Blog — Vote No on Issue 9 |
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Monday, June 29, 2009
Unabridged Version of Don Mooney's Enquirer EditorialThis Sunday's editorial in the Enquirer by Cincinnatians for Progress's Don Mooney was restricted in word count. Here is the unabridged version.Imagine this scenario: Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, Senators Sherrod Brown and George Voinovich, and an assortment of Ohio Congressmen join U.S. Dept. of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in Columbus in Mid-November to announce Ohio’s receipt of a $400 million grant for a high speed rail system linking Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati. With support from President Obama, Cincinnati will be a hub for the nation’s new high speed rail system, a gateway to Chicago, Pittsburgh, New York or beyond. In Cleveland and Columbus and points in between, city staff and council members quickly get on board, acquiring large and small chunks of land to make way for rail lines and crossings, rail stations or parking lots. But Cincinnati City Manager Milton Dohoney’s first call is to the Hamilton County Board of Elections, to schedule an election. PAC’s will be formed, Fat Cats will write checks, retired Congressmen will bluster, radio talk show hosts will bloviate, and “community leaders” of every stripe and persuasion will herd themselves into contentious camps to fuss and feud for months over whether or not Cincinnati really wants in on this new high speed rail thing. This is a city that famously rejected these new-fangled railroads back in the 19th Century, because of our firmly held belief that the future belonged to the paddlewheel. So imagine the not-so-cogent arguments some will find to keep Cincinnati a passenger rail-free zone for the next few decades. As Cleveland, Columbus and points in between begin receiving federal funds and the jobs that go with it, Cincinnati will be mired in one more ugly and expensive referendum on whether to punch our ticket for the 21st century. Meanwhile, in Dayton or Sharonville local governments will be raising their hands saying “send that high speed train through here”. That strange scenario is exactly what Cincinnati can expect if voters approve a proposed charter amendment ginned up by those odd political bedfellows – Chris Smitherman, a former one-term Councilman, now presiding over the NAACP, and Chris Finney, whose COAST organization never saw a tax or public investment it liked. If their proposal passes, Cincinnati’s Charter would require that before the City spends “any monies for right-of-way, acquisition or construction of improvements for passenger rail transportation” there must first be a public vote. Let’s count a just a few of the ways this electoral mischief is bad for our city: • The folks behind this petition keep talking about “stopping the trolley,” the street car proposed to link the riverfront, Over-The-Rhine and Clifton. But COAST candidly admit that this is “about much more than a stupid street car.” The amendment would require an election before any City expenditure on any passenger rail project. That would block the proposed high speed C-C-C link paid for almost completely with federal transportation dollars. It would also block other projects long on the local drawing board waiting for federal funding, like the “eastern corridor” rail link along the Ohio River, to reduce auto traffic from our eastern suburbs into downtown, or a rail link between downtown and our airport, like those in other major cities like Cleveland, Chicago or Boston. Cincinnati is competing with hundreds of other communities around the nation for federal transportation funds. An electoral roadblock will take Cincinnati off the funding list on the first cut. • The folks behind this mischief argue that all they want is a simple election. Do we have a problem with a little old-fashioned democracy? In fact, Cincinnati already has plenty of democracy. We elect nine Council Members every two years. We pay them to make decisions about how to spend City money, whether for a neighborhood project, police and fire protection or, yes, capital improvements like highways and rail transportation. • One thing particularly dangerous about a “referendum,” as opposed to a race for Mayor or City Council, is the amount and source of cash that can be spent to persuade the public to vote “yes” or “no.” Candidates for Council or Mayor have strict contribution limits, and can only accept money from individual contributors or duly registered political action committees. But if Cincinnatians vote on whether to joint the C-C-C high speed connection, corporate power brokers can write unlimited checks. Watch what happens this November when proponents and opponents of casino gambling start buying millions of dollars of television time. The “message” voters hear is not always what motivates these big donors. Casino “opponents” will warn about the potential harm of gambling to our community’s social fabric, in ads paid for by casino operators from across the Indiana border who just don’t want more competition. The same motives will drive any passenger rail referendum in Cincinnati. Would oil companies or car manufacturers write big checks to prevent Cincinnatians leave their cars at home and take a train to work, Columbus or Chicago? Would Delta want to keep people flying rather than taking a train to Chicago or Cleveland? You betcha. • While campaign consultants and TV stations will profit from passenger rail election wars, the taxpayers will pay. If Council needs to move quickly to buy small chunks of land, or spend matching local dollars to make high speed rail happen in Cincinnati, a special election will be required every time new land or city spending is required. According to our Board of Elections, each special election in Cincinnati could cost around $475,000, which might be more than some of the right-of-way purchases will cost the City. If confronted with the COAST/NAACP petition on this November’s ballot, Cincinnati voters need to think whether we need one more roadblock to our City’s progress. Don Mooney Jr. is a Cincinnati attorney, a long time member of the Cincinnati Planning Commission and serves as Treasurer of Cincinnatians for Progress.
posted by Cincinnatians For Progress at
10:23 AM
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