Reader Survey: Fifth and Race

There's currently no proposal at all for the large lot at Fifth and Race (for those of you not sure, we're speaking of the parking lot adjacent to the Millennium Hotel that stretches along Race between Fifth and Sixth). That gives us the opportunity to do our own creative thinking about what should be there. As Grif correctly points out, there's plenty "to do" downtown (I'd add Music Hall and the CAC to his list), but there's always room for more. In no particular order, what would you build at Fifth and Race if the decision were yours?

• Condos
• A grocery store
• A movie theatre (the kind that would show Rambo)
• An "indie" movie theatre like the Esquire
• A bowling alley/nightclub like the former Jillian's
• A really big Chipotle (sorry, that's just me fighting my own substance abuse issues)
• A gym or health club

Of those, the condos are my least favorite. My thought is that the space should be either (a) something that the neighborhood residents need/want; (b) something that will draw people downtown; or (c) some combination of the two.

Some Monday CinTV Fluff

Queen City Survey ponders TV ideas set in Cincinnati. The 6 given are actually pretty good. I was thinking of a period drama set in the 19th or early 20th Century, call it Pork Journalism and set it is as a drama through the eyes of a Cincinnati Post reporter.

New Blog: OhioFirstPolitics

OhioFirstPolitics will be covering the Ohio 1st Congressional district race. Give it a read.

I Wanted a RED Pony!

There is no pleasing the Enquirer, especially the headline writer for this article Too many restaurants?. What the article lacks is a comparison of how many restaurants used to be downtown and how many are there now. It also incorrectly lumps in dinner restaurants and lunch restaurants in its "analysis." Lunch places like Potbelly and Ingredients are not anything for Jeff Ruby to worry about. I wonder how much of this story stems from talking to Ruby. In the article Ruby sounds like he has no clue what is happen downtown. He tries to be cute with the "San Quentin theory", which fails to recognize that Downtown is growing and more people are eating dinner every night of the week.

Also either Menelaos Triantafillou's is talking about making Downtown a full "neighborhood" where you can get the dry cleaning after dinner or he has never been downtown:

“The number of restaurants is one question, but more important, what else is there? If people go to dinner, and they want to do something else afterward – which is what humans do – there needs to be something else to see: shops or theater. There needs to be synergism,” said Triantafillou. “You see it now around the Aronoff, with Nicholson’s, Nada, the Contemporary Art Center. Think of other cities or, for example, Clifton, where there are all the amenities you need to enjoy a nice night out. That’s what downtown needs.”

Has Menelaos been downtown before? You have over 4 very popular nightclubs, the poison rooms, 4 live theatre companies (and Playhouse up the hill), Arnoff, Taft, Fountain Square, the Blue Wisp. You could drive to Mt. Adams or NKY if you prefer. There are tons of things to do after dinner downtown. That is clearly not an issue. If the guy means there is not a movie theater, than I am going laugh my ass off. Seriously, people don't go to Nada and then want to see Rambo.

Fifth and Race: Back to the Drawing Board

Once again, Eagle Realty has failed to deliver on promises for the Fifth and Race site. This time, it appears that the City is unwilling to grant it another extension, and Eagle will no longer retain the development rights.

Eagle looks to blame the City for its failure to come up with $3.8 million in funding. I'm curious about the nature of that money. Surely it isn't the case that Eagle had secured $96 million in funding, and the City wouldn't close the remaining gap to get to $100 million, is it? Or is this one of those situations where an initial $5 or $6 million was needed at the outset, Eagle wanted the City to foot half or more, and there was no guaranteed source for the balance of the $100 million? Anyone have the details?

Cranley Doesn't Get It

john Cranley has never understood urban transportation. If it doesn't get him votes on the Westside, then he's going to "question it". If the Streetcar plan included rebuilding the Price Hill incline, John likely would vote twice to approve that.

If you want to know about the streetcar, how it will help the city, how it will work, check out www.cincystreetcar.com.

Art or Exploitation?

I know I'm having a strange day when I think something, and then read almost the exact thought printed in Peter Bronson's column. So today is a strange day.

Bronson was at the media preview of "Bodies . . . The Exhibition" at the Museum Center. He discusses it today. Included in his column was this:

I looked at another corpse throwing a baseball and wondered how it was so
different from the so-called "artist" photographer who was caught posing corpses
with keys and dolls in the lurid Hamilton County morgue case. They called that
desecration of a corpse. We call this educational.

How is the Museum Center exhibit any different? Diplaying posed bodies in the absence of the consent of the deceased (pre-death) or a family member (post-death) should not be cause for celebration in a civilized society.

If that creepy photographer Thomas Condon had put an exhibit of his morgue photographs together, I wouldn't have gone to see it. I doubt I'll be heading to the Museum Center to see "Bodies," either.

[Post edited by author to remove language suggesting the exhibition shouldn't be "tolerated" by our society.]

Waterboarding Would "Feel" Like Torture If You Did It To Me

So says the Attorney General of the United States today in response to a question by Senator Kennedy. But the Attorney General of the United States cannot admit that an "enhanced interrogation technique" that has been deemed "torture" by this country for most of its history and by almost all of the civilized world is, in fact, torture. Why is that? Because to admit this will be to admit a very dark truth ---- that over the past six year, despite its Constitutions, despite its rich anti-torture history, despite its laws, and despite its historic acceptance of the Geneva Conventions and other treaties banning torture, the United States has become a nation engaged in torture. Perhaps President Bush should have explained that to us in his final (Thank God!) State of the Union address as he weakly attempted to articulate a legacy out of an utterly failed presidency.

Perhaps someone should ask the Attorney General or the President whether we should any longer find torture shameful. As John McCain, the now presumptive Republican nominee for President, said back in October, "They should know what it (waterboarding) is. It is not a complicated procedure. It is torture. . . . . All I can say is that it was used in the Spanish Inquisition, it was used in Pol Pot's genocide in Cambodia, and there are reports that it is being used against Buddhist monks today."

Patricia Corbett, arts patron, dies.

Patricia Corbett, who together with her husband J. Ralph Corbett, supported arts organizations from CCM, to the Cincinnati Ballet, Music Hall, and countless others, died today in her sleep. She will be missed, but I'm sure her influence will be felt for years to come.

Archbishop Divides 'Bodies' In Half

The Cincinnati Archbishop deemed the 'Bodies' exhibit at the Museum Center "unseemly and inappropriate" and has decreed that local Catholic Schools should not organize field trips to the exhibit. What makes no sense is that the Archbishop instead leaves it up to the parents:

If parents, as the primary educators of their children, believe that it has educational value, they should be the ones to take their children to see it.”

So on one hand the local Catholic Church has condemned the exhibit as unseemly, but then they defer ultimate moral judgment to the parents. This is just not logical. If it is OK for Catholic school kids to go the exhibit with their parents permission, why does it matter that the Catholic school doesn't organize the trip? If it is not good to go through school, why would it be OK to go with your parents?

If nothing else, hopefully this will help the exhibit gain more attendance. If they church condemns it, more people are likely to want to go to it.

OK Cincinnati Go

UncleRando breaks down the GoCincinnati into a great summation, one that even a suburbanite could comprehend! Now, if they just understood it.....

New Coffeehouse Near UC

Options for coffee in the Clifton area has increased by one, with the addition of Taza. Has anyone been yet? What's the atmosphere like?

Mush!

There are times in a man's life when he must demonstrate to the world that he is indeed a man. Braving the harsh elements, maintaining self discipline under intense pressure, battling downtown traffic, and dressing up in a humorous (yet tasteful) costume are just a few of the demand tests that lie ahead in the Cinciditarod.

March 1st is the race. Are you man enough to organize your own team? Can you make it to the end of a grueling trek through the streets of Cincinnati? Can you legally obtain your own shopping cart?

If so, sign up by February 21st for the challenge of a life time, or at least for the Month of March.

Heimlich Out of 2nd District Race

Phil Heimlich has quit the GOP Primacy race of the Ohio 2nd Congressional Race. Phil's political career is done, or he has to go into hibernation for a decade or two before the GOP will touch him with a 30 foot pole.

YouTube Campaigning Comes To Southwest Ohio

Apparently every legitimate candidate now needs someone to sing about them on Youtube. Meet "Wulsin Girl."

It turns out that Wulsin Girl is actually Ann Driscoll, a 20 year-old first-year student at Berklee College of Music. If I ever run for office (unlikely!), I hope she likes me.....I can only imagine the really bad things she'd manage to rhyme with "Caster."

[Links via Malia Runyon at the Enquirer's Politics Extra Blog.]

WOXY's Rock 'n' Skate At Fountain Square

Indie Rock, ice Skates, and beer make for a fun evening on Fountain Square. $0.97 to skate and $2.00 skate rental. A nice deal for a fun event. It takes place this Friday Night (January 25) 7PM to 11 PM.

For more on skating at Fountain Square, hit www.myfountainsquare.com.

Are Streetcars The Answer? I'm Not Convinced.

I realize that I can openly disagree with Brian only so many times before I wear out my welcome, but I have to admit, I'm not sure that streetcars are the panacea that will revitalize downtown and Over-the-Rhine.

It seems that everyone who has jumped onto the streetcar bandwagon wants to remind us what a great boon they've been in Portland, Oregon. Well, bully for Portland! I grew up in Buffalo, NY. And the streetcar fervor in Cincinnati sounds much like what we were told about a new subway in Buffalo when I was growing up. It'll spur economic development, people said. It will attract new businesses downtown and everywhere along the subway line, people said.

Guess what? Buffalo's subway system has been open since 1984. Does anybody think Buffalo represents a model of economic development? And quite frankly, from a demographic and cultural standpoint, which city does Cincinnati more closely resemble: Buffalo or Portland?

Why do people think that what was good for Portland of the Pacific Northwest will be good for Cincinnati, in the heart of the Midwest? Here are some statistics to show the differences:
Population: Cincinnati--332,252; Portland--537,081
Median income: Cincinnati--$29,554; Portland--$42,287
Racial composition: Cincinnati--52% white, 49% black; Portland--75% white, 6% hispanic, 6% black
Average number of days with high temparature above 90: Cincinnati--28; Portland--10.
Average number of days with low temperature below 32: Cincinnati--98; Portland--44.
Average snowfall: Cincinnati--23 inches; Portland--3.1 inches.
Average price for a gallon of gasoline: Cincinnati--$2.87; Portland--$2.97.

Streetcars may be a good idea. But lately, some have suggested that they're the most important piece of the puzzle to development in Cincinnati. That's going too far. The City's most impressive piece of real estate--the Banks--has sat empty for years because our local leaders can't get their acts together. And OTR residents are still in need of more places to work, shop, and play.

Without strong, competent leadership, streetcars won't do the city a bit of good. And we seem to have leaders who are great at talking about things, but not so good at seeing them through. Doing the homework to get things done seems to be more than many of our politicians want to do. Does anyone else remember that when the street car plan was rolled out at a Council meeting (a committee meeting, I think), Chris Bortz went so far as to say that the City wouldn't even have to pay to have the electrical lines (that would power the streetcars) to be installed, as the utility companies would no doubt do it free of charge, realizing how much money the streetcars would bring in from revenues from new businesses? And does anyone else remember the Enquirer reporting the next day that a spokesperson from Duke Energy indicated that they hadn't been approached about that, and that it would cost so much the company would be unwilling to absorb the cost on its own?

Urban planning and economic development is tough stuff. We need people in our leadership who want to roll up their sleeves, not just be on television as often as possible. Streetcars might be one piece in a very complex puzzle that will help Cincinnati be prosperous. But a solution in and of themselves? Color me decidedly undecided.

Deters Simplified

Justin Stenger wrote a good guest column in the Enquirer this week, rebutting the idiotic comments of Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters. A Simplified Deters is strong exhibited with this "if" statement from Justin:

"If Deters really wanted the streets of Cincinnati to be safer, he would encourage visits to the city's core, not discourage them."

Deters cares about getting elected again, that would be about it.

[Via Wes]

It's Streetcars!

UrbanCincy's readers say Streetcars should be the #1 priority for Cincinnati . In terms of Development, they are totally correct! Two other issues that should be constant priorities are fighting crime and centralizing social services outside of area being redeveloped. If you think I am talking about moving the Drop Inn Center, then you would be correct. It will move. The question for DIC management is do they get a good deal or are they forced to move?

The Caton Mess

Since learning of the impending promotion of now-Sergeant Patrick Caton, I've really been struggling to sort through my views on the matter. That, no doubt, will suprise many of you. "Donald," you'll say, "Your civil practice includes civil rights law. You've got to be horrified that Caton is still a police officer, much less a sergeant."

And I am. But it's not that simple. This is a situation in which several deeply-held beliefs are in conflict. Maybe our faithful readers can help me sort them through in the comments.

• I grew up in a union household. I believe that working men and women have the right to organize, and to bargain collectively for the terms and conditions of their employment. And I believe that employers must be required to abide by the agreements they enter into with the unions that represent their workers.*
• I'm a criminal defense attorney. I believe--I have to believe--that an acquittal means something.
• I'm a criminal defense attorney. I believe that the power of the police has grown stronger than the Framers of our Constitution (particularly with respect to the Fourth Amendment) had ever envisioned or ever would have approved.
• I'm a civil rights attorney. I believe that citizens should not be subject to excessive force at the hands of the police who are sworn to protect us--all of us. And I believe that an officer whose use of excessive force causes serious injury or death should never get the opportunity to do it again. I also believe officers shouldn't use racial epithets while on duty. (They shouldn't ever use them, but I can't imagine them being subject to discipline for non-criminal, off-duty conduct.)

So where should that bring me with respect to Caton's promotion? Our criminal justice system found that he wasn't criminally liable for his conduct. His own department found that he used excessive force and shouldn't carry a badge and a gun any more. But a collective bargaining agreement-mandated arbitration found that the police department got it wrong.

I'm sure there are others out there who have sorted through this dilemna. How do you balance the values involved here?

* I also believe the City should require (through a CBA, where appropriate) most--if not all--of its employees (particularly our police) to live in the City. But that's a whole new discussion.