NEWS ROUND-UP -- TUESDAY MORNING 17 APR

by Michael Monks 

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FACEBOOK: The River City News

@theRCnews on Twitter 

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THE RIVER CITY NEWS MORE COVINGTON NEWS THAN ANY OTHER SOURCE

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COMMISSION TO APPROVE UNION CONTRACTS TODAY

Covington's three public employees unions have offered concessions on health care benefits from the City saving approximately $10 million over the next five years. At Tuesday night's City Commission meeting, agreements with the fire and police unions are expected to be accepted unanimously while AFSCME, which represents dispatchers, public improvements workers, and clerical employees, will vote on their contract today. Also on the agenda: 

• The commission will likely pass a resolution demonstrating support for a revised Brent Spence Bridge project plan that would protect Covington's 5th Street exit among other concerns of the city in regards to the massive project
• The City of Covington will likely accept ownership of the forthcoming wayfinding kiosk in the Mainstrasse Village. The Mainstrasse Village Association offers ownership to the city as a non-cash contribution.
• The commission will likely approve a contract to reconstruct the Caroline Street underpass in Latonia at a cost of $18,500 with $11,100 of that payable from community development block grant funds and the remainder payable by Sanitation District 1

As always, The River City News will be at City Hall and will have comprehensive reports following the meeting. 

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MAN ACCUSED IN COVINGTON MURDER BELIEVES VICTIM IS ALIVE

The homeless man killed near the Covington riverbank is still alive according the man suspected in the murder: 

Why the doubt? Haun thinks the dead man has since visited him in jail.

Cincinnati Enquirer/Jim Hannah 

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NKU TO NAME CLEVELAND STATE PROVOST AS PRESIDENT TODAY

Geoffrey Mearns will be the next leader of Northern Kentucky University: 

“I think it’s very important for the president to be visible and accessible to students,” Mearns said April 10 during a visit to NKU. “I realize the bar is set pretty high here.”
Mearns, 52, will have his chance, starting Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. when NKU’s governing regents are expected to elect him as NKU’s fifth president.
The provost at Cleveland State University is expected to be on NKU’s campus here for the event. 

Cincinnati Enquirer/Cliff Peale 
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SEE ALSO: Votruba expresses support for new president Cincinnati Enquirer

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COVINGTON STREETS SLATED FOR WORK BY SANITATION DISTRICT, CITY

The following Covington streets will see work being done by Sanitation District 1 over the next four to five weeks: Center, Court, Donaldson, Heidel, Herman, Latonia, Lincoln, Madison, Martin, Robbins, Rosina, Southern, Victory, and Wright. From a press release: 

Each of these projects should only take 2-3 days to complete and will be done between the hours of 8:00 am and 4:00 pm. Prior to the work starting, SD1 staff will hang information packets on the doors of the residents that will be impacted by the project to notify them of the dates the work is planned and a summary of what work is actually being done. The streets will remain open at all times. However, there is a chance that street parking may be temporarily impacted and 1 lane of traffic may be closed in order to facilitate the work.

Meanwhile, several Covington streets will be resurfaced (this list may include streets that are already completed): 

  Street        From        To

Bluffside Dr	Crystal Lake	North End
Greenhill	cul de sac only
Crystal Lake Dr	Bluffside	SW End
Hideaway Dr	Tando	South End
Idlewood Dr	Bluffside	West End
Juarez Cir	Crystal Lake	NW End
Tripoli Ln	Hands	End
Vantage View Cir	Bluffside	South End
Vista View Cir	Bluffside	North End
Sugar Camp Rd	Fowler Creek	Greenhill
Tando Way	Juarez	Hideaway
Wheeler St	Pleasant	Byrd
Byrd St	Garrard	Maryland
Martin St	Madison	Greenup
14th St West	Neave	Madison
Neave	14th W	15th W
Oliver Street	Oakland	Wheeler
Patton St	Garrard	Nancy
19th St East	Scott	Greenup
Police Memorial	Madison	Donaldson
Donaldson	Police Memorial	24th W
24th St West	Madison	West End
Augustine	19th	21st W
23rd St West	Busse	Herman
Warren St	23rd W	Bend
Dakota	Madison	28th St
Rosina Ave	Southern	Madison
Herman	23rd W	Megerle
25th	Herman	Warren
Megerle Court	Warren	Herman
Muse	West End	East End
Phelps	Welsh	Benton
Todd	Muse	Welsh
Welsh	Todd	Cul-de-Sac

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I-75 NORTHBOUND EXIT AT 5TH STREET TO BE CLOSED WEDNESDAY

The City of Covington offers this reminder: 

Wednesday, April 18 from 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM, the exit ramp to 5th Street will be closed for a maintenance project. Traffic should take 12th/MLK Blvd exit and take Main Street as a detour. 

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MAYOR SCHEPER TO ADDRESS LATONIA BUSINESS ASSOCIATION WEDNESDAY

Fresh off headlines from two important achievements on his ten-point plan, Covington Mayor Chuck Scheper will address the Latonia Business Association Wednesday afternoon. Last Friday, Scheper announced that agreements were reached between the City of Covington and its three public employees unions which followed news from a week before that Covington was eliminating its 911 emergency dispatch services and that the County would be taking over. 

The LBA luncheon is Wednesday from 11:30AM-1:00PM at Twin Oaks golf course. The buffet lunch is $11. 

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HELP SUPPORT COVINGTON'S GREAT AMERICAN CLEAN-UP EFFORTS

Keep Covington Beautiful has scheduled some significant clean-up efforts for Saturday as part of the Great American Clean-Up. However, the group is roughly $2,000 shy of the funds it needs to accomplish all of its goals. Wednesday at Pike Street Lounge, a "cash mob" is scheduled where 20% of all sales will go towards filling the gap. Stop down and have a few drinks (coffee or cocktails) and help support this important cause. 

Click image to enlarge

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EIGHT FROM COVINGTON ELECTED TO KENTON CO DEMOCRAT LEADERSHIP

The Kenton County Democrats elected its new executive board at its county convention last weekend. From Covington: Kerry Holleran (Secretary), Terry Poindexter (Treasurer), Chas Brannen, Linda Cobbs-Banks, Linda Hornsby, Katie Meyer, Michelle Williams, and Paul Witte. 

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For the full list and other details, click here.

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QUICKIES

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Deadline for filing taxes is today Cincinnati Enquirer 

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Bromley sewer solution sought Cincinnati Enquirer 

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In Frankfort, lawmakers join blame game at return for special session WAVE 

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Keeneland reduces stake in Turfway Park Courier-Journal 

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DERBY & OAKS CONTENDERS ARRIVE AT CHURCHILL DOWNS

Bodemeister, winner of the Arkansas Derby

SEE MORE: Kentucky Derby @ Facebook 

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SEE ALSO: Union Rags replaces Hansen as Derby favorite Mercury News 

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THE RIVER CITY NEWS MORE COVINGTON NEWS THAN ANY OTHER SOURCE

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MONDAY EVENING HEADLINES

Woman convicted of Covington murder up for parole; NKU to announce new President Tuesday; Plus, "He's not a beekeeper, he's a bee supply salesman!" -- How even the hiring of a state apiarist is full of drama in Kentucky. Click it. 

The RC News: Monday Evening Round-Up 

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GLARING TYPOS ON PLAQUE HONORING UK'S BASKETBALL TITLE

An embarrassment in Pikeville: 

An excited rush to present Kentucky Coach John Calipari with a ceremonial key to the city Thursday led Pikeville officials to unwittingly give him a plaque that contained two typographical errors. These mistakes gave detractors a chance to use ugly stereotypes of Kentuckians in reactions posted on the Internet.
Pikeville city manager Donovan Blackburn said Monday that the obviousness of the mistakes showed their innocent nature.
"To misspell the word 'the' is not done out of a sense of ignorance," he said. "It's done out of a sense of a mistake." 

Herald-Leader/Jerry Tipton 
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SEE ALSO: First UK basketball player to have his jersey retired, dies at 93 Herald-Leader

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/04/16/2153635/rush-led-to-typos-on-uk-basketball.html#storylink=rss?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed#storylink=cpy

A BRIDGE TOO FAR: COVINGTON FIGHTS FOR EXITS

by Michael Monks 

Email Michael

FACEBOOK: The River City News

@theRCnews on Twitter 

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THE RIVER CITY NEWS MORE COVINGTON NEWS THAN ANY OTHER SOURCE

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"This is by far the most important meeting in Covington about the Brent Spence Bridge in several years," said City Manager Larry Klein at the start of a packed public meeting inside City Hall. Covington's elected leaders and administrators hoped to create a unified message from Northern Kentucky's largest city as the region embarks on one of the biggest infrastructure project in its history, a new bridge between Cincinnati and Covington that may eliminate an important exit ramp to the Kentucky riverfront. 

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Fifty percent of the traffic that comes into Covington from northbound Interstate 75 does so at the 5th Street exit which would disappear under the plan recommended by transportation departments from Ohio and Kentucky. Instead, northbound drivers would exit at 12th Street and then use a collector road to get to 5th. Heading south from Cincinnati the issue is of even more concern to Covington as drivers would have to begin to exit near the Museum Center in preparation for an exit at 5th Street in Kentucky. 

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The loss of an exit ramp, while possibly the most significant, is not the only trouble facing Covington as the bridge project moves forward. Important access to Devou Park would be compromised, Goebel Park would lose its basketball court and possibly its swimming pool, and the Lewisburg neighborhood could yet again be gutted in the name of interstate progress. "When the original highway went in it cut Lewisburg off from the rest of the city and this new development only makes that void worse," said Beth Johnson, Covington's historic preservation officer.

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HERE IS A LOOK AT THE ISSUES AND PROPOSED SOLUTIONS:

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ACCESS TO DOWNTOWN COVINGTON

Covington wants to ensure that a collector road is guaranteed on the northbound side of the interstate at the 12th Street exit so that traffic can continue on to 5th Street. Also, it wants amplified access to the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge so that traffic can be mitigated during afternoon rush hour traffic on 4th Street allowing drivers to choose the Clay Wade Bailey to access the interstate in Cincinnati. Additionally, Covington's leaders want a direct ramp from I-75 to 9th Street.

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LEWISBURG

Twenty-three properties will be completely removed while twenty properties will be partially affected. Most of the homes being removed are on Crescent Street which would no longer be a through-street and would have double cul-de-sacs. The homes to be removed are indicated in red in these photos:

Suggestions by the city include demolishing noncontributing buildings, emphasizing a facade grant program for the neighborhood since it is an under appreciated gateway into the city, and also the creation of a Charles Zimmer Memorial Path that would be pedestrian and bike oriented in honor of the former hardware store owner who was dubbed Mr. Lewisburg in his day.

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DEVOU PARK

Access to Devou Park from Lewis Street would be closed creating more traffic on Baker Street according to the city which also said the street is not designed or equipped for through traffic. The proposed solution by city staff is to make Monatgue a two-way street with an off-street parking option. 

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GOEBEL PARK

Suggestions for a revamped Goebel Park include a new pool and pool house, a "sprayground", a fruit and vegetable garden, a pond, and new parking. Check out the photo for details: 

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There are two public meetings scheduled on both sides of the river in a couple weeks: Tuesday April 24 at Longworth Hall and Wednesday April 25 at the NKY Convention Center (parking is free that inside the RiverCenter garage). Both meetings are from 5:00 to 8:00PM. The focus of the presentations will be the recommended plan but Covington's alternate suggestions will be display with a "not recommended" label. The public will be able to submit comments through a court reporter who will be present at both meetings.