Thursday, October 07, 1999
TRISTATE DIGEST
Hotel developers get deal from city
The developers of a new downtown Cincinnati hotel got the financial package they requested from the city to go ahead with the project.
Cincinnati City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to approve a $8.3 million financial package backing the development of a $11.3 million Hampton Inn at Fifth and Elm streets. Planners have said they would like to have the 150-170 room hotel opened by the spring of 2001.
The financing includes about $1.3 million in bonds to pay for infrastructure and other improvements and a no-interest $7 million community development loan to be paid back over 30 months.
The project was delayed after a few council members balked over a planned skywalk bridge over Fifth Street. The bridge would link the new hotel with the Albert B. Sabin Convention Center.
City Manager John Shirey noted Wednesday there already is a pedestrian bridge over the street and the new plans call for only the upgrade of the bridge, likely a covered walkway, to replace the existing link. Urban planners criticize any expansion of the city's skywalk system.
Fairview man arrested on drug charges
Cincinnati police arrested William Paden on Tuesday after using a search warrant to recover more than 30 marijuana plants from his house.
Mr. Paden, of Fairview, was arraigned Wednesday in Hamilton County Municipal Court. Bond was set at $1,000 for a drug possession charge and $5,000 for a charge of preparing to distribute drugs.
Police searched Mr. Paden's house after they said they saw him carry marijuana plants in Mount Airy Forest. Police also found drug paraphernalia in his vehicle, according to a police record. A grand jury could return an indictment Oct. 15.
Clerk charged in use of stolen credit card
Tiffaney Anderson was arrested Tuesday after police said she allowed two acquaintances to use a stolen credit card to purchase about $3,600 in merchandise from the Kemper Road Value City store where she worked as a sales clerk.
Police said Ms. Anderson, 26, used a fraudulent approval code that bypassed the store's security system, thereby allowing Kennyatta Dodds and Qiana Jackson to buy items with a stolen card, according to a police records. The three women live in Cumminsville.
Bond for Ms. Anderson, who faces a theft charge, was set at $1,500 during her arraignment Wednesday in Hamilton County Municipal Court. A grand jury could return an indictment on Oct. 15.
Police say Mr. Anderson also allowed a yet unidentified person to use the same stolen credit card between Sept. 28-30 to purchase more than $1,600 in merchandise.
Ms. Jackson and Ms. Dodds, each of whom faces a theft charge, were referred to a diversion program. Both women were released under supervised recognizance.
Police investigating cookout shooting
DAYTON, Ohio — Police investigating the shooting deaths of a father and son at a weekend cookout questioned a man at a bus station Wednesday who resembled the suspect, but the man turned out to have no connection to the attack.
Police issued a warrant Tuesday for the arrest of Salvador Gomez Nunez, 24, of Dayton. Sgt. Gary White said Mr. Nunez is originally from Mexico and may have fled there or to Chicago, where he has relatives.
Sgt. White said police also are looking for three men with Mr. Nunez at the time of the shooting.
Tomas Martinez, 50, and his son, Juan, 23, of Trotwood, were shot about 6:20 p.m. Sunday at the cookout and died at Miami Valley Hospital.
Representative from Sierra Club to speak
An environmental policy adviser to the Clinton/Gore administration will urge activists to embrace the Sierra Club's response to unplanned Tristate suburban development on Saturday.
Brett Hulsey, director of the national Sierra Club's Challenge to Sprawl campaign, will offer a free, public workshop from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The program will be at Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church, 103 William Howard Taft Road, with parking in back off McMillan Street.
Mr. Hulsey is primary author of Sprawl Costs Us All, a Sierra Club report that ranked the Tristate as the nation's fourth most sprawl-threatened metro area.
Sierra Club says suburban development is destroying green spaces and farmland, polluting the air and water, crowding streets with more dangerous traffic, burdening schools, weakening established neighborhoods and city centers, raising taxes and undermining the quality of life.
Mr. Hulsey will explain how activists can respond with “smart growth” alternatives.
SORTA seeks funding for bus bike racks
The Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) will ask for $500,000 in its 2002 Transportation Improvement Program grant request to put bike racks on its 389-bus Metro fleet.
The racks would let bicyclists put their bikes on the racks on the front of the buses, take Metro and then take their bikes off and ride away. SORTA board members endorsed the idea Tuesday, after Metro tested a sample bike rack on routes and looked at programs in other cities.
Council approves property tax plan
Washerwoman can lead Tide of goodness
Casinos consider staying docked
Drivers run red, but not in rage
Sauerkraut to honey, we love festivals
Waging war on teen drinking
Norwood mayor's office investigated
Driver faces eight years for hitting teen on bike
Police seek deli shooter
Trucker freed after bail lowered in fatal wreck
Classes to take away fear of computers
Goose dresser explains his passion
Ind. science teacher wins national award
Pets special on this day
Riverboat no longer tipsy
School candidates tell why they run
Where school board candidates stand
ABC's 'Wasteland' will make you scream
GET TO IT
Service honors fallen firefighters
Maisonette munchers rave on
Artists protest plan that displaces shelter
Boone planners may drop growth restriction
County chooses Ohio's program to help jobless
Disciplined janitors sue school board -6 over camera
Elsmere fumes at jail-site choice
Fingerprints at '85 death scene called link to man
School chiefs want funding addressed
Students inspire Up With People
Taft has caution on using windfall
TRISTATE DIGEST
United Way campaign nearly halfway to goal
Work on new school district begins
