Sunday, February 13, 2005
More on the City Hall Ban
An outlet called The Blog Herald has picked up the story from the Enquirer on the blogspot ban at City Hall.
Saturday, February 12, 2005
Small World - Big City
I have heard over and over again how this town is small and everyone knows everyone, and you go the same places and see the same people. Now, I have experienced this myself and most it can be explained because I go to the same places over and over again. For me its the Comet, Northside Tavern, Crowley's, Milton's, and Panera.
Today though I got the chance to say hello and very briefly meet a blog reader and journalist Kelly Hudson ofCiN Weekly. I happened to be at, you guessed it, Panera Bread for the second time in two days. At least I do go to different locations of the restaurant and I should buy stock in the place for the all of the money I spend there, as the cliché goes. They have the free wifi and good food, so I have no guilt at my obsession with it.
What do people do when you see people you “know of” around town? Those are often people of note around town, sometimes called “local celebrities” sometimes chided as the elite, or the influential. I have been around town and seen other journalists, TV news anchors, sports stars, business leaders, politicians, and the occasional actually famous person and most of the time just think, hmm, cool, and then go on about drinking my coffee or beer.
Do we live in town where everyone does know everyone and ”local celebrities" who may not be the talk at the water cooler, but at least whose names are known, do not get noticed by people?
I grew up in a small city of about 35,000 people or so. There I knew or knew of every kid in town within about 3 years of my age. I still would go around town and not know people. It was almost assured that anyone I met would know someone who knew someone, etc.
Hear in Cincinnati those who have grown up here I believe think or say the same thing. As someone who has only been here just over 10 years, I can't say that. That in part may be my own fault because of my lack of the sociability gene. On the other hand most of it has to do with the simple fact, the Cincinnati Metro Area has nearly 2 million people. That is a big city. What may be our problem, partly caused by geography party by cultural choices, is that we live in a city with big divides. Suburban vs. urban, Eastside vs. Westside, Black vs. White, Liberal vs. Conservative. Bridging those divides are our challenge and the climate in the city and the country is one that favors or even promotes building moats, fences, and cultural barriers.
Today though I got the chance to say hello and very briefly meet a blog reader and journalist Kelly Hudson ofCiN Weekly. I happened to be at, you guessed it, Panera Bread for the second time in two days. At least I do go to different locations of the restaurant and I should buy stock in the place for the all of the money I spend there, as the cliché goes. They have the free wifi and good food, so I have no guilt at my obsession with it.
What do people do when you see people you “know of” around town? Those are often people of note around town, sometimes called “local celebrities” sometimes chided as the elite, or the influential. I have been around town and seen other journalists, TV news anchors, sports stars, business leaders, politicians, and the occasional actually famous person and most of the time just think, hmm, cool, and then go on about drinking my coffee or beer.
Do we live in town where everyone does know everyone and ”local celebrities" who may not be the talk at the water cooler, but at least whose names are known, do not get noticed by people?
I grew up in a small city of about 35,000 people or so. There I knew or knew of every kid in town within about 3 years of my age. I still would go around town and not know people. It was almost assured that anyone I met would know someone who knew someone, etc.
Hear in Cincinnati those who have grown up here I believe think or say the same thing. As someone who has only been here just over 10 years, I can't say that. That in part may be my own fault because of my lack of the sociability gene. On the other hand most of it has to do with the simple fact, the Cincinnati Metro Area has nearly 2 million people. That is a big city. What may be our problem, partly caused by geography party by cultural choices, is that we live in a city with big divides. Suburban vs. urban, Eastside vs. Westside, Black vs. White, Liberal vs. Conservative. Bridging those divides are our challenge and the climate in the city and the country is one that favors or even promotes building moats, fences, and cultural barriers.
Banned in BostonCity Hall
This blog has been banned at City Hall. Well, not exactly banned because it is me, although I am sure the anti-homosexual councilman Sam Malone might think otherwise, but all blogspot blogs are being filtered out of the City's computer system.
The computers used by elected officials should not be filtered on any level, unless the city adopts a law filtering all forms of communication into City Hall, including TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, mail, and the telephone. For that matter they should create a sound dampening system to keep out people yelling from the street.
Why wouldn't city officials want to know what citizens are saying about local issues and local politicians? On this site and others we do just that. Now, do we also discuss national issues, sure, so does WLW and WDBZ. Are those radio stations being jammed inside the building?
Greg brought up one issue in the article that smells of censorship:
I also don't like it when Nate and I are on the same side of this issue. That alone gives me the creeps, not just censorship.
UPDATE: Nick Spencer comments, and believes his site is not banned.
UPDATE #2 (2:20PM): The AP has the story, but so far all I have found is a Toledo TV station's short take story. It does mention "two blogs specific to Cincinnati news and issues." I would not mind a more specific mention of the blogs so the readers can judge for themselves if blogs like mine should be considered something beyond just a "message board" as we are considered now by the city's filtering software.
The computers used by elected officials should not be filtered on any level, unless the city adopts a law filtering all forms of communication into City Hall, including TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, mail, and the telephone. For that matter they should create a sound dampening system to keep out people yelling from the street.
Why wouldn't city officials want to know what citizens are saying about local issues and local politicians? On this site and others we do just that. Now, do we also discuss national issues, sure, so does WLW and WDBZ. Are those radio stations being jammed inside the building?
Greg brought up one issue in the article that smells of censorship:
The city manager's office determines which categories of Web sites are "off limits" to city employees. Those categories include pornography, bandwidth-hogging streaming video or audio, gambling sites, alternative media, hobby sites and any site dubbed "tasteless" by the software.Two points, who determines what is tasteless, the City Manager or the software company running the filter? Second, who the hell is deciding what is "Alternative media," and way would you ever ban it? Does that include sites like the Village Voice or IndyMedia? Locally could it mean my blog and the Independent Eye?
I also don't like it when Nate and I are on the same side of this issue. That alone gives me the creeps, not just censorship.
UPDATE: Nick Spencer comments, and believes his site is not banned.
UPDATE #2 (2:20PM): The AP has the story, but so far all I have found is a Toledo TV station's short take story. It does mention "two blogs specific to Cincinnati news and issues." I would not mind a more specific mention of the blogs so the readers can judge for themselves if blogs like mine should be considered something beyond just a "message board" as we are considered now by the city's filtering software.
Friday, February 11, 2005
CityBeat: Best of Cincinnati
It is the time of year again for CityBeat's Best of Cincinnati. Make sure you vote and vote often. There is a best blog category, so, don't make me beg. Be it know that I will beg for votes. Shame is something you forego when you start blogging, at least when you start blogging in Cincinnati.
Vagina Monologues – Cincinnati
This Sunday is V-Day at the Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati. Enjoy a wonderful show featuring Former Mayor Roxanne Qualls, Stephanie Dunlap, and Regina Carswell.
Hartmann In Race for Secretary of State
Hamilton County Clerk of Courts, Greg Hartmann (R), has tossed his hat into the fire pit and has chosen to run for Ohio Secretary of State. He will not leave office while running for the primary, which is a shame ethically, but not strategically. That of course means he can bail out if someone else gets in the race. It also means that the People of Hamilton County do not have to have yet another person appointed to an elected office, at least for now. I have heard no other names being tossed around in public for either the GOP or Dems to run for Secretary of State. Locally people might throw out the names of Reece and Luken. I think Reece will run statewide for something, but Charlie is the wildcard. He is often perceived as damaged goods. He has the conservative Democrat rep to actually be a contender, if he had the desire and the willingness to build a strong team to run things on the ground. The Democrats in Ohio seem to me to not have the party loyalty, which I can fully understand as a registered Independent, need to when it comes to the organization working on the ground, which hurts come election time.
If the Ohio group that worked for Kerry last year, worked for a Coleman or even a Springer for Governor, then against Blackwell, Petro, or Montgomery, they would have at worst an even money chance of winning.
If the Ohio group that worked for Kerry last year, worked for a Coleman or even a Springer for Governor, then against Blackwell, Petro, or Montgomery, they would have at worst an even money chance of winning.
Sara Lee Out, This Hurts
Any loss of jobs hurts, but this type of consolidation is often unavoidable.
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