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As we enter campaign season and consider the issue of amending the City’s charter so all passenger rail expenditures go to a public vote, it is important we engage the proper discussion surrounding what this move would mean for our City.  Pro-rail advocates must avoid the pitfalls designed by COAST to trip up counterarguments.  These pitfalls have been created to characterize pro-rail advocates as opposed to giving the people a voice in the direction of their community.  But this strikes me as a straw man argument designed to sidetrack other motives that may be at play here—motives that authorize a very different public conversation.

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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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.

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Posted by Justin Jeffre
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Chris Bortz says local NAACP chair Christopher Smitherman is running the City, and no one is opposing him.  While standing mayors and councilmembers act on the authority of thousands upon thousands who voted them into office, Smitherman is only the branch president by virtue of a hundred or so votes.  What do vote counts tell us about public support?

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Dear Councilmember Bortz,

I saw your comment in today’s Enquirer in a story about the Streetcar:  “‘You’re building extra months and potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars for an election into the system,’ said Cincinnati City Councilman Chris Bortz, a leading streetcar proponent.”  Because you rightly recognize the waste in conducting unnecessary elections, I am writing to you now concerning the future of Cincinnati’s wasteful and unnecessary mayoral primary.

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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I had two inquiries for Cincinnatians for Progress:  the first involved the streetcar, and the second involved arguments pertaining to the anti-passenger rail charter amendment forwarded by COAST and the NAACP.  Bobby Maly, from the organization (pictured to your right), wrote back—and here is his response in full, for the benefit of furthering the discussion about Smitherman and Finney’s anti-passenger rail ballot issue.  Since the group won’t talk about the streetcar per se, the bulk of this constitutes references to key excerpts from the CFP blog.

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Cites cost-savings and public safety improvements in other cities

Councilmember Greg Harris is examining the option of creating a consolidated metropolitan police force for Cincinnati and Hamilton County to achieve significant cost savings while reducing crime rates.  Cities that have formed metropolitan police forces have achieved long term cost savings by reducing administrative and managerial costs, lower personnel turnover, and sharing equipment and facilities.

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Dear Cincinnati Beacon:

I thought your readers may be interested that, after four long years of hard work, and against aggressive opposition, the City of Cincinnati has finally passed an “Environmental Justice Ordinance”. This ordinance is the first of its kind where a municipality is using their police powers to enforce Environmental Justice in the form of an “environmental justice permit”.

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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This week featured some fireworks on Christopher Smitherman’s radio show.  He got upset with an anti-tax caller, hung up, and gave a passionate speech before accepting a call-back to clear the air.  Is there something in the water down at The Buzz?  Check out this audio excerpt to find out for sure.  It’s special.

Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Yesterday, over lunch at Venice on Vine, I paged through Streetvibes and read an article about CityBeat’s recent financial woes.  It reminded me of what I’m convinced is a simple, yet radical solution for the dying news industry—get rid of the buildings!  I don’t know what CityBeat pays for its building, or what The Enquirer pays for its huge megaplex downtown, but ultimately don’t these potentially seem like pointless expenditures?  Why not sell, rent, or get out of the space to save money?

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Nico Pitney is a blogger for the Huffington Post and has been live-blogging for the past several weeks on the crisis in Iran. He has developed sources within Iran, monitored social networking sites, posted images, posted videos, etc. and helped to provide a better understanding of this complex and ever-changing situation.

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Posted by Chris Johnson
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Since Cincinnatians for Progress won’t answer their emails, I decided to consider other agencies who might have an even more credible opinion on the NAACP/COAST ballot language than local partisans with an agenda.  Below, therefore, are two messages I recently submitted to the Ohio Department of Transportation, and also the Federal Railroad Administration.  Hopefully, they will write back—and rest assured I will post their replies as soon as I receive them.  Among the remaining questions about the Streetcar proposal—which local advocates will not address—some still have real concerns about whether requiring a public vote is really the specter that those opposing the anti-passenger rail initiative suggest.  What does ODOT and FRA have to say on that particular issue?

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Billy Mays died.  You know—the loudmouthed, bearded guy on all those infomercials you either love or hate.  So while the rest of the world buzzes with the deaths of bigger celebrities, at my own house Billy Mays’ passing has made a much bigger impression—especially for my 6 year old, who has always been interested in infomercials.

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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The Cincinnati blog’s Donald Caster has certainly become a valuable voice in the local blogosphere. He virtually saved Cincinnati’s first blog from a slow and painful death. It’s refreshing to hear from an Independent minded blogger that has a background in law. But Donald misses the mark in this latest post by exhibiting the kind of political bigotry we are increasingly seeing in the body politic. 

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Posted by Justin Jeffre
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Yesterday about 100 Iranian-Americans, Cincinnati community members, and residents of the Greater Tri-State area gathered on Fountain Square for a rally in support of and in solidarity with the citizens of Iran who have been voicing their opposition to the recent election results.

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Posted by Chris Johnson
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Cincinnati’s system of utilizing a special election for a mayoral primary is incredibly wasteful—costing the City of Cincinnati over half a million dollars to conduct the obscure September vote.  Now a new layer of excess and waste has come to my attention:  candidates’ fundraising amounts are reset after the primary, meaning the big money politicians can continue to receive donations from their big money contributors once the primary resets the accounts, so to speak.  One must wonder how much the City could accomplish if even a fraction of the money spent on campaigning were actually spent getting things done.

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Brian Griffin over at The Cincinnati Blog actually has a good catch with this item, documenting the childish and inappropriate behavior of Leslie Ghiz in the middle of a council meeting.  This type of juvenile behavior from Leslie Ghiz is nothing new, though.  She’s been clacking away on her Blackberry for years, and Griffin’s post reminded me of some attempts I made in the past at getting copies of her Blackberry messages.  Has the time come again for redoubling this effort?

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Both sides of the streetcar debate are, as best I can tell, playing politics with the future of our region in terms more broad than the issue of streetcars alone.  This is a complete failure of leadership, on all fronts—a failure of our elected leaders and a failure of leadership on our grassroots front.  City leaders should have put the issue of a streetcar for public vote.  They failed.  The NAACP and COAST have failed by writing a so-called anti-streetcar petition that is actually much more.  So now, I am faced with the prospect of a vote that will affect three things:  the streetcar, Obama’s intercity rail plan, and the Eastern Corridor.  I support those two rail projects—which is a majority of what the ballot initiative will seek to delay and/or prevent (which is totally in line with COAST’s history of being anti-transit).

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Today, I filmed a segment for Newsmakers with Dan Hurley, and I referenced a piece of information I read recently at WLWT.com.  (On the air, I mistakenly referred to it as coming from The Enquirer—so my apologies. )  Hurley seemed quite certain I had my facts wrong, and it turns out he was right—though I contend the fault is with WLWT, who appear to have reportedly totally false information about the fate of the Drop Inn Center as it relates to City funding.  Check out the email below, addressing the bad information broadcast by WLWT.  It is a shame when a concerned citizen can’t even believe that the news has basic facts right!

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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I didn’t know about this pivotal event in history until I saw an article about it recently. In 1969 police raided a gay speakeasy in Greenwich and ended up getting beat up. There were riots for three days and the GLTB movement was launched. According to Historian Lillian Faderman, Stonewall was, “the shot heard round the world… crucial because it sounded the rally for the movement.”

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Posted by Justin Jeffre
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The King of Pop has suddenly passed away. So many great songs and it’s hard to imagine any artist ever selling as many records as he did. I remember meeting him briefly on the stage at Madison Square Garden. When he hit the stage the place exploded with excitement. I got to see him perform on that same stage a year later with his brothers. He performed his hits from the Jackson 5 days and his bigger hits from the Thriller era. It’s impossible to pick my favorite song of his, but his music will live on forever.

Posted by Justin Jeffre
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I recently stopped by Park + Vine, and I noticed they now have a small deep freezer, featuring frozen food items.  One item stuck out:  “Artichoke Burgers” by a company called Five Star Foodies.  Dan, the proprietor, told me they are a local company, producing a variety of vegan foods.  He also sold their Meatless Grillers (pictured to your right).  The idea of an artichoke burger intrigued me, so I bought a pack.  It turned out to be some of the best food I’ve purchased recently!

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Commissioner’s Corner June 2009, by Noble Maseru, Ph.D., MPH

Often times, children do not have the means to receive essential health services that increase their health and wellness. At the Cincinnati Health Department (CHD), it is our mission to “work for the health and wellness of Cincinnati citizens.” The CHD School Nursing Program is one way we work to improve health care for children in Cincinnati. 

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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The Democratic Party has a vested interest in preventing alternative progressive parties from gaining traction.  That’s why they will immediately work to stifle and marginalize groups like the Green Party, since the Democrats wish to maintain control over the progressive voting base.  They employ a strategy each presidential election cycle, too—and it can be predicted, studied, documented.  It appears to be the same strategy now employed by COAST in how they have utilized their relationship with the local NAACP into an opportunity for growing their far-right agenda.

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Cincinnati – Mayor Mark Mallory and Procter & Gamble announced today that P&G will move approximately 650 jobs to their Downtown Cincinnati world headquarters.  The announcement was attended by most of the members of Cincinnati City Council, who will be voting on a resolution at this afternoon’s Council meeting supporting P&G’s decision to bring the jobs into Cincinnati and directing the City Administration to work with P&G to assist in the move.

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I recently interviewed Roy Eidelson, a psychologist who studies the role of psychological issues in political, organizational, and group conflict settings. In the interview, I asked him to speak to the significance of the role that psychologists (and the American Psychological Association) have played in overseeing interrogations (and the torture) of prisoners in U.S. custody. Here was the exchange:

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Posted by Chris Johnson
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Posted by Bearman
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On his weekly radio show, local NAACP president Christopher Smitherman insulted Councilmember Laketa Cole by suggesting she was set up as a pawn to take the fall for the City’s budget. Listen to the excerpt for yourself.  Smitherman says directly that some unnamed “they” want a black person to take the fall for the City’s challenges, and that’s why Laketa Cole (an African American woman) was appointed as Chair of the Finance Committee.  He suggests that the City wanted a black person to inform the black community that recreation centers and swimming pools would be cut.  However, according to a story in The Enquirer this morning, Laketa Cole led a team over the weekend to meet necessary budget cuts without cutting recreation centers and swimming pools.

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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To kick off the campaign season this year, The Cincinnati Beacon decided to start its interview series with a newcomer—independent candidate Anitra Brockman, who has made quite the netroots presence for herself with sites like Twitter, Facebook, and so forth.  Her initial campaign features the question:  Who Is Brockman?  Well, in an attempt to find out, we asked her some touchstone questions featuring longstanding concerns here at The Beacon.  Her complete responses to our inquiries are below, in dialog form.  Enjoy!

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Strickland’s Proposal Could Result in Widespread Public Library Closures. Take Action: The Ohio Library Council encourages all Ohioans to contact the Governor’s office to express their opposition to his proposal to cut library funding, and to urge their legislators to reject the Governor’s plan. Governor Strickland’s proposal to permit slot machines covered the front pages of Ohio’s newspapers this past weekend. However, the real gamble he’s taking is his drastic cuts to Ohio’s public library funding that could force the closure of many of Ohio’s public libraries and branches in neighborhoods and communities in every county in the state.

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Posted by Media Release
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