diaspora

Long term, this is a beauty of a reform. Hopefully fewer safe districts for both parties will result in less brinkmanship and more cooperation in 2021 and beyond.

Hopefully next fall there will be a clean up and down vote on legalizing weed. I just moved out of Ohio, but I would have voted no on 3. Not really sure about 2 because I wasn't paying much attention to it since I wasn't voting anyway. I hope Ohio and Michigan (my home again) both get ballot issues on it in 2016.

The park levy is an absolute no vote. Go look for the 990s that the Park Foundation has out there. There are only 2 officers that have any control over that fund, Mary Jane Klug and Willie Carden. They can walk a check over to cover anything the park needs. It speaks quite a bit to the Mayor's priorities that he wanted Willie as his city manager, and now is paying off Willie with a permanent fund. After all, Cranley and Black got rid of anyone associated with Mallory and Dohoney, and yet Willie is still there. Who paid for all of Mallory's trips?

Isaac is a good guy, but he was a captain a few months ago. While I am surprised that Bailey wasn't named Chief, I'd be shocked if Isaac got the full time job with almost no experience at the assistant Chief level. Some may say he'll get it because he's black, but there are plenty of qualified people of color that could take the job from elsewhere. Black hasn't hired many people from Cincinnati. I would be surprised if he bucked that trend.

I didn't have a ton of exposure to Black. He was fine in the few meetings I was in. He has his vision and he's not going to let anyone get in the way. It was interesting to move from a confident and calm manager like Dohoney to a micro-manager like Black. Dohoney just assumed that the professionals he hired would do the job that they were hired to do. Black prefers to do it himself. It is my opinion that the new data analytics office is a good idea, but will ultimately do nothing but waste time and money. Back to crime: shootings have been up across the country and Cincinnati is no different. I feel bad for Blackwell. I met him and his assistants and I was amazed at how unprofessional the assistants were. It was incredible. Blackwell had no chance to succeed in that environment.

I can confirm that the fear is real. I used to work for the City, and the sudden removal of directors, and how they are rumored to have been treated, are just incredible. I wouldn't say Cranley is bringing in cronies (too many of Black's friends have been hired) but definitely people that will carry out the mayor's agenda. It is incredible how much the departments have been spending on executive salaries and increasing the number of upper management, spending on new offices, etc.

Could you honestly look any non-violent marijuana offender that would be going to jail in the eyes and tell them that you voted against the proposition on what, procedural grounds? We are dealing with real stakes here. don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Yeah, and i'd tell him that i'd voted against every single person that put him there. Turn the democratic party around. Run for precinct captain jobs that are won with a few hundred votes and change the platform. The Democratic party in the state of Ohio is a joke and it can be fixed one county at a time. Run the idiots from Hamilton County out on a rail and do something about this reform. I'm no idealist waiting for the perfect bill, but the fact that most groups you'd think would be way on board for this are only giving it tepid support, if at all, should give pause. I'm distrustful of passing amendments that are brought by very small groups of people looking to profit. How does the tax rate compare to those in other states?

11 showings on the house since thursday, including one couple twice, here's hoping there's an offer soon. I'm getting exhausted trying to keep my toddler occupied all day while running back and forth to make sure the house is set up okay between showings. I drove the streetcar route today, I think Rhinegeist may have to find a new place to park their trucks.

I disagree. Bad bills are hard to change. It doesn't have to be perfect, by any means, but decriminalization is a huge trend and it won't be long before legalization happens. Might as well make it good and maybe have it help the State's economy, too.

I'm for marijuana legalization, but against the current ballot measure. I hope it fails and something better comes along. I'm also strongly against the parks levy. I know it will pass, but Parks doesn't need the money. The Parks Foundation is sitting on millions of dollars and the City should be putting their weight behind stuff for infrastructure and Rec centers.

Winding down my last day working for the City of Cincinnati. It's been fun.

Relegation isn't limited to England. It's used pretty much everywhere in soccer outside of the US. And in addition to providing performance incentives, it's a very effective way to penalize clubs for wrongdoing (like the relegation of Rangers in Scotland, or when Juventus was related in Italy a few years ago). Yeah, I know, but no matter where it is, it has always been part of the game. You couldn't introduce relegation to England (or Scotland, or Spain) now if it had never been in place before. Large teams would never accept a system where they can be penalized. The owners run the leagues, not the other way around.

Promotion might work, but the leagues would have to be operating on the same set of rules. NPSL is extremely limited due to salary cap issues and a heavy reliance on college (amateur) players. If USL/PDL etc could agree on everything, it would make some sense. Still, it isn't something that American sports fans are used to.

The royals can burn in hell. Sincerely, An angry Tigers fan

As much as I hate them, I think the Oakland Athletics have the best name in US sports.