WEDNESDAY JAN. 9  As a sign of growing maturity and responsibility, WWE! is going to refrain from making some sort of poop joke about the proposal to install new public toilets downtown.   

Few contemporary filmmakers can claim a career as interesting as Gus Van Sant’s. The 59-year-old director studied painting at the Rhode Island School of Design before shifting his studies to film. He tried his hand at Hollywood after graduation, but soon moved his home base to Portland, Ore., a place where his artier leanings would flourish.   

If Mayor Mark Mallory isn't an expert on streetcars after visiting Portland, Ore., last week, then Michael Jackson isn't dead and Jeff Berding is respected by his peers. The Enquirer reported today that Mallory, fresh off a field trip to America's leading producer of progressive mass transit and Indie rocker boners, said that if Cincinnati's proposed anti-streetcar ballot measure passes that it will be an end to local mass transit (including Midwest commuter rail) forever.  

A lack of consideration for bikes as a legitimate form of transportation -- and a consequent lack of funding and planning -- has left Cincinnati way behind one of the most simple and important movements of the 21st century. Today's economic realities are forcing American society to consider alternatives to a car-based lifestyle, and cities that long ago took the lead on bike safety and transportation planning are benefiting from it in numerous ways.