News & Views — Vote No on Issue 9

Cincinnati Business Courier
May 22, 2009
Lucy May, Senior Staff Reporter
Full Article

As far as Rob Richardson, Bobby Maly and Joe Spren­gard are concerned, the streetcar ballot initiative isn’t about the city’s $200 million streetcar proposal, not at all.

The ballot language would require a majority vote of the people before Cincinnati city government could proceed with any kind of passenger rail service or planning throughout the city. And that, they argue, could stop economic progress dead in its tracks.

“We can’t limit the ability of the city to even entertain different forms of transportation,” said Richardson, a lawyer who worked locally on Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. “This is really about being a city that’s economically competitive.”

Meet Cincinnatians for Progress, a new organization with broad support from the city’s political establishment.