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by Michael Monks
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BUSY, IMPORTANT CITY COMMISSION MEETING ON TUESDAY
Another part of the Center City Action Plan will be presented with a focus on improving the City's retail situation; Six to retire from Covington Fire Dept and one from the Police Dept; The City sells 3 homes for a buck and may now share more than $120,000 (in federal funding) for their rehab; Plus, new light fixtures possible for Mainstrasse and Riverside Drive. Details at the link.|
HELP REBUILD THE SIXTH DISTRICT PLAYGROUND TODAY
The community needs you Saturday as Sixth District School and its partners (such as Gateway College) begin the work of rebuilding its playground that was scorched on June 24. Everyone can give something: time, ideas, resources, and money. To raise some cash, there will be an event at the school (1901 Maryland Ave in Austinburg) on Saturday from 11:00AM - 2:00PM. Some ways money will be raised: City Commissioner Steve Casper and Covington Independent Public Schools Superintendent Lynda Jackson will be in a dunking booth and for two bucks you can take a few shots at them. You can adopt a plant for $2, $5, or $10. Volunteers from Seven Hills Church will be there to help sand the area around what is left of the playground equipment. By the way, Lowe's will match what is raised up to $5,000. Get down there and help out!
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DON'T MISS FRIDAY'S NEWS & THE WEEKEND PREVIEW
"The one big loser in the prohibition of cannabis has been the truth," writes a KY veteran; Plus, a look ahead to a busy, active weekend. Click it.|
QUICKIES
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Man pleads guilty in Kenton Co to attempting to meet teen girl for sex Cincinnati Enquirer
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Kentucky man indicted on child porn charges press release
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The vehicle of Fugitive ex-Army Ranger that fled his rape trial is found in Georgetown WKYT
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RELATED: Rape victim unable to move on with life while accused rapist is still on the loose Herald-Leader
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Kentucky switching to one drug for executions Herald-Leader
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Delta flight makes emergency landing in Louisville Courier-Journal
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Covington program teaches teens about jobs Cincinnati Enquirer
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PHOTOS: Wounded Kentucky soldier welcomed home Herald-Leader
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Tax reform to get public hearing in NKY Cincinnati Enquirer
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KY League of Cities bond program updated WTVQ
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Kentucky One gets nearly $700,000 from Catholic Health for health services in the Commonwealth WAVE
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KY represented in national education publication WFPL
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Governor Steve Beshear talks about his trip to Asia YouTube
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Popular Democrat Crit Luallen still mulling a run for Governor in 2015 cn|2
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Belmont winner Union Rags retired after season-ending injury Courier-Journal
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WHY US CITIES ARE GOING BANKRUPT
CNN's Fareed Zakaria offers his analysis:
The truth is America is sacrificing its future to pay for its past. To keep up with burgeoning pensions, states and cities are slashing services. It's also feeding into the unemployment problem. State and local governments have 445,000 fewer workers today than in 2007. Even if you exclude teachers from that number, we have 231,000 fewer workers.CNN
For decades now, local governments have doled out patronage by increasing pension benefits – these costs impact the budget years later, when the officials who gave the benefits are safely retired themselves. We're now having to reckon with those choices.
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JOHNSON & JOHNSON TO SETTLE KICKBACK SCHEME WITH OMNICARE
The formerly Covington-based health care behemoth Omnicare isn't the only shady business in America and teamed up with other shady businesses that are now paying for that partnership:
Johnson & Johnson will likely pay as much as $2.2 billion to settle claims that it promoted the antipsychotic medication Risperdal for unapproved uses, the Wall Street Journal reported. The settlement would also resolve an investigation into whether New Brunswick, N.J.-based J&J paid kickbacks to Covington-based (NYSE: OCR) Omnicare Inc.Business Courier/James Ritchie
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DOES RAISING TAXES ON THE RICH HURT SMALL BUSINESSES?
There is very little evidence to support that oft-cited claim:
“The arguments against allowing the high-end tax cuts to expire on schedule echo those made against President Clinton’s proposed 1993 tax increases, which set marginal rates at the levels to which they are set to return when the Bush rate cuts expire. Critics claimed at the time that those tax increases would seriously harm economic growth and even send the economy back into recession. As it turned out, job creation and economic growth proved significantly stronger following the 1993 tax increases than following the 2001 Bush tax cuts. Further, small businesses generated jobs at twice the rate during the Clinton years than they did under the Bush tax code.”Full story: Washington Post
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FED RESERVE OFFICIAL SAYS CINCI/NKY GROWTH IS OUTPACING NATION
WNKU's report from the Covington Business Council's monthly luncheon:
(Thursday), Dr. LaVaughn Henry, who runs the Cincinnati branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, spoke about the economy at a meeting of the Covington Business Council. After his address, he talked with WNKU's Steve Hirschberg. Henry says the Cincinnati regional economy is doing better than the nation as a whole in recovering from the Great Recession.Listen to why: WNKU
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COVINGTON URBAN PARTNERSHIP SCORES $20,000 GRANT
From the Covington Business Council Foundation/Urban Partnership:
The Covington Business Council Foundation, on behalf of the Urban Partnership of Covington (UP), has received a $20,000 grant from The Greater Cincinnati Foundation (GCF) to fund UP’s pilot clean and safe program which resulted in the removal of more than 40 tons of litter and the elimination of more than 700 instances of graffiti in the program’s first 15 months of operation.
The program is a demonstration project. UP leaders and fellow property owners later this year plan to petition fellow land owners to agree to be assessed on the value, square footage and frontage of their properties. In addition to economic development and beautification services, the funds from the assessment would also pay for enhanced maintenance which is exactly the work done in the pilot program. UP has raised over $200,000 from individuals and charitable foundations in the past year to fund the effort.
Partnership Executive Director Pat Frew says the donation is greatly appreciated. “To have a leading philanthropic organization in our community like the Greater Cincinnati Foundation validate our work with such a generous gift, it encourages our stakeholders and strengthens our resolve that our work is helping to, if not save Covington, certainly re-make it an attractive destination for businesses and residents.”
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ARTS COUNCIL PROFILES CITY'S DESIGNATION AS CULTURAL DISTRICT
Earlier this year Covington joined Berea, Danville, Horse Cave, and Paducah as Kentucky's first designated cultural districts:
By definition, a cultural district is a well-recognized, labeled, mixed-use area of a community – whether small and rural or large and urban – with myriad cultural amenities. Some 100-plus U.S. cities have planned or started cultural districts, using arts and culture to spawn revitalization efforts. Funded by the Kentucky General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts, the KAC developed the Kentucky Cultural District Certification Program to encourage communities to form partnerships that link culture with economic development.Read about the other cities, too: The Lane Report.
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Another river city rife with artsy venues, Covington also boasts a redeveloped waterfront with floodwall murals. Its cultural attractions embrace its German heritage (MainStrasse Village), religious roots (the splendid Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption), architecture (Roebling Suspension Bridge), history (James A. Ramage Civil War Museum) and arts (Carnegie Visual and Performing Arts Center).
Like the other four Cultural District cities, Covington had city leaders that recognized the community’s arts and cultural assets as economic boosters early on.
“We were ready when the Cultural District program came along,” said Natalie Bowers, art director for the City of Covington. “Essentially, it gave our cultural entities a platform to all work together. All we had to do was fill in the paperwork.”
Having that designation speaks to the city’s quality of life, adding to its marketability for business and tourism, said Barbara Dozier, vice-president of sales and marketing for the Northern Kentucky Convention and Visitors Bureau.
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WOULD YOU SWIM IN THE OHIO RIVER?
It appears that more people are:
Jonathan Grinder got some strange looks a few years back when he started pitching the idea of a race for swimmers across the Ohio River. He was relatively new in town and figured people here would jump at the chance to dive into the region’s greatest natural resource. Anyone can swim in a pool, he told friends. This would be something special. The response he heard most often: “You’re nuts.”Read it: Cincinnati Enquirer/Dan Horn
“People kept saying, ‘No, no, no, you can’t do this,’ ” Grinder recalled. “There’s this perception that the river is dangerous and unhealthy to swim in.” Grinder was undaunted.
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MORE QUICKIES
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Kentucky assault victim's Twitter account may land her in jail Courier-Journal
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Children at a daycare are found unattended in a hot attic with 102-degree temperature WKYT
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EDITORIAL: RICHMOND SHOULD STAND FOR FAIRNESS (LIKE COVINGTON)
An editorial from the Herald-Leader:
But efforts to extend civil rights protections in Kentucky to include sexual orientation and gender identity have not succeeded. So, Kentucky is left with a patchwork.Full editorial: Herald-Leader
That's why a lesbian couple kissing in a park would be protected under the law in Lexington, Louisville and Covington but had no recourse last week in Richmond when they were kicked out of the park.
And that's why Richmond should move quickly to pass a fairness ordinance and extend basic rights to gay, lesbian and transgendered people.
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TV star Meredith Baxter talks to The River City News publisher
The first-ever CNKY Scene GLBT Film Festival kicks is this weekend in Cincinnati with several great films lined up for presentation. The special guest is Mereditch Baxter who you may remember as the mom on TV's Family Ties and who narrates a documentary being shown at the festival about a raid on a gay bar in Fort Worth, Texas. On Saturday, Baxter will be at the festival for a question and answer session following the film and I am thrilled to have been asked to moderate the discussion. Catch us at Know Theatre on Jackson Street on Over-the-Rhine starting at 6:00PM. -Michael Monks
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WAS CINCINNATI'S BUNBURY MUSIC FEST TOO WHITE?
That's what a CityBeat reporter says of the first-time festival, which was a smashing success in drawing thousands to Downtown Cincinnati:
Seeing clips of and reading band line-ups for the Bunbury Music Festival reminded me of what a large-scale white boys’ club Cincinnati is when it comes to live music.Read it all, and then read the comments (if you dare): City Beat/Kathy Y. Wilson
A real shame in a city that’s given the world funk, jazz, hip hop and gospel, all indie music because none of it’s country or crossover rap.
Believe me, I do understand the economics of segregation, unintentional or otherwise. But well-intended segregation does not make it any less glaring or annoying.
You’d think music — that so-called “universal language” — could be the adhesive every once in awhile to bind us.
Oh, that’s right, The World Choir Games. But I digress.
Bunbury founder and organizer Bill Donabedian is in fact a great idea man. I wrote a short profile of him a few years back when he was the managing director of the 3CDC-controlled Fountain Square and he programmed and booked events for the city’s living room, wrestling control from all the freaks and bigots who’d only had to get a temporary permit to spout vitriol or erect a cross.
And the square did come alive under Donabedian’s management.
But Bunbury is Donabedian’s bigger, wetter dream of bringing to Cincinnati “its own Lollapalooza” as he put it, an idea so derivative and regressive, Donabedian paid homage to Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell by paying him and his band Jane’s Addiction to headline Bunbury’s opening night.
How incestuously 1990s of him.
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NKU FEATURED IN NEW YORK TIMES
More applause for UpTech, the small business incubator at Northern Kentucky University, even if it goes without a direct mention and even if the mention overall is only fleeting:
Even nontechie campuses like Northern Kentucky University, Duke and Syracuse have jumped in the pool, recently adding or planning to add start-up incubators.NKU was just mentioned in The New York Times in a sentence that included Syracuse and Duke. I hope that means the value of my degree just went up. I've always referred to NKU as The Harvard of Campbell County. Guess I was right!
The New York Times
