Show up or shut up!

Do you want a voice in what happens in your community….or do you prefer to just complain about things online?

How willing are you to show up? Attend a meeting or open house? Speak during public comments? Email your leaders?

Blair Castro and Thomas Jenkins discuss recent issues affecting Gulf Shores and Baldwin County, and several ways (in the immediate days and weeks) that you can get involved. 

Not every video that we post is about corruption or controversy. Many highlights are simply about staying informed, hearing people out, sharing ideas, and helping raise awareness.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you may be. I'm Thomas Jenkins. This is WFUZ's the People's Voice podcast. And tonight we're talking about transparency. Blair, let her in Taylor Chip.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

So we went to a Gulf Shore City Council meeting today. For those of you wondering, it's not our first meeting. We go to meetings all the time. We just haven't been in a while because we've been preoccupied with the county elections and everything going on at a state level and a congressional level. State legislature was in session. There was just a lot of other things happening. So we're trying to get back to focusing on what's going on locally here on the islands and here in you know Baldwin County in general and Scambia County too when when necessary. So for those of you wondering, we ask permission before we go to these public meetings or town halls to film. A lot of times we film debates or town halls, and we it's a space thing. So it is your first amendment right to go in there with a phone and film a public meeting. It's Open Meetings Act. Anyone can do that. But to bring a tripod and a camera and like set up and do pans and zooms, like that's not a First Amendment right. That's a little extra. So we have to ask permission just logistically so we have space, so we're not in anyone's way, so our equipment and gear is all like safe and approved. You know, we carry this camera in a large case and we just need them to know that we're not bringing in anything scary. It's like literally just a camera and a tripod. So that's why we ask. And we were told it was okay. No one has told us no yet. So if you know of things coming up that you think are a hot button issue, or that you know you would like to see another like session of or you want to see something filmed, like let us know. We'll try to make it. But again, we do it when we can. We don't do it every time somebody demands it. We're not here at the will of everyone else. We're here at our leisure and our free time. So there's that.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

And I'm so glad that they brought up County Road Six again. Like, fix that light, fix it to Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

So residents have a lot of complaints about things online. I know I'm one of those people who sometimes has complaints online, but unlike a lot of the people, I actually contact people about it and I make those complaints directly to the people in charge whenever possible. If I have an idea, if I have a suggestion, I would encourage you all to do the same. I stepped up and put my neck out there and run, and then I see people that just don't they do a lot of complaining, but they don't stay active, they don't stay engaged, they just like want to complain and then not do anything about it. So I feel like you should do something about it and you have a chance in the next week. So tomorrow, Tuesday, if you care about roads, is it road and traffic study? Um something about planning. Planning and roads at Robertsdale Annex, 8:30 a.m. tomorrow, the county is having their road open house type event. Um that information will be on the county web, so I don't pretend to know all the details. I'm just telling you what I remember off top of the dome here. Um also tomorrow, Gulf Shores is having their big so they're doing a four-part open house to their help citizen input with the Gulf Shores plan. Now that sounds very vague. Like, what's the Gulf Shores plan? Well, they have a master plan to like 2035, and this is like extending it out to 2045. So it's like long-term planning. What do you as a community want to see in terms of your amenities, in terms of you know, parks? Of course, you all probably want to see the park up there on Coastal Gateway, which everyone was promised and it never came to fruition. It was just a mock-up and nothing ever really happened about it. But, anyways, I digress.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

Um, what's the thing that they divert deferred to next Tuesday?

SPEAKER_01 3:30

Yes, and then the following Tuesday of next week, the whole entertainment district tax incentive program, the special incentives um that people were kind of up in arms about. Some people were making an argument that it was going to make things elitist, some people think it's a great idea to help boost the entertainment district. I haven't formed an opinion yet because I haven't sat there and watched the presentation in full because it just like those meetings are not that entertaining, y'all. Like you want people to go and like sit and do a lot of boring stuff sometimes. But regardless, if you have thoughts on that, I will we'll try to film that next Tuesday at 10 a.m. And that's in the city chambers too. Oh, but the open house plan thing, there's a four-part thing, and once tomorrow night at 5:30 at the new high school, you can come. It's like an interactive thing. They were talking about it today at the meeting. I think it's a good opportunity. If you really care about strategic planning of your city and you want to have your ideas implemented long term, you should be there. Unfortunately, won't be at that one, but hope to be at the next couple ones.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

Or you can just stay at home and bitch from the couch. Argue in the comments below. Yeah, you can do that anytime. So let's get into the meat and potatoes. What else did we want to talk about here?

SPEAKER_01 4:37

Um, I just want to emphasize how boring politics is sometimes. We try, so the reason we even go film this stuff is to pull out highlights. A lot of people are not gonna sit through a long-ass meeting, you know, listen to the pledge, listen to the prayer, listen to everybody talk about their budgets, and it's just it drops on and on, and it's hard for the average person. So we go and we sift through like a little sifter, we find little, you know, little nuggets of stuff that we'll take out. And for people to say that's out of context, no, that's like what people are asking for. Just like WKRG, you know, homegirl Debbie, anyone else, they would come out and do a highlight piece because that's what people do.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

Because you have the attention span of a goldfish. Yes, people three of you have made it this far into the video. Thanks for that.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

People don't really watch those city live streams. And I mean, that Orange Beach City live stream was the most watched one. It was like 88,000 people watched it for a city of 8,000.

SPEAKER_00 5:35

But we had to get a half hour in to get anything juicy.

SPEAKER_01 5:38

That was the city's live stream. Our live stream or our video got like 200,000 views. So to show the difference of why we post things because nobody's gonna watch unless it's really controversial, unless it's a hot button issue, and then they're probably gonna scrub all the way through. And a lot of people, like some people just don't have access. So we're just trying to get information out there. That's all we've ever wanted to do. For those of you people saying, like, oh, you know, you you guys are just thinking corruption is everywhere. We don't think corruption is everywhere. Nobody's saying every single city here is corrupt. Nobody is saying that. Um, I actually think a lot of the places do a good job. I wouldn't live here if I thought it was totally corrupt and just total shit. I think it's good, which is why I live here. I think there can be improvements. I think it's okay to voice what those improvements are and to speak up about things we would like to see be better, which I know um Tiffany was mentioning that they don't have city addresses like a.gov. The mayor has one, but like other people don't. Um that is a problem. I've been saying that for like a year. I really think you guys need to get with that sort of standard. And I know that they are implementing, I don't know if they've done it yet, I don't think so, a new procedure for when you have a question and it just goes into the abyss. Like now they track all your questions so they can be more responsive. When I heard about that, I was really happy. I don't know if that's been implemented yet or when that will happen, but I assume you would need city addresses so that you could track that more. I mean, I guess you could track personal addresses, but it feels like it should all be standard and it should all be open to public record.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

What about Gulf Shores Public Schools? Are we gonna go into that?

SPEAKER_01 7:10

Not at this time.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

Not at this time, never mind.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

Nothing bad, but I just want to just say public schools, no matter how nice they are, no matter how beautiful the buildings are, and you know, you can put a lot of money behind something. It public school just isn't for every kid. It's not that a kid isn't good enough for public school, it's that the kid might not be a good fit for public school. There are just kids that learn different ways. That's why Alabama is actually a great state for being able to choose why we have the Choose Act. That's why we have a way to help people be homeschooled at faith-based schools, at private schools, public schools, all that together. There's options, but it's not a one-size-fit-all educational system here. And that's okay. So going forward, um, speaking of things being open to the public and statistics and stuff, I have felt like you know, I've lived here going on two years. Um, crime has increased. Let's just be real. I feel like crime has increased. Um, you hear about some weird stuff happening like every day. We see weird stuff happen every day. Like we live in like the Meyer Park Gulf Pines neighborhood.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

There's people sleeping on the park benches. I'll get right to it. There's uh homelesses, if you will.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

And that's nothing wrong with that. I understand people are hopeless.

SPEAKER_00 8:26

We don't shout out to Scambia County, we'll just send them right over there, right?

SPEAKER_01 8:29

Yeah. Shout out to Chip, my former boss. Um the point of that is not salespeople are all criminals, but there is crime happening. We saw what would be known as a butthole tweaker in the park. Someone who was clearly on drug.

SPEAKER_00 8:46

Clearly, to find that means because that was a unique moniker that we I came up with.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

The one clearly on drug with their bottom hanging out, have names.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

Their shorts were very short. Hence butthole tweaker.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

It was just out in the public.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

Which is a great band name.

SPEAKER_01 9:01

Anyway, it is a good band name. Um so like I see these people characters go into the bathroom, and they don't have cars or anything parked around, they're just like walking over, sometimes from an Airbnb or like that little hotel over there, sometimes from the There's a hole in the wall of the park bathroom where they hide the drugs that you can go and reach your hand in there and receive them. Yep, there's a little drop spot. And I've made people aware of this. I've done my part. I mean, we've sent pictures to the chief. We've been like, hey, what's going on here? What's going on here? Oh, nothing I can do about that. Sometimes they do do stuff. He's arrested people before. Um, but I just feel like there is an increase in crime. So I wanted to see, am I crazy? Is there an increase in crime? So again, a year ago, you know, flashback, let's rewind that machine. I said I wanted to look for the annual reports of the Gulf Shores Police Department to see what the crime statistics were, to see how many calls go for what, and like what the numbers of arrests were and DUIs, etc. Because I'm curious, data speaks volumes. I don't want to make an uninformed opinion. So I go looking online, and again, 2024 is published. The chief did tell me that that was almost done. But we're in 2026, so we're missing 2025, and then we're missing 22 and 23. The last report besides that 24 report is 21. So 22, 23, you're gone. You got 24, and that took years to come out. It just came out. Then 25 is missing. We're now in 26. So, you know, this was something I met with the chief, and I told him about my concerns. I told Mayor Kraft about these concerns. He said, You're right, that should be a quick fix. We could put that up on the website. It's still out there. Take that for what it is. Um, I will definitely be sending another email about it. I literally looked at it today. So as of today, still not there. That's what's up. And I even said I did this in a past career, like in another jurisdiction. I did this. I made these annual reports. I know how long it takes. I would get hired to do them in 30 days and they would be done and they would be up online, published for everyone to see. I don't really understand why it takes years to do an annual report, and especially when you know someone local like me does that, like and has done that successfully, why you wouldn't take advantage of that and just be like, yeah, just knock it out. Like, I don't know why it feels innately like strange that that data is not readily available to the public.

SPEAKER_00 11:21

What else we got?

SPEAKER_01 11:23

Those are the things really on my mind tonight.

SPEAKER_00 11:25

Um we might do uh we have what about that stinky canal?

SPEAKER_01 11:30

Oh my god, yes. So when I was running, for those of you who may remember, I complained a lot about how the canal smelled like shit. I made a whole video of like the canal smells like shit, and people were mad because I said the word shit. But it does. And it might not be the canal as much as it is that wastewater plant or like the water plant over there, like that and the canal together like really stink, especially if you live here off canal.

SPEAKER_00 11:52

Every day.

SPEAKER_01 11:53

You know you've entered the zone here. Like, welcome to Gulf Shores. Take a whiff out the window because it smells like shit.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

Yes, you see the leaning flag banners next to the city sign there, and then you take a big old whiff.

SPEAKER_01 12:07

We really need a better entranceway for our city coming from Orange Beach, especially because you have this nice roundabout now that's just so great. Like, we need something to signal, hey, you're in Gulf Shores. This is a family-friendly place, not just like stinks like a dump, like, welcome to this stinky area, like it's bad. Um, and I gave some suggestions. If anybody has a video of the Common Sense campaign where I did my debate, I would love to see it because mine are, you know, MIA right now. I'm still gonna try to dig them up. But I talked about solutions for um addressing the scent if it's coming from the wastewater plant. There are things that we can do, and why that hasn't been done when consistently neighbors in this neighborhood like complain about that as one of the things affecting our quality of life. I don't understand why that smell has not been addressed. It still smells like a butt every time we go outside. It's nasty. Yeah. But I did say in that same common sense campaign debate, I mean, this is not a well, I said this episode, but I mean kind of is. I said, hey, we need a leave-only footprints program for the canal because people just go fishing out there and leave all their trash, their beer cans, their coolers, their chairs, like they just leave their shit on the canal and pollute it all up. And now they have littering signs that say, you know, hey, remember, please don't litter or something like that. I don't have I'll show I'll take a picture, I'll show you all the exact signs. But they do have signs up there now, so I'm glad that something is being done about that. But yeah, it still needs some serious uh beautification, I would say, within our area.

SPEAKER_00 13:34

Yeah, some grass mowing and some areas and a few things like that.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

And today they did talk about that land swap. They are going to make an alternative route through what is some acreage of the state park, which now is going to belong to the city, I believe, or um, they're doing some sort of land swap where the city is going to do a route through there to remove this horrible, horrible detour. And I don't I haven't like analyzed the complete details of that. While I hate to see the state park, you know, reduced in any way, trees have always been a hot button issue here, like preserving trees. I get it, but I'm also like, man, I hate that detour. If it will relieve the terrible, terrible traffic congestion in our neighborhood, then I think that's a sacrifice that might need to be made. That's where I'm leaning. Um, convince me otherwise in the comments. I don't know the solution, but there's got to be a solution. And if that's what we got right now, then I guess we rock with it.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

Well, you got anything else?

SPEAKER_01 14:34

No, just letting you guys know that when we cover things, it's not that we're saying everything's negative and it's not that we're saying everything's corrupt. We think people do a good job. We cover things to get information out, we cover things to say in a plain, unscripted way. This is what's going on in your city, in case you didn't know, because most people are bored by like the legal mumbo jumbo and all the jargon of like budget this approved that. Oh, yeah, I saw. Like, they don't want to hear that. They just want to hear a normal person tell them what's up. So that's what we're trying to do to keep people informed. If you don't like it, don't watch this. If you do like it, cool. Welcome. Welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_00 15:05

That's right. And with that, we are WFU Z TV. We are the news. Have a bluebell country day, and we will see you next time.