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Cincinnati Region Seems Interested by Merger of Local Governments

Our editorial about consolidating local governments has created a lot of buzz. UrbanCincy owner and managing editor, Randy Simes, joined Scott Sloan on 700WLW yesterday to further discuss the issue.

The editorial we published on Monday has received a lot of attention. Not only has there been a huge and productive discussion in the story’s comment section, but it is generating conversation, all over town, about the idea of consolidating local governments.

The Business Courier looked at our editorial and provided their own perspective on the matter. Cincinnati Blog did the same. Then yesterday I was asked to join Scott Sloan on his morning talk show on 700WLW to further discuss the matter.

Proposed Hamilton County Municipal Mergers

While there has been a wide variety of feedback and opinions, one thing seems to be clear. The way our local governments are currently fragmented does not make sense. It does not make sense with regards to the provision of public services or for the value of taxpayer dollars.

We had already been planning to follow-up on this issue prior to the huge response, but now we feel that the topic really needs to be discussed and pursued even more aggressively.

In the meantime, feel free to listen to the 10 to 12 minute conversation I had with Scott Sloan yesterday. You can listen to it on 700WLW’ website, or you can stream it above.

By Randy A. Simes

Randy is an award-winning urban planner who founded UrbanCincy in May 2007. He grew up on Cincinnati’s west side in Covedale, and graduated from the University of Cincinnati’s nationally acclaimed School of Planning in June 2009. In addition to maintaining ownership and serving as the managing editor for UrbanCincy, Randy has worked professionally as a planning consultant throughout the United States, Korea and the Middle East. After brief stints in Atlanta and Chicago, he currently lives in the Daechi neighborhood of Seoul’s Gangnam district.