Tuesday, March 4 2014

Cranley: Not Another Dollar for 4th and Race Deal

Following lots of momentum from city council and former Mayor Mark Mallory, the deal to construct a new high-rise apartment complex on the corner of Fourth and Race streets appears to be stalled, if not dead completely. Mayor John Cranley has opposed any further relocation negotiations with Paragon Salons, the remaining tenant who's lease runs through 2017. If the deal does fall through, that will leave the city on the hook for maintenance repairs to Pogue's garage, which will reportedly come in higher than the cost to relocate Paragon.
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Sittenfeld is Ready for Some High-Speed Internet

Councilman Sittenfeld and other tech startup executives are working to bring Google Fiber to Cincinnati. The service, which is reportedly up to 100 times faster than normal broadband service, is up for grabs thanks to a national contest which will declare the next hi-speed, municipal benefactor. The winning city will be announced by the end of 2014.
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Ohio Meth Abuse Has Reached Epidemic Proportions

Ohio Police have found 315 methamphetamine labs since October 2013, a pace that is set to break the record set in 2009 when 348 were found. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said meth abuse has hit epidemic proportions in the state, most notably in rural areas. Southwest Ohio counties Highland, Clermont and Fairfield are all reporting a jump in meth lab seizures.
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Christian Moerlein’s Head Brewer Resigns

After helping setup Christian Moerlein’s brewing and lager house, head brewer Richard Dubé is leaving the company effective immediately. Dubé’s recipes are the base for every beer produced by Christian Moerlein after it started brewing all of its own beers. Dubé was recently promoted to Vice President of Brewing Operations after helping launch Moerlein’s OTR production facility. Modern-day beer baron and Moerlien CEO Greg Hardman said he wishes Richard “the best of luck as he pursues other endeavors.”
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Winter Storms Prove Costly for County

In the wake of yet another winter storm, the Cincinnati Department of Public Services said it was almost $4.7 million over budget this winter. Close to $1 million was spent on overtime for snow plow drivers and maintenance workers while another $2.8 million was spent for extra salt supplies. The county has gone through about 22,000 tons of salt so far this winter.
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Thursday, March 6 2014

Bockfest Begins Friday

Cincinnati’s Bockfest kicks off its 22nd year in Over-the-Rhine this weekend replete with goats, a sausage queen and plenty of beer. Organizers are expanding the venue this year by adding a large tent across from Bockfest Hall that will nearly double the size. The Enquirer has a schedule of the weekend’s festivities and also five tips from the reigning Sausage Queen.
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P&G: Protesters Had Help Getting into the Building

In case you hadn't heard, Cincinnati's highest-profile corporate headquarters was the subject of a crazy stunt this week, staged by fearless protesters. Greenpeace activists now stand accused of illicitly gaining access to the global headquarters and unfurling huge banners with catchy slogans targeting some of P&G's products and operations. According to security, the protesters had help in gaining access to the building. Now, much to the chagrin of Greenpeace, everybody's talking about the security implications as opposed to the intended subject: the sustainable sourcing of palm oil.
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City & County Still Can’t Get It’s Act Together on Sewer System Work

Without no deal on the horizon, the responsible bidder ordinance saga continues. It will take 18 months to complete the federally mandated work on the city's sewer system and unless they get started soon, the city and county could be facing fines of up to $1,000 a day. MSD, the organization responsible for completing the work, wants the ordinance suspended but the council has not yet been able to secure the votes necessary to do so.
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Casino Has Not Increased Crime Downtown

Opponents of gambling and the introduction of new casino's always argue about the implications of crime on the surrounding community, but according to a new report by WVXU, that hasn't been a problem for Horseshoe Casino in it's first year of operation. The Cincinnati Police Commander for the Business Sector says that while the general perception of safety downtown isn't great, that's not a realistic view.
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4th and Race Apartment Developer Offers Assistance

Plans are in works to help move Paragon Salons, the tenant who is holding up a $97 million downtown development deal, from Pogue’s garage. The developer behind the proposed 30-story, 300-luxury apartment building agreed to step-in and cover some of the salon’s relocation and rebuilding costs. Paragon’s lease expires in the garage in 2017 and the salon currently employs 36 people and serves close to 500 customers per week. The salon recently filed a lawsuit in Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas against the city to allow it to stay in its current location until their lease expires.
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Tuesday, March 11 2014

Is Renewable Energy Worth $5 Per Household, Per Year?

Is Cincinnati going less green this year? That seems like a likely scenario, should interim City Manager Scott Stiles get his way. In effort to reduce household costs by roughly $5 over the course of the year, Stiles has decided to buy conventional, fossil-fuel energy over renewable energy via the city's electric aggregation program. This is a disappointing decision as Cincinnati has made some significant strides in reducing greenhouse gases in recent years.
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Local LGBT Group Snubbed Again for St. Patrick’s Day Parade

After being denied a spot in 2013’s St. Patrick’s Day parade, a local gay education group wasn’t allowed to apply for this year’s parade. The Gay Lesbian & Straight Education Network’s co-chair said the application form to participate wasn’t posted on the parade’s website and organizers never returned GLSEN’s phone calls. The parade starts this Saturday at noon at Eggleston Street south of Gilbert Avenue.
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Hold on, Google. Cincinnati Bell To Offer High-Speed Internet, Too

Hot on the heels of City Hall’s recent push to persuade Google to bring its high-speed Fiber network to Cincinnati, Cincinnati Bell plans to offer gigabit internet speeds to small businesses in June and residential customers by September. Cincinnati Bell’s Fioptics Internet package currently offers speeds at 10 megabits per second compared to the 1,000 megabit speed gigabit internet provides. Cincinnati Bell also hopes to expand Fioptics coverage to 70 percent of the Cincinnati area by 2017.
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Lyft and Uber Coming to Cincinnati Soon

Trying to hail a cab in Cincinnati can be an effort in futility. Thankfully two ridesharing companies — Uber and Lyft — are coming to town soon. The companies have been staples in larger cities for a few years now, but recently have been showing up in other Ohio cities such as Columbus and Cleveland. There’s no set date for when the companies will arrive, although both have been posting jobs on their websites for the Cincinnati area.
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Brandery Among Top 10 Seed Accelerators at SXSW

The Brandery, a startup incubator located in Over the Rhine is helping to put Cincinnati in the spotlight at SXSW Interactive. The conference which ends today, is located in Austin, TX and has become the defacto annual tech-pilgrimage for startups, investors and general nerds. In addition to a slew of new product launches and great networking opportunities, the event highlights a handful of organizations that are helping to promote the mission of the interactive start-up culture; Brandery was among the top ten in the country.
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Thursday, March 13 2014

Cincinnati Residents Can Choose Between Green Energy or Fossil-Fuels

Cincinnati residents and businesses will soon be able to choose what type of energy they want to receive from the city. The city has been buying 100 percent of its energy from renewable sources such as wind or solar since 2012, but Interim City Manager Scott Stiles recently struck a two-year deal with First Energy Solutions that gave residents the choice of fossil-fuels, which would save them $5.63 per year. Residents now have the choice to select the cheaper option of fossil-fuels if they want to save a few bucks but they run the risk of pissing off Mother Nature.
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Cranley Unveils Pension Plan Fix

Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley unveiled his solution to fix the city’s $870 million pension problem. Cranley’s fixes include a one-time injection of $100 million into the system and negotiations with retiree’s that stipulate their cost-of-living increases would not exceed three percent simple interest. Stakes are high for figuring out a solution to the plan because the city only has 60 cents for every $1 it owes retirees.
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July is Music Month in Cincinnati

Ok music nerds, Sawyer point has got your summer entertainment lined up. Between Bunbury Music Festival and Buckle Up Music Festival, fans of several genres can officially rock out the entire month of July. Organizers of both events have secured some big acts to headline, including The Flaming Lips, Paramore, Fall Out Boy, Alabama, Willie Nelson and Alison Krauss to name a few.
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For Sale: Great American Tower

The latest addition to Cincinnati's skyline is up for sale, according to the Business Courier. The building contains more than 1 million square feet of office space and is the largest building in the city. While the asking price was not disclosed, the total construction costs for the building topped $320 million just 3 years ago.
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Former Basketball Player Claims Xavier Damaged His Reputation

Local 12 reports that a former Xavier basketball player is suing the school thanks to an allegation of rape. Dez Wells claims that when the University expelled him as a result of the charge, his reputation was damaged. Following the decision by a grand jury to not take up the case, the charge was dropped, though Wells' expulsion was not reversed.
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Tuesday, March 18 2014

KY Votes Against Tolls for Brent Spence Bridge

The discussion amongst KY lawmakers about what to do with the aging bridge carrying I75 traffic between Ohio and Kentucky continued this week but yielded little progress. While the only consensus is that something must be done, the means to do so was pushed into further limbo as lawmakers voted to ban the use of tolls. This may come as good news to daily commuters but no one actually knows where the money will come from. Experts have long agreed that tolls are the only way to raise the more than $2 billion dollars it will take to replace the bridge.
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Pipeline in Colerain Township Springs a Leak

Authorities discovered a large leak of crude oil last night in Colerain Township, spilling into the Oak Glen Nature Preserve. The discovery comes amid resident reports of petroleum odors in the air for days. The spill is evidently originating from a pipeline that stretches from Texas to Michigan and has been operating in the area for decades. The EPA is working with the owner and operator of the pipeline to contain the spill and get things cleaned up.
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Fixes for City’s Ailing Pension Plan Move Forward

Cincinnati City Council’s budget committee unanimously approved a plan to let the city manager negotiate a 20- to 30-year agreement with city employees and retirees in U.S. District Court to help solve the city’s pension problem. The negotiations would most likely include a temporary stop to cost-of-living increases, reduced health benefits and an annual city contribution to the pension fund. Mayor John Cranley says the plan is necessary to deal with the $870 million unfunded pension.
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Hamilton County Investigates What Happened to $2 million of Missing Money

Hamilton County Township fiscal officer Jackie Terwilleger resigned Friday after an investigation discovered $2 million in mismanaged funds, falsified checks and unauthorized payments. Warren County officials question why no precaution was taken after Terwilleger’s books were called into question in 2004 after an auditor warning. A public hearing of the township’s finances is scheduled for April 5.
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Lower Price Hill Community Group Takes Innovative Approach

Lower Price Hill Community School’s Community Matters nonprofit is experimenting with a cooperative approach to revitalize their inner-city neighborhood. The nonprofit places the neighborhood’s residents at the center of major decision making by the group. The $8.2 renovation of St. Michael the Archangel Parish buildings into a community center called The Sanctuary is the group’s first project.
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Thursday, March 20 2014

City Council Approves Cranley’s Pension Plan

Yesterday, City Council approved a plan designed to settle the city's looming pension debacle, once and for all. The path forward, advanced by Mayor John Cranley requires the city to negotiate the terms of the settlement in federal court, hopefully including all city employees as part of a mandatory class action lawsuit. The terms of the negotiation will include a cap on cost of living increases and the reduction of health benefits for retirees.
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Aroldis Chapman Hospitalized After Line Drive to Face

Cincinnati Red’s pitcher Aroldis Chapman took a line drive to the face off the bat of Kansas City Royals’ catcher Salvador Perez that landed the Reds’ high-speed southpaw in the hospital with a fracture above his left eye. Chapman never lost consciousness and was able to communicate and move his hands, feet and legs. Reds manager Bryan Price is expected to make an announcement on Chapman’s recovery later today.
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KY Kills More Brent Spence Funding

Following Monday's decision by KY lawmakers to ban the use of tolls on interstate highways, the state legislature just removed $37 million in funding previously earmarked for the Brent Spence Bridge replacement project. Evidently, lawmakers want the federal government to fund the project since I75 is major transportation artery.
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Kasich Recommends State Funding for Local Buildings

Ohio Governor John Kasich is recommending $10 million in funding from the Ohio General Assembly for two historic buildings in Cincinnati. While the sum, split between Union Terminal and Music Hall, is only a fraction of what is needed to repair and renovate the two buildings, the show of commitment from state officials is welcomed by local leaders.
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Lt. Governor Candidate Takes Issue with Kasich’s Proposed Tax Cuts

Lt. Governor-candidate Sharon Neuhardt took issue with current-Governor John Kasich’s tax-cut proposal saying it further promotes the governor’s agenda of helping Ohio’s top 1 percent. Neuhardt said Kasich’s reasoning that cutting the income tax by 8.5 percent would benefit single mothers is “despicable and wrong.” CityBeat reports that Kasich’s previous budget started pushing the state’s top tax rate below 5 percent and raising the sales tax, tactics that disproportionately favor the wealthiest citizens. Neuhardt said if the governor was interested in helping single mothers he should do so with meaningful reforms, not tax cuts.
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Tuesday, March 25 2014

Lumenocity is Coming Back to Washington Park This Fall

Orchestral enthusiasts and Langree fan-folk can now officially rest easy, Lumenocity is returning to Washington Park in early August, 2014. The original ceremony to introduce the new conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra to thousands of excited fans was a resounding success last year, bringing more than 35,000 people into the park over two days. Featuring a projection mapped graphic display set against adjacent, historic Music Hall, the event was the talk of town for months. Be sure to put this on your calendars folks, you don't want to miss it.
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Kasich Scoffs at Struggling Local Governments

Despite cutting nearly 50 percent of money distributed to the Local Government Fund and eliminating the estate tax - of which 80 percent went to cities and townships - Gov. John Kasich doesn’t believe the lack of funding for local governments is his doing. Kasich sat down with an interview with The Cincinnati Enquirer where he scoffed at local governments’ claims that his cuts would hamper their budgets: "With a 3 to 5 (percent) devastating cut in their Local Government Fund, how could they survive that?" he scoffed. "Seriously. I mean, 3 to 5 (percent) — wow."
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Construction on Eden Park Brewery is Underway

You remember that weird old-timey building with the big spire thingie, just south of Krohn's conservatory in Eden Park? That's Pump Station No. 7 and if you haven't heard, its being converted into Cincinnati's latest beer production facility, Brewery X. They plan to offer a wide array of frothy adult beverages in their tap room and hope to be open by next spring. Cheers to more beers!
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Despite Being Beleaguered by Injuries, Reds Maintain High Hopes for 2014

With opening day just under a week away, Reds fans start 2014 with a bit of anxiety as their team has been plagued with a plethora of off-season injuries. In addition to the injured players the Reds are knee-deep in expensive multiyear deals with Homer Bailey, Brandon Phillips, Jay Bruce and Joey Votto. Four of the Reds pitchers’ contracts also expire in the next year or two, which means unless big things happen soon the the small-market Reds might face a few years of rebuilding. The Reds open the season at Great American Ballpark next Monday at 4:10 p.m. vs. the Saint Louis Cardinals.
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Cranley Pushes for a Renovated Burnet Woods

Mayor John Cranley has his sights on turning Burnet Woods into something like New York City’s Central Park. Cranley’s impetus on rehabbing Burnet Woods is to provide residents of Clifton and Corryville a top-notch public park similar to the renovated Washington Park. Cranley said Burnet Woods’ current state is “creepy,” and “it’s an enormous asset that’s underutilized.” The mayor’s plan includes linking the park to the University of Cincinnati campus by use of a pedestrian bridge over Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Despite being on Cranley’s wish list, the project wouldn’t see the light of day until at least 2016.
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Thursday, March 27 2014

Bridge Replacement Funds Back on the Table

It's been a wild ride for the controversial Brent Spence Bridge replacement project. First, Kentucky lawmakers banned the use of tolls on interstate highways running through Kentucky and then voted to strip millions of dollars previously allocated for the construction effort. Both actions served to irk area business leaders but thankfully, the committee has decided to reverse course on the initial funding provision. While the senate will still have to pass the bill for it to become a reality, the reversal has many enthusiasts resting a little easier today.
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Smale Riverfront Park Gets More Funding for Future Projects

Smale Riverfront Park is getting infused with millions of dollars in additional cash to help complete many of the ongoing projects there in preparation for the 2015 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. In addition to the existing fountains, swings and picturesque river walk, park officials are working on more water features, expanding the river walk to the west of the Roebling bridge, multiple esplanades and playgrounds for the kiddos. Maybe its time for Northern Kentucky to consider upping it's game.
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Cincinnati Making Waves in Water Technology

As the climate gets crazier and the availability of existing natural resources get more and more strained, water is as important to the global economy as ever. That's the message coming out of a two day meeting the EPA recently hosted in Cincinnati, where the city's expertise and efforts on solving local and global water problems were highlighted.
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Technology Abounds at Great American Ballpark

Too much baseball for you at the baseball game? You’re in luck with some of the Reds’ additions to Great American Ballpark this year. The Reds Connect Zone will offer fans free WiFi, mobile charging stations more than 25 large screens that feature Tweets, Facebook status updates and Instagram photos of everything Reds related. Great American Ballpark will also be covered with Apple’s iBeacon technology that will allow the Reds to target iPhone users with special offers, ballpark information and other data based on their location.
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Search Started for a Permanent City Manager

Scott Stiles’ tenure as interim city manager may be finished soon. Mayor John Cranley hopes to complete his search for a permanent city manager by July 1 and has hired an outside search committee at a $38,750 to do so. Cranely said the permanent city manager must have a strong personality and that Stiles is in contention for the gig.
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