Court Allows JobsOhio Documents to Remain Secret
The Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously dismissed a request to compel JobsOhio to disclose various documents. The court argued the Republican-controlled General Assembly largely exempted JobsOhio from public records law and therefore allowed the agency to keep most of its inner workings secret. The decision was a major loss for advocacy group ProgressOhio, which…
Watch P.G. Sittenfeld Pwn John Cranley
By all accounts, yesterday’s special council session to discuss the Cincinnati streetcar was long and contentious, more than 60 streetcar supporters pleading with an indignant Mayor John Cranley and newly elected council members still spouting campaign-trail anti-streetcar rhetoric. After the meeting, Cranley dismissed an offer by major philanthropy organization The Carol Ann and Ralph V.…
Morning News and Stuff
Mayor John Cranley and a majority of City Council appear ready to pause the $132.8 million streetcar project on Wednesday after moving forward yesterday with 11 ordinances that aren’t susceptible to referendum. The bills allocate $1.25 million to stop contracts tied to the project and hire expert consultants to study what it would cost to…
City Appears Ready to Pause Streetcar Project
Mayor John Cranley and a majority of City Council appear ready to halt Cincinnati’s $132.8 million streetcar project on Wednesday — and voters might not get a final say on whether they approve of the pause. In front of council are 11 ordinances totaling $1.25 million that would stop contracts tied to the streetcar project…
Federal Government Restricts Streetcar Grants
Federal grants for the $132.8 million streetcar project are on hold until City Council votes to continue the project, according to a Dec. 2 email from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to Cincinnati officials. The decision means Cincinnati can no longer tap into $44.9 million in federal grants until Mayor John Cranley and a majority…
Black Friday Is the Worst
Marking the beginning of the holiday shopping season, Black Friday is easily the most disgusting bastardization of what a holiday is. Let’s start with a brief history of where Black Friday began. This day has been a grotesque part of the holiday season here in America for years. Notably, in 1939 President Franklin D. Roosevelt…
Meeting Aunt Jemima
Once in a blue moon, and that blue moon can take years to come around, I feel like eating pancakes. I felt like it a few Saturday mornings ago. I didn’t have any pancake mix in my kitchen, so I walked to the Kroger store here on Madison Avenue in Covington, Ky. I purchased some…
Morning News and Stuff
Mayor John Cranley and the new City Council were sworn in yesterday. Two days prior to the ceremony, Cranley announced his appointments for council committees that play a crucial role in passing legislation through City Hall, but the choices were not without controversy as Cranley, a Democrat, snubbed members of his own party for the…
WATCH: The MidPoint Sessions featuring Molly Sullivan
So far, the videos released from The Queen City Project’s series of clips from The MidPoint Sessions (a day party that took place at the Art Academy during September’s MidPoint Music Festival) have showcased three great Ohio acts — Athens’ The Ridges (also the curators of the Sessions), Cincinnati’s The Happy Maladies and Columbus’ Indigo…
CAF USA Warns of Streetcar Cancellation Costs
The company in charge of building Cincinnati's streetcars says the city would incur substantial costs if it cancels the streetcar project after it's already gone through some construction and design work. The Nov. 30 letter from CAF USA Vice President Virginia Verdeja to former Mayor Mark Mallory arrived just one day before Mayor John Cranley,…
Hundreds Walk Streetcar Line in Support of Project
Several hundred people from various local neighborhoods on Sunday gathered at Washington Park and walked along the planned streetcar route to show their support for Cincinnati's $132.8 million streetcar project. The rally preceded a City Council vote planned for Dec. 2 that would pause the streetcar project as the freshly sworn-in city government reviews the…
Cranley, New City Council Take Office
Mayor John Cranley and the new City Council were officially sworn in on Sunday after nearly a month of contentious political battles that effectively doomed the parking privatization plan and put the $132.8 million streetcar project in danger. Cranley was joined by three newcomers to City Council — Kevin Flynn, David Mann and Amy Murray…
Stage Door: Holidays Are Here
OK, the holidays are officially here. If you have any strength left after shopping last night and all day today, there are numerous theatrical offerings to consider. On Wednesday night, I attended the opening of a musical version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, a touring production at the Aronoff through Sunday. I suspect most everyone knows the…
Curmudgeon Notes 11.27.13
Patrick J. Sloyan reconstructed Merriman Smith’s Pulitzer-winning UPI reporting of JFK’s assassination for the May, 1997, American Journalism Review. He also retold how UPI handled the story minute by minute. It’s at arlingtoncemetery.net/albertme . I was at UPI then and I knew the story of how, after gunfire in Dallas, Smitty refused to share the…
Morning News & Stuff
The Cincinnati Enquirer abruptly changed its tone about the streetcar project yesterday, writing in an editorial that the city should continue the project and leaving the newspaper on the opposite side of Mayor-elect John Cranley on the two main issues of the campaign it endorsed just weeks ago. Fourteen months after publishing an editorial against…
