Episode 1 - Dave Polacek

Welcome to the Magic City Neighbors on the Mic Episode 1. For our first podcast, we invited Dave Polacek into the studio to tell us a little about his unique perspective on Barberton though his jobs as a Fire Marshall Captain and as Vice President of the Barberton City Schools School board.  We talk about some of the past of Barberton and finish up with where Dave sees things heading in the near and distant future.   

Thanks to Pedal Stomper Productions for sponsoring this episode. 
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Transcript

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Hey, everyone. I am Josh. I'm Jack. And this week, our guest for the first episode is Mr. Dave Polacek. So we're going to play our theme. We're going to get right back into it. Hey, everyone. Thanks for tuning in. We are really excited to start this podcast. This is the first episode that we're going to dive into here. First off, I want to let you know this week's sponsor is Pedal Stomper Productions. Anything from senior portraits to corporate videos to yes, even video podcast studios, Pedal Stomper Productions is your photo and video partner visit WWW.PedalStomperProductions.com for more information and we'll have their link in the description are show notes for today's show. Now to dive into this, to give you a little introduction, here I am Josh Troche I am the owner of Pedal Stomper Productions. We now have the studio here in Barberton. And with this I wanted to make sure that we got people to come in and talk. And one of those people is the guy sitting next to me here. Hey, everybody, I'm Jack Hornak I'm a senior at Barberton High School and I'm also part of our TV studio program. And Jack, being part of that is part of the reason why he's here. But we're super excited as we have Mr. Dave Polacek here. And Dave, do you do anything in Barberton or have you done anything I've ever done? Well, I ride my bicycle once in a while. Other net? No, actually, I'm a citizen of Barberton. I've been in living environment since 1987 and graduate of Norton High School, got my bachelor's degree from University of Akron, and currently for the last 27 years I've been with the Barberton Fire Department. So I'm just a few things. I'm currently a captain and the fire marshal for the city and I'm also on the Barberton school board and the Vice President right now. And I'm in my fourth term. While so yeah when people I mean there's when I filmed with the firemen before there was a reason why a number of guys called you Mr. Barberton and. That's I did the scouting program for about 40 years as well, so. Oh, that's all. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, among other things today. Yeah, yeah. Just a couple of things here and there. So to me I'm going to ask some fireman questions and so now that you're you're your fire marshal, Captain, you said, correct? Correct. So what is that job kind of entail? Okay, that's a good question. So basically it's we take care of all the inspections in the city of Barberton. We go around and make sure the businesses are there up to code compliant, which are based upon what the fire code is in the state Fire code. We also do any fire investigations. We actually had two house fires today and we did two investigations today. I'm also the public information officer. So any type of press release or interview with the media, I take care of that. I'm also the public education coordinator. So we go out and spread the word about fire safety and like safety. I do have three teams that work with me and it's really, really great. So a lot of great support supporting the chief's support from the administration to me. I mean, so what makes Barberton difference AS so from from that aspect? I mean, I know and to me I see it as okay. The first question is you're going to get is the hey, you're the guy that comes in that tells us we're not up to code and. Right. You're the big jerk. Well, well, you know, I mean, it's. Funny because you know that. Yes or no. So what I try to I try to explain to the business owner, you know, you have an investment, you have a business, you might have a building. Yeah. You've invested a lot of time and a lot of money. So you want to protect that investment. So that's number one. You know, safety is what it's all about. So, you know, your safety of you, safety of your employees, but also the safety of the customers and and surrounding community. And that's how fire code does exist. You know, fire code comes out of tragedy. You know, some type of tragedy has occurred in the past to warrant them to make a rule for certain things like an exit sign or doors that open out and only have one hand operation to open out. You don't have to twist three different locks for different ways, things like that. And so out of tragedy comes necessity or comes rule changes. And that's one of those things. And when you explain to a business owner that, hey, we're here to help you, you know, to make sure that, you know, you don't want to, you know, want to lose your business, you know, because your insurance is going to dictate, you know, your your rates. You know, what it costs you to be in business. And if you are in compliance, that helps your insurance rates, because they're going to want to know they're going to want to have a copy of your your fire inspection as well. So, I mean, do you do anything to make it easier or simpler for businesses to come in? Because I mean, I realize that in a lot of cases that's I mean, there's tough stuff to look at. But what can be done to, I guess I would say, attract businesses and stuff to Barberton? Well, it's a matter of all, you start with the whole zoning and making sure that the whatever business does come in fits the neighborhood, fits the area. You know, obviously we don't want a nuclear power plant to show up and set up next to like the other. You know, while that would be amazing to bring in a lot of jobs, you know, you know, you don't want something like that because, you know, you're in a middle of community. You know, there's there's some things that are involved in with where you can and what you can have in certain things. You know, if you have a lot of traffic flow, well, obviously you do have a parking lot. You have to have, you know, entrances and stuff like that. When it comes to cars, when you're talking with any type of like the mom and pop shop, say, like a hardware store or something like that, you know, you have to have more than one entrance, you know, an entrance and an exit. They have to be in different areas. It's got to be well-lit. It's got to be safe so people can walk around. You know, you're supposed to be at least 36 inches, but supposed to be 39 inches for your. I always as you're walking around, you know, and trust me, I get some complaints about some businesses saying, oh, it's really crowded in here. And that's part of my job is to go out and just take a look. And, you know, a lot of the stuff is temporary, you know, because they're doing a floor move or they've got some new stock coming in. And I just you know, I casually mentioned that, hey, you might want to, you know, keep that clear that aisle a little bit open. But the big thing is make sure the exits are blocked. That's a huge one. And you know, it just hey, in the easy way, I kind of tell or suggest, you know, hey, why don't you paint a little yellow line around that exit So that way, you know, you know, your employees are not to put anything within that yellow line. It's like a caution circle or something like that. And that helps a lot. And it's a bucket of paint. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And just thinking of, like, storage. Storage close to the ceiling, you know, people are always stacking stuff up and you have a certain height you're supposed to be if you have a spring. I have a sprinkler. And I told the one gentleman or suggested, Hey, why don't you paint a lie, you know, all the way around, you know, So many inches down. You just tell your employees you can't go above a line. That's a great idea. So. You know, I hate to say militating. Yeah, facilitating. And it's about education, you know, I'm not sitting here going to heavy handed. Say something, you know, Hey, but, you know, I do have the opportunity to shut a business down if it is extremely unsafe to the public, somebody can get hurt walking in there. You know, if I've got a building fall apart, you know, I call the building department and they show up and we ascertain, look at it. And see where we go. So do you work with new businesses that are coming in? Yeah, we work. So I work with new businesses, established businesses and potential businesses. So what's the potential side of, Oh, that sounds interesting. Yeah, the potential site is interesting. So let's say, you know, somebody want to come in and make widgets, okay, and they want to have a widget factory. So what they have to do with the widget factory, they have to submit a set of plans to the zoning commission and a planning commission, and they look to see if, you know, it'll fit where it's supposed to go. And the building department also gets a set of plans and they look at to make sure that it's compliant. They send it off to their certified plan. People that they look at it in their engineers and they make sure that the plans are code compliant. And then I get a copy to make sure their fire complaint as well. And it kind of starts that way. And so you kind of talk a little bit about it, Hey, you know, think about this, think about that. You know, what did you think about this? And the majority of time, architects are pretty much up on it. They understand what the codes are and things like that. So it's not like it's a big in-your-face thing. What they, you know, start, you know, bringing in bricks and mortar. They kind of understand what's going on. And then as a as it progresses, you know, we do site visits and we make sure things are, you know, what they said they were going to be because, you know, oh, we were going to put in a you know, it was going to be a floral shop and now it's going to be an acid dipping, REM dipping place. So those. Are similar. You know, I can see the mix up. Yeah, I like it. But I can see how somebody might get confused. You know. It's not a hard thing to measure. You know, So and again, it's one of the things to make sure that that they're doing exactly what they said we're going to do. So, you know, again, things do change and you have to be, you know, on the fly sometimes. But again, it's education and trying to come up with solutions that are amicable because the the end result is, yes, we want to be safe, but we want to make sure we have businesses in town and, you know, they're contributing because they're there. Why we're here? Yeah, you know. Very much so. When you sit and talk to people and you explain, you get a lot farther, you get a lot further rather than coming and going, hey, you know, screaming and yelling is, you know, that's old school. It doesn't go very well. But, you. Know, there are some times that, you know, you do have to get professionals involved and or, you know, I can call the state farm marshal at any time and say, hey, I can't get in here. I need this, this, that. And the other. Interesting. And interesting thing, too, is, you know, the fire department of fire marshal has I can basically walk up to any door, you know, that's a commercial structure and knock on the door and say they have to look me in on in for an inspection to fire because it's life, safety. And, you know, sometimes you get a little bit argument and, you know, but it does happen. You know, I haven't I haven't experienced that personally. Everybody's been really, really wonderful. Who wouldn't let you in? I mean, that's that it it's just it's just you. Speaking of which, though, speaking of the education component. I was going to touch on your school board position. Sure. So would you like to tell us a little bit about that and how you are working with the public schools on the school board? Yeah. So school board sets policy and basically a set policy for schools and they hire the they have two jobs, hire the treasurer and hire the superintendent and then to make sure that, you know, they do their jobs and we're basically their boss. Okay, So that's a lot of fun sometimes. Just. You know, I will tell you this, working with the district, I was I've been involved this district, this is my fourth term. I was off intern. So for a term. So basically 20 years. So 20 years ago, you know, there was a group ahead of me or behind me and, you know, we saw a need of we didn't have some new schools. We'd love to have some some new opportunities. It doesn't happen overnight. Yeah. You know, my last term that that I just finished up and I'm just starting second or the fourth term. There were a lot of projects that were started 16 years ago now, 18 years ago, and it's cool to see it come out, you know, and I'll tell you what, we've got the most tremendous staff. We really do it from everything from the people serving the food in a line to the bus drivers, to our custodial staff on the buildings are high schools, 20 to 23 years old. And yet people come in here and they're amazed at what great shape. Definitely. Yes. And, you know, and through COVID, what a great learning experience. I mean, that's one thing I will say is the team involved in not just at the schools but the fire department. People just came out of the woodwork and said, what do you need? How can we help? And that was such a relief. And you know as well as as I do that things changed on an hourly basis when it came to COVID. Hey, you can do this. No, we can't do that. And it was very frustrating. But again, everybody worked together. Everybody kind of rolled their sleeves and they said, what do we need to do? And we got through it, you know, and there's still, you know, ramifications from all that stuff. But it was a great learning experience. And our team rose up and met the challenge and the students, you know, because students in Barberton need to be in front of teachers. Oh, yeah. You know, we've got every gamut. And the idea is to take the kid from the level they were at and take them to the next level and take that student up to the next level. And that's what it's all about. Yeah, and I know that's happening. I know learning is happening in Barberton and the opportunities that is the For City Joy Vocational program is amazing. One of the biggest issues so many opportunities and so. And then the the college credits I mean we had a how many get their associates degree while they're. Going in high school. Yeah I think we. Had 20 or 22 last year. I mean that's incredible. That is. I remember one of my Eagle Scouts. He had 49 college credit hours when he graduated high school. Wow. 49. And I'm like, he's going to be you guys, I think can be a junior. What's of it Now? That's that's ridiculous. And it's just one of those things. So the opportunities there and that's what we want to do, you know, we want to make sure they're safe. You know, have in their school resource officers and every school is just a blessing. Yeah. And they're the same, same people. And to get that positivity between a police and the students, you know, and, and have that structure in the schools and it breaks down a lot of barriers, you know, because they don't get an easy easy to answer the cops nowadays and that's unwarranted. Yeah we've got a great police force here. I've known these guys my whole life and, you know, I worked at Blossom for 25 years. I knew every summit kind of deputy for for the last 30 years, you know, and a lot of good people coming through. But to have that in there and there's a lot of districts that don't they hire, you know, anybody from any police department to come in and just sit. Well, yeah. You know, I'm sure, you know, a couple of the officers, they're very interactive. Your heart. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, and you're interactive. I mean, the one gentleman who he makes, ah, chalk drawings and has the kids do drawings and he passes out stuff. I mean, it's just, you know, officers and. Stuff that make you feel comfortable in the school. And it really does help. So again, it's one of those great things that the schools do offer, you know, on our sports programs. Great. Our arts program, you know, Trillium Arts festivals this weekend. Yep, Yep, Saturday. And they're going to do a showing here that they are. And I'll tell you what, I every time I go to that arts festival, I just all the way from kindergarten, preschool all the. Way I make the. Talent and it's every aspect, you know, the musical, the singing, the the, the band, you know, the choir, the the photography, the drawing and the the 3D. Any of it is all just. It's way beyond me. Right? Yeah. Most, most of the preschoolers can draw better than. Oh, absolutely. My wife is an amazing artist and you know she she got it from the schools. You know, she read it very well back then. She's a barber and graduate. Wow. So when my kids both went to the schools and they're they're pretty talented, too. I mean, it's just again, it's the opportunity. And. Yeah. And that's what I love about being on the board. I really do. It's seeing the change being a part of that. Yeah, just a small part of that because it, again, it comes down to the team and building consistency and then building, you know, like I tell everybody, you're everybody's one heartbeat away from the next position. So I'm comfortable that if somebody suddenly leaves, we can fill that position and keep going and we won't have to slow down a lot. So and that's what's great. Then I wanted to touch too. So talking about like all of the good things that we have going on in high school, where do you see what do you see in the future for the schools? And like what bright spots do you think we could? So there's a program that we've been playing around with trying to get established and it's kind of going called year 13. And year 13 is one of these things where kids and adults that have been out, maybe they went to school for a year or two in college and he said that not for me. And they can come back and maybe get an associate degree or something else that's available through like something with the four city type occasional or preschool program. Same thing. We would love to expand that more. We're kind of size limited, so you got to try to expand or look for different avenues for that. Yeah, for city Compact programs are unlimited. You know, it's just a matter of finding the buildings, finding the teachers. Oh, yeah. But when something comes up, we try to address it. And that's what's great, you know, between Water Norton College and us, man. I'll tell you what, there everybody's on board. I mean, it's truly amazing. And I see us just you know, Barberton is one of those communities where we really are a small town. Yeah. And somebody said last night, we're one of the most generous communities out there. When there is a need, it gets. Phil Agreed. Yeah. And it's just you don't see that and it just one of those things I got so many stories about stuff like that. But yeah. Yeah, that's one of which we may touch on here in a second. So we are going to shoot some rapid fire questions that you, that someone came in through Facebook, other social media, stuff like that. So the first one I got is there's the Esther Ryan spaghetti dinner. And I know you said it's 27 years of the fire department. Yeah, I've been 27 years. Do you know the spaghetti sauce recipe for the Esther Ryan dinner? No, they won't even let me in the kitchen to cook it. I believe we have some video of that that's coming out from the fireman. And I was actually interviewed by the Beacon about two or three years ago about that. And the same thing came up and it was we thought it was going to be a little two sentence article and it being the front page after page, how and it was a big deal. It was a big deal. And you didn't have the recipe. Oh, of course not. I know that recipe. I know that's tough. And I get asked that all the time. Yeah. And then another one. I'm also very interested in this. What's the number one? Dinner food the fireman are always hungry for when you're on the job. Whatever's on sale. So a lot. Of people. Don't have this cheap. Well, yeah, And a lot of people to understand that, you know, the firemen pay for their own food. So what happens is they they figure out what's on sale or what's going on. They'll go to the store and buy it. And then we split the cost and then you usually up that cost $0.50 to a buck and that goes into a a fund. And then when we have a holiday, then it's a free holiday meal. So or it's a minuscule amount of a holiday meal, but we pay for our own toast, our own costs. Really? Yeah. So whatever's cheap. Yeah, whatever's cheap. And there are some specialties. Now, I will tell you that some firefighters are not allowed to touch anything in the kitchen but the dishes. And that's okay. That's. That's for once again, I believe we had a conversation earlier about safety. Yeah, exactly. Safety. Sure, sure. Let's go. Let's go with the safety thing. But there are certain dishes and what you'll find out, you know, there are certain staples in the firehouse that, you know, we have a half a dozen dishes that have been passed down for 30, 40, 50 years that still get made. And it's funny because when the retirees come in and they find out we're making it, they'll taste like it made it wrong. Rookie, What's wrong with you? It kind. Of laughs. Well, we didn't like the way you made it. Well, that's good. You don't know how to cook, boy. You know it's boring. Yeah. And like I said, with the reverse raffle last night, you know, that's the same recipe they've been using for almost 35 years. Really? Wow. And the one original cook was there last night, and he took a taste of the hot rice. He's like, just the way you're supposed to be. And it was hilarious with. The young guys. They didn't understand. But all of us guys, the seasoned veterans, were just, you know, it gave a big smile. Yeah, Yeah. It's really for some of. So another question that came in so this this speaks right to the fire marshal. And so is a home insulated with foam insulation, a higher burn risk. See and I looked that one up because I kind of got a little inkling of that when I looked into it. The what I can tell you is because of what the material is made of, it will throw off a lot more smoke and a lot more acrid smoke. Okay. So can I say it's a more rapid fire or spreads? I don't have the answer to that. But all I know is if it does go, it's a lot smokier. You know, it's like it's a petroleum based. Usually petroleum based is usually, you know, more spots off a really thicker smoke sense. So. Sure. And then why did you decide to become a fireman? Why did I decide to become a foot archeologist? Well, you know, the interesting thing is I think it's one of those every little kid likes to be, you know, see the fire, say it's at all. Yeah, cool thing. I actually was going down the road of electronics. My brother was a big in electronics. And so I was going to do that. And then I said, Man, I'll do that. I'm going to go to school now because they were pushing college big time. I was fortunate enough to get aa4 year Fulbright scholarship and I stayed local because it was just me and my mom. At that point, my father passed away or I was 11 years old, so I was the youngest of five. So I stuck around and I went to school and I'm like, What do I want to do when I grow up? Well, hey, you know, radio is cool. I want to be a deejay. So I actually got a broadcasting degree. I was on the air for three years and I liked music. I really liked music, but concerts were expensive, so. So I saw an ad one day that said, You can work at Blossom Music Center. We'll pay you up to $6 an hour. All It's a. Lot. That's a lot of money. The minimum wage is 425, you know, like, Oh, cool. So I ended up starting out in a work lot and you can go in and you parked the cars and then you got to go watch the show and you got to come back out and, you know, let the cars out. This is awesome. I'm making 30 bucks a night and I want to see the show. This is awesome. Yeah. So anyway, that one a few years and one night I got to know people up there and I'm talking to a gentleman who was on the first aid squad and he's an Eagle Scout and I'm an Eagle Scout. And we were just talking about stuff also. And he's short. He doesn't have an extra person and he gets a call. He's like, Hey, man, you know, first they jump on the cart with me, cart with me and help me out. Okay. Well, I was pretty good at first aid. I had a lot of great scout teachers that we learned from around World War Two or Korean War ambulance driver. You better know first aid with him. And it was, you know, shout. Out to Dave Stengel, you know, and Gary Vargo, who is also a nurse at the VA. Wow. And then Wayne Brown, who was a Barberton firefighter, you know, they taught some birthday classes. They were pretty serious. Yeah. So anyway, so I going to call them Babylon persons, finally get them up there. And afterwards a guy says, Hey, do you ever think about becoming an EMT? Yeah, not really. I thought I graduated college by this point. And he goes, Well, if you become an EMT, I'll hire you and I'll pay you 12 bucks an hour. Hey, smoke that double. Yeah. So I got to be an EMT, and the next year I got hired in and did it. At this time, I was a manager of a car wash in a detail shop. I came up, they ended up switching my major. I did the broadcast and got a business management in broadcasting with corporate radio, which killed everything. So. Which is why we're here. Yeah, exactly. So basically. I got to know a bunch of these guys from all over the different fire departments that worked up there. Like, you got to be a fireman. I'm like, Well, I thought about it. Well, no, And and basically you take a test and you go from there. So I took a test and I got hired. And one guy goes, Oh, wait a minute, you took one test and get hired up and take a test for the last five years and I can't get a job. So it is what it is. And the crazy part is my son now works for that guy down in Canton. So we've been friends for three years. But I'm still, you know, when I tell that story, when I'm going around, it was like, Oh, what's your degree in broadcasting? How did you become a fireman on the broadcast? So but it does it kind of comes full circle with the public information officer. And a lot of the people that I went to school with are in the media still. I do guest on the radio once in a while and I do some call ins and I get to see people all over the country. They're all good friends of mine. And and then I do some, you know, some other broadcast here and there. So yeah, it's kind of cool. So yeah, it did it just around the beltway. It kind of went, yeah. So the last big rapidfire question we have is what methods do you use to maintain your mustache. With great mustaches come great. Responsibility. Right, right, right, right. My wife helps a lot. She does keep it trimmed. Oh, look at. So you could help. You have help. Oh, yeah. You can even help. For the mustache. Well, you know, listen. Help for the mind. You know, that's. That's what it took. Forever to get it to this. You know, it just did. But, you know, and I'll tell you a quick story about mustaches and firefighter. So back in the day before they had self-contained breathing apparatus, firefighters would go into burning buildings with nothing. So they always had these big bushy mustaches. So they would take the mustaches and the older moles and they would breathe the smoke through that way. And then that would filter the smoke. And then they would come out and they would scrub scrub their mustaches and go about. So it was actually kind of the way you. Covered. The dryer. So it's kind of a traditional thing now. So mine is at the limits or it's supposed to be my arms this fit. That's why we can have beards, because our ear mats have to fit and I have to be able to. Have to seal it up here so your face doesn't have a problem up top. No, no. And it's funny. I've only I accidentally shaved that once in 27 years, and my wife did not know the mustache. Yes. Oh, and. When she showed up and was looking directly at me and she has the guy with me. Hey, where's Dave? He's like, He's right there. And let's just say all the seven guys I was working with Iran and head because she was not very pleased. And what happened was I was trying to trim it and I. Just had it. Yeah. And it just kept going and it got to the point I'm like, Oh. I got to finish it right. You know, he's got. To was not happy. So it's been off twice in our marriage in 28 years. And how comfortable is your couch during that time? I stayed at the fire station a lot, you know. Good cop, even better. So we've got to we've got a question we're going to ask everyone that comes on the podcast. To me, I want to touch the funny side of this. So what is your favorite Barberton folklore slash tale slash tall tale slash rumor? I mean, is the Loch Ness monster in Lake Anna or something of that? Lake Anna is bottomless. Come on now. We had a German U-boat that came up through and, you know, I heard that story. Yeah. So is that the favorite or what? That's the thing. That's pretty much my favorite one. That. That somehow a German U-boat. Yeah. And, you know. Made it up. And my mom grew up by the stadium and she's 94. She's still with us and she laughs every time somebody says that, she's like, Oh, those people. But, you know. They made a wrong turn in Albuquerque. Exactly. That's what I was going to say. And then my question just ended off What do you see as a future for Barberton as a whole? Where do you see where do you see us going? I see a lot of growth. I mean, with things happening, I will tell you this, being involved with new businesses and planning and stuff, there's been five new businesses that have opened in the last four months. Wow. And plans for half a dozen more. I mean, plans come across my desk and of course, I can't talk about it until it gets going. And that's kind of the the frustration because people sit there and bash and do this and it's like, no, there's actually no, no. It's on the way. Oh, yeah. There's a lot of great things happen. There's a lot of great plans going. I'm excited about the downtown with, you know, it's just nice to see people out and about, you know? Yeah, I know of a place that's going to have an outdoor patio, but I can't disclose where that place is yet. And it's going to be really, really beneficial to the area. You know, let's talk about another festival possibly coming back with a completely different look. And I'm involved with Labor Day Festival. I'm involved with some other things. I've done festival plantings. I still work concerts to this day and I it's the idea behind it is amazing. And I think if that gets pulled together, it would it really be really, really cool. I think the Lake Anna is such a jewel. In. This city that's it's not even close to its potential. Yeah, it really is. It's people drive by, they can't see it. You can't see it from anywhere. You know, if you're going with Instagram, you have no clue which they're you're coming up our road. You have no clues there unless you keep going straight, you know, and you run. Into finally hit it. You know, I've had people are like, I've drove by. I've been driving down Gloucester Road for 25 years. I never knew there was a lake there, you know, And you just sit there, go, gosh, how did you not walk around? How did you not see the beautiful cherry blossoms? You know, that only had two swans before We had two issues. You know, it was cool, you know, And I remember as a kid, I never swam in it, but I was one of the last generations that was able to swim in it. We lived out in Norton, so we didn't have that. You know, we didn't come in apartments when we had a pool right by our house. Yeah, My friend had his own pool. So we kind of stayed there. But I just see that there's a lot more recreation that can happen there. And I know there's a lot of plans for infrastructure and and helping out that way around the lake. And again, it doesn't happen overnight. And that's that's what's so frustrating too, is people think that, oh, you come with a plan, you can build it tomorrow. No, there's and when. You're doing it on it, well. When you're done with grants, sometimes it takes you a year, year and a half to three years to get your grants, what you've applied for it, and you finally get all the project done. And, you know, that's one of those things. So I see a lot of development. You know, there's a lot of houses going up. Yeah. And then I see the revitalization of the old neighborhoods to where people are investing, buying the houses. You know, they're going to look at a new house that's $300,000. And they're like, But I can buy a house over here for, you know, 95 or 150, put another 40 or 50,000 into it. Bringing it right up to that. Bring it right up to the same one. And I've got yes, I've got more structure, but let's just don't say it's built. It's a hundred years old. It probably won't last another hundred years, you know, And that's what I see happening a lot with the schools, with the community. It's just we're going up. We're continuing to go up. And that's that's what I love. And having, you know, younger generation have some buy in and doing great things as well. And, you know, hey, go out and experience the world, but just remember where you're from and you'll find out. The Barberton is a very, very small community, but we have ties all over the world and that's been proven time and time again. I've got stories like people in Washington State and Idaho and, you know, O.C. Barber used to get his matches, his wood for his matches out west in the Pacific Northwest, and he would truck it back here. You know, it's crazy. And so they know what Barberton is. And you there's all those connections you. Hear these stories, you're like, you're kidding. All you know. You know. You know what Barberton is? It's there's besides the dot on the map. Exactly. You know, BMW came here because they wanted to buy O.C. Barber Sterling Boilers. Yeah. And he's like, I think I'll buy you. And he did, right? He bought them and moved them here. Right. And he was they were the competition and and they've been here ever since. You know, we still have BW 60 and they're growing like gangbusters. And they are. It's amazing. So a lot of these ties around here, it's just it's one of those cool things. And that's why I always try to encourage people to research and read about O.C. Barber and what he did and what his vision was. The man was amazing. He is truly amazing. And ah, so still a lot of cool buildings left that I think there are some cool things that can happen with that too as well. And really feel that. So that's there's a there's a good future in looking at the past. Absolutely. That to me is a great mark to leave the site. Dave, I really want to thank you for coming next week you for being a guinea pig. That's awesome for our first episode. Jack thank you for coming. I got my hair done for this time. I know. And it. Looks wonderful. Looks good. It looks wonderful. Yes. Thank you. Yes, yes, yes. Everyone, make sure that you subscribe like share. Share this with your neighbors. Obviously, your neighbors are who we are talking to on. All of you right now. Yeah, we are probably going to be about another week and a half, two weeks out for the next episode. I appreciate you coming along. We will see you guys soon. Thanks for coming along.