CLEVELAND, Ohio — Teenagers are terrorizing Ohio cities, hijacking easy-to-steal Kias and Hyundais, but Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost says the problem is best left to local prosecutors.

We’re talking about why Yost won’t do anything on Today in Ohio.

Listen online here.

Editor Chris Quinn hosts our daily half-hour news podcast, with impact editor Leila Atassi, editorial board member Lisa Garvin and content director Laura Johnston.

You’ve been sending Chris lots of thoughts and suggestions on our from-the-newsroom text account, in which he shares what we’re thinking about at cleveland.com. You can sign up here: https://joinsubtext.com/chrisquinn.

Here’s what we’re asking about today: Dave Yost, who wants to be your next Ohio governor, has sued everybody under the sun for damages done to this state. Big pharma. Small businesses. You name it. But when it comes to the crisis-level damage being done in the state’s cities because of Kia and Hyundai car thefts, Yost says that’s not his problem. What gives?

Ohio government officials are saying now that the latest screwup at the unemployment office, the one that exposed private data to scammers, did not corrupt the state.s OH/ID system. But they’re not answering questions. Why should anyone trust them? What don’t we know yet?

So golf carts are to blame? What is Put In Bay’s solution to the out-of-control crowds and fights that required SWAT teams from three counties to quell over the weekend?

Wind turbines seem always to be controversial with somebody, but Ohio’s Supreme Court put to rest a bunch of challenges to a proposed wind farm. What were the arguments that fell in a unanimous decision?

What are the highlights of the latest iteration of a lakefront development plan introduced by Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb Thursday, although we should point out that Bibb introduced the idea simply to get a conversation started.

Anyone driving down Interstate 271 near Wilson Mills Road knows about the Progressive Insurance presence there and what that employer has meant to Mayfield Village. What’s the earth-shaking news delivered to that village this week?

Inmates at the Cuyahoga County jail will have to keep eating disgusting glop for another two months. Why?

What is RTA’s novel approach to helping workers get to jobs in the area around Cleveland Hopkins International Airport?

We have an Apple podcasts channel exclusively for this podcast. Subscribe here.

Do you get your podcasts on Spotify? Find us here.

If you use Stitcher, we are here.

RadioPublic is another popular podcast vehicle, and we are here.

On Google Podcasts, we are here.

On PodParadise, find us here.

And on PlayerFM, we are here.

Read the automated transcript below. Because it’s a computer-generated transcript, it contains many errors and misspellings.

[00:00:00] Chris: The Kia and Hyundai Trend continues to be a Newsmaker this summer in Ohio and in Cleveland. We’ll be talking about it on today in Ohio, the news podcast. Discussion from cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. I’m Chris Quinn here with Lisa Garvin, Alila Tassi, and Laura Johnston. And coming up at the end of the podcast, we’ll have a visit from Mark Bona, author of the number one sports biography in the nation, released this week.

More to come. Let’s begin. Dave Yost, who wants to be your next governor, has sued everybody under the sun as Attorney General for damages done to this state. Big pharma, small businesses, you name it. If there’s a grievance to be made, he makes it. But when it comes to the crisis level, damage being done in the state cities because of Kia and Hyundai car thefts, yo says, that’s just not his problem.

Layla, what gives. Yeah.

[00:00:55] Leila: The problem of course is, is a lack of, of engine immobilizers in the [00:01:00] ignition column of these vehicles that make them extraordinarily easy to steal. And young people are stealing them for joy rides and posting their, their escapades to social media. But too frequently they’re, these joy rides are escalating into greater violence.

There have been shootings associated with kids in stolen vehicles, not to mention the fact that a lot of these kids don’t know how to drive, which is a danger unto itself. People have been, Hit and killed on, on account of these. So, Ohio cities have been filing lawsuits against the manufacturers, but yo says that’s that’s an issue left to the best left to the cities and to local prosecutors.

He did not join a letter signed by 18 State Attorneys General urging the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to impose a recall on the affected models of Kias and Hyundais. And he hasn’t sued the companies on the state’s behalf for the company’s faulty design that has made these vehicles so vulnerable to theft.

His he, he says, barring some specific false or misleading [00:02:00] representation by the company. To the contrary, the fact that a car from a particular manufacturer is easier to steal than others is not a violation of. State law, the fact that the cars are being stolen is a criminal act committed by individuals with criminal intent.

You know, neither does, does there appear to be any legislation in the works to address the problem, which is draining city resources and, and you know, also impacting the car insurance, car insurance industry. So, and

[00:02:28] Chris: look, there is no cause that he hasn’t signed on. I mean, anytime the attorney’s general get going, he’s there.

It. This is a striking failure and it gets back to the whole idea that the folks in Columbus really don’t like the cities. The, I mean, this is a huge problem for Cleveland and other cities. I mean,

[00:02:48] Leila: it’s, yeah. I was trying to remember back on on the other causes that he has signed onto. There isn’t always a state law violation.

No

[00:02:55] Lisa: underpinning,

[00:02:55] Chris: no, this is civil. It’s not a state law. He, he goes after people all the time [00:03:00] for, for damages that they’ve done. It’s not state law. He files civil suits over and over again. Big pharma wasn’t a state law. He went after them civilly. I, it’s, his explanation was so hollow and it really does put the cities in a very bad position.

I had one of my radical thoughts about this, so let me, let me lay this on out. What buckle up, what would happen? Yeah. Justin Bibb in the event on Tuesday that we had down by the lake, talk about lakefront planning. Mentioned that something like 80% of the revenue the state gets comes from the cities. I don’t know if the 80 percent’s right, but I do know the majority of the financial engine of the state comes from the cities.

What if we stopped it? What if all the people that all the businesses in Coya County, Cuyahoga County Council, passed some act. They put together an escrow fund and all of the businesses, instead of sending their income taxes into the state, the withholding, we put it in escrow and said, until you start to do what you should for the cities, we’re gonna keep our money.[00:04:00]

So they still pay it. They’re, it’s not that they’re not paying it. You know, Dave Yost would sue and raise all kinds of alarm. But look, Mike DeWine openly defied the Ohio Supreme Court with no, with no. Ramifications. You got a state now defying the US Supreme Court refusing to redistrict even though they’ve been found to be unconstitutional.

We’re now in a time where there’s no ramifications for defying the law. So what if we just defied it so we’re not giving you our money, we’ll keep our money. I. You know, and, and until you start to be responsive to the desperate needs we have in this city, you don’t, you don’t get our financial engine.

[00:04:37] Leila: Well, there’s only no ramifications for defy the law if you’re a Republican. I

[00:04:41] Laura: agree with.

[00:04:44] Chris: What are they gonna do though, Layla, if

[00:04:46] Leila: you just said they’re gonna sue and then the, the, uh, theory, very biased Ohio Supreme Court will come crashing down on us,

[00:04:53] Chris: and, and you ignore them like Mike DeWine and John Houston, and all the rest of these guys have over time.

[00:05:00] So what happens if you just, if you don’t accept the rule of law, which has become the Donald Trump era, you would at least. Jam them up financially because there’s no leverage. They just keep sticking it to the cities. I what, what’s also hilarious about this, we finally have the issue that Republicans in Columbus think there should be local control on, and it’s key as in Hyundais.

[00:05:24] Laura: Chris, what if we take it a little bit further and just created our own state called the Western Reserve. Right. Just that. Well, I’m all for that. We’re, we’re a, we’re, uh, seceding.

[00:05:33] Chris: We put together that whole package a few years ago.

[00:05:36] Leila: Hard that off and republish

[00:05:37] Laura: it. Let’s go. It feels so much worse, right?

Because that was, I don’t know, I’m gonna guess here, but like 2016 and it’s just been downhill.

[00:05:45] Chris: No, look, I, I’ve argued for that for a long time. We, we did that half tongue in cheek, but half legitimately we looked at the financial power that we have, but, It. Dave Yost not taking action. Mike DeWine giving us [00:06:00] crickets about what’s going on.

We don’t have representation in Columbus, but we have all the money, so that’s, that’s the leverage. We should use it. Radical idea. You heard it on today in Ohio. Ohio government officials are saying now that the latest screw up at the unemployment office, the one that exposed private data to scammers, did not corrupt the state’s O H I D system.

But they’re not answering questions. Why should anyone trust them? Lisa, what don’t we know yet?

[00:06:25] Lisa: Well, we had the. Plain dealer in cleveland.com sent a list of questions to the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services. We asked, you know, who was responsible for this code flaw that caused $190,000 in jobless benefits to go to scammers?

How did it allow that money to be stolen and what’s being done to ensure that it won’t happen again? Well, O D J F S spokeswoman, Dasia Clemente issued a statement to us saying they declined to answer, but they say there is an investigation ongoing. But they won’t say into who or what. [00:07:00] So, uh, the spokesman for the Ohio Department of Administrative Services, which oversees the O H I D system, JC Benton, he says that computer code flaw only affected the unemployment side of the O H I D system and no other system.

Were threatened by this. Uh, there was a code fix last week after a recent spike in fraudulent claims, and that led to 28,000 accounts being locked. So, yeah, quite a mess. But apparently there, you know, but they also say too, we don’t wanna let you know what’s going on because there’s a security issue. But I wonder if that’s really the issue.

[00:07:36] Chris: Yeah. Well, and I just don’t believe them. I, I mean, I don’t trust anything they say. I think the only reason they said this is because we were raised in hell about the Ohio ID system that’s supposed to be secure. That’s where you pay your taxes and provide all sorts of confidential information. So they came out and said, oh, no, no.

That’s safe, but we’re not telling you anything else. And there’s a complete lack of trust here. The system has been completely broken [00:08:00] now for three years. People are suffering as a result. I mean, this is one of the biggest failures of the DeWine administration and being secretive is their. Way of trying to cover it up.

Although

[00:08:11] Lisa: I did find the article interesting and people should find it on cleveland.com, is that they were talking about which crime rings are actually exploiting these breaches or these vulnerabilities in the system. And apparently there’s been a huge surge in recent months. We talked to a security expert, Blake Hall, the c e O of id, me, and he says it’s mostly West African crime rings.

And then there’s also like a Romanian crime ring that’s using artificial intelligence beat fakes and bots to create driver’s license and IDs that they use to apply for benefits.

[00:08:45] Chris: Well, you, you, you have to just think about the, the, the battle here. You got the unemployment office using the equivalent of Radio Shack trash ad computers, and you have the scammers using ai.

Who’s gonna win, you know? Mm-hmm. It’s just, [00:09:00] they’re up against it, and I, I expect we will be talking about more scams. For for many years to come because this office just is not up to the task. I don’t know what it is there, why they can’t figure out a way to get technologically adept. You’re listening to today in Ohio, so golf carts are to blame what is Putin Bay’s solution to the out of control crowds and fights that required SWAT teams from.

Three counties to quell over the weekend. And Laura, we should point out there were only a handful of arrests, which is amazing when you think about all the SWAT teams coming. If this were in a city like Cleveland, I have a feeling there’d be a whole lot more people

[00:09:37] Laura: arrested. That’s a good point. I was there just a few weeks ago and marveled at the plethora of golf carts available from.

All sorts of businesses by the Miller Ferry out by the airport, and then in downtown. And I wondered exactly how many there are. Well, no one really knows. There’s no actual census of golf carts, but the mayor guesses between 20 503,000, and they [00:10:00] were all rented on Saturday. They were driving on the.

Sidewalks through the park in the middle of town causing total gridlock. I mean, this is a small island, south Bass Island, and the town itself is only about six blocks long. So the Mayor Judy Berry, said that island may have to restrict the number of golf carts available to rent on the island and on village roadways because of.

All of the problems. The thing is, this is the traditional Christmas in July weekend. The last week, well, I guess it, it’s not the last weekend of July, but closest to the 25th. And the island used to celebrate it, but after they had too many rowdy crowds, they stopped. And no businesses were celebrating that this weekend.

But still the crowds came and they weren’t ready for them. And then when the last ferry left at like nine o’clock, I guess the whole island emptied

[00:10:47] Chris: out. I, the whole idea of golf carts, it just seems so uncool. I, I’ve never been there and probably will never go there, but the whole image I get is like a bunch of drunken, geriatric, screaming free bird as they get [00:11:00] in their golf carts to drive around the island.

I mean, how, how much unrest can you have when the people are driving

[00:11:05] Marc: golf carts

[00:11:06] Laura: and literally like, I mean, and I was driving a golf cart a couple of weeks ago. You can’t go more than, I don’t know, 15 miles an hour. I’m coming up with it. I, I like you, you, you have your pedal to the ground and you cannot go very fast.

But that is why people go to Putin Bay. They go to drink because it is a bar crawl. It is bar after bar after bar. I think there are some like seven swim up bars alone. Um, and, and bars on the. Decks and the docks and people boat in there and dock just to, to go to these bars and then, and then they want the golf cart.

‘cause they kind of, I mean it’s as like bumper cars for grownups. I don’t

[00:11:43] Chris: know. What’s the age of the crowd? Is it like middle aged people? It’s not teenagers. Right.

[00:11:48] Laura: It’s not young people. It’s, it’s not teenagers. And I do wanna say that during the week, It is family friendly and there is a campground and you can definitely go with your family and have a lovely time.

And there are cottages of people that go up there every summer. So it’s not just like, [00:12:00] you know, Daytona Beach spring break, but on the weekends I would say it’s a lot of 20 somethings. Uh, just that’s where they go.

[00:12:10] Chris: Okay, you’re listening to today in Ohio, wind turbines seem always to be controversial with somebody, but Ohio’s Supreme Court put to rest a bunch of challenges to a proposed Ohio wind farm.

Leila, what were the arguments that fell in a unanimous decision?

[00:12:28] Leila: We’re talking about a 71 turbine wind farm that was proposed back in 2019. Firelands Wind, which is a subsidiary of Apex Clean Energy, was proposing it on 32,000 acres in Huron and Erie Counties, and it has it, it. Would have a capacity of nearly 300 megawatts, which is enough to power 85,000 homes a year, but local residents plus this organization called the Black Swamp Bird Observatory challenged the development’s permit, along with some procedural arguments.

[00:13:00] They were accusing Firelands wind of ignoring. What they said is a number of, of, uh, environmental risks from the wind turbines, including contamination to groundwater noise that would cause stress, annoyance, and health damage, interruptions to bird migration. I. And harm to insect eating bats. Among other things.

On each of those arguments, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in favor of the the turbine company, and in several of those arguments, they noted that the Ohio power siting board heeded the plaintiff’s concerns and actually adjusted the permit that was issued to the developers. So now the plan is back on.

They hope to have the wind farm operational by 2025.

[00:13:45] Chris: The, the turbines are interesting because it’s green energy and anybody wants to get away from the fossil fuels and natural gas, which in Ohio is green energy. Ha ha, ha, would like this, right? Solar, wind, energy, that kind of thing is good. [00:14:00] But there’s a whole level of, of green people, the birders that hate them because they think they do huge damage to the birds.

And so you always have this clash of, of these groups that you would think would mostly be aligned. Can I

[00:14:13] Lisa: jump in here? ‘cause there’s a study, and I wanna say it’s outta Denmark or Sweden, but they found that if you paint one of those turbine blades, black. It allows the birds to see it and avoid it. So there are strategies out there to minimize bird bat strikes.

And also too, I mean, I have a friend in Palm Springs, California. I visited him several times, and the Amtrak station is right in the middle of a very large wind turbine field, and they are almost silent. I mean, people say, oh, there’s this noise. I’m like, I’m surrounded by a thousand fans and I really can’t hear them.

[00:14:48] Chris: That’s interesting, Lisa, because I read, I read a long piece about this a few months back and the, it kind of explained why birds are in danger from these, and it’s because when birds are [00:15:00] flying, they’re not, The, the evolution hasn’t been the look ahead they’re looking down at, because there’s nothing up that high that they would normally run into.

Hmm. Um, and that’s why they run into ‘em. But I wonder if that painting one of the, the, the blades black somehow gets their attention mm-hmm. Or, or something so that they do see it.

[00:15:20] Leila: Also, what’s worse for birds is global warming. And coal pollution.

[00:15:24] Lisa: And light pollution. Yep.

[00:15:26] Leila: Right. So I feel like, you know, I put it on the balance.

What’s inter I, I noticed that the court in, in Jake’s story, it says that the court is also reviewing four similar challenges to permits granted to solar farms in Ohio. Oh. What are the challenges to that?

[00:15:42] Laura: Jake has a great story coming this weekend about this one attorney who’s fighting, I don’t know, dozens of.

Of green energy projects, including solar farms, and they’re saying the setbacks aren’t enough, that they don’t wanna be so close to that and they claim they’re noisy, which [00:16:00] what? No, they claim the same thing about the wind turbines. I mean, I don’t live next to one, but I don’t understand how that’s possible.

They should just instead put a pickleball court there

[00:16:08] Leila: and see how the residents like

[00:16:10] Lisa: that.

[00:16:12] Chris: Oh, boom. Alright, moving on. You’re listening to today in Ohio. What are the highlights of the latest iteration of a lakefront development plan introduced by Cleveland Mayor Justin Bib Thursday? Although we should point out that BIB introduced the idea to get a conversation started, it is by no means a completed plan.

That’s Lisa. That’s

[00:16:32] Lisa: correct. And they’re gonna be looking for public input over the, the sub rest of the summer and into the. Fall. So this draft proposal unveiled yesterday at the Great Lake Science Center, shows 21 and a half acres north of Brown Stadium and just a whole lot of amenities. But the, I guess the, the focus of this is the extension of the downtown mall towards the lake would take a gentle curve as it crosses the Ohio two shoreway and the railroad tracks, and then it will descend to a [00:17:00] beach and this 21 acre development zone, they’re proposing 600 to a thousand housing units.

An eight to 12 story hotel with 200 rooms, about 40 to 80,000 square feet of retail, 400,000 to 800,000 square feet of commercial and office space. And then there’s like 25,000 square feet that they’re looking at for a possible food market and entertainment venue. Or a community center. So, um, and you know, the renderings are beautiful.

We do have some pictures and there will be some terraces and shade elements that lead down to the water’s edge, and they call that the new front porch. Uh, this, there’s going to be a, there’s a project team called the North Coast Lakefront Project Team, and they’ll be ho holding several rounds of public hearings at through the rest of the summer.

They’re gonna have pop-up hearings in city parks, grocery stores, and neighborhood. Fest festivals, and then they’ll have a second round in the fall.

[00:17:56] Chris: I, I don’t wanna come across like the cynical pessimist here, [00:18:00] but it wasn’t three years ago that everybody was dazzled by the lakefront plan offered by D and Jimmy Haslam.

Remember? Right? We all were talking about it and it was gonna affect the highways, but it was the big, bright, shiny. So eventually Justin Bibb gets elected. He takes control of the lakefront planning. This doesn’t look really anything like that has plan, so, In three years, will we be talking about something else or is this actually the first one ever that is likely?

Well, I don’t know. In the

[00:18:29] Lisa: 2021 Haslum plan, you know, they say that that helped kickstart the whole discussion over lakefront development and the haslum plan. Currently the estimate is about 229 million. But you know, the Haslam say they’re committed to working with the city, county, and state on how to remodel the Brown Stadium at the end of the Land Bridge.

[00:18:50] Chris: Yeah, the the other thing you really don’t see in here is Burke. Burke takes up half of Cleveland’s downtown lakefront. It’s an airport that is little used. Uh, Justin Bibb did [00:19:00] say at a planning event we hosted with the American Planning Association Tuesday, that he’s still taking a hard look at that.

That could be gone. He’s the first mayor we’ve had. Probably ever that’s willing to talk about that. Although the people in the crowd afterwards were saying, I don’t know why we have to keep talking about this. Right? When they did it in Chicago, they just sent in the bulldozers, carved up the runway and said, we’ll figure it out later.

Um, I wish we had that kind of drive here.

[00:19:25] Laura: I think this plan is so cool and the idea of having kayaks launching on a beach and being able to swim downtown is something I didn’t even think was possible because if you ever go over. Like rock hall and that harbor, like it’s gross the way things kind of congregate there.

But I don’t think people are ever gonna come and access the lake unless we address the parking issue, which I think, yeah, that’s something we need to talk about. Also, the safety, like the way we talk about violence in the city, it’s been a huge this summer, people aren’t gonna come if they don’t feel safe.

[00:19:59] Chris: Well, and you [00:20:00] can’t use public transportation to bring a kayak. The,

[00:20:04] Laura: my paddleboard in a backpack,

[00:20:06] Chris: unless, unless it’s a fold up or a blow up. I, that’s, those

[00:20:10] Laura: are really heavy. My blowup paddleboard, I’m, I’m not hiking with that. All

[00:20:15] Chris: right. You’re listening to today in Ohio. Anyone driving down Interstate 2 71 near Wilson Mills Road knows about the progressive insurance presence there and what that employer is meant to Mayfield Village.

What’s the earth? Shaking News delivered to that village this week, Laura.

[00:20:30] Laura: They’re consolidating all their businesses, so Progressive is going to leave its current headquarters on Wilson Mills Road and make its. Second campus on North Commons Boulevard, the new corporate headquarters. It’s also doing this at offices in Indiana, Colorado, and Florida.

And like many employers, progressives started letting employees work from home during C O V I and it hasn’t made everybody come back. Most of them who can are choosing to work from home There. Eight to 10% occupancy, [00:21:00] which wow. Um, I’m actually surprised they gave us that number. So they, they said that consolidating their offices will let the employees who do come in be more collaborative and people who are remote can continue to be productive.

They’re gonna continue to offer these flexible work options. So good for them for listening to their employees and what they want bad for the cities that depend on the income tax, even though, To me, it sounds like they’re kind of in denial about it.

[00:21:26] Chris: Yeah. When they said, oh, we have a reserve to get through.

Well, if you’re getting half the taxes you used to get, that’s not gonna carry you. Look, progressive has been very good to Mayfield Heights if you drive through that town. They have used that tax money to build all sorts of great recreational opportunities for the residents and recruiting a pretty spectacular pool and, and.

Swim park. But th this is the ramification of the pandemic. This is just, uh, you would never have predicted just five years ago, the progressive would be shrinking so massively its presence in the [00:22:00] village of Mayfield. And here we are. I mean, what happens to all those buildings? And the thing is, this

[00:22:04] Laura: is three suburbs we’re talking about Highland Heights, Mayfield Heights, and Mayfield Village.

And they have offices in all of them. So even if. They’re keeping, some of them, it’s gonna affect the different suburbs differently depending on which buildings they choose to close.

[00:22:18] Chris: Well, and let’s face it, the workers are everywhere, so they’re paying taxes wherever they’re working now.

[00:22:23] Laura: Well, and that’s, I mean, you gotta think that a lot of the people who work at Progressive were already living on the east side, and so maybe a bunch of them live in those towns already, and they’re still paying.

I don’t, we don’t know. We’re still looking into that. We’re looking at the property taxes and the income taxes and, and the budgets of the cities.

[00:22:40] Chris: Okay, you’re listening to today in Ohio, Layla inmates at the Cuyahoga County Jail will have to keep eating disgusting glop for another two months. Why? Well,

[00:22:49] Leila: so despite the many reports of how terrible this food is, so terrible, the jail officers have said they’re afraid it’s gonna cause a riot.

One day [00:23:00] county council is likely to move ahead. With extending Trinity Services Group’s contract for at least another two months, that is gonna cost $937,000. County Council’s Public Safety and Justice Affairs Committee reviewed the contract ex extension on Tuesday and recommended that the full body approve it.

It would cover service through at least September. By then, the county might have alternatives to consider, but it’s unclear whether Trinity is. You know the top vendor that’s under consideration. The new sheriff of Harold Pretail has been charged with reviewing all of the jail contracts, including the food service.

So we’ll see what he comes up with. But remember, we’re also still dealing with the conflict of interest surrounding that commissary contract because Keef, which is the vendor that supplies commissary, is owned by the same parent company as Trinity. So when inmates. Can’t stand the jail food. They’re forced to turn to commissary to supplement their diets, and it just seems so obvious that this company has a financial [00:24:00] incentive to keep the jail food inedible that needs to be resolved.

It’s really shocking that counsel has not pounced on this.

[00:24:07] Chris: I think the new sheriff could have made a big splash, one of two ways he could have gathered up. A bunch of the Cleveland’s well-known chefs and said, Hey, come in the jail for a day. Let’s give these guys a gourmet meal in between their Glock or just get a McDonald.

Oh, I think

[00:24:19] Leila: that would’ve made the riot, would’ve been imminent then as soon

[00:24:23] Chris: as those chefs left. But then, or bring in McDonald’s, you know, once a week we’re gonna give him McDonald’s. ‘cause we know how bad the food is. Just so. Thing to say. It’s a new day in the jail. Yeah. Not just, you gotta eat glop for two more months.

[00:24:36] Leila: Yeah. What’d you think about the Councilman Scott tma who said he sampled the food and that it was decent tasting? He said it wasn’t horrific. He is. His chicken cutlet was a little cold in the middle, but otherwise

[00:24:49] Chris: not awful. Well, I saw the pictures. I’m not buying it. I’m not putting, you’re sitting into today in Ohio.

What is RT a’s novel approach to helping workers get to jobs [00:25:00] in the area around Cleveland Hopkins International Airport? Lisa, we’ve been talking about R T A, giving the big raise to their director and questioning it. It’s nice to have something good that they’re doing. What is it? Yeah. They’re creating

[00:25:11] Lisa: a new workforce connector, they call it micro transit.

For employees or job seekers who use the red line and the 54 78 and 86 bus line. They can be picked up at the Brook Park Station for free rides to their jobs in what’s called the AONE Alliance region. So this is the area around Cleveland Hopkins Airport and the NASA Glen Research Center. The goal is to increase employment opportunities in North Olm.

Dead Fairview Park, Berea, Middleburg Heights, west Cleveland and Brook Park. This is an 18 month pilot program and so they, they’re working with Share Mobility. This is providing first and last mile transport and advanced ride scheduling and, uh, the funds, half of it will. Be, I’m sorry, I’m saying that [00:26:00] wrong.

So half of the cost will be shouldered by Share Mobility with R T A, and then they’re gonna get a state grant that pays the other half, which would be up to $300,000 depending on the ridership that’s generated by this micro transit system. It’s similar to a microt transit program that was launched in.

Soland just a couple months ago, that one has already pro provided a thousand rides to four employer centers within its first 70 days of existence.

[00:26:28] Chris: Yeah, you gotta salute rt. This is a great approach. It’s, it’s an innovation, it’s smart, and it’s helping people get to work easier, which we need to see.

You’re listening to today in Ohio. We’ve got a special segment today. Out of the usual, we have, uh, my colleague Mark Bona, who’s just written a bestselling already. Book number one sports. Biography in the country as soon as it hit the sales. Uh, we’re going to talk about how Mark came to write that book and what [00:27:00] surprised him about it.

Uh, I’m not gonna say who the book’s about. I’m gonna leave that to Mark. Mark, welcome to the podcast. Hi Chris. So what led you to write the book and who’s it about?

[00:27:11] Marc: Well, the book is called Joe Thomas, not Your Average Joe. I was very proud of that title, that for once a title came to me almost just instantaneously.

And it’s about the Brown’s great offensive lineman, uh, Joe Thomas, and when he retired, uh, after the 2017 season, uh, I, like several other people, felt that he was an absolute shoo-in first ballot hall of famer. And I started thinking about, uh, doing a book on him. And I, I had interviewed Joe twice before, and, uh, I really had a good sense, I thought he had, uh, just, he’s just a good guy and that proved to be, to be very true.

So over the next couple years, I, I had reached out to Joe once about doing a different type of book. He, he wasn’t interested. I reached out again and said, look, I’d like to [00:28:00] write either a biography or an autobiography with you. And I left it up to him and we went back and forth and he brought one of his agents on board, and we went back and forth and, and finally he said, you know, this’ll, this’ll work.

And, and Joe suggested, uh, he said, do you know Dan Murphy? And I said, well, I, I know of Dan, but I don’t know him. And Dan is a longtime communication staffer with the Browns. He’s a very good buddy of Joe’s. And it turns out they both started with the team the same year. So Dan and I started talking and we figured a unique approach to this book would be basically half biography, half autobiography.

So that’s really the approach we took on the book. And it was, uh, it was a fun ride, uh, doing most of the research and writing last year.

[00:28:43] Chris: I, I should point out for people who might not be familiar with Mark, he has one of the most eclectic. Beats in in our newsroom. He is our beer expert. He’s our wine expert.

He writes a lot about restaurants, but he also writes a lot about sports, sports [00:29:00] history, sports memorabilia, sports personalities, and he has written a number of popular books. And so the Joe Thomas was a brilliant subject for him because it’s right up his alley. So you’d followed Joe Thomas’ career as many people in Cleveland had.

What did you learn? In this process that surprised you? A handful of things. Well,

[00:29:21] Marc: there were a few things and, and I’ll go back briefly to the very first interview I did with Joe, uh, you know, athletes and famous people and celebrities. When you, uh, when you interview them, it’s always interesting to get them talking about something that’s not.

In their wheelhouse because sometimes they really come alive. And that’s exactly what happened. Uh, in, in an interview I had with Joe, Joe was very involved with, uh, taste of the Browns, which is a ccle, greater Cleveland Food bank, uh, annual fundraiser. And I was covering it and I was, uh, taking pictures and I was interviewing people and I had to do a video interview with [00:30:00] Joe, and I went up and I asked him, You know, I introduced myself, told him what I was doing.

He said, sure, I’ll, I’ll talk to you. And I started off, I, I, by the way, at this point, Chris, I didn’t know of Joe’s sense of humor and, and that was the first thing I learned. So I, I asked him a straight question, expecting a serious answer, and I said, Joe, you grew up in Wisconsin. What did you eat growing up?

And he with a straight deadpan face, he looked at me on camera. He said, well, mark, like a lot of young boys in Wisconsin, I grew up eating a lot of cheese curds and drinking a lot of beer. And I thought, oh boy, I got one. And so fast forward to when I was researching the book, I learned a lot about Joe and his sense of humor.

I had a lot of people tell me, From, from his high school day, say, mark, I watched this guy after a Browns game being interviewed, and what you see is what you get. He is the same goofball that he was back in high school. He always had a good, a good sense of humor. I’ve got a few anecdotes in the book [00:31:00] about that.

Uh, but even now, he, when he’s doing his post game analysis, he, he and his, uh, announcing partner. Uh, Chris Rose after a game about a year ago, they were doing a preseason game, and they’re wearing these bright orange shirts, and Joe, with this classic straight face just looks at the camera after the game and it was really hot out.

And he says, yeah, we gotta get these shirts back to the local prison because they look exactly like, like, like shirts. And it was really hot. That day it was, I wanna say it was an August game. They were sweating and, and Joe, they were both making a point about how bad they smelled. And Joe said, I, I’m gonna go home and put a couple of used diapers under my arms.

I’ll probably smell better. I mean, he’s always cracking like that. I think this is important because number one, it shows he’s a well rounded person. I think having a sense of humor is, is a good thing. And number two, too many announcers on TV simply do not have a sense of humor. But they think they do, and it just drives me up the wall.

So now we’ve got a guy who can put two sentences together. He can analyze a [00:32:00] game and he’s funny. So what more do you want? So right off the bat, I think the first thing I learned about Joe is he’s, uh, he has an absolutely great sense of humor.

[00:32:08] Chris: How much time did you spend talking to him for the book?

[00:32:13] Marc: So I had several interviews with him that were toward the end of the research because I really wanted to gain more knowledge.

And uh, you know, I would say we had several days where we were on the phone for a good couple of hours each time. And I also interviewed a lot of other people close to him as parents, people who played with him. And against him in high school, people he played with in college, people he played with in the pros.

Uh, Dan talked to him at length about various aspects of his career, and, and we learned, we learned quite a bit, uh, about him. And another thing I learned, and, and this is not a surprise to most sports fans, but you know, athletes at, at any, in any sport, at a high level, Were probably really, really good at other sports.

That is extremely true for [00:33:00] Joe. But he was at a very, very high level with two other sports in particular, actually, more sports, but the two other sports were basketball and track and field. He was an excellent basketball player. His high school was. Were basically living in the state finals every year. He was in school, he had a bunch of buddies.

He’s, he played with the team, gelled quickly, cohesively. Uh, they had a very good coach, Mark Adams, who really got along with the guys, and Joe was being recruited as a basketball player in addition to football, in addition to track and field. It got so serious to the point where Adams told me we had, we had to sit down with Joe and say, look, this is your life and your choice, but as soon as you make a decision on which sport you’re gonna go after, For a scholarship, you need to let me know because I’ve got basketball coaches knocking down the door here.

So as soon as Joe said I’m going football, coach Adams then reached out to a, a, a college basketball coach and the guy said, oh yeah, we’ve heard already the pipeline was that fast. Wow. And as good as Joe was at [00:34:00] basketball, he was even better at, at in track and field. He was one of the best discus throwers in the state of Wisconsin and was up there in the country.

And amazingly, Chris, he was even better at shot, put so much. So that really what sold him on college, he was recruited all over the place. But Wisconsin was, you know, kids go to college to play sports for various reasons. They get sold on the limelight, they get sold on being on E S P N. They get sold on a lot of things.

They get sold on being able to start their freshman year, whatever. All Joe wanted was the assurance that the school would be open to him, uh, throwing shot. And Wisconsin said we can make this work. And they did for a couple of years. But I talked to a lot of people who, who knew Joe, and they, they and I, I said, look, I’m not trying to ask an easy question.

I want an honest answer. How good was Joe? And Shot put? And several people told me, not only would he have, he have been an Olympian, he would’ve won a gold medal. Wow. He was at that type of a level, and the only reason [00:35:00] he didn’t is just the time thing. And for those who don’t know college athletes, you can say what you want and generalize all you want, but college athletes are some of the best people around when it comes to time management.

They need to be in class, they need to study, they need to be on the practice field, and they need to be ready for games. There’s not a whole lot left for screwing around. Obviously some guys do, but many are more like Joe and they get all their ducks in a row and they take care of business. But it was just too much to do football and shot put.

So the other thing I learned, I’d say is he was a multi-sport star, and I do not use the, the word star, uh, loosely at

[00:35:33] Chris: all. All right. Well, he’s clearly proud of the book. I saw him on Twitter retweeting that it hit number one on this sports biography the day it was released. So congratulations to y’all.

We’ve been running excerpts this week from the book, if you wanna check it out. Uh, or you just buy the book like everybody else is Uh, I think Mark has his first real bestseller here,

[00:35:55] Marc: right? I hope so. I hope so. It was, uh, it was, you can’t retire. Mark, [00:36:00] we need you to keep covering beer and wine. That’s fine.

I, I like to say I get to cover all the fun beats. Sports, entertainment, sports history, beer, food, wine. It’s, uh, it’s all good. And there’s, there’s a lot going on in this city, as you know, in all of those topics. Yeah, and

[00:36:13] Chris: you can find Mark on cleveland.com. Just search for his name, M A R C B O N A, and you are listening to today in Ohio.

We went a little long, but we thought you’d really want to hear from Mark about his book, so thank you, mark. Thank you, Lisa. Thank you Layla. Thank you, Laura. And thanks to everybody who listens. Have a great weekend. We’ll be back Monday.