Morton's, The Steakhouse. Now Open.

Enough said...

Cincinnati Blog: Pete, Please Excuse This#links

Cincinnati Blog: Pete, Please Excuse This#links

Hilarious video about the upcoming Cincinnati City Council elections from Cincinnati.blogspot.com.

Nice find.

Bike Trail Update

It looks like it's a go! From the City Council's report...

EDUCATION,HEALTH & RECREATION COMMITTEE
67-200700860
MOTION, dated
July 30, 2007, submitted by Councilmembers Jeff Berding, John Cranley, Chris
Monzel, Cecil Thomas and David Crowley, WE MOVE that in conjunction with
their efforts to advance the "Permanent Alignment," the City Administration
cooperate with and take no action to hinder the citizen-led volunteer "bike
trail group" in implementing the "Temporary Alignment" plan for the Ohio
River Trail as outline in the memo dated 4/11/07.

This trail will be a great addition to downtown. This will create an outdoor recreational outlet for those who live in the downtown area and will bring people to the downtown area such as bikers, joggers, and walkers who will traverse this section of the trail. I look forward to its completion.

Link to the proposed trail here.

The Ohio River Trail will end at and connect to the Purple People Bridge in downtown Cincinnati.

Photo by Jake Mecklenborg

Below is a picture of the end of the Little Miami bike trail. The Ohio River trail will eventually connect to the Little Miami Scenic Trail.

Photo by Dave Dumbacher

Downtown Cincinnati's Comeback...

"The obituary for downtown was written prematurely," said Arn Bortz, taken from a Cincinnati Enquirer article from July 28, 2007.

This is a great article about the revitalization of the downtown area. It lists several of the factors that have caused this rebirth of business and influx of people to the streets of the downtown core.

City Council and 3CDC (see link under Politics...) were cited as having leading roles in the redevelopment.

Cincinnati Public School Levy, Retiring for a Raise, Financial Illiteracy

Although the following articles may seem like they are completely unrelated, they are in fact, perfect illustrations of how absolutely financially illiterate our society has become.
From The Cincinnati Enquirer's article "Cincinnati schools need big levy":

Predicting a “devastating” financial crisis within a year without new tax dollars, Cincinnati Public Schools Treasurer Jonathan Boyd on Thursday recommended a 10-mill emergency levy for the November ballot.

If the district cannot pass a levy by the end of the upcoming school year, Boyd said, it will be faced with a $79 million budget gap in 2008-09 – and the gap would grow from there.

The size of the levy and the projected deficit took board members by surprise.

My favorite line from the first story is "The size of the levy and the projected deficit took board members by surprise." I mean, it's not like they would have any interest in the budget for the district. I mean come on, all those big, complicated numbers, projections, estimations, and calculations. It's not like they're the advisory body elected to supervise the activity of the district. Oh wait, they are. Oops, better raise taxes fast to fix that problem.

The problem isn't the impending massive deficit, the problem is that they were surprised about it. I hope they're reserving some of their mental energy for determining a true and healthy solution while they're reactively figuring out how to ask for more money.

Maybe some of that money deficit is going to people like this.

From The Cincinnati Enquirer's article "Judges don't like double-dipping":

Nine Hamilton County Common Pleas judges are asking the board that oversees a Hamilton County correctional center to meet in full to reconsider allowing the facility’s director to retire from his $90,000-a-year job and return to the same job at a lower salary.

The change boosts John Baron’s income $40,000 a year because he’ll begin being collecting his $65,000-a-year state pension and get a $65,000-a-year salary. Baron will also be paid accrued vacation and sick time.

Again, the problem isn't what some would call greed or a desire to take advantage of the system. The problem is that somehow, someway this is possible for him to do, and we need a judge to step in and question the logic of it.

The Extreme Cheese Coney Eating Contest

I'm there. Not going to compete, but plan on laughing and snapping some pics. Good luck to whomever has to clean up after the competition.

Details about the event can be found on MyFountainSquare.com.

Or here...

Event Detail:

At noon on Friday, August 3, the contestant who consumes the most Skyline Coneys topped with Extreme Habanero Cheese in 3 minutes will be crowned champion!

To register for a chance to compete, complete the official entry form located at www.myfountainsquare.com/skyline. Fifteen contestants will be randomly drawn and notified on Monday, July 30. The Grand Prize is a $100 Skyline Gift Card and bragging rights for a year. Runners-Up win a $25 Skyline Gift Card, T-Shirt and Hat.

Skyline will also sell Extreme Cheese Coneys on the Square from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. A portion of the proceeds, up to $2,500, will be donated to the FreestoreFoodbank.

Produced by Skyline Chili and Fountain Square Management Group.

Low Interest Loans for Home Improvement in Hamilton County are Underused

This is a good article by Justine Reisinger on CityBeat.com. She writes about Hamilton County's program that offers interest rates lower than the market rate for home improvements. Interestingly, it is an underused program, mainly because people do not know about it.

Well, it seems like a good, practical incentive for keeping people living in Hamilton County, instead of splitting for areas like Mason, so... let's tell people about it.

It may not be such a bad idea to use some of the $28 million budgeted for this year to get the word out. Just saying.