Cincinnati's Great Casino Divide

Read the entire article here.

The implementation of gambling centers like casinos and horse racing tracks have had a wide and varied reception from the local communities in which they are placed. Some communities embrace the entry of the new tax payer with open arms while other places attempt to ward off the coming of a looming gambling option as if it were the second coming of the Black Plague.

One thing which makes casinos so controversial is the element of its customers that it may draw; this in addition to monies set aside for its development can bring communities together or tear them apart. There have been several examples around the country of this varying sentiment toward gambling and the type of customers that it attracts.

The State of Indiana, where casinos are a major part of the state's revenue, still comes under controversy from time to time when it comes to placement of their casinos. Most recently, Gary, Indiana has been debating to replace Don Barden's two casino boats with one land-based casino along Interstate 94 just outside of the city.

In 2009, the State of Ohio passed Issue 9, a resolution to legalize gambling within the state's boarders, which made way for cities like Cleveland, Toledo, Columbus and Cincinnati to build and operate large scale gaming casinos; with a portion of the revenue to be funneled back into the government's pocket books.

Opinions of the casino were greatly dependant on the proposed placement. Columbus' casino was originally approved to be erected in the city's downtown Arena District but just months after its approval was changed to a location west of the city.

Read the entire article here.

Horray For Health Care!

Last night, congress FINALLY pushed through a healthcare bill that has been trying to work its way don the pipes for some time now.

Despite this, opposition to the bill are still holding to their guns and attempting to block its passage.

What gives?

Do they think that passage of this bill will lead to Armageddon and the country will go down in history of other socialist counties which of health care for all?

That can't be it. Maybe the opposition is afraid that States will begin loosing their rights. But doesn't Federal Law usually trump State Laws? There are many examples where the Feds had to step in. Look at the case Plessy vs Ferguson or Brown vs Board of Education or even the fact that there is a minimum wage which employers pay to their workers. Its been done before.

Opposition should just let go and move on to other important things, like jobs.

Cincinnati City Council Wanna-Be's Face Off

This morning on Channel 12's NewsMakers, four people running for this year's Cincinnati City Council seats squared off.

On today's program, Laura Quinlivan, Charlie Winburn, Bernadett Watson, and Tony Fischer all went tete-a-tete on issues facing the Queen City. From budget cuts to debate on the reamifications of bring a casino to Broadway Commons were all placed on the table.

Though Fisher and Watson made an acceptable appearance, the real fireworks came when Issue 9 and the street car was brought to the forefront.

Quainlivan made a valid and passionate argument about the necessity of an established transportation system, found in the street car, in addition to her publicly denouncing her approval for Issue 9.

This sentiment was also heralded by Fisher and Watson. The only opposition came from Winburn who repeated harped in the violence and crime that was prevalent in the proposed street car route.

In my opinion, here are my grades on the City Council Candidate's Sunday morning appearance:

Laure Quinlivan: A-

Charlie Winburn: C-

Bernadett Watson: B

Tony Fischer: B

If you mised it, form your own opinion by watching what you missed here.

Would You Kick President Obama Out Of Your School?

Over the past few weeks, we have heard opposition about President Obama’s speech to the young school children of this country.

Never mind the fact that the United States spends the most money per child in the world to educate them, yet we still fall severely behind the rest of the world in education, does anyone see the necessity of this Presidential proclamation to our schools?

Carter did it.

Bush Sr. did it.

What makes this time so much different?

To put icing on the cake, both the former 1st Lady Bush tagged teamed with Newt Gingrich to question the county’s opposition for the President speaking with the county’s children.

That says it all.

Newly Published Article: '5 Steps To Strengthen Your Community'

Read the full aricle here.

Afghanistan Vote: Threats and Empty Polling Stations

The streets of Kabul were eerily quiet on Thursday, as polls for Afghanistan's second presidential election since the fall of the Taliban opened to little fanfare and even smaller crowds. Children, taking advantage of the trafficless streets, flew kites. Watermelon sellers languished in the shade of their carts waiting for a sale.

The only customers were police, who were stationed at every intersection to inspect the few vehicles that passed their way. Kabul residents had been spooked by Wednesday's curious lack of violence and were apprehensive that the Taliban had planned something big for voting day. They were right to worry. Not long after polls opened, reports of explosions across the capital drove even the most courageous voters indoors.

Two improvised bombs went off at polling stations, with another five at important intersections, and in two other districts, gunfire among rival factions prevented voting for the rest of the day.

Read the rest of the article here.

5 steps to engaging your community

Today I attended a very informative conference put on by Cincinnati's People of Color Wellness Alliance (POCWA) who have a strategic plan to combat the problems that the Over-the-Rhine community faces.

Through out the day I learned some interesting things, specifically, the following 5 steps in creating a plan to combat some community's drug problem:

Step 1: Create an Assessment of your Community's Problems

Step 2: Analyze Your Individual Capacity to Address the Problem

Step 3: Create a Comprehensive Plan To Address the Problem

Step 4: Implement Plan

Step 5: Evaluate the Success of Implementation

Cincinnati Police Fight Crime With Computers

Read the complete article here.

VP To Pay The Queen City A Visit Thursday

Vice President Joe Biden will come to Cincinnati on Thursday to see how $1.6 million in federal stimulus money will be put to work at a Northside development project.

I wonder what sound bites we are going to get.

US Marines Open A New Offensive in Afghanistan

I never remembered the Army being like this when I was in, but then again...I was a lowly Korean linguist stuck in Texas.

Street Car Movie Screening @ The Carnegie

Over @ Somewhere Over-The-Rhine are words about a great opportunity to find out more about streetcars around the United States and GM.

I plan to attend and hope to see you there!

Librarian's Unite Against Google

Yesterday, TIME Magazine reported that the Justice Department will be looking closer into Google's plans to publish 20% of some titles online at no charge and reaping in a portion of the profit when/if the work is bought via their online service.

That part is not too bad, but what has most librarians' buns in a wad are the snippets of "orphan books" (out of print books who's author's and publishers are unknown) that will be published and then sold, where Google will reap ALL of the profits.

In my opinion, the market will dictate if people will go for these unpublished pieces of work. They have very little credit in the academic world if they are ever used for reference due to the fact that the author and publisher are unknown.

I say that if Google wants to publish them, go for it. In one respect it brings writing to a broader clientele which it would have not had reached otherwise.

Mayor Mark Mallory's Shop52 Small Business Series

Last night, I attended Mayor Mark Mallory's Shop52 Small Business Series at The Cintas Center in order to get some ideas as to how to grow my own small business.

This ongoing series will be held once a month for the next few months, focusing on different aspects of envisioning, starting and running a small business.

I learned alot, and even got a few jobs out of the participation.

For information about the next seminars, visit The Mayor's website.

Hope to see you there!

HIV in Cincinnati's African American Community

The Enquirer has a great article in today's paper chronicling some of the fears and misconceptions about HIV.

Kudos to them for publishing it.

I just hope that leads to more aggressive approach to HIV testing and AIDS awareness in our African American community.

A Call for Action

Early this morning, in the 400 block of East 13th, three lives were taken before they even had a change to live.

The coward that did this unimaginable act may not immediately receives what he deserves, due to our city's police force, despite their most valiant efforts, but even i he this perpetrator is never caught, he will see the whites of the eyes which he stole from this Earth.

Our neighborhood must take back its streets!

This abominable act occurred on the heels, and just a few feet from one last Saturday's Spring Fling, where children (and adults alike) enjoyed the afternoon and was momentarily taken away from the trials and tribulation of everyday life.

We Need To Be Visible - Those in our community (including myself) have to not be afraid to walk down the street, say hello to those hanging out on the street corner. If they can stand out on the stoop for hours at a time, I am sure that we can do the same.

We Need To Call Early And Often - There are several apartment buildings on the block in which I live, that are known drug dens. Our neighbors know it, and the Police know it, but yet they still exist. I want to plead to all of my neighbors to call the Police ANY time they see suspisious activity. That may be someone waiting i a parked car, for nor reason, and a person casing cars.

Act A Fool - If you are ever approached by someone who you do not know and they attempt to rob you....ACT A DAMN FOOL! Yell, scream, holler and let them know that you re not going down without a fight.

Of course this is not an all inclusive plan for decreasing violence. Cooperation with neighbors, the education system, organizations all will continue to play a part.

We have to stop this violence and we have to stop it NOW!

Pendleton Neighborhood's 7th Annual Spring Fling / Information Fair

When: Saturday, May 30 12pm tp 3pm
Where: Pendleton Arts Center, 1310 Pendleton St.

Why:
The goal of the Spring Fling is to display, promote and generate awareness regarding summer activities within and around Pendleton for children (and adults) who reside in the area. This year's event will be held in conjunction with the Pendleton Art Center's 2nd Look Saturday event.

For additional details, visit our website at pendletonneighborhood.org and click Events/Volunteer @ the top of the page.

See you there!

President Obama's Best Bet To Ensure Economic Recovery

I just published this article on Associated Content where I give the Pres' my thoughts on what will stimulate the economy.

I think that most off you will be happy as to what I propose.

Read it here.

I hope you enjoy!

I Present to you......

A little child says what so many want to say.

American As Apple Pie: A Letter To President Obama

Forty years ago, a Baptist minister from the South used his words, delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C,. to invigorate hope in a time of civil despair, reciting to us a dream that he had one day.

Tomorrow, this minister’s dream will be that much closer to becoming a reality when a man, born of a Kenyan father and an American mother, will take stand on the other side of the mall where that preacher proclaimed his wish for America, as he prepares to take helm of the most powerful country in the free world.

When our fore fathers designed our government, the country was speckled with pre-judiciary thoughts based on misconceptions and lies, transcending several generations and manifesting itself in the American Civil War, Jim Crow Laws, Affirmative Action policies, and assassinations of major political leaders such as the preacher mentioned above.

Even though these thoughts were part of the foundation of our nation, the architects of our nation designed a government which could leave way for a person from the African Diaspora to lead the United States of America a little more than a generation after a time when he would have been slain just for thought of becoming “The President”.

President Obama-
This boy from Kentucky, given an Arabic first name, and forced to take the last name of an Irish slave owner, has struggled to find a solid, impenetrable definition of what America is to me.

Tomorrow I will find that answer.

President Barrack Obama, I salute you.

You are what America is too me.

You are my Apple Pie.

Cincinnati in the era of Obama

Though Cincinnati was once in major contention for being the capital of the United States, it has been generations since The Queen City has been considered a leading US City.

Though we boast being the home of the largest marketing conglomerates in the world, serve as resident to the world renowned Underground Railroad Freedom Center and home to one of the most architecturally historic neighborhoods in the country (shout out to Over-the-Rhine), Cincinnati still follows the ol’ Samuel Clemmons quote stating that if the world ended, he would want to be here in Cincinnati due to the fact that we are consistently a few decades behind the rest of the world.

Having Obama being as our 44th president and riding on the coattails of the great push for “change”, I can’t help but to think that Cincinnati will come through and buck its trend, beginning to operate as a leading city, in both the state of Ohio and the United States (more so the former than the latter).

On the cusp of an historical Inaugural Day, here are my hopes for Over the Rhine and Downtown Cincinnati in the age of Obama:

An eco-friendly public transit system connecting Downtown with Clifton/University of Cincinnati area (i.e. street cars…just a thought)

A Successful “Banks” Experiment

Investment of appropriate amount of resources for education of youth and young adults living in and around the Over-the-Rhine area

Feasible and accessible grocery stores (Krogers…I really hope you read this one)

Responsible investment in sports teams: (get rid of the bad apples and invest in well rounded administrators/coaches/players!)

Metro-Sexual shopping options for the functional homosexual that will not break your savings account

All of these goals are both attainable and measurable, so all you socio-economic gu-roos should not have a problem seeing the positive impact these steps would have on the Over-the-Rhine community. OK… the sports wish is stretching it a bit, bit I felt obligated to through their success into the mix.

I would love to hear your comments on these steps or any that I left out.