Hello all. Hope your weekend was fantastic and you got out to enjoy the unseasonably warm weather (thanks climate change!) I spent a good portion of my Saturday at an outdoor beer garden eating copious amounts of goettawurst and pretzels at something called Mustard Club, so I’m good now. But now it’s Monday and there’s no goettawurst or pretzels or half-liters of dark beer at CityBeat’s office, so I guess that means it’s news time. Let’s get to it.
Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley is set to announce 10 endorsements this morning from local politicians, according to a news release from his office. Cranley’s fellow Democrats Vice Mayor David Mann, County Commissioners Todd Portune and Denise Driehaus, Coroner Lakshmi Sammarco, Sheriff Jim Neil, Auditor Dusty Rhodes and State Rep. Brigid Kelly are all endorsing Cranley, as are Charterite Councilmember Kevin Flynn, conservative-leaning independent Councilmember Christopher Smitherman and former city health commissioner O’dell Owens. Notably absent from this list is big Cranley ally Councilman Charlie Winburn. Winburn has been one of Cranley’s biggest boosters on Council. Is he holding back because he’s a Republican? Or because he’s still mulling a mayoral run of his own? Also absent from the list are the rest of Council’s Democrats, including (obviously) Yvette Simpson, who is running against Cranley.
• Cincinnati Parks needs more than $60 million for various repairs, but the source of that money isn’t immediately clear. The looming rehab needs, including crumbling steps, shuttered park shelters and other undone maintenance came up in 2015 during debate about a parks tax levy proposed by Mayor John Cranley. Voters rejected that levy, which would have created a permanent amendment to the city’s charter and given the mayor unprecedented power over the money. During the debate, Cincinnati City Councilmembers promised to find another funding source for the needed repairs — but so far, that hasn’t happened. Outgoing Parks Director Willie Carden doesn’t fault the city for the lack of funding, saying he understands there are limited resources available. Still, parks officials say they need about $4 million a year to begin tackling repair needs at various city parks. The repair backlog has arisen even as the city’s parks department has proposed and launched some ambitious projects, including the multi-million dollar Smale Riverfront Park and other big initiatives.
• A renovation project on a historic four-unit apartment building near Washington Park that once held non-profit the Joseph House looks primed to receive more than $50,000 in tax incentives from the city. The property at 1207 Elm Street is undergoing a $1.2 million rehab by BAM Realty Group, which dived into the project partially because of its proximity to the streetcar. The group will contribute 15 percent of the tax savings it will receive from city tax abatements toward streetcar operating costs.
• Video of a lone protester who interrupted a speech by U.S. Rep. Brad Wenstrup at a recent Clermont County Chamber of Commerce meeting has gone viral. Wenstrup, filling in for a scheduled appearance by U.S. Sen. Rob Portman at the event Friday, was delivering a speech about his opposition to President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act when a woman yelled, “Obamacare saved my life” over him. Wenstrup paused for a just a few seconds as the woman was removed from the room, then continued with his speech. An NBC reporter captured and tweeted the protest, which took off on social media. A number of protesters supporting the ACA lined up outside the gathering, holding signs and chanting. It’s the latest of a number of national incidents in which Republican lawmakers at otherwise routine events across the country have been met with protesters angry about a proposed rollback of the ACA and other items on President Donald Trump’s agenda.
• If you read our little blog post Friday about Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel’s increased Twitter activity, you know Mandel’s taken a distinctly Trumpian turn in his quest to take U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s seat in 2018. Now, Mandel’s taken another page from The Donald’s playbook: appointing former Trump campaigners to be his Senate campaign leaders in all 88 Ohio counties. That move comes unusually early as Mandel reprises his 2012 campaign against Brown, which didn’t go so well. Mandel got just 45 percent of the vote in that race. This time, he’s getting out ahead of the game, locking down supporters who might otherwise go to another contestant in a potential Republican primary contest. Among those potential challengers are U.S. Rep. Pat Tiberi, who is closely aligned with Gov. John Kasich. That potential contest would once again pit Trump’s Ohio folks against Kasich loyalists. Kasich has been a vocal opponent of the Republican president after running against him in the GOP presidential primary.
• Speaking of Kasich, it’s looking like he’ll hold this year’s State of the State Address in Sandusky to honor the city’s 200th anniversary. In past years, the governor has taken the speech to Steubenville, Lima, Medina, Wilmington and Marietta in efforts to branch out beyond Columbus. The speech, the second to last Kasich will make before leaving the governor’s office, will take place April 4.
