Two great videos by CNATI and one from the Enquirer:
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Tag: Cincinnati
Well it’s official. Brian Kelly did what everyone thought he would do and follow in the footsteps of Mark Dantonio. The reports are out that Notre Dame will announce Brian Kelly as their next head coach, and BK will more than likely not spend a minute more with his dedicated players and team after the team’s banquet this evening.
It’s a perfect ending to a perfect season in a sick kind of way. The whole year the team played with the motto of “Next Man In” almost as if Brian Kelly saw the writing on the wall months ago that he would cut and run on his team before the biggest game in UC football history. Three short seasons ago BK joined the Bearcats and coached them to an International Bowl championship, PapaJohns.com Bowl championship, then two consecutive Big East championships with a disappointing performance at last year’s Orange Bowl against Virginia Tech.
BK has made the most of his players and turned the program into a national powerhouse building off of the foundation that Mark Dantonio so nicely poured for him. Now BK is off to Notre Dame where the cabinet won’t be left quite as full and the expectations not quite so low.
In Cincinnati, BK was on his way to becoming a local legend and turning the Bearcats into the premier football school in the Big East with perennial BCS bowl games and National Championships on the line. At Notre Dame BK will be expected to win National Championships from the beginning and anything less will be a disappointment.
The news comes on the heels of the Bearcats undefeated season where they repeated as Big East Champions and in which they came just one second or a missed field goal away from playing for the National Championship. Bearcat fans rewarded the team and BK by turning out record crowd, after record crowd at Nippert…and by selling out the team’s entire 17,500 ticket allotment to the Sugar Bowl where the Bearcats will play the Florida Gators.
Add in the fact that BK’s seniors poured their hearts into a game that will go into the history books (video) against Pittsburgh in the final game of the regular season where they came from 21 points down to win in the waning seconds by 1 point. It was such an emotional and important win that senior leaders Tony Pike and Mardy Gilyard broke out into tears of joy…but who cares.
BK certainly has a fat paycheck waiting on him in South Bend in addition to a slew of absurd benefits. He will also be able to play under the watchful eye of Touchdown Jesus, and be judged by fans who feel more entitled to everything and anything, without any real reason. BK will also be taking over a team that hasn’t had a defense in years, and whose two best offensive players just declared themselves for the NFL Draft.
The University of Cincinnati is a top-notch school and program, and Cincinnati is not some stepping stone city. As much as I love Bearcat football, and what BK has done for it, he’s gone now and I’ve moved on. Good riddance BK, and I wish you as much luck at ND as Dantonio has had at Michigan State.
In the mean time, watch this GREAT VIDEO on the Bearcats instant classic win over Pittsburgh. It’s inspirational and the sound track is perfect given this news. BK, you’re just the past now. It’s our time.
Tis the season for holiday parties, and tonight there is a special one happening at Mr. Pitiful’s (map) on Main Street in the heart of Over-the-Rhine supporting the Over-the-Rhine Foundation.
The 2nd Annual OTR Neighborhood Holiday Party will feature live music from local favorites Messerly & Ewing, food, and of course spirits featuring Christian Moerlein’s Christkindl Winter Warmer Ale. The party gets started at 6pm Thursday evening and is slated to run until 10pm, but you have to figure that will be just about the earliest anyone heads home.
There will be raffle tickets available for $10 which will give you a chance to get some help out with some gifts for friends or for yourself. Prizes range from gift cards to OTR shops such as Park+Vine, Outside, Findlay Market, and tickets to productions by the Cincinnati Ballet, Know Theatre, and Cincinnati Opera.
Another fundraising piece of the night will include a live auction featuring works of art by Jim Effler, VisuaLingual, Sherman Cahal, and Craig Moyer. Finally, $25 raffle tickets will be available for the Dream Vacation Raffle which is a one week stay in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
As mentioned above all raffle proceeds will be going to the Over-the-Rhine Foundation which has been working to preserve, protect, and promote OTR for over sixteen years. So come on out, support a good cause, meet new folks, and get reacquainted with older ones at Mr. Pitiful’s on Thursday. While there is no need to RSVP per se, there is of course a Facebook Page where you can let everyone know of your good intentions!
In an aggressive attempt to improve upon the “C” grade received on its first-ever annual Bicycle Report Card, City leaders are looking at ways to incorporate bicycle facilities into the city’s larger transportation network. The most recent example can be seen along Dana Avenue in between Madison Road and Grigg Avenue (map) where the City incorporated dedicated bike lanes along a nearly one-mile stretch of roadway.
The stretch of Dana Avenue had at one point been bloated with unnecessary amount of vehicle lanes. As a result, the City took the opportunity to put Dana Avenue on a “road diet” when they began work repaving the road as a part of the City’s Street Rehabilitation Program.
New dedicated bike lanes along Dana Avenue – photos by Melissa McVay.
The road diet included the removal of two vehicle lanes and the addition of two striped, five-foot wide dedicated bicycle lanes. In instances like the Dana Avenue road project, City leaders saw it as a cost-effective way to quickly implement bicycle facilities without any disruption.
Cincinnati now boasts more than 8 miles of dedicated bike lanes throughout the city, with another 2.58 miles of sharrows along city streets. Another 340 miles of roadway is being studied as part of the Bike Plan process. Additional Street Rehabilitation and Transportation Design projects will also be evaluated during the design phase to see how bikes or pedestrians can be best included as well.
With the new members of City Council now sworn in, the debate surrounding the City’s annual budget has once again gotten heated. Much of the debate this year swirls around layoffs instead of city services like in past years. More specifically the debate is over who should be laid off.
A significant change took place on November 3rd, when Charlie Winburn (R) made his way onto City Council in place of Greg Harris (D). The change represents a shift in power when it comes to the budget discussions which previously had a 5-4 majority in favor of cutting some of the public safety budget which, instead of being trimmed in past years, has actually grown.
In the past I asked the question as to whether we actually know how many police officers we need in order to maintain a safe city, or if anybody actually knew the answer to that question. The natural answer always seems to be add more police officers and continue to increase their budget, but common thought should be examined when we are discussing people’s jobs and livelihoods.
I am of the mindset that much more than shear force is responsible for public safety. After school programs, mentoring, crime prevention initiatives, and job programs are all proven tactics that can be used in maintaining public safety. With that said, a good way to measure quantifiables is to compare yourself to peer cities.
Click chart to open larger version in new window
After some research it turns out that while Cincinnati lost 8 percent of its population from 1990 to 2010, the City has actually grown its police force by 21 percent over that same time. If you factor in the proposed police force reduction that number would change from a 21 percent increase to a 9 percent increase, and once again, while our population declined 8 percent.
If no police reduction is made in the 2010 budget, Cincinnati will have 1,135 sworn police officers which represents 340 police officers for every 100,000 residents. If the proposed police force reduction were to happen then Cincinnati would still have 1,023 police officers representing 307 for every 100,000 residents.
When looking at how this compares with our peer cities, Cincinnati ranks at the very top of the list of police officers per 100,000 residents even with the proposed police force reduction.
It can be easy to say lets not ever cut our public safety spending, as it is the most core function of government, but as people’s jobs and livelihoods are on the line we owe it to them to at least examine the situation from an objective standpoint and make the best decision for the residents of Cincinnati.
There are also good programs at risk during these budget discussions. It would not only be unfortunate, but also irresponsible, to cut spending on the City’s recycling program that would reduce costs and actually grow revenues. It would be similarly irresponsible to cut spending on the Comprehensive Plan, Climate Protection Action Plan, or any other initiative that is laying the groundwork for economic development that grows revenues and reduces expenses.