For The Record

In hopes that local TV news teams are reading this, please note that the Enquirer is reporting on a survey of 25 cities about Road Rage and Cincinnati was 18th, with Miami at #1 with the worst road rage.

Road Rage is not a problem here. We don't need any more stories of the alleged problem. We don't need to know about any alleged road rage incidents in any other city, either.

Ike Doesn't Work Here Anymore

Cincinnati Fringe Festival

Alice is sweet, but Tina is Wine.:

New Local Blog: UrbanCincy

Check out UrbanCincy for what so far seems to be a focus on Downtown projects.

Second Sunday on Main

Pictured here is a new mural painted on Main Street just this week. I spend a great Sunday afternoon on Main Street at the Second Sunday on Main Festival, the monthly summer street festival that showcases the North Main business district.

The highlight was the cooking demonstration from Chef Jean Robert de Cavel and a great lesson on matching wines from Sommelier Paul Ortiz. The dish was salmon with this egg dressing that was excellent. The wine chosen to match was actually champagne. If you've not seen Jean Robert cook live you really should take the opportunity. He looks like a symphony conductor, a friend even said he has conductor hair.

I can also attest that the Christian Moerlein OTR Pale Ale is pretty good.

Save the Second Sunday's for the rest for the rest of summer: June 10, July 8, August 12, and September 9.

Below the scene at Enjoy the Arts where the cooking demonstration took place.

The Goat - At New Stage Collective

There is still plenty of time to see the New Stage Collective's production of the Goat. To the left is a photo of the set of the goat from NSC's open house back in April.

Check out www.newstagecollective.com for more!!!!!

A Start, But Not Enough

This trolley idea is a good start, but it needs to be run Friday nights and on the Weekends as well. There is more to downtown and to the Square than lunch time during the week.

Sorry I'm late. I was taking a crap.

Cincinnati Fringe Festival

Mommy, I want one too:

Lobbying By Race

I am tired of race. I am sick and tired of people using race as the impetus to lobby the government for money. Lobbying is part of our democracy, but doing so based on Race increases the racial divide, and does nothing to create an inclusive society. Invoking George Wallace is a hollow and misleading rhetorical tactic, especially from the mouth of Chris Smitherman, who appears to be angling to become a local Al Sharpton, playing the race card as his first and last play.

Everybody's GOP Fightin'

In local politics, party really is not thicker than personal beefs between bitter foes. In this case seeing the Republicans fight like dogs, is quite a sporting evening.

UPDATE: A lot of detail at CityBeat's Porkopolis Blog.

Ohio 2nd: Heimlich vs Schmidt

The GOP primary is going to have a real race for the Ohio 2nd Congressional district.

Don't Call It a Comeback

LL Cool J will be performing at the grand opening of Club Red in the former Red Cheetah on 12th Street in OTR.

Cincy Fringe Festival 2007

Cincinnati Fringe Festival

But, wait, there's more:

Jason Haap Sued

Local blogger Jason Haap (aka "the Dean of Cincinnati) is listed as a defendant in a lawsuit relating to the feud between Henry and Peter Heimlich. Henry Heimlich developed the Heimlich Maneuver, which is the source of much of feud.

I've seen Jason go off the deep end on posts about Henry Heimlich and the Maneuver, but I've never known them to be worthy of a law suit.

More Smearing of Crowley

Here's a video on Youtube from a user called "HamCoGOP." I can't find this on their website, but it's a hackjob, so I would expect the HCRP to claim it without remorsing the smear of Councilman David Crowley:

What would be funny is if the "HamCoGOP" user was really a Jeff Berding supporter.

Shoe's on the Other Foot

Michelle Incanno of Springboro was offended by this saying on the side of a Starbucks coffee cup

"Why in moments of crisis do we ask God for strength and help? As cognitive beings, why would we ask something that may well be a figment of our imaginations for guidance? Why not search inside ourselves for the power to overcome? After all, we are strong enough to cause most of the catastrophes we need to endure."

If I am able to keep my cool over the many religious comments I have to endure in my life, then I think Michelle can swallow a cup full of someone questioning the existence of her deity.

Side note:Questioning the existence of "God" is not a religious exercise, other than the inference made in this argument that the concept of a "God" could exist.

Jeff Ruby Denies OJ

In a very bizarre occurrence local restaurateur Jeff Ruby denies OJ Simpson service at his restaurant in Louisville. Good for Jeff.

Why is OJ in Louisville?

Sub Rosa

Very well done web commercial:

2007 is the Year of OTR

John Fox has had an excellent editorial in CityBeat last week. The impression I get from it is that like me, John is sensing 2007 could be the year that OTR turns to a positive. He is very right about the need for all interest groups in OTR to work together. To me that means that no one can drag their feet. The biggest feet dragger has been the vocal supporters of the Drop-In Center. It must move. I would bet if they don't move, the center's location will be challenged in court for "housing" sex offenders once the SCPA is completed.

The way to finally tip OTR over to a positive comes in two ways:

1. Everyone living there must work together to fight the criminal element. If you have to lock up your old friends or relatives, so be it. Also, the long time residents need to work with the newer residents. That means a lot of racial and class mixing. That is a good thing, even outside of the action of fighting crime.
   
2. More people should take the challenge up and move to OTR. The condos are going in and the prices certainly beat those in the CBD. This year odds are in favor of this blogger putting his money where his mouth is.
   

Bates: The Candidate of Fear?

Is council candidate Melanie Bates trying to tap into the fear vote? In the city I would say she would be misguided. City residents are not the ones afraid of living in the City, that would be a majority of the Suburbanites.

One might argue she is pushing the anger buttons too, but when she says:

Melanie Bates, 53, expected a heightened crackdown on gun violence after her husband's shooting. City officials said they were united in their commitment against gun violence and tried to reassure residents that Cincinnati was safer than most big cities. It seemed - to the Bates family - that officials made little distinction between the killing of a public official's husband, in a residential neighborhood, and frequent drug-related shootings in the inner city.

Some of Bates' anger was directed at Mayor Mark Mallory.

"When Mayor Mallory called and said he was going to have a press conference on crime, I didn't even question it because I assumed it was to announce that he was going to assume some leadership in crime prevention, not telling the city that we really are safe and Phil Bates' death was an anomaly," she said.

I can understand why Mrs. Bates would be personally focused on her husband's murder, but it clearly is an anomaly. The vast majority of murders in Cincinnati and the entire country are either personal or drug related. It is also odd that in this article she comes across as if she was angry at Mallory because her husband didn't get a massive political attention. Why her husband deserved more hoopla than any of the other people murdered is puzzling.

From Bates we have no positive view of where she wants to take the city. I can understand why she doesn't emit anything positive, since its been less than a year since her husband was murdered. In a city council person we need to look forward, and this article is not good for her, he has her looking back and sounding bitter.

Finally, as can be seen I will not hold punches on Mrs. Bates. She chose to run for city council and is basing her campaign on the murder of her husband, therefore she is not above criticism on topic of his murder or her reaction to it.

Adios

WLW's "The Big Juan" billboards arecoming down, thanks to a complaint from the Hispanic Chamber Cincinnati USA. Good! There were 82 of the tasteless billboards. A little bit of an over kill.