Local developer Jeff Ratnow attempts to educate Bill Cole and Nestor about plans for the new Harborplace space and the financial realities of the Inner Harbor and downtown to be an economic generator for the entire city and community.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
people, years, baltimore, good, live, harbor, city, maryland, bramble, talking, park, week, building, traffic, day, mom, wife, deviled eggs, oysters, jeff
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Bill Cole, Jeff Ratnow, Damye Hahn
Nestor Aparicio 00:00
Welcome back, WN st Towson, Baltimore and Baltimore positive we’re getting crowded and cozy. We’re open for business here. People say to me phase Why is it always so empty and like we do it at 830 in the morning, and then it turns into like, lunchtime because I’m rambling about Dave roll and, and tell them about the eggs. Deviled eggs. What do you love about them? They’re
Bill Cole 00:23
just good. I don’t know. You know, it’s a part like finger food kind of thing. Again, I have a whole
Nestor Aparicio 00:28
new appreciation only sat in the sun and flies down them in a whole new appreciation
Bill Cole 00:33
having made them now okay, I know how hard they are to make and like muscle and effort that I have a whole new appreciation for it and that actually pisses you off because you’ll it’ll take you like two hours and then it’s gone. They’re gone in like 10 minutes. And you’re like, I didn’t even get one down. You know? So So you have to like eat a couple like while you’re working. But this is a labor of love man. Well, short
Nestor Aparicio 00:58
sale is coming this way but never macaroni potato. It’s all brought to you by the Maryland lottery. I’m giving away rabid scratch sales people are getting their phones out and they’re if it says MD lottery you want a whole lot of money. I’m just saying I learned that this week.
Bill Cole 01:11
Put it in your pocket walk out the door. When did 866 90 nation
Nestor Aparicio 01:14
you buy two you get two free 0% financing, and Jiffy Lube multi care at some point? I’ll have some things to show people like my fate. Lee’s jar of this is crabmeat or this. What does this says keep refrigerants in Annapolis candle. It’s a candle. That’s me. It looks like grabbed me, but I thought it was grabbing this candle on it. Yep, there it is.
Bill Cole 01:33
That’s funny.
Nestor Aparicio 01:34
What does it smell like? Crap? Like, flowers smells like Yeah. Would you want your joint to smell like old maybe it’s summertime you would use that’s an authentic can Oh, recycling All right, so I love this Maryland crab. This is just funny. Annapolis candle.
Jeff Ratnow 01:57
Awesome. What it smells. Now it all makes sense. Smells like
Nestor Aparicio 02:01
drange is I’m not sure what it is.
Bill Cole 02:03
So you asked about the smell. Yes, I do have a story about I have introduced
Nestor Aparicio 02:07
my guests. Can I do that? Yes. Can I promote my sponsors? To talk about your business? No, no, no toll roofing Gordian and I want to tell you the story of Maryland lottery, our friends and window nation and she flew multi care. We’re fadeless it’s a Maryland crabcake tour hosted by Bill Cole. And you say I don’t get a chance to talk and then you just took over maybe a minute. I’m trying I’ll go shrimp salad I’ll shut up Jeff right now is a What are you real estate development? Yes site insight. You’re a LinkedIn buddy of mine. Yes, that shows up in places. I don’t know that. I know you. Well, I was looking no fence to get David Bramble on the show. He was unavailable in some way. You jumped his LinkedIn and said give this thing a chance. And I thought, well, this is a guy that could probably take a really intelligent take on I’m giving you all of this land at the harbor. What would you do with it right and what makes a good idea from a bad idea? So that’s why you’re here. You were on deviled eggs what you finish up that
Bill Cole 03:04
deviled eggs. Are you asked to like what I want a candle that smells like old bay. Like would you burn a candle that’s so my only obey smell store it when I pray I have lots of them. But so the building next to where coal roofing SAT was a giant warehouse caught on fire burned for six days. Right? We had like fire trucks in our yard like keys. In the building were was Old Bay and paper. So for like a month. You know how what it smells like when you buy steamed crabs in a brown paper bag and you’re taking them home? Yeah, that is the exact smell that it was there for like a month. It is so it was so crazy. Did
Nestor Aparicio 03:52
you not one crowd I
Bill Cole 03:54
mean in the beginning I think you made you want it and then after a while you’re okay, that’s enough to
Nestor Aparicio 03:59
harbor so this will be a good way to bring you in. When I was a boy harborplace was built in July of 91. Yeah, I went down and fell into the harbor that day. It’s a long story. I told my wife all the time, right over where like the Science Center is on the island. I was chasing a crab I was 10 in the water right? What I remember going down when I was in very young boy to the harbor when it would open and McCormick was still there. And it was the building that’s now for one for light. Yep, it became the outdoor scene of my my condo for 19 years. 19 years and three months we lived at the Inner Harbor. But the smell of cinnamon in the harbor people would tell you the merchant marine she’s got the block in the 70s 6070 they would tell you that the harbor either smelled like pepper, garlic, or cinnamon. Right now when you drive up the Hunt Valley. If you’ve done enough, you’ll be on 83 tshwane road just south of Northern Warren Yep, you don’t smell the dump over off Warren road and the Words, you’ll smell cinnamon, garlic, or pepper. You know what I mean? So these, so the Old Bay thing I don’t know, it didn’t make me want like a cinnamon roll to smell cinnamon, it doesn’t make me want. Like, I don’t, I don’t know, there’s
Bill Cole 05:15
just in my head, it was a very, it’s a very distinct smell. You don’t realize that it’s the combination of like the brown paper bag, and the old bag not really burning, but activating a seven, like, Yeah, you don’t notice that until this huge warehouse is like on fire, and it’s burning paper and Old Bay, and you’re like, Oh, well, that’s exactly what that there’s gonna be
Nestor Aparicio 05:39
a point where the stadium thing becomes a really hot issue amongst other people. I’m the only one talking about it right now. Well, I don’t like anything about what I’m hearing about it. I know enough about it. I don’t want to say I’m an expert, but I’m the closest thing you’re gonna meet to an expert, and ask them files in my bag for you to in regard to the stadium, that’s going to be its own animal and John Angelo’s and the money and whatever West is trying to pull off, and they’re gonna have to go to get all that harborplace a different animal rights. Okay, so soup to nuts for our audience, Jeff, tell me what you do. And then we’re gonna go through what a mess to harbor has become. And I lived down there and I lost a lot of money. And like all that, I’ve talked about that. I’m not interested in any of that, or even what it was in 1981. Or what the Phillips look like, what we’re, what it’s going to be is going to be something that is going to be people who need to be open minded about whatever was going to be last week, it gets dumped down to your background, somebody who you are what you do.
Jeff Ratnow 06:40
So I’m a real estate developer, and site insights, my company, and I do project management for real estate developers, and I do some investments on my own as well. So I actually have lived in Riverside, since 98. When we raised our kids in South Baltimore, we live in Federal Hill now. So I had the unique opportunity, where usually I’m going to a community to get up in front of people and let them know like, why is my apartment, community that want to build in your neighborhood? A good idea? Why should you be on board with this. So twist. Now the Inner Harbor is my neighborhood, and I get to wear the community hat. And I relish the opportunity to get up and speak from a point of understanding what MCV is planning and thinking the challenges they have. Because one of the myths I kind of want to debunk, and given the chance that you don’t mind, the camera, that’s alright, it’s alright. folks look at real estate developers as the sole, I guess, pushing force of what’s going to be created, that they’re just rich, and they’re just making money and taking advantage. The fact of the matter is, they’re investing, they are subject to investors, and banks. So it’s a three legged stool. So you need to make all three has to make sense, and all. And so what MCB is, they are the sponsor, they are the visionary. They’re the ideas and they try to get everyone on board to say, Hey, this is a good idea to spend my time money to then bring everyone along. So when I go to community meetings, I hope that people understand that we have constraints to but in the end, we want to make something we want to make a little bit of money. But we also want to leave a mark in a positive way. And I think that gets overshadowed by the controversy, sort of the concept of greed celebrated. Not even that because the returns that the developers are looking for, they have to answer to Wall Street, they has answered a bank, there’s these institutions that you’re really beholden to. So I don’t get me wrong, real estate developers do fine, but it’s not like this total, like monopolies
Nestor Aparicio 09:06
it’s easy to do it
Bill Cole 09:08
the developers that you’ve heard of or know of, or why do you know about them, you know about them because they show up in the paper. And they either did something amazingly huge or amazingly terrible one or the other. Those are the only reasons you know of them. Yep. So yeah,
Nestor Aparicio 09:22
you’ve seen a million of these projects right? Like you and I part of Baltimore positive five years ago being here is I live there the first four years of Baltimore positive. And I’m wondering when when when I walked through, you can see that it stopped being cared about what went into receivership from a we’re not really getting to new tenants. We’re trying to figure out what to do with Cheesecake Factory next because this isn’t going to work. The company Connecticut, whoever was was never it was always going to wind up in someone’s hands. So this Bramble name pops up a year and a half two years ago, right? I mean, so I’m out at Towson at the at In the Towson women’s leadership event about when it got maybe a year and a half ago, and I slid a card and said, Hey, maybe sometime. So, David, it’s an open invitation. I’d love to ask you, but when it comes on, and I see the pictures, my wife sees it. I see it. I saw it a day before she saw it. She sees it on WB aol.com I saw what Fox News was doing to it the other night. Maybe it was after football game Fox. I never watched Fox News. Every time I do I watch the first five minutes. And I sit there and I’m like it’s just always the same thing. Right? The first five minutes is always crime. Bad investigation. Bad. So in Christ, so I don’t believe any Yeah, everything’s in crisis. So it all comes out. And all I know, honestly, and I haven’t put a lot of what I see the pictures. Yes. Right. And that’s an on purpose because it Bramble showed up today. I didn’t want to like pour through the 900 units and this and mixed use and all of that. I wanted to talk more conceptually about the vision of all of it and the space itself because the his point, the space is the space used to be a bunch of rats and warehouses. And you guys missed this part. But the show began two hours ago now. And I said this to Mac I’m like, all of this crap with the Maryland stadium authority that I’m about to roll my sleeves up with the governor and I’m gonna get involved in all of this. I want the vision. John Angelos and Steve anybody want the money, money, money, money, money, that space around the stadium has been that space for 30 years. And they had great ideas or 30 years ago, opera Jana Maria and she’s gonna talk about it. She was invited today to Governor Schaefer, obviously went to like Disney World in the 70s and said, we have a harbor we have all the bones you and I talk about, we have location, location, we have crabcakes. We have institution, we have business here, we have hospitals, we have all of these things. Your college has all of that. And he thought Science Center, aquarium were fish, we’re going to put a balloon that wave on the side of it. We’re going to make these pavilions, places where people are going to come and eat they’re going to steal a mall. It’s going to be outside it’s going to be boats. It’s going to be a water taxi. He didn’t see underarm or any of that coming later, right? But he saw this thing that was ugly. Yes. And I saw the picture him was when he had hair. It was such a beautiful image like maybe 7475 He just become there. He still had hair and everything down there was grass. It looked like a little golf course like a putt putt course everything that is the now and I had never seen the image of that but it wasn’t it was movies video. It was video of it unethical. And I saw it maybe an MPT T. It’s the governor Schaefer tribute they did a few years ago, my wife and I watch it. And I’m like, look at that. Mir Shaffer and a hair look at a young he looks and he’s down there. And he’s pointing and, and McCormick factories there, and it’s nothing. But he had a vision of an aquarium Science Center, promenade people boats, tall ships using the water as something other than something ugly. But I don’t think for a minute, this is not the pistol, John angelos, he didn’t have any ideas. He doesn’t have a vision. He doesn’t have that. Bramble is a guy who does this, who work with professionals. And now there is a thing, there’s a real vision now, whether you buy it or not. I think the questions then become about that vision because it’s real. Now for the last year and a half, I wouldn’t have been able to say, what’s it going to look like I see it. But I want to know why it got to that. And I think that’s one of the reasons I brought here today. So say, Why did he come up with that concept?
Jeff Ratnow 13:33
So I can’t speak for MCB. But they did extensive community outreach. And they surveyed the city wide. He was putting banners on buses, like he was getting the world. He was having pop ups in the pavilions, he was inviting teenage kids to come in it. He was getting it a slice and taking all that information and does what was shared at Monday’s meeting, synthesizing it and then doing what they need to do is crunch numbers come up with concepts and ideas. And he presented what reflected what the surveying said, were priorities, and what financially could be accomplished.
Nestor Aparicio 14:12
And that’s not an unlimited amount of money. No,
Jeff Ratnow 14:15
I mean, but that’s how all this works. I’m working on the Baltimore Black Sox project right now. I’m the prime project management on behalf of Parks and People and we’re going through the same thing. What is that? It is a park slash sort of memorial that we are just starting community outreach for to come up with a part to moralize a Negro League, Baltimore, black socks,
Nestor Aparicio 14:36
these things just don’t happen. They don’t have that one guy’s idea. Right?
Jeff Ratnow 14:40
When somebody has an idea, then you start to reach out to the community you get input and then you kind of shape this and then you come up with a concept plan just like rash field. I did the project management for rash field did Yes. I was working with another company real projective at the time, but I manage that for Laurie and the waterfall. and Partnership does the same thing. You go out to the community, you come up with a plan, and then you come up with a budget, and then you raise your funds. In that case, that’s a real estate development project that does not require return. It requires sort of use use. So BGA wanted to be in on that the state the city, so depends on who your end user is. And the thing that David was saying at his meeting, the ground level promenade public area, that’s your community experience. That’s where you see that’s where you touch and feel. And the apartments on top is the financial engine that makes everything makes sense. So that’s what I
Nestor Aparicio 15:41
hadn’t heard explain like that. Yes. Right. Yeah. I mean, I think, from Dundalk, I just I’m trying to, you know, literally, I
Bill Cole 15:48
want to like go back the shape the shape or comment. That was a clear decision made around activating that space for tourism purposes, whether it’s close tourism or for tourism, either way
Jeff Ratnow 16:01
he knew people want to be and then
Nestor Aparicio 16:03
that would make the convention center. We just lost Mac, but that would and then the baseball stadium came as then yes. Yeah. You know, it was an it was an industry
Jeff Ratnow 16:11
was changing. It’s not a working Harbor, people like water, how can I get them down there?
Bill Cole 16:16
Right. But there was also a discussion that went on somewhere down there. That said, you realize the tax base on a working harbor is x, if you turn it into this, the hope tax is why can we support that? Like it’s not, you know, what I’m saying like there’s multiple layers to how you if you are going to change use, it changes the tax base of the city. This is the most precious piece of real estate in the city. So if you are strictly looking to increase the tax base for the city, what use would you do? I don’t know. I’m not in the game enough to be sworn off to the park but I wouldn’t be it wouldn’t be a free Park. Sure. Right. Totally.
Nestor Aparicio 17:00
Okay, you know, I’ve heard that concept and that’s very wonderful and liberal and, and I’m a liberal guy. And you know, I’ve had a dear friend of mine on the show pitching it as a park. I’m like, Dude, that’s great. But that’s not that’s not what we’re gonna do with it. It’s not the way it’s gonna be. I mean,
Bill Cole 17:14
right so my question is sort of, you know, pre telling me like first floor this and apartment okay, what’s the what’s the mission? Right It was tourism back then. Yeah, what is it now what what are trends?
Nestor Aparicio 17:29
Are those things gonna be live work play, right that’s that’s going to be if he ever front faces people live, work, play, live, work, play. I just ramble. We’re at a live work play. We live there we work here we play here and people come but from a tourism standpoint, tourists have to come down and want to visit that thing I think, or maybe it doesn’t need for
Jeff Ratnow 17:52
us to know or residents. I have a 18 year old and I have a 15 year old. They go to the harbor one poly. His friends come down in the harbor city kids. My buddy girl you ever wanted to make time with you will want to go there. The kids want to go there’s the boardwalk for ball. The kids still want it the people that live here still want to go there. And they go to Shake Shack and Chick fil A block away because it’s a nice storefront nice building. David’s not bringing national chains in but cool places to hang out like closer to the one on
Nestor Aparicio 18:25
one corner shop. Lay in there and you know where the Hard Rock is and all that that whole walking promenade when I live downtown was designed for me to go to Dick’s last resort or to even grab pizza in one of the store. Place my
Jeff Ratnow 18:40
wife and I had like our first date at palos and nice
Nestor Aparicio 18:43
little olive tamponade Oh yeah, we better than deviled eggs.
Jeff Ratnow 18:48
Can I tell Paulo story? Sure. So we’re leaving palos. And I had leftover pizza, and I was oblivious. And I grabbed a pocketful of like mints. You know, like the red, right? And this homeless person comes on. It’s like, oh, I’m hungry. Can I have anything? I’m holding the pizza? And I’m like, oh, here have some mints. And my wife smacks me across the head and says give him the pizza. Oh, yeah, here’s the pizza. So yeah, I’m gonna great memories down there. But it’s dead. It’s malls are a thing of the past. It’s
Nestor Aparicio 19:21
the memory memory of my mom taking me down to Phillips and getting surf and turf and going and his fried dough and walking around Chappies comic thing up there. And I mean, even in my marriage, the first 10 years it was pretty functional, in that we would walk over and have lunch at Subway or the pizza shop or, you know, wherever. I mean, Johnny Rockets was, you know, it was always there was always a reason to go there. It’s why we live there. Exactly. You’re talking to the guy that 20 years ago invested down there last night. Yeah, I mean, like literally put a quarter million dollars into my condo never got it back. 20 years later. Took me three years to give it away. That’s where I’m sitting with Bramblett St. Dude, you’re building 900 more I had one that was condos,
Bill Cole 20:01
their apartments is something we mentioned earlier about activating space. And I think also something that we’re learning. Like, understand that Baltimore’s, just like all the other urban centers in America, I mean, all the problems we have they have like, it’s all the same everywhere. Yeah. Right. But for tourists to feel so let me let me phrase a different way. Like, what is? Where do people spend more time cleaning up after themselves in their own backyard, or in some public use space?
Nestor Aparicio 20:35
When no one lives there? They
Bill Cole 20:37
leave trash, right? So we if if, and not everybody, right, like, that’s a broad brush, but But generally speaking, right, if, if this is where you live, you will take a different level of interest in the in how it performs, how it looks, shoveling, all of it, everything about it, you want to invite your friends down, and it looks like crap, you’re gonna do something about it. Because you’re you don’t want your friends to come down and see that it looks like crap out front of your house, right? Like, that’s what people do. So if we incorporate these concepts, meaning that if we want this space to work for everyone, well, how about a couple people that live right there that are very much interested in always making sure it’s okay. Yeah. So those are, but people need to hear that. Because all they hear is apartments. Yeah. How do we need an apartment?
Jeff Ratnow 21:29
away? You’re giving away this public land? Why do they get and it gets into the green?
Nestor Aparicio 21:35
Is is an apartment complex? And that’s really, really what put me out of business. Living in harbour court because we didn’t have a pool. We didn’t have a common space. All of these elbow rubs. Yeah. And I didn’t have to be bold in the government and paying taxes and paying condo fees, which were a lot of money because we had a beautiful staff. They all needed to be you know, a doorman. I don’t know that. It was Jefferson, you know, where I lived for 19 years. So I overpaid for part of that. And then no one wanted to overpay right because they could live next door in a building was 30 years and they were with all of that fire pits out in front and pool and all that my wife and I would sit there look at the pool and we’re like, we’re paying two grand more a month. We’re stuck here. We’re having to ramp up our backside the city shut down. And these people were at the pool over here. You know, how do I get that gig, you know, but then I walked into the apartment and the apartment was like, you know, UNLV like this. We’re doing the show like this. And I’m like, Well, maybe our condo is not so bad. But Jeff Wright knows here he does land things Bill coals here he eats deviled eggs, and does rooms and coal roofing as well as accordion energy and doing solar. He’s my chemo sabe? Who is your role to keep me in line? Are you like sort of my Ed McMahon on these things? What are you just
Bill Cole 22:47
the only one with enough courage to like give you the hard time that you deserve on a regular basis
Nestor Aparicio 22:52
and pays me to do it? I might as a sponsor. So you see this last week? Jeff, you’re a resident? Yep. Your community activist, which is good.
Jeff Ratnow 23:01
Yeah. So I was president of my neighborhood association before kids and I had to be the spokes person of developers coming in. So I’ve seen it three ways. So it’s been
Nestor Aparicio 23:11
used to being yelled at is what you’re telling me? Yes. Okay. And Hale wants me to give me two pieces of advice. I didn’t listen to either one of them. And I want to give him some love. said never had partners. You never want partners. That’s the first thing and that’s no disrespect to Brian or anybody else. But just in a general sense. You never want partners, your thing he said, Oh, never ever sit on the chair. Your condo association? No. So those were the two things that anybody knows Ed tell him I said that. Right. So you’ve been on this for years? Yeah, right. Okay. You were apart which I did not know a building rash field I was there the night it open. And we’re like,
Jeff Ratnow 23:47
skatepark to awesome.
Nestor Aparicio 23:48
I’m like, I’m not gonna use it. But like, it’s not for me. And I hope that it’s used in the right way. And I thought, well, that’s an that’s better than a carousel that nobody’s using and the place up everybody’s sitting smoke weed, you know, like, it’s a better thing. Right. So I’m down there and a couple of years. Yeah, two years since I lived there. But I felt good about it. And I felt listened to. I felt good about every and I never told anybody with the waterfront people. They never came on the show or anything. My wife and I walked through the harbor every day of our lives for 20 years. We did not leave the city because of crime right because of the harbor because we didn’t believe in it. We left because my wife wanted to have literally an outdoor grill. Yeah, and plants Yeah, because we had no ability to do that. And so we had no deck we had no so after 19 years my wife wanted a window that opened bigger than this. Yeah, so like literally we look all over the city to live here but all the apartments were like, I guess what Bramble is gonna build something it’s gonna be a little more smaller for like, you know, a single nurse living downtown or a couple that doesn’t have a lot need space do with a radio show or work from home, which my wife does now. So that’s created a difference. So for two years, I’ve been gone But if I were there, I would be really interested in this in the way I was interested for 140. Yeah. So you’re interested and I’m interested now, as a citizen. We were all interested in, hey, I want to go down there and live work and play. Maybe it’ll be the place I move when I’m done. Right? Because I love the city. Will you see it last week? Is it the first time you see it is when everybody in the media saw it? So
Jeff Ratnow 25:19
I first time I took a closer look, I was too impatient to watch the five minute video. I should have it changed. At first. I’m like, Oh, this is a nice plan like tall buildings from you know, 5000 feet. But he has got a video where it kind of walks you through 3d Your experience on Pratt Street. This one comment this one woman made.
Nestor Aparicio 25:41
That’s the first thing you say to everybody. Watch that video. First things just take time. Watch the video. That’s what I’m going to do. So
Jeff Ratnow 25:46
this one woman said, Why are you putting a park? Like this is how good it’s gonna be? Why are you putting a park behind that sale building? The park belongs on the waterside. And David’s like what Park? What are you talking about? There’s no parks, like I saw on a slide. And they flipped through like, oh, that’s Pratt Street. Like the render Pratt street she thought it was a park. So that just like thinking about what Pratt street could look like. Versus what it is today. Seven lanes of traffic, right? And recycling from the Harvard you know, like the recycling bins and the back of house. So if renderings show like, Oh, I thought this was a park, but it’s not even a park. So it’s, I don’t know, you see that video.
Nestor Aparicio 26:34
What’s the biggest complaint other than trapping,
Jeff Ratnow 26:37
so they’re gonna close the spur and to me, I worked in Fells Point for nine years. And I biked to work every day. Because traffic was bad back then to write. I’m like,
Nestor Aparicio 26:50
Oh, if I’m in little literally trying to get home in 2006. Yeah, it was like when the new Whole Foods I would walk. Yep. It was quicker. It was just quicker to walk. So
Jeff Ratnow 26:59
he’s taking the dog leg away and making a T intersection reduce. So it was traffic, traffic traffic, but then we have to make a choice. Like, do we want to have pedestrian bike friendly, safe over there? Or do we want Pratt Street, the most valuable real estate in the whole city to be a glorified freeway, cars will find their ways, other ways. Its highest and best use.
Nestor Aparicio 27:26
This would do away with Pratt Street as a main artery for traffic. So if your goal is a way to get from the hospital to Fells Point, so
Jeff Ratnow 27:35
when you’re going north on light, you know, it turns off onto Pratt street that’s gone. And everything now becomes a T intersection at Pratt and light where that conflict
Nestor Aparicio 27:48
complained about that. I would think that that probably would be a little lumpy. Yep. So to me, it was always lumpy in front of the Hyatt, where I live because because of the right turn go into, but I’m talking about lumpy like I don’t know how to end. It’s not
Bill Cole 28:00
his job to fix mistakes of the past. Right? Because the mistake of the past is the fact that 83 empties, right or president’s tree, and you have to go from 395 over navigate down calm way up, like
Nestor Aparicio 28:16
it would have built a tunnel under the city at 83 to two feet out at Stadium, but there’s already a tunnel there. It’s called. It’s the train tunnel that caught on fire on O’Malley. Right. So
Jeff Ratnow 28:26
but even then the answer to the folks that complain about traffic is everyone has their own priorities right? Me personally, we just need more people that value, pedestrian safety, bike safety, and this grand plan of a beautiful park and Plaza over the people in the cars they have to spend an extra five minutes in traffic. That’s that’s the choice. And we’re going to be presented with that choice when the referendum is
Nestor Aparicio 28:54
give me the reference. So what happens here give me give me three there’s three
Jeff Ratnow 28:58
bills going through city council right now.
Nestor Aparicio 29:02
I don’t know any of this. This is good. For and
Jeff Ratnow 29:05
again I’m gonna botch this. Eric Costello did a fantastic I invited Eric did he couldn’t make it. Yep. So Eric did a great job. He’s like this Bailey’s companions. There’s three of them. I believe they need to make their way through the city council and February is when it should come to a resolution and then the resolution is going to result in the law and I’m botching this up. It’s going to be on a referendum in November so we need to
Nestor Aparicio 29:31
know shovel in the dirt. You know, we the citizens agree, right? Yep, I did not really know. Or whatever you
Jeff Ratnow 29:39
want citizens get another three months to even shovel
Bill Cole 29:42
dirt until 96
Nestor Aparicio 29:44
See this is when you bring a roofing guy in the roof is the last thing that’s
Bill Cole 29:48
a wild guess. But like 20 super long way
Nestor Aparicio 29:51
out. Yeah. Oh, Miss Atheer that because it just felt like to see if that doesn’t happen quickly. Right. Oh, They
Bill Cole 30:00
do stuff, they’ll do stuff. So you know, things are happening on like, you’ll see you’ll feel it sooner,
Nestor Aparicio 30:06
startle 26 ones and end 28. No,
Jeff Ratnow 30:10
that’s a big long. I
Bill Cole 30:11
mean, that’s a decade or more.
Nestor Aparicio 30:18
Oh, wow, this is way long way.
Bill Cole 30:22
It’s changing the most precious piece of real estate in your city. It should take 10 years. Yeah. All right, you know what I mean? Like it should we we need
Nestor Aparicio 30:36
done with the suburbs and I want to come back down come on down. Do you know that’s gonna keep me alive? I swear to God, like, if I knew the 10 years from now that’s they’re available and functioning in a really positive beautiful way, the way we would envision whatever glory period of our lives in Baltimore, we’re, you know, Camden Yards opening, I moved downtown and Oh, three times when we felt prosperity for the city, whatever that would mean. That’s that’s a beautiful vision, then 10 years unseen that far, but it does seem like Oh, my God, so long West,
Bill Cole 31:09
I think the other part to your point of like, how do you communicate up to that referendum vote? Yeah, to make sure things go the way you want? Everyone comes at it from their own perspective, right? And the project has to answer all of those specific questions. So if a person’s number one concern is public safety, he needs to have a, you know, 92nd video that says, hey, if your number one concern is public safety, here’s how our project is going to help with that. If your number one concern is tourism, here’s how our project helps with that. If your number one concern it, let’s face whatever, yeah, whatever that thing is, because it’s all the same issues, you know, I mean, it’s always the same stuff always the same. And for each person, they prioritize stuff differently. And yeah, that’s cool. That’s how you get really good. And results is a little bit well, you take all these different perspectives that all these people come from, and you try and you’re never gonna make everybody happy. But you really try and thread that needle. That’s why like, don’t ever underestimate how hard it is to do what they do. Like they’re trying to thread a needle, have II talked a lot about the financing side and all their requirements, but it’s also that community, like,
Nestor Aparicio 32:25
don’t want to lash stuff when it came out. I’m like, I don’t want to pitch about a complain about it. I want to learn about it feels like I may take me months to learn about it before I say I liked that or don’t like that. That’s exactly what I would want if I was still voting in the city. Right? If I were you, if I were coming to your meetings at Federal Hill, because I still invested two 500 grand into it. And my future I would want a say, even if it wasn’t heard, right. It’s kind of like my radio show. No one listen. No,
Bill Cole 32:53
yes. I mean, if there anything he is listening, like sometimes I wonder if he’s not listening too much. Right. Like there’s there’s death by like a million ideas to so but we got to
Nestor Aparicio 33:03
baseball and don’t listen to anything. There’s there’s two sides to it. Really you don’t?
Jeff Ratnow 33:07
Well, Monday’s meeting was the first public meeting. Right. The announcement was made last
Nestor Aparicio 33:12
week. Was it raucous or was it angry? Or was it no as well? Ron,
Jeff Ratnow 33:16
it was at the National Federation of the Blind, which is a nice conference area. And Eric was smart. He said I’m still
Nestor Aparicio 33:22
in his mail or he still thinks I live it. So I got invited, I’d see it. He said
Jeff Ratnow 33:26
here fill out are no carbs or questions that I’m going to read the questions and some of the things like I want to read it. He’s like, there’s too many people. And that avoids this back and forth kind of, you know, fighting, you know. It is one of the questions like What are you going to like, Will this make traffic worse? And this is what I love about David at this meeting is like, probably. Right? But you need to make a choice, right? Are the people driving? No offense to my suburban friends down? 83 right to get across to the baseball stadium? Do they carry more weight in their trackway to do so versus you know, this thing? It
Bill Cole 34:08
really is, like almost this death spiral that I get worried about. So, yes, I don’t believe that suburban inflight should take precedence to residence. Right. You can’t it can’t be that way. But what is what my fear is, is that as we
Nestor Aparicio 34:26
go down here, it’s pain. Yes. But that’s what’s going to change. Right. So
Bill Cole 34:29
when you move people in there, and public safety loses such the bad shine that it has and people start to get safe when you’re blown. Right. They feel more comfortable. Say the Orioles go on a 10 year good. You know, like as as that traffic from submarines picks up, and we’re restricting it more. Now. Now we have a different problem. And it’s the same thing that’s happened in Charleston. It’s the same thing that’s happened in Nashville, like traffic in Nashville is insane here. through these things all of a sudden you get the outcome you’re looking with 1000
Nestor Aparicio 35:04
live and they gotta get to the Wiser
Bill Cole 35:05
all this traffic. What do we do about traffic? We
Nestor Aparicio 35:08
got to end this thing. Damian Davey you want to come over and and and end this thing because I always end with shrimp salad. And I usually try to get Damien here and find out like when she’s really moving into the other market. And I’m going to tell her I don’t think she’s staying here. I’m like, I need she is gonna get over there. And keep talking about but we’re fadeless Jeff right now tell me how to find you other than being your LinkedIn friend. And I didn’t realize you were such a South Baltimore community activist in the way you are. Is it Federal Hill.
Jeff Ratnow 35:38
I was Riverside we moved two years ago to a bigger house in Federal Hill, Federal Hill south. Just google me only like eight people on Earth had the name rat now. It’s my nuclear family. So Jeff, right now, you know, all of those. Yeah, my mom, Mike, my wife and our kids and my niece. There’s probably about 30 of us. So yeah, Nestor, thank you for giving me a chance to talk to your listeners to you. I really, really appreciate you
Nestor Aparicio 36:07
giving up the headset because I didn’t plug the fourth ed setting because I didn’t even know. All right, so Toby was going for the holidays here and when are you getting any other building because that’s why we’re doing Baltimore positive here. You know, Jeff, there, Jeff. Hi, Stacey. Again, her mom’s famous. Oh, she does all the work. But her mom’s famous.
Damye Hahn 36:24
Mom’s worked for many, many years. She still comes in at 87 years old. She’s still here on Saturday. I
Nestor Aparicio 36:30
came in here at Christmas time two years, or three years ago to play. And they had boxes to the ceiling. Nobody could come in here they’re curbside. And she got Oreo pitchers in here. Shoving stuff Bruiser, mature shoving stuff into boxes? That’s right. Like, you know, you’re such a, I didn’t find that she was a baseball mom until like six months ago. I didn’t know maybe baseball mom or your
Damye Hahn 36:50
son played at the Academy from 2000 You’re
Nestor Aparicio 36:55
gonna make him send down emails. December 20 is his life and not anymore?
Damye Hahn 37:01
No, not anymore. But I used to have them all and I used to have them all in here. You know, stuffing boxes. And and BRUCE He’s, he’s delightful. He’s friends with my youngest son. So I’ve said Bruce many a meal. Prior to oh, we could study right? Yeah, yep. Yep. And he and he he comes in if if he has time, he’ll come in and, you know, stuff some boxes for me. So it’s just so good. What makes that so
Nestor Aparicio 37:26
good? It’s just shrimp salad. Don’t tell
Damye Hahn 37:29
all that stuff that’s in a deviled egg.
Jeff Ratnow 37:34
You won’t understand. Yeah,
Damye Hahn 37:35
yeah. Yeah. Like it. Like, I know you do. That’s your crab cake over there. Oh, my God. What’s going on?
Nestor Aparicio 37:42
So what’s going on in Israel? And then down here? Yeah. So
Damye Hahn 37:45
what’s going on is down here we should be in by January. So they are building our stall.
Nestor Aparicio 37:51
Oh, wow. So so I’m here know,
Damye Hahn 37:54
if you come again before Christmas, because we’re talking about we’re talking about beginning of January being maybe closed for a week, the first week of January moving over all Our Signs and then up and running. So we’re hoping Oh, my house
Nestor Aparicio 38:10
is getting filled up. So you better hurry.
Damye Hahn 38:14
You know, well, you better come in one more time. One more time. Over Christmas. So it strips out here will help you out and we’ll have that trip time we’re going to have everything that we we ship with so we ship those wonderful crab cakes. We ship our crab cakes fresh we’re the only ones that don’t freeze them. So this is not frozen. They are made to order. And every single one is handmade. I ate a minute ago. So we put them in these packages and they arrived fresh overnight. Air UPS air Express and ship right out of here. Ship right out of here all made to order so it’s not like we’re stockpiling for Christmas. You’re
Nestor Aparicio 38:49
watching for what you have to get on a plane. You didn’t have to drive down here if you hate the traffic right is right down. That’s right, your watch all that stuff on the news. Just order it and it’s fine. You’ll get it. You can
Damye Hahn 38:59
get it yep, you can get the Maryland crab soup. We got the crab balls we can put do a whole dinner with the cold slaw and the mac and cheese and everything else and throw it all in the mac and cheese.
Nestor Aparicio 39:09
Yeah. So you use your wife. Yeah, don’t sleep on a mac and cheese. You’re good to mac and cheese. It’s good. Yeah, shrimp salad, mac and cheese. I wouldn’t eat those deviled eggs, but that’s just me. I mean, I’m saying I wouldn’t eat. Like, hey,
Jeff Ratnow 39:21
it’s just like harborplace it doesn’t offer everything to everyone. It’s
Nestor Aparicio 39:26
pretty good though that you like fresh
Damye Hahn 39:28
fish. We even fresh shuck the oysters. You know, you know me I love the oysters. They’re so important to the Chesapeake Bay. So we’ll fresh chuck a dozen oysters where you can get the oysters in the shell. We’re shipping there. We’re adding those to our go belly menu in this next month. And so anyway, we put them in these insulated boxes and we will Christmas week and New Year’s week we’ll we’ll probably set send out we’ll have to make 10,000 That’s
Nestor Aparicio 39:57
just you know, because Bill It gets him from here every year, because
Jeff Ratnow 40:01
that’s yeah,
Nestor Aparicio 40:02
GC chips in there, it’s delicious. He’s out in Ohio, Columbus, where they have conventions, we don’t get lasting for you just in people coming here and being a part of it. And this is not to kiss your butt or whatever. But every time I’m in here, people I see him come through the door, and they’ll see me and my son and my little goofy setup. But then I see them, like, just fell over here in purple and watch them over here. They get food and they get real happy. I know what I mean, like, Well, I mean, people come here hungry, and that’s great. But there is something and it’s a price point issue for sure. Because it’s not five bucks to come in here. It’s not a hassle, there’s
Damye Hahn 40:35
a five bucks you can get you can get. It’s not happy. You could get saddled, he’s
Jeff Ratnow 40:39
trying to help you by
Nestor Aparicio 40:42
what I’m saying is just a special. It’s something that’s not for everybody. But it’s something it’s special when the fans when I mean like people are very intentional, you know, they’re coming, they look forward to it. And they’ve never been because they’ve seen you on Andrew Zimmern or whatever or guy fee whatever you ever been here, every celebrities, today’s show all the food shows, yeah, your mom’s sitting over there, mixing up all of that. So they’re either looking forward to that, for the first time, right? Or they’re like, I remember what it tastes like last time. And the weird thing is if they come now that the market that they’re used to, that’s gone, so a lot of them come down and a lot of sad about that what happened, and then you send them over and you’re like, it’s it’s everything Jeff and I talked about, and Harvey knew more. Right? Yeah. Well, there’s been an investment made. Yeah, right. Right. I mean, that’s, we talked to Mac about, they’ve invested and you’ve invested your own life, your family’s life, your grandparents life, you’re about to make this big change. Emotional. Yeah, this emotional, like thing. And And when
Damye Hahn 41:44
we’re doing it, we’re doing it because we do believe in Baltimore. You know, we’re one of the people that haven’t left Baltimore, and we, a lot of people left, you know, and we’re their next generation isn’t interested. So, yeah, I’m fourth generation. My son is fifth generation. My son is the one that’s going to be opening up in Gainesville. So I’ll be out there was
Nestor Aparicio 42:06
the daughter, the daughter, My daughter, I’m the fishmonger. I know my color. And you say you boy, what’s the fishmongers? Daughter, son? Daughter, team what? We’re gonna name the restaurant later.
Damye Hahn 42:19
Where’s the third name? Oh, yeah, fishmongers daughter. Right? Right. And it’s gonna be the Fade. Lisa fishmonger I
Nestor Aparicio 42:25
don’t even know what a fishmonger was like two years ago. I had learned with monger meant
Jeff Ratnow 42:30
they throw the fish that
Damye Hahn 42:33
actually it’s English. So So in England, there’s a huge fishmongers club. And it looks like the New York club club. Yeah, I mean, it’s spectacular. It is unbelievable. But you know, fishing is a huge industry in those islands of shore Ireland and England. And so, being being Yes, it’s, it’s it’s a huge staple and they send their fish all over the world. So, being being a fishmonger came, you know, from the settlers that came from England and Ireland, the segment’s
Nestor Aparicio 43:04
gonna last as long as this shrimp salad it was just really, really good. So you think January,
Damye Hahn 43:09
I think January over here and Lexington market and we we have not gotten our final permit sign off, but we’re close for for Catonsville. So it’s been with Baltimore County put audio
Nestor Aparicio 43:26
on man, Frederick failing to the county couple,
Damye Hahn 43:29
but we’re trying to get the permit signed off and as soon as those permits are signed off, we are hitting the ground running in Catonsville. So John space
Nestor Aparicio 43:39
knows I’m blaming him for everything because that’s part of our it’s part of our stick.
Damye Hahn 43:43
All right, well, you can blame others say come on. Now. Let’s well a lot of honestly, a lot of the older guys in permits. It’s retired during the electronic system and it’s been hard and so they’re all the new guys are like looking through a book trying to make sure everything’s correct. So we’ll get there it’s going to be a gorgeous building or it’s oh my
Nestor Aparicio 44:05
dragline lace future it’ll happen it’s like dropped by the harbor it’ll happen it’ll happen
Damye Hahn 44:09
it’s another investment in a very old building the buildings 100 years old. So you know, finding all the all the surprise surprises, so I can have my retirement dinner there. Well, you hopefully you’re not retiring.
Nestor Aparicio 44:27
Hopefully not that soon Damien’s here she’s usually here one of the Packers street side of the new market. It’s about 100 yards to the south. The balls come on by. I’m at crabcakes I got shrimp salad. It’s been a beautiful day they even brought oysters deviled eggs made somebody happy. It wasn’t me. I’m glad I’m gonna love deviled eggs. So like, she’d say, You know what she say to me? You don’t know what’s good. That’s more. That’s more for me. She would say that’s right. And I’m like Mom, the more for me. You can have that radishes, the beets also finally you can have that as well. grows. You know, I, I, your mother and father are beautiful and they’re alive and well and I lost my mom five years ago. I visited my mom’s hometown, about two weeks ago. Then in South Carolina, Abby Ville, South Carolina, man I had a day I got I gained 10 pounds. Everything in the south comes with mac and cheese, everything. And Hushpuppies Why don’t eat those either. They’re right where the deviled eggs are for me. I’ve never met a hush puppy I don’t like I mean, the only thing.
Damye Hahn 45:25
The only thing I can eat in the south is a bold peanut.
Nestor Aparicio 45:30
I went to a gas station in my mom, the town. My mom was born in the road. And here’s the thing. It’s called Walt’s gas station. I remember my aunt Eleanor gassing up there. And it’s just old time. And it’s built out now. And it’s owned by Indian folks. And I went in everybody and there’s Indian families and middle South Carolina. They’re clearly not from around there. And they and they had Indian food. They had hot dogs and they had Barbic they had the things that Walt would have had. I went into pee because I had to pee I was I’m sorry that happened. I went in and then went into the men’s room every I was so glad I peed there. I went in. It was like your place a little bit. Everything was a picture of the history of the gas station that I went to when I was eight years old. And I went out and nice Indian folks there and I was looking at it’s a convenience store now it’s it’s like a little ROFO it’s 100 kinds of drinks. There’s beer because it’s a south. But I got up to the to the counter. I wanted to buy something so I bought energy drinks and I was little hydration. And I went up and they had boiled peanuts. And the guy say the boiled peanuts. They’re always the same. They haven’t changed and I’m like, I’m like I never like well, peanuts, right? But I was gonna give him a couple bucks and just you know, but the place had boiled peanuts swear to God, and then my cousin said to me hey, when your dad or get some boiled peanuts, they’re in season and I’m like, nuts. I’ll be
Jeff Ratnow 46:48
Thanksgiving my mom makes him everything. I go back home to New York. She grew up in Savannah. So big giant pot of ball peanuts.
Nestor Aparicio 46:56
My mother was southern but never made to get around
46:58
the house like mushy beans are so good. Yeah, yeah,
Nestor Aparicio 47:02
I’m not acquired taste. I
Damye Hahn 47:03
think it’s probably the only thing I have ever spit out. What
Jeff Ratnow 47:05
do you think? Now my wife doesn’t
Nestor Aparicio 47:07
like things we don’t like I know we do love we love the fate of these crab cakes. Right? At least we’re likely to market it is all brought to you. What are all your gifts? Yeah. Just go to family seafood rice. Yes, you
Damye Hahn 47:18
have a list of at least crab cakes.com families crab cakes and and and order ahead because we do run out of crappy. We always run out of the Maryland crabmeat turned over. So
Nestor Aparicio 47:29
on time, it’s kind of famous. Yeah.
Damye Hahn 47:34
We didn’t want to use non Maryland meat. And if you spread it out that thin we’re not going to have it for the regular customers. My father kept saying, wait until June we’ll do or you know do a Father’s Day One. Why don’t you want instead of Christmas and now they wanted to put it on their Christmas, you know, their Christmas list or whatever. We’re like, Wait a minute.
Nestor Aparicio 47:56
We got a case for you though. Make sure if you order the crab Absolutely it’s imperative. Everybody in Baltimore can consider the deviled eggs It’s an acquired taste but get the mac and cheese because it’s delicious. It’s all brought to you by our friends at Maryland lottery we’re gonna be giving these away I have not found $100 winner yet we did we had $100 winner here on opening day. My bad opening day was nuts here this year because they moved that a day it was but but we’re here where I am going to come back before we leave this cannot this can’t be the end. That’s the end. So when you get your new date, let me know and then I’ll get in here within a week or so. We’ll just call an emergency. Goodbye Maryland. You want to hear that you’ll start to cry but an emergency farewell to this and were telling
Damye Hahn 48:38
me the 29th of December or so. But that’s the new one. Maybe I won’t be here won’t be here all the way till a New Year’s Eve so we’re gonna be
Nestor Aparicio 48:48
maybe I come in a couple days after Christmas week some leftover. Get some eggnog or something like that. And maybe mom and dad muskrat.
Jeff Ratnow 48:56
I’ll bring you some here’s
Nestor Aparicio 48:57
what for your old man who’s part hillbilly we all know the only hillbilly from Kansas I’ve ever met her dad. So muskrat all the things you have we don’t have raccoons in my tree everyday. Don’t tell me we’re gonna eat. We’re not going to eat it. Okay, so here’s what I want the day where your dad comes. I will eat anything you I’ll even eat right so I’ll I will try things and we tried your dad mom down and we mic them up and your dad picks on me and makes good radio. Oh, I don’t know that I’ll eat muskrat but I’ll eat so much shouldn’t eat I’ll catch
Damye Hahn 49:31
you man against him. All right. All right. Okay, man vs food. Yeah. So see versus
Nestor Aparicio 49:35
food is what it is. Right? You
Damye Hahn 49:37
know, when we’re talking about when you first started this Baltimore positive, right? Five years ago, five years ago and and I just lost my train. Well, you wanted to know
Nestor Aparicio 49:48
how it happened. But my own story that it was a Tony Robbins firewalk and then when the fire I did the firewalk at the convention center. Many years ago I did a couple of those. Tony Robbins is Tony Blair Tony Robbins. So I’ve been a devotee but not a cultist, since 1992 or 93. I did my first firewall, the week before the baseball strike in 1994. And I promise you that was the week to change my life, like that week changed my life for my business and what I wanted to become. The Ravens came to town a year later, baseball went on strike and time with a new business and a 12 year old boy and like, oh, that’s in the 90s 30 years ago. So I’ve been robbing sky forever night. Sometimes I refer back to my original writings of limiting beliefs and things that and what I built a radio station for 25 years, I’m very proud of what I’ve done. But like all of that was rooted in that. So throughout my life, Robbins has sort of come into my life in weird ways. So I was in the locker room at the caps when the Cavs won the Stanley Cup Eastern Conference Finals. And I’m down in the locker room. And there’s Tony Robbins, and I looked at him and I said, You changed my life. Just tell me how you changed actually. I said, Well, my wife did a firewalk back in 2004. With you down in Orlando. And when my wife got cancer in in the hotel that we called the hotel the hospital over Hopkins doctor comes in says, You have leukemia, you have the worst kind of leukemia you could have. And they were in there for an hour and the door shut. The doctors left. My wife and I are just there alone. And we’re like, and she said to me, I guess that effing firewall is gonna come in handy. That’s what she said to me. And then she fought for her life and lived and did her thing. So I run into Tony Robbins in 2018. There’s a June of 18. And I told him that story. He’s like, You got to come to date with destiny, you got to be my guest and give me your Give me your card. So I gave my I gave it to him because he’s six foot seven, and he gave me a hug. And the next day he called me he’s like, you’re coming to take destiny. You gotta come down to West Palm Beach. You gotta be. I’m like, whatever you say, Dude, I’m there. Yeah, you’re my guest. Set it up. You VIP, you’re coming down. We’re gonna real work with your wife. I’m like, okay. So we went down. It was the week that the Ravens played the chiefs in that, that ninja game that the homes did that crazy past beat us. Yeah. That year that Flacco got hurt. Yeah, was it 19 was a, it was five years ago was December 1 week of December, December 5, sixth, seventh eighth that week, six days, six nights, all in locked in with Robins. 20 hours a day, sleeping very little. It’s all very, it’s a serious thing, right? It’s an intense thing. So I went out into this park in West Palm Beach next to the convention center, which is why Mack was involved in this. And I said, I had the greatest inspiration at a convention hall outside in this park. We went out to do this mantra thing. And we had team building and limiting beliefs and goals and writing what you want to do with the rest of your life. It was in that park that I can see Baltimore positive. And I came home and I enacted it. And you were one of my first calls. Don was finishing up with government. It was December, January, not 18. In the 19. Before the there was any plague. We were here doing shows with you March or April of 19. Right. So it’s been four and a half years that we’ve been doing this together here at Bally’s. I, about two years ago, I wound up in West Palm. And I wanted to pay tribute to the place where Baltimore positive was birth. It was broad daylight 90 degrees. I’m in shorts wasn’t winter, I went parked the car and I walked to the park next to the convention. It’s right there at 95 is a Marriott it’s right on 95. And I walked to the park and the first thing I saw was a sign it says alligators do not enter. So I said my whole concept. Had I known the alligator sign was there. I would have been fearful to even go into that garden. But there was there were the alligators were that you confront your fears. So Baltimore positive five years into Baltimore positive so that they do a good job of that. Yes,
Damye Hahn 53:45
yes. But I just did want to say when my dad, when he had told me about this, I turned my dad I went up and I said listen, Nestor Aparicio, wants to do this Baltimore positive show. And he wants to well, he wants to Eric from here, and we’re going to do it once a month. And my father says, That guy that talks too much.
Nestor Aparicio 54:10
Well, at least he’s heard of me. Yeah, no one listens. But everybody here chef rat, no, tell me what you do and how people can be helpful with you in South Baltimore. So
Jeff Ratnow 54:17
I help nonprofits that want to do real estate development. Because it’s mission based. I focus on Baltimore City. I do affordable housing. So I do project management for real estate development companies. So I love Baltimore. If it’s a Baltimore City project, I just love it just a little bit more.
Nestor Aparicio 54:36
Well, you were really outspoken about the harbor and it being like, Hey, give it a chance. And it’s always possible to have on you know,
Jeff Ratnow 54:41
it’s so easy to criticize the city. But there’s so many good things happening. And I mean, we’re here to stay. I love it here and she and the built environment and doing real estate development is an amazing way to leave lasting positive You know, legacies of uses and interacting with people and places and I get to play in the best, most fun sandbox in the whole entire world.
Nestor Aparicio 55:08
He bummed me out a little bit he and CO like, this is gonna take 10 years. I’m like, no, no, no, no, no.
Damye Hahn 55:15
We’re gonna you’re gonna see us as they come out.
Nestor Aparicio 55:19
Beautiful, where they were dreaming that since you were a teenager, right? Literally, right?
Damye Hahn 55:22
No, it’s probably realistically close to 10 years. But you know, the first design,
Nestor Aparicio 55:29
its safety and usefulness. And
Damye Hahn 55:31
well, it was either they were going to invest in this, or they weren’t. So you know, where are you going to? Where are you going to go all in on this building? And what they came back with is, well, we’re going to have to close it for two years. And my father’s like, if we have to close for two years, and we’re not coming back, you know. So you know, you can’t do that to all these merchants and all the people, because once the people leave, they find somewhere else to go. So you find somewhere else to shop. Yep. So you can’t disrupt that. No. So he said, What are you doing with the parking lot next to it, you should be tearing that crap off here and putting it putting it on the parking lines, which is exactly what they
Nestor Aparicio 56:06
do. They use hillsides. You see, you know, the idea people have to a guy from Kansas City, you know, he seen everything. Well, it’s
Damye Hahn 56:13
it’s it’s a it’s a business perspective. So from from city government, it’s like, oh, we can shut this down and reopen it. Well, no, once people go away, it’s really difficult to get them back. Yeah. You know, even in harborplace Yeah. You know, that’s one of the
Nestor Aparicio 56:27
problems beautiful. Yeah, it’s something you’re gonna be proud of the VNA? Absolutely.
Damye Hahn 56:31
It’s an it’s an N, the infrastructure is new. So what we fight with here is, you know, 70 year old pipes, yeah. Right. You know, and, and at some point, they start to give way and how many patches can you make? Right, you know, so you either have to redo it all, you know, you’re gonna
Nestor Aparicio 56:49
do better business over there, you can be able to run your business better over there because of the equipment over. Everything in here didn’t get picked. It just happened. Exactly. Barnes this was just a vision one day that said, let’s do it the way or you get power to it, or whatever it is. I gotta break this off because you’re busy. I have crabcake tour stuff. I have Maryland lottery tickets giveaway. damy still gonna be here. Serve and shipping crabcakes app shucking oysters selling you fish? Talking to you? Mom’s gonna be in a window mixing it up on Saturday morning. Jeff’s gonna be in South Baltimore. And I’m going to be crappy for almost everywhere. It’s brought to you by the Maryland lottery. The fun folks winter nation to give me the 866 90 nation. Wacky hat and our friends at Jiffy multicarrier as well. I got my oil change last week. So that was good. Did I cover everything? We’re good? You did good.
Damye Hahn 57:36
Oh, come get your oysters for Thanksgiving. Yep, yeah, that’s it.
Nestor Aparicio 57:39
I was going to do the oyster tour this year. I know I’m gonna do oyster tour next year
Jeff Ratnow 57:44
almost stop talking. You proved your dad right. We are WNS.
Nestor Aparicio 57:49
Talking back for more Baltimore positive stay with us.
