It's a New Skyline Time

Western & Southern has announced plans to build the tallest building in Cincinnati. The Cincinnati Skyline is a very pretty site, so I hopte this improves it, as well as adding new development to the CBD. Are there any mocked up drawings of what it would look like with this new building?

UPDATE: This morning's paper included a artists rendering of the building.

Dave Menninger: What is Inclusionary Zoning?

Learn something new from Dave Menninger.

Pick of the Fringe

The Pick of the Fringe was made last night. The Conveyor also gave their Top of Fringe choices.

Green Party Looking Foolish

I am often bewildered by the Green Party. I guess they will gladly give power back to the Republicans by attacking Democrats if they can't instantaneously create a Utopian fantasy world where there are no poor or stupid people living in it. To make a claim that the jail tax vote by the democratically elected Hamilton County Commission was "Undemocratic" makes the Greens appear to be ignorant and hypocritical fools. How many gas tax increases are put up to a referendums? How many times has the Green Party called for increased gas taxes to help cut fossil fuel use? Did they call for a statewide referendum in order to enact it? If they did, I'd like to see a reference to that.

Council Candidates - the List

A candidate himself, Michael Earl Patton, has compiled a list of those who have picked up petitions to get on the ballot for Cincinnati City Council. The list, sorted by party endorsement, is as follows:

Democrats:
Brian Garry
Cecil Thomas
David Crowley
Greg Harris
Jeff Berding
John Cranley
Laketa Cole
Minnette Cooper
Wendell Young

Republicans:
Andre Harper
Charlie Winburn
Chris Monzel
John Eby
Leslie Ghiz
Patrick F. Fischer
Sam Malone

Charter Committee:
Chris Bortz
Joan Kaup
Malanie Bates

The Rest:
Christopher Davis
Curtis Wells
Dadrin Washington
Eric Wolterman
Kellley Cowdrey
Malik Showes
Michael Earl Patton
Mitch Painter
Paul Makin
Robert J. Wilking
Ron Stallworth
Sean Holbrook
Sean Lackey
Steven Pavelish
Yvette Barbara Baldwin

How many will actually make it to the ballot? Are there others missing from the list? I know of a few of the Independents, but not many.

Please note that I grouped the candidates by party endorsement, not affiliation.

Downtown Relaxing

I'm off of my day job this week, so I've been spending lots of time in Downtown and OTR. Today I am trying out the wifi at Fountain Square. It works pretty well. The only thing to consider is that you need to find shade under a tree if you plan on using your laptop during the middle of the day, when the buildings don't any shade. It really is calming just sitting here. I got to watch the Daily Show on the big screen as well.

Protecting City Views

The battle over maintain city views boils down to property rights. Where does the concept of "right of way" come into play when thinking of the space above your land. How tall can you build something in relation to the structures around you? The zoning regulations are designed to cover this, but when the view of the river or of the city affects land value so heavily, I can see why people would make hay about new buildings.