Monday, November 9, 2009
for the record...
I'm currently trying to befriend Dhani Jones of the Bengals via Twitter of all places, because he rides a fixed-gear. And that makes me want to hang out with him. Otherwise, just keeping it hilarious today. More info on a possible impending bike ride.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Tonight, Friday November 6th
Cyclones Retro Night with $7 admission, $1 drafts, hot dogs and pizza. 50 cent popcorn.
You'd be silly to miss some great hockey with some good people for cheap. USBank arena at 7:30. Promises to be a good game, as the Cyclones have been fielding really good teams the past few years. See you there.
You'd be silly to miss some great hockey with some good people for cheap. USBank arena at 7:30. Promises to be a good game, as the Cyclones have been fielding really good teams the past few years. See you there.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Cincinnati votes for progress? maybe
After last nights windbag diatribe on elections in this country, the winners have been announced and I think everything will be okay. Unfortunately, Ohioans voted to legalize casino gambling - however the way the amendment is written only two companies may build them. We also kept Mayor Mallory around for a few more years, however his victory was by a much smaller than expected margin. Cincinnati residents also defeated issue 9, so now the real battle about the streetcars can begin. Some people expected the streetcars to begin construction soon, but there are still millions in federal money that must be sourced before anything can begin...and there's always a chance of COAST trying to put the issue on the ballot again.
I must say that while I'm a bit disappointed about how some of this all happened, I'm not really surprised by anything.
I must say that while I'm a bit disappointed about how some of this all happened, I'm not really surprised by anything.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Election night 2009 (inconsequential?)
Today marks the anniversary of the most historic election on the history of this country. Exactly a year ago, we nominated our first black president while at the same time cast a referendum on the policies of Barack’s predecessor. It was a euphoric night for 3/5th’s of our country.
However, today is just as important of a day in Hamilton County politics. On the ballot were all the members of city council, the mayoral race, a statewide initiative on casinos and the big kicker, Issue 9. For those outside of the area, issues 9 would me an amendment to the city’s charter that would make any kind of public transportation subject to a countywide vote. Voting yes on 9 means that voters wanted more say in the government – and that people definitely didn’t want street cars. Voting no on 9 was seen as the progressive vote, which would grease the tracks for streetcars to soon come to Cincinnati.
Both sides of issue 9 spent the majority of their campaign funding trying to fight misconceptions about the issues instead of trying to make a case for their issue. In the end I think just as many people were confused about which way to vote in order to get their desired outcome. Both sides perpetuated an equal amount of bullshit about the other side, and today is the day that everything will come to a head.
Instead of voting on whether or not people in fact wanted streetcars on their roads, proponents intentionally made the issue hard to read and as confusing as possible. This led to many people thinking that “yes” on 9 would bring streetcars to the city. However the issue was farther complicated by the accusations that the money would just be a waste and result in a decline in public services, particularly the police. However, if you investigate where the money would come from, more than half of the funding came from one time federal grants that can only be used on projects like the one at the heart of issue 9. However, proponents were able to skew the data to make it seem like having streetcars would cut the police force in half and put the city on the verge of bankruptcy.
To me, the issue boils down to people being willing to do whatever it takes to get their view to be that of the majority. While the city would have to spend money to get the streetcars, the city itself would be paying only a fraction of the cost while the federal government kicked in the rest essentially free of charge.
To me the issue came down to pragmatics. As a city we could spend a fraction of the real cost of the project while reaping the full benefits economically and socially, or we could not spend any money at all and continue to lose people and jobs to other areas that have the amenities that Cincinnatians voted against.
The issue came down to an incredibly intense game of politics that matters so much more to the lives of people and businesses in this city than the lobbyists and politicians making these decisions. So many lies and so much misinformation being spread around that I feel like only a fraction of the population was voting on the real issue at hand, while so many cast their votes either the way they were told or in a misinformed light.
Maybe I’m wrong, and maybe the people of Cincinnati don’t see streetcars as a necessity. But if you talk to any business owner downtown, uptown or in Over-the-Rhine, they would tell you to vote “no,” or “nein” on Issue 9. Talking to the people that live in the affected neighborhoods will net you a similar response. However, people that don’t actually live in the city are the ones trying to fight streetcars in Cincinnati. They’re the people from Oakley and other outlying city areas that are afraid to come downtown and see absolutely no benefit in helping a recovering and developing downtown area.
Preliminarily election results are starting to trickle in. So far Ohioans favor casinos to be built in their cities (a reversal of their decision when the economy was better a few years ago), have a mayoral race at a dead heat and are voting against streetcars. But the polls have just closed and it’s still way too early too tell what the exact outcome will be (i.e, election 2004).
I really hope that if the streetcar measure gets defeated that people won’t get shitty with each other like they did in the days following the 2008 election. Much like that election polarized our country between black/white/republican/democrat/past and future, I hope that people can not be bitter assholes about losing this race. Regardless of which side actually wins, I can sense that the other side won’t go down without a fight – which to me is not how politics should work. If your side/issue/whatever gets defeated by the people at the polls (aside from election 2000) you should accept that the populist vote has said “no” to what you believe in instead of being a sore loser and dragging the process out even farther. The nein on 9 crow will bitch and moan if they lose, saying that voters were tricked and misinformed. If issue 9 passes, there will be an entirely different camp of people saying that the city is absent-mindedly throwing money away with no regard for the present or future while the nein on 9 crowd will continue to tell them that they’re dumb for opposing a diversification in public transit.
This election, like so many others in this country and across the world, will be decided by people that are less than completely informed about what is at stake. As the world continues to become smaller and smaller, popular elections will increase in importance. This will only lead to more disinformation and lies. The real trick for people to effectively use elections to resemble their own views is to abolish the two party political system. How many Americans actually align with the two parties is unknown, but I’m sure that if there were more options seen as viable by voters instead of rouge 3rd party craziness, there would be a wider dispersion of votes amongst parties.
There is still a large divide in the thinking of this country between the two parties. Some people are more; some are less extreme than the platforms of the elephants or the donkeys. Some people fall in the middle and just want to feel out what everyone else thinks. There are way more than two ways of thinking in America, and politics needs to represent that more.
By diversifying American politics in the melting pot manner that this nation is supposed to truly represent we could all be much more satisfied in our government instead of almost everyone being disillusioned and bitter about the entire process. If elections more closely resembled the thinking of this country, I think we could all get along better not only in government but also in our daily lives.
Instead of everyone being hyper focused on only one person or party, people could choose which sides of civics to embrace and which to shun much more readily than if there are only two choices. And that would be beautiful
However, today is just as important of a day in Hamilton County politics. On the ballot were all the members of city council, the mayoral race, a statewide initiative on casinos and the big kicker, Issue 9. For those outside of the area, issues 9 would me an amendment to the city’s charter that would make any kind of public transportation subject to a countywide vote. Voting yes on 9 means that voters wanted more say in the government – and that people definitely didn’t want street cars. Voting no on 9 was seen as the progressive vote, which would grease the tracks for streetcars to soon come to Cincinnati.
Both sides of issue 9 spent the majority of their campaign funding trying to fight misconceptions about the issues instead of trying to make a case for their issue. In the end I think just as many people were confused about which way to vote in order to get their desired outcome. Both sides perpetuated an equal amount of bullshit about the other side, and today is the day that everything will come to a head.
Instead of voting on whether or not people in fact wanted streetcars on their roads, proponents intentionally made the issue hard to read and as confusing as possible. This led to many people thinking that “yes” on 9 would bring streetcars to the city. However the issue was farther complicated by the accusations that the money would just be a waste and result in a decline in public services, particularly the police. However, if you investigate where the money would come from, more than half of the funding came from one time federal grants that can only be used on projects like the one at the heart of issue 9. However, proponents were able to skew the data to make it seem like having streetcars would cut the police force in half and put the city on the verge of bankruptcy.
To me, the issue boils down to people being willing to do whatever it takes to get their view to be that of the majority. While the city would have to spend money to get the streetcars, the city itself would be paying only a fraction of the cost while the federal government kicked in the rest essentially free of charge.
To me the issue came down to pragmatics. As a city we could spend a fraction of the real cost of the project while reaping the full benefits economically and socially, or we could not spend any money at all and continue to lose people and jobs to other areas that have the amenities that Cincinnatians voted against.
The issue came down to an incredibly intense game of politics that matters so much more to the lives of people and businesses in this city than the lobbyists and politicians making these decisions. So many lies and so much misinformation being spread around that I feel like only a fraction of the population was voting on the real issue at hand, while so many cast their votes either the way they were told or in a misinformed light.
Maybe I’m wrong, and maybe the people of Cincinnati don’t see streetcars as a necessity. But if you talk to any business owner downtown, uptown or in Over-the-Rhine, they would tell you to vote “no,” or “nein” on Issue 9. Talking to the people that live in the affected neighborhoods will net you a similar response. However, people that don’t actually live in the city are the ones trying to fight streetcars in Cincinnati. They’re the people from Oakley and other outlying city areas that are afraid to come downtown and see absolutely no benefit in helping a recovering and developing downtown area.
Preliminarily election results are starting to trickle in. So far Ohioans favor casinos to be built in their cities (a reversal of their decision when the economy was better a few years ago), have a mayoral race at a dead heat and are voting against streetcars. But the polls have just closed and it’s still way too early too tell what the exact outcome will be (i.e, election 2004).
I really hope that if the streetcar measure gets defeated that people won’t get shitty with each other like they did in the days following the 2008 election. Much like that election polarized our country between black/white/republican/democrat/past and future, I hope that people can not be bitter assholes about losing this race. Regardless of which side actually wins, I can sense that the other side won’t go down without a fight – which to me is not how politics should work. If your side/issue/whatever gets defeated by the people at the polls (aside from election 2000) you should accept that the populist vote has said “no” to what you believe in instead of being a sore loser and dragging the process out even farther. The nein on 9 crow will bitch and moan if they lose, saying that voters were tricked and misinformed. If issue 9 passes, there will be an entirely different camp of people saying that the city is absent-mindedly throwing money away with no regard for the present or future while the nein on 9 crowd will continue to tell them that they’re dumb for opposing a diversification in public transit.
This election, like so many others in this country and across the world, will be decided by people that are less than completely informed about what is at stake. As the world continues to become smaller and smaller, popular elections will increase in importance. This will only lead to more disinformation and lies. The real trick for people to effectively use elections to resemble their own views is to abolish the two party political system. How many Americans actually align with the two parties is unknown, but I’m sure that if there were more options seen as viable by voters instead of rouge 3rd party craziness, there would be a wider dispersion of votes amongst parties.
There is still a large divide in the thinking of this country between the two parties. Some people are more; some are less extreme than the platforms of the elephants or the donkeys. Some people fall in the middle and just want to feel out what everyone else thinks. There are way more than two ways of thinking in America, and politics needs to represent that more.
By diversifying American politics in the melting pot manner that this nation is supposed to truly represent we could all be much more satisfied in our government instead of almost everyone being disillusioned and bitter about the entire process. If elections more closely resembled the thinking of this country, I think we could all get along better not only in government but also in our daily lives.
Instead of everyone being hyper focused on only one person or party, people could choose which sides of civics to embrace and which to shun much more readily than if there are only two choices. And that would be beautiful
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