Local residents have a unique opportunity to participate in a candidate forum featuring people running for Cincinnati City Council that will occur this Saturday.

As it has done for the past few election cycles, The Greenwich nightclub in Walnut Hills will host the forum, which currently is scheduled to include all 23 candidates vying for the nine council seats. This year, the forum's theme is “Cincinnati 2012: Diary of a City in Transition,” and it will be held from 7:30-11 p.m.

The event is free and open to the public, although seating is limited.

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Many motorists and pedestrians in Over-the-Rhine have wondered what it was, and now CityBeat has the answer. “It” refers to the nearly three-story high mound of dirt located at the corner of Liberty and Race streets.

The dirt, which first appeared a few months ago and has grown in size ever since, lies behind a chain-link fence on a vacant parcel. Some concrete barricades have been pushed against the fence to give it extra support at containing the mess as it expands, but stray bits of soil have spilled over onto the sidewalk and street.

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Facing a $33 million deficit for next year, Cincinnati officials are facing some tough choices — including the city manager's recommendation to layoff 44 police officers. Now the public may chime in and offer suggestions.

City Council's Budget and Finance Committee has scheduled four public hearings this month at different locations throughout Cincinnati, with the first set for this week.

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The Cincinnati Human Relations Commission (CHRC), a quasi-independent agency based at City Hall, has a new chairman and vice chairwoman.

The CHRC's board of directors has elected Robert Harris to serve as chairman, and Carla Walker to serve as vice chairwoman.

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As part of a realignment of its facilities in the urban core, the YMCA of Greater Cincinnati will close the Williams branch in East Walnut Hills in August. Also, although the YMCA will continue some programs at the Melrose branch in Walnut Hills, it also will end general membership services there.

Both changes are effective Aug. 22, YMCA officials said.

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The city of Cincinnati is planning to restripe a section of Martin Luther King Drive between Reading Road and Victory Parkway and would like input from cyclists who commute into Clifton and Walnut Hills. Queen City Bike today sent out an email asking anyone who regularly uses the route to fill out an online survey to help planners determine which infrastructure improvements to make.

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Organizers of a local anti-gang and violence reduction program will hold an open house Thursday so the community can become reacquainted with its street advocate team.

The Cincinnati Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV) is holding the open house and resource fair from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at its offices. The location is 19 W. Elder St. in Over-the-Rhine.

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Queen City Bike today sent out an email asking for help in convincing St. Bernard Service Director Phil Stegman why including a climbing lane on Mitchell Avenue between Vine Street and Reading Road is important to the area's cycling infrastructure. According to QCB, St. Bernard's engineers prefer to keep 10 feet of space for parking rather than use 8 feet for parking and include the bike lane. The city of Cincinnati, which owns half the road, needs St. Bernard to sign off on the infrastructure improvement, according to QCB.

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In at least one important aspect, Greater Cincinnati hasn't changed much during the past decade.

Data from the 2010 U.S. Census shows the region is the eighth-most racially segregated metropolitan area in the nation, the same ranking it held after the 2000 count.

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A group of Northside residents is working to raise $45,000 needed to open the neighborhood's swimming pool this summer, after the facility became the victim of the city's budget cuts.

The Working Families Movement of Northside held a rally March 24 to kickoff its fundraising effort. The group wants the pool at the city-owned McKie Recreation Center on Chase Avenue to open this summer, so neighborhood children — many of whom are low income — can use it during the warm weather months.

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