1 hour ago, BigDipper 80 said:

I swear the "Ohio Twang" has become far more prevalent in the last decade. I never used to hear it in Cleveland, but it's taken over the suburbs. 

 

From talking to you, you're the kind of speaker that can hear these sorts of things where the average person in Columbus doesn't notice any more. Somebody can have a deep Southern accent and literally nobody will say "Are yew from the SOUTH?" to them.

Edited June 22, 20204 yr by GCrites80s

8 minutes ago, Brutus_buckeye said:

While diversity is good, we need to work to make sure we do not set arbitrary quotas to achieve a mix that may be "desired" by some. 

 

Give me a break. No one said anything about quotas. But it is not a coincidence that Cincinnati is 49% white and has a police dept that is 66% white.

It's also no coincidence that Cincinnati's police department is made up of mostly nonresidents of the city. Under 25% of officers actually live in Cincinnati, and the percentage of white officers who live outside of the city is much higher than black officers. About 50% of black officers live in the city. Close to 15% of white officers live in the city.

 

Assuming most CPD officers live in Hamilton County at least, we should expect a minimum of 1/3 of officers to live in the city just based on the percentage of the county the city makes up (~36%). 

10 minutes ago, ryanlammi said:

It's also no coincidence that Cincinnati's police department is made up of mostly nonresidents of the city. Under 25% of officers actually live in Cincinnati, and the percentage of white officers who live outside of the city is much higher than black officers. About 50% of black officers live in the city. Close to 15% of white officers live in the city.

 

Assuming most CPD officers live in Hamilton County at least, we should expect a minimum of 1/3 of officers to live in the city just based on the percentage of the county the city makes up (~36%). 

There used to be a residency requirement for all civil servants to live within city limits but that was ruled unconstitutional. I believe that was around 30+ years ago. 

24 minutes ago, DEPACincy said:

 

Give me a break. No one said anything about quotas. But it is not a coincidence that Cincinnati is 49% white and has a police dept that is 66% white.

I never suggested anyone said anything about them. Only that when trying to get the desired diversity, we must make sure not to take any short cuts and create quotas.

It wouldn't be difficult to give police officers a forgivable loan to purchase a home in the City of Cincinnati to encourage people to live in city limits. You don't have to require they live in the city, though.

 

Something simple like a $5k loan to any officer who decides to purchase a home in the city. That loan value could be decreased by $1k each year that the employee maintains their permanent residence there until the loan is completely forgiven.

 

If 50 of the 1000 officers took advantage of that program every year, it would cost the city (or police dept) about $250,000/year. I wouldn't expect that many officers to use it, and assuming it doesn't actual increase residency rates of officers, only about 250 officers live in the city at any time anyway. Surely they aren't all going to purchase homes.

 

There are other options out there, too, I'm sure. This wouldn't actually be a bad idea to provide to any full time employee of the city making under a certain base income (say under $100,000). 

14 minutes ago, ryanlammi said:

It wouldn't be difficult to give police officers a forgivable loan to purchase a home in the City of Cincinnati to encourage people to live in city limits. You don't have to require they live in the city, though.

 

Something simple like a $5k loan to any officer who decides to purchase a home in the city. That loan value could be decreased by $1k each year that the employee maintains their permanent residence there until the loan is completely forgiven.

 

If 50 of the 1000 officers took advantage of that program every year, it would cost the city (or police dept) about $250,000/year. I wouldn't expect that many officers to use it, and assuming it doesn't actual increase residency rates of officers, only about 250 officers live in the city at any time anyway. Surely they aren't all going to purchase homes.

 

There are other options out there, too, I'm sure. This wouldn't actually be a bad idea to provide to any full time employee of the city making under a certain base income (say under $100,000). 

Do you know if that is going on in other cities in Ohio? or other areas of the country? It could be an interesting proposal. Of course there are going to be other hoops to jump through on such a proposal especially given union contracts and the like. It would likely be much easier to do for other non-unionized workers. 

1 hour ago, ryanlammi said:

It wouldn't be difficult to give police officers a forgivable loan to purchase a home in the City of Cincinnati to encourage people to live in city limits. You don't have to require they live in the city, though.

 

Something simple like a $5k loan to any officer who decides to purchase a home in the city. That loan value could be decreased by $1k each year that the employee maintains their permanent residence there until the loan is completely forgiven.

 

If 50 of the 1000 officers took advantage of that program every year, it would cost the city (or police dept) about $250,000/year. I wouldn't expect that many officers to use it, and assuming it doesn't actual increase residency rates of officers, only about 250 officers live in the city at any time anyway. Surely they aren't all going to purchase homes.

 

There are other options out there, too, I'm sure. This wouldn't actually be a bad idea to provide to any full time employee of the city making under a certain base income (say under $100,000). 

 

The University of Pennsylvania provides assistance to employees to buy homes in West Philly and it is wildly successful. Some would even argue TOO successful, as it has rapidly increased housing costs and overwhelmed the elementary schools. But I don't think we'd be facing an issue like that. 

10 minutes ago, DEPACincy said:

 

The University of Pennsylvania provides assistance to employees to buy homes in West Philly and it is wildly successful. Some would even argue TOO successful, as it has rapidly increased housing costs and overwhelmed the elementary schools. But I don't think we'd be facing an issue like that. 

Do you know what type of employees are eligible? Again, some of this may come down to union contracts and there may be some collective bargaining needed to accomplish some of this. 

55 minutes ago, Brutus_buckeye said:

Do you know what type of employees are eligible? Again, some of this may come down to union contracts and there may be some collective bargaining needed to accomplish some of this. 

 

All university and health system employees are eligible:
 

https://cms.business-services.upenn.edu/homeownership/phos-programs.html

Appellate court rules on city's billboard tax

 

The Hamilton County Court of Appeals has ruled an excise tax on billboards within the city of Cincinnati is legal, reversing a trial court's decision declaring the tax unconstitutional.

 

The three-judge panel did rule the City Council's prohibition on billboard companies telling advertisers that they will absorb the cost of the tax and listing it on their bill was unconstitutional.

 

Billboard companies Lamar Advertising and Norton Outdoor Advertising sued the city two years ago after the 7% tax on outdoor billboards was passed, saying it was unconstitutional based on the First Amendment right to free speech and violated the U.S. Constitution's commerce clause and equal protection clauses. The city had approved the tax in order to balance the fiscal year 2019 budget.

 

Curt Hartman, then a judge in the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas, issued a temporary restraining order against the tax, writing that "the need to add to the fisc cannot be the end-all-be-all to justify any imposition of a tax or other financial burden on the exercise of First Amendment rights..." A "fisc" was the word used to describe Rome's public treasury or the Roman emperor's privy purse.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2020/06/22/appellate-court-rules-on-citys-billboard-tax.html

 

COAST member Curt Hartman should recuse himself on any matter involving taxation in the City of Cincinnati. For obvious reasons.

Not sure if this is the best thread for this, but there is a motion on Council to make the Black Lives Matter mural on Plum St a permanent pedestrian plaza. I hope this happens as it would be a great symbol for our city to show a commitment to recognizing Black lives and that our streets are for people, not just cars. 

21 hours ago, ColDayMan said:

Appellate court rules on city's billboard tax

 

The Hamilton County Court of Appeals has ruled an excise tax on billboards within the city of Cincinnati is legal, reversing a trial court's decision declaring the tax unconstitutional.

 

The three-judge panel did rule the City Council's prohibition on billboard companies telling advertisers that they will absorb the cost of the tax and listing it on their bill was unconstitutional.

 

Billboard companies Lamar Advertising and Norton Outdoor Advertising sued the city two years ago after the 7% tax on outdoor billboards was passed, saying it was unconstitutional based on the First Amendment right to free speech and violated the U.S. Constitution's commerce clause and equal protection clauses. The city had approved the tax in order to balance the fiscal year 2019 budget.

 

Curt Hartman, then a judge in the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas, issued a temporary restraining order against the tax, writing that "the need to add to the fisc cannot be the end-all-be-all to justify any imposition of a tax or other financial burden on the exercise of First Amendment rights..." A "fisc" was the word used to describe Rome's public treasury or the Roman emperor's privy purse.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2020/06/22/appellate-court-rules-on-citys-billboard-tax.html

 

 

Good to see a differentiation made between free speech and paid speech. Hopefully a precedent has been set.

Tumultuous City Hall budget day ends in big housing dollars, Cranley veto of revived streetcar

 

After more than three hours of raucous, profanity-laced public comment that saw police remove speakers while Mayor John Cranley and council bickered over their ejection, Cincinnati City Council approved a budget that kept police funding flat, adds more than $6 million for affordable housing and revives the Cincinnati Bell Connector streetcar.

 

But Cranley immediately vetoed the streetcar-funding ordinance, setting up a potential August showdown over it. Seven members of council voted "yes," and if six maintain their stance, the project could restart then.

 

Council passed a new measure requiring 25% of all future tax-increment financing funds be used to build affordable housing within the city, a demand speaker after speaker made on Wednesday. TIF districts take property taxes revenues from improvements made to property within certain geographic areas and devote them to certain public purposes.

 

The ordinance means that more than $6.6 million in TIF funds will have to be used for affordable housing, a major change to a program often used to build new parking garages. As the balances in the TIF districts grow, that number will increase. Council previously has diverted an amount equal to the proceeds from its tax on short-term rentals like Airbnb to affordable housing, but the TIF money will dwarf that fund.

 

Council also voted to resuscitate the Cincinnati Bell Connector, appropriating enough money from the city’s transit fund to allow the streetcar to restart service at 50% of its schedule in mid-July with a full restart in September.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2020/06/24/budget-ends-in-big-housing-dollars-cranley-veto-of.html

Has anyone found specifics on how the TIF allocation will work? I'm assuming it's 25% of revenue earned so the other 75% could still be spent on other things, such as parking, until someone comes along who wants to build housing. I'm also curious if any future development will be required to feature only affordable units or if it's acceptable for them to just have some affordable units.

On 6/25/2020 at 9:02 AM, Dev said:

Has anyone found specifics on how the TIF allocation will work? I'm assuming it's 25% of revenue earned so the other 75% could still be spent on other things, such as parking, until someone comes along who wants to build housing. I'm also curious if any future development will be required to feature only affordable units or if it's acceptable for them to just have some affordable units.

You can read the ordinance here:

 

https://city-egov2.cincinnati-oh.gov/Webtop/ws/council/public/child/ResultSet?w=doc_no%3D'202000851'&rpp=-10

 

It's both 25% of current balances and future. But yes the other 75% can still be used for other purposes. My guess is that, logstics-wise, it will look similar to how part of TIF funds are reserved for bond obligations and the rest is available to spend.

 

The ordinance requests that there be a report created by Sept 8 for implementation guidance including how long the units must be affordable. I'm guessing what they'll do is create a formula/scorecard where you get a certain set of points per affordable unit (and % AMI) and it will be a credit from the TIF balance based on the developer's specs for the project. They may use something like a formula similar to the Balanced Development Report (https://city-egov2.cincinnati-oh.gov/Webtop/ws/council/public/child/ResultSet?w=doc_no%3D'201901733'&rpp=-10) funding gap figures (p.26) as a general guideline. Big thing to watch will be how long the units must remain affordable. 

 

AFAIK, affordable housing is not yet mandatory in any way but its inclusion will continue to play a role in the "but for" scoring of Community Reinvestment Area (CRA) projects (4+ units) until that program changes. Which doesn't mean much. IMO they should look into changing the "points" in that system away from LEED and toward a project's inclusion of affordable units. 

The easiest way to do this is to piggy back off of existing state and federal programs. Low Income Housing Tax Credits are one example where an outside entity (in this case the Ohio Housing Finance Agency) follows up on developments and ensures they are keeping their word. The city could pin it at a certain minimum number of years and certain AMI that coincides with OHFA regulations for tax credits.

Councilman Chris Seelbach revives plastic bag ban for Cincinnati

 

Cincinnati Councilman Chris Seelbach is reviving legislation that would ban single-use plastic bags by retailers, with the first hearing being held today.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2020/08/04/seelbach-brings-back-plastic-bag-ban.html

 

City Council may vote today on putting an issue on the November 3 ballot, asking voters if they want to move City Council to proportional representation.

 

CAN WE STOP CHANGING THE WAY CITY COUNCIL IS ELECTED EVERY TWO YEARS??????

12 minutes ago, taestell said:

City Council may vote today on putting an issue on the November 3 ballot, asking voters if they want to move City Council to proportional representation.

To clarify, it has to pass this week to make the deadline for the November ballot.
The proposal is non-partisan RCV with 9 at-large seats, currently only used in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where they apparently call it the "Cincinnati System."

This is a dumb idea. Ranked Choice Voting is almost useless when it is used for 9 at-large seats. You already get to vote for nine candidates. That's plenty of choice.

 

Ranked Choice Voting should be implemented for the Mayor, not council. Eliminate the primary and allow voters to rank their favorites. Council is not a good candidate for RCV. It's just going to confuse people.

 

And anything that Smitherman proposes to the city charter is always somehow self-serving. I don't trust him.

Changing to a new system would probably "reset" everyone's term limits and allow him to run again. (He's term limited out this year under the current system.)

52 minutes ago, Dev said:

 currently only used in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where they apparently call it the "Cincinnati System."

 

Incidentally, the Cambridge City Hall is built in the exact same style as ours.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_Hall_(Cambridge,_Massachusetts)

 

26 minutes ago, taestell said:

Changing to a new system would probably "reset" everyone's term limits and allow him to run again. (He's term limited out this year under the current system.)

 

He already benefited from the last change of the charter - he and he alone was able to serve for 10 years.  

 

 

 

13 minutes ago, jmecklenborg said:

 

He already benefited from the last change of the charter - he and he alone was able to serve for 10 years.  

 

 

 

That's not true.

 

Sittenfeld, Seelbach, and Young were all elected in 2011, 2013, and 2017

On top of that, Wendell Young was appointed in 2010. Meaning he will get 11 years on a council that has a term limit of 8 years.

22 minutes ago, ryanlammi said:

That's not true.

 

Sittenfeld, Seelbach, and Young were all elected in 2011, 2013, and 2017

 

You're correct.  My memory of that time period is fading.  I recall going to a public debate on the proposed 4-year terms where it was stated that Smitherman was going to enjoy a loophole and be able to serve more time than anyone else, but that turned out to not be correct.  My more distinct memory of that meeting was receiving a nasty stare-down from Jeff Berding.  

 

 

1 hour ago, ryanlammi said:

This is a dumb idea. Ranked Choice Voting is almost useless when it is used for 9 at-large seats. You already get to vote for nine candidates. That's plenty of choice.

 

Ranked Choice Voting should be implemented for the Mayor, not council. Eliminate the primary and allow voters to rank their favorites. Council is not a good candidate for RCV. It's just going to confuse people.

Using the Cincinnati System, Cambridge had a turnout of 31% in 2019, with 10% of ballots exhausted because they didn't pick an eventual winner.
In 2017 turnout it was 32% with 11.8% exhausted ballots.

Also, can the BoE's machines actually tally a RCV election?

Cincinnati City Council passes ban on single-use plastic bags

 

Starting Jan. 1, businesses that sell food within the city of Cincinnati will no longer be able to offer single-use plastic bags under an ordinance approved by City Council on Thursday.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2020/09/10/cincinnati-city-council-passes-ban-on-single-use.html

 

Hey, remember that time when TMZ reported on David Mann and BLM went outside the convention center and ordered pizzas?  That was 90 days ago:

https://www.tmz.com/2020/06/18/cincinnati-budget-meeting-protest-erupts-fund-police-defund-boo-riot-city-council/

Part of Reading Road to be renamed President Barack Obama Avenue

 

https://www.wlwt.com/article/part-of-reading-road-to-be-renamed-president-barack-obama-avenue/34240720

 

From downtown before Central Parkway to the edge of the city right at Galbraith Road, Reading Road will be renamed President Barack Obama Avenue.

"We're announcing it now and City Council has approved it. It'll take a while for the change to happen," said Councilwoman Jan Michele Kearney.

2 hours ago, cincydave8 said:

Part of Reading Road to be renamed President Barack Obama Avenue

 

https://www.wlwt.com/article/part-of-reading-road-to-be-renamed-president-barack-obama-avenue/34240720

 

From downtown before Central Parkway to the edge of the city right at Galbraith Road, Reading Road will be renamed President Barack Obama Avenue.

"We're announcing it now and City Council has approved it. It'll take a while for the change to happen," said Councilwoman Jan Michele Kearney.

 

I'm glad they made it "President Barack Obama Avenue" so that no one is confused and thinks its named after some other "Barack Obama."

I hate long names. I'll all for naming a street after Obama... but it'd be way nicer to just call it "Obama Way" or "Obama Ave".

17 minutes ago, Ram23 said:

 

I'm glad they made it "President Barack Obama Avenue" so that no one is confused and thinks its named after some other "Barack Obama."

 

President Barack Hussein Obama Avenue

1 hour ago, GCrites80s said:

 

President Barack Hussein Obama Avenue

 

President of the United States of America Barack Hussein Obama II Boulevard

The Presidents of the United States of America Blvd:

 

 

2 hours ago, Ram23 said:

 

I'm glad they made it "President Barack Obama Avenue" so that no one is confused and thinks its named after some other "Barack Obama."

 

Is Harrison Ave. named after the son or the daddy?

 

Seems like this Reading Rd. rename came out of absolutely nowhere.  

 

Quote

After a "groundswell of public support," the process ground to a halt after Young experienced some health issues.

 

There was no "groundswell of public support".  Nobody asked for this.  I lived in Cincinnati for the entirety of the Obama Presidency and since and was around politicians a fair amount.  I never hear anyone - ever - suggest doing this in real life or in the press.  Obama has absolutely zero Cincinnati connection.  He spoke in front of the Brent Spence Bridge once and didn't manage to get any money to that project, so...um.  And the reinvestment act (stimulus) paid for the Monmouth St. overpass over I-75 and the parking garage under the GE and Radius block on the banks, and that's it.  

 

From a wayfinding perspective they just made Cincinnati more difficult to navigate.  Reading Rd. is was the only street to cross the entire county without changing its name. Back when MLK was established, that made sense because they consolidated several road name fragments to ease wayfinding.  In fact, it was originally proposed that the MLK name would replace Westwood-Northern Blvd, Hopple St., and Madison Rd., creating a cross-county road with a single name.  

 

 

 

8 minutes ago, jmecklenborg said:

 

Is Harrison Ave. named after the son or the daddy?

 

 

 

 

 

If you are referring to President William Henry Harrison and President Benjamin Harrison, William Henry was Benjamin's grandfather not father.

1 hour ago, Htsguy said:

If you are referring to President William Henry Harrison and President Benjamin Harrison, William Henry was Benjamin's grandfather not father.

 

Damn.  So which is it named after?  I assume the grandfather, since I would assume that the town of Harrison (and West Harrison) are named after him, and Harrison Ave. of course leads from Cincinnati to the town(s).  

 

Plus, the fact that the state line travels directly through that town and one side of the main drag is in Ohio and the other is in Indiana doesn't get as much attention as it deserves.  

^Think of all the cold beer illegally smuggled into Indiana

5 minutes ago, GCrites80s said:

^Think of all the cold beer illegally smuggled into Indiana

 

Buying large quantities of beer in Indiana to save money on taxes was a very regular activity on the west side when I was a kid.  People didn't do it to be ironic or anything - they were completely serious about it like how guys who hang out at the dog track are completely serious about it.  

On 10/2/2020 at 12:29 PM, jmecklenborg said:

 

Is Harrison Ave. named after the son or the daddy?

 

It'll be targeted for a rename after Kamala Harris.  

 

 

18 minutes ago, GCrites80s said:

The big problem with this kind of corruption is that the effects from it can be seen around town for decades, even centuries. Crap projects, buildings gutted or demo'ed for bad reasons, good developments pushed out for bad.

Thats the best thing coming out of this. My gut tells me Cincinnati is going to see some greats projects happen in the coming years that wouldn’t happen if this house cleaning didn’t occur.

7 minutes ago, troeros said:

Chances of cranley being next?

Wouldn’t surprise me one bit.

Now that the race is without a frontrunner - any likelihood that Aftab would run for mayor?

1 minute ago, oudd said:

Now that the race is without a frontrunner - any likelihood that Aftab would run for mayor?

 

Justin Jeffre 

4 minutes ago, 646empire said:

Thats the best thing coming out of this. My gut tells me Cincinnati is going to see some greats projects happen in the coming years that wouldn’t happen if this house cleaning didn’t occur.

 

Hopefully less streetcar obstructionism too.

2 minutes ago, jmecklenborg said:

 

Justin Jeffre 

 

noooooo

1 minute ago, jmecklenborg said:

 

Justin Jeffre 

Sitting in his hillside crib, watching the dominoes fall, waiting for his moment.