BarrelHouse Closing

OTR's best brewhouse is closing its doors after selling the business. The new owner is reportedly planning on continuing to brew the beer locally, which is served at many other local bars, but the brewhouse will be at a different location.

Lemmie Leaving?

Mayor Luken is hinting that the city manager may resign near or even when he leaves office.

Who would take her place? Will we open up another nationwide search to find someone in Middletown this time?

Water is Wet, Episode #452

Congress reps here have few black aides

Police Searches

I don't get this. People are concerned that Police searches go to far? Now, if that were a complaint about just being searched in the first place, ok, I get that, and I agree. The police should not just search people at random.

When police search someone, they should search the person's clothes, all levels. They should not do a body cavity search, but that is not what people are complaining about. People are right to complain about police searching people for no reason. If they complained more when little Johnny was caught with crack in his underwear, instead of complaining that police found it, maybe Johnny won't do it again and respect the law. Let's worry about police doing illegal searches, not how thorough they get.

WaPo: Federated to Buy Rival May

Federated Department Stores to Acquire Rival May. The article states that the official announcement will be tomorrow. The sale price is reported to be $35.50 for each share of May, to be paid in a combination of cash and stock. Other news reports are calling the price around $36, but are not as specific.

This is big news for Federated. Let us all hope this will be good news for the City in that the National HQ stays here and maybe even expands.

Oscars

I have little interest in the Oscars this year. I have seen so few movies this past year, that I can honestly have a favorite. I traditionally make it a point to see every movie nominated for most of the top honors. This year it has been nearly none.

Who should win? Does the "should" even matter any more?

Reece is Running for Mayor

The official word will not come for another week but a brief mention was given about a comment Vice Mayor Alicia Reece made yesterday:

Cincinnati Vice Mayor Alicia Reece - who has hinted in recent months that she wants to run for mayor - will make it official March 6. Reece, a Bond Hill Democrat, said Saturday she will kick off her campaign for mayor after she returns from a fund-raising trip. Democrats David Pepper, a Mount Adams councilman, and Mark L. Mallory, a West End state senator, have announced their candidacies for the Sept. 13 primary. Charlie Luken is not seeking re-election.

This was not unexpected, she has been toying with the run for months now, but it is the awaited signal to start a chain of events that will define the make-up of the next City Council.

The next link is who Charter will run. Charter wants to field a candidate, but they only have two people with any legitimate shot at making any difference, Smitherman & Tarbell. Rumors about both have been circulating for months. Smitherman reportedly has already been gaining the required signatures to get on the ballot. Both possible candidates only chance to affect the election

Hiding in the background is the GOP. They have two still waiting in the wings for an endorsement, Painter and Winburn. Painter's candidacy seems to have faded. He made rumblings back last year that he would not run against Mallory. Winburn then get be in the driver's seat. Brinkman's name is being floated around as well. He would do nothing but pull down Pepper and or Winburn, so he would stand to only win a council seat, not the Mayor's office. I don't think he will run for Mayor, but I think he wants to be Mayor of a county wide city government.

If we have a 5 way race with 3 Dems, 1 Charterite, and 1 Republican the battle for the top two spots have a dynamic that turns on three demographics: the black vote, the Westside conservative votes, and the east side moderate/liberals.

The black vote is the most complicated and most likely to be spit over three or even four candidates. Mallory, Reece, Smitherman, and Winburn would all seek to base their support in the black community. Winburn would have the least claim to that, but could still have significant support, drawing it from the other three. Without Smitherman, both Reece and Mallory gain votes. Tarbell is who they both would be hoping gets in the race instead of Smitherman, because he takes virtually no black votes form them, and instead takes huge chunks of Pepper votes and many possible Winburn votes.

The Westside conservatives would go for the GOP label no matter who is there, but some will not go for Winburn because he is black. They will go for Pepper, or if Tarbell is the race they might float to him. Brinkman complicates this even further.

The Eastside moderates are in Pepper's pocket. They might be turned on by Mallory, Tarbell, or maybe even Reece. Brinkman would pick up the few rightwing extremists, but they are mostly on the Westside (or already have fled to the burbs.)

The liberals will also be tested. They would logically lean towards Mallory. They don't hate Pepper or Reece totally, but neither would be their first choice. Mallory will likely keep them, but needs the money of the moderates.

Pepper is the front runner at this point, way ahead of the rest of the field in the primary race. So far he has the top spot locked up. The race is for number two, and it is far early to say who will get it.

Jene Galvin gave an opinion on the race in CityBeat this week and his take on Reece is, shall we say, a bit optimistic. Nate is not even convinced with today's announcement that she is actually going to end up running.

AP Homeless Stories

In an AP feature story on the homeless a collection of stories from across the country are shared, including a story from Cincinnati:

LUNCH TIME: CINCINNATI.

Brent Chasteen slings a backpack over his shoulder and heads out on the streets.

An outreach worker, the 42-year-old Chasteen was hired by a business group called Downtown Cincinnati Inc. after the city enacted panhandling laws that require licenses for anyone who verbally begs.

Chasteen, dressed in cargo pants and hooded sweatshirt, works his way through downtown, handing out discount food cards to the needy, offering help to a woman bundled up and sitting in Fountain Square amid tote bags stuffed with clothes.

He later heads west to a desolate place near the railroad tracks where a shopping cart is filled with cans and bottles and covered with ragged green carpet.

"Hey, Wolf!" Chasteen calls into the winter air.

A purple sleeping bag tucked in a cardboard box moves. A man with a dark beard emerges.

Wolf has been homeless for 10 years.

"Trying to do what other people do - it's a losing battle," he says, sipping a can of beer. "I sit and look at everybody out there and I go, 'Nah, I'm OK where I'm at.' "

Chasteen makes no judgments.

"I know that we may seem to be in separate worlds on the surface," he says, "but many of them share the same kinds of problems that affect me and everybody else."

Chasteen has been featured locally for his efforts with homeless and issues directly affecting the homeless, the panhandling ID Card: In CityBeat, the Enquirer, the Post, and the Newsrecord.

Queen City Forum Site Redesign

Great site renovation from the gang over at Queen City Forum Magazine.

Also note that Walk in Brain, Wes Flinn's blog, is the official blog of QCF, a good match.

Excuse for a Slowdown?

Harry Roberts, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, is advising his members to oppose the City's current contract proposal. A police slowdown (could we call it a brownout?) has been an on again off again element that the Cincinnati Police have been unofficially engaged in since not long after the April 2001 riots. Denials were always made, but their actions, or rather inactions, provided all of the evidence needed to illustrate a concerted effort to influence public opinion.

With this contract dispute, which seems to be an endless act of brinkmanship every year, will Roberts organize (by a wink and nod of course) yet another police slowdown to help twist the arm of city council? We are heading into campaign season, and crime will be a central issue for council, and especially the mayor's race. The PR minefield for the perceived anti-crime Democrats (Cranley and Pepper) who tend to get good conservative support might get tarnished if they are forced to battle the FOP and be seen as anti-police. That logically might make them more attractive to the liberals, but both crossed over the bridge of centrists and will have to pay a big toll to come back into the liberal camp.

The Cincinnati Post editorial page had similar concerns last month:

City officials, who have been trying to come up with a labor contract that avoids a confrontation with the police, filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the state over a published report that some officers are talking openly about launching a work slowdown if they don't like the deal. A slowdown would not be unprecedented, of course. After the 2001 riots some officers pretty much sat on their hands, particularly in Over-the-Rhine, which to this day remains the preferred shooting range for drug dealers.

Are we not talking about a form of extortion?

Pancake Vegas

What ever happens in OTR, stays in OTR. In his post on Leslie Ghiz Nate Livingston brought up his flirtation with the Hamilton County GOP and his possible candidacy for Cincinnati City Council.

Leslie's entry into the race makes me want to run. Last Saturday I attended the Northeast Hamilton County Republican Club's annual pancake breakfast out at the Sharonville Convention Center. What goes on at the pancake breakfast, stays at the pancake breakfast. But I can say it was quite interesting and I learned a lot through my conversations with some of Hamilton County's top Republicans, including Congressman Rob Portman, Sheriff Simon Leis, numerous judges, and other elected officials and Party workers.

I really wanted to avoid laughing out loud at this or even commenting on it, but I just could not let it go by. Does Nate really think that his former jailer would stand by and let him get endorsed as a Republican? No, Nate is not that foolish. I hope these conversations were at least civil, but I would bet money that any and all of the GOP officer holders who actually knew who Nate is, gritted their teeth and poured him a cup of coffee. They would have likely preferred to hurl a few four letter words at him, but they are also smart enough to not make a scene.

I wonder what really happened at the breakfast to make Nate tight lipped? Did he drip maple syrup on his tie or something?

Save Our City has comments as well.

Ghiz is Running

Much to my surprise, Leslie Ghiz has announced she is again running for City Council. She is still running as a Republican, even though she was slighted by Councilman and anti-homosexual bigot Sam Malone.

She is positioned fairly well to contend. She has gain significant support on the Eastside and will likely gain some liberal/moderate support. She had a significant amount of that last time, but this time she might get some of their money too. She should have either run as an independent or as a Charterite.

I really hope that she just gets thousands of more votes than Monzel and Malone. Monzel will be lucky to return in the 9th spot. He will need big money and big TV airtime.

Bad Editors

Where in this article Pension-reform idea a tough sell does it say anything about pensions? It doesn't say a damn thing about pensions, it is talking about reforming Social Security. An ignorant or politically biased editor wrote that headline and totally messed up its meaning. I read the headline, and then saw Rep. Portman's picture and believed I was going to read an article about how Portman was going to introduce new legislation about reforming Pension and 401(k) Plans. He has done that in the past and I actually like several elements of the law, especially the improvement to the vesting schedule requirements the legislation placed on corporations.

No, this is about Portman shilling for Bush's phase out plan for Social Security. SS is not a pension plan. Now, if were in England, the term "pension" has different meanings and here in America professionals like myself use the term pension plan to refer to traditional defined benefit plans, not 401(K) or profit sharing defined contribution plans. We most certainly do not consider Social Security to be a pension plan.

I fear the editor at fault here is most likely ignorant about the interworkings of Social Security and Pensions and how the terminologies differ. Where a bias claim can have an appearance is that use of the term "pension" is one of Bush's phase out Plan points. He is trying to make people think Social Security is just like their 401(k) Plans, when it is not. No matter what you may think about Bush's plan, you must understand that he wants to transform Social Security into something vastly different than it is today. SSA is closer to a defined benefit plan in its structure; it is more of an annuity plan, than a pension plan. Those plans put little risk on the participant/beneficiary. Bush wants a defined contribution plan, where the participant/beneficiary bears all of the risk. When he does not say this up front, he is being dishonest, something akin to a snake oil salesman.

Sick and Tired

I am sick and tired. No, really, I am sick and tired. I have a cold and I am ready to sleep.

I failed to mention the death of Hunter S. Thompson, what I can point you to is the movie Where the Buffalo Roam a semi-biographical movie about Thompson. It stars Bill Murray who was born to play Hunter S. Thompson. Murray should reprise the role in any future bio-pic.

Make that Two From UC

Andrew Warner, a 3rd Year UC student, has announced his candidacy for Cincinnati City Council. Warner is a Green Pary member and has a website. He has little chance, but at least can pay his political dues.

No More E-Check in Hamilton Co. ?

What are the odds of E-Check going bye-bye?

SCOTUS Hearing Eminent Domain Case

How will the Supreme Court rule on Eminent Domain, where it enacted for private development, not public projects? This likely has lawyers for those pending displacement in Norwood and in Clifton Heights. It may also impact the new Stewart Landing Plan.

Iraqi Voter Turnout

Well, I wonder how many people still believe the vote turnout in the Iraqi election was "overwhelming" or huge would be shocked to know that only 58% of registered voters came out to vote:

The election commission said 8.55 million votes were cast; about 14.66 million people were registered to take part in the election. The 58 percent turnout fell short of the 60 percent that officials had predicted soon after the vote.

I would guess those who think it was at 72% will just say that holding an election was the panacea to fix everything in Iraq, even though at the same time they said it was going to be a tough road ahead. You know, hedging your media spin is the only way one can survive in the world of Wurlitzer.

Best Seller Coming

I don't think Mike or Pat DeWine will enjoy the upcoming book release:

Due out in June: the book by Washingtonienne, the blogger who got fired from DeWine's staff for writing about her sexual exploits in Washington.

The book by Jessica Cutler - Washingtonienne's real name - is billed as a novel now, titled 'The Washingtonienne.' Amazon raves: 'Deliciously gossipy and impossible to put down, 'The Washingtonienne' is destined to be the book in everyone's summer beach bag.'

I have not checked, but the Wonkette was the place for the full scoop on Jessica Cutler, so she likely had this story awhile ago.

Enquirer Women of the Year

The Cincinnati Enquirer has named 10 Women of Year. A hat tip to this year's honorees, who will be fully profiled in the March 13th issue of the newspaper.