Friday Links

Here are a few things notable things from this week that I flagged but didn’t turn into full blog posts:

1. For those voting in the Republican primary, Donald of Cincinnati Blog says Ghiz over Monzel:

The contrast between Ghiz and Monzel was clear. Ghiz offered nuanced answers, the kind that you'd expect from someone who has thought about how to address development, budget, and public safety issues. Monzel, on the other hand, offered nothing but bits of his stump speech. His campaign strategy seemed clear: do nothing but throw out "red meat" to the base, and hope that the voters don't catch on.

2. The Cincinnati Enquirer had a story on how Chris Bortz ignored the Ohio Ethics Commission’s decision on his obvious massive conflict of interest in the Streetcar project.

3. Bortz responds today:

It is well known that Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls owns a condo a block away from the proposed route. Mayor Mallory's father owns a home less than three blocks away from a proposed connector to Uptown. Former Vice Mayor Jim Tarbell, who voted on the streetcar while a member of Council, owned a business along the proposed route. Under the staff attorney's reasoning, none of these dedicated and committed public servants would be able to participate in the streetcar debate. … So a member of council who lives near a park can't vote on the Parks Department budget?

Obviously those are not the same as the Bortz family’s significant holding along the route. …But actually I’d be okay with Bortz’s rule.

4. The Enquirer’s Politics Blog has a list of companies giving money to Issue 1 “The Third Frontier” …Surely, they not giving just for influence over the $700 million in grants the program is giving out. The Enquirer repeats a line about the initial program “Ohio voters approved spending $500 million in 2005 … generating an estimated $6.6 billion in economic benefits.” If a hack economist gave them those numbers, they should be fired. …Or let's increase the program 100x and we’ll all be rich.

5. Tyler Cowen presents it as a Dutch peculiarity, but this sounds like a really good idea:

Potholes, stray garbage, broken street lamps? Citizens of Eindhoven can now report local issues by iPhone, using the BuitenBeter app that was launched today. After spotting something that needs to be fixed, residents can use the app to take a picture, select an appropriate category and send their complaint directly through to the city council. A combination of GPS and maps lets users pinpoint the exact location of the problem, providing city workers with all the information they need to identify and resolve the problem.

Enjoy your weekend