Good morning all. Here’s your news today as we inch closer to the weekend.
City Democrats have settled on the official slates they’re endorsing for the 2017 Cincinnati City Council and Cincinnati Public School Board elections. This year’s field of candidates has been very crowded — you’ll see some names you probably recognize and won’t see others you probably know. The Cincinnati Democratic Committee oversees the party here in the city and last night at a meeting to determine endorsements tapped nine Council candidates and four school board candidates without much debate.
Council incumbents P.G. Sittenfeld, Chris Seelbach, Wendell Young and Vice Mayor David Mann got the nod, as did candidates Tamaya Dennard, Michelle Dillingham, Lesley Jones, Greg Landsman and Ozie Davis. Dennard is a former Sittenfeld staffer who now works for Design Impact, a social-change organization downtown. Dillingham is a long-time education and housing activist. Jones is the former executive director of the Cincinnati Human Relations Commission and pastor of Truth and Destiny Covenant Ministries in Northside. Landsman most recently helped successfully steer the city’s Preschool Promise levy to a big victory with voters. Ozie Davis is a long-time community activist with the Avondale Comprehensive Development Corporation. Among higher-profile Dems missing from the list — former City Councilmember Laure Quinlivan, who was an reporter with WCPO before her time on Council from 2009 to 2013. Also absent is challenger Derek Bauman, a vocal transit activist, former suburban police officer and one of Mayor John Cranley’s more vocal critics.
The Cincinnati Democratic Committee also endorsed candidates Ryan Messer, Mike Moroski and Renee Hevia for school board, as well as incumbent candidate Ericka Copeland-Dansby.
• In other city election news, there’s another mayoral debate coming up today at noon being streamed by The Cincinnati Enquirer and Fox 19. Will candidates Mayor John Cranley, Councilwoman Yvette Simpson and former University of Cincinnati Board Chair Rob Richardson outline some detailed policy proposals at this debate? Or will we hear more about the streetcar and the ways in which the candidates don’t like each other again? We’ll find out.This is the last mayoral debate before the May 2 primary, when one candidate will be voted off mayoral campaign island.
• Here’s a shocker: If you owe back taxes on your property, the county can take it from you. That’s not really news — it’s kind of how owning property works — but what is new is the amount of time some property owners have to make good on back taxes before the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority scoops up your land. After the Great Recession left scores of vacant properties in some Cincinnati neighborhoods, state lawmakers approved an expedited foreclosure process, which allows entities like the Port Authority to seize properties in six months rather than a year. The Port has started using this measure more often in neighborhoods where it says it can make a difference. The Port tried to take 127 properties this way last year — up from around 30 in 2014. That has some property owners who owe thousands of dollars in back taxes on investment properties — as well as conservative property rights groups — upset. Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune has also questioned the practice, saying he’s against the practice if it takes property from people who have fallen on hard times. The Port says it works with property owners to help them avoid foreclosure and that it focuses on abandoned and blighted properties in neighborhoods where someone could fix them up. The examples given in this article are people who own multiple properties they’re waiting to flip for a profit, but some groups also express concern that houses belonging to deceased family members, especially African-American families in black neighborhoods, could also be seized under the process.
• Let’s go back to CPS for a second. The district is very close to naming the person who will replace retiring current Superintendent Mary Ronan at the end of the year. So far, CPS has narrowed down its search to two candidates: current Deputy Superintendent Laura Mitchell and Andre Spencer, a district superintendent from Colorado. The two were picked from a slate of 58 candidates from 40 states. The job, which pays $198,000 a year, involves overseeing a district with 35,000 students and a $542 million budget that is getting ready to implement a huge, $48 million-a-year levy to boost CPS and extend preschool to more students citywide. The new superintendent will also step into the role at a time when CPS is receiving criticism for the way in which it communicates with various communities it serves. So, no pressure or anything.
• I’ll be taking a bus down to the Carnegie in Covington tomorrow to see a really rad art show, and as I do, I’ll be thinking about this next bit of news and people who rely on those buses every day. The Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky, which operates buses in Newport, Covington and other Greater Cincinnati areas, could drop several bus routes as lower ridership cuts into funds for the service. Of particular concern is TANK’s No. 20 route, which passes from downtown Cincinnati through impoverished parts of Newport, including Newport’s west end. Despite the fact that ridership has dropped by 2 percent, or about 100,000 riders, in the last year, many still depend on that route to get to work and other essential destinations, residents and social service agencies say. TANK officials say the lower ridership has been caused by lower gas prices, which have encouraged more people to drive instead of taking the bus.
• State lawmakers are looking to put extra oversight into spending on marketing efforts made by state departments after an ad campaign by Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel’s office raised questions. Last December, Mandel featured himself along with Ohio State University football coach Urban Meyer in ads for a savings account for people with Down syndrome. Shortly after those ads, he announced he was running for U.S. Senate. The ads featuring Mandel cost taxpayers $1.7 million. Normally, that expenditure would have triggered a review by the Ohio Controlling Board, but Mandel paid for them in increments just under $50,000 — the threshold at which the Board gets involved. Now, language tucked into the upcoming state budget by lawmakers would make any expenditure over $50,000 — regardless of how many installments it was made in — subject to the Board’s scrutiny.
• Finally, even Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican whose party has greatly benefited from gerrymandering, says he hates it. The practice, which redraws congressional and state house districts to the advantage of one party or the other, further polarizes our already politically fractured country, Kasich told the Business Insider yesterday. In Ohio, Republicans got 58 percent of the votes cast for U.S. House candidates — but those votes got them 75 percent of the state’s seats, thanks to the way districts are drawn.
This article appears in Apr 26 – May 3, 2017.
