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Home > Blogs > West Chester News and Issues > Archives > 2008 > October > 14
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Palin visit update … and more questions
Before we get into the details, here’s another question for you: What’s the one question you want to ask Sarah Palin if you had the chance when she visits on Friday in West Chester?
Drop your comment below.
Now…
West Chester officials spent the afternoon today, Oct. 14, continuing to work out the details of Friday’s visit of Gov. Sarah Palin.
For the whole story, click here.
The township will have two designated parking spots, the first in a field where the new Embassy Suites will be built later this year; the second across from U.S. Bank along Union Centre Boulevard. Both are within walking distance. However, the lots are only expected to hold between 1,000 and 1,200 vehicles, meaning a lot of people will have to fend for themselves if organizers are correct in their estimations today.
Here’s an embedded pic of the area, using The Learning Kitchen as the nearest address: (Toggle the window to move the map.)
Nearby businesses will also be notified in the coming days, and if they have concerns about event-goers parking in their lots, they are asked to police the area themselves, according to Township Administrator Judi Boyko.
Centre Pointe Drive from Centre Loop Drive to Centre Loop Drive, and Towne Centre Drive, just north of Centre Loop Drive, will be closed to traffic starting Thursday, Oct. 16, and will remain closed until after the event, according to Barb Wilson, the township’s public information officer. Additional closures may be needed on Friday, she said.
Boyko said that traffic will be maintained to area businesses during normal hours of operation.
Wilson also said the McCain/Palin campaign will be reimbursing the township on all costs incurred. A “ballpark” figure is expected to be given to the campaign later this week, Wilson said, and then a more accurate figure is expected by the event.
Questions can be directed to the township’s information line at (513) 759-3036.
Questions about tickets can be directed to the Butler County GOP’s Headquarters, (513) 893-5292, or the Friends of John Boehner West Chester office at (513) 779-8435 or (800) 228-8551.
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BREAKING NEWS: Palin coming to West Chester
We just broke this story on our site a few moments ago. So, I want to know … will you go? What are your expectations?
WEST CHESTER TWP. — Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin is scheduled to visit this township’s downtown Friday, officials from her local campaign, said today, Oct. 14.
The first local visit from the Alaska Governor is expected to draw thousands to the Square @ Union Centre, a newly built community park situated near Lakota West High School and the heavily traveled Union Centre Boulevard.
Officials from the Palin campaign said they are sending out more than 150,000 “robo-calls” this afternoon to alert local supporters of her pending arrival.
Gates open at 8:30 a.m., Friday, with pre-programming beginning at 10:30 a.m. Palin is expected to take the stage at 11:30 a.m.
Tickets will be required for the event, and can be picked up starting Wednesday, Oct. 15, at the Butler County GOP Headquarters, 5964 Golf Club Lane, and the West Chester office of the Friends of John Boehner, 7908 Cincinnati-Dayton Rd Suite I. Both facilities will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Township officials will be meeting with members of the McCain/Palin campaign today to determine logistics for the visit, including road closures, checkpoints and gates and available parking.
Scott Owens, the chairman of the McCain/Palin campaign in Butler County said today he had the site picked out “probably two months ago.”
“I had to lobby as the McCain chair why that site would be good and everybody bought into it,” Owens said, adding the visit once again thrusts southwest Ohio, and more specifically Butler County, into the national spotlight.
“I think this just proves once again the importance of Butler County in this election,” Owens said. “We are right in the middle of a very important election and once again Butler County is in the middle of it. All eyes are on Butler County.”
All eyes were on West Chester in 2004 when President George Bush made a campaign stop at Voice of America Park. The event drew more than 50,000 people, and was one of the largest of its kind late in the incumbent’s campaign, according to organizers at the time.
In 2004, voting results showed the Bush/Cheney ticket in Butler County received 106,735 votes compared to 54,185 for the John Kerry/John Edwards campaign, a 66 percent to 34 percent edge.
That difference of 52,550 votes gave Butler County the largest plurality in the state, local campaign officials said then, with Warren and Clermont counties, also Republican strongholds, coming in second and third.
“We were recognized on a national level about our efforts of getting out the vote, and that’s probably why they’re bringing them here,” Owens said, adding the excitement may not be over.
“I have a feeling that we’re probably going to see Palin and McCain in southwest Ohio again by election day.”
The announcement of Palin’s visit comes on the heals of a recent scandal in her home state, now known as “Troopergate.”
Former Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan said Monday, Oct. 13 he felt “relieved” by a legislative report concluding that Palin abused her authority by trying to have her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper.
Monegan declined to say in an interview with NBC’s “Today” show what legal options, if any, he might be exploring in the wake of the findings announced late Friday in Alaska by investigator Stephen Branchflower.
In his report Friday to a bipartisan panel that looked into the matter, Branchflower found Palin in violation of a state ethics law that prohibits public officials from using their office for personal gain. Palin has said that Monegan’s tenure as the state’s lead law enforcement officer ended because of policy differences.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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