Yeah, love being here. The reason we played that was you're in the curling. I just started
curling. The broom you do the broom sweeping. Yes, I do. And I'm not a people don't know what
they're seeing has a curling club. So they opened up for just to expose the community
to curling many months back. And when you're there, they try to recruit you and get you
in a club and get you on a league. And I accepted that. And so now we have our family
doing some families involved. Yeah, we have four people. Oh, you so you formed your own
team. We formed our own. Oh, yeah, it's all right. And I will say we won our very first
game on Sunday. So what's the purpose? You throw that rock with the handle on it? Yes.
And your purpose is to get it all the way down past the line. Well, it's like shuffleboard.
I suppose, but I've never paid shuffleboard. I don't think I'm on the age yet, but I just
use it. You come in with an insult. That's good. That'll get you far. Yeah. What there
is like a, they call it the house, but there's like a circle at the end, like a target,
like a bull's eye, maybe who's supposed and you try to get your rock closest to the center
to gain point. So and the sweeping is supposed to keep it moving, keep it moving, keep
it moving, get it into that house. So I don't get it. I mean, I get it. But I mean, people
are really into it down. They like a lot of work decades long. They play it decades.
So if you've been only playing five years, you're still a newbie. Well, it's hard to play.
If you live in Hurley in the winter, it's hard to play, you know, basketball or baseball
outside. It's a new curling. You do curling. And that Olympic sport, is it? Well,
heck, don't ask me maybe why wouldn't it be? They had break dancing in the Olympics. I know,
and that's stupid. Yeah, yeah, but it is really fun. And really, if the listeners want
to get involved, I mean, it's just right here in the city of Racine off of Mount Pleasant.
So passed Horlaq High School on Mount Pleasant over in Melvin. So Melvin Avenue over there.
And they have a curling out there. They have a curling. You know where the Racine Unified
School District admin building is. It's right past that well. So you act. So it's it's like a
permanent thing. Your rent is laying around. Yeah, you're wrong. You're not playing in a way
or though. No, what if you're not? We got to have snow and ice, don't you? No, no, it's indoor.
It's indoor. It's indoor. What are you sweeping then? There's a sheet of ice inside.
A sheet of inside. They made ice. That's right. All right. I'll show you some pictures. Yeah,
okay. There we go. Can you kick in something? No, I. You did kick something. I'm not kicking you.
I'm kicking it under the table. Well, thanks for joining us here today. A year is about to wrap
up tonight. And the county board. You got a new supervisor this year. The head guy.
County executive. County executive. Yeah, it was his first year. We had him in here. Yeah,
fantastic. A very nice man. Very nice man. The community just loves him. And it really started
even before he got elected. He, you know, he everybody knew him from the Piggly Wiggly
in Highway 20. The Maliki's Piggly Wings. He's still on some. Yeah. I think his sons are on
what he said. That's exactly right. And so, but he was so, you know, not was. He is just such a
giving person. So we couldn't have asked for. It was going to be like, who could fill Jonathan
Delegrave's shoes and so delighted that Ralph Maliki decided to step up and, you know, give
himself even more. He gave, gave himself so much the community prior to even running. So lots of
boards, lots of committees. He was on. And to see him now work it. It's a lot. It's a lot to take
on. I mean, we're seeing Kanye is just a major employer. We're going to talk about some of the
projects. I want to see the way he's looking at it. We're not done with you. Before we do that,
though, if you have a question for a supervisor, Caprily, and if you want to ask it down,
I told this is the easiest way to do it. Download the Civic Media app. Go to WRJN. There's a text line,
text the question. If it's a nice question, we'll, we'll ask it of our supervisor here. So just
down below the Civic Media app. Look for WRJN. You'll see a text line there. It's like when we did
the contest and just text the question. If it's pleasant and it's nice and it's not rude, we will
love it. It is. We'll save those for David Mac when he's the rude ones. That's right. Okay. First
things first, because I got to get you on the record for this. Okay. That horrible rough
disgusting road between right where pick and save is and the BMO Harris Bank on Spring Street.
It is terrible. I mean, I'm right at the Papa Kidney going down that street. So when is that
going? And I don't know why road construction people do this, but they make strips. They do it
in strips. They replace the road, which makes it worse because I don't know why they do that.
I got to find I can get somebody from public works in here to find out why they do that.
So when is that going to be fixed? Well, that is a county. I'm glad you're asking that
question. That's a typical politician. I'm glad you asked that question.
Honestly, Don, that is probably one of the that roadway is the thing. All of us
county boards, supervisors here at the most, but it costs millions of dollars. And so it is on
the docket. Okay. There's a calendar. What day can I write down? You ain't getting that out of
me today. Don't you're not getting that out of me. But is it this year? I'm not sure.
It's good. We just passed our last budget. So realize things have to go out to bed. So even if
it were past, if it's not a smaller project, the county can do itself. It has to go out. So you have
and then that is such a big stretch. So you have to work with the utilities. Actually, it stops
it Newman. So from from where 31 to Newman, that's the worst part of this whole thing. I know.
And my car is busting. I'm ready to bust an axle on this car already.
Quit driving like a man. I don't drive like I mean, I drive slow. It's like don't have a railroad
tracks, except you're not on the railroad. You go, you know what we do? We just turn up the
music a little bit and are like cars. You know, I'm going to pray for it tonight. Every
county board supervisor has to drive on that stretcher road every single day until it's not
going to get a pray for you're going to have to have done trotter and that's a district.
Yeah, but it's it's a county board project. It is. But it's the one who is paying more attention
to it because it's right there and is to see originally I was going to have and I've tried to
contact the Mount Pleasant people and they don't come into the right. They don't return my calls.
So I can't, you know, I've called many times left messages. They just don't return them.
I thought it was their problem. And then I found out it's your problem. And it became my problem.
Yeah, I think you should get him in here. I think it'd be great. You'll get all the details
because usually if it's your district, you're paying more attention. I can tell you about my district.
All right, Don Trotter. If you know I'm listening, I will contact you. We have to come in now
because he's going to be beaten up. Oh, no, he'll come in. Nobody wants to be beaten up in the morning.
All right, we're going to find out what happened this. You get a rundown of this hearing and what's
coming up next year. County board supervisor district four. Now where's district four? Am I in
district four? No, you're not. You're not in district four, but I always give the markers the zoo.
Even though the zoo is just a little bit outside my district, but the zoo and then Douglas Avenue
between those areas. Who's my guy? You have. Because I'm district four with the algorithm. Yes.
That's not district four with the county board. No, I can't make that easy. I think it's Tom Rikowski.
So you have three. I have no problem with my road. Although I did get a letter in the mail
telling us, you know, we're doing in Racine. We're placing all the sewage pipes.
And, you know, don't do that to my street. Please don't. Tom, it's getting rid of those led.
You know, where do you park? Where do you get your house?
Main street is very difficult. So where do you go? You're going to have to go on Chatham street.
You're going to have to go on the streets behind and just walk like, you know, it's a beautiful walk.
You live right by the liftoff. Yeah, carrying packages and everything. I can imagine that walk going
on. I don't know. But they didn't give you a date. You don't have one. There's nothing scheduled
right for right in front of your house. They that sent out to the city just to alert them that you
have led pipes, use cold water instead of the hot water for drinking. I just want to give you
a scary 2026. No, no, I'm going to keep backing it up. And hey, I saw what was going on by the zoo
for a year. That was that was a nightmare for those people. Yeah. And I'll talk about another one
because a lot of people. Well, I don't know if you want to call it. That's not say nightmare.
It just means that you have elected officials that are investing in the community and wanting
nice. I know what's got to be done. Yeah. You know, the pipe coming from my house to the street
is clay. Really? Yeah, it's clay because we had we had something to be examined in there.
And there's a little tree branch growing through the clay. But it's clay. And it's been there
for over a hundred years. That is. And that would be you said right into the house. That's your
responsibility there from the street. Yeah. Yeah. It's clay. It's been there. And so I had the guy
examined. He said, well, you're in good shape. And you don't have a big tree in front of your house.
That's great. No, you know what the city did? Now you take a break. The city was putting trees all
along that strip there. You know, and I told call this I said, do not put one in my driveway,
my my in front of my house because it'll eventually pick up the sidewalk. Don't do it. I come on
from work and they're digging the hole. I said, what's the didn't you get my note? I said,
don't put one here. So they call back and they said, wait until the hole. Well, we'll come back
and fill it in. That was about eight years ago, 10 years ago. They never filled it in. I had to go
by dirt and fill in the hole. That's when you call your author. I don't know who it was back then.
Yeah. I don't know if it was David Mack or whatever. Anyway, so I told don't do it. And luckily,
I caught them. They were putting a tree in and eventually it's going to grow up and it's going
to pick up the sidewalk. No, no, we got a great city forester in the tree selection is a lot
different. So you're not going to have those same issues that we see from the older. My neighbors
got one. I love looking at it through the window. That's good enough for me. There you go. All right,
so you thought you were going to come here? It's going to be easy today. No, I'm ready for you.
I don't know. We got some fun things coming up too. We're talking to fourth district
county board supervisor, Melissa Caprillian is here. We talked about the rotten road. That's my
wife calls it rotten road from from 31 all the way to I think Newman rotten road. We talked about
that. What are the projects? Well, let's talk about 2025. What happened in the county on 2025?
Anything big going on? You got a new county board supervisor. We had a new. It was unfortunate
that the way he had to come in because you had to lose somebody to. Yeah, one each time there's
a big leadership change. You are going to see just a difference, a difference in how even as an
elected official, like what we bring forward just because there's different leadership either
because we're all kind of shifting and especially, you know, we're all such a great guy that, you
know, we're all trying to help out and everybody's trying to get acclimated too with his style
of leadership. And, you know, I always say, you know, the test of the year comes during our
tax bill time. That's when a lot of people pay attention to what's going on in local government
is when they get their tax bill. So remember what I said to you the last time I came in here,
you know, the real answer to you said, whether somebody said to you, the mayor said to you,
that the taxes were not going up for the city. Yeah, he said the mill rate went down. Yeah,
he said, but everything else went up. Right. And how would the tax bill come to you,
Don, did you take them up? Yeah, it went up substantially. I paid it that day I got
back to the day after I got it five o'clock in the afternoon. Next morning, I paid it,
get it out of the way. I want to hear about it. I just don't let that wait carry. But that
really, that's really a test to the work that the elected officials have done for that full year.
And, you know, I always say pay attention. It's kind of almost a good time because in April,
that's always election time. So the county board comes up all in in one lump. So everybody on
the county board, all 21 supervisors are up for election, 21, 21 supervisors for the county.
And then for the city, it's whether it's an even year or an odd year because we're coming into
2026, all the even year electives are up in April. So hey, David Mack, not going to my door.
Yeah, he's a great. I signed it. I know you signed sheets, but I signed his.
Those are nominations. So just so those that who may get the knock on their door,
it doesn't mean you have your bound to voting for that individual, but you're allowing them an
opportunity to get on a ballot. So it's sitting ahead of your coffee cup there. It is a handle.
Well, that's a lid. Oh, that's a lid. It looks like it's always a lid. We can't make a mess here in
your studio. It's a lid. It's like a little stick like ice cubes sticking out of it there. I
didn't know. It's like a little sticky cup. Yeah. Okay. So the the tax bill I paid. Yeah. How much of
it does the county like the county of a $4,000 tax bill? How much of that goes to the county?
60% of it first of all goes to the city. That is going to your be your biggest chop. I think
I saw Gateway was on there. Gateway is on there. So 60 ish percent goes to the city. You have
about 30% that goes to the school district. And then we're seeing county and Gateway. We're
seeing counties at about 11 or 10% and gateways about 2%. So it's broken up into those four taxable
bodies and but just realize this. Everybody saw that our USD that big chunk went up. And that is
going to be the smallest of the big chunks because that referendum we passed was $190 million
referendum. And over the next five years, this being the first one, the smallest portion was
coming out. That was 26 million. Next year, it's going to be 30, then 38, then 46, and 50. So it's
going to almost double. So it it is going to be a substantial increase every year. So
but remember that referendum only passed by a thousand votes. So I was looking up. I got
somebody sent me an article. You know, a Carlo Gambino was he's the Godfather. And he was the
Godfather. He's the guy Marlon Brando played in the movie The Godfather. His model left her him.
He was the head of one of the five crime families in the New York. Carlo Gambino actually lived
in my town. Massive people in New York. And he lived that by the in a big compound down by the
water by the by the ocean. And I looked up what his property taxes were. And what did you
discover over a million dollars a year? Really? Wow. Wow, that's a lot of money to pay.
That is a lot of money to pay. But it sounds like he had quite a bit of money coming in.
If he didn't have he'd kill somebody who didn't take their money way in what do I know?
Yes. So he paid a lot. My brother lived on Long Island. I think his were 15,000 a year.
Yes. I mean, that's a lot of money to pay. You know, you see that in a lot of the neighboring,
you know, states as well. So, you know, sometimes, you know, there's a lot to complain about,
especially when we get our own bills, but then you can, you know, look outside.
But here's what I sell people. I say, let's just save a property tax bill of $4,000.
What is it worth you to have fire to guard your house, police to guard you and your family?
Sanitation workers to pick up all your trash every two weeks. What is that worth to you?
And to have your kids go to school. And to have your streets paved. Except that stretch.
W streets paved. What is that worth to you? It's worth more than $4,000 a year for that protection.
Could you imagine not having any of it? So when I get a $4,000 tax bill or whatever it is,
I don't gripe about it because what you're getting is worth much more than that.
You can't even compare to what you're getting.
Time, I love that energy that you can pass along because there is a lot, you know,
especially when you see these increases, but you know, things have a cost to them.
And do you want a community that does support the schools, the streets, the public safety?
We talked about the rotten road as my wife calls it, the rotten road. I have to remind people,
they may be tuning in. And you said that rotten road on Spring Street, county sea between,
between 31 and Newman is on the docket to be fixed sometime in January?
No, don't. You're not getting this out of me. That's what I heard. What did you say?
That is not what I said. We are very well aware that that needs to get fixed.
And it's funny that you go back to that. And I'd like that you're now focusing on that stretch.
Normally you're focusing on those manholes. Well, that's not you. Those manholes.
Make streets not you, is it? No, no, part of Main Street is. So yes, it is.
We know exactly what it is. It's between gold and gold in the, what's that cross right there?
Forget it already by a high and golden high. Yeah. And it's there. It's about three inches deep.
But that's not you. When David Matt comes in, I'll beat him up over that.
But Don, I will tell you, I have an answer for you though. I had an answer for you last time as well.
The rotten road. Okay. So those manholes, Don's always complaining about the roads. We come
in here and we get attacked about these roads, but the manholes there. You're telling all the
viewers and the listeners. I mean to make sure that your calls are very kind and, and then Don comes
at me. But I was very kind, but let's get some answers about those manholes because you aren't the
only one who complains about those. Yeah. But so I had to do some research before coming in and I gave
a call. By the way, I didn't bring the manhole covers you did. I did. But I was prepared for you
this time. And instead, I didn't realize you're going to go at me about spring street. But the man
because they do that because the settling because asphalt settles, it's on, you know, they compact
the soil down. And but yet the manholes are on a fit structure. And so they're kind of playing
the long game and assuming that the streets are going to settle. And so Don, that is why you
see those being set so many inches below the level of the road. Okay, we're dealing with this now
about two years. I think it's settled all it's going to settle. Yeah, it is a long game and you know,
they might win it. They might not, but, but that is the reason why they do that. So there you go.
Doesn't answer the question. No, I'm getting off of spring street is what I'm doing. I know
you have deflecting. That's what people in politics do so good. They deflect that. That's
what you want. You don't realize we go for a, you know, a little class. Yeah. Okay.
Okay. Uh, enough of the bad stuff. Yeah. Before we get to the other, I get this question here.
I can ask you. Okay. Somebody asked this question. What improved the quality of life so much,
you wish you did it sooner? What improved you? Well, I'll give you an example here. Someone said,
giving your eyes a break. You spend so much time looking at screens, resting your eyes every 30
minutes and you should focus on something 20 feet away. Helped with eye strain, headaches,
tiredness and even depression. How about replacing the cheap office chair with something that
actually gives you a lumbar support? These are good chairs. I think they are because we
still have chairs in here that weren't good. Yeah. And one day I had to go to the hospital.
My back was out. I think it was that chair. Um, let's see, understanding that working with someone
smarter than you is a privilege and opportunity to learn and hone your skills and not a threat.
That's a good one. That is a good one. Everybody says, oh, that's smart. I like I'm going to
freeze them out though. No, it's good. How about this deleting social media? I should have done that
years ago or at least moving it off your phone to a second every device. So it's not something,
you know, you're looking at 24 hours. You and most people do the first thing in the morning when
they open their eyes. And I do it. First thing in the morning, grab your cell phone.
True. Everybody, do you do that? I do. I see everybody doesn't. And what you do before cell phones,
you woke up, looked at the window, checked out the day, but now we don't have to do it. Just look
on your phone. Look at the ring camera. They're a double-edged sword, aren't they? And giving up on
folding underwear and fitted sheets. Should have given up years ago on fitted sheets. You can't
fold a fitted sheet. We try it in my house. My wife and I try to fold it. We do something, but I
just put it in a big ball. What's going on? Oh, my goodness. No, I actually don't have a problem with
those. You know, I worked for, before I worked in end of life care, I worked at like a caregiving
in the homes for seniors and those with disabilities. And we had to go to like a home-act kind of
ish course. And they taught us how to fold fitted sheets. And because they expected us to come
with a certain standard. Yeah. I'm going to tuck it in. I don't know how to do my wife can do it.
She's good at folding fitted sheets. You just kind of hide all the curves. And yeah.
When I see her start to do sheets and stuff, I kind of make myself scarce. But then here,
honey, could you help me with the sheets? I don't say honey. She's the other pet name for me.
But it's not jerk or anything like that. But she asked me to fold the fitted. I just don't know
how to do it. When I live by myself, I just big ball. I threw it into a box. I'm going to
pick up that cell phone of yours and go to YouTube. And I'm sure there's a video.
Oh, I got to show you something with my coat. I found out. Okay.
Do you know those big ruffled things on a hood? Yes.
You're not supposed to leave them out. I'll show it to you during the break that we
were talking about. Okay. That's good. All right. Let's look at 2026. What do you have in store for us?
Well, 2026, there's a few things. Let's keep to the roads because that tends to be the,
you know, when you're in elect official, the things that you get called on the most is about the
roads, your garbage pickup and snow plow, whether they've done your roadway or not.
And because the shopping season was at a peak during the holidays, highway 31 over by the mall,
have you gone over there? Done. Yeah. And so do expect, for the next couple of years, there's
some major construction. You already saw the barrels out. And it's taking you a little bit longer
if you're hitting on 31 over there. So in 2026, you have from highway 11 to over by
Castellane's bowling. They're going to be doing that phase one strip. So to expect those lane
closures down. It's messy over there now. It's really messy. But it's going to be that way
until 2027 when the project ends, because they're going to do up to highway 20.
Is that the sewers? Everything's going to get done. So the utilities will be coming in their
shoes. So it's phased. Utilities. Don't they have utilities over there? Yeah. They do have it.
So what are they digging up now? So it's just it's the phase project. You know, they're not always
on the same schedule. You know, I don't know how to do it myself. So that's good. We have other people.
If it was up to me, I'd still have an outhouse and it's still be rubbing sticks together to get
us fire started. So seriously, I don't know how to do anything. Oh my goodness. I hire people to do.
So do expect that there's going to be wider shoulders for bikes are going to be put in there.
You know, really trying to focus into the future, get more people commuting on
bicycles, rather than on their four wheels. So you're going to have the storm sewers.
We're going to get done extended lanes turn lanes and new traffic signals. So
that's something to keep an eye out and plan accordingly. We did see during the holidays.
It was pretty messy over there and it's going to continue for the next couple of years. And
that's all the way to highway 20. So I don't have a problem with that as long as you can. It's not
I don't have a problem with it. What I have a problem with the people when they tell you move over
in 500 feet and they don't they go right to the front. Then they make the whole line of cars stop.
You know, when I went to college, I was very busy. I lived in New York and I went to college
and it was the roads at that hour, the morning, which is bumper to bumper all the time.
And there's always somebody who wanted to just squeeze in at the end and we tried to block them out
because you had to keep the line moving. And when they do it, they stop the line. And I went to
this every single you have no idea what traffic is like. This is not traffic out here. They don't
know the traffic's like tried the only with 18 million people jammed. So anyways, okay, so they're
working on the 31 project. They're working on the 31 project. And you know, because we're heading
into the new year tomorrow, you know, one of the biggest things that makes community is rituals
and traditions. And one of the things that we have and we're seeing people are familiar with it
called the polar plunge, but here we call it the splash and dash. Are you familiar? Do you watch it?
Not if I watch it. I go down there every year to watch my wife used to actually jump in the lake.
Wow. She used to do it. And look, we stopped it because we're going to weigh in vacation the next
day. And I said, you're going to jump in that ice cold lake. We're going to weigh in vacation.
And you're going to be blowing, you know, a sniffling and have a get it for no, no more get,
you know, if we, you know, so she didn't do it again. I was the code bearer. So when they run out,
I add a, you know, quick bundle or up and it comes. I'm amazed at how many people do it.
There were more people watching the people do it than actually either right there in North Beach.
You right there. Now if they have a nice berm, they got to cut, you know, because one year they
only cut a small swatch and people were trying to get out of the lake and they couldn't do it
because it's just one body at a time was allowed to come out. And I don't remember last year.
I always thought they did it earlier, but this year they're jumping at noon. I don't know.
It's fine. So the yacht club is going to be open at nine o'clock. So people can start going
there at nine o'clock. They'll have some refreshments. You can get your t-shirts and, you know,
whatever else you want, because this, it does go to three charities. So I mean, you can just go,
a lot of people just go and jump, but you want to actually partake and get a t-shirt saying that
you actually did it. The charities are the food bank. They were seeing County Food Bank,
Halo and the Hospitality Center this year. No, I'm not going to. People do it. And you know,
they hold water. They come out in there. They're fine. You know, they, you don't want to get
to water off them because it's freezing. And tomorrow it's going to be a high of 20 degrees,
which means it's probably going to be colder at that time, which is fine. I love saying them.
I want to see them freeze, shiver and shake. I do because if you get a jump in there, you know,
but I have a good time because I walk over there. We live that far away. So we do it. But I have
pictures of my wife when she was coming out of the water. I had a quick wrapper up in a code,
you know, freezing out there. Well, you remember Demetri? My, yeah, he did it. Yeah,
he did do it. He wanted to do it. Get some pictures. My son had done it when he was on the dive
team and. Oh, yeah. That's right. They have a lot of high school kids do it. I've seen them out
there. Yeah. Melissa Caprillian, our fourth district County board supervisor with us. And I
showed you my jacket with that big first thing that goes over the hood. And I watched the YouTube
video. I was watching all my crew, you know, true crime stuff, people stealing from Walmart,
stealing from targets, stealing from, you know, all these stores. And right after that came one,
the lady said, I'm going to show you what to do with that parka hood you have with that fur
lining on it. You're not supposed to let it go over your face, supposed to tuck it in
under the hood. And it covers your ears, keeps it warm, keeps the air from coming into your
forehead. And you saw it in that. It is great. It makes a lot of sense. It's quite practical,
not just for, you know, you have one of those jacket hoods. No. Oh, you got one of the old kind.
Okay. Okay. That's me. We're talking about 2026. And anything else coming up?
2026. Oh, just a lot coming up. I mean, this is again, I'm going to just bring it back to the,
you know, when we're looking at our tax bills, it really talks about what the year was like,
what the local elected officials were working on. And, you know, and this is time to pay attention.
If you're not happy with what's going on, pay attention on April, get out there and vote. If
there's any bit of advice that I can leave in the 15 years that I've been elected done,
it is really important. I know a lot of people do that early, early voting, absentee voting.
I would highly suggest this year. Make this part of your tradition too is just go in there in
April and go to the polls and vote. Get your, your vote counted the day of election. And I'll
leave it at that. And then when we're off air, I'll talk about it. Okay. Why can't we get the
truth out of here? No, no, no. So we'll talk about it. But people know how to get a hold of me.
And you get a lot of calls on your personal phone from people saying, by the way, there's a rotten
road stretch. Do you get a lot of people doing that? I do not. It when I was an older, you get a
little bit more at the county. It's a little bit different. Yeah, you must get a lot when you
are a holder woman. You must get a lot of complaints. Now on the phone, people see in the supermarket
and they'll say, Hey, come here, come, come, come, I'm going to show you something. I don't like
this in front of my house. The curb is crap, you know, cracked, fix it. I mean, you get a lot of that
stuff. Don, when people find out you're an elected and especially local, you typically don't get that
warm welcome. Let me give you a hug. So let me tell you about Spring Street and that stretch by
Newman Road. Let me tell you that there you are. So those are the things that you do get. But
you know what, that's what you sign up for. And it's okay. And that's what you spend the time,
you know, learning how to navigate those and to help people get connected to get the answer.
So I take it as, you know, I'm honored. I never had a job where I had to deal with the public
before. But you, you work. No, no, I know, but I don't have to deal with the public face to face.
That's fair. Never had a job. This is all I've done. Just 1972. Well, you do it. Well,
we're glad you're here. And I do it because I don't want to have to, you know,
do that. I think you would, you would do good. Because you know what I think, I think the one thing
that is a key trait that those who are elected is to have a high level of integrity and to be honest,
be honest with the things, you know, be honest with things, you don't know. And you know,
realize that you're a neighbor, too. You're part of the community as a whole. You're never
above it. So I think those are some key characteristic traits. And think about that as we go into
this next election cycle in April. Now, we did find out some stuff just to backtrack a little bit.
We talked about curling when you first started. Yeah. And you were unaware that it might have been
an Olympic sport or not. And it turns out you got a couple of emails. And we text messages.
Text messages and saying, Melissa, I thought you were smart. Now I am questioning that because
of how dare you not know curling was in the Olympics. I have a whole new opinion of you. And
the US one in the last Olympics in the men's curling 2022 and the 2022. So you're not headed
toward that Olympics. What's that? You don't want to go to the Olympics? No, I don't. I mean,
I never saw curling in person. I just don't know how difficult it could be.
You know, I'd really know if I was, you know, practicing to be in it. But you know,
it's all fun here. They're seeing curling club. I hope I hope you have some listeners.
Okay, we got we have some questions here. Oh, we don't. I live in Mount Pleasant. I know what
you're talking about that stretch of spring street. I've gone through trustees, supervisors,
everything. And hearing it's in the works for the past five years. It's a lot of money behind
us. And if you want to call me back, here's the phone number. He said, I even came up with
a solution and nothing's been done. Oh, my goodness. All right. Well, just give me the phone number
and then I'll give a call. Here's another one. Every year, I hear we have no money for the roads.
Yeah. Do we have money? No, really. And I hear it's in the budget. And the last person was so
shocked. They didn't put a question down. They just, we got to put you started. I didn't start
any business. These are your people. Yeah. No, it's all fair. I mean, that's it's important.
So it is. And you know what? I've been I've lived in different places. And this is not bad.
I mean, if you can complain about two blocks of a road, you're in pretty good shape.
Because I've been in places where it's just terrible. Yeah. And so let me give you some
get you some answers for that because it is really important. And it was talked about during
the budget cycle and I'll realize, you know, first of all, we went into a $14 million deficit
at the county right before budget season. And as many of the listeners know, now we implemented
a sales tax and that was to help. And going into this next budget too, we had to just even our
county executive came up with an amendment because we were really struggling. How do you make
a budget work with the money that we have to get the services that people want? And sometimes
the things that often get cut are the roads that keeps getting pushed back. They're very expensive.
And they continue to be expensive. But you know, it's quite the investment. And you know,
we're a pretty big employer. We employ, I think like 1200 people at the county. So roughly
around that might even be more. Might even be 1500. But you know, you don't want to cut those
positions too, because they're giving the services that people are needing. So it's just really
a balance. You know, you only have one lump of money. What do you, how is it going to be spent?
How do you handle something like Los Angeles? Well, I'm glad I'm not there to figure it out. But
I mean, that Los Angeles is the county. Yeah. That's Los Angeles County. How do you, with all those
roads and they have some map of road structure? How do they keep a city like that under control?
It's a lot, but there's a lot of people that live there. New York is not, it's not greater.
New York is not big. It's just a lot of people, but it's in a small area. I don't know how you do
handle a place like Los Angeles. That's, that's amazing. I'll stick to Racine. I'm right here.
I'm going to stick to Racine County, John. Yeah, we missing anything. There's a lot. Uh, well, no,
it's just, uh, okay, to make sure we got everything in. Yeah, you know, I think a lot of the things
I just want to go back to, you know, I, I keep bringing it back. His election time is coming up.
So it's just really important. It's really pertinent that people are paying attention.
And, you know, you talked about social media people checking their phones right away. You know,
like I was saying, it's kind of like this double edged sword where it's the thing that keeps us
connected, but it also the thing that pulls us away as well. And it creates this walls. You
know, we're seeing less and less people showing up for, uh, your, your, um, council meetings
and the county board meetings. And I wish they would do more. And we used to have that local
cable access channel, if you remember, car 25, car 25. No, not there anymore. No, not there
anymore. And so there's this disconnect. So people aren't watching the meetings. And then
so they were streamed on Facebook and they were able to comment kind of feel live like you're
part of it. Now they're on YouTube. And so they don't have that live commenting. And so you are
are you. YouTube was not live. No. So I mean, it will post, but you can't comment. The comments
are shut off. So it's not like you're interacting with it. So you're losing that piece. And so you
feel there's this distance that is happening that's being created. So if we can get more people
to realize just how important it is to show up and to be part of, uh, your local, uh,
municipalities, uh, voting and the events that are happening. And that's what makes community
truly. So I was talking about those traditions, whether you're going to do in the splash and dash,
you have Carol, Gianforti and Jim Merce here and here. And they're really bringing up some great
nostalgia of the things that they're coming in and not another week or two, I think I love listening
to that. But that's really talking about how the community gathered in a space like we have the
party on the pavement. And we have our big fourth of July parade. This is great. This is great
town. I have no problem. That's why I live here. It wasn't a move. It's a great town. I love
living right in the heart of things in North Maine. I love living in that area. You got the sledding
that's happening on North Beach. So get out there, get involved in your community, get involved
in the spaces. Yes, we pick up our phones, but you know, maybe use it to look at what's going on,
look at when the, um, council is meeting, when the county board is meeting too, because what's
happening at those, they are approving the events that are coming. So whether you're having the big
EVP tours, the volleyball tours that are happening down by the beach or different events. So it
really gives you a calendar. If you start paying attention, it gives you a calendar. It also makes
you aware of some things, whether roadways are getting done, whether spring street is going to be
paved. You keep bringing it up. I do. I'm just going with the theme. So yeah, those are important
things. Okay, our fourth district, um, county board supervisor Melissa Capprillian in this morning.
