Ballot Battles and Boozy Hours in New Bedford's Local Politics

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[music] Thanks, Tim. Good morning. Good morning. Happy Friday. It's a beautiful day. Although, I guess it's going to rain a little bit. Maybe it'll be overcast, but if you can hear me, it's a beautiful day, right? If you're alive, it's a it's a great day. So, we'll have a lot of fun today. We'll have Tom Hodgson joining us in the 11:00 hour. Lenny Mills Jr. here from Rahobath. We'll be here in the 10:00 hour. I'll be with you in the 9:00 hour. Well, actually, I'll be with you all through the program. Whole lot of stuff going on. Tonight at 5:00, I guess it's this afternoon really at 5:00 is the deadline for the ballot committee. the ballot commission that is hearing about all this fraud that took place within the Republican party. Okay. Um all this fraud that took place within the Republican party at the lieutenant governor's level, possibly at the attorney general's level. We got victims. It's obvious there are co-conspirators. Um, we will learn, we should anyway, the decision of the ballot committee, the ballot commission did a hearing, all the testimony from Shawn Olivas, ballot experts, his lawyers. Look, Shawn is on the ballot, but the question is, should people who are likely benefiting from fraud be allowed on the ballot? That's the question. Um, as to what happens to the allegations, will the people who are being alleged to have committed the fraud? That will um that'll be determined later if if anything's going to happen, quite frankly. Um, we know Ian Breley, who won the um the convention nomination, for whatever that's worth, um, did not make enough legitimate citizen signatures from citizens to make the, uh, the 10,000. She's not on the ballot. She's the endorsed candidate of the Republican party from the convention. Uh, but she's not going to be on the ballot for lieutenant governor. Sean Olivera made the he did what he had to do and he turned in the properly gathered, legally gathered signatures. He's on the ballot, but we're going to find out if he has any competition within the Republican party 5:00 tonight. So, big big stuff to look forward to. You know, I really hope that Mike Walsh makes the ballot for attorney general. I like Mike. However, as far as I can see, if he doesn't make the ballot because he's a victim of fraud, he hired a guy who allegedly went out and forged signatures, forged them um on multiple other candidates, identical forgeries. I hope Mike Walsh makes the ballot, but I understand why he might not. You can't benefit from fraud. You're a victim, but if you get on the ballot, you did benefit from it, right? And I think our process is uh too important. And by the way, if Mike Walsh wants to, and I would think he should, he's a really good candidate, really smart guy for attorney general, and we absolutely need a replacement. Um, he can run a writing campaign because he has no opponent. Now, Ian Brensley's trying to do that. I'm not sure what Ann Manny Martin's going to do if she doesn't make the ballot, but running a writing campaign for your party's nomination when you have other candidates on the ballot in that same line item is ridiculous. It's a waste of time, waste of other people's time, right? Sean Oliver followed the process, clicked all the boxes, however you want to say it, and uh he's on the ballot. So to run a writing campaign against a guy or any person who's already on the ballot in your party primary when you didn't make the standard um I think is bad. I know it's bad and I think it'll have ramifications across the uh throughout the party and throughout politics in general. But people are free to do whatever they want. But if Mike Walsh doesn't make the ballot, I think his committee ought to immediately consider putting together a writing campaign for September so that he gets the Republican nomination officially and then runs against Andrea Campbell, the Democrat attorney general, who's just been a disaster. She's got a good personal story, but boy, she's really really not done a great job while she's been the attorney general. These ballot questions are a good example. All right, so 5089960500, whatever's on your mind. Now, an article in the New Bedford Light. You know, the mayor came on here a couple of weeks ago now, maybe a week ago, and announced, and I agreed with him, that he didn't think it was in the city's best interest to expand the liquor licensing hours, right, till 3:00 a.m. or whatever it was that the state passed the governor enthusiastically signed allowing bars to serve into the we small hours of the morning. The mayor told us he consulted with the police chief. He didn't think it was really any appetite among business owners for it. So he was not in favor of it. Now, in the city of New Bedford, you have the formality of the licensing board appointed by the the mayor. Okay? Um, they have to officially take the vote. The mayor told him what he'd like, what he thought was in the best interest of the city. The only reason is a licensing authority is because you elect the mayor who then appoints them. They get confirmed. not always, but they get confirmed by the city council, but they serve at the pleasure of the mayor. Um, and the mayor has use a licensing board. For instance, well, the NIP ban, he was against the small bottles of alcohol being sold in the city. He didn't figure he could get it through the city council. try to direct route through the um licensing board. That caused a lot of a lot of problems for the licensing board by the city council who rightfully thought they were being co-opted, that their their power, their legislative powers were being co-opted. And that was a big discussion, but the licensing board agreed with the mayor. There's an article in the New Bedford Light. do appreciate the new Bedford light, but I'd like your opinion. Would you like to have kept the bars open, restaurants open? Would you have liked to have been able to go out? You saw some of the other cities around the Commonwealth where it worked, some where maybe didn't work, somewhere it wasn't implemented, and they still had problems. Me, I'm kind of a traditionalist. I like the fact that there's a a shut off time that you know you can't stay here. You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here. I've been to other cities where they serve all night. New Orleans, New York City. I I didn't partake. I don't really like it. I I like to do stuff the next day. So, I don't think you can I personally, particularly now, but even when I was younger and much healthier, I um I was not a stay out all night guy. Unfortunately, I can't play music here because I could tell you stuff through song, but I can't play Eric Clapton anymore. So, the um but the the New Bedford Light article um it's pretty informative, but I'm curious, would you like to have seen New Bedford stay open later? Do you think it was a good decision, a bad decision not to go along with the governor and the legislature to keep bars and restaurants serving alcohol into the we small hours of the morning? Here's a new Bedford light. Licensing board votes against extending last call public consumption this summer by KA Bank. New Bedford. The New Bedford licensing board voted against adopting legislation recently passed by the state to extend last call for bars until 3:00 a.m. or introduce new outdoor public consumption sites. During their June 23rd meeting, committee members Ricard Rzindes, Richard McHugh, and James D voted unanimously to oppose the measures that Governor Mora Healey signed into law to allow cities and towns to broaden some alcohol consumption laws until July 31st. In the public meeting, Rzzindes mentioned lack of police resources, echoing public safety concerns cited by public information officer Jonathan Darling in the city's decision not to propose a citywide extension of last call. According to Mayor John Mitchell, the police chief recommended to the city not to extend last call. At 3:00 a.m., "It's hard for us to have enough police staffing in place to adequately control crowds," Mitchell said in a phone interview. The city allows the purchase and consumption of alcohol outdoors in designated areas for the summer sound series downtown concerts held Friday nights throughout the summer either on Lower Union Street or Purchase Street. However, the licensing board decided unanimously not to establish those zones as spaces for public consumption or expand public consumption of alcohol into other areas. Vendors with the necessary liquor licenses in New Bedford can still sell alcohol outside during the summer sound series, but customers cannot purchase a beverage inside and bring it outdoors. During the meeting, Rzindi said that he would like to hear input from residents in a proposed area before allowing public consumption of alcohol in that zone. The state legislation is set to expire on July 31st, 3 days after the licensing board's next meeting on July 28th. We don't have to rush into this, D added. If it's going to be a pilot program, let other cities do the pilot program because I guarantee you there's going to be more problems. The Fall River Licensing Board voted on June 11th to extend last call by 1 hour for establishments across the city, but did not adopt public consumption of alcohol. For Mitchell, the concerns of extended last call outweigh the limited benefits. He said New Bedford is not getting traffic from the World Cup like cities such as Foxboro or Providence, so there is little economic gain. I just don't see a lot of soccer fans saying, "Hey, let's stay out to 3:00 in the morning in New Bedford," Mitchell said in a phone interview. Bartenders, owners were mixed on extending last call. Bartenders and bar owners in downtown New Bedford have different views about extending last call. In my opinion, any opportunity to let people know that New Bedford's open for business should be embraced and marketed aggressively, said Jason Lanigan, co-owner of Rose Alley Ale House before the June 23rd meeting. He said that he supports extending last call, describing the legislation as a symbolic gesture for the World Cup celebrations that invites people to stay out later together. Riley Shaughnessy, a bartender at Rose Alley, said, "If we stayed up until 3, we would be busy for it." On the other hand, DL Herbert, a longtime bartender now at Moby Dick Brewing, had said she thought extending last call would be dangerous. People already leave the bars drunk now, so give another hour and they'd be really drunk, she said. Adam Catz, owner of Play Arcade, said that he would not want to extend last call at Play. He said Play has a liquor license until 2:00 a.m., but he has chosen to close at midnight, a decision that he said was part of CO restrictions that stuck. "We tried a few extensions and people couldn't figure out how to behave, so we decided that midnights are cut off." He said, "It works out great. We have a lot of people that start their night here on their best behavior and when they leave here, they're not leaving over served. Outdoor consumption at Summer Sound Series and beyond. Local bar owners and Mayor Mitchell did agree that continuing limited public consumption at the Summer Sound Series is a good idea and possibly even extending public consumption to other areas. However, the licensing board's decision on Tuesday will not allow for those extensions this summer. Personally, I would be open to it. Mitchell. All right. So, that's the New Bedford Light article. You can listen to the robot play the whole thing. Go to new bedford light.org or you can read it. Do both. Um, how do you feel about this? I personally think it was a good idea not to keep it open too late. I tend to agree with the bartender that said maybe it's too dangerous. I don't know, maybe I'm getting too old. I don't know. Um [snorts] that I heir on the side of caution, but I I do appreciate Jay Lanigan's um opinion on it because he's been in that business for decades now. Um but as for the public consumption, what's the big deal? I'm all for that. um being able to get a drink in a bar and go outside and walk down the street to another place, particularly when there's outside concerts. I'm all for it. I'm glad that the mayor is for it. The bar owners tend to agree on it. It's really no big deal, I think. Um and again, you got to try it out before you decide outright you're not going to do it, I think. But most people, I think, can take a a drink and go outside with it, right? I I don't think it's that big of a deal, really. And if you're trying to be a tourist city, right? A city that welcomes cruise ships, as an example, because the city of New Bedford does that already. What is wrong with allowing somebody to have a drink at, say, Rose Alley, get one of those beautiful beers that they sell at Rose Alley or a mixed drink and not have to drink it all down in the establishment, but gingerely walk back to your cruise ship, go to a couple of stores, have a drink. I mean, that seems like normal life to me, right? Seems like a normal way for a tourist to appreciate the city, right? um get a drink whether it's Hurricane or I'm thinking some of the drinks I've had in other cities that allow public consumption or just a beer at Rose Alley and walk past stores and maybe go in and buy something on your way back to your cruise ship. I mean, that's how a first world city operates, right? allow people to if you ever been to and we'll talk with Lenny about this when he comes in because he's a regular in the Cayman Islands. Those cruise ships come in, people have a couple of drinks, they're shopping, the stores all benefit from it. It's just how it is. So maybe hopefully slowly New Bedford can do it. Now, my criticism here is of the the governor and the state legislature. This thing came out of nowhere and was sprung on cities and towns. Really, it was there was very little conversation. It should have been started thanks to him a year ago. a year ago to allow cities and towns to really absorb it, think about it, plan for it, police to plan for it, all of that stuff. None of nobody in my opinion was given enough time to prepare for it. So that almost like implementation of it was almost guaranteed to not be fully implemented but only done haltingly by cities and towns. It just went along with it. Whereas I think if the mayor knew Bedford and his members of the licensing board combined with the chief of police had had a reasonable amount of time, which I mean months, to think about it, plan for it, adjust for it. They might have been able to say yes. But it was sprung on all of us so quickly by the legislature almost like they hadn't thought about it. Carol Fiola thought about it and sprung it. You know that almost like the World Cup and I get it. They were busy with other stuff. I do. Um, but I don't think there was enough time to prop properly implement it and therefore it was proper of the city of New Bedford through the mayor and then the licensing board to say we you know we really can't do this because nobody's given us enough time to adjust. I think that's really what what happened here was a lack of time to adjust. All right, take a break. Open phones, whatever's on your mind. Give me a call. 50899605 and stick around. We'll be right back. Back to Chris [music] McCarthy and South Coast now on WBSM. Call 508996500. Good morning. Welcome back to the program. The governor, Governor Healey, many of you voted for her. I did too. Um was in town the other day celebrating offshore wind. And guys, I get it. It's a signature part of her agenda, the Green New Deal, all of that stuff. Um, we talked about it here. John Mitchell had another scheduled event. He was out of state presenting at a conference. That's why he wasn't there. There's there's nothing more to it than that in my opinion. the the mayor was out of town for a previously scheduled event where he was a presenter to a bunch of urban planners down in Tennessee. So, um, and the governor's a busy person and they schedule stuff and so is the mayor. So, I don't think there was anything more to it than that. I really don't believe that. I mean, I love political intrigue and things like that, but I I think this is a dry hole. Um, Governor Healey came to town. She had a big press conference with offshore wind union people. Now, we all know there's a lot of problems with offshore wind, but there have been, I'm told, benefits to the local economy. I'm told that. I'm told that by people who were landlords to some of the people that work in offshore wind, you know, that they came to town to rent apartments. And I believe these people cuz why would they lie? Um, and the governor tells us it created all kinds of jobs. But remember the new Bedford light a who gets sponsored as we all do by industry people. There's been offshore wind sponsorship. Never here on this program. It's kind of evaporated for the for the radio station. Um, but like the New Bedford Light takes advertising or sponsorship, however they characterize it's money for to run their organization. But the New Bedford Light reported, we were considering it jobs, but it's really job hours. Remember that Will Senate wrote a very important article about it's not jobs, it's job hours. That's how the Europeans characterize it. But when they brought that European language over here, many of us interpret it as jobs as opposed to doing the additional breakdown that it's job hours. And what does that really translate into? Right? So there's been a lot of misunderstandings, some created intentionally I think, but about is it jobs or job hours. So, the governor was in town, talk about how great offshore wind was, and something she said in the video clips that I've seen jumped out at me because I was here on the air. Not every day of the blizzard because some days it it was hard. But most days I was here reporting to you, talking with you about the blizzard and I know that offshore wind was around 4% which is nothing of the electrical supply for the state of Massachusetts. There is, and you can all check it out if you haven't already. It's called ISO, ISO New England. Google ISO New England. It will show you in real time how much energy is being used, where it is coming from, is it renewables, is it oil, is it natural gas? All of that, they break it down for you. ISO New England. I remember having a conversation with Paul Craney from the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance about how offshore wind had totally failed, that renewables were not part in any realistic way of the energy solution this winter. They really were not. So when the governor praised offshore wind and gave him all kinds of credit, I knew that people had to be cringing in that room. It was really embarrassing to hear the governor say something so absolutely out of bounds with the realities of where we got our energy from. To think she would be that out of touch with reality that she's going to claim things that are totally untrue. Does it mean she doesn't know or doesn't care about energy? Where we get our energy mix from? People die when you run out of energy. You know that some of you know about family members, friends, neighbors. For the governor to just not even know really what was happening, be so committed to her ideological agenda that she's ignoring public facts. Or is it that her staff, knowing her ideology, couldn't tell her the truth, that she wouldn't hear the truth? Is she surrounded by people that only tell her what she wants to hear? That's not a good good situation for a chief executive or, and I hope this isn't true, is she just lying? Did she know and lied about what offshore wind provided during the blizzard during this winter? Tim Dunn confronted her at her New Bedford press conference. Maybe they didn't realize he's a greater New Bedford guy and that he would be there. There was very few Boston media there, but Tim Dunn was there. He's in Boston when you need him. He's here when we need him. Tim Dunn at the Boston Herald does a miraculous job of being everywhere. But Mara Healey stood in New Bedford and made some very untrue statements. And Secretary of Energy Ter appointee also made the same untrue statements. Were they just in so uninvolved, so uninformed that they want to believe it and they do believe it that offshore wind really provided crucial energy? Or were they lying? I would like to believe that it's confusion, error, maybe being surrounded by yesmen that they have to correct more than telling a lie cuz that would be awful. Terrible. If you didn't hear it, Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance was good enough to capture it, part of it on air and produce it. You can see it at Massachusetts fiscaliance.org. or but here's a clip of Mora Hilly speaking in New Bedford, speaking untruths to the people of this Commonwealth, but most particularly New Bedford, greater New Bedford. You know, this summer it was a little cold. We had a lot of snow. Governor Mora Healey's inability to keep [music] her season straight was a sign of things to come during her speech on offshore wind. This source of energy right here that you guys built was absolutely key to energy reliability [music] for our state. If Mass Fiscal were giving out Pinocchios, Governor Healey's statement would earn four of them. Let me tell you what this means. This past winter, [music] oil and natural gas carried the load during our coldest days. Renewables supplied only 9% [music] of the power with wind half of that. Asha win played a terrific role in in what happened this winter. [music] Let's hand out a few more Pinocchios, shall we? So that is the clip from Mara Healey and Secretary Ter here in New Bedford praising offshore wind. Guys, it literally failed. It literally failed. We talked about it in real time. You can look on the computer at the ISO New England shows the mix. We were importing oil to keep the electric power on. Offshore wind and solar failed. They failed. Now, the governor obviously was not informed of that. I don't know why, but she wasn't. Well, either that or she stood in New Bedford and lied to all of us, right? I can't believe the governor would tell a lie that's so easily explained as a lie. No, I think it's more she doesn't know, is out of touch, would rather be battling Trump in Washington, would really does not enjoy being governor, does not enjoy the day-to-day details of being governor the way you say the mayor does the day-to-day details of being the mayor or a selectman if they're good, enjoys the day-to-day details of running the town, right? And being on top of stuff. I don't think she's that kind of person. I just don't. And again, I voted for her. To my discredit, I guess I'll get an opportunity to to revisit that decision in a couple of years. No, wait. This year. This year. This hour is brought to you by the Cold Beer and the world's best chicken wings at Rose Alley Ale House in downtown New Bedford. Might be a good day to sit on the deck. They got a nice roof at Rose Alley Ale House. I recommend the onion rings as well. Let's go to the phones. Good morning. Thanks for holding. Good morning, Chris. Hello, Chris. Uh, because of work commitments, I don't get to listen to your program every single day. And what I'm going to say, I hope has not been repeated. Uh, do you remember a few years ago, maybe five or six years ago, they had a terribly cold winter down in Texas? I do. And Texas, the news reports all said that Texas heavily depended on solar and wind power. Yes, there was no wind power and because of the constant cloudy skies, no solar p power. And some people actually froze to death in their homes. Yes. So, we cannot depend entirely on those two sources of energy. And people have to realize that it's very dangerous. Um, and when you have a leader like that who look, I'm going to give her the benefit. It's not it's not really a benefit of the doubt, but I'm assuming she didn't outright lie. I'm assuming she actually believes it and didn't know it that offshore wind and solar totally failed, which is logical during a blizzard. Right. So, it's very dangerous what these new Green New Deal Democrats are doing to our power source. That's correct. Well, I would say thank you for calling and listen, you may want to consider quitting that job if it prevents you from listening and calling [laughter] the program. Well, I'm close to retirement, so it's coming soon. Chris, I wish you a great retirement. Don't be a stranger. Thank you very much. Have a great weekend. Thank you. Bye. Bye-bye. I'm joking. Obviously, nobody quit your job. Thousands of people on welfare depend on you. Get out. And plus, the military-industrial complex depends on you as well. All right, I got other people on hold. I do want to speak with them, but I got to take a brief break and then we'll be right back. Stick around. Tom Hodgegen and Lenny Mills Jr. coming up before the program is over. Stick around. South Coast Now with [music] Chris McCarthy. Weekdays on 1420 a.m. and 995 FM WBSM. All right, welcome back to the program. Happy Friday. I'm Chris McCarthy. Got a great program in front of us, but it's open phones right now. Good morning. Hello. What's happening? I'd like Hi. I'd like to say and even though I don't like Kaye, she has been caught lying before. That's where her Pinocchio comes from. That's why everybody says that about her. I also believe that if you are a governor, it is your job to investigate. It's your job to do some work and and see what is going on, what is actually going on, not just what your left-hand person is telling you or your right-hand person is telling you. So whether she I believe that she falsified the truth. That's what I believe because how could you go in front of reporters and make a huge statement such as that and not be correct about it? I think backlighting I think she's gaslighting like she always does and I think that, you know, this whole green energy scam in Massachusetts is outright ridiculous and she knows it, but she can never admit that she's wrong or incorrect or even partially wrong. You know, she always just has to either blame it on somebody else or just ignore the fact that it, you know, that she was incorrect about something. I she just doesn't value Massachusetts, I don't think. And I think that it's time for her to go. Thank you for the call. Thanks for the input to the program, the contribution. Um, look guys, it is a big deal to tell people that a source of energy was critical to the mix in the winter when it wasn't. It's not. And could it be in the future? Maybe. But to say something worked when it didn't work and it's it was a demonstrable failure in real time. You could look I did. We talked about it here on the air. I brought in people that really study the energy markets and mass and it was all a failure. Yet she stood in New Bedford and told us all it was such a big deal and the Secretary of Energy went along with it. Maybe it was the one who falsely reported to the governor that it all was crucial when it was an absolute failure. Look, the problem with being a leader is that people around you get a vibe for what direction you're going in and they try to yes man you, right? Tell you, "Oh, you're right, boss. You're right, boss. By the way, can I take the next weekend off or can I get a raise?" Right. Um there are yes men. The difficulty of being one of the difficulties of being a leader is getting truth from the people around you. We'll ask Tom Hodge about that. He'll be here at 11:00. We'll certainly ask Lenny Mills who is both an elected official and the executive level but also big time involved in business. And where you got to hear the truth or you literally pay 508996500. Do we think the governor was ill informed by her adviserss? Or did she outright lie when she came to New Bedford and thanked Offshore Wind for providing an energy during a crisis that they did not provide? Good morning. Thanks, Holden. Good morning, Chris. What's happening, Sketty? Um, well, first I want to thank you. Yesterday I had a bet. So this I have two friends I've known for over 30 plus years and um they're just complaining politically complaining about Trump blah blah blah blah blah and I'm looking at them and I'm like saying what what do you want me to do? This is not has nothing to do with Donald Trump what's going on in this state and in your town Carver. I said is what's going on? You need to pay more attention what's going on locally and you need to know why what's going on locally because of the governor why things are going up. why things are changing. It's because of the green energy. It was a flat flatlined and I hope it stays flatlined and she's coming here saying this is great. This is that's a bunch of bow pucky but um so I told them, "Do you vote?" No, they don't. And I'm like, "You guys need to go vote. Knock it off already. Don't I don't you got no more right anymore." more. I used to let them complain, Chris, and you know, vets and whatnot, but I'm at the point where, and I hate this, but I just almost left out of there mad because you cannot complain if you're not going to do something about it. Vote. So, he says he can't vote. So, this might be a question Tom can answer, but I'm hoping you can, and I hope they're listening to the radio. Um, he went to jail. Okay. He he had three DUIs and he hasn't been arrested since in 10 years. He doesn't do that anymore. Um did he go to Tom's jail? Do you know? No. No, he was in Plymouth. Okay. But so for people out there, if you get more than two years, you go to the big house. If you got less than two years, you go to your local uh police sheriff, whatever the police is called. House of Correction. Jail. House of Correction. Thank you. So my question is I don't know if you have the answer maybe. The question is she said I can't vote. And I said no wait there was a a proposal. I don't know if it went through a beacon but I know there was I think there was about three or four years ago right before Donald Trump's second term maybe. But anyways the question he said I can't because I'm a felon. And I said no I'm pretty sure they changed that. Is that and she won't vote. She's got no felonies or anything. She won't vote because he don't vote. So I told him, but aren't they gonna vote for the wrong things, Sketty? You know what the thing is? I just want them to vote. If I can sway them. Yeah. And you know, help them like them yelling at me yesterday about and I keep telling them it's not Trump, it's your governor. It's your governor. This is don't blame Trump for your elector. Don't blame Trump for this and that. Um I might not give them advice on how they can vote given how it sounds like they're going to vote. I'm just saying, Sketty. No, it sounds like they're not gonna, but but if I can convince him to vote because he thinks he can't, Chris, and this is my question. Can he as a convicted felon from the DUI? I got a bunch of friends who are convicted felons that vote. Yeah, he can vote. As long as he's not incarcerated, he can vote. No. Right. Well, I told him there was a bill being approached at Beacon Hill where um criminals that were in the county correction at the house of correction, not big jail, big house, that they were going to allow them to stop voting while they were in jail. Right. And and and he's not obviously hasn't been in 10 years, but he swears he can't I will get the answer from Chris. Yeah. Like I got the answer from you yesterday about um the mayor being sued. I should have shook. I would have made 50. Well, actually it was $25, but if I shook both their hands, I would have made $50. Sketty, anytime. We got to work as a team here. Absolutely. Make the bets. I'll give you the answers. Yeah. Well, I knew you would have the correct answer to that yesterday. But in the meantime, now if I don't, I'll just fake it like it's the correct answer. No, never fake it till you make it. Then you get you get called out of the water anyways. But thank you, Chris. And um yeah, that I now I will call them and let them know and hopefully they're listening while he's at work. He might not be able to, but yeah, I can tell him he can vote. He can vote. He's just got to make sure he's registered. That's it. I got him registered. Yeah, that's it. That's what we got to do. Thank you, my friend. Have a great day. Yeah, I'm happy to answer questions. A guy who knows a lot about answering questions, has more knowledge than I do, certainly more experience. Lenny Millers Jr. coming up next here on the program. Stick around. We'll be right back. Welcome back. Good morning. Happy Friday. So, um the city decided not to, as you've noticed, keep the um the bars open till 3:00 a.m. There was a little bit of a debate about that at the licensing board level. I happen to agree with that. Um I'm not sure um there's a lot of appetite for it, but I also am critical surprise of the legislature um for bringing the art the article the the the information the bill forward at such a late hour. It really left local municipalities that might have adopted it um forced to say we're not prepared to do it. So, we're going to say no. Right? So, they weren't I think the way the legislature and the governor operated was too suddenly um to bring along cities like New Bedford. um some of the towns that might have done it um were not given enough time to really think about it and plan for it. And that's the fault of the governor and the legislature. Um and the people that really support this ought to be upset with them, with the legislature and the governor, not with the municipalities that said no. because I think it was an impossible decision to ask municipalities to decide right away to do it right now. The as for um the cash and carry type stuff, getting a drink and going outside, walking down. Hopefully that'll be revisited in the future that um you'll be able to do it cuz I think New Bedford would be perfect for that. In the summer when the cruise ships are coming in early uh in the spring, certainly in the nice fall weather, cruise ship comes in, get a drink. you know, you're at um Rose Alley as an example, and rather than having to drink it all there, you could take the cocktail with a beer. They got amazing beer at Rose Alley. Take it out, go for a stroll, stop by Carters or whatever. Carters, some of the art places downtown and head back to the cruise ship. That's what's done in other ports, right? people go out, have a have some food, have a drink, take the drink around when you're shopping, window shopping, going in the stores. That's how a port city makes the experience better in my opinion. And so hopefully, and I know the mayor agrees with me on that, and that's really the only person that matters really, quite frankly, um he's got all his people in place around the city. you might get and I don't think anybody on the city council would be opposed. They tend to be restaurant entertainment friendly people. City council, they're not really prohibitionists.