Veteran's Affairs Plus W/ David L. Washington

Kevin Krall 0:00
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Outro Song 0:42
You can't see what's going on. What's going on? What's going on?

Unknown Speaker 0:55
Good morning, once again, this is Dave Washington with Veterans Affairs on 91.5 Jazz and more pleased to be back with you all this weekend this Saturday as we know that Memorial Day is coming up. So I wanted to acknowledge a couple soldiers who have transitioned. And these were dear friends of mine. In fact, I talked about both of them last week, Larry Powell, he was a chief officer with Las Vegas Fire and Rescue who served in the United States Army recently transitioned. And I just want to say to his family, once again, we appreciate the work that he did. While in this community. Larry also did a lot of traveling, he worked a lot with the Methodist church organization, where he went around the world with FEMA, to various disasters throughout our world. So once again, we hope that God is is pleased with the work that cheap Larry Powell did while on this earth. And then another friend of mine who's been going for some time and Larry, as well as Monroe Williams were my mentors with Las Vegas Fire and Rescue. They helped to guide me through my career. And ultimately, as many know, I retired as fire chief. But Monroe, he retired as a captain, and he was an outstanding individual who was a Navy man, your man was in the Navy. In fact, he was a corpsman I believe it's called where he, he was a medic, and he took care of a lot of things on the department. In fact, he spent a lot of time training our guys on the department how to deal with medical situations. So again, we hope that God was pleased with Monroe service while here on this earth. And then most recently, Cleveland Thomas, he was a soldier. And he passed just a few weeks ago and plebe did a lot of work. He was involved with a number of organizations within the community. And I know that there was something that people didn't like to see sometimes was me and cleave coming because we were always having some tickets that we were trying to what we were doing was actually trying to sell tickets to raise money for some functional organizations. So once again, just wanted to acknowledge those individuals as we embark upon Memorial Day. Last week, also I talked about one, my cousin Alicia, and I failed to mention that. I did say that she was going to attend the University of Nevada, Reno, but she's going to major in music, education, and participate in the pre dental program just wanted to make that clear to everyone or share that I should say. And then Madison, may Madison metals. She earned a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts, in screen acting and a minor in creative cultural industries from dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University in Orange County, California. Then her big sister, Mackenzie, I mentioned that she graduated at Georgetown but her I did say she got a master's degree that master's degree in Management from again, McDonnell School of Business at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. So congratulations to those three ladies. And we appreciate and know that you're going to do big things in our world. So once again, this is Veterans Affair. Fares plus on 91.5, jazz and more. I'm Dave Washington, your host. We'll be back shortly. Good morning. Once again, this is Dave Washington with Veterans Affairs plus on 91.5 Jazz and more. I'm really really excited. You guys have no idea. I've had two great, super great guests. I will call them because this young lady is a colleague and friend. She's Fire Commissioner of the second largest fire department in our country. This is Fire Commissioner chief and it needs hope. What's up commission

Unknown Speaker 4:59
Hey, Dave, how are you?

Unknown Speaker 5:02
I'm doing well. I am so pleased that I finally got you bring it up. You guys, this lady is very, very busy again, as I mentioned, second largest fire department in our country. Very, very busy. And again, we want to acknowledge and give our condolences that we know that you and we did mentioned it a few weeks ago that you lost a couple of firefighters. So may God continue to be with your sister. So thank you, Chief, how long have you been with your department?

Unknown Speaker 5:32
In my 33rd year 33rd. And I've been with Chicago the whole time. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 5:37
33rd. You know, that's when I left when I got my 33 I had enough and I live. So we're so were you born and raised in Chicago?

Unknown Speaker 5:47
Yes, I was born and raised in Chicago. My family started out on the west side of Chicago on 92. Christiana, then I moved to the south side. So I still live on the south side today, not far from where I grew up. Oh, really?

Unknown Speaker 5:59
That's the same community. Yeah, no, that's great. I love community is so important when you're in these leadership roles. You know, you can't you can't learn from from folks that you're serving. So give our listening audience this is a veterans affairs show. But people of all ages and ethnic groups do listen. Tell us about the different positions, if you would, that you've held over your 33 years?

Unknown Speaker 6:27
Sure, sure. So I came on in 1990. I started out as a firefighter, EMT. And then I went on to be a lieutenant with only two and a half years on the job. One of the first African American women to be Lieutenant Dan on to be captain battalion chief, Deputy District Chief and then the first woman to be the first Deputy Fire Commissioner, and currently the first woman to serve as the Fire Commissioner. Will a lot first.

Unknown Speaker 6:55
Yeah. And you know, to our listening audience, I had the unfortunate but it was fortunate that I got to visit her office, but we had to have her colleagues and friends to pass away. And I got an opportunity to go to her office in which he, yeah, I was fire chief in the city of Las Vegas, but one of her divisions is as many people as I was leading. I think we we have about 700 people when I was with Las Vegas fire what right at 700. And I know one of your divisions is is about that size, and all I could do is shift

Unknown Speaker 7:31
in a city of more than 705,000 on the Chicago Fire Department.

Unknown Speaker 7:36
Yeah, all I could do was Chuck a lesson in and she stays extremely busy, but we appreciate the work that you you have done there. Now you got a pretty good pretty good SAS staff too.

Unknown Speaker 7:49
Yeah, yeah, I do. I got a nice asked if we can always use more, but in the field and total weight field and administrative we got 5000 5000.

Unknown Speaker 8:00
So you did attend EDM? In fact, when I met you, I believe you are Lieutenant. If I'm not mistaken, I

Unknown Speaker 8:08
started EDM. Yep, that's correct. I started EDM as a lieutenant, I was a brand new Lieutenant. And I came with one of my mentors, Nick Russell, and another one mark O'Bannon. And they were already I want to say they were captains or chiefs at the time. So I followed them on faith. Because when I heard what Carl was doing, I was like, Wow, that's pretty cool. And, you know, our department didn't pay for it. So we all came on faith, and we paid our own way. And EDI. I mean, I just can't tell you how much it has grown me professionally, personally. And personally, as far as knowing people like Dave and other fire chiefs across the country, and being able to pick up the phone and talk to them even before I got to this position. But you know, to have somebody who understands what you're going through. I think that's quite important. Because I know being a fire chief is a lonely job, I can tell you that people go, it can't be because you're always around people who are. But you're not always around the people that matter in your life, meaning your personal people, your friends, because you got to neglect them, you know, in your intimate family circle, because you're always busy and always working. But of course, we love what we do. But I can't tell you EDI just going there and doing the five years straight. It opened my eyes to a lot of things that Chicago wasn't doing, you know, and it gave me some insight as to things that needed to be done in Chicago, and actually had a knock on the EDI. I don't think I will be the Fire Commissioner. I just wish Carl was here to see it because he will be so happy because at one time Carl Holmes who founded EDI, he applied to be the Fire Commissioner in Chicago. That's right. Of course he didn't get it, but I got it for so I stand on the shoulders of giants,

Unknown Speaker 9:53
no doubt. You know and I always tell people actually, Chief Holmes was one of the one of the founders he was, but the reason why he gets so much credit, and I shared this all the time, he took money out of his personal family account to keep this organism keep the organization of the coral homes executive development institute afloat, because otherwise it would, as I say, died on the vine. Now, one thing, one thing that I know about you, you're, you are a hard charging person. And I say this from the experience of working with this young lady, to our listening audience. She runs the administration side of our institute, which is the most critical part, if you will. So tell us a little bit about that experience. Because you are so grounded. And I've watched see, because I've seen how you change things. I remember when there will be lines around the building for people registering now and it's like clockwork.

Unknown Speaker 10:55
Yeah, because yeah, and I was gonna say, the main part of this is, once you say a staff, all of us working together, came up with solutions to actually fix some of the clog or backup that we had in registration before we got there. Because we were actually some of those people that waited in those lands. Back in the day when they did, we didn't like it. So I like the customer service person, I like to see things moving smoothly. And that might be from growing up working in my father's store. I always hate lines. So yeah, we work together to make the transition a lot smoother for people attending EDI. You know, Nan, making people feel like they want to come back. Because if you gotta wait, a lot of people go like, Why do I want to wait, even though it's really important to be there, and the information and the knowledge that you gain will change you forever? I mean, forever change you. We still didn't want people to experience that. Absolutely.

Unknown Speaker 11:49
And I can tell you, I agree with you 110% Had I not going to EDI and when I went I was battalion chief overtraining, I wouldn't have never made deputy and or fire chief had I not going there because the interaction would that you were able to have on doing classroom time as well as, after hours with with chief officers and fire chiefs and fire commissioners from around the country. We talk about George Sherman George, I learned so much from that brother. In fact, I had never heard of a vitae. You know, it's like your resume, but it's just a different structure. That vitae that he took from him. And I also took from what's your name out of Berkeley. Prior Democrat, I took what they had, and I kind of molded it into my own. And that helped me with tremendous success to include Herschel Clady and Monroe Williams, who was my mentor here locally. They showed me both showed me his three ring binder. And Herschel had the Hirscher you know, our Ursa was so cool. Herschel had its picture on it, he put my picture on there, but all your your certificates, letters of endorsement, etc, etc. You put that in that binder, and you take it in. And they were they were looking at me like, we don't know if we're supposed to accept this. And but then then one person on the interview panel say, Nobody told us we couldn't. So we'll take that young man, and we'll look at it. So look what you've learned there. Yes. But again, back back to EDI. And again, you've done tremendous work in ironing out what we're doing as an organization. So I want you to just kind of take a minute or so and, and kind of give some some further information on that institute and what what it's all about.

Unknown Speaker 13:47
Yeah, so EDI is it's a five year module each year you come to well, we're at Baylor University HBCU, in New Orleans, and you come every year, the first year is my one, and you progress all the way up to my five. And each year, it adds on more knowledge about not being a firefighter or being an officer, but actually trying to make you encourage you to be a fire chief, or Fire Commissioner to run a department or to take some leadership role within your department. And by the time you get to my five, you actually have a graduation, where you actually graduate with the keynote speaker and everything. And it's a combination of everything that you learn. And I tell you, for the price that people pay to come to EDI is worth its weight in gold. And it proves even after you graduate and you get that position, you still can use a lot of the things that you learn or have personal access to some of these people that you have been with your instructors. Like the first year I teach two as well. That's right, excuse me. A couple classes. I've had young ladies and men call me from the times that I taught I gave them my personal number. I've helped someone actually tasks Assessment Center in another place little rocks, he actually landed real well on the captain's test, just by me talking me through some assessments and stuff. So you have access to us. So it's like, invaluable assistance that we shouldn't be doing to help each other, you know, climb the ladder and get to the top.

Unknown Speaker 15:17
Absolutely. Well, we certainly appreciate that. And I fail to mention that, again, she is a an officer, with our organization we have structure is directors. And then we have officers who actually do the day to day operations. And she is really the leader of that group on the president and CEO. But everything goes through through the Fire Commissioner and her staff, and they really do a phenomenal job in terms of administering all that we have. And we miss your colleague and my colleague, Ron, who really was the brain, he was the right brain thrust of, of our administrative staff, and particularly for our website. So thank you, Fire Commissioner. And at Nanto. We appreciate you and I look forward to seeing you, God. Gods. If God is willing to see you in New Orleans, this this year.

Unknown Speaker 16:10
Yeah, a little bit in a couple of weeks. And we'll be there. Yeah, I'm looking forward to get my batteries recharged, seeing my brothers and sisters. All right.

Unknown Speaker 16:17
Thank you. I appreciate you so much.

Unknown Speaker 16:20
Thank you for having me. Take care. All right, bye. Bye.

Unknown Speaker 16:23
Once again, this is Veterans Affairs plus on 91.5, jazz and more. I'm Dave Washington, your host. We'll be back on the other side.

Unknown Speaker 16:37
Once again in Las Vegas, good morning. This is Veterans Affairs plus on 91.5 Jazz and more pleased to get our next guest in the house. It's our state senator. Dina Neil, how you doing, Senator?

Unknown Speaker 16:51
Hi, how are you?

Unknown Speaker 16:53
I'm doing just fine. Now that I got you on the air, been trying to get you for a while? I know you're busy lady. So how's the session going?

Unknown Speaker 17:03
It's actually going fairly okay. I mean, there's been less drama. So we've managed to move a lot of good policy. We're in the last I believe 19 days of session. And so some of the big policy is being vetted. Now. We just heard the film tax credit bill. Then there is the fentanyl bill that Attorney General is moving. There's been huge education policy changes this session. And so it's it's been an interesting session.

Unknown Speaker 17:39
So in your opinion, going back to the film, how is that going in? Give us a little bit of depth on that if you would.

Unknown Speaker 17:47
So it's the film bill is sponsored by Senator Roberta Lang, and ch Miller. And basically, it's gonna create two studios in the southern part of the state one in Summerlin. So it's an one one owned by the Berkshire group and one owned by Sony. The bill is still in flux in terms of being amended because it has a sizable amount of tax credits. And so tax credits, although it's seen as negative revenue to the state, because it's money that we won't receive. And so, CH Miller is working on trying to create a third option in the bill to create more independent opportunities for independent filmmakers, independent independent producers. And so he's working on that. And there's also in the hearing a conversation about what the local workforce would look like, in terms of the career pathways for the bill UNLV would get immediate campus, which would allow the film school to directly benefit. So there's some positive things in the bill. It's a game changer, we just need to get the get the money. Right.

Unknown Speaker 19:10
Right. Right. Well, you know, our studio, the studio that I work out is in the Hank greenspoon journalism business building, I should say. So it's interesting, and it's good that hopefully, it can get worked out because, and a key for me as a longtime citizen of this community, I'm always about what is it going to do for the local people who are looking for work in that industry? or what have you? See, I still got a bitter taste in my mouth for for the Allegiant stadium. I'm still trying to find out what the numbers were in terms of ethnic and gender breakdown, but no one seems to want to give me the numbers. I just like to know how to, and not me personally, but I think our community should do now the next one you see a major activity is education. Give us a little bit on that.

Unknown Speaker 20:02
So for the education, there has been a lot of movement around oversight and accountability, oversight of the superintendent, trying to deal with public comment and how public comment is handled, to make sure that citizens are heard, and they don't allow agenda items to be moved, you know, late at night where constituencies can't come in and, and, and speak on an issue. There's also evaluation of administrators, teachers. There is a movement to try to make sure that there's a knowledge standard for the superintendent, areas superintendent. And also, there was a restorative justice bill by Assemblywoman Angie Taylor. She's up North to change progressive discipline policy.

Unknown Speaker 21:06
So is the there's no legislation pending? I know that they've talked many different times about dividing the big what are we probably in the top five districts in our country? No. Say no. As an educator, what are your thoughts on, you know, the whole history issue that that kind of permeates the whole country? You know, people don't want to talk about certain things. It's either true or true history or it's not. I mean, I just have a it's crazy that we can't talk about things. I mean, some people is going to feel is there gonna be hurt? But I don't think it to the to the to the detriment of anyone. You know.

Unknown Speaker 21:56
I think I think that what's going on in Florida, right, I think is I think we need to be worried about the spread, I think we need to be worried about the current current agenda, which is to lose all critical thought whatsoever. Lose information on identity. And I think that there isn't, there is a direct attempt to sabotage pretty much the educational condition, and it seems to be only focused on communities of color, and then perpetuating an agenda that only allows for a one narrative about history to be presented. And we've already we've already been here, right? We were, we were here when web, WB DuBois was around in 1920. And I mean, so it's not like we haven't had this fight before. It's just that they're bringing it back. I mean, we spent almost 100 years trying to get our history into the actual books. Right. And so to reverse that, I think there's a new generation of children that I don't think they're going to stand for it. And it's interesting, because I wonder why the Federal Government hasn't stepped in? Because a lot of this is discriminatory practices. Right? You're limiting the educational access of students, right? This isn't local content. This isn't locally driven. Right. The acts have been to eliminate whole society groups activities, out of history, and I guess maybe it's maybe it's their way to play back. You know, the removal of the statutes, right, the statues that they everybody was fighting over, right? Because it seems like they're doing it, but they're doing it through textbook.

Unknown Speaker 24:03
So your dad, what do you think he'd be doing these days? And he did a tremendous job. And one thing I learned from you not to cut you off, Senator, but I learned from your dad that some people think that it's all about passing bills, but it's also cutting and cutting and getting rid of bad bills. And I'm like, wow, I never thought about that.

Unknown Speaker 24:24
This is true. When we're not faced with any of those bills here in the state of Nevada, I mean, because they would have already been dead. So and they were if there were any bills that were contrary to or that were aligned, they never got a hearing. So I think this particular, you know, in the state of Nevada, we're pretty clear in the legislature about what we believe is important policy, but I think my dad would be actively advocating and trying to figure out how to, you know, add on to the national All movement around preventing this kind of behavior because we should all be alarmed. Right, because it's the playbook.

Unknown Speaker 25:10
Absolutely. So when are you guys? I know you mentioned it, but it just slipped my mind. What do you guys scheduled to finish up?

Unknown Speaker 25:20
June 6,

Unknown Speaker 25:21
June 6. Okay.

Unknown Speaker 25:22
Well, really June 5, but I'm just counting as June 6. I wouldn't be here until midnight.

Unknown Speaker 25:32
Here you Look, is there anything you'd like to share with regards to the Windsor Park matter? Is it still in the works?

Unknown Speaker 25:42
It is still in the works we had a hearing on in Senate Finance on Friday, to get roughly $37 million to help those families, there is a provision in there that where the city would have to pay back the state a portion of the 12 million, and then also includes walks about the relocation and just trying to make sure that everything that should be covered in terms of taxes, insurance, restitution payments, rehab payments that I included in the bill. So I felt feel pretty good, that we're going to be able to get the money out the next action would be identifying 20 acres, right, in order to move to families. So I'm working on that Sarena identify the area.

Unknown Speaker 26:35
So you're talking about moving to an area and then we'll build some houses for those families to move to basically correct

Unknown Speaker 26:41
the last 90, so the last 90 original residents. So yes, that's the plan. And so for your viewers that are not familiar, so Windsor Park is like a long standing community that had subsidence where their homes have been thinking since 1989. And then some were moved, and then some remained there, because they were going planning on fighting to make sure that they were going to not get inferior home. And so we learned that there were the some of the homes that were built, the 45 homes that were built, which are called Baby winter, were inferior homes, and that's why the last 90 didn't leave. And so we've also found out that new homes have been purchased by Latino families who now owned these homes and they have cracks and the back walls are sinking and so it's going to be a wholesale remedy to allow them to get a new mortgage on a new property and also the original residents to get an restitution of a new home.

Unknown Speaker 27:55
We appreciate your your work and continue the great work that you're doing young lady and I wish you Godspeed and, and hopefully you guys will get out on time. So thank you so much. We have Senator Dean O'Neill representing District Four is that correct? Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 28:13
Especially for All right.

Unknown Speaker 28:14
Thank you Senator. Take care.

Unknown Speaker 28:16
Thank you.

Unknown Speaker 28:17
All right. By Veterans Affairs plus on 91.5 She has more.

Outro Song 28:53
All the smoke in the tilde Hey, when they stay on the payment we

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