THIRD STREET: HATCHER'S MASTER PLAN

Hatcher giving us the finger on Third Street

   

     Below are the some 220 Portsmouth  properties owned by Neal Hatcher and associates as of this date (3/25/2013). Some dozen of those properties,  indicated in red below, are located on 3rd Street. However, because of front corporations, the auditor's list of Hatcher properties on Third and other streets is far from complete. For example it does not include the dozen or so SSU student dormitories that Hatcher owns, through  Campus View Associates, which I have listed below, those on Third Street highlighted in red.

     The closing of Third Street is part of Hatcher's Master Plan for the university. I expect the university to incorporate 4th Street in the future, as part of that same plan. He already owns student dormitories on 4th Street, and he  has also been buying property east of the SSU campus, the lebensraum, as it could be called, which is the direction the university will grow. Under the arrangement Hatcher has worked out with the university and city, the financial risks involved in the expansion of the campus are borne by the city and university, and ultimately by tax payers. If the occupancy rate of his dormitories falls below 92 percent, he will be reimbursed for the difference. And when his dormitories begin to age, and maintenance costs rise, he or his heirs, will be able to exercise the provision of the contract that allows him to sell them to a private party or to the university. As a developer, by buying property cheap and selling it dear,  Hatcher has made a fortune capitalizing on Portsmouth's chronic poverty. He would not have been able to do it if he did not have the politicians in city government in his pocket. As long as the city government remains corrupt, Hatcher and people like him will continue to capitalize on the city's chronic poverty. As in many other streets in the city, Hatcher is giving the citizens of Portsmouth the finger on Third Street.

Further reading: "Student Housing Shenanigans" (click here).

Current Owner		Parcel ID		Address		Legal
HATCHER J NEAL + VICKY A		300203000		1412 GALLIA ST		GLOVER WHOLE 35 X 150 LOT 4
HATCHER J NEAL + VICKY A		312267000		1400 COLES AVE		LOTS 11 THRU 19 35 THRU 48 +
HATCHER J NEAL + VICKY A		290689000		7TH ST		CITY PT VAC VINE-SPRUCE ALLEY
HATCHER J NEAL + VICKY A		300566000		1242 4TH ST		H. WALLER E PT 30 X 107FT 3IN
HATCHER J NEAL + VICKY A		300441000		1326 4TH ST		GLOVER TRACT 66-67 49 X 111
HATCHER J NEAL + VICKY A		300791000		612 GLOVER ST		GLOVER MID PT 20FT 10IN X 128F
HATCHER J NEAL + VICKY A		300392000		1400 GALLIA ST		GLOVER WHOLE 93FT 4IN X 100/13
HATCHER J NEAL + VICKY J/S		290344000		901 9TH ST		NOEL #2 WH 41'5" X 123 LOT 9
HATCHER JENNIFER		330046000		2817 WILLOW WAY		FOREST PARK WHOLE 62 X 120 LOT
HATCHER JENNIFER		290103000		409 CHILLICOTHE ST		CITY N PT 33 X 165 LOT 135-13
HATCHER JENNIFER		311305000		1062 28TH ST		HERMANN LOT 32 40X131.2 + NOEL
HATCHER JENNIFER		330159000		0 DORMAN DR		DORMAN TERRACE 150 X 112.52 LO
HATCHER JENNIFER A		310798000		1517 FRANKLIN AVE		HIGH WHOLE 37 X 120 LOT 116
HATCHER JOE NEAL + VICKY ANN J/S		311233000		1249 COLES BLVD		RTS 21-1-8 FRAC N SIDE OF BLVD
HATCHER NEAL		330373000		2109 GRANT ST		MOUND WHOLE 35 X 136FT 3IN LOT
HATCHER NEAL	300576000		1010 4TH ST		P B + S W 1/2 32 X 107FT 3IN L
HATCHER NEAL & VICKY	301172000		944 4TH ST		P B + S E 1/2 30 X 107FT 3IN L
HATCHER NEAL + VICKI	300295000		1223 3RD ST		WALLER EST. PT LOT 4-5 41FT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKI	310231000		1227 COLES BLVD		JOHNSON WHOLE 40 X 184 LOT 7
HATCHER NEAL + VICKIE	330571000		1602 FRANKLIN AVE		HIGHLAND FRONT PT 33FT 3IN X 6
HATCHER NEAL + VICKIE	311831000		1611 HIGHLAND AVE		LOREN W 1/2 25FT 9IN X 110FT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKIE	321481000		1717 11TH ST		TURLEY E 1/2 LOT 25 ALL LOT 24
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	301245000		833 10TH ST		BARR E 1/2, 25 X 132 LOT 173
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	301064000		1207 3RD ST		WALLER EST. PT LOT 5 25 X 1
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300793000		1130 10TH ST		BARR W 1/2 35 X 132 LOT 91
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	301089000		119 OFFNERE ST		THOMPSON PT 22FT 11 1/2 IN X 1
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	301079000		416 GAY ST		CITY N PT LOT 580, REAR LOT 60
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	301479000		0 GALLIA ST		P B S 30/19.01 X 111.05/67.67/
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	320651000		1522 JACKSON ST		DAWSON E PT LOT 10, W PT LOT 1
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300642000		1316 3RD ST		THOMPSON PT EA 56FT 10 1/2IN X
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300846000		920 JOHN ST		BARR MID PT W PT LOT 88 MID PT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	332151000		1909 TIMMONDS AVE		TIMMONDS WHOLE 37 X 124 LOT 17
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	330644000		1706 HIGHLAND AVE		HIGHLAND W. PT. 32FT 6IN X 120
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	301119000		118 GLOVER ST		THOMPSON PT 22FT 3IN X 132 LOT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300339000		928 JOHN ST		BARR N PT 27 X 105 LOT 87-88
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	301216000		2ND ST		THOMPSON MID PT 50 X 150 LOT 7
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	332719000		3124 NORTH HILL RD		INDIAN HILLS SUB 73.04 X 160.0
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	310336000		1635 ROBINSON AVE		LOREN PT.EA. 34FT 10IN X 144 L
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300246000		937 3RD ST		P B + S PT EACH 34 X 123FT 9IN
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	320148000		1712 CHARLES ST		NORWOOD WHOLE 35 X 100 LOT 66
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300543000		1426 3RD ST		THOMPSON E PT 32 X 117 LOT 80-
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	331000000		1519 HIGH ST		MOUND WHOLE 36FT 6IN X 115 LOT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300019000		1424 3RD ST		THOMPSON PT EA 32 X 117 LOT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	321824000		1716 CHARLES ST		NORWOOD WHOLE 35 X 100 LOT 64
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300940000		1015 GALLIA ST		SALTER ADD. E. PT LOT 7 W. PT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300177000		121 OFFNERE ST		THOMPSON MID PT S PT 27FT 6 1/
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	301244000		319 OFFNERE ST		GLOVER TRACT 74 37FT 1IN X
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300479000		13 GLOVER ST		THOMPSON PT EACH 33 X 124 LOT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	321496000		1708 12TH ST		TURLEY PT EA 29FT 11IN X 131FT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	310838000		1662 HIGHLAND AVE		ON HIGHLAND AVE. 21 X 110 RTS
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300691002		1010 GALLIA ST		COMMUNITY RE-INVESTMENT 15 YR
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	321687000		1661 11TH ST		TURLEY WHOLE 35 X 130 LOT 30
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300475000		927 3RD ST		P B + S W 1/2 26FT 6IN X 123FT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	330031000		2006 KINNEYS LN		MICK. IMP. CO. WHOLE LOT 13 W
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300440000		1109 9TH ST		BARR W PT 37 X 132 LOT 77
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	301081000		1418 6TH ST		GLOVER WHOLE 35 X 128FT 4IN LO
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	320163000		1702 12TH ST		TURLEY W PT 29FT11IN X 131FT 2
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	301280000		1305 2ND ST		THOMPSON E. PT. LOT 73 E. PT.
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300511000		9 GLOVER ST		THOMPSON WHOLE LOT 34 S PTLOT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300643000		3 GLOVER ST		THOMPSON PT 46FT 3IN X 109FT 3
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	320257000		1523 JACKSON ST		DAMARIN PT 25 X 171.25 LOT 95
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	273456000		226 WARREN AVE		COLES PARK WHOLE EA 150 X 150
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300900000		1115 9TH ST		BARR W 1/2, 35 X 132 LOT 76
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	322073000		1742 11TH ST		HUTCHINS WHOLE 34 X 146 LOT 12
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300319000		1321 2ND ST		THOMPSON E PT 60 X 150 LOT 70-
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	301300000		940 GALLIA ST		P B + S W 1/2 30 X 184 LOT 77
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300360000		1165 9TH ST		HUTCHINS PT. OF LOT 54 23FT 6I
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300113000		940 4TH ST		P B + S W 1/2, 30 X 107FT 3IN
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	321744000		1721 11TH ST		HUTCHINS WHOLE 35 X 130 LOT 10
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	321220000		1003 CLAY ST		SKELTON FRONT PT. 67.88 X 102
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	332002000		1822 GRANDVIEW AVE		R + H WHOLE 32 X 120 LOT 7
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300270000		920 FINDLAY ST		BARR N PT + MID PT 33FT 8IN X
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300688000		920 8TH ST		BARR W 1/2 27FT 6IN X 107FT 3I
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300845000		924 JOHN ST		BARR SO. PT 39 X 105 LOT 87-88
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300143000		314 WALLER ST		WALLER LOT 19 TERRY EXT PT LOT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300425000		914 8TH ST		BARR MID PT 27FT 6IN X 107FT 3
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300382000		17 GLOVER ST		THOMPSON MID PT. 21FT 5IN X 12
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	320637000		1748 11TH ST		HUTCHINS WHOLE 35FT 6IN X 146
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300763000		114 GLOVER ST		THOMPSON S 1/2 33 X 132 LOT 59
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	310372000		1225 COLES BLVD		JOHNSON WHOLE 40 X 184 LOT 6
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	301157000		122 GLOVER ST		THOMPSON PT 22FT 1 1/2IN X 132
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	273458000		0 WARREN AVE		COLES PARK WHOLE 50 X 150 LOT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300649000		415 SINTON AVE		P B + S N PT 34FT 5IN X 32 LOT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300523001		1120 4TH ST		COMMUNITY RE-INVESTMENT 15 YEA
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300169000		1012 4TH ST		P B + S E 1/2 32 X 107FT 3IN L
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300086000		108 GLOVER ST		THOMPSON PT EA 26 X 132 LOT 51
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	301103000		922 8TH ST		BARR E 1/2 41FT 3IN X 107FT 3I
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300667000		1105 9TH ST		BARR PART 32FT 6IN X 132 LOT 7
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300577000		938 GALLIA ST		P B + S E PT 40 X 178 LOT 76
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	321645000		1530 3RD ST		BANK WHOLE 40 X 166FT 9IN LOT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300691001		0 BOND ST		P B & S S 100 OF LOT 79-80 S 1
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	330787000		1815 SUMMIT ST		R + H WHOLE 32 X 120 LOT 23
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	310588000		1201 24TH ST		SUNNYSIDE W.PT. 35FT 6IN X 203
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	301116000		825 10TH ST		BARR W 1/2 25 X 132 LOT 174
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	320962000		1531 3RD ST		BANK ALL LOT 17, PT LOT 18,
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	273672000		29 STOCKHAM HILL RD		HILLSDALE PT 91-92 42X107 68/8
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300031000		934 4TH ST		P B + S W 1/2, 30 X 107FT 3IN
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300662000		1229 3RD ST		H. WALLER MID PT 30 X 107 LOT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300149000		1208 4TH ST		WALLER EST. PT LOT 5 29FT 6
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	320961000		1527 3RD ST		BANK WHOLE 30 X 111FT 9IN LOT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	301246000		614 GLOVER ST		GLOVER N PT 35 X 128FT 4IN LOT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300563000		918 JOHN ST		BARR S PT OF EACH 33 X 140 LOT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	332389000		1903 ROBINSON AVE		HOME PT EA 24 X 111FT 8IN LOT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	332725000		0 NORTH HILL RD		INDIAN HILL SUBD PT NE COR 20
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	331126000		1611 GRANDVIEW AVE		H + S S PT 33 X 133FT 6IN LOT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300211000		318 CHILLICOTHE ST		CITY N PT 18FT 2IN X 130 LOT 5
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	330745000		1818 GRANDVIEW AVE		R + H WHOLE 32 X 120 LOT 6
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300550000		1220 4TH ST		WALLER EST PT. LOT 5, 50 X
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300660000		948 4TH ST		P B + S PT E 1/2 30 X 107FT 3I
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300672000		11TH ST		PT VAC ALLEY MORGAN PT LOT 113
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	301282000		1224 4TH ST		H WALLER WHOLE 38 X 107FT 3IN
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300350000		423 WALLER ST		B + G PT EA 55 X 125FT 4IN LOT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300139000		1316 4TH ST		GLOVER TRACT 63 12 X 109
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300710000		1316 4TH ST		GLOVER TRACT 63 24FT X 111F
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300851000		1415 6TH ST		GLOVER PT EA. 40 X 66FT 6IN LO
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	330507000		1524 HIGH ST		MOUND 36FT 6IN X 115 LOT 149
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300691000		1010 GALLIA ST		P B & S N PT LOT 79-80 N PT E
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300651000		2ND ST		THOMPSON E PT 30 X 104 LOT 63-
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	301239000		1004 4TH ST		P B + S W PT 36 X 107FT 3IN LO
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300042000		11 GLOVER ST		THOMPSON MID PT 49FT 8IN X 124
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	311079000		1220 JOHNSON ST		JOHNSON WHOLE 40 X 157FT 6IN L
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	321060000		1746 11TH ST		HUTCHINS WHOLE 34 X 146 LOT 12
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300871000		1124 10TH ST		BARR W PT 30 X 132 LOT 90
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300675000		1018 11TH ST		MORGAN PT EA + VAC ALLEY 115.7
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300941000		1021 GALLIA ST		SALTER ADD. ALL LOT 9 E PT L
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	301275000		1147 9TH ST		HUTCHINS W PT LOT 48 ALL LOT 4
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300537000		1114 10TH ST		BARR N PT, E PT 35/25 X 99 LOT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300245000		902 8TH ST		BARR WEST PT 50 X 107FT 3IN LO
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300079000		821 10TH ST		BARR WHOLE 50 X 132 LOT 175
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	291046000		2129 ARGONNE		TRAILTON WHOLE 40 X 150 LOT 47
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	310824000		1245 COLES BLVD		FRAC. N. S. BLVD. 80 X 269 RTS
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	301047000		1128 10TH ST		BARR E PT 20 X 132 LOT 90
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300523000		1116 4TH ST		RIGGS + MEANS & PB S PT LOT 4
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300259000		410 GAY ST		CITY MID PT 38 X 64 LOT 580
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	320642000		1712 12TH ST		TURLEY PT EA. 29FT 11IN X 131F
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300135000		906 8TH ST		BARR E PT 32FT 6IN X 107FT 3IN
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	321672000		1718 12TH ST		TURLEY PT EA 29FT 11IN X 131FT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	321031000		1523 3RD ST		DAMARIN WHOLE 31 X 111FT 9IN L
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300658000		102 3 4TH ST		P B + S S PT E 1/2 32 X 91 LOT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	321598000		1525 JACKSON ST		BANK WHOLE 30 X 166FT 9IN LOT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300653000		1406 2ND ST		THOMPSON MID 30 X 120 LOT 63-6
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300652000		2 GLOVER ST		THOMPSON W 27 X 120 LOT 63-67
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	320383000		1507 4TH ST		DAMARIN WHOLE 35 X 111FT 9IN L
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300020000		946 4TH ST		P B + S W 1/2, 30 X 107FT 3IN
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300477000		605 OFFNERE ST		GLOVER FRONT PT, 40FT 1IN X 88
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	321248000		1553 6TH ST		MADDOCK WHOLE 25 X 111FT 8IN L
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300074000		829 10TH ST		BARR E 1/2 LOT 174 W 1/2 LOT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	271496000		0 LARKIN ST		HILLSDALE AMEND PT 31.8 X 66 L
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	301004000		923 FINDLAY ST		BARR WH EACH 112 X 115 LOT 130
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	301218000		1014 4TH ST		P B + S W PT 35 X 107FT 3IN LO
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	301208000		1315 3RD ST		GLOVER TRACT 89 29.56 X 98
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300157000		945 4TH ST		P B + S WH. EACH 240FT X 164FT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	320549000		1662 12TH ST		TURLEY WHOLE 35 X 131FT 2IN LO
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	332727000		3118 NORTH HILL RD		INDIAN HILL SUB 68.18 X 180.07
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	301056000		10TH ST		BARR MID PT 20 X 132 LOT 90
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300626000		1006 4TH ST		P B + S E PT 28 X 107FT 3IN LO
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	310460000		1245 COLES BLVD		JOHNSON WHOLE 80 X 184 LOT 9-
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	310013000		0 ALTAMONT AVE		FRAC N. S. BLVD. 20 X 40 RTS 2
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300702000		8 UNION ST		THOMPSON N 1/2 33 X 124 LOT 33
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	321528000		0 CLAY ST		SKELTON + VAC. ALLEY REAR PT.
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	301007000		918 FINDLAY ST		BARR S PT MID 33FT 8IN X 64 LO
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	310821000		1245 COLES BLVD		JOHNSON W 62 X 157'6" 54.7 X
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300419000		936 4TH ST		P B + S E 1/2, 30 X 107FT 3IN
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	301002000		1411 6TH ST		GLOVER E PT 34FT 4IN X 121 LOT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	332694000		0 INDIAN DR		INDIAN HILLS (SUB OF LOT 56) 2
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300565000		21 GLOVER ST		THOMPSON WHOLE 66 X 124 LOT 46
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300140000		1318 4TH ST		GLOVER TRACT 64 30 X 109
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	310672000		2612 SUNRISE AVE		HENRY GALLENSTEIN WHOLE 51.88/
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300536000		1116 10TH ST		BARR W 1/2, 35 X 132 LOT 89
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	320859000		212 OFFNERE ST		DAMARIN MID PT 35 X 109FT 6IN
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	320015000		1658 12TH ST		TURLEY WH 35 X 131'2" LOT 16 M
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300513001		4 UNION ST		THOMPSON 33 X 62.17 FT. AC. .0
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	312179000		1231 COLES BLVD		JOHNSON WHOLE 40 X 184 LOT 8
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300672001		1026 FINDLAY ST		BARR L 106 MAP 24-001
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	331257000		1816 GRANDVIEW AVE		R + H WHOLE 32 X 120 LOT 5
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300821000		916 FINDLAY ST		BARR S PT 33 X 64 LOT 83
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300508000		14 UNION ST		THOMPSON N PT 33 X 124 LOT 37
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	311397000		1253 COLES BLVD		FRAC N SIDE OF BLVD. 60 X 120
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	301040000		1113 9TH ST		BARR E PT 33 X 132 LOT 77
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300904000		1401 6TH ST		GLOVER W PT 30 X 121 LOT 14-15
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	320293000		210 OFFNERE ST		DAMARIN PT EA 35 X 109FT 6IN L
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300443000		817 10TH ST		BARR WHOLE 40 X 132 LOT 176
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300949000		614 GLOVER ST		GLOVER PT EACH 25 X 128FT 4IN
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	301241000		837 10TH ST		BARR E 1/2 25 X 132 LOT 172
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300480000		19 GLOVER ST		THOMPSON N PT 21FT 5IN X 124 L
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300967000		833 11TH ST		BARR WH. LOT 193 W. PT. LOT 19
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300709000		1312 4TH ST		GLOVER TRACT 62 42FT 9IN X
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300616000		1412 2ND ST		THOMPSON MID PT 30 X 120 LOT 6
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	301215000		1311 2ND ST		THOMPSON PT EACH 50 X 150 LOT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300172000		8 GLOVER ST		THOMPSON ALL LOT 35-39-43-47 W
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	301248000		1420 2ND ST		THOMPSON MID PT 45 X 120 LOT 6
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	312043000		1214 JOHNSON ST		JOHNSON WHOLE 80 X 157FT 6IN L
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300352000		120 GLOVER ST		THOMPSON PT EA 22FT 2IN X 132
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300034000		1235 3RD ST		H. WALLER PT EA 28 X 107FT 3IN
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300542000		1005 4TH ST		PB+S ALL LOT 68+69+70 PT LOT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	301042000		1416 2ND ST		THOMPSON E PT LOT 63-67 W PT L
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300670000		1120 10TH ST		BARR E 1/2, 35 X 132 LOT 89
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	321788000		218 OFFNERE ST		DAMARIN N PT EA 35 X 139FT 6IN
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300399000		1025 9TH ST		BARR WHOLE 64 X 132 LOT 79
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	290911000		713 6TH ST		CITY E 1/4 41FT 2IN X 107FT 3I
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300513000		0 WHEELING ST		THOMPSON S 1/2 33 X 62 LO
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300764000		110 GLOVER ST		THOMPSON MID PT 26 X 132 LOT 5
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	290558000		2310 ARGONNE		ARLINGTON WHOLE 34FT 6IN X 110
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY	300762000		112 GLOVER ST		THOMPSON N PT 28 X 132 LOT 55
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY A	290176000		2312 ARGONNE		ARLINGTON WHOLE 35 X 110FT 1IN
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY A.	290345000		907 29TH ST		NOEL #2 WHOLE 38FT 6IN X 123 L
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY J/S	301297000		918 8TH ST		BARR W. PT.LOT 621 E. PT. LOT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY J/S	301159000		411 SINTON AVE		P B + S S PT 39FT 2IN X 32 LOT
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY J/S	311762000		1044 NOEL DR		BLD HTS. WH EACH IRR. 225.69 X
HATCHER NEAL + VICKY J/S	321897000		1554 CHARLES ST		LAND ON JACKSON AVE. .20 A. RT
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Campus View Associates

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Kiwanis Playground: Deathtrap for Tots?

The huge Copper Beech hardwood tree that crashed upon the Kiwanis playground

     Frank Lewis has outdone himself in shamelessness in his report in today’s  online Portsmouth Daily Times on the huge tree falling on the Kiwanis playground (click here). Because he is so skillful in covering up the crookedness of Portsmouth, Lewis could work for a hundred years for the PDT and he would never be fired or made to feel unwelcome as editors and reporters have in the past. He spends a good part of his story providing John Johnson, the president of the Portsmouth Kiwanis Club, and Kiwanis Ohio District Governor Donald Parker, with the opportunity for taking bows for the Kiwanians for the wonderful work they did in building “this wonderful playground,” “this world renowned playground.” What chutzpah! What a crock! The truth is the playground was and is a potential deathtrap for tots, not only because of falling trees but also because of the heavy vehicular traffic that swirls around it. 

     The city and the Kiwanis Club were warned about the potential consequences of how and where the playground was built, and they can thank whatever gods may be, or their lucky stars, that one or more children was not killed or badly injured when the tree fell. Surveying a bench the tree had obliterated, Jack Tackett of the Portsmouth City Service Department is quoted by Lewis as saying, euphemistically, “If somebody had been sitting on that bench they would have been in trouble.” Would have been in trouble? They probably would have been dead. If only one child had been killed or injured, the city and Kiwanis could have been sued. Kiwanis’s claim that they now have no legal responsibility for the playground overlooks their culpability in this project from the start.  

     The real heroes in this mess is the couple who called everybody’s attention, including my own, to the problem of the rootless trees. Naturally, they were viewed as trouble makers, as what Steve Hayes of WNXT calls CAVE people, that is, Citizens Against Virtually Everything, including apparently deathtraps for tots. That’s how critics of the city are treated by the local media, as cave people.

     For my side of the story, read my 2009 post, “The Kiwanis Playground: The Hole Truth” (click here). Also read “Burning the Midnight Oil,” my 2009 post on Mayor Kalb’s email answer to my open records request for official documents related to the playground agreement between the city and the Kiwanis Club (click here). That was the email in which Kalb called me “a worthless piece of shit” and worse, the email that went viral. My blog crashed when the number of hits to “Burning the Midnight Oil” approached 450,000 in 48 hours. For the  country and the world, Kalb may have confirmed the worst stereotype of  the ugly American, if not the ignorant redneck. The world was astonished:  “What kind of a city would have such a crude ignoramus as mayor?” 

Kalb supplied me with an undated document that I suspected had been produced after the fact. I strongly suspected that the playground had been built without proper authorization, which would have made the whole project  a violation of Ohio law. I challenged both the city and Kiwanis to say that the written agreement was drawn up and signed before the project was begun. I got no answer from Kalb.  I visited the then president of the Portsmouth Kiwanis Club. I went with someone who knew Dr. Hamm-LaValley, who assured me the doctor of dentistry was an honorable woman. I was prepared to drop the whole matter if Dr. LaValley had an explanation of why the letter she signed was not dated, but she declined to talk to me. Immediately below also is a previous letter of intent, signed and dated 18 December, 2008, under the official Kiwanis letterhead. Below that is a copy of the undated agreement letter, signed by Dr. LaValley, which I suspect is undated because it was written after, perhaps well after construction of the playground began. That may be why it has a faux letterhead and is not written on either city of Portsmouth or on official Kiwanis stationary:

Dated playground letter of intent with Kiwanis letterhead

Undated Kiwanis letter of agreement with stark letterhead.

Finally, when the playground was dedicated, I wrote an open letter to the children of Portsmouth about the playground, trying to explain the controversy (click here).

GOP: Gay Old Party?

rivervices.blogspot.com

Yesterday, Ohio Senator Rob Portman surprised almost  everybody, but especially conservative Republicans, by announcing his support of same-sex marriage. He changed his mind after his twenty-year-old son  told him a few years back that he was gay. Some Ohio Republicans were a little uneasy about Portman’s sexuality when he was mentioned as a possible vice president candidate, which of course was before he announced his support of same sex unions. Portman was perceived to be too low-key and  deferential, and he was an Ivy League graduate (Dartmouth). Among his incriminating activities? He likes to go hiking and he kept a kayak in his office in Washington.  His gay son is an undergraduate at Yale. Not your NASCAR type. More your Log Cabin Republican type. But who can be sure there aren’t gays at the Indianapolis 500, and that there won’t be a Nellies for NASCAR someday.

 There are deep divisions within the Republican Party, divisions that are growing wider each news cycle. Since he has already caved on Obamacare, who knows what liberal new  proposal Ohio’s Republican governor John Kasich is going to come up with in an attempt to prove he’s not a  Stone Age Republican. There is now a segment of the GOP that is getting so liberal that some liberal Democrats worry they are being outflanked on the left. It would be even less surprising  than Portman’s switch if  Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, hoping to get back his Senate seat, drops his tough guy Jimmy Cagney impersonation (yes, that’s what that is), announces he is gay,  and  supports same sex marriage. 

Bi-political Homosexual

The Portsmouth politician that may benefit most from the growing acceptance of gays is  city council member Kevin W. Johnson, whose Democratic affiliation presents little problem since he is bi-political, just the kind of bipartisanship that can help reduce  the paralyzing polarity of American politics. He has the strong backing of not only Democratic but also some Republican power brokers in Portsmouth. When a putatively pro-Johnson flyer was widely distributed during the last race for the First Ward seat on the city council, I assumed it was the work of the drug-dealing pimp who was the First Ward incumbent on the city council, or some of his supporters. I  assumed it was a homophobic hoax perpetrated by the pimp, who was as notoriously heterosexual as Johnson was openly homosexual. But because public opinion has shifted so much it  is possible, though still very unlikely, that the flyer was genuine. But in the seismic political and sexual shifts that are taking place, you can’t be sure about anything.

Not long after taking his seat on the city council, Johnson strengthened his political position in Portsmouth by pushing a  primary ballot proposal to change the city charter from the mayoral to the city manager form of government. The proposal passed, but I think it would have failed in a general election because Portsmouth had already tried the city manager form of government and concluded it was even worse than the mayoral form, which it voted to return to. Why did Johnson want to get rid of the mayoral form of government? In part possibly because he wanted to get rid of the African-American mayor, David Malone, who is a hypocritical philandering evangelical preacher who denounced Johnson’s effort to get the city council to pass a resolution endorsing same sex unions. Malone believes homosexuality is the abomination that the Bible insists it is. Malone was appointed mayor when the first female mayor, Jane Murray, who challenged the monkey-business-as-usual tradition in Portsmouth, was recalled in a campaign that was led by the former Portsmouth police chief, the heavy-drinking Tom Bihl,  who had been convicted of  misusing public money.  Bihl hasn’t announced what his position on same sex marriage is,  but I would guess he’s “agin’ it.”

 Johnson may have a bright political future, not only  because he is gay,  but because he is bi-political, working both sides of the street, as he is on the Third Street controversy, and it doesn’t hurt that he is strongly in favor of gambling, which many locals believe will be the salvation of the city. 
       And what about “Governor” Johnson? Does that sound impossible? Well, so did “Governor” Strickland sound impossible twenty years ago, when he was teaching part-time evenings at Shawnee State University, and when a Republican member of the Cornerstone Church accused him of being sexually  involved with teen-age boys, without a shred of evidence, as I recall. I've heard Johnson was in Washington for Obama’s inauguration. He might even end up being the Republican candidate for governor. That day may arrive sooner than anyone can imagine. As Rob Portman’s conversion suggests, in spite of the  Tea Party, GOP could come to  stand not for the Grand Old Party but the Gay Old Party, which might be a big improvement.

From Kevin Johnson’s Facebook pages

For  past posts related to the above post, click here   for “From Moses to David Malone,” and here for “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”

Third Street: Thick as Thieves

Third Street: Hatcherville

Third Street

      Shawnee State University doesn’t have a master plan as much as a master plot. By plot I mean not “a measured area of land,” but rather “a secret plan, a scheme.” The plot was to enrich a local lawyer, Clayton Johnson, and his partner in crime, a local developer, Neal Hatcher, by giving them sweetheart deals: for example,  taking  the worthless Marting Building off Johnson’s hands, for almost two million dollars, and allowing Hatcher  to build SSU student dormitories in a can’t-lose arrangement. Hatcher  built dormitories on the  northern side of Third Street, a major thoroughfare running through the heart of the university. The dormitories were on one side of Third Street, the classrooms, the administration buildings, the athletic center, the student center, etc., on the other. A hazardous arrangement. 

       Every student who lives in Hatcher’s dormitories plays Jeopardy. They have to to cross heavily trafficked Third Street day and  night, much of the traffic coming from or going to the Grant Bridge. Just the other day a young man from Portsmouth, on a moped,  was killed on the Kentucky side of the bridge, apparently by a driver who reportedly ran a red light. Like most streets in Portsmouth, Third Street speed limits are frequently violated, putting the lives and limbs of students in jeopardy. Now, the university wants to close Third Street and put grade school, middle school, and high school students, just north of Third Street, in jeopardy, making a bad situation even worse.

      Those who might be opposed to the project are dismissed, in a recent PDT editorial, (9 March 2013) as “people who are opposed to anything that brings progress.” Sound familiar? Steve Hayes has been peddling that line at WNXT for years. Where is Steve’s buddy, WSAZ’s Randy Yohe, now that the ruling clique could use Yohe’s support for closing Third Street? But the Can-Can Man was canned after being arrested for drunken driving. Of course, Yohe or no Yohe, the collection of bankrupts and political pawns who make up the Portsmouth City Council will pass the measure to close Third and probably quickly, as the PDT urges in the same editorial, as the council previously acted quickly to unload the Marting building on the taxpayers of Portsmouth. 
      If the most recent editor at the PDT did not support the closing of  Third Street,  it would not be long before he would join the long line of editors and reporters who have  quit or been fired when they failed to please the rich crooks who control the no-longer daily Daily Times  and the city. Now,  the politics are even thicker than they used to be. The Felix of the Odd Couple, Clayton Johnson, has retired, leaving Oscar, Neal Hatcher, holding the money bags alone, prompting Jeff Albrecht, Portsmouth’s preeminent snake oil salesman, to make his move for the Municipal Building, backed by the American Savings Bank in the person of Michael Gampp. Thick as thieves, they are all for closing Third Street, as quickly as possible, whatever the consequences. 

Click below for previous posts related to above post:

Portsmouth's First Commandment

Student Housing Shenanigans at SSU

Municipal Building

Dr. Albrecht’s Snake Oil Fifth-Third Elixer 

Three Bankrupt Mayors

The Odd Couple Johnson and Hatcher

PDT:Little Shop of Horrors Portsmouth Daily Times

Canning the Can-Can Man

Jesse Jackson, Jr.: Black or African-American?

Jesse Jackson, Jr., as I recollect him in Massie Hall. 

African-Americans may be  making a serious mistake in calling themselves black rather than African-American because in doing so they are opting for polarity rather than solidarity, for disparity rather than parity, for denigration rather than elevation. In the next census, the U.S. Census Bureau will be offering African-Americans the choice of identifying themselves as either African-Americans or blacks. (See the ABC news report at the end of this post.) I believe “black: is a mistake  because African-Americans cannot win the black-and-white name game. It is like a game of Scrabble in which they always get screwed. The Black is Beautiful slogan was an attempt to rebrand Negro. While it may have increased self-esteem on an conscious level, on an unconscious level, where the waters run very deep, Black is Beautiful  intensified the association between  blacks and badness.

Blacks are not really black and whites are not really white. We are all to some degree colored and will become increasingly so as racial barriers are further erased in America. By calling themselves black, African-Americans are burdening themselves with blame they don’t deserve. They are helping perpetuate the myth they are the white man’s burden, which too many so-called white Americans, continuing the South’s racist traditions, continue to think is the case.  In the minds of racists, in the North as well as the South, the West as well as the East, and also here in the Midwest, America’s so-called heartland, “blacks” are  associated with indolence, thriftlessness, and chitlins, with illegitimacy, crime, and dependency—dependency on both illegal drugs and the so-called welfare state.

Sometime in the mid-1990’s, in a February Black History Month conference at Shawnee State University, Jesse Jackson spoke to  a small gathering in a Massie Hall classroom. Jackson was in the front of the class, conservatively dressed in suit and tie,  sitting at a desk facing the audience. When he finished with his prepared remarks,  an  African-American  girl, who looked to be of high school age,  asked  him what he thought the appropriate name for people of their race should be.  She didn’t list them, but the options were colored, African-American, black, and, though it had fallen into disfavor,  Negro. The reason the word Negro had fallen into  disfavor was because the racist epithet “nigger” was probably derived from it. Negro  was pronounced “Niggra”  in the slave South and that evolved into  ‘nigger,” with all its hostile, racist connotations. Jackson  answered the  girl’s question without hesitation or qualification. He said he was certain of one thing: he didn’t want to be called black. “Look black up in the dictionary,” I recall him saying.  “Just see what it says—most of it’s bad and negative.”

Blackguards and Blacks

      We are heir to the Judaic-Christian tradition in which darkness is the primary metaphor for  what is undesirable, if not evil.  In Genesis we are told that “darkness was on the face of the deep,” so God said, “Let there be light: and there was light.” And since light was good, “God divided the light from the darkness.” God created a segregated world in which light and darkness were separate and opposite: God and the devil, good and evil, light and darkness.  Calvinists, among the most pessimistic of Christians,  had a frightening sense of what Herman Melville called “the power of blackness,” meaning the  power of evil. For Calvinists, as well as other Christians, the devil was a black. Merriam-Webster includes, among other definitions of black, the following: “dirty, soiled; characterized by the absence of light; thoroughly sinister or evil: wicked; very sad, gloomy or calamitous; marked by the occurrence of disaster; characterized by hostility or angry discontent: sullen; indicative of condemnation or discredit; connected with or invoking the supernatural and especially the devil.”  Could any name they might have chosen for their race be worse than the word black? Invariably, black is bad, either alone or combined with another word. Take the word  blackguard for example. Originally, a blackguard was  lower-class employee in an upper-class  British household who worked “downstairs,” in the kitchen, and guarded, figuratively if not literally,  the blackened instruments—the pots, pans, and ironware of the household. Blackguards were the bottom dwellers, doing the dirty work  in an upstairs-downstairs, class-rigid world. But, though bottom dwellers, they were nevertheless white and of the same race as their masters. But  just as the neutral word Negro evolved into nigger,  blackguard, i.e., a kitchen helper, because of its association with blackness, came to mean a “bad person.” The online dictionary Wordnik, defines blackguard as  “black in color of the skin or dress, or in character.” So, blackguard, which started out as a word reflecting class antagonism became a word reflecting racial antagonism.

Denigration as Defamation

      The word denigrate is also instructive. The Merriam-Webster definition of it is, literally, to blacken and, more figuratively, to defame or belittle. To create a neologism, denigrate means  “to negrify,” though those who use it are rarely aware of this meaning. African-Americans are more likely than whites to be aware of its racist connotations. In responding to a posting by a someone in a thread on Firedoglake, an African-American, objected to someone else’s use of denigration in a thread: “if you’re  black, can you please stop using the term ‘denigrate’ in this discussion?” he wrote. “i’m black too, friend. i say ‘ouch’ every time i read it . . .” The unintended irony in the following examples of the use of the word denigrate, compiled by Wordnik, speak for themselves: “We do not intend to denigrate southern values,” someone claimed. Denigrate  southern values? Negrify southern values? That is not what the user intended but given the racist etymology of the word, that is the absurd meaning of the statement. Here is another example Wordnik provides of the use of denigrate, which is even more absurd than the previous one:  “Some Rousseauean anthropologists protest that reports of cannibalism represent a racist desire to denigrate other cultures . . .” If instead of “to denigrate” the statement had read to defame, degrade, or impugn, then there would be no contradiction.  But to speak of denigrating  dark-skinned cultures by calling them cannibalistic is nonsense. It is like the pot calling the kettle black. These examples suggest that African-Americans cannot escape the stigma of blackness that is built into the English language.

Even a word that has nothing to do with black, such as  “niggardly,” which means parsimonious or stingy, should be avoided,  as the white aide to the  black mayor of the District of Columbia  discovered in 1999 when he characterized a stringent  D.C. budget as “niggardly.” Unlike the word Negro, niggardly has no etymological connection to nigger, but niggardly, a nearly obsolete word, sounds too much like it. There was a protest from blacks (as opposed, say,  from  African-Americans), and the white  aide, who was gay,  was fired but then rehired when the gay community protested on his behalf. The aide took it in stride, saying he had learned an important lesson. “I used to think it would be great if we could all be colorblind,” he said. “That’s naïve, especially for a white person, because a white person can afford to be colorblind. They don’t have to think about race every day. An African American does.”  In using the term African-American rather than black to refer to people of color, was the gay aide aware  that “black” was the racist equivalent of such sexist words as “queer,” “faggot,” and “fairy ” for the male homosexual?

Unfortunately, Jesse Jackson, Jr., did not practice what he preached in the classroom in Massie Hall. In the end he personified some of  the  negative meanings of the word black. If he didn’t turn out to be “thoroughly sinister or evil,” he did  prove to be deserving  of “condemnation or discredit.” He showed himself to be corrupt, selfish, dishonest, unprincipled, adulterous, hypocritical, conniving, spoiled, and materialistic. Though he didn’t want to be called black, he blackened the reputation of the race he was identified with, reinforcing racist stereotypes.

Blacks and African-Americans 

      But what  Jackson’s career really reflects poorly  on is not any particular race but on politicians in general. Politicians to a large extent are an embarrassment, not just to our nation,  but to our species, as is depressingly evident not only in Chicago and Washington but also in Portsmouth.  In some respects, specifically the degree of audacity, Portsmouth may be worse than Chicago and Washington, in part because the major papers in those cities, The Chicago Tribune and The Washington Post, occasionally do investigative journalism, while The Portsmouth Daily Times has almost always been under the thumb of the crooks who control the city. Not even in Chicago or Washington would  a notorious blackguard, a white  drug-dealing pimp be brazenly appointed to fill a vacated elective office without a peep from anybody, especially not from local law enforcement and  the local media.  At least in Chicago and Washington the crooks occasionally get publicized, arrested, and jailed. In Portsmouth they get away with everything but murder.  In Portsmouth we had not only a drug dealing pimp being appointed to city  council we have a philandering, hypocritical, homophobic unelected mayor who just coincidentally  happens to be black.

Bill Clinton is jokingly said to have been the first black president. There is some truth to the joke, but it is not a flattering truth. Americans should be grateful that in 2008 they elected and in 2012 reelected not the first black—as Jesse Jackson Sr., was grooming Jesse Jackson,Jr., to be—but the  first  African-American president. Jesse Jackson, Jr.’s, father  was speaking not as an African-American but as a black when he was overheard saying  about Obama, on a mike he didn’t realize was on, “I’d like to cut his nuts off.”  Jackson, Sr., was reportedly angry at Obama for speaking down to blacks. But what the president was actually doing was speaking up for African-Americans. 

The form that was used in the last US census.

The Illustrated Ballad of Dr. Lundeen

Now that the Tenth Appellate District Court has upheld the revocation of Dr. James Lundeen's medical license, I call the attention of those have not read it to my post "The Illustrated Ballad of Dr. Lundeen." (Click on  the link below.)


http://rivervices.blogspot.com/2011/12/illustrated-ballad-of-dr-lundeen.html

OH EPA: Death by Chocolate, Death by Power Point

Jane Murray addressing panel at EPA meeting following stultifying
 Power Point presentation by Richard Duncan, on stage left

In Flohr Hall of Clark Memorial Library at Shawnee State University, on  the evening of  February 12, 2013, the Ohio EPA sponsored an Information Session and a Public Hearing regarding the draft agreement  reached between the Ohio EPA and the city of Portsmouth. In a display of bureaucratese,  somebody in government had named this kind of  agreement “Administrative Order of Content.” One of the aims of bureaucratese, as this name illustrates, is to keep the public in the dark about what is going on. The AOC in question, to use its acronym, has to do with water. When it comes to two extremely important  resources, namely water and money, Portsmouth city government has played fast and loose with state and federal laws and ordinances that are supposed to  regulate them. 

The Information part of the EPA evening, which took up the first hour, consisted almost entirely of a deadly dull Power Point presentation by Richard Duncan, the city’s man in charge of sewers. Duncan’s Power Point presentation had as one of its results, intended or not, the paralysis of most of the forty or so members of the public and city government in attendance.  Just as spiders paralyze the  insects that fall into their webs, preserving them for future consumption, Duncan with his mumbling delivery, faded slides, and hypnotic red laser pointer, rendered the audience stultified for the second hour of the meeting, the so-called Public Hearing half of the evening, during which the audience was allowed to  ask questions about the “information” that Duncan had provided in his Power Point presentation. However, when Duncan finished and the  moderator asked for questions,  there were none.  Tick, tick, tick. She waited and she waited. How embarrassing. It was like asking the paralyzed insects trapped in a spider web if they had any questions about the spider’s slide show. Finally, to  everyone’s relief, somebody finally came forward and asked a question.

Emboldened by that hearty soul, I volunteered to ask a question,  but as I approached  the microphone at the front of the hall  my foot was asleep and so was my cobwebby  brain.  I asked the panel about  subhead sections F and G on page 4 of  the draft agreement. The “Respondent” referred to at the beginning of F is the city of Portsmouth or its chief officer, the mayor. However, although Portsmouth Mayor Unelect   David Malone was in the audience he took no part in the proceedings and asked no questions, leaving Duncan to twist in the wind. The question I asked the panel on stage was how come there was no mention during the Information hour  of  the important statement in the agreement that charged the  Respondent (the city)  with repeated violations of the Sciotoville and Portsmouth  permits governing the city’s handling of  sewage water and storm water, and the violation by the city of  the  requirements of Section 301 of the Clean Water Act, the federal law governing polluted water throughout the United States. What follows is a  photocopy of the section of the agreement I am alluding to:

From the draft agreement between OH EPA and city of Portsmouth

           It was Duncan who answered my question why the charges against the city (and him principally) had not been mentioned. He said the part of the draft agreement I referred to was “boilerplate” language and didn’t really mean much. His answer like his Power Point presentation was an effort to deceive and obfuscate. The Respondent referred in F of page 4 of the draft agreement is not just anybody or any city; it applies specifically to Portsmouth, which a number of times, during storms, had discharged raw sewage into the Ohio River. I asked the panel if they agreed with Duncan that it was boilerplate language and didn’t really mean much. The EPA representative, Barbara VanTil,  sitting immediately to Duncan’s left on the panel nodded her head in agreement with him and murmured “Yes.” Her response was a revelation to me. I have always assumed the acronym EPA stood for Environment Protection Agency. I did not know it also meant Egregious Protection of Assholes. What Ms. VanTil’s response and the meeting itself revealed to me was the  likelihood that the city’s chronic sewer crisis is the result not just of the incompetence and dishonesty of politicians of Portsmouth but of the enabling of the good folks at the EPA at both the state and federal levels. They are, knowledgeable, polite, and even sweet, like chocolate, but they are also the kiss of death, like Duncan’s toxic Power Point presentation. Just today PBS released a report by the Center for Public Integrity, with the title “EPA Contaminated by Conflict of Interest” (click here.) That appeared to be the case at the meeting OH EPA hosted last evening in Portsmouth.

It must be very difficult to work for an agency like the EPA in a swing state like Ohio. In very red or very blue state, you would know where you stand. But in a swing state like Ohio, half blue and half red, the politics of environmental protection are as polluted as the sewers of Portsmouth.  I suspect that OH EPA is constantly trying to avoid getting caught in the middle, to avoid controversy and, consequently, by not taking a stand, they become enablers. The water controversy has drug on for years, as they say in southern Ohio, and will probably drag on, unresolved,  for many years more, as the OH EPA enables  as it waffles.

It’s the same with money. While the state auditor in Ohio dilly dallies the crooked politicians in Portsmouth channel money that is supposed to be used for road, bridges, and sewers to increase their own salaries and the salaries and benefits of the public employees who strongly support them. It’s the same with water. Instead of taking decisive action, the EPA treads water, enabling incompetent city employees like Duncan to discharge raw sewage into the Ohio and paralyze attendees at EPA public meetings with stultifying  Power Point presentations.  It is no wonder city politicians privately express contempt for the toothless state regulatory agencies. If former mayor Jane Murray and councilman Steve Sturgill had not been at the meeting, challenging the bureaucratese and the raw sewage,  the rest of us might still be sitting in Flohr Hall, paralyzed by  Duncan’s Power Point presentation.

. . . the rest of us might still be sitting in Flohr Hall, paralyzed by  Duncan’s Power Point presentation.