Morning News and Stuff

• Shree Kulkarni, the developer appointed to Cincinnati’s Historic Conservation Board by City Manager Harry Black, has a history of destruction. In 2012, Kulkarni waged a two-year battled with the board to demolish a building in the Fourth Street Historic District that he claimed he was going to rehabilitate. He eventually convinced a judge to allow him to tear down the building, located on Fifth Street across from the Duke Energy Convention Center, and made it into a parking lot — after he had previously torn down a building adjacent to it. The developer also ran into criticism from the Over-The-Rhine Foundation when he posted a Tweet last week questioning the board’s decision not to tear down the Davis Furniture building. His Twitter account has since been deleted. Kulkarni also donated $8,300 to Mayor Cranley’s mayoral campaign in 2013, Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld’s council campaign in in 2013 and $10,400 to Sittenfeld’s campaign for U.S. Senate. In an interview with the Cincinnati Business Courier, Mayor Cranley refused to say whether he asked Black to appoint Kulkarni. Council approved Kulkarni’s appointment 8-1, with just Councilwoman Yvette Simpson voting against it. 

• Union Terminal is undergoing a $212 million renovation starting next June or July that will last for two years. The construction will close parts of the historic building for months at a time, including the natural history museum and regional history museum. Last fall, voters approved a five-year, quarter-percent sales tax increase to fund $175 million of the project. The rest will come from state grants, historic tax credits and private donations. If taxpayer money happens to fall short, the museum will have to raise the rest. Hamilton County Commissioners will vote Wednesday on a development agreement to set construction rules and get the project going. 

• A letter sent from the city to streetcar company CAF USA questioning the expected delay of the cars has gone unanswered. Last week, it was announced that Cincinnati would not be getting the first four or five streetcars from CAF USA by the Sept. 17 deadline. This could delay the massive, controversial project’s Sept. 15 opening and has left City Chief Procurement Officer Patrick Duhaney “deeply frustrated,” according to a letter obtained by the Cincinnati Enquirer. The Elmira Heights, New York company is under contract to build the cars for nearly $21 million and is to pay a fine of $1,000 for every day Cincinnati has to spend waiting for the cars to show up. 

• The Ohio Board of Professional Conduct, the state Supreme Court’s ethics panel, has ruled that Ohio judges who perform marriages cannot refuse to perform gay weddings based on “personal, moral or religious objections.” The panel reached the decision on Monday after it received requests for guidance following the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic ruling June 26 to overturn the ban on same sex marriage. A few Ohio judges, mostly in smaller counties, have refused to perform same-sex weddings. The ruling stated concern that judges who refused to perform these marriages could be seen as less than impartial by the public, and those who refuse could be breaking their oath of office and could face ethics violations.

• Cincinnati City Councilman Chris Seelbach has called on Gov. John Kasich to introduce legislation to prohibit discrimination against LGBT Ohioans when it comes to employment and housing. During the Fox News debate last Thursday, Kasich said he attended a gay wedding and called on LGBT Americans to be treated with respect. Ohio State Rep. Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood) says she plans to introduce non-discrimination legislation into the next General Assembly. While some Ohio municipalities have enacted LGBT non-discrimation laws, there has yet to be statewide legislation passed.