Hello all. Here’s a quick news rundown for your rainy Thursday perusal.
Attorneys for the City of Cincinnati have filed an appeal seeking to prevent the release of text messages sent between individual Cincinnati City Council members. The appeal is related to a lawsuit by conservative activist Mark Miller and his attorney Brian Shrive, members of the Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes. Miller is seeking the text messages because he alleges that five Democrats on council — Tamaya Dennard, Greg Landsman, Chris Seelbach, P.G. Sittenfeld and Wendell Young — violated open meetings laws when they sent texts among themselves in response to the firing of now-former City Manager Harry Black this spring. Texts between all five council members have already been released.
But last week, Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Robert Ruehlman ordered texts that do not include all five members from the beginning of 2018 forward should also be released to Miller and Shrive. The city is appealing that decision, citing a separate case before the First District Court of Appeals that is being fought concurrently over whether the texts even constitute public records.
The situation has created a tense atmosphere at City Hall. Landsman and Councilman Christopher Smitherman tangled over the issue yesterday at council’s weekly meeting, where council voted to end private legal representation for council members and use the city solicitor’s office. The private lawyers were needed because opposing sides of council were tied up in the lawsuit, creating potential conflicts for the solicitor’s office.
Earlier in the week, Smitherman called his colleagues “evil” because former Democratic council candidate Derek Bauman attempted to intervene in Miller’s lawsuit to include Smitherman in the case. Smitherman had responded to texts among all nine council members and Black, something Bauman said also violates open meeting laws. If the five council members named in Miller’s suit must release their messages, Bauman argued, all council members should. Ruehlman declined Bauman’s request, however, saying he would need to file a separate suit. That ruling ended the need for private counsel for council members.
Landsman pushed back on Smitherman’s remarks yesterday.
“Mr. Smitherman is my colleague, not my enemy. I am not evil. It’s important to say this has gone too far,” he said.
Smitherman didn’t repeat his accusation that Landsman and other council Democrats are evil, but also didn’t retract his statement. He cited his wife, who has potentially-fatal cancer.
“Anybody in this time defining me as their colleague — and understanding just a little of what’s happening in my life — would not be political and try to bring me into litigation that my family has to personally defend,” he said. “That to me is outrageous.”
• After just four months leading the United Way of Greater Cincinnati, CEO Michael Johnson will leave that position, the organization announced yesterday. Earlier this week, news came out that Johnson was on leave from UWGC to “spend more time with his family.” Johnson, meanwhile, alleged he was suffering from a hostile work environment and “subtle threats” from UWGC Board Chair Julia Poston.
Leaders in Cincinnati’s black community quickly blasted the situation in an editorial in The Cincinnati Enquirer, declaring it another instance in which a black leader in Cincinnati faced unfair opposition and hostility.
“It is judgment time in Cincinnati, and we stand at opportunity’s door and request that the United Way of Greater Cincinnati board walk the walk of equity and inclusion,” wrote Black United Front’s Iris Roley, Cincinnati Public School Board member Ozie Davis and Vanessa Y. White, chief of staff for City Councilman Greg Landsman. “It is time to behave differently. It is time to take a stance that clearly exemplifies that THIS is not just the loss of yet another black leader without taking responsibility for its role in the demise. The United Way should distance itself from its current board chair. How is the complainant distanced from his job when the accused is not? That’s not equity!”
UWGC yesterday released a statement saying that the organization and Johnson were parting ways amicably. In that statement, UWGC praised Johnson and denied any threats or hostility.
“Following his 100-day review, United Way did not ask Michael to resign and was surprised to learn of his allegations through his email to the Board,” that statement read. “The claims of discrimination don’t represent what United Way stands for and it will stand by its actions and those of Julia Poston, a volunteer with a longstanding track record for her work with United Way and the communities it serves.”
Johnson, who left a role heading up the Madison, Wisconsin Boys and Girls Club for the leadership position at UWGC, will return to his former position, according to local news reports there.
• Earlier this year, several low-income Census tracts in Cincinnati were designated “Opportunity Zones,” or places in which investors could pour money from their capital gains in exchange for big tax breaks. But will that program, created as part of congressional Republicans’ tax cut legislation last year, actually help low-income residents in those neighborhoods? We delve into that question in our news feature this week, which you can read here.
• A popular park in Over-the-Rhine will be demolished and rebuilt, the City of Cincinnati says. Findlay Playground is a meeting place for many in the northern part of OTR around Findlay Market, but police, citing 19 shootings near the park in the past two years, say it is also a high-crime area that needs to be changed. That’s controversial with some in the neighborhood — past park renovations schemes have been seen by some residents as elements of neighborhood change that welcome wealthier residents. Cincinnati Recreation Commission officials say the park will close Nov. 19, and that after that, the city will work with the other entities to demolish and rebuild. Prior to the park’s closure, the city plans to engage in outreach efforts for park users and public input sessions to gather suggestions for the new park. CRC says the park should reopen by summer next year.
Note: an earlier version of this blurb summarized information from the Channel 12 story linked above that was not accurate. The Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation is not officially involved in the Findlay Playground project at this time, a 3CDC spokesperson says.
• The results are in for increased traffic enforcement efforts undertaken by Cincinnati Police over the past couple weeks. Those ramped-up efforts across a number of Cincinnati neighborhoods with high volumes of complaints about bad drivers netted 620 speeding violations, 52 other moving violations, 20 seatbelt violations, 79 driving under suspension citations and a grand total of two pedestrian citations. The enforcement blitz comes after repeated complaints about traffic safety and high-profile pedestrian deaths due to drivers in several Cincinnati neighborhoods. Westwood had the most violations, according to Cincinnati Police.
• Democratic congressional hopeful Aftab Pureval’s campaign manager and two key staff members are out just days before voters decide between him and Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot. Pureval’s campaign has struggled under allegations from conservative activists that led to a hearing today before the Ohio Elections Commission that included now-departed campaign manager Sarah Topy. You can read more about shakeups in Pureval’s campaign staff in our story here.
• A federal appeals court has issued an injunction that will allow Ohio residents purged from the state’s voter registration rolls to cast provisional ballots. It’s the latest legal twist in a years-long battle between Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted — a conservative who supports the state’s practice — and groups aligned with the Democratic Party who say it unfairly disenfranchises Democratic voters. You can read more in our story here.
• Want to sound off about cuts to Hamilton County services like public safety, economic development and addiction treatment? You’ll get your first chance tonight at 6:30 p.m. at the Sharonville Convention Center during a Hamilton County Commissioners meeting about the county’s budget. That spending plan includes $20 million in cuts due to decreasing funding from the state’s local government fund. Those cuts and other factors have crashed the county’s budget — even though the economy is booming. The dire financial outlook led Democratic commissioners Todd Portune and Denise Driehaus to pass a .2 percent sales tax increase earlier this year to shore up the county’s fiscal house and avoid the cuts. But conservative groups mounted a ballot initiative to challenge that tax hike, and commissioners withdrew it. The county saw similar cuts a decade ago during the Great Recession, but there aren’t as many places to trim now. The funding situation could have long-term implications if solutions aren’t found, Hamilton County Administrator Jeff Aluotto says.
“The entire impact of the budget is going to be felt throughout 2019 and then, if there’s no correction, through 2020 as well,” he says.
This article appears in Oct 31 – Nov 7, 2018.