Alright alright… here’s the deal today.
City Council voted unanimously last night to fund Cincy Bike Share, which means in the next few months you should be able to get on (someone else’s) bike and ride. No word on prices for rentals just yet. Here's more on that, plus council's tiff over bike paths.
Also of import, though probably not nearly as exciting — council voted to raise water rates four percent. The money will go to shore up the city's water works, which have been losing revenue.
• A federal court handed down a big victory for voting rights advocates yesterday when it ruled that Ohio must maintain three days of early voting. U.S. District Court Judge Peter Economus ruled that the state must provide voting the Saturday, Sunday and Monday before election day. Democrats have been fighting state laws and orders from the secretary of state that they say unfairly affect urban minority voters.
In 2012, the Republican-controlled state legislature voted to eliminate weekend early voting, though a lawsuit by Democrats, including the Obama campaign, led to that law being overturned. Earlier this year, however, Ohio Secretary of State John Husted, a Republican, adopted a voting schedule that eliminated Sunday early voting. The schedule was put together by the bipartisan Ohio Association of Election Officials. Democrats say the elimination of Sunday voting disadvantages inner-city black voters, many of whom are organized by urban churches that provide transportation to polling places on Sundays before elections.
• Cincinnati is getting bigger. But just a tiny bit. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that the city, which had been losing population for decades, has gained about 1,000 new people since 2010. That’s just a blip in the city’s population of nearly 300,000, but the census data seems to show the city has gained for two years in a row, meaning at least it’s heading in the right direction. So that tiny gain is big news.
Of course, Cincy’s tiny .25 percent annual growth rate is dwarfed by some other cities, including Columbus, which has grown about 1.5 percent annually. Meanwhile, cities like Austin, Texas have been posting up to 6 percent growth rates in the past few years. Something like 25 people move to Austin in an average day. Imagine how hard it would be to get LumenoCity tickets if that were the case in Cincinnati.
• Speaking of the light show, The Cincinnati Museum Center and marketing firm Landor are working on a LumenoCity-like event at Union Terminal in September. Plans aren’t finalized yet, but organizers hope to nail things down soon.
• And speaking of Union Terminal (look at these segues today!), Hamilton County Commissioners have given the green light to a public hearing on proposals to raise sales taxes in order to come up with the funds to renovate the former train station and Music Hall. They’ll hold the hearing next month. It will include a presentation by the Cultural Facilities Task Force, a group of 22 area business leaders who are recommending putting the tax on the ballot. Both buildings are highly historic and iconic in the city. Union Terminal, the Western Hemisphere’s largest semi-dome building, is renowned for its unique Art Deco construction. It’s also rumored to be the model for The Hall of Justice, which appears in DC’s Batman, Superman, and other comics, so there’s that. And Music Hall… well, just look at that amazing piece of 1878 gothic architecture. Place is crazy awesome looking. The buildings need about $275 million in repairs, though county commissioners would probably try to get $150 million from the tax increase. Some $34 million has already been raised through private donors.
• In national news, the race is on for ousted House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's job. Cantor got beat in his primary by tea partier David Brat and has subsequently resigned his post as majority leader. This matters because Cantor has been a big driver of the House's dysfunction, helping to push the war over Obamacare past the brink and into government shutdown last fall. Though Cantor has struggled with his party's far right wing (obviously, since they kicked him out of office), whoever takes his place will inherit similar power over the rowdy, rowdy Republican House. And there are some pretty hardline applicants for the job. Oh great.
• Finally, love is a destructive thing. You know that touristy thing couples do where they lock a padlock to a bridge in Europe to show they're everlastingly committed to each other and all that gross stuff? I guess no one ever really goes back and cuts their lock off when they break up, and thus, all that weight collapsed a bridge in Paris. There's a depressing metaphor somewhere in there, but I'll let you find it.
