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Crooked River Cast Show 15
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Email us at crookedrivercast@gmail.com
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Crookedrivercast.com
Budget heads to Dewine’s desk.
Library funding and book restrictions
Property Tax Reform/Lobbyist for Citizen’s
https://lobbyistsforcitizens.com/
School Choice looses in court.
Downtown won’t miss the Browns.
https://neo-trans.blog/2025/06/20/downtown-cleveland-wont-miss-the-browns/
Summer Festivals List.
https://fox8.com/news/its-summer-festival-season-heres-a-list-of-2025-events-in-ne-ohio/
And More...
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Overview
00:00:04
Speaker
Welcome to the Crooked Rivercast. I'm your host, Robert, and joining me every week is my friend, Tom, to help shed some light on what is going on in Northeast Ohio. This is show 15, recorded June 28th, 2025. Let's see what we have to talk about today.
Discussion on the 'Big, Beautiful Bill'
00:00:21
Speaker
Hello, Tom. I'm annoyed, Rob. Perfect. Let's do a podcast. Okay. What are you annoyed with today? What could it possibly be?
00:00:32
Speaker
Oh, the big, beautiful bill. Actually, this is Fed talk here. Yeah, what's going on with the big, beautiful bill? um'm i've I don't think I was too up in the news but much yesterday, so what did I miss?
00:00:45
Speaker
You know, the big, beautiful bill has a few good things, a couple things I don't like, but what it what did have was the HPA, which is the huge Hearing Protection Act,
00:00:56
Speaker
And the short act, which was ah taking the um suppressors off the HPA act, whatever they call it, um was taking suppressors off the NFA.
00:01:11
Speaker
And the short act was taking short barreled rifles and shotguns off the NFA. So there would be no tax and there you wouldn't have to ah go through the whole rigmarole of... ah registering and telling your local well there'd be no tax stamp there would be no you wouldn't be registering you wouldn't have your fingerprints taken you wouldn't have to contact your local sheriff i don't know if you call it um if you call your local sheriff or um if it's the uh local police department and let them know and it was it was a good thing i thought it was going to happen
00:01:51
Speaker
But no, an unelected parliamentarian took it off, saying it's policy that it's not a tax. So now they're putting it back in.
Historical Context of Tax Stamps
00:02:07
Speaker
Was it literally called a tax stamp? Or is that suppressors I'm thinking of? Is that same thing, right? It's the same thing. Yeah. Did it literally call it a tax stamp or something like that? it like you have to get like... It's called a tax... It's $200. It's what it was back then, which back in the 30... I think it has started in 1934. It was basically trying to get rid of...
00:02:26
Speaker
ah ah You know, you would have to be super rich to get to buy um some of these. Like it was for machine guns. It was it was. Yeah, it was all about the yeah prohibition days and stuff. Yeah. Yeah.
00:02:40
Speaker
But anyways, so it should be repealed. So some unelected parliamentarian took that off and they could have easily just fired her and put somebody else in or ignored her and just kept it in the bill, because Democrats have done that.
00:02:58
Speaker
There was one other thing they could have done, and i forget what it was, but it was pretty simple. Those first two choices were probably the best choices. But no, they were going to leave it out. And then I guess they got enough um pushback from people like me saying, ah hey, no, this is you need to keep this in. So now they're keeping it in but it stays on the NFA list.
Political Dynamics and Legislative Outcomes
00:03:21
Speaker
I knew there was a but. um You wouldn't, you know, the the way it's worded right now is you wouldn't need to pay a ah tax on NFA. The $200 tax stamp on suppressors or the short barrel rifles and shotguns.
00:03:38
Speaker
But for machine guns and all that, you still would have to. I still have to ask for permission. Yeah, you have to register. Yeah. I mean, even the suppressors. Yes. Yeah, the wasn't keeping me from...
00:03:51
Speaker
You know, that's not what makes it difficult. I mean, yeah, it sucks, but doesn't it's not what makes it impossible. It's the it's the registering. It's the waiting. It's the registering. It depends on who's in office. It depends on long it takes to get approval back or asking for permission.
00:04:08
Speaker
it was just a pain in the ass. That's all it was. Shall not be infringed, I believe is the quote, right? Shall not be infringed. Seems very infringing to me. Yeah. Well, it is unconstitutional. Hopefully, well, i mean there's there there's different ways we can go about it in the future. But yeah right now, i thought I was hoping that I could order suppressor.
00:04:29
Speaker
Who's they? You keep saying they. i feel I have a feeling I know who this is. But who who's this they you keep talking about? They? you know, the weak person.
00:04:39
Speaker
Republicans. Yes. The weak-ass Republicans. That don't know how to take a win when they take can take a win. They just, it's impossible for them to ah take a win. They they they just suck.
00:04:52
Speaker
Well, we'll get into maybe a little bit of this topic later as far as I disagree that they don't know how to take a win. I'm thinking they don't want to take a win because it's not a win for them.
00:05:02
Speaker
Because maybe they don't actually agree on it, but they can't. They don't want to say it because they don't have the conversation. Well, they're Democrats in slow motions. That's all they are. Yes.
00:05:13
Speaker
They're Democrats pumping the brakes. Yes. So, okay. That's what's wonderful. Great. Thanks, Republicans. You suck. Yep.
00:05:24
Speaker
You suck at times worse than the Democrats because at least the Democrats stab us in the face. You stab us right in the back. Time in and time
Lobbyists' Influence on Legislation
00:05:33
Speaker
in time and again. And you know what the other thing was before this, they had these bills um separate before they added it to the to the ah big, beautiful bill.
00:05:42
Speaker
And you know what? There were there were some there were people lobbying. They weren't worried about the, um and and I guess one of the one of the lobbyists was Silencer Co., the company that sells so us. you know they're They're called Silencer Co.
00:06:01
Speaker
And they were lobbying against this because they don't they make so much money off the registering part. Not the tax, not the selling of um suppressors, but they they make money.
00:06:13
Speaker
bought loads of money because people want to, you know, they want to add them to a trust so that every time somebody buys one, they add it to a trust. That costs money. It costs money to fill out, you know, you could pay them to help you fill out the paperwork and all that. And, uh,
00:06:29
Speaker
I guess the rumor was that they were lobbying the Republicans not to put that in. And this is exactly what um people were saying before this happened. This happened just the last night or the night before.
00:06:44
Speaker
Yeah, after midnight it happened. Oh, how convenient. Right. And what would you call it, a they they were saying this could happen because of the lobbyists trying, they don't care about the $200 tax stamp because that really doesn't keep people from buying one.
Ohio Budget Changes and Implications
00:07:01
Speaker
And they don't make a ton of money on the suppressors. They make money from registering. Yeah, what's it so if you buy a firearm or a gun, Or buy a firearm online and you have to ship it to a FFA.
00:07:17
Speaker
FFL. Yeah. Similar. so And then they usually charge you 25, 30, 40, 50 bucks just to run the background check. That's similar. That's what they're that's what they're getting off this, right? I'm sure. They're getting more than that because ah i think I would think they're getting more than that because the... I mean, even that is is enough.
00:07:33
Speaker
Right, right. So so the these ah so-called... um And I don't blame the owners of like, if if it really was Silent Circle that did this or was part of it, I don't almost blame them. i It's probably their investors.
00:07:49
Speaker
The people that are. Yeah. Yeah. It's also the system. This is how, this is how Washington works. And this is, I mean, it's how Columbus works too. could We could talk about that later. Yeah. Yeah. It's how politics work. Yeah. It's how politics work. And it's actually, we will talk about this in, in a few minutes. Actually, this is, this is actually quite interesting that you brought that up.
00:08:10
Speaker
Cause our next, a couple of our stories today, what the one story today will touch on this, this whole lobbying thing and, and who, who's actually in Columbus. And who lobbies for who in Columbus and all this. So as we continue on being more and more frustrated with government, ah let's be more frustrated as we go on with the stories, I should say, and start with our um big bloated budget.
00:08:33
Speaker
So I think we're at over $60 billion. dollars No, it's a $90 billion dollars or something like that for this budget. It's on DeWine's desk as of, I think, Friday evening.
00:08:45
Speaker
So it went through a committee and they they made some, you know, some changes, ah this and that. And we'll have a let's little, do a little clip from the idea stream, a little recap of what happened.
00:09:00
Speaker
Just a few hours ago, Republicans on a six-member panel of state lawmakers approved the two-year budget that will go to the full Ohio House and Senate for a vote later today. The budget combines Ohio's two income tax brackets into a single flat tax rate, makes changes in school funding, and settles how the state will help the Cleveland Browns build a domed stadium in Brook Park.
00:09:21
Speaker
The budget would create a sports and cultural facilities fund with $1.7 billion dollars in unclaimed funds, $600 million dollars of that earmarked for the Browns. House Finance Chair b Brian Stewart says there's also a change to the Modell Law, which bans teams from moving without six months' notice or an agreement with their home city.
00:09:38
Speaker
The Browns are being sued under that law. We're clarifying that to say, you know, if you're within the same county, you're not violating the Modell Law. The budget also caps the collected property tax that school districts can hold at 40% of their operating budgets and restores some of the fair school funding plan, but at 2021 levels.
00:09:57
Speaker
Democrats oppose those items along with the flat income tax they note is a benefit to Ohioans making over $100,000 a year. Karen Kessler at the Ohio Public Radio Statehouse News Bureau.
00:10:09
Speaker
right, so they basically compromised on a few things. The flat tax, bringing the top tax bracket down. um and interestingly enough, I did do a, you know, what's medium, what's what's middle class in Ohio? And I believe it's, the list I pulled up was, i believe $44,000 a year for individuals and $147,000 for household is middle class.
00:10:34
Speaker
Okay, that's what I figured. This is ah this is a middle class I mean, it it covers a lot because there's a lot of people making above $130,000, $100,000 a year, as they say.
00:10:46
Speaker
Right. but it it but it But the tax cut is for individuals, not households. True. Yeah, if there's one person.
00:10:56
Speaker
Yeah, married and married income and all that. Yeah, yeah. Yes, it is for individuals. and you know that The narrative is it's a tax cut for the rich or the wealthiest or the highest earners or high earners, and and that's why I kind of bring it up because it's it is it does cover those too, but it also covers a whole lot of people that are would be considered middle class.
00:11:16
Speaker
Right. So I see, and it simplifies the tax code. ah So now you basically have two tiers. You have zero and 2.75%, and that's it. And there's going to be ah probably some lawsuits. I think there's already they're already talking about suing the state for the unclaims fund deal.
00:11:36
Speaker
Oh, really? Yeah, there's there's rumors of a lawsuit are in in the works. Wow. I think they're going to sue that for that. When you say they, what do you mean?
00:11:49
Speaker
it was unclear exactly who, again, it was just the start of it and
00:11:56
Speaker
groups, but it was it was and maybe it was some lawmakers and in in the middle. I apologize. I didn't really, I just saw it in passing and made a slight note of it because They were talking about thinking about whatever, you know, kind of thing. So really wasn't much much of a story, but they don't like the fact that we're taking part of the three and a half billion dollars that's been sitting there for more than 10 years. And literally
Library Funding and Censorship Debates
00:12:17
Speaker
nobody's probably going to get or or claim borrowing it. they didn't they didn't They thought that was wrong. And this may be this may have been part of the story I was reading on the Cuyahoga County. Renane was going off on this after they announced this, they compromised this.
00:12:32
Speaker
Because one of the things was there was a lawsuit with the Browns in the city of Cleveland and they just changed the law that they were suing them over. The Modell law, like you heard. So the Modell Law is worded some, it's it's worded kind of weirdly. i always thought it was, it was something like you can't move it and you have to give six months notice. And yeah if you have a ah state funded or so or community funded facility and this all this other stuff, but as the, some Republicans in Columbus were saying, it's staying in the same County. This is not what the law was meant to do. It was meant to keep the teams in Ohio.
00:13:09
Speaker
Right. So they just amended that and just said, hey, it's it's a state in the state of Ohio. And, okay you know, Ronan is from ah ah of the County Executive Board or whatever they they call themselves. ah he's he's He's thinking they're changing the rules. or change it around did you're just I mean, this has to be a lawsuit. And while the budget's going through and they change it, I mean, hey.
00:13:31
Speaker
Yes, that's how it works, right? I don't know what else you want me to say. The the law law is kind of stupid when the guys, they're literally moving like five miles away. Right. So anyway. Anyway, so I think that's, I think they're going to see a lawsuit from that too.
00:13:45
Speaker
And the Browns are... We'll talk a maybe a little bit more about the Browns later, but the Browns are looking for some help from um the city of Cleveland. Or the city of Cleveland looking for help from the Browns if they do move or when they do move. And as a matter of fact,
00:14:00
Speaker
um i didn't we'll talk about the Browns later. Keep moving. Okay. So there's ah compromises, tax cuts. I think it's kind of a, I think the bill the budget keeps ballooning and ballooning and getting larger and larger.
00:14:17
Speaker
I think there's room to cut and they have cut some cut some library funding possibly. So you may see some some pushback on that. Ohio libraries actually get a large amount from the general fund.
00:14:30
Speaker
They get like 1.7% off the general fund. And they cut that? And they're cutting that, yeah. oh
00:14:44
Speaker
are Yeah, yeah. there could be There could be some... where Here it is. thought had pulled up, but I didn't. So here we go. So they are looking at no longer receiving the 1.7% of the Ohio's general ah revenue fund.
00:15:01
Speaker
This means the plan would eliminate guaranteed state funding. Could be up to $35 million dollars for Ohio. But also in the bill, when it talks about libraries, is...
00:15:13
Speaker
censorship, Tom, but censorship in, in the bill. And what they want to do is restrict certain books from being on shelves and for the general public to see. And they want to pull them off the shelf and put them where you basically have to ask to see them.
00:15:36
Speaker
ah yeah Of course. yeah they're they're They're the books that basically teach you how to be gay, right? Yeah. So it says the um any materials related to sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression.
00:15:49
Speaker
um So they're not they're not banning them, though. Well, let's... Because I hear a lot of that. let's Let's hear what... I got a clip, so we'll hear what they had to say about it. And we begin tonight with a new rule in the upcoming state budget that would essentially create an adults-only section at public libraries all over Ohio.
00:16:10
Speaker
We're not necessarily talking about those steamy novels with Fabio on the cover either. Remember Fabio? Instead, this is for books with topics including LGBTQ themes. Libraries say the wording is too vague and could end up costing a lot of money.
00:16:24
Speaker
Steve Levine starts us off tonight on your side.
00:16:29
Speaker
Bexley's public library is filled with thousands of books, including romance novels and memoirs. But in the coming weeks, some books, movies, and other materials could vanish from shelves. No, one second.
00:16:40
Speaker
let's Let's listen to how they are. So back to do the Republicans not know when to win or are they just playing along? Do they really think that and or we talked about last week, do they really believe that some of these things, do these politicians, Democrats, Republicans, do they really believe some of the crap that that comes out of their mouth?
00:17:00
Speaker
Right. Well, let's apply that to this. These next couple of interview clips that they have from the people from the library. If the content discusses gender identity or sexual orientation.
00:17:12
Speaker
Ohioans should be insulted because the legislature saying, here's what you should be able to have access to and not have access to and make that decision for your own family. the The provision which requires the material be kept in a separate library location away from anyone under 18 was approved by the General Assembly this week as part of the state's two-year budget bill.
00:17:32
Speaker
The language is extremely broad and vague. um We don't know what it would include and what it would not include because it's so broad and vague. And how would you regulate that?
00:17:43
Speaker
That is a great question for the legislature. While libraries have not been given a list of materials, they say many classics, including Diary of Anne Frank, could be kept out of kids' hands.
00:17:55
Speaker
Could be. Name of a young girl. Herb is a young girl. Diary of a young girl. So would that qualify? Because it refers to her gender identity. Could be Ferdinand the Bull. It could be Little Women.
00:18:07
Speaker
i mean, an expression of gender saying, I'm a boy, I'm a girl. I think all of that has to be brought into question. Are you kidding me? I got more, but are you kidding me? No. that are you Do you think they really believe that?
00:18:20
Speaker
No. No, that's complete, utter garbage. You know exactly what they're talking about. You know exactly what they're talking about. And and you know I don't necessarily like this whole thing.
00:18:32
Speaker
I'm just not sure if you keep pushing this crap, what else we're supposed to do. Let's continue.
00:18:39
Speaker
Relocating these materials could be a challenge for some library systems that have limited space. In some cases, they may be forced to use their own money to renovate to comply. oh my gosh. Become an adult only branch.
00:18:52
Speaker
The provision does not provide funds to libraries to comply or say what would happen if library systems do not follow the new rules. Many of our libraries already have different types of cards and protections and controls on library cards so that parents can determine what their kids have access to or don't have access to.
00:19:11
Speaker
Hello. Hello. Hello. No kidding, really? So that the parents can pick. Yes. do you already have a ah system kind of there in place? Sounds like.
00:19:23
Speaker
Hmm. And maybe we also don't want our kids to be able to go in after being groomed by a teacher to go in and read the books while they're in the library. that That's what I think is the main concern.
00:19:36
Speaker
Yes. Because I think, i i don't I don't have kids, but don't some parents ah just kind of drop their kids off for a couple hours at the library? Yeah. Yes, it's possible. and Or go with them. The library is actually a great resource in a lot of ways because they have a lot of stuff, especially in the wintertime or when it's really hot in the summer.
00:19:55
Speaker
Yeah. So you could drop your kid off to do the little thing over there, and then the mom could go in the library. you know all kinds So yes, but people do obviously drop them off. Yeah, of course. So again, i don't necessarily like this.
00:20:09
Speaker
What are your thoughts?
00:20:12
Speaker
Gosh, I don't know. i mean, what's your gut say? i don't think those I don't think certain books should be available to kids if they're behind the counter. That's fine with me. i don't i don't think there's anything wrong with that.
00:20:25
Speaker
You have to ask to see them so they can see who's getting them. yeah um mean my My whole gut instinct about libraries is that they should be privatized. And I've been thinking that since for the last 20 years.
00:20:41
Speaker
I don't think it should be a government fund. It originally started that way, I believe. Did it? and i don't know the history of Philanthropists started, a i can't remember, that it's a famous one. It might have been like a Rockefeller or somebody like that who started the public library with a huge donation.
00:20:58
Speaker
Gotcha, yeah. But they funded it and then the states and cities took it over, counties took it over. Right, yeah, and ruined them, I think. In a lot of ways, yeah. And a lot and I mean, definitely ruined them as far as, i mean, how much they cost.
00:21:10
Speaker
I mean, they're just... ah If this was privately run, there'd be like this wouldn't even be an issue. Well, it wouldn't be an issue because i think it have already been taken care of because the customers who pay would... Well, actually, depending on the library system, but the customers who come to that would be the people coming that would would probably demand it. Like, they kind of are.
00:21:32
Speaker
Yeah, like I like don't like i when I say privatize, I think it I don't know if there would be a membership so much as just being run by, ah you know, philanthropists. And, you know, that's how it it would be funded through donations.
00:21:48
Speaker
And quasi-customers, obviously they may not pay directly, but they they're the people you're you're open you're there for. There's still some sort of, you know, those people, would if if they're the majority of the people are saying, we don't want these books, just like a regular or business, I think, would kind of follow suit.
00:22:03
Speaker
Right. Even nonprofits have to, were you know, no one's coming to the library, then... And you could actually, you know, be a little bit more demanding from your employees, the so-called librarians.
00:22:14
Speaker
Well, I mean, they're in a library, so it's not like they're, they're not digging any ditches or. and They got too many days off and stuff like that. You know, they they don't have like, you know, it's not a demanding job.
00:22:27
Speaker
Tough job. You got to do this all the time.
00:22:32
Speaker
Yeah. So that was one of the things that I didn't kind of know. They're doing some cutting and some slicing there. i don't know. um They're giving money to... So Browns are going to get $600 million.
00:22:46
Speaker
ah um Bengals are going to get money because they're redoing their stadium in next year or two. um What else? think that's, I mean, there's, there's, it's a two-year budget.
00:22:58
Speaker
So I don't know what we're going to talk about going forward because this has been going on for a few weeks and's and it's, it's been pretty back and forth. It's kind of. Those Columbus critters are always up to something. They'll give us a reason and we'll find couple ones. Yeah.
00:23:12
Speaker
and yeah problem It might not be in-depth stuff, but it I'm sure we're going to get... Oh, we're going to get to it because we still have, which really ties into the budget and everything else, is this property tax reform.
00:23:26
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. That we've been talking about over the last few weeks. It's growing. I keep seeing more and more about it. on on good and bad. And I've got a couple couple clips here we can go through from an interview on the Housing Nerd that we we had taught we had done this a couple of shows ago with Beth Blackmar, I think her name was.
00:23:47
Speaker
When we first kind introduced this whole thing, she went through some of the things that
00:23:53
Speaker
Pushed her to ah move for into this movement. this is a And we had talked about, there's a bunch of groups that have kind of come together to join forces. And one of these groups is lobbyistsforcitizens.com.
00:24:07
Speaker
Hallelujah. I love the way that sounds. Lobbyists for... citizens yeah this is brian massey's group and he is and you'll he'll explain why um but it's one of those we were talking about oh yeah the um suppressor lobbyists or the company's lobbying to keep you know the big beautiful bill you know keeping the registration and so they can you know this is who's in who's in columbus lobbying for us what was that website again lobbyists for citizens.com put it in the show notes
00:24:39
Speaker
Cool. And let's let's go over. So he was on the Housing Nerd, which is Ohio-based YouTube channel. Basically, obviously, it's the Housing Nerd, so he focuses on real estate. And he's been going back and forth and talking a lot about property tax reform.
00:24:52
Speaker
Starts off with some some stats and goes into what Brian Massey and kind of what started him out on this path.
Property Tax Reforms in Ohio
00:24:58
Speaker
ah it's It's been quite a long one from what I hear, so let's but check it out. Ohio homeowners are getting crushed by the seventh highest property tax rates in the country. Home values here in Ohio are up 67% since 2020, but our income didn't follow.
00:25:16
Speaker
Ohio has paid over $22 billion in property taxes last year alone. And now a constitutional amendment to abolish property taxes in Ohio could be on the November ballot.
00:25:30
Speaker
Welcome to the housing nerd. Good morning, Jason. I appreciate very much the opportunity to talk to you about this this amendment. And it's very, very important amendment for the citizens of the state of Ohio.
00:25:43
Speaker
I just give you a little introduction how I got started on this whole thing. It started over 10 years ago. And it was very innocent looking at my property tax bill. I'd been in my house 10 years and i noticed that my property taxes had gone up 40% in the 10 years I'd been in the home. And I said, well, it's not sustainable if we stay on this path of ever increasing property taxes.
00:26:06
Speaker
I put myself on a path to understand better, understand property taxes. I contacted the state of Ohio I talked to the gentleman. They were very kind and gracious and they explained a lot to me.
00:26:19
Speaker
But one thing they said to me was, you know, Brian, there's a lot of lobbyists down here in the at the Capitol. They've got lobbyists for every group. But the only group that they don't have a lobbyist for are for citizens.
00:26:34
Speaker
So I thought about that and I says, know, maybe we should be lobbyists for citizens. Maybe we should form a former group. And I formed a 501C4 group to actually better understand property taxes. And I'm an accountant by by training and a CPA. And so what I would do is I'd ask for public records requests. I'd ask for three to five years worth of financial status to see if I can determine any trends in the taxing authority.
00:27:01
Speaker
me cut it off. This the next clip. Okay. so So there he is. 10 years ago, he noticed a 40% increase in his taxes. That was 10 years ago.
00:27:12
Speaker
yeah it's all It's just snowballing now at this point. But seventh highest in the country, and in the last four years, it's gone up 67%. I would have never guessed we were seventh highest.
00:27:26
Speaker
Yeah. And that, I mean, like that has to put like, who would be ahead of us? California, new York, yeah Illinois, Illinois. I but i don't know the for sure. I didn't pull the list, but I've guaranteed the top three are probably New York, California and Illinois.
00:27:41
Speaker
Yeah. Maybe, maybe there's a, a, a New Jersey or a Maine or one of those other, maybe Washington. Massachusetts. Yeah. Massachusetts. Connecticut, something like that. One of those. But I mean, wow.
00:27:56
Speaker
i I thought that was pretty astonishing. So let's, um let's continue. And what I saw specifically in Lake County, that's where I live, and what I found was a growing government.
00:28:10
Speaker
And I saw massive amounts of cash being retained by these taxing authorities. Deepwood had $65 million. dollars Lake Metro Parks had $30 million. dollars The Crime Lab, they were accumulating $1.6 million dollars a year, more than they needed. A year. Yeah. And I kept asking questions. I asked the prosecutor, well why are you accumulating $1.6 million dollars a year more than you need? He said, well, I don't have to go back to the taxpayers for 15 years because I'll have so much cash. I said to the commissioners, I said, you cannot continue spending.
00:28:47
Speaker
to suck the lifeblood out of the community by overtaxing these people to put it in your rainy day funds so that you feel comfortable and then you can continue to operate without having to go back to the taxpayers and justifying your existence.
00:29:02
Speaker
I said myself, well, if I saw that, you know, in in Lake County, it's got to be happening in other places as well. we We formed, ah you know, we we now have, you know, Lobbyist for Citizens. We've got multiple people that are going, you know, to the various taxing authorities and trying to get as much information as we can.
00:29:23
Speaker
to get the information back to the taxpayers. We went down to the state Why is it so hard? We spoke before the House Ways and Means Committee. We spoke before the Committee to Reform and Review Property Taxes.
00:29:37
Speaker
Oh, there's a committee. totally disillusioned. I tried to reach out to my state representative, named Jamie Callender. I started tried to reach out to The other rep, Dan Troy, was a little more receptive.
00:29:49
Speaker
Then I tried to reach out to Senator Serino. What I found out from Senator Serino, he said, well, Brian, if seniors can't afford their property taxes, they should sell their house and move into an apartment.
00:30:01
Speaker
I found that appalling. Yeah, that's Serino. That's Serena. that that's That's everybody. That's Republicans, Democrats. that's I mean, Blackmar was in, think she's in Lakewood or something like that. That's definitely, she was when she was talking to her city and they told her that, so we're we're both sides of the aisle. This is bipartisan.
00:30:20
Speaker
You don't have enough money, get out. That's gross.
00:30:26
Speaker
That's a good way to put it, gross. and and Imagine there's there's a committee, Tom, a committee to to look at property tax reform.
00:30:38
Speaker
And imagine that in two or three years, they haven't come up with anything. Anything. they killed They can't find it.
00:30:46
Speaker
I got one more. Keep going. I tell people about you know this. They say, well, Brian, you have to do it for the schools. You have to have property taxes. You got to do it for schools. And said, well, have you taken a look at the proficiency scores of the schools? How's it working for you? Do you recognize that some kids can't even read write?
00:31:04
Speaker
They don't teach cursive anymore. ah Phonics aren't aren't taught. In most school districts, I say, does that bother you? And then people just sort of show you, you got to do it for the kids. For the children.
00:31:16
Speaker
The other reason I say, Brian, you got to vote for property taxes because it keeps the values of your home high. And I said, no, wait a minute. Do you understand unrealized gains?
00:31:27
Speaker
If I bought a house for $100,000 and it's now worth $300,000, why should I be paying tax on $300,000? People scratch their head, they you know don't understand unrealized gains, don't understand property tax.
00:31:40
Speaker
So we have a real education problem. I've had some discussion with our local township. I live in Concord Township. The township administrator, Mr. Andy Rose, he and I have a good working relationship.
00:31:51
Speaker
He's been very you know cordial. We agree to disagree. But he says, Brian, I'm going to play pay for ah police and fire, Rose and Bridges. I said, Andy, just send me a bill. Just don't tie it to my house. The local taxes can be paid by fees, by sending a bill directly.
00:32:05
Speaker
But it shouldn't be tied to the value of my home. Why should I pay more or less than my neighbor because my property value is higher or lower for police and fire?
00:32:17
Speaker
Why aren't we paying the claim? Hmm. Yeah. Think about that for a second. Yeah, that's true. why am I paying a different price than my neighbor? We all have this, we live in literally the exact same spot, virtually, I should say, almost, you know, because it's technically not the exact same spot, but my neighbor could pay less or more than me because of the value of their home.
00:32:38
Speaker
Yep. For the same services. We should all have one fee. And honestly, it's it's, to me, it's similar to
00:32:48
Speaker
healthcare care benefits. It's so buried into your pay. you have um lot of people don't even know what they pay a lot of times. Well, if you if you're if you got a mortgage and you're yeah you know it's just part of your mortgage, it goes into escrow and you don't even... Yeah, you know like if you're if you've paid off your house or there there are different kinds of loans you can get, you get a you get a bill from the city every twice a year.
00:33:15
Speaker
Not the city, but from the um the county. Hey, here's a newsflash, Columbus.
00:33:22
Speaker
We're done renting our homes from you. We're done. Yeah, I think so. We're done. This is a movement. It's not going away. It's not. Anybody I talk to about it is like, oh, really? Now, they do worry about we're going to get the money from.
00:33:36
Speaker
But i I usually come back with, no one's saying we can't have other taxes to take care of that. What I want, I want it broken down. I want itemized. What am I paying for fire? What am I paying for the roads? What am I paying for schools?
00:33:48
Speaker
I want to know. Yeah, you got, you know gart you know, your, well, your different services. You know, you got your garbage, you got your police, you got your fire department.
00:33:59
Speaker
What else is there? I mean, you know, you're, I don't know if every city has it, but ah road maintenance and all that. you got roads, you got potholes fixing, like got, they got to fix the drains and do all sort this other stuff. I want to know what you're spending on everything.
00:34:11
Speaker
It would be nice to get an itemized invoice at the end of the year. But they can't, Tom. They can't, because then people will actually be able to see how badly they're getting screwed.
00:34:24
Speaker
That's why they can't do it. nobody Everybody would flip out. They saw what how much money to spending on the roads that are crap. what said if If people saw what they're spending on the roads, and then they look at the four guys working on that one pothole, I think people would...
00:34:40
Speaker
would get pretty upset. Yeah, just like every we have an infrastructure bill. We got to have an infrastructure bill in Washington. and then And then they have this billions and hundreds of millions of dollars, billions of dollars, hundreds of billions of dollars usually.
00:34:53
Speaker
and And then two years later, ah bridge collapses.
00:34:58
Speaker
it's just it's it's No, I want it itemized. want to know what is going on. So... lobbyistsforcitizens.com. Citizens for Tax, for Citizens for Property Tax Reform is the other one.
00:35:10
Speaker
I'm on that, lobbyistsforcitizens.com. It's pretty robust website. You should check it out. yep I was checking out Jerry Serino's ah website too i didn't i i i recognize the name but ah he he's a republican from kirk kirkland yeah here you know he's he's one of the republicans and in in in columbus yeah and he's he's one of the richies that lives in kirkland probably in one of those mega homes sure and then the other point was really brought up and somebody else i was watching him ah brian massey in a couple different interviews who's representing us who represent who lobbies for us
00:35:51
Speaker
Nobody. Yeah, that's actually a good point. Every business has a lot, every major or ah business or um and industry. the Industry, thank you, ah has a lobbyist. what nobody Nobody speaks for us.
00:36:07
Speaker
And that's one the things he pointed out. He couldn't talk, nobody would talk to him because he was just one guy.
00:36:14
Speaker
So now they've got people to put some pressure on him and and i think it's working. Because these people are talking about it. I like it. And moving on to something related to what he what we were talking about.
00:36:30
Speaker
So School Choice Voucher Program lost a, there's a lawsuit going on. They're suing the state over the school voucher program. We've talked about many times. And he you know he brought up, and they're not teaching teaching phonics or cursive.
00:36:44
Speaker
You know where they are teaching phonics and cursive? Every private school.
00:36:50
Speaker
So the state his was being sued by a bunch of ah school systems, school districts around Ohio. um This was blocked by a judge, right? <unk> just This was not blocked. Well, yes, they they ruled against the state, saying it's unconstitutional.
00:37:10
Speaker
But it was really on a summary judgment. So I think, again, not a lawyer, but a summary judgment is something like, they just do oral arguments. I think the state even asked for this. It sounded like, and they do, they do a quick oral argument and then the judge rules right then and there.
00:37:25
Speaker
Right. Right. And, and it's, and if I remember correctly, it's kind a lot of times used when they know it's going be appealed right away and they just want to send it up to the next court. That's kind of what it sounded like they did. Gotcha. They want, they want to nip it in the bud.
00:37:38
Speaker
Right. and and this judge said, nope, it's unconstitutional. we'll going to send it to the higher court. And then there's probably be appeals court and it'll probably go to the Supreme Court of of Ohio. Right. But let's hear. I got a clip from what what some of the opponents of this, what what they think about about your program.
00:37:58
Speaker
Scott DeMauro at the Ohio Education Association says Ed Choice diverts critical resources away from public schools. We need to make sure that we're focusing resources where they're needed most. We need to make sure that we are providing every single student, regardless of their background, the opportunity to receive a high quality public education that allows them reach their full potential.
00:38:20
Speaker
The amount of money families get for vouchers depends on their income. But DeMauro worries families are applying even if they don't need the financial assistance. we're going to have a program like at choice there needs to be accountability they need private schools need to be held to the same standards that our public schools are held to um first of all just because but if they were to cancel the voucher program tomorrow these people think they would get all that money that's the first thing i took away from this also
00:38:54
Speaker
The private schools are held to a higher standard. That's why they're better than the public schools. they're They're held to the standard of the parents are much more involved. They're actually pulling money out of their pocket and in many cases, in most cases, and and adding to it and paying extra. So they're a little more involved.
00:39:09
Speaker
That's kind of the reason why they're they're better. there They hold themselves to a higher standard. I think you need to hold the public schools to a higher standard. So how ah does this hurt?
00:39:22
Speaker
How can this hurt if they're giving a billion, $2 billion dollars to this program in Ohio? How does this hurt the schools when the even the poorest cities, the poorest school districts are carrying more than a quarter of their budget into the following year?
00:39:39
Speaker
Ohio schools. Most over 30%. Most over 30%. And total, over $10 billion every year is being carried over. But they need more.
00:39:50
Speaker
so but they need more They're already overfunded and they keep asking for more. They keep asking for more money from the state. They keep asking for more levies as property values keep skyrocketing and their revenue increases from it, but they keep asking for more.
00:40:09
Speaker
So the biggest one of the biggest complaints in this lawsuit is that Because there is a state, there is a constitution in the constitution of Ohio, it states that no religious ah organization will have control, exclusive control over the money.
00:40:24
Speaker
So the part the lawsuit is they're saying the state is giving religious schools, private schools, they're just giving them the money. So their problem is the state writes a check to the a Catholic school or ah Presbyterian school, whatever it is.
00:40:40
Speaker
So what they want instead is to write a $9,000 or $10,000 check to the parents and rely on them to give the check to the school. Because we could just do it that way.
School Funding and Vouchers Debate
00:40:52
Speaker
or I got an idea.
00:40:54
Speaker
Let's just open it up for a free for all. How about every kid, every parent, every kid gets an allotted amount of money and the kid and the parents get to pick any school, public or private. We'll see how that works out.
00:41:09
Speaker
Tom, you still Yes. I didn't have anything to add to that. ah Yeah, it is my thing, isn't it? Yeah. It's just, it's crazy. They keep asking for more money. They're already overfunded.
00:41:22
Speaker
Everywhere you turn, they're asking for a little more. and then And like Brian Massey was saying, he didn't even touch on the school districts when he was talking about that money. He was talking about the Lake County Metro Parks has $35 million of excess.
00:41:38
Speaker
What was it? the The Crime Lab is like $1.5 million dollars a year they bank. And he's saying, well, I don't have to go back to Yeah, going back to the taxpayers and asking for and a renewed levy or or more money is justifying your existence and we should require that from every agency.
00:41:57
Speaker
Come back and explain why we still need you.
00:42:03
Speaker
That uncomfortable silence. All right. Next is something, you know, I don't know. um Maybe not as, maybe I won't get as irate about it.
00:42:16
Speaker
But I read this article from um um one of the most, probably, ah had to be one of those inconvenient names for a website I think i've we've we've come across in a while.
00:42:31
Speaker
What's that? Neotrans. I saw that. So this is actually a business blog and I actually use this a lot. It's the worst, uh, name for a blog ever.
00:42:43
Speaker
So, I mean, I feel bad because I'm sure this has um been up for years and has nothing. They had no idea what will be happening in the coming years. But the, um, I got, uh, this guy, Ken, uh,
00:43:00
Speaker
<unk>dergra I'm horrible. i'm totally butchered his name. I'm sure. And he writes this blog on, um, on downtown Cleveland won't miss the Browns.
00:43:11
Speaker
Prendergast. Ken Prendergast. Prendergast. That was close. Yeah. um For me, that's like really close. So I'm reading this article and and it there there is there's some good stuff in it.
00:43:22
Speaker
and And his case is this may benefit the city. He thinks it will benefit the city but for the Browns moving. And he goes over a few reasons. Yeah.
00:43:33
Speaker
And he starts out the article, it says, a downtown is a horrible place for National Football League stadium. It's pretty true, right? Yeah. It's why half of the 32 teams don't play in their downtown hometowns.
Impact of Cleveland Browns Stadium Relocation
00:43:49
Speaker
they don't Half of the NFL does not have a stadium in the downtown region of the city they represent. But we you know what? A lot of the cities are bigger, so they're not downtown, but they're kind of...
00:44:02
Speaker
part of the metropolitan area, I think, at least. from A lot of them are. ah Yeah. but One example is um Dallas. It is not, I don't think it's in Dallas.
00:44:14
Speaker
Oh, I've never driven by that one. I don't think it's actually in Dallas. I'm pretty sure it's not. There's quite a few of them that are, they're just, you know, they're in the, and this and there's huge reasons why. He goes through a lot of them.
00:44:27
Speaker
um Hold a few of them here.
00:44:31
Speaker
Parking and traffic are are some of the ones he brings up. and And because of the... So the Browns require, the NFL requires ah a certain amount of parking spaces for an NFL stadium within a certain amount of radius around the stadium.
00:44:47
Speaker
And I would think part of the issue here is also that the Browns only have one way to go because they're up against the lake. So there's maybe less, maybe it's a little bit more of a problem for them because they're on the lake. But I'm just saying there's a parking bomb goes off every time um every time the Browns play.
00:45:04
Speaker
And whether that's because ah cause of the trash that's left behind or just the amount of parking lots that are required to be in downtown Cleveland because of the Browns. i I think so one of the only reasons is that we've been able to have one downtown is because of the we we don't have lot of congestion compared to everybody else.
00:45:27
Speaker
Yeah, that's fair point. It's not crazy um to get downtown for a game. It gets crazy if there's a like a dual thing going on, like a Indians or Cavs game. Sometimes they overlap.
00:45:38
Speaker
Yeah. um But the ma majority of the when there's not a ah game, those lots are empty. Oh, yeah. All the time. So I think 352 days year.
00:45:51
Speaker
fifty two days a year that that whole place is empty. And that whole area, if developed with shopping and entertainment and you know condos, would actually pull in more money than what the Browns do, just because of the everyday activity you would have there.
00:46:17
Speaker
For people living there, ah you know you would you would be able to have events all around it because you're kind of boxed in, you do science center stuff and you can't, I mean, the the stadium's closed most of the time.
00:46:29
Speaker
Right. Nobody there. You can't use it. And Haslam's, Haslam's control everything that goes on in that stadium. So if they don't approve it, it doesn't happen. And last year alone, I think it was 352 days year or 350, yeah, 352 was, was empty.
00:46:46
Speaker
And that included, they had a few concerts last year. They had actually had WWE WWE came down, had set some record for attendance at the stadium and they had a Rolling Stones concert or something like that.
00:46:57
Speaker
was a, I think they did, yeah. So he says over the entire year, a redevelopment lakefront stadium could generate 11 million trips to the area compared to 1.6 million trips from the Huntington Bank Field.
00:47:12
Speaker
um Yeah, yeah. the The rendering is actually really cool. Yeah. I'm looking at it. the Well, you would have to close Birk Lake Airport. um Yeah, no, it looks beautiful.
00:47:24
Speaker
So little tidbit here, Haslam's wanted the land around the stadiums to be developed ah in the condos and retail shops, because there's some acreage around there that that was was being debated on. And and actually, the previous mayor of Cleveland, Jackson, gave it to Haslam to develop.
00:47:40
Speaker
And then when the new mayor came in, Justin Bibb, he created the Lakefront Redevelopment Master Plan focusing on, wait for it, public spaces, recreation, and equity.
00:47:51
Speaker
Equity. ah So now ah now with all this land, what what can they do? Well, how about we can expand the convention space in downtown Cleveland?
00:48:07
Speaker
Maybe we could even build that aquarium they keep talking about. Now they can do all this stuff. so And from a lot of stuff I've heard is the city of Cleveland has now kind of pivoted.
00:48:18
Speaker
They've gone from trashing the Browns to now asking the Browns for some money.
00:48:24
Speaker
what Yeah, right. so they can help them out So they can help demolish the stadium. they They actually want to get some money from the Browns so they can help redevelop that area when they move. What do we have there right now? We got the Science Museum.
00:48:36
Speaker
The Rock Hall Fame. The Rock Hall. you're looking at the lake, Rock Hall on the right, Science Center, and then Brown Stadium. Right. And ah actually on the right side of Rock Hall is the ah the the submarine over there. So that's kind of part of it.
00:48:50
Speaker
And they've always talked about a land bridge and all this other stuff to to connect it because... you know you have to walk all the way around from the rock hall of fame to get to the vojnovich park you know in the rendering it shows a land bridge so you can go from a science center to but that that park that kind of sticks out a little bit and they want a ferris wheel yeah um that or that that boat that that just went 100 years is there um we talked about it a couple weeks ago that's over there too yeah the renders look really cool um But I think it would help them develop it because they're they're kind of restricted with um with the Brown Stadium being there.
00:49:26
Speaker
and And it's really not...
00:49:29
Speaker
it's It's a good move. It's a good move. I know people are upset, but the Browns in Brook Park. It's Brook Park, right? Right. Yeah, it'll be Brook Park. It's going to be a great location for that.
00:49:42
Speaker
It's easy um easy access for people coming from the east, from the west, you know from the south. from the north, whatever. It's going to be good. I think it's going to be good.
00:49:53
Speaker
So he finishes the article. It's a shame the Haslam Sports Group didn't think about leaving downtown sooner. and But he goes into the IAC Center, how the cities you know city that was a smart move to take the IAC Center and make it into a ah data center because that's going to give them more revenue and there'll be there'll be more jobs there than there currently is.
00:50:13
Speaker
Right. You know, that kind of stuff. But, you you know, it's a nice article. Put it in there. Goes through all the, you know, how much space is down there and eight acreage this. You could do this with that. is It's kind of a cool article. it's It's going to push more stuff to the convention center.
00:50:26
Speaker
it definitely is yeah it's good which will bring more stuff into downtown so that's what they want so that's that's that was pretty good article uh oh you know what i didn't we have we know we haven't mentioned yet what's that crooked rivercast.com share it with your friends Go there, see where we're at, see where we' we're at on X.
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:50:48
Speaker
You got an email there. It's crookedrivercast at gmail.com.
00:50:52
Speaker
Send us your feedback. Tell us where we're wrong or right or what we should be covering, what we should be covering. and And send it to your friends. so Yeah, share with your friends. Share with your friends.
00:51:04
Speaker
what What is your opinion on what's going on with the Cleveland Heights mayor? I got one story. You got a different story. I got the story where he's he's getting recalled in September. Oh, I got rid of that story because the recall is actually um kind of superseding that, I guess.
00:51:21
Speaker
Okay. But there's something. ah There's something in in this something we're not being told about. Yeah, we're not being told exactly who the troublemaker is. Yeah. I'm not going to get into it again, but. Yeah, no, no, no. That's fine. I do i thought you still had that in there. Okay. That makes sense. no yeah. i took that out.
00:51:37
Speaker
They voted ah to recall the Cleveland Heights mayor. and Right. And in September, he's going to probably be out. And there's all kinds of nastiness going on in Cleveland Heights.
00:51:47
Speaker
well it's They're eating their own. You know, they're they're in a circle. ah They're in a circle fire thing, whatever you call it right now. so Yeah, they're ah they're they're they're Spider-Man. Everybody's pointing at it. Yep. Spider-Man in the multiverse. Everybody's pointing at the other Spider-Man.
00:52:04
Speaker
So keep an eye on that. That's kind of... can be exciting at times. They're just... They're bickering and everybody's kind of pissed about it. so ah his His career is done, right? Saren or something like that? Yeah. it's yeah Yeah, he's done.
00:52:16
Speaker
Yeah. He's done. You know... I don't... I don't... You know, I...
00:52:22
Speaker
we talked about this two weeks ago. I told you what I think is the issue and, and, uh, I don't even know if it's so much him or he just got caught up in, in a weird, uh, circumstance, I guess.
00:52:38
Speaker
You hired the wrong person. Yeah. Yeah, heard definitely. And that person, um yeah, and came back to him in the butt and I'll, uh, Pay up or else. And that's now he's or else. ah So yeah, keep an eye on the Cleveland Heights mayor. You could get some entertaining stories out of that in the coming days.
00:53:00
Speaker
next ah Next story I had was,
00:53:04
Speaker
this was almost, I just kind of laughed when I saw it. So I threw it in there. So they're getting rid of the Energy Star program, Tom.
00:53:14
Speaker
And they're complaining. Oh, no What am I going to do? How do I know? like which one, which, which appliances are efficient? Yeah, this fits. Maybe, maybe.
00:53:26
Speaker
So, I was going to go. I'll stop. The article is going on. People are like, well, how am I going to pick? How am to pick my appliances? And that's what made me laugh is like, oh.
00:53:37
Speaker
People do that? I've never looked at that once. So I don't know. You know, and I've always said I've always done is I pick the appliance you want and then I go, oh, cool. It's actually Energy Star. That's no, no. Actually, I've I've picked appliance and said, oh, crap, it's Energy Star.
00:53:55
Speaker
Well, yeah, because usually doesn't perform as well as one that um maybe isn't quite as efficient. That's that's true. And especially when you're talking about your faucet or your showerhead faucet, showerhead, toilet.
00:54:08
Speaker
um yeah anything that deals with the water gosh god forbid that you get something that's efficient so that's going away it's 32 million dollars a year they spend on that program that and i guess they do some grants or other kind of stuff and they seems like a slush fund again i i think after all this time it's uh if if
00:54:34
Speaker
manufacturers want to sell on their efficiency. It's going to be right there in front of you. It's pointless at this point. Yeah, maybe 30 years ago it was okay, but. Yeah.
00:54:46
Speaker
So, well, so sorry to see you go. Tell me about asphalt art.
00:54:54
Speaker
Oh, let me get to that. Yeah. I saw that. It was in from last week. We never got to it. And it's a pretty picture they have on there. But it's okay. So a Cleveland was awarded a hundred thousand by the Bloomberg philanthropies to create asphalt art project. And at first I i didn't like it. Cause I, here's what I pictured in my head.
00:55:16
Speaker
Rainbows everywhere. i know you did. So did I, yeah.
00:55:20
Speaker
But um I don't think it's going to be that. what what They're going be doing asphalt art. They're going to like more where there's pedestrian areas close to streets. they're goingnna They are going to paint with some art.
00:55:32
Speaker
um It separates the traffic from the pedestrian traffic. It helps with that. And same with the bike um the bike trails through downtown.
00:55:43
Speaker
They're going to hit up Prospect and Huron streets for people project, it's called. ah Yeah, that they there there was a prospect in Huron, Streets for People project that is started. I think that's where they're going to start with the paint, too.
00:55:57
Speaker
Was it paint? Pardon me? It is paint, though, right? is They're painting the asphalt, right? Yeah. I mean, I don't know what that what kind of paint they use. I mean, and there was there was two things I thought about. I'm like, oh, you know what? We have winters here.
00:56:12
Speaker
We have winters here. Like, how is this going to look after two years? Anyways. so That's what I'm saying. As long as it's temporary, because... I didn't know if you' were they were going try to use... didn't know if they had different color asphalt, which I can see how difficult that might be.
00:56:25
Speaker
Oh, no, I don't. They're using paint. They're using paint, yeah. They're going to get local artists to kind of paint different things. on if you If you look, you can just go to... It's a WKYC...
00:56:38
Speaker
on their website asphalt asphalt art initiative. And if you go to that, they have, they have, um, samples, I guess, um, of what they've done in other cities. And it, it doesn't look bad. It's good. I, I had, I didn't see any, ah a push towards anything.
00:56:59
Speaker
If you know what i mean? Yeah. So that's good. I mean, and it's, and it's a florent, uh, florent, uh, Philanthropic. Thanks. Thank you.
00:57:10
Speaker
it's not so it's not It's not public funds. We're not paying for this. You could probably find some place to donate to it if you want to. Yes, I'm sure they will take your money. Let's see if you got a lot of it.
00:57:21
Speaker
Yeah. All right. um i think I think we're on to um to our final segment here, which, you know, you know good things because just like GE...
00:57:37
Speaker
And I had found... I got feedback feedback about that, and they loved it. Yeah. Everybody got flashbacks, huh? yeah Yeah, exactly. ah Yeah. ah yeah I thought it was... I cut it a little bit because it fit better that way, I think.
00:57:54
Speaker
um So I pulled a story on some summer festivals. We can go over a couple of things that we have this year. And Ohio... ohio or in in the area right now, there's ah starting, well, today's the last day, is the Tri-C Jazz Fest is actually going on right now.
00:58:16
Speaker
um That's the 46th annual Tri-C Jazz Fest. But this is a Fox 8 News article put in the show notes. It has a list of all the all the music festivals, summer festivals as they're calling it, not even just music festivals, around the state, northeast Ohio. um Yeah, we should leave a link.
00:58:34
Speaker
Yeah, we'll put a link in the show notes. ah's A lot lot of good stuff. There's Celtic Festival um coming up, Asian Lantern Festival, which is usually at the yeah Cleveland Metro Park Zoo. Tons of stuff. Kane Park Art Festival. Yeah, that looks good. Really cool. It looks like like like um art, culture. and We usually go to a few of these this year. I usually go usually so these just to look at the ah local art.
00:58:59
Speaker
My favorite art, I don't know if they call it an art festival or art show, is the one at Boston Mills, which I got to look up, but I don't see it listed here. It might have happened already.
00:59:09
Speaker
i don't think so, because every time I've been to it, it's been, it's been hot as hell. So I think it's still coming up. I don't see it listed. They got Taste of Tremont on here, which I haven't been to in years. Yeah, Cleveland Oktoberfest, later in the year, Airshow.
00:59:29
Speaker
uh, which actually air shows August 30th through this September 1st this year. Um, that's different though. Isn't it usually, isn't it usually, which one the air show?
00:59:41
Speaker
leaving here Oh, ah no, that's usually around Memorial day, isn't it? Is that more August 31st, August 30th through something? I guess it is. Yeah. it's It's always around that weekend. It's always, yeah. So lots of stuff going on. So take advantage of it.
00:59:55
Speaker
Um, Always fun to see a few of these going on. Like i said, lot of the local art and and all kinds of stuff to get there. It's kind of and good. Kind of good stuff to check out. And lastly, you had a story and on some wrestling league coming in. Yeah.
01:00:15
Speaker
We got Hulk Hogan coming back to Cleveland. He's a commissioner of the ah Real American Freestyle League. And i think their first... Their inaugural event is at the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, um Saturday, August 30th. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster.
01:00:36
Speaker
So this is like a freestyle, a real American freestyle, they're calling it. It's ah unscripted wrestling. Oh. So this is from the, there's a website for the thing, um for the for the league.
01:00:50
Speaker
There's about 30 wrestlers involved now. There's a, I saw three women. And this is, ah most of them have like NCAA championships or they've been in the Olympics or, you know, these are real wrestlers, but it's unscripted and it's freestyle. So I think it's going to be pretty exciting. i don't know.
01:01:13
Speaker
i don't know if they're going, I don't think they're going for like the, you know, the WWF or whatever it's called nowadays. um yeah I think they're kind of going somewhere in between like MMA and... Interesting, though.
01:01:29
Speaker
Yeah, it's going to be neat. Hulk Hogan's behind it. He's the commissioner. And um the sponsor is Real American Beer. so it's So it's neat.
01:01:41
Speaker
I'm interested in... I hope... I'm probably not going to go to the to the event, but I would be interested in seeing what it's like. Because the pictures, it looks like they're... I was going to say the pictures, it looks like they're like real, like, ah but you know, wrestlers from, from the Olympics, but it's freestyle. So what does that mean? I don't quite understand.
01:02:02
Speaker
You don't know exactly. i That's a good question. Freestyle. that I like how they're, they're not trying to copy the, what's currently here. That's kind of nice. Yeah, so it's not scripted. they're not going to Nobody knows who's going to win. They're really going to wrestle.
01:02:16
Speaker
But what does freestyle mean? you know There's no ring like they're jumping off ropes. It didn't look like it, at least. Oh, I Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? That's good question. iss gonna be is it going to be like What's the ring?
01:02:30
Speaker
Because a normal wrestling ring, a wrestling arena is not like a boxing ring. It's just a flat mat. Yeah. The pictures I see, they're on a flat mat. But yeah, but they're like lifting each other up. I mean, like there's different things going on that I, I find, i know wrestling is like really ah tough sport and those, those, those athletes really work hard at their, at their, um, ah at, at the art of the craft of wrestling. Yeah.
01:02:59
Speaker
But, but this is, this is, uh, I really respect them. I guess I should say wrestlers, but I don't watch it because I kind of find it boring. It's a male soap opera.
01:03:10
Speaker
that's a male so opera It's close. You know what I mean? It's like. Well, no, no. um I meant like I meant the real wrestling. I don't watch because I find that boring. and And I don't watch the, you know, the last time I watched a big time pro wrestling, you know, I was probably 12, 13 years old.
01:03:24
Speaker
twelve thirteen years old um Last time I watched any serious wrestling, um well, I mean, yeah he yeah that's when this guy was popular.
01:03:36
Speaker
And he actually, there's a good, there's a documentary on Stone Cold and talking about it's scripted, but not fake because he, they, somebody screwed up and did a pile driver wrong and it screwed up his neck.
01:03:50
Speaker
Oh, no, no. i think I think those athletes that did the the scripted wrestling are, I mean, those are real athletes. so They're jumping off and landing. um They're not hitting them as hard as you know they're slapping them on the chest. and they go yeah But hitting them with a chair and jumping off the top of a rink hurts, man.
01:04:09
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. No, they're real athletes. It's just scripted. So, you know, there's no, yeah, it's just a ah soap opera type of thing. And even a lot of times it's it's it's scripted to a point, even when I think at one point Andre the Giant made a decision in the middle of the, of the of the that he was going to lose.
01:04:29
Speaker
Right, right. I heard about that. I think that was Hulk Hogan. He was kind of passing the, but here's the question we have. I have a question for you, Tommy, and I'd like you to answer it after you hear this. This is the question, I should say.
01:04:41
Speaker
And what you gonna do when Hulkamania and the largest arms in the world run wild on you?
01:04:50
Speaker
ah love Hulk Hogan. I love Hulk. And the weird thing, and i was looking for that clip. His, you you ever heard his theme song? theme song a No.
01:05:02
Speaker
It's Hulk Hogan theme song. That's weird, because I did watch his, they have a ah Netflix, there's like a little documentary.
01:05:15
Speaker
Let's see. I'm going blast everybody's ears out, maybe. Let me see.
01:05:25
Speaker
You probably can't even hear that, can you? No, you can't. know No, never mind. Anyway, it's I Am a Real American. Hulk Hogan's theme song is called Real American. And from one some of the things I pulled online, I believe was sung and by Rick Derringer.
01:05:40
Speaker
Oh, yeah. You know what? I did see something on... ah I was looking for clips from Hulk Hogan. It was ah late last night, and I did see something with Rick Derringer and Hulk Hogan. He did his ah his theme song.
01:05:51
Speaker
That's cool. um I did want to point out one thing, Cleveland.com, which seems completely irrelevant. But if you go all the way down to Bond, an article says, Hulk Hogan has been busy in recent months speaking on behalf of then GOP nominee Donald Trump at the 2020 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee and promoting the real American beer.
01:06:13
Speaker
Why? Why do they have to say Well, I know why, because they want to tarnish him. Yeah, he you know what? He was... and it's It was probably like last year.
01:06:25
Speaker
he was here at Redding Strong's at a store promoting his ah Real American beer. It was... You know what? I would have gone to it, but it was during working hours. It was weird. it was like at noon or something like that for like a couple hours.
01:06:40
Speaker
He's old now, so... He is, but he's... You know what? I... I think that guy's pretty amazing as a, as a, well, he was as a wrestler and just as a ah human being, I think, i don't know. He's a good guy. Yeah. I think, I mean, man, i don't know.
01:06:56
Speaker
don't the largest arms in the world, but anymore. but You know what? he's like He's like four or five inches shorter because of how many back surgeries he's had. So he's he's like a he's not that six foot five or so whatever he was anymore.
01:07:11
Speaker
i mean, see yeah for 70 years old, he's still pretty big, but he's not that guy anymore. Yeah, well, it happens to all of us. Yeah, I don't know. i'm not going to lose I hope I don't lose five inches.
01:07:23
Speaker
Oh, yeah you can you't you got yeah, you don't have enough. You don't have any despair. Any despair. All right, on that note, that is all we have for today. i thank everybody for listening. Please share the show, crookedrivercast.com.
01:07:37
Speaker
Tell your friends. Let us know what you think. And we will talk to you next week.