Election Mess

How do you trust an election process with Ken Blackwell monitoring his own election for the top Ohio job?

More on Cincy's YPs

Brendan at spacetropic discusses the Mayor's YP Cabinet and how YP groups could improve.

Will the RNC Bail Out Ken Blackwell?

The Columbus Dispatch has a poll out today on the governor's race that has Ted Strickland leading Ken Blackwell 47% to 27%. 20 points is not impossible to overcome, but it will take money. Lots of money. More money then Ken Blackwell can raise on his own. He is going to need the help of the national party. He may get it, but he may not.

Also in the article is a second poll where Mike Dewine is trailing Sherrod Brown 45% to 37%. Mike is going to need quite a bit of money as well. The RNC is going to value keeping a sitting Republican in the Senate, over trying to hold on to a governor's seat they could still loose even if they give Blackwell a billion dollars.

It is still early, mistakes can be made, circumstances can change, but if Blackwell hasn't cut Strickland's lead significantly by mid September, then its going to be very difficult for him to win. Look for Blackwell to go negative soon, ala DeWine.

Enquirer Business Section Clarifies

In a story today about the moving of Chad Munitz from the City's Economic Development Director to EVP at 3CDC, we get the truth about the Fountain Square Delay:

It announced last week that a planned early-September reopening of Fountain Square, in the midst of a $43 million renovation, had been pushed back five weeks until mid-October. Roughly $50 million of additional private development is already under way in buildings around the square.

Good reporting!

On Chad Munitz, I know nothing about him, but his new position indicates he is going to be a key person at 3CDC. If there are development deals already in the works, lets hope he can land them, especially ones for Vine Street.

MidPoint Schedule Out

Via Citybeat's updated blog we get the word that Midpoint's Schedule is out. I say great! The list of bands has been out for a while, but now we'll get to know where to go. Small problem: Alchemize, J Hall, and Jekyll & Hyde's are listed as venues. Am I missing something, or didn't we just go through a little thing on this blog about these clubs all closing? Granted, Jefferson Hall moved to Newport, and Alchemize is moving most likely to Covington with a new name. Does this mean that the former locations of the three will be opened up as venues for the event by the festival or other private groups? Or will new bars be opening in those spots under new management?

Logically I would guess that each of the three locations will be open as temporary as bars, and each former operator may even have leeway to open them as a full bars just for that weekend. Anyway, the locations work great. Only thing missing is more food on Main Street. The line at Lucy Blue is going to be a mile long.

Crappy Story

Can someone at WLWT do a little reporting before you post a story like this? The story doesn't say anything about how the poll was conducted and the allegations made by the Schmidt campaign are slanderous as quoted. Granted, those quotes are surely cherry picked for effect.

I personally want Wulsin to win, and I have a totally disgust for Jean Schmidt, who is all the extremist she is painted to be, however the demographics of this district are clearly fertile ground for GOP candidates. On the other hand, Jean has not won a ton of friends in the local party team, and had a bloody primary.

Mallory's 'YP Kitchen Cabinet'

I am interested in the Mayor's idea of a 'YP Kitchen Cabinet', but I am very concerned about who is included on the Cabinet. Lumping this into Bold Fusion is the wrong approach. The Mayor should not limit this to the Chamber's corporate crowd. He should expand its reach and break out of the YP mold that is incasing the Cincinnati scene like a dish of bad jell-o.

Yes, I say this as the President of a group, Cincinnati Advance, that is considered a YP group. What I think the Mayor needs to be sure to do is include a wide variety of YP organizations, not just the usual suspects, and not just the corporate/upper income 28 to 35 year olds. A start would be to change Bold Fusion to a weekend event that doesn't cost more than going to a Reds Game.

Why be more inclusive/diverse? Well, frankly because most of the YP groups are lead by the same people. There is a very obvious insulation problem in the YP scene in town and Bold Fusion leads, in part, to that insulation.

I hope this concept leads to something more than just talking about what needs to be done to make this city a better place. Instead I look for this group to be a place to gain help for ACTION from the Mayor and the City.