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Our interviews with more than two dozen Cincinnati City Council candidates ends today with three candidates.

Over two weeks on Cincinnati Edition, we’ve invited all of the candidates on the show.

Editor's note: In our final candidate interview for Cincinnati City Council, Local Government Reporter Becca Costello spoke with Republican candidate Kevin Farmer.  Farmer was the only candidate who was not able to be here in person, so he was interviewed by Zoom last week. The interview has been edited for time and language that we are unable to broadcast. You will hear some words bleeped, including the N-word.

Guests:

• Laketa Cole
• Brandon Nixon
• Kevin Farmer

Ways to listen to this show:

• Tune in live at noon ET M-F. Call 513-419-7100 or email talk@wvxu.org to have your voice heard on today’s topic.
• Catch the replay on 91.7 WVXU and 88.5 WMUB at 8 p.m. ET M-F.
• Listen on-demand. Audio for this segment will be uploaded to this page by 4 p.m. ET., or subscribe to our podcast.

This episode was transcribed using a combination of AI speech recognition and human editors and has been lightly edited for clarity. It may contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio before quoting in print.

Laketa Cole was appointed to Cincinnati City Council in 2003 and then elected that same year, serving through 2011 now with a Charter endorsement, she's asking voters to hop on the coal train. This is Cincinnati Edition on WVXU. I'm Lucy May in the final day of our candidate interviews, we also hear from Brandon Nixon and Kevin Farmer, but first, I'm joined by Laketa Cole. Thank you for being here. Laketa, tell us briefly about yourself and why you decided to run for city council again after so many years away from city hall.

Laketa Cole: As you said, I served on city council from 2003 to 2010 I was the first and youngest African American woman to be appointed to city council, and served as the chair the neighborhoods committee as well as the Chair of the Finance Committee. I was term limited, went up to Columbus and work for PUCO Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. Came home work in the city administration. I have a Master's Degree in Public Administration with a concentration in HR, so I ran the parks department HR. I have a eight year old son, and started my own business called John Lee cleaning, and I am the Vice President of the Bond Hill Community Council. And so what brought me back is being out in the community and being the vice president of Bond Hill Community Council. We continue to hear, you know, issues and concerns from citizens. And what was the defining point for me, because people kept asking me to run, and they said they needed a change, and they were not happy that they were not being listened to, and felt that I was one of those people that listened to people. And what was actually one of the more defining points for me is when we had Hyde Park come to our community council and ask for our support. And so I had never seen that before, and I we I finally felt that Bond Hill was not on a tiny island by itself, that other neighborhoods were experiencing the same things that we were were not being listened to. And so I decided to finally listen to the citizens, and many of the people were asking me to run and decided to run again.

You're endorsed by the Charter Committee, which has a platform of repealing the Connected Communities zoning reform of 2024. What would you want to replace that with, in a way that balances what the community wants, what the city's need for more housing?

Laketa Cole: Sure, yes, and I'm definitely just making sure that everyone is clear. I am definitely against the Connected Communities zoning. I feel like you're painting a broad brush all the neighborhoods. Every neighborhood is different for a reason. Cincinnati is unique to having 52 different neighborhoods, and we want to keep it that way. So painting it with a broad brush, really, I feel would destroy the history and the differences that and the beautiful things that we have in our neighborhoods, I would replace it with the enhanced form based code, form based zoning, which means that it's the zoning is based on the neighborhoods, the demographics and the characteristics of that neighborhood, and it's enhanced. It also allows for more community input. I feel like the Connected Communities removes the community input and it's more developer friendly and not friendly to the citizens. I think form based code would allow for the community to be friendly to the community as well as to the developers, and that's what it's all about. It's all about collaboration and bringing people to the table so that we can collaborate for the best for the neighborhoods, because at the end of the day, once a developer builds, they leave the neighborhoods. Have to stick around and have to deal with it, and so why would you force something down their throats as opposed to working with them so they can be happy about it and also support it?

You mentioned form based code, and there's a lot we could talk about with that, but I want to circle back to Hyde Park, because you mentioned that the Hyde Park Community Council came to Bond Hill Community Council to ask for support that Hyde Park redevelopment was very controversial. It's now kind of back at the drawing board. Do you think City Council is listening to all of its communities equally?

Laketa Cole: Of course not. I don't think, not necessarily. Well in the beginning, not equally at all. They wasn't listening to them, period. So I guess it would say, I would say yes, they were listening equally, equally, not listening to them. But no, because I think what happened, and we in bond Hills actually just did a letter, and we sending it down to council, asking them to do the same, to treat us the same. When you did Hyde Park, to repeal your decision and go back to the drawing board. When it comes to the villages, the daybreak, we had the development. So what was in, what happened in Hyde Park was not unique, because it's, you know, it happened in bond Hill, as you as you mentioned. And so I think for me, I have never seen where residents actually have to put up a reder, a referendum, or attempt to put one up to ask the council to repeal a development deal that. It's in their neighborhood that has never happened, and the mere fact that all they were asking for was 30 days, all they had to do is wait 30 days. Well, it's been more than 30 days. So they did not have had they would not have had to waste these citizens time, their money. That was a lot for them, and they're volunteers, and that's ridiculous, that you made them do that, only for you to be right back at the beginning, where they asked for 6090, days ago, which you could have done, and just gave them an opportunity to listen, be heard. And that's what council members are about. They need to be able to collaborate with people and bring them to the table so they can work through these issues and move forward.

I'm speaking with City Council candidate Laketa Cole. Later in the program, I talk to candidate Brandon Nixon, and we hear from Kevin Farmer.

With federal stimulus funds depleted, the city is facing a projected budget deficit several over the next few years. I know you're a former finance committee chair. What do you think city council needs to do to ensure financial stability?

Laketa Cole: I think what's important, what they need to do is actually take a hard look at the fat and beginning to trim the fat. There's some contracts that they have out there that I think that I would start there, cutting those contracts and saving money. I would also look at the vacant, unfilled positions that are not, are not, I should say, are not critical.

What kind of contracts?

Laketa Cole: So in my opinion, like the Health and Human Services contract, you know, United Way they were built to do their own funding. You know, they they're that's what they're there for. They're so why is it now that they got into I feel like some issue with now they need the city's money to do that. Why would we give Why would we give the city's money to them to manage the contract, and now they can't even tell you the measurables, the deliverables on many of the contracts, because they're not managing it. They're not looking over the contracts. You have to make sure that these organizations are doing what they supposed to do. The city came up with their own Human Health and Services budget when we did it is because the community action, what we found with the United Way, many of the hard to serve organizations were not benefiting, were not getting their fair share, and so that's why we ended up having creating our own so that we make sure that these, or the smaller organizations that do not have the larger budgets that are actually some of them are actually doing the work, have an opportunity to have a piece of the pie. You sent it back over to United Way, and they're right back where they started. In many of these organizations that I believe that can do the work. There's an organization called the real truth. They are about gun violence and safety in education, they're not going to be able to get a piece of the pie. And many of the things, many of these smaller organizations, and particularly black organizations, they're being forced to team up with another organization in order to even be able to compete. I don't think that that's what we should be about. We are supposed to be depleting the gap, depleting the wealth gap, you know? And right now, I feel like doing that. You're making that wealth gap larger, and so bring it back in house. How much are we spending on that contract when we were management, just fine. Oh, you don't want to do it because it's a hard work to me. That's what it's all about. And making the hard, tough decisions, well, guess what? That's what you elected to do. Make the hard, tough decisions and not remove the citizens input, because that's what happens when you did that. You remove the citizen input from the financing and send it over to United Way. When it's capable, it should be right back in the city, and that's some money that can be freed up. There's other things that we can be cutting to free up mother other resources.

There are a lot of city residents who are worried about crime. What do you hear from neighbors in Bond Hill, and how do you think City Council should work to reduce crime and also address the public perceptions around, you know, and concern around safety?

Laketa Cole: Yes. So right now, I feel like this council, all they are doing is trying to police their way out of this, throwing millions of dollars at the police station, at the police department. That's not the answer. You know, for example, the police department asked for, I think, asked for half a million dollars. You gave them $1.5 million. Why would you that's not what they asked for. And so that money right there could have been freed up for something else. And so for me, you have to think about what are the root causes. If a computer can tell you what the root causes are, why don't the residents and those who have expertise down to City Hall know what the root causes are? It's the racial disparity. And I want to be honest and be clear with you. Let's this city is two cities. It's a tale of two cities, and we keep playing like it's not it's a tale of two cities. There's a white and black, and it should not be. And it continues to divide. The racial divide continues to get larger. When we sit there and try to feel like the elephant is not in the room, it's in the room. We need to make sure that we are providing opportunities for everyone to sit at the table. That's what the O stands for in my name, opportunities and making sure that everyone has an opportunity to sit at the table, including our young people. We keep developing these programs and and in rules and laws, but we're not even engaging our young people to have them sit at the table and figure out how we can get to the solution. I know you didn't ask this question, but since I brought I brought up the young people you know. Went to Woodward a couple weeks ago. I talked to four different classes. Do you know none of them knew about the curfew? This is that curfew affects them. You have not even brought them to the table. So you bring in a curfew lets me know that, guess what? You brought this curfew up. They don't even know that it affects they didn't even know it was a curfew. And then when some of them did know that there was a curfew, they didn't. They couldn't even tell me what the curfew was. They did not realize the curfew was not age stricken. It's about uptown and downtown. They had no idea that that was the case. And so for me, you bring the people to the table and provide them opportunities and let them know. Most of them talked about having jobs. They want more than just a fast food job, because that's what's out there. When I was there, we had the CCY program. Guess what? Take that and bring it back in house, so we can monitor it like we had before, and making sure our young people are getting a job, and not just a summer job, not just any job, but a career driven path job where we are teaming them up with organizations. For example, someone a kid, most organizations would love to have a kid, especially over they don't have to pay for it. They're getting the free work. They get into free work. They can come here at the radio station and work on the radio station and learn about it. They can sit at the front desk and answer the phones, and now they're learning the whole gamut, that it's not just about answering the phones. It's not, I mean, it's not just about being on the radio, it's not just about playing music, but understand the entire business of it. And so therefore you get in there training their minds to a career path and not just a job.

Gosh, we've got so much more we could talk about. I want to ask you quickly you talked about the root causes of crime. City Council did vote to add an additional $5.4 million for public safety. A big chunk of that went to police, visibility, overtime. And you've already talked about, kind of criticized the police got more than they asked for in that budget. Do you what solutions would you put forward with that money? How would you want to see it address those root causes?

Laketa Cole: Sure. So one of the things I understand that we're not up to the police compliment that they supposed to have. You know, when I was on council, we we constantly made sure that we were trying to always be ahead of the time and not being reactive. Right now, they're reactive. Right now, they're reactive. That's why they don't have the police recruit class. And so you have people retiring, what I would say is, and in terms of the plan would be put in something that's going to benefit, a benefit for them, the retirees not to retire, to stick around until you get the police compliment. And it's also good, because they can also mentor our young, our young cops that are coming in as well, so they don't have to always reinvent the wheel. The thing that I would have done is talk about, how do we make sure that we get to police compliment fast, making sure that we do have police officers that are out in the community getting to know them. We used to have segues. Those worked great. We got on, I remember I got on the segue just to see how it works and how safe it is. Those were great because the police officer was still able to respond fast and get to where they need to go. Yes, we have some of them on bicycles, but that bicycle doesn't go as fast as that segue and get to be able to respond. And so those are the things we need to be creative back again and getting back to those and getting back to the basics of policing. And policing is just not always about responding. It's about being proactive and getting to know your community, because once you know your community, there's a respect there.

Yeah, I don't mean to interrupt you, but we're running short on time very quickly, like in 30 seconds, if you can do it. When you served on council, there were Democrats, Republicans, Charterites. The last few years, council has been mostly, or all Democrats. We've got a Democratic mayor. How do you think that dynamic has played out? How would you work with fellow council members if you're elected again in like, 30 seconds.

Laketa Cole: Sure, I don't think it's played out very well at all. That's why we get what we have. No one's listening. I feel like some of them are rubber stamping everything, and there's no diversity. When I was on council, yes, I'm endorsed by the charter, right? I'm an independent Democrat, because I think it's about independent thinking and coming together and coming together and trying to figure out. So we have some arguments, but out of arguments come great, great things and great dialog. Right now, there's not even going on. It's so boring. They don't even have media coming down anymore. And so for me, I think I'm willing to work with anyone. That's what the C is for, collaboration, opportunities, listening, leaders and effective leader. And that's what I'm. That's what I sum it up. That's what I am. I'm a leader that's going to listen and be effective and I think that's what needs to happen. So you need to have a diversity there. You can't just have one party. We've seen what's happened. Everything's rubber stamped. Things are not happening. People are reacting. Snow removal, all those things are being a reactionary instead of being proactive. We know every year Snow is coming. What are you doing? What's the plan? We knew that, we knew we was having a music festival. What was this? A safety plan? There was no plan in place. Stop being reactionary. Let's be proactive. Get some different thoughts out there. Move together. I always say, you want change, you got to vote change. And I know we're wrapping up, so I'm going to leave you with this. When you go to the poll, vote for Cole.

One more quick question for you. If you're elected, what do you plan to introduce and accomplish during the next two years on council? And you've got, like, less than a minute.

Laketa Cole: So one of the things I want to do is go back to what I had before. I had committee meetings out in the community at a time and location that was convened to our citizens. Right now, everything is done in the middle of the day. They can't a lot of people can't take off at work. They don't have the freedom of doing so. So we have to have committee meetings out in the evening. I'm not saying every last one of them, but do it quarterly. We also have. Council meetings in the evening. So do that quarterly as well, to get people introduced and getting them involved. So those are two, two things I want to do, committees in the evening, council meetings in the evening, be transparent, open city hall up. Not only that, young people bring them to the table and provide job opportunities for everyone.

That's Laketa Cole. She's a Charter candidate running for Cincinnati City Council. Thank you so much for your time today, up next, we talk with candidate Brandon Nixon, this is Cincinnati Edition.

You're listening to Cincinnati Edition on WVXU, I'm Lucy May. Brandon Nixon is a Westwood resident with a commitment to youth programs and opportunities, and he wants to bring that commitment to Cincinnati City Council. Brandon, thanks for being on the show. Tell us briefly about yourself and why you decided to run for a seat on Cincinnati City Council. Have you ever run for office before?

Brandon Nixon: Yes. Kennedy Heights, Community Council for three years. I'm not from Cincinnati. I've been here for six years. I'm from a town called Elyria, Ohio, it's about 20 minutes from Cleveland, Northeast Ohio. I campaign a lot from senators and mayors, and I did a whole lot in my youth.

So you've been on the ground, helping people get elected.

Brandon Nixon: Yes.

Now it's your turn. What made you decide you wanted to run for this office?

Brandon Nixon: Well being, well, living in Kennedy Heights for three years, and I was over the youth department and seeing our youth really didn't have no passion to do nothing. They had the talent and the dream, but they had nobody to push them. And I was like, you know what? I want to run and make a difference for the youth, for small businesses, and I'm here right now.

Okay, what do you think is the most important issue facing the city?

Brandon Nixon: Wow, that's a tough question, but I think the trust and the communication, because knocking on doors, getting signatures, a lot of residents were saying that they don't trust city, city council right now. They lost hope in them. They just not following through. And what they say and they tell you one thing, flip flops and another thing,

Were there particular issues that they said that about?

Brandon Nixon: Yes, crime. The Hyde Park. I know, I went to Bond Hill, and he was like, Well, you know, they did the same thing to us they did Hyde Park and, but Bond Hill didn't have the lawyers and and everything to fight it like Hyde Park do.

You mentioned crime. There are neighbors in Cincinnati who are worried about crime. There's been national attention on the city's crime rates and criticism of how city leaders have responded to crime. How do you think City Council should work to reduce crime and also address public perceptions and concerns about public safety?

Brandon Nixon: I think number one, we need to hire more police officers. I think they need to have a game plan. I know. The riots, not the riots are the fight we have. You had the music hall. You had it was like a whole lot. I think they don't plan enough for events what we have. And I think that we need to go back to the base that we didn't have a thing called the neighborhood watch. I think we need to have that in play, and all the neighborhoods could watch and help each other out.

And when you talk about that fight, that's that brawl that went viral, that happened earlier in the summer. City council did vote to add an additional $5.4 million for public safety. Do you what do you think about that move? Do you agree with it? What are some of the other solutions that you would put forward to improve public safety?

Brandon Nixon: Well, I think number one, that I will invest in, like I said, invest in police officers. Number two, that I will go to the Community Council and talk to them and say, How can we how is your neighborhood, doing talk to them. Hey, if we could have a police station right here, you know, to help, help us out, and just go back and forth and see what it may be, because Community Council is in the neighborhood already.

Council also instituted new curfew rules city wide. I know you have a strong interest in youth programs and youth development. What do you think of the curfew change? Do you think it's been necessary? Do you think it's been effective?

Brandon Nixon: I think it's wasting money, because it was an article, like, no, kids wasn't in like, these curfew centers. And I think it's a waste of money. We could use our money for something else. We could waste our money to teach young kids or go to the schools and hey, you know what? You need to stop doing this and that. But I think it's a waste of money. We could spend the money somewhere else.

I'm talking with Cincinnati City Council candidate Brandon Nixon. Later in the show, we'll have an interview with Republican candidate Kevin Farmer. The city administration also implemented restrictions on Red Bike and food trucks downtown. What do you think about those moves?

Brandon Nixon: Well, I think number one, the Red Bike. I think it's just ridiculous, because what is not the bike that doing it's the person that doing it. And for the food truck, I think that it's very wrong, because I'm a big supporter of small businesses. I got a small business, my wife got a small business, and people put their arm money in there, and you taking away profit from them. It's not the food truck or the bike, it's the people and and some of the plans that our mayor have is not working. Need to go back to the to the drawing board and see what working. I think that you need to ask the citizens of Cincinnati, what can we fix together?

You mentioned Hyde Park earlier, city council has faced accusations of not listening to the community earlier on, the connected community zoning reform in 2024 the Hyde Park Square development this year, earlier in 2025 as a member of city council, how would you balance getting that community input with the desire to add housing in the City? Because I think most people agree we need more housing.

Brandon Nixon: Number one, I did help Hyde Park with the signatures of that topic. I think we need to ask the people first. We need to get the voice for the people. You just can't go in nobody neighborhood. We're going to do this and that you don't live in that neighborhood, I think we need to go to City Council, to the Community Councils, or go to different areas and have a questionnaire like, how can we improve your neighborhood? But go to the citizens first.

Okay and not let the developers start the discussion you're saying? Well, let's talk about the city budget. Federal Stimulus is no longer available for the city. The city has projected budget deficits for the next few years. What do you think city council needs to do to really ensure financial stability for the city?

Brandon Nixon: I don't like using that word, but sometimes you got to cut programs. It's hard. But if I was in council, I would see which nonprofit or what program we're not using, and I was I would ask each of them that, hey, give me a six months period, and it does not work. I cut them.

Do you have programs in mind already?

Brandon Nixon: I don't have programs in mind already, ma'am, but when I get a council, I will look through them, do research and see which one is really good and which one is not doing it.

I know you've talked about using public private partnerships maybe to deal with financial issues. Can you talk a little bit more about that? What that would entail how that would go?

Brandon Nixon: The one thing I could say about the West End. West End don't have no grocery stores, no nothing there. We could try to get some private sector to come in here and say, hey, you know, throw a pitch at them. You know. Hey, you know, we got an area over there that need help. You know, hey, can you invest in your money? I feel like that all 52 neighborhoods will invest, and we can have the system that will go up.

So it's, it sounds like you're more about being proactive and kind of getting out there and saying, Hey, this is what we need, and trying to get the partnerships that way.

Brandon Nixon: Yes.

Let's go back. You mentioned you were on the Kennedy Heights Community Council. I believe you live in Westwood now. What do you hear from residents in Westwood, or what did you used to hear from Kennedy heights about what they think about development, what they want to see the city doing in that regard?

Brandon Nixon: Well, I used to hear a lot of things. I know it was a school, the Snyder School. It was a big fuss about that, how they gonna knock school down. People want to build 150 apartment buildings. But people in Kennedy Heights didn't want that because, number one, the property tax will go up. You got people that don't know the neighborhood, and they was afraid to just let any people, any person, any people, come to neighborhood. Kennedy Heights is a beautiful, beautiful neighborhood. It's quiet, you know, laid back and they is crazy because they talk about the zoning was ridiculous. It was just all way around. It's just terrible.

Yeah, what are you hearing in Westwood now that you live there?

Brandon Nixon: I really don't hear nothing Westwood. But I know one thing they talk about at Westwood is a property building on Ferguson Avenue. They're trying to tear that down and build and people in Westwood don't want that. They don't want nothing like that.

Yeah, so it sounds like comes back to that, listening to the people. Well, let me ask you this. In this last term, the mayor and all the city council members have they're all Democrats. All the city council seats have been held by Democrats. The mayor is a Democrat. How do you think that has played out? That dynamic?

Brandon Nixon: Not good, not good. Because I think you need balance and city council, and if you got all Democrat, they're gonna agree on the same thing. You know, you need a balance. You need a Republican or independent to least shake something up, because you can't agree on everything, because if it don't work, you know, you need different people to think on issues.

How do you describe yourself politically? Are you aligned with a particular party?

Brandon Nixon: I am a registered Democrat, but I am independent.

Okay, and are there particular things you would like to see kind of shaken up on City Council or at City Hall?

Brandon Nixon: Yes, the one thing is, just listen to the people. Be the voice of the people. Do what you post to do being a public servant. Because I think too many public servants not out there in the neighborhoods, no more, no any public servant not having town hall meetings anymore. Just let people know the information some people don't know who our council people is. And I think that we need to have City Council at six o'clock in the evening, because people work and people can't come to City Council at two or three o'clock in the evening. That's ridiculous. Like in Elyria, we had at seven o'clock people come from work, feed a kid and go, I think the more people you have going there and learn, will learn how the politics works, and it'll be a different outcome.

Well, you know, you mentioned you're a registered Democrat, but you're an independent. How would you work with fellow council members? If you do get elected.

Brandon Nixon: I will work with them. I'm outspoken, laid back kind of guy, you know, I will listen to him, but if I see, um, an issue, I'm like, I'm gonna be outspoken of it. I'm going to put people a chronicle for it, you know, but I'm not going to do it in front of meeting, but behind closed doors. Hey, you was wrong, and I'm going to call you out. And that why I'm independent. I will go you out.

You know, the city faced criticism of its handling of this year's Winter Storm and how long it took to respond and get some streets cleared. How do you have thoughts about how you would want to help prepare the city for big weather events like we had earlier this year?

Brandon Nixon: Number one in my name neighborhood I was stuck in for three or four days on my street off of Mustang. And I called 311, and no answer. I think we need another contact, because 311, is not working. I think that we need to let people know in advance, like, Hey, you got a storm coming in, and salt the trucks and get everything ready for the storm to come in. Just let it be prepared for it.

Okay, so if you are elected, what do you plan to introduce and accomplish during the next two years on council?

Brandon Nixon: Number one is town hall meetings. I would love to have time. I would love to engage in people that people know that what's going on City Council the youth. I like to have more programs in the youth neck. And another thing I want to do is small businesses. I believe that city council don't support small business like they used to, you know now, and in one program, the other one is like for me, it called eta, but I heard a lot of people talking about the youth program help kids get summer jobs. I believe that if the kids had a summer job, it won't be able less quiet and less crime on our youth and just help our new neighborhoods out.

Okay, you mentioned, I think you've said you've been in Cincinnati for about six years. What do you love about Cincinnati? What do you think makes Cincinnati strong? Why'd you move here?

Brandon Nixon: I think it's the neighborhoods, each neighborhood unique. I love that. I love everything about Cincinnati. You know, it's beautiful. Everybody nice to each other and and I really feel at home. That's like my second home. I really feel like the hospitality.

And how do you think you can make Council better? Bringing your brand to politics and your thought process to council.

Brandon Nixon: I will be a new face, new ideals, new policies. It's just a different face, you know.

I have been talking with Westwood resident Brandon Nixon, he is a registered Democrat, but an independent who is running for Cincinnati City Council. Thank you so much for your time today. next, we have a recorded interview with Republican Kevin Farmer. This is Cincinnati Edition.

This is Cincinnati Edition on WVXU. I'm Lucy May. In our final candidate interview for Cincinnati City Council, local government reporter Becca Costello speaks with Republican candidate Kevin Farmer. Farmer was the only candidate who was not able to be in our studio in person, so Becca interviewed him by zoom last week. The interview has been edited for time and language that we are unable to broadcast. You will hear some words bleeped, including the n-word.

36 year old Kevin Farmer of Avondale is running for Cincinnati city council as a Republican, although he's not one of the candidates endorsed by the local Republican Party. He spent time in foster care as a child, and later launched a public relations and marketing firm. He says he's running for Cincinnatians who love the city but are tired of being left out of the conversation. Kevin welcome to the show. All right, so we've got our first question here. I want to give a little bit of context, a woman is charged with allegedly pointing a gun at you. Very recently, the prosecutor's office confirmed in court that police searched her home and no firearm was discovered. In a statement, she denies pointing a gun at you, saying you are an abuser who brought a false claim to silence her, and that same woman is the alleged victim in an incident in July in which you were charged with domestic violence and assault. Those charges were dropped because she did not appear in court. So how do you respond to the initial allegations of choking and assaulting this woman in July, as well as a few other times you've been charged with domestic violence or assault over the past 10 years?

Kevin Farmer: There's been no conviction of me having ever been convicted for domestic violence or assault. So my thing is, at the end of the day, there's a thing called due process and the quotable law, and I look at it, the process will always prevail. Ignorance of the law is no excuse or no grounds for defense. And due to that question, and since it's still in a legal matter, I am not at liberty to say...I am not at liberty to discuss the the details and the ... and the ... and the ...and the details and the and the... and the the minor details of the case. I can't I'm not able to discuss that right now. I'm technically as a victim, as a victim of the case and as the victim of this case, I'm not able to discuss that right now.

Okay, I understand now, given this legal situation and these serious allegations, why run for city council right now? Do you have a response to voters who might be concerned about your ability to serve the city in public office right now?

Kevin Farmer: At the end, pretty much, I never. I never. I never understood why being as a male, being a victim and caught and being a victim, that I don't have the authority or the or why should I? Why shouldn't I be running like my thing is, I'm a victim, I'm a male victim, and that I'm a male victim, and I'm from foster care and growing up in the hood, and I'm living in the hood and doing and I'm the common person, this is just entertainment. I believe people are just just, just fond of what's going on. Really, elections are boring. Nobody really wants to participate, especially (bleep) don't like participating in elections, because (bleep) don't vote. And I'm talking about there's a difference between (bleep) and black people, because in my community (bleep) don't vote. So what we understand (bleep) are the poor aspect of black people, like how white folks got their poor whites, which I'll call hillbillies and rednecks. So my thing is, but y'all but the poor white do participate in the voting election. Right now, when it comes down to this issue, this issue shouldn't even affect policy. Shouldn't even affect policy and anything this is right now, this is just entertainment. I believe that people, when they come down to voting for me, I'm here for the people, because people right now needs to be empowered to feel like bosses, to be able to hold elected officials really accountable, because far too long we have these politicians acting like mob bosses and treating you like you're the employee, or treating you like they're better than you, to be able to do or and go out their way and push out policies and personal agenda and their political aspirations and put people like us on the back burner. So when it comes down to saying running for office, I look at it I'm there to be I'm here to serve the people, and when the people ready to liberate and hold their government ... I'm here for our people to finally understand that you're the boss and to really answer the question again, because I think that was a ramble in a rant. So my thing is, this would have never been news if this situation that happened with Miss (bleep) we wouldn't even be discussing this issue. But far too long people are more intrigued with personal affairs and drama than actually when it comes down to their community affairs, the civil duties and how the government operation works, but yes, I'm here to serve that answer the question adequately for you. Or do I go on for a rant?

Well let's dig into the issues a little bit. You mentioned a few of the reasons you're running and that the topic. So let's start with what do you think is the most important issue facing the city right now?

Kevin Farmer: Oh, easy, the most important issue that's facing the city, the most important facing the city right now. Y'all got (bleep) problem. Because when it comes to (bleep) y'all, can't control y'all (bleep). This is what we call the youth, the YNs,the Young (bleep). Out the end is shooting each other and really killing and killing other and killing other YNs in the black community, that's the biggest issue is really, how we stop that is we need to implement a third shift policy. That third shift policy needs to be for city council members, because we only have 950 to 955 officers on CPD. So what I offer is a third shift policy in my first 100 days, if I'm elected, to be able to put more political oversight to see where we're lacking at in fire, police, medical and engineering. I've used to work the club scene by being the old flyer guy and poster guy from all these different clubs. How you might remember the Ritz nightclub, Celebrities, Privilege and all these clubs in the black community that's no longer in existence. So I understand when crime pokes its head and where crime comes out. We know crime doesn't poke his head out at night. For real, crime is always everywhere and all all the time. We need to find out how many personnel or officers are working on third shift compared to first and second shift. How do you know that if you ain't out there on the third shift doing 11 to seven? So that's why they implement that 11 to seven, I could be able to find out where we're finding out these blind spots and this type of personnel, like like police, and to be able to incentivize officers on a first or second shift and be able to say, hey, we'll incentivize you to be able to cover third shift till we create that personnel, till we get more officers coming back?

We have to be able to be able to do 11 to seven shift at least four days out of the month. Also, when it comes to, like I said, Young (bleep) YN, youth gun violence and all of that, think about it. They always say that you can't keep the rec centers open. I used to always say, why don't we just open the rec centers and keep them open for 24 hours or things in the neighborhood? And they always used to make up an excuse. We don't have the personnel, we don't have the money to do that. So I said, on a third shift operation, if city council work in third shift, or if I do get elected and I have to do a third shift, just give me the keys. I'll just go get the keys. I'll open up the rec center. I'll open the rec centers certain nights or in certain areas, and to be able to allow allow the youth, to be able to come out there, and being able to have a safe haven in these facilities. Because a lot of people, believe it or not, if they see they city council member being able to work in 11 to seven, and they have the keys to open up the rec center, I promise you the community will participate and volunteer. You have a stigma on Cincinnati police, because when it came down to the black community, they pretty much tarnished the brand. They made policing not look cool, even though we dumped more money into policing academies to be able to recruit, to recruit more new officers. Most nowadays we live in a generation where people don't want to be police. I live in a neighborhood where, right now you got four and six year olds saying, well, oh, them the boys. I don't know where the hell they getting that at, but I I look at it, the black community has pretty much tarnished the brand of the police, especially CPD, Cincinnati Police Department, and we need to put more money into revamping the brand to make it cool again to be a police officer.

I'm sorry. I'm going to interject just because we are short on time, and I want to make sure we get to all these other issues that we want to talk about. So I want to move on and ask you about party dynamics on city council right now, the mayor and all city council members are currently endorsed Democrats. How do you think that dynamic has played out, and if you were elected, you know you are a Republican, how would you work with Democrats on council, or maybe independents who might be elected this year?

Kevin Farmer: Easy, I will work with them by having by like also implementing myself with the body camera. Because I'll technically be, you'll be, you'll technically be my boss, because anybody who works in Cincinnati and live in Cincinnati will be my boss. So what I will do within my first also, and within my first 100 days, not just, not just the third shift, I'll implement myself a body camp. I will be able to get a chance to show my bosses, which are the people my everyday, daily activities on the job, who comes in and out of my office, like from lobbyists, developers, and you got to also understand that you have eight other co workers that I'll be working with. So to be able to answer that question with the Democrats or independents, to work with them, the body cam will be able to be the most efficient way to work with you, because at the end of the day, are you going to be able to work for the people. That's it. The goal is, are you going to be working for the people I need? We need more political oversight. The problem is, we don't have an employee that works for the people that telling on their other day, co workers to the people, to the bosses, like just like that. I want to be, I want to be the people's tattletale at work. I want to be able to go to work and say I'm working harder than them. Here you see it now, we need to check it. They said they were going to push this initiative. Y'all wanted this initiative push. I'm having backlash off of this. Y'all see it. They smile in your face. They show you the thing, and the camera doesn't lie. That's why I believe it's like when it comes to politicians, they need to be able to be on bodycams, bodycams is being able to have more oversight.

So Kevin, let me, yeah, let me ask you this, because kind of relevant to this idea of public accountability, and council members kind of doing what their bosses, the voters, the constituents, have asked them to do. You know, we have faced a lot of news this year and last year about city council on issues like connected communities, the zoning reform of last year, and then, of course, the Hyde Park Square development this year, which was pretty controversial. So on. On that note, how would you as a city council member balance that community input, but also encourage development and add housing which the city does need.

Kevin Farmer: Pretty much, it's easy, because I wouldn't let, I wouldn't let just developers lobby me. Right now, we got 52 communities, and we got nine council members. We need to divide up all 52 communities within that nine, within the nine council members, and there needs to be council members as liaison, as liaison towards the community. So it means that when we did, when we deal with developers developing these things called feasibility studies, to come into communities to be able to see if we're going to this study to determine if we if we can build here. But we all know that when it comes down to these feasibility studies, with these developers, that somebody feasibility studies are farce and not made up to what it seems. It's like. They say they got community input, but they only got a small group, or a small silo of the community that really are participants in the community. In community affairs employed about this development, then then masquerade and paraded around like, oh, the community wanted this. That's how it happened in Hyde Park. And Hyde Park really said no. And then you had your city of Cincinnati, which elected officials pretty much trumped what Hyde Park said, which is the big no no. Means your administration, which is the government was over, exceeded itself against the people. So we need to have our community council members spend more time in community affairs within their community. Because let's honestly say Community Council members do not personally go to the community councils. Why? Because we got lazy Community Council. They like to send aides. They like to send individuals like they're mob bosses. Concierge I call them. If you ever seen Godfather, they always been Jake. Jake was the guy concierge. Don Corleone never came out there to meet us. You had to go meet Don Corleone means you were the made man. You was the boss too. Bosses talk to bosses. That's how they act. So we need to remove these buffers. Them days are over if I'm elected. I'm going to show these elected officials and these politicians on how to be a great employee.

Okay, so Kevin, we are again running short on time. I apologize for that, but I just want to make sure we wrap up with these few questions here. You're obviously quite passionate about public officials needing to be accountable to the residents of Cincinnati and being available to them. You know, you've gone on record, including in this conversation, with disparaging statements about the black community, also, separately, about black women. Specifically, how can all Cincinnatians really feel represented by you, given these negative opinions you have about many of them?

Kevin Farmer: I don't want all Cincinnatians to ... I'm going to represent all Cincinnatians if I'm elected. If I'm not elected, I'm technically the boss of the politician, and I'm technically the boss of the elected official. I'm I if I do get elected, if people, if people put get me through, if I get through this interview process with people, and they do elect me, my thing is I really only want people who to vote for me with integrity and not lazy. If you're lazy and don't have integrity, I'm telling you on record, don't vote for me. I don't want lazy or people without integrity to vote for me. You're not going to like me if I win, and I'm stating this on the record, they're not going to like me. I am a high achieving worker. I grew up to whatever you do, you do the best at it, even if it's cleaning a toilet or sweeping a floor. Do the best, be the best at it. What I understand is, when it comes down to people, we have lazy bosses too. Certain people don't even ... they're just like ... certain people just lazy. Certain Cincinnatians they just, they vote, they participate, but they're lazy. They don't have integrity themselves. That's why we have administrations or monopoly administrations like we have now, because we have certain individuals that ain't empowered. They're cool feeling like they're the employee, because you got people that don't want to work at all. So what I what to say is, if you are lazy again and have no integrity, please don't vote for me. Please don't come out there and just just bypass my name.

All right. Well, that is all the time we have again. Kevin, thank you so much for your time. Kevin Farmer is running for Cincinnati City Council. Kevin, thank you for joining me.

Kevin Farmer: No thank you for thank you for having me and make sure. And also, I would like to audit that a Human Services Fund.