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Friday, May 25, 2007

NAACP, FOP agree: no to jail tax

The NAACP and FOP may not agree on everything, but they do on this: they don't want Hamilton County to raise the sales tax to pay for a new jail and anti-crime plan.

Jessica Brown reports in today's Enquirer:

Two groups voiced opposition to Hamilton County's comprehensive safety plan to raise the sales tax to build a new jail on Thursday, though for different reasons.

The Cincinnati police union voted not to support the plan because it includes $2.3 million to expand Hamilton County's sheriff patrols. The Fraternal Order of Police Queen City Lodge No. 69 says Cincinnati officers should be patrolling city streets, not county deputies.

The Cincinnati chapter of the NAACP said it would oppose any move to increase the sales tax without voter approval.

Commissioners are expected to decide Wednesday whether to put the tax issue on the November ballot or enact it themselves without a vote.

Here is NAACP president Chris Smitherman's letter:


May 25, 2007



Dear Commissioner Portune:

Thank you for attending the general membership meeting of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) on May 24, 2007. We appreciate your willingness to present the Comprehensive Safety Plan directly to the NAACP members.

This is one issue of many. The general membership previously voted not to support funding should it appear on an August ballot. Last night, the membership voted not to support a sales tax increase by County Commissioners without voter approval. Also, during the discussion, the membership connected the Banks Project's lack of inclusion of African Americans in contracting, procurement, and employment with the proposal to build a jail for the "increasing criminal population".

On behalf of the NAACP, we look forward to working cooperatively with you and the Hamilton County Commissioners to provide the best options for our community.

Sincerely,


Christopher Smitherman
President, NAACP


6 Comments:

at 1:48 PM, May 25, 2007 Anonymous Anonymous said...

So, wait - was the meeting about the new jail, or The Banks? Leave it to Smitherman to get his dig in there about lack of minority inclusion in The Banks without offering any type of resolution. Business as usual for him.

 
at 1:57 PM, May 25, 2007 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Can Smitherman string a group of sentences together in a coherent fashion?

So the Banks doesn't include minority contracts because of the jail?

 
at 7:46 PM, May 25, 2007 Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Cincinnati FOP has put their overtime over their residents' safety.
First off, the CPD needs to get over themselves - the law says the Sheriff has the right to patrol all streets within the county, in all jurisdictions -- if they want them out of "their" jurisdiction first, get the constitution changed, second, do their darn jobs well and they wouldn't need the help.
The FOP's willingness to shirk their duty to safety for a blue line in the sand is absolutely pathetic.

The NAACP -anybody can understand that they don't want to keep seeing minor offenders being locked up and getting records for stupid stuff that isn't even a crime in the rest of the county - but, throwing out the baby with the bath water is downright stupid!!!!!

 
at 6:13 AM, May 26, 2007 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Smitherman has as much vertabraic rigidity as the the Heimlich/DeWine team. Those puppet commissioners sent a sales tax vote to the ballot becuase they would not raise a tax without COAST's blessing. Strip away the debate on if and when a vote should occur and you still need a jail: period. Portune and Pepper are real leaderss, not fickle severants of COAST and the WACKO GOP in Hamilton County.

 
at 2:15 PM, May 27, 2007 Anonymous Anonymous said...

..And where is Mayor Zero? Still hiding in the tall weeds, we assume. Or in Vegas, on a junket. And noone at The Enquirer will bother to tell us how much that waste of money cost taxpayers.

Come on, Mayor Zero, just once have some stones and LEAD...and the jail tax is the perfect opportunity.

 
at 12:24 PM, May 28, 2007 Anonymous Anonymous said...

I can see why CPD wouldn't want any help from the county when it comes to patroling the city steets. They're doing such a great job at reducing crime downtown.

 
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