BY PAUL DAUGHERTY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
It's all over but the pouting. It's a fait accompli. That's French for "rocks will talk before baseball is played at Broadway Commons." The Reds will give themselves a Wedgie. Too bad it's not just the ballclub that will be hurt.
I ask Tom Neyer about this. He is the county commissioner who hasn't said where he stands in the endless stadium debate. We know where Bob Bedinghaus stands. His toes are in the brown gunk that passes for water. We know where John Dowlin stands: Up Eggleston Avenue, where the Reds flags flap.
We suspect where Neyer stands, even if he has straddled the fence so long, he must have saddle sores. Talk to Neyer five minutes, you know which way his wind blows.
Rightly or wrongly, Neyer is in the box on this one. The newest commissioner, the youngest commissioner, the appointed one, has the deciding vote. "No matter what I do," he says, "I'm going to irritate half the world."
He grew up in Mt. Lookout. He lives "four minutes" from downtown. He's part of an old-line local family, a family of developers. "I hang out on Main Street," Neyer says.
And he's going to bless the Wedge site. He can tapdance around the issue now, the way he did in Sunday's Enquirer. He can give wavy answers to straight-line questions, as all politicians do. But he's a Wedge man. The question is, Why?
How much of it is that Neyer truly believes the Wedge is the best site, and how much of it is business-as-usual politics?
The Fourth Street Suits, elected by no one, want the ballpark on the river. At least one Suit, Carl Lindner, has called the commissioners' offices to make his wishes known.
If the Wedge were clearly the better site, we could let all this go. It's clearly not. City and county planners have recommended Broadway. Professional organizations have said it's a fine site. This is what they are paid to do, give expert advice, and it is being ignored. Just like you are.
"I think Baseball on Main has some good points and bad points," Neyer says. He talks about "completing Cincinnati's front porch" with a Reds stadium complementing Paul Brown Stadium and The Crown, all for the greater visual enjoyment of . . . Newport and Covington. "The downside," Neyer says, "is anybody who says its a simple construction project is being disingenuous." Oh yeah, we hate those disingenuous people. "The question is what's the better opportunity. It's tough."
It is. So is this:
The public is getting stiffed.
I ask him what he hears on the street. "When I talk to people, it runs about 50-50," Neyer says.
Our vote doesn't count
When I talk to people, it runs about 90-10, Broadway. Maybe we talk to different people.
I'm not blind and neither is he. We both see the same letters to the editor, almost always in support of Broadway. We both speak to civic groups. Kiwanis. Church groups. Chambers of commerce. I ask the audiences for a hand count: Broadway or the river? It's never less than 75 percent for Broadway.
My mail runs 10-to-1 for Broadway. Neyer's, he claims, is "80 percent" for Broadway.
This could be a coincidence. But probably not.
"How could you go against the recommendations of two planning commissions?" I ask.
"There's a difference between planning and developing," he says.
"Why have planners if you're not going to listen to them?" "There's a difference between listening and obeying," Neyer says.
He could be a hero. He could step out of the politician suit and listen to the people. A politician, being as good as the people he represents. That'd be a switch.
Neyer gave $250 to the Broadway cause. That was before he was a commissioner. What changed?
Enquirer columnist Paul Daugherty welcomes your comments at 768-8454.
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