Tag: Politics

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Hamilton County "well-positioned" for future growth and prosperity

Hamilton County Commissioner David Pepper gave the second annual State of the County Address on February 18. In that address, Commissioner Pepper recapped what was accomplished and experienced in a difficult 2009, and what the County needs to do to be successful in 2010. You can watch the State of the County Address yourself, or you can read through a brief summary below.

  • With record decreases in sales tax receipts (7.5%), property sales and transaction revenues (42% since 2007), and interest earnings (50%), Hamilton County was forced to make tough decisions to balance its budget and shave off 22% ($60 million) of its overall costs and back to 1998 levels.
  • Making job creation and retention a top priority, Hamilton County officials were able to create more than 50 economic development projects and create or retain 13,000 jobs.
  • The balanced budget without adding any additional tax burden on the citizens earned Hamilton County high marks in Moody’s credit rating.
  • The County’s free foreclosure counseling program has saved 2,175 homes from foreclosure and 985 in 2009 alone…thus saving the County from an estimated $50 million in lost property value.
  • The County’s new prescription drug discount card was used 17,000 times in the first year and generated savings of 21.17% for its users resulting in $200,000 of savings.
  • Of Ohio’s six largest urban counties, Hamilton County has the lowest property tax as a percentage of income, and is tied for the lowest sales tax.
  • Hamilton County’s SuperJobs center linked 2,200 people to jobs and provided job training to 660 youth in the community. New training programs are focusing on health care, construction and green job industries.
  • Public Safety takes up 70% of the County’s budget.
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Ohio Governor Ted Strickland denounces "cheerleaders for failure"

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland discusses the $400 million that the state received for passenger rail start up service on the proposed 3C Corridor. In the impromptu interview in the halls of the statehouse, Governor Strickland denounces those he calls “cheerleaders for failure,” and emphasizes how important this money is for Ohio and the state’s future.

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Qualls establishes new subcommittee on ‘Major Transportation & Infrastructure Projects’

Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls has established a new Subcommittee on Major Transportation & Infrastructure Projects as the chair of City Council’s Livable Communities Committee. The new subcommittee will meet monthly at 10:30am in Committee Room B at Cincinnati City Hall (map) to discuss and oversee “additional major transportation projects” in addition to transportation and infrastructure work.

The first meeting of this subcommittee takes place today and will give an overview of major projects like the Cincinnati Streetcar, 3-C High-Speed Rail Corridor, Hopple Street-MLK-Madison Road Corridor, Eastern Corridor, and the I-71/MLK Interchange in addition to Interstate 75 work that the Livable Communities Committee has been overseeing for some time.

Those interested in attending future meetings can mark their calendars for the future monthly meeting dates: February 2, March 2 (at 10am), March 30, April 27, May 25, and June 22. City Hall is well-served by Queen City Metro routes 1, 6, 10, 32, 33, 40X, 49, and 50. To see which route is most convenient for you, and to plan your trip now, use Metro’s Trip Planner.

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Development News Politics Transportation

Ohio receives $400M for high-speed rail

The winners have been chosen, and Ohio’s efforts to land money for rail service along the Cincinnati-Columbus-Cleveland (3-C) Corridor have been successful. Today it has been announced that Ohio will receive $400 million for track upgrades, grade crossings, new stations, and maintenance facilities.

Meanwhile the larger Midwest region pulled in a collective $2.6 billion which was second only to the West Coast region which nabbed an impressive $2.942 billion of the total $8 billion available. Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, views this as an investment that will make passenger rail more efficient while also providing better service in travel markets across the nation.

  • High-speed rail travel offers competitive door-to-door trip times
  • It reduces congestion on key routes between cities
  • It reduces transportation emissions
  • And, most of all, it creates the jobs of the future, the jobs America needs right now

For Cincinnati there are still questions though about a station location. The $400 million is a significant investment, but will still not enough to cover the $517.6 million needed to extend the line through one of the nation’s most heavily congested rail yards to Union Terminal. Additional track to run the line all the way to Lunken Airport might also prove be to costly according to project officials.

Ken Prendergast, executive director of All Aboard Ohio, responded to those questions by saying, “The state could trim costs by using rebuilt, rather than new, passenger cars and by ending the route in Sharonville rather than at Lunken Field, and when there is enough money run trains to Union Terminal.”

The 250-mile 3-C Corridor has long been seen as one of the nation’s most promising rail corridors with projections estimating that 478,000 passengers will use the rail service annually. The new service will operate three daily round trips with top speeds of 79mph and serve a population of more than 6.8 million people, close to 40 colleges and universities, and 22 Fortune 500 companies.

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Cincinnati City Council approves $775k to move streetcar project along

Cincinnati City Council approved $775,000 for environmental studies and preliminary engineering work on the Cincinnati Streetcar project that will run from the riverfront, through Downtown and Over-the-Rhine, and go up the hill to the Uptown neighborhoods surrounding the University of Cincinnati.

The approval of the $775,000 allows for the City to move forward with the proposed Cincinnati Streetcar and maintain its spot in the contest for state and federal transportation dollars that are necessary in order to make the project happen.

The first of such money comes from the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants and will be announced in February. The Federal Government’s Grants for Urban Circulator projects will be announced sometime after TIGER, and then money from Ohio’s Transportation Review Advisory Council (TRAC) should be announced this Spring.

More money is needed in order to complete the preliminary engineering work and can be approved at a later date – a move that put some on council at ease about earmarking too much money for the project before we know the outcome of said grants. Should all go according to plan, Cincinnati could open the nation’s next modern streetcar system in 2012.

Chris Monzel (R), Leslie Ghiz (R), and Charlie Winburn (R) were the three opposition votes. Interestingly enough, all three of City Council’s Republicans have already announced that they will be running for the open Hamilton County Commissioner seat this Fall. Monzel has gone as far to say that he is a “son of the suburbs” and will probably be moving out of the City once he is no longer on City Council.