Andy Gets Out Safe

Andy Hajjar owner of Andy's Mediterranean Grill had to get out of Lebanon via Syria. Glad he got out safely.

Great News, IF!

Great news for downtown with word that Prosecutor Joe Deters is working to close down the Metropole Apartments on Walnut St. across from the Aronoff Center.

Now, there is one big IF to this, it depends on the City/County to find homes for those displaced by the shutdown, which is supposed to happen. It is not going to be easy, and hopefully the cost will be nil to the law abiding people, mostly elderly, who will feel some short term discomfort with this move. In the long run, if the City/County pull through, everyone will be better off.

Question: Why doesn't this happen more often? Why isn't this happening with the crack houses in OTR?

Bottled BarrelHouse Beer

Great news for beer lovers. This also gives Cincinnati something we've not had for a while, a local bottled brewery. Cleveland might be drinking Barrellhouse as well as Great Lakes beers soon.

More Hate

Some nut is again targeting a local Mosque with death threats. Little is done to try and root out the anti-muslim sentiments in certain sectors in the area. Why is that? Why do people continue to let this type of nutcase hate to fester?

Hate Starts With Our Leaders

When Bigots like KY Sen. Dick Roeding (R) are allowed to speak out hate without feeling pressure from within his own party, you know something is wrong.

When are the Log Cabin Republicans going to bolt the party?

When Did Religion Start To Matter?

When did it start to matter, again, what religion a candidate practices? It is sickening watching candidates pander. It is positive that Strickland can at least pay lip service to governing people no matter what their religion (or lack there of). Blackwell is pushing his religion like he's on a crusade, not running for political office. His bigoted stances and his political alliance with openly bigoted groups show how religion has become a weapon. Doesn't matter if you practice what you preach, you just put the fear in masses and the votes of the sheep will follow, lambs to the slaughter.

Disappointed

This entire situation could have been handled without burning so many bridges.

Fountain Square Delayed

What this article alludes to, but fails to come out and say is that Fountain Square will open over a month late.

What is so strange is that just a week ago the Business Courier reported this:

Fountain Square parkers take heart: The renovation remains on schedule and on budget, and planners expect to reopen the plaza and garage Sept. 9.

How is this going to hurt Oktoberfest? Where will the events normally held on Fountain Square during Oktoberfest take place?

Being a month behind is not that bad for any type of project for this side, but in this case the appearance hurts and it looks like someone at 3CDC is either not in touch with the rebuilding efforts, or someone is spinning things. Yea, the latter.

The lead of today's story should have been that the Fountain Square Project is now behind schedule. That fact is not mentioned until after the jump to a later page, and it is not actually stated in a direct manner. The rest of the article is mostly old news rehashed into a massive front page story used to mask the bad news that Oktoberfest may be getting the shaft.

I am very optimistic about Fountain Square in general, but I don't see this as a positive sign. Nice job at manipulating the media, though. Not that they weren't willing, however.

Final Fridays in Oakley?

I like Oakley, but what gives with the moochin'?

Would someone maybe think to check around for what else is happening in the arts world on every Final Friday?

Not very nice.

Alchemize is Closed

Well, news of Alchemize closing was rather abrupt.

Oakley Bombing Solved:

A 34-year-old Oakley man was charged with two counts of aggravated arson and possession of a dangerous ordnance. He allegedly set off two pipe bombs near his residence, behind the Crossroads Community Church on Madison Road.

I don't see a connect with the other local pipe bomb incidents, but are they looking at that angle?

Drop a Dime

I have no major problem with TipCincinnati, but in high crime areas, which are generally the poorer areas of town, what percentage of people actually have handy Internet access?

Also, is this website going to get a bunch of spam? Or worse yet, a bunch of local crime reports outside the city?

The form doesn't limit addresses, so this could be for anyone in the world to submit.

The cool part is that you can upload a picture with the report. If you have drug dealers in your neighborhood, take their picture, fill out the form, upload the picture, and wait for them to be arrested.

Hell, its not that much harder than ordering a pizza online. (cough, cough)

High Speed Train in Ohio

Great ideas are hard to come by, but the Plan for a high speed train in Ohio is one of them.

This concept will reduce traffic on highways and make traveling easier. Additionally, if the stations are located in the downtown area of each major city, it will make for a great way to connect the major cities in Ohio. That connection can be on a business and social level.

3CDC in OTR

Interesting interview in the Business Courier with former 3CDC OTR lead, Des Bracey.

He has left town, but the most interesting take on OTR is his contention that the Drop Inn Center could/should stay in OTR, just in a different place:

Q: Where is there work still to be done?

A: The Drop Inn Center. We've tried real hard to work with them and be open and transparent and find ways where their mission and our mission would co-exist and be achieved. I don't think we're there yet.

The problem of homelessness is much more than an Over-the-Rhine problem. The solution there probably necessitates a citywide response.

Q: Do you mean moving the Drop Inn Center, which is located near Music Hall and Washington Park?

A: I think the solution will be in a new facility for the Drop Inn Center. A 200- or 300-space on-site shelter is not the best way to provide homeless services. But that new facility should be in Over-the-Rhine and could be right there in Over-the-Rhine. It will need more staff and more resources and will require the Drop Inn Center to change the way they do business as well.

The Drop Inn Center needs to move out of OTR, and most certainly away from Music Hall and pending new SCPA. It contributes far too much to the crime problems in OTR, and is the source of most of the pandhandling problem.

City Link may have been a start, but failed with the Nimby effect. Why not build the new jail, with the Drop Inn Center near by? Sounds cruel? Well, it is, but those who will not play along with the basic society shouldn't be afford with as much consideration as those who make an honest attempt to get along with the society at large.

The con to the Jail next to the Drop Inn Center idea is likely that the homeless who would go to the Drop Inn Center want to stay clear of the jail at all costs. They likely wouldn't face any more police attention then they do now, but they would likely percieve they would, keeping them away.

A large part of the perception game of safety in Downtown and OTR is getting the bums out. When I say bums, please understand that I literally mean the bums. Moving the Drop Inn Center would have the biggest impact on changing the perception of living/working/playing downtown as well as the reality of it.

Making News!

I wasn't there, and I don't think I know anyone who was there but this Enquirer story is a classic example of how to gain free media!

It sounds like someone complained and someone over reacted.

Alchemize to Move to Covington?

Nick's been talking about this for a while, but now is starting to get specific.

I've asked this before: Where is Midpoint going to be?

Save WAIF!

Joe Wessels is helping spearhead an effort to save WAIF-FM from its demise. Current leadership there are driving the station into the ground in what appears to be a few nutcases running the organization with mostly insane methods.

How can you help? Become a member and earn a vote! Then help vote out the board leadership!

Act now! you need to register before August 1st. Then vote on September 17th.

In all likelihood the current WAIF board is going to try to block this take over attempt, so we need tons of people!

Why do you care? Well, community radio is a way to keep culture alive in Cincinnati. The commercial radio stations are not out to preserve music and provoke ideas, they are out to make you listen to commercials surrounded by the popular music that often just sucks more than silence.

Its $15 to be a member. It ain't cheap, but it won't break anyone.

Join Online!

Anecdotal Suburban Ignorance

So I am eating lunch today at Panera in Mason. I overhear the conversation of a couple of women at the table behind me. One relays a story to the other about one time when she was driving on I-71. It was around Halloween and she got off at Dana Avenue Exit. She was so scared of driving in the area that she gunned it off the exit, running the red light. She said something about seeing a man walking along the road with a mask. It was, you know, Halloween and all.

This woman is in her early 30s and appears to me to be the poster child for the ignorance of the City. To think she was scared at exiting the Dana Avenue exit is laughable. She is but one person, who came across as an ex-sorority girl, but is her knee jerk unfounded fear of being on Dana Avenue indicative of people in Mason or West Chester? Are they foolish enough to equate Dana Avenue, which turns into Observatory about couple blocks from I-71, with a bad section of town? I would laugh my ass off if this woman was dropped off at 12th and Vine and told to walk to Fountain Square. She would likely just start screaming at the first sight of someone 'scary' looking, likely not even wearing a mask.

Ok, What's With This?

I am guessing it is a coincidence that pipe bombs were set off near Crossroads, but I hope people are looking at treats the church may have gotten.

This is latest in a rash of local pipe bomb reports: here, here and here.

UPDATE: WCPO is reporting that the pipe bombs went off in the parking lot, while the Enquirer says in the woods behind the church.

Address the Motives

Why did Taft sign and why did the Ohio legislature pass a bill requiring religious sayings in schools? Yes, In God We Trust" and "With God, All Things Are Possible" are religious, lets not pretend they are not, no matter what the rulings by religiously biased judges.

What is the motivation for this? What is the big deal? The article ends with this:

Moms for Ohio, a small political action committee that mostly promotes conservative causes, pushed the bill as instilling the right values in children.

What are "the right values." Why don't people come out and say what they are trying to do with these tactics? They are either trying to gin up the right wing with votes or they are pushing Christianity (or both). There is no other value, purpose, or motivation in existence. This is yet another brick laid for the theocratic foundation.