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July 2007 www.cincinnatibeacon.com Free! Take One!

The Cincinnati BeaconWhere Divergent Views Collide

Nick Lachey:

Keeping the

Faith (p. 8)

Hey Black People!

No News for You!

(p. 4)

Cincinnati’s Missing Strippers

Cities like Atlanta have reaped the economic benefit of upscale adult entertainment. Chris Bortz, Cincinnati’s Economic Development Com-

mittee Chair, says banning adult entertainment is niche marketing.

by Jason A. Haap, MAThe Dean of Cincinnati

City of Cincinnati. 6 pm. What do you find? Mostly closed businesses. A ghost town. But how can this be? Shouldn't Cincinnati be bus-tling with business – especially with a major hub airport, two major league sports teams, a brand new center Square, and a convention center? What makes Cincinnati different? The answer, surprisingly, might have nothing to do with urban planning, or streetcars, or The Banks, and everything to do with adult entertainment.

Enter Cincinnati's missing strippers – a key piece to suc-cessful economic development that no one wants to talk about. Morality aside (even if just for a moment), adult entertain-ment might be the answer to jump-starting struggling urban economies.

In a study available online by the Woodhull Freedom Foun-dation and Federation, Ange-lina Spencer writes about the relationship between economy and adult entertainment. From her piece entitled "The Erotic Economy":

"The city of Atlanta is the best example of a sleepy town do-

ing some of the country's big-gest adult business. According to Atlanta Magazine, this city is home to more nude dance clubs than any other in the United States. The metro area boasts over forty that earn a respectable $80-$100 million per year, not to mention the over $20 million dancers make as independent contractors (Rebecca Poyner-Burns, 2000). Even a conservative estimate of the economic im-pact of such clubs translates to a whopping $200-$240 mil-lion, which is far above the economic impact of the Braves, Hawks and Falcons

(con’t on p. 2)

S w e e t h e a r t D e a l s !

To: Richard Weiland

From: Cincinnati

Henry Heimlich’s

Manuever: World

Leaves Cincinnati

Doctor Behindby Jason A. Haap, MA

Cincinnati native Henry Heim-lich is a world-famous, house-hold name. But the maneuver that has brought him fame has become a left-behind.

Did you know, for example, that the American Red Cross has changed their guidelines for first response to choking? Instead of the Maneuver, you should use a combo called the five-and-five. That’s five backslaps followed by five abdominal thrusts (the Red Cross no longer calls the move a “Heimlich Maneuver”).

And even the American Heart Association – whose guide-lines are the model for emer-gency response professionals – recently issued a press state-ment which suggests a possi-ble replacement for abdominal thrusts: chest thrusts.

We recently talked to Dr. Charles Guildner, who first identified chests thrusts for choking rescue in 1976.

(con’t on p. 2)

by Michael Earl Patton,Senior Analyst

How does a non-profit or-ganization convince govern-ment officials to give it more money in the face of contro-versy? The National Under-ground Railroad Freedom Center is a non-profit organi-zation that has received both private contributions and government funding. It was built on public land in a prime riverfront scenic location, and

much of the initial funding came from the state. Many people thought that the mu-seum would be self-supporting when built and oppose giving it additional taxpayer dollars. Others point to what they con-sider high executive salaries –its president, Spencer Crew, earned over $300,000 in 2005. Nonetheless, it will be given $800,000 in Cincinnati tax dollars this year. Last year, the Ohio legislature voted to give them $2,000,000.

The Freedom Center pays no income tax, but it does file a form 990 which gives many financial details. The form 990 for 2005 (2006 was not available when this article was written) gives the salaries of the top officers and also re-veals that the center spent $162,124 in lobbying ex-penses. The purpose of this lobbying is revealed right in the form 990: "... to secure funding for the center from the

(con’t on p. 2)

Your Tax Dollars Recycled into Campaign Contributions

Notes ‘n Dotes

! Do you deserve to know if an elected leader takes prescrip-tion painkillers daily? Might such drugs affect their ability to make sound and reasoned deci-sions? Is it fair to even ask such a question?

! Did you know that 3CDC originally said the City would be in charge of permitting for Fountain Square, and then they took over permitting for Foun-tain Square? Should we be concerned about the privatiza-tion of our public spaces?

What’s Inside?

A Closer Look ............ p. 4

The Labor Report ........ p. 6

Lifestyle ...................... p. 8

The Soapbox ............... p. 10

It’s Avtar Gill!

aka “City Hall Guy” or “Crazy Hat Guy”

2

Heimlich(con’t from p. 1)

“[The chest thrust] is near and dear to my heart as I am the one who first described the Chest Thrust and first gave it it's name,” said Guildner. “It has been a long time coming.”

“I thought that someday the logic and common sense of the Chest Thrust over the Ab-dominal Thrust finally would be recognized,” continued Guildner. “The studies indicate the Chest location of the Thrust to be more effective than the Abdominal ap-proach.”

A few months ago, The American Heart Association and the American Red Cross issued a joint statement: “The American Heart Association recommends the use of chest thrusts if the initial use of ab-dominal thrusts does not suc-cessfully dislodge the foreign body. (Chest thrusts are simi-lar to abdominal thrusts but performed higher on the chest; the American Heart Associa-tion also recommends their use for pregnant women or people who are obese.)”

“For many years, no new compelling scientific evidence has suggested that any one technique as first line treat-ment is superior to another,” the statement continues. “In fact, the current international standard, developed by the International Liaison Commit-tee on Resuscitation (ILCOR), states that a combination of more than one technique— abdominal thrusts, back slaps and chest thrusts—is generally needed.”

Between the lines of the joint statement may be an acknowl-edgment that The Heimlich may be going the way of the buggy whip. No new studies indicate that one technique is superior to another.

But across the ocean, the Aus-tralian Resuscitation Council says that back blows, chest thrusts, and abdominal thrusts can all clear the airway, but that abdominal thrusts have been known to cause injury, they have been replaced with chest thrusts.

We’ve all heard that Cincin-nati is behind the times, and it looks like the same might be true of our City’s most famous Maneuverer.

Since chest thrusts are already a part of CPR, moving to stan-dardize chest thrusts makes sense – as that would simplify an overall strategy for saving lives in emergency situations.

Recycling(con’t from p. 1)

government at all levels of government." All of this is perfectly legal. I want to emphasize that I have selected the Freedom Center for this article because it has been in the news lately.

Two lobbyists (people who are specially paid by a company or organization in order to try to influence legislation) are currently employed by the center: Stanley J. Aronoff and Richard A. Weiland.

I only mention them to give specific examples of certain money flows.

Campaign contributions from Messrs. Aronoff and Weiland can be found in the Ohio Sec-retary of State and the City of Cincinnati websites, and these contributions were reported as legally required. Richard Weiland is employed as a lobbyist by many firms and organizations. A listing from the Ohio Joint Legisla-tive Ethics Committee shows other non-profits such as the Museum Center and the Cin-cinnati Zoo. Mr. Weiland also represents for-profit organiza-tions. The overall total is 36 as of June 25. Both Messrs. Aronoff and Weiland make campaign contributions. I have chosen Mr. Weiland for the following examples for the

simple reason that he has made more contributions. Mr. Weiland contributed $1000 each to the 2005 elec-tion campaigns of Jeff Berd-ing, Laketa Cole, and John Cranley. He contributed $500 each to Leslie Ghiz and Chris Monzel, and the same in "in-kind" contributions (office supplies, mailing work) to Chris Bortz. He donated to the 2006 campaigns of dozens of others, such as $500 to state senator Eric Kearney and $500 to the candidate who won the Ohio Secretary of State office, Jennifer Brunner.

Large donations did not al-ways indicate a winner: Ted Strickland received over $5,000 in various donations for his successful race for governor, but this was sur-passed by $6,000 in contribu-tions to Betty Montgomery,

who lost her race for attorney general. Many contributions were relatively small. Repre-sentative Steve Driehaus re-ceived only $100, and Jim Raussen only $150. Some of these donations doubtless come from money earned while lobbying for the Freedom Center or another non-profit.

Regardless of the amount, is this a proper use of tax dol-lars?

The Freedom Center has re-ceived, and is still receiving, tax dollars. Money is sup-posed to be used for capital expenses – not lobbying – but money freed in one account can easily be spent from an-other.

And some of that money is used to pay a lobbyist, who

tries to influence legislation to obtain more money for the Freedom Center. That lobbyist also earns money, and some of that money is donated to po-litical candidates. Many of those candidates are the ones who made it possible for the Freedom Center to receive those tax dollars in the first place. All of this is perfectly legal. But is it proper?

Strippers(con’t from p. 1)

combined, according to Geor-gia state economist Donald Ratajczak.”

“Atlanta Magazine claims the city has formed a silent alli-ance with adult entertainment and some council members say the adult clubs are more of an asset to the city than an annoyance. More people work in adult entertainment in At-lanta than one of their largest employers: Coca-cola. And

people spend more money on adult entertainment products and services than any other form of entertainment."

For Bortz, avoiding adult en-tertainment is akin to pursuing a niche market for Cincinnati. "There will likely always be cities in this country that offer adult entertainment," con-cluded Bortz. "The simple question is, need we follow suit? Is our economic growth lagging because of a lack of such entertainment? Or have we survived the industrial de-cline because of our conserva-tive values? Is taking the leap

worth the potential economic and social costs?"

So the chair of our city's Eco-nomic Development office will not explore adult enter-tainment as a way to boost our city's economic development. Perhaps this is the moral choice in line with most of Cincinnati's thinking. Or, per-haps Atlanta, in the heart of the Bible Belt, shows an ex-ample of how adult business can thrive alongside conserva-tive religious values.

Time will tell how attractive is the niche for a city with no adult entertainment.

3

In this letter, a reader responds to Ja-son Haap’s article last month about how the Freedom Center should be-come an Ohio River Museum.

I am responding to Mr. Haap’s com-ments as they relate to the Freedom Center. He has by his own admission visited the Freedom Center only once, yet claims to be an authority of what it offers. Contrary to his statements, there is always something new going on at the Center, and had he cared to notice, he would have realized how much he has missed as a result of his one-minded thinking.

I moved to Cincinnati about 2-1/2 years ago, and one of my first acts was

to become a member of the Center. As implied by Mr. Haap, the Center is not an art gallery, so should not be com-pared to one. Rather, it is a memorial in much the same way the Holocaust Museum located in Washington, DC is. Additionally, it was not built as an en-tertainment center, per se, but as an archival center meant to inform, edu-cate and preserve the shameful history of slavery not only within our country, but in other areas of the world as well.

While one can only hope that in future more Cincinnatians will begin to ap-preciate the value of the Freedom Cen-ter, it must be remembered that the Center is open to and visited by citi-

zens from all around the globe. Indeed, one of the great values of visiting is not only the exhibits, but others’ ob-servations. When I last visited two weeks ago, I followed along behind a family reunion, whose members en-compassed four generations. How bonding and life affirming is that, and how many other places can one visit as a family unit that inspires open dia-logue?

The Freedom Center does have some-thing for those who live in this area, should they choose to be open to it. However, my own view is that this city has not liberated itself from outmoded attitudes–too much racism on both sides, for starters. And then there is that constant under appreciation I often

hear, that “Cincinnati is not what it used to be.” Well, neither is any place else. The locals who complain the longest and the hardest are those who give the least support to the merchants located in the heart of this historical city.

I challenge Mr. Haap to become an annual member and begin to partici-pate in many of the upcoming events scheduled for the remainder of the year. If he chooses not to visit, then let a membership fee reflect his support of what the Freedom Center stands for. I, for one, am looking forwarded to the new summer exhibits, beginning with Global Shoes.

–Dora Schield, Clifton

Defending The Freedom Center

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A Closer Look

Meet the people behind

The Cincinnati Beacon!

Jason A. Haap, MAThe Dean of Cincinnati,

President, Content and Audi-

ence Awareness

Justin P. JeffreMinister of Information,

President, Community Out-

reach

Michael Earl PattonSenior Analyst

Other Contributors:

Samantha Brockfield, Jim

Clingman, Nick Lachey, Zak

Nordyke, Kevin O’Donnell,

Dylan Speeg.

Photo Credits: Pictures of Jim Clingman, Nick Lachey, Mitch Painter and Michael Earl Patton provided by themselves; picture of The Genius of Water, Steven Pavelish, and Avtar Gill by An-toinette Haap; all other photog-raphy is royalty free stock foot-age.

Corrections: The June edi-

tion of The Cincinnati Bea-

con incorrectly listed us as

an LLC with an address of

407 Vine Street, Suite 210.

We no longer have that mail-

box, and we have not been

registered as an LLC. Addi-

tionally, Rick Hines no

longer has any connection to

this project. We apologize

for any inconvenience. If

you need to reach us, email

dean@cincinnatibeacon.com,

by Samantha Brockfield

The fate of downtown Cincinnati is in-separable from that of our Fountain Square. As a pivotal public space, its role should be one of community, dis-sent, discussion and celebration; in short, a space for us to exercise democ-racy.

There are some however in the corpo-rate world who are threatened by the prospects of a public space such as this; who wants to go shopping at Macy’s when there are people protesting the war on Fountain Square? Unfortunately it seems that our city leaders have sided with big business yet again. They have contracted the management of the square to 3CDC, a private development corporation made up of power-players from Cincinnati’s biggest corporations, for the next 40 years.

The city made efforts in 2003 to outlaw public use of the square during Christ-mas shopping season, which was de-clared unconstitutional by the US Su-preme Court. Is this management con-tract an extension of the city govern-ment’s desire to attract shoppers?

According to 3CDC’s website, “The Fountain Square District is envisioned as a District of high value retail… draw-ing Cincinnatians into downtown to shop…”

Kevin Armstrong, spokesman for 3CDC, identified “Other stakeholders in the area” as “Westin hotel, Fifth Third Center, Carew Tower, and 525 Vine.”

Who are the stakeholders: regular peo-ple like you and me or large corpora-tions and their profits? It is this question that has placed our Fountain Square in the center of the debate between two visions for the area: a diverse commu-nity with a powerful voice on one side and a lucrative shopping destination on the other.

(con’t on p. 5)

Fountaingate II: The corporatization of our

public square

by Jason A. Haap, MAThe Dean of Cincinnati

George Haggis lives in Walnut Hills, which he describes as racially and eco-nomically diverse.

“Walnut Hills is the best example of a community with the poorest and wealthiest of Cincinnati,” said Haggis.

Haggis gets a subscription to The Cin-cinnati Enquirer, but not for its news coverage. “I subscribe because I’m a landlord and I want to see what the competition is charging for rent,” he explained. But one day, Haggis re-ceived something in his daily paper, and something didn’t seem right.

“It bugged the hell out of me,” said Haggis.

What could be so sinister as to really get under the skin of someone who doesn’t even read The Enquirer for its news? Turned out it was something that seems simple and non-threatening upon first

glance: an insert entitled “Your Home-town.”

“I called The Enquirer and found out they only include neighborhoods as dic-tated by the market,” explained Haggis. “In other words, the residents of Walnut Hills don’t have enough money to spend to warrant a ‘Hometown’ insert. I took that as an insult, not only because I think there is money here, but because poor people buy things too!”

“Why do I live in Walnut Hills and eve-ryone once in awhile I get an insert tell-ing me about what’s happening in the suburbs, but not what’s happening in Walnut Hills, or Evanston. I feel like we don’t count.”

But The Enquirer isn’t the only print paper in town that seems to profile based on neighborhoods.

I called The Community Press (also owned by Gannett), and spoke with Bonnie, who answered the phone. I started asking about whether certain neighborhoods received their papers.

Roselawn? Nope. Bond Hill? Nope. Avondale? Nope. Kennedy Heights? Nope. Over-the-Rhine? Nope. South Cumminsville? Nope.

At this point, Bonnie had to stop me for the sake of time, so I got right to the point and asked why they didn’t seem to deliver to neighborhoods with black people.

I was forwarded to the voicemail of Steve Barraco, Circulation Manager. He never responded to my call.

(con’t on p. 5)

Black Out! No Equal Access to

Print News for Black People?

Does a guy like this deserve to get equal access to printed news?

“Campaign finance reform is too important to be left to politicians.” -Justin Jeffre

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Chartergate: City’s

Third Political

Party Shutting Out

Candidates?

by Jason A. Haap, MAThe Dean of Cincinnati

Democratic front-runner Greg Harris says Charter gave him the cold-shoulder while Jeff Cramerding, Char-ter’s executive director, explored run-ning for City Council himself.

In the battle for a seat on City Coun-cil, non-incumbents always face an uphill struggle. But former congres-sional candidate Greg Harris, who has been endorsed by the Hamilton County Democrats, did not always intend to seek the endorsement of a major party. He wanted to run as a Charterite.

Harris did not materialize out of thin air to seek a Charter endorsement. "I served on the Charter board in two different stints," explained Harris. "I also worked in partnership with Char-ter in coalition efforts like the Fair Elections campaign to implement pub-lic financing of city elections."

So he was a natural candidate for be-ing endorsed by the Charter Party, which is under the so-called leadership of Jeff Cramerding – who some char-acterize as an exclusionary elitist more concerned with his own agenda than the well-being of the City as a whole.

"When I first put out feelers about running for Council last Fall, Chris Bortz was very helpful and respon-sive," explained Harris. "But Michael Goldman and Jeff Crammerding weren't responsive and [they were] even a little cryptic."

Such unresponsiveness is nothing new from the secret leadership of the mod-ern Charter Party. Despite their stump speeches about inclusion, openness, and transparency, they deny member-ship to their club based on inconsis-tently applied standards, and they re-fuse to share their membership roster or by-laws with curious critics.

For people like Greg Harris, this new trend towards secrecy and insider deal-ings signals a real problem for Cincin-nati's independent political party. "I'd like to see the 'old guard' reassert it-self," said Harris. "There are so many good people at Charter, and I very much hope they redouble their efforts to be the good government watchdog for the city."

So why would Charter leaders like Cramerding and Goldman seek to stop a viable candidate like Greg Harris from obtaining an endorsement?

"It seemed like they were already plot-ting and scheming around the ‘07 elec-tions, and being tight lipped about their plans," explained Harris. "In ret-rospect, I think it may have had to do with their plotting Jeff's own candi-dacy and Melanie Bates' surprise can-didacy. But I can only speculate."

Such speculations fuel a growing mis-trust with both the Charter Party and Jeff Cramerding. News that he was considering a run for City Council,

and then decided against the move, may cause some to wonder if he bowed out of the race given the new scrutiny being applied to the Charter Party. (Their recent shenanigans have been written about in The Cincinnati Beacon, CityBeat, and The Cincinnati Post.)

It would not look good for Cramerd-ing's if he used his leadership in the Charter Party to shut out viable candi-dates as a strategy for launching his own political career.

Fountaingate II(con’t from p. 4)

“Our goal is not to control people’s civil liberties,” said Stephen Leeper, CEO of 3CDC.

Some argue that the design of the new square is not conducive to large pro-tests. The larger issue at hand is whether it is right to spend tax dollars on a project that prioritizes private profit.

Chad Munitz, former Director of Eco-nomic Development for the city, tried to reassure me in March of 2006 about the public nature of the square, “It will not differ. It is still a public space.” And added, “If you want an event there, the public process has remained the same. This remains the city’s prop-erty - it all comes through the city for permitting not 3CDC.” That has al-ready changed; the permitting process now involves 3CDC. (Oh, and Munitz now works for 3CDC.) I do not feel reassured.

It’s not that we shouldn’t change or develop the square; we just shouldn’t let corporations do it for us. We should be the driving force behind the deci-sions that create its future because the space is ours to use to build public power and grow public resources.

“Early on people were under the mis-conception that the square was going to become a private space. But that is not true; it is still going to be a public space.” said Kevin Armstrong.

But what does the idea of “public space” mean? Is it that no one can get kicked off the square for an event planned by 3CDC, or does public space mean that the citizenry drives every aspect of its use?

“We welcome inquiries from people with ideas for events they’d like to put on the square,” said Armstrong.

The idea of a citizen making an inquiry to a private corporation as to whether they can use their space for an event is unsettling. But I do think we should be making as many “inquiries” for events

as possible, and if they are not granted from upon high I suggest that it is within our First Amendment rights to implement them anyway.

In the face of the privatization of our public space, we should all start asking ourselves, “Where do the solutions to our most important urban problems lie: in shopping or in public participation?

Black Out!(con’t from p. 4)

Ultimately, this is an example of an ethical clash. What responsibility do the distributors of news have in mak-ing information available to everyone, versus how much should a standard business model work to shut out neighborhoods from inclusion in the network of news?

George Haggis has some pertinent questions that may shed light on these kinds of decisions. “How many mil-lionaires do we have to have before we qualify for inclusion in the insert?” asked Haggis rhetorically. “What does our median income have to be?”

“Why would I care about a festival in a park in West Chester,” concluded Haggis. “Those are the people who ran from the City. Why do I want to know about them?”

I emailed various editors of The En-quirer with questions along the lines of those posed by Haggis. No one responded to my inquires.

Christopher Smitherman, president of the Cincinnati NAACP, expressed concern over this apparent discrep-ancy.

“Media in Cincinnati is often biased,” said Smitherman. “The paper of record sends one paper to the Westside of

town around certain issues and a sec-ond paper to other parts of town,” ex-plained Smitherman, who once had two radically different headlines writ-ten about him on the same day for the same story – with the negative story going to the Westside and the positive headline going to the Eastside.

“This is unacceptable,” concluded Smitherman. “The paper of record created two papers on the same day.”

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6

The Labor Report

by Jim Clingman, Chairman,Economic Development Committee,Cincinnati Branch - NAACP

Most of us know the answer to the “What?” q u e s t i o n b y now. After all, it has taken nearly a decade to get a deal on The Banks. The “So what?” question was answered by the commit-

ment and determination of both “out-siders” and “insiders” to finally change the status quo. Rather than sit idly by and watch The Banks be built without the input of those who are traditionally “left out” of the process as well as the economic benefits, the NAACP, the AMOS Group, Trade Unions, and just “plain folk” said enough is enough. The “So what?” question was an-swered by our proactive response to the $700 million project. No longer would the reaction merely be, “They are building The Banks; so what?”

“What?” and “So what?” have brought us to an agreement of the terms under which Cincinnati’s riverfront will be built, albeit, nonbinding terms at this point, which brings us to the “Now what?” question. What should the pub-lic expect from the Banks Working Group (BWG), the Port Authority, the City, and the County, in their relation-ship with the Master Developers, Car-ter & Associates and the Dawson Company?

After a great deal of work and, yes, arm-twisting, victories, and conces-sions, Cincinnati and Hamilton County have a plan to move forward with the long-awaited Banks Project. From its conception, The Banks has been a hot-bed of controversy, especially among Cincinnati’s Black population, because of its tremendous potential to posi-tively impact our local economy, the opportunity it poses for construction and employment, and for the hope it brings to local entrepreneurs and their children.

We now have an “equal” partnership between two developers, Carter and Associates (White-owned) and the Dawson Company (Black-owned), both Atlanta-based, which has been agreed upon by the BWG, accepted and lauded by the County and City, and celebrated by the citizenry. Now what?

Our main priority is to assure broad-based, long-term, economic opportuni-ties for a wide range of African Ameri-cans, unlike previous development projects during the past ten years. The main criteria for accessing those op-portunities comprise a fair, equal, and open process, in all phases, from the development level on down, for 45% of Cincinnati’s population: African Americans. Historically, Black people have to wait for ownership and control to be decided before they enter the de-velopment game, at which time the same “chosen” circle of Black people would receive a few subcontracts and jobs. We have insisted on a different approach with The Banks and, thus far, we are on target.

Now what? We are not satisfied with the SBE, DBE, and WBE language and requirements in the Terms of

Agreement, which have never produced significant results for Black people in Cincinnati; but we are encouraged by the cooperation we have seen and the willingness to enter-tain a new way of doing business when it comes to these kinds of projects. The Dawson Company is a very positive first step, a victorious first step, but it is not yet the final victory. If at the end of the day, most of the assets, equity, ownership, and profit go to Atlanta, Georgia, the larger Black constituency of Cincinnati and Hamilton County will have, yet again, seen the same old song and dance.

Harold Dawson, Jr., during his public introduction to the City and County, made some interesting and powerful comments regarding his participation in The Banks as an equal partner. We are certainly proud of his company’s tradition and track record, and we have heard good things about Carter & As-sociates as well. We look forward to working with both. However, if there are no local equity investment oppor-tunities, no local ownership or control of the assets available to a broad seg-ment of Black people in Cincinnati, we will be asking another question: “Why not?”

The Banks – What? So what? Now what?

by Kevin O’Donnell, SEIU

While Cincinnati's wealthiest residents have enjoyed soaring earnings over the past 25 years, many of the city's work-ing families have seen their wages stagnate. As a result, the social fabric of the metropolitan area is being in-creasingly torn in two, leaving one Cincinnati prosperous and the other impoverished, each isolated from the other.

Cincinnati's worsening income gap presents serious problems – economic, social, and moral. The growing divide is not just about money, but also fair-ness, education and the kind of city where we want to live. The recent surge in inequality has interrupted a long-term trend toward greater equal-ity during much of the 20 th century and runs counter to our most cherished American values.

In Cincinnati, ZIP Code Is Destiny

An analysis of Cincinnati's census data (see census.gov ) reveals the depth of inequality in our city, and the disturb-ing correlation between class and race.

• Poverty has a face in Cincinnati, and that face is usually black. The 10 highest-poverty ZIP codes are 55.3 percent African American. The 10 low-est poverty ZIPs are just 2.1 percent African American.

• Cincinnati is economically polarized. The median income in the highest-poverty ZIP codes ($31,442) is well under half the median income of the lowest-poverty ZIPs ($74,092).

• Poverty is concentrated. In the 10 highest-poverty ZIP codes, 38 percent of individuals live below the poverty line, as compared to just 3.2 percent in the 10 lowest-poverty ZIPs.

• Cincinnati is divided along educa-tional lines. In the highest-poverty ZIP codes, an individual is half as likely to have a college degree as someone in the 10 lowest-poverty ZIPs (20 percent vs. 40 percent).

• Home ownership, a primary way to build wealth, is lagging far behind in poor areas. The home ownership rate in the 10 highest-poverty ZIP codes is

approaching one-third the rate in the 10 lowest-poverty ZIP codes (29 per-cent vs. 79 percent).

• The poor often lack access to vehi-cles, which can cut off access to well-paying jobs. People in the 10 highest-poverty ZIP codes are over six times more likely to lack access to a vehicle (30 percent vs. 4.7 percent).

• The long-time American value of re-warding work has been weakened. The percentage of peo-ple in the labor force is not dra-matically different between the two groups—58 percent for those in the highest-poverty ZIP codes vs. 67 percent for those in the lowest-poverty ZIPs. This suggests that poor people in Ham-ilton County are working, but in poverty-wage jobs.

(con’t on p. 7)

Tale of Two Cincinnatis, Separate and Unequal

Christopher Smithermanfor Cincinnati City Council, 2007

Bold Leadership,

Determination,

and Vision.

Paid for by Smitherman for City Council, John Harris JR. Treasurer

7

Unequal ZIP Codes(con’t from p. 6)

When we compare the richest zip code in Cincinnati (45174, Terrace Park) to the poorest (45203, the West End), an even gloomier picture emerges. Ter-race Park's median family income ($103, 357) dwarfs that of the poorest West End neighborhood ($10,362), where residents are 26 times more likely to live below the poverty line. Those living in Terrace Park are seven times more likely to graduate from college and eight times more likely to own a home. While 61.5 percent of the poorest ZIP code has no access to a vehicle, 30.1 percent of Terrace Park residents own three or more vehicles. Statistically speaking, one might ex-pect these two communities to be in different countries or even on different continents. Yet in reality, they are only a few miles apart.

The High Cost of Working Poverty

Of course, these statistics do not tell the entire story. Inequality exacts a steep social cost as insecurity and hopelessness take their toll on family and neighborhood life. The data do not convey what it feels like to be one ill-ness or accident away from destitution due to lack of health coverage. Nor do they tell us of the human talents that are squandered due to undereducation; the stress created when one must

choose between putting food on the table and visiting the doctor; and the constant fear of being homeless. The working poor are hurting and all Cin-cinnati pays a price.

Janitors Offer a Solution

Today, Cincinnati's great challenge is to mitigate inequality. The best way to do this is to help those at the bottom of the economic ladder lift themselves out of poverty. This can be done by transforming dead-end service sector jobs into good jobs with health care that allow families to begin to move up both the skills ladder and the in-come ladder in the long run. The con-tract that more than 1,200 Cincinnati janitors are currently negotiating with their employers will do just that. By setting minimum standards of decency that let people live a normal life, it will grow and strengthen the middle class, which will make Cincinnati more competitive in the long run.

Cincinnati's business community has the resources to help create the good jobs Cincinnati needs. Public compa-nies—including Procter and Gamble, Western and Southern Financial Group, and Fifth/Third Bank—in the region earned nearly $16.1 billion in profits last year. They have the power to help mend a Cincinnati that has been torn asunder, creating a viable local economy that works for every-one.

Early Landscape and

Groundswells

by Gavin Leonard

As I talk with people in the progres-sive community – non-profit staffers, those connected to political offices, union representatives, and others – a couple themes have begun to emerge in 2007.

Stop Focusing on Self-Preservation – We Need People Who Work For Us

Everybody’s tired of politicians who politic for themselves rather than the folks they supposedly represent. Ex-amples abound, but I’ll share one. Laketa Cole has been catching flack for months, her staffers have walked, and the general consensus on the ques-tion I’ve heard about a hundred times – “What’s going on with Laketa?” – is that she doesn’t want to lose the voting support of the West Side or the cam-paign dollars promised by Jeff Berd-ing. It’s sad to me. She gave a few of our staff last summer on the Campaign for Youth the book Rules for Radicals by Sual Alinsky. If I hadn’t already passed it on (already in my collection), I’d send it back right about now and remind her to read it herself. So in 2007, how about we vote for folks who don’t have scary connections and will make decisions that benefit the

most people possible? Wouldn’t it be great to be excited about a politician whose value system appeared to be solid?

Hope is More Important than the Issues Themselves

I won’t get into all of the politics re-garding the jail tax, but I will say this – I hope that we are voting in 2007 on whether or not to raise our sales tax. But not nearly so much because I dis-agree with the plan, or don’t want to see my taxes go up. I want to vote on the jail tax because it will mean that citizens got together and gathered the nearly 30,000 signatures needed to keep democracy alive. I want to vote on the jail tax because I think it will be turned down in November, and then everyone who gathered 20 signatures, went to a county commissioners meet-ing, or spoke up on talk radio just might feel like what they say and do matters – and they’d be right! What this city needs more than anything is hope. It sucks that it might all happen to the soundtrack of demise of Demo-cratic politics in Hamilton County, but I won’t shed a tear for the lesser of two evils. If Big D democracy (the Democratic Party) takes a hit at the expense of Little D democracy (yes, just democracy), then it’s been a vic-tory. More people getting involved in their communities and believing they make a difference will do more for Cincinnati than a jail or two county commissioners ever could.

by Dylan Speeg

8

Lifestyle

by Nick Lachey

There are moments in life that force us to ask the question, "Who did I piss off to deserve this?" As an avid Cincinnati sports fan, this is one of those such moments. I wasn't born when the Bearcats had their consecutive Final Four streak and championship bragging rights. I was far too young to remember the Big Red Machine, though I still brag on them as if it were yesterday! I am old enough, however, to have enjoyed my share of Cincinnati sports heartbreak.

I can vividly remember my beloved Bengals losing two of the most memorable and climactic Super Bowls ever. I'll never forget the sight of Kenyon Martin's leg snapping in Memphis, or of my Bear-cats losing in the Final Four to a Michigan team since cited for violations and ruled ineligible. I even still carry the sting of the 1995 Reds being dismissed by one of the greatest pitching staffs ever in the At-lanta Braves, as well as Al Leiter's domination of the 1999 team in a one game playoff with the Mets.

Things have seemed to get especially dire of late, though. The Reds are mired in last place in the league, the Bearcats are now known as a football school whose once proud basketball team finished the Big East in last place, and the Bengals have be-come better known for their jail time than their play-ing time. Our regional racetrack can't land a Nextel Cup race, the Cyclones unceremoniously fell to Day-ton, and even our 2nd division arena league team is suffering. I've heard the Harlem Globetrotters won't come to town anymore for fear of losing, and they're guaranteed to win! All we need is for the ATP to pull the tennis tourney out of town and we'll know that the coffin has found its final nail.

But fear not my fellow Cincy sports junk-ies, help is on the way, and I'm not just talking about the start of the high school sports season (although in Cincinnati that is something to aways look forward to!). These things have proven to be cyclical, and they must change! Remember, before Huggins there was Yates, before Lewis there was Shula...and Coslet...and Lebeau, before Clinton there was Bush....oh, and after Clinton there was Bush as well. Hmmm, well Clinton looks especially good in comparison! You get the point though. It's only through the hard times that we can truly appreciate the good times, and the good times will come once again.

Coach Cronin can and will make the Bear-cats national contenders again, Coach Lewis has restored pride and winning to a once defeated franchise, and the Reds will turn it around eventually because the fran-chise has too much history and pride not to. In the meantime, keep the faith and re-member that we are fans and fans stick by their teams. Anyone who's been to Wrigley knows what I mean. Imagine how good Red Sox fans must have felt winning the Series after so much frustration. So, let's keep going to the stadium and cheering on our boys because we're Cincinnatians and these are our teams, our pride, our history, and our future! Besides, the beer is still cold, the hot dogs still taste good, and the Bengal cheerleaders are still nice to watch.

There's a lot of pride in this city and it's sports his-tory and there will be again. That is why i'll see you at the game!

Cincinnati native Nick Lachey has also contributed sports commentary to ESPN’s “College GameDay.”

"

by Zak Nordyke

Last month, I wrote about a client that is “near and dear to my heart” who received tremendous benefits from a simple exercise program that I designed for her. This client happens to my 60 year old mother who is in the best shape of her life because she de-cided that an intelligent, nutritional regiment along with staying committed to physical fitness beats the “hell” out of taking pharmaceuticals and feeling sick all the time. I mentioned in the last article that my mom went from 145 lbs. and 28% body fat to 127.5lbs and 23% body fat in approximately 6 months. There was more that went into to her trans-formation than just hitting the weights a few days per week.

About twelve weeks into the program, my mom had lost ten pounds and appeared to have hit a plateau. My suggestion was to formulate a nutrition plan that would contain plenty of nutrient-dense whole foods, which is just complicated language for fresh vegeta-bles, fruits, and whole grains. She insisted on seeing the doctor first, just to make sure nothing was medi-cally wrong. When she returned from the good doc-tor’s office, I asked facetiously, “Did they give you clearance to compete in the Iron Woman Competi-tion?”

“No,” she said. “The doctor thinks I need medication for high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol.” Just standing there with a perplexed look, I was at momentary loss for words. Suddenly, out of an un-comfortable silence I said, “Get the doctor on the

phone and see if you can try an ex-perimental nutrition plan to coincide with you exercise program for the next three months in an attempt to

naturally balance out your blood pressure and choles-terol.” The doctor thought the experiment would be worth performing and he could check for improve-ment at the end of the three months. From that day forward, there was no looking back. My mom was “hooked on natural health.”

Here is an overview of the nutritional program we utilized:

* Breakfast was a liquid meal that consisted of fresh fruit, flaxseed oil, soy milk and organic protein pow-der. Fresh fruit is loaded with essential vitamins and the natural sugars are excellent transporters of nutri-ents. Flaxseed oil is like a lubricant for the veins and arteries which allows better blood flow. Soy milk is a great cow milk alternative that gives you the same

amount of calcium but does not contain cholesterol like an animal product. The organic protein powder helps as a superb ingredient to support muscle recov-ery and proper organ function. * Before both lunch and dinner, a fresh salad with vinaigrette dressing and 16oz. of water would be consumed to prevent any overeating. * Lunch was composed of a baked or broiled lean

meat, sweet potato or wild rice, and assorted steamed vegetables. To add flavor, herbal sea-sonings were used instead of traditional condi-ments * Dinner was typically a home-cooked meal that consisted of all organic foods. Often the dish was vegetarian because 99% of the time, plant-based food contains no cholesterol. * The final element in the nutritional plan was a fiber-rich snack, 2 hour before bed. A bran muf-fin or oatmeal with soy milk was used to help the digestive track “run and eliminate properly.”

This simple yet non-conventional program was put to the test when my mom revisited the doc-

tor 3 months later. The verdict was undeniable…the program delivered serious results. The blood pressure had stabilize to within a healthy range and the cho-lesterol was now a perfect 198 with HDL levels, bet-ter know as good cholesterol, at optimal heights. There was an additional nearly 10 more pounds of weight loss. This is living proof that the best preven-tative medicine is a blend of physical activity and smart nutrition, not a trip to the pharmacist.

Keeping the Faith

Breakfast of Champions

9

Loophole!by Jason A. Haap, MAThe Dean of Cincinnati

Recently, Michael Earl Patton, Senior Analyst for The Cincinnati Beacon and candidate for City Council in 2007, discovered a ruling from the Cincinnati Elections Commission – where they informed John Cranley that Limited Liability Companies can give up to $1,000 contributions to candidates, just like human beings. (Remember, LLCs are considered “persons” under the law, which is different from being a “human be-ing.”)

So, this means that John Cranley dis-covered a convenient way of increas-ing fundraising dollars. Any individ-ual who also owns an LLC can re-peatedly give $1,000 contributions by simply doing it under the name of his or her company!

Let’s say, for example, that 3CDC wanted to line the pockets of a politi-cian. They have a large number of nested LLCs that take care of various development projects downtown and in Over-the-Rhine. Each of the LLCs, legally considered “persons,” could probably give $1,000 to their favorite corporate candidates.

Or let’s say one person has a handful of LLCs. That single person could run around the contribution limit laws

by giving the maximum as himself, and as all his different companies.

To the right of this story, you will see a nice sized advertisement for Mi-chael Earl Patton’s City Council Campaign. There is a dollar amount associated with advertisements at The Cincinnati Beacon, and we have given that advertisement to Patton as an in-kind contribution to his cam-paign.

Now, here is where the fun begins! As of right now, The Cincinnati Bea-con is not a company. It’s just a pro-ject by some individuals. So, we can keep giving Michael Earl Patton these kinds of contributions as individuals until we reach the maximum amount.

By then, we will likely be registered as an LLC. Then we get to start over, giving him even more in-kind contri-butions, well in excess of what we should be able to give as individuals.

At least that’s our plan. We’ll keep you posted if it works. But if so, let’s all thank John Cranley for discover-ing a loophole that allows us to give more to the candidates of our choos-ing than we are supposed to be al-lowed to give!

Nothing like some legalese from law-yer politicians to find weird ways to bend the rules for making even more money!

At least we have the integrity to do this openly, and with a sense of hu-mor!

Ackermann !4350Anderson ! 5250Atkins ! ! 4000Blackburn ! 3000Bortz ! ! 17900Brown ! ! 14000Budig, Jr. ! 4000Cassady ! 2000Castellini ! 11200Chavez ! ! 2500Chesley ! 5500Coletti ! ! 2500Crain ! ! 11000Davies ! ! 1000Dodds ! ! 3000Dornette ! 4750Farmer ! ! 3000Hendy ! ! 3250Kohlhepp ! 4500

Leffler ! ! 6500Lindner ! ! 67500Maas ! ! 8000Pepper ! ! 12250Rhein ! ! 7000Richards ! 6100Rouse ! ! 4800Ruby ! ! 2000Rumpke ! 5250Schiff ! ! 5800Sinclaire ! 2000Smyjunas ! 4700Verdin ! ! 2000Warm ! ! 3000Warner ! ! 3000Weiland ! 6515.87Zimmerman !3510

Total !256625.90

City Council, 2005 - Big Money

Contribution Amounts

10

The Soapboxby Jason A. Haap, MAThe Dean of Cincinnati

Just like in 2005, over 30 candidates have entered the race for Cincinnati City Council in 2007. Nineteen candidates have been en-dorsed by a party, which means nineteen candidates will get lots of fundraising dollars and media exposure. And if history is a guide, the rest of the candidates – the unknown and the unendorsed – will rank at the bottom of the polls. They will get rela-tively few fundraising dol-lars, and even fewer mentions in the so-called mainstream press. So why do they

bother? What motivates these citizens to run for office against the odds? We spoke with two candidates, Mitch Painter and Steve Pavelish, about these issues.

Mitch Painter remains confi-dent in his fundraising abili-ties despite having no en-dorsement. "I am confident that I will be able to raise a substantial amount of money," explained Painter. "My family has proven itself to have the political courage necessary to push our city forward at a rapid rate. A large group of businessmen, lawyers, and environmentally conscious people are all sup-porting me. Anyone who knows of me and what I do supports me!"

Pavelish, who admits he has significantly less fundraising abilities, still maintains opti-mism. "I am at a disadvan-tage financially not being endorsed by a party and not having its big money people holding fundraising events," admits Pavelish. "But I do believe that hard campaign

work will overcome the lack of present day name recogni-tion and money."

It's a nice sentiment – that hard work can overcome the power of easy money – but history does not support the case. In 2005, Paul McGhee (my brother-in-law) ran one of the hardest working cam-paigns of the race. McGhee was not endorsed by a party. Where did his hard work lead him? To his credit, he was the top vote earner of any unendorsed candidate, which means he came in 18th place behind the 17 endorsed can-didates.

So why bother?

"Our environment is in des-perate need of attention," ex-plained Painter. "We can no longer produce the carbon emissions of the past and ex-pect to survive as a species. Hamilton County has the 18th worst air quality in the entire nation. To be attractive to people and businesses looking to move here we need to send the message on

a large scale that Cincinnati is the new ‘Green’ city and follow through on this prom-ise. From ‘green’ develop-ment to mandatory recycling to a better transportation sys-tem, we must do these things and many more now!"

Pavelish's inspiration comes from different observations about things like recycling. "I noticed that some of the old Council members from years ago were being recycled to run again because of this name recognition and Party loyalty," explained Pavelish.

(con’t p. 11)Steven Pavelish

Mitch Painter lacks an en-dorsement, but he says he has the fundraising ability to be-come a serious contender.

Unknown and Unendorsed: What’s

the point in running for office?Paying for

Imaginary

Flushes

by Michael Earl Patton

It seems obvious, but people gen-erally use less of something if they have to pay for it. Most peo-ple would assume that the more they use, the more they pay. The more you drive, the more gasoline you have to buy, and the more you pay for that gasoline. The more you run your air conditioner, the more you pay in electricity. No one would ever imagine a system where one paid for running the air conditioner 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, no matter if it were turned on or off. Yet something similar happens to many customers when they pay their water bills. For Cincinnati residents and many in the suburbs, the Greater Cin-cinnati Water Works sends out the bills not only for the water, but also for the Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD). Unless you have a septic tank, you pay for your water twice -- once as it comes out of the faucet or shower head, and again as it goes down the drain. Most of the charge is for when it goes down the drain. There is a base rate for the clean water, and an additional charge for the amount. For a single-family house in Cincinnati the base charge is $10.75 per quarter; to this is added a charge of $1.67 per hundred cubic feet, or ccf, of wa-ter used (up to 60 ccf, after which the use charges go down some-what). The sewer charges are handled differently. A single-family house in Cincinnati is charged for send-ing 900 cubic feet down the drain

(con’t on p. 11)

by Michael Earl Patton

Because the proposal for Cin-cinnati streetcars is the focus of a major publicity cam-paign, I have wondered if there are motivations other than the ones we have been told. After all, $100 million is a lot to pay for what is ba-sically a bus on rails. Most of the reasons given are warm and fuzzy; the rest could be

attained by an improved bus system. So, is there another reason? I have come up with a possibility, but it is a dark vision, and I hope that it is wrong. First, I lived for a year in a city with streetcars and loved them. Regardless of cost, they really come into their own only where they have at least some dedicated right-of-

way. Then they don't move with traffic, but faster. Proponents claim that a streetcar line shows everyone that the city has made a commitment. Apparently the hundreds of millions spent on two stadiums, the relocation of Fort Washington Way, the convention center, and Foun-tain Square, are insufficient. But if we would just spend a $100 million more, that would tip the balance. Then we are told that riders can see the tracks and imme-diately tell the general direc-tion where the streetcar goes. This is very true and con-forms to my own experience. But the same could be done with a broad colored stripe down the street corresponding to a bus route much as hospi-tals do to direct people to the different departments. And even if rails must be used, why do the streetcars have to run via electricity provided by overhead wires? Why not

a diesel hybrid, as are some busses? The overhead wires are a visual clutter, an extra expense, and are a mainte-nance item themselves. And the emphasis does seem to be on constructing electric streetcar lines. Here's where the vision gets dark. Suppose "peak oil" is very close. Sup-pose that almost all the oil fields are in terminal decline or soon will be. Suppose the oil situation is far worse than anyone is publicly saying, and the natural gas situation is also very severe. All of the non-government people who have tried to analyze the situation complain that most of the needed data are gov-ernment secrets. Oil is vital to our economy, especially transportation of goods. Natural gas is used to make fertilizer so that, for now at least, we produce a food surplus. If supplies were to tighten we would ex-pect oil and natural gas prices

(con’t p. 11)

A Dark Vision, with Streetcars

11

Unendorsed!(con’t from p. 10)

For Pavelish, too many politicians treat service to the City as a part time job, and he wants to run on a platform about being available to serve Cincin-nati in a full-time capacity.

If a political outsider were to win a seat to City Council, how would Cin-cinnati's power structure respond? With no inside roads established through political contributions, would a victorious independent get hit with intense lobbying from corporate inter-ests? We asked Painter and Pavelish if they would agree to make public every meeting they had with regis-tered lobbyists, should they win.

"I would be more than happy to make all meetings with lobbyists public re-cord," stated Painter. "In all honesty lobbying in our government is a very suspicious act in and of itself, being that large companies get their needs heard and often addressed before any-one else. I am not saying by any

means that we shouldn't do everything we can to work with big businesses though because they are a large part of our economic stability."

Pavelish agreed. "I don't believe that lobbyists would find me an attractive target," he said. "Yes. I will take a pledge to make public any and all meetings that I or a staff member would have with a registered lobby-ist."

Can we find such bold resolve – to pledge to make public all contact with lobbyists – from the big money candi-dates? When we asked a number of candidates and the incumbents to take the pledge, only David Crowley agreed. Let’s see if he shares details! (Greg Harris said these details are already public record.) Maybe this is one of the biggest elements that sepa-rates the endorsed from the unen-dorsed: a willingness to hear special interests in secret.

We wish Painter and Pavelish well. Regular citizens running against the odds are a more likely source for hon-esty in any political campaign.

Streetcars(con’t from p. 10)

to escalate and the U.S. to send troops to protect its oil supplies. Food prices would climb as millions of bushels of corn are diverted to make ethanol, a partial substitute for gasoline. All of these things have indeed started to happen. But what happens as the situation gets increasingly worse? There could be general unrest and even food riots. The rich would want to move back into the city where they can be better protected by the police. (Of course, there would have to be a bigger jail to hold the troublemakers who refused to move to make room for the rich.) Those who live in the inner city, who would now be mostly the well-to-do and rich, wouldn't have to worry so much about transportation fuel since the streetcars would be powered by electricity. The electricity can come from coal, nuclear, or renewables.

Those who would automatically dis-miss this hypotheses must consider that our government has already de-cided that production of ethanol shall take precedence over cheaper food. Also, the governments at the recent G-8 conference rejected the idea of re-ducing greenhouse gasses. In this dark vision, oil and natural gas use declines, but coal (an even bigger greenhouse gas contributor) use would go up. So far I have not been able to come up with another, fully fleshed-out hy-pothesis. Maybe it's just boys who never out-grew their love for trains. Maybe it's because streetcars routes, by their nature, lend themselves to government control freaks. Bus routes can change with the next ad-ministration, but streetcar routes are much harder to change. But maybe the dark vision is correct. "[W]hen you have eliminated the im-possible, then whatever remains, how-ever improbable, must be the truth" (spoken by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes in The Sign of Four).

Flushes

(con’t from p. 10)

plus a charge for any amount above that. It doesn't matter if one actually uses less than 900 ccf -- I myself only used 420 cubic feet in the past quarter. Still, I was charged for the full 900, which came to $56.40. This is over and above the charge for the fresh water itself, which was $7.01. There is therefore almost no incentive for many of us to save water. If I were to cut my usage in half, I would save only $3.50 in fresh water charges and still have to pay $56.40 for the sewage, even though the amount sent down the drain was also cut in half. Yet MSD tells us that the sewer plants often cannot handle the usage so they will be investing hundreds of millions to expand capacity. Shouldn't the charges be designed to encourage water-saving? I had been trying to save water, and was even considering a water-saving type washer, but why should I invest extra money? This, by the way, does not affect apartments and most condos because they almost always share a single me-ter and so their total usage is high. Households that use a lot of water are also not affected. But somewhat per-versely, it affects precisely those households that use relatively little water. The more successful they are at saving water, the more they pay per gallon. They wind up paying for imaginary shower drain water and toilet flushes.

by M.O.

As a kid born and raised in Evanston, why is it that everyone I know–kids as young as seven years old–have no goals any higher than getting on "Crime Stoppers?" My generation, and generations under me, grow up too readily into stereotypes set up for their race. My name is M.O, and I'm a new leader of the Hip Hop Con-gress for youth.

Growing up in Cincinnati, I've found that there are few, if any, legit venues for youth – let alone hip hop or "ur-ban" youth – to express themselves, perform, or just generally have fun in a safe environment. It's no wonder there's so much violent crime and outlash when there are no places for kids to just be themselves. This is why I was so excited when I heard about "Elementz", the OTR-based Hip Hop Youth Center that has been offering free, well-needed opportuni-ties for at-risk youth to learn break-dance, DJ-ing and graffiti techniques, as well as making beats in the record-ing studio since 2005. Despite how fantastic Elementz has proven as a way to get kids off the street, I think we need more. Ele-mentz is open mainly three days a week, and recording sessions are only one hour long; as someone who basically lives on the Metro, not eve-ryone has a schedule that works like that. A kid coming down from Mt. Healthy, who relies on Elementz as their only real outlet for expression, can't always make it down. Not only that, but for real–the year is 2007, and I have same problem I always have: there is nothing to do in Cin-cinnati.

Maybe it's just my ADD generation that thinks so, but I'm pretty sure you

need activity to keep citizens happy, healthy and creative, and Cincinnati is a place that has always disap-pointed me in that aspect. Then peo-ple (generally older folks) complain when they see herds of kids out on the street all summer long–well, If there were somewhere to go or some-thing to do, I'd probably be there do-ing it! Though artistic, progressive venues such as Baba Budan's, The Greenwich, Top Cat's, The Mad Frog, and a couple other spots offer acoustic or hip-hop open mic nights, activity at them and accessibility to young people (these nights are often 18+ or 21+) is few and far between. I will not lie: It's summer, and I am bored. Bored, bored, bored, with the few things this city has to offer me. I myself am an on-the-rise local musi-cian; I record my own music, sell my own music, and put most of my time into self-promotion, and I know it's a fact that my love for music has kept me out of trouble the past couple of years.

Making the decision to be a leader and not a punk is hard, but when kids

are given opportunities to build foundations for themselves and oth-ers, that decision becomes much eas-ier. When it's been proven time and again that venues like Elementz are so effective in helping kids like me, there are no excuses for not allowing kids that drive to succeed. What we need now are more places that offer similar services;

What we need now is for the general public (schools, business owners, parents, anybody) to see this suc-cess, acknowledge hip hop as a posi-tive thing, and to give us the support and resources that we need to achieve. Otherwise, we will never see a change in the way we're headed as a city.

There are no excuses.

You Say "Hip", I Say "Huh?": Where is Hip Hop In Cincinnati?

Want to help support Cincinnati’s most exciting media

movement? The Cincinnati Beacon has great advertising

rates! For more information, contact us via email or

voicemail: dean@cincinnatibeacon.com

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12

The Dean’s Phrase Maze

H E B E R A L

T G N I D K E

N G V Y T O T

O R A T O G A

D E A R F F T

P P I R T E H

O ! N A I L E

H D N A N O C

! Start in the top right corner, and draw a line through any side (top, left, right, bottom), without crossing, and the path of the maze will spell out this month’s phrase.

HINT: End at the exclamation point.

Last month’s phrase: “Jeff Berding will lose in Novem- ber please”