Customers

Spending from savings is not automatically illegal.

Ask yourself: Are we paying for one-time improvements or using savings to cover ordinary expenses year after year? The posted General Fund budget was unsigned and labeled a proposal. The public deserves clarity, accountability and an answer.

If elected, I will ask the Kentucky State Auditor for assistance, demand a full accounting of the budget decisions, and report the findings publicly each week. No fog machine. I already own one of those.

I will also publish a plain-English tax-and-fee comparison, department spending, contracts, legal expenses, and the city’s response to audit findings. I want a ten-year look at where our money went, not just a speech about where it should go.

Why I do not trust the current system

In 2015, on the day final bids were due for the Huntington Bank property, Ludlow Theatre was shut down. I believe Paul Darpel, whose family operates Ronald B. Jones Funeral Home, along with PDS and Ludlow officials, used government power against our project. I have written about this in my Ludlow Campaign Ethics disclosure. [LINK: CAMPAIGN ETHICS]

Rather than quit, I helped restore the Theatre with state and federal historic tax credits, more than 330 crowdfunded equity investors, and nearly 20 private lenders and investors.

The second time the Ludlow Theatre was shut down was the day before our final electrical inspection. Our brewing system was commercially manufactured in California and we had it ready to go when PDS decided the temperature solenoids needed to be rewired and, instead of industry-standard plastic conduit as designed had to be put in stainless steel conduit.

Mayor Wynn had leased his building to Second Sights, and their beautiful homemade distilling equipment was held to a different standard. He also discounted the license from $2,000 to $500. If I am the mayor, I will not be discounting Bircus Brewery license by 75%.

Big Blue at 2–14 Highway Avenue still has more than $1 million in historic tax credits available for restoration. That is what I mean by restorative justice: bring something back to life.

The City Council unanimously sold us the vacant former Duro property at Oak and Davies for $1, with a ten-year deed restriction, to create artist-owned live-work housing. We repaired the roof, eliminated mold, and removed asbestos. Days before the restriction expired, the City sued us over the property. More than four years later, Civil Case 22-CI-0744 continues. Some of the very students I worked with are now adults facing homelessness. I want that housing completed.

After more than a decade of electric service, the City disconnected power to my property at 235 Oak st. I was living there with another owner at the time.

In another shutdown, police body-camera video recorded officials describing us as “Squatters in the Building” and “illegally occupying the building.” I spent five figures fighting to get the footage released. [LINK: BODY-CAMERA VIDEO] and here is the Office of the Attorney General Ruling forcing the City of Ludlow to turn over the video.

PDS also recommended an unfavorable ruling on rezoning Big Blue in Ludlow’s Opportunity Zone. I believe Paul Darpel’s ownership of the River Knights Event Center creates a conflict that calls for recusal. [LINK: PDS RULING]

If Mayor, I will deliver one clear set of development standards, publish timelines for decisions, meaningful appeals, and public disclosure of potential conflicts. An artist fixing up an abandoned building should know the rules before spending the first dollar.

A $120 million deal deserves daylight

I sold Fischer Development/SD1 a stormwater easement for Cityview Station, the development on the hill. My company received $250,000. I sought clear terms for Oak and Davies and outdoor events at Big Blue as part of the proposed settlement. Home Savings Bank signed, Kentucky Tourism supported the deal, and $10,000 was paid as a part of the proposed settlement. Former Mayor Chris Wright refused to complete the City’s side of the settlement. I believe I was misled. [LINK: SETTLEMENT] and then they sent in the Police and Fire Department to try and shut us down on a Friday afternoon while hosting a special event for one of the investors in Bircus.

Meanwhile, Cityview Station moved forward with a 30-year, $120 million Industrial Revenue Bond arrangement. Why is this kind of deal possible for a major developer while an artist-owned housing project remains tied up in court? I am not against Fischer building homes. I am against one set of rules for the well-connected and another for the rest of us.

Every major development incentive should come with a public accounting: taxes reduced or deferred, new revenue expected, infrastructure costs, service costs, jobs and homes delivered, and the return to existing residents. The test is not whether City Hall can announce a big number. It is whether the current citizens of Ludlow get a fair deal.

Police, fire, lawyers, and public accountability

Police and fire account for approximately 53% of spending in the posted General Fund proposal. That is real money, and public safety matters. But how much is spent on legal battles, outside counsel, repeated enforcement actions, and fighting people trying to improve property? How much do Todd McMurty and the City’s other legal representation cost Ludlow? He sued CNN, NY Times, and NBCUniversal on behalf of fellow Covington Catholic Alumnus Nick Sandman. He can’t be cheap. I will sign the proposed settlement and present the invoices for taxpayers to see.

A former City Manager/Police Chief publicly wrote, “Can’t be a part of a civil war without a clean shave, see you out there.” Todd McMurty called me a “total loser” online. I support free speech. I also believe public officials and attorneys working for this city ought to be held to a higher standard than playground insults. [LINK: SCREENSHOT]

They both lost their gigs working for the City of Ludlow when I filed an ethics complaint with the Kentucky Bar Association over the settlement debacle and current lawsuit.

I turned more than 5,000 pages of discovery into a book, Circus in a Sundown Town: PieFighting, Sweet and Dirty Community Development. I am a better circus producer than a book writer. The book exists because sunlight beats silence.

I will ask for an independent review of legal spending, enforcement consistency, and PDS accountability. Police officers and firefighters should deliver public safety, not be dragged into political fights. Measure service performance and publish the results.

What happens after we open the books?

I do not believe Ludlow, in its present form, is financially sustainable. I could be wrong. The answer is to put the choices, costs, and consequences in front of people instead of pretending they don't exist.

My goal is a public-choice process in 2027. Residents should be able to compare remaining independent with real reforms, expanding shared services, pursuing a merger with a neighboring city such as Covington, Fort Wright, Bromley, or Park Hills where legally feasible, or pursuing lawful dissolution and county-provided services. I favor letting residents rank those alternatives in an advisory process where permissible. Any binding merger or dissolution vote must follow Kentucky law.

Here is the work I would start as mayor: