Norwood's online community

We're interrupting our holiday hiatus so you can check out the Cincinnati Beacon article about how politically active Norwoodians are online. Their 12/26/06 article about activism, "Fighting the Power: The Cincinnati Beacon vs. WGN" regarding the controversial Heimlich Maneuver was an especially good read.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

12/21/06 UPDATE: We just added a link above to a wonderful Christmas card John sent (thank you, John).
Just click on the middle of the picture to change the scene.

It’s time to say we’re throwing ourselves into the spirit of this most joyous time of the year. Right now, blogging about local politics seems so…well, so besides the point, plus we don’t want to miss a single opportunity to share the joy with family, friends, acquaintances, co-workers, or anyone else who crosses our paths.

We’ll be back after the first of the year, unless some unexpected blessing befalls our fair city that we just have to say something about. Actually, an amazing one just did. An announcement was made at the last council meeting: an anonymous donor has given $15,000 to make sure children here have Christmas toys. The Norwood Health Department and the Service League are teaming up with the schools to help bring this donor’s wonderful generosity to fruition.

Before we sign off, we declare this an “open” thread between now and Christmas to share information about food, clothing, and toy drives you know about, volunteer opportunities, ways to send Christmas greetings to Norwoodians serving our country or who may be home for the holidays, special church services and events, or maybe share some of the traditions your family enjoys this time of year (Good recipes of the sweet variety are encouraged. What? Recipes on a political blog?); in short, we welcome any comments that might feed our collective Christmas spirit…we might even leave a few ourselves.

And Happy New Year, too!

Our YouTube stats

Last month, we installed on YouTube two editions of our “Norwood News” cable shows and Rick’s videos of the Opening Ceremony of the “Wall that Heals," all in three 10-minute segments. With 285 views as of today, Clip A of the Opening Ceremony is by far the runaway hit. In distant second place are the first clips of both cable news shows with 146 and 147 views each. Obviously, every Norwoodian with a computer isn't viewing our clips. Still, considering how nervous we were there'd be an audible collective “who cares?” yawn when we first announced our YouTube venture, we’re encouraged enough by the numbers to continue the experiment next month with our January edition of “Norwood News.” A collective thank you from us to all who have watched!

Here are the links to the videos for anyone who missed them the first time around:

November "Norwood News"
Clip A

Clip B

Clip C


"Wall that Heals"
Clip A

Clip B

Clip C


September "Norwood News"
Clip A

Clip B

Clip C

12/16/06 Update: "Wall that Heals" just keeps climbing - 300 views now.

October '06 Norwood Police call stats

A monthly feature

In October, we started a regular new feature of publishing the numbers the NPD provides for their total monthly call volume plus some of the more serious incident categories they track. Unfortunately, the report is too lengthy to publish all of the categories.

Total NPD calls:
August: 2,853 = 92 per day = 3.8 per hour
September: 2,688 = 89.6 per day = 3.73 per hour
October: 2,850 = 91.9 per day = 3.83 per hour

We aren’t able to format with a chart. The first set of numbers below is for August, the second for September, and the third set is for October in this partial breakdown by categories of calls:

Auto Accidents: 78-78-70
Criminal Damage: 58-54-47
Dom. Violence: 35-34-39
Fights: 40-42-43
Burglary: 34-16-26
Traffic Stops: 298-184-317
DUI: 6-5-11
Assault: 20-26-29
Noise Complaints: 50-71-49
Theft: 145-102-139
Theft/Motor Vehicle: 21-12-14
Rape/Attempted Rape: 4-2-4

Enquirer update on Linden Pointe development

Developer estimates finished project could generate yearly tax revenues of $1 million for Norwood.

Everybody's using the Norwood case...even sex offenders

And one wins the argument in Ohio’s 2nd District Court of Appeals.

Litigants in Glendale case thank one another after hearing

Imagine that...a civil civil lawsuit in this day and age.

This just in…”Melody Makers” performing one night only this Saturday

Don't miss this and other treats at the Holiday Open House

Norwood’s very own Williams Elementary “Melody Makers,” under the direction of Ms. Becky Parsons, will be the featured entertainment at the Norwood Historical Society’s Holiday Open House this Saturday, December 9. Performance time is approximately 5:00 p.m.

The Open House is from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the McCullough House at the Lindner Park Nature Preserve on Cypress Way. We’re all invited, and the appetizers, refreshments, and desserts are complimentary. Add in the music of the “Melody Makers,“ and we’re talking about an evening not to be missed.

Uh oh. Did the IJ "inject itself" into this Glendale case,too?

Ohio seems to be fertile ground for this D.C. law firm. Maybe they should open a satellite office close by.

Rats! Tomorrow night's COW meeting is cancelled.

That makes two in a row. We'll just have to exercise a little patience here and wait for the one in January '07.

Our 8/27/06 blog: “Performance Audit suggests city prohibit nepotism”

While the city is instituting some of the audit’s suggestions, like mandatory tax filings, purchasing new tracking software for the Treasurer’s office, contracts more favorable to the city’s finances, etc., thus far it has ignored the audit’s advice to formalize a nepotism policy as part of a personnel manual, as evidenced by the recent hiring of the Safety/Service Director’s son in public works. (See “A New Poll…” blog below.) Page 3-23 of the audit clearly recommends this: “Norwood should consider adding a policy to its personnel manual that addresses the issue of nepotism.”

According to the February, ‘06 audit, “…many of the (personnel manual) policies remained in draft form while the Administration sought to consult various peers (peer cities) and other management sources for samples of effective policies which would best fit the needs of the City. Some of the draft policies grant the authority to interpret the policy to the Safety/Service Director. To reduce issues which could potentially arise out of misinterpretation and to avoid potential inconsistent application to employees, the City should carefully craft personnel policies which are comprehensive and detailed, similar to those peers such as Trotwood. Norwood should consider adding a policy…that addresses the issue of nepotism.”

It goes on to say on Page 3-24, “The City’s Safety and HR Committees should be responsible for ensuring the review and overseeing the required revisions using current resources. The City should not incur additional cost for this activity.” In other words, it would cost the City nothing to define nepotism once and for all and prohibit the practice. The return on this investment would be positively staggering in terms of restoring public confidence that our public officials will avoid nepotism or even the appearance of it. In fact, we’re hoping this latest employment episode will spark some discussion at the next council meeting on 12/12...but we’re not holding our breath.