Category: Politics

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Business Development News Politics

Just to clarify…

Apparently my post regarding eminent domain was a controversial one, and it seems that some people may have missed the overriding point I was trying to make.

I am not advocating the use of eminent domain all willy nilly…I’m actually not suggest any kind of measures to occur with eminent domain, but rather I am simply complaining about the current system we have in place. Sure we need to protect individual freedoms (imo, that only goes so far though). In some instances government goes to far (see the Patriot Act), and I think that is what many seem to think I’m advocating. It is not, let me explain…

I am making an observation that in many of the high profile eminent domain cases, it is not the small guy or the innocent property owner fighting the battle. It’s quite the contrary…as I pointed out, many of the people involved in these legal battles are absent landlords, LLC’s, corporate entities and the like. I don’t want to rob Peter to pay Paul…I just want to pay Paul for his efforts and enthusiasm in wanting to invest in the inner-city. Is that sooo wrong?

You may still disagree with me and that’s fine…I’m just looking at the situation and thinking, “Maybe we’ve gone a little too far with these rulings.” You know the knee-jerk anti-communist type reactions we’ve seen. I just ask that you cool your jets and look at the next eminent domain case that pops up…you tell me who is benefiting: the neighborhood, municipality, investor or some random LLC who has been stockpiling junk properties for years just waiting for this kind of thing to happen?

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Business Development News Opinion Politics

City Council almost ran the table…almost

Now lately I would have considered city council to be on somewhat of a roll, and by that I mean vote the way I approve. But in all seriousness, they have done quite a bit of good work lately. Here is a list of a few of their accomplishments:

  • Approved a potential property tax rollback (albeit minor).
  • Voted to create a ‘vending district’ along Short Vine.
  • Looked at ways to cut costs around city hall that could potentially save the city another $18 million.
  • Rezoned a piece of land in Sedamsville that could end up paying off in the long run for city coffers.
  • Reinstated the city’s Clean, Safe Fund.

 

However there was a misstep along the way when they voted 5-4 to not approve a 25 cent bus fare hike for Metro. This is a crucial piece to the Metro puzzle; most of their buses will be needing replacement very soon, and this type of delay can critically set them back for years to come. While I agree with council that there are probably better ways for Metro to cope with financial hardships (i.e. make all the other communities pay into the system who use it), but that will take some time and this money is needed right now!

This is similar to the types of problems that Amtrak has faced over the years. They are constantly unsure of what their financial status will be on a year to year basis and can therefore not financially plan for anything farther out than their current fiscal year. I yearn for the day when Cincinnati has a real regional transportation authority that overlooks these systems, and sets up appropriate funding mechanisms for them.

Why is it that there is Metro, TANK, Bearcat Transportation Shuttle, and all of these other fragmented transportation services. Clean it up, remove the unnecessary overhead and move towards a real regional authority that we all really want and need.

External Links:
www.go-metro.com
www.tankbus.com

Categories
News Politics Transportation

Same news…two stories

The Cincinnati Streetcar Study was presented to City Council yesterday. There was little to no media attention giving the meeting publicity, but the media outlets were quick to report on the presentation after it happened. Interestingly enough the Cincinnati Business Courier and Cincinnati Enquirer had notably different takes/spins on the same story.

The most noticeable was the difference in headlines. The Enquirer’s read “Streetcar Price Tag: $100 million”…while the Business Courier’s headline read: “Study: Downtown streetcar could have $1.9B impact.” But nothing new with that…the Cincinnati Enquirer has had a consistently negative stance on events occurring within the inner-city.

However the differences do not stop there. The Enquirer cited that the total cost of build out would be $100 million; while the Business Courier wrote that it would cost $88 million. So, who’s right?? Well the Enquirer could have been rounding the $88 million up, but that would be a stretch even for the lousy Enquirer. The most likely explanation is that the Enquirer was using the higher of the two estimates. Most likely the system will only cost $88 million to build, but there is a chance that the price tag balloon to $100 million. The study put that in there to be safe and make sure they covered all of their bases…well it’s refreshing to see that the Enquirer choose the more negative spin on a positive story going on in the inner-city!

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Development News Politics

Put your money where your mouth is!

So the question is whether $800,000 is better spent on the Freedom Center or on speed humps for residential streets throughout the city. Speed humps serve a small amount of citizens who just like to complain. These are the same people who ask for public stairs to be closed, bus routes to be removed, bike trails to be prohibited and the likes. They have specific issues with many things that are geared towards the greater public, and it seems like Chris Monzel would rather appeal to those citizens than to put money towards a Smithsonian Museum right in our downtown.

Now maybe I am confused or misinformed, but to me an investment in a Smithsonian caliber museum would seem to be a better investment than speed humps. It would also seem to be an investment that would benefit the community as a whole; not just the complaint oriented citizens. Even if you don’t go to the Freedom Center (which I highly recommend a visit to), the community benefits by schoolchildren being able to go to the museum and learn a very important history of our nation.

If education and the youth are truly our future, then lets put our money where our mouths are and fund things that benefit our future. A child will not remember or learn anything from a speed hump that may or may not be on their neighborhood street…but they will remember the lifelong lessons that are taught at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

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Business News Politics

A billboard battle looms…

A number of City Council members seem poised to take on the billboard industry in Cincinnati. Councilman Chris Bortz thinks billboards, along with those advertising benches at bus stops and racks that hold newspapers, cut into Cincinnati’s overall curb appeal. I would strongly agree with that notion. The problem doesn’t lie with the stance, but rather the billboard powers at be. Taking on this industry has proven to be a very difficult task to say the least.

For some communities its the superfluous newspaper stands and bus benches that restrict pedestrian flow/activity in their business districts. For others its the brightly illuminated billboards that prove to be undesirable for residents living nearby. Not to mention these billboards are almost always an eyesore for everyone who has to see them on a regular basis.

Maybe what the city should do is look into creating a streetscaping plan that requires all streetscaping items to have a specific look/appeal to them (much like what is done for lighting and signage). This has been done recently in places like NYC and Toronto, where they are striving to improve the curb appeal of their cities by creating coordinated street-furniture plans.

An important piece to this effort, in my opinion, is that the city include the neighborhood business districts that make the city special and not just put it into action downtown. Downtown is great, but these neighborhood centers are the foundation of our great city. I’m sure they will lend much support to this effort!