Song Remains The Same

Once a name for something has taken hold, it sticks. This is not a surprise in the least. If the name "The Banks" was so horrible, then it should have been excluded. I actually voted for the River District. Is that any better? No. If the County put it up to vote to rename Great American Ball Park and Great American Ball Park was included as an option, then when it would win, there shouldn't be any shock. The Banks was branded and just ask a steer, that branding doesn't go away.

CincyFringe - Big Brainer Episode II

It is starting to get a little hot in the Big Brainer House. I'm wondering who is going to be condemned to death first.

Great American Tower Impact On Reds?

Last weekend, I watched the Reds beat the Pirates, 2-0, from a sun-soaked, right field seat. As the back of my neck burned, I couldn't help but notice the crane, which is installed for the Great American Tower construction, looming over the ballpark.

And I wondered: will the Great American Tower impact games at Great American Ballpark? Is it close enough to block wind from the north (keeping balls from carrying out to right on a day they otherwise might do so)? Or instead, will the wind move around the Tower and become stronger (some sort of wind tunnel effect) by the time it gets to the stadium? Or will the new building have no impact at all, apart from giving folks in the sun deck something to look at between innings?

And speaking of looking at the building, will all that glass create a glare/reflection during day games that could distract a right-fielder (or first- or second-baseman) trying to catch a pop fly?

Anyone have any answers? And how cool would it be to watch part of a game from the "tiara"? (That is, of course, once we come up with a more manly word for the top of Cincinnati's tallest building than the tiara....)

UC Law Holds Steady In New Rankings

Several websites are reporting that the 2010 US News & World Report law school rankings have been leaked. Assuming the authenticity of the reported rankings, the University of Cincinnati College of Law will be ranked the 52nd program in the nation (it received the same ranking for 2009). While normally a ranking outside the top 50 would be (and for the past several years has been) a disappointment for UC, holding serve is likely a relief, given the school's horrific 2008 bar results.

Other top-100 law schools people around here might care about: Kentucky will be 55, up 4 spots from last year; Ohio State will be 35, down 3 spots; Indiana will be 23, up 13 spots; Pitt will be 72, up 2; Case Western will be 55, up 8, and Louisville will be 98, down 2.

Ohio's six other law schools (Toledo, Akron, Dayton, Capital, Ohio Northern, and Cleveland-Marshall) all sit outside the top 100, as does Chase (NKU).

(Hat tip: TaxProf Blog.)

DHL Express Going Back to CVG

Business is tough on communities. Wilmington, OH has been facing tough times, but Northern Kentucky is getting a boost. Almost 4 years ago DHL Express moved out of CVG in favor of Wilmington, a consolidation of DHL operations. Northern Kentucky knows how Wilmington feels. In today's world, businesses can and often have to move where they can make better profits. They don't have to look at the big picture of a community. It is a cold way of living, but in the end businesses are not people, they are owned and managed by people, but those people don't have to face living next door to anyone losing their ability to make a living.

I am glad 800 jobs are moving here. I feel bad for Wilmington. I would feel worse if those 800 jobs went out of the area. What communities, mainly small communities, have to deal with: don't be a one one horse town.

"Sex Offenders": Another Approach

We've been discussing (both here on the blog and throughout our community) what to do with convicted sex offenders once they've served their time. California is one of a slowly growing number of states to decide that with respect to a particular subset of sex offenders--pedophiles--the best course of action is to declare them mentally ill and place them in a "hospital" for treatment. Here's a report on one of these facilities.

To be clear, I'm not advocating this approach: I just found it in interesting in the wake of recent events and debate.

(Hat tip: Althouse.)

Is Issue Five Being Tested?

Something odd is happening in the top ranks of the Cincinnati Police Division, and it's not clear to me that anyone really has a handle on it. I also haven't seen anyone asking some important questions about how what's happening comports--or conflicts--with the City Charter.

Jane Prendergast blogs that Cincinnati Police Chief Tom Streicher has created a new job for Assistant Chief Richard Janke. The move was made because Janke allegedly raised his voice to another assistant chief and was disrespectful towards Streicher himself.

Ordinarily, a little rearranging in the upper police ranks wouldn't be too interesting. But assistant chiefs aren't like captains or lieutenants. That's because assistant chiefs are appointed by the city manager, not the chief. That's a result of the passage of Issue 5 by city voters back in 2001. (When Chief Streicher leaves his post, he too will be replaced by the city manager.) This is spelled out in Article V, Section 5 of the Charter. (We've previously discussed Issue Five here.)

Until Chief Streicher's unilateral decision to reorganize the department, CPD had five bureaus (Patrol, Resource, Administration, Investigations, and Information Management) each headed by an assistant chief. Lt. Col. Janke previously headed the Administration Bureau, but is now being moved to something new called a "Special Projects Bureau" in an effort to limit "the necessity for him to interact with his peers and subordinates." Remember: if Chief Streicher simply demoted Janke, leaving the position in charge of the Administration Bureau vacant, his replacement would be appointed by Milton Dohoney (and perhaps "burdening" the Chief with an assistant he likes even less). Instead, the Chief has radically redefined Janke's job duties, ostensibly leaving no assistant chief vacancy.

To me, this all raises the following questions:

• Does the Chief has the authority to change the organizational table in this way? A knee-jerk response would be "of course," but I'm not sure it's that simple. At the very least, the number of assistant chiefs is fixed by Council; we have five chiefs only because the City--not the Chief--created an additional position in 2004.
• Assuming the Chief has this authority, at one point does he so limit the authority of an assistant chief that he's not really an "assistant chief" any longer?
• If the Chief has, in fact, made Janke a de facto non-chief (albeit with the rank of lieutenant colonel), can the City Manager declare the creation of a vacancy and use his authority under the Charter to fill it?
• Finally, is Janke grieving this or otherwise appealing it through civil service laws (since--I believe--he was grandfathered into his position and is not himself subject to Article V, Section 5)? Or is this a non-grievable, non-appealable decision in that it (apparently) doesn't impact Janke's rank or pay?

This could quickly become a messy, thorny thicket. The charitable part of me wants to believe that Chief Streicher, while dissatisfied with Lt. Col. Janke's work, wants to spare him (given his decades of service to CPD) the embarassment and financial cost of demotion. But my more cynical instincts suspect that the Chief has essentially ended Janke's tenure as an assistant chief, but done so in a way to deprive the City Manager of the ability to make an appointment.

Or maybe there's nothing at all going on here, and I'm just procrastinating rather than organizing my messy desk on a Saturday.