• Reds fans might be disappointed with the inaugural season at Great American Ball Park, but Kathleen Creager isn't. The city's manager of accounts and audits notes in a report that admissions tax collections are up 29.2 percent this year.

An increase in ticket prices and the early boost in attendance helped push the Reds' share of admission taxes up $541,000 over last year, the report said.

• Bootsy Collins may be getting cold feet over his involvement with John Elkington's Main Street development. Wife and business manager Patti Collins confirmed to the Enquirer that the No. 1 funkateer was interested in opening a nightclub, but called the next day to say they're waiting for the controversy to "iron itself out."

"We want to know if the city is still down with it," said Bootsy. "It's kind of sounding shady to us a little bit. We were really up to doing this, but if there's some negativity around it, we don't want to be involved."

• Mayor Charlie Luken will travel to Israel the week of Nov. 12 with a 40-member mission from the Cincinnati Jewish Federation. While there, he will moderate a panel discussion on cross-cultural communication in a crisis atmosphere - something he's presumably learned something about in the last couple of years.

Luken will miss one or two council meetings, and no taxpayer money is involved, the mayor reports.

• Now that Cincinnati Organized and Dedicated Employees has won a vote to organize the city's middle managers into a new labor union, the group needs to get its internal act together before negotiating a contract. After the State Employment Relations Board certifies the vote Nov. 8, the union has 60 days to elect a board and adopt its bylaws.

"We are hopeful that after the first of the year we can have a negotiating team in place and begin contract talks as soon as possible," acting president Diana Frey said.

• Recent turnover leaves City Manager Valerie Lemmie looking to fill key positions: a chief planner to replace Liz Blume, now at Xavier University's Community Building Institute; and a chief engineer to replace the retired Prem Garg. Each pays up to $95,000 a year.

Also wanted: a chief building official to replace Don Mercer, who's now building commissioner for Lincoln Heights, Evendale and Blue Ash. That job pays up to $93,140 and will run the new One-Stop Development Center on Central Parkway.

• Getting speed bumps soon will be McKinley Avenue in Westwood, Carnation Avenue in West Price Hill, Beechwood Avenue in Winton Place and Collegevue Place in College Hill, says Eileen Enabnit, director of Transportation & Engineering.

Here's why: 65 percent of the cars on McKinley, 42 percent on Carnation, 24 percent on Beechwood and 8 percent on Collegevue (home of Eden Grove Academy) are going more than 4 mph. over the speed limit.

• The fire at the Clifton Recreation Center this month has forced the Clifton Town Meeting to take temporary refuge at Annunciation Church, at the corner of Clifton and Resor avenues, said president Patrick Borders.

The community council will still meet the first Monday of each month at 7:30 p.m.

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E-mail gkorte@enquirer.com