It's not air the Mayor of Racine Mayor Corey Mason is with us comes in every month. Thank you very much mayor for coming in
What if I got to give you this morning? What's that? Oh the water. Thank you. I just give him a bottle of water
I see your arm is all better. It's yeah, I'm on the men. I'm not in the sling anymore
So it's good. It was a shocker when you tell me last it was shortly after I'd broken it
So I'm not quite 100% to be able to extend it, but yeah, the good this clear person has been really helpful in getting me to
You know heal my wing here and you know, I can't lift heavy objects or anything to see up, but but yeah
They did tell me at my age takes a little bit longer to heal. Okay, those words at your age
You're you're you're you're you're you're you're you're I guess you're not pitching for the Brewers in the World Series
You know, okay, that's just checking at your age. Okay, the mayor is here
We're talking about a whole bunch of different topics. Let's talk. Let's start off with clean sweep 2.0
Yeah, so we did a neighborhood cleanup sort of over at the 16th in Holmes area earlier in the year
And it was it was great
You know, we had brought in a lot of city resources. So we brought in forest re equipment and DPW equipment and and
Some dumpsters for people to get get rid of bulky waste and some other things we cleaned up the alleys
We filled potholes. We did a little
You know like construction on some of the houses
But it was just you know, it was a nice before and after the neighbors really loved it right they were glad to see the
The city come out and replace sidewalk squares and and really we're at a place where it dozens of city staff and lots of city equipment out there
All at once firefighters were out there knocking on doors and handing out smoke detectors and carbon monoxide
Detectors into people's homes. So it was a really great way to sort of bring all the city resources to just a few blocks for a couple days
And it made a big difference. And so we'll be doing that again and it that's sort of the 14th and how 14th and center
Neighborhood coming up on the 16th and 17th, but it's a pilot project. We've been trying this year
But the neighbors really seemed to appreciate it
And you see a noticeable difference before and after when you do it. It's a great way to
Get the community engaged with the city and the city get to know their neighbors that we serve every day
So we're we're looking forward to that one
Excellent, you know smoke detectors. Very important. We have a smoke detector and when my wife is cooking in the kitchen
You know the smoke starts a smoke detector that thing is loud and it's first of all it comes up with a voice
You know fire fire and then it's this alarm. Yeah, there's no way. I'm sleeping through that. Right. So that's good
You want a loud one? You do you want a couple of them in your house?
You know just in your living room, but you knew them and they'd him all over the place and the caroon outside
Detector piece of it's a bunch to you. So it's built into it. Yeah, but it's great though
The firefighters knock on these doors and they do a little education about it
And I click order happy to hang it up for you. Tell us what you need and they go from there
So we I think we distributed more than 40 of them just in a couple blocks last time
So fire department does a great job and so you know
They're happy to rush out if there's a fire to attend to you
But you know the fire that they want to extinguish the one is the most is the one that never gets started. Oh, so
So glad to do that every time you see a house fire
You wonder why didn't they have smoke detectives in there. You're so cheap and
You know, I always save your life your pets life and save your house too. Yeah
Okay, now we have the Great Lakes climate week now. This took you to New York City
Yeah, so I'm part of an organization called the Great Lakes St. Lawrence City's initiative, right?
So all the cities around the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Basin are in this this organization and also part of another group called climate
mayors, but
It's the first time I've ever attended it, but every year the United Nations
When they meet the General Assembly they have some discussion about how are we doing on climate change because it's a as a planet
We're getting warmer
And so it's really meant to sort of do that work and so in the context of doing that what we're finding is
The Great Lakes in the midst of sort of the climate change that's coming. It's kind of a place to be
I mean it's getting climate change for one thing just people don't know
They said does that mean the ice age is coming. What does it mean climate change?
I mean basically means that the average temperature of the planet will get up
You know another one to four degrees depending upon what range you look at and what interventions we take, right?
And also means that you get more intense and more frequent storm
So I know you sort of thought about like, you know, it feels like we get a hundred-year storm every couple years now, right?
I mean the reason for that is it's climate change it puts more moisture
But you know these hurricane events that we have that become more frequent
And the mayor of Phoenix was there. They had 70 days this summer over 110 degrees
I mean just a phenomenal impact of it
So so that has real impact on people's lives and
Interestingly all the studies sort of say you know when climate change happens and the world gets warmer and
Whether it gets more volatile the place you want to be is actually the Great Lakes region that we are sort of the the least
Volatile in terms of the climate change that they're predicting for a number of reasons. We're interior to the country
We've got a lot of access to fresh water, but you know, we have we had we don't have as cold the winners
But we used to so the climate change for us
As seen as a real opportunity
Which means they're they're already using this term called climate migration is what they're calling it, right?
So so I think for my parents generation my grandparents generation needs a lot of people moving to the South
Because they wanted to be where it's warm and I think I think you're seeing more and more people who are moving down
They're like well, it's not just warm. It's hot. It's too hot
And so the expectation is that people are going to return to the Midwest and when they do
We want to be ready for it
You know the one thing about climate change that we've been working on is it does provide our fresh water provides access to cheaper energy and
Embedder access to tourism and reinvestment. So we're excited about what that means
We had a big discussion about it. There were you know, we're 70 mayors from across the basin talking about
The impacts of climate change, but then also getting the great lakes as a region ready for it
You know the other thing don't it's just interesting what the great legs to the people don't
You know, they always think about you seem the pictures of the great lakes right that icon that sort of lays them all out
But people don't really think about the great lakes as an economic region and I didn't realize this totally got more involved
It's the third largest economic region in the world not just in the country
But if you include both sides of the borders, you know
You know the US and Canada it is one of the biggest economic areas in the world shipping if you have probably a lot to do with that
Shipping's part of it, but a lot of industry a lot of a lot of natural resources a lot of energy production
I mean it really is one of more more dynamic areas in the world
But there's you know eight states and two provinces and two countries
So we know we think of ourselves as an economic region and it's really
Mayors across the region working together to say hey, you know if we're strategic about this
We can really benefit
Economically and help protect the planet while we do it. How do you talk to people that say oh climate change a bunch of liberal
Who we yeah, how do you how do you convince them that it's not a bunch of who we because it isn't a bunch of who we yeah
I think I think that the hot, you know, is it hot is it not hot people like I one hot day
What is it but the thing the climate change does that affects people I think the most is hey?
Do you remember there being this many heavy rainstorms this often and answers you
Really don't the other thing that I tell people is look climate change is expensive
I mean we're gonna spend a lot of money putting in bigger pipes for our wastewater system and other things just because these storms
Are so frequent and we're gonna have to address to it the exciting news about climate change
That was all this work that's been done to really do renewable energy whether it's geothermal or solar or what have you
That energy is now cheaper than traditional fossil fuel
Energy sources. So so the reason if even if you completely think this whole climate change is a bunch of who we I don't believe any of it a much a lefties made it up
The reality is renewable energy is now cheaper than traditional energy. So if you want to save some money
We should move to renewables
You know when I was on Alaska cruise
They bring the cruise ship into the where the glaciers are and they give a
They have a narrator. Yeah, they shut the engine of the cruise ship off. So it's really quiet
And he says where this ship is now it couldn't have been here 10 years ago
Because this is where the glacier was yeah, the glaciers melted will never come back
And it's going deeper and deeper. We're bringing this cruise ship every year
Because the glaciers are disappearing. Yeah, it's true. They said a Mount Kilimanjaro used to be covered in snow year round
Now it's not yeah, there used to be the it's the Hemingway story right the stars of Kilimanjaro
Yeah, there's no snows left in
On Kilimanjaro. I mean, it's
You know to deny climate change you really have to deny what what you can see with your own eyes and here
But again some for some people it becomes an ideological thing. So
Your questions are really good one. Well if people don't want to buy into that or they don't believe that's real
Why should they care? Well, how about a cheaper electric bill? Would you like a cheaper electric boom? Malay tear
And so you know, there's a pragmatism to it that you've got to get to as well
But for all of us, you know
If we we feel a responsibility to our kids and our grandkids to an inherited world that they can
Live and thrive in and be stewards of themselves
We've got to be good stewards the earth. We just have to
There I saw an iMac's film
It was called um hurricane on the bayou. It's about the hurricane
But it's not just about the hurricane. There was a story involved with this young girl
and
During the making of this documentary better that's when the hurricane hit
And they say if we're not good stewards of this earth. Yeah
This is gonna happen with people cities like New Orleans are gonna get destroyed more and more often and
I bought the DVD of the iMac's movie
Hurricane on the bayou. It's really good. Yeah, and it makes a good point. You gotta be good stewards of this earth if you're not
Well, you can't fix it once it's broken. Right. And what do we leave into our kids and our grandkids and their kids? So yeah
Responsibility that we all share. We're talking to the mayor his honor the mayor for scene
Cory Mason and you were talking about you mentioned st. Lawrence see way
When I was a kid in the early 60s my parents took us up to the st. Lawrence see way
I don't know why but we went up there as part of the thing and they have a power dam there power locks
And what they do is it's it's a lock so the ships can get to a certain level and go down the see way
We had it before cell phones. We had an eight millimeter camera
It took three minutes of film. That's all you were like three minutes
And then you had to put in the world of film and my father took
Three rolls of it. So nine minutes of the power lock loading the water on one side to the other
And when we vacation was over we say what did you take
Nine minutes of watching a boat
Slowly rise to the level of the st. Lawrence see way and then the locks opened up
So that was my trip to the st. Lawrence see way. Let's talk about the budget
Um
The budget is coming up when is it's under now underway now, right?
It's uh, we're putting I mean internally. We're putting the final touches on it
I'm still you know talking with the different departments and some of the orders about what goes in there
But yeah, just for for public information the budget address will be on Monday, October 20th
Where I will lay out what's in the budget
And then over of course the next three weeks there the council will meet several times
To go through the budget. They'll get presentations from department heads
But the public's invited to to you know, go to city hall and and watch any and all of that and there's
Points at which the public can offer testimony of what they like or what they don't like
So, you know, we uh, we want to
Encourage the public to be a part of the process and watch that process
Of course you can watch any of it
You know on YouTube if you can't actually get there if you you know want to watch while it's on or or go back and say
Oh, I didn't get a chance to see the budget and so I want to go back and see
You know what the mayor said or or I really care about
I don't know the parks department. I want to see the parks department presentation
There's the chance that you can do that. So if you can't come in person you can always watch remotely
But you know, we we'd like to hear what the public has to say about what we're working on and
You know, we get good survey data back and and all those things
But it's also good for people to raise their voices and tell us
What they like or they don't like about what our budget priorities are
Do you have the elevator fiction? We do the elevator
And again, thanks to the library who posted us all summer while we were doing that
But yeah, we only have one elevator in city hall which meant our building was not ADA accessible for
For the summer and so the good people the library opened up the community room to us so that we could have
Committees and council meetings there. It worked out nicely and you know
And you know, I think for some of the others who maybe hadn't been in the library for a while. So really nice place
Really great resources. I go there every week to take you out. Yeah, fantastic view. You know, it's really it's a gem
Come in here every month talk about the programs of the library making his team do it great right
We have Shae King who arranges all these guests for so that's really good
Let's talk about any cuts that we should be aware of anybody talking about slicing because I know the federal government right now
Yeah, they're looking into shutdown
Yeah, so that that is the the wild card in all this and with um, so not any
Huge cuts. It's the last year that we have federal funds from the Biden administration to American Rescue Plan Act that really helps
But trust the budget um, you know, so this year it's gonna be pretty steady. No big changes. No big
Contractions next year will be harder
But for this year, you know, we've had years in the past. It's like oh my gosh
I got to ask our redevelopment to take a five percent haircut or what we're gonna do
We're we're not in that situation
So that that's good um, and you know, I want to thank voters again for
Passing the referendum for the fire department
We had nine positions that were funded by a federal grant all these federal changes that federal money is going away
Um, and you know, we've got an increase in calls for service for for people who need to get to the hospital with an ambulance and so
The good people of the city that did pass that referendum so we couldn't maintain those positions and maintain our services most importantly
So so now in Washington the big thing is we're shutting down if they can't arrange a
A meeting of the mines
How does that go to effect? We're seeing so yeah a number of ways, right? I mean the the big wild card
I mean people don't realize this but you know for the city we're seeing it's approximately 30% of our budget comes from federal funds in different ways
You know, if you get on a bus 80% of the funding of that is federally funded right
So
There's a lot of unknowns. I think it depends on how long if there's a shutdown how long it is?
I think if it's a week, you know, it's sort of a hiccup
And maybe an inconvenience and and what have you I think if they go a month two months three months and that federal money stops coming in
It would be a real problem. I mean, I don't I don't know what we would do to I think we could bridge it for a period of time
Assuming they would make us hold on it eventually, but um, you know, whether you have a parent who's in a nursing home or you get on a city bus or
You rely on police and fire services a lot of that
Uh comes from federal funds and if that suddenly dries up
Uh, it will have profound impacts not just on
Boy, what'll happen if I have to stand in line longer at the Social Security office
But on direct local services too
What happens if they they do have a shutdown is the money retroactive
That's what has historically happened. That is what has historically happened
You know, I sort of feel like in this era of the things of the federal government everything is so unprecedented and
And bizarre and concerning. I mean, none of it's normal, right? So at the hard part is well when it's happened last time
This is what they did. I mean, we're we're in administration right now. We're nothing's normal everything sort of well
You know precedent be damned. This is what we're going to do now. So I don't know what it means. It's it's a real concern
I understand why
People feel like they've got to stand up to the Trump agenda and push back particularly on these health care cuts
But nobody knows for certain what'll come of it
Let's talk about the um the tragedy that happened one of our beaches here and
Now you guys are taking some kind of action
You can't prevent all tragedies. Just can't. This is not the way we're but you can help prevent it
Yeah, so and I guess I should say so this is a carry hole park
It is not a beach and I think this is part of the confusion
So let me start by saying this if you would like to swim in the city of Racine
Please go to north beach or zoo beach those are the guarded areas in the summer. We have lifeguards that are there
Um, you know invariably we have very few swimming drownings or deaths when people are in
In those areas
So unfortunately there's a young woman who was at carry a whole park and went into the water
Which is relatively shallow so you might think well, what's the but you know that undertow if the wind hits just the right way
And is his heading in the right direction
You know that can pull you out and and by all accounts that that seems to be what happened
So, um, you know, we can't you know guard seven miles of water front up and down and you know make sure that people
Don't swim but the most important thing we can remind people of is please swim in guarded areas when it's safe to do so
So at carry a whole although we did put a rescue ring that is there and assigned in english in spanish that says no swimming
Um, so hopefully that would give somebody pause um and or if somebody went out anyways
And there was someone nearby to have a rescue ring the other thing that we did that you know, we just
Are gonna reinvigorate, but we we had a partnership with we're seeing unified and county because they do the rescue
On the water um, they have they've votes to do that is we we've done a number of videos about water safety
Where we're very quickly like please only swim in the guarded areas if you encounter a rip tide here's what happens
Like michigan, you know, there there are more deaths than
Drowning deaths in like michigan then the other four great lakes combined it it looks serene and and peaceful
But under the right conditions it can be dangerous. So we just really encourage people to do that
Nobody wants a drowning tragedy to recurso just we encourage people to
swim in those guarded areas and and take caution and
And just know it it's beautiful look at but it can be um
deceivingly and
Dangerous if you're there in the wrong conditions
Every summer we hear about it people drown because they there's just the currents the rip tide currents and the yeah
The undertones pull them right out and you can be the best swimmer in the world
Yeah, can't fight the ocean. Yeah, we like in this place
You know the tragic carry hole was was very sad and I'm glad we responded and put the signage and the rescue ring up
The other place it happens is if you're at north beach kind of by the water utility where the kids covis
There's that break water there right and people love to come and jump off that and do that
We get a ton of drownings there again because of the undertow people like oh this looks fun and
Clearly of signs no swimming dangerous, right? You know and you know every summer we get people who go out there and and really
I don't think they realize it but they are risking their lives going out there
So water safety is an important thing
We're seeing unified and had a great conversation with the superintendent
They're gonna make sure it's part of their
Their science sections where your kids are getting reminded about water safety and how dangerous it can be
How fun it can be if you follow the rules and how great it can be. It's a great resource
But you know, we got to make sure people are safe. Thank you mayor. Yeah
There's under the receding mayor coronation coming in. See you next month. Absolutely. I mean arm. You'll be pitching
I don't know I'm pitching
Maybe a little lift depends on your age
I hate those words. Thank you mayor
