Speaker 1: My Billy Cunningham, the Great America, and welcome to this
Speaker 1: door is great Friday afternoon in the Tries day, Reds
Speaker 1: Baseball kicks off about seven forty. Tonight they win the
Speaker 1: night they're back to five hundred, which is think goal.
Speaker 1: Get the five hundred and then may take care of itself.
Speaker 1: As you may know, this has been one season in
Speaker 1: the past ten on May the first, the Reds had
Speaker 1: a winning record. So let's drive toward May first and
Speaker 1: see what happens. But more importantly, big news conference about
Speaker 1: an hour ago with Tracy Schwegman at the banks and
Speaker 1: many others. The police were there, the business owners were there.
Speaker 1: It was a big conclave, and Tracy Schwegman, welcome again
Speaker 1: to the Bill Cunningham Show. And first of all, Tracy,
Speaker 1: what is the deal? What was agreed upon to improve
Speaker 1: the security at the banks because of all the shootings
Speaker 1: that have been down there, it's been bad for business.
Speaker 1: I talked to more and Jim Moorean quite often not
Speaker 1: a good situation. The Reds were not happy. So what
Speaker 1: do we do as in response to some of the
Speaker 1: violence that banks?
Speaker 2: Well, you know, Bill, thanks for having me. You know.
Speaker 2: One of the things that we've always tried to do
Speaker 2: down here at the Banks is being a good partner
Speaker 2: and hopefully a partner with some solutions. And one of
Speaker 2: the things that we've been talking about for almost two
Speaker 2: years now, and really in the last year and a half,
Speaker 2: it's really been something we've been focused heavily on is
Speaker 2: how do we improve the environment for that twenty one
Speaker 2: and up crowd. The reality is after ten pm down here,
Speaker 2: particularly in the pedestrian plaza, the offerings are only geared
Speaker 2: towards those that are twenty one enough, and so how
Speaker 2: do we make certain that is a fun, safe, vibrant
Speaker 2: area for those that are twenty one and up? And
Speaker 2: so we spend a lot of time looking at other
Speaker 2: entertainment districts around town and around the country, and how
Speaker 2: do you stands up something like a twenty one and
Speaker 2: up environment, what's the right time to do it, what
Speaker 2: are the right days over week? And most importantly, you know,
Speaker 2: do we have stakeholder support and how do we fund it?
Speaker 2: So that took some time, quite frankly, to get us
Speaker 2: to this point, and we were grateful that we have
Speaker 2: the support of the city and with the Mayor's Office
Speaker 2: of City manager's office is a police department. So as
Speaker 2: our large stakeholders, like the Reds and all the businesses,
Speaker 2: to do something like this starting our talents to start
Speaker 2: at May first and ideally on a weekend when the
Speaker 2: Reds were not in town. So that put us back
Speaker 2: to this weekend April twenty fifth.
Speaker 1: So tell me what the plan is. When I see
Speaker 1: the most recent to armed robbery, it was bad for business.
Speaker 1: I can't imagine if you're one of the businesses down
Speaker 1: there that's publicized. It's a big deal. A lot of
Speaker 1: meetings being held. What is the plan? Tony Bender loves
Speaker 1: going down there at ten or eleven o'clock at night,
Speaker 1: loves going to the banks and prowling around. What is
Speaker 1: the plan starting? I guess I guess starting tonight.
Speaker 2: Sure, starting receiving. What folks will encounter is on both
Speaker 2: ends of the pedestrian plaza you will see some bike racks.
Speaker 2: They have banners on them that talk about, you know,
Speaker 2: the new rules and measures for Friday and Saturday evenings
Speaker 2: from ten pm to two am. It'll be a collection point.
Speaker 2: If you want to enter that part that plaza area,
Speaker 2: you're going to have to doc comes through a central
Speaker 2: check in point. There will be private security there that
Speaker 2: will be looking at your photo ID to make certain
Speaker 2: you are in fact twenty one years old, and if
Speaker 2: you meet the requirements, you can come on in. Of course,
Speaker 2: I'll still have to get checked at the individual establishment
Speaker 2: that you might be wanting to enter. But if you
Speaker 2: are twenty one and you don't want to enter an establishment,
Speaker 2: just want to be in the plaza, you can certainly
Speaker 2: do that. But the hope is that it will continue
Speaker 2: to foster a positive fun environment for those that are
Speaker 2: of a certain age after a certain point in time
Speaker 2: in the evening.
Speaker 1: So Tracy's swagman of the bank. So what is the
Speaker 1: problem with somebody would tap on your shoulder and say, okay,
Speaker 1: I'm unaware of all the violence happening at the banks.
Speaker 1: Tell me what is what? Why are you doing this?
Speaker 1: What is the underlying problem?
Speaker 2: You know, we want to make it well. We want
Speaker 2: to encourage folks to still come down here. We want
Speaker 2: them to feel like they're coming to an environment that
Speaker 2: has some controls, that have some safety components associated with it.
Speaker 2: And this is something actually we've done as a private stakeholder.
Speaker 2: Canmunity not only this initiative, but other initiatives that we've
Speaker 2: done and put in place over the last couple of years.
Speaker 2: We've added cameras, we've added enhanced lighting. We have worked
Speaker 2: at the police to look at a lot of our
Speaker 2: plantings in the planters and lower the profile though so
Speaker 2: there's some clear sight lines from one end to the other.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of different measures that we've put in
Speaker 2: place as a private community to try and help foster
Speaker 2: a safe environment. You know, we can't solve all the
Speaker 2: problems down here, and a lot of them are quite
Speaker 2: frankly beyond our scope and beyond anything that we can
Speaker 2: quite frankly control. But we certainly want to do our
Speaker 2: part to provide the best customer environment we possibly can.
Speaker 2: And we think that this is a good and valuable step,
Speaker 2: and we're grateful to you know, the city and the
Speaker 2: CPD for granting us special permission to do these things
Speaker 2: in the public plaza on Friday and Saturday evenings.
Speaker 1: You know, a little Bertie told me that it cost
Speaker 1: one hundred thousand dollars to do this on two nights
Speaker 1: a week with four hours. Is that number about correct?
Speaker 1: And who pays for it?
Speaker 2: That's about right. This initiative will cost us about a
Speaker 2: quarter of a million dollars to do over the next
Speaker 2: six months. It's all yeah, it's all privately funded.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: It's it's funded by what we affectionately call down here
Speaker 2: are AHOA, our private stakeholders. You know, it's not just
Speaker 2: the retailers that are that are paying into it, but
Speaker 2: it's also you know, the apartments, it's it's the hotel,
Speaker 2: it's all of those private property earners in between the
Speaker 2: two stadiums that believe this is an important measure to
Speaker 2: put in place, uh and should add some value to
Speaker 2: the safety and security of the neighborhood.
Speaker 1: For those who may not know what happens on a
Speaker 1: warm Friday or Saturday night without this door district being
Speaker 1: bicycle racked off, what is happening there? For those who don't.
Speaker 2: Know, well, I think you know what we've found over
Speaker 2: the last handful of years is, you know, it's a
Speaker 2: fun place to be. It's an attractive fund environment and
Speaker 2: that needs it attracts folks that are not twenty one
Speaker 2: years old as well. We see a lot of youth
Speaker 2: down here, young kids, really young kids, uh, you know, teenagers,
Speaker 2: pre teenagers, and while you know, you know, we welcome
Speaker 2: those folks during the daytime. The reality is at a
Speaker 2: certain point in the evening, the activities down here are
Speaker 2: geared towards twenty one and up, and it's just not
Speaker 2: It's not a place to play and hang out. And
Speaker 2: I think it's uh. I think that's part of the
Speaker 2: reason why you've even seen the city put in place
Speaker 2: some special measures to try and give those kids someplace
Speaker 2: positive to go spend their evenings rather than hanging out
Speaker 2: in a city environment that's really not geared for them.
Speaker 1: I think last week I had on Ken Cove, or
Speaker 1: sergeant with the CPD, head of the union. He said,
Speaker 1: there's one hundreds some evenings, thousands of kids smoking pot
Speaker 1: looking for the next person to rob.
Speaker 2: Is that a fair description, Well, Kim would probably know
Speaker 2: better than I am from a law enforcement standpoint, that's
Speaker 2: that's for sure. But it's certainly in you know, activity
Speaker 2: that we would discourage. You know, certainly of today's you
Speaker 2: you don't want to see kids engaging in that, and
Speaker 2: we certainly don't want to provide an environment that fosters
Speaker 2: that behavior. You know, we want to make certain that
Speaker 2: you know, that's not happening in our neighborhood and hopefully,
Speaker 2: you know, with the other measures perhaps that the city
Speaker 2: has put in place with pools being open and rec
Speaker 2: at night and some other things, that those folks will
Speaker 2: find a more productive environment to have fun and engage
Speaker 2: in more age appropriate activities.
Speaker 1: And the kids doing this are not exactly customers anyway,
Speaker 1: there are sixteen fourteen. It's not going to hurt business
Speaker 1: at all, is it.
Speaker 2: It's not, and we actually hope it'll improve business. And
Speaker 2: we're grateful that, you know, our business owners are on
Speaker 2: page with that, our private property owners, you know, the
Speaker 2: apartments in the hotel, and frankly, our large venues you know,
Speaker 2: like the Reds and the Bengals are are in supportive
Speaker 2: of this initiative as well. They have been great vocal
Speaker 2: supporters and strategic partners and thinking about how to put
Speaker 2: something like this in place.
Speaker 1: You're also involved with a heritage bank center. It's kind
Speaker 1: of a decrepit structure, been there about forty some years,
Speaker 1: and the powers that be have determined that that may
Speaker 1: may not be the best place for the indoor arena.
Speaker 1: Jeff Birding, your friend TQL and FC wants to move
Speaker 1: that arena over buy music hall across the street. Would
Speaker 1: that be a problem from your perspective?
Speaker 2: One hundred percent. We think that the best place for
Speaker 2: a new modern arena is the banks. The existing footprint
Speaker 2: is the perfect place for it. A new modern arena
Speaker 2: with eighteen to twenty thousand seats and modern amenities does
Speaker 2: sit at the Banks. In fact, it's probably the most
Speaker 2: cost effective location, and studies have shown that cost studies
Speaker 2: have shown that it's actually the most cost effective location
Speaker 2: by simply the fact that you've got a lot of
Speaker 2: the public infrastructure already in place. You've got the transit center,
Speaker 2: you've got the interstate exits. You've got the existing sewer
Speaker 2: systems and electrical grids and all those things that support
Speaker 2: large venues like that already in place, so you don't
Speaker 2: have to recreate that someplace else. The Bank's handles. It's
Speaker 2: not uncommon to have these three of these venues happen
Speaker 2: at the same time, and we managed to flow people
Speaker 2: in and out of this environment without much trouble. So
Speaker 2: we've truly and firmly believed that on the merits, the
Speaker 2: existing location of the Heritage Bank Center is the best
Speaker 2: location for a new modern arena that I think everybody
Speaker 2: has now reached the point of believing that can be
Speaker 2: a valuable contributor to the city's economic future. You know,
Speaker 2: a new, new, new modern arena has great economic benefits,
Speaker 2: and I think that's an exciting place to be from
Speaker 2: a conversation standpoint. That there's that acknowledgment, we just you know,
Speaker 2: we will continue to advocate that the Banks is the
Speaker 2: best location for it.
Speaker 1: Tracy, why is it important for it to be there
Speaker 1: as opposed to maybe off the city core? And secondly,
Speaker 1: I wanted to address the issue of how unique the
Speaker 1: Banks are between the Bengals and the Black Music Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame, and throw on top of that all the
Speaker 1: Banks projects in the Heritage Bank, the Great American Ballpark.
Speaker 1: That's it's an incredible area and many cities don't have that.
Speaker 1: And we can't let that fall down because of a
Speaker 1: few hundred kids that don't know how to behave It's
Speaker 1: got to be. How unique is the Banks in Toto.
Speaker 2: It's incredibly unique. You know a lot of people don't
Speaker 2: get the folks from thirty years ago enough credit and
Speaker 2: actually envisioning this and putting it into place. I mean,
Speaker 2: they contemplated the floodplain. You know, we just encountered flooding
Speaker 2: and all of these businesses were open and just fine.
Speaker 2: You know, they built this thing out of the floodplane.
Speaker 2: They were quite they quite forced quite the foresight and
Speaker 2: building it the way they did. You know, they trenchport
Speaker 2: Washington away. They put in the Transit Center. This was
Speaker 2: built as an entertainment district. It was designed to do
Speaker 2: exactly what it does. And I will tell you what
Speaker 2: I hear most frequently from folks that come in town
Speaker 2: supporting the out of town team, whether you know, if
Speaker 2: the Reds are playing the Pirates or the Bengals are
Speaker 2: playing the Bills. Out of town folks love the Banks.
Speaker 2: They are astounded at what we have down here, and
Speaker 2: they can't wait to come back. Folks love to come
Speaker 2: here from out of town because of what the Banks
Speaker 2: offers them. It's like it's a walkable downtown that they
Speaker 2: can they can go from the stadium to a bar
Speaker 2: or a restaurant and it's all right here at their footsteps.
Speaker 2: It's a fun, walkable environment, and folks are are They
Speaker 2: love coming here, and sometimes we don't appreciate that, you know,
Speaker 2: being local and and just it's part of our daily lives.
Speaker 2: But you really do gain some appreciation for it when
Speaker 2: you hear out of town ors sing the praises of
Speaker 2: the banks.
Speaker 1: Tracy Schwegman of the Banks. Lastly, it's tonight ten o'clock.
Speaker 1: Someone's not paying attention to radio television. They're going to
Speaker 1: run into what tonight at ten o'clock.
Speaker 2: They're going to run into bike racks with signs on
Speaker 2: them reminding folks that this is now twenty one and
Speaker 2: up environment from ten pm to two am. They're going
Speaker 2: to run into security, private security. They'll be checking their IDs,
Speaker 2: and we hope folks remember to bring their IDs. And
Speaker 2: we look forward to welcome you folks to a fun,
Speaker 2: fun environment down here at the Banks twenty one and
Speaker 2: up ten pm to two am.
Speaker 1: Tracy Swegman of the Banks, thanks again for coming on
Speaker 1: the Bill Cunningham Show. May God bless you and God
Speaker 1: bless America.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Tracy, Thanks Bill, much appreciated.
Speaker 1: All right, let's continue, and one might ask, I know
Speaker 1: that Thigi has talked about this. I spoke to the
Speaker 1: Chief of Police's to come on with me on Monday,
Speaker 1: and she said, where the parents are ware they how
Speaker 1: do you have numerous hundreds of kids running around Shmail
Speaker 1: Park and the banks on a summer's night without much
Speaker 1: going on, and I would note off the air. She
Speaker 1: told me, this is only Friday and Saturday and so
Speaker 1: on Sunday night, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. It's going to be,
Speaker 1: shall we say, no idea required in the door district,
Speaker 1: in front of in front of a great American ballpark,
Speaker 1: in front of the Holy Grail. It's going to be
Speaker 1: the way things have been recently. And there's a police
Speaker 1: station right there, right in the middle, and there's cops
Speaker 1: right there in uniform CPD and Hamley County Sheriffs are there,
Speaker 1: and these crimes are taking place despite that fact. So
Speaker 1: that's put that in your computer and see what happens.
Speaker 1: But the billions of dollars in investments in that area
Speaker 1: cannot be fritted away because of the behavior of a
Speaker 1: few children. Let's continue with more if a line becomes available.
Speaker 1: Five one, three, seven, four, nine, seven thousand. Coming up
Speaker 1: later will be Leland vide of News Nation. I'm watching
Speaker 1: a couple of nights ago, and he spoke about the
Speaker 1: fact that he has autism, that he's autistic. He could
Speaker 1: have knocked me over with a feather, and I said,
Speaker 1: he's got a book out of it to talk about
Speaker 1: it called Born Lucky. And I want to talk about
Speaker 1: Leland Viddert, who spent time on CNN and also Fox News.
Speaker 1: And he's only forty two years old and he was
Speaker 1: diagnosed when he was four or five years older with
Speaker 1: autism and his journey is unbelievable. So if you know
Speaker 1: a parent or a loved one that has this spectrum disorder,
Speaker 1: pay attention. After one o'clock today, Leland Viddert will be here.
Speaker 1: That's rom of the Reds, by the way, teeing off
Speaker 1: tonight about seven forty in Denver. The Reds are one
Speaker 1: game below five hundred. They win two out of three
Speaker 1: or sweep Colorado when they should because that team stinks.
Speaker 1: They won a total of four games this year, which
Speaker 1: is not good. So let's continue with more. Bill Cunningham
Speaker 1: News Radio seven hundred WW