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>> Donny Brook is made possible by the support of the Betsy and Thomas Patterson Foundation and the members of Nine PBS.

>> Thanks for joining us for Donnybrook, another busy week of hot topics and to discuss them this week around the big table.

We welcome the media veteran herself, Wendy Wiese, Bill McClellen from the St.

Louis Post Dispatch, from St.

Louis Magazine and the 314 podcast and her daily newsletter, Sarah Fenske, and from the St.

Louis American, the host of last week's show and the week before that and the week before that, Alvin Reid.

Thank you so much.

You did a great job.

>> My honor, I had a lot of fun.

Well, I enjoyed it by uh following on my favorite podcast source, which I think was uh Apple podcast.

Something like that.

>> Why are you looking at us like we know which podcast?

>> Well, you look like you're young and all.

You're looking at the wrong guy.

>> Hey, we have new art this week in our continuing series of art on the mantle behind me.

We want to thank Melissa Hall, a great artist, lives in St.

Louis and she is a certified Bob Ross instructor.

And you can find more of Melissa's work at escapeartstudios.com.

Thank you, Melissa.

All right, Sarah, we're going to start with you because I thought it was kind of a surprise that Rhonda Hamnabi, the longtime director of the St.

Louis airport, she served for three mayors, 15 years.

That's a long time.

And I think she's been our least controversial public servant in the history of public servants around here.

She announced her retirement.

So, how about a little analysis and uh what do you think we should be looking for in the future when it comes to airport directors?

>> Yeah, I think Rhonda was so well liked.

I actually started this morning's newsletter saying she's like the only person in power in St.

Louis that I don't know a single person who had anything bad to say about her.

And as I wrote that, I thought, "Oh, I'm sure I'm going to hear from somebody now."

I still didn't hear anything bad about her after sort of throwing that out there.

People had so much respect for her.

you know, she had such great relationships with the airlines because that's what she came out of and she was able to build such strong relationships with the business community that she got them to step up and put incentives in to land these international flights and the first one getting that Lufansza flight, getting Greater St.

Louis, Inc.

to step up for that and the fact it ended up being this huge success led directly to British Airways bringing that direct flight here.

So, I think we have her to thank for that.

we'd lost having that sort of status of flying directly to Europe.

She brought that back.

She's also doing the major uh terminal consolidation project, which is huge.

Gonna be really big shoes to fill.

Uh Mayor Spencer is saying it's going to be a national search.

I think it has to be a national search.

You need somebody who can have that relationship with the airlines and understand how this stuff works.

>> Hey, I agree about a national search and I'm always against it.

>> Yeah, you are.

But but in this instance, it's a specialized knowledge and like like you said, Sarah, this is a person who came from the private industry from the airlines and I think that we should have internal candidates.

I don't know who there is, but I I'm afraid we do need a national search in this instance.

>> Was her immediate predecessor Colonel Leonard Griggs or was there somebody >> there was someone who would last just two years.

Right.

Right.

And and I Dick Rabco Dick Rabco and he was a terrific person.

Uh but I think of Colonel Leonard Griggs and he was always great for a sound bite and and Ronda Ham Nebrigy and that's one of the reasons why I think everybody's upset about her retiring of the many reasons we're upset because we finally are comfortable pronouncing her name.

It has come so it has taken a long time and she we have joked with her about it.

She's a great sport, but no, she she did the job, you know.

She just did nose to the grindstone and did what she was expected to do without >> I think last summer she had a bad bad day with the Seventh Day Adventist.

I I you know, this is Donnybrook.

I'm going to call it like I see it.

When uh the Seventh Day Adventists missed their flights because the airport wasn't ready for them and then she uh publicly said, "Look, uh they came too early."

And I I don't buy that.

So otherwise, I thought she had a very good track record.

Although JD Power did rank our airport third last this year in terms of customer experience.

>> Well, she's not the Wizard of Oz, Charlie.

>> Well, I knowing it's not like we have the Denver airport in our backyard.

>> Well, but I mean, we're in the process of doing this major project that we're sort of at the end of the life cycle of this current airport.

And yeah, it does look a little down on its luck.

I have defended this airport.

I love the ease of it.

It's not looking too great right now, but that's because we're in the process of, you know, they're they currently have some facilities they're building that are going to facilitate this much bigger project that starts.

>> And we've had a tough history.

I mean, remember when we tore down half of Bridgeton >> because we needed this new runway and that was all before her.

That was because it was because T and TWWA.

Turns out they're up and gone.

>> Well, you know, so that that was it was Kinloch, too.

I I think that most of Kinloch went, but Briden Rich got hurt pretty badly.

>> You know, I've been one who said like I don't I I thought our airport lets down the the city and the region because it's your port of entry, you know, your your main one.

Obviously, people drive in and all that.

So, I always thought that there should have been more urgency into making it a much more attractive place when you were there.

Um, I thought that they I thought the missed opportunity and not making light of it, but was was quite frankly when the tornado hit it like about 15 years ago, I thought that was the opportunity right then.

So, like, well, why are the places smashed up?

Let's try to start fixing it.

Now, that being said, I think the flights are the most important thing that are returning.

So, I I I will give her that and and that right now is essential as we move on.

But she was also and she was also never abandoned uh minority participation at the airport even when the winds were blowing like this is a bad thing and bad things are coming.

She did not abandon that.

I applaud her for that as well.

>> Well, I I I think that Spirit Airlines announced this week that it's dropping at six flights at Lambert.

I'm not blaming her for that.

I think overall she was a very very competent public servant.

>> I agree.

Totally agree.

>> Uh but I do think that we need more regionalism and this might be a time to say hey St.

Charles County, St.

Louis County, and maybe Illinois should have a role in the governance of this airport.

You know, this airport, she she worked under tough uh conditions where every year she had to send about six or seven million dollars to the city of St.

Louis for its general revenue.

I mean, that's money that should have gone to beautifying the airport.

>> Well, I agree, but not I don't think it necessarily should go to St.

Charles and the other >> the city's not going to give, >> right?

Well, the city I'm not down >> where the customers department take away our airport.

Like, come on.

Like, let the city run some stuff here.

>> Do we do those are Let's talk about the city running stuff.

>> We have to restrict Do we have to restrict it to a national search?

Can it be an international search?

>> Yeah, why not?

Absolutely.

Good point, Wendy.

All right.

Hey, Alvin, I want to ask you, speaking of the city running stuff, uh, it was reported this week, I think, by St.

Louis magazine, correct?

Did you break the story?

>> Tell me what story first.

>> Oh, this is the sirens.

>> Yes, we did.

Okay.

Back in May, on May 16th, with the tragic tornado, we have 62 sirens in the city.

22 did not function.

That was very bad.

But as of this past week, 10 of those sirens still do not function properly.

How was that not the top priority for this new administration?

And why were those not fixed within seven days?

>> Well, I I agree with you 100%.

And I'm not making I'm not making a joke here.

You can have a tornado 365 days a year.

We had a very severe tornado on New Year's Eve.

So, it isn't like you could sit around and say like, "Well, we'll get around to it in May and June."

And after the debacle, which May the 16th was, you would think that that would have been done immediately and then they would be tested for everyone to hear.

Now, maybe that's the Reed plan, you know, like that's what I would have done.

They You'd had to tell me to turn the sirens off like what what's going on, Alvin.

Right.

Right.

So that's not good and you can only hope that it's not indicative of other things that we were really on at first and now we're not on at all.

>> Well, let me give you an example.

This week it was also reported that the impacted tenants fund, which is a fund for renters who suffer bad times, it was um first enacted in 2024 and then expanded in June.

And as of this week, no applications have been asked for.

The program hasn't even gotten off the ground yet.

>> I think that program is sort of illustrative of what St.

Louis was doing a couple years ago, which is it had a lot of small ideas like we're going to try this little pilot project.

We're going to let people apply to get one month of rent if they're kicked out of their their place by their landlord because the place isn't habitable.

It's like it's such a narrow thing and it's all these hoops to jump through to get one month of rent.

It's the kind of thing that Cara Spencer ran on saying we don't need to have all these extra little programs.

We need to get back to basics.

Now, the basics should be something like a tornado siren going off when there's a tornado >> or rent for people who lose their doicile because of a tornado.

>> Not just one month.

But I'm saying that program just seems kind of like putting a band-aid on a a a gaping wound for somebody.

>> It does seem like the mayor who did run on this ought to be able to say to a particular program, we're just going to get this done.

I mean, it's got to be done tomorrow.

And and the sirens, what what was up with the fire chief?

I mean, he was more negative about the mayor than I would have expected.

I mean, saying, I'm just here in the firehouse.

If it was my job, it'd be done now.

Wow.

>> Well, you know, the fire department was I don't indicted is too strong a word, but they kind of skirted some blame on May 16th because somehow wasn't the button to be pushed by someone in the fire department.

>> The call was made to them, >> right?

And so something got lost in the shuffle, but fire department was in the in the hierarchy of things that went wrong.

So maybe he's getting in front of this like, don't blame me.

Are we overlooking the fact that now it's automated?

That now it is automated so that if the National Weather Service knows that there is a threat, we don't need a person.

We don't rely on a human person.

Correct.

It is now.

So that is that is a big that's a pretty big fix.

And I think Mayor Spencer has had quite a few other things on her plate.

And we have just had a tornado.

>> I understand.

I I understand.

Why are you laughing?

I'm laughing because what's more important than fixing the tornado siren >> because St.

Louis is kind of like a it's like in many ways it feels like a ship that is >> But what has she been doing?

Didn't when I was gone for my brief vacation, isn't it true?

>> You mean for 6 months?

>> You wish.

Wait, wasn't it reported that after all the Rams money had been appropriated, only four homes to date have been renovated fully in the city of St.

Louis since the May 16th tornado.

>> Yeah.

>> So, do we have artherosclerosis in the >> I don't I I don't you know I don't know.

And as far as the automation is concerned, you know, like my car has got like an automatic start in it, but if there's no battery in it, it doesn't work.

So, thus it doesn't matter if you have an automated system and the sirens themselves don't work.

>> The battery the battery part is alarming.

>> They have made that alarm.

They have made some good fixes here and they made some good fixes on the siren front.

They went and dealt with all the things that could be done with existing parts.

And I think they they deserve some credit for that.

I think they have a very complicated situation in that they have this emptied out, demoralized workforce.

They're way understaffed.

Every year they're running a surplus because they can't hire enough people.

She has this new operations guy, a former colonel who is in there whipping a lot of things into shape.

I have seen the departments that he's making changes in.

It just so much needs to change and it's like if you're in management, you fix one thing, the next thing you know somebody else quits because they don't like the new standard.

Then you got to fill at least at least get a certain thing done.

>> We're going to get this program done.

>> It's called in a city like St.

Louis.

>> Good good point.

Good point.

It is triage.

Bill, what about the f-word being uh exclaimed by the governor of Illinois, JB Pritsker, at a meeting recently of the Illinois Federation of Teachers?

He basically said Trump and his cronies, his words, not mine, can go, you know, where and he threw in the the the f bomb.

I happen to think this doesn't work.

Lucas Kunz threw it around quite a bit when he was running for US Senate in Missouri.

Look what happened to him.

He got trounced by Josh Hawley.

Do you think this is going to help or hurt Governor Pritsker if he seeks uh the White House?

>> Oh, I would say it's a negative thing.

I mean, there's a lot of old-fashioned people like me who think, you know, if if you have to resort to cursing, you're really not thinking very clearly.

And I think that the next president, we want somebody who's going to calm things down.

Like, you know, the news feed isn't going to start with uh, you know, Mlullen did this, Mlullen did that.

We want someone who's going to be calm down and keep things at a low simmer and out there throwing the fbomb around.

I I don't think it's a good strategy.

I'm sure that there's some people are going to say, "Wow, you know, it's great, but I I thought it was a bad move."

>> Well, you and with the exception of Sarah to my right, the rest of us are from the tar pits.

I mean, you know, we we are we're just this far away from extinction.

I mean, we really are.

And I think that the young red meat folks on both sides of the aisle, if you are on social media, which you are not, you would see that they he is he was preaching to the choir.

They could not hate they could not hate President Trump any more than they do.

He's trying to rile up his base.

He was he was I I just don't think it's going to hurt him at all.

>> Well, old people vote though.

I mean, great numbers.

Young people might think that's really cool, but old people vote.

I don't know if you about the election in New York yesterday.

>> I was just going to say old people voted on Tuesday and old people voted in Virginia and New York and all these other places.

And it was kind of like, you know, there's a new something out there.

Now, JB Pritzker, I I believe the man smokes cigars, too.

Now, can he won what 1.2 million playing Blackjack?

Probably had a cigar hanging out of his mouth.

The fact that he cursed, it's like, hey, right now, is it a bad look?

Do I want the president or people running for president swearing in public?

I do not.

But I don't think it'll cost them a single vote.

It probably wanted more votes any longer.

>> I will say I don't think young people necessarily think that swearing is cool so much as they almost just don't even know that you're not supposed to do it.

Like we have hit this >> this stage in this country where I think it's probably because nobody's watching TV on the airwaves except of course the fine viewers of this show.

But you know we're all watching it on these streaming services where you can say whatever you want.

It's not meant to be safe for kids anymore.

People don't get their daily newspaper delivered.

You read the news on your phone and they're it's not censored the way a daily newspaper would take the the swear word out of the story.

Um it's just kind of like part of the the fabric of the country at this point.

And as a mom, it's I'm constantly trying to be like, I don't want my kid hearing this fbomb yet.

She's six years old.

But it's inescapable.

>> Well, what about temperament though?

Like Barack Obama was very popular >> and and he didn't feel the need to you.

They called him no drama Obama.

>> I was but so was Bill Clinton.

I mean he was very popular and he cussed like a sailor had a very volatile temperament.

>> Sarah was about to say she liked something I said.

>> I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

I actually do find your argument persuasive that we're ready for this calmer era.

And as much as Zohran Mamdami is a very very different person than uh than JB Pritsker is, I think what we're seeing with that, he's kind of a happy warrior.

If you look at how he interacts with people, that man is just beaming.

I think people are ready for somebody who doesn't seem so angry >> because he hasn't he hasn't served in office though.

He's real quick.

All right, real quick.

I think whoever the next president is is going to be totally we're going to get back to normal.

Whether it's a Republican, a Democrat, independent, this is a unique situation where your lips to God's ears.

Let's go to you, Sarah Fenske, on single room occupancies.

Now, this may not be a term that a lot of people in St.

Louis are familiar with, but it's kind of like a boarding house like we used to have.

And in the city of St.

Louis, they're following the model of Minneapolis and San Francisco and Los Angeles and allowing people to take homes and then basically carve out bedrooms and then everybody in there shares the kitchen and the bathrooms and it's a way for people who don't have a lot of means to afford the rent.

Do you think it'll go over in St.

Louis?

>> I think so.

You know, this was quietly approved a couple years ago.

They'd almost zoned them out of existence and you hear the horror stories about Lafayette Square in the battle days and you know drug dens in these you know mansions had been carved up.

Now I think people are thinking about doing them in smart ways for people who are maybe young don't have a bunch of furniture yet just getting started you could just rent a room very popular in Seattle and DC and on the other hand you see agencies like St.

Patrick Center.

They are experimenting with this to say we can get someone in a room.

They have a door that locks and they'll have the use of the shared kitchen and we're going to provide wraparound services.

We're going to be intensively there for them to make this work.

I love that.

>> I would agree with you on that because I think this is a bad example, but when I was an intern at Cincinnati, this was old house and it had like efficiency apartments in it.

So, we did have our own like bathroom and a little kitchenette, but it was small and I was there for three months.

And I think that this would work.

Now, I don't know the people that would end up living here and whether that leads to trouble or it could all, you know, be tranquil.

I don't know.

But I think it's worth giving a try.

>> I would say these things have got to be monitored very carefully because there have been stories in Los Angeles and in San Francisco where they kind of get out of control.

And some people have said, "Look, if you don't set aside as the landlord enough money to keep an eye on your tenants, especially if they have mental or drug problems, that's what I'm saying.

It's not going to work."

>> And that is exactly what the woman in the story who was profiled, she made that point that you you have to you have to you it just can't be an investment.

It you it has to be a part of your life and you have to be on site.

But I think it is a terrific idea, especially if we are trying to get younger people back into the city.

a lot of them can't afford to live in their own apartment or in a rented house or something like that.

So, this is a >> because the breakdown of who is like down on their luck and living in this situation and someone who's doing just fine and living are they in different parts of town or whatever.

But see, I can't I can't eliminate one without, you know, supporting the other.

>> I got to tell you, it's it's already happened in my neighborhood.

Uh we've had like WashU law students, four or five of them living in a house that's two doors down from us.

At this time it's a single family, but we've had uh young women, young men, and uh it's just fine.

But there are people who are studying 24/7.

So that's the kind of neighbor you want.

>> And and there's the people who own the house live there.

>> Oh, no.

No, >> no.

So it's just Florida.

>> That's like a verbbo.

Well, that's I mean that's abs but they're law students and they're very busy and >> Well, that's so should we only allow it for law students?

That's >> Well, I'll tell you what.

If you if you're going to rent to somebody, rent to a law student because that person is so busy.

There's no partying, there's no noise.

>> Oh, please.

If I rent to somebody, they're going to be Amish.

>> Okay.

Wendy Whis, I want to ask you about Mark Carter, who um is a member of the St.

Louis County Council and he also on behalf of his family was trying to get documentation so that he could get compensation from the radioactive uh reca what >> radioactive >> exposure compensation compensation act.

>> You got it.

So according to an article in St.

Louis magazine that did not name names.

There were uh people who spinelessly uh said that this guy was really being adamant that he needed the documentation for his birth birth certificate or his marriage certificate on that day and they felt pressured to get that certificate out.

>> Well, you know, Sarah, I felt like St.

Louis magazine might have been accused of clutching its pearls over this particular story.

Did you?

>> Sorry, I had to.

I don't I don't have Pearl's clutch.

I'm just a city dweller.

>> No, I I just thought that this was kind of like a nothing burger.

I mean, access is something I feel like a Martian most of the time in this in my particular demo.

I read stories that I know are supposed I'm supposed to be insensed by them and I'm not or I am by stories that I shouldn't be insensed by.

But this was if I grew up in a world where a a politician, you know, they it's it's all about access.

All right.

You have the the politicians, voters have access to the politician.

The politician gets to walk into certain areas of a county office building and ask for information.

>> I thought it went to character.

I thought it was a good story.

I thought it Yeah, but but I thought it was reflective of the kind of person that you might All right.

We >> But they I mean I I hate to say that's the way it was always done, but that's the way it's done.

Well, I don't necessarily say that's the way it's always done, especially now because people are on the lookout for this kind of thing.

But I can tell you just because we just kind of went through this, you know, if you are getting a passport or getting it redone and you've been married, like we my wife, we had to find our marriage certificate in Manhattan, Kansas, not physically, it took like two days to get it.

I I got my a copy of my birth certificate because I was getting my real ID.

Took like two days in the mail to get it.

That's just being taking advantage of people and being then going down there and being stubborn and hardheaded.

Well, man, just just fill out the form online, pay the price, you'll have it in two days.

>> I think that's why a lot of people don't want to be public servants cuz a little slip like that becomes uh and you end up in spotter for the St.

Louis magazine.

Hey, it was a good story.

They all are.

Great story.

A great story.

I think the accusers should be named.

If there are workers at the county government who, you know, feel pressure, they should be identified.

>> I guess, you know, as the editor of that story, that's a fair criticism of how we edited it.

I think I'm more with Alvin and Bill on this.

I feel like I try very hard not to get special favors.

And as a journalist, people are constantly trying to give you a special favor.

If you're a politician, if you're a journalist, if you're somebody who has access to things the public doesn't have, you shouldn't take advantage of that.

You shouldn't be like, you know, they have this backlog at this point.

It's a week long backlog.

He should wait.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

I I couldn't see that side of the table because your your halos were shining.

Sarah, final topic for this first half hour.

Um, recycling fees and trash fees in the city of St.

Louis are now $14 a household.

Now, there's some talk that they might be increased to pay for the government service picking up the trash and the recycling.

Um, how are people taking this story in South St.

Louis?

>> People are not happy about this.

You know, we've had so many trash recycling woes.

I think Mayor Jones really wanted to keep recycling when they didn't have the resources to do that and trash and so trash was piling up.

Recycling was getting thrown into the same truck and we were all like, we're paying on top of our taxes in order to have this.

And so now there's a committee looking at this saying, well, you should pay more.

And we're like, we thought we were going to get a refund for all that we paid.

I think, you know, you're right.

$14 a month is nothing and if we care about recycling, certainly we should pay more.

But I think there's some frustration in the city of, you know, we pay a fair amount of taxes and yet on top of that, we end up paying privately to maintain all the best city parks.

Those are all nonprofits.

We pay privately for policing.

That's how things are done in the city.

It's like what?

They can't even handle the trash.

Don't look now.

But she sounds a lot like a boomer.

I mean, she >> Well, but the whole, like you said, like >> we take, you know, sanitation for granted in the municipalities of St.

Louis County.

I don't even look at how much I pay for it.

But if one day they just said like, "Hey, you we're doubling what it costs."

I'd say, "Well, time out.

Wait, but we pay taxes.

We do stuff, right?

Yeah, you you can't be in favor of a living wage for every worker and then be surprised when the price of that labor goes up and somebody's got to pay for it.

Clayton, $55 a month and an automatic 4.5% increase every year >> and it used to be free.

>> It used to be free.

Times are changing.

Hey, uh let's see what uh how you can contact us if you'd like to send us a letter.

We would love to read it.

Care of 9PBS 3655 Olive Street 63108.

Don't forget those emails.

Donny Brook at 9pbs.org and on social media use Donnybrookst STL #Donny Brookst STL.

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So, make sure you tune into that.

Thanks a lot for joining us for this edition.

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Have a great week.

>> Donnybrook is made possible by the support of the Betsy and Thomas Patterson Foundation and the members of Nine PBS.