Best of Cincinnati 2003 - Public Eye Staff Picks

Best Embarrassment to the Irish:
The sight of two African-American men in striped Hamilton County Justice Center prisoner uniforms pushing garbage cans and brooms behind the brigade of all-white sheriff’s deputies on horseback in the recent St. Patrick’s Day parade downtown. For many in the large, racially mixed crowd, the unseemly display spoiled an otherwise enjoyable parade on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon.

Best Feelings on the Riverfront:
No, it wasn’t the Bengals’ couple of wins last fall or the Cinergy Field implosion, but the groundbreaking ceremony for National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. The diverse crowd carrying candles and participating in the events provided one of the few recent “feel good” moments in the city’s path toward racial healing.

Best Recognition:
Who was standing with the likes of Oscar Robertson, Dave Parker, Kenneth Blackwell, Dwight Tillery, William L. Mallory Sr., the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth and relatives of Bootsy Collins and Ezzard Charles as part of WCIN-AM’s “50 Most Influential Blacks in Cincinnati in the Past 50 Years?” None other than CityBeat’s Negro Tour Guide, Kathy Y. Wilson. The event marked WCIN’s 50th anniversary and perhaps marked Wilson’s official arrival on the public consciousness. At least we can say we knew her when….

Photo: Jymi Bolden

“News junkie” Brian Griffin runs Cincinnati Blog.

Best Use of New Communications Technology:
Blogs
The old saw about freedom of the press is no longer true: “The only people who have freedom of the press are the people who own a press.” Web logs — or “blogs,” as every geek knows them — are Web pages without the eye candy. Set aside for commentary on politics, media, religion and any other topic you might imagine, blogs are a low-cost way to become a published writer. Don’t we all believe deep down that the world would be a better place if only it had access to our unique point of view? Cincinnati has the benefit of several blogs devoted to local politics and media, including Cincinnati Blog (www.cincinnati.blogspot.com), Queen City Soapbox (www.queencity.blogspot.com) and Political Junkie (http://political-junkie.blogspot.com/). Not every blog entry is insightful or even well written. But they’re quintessentially democratic — virtually everyone with Internet access can have a say. (GF)

Best Do As We Day, Not As We Do:
The Enquirer’s editorial board took a strong stance against drunk drivers in the New Year’s Eve edition. Truth be told, however, none other than Publisher Harry Whipple — the top dog on the editorial board — got himself nabbed last spring by Madeira police for speeding in his company owned Cadillac; his blood alcohol level was .074. We know you’ll be shocked to learn this matter of public record, readily available on the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Web site, was never reported in the morning newspaper. Let’s raise a toast to great double standards.

Best Do As We Day, Not As We Do, Part 2:
The Enquirer threw the gauntlet at its own feet right after New Year’s Day in its Sunday Tempo story “25 Forces That Will Shape Culture in 2003.” No. 5 on its list was the media, which the paper bemoans as not providing nearly enough arts coverage. Many in the local arts community — who have felt for years that The Enquirer’s coverage was sorely lacking — took the blurb as an announcment that the paper would step up its coverage in 2003. The year is only a few months old, but local arts supporters are still waiting for the improvement.

Best Place to Observe Bitter Local Musicians:
The message boards on cincymusic.com give a little bit of an insight into the frustrations experienced by Cincinnati area musicians who play original music — small crowds, tough bar owners/bookers, small crowds, unattentive media outlets, small crowds, lack of decent CD distribution and small crowds.

Photo: Matt Borgerding

Best Sign There’s Anti-War Sentiment Afoot:
Protest against President Bush in October
When President Bush visited Cincinnati Oct. 7, 2002, to deliver a major policy address on Iraq, more than 2,000 anti-war protesters filled the streets in front of Union Terminal. The event was impressive for the turnout alone. After all, Bush picked Cincinnati because it is, in White House parlance, in “the nation’s heartland.” Translation: “They don’t protest in Cincinnati.” But more than mere numbers distinguished the protest as an event to remember. The White House announced the location of Bush’s speech at the last minute, leaving the opposition little time to plan a response. But organizers put their all into the effort, especially making use of the Internet, and the result was the largest protest the city had seen since the Vietnam War. It also fueled the development of a growing local anti-war community. The Web site that turned out the masses has become indispensable for subsequent peace efforts: www.geocities.com/cincydemo. (GF)

Best Female Vocalist and Coffee Shop Owner:
Kim Taylor, who owns Pleasant Perk in College Hill and who moonlights as an excellent singer/songwriter. She performed at last fall’s Cincinnati Entertainment Awards, where she won the prize for Best New Artist.

Best Cause Not to Celebrate:
When AIDS Volunteers of Cincinnati (AVOC) was founded in 1983, in response to the first AIDS-related death in the area, most thought the agency would exist for maybe a couple years. Then a cure would be found and the crisis would be over. Today, in the United States alone, between 800,000 and 900,000 people are infected with HIV or AIDS, according to the Centers for Disease Control. More than 438,000 Americans have died from the illness. As AVOC marks its 20th anniversary, the agency is preparing a capital campaign to bring the business community together in the fight against HIV and AIDS. No one wants to mark another anniversary, especially AVOC’s dedicated staff and volunteers. AVOC, 220 Findlay St., Over-the-Rhine, 513-421-2437.

Best Loss of Momentum:
Activist group Stonewall Cincinnati failed to accomplish much of anything over the past year. Infighting was to blame with strong opposition to key board members Roy Ford, Heidi Bruins and Mike McCleese. Their subsequent ouster should have cleared up Stonewall to fight the good fight — they did support the city’s new hate crimes ordinance, but wasn’t that a no-brainer for the human rights group? — but the group has been too quiet.

Best Heavenly Help for the Gay Community:
How is it that the GLBT community’s strongest fighters for equal rights are two straight, married men of the cloth? The Rev. Don Smith, chair of Covington’s Human Rights Committee, was a leading purveyor in beefing up that city’s Human Rights Ordinance so that it actually meant something. Meanwhile, the Rev. Stephen Van Kuiken of Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church faced investigation from the Presbytery for performing civil unions for same-sex couples and supporting the church’s inclusion policy while the church itself ordained gays and lesbians as elders and deacons. Smith and Kuiken have truly made the most of their calling.

Best Anti-War Challenge to the Comfortable:
During his Feb. 13 speech at Miami University, Jerry Springer challenged “very privileged” students in the audience. “How many people here tomorrow morning will drop out of school and enlist?” he asked, and no one raised his or her hand. “If we’re not going to do that, do we have the moral right to send somebody else’s kids to fight and die in this war?”

Best Avoidance of War Talk:
Cincinnati City Council didn’t even bother voting on the Cities of Peace Resolution, which opposes the coming war against Iraq — only David Crowley, Minette Cooper and Alicia Reece had come out in favor of it. Almost 100 American cities — including New York, which took the brunt of the 9/11 terrorism attacks — have passed pro-peace resolutions.

Photo:Jon Hughes/photopresse

Best Request Show:
Friday mornings on WNKU-FM
A lot about radio has changed over the years, most of it for the worse — emphasis on playlists, narrowing of musical focus, loss of DJ personality, abandonment of local news. Put requests on that list, too. At WNKU (89.7 FM), however, requests are still taken and played — particularly on Friday mornings, when Michael Grayson hosts “All Request Fridays” from 9 a.m. to noon. He says he has about 40 song slots to fill in that period and always has more requests than slots — he usually has e-mails waiting for him when he arrives at the station, including requests from as far away as Australia and Russia. It’s not just a matter of slapping CDs into the player in the order the requests arrive, Grayson says — he tries to match songs with like-minded songs to provide some sort of flow, plus he has to scurry between his studio and where the CDs are kept to find requested material (and occassionally has to argue with listeners who insist WNKU has a certain song while he tries to explain that he doesn’t have — or can’t find — a particular CD). It’s all worth it, though, as a recent Friday featured requests for John Hiatt, R.L. Burnside, Grateful Dead, Allison Kraus, an obscure Beatles track and “a pretty Sinead O’Connor song.” (JF)

Best Fighter in Public Office:
Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune, whom CityBeat named 2002 Cincinnati Person of the Year (and whom readers voted “Best Elected Official”). He’s fighting to recover his health after spinal surgery but continues to not take his public service duty for granted. “Sticking to your principles isn’t that hard,” Portune told CityBeat. “When you realize you’re only here (in office) a short while, it’s easier to do the right thing.”

Best Backbone:
Cincinnati City Council voted 7-2 on Feb. 5 to expand the city’s hate crimes law to cover age, physical and mental disability, gender and sexual orientation in addition to race, color, religion and national origin. Councilmen John Cranley and David Crowley introduced the motion, and Cranley said, “It’s an issue about tolerance. I believe ultimately at the end of the day it’s about standing up for the dignity of all life.”

Best Way to Keep the Votes:
City Councilman John Cranley likes to argue that low-income housing shouldn’t be kept all in one area; that’s why he proposed a law effectively banning new subsidized housing in the city. But when the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority decided to raze English Woods, a 60-year-old housing project, Cranley worked to have the agency’s funding blocked. If English Woods comes down, all those poor blacks might move into Price Hill and other West side neighborhoods, Cranley’s constituency. Can’t have that.

Best Reminder to Follow the Money:
The forced eviction of residents of Huntington Meadows, an apartment complex serving low-income families in Bond Hill, was supposed to be the result of unsafe health and environmental conditions. But the Cincinnati Health Department didn’t find anything so severe that required a closing of the complex. The site could be useful for new development, according to Vice Mayor Alicia Reece, whose family businesses are — surprise! — right around the corner.

Best Truce:
In February the Coalition for a Just Cincinnati (CJC) and the Cincinnati Arts Association (CAA) dropped lawsuits against one another over the civil rights boycott of the city. The CAA dropped its appeal of a ruling dismissing its suit for alleged tortuous interference in a contract by the CJC, which convinced Bill Cosby, Whoopi Goldberg and others to cancel appearances at venues managed by CAA. In return, CJC dropped its lawsuit accusing CAA of violating its constitutional right to organize a boycott. As part of the settlement, CAA agreed to let CJC use Memorial Hall free of charge for four public forums in the next year. Let’s hope this agreement begins a thawing process in the stalemate over Cincinnati’s racial tensions.

Best Headline:
“ Nose Hold Barred?” was the headline over a CityBeat story detailing Leon Coleman’s December 2002 encounter with Cincinnati Police officers who, after handcuffing him, sprayed chemical irritant in his face and pinched his nose shut in order to force him to spit out what they suspected were drugs he’d swallowed. Unfortunately, the city’s much-ballyhooed agreement with the Justice Department restricts the use of chemical irritant on prisoners who’ve already been restrained.

Best Foot in the Mouth:
Citizens for Community Values (CCV) President Phil Burress likes to distance himself from his organization’s crusades against certain local media, claiming his phone and letter campaigns are nothing more than “ordinary citizens” using their “First Amendment rights” to complain about content they find “offensive.” Unfortunately for him, Burress proudly proclaimed during a recent taping of the Channel 9 political talk show Hot Seat that CCV had gotten CityBeat “kicked out” of Kroger, Meijer and Biggs stores over the years. CityBeat used his words against him to prove to Biggs management that the “customer complaints” they thought they were responding to were in fact an orchestrated political campaign against this paper, and CityBeat is back distributing in Biggs. Hooray for the good guys!

Best Lesson for High School Students:
A group of Turpin High School students were punished for distributing their underground newspaper, SNAFU, on school grounds. The paper contained articles criticizing U.S. selective service, the pro-life movement, racism and teen-agers who engage in promiscuous sex and came down hard on “WASPville U.S.A.,” as the students call their home suburb, for hypocrisy, close-mindedness and ignoring racial tensions. Instead of dealing with the problems the students want to address, school administrators suspended and gave detentions to the students. SNAFU, www.geocities.com/snafupaper.

Best Lesson for Adults:
A racially diverse crowd filled Memorial Hall in Over-the-Rhine Feb. 5 to see a preview screening of Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives. The HBO documentary shared the words of former slaves through on-camera readings by well-known African-American actors. Cincinnati and Ripley, Ohio were mentioned several times as havens for escaping slaves. Speakers included Spencer Crew, executive director of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, which gets funds from sales of the book version of Unchained Memories.

Best New Cincinnati Mystery Writer:
Larry Rochelle, a former Indian Hill High and Sycamore High English teacher who’s the author of the newly published murder mystery, Dance With the Pony. The book features a womanizing and beer-drinking protagonist, Palmer Morel, and it’s a refreshingly decadent hero/detective for a change. Let the bodies fall where they may.

Best Heroic Bus Driver:
Bill Howard of Erlanger, who deftly handled the most unusual challenge he’s ever had to face on his daily TANK (Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky) route. When a pregnant woman needed help, he did what he had to do. “This lady, she got onto my bus and went promptly into labor,” Howard said, laughing. “I had to race the bus to the hospital, 10 passengers and all.” No, the new mom didn’t name her newborn Bill or even TANK.

Best Chess Master:
Alan Baker, the local philosophy professor who’s a champion “shogi,” or Japanese chess, player. What makes shogi so tough? “When you capture your opponent’s pieces, you can turn them around and drop them back on the board as your own,” he notes. “This ‘paratroop’ aspect of the game makes it much more tactical and aggressive than chess.” A tournament player, Baker won the first and second annual Eden Park Chess Tournaments in Cincinnati in 2000 and 2001.

Best Overrated Event:
The implosion of Cinergy Field. They were expecting Riverfest size crowds, huh?
Yeah, right!

Best Name for a New Publication in Town:
The Rag debuted recently as a feminist-oriented culture and issues newspaper.
It’s scheduled to be published monthly and is a welcome local alternative to male-dominated and male-centered media.

Best Makeover of a Publication:
Cincinnati Magazine looks better than ever thanks to a redesign in January. The look plays off one of the publication’s big strengths — its photography and color reproduction — and adds some smaller space columns that allow its writers to be more timely about local issues.

Best Recognition of Cincinnati’s Flowering Diversity:
La Jornada Latina, the area’s Hispanic community newspaper, continues to grow. The bi-weekly is a healthy 28 pages and sports Spanish language ads from Cincinnati Public Schools, i Wireless, Time Warner Cable and Fifth Third Bank in addition to Hispanic stores and service companies. Cincinnati usually sees itself only in black and white, but this paper is proof positive that the city is experiencing an influx of Hispanics.

Best One-Man Publicity Firm:
Nate Livingston Jr. Within the course of a given day you’ll see or hear him everywhere — local talk radio, local television news, local newspapers and local fax machines, etc. He might be the hardest working man in the self-promotion business.

Best Dressed for the Weater:
Fox19 Morning News weathercaster Bill Kelly regularly dresses a little hipper and smarter than any other on-air personality, male or female. Maybe he subscribes to GQ. Maybe his wife buys his clothes. Maybe he’s just a sharp-dressed man. And Kelly isn’t just working the runway; he’s got an easy-going personality that’s a pleasure to watch — even when he’s bringing us more bad news about the weather.

Best Reason to Help the Homeless:
Aubrey “Cleveland” Brown. Never missing a “Romeo and Juliet” (two people walking together), this former Streetvibes vendor could always be found on Seventh and Vine — at least before he was let go. While a vendor, he’d amiably be making his sales pitch in a sort of guy-at-the-beginning-of-Pretty Woman way. Didn’t have an American dollar? Not to worry: He’d have it figured out in Pesos and Lira. Now he’s seen further down Vine Street, except this time he’s sitting outside the mall with a sign.
Best Reason to Help Clean Up: The St. Ignatius group, which organizes a Habitat for Humanity like event with Xavier University in which volunteers are assigned to the workforces for a full day of raking, mowing, mulching and rehabbing houses in city neighborhoods. The homes are redone to make them livable again.

Best Political Spin on Jerry Springer’s TV Show:
In an interview with CityBeat, Jerry Springer said his popular TV talk show has made him practically a paraiah, which will allow him to run as an outsider in the 2004 Ohio Senate race. “If I run and if I’m elected, I have only one boss — and that’s the mass of people,” he said. “ I’m not ever going to fit in. I’ve lived 59 years on the outside. I was always a little outside the mainstream.”

Best Approach to Teaching Art:
Greg Storer opens the new Powder Factory School for Drawing and Painting in an abandoned factory in Kings Mills. He bases his lessons on solid, proven techniques and principles of drawing and painting. “One of the things I do is strip away some of the complexities,” he says. “People have their creative itches. For some, it’s visual. We set them up with a vehicle to express themselves and show them it’s not impossible.” Powder Factory School for Drawing and Painting, 1409 Grandin Road, Kings Mills, 513-489-7415.

Best Hollywood Cameo:
Northern Kentucky comics artist David Mack has quietly been drawing Marvel Comics’s Daredevil superhero comic books for a few years in his Bromley home, but he hit the big time when the movie version was released. One of the movie’s main scenes — an acrobatic playground tussle between Daredevil (Ben Afflec) and a female assassin (Jennifer Garner) — was lifted straight from Mack’s Daredevil story titled “Parts of a Hole.” As a nod to him, the film features a minor character named David Mack.

Best Arts Educator:
Spurred on by the illiteracy rate and budget cuts slicing into fine arts programs, Annie Ruth has created “What’s the Word? Read,” a community outreach program combining poetry, song and rap to instill a love of reading in kids — and quite possibly adults, too. Supporting Ruth in her efforts is the YPC Band, a group of self-taught youth musicians (i.e., Ruth’s children and nephews), to show other young folks the extent of children’s capability. Annie Ruth Creations, 513-821-9027 or www.annieruth.com.

Best Evidence of a Police Slowdown:
The Cincinnati Police Department’s Web site (www.cincinnati-oh.gov/pages/-364-/) shows a significant drop in the number of certain tickets and arrests, even with more officers hired and more police overtime paid. There were 38,610 parking citations issued in 2002, a decline of nearly 50 percent from 2000 (63,143); moving violations fell by more than half, from 68,408 in 2000 to 33,091 last year; and police arrested 1,846 drunk drivers in 2000 but less than half that number, 902, last year. Meanwhile, Cincinnati saw a near-record number of homicides in 2002. Blasting city council for what he calls “lack of support,” Fraternal Order of Police President Roger Webster urges cops to “take all the time you need” on every call, including parking tickets. “If you are called to the scene of a crime, find a legal place to park your vehicle and walk to the scene. Then take the time you need to investigate the crime to the fullest. ... When responding in an emergency mode, remember do not drive overly fast, stop at all intersections and stop signs.”

Best Bridge Between Police and the Community:
After a long search and a few false starts, Cincinnati hired former Toledo Deputy Police Chief Nathanael L. Ford as executive director of the Citizen Complaint Authority. The appointment represents progress both because the position is new and because of the way it was filled — City Manager Valerie Lemmie sought the agreement of all the parties involved in the settlement that created the authority, from police officials to the Black United Front.

Best Game of “Let’s Pretend”:
When Martin Luther King III objected to a breakfast in honor of his father, the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., being held downtown in violation of the civil rights boycott of Cincinnati, the Arts Consortium seemed to get the message. But rather than do what King really wanted, namely move the breakfast out of the boycott zone, the Arts Consortium simply changed the name of the event.

Best Defense of Free Speech:
Chabad of Southern Ohio went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to stop Mayor Charlie Luken and city council from banning a menorah on Fountain Square. The Jewish organization won, as everybody knew they would. Chabad’s victory wasn’t just for the menorah, however — the city actually tried to ban all religious and political symbols on the square from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day. Note to city leaders: Read the Constitution.