Good News for Downtown: Grocery Store Coming!

Wednesday's Post reports that Avril Bleh Meat Market, the fabulous butcher on Court Street, plans to expand into the adjacent storefront and open a grocery store. This is terrific news for downtown. The store will be about 1,300 square feet.

People who have recently moved downtown from the 'burbs need to be cautioned: it's not going to be anything like the Hyde Park Kroger or a Walmart Supercenter. Instead, it sounds like it will be like the grocery stores you'd expect to find in the midst of New York City neighborhoods. Fresh meat, produce, dairy, but not necessarily a ton of dry goods. But that's what should be downtown: a typical, urban grocery store. We don't need no stinkin' supercenters.

The irony, of course, is that the grocery store will sit quite literally in the shadow of the Kroger Building. Kroger has consistently declined to build a grocery store downtown, claiming there's not a sufficient population base to do so. Even more shameful, though, is that company's failure to build a decent-sized grocery store in Over-the-Rhine--which certainly has enough residents to support a larger store than the abomination that sits on Vine Street a few blocks from corporate headquarters.

I just can't wait for summer again....some of the best food I ate this past summer was from Avril Bleh's little grilling stand in front of the store.

Missing Ballots

The Hamilton County Board of Elections screwed up. 100 ballots is not going to change council races, no matter how certain candidates try to alter mathematics.

American Presidential Politics: "Do you believe every word of this book?"

Now admittedly, my view on this issue may be jaundiced, given that I went to public school a long time ago in the South before GOD and prayer were removed from public schools by the Satan inspired Warren Supreme Court (although I have never understood how people could believe in an omniscient, omnipresent, and all powerful deity and then believe he/she/it could be forcibly removed from anywhere). In my school, we had this old blind lady come in on a weekly basis and we would have actual honest-to-god bible study and prayer on a regular basis -- sometimes even glossolalia would occur -- and we would pray for all the non-believers (including Jews, Mormons, Muslims and, sometimes, Catholics). Ahhh, the fifties and early sixties. . . . .

But really, should I care whether my President believes every word of the christian scriptures? Does it matter if Mitt Romney believes every word of the Book of Mormon? Does it matter if Mayor Guiliani believed every word of scripture, except the ones about divorce and infidelity, when he was using taxpayer money to provide security when he met up with his then paramour, while he was married? Does whether a candidate believes every word of christian scripture inform whether they believe waterboarding is torture -- John McCain, who has been tortured, does believe it, while Governor Romney, who avoided military service (like Dick Cheney and W), thinks waterboarding might be alright for really bad dudes (again, like Dick Cheney and W).

I was glad to know that John McCain, the soldier, does not own a gun, that Fred Thompson, the TV star, owns two, but the whereabouts are a secret, and that Mitt Romney's son owns two that are in the governor's house for some reason. Also, it is good to know that Romney thinks asking people with "funny accents" who are working on his lawn for their papers is bad form, but that America's Mayor thinks that would be just fine, while Tom Tancredo thinks we should not ask, but just round them up. Ron Paul, on the other hand, is worried about our national sovereignty and believes that there is a secret conspiracy to merge the US, Canada and Mexico (Given the exchange rate between the US dollar and the loonie, it might not be a bad thing).

So this is what is important in America in the new century! Thank God, I could go to sleep after this debate with images of dreamy Anderson Cooper in my mind to calm the disturbance caused by the thought that this was the best we could do . . . . . . .

Vigilantism Acceptable in Hamilton County

The Enquirer reports that the Hamilton County Prosecuting Attorney will not file charges against the owner of the N & M Minimart at Ninth and Elm. As you might recall, the owner, Wade Nassar, followed a robber into the street and fired shots at him as the robber fled. As recounted by the Enquirer at the time:

As soon as Nassar gave the man the money, he ran out the door and east on Ninth Street. When the robber took off, Nassar said he reached behind the counter, grabbed the .22-caliber handgun he keeps there and ran to the front door, opened it and started shooting, getting off five shots.
"How I missed him I don't know," Nassar said. "If I (would have) crossed the street, I would have killed him." Police heard the shots and responded. They weren't too thrilled about Nassar shooting his gun on a downtown street in an area across the street from a school.

And Nassar wasn't shy about his intent:

Nassar said he gave the robber $400 – and then grabbed his gun and followed him out the door. That’s when Nassar said he fired his .22-caliber handgun at the fleeing robber. “I meant to kill the dude,” Nassar said minutes after the Nov. 12 robbery.

Why is this OK? Joe Deters says that the robber "forfeit[ his] right not to be shot." But this isn't about the robber's rights; it's about the legality of Nassar's conduct. With gun ownership comes responsibility. Shooting at a fleeing suspect--who's already outside your property--is not self-defense. If Nassar had hit and killed his target (whose name is Sanford O'Neal, and is obviously not a terribly sympathetic figure--a few weeks after the Minimart heist, he was arrested for allegedly burglarizing a homicide victim's house, an act made possible only by breaking through police crime scene tape), would Nassar still be a free man?

I'm not suggesting that Nassar be charged with attempted murder. But there should be consequences for firing your gun on a downtown street at someone who no longer poses a risk of harm to you. I'm not convinced that turning downtown into the Wild, Wild West is such a good idea.

Pay Attention, Suburbanites!

I know the air is a little thinner out there, but the author of the 4th letter to the Enquirer today needs to know that Hamilton County is not planning on building a "Trolley." The City of Cincinnati "approved" a plan to build a Streetcar. They have not really approved building one yet, but they like the plan for it. It is funny how people don't pay attention.

Next thing we'll get is someone writing a letter to the editor bitching about Cincinnati Public Schools for banning a play by Jessica Fletcher.

Method to the Madness?

I often wonder how independently the county administrator (Patrick Thompson) operates from the elected county commissioners. And the recent wrangling over the county's public safety budget makes me wonder even more.

Last week, Thompson made public a series of proposed budget cuts, including one requiring townships to pay for the deputies that patrol their streets. At the time, it seemed to be taken for granted that in the wake of the defeat of Issue 27, the county would discontinue funding for the patrols in Over-the-Rhine.

Yesterday, following a public meeting attended by several HamCo sheriff's deputies, we get this statement from Todd Portune:

"I expect the balanced budget will include Over-the-Rhine patrols. I expect it
will include no changes for township deputies. I don't know what we'll do to get
there, but I believe strongly we will accomplish our goals."

Here's my point: by raising the issue of county-subsidized policing for the townships, Thompson may have made it politically impossible for the OTR patrols to be de-funded. The average City resident, prior to last week's news reports, probably didn't realize the extent to which places like Greene, Colerain, Anderson, and other townships rely on the county for the provision of police services. How could the commissioners (particularly Portune and Pepper) have justified to City residents the expenditure of funds for public safety in the suburbs at the same time county funds for public safety in the City would be cut off entirely? The backlash from City residents would have been enormous (and perhaps rightly so).

So I wonder--was the issue of the township patrol budget floated intentionally, to ensure the commissioners would have political cover when they found money for the OTR patrols, or is that giving our local leaders credit for too much guile and foresight?

Those crazy suburban schools...

I've been doing theater for a long time, and had no idea that Ten Little Indians had an alternative name other than "And Then There Were None". Apparently the NAACP in Butler County has other ideas-- this alternative name (that few knew existed) will incite racism. Who knew? So these kids put in hours of work on a show that has nothing to do with African Americans (or Native Americans, for that matter) and it's all taken away because one group holds so much sway over the Lakota board. Convenient that Gary Hines does "diversity training", isn't it? I'm all into diversity and equality, but we can't rewrite history. Let's clean up To Kill a Mockingbird and Native Son and sanitize the slurs used against African Americans; let's sanitize Night and remove references to violence that surrounded the Holocaust. This cleansing doesn't benefit kids, it merely renders them unable to comprehend reality in which some people are racist and violent. There is indeed life outside of West Chester. Hopefully, Lakota will wise up and let the show go on-- but I won't bet on it.