David Crowley was a good man and a great Cincinnatian. Back when I was more involved politically, I saw him I believe at three different debates, and met him at one of those debates. He always made sense, always seemed pleasant, and avoided the “fire and brimstone” type campaigning that is often so common.
Also, Mr. Crowley, I apologise for the time I mistakenly called you Patrick Crowley (NKY politics reporter) on an old Cincinnati Dealer parody article. Your comment set me straight.
So a diverse coalition of groups led by the NAACP want to put the streetcar on the ballot.
The NAACP recently launched a petition drive to place an issue on the November ballot that would amend the city’s charter to prevent Cincinnati officials from spending money on the streetcar project without first getting approval from city voters.
I definitely appreciate the sentiment. When the same group of people wanted to put the jail tax on the ballot, to let the people decide, I wholeheartedly agreed because I did not support the jail tax. I voted to put it on the ballot, and when it was, I voted against it (both times). But this time, I find myself on the other side of the coin.
I have quoted lots of evidence in support of streetcars on this blog already. The NAACP's main objection seems to be that there are better uses for the money.
Smitherman believes the money could be better spent elsewhere, such as in neighborhood business districts. Streetcar systems are a risky gamble that have failed in some cities, he says, and Cincinnati’s mostly would benefit people who own property along the proposed route and developers like Towne Properties, which is owned by Bortz’s family.
To be sure, it's a risk, and there are many other ways to spend the money. But let's say we take the $100 million required to build the first phase of the streetcar. The city has 52 neighborhood councils. We could give each neighborhood nearly $2 million dollars - a vast increase in their current dole - and it would certainly be put to good use. But the streetcar is projected to return $1.4 billion dollars in investment, investment that means new residents, new businesses, and higher payroll tax. Big picture here.
Also, the fact that the issue is for support of a charter amendment is a bit weird. To me - and I'm no lawyer - it's as if Congress passes an amendment to the constitution outlawing Amtrak.
In any case, let me clearly state my opinion: if this issue gets on the ballot, the streetcar proposal will fail.
Because while I believe that people are good-intentioned, the masses are dumb. The majority of people who even bother to vote will not even know about all the issues they will vote on until they are in the voting booth. Which means we will have a repeat of the kind of vote that put two stadiums on the riverfront, and of course a repeat of the vote that doomed the light rail initiative in 2002. (BTW, had the light rail initiative passed in 2002, we would have had running streetcars for the past two years already.) If it goes to the ballot, streetcars will not become a reality for at least another decade. And the NAACP has a very good record with getting issues on the ballot.
The streetcar is not a transportation plan. It is a development plan. The point of the streetcar is not to get people where they need to go. It's to get people to stay. It's to get people to live, work, and stay where we want them to stay, namely, in the city. I believe it's a distinction easily lost.
Also see UrbanCincy's strong reaction to the NAACP petition.
So voting closed without too much controversy, IMO, though some counties ran out of Democratic ballots. That's pretty stupid, but to be expected. I mean, it's not like this has happened before, right? Oh wait - I found this gem at the bottom of a post-election article.
So it's happened in the past, and I'll bet it'll happen in the future, probably for the Republicans again. What's that they say about the cyclical nature of things?"Tuesday's primary was a mirror image of what McCain did in Ohio's 2000 primary.
In what came to be called the "McCain effect," the rolls of registered Republicans swelled across the state as McCain attracted independents and crossover Democrats in his failed bid to slow George W. Bush's march to the GOP nomination and the presidency. In that election, twice as many Republicans cast ballots in Hamilton County as Democrats, and some counties ran out of Republican ballots. Bush won the Ohio primary with 57 percent of the vote."
I'm outraged at the proposed installation of public urination cameras. This is not a safety issue and will not reduce the number of public urination incidents. In fact, as the article states, it will only raise the number of dangerous "getting caught in the barn door" zipper accidents. This is purely a political and revenue move for the city. When will they learn?
So the chief of police, Thomas Streicher Jr., has come under fire for not spending around $2 million or so of money city council gave him for the explicit purpose of providing high-visibility walking patrols to high-crime neighborhoods in the city. There are two issues here that interest me.
One, the conservative in me has always had a real problem with budget-based organizations, such as government and most non-profits. The primary motivation for businesses, make money or close, is not there. Operating income for non-profits will always be there, every year, mostly regardless of performance, as long as flaws are not egregious, and/or they stay on top of their grant-writing. It's just different. And just like in the movie Falling Down, I believe that there are cases where departments find ways to spend their budgets just so that their budgets are not reduced the following time around.
So when the chief of police saves $2 million dollars and offers to return it, something has gone haywire. Is this incredibly awesome, showing that budget-based groups can save money? Or is this wrong, showing that the public has not received services it has paid for? In this case, when the money was specifically allocated for walking patrols, and there was none (which is different from having walking patrols, but they were cheaper than first thought), I lean towards the latter.
Two, the chief of police has come under fire in the media time and time again. While the media is not gospel, something is fishy. He has browbeat federal monitors, resisted federal rulings, and yelled and thrown tirades at civilians in an office setting. That's just the off the top of my head. These do no good for the image of our city's safety and community relations, which is what I'm most concerned with. Then I read the CityBeat article which quoted from the expert study:
"Among its findings, the study stated the police department is “overwhelmed and defensive,” while its operating culture was described as a “systematically defensive posture hamstringing operations and affecting all basic systems.”Perhaps more important, it stated that rank-and-file officers felt ignored and treated unfairly by department leadership. It found that there was major mistrust of supervisors by officers, with only 28.1 percent believing that discipline within the department was fair and uniform and that most police officers — 64 percent — said their supervisors are more concerned with being obeyed than understood."
I've been in that environment before, and such an environment is poison. When leadership is neither respected nor trusted, a group will waste money, time, and health and not quickly achieve any purpose which provides reason for that group to exist.
So Michael Flannery, whom you may vaguely remember from his kids show on Fox, has won a seat on the CPS school board. In fact, he was the top vote-getter. In fact, he earned more votes than any of the city council members. One day, I might be voting for him for mayor!
"I've been in front of boards and organizations. These people are going, 'Why are you running?' And my question is, 'Why aren't you?' These people complain about the school board: 'They're not being fiscally responsible, and look at all this money.' What partner of an accounting firm has stepped up to run for school board? Nobody. They say it's being mismanaged. What executive or CEO has stepped up to run for school board? Zero. So you get a kids' show host. I have no qualifications except I'm a parent. I care about Cincinnati, I care about the kids. I want someone in there who's looking out for the kids. That's what I'm qualified for."
But he said he's still amazed that people are questioning his ability to do the job.
"It's an unpaid position that nobody wants," he said, "and they're questioning my qualifications?"
The United States has one of the highest incarceration rates of industrialized nations in the world. Hamilton County has one of the highest incarceration rates in Ohio. Clearly, the solution to these problems is to build more jails. Not.
Let's ignore the fact that the 15-year tax would raise $736 million in tax revenue, one of the largest single increases in funding for county government programs. Let's ignore the fact that the estimated amount for direct construction of the new 1800-bed jail is $239,428,594, which is over $133,000 per bed, or more than the $128,300 median price of a home in the county.
Assuming that those ridiculous amounts of money would be okay if there in fact was a jail problem, the question remains: is there a jail problem?
In 1999, 37 percent of the county's jail population were not serving out sentences. They were awaiting trial. In 2006, that same figure rose to 81 percent. Currently, people who are ultimately acquitted spend twice as many days in jail as those who are ultimately found guilty. 70 percent of inmates are repeat visitors. Isn't prison supposed to be rehabilitative? Hamilton County does not offer specialty courts such as a drug court, domestic violence court, or night court to improve efficiency.
The county is losing population, yet the county needs more jails? Something doesn't add up. I think I'll vote no on the jail tax, and you should too.
See here for more information.
When I married Sarah, hidden in the vows was the clause that I am to vote yes for public school levies for the rest of my life. I could live with that, despite my Libertarian-ish ways.
Despite being bothered by the fact that only a government institution could abruptly find itself $72 million in debt. Despite the fact that only government budgets must separate capital funds from operational funds, leading to a ridiculous situation where teachers and staff are cut while nearly $1 billion is spent on building new schools. Despite the fact that these levies continue to feed into a public school funding formula that has been declared unconstitutional multiple times by the Ohio Supreme Court (SCOO?). Despite the fact that the teachers unions allow the youngest, cheapest, most energetic teachers to be cut first, while the teachers who have taught the longest are allowed to do and change the least while being paid the most.
Despite all these things, I support the upcoming CPS levy. And you should too. Because they haven't asked for a new operating levy in 7 years. Because these teachers work in extraordinary - no - super-ultra-extraordinary environments. Where they are required to do more and more with less and less. Get to school at 7 am. Use one hour to plan 6 hours of talking. No bathroom breaks. A half-hour for lunch, maybe, if you don't eat while grading. No office supplies. No assistants. No climate control. Advanced education requirements with no advanced salary. Kids who misbehave. Kids who are behind. When you get home, maybe you can grade some more. At least you get summers off.
And that was all before No Child Left Behind. You see, in the past few decades, kids who were behind, or were severe behavior problems, were either casually advanced or forgotten about altogether. But NCLB is literal in its name and its intent. But that last 10%-20% of kids who never graduated high school and weren't thought of again, it takes a lot more than 10%-20% of extra effort to get them to meet ever-rising federal standards. A lot more.
So now, on top of all the problems with education that were already there, now teachers have to participate in counseling, intervention, special education, and behavior plans. More counselors. More psychologists. More aides. More specialists. And where does the money to pay all these people come from?
No where at the moment. But the levy, our disproportionate property tax unconstitutionally funded levy, will help.
The reality of streetcars in Cincinnati is closer than it ever has been before. I've seen more criticism of the plan than support so far, and I can understand it. $102 million is a lot of money to pay for a streetcar system, and I still won't be able to get from UC to downtown. $102 million is a lot of money when the Banks are still not developed, CPS thinks it needs a levy (which it does), and the county thinks it needs a new jail (which it doesn't).
But I support this plan and you should too. Many people who criticize the plan say they are in favor of it ultimately, but it's not the right time when there are so many other needs. I say that, like most things in life, there is never a good time. And so many things that don't get done in this town is based on lack of political will, and this may be the only time there is political will for this project for a long time. If the political will is there, let's get it done, details be damned. We can add the route to UC later.
This week's issue of Citybeat covers the upcoming city council election. There are 25 candidates total, including nine incumbents and three former council members. That's a lot of candidates.
But not nearly as many as the 31 who vied for a spot two years ago. At the time, The Cincinnati Dealer was alive and kickin' and I put together this City Council ballot.
