Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY) announces state-wide effort to address the rental housing shortage.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 with some very good news for parts of western Kentucky that have been through
00:05 too much. In December of 2021, parts of western Kentucky experienced the worst
00:12 tornado disaster in our history. It took 81 lives, each one a child of God
00:19 still missed and mourned and grieved by their families and their communities.
00:24 It leveled whole towns, including downtown of Mayfield and my dad's
00:30 hometown of Dawson Springs. Standing outside that candle factory that next
00:36 morning, we all made a promise, a promise that we would rebuild every
00:42 structure and every life. And we have been hard at work fulfilling that
00:47 promise since that day. You've heard me say it 1000 times, but we will be
00:54 there until this job is done. We will continue to find ways to help people
01:00 rebuild. And we've worked hard with the western Kentucky safe fund. We've
01:04 helped rebuild critical infrastructure with K. P. D. I. Dollars. We invested
01:10 both in Mayfield and recently in Dawson Springs and in Mayfield already
01:15 have a company called called Osmondson coming in and bringing about 80 good
01:20 jobs to that community. We started the team Western Kentucky Tornado Relief
01:25 Fund, where throughout these areas we are at nearly 200 homes built are
01:31 currently under construction to house those that were displaced. Um, I think
01:39 about Mayfield right now that is going to be rebuilding their police station,
01:43 their fire station money for downtown City Hall. We are really starting to
01:50 see things not just move, but really move. We've gone from building houses
01:56 to rebuilding neighborhoods. But there is always a piece that FEMA did not
02:02 cover and would not cover that concerned all of us. And those were
02:07 rentals. Rental units are absolutely critical for all towns, but certainly
02:13 towns of this size and I know in Dawson were hit almost directly to help a
02:19 town, not just survive, but to thrive. Affordable housing is so critical and
02:25 for all those survivors that might not have owned their home that might not
02:30 have qualified for certain FEMA or other insurance funding. There was a
02:36 gap, and admittedly it was a gap that kept me up at night. But Team Kentucky,
02:41 through the Kentucky Housing Corporation and the Department of Local
02:45 Government have come through with an incredible solution. Today we'll be
02:50 making the largest housing announcement in either of those agencies history,
02:55 and we believe it's the single largest housing announcement in the history of
03:00 Kentucky. Jointly, Kentucky through the Department of Local Government using
03:07 D. R. Funding and K. H. C. Are investing $223 million to build 953
03:15 affordable rental housing units across four counties.
03:19 All four of these counties were hit in various degrees by the tornadoes. These
03:29 housing units are going into Christian Graves, Hopkins and Warren counties,
03:36 and these counties were also some of them hit with the storms just this last
03:40 week that took the lives of five Kentuckians, and we mourn for them as
03:45 well. I believe we have now arranged for payments of the funerals for each
03:50 of those that were lost because every loss, whether it was back in 2021 or
03:56 these most recent storms impact those families just a severely. But these
04:02 funds, as we look at them, are going towards 11 projects across western
04:06 Kentucky. We're partnering with five development groups to complete this
04:10 work. In total, we're building 76 rental units in Hopkinsville. We're
04:14 building 122 rental units in Mayfield, Mayor 88 units in Dawson Springs, 32
04:22 units in Madisonville and 635 units in the city of Bowling Green. A full
04:28 funding breakdown will be in the press release today. I'd like to call up
04:31 Winston Miller, director of the Kentucky Housing Corporation, to give
04:35 us a few words.
04:36 Thank you, Governor.
04:38 Good morning, everyone. Kentucky Housing Corporation is is thrilled and proud to
04:48 partner with the Department of Local Government, our friends there for this
04:52 historic funding announcement. This is a historic funding announcement for
04:57 many reasons. Um, it supports disaster recovery and growth and job growth. It
05:04 supports an increase in affordable housing for western Kentucky, and it
05:08 addresses the housing shortage that is exist in the region and in the state as
05:13 as a whole. This announcement is unprecedented. Uh, it's the first time
05:19 for K. H. C. That several things have occurred. As the governor has indicated,
05:25 this is the, um, a project that is funded by for the construction of more
05:32 housing units than we've ever financed in a single housing application round.
05:39 953. I think total. That's an historic occasion for us to be able to do that.
05:46 We've committed such a significant amount of our funding to go alongside
05:52 the funding that's being provided by D. L. G. That's something that we've not
05:56 done before. And we've also incentivized our developers to utilize
06:01 disaster recovery funds, um, from that are coming from D. L. G. Um, to keep up
06:08 with the economic and job growth, Kentucky needs to build more housing
06:15 units. Today's announcement of the 595 3 units is a very significant step in
06:24 closing the supply gap that exists in West Kentucky.
06:27 Governor Bashir has provided incredible and steadfast leadership in the
06:36 rebuilding of Kentucky's disaster impacted communities. This is just
06:41 another step. Another example of that leadership. Thank you, Governor.
06:45 K. S. K. H. C. Also appreciates, uh, the Department of Local Government
06:53 aligning its disaster recovery funding with the funding that K. H. C. Is
06:58 provided without this cooperative effort of these two agencies. The
07:04 magnitude of today's announcement would not be possible.
07:09 Finally, I want to thank the entire K. H. C. Team that were essential to
07:16 today's announcement with me today are Wendy Smith and Terry Helton, plus
07:24 other members of our multifamily housing staff that made this really
07:29 happen or enabled this to happen. Um, thank you. Um, the awards announced by
07:36 Governor Bashir today will benefit western Kentucky for decades to come.
07:41 Thank you.
07:42 These projects, as Winston pointed out, are not only going to help us rebuild,
07:52 but also help continue our economic momentum in western Kentucky. The year
07:58 after the tornadoes hit site selection recognized Mayfield for being one of
08:03 the top micropolitan economic developers in the country. They brought
08:07 in so many jobs in the 12 months after those tornadoes that they made that
08:12 incredible list. Since the start of my administration, Mayor, we're now over
08:16 500 new jobs in Mayfield. Those are the results of $32 million in private
08:24 investment. We're not just rebuilding from tornadoes. We're building stronger
08:30 communities that are gonna bring prosperity for generations to come.
08:34 These are special days, and our people are gonna have more days like this
08:40 ahead. So with 122 new rental units coming to Mayfield, more of our Mayfield
08:46 families are going to have a safe place to raise their families to make
08:50 memories. So I'd like to call up Mayor O'Nan.
08:57 I don't think Governor Beshear knows how much I have held on to his words.
09:02 We will not stop until you are complete.
09:05 Sometimes I fall asleep with that running on a loop in my brain, and
09:11 that's exactly what has happened. When he walked in here today, he said,
09:14 Here's another piece. We have been so blessed, so blessed with the funding to
09:19 rebuild our municipal buildings, which we lost every one of those, as did the
09:23 county. That funding is now secure. We have been blessed by nonprofit
09:28 organizations, both national and local, who have come in and built homes
09:33 sometimes for people who've never owned a home before, thus playing a role in
09:38 ending some generational poverty within our community. But as tornadoes are
09:43 want to do, this tornado struck in the heart of our community, to the heart of
09:49 our people who were the most vulnerable at some points. And it was those people
09:54 who lived in the subpar rental homes that are now still struggling. And this
09:59 piece today, this multifamily, 122 units that will be coming to our hometown to
10:07 house our people, is just
10:11 heartwarming. I've used heartwarming so much. I don't know that I've probably
10:17 just worn the gilding off of it, but there is nothing else to say about that.
10:21 When you realize that these units will house individuals and families who have
10:27 suffered enough and who continue to stay in Mayfield and continue to help us
10:31 rebuild that community, you realize the role that everyone in this room,
10:36 Kentucky Housing Authority, the governor, everybody who works in this
10:40 administration, this team Kentucky, how hard they've worked for the rebuilding
10:44 of our community. Thank you is not enough. But from what you see, what
10:49 will come from our community to rebuild not only western Kentucky, but add to
10:53 our commonwealth as a whole will be well worth every dollar invested. Thank
10:59 you so very much.
11:00 Well, I'm hoping before we're done, we'll also see our mayor from Dawson
11:09 Springs. Mayor Sewell, I can tell you on that first day going from Mayfield to
11:15 Dawson, the very first thing we had to do is get a generator for for the
11:19 pumps to get water back into town. The second thing we had to do was to get
11:23 cell phone service back up because it was completely out in in the area.
11:29 But during that very first meeting, one of the first things that was said to me
11:35 is what about the apartments? What about the rental units? And the more
11:39 that we learned about FEMA, we learned that funding was not going to be there,
11:43 at least not in the same way. 88 rental units coming to Dawson Springs is
11:48 going to ensure that we save that town, that we fill up the spec building
11:52 that's part of the most recent K. P. D. I. Program. These two are going to work
11:56 with each other to create some big, bright opportunities for the people
12:01 living in that town. And I keep thinking about uh, uh, Kara, who
12:08 introduced herself to the world who lost her brother, um, at Thanksgiving,
12:13 and then they lost their home during the tornado and watching them, the
12:17 McKnight family rebuild. They're always talking about what else needs to be done
12:22 in Dawson Springs outside of them, despite how much they've suffered. And
12:26 this is another piece that I know they will be excited to see. Uh,
12:34 I briefly spoke of Bowling Green's, uh,
12:37 allotment 600 plus units. They're necessary. They're necessary because of
12:44 how hit how hard that city was hit by the tornadoes. But they're also
12:49 necessary because Bowling Green is absolutely booming. Look at A. E. S. C.
12:55 Battery plant. Uh, it's gonna create 2000 jobs on its own or Tyson Foods
13:01 that created 450 jobs. We just cut the ribbon on that $355 million facility.
13:07 Uh, these are absolutely necessary to continue what is historic growth in
13:14 Bowling Green. It was number one in economic development for towns, its
13:18 size and the last rankings that came out, which is incredible. So we have a
13:23 message from city manager Jeff Meisel.
13:26 This is Jeff Meisel, city manager for the city of Bowling Green, and just
13:30 wanted to say thank you to the Department of Local Government for
13:34 funding the affordable housing projects, one of which that will benefit the city
13:39 of Bowling Green by 635 units.
13:42 These projects are gonna be built by some amazing affordable housing
13:49 developers across Kentucky. Wabak developers will build 332 units across
13:55 all four counties. Today we're joined by President Gary Watkins and his team.
14:00 Gary, would you like to offer us a few words? Come on up.
14:04 Go,
14:10 we've got a long history with Kentucky Housing Corporation. We go way back
14:16 with them and their passion to that they have to try to solve the housing
14:22 difficulties of Kentucky and his answer passed. We were one of the
14:27 principals and one of the large project in Mayfield that was completely
14:32 destroyed, and there was one elderly person who actually lost their life in
14:36 that and and that hopelessness that comes with that. There is not a
14:40 stronger feeling in this world and hopelessness, but it's gonna bring hope
14:44 back to these communities and we're just appreciate the governor in his
14:48 office and Kentucky Housing Corporation and it's a it's an honor for us to be
14:53 be a part of this reveal. Thank you very much.
14:56 We're also joined by Director Travis Yates and the team from so car. They're
15:04 building 294 units across Warren Hopkins and Graves County. Travis,
15:09 would you join us and say a word or two
15:11 all the way from the back?
15:14 Mhm.
15:14 I am. I'm overwhelmed. Um, thank you so much for having us here. Uh, we I have
15:35 a gentleman with me that has become one of my dear friends that works with me
15:38 as well. That woke up that morning. He, uh, he lives in Western Kentucky and
15:43 woke up that morning. He says, I have a wife that has a that is a nurse and I
15:47 have a chainsaw and he jumped in the truck and he went down to Mayfield and
15:52 rode on the buses that day. Um, pull, pull bodies out in front of families.
15:58 Um, it was communicating with me all day about what was going on. And he had
16:02 us on the phone with Kentucky Housing within 23 weeks. Uh, Shannon Tudor 23
16:08 weeks and we have been communicating back and forth with Kentucky Housing
16:13 and they have said, we hear you were with you. We're gonna make this happen
16:16 and and DLG with Travis Weber and his team. We are so pleased to see this day
16:23 get here. We know it's needed. We are excited to be a part of it. Thank you.
16:28 Thank you. Thank you.
16:35 So once again, I want to recognize the Department of Local Government and the
16:39 Kentucky Housing Corporation for coming together in a new way that had never
16:44 been done before. That ultimately led to what we believe is the large and
16:48 largest housing announcement in state history, but certainly the largest
16:53 housing announcement in Western Kentucky that will help rebuild those
16:57 rental units that previously we did not have a solution for. Remember, a home is
17:03 more than four walls. It's the security of raising your family and for those
17:08 that lost the place they were living.
17:10 A new unit, a new home means so much. So what we are celebrating and and we'll
17:18 be celebrating and I guess this next spring when construction begins on most
17:23 of these is 953 families that are going to have a safe and brand new place to
17:30 live. I still remember talking to Kathy about a month after and and we're still
17:36 looking around trying to see that future. And I think one of us, I don't
17:42 remember which one said Mayfield is going to be the newest town in
17:44 Kentucky with the newest buildings and the newest homes. And that's going to
17:50 be true in each and every one of these communities. People have been through
17:54 the worst deserve the best. And I hope today is another exciting announcement
17:59 that said we're not going anywhere. Just like we're not in the east. We'll
18:03 have mawr information coming about out about where we are on a lot of those
18:07 projects because they're moving forward. The infrastructure is moving forward.
18:10 We're going to be seeing housing come up on a couple of the high ground
18:13 communities here this fall, which is really exciting one and not and and one
18:19 in Perry County. Eso a lot more to come in both of these areas. Eso with that
18:24 we'll turn it over for questions. Tom
18:26 Governor, I have a question for Mayor.
18:29 Yes, sir. That's up to her. Yes, sir. Okay. Um
18:33 I hadn't been in Mayfield until well, I didn't make the last of the 20. It was
18:39 an August. I went to fancy bar and I'm just gonna go drive through there and
18:44 see what it looks like. You can imagine what I recall. Yes. How difficult as
18:50 mayor of the city has it been for you to see such devastation and work
18:57 feverishly or or I don't know how you know, I don't know the best word for it
19:01 to get the town back on its feet.
19:04 It's painful to see a town you call your hometown just in rubble and that's
19:10 exactly what it was. Um I've said this many times, I'm a school teacher so I
19:17 could keep kids quiet in a junior history classroom, but I didn't know
19:20 how to do this and I truly meant what I what I started with Governor Brashear
19:26 and I stood outside that candle factory which had just pancaked that morning
19:30 and and he told me we're not going anywhere. And when we got back to the
19:33 emergency operating center, he said I will not let your town go bankrupt and
19:39 I've held on to both of those throughout these now almost 2.5 years
19:44 and the work of the people of our community has just been the shining
19:51 star. I think I sadly thought I can't get this done by myself. Well, I didn't
19:56 have to because these people are rebuilding their hometown and it's with
20:00 corporations like Osmond son that are coming. I told we stood here on this
20:05 stage and I told um Heather, the the ceo of Osmond said I said I've been
20:10 praying for a company like you because I knew there was one out there that
20:13 would want to be on the ground floor to rebuild our community from that tragedy
20:18 and governor, it was your words, not mine that said you're going to have a
20:21 brand new town. The devotion of our citizens and the determination of every
20:28 city employee, every department head, the leadership they provided with the
20:33 funding, the backing, the encouragement of team Kentucky is what's gotten us to
20:39 where we are today. I don't travel anywhere in Kentucky and I do get to
20:42 tell our story a lot that I don't hear. We've been praying for Mayfield and I
20:47 would be very lax if I didn't mention that because that's why we are where we
20:51 are today to thank you for that question. Governor, how long did it
20:55 take you to get to these monies to get to that number? Uh, did it start right
21:00 after 2021? What were the obstacles and challenges to get to that number? So,
21:05 so there are two pools of dollars that come into this. One is the C. D. B. G.
21:09 D. R. Funds that came for the tornado event. You get those separately
21:14 depending on we have a separate allocation of those for the flooding.
21:18 So these dollars have to be used in these counties for this purpose. And
21:22 then K. H. C. And their regular funding mechanisms were able to work with the
21:29 department for local government and ultimately take these two sources and
21:34 do something much, much bigger. Uh, that also addressed some of the
21:39 challenging economics about building rental units in more rural areas than
21:44 than our than our large urban ones. So this was a solution that they brought
21:48 to me and they deserve a lot of credit for coming up with this after those C.
21:55 D. B. G. D. R. Dollars opened up in in western Kentucky. So once the funding
22:01 was available, we had some announcements because there are just a
22:05 couple of of towns in the east that had been flooded to that some of these
22:09 dollars were available for and we had some announcements there and then this
22:13 one came together. So this is this is folks in government coming up with a
22:18 new way to do something and we don't always see that and they deserve a lot
22:22 of credit for not just doing things the same way we always do. That's the
22:26 phrase I hate to hear and I will never agree with something if that is the
22:30 rationale. But coming up with a really innovative way to to make a big
22:36 difference.
22:36 No,
22:38 who owns
22:42 please find their way into this property. Yeah,
22:45 Wendy.
22:47 Good afternoon everyone. I'm Wendy Smith, deputy executive director over
22:52 housing programs at Kentucky Housing Corporation. So your first question was
22:56 who gets the dollars? How do the dollars flow? So um, a K. H. C. We're
23:00 very used to doing what you might consider a public private partnership.
23:03 We often for multifamily development, which is complex, requires a lot of
23:09 funding, requires having either your own or really good contractors to do
23:13 the building, a compliance team and asset management team and somebody to
23:17 watch all the money. So we regularly work with developers for profit and
23:22 not for profit who are private. So we do a funding announcement that funds
23:26 are available. You can submit your proposal to us. That's a robust
23:30 proposal, has a lot of detail in it and then we score them and evaluate them.
23:34 What was different this time is D. L. G. Did an application round at the
23:38 very same time. So we encourage we each of us encourage the applicants to seek
23:43 the other funding as well. And then together we kind of scored and valued
23:48 projects to decide what to fund. So the dollars will go to private developers
23:53 who will build the housing. Um, and then in terms of how people get on the list
23:59 to move into one of these units, I want to make it clear it's going to be 1824
24:03 months or more before that's a reality, right? It takes time, but there will be
24:07 multiple ways. There will probably be signs and ways to put in an application
24:11 as a tenant right at the property. But then also these organizations have
24:16 professional property management arms that will also take via website via
24:20 phone call. So there will be multiple ways for tenants to get on the list.
24:24 Yeah, how do you guarantee that victims get a certain our aim is to offer a
24:31 priority. And so what was written into D. L. G. S. Action plan for these
24:35 dollars is that for the first I believe it's four months. Don't quote me. I
24:39 need to look that up. There is a preference for survivors for a certain
24:43 period of time, and then it would be made open to anyone who is income
24:46 eligible. And depending on the dollars, there will be different income
24:49 eligibilities. This is really gonna be workforce and affordable housing folks
24:53 who are moderate incomes and folks who are low income.
24:55 It's really gonna range right because it's scaled based on number of bedrooms
25:02 on and we try to keep it affordable. So I'm gonna throw you out some rough,
25:07 rough examples. It's going to vary county by county by county. HUD sets in
25:11 the I. R. S. Sets these numbers on the county basis, but it could be for a one
25:15 bedroom, let's say 6 to $700 for a two bedroom. I would probably say 7 50 to
25:20 $900 and then up from there. If you want the exact scaling of that, we can
25:25 get it to you because it is set county by county and funding source by
25:28 funding source.
25:31 So people would be able to use their section eight vouchers. Yes, yes, they
25:36 will not be added to housing authorities. Portfolios. No, no, these
25:41 air privately. These will remain privately owned, owned privately
25:44 managed units. But we do mandate anybody who utilizes our funding and financing
25:49 has to be willing to accept a section eight voucher
25:51 from now on. Wendy's answering all the questions at all of my press
26:00 conferences. But but let me just add on in that. I mean, I I talked to folks
26:05 that said they did not think their rental units would get rebuilt that
26:09 had been hit. So this is this is pretty incredible.
26:11 Okay,
26:15 of course,
26:17 tornadoes and everything. But are we building these units to perhaps be a
26:25 little stronger to withhold? Yes, sir. And and everything we're rebuilding
26:30 afterwards is is built to withstand significantly additional stress. If you
26:37 come out to one of the home dedications, they can walk you through the materials
26:41 that are being used all the way down to the nails and how they are being built.
26:45 Um, I was also, you know, in in in Barnsley and the community that was hit
26:50 twice in 2021. And then, um, you know, the Sunday before Memorial Day, they
26:57 had put in tornado shelters. And I talked to a woman who rode out the
27:01 tornado in one of the shelters that have been put in by the Red Cross since
27:06 then. So we're both trying to build stronger, but also to recognize that an
27:11 E F four to an E F five is is going to do damage. And having that that shelter
27:16 is is really important. But I gotta say, I was really proud of the Red Cross
27:19 toe, and I saw it as we were driving and stopped and got out and was talking
27:24 to folks. Their house was hit. It wasn't. It wasn't leveled who had gone
27:27 and stayed and what the Red Cross had put in
27:30 government.
27:32 A C. D. B. G. D. R. Coming for Eastern. Almost 300 million applications are
27:39 now being accepted to that. How much more difficult is it going to be to do
27:45 this kind of thing in the east because of the different situations with
27:51 personal income, cost of building and so on? Characterize our biggest
27:57 challenge in the east isn't really just the poverty issue, which is which is
28:03 everywhere in Kentucky. It's the flat land issue. It's where do we find
28:07 enough land outside of the floodplain? Because when we looked at what the
28:11 options were in the east, other people were gonna rebuild in the floodplain.
28:15 And they wouldn't qualify for FEMA again. But more than that, they could
28:17 be harmed again. They were gonna move out of a place they loved. We were
28:22 gonna build these high ground communities. The city B. G. D. R. Funds
28:26 are really going to help us do the building part on these high ground
28:31 communities. So take Chestnut Ridge, which is by the sportsplex in not
28:35 county. Um, we have the access road going right now. We've got the bids in
28:41 for the first phase of those roads will be putting that in with the sewer. At
28:46 the same time, the sewer, I think, starts this week on DSO. The most
28:50 challenging part with the high ground communities isn't building the houses.
28:53 It's the infrastructure. Think about the grades of the roads, you know, and
28:56 then and then running the water and sewer when our systems were already old
29:00 and and needed upgrades themselves. But all that's happening. Skyview is moving
29:05 pretty quickly to one thing I do think we want to look at is the rental
29:10 possibilities on these high ground communities, too, because that rental
29:14 need is still there. Certainly, most of the plots laid out right now are for
29:19 single families, but that's where we were operating until they came up with
29:24 with this opportunity for these. So I think you'll start seeing that we've
29:28 participated in 30 plus homes from from our fund where people have found land
29:35 outside of the floodplain and then the one in Wayland in Floyd County is
29:39 outside the floodplain. Technically, it's not on an old mind, but we're
29:42 building a whole bunch of houses at the same time there. That one's really
29:45 neat. And how fast they're building the whole neighborhood at the at the same
29:49 time. But what we're gonna see, especially starting in the fall, and I
29:53 think those two high ground communities and then the cottages of Thompson
29:57 Branch, which is the nine or 10 unit one in Letcher County, you'll see homes
30:01 on all of those. The rental will probably take a little longer, but
30:04 we're about 2.5 years after the tornadoes when we're announcing this
30:07 piece.
30:08 There'll be a larger percentage of the CDBG VR used for infrastructure in the
30:17 east. Yes, they'll have to be. They'll have to be. And and our goal is that
30:24 that should be some of the last funding that we tap if we can. So A. R. C. Has
30:29 given us some grants were able to use some of the team. Eastern Kentucky. No,
30:33 we some of the Eastern Kentucky Safe Fund, though that that wasn't re upped
30:38 in in certain ways and and other opportunities. But yes, some of this
30:42 money will need to go there. But we have some really good nonprofit housing
30:46 partners that are also ready to go. I mean, they're really just waiting on
30:50 getting the road and getting the sewer and the part that Jerry Rolls Group is
30:56 working on up up on Chestnut Ridge will start a little bit faster because it's
31:00 a little bit closer. But there's gonna use the same roads, etcetera. Um, and we
31:05 get it right up to the property and then they take it in.
31:07 You mentioned last week that you were starting a new fund for people that
31:12 suffered losses in the Memorial Day.
31:15 Outbreak, so to speak. Um, you have any more information on that? Well, what I
31:22 announced is that we were gonna we were gonna find the funds to pay for those
31:25 funerals, which is where we're starting, which we've done. The Kentucky
31:29 Distillers Association is gonna pay for one. We have another nonprofit that
31:33 just stepped up. I just heard their name this morning. We'll get that out.
31:36 It's gonna pay for for the other four. We're also working specifically with
31:42 Hopkins County right now on debris cleanup. We're gonna try to help cover
31:47 more of the upfront costs because they are still awaiting FEMA compensation
31:52 for upfront costs that they took. You're gonna see a lot of the cleanup and
31:56 Charleston and in Barnsley happening. You know, they both have Dawson Springs,
32:01 uh, mailing addresses. They're just barely north of Dawson. If you know
32:05 that area and you get off on that exit and you got the subway and the gas
32:10 station that's right there. If you turn left, you'll go into Dawson. You'll
32:14 pass where my grandparents are buried. If you turn right, it's a mile, maybe a
32:17 mile where Charleston is that got hit so hard there. And it is a miracle that
32:21 only one person passed away in Charleston from from what's there. It
32:25 went right down the road. Um, and so it's an E. F. Three taken out at least
32:30 30 yards of anything on both sides. And that's why it took about five hours to
32:34 cut in and get there because all the trees were knocked down over the road.
32:38 I've never seen anything like that. And then, you know, 40 yards at least on
32:42 either side of the road. Anything that was there was either leveled or or
32:46 pretty close to
32:47 over. Do you have any reaction to the conviction of Donald Trump and the
32:53 reaction of Republicans there to only that? Uh, I've been a lawyer most of my
32:58 life and I was Kentucky's top prosecutor and I believe in our jury
33:02 system and you have to if you're a prosecutor that goes in front of a jury
33:06 on on all types of of crimes, you have to trust them to get it right. And
33:13 there are multiple opportunities of appeal in our system, I believe in our
33:17 judicial system and in juries. You think Alvin Bragg had a viable
33:22 prosecutorial strategy? I haven't looked at his strategy specifically,
33:26 but you know, those are 12 jurors picked from, uh, across different
33:33 professions. When you hear about where some of them got news from, it's very
33:37 different. But listen, you're supposed to be able to get 12 jurors of your
33:42 peers, uh, in in the places where things are tried. And, you know, if you
33:47 attack a jury system in one instance, what does it mean? And every other
33:51 conviction of any type in our criminal justice system.
33:54 All right. Thank you all very much.