11 February 2007

A Plan to Move Cincinnati Into the 21st Century?

Wisconsin governor Jim Doyle recently released his Grow Milwaukee initiative to boost quality of life there. BFD wonders why there isn't a "Grow Cleveland" initiative, and I wonder why we don't have something like that for Cincinnati.

Then I saw this.

It's a little bit pie-in-the-sky, but considering his extensive background in urban policy, he might be just the one to get the ball rolling.

I've opined before about the importance of electing a council that at least understands the importance of urban planning, if not has the experience themselves. Thats why I endorsed Samantha Herd in 2005 (what happened to her, anyway?).

So far the Harris platform looks pretty strong and deserves serious consideration... more than the run-of-the-mill claptrap we'll likely get from the usual suspects.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'll tell you the same thing I have told everyone else.
Never trust a man with a full head of hair who couldn't beat Steve Chabot.

Just kidding, Harris seems like a good man, and is one of my top picks for the Council.

My only problem is that he is another Ivy League product of prosperity. I want a candidate who knows adversity and understands what it is like to be poor. I don't think a candidate can truly represent the plight of the less fortunate, without having experienced some form of poverty himself.

I am running this year, as an alternative to the normal formula of candidate.

WestEnder said...

It would be more convincing if you could explain in specific terms how you could better represent "the plight of the less fortunate" than Harris or others.

In my view whether a person comes from poverty only determines how much importance that person places on the issue, not how well they can address it. I am satisfied that Harris can address issues of poverty as well as anyone out there.

I would also add that you may have excluded yourself by your own logic... in Cincinnati the poor are predominantly inner city blacks. And according to recent statistics, the incidence of out-of-wedlock births in the black community is over 50%.

Are you an inner city black man born to a single teenage mother?

Wes said...

RFK, despite being born to some of the greatest privilege the world has ever known, understood poverty in America like few others.

Ronald Reagan, despite being born in a decidedly lower-class family, treated the poor as lepers.

WF

Anonymous said...

I don't talk about my living situation much, or my personal finances. Honestly it is no one's business and I don't want to go for the, "poor me" angle, because that is lame and is not my style.
But I am considered disabled, have been since I was a much younger. After graduating from a local nursing program my condition worsened and I was housebound for a while. During this time I lost my job and started recieving disability for my condition, I was also forced to obtain other forms of public assistance.
It was hard to suck up my pride and ask for help after having a great job.
My disability pay was 660 dollars a month, and after 440 a month for rent, 70 for utilities, 134 for medicaid health insurance, 30 for a phone, and 160 a month for student loans, I had negative income, and that was before food.
I didn't want to be poor, but because of my health condition I didn't have a choice. I got to experience all the stigma and humiliation that comes with being poor. The way cashiers don't look you in the eye, when you pull out a foodstamp card, focusing instead on your adams apple when they talk to you. And you sit in that line, feeling like everyone behind you is looking at you, thinking you are lazy or worthless. Or how most doctors offices brush you off when you try to get an appointment with medicaid.
I learned the hard way 1st hand the hardships of poverty, luckily through medical treatments I have been able to get myself to a better place in life.
I am not saying any of this for sympathy, because that is the last thing I would ever want. The reason I bring it up is because I feel that my experience with uncontrollable poverty gives me an advantage in understanding what some in poverty go through.
Part of the reason I am running is because I don't want people to go through the hardships that I did, when I heard that a community health center was supposed to be cut in the new budget, that was the moment I decided to run.
I'm not saying that Mr. Harris doesn't care about the less fortunate, or wouldn't do his best. I like his viewpoints and will vote for him hoping he will do the right things, but I don't forget for one second, where his funding came from before and the game most well-off politicians talk to get elected. I am putting faith in him though.
I don't claim I am better than Mr. harris in anyway, we both have our own unique experience that gives us different insights into the same issue's.