COAST Loses, Again

In a fight to make false statements in a political campaign COAST lost its legal defensive action. COAST was trying to get the Ohio Election Commission to be blocked from enforcing Ohio law. COAST lost. So, yes, the anti-government COAST tried to get help from the Federal Government because they didn't like the State Government's laws. It is funny how COAST, and other conservatives, like State Governments having powers to, force religion on others, but chaffe when the Federal Government prevents them from doing so. This is irony at any angle.

Is the Enquirer Delaying Print Stories From the Web, Again?

Since I ponied up and paid for an online subscription to the Enquirer, I thought I would read their front page headline on the print edition to see how they spun the news from last night.

What I saw to the left of the front page headline was another, smaller, front page story with the headline of "NAACP election will be battle." I read the article and thought, hmm, that would be a good story to link to on Cincinnati Blog.

That's basically how news blogging goes. You read other articles and link to them, adding your own take on the subject, often reacting to article itself.

So, I start to look for the article on the Enquirer website. There's not a Local News section.  That kinda sucks.  So I check around all the sections, including the Latest Headlines section, and  I can't find it. I do several searches for the article using the Enquirer's web search function. I can't find it. I go to Google and search on an exact sentence from the article including someone's name. I STILL can't find it. Maybe it was just a hiccup with their new paywall system, I don't know, but I like to find things I know are supposed to exist when I search for them.

So I gave up looking and had a different blog post than I was planning on writing.

Has the Enquirer gone back to a "print only exclusive" model?  Has it had that for a while and as a web only reader I am just now seeing the delay?  That's possible.  I kind of would have thought that such a delay would GO AWAY with the advent of an online subscription model, but maybe not.

It is still early in the morning and the article may pop up before I publish this post, but I was annoyed, therefore I am writing about it.  That's another way blogging happens, you get pissed off about something, so you blog about it.  Kinda simple, but it works for me.

Is Cranley Running For Mayor?

CityBeat has done some good cyber shoe leather reporting and dug evidence that John Cranley is preparing to run for Mayor of Cincinnati.

Some of the few Cranley supports out there read this blog, so I ask them: is it true?

Should I sharpen my knives in preparation for a Conservative anti-urban candidate running in the race for Cincinnati Mayor?

Is the Republican Coroner Candidate Willing to Play Politics with Death Investigations?

The point I get from Republican coroner candidate Pete Kambelos' response to a Cincinnati Herald Candidate questionnaire, as reported by the Enquirer, is that if elected, he's going to determine the results of death investigations, like the taser case mentioned, that will appease a group of people he wants to vote for him. I guess finding the truth of the situation isn't as important as finding the "truth" people want to hear.

After determining that a person has a terminal disease and will die, does Dr. Kambelos tell them it directly, or does he spin the truth?

I really didn't expect to find any political issues to actually write about in the coroner's race, but this one is pretty big.

Does Josh Mandel Have a Personal Space Problem?

Ohio Treasurer and Republican Senate candidate Josh Mandel has much to explain for an alleged incident caught on tape where he grabbed/pushed a campaign "tracker's" camera in an elevator. A tracker is a person hired by political groups to follow around a candidate with a video camera looking for embarrassing moments. It is a common practice and normally looks for something the candidate says, not something he might do.

Talking Points Memo has the full report and points out the biggest fact causing Mandel problems: he lied about what happened and the incident occurred in front of a Columbus Reporter. Oh yeah, and it's on video tape. The latter isn't as incriminating as it could be, since you don't see Mandel put his hands on the tracker or the camera, but you do hear what is going and and hear a witness confirm what just happened.

The Columbus Dispatch has a report outlining Mandel contradiction and what should just be called lies.

The Enquirer Does Not Get the Point of Urbanism

If you were to presume that the majority of the Editorial page board live in the suburbs based on this editorial, then I think you would be right. I can't prove it, you know, except if I wanted to look up the individual members on the voter registration rolls, which I will skip tonight. Instead, I feel that I must point out something simple, yet,  that at least the writer of the editorial misses about why people are moving to Downtown Cincinnati.  As a person who lives in the near Downtown area (OTR), I can attest to this personally.

I plan on living here as long as I live in the metro area.

I don't plan on moving into a house with a picket fence.

The suburbanite fantasy is not for me.  Please don't force it upon me or anyone else, which is what the Enquirer appears to be doing, from the editorial:

Most Cincinnati residents live in neighborhoods like these. And we want young adults who live Downtown, attracted by redevelopment, to someday live in those neighborhoods. Neighborhoods need city investment and attention.

No, Mr/Mrs Editorial board members, I don't hope people who move Downtown "come to their senses" and move to a white picket fence neighborhood. I want people who are looking for a City to FIND and LIVE in a CITY.

We choose to live in city, not a 2.2 kid and backyard dream. If people want to move to city neighborhoods, THAT IS AWESOME! I really hope they do. They are far better than exurban wastelands and are closer to the action, the urban core. If you want to live in a city neighborhood, that is a very honorable goal.  That person is not the target for Downtown living.

If people feel more comfortable in Hyde Park, I am SOOOOOO COOOOOL with that. I want people to move there. I want Westwood and Avondale and Bond Hill and Mt. Washington and Madisonville to have tons of people living in them.  None of those neighborhoods have ever been or will ever be economic or cultural centers and they are not meant to be.

Here is what the Enquirer and much of the Conservative Republicans don't get. Urbanism is about creating a core that helps EVERYONE. We build the urban core up and then all the neighborhoods gain. Not everyone wants to live the hardcore city life like Tim Mara apparently doesn't get. That is OK, but we must recognize the urban core as the economic and cultural center of the Metro area and keeping that urban core healthy it helps foster the innovative, creative, and energetic people living in that core to induce the growth all around the Cincinnati Metro area.

We love the nightlife, we got to boggie on the disco 'round, oh yeah.

Yes, this is a hard pill for the "if you build a stripmall, they will come" crowd, but that is the past.  Our future is in our cities.  This is a throwback to the past, but the post War years have killed our culture and society long enough.  If we don't embrace urbanism, then American culture, the good parts of it at least, will decay.

As a side note, the part that I don't get and never will understand is how anyone living way out in the exurbs or traditional inner-suburbs can think that without a vibrant and focused urban core the metro area can grow.  It just will not happen.  I really hope someone at the Enquirer will wake up and see the future and stop fearing it.  Exurbanite Republicans will always fear change, but just because that is your core audience, you can't hide the truth from them forever.

Finally: so if you think the Enquirer isn't biased against the Streetcar and the City core, then I guess you have been living in a cave in Indian Hill for the last 5 years.

Where Will You Get Your Cincinnati News?

With the the Cincinnati Enquirer going to a Paywall format tonight, where will you get your Cincinnati News? Will you subscribe? Will other local outlets expand coverage? There are no other mainstream outlets that have any stories that are as in depth as a daily newspaper goes. Will the TV stations improve their online articles to compete?

I fear few will notice.

The problem is that the public, overall, is filled with ignorant sloths, who care more about sports or Dancing with the Stars, than what happens in their community. They wouldn't be able to tell much of a difference if you moved them from West Chester to Dublin, OH, while they slept.