It didn't take long, not even a week, and already Chris Smitherman has committed his first offense of Grandstanding in his term as a Cincinnati City Council member.
Smitherman is all in a tizzy because a majority of Council has approved a council rule removing a 90 day requirement for putting ordinances on the Council calendar. Smitherman is upset because a majority of the council voted. This would be a majority of the elected representatives of the people of Cincinnati. They voted to establish their own rules, as provided by the City Charter which operates legally under State law. Smitherman is "threatening" to sue.
According to the article, I think I can take the quote off the word threatening because it states that unless council votes his way, he will sue. That sounds like a form of extortion, but in political activities you can get away with more than the average person.
I do question Smitherman, as a member of Council, taking legal action with any indication or standing as a member of the City Government without use of the City's legal representative. If he, as he threatens, gets his right wing zealot attorney, and anti-gay bigot, Chris Finney to sue the city, I'd like to know what standing Smitherman is planning on using. Also, who would pay Finney's fees? If any legal fees ever go to any non-city lawyer suing on behalf of Smitherman on a city issue, the fees should come from Smitherman's budget.
Section 5a of Article II of the City Charter states "The Council shall organize itself and conduct its business as it deems appropriate...." That's what they did with a 5-3 vote (one member was absent.)
Section 2 of Article III of the City Charter state "The Mayor shall preside over all meetings of the council, but shall not have a vote on the council."
What is he going to sue over? The City Charter was followed. This is Democracy in action.
Smitherman better get used to not getting his way on council unless he can get 5 or for veto-overrides, 6 votes on an issue. He can't act like a child and threaten to sue over everything, especially when he has no grounds for a law-suit. He can complain about the rule, but using threats to change the minds of his fellow members of council isn't going to win many (no one) over.
Thursday, December 08, 2011
Tuesday, December 06, 2011
Greg Harris Seeking County Commission Spot
WVXU is reporting that former Democratic City Council member, Greg Harriss, is running for Hamilton County Commissioner against Republican Greg Hartmann.
Democratic Commissioner Todd Portune is running for re-election as well, but there is no word on any Republican opponent, who must file by 4PM today.
Democratic Commissioner Todd Portune is running for re-election as well, but there is no word on any Republican opponent, who must file by 4PM today.
Another Take On the SGH Situation
I am going to start calling the Southgate House Closing as more of a Southgate House Situation. Yes, that makes it sound remotely like I'm referencing a reality TV show. While the drama surrounding the family business dealings involved might bring that to mind, that's not my intention. This guest column on Each Note Secure from Margaret Darling of the Seedy Seeds makes it clear to me that there are two separate issues at stake here: 1)What will the New location of the Southgate House be like (and where will it be) and then 2)What will be come of the Southgate Building? So SGH closing isn't the only issue, there is a much more complex concern. a "situation," if you will.
Number two becomes the more cloudy concern. The operators of the SGH are planning on opening a new place. We'll just have to wait and see where that is and how well the new location will work. The Southgate Building is something different and the resulting owners don't appear to have the plan in place with what to do with the building. That is bigger concern to me. I don't fear that the new location for the SGH will be like. I fear that the new owners will not use the building wisely. It would be a great place for a music venue, but the building needs to be used wisely. It is important to Newport and needs to continue to enrich the culture, no matter what it becomes. We have a situation and the City of Newport needs to keep that situation from ruining a vital piece of the community.
Number two becomes the more cloudy concern. The operators of the SGH are planning on opening a new place. We'll just have to wait and see where that is and how well the new location will work. The Southgate Building is something different and the resulting owners don't appear to have the plan in place with what to do with the building. That is bigger concern to me. I don't fear that the new location for the SGH will be like. I fear that the new owners will not use the building wisely. It would be a great place for a music venue, but the building needs to be used wisely. It is important to Newport and needs to continue to enrich the culture, no matter what it becomes. We have a situation and the City of Newport needs to keep that situation from ruining a vital piece of the community.
Monday, December 05, 2011
Luke Brockmeier Campaign Kickoff Speech
Luke Brockmeier is running in the Democratic primary for the 31st District in the Ohio House. Above is his speech from his campaign kickoff event. For more information on his candidacy check out www.lukeforohio.com.
Editorial Note: I am a supporter of Luke Brockmeier. I am biased towards his candidacy and will not hide that in the least. As a political blogger, I am not going to censor myself, but will endeavor to be honest in what I write. This is an opinion blog, however, and it is the opinion of this blogger that if you live in the new Ohio 31st House District, you should vote for Luke Brockmeier in the Democratic primary in March and then when he wins, vote for him in November of 2012 in the general election. If you don't live in the 31st, then you can still help a progressive candidate bring change to Columbus by contributing to his campaign: HERE.
Cincinnati and Findlay Market Featured on NPR Morning Edition Story
NPR had an interesting story this morning on it's Morning Edition programming that included interviews here in Cincinnati on opinions on Congress. It took place at Findlay Market and included quotes from Dan Korman, owner of Park+Vine located in Over-the-Rhine.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Anti-3CDC Bias is Abundant This Holiday Season
So, a report comes out naming a census track in Over-the-Rhine as the most income mixed census track in the nation based on 2005 to 2009 data and then all the biased media fingers point to 3CDC. It doesn't surprise me that attacks will be made on 3CDC for its redevelopment efforts, but this attack is totally unfair.
Track 17, the area cited, is located in the Northeast part of OTR. What the article doesn't mention is that 3CDC's efforts are not in that area. If they had looked in track 9 or 10, then they would have found areas like the Gateway Quarter, Main Street, Washington Park. The variances in income cited in Census Track 17 are almost totally caused by the nice homes up on Mulberry Street at the top edge of the district. Pair this with the sparsely populated area below it and presto...the numbers fall into place giving the disparity. When you cut neighborhoods apart, then you can find lots of things. Hell, if 1 person making $100,000 moved to Queensgate, I think with the low population in that area, they would take over Track 17's title.
The other big bias in the article was drawing in the Metropole issue, which is not located in OTR and is a vastly different situation. The Metropole on the surface fits the conclusion the writer had formed, so adding it in was like icing on the cake. If you are going to draw in unrelated incidents, there is a nice empty field sitting in Norwood near Smith and Edwards that could serve someone's political agenda.
A significant part of the article attempted to look at OTR overall and provided a reasonable view on 3CDC's efforts, but this has nothing to do with cherry picking statistical and using that as the basis of the article. That makes a biased and just false claim that 3CDC caused the disparity. In fact with the time frame involved, 3CDC had not completed that many new locations and had at best purchased the empty, unused buildings that become the condo/apartments now flourishing. If you want to write an article criticizing redevelopment of OTR, then start typing, but keep the misleading statistics out of it.
I do credit one thing in the article without hesitation: the photo. The photo looks to me to be of Track 17, at least in part. In contrast, if you look at CityBeat's article on this story, then you should notice that the picture listed is not in Track 17 at all. It's of Gateway Quarter and it's inclusion with either a careless mistake or purposeful deception. I'll let you decide on that.
Track 17, the area cited, is located in the Northeast part of OTR. What the article doesn't mention is that 3CDC's efforts are not in that area. If they had looked in track 9 or 10, then they would have found areas like the Gateway Quarter, Main Street, Washington Park. The variances in income cited in Census Track 17 are almost totally caused by the nice homes up on Mulberry Street at the top edge of the district. Pair this with the sparsely populated area below it and presto...the numbers fall into place giving the disparity. When you cut neighborhoods apart, then you can find lots of things. Hell, if 1 person making $100,000 moved to Queensgate, I think with the low population in that area, they would take over Track 17's title.
The other big bias in the article was drawing in the Metropole issue, which is not located in OTR and is a vastly different situation. The Metropole on the surface fits the conclusion the writer had formed, so adding it in was like icing on the cake. If you are going to draw in unrelated incidents, there is a nice empty field sitting in Norwood near Smith and Edwards that could serve someone's political agenda.
A significant part of the article attempted to look at OTR overall and provided a reasonable view on 3CDC's efforts, but this has nothing to do with cherry picking statistical and using that as the basis of the article. That makes a biased and just false claim that 3CDC caused the disparity. In fact with the time frame involved, 3CDC had not completed that many new locations and had at best purchased the empty, unused buildings that become the condo/apartments now flourishing. If you want to write an article criticizing redevelopment of OTR, then start typing, but keep the misleading statistics out of it.
I do credit one thing in the article without hesitation: the photo. The photo looks to me to be of Track 17, at least in part. In contrast, if you look at CityBeat's article on this story, then you should notice that the picture listed is not in Track 17 at all. It's of Gateway Quarter and it's inclusion with either a careless mistake or purposeful deception. I'll let you decide on that.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Southgate House Closing
According to it's Facebook page, the Southgate House will be closing it's doors after this New Year's Eve show. This esteemed music venue has been serving the great Cincinnati music scene for decades and has been the sight of scores of epic concerts. News that it is closing a big blow to the Cincinnati music scene. The post indicates that the owners may move the business. There is no announced reason for the move and no word on what necessitates the closure or what will happen with the historic landmark.
Joe at EachNoteSecure.com has more on the closing, which had been rumored recently.
UPDATE: Lauren Bishop of the Enquirer has more.
Joe at EachNoteSecure.com has more on the closing, which had been rumored recently.
UPDATE: Lauren Bishop of the Enquirer has more.
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