Compiled by Jennifer Edwards
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Spotlight on north suburban sprawl: New York Times Television is coming to the Tristate next week to film segments for a 60-minute documentary on traffic and sprawl that will air in April.
A crew will shadow a Liberty Township commuter, Carol Bross-McMahon, as she travels from her house next to a horse farm on Maud-Hughes Road to Interstate 75 and the Norwood Lateral to her job in Oakley Jan. 24 and again as she runs errands in Liberty and West Chester Jan. 25.
"I am an active, runaround mom," said Ms. Bross-McMahon, 39, who has two daughters, ages 10 and 15. "The whole idea is neat, just to have a reflection or some insight into how our cars and our errands tend to run our lives, especially on the weekends."
Ms. Bross-McMahon, director of sales support at Harte-Hanks Direct Marketing, plans to take the crew up one of the most congested arteries in the Tristate, Tylersville Roadin the heat of Saturday morning shopping rush.
Called Nowhere, Fast!, the documentary will mostly focus on the national traffic epidemic, with about 250 million citizens owning 216 million cars, said Jay Keuper, the project's producer.
Mr. Keuper also will receive a "Tour du sprawl" of Butler and Warren counties - particularly Deerfield, West Chester and Liberty townships - from Glen Brand, Midwest regional representative of the Sierra Club.
The crew also will film in San Francisco, Houston, Atlanta and New York City.
"We did not want to go to normal urban centers," Mr. Keuper said. "We wanted to show the problem is as profound in New York City as it is in Davenport, Iowa."
The documentary will air on The Discovery Times Channel, a joint venture between The New York Times Co. and Discovery Communications Inc.
Alvarez for county commission?: It's no secret West Chester Trustee Jose Alvarez is pondering a bid for the 2004 Butler County Commission race.
He won't confirm, however, that he has chatted up his potential campaign with Butler County politicos such as the county sheriff and prosecutor. "I have asked no one for support but had discussion on various range of topics," Mr. Alvarez said. "Some people have mentioned this is not a bad idea and my concern is simply a few months ago this county looked like it could use some solid Republican leadership. I wanted to investigate that."
Mr. Alvarez hasn't been too thrilled with some of the actions commissioners took last year and even signed a petition against the county's sales tax increase in early 2002. But he says he was buoyed by the recent budget cutbacks in the county budget.
Meanwhile, Mr. Alvarez remains mum on who he would run against.
Fox likely target: Commissioner Mike Fox, who is up for re-election next year along with fellow commissioner Chuck Furmon, thinks he is the most likely target.
His blunt comments have raised eyebrows among his Republican colleagues, some of whom wish he would put a lid on it. "I have a unique talent for kindling passions," Mr. Fox cracked.
Mr. Fox drew West Chester's ire last year by trying to intervene in a "mall war" there among developers vying for the same retailers and publicly criticized the township for rejecting a $100 million lifestyle complex from the same developers as Easton Towne Centre and Newport on the Levee.
West Chester officials say he tried to meddle in their economic development policies - a big no-no as far as they're concerned.
"We circled the wagons, Democrats and Republicans alike, to keep Mike Fox from interfering with our business development," Trustee Catherine Stoker said.
Ms. Stoker, one of Butler County's few elected Democrats, unsuccessfully ran against Mr. Furmon in 2000 but insists she won't throw her hat back into the ring. "It's too costly," she said. "Elections aren't determined in Butler County by who can do a better job. They're determined by who's got the R after their name."
