Porkopolis

Oinker of the Day 5.31

Question for singles: Do you feel the pressure to "pair up" from friends, family, song lyrics and almost every aspect of our culture, or are you pretty much accepted as you are?

— Margo Pierce

Study: Downtown Streetcar System on Track

After years of false starts, Cincinnati City Council wants to move quickly on the next steps for making a streetcar system in downtown and Over-the-Rhine a reality.

Council's Economic Development Committee was presented today with the results of a feasibility study on the impact of building the system. A capacity crowd filled council's chambers to hear the results, which generally concluded that the system would be a boon to redevelopment efforts and retail sales.

Encouraged by the results, council members instructed City Manager Milton Dohoney Jr. and his administration to prepare a report within the next month about options for funding the initial 3.9-mile stretch at an estimated cost of $102 million. Council likely will decide on a funding strategy before it breaks for summer vacation in July, members said.

County Raises Sales Tax, Overrules Voters

Hamilton County commissioners strongly hinted in last week’s issue of CityBeat that they would do it, and today they carried through with the statement.

In a 2-1 vote that split along party lines, the commission today unilaterally raised Hamilton County’s sales tax to pay for construction of a new jail and other crime-related programs, bypassing putting the issue before voters. Democrats Todd Portune and David Pepper supported the increase, and Republican Pat DeWine was opposed.

“It’s time now to end the debate and end the posturing and act to solve this problem,” Portune said.

Note to Enquirer: Check Your Archives

Either former Procter & Gamble CEO John Pepper doesn't do his research before taking on new projects or he’s misleading the public about the request to score taxpayer funding for the troubled National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

Pepper, the Freedom Center's volunteer CEO who is trying to help the museum solve its financial problems, states in an article in today's Cincinnati Enquirer that he doesn't remember anyone connected with the facility ever promising not to seek public subsidies once it opened.

Au contraire.

Spencer Crew, the Freedom Center’s president, made the claim to reporters several times when the facility opened in 2004, as a simple check of The Enquirer’s own archives will prove.

Dear Commander Ted

When I was in grade school, we learned how to write a letter to a "government official." (They weren’t called "politicians" in Catholic School at that time.) If I remember correctly, we actually wrote to the president of the United States. I’m sure our letters never landed on his desk, along with the bazillion other letters written by kids that school year. Even then I was smart enough to figure out that the guy wasn't going to write back.

I’m wondering if Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland missed that class in grade school — or if he's more interested in doing what his political advisors tell him instead of taking meaningful action. I ponder this because of a press release sent by Strickland's staff, announcing the second letter he's sent to President Bush regarding the change in deployment of Ohio National Guard troops. This time he's taking the peer-to-peer approach.

Candidate Has Multiple Fines

Former Cincinnati City Councilwoman Minette Cooper has four unpaid citations for weed and litter infractions on property she owns, amounting to $1,200 in fines, according to the city's Office of Administrative Hearings.

Cooper says she first found out about the citations after receiving a notice in the mail this past week. Cooper said that the property is co-owned with her ex-husband, Dr. Emmett Cooper, and that she hasn't even had access to the property since their divorce several years ago. But Minette Cooper told CityBeat that she would pay the fines immediately and that she had already put a $250 check in the mail to the city solicitor.

Minette Cooper is running for election to city council after a mandatory four-year hiatus required by term limits. She has the Hamilton County Democratic Party’s endorsement.

FOP Acts Peevish, Not Practical

Here’s another indication that personalities and party affiliation — not policy — affect the local police union’s decisions about taking a stand on political issues.

Readers with long memories will recall that the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Queen City Lodge No. 69 endorsed Republican Phil Heimlich last year in his unsuccessful campaign to win re-election as a Hamilton County commissioner. Heimlich eventually lost to his challenger, Democrat David Pepper.

Part of the reason that the FOP gave for endorsing Heimlich was his effort to get voters to pass a sales tax increase to build a new jail that would lessen overcrowding and stop the early release of some nonviolent offenders. Despite the tax hike itself also being endorsed by the FOP and Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters, among others, voters rejected it by a resounding 57-43 percent margin last November.

News Photo Quiz

This stunning structure, fashioned in the architectural style known as "Mussolini Modern," nears completion in Cincinnati. Is this building:

A) the world's largest dental clinic?
B) the new Hamilton County Jail?
C) a new public school designed to make students feel important?
D) none of the above?
E) more than one of the above?

— Ben L. Kaufman

(Photo: Ben L. Kaufman)

Marvin Lewis, Bengals Players and Local Cops

Politicians and other public figures, it seems, speak more openly when they're away from the vested interests and expectations of hometown audiences. The latest example of this truism is Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis, who told ESPN radio Wednesday that some of the legal troubles facing team players are due to "profiling" by police.

"I think there's profiling, no question," Lewis said during the interview. "(The city is) a small place. Our guys stand out, and they know that, and you've got to do things the right way."

Lewis was referring to a March 21 incident when Bengals player Chris Henry had his vehicle stopped by Cincinnati Police on Vine Street in Over-the-Rhine for not using a turn signal when making a right-hand turn. Once stopped, police cited Henry for driving on a suspended license, not using a turn signal and not wearing a seat belt. The three traffic charges eventually were dropped.

Because Henry was on probation in Kenton County for providing alcohol to a minor, he potentially could have been sentenced to 88 days in jail to complete part of a 90-day suspended sentence there. Henry also is on probation in Florida for a felony conviction involving a handgun.

The Great Cat Rescue

There’s some good news for the more than 60 cats and kittens left homeless when a bank foreclosed on a house in Cincinnati’s East End neighborhood. The Cincinnati branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) has donated $1,000 to four animal rescue groups that are trying to find foster homes for the so-called “foreclosure cats.” So far about 45 cats have found foster homes while the groups look for permanent shelter.

The animals were left behind when an evicted man walked away from his home, not telling anyone about the animals trapped inside without food, water or medical attention. Four all-volunteer groups — Pet Alliance, Save Our Strays, Silver Bells Rescue and Wildwood Pet Network — sprung into action and established a Web site to get help from the community.