First Contact, Cincy Style?

Feb 2, 2012 by Ben Sherman

I’ve said previously that I love learning new things about this city. I was born and raised here, so I always feel like there isn’t ton that I wouldn’t have heard or seen before. I’ve been humbled once again, though; this time by Citybeat with this piece on a rash of UFO sightings in the Queen City and all through southwest Ohio in October, 1973. They apparently caused quite a stir and got a fair bit of press:

The Cincinnati police told The Cincinnati Post their phones were “ringing off the hook” nightly about those strange bright lights in the sky. Cincinnati Police said “a mess” of frightened callers saw something just above the tree-tops around Mount Washington, Bond Hill and 14th and Vine, and that some type of machine had landed on the railroad tracks near the 2500 block of Beekman Street.

 

North of the city, in Trenton, some of the townsfolk swore a flying craft of some sort, not from around these parts, landed on Main Street, right in the middle of town. The town of Reading kept going dark due to power outages officials said were due to “equipment failure.”

 

The United Press International reported hundreds of sightings over southwest Ohio; all of them were at night. A woman, hysterical and screaming, cried to police that “some … some … thing” landed in her farm and killed two cows. Near central Ohio, a U.S. Army helicopter had been zapped in mid-air with a green beam of light. And The Enquirer was also on the beat, writing about “a radiancy of lights, frights and brights,” that were “dancing, flashing and hovering,” and “the reports were fast and they were serious.”

 

In Greenfield, police officer Sgt. Hugh, after chasing for several miles a circular white object with a yellow glow that was humming and flying just above the trees, told The Post, “I’ve never believed in UFOs until tonight.”

 

Indeed, even the Governor of Ohio, John J. Gilligan, had a close call with what he said was an amber-colored “vertical beam of light.” Shaken, he felt compelled to tell America during an emotional press conference that the UFO threat was real. “I saw one (UFO) the other night, so help me. I’m absolutely serious. I saw this.”

Now, the article goes on to (mostly) explain the incidents as a result of the kickoff of the military’s Operation Nickel Grass on October 13th. The US had elected to aid Israel in the Yom Kippur war, which meant a massive airlift effort, which meant that tremendously oversized cargo planes were landing at and taking off from Wright-Patterson AFB pretty constantly. If that’s not a good enough explanation for you, it’s also a fairly simple deduction that anyone with the technology to get from there (read: anywhere out there) to here in a reasonable amount of time would probably not have much reason to make a stop anywhere near such a comparatively backwater civilization. If you want an example of what I mean, just try to come up with an interesting conversation piece for a chance meeting with a real, live Neanderthal, and then expand the technology gap between the two of you by many orders of magnitude. In other words, Ug would probably figure out how to use an iPad a long time before we were able to wrap our brains around the physics of efficient interstellar travel.

Still, I suppose that anything is technically possible, so I’m forced to wonder exactly what would happen in Cincy if the proverbial Little Green Men did just pop the hatch on Fountain Square and ask to see our leaders. Ah, I can see the potential headlines on Cincinnati.com now…….

• FIRST CONTACT IN FOUNTAIN SQUARE: COAST points out that they’ve avoided Over-the-Rhine
• Mike Brown to demand alien assistance in renovating Paul Brown Stadium
• Aliens: “Hey, uh, we just came to pick Bootsy back up…”
• INTERSTELLAR INCIDENT: Aliens allege attempted poisoning, via goetta
• Aliens lost attempting to navigate West Side roads
• BREAKING: Aliens did not attend high school in the Cincinnati area
• UFOs attack and disable WEBN studios, citing “interstellar noise pollution”
• Aliens return Clooney: “Sorry, with all the attention, we just figured he was in charge.”
• Aliens….. shop at Furniture Fair? (ah %&&$%$#&%, another ad?!?!? Seriously?!?!?!?!)

(N.B.: This piece of playful fun-poking was also indirectly inspired by  this video, S____ People Say in Cincinnati, which you should watch if you haven’t already; it is priceless, though technically NSFW)

Image Credit: Some rights reserved by Pedro Moura Pinheiro

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Don’t Email Leslie Ghiz

Oct 20, 2011 by Ben Sherman

..unless you want any information you submit to her to be published on her Facebook page. This was making the rounds on Twitter and Facebook last night, and it blew me away. I blacked out the information from said screenshots myself (click the image for one that is legibly-sized).

All politics aside, and I’ll admit up front that I don’t agree with Leslie on much of anything, this is way over the top even for her. She’s well within her rights to post just about anything on any of her social media outlets (and she has), but it is unthinkable and inexcusable for an elected official to publish the names, addresses, and email addresses of at least two constituents who were simply angry about her calling for either the removal of Occupy Cincinnati protesters or a no-confidence vote in the City Manager.

The offending posts have since been deleted (or at least removed from public view), but her Facebook wall is public; anyone could have seen them, and even if the posts had been privacy-restricted, publishing that information at all was, frankly, the height of irresponsibility. I can’t imagine that anyone submits their name and address, accompanied by any kind of message, to an elected official’s website with the expectation that it might be made public. The fact that she went so far as to ridicule them while she was doing it is almost secondary in my mind, though it is more than a little disappointing. Sure, everyone makes mistakes, even big ones, but I find it unsettling that someone whom the people have entrusted with a Council seat is possessed of judgement this poor.

I’ve emailed the campaign office (being careful to remove personal information from my signature) for a comment or explanation, and I’ll update if and when they get back to me.

 

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CincyPAC Slammed: Fair or Foul?

Sep 30, 2011 by Ben Sherman

If you enjoy a good political back-and-forth, complete with overtones of “elitism” and references to Soviet Russia, I may have a story for you. On 25 September, an email went out to the CincyPAC mailing list with a link to a blog called CincyPACkOfElitists. The author, Aja Roberto, essentially posted a letter of resignation brimming with accusations regarding how CincyPAC chooses who it endorses for City Council. From the post:

I was horribly disappointed, though, with how the process evolved. The originally agreed upon process in which dues paying members like you had a 100% say in the PACs endorsement eroded, thanks to petty partisan politicking by several board members, many of whom have pledged their support to specific candidates. I am sad to report that the membership vote in the endorsement process will count for a paltry and inadequate 45% of the overall endorsement score that is used to choose CincyPAC endorsed candidates. In other words, an unelected Board of 12 has decided that they know better than you, and will weight their vote in the process more heavily.

 

I was even more disappointed when a board member suggested that we keep our algorithm secret from our membership and the candidates seeking the endorsement. Even more discouraging was the suggestion that we count the votes first, and once the results were known by the board, the weight of the members vote could be changed to influence the final result.

Ms. Roberto goes on to advise her readers that their money would be better spent on individual candidates, and referred to the remaining Board of Directors as a “Soviet-style group of ruling elites”. This reference was pounded home by a graphic of a Soviet hammer and sickle replacing the final “C” in CincyPAC (a sure sign of a reasoned, level-headed argument, right?).

CincyPAC, as one might expect, has a somewhat different view of their process. From the response posted on the CincyPAC website:

The organization’s endorsement process was thoughtfully and thoroughly crafted to vet candidates on their positioning as it relates to our six core values. The CincyPAC board voted and approved changes to the endorsement process this year to maintain and enhance the integrity of the process.

 

After the process was approved, we distributed an eleven-question questionnaire to all Cincinnati City Council candidates on August 29. Candidates who filled out the questionnaire and submitted prior to our September 5 deadline were invited to participate in an in-person, videotaped interview with further questioning related to CincyPAC core values. Candidate endorsements were distributed after tabulating results for membership vote (45 percent), question and answer scoring (35 percent). The board vote made up for 20 percent of the endorsement decision process.

 

Since 2009, CincyPAC has always offered a weighted endorsement process, with membership receiving the largest percentage of the determination. The organization does not allow membership to be the sole deciding factor in the endorsement process as a safeguard to ensure the process cannot be manipulated by an organized effort. We operate as a PAC with established core values, and endorse candidates who represent the YP voice and interest.

That may not be a specific denial of Ms. Roberto’s accusations, but I think it’s safe to say that it’s more a case of CincyPAC not deigning to answer charges they consider to be non-credible rather than one of them avoiding the question. The reason I think that’s the case is that Ms. Roberto is apparently co-hosting an upcoming fundraiser for COAST, a political group which is demonstrably dishonest. This is also relevant to a response that Ms. Roberto posted to CincyPAC’s statement, where she again accused the remaining directors of being “biased” and “partisan”. If COAST’s public statements are any indication, and presuming Ms. Roberto subscribes to a fair number of the viewpoints of the group that she’s hosting a fundraiser for, she is likely just as “guilty” of being biased and partisan as any member of the Board of Directors currently sitting. At the very least, it draws into question any accusations of extreme bias coming from her corner.

That being said, I think Ms. Roberto does make a fair point about the Board’s weighting of their endorsement selections if in fact the membership was led to believe their vote was/would be the primary deciding factor. I attempted to contact CincyPAC to get their position on this and received no reply, but according to their own math, unless the questionnaire is somehow compiled or voted upon by the membership, the CincyPAC Board does at least influence, if not control, 55% of the vote. That makes their assertion that “membership recieves the largest percentage of the determination” questionable at best. However, I also feel that CincyPAC makes a fair point about why they do things the way that they do. If a PAC committed to particular “core values” has an endorsement process that is mostly or completely based on the votes of members, there’s very little (if anything) to prevent a large-enough group of people  with $25 to burn from co-opting the group and pulling it away from those values, and that would most certainly defeat the original purpose of the PAC.

It’s also worth noting that CincyPAC did give money to three Republicans in 2009. Murray, Ghiz, and Zamary (frankly, I was shocked to see Ghiz on the list) each received $250 of the $1700 that was spread out among seven candidates. Their contributions for 2011 have either not yet been made or are not yet accessible from the City’s website, but their endorsements for this year only include one Republican, Catherine Mills. Mills has connections with the group, and as Griff at Cincinnati Blog observes, those connections could have as much or more to do with her endorsement than her positions on CincyPAC’s core issues. Yes, they did go from three Republicans out of seven down to one, but that could simply be due to the current composition of the group as opposed to what it was 2009, or the fact that, frankly, most of this years Republican candidates seem to have gone out of their way to oppose many of CincyPAC’s stated values. At any rate, it certainly doesn’t prove “bias” on the part of the Board.

How much does all of this matter in the grand scheme of Cincinnati politics? It’s debatable, but probably not a great deal right now. CincyPAC’s statements make it sound like they want to become a driving force in government in the city, but they’re not there yet. As I noted above, I have no idea what kind of money they’re kicking around this year, but as of the ’09 election, they’re still being dwarfed by union and corporate PAC’s in terms of contributions. That’s certainly to be expected, as those groups wield massive massive memberships and checkbooks, and CincyPAC was right on par with other citizen/special interest PAC’s at the time (including COAST). On the face of it, there’s no reason they can’t grow to be a force in the future, and I think they’re worth following if you’re interested and/or invested in the city.

In that vein, though, I should point out that while I was doing research and talking to people about the story, the impression that I got from almost everyone familiar with the group was resoundingly negative. “Exclusive social club” was a phrase used more than once, and the sentiment that “diversity” was being talked about more than it was being pursued was repeated several times from both sides of the proverbial aisle. Obviously, this doesn’t even remotely resemble a scientific survey, and the sample size was super small (seven or eight people that I spoke to personally, plus numerous tweets on the topic). It means nothing on it’s own, and to be clear, I’ve never met anyone who was associated with CincyPAC in person, and I’m not a member, so I have no opinion on whether those sentiments are indeed accurate or not. It’s entirely possible that I just happened upon the people that were dissatisfied and thus the most vocal about it. If I were CincyPAC though, I think that I’d at least be trying to determine whether or not I have an image problem, and be working on ways to solve it quickly if I did. I hope that they’re able to work it out if they do. They support values that, at least in my opinion, the vast majority of urban voters can and will get behind. They just need to find a way to cater to a large enough group of people. If they can pull that off somehow, I believe it would be of immeasurable benefit to our city.

 

 

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GeekBeat: Cincinnati Comic Expo Part 1

Sep 27, 2011 by Loki

I must say, for an event that is only in it’s second year Cincinnati’s Comic Expo was quite impressive. Not only did everything seem to run very smoothly, but the array of talent presented was top notch. You can sum a lot of it up in two words: Jim Steranko.

You would not guess from his small frame that this is one of the living legends of the graphic medium. While his hair has gone almost white, it only takes a moment for you to notice the twinkle in his eye. Best of all he was really engaging and honestly interested in the works of other artists trying to get a start.

It was close to five when I approached his table, and they were obviously packing up to leave. One of the guys with him told me they were done for the day, but another one must have seen my disappointment.

“Hey Jim, do you mind dong one more?” I heard him ask. Mr. Steranko looked over and said okay. Then I stood there for fifteen minutes seeing something wonderful. The man who introduced pop art and op art into comics was talking to a pair of budding artists. Not feigned, obligated and stiff but rather really offering comment on just what he like about each piece. Mentoring.

This is a role model for all creators out there, no matter their medium of choice. An open hand extended to the next generation to give them a hand up on their dreams. I must confess it made my afternoon.

I spent a sizable part of the day connecting with some of the amazing talent that was there from the local area and have an extensive array of profiles and interviews set up for future posts. Additionally I’ll be interviewing Andrew Satterfield and Matt Bredestege, the super heroes behind the Expo once they’ve had a chance to recover.

In the meantime here is a slideshow of pics I shot while I was there. The kid in the Nightcrawler costume is my favorite, what’s yours?

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COASTing Over The Line

Sep 11, 2011 by Ben Sherman

(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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