Thursday at 2 PM

Just to be clear, the crisp, clear and correct decision of Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Robert Winkler to allow the Parking Plot to be subjected to referendum did not place the matter on the ballot.  Rather, it simply empowered the citizenry to undertake the petitioning process to place the issue before the voters.

This means that we have the right to place the issue on the ballot if, by this Thursday we submit 8,729 valid signatures to the City to place the issue on the November ballot.
If we are even one signature short, the City becomes entitled to sign the 30-year Parking Plot lease, and this generation and one beyond are deprived of that asset, and the City's sovereignty over its streets and certain of its judicial functions.

The entire coalition behind this referendum just completed a fantastic weekend of petition gathering, with thousands added to our totals.  We have exceeded the minimum number of gross signatures needed for ballot access, but of course many of those signatures are invalid -- primarily being people not registered or those who live outside the City.

Thus, at this juncture we have more than 4,000 signatures to go, with three and a half yet days to collect them.  WE STILL NEED YOUR HELP.  This is the time to pull out all the stops (the legal ones) to attain ballot access.

If you are eligible and have not signed, please do so.  If you can, please volunteer to circulate a petition.

The absolute, drop dead, deadline, final time to collect that last signature, and get it into the stack we are submitting to the City is Thursday, April 4 at 2 PM.  There will be no extensions.  We have no room for error.  Please turn in your signatures before that time. 

Please call Tom Brinkman, Jr. at 237-4054 to get involved.

Thank you for your assistance.

COAST would also like to recognize the tremendous volunteer sacrifice and leadership in this effort of Mayoral candidates Jim Berns and John Cranley, who put aside their competition to unite behind this important cause, Council member and NAACP President Christopher Smitherman and the entire NAACP leadership, Pete Witte, civic activist from Price Hill, and Council candidate Amy Murray.  We also want to recognize the extraordinary effort and productivity of Tom Brinkman, Jr.  These six leaders have really driven this issue, with help from dozens of business owners, ordinary citizens, and, of course, COASTers, in bringing this issue to the ballot.