Utter contempt for the voters

 

Roxanne Qualls shows contempt for the voters

Oblivious that this is an election year, and oblivious that the referendum and lawsuit on the Parking Plot was a thundering rejection by the electorate of the secretive and underhanded tactics of the Mallory administration of the City, the City Manager today undertook a new low municipal governance.

Let us visit the events of the past 75 days:

So, was this their cynical plan: "Tomorrow"?

The Streetcar is $17.4 million over budget. Vice Mayor and Finance Committee Chairman Roxanne Qualls announces that it is time to "step back" and evaluate the project and that the City Manager does not have a blank check for the project. Oh yeah, it's time for some hard questions and some critical thinking.

The great Streetcar mystery

Oh, the Cincinnati Streetcar, the source of endless drama on Plum Street. 

For almost the entire eight years of the Mayoral tenure of Mayor Mark Mallory, City Hall has been distracted from the real business of running the City by the Streetcar.  The mystery now, as was the same from the beginning: how will they ever pay for the thing?

Plaintiffs file appellate brief in Parking Plot litigation

The battle was joined today as the Plaintiffs filed their appellate brief in the ultra-accelerated appeal of whether the citizens of Cincinnati have the right to vote on a referendum of the Parking Plot.

You may read the appellees brief in McQueen v. Cincinnati here:

   McQueen v. Cincinnati, Appellees' (Plaintiffs')  Brief

Do you hear the people sing?

 

Do you hear the people sing?

Singing a song of angry men?

It is the music of a people

Who will not be slaves again!

When the beating of your heart

Echoes the beating of the drums

There is a life about to start

When tomorrow comes!

A wild few months on the Cincinnati Roller COASTer

COAST has said that the end game is playing out, and indeed it is now unfolding before our eyes.

Monday, two important things happen: First, Roxanne Qualls gavels open her Streetcar hearings at 6 PM where Council and the Administration wrestle over the future of the streetcar.  Second, the Plaintiff's brief is due before the First District Court of Appeals in the emergency expedited appeal of Judge Winkler's inspired ruling on the Parking Plot, allowing the referendum to go forward.

Doublethink, Crimethink and the Streetcar

In 1984, George Orwell introduced us to the concepts of Doublethink and Crimethink. Doublethink is the ability to accept to mutually contradictory beliefs as true; Crimethink is to hold unspoken thoughts or beliefs that go against or question the ruling party.

We see this with the Streetcar supporters.

T.U.R.D.S. -- Qualls Streetcar hearing plans

On Monday at 6 PM, Roxanne Qualls will convene a hearing whose official purpose is "to receive an update from the city administration regarding the 'Street Car.'"  In Qualls' words, it is "to step back and have a robust and transparent public discussion about the best way to move forward."

Yes, after six years of planning, repeated commitments and re-commitments, and the expenditure of more than $42 million, we are actually about to actually ask some hard questions about the Streetcar.  And who believes after all these years of equivocation and obfuscation that such conversation will be open and honest?

The Enquirer grows a pair (for a day)

Today, The Cincinnati Enquirer's editorial page abandons its traditional role as City Hall pompom squad, and actually engages in some critical analysis of the persistent shenanigans at City Hall, this time joining the chorus denouncing the granting of double-digit raises to his staff by Mayor Mark Mallory at exactly the same time the City is threatening the livelihoods of 300 City employees.  Read the about-face here.

This leads us to ask our consistent question we have of The Enquirer: If they wanted to sell newspapers, if they wanted a better community, would we all not be better off with a critical, independent view of municipal governance rather than a cheerleading team?

Mallory staff raise gaffe sets internet afire

Sometimes big things slip through with little outrage, and sometimes small things start a brushfire that topples a regime.

Is it just the luck of the draw, the pent-up flood of frustration unleashed, the culmination of the slow and steady loss of credibility, or simple bad timing?  We may never know how these things work.  Likely it is a little bit of all of the foregoing.

Probably not the best decision....

On March 28, Mayor Mark Mallory held his second of two famous "Pink Slip" press conferences.  There, once again, this time with five Council members at his side, he threatened the jobs of 300 Cincinnati policemen and firefighters if voters had the temerity to place on the ballot a referendum on the Parking Plot.

You know the game is almost over, when they cast about for whom to blame

As we said previously, COAST is more than happy to take the credit for killing the Streetcar project, but what the media puts out there to supplant real analysis -- and to blame COAST for the errors of the City -- is downright funny.

Drive a stake through its heart

On April 29, Roxanne Qualls is calling a hearing at City Council to discuss the fate of the Cincinnati Streetcar project.  In Qualls words, the reason for the hearing:

It’s time to step back and have a robust and transparent public discussion about the best way to move forward.

Really?  You would think it was "time" to have that robust and public discussion before spending $42 million of public monies, but, hey that's just our point of view.

So, at this point, you would expect COAST to rally the troops and push for hundreds of citizens to crowd City Hall and demand that the waste of public monies on this...boondoggle...stop and stop immediately.  But we are not going to do that.

The City's Brief -- not as exciting as the last

Here's the City's brief.  Ho hum.

  Brief of Defendant City (00080299) by COAST

The Empire Strikes Back -- The Chamber, 3CDC, The Port and host of others weigh in on Parking Plot

The Taft firm steps in as Darth Vader

When there is $94 million at stake, you know that lurking in the shadows are power players all over town.  Well, they have finally surfaced, and in a big way.

The Chamber of Commerce, 3CDC, The Port, and major Cincinnati-area developers have sought to file an amicus brief against the position of those circulating referendum petitions.

At the hearing on the permanent injunction, it was Curt Hartman versus 11 attorneys representing the City.  He was our Han Solo versus their endless stream of Storm Troopers.  Now the Taft Firm makes an appearance as Darth Vader and brings along the Squire Sanders, and Katz, Teller firms as members of the Sith.  As far as the Courtroom goes, it really does not get any more dramatic.  And all of it is brought to you courtesy of COAST and its coalition partners.

Read it here.

   Amicus Brief

Former principal prevails against Princeton

 

Former Princeton Principal Mick Teufel

We know there are responsible educators out there dismayed by the deterioration of our system of public education, the abandonment of educational standards and standards of personal conduct, and tired of the abuse of the tax dollars to advance a relentless big-government agenda.  But too frequently, as we have have seen with the CPS case, they sit silently while administrators, union leaders and their fellow teachers abuse the trust that has been placed in them.

COAST (half) wins appeal relating to Mayor's $500 per month car allowance

Mayor Mark Mallory's taxpayer-funded 

2011 Lincoln Town Car

The wheels of justice surely turn slowly, but turn they do.


Today, the First District Court of Appeals overruled the decision by Judge Melba Marsh granting summary judgment to Mayor Mark Mallory and the City of Cincinnati on the question of whether the Mayor was entitled to take a $500 per month automobile allowance under City ordinances and the City Charter.

The Court also refused to grant summary judgment to Plaintiffs Mark W. Miller and Thomas E. Brinkman, Jr., but rather referred the matter back to Judge Marsh for further proceedings.

The case was first brought in May of 2011, some two years ago.  Almost certainly, Mayor Mallory will be out of office and his Lincoln Town Car paid for before the Courts ever decide this case.

So, while the City wrestles with the $14.7 million cost overrun on the Streetcar, and layoffs of 300 City personnel, the City's bond rating is reduced and the pension is $750 million in the hole, the Mayor is continues to take this money illegally from the City.

Read the decision here.

   First District Court of Appeals Decision in the case relating to the Mayor's Car Allowance

Another Feint from Qualls...

We've heard it before. Just after the Streetcar Project bids came in over $20 Million dollars over budget - and that was just the lowest bid, the high bid came in at nearly $40 Million over the budgeted price - Roxanne Qualls set about wringing her hands in an attempt to not seem like the streetcar sycophant that she is.  Roxie said council had never given Mallory a "blank check" for the streetcar boondoggle and called for another layer of oversight on the project.

Make no mistake, this is nothing more than a feint by Qualls to attempt to seem reasonable. But the reality is, she is just as insane as Laure Quinlivan and the rest of Mallory's sycophants. There is nothing that will keep them from their precious Streetcar.

Read what we said last time she tried this feint here.

Now Contact City Hall and let them know "Not one more Dime!"

Click on the name or copy and paste the email address:

ROXANNE QUALLS	roxanne.qualls@cincinnati-oh.gov
CHRIS SEELBACH	Chris.Seelbach@cincinnati-oh.gov
YVETTE SIMPSON	Yvette.Simpson@cincinnati-oh.gov
LAURE QUINLIVAN	laure.quinlivan@cincinnati-oh.gov
WENDELL YOUNG	wendell.young@cincinnati-oh.gov
PAMULA THOMAS	pamula.thomas@cincinnati-oh.gov
P.G. SITTENFELD	PG.Sittenfeld@cincinnati-oh.gov
CHRISTOPHER SMITHERMAN	Christopher.Smitherman@cincinnati-oh.gov
CHARLIE WINBURN	charlie.winburn@cincinnati-oh.gov
ENTIRE COUNCIL AT ONCE	citycouncil@cincinnati-oh.gov

Remembering Barbara Willke

COASTers and those fighting to protect the unborn lost a true champion this week.

Barbara Willke stood on principles and faith and forged a path for so many others to follow. In their faith, in their families, and in their commitment to the cause of life.

She will be truly missed. Our thoughts are with her family.

Congratulations, COASTers and coalition partners, it is official

The Enquirer has it here.

The Shock and Awe petition drive to place on the ballot a referendum on the Parking Plot has officially been certified to have sufficient signatures by the Hamilton County Board of Elections, and by a wide margin.

Convergence of fiscal chaos at CIty Hall

"For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap,"

-- 6 Galatians 7

For eight years, Mayor Mark Mallory, City Manager Milton Dohoney and from time to time varying numbers of sycophants on City Council have sown a bumper crop of spending, debt and misplaced priorities.  And for eight years Mallory, backed by Roxanne Qualls, Laure Quinlivan, and Cecil Thomas, has been able to avoid the consequences of their bad behavior, by one-time budget gimmicks and sleight of hand.

COAST 1st Quarter Report Card

In December 2012, we released our 1st Quarter Priorties. Today we are pleased to provide this report on our 1st Quarter Activities.

We took on some big challenges this quarter, having announced that we planned to (1) oppose the Duke Streetcar tax requested as part of the Duke PUCO filings; (2) stop the Parking Plot; and (3) continue the legal actions against CPS and Blue Ash regarding illegal campaigning and an illegal contract respectively.

How did we do?

Cincinnati's Gonna be Just Like Portland!

Hot on the heels of the news that City Manager Milton Dohoney and Mayor Mallory are looking for $17.4 Million in the couch cushions of City Hall to pay the additional costs of the Streetcar Boondoggle (Portland has one you know); we got some more good news.

Cincinnati is just like Portland in another exciting way. Both cities are facing a bond rating downgrade!

Guess what that means...Higher Borrowing Costs...which means...what for it...Higher total cost for the Streetcar Boondoggle!!!

But the Streetcar Sycophants and Pacific Northwest Poseurs aren't worried about any of that, they're staying focused on the fact that it's just like Portland!

City Manager's solution to Streetcar cost overruns: spend $17.4 Million more

As COAST pointed out last week, it has now been more than 60 days since the City opened the bids for the construction of Streetcar tracks, and learned they were $22.7 million over budget.

Then, the City promised to go back to the drawing board, "value-engineer" and scale back the project and bring the cost back within budget.  Well, today the City Manager came forward with his "solution:" Council will have to pony up $17.4 million to fund the project if they want it to go forward.  WCPO Digital has the story here. Read the memo below.

This is, of course, but the latest but certainly not the first, cost overrun for the massive project.  COAST is certain that many more are to come.

COAST stands by to broadcast the truth while the Council, in their election year, must decide the direction for this seemingly doomed project.

We. Told. You. So.

  Streetcar Project Status

Architect of Votes-for-Ice Cream Scandal appointed to Council

The demo-labor political machine continued to roll forward today, with the appointment to City Council of Pamula Thomas, former "Ombudsman" for Cincinnati Public Schools.

In political parlance, "Ombudsman" means "political hack," "tool," "flunky," "stooge" and "functionary."

COAST found her fingerprints all over the 2010 "Votes for Ice Cream Scandal."  Her job in that year, among other things, was the voter registration of parents and 18-year-old students.  Instead of focusing on the education of school children, they actually paid her to do that!

What does she plan to do on Council?  Whatever Tim Burke tells her to do.

David Pepper sues North College Hill -- and asks taxpayers to pay his fees

COAST and its counsel are occasionally the subject of criticism for seeking redress of our client's constitutional and statutory rights and seeking reimbursement of COAST's attorneys fees associated with that litigation.  We take such criticism in stride, as the civil rights laws are meant to protect folks across the political spectrum from the excesses of their government leaders.

Still, we found it amusing when we learned that former County Commissioner Democrat David Pepper had sued the City of North College Hill, and demanded that they pay his client's attorneys fees.  The suit is to overturn term limits for the Mayor and the Council there, or at least the retrospective application thereof.

Early report from Board of Elections -- 65%

After one day of checking signatures on the 19,803 Shock and Awe Parking Plot Referendum petitions, the Board of Elections reports that they are through with just over 1,000 signatures, and they are averaging at present about a 65% validity rate, pretty much what we expected.

Don't Forget to Shake Down the Vendors! - Email of the Day!

Today's e-mail of the day in the scandal arising from the 2012 school levy campaign at CPS involves targeted shakedowns of vendors to the school district.  It's called pay-to-play, quid-pro-quo.  If it happened at Procter & Gamble, Federated Department Stores, the Kroger Company, Cintas or Fifth Third Bank, the executive would be hoisted on their petard, and referred for criminal prosecution.  Not at CPS, the obviously criminal conduct of shakedowns of vendors for kickbacks simply are part of the way they do business. 

One of the things we find abhorrent about the continuing abuse of public resources by Cincinnati Public Schools, the illegal campaigning, the rampant abuses of all rules of decency, is the casualness with which the abuses take place. "Oh here's a quick email to remind you to do some illegal campaigning today...Don't forget to abuse your position of trust with children and tax dollars...and oh yeah, bully your co-workers as well..."

Even as they attempt to avoid detection by using personal email addresses and acknowledge that the reason they are doing this is to evade the law and the COAST/CPS agreement, they are seemingly oblivious to the damage they are doing and the criminal behavior in which they are engaging (see ORC Sections 9.03 and 3315.07 (C)(1)).

Parking Plot Petitions Transmitted to Board of Elections Today

It was ten days ago that the broad coalition opposed to Mayor Mallory's pernicious Parking Plot submitted 19,803 signatures to the City Finance Director.  Today is the day that those signatures are transmitted to the Board of Elections to be checked for validity, and to see if we obtained the requisite 8,729 valid signatures legally required for ballot access this fall.

Under Ohio law, after the petitions are turned in, they must be held for public inspection at City Hall for seven days.

Greater Cincinnati Freedom Expo, April 19

You are invited to THE Freedom event of the year! Bring your family. Invite your friends. Spread the word.

The COAST/CPS litigation, some background

What's really going on with the 2012 COAST/CPS litigation?, we are asked.

As background, COAST sued CPS in 2001 (pro-levy signs in the school yard) and 2010 (the Votes-for-Ice cream Scandal) and in each case CPS agreed that it had violated the law and agreed not to do it again.  In each case, they paid COAST's attorneys fees, and suffered some degree of public shame and humiliaiton for violating the law.

You would think these two incidents would temper their behavior going forward.  It clearly did not.  Indeed, the only impact the prior litigation and agreements appears to have had on CPS was to drive the illegal conduct slightly underground, with some of the activities occurring with private email accounts rather than through their official CPS accounts.

Wenstrup Tax Freedom Day Message

We were delighted to receive this email from Congressman Wenstrup today:

It's finally here.  Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and the IRS are finally going to let you keep a little bit of your hard-earned money. It's "Tax Freedom Day"  - the day your income begins to exceed your total tax burden for the year. That's the good news.

Conscripting Students as Political Hacks! - Email of the Day

We've seen and heard it all before, "it's for the children..." A staple of lazy and unethical political operatives is to organize a bunch of kids to "write" letters to the editor wringing their hands over some crisis du jour or in support of some pet cause.

Well, you heard the words lazy and unethical political operative; that can mean only one thing...Jens Sutmoller and the CPS Email of the Day!

Today's installment asks various CPS board members, principals and employees, as well as a few local political activists, to encourage students to "write letters to the editors to support our position."

We try to add some levity to the email of the day (some say too much levity); but ultimately this is a very serious issue. The question remains the same. What will get these people to stop abusing public resources and conscripting children into political indentured servitude?

We really are glad to take credit, but....

One lie that has been spun so often from City Hall that it has become part of Streetcar lore is that the two ballot issues on the Streetcar advanced by the NAACP Cincinnati Chapter and COAST somehow inhibited -- legally or practically -- forward progress on the Streetcar.

Today is 60 days after streetcar track bids were opened...and still no progress

Yes, yes, this week marked the momentous time in the six-year saga of the Cincinnati Streetcar that the "Savior," the great John Deatrick, was hired to fix everything that ails the project, but....

Giving credit to...the Enquirer

OK, we certainly take shots at the hometown newspaper pretty regularly, and of all its contents, the editorial page is usually not only the lamest, but typically rowing in entirely the wrong direction.

Streetcar to Clifton? Give it up!

A candid admission of most Streetcar backers is that the current plan to run from the Banks to Findlay Market is wasted effort and a waste of money. They at least privately acknowledge, if we can't ultimately connect "Cincinnati's two major employment centers," there is no reason to start the project.

Former Mayor Charlie Luken skewers Enquirer apologia

COAST enjoys a good rapport with Enquirer reporters and editors generally, and certainly respects Jane Prendergast's City Hall coverage, but today's puff piece (IN-DEPTH: Budget ideas: Why can't we...?) was about the most pathetic piece of objective "analysis" we ever have seen from the premier news source in Cincinnati.

Top Ten Tax Hikes in the Obama Budget

From Americans for Tax Reform:

What are the top ten tax hikes in President Obama's new budget?

There are literally dozens of new tax increases in the FY 2014 Obama budget.  In total, they increase taxes by nearly $1 trillion over the next decade.  They would permanently bring the federal tax burden to 20 percent of economic output, a level only reached in one year since World War II (FY 2000, when the economy was roaring and tax revenues were pouring into Washington as a result).

Read the top ten list here. 

Hey Union Leave them Teachers Alone!

Today's installment of the email of the day comes to us from Scott Sublett, principal (or as Jens Sutmoller prefers "principle") of Covedale School.

Sublett informs Sutmoller that apparently teachers don't like being treated like a bunch of mindless union thugs. They like to believe that who they vote for is their own decision, and that their union shouldn't be in the business of telling them which candidates to support. Sublett also tells us that teachers don't much mind being shaken down for contributions and support for levy campaigns though. Good to know exactly where the line is drawn.

Caution: Desperate people do desperate things

As a cornered rat will bite, a City Council without options will try almost anything to wriggle out of their desperate financial situation.

The Parking Plot thickens

Saturday, the Cincinnati Enquirer suggested to Council a sneaky backdoor maneuver to repeal the current parking plot ordinance, and replace it with a new one, thereby forcing a re-do of the Court case and the referendum petition drive to force a public vote on the issue: Parking plan has to change.

Overwhelming Support for Keystone Pipeline - Make your voice heard

In the face of overwhelming support for the Keystone Pipeline Project, Secretary of State John Kerry still has not pushed the project in the State Department. Energy Citizens is working to encourage John Kerry to support the expansion of American Energy independence.

USA Today reports that 66% of Americans support the Pipeline.

Lies, Damn Lies and Mallory's Parking Plot Justifications...

We have grown accustomed to prevaricating politicians. Candidates who claim to adhere to the principles of fiscal responsibility only to join in the spending feeding frenzy, low taxers who raise sales taxes...the list goes on and on.

What we aren't accustomed to, and will never become accustomed to are politicians who shamelessly, unscrupulously and directly lie to the people and a media that fails to call them to account.

Another day of breathtaking irresponsibility at Council

You'd think that less than two business days after the Shock and Awe turn-in of nearly 20,000 signatures on the parking plot petitions, Council would be on its best behavior.

COAST Mourns the Passing of Lady Thatcher

Few, if any, can live up to the honors that have been bestowed upon Margaret Thatcher. The "Iron Lady" took what was intended to be an insult and turned it on its head. Her strength and grace was truly amazing.

700 WLW's Willie Cunningham shreds Yvette Simpson

One day after the shock and awe turn-in of 19,803 signatures to place the Parking Plot referendum on the ballot, Yvette Simpson tried to justify before Willie Cunningham on 700 WLW Council's attempt to avoid a vote on the issue.  Cunningham accused Simpson of voter suppression, a charge she really could not rebut.  This past Friday, he also confronted her with her hypocrisy on opposing referenda, but supporting a public vote on S.B. 5., a charge she really could not rebut.

Listen to the entire interview here.

The 315

They rose up from inside each of Cincinnati's 52 neighborhoods, mostly one by one; some came in small groups -- in all, 315 volunteers came forward to circulate the Parking Plot referendum petitions.  They were -- to a person -- modern-day minutemen coming to the aid of their government and society.

Stewards of tax dollars, NOT lords.

FOX19.com-Cincinnati News, Weather

Red Alert: Enquirer, Council, Mayor plot second parking ordinance

It was signaled this morning on the Enquirer editorial pages: Parking plan has to change.  The ed was pushing a legal maneuver and a political compromise position on the Parking Plot that undoubtedly was a trial balloon launched by Council member and Mayoral candidate Roxanne Qualls, as the Enquirer dutifully speaks from her script on all City issues.

A tale from the trail

This is an abbreviated tale of what was really a 25-day campaign to collect 19,803 signatures to place the Parking Plot on the ballot to provide some perspectives.  At a later date, we may expand on this and tell the whole story.

Shock and awe at City Hall

Today, the broad coalition opposed to the Parking Plot foisted upon us by Mayor Mallory, and Roxanne Qualls and the other five sycophants on Council submitted their referendum petitions to the City Finance Director.

By the numbers:

The man of the moment -- Christopher Smitherman

COAST thanks from the bottom of our hearts Cincinnati City Council member and Cincinnati NAACP President Christopher Smitherman for his leadership, especially for his selfless sacrifice and powerful encouragement and exhortations over the past month.

Signature count released at 3 PM, front steps, City Hall

The question of the week has been:

How is the coalition doing; what's the number?

Well, the reality is that only Christopher Smitherman and Michelle Edwards know the exact count.  They have been holding the totals close to their vest since the 10,000 count was released several days ago.

Cincinnati media: How about a few tough questions to our spendthrift Council?

Let's face it, Cincinnati's media plays softball.

The "end game" as far as City Council is concerned is a massive earnings tax hike on the populace right after the fall Council elections.  The Parking Plot was just, in the words of Roxanne Qualls, the "bridge" to get them past the fall elections to implement that plan.

Tomorrow, 3 PM, City Hall Steps

If you one of the literally hundreds of people who circulated a petition to place City Council's Parking Plot Ordinance on the ballot, please join us tomorrow (Thursday) at 3 PM on the front steps of City Hall where we will assemble and proceed to the City Finance Director's office to file the referendum petitions.

Streetcar Electric Tax on Death-bed - Public Input Pays Off

Yesterday Duke and the other parties to the PUCO rate case released their agreed "Stipulation and Recommendation." Available below.

Included was an agreement to accept the PUCO staff recommendation and the hundreds of letters and public comments, that the Streetcar tax be denied.

Myopic Progressives in Cincinnati

On one side of the debate stands the forces of the entrenched status quo; demanding that the historical order and hierarchy be left undisturbed, that "we elect leaders to make these decisions..." 

Most Bizarre Part of Plotter Presser

The Parking Plotter Presser was billed as a press conference featuring the Mayor and council members along with community leaders. Noticeably absent were the community leaders.

Not a single community council president, not one CEO, not even a representative from the Port Authority, was willing to stand next to Mallory and Qualls. Maybe that is what Qualls should be worried about!

But, fear not, because just as the presser was about to end, David Meredith spoke up to announce that he had changed his mind on the Parking Plot and now regrets having signed the petition.

We certainly hope no one takes this guy seriously. Clearly he was there to make up for the missing Seelbach, filling the weirdo OTR resident role. He did so most admirably.

What's really going on?

In all the cacophony about the Parking Plot, what's really going on at City Hall?

Yesterday's press conference by the Mayor and a Council majority, and last week's press conference with Mayor Mallory, City Manager Milton Dohoney and City Solicitor John Curp were really the crowning touches for eight years of the Mallory mayorality, as in each press conference the participants admitted their complete inability to rein spending in to the income received by the City.

Watch the Mayor's Presser Here

Clocking in at just under 40 minutes, the Parking Plotters' Presser is, as Mayor Mallory himself noted several times, the longest press conference of Mallory's public life.

Huh, in seven years of structurally unbalanced budgets, year after year of crisis to crisis management, and only today does he find it necessary to spend half an hour with the press.

Mallory, surrounded by five of the gang of six members (Seelbach was there in spirit though), engaged in the same old tired scare tactics and bullying, hectoring, strategy. Proving that they are afraid.

Let us clarify a point for the Mayor and his sycophants. Judge Winkler ruled that the people of Cincinnati, speaking through the City Charter, retain the right to referendum on all actions of City Council. Judge Winkler did not give any power or take away any power. That is not the role of a judge. He read the Charter and he applied it.

Watch the full press conference below

OK, this is hilarious

Kevin Osborne of WCPO.Com has  a story here that explains the announced intent of the press conference was to provide a platform for “community organizations” and “leaders of several civic organizations” to attend and discuss why they supported the city’s parking plan.

Except not one of those claimed grassroots supporters of the Parking Plot were willing to actually appear in public and declare their support.

Absolutely hilarious.

And the one person who recanted his signature claims he was drunk when he signed!  Well, that's compelling, worthy testimony to present from the Mayor and six Council members.

Panic!

In an absolutely remarkable press conference this morning at City Hall, Mayor Mallory and the Gang of Six (Chris Seelbach, the 6th vote to try to deprive Cincinnati voters of a referendum right was there in spirit only) continued to admit their fiscal malpractice at the City.

Mallory holding presser today at 10:30 AM. Can't wait!

After yesterday's blog post, Mayor Mallory is responding with a presser at City Hall today at 10:30 AM.  Perhaps less angry?  Perhaps less threatening?

Will Roxanne Qualls come out of hiding?

Behold the power of the people of Cincinnati.

On March 7th, Parking Plot petition drive leaders Christopher Smitherman, John Cranley, Amy Murray and Pete Witte placed the challenge to Cincinnatians to stand up for their City. 

And so, because of this great leadership -- and a courageous decision from Judge Bob Winkler, Cincinnatians had the choice to volunteer hundreds of hours to collect signatures, and individually whether come out to sign the petition, or to sit at home and watch our Council sell one of our most valuable assets and the sovereignty of the City to finance a continuing operating deficit.

Dissecting the Mayor's Press Conference

Last Thursday, only hours after Judge Winkler's ruling came down, Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory held a press conference at which he laid out the desperate fiscal situation the City finds itself in under his stewardship.

Please watch it here as it contains six minutes of remarkable admissions of failure on his part.
COAST below dissects his presentation for you:

Are the Looming Layoffs Just a Political Ploy?

Mayor Mallory and City Manager Dohoney continue their cries that layoffs are looming, that police and firefighters will be decimated if a solution to Cincinnati's budget is not found soon.

If that was the case, you'd think Council would be burning the midnight oil to find a solution.

Powerful people simply are not listening

It's a common affliction of both Republicans and Democrats -- incumbentitis.

Many politicians start out their careers in the same way: an upstart with stars in their eyes, plugged in to a grassroots movement in their community, in tune with at least a swath of the electorate, and swept into office on a wave of promise and popularity that "this person will be different."