Thursday, December 31, 2009

The Top Local News Stories of 2009

I'm sure people will quibble with my list of the top local news stories of 2009, but that's why we are here. My list gives deference to stories that are more important. I know that's not what the masses want, but since when is this blog about pleasing the masses? Anyway, here's the top ten:
  1. City Budget Battles - The lack of civility on council is a disgrace.
  2. County Budget Battles - The lack of planning from the Stadium Tax architects is causing a critical reduction of services. We actually need a functioning court and corner's office.
  3. City Council Election - Loss of Harris, wins for Winburn and Quinlivan: The Obama voters stayed home and the GOP scared enough Republicans to vote for Winburn.
  4. City Lay offs: Workers did lose jobs, but the FOP doesn't seem to care about that, just their own raises.
  5. Issue 9 goes down in defeat. The citizenry actually listened on this issue and defeated anti-city forces. We must be vigilant and defend progress, the likes of COAST and Smitherman will not end their quest to destroy the city.
  6. CinWeekly dies. Yes, it was "replaced" with Metromix, but there is less content, which goes went along with laying off the entire staff.
  7. Decline of the Enquirer and CityBeat: The economic downturn has hurt print media across the board and these publications took hits this year. We have less news gathering. Fewer reporters are out looking for stories. The existing ones don't have time to work on stories that may not actually pan out. Local News is dying. I don't know how to prevent that.
  8. Bengals and Bearcats are successful: Pride actually does a city well and people are more positive about where they live when their sports teams does well. Yes, that says a lot about our Culture, when sports drive so much of our Psyche, but if the Bengals win the SuperBowl, even Westwood Concern would support the Streetcar.
  9. People are coming downtown: We just had an election last month and it touched on crime, but overall, people think downtown is safe. No one demagogued the CDB. Many still fear OTR irrationally, but that too is changing.
  10. Ups and Downs in the Arts: Many local arts organizations had layoffs over the last year or closed outright (I will miss New Stage), but actions like Mrs. Nippert's gift to the CSO, the Opera, and the Ballet gives hope that once traditional donors get their investments back to a more comfortable level, they will continue giving and maybe give more.

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