The Nati

I sat directly in front of Steve Reece at the candidates forum. He did the thing that I hate more than anything in public. He has no idea how to use a cell phone. First, apparently he either doesn't know how to turn the ringer off on his phone (or it's time for Mr. Reece to get a new phone that has a silent option). The phone rang 3 times during the meeting! I mean come on, your daugther is conducting just her second public appearance as a mayoral candidate, set the phone aside for an hour. But worse than the ring, he actually answered the phone sitting in his chair. He didn't get up and go in the hall, he sat in his chair and talked on the phone as if there was nothing else going on...

Very annoying!

Attended the Forum on Thursday. Was pretty tame and laid back. I enjoyed David Pepper's opening statement, it had more energy and enthusiasm for the city than Reece or Mallory. I would have liked to see a bit more details from all. The closest thing to a detailed plan came from Mallory, who tried to explain his plan for the city to take more control of the Public Schools. I'd still liketo know a little more about that and the pros/cons. Overall Mallory was pretty boring, his opening statement was horrible, detailing ever campaign and office he'd ever run for (I assume that's to try to make his constituents more aware of who he is, which is a bad starting point).

Reece was a little better than I expected, and I have to admit her plan to ban smoking is very attractive to me, so I am partial to that. But most of her other ideas seemed to be disconnected, and seemed to be a lot of more of the same of what we've seen from the city in the last three years (and what I've come to expect from the democratic party)... which is very few ideas, but lots of criticism for the work that others have done (Convergys, Saks, etc). I just think that's the wrong way to govern and lead. You work your ass off behind the scenes to stop something you don't believe in, but in order to make things happen in the future you temper your criticism in public.

David I think did a nice job at being honest about things he supports and things he doesn't (without bashing the things he doesn't).

Alejandro Escovedo collapsed after a show in April of 2003. Hepatitis C had taken it's toll on the musician, sending back to his home in Texas to recover. He spent over a year of his life recovering, but the loss of income from playing music, combined with the medical bills was devastating. Being an independent musician Alejandro had no medical insurance. Friends and fans came together to create the Alejandro Fund to help pay his bills. Now that he is healthy (or at least healthier), the Alejandro Fund is still kicking, but is used to support other musicians in getting Medical Insurance.

Alejandro was once a relentless touring musician, frequently spending more than 5 months on the road at a time, playing to audiences ranging from 12 to 1200. Since his illness this life is no longer possible. He tours about one weekend a month. What this means is much less frequent visits by this amazing musician. The Southgate House is bringing him to town on June 2nd, and you better take the chance to see him. There is no telling how long it will be before he returns!

Would be great to see NKU move to Division I in sports, and I am guessing it's pretty much a given with their newly funded 8,000 seat arena set for construction this year to be finished in aroun 2008/2009. Would be a great addition to the tri-state's rich basketball tradition: XU, UC, UK, Miami....

Great news for the Cincinnati Millworks development at the old GM plant. Jungle Jim's is ready to sign on the dotted line and make it's first expansion outside of it's site in Fairfield. That's the kind of unique development I like to see, not your standard Target/Wal-mart, but a genuinely unique Cincinnati Store...

While you're pulling together the financing for the Reds, you might also want to buy Comair, so you can fly in prospective players and fans from other cities.

The 51% Ownership Group is looking to sell their stake. Uncle Carl will retain his ownership (and presumably continue on as CEO of the Reds), but you can get your piece. I'm guessing all you'd need is about a Billion in assets with a couple hundred million in liquid assets...

I'll think about making my bid...how about you?

The Wall St. Journal has a recent article on charity giving by Young Professionals. It applies to the recent post I made on the focus of the UW's Young Leader Society program. That program is focused on very significant giving. The fact of the matter is, very few young professionals can afford that kind of donation. (not only can they not afford it, but many don't itemize, so they don't get the same tax benefit as the older generation).

This article is right on. While giving is a good thing to get used to, and you should start early in your career (just like your 401(k)). There are things that take precendence, like rent, eating and setting yourself up for retirement. In the meantime you can focus giving on time (volunteering), and maximizing the contribution that you can afford. Finding specific causes that are dear to your heart, and focusing your volunteer and financial efforts towards that. Finding ways to help lead organizations (board positions, committees, etc). Give Back Cincinnati is built on this model. Very little financial contribution, but making efforts through volunteering that will build connection to the community and when you're ready financially to give, you'll have that connection to organizations that you care about.

Enquirer: Doom and Gloom; Cincy Post: Optimism and Joy

It's just funny... both articles are pretty much about the same thing. Brent Spence Bridge money to study and build a new bridge is not in the Federal Transportation bill. But the Post focuses on small wins (couple million here and there), and the Enquirer focuses on the current negitive side of things. It appears to me, that it's working through the process, and when complete, money for the bridge will be there.

Bill Gates has a great editorial in last week's LA Times. (Dave over at Radio Free Newport comments on the article as well). It's a great article on the fact that our schools are dinosaurs, and need to be revamped. They need to focus on preparing every student for college (even if every student is going to go to college). They should have that chance.

I love the idea of looking at schools with real data, and having an action plan in place to address those that are failing. Maybe it's me, but the comment below sounds a lot like 'No Child Left Behind':

"Second, publish the data that measure our progress toward that goal. We already have some data that show us the extent of the problem. But we need to know more: What percentage of students are dropping out? What percentage are graduating? And this data must be broken down by race and income.

Finally, every state should commit to turning around failing schools and opening new ones. When the students don't learn, the school must change. Every state needs a strong intervention strategy to improve struggling schools."

Although I like what Bill has to say, this comment seems funny to me coming from a guy who dropped out of college:

"The idea behind the old high school system was that you could train an adequate workforce by sending only a small fraction of students to college, and that the other kids either couldn't do college work or didn't need to."

Pretty low on details, but Covington has a vision to make Locust St, and Pike St an arts district. They are openly calling for artists to move into the area, but there are no details on how they intend to help artists buy/renovate properties. Not sure if this is pure marketing or if there is anything behind it. Already there has been one building renovated on Pike St, and last month the city bought a former paint factory in hopes of selling to a developer.

Charles Attal who I recently talked about buying the Madison Theater also comments on his commitment to redeveloping the area. Stay tuned for more details.