rebuked a conservative group
that asked him to sue the city of Cincinnati over changes made to the city’s parking lease without City Council’s explicit approval. Curp wrote in a letter that the two changes disputed by the Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes (COAST) were within the lease’s terms and only made because COAST’s previous lawsuit forced the city to delay leasing its parking meters, lots and garages to the Greater Cincinnati Port Authority. If COAST hadn’t pursued the lawsuit, the city would have been able to continue with the original timetable for the parking lease.
Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls yesterday
unveiled a motion
calling for the first expansion of local disclosure and reporting requirements since 1997 that would impose new rules on city officials, lobbyists and contractors and require the city administration to post the disclosed information on the city’s website. Qualls said in a statement that the update is particularly timely because the Metropolitan Sewer District is taking on a federally mandated $3.2 billion, 15-year reworking of the city’s sewers, which will presumably involve many lobbyists trying to get lucrative contracts for businesses they represent.
New poll results from Public Policy Polling (PPP) show Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald
beating Gov. John Kasich
38-35 percent in the 2014 election. Kasich’s approval rating now stands at 42-47 percent, down 10 points from November. Most respondents still seem unaware of FitzGerald, with 62 percent saying they aren’t sure if they have a favorable or unfavorable view of him. PPP is affiliated with Democrats, but the polling firm performed well in the 2012 presidential race and, if anything,
favored Republicans with its results
.
Hop On Cincinnati is asking the Hamilton County Transportation Improvement District to
support a trackless trolley
that the group says could live alongside the Cincinnati streetcar. The trolley, estimated to cost $10 million to $15 million, would be similar to the system in Northern Kentucky, and each route would run past major garages to allow people to park before getting on board. If the Hamilton County Transportation Improvement District gives the project approval, it could get federal funding.
upset with SoMoLend
, the crowdfunding incubator that has been targeted by a state investigation with accusations of fraud. Critics of the company say that the allegations could hurt future crowdfunding pursuits and harm the state. Shortly after the charges came to light, the city of Cincinnati announced it would
cut ties with SoMoLend
, which partnered with the city to connect small businesses and startups with up to $400,000 in loans.
Ohio is the seventh worst state for debt, according to a recent study from
NerdWallet.com
.
The number of low-income Ohio children in Head Start, the early education program, will
drop by more than 1,800
following automatic spending cuts at the federal level.
CityBeat previously covered the cuts
here
.
Ohio’s top waterways watchdog is
stepping down from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency
after his boss and Kasich asked him to step down. Kasich was apparently angered by an email in which George Elmaraghy, chief of the Ohio EPA’s division of surface water, told his staff that the coal industry wants permits that would damage the state’s streams and wetlands and break state and federal laws.
criticizing a “stand your ground” bill
currently sitting in the Ohio legislature. The self-defense law has been scrutinized because of George Zimmerman, a Florida resident who was acquitted of murder in the shooting of unarmed black 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. Many people blame Florida’s “stand your ground” law, which expands self-defense rights, for Martin’s death. Zimmerman’s legal defense team didn’t invoke the law, but the judge involved in the case mentioned it in her jury instructions.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine
says some school safety plans would be “useless”
during a real shooting because they’re too long and complicated.
Ohio is releasing school report cards this week, but the standards may be
biased against income and racial diversity
.
Cincinnati-based Macy’s stocks
plunged
last week, alongside other Cincinnati stocks and the rest of the market.
Renowned “Star Trek” actor George Takei will
lead Cincinnati in the Chicken Dance
at Oktoberfest this year.
made from meteorites
.
This article appears in Aug 14-20, 2013.