Buffalo Wings from Buffalo's Best Food Truck,
Speaker 2: which is a food truck out of Florence, Kentucky. And
Speaker 2: those wings are I got tell you. Every year I
Speaker 2: look forward to him. They were so good.
Speaker 1: Well, maybe Brendan call this year the People's Judge, and
Speaker 1: I may come down to October Fest. I've not been
Speaker 1: there in twenty years either, so I may check it out.
Speaker 2: Oh you'd love it down the river. Maybe you want
Speaker 2: to do the chicken dance.
Speaker 1: Oh, I'm not much of a dancer. I'd have to
Speaker 1: think about it.
Speaker 2: Cricket, you could lead that. You could lead the chicken dance.
Speaker 1: Well, I know Jim Scott did it one year and
Speaker 1: Joe Nuxtell did it. If well, make sure it's okay.
Speaker 1: Some people are unhappy with me in general, so I
Speaker 1: don't know. I don't know how how popular I would be,
Speaker 1: but if if it has to do so, yes, I would.
Speaker 1: But check it out first.
Speaker 2: We had We had a great it's you know, you
Speaker 2: got to be down there for story point. It is
Speaker 2: beautiful in the river. We're pretty pumped about it. So, uh,
Speaker 2: it's great and it was great to see you guys
Speaker 2: down here this weekend.
Speaker 1: You were with Sean Donovan, Chief's deputy.
Speaker 2: I'm I allowed to saying who you're with. I didn't
Speaker 2: know if that's too personal. Ye with your beautiful bride
Speaker 2: and don Donovan, who you know, talking about a great
Speaker 2: Cincinnati and he's done so much for this community.
Speaker 1: He's wonderful. And side Lease is still kicking it. Not
Speaker 1: in the best of health, but he's had some uh
Speaker 1: had some emergencies recently, but he's still at home and
Speaker 1: still doing what he's doing in his nineties. Not bad.
Speaker 1: But uh, Brendan call, thank you. Get in touch with
Speaker 1: me about the Chicken dance, and uh make sure it's
Speaker 1: okay with the powers that be. You know, there are
Speaker 1: a lot of liberal Democrats in Cincinnati. The man I
Speaker 1: like me headquartering anything, so check that out first.
Speaker 2: Well, you are a great American billy God bless America.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Brandon call. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Let's continue with more if the line becomes available five one, three, seven, four, nine,
Speaker 1: seven thousand. News is next and so much more at
Speaker 1: Trump of the Reds and maybe the Leader of the
Speaker 1: Chicken dance? Can I dance? How popular would that be?
Speaker 1: I'm not sure. On news radio seven hundred WULW