Another lie

As the City rolled out the Parking Plot, it promised a brand spanking new condo on 4th Street in return.  Turns out they can do it without the Parking Plot revenue.  Another lie.  Enquirer has it here.

Chicken Littles proven wrong (dishonest) each day that passes without a Court of Appeals decision

(Aside from the commentary below, we think that the Court of Appeals allowing a referendum on the Parking Plot petitions is critical as a matter of justice and a matter of policy and politics.  19,803 citizens shall not be denied their right to vote!)

Tax increases, Cincinnati's budget dodge and First District Court of Appeals

To no one's surprise (except gullible members of the media), Cincinnati City Council has yet again gone through another budget cycle without addressing the massive over-spending at City Hall.

Watch Cincinnati Council Here

the meeting is now over, thank you for watching the city council meeting with Coast.

Enquirer reports on CIty's misrepresentations about Streetcar operating costs

As with the City budget, as with the use of parking meter revenues, as with the Streetcar construction costs, the City is lying to us about the projected operating costs of the Cincinnati Streetcar project.  

There's a message in this for the Cincinnati Media

Two lies of Mayor Mallory laid bare

Cincinnati news media are easily manipulated; the voters not so easily.

When politicians want a specific outcome in a tax-and-spending fight, they resort to two tactics: (i) they hide behind the vagaries of budgetary numbers and threaten the most visible, most popular programs with draconian cuts and (ii) they claim some legal basis preventing revenue from one pot being placed toward the expense that really needs the money.

Radio Roundup

Today was a big day in Cincinnati radio.

Christopher Smitherman on 55KRC with Brian Thomas:



and 700 WLW with Scott Sloan (starting at 15 minutes):



Ben Swann on 55KRC with Brian Thomas discussing his great reporting on the IRS scandal and his new website BenSwann.com sign up for his email alerts at his new page.

Update, we found that first link -- the Bluff!

Here is the famous footage of the "Pink Slip Presser" from March 28.
Press Conference to Address Court Decision on Parking Lease from CitiCable on Vimeo.

Excerpted from the press conference:

Mallory: You have to trust the political leadership, you have to trust the professional leadership that is in place and that has made progress on this City....  

Dohoney: Some people have believed that Plan B for me was a bluff all along.  I am not elected.  I don't bluff.  I don't put things out there that I don't mean.  So, without the parking deal, it is Plan B, and Plan B is what is moving into place.

Dohoney is at 9:30-9:54 on the video.

(By the way, the news media consistently has refused to cover the lie repeatedly told by the Mayor that Parking revenues can't be used for any reason other than parking operations or parking improvements.  That lie is explained here.)

Anyway, here, Dohoney lied to us.  Aren't we glad we called his bluff!

Tomorrow: Mallory, Qualls, Dohoney lie is made apparent, undeniable

As the NAACP and COAST approached the deadline for submission of petitions for the Parking Plot referendum, Judge Winker ruled in favor of a permanent injunction that allowed for that petition drive to proceed and for the referendum to appear on the ballot.

Brave stand by Hamilton County Commissioners Hartmann and Monzel

One of the key issues associated with the Cincinnati Streetcar is that never has our community moved forward with a major capital project with such little support.  Opposed to the Cincinnati Streetcar are our two Cincinnati Congressmen, the Governor, the state legislature (House and Senate), the two Republicans on the Hamilton County Commission, the NAACP, COAST, the FOP and Firefighters, the Baptist Ministers Conference, the Green Party, the Libertarian Party, and the GOP.

Seven reasons the IRS scandal has legs

When the news media refers to a story that has "legs," it means it is moving and will continue to move.  It has twists and turns; there is more to it than originally meets the eye.  The IRS scandal has "legs" that will endure, keep us chasing the story, throughout the summer and beyond for seven reasons.

Streetcar vote to be postponed?

Vice Mayor and Chairman of the City's Finance Committee Roxanne Qualls had announced that this week would be the definitive Council vote on the future of the Cincinnati Streetcar.  Milton Dohoney has told Council that without an additional $17.4 million approved by the Council, the Streetcar project is dead, which of course was music to our little COASTer ears.

It looks like COAST may finally prevail in eliminating Mayor's car allowance

For more than two years, COAST has been litigating the issue of the legality of the Mayor's $500 per month car allowance.  He has thrown tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees at the issue, to preserve one of the perks he had taken (without authorization) from his office.

Read here about how one budget proposal will eliminate that benefit, but only after the November election.

(Note, the benefit is $6,000 per year, but because the cut will only start with the next Mayor - Mallory continues to insist on receiving the illegal benefit, the savings won't begin until December).

Ben Swann's list of suspects

COAST will on these pages bring you the names of the IRS wrongdoers, as we learn them, and it will grow.  Here are the names WXIX reporter Ben Swann has identified so far:

Ben Swann of WXIX unquestionably is leading the pack in IRS scandal coverage

Today, WXIX's Ben Swann came out with this second probing analysis of the organizational chart of the Cincinnati IRS' tax exempt organizations determinations unit.  When you consider that the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and every cable and network T.V. outlet are working the story furiously, and that dozens of Congressional investigators are digging in furiously, that our humble local T.V. anchor is able to produce such deep, original investigative journalism is nothing short of remarkable.

FOX19.com-Cincinnati News, Weather

We predict Ben Swann is headed to national prominence as a T.V journalist.

Bravo!

Intellectual honesty from City Beat

For any of us in any profession, one of the warmest compliments we can receive is that we have been intellectually honest.  What that means, many times, is that we admit that an engrained position we have held is simply wrong, or that a person or organization we have opposed is in fact correct in a position that they hold.  But swallowing our pride, and admitting our error takes a big person to undertake.

Lois Lerner placed on adminstrative leave

Gone, and we predict never to return. Lois Lerner has been placed on administrative leave from the IRS, which presumably means that she will keep getting paid to do nothing.  In the case of Lois Lerner, that's much better than getting paid to harass conservatives.  Read it here.

Countdown to insolvency

Cincinnati is down to one week (maybe two) to make the decisions that will determine its fiscal future.

By next Wednesday's City Council meeting, the Council will vote -- finally -- on two important issues.  First, they must decide on their spending priorities.  How many layoffs?  Will Cincinnati improve and modernize, or will it remain the unproductive leviathan it has become?  Today, key business leaders asked the City finally to address its fundamental inefficiencies.  We will soon find out.

Josef Stalin's KGB = Barack Obama's IRS

One of the most monumental tyrants of the 20th Century, responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of his own people, was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union for thirty years, from 1922 to 1952, Comrade Josef Stalin.  He was responsible for the torture and oppression of tens of millions more.

Four things the IRS will never be able to explain away

As the Obama administration dodges, bobs and weaves to explain the IRS fiasco, or to simply avoid the   shrapnel flying from the daily bombshells, there are four fundamental and glaring positions taken by the IRS that are, ultimately, inconsistent with fundamental American values, and violative of the US Constitution and numerous federal statutes.

COAST Applauds Massie, Wenstrup

In the debate over increasing Federal involvement in the taxing and regulatory power of the states, two members of the local Congressional Delegation deserve particular praise.

Thomas Massie of Northern Kentucky and Brad Wenstrup of Southern Ohio's District 2. Massie wrote a letter to Speaker Boehner opposing the "Marketplace Fairness Act" (a nice wholesome sounding name for a truly horrible bill). Wenstrup was among the first to sign the letter.

COAST applauds the efforts of Massie and Wenstrup to protect against the expanse of government via the internet tax.

Northern Kentucky COASTers can contact Massie here.

Southern Ohio COASTers can contact Wenstrup here.

Senator Portman calls for special prosecutor in IRS scandal

More given to caution and calm than desk-pounding, our our own Senator Rob Portman made an important announcement over the weekend: The IRS scandal is of such magnitude that it calls for the appointment of a special prosecutor.

This development has gone largely unreported in the main stream press, but our very much respected and mainstream Senator would not be taking this approach if he did not see an important need for an independent look at the tidal wave of controversy engulfing the agency.

Read it in the LA Times here.

Remarkable development in IRS scandal: Key manager in Tea Party harassment gave Obama campaign $4,000 in 2008

In an important development in the IRS scandal, WCPO Digital reports here that an IRS manager that orchestrated and oversaw at least some of the harassment of the IRS, Holly Paz, was recently promoted and transferred to D.C and donated $4,000 to the Barach Obama campaign in 2008.

"This is Big Government Cronyism"

And this is precisely why the Constitution sets out a limited government. A government operating within the constraints of the Constitution simply would not have the power to do what was done by the IRS.

Wenstrup Calling for Reports in IRS Tea Party Abuse Investigation

If you are an IRS employee with information about the abuse of Tea Party and conservative groups or your group was illegally targeted, please read below and use the link to contact Congressman Wenstrup with your information

From the Office of Congressman Brad Wenstrup:

Watch the IRS Hearings here

Part I


Part II

Read the IRS form 1024 Tax Exemption Application here

Read this application and please, please, tell us what justifies the abusive questions the IRS sent to Tea Party and other conservative organizations.

All the IRS should need to make a determination on a tax exemption application is a completed 1024 form. Every question the IRS asked tea party groups that wasn't a part of the 1024 form is abusive and discriminatory. It is that simple.

This is why we believe in a small government. A government powerful enough to provide all your needs is a government powerful enough to take everything from you. Clearly, ours is a government that is too powerful.

  irs form 1024

Richmond Tea Party Targeted by IRS - Read the letter here

COAST is working to catalog each of the creepy letters sent by the IRS to Tea Party organizations nationwide.  If your organization has received such a letter, please email it to us at coastusa@gmail.com

Read the Richmond Tea Party letter below. Read the Liberty Township and Hawaii Tea Party letters here.

  Richmond Tea Party IRS Letter

Krauthammer on IRS Chief testimony: How stupid do you think we are?

Once again, Charles Krauthammer's expert analysis is spot on. The story coming out of the IRS is simply unbelievable and an insult to our intelligence.

This much is certain: the IRS' targeting of conservative groups was not the product of mere "rogue" employees; this was a systematic attack on perceived "Enemies of the People." Big Brother would be proud.

COAST chairman Tom Brinkman announces endorsement procedure

COAST looks forward to consider endorsing candidates for Cincinnati City Council.
Upon the certification of all candidates by the Board of Elections; a brief survey will be sent to the candidate’s home address.

Candidates will have several weeks to return the surveys should they wish to be considered for the coveted COAST endorsement.

NO candidate will be considered unless they complete and return the survey.

The COAST board will gather in early to mid-September and consider endorsements.

COAST will consider endorsement in other local elections on a case by case basis.

Please contact the Chairman once the candidate is certified by the Board of Elections in late August.
An interview or survey will be used to gather data for the Board of COAST to consider prior to any endorsement.

Please direct any questions about this procedure to Tom Brinkman at 513-321-6591.

Rein in the IRS Rally - Tuesday, May 21

The IRS has targeted Tea Party groups all over the country.  Cincinnati is the epicenter of this violation of freedom.  This is something that cannot stand.   Jefferson said, "When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty."  We will fear our government, no longer. Join us to "Rein in the IRS".  We will rally together.  Bring your signs, your flags and you devotion to the Constitution. When:  Tuesday, May 21st - at Noon Where:  Fountain Square At noon, we will march from Fountain Square to the Federal Building. Register Here! Spread the Word through Facebook Click here for Event Spread the word about this rally on Facebook/Twitter and through your email connections.  Twitter hash tag:  #reininirs.

Smitherman conducts blistering, brilliant cross examination of City Manager on Streetcar

It's possible for the explosive developments at City Hall to get lost in the cacophony of treble scandals emanating from D.C.  But still, Monday's cross examination by Council member Christopher Smitherman of Cincinnati City Manager Milton Dohoney over his plan to continue with the Streetcar, and to fund the $17.4 million in already-known cost overruns, was notable.

Here are some highlights:

• The City Manager predicts further (but unknown in amount) overruns as the project progresses.  Indeed, now that the bid with low bidder Messer has expired, he has no idea even what the initial contact price will be.
• The Manager has no upward limit for the cost of the Streetcar at which even he would recommend pulling the plug. The "sky's the limit."
• The Manager has no authority from Council to fund the Streetcar at the current budget, but he intends to keep spending until there is an affirmatie vote of the Council to stop the waste.  In other words -- despite what Roxanne Qualls has said, he has a blank check from Council.  
• He admits there is no reason to build the boondoggle unless it extends up the Vine Street hill to Clifton and around the uptown area, but he also has no idea how much that will cost, how he intends to pay for it, or when that leg possibly wil be built.
• He is still hoping for some magic Obama money to fill some of the gaps in the funding of the Cincinnati Streetcar project.
• The original budget for the Streetcar was $110 million, and that included getting up the Vine Street Hill.  And now that the project is at $135 million and counting just to go to Findlay Market, no one has been held accountable, no one disciplined, and no one fired for their errors in being off at least 20% in the project costs.

In short, Dohoney remains just as defiant, just as deluded, just as foolish as when the project was first conceived.

It was a blistering, brilliant performance by Christopher Smitherman, and yet another disappointment from an out-of-touch-with-reality City administration.

Local Tea Partiers headed to D.C. to testify in IRS scandal investigation

Cincinnati Tea Partiers Justin Binik-Thomas (Jewish Cincinnati Tea Party organizer singled out by the IRS as an "enemy" of the admistration)  and Tim Savaglio (Liberty Township Tea Party) along with Ohio Liberty Council organizer and former chairman Tom Zawistowski are currently traveling to Washington, D.C. to testify before the House Ways and Means Committee in the growing scandal surrounding the IRS.

They will testify Friday.  We hope those hearings are just the beginning of a thorough airing not just of the improper targeting of Tea Party groups, but of the over-intrusive questioning - waaaaay over the top -- to which they were subjected.  Read the COAST bombshell story and a few IRS letters on this topic here.

Who is Mitch Steele?

Comrade Joseph Stalin would be proud of the tactics of "low level" IRS staffer from the Cincinnati office, Mitch Steele, and whomever instructed him to ask the bizarre and intrusive questions that appeared on Tea Party questionnaires that were sent to Tea Parties, "Patriot" groups and 9/12 groups throughout the nation.

We also hope the Ways and Means Committee subpoenas Mr. Steele to testify as to the motivations for -- and who put him up to -- his nefarious deeds, as speculation is that "low level" IRS employees don't take such initiative on their own.  Someone put him up to this inquisition-lie probing of honest citizens attempting to pursue better government.

Again read for your self here just some of the bizzarre interrogation of these fine citizens.

Ultra-creepy IRS-Tea Party letter

-- UPDATE HAWAII TEA PARTY IRS LETTER ATTACHED --
We can think of no better way to help our loyal COAST readers understand the depth of corruption in the Tea Party scandal at the IRS than to share with you their own creepy, intrusive, Orwellian correspondence to the Liberty Township Tea Party (below).  Please read every word and digest it to understand the depth of the Stalinistic control of the IRS.  We are not over-stating things.

In there, they inquire:

2. Please provide a copy of your website pages, including any pages with restricted access.
3. Please provide details of all of your activity on Facebook and Twitter. [You can't make this stuff up.]
25. It appears you have received training (Empower U).  [Sedition!]
26. Provide details of your relationship with Justin Bink-Thomas [sic]. [Note: Justin Binik-Thomas was one of the few Jewish leaders in the Tea Party movement in Cincinnati.  Why was he specially called out and targeted?]

They require responses be under oath.  And as we have learned is typical of the IRS, after sitting on applications for as long as two years with no response whatsoever, they wrote to applicants and gave then a total of between 10 and 20 days to respond or they will consider the application withdrawn.

Read it and weep for our Republic.

  IRS letter to Liberty Township Tea Party by COAST

Hawaii Irs Response by Dave Weigel

Deeply pernicious IRS/Tea Party scandal

COAST has been encouraged about the depth of outrage in the media and among politicians, even if almost all of those speaking out on the issue are Republicans, on the IRS/Tea Party scandal.  For this issue hits at the heart of our everlasting yearning to be be a free people.

Among the most-feared governmental agencies is the Internal Revenue Service.  This is so for several reasons.  First, because the power to tax is the power to destroy, the IRS can seize fortunes and ruin lives, and they can do so by prosecuting and prevailing against claimed "wrongdoing" (more on that below), but also by investigating and putting their targets through the pepper mill, even if no wrongdoing is claimed.

Those who have endured their inquisitorial processes have lost years off their lives, and portions of their fortunes defending against their inquiries.

And the liberal response would be: "You have nothing to fear if you've followed the law."

But as everyone knows, the law is so byzantine, so voluminous, and so confusing that no American can be in compliance with the tax law.  It's impossible.  Varying interpretations and maze-like regulations mean that one man's compliance is another man's felony.  One man's tax haven resulting in a home in the south of France can be the same as another's trip to Club Fed.

Thus, we rely upon fair and even-handed treatment under the law, the exact opposite of "targeting."

And the problem is not just a system with bad policies, but a system that allows "low-level bureaucrats in Cincinnati"to "target" and run roughshod over the rights of an entire category of citizens for -- partisan political purposes.

In a separate blog entry, see some of the worst abuses by the IRS.  It is frightening.

Words cannot describe the damage done to our democracy by these excesses.

100% accountability is required in this circumstance.  Those responsible should be fired, civilly sued and criminally prosecuted.  The bastards!

There's something about May

Maybe it's the instinct to clear our plates before the interlude of the approaching summer.

Maybe it's the awakening from the sleep of winter, the stirring of nature's wake-up call that is Spring.

Maybe the longer days clear our heads.

Maybe it is just about time.

But whatever it is, May seems to be causing new issues to spring to life and old issues to be brought to conclusion.  Things are happening in our world of liberty-minded activists, things important to our future.

• Council Finance Committee Chairman Roxanne Qualls promises a City Council vote this month on the Cincinnati Streetcar, specifically filling the $17.4 million funding gap.
• The Court of Appeals promises a decision "very soon" on whether the Parking Plot referendum will survive.
• Cincinnati City Council will vote soon on a budget that lays off 66 police officers and 71 firemen.
• The Ohio legislature will finalize their decision on Medicaid expansion and all sorts of matters in the state budget.
• Barack Obama is mired in treble scandals, two of them breaking in just the last few days:
• Benghazi.
• The IRS scandal arising from its targeting for special scrutiny of Tea Party groups.
• The monitoring of Associated Press phone lines.

With our children, they are called "teachable moments," but from each of these crises there are lessons for our society, lessons for our leaders.  From our mistakes, we can learn and grow.

It's like the flowers blooming in May.

Cincinnati Charter Committee calls Charter "Ambiguous"

Well what do you know? The Charter Committee says the Charter is ambiguous. COAST attorneys just finished briefing and arguing that exact same point; that there is ambiguity in the Charter as it relates to referendum and emergency clause provisions. And now, Cincinnati's Charter Committee, hardly a bunch of rabble rousing tea partiers, puts out this op-ed arguing for a revamping of the City Charter. In part to clear up the ambiguities surrounding the right of referendum and the effect of emergency ordinances.

COAST, never ones to toot our own horns, is excited to see that more and more of the "mainstream" of Cincinnati is coming around to our point of view.

We'll leave it to another day to point out the irony of the Charter Committee seeking to revamp the Charter in order to take power away from the voters.

Mayor Mark Mallory slips $17.4 million of additional Streetcar funding onto Council agenda TODAY

It's so bizarre, it has become surreal.

In an election year, Mayor Mark Mallory, desperate for more cash for his streetcar legacy, has slipped onto the Council agenda today an additional $17.4 million in funding for the Cincinnati Streetcar, as the City goes bankrupt on every other front.

Yes, after a show "public hearing" several weeks ago, and after a non-recommendation as to funding plans from the administration as to how to fill the $17.4 million hole, today -- with no debate or community input on the proposal -- Council will introduce and pass the Mayor's plan for funding the boondoggle.

Please contact Council today and let them know you oppose the plan and want an end to the Streetcar project now.

Use the information below to call or email council today:

Call Council at 352-1576.

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

Will this week bring a Parking Plot Court of Appeals decision?

It was only one week ago Monday that the Parking Plot case was argued before the First District Court of Appeals.  There, attorneys for the City and the petitioners squared off in defense of Judge Bob Winkler's inspired decision upholding the right of petitioners to place the Parking Plot referendum on the ballot.

The usual course of an appeal in Hamilton County takes a year-to-a-year-and-a-half to conclude, with briefing taking six months, a several month delay for oral argument, and a decision some 45 to 60 days after oral argument.  For example, the recent resolution of the Mayor's car case took 16 months after Judge Marsh's decision to be overturned.

By agreement, the Parking Plot case has been expedited.  Briefing took only a month; oral argument was a week later.

Cincinnati Enquirer reporter Kimball Perry tweeted last Monday, the day of the oral argument, that a decision would be rendered within a week.  That seemed odd, as the Court typically does not announce its schedule for issuing a decision, and if they did, you would expect them to announce it to everyone.  But at the close of oral argument, Judge Cunningham did promise a decision promptly, and she seemed earnest in that commitment.

So, a decision might come as early as tomorrow, or sometime this week.

Stay tuned, COASTers.

Utterly remarkable tidbit from WCPO Digital Mallory/Spain travel story

COAST here highlighted a blockbuster story from Kevin Osborne on Mayor Mark Mallory's costly trips for he and his staff to Spain and planned trip to Toyko.

But buried inside the story was this remarkable tidbit:

A helpful idea for City Hall

Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory and City Manager Milton Dohoney are always complaining that COAST is forever criticizing, but never helping them to properly manage the City.

We certainly want to break that reputation once and for all.  Thus, we tender this helpful idea offered today from a COASTer:

Do liberals think cheating is OK?

A foundational assumption of our democratic Republic is that, by and large, the participants play by the rules.  When that fundamental underpinning of our society is removed, we expect the second layer -- law enforcement -- to take over and restore the balance.  In other words, wrongdoers are prosecuted, and the malevolent conduct is simultaneously punished and prospectively discouraged.

Breaking: WCPO Digital blows lid off of Mayor's Spain and Tokyo trips

First class airfare for the Mayor to to Spain of $3,133 and to Tokyo of $5,854 apparently are more important spending priorities for the City than police and fire protection.

Shocker: Obama IRS admits witch hunt against Tea Parties

As the Tea Party was rising, organizers of local Tea Party groups sought to raise tax-deductible  monies by attaining non-profit status.  

Waiting...

As is reported here, on March 29, 2013, Mayor Mark Mallory held an angry, threatening press conference on the same day Judge Bob Winkler issued his inspired decision allowing the Parking Plot Petition drive to proceed.  It has infamously become known as the "Pink Slip" press conference.    

New Cranley ad blasts Cincinnati Streetcar spending

Well, this is certainly encouraging.  John Cranley's opening salvo in the Mayor's race is an attack on the Cincinnati Streetcar and Council's misplaced spending priorities.

Well, surprise, surprise, surprise, City layoffs substantially reduced

Color us shocked.

Council votes to change rules to ease looming Streetcar funding vote

During the debate over the Parking Plot, Council member Christopher Smitherman moved to separate from the Ordinance all appropriations.  This was an absolute right of any member of Council under the Rules of Council, to separate matters from an Ordinance under consideration to allow for a clean vote on one issue or another.

Berns for Mayor

COAST endorses Jim Berns for Mayor  Champion of Liberty for Cincinnati We all know know Jim Berns as a stalwart friend of freedom, mostly as a candidate for Congress providing a libertarian option for 1st District voters.

Oak HIlls Schools misuse of tax dollars rejected; curious results in Forest HIlls

The Oak Hills School levy failed, which it should have, as COAST received numerous reports from the District of misuse of tax dollars to support the pro-levy campaign leading up to the May election.

The Sky is not falling

Cincinnati City Solicitor John Curp, in his best imitation of Chicken Little declaring the "Sky is Falling," has repeatedly decried Judge Bob Winkler's decision interpreting the City Charter as allowing referendum on every ordinance passed by the Council.  According to Curp, the inability to enact legislation that is exempt from referendum is fatal to the City's ability to conduct business, primarily on development projects with private partners.

Two significant developments in the Parking Plot

COAST is pleased to report two important developments in the Parking Plot:

Showdown at the Court of Appeals

COAST attorney Chris Finney appears Monday morning before the First District Court of Appeals representing Cincinnati residents Lisa McQueen, Pete Witte and others to vindicate the right of referendum in the Parking Plot.

Let's just say it now -- there will be very many cost overruns on the Streetcar project

COAST has made the point over and over through the course of the Great Streetcar Debate that the cost estimates floated by the City are, shall we say, fluid, and absolutely guaranteed to be lower than the actual costs incurred.

COAST Attorney Chris Finney appears on 700 WLW tonight at 8 PM with Dan Carroll

Tonight at 8 PM, COAST attorney joins WLW's Dan Carroll at 8 PM to discuss the Parking Plot and this week's update on the Cincinnati Streetcar.  Tune in after the Derby to catch the conversation!

Here's a preview:

Paranoid, secretive Mallory administration seeks to shield more records from the public

When the Cincinnati Enquirer last year sued to force the City to provide bid documents on the Streetcar, the City attempted to shield them under the "Trade Secrets" exception to the Ohio Public Records Law, for reasons still unknown.

Enquirer sounds alarm about latest Streetcar patchwork financing plan

The Enquirer editorial board has now weighed in on the latest financing plan advanced by Milton Dohoney for the Cincinnati Streetcar project, this one aimed at closing the $17.4 cost overruns in the project.  You can read the Enquirer editorial here.

Pay No Attention to that Man Behind the Curtain

Often times the old cliché from “Wizard of Oz” fame comes into play and we just can’t help ourselves to spread the word.  So, down at Cincinnati City Hall, as lay-off notices for police & fire are being prepared, there seems to be some a lot of  questions about just how much members of the city administration bring home in their paycheck each week.

Main justification for Parking Plot is its biggest downfall

The Parking Plot foisted upon us by a malevolent City Council majority is primarily justified by its backers for the acceleration of thirty years of revenue into two years of spending, thus, supposedly, avoiding layoffs of police and firefighters over the coming 24 months, and funding certain capital projects that otherwise would go unfunded.