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That's it, my Coolidge Hotel gloves are off!

After reading, hearing and watching mayoral candidate Ron Littlefield's shady political opportunism over the past week concerning the proposed Coolidge Hotel, I have decided to offer free walking tours of Coolidge Park and the Walnut Street Bridge to show anyone who cares a) that once on the bridge, you must travel at least 1/3 of its length before you can even see the other side of the river -- well past the proposed hotel site and thus killing the "gonna block our views" argument b) the locations of infamous lynchings that take away some of the mystique of the kinda-cool-but-not-the-greatest-thing-since-sliced-bread Walnut Street Bridge c) the location of the new park being constructed to the west of Coolidge park that will triple the total park size d) the fact that only a few people can even sit on the Subway and Stone Cup porches and have their "views obstructed" and e) that it is indeed possible to move your head and/or walk a few steps to get a view of the same riverfront that we're all already very familiar with.

Originally, I didn't care much about the hotel debate. But after appearing on WGOW (against my will and at the last minute to help a fill-in host) to discuss the proposed hotel and spending more time studying the protests of hotel protestors, my interest in the hotel project grew. I am now firmly in support of the hotel -- even if I'm the only one. I don't care. I think I might even hold a rally to help get it built quicker.

This is hysteria, folks. Private property rights should not be usurped by a petition-wielding mob. And, oh yeah, this hotel controversy has virtually nothing to do with jobs and education -- two areas that REALLY need addressing in this city.