Welcome to the ticket, I'm Isaac Govere. Now the federal government still doesn't have a

national plan. So state and local governments around the country have had to figure

out what to do as they run short on money.

Many parts of the country will likely see frontline workers laid off

and essential services cut, and watch those cuts reverberate

through cities and towns in major ways.

These are going to be tough times ahead.

People are frightened, many are out of work,

and that's all on top of the problems that existed in America

before this pandemic, like what's been brought out by the death of George

Floyd and the violent protests that had set off.

This is one of those places where the abstract conversation about government runs up against

reality. Absent a federal bailout,

they're going to have to be cuts to police and other first responders,

which will mean more strain on those who remain and fewer on the job to respond

if and when they are needed.

So for today's episode, I'm going to talk to a local leader who's facing these challenges, someone

who had already had a pretty nutty year of crisis before this in a city that has been trying

to climb back for years.

Nan Whaley is the mayor of Dayton, Ohio.

Dayton was one of the hardest hit cities in the 2008 Great Recession,

something it was still coming back from when the pandemic arrived.

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