Speaker 1: Bill Cunningham, the great American of course. Tonight, Reds Baseball
Speaker 1: kicks off about five forty with the torpedo Bat, and
Speaker 1: Dela Cruz is at the forefront hitting a massive home
Speaker 1: runs a seven RBI and also almost shit for the
Speaker 1: cycle again last night with two home runs, and the
Speaker 1: Red Legs beat up on the Rangers fourteen to three,
Speaker 1: which means the Rangers I think kicked a field goal late.
Speaker 1: And that's about it. The Reds are impregnable. Joanan you
Speaker 1: and I now is the editor of The Inquiry, Burrow
Speaker 1: Love and Burrow, welcome again to the Bill Cunningham Show.
Speaker 1: And first of all, before we talk about the half
Speaker 1: a cent stadium tax not nearly as sexy as the
Speaker 1: torpedo bat, can you write a column in the Inquiry
Speaker 1: about the torpedo bat and the impact that's going to
Speaker 1: have on the Reds.
Speaker 2: I don't think I'm going to write a column, but
Speaker 2: we probably have about three torpedo bat stories in the
Speaker 2: works already, in addition to the one we had after
Speaker 2: last night's game. You know, we're on our high school
Speaker 2: player is going to all of a sudden show up
Speaker 2: with these things like this could be a this.
Speaker 3: Could be an interesting time to be a baseball fan.
Speaker 1: You know, I played the game through xavior and all
Speaker 1: that stuff, and I guess no one had thought for
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty years about taking some of the
Speaker 1: weight and size of the wooden bat and move it
Speaker 1: down three or four inches from the end to make
Speaker 1: it look like a bowling pin and put the mass
Speaker 1: where the ball hits the bat actually where it matters.
Speaker 1: You hit one off the handle, off the end, nothing happens.
Speaker 1: But if you take the sixty eight inches where the
Speaker 1: action takes place and make that little more hefty number one,
Speaker 1: it helps with foul tips, which means instead of missing
Speaker 1: the pitch by sixteenth of an inch, you might foul
Speaker 1: tip it stay at the plate. And secondly, the ball
Speaker 1: goes further. And baseball, as you may know, is a
Speaker 1: very old sport, going back to eighteen sixty nine. But
Speaker 1: I would hope the guy that designed this thing, this physicist,
Speaker 1: whoever he is associated with the Yankees, is making money
Speaker 1: off the deal. And if you think it works, it works.
Speaker 1: If you don't think it doesn't work, it does. But
Speaker 1: isn't this also, though, bad for rede pitching, because the
Speaker 1: Reds are gonna have to pitch against it.
Speaker 2: I know it's well, yeah, I mean it's going to
Speaker 2: be the equalizer. But I just go back to, you know,
Speaker 2: the late great Pete Rose. There was this great video
Speaker 2: of him giving tips to kids on how the bat.
Speaker 2: And I remember because I watched it when I was
Speaker 2: a kid and I was a little leaguer and we
Speaker 2: didn't have custom bats like the kids do today. The
Speaker 2: coach brought this duffel bag and dumped it out, and
Speaker 2: you picked the best one that wasn't cracked or whatever.
Speaker 2: But he would talk about, you know, if they're pitching
Speaker 2: you in, you want the fat part of the bat
Speaker 2: to hit the ball. Step back. If they're pitching you outside,
Speaker 2: step forward. So I don't understand it. Like I the
Speaker 2: objective has always been to put the fat part of
Speaker 2: the bat on the ball.
Speaker 1: And so yeah, anyway, why it hasn't happened, I know,
Speaker 1: Well all of us know very little because Baseball doesn't know.
Speaker 1: It took him about one hundred and sixty years and
Speaker 1: figure that out. But I don't understand it. But if
Speaker 1: it works, it works. Now, let's talk about a column.
Speaker 1: You haven't the inquir you're the editor. If tax money
Speaker 1: is in play. Taxpayers need to know who's behind the
Speaker 1: arena push. We passed this levee in nineteen ninety six,
Speaker 1: and it was a half a cent increase in perpetuity
Speaker 1: to build and maintain two stadiums, the Great American Ballpark
Speaker 1: I think named after me at least in my mind,
Speaker 1: and also Paid Course Stadium. And suddenly there's entities in
Speaker 1: Cincinnati that want to expand that to the Heritage Bank Center.
Speaker 1: Tell me what's going on with that, because once again
Speaker 1: we're talking about some serious money.
Speaker 3: Serious money. Well, you said entities, and that's what's.
Speaker 2: At the you know the gist of my column. So
Speaker 2: a group came out called the Hambleton County Growth Alliance
Speaker 2: and have pitched this idea that some of the sales
Speaker 2: tax money that was, as you mentioned, passed by voters
Speaker 2: in ninety six to fund the two stadiums that we
Speaker 2: enjoy right now should be used to also fund a
Speaker 2: brand new arena. There's a guy well known in political
Speaker 2: circles named Jake and Kid who's the head of this alliance.
Speaker 2: He's a lobbyist, a political consultant. He ran John Cranley's
Speaker 2: campaign and I believe worked as his chief of staff.
Speaker 2: So he's the director of this alliance. Uh, the question
Speaker 2: is who's behind it, who started it, who's funding it?
Speaker 2: That's that's the big question, and he won't say. So
Speaker 2: I was beating up my reporters when we first did
Speaker 2: this story. I was like, you guys got to find out.
Speaker 2: You know, who's paying for this? Where's the money? Follow
Speaker 2: the money? And he's not saying. And he doesn't really
Speaker 2: have to say because the Hamlet of Gounty Growth Alliance
Speaker 2: is a five oh one C four, which is different
Speaker 2: than a C three in that they don't have to
Speaker 2: disclose who their donors are. So that's the big question,
Speaker 2: like who's behind it? Who is behind this initiative? To
Speaker 2: use some of that sales tax money to build a
Speaker 2: new arena is illegal?
Speaker 1: In other words, i'd have to read the battle language
Speaker 1: from some thirty years ago. But that is specifically limited
Speaker 1: to baseball and football, or did it include this other arena.
Speaker 2: It was specifically for a new stadium for the Reds
Speaker 2: and a new stadium for the Bengals.
Speaker 1: So how does Heritage Bank Arena come into this deal? Then?
Speaker 2: Well, this group funded a survey and what they would
Speaker 2: like to do is eventually get this in front of voters.
Speaker 2: I think because their survey said that. I think they
Speaker 2: surveyed four hundred people and asked, how do you prioritize
Speaker 2: the need, you know, for a new arena versus upgrades
Speaker 2: for the two existing stadiums, and I think it was
Speaker 2: sixty seven percent said, you know, we prioritize. We think
Speaker 2: a new arena should be on the list ahead of now.
Speaker 2: Again the survey, yeah, four hundred people. Yeah, I don't
Speaker 2: know who you know. I'm not questioning the survey, but
Speaker 2: I want to know who paid for the survey. Because
Speaker 2: I've made the point of my column. I can go online.
Speaker 2: I enjoy a glass of bourbon every now and then,
Speaker 2: and I can go online and find studies that say,
Speaker 2: you know, a glass of bourbon a day, or drinking
Speaker 2: bourbon and moderation is good for your health. Those are
Speaker 2: also published by distilleries. So that's so, you know, I
Speaker 2: think it's relevant, is the point I'm trying to make.
Speaker 2: And even though it's a five oh one C four
Speaker 2: and they're not legally obligated to disclose their donors, I
Speaker 2: think if they're suggesting that the sales tax, which we
Speaker 2: all pay, be used for an arena that they should
Speaker 2: They shouldn't hide behind the five ole one C four.
Speaker 2: I'm all about transparency.
Speaker 3: That's you know.
Speaker 2: As editor, they enquire. We fight for people's right to know,
Speaker 2: and I think this is pretty relevant.
Speaker 1: I would think the Banks is behind it. I think
Speaker 1: Jim Mooring's a good man. I think Tracey is behind it.
Speaker 1: I think those involved in the Banks would likely to
Speaker 1: be there.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 1: I'm told by other entities in town, and I'm sure
Speaker 1: you're ware of this, that TQL and the Soccer franchise
Speaker 1: would love to have that arena right next to them.
Speaker 1: In fact, you know that they've done their studies. Indicator
Speaker 1: should be off the river and should be over there,
Speaker 1: largely privately financed, and whoever pays for the band calls
Speaker 1: the tune. And so whether it's one place or the other,
Speaker 1: it's the final piece of downtown development with the Duke
Speaker 1: Energy Center doing what it's doing and the renaissance of downtown. Yes,
Speaker 1: we need an arena where you can bring in these acts.
Speaker 1: But have you also heard the TQL Stadium and the
Speaker 1: owners of the of the soccer franchise FC would love
Speaker 1: to have that arena next to them.
Speaker 2: Well, I think that's an intriguing part of this story
Speaker 2: in terms of, you know, who is actually behind the
Speaker 2: hamlet the ground County Growth Alliance, Because you know, you
Speaker 2: mentioned our good friend Jim Morning, I call him the
Speaker 2: mayor of the Banks, the proprietor for the Holy Grail.
Speaker 2: I think he and other businesses in the Banks would
Speaker 2: definitely advocate for a new arena in the current area
Speaker 2: so that you have year round entertainment when you know,
Speaker 2: the Bengals only have what eight home games and then
Speaker 2: you know the baseball season runs in the in the
Speaker 2: warm months. That having having a state of the art
Speaker 2: arena possibly bringing in you know, we we lost out
Speaker 2: to Indianapolis for the NCUBA basketball tournament.
Speaker 3: He wanted to go.
Speaker 2: See the Sweet sixteen. You were, you know, driving west
Speaker 2: on seventy four. So there's all kinds of possibilities if
Speaker 2: we have a state of the art arena. But yes,
Speaker 2: the master plan for the development around TQL Stadium north
Speaker 2: on the west end includes you know, residential other entertainment facilities,
Speaker 2: and you could make an argument that that would be
Speaker 2: a nice feather in the cap for everybody it's concerned
Speaker 2: with FC Cincinnati, So interestingly, I asked Jake and Kate,
Speaker 2: I said, so we won't say who they are. Can
Speaker 2: you give me an idea of how what kind of
Speaker 2: support you have? Is it twenty business leaders, is it
Speaker 2: ten or is it one? And he said, I'm not
Speaker 2: in a position to say that. So I think and
Speaker 2: this is just me, Now, this is just me. I
Speaker 2: think that if it was a large group of business leaders,
Speaker 2: he would have no problems saying that if it's one,
Speaker 2: if it's if it's one person with deep pockets, then
Speaker 2: he's less likely to say, you know that it's it's
Speaker 2: a small group or it's one group. So that might
Speaker 2: indicate it could be people who are concerned with all
Speaker 2: the development around TQL Stadium.
Speaker 3: But that's just me, that's just me.
Speaker 1: You know, the big boys in town. Tracy Schwegman, et cetera.
Speaker 1: She wants it down on the banks and once and again,
Speaker 1: if Karl Linder and that group Megan et cetera want
Speaker 1: to pay over half the price, it's going to be
Speaker 1: next to the t QUL Stadium. But one thing you
Speaker 1: said concerns me, and that is that the people may
Speaker 1: have to vote on this if there's if this issue
Speaker 1: gets to the ballot in Hamilton County about sales tax
Speaker 1: increases for this or that that that dog won't hunt.
Speaker 1: My example is a Kansas City Chiefs about a year
Speaker 1: or two ago, they wanted to build a brand new
Speaker 1: stadium and this is this is at the highlights of
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes, et cetera. And it's like sixty percent said no.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: After they won the Super Bowl, they went to voters
Speaker 2: thinking this is going to be, you know, an easy
Speaker 2: one to pass.
Speaker 3: It's just a it's just a totally.
Speaker 2: Different economy right now in terms of where we were
Speaker 2: twenty five years ago and where we are now these
Speaker 2: stadium developments, and this is where the Hamlin County Commission
Speaker 2: I think, especially Lisa Reese is, you know, that's her position,
Speaker 2: like we're not going to shoulder this, you know, pay
Speaker 2: ninety seven or ninety four percent of the cost of
Speaker 2: these renovations as they work on the lease agreements that
Speaker 2: the team is going to have to come forward and
Speaker 2: or the NFL and or other municipalities, because the Bengals
Speaker 2: are a driver and an economic driver, not just for
Speaker 2: Hamlin County, but you know the whole region. And so yes,
Speaker 2: I think that's the last thing that Bengals would want
Speaker 2: if he goes before the voters. No, we kind of
Speaker 2: we kind of know where the voters.
Speaker 3: Are right now.
Speaker 1: That they're billionaires. Mike Brown, according to Forbes, is worth
Speaker 1: about six billion dollars, and the owners of the Reds
Speaker 1: are worth billions of dollars. And God blessed Karl Linder
Speaker 1: and his family and Meg Whitman, they're worth billions of dollars.
Speaker 1: So to go to the Tony Bender types of live
Speaker 1: in Green Township and say we want you to pay
Speaker 1: taxes at Macy's so that these stadium owners can make
Speaker 1: more money, there's a good chance that dog won't hunt.
Speaker 2: I mean, I agree with you, Like I said, it's
Speaker 2: it's you know, whether you whether you believe these studies
Speaker 2: are not pall around stadium now pay Corse Stadium has the.
Speaker 3: You know, the the.
Speaker 2: Infamous reputation of being one of the worst stadium deals
Speaker 2: in terms of ever, Yeah, in terms of the impact
Speaker 2: on governments and tax payers, right and and so you
Speaker 2: know that's not going to happen again, And it's not
Speaker 2: to your point, it's not happening anywhere in the country
Speaker 2: right now. Private money needs to be raised and and
Speaker 2: so yeah, so it's it's an interesting thought twist in
Speaker 2: the saga of what are we going to do with
Speaker 2: our existing stadiums to bring up the idea that the
Speaker 2: sales tax should be used also to fund a new arena.
Speaker 3: So you know, so and which gets back to you.
Speaker 2: Know, I, and I made it clear, like my my
Speaker 2: role as edited inquire, you know, I played straight down
Speaker 2: the middle. We have to do everything we can to
Speaker 2: be objective and balanced, and so, you know, I personally
Speaker 2: think it's a great idea. We should figure out how
Speaker 2: to come up with a new arena. But I'm not
Speaker 2: going to get into the political debate about it. I
Speaker 2: will stand up for the taxpayer's right to know, you know,
Speaker 2: if somebody is suggesting that these tax dollars get used
Speaker 2: in that way, I would hope that they would do
Speaker 2: it transparently so we can have, you know, the proper
Speaker 2: debate about it and not hide behind a five oh
Speaker 2: one C four.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So that's where I sit.
Speaker 1: Well, at the end of the day, if TQL with
Speaker 1: the lenders and the whitman's and billionaires want to put
Speaker 1: up half the money and on the banks, God bless them.
Speaker 1: At Jim Mooring and Tracy Schwegman. They don't have an
Speaker 1: extra five hundred million dollars sitting around. Someone's got to
Speaker 1: pay for it. I haven't asked the Reds this, but
Speaker 1: I would imagine they would not mind having Heritage Bank
Speaker 1: Arena go away to give them more space for their
Speaker 1: for their for their ballpark. I would imagine that's the case.
Speaker 1: And but anyway, let's see what happens down the road.
Speaker 1: And of course, when you have Jay kin Kid, who
Speaker 1: I know him. He's a great political consultant. The reason
Speaker 1: is at C four so he doesn't have to disclose.
Speaker 1: So when the inquiry asked, by the way, who's paying
Speaker 1: for this thing, he's not going to disclose it. At
Speaker 1: least Jeff Birding is upfront saying we want it, We're
Speaker 1: going to want to put it there, and they're willing
Speaker 1: to participate. I'm willing to bet on those who want
Speaker 1: to put up money into the dealer supposed to those
Speaker 1: who don't. And I know that Dreehouse and Doumas have
Speaker 1: both said that this doesn't have to go before the voters,
Speaker 1: and they're right that the half a cent increase nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety six does not have to go before the voters
Speaker 1: because they know the outcome. And so you know when
Speaker 1: when Reese says, you know what, we want to vote
Speaker 1: on this thing, those other two are going to say no,
Speaker 1: and then where are we?
Speaker 3: That is a good question.
Speaker 2: I think that's you know we, that's this whole that's
Speaker 2: a this is already complicated enough. Yeah, so this is,
Speaker 2: like I said, this is adding another dimension. So yeah,
Speaker 2: be interesting for sure.
Speaker 1: All Right, we got to run. But once again, Burrow Love,
Speaker 1: editor of the inquir thanks for coming on the Bill
Speaker 1: Cunningham Show. Give my best to the best city hall
Speaker 1: reporter ever. And you're losing a good one there. And
Speaker 1: she's going to go work for the Prosecutor's office. But
Speaker 1: always loved working with her over the years. And I
Speaker 1: saw her the.
Speaker 2: Other I was hoping that was a big April Fool's
Speaker 2: Day joke, but it's not. Yes, Verry Coolidge has left
Speaker 2: us to go work for Connie Pillach.
Speaker 3: We're excited for her, though, sure, all right, very excited
Speaker 3: for her. Burro Love, thank you very much, Thank you,
Speaker 3: thank you. Bill.
Speaker 1: Let's continue with more. One thing you don't want to
Speaker 1: do is let the tax bearers decide how to spend
Speaker 1: their money. You don't want to do that because you
Speaker 1: know what that's going to be. And maybe billionaires should
Speaker 1: pay for their own plate pens. Of course, that's my opinion.
Speaker 1: Let's continue with more Bill Cunningham. Should I do the
Speaker 1: morning show starting on Monday? News Radio seven hundred WULW,