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Monday, October 01, 2007
Jail Tax Opponents Hold Press Conference, Tuesday, Oct. 2nd, High Noon at Courthouse Sidewalk
Posted by Media Release
Speaking at the press conference will be Christopher Smitherman of the NAACP; Suhith Wickrema of No Jail Tax PAC; Dan La Botz of Cincinnati Progressive Action; Justin Jeffre, Green Party Candidate for Council; Michael Patton, Libertarian Party Candidate for Council; Andre Harper, Republican Candidate for City Council; County Commissioner Pat De Wine and Representative Tom Brinkman of the Ohio House.
Speakers from left, right and center are agreed that Hamilton County should not build one of the biggest jails in the country to be paid for by a sales tax.
Other groups have also come out against Issue 27. Ryan Donohue of Food not Bombs stated, “We oppose the violence of the jail-prison-industrials complex. This plan will expand this violence. There are better ways to handle this.”
Don Sherman, director of the Inter-Faith Workers Center said, “We believe Issue 27 will increase the problems of low wage workers in the community.”
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02 Oct 2007 at 03:17 pm | #
Do politicians still rely on the likeability quotient? I couldn’t help but notice the people speaking at the courthouse appear to be a very angry and scorched earth types if they don’t agree with another person in regard to an issue..
03 Oct 2007 at 01:06 pm | #
More people should be angry. Angry that the politicians over-rule the voice of the people. Angry at the lies perpetuated by elected and appointed officials. Angry that the media failed to recognize the vast political spectrum represented by the speakers at the press conference and chose to feature those in positional authority while ignoring the voices of the grassroots.
05 Oct 2007 at 12:42 pm | #
As someone pointed out to me, there are at least three points of view on this issure. Those who would continue to build more and more jails and lock up half of the world;s population in them: those who are opposed to more and more taxation on an already over-taxed people, and those who are sincerely looking for a real solution to a very real problem.
I was there and I heard words thrown around like; social and economic justice, fairness, equality, educational opportunity, and Hope. There was also talk of prevention, which means keeping the problem from occuring in the first place.
The problem is the over-crowding of our jails. What is the solution? Is it to continue to build more and more jails or to somehow create a world that embraces those words- “Liberty and Justice for all”
05 Oct 2007 at 06:49 pm | #
Vera Z
Your last comment shows why there isn’t compromise on this issue.
Many people who’ve studied this, including me, have concluded that the jails are not over-crowded and therefore we don’t need a solution to your manufactured problem. But you’ve made up your mind that the jails are overcrowded and therefore facts don’t matter to you anymore. Since you feel the jails are overcrowded, you’ve thrown your support behind what you see as the only solution to the problem—a nearly $1 Billion Jail Plan.
Those of us who oppose the Leis Jail Tax and the Leis/Pepper/Deters/Portune/Big Business Jail Plan have offered dozens of suggestions for preventing the jails from becoming overcrowded, but you pro-Jail Tax people won’t listen. That’s why you haven’t heard us say make every bed in Queensgate available; stop plotting to end double-bunking at the Justice Center; quit locking up people for minor marijuana possession, jaywalking, spitting on the sidewalk, playing in the street, being homeless, having a mental problem; establish a real night court and release people on bond instead of making them take up space while awaiting arraignment.
Of course, if you look at the fact and come up with the same conclusion that every other open-minded person has—the jails aren’t overcroweded—that would force you to re-examine your support for the Leis Jail Tax wouldn’t it.
06 Oct 2007 at 02:13 am | #
Hey Nate L, I’m sorry if I left you with the impression that I support Either the jail tax or the jail plan. I am opposed to them as you are.
Perhaps if I had placed the word ‘If’ before my last paragraph it would have been clearer.
If the problem is the over-crowding of the jails, what is the solution? Is it to build more and more jails, or is it to
somehow create a world that truly embraces the words “Liberty and Justice for all. Vera Z