Akron Councilwoman Tara Mosley Wants Police To Be From Our Community | Strategic Moves #49

[00:00:00] Ladies and gentlemen, you rocking with a goat. Ken Dow giving you motivation for growth. Two toes down. He keep it villa than most. He do it for the culture. That’s always the goal.

This is strategic moves with Dow. This is strategic moves. Hey, what’s up everybody? You tuned into another episode of Strategic Moves on your host, Ken Dowell. This is a place where I bring our culture, politics, and business all together, and I do it every Sunday right here on this channel. But when I’m not shooting this podcast, I am the owner of Strategic Resources Consulting where we specialize in political campaigns, government and public relations work.

Been doing it for five years right here in this area and met some very interesting people along the way. And this podcast gives me an opportunity to bring some of them in to share some of our experiences and hopefully we’ll get something outta it that’ll help you personally or in your business line.

So if this something that you think you interested in, [00:01:00] I wanna tune in. I want you to hit that light button, hit that subscribe button, and hit the notification as so that you know next time got this program rolling. So today I got a good friend, my office today, a young woman, mayor. She’s a councilwoman and her name is Tara Mosley, everybody.

Let’s introduce Tara Mosley to the program. But before we do that, if you don’t know anything about Tara and wanna know a little bit about her, check out this video we got.

We have an upcoming primary election on Tuesday, may the second, 2023 here at the City of Akron, where we will be electing the next mayor along with city council members. But in order for you to vote on May the second, you have to get [00:02:00] registered to vote by April of third, 2023. So remember those dates you have to be registered to vote if you’re not already registered by April the third, 2023.

Now, keep this in mind. A lot of people have asked about if they have a felony, are they allowed to vote? Yes, you are allowed to vote here in the state of Ohio with a felony, but again, you have to get registered to vote. And again, we will see you all at the polls on May the second, 2023. And if you need more information about your pony location or where you’re supposed to vote at or may need to register online, log on to our website at ww dot Mosley for mayor.com.

Again, that’s ww dot mosley for mayor.com. And this is your proud representatives, Councilwoman Tara Mosley. You just call me Tara. We will see you at the polls on May the second.

So everybody, I would like you all to welcome. [00:03:00] Let’s give a warm welcome to Ms. Tara Mosley, to our program Millions and Millions.

So Ms. Councilwoman, welcome to the show. We had a little rough start getting started today, but I’m gonna welcome you and thank you for coming out to our program today. How you doing? I’m doing well and thank you for having me. Problem. You know, I like your commercial. We was just talking about it and we was talking about you and your dog.

What’s your dog man? Langston. Langston. Langston without the leash. I said it. I said it. She walking around that dog with no leash. Now you know, you gotta put is well behaved. Langston is well behaved. What kind of dog is Langston? Langston is a Maltese and schnauzer. Mm-hmm. You know, the designer dogs are in now.

So he’s uh, Half and half. Mm-hmm. Great Dog has, has his own little following. Wow. Langston has his own Instagram. Really? Yes, he does. Okay. All right, Langston. All right. So Langston deserves Now he, he does what he want to do then he Yeah, pretty much. Pretty much. He is a pampered dog. I am a dog mom. [00:04:00] Oh, how old is Langston?

Langston is four, four years old. All right, Langston. Well, you know, just be careful with Langston out there. Why you out there on that campaign? For sure, for sure. So Councilwoman, I wanted to invite you to the program and, uh, tell everybody, you know, I meet people along my way of doing business and things of that nature, and I met you during, um, opportunity.

I knew of you, but never had an opportunity to work with you. But last year I had an opportunity to do a little program, uh, with college now up here. And they wanted some help in Akron, and we tapped into you to ask you for your help. And you did such a great job on it. I mean, it was, uh, that part of that project was the easiest part.

I, I live up here in Cleveland and we just could not seem to really get this thing done in Cleveland Heights, but you took care of business down there in Akron. I appreciated that. And I told you I wanted to get you on my show because I like people who can do what they say. They can do it. You were one of those folks.

So again, thank you for doing that. So I want you to tell our people, like we always do in our program, a little bit about where you come from and your background. You know, are you [00:05:00] a native from Akron? Are you born and raised in Akron? So tell us a little bit about yourself. Yes. Born and raised, um, in the city of Akron, have no desire to live anywhere else but in Akron.

Okay. And, uh, very big family in the city of Akron. Mosley, family’s pretty big. Mm-hmm. My great great grandfather do originated from Dev Georgia. Mm-hmm. Lived to be a hundred, married four times, had four sets of children. Wow. Oh yeah. And so our family line is, is very long, very strong in Akron. So you got brothers, sisters?

I do. I have, uh, two brothers, one sister, but my grandparents had 12 kids. Oh, okay. Your grandparents had 12 kids, you know, back then they used to have great, great big family. Oh yeah. And I think my, uh, wife said her grandmother had like 11 or something like that. Also, Wow. Yeah. So because of that, I mean, they just, they had this strong, uh, connection with the community just based off of just that, that part of our heritage and, and my aunts [00:06:00] and uncles.

My mom, she only had four kids, but my aunt had like 10. Whoa. So that’s the Easter side of my family. So when I talk about, I had a huge family mm-hmm. In the sea of Akron. Mm-hmm. Whether they’re Mosley, Quain, or Barclay or an Easter Wow. Or Watley. It’s just so many of us, which is, I think, and they all in Akron.

In Akron. Well, not all of ’em. Some of ’em when they, when they migrated up from the south mm-hmm. Some of ’em went to Philly. Okay. Some of ’em went to Michigan, but most of ’em stayed in Akron. It’s always, uh, Wonderful. When I run into somebody and they’re like, you’re my cousin Uhhuh, or I have an officer say mm-hmm.

If I was paid a dollar, every time we pull somebody over and they say that they’re related to you, I could retire. Oh, excellent, excellent. So yeah. I love my city. I’ve been near my entire life. Um, what city, what part, what part of Akron did you grow up in? East Akron. East Akron. What, what? What’s East Akron like?

Exactly. Cause, you know, we’re clevelanders and only time we’d come to a, I used to go to Akron. I used, my daughters played softball, so we used to go down there, play to the uh, um, what the good year. Stadium. [00:07:00] That’s in Akron softball stadium. Oh, the soft Bridgestone over on uh, main Street. Yes. For the women.

Yes. Yeah, for the women. Go down. So did into those games and stuff. A huge, uh, renovation over there for the women’s, uh, uh, softball tournament. So you Absolutely. They, they have really did a great job over there. I was a softball player in high school school as well. Okay. Junior Hyen high school. Really?

What position you played? I was shortstop, centerfielder relief pitcher. Really? Oh, so you pitched a little bit. Yeah. All my daughters was pitchers. Yeah, that’s what I got. A softball player. That’s a unique position. Yeah, I got a soft spot for softball players. Yeah. That’s a strong position to be in. Yeah.

That’s cool. So relief, as I said, relief, pitcher’s relief pitch. So how was it growing up in Akron? You went to high school and school down there. Was it rough growing up in Akron or Akron? Wasn’t that bad, right? It it was. Well, hold on. It’s, and I don’t wanna cut you off cuz I, I, I’d be getting bits and pieces.

You guys had two schools down there, right? Was it book though? Oh. Oh no. High schools. High schools. No. We have more hour. We have, we have North, we have east, we have bookstore. We have Firestone, we have [00:08:00] Central Howard. Okay. Okay. All right. Central Howard is now, uh, the, the math and science school. Okay. It’s a STEM school for, okay.

The smart kids go to Central Howard now. Okay. Okay. So they grabbed all of ’em from all over the city and he stuck him all in one school. He stuck in one school. Okay. And so, um, I graduated from Central Howard in 1989. Mm-hmm. But I mean, Akron, you know, Akron has, it is, is, it struggles like every other city does.

Mm-hmm. Um, during a time when I was in school, high school wasn’t, you know, everybody talks about these great times they had in high school. Mine were in junior high by the, when I got in high school, I, I had a baby when I was in 10th grade. Really? Yes. So I, I, I was a mom early. I had mm-hmm. I had responsibilities, so I didn’t get to hang out with the kids mm-hmm.

And do all the things, uh, that they were all doing. Uh, I did play, uh, basketball my, my sophomore year and got pregnant. Mm-hmm. And, uh, you know, I had to do things a little differently. Mm-hmm. Uh, by the time I was a senior, I had two kids. Wow. Yeah. Wow. Senior in high school. Oh, yeah. Most. Now you done changed the complexity of my story here.

Okay. So, you [00:09:00] know, it was just different for me. So when, by the standards of which people judge people being in these seats mm-hmm. You wouldn’t think I would even be here because No. You know, life for me was a little different mm-hmm. Than most legislators who served these positions. Mm-hmm. It was a struggle to get outta school.

Right. I, I, I tell this story, uh, very eloquently in my book. Mm-hmm. When I talk about, uh, those teachers, those who poured into me and the ones who look down on me mm-hmm. And the ones who poured on into me are the only reason I believe that I was able to get outta school. Wow. Those who would say to me, they were surprised I even came back to school.

Wow. They were my motivators though. Right. Because I remembered that. Mm-hmm. And I tell my daughters that story all the time, and one of the teachers who actually told me that ended up being my daughter’s high school gym teacher. Whoa, imagine that. Wow. And so I say, it’s funny how things come full circle.

Mm. And so I use those moments to really, really, you know, inspire me. And when I’m talking to other young parents, whether they’re moms or dads, and I [00:10:00] tell ’em that story and I was like, you know, Your dreams are not denied. They’re just deferred. Mm-hmm. And sometimes you just have to take a different route.

I took a different route. It’s okay. Mm-hmm. To do that. I’ve always knew this is what I’ve wanted to do with my life. Mm-hmm. I just, it just took me a little longer to get there because I had a family. Mm-hmm. So you had a family coming outta high school? Yes. Had a high school. On a high school. I married the first time.

Very young. Mm-hmm. Um, and so it was, it was about family for me. I had all four of my kids by the time I was 23. Really? Yeah. And so, um, I’m in college. Some days I would have to take my son to, to school with me. And I had professors who were nice enough to allow me to bring him with me, and I would sit in the back of the class just so I could get my notes.

And, you know, he would sit there quietly. My, my daughters were all in school, but he was still. You know, or toddler. So it was a little different for me. It was a little different. So, so did you graduate high school? Oh yeah. You actually marched the stage of high school. So, so this is what, what high school?

I really, really wanna tell, uh, your, [00:11:00] your listeners to. I have a book out. Mm-hmm. And it’s called, um, from Teen Mom to Public Servant. Okay. And I really, especially my younger parents, especially those who, you know, sometimes they have those challenges and they feel like no one believes in them if mm-hmm. I don’t even know you, I’m gonna tell you I believe in you because I was that person.

Mm-hmm. So when I was, uh, I remember this day, and I talked about this on one of the other shows I was just on, I said, I remember that day we were all seniors and they started calling all these names over, over the pa. Mm-hmm. And we get downstairs, it’s, it’s an office full. A lot of the same girls, because when I was pregnant the second time, they encouraged us to go to the teenage parent center.

Mm-hmm. They didn’t want us in the high school. Mm-hmm. They had a school for Right. I remember. Yeah. Yeah. So that’s where they sent us. Mm-hmm. And so we were sitting in the office and our counselor came out and says, uh, I’m sorry, you guys aren’t gonna be able to walk the stage. I need to send you all to [00:12:00] summer school.

Mm. And so we’re all sitting there like, what? Mm-hmm. One of the girls refused. She’s, I’m not staying here. She went and she, I don’t know how she did it. Mm-hmm. But she wouldn’t talk to all these professors for, I wasn’t short credits. Mm-hmm. They actually put me in an art class. Wow. When I should have been in an algebra class.

Mm-hmm. So she padded our schedules with classes that we didn’t even need. Right. So when it came time to looking, it’s like, well, she needs algebra. Mm-hmm. So we were stuck at, in summer school, at the Teenage Parent Center. They had some little. Some little cake and punch party and here’s your diplomas going really on your way.

It was, to me, it was so disrespectful because there was a young man, um, who was on his way to the military mm-hmm. And he was short of credit, but you still let him walk the stage. They didn’t let none of these girls walk and you wasn’t short of credits or nothing. They just, you think they just are freaking drawing and design class.

Wow. Drawing and design class. And then, and then I said, I remember telling my parents this and I [00:13:00] was just so upset about it. And my mom, I remember her. I love my mom, God rest of her soul. She was like, just get over it and go through the class. Mm-hmm. And it hurt cuz I wanted her to go to that school and go off and I wanted her to go off.

Right. Because darn it, I did what I was supposed to do. Mm-hmm. And uh, but you know, I think it really, really, Shaped me. Mm-hmm. And it really showed me how this system really don’t care about certain people. No, no. It, it just really doesn’t because, but for that moment, I probably wouldn’t have the fight in me that I have.

And it’s given me a really thick skin because of it. Mm-hmm. I saw one of the girls, Licia, she was one of the ones that got sent to summer school with me one day. Mm-hmm. Years later, we’ve been outta high school. 33, 34 years. Mm-hmm. And she re she said, you remember that day we were in office And we talked about that.

Wow. She remembered that. And we talked because it was a hurtful moment for all of us. Mm-hmm. And, and I’m sitting there, I’m trying to champion the cause for all of us in the office. Mm-hmm. And I’m being the most vocal one, but it hurt. And I was just like, dang. They really didn’t, to me it was like, their [00:14:00] moms, they not gonna finish.

They’re not gonna do anything with theirselves. Why even bother with them? And it just gave me the motivation of, you know, after I finished summer school, um, I just went on and just went and got a job. And I worked for a little while and I finally signed up to go to school. Cause I was, by the time I, I had gotten married and mm-hmm.

And I signed up to go to Akron u So, you know, going to Akron u. And being a parent of four children at the time, it was tough. So I was gonna ask you, did you go when you had all four kids decide to go back to school or you decided to go in between? Mm-hmm. I didn’t go. I had already had all my kids. Okay. I had got, we had gotten married.

Mm-hmm. So at that point it was about we need to work. Mm-hmm. We got kids take care of, and then finally after I had my son, I was like, I wanna go to school. Okay. So then, um, signed up, went to the University of Akron, stayed to like my junior year, and it was just all of these. Why am I in this status class?

Mm-hmm. Why am I in this? This is not what I’m in school for. So I ended up transferring out and going to the Academy of court reporting because I knew that’s what I wanted to do. Mm-hmm. To be a [00:15:00] paralegal. So I work in a law firm and that’s what I did. Um, while I was at the, uh, I worked for the post office.

Okay. And, uh, I just remember seeing there one day and I was like, I just don’t wanna, I just don’t wanna be that postal worker. Everybody talks about, oh, they’re gonna go post though. I mean, literally the post office that I worked in, I, I was at a D C Uhhuh, um, which is a data conversion operator. Mm-hmm.

And the facility I worked in, all we did was we would see mail come across con computers, and we would it to whatever state it was going to. Mm-hmm. The week that I went on vacation was the week that I was trying to find me another job. Mm-hmm. One of the guys, they had forced to retire. Mm-hmm. It was on the news.

They forced him to retire. He came back to the facility with a gun really, and made the supervisor stripped down. In front of everybody in the facility and walked the floor. Wow. And I said, I knew it was a reason why I was supposed to go on vacation. I mean, it was a, he went to prison Wow. And everything because of it.

Wow. And uh, and I’d sent out all these letters to all these [00:16:00] law firms just trying to see if they would get me an opportunity to, only one law office called me back and I was attorney ed Pars. Wow. And he was a civil rights attorney. Oh. So that’s probably what gave you the bug. I bet. Oh, I, it was there, but he just lit the fire for me.

How, how, so you were a paralegal with him? Mm-hmm. I was a paralegal and I was the office manager for him at his law firm. And he, he did a lot of civil rights work. And I remember one day they had this article in a paper about one of the private schools there. It was all girls private school. Mm-hmm. And, uh, but the picture they had in the paper, there were no, there were no black girls in the picture.

Mm-hmm. And it just burned him up. He was on fire about it. So he was like, I need you to write this letter for me. So I’m sitting there and I’m transcribing the letter. Mm-hmm. And he gets to say, he’s pointed things like, why is your school lily white? And I was like, what? Hmm. Huh. You want me to write that?

Right? And he’s like, write it. So I’m just typing away and I’m writing it. I was like, Ooh, it up, it on the front page of the paper. Wow. His letter to them end up [00:17:00] on the front page of the paper. And, uh, I would write those letters for him every, uh, every now and then when he wasn’t in the, in the courtroom.

And, uh, one year we decided to have these Christmas parties and my parents showed up. I was like, oh, my parents are gonna come. I was so excited. But my parents coming. My mom and dad get off the elevator and I introduced my parents to him and he just cracked up laughing. He said, I guess I need to watch what I see around you.

Huh. And I was like, Hmm. You know, my dad would probably feel the same way you did here. Right. This white Irish guy gets off the elevator with my black mom and he was just thinking like, I’ve got this girl in here writing these letters. Wow. So your dad is Irish. Whoa. Now you, you, you gotta skip us back. You like tell a story.

So, alright, we gotta go back to the neighborhood. So you grew up, you had a Irish dad? Yeah. And a, a black mom af a black mama. So that story in itself is, uh, my parents. Were married right after the Loving versus Virginia decision. Hmm. My dad was in the military. Okay. So [00:18:00] whenever my mom would go visit my dad, he was, he was stationed at Fort Bragg.

Right. And whenever she would go visit him, she was not allowed on the base. That ain’t a movie about that, didn’t he? Yeah. She was not allowed on the base. And, and the bus driver would never drop my mom off close to the base because he feared for her safety. Mm-hmm. So whenever my dad would wanna visit my mom, he would have to go to the hotel and visit her off base or they would go and meet somewhere, go hang out away.

But she was never allowed on the base. Right. I never understood that till I got older when my, my parents, um, passed away not too long ago, and I found this like a big old luggage. Like going those makeup bags. Mm-hmm. Full of all of these love letters that my mom and dad are written back and forth to each other.

When my mom, my, they were in the military, I’m gonna figure out a way to get ’em published. Mm-hmm. Talk to my siblings first, but I’m their love story. It’s just so beautiful. And, uh, I always would ask, I said, why would you never let me go? And my dad said, it was almost like they were feared for my safety.

Mm-hmm. But I was almost like, don’t talk about this part of our life. Mm-hmm. Because you never know what may happen. [00:19:00] And so reading through those letters, I found the letter that came from the United States, uh, I don’t know if it was the military branch, it was one of the upper levels of the military where they were talking about the discrimination that was going on on the different bases.

Mm. And my dad had put in for a transfer. He actually wanted to be transferred to Alaska. Wow. Because of the racism. So I found that, and I was like, I can only imagine how that was for them and what they dealt with. Mm-hmm. Because my dad went to South High School, which was a older high school in Akron, but my dad was only one of like three or four white people who went to South.

It was a predominantly black high school. Wow. And so my dad and my mom would go to games together, and my dad and my, you have to, to really love somebody to put up with what my mom and dad put up with. They were fighting all the time. My mom would jump in a fight in the minute if somebody wanted to fight my dad for being with my mom.

Mm-hmm. That my mom was, you said they were always, my mom was Angela Davis. My mom was Angela Davis. Wow. I’ll tell you. Wow. And, uh, just, I just, their, I [00:20:00] love their love story. Mm-hmm. I just love it because it just really shows that when, when you really love somebody, all that other outside noise, you can, you can work through and it, and then it’s probably harder for him mm-hmm.

Than it was for my mom. You know, we, we grew up in our, our neighborhood, um, where I grew up in, um, it was in that. Position of the community changing. And I think you’re, you’re, from what I can hear from your dad, he probably was part of that, where the community started to change when more and more black folks moved into the community.

And more and more the white people moved out of the community. Mm-hmm. But then there were them white folks who were stuck there, who wasn’t moving. They were there, they family bought houses there, or they got ’em, or just wasn’t in no position to move. So they lived among black people and they were cool.

You know what I mean? And, and you will see the white dude who will be dating a sister all the time and, and wouldn’t be afraid of it. And, and would just, like you say, really in the fight about everything because they grew up. In the community of that? Well, my, [00:21:00] my dad’s family, my grandmother, she had kids by a black man.

She had Wow, okay. She had white kids. Mm-hmm. She had biracial kids. Mm-hmm. So I can only, it was probably even worse for her Exactly. Than it was for my parents. Mm-hmm. Because here she was with these biracial children. Wow. But then she had a white set of kids and, uh, it, it, it’s so funny because I remember those days where, you know, certain people in that side of the family, they had no love for us.

Right. Oh, I can imagine. They had no love for us. I can imagine. It wasn’t none of that. It was, no, you’re not coming over here for a family function. None of that. My mom was jazzy though, so my mom. She would tell you just how it was and how it is and how it should be. Mm-hmm. And you didn’t have to like it, but you were gonna hear about it.

And so it’s, that’s interesting. A beautiful story to tell for sure. So tell me, uh, so I imagine you was working for this, uh, attorney for a little while and that got you into understanding a lot of, like you say, he was doing civil rights thing. So what got you into wanting to do, get into politics from there?

It wasn’t [00:22:00] even from him. He really just, he opened up the door. To the community mm-hmm. To make sure that I knew these are the elected officials, these are the people I need to get you in the room with. But the very first race I ever worked on mm-hmm. I was 17 years old. Mm-hmm. And it was, uh, Dean Young, he was running for judge.

Okay. And I would call cold call people about his fundraisers, his dogs and suds. Mm-hmm. And that was very, very first one I worked on. And the reason I remember him is because he would be in the parades riding on a horse. Really? And I just was so fascinated by he, he’s running for judge and he’s on a horse.

Right. That’s a different kind of thinking right there. Right. So I wanted to just do whatever I could. Mm-hmm. And um, and so when I went finally to work for Attorney Parms, he introduced me to Judge Anna Lisa Williams. It was, she was getting ready to take position as a female black judge. Mm-hmm. It just opened up a, a door for me that has just been a forever door.

And, and Judge Williams and I, I am like her little sister to this day. Mm-hmm. And, uh, I, I’ve been able to work on a lot of those campaigns for a [00:23:00] lot of those, I worked on mostly judicial campaigns because I always felt like, don’t wait till you get in trouble to find out who the judges are. Mm-hmm. And that always bother me.

Like when people like, well, who’s, well, who’s the judge? I’m like, don’t you vote? Right. I mean Right. That’s the position we in our community need to know exactly who’s there. Exactly. And so I always worked on those, those campaigns were the most important to me. Mm-hmm. And um, and that’s where I really just really laid my stake.

Mm-hmm. And then I just worked, worked hard until Barack Obama ran for office and I was neighborhood team leaders for him. Mm-hmm. I actually received the Democratic Chairs Award for my work I did on his campaign. Oh yeah. And uh, that was when he ran the first time when it was like, Who’s this guy? Oh yeah.

Nobody thought he was gonna win. No. And we were all in for, we were just me. And it was like Tom Sawyer was having these meetings for him. Mm-hmm. And we were just like all in for him and we kept saying he’s gonna win. Right. Nobody believed us. Mm-hmm. No one believed us. And then when he did win, it was just like, okay, here we are.

Just do this. Let’s win. And so when he ran for [00:24:00] reelection, um, I ended up being one of his, uh, I was one of his delegates. Okay. And so I was able to go to the D N C and really see everything in action. So that was fun. Oh, so you had a chance to go out there and hang out with everybody and do that thing. Oh, that’s cool.

That’s cool. So what made you wanna run for counsel? I was always gonna run. Mm-hmm. I was always gonna run. So, um, fast forward from working at attorney, uh, parms office. I worked, um, for an attorney who ran for judge. Mm-hmm. He ran against an incumbent, a strong. Incumbent he lost, but he was given the appointment at that time we had a democratic governor.

Okay. And he was appointed. Mm-hmm. And so I went over as his bailiff. Okay. So once I became his bailiff, um, on reelection, um, it’s funny how we can’t do what other people do. Mm-hmm. And I tell, I say that mm-hmm. Politely as I can. Um, the, the judge that I worked for at that time, he had had a D U I back when he was like in college.

And he brought that up and made it seem like he had just had it yesterday. Right. And it tanked his campaign. Mm-hmm. It tanked his campaign. But we had [00:25:00] had another city council person at that time who got in trouble for a D U I driving a city car. Mm-hmm. Didn’t even. Didn’t even bother. Didn’t bother but him, taint his campaign, lost his campaign.

But another judge was like, I wanna bring her over as my bailiff, because the way she keeps that courtroom running, I, I just wanna bring her with me. So I ended up going to work for her. I worked for her until, um, I decided to run. I went to her and I said I wanted to run. And she says, okay, you can run.

Mm-hmm. And I ran first time out the gate. We knocked on over 5,000 doors. But What inspired you then? Why? I wanted to see something different for our community. Was there somebody run, did you run against somebody? Oh yeah. I ran against the incumbent. I ran against the incumbent. And why, why did you wanna run it?

What, what, what was the that you thought the incumbent was just there too long Ideas, new ideas. What was it that made you felt that you wanted to run? For me, I felt as if there were certain parts of the ward that weren’t being taken care of. Mm-hmm. Because the ward was so big. [00:26:00] Mm-hmm. Um, it crossed the entire city of Akron.

It had Northside. Part of downtown. Mm-hmm. All the East side and parts of the South Akron. So it touched every part of the city except for West Akron. Okay. And so there was a part of the city, they just said, we don’t never see him. Mm-hmm. We don’t, he don’t come, he doesn’t respond to us. We don’t see him.

Mm-hmm. And I mean, I’m not one to run against incumbents. I understand. I just felt like you could do better. Yeah. I could do better. Mm-hmm. I could do better. And so I ran on, you know, we wanted a council person who would take care of the whole entire war, not just the part where he lived at. Okay. And, um, he just kept knocking those doors.

Knocking those doors. And I actually went into his neighborhood. I said, I’m gonna start in his neighborhood and I’m gonna work my way east because the east side was my family. Correct. I knew I was starting 138 votes ahead of whoever ran, because that was my family. Right. So I was like, oh, I got that bank.

Mm-hmm. So now I need to go over here and convince these people where he lives, where he is grown up, that I’m the best person for the job. Mm-hmm. Some of them were, weren’t receptive to that because they looked at it like, this is our [00:27:00] hometown person. Mm-hmm. And I got that. But I made the case for myself where people started saying she got a point.

She’s got a point. So how, how long had you been in office? Nine years. Geez. Okay. Nine years. Nine years. So this is nine years ago you took him out? Yeah. All right. And send me some of your big accomplishments you most proud of. Oh, So I pride myself on being able to say in my nine years around that horseshoe, I have brought in more pieces of original legislation mm-hmm.

Than a lot of people around that body who ha have been serving in double digits. Mm. Um, and that’s because, you know, I went and I listened to the residents. Mm-hmm. And, and I knew what was going on in these neighborhoods in the community, not just in Word five that I represented, but because across the city, because people would call me and say, Hey, did you know this was going?

Or did you know this was going on? So one of the signature pieces of the legislations that I’ve brought in, that I’m most proud of mm-hmm. Is our live streaming. Okay. And that was met with a lot of opposition. Mm-hmm. Um, I wanted us to live stream our [00:28:00] council meetings. I thought it was important that we be transparent.

Mm-hmm. And that the residents know what we were doing with their tax dollars. They fought against it. So I sent it back to the law department. I tweaked a couple things and I said, let us sit for a little bit. Mm-hmm. Let us sit. Mm-hmm. Because I wanted to give them time to think about it. But in that time, me being who I am mm-hmm.

I bought my iPad Right. To council. Right. And I started live streaming the meetings from my desk. Mm. And they were not happy. They went to the law department, they wanted me to stop live stream, live streaming. I was Facebook lighting it. Wow. And they were so upset. Wow. And the, and the law department said, there’s nothing we can do about it.

Oh, there’s nothing we can do. And so I said they were so upset, but they saw how hundreds of people had started watching questioning, why don’t y’all wanna live stream? Mm-hmm. And then I bought the legislation back in and it passed nine to four. Wow. Do y’all do, um, republican come industry? Oh yeah. We, that was a charter amendment.

Okay. Someone else bought that in as they get three minutes. Okay. Um, to speak. Mm-hmm. That in itself has been something for us. It’s been something, but it’s was needed. Mm-hmm. [00:29:00] Um, another piece of legislation I was, I brought in, and it’s, it’s a actual law city ordinance in the city of Akron, was I was able to get the Crown Act passed in the city of Akron for hair discrimination.

I was about to say that here. Right? Okay. Yeah. I was able to get that passed. Mm-hmm. And, um, I was really surprised. Uh, other people were like, we got bigger things to worry about. I said, no. Black people are actually getting fired, especially black women mm-hmm. For their hair. Mm-hmm. Are told not to wear their hair a certain way.

And that’s discriminatory. Mm-hmm. So if you’re telling me that I can’t, that it, it’s wrong for someone to discriminate against you for whatever lifestyle you’re living. My hair sh should have just as much equal mm-hmm. Um, say in that. Mm-hmm. So, um, that was very important for me. I was able to get the dash camera, uh, legislation passed for all the police officers now have, will have dash cameras in their police vehicles.

That’s recent. Just recently? Yeah. Just recently. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And, um, a lot of that, what happened with Jaylen Walker mm-hmm. Played a part with me being able to get it passed, but I actually had been talking to the chief about it mm-hmm. Prior to [00:30:00] what happened with Jalen because two of my nephews were killed on Easter because the police was chasing him and they lost control of the car.

Geez. And his car went down into a ravine and they drowned cuz they couldn’t get outta the car. This was in act? Mm-hmm. It was on the news. Really. Two of my nephews and one of their friends on Easter. Last Easter. Last Easter, yep. Oh, we haven’t had Easter yet. Haven’t. Mm-hmm. Last year hasn’t been, it hasn’t even been a year.

Wow. Hasn’t been a year. So we, our question to them was what happened? Right. We wanna know what happened. First of all, why are you stopping them on Easter? Were they speeding? What was the point? Mm-hmm. It’s Easter Sunday. Mm-hmm. And whatever happened, we’ll never know because the officers got outta the car and they took off mm-hmm.

To get away from them. And we, to this day, don’t know why. And I said, at least if the dash cameras would’ve been there, we would’ve at least known what led up to the stop, what led up to it. Cuz clearly there was no chase. Prior to them taking off. Mm-hmm. But what happened to them has happened before in other instances where people was like, well, what’s, what’s the dash [00:31:00] camera footage show?

Mm-hmm. What happened to dash cameras? We had dash cameras a long time ago where they were old, they were antiquated. Um, you had some officers that would make them malfunction on purpose mm-hmm. By corn coffee down in ’em. Really? Oh, yeah. And so when I challenged him on that, I said, make a liar out of me then, because I know it’s true.

Because remember, I was a bailiff mm-hmm. In the courthouse right where the police station is. Right. So a lot of the things that were going on, I knew because other police officers were telling me. Mm-hmm. I, I wasn’t just reaching and grabbing pile outta sky. A lot of the things that I know and have combated against is because other officers, black and white, have come and told me.

And so I challenged them on, this is how you do better. You be better by doing this and not doing that. And so, you know, it’s. Played a part in some of the reason why, um, I may not be their fan favorite. Well, yeah. Hey, what’s up? We’re going to hear more from Councilwoman Mosley, but right now what I need you to do is hit that subscribe button, leave us a comment to let us know how we’re doing.

And if you think you know someone that’d be interested in coming on our show, then you can [00:32:00] do that as well. See, it’s really just that simple. Now let’s get back to Councilwoman Mosley. Uh, well let, let’s talk a little bit cause I, I, we going, we going agree to disagree if we have to, and that’s good. That makes good podcasting.

Absolutely. Okay. You, I, I’m kind of getting to this point and we gonna go into this. You got some issues down there in Akron we’re gonna talk about, but, uh, the police and people running from the police and everything that’s going on with that. You know, I, I, I think that. Society right now. We’re going through a crazy time as everybody could say.

Oh yeah. It’s crazy. But the crazy part that I wanna focus on is that we gotta be careful that the criminal element is huge. Yes. The criminal element in the streets is much bigger than any element out there. And what I mean by that is the criminal mindset of the people that survives in the streets. It’s different than your thinking.

My thinking. [00:33:00] My kids think it’s a different, totally different element. And what I think we have to be careful is that we’re getting to a point where people are running from the police that should may have good reason to run. Cause some of these cops are really crooked. Cops are doing some bad stuff out there, as we seen recently.

But then we also opening it up for the criminal to also say, I’m running cuz I’m scared. But he’s not running cuz he’s scared he’s running because he got. Dope on him. He’s running cuz he’s running from something, he’s doing something and we’re catching this at the back end with our phones and everything else with the police to maybe chase this guy 20 blocks and tire and May is laying on this guy or something.

Cause I’m trying to hold him down to keep him down. But it, it, it is just all getting outta control and we’re just at that point where, um, I just don’t know how we get through that. And just to jump a little bit, it is going to be really hard for you as, uh, the new mayor to be [00:34:00] Ronnie, to juggle that as mayor, you know, because you, you have a police department that you want to do its job, but you don’t want to be the person that’s making it seem as if you anti-police.

Right. You see what I mean? So that we open it up for the criminal element, which is the biggest element in our community, right. To play a game on that. Because they would look at them and be like, I’m running, I’m running, and you running. They’d be like, why you chasing, when you look at the police pulling weapons out of ’em, they pulling this out.

Well, you shouldn’t been running What you mean? You know, you we looking at him like get off of him. Like, y’all just don’t know what’s, what’s happening here. And I think that we gotta be careful with that. So what are your thoughts on everything going on? You, you, you, we going to go on and get right to it then you, you got all this stuff in Akron.

You had the Jaylen Walker case that happened down there. You had police officers that were going in. You talked about it in your actual community. Um, on tape pulling down, um, posters off [00:35:00] of the walls of uh, uh, saying, um, people who were protesting. I think the gentleman who died, Was out there, uh, a white gentleman as I, if I remember who was out there, you wanna put him up?

Who, he was putting him up and very supportive of what was going on with that and supporting him and the police were taking it down. So you wanna run for mayor? You got it. You’ve been around, how you gonna deal with that? So I, I think it first starts with, we have to first rebuild the trust and the relationships between the community and the police.

Mm-hmm. And, and it’s fractured. It’s very fractured. Mm-hmm. So we definitely have to do that. And how do we do that for me? Mm-hmm. I truly believe that we need our community officers back in, in the neighborhood. Mm-hmm. They need to be doing parking walks. There was a time when they called ’em beat cops.

Mm-hmm. Um, they would be on, on the, on the bicycles in our neighborhoods. You don’t see that anymore. We have, we have our neighborhood response team and they’ve just changed their title. It’s like community engagement. Team. Mm-hmm. They’ve changed the acronyms, but all that [00:36:00] is, is well and good. And yes, we do have those young men and women who they see police and they do mm-hmm.

Have a fear and we have to mm-hmm. We have that’s genuine, honest about that fear that a lot of them are feeling based off of the things that are now being recorded. Mm-hmm. And I said, these things didn’t just start yesterday. They’ve been, they’re just being recorded. Mm-hmm. But that doesn’t mean all officers are like that.

Mm-hmm. A majority of them are good officers. Mm-hmm. It’s the ones that aren’t mm-hmm. That is making bad for the good ones and now we want the good ones to speak up. Mm-hmm. And not fear. Have the fear of retribution. Well, you know, you got a bad officer in your rank and file that all spills over to you when you are out here doing your job.

Like for instance, we have an officer in Akron, uh, officer Lloyd Ford, beloved, uh, retired officer Sylvia tr tr beloved, they loved these officers. I want all officers to be like that. Mm-hmm. Will we get all officers like that? We won’t. Mm-hmm. But you wanna make sure that you’re intentional when you’re in the hiring process, so that you can see those [00:37:00] things that may be a concern to you before they get there.

And now you’ve gotta try to figure out how to deal with when a Jaylen Walker situation happens. How do we do that? Well, I think that the first thing we need to do, we need to be more intentional about hiring officers who actually live in a neighborhood. Mm-hmm. Live in a community, look like the community.

Mm-hmm. Now we got billboards all the way up here in Cleveland. I hire officers in Akron. Why is that? Mm-hmm. You, you, you probably having the same issue they having in Cleveland trying to get officers. Are you guys are, well you guys are doing better than we are. We, we are definitely doing better than Cleveland.

Definitely doing better. Cleveland, they can’t find no cops up here. We’re definitely doing, maybe trying Akron. They here for me. I just think that we just have to do a better job of recruiting from home. Mm-hmm. But you gotta make them want to be an officer. Especially when you saying you want a, a, a police department that actually looks like the community.

Akron is between 32, 30 4% African American out black, but the police department doesn’t look like that. [00:38:00] Mm-hmm. And that’s, and with this drop program, a lot of those officers are getting ready to retire. Mm-hmm. And, and most of the, the, it’ll be like six, 7% black Really after really they was gonna be bad.

The drop program was, was a lawsuit that happened that was able to get these officers hired in minority black officers. Mm-hmm. And so, What I think needs to happen is, and, and the things that, that I have in my platform outside of, yes, we gotta work on the community engagement. Mm-hmm. I truly believe we need to have substations in our neighborhoods.

Especially when we’re talking about those, those red zone areas where we have a high crime rate and a crime index. We can’t expect new businesses to move here and we can’t get our crime index down. Who’s gonna do that? Nobody in their right mind is gonna move to a community where, first you can’t get people to wanna work and then the crime index is out of control.

So we gotta work on that part of it. But when we sit and we talk about all of these elements to hiring a police officer, needing to look back the community, be of the community, but we need to get rid of that maximum age requirement. Mm-hmm. Get rid of [00:39:00] it. Cuz eventually someone’s gonna sue us for ageism.

Mm-hmm. No one’s 60 wants to be a police officer. Mm-hmm. No 60 year olds coming in there. Right. To take police officer test, just get rid of it. However, in talking to our, our chief chief millet, he said in his other position, he hired a guy that was 55 years old, the winner. Okay. Pristine shape. Mm-hmm. And the thing about that is that older person mm-hmm.

Because they have that experience, that life experience. Right. I, they just look at things a lot differently than a younger officer would. And I truly believe that if there were older officers mm-hmm. Um, when Jaylen Walker’s situation happened, I think there might, I can’t say for sure, but I truly believe that there was a more seasoned officer.

I think that there may have been a different reaction than the, the, the action that happened. And so the, getting rid of that, but making sure that we are not looking at an officer and saying, or a, or a candidate, a potential candidate, and saying, have you ever smoked marijuana? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And of course, [00:40:00] instantly, right?

If they look like us, Even if they don’t look like us mm-hmm. They’ve probably smoked marijuana at some point in their life. Right. So now they’re faced with, do I lie? Mm-hmm. Or do I say Yeah, because either one you say you’re, you out anywhere. You’re out. Right. So why are, why are we even, why does that even matter?

Mm-hmm. You’re saying once they become a police officer, you can’t get high. You can’t smoke weed if you wanna be a officer. Mm-hmm. But it has to go twofold. Mm-hmm. Ask em if they’re using steroids. If they ever use steroids. Right. If you don’t ask about marijuana Right. Ask about steroids. Correct. Because here, steroids makes you angry.

Correct. Makes you aggressive. Correct. Marijuana does not correct. So just, just take the marijuana off the table and then you’ll have more buy-in and, and don’t make credit a, uh, a, a factor in that if somebody has bad credit, but you know they have the potential to be a great officer mm-hmm. Work on, work with them.

Mm-hmm. Have ’em go through some kind of can credit counseling services to help ’em get their credit where it needs to be. Now we ain’t talking about fraud. Right. Or even when it open a whole bunch of accounts and Right, right. And fraud it on ’em. We’re talking about [00:41:00] help them get their credit restore, but don’t make these deciding factors as.

Why they should or should not be? Well, we know the, the biggest factor in getting your credit is restored is a job. A job. Hey, if I got money to pay my bills, ain’t the only reason why I ain’t paying my bills. Cause I don’t have no money. My job. And so when, when, when we look at some of the recruiting that they’ve done, they, they, we had these posters where they made it cool that if you’re, if you got tattoos, you could be an Akron officer.

Well, I don’t care about tattoos. How much do they make? Right. It should be about the fact you’re coming in the door and making $63,000. Mm-hmm. And you’ll see a lot more of these young people. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Who will actually sign up. But you gotta also make sure that they have the same fair advantage as the other officers.

Mm-hmm. There needs to be a pre-test, like if you’re gonna take the lsat mm-hmm. Have ’em sit and have ’em have practice sessions. Okay. Have them do all of that. So when it comes time to take that test, they actually have a fighting chance to pass the test. And that usually is where you lose a lot of them is when they’re taking that test.

Really? Yeah. The test is, has, has [00:42:00] been probably the biggest issue. And then they get to the drug testing issue. Mm-hmm And then they make the offer and then they do this. The psychology. Mm-hmm. Part of it, which should be done in the beginning. That was one of the things when I chaired reimagining public safety, I chair personnel and culture and I said, why would you wait till the end to check to see if somebody is mentally stable?

Because you know, by that time you almost ready to just give them in there. They done been through all of that. Yeah. They through all of that. Yeah. You might as well. You know, they crazy in the beginning. Ain’t no point in you even doing any of this other stuff in the, in the beginning of it you have that conversation and you know, by having that conversation, If they’re going to be fit, don’t wait until you done all this paperwork.

Right. Right. You done took him through all of this agility testing. Right. And now you, they think, cause you’re trying to make ’em fit right at that point. Cause if they passed all of that, you say, well, he, he, he’s a athletic, he’s this, he that, he maybe he’s just got a little, he wasn’t feeling good today.

You going, you know what I mean? And, and those are the ones that’s squeaking through. Yeah. So that, that’s a valid point. So yeah. So I, I think that we have to be very [00:43:00] intentional when we talk about the, the front part of that, and that’s the hiring practices. Mm-hmm. And making sure those relationships are there.

Making sure that all of our officers are c uh, are, are c i t trained. Mm-hmm. Because they need to know how to deal with somebody that they, that is having a mental health issue and an episode at that moment. And, and one in for person has a mental health issue. And so when you’re, you’re dealing with someone, I don’t wanna have to wait until a c I T officer comes on scene because little Johnny is having an issue.

All the officers should be trained. And if that means you gotta have an in-service day at maybe Johns night down in Akron and everybody’s trained, that should be mandatory. It shouldn’t be one of these, I wanna be in a gun violence unit. Mm-hmm. I wanna be in the meth unit. Mm-hmm. It should, this should be a part of the process because we just live in a different time.

Covid exposed a lot. Mm-hmm. And it showed that a lot of people are really struggling mentally, and then that addiction component is there because of that mental health component. And so making sure that they [00:44:00] are able to deal with those segments in our community is gonna be very paramount to repairing those relationships and making sure that instances like Jaylen Walker never happens again.

So, uh, uh, o on that Jaylen Walker thing, I know you guys are doing a, uh, consent decree down there now, correct? Mm-hmm. No. Mm-hmm. You guys are putting together a board, uh, that’s a Citizen’s Review board. Excuse me. That’s what it’s, we have a consent. You guys have a accept. We get to that point. Hopefully that will not ever happen under my administration right now.

That’s what I was about to get into. So I’m, I’m, you got a citizen review board, which is similar to the other thing that we just passed. Issue 24, I think, or 25, 1 of those. So the citizen review, boy, that, is that something that you’re involved in and your, what’s your view on that and how is that working?

So that was issue 10. Mm-hmm. Um, and I was a strong supporter of issue 10. Okay. And, and one of the things that I, I, I really stressed was this is not about saying that officers are bad. Mm-hmm. This is about making sure that we have a [00:45:00] transparent process Okay. Is what we needed because there’s no trust there.

Mm-hmm. And most of the officers were fine with it. You have a couple almost like, we’ll just hold it up in collective bargaining. I said, but see, here we go again. Mm-hmm. So now you’re doing a disservice to the community. Why even come to the table? And that’s the first thing out of your mouth mm-hmm. Is we’ll just hold it up in collective bargaining.

And I was like, no, we, this is about, if, if there’s an incident that happens and we are just trying to strengthen our community relations between the police and the community, issue 10 is going to do that. So now, We’ve gotten past that part. It passed at 60%. So people who watch our show will assume and know everything we’re talking about.

Explain to ’em what is the Citizen Review board. So the Citizens Review Board, it’s a board that is going to be comprised of citizens of Akron. The way it’s set up is there’s components to that. They have to be met and this board will, you know, look at and oversee some of the issues and complaints to come about the police.

Mm-hmm. And having a conversation about how do we make that better for the [00:46:00] community and for the police officers to be able to function in their daily. This is not a review board that’s coming in and overstepping what the F O P does. Mm-hmm. And saying we want them fire. We make a recommendation. This is, and that’s what I’m saying, recommendations.

You make a recommendation. Recommendation. Yeah. And so right now we are, on Monday, we will be voting on those individuals that. We would like to see appointed to the board. Mm-hmm. Now one of ’em, they’re given some pushback on mm-hmm. Um, young man named Mochi. Brilliant young man. Brilliant. Mm-hmm. African American young man attorney, only 27 years old.

He checked so many of the boxes. Mm-hmm. It’s hard to deny him being on there. So he originally was supposed to be the Ward five. Pick my pick. Well, once they went back and looked at the lines, they realized he’s not in Ward five, he’s in Ward three. Hmm. So, uh, Councilwoman Somerville decided she would take him and he could be her pick.

And so we had a couple other council members was like, no, we don’t want him to be the pick. Even though they, these are individuals [00:47:00] who actually sat on the review committee once it came to the floor, they were taken aback that once they found out he was in a different ward, why was he still even considering?

I said, well, if the ward three person is saying this is who they want, when did we not follow the lead of the ward person when there’s an issue in their ward? Like, what are we doing here? And I mean, I can understand what Councilman Kamer said he had a problem with the fact that they dropped it in his lap that day when they were sitting here, um, going through the committee and, and, and the process of interviewing.

He felt like that should have been discussed on that and not dropped in their lap on Monday, which this administration has a habit of doing that, unfortunately. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Um, and that’s where his concern came in. But, uh, two of the other councilmen. They just don’t want him on their eye at all, period.

It doesn’t matter. Mm-hmm. And I, and I said, okay, so you don’t want this young man who checked a lot of the boxes of requirements, very strong, very opinionated, will be honest. And he’s an attorney. Mm-hmm. He checks, he checked all the boxes. Mm-hmm. And so because of the [00:48:00] way that the, uh, legislation, the charter was written, we have to have a majority, a simple majority for him to even be appointed.

So we have 13 council members, nine of them have to vote yes for him. Mm-hmm. To be positioned on the review board. The mayor’s three picks, he only needed seven. Okay. So his three will go through, because he already has seven votes. Mm-hmm. So seven votes, everybody knows he, they’re always gonna vote for the mayor.

Mm-hmm. But the nine is where it gets problematic. Mm-hmm. And I’m still trying to understand why there had to be a difference between the two. I, I just think we did, do they got somebody else, they had a police officer, a retired police officer, and I think that’s what they’re upset about. But there’s already a retired police officer who is being appointed on the mayor’s side.

Mm-hmm. He’s a retired police officer from Canton. Mm-hmm. But now he’s a metro bus driver. Okay. So he’s gonna check that police officer box. Mm-hmm. Because they have to be retired. They can’t be a current police officer. Okay. Can’t work for the city at all. Can’t be on there if [00:49:00] you any one of those components.

So they’re ma they tried to make it in our paper about. A mochi would be taking the place of a police officer. And that’s not true. That’s not true. That’s not true. Mm-hmm. And so there’s eight votes for him there, there’s still a holdout on the ninth vote. So I don’t know what happens. Mm-hmm. If we don’t get nine votes for him, because it’s not, it’s not explicitly written as to what happens.

And I even said, well, do we have residual candidates just in case someone doesn’t wanna serve or they decide that this is just too much for them. Mm-hmm. We, we’ve got a little bit of work to do before we have a vote on Monday. Do y’all, do y’all have a serious, uh, uh, a deadline of when this has to be in place?

Yeah. We have to vote on Monday. So Monday is the day Monday supposed to be done. Have to vote. Yeah. And so, wow. Yeah, we’ll see what happens. Uh, it, it would be unfortunate if they don’t vote in mochi on onto that review board, because he’s just, His viewpoint of this community and how things should be moving forward.

He works for one of the biggest law firms in the country. Mm. And his law [00:50:00] firm is okay with him being there. He actually does a lot of pro bono work helping, uh, uh, individuals who are being, uh, wrongfully evicted. Mm-hmm. This is what he does in the spare time. Great kid. And, and I said it’s unfortunate that, you know, it seems like whenever it becomes anything about race, uh, in our, within our, our horseshoe, what we call our council to horseshoe, it always becomes problematic.

It’s always an issue mm-hmm. That we deal with. Oh, well that’s an issue. Everywhere. Everywhere. It, it’s an issue everywhere. I mean, it’s just, it’s getting more and more obvious now. Yeah. You know. Exactly. More and more obvious. Lemme ask you what you think is the biggest issue of Akron, if the residents of Akron was to say, you know, we got a couple of, these are our two biggest issues that you think the community is looking for right now out of its leaders.

They want to know that their voices is being heard. There’s a, there’s a lot of lip service, but then when it comes down to actually having input from the residents and letting them be involved in a process, there’s never any of that. Mm-hmm. Um, for instance, we just had an issue with the, um, [00:51:00] uh, white Pond Reserve.

There’s a developer who’s trying to build on wetlands and the environmentalist not having it. Mm-hmm. Rightfully so. But it was another one of those things where, uh, they put the cart before the horse. Mm-hmm. Let’s vote on the zoning, and then we’re gonna slide this housing development in after that really quickly.

And the environmentalists picked up on it and they’re just like, well, wait a minute. We can’t even have a meeting about this. So they want input, they want to be heard before we make big decisions that are going to affect our community. Of course. Political stomp speech, public safety, top of the list, housing, economic development and job creation, uh, mental health and addiction.

Those are all of the components that I am running on because they’re important to us. But everything has to start from the bottom up. If we do not deal with the mind of a person, the mental health of a person, the addiction going on in our community, which is really, really terrible right now. And area code 44 3 0 6, which is East Akron, we have the highest suicide and overdose rate of black men.

Really [00:52:00] highest in the city. They’re just, the 2022 was just terrible for a young black man in Akron. The overdoses is just out of control right now. Mm. Suicide. Um, is it suicide or is it overdose? No, both because suicide, most of ’em are committing suicide with guns. Really? Yeah. Wow. The struggle is there and, and I think the biggest issue within our community is we don’t wanna talk about it.

Hmm. If you talk about it, then it becomes, oh my God, people are gonna think I’m crazy. It’s not about thinking you’re crazy. It’s about going and getting the help and talking to somebody so you don’t feel like this is the end all be all and taking your life. So, so, uh, so how do you translate that message into a message that, you know, cuz when I asked the question, just like you said, you, you, you, you, you gave me the answer of a activist, which is good.

And, and uh, and, and cuz you said, you know, the stump speech safety Bible, which is, you know, that’s what I was looking for, but, um, could, you answered it the way you did. That’s the [00:53:00] real issue, right. People do want service, they do want safety, they want better schools, but they we’re dealing with a lot of other issues that are really the root of a lot of the problems that we’re having.

Absolutely. Yep. How do you get people to buy into that as an elected official to be able to win a campaign? I think you just have to be honest with ’em. Mm-hmm. And, and I think it’s all about being able to relate. Mm-hmm. And I do believe that I am the most relatable candidate in this race. Mm-hmm. I, I, I come from those neighborhoods where the struggle is happening at.

Mm-hmm. You know, I don’t come from privilege. I have busted my butt for everything. Mm-hmm. That I, that I have and everything that I want. I’m working hard for it. I think they want somebody who understands. Mm-hmm. Who has an addiction issue. I’ve lived it out loud in front of everybody. Mm-hmm. My son has a severe mental health issue that turned into an addiction issue.

Mm-hmm. So I have those conversations with my residents, cuz I want them to know. I understand because I have lived it every day since my son was nine years old. Mm-hmm. I’ve lived it, [00:54:00] he’s 29 now. Mm-hmm. We live it every day. And it just depends on what day he’s having. They wanna know that you get it. They wanna know that you understand when they say.

There’s no housing here or I’m houseless. Mm-hmm. Or I, you know, I’m facing eviction. I understand that because I was that mom. I was a young mom trying to make away for my kids. Mm-hmm. And that, that resonates with them. They know that I know that their house needs to be fixed up because I lived in that neighborhood.

We still live in the house that my parents built 24 years ago. Mm-hmm. And, and our houses are falling down around us. Mm-hmm. And they want their houses fixed up. They don’t want somebody to come through here and say, yeah, we’re about to build a new development, but what about us? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

We’ve been here for 30, 40, 50 years. What about our house? What about our roof? What about our electrical? What about, you know, they, they deserve that and they want somebody who actually understands that. And I truly believe that I’m the person who understands and get it cuz I’ve lived it. So lemme ask you a couple things and we going get you outta here.

Uh oh. I’m having fun now. Good. One thing I want is the [00:55:00] schools down there, you know, the schools have been, um, One of the big subjects that was going on, you guys just got, your teacher signed their contract and everything and um, you know, on the news they were showing that the teachers was out there, students was down there going off, man, I mean, just the violence that was going on in the schools.

And it seemed like their number one thing that the teachers mainly wanted. They wanted the money too, but they really had an issue about the violent and the safety, um, that goes on in the schools. And Akron, you guys have an elected school board, correct? Yes, yes, we do. So you haven’t elected a school board?

The mayor doesn’t have control over the schools, but if you become mayor, I wanted to say, how would you use your platform as mayor to help improve what’s going on in the schools? Right, so first we, we need to make sure that we have schools that are working for our kids first and foremost. And I think with all of this that we’ve been talking about in Akron is, let’s not forget about.

The main persons here, and that’s our kids. Mm-hmm. Making sure that our [00:56:00] kids are in a safe learning environment, because we’ve got a few that are walling out, but they’re making it bad for the kids who didn’t, who wanna be there, who wanna learn. Mm-hmm. But it also has to be a safe environment for those kids and for the teachers.

And when you’ve got kids that are bringing guns to school, bringing gummies to school, bringing pepper spray school. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Punching teachers. Our kindergartners are the number one exposed and suspended grade in Aron Public Schools. What is what? The kindergartens Kindergarten. They’re the ones going off.

I mean, but the thing about this, I think that you, you’re talking about kids who, they went from preschool half day, now you got them sitting in school all day. Them kids don’t understand that. Mm-hmm. So I think we have to do a better job at making sure that our babies understand that they just not going in there punching teachers.

They’re going in there because they are dealing with anxiety that no one wants to talk about. Our kids that have a lot of trauma and anxiety, probably from stuff going on at their homes that no one really wants to discuss or talk about. But is it up to the schools? I mean, no. No. We don’t want the schools to be be parents.

That’s not their job. Right. Okay. [00:57:00] But they need to make sure there, there’s counselors in those schools. Okay. So they can have those conversations with those kids. Right. Because a lot of these kids are dealing with things at home that, you know, they’re being told, don’t tell what’s going on in this house and nobody’s business and our kids are struggling and they’re acting out.

Mm-hmm. And then we have the other component where if you have a kid who has a learning disability, what better way to keep you from having to expose your learning disability in the school? Mm-hmm. Act out. That’s correct. Act out cuz you don’t want nobody to know. Mm-hmm. And then the teachers are paying a price for it.

So we, we have to make sure our schools are safe, our teachers need to be paid more. Mm-hmm. Um, I just send resolution and support of the teachers act for all incoming teachers should have a starting salary of $60,000. Mm-hmm. And Akron is a little over 42. You have had to be a teacher in Akron 12 years before you even reach $60,000.

Mm-hmm. And that’s, that to me is unacceptable. That’s unacceptable. Mm-hmm. And we need to fix it. Now. We’re about to have metal detectors all the time mm-hmm. In our schools. So now we’re treating our schools and our kids almost like mm-hmm. [00:58:00] Incarceration. Mm-hmm. And, and, but not like they going to work.

Yeah, that too. I mean, you know, you go, when you go work, you gotta some of ’em. You too, you know. I understand. Understand the metal detectors being there. We have ’em at city hall now. Yeah. That’s what I’m, it’s just like you gonna work, I mean, But you wanna make sure it’s a safe environment. Mm-hmm. It’s a comfortable learning environment for everyone.

Correct. From the, from the bottom, all the way up to the top. But that starts with making sure that you have a school board that works well with the superintendent, whomever that may be at this point. Um, they started off rocky. It was a rocky mm-hmm. It was a rocky transition. Anyway, when they went through the whole interview process of who that person was gonna be.

Um, our mayor played a, a, a big role in that push. And as the mayor of the city of Akron, yes. I think we need to have input, but we also need to be respectful of the fact that the school board is elected just like I am. Mm-hmm. So, you know, one of, uh, editorials saying that, that, that the school board leadership needs to resign and, and you’re about to be the mayor, you should call on them to [00:59:00] resign.

I said, that’s for the voters to decide. Right. That’s not up to me. Right. That, no, that, that’s you. Now we’re overstepping. Mm-hmm. Because I said early on when they started having issues over at council, they passed the resolution saying that we should support our superintendent. And I said, wait a minute.

We can’t even get our own house in order. Right. But we trying to tell ’em what to do over at the school board. Mm-hmm. No, that’s not how this should work. Yes. She deserve our support. Absolutely. She deserved that. Mm-hmm. But for us to step in and say, y’all need to do better, but we over here on council, we can’t get along to save our life.

It, it to, to me, it just didn’t even make any sense. And, and the review of her was harsh. And, and I know a lot of those school board members over there, I’m friends with a lot of them over there. Mm-hmm. And I told Dr. Abar was harsh, um, but he wasn’t alone in that. They voted unanimously on that, on, on, on that assessment.

But he’s getting the bigger weight of, of it because of his words. And his words were, they were harsh. Yeah. They were harsh. They were harsh. Mm-hmm. And, and he should have chose better. Mm-hmm. I, I, I [01:00:00] wish he would’ve waited mm-hmm. Until least June, so we could try to, you know. Mm-hmm. Do some things the right way to make sure that we’re transitioning and making sure these teachers are okay.

Mm-hmm. Um, I hate the fact that she had to be faced with teachers threatening to go on strike. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. In the midst of, there was talk about laying people off. Right, right. And the teachers want to be safe. And then there was a 3%, uh, uh, pay increase in there and it just, it, it was almost like her back was against the wall when she came in the door, and that was unfortunate for her.

Wow. Well, councilwoman, I’m going to end it with this because I’m gonna let you have a minute. We usually, in our program where we let you guys, you have that camera there and you get a chance to talk to them. Millions of my viewers that watch my program and talk to ’em about a little bit, about whatever you want to talk about.

You talk about your campaign, your thoughts, your group, how they can get in touch with you, how they can get in touch with you, um, your campaign. But I want you to think about this, uh, in this and, and you take your time and do it cuz we editing this. But I, I, I want you [01:01:00] to go with, I know that the most important part of a city is, um, especially going into the leadership, is, you know, people wanna move into a community where you say there’s safety, where the education is good and there’s some economic growth or development there that they can feel like the community has something to offer them.

And, um, right now, I know in the city of Akron, it is just like all major cities. They’re struggling with those things. And you got a police department that has this situation that happened with Jalen that’s big, and you have that review board that you’ll be dealing with as mayor. You also have the, uh, education piece, which is huge.

You know, like, I think, um, the, the mere fact that you are a person who has the experience that you have, you can probably speak more to the parents and hopefully in your role as mayor, they can look at that as a role model or something to do it, because like you say, the kids are coming to school with a lot of that, and it has to be somebody who has the compassion to understand [01:02:00] that, but also has the wherewithal to try to fight, to make a change in the school system, to put the programs and the things there, whether that’s working with the county, whether it’s working with the city or whoever, to bring in the resources that the children and the parents.

Of those kids need in those schools so that the schools can work better. Other than that, it it, it is the same old thing. I mean Right. They all, all we’re doing is paying the teachers more money to get beat up. You see what I mean? Yeah. We gave you a raise because you gonna deal with the same bull crap you’ve been dealing with, so we gave you a raise.

So if we don’t really deal with that problem, that’s an issue. So I, I just know that your hands are full, you know, and you got a lot on it. I think that you have the fighting energy to do it because you gotta have thick skin and definitely you got thick skin. You, everything you done went through, you gotta have thick skin.

So I want to thank you for coming on our program with that. And with that, I’m going to close that out and I’m gonna let you have this camera here to say whatever you want, that camera right there. [01:03:00] You can say whatever you wanna say. Take your time and make sure you get everything in. Right. Well, first I wanna thank you for having me today.

I really appreciate the opportunity. Um, and for your listeners to, um, learn a little more about me, I, I would encourage you first to, I mean, I could say Mosley for mayor.com, and yes, that’s there. And I want you to look at our platform and really see what our campaign is about. But me as a person, if you really wanna know something about me as a person outside of just Googling me, you’ll see the bad.

But there’s more good than bad, you know, just, just, it’s Google. That’s how it is. But, um, I, I, I have this book that’s, um, called from, from Teen Mom to Public Servant. And, and for like my young viewers, my young moms and my young dads, I think it’s, it’s worth the read. Um, because on Amazon, it’s on Amazon. It will give you some hope.

And that’s what I, I, I wrote the book was to give people hope, especially those who come from neighborhoods like me. Um, you know, a rough start like me. [01:04:00] Um, there, there’s always promise. There’s always promising a problem. And just remember that. And um, and, and if I’m fortunate enough to be the mayor of the city of Akron, I want my residents and especially our babies to know that I hear you.

I’ve been listening for over the nine years that I’ve been there, and even as a bailiff, I’ve listened to the issues that people in Akron, in all parts of the community of Akron are facing. And we have to make sure the first and foremost that we are taking care of our children. Cause our job is to make this place a better place for them when we leave here.

And, and, and that is my priority is to making sure that we put people first and making sure we do not forget about our baby. So, um, again, you can log on to Mosley for mayor.com to learn a lot more about my platform, but again, thank you for the opportunity. Oh, thank you again. And everybody that book, you can get it on Amazon and I’m going to leave a link in our description where you can click on that to get more information about how you can register and volunteer and donate money to [01:05:00] her campaign, as well as how you can get more information and read her book.

So again, thanks for tuning in and we’ll see you at the next program.

This is strategic.