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.

Well maybe this is all a back-door strategy for The Bengals to get the public to pay for upgrades to PBS. In 2020 that stadium will be 20 years old. If the upgrades are for "soccer", then it's an easier sell to the public. The way the USL has it, they have to be the owners or primary tenants of a stadium, so PBS wouldn't work. The MLS has allowed it with Seattle, but the Sounders and Seahawks have the same owner in Paul Allen. I also don't think that FCC is going to be moving up in a couple years.

^big problem is that USL requires soccer specific stadiums by the end of the decade, so FCC isn't going to be at Nippert for long.

Relegation is the best idea in sports, but it is impossible to do. It only works in England because that's the way it has always been, and the real money wasn't in EPL until very recently. Imagine the difficulties for a county or city that financed a stadium for a team that was then relegated. Speaking of which, hopefully this City is smart enough to stay the hell away from another stadium deal, but if Cranley, Berding and Bedinghaus are named, who knows. Got any more hospitals to sell?

Thanks. Hoping it goes up next week. I think it'll have an aggressive price point for size and amenities. First thing I do when I move into the new place is going to be to throw out all the stuff I just packed.

SW Michigan. Probably Kalamazoo. It's a tricky thing to do with a dog and a toddler. We will be a lot closer to home, though. So that's nice.

Anyone want to buy my house? Wife took a new job and we're moving. She's already started and I'm watching the kiddo and finishing the house prep. Hopefully the school year starting won't impact our sale. Pleasant Ridge was hot all summer.

I went to most Saints games last year, and 1 this year. I got to know the Crusaders supports group and I think the news today is a bummer. This just feels to me like Walmart trying to push the local store out of business.

Oddly enough, Cranley just took credit for the bikes, but the city had been working on those for 2-3 years. The idea came out of Leadership Cincinnati's Class 34 and Transportation and Engineering worked hard to make it happen.

This would be terrible for Cincinnati. So many commuters use our roads coming in and our roads for work, hospitals, the university, entertainment, etc. Therefore, I expect it will pass and the State of Ohio will continue the process of death by 1,000 cuts.

The make up of the committee is a real problem if they are actually going to fight fluoridation of the water. These are crackpots akin to antivaxxers and they can't be allowed to control charter reform.