The Number of City Council Candidates Is Growing

Joe Wessels has a great article reporting on who is officially on the ballot for the Cincinnati City Council election and who among the declared candidates are still working on getting on the ballot.

The big news is that we officially have more than one nutty candidate running (other than Smitherman). Life would boring without conspiracy spouting political candidates. The additional person, who is no stranger to the tin foil hat community is Sandra Queen Noble. "Queen" is joined by 1 official write-in candidate Orlando Welborn, who will not appear on the ballot, but his write-in votes will be counted. Good luck on that.

Other possible candidates, none of whom I've heard of, are:
Jacqueline Allen
Kathy Atkinson
Patricia McCollum

Joe also lists out a group who have taken out petitions, but have yet to turn in any signatures. I'll not mention any of them out of a semblance of respect, except for Theo Barnes, who is on the list and who has been a candidate for council before. I'm not surprised to see him back and he could be in the lead for last place, even with a write-in candidate in the mix.

So, this puts us to maybe a list of 23 running for council, counting the write in candidate and assuming none of they-who-shall-not-yet-be-named actually get their act together. I will predict, for no apparent reason that we will see 21 candidates listed on the ballot, not counting the write-ins.

Lippert Is Carrying COAST's Water

When Councilman Wayne Lippert issues a press release demanding that all work on the Streetcar be stopped until the Anti-Rail issue on the ballot in November is voted on, he is helping COAST and its anti-city efforts. The question that will persist about Lippert: Does he support COAST and it's anti-city efforts?This press release goes along way in supporting COAST.  In my views it does the following:

1. It legitimized COAST's extreme anti-rail effort. 
2. If signals to COAST voters that Lippert is in full support of the anti-rail issue without having to say it.  He may not be in support of the issue, but wants COAST voters to think he is.  Tea Party money may be politically toxic to anyone who cares about the City, but it is still green.
3. It gives more free press to COAST and Co.
4. This solidifies Lippert as desperate to get every far right wing vote he can.  He's lost any hope of getting moderate voters that are not just closet Republicans.
5. This confirms to me that Lippert is looking not to help the city, but is laying the groundwork to run for higher office and will do so by pushing the agenda he thinks will get him elected at that later time, not what will improve the city. He wants to appease conservative base voters and they are in the suburbs and not in the city.

Lippert has made a harsh political choice and is playing to the media and to the extremes of the city and really the suburbs. A real leader would not help do anything to help propel COAST's anti-rail amendment. Everyone can see it is a horrible idea is meant to hurt the city. A real leader would speak out against this issue not hide behind false equivalency. A "let the voters decide" attitude is not leadership, it is being chickenshit.  If Lippert truly wants to the let the voters actually vote unhindered, then he should not have said a thing about the issue.  Instead he does what he can to push COAST's agenda, without actually endorsing it. When will the Enquirer ask and publish Lippert's stances on the anti-rail issue?

What makes this on the surface laughable, is that if you use Lippert's logic, the City, County, and State should not take any action, spend any money, have any discussion of anything that will be affected by a ballot initiative. That therefore means that since we have a statewide ballot issue (anti-healthcare law effort) that will decide if Ohio will knowingly violate constitutional law (supremacy clause) , we should avoid following the U.S. Constitution or any federal laws until the voters speak. Oh, Lippert didn't mention that one in his press release? Hmmm, I wonder why.

MidPoint Schedule Released

In case you still living in a cave, you should know that the 2011 (Tenth annual) Midpoint Music Festival Schedule and line-up was announced. This year there are some new interesting add-ons and what caught my eye was the MidPoint Midway that will close off part of 12 Street and include an Artworks box truck project which sounds very interesting.

For the full details, including the venue listing and showcase times, check out mpmf.com.

SPAETHC Provides Analysis of the CBD Grocery Shopping Options

SPAETHC from Cincyvoices does some research and provides an analysis of the grocery options in the central business district, aka Downtown. He purposely leaves out OTR, which has a small Kroger's and Findley Market.

He brings to mind a big question: how far away is a grocery store away from a non-downtown resident?  The Newport Kroger and the Corryville Kroger are 5 to 10 minutes away by car. Is that not how long it would take for most people in Hyde Park, Oakley, and Mt. Lookout to get to the Hyde Park Kroger?

Republican Council Members Appease Business Owners, Ignore Public Good

If you left the Republicans on council with total control of the city government, they would let businesses do what ever they want. Instead of discussing why the city law requires what it does, they just attack a city department for DOING ITS JOB. We have a building code. We have a government that enforces that building code. We have a process in place that allows for business owners to appeal or seek exemption from the building code. That is how it works, and has worked well for a long time.

If Ghiz, Lippert and Murray seek to end the building code or the means to enforce it, then they are setting up business owners for long term failure when disaster or crime strikes. Yes, those are reasons for the building code. We have building standards that help buildings during disasters and help prevent massive damage and loss of life in those types of disasters. We, as a society, need building codes to exists because if another building on my block catches fire, my building could catch on fire. We need the building codes to require businesses and building owners keep standards that will help the WHOLE community in times when we need to work together.

If the Republicans want to improve the process for appeals or exemptions, then they could draft legislation to make it happen, unless there are State requirements that they must look to Columbus to address.  We don't get that from this effort. Instead we get sound bites that place business as the 'victim' to an evil government, something that appeals to the ignorant fools who think that government is bad, except for the police and fire departments and roads and health inspectors and all of the other services they use.  I guess having logic only a mother could love, is better than no logic, but it makes for bad public policy.

Attacking government departments for doing their job is a typical type of grandstanding, but a specialty for Republicans, with Ghiz as it's primary champion on Council. With a press conference you would think the media would ask questions and print answers that question what laws Ghiz & Co. want to change, why Ghiz & Co. would make a spectacle of this issue instead of making motions in a council session to address the issue, and why Ghiz & Co. are using this a political issue instead of acting on it?  No we don't get that, we get accomplices for the appeasement of business interests.  Business owners give more to Republicans in Cincinnati and business owners buy commercials from the media.  Walking a fine line is what makes reporting here extra fluff and no meat.

Updated List Of Who Is Running For Cincinnati City Council

Not everyone running has turned in their required signatures, but here's the latest listing of who is running for Cincinnati City Council:

Incumbents:
Chris Bortz
Leslie Ghiz
Wayne Lippert Jr.
Amy Murray
Roxanne Qualls
Laure Quinlivan
Cecil Thomas
Charlie Winburn
Wendell Young

Previous Candidates:
Kevin Flynn
Nicholas Hollan
Christopher Smitherman

New Candidates:
Jason Riveiro
Chris Seelbach
P.G. Sittenfeld
Catherine Smith Mills
Yvette Simpson

Likely Running:
Mike Allen

At most there appear to only be 18 candidates. Anyone else not listed above who turns in signatures will not be a significant candidate, unless they have more gold than Midas. Later this month the 'official' list will come out. If it looks different than above, I'll be astonished for all of about 43 seconds.

Is Smitherman Running For Council? Maybe An Answer Today

Is Chris Smitherman running for Cincinnati City Council or does he just like pretending he is the President of the United States and is trying to invoke the 25th Amendment?  He's been saying he has been running for months, but this latest stunt is the biggest sign he is actually going to do it. His website is not up, but someone has the domain registered.

Is he trying to ride to the wave of anti-City voters with the reported news that his anti-rail charter amendment will be on the ballot?

I've been pondering why there has been a lack of crazy 'independent' candidates running for council this year. I guess later on today, we shall get another crazy one in the mix.