greg harris running for council

Greg Harris Running For Council

Greg Harris

This really doesn't deserve a separate blog entry here at the

Cincinnati Black Blog (it should be an update to my blog entry "2007

City Council Preview"), but I'm in a good mood today, so I figured

what the heck. This week's edition of CityBeat reports that Greg

Harris plans to run for a seat on Cincinnati City Council in 2007.

Here's the story.

Greg Harris plans to run for city council next year. The

progressive Democrat, who challenged U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot

(R-Westwood) in 2002 and 2004, has been meeting with labor groups

to build support.

"My priorities include leveraging Cincinnati's existing assets," he

says. "I would love for Cincinnati to become one of the greenest

cities in America, including more brownfields redevelopment and

connecting Cincinnati's core to our region's network of recreation

trails. I think the Freedom Center can be better utilized to

catapult Cincinnati as a heritage tourism hub that allows for

immersion into the history of abilitionism and the Underground

Railroad but also a site for the ongoing fight for human rights. I

would love, for instance, to see an annual African American Theater

Festival on the riverfront devoted to these themes. I also see a

strong need to create a seamless public transit grid to unify and

support the emergence of a central entertainment corridor that

unifies The Banks, downtown, Over-the-Rhine, UC, Clifton,

Northside, etc." (link)

Oh, brother!

Reading between the lines, it appears that Greg supports giving more

tax money to the Freedom Center (I think the Freedom Center's current

request is $3 Million); raising taxes for a public transportation

system (I might be convinced to support that proposal, and certainly

don't mind someone raising the issue); rubber stamping any proposal

from organized labor union bosses (so don't look for Greg to support a

residency requirement for city workers which would be good for the

city, but is opposed by labor bosses); and giving lip service to Black

people (the vast majority of Black people aren't interested in the

Freedom Center or any African American Theater Festival on the

riverfront).

Greg isn't talking about the issues that matter to Cincinnatians:

CRIME, JOBS, HEALTH CARE. (Needless to say, Greg also isn't talking

about his support for white candidates over their more-qualified

African American counterparts.) For example, what does Greg think

about City Manager Milton Dohoney's proposed budget? (See, "Dohoney