Cranley Lied at Forum (Gambling! I'm Shocked!)

I am sure it is not a surprise to anyone that Mayoral Candidate John Cranley lied at yesterday's candidate forum, but just in case here's the Enquirer account of his lie:

"Streetcar: Cranley would kill it, says money could be spent on neighborhoods;"

Here is the Business Courier's version of the Cranley lie:

Money for the streetcar is being siphoned away from neighborhoods, Cranley said.

As Cranley knows, the funds beings used for building the Streetcar can't just be spent any pet project he wants. He also knows that the funds to build the streetcar come from grants outside the city budget. This is a whopper of we call Pandering. This one is worse, because it is a lie and John knows it. I guess lying to the public is something he finds normal for a politician.

Reason #341 Cranley is not a good candidate for Mayor.

In other news in the article, there is apparently a fourth candidate for Mayor, Stacy Smith? Based on the article, she didn't come across as credible. That and she reportedly is a Republican. Few thing are more entertaining together in the world of politics.

Cranley Tweets Just a Like a Republican

In a review of John Cranley's 170+ campaign tweets thus far the following breakdown of topics is very enlightening.

21 retweets of Republican politicians, all of them ideological
8 retweets of Democratic politicians, of which 2 are ideological
70 tweets that are critical of Mayor Mallory
16 tweets that announce campaign events
2 tweets that express Democratic ideology
2 stubs
29 retweets of negative news stories (about city Democratic leadership)
15 retweets of neutral news stories
1 retweet of positive news stories
4 retweets of his campaign manager
2 retweets of constituents criticizing Mayor Mallory

And two, on March 10th, "I am proud to be a Democrat and that is why I filed as a Democrat for Mayor".

So, other than the two on March 10th, Greg Hartmann or Brad Wenstrup could have tweeted all of these. Yes, in case you don't know, Hartmann and Wenstrup are Republicans.

I don't know if the person who came up with term DINO (Democrat In Name Only) had some type of vision of the future where John Cranley would be running for Mayor of Cincinnati and claiming to be a Democrat, but a case could be made for that.

Maybe Cranley hired a Republican to run his Twitter feed.  I can't rule that out, but I would hope Cranley is running the feed himself.  I'd hate for him to have sold out more than he already has.  I doubt it, however.

Voters need truth. We don't need Cranley (or Tea Party member Dusty Rhodes) pretending to be Dems when they do nothing, and I mean nothing, but carry on a Republican written and orchestrated campaign for Mayor.

Let the State Fund 100% of MLK Interchange

This has to be a no-brainer. If the Enquirer's information is correct then the State of Ohio will fund the MLK I-71 Interchange project no matter if the City of Cincinnati contributes to the project or not. Here's what the article says:

"State transportation director Jerry Wray told The Enquirer last month the state is moving forward with the project regardless of whether the city comes up with funding. ODOT officials have told local leaders that the state is searching for alternative funding in case the city doesn’t come through."

This should reset all of the discussions on the City Budget from here on out. The City should not fund any of the MLK Interchange if the State is going to do so no matter what the City does. The State of Ohio, under the anti-city crusade from Governor John Kasich, has drastically cut State funds provided to all Cities in Ohio. If the cuts come to people one place, then the benefits should come someplace else. State funding for Interstate Highways is the least Kaisch and the rest of the GOP can do for their anti-city funding cuts.

I expect to hear Cranley, Smitherman, and Winburn saying the SAME THING I am saying.  If the City doesn't need to fund something, we shouldn't do it.  We can spend the money on something else, or if there are restrictions, we can bank the money and use it at a later date.

Hell, if someone wants to be Machiavellian, then there would be ways of sticking it to certain local anti-city politicos, while still doing 'right' for the City.

Here's my stick-it-to-them Plan: If the parking plan goes through the first thing I would do is take part of the money slated for MLK Interchange and announce road improvements in the "neighborhoods" Cranley wants to help.  Those neighborhoods would be those with lots of Republican voters.

The second thing I would do would be to do upgrades to the roads all through Bond Hill and Roselawn and be sure Mayor Mallory, the locations of Smitherman and Winburn's voting base.

The third thing would be for Mayor Mallory standing at each road making the announcements for the new projects and reminding people who voted for the funding of these projects (the Parking Plan) and who voted against it.

That would be my idea of hardball politics.

Instead, to be more equitable we could hold hearings first to educate people, like John Cranley, on the ways the restricted money could legally be used, and then we could hear ideas on the best way to spend it.

Cranley Throws In the Towel, Already?

Quimbob over at Blogging Isn't Cool reports on mayoral candidate John Cranley's television ad and brings up an important point: Instead of telling viewers how he would lead the city, Cranley wants them to lobby the Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls since she's going to win anyway.

Quimbob is right. Why would a serious candidate do that? Cranley appears to get what the rest of know, he's not good for the city.  That commercial surely wasn't cheap to produce, but  I guess all of the Republican money he is getting has to be spent at some point.

COAST Likes John Cranley

Say what you will about COAST, but when they see a political candidate doing their bidding they give them praise. In this blog post from the Enquirer we get this juicey quote from bigot Tom Brinkman:

"We like the new John Cranley, but that is the new John Cranley."

They don't like him enough to endorse him for Mayor, something Cranley needs to win, but damn if they don't like him.

Endorsing Ten for Council Is a Stupid Idea

I don't know who put the idea in the public sphere for the Cincinnati Democratic Committee to endorse ten candidates for the City Council Election, but who ever did it is either insane or plain old stupid.

There are nine seats on council. Any more than nine endorsements means that Dems will have no choice but to work against other Dems. Additionally, as Chris Seelbach points out in the article from the Cincinnati Business Courier, linked above, too many people would over-vote, thus invalidating their ballot for council.  Yes, that is a negative implication about the high level of ignorance with the voters, but not enough people read directions. As long as you have ten names, people will fill the box next to ten names.  Additionally, whoever is listed last on the Dem flyers that are handed out to voters would also get royally screwed by voters paying attention to the nine limit.

I am not sure if it is David Mann's effort at publicizing the ten endorsement idea or some other misguided individual, but whoever is behind it better end it, now.

This year's voting cycle process for endorsements is very shady with two situations that should never have happened. We have one instance of nepotism from the Thomas family and another instance of political favoritism from the Mayor's office. We don't need a third instance of a former politician mucking up the process.

Mann may have been something in politics 20 years ago.  Much has changed since then and I am skeptical that a politician who won the same seat as both Charlie and Tom Luken will have the ability to change with the City.  It is obvious that the Lukens don't want the City to Change and Cranley & COAST are in their camp.  Mann may be a third way or may surprise me with a vision of the future for our City.  I don't see that yet and this bid for an endorsement underlines my initial opinion of him.

Fountain Square 'Indie Summer' Series Announced

Citybeat has posted the line up for the Friday 'Indie Summer' Concert Series. The line-up includes:

May 31: Pomegranates/Healing Power; The Yugos; The Never Setting Suns

June 7: We Were Promised Jetpacks; Tweens; Public

June 14: Seabird; Mike Mains & The Branches; TBA

June 21: Loudmouth; The Dopamines; The Lockland Brakes; BoyMeetsWorld

June 28: Psychodots; Cari Clara; The Ready Stance

July 5: Margot & the Nuclear So & So's and Matt Pond with Matrimony

July 12: Plumb; more TBA

July 19: Wussy; Queen City Radio; TBA

July 26: Brian Olive; Man Halen; The Tongue & Lips

Aug. 2: The Seedy Seeds; TBA; The student band from Mason's School of Rock

Aug. 9: TBA with Archers Paradox

Aug. 16: Belle Histoire; Dept. Store Alligators; TBA

Aug. 23: Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors; Green Light Morning; TBA

Aug. 30: Why? with Vito Emmanuel and TBA

Republican Sam Malone Fails to Appear in Court

What is the first thing you should do when you are running for public office? Answer: Follow the law. Republican Sam Malone, who is reportedly running for Cincinnati City Council, failed to pay a speeding ticket and then failed to appear in court as directed. A judge had to then issue a warrant for his arrest. Malone was able to avoid arrest by simply paying fine, which was higher due to Malone's carelessness.

This guy is being backed by Republicans. They still want him to be elected. How can anyone trust the guy when he can't even pay his speeding tickets on time to sit on Council?

Another question: Why are the Republicans scraping the bottom of the barrel They only can find four candidates and Malone is one?  Mike Allen is considered worse than Malone?

Why Did the Enquirer ID the Student Who Attempted Suicide?

The choice to name the student who attempted suicide at LaSalle High School was the wrong one to make. I am trying to rack my brain to figure out the reasons for doing it. It's not information that is really going to drive readers to find out more by reading the paper. If they want to know about the case, adding the name isn't going to drive up circulation. I can see the argument that publishing all of the information known is good, but that assumes an extreme viewpoint where privacy is deemed wrong.

The technical reason I can see the Enquirer using is the strong likelihood that the student will be charged with a crime for bringing the gun to class and firing it, if nothing else. Naming suspects or potential suspects in crimes is an acceptable journalistic practice. Joe Deters likely won't let the case go anywhere, to help the school, if nothing else, but that's the type of story that could be written in a month or so once events play out. In that story that name of the student would then be far more relevant.

In this case at this time there is no good reason to name the student, who according to the article is under 18 years old. The young man's medical condition is not known. We don't know if he will even survive, let alone in what condition. Adding his name to the public sphere doesn't serve a purpose to the community. The Enquirer made a big mistake.

UPDATE #1: The Enquirer posted a response on why they named the student.  The response is lacking in my opinion.  It appears they did it for clarity because there was allegedly false information out there.  Also they did it because the name was already known, including allegedly being given to LaSalle parents by the School. It appears to me that not a whole lot of thought went into the act of publishing the name.  The Enquirer may want to rethink their policy and practices.  Hell, most of the time they don't report when suicide attempts happen, whether successful or not.

UPDATE #2: CityBeat has also named the student in a blog post today, based on the Enquirer article.

MidPoint Music Festival ’13: Announcement Coming Soon

Keep your eyes on the City Beat Blog for the announcement of the Fountain Square MidPoint Indie Summer Line-Up.

BOE Must Investigate Parking Petitions

The following video provides damning evidence that some petitions collected by businesses were not being handled correctly according to Ohio Election Law. It is possible that anyone who signed the each page committed perjury if they did not witness all of the signatures listed on that page.

If nothing is done, than all the cries of voter fraud from Alex Triantafilou and Joe Deters mean absolutely nothing. Since they haven't done anything to investigate the 114% registration rate of Indian Hill, their efforts thus far are clearly just political grandstanding.

CityBeat Has Great Overview of City Budget Battle

CityBeat's German Lopez has a fact laden commentary in today's edition that lays out the clear truth about all of the plans put forth by council members and mayoral candidates: they won't work.

The best part of the article is a wonderful example of when a journalist is able to hoist a political candidate by his own conservative patard.

Cranley has also criticized the city’s parking plan for failing to structurally balance the budget. But Lea Eriksen, the city’s budget director, says the city has been running structurally imbalanced budgets since 2001, and Cranley was in office between 2000 and 2009 and chaired the budget committee for eight of those years.

The lesson of the story: John Cranley gets more blame for our current budget problems than anyone else either currently holding elected office in Cincinnati or seeking to hold it.  Outside of Governor Kasich's attack on local governments, which constitutes the lion share of the budget gap, Cranley's budget tricks from the past have come home.  So unless he wants to start attacking the Republican governor and thus stop beingpretending to be a Republican, he better find a spot under his ass for those chickens to roost.

Xavier Allowing Hate Group to Hold Fundraiser on Campus

A big question for current Xavier students, Alumni, and staff: Why is Xavier University allowing a hate group to hold a fundraiser on its campus a week from tomorrow, April 23, 2013?

If you don't know about CCV and Phil Burress, then I suggest you do some reading. Try Here and Here and Here and Here and for a history lesson try Here.

CCV is an anti-gay/lesbian hate group. They seek to oppress LGBT people and force everyone to be subject to their religious rule.

The Enquirer Whitewashes Cranley's Ethics Investigation

So then City Council member John Cranley resigns from office in 2009 as a means to halt the State of Ohio ethics violation investigation. If you have done nothing wrong, why resign?

That is a very legitimate question that should have been asked by the local news media to Cranley and then asked repeatedly until he answers it fully. The Enquirer instead decides to publish a whitewash article that portrays itself as an in-depth explanation that spins the story to make Cranley look like a good developer.

Why not ask another question to Cranley: If Cranley didn't violate any ethics rules in 2009 when he invested in the project, why would he need or even want to divest himself of the property if he is elected Mayor?

While they are at it, why doesn't someone ask Cranley if he did violate ethics rules over this project?

So, if a news outlet can't ask the bottom line questions, why cover the story at all? It wouldn't be bias towards Cranley, would it?

John Cranley is Lying About His 'Plan'

I am not shocking anyone when I call mayoral candidate John Cranley a liar. When I say John Cranley is lying about his budget 'plan' I think anyone knowledgeable about Cranley's shady city financial management past would be chiding me stating the obvious.

Yesterday I think he crossed into charlatan territory with what he billed as a 'Structurally Balanced Budget.'

There is nothing Structurally balanced about his budget and anyone saying there is lying.

His plan takes money from other city budgets to plug holes, something that is not valid and got us into the trouble we are in now when he did the same thing when Charlie Luken was mayor.

His plan uses money from the Casino that is uncertain, at best.  Why not just use a rosy project that tax revenue will rise and call that structural?

He takes already dedicated Parking revenue and yanks it from another city budget to plug a hole in another (The good Catholic boy knows how to Rob Peter to pay Paul).

He then just cuts most everyone else by 10%.  Well, not everyone.  He doesn't touch the Police and Fire budgets.  The biggest parts of the budget.  Yep, that's a world class act of pandering.  He also carries the tool of fear along and drives it through the West Side.

He also doesn't say what gets cut in those departments with that 10 %.  Is he just mimicking Charlie Winburn's salary cut plan? Does he want a 10% staff cut in everyone else?  What other programs will he gut?  Where's his courage to name what he would reduce?  Is he willing to layoff other works but not cops or fire fighters because that means it would cost him votes?

So, Cranley creates the most insane budget plan I've ever read (actually worse than Winburn's). No one in the media will likely question much about it, least not at the Enquirer.  He and his surrogates will run around lying about this plan and few will call them out on their lies.

Well, I'm here to ask you to call them out.  Ask John Cranley why he is lying about his budget plan.  Ask him to explain how his plan will not destroy the city.

While you are at it, ask him to explain how his plan differs ideologically from the budget plan of the House Republicans? I mean they want to cut everything in the Federal budget, except for Defense.  The comparison to Cranley is either eerie or intentional.

Ask Cranley if he plans on getting the Republican endorsement?  He so far is running the same campaign Brad Wenstrup ran 4 years ago.  Brad was suburbanite Republican.  Does that make Cranley a suburbanite Republican?  I'm going to say yes, yes it does.

Blogging Isn't Cool: Cranley On the Issues 'Bad to Bizzare'

Quimbob sums up the core of Mayoral Candidate and former Councilman John Cranly's horrid stances on public safety issues as 'Bad to Bizzare.'

Simply put: Quimbob is correct.

Some Funny Hyperbole...Hehe...Can't Hurt!

Quimbob may be on to something for the secessionist residents of Westwood. We're talking about a dozen people, maybe, so after Melva Gweyn and Mary Kuhl finally seek asylum in Cheviot, we'd really would not be talking about that many people.  All it all, it would take maybe 10 minutes.  What judge can spare the time to administer the oath?

Smitherman Lies to NAACP Membership

The Enquirer's political blog documents the lie sent to local NAACP by their local chapter President and member of City Council Chris Smitherman. His lie was simple and blatant:

“Our right to vote is the issue,” Smitherman said in an email to members and others.

No, the effort to defeat the Parking Plan is all about Republicans trying to defeat Democrats, because they only have two solid votes on Council and want more.  They see the Parking Plan, which really would normally be welcomed ideologically by businesses focused Republicans, as a way to get to the uninformed voter and exploiting their ignorance.  How better to get people mad than by making them think the price for something is going up.  It works if you use donuts  beer, McDonald's, or even guns.

Smitherman is supporting the Republicans.  I would not be surprised if he is courting the GOP for an endorsement and trying to factor in how many votes that would cost him in Bond Hill and Roselawn.

John Cranely is doing the same thing, but seems to be backing off the spotlight.  He knows the GOP endorsement would kill his chances to win the Mayor's race, but he'll walk the line even more blatantly than Smitherman, one of his supporters.  Dishonesty in being two faced is not either politician shys away from.

Who is Running For City Council?

As of now there is a growing cast of characters running for city council. The incumbents running are:

Laure Quinlivan (D)
Wendell Young (D)
Chris Seelbach (D)
Yvette Simpson (D/C)
P.G. Sittenfeld (D)
Charlie Winburn (R)
Chris Smitherman (I) (All I could find was a Facebook page. Seriously?)


Those either announced or close to it:
Amy Murray (R)
Greg Landsman (D)
Michelle Dillingham (D)
Kevin Johnson (?D)
Mike Moroski (?D)
Pam Thomas (D)
Vanessa White (D)

Other maybes or less solid indications of a yes:
Kevin Flynn (C)
David Mann (D)
Sam Malone (R)
Janaya Trotter (D)
Catherine Smith Mills (R) (She still has a website up so ?)

The question that arise from three sides are who will get the Party Endorsements?  There are two many running for the Democratic Party.  I list 13 possible Dems as running and I've heard there are 14, but don't know who else is running.  I don't know if it is possible for the GOP to field even fewer candidates than last year, but they might, with only 2 candidates announced.  Charter also is thin, as the group as there may be only one non-cross endorsed candidate from the third 'party.'

If anyone knows of anyone else running, or has more information on websites for the above listed possible candidates, please pass it along.

For More check out WVXU from a few weeks ago.

How Far is Cranley in Bed with COAST?

John Cranley's political stunt carried out by his Republican supporters has COAST wrapped up with the anti-city lawsuit. COAST's bigot in chief, Chris Finney is representing the Cranley scheme. It would appear Smiterman's support for Cranley is landing the Westside native further and further into the political fringe. I thought Craney had limits, but when you hire Chris Finney, your walk to extremist gets a lot shorter.

Portune Can't Seem to Do Math

I think everyone, even fellow Democrats, would call Portune's call for cheaper parking in Downtown the bi-product of too many visits from Mary Jane.

The problem is that the City has no funding to cut the current prices of parking and then increase the funding to maintain the expenses behind those parking spaces.

The cities of Ohio are being punished for not support the GOP, mainly the governor, so their governments have had millions of State funded cut.

Hamilton County owns the nearly biggest parking garage in the damn world, I don't see Portune making efforts to cut the prices to 1 dollar there.

I don't know what Portune's angle is here.  It is the most impractical thing to consider at this point. I'd like to give my family all a new car for Christmas this year, but unless the PowerBall comes through, it wouldn't be a good idea to send an email telling them it would be a good idea if I did that.

I will at least give someone like Chris Seelbach credit for coming up with a plan that does not lease the parking spaces out and still has a theoretical way of balancing the budget.  Portune seems to not like to live in the theoretical world of basic math.  He wants some magic parking beans to make everything alright.

Cranley Supporting Republican Effort

In case you are wondering who John Cranley is focusing on getting to vote for him in the election, then look no further than his 'support' of the Republican effort to disrupt the city's ability to pass laws.

It should be presumed that Cranley did more than just support this effort. It is likely he is behind it. I mean, if he wants to pretend he his Frances J. Underwood, he might not want to actually go to the court hearing after he orchestrates it to appear he isn't involved.

BTW John, How much will this lawsuit cost the city?

John Cranley is Soft on Crime

Somewhere along his educational path John Cranley, candidate for Cincinnati Mayor, must have just confused taxes with penalties for breaking the law.  If not, he seems to want to let people break the law without being held accountable.  That's not much of a law and order thing to do.

In an Enquirer article about the parking deal, Cranley was quick to call enforcement of parking ordinances (aka LAWS) as a "tax increase."

"Critics, however, say the numbers show the private operators will aggressively issue parking tickets to meet their revenue projections.

“We’re talking about a massive increase in tickets for decades,” John Cranley, who is running for mayor, said Saturday. “It’s a 100 percent hidden tax increase on the citizens of Cincinnati.”"

Every time John pays his income takes, does he really think he violated the law?

It is not a surprise John is talking like a Republican, where he plays word games with the truth. He'll have Westside Republicans thinking that it is their 'God' given right to park free where ever they want.  It's 'free' to park at Walmart, after all.  Those massive parking lots just grew out the ground naturally, waiting for a big box store to be built around it.

Sittenfeld Gets It Wrong on Sunday Parking

Looking to fabricate false political issues to be the grandstanding champion of the hour, Cincinnati Council Member P.G. Sittenfeld sent out an email (pdf)  yesterday with what must have been very short sided or just careless analysis. In his email he included a draft copy of the of Parking Plan Agreement between the City and the Port Authority. Sittenfeld is claiming that City Manager and other elected city officials were not honest when they stated that the parking meters will be free on Sundays under the new plan.  Well, it is my opinion (based on the agreement) that the City Manager was being honest, and Sittenfeld is either creating a false news story to mislead the public or he really just didn't read the document very well, or yes, it could be both.

Schedule 4 of the City agreement clearly states the hours and days of operation of Parking meters.  Sundays are not included in the Period of Operation.  There, that simple.

So on the surface that seems good, and Sittenfeld is plain old wrong.  Sittenfeld is playing a dishonest political game and is wasting his and our time with a sideshow.  Instead he could go into more depth and find a problem.

There is a big catch to Free Sundays.  If Sittenfeld was looking carefully, instead of charging at windmills, he might have read the following sections and definitions listed in the agreement:

“Period of Operation” means, (i) with respect to each Metered Parking Space, the Days and the period or periods of time during each Day that the City permits the parking of a motor vehicle in that Metered Parking Space and requires the payment of a Metered Parking Fee for use of that Metered Parking Space as set forth on Schedule 4; and (ii) with respect to the Parking Facilities, the Days and period or periods of time during each Day that the City permits the parking of a motor vehicle in a Parking Garage or Parking Lot as set forth on Schedule 4.

So the definition of Period of Operation includes the days and the hours during each time. Next P.G. should read Section 7.8a(ii)

(ii) Increases in Period of Operation. Following the Initial Adjustment Date, the Port Authority may increase the Period of Operation for the Parking Spaces, provided, however, that the Port Authority shall not increase the hours of operation for the Metered Parking Spaces to any hour earlier than 7 a.m. or later than 9 p.m. without the unanimous approval of the Advisory Committee.

So, they can change the Period of Operation after a certain date. Next you better read what "Initial Adjustment Date" means:

“Initial Adjustment Date” means, with respect to each Parking Facility or Zone, the date on which all technology improvements have been made to the respective Parking Facility or Zone in accordance with Schedule 18.

Finally, read up on Schedule 18:

On-Street Parking System
Smart parking meters must be installed at each Metered Parking Space in each Zone for the Initial Rate Adjustment Date to occur for that Zone. These smart parking meters must be battery powered, wireless, and offer coin and credit card acceptance. Smart parking meters do not need to be installed at Metered Parking Spaces where the City installed IPS meters approximately two years ago.

Bottom line, in my humble layman's opinion, there is the strong possibility that the Port Authority could adjust the Period of Operation to include additional days, including Sundays, after the Initial Adjustment Date has been met.  Therefore under the agreement, free Sunday street parking is not a permanent requirements  if the Port Authority meets its upgrade obligations.   If Sittenfeld or any other member of council wants to propose an adjustment to section 7.8a(ii) which defines how a period of operation can be changed, to exclude adding any Sunday Street Parking, then I would support that.  This could be a real problem that might just be an oversight, instead of the confused mess Sittenfeld made of Schedule 9.

Just to tie up a loose end, let's examine why Sittenfeld made his false claim at all.  He's worried that there is a limit to the amount the city can exclude parking rates from being open.  He points to this definition:

“Identified Event Threshold” means not greater than five and one half percent (5.5%) of the aggregate number of Parking Spaces which would otherwise be operated during a Franchise Year but for an Identified Event.

That is true. The problem is how Sittenfeld then went through a big calculation to determine what the threshold would be assuming that that "aggregate number of Parking Spaces which would otherwise be operated during a Franchise Year" to mean all possible spaces open all the time the whole year. He even misquotes the section by saying "all parking space hours in a year." Clearly Sittenfeld didn't want to mention Schedule 4 and how it defines what spaces can be operated and when, thus creating a differing number of parking hours, not including Sundays or other hours not open under the schedule. Sittenfield was all bent on the inclusion of Sundays and Holidays in the definition of an "Identified Event."  Those should be included when talking about parking garages since under Schedule 4, since the Parking Garages are open on Sundays and Holidays.  For Sittenfeld it is not clear enough, so via Twitter he advised me that the Port Authority is going to make changes to address the issue.  If I were them a simple addition of  " in the Parking Garages" on lines 18 and 19 of Schedule 9 should be enough to quell the perceived mighty Knights threatening the public.

So when in his email Sittenfeld wrote "Sundays Would Not, In Fact, Be Free:" he was lying on two levels. First he was lying because under the contract Sundays are not days of Operation for Parking meters, they will be free (for now). Hell, even if someone tried to incorrectly invoke his false Identified Event Threshold theory, street parking would be free on Sundays, the city might lose revenue on the deal. Second is that even if the contract is too confusing and the lawyers need to tighten it up, there was no intent of deception on the part of the City or Port Authority. Sittenfeld used "can't keep a promise" as words to disparage the City Manager and those elected officials supporting the parking plan. That is the implication that they did this on purpose. No, they didn't.  That's a lie.

This type of argument is something I would have expected from a Smitherman or a Winburn or a Cranley.  Sittenfeld doesn't want to be in their anti-progress camp.  Go with the future, don't go with the politics of the past.

What needs to happen now is

1. The lawyers to tighten the language to quell the fears of Sittenfeld et al.
2. Sittenfeld and the rest of City council needs to look at the section I pointed out above about how the period of operation can or should be change to exclude street parking on Sundays.
3. Add a definition of what 'Holidays' are mean. I didn't find one mentioned.  Saying all State and Federal holidays with some language about changes in the future should suffice.

Then if there are other bigger issues that are not disputed as written, but for which anyone, especially those on council, disagree with, then debate those.  If there are details not in the agreement that are key, it is valid to have that before voting on it.  Stay away from paper tigers.

Don't cherry pick topics, like parking free on Sundays, and try and get the public pissed at the City, especially under false pretenses.  That is just the worst type of grandstanding and it is a soul killing political action.

Mike Moroski Running for Council

Mike Moroski, The former Catholic high school administrator fired for supporting gays rights on his personal blog, announced he is running for Cincinnati City Council in 2013. The field of candidates is growing, but few Republican candidates thus far.

Cincinnati Parking Plan Analysis

Former Ohio House candidate Luke Brockmeier has a thorough analysis of the Cincinnati Parking Plan issued by the City Manager.

I agree with his take. If the assumptions are correct, it is a more positive than negative plan. It is not all roses for everyone affected, but it helps the city.

It is sad seeing John Cranley misrepresent the plan, but that is what can be expected from a hack politician like Cranely, who cares more about getting votes than actually governing the city.

Cranley suffers from suburbanite syndrome where he things all parking (at strips malls) should be free.

What a sad candidate. A visonless candidate who seems to not understand that he lives in a major city, not some bland suburban community that is based on conformity, not innovation.

Cranley Loses Another Blogger

Mayoral Candidate John Cranley got an early repudiation from Quimbob.

I wonder how many more are to follow....

Trees Cut Down In Yeatman's Cove

An entire grove if trees was cut down recently in Yeatman's Cove near the Purple People Bridge.

I would guess they may have been diseased, but no information was available at the park.

New trees are on site to presumably replace those cut down.

Hortsman's Bias Continues And Grows With Cranley's Help

It will come to a shock to no one that Enquirer Writer Barry Hortsman has written yet another hit piece on the Cincinnati Streetcar. What may be a surprise is how much this hit piece was free advertising for Mayoral candidate John Cranley.  Professional journalists and mainstream media outlets, usually don't do that.  That isn't the case for the Enqurier or Hortsman.

Hortsman couldn't bother to get a quote from the other candidate for office? Better yet, he could have written about the article about the Streetcar and not include Cranley at all.  It is called an "Exclusive" by the newspaper.  What that typically means is that the story is one on that media outlet has.  Instead, this article was exclusively filled with the political viewpoints of only one candidate for office, Cranley.  This no challenge to what Cranley says or believes.  His inclusion is irrelevant   This is supposed to be a transportation story, not a political story.

Pure Bias, terrible Journalism.

I honestly don't believe any article Hortsman writes at this point. After claiming to be able to walk as fast as the wind blows, he lost all credibility with anyone paying attention. Now, I would like to hear from any journalist explaining how this article is not an intentional endorsement of John Cranley.

I'd also will be checking the Cranley campaign finance reports for an in-kind contribution from Gannett for the publication of this article.

Where Are the Vote Counts?

The Enquirer is reporting that Chris Smitherman says he won the Cincinnati NAACP Chapter Presidential election, but the organization will not release the vote counts. It would appear that Smitherman graduated from the Hugo Chávez Charm School.

So much for legitimacy.

Kathy Wilson Travels, Fails to Mark the Twain

So cryptic attacks and backhanded praise once again flow like prose laden with random Jazzy CNN almost metaphors in another Kathy Y. Wilson column in CityBeat. If you want to watch ideas dance the Tango for no apparent reason, then have a read.

If you DO NOT want to watch Kathy ride the 2001 Cincinnati Riot Float in another parade, then I suggest you skip it.

Great MidPoint Video

Via Soapbox Cincinnati.

Hartmann Must Be Into BDSM

After the City of Cincinnati helped to carry Hamilton County, Ohio, and the whole election for President Obama, Republican County Commissioner Greg Hartmann is reportedly thinking about running for Mayor of Cincinnati.

He must be a Masochist. There can be no other reason for a Republican to want to got through that much pain and then get nothing out of it in the end.

I'm not sure if this is just local Republicans, like GOP party chair Alex Triantafilou, stirring the pot to see if Chris Bortz will run or if he wants to call out Charlie Winburn on lying about not running for mayor.  Either way it comes across as a severe case of denial.  No hardcore Republican stands a chance to win the Mayor's office.

I would have guessed Alex would be talking to John Cranley, seeing how Cranley would have get the Republicans on the Westside to support him if he was going to have even a remote chance to win.

Can Conservatives Stop Misusing the Word Socialism?

I cringe all the time when I hear people misuse words. I often make others cringe when I fail to replace my there with their. I think it is high time for Conservatives to stop misusing the word "Socialism." From the Merriam-Webster dictionary, Socialism is defined as follows:

Any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.

There are several other modifications of this definition that are also listed at the link above, but this is the first and the main defintion when talking about Socialism.

The President nor the Demoratic Park believe in Socialism. Anyone telling you otherwise is lying. If they continue to call the President a Socialist, then proceed to call them both a Feudalist and a Fascist and call it even.

Obama Has Won!

Time to celebrate!

So Much for Protecting the Vote, Enqurier.

CityBeat has the details on the dumb error by the Enquirer in posting 'test' data for an election results page that incorrectly showed Romney up by 92K after early voting in Ohio. It has been removed.

Before the error was caught, Drudge picked it up and tweeted, cause he's dying to report impossible to find information.

For the record, there have been no vote counts released by anyone in Ohio. The Enquirer just made a stupid error. I hope this does not become the basis for any conspiracy theories.

I don't know why, but it seems like they did this previously, or I am just having a bout of deja vu?

Enquirer Has Voter Protection Coverage

The Cincinnati Enquirer has several election day efforts to document voting issues in the Cincinnati area.  The main section is located here (behind the partial pay-wall), which includes interactive maps showing the precinct and issue identified.  Already there have been issues with cut/torn bar codes that caused issues with scanning and many reports of provisional voting requirements that were not expected by voters.

You can follow the voter protection efforts of the Enquirer on social media on Twitter and Facebook.

Where are the Election Night Parties?

I know everyone's worried about who is winning the election, so I'm putting out the call to all of political Cincinnati to find out where election night parties are going to take place.  Here's what I know so far:

Northside Progressives will be at the Northside Tavern starting at 7PM.

Southgate House invites those who voted to hear some music.

Libertarians are at Dave & Busters from 7 to 11 out in Springdale.

HRC (Human Rights Campaign) is a Below Zero Lounge starting at 7PM.

Jeff Cramerding and Denise Driehaus will be at Arnold's starting at 7:30PM

Connie Pillich's Team will be at Rudino's in Montgomery from 7:30 to 9:30PM

Democrats will be at Cincy's on Sixth starting at 7:30PM

Republicans will be at Toby Keith's I Love this Bar and Grill starting at 7:30PM

Milton's will a hopping spot to check out the returns and will be the choice to go late if there is a celebration to be had.

These are the only places I found or heard about. If there are more chime in via email or make a comment and I'll update as the day goes on.

UDPATES:
Urbanists start off election night at the Moerlein Lager House.

Predictions For Election Day

I am going to say that Issue #1 fails.

Other than that, I am not going to guess, unless you want to bet me that Chabot and/or Wenstrup will lose. I could use some spending money for lunch the rest of the week.

Chime in with your picks: who will be the President in January 20th, 2013 at 12:01PM?

This is what Democracy Looks Like, Literally

Monday morning lines to vote in Downtown Cincinnati. A wonderful sight!

Long Lines at the BOE

Today the line to vote at the Hamilton County Board of Elections at around 11:00 AM stretched to Eighth Street. I fully expect national media outlets be set up TV coverage from Cincinnati on election night. Hamilton County will be one of the most watched counties in the entire nation on Tuesday.

If President Obama wins here, he will most likely carry the state and win the election.

So, where should a political blogger hang out awaiting the returns? I personally want to be in hand in case something crazy happens here. I don't want the national media to fuck up the coverage of this area or our state, so I plan keeping my nose in the game, if it is close.

If one if the candidates is walking away with the election I plan on drinking heavily, very early, no matter who wins.

Political Intervention is Bad Business and Unethical

As a graduate of the Richard T. Farmer School of business I can tell you that I never learned it was a good business practice for a company, any company, to try to influence its employees' votes in an election. Why? For the same reason it is not a good reason to tell your employees what church they should go to. The head of Cintas, Scott Farmer, sent an email to Cintas employees that made it pretty clear how they should vote. It was the wrong thing to do. It creates a hostile workplace, literally. I would resent my CEO if he told me how to vote. The only thing the head of my company has ever done is to encourage us to vote and pass out League of Women Voters guides, the most non-partisan voter guides around.

A sane business manager worries about about attracting a large numbers of customers. A good business manager does not care how that customer votes, as long as they buy the product.  A good manager also attracts the best talent to work for them to attract those customers.  Voting choices don't determine job abilities.  It is a clear problem when bad managers state directly or imply success for employees depends on voting choices.

I don't know if it is egomania, fear, or ignorance that would cause Scott Farmer to cross this ethical line.  All I know is that he crossed it, and is showing he is not a good business manager.  I hope all of the current Richard T. Farmer school of business students pay attention.  If they like what they see in Farmer's actions, they should get an F in the capstone management course we all took as seniors.

So what do we know: at least a few CEOs feel fear from not having complete control over the government. If any Cintas voters were not put off by this, I hope they at least lose respect for their CEO. He obviously doesn't respect the rights and choices of the employees.

Richard T. Farmer's son, Scott, appears to not have learned enough at Miami. I fear that he learned too much from his father on the subject of politics, so that is clouding his judgement.

More from CityBeat.

Fingerman Running in the Ohio First Against Chabot?

Another candidate 'appears' to have entered the race for Ohio's First Congressional district and it is Mitch Fingerman.

In a district that lacks a real candidate to face the gerrymandered incumbent, it is great to have someone at least making an effort to go through the motions of running a campaign.

Thank you Mitch Fingerman!

He's having an event at Milton's on November 1st, 5:30 to 7:30. Come out and hear The Goodle Boys play and hear about Fingerman's first campaign.

The Cincinnati Herald’s Endorsements Are Out

The weekly newspaper The Cincinnati Herald has issued their endorsements for the 2012 Election. They pick mostly Democrats in the contested races. I'm surprised they picked anyone for the 1st or 2nd congressional districts, since those are effectively unopposed races.

Mandel Alters Abortion Position: He's Lying to Someone

The Enquirer Politics Extra blog is reporting that a statement issued by Republican Senate candidate Josh Mandel within the last 24 hours differs with a questionnaire he submitted to the Right to Life Cincinnati anti-abortion group. On the questionnaire he stated he does not believe in any abortion exceptions, at all. In the statement issued in response to questions surrounding the Indiana Republican Senate race, Mandel said he has "always" been clear on abortion: he's against it in all situations, except when the mother's life is "threatened."

So, when was Mandel lying in this case? Was it to the general public or to the RTL of Cincinnati?

Mandel has the reputation of talking out of both sides of his mouth, even more than the average Politician, but documenting it takes the cake.  If the RTL group has any credibility, yeah...a long shot, they would at least demand a clear explanation. Clear being the key word. Mandel needs an explanation that does not just indicate carelessness by a staffer. The buck stops higher than that.

TPM Points to Hamilton County as 'Clearest Swing' in Ohio

A very interesting article from Talking Points Memo that provides in-depth analysis of Ohio's points of focus for the Presidential election.

Hamilton County is labeled the clearest swing county in the state and is given lots of importance. We've been a high target for both campaigns and likely will see both candidates here the final week, assuming Ohio's numbers remain close.

I don't think either candidate can write off Ohio, so I expect to see multiple trips over the next 1.5 weeks. In less than 2 weeks it should be over. If not, then buckle up fit trouble.

Planned Parenthood Benefit Tonight!

Take a break from the Presidential Election and come out for a night of laughs: You Say Election, We Say Vagina*: A Night of Legitimate Comedy (Benefiting Planned Parenthood SW Ohio)

Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door. Entertain includes:
Dirty Girl Cabaret
Lovely Ladies of Improv
OTRimprov

Show starts at 8PM (7:30 doors open)

Location: Below Zero Lounge
1120 Walnut Street in Over-the-Rhine

Some Summer Square Dancing at the Northside Tavern

Obama Yard Signs Burned in Green Township

The Cincinnati Herald is reporting multiple incidents where Obama yard signs were burned while they sat in the front yards of Obama supporters.

The undertones of racism to these incidents can not be denied. Burning anything in someone's front yard is obviously based on the KKK, assuming otherwise is ignorant.  It is sad that this likely will not get the coverage it should. WCPO has as story as well.

From Cincyshakes: Rome Victorious!

Quimbob's Endorsements

For what it's worth, here are Blogging Isn't Cool's endorsements in the General Election made by Quimbob.

The Nuclear Option Is the Choice Du Jour

I presume this is a game of Chicken, but Hamilton County Commissioners still are acting insane. Weight Loss by starvation is just has harmful as being overweight, if not more harmful. The two Republicans continue to push a radical national Republican effort to use the economic downturn as cover to gut government services wholesale. It is a blind effort that is not about actually determining how government should be run, is just a insane need to reduce government with no forethought. Instead of enacting a fair and open debate on what government should be doing they are play a cruel game that forces department heads to cut off their own limbs to avoid death.

It is like Monzel and Hartmann live in a 1861 post Bull-Run hospital and they are a Copperhead Doctor bent on trimming Lincoln's soldiers down to push their cause.

What is so disgraceful is that no one on the Commission will step up with a plan. They won't do the their job and come up with a detailed budget that will balance. They are playing chicken with various department heads they want cuts from and don't care what the loss of services will be. All the while they seek to appease Property owners by refusing the end the tax rollback to fund the Bengals Stadium shortfall. Votes from the more wealth matter more than the helping the entire County.

Gutless.

Hartmann and Monzel remind me of a Cold War U. S. General who thought we could win a full scale nuclear war. I guess they never saw The Day After.

Hartmann already is planning to place the blame for this on the City, so I think he thinks his bomb shelter will save him if everything around him implodes.

County Looking to Screw the Poor and Renters, No Matter What

The Enquirer is reporting that Hamilton County Commissioners will be given three options by county Administrators to cover the 20 Million dollar budget deficit.

The article tries to point out the differences between the choices, but it fails to put forth the main common action: the poor and people who rent will be screwed no matter which plan is picked. The plans are being cooked to make them semi-palatable to Republicans who are Hell bent on shifting the burden of the Bengals Stadium to the poor people of Hamilton County.

The first option is the nuclear option, where nearly every service is cut, so everyone is screwed, well, everyone who can't afford to pay for their own healthcare, police protection, or have enough money to buy justice and don't have to rely on the courts to enforce the law.

The second two options are just shell games to see who will cut the most from what. What both of the plans do is increase the sales tax rate and offset it with cuts to property taxes. So if you own property, you don't get as much of a tax increase as people who do not own property, maybe even none. This is how the poor and renters get screwed.

Sure, Republicans will say Renters will get the same benefit because landlords will pass on tax savings to their renters.  BWWAHAHAHAH!  That's the biggest laugh in the world, or my attempt to make it appear in this blog post.  No, landlords will pocket the tax savings and increase rents the same way the would have without the increase.  Therefore Renters are screwed even if they are part of the middle class.

So, the County is again looking to screw the poor and people who rent.  Where would you find a majority of those types?  If you said the City of Cincinnati, you would be right.  Bottom line then, the three plans seek to place more burden on City Residents and less burden (or a least no additional burden) on non-city Residents  as long as they own property.  I'm gonna guess that Monzel doesn't plan on getting any votes from the poor or renters who don't live in the city, so he can just pretend they don't exist or he hopes they move.  Either way, they become poorer to help subsidize the Cincinnati Bengals and Mike Brown.

Welcome to the neo-feudalist movement.

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.

Manufactured News Is Not Real News: MidPoint Falsely Smeared

When a complaint by one person is just not good enough for a news story, don't manufacture a story that is void of a point or many relevant facts.

Here are the problems with the article from the Enquirer:

1. The issue is not about Midpoint: I'm not sure who is out to rain on the Midpoint Music Festival, but someone obviously doesn't like it being in Washington Park.  I'd guess the pro-bum crowd (aka 'homeless activists') are helping paint something that benefits OTR and CityBeat in as negative light as possible.  I doubt that former CityBeat News Editor, Greg Flannery,  would be pleased to see CityBeat's new owner benefiting from an event centered on Washington Park.
2. One man's complaint against the Park gets an article? What makes Tim Mara's complaint more news worthy than the complaints of others on a laundry list of issues: police conduct, Indian Hill Voter Registration, choice prosecutions by the County Prosecutor, etc?
3. The article alters Tim Mara's complaint: In the minutes of the Cincinnati Bar Association Local Government Committee meeting in early September, Mara is on record raising a complaint about the musical events that take place on Fridays in Washington Park.  He made the complaint there, because the guest speaker was from the Cincinnati Park Board.  The article claims Thursdays and Fridays.  The Jazz night on Thursdays was held in the bandstand, and didn't have the capacity to have the crowds and it ended at 9PM.  The Friday Flow events were at the main stage and all of the reports I heard indicated it drew a larger crowd, which was scheduled to end at 10PM.  The sound at the Bandstand has never been loud enough in my experience to be a problem from the area Mara lives on Pleasant.  Friday nights is the problem he sees, were the music is run through a bigger system and closer to his home. The issue is, and I hate to say it, who is primary audience for Friday Flow?  Also, why didn't Mara bring up the urination at the Bar Committee meeting?  He wrote the minutes referenced above, so he certainly would have noted it if he did.
4. Where are the details on the complaints filed? What specific events, nights, and number of incidents were cited by Tim Mara that warrented this big of a deal?
5. What about white guys pissing all over Downtown after Bengals' games?  If you haven't seen drunk white suburban/exurban men urinating in the alleyways and around buildings Downtown (especially South of 4th Street), then you've not been there on Sunday evenings in the Fall.  Why did the article not address this?  It wouldn't have anything to do with the pro-white guys suburban bias of the Enquirer, would it? At the same time as the article can ignore white guys pissing and ignore that the issue for Mara is that allegedly some black people pissing near his home, the article can allude that young mostly liberal Democratic music fans could piss all over Mara's front step.  Again, young people are bad, middle age white guys are ignored when they do wrong.
6. Why is Josh Spring Quoted for this Article? Why is the reporter so lazy to have not gotten a quote from someone with the Midpoint Festival or maybe a member of the OTR community council?  Hell, why not ask some who went to one big events this year at the park (OTR concert, CSO, or Shakespeare in the Park) how long the lines for the bathrooms were.  Instead the Enquirer quotes someone (Spring) who wants the Park, 3CDC, the OTR Businesses, and the City itself to fail.  That's either bias or sensationalism.  It could be both, but I don't see them as sophisticated as that.

For the record, there were not long lines for the bathrooms at Washington Park during the festival.  All of the shows ended by about 10.  They were loud, I can't deny that, but so were the bands playing at 12th and Vine.  Mara needs to understand that he lives in a city, not a suburb.  If he has the misguided belief that he can turn the city into a suburb, then he may want to join hands with John Cranley and start a really big pouty party, because it isn't going to happen.

Friday Night Video Fights: Greenhornes vs. Bad Veins

This:

Or This:

Scary Things Come Close to Happening, Even in Cincinnati

Law enforcement did their jobs, but how easily could this good police work turned into epic tragedy?

I'm also surprised this story is not getting more play, nationally. I would surmise the man's intent at running the security checkpoint was not clear, so the media isn't make this out to be a bigger deal than it was. I have to wonder why the ATF is involved and why a federal complaint was sealed on this case. Maybe that is normal procedure, and getting it unsealed is also routine, but it all leads to more questions that a professional journalist should be investigating.

UPDATE: The AP story on HuffPost has far more details than the Enquirer story. Yeah to Erlanger police for catching this guy!

Sittenfeld Lives Up to the Typical Politician He Is

I hope no one was surprised by council member P.G. Sittenfeld's anti-streetcar stance in today's vote. His prior statements on the subject were nothing but Bullshit. If anyone was confused about it previously, they should have a clear picture of his stance now.

Sittenfeld wants to be a politician and is siding with the Republicans because he thinks he will need to get  Republican votes when he runs for higher office.  I hope he learns that if you want to be a good leader, you have to stand for something, not try and tell everyone what they want to hear.

Friday Night Video Fights: Bad Veins vs. Walk the Moon

Mainline this?

Or this:

The BBC Visits Cincinnati

The BBC's World Update came to Cincinnati today to do a story on Ohio and surrounding states as they relate to the Presidential Race. They did the show from the WVXU studio and guests included WVXU political reporter Howard Wilkinson.

Intense Bengals Security at Paul Brown Stadium

Something you don't see in the picture with the barricade is the bomb sniffing dog screening all vehicles parking inside the stadium.

Each person entering also appears to be subject to 'wanding.' So I guess you should feel safe from some type of threat?

Milford's Longstone Street Festival

Some Shiny and the Spoon!

Friday Night Video Fights: Seedy Seeds vs. Lions Rampant

Stand up for:

Or:

Charter School Problems

Ethics questions plague VLT Academy. I am glad the state is doing some auditing of these schools, but why isn't anyone questioning how the Daughter of the school's Superintendent earns $85,000 in the School years, on top of the questionable $17,000 contract for the Summer. When I state 'anyone' I mean public officials.

Public schools get raked over the coals by Republicans, but I don't hear Charlie Winburn, Steve Chabot, or Brad Wenstrup asking for more audits of this Charter school.

Friday Night Video Fights: Buffalo Killers vs. Buffalo Killers

Do Ye say:

Or?

Friday Night Video Fights: Seedy Seeds vs. Seedy Seeds

So....This?

Or This?

MetroMix Print Edition to End with September 19th Issue

Just in time for launch of the Enquirer's NYT style Paywall for it's online content, the FREE weekly entertainment newspaper MetroMix is ending its print edition with the September 19th issue. It will instead be online and incorporated in a new redesigned website. Here is how the Enquirer article describes it:

We’re currently hard at work relaunching Cincinnati.com’s Entertainment channel – consider this the Extreme Makeover: Entertainment Edition. We’re going to combine all of our entertainment coverage into one easy-to-navigate web site.

I'm not sure how this will impact Cincinnati's entertainment industry, but I do know that it lessons the impact of having a cover story. The one thing a digital edition or website has difficulty doing is creating the impact on the reader, or casual passer by, that a cover story provides. This effect is similar to a front page headline on a daily newspaper, but for weekly or monthly publications, the cover takes on a different focus.

MetroMix provides a boost to certain events by running a cover story on it. I don't see the impact with anything that could be created online or in an email. The medium doesn't have the same type of interaction with readers. This is a loss. I don't know if will or can be replaced.

More Enquirer-Horstman Anti-Streetcar Bias

Another week and another biased anti-streetcar headline from the Enquirer. Here is the latest article: City threatens Duke over streetcar costs.

No where in the article does it say the City threatened Duke Energy. It states the City is “investigating potential legal remedy.” It also says that the City's inability to reach an agreement "threatens to pose significant cost risk" to the project.

It does not say the City is Threatening Duke Energy. The word threat is a bias created by someone at the Enquirer. I'd like to know who wrote it. Headline writing is much talked about and usually creates a frenzied finger pointing effort. Reporters point to Editors. Editors are mum or point to someone else. In this changed internet age, I have to ask, does a reporter submit a story without a title/headline? On most blogging software you have to have a title to the story when you post it, even in draft form. Is that what the Enquirer does? Does the reporter include a headline along with the story when submitted and it then is modified by a copy-editor, content-editor, or layout designer?

Did the word "Threatens" start with Horstman or was it added after? No one will likely ever take blame (or would it be credit?) for the misuse of the word. We just have live with the bias, but we can and must call them out when they fail to present the truth to their readers.

Republican Efforts to Suppress Democratic Voters Continue

I am glad that the Enquirer is covering the voter rights issue and that they exposed the insanity that is "True the Vote" group who held a summit that ending up being a conservative rally, including a Judicial Watch announcement of a legal effort to suppress Ohio voters.

Yes, Non-Ohio base groups are seeking to purge Ohio voter rolls based on the goal of suppressing Democratic voters. Any other claim is just lie (or at best a red herring).

The only thing I wish the Enquirer would do is just report the blatant efforts by Republicans to keep Democratic voters from voting. If nothing else they should be asking the questions and reporting the answers, demonstrating where their comments are lies or distortions. The article above hints at it, but the evidence is clear and it is not just extremists like Judicial Watch, it starts with the Republican Hamilton Country BOE members. They should be asked why they refused to keep keep the BOE open for longer periods of early voting? Why would they oppose that? The political parties, both of major parties, could pay the limited cost to keep the doors open a few more hours into the evening and weekends to help those with jobs that either make it difficult to vote or just won't let them. The latter is a blatant violation of the law.

As long as voter suppression efforts are allow to continue, our Democracy continues to crumble, a brick falling for every voter who is hindered from voting.

Fire in Covington

Not sure what is burning, but it appears to NOT be a small fire. The smell of smoke and burnt material is strong at Smale Park, but the fire appears to be at least a mile away.

Friday Night Video Fights: Wussy vs. Wussy

So Which is better? This:

OR This:

Cincinnati's Master Plan is Again About Being a City

CityBeat is reporting that the City has released it's final draft (how is a draft final?) of it's Master Plan. The key sentence from the CityBeat article that summarizes the main goal of the plan:

"The primary goal behind the plan is to transition the city away from a model that emphasizes suburban living back to a more urban model."

We as a city have come so far from ridding government with the 1950's mentality of development. We don't have the likes of Chris Monzel and John Cranley on council. The county is self destructing thanks to Monzel, but we can all be vigilant and keep Cranley from trying to drag Cincinnati back into the stone age with suburban style development ideas. We don't need any more strip malls. We don't need any more cul-du-sacs. We don't need streets that dont' allow safe walking and bike riding.

We are a city and we starting to act like it again. Don't let the Monzels or Canleys pull us off our path.

Is Winburn Lying Now or Back in 2010 (or Both)?

It would appear that Cincinnati City Council Member Charlie Winburn likes to lie. Yes, that comes as news to no one who has been following Cincinnati Politics any time over the last ten years, but this time it is a whopper. Winburn lied to someone about running for mayor. The only question is did he lie to the Business Courier this year or did he lie to the Cincinnati Enquirer back in 2010? Yes, it is fully possible he lied to both, but either way, he is being deceitful. He has broken a commandment. He is also toying with the idea that he could win. He obviously is delusional. I don't know if he thinks that Republicans will give him a ton of money and then convince all of the Republicans to ignore race, since they clearly did that in 2010. He also must assume that more blacks will vote on nothing but race and ignore the fact that he's a Republican.

I made it clear that I would not let him forget this when he said it. I am glad Quimbob has similar questions for Winburn. I hope everyone asks Winburn via email or social media when he was lying, now or then?

Outraged Conservatives, Come to Findlay Market to Support Your Comrade!

I really hope all of the conservatives who are voicing outrage over a Findlay Market shop owner's hyperbolic anger about having her store included in a commercial for President Obama's, all come down to the Market! Please be sure to park in the many Findlay Market parking lots, they are priced ver reasonably. Be sure to pick up some produce, meats, coffee, sweets, and much more from the many fine vendors!Yes, conservatives, this shop is located in OTR and you will have walk at least a block near poor poeple, so be warned! I expect to see a line like Chick-Fil-A.In all seriousness, why did the owner of Krause's have to be such a jerk about the Commercial? She should know better than to let her store manager sign documents. Instead of going to the press about this, she could have just let it go quietly. Instead, she allowed this to build up the ignorance on the Enquirer's website. Way to annoy your neighbors!

When did they become the Cincinnati Inquirer?

I understand that the Cincinnati Enquirer is changing to a tabloid size print edition, but when are they changing their name to the Cincinnati Inquirer? They might as well do that if they are going to print crap like this story about Council member Chris Seelbach.

This story has no point. It is reporting gossip from the comments from the online news article and then tries to link that to facts to point to no conclusion, but to embarrass someone who was just the victim of a crime. Seelbach was disorientated and had a broken foot and 'people' are 'upset' he mentioned he was a member of council a few times to the 911 operator. Gee, maybe the man who attacked him was doing so because he was a member of council, the first openly gay council member. Did that fact run across the reporter's mind? Instead they sought to trace

To top it off, they got a quote from Mark Miller. Seriously, the lone guy who allegedly lives in Hyde Park from COAST is a relevant source for this story? How? Please, someone tell me what caused the reporter to reach into a big pile of irrelevant sources and pulled out Mark Miller's name. If the Enquirer wants to play the tawdrily game it is playing, I hope they asked Miller where he was Monday Night. Instead they gave a political foe of Seelbach the chance to gloat and make fun of him for being the victim of a crime. That sounds like the COAST I know, too bad the Report is either ignorant of COAST or shares the desire to allow COAST's gossip to make it to print. His point wasn't even valid, he was comparing this to Laketa Cole incident where she was with a person being ticketed. Seelbach was clearly the victim of a crime, he did nothing wrong. Miller is trying to damage him and the Enqurier, and the reporters, let him take a shot. There didn't appear to be an editor around to stop this either.

Also, why did they story include a sentence that mentioned where Miller lived? They quoted another people, but didn't state where they lived. What was the relevance? Is it actually true that he lives in Hyde Park?

Finally, they Enquirer again created another false equivalency. The only way to find any sense in this story is to view it as reporting an online flame war. The Enquirer got juicey quotes from both political sides and falsely feels they reported a fair and balanced story. The problem is that this isn't a political story. This is a crime story. Why not write about the crime? Write about what the police know or don't know. We don't need to have stories about Facebook comments. We really could use some news stories that would require the reporters to leave the newsroom.

Enquirer In the Bag for Chick-Fil-A (and Conservative Readers)

Yes, you know who butters the Enquirer's bread, that would be the shrinking readership who are a majority conservative. The over-coverage of yesterday's Chick-Fil-A still avoid the fact that the LOCAL Chick-Fil-A Restaurants in West Chester and Deerfield Township sponsered a CCV event. Yes, CCV is the anti-gay rights group that fought for Article XII and against its repleal as well as lead the charge in the anti-gay rights anti-gay marriage ban that passed in Ohio. How does this not make the story?

Why doesn't the Enquirer report this?  Why are they making this boycott about free speech?  That's not what this is about, this is about the corporate actions of a company, not just the private views of the owners.  That contradicts the rants of conservatives, who want this to be about liberals being  "anti-Christian."

Enquirer Blog Falls into False Equivalency Trap

I know journalists often look at the political world and try to find two equally opposing viewpoints to compare and then pretend to be objective. That type of action is a false equivalency, see a description of what that is here. The problem is that most of the time, the viewpoints are not equal, they are not the same.

Take yesterday's Enquirer political blog story: Mixing food with politics: What do you think?. The blog post, wrapped around an online poll, tries to marry two topics together: 1) those boycotting Chick-Fil-A for providing financial support to anti-gay groups and 2) The mythical hoards of people who might no longer want to go the Montgomery Inn because the owners took a public political opinion in the Presidential race. The two don't equate. For many reasons:

1. One is real, the other is speculation.
2. One is a national effort and one is a mythical-hypothetical local situation.
3. One is about bigotry and the other is about political opinion.

Number three above is key.  The boycott of Chick-Fil-A, which I participate in, is about the financial support Chick-Fil-A gives to groups like the CCV, the Cincinnati area's own anti-gay bigoted hate group.  This is being treated as a political issue by many conservatives, not a moral issue, and that is the clear false equivalency being allowed to fester by the media.

If a national fast food chain were to sponsor a golf tournament for a white supremacist group, would anyone try to compare a boycott of that fast food chain to what the Montgomery is doing?  No, the media would instead help expose the fast food chain's actions.

Gay rights are civil rights and the CINCINNATI media needs to understand that issue better and more importantly get on the moral side of it.  If too many of your readers are anti-gay bigots, tough shit, be journalists, don't be accomplices in the oppression of gays and lesbians.

We have bigotry in this community happening out in the open and our media far too often lets is slide unnoticed, or in the case of the Enquirer, lets it slide all the time.

The other bad part of the article was that it was talking about an event supposed to take place yesterday where the Republican Governor of Oklahoma was coming to appear with one of the Owners of the Montgomery Inn at their Boathouse location on the river.  This event was a Mitt Romney "We Did Build This” campaign event pushing a lie about the President that falsely claims the President said that small business owners don't build their businesses alone, the government helps. That's not what the president said, but it is the story line that should have been asked of the Governor and the owners of the Montgomery Inn. They should have been asked: Who owns the building where the Boathouse Location resides? The answer is the City of Cincinnati, or as the website says "Cincinnati City Of." I don't think that question was asked, nor asked how much help the people of the City were back in the late 1980's to the suburban based company.  I am just wondering how much hypocrisy you get with a full slab of ribs?

So the Enquirer missed the real story and tried to create one that just wasn't true. Bad day for Journalism.