The Cincinnati Beacon is ground zero on jail tax debate

The folks at The Cincinnati Beacon are doing an outstanding job of documenting their reasons for opposing the jail tax Commissioners Portune and Pepper recently voted to impose, despite the rejection it got from Hamilton County voters last November. Quite a few of their readers are posting comments arguing just as vehemently in favor of the tax.

Regardless of which side of the issue you’re on, you'll find lots of in depth information and opinion at The Beacon, including a critique of a letter (“Tim Burke is Wrong!”) Tim Burke, Chair of the Hamilton County Dem. Party, recently sent to members telling them why they should support the tax and not sign the petitions that are circulating to put this issue on the November ballot. Especially interesting is this report by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections commending the ongoing upgrades at the very old Queensgate jail facility, which is scheduled to close under the new jail plan. Their review found the facility 100% compliant with 62 areas that were looked at.

If you want to sign the petition and maybe even help collect signatures for it, click here for the locations and contact info.


6/11/07 UPDATE: Today’s Enquirer has a long article and two editorials about the jail tax issue:

1. Front page of Local Section: “Anti-tax petitioners organize”
2. Editorial: The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction commended the Queensgate jail facility. The Enquirer editorial board toured the jail and reports it‘s “a rotting corpse.”
3. Guest editorial by Ed Rothenberg, coordinator of We Demand a Vote, entitled “Sales tax increase should be put to a vote”