The city of Cincinnati and opponents of the parking plan met in court March 15 to debate whether laws passed with emergency clauses are subject to referendum.  

Mayoral candidate John Cranley, who opposes the parking plan and streetcar, says the city should redirect funding from the streetcar to the MLK/I-71 Interchange, but the funding is specifically attached to the streetcar project.
  

LGBT-supporting Cincinnatians had a bipolar March 15, with Sen. Rob Portman coming out in support of same-sex marriage and the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN) being publicly barred from the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on the same day.  

After Benedict XVI quit and before cardinals began voting for his successor, daily news-free news stories left us as ignorant as the day before. Until Francis’ election, nothing really happened. That’s one reason NPR received 200-plus complaints, its ombudsman reported, mostly about 47 stories running during the four weeks between popes.      

In 1911, Standard Oil underwent what many of today’s conservatives would decry as government and judicial overreach; the petroleum giant — 41 years old and originally from Cleveland — was taken apart by the U.S. Supreme Court.  

The plan to lease Cincinnati’s parking assets remains up in the air after court rulings last week kept a court-mandated restraining order in place until at least March 15, when a hearing is scheduled at the Hamilton County Common Pleas Court.   

City Manager Milton Dohoney Jr. gave a presentation to City Council March 6 explaining how Cincinnati could work to reduce its structural budget deficits.    

City plans to create bike lanes on Spring Grove Avenue from near Hopple Street to Bank Street are facing some opposition from the Camp Washington Business Association.
  

The neighborhood of Pendleton is not what it once was, and if the newly minted Horseshoe Casino has anything to do with it, nor what it will be in the next few years.   

I hope the tabloid Enquirer holds current subscribers and attracts new readers, especially folks who are drawn more to the visual than the verbal. Publisher Margaret Buchanan promises its debut Monday. Trucks will bring it from Columbus, where it’ll be printed on Dispatch presses.   

It feels odd to be saying goodbye when I’m not really going anywhere, but if anyone should be used to it by now, it’s me.   

City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee on March 4 approved a plan to lease Cincinnati’s parking assets to the Port Authority in a 4-3 vote, but part of the plan was separated from the budget, leaving it open to referendum.    

Leaders of a quiet Over-the-Rhine civic garden that harvests produce like peaches, tomatoes, garlic and blackberries to sell at Findlay Market are worried they could be forced to relocate after nearly 15 years.    

The Hamilton County Board of Commissioners Feb. 27 unanimously approved a 40-year agreement with the Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC) that will lease the county-owned Memorial Hall and provide renovations to the 105-year-old building.   

Budgets are supposed to give elected officials at all levels of government a chance to show off their strengths and agendas, but recent issues have mostly raised questions about whether these people are actually capable of leading to begin with.