In the articulate words of Cincycapell:

 

"And GoCOAST lost...Again"

 

COAST is getting a ballot initiative together.  Their plan is to delay the deal until 2014. 

In the articulate words of Cincycapell:

 

"And GoCOAST lost...Again"

 

COAST is getting a ballot initiative together.  Their plan is to delay the deal until 2014.

 

Losers.

 

 

^ "Call 237-4054 for info" and if you want Mark Miller to have your phone number.

I'm not finding any live updates on the Blue Ash City Council vote, but at 7:35pm the obsessive compulsive losers at Toast tweeted the following:

 

COAST ‏@GOCOAST

BREAKING: @GOCOAST promises referendum tonight to Blue Ash Airport/Streetcar boondoggle. Will delay deal until 2014. Call 237-4054 for info.

7:35 PM - 9 Aug 12 via Twitter for iPhone · Details

 

 

The phone number goes to Tom Brinkman's voicemail (FYI, Brinkman is now COAST chairman, I guess that Jason Gloyd's home foreclosure cost him that job). I take it that COAST lost the vote, and are now threatening to unleash The Great Terror upon the denizens of Blue Ash and holding their park hostage for a couple of years.

UPDATE 8:25PM:

 

Just heard officially there's been no vote in Blue Ash yet. The COASTers have been yelling & screaming at Council members for 90 minutes now. Don't know when the vote will happen. COAST is threatening the Council members with referendum, recalls etc if they vote in favor of the re-do.

And this is why we live in a representative republic, instead of allowing long-term decisions to be made by a pitchfork-weilding mob of inbred morons.

^^^^^What he said!

BREAKING: Just in from the COAST tweet stream:

 

COAST ‏@GOCOAST

Blue Ash Council approved boondoggle Streetcar/Airport re-do w/ City of Cincinnati w/ 7 votes. Only Mayor opposes. Referendum promised!

8:38 PM - 9 Aug 12 via Twitter for iPhone · Details

 

The perennial losers at COAST lose. Yet. Again. COAST IS TOAST BABY!!

Congrats to the Blue Ash city council for upholding the will of their constituents, doing the common-sense thing, and ignoring the mob of idiots who don't even live there.

Here's a golden nugget from COAST tonight:

 

COAST ‏@GOCOAST

At blue ash council. One speaker called them prostitutes of Cincinnati council. Crowd is hot tonight.

8:28 PM - 9 Aug 12 via Twitter for iPhone · Details

 

This whole episode has been one enormous temper tantrum by TOAST. Now Finney will sue (ie, rob the Taxpayers of yet more money) and/or hold up the park that Blue Ash residents by a 2:1 vote for a couple of years with a futile referendum in order to reap his vengeance on the City of Blue Ash. He's not going to delay the Streetcar, the new park is the only thing that he'll succeed in delaying.

Please tell me someone recorded COASTs  insanity

Who ever COAST is, they are like a thorn in the skin. How can the BAR association of Ohio Allow this group to keep filing such nonsense lawsuits???? To me they are worse than Deters and he had is license suspended at one point;.

Fortunately for Finney and unfortunately for us, being a prick isn't sufficient grounds for getting disbarred. Pretty sure he'd have to actually be doing something illegal or unethical regarding one of his clients.

Who ever COAST is, they are like a thorn in the skin. How can the BAR association of Ohio Allow this group to keep filing such nonsense lawsuits???? To me they are worse than Deters and he had is license suspended at one point;.

 

On that note, this from Jake Mecklenborg:

 

Jake Mecklenborg ‏@jakemecklenborg

Blue Ash City Council members scolded Chris Finney for calling them at home, threatening them, and placing anonymous literature under doors.

9:34 PM - 9 Aug 12 via web · Details

 

Those members of the Blue Ash City Council need to file a complaint with the BAR against Finney for is unethical and unprofessional conduct. They also should file telecommunications harassment charges with the Blue Ash police dept against Finney and his minions. These psychopaths need to be taught a lesson.

I just got back from the meeting.

 

After 90 minutes of impassioned speaking against the streetcar and government in general by Mary Kuhl, Jeff Cappel, Finney, and the rest, Blue Ash City Council voted 6-1 to approve the ordinance which rescinds the deal.  The only dissenting vote was the mayor, who it appears was the only one playing politics.  Aside from him, the 6 councilmen all took shots at Chris Finney and the local media.  It was incredible to watch.  Several complained about COAST having spread misinformation including an anonymous pamphlet that was slipped under doors throughout Blue Ash and Chris Finney's threatening phone calls to them at home.  One went so far as to call Chris Finney a coward. 

 

Will The Enquirer report any of this?  I doubt it. 

 

Also, the justification for Blue Ash's vote was very sound.  As they stated, the whole idea for this goofy legal process was THE FAA'S IDEA.  Possession of the Blue Ash Airport will return to the City of Cincinnati for just an hour or two on August 29th.  The $6 million will transfer for just an hour or two as well.  And the ordinance itself guarantees that Cincinnati will return possession of the airport -- Chris Finney has been spreading all kinds of lies about that fact.

 

Also, during his 5 minutes, Finney threatened Blue Ash with a ballot referendum which was met with a chorus of approval from the peanut gallery.  But he was revealed to be a fraud and I think he lost some of his supporters, and he certainly made enemies of Blue Ash City Council, all or most of whom are Republicans. 

Thanks for the report Jake. Could you tell which media was present? Any more details of the Council's criticisms of the local media??

Channel 12 was there and one other channel.  Councilman Rick Bryan specifically called out Brian Thomas and Bill Cunningham as providing Finney with a mouthpiece for his chaos.  All of council frustrated by local media's inability to report the facts of the situation.  Yes, it is quite unusual and complicated, but rescinding the sale per the recommendations of the FAA is really the only way for both parties to get what they want. 

 

Also Rick Bryan sarcastically called Finney "The World's Greatest Lawyer".  You could tell he and the rest couldn't wait to take the microphone and vent their frustrations with the chaos has brought to their worlds for the past two weeks. 

And thats only a brief tasting of what Cincinnati has dealt with over the last decade...

Channel 12 was there and one other channel.  Councilman Rick Bryan specifically called out Brian Thomas and Bill Cunningham as providing Finney with a mouthpiece for his chaos.  All of council frustrated by local media's inability to report the facts of the situation.  Yes, it is quite unusual and complicated, but rescinding the sale per the recommendations of the FAA is really the only way for both parties to get what they want. 

 

Also Rick Bryan sarcastically called Finney "The World's Greatest Lawyer".  You could tell he and the rest couldn't wait to take the microphone and vent their frustrations with the chaos has brought to their worlds for the past two weeks.

 

That's a sweet, sweet dose of Schadenfreude Jake!

 

Jake - thenks for that report.

any members with a Twitter account: Finney & COAST needs to be held accountable for their actions, and this is a rare chance topressure the local media to do so. If you have an account, might you send the following Tweet?

 

RT to ask @CarolynWashburn if her paper is going to report the Blue Ash City Council's chastisement of @chris_finney & @gocoast tonight

 

 

Completely, utterly predictable. From the TOAST blog (no link, sorry):

 

Blue Ash Council buys itself litigation and a referendum

 

Tonight, as expected, Blue Ash City Council enacted by a 6-1 vote an ordinance to re-do the 6-year-old purchase of the Blue Ash Airport from the City of Cincinnati to allow the proceeds to be used for the boondoggle Cincinnati streetcar project.

 

Unfortunately for the pro-streetcar folks, COAST believes the Council enacted the ordinance improperly, which may (after analysis from the COAST legal team) result in Court action to stop it and, concurrently, COAST is launching a referendum on the Ordinance to place the issue before the City's voters.

 

....Through the use of some creative -- but inaccurate and deceptive -- wording of the ordinance by Blue Ash's counsel, Council has tried to avoid the citizens referendum right.  COAST's counsel is hopeful the Courts will see through that and force a citizen vote on the ordinance.

 

....As it stands now, if COAST can succeed in putting the issue before the voters, the deal could be delayed as much as 14 months, or turned down entirely....We are hopeful the voters of Blue Ash will take note and have long memories of those who cost their City money, and potentially significantly delayed the development of their park, because of the need to "go along to get along" with the big-government agenda in Cincinnati.

 

We assure you this will not be the last time COAST writes of their ignominious treachery.

 

 

 

This is now entirely about Finney's massively over-inflated ego and nothing else.

Thanks Jake.

Jake, can you write a story for CityBeat or SoapBox since the Enquirer won't cover this? I really hate the enquirer and coast. Sometimes this city disgusts me and they are usually the reasons why.

Jake is a contributor to UrbanCincy.com, so hopefully we'll see something there soon.

Does anyone have video from the event? Who handles TV broadcasts of local governments' city council meetings?

The media continues to give the COAST nutjobs a platform

 

http://www.wlwt.com/news/local-news/hamilton-county/Plans-to-sell-Blue-Ash-Airport-raises-serious-questions/-/13550662/16047706/-/cwdltk/-/index.html

 

"The economic impact of an airport far exceeds a 1-mile long streetcar," MacDonald said.

 

Does anyone have video from the event? Who handles TV broadcasts of local governments' city council meetings?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that would be public access territory. So, TW Cable and the respective city/village/township.

 

 

Channel5 is the first up with a fact free , COAST-fluffing story. No mention of the hearing tonight, and a gratuitous COAST comment too boot:

 

Plans to sell Blue Ash Airport raises serious questions Deal leaves some people steaming

 

The city of Cincinnati wants to buy back 130 acres of land sold to Blue Ash some six years ago, but only for a few hours to shut the airport down before selling it back.

 

The controversy dates back to 2006 when Blue Ash first shook hands with Cincinnati, buying the land the airport sits on for $37.5 million. City officials want to use part of the money to fund the streetcar, but officials recently learned federal guidelines force money from the sale of an open airport to be used for aviation.

 

"If all goes as it's supposed to go, the federal money earmarked for Blue Ash, once it's a defunct airport, that money should come to Lunken," said Dave MacDonald, of Flamingo Air"

......

 

"There are legal remedies and remedies at the ballot, and we're discussing every one of those," said Tom Brinkman, of the Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes.

 

There is no "Federal money earmarked for Blue Ash Airport". Cincinnati applied for, and was denied, a Federal grant for the Airport. But the local media never lets facts get in their way of acting as COAST's PR agents.

^^^ Wow, a quote from the owner of the local mile high club charter.  That is some really good reporting right there.  I guess nobody else would talk to them. 

...And the Enquirer chimes in with more of the usual. Did they let Finney write the article?

 

http://local.cincinnati.com/community/Story.aspx?c=100044&url=http://news.communitypress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/C2/20120809/NEWS05/308090068/

 

Christopher Finney of Anderson Township, general counsel for COAST (Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes) in Hamilton County, said his organization was poised to circulate referendum petitions if Blue Ash City Council re-did the sales agreement – adding that that would delay the development of the park until the issue went to voters, also in November 2013.

 

“It’s not a possibility, it’s not a likelihood,” Finney said.

 

“It’s a guarantee.”

 

Citizen after citizen took the microphone to speak in opposition to legislation that would rescind a $37.5 million sales agreement between Blue Ash and Cincinnati for the property - approved in 2006 and amended in 2007 - and then approve a new one.

 

 

Here is what will appear on UrbanCincy.com tomorrow:

 

 

The Blue Ash Municipal & Safety Center was the scene of high political

drama on Thursday night.  After 90 minutes of public speaking, with

zero Blue Ash or Cincinnati residents speaking in favor of Blue Ash

rescinding its 2006 agreement to purchase 130 acres of the Blue Ash

Airport from the City of Cincinnati, by a 6-1 vote Blue Ash City

Council did just that.

 

Ordinance 2012-41 authorizes Blue Ash’s City Manager to rescind the

2006 transfer of title of the Blue Ash Airport from the City of

Cincinnati.  On August 29, that title will be briefly transferred back

to the City of Cincinnati and Cincinnati will return approximately $6

million in payments received to date from Blue Ash.  After appropriate

paperwork is signed, Blue Ash will immediately return the $6 million

to Cincinnati and title will be returned to the City of Blue Ash.

After the airport operations cease on September 1, Blue Ash will gain

full possession of the property and can commence construction of a

long-planned park.

 

This unusual procedural step is necessary because after the cities of

Blue Ash and Cincinnati signed their 2006 agreement, the FAA

restricted Cincinnati’s use of the proceeds.  Specifically, the FAA

prohibited Cincinnati from using any of the $37.5 million sale for

non-airport capital improvements. Since 2007 Cincinnati has planned to

use $11 million of the Blue Ash Airport proceeds to fund construction

of the Cincinnati Streetcar, with the remainder programmed for

roadwork and other typical capital improvements.

 

At Thursday’s meeting, Blue Ash City Council scolded the local media

for not having informed the public that it was the FAA who suggested

that Blue Ash rescind the sale as a way for both parties to achieve

their goals on schedule.  August 29th’s paperwork avoids an estimated

2 years of litigation in federal court, meaning Blue Ash’s annual

payments to the City of Cincinnati can continue uninterrupted,

Cincinnati can use those capital funds however it sees fit, and Blue

Ash can proceed with converting 130 acres of the Blue Ash Airport into

a park.

 

This park was promised to Blue Ash voters after they approved a .25%

city earnings tax increase in 2006.  Revenue from this tax has paid $1

million annually to Cincinnati since 2007 and has also funded

construction of a new city recreation center and the new Cooper Creek

Event Center adjacent to the municipally owned Blue Ash Golf Course.

 

The facts of the situation as described above were entirely absent

from the 90 minutes of emotional citizen comments that proceeded

council’s action.  Speaker after speaker, led by Mary Kuhl of Westwood

Concern and various members of COAST, incited the crowd into raucous

clapping and heckling of Blue Ash City Council. Chris Finney, COAST’s

central figure, threatened Blue Ash with a ballot referendum that

would rescind the rescinding of the 2006 sale of the airport to

Cincinnati, creating a legal mess his law firm would no doubt attempt

to be hired to untangle.

 

After citizen comments, five of seven city councilmen explained their

rationale for voting to approve Ordinance 2012-41.  All voiced

frustration with the local media’s inability to engage the facts and

called out Chris Finney and COAST for unethical behavior.  Several

reported that Finney had called them at home, described his actions an

effort to extort Blue Ash, one sarcastically called him “The World’s

Greatest Lawyer”, and another simply called him a coward.

 

After Council presented the facts and context that Chris Finney had

distorted or omitted in his week-long media blitz, there was no

heckling to be heard as Ordinance 2012-41 was approved.  As Council

returned to routine business after the nearly 2-hour episode concocted

by same man who has brought so much chaos to Cincinnati’s municipal

affairs since the early 1990s, the crowd that had been calling for

Blue Ash Council’s heads earlier in the evening quietly shuffled out

of the building.  But they had no chance to redirect their ire at the

man who fooled them into wasting a fine summer evening doing his dirty

work -- Finney left the building more than an hour earlier.

 

   

I have a friend here in LA who used to be a production assistant for a number of reality TV shows, and I remember her telling me about how the producers would provoke and egg on the various cast members behind the scenes in order to stir people up so there'd be plenty of angst and drama once the cameras were rolling. This of course meant more drama and higher ratings, without producers having to spend the money to hire professional actors and writers like in the old sitcom days. (My friend eventually got fed up with the whole business and changed careers.)

 

I think Cincinnati's media outlets are playing a similar role as the reality TV producers. They don't want to spend the resources or put in the hard work of doing any actual journalism, so they deliberately put out a bunch of misleading articles, quote the most vile and obnoxious extremists they can find, and play up the high drama so they can get those ratings and page hits. I suspect they're all perfectly aware that their product is horsesh!t, but to them that's a feature, not a bug. To hell with being the fourth estate; it's all about the advertising revenue.

 

As for Finney, I propose he be tranquilized and then shipped off to some libertarian paradise, like Somalia.

On the Enquirer's hard hitting report on the blue ash council meeting all of the comments were bashing their "reporting"  they have hence deleted all of the comments on the article. 

 

funny how that works.

^ I was gonna say the same thing.

 

As for Finney, I propose he be tranquilized and then shipped off to some libertarian paradise, like Somalia.

Finney & COA T are not libertarian. If they were, they would be fighting the big centralized government's unelected agency, the FAA, getting involved & screwing things up for local government.

^ True, anybody with two brain cells can see that Finney, et al aren't libertarian. (See my earlier comment about COAST's true motives.) But he sure likes to pretend he's one, so I figure ship him off to someplace that effectively has no government, and let him put his money where his mouth is.

WCPO's Scott Wegener just reworded his last COAST fellating story to include a blurb about last night's vote:

 

http://www.wcpo.com/dpp/news/region_east_cincinnati/blue_ash/Blue-Ash-City-Council-approves-legislation-to-move-forward-with-airport-sale-to-Cincinnati

^$100M in litigation?

better check with Luken on that. It's probably closer to $500B.

In other news,

 

I received a mailing from Congressman Steve Chabot, "Working hard to prioritize your tax dollars." He states his position on Transportation Priorities, Regulatory Reform, Energy, Small Business Access to Capital, Health Care, and National Defense. In his Transportation section, he states,

 

"That is why Congressman Steve Chabot has been a dedicated advocate for replacing the Brent Spence Bridge and authorized an amendment to limit federal funding for luxery projects like the Cincinnati Streetcar."

 

He also includes a survey, with only 3 questions. Question number 1 is:

 

"Do you support additional federal tax dollars being used to fund the Cincinnati Streetcar Project?"  Yes, No, or Unsure.

 

The other two questions were about veterans receiving priority for Section 8 vouchers and the Dalton Street post office.

 

His mailing has a photo of downtown Cincinnati.

For the third time now, the Enquirer has erased all comments on their hackneyed story on the Blue Ash Council vote/TOAST referendum & lawsuit threat. The comments have been overwhelmingly anti-COAST & highly critical of the enquirer's coverage. Fair & Balanced?

For the third time now, the Enquirer has erased all comments on their hackneyed story on the Blue Ash Council vote/TOAST referendum & lawsuit threat. The comments have been overwhelmingly anti-COAST & highly critical of the enquirer's coverage. Fair & Balanced?

Sure you're just not waiting long enough for the comments to load? The Enquirer's MacII servers & Zuckerberg's folly aren't the swiftest bits of tech out there.

^Quite sure. It said 0 comments as of last night when I posted.

In other news,

 

I received a mailing from Congressman Steve Chabot, "Working hard to prioritize your tax dollars." He states his position on Transportation Priorities, Regulatory Reform, Energy, Small Business Access to Capital, Health Care, and National Defense. In his Transportation section, he states,

 

"That is why Congressman Steve Chabot has been a dedicated advocate for replacing the Brent Spence Bridge and authorized an amendment to limit federal funding for luxery projects like the Cincinnati Streetcar."

 

He also includes a survey, with only 3 questions. Question number 1 is:

 

"Do you support additional federal tax dollars being used to fund the Cincinnati Streetcar Project?"  Yes, No, or Unsure.

 

The other two questions were about veterans receiving priority for Section 8 vouchers and the Dalton Street post office.

 

His mailing has a photo of downtown Cincinnati.

 

Wonder how you were picked to receive that. Registered Republican, maybe.

The Enquirer comments were definitely deleted. 

The Enquirer comments were definitely deleted.

 

The Enquirer's tired excuse that 'story URL changes' cause the comments to disappear is pure BS. I've been tracking several threads where comments disappear. The URL is not changing at all. Comments are being purposefully deleted. Someone needs to tweet & email Editor Carolyn Washburn and demand an explanation (she won't respond to me).

For THE FOURTH TIME NOW the Enquirer has deleted all comments from the Blue Ash story. And yes, the URL is still the same.

What is the significance of the comments disappearing (other than that's not how it's supposed to work)?

If a majority of them were critical of the Enquirer, it seems kinda fishy. I think that's what people are getting at. That the deletion might be censorship to white wash their image.

What is the significance of the comments disappearing (other than that's not how it's supposed to work)?

 

The comments were almost universally highly critical of both COAST and the Enquirer's shoddy, enabling coverage of them. Several comments also linked to the the accurate story of what really happened at the hearing that's on UrbanCincy. Comments only disappear when a majority of them are critical of the Enquirer or their pet projects (COAST, Brent Spence Replacement, etc).