July 2007 www.cincinnatibeacon.com Free! Take One!

The Cincinnati Beacon

WhereDivergent Views Collide

Nick Lachey:Keeping theFaith (p. 8)Hey Black People!No News for You!(p. 4)

Cincinnati’s Missing Strippers

Cities like Atlanta have reaped the economic benefit of upscale adult entertainment. Chris Bortz, Cincinnati’s Economic Development Com-mittee Chair, says banning adult entertainment is niche marketing.

by Jason A. Haap, MAThe Dean of Cincinnati

City of Cincinnati. 6 pm.What do you find? Mostlyclosed businesses. A ghosttown. But how can this be?Shouldn't Cincinnati be bus-tling with business – especiallywith a major hub airport, twomajor league sports teams, a brand new center Square, anda convention center? Whatmakes Cincinnati different?The answer, surprisingly,might have nothing to do withurban planning, or streetcars,or The Banks, and everythingto do with adult entertainment.Enter Cincinnati's missingstrippers – a key piece to suc-cessful economic developmentthat no one wants to talk about.Morality aside (even if just for a moment), adult entertain-ment might be the answer to jump-starting struggling urbaneconomies.In a study available online bythe Woodhull Freedom Foun-dation and Federation, Ange-lina Spencer writes about therelationship between economyand adult entertainment. Fromher piece entitled "The EroticEconomy":"The city of Atlanta is the bestexample of a sleepy town do-ing some of the country's big-gest adult business. Accordingto Atlanta Magazine, this cityis home to more nude danceclubs than any other in theUnited States. The metro area boasts over forty that earn arespectable $80-$100 million per year, not to mention theover $20 million dancers makeas independent contractors(Rebecca Poyner-Burns,2000). Even a conservativeestimate of the economic impact of such clubs translates toa whopping $200-$240 mil-lion, which is far above theeconomic impact of theBraves, Hawks and Falcons(con’t on p. 2)

Sweetheart Deals!

To: Richard WeilandFrom: Cincinnati

Henry Heimlich’sManuever: WorldLeaves CincinnatiDoctor Behind

by Jason A. Haap, MA

Cincinnati native Henry Heim-lich is a world-famous, house-hold name. But the maneuver that has brought him fame has become a left-behind.Did you know, for example,that the American Red Crosshas changed their guidelinesfor first response to choking?Instead of the Maneuver, youshould use a combo called thefive-and-five. That’s five backslaps followed by fiveabdominal thrusts (the RedCross no longer calls the movea “Heimlich Maneuver”).And even the American HeartAssociation – whose guide-lines are the model for emer-gency response professionals – recently issued a press state-ment which suggests a possible replacement for abdominalthrusts: chest thrusts.We recently talked to Dr.Charles Guildner, who firstidentified chests thrusts for choking rescue in 1976.(con’t on p. 2)

by Michael Earl Patton,Senior Analyst

How does a non-profit or-ganization convince govern-ment officials to give it moremoney in the face of contro-versy? The National Under-ground Railroad FreedomCenter is a non-profit organi-zation that has received both private contributions andgovernment funding. It was built on public land in a primeriverfront scenic location, andmuch of the initial fundingcame from the state. Many people thought that the mu-seum would be self-supportingwhen built and oppose givingit additional taxpayer dollars.Others point to what they con-sider high executive salaries – its president, Spencer Crew,earned over $300,000 in 2005. Nonetheless, it will be given$800,000 in Cincinnati taxdollars this year. Last year,the Ohio legislature voted togive them $2,000,000.The Freedom Center pays noincome tax, but it does file aform 990 which gives manyfinancial details. The form990 for 2005 (2006 was notavailable when this article waswritten) gives the salaries of the top officers and also re-veals that the center spent$162,124 in lobbying ex- penses. The purpose of thislobbying is revealed right inthe form 990: "... to securefunding for the center from the(con’t on p. 2)

Your Tax Dollars Recycled into CampaignContributions

Notes ‘n Dotes

Do you deserve to know if an elected leader takes prescrip-tion painkillers daily? Mightsuch drugs affect their ability tomake sound and reasoned deci-sions? Is it fair to even ask such a question?

Did you know that 3CDCoriginally said the City would be in charge of permitting for Fountain Square, and then theytook over permitting for Foun-tain Square? Should we beconcerned about the privatiza-tion of our public spaces?

What

’

s Inside?

A Closer Look ............ p. 4The Labor Report ........ p. 6Lifestyle ...................... p. 8The Soapbox ............... p. 10

It’s AvtarGill!aka “CityHall Guy”or “CrazyHat Guy”

Heimlich

(con’t from p. 1)“[The chest thrust] is near anddear to my heart as I am theone who first described theChest Thrust and first gave itit's name,” said Guildner. “Ithas been a long time coming.”“I thought that someday thelogic and common sense of theChest Thrust over the Ab-dominal Thrust finally would be recognized,” continuedGuildner. “The studies indicatethe Chest location of theThrust to be more effectivethan the Abdominal ap- proach.”A few months ago, TheAmerican Heart Associationand the American Red Crossissued a joint statement: “TheAmerican Heart Associationrecommends the use of chestthrusts if the initial use of ab-dominal thrusts does not suc-cessfully dislodge the foreign body. (Chest thrusts are simi-lar to abdominal thrusts but performed higher on the chest;the American Heart Associa-tion also recommends their usefor pregnant women or peoplewho are obese.)”

“For many years, no newcompelling scientific evidencehas suggested that any onetechnique as first line treat-ment is superior to another,”the statement continues. “Infact, the current internationalstandard, developed by theInternational Liaison Commit-tee on Resuscitation (ILCOR),states that a combination of more than one technique— abdominal thrusts, back slapsand chest thrusts—is generallyneeded.”Between the lines of the jointstatement may be an acknowl-edgment that The Heimlichmay be going the way of the buggy whip. No new studiesindicate that one technique issuperior to another.But across the ocean, the Aus-tralian Resuscitation Councilsays that back blows, chestthrusts, and abdominal thrustscan all clear the airway, butthat abdominal thrusts have been known to cause injury,they have been replaced withchest thrusts.We’ve all heard that Cincin-nati is behind the times, and itlooks like the same might betrue of our City’s most famousManeuverer.Since chest thrusts are alreadya part of CPR, moving to stan-dardize chest thrusts makessense – as that would simplifyan overall strategy for savinglives in emergency situations.

Recycling

(con’t from p. 1)government at all levels of government." All of this is perfectly legal. Iwant to emphasize that I haveselected the Freedom Center for this article because it has been in the news lately.Two lobbyists (people who arespecially paid by a companyor organization in order to tryto influence legislation) arecurrently employed by thecenter: Stanley J. Aronoff andRichard A. Weiland.I only mention them to givespecific examples of certainmoney flows.Campaign contributions fromMessrs. Aronoff and Weilandcan be found in the Ohio Sec-retary of State and the City of Cincinnati websites, and thesecontributions were reported aslegally required. Richard Weiland is employedas a lobbyist by many firmsand organizations. A listingfrom the Ohio Joint Legisla-tive Ethics Committee showsother non-profits such as theMuseum Center and the Cin-cinnati Zoo. Mr. Weiland alsorepresents for-profit organiza-tions. The overall total is 36as of June 25. Both Messrs.Aronoff and Weiland makecampaign contributions. I havechosen Mr. Weiland for thefollowing examples for thesimple reason that he hasmade more contributions. Mr. Weiland contributed$1000 each to the 2005 elec-tion campaigns of Jeff Berd-ing, Laketa Cole, and JohnCranley. He contributed $500each to Leslie Ghiz and ChrisMonzel, and the same in "in-kind" contributions (officesupplies, mailing work) toChris Bortz. He donated tothe 2006 campaigns of dozensof others, such as $500 to statesenator Eric Kearney and $500to the candidate who won theOhio Secretary of State office,Jennifer Brunner.Large donations did not al-ways indicate a winner: TedStrickland received over $5,000 in various donationsfor his successful race for governor, but this was sur- passed by $6,000 in contribu-tions to Betty Montgomery,who lost her race for attorneygeneral. Many contributionswere relatively small. Repre-sentative Steve Driehaus re-ceived only $100, and JimRaussen only $150. Some of these donationsdoubtless come from moneyearned while lobbying for theFreedom Center or another non-profit.Regardless of the amount, isthis a proper use of tax dol-lars?The Freedom Center has re-ceived, and is still receiving,tax dollars. Money is sup- posed to be used for capitalexpenses – not lobbying – butmoney freed in one accountcan easily be spent from an-other.And some of that money isused to pay a lobbyist, whotries to influence legislation toobtain more money for theFreedom Center. That lobbyistalso earns money, and some of that money is donated to po-litical candidates. Many of those candidates are the oneswho made it possible for theFreedom Center to receivethose tax dollars in the first place. All of this is perfectly legal.But is it proper?

Strippers

(con’t from p. 1)combined, according to Geor-gia state economist DonaldRatajczak.”“Atlanta Magazine claims thecity has formed a silent alli-ance with adult entertainmentand some council memberssay the adult clubs are more of an asset to the city than anannoyance. More people work in adult entertainment in At-lanta than one of their largestemployers: Coca-cola. And people spend more money onadult entertainment productsand services than any other form of entertainment."For Bortz, avoiding adult en-tertainment is akin to pursuinga niche market for Cincinnati."There will likely always becities in this country that offer adult entertainment," con-cluded Bortz. "The simplequestion is, need we followsuit? Is our economic growthlagging because of a lack of such entertainment? Or havewe survived the industrial de-cline because of our conserva-tive values? Is taking the leapworth the potential economicand social costs?"So the chair of our city's Eco-nomic Development officewill not explore adult enter-tainment as a way to boost our city's economic development.Perhaps this is the moralchoice in line with most of Cincinnati's thinking. Or, per-haps Atlanta, in the heart of the Bible Belt, shows an ex-ample of how adult businesscan thrive alongside conserva-tive religious values.Time will tell how attractive isthe niche for a city with noadult entertainment.

In this letter, a reader responds to Ja- son Haap’s article last month about how the Freedom Center should be-come an Ohio River Museum.

I am responding to Mr. Haap’s com-ments as they relate to the FreedomCenter. He has by his own admissionvisited the Freedom Center only once,yet claims to be an authority of what itoffers. Contrary to his statements, thereis always something new going on atthe Center, and had he cared to notice,he would have realized how much hehas missed as a result of his one-minded thinking.I moved to Cincinnati about 2-1/2years ago, and one of my first acts wasto become a member of the Center. Asimplied by Mr. Haap, the Center is notan art gallery, so should not be com- pared to one. Rather, it is a memorialin much the same way the HolocaustMuseum located in Washington, DC is.Additionally, it was not built as an en-tertainment center, per se, but as anarchival center meant to inform, edu-cate and preserve the shameful historyof slavery not only within our country, but in other areas of the world as well.While one can only hope that in futuremore Cincinnatians will begin to ap- preciate the value of the Freedom Cen-ter, it must be remembered that theCenter is open to and visited by citi-zens from all around the globe. Indeed,one of the great values of visiting isnot only the exhibits, but others’ ob-servations. When I last visited twoweeks ago, I followed along behind afamily reunion, whose members en-compassed four generations. How bonding and life affirming is that, andhow many other places can one visit asa family unit that inspires open dia-logue?The Freedom Center does have some-thing for those who live in this area,should they choose to be open to it.However, my own view is that this cityhas not liberated itself from outmodedattitudes–too much racism on bothsides, for starters. And then there isthat constant under appreciation I oftenhear, that “Cincinnati is not what itused to be.” Well, neither is any placeelse. The locals who complain thelongest and the hardest are those whogive the least support to the merchantslocated in the heart of this historicalcity.I challenge Mr. Haap to become anannual member and begin to partici- pate in many of the upcoming eventsscheduled for the remainder of theyear. If he chooses not to visit, then leta membership fee reflect his support of what the Freedom Center stands for. I,for one, am looking forwarded to thenew summer exhibits, beginning withGlobal Shoes. –Dora Schield, Clifton

Defending The Freedom Center

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