News & Views — Vote No on Issue 9 |
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Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Anti-Progress Charter Amendment on BallotCincinnati Enquirer6/30/09 Story Hoping to blunt the opponents' news that they have crossed the signature threshold, groups seeking to defeat the charter amendment unveiled a long list of endorsements from elected officials and candidates who argue that the measure would slow down government and leave Cincinnati at a competitive disadvantage on major transit projects. Cincinnatians for Progress, which dismissively terms the ballot measure "the anti-progress charter amendment," said that Mayor Mark Mallory, eight of nine Cincinnati City Council members (all but Republican Chris Monzel) and 16 of 18 endorsed council candidates overall from the Democratic, Republican and Charter parties oppose the ballot question. "This charter amendment would threaten our economic development opportunities and likely cause our federal tax dollars to be invested in other communities," said Democratic council candidate Wendell Young of North Avondale. Delays in awaiting a public vote on transit issues, Young and others warn, could result in federal or state dollars available to Cincinnati being allocated to cities ready to immediately spend them. Streetcar supporters and others complain the charter amendment would establish a cumbersome, costly and time-consuming way to handle not only the streetcar project, but also other transit programs such as proposals to develop high-speed rail passenger service from Cincinnati to other Ohio and Midwestern cities. "You're building extra months and potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars for an election into the system," said Cincinnati City Councilman Chris Bortz, a leading streetcar proponent. Monday, June 29, 2009 Streetcar opposition threatens high-speed railCincinnati EnquirerJune 28, 2009 By Don Mooney, Jr, Treasurer, Cincinnatians for Progress Online Article Imagine this: Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland joins U.S. Dept. of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood later this year to announce Ohio will get $400 million in federal dollars for a Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati passenger rail line. Cincinnati will become a hub for the nation's new high-speed rail system. Cleveland and Columbus quickly begin acquiring land for rail lines, crossings, stations or parking lots. But in Cincinnati, the first call is to the Board of Elections, to schedule an election. PACs will be formed, fat cats will write checks, retired congressmen and radio talk show hosts will bloviate, and "community leaders" will herd themselves into contentious camps to feud over whether Cincinnati really wants in on this new high-speed rail thing. Cincinnati rejected those new-fangled railroads back in the 19th century. City poo-bahs thought the future belonged to the paddlewheel. Imagine the not-so-cogent arguments some will find to keep Cincinnati a passenger-rail-free zone. That scenario is what Cincinnati can expect if voters approve a charter amendment ginned up by two odd political bedfellows: Chris Smitherman, a former one-term councilman presiding over the NAACP, and Chris Finney, whose COAST organization never saw a public investment it liked. Their amendment requires an election before the city spends "any monies for right-of-way acquisition or construction of improvements for passenger rail transportation." Petitioners talk about stopping "the trolley," the streetcar from the riverfront to Clifton. But COAST admits that this is "about much more than a stupid streetcar." The amendment would roadblock the C-C-C link, paid for almost completely with our federal transportation dollars. It would also block other projects like the "eastern corridor" rail link to reduce auto traffic from our eastern suburbs, or a rail link between downtown and our airport, like those in other major cities such as Cleveland and Chicago. 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 little old-fashioned democracy. 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 on items like recreation centers, highways and rail. Cincinnati hardly needs one more roadblock to our city's progress. Don Mooney Jr. is a Cincinnati attorney and a longtime member of the Cincinnati Planning Commission, and serves as treasurer of Cincinnatians for Progress. Wednesday, June 3, 2009 New Cincinnatians for Progress aims to stop constant referendumsCincinnati Business Courier 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. |
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