For the past few weeks CityBeat, like many media outlets, has taken a look back at the highlights and lowlights of 2005. But that's too easy. The hard part is figuring out what's going to happen in '06.

So with the first issue of the new year I offer predictions -- but not for what will come to pass in 2006. That's too easy.

Here are my predictions for what won't happen this year:

· Mayor Mark Mallory won't disappoint. He probably has about another month of honeymoon before business leaders, council members and activists start bashing the new mayor's overreaching or inattention, depending on who's criticizing. But Cincin-natians will be happy they elected Mallory. Expect fundamental change at City Hall.

· Police Chief Thomas Streicher won't serve out the year. Mallory will find a way to convince the chief to leave his position, opening the door for Issue 5 to finally kick in and allow city officials to hire a police chief from outside the department. A fresh attitude of cooperation among the new mayor, new council, new city manager and new police chief will go a long way toward putting Cincinnati on the right track.

· The new Fountain Square won't be a waste of money. Scheduled to open in the early fall, the rehabbed square will be a shot in the arm for downtown. If this project were just about moving the fountain 50 feet, it would be nothing more than a symbolic "win" for downtown planners 3CDC -- but if the square turns out to be anything like the drawings and new restaurants and retail like Graeter's and Joseph-Beth ring it, the civic energy will be contagious.

· Playhouse in the Park won't move to The Banks. One of 3CDC's other signature projects, the riverfront Banks development, is looking for a few homeruns of its own to jolt itself out of a standstill. One of the high-profile ideas being tossed around is to build a new theater complex there for the Playhouse, which is studying expansion plans. Now that the city and county seem to be collaborating on The Banks, expect cooler heads to prevail and realize that yanking successful anchors out of existing city neighborhoods to prop up the riverfront isn't a net gain for Cincinnati at all -- which was the whole idea of The Banks to begin with.

· The Bengals won't slide back to their losing ways. Long-term commitments to Marvin Lewis, Carson Palmer, Chad Johnson, Rudi Johnson and others mean the team's short-term success -- this season's playoff run -- isn't a fluke. The way things work in the NFL, look for the Bengals to be Super Bowl contenders for the next two to three years. Who dey!

· The Reds won't win the World Series. OK, that's about the easiest prediction going for 2006. But ultimate success in Major League Baseball is based on pitching, and the Reds just aren't in the major leagues in that department. You could argue that the offense rivals the last two World Series winners (White Sox, Red Sox), but Cincinnati's arms won't carry the team much higher than .500.

· Andy Kennedy won't be UC's basketball coach in the fall. No one's predicting the Bearcats to do much in the Big East this season, but Kennedy will drive his players to give everything they have. Still, expect Bob Huggins to land a high-profile coaching job somewhere before the summer, which will put extra pressure on UC to bring in its own high-profile coach. Would Bearcat fans embrace Skip Prosser? Stranger things have happened.

· Sen. Mike DeWine won't be re-elected. He'll get savaged in the primary by conservatives who hate his moderate stands on judicial filibusters, the budget and other battles, though he'll survive to run in November. That's when he'll lose his seat to one of the Democrats' rising stars, Paul Hackett or U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown. Based on President Bush's low popularity, the Republicans will drop several incumbent Senate seats but still won't lose their majority status.

· Rep. Jean Schmidt won't lose the GOP primary. She's the media's punching bag now, but conservatives love her and won't abandon her because the liberal elite thinks she's an idiot. She is vulnerable, however, to a dynamic, well-financed Cincinnati Democrat -- remember that Schmidt won only three counties in the 2nd District special election last summer: Hamilton, Clermont and Warren. Someone with strong support in Greater Cincinnati could win the seat.

· Ken Blackwell won't be Ohio's next governor. If there is a God in heaven, He'll destroy the moneychangers and blowhards who appropriate His name to promote their political agendas -- and they'll take their man Blackwell with them. Gov. Strickland? Maybe. Gov. Petro? Hmm. Gov. Blackwell? God help us all.

· The Post won't survive the year. This is a prediction I'd happily be wrong about, but what's the point anymore? The once-proud afternoon paper is a shell of its former self, offering yet another round of buy-outs to an already decimated staff (see Porkopolis on page 11). It's supposed to last until the end of 2007, but putting The Post out of its misery early is the humane thing to do.