The Banks Going Bust?

Kevin Osborne from CityBeat has the latest on the Banks project and to no one's surprise, the developers want more money and more time to finish the project.

OK, I am ready to give up on it. I want the park to be built, but I don't see that there will be any benefit to building a new neighborhood from scratch. It will not be done for decades. Let's take that money and build up Downtown, Over-the-Rhine and the rest of the urban core that can be restored quickly. Buildings and entire blocks of OTR can be restored for far less money in a matter of a couple of years. Give the Money to 3CDC to bring more residents to existing neighborhood blocks. More residents bring more retail which brings more jobs. The people pushing for the Banks at this point are exurbanites who want a place to go spend a few hours before and after the Bengals/Reds games. It is not worth millions of public dollars to give non-county residents a twice a year place to drink beer.

Battle of the Network Weeklies

I didn't know this before I arrived to check out Game Show Night (every Wednesday on Fountain Square), but I was to witnessr a grudge match of epic proportions as CityBeat faced off against arch rival Cin Weekly.

In a hard fought battle of Fountain Square Family Feud, the CityBeat Team soundly defeated the Cin Weekly Team. It wasn't really close.



Lots of thinking went into each question. Some of the answers were clever. On naming local beers one person answered "Pabst." On the other team one player came up with the classic answer to naming a dish soap: "cheese." Yes, that contestant had made several trips to the beer booth.

As a neutral observer, I can attest that both teams had fun. I didn't hear about any trash talk, but I was certainly hoping for some. Let's hope we can see a rematch soon. I would like to see the editors square off in a battle of trivia.

Club Nightmare

Another person was murdered near Club Dream in OTR early this morning. This isn't the first time this has happened. Exactly three weeks ago in nearly the same place at nearly the same time, an employee of Club Dream was murdered.

What is the problem here? Who is running this club on Wednesday nights? What type of atmosphere is being created to attract this type of violence? Why isn't the club hiring security, and when I say security I mean off duty police officers, not a big guy who can fight. What Club Dream must do is stop catering to criminals. Keep out the drug dealers (or the wanna be dealers).

UPDATE: The Enquirer has more on the story, including the identity of the victim: 22 year old Bryan Couch, of Western Hills.

Top Cats Closed

Bars come and go and Top Cats on Short Vine is reportedly closed.

New Blog in Town

We have yet another new Cincinnati based blog. It is billed as a "Blurg," which I guess is defined in the About Page. Does the About page really need to include a swipe at me? (Cough, Cough)

Joe Wessels: Justin Jeffre Running

Joe Wessels is reporting that Justin Jeffre is running for city council. I have no idea why he is doing this. This would be the third time he has run for a Cincinnati area public office. His name recognition hasn't been enough for him to make any significant dent in actually getting votes. There are no reports that he will be able to raise any money, so I see this as a replay of his run for Mayor. He still is not on the ballot, so, there is no guarantee he will make the deadline for signatures a week from Friday.

Joe's Post article today will have more on the rest of the field.

UPDATE: Westender brings up a great question on comments: Is Jeffre getting the Green Party Endorsement?

Midpoint Schedule Is Out

The Midpoint Music Festival has announced the showcase schedule for all bands during the festival.

Mike Breen has more on the conference and pre-parties.