Warm Up The Moving Trucks

Since moving to my Fourth Street apartment in September 2004, I've had a front row seat to a couple of impressive construction projects. My apartment is in the back of the building, which gave my a bird's eye view of the expansion of the Cinergy--err, Duke Energy--Convention Center. One of the coolest things about that was that during the fall, they'd work past dark, and the glow of their welding torches (I don't know if they were plasma or something else) after sunset was spectacular to see. It's hard to describe....just the solitary, brilliant glow a few stories above street level (and often at eye-level with my windows)....eerily wonderful, somehow.

Now, Parker Flats, right across the street, is in its final construction stages. I thought it was worth a picture today:

Obviously, there's still a lot of interior work to be done before the place is inhabitable. Still, it's hard to believe that last summer, this was just a big hole in the ground.

We've already seen the benefits of the expansion of the Duke Energy Center (the unexpanded version simply couldn't have handled events like the NAACP convention or the upcoming National Baptist Convention). Parker Flats is sure to bring more residents downtown and further helps to revitalize the western end of Fourth Street. Seems like things are looking up. I just hope no one steals my catalytic converter.

Watch Obama's NAACP Speech on the Square

Come on out and join local Democrats and Obama supporters to watch Senator Obama's NAACP live on the Fountain Square Giant LED Board. Obama is scheduled to speak at 8PM Monday night (July 14th). Large groups of local political campaigns will be there to watch, along with the local Obama campaign team.

Fountain Square will be a great national news location to get opinion on the speech, so be on the lookout for the media and be sure to show your support for Sen. Obama and show that he has great support in Cincinnati. Obama is going to win Hamilton County this year!

A Good Idea: Let's Do More Of It

The City and County have been sprucing up downtown in preparation for the NAACP's national convention. If you've been downtown, you've no doubt noticed these stickers, about the size of manhole covers, on the sidewalks:

I've previously lamented the lack of readily available cartographical assistance for visitors downtown. These stickers are a clear sign that our leadership recognizes that problem, too.

Let's find a permanent solution. If we're going to continue to proclaim that Cincinnati should be a destination city, then we have to act like we expect to entertain people who haven't been to our fair city before. And helping them find their way around seems like a good start.

(I really, really hope that whomever is responsible for the stickers--whether it's the City, the County, or the Visitors Bureau--remembers to remove them once the convention is over. Since they're paper, they won't last long, and by mid-August they'll be faded, scratched-up eyesores.)

Pete and Repeat Go Into a Bar

I didn't like this negative screed even when I read it for the first time.

COAST Shows Its Anti-Gay Bigotry

In it's latest news letter the Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes (COAST) included the following:

Commissioners Portune, Pepper Proclaim Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Day

In yet a further waste of County resources, Commissioners Todd Portune and David Pepper proclaimed Saturday, June 14, 2008, as Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Day. COAST is just bursting with pride at this proclamation on behalf of our County. We are sure Simon Leis is also proud of his endorsed County Commission candidate. Read about the resolution here.

Yes, you'll want to pay attention to the link, which is to the CCV's website. I hate to link to it, but that is news I want to make sure people understand, COAST and CCV appear to be in bed together. To claim that this somehow wastes county money is laughable. These types of proclamations are common and cost virtually nothing. Where was COAST in 2002 when the Commissioners proclaimed May 2, 2002 National Day of Prayer in Hamilton County, Ohio.?

What's more important, however, is that the CCV article is full of bigotry. Will all COAST members stand by this bigotry? Will groups and individuals who work with COAST stand by them?

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.