[WINNER]
PRICE HILL: The hillside neighborhood that overlooks downtown to the west is making a rebound after years of suffering due to bad policy decisions by bureaucrats. Crime reported in the East, West and Lower Price Hill areas took a steep 20.2 percent drop in the first six months of 2011 compared to the same period a year ago, according to statistics compiled by Cincinnati Police. When the three areas are combined, major crimes reported this year through July 16 are lower than they were at the same time last year, and are lower than the average crime rates for the last three years. Individually, East and West Price Hill were each down in three of the four crime categories and Lower Price Hill was down in two. Price Hill has the largest number of volunteers who participate in the Citizens on Patrol and Block Watch programs than anywhere else in the city, and that civic pride is paying off nicely.
[LOSER]
GREEN TOWNSHIP: Township trustees filed a lawsuit Aug. 1 in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court alleging the region’s housing agency is unlawfully retaliating against the community via its policy actions. Trustees say the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority’s decision to add 32 publicly subsidized housing units there over the next few years was done solely to punish township resident Arnold Barnett, a former CMHA board member who was found by federal officials to have illegally stirred housing away from the township while he sat on the board. Green Township has 27 subsidized units, and the action would increase the amount to 59 units. Yep, you read that correctly: Just 59 units in a township with 56,000 residents. “Green Township does not discriminate,” Trustee Tracy Winkler told The Enquirer. “We should not be discriminated against.” You poor, oppressed dears. We hope this frivolous lawsuit is tossed, and tossed quickly.
[WINNER]
PARTNERS IN PRIME: The Hamilton-based nonprofit group that delivers meals to homebound senior citizens and provides them with transportation to medical appointments is getting some well-deserved help. It recently was named a winner of Toyota’s “100 Cars for Good” program, a philanthropy project from the automaker that is awarding 100 cars to 100 U.S. nonprofits during the course of 100 days. Partners in Prime will receive a new Toyota Prius, which will be used in its Meals on Wheels efforts. The agency was selected as one of 500 finalists from thousands of applications nationwide and picked as a winner through a public vote on Facebook. Public voting began May 9 and continues for 100 consecutive days. Each day, five organizations are profiled on the Facebook page and voters may vote for the nonprofit they feel is most deserving. A vehicle will be awarded each day through Aug. 16. Additional details are available at www.carsforgood.com.
[LOSER]
TEA PARTY: Specifically, the Campbell County Tea Party in Northern Kentucky. Like most Tea Party groups across the nation, the chapter’s misguided anger focuses on government rather than on the largess bestowed on corporations that don’t pay their fair share. “Our elected officials have created an out of control spending and regulating machine, which has squashed entrepreneurship, and innovation while creating a class of Americans dependent on entitlements,” is the group’s mantra. Nevertheless, it meets twice a month — and free of charge — at the Campbell County Administration Building, a facility paid for with taxpayer dollars. Nothing like a little government handout. We wonder if county officials also would allow progressive and Far Left groups to use the space? By the way, be sure to attend the Sept. 22 meeting, if you can. It features a guest speaker from the John Birch Society. Maybe he can tell us how fluoridated water is a Communist plot.
