I really hope this Cincy Cop is on the layoff list

Seniority likely will rule who gets laid off in the Cincinnati budget cuts, but this cop needs to go. If he's not laid off, then he should be booted off the force without question as soon as possible.

Celebrate Arnold's 150th Birthday on New Year's Day

Cincinnati's oldest bar, Arnold's Bar & Grille, is celebrating 150 years of serving great food and drinks.  Come out New Year's Day night (January 1st) at 6PM for birthday specials and .  In addition, enjoy for the first time the Arnold’s 1861 Porter from Christian Moerlien, the first beer brewed at their newly opened Over-the-Rhine brewery. Here's more of the details:

On New Years Day, Saturday January 1st, Arnold’s and Christian Moerlein are having a Birthday Bash to honor Arnold’s 150th year of continuous operation. We are more than honored to announce that this will also be the release of Arnold’s 1861 Porter, the first beer brewed in Christian Moerlein’s new Brewery in Over The Rhine. We are not shooting for some fancy-shmancy anniversiary party. We want to have a blowout for everyone. For this duel event, 12 oz drafts are just 1.50 in honor of our 150th year. Keeping with the 1.50 theme Arnold’s will also have a 1.50 specials menu. On the menu, hamburgers, veggie burgers, french fries, Spaghetti and Meatballs, and Vegetarian Spaghetti and Marinara. That is not a typo, all will be just 1.50. You can effectively get an entire gut-busting meal and several craft beers for under ten bucks. Oh, and did I mention? Free Cake! A Birthday party is nothing without free cake. Keeping with the party theme, The Cincinnati Dancing Pigs are on stage from 8-10 singing all the drinking songs that they are known so well for. This is just an event for Cincinnati’s oldest tavern to say Thank You to Cincinnati for keeping this old codger around so long. So please come celebrate with us. For those that can’t wait for the new beer, we also will be making it available at midnight on New Years Eve at the stroke of Midnight, for the same 1.50 special price.

Enjoy entertainment from the Cincinnati Dancing Pigs from 8 to 10 PM. Even if you are hung-over from New Year's Eve, you can have a dish of spaghetti or a burger and porter.

What a Fucking Circus, What a Fucking Mess

I am not sure if I have ever seen the Cincinnati City Council be more like a three ring circus, but Tuesday's antics rank up there with the most pathetic in my memory.

Today we don't have any better action.

Where were all of these new plans six months ago?

I have to just ask everyone on Council to please just cut the crap and layoff the Police and Fire Department staff that have been called for in the City Manager's plan. No more false promises,  no more gimmicks, no more pie in the sky dreams.

Gutting all of the rest of the City Services will not erase the city's problems, instead they will get worse. Protecting specific voting blocks(FOP Boosters) is not going to win anyone more votes. None of the other plans are thought out enough to actually work. We are heading into a grandstanding zone when there are about 9 days to get this done. Some of these plans have ideas worth exploring, but that should have been started last December when the new Council began it's current term. We now will face an election year with every candidate promising magic beans in every pot. I'd like some truth and honesty from the current council. There is some there, but not 5 or 6 votes worth.

The worst idea I heard, was the idea to borrow capital funds. Who in the right mind wants to punt layoffs another year? Oh, Monzel was part of that, go figure.

I really wish ego wasn't such a driving force behind so many on council. If the egos were checked at the chamber door, why might not have all of these last minute half-assed plans that don't even add up.

Side Note: Is Charlie Winburn a 7 year old kid? He seems to like to pretend that math is not real and you can not cut anything or get more revenue yet still make the budget balance. If he is planning on performing an exorcism on the City Budget, I really hope he can get it broadcast on local TV. That would be entertainment.

UPDATE: My reading on the capital funding was wrong, updated above.

It Sounds Like a Trial Balloon and It's Losing Air Quickly

Three members of City Council with One non-committal member on the fence, put forth a budget plan that includes a transformation of the Cincinnati Police Department. In some form, details are not really known, it either merges the CPD with the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department, or subcontracts the patrols of CPD to the Sheriff's Department. Either way it would shift police officers to the Sheriff's Department at presumably lower pay rates, thus saving money.

Both possibilities are rather radical. They are the type of ideas that get studied and reviewed and publicly discussed for a reasonable amount of time. I think these plans sound like a trial balloon. These council members want to see how the public reacts and then work on making these plans happen in the coming years, where the cuts that are made in the police force now can be made up by contracting with the Sheriff. We have a year end requirement to pass a balanced budget. We don't have the time to just put this idea into action and hope it works out. That would be foolish.

Yes, it seems clear to me there are going to be cuts in the police and fire departments, but with the latest news the cuts will be less than originally planned because of higher tax revenue projections. We need to face those cuts. Some on council can say they did what they could or still have future ideas, but were forced to make the cuts. Ghiz and Winburn will complain and vote against it, but still refuse to put forth an plan that balances the budget. One that is feasible and doesn't rely on kindness of delinquent tax payers.

Keven Osborne has more on this new plan and the possible conflict with the City Charter in how the council members discussed it with the Sheriff.

Tom + Chee Is Open on Court Street

Fountain Square used to be the only place to get the best Grilled Cheese sandwiches in town, but now Tom + Cheehave a restaurant open on Court Street.

City Publishes Fire Company Closures

Via the Enquirer's Jane Prendergast's Twitter Feed: The City has published the details on which Fire 'Companies' will be closed as a result of layoffs. A total of 4 'Truck Companies' and 7 'Engine Companies' will be closed effective January 2nd under the current proposed budget plan.

Streetcar Project Fully Funded With a New State Grant

The Cincinnati Streetcar Project got yet another boost yesterday with news that the State of Ohio is providing an additional $35 Million grant to fund the construction of the Streetcar lines running from the Banks through Downtown and OTR to the Uptown area. As UrbanCincy Reports, the City now has recieved a total of $150 Million for the $128 Million project.


This doesn't stop the anti-city forces from lying, again. This time they are lying about the position of the Council Member on the Streetcar. The semi-positive news is that in the Enquirer article the reporter indicates that at least someone at the Enquirer is getting closer to the truth about the Funding of the Streetcar and how ending the project will do NOTHING to prevent layoffs of Police and Fire due to the Budget gap.

With the FOP, Cincinnati Fire Fighters Union Local 48, Westwood Concern and other groups searching for ways to preserve some of the 370 city jobs at risk, the controversial streetcar project – and Berding – have become their primary targets. Berding’s support is needed to guarantee a majority vote on council for streetcar matters,

By law, state and federal money that City Hall has received for the $128 million-plus streetcar could not be spent for other purposes. That also is the case, City Hall officials say, with the $64 million in local bonds that the city plans to commit to the streetcar project.

For that reason, supporters insist, blocking the streetcar would have no impact on City Hall’s current $60 million budget deficit. Opponents, though, argue the system’s future operating expenses would divert dollars that otherwise could fund jobs and services.

The Enquirer is closer to the truth, but the reporter still fails on two levels. First they fail to point out that the future expense of operating the Streetcar is IN THE FUTURE. The Streetcar is NOT built yet. We have a budget deficit NOW that will require laying off police officers and fire fighters. If we don't get an economic turnaround and the City's revenues are hurting again, they can have that argument again in 5 or 10 yearrs, when it would be relevant.  The real reason this argument is made, is because the groups making it are against development of the City and Urban core.

The second failure of the reporter comes in how they segregate City laws as something more mysterious than State or Federal Laws. I would prefer that if any media outlet publishes someone demanding an end to the Streetcar and even HINTS that this would save cops or fire fighters jobs (a lie), then the media outlet must print the facts about the Streetcar funding. In this article it would have been nicer for the Enquirer to not just report "City Officials Say" when talking about the $64 Million in bonds to be issued by the City for funding of the project. City Laws are just as much laws as State and Federal laws. We have to follow all of them. The reporter fails to 'have' all of the facts when they write "By law" in regards to the State and Federal Grants, but not for the City Funds. Who did the reporter get to confirm that the State and Federal funds grants are an issue of law? Could it have been a State or Federal official? Are not City officials as much of a definitive source of information on City laws as a State or Federal official on State or Federal laws, respectively?

As we learned recently how the bias in national media outlets affects news coverage and distorts the truth, we must insist that the media be fair to the truth, not just a blind reporting on what one side says.