Gobble! Gobble!!

Happy Thanksgiving Day!!

Eat, Drink, and be Safe!

New Math At the Enquirer: Is It the Ghiz Formula?

I am not sure what math courses Enquirer reporter Jane Prendergast took in school, but in this article on the City Budget she has defined a new way to determine a Minority and Majority:

Councilwoman Leslie Ghiz, in the minority on budget issues and therefore often less in the know, went to City Solicitor John Curp on Monday after Acting Fire Chief Mike Kroeger wouldn't provide details on the number of layoffs and other cuts his department proposed to Dohoney.

Ghiz, Monzel, Winburn, Bortz, and Berding have voted together on most budget related issues. There isn't a majority that is agreeing on anything at the present, but those Five have been the new Fiscal Five and five is the majority on council. Ghiz was part of the old five, too, but who's counting?

Ghiz's real problem is that she isn't playing fair nor doing her homework. Why should the City Manager give any information to Ghiz? She's not bothered to come up with any ideas on how to make meaningful cuts and her current and past grandstanding efforts make any information she gets her hands on the fuel for the spin machine, no matter how out of context she puts it.

This is a tough budget cycle and their are going to be cuts. It would have good for Ghiz to have done some homework a little sooner.

Tom Callinan, Enquirer Editor Retiring At Year's End

The Enquirer has announced the retirement of Tom Callinan as Editor of the Enquirer. I wish to thank Tom for doing a difficult job well. He, I believe, has done his best to hold the line in favor of journalism against the dark business forces. The Enquirer is a very thin paper these days, and signs ahead point towards even less journalism. I've not agreed with many of the directions of the Enquirer over the last 10 years I been watching closely, but every time Callinan acted, he came across as an honorable man in a shrinking honorable profession.

I am very glad Tom is sticking around Cincinnati to work at UC. I hope he can instill a sense of traditional journalism into the students, before the ideas of journalism die completely.

For more on Tom Callinan's retirement check out CityBeat or the GannettBlog.

The next game will be seeing who get's Callinan's job. Many think there are three internal contenders. Who ever gets the job will have a mountain to climb and not much time to make it to the summit.

CEA Winners Announced

CityBeat's annual Cincinnati Entertainment Awards took place on Sunday night and the winners show the strength of Cincinnati's music scene.

Mike Breen has an account, something close to a play by play of the night.

I was unable to attend the awards show, but the photos put the Grammmys to shame!

With the merger of the Theatre CEAs with the Acclaim awards, should the Music CEAs take on a more musical name? CMA is already taken, however, so I don't know if there's as good of an acronym out there.

And They're Off: Council Race Starting to Take Notice

Howard Wilkinson of the Enquirer has a summary of possible candidates for Cincinnati City Council, with are up for election in November of 2011. The list of candidates includes:

Incumbents:
Jeff Berding
Chris Bortz
Leslie Ghiz
Roxanne Qualls
Laure Quinlivan
Cecil Thomas
Charlie Winburn
Wendell Young

Previous Candidates:
Kevin Flynn
Amy Murry

New Candidates:
Wayne Lippert Jr.
Chris Seelback
P.G. Sittenfeld
Cahterine Smith Mills
Yvette Simpson
Jason Riverio
Mike Robison


This is a very early slate, so some of those listed will drop out, but more than likely there will be many more candidates adding their name. The number of African-Americans with their hat in the ring so far is way too low. Jim Tarbell isn't listed either. I would be surprised if he isn't at least contemplating another council run. Greg Harris, Bernadette Watson, and Nicholas Hollan would be strong candidates as well, but it is not known if they are interested in running again. Brad Wenstrup would be a strong Republican candidate.  He's mentioned as a possible appointment for Monzel's seat.  As a former Mayoral candidate, he stands a good a chance as any other strong prior Republican council candidate, maybe even stronger if GOP turnout stays as high as it was in 2010.

In the early part of 2011, the Political Parties will hold interviews for endorsements. Well, at least the Dems hold interviews, since they usually have more applicants than endorsements. If all of the Republicans listed run (6) that will be the more than 2009's lowly 5. As it stands now the party association (not endorsement) stands with:

Democratic: 7
Republican: 6
Charter: 3
Independent: 1

If there are more candidates out there, chime in with some names.

Capital Funds For Westwood Don't Get Protests?

So, Charlie Winburn is is proposing the City of Cincinnati spend capital funds to buy the Gamble House, located in Westwood. For the record I am personally very much in favor of doing this. I really have to wonder, however, where's the FOP protest? Where's COAST? Where is Westwood Concern complaining that a City Council member is spending money on something new, while cop layoffs loom? Where is Charlie Winburn protesting himself for additional spending? Where's Ghiz?

It is a really good question: Why don't you see Westwood Concern complaining about this? The answer is oh so clear, they are leading the effort to encourage the City to buy the Gamble House. Yes, that is correct. Westwood concern is in favor of using capital funds in their neighborhood, while not in favor of it in places where spending those capital dollars will actually produce economic development that will benefit the entire City and the region.

No, the hypocrisy is not surprising. $300,000 is good for at least 3 or 4 police officers, after all, but the cries for blood on someone's hands is missing here, for some reason...

I hope the City is able to buy the Gamble house and preserve the history it holds for Cincinnati, especially Westwood. It would be nice if Westwood Concern could avoid the hypocrisy.

A Special Decree: It's Spelled C-ASS

I am taking it upon myself, using my infinite amount of bloggish wisdom (yes such a thing exists..no really), to decree that the real spelling of the anti-city group "Citizens Against Streetcar Swindle" shall be forever spelled as C-ASS. An early incarnation had is listed as "CASS." That was an oversight.