COASTing Over The Line

Sep 11, 2011 by

(note: since the time that I originally assembled this post, COAST has apparently apologized for their “stupid” and “insensitive” tweet, but have stuck to their guns on their lies regarding the funding, without citing evidence, of course. Vice Mayor Qualls reiterates (again) that the money has all come out of the Capital Improvements budget. Frankly, the apology doesn’t really change my take on things)

Update 14 Sept: Mark Miller has essentially admitted that his tweets were misleading in an interview with Channel 12. “Yea, they can’t take fire department salaries and go out and buy rails with it. I admit that. That’s exactly right, but that’s not what they’re doing. They’re taking money that should be spent on salaries and buying a study.” That’s not what you’ve been saying though, Mark. Hat tip to 5chw4r7z for pointing this out.

 

I’ve seen my share of offensive things on Twitter. It’s likely that I’ve posted a few things myself that people found distasteful. That being said, yesterday I saw something that seriously boiled my blood. Honestly, I waffled on writing about it at all. I’d hate to contribute to getting them any publicity, but I think it’s important for everyone to see exactly what lengths COAST will go to in their attempt to win fraudulently sway hearts and minds to their side.

I understand that the streetcar is a contentious issue. I happen to support it, but I’ll also be the first to admit that it’s possible for a rational person to oppose the idea, and that’s fine. That’s what debates and public forums are for. However, COAST has dedicated itself to flat-out spreading lies regarding how the project has been funded up to this point. Funds for construction come of out of a fund that cannot legally be used to to fund firefighting (or police, etc and so on). Fire companies are not being browned-out to support streetcar construction. It’s simply not true. This is, quite simply, a step too far in the debate (if it even continues to be a “debate” once you’ve lied as much as these guys have). Having an opinion and spreading lies about it is one thing. Co-opting a national tragedy and diminishing it by dishonoring it’s memory through associating your lies with it is quite another.

It’ll be interesting to see if there’s any fallout for them from this, particularly among the politicians they endorse. I suppose it all depends on whether or not the media picks up on it, and I doubt that a lone Twitter shenanigan, no matter how vile, will hit the radar. If it does though, I wonder if the council-people they back will start jumping ship, or at the very least ask them to keep their endorsement to themselves. Personally, I’d have a pretty tough time voting for anyone who knowingly associated themselves with this garbage, but maybe that’s just me. I hope that it isn’t.

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The Siege of Cincinnati

Sep 8, 2011 by

The Siege of Cincinnati

I often think of myself as something of a Civil War history buff, and having lived here all my life, at least somewhat knowledgeable about the Cincinnati area. When I stumbled across this article from the Enquirer, I was actually kind of embarrassed at my complete lack of familiarity with the subject matter. I was aware that there had been gun emplacements built in Mt. Adams and Devou Park, but I hadn’t realized they’d come so close to being used.

We’re coming up on the anniversary (September 10th) of what historians refer to as the “Siege of Cincinnati”. Cincinnati was a vital river port for the union, and as such, was a fairly juicy military target. There were some very basic defenses built from the beginning of the war, but construction moved slowly. After the Confederacy invaded Kentucky in 1862, and the threat of an attack on Cincinnati became more realistic, construction was accelerated. Many trenches and gun batteries were completed in a matter of days outside of Covington and Newport, and likely just in time. In September of 1862, 6,000 confederate troops marched north from Lexington and made camp near what is today the intersection of  Turkeyfoot Road and Dixie Highway.

The “siege” didn’t really wind up being much of a siege at all. Confederate troops only stayed long enough to realize that they were up against roughly 72,000 (very recently arrived) defenders and 15 guns dug into the hastily built batteries. There was a minor conflict between Confederate scouts and the Union pickets at Ft. Mitchel, but after that, the Confederates quickly withdrew back to Lexington. If you’re interested in the finer details of the history and the defenses, there’s a great article on them on “Our History”, a blog on Cincinnati.com. I’ve attached a Google Map with pins in the (very) rough locations of the batteries and fortifications (and a giant hat tip to Geoffrey Walden, who put this tour together. The map would not have been possible without it).

Link goes to Google Maps

There were a couple of other things that struck me upon reading about this. The first is that the subject of the original article, William Hooper (a very well-to-do private citizen), paid quite a bit for both the construction of the aforementioned fortifications and for the conversion of civilian steamboats to military use (armor, guns etc.). In the realm of things about this story that would be completely unthinkable by modern standards, that is pretty much #1. The second is that, at least according to this essay, (posted on Cincinnati Civil War Roundtable’s site), if the Confederates had arrived but four days earlier than they did, they would have found only a few hundred militia manning a number of unfinished fortifications instead of being outnumbered 10:1-ish. That could have changed the face of the war, at least for a little while. To paraphrase the same essay, it’s all academic now, but it is an interesting “what-if” none the less.

In one final note, when doing some of the digging for this post, I discovered that there’s actually a Civil War museum in Ft. Wright. The address and directions are available behind the link if you were as clueless about it as I was and have any interest in checking it out.

Image Credit: Attribution Some rights reserved by David Paul Ohmer Thanks!

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Arnold’s Ziffel by Listermann

Sep 2, 2011 by

Yesterday evening I was lucky enough (thanks to 5chw4r7z) to attend a very special beer tasting. To celebrate the premiere of Harry’s Law, a show featuring Cincinnati and, in particular, Arnold’s, Dan Listermann and Co. are brewing a smoked altbier named Arnolds Ziffel. Listermann, in addition to owning a great homebrew supply shop, bottles and sells some limited beers that they themselves brew and bottle. Folks were invited to come and try four different variations of Arnolds Ziffel to help Dan determine which was going to be the final product.

This smoked altbier was chosen to celebrate traditional brewing methods. The four variations broke down as follows: 1) two variations with 50% smoked malts / 50% unsmoked malts, each using a different yeast strain and; 2)two variations with 100% smoked malts, each using a difference yeast strain. While there aren’t a ton of variables to take into account, the difference between the four variations in terms of color, smell, and taste was huge.

Though it’s difficult to tell from the picture, the front two are the 50/50 malt blends and the back two are the variations utilizing 100% smoked malts. The 50/50 beers are paler and have a higher clarity, while having a fruitier, sweeter smell and taste. The 100% smoked malt beers are much darker and cloudier, with a stronger smoke smell and a robustness that isn’t found in the other two.

In my opinion, these two were clearly superior not only in taste and smell (though they weren’t as pretty), but they hit the mark with what Dan was trying to do in putting them together. I probably should have prefaced all of this by noting that I’m not a big drinker of alts (let alone smoked alts), but having him explain to us what he was aiming for in brewing this helped making judging this much easier. Almost all of us agreed on which was the most appropriate variation to move forward with, so I’m sure that made Dan’s life easier. I’m not going to tell you which one it was; you’ll just have to get over there on September 21 and try it for yourself.

By all means, don’t wait until the 21st to get over there and have a drink, though. Arnold’s is busy slinging delicious drinks and grub every day of the week except Sunday. While you’re at it, give Listermann some business too. Whether you just want to pick up a few of their beers, replenish your depleted homebrew supplies, or start new altogether, they can help you out. Both of these businesses care about beer and about Cincinnati. That’s as good a reason I’ve heard to support a business.

Prost!

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The #HatsOffCIN campaign

Aug 30, 2011 by

If you are a Cincinnatian and active on Twitter, chances are you have seen “#hatsoffcin” in tweets and wondered what it meant. This hash tag is typically found in a tweet about the Cincinnati Reds and yes it is baseball related. Head & Shoulders and Major League Baseball have teamed up for this promotion that benefits youth baseball. The team with the most #hatsoff tweets will get a $50,000 donation for the RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) program in their city. The contest ends at Midnight on Wednesday August 31. Currently it’s a two team race between the Reds and San Francisco Giants, with the Reds in the lead (as of Sunday, standings have Reds up by 2,000+). Youth baseball is a huge part of this city and the RBI program could certainly use the $50,000. If you are on Twitter please use the #HatsOffCIN tag and help keep Cincinnati in first place!

*Update* As of Wednesday morning San Francisco has taken the lead by about 400 points. Today is the last day of the contest so make sure the use the #HatsOffCIN hash tag in your tweets!

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Hofbrauhaus Newport’s Comedy of Errors

Aug 29, 2011 by

Hofbrauhaus Newport’s Comedy of Errors

If you’ve ever been here on a Friday or Saturday night, it’s very possible that you saw this coming down the pipe. The Enquirer and Fox 19 are reporting that the Kentucky Alcoholic Beverage Control Board has issued a judgment (full text here) against Hofbrauhaus Newport for operating a disorderly premise. Indeed, the judgment itself outlines no less than 10 incidents of violence, 8 of them based apparently overzealous bouncers assaulting or otherwise mistreating customers (the highlight of the bunch is “[Patron X] was assaulted and struck in the head with a spring-loaded baton by Hofbrauhaus security employee [Y] after being escorted off the premises..” ). The penalty that they’ve levied is pretty steep; Hofbrauhaus has been slapped a with a 50 day ‘suspension’ of it’s licenses to sell and brew beer. They can pay to get out of the first 25 days for $1250, and the last 25 are essentially forgiven provided they don’t violate any the of the regulations that they were found to have broken at any point over the next two years.

For it’s part, Hofbrauhaus has argued that it was just trying to prevent beer stein theft (they claim to be losing them at a rate of 150-200 per week). They’ve also posted a letter on their Facebook page saying that it disagreed with the findings and are “in the process of evaluating an appropriate response”. They also note that they could potentially appeal the decision in a court of law.

I’m sure that I’m not the first to say it, but Hofbrauhaus is almost catching a lucky break if half of the things in that report are accurate. I’ve worked as a bouncer in Ohio, and while I’m not sure that the laws are the same, I’d be willing to bet that they are pretty similar. What we were always taught is that the only time that physical contact is considered legally acceptable is when a patron poses a threat to the safety of other customers or employees (read: creates a liability issue for the establishment). This report reads like these bouncers were told that they were allowed to physically shake down anyone that didn’t consent to a personal search upon leaving the building. Now, to their credit, Hofbrauhaus has always had signs posted indicating that your bags were subject to a search upon leaving, and I think most reasonable people would consent to that with no issue anyways, but wrestling a guy to the ground when he refuses to let you search his wife is terrible business policy, particularly when the guy that your (felon) bouncer almost choked out was a lawyer. The report does indicate that they have now changed this policy, but how it went on for so long is beyond me.

The real kicker from an industry point-of-view here is that Hofbrauhaus admits in the report that the vast majority of the issues that they’ve had are due to over-serving customers, and again, if you’ve spent any time at all there, it’d be hard to debate that. Giant steins of potent beer combined with people that are accustomed to drinking 12oz cans of Bud Light will cause problems every time. Herein lies their problem; serving alcohol to someone that is intoxicated is technically illegal. It’s not easy to prove, and it’s almost never enforced save for issues such as this, but now the proverbial spotlight is on them, and the Kentucky ordinances against a disorderly establishment and over-serving (respectively) are the two code violations that will cause them to have to re-appear before the board with their license on the line. Will Hofbrauhaus cut into it’s revenue stream and start cutting people off more frequently? Perhaps, but that’s such a double-edged sword in terms of customer retention vs. legal standing that I have my doubts. No one wants to become the bar that cuts you off after two beers, even if they were served in giant steins. That’s the kind of bar that their primary weekend demographic avoids.

I don’t have anything against Hofbrauhaus. I’ve spent plenty of time as a patron there. I’m not a huge fan of the atmosphere when it’s busy, but the food is good and the beer is pretty top notch, at least to my untrained palate. I really would hate to see the place close down for almost two months, as I imagine that’d be a death knell, or at the very least seriously harm their viability as a business. However, it’s pretty hard to fathom how management let what has obviously been happening there go on for so long, and old habits die hard, especially in the bar business. Now whether the board would actually shut them down or simply continue to slap them with fines is another question entirely. We’re not exactly in an economy where the government closing down a business, even an unruly one, is likely to be smiled upon by many voters. However it plays out, I’d wager that we’ve not heard the last of the incident.

Image Credit: TheRealEdwin on Flickr under Creative Commons. Thanks!

 

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Loki Presents: Live Webcast of Rising Tide 6

Aug 27, 2011 by

Loki Presents: Live Webcast of Rising Tide 6

Every year at this time I return home to New Orleans over the anniversary of the levee failure that most people attribute to Hurricane Katrina. One of the biggest reasons I do so is because I am one of the organizers for the Rising Tide Conference. Started by our local bloggers and premiering the first anniversary of the disaster, this is a bloggers conference that is not only for bloggers. Just take a look at the lineup below the webcast embed. From Dave Simon, who most of you know through The Wire or Treme, to this year’s debut of Rising Tide’s Tech School there is a lot here for everyone.

I know this is not Cincy related, but since I live here now and it’s an important part of my story I’m sharing it here. Enjoy the webcast and please leave comments below if you have any questions. (Click the read more link to go to the webcast itself. It is contained within the post and does need need any external players or apps.)

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:
David Simon, creator and executive producer of HBO’s New Orleans drama Treme. He is a former journalist for the Baltimore Sun and writer and producer of acclaimed programs such as The Corner, The Wire and Generation Kill.

Richard Campanella, professor at Tulane University, geographer, and author of six critically acclaimed books on the physical and human geography of New Orleans: Bienville’s Dilemma,Geographies of New Orleans, Lincoln in New Orleans, New Orleans Then and Now, Delta Urbanism, andTime and Place in New Orleans.

PANEL PRESENTATIONS:
Social Media, Social Justice – Cherri Foytlin, contributor to the Bridge the Gulf project; Jimmy Huck, Jr., Executive Committee member of Tulane University’s Center for Public Service; Jordan Flaherty, author of Floodlines: Community and Resistance from Katrina to the Jena Six; Stephen Ostertag, creator of PublicSphereNOLA; and moderated by Bart Everson from Xavier’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching.

Louisiana’s Coastal Health –Moderated by Alex Woodward, writer for Gambit,  panelists include Len Bahr, founding editor of LACoastPost; David Hammer, contributing writer for the New Orleans Times-Picayune; Ann Rolfes, founding director of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade; Drake Toulouse, blogger atDisenfranchised Citizen; and Bob Marshall, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist for the Times-Picayune.

New Orleans Food Writing - Guests Peter Thriffley and Rene Louapre of Blackened Out and Offbeat Magazine will join Todd Price, author of A Frolic of My Own to discuss the eating out in New Orleans and writing about it, and the new generation of great online New Orleans food writers.

Brass Bands – featuring Lawrence Rawlins, band director of Roots of Music; Alejandro de los Rios, producer of the Brass Roots documentary; members of the TBC Brass Band Edward “Juicy” Jackson, Joe Maize and Sean Michael Roberts; moderated by writer Deborah Cotton; followed by a performance by the TBC Brass Band.

TECH SCHOOL:
Rising Tide is also proud to announce the addition of Tech School to this year’s lineup. Tech School will offer a second stage of panels devoted to hands-on, how-to style social media and blogging topics ranging from improving your photography, advanced WordPress techniques, the latest in web strategies and online tools. Presenters for Tech School include FSC Inter@ctive, the Louisiana Bloggers Network,Neighborland, Invade NOLA, Ben Varadi and more.
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Classical Revolution Cincinnati, Two Years Later

Aug 26, 2011 by

(Laura Sabo, clarinet and Kathleen Moniaci, bassoon)

Northside Tavern might be the best place to listen to classical music. The people there are chill, the ambience is laid back, and the acoustics aren’t that bad, really. You can also go up to the bar and order whatever’s on tap, and you don’t have to dress up to hear chamber music. In fact, you can come and go as you please.

Classical Revolution Cincinnati, our local spinoff of the movement Charith Premawardhana started five years ago, is still going strong two years later. Initially run by Vince Scacchetti, it was run by Kathleen Moniaci, Laura Sabo and Eric Damashek. However, Kathleen and Eric will be leaving town, and the previous Classical Revolution hang on August 14th was Kathleen’s last night.

Because Kathleen was leaving town the next day, the concert was a tribute of sorts to Kathleen—there were many last opportunities for Kathleen to perform her bassoon since she would not be back in Cincinnati for some time. There were bassoon duets (with Kathleen and Lauren Piccirillo, performances from two bassoon quartets, arrangements of baroque dances for bassoon and guitar (played by Kathleen and Alexander Morgan), and a few last bassoon and clarinet duets (with Kathleen and Laura Sabo).

The evening wasn’t completely filled with bassoon music: the Ohio River Brass Quartet made an appearance (minus one person), and a violinist played some solo pieces.

What I like about the come-and-jam-with-us atmosphere is that the selection of music can be quite serious but also whimsical. You can juxtapose baroque Gabrielli trios with tunes by Henry Mancini and The Beatles, and it all works.

Classical Revolutions Cincinnati will be held again the second Sunday of September at Northside Tavern.

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