WHINE & DINE: Ruby's Desperate Pouting for a Taxpayer Subsidized Restaurant

by Michael Monks
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Is Mother Nature secretly working as a Covington City Hall agent? Afterall, she is the only entity that has spoken publicly about not wanting Jeff Ruby's The Waterfront along Covington's Ohio River shoreline, when she instructed the then-high-rising waters to wash it away nearly six months ago. So why then has the bombastic restaurateur suggested to the Cincinnati Enquirer that the City of Covington has apparently come "down with amnesia", and has not made a single offer to keep the 25-year old floating restaurant?

Ruby told the Cincinnati Enquirer's Mike Rutledge: "I'm disappointed in Covington. I spent 25 years in Covington, and not Newport, and I thought Covington would respect that."

Cincinnati Enquirer: Ruby May Try To Move Waterfront To Newport

But if talk of non-egagement surprised Covington's leaders, talk of engagement has also surprised their counterparts in Newport, where Ruby now says he is interested in taking The Waterfront.

"We're always interested in new businesses in the city, but I wouldn't do anything to sabotage or to harm a neighboring city - I just wouldn't do it," Newport City Manager Tom Fromme told Rutledge, adding in the article that no one from the City of Newport has spoken to Ruby or his alleged co-conspirators at Newport-On-The-Levee.

"I believe we have extended every courtesy possible to Mr. Ruby," Covington City Commissioner Shawn Masters tells The River City News. "I certainly do not want to see Covington lose The Waterfront, but at the same time we must be prudent in investing in the overall riverfront, not just one establishment."

Covington Commissioner Steve Frank took to Facebook to write, "The question on any investment is one of payback. At $2 million, what rate of return would the city have to reap each year to justify the expense," in regards to the amount of money necessary to stablize and improve a location for The Waterfront. Frank also noted that the City collects $50,000 in rent in addition to payroll taxes.

The Cincinnati Enquirer article explains that $2 million figure was the conclusion of a federally-funded study that explored the relocation of The Waterfront to Covington Landing. The Waterfront wanted direct pedestrian access to its first floor instead of the second. Klein tells the Cincinnati Enquirer that the price was too high for the city, in the mindst of budget cuts and layoffs.

The money quote from Klein to the Enquirer:

"(Ruby) and the city have never arrived at a single concept of whether he wanted to be on the land or be in the water. They kept going back and forth. And I don't think we could accomodate his timeline, either. I think he wanted to be able to open his doors as soon as possible and you don't implement a $2.5 million plan overnight."

So is Jeff Ruby lying? He says Covington officials did not engage, when clearly that is not the case. Ruby says Newport is interested, only no one at Newport City Hall has any record of that.

The fact is, Mother Nature has spoken and so has Jeff Ruby. And only one of them appears to be speaking the truth.