Cincinnati Curfew

The trains are coming! The trains are coming!

I’ve griped in the past about our lack of public transportation, but felt the need to post some basic information before going on to the news…

Our "Metro" (public bus, fondly referred to as "The 'Tro") is our only form of "Mass Transit". No trains. No Subways. No Streetcars. We had a subway system once...Our own secret underground railroad. Construction began in 1912 and the system continues to lie in shame underneath the pavement our cars grace. Its demise was blamed on funding in the 1960s, but I find this suspicious timing coinciding with social changes. (Specifically, desegregation. Transporting "others" in to our still segregated neighborhoods must not have appeared such a good idea at the time.)1/3 of Metro Riders have no other means of transportation. (Translated as "No Car") and 51% are earning less than the current poverty level. With the exception of the 20% who work downtown using the system, we can assume that most are using what could be an excellent system because they must.

Today I found out that trains might be coming. They call this our first light rail system (which isn’t the case considering that taxpayers already spent 13 million on a system that never saw completion) which would shuffle East Siders (the white-collar section of the city) downtown. As a “West Sider”, I should be bitter, but it’s an important first step.

I say “Might be coming” because a lot of environmentalists are hacked off because the plan (which also calls for a highway system) could degrade our river system. (Because the proposed highway or rail would cross the river) Though we’re not best friends, I do love our earth and all of the river systems that come with it, but for anyone that’s ever visited, we’re talking about the OHIO river. You know, that river that we dump sewage, industrial waste, refrigerators, and dead bodies in? That sludge covered river deemed unsafe for swimming and fishing? This transportation plan also calls for beautification, landscaping, environmental protection, green space, bike paths, and restoring of the wetlands. It would also save our environment from 50 million miles that cars drive on that stretch of road.

What is everyone afraid of? Again, I’d like to just throw it out there: Desegregation of our neighborhoods. “Those people” downtown could invade the East Side just as easily as East Siders could commute downtown.

This is Keith. Cute kid, eh? Keith's mother wanted to enroll him at a school in the Northwest School District (see this article) and was refused because he "does not meet eligibility criteria for the following reason: transfer will adversely affect racial balance of school". The really not-so-funny part? Keith is bi-racial. He could technically fit in either category. Northwest School District countered by saying "We have two categories. We have minority and we have white". The Assistant Super-Intendant countered by saying "The Welch population for minority students exceeds the district average by more than 15%". Keith is apparently too black for school.

Back in the early 80's, the Cincinnati Public School System was still segregated as (in an effort to "save money" on bussing), children were enrolled in the closest school to their home. Black kids went to school in black neighborhoods, and white kids went to school in white neighborhoods. In an effort to fix the problem, "Magnet Schools" were created to allow for bussing. These schools specialized in foreign languages, College Prep, Physical Education, and the Arts to name a few. Magnet Schools had to literally be divided equally among the races and the sexes. At the time of their creation, my father camped out in a snow storm for three days to enroll me at a French School which happened to be in a White Neighborhood. (P.S., I'm white.) A cracker-white queue trailed for blocks with black students walking past angry stares to the front of the line. Am I bitter? Not at all. 90% of my friends were black and I had no idea what race was until someone in my church asked me where all of my colored friends were. Is my dad bitter? Not at all. Chapped lips and cold hands melted away at the thought of my receiving the best education possible. Fluent in French with 3.94 or higher at both colleges that I attended. Not bad for "Public School". ("Neighborhood" schools that continue to be segregated still exist which perform significantly lower on test scores. He could have skipped the camp-out and sent me there instead)

It would seem that my gut reaction would be to defend the school district then....that crucial racial balance that provided me a far greater education than reading, writing and arithmetic could ever bless me with. The problem? Welch Elementary is not a magnet school. It's a neighborhood school. Current race statistics can be found here. The summary? 37% black, 57% white (the rest are "unknown", whatever that is). It's not as if they're defending some delicate racial line in denying a biracial student. There is a clear majority that Keith doesn't fit in to and as for now, Keith is simply too black for school.

A refreshing change from shooting unarmed black men:

(As told on Cincinnati.Com) The Cincinnati Park Board wants to hire police sharpshooters to kill 550 deer in Mount Airy Forest next year in an effort to curb the exploding deer population there. The program, a first for the city, could be expanded to California Woods in an effort to reduce the deer population citywide.

Really....POLICE sharpshooters? In public parks? "Cincinnati....it's a riot!"