WOW! That Sums It Up

A Christian Moerlein Microbrewery and beer garden at The Banks is a brilliant idea and provides two great elements: something unique and vibrant as well as something the suburbanites will flock to before and after Reds games. I wonder how many of them will know the history of the name and understand it is local? This is a place I will enjoy and I am really congratulate the City and Moerlein CEO Greg Hardman for coming up with a great idea.

Today We Settle All Family Business

Today there will be three council meetings and a deal is close with City Unions. Assuming we get the legal ruling on the Layoffs as well, everything could come together by the end of the day, except for the unions getting formal approval of any concessions.

This is the day to stay out of the way. I would not want to be Ghiz, Berding, or Monzel today. I think the GodfatherMayor may have a few questions for them before he sends them off to Las Vegas with Clemenza.

It is fun when life imitates art.

Local Blogger Exposed By John Matarese!

Well, not really. But I'm pretty sure I saw Kate the Great on the news last night. Matarese did a piece on how the United Way uses donations. (It's a very favorable piece, without even a hint of a scandal; Matarese must be losing his touch.) Katy was United Way's spokesperson for the story.

The WCPO story is online here. And if you've got a few extra bucks, make a donation. (Maybe they'll give Katy a raise!)

City Reportedly Close to Deal With Unions

The Enquirer is reporting that the City, read that as the City Manager, is close to a deal with Unions to avoid all layoffs. The bulk of the shortfall would come from consessions from the unions. In the story I got the impression this was news to the FOP President. I hope she is just playing ignorant and this ends up being all for not.

UPDATE: 700 WLW reported that the deal would include furloughs.

Will Someone Blink?

Layoffs at the city are looming and the details of the impacts are starting to be made more clear. Are we going to see the FOP or anyone on council come up concessions or with a new plan to avoid layoffs? Will one of the parties in play make choices they don't want to make? Will someone blink? Will this remain a big issue two months from now when voters go tot he polls?

In Memoriam: Erich Kunzel

The Enquirer's Janelle Garland has an excellent obituary for Erich Kunzel, a mainstay of the Cincinnati music scene for decades. I'll not add anything, except to say that I'm extremely grateful that I was able to attend a couple of performances of the Pops under his baton.

I'll leave the comment thread for folks to share their thoughts on this sad day.

Wal-Mart Supercenter To Open Soon

A little non-CBD news for those of you who think we're too downtown-centric on the blog.

Wal-Mart is set to open its Supercenter in Red Bank Village (on Red Bank Road in Fairfax) on October 28. According to news reports at the time Wal-mart announced the new store, it should have about 200,000 square feet of retail space. At about the same time, the company will close its "general merchandise" store on Highland near Ridge.

For those of you wondering about the employment impact of the new store: the employees and management of the Highland store will transfer to the new supercenter. Wal-Mart will also hire additional associates, though I've not heard how many or when applications will be accepted. My own experience with Wal-Mart (now almost a decade in the past) is that about 50 new associates will be needed, and hiring will be about 30-45 days prior to grand opening. If the company still operates as it did in the past, associates in surrounding stores will be given the opportunity to transfer to the new store (and some from nearby supercenters may be assigned there temporarily to help with grand opening). So in addition to the possibility of positions available in the Red Bank Village store, there may also be a few jobs open at nearby Wal-marts, too.

Yes, folks, I do shop at Wal-mart. Not often, and only for certain things (four-dollar prescriptions come to mind), but I do shop there. And I'm not apologizing.

For what it's worth, I'll give a shout-out to the Highland Avenue store. Five or six years ago, you couldn't have paid me to walk into that store and shop. It usually felt dirty and its in-stock position was terrible (in other words, there were often a lot of items that were out-of-stock on any given day). The last couple years, though, the store has really turned around (at least in my opinion). The store is usually clean and I don't have trouble finding what I'm looking for; the associates all generally seem to be in better spirits than in the past. My guess is the store has benefitted from a new management team. Wait times at the check-outs during peak hours remain a problem, but that seems to be a chain-wide problem the company is willing to live with(I'm not sure the company even pays lip service to the notion of "speedy checkout" anymore.)

So look for the new store, and a few new employment opportunities in the next couple months.

Support Passenger Rail at City Hall September 1st

Come out and support Passenger Rail Transportation 10AM September 1st at City Hall when the City will determine the language of the ballot initiative seeking to prevent any passenger rail in Cincinnati. COAST, the author of the ballot language purposely wrote a deceptive amendment in hopes of fooling people into thinking their effort is only about Streetcars. The goal of COAST is to prevent any passenger rail from being funding in Cincinnati. Say no to COAST and their anti-city movement.

Reminder: CEAs For Theatre Tonight @ Below Zero

Just a quick reminder that CityBeat's Cincinnati Entertainment Awards for Theatre take place to night at Below Zero(1122 Walnut Street) and start at 7pm sharp, with a mixer starting at 6pm. Come down and support local theatre!

New Rule: No BWI.

Things not to do on a Friday night (technically, I suppose, Saturday morning): post to the blog after having far too many screwdrivers. It can lead to writing inappropriate words that one wouldn't use with any ability to engage in forethought.

My apologies to anyone who was offended by last night's post.

But you really should start coming to the Cincinnati Imports events.

BWI (Blogging While Intoxicated)

Anyone who wasn't at Cincinnati Imports' pub crawl earlier tonight is a pussy asshole loser.

Best kept secret about these things: it's the best male:female ratio (from a male perspective) of any gathering in Cincinnati. This is no sausage fest.

Lincoln-Douglas? Nay

WCPO will televise a mayoral debate on October 13th at 8 p.m. I'm not expecting a Lincoln-Douglas quality debate. I think Mayor Mallory is a very capable orator and knows the issues like few others. The challenger, Brad Wenstrup is NOT known for his grasp of city issues, so I don't expect much more than a George W. Bush style performance from him. Yes, that lowers the bar for Wenstrup. I think he'll be swinging for the fence to try and make some impact on the Mayor's huge advantage. He shall strike out.

I know it was you Fredo. You broke my heart.

After learning about recent events in Democratic circles, there is some clear advice for one council candidate. If Tony Fischer is going to go fishing with his nephew and his nephew is suddenly not able to go fishing for some unknown last minute reason, then under no circumstances should Tony go out on a small boat in Lake Tahoe alone with Al Neri.

Delay School Funding For Cops?

In a new tact some council members are proposing to defer payment of 2.5 million dollars the Cincinnati Public Schools due in October. That would buy some time. I assume the four members of council reportedly pushing this newest idea beleive that if we save 2.5 million dollars, that they CPD is the most important group to retain. They are the most vocal about it, that is for sure, but not all of the jobs affected are more important than keeping more Health inspectors. I'd like to not get sick the next time I eat out.

I like where Council Member Greg Harris is going on this issue. He reportedly is inclined to support the idea of deferring payment to CPS, but he wants the FOP to step up to the plate and make concessions for 2010. We will be having the same fight next year if the FOP doesn't. The FOP president is quoted in the article as basically saying no, cut someplace else. I still do not get how the FOP can be so hypocritical and plain old greedy. Sure some would say it is their job to fight for their members and they need to have a strong negotiating position. Well, sure, but how can anyone in good conscious claim they are moral and doing the right thing for the safety of the city if they willingly take a pay RAISE while other police officers and other vital city employees loose their jobs? We are not talking about pay cuts, just a pay freeze. If there are other departments in the city not taking a pay freeze, slap one on them for 2010. If people are serious about public safety being compromised, then they should be taking these steps, the FOP should not be playing chicken with public safety. If people (like Jeff Berding and Leslie Ghiz) are not being serious about the impact of the reduction of police officers and are doing this to appease the FOP and appear (falsely) to be fighting crime, then they should be ashamed of themselves and be honest about it. Yeah, I know, that is a pipe dream.

Deferring the payment to the CPS is a short term fix. It can buy us some time. It does not solve the problem for 2010. The FOP must step up with concessions or agree that the CPD doesn't actually need the number of police officers it has.

RIP Ted Kennedy: 1932-2009

The Lion of the Senate has passed. His shoes shall never be filled.

Now Deters Is Fear Mongering

I am not surprised by County Prosecutor Joe Deters scare tactics. When you are trying to save your budget, you will say anything to panic the people into supporting you. Si Leis, Jeff Berding, and George Bush are the others who do it often.

Details Take Days?

Why is it taking Jeff Berding a couple of days to produce details about his new 'plan'? If you have a plan, you should have the details down. If you don't have the details down, you don't have a plan. Jeff actually have a plan if he spent his time working on the details instead of going on WLW and trying to put fear into the public, as he did yesterday where he claimed the population of the city would drop because the city laid off 138 people in the police department. We don't need grandstanding. We need leadership. A leader exposes the FOP unwillingness to make concessions to save jobs. A leader isn't a shill for the police union and goes out and cuts jobs in other department to preserve the raises of cops.

Hamilton FOP Steps up

I still don't know how much the Cincinnati FOP leadership pays attention to anything outside their Central Avenue clubhouse, but it would be good if they read this. The Hamilton FOP agreed to concessions:

While the city eyed cuts of more than $4.5 million to balance the general fund, concessions made by both unions saved the city more than $3 million in expenditures for this year and in 2010.

The other union mentioned was the Fire Fighters.

The power is the FOP hands. They can save every police officer's job with concessions. I don't get why they are not willing to protect their FOP brothers and sisters from getting laid off. I am hoping when they lose in court, they will come to their senses.

Police Chief States Excessive Force Used

The video is here on Cincinnati.com and it is clear enough to put the cop on suspension until a full investigation can be made.

The Enquirer has a good summary here, including the past of the officer under suspension, who was actually fired and then the city was forced to rehire after arbitration. This police officer needs to think about his career choice. He can avoid problems for himself and save another police officer's job if he quits.

Relevant? No.

When an adult child of a sitting council member is arrested by police and is tased in the process, I hesitate to post anything about it. This councilmember, Cecil Thomas, is a retired police , so that adds some level of interest to the story. A clear conclusion everyone must reach is that this has no bearing on the election. If she was a minor and living with her father, this might be more of a relevant story to his character. At this point, this story is really only about the character of Celeste Thomas, age 26, someone who happens to be the daughter of a politician. The police cruiser’s video camera will hopefully shed light on what actually happened. Until then, lets hope this doesn't become an a circus. After that, lets hope it still doesn't become a circus, but let the facts fall where they may.

UPDATE: Reportedly, after seeing the cruiser video, the Police Chief has suspended the officer who tased Thomas, on grounds that excessive forced was used.