Doers, Not Just Talkers

What I find most interesting and most telling about most of the YP Groups featured in this Enquirer article by Larua Baverman is that they focus on one area, say dinning at local restaurants, and then do it. They are Doer's. They don't talk about getting people together to talk about what needs to happen, they instead get things done. Historically many YP groups have not defined what their goals are and then failed to do much beyond a meet and greet or happy hour. Having personally been part of a YP group that tried to get many things done, with some success and some failure, I am glad to see groups succeeding. I really would get discouraged when I would attend other YP events and see the same people running the events and doing little to bring new faces and new ideas not just to mind to but to fruition.

The problem that has plagued the YP efforts is the failure to define their goals. Is this about improving the community, or is about developing business, or is about personal career advancement? The last option is far too often the case. I for one don't like to mix up goals. Choose one: the community, a business, or yourself.

This is a choice that I think people going to Bold Fusion 2010 need to make. They don't have to just pick one and only do that, they just have to be honest and when they agree to take part in an organization that has picked one of first two options (community or business) that any personal gain is at best a side product, not the goal itself.

Cincinnati Has a Film Festival

For those local film fans who've been long waiting for a film festival to take place in Cincinnati can look forward to October 8th through the 16th when the Cincinnati Film Festival is scheduled to take place.

The festival is actually not a new one, just the transformation of the Oxford International Film Festival, which has changed its name and its location to be 100% in Cincinnati. This changed started last year when the festival was centered at the Esquire and will continue to be based there this year.

Details on submissions can be found at www.cincyfilmfest.com.

Comments are being sought from organizers via their Facebook page on what ideas festival goers would like to see be part of the event.

Communities Can Protest, But Kroger Will Win

I think I understand why multiple community groups are protesting the Roselawn Kroger closing, but other than guilt and creation of bad public relations, there is nothing to be done by government to stop it. Sure, citizens or even the City could try and delay it with pointless lawsuits, but in the end, businesses are not required to lose money. They are not even required to make money. We live in a capitalistic society were private business can operate as they please, as long as it is within the law.  There is no law against closing a businesses, so far as I've heard about.  Therefore the fight now should be on educating people about other places to shop.

It would be ideal that all businesses would try and serve the greater good of the community. If that were true we wouldn't need protection from large corporations.

This action by Kroger is another reason to support local businesses. Shop in places like Findlay Market or head to the Gateway Quarter as much as possible. You can't get everything, but the more you spend your money with more in mind than just price, the more you will save in the long run. Save jobs and makes jobs: Shop Local!

UPDATE: Yesterday's All Things Considered had a very interesting and timely report about a program in Baltimore where low income residents in neighborhoods under-served by grocery stores can go to public libraries and by groceries on-line and have them delivered the next day to the library. This is a small program, funded by a grant, but it is an interesting idea. I don't know if could work here, but it is another possible option.

Sean Parker Appointed to CPS Board

From Ben Fischer of the Enquirer via Twitter: It's official, Sean Parker was just appointed to the Cincinanti school board.

A "Wow" Moment for Cecil Thomas

I only wish I'd seen this before I wrote my April Fool's Day post.

Thomas's view on abortion is nothing new. When he completed his 2009 Council questionnaire, he cited the Bible as support for his anti-abortion stance. While his responses are no longer available online, he had written something like "The Bible is good enough for me."

But in the current questionnaire, his response regarding stem cell research (quoting a Bible verse that doesn't seem to have anything to do with embryos or science) seems particularly over the top.

This may be yet another example of Thomas's lack of familiarity with primary contests. He's unlikely to pick up many Democratic voters with his answers.

Clark Montessori A Finalist in Commencement Challenge

I find it hard to believe that there's anyone who hasn't already heard this, but my email and FB have been filled with entreaties to go to the White House's Commencement Challenge and give Clark Montessori a high rating, so the school will make the next cut in its effort to have President Obama deliver the school's commencement address.

Regardless of your political views, you've got to admit it'd be pretty cool if the President gave the address at your high school graduation.

That said, I'm not sure that I approve of POTUS presiding over an American Idol-style competition to determine which high school he will visit.....

Interesting Decisions in Upcoming Trespassing Trial

As you know, last month Chris Smitherman (the president of the Cincinnati branch of the NAACP) and Rev. Dock Foster were arrested for trespassing during a protest outside of a Cincinnati public school construction site. The two--with others--were protesting CPS's under-inclusion of minority contractors in construction bids. At the time, I remarked that Smitherman and Rev. Foster had acted "in the best tradition of the civil rights movement." Griff, as the blog's resident law-and-order conservative, was less enthusiastic.

I had assumed that the arrest was just part one of the pair's protest. I anticipated that the two would ask a jury to find that their actions were justified, much the same way the "Flannery Five" did after being arrested for trespassing at Steve Chabot's office a few years ago.

It looks like I was wrong.

Trials for the two men are now scheduled. Rev. Foster's case has been assigned to Judge Rucker, and is set for May 26. Smitherman's case, assigned to Judge Powers, is set for May 6. Both cases are set for bench trial--that is, trial to the judge. Neither man has filed a jury demand. (In Ohio, one waives the right to a jury trial in a misdemeanor case unless a jury demand is filed at least 10 days prior to trial.)

There's obviously a lot we don't know. Perhaps both have decided to enter a guilty or no-contest plea. Perhaps both have reached plea agreements with the City. Or perhaps both intend to seek a continuance on the trial date. But I'm surprised that neither has (thus far) signaled a desire to air their cause before a jury of their peers.