A Lesson in Media Bias

In this story you get a slanted spin on the situation. If you reordered the quotes and changed it around, you could have a totally different story. The headline could have read "Departure of Sheriff Deputies has not increased crime in OTR" I'd like someone at the Enquirer state who pushed this story and how much was it edited to fit a point of view?

What Do They Have That We Don't Have?

There's an interesting piece in the NY Times's travel section on Pittsburgh. It's worth a quick read.

I realize that as Cincinnatians, it's our sworn duty to hate all things black-and-gold. But I've always thought that Pittsburgh is a good point of comparison for Cincinnati. We're nearly identical with respect to population. Our weather and geography are very similar (Pittsburgh's is a little more challenging, since the rivers actually cut through the city). Both cities' residents are extremely neighborhood oriented. And our baseball teams play to approximately equal levels of futility (though more turn out to see the Reds).

The Times piece describes a pretty vibrant city. My question: could a similar piece be written about Cincinnati? And if not, then why not: what does Pittsburgh have that we don't have?

For what it's worth, the most significant difference I see between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh is the latter's Oakland area. It's a concentration of the city's colleges (chiefly, Pitt and Carnegie Mellon, but also Duquesne and some smaller schools). There's no equivalent in Cincinnati (though I'm not arguing that makes Cincinnati a "worse" city, just different).

There is one other difference that I keep raising that none of you seem to care about. Inclines. It's all about inclines, darn it!!!

Full disclosure: I lived in Pittsburgh for four years (1988-1992) and graduated from a Pittsburgh public high school. I have never, however, rooted for the Steelers.

Enquirer's New Website

Ok, so I have had some time to evaluate the Enquirer's revamped website and I must say I do not like it. I don't mind the general look of it, what I dislike is the new structure. I can't find where anything is supposed to be.

Other opinions?

A Theatre Bridge

In an update on the effort to move the Cincinnati Playhouse to Downtown we learn that the effort includes putting four theatre spaces over two structures with a shared lobby that spans Race Street. This is an ambitious idea, but one that sounds wonderful.

On a side note, I think I need to subscribe to the Business Courier.

Farewell, LOL Blog

Larry Gross has decided to end his tenure as a blogger, and CityBeat, in turn, has decided to terminate the Living Out Loud Blog.

I (and others at this blog) have taken issue with Larry's sometimes-too-pessimistic attitude about Cincinnati. But that hasn't stopped me from reading (and looking forward to reading) his work on a daily basis. When I do my daily blog reading, I generally check the Cincinnati Blog, the Porkopolis Blog, and the LOL Blog, in that order. (Please, no lectures about using a blog reader. I'm too old school to learn that trick.) I'll greatly miss my daily dose of Larry. (Lately, though, it's a good thing I'm my own boss, since the LOL blog is the epitome of "not safe for work.") Larry's posts always get a reaction--sometimes it's laughter, sometimes disagreement, sometimes just a frown and "What the hell was that about?" But it's a reaction, nonetheless. Larry is lots of things, but vanilla is not one of them.

The good news is that Larry will continue to write for CityBeat. He also reports that he's working on two books.

I may have to stop into Madonna's some afternoon and buy him a drink.

Change Is Needed

When are we going to see change from the usual apologists for the 'homeless'? Why don't people like Georgine Getty of the Homeless Coalition update their tactics? Centralizing every poor person into one part of the city does nothing but concentrate the misery and perpetuate people's problems. The mistake of locating mass numbers of social service agencies to OTR was a mistake made 30 years ago that has not improved in the least over those 30 years. What keeps people like Georgine Getty from changing? Why do they drag their feet on moving facilities that attract a culture of bums outside those facilities? Washington Park is not going to change if we don't do two things: 1. Better enforce the law by cracking down on the bums who hang out in the park and drink beer and do drugs. 2. Push organizations like the Drop Inn center to take responsibility for the illegal activity near their building, creating a horrible place in and around a wonderful block. This activity centers and exploits people who need help, but the activity is perpetuated by those who refuse help and live as bums, coddled and protected by many who think it is better to give a bum a sandwich than drug treatment or ven just saying no when they seek to abuse those agencies trying vainly to help.

The end for the bum haven along 12th Street must come to an end once the K-12 SCPA opens. Start your efforts now, don't play games with confrontations later on, just to get the publicity. Start the change and don't use people's drug habits to try and gain more donations.

So if the City is going to try and clean out the bums from Downtown to help make the city look a little nicer for big national event, I'm OK with it, as long as those getting cleared out are breaking the law. If they go after the bums sitting peaceably in a chair on Fountain Square at 9 AM on, then that is oppression.

The North? WTF?

The Enquirer's "The Street" Columnist Carolyn Pione recently asked the question in her column: "Are you one of those people who has a bias against the north?" When has anyone ever referred the Northern Exurbs as "The North?" I'd happily call it the land of the Milquetoasted SUV or maybe the place where free-thought goes to die, but "The North" just isn't going to make it out of my lips. Beyond being insulting to Dayton, where it would be "The South," I was left scratching my head when I read this column and thinking of who with any cultural foundation wouldn't turn their noses up at least a little bit when thinking about the blandness that is Bulter County. I don't mean to knock it, well I do mean to knock it, but I'm not trying to be overly mean to the people living in Hamilton or Middletown, but lets get real, the area between 275 and 675 may have a "growing population," but there is not a growing culture to champion. Life in the Exurbs is not designed to be culturally enriching, and certainly not newsworthy, outside of little league scores.

I'm more put off by the snotty anti-Cincinnati tone I feel from Ms. Pione. It is like she is sick of all of the reporters/staffers who live inside the 275 loop telling her that Butler county sucks. Well, outside of the IKEA, and Miami University (and other places that know they are cool), it kinda does, from the perspective of a person who likes a little more than cul-de-sacs, strip malls, ignorant Republicans, and a bigoted Sheriff. So therefore when I do finally make my way up I-75 to IKEA, I will back a cooler with rations for the long haul.

On the topic of her column, I firmly state that I am in favor of great medical care facilities, wherever they may be. I really think Carolyn needs to rethink the notion that anything in area, let alone most of Ohio/Indiana/Kentucky, will rival the world class medical facilities in the one and true "Pill Hill" in and around the University of Cincinnati.