Also, notice that the communications director position used to report to the city manager, but now reports to the mayor.

 

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2014/03/19/wcpo-reporter-hired-mayors-spokesman/6609487/

^ Almost fell out of my chair:

"News tip: reporter writes favorable articles for mayoral candidate who wins election then hires reporter for cushy city job," Craig Hochscheid tweeted Wednesday morning.

 

Kincaid dismissed the allegations.

 

"That criticism is coming from an incredibly small group of people who are Cincinnati's version of birthers," he said. "It is outrageous to call into question the integrity of the mayor and a journalist who has spent 20 years-plus exhibiting the highest standards of ethical conduct."

 

His Tea Party azz would know.

I'm shocked that Cranley's Chief of Staff would admit, on the record, that Obama was born in the United States. That probably isolates a lot of Cranley's Tea Party supporters.

^ Almost fell out of my chair:

 

I'm more concerned with this statement.

 

"It is outrageous to call into question the integrity of the mayor and a journalist who has spent 20 years-plus exhibiting the highest standards of ethical conduct."

I hope nobody is asking to see Cranley's pee pee.

I hope nobody is asking to see Cranley's pee pee.

 

Well, they're both dicks, that's for sure. 

 

 

Check out the list of Cranley's top campaign donors:

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2014/03/18/see-who-donated-the-most-to-john-cranleys-mayoral.html

 

The list includes a LOT of real estate developers.  Is Cranley trying to thwart certain downtown residential development, like at 4th & Race, as a payoff to some of those donors?  Perhaps the mayor should recuse himself from development issues before the City of Cincinnati and City Council.  Any involvement on his part would seem to be a conflict of interest, considering the amount of the money he took.

Amazing...WCPO.com uploaded this interview of Roxanne Qualls just 24 hours before Osborne was named Cranley's spokesman. 

 

Also, notice that the communications director position used to report to the city manager, but now reports to the mayor.

 

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2014/03/19/wcpo-reporter-hired-mayors-spokesman/6609487/

 

But the City's communications manager is still in place working for the city manager. This is a second role, doing god knows what. Maybe keeping Kincaid out of trouble?

Osborne is apparently filling the same role Jason Barron had for Mallory.

I always thought Barron was actually on Mallory's staff, but I could be wrong about that.

Obviously the Enquirer needs to provide more explanation than, "Cranley and City Council moved the communications director position into the mayor's office after the election." So it sounds like both the city manager and mayor had communications people under Mallory as well. So I'm not exactly sure what changed. It may have just been the job title or something.

What a visionary!  Way to see the whole picture.

 

 

Regional rail system in Cincinnati? Cranley says more bike trails, buses will suffice

Chris Wetterich Staff reporter- Cincinnati Business Courier 

 

 

The streetcar debate got a lot of Cincinnatians talking about public transportation and whether the city and region need rail-based transit lines to connect communities to jobs.

 

But in an interview with Business Courier staffers this week, Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley’s support for any public transit options other than expanded bus service and bike trails was tepid – at best.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/blog/2014/03/regional-rail-system-in-cincinnati-cranley-says.html

That article blows my mind... he insinuates that people in NYC prefer taking the bus over any type of rail and that people could jog to work if there were trails. 

 

Its literally like its a joke... and to think he went to college in Boston and must've used public transit there.

The Cranley position is bad for business and the CBC knows it.

 

He's also trying to pretend that the presence of extensive rail doesn't elevate the status of the bus system.

That article blows my mind... he insinuates that people in NYC prefer taking the bus over any type of rail and that people could jog to work if there were trails. 

 

Its literally like its a joke... and to think he went to college in Boston and must've used public transit there.

 

Of course he knows he's wrong.  It's that he knows he can achieve his own political goals mcuh more easily being against everything than standing for something. Instead he proposes incremental improvements that he never follows through on. 

 

If he were to get behind anything, he knows that people just like him (The COAST boys) would immediately turn their machine on him, and he needs that machine. 

 

What a day for a Harvard alum to upset Cincinnatians.

Additionally, how he basically says anyone who supports rail is not a member of the community, they are some small minority of people that do not matter and live in some fantasy world known as DT/OTR. ...which isnt really a neighborhood its just a bunch of buildings and young people who dont understand anything.

What a day for a Harvard alum to upset Cincinnatians.

 

Murray Seasongood, who killed the subway, was also a Harvard Law grad.  The Cincinnati Subway specs were the same as the Red Line.  Seasongood knew exactly what a subway could do to property values, and that downtown would shift away from Fountain Square to Central Parkway, and all of his financiers would lose their shirts if that happened. 

That article blows my mind... he insinuates that people in NYC prefer taking the bus over any type of rail and that people could jog to work if there were trails. 

 

Its literally like its a joke... and to think he went to college in Boston and must've used public transit there.

 

He went to college in Cleveland (John Carroll University) and law school in Boston. Well, not in Boston, but nearby. No, not Tufts.

 

Anyway, I've always considered Cranley's opposition to rail to be one part political expediency and one part refusal to be seen as wrong.  It's pretty incredible how he dismisses getting smacked down by the biggest local grassroots political movement since Broadway Commons.  And the bike trail/running trail thing is just a joke.  I guess he's just so used to being covered in flop sweat that he assumes people will be cool with jogging to the office.

Cranley gets a review in Soapbox:  http://www.soapboxmedia.com/features/032514-mayor-cranley-soapdish-progress-report.aspx

Cross post from the bicycling thread, if you read the article it sure does appear to me Cranley is way out of line on this one.

 

EXCLUSIVE: Mayor Cranley freezes Central Parkway bikeway project

Chris Wetterich Staff reporter- Cincinnati Business Courier

 

 

Mayor John Cranley directed the city administration not to award a contract for the Central Parkway bikeway project, drawing criticism from Councilman Chris Seelbach, who says the mayor has overstepped his authority under Cincinnati’s charter.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2014/04/15/exclusive-mayorcranley-freezes-central-parkway.html

“It seems to me Councilman Seelbach has more concern with debating the process than protecting business owners,” Kincaid said. “This is an ordinance that was passed by a lame duck council whose approach to governing had been very clearly repudiated by voters a week before.

 

Cranley will not rest until every decision made by the previous administration has been annihilated.

Also, why is Kincaid still making statements on Cranley's behalf? Didn't he hire Kevin Osborne for that?

I'm starting to think RECALL might not be a bad idea, once again. This guy is toxic. What gives him the right to do this, after council passed an ordinance to move forward? (Unanimously, no less!)

 

Couple this with the "pause" on the condo tower.

 

Then there are the threats to gut city departments, meanwhile hiring 23 new police officers. What's the ROI on those cops and their pension liabilities?

 

I think I know the next thing that needs to be Cranceled: JOHN CRANLEY!

Kincaid really makes some very obtuse statements. It's a shame there isn't an anti-Cranley version of Bill Cunningham in town because there would be a steady supply of garbage to pick apart.

 

“It seems to me Councilman Seelbach has more concern with debating the process than protecting business owners,”

 

How dare someone be concerned with due process?!

 

“This is an ordinance that was passed by a lame duck council whose approach to governing had been very clearly repudiated by voters a week before."

 

A lame duck council that unanimously passed the ordinance and had 6 members reelected.

 

I don't know how the guy can walk around with his foot in his mouth all the time.

Cranley will not rest until every decision made by the previous administration has been annihilated.

exactly - he's insane

FWIW - here's a FB event for the 4/21 2PM meeting.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1472100056353781/?ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular

More and more, it seems Cranley's just a needy Drama Queen.  The Central Pkwy. bike path is the latest example. 

 

He's a political animal, not a visionary leader who wants to make our city better, and because it's all politics all of the time with him he seems to do whatever he can to stir up controversy, thereby drawing attention to himself.  Name recognition and the ability to obtain financial support from those who would promote his career to a higher level of office is what it's all about with him.  He serves himself, not the people of Cincinnati.

^I don't disagree with your assessment, but let's be clear about who is causing this problem: David Mann.  He has unilaterally decided that the process that occurred was not up to snuff (despite the fact that it is the same process used for every project like this); that a 9-0 decision was made too hastily; and that anyone who disagree with his 11th hour change is the one who isn't compromising.

 

Cranley is a known quantity, it is David Mann's bizarre self-regard is causing him to campaign against the streetcar for several months and declare the administration untrustworthy, then decide after a week of actually paying attention to the issue that it is in fact a great idea; that the private funding which was so necessary for the streetcar, which was only to benefit a certain number of people and businesses, is completely unnecessary for the MLK interchange; and that the "job-creators" (real estate developers and small business owners) in Over-The-Rhine, where new businesses and residences are being created every day, and where property values are sky-rocketing, are selfishly focused on their own interests; but this lone small business owner who's business happens to be in property development wants City money to fix something that is only of value to him.  Oh, and the whole time David Mann is costing the City more and more money to do stuff it has already planned on doing, he's insisting that he's just trying to make the City a better place for his children and grandchildren, so screw you, if you disagree with him than I guess you hate kids.

 

Let's all remember this when these clowns try and change the Charter to have a strong mayor.  Remember which councilmembers are advocating it and remember how they act.

^^my favorite part of Mann saying that a "lame duck Council voted this in": 6 of those 9 councilmembers who voted for it are STILL ON COUNCIL.

Couldn't resist.

The John Cranley honeymoon was non existent & now the regret is beginning to show

 

Cindi Andrews @cindiincincy  ·  44m

SHOCKER: Elisabeth Heimlich beat Mayor @JohnCranley to rep part of Hyde Park on Dems' Central Comm. 55-45% @SharonCoolidge @CThompsonENQ

I am surprised he only lost by 10%. It was his fellow Republicans who elected him mayor.

I am surprised he only lost by 10%. It was his fellow Republicans who elected him mayor.

 

If the Dems in Cincy allow two liberal/democrat aligned candidates to run against each other like they did with Qualls and Cranley, the more conservative one is always going to win when it comes down to the final two candidates. The whole primary system for mayor is whack and should be eliminated. Qualls vs. almost any Republican would have won.

 

It'll be interesting to see if another Democrat runs against Cranley in 4 years, though I fear we'll get the same result - Cranley vs. a more liberal Democrat, and Cranley will win half the D's and all the R's again.

Cranley's act has been so dazzling that I think many Republicans in town have forgotten that he is in fact a Democrat.  However, Cranley isn't both a Repubican and a Democrat so much as he is neither.  He has no central ideology or allegiances, he's just really good at winning low turnout elections.  Who votes every time?  Old people and the angry faction of the Republican party.  So he's created a public persona that is exactly what those two groups want.   

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/2014/05/07/cranley-loses-election-precinct-exec/8806807/

 

'Is Cranley's precinct election loss a sign?'

 

Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley's perceived mandate to change the city's direction took a bit of a hit Tuesday when Democrats in his own neighborhood selected someone else to represent them.

Funny the Enquirer latched onto that. Seems like they are looking for ways to take digs.

Funny the Enquirer latched onto that. Seems like they are looking for ways to take digs.

 

Check out the updated article.  Heimlich really goes after cranley on the Streetcar and Tim Burke

I did not see this snippet posted anywhere, but this pretty much sums up Cranley who apparently was trying to fool people into thinking he was not conservative and anti-urban with an interview with Urbanophile.  This piece is from Chris Wetterich commenting the interview (I love the "old person's idea of a young person" comment):

 

But Cranley does make a few cringe-worthy statements his persistent critics will pounce upon. It’s the kind of stuff that reminds me of political writer Michael Kinsley’s old dig at Al Gore - that Gore was “an old person’s idea of a young man.”

Asked whether he is going to butt heads with millennials, who are the strongest supporters of the streetcar and expanding Cincinnati’s rail transportation options, which Cranley doesn’t see the point of, the mayor says, “I am a Millennial – I mean I am a young person. I am an urbanist.”

 

And on the skyrocketing housing prices in Over-the-Rhine, he says, “I like to say, we tell ourselves we’re revitalizing Over-the-Rhine and downtown for young professionals but increasingly it’s divorcees who are bidding up the price.”

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/blog/2014/04/why-you-should-read-this-interview-with-mayor-john.html?page=3

 

Earlier today on CNBC: Cincinnati's Renaissance plan

Enquirer's story on the video:

 

Reeder, Cranley make Cincy pitch on Squawk Box

 

Cincinnati's push to brand itself in New York went national on Thursday, as Mayor John Cranley and REDI Cincinnati chief Johnna Reeder spent 10 minutes touting the city on CNBC's Squawk Box.

 

Host Joe Kernen, a Cincinnati native and St. Xavier High School graduate, might as well have been a third guest. The interview was initially scheduled for Tuesday, but Kernen was off and requested the Thursday slot so he could participate.

 

So while Cranley and Reeder discussed the region's 10 Fortune 500 headquarters, growing startup scene, and redeveloped urban core, Kernen peppered them with questions and comments about the Reds, Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton and Price Hill chili.

 

Cont

 

Reeder was great, Cranley, not so much...

OMG, watching Johnna fricken Reeder and John Cranley discuss all of the progress that downtown Cincinnati has seen gives me a pain in my gut.  Those are the two exact people that tried hardest to kill all that progress.  I used to work at the Starbucks across the street from Duke and she would stop in.  It took every molecule of willpower not to throw her coffee in her face.  While their hypocrisy makes my blood boil, I'm glad to see them promoting Cincinnati.  My first thought is that maybe they've both realized that they can't completely stifle the people's wants and needs, so they're just leveraging them now.  But deep down inside, I feel like these two are using Cincinnati for political gain and nothing more.  If that's the case, I hope they accomplish those goals without hurting the city too much.

Reeder was great, Cranley, not so much...

 

You know this is the same Johnna Reeder that was VP of Duke Energy Ohio, got us into a lawsuit and jacked up the utility costs for the streetcar, and is president of the Build Our Bridge Now coalition using a fear tactic to shove the BSB down our throats, right?  She absolutely disgusts me.  I told her to her face once how despicable I thought she was and she shrugged and said, "That's business."  Ugh.

I did not know who she was but I think she had a good showing here.

Reeder was great, Cranley, not so much...

 

You know this is the same Johnna Reeder that was VP of Duke Energy Ohio, got us into a lawsuit and jacked up the utility costs for the streetcar, and is president of the Build Our Bridge Now coalition using a fear tactic to shove the BSB down our throats, right?  She absolutely disgusts me.  I told her to her face once how despicable I thought she was and she shrugged and said, "That's business."  Ugh.

 

I thought her voice sounded familiar.  Its amazing that after she left, The duke negotiations went much smoother.  Unfortunately she & her bosses held up construction for a long long time...Nearly derailing the entire project.  If I remember correctly, she was the spokesperson for the ridiculous manhole foot requirement.

 

 

To be fair, Cranley has been supportive of Washington Park, Fountain Square renovation, and 3cdc in the past.  He has a legitimate case to make about the city progress....Granted lately he has been a tyrant on some issues & seems to be trying his best to hinder everything of the prior administration, but I can't knock him on his past support of projects that were 'controversial'

 

Obviously his positions on the streetcar & bike paths are bizarre at best, and he seems hell bent on politically punishing anyone who supports those projects.  Its frustrating to see that literally no facts will change his opinion but that's how he is now

 

I have no idea about the former Duke spokeswoman

 

People like Smitherman, 700wlw, COAST & others are the ones that are huge hypocrites.  There would literally be nothing built if they had their way

It is good they are out there promoting the city.

 

In my opinion that should be one of the main functions of being mayor.  Not as Mayor Cranley stated before, being more of a manager.  Leave the manager position to professional managers.  Especially for a larger city like Cincinnati, there should be no shortage of top notch talent to chose from with a lot of experience.

In the comments on that page Bill Collins sed,

"According to the Mayor's communications staffer Kevin Osborne, on Friday at 7:45AM Cranley is scheduled to appear on MSNBC's NYC-baesd "Morning Joe" program."

Cranley had a press conference this morning where he unveiled his budget proposal. He is claiming that it is a structurally balanced budget (using no one-time funding sources) with no layoffs. This is accomplished by shifting some funding (such as the casino money) from the capital budget over to the operating budget, and giving an across-the-board 4.5% budget cut to all departments.

 

Sounds too good to be true, so I won't believe it until I see the numbers and see what additional details come out. I would also like to know which capital projects will need to be crancelled when funding is taken away.