Damaged parking meters in Over-the-Rhine are causing problems for residents and local businesses. For months, thieves have been cutting off the top of meters to steal change. The vandals directly steal revenue from the city, ensure the damaged meters won’t collect revenue until they’re fixed and force the city to shell out more money to fix the meters. Businesses and residents are also worried the damaged meters cause confusion for drivers and make the area look unattractive. Democratic mayoral candidate John Cranley wants to debate Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls, a Democrat who’s also running for mayor, over the city’s plan to privatize parking services. Cranley, a former council member, has pushed the city to find an alternative to the privatization plan — sometimes leading him to make claims with little backing. Qualls isn’t ecstatic about the privatization plan, but she seems to side with City Manager Milton Dohoney’s position that it’s necessary to avoid the layoff of 344 city employees. County officials around the state are peeved at Gov. John Kasich’s budget plan because it limits how much they can leverage in county sales taxes. The proposal bars counties from changing their sales tax rates for three years starting July 2013, and it also adjusts county’s rates to force a 10 percent revenue increase over the prior year beginning December 2013. The Kasich administration claims the move is necessary to prevent county governments from using the governor’s plan to subtly raise the sales tax, but county officials argue the move infringes on local rights. Kasich’s plan lowers the state sales tax rate from 5.5 percent to 5 percent, but it expands what’s affected by the tax. CityBeat analyzed Kasich’s budget proposal yesterday: CPS Still Loses Funding Under Kasich Administration: The budget does increase school funding for Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS), but it’s not enough to make up for the last state budget cuts to CPS.Kasich Tax Cut Favors Wealthy: Kasich claims he’s giving a tax cut to every Ohioan, but a new report from Policy Matters Ohio shows the poor and middle class will pay more on average under his plan. Kasich’s school funding plan is also drawing complaints from school leaders. At a press conference, Kasich made his plan sound fairly progressive, but school leaders found the actual numbers underwhelming, and 60 percent of schools won’t get any increased funding. City Council Member Chris Seelbach took to Facebook to slam Cranley for some recent comments regarding freestanding public restrooms. During an interview with Bill Cunningham, Cranley tried to politicize the issue by saying City Council wants to build a $100,000 freestanding restroom. In his Facebook post, Seelbach explained that’s not the case: “John Cranley, if you haven't heard (which I find surprising), NO ONE on City Council has ever said, in any capacity, that we should spend $100,000+ on a 24-hour public restroom facility. No one. In fact, I went on Bill Cunningham to make that clear. I'd appreciate if you'd stop trying to politicize the real issue: Finding a way to offer more public restroom choices in our urban core for our growing and thriving city. In case you didn't hear my interview with Cunningham, or my comments to almost every media source in this region, I'll post the interview again.” Seelbach’s interview with Cunningham can be found here. Clifton’s new grocery store will begin construction next week. Goessling's Market-Clifton is finally replacing Keller's IGA on Ludlow Avenue. A local high school’s prom was canceled to punish students for a massive water balloon fight at lunch. The giant fight was planned as a prank on social media, and school staff tried to prevent it by warning students of the repercussions on the day of the prank. Students did not listen. Prom was lame, anyway. PNC Bank donated $450,000 to Smale Riverfront Park. The money will be used to build the PNC Grow Up Great Adventure Playground, which will have a swinging rope bridge for kids to walk across a canyon. PNC is among a handful companies to donate to the riverfront park; most recently, Procter & Gamble donated $1 million. Cincinnati was called the most literate city in Ohio. The Montgomery County Democratic Party endorsed the Freedom to Marry Amendment, which would legalize same-sex marriage. CityBeat wrote about the amendment here. Kasich’s latest budget proposal would privatize food services in prisons to save $16.2 million. The Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, which represents prison staff, has come out against the plan. A lawsuit has been filed to take down a Jesus portrait in Jackson Middle School in southern Ohio. The lawsuit is being backed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio and the Freedom from Religion Foundation. They argue the portrait is an “unconstitutional endorsement of religion and must be removed.” A new cure for color blindness: goofy glasses. There’s new evidence that a giant asteroid really sparked earth’s last great mass extinction event, which killed the dinosaurs.

Northside and OTR get a lot of neighborhood love, but Walnut Hills is quickly becoming yet another hot spot for local businesses, art galleries, shopping and more. Support the Hills Friday and check out the Walk on Woodburn from 6-9 p.m. Neusole Glassworks will have a mobile glass-blowing truck, there will be plenty of live music performances and caroling, Queen City Cookies will be hawking delicious edible art and pop-up shops will be joining area businesses for all your holiday shopping needs. Read Her Magazine’s feature on the women of Woodburn here. This year has been an a amazing time to live and work in Over-the-Rhine. Businesses, restaurants and bars are opening every week, Washington Park’s revitalization has been a success and the area is truly becoming a destination for locals and visitors alike. On Friday, OTR will shine — and not just figuratively —with luminaries for the third annual Light Up OTR event. Volunteers will illuminate the streets beginning at 6 p.m., followed by the lighting of the OTR tree at Kaze (new sushi spot opening next week at 1400 Vine St.) at 10 p.m. Make Covington Pop and Renaissance Covington keep the local love flowing as they present the first annual 7th Street Makers Market Friday and Saturday. This festival features area artists, bakers, farmers and business owners as they show off their handmade and homegrown goods. Purchase gifts or goodies for yourself and enjoy free gift wrapping at Artisan’s Enterprise Center (AEC). Come hungry on Friday — there will be a food truck happy hour outside AEC. The fun runs 5-8 p.m. Friday, noon-5 p.m. Saturday. Street style is rapidly gaining attention in the fashion world. No longer is fashion defined as couture on a runway model — everyday folks are showing off their personal style and flair all around cities, especially Cincinnati. Rise of the Cool Kids (#ROCK) is a celebration of individual style, art and music and it all goes down Saturday at the Bertke Electric Warehouse in Northside. Guests will get to be a part of Cincy’s first projected fashion show, filmed in advanced, featuring local designers and fashionistas. It all kicks off at 7 p.m. and is followed by an after-party at FB’s downtown (there will also be a free shuttle going to and from each location.) Get tickets here. On Saturday, Third Party Gallery presents a third installment of its monthly experimental film program, Staring Eyes. “Yule Logs and Certain Types of Nog” will feature eclectic holiday-themed screenings — no Miracle on 34th Street here. The event begins at 8 p.m. Cincinnati Ballet’s The Nutcracker opens Friday; OTRimprov’s The Naughty List continues at Arnold’s Sunday-Tuesday; Find more weekend theater info here. Check out our calendar for more events, art shows, theater productions and more to do this weekend and beyond.

They have been talking about it since they were 15 years old. Now, about 15 years later, all it took was an evening stroll through some back alleys on the way to The Famous Neons Unplugged in Over-the-Rhine to stumble across the perfect spot for their new start-up, Collective Espresso.Owners Dave Hart and Dustin Miller had always dreamed of opening a coffee shop together. Lifelong friends and Ohio natives, the two spent a few years on separate journeys living in and being inspired by different states along the West Coast and working in multiple restaurants and cafes along the way.  "We kind of just moved to Cincinnati with the plan that we would figure it out," Hart explained nonchalantly as he reached for a cup and saucer behind the bar. Cold November rain fell outside during our interview, but the coffee and conversation warmed the already cozy shop as I sat comfortably on a stool that Hart and Miller hand-made, at the rustic bar that they crafted out of an old barn door. Just like the simplicity of the shop's design, Miller explained that it's their goal to very simply, "make great coffee taste great."   "There are a lot of great natural things happening in this coffee," Miller explained, joining Hart behind the bar. "It's our job as baristas to make it look and taste awesome. We want the coffee to speak for itself."  The shop, on the brink of opening, will mainly serve Deeper Roots Coffee — which is local — and Quills Coffee from Louisville, Ky. However, since they have a multiple roaster format, they are excited that they have the freedom to serve anything that piques their interest.  I watched in awe as the duo made the perfect cup of coffee through a process known as the drip method. This procedure takes about two and a half minutes and is performed through several steps in a homemade set-up resembling a science lab experiment.  "Each cup of coffee is made-to-order," Hart explained as he smelled the complex aroma from the coffee. "We don't want to be so slow that it's frustrating to get a cup of coffee here, but we like the idea of people being able to chill out for a few minutes and have a real coffee experience."  There are many ways to get your caffeine fix at Collective Espresso including espresso, macchiatos, cortado, cappuccino, lattes and mochas. The average price for a drink is $2.50-$3.50.  Although they recognized some great coffee shops that Cincinnati already has to offer, Hart explained that they thought the Cincinnati coffeehouse scene was missing something — Collective Espresso. With seating arranged in a bar-like fashion, the shop provides a welcoming atmosphere to stop in, have a cup of coffee over the daily news (CityBeat, of course) and meet or catch up with neighbors.  "If people are as dorky about coffee as we are, we also want to be a place where people can explore different brew methods and learn about different coffees," Miller added.  Just as the perfect cup of coffee takes time, the finishing touches are being put on Collective Espresso. The shop, located at 207 Woodward St., (off Main Street) is expected to open very soon.