'The Hub' with Michael Allen sponsored by Manpower Richmond
Welcome to "The Hub with Michael Allen," the podcast that dives deep into the stories of community leaders and business owners who are making a difference. Join your host, Michael Allen, as he uncovers the untold narratives, challenges, and triumphs of those shaping their communities.
In each episode, Michael sits down with remarkable individuals who have dedicated their lives to improving their neighborhoods, towns, and cities. These community leaders are passionate, driven, and committed to creating positive change. Whether they are activists, educators, philanthropists, or civic officials, they all share a common goal: to build stronger, more vibrant communities.
"The Hub" also showcases the journeys of business owners who have turned their dreams into reality. From small-scale startups to well-established enterprises, these entrepreneurs share their insights, experiences, and lessons learned along the way. Michael delves into the unique challenges they face, the strategies they employ, and the impact their businesses have on the local economy and society at large.
With engaging conversations and thought-provoking discussions, "The Hub with Michael Allen" provides listeners with valuable takeaways, inspiration, and actionable ideas. Each episode offers a glimpse into the minds and hearts of those who are actively shaping the fabric of their communities, providing a roadmap for listeners who want to make a difference in their own lives and surroundings.
Tune in to "The Hub with Michael Allen" and join the conversation as we explore the stories of community leaders and business owners who are leaving an indelible mark on the world around them. Get ready to be inspired, motivated, and empowered to take action. Together, we can create a better tomorrow for everyone.
Sponsored by Manpower Richmond.
'The Hub' with Michael Allen sponsored by Manpower Richmond
Ep. 21 | Revitalizing Richmond: Mayor Ron Oler's Vision for Urban Transformation and Community Growth with Host Michael Allen
Unlock the secrets of urban transformation as Richmond's Mayor Ron Oler joins host Michael Allen and takes us through his impactful first year in office in Richmond. From his formative years of community service to leading the city council, learn how Mayor Oler’s leadership has reshaped city hall’s culture and steadfastly revitalized Richmond, especially its downtown. Get a glimpse of his strategic collaborations with various city departments and unions, all aiming to breathe new life into the city and tap into its potential.
Witness the metamorphosis of Richmond as we explore the redevelopment of the former Elder-Beerman site. Discover how strategic investments in urban development, including enhancements to the fire department and the smooth transition of historic sites, are setting the stage for market-rate housing projects that cater to the local workforce. Mayor Oler shares his vision for integrating these new developments with Richmond’s rich history, crafting a skyline that promises fresh opportunities while preserving the past.
Dive into Richmond's promising economic growth driven by new residential projects and significant grants like the one from the Lilly Endowment. We discuss the burgeoning opportunities for local businesses, from charming coffee shops to vibrant boutiques, and tackle transportation challenges head-on with innovative solutions like micro-transit. Tune in as we celebrate community engagement initiatives and share insights about exciting developments, including the Chester Boulevard bridge and the city’s new podcast, “Inside Richmond: The City's Pulse.” Join us in this conversation of progress and promise, and learn how Richmond is poised to shine brighter than ever.
Michael Allen from Manpower. We are a national brand, yet locally owned franchise. We are familiar with the challenges businesses face. It's tough recruiting and retaining qualified employees. That's why working with Manpower is a smart, cost-effective solution. Our entire focus is talent acquisition. We'll manage your hiring and training and provide ongoing, customized support. Since 1966, we have been your community-invested partner, uniquely positioned to help eliminate the hassles and save you time and money. Let us help contact Manpower today. Hello and welcome to the Hub powered by Manpower of Richmond, and I'm your host, michael Allen. And here on the Hub we interview local leaders, businesses, community partners, various special guests, and our mission is to share local stories of companies, organizations and people who help make a difference in our community. And today our guest is Honorable Mayor Ron Oler, mayor of Richmond.
Speaker 2:Thank you, michael, welcome, glad to be here Welcome.
Speaker 1:You know people aren't going to know this, but I'm still going to say it anyway. We recorded this, uh in January and we had a little uh problem with our file and and uh, so we have to come back and record this today so so cause.
Speaker 1:Our hope was to come back, cause when you all, uh followers, uh here, watch this, it's going to be February, but we did this in January. It's like a kind of review of, uh, your first year in office and so, but, uh, appreciate you coming back and us doing this again today and, uh, you know it's already been a year since you were sworn in the office and uh, so it's been, uh, it's been a year You've been on the job. Before I go into a question I have about that, though, as normally on the Hub, and you did this last year we ask about the person's first job, and so your first job was as a young man, nine years old.
Speaker 1:Dad put you out on a farm. He did some farm work, so, uh and uh, kind of learned a lesson about getting getting a check and getting some money. But uh, I guess that since we already know that, I want to ask you and I don't know if we've talked about this before what was it that encouraged you to go into public service? You know when? Your first time? I don't know if it was, maybe it was when you ran for council, or maybe you did something else.
Speaker 1:So what, what was kind of, what kind of motivated you to do that?
Speaker 2:at that time Probably started back in high school junior leaders. So I've been involved in helping my community since high school in different aspects, finishing several college degrees and working on my my first career. I was encouraged to run for council by someone who was on council I'd worked with okay and I ran for council and won and it was all about serving my community. So on council you're the legislator, so you work on ordinances, you work on the budget, but it's really about just local control and serving your community and I thought I really like this service. And then, when it came around, three terms on council 12 years and many, many, many years as council president and Richmond Power and Light board chair, I really enjoyed what we were doing, enjoyed where I thought Richmond was heading.
Speaker 2:And then I had a change in careers and I was sitting back thinking about what I could do next to help my community and I just felt called to run from air. It was an absolute calling. You know this is. It's a job you you have to want to do because it's it's. It's not about making money, it doesn't pay very well, but you get to really help revitalize the community and I saw Richmond was on the cusp of revitalization, and this was even before the Revitalize Richmond program. I saw what was happening in 2022, 2023. I said there's some potential here to really propel Richmond forward and clean up downtown, bring your life back to downtown and the different areas of the city, and I just felt that I should do this. And the voters agreed with me.
Speaker 1:So there we are well, yeah, I mean I appreciate your uh years of service and and, uh, you know you've gone from you mentioned legislator and now you're executive leader of the city government and you know how's, how's the transition been for you after a year. I mean, hopefully the 12 years serving provided you some advantages moving forward as mayor.
Speaker 2:I'm sure it's been different.
Speaker 2:It did so. The mayor is executive of the committee, executive of the city. You have basically 12 departments that work for you or work with you. So you have chiefs, assistant chiefs, police and fire and 10 other departments that you work with and try to lead and manage. And, having been on council that long, I understand the roles of every department and I knew where there's areas we could fix some things and I knew some, honestly, some department heads I wanted to change first day and I did so. We brought in some new leaders and trying to change the culture. I knew some things that there's some things about the culture inside city hall I didn't like. So we've been working for 14 months in now and trying to change the culture. Still got a little ways to go.
Speaker 2:You know, you may or may not know the city has four different unions and that makes it interesting. It's because they have their own perspective. So council has an idea, mayor's office has an idea, administration has an idea. Mayor's office has an idea, administration has an idea. Four different unions. Sometimes we, we mesh, and right now we're really meshing pretty good. Good things are really going really well. I'm very happy with everything that's. We were moving the needle forward in richmond. I'm happy with all the progress we're making all around the city, right, I'm sure?
Speaker 1:like a year ago, when you, you know, made some of these changes in leadership and you know, I mean, you had your vision as leader, as mayor, that you things that you wanted to do and, uh, the people agreed with your vision because the majority of people elected you into office. Yes and uh.
Speaker 2:So, even though into office yes and uh so even though there's going to be people that aren't happy with certain changes that you make, you have to kind of stay committed to the vision, yeah, that you've that follow the path that's set before me every day yeah, I mean every day I wake up, I pray, do a little bible study and follow the path that's set before me and the path and the vision I have for the city of revitalizing it, convincing people to move back here, people to live here, people to open businesses here, people to take a chance on Richmond like they used to in the past. Richmond's back and we have so many cool opportunities and we're going to talk about some more stuff coming up in a minute.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. Well, I did have kind of a list of things that I wanted to go over with you and, uh, one of it, one of the issues, uh topics, was, uh, something that happened prior to you becoming an office. It was the uh, the northwest f fire. That where the old hofco building was, and there was also a recycling business there, and had an unfortunate fire there. That was, uh, uh, not what any of us would have wished for. So, so, so kind of what. What's an update on that? What's going on for that piece of property and the cleanup and?
Speaker 2:well, that was one of the things I was most encouraged about my first year. It was just a few months, in april last year, when the epa handed the keys back so it became a epa brownfield cleanup site. So they invested almost four million dollars clean it up and by handing the keys back they said now you can finish doing some remedial work. And some of that work is still ongoing. There's still some testing doing, but I'm really excited. We have several businesses who are interested in purchasing that and getting it back on the tax, generating tax revenue again. And I talked to the neighbors. You know it was. It was an industrial site and I'm advocating for more of a commercial use and the two companies local companies right now are looking at is more of a commercial use, not industrial, not manufacturing. You're too close to housing so you know housing grew up around it. A lot of old cities like this. Housing grows up around the manufacturing and you're kind of stuck with something that could be dangerous next to where you live and that's not ideal.
Speaker 1:Right, you can go. There's different parts of on the north side, south side of Richmond, where there's industrial buildings that were, you know, really kind of vibrant employers, way back, way back in the day.
Speaker 2:I look at the Gorge Park and, I think, the old Richmond and the Germantown. There were stairs going down the gorge off of first street and they're still there for the workers building those pianos at the Star Piano Factory and Gannett Records. They actually live right at the top of the hill and walk down to work every day. That was common. So there's a. There's a lot of interesting history around richmond like that so there's a.
Speaker 1:there was a lot of costs associated with that cleanup, yes and um, but if I understood you correctly, the epa came in and they put in about $4 million. Yes, and that didn't come at a cost to Richmond. That was just part of Nationwide taxpayer pay for that. Yeah, everybody pays in and that's part of what they do.
Speaker 2:There were some chemicals, there were some things there that they identified. That said, we need to clean this up. We can't leave it to the city to do it. It shouldn't be the city's burden because there's some environmental issues, but we have spent quite a bit of money our own money when they left. When the EPA left, there was these pits, the old loading ramps and stuff. One of them is 12 feet deep and we know that, even though it's a restricted site and you should not trespass, we know what boys and girls will do sometimes. So we spent like $88,000 putting aggregate in there.
Speaker 2:The city did out of our own money just to fill those pits in those areas so there would not be a place where a child could ride their bike at night without lights and suddenly crash down into a concrete pit. So the city has invested a lot of money in that rental fence. The city pays for the rental fence. Epa didn't do that, so we're paying for that. There's still an area that has rental fence around it that's not yet finished cleaned up. That's some of the property we don't own and also around the old boiler that was never really taken out. So we decide to sell it when we come to an agreement with. Whichever business buys it, we'll determine on who's taking the old boiler out and filling that pit in.
Speaker 1:That'll be part of the purchase price agreement so when the city has an unbudgeted expenditure like that, I mean that that I mean the city didn't set fire to that, I mean so it? So really it wasn't it was something that happened, that what really wasn't the city's fault, but now we're having to pay for it and it wasn't something budgeted. Or maybe it comes from a fund for an emergency fund.
Speaker 2:It comes from the emergency fund. There's two things there's a rainy day fund, but there's also a blight fund for demolishing buildings and properties. That we put quite a bit of money into each year and some of that came from that and some will come from rainy day, fortunately. $88,000 is a lot of money, but it really isn't a lot of money.
Speaker 1:So better days ahead for that property, better days.
Speaker 2:I'm excited, so hopefully we're waiting on some new reports, or some will still some. They call it further side investigation. So once that's back and deemed it safe to build something on and we'll be happy to put it up for sale and sell it to the highest offer.
Speaker 1:And when that sells, we'll get some of our money back.
Speaker 2:Maybe not all of it, but we'll get some some of the money back and I'll go back into that fund for the next rainy day.
Speaker 1:One of the campaign topics before you came into office was public safety. Yes, give us an update on that. As far as the police department and what's going on there, and anything, anything else related to public safety.
Speaker 2:We did. We focused heavily in 2024 on public safety. That was an area that I promised to work tirelessly on and we have. We were able to purchase a record number of police cars in 2024, and we hired more officers, and we're still hiring officers. But things are going really well in the police department and you've had the police department on here, or you should. They're the PAC division, police and communities together. We're about community policing. We have an expanded traffic division. We have expanded enforcement. We have an internal spreadsheet. Now, when somebody reports there's a vehicle parked that may be abandoned, that we have three different departments look at it and keep track of it, and whose responsibility is it? Is it a police department responsibility? Is it code enforcement? Is it planning? Because you know if it's on the street, if it's on the driveway, if it's on the grass. So we're sharing this information in all three departments instead of people running around. We just got the report and say, hey, checked out this vehicle. So we're collaborating better than I think the city ever has.
Speaker 1:If I once, some of the development continues to happen in our downtown area and I guess I'm thinking I guess anywhere from maybe 5th Street up Main Street all the way as far as I don't know, maybe McDonald's where that's located. If I were to ask the chief of police about what would his thoughts be about having officers that are actually on foot and going, you know, working that area where I remember we used to have some officers that were on bicycles.
Speaker 1:They still have the bicycles, yeah, I just always thought that that area could use a little TLC or a little bit more positive interaction with law enforcement all through that area. And it would in my mind and there's probably other reasons maybe why it would or wouldn't work, but I always thought that would be a really good area to have more of a interactive law enforcement presence in that stretch. I mean, what are your thoughts about that when?
Speaker 2:there are events downtown, you'll see officers on foot. With meltdown festival last weekend, a lot of officers on foot walking around. So when there's lots of people downtown they do that. But on the regular patrol we want the officer to be at their vehicle with all their equipment. We don't want to be far from their vehicle. So, yes, they could park it and walk around a building and they'd do that, but until there's an actual event we don't really want them that far from their cars. But they do patrol it. We have a district, everybody has a district, and they have a patrol area and they keep an eye on it. I want to mention the fire department too.
Speaker 2:We focused on the fire department heavily. Last year too, you may have noticed, on the west side of town we built that large story facility between Station 5. There was some equipment that used to sit outside and we set aside some monies to build that, to get some equipment indoors, so it'll last longer longevity. So in my mind you make a capital investment on something so that operationally, throughout the years it lasts longer and that initial investment really pays off in the long run. And everything I'm doing here is for the long run, for the long view. So the fire departments add to some policies, procedures or keeping better inventory of their ems equipment and all the supplies they use.
Speaker 1:They're really, really keeping control of that, keeping a good eye on that, so there's not any waste when we first uh sat down, we were talking about the former elder pyramid site and there were um. They were still doing a lot of cleanup there and but today, if we were to walk over there, we'd see a pretty clean slate right now yes and uh.
Speaker 1:So, um, I know there's a lot of sentimental thoughts for some people about that building being gone and the year shopping there at the elder baron, which was a long time you know retail space that people worked at and people bought uh goods, uh from. But you know, now it's just time to move on and uh so tell us tell us about that site and kind of what's going on with it.
Speaker 2:I had mixed emotions with it because that was the first escalator I rode as a kid and I think the sweater probably came from there because they just closed six years ago. So six years ago when Bond Time went bankrupt and the whole shopping experience was changing nationwide, it wasn't anything the city did, it's just retail was just changing. The city and county took control of that building and had a three-year plan on how to redevelop it and we had two different developers whose plans came and went and weren't really viable. And the latest developer came with the idea of demolishing the building and putting in market rate housing, which is something we know we need from all of our housing studies. We have housing studies and workforce studies. We know we have about 12,000 people that work in Richmond-Wayne County that don't live here and 8,000 of those commute here every day to Richmond-Wayne County. In my mind I guess the other 4,000 are remote workers. So that site has a lot of history or remote workers. But so that that site has a lot of history.
Speaker 2:The building that's left standing sweet blessings, the bakery slash restaurant that's there now. That's the first building to survive this explosion in 1968. So it was important to save that. But, yes, mixed emotions tearing it down. We thought we could repurpose it but it was a hundred thousand square feet of concrete and still with no windows. It's purposely built that way and it was really hard to redevelop it. And this developer came in and with some of the Earlham Lilly funds and Ready 1.0 match funds we were able to demolish it and see a new purpose for it on the corner. So it's changed the whole skyline. So now when you cross the bridge by the courthouse the skyline's changed and soon when construction starts you know by the end of 26, 27, it'll look quite a bit different again.
Speaker 2:They'll start construction this spring. Right now they're doing the geotech work. You know they've got to check the foundations and footers and is that part stable, where exactly we put stuff. And that's starting now the geotech. But they're demobilizing their equipment. The company that did the demolition finished weeks ahead of schedule. So they don't have a deadline really to move the last of their excavators. They're just waiting until the next demolition site and they'll move it to that. They're out of Cincinnati. They did a great job. They were so easy to work with. We did a skywalk. We went to the Board of Works and got permission to close that for a week, not knowing which day, based upon the weather, it would close, and 7th Street was closed for two hours. That's all it took to get Skywalk down, because it's a very experienced company. We were really blessed with everything they did and they really worked with the businesses to make sure they weren't closed over Thanksgiving and everything worked out really well.
Speaker 1:So, as you see, now it's dirt, it's ready, so soon construction will start and it'll really really change yeah, I was really impressed at the rate that they were able to work on that project and really in some weather that wasn't that great right but they just were stuck with it and uh it just seemed like, uh, very neat, very clean, clean the existing buildings you mentioned, like Sweet Blessings and Phillips, and there's some demolition around that site.
Speaker 1:What are they going to do with kind of trying to dress up those properties that are remaining? Because, like Sweet Blessings, I mean that was right up the city and county got together last mean, that was right up.
Speaker 2:So do the city and County got together last year in that help grant program that a lot of businesses qualified for. That's one of them. So they have resources to make that wall look more attractive, because the design of the new apartment complex there'll be a gap between the buildings and that's kind of their dog park area. So the side of that West side of their dog park area, so the side of that west side of the sweet blessings buildings will be dressed up and made more presentable for the people living there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it'll stabilize it and bring back some of the rich history that that building has so the when we, when we mentioned market rate housing now I think I know what that means. Maybe our followers, they don't. That means that it may be our followers, they don't. That means that that what if you and I were to move there? Yes, what we pay in rent is going to be based upon, uh, uh, whatever the going market rate is for that kind of apartment or whatever. Not any money that is based upon your income or subsidized by the government or anything Correct. So it's not.
Speaker 2:Not section eight housing, not subsidized housing. So market rate for professionals. So they're finding, when they build these all around the state and actually around the country now, that they get a lot of young professionals but they're getting even more empty nesters now. So by market rate means that it's luxury apartments with all kinds of amenities and the company that's building this, flarendon Collins, they maintain ownership and they maintain management. They don't hire outside managers. Those are their employees in there and they're dedicated to keep the building nice and working with local contractors, local cleaning companies, local agencies to to maintain it to a superb level.
Speaker 2:Cause they're there, they, they charge a premium price and you'll look at the price and say, well, I can rent an apartment downtown for less than that. Yes, you can, but you won't get your fitness gym included, you won't get your bicycle warehouse repair shop included, you won't get your dog spa included, you won't get your community room included, you won't get your swimming pool included. So all that stuff is in there so people can live there, work there, and we don't have anything like that in Richmond. They're common around Indianapolis, south Bend, fort Wayne, so this is the first time we've had something like that in Richmond.
Speaker 2:All amenities are on site.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, the price may seem high, but when you say your gym membership's included, this is included, that's included, it really isn't high yeah, my son lives in a community in illinois that's, I would say, similar to richmond and their downtown area, and they built in a complex similar like, I think, what we're going to have, and, uh, you know, I saw them build it and fill it and it seems to be a real, uh, vibrant part of now that, uh, their downtown area and uh. So I've seen that in like what you've talked about, indianapolis, but I've also seen it in, maybe some smaller communities and I'm encouraged, uh, not spend too much more time on it, but how many, uh do you? I know that plans aren't totally done or maybe they are, but how many units are we talking about or are, or are?
Speaker 2:they talking about. It didn't bring it with me, but I think it's 150. There's an article in a paper that had all the details from a presentation a few weeks ago. 150 apartments ranging from one bedroom to two bedroom plus a den, which my mind's three bedroom, but yeah, so different sizes different price which my mind's three bedroom, but yeah.
Speaker 2:So different sizes, different price points, and it's interesting that the ones on the facing the North over the main street, we'll have these little balconies you can walk out on. So I envision people out there. We'll have our holiday parade going through here and no people be out there on their balcony watching the parade and other things happening on main street. So it'll be different lifestyle than we ever had here.
Speaker 1:Right, pretty cool and I think with if we have over a hundred different residents in that area, this definitely has the potential to spur a lot of economic growth in the downtown businesses, because now they'll have a captive audience there's tops and retailers talk.
Speaker 2:Some more coffee shops coming, grocery store coming. Everybody's kind of waiting. So there's, a lot of things in the works. Once the apartments are done, they start leasing, things will just pop up. Boutique shops will come back and I've talked to different people the farmer's market who are interested in opening physical stores here once we get more people living downtown.
Speaker 1:Well, it'll be interesting, i'd'd say the 18 to 24 months from now, to see how that all evolves and and uh works out. Uh, talk, we spoke. You spoke a little bit about a money. I I wanted to mention the Lilly endowment grant, earlham college. Uh, that's something that money is right, they're spinning up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're spinning that up. They received that $25 million grant from Lillie endowment for revitalize Richmond community partnership. A lot of properties downtown we revitalize. From that, ownership Hands will change. Different apartments, different amenities will come, different commercial space will come. So that that whole campaign of build, connect and activate and there's some stuff in there for the gorge park too is is led by earlham college, so you really need to check out their website, revitalize whichman, and they have podcasts and other programs that you can follow on x and facebook. So they're always talking about the things that they're doing. So they, they really control that. The city doesn't really have much to do with it other than helping them along and pushing along, so I just had this question kind of pop in my mind.
Speaker 1:We didn't talk about it last time, but I mentioned that area from 5th Street up to, let's say I said, mcdonald's. Is there a building, a piece of property up on going down Main Street that hasn't really been purchased yet or not set up? Has some plans yet, some positive plans, that you wish something could be done with that building? Is there one that can you think of?
Speaker 2:one there's one that it's not in any of our plans, and they had a small fire there two weeks ago from some homeless people living inside. It's marked as Burt's Sewing Center and it was Main Street Grill, so there's basically two buildings together there. Okay, so I don't even know who owns it, so I'm not dissing the owners or anything, but I haven't heard of any plans for that building and I'd like to see something come back in there, because the front facade is kind of interesting and there's a brick there, so something good could come of that. So I hope the owners are planning on something, but it's not part of any of our plans. Almost every other building, even the old bank across the street I look at now, is in local hands.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 1:That second National Bank building is really kind of a unique building that second national bank building is really kind of a unique building and my father-in-law, um, passed away several years ago now and he was um. A lot of people would still remember him Ken Bain. He was president of second national bank and then there are many years and I remember going in that bank and just always in all of that building and I hope we can find something really unique to go in there and kind of preserve the architectural interior of that building if you go around.
Speaker 2:I've gone around since one of my jobs as mayor is to go meet with other mayors and we talk about good, the bad, the ugly and the positives, and I see a lot of banks like that are converted into steakhouses and other venues, so I'm hopeful that some entrepreneur will pick it up like that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I hope so. It would be really cool. We have Revive I-70. That's ramping up, yeah.
Speaker 2:So Revive I-70, if you don't know, revive I-70.com. They have their own website. That's that plan to rebuild 21 miles of Interstate 70 from the Ohio line all the way to State Road 1 and make it three lanes in both directions, although the costs have come in more expensive than they thought. So 10 years ago when NDOT had this plan they thought it would cost about $400 million. When they let out the first phase, which is Highway 40 to Highway 35, that alone was $400 million. So they've let out the second and third phase. So the first phase will still be. From ohio line to 35 will still be three lanes in both directions, and the rest of it with 21, 42 bridges and culverts. They'll build the infrastructure for three lanes in both directions but they're not going to build the actual three lanes just yet. They'll wait for another round of funding in the future. So it'll be ready for six lanes all the way through the county but at least for the the city's four exits we'll have six lanes and that'll help the industrial park.
Speaker 2:There's more expansion going on our industrial park between highway 35 and centerville road and round barn road down industries road. There's. There's more, hopefully some more projects coming. Liberation labs is restarting, blue buffalo's finishing their expansion, so there's there, hopefully, some more projects coming. Liberation Labs is restarting. Blue Buffalo is finishing their expansion, so there's some more stuff in the wind that should be coming there soon. Yeah, liberation.
Speaker 1:Labs there on the docket. They're going to come in and talk to us here in about a month or so. That's an interesting product.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, so many uses for it. Stay tuned followers. Yeah, that'll be fun to watch product.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So many stay tuned followers. Yeah, that'll be fun to watch. Uh, the isep. I guess I should be thankful we're going to get something. I would like to see it at least three lanes, all the way to one, but it doesn't sound like that's at least gonna build the infrastructure, but for now they're only going to build the third lane.
Speaker 2:So 35, but that's I mean that's it's more than we've had oh yeah, no, no, for years I was concerned. They're building the six lanes from from you know mount comfort greenfield hancock county. When are they going to come over here? And I was excited when they're going to stop there and start building this direction, because interstate 70 from richmond, indianapolis, is the next industrial park yeah, that crowd in indianapolis.
Speaker 1:They owe us big time. They've got to start bringing some money over here, because we've got a great community and they need to open up the purse and bring the money over here. Hey, the I-70 thing kind of goes into a little bit of the rebranding.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:The city of Richmond, and one thing that you mentioned was to try to out on 70. Well, I'll let you talk about it. Build something out there that really helped draw in the public.
Speaker 2:When I had my first meeting with NDOT February of last year my second month in they talked about the Revive I-70 and what they're doing. So at Highway 40, the first exit coming into Indiana from Ohio, we have the opportunity to put some nice monumental signage there. There's this historic committee, I found out, for if you travel along any interstate in Indiana you'll see monument signs for every major community that are made of limestone, which Indiana is famous for, brick and steel. So we have the opportunity to build something there and I say we have the opportunity because they will build the base for it and run some electric for it. But we have to pay for it and maintain it. So we have to find half a million to a million dollars to build this huge monument that says Welcome to Indiana, the crossroads of America. Exit now and spend your money. Come into Richmond, historic Richmond.
Speaker 2:So the part of the rebranding is going to give us a name. So we've looked at some sign logos and a lot of them have. We could put Richmond there and then your tagline underneath. So we don't really have a good tagline right now. So in my office actually my assistant's office we have about five different logos that the city's using a different department. So rebranding is going to get us all back together and get us one logo, one sense of who we are.
Speaker 2:So there'll be community meetings coming up soon. We want community input. We're not doing this. City administration isn't doing this. We're organizing the people in a group to this. So you have some really good consultants who have rebranded cities our size all across the Midwest. They have a lot of good experience and we're lucky to have them. They come next week and we do a windshield tour with them. So we've already awarded the contract, but they've been here a couple of times. But we have a windshield tour that they're going to see all the historic districts of Richmond and kind of get a feel of this side of Richmond, that side of Richmond, that side of Richmond industrial, commercial, residential, restaurants, history, architecture, music, just parks, everything about Richmond. And then we'll get input from the citizens too and come up with a brand of what is Richmond's new tagline, our logo, and we'll use it. We'll incorporate it in every department. We'll use this on all their brochures, their social media, their mail. Everything's going to be one cohesive city with this new brand for a couple of decades to come.
Speaker 2:So this monument or this signage still to be determined still to be determined, but that's going to be still to be determined.
Speaker 1:So is. Are we going to see that heading going from west to east, going from east to west when you're coming from ohio as soon?
Speaker 2:as you can see past shelton fireworks. You'll be able to see this on the right-hand side. They've already identified the space when they rebuild those ramps and do that ramp.
Speaker 2:So it'll be inside this area. One of the great things NDOT's doing now is they're allowing the city to choose the plants and the trees. So our parks department has some really skilled arborists and florists in the beautification team. They were able to pick out what trees, what plants, what grasses go in there and it'll be really nice. Right now it's just you know what, whatever bushes grow up and grass yeah, and we'll actually maintain it, so it'll look like a really developed intersection and people go. There's something here in richmond.
Speaker 1:I got to exit yeah, well, I hope we can compete with the solar panels, the, the huge white cross and the uranus fudge factory as you come in town so we're gonna have to really work hard. Yes on this monument because there's a lot going on at that exit, so hopefully, uh, it definitely be a a thing of beauty as they enter from the east into our grand city. Uh, anything else on the rebranding, you know, as we not really, rebranding, but that leads us into our comprehensive plan refresh.
Speaker 2:So, okay, one of the reasons we're starting rebranding now is our comprehensive plan is five years old. Richmond rising, which was a, which is a great logo and a great tagline, but it was never adopted by all the departments, so but it's five years old. So Richmond Rising is five years old and you have to have a refresh comprehensive plan every five years or you don't qualify for certain grants from the state and federal government. You can't have a six-year-old plan. So we're going to go through a refresh process. As soon as rebranding gets well underway and almost finished, the comprehensive plan refresh will start, and that'll be a chance for people to have some input too.
Speaker 2:So Richmond Rising had several areas of focus and some of those things were accomplished and some were, and some that weren't were because of COVID this thing. Covid happened and people started working from home more than ever. So really, the things that we thought we wanted to do six years ago we don't want to do now, because shopping's changed. The whole landscape of the way consumers interact with their cities changed. So now's an opportunity. We're actually at a really good time. It's good that it's five years old, because we had a really good time to look at it and go what is? What do we want to do with this area of town, what do we want to do with that area of town, what should the focus be here and what do the citizens want?
Speaker 1:right, so we're moving on from richmond rising something else. Yes, yeah so yeah, richmond's living, richmond's doing. I mean, you know when, uh when, when Jesus raised Lazarus from the grave. I mean that was a, that was a one, uh, a wonderful, uh, miracle, and. But after a while, I mean Lazarus still had things to do after he was back alive.
Speaker 2:So it's like Lazarus living.
Speaker 1:What's Lazarus doing today? So it would be great to see what comes of the new slogan or the new theme.
Speaker 2:We're not doing this in a vacuum. In 2023, there were 53 new mayors elected in the 83 cities in Indiana that have mayors, and a lot of those did that last year. They did their rebranding last year. We waited to see which ones worked really well and which ones we liked, and we started interviewing those companies and came up with what we think will be the best of the best, and we're actually paying half the price of what some others pay because they went too early. So waiting is fullness.
Speaker 1:If you wait, you can get a better price how are you, um, how are you working with the uh county government?
Speaker 2:I mean, how, how's that?
Speaker 1:relationship with the commissioners and county council, or I mean they kind of have their things that they're involved in, but they're also, you know, richmond's a big part of wayne county, yes, and we have other. Wayne county's a big part of wayne county, yes, and we have other wayne county's a big part of richmond. Yeah, and we have other we partner communities that are very important to the whole, our whole county. But how? How does richmond uniquely work with the council? Is there anything going on there or just kind of?
Speaker 2:well, you know operating procedures. I think most people know we partner with them for 911 dispatch. So they have the equipment, they have the staff. We pay for half of that. So it's one of our huge partnerships. So the mayor sits on the emergency management agency board and some several other boards over there. The mayor sits on, and also Richmond Fire and Police sit on other boards and communicate regularly about what we can do better.
Speaker 2:So some of the things we can't really join forces on. One good example you know we might get some more snow and ice next couple of days. Richmond has storm sewers. We have to use salt on our roads because we have storm sewers. We want it to melt and not jam up the storm sewers. The county does not, so they can use sand and gravel at their intersections, which just runs off the side of the road. We can't use sand and gravel because it would clog the storm sewers and cost us more in the long run. So that's kind of. One of the things we really can't share is how do you treat ice? It's just one of the funny anecdotes that are out there. Just because of the way your structure is, you can't share what we try to share.
Speaker 2:I have meetings with my like. There's a full-time president, a full-time commissioner is a president of commissioners, jeff plaster. We meet pretty much weekly and we talk probably every other day about different things, things we can collaborate on and work together on and try to solve problems together and on and try to solve problems together and and the, the county, the help grant, the, the state dollars, the, the arpa funds, the state help funds through the county to benefit all the county and even city richmond. So that comes from the federal to the state to the county and then we work together to help revitalize downtown richmond with some of those help dollars.
Speaker 1:I live out in the county, so I have a Richmond address. But full disclosure I did not vote for you because I can't. But I'm out there and the admission to Rhodes, so we have paved roads where I live but it is a dirt and gravel road for about four months out of the year and I just hate it because they just dump. If the county street department or road department is listening, just go a little bit light. They do a great job. I'm just joking.
Speaker 2:But I mean, man, there's a lot. They do that because it's cheaper. We pay a lot of money for salt salt is a lot more expensive than the sand and the gravel they get spread on the intersection.
Speaker 1:They come out and clean it up every spring, but man, it's, it's kind of brutal. Especially we had that big snow this year. So you know they, they're out there in full force with, with this dropping the sand out on the roads.
Speaker 1:So enough of that. Um, one thing I want to talk about a little bit is just because I deal with it in my job, so transportation. So from my experience at manpower, I can share that one of the biggest impediments to employment is transportation and, uh, most of our manufacturing growth. We hit it on earlier.
Speaker 2:We're not building factories within the city, we're going out on the edges in the industrial park, kind of the way. We should just, for the reason, just take that fire as an example. No, I agree with that we shouldn't build up residential around industrial parks.
Speaker 1:But what that the result of that is. You know, most of our growth is on the peripheral of the community and we do not have good public transportation to those sites. So therefore there are literally there's this one guy I interviewed last week and a great guy but just doesn't have a car, and I really think this guy would make a good employee for a company, but he wants to get into manufacturing and we're just waiting to find something that he can ride his bike or or, uh, walk to, because the transportation is a challenge for him one of the go out to these other areas where there's no taxi, cab or bus service.
Speaker 1:So, you know, that is um, that's just tough, you know, and I wish there was something that we could do to help these folks. We're working on it.
Speaker 2:We started. One of the things I started that was a conversation I had with a lot of businesses last year and I said what? Can we do to fix this. So we're looking at. So you know, we have Roseview Transit, which you may or may not know is federally funded and it has to just stay on the lines.
Speaker 2:It has to have these documented lines and stay on the lines. They can't go to the industrial parks for a lot of reasons you have to have sidewalks, you have to have buses. It's weird rules. But there's a new form of transportation called microtransit and we're watching a city in Indiana who adopt the DIS model and if they can make it work and self-funded so that it's not a cost to taxpayers.
Speaker 2:Microtransit is a smaller bus or a van that's pretty much on demand. That'll take, that'll pick up at 530 in the morning. There's five calls that need to go to a factory industrial park. It'll go around the neighborhoods pick them up and take them out there on demand because it's a van, not a federal bus, not a federal transit administration bus is a micro transit van. So we're working with this company that does this and we're watching this one particular city in Indiana who implemented it last year and see now it's working there because because we're going to adopt it when we know it works and how it works and we'll let them work out the wrinkles, we'll let them work out the bugs and the wrinkles and when we do it it'll, it'll work and it'll be affordable.
Speaker 1:It's got to be affordable and you just can't flip a switch and have a program like that go in place. But I'm glad to hear that we are thinking of that, because I can attest that that is a huge need in our community, because we work with a lot of people who are who are unemployed or trans, just transitioning from one job to another, and that just, uh, tends to be an ongoing challenge.
Speaker 2:If you're an entrepreneur out there, sign up for Uber, sign up for Lyft. We know there's demand and there are a couple of taxi services back but they don't work all hours. So if you have a vehicle and you want to make some extra money you mentioned the first part of the show my first side hustle. Nine years old, I was helping another farmer. My dad sent my brother and I to work for another farmer to help him bell hay because his son was injured, and at the end of the week I got a paper check and I'm like I thought I was getting paid, but we took it to the bank and I started a savings account. So I'm telling this to other entrepreneurs there's an opening there and there's a way for you to make a little money on the side if you're willing to get up early and stay up a little late after your regular job.
Speaker 1:Right now, if you take a cab to work it's going to cost. If you go to work five days it's going to you a hundred dollars for the week. Pretty much yes and uh. So I guess if you take that times four it's 400. Maybe you can't buy a car for 400, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Um uh right, there's economic choices, so yeah, it's just tough. Hopefully we'll get this micro transit working, which will be very affordable because it's basically a I don't't want to call it a government ran Uber or Lyft, but it's kind of that model where they'll pick up several people at a time and take them to where they need to go for a lower cost than just taking one person in the taxi, which is expensive.
Speaker 1:Our official February guest is Valerie Schaefer with Economic Development Corporation. But is there anything that you can share, as far as you know that you're allowed to talk about as far as economic development? You know, anything happening with jobs or companies or things that you're encouraged with or talks that maybe you can't share exactly what's going on, but do you feel like there's some movement going on with some more job growth in our community.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of potential out there. Yes, a lot of conversations. So I mean it's public knowledge at blue Buffalo finished their $220 million expansion bringing 50 more good paying jobs as public knowledge Liberation is going to continue their main, their, their construction. So hopefully they'll have a lot of good jobs there next year. And yes, there's still more interest in our industrial park and one of the things that's kind of cool is these site selectors know what endot's doing to interstate 70 to help truck traffic into our industrial park, so that's probably some of the trigger for this. They're paying attention to that and the better truck traffic. And there's a new railroad spur in the industrial park there at anchor ingredients, so there's a lot of spur in the Dust Trail Park there at Anchor Ingredients, so there's a lot of we're getting a lot of interest.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Well, I've got some questions as far as the land available for development, but I'll save that one for Valerie.
Speaker 2:There's about 400 acres left out there. I believe roughly.
Speaker 1:One thing that's happened is really kind of old news now, but a new bridge, Chester Boulevard.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:That's opened up of old news now, but a new bridge, chester below.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's opened up. It's a big overpass, beautiful bridge over the story depot district, the overpass bridge. We're going to have a ribbon cutting ceremony. But we had that snow and ice storm. So if you remember, last year when main street was finished, we had a block party down here. We're going to do something similar in the depot district when the the multimodal path is finished there in the spring I think they're finding a May date and they're going to have a ribbon cutting ceremony. Ndot's going to come back for that, so we'll recognize that bridge when we have our block party or depot party in the spring.
Speaker 1:So that is great.
Speaker 2:And the other thing there's that pocket park underneath the bridge. We just signed a contract with an architect firm to help us design it, so there'll be meetings with people in the depot area to. What does that little park look like Right underneath the bridge between Elm Place and Northeast Street? It's now blocked off. There's no traffic.
Speaker 1:Is that kind of where Porter Science?
Speaker 2:put a building, no, just the south end of the bridge.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Where you used to be able to drive between Elm Place and Northeast Street under the bridge that's blocked off now, so that'll be a park or community area or a place to go to sit and have lunch or take your dog. So I'm advocating for some turf there so you can take your dog out and do business instead of doing it on a sidewalk. So we'll see what we end up with. You're a big dog person. A big dog person. Charlie's 133 pounds. We have a monster golden retriever right now. He's awesome.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, we've just been plowing through different things. I didn't know anything else that you think is noteworthy going on with your job in the city that we didn't touch on, that's kind of exciting, not really Keep watching this and keep watching the.
Speaker 2:The city's doing podcasts now. Instead of monthly videos, we're trying to do a podcast every two weeks. Talk about what's happening in the city, to keep people more informed on a more regular basis. Watch that, but I'll be excited to hear what valerie schaefer has to reveal to your your show if she'll share.
Speaker 1:You talked about the Cities podcast every other week, yes, so who runs that podcast? Who's the person that's doing?
Speaker 2:that Our community development coordinator, lindsay Darnell, she's been doing that and they record it right here and it's called Cities Pulse Inside Richmond, the Cities Pulse, the City's Pulse Inside.
Speaker 1:Richmond, the City's Pulse. So Lindsey, who I met, I would visit you at your office a while back. She is running the podcast.
Speaker 1:Yes she's sitting in your chair. Okay, great, hey, lindsey, you ought to ask me to come on. I'd love to be your guest once. That'd be great. Well, hey, mary, thank you so much for joining us on the hub. Uh, thank you for your service to our community. It's uh, uh. You have a good attitude about it. I appreciate that it's not easy, uh, and every decision you make is uh. Is uh welcomed or not welcomed? Exactly and so that's that's tough we're moving the city forward.
Speaker 2:That's 100%. Yeah, we're making Richmond better.
Speaker 1:I wish you and your administration the best of luck, because I mean, if your team wins, all of us win, and so I think that's what we should be thinking about and focusing on.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Hey, thanks to our followers. Please subscribe and share, and until next time. Thank you very much, michael Allen from Manpower. We are a national brand, yet locally owned franchise. We are familiar with the challenges businesses face. It's tough recruiting and retaining qualified employees. That's why working with Manpower is a smart, cost-effective solution. Our entire focus is talent acquisition. We'll manage your hiring and training and provide ongoing, customized support. Since 1966, we have been your community-invested partner, uniquely positioned to help eliminate the hassles and save you time and money. Let us help. Contact Manpower today.