Just roll out the gate with like what's the purpose of a city sl gan?

And can use that sense the urpose of a city slogan?

Yeah, Oh, really?

Oh, what a dream okay.

I think that history of a city o slogans can absolutely tell the history of a city and that The people are proud of the peer ess city, liberal minded, hospit ble and alive to all that tends o uplift and refine home and soc I never even heard of the word p erless.

I did not know that Port mouth was called peerless My first impression of the word bold, strong you can't bring down we're fighters like those those re those are words that like jus come to mind when you think pee An d it's like man, dude, I would love to be a part of a city that s so strong that it's peerless.

would love to be a part of a ci We have our issues, just as ever city in the United States is ha ing now, you know, with drugs an low employment, those kinds of I retired from the atomic energy plant.

My children live different place .

I did live in Columbus for a w ile, but then I moved back to Portsmou We were on the river and that wa the means of transportation in those days.

And people would stop here going other places and to start their usiness or such and we grew very much.

And one time we were large The city was once one of the gre test cities in all of Ohio really.

There was industry here and when they first started off with our industry was still in operation more or l ss like steel For my understanding there were ultiple shoe companies that exis ed once upon a time and then Mit hell is kind of being the big co Peerless city, you know, I take t to me, and that stands above the rest.

It has no real peer.

The slogan dates to probably aro nd 19 to 1903.

But, but by the t me he is 1914, it's popping up h re and there.

So you can see Rep That doesn't encapsulate the spi it.

You know, Portsmouth booster sm.

I don't know what does.

But his was part of the lead up to t And I think 1914 was the second ear that they had done the carni al.

It would evolve over over th years, and ultimately it would Over here, what we're looking at is going to Portsmouth Daily Tim s, and it's the 11th of November 1918, which of course is the day The one thing that we have learn d, as we have been studying the istory of our founders in the hi tory of the cemetery, is that th There were blessings here.

Bless ngs here, I wanted the some of t e stories of the story of St. Si on labelled.

He was a banker.

He want to show you again some use f the term peerless.

And you can see this is the announcement for the grand opening of the peerles This volume is from 1950.

Post W rld War Two, you see a period wh re Portsmouth is having a good b siness year right there.

It says And Portsmouth about the time I was growing up as very vibran Did in town, they didn't have al this branch banking and so fort .

And our sidewalks were full an parking was hard to find.

And i The intention was that between C ncinnati and Pittsburgh, Portsmo th was the peerless city.

And particularly, I think he mig t say on the Ohio side, it still is a regional population center nd a major transportation hub an Most slogans don't really stick r become an asset for the community necessarily.

You know, the stories of Virginia's for lovers and Don't ess With Texas, and I love New Y And ownable, about a place and s me agreement on that strategy.

A d then a slogan can be a byprodu t of that, you know, everyone the same slogan or a variation o the theme or express it in thei own their own ways.

But if ther 's a strategy underneath that, t When when we say, communities li ing it out in the three dimensio al way, we feel like that's star ing to become a successful Oh, this is the Rathskeller buil ing was built in 1843.

I believe at one point it was a bus statio .

I forget exactly what time it Next to this was a cannon ball f ctory.

Somewhere, I forget it wa over there over here.

Some guy old me this thing few months ago But I don't know how to do that s because that guy is kind of nuts.

So.

All right, so I'm Derrick Parker and I'm here to tell little sma l story about George Remus.

Most people know him as the king of a The up the real upper Felicity t end that that was seeing.

I didn t quite see all of it.

So from m vantage point, I am eager for poignant, peerless city, black people, when our children re born, you know, some people t lk to him, you know, little late on about the birds an I taught, I told my children, I ut their head up to the mirror, ach one of them, you're special, you have worth, you have value y It 14th Street Center was our place This was where we came for ente tainment.

This be mentored, while the 14th Stre t Center started in 1931.

And th n they really came into official business in 1943.

Friday nights Doc heard.

They were like our pa ents.

When you walk through that door.

You became their children.

They taught respect.

They demand But we loved it.

The North and stars, which was a softball team for all girls, and we traveled all over Bruce Thoma and Mr. Fro was our coach.

No o but it was going on many many ye rs ago and I just continue with heir vision build on top of that.

People that come in and have nev r had a hickey burger.

Once she inds out that they have then it's the classic.

We have a virgin, right?

Yeah, I'd like to welcome Aaron be one and like I said, they'll et people know I had one of my c stomers bring a nun in Don, and my uncle Sam and Rosie tarted the restaurant, December 0 1975, they started because the meal was going down.

And they to Like I said, this is where south rn hospitality comes.

I said I'v always worked in retail 31 year , I bought the restaurant becaus Now I have to watch my length okay, it's just a small, single atty burger ground, especially w y it's at 20 Burger ground three times, you know, that makes a bi Well, the story goes and I remem er meeting the guy that he got a hamburger extra dip.

So that's w en we take the bond and dividend I hate that slogan.

Ohio is has othing to do with the South ever has never had anything to do wit the South ever.

I find it odd t opposite direction of like, you now what, how we identify histor cally as a state, you know?

So no clue really that that was ver a slogan to begin with.

And I totally hate it.

When I think southern hospitalit , I think of somebody called me an and sweet tea and mint juleps and you know, Southern bales and you know it depends on what the purpose o it is.

Is it a community wide s ogan?

Is it for Economic Develop ent and Tourism and the recruitm Whatever slogan is used It usually reflects the sign of the times.

The Ohio Jaycees at the Portsmou h branch was because the Portsmo th area Jaycees created it.

They were sponsoring a big gr Confederate uniforms, or dressed up as hillbillies.

And as the te ms that were used in the newspap r article, it also reported that We had more people coming to vis t to city.

We were very prospero s city at that time.

Even with s me of the issues that we have he Portsmouth was really sort of de ressed, and this is what the sou hern hospitality slogan was to c ange.

And once we started with t Where southern hospitality begin , I think in some some ways it does fit.

We still have a whole ways to go.

We have a lot of pre udices.

We have a lot of issues hat we have to work through with not only skin color, but with op because I served as a mayor here in on city council and as a mayo here, after my term, actually, when I served as mayor.

The council decided to do away w th the mayor form of government, because I seem to be a popular m yor.

And their fear was they did I guess an education and experie ce and all of that.

And so as th y put together criteria for the new city manager.

Course I did not fit that criter a. I didn't have the education.

I didn't have certain certain affiliation with certain organizations and associ tions.

I would say for the major ty, especially if the North End camaraderie, we do want unity we do want people to come together, simply.

And I think it's because it comes from the the repression You had to put it in context.

Th t's the way it is with history, ou know.

So if you go back to 63 this is during the celebration reference to white supremacy or nything like that.

But it's cert inly you know, it was introduced in that context, and I think som So, you know, there are, there a e definitely different perceptio s of the slogan, it continues to be used today.

From the time I came here and st rted growing up, the community w s a community.

It was a true com unity.

Even though there were a It was very important for the en ire community to make sure that ll kids were taken care of that hey were protected and that But then came the McKinley pool.

Can we pool came about because t e Dreamland pool did not accept.

African Americans did not accept a young man named Yujing, McKinl y went to the river to swim because that was where they go t swim, and then he drowned there in that in the river.

After that the McKinley pool became a real lot of things we got done when I was city manager.

We got various grants for the ur an renewal which made the site f r the college available.

S So there was a lot of controvers about it.

But now you have the eautiful, beautiful Shawnee State campus my experience has been a mix of really nice people, then also pe ple who are not so nice.

I mean, just as a gay man.

I mean, I've xperienced homophobia, I can't t if you're, if you've made a choi e, then people can sort of like, push you aside and say, Well, yo know, you've made your bed now ou have to lie in that type of a titude.

So I've seen that with p caring for the people.

And I've xperienced that as a gay man, I' e experienced that with other pe ple.

And when I think of souther helping people and people going out of their way to you know, to be nice to people t be kind to people.

And so I've een a mix.

I've seen some people be really nice and kind of embod And when I see the Confederate f ag, I think that's a racist flag.

It was, you know, waved during the Civil War.

And it it, it was about reb llion.

I mean, and slavery and r cism.

And so it's, it's really o and some of the things I still s e happening, and the things that I hear people say, I had heard o a local pastor say one time will just let them die.

That's a person whether or not they made a choic to take the drug or wha So that it's, it's hard.

It's st ange, but yet there's people who are trying to make a difference to so.

So we're here in Portsmouth, Ohi and inside the historic Spartan Stadium, the original home of th Portsmouth Spartans, the NFL te They were around for five years and the earliest I think 30s They had moderate su cess, although they did star Another tradition is the Thanksg ving football game every Thursda on Thanksgiving, the Detroit Li ns host a football game.

That tr Unfortunately, the Spartans were doing decent but the town was no doing so well.

The depression w s getting a hold of the city, th my vision for Portsmouth, howeve long it takes is Vibrance.

So i 's people downtown.

It's new bus nesses, it's new communities, it And everyone loves a good comeba k story.

I grew up in the 80s, e rly 90s.

Like watching Rocky, an everyone loves the team that's Really the comeback city is some hing that I like really resonate with back when myself and Dale ing, city passion and most saw w that hay day of a downtown.

I ca see to some degree where they s y the comeback.

That would be gr at if we can I mean it was a big There is no more industry here.

And it's not coming back.

We it' not the industry is not coming th e old king that runs PSK see t at partners with us.

He always says no one is coming.

You know, the statement, no one is coming, it's up to us just really comes rom self relianc can kind of get into a bad habit of hoping somebody does somethin for them or waiting on the gove nment or waiting on that magical Even if you think you have perfe t project, there's still people ho are like against it.

So we ar at the Spock Memorial dog park There were some concerns when we build it here, because some peop e were like, No, that's prime re l estate, you're gonna put a dog we have it already.

If Amazon de ides to build a distribution cen er, you know, we'll move it somewhere.

Since 2005, there was a city bui ding here.

And it was demolished and it sat vacant.

In 2017, I gu ss we had a professor from Shawn Yeah.

Dog park in Portsmouth, Oh o will be dedicated tonight.

And it's named for a police dog kill d in the line of duty.

protectin State Highway Patrol canines cam and it was just it was like, super cool.

So I was I was talking to someone, usiness owner here in town, they were telling me that it's great to see people on council actually visit other cities.

And take away something and brin it here.

Not all ideas are goin to come from us.

As a matter of fact, I think every idea that we Street our project started in Se tember 2019.

And we then get thi wall until February 2021.

What his project is directly at its c They can come here instead witho t the repercussions of the law.

f they're painting here, they're not painting somewhere else.

to illegal, I'm also wanting to pen people's minds about what gr ffiti is and what it could be.

I 's more positive than negative.

When I first started teaching he e at Portsmouth, just to give yo a little understanding, I start d in 2007.

And we had 78% of our fall depletes.

And so I wanted t em just to be aware of what huma rights were, and so that they c uld be empowered to know what So the garden project started in 2016.

So we've had like, nine vi iting artists associated with th project, horticulture designers The purpose of a city slogan, I hink it's a balance of authentic ty and aspiration is to capture eally the spirit of a place and I don't know what to dream about and really like a destination to get to.

Well, I think it's catchy.

I thi k their slogan is catchy.

I thin people like it.

I think they li e the underdog.

We all like the and save the day.

I think those days are gone I don't want to come back there.

I don't want to go back there.

I want to move forward.

I want to reate something new.

I want to b I want you to always think higher than me.

It's unacceptable to stay right there I met.

You always reach up high.

Your e bows bend, you got it.

You gotta call it elbow.

Notice, if You always keep their mind strai ht.

And you got all we think it' what I tell my youth.

And then hat the city need.

Word don't me You can't pay me enough just to ay, I love you.

And don't show it.

Your 30,000 or $50,000 this give me a check.

The Phoebe' In this truth, keep it.

If you love my kids, come in and help out.

And as far as the comeback city for me, I guess the judgment is still ou on that.

I don't believe in jus saying stuff just to be s I would need to see more employm nt here.

And until we have more mployment than just the recovery Because at this point, our enti But I'm not sure that's what I want us to be known for.

Yeah, every time like we say, li e Portsmouth or something, and p ople know what it is.

It's like e're known as like, ghetto and l even though we've had a lot of, ou know, addiction and opioid ep demic, you know, we've gotten a ot of programming started, peopl The story of the counseling cent rs growth is simply listening to what the client population at th time says they need.

And that c You know, we thought about you k ow, what would the Counseling Ce ter look like if we were set up ore like a like say like a unive We, we noticed it was for sale.

nd I thought this is you know, w 're going we're gonna give this hing a shot, you know, within th the message that I got growing u , like from school and from my p rents and from other people that you know, had had gone away and And that's, that's, that's part f, I think, like a cultural thin of like that almost rooted in A palachian culture, that kind of someplace else is going to be be ter.

Right?

And so then I think hat that was that that led to a ass exodus, right?

We saw all of Thinking about city slogans in t e context of kind of Time and Pl ce is interesting because as cit es kind of are trying to tell th have in relation to the entire w rld.

It's interesting to think a out right now how we have access to information about the entire my hope is that people will will find hope again.

And that they find a sense of love.

Hope keeps us going.

Even when, even in the darkest of times, I ean, it's it's kind of like a li ht.

Like the Portsmouth welcomin community, we have a pin that s people that love them and care a out them.

And even if it's just itting around and having coffee, they know that okay, on Thursday And it's just that or being in t ere for one another.

And I think if Portsmouth can embrace that idea, then we will come back.

Because I see so much of it's all about me.

attitude.

And, you know, I gotta make sure that I get I get what I need and what my people want my people ne d. But What about that addict, too, has tried to go through rehab and ha fallen off the wagon so many ti es, and they're just, they're gi What about them, they're part of the community too.

They're not trash.

They're peopl .

And communities are made up of people.

It's not made It's people.

And at the end of t e day, that's really what it's about.

It's about people.

Acceptance is a big deal, where ou don't have to, hunker down, y u know, you can be yourself and t's okay.

And there's, they're m it says, Watch us watch our smok .

Because when somebody says you can't, you can't, and you won't, and you'll never do it.

You don' I have a vision of of a Portsmou h reborn.

There has been such I hink community level trauma that has happened here, you know, in Yeah, that, you know, you just a sume a stance that you can at le st protect what little bit you have.

And you don't think about potent al for better, because you've be n disappointed so many times before.

And so, you know, we have become a community, in self preservation mode, you k ow, surviving, you know, like pe ple talk about, like, you know, ow resilient we are like, it w And so like, inevitably, there a e consequences to that.

And it's not saying that they're bad or g od.

And in either respect, it's just filled with so many amazing human being , artists and