Jail, Jail, Everywhere, But Not a Place to Build It

It appears that the townships of Hamilton County are all for NOT building a new county jail in their neighborhoods. Their reasoning is right out of the "Grasping at Straws" book of public debate.

"Entertaining the idea of putting the new jail in an area inaccessible to the current Justice Center and Courthouse is short-sighted and unworkable," stated Wagner. "With the price of gas, it is ludicrous to transport criminals back and forth between the Court House in downtown Cincinnati to an area in the northern part of the county. What a terrible waste of time, energy and manpower!"

Gas prices? Are they joking? Claiming that building a jail that will hopefully last 50 years or more should be based, even in part, on the cost of fuel is a funny enough notion for even Si Leis to chuckle.

If you don't want the jail, fine, people understand why, but that is not an excuse they should be allowed to use. What people need to do is belly up to the bar and buy everyone else a round of drinks once in while. Colerain Township isn't any better or worse than the rest of the County. Downtown can't afford to waste land on a new jail and the current jail is sufficient to handle those awaiting trial or on trial.

If there was a way to level the downtown jail, and build a much smaller holding area for trials, that would be the ideal solution for the needed development of Broadway Commons, Sycamore and Main Streets. I shall not hold my breath for the non-city governments and populace to do anything to help out the city.

Public Funding of Religion

Some locals tried to cheat the poor by finding a loop hole in a law designed to fund religion. I missed this law enactment. Too bad that we now live in a country where religion is funded over education. The 1st Amendment continues to be crushed under the weight of theocratic politicians.

In Time for the Election?

Will Tom Noe's trial in October provide a negative effect on the elections big enough to influence the outcome? The polls right now are very bad for the GOP, but it still is early and lots of money is waiting to be spent on attack ads.

Downtown - OTR Status

So, in what direction are we headed? Jon Fox of CityBeat explores where we're going. Some say bad, some say good. Is the City doing anything outside of grandstanding on the Selection of City Manager?

Dale Mallory - Under Fire

The Mayor's Brother Dale Mallory is is being scrutinized for his actions.

His efforts regarding City Link are drumming up his foes again as well.

Poor Tax Defeated?

The Enquirer is reporting that the effort to raise the sales tax and lower property taxes, something we shall call the poor tax, could be on its way to defeat. Uncle Carl seems to need more money, so unless he plans on buying everyone in the county a new car, I don't see how this plan does anything but stick it to the poor and to a lesser degree the middle class, mainly the renting middle class. Where's the debate on funding plans? Heimlich appears to be feeling the pinch from Pepper, forcing him to try and win over the nutty anti-tax extremists.

City Manager Vote Delayed

Mayor Mark Mallory will not ask council to approve his candidate for City Manager today, instead opting to wait at least a week.

Does Milton Dohoney have the votes for approval? Is council only pissed off about the process or do they want someone else? What will it take to get Chris Monzel to side with the four council members on record with not liking the selection process? Maybe just a phone call? If they really felt Dohoney was a good candidate, would they be this open about the problems with the selection process?

In Case You Missed the Bus

Inktank has announced: "Encore Performance of Stories From Behind The Wheel Scheduled For Monday, June 19, 2006 at Mr. Pitiful's (1323 Main Street)

InkTank's submission to the 2006 Cincinnati Fringe Festival was a wild success as each of the performances of Stories From Behind The Wheel sold out. (Actually it's not that hard to sell out when you perform your show on a 25 seat bus, but we're proud anyway, so stop raining on our parade, okay?). Due to an overwhelming number of requests to add another performance, the cast has graciously agreed to hold another performance at Mr. Pitiful's (1323 Main Street) at 8:00pm on Monday, June 19th, 2006. Unfortunately, we won't be on a bus for this performance, but the good news is that we'll have plenty of seats for everyone. Please join us for a special night of storytelling with three fantastic actors, Jennifer Dalton, Embrya DeShango, and Scott Fitzgerald. Directed by Michael Burnham, the production takes stories collected by InkTank writers from bus passengers and bus drivers and strings them together to show Cincinnati through the windows of its mass transit system. Donations to InkTank gladly accepted at the door. For more information, please call Jeff Syroney at 513-542-0195."

Synergy

It's a cliché, but the Multimedia PR Kits can provide a synergy of files/documents that can fit any media outlet or PR need.

As the Internet grows as a tool for all types of media, TV, Radio, Print, each medium wants all possible types of content that will fit their varied Internet sites.

Around Cincinnati - WVXU

One of the great local radio programs on Cincinnati Radio is Around Cincinnati. The full archive with Podcasts are available.

B-Roll

The average Jane/Joe on the street has no idea how much thought local news puts on the production of stories. The visual image is what drives television. The importance of having video or quality digital pictures is a must for an arts organization to get any Television news coverage.

Best quote: "How did the monkey start riding the dog?"

New Local Arts Blog

We didn't have time to add this to the NAMP workshop, but CincinnatiArts.com has a new local blog going at cincinantiarts.com/blog.

NAMP: Blogging

Much like walking and chewing gum at the same time, I can't blog and speak in front of an audience much, so I am looking back and thinking, yes, I have voice for Blogging.

UPDATE: A point to add on commenting for blogs. Every blog editor/owner should consider a clear policy on how to handle comments from readers. On my blog I don't regulate comments and I get some nut cases. An arts organization will likely need to moderate comments.

Speaking of Long Lines

The Fringe Festival is on my mind (it just ended) and seeing people wait in line for a show reminded of this photo we got from Saturday at the Know Theatre where people were waiting in line for Catholic Girl's Guide.

Virtual Backstage Tour

The types of things I think a "backstage" tour could provide are limitless. During the Fringe Festival just last week I walked by a theatre and heard the company going through what I would guess was a warm-up ritual. What I might want to know is, what are they doing? Why are they doing it? How can/does the ritual make the performance better? I would love to see that ritual.

Ok, I must be honest. I am not a fan of Cirque du Soleil. They do have a great video, however.

The Agenda & Welcome

Living blogging an event is not a new concept, so I won't pretend to be the "Blog of Record" for the workshop, but I hope to add a different perspective.

The Agenda:

• Virtual Backstage Pass
• Previews and Trailers
• Blogging and Podcasting
• B-Rol
• Multimedia PR Kits

The four of us presenting the event are:

• James Czar
• Adam Rabinowitz
• Luke Brockmeier
• Brian Griffin (me)

Yes, our video trailer was a bit goofy, but only James is really that geeky in real life.

NAMP Pre Game

We had a little bit of maneuvering to get the Internet hook up set, but we are up and running. James, Adam, Luke and I are prepping the workshop.

National Arts Marketing Project Workshop

I'll be live blogging the National Arts Marketing Project workshop today from UC's campus. I am part of the presentation. If there are questions on blogging or anything else from a participant in the workshop, please feel free to post it or email me.

Papers, Please

I wonder how much longer before every person who "looks" like they could be illegal are rounded up in Butler County?

Fountain Square North Upgrade

Fifth Third is set to announce plans for the building running along the North side of Fountain Square. Plans are reportedly including a remodeled Rock Bottom Brewery and 42 million dollars worth of renovations.