The Cincinnati Beacon
The Dean saves $413,000, announces run for School Board
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Posted by Justin Jeffre
 Photo courtesy of here.
This afternoon, our very own Dean of Cincinnati (Jason H aap) announced at a press conference he would not participate in the mayoral primary. “Knowing the bleak financial outlook my City faces,” Jason explained, “I cannot, in good conscience, single-handedly cost Cincinnati nearly half a million dollars.” Jason continued to push for Instant Runoff Voting as a money saving and democratic alternative to the current pointless system, originally implemented by Jeff Berding and the Cincinnati Business Community.
“When Dan Hurley asked me last week if I was in the race to win or to educate, I said I wanted to educate,” said Jason. “I wanted to put issues on the table, like the repeal of Cincinnati’s Draconian anti-marijuana ordinance (910-23), the establishment of a Domestic Partnership Registry as has been done in Toledo and Cleveland, and more.”
“One of the many problems with our mayoral primary is that my voice would have likely been taken off the table during September and October—just when people are starting to pay attention to the issues presented by the major parties,” explained Jason.
“Rest assured, this will be the last time I willfully withdraw from a mayoral primary. I want City Hall on notice that they must reform this wasteful and undemocratic system. From now on, I will make sure someone forces the primary each cycle if they refuse simple, common sense, cost-effective solutions.”
On the topic of reform, Jason said he wanted to shift his attention to a race for Cincinnati School Board, which he announced his entry into after leaving the mayoral arena. “Too often, the School Board races are overlooked, and I’d like to help bring more attention to this important race.”
Jason says a School Board platform is forthcoming, but he has made a draft of his mayoral platform available below for others to consider.
End the wasteful mayoral primary
Every mayoral election cycle, the City of Cincinnati spends half a million dollars on an unnecessary special primary that wastes taxpayer dollars and opposes true democracy. This money should be saved and spent more usefully by ending the pointless primary—which occurs on an obscure September date with nothing else on the ballot. The full slate of candidates can be on the general ballot in November—and if the concept of a “runoff” is important, solutions like Instant Runoff Voting are efficient and democratic solutions that can save money, too.
More Intelligent Policing
In addition to requiring that police officers live in the City of Cincinnati, we should require more intelligent policing. The University of Cincinnati published a 2005 study of open air drug markets in Cincinnati. They detailed the precise movements of Cincinnati’s deadliest blocks—the same blocks featured just a few weeks ago in an Enquirer special section. The showed how police details in targeted locations cut crime and violence. But then, as soon as violence and crime dropped, CPD cut those assignments. That doesn’t make any sense, and there’s no reason to add more police into a dysfunctional system until it is properly reviewed.
Fulfill Mallory’s forgotten promise of money for the neighborhoods
When I endorsed Mark Mallory in 2005, it had a lot to do with the one specific platform point he articulated: taking the proceeds from the sale of the Blue Ash Airport, and developing a fund so each of the City’s 52 neighborhoods could decide for themselves what to do. Well, we sold the Blue Ash Airport. Where’s the neighborhood money? In addition to fulfilling this broken obligation with the proceeds for the already-sold Airport, we should explore why the City is the business of operating suburban golf-courses. A cost-analysis should determine if it is more profitable to sell them than to keep them—and if so those proceeds should be added to the neighborhood fund, too. Each neighborhood community council should name their top asset that could benefit from development of some kind, to serve as a starting point for city-wide planning projects and use of available funds.
Restore and exceed the 1.5% for human services funding
The City needs to end its war on hardworking human service providers caring for those in need. We should restore and make permanent the traditional 1.5% of the City’s budget for human services. If anyone wonders how to make this work, facing a budget shortfall of millions, the offset should be stabilized by shifting back-door dollars in corporate welfare for the favored few back to helping the citizens among us who have the least.
Immediately implement a Domestic Partnership Registry
Cincinnati needs to shed the memory of its homophobic past once and for all—and for that reason we should implement a Domestic Partnership Registry—as has been done in Cleveland and Toledo. This is not marriage, it just gives stable partners the ability to make their relationship official, which can be a benefit concerning things like medical emergencies, etc.
End the city’s Draconian anti-marijuana ordinance
Though marijuana was already illegal in the State of Ohio, City Council decided to over-criminalize possession of small amounts locally—giving victims a permanent criminal record that could effect employment or scholarship opportunities. The ordinance has been disproportionately enforced in black neighborhoods, arresting black men at a ratio of nearly 7 to 1 for every white male arrested. This discrepancy, when research shows usage of marijuana between whites and blacks is nearly identical. Instead of criminalizing marijuana, Cincinnati should take the opposite approach—utilizing the presence of our universities and premier hospitals to engage research for medicinal marijuana.
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