Tuesday, September 2 2014

Museum Center Board Approves Tax Increase

Despite criticizing the sales tax measure proposed by Hamilton County Commissioners, the board of the Cincinnati Museum Center voted last week to support an increase in sales tax to help pay for Union Terminal’s much-needed repairs. Museum board members initially criticized the removal of Music Hall from the November ballot, which caused a loss of historic tax credits and private donations. The five-year increase in sales tax from 6.75 percent to 7 percent will be on the ballot this November and should raise close to $170 million for the repairs.
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Cincinnati Air Quality Getting Better Each Year

Take a deep breath, Cincinnati. Thanks mostly to fantastic summer weather, the tri-state has just completed the second summer in a row without a smog alert. Joyous officials who normally mark the start and end of the summer season with regional notifications about carpooling and the dispensing of gasoline, are happy to report the positive trend. Wether it will continue is unknown, but some forthcoming regulations can only help the effort.
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Buffalo Sleeps With the Fishes

If you’ve ever walked along Cincinnati’s Riverfront, you may have come across a curious sculpture situated just below the Purple People bridge. The sculpture known as “Shark Girl”, depicting an innocent young girl with a bizarro shark head, had sat in that position for several years until just recently she was purchased and summarily transported to Buffalo, NY. Poor Shark Girl, we’ll miss you.
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Reds’ Homer Bailey’s Season Early

The Reds’ season ended early this year for Homer Bailey who was placed on the 60-day disabled list after hurting his elbow in early August. The Reds had initially hoped to have Bailey back by September. The team is still deciding whether or not off-season surgery to Bailey’s elbow makes sense.
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Struggling Newport Levee Places Hopes on New Development

Development has resumed fifteen years after the dream of Newport on the Levee was proposed. The struggling Levee has lost an 3D iMax movie theater, suffered poor retail sales and seen a carousel of revolving tenants come through its doors since it opened. The new investment will contain both permanent and hotel spaces, which should increase traffic to the Levee’s remaining retail tenants.
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Thursday, September 4 2014

Cranley Has Some Ideas for Covering Streetcar Operating Costs

As construction on the oh-so-controversial streetcar project steadily continues, Mayor Cranley is floating some new ideas about how to cover the $3.8MM worth of operating costs. In addition to fare revenue, some of his ideas include increasing parking rates for OTR residents, corporate sponsorships and the creation of a special tax district; an idea originally floated by supporters last year.
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Anti-Gun Ads Take Aim At Kroger

An Indiana based gun-control group called Moms Demand Action is ramping up pressure against Kroger for not banning firearms in their stores. The ad campaign, in both print and digital format is making some waves- both for its controversial nature but also some clever messaging. I had no idea ice-cream cones weren’t allowed in the grocery aisles.
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Bengals Slumping Ticket Sales Forces Team to Make Deal

The Bengals have taken a deal with the NFL to remove a local TV blackout if the team sells 85 percent of their home game tickets. The Bengals have sold out their last 10 home games, but due to slow tickets sales this season the team was forced to reduce the TV blackout option to 85 percent. In exchange for making the deal, the team will have give the visiting team a greater percentage of revenue from ticket sales. The Bengals first home game is Sept. 14 against the Atlanta Falcons.
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Mahogany’s Situation at the Banks Looks Dire

The landlord who operates the Banks sent the beleaguered Mahogany’s restaurant an eviction letter after the restaurant closed Aug. 26 - 29. The letter from the landlord cited that this wasn’t the first time Mahogany’s has defaulted on its lease, as it has failed to pay its rent on more than one occasion in the past 12 months. The city of Cincinnati has 10 days to save the restaurant by stepping on its behalf to pay back rent and fees. If the city doesn’t step in the restaurant will be forced the close and vacate its location immediately.
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Ruling By Judge Hunter Resulted in Two Deaths, According to Prosecutors

As the long running trial of Judge Tracy Hunter approaches a conclusion, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters continues to hurl accusations. His latest salvo? That one of her decisions on the bench resulted in the death of two juveniles. Hunter has been charged with multiple felonies and faces 13 years in jail if convicted.
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Tuesday, September 9 2014

Cincinnati Tries to Attract 2016 NAACP Convention

Who needs the 2016 GOP National Convention anyway? Cincinnati is trying to lure the 2016 NAACP national convention as a contrast to Cleveland’s successful bid to host the GOP convention. Cincinnati hosted the NAACP convention in 2008 when both Republican nominee John McCain and Democratic nominee Barack Obama spoke at the event.
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Local Company Wins Streetcar Wiring Contract

Highland Heights-based General Cable has announced that they’ll be installing wiring for the Cincinnati Streetcar system which will start operating in 2016. The company has been involved in a number of high-profile renovation projects for the city, including the Cincinnati Zoo and Great American Ballpark.
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$14 Million Redevelopment Project Coming Soon Near Findlay Market

The area near Findlay Market will soon undergo a $14 million redevelopment project that will introduce 55,000 square feet of commercial space coupled with about 40,000 square feet of space for offices. The construction project will take place a block east of the market along Race Street.
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Prosecutor Wants to Raise Drug Offenses to Murder

Prosecutor Joe Deters and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine want to strengthen punishment for certain drug laws to murder. The impetus for the change comes on the heels of the death of a 21-year-old Delhi woman who died of a heroine overdose. The dealer who sold the woman the heroine is currently being charged with involuntary manslaughter in an overdose death.
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Downtown’s new Huit Craft BBQ introduces intense international flavors

Amid the ongoing foodie-renaissance that’s steadily consuming downtown (pardon the pun), another new offering has emerged and City Beat has just published a solid review. Huit Craft BBQ (pronounced ‘wheat’) is a unique addition that provides a melange of flavors and bites to satisfy any critic. Located on Court Street, Huit is currently open for lunch, Monday through Friday.
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Thursday, September 11 2014

Let's Go Ride a Bike Cincinnati

Strap on your helmet and spandex people, the municipal bike sharing program known as Red Bike kicks off next week. For $8 a day, citizens can rent one of the city’s new shiny bicycles to help them get from point A to point B in style. The program is an attempt to get locals more active by providing alternative means of transportation. Learn more at www.cincyredbike.org.
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Music Hall Supporters Turn to Plan B

Despite being left off the icon tax on this November’s ballot, supporters of Music Hall are pushing forward to find funding for the aging historic landmark. The 136-year-old building is raising the needed $123 million from private donors, historic tax credits, money from the city and outside sources. The total amount of private donations will be revealed within the next 90 days. The city could also be asked to chip in more than its current allocated $10 million to help complete the project.
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Haile: Property Owners Should be Taxed for Operational Streetcar Costs

A spokesman for the Haile/U.S. Bank Foundation is in agreement with recent statements Mayor Cranley has made about the need to formulate a plan to cover the operational costs of the streetcar sooner, rather than later. They recommend implementing a “hyper-local” tax on property owners in Downtown and OTR to cover approximately 70% of the cost. The outstanding costs could be covered by fares and sponsorships.
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New Italian Restaurant Coming to OTR this Fall

Coming this October to Mercer Commons in OTR: a new restaurant with Italian / European themed fare, brought to you by co-owners of the highly successful Japanese restaurant Kaze. Dubbed “The Mercer,” this new foodie destination will be headed up by Dan Stoltz, former executive chef at Nicola’s.
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Thirsty Thursday Brewery Updates

Two Cincinnati-area breweries continue to make progress in their hopes of quenching residents’ thirsts. The planned brewery in Eden Park could start construction as early as October after it reached a deal with the city to begin construction to renovate the 19th century pump station at 1430 Martin Drive. The deal allows the future brewery to lease the location for free for 40 years. Those living a bit further north can look forward to a new brewery opening soon in West Chester by two stay-at-home dads. The brewery is named DogBerry after a Shakespeare character and hopes to have up to 10 beers on tap when it opens at 7865 Cincinnati Dayton Road.
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Tuesday, September 16 2014

Liz Rodgers is Pissed and She's Threatening to Sue

Embattled Mahogany’s owner and executive chef Liz Rodgers is threatening to sue the city unless it agrees to forgive her $300,000 loan. At issue is her failure to make timely payments on the loan and keep up with her lease at the Banks. She has stipulated that the development of the Banks didn’t to meet her expectations and she was therefore setup for failure. City officials basically laughed at the idea.
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Let’s Drink to the Hardworking People, Ohio

Close to $3 billion in workers’ wages and $10 billion overall comes from Ohio breweries, according to an industry group. The breweries directly employ or support more than 80,000 jobs across the Buckeye state, making Ohio the sixth-largest brewing employer. But despite the craft beer renaissance, MillersCoors continues to operate the region’s largest brewery in Trenton.
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Fireside Pizza Gets Permanent Home in Walnut Hills

The oldest fire station in Cincinnati is now home to Walnut Hills’ newest restaurant, Fireside Pizza. The wood-fired pizzeria is located just blocks from Peebles Corner at 773 E. McMillan Street. The restaurant got its start as a food truck and decided to make the leap into a brick and mortar location after receiving investment from Eli’s Barbecue owners Eli Leisring and Drew Simmons. Fireside is open seven days a week from 11 a.m. - 11 p.m.
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Much Ado About the Banks

If you happen to be walking or driving along the riverfront before Thursday, you’ll have a chance to view the tallest crane in the country. Like a plot from inception, that crane was built in part by other cranes already on site and will be used over the next couple days to build yet another crane, which will then be used in the construction of GE’s new headquarters. In other Banks news, there’s some hubbub about financial plans to finally bring a hotel to the waterfront development, as well as efforts to raise cash for the third phase of construction.
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Falling Brent Spence Debris Endangers Bengals Tailgaters

There were more things than just Atlanta Falcons fans’ hopes falling near Paul Brown Stadium Sunday. Large pieces of concrete and other debris were raining from the underside of the Brent Spence bridge near a parking lot where Bengals fans were tailgating. Thankfully no one was injured, but a 2008 Ford Fusion was heavily damaged thanks to several large pieces of concrete.
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Thursday, September 18 2014

Cranley: Let the People Have Garbage Cans!

If you’re a trashy citizen, you’ll enjoy this story– Cranley is scrapping the much-maligned, one-garbage-can-per-household rule. According to officials, the Mallory-era rule caused an increase in illegal dumping and needs to go. During the Mayor’s annual State of the City address this evening, he’ll outline several ideas to cleanup the proverbial (and literal) mess.
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Kroger to Unveil Online Shopping for the Tri-state

Earlier this year, Kroger acquired Harris Teeter Stores, primarily for its online shopping program. As a result, Cincinnati consumers will soon reap the benefits, as the grocery behemoth has just announced plans to rollout the online system here. No word on a date or pricing, but the move should please many who brave the insane Krogering hordes every week.
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Council Passes Two More Sex Trafficking Ordinances

Months after raising barricades along sections of McMicken Avenue in Over-the-Rhine to deter prostitution, City Council passed two new ordinances to help curb the city’s growing sex trafficking problems. Councilwoman Yvette Simpson sponsored both the ordinances, the first of which increases fines for prostitution in a motor vehicle from $500 to $100 and another $2500 for each subsequent offense. The second ordinance puts the money raised from the fines into an anti-prostitution fund that aims to help reduce the number of offenses throughout the city.
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Oktoberfest 2014 Descends on Zinzinnati This Weekend

Break out the Lederhosen kids, the annual Zinzinnati Oktoberfest kicks off tomorrow afternoon in the Central Business District. Replete with half a million visitors, steins as big as your head and more cream-puffs than you can shake a weiner dog at, this year’s celebration is the 38th installment and the forecast is calling for beer.
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Mayor Cranley Likes Haile Plan for Streetcar Funding, but Wants to Explore More Options

The recommendations proposed last week from the Haile/U.S. Bank Foundation partnership to shore up operating costs of the forthcoming Cincinnati streetcar include reducing the fare by .75c to $1. The partnership’s estimates claim that a reduction in the fare would generate 76 percent more rides and only 1 percent less revenue if the fare were at $1.75. Mayor John Cranley said he likes the idea, but has another idea up his sleeve that he has yet to unveil.
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Tuesday, September 23 2014

Cincinnati Could See Daily Trips to Chicago by Rail

Two local high speed rail advocates pitched the Hamilton County commissioners an idea that would offer a daily high-speed train service from Cincinnati to Chicago. Their idea would be to piggy back off Amtrak’s lackluster service between Chicago and the Queen City by upgrading the infrastructure of the rail lines. Amtrak currently offers service between Chicago and Cincinnati only three times per week compared to multiple daily trips from Chicago to St. Louis.
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Connecting Lower Price Hill via Wifi

Residents of lower Price Hill have reportedly been suffering from the worst access to the internet in the city of Cincinnati. Thanks to a donation from local communications providers, that is all about to change.
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Public Servants’ Work to Close Shanty Town Pays Dividends

Thanks to an effort from local police and social workers for the better part of the year, what was once a thriving refuge for the homeless has been officially cleaned-up and vacated. Located below US 50, just outside of the Central Business District, this “shanty town” housed prostitutes, criminals and others who had simply fallen on hard times.
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City Exploring Adjustable Rate Parking Meters

The City of Cincinnati might soon sign a parking agreement with Xerox that will give the city the ability adjust the price of parking on the fly. For example, meters might reflect a higher charge if demand is higher because there is a Reds game downtown. The city estimates it could receive close to $500,000 in additional revenue by installing the new meters.
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Arcade, Beer, Pizza. What Could Be Better?

Ever wish that top score you owned on Ms. Pacman was good for something other than bragging rights? Well now you can get 25 percent off drinks at Top Score Beercade located in the basement below Rusconi Pizza if you’re on the leaderboard. The recently opened arcade has been a dream of Scott Sheridan and features classic arcade games such as X-Men, Tekken 4 and a bunch of others. The beercade is open daily from 6 p.m. until close.
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Friday, September 26 2014

Boat Crash Kills FBI Agents

Late last night a boat on the Ohio river, carrying two FBI agents, mistakenly crossed in front of a massive barge causing a tragic collision. Both men were killed almost instantly. This morning, crews continue to search the water for anyone else who may have been onboard at the time. The identities of the deceased are being withheld pending notification of family.
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Plot Your MPMF Weekend

If you’re anywhere close to downtown this weekend you’ll be hard pressed to miss the influx of skinny jeans and mustaches as hundreds of hipsters are expected to descend in the area for this year’s Midpoint Music Festival. The Cincinnati Enquirer and Citybeat have a number of picks for tonight, Friday and Saturday. Be sure to check out the festival’s website where you can put together a custom calendar so you don’t miss a beat.
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Court Rules Early Voting Period Must Stay Intact

It’s election season and thanks to a Sixth-Circuit Court of Appeals, those of you in the eager electorate can start voting next week. On Wednesday, the court ruled that the 35-day early voting period must remain in effect, despite Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted’s prolonged and annual efforts to shorten the time.
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Beavercreek Officers Cleared After Fatal Wal-Mart Shooting

A grand jury has cleared Beavercreek officers in the fatal shooting of a 22-year-old man in Wal-Mart on Aug. 5. The officers shot John Crawford III after he refused to put down what looked like an assault rifle but what later turned out to be a BB gun. Crawford’s family maintains the shooting was not justified and that race was a factor. Surveillance video of the shooting has been released and can be viewed on the Cincinnati Enquirer’s website.
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Cincinnati Brewers Head to Beer Competition

Next week marks the starts of the Great American Beer Festival, an annual competition of home and commercial beer brewers hosted in Denver, Colorado. Among the competitors will be nearly every new brewery from the tri-state region, all vying for the coveted gold medal. To show your regional, sudsy solidarity, you should drink local beer all weekend.
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Tuesday, September 30 2014

Supreme Court Puts a Hold on Early Voting in Ohio

If you woke up in Ohio today with plans to go cast your early vote, you probably ended up disappointed. That’s because the US Supreme Court, voting along party lines, put a hold on what was supposed to be one extra week wherein an eligible voter could both register to vote and cast their ballot in one fell swoop.
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City Council Looks to Lessen Penalties on Marijuana Convictions

City Council will vote this week on a proposal that could help clear the way toward removing the stigma of a marijuana conviction on a person’s record. The resolution will ask Hamilton County judges to exclude marijuana convictions when considering if a person’s record should be expunged. Cincinnati held an unusually strict law from 2006 - 2010 that classified marijuana convictions as misdemeanors, which was stricter than state law.
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Monzel Delivers on Promises of Cost Cutting

The Cincinnati Enquirer has an in-depth profile on Hamilton County Commissioner and Tea Party darling Chris Monzel that gets to the root of what drives his cost-cutting agenda. Monzel ran in 2010 on a platform of aggressive cost cutting and he hasn’t held back so far. Most recently Monzel led the charge to slash Music Hall from the icon tax ballot that’s set to go before voters this November. The 46-year-old is up for reelection this November.
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U.S. Bank Surpasses 5/3 as Cincinnati’s Largest Bank

There’s a new big bank in town this week as U.S. Bank has recently retaken the lead against Fifth Third as the area’s largest institution based on local deposits. Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank had showed deposits of $31.2 billion at 120 Cincinnati locations compared to $25.3 billion from Cincinnati-based Fifth Third at their 130 locations.
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Lincoln Heights' Police Department Corruption

Yikes. According to a WCPO report released yesterday, the police department for Lincoln Heights has a problem with corruption amidst it’s ranks. The I-Team report recounts a disturbing story of intimidation and false arrest by some officers on staff, noting that several of them have been found guilty of crimes themselves.
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