BY LISA DONOVAN and LUCY MAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
City council members flushed the riverfront development plan, but that doesn't mean they've lost all confidence in City Manager John Shirey and Economic Development Director Andi Udris.
Members of council are not showing the door to either administrator, who supported development of a mega-entertainment center on the north banks of the Ohio River. But Councilman Charlie Winburn called the plan flawed and said Mr. Shirey should be held accountable.
"I'm not saying his job is on the line, but I think we should tie the riverfront situation to John's evaluation," Mr. Winburn said.
Mr. Shirey, whose annual review is due this month, said he wants to look ahead to other projects.
"I don't feel wounded; I don't feel like this is an indictment of me," he said. Mr. Udris declined to comment.
Last week, a majority of council scrapped what had become known as the Renfro-Faison riverfront development plan, named for the out-of-town developers who were looking to build shops, theaters and restaurants neighboring the new Bengals stadium on the riverfront.
The administration-supported project was criticized by bosses on council, including Mayor Roxanne Qualls, who called it the "malling" of the riverfront.
"I think the administration needs to fall back and take a look at what didn't work here," she said Monday.
Still, Ms. Qualls and Dwight Tillery agree, this doesn't jeopardize the jobs of either administrator.
"I don't think any one issue is a (job) maker or breaker," Mr. Tillery said.
Councilwoman Jeanette Cissell said it is a relief the plan didn't proceed.
"Plans for the Fourth Street-Riverfront sector have suffered a lack of focus and a piecemeal approach generated by city administrators more interested in presenting something, anything, to maintain the appearance that they are responsibly discharging their duties." Councilman Todd Portune isn't so sure any of this is the fault of Mr. Udris or Mr. Shirey.
"To their defense, I think they got mixed signals from council," Mr. Portune said.
Twice before, council had voted to allow the administration's hand-picked development team to proceed with creating the plan. "I wish they would have made their wishes known a lot sooner, so we could have saved a lot of time and money," Mr. Shirey said Monday. "They've changed directions; I will now change directions." Mr. Udris and Mr. Shirey weren't asking council to approve the final plan last week. Mr. Shirey, in fact, recommended that council delay any action on the plan until some other downtown development issues fell into place.
Mr. Udris and Mr. Shirey pushed hard to pack the riverfront with a 14-screen movie theater, restaurants and shops in what could have been a $200 million project.
An upscale Nordstrom store also was part of the project. It would have sat at Fourth and Race streets with a two-level connector across Fort Washington Way linking the store to the family entertainment district on the riverfront.
Though he didn't want to comment Monday, Mr. Udris has argued that his plan was driven by what the market wants and what the economics of the deal would support.
Still, Mr. Shirey and Mr. Udris clearly didn't have the five council votes they needed to pass the plan.
Dan Staton, former chief operating officer of Duke Realty Investments Inc., said he would have expected the administration to have assembled a majority before getting so far into the plan.
"On the other hand, council needs to give staff clear marching orders and then staff has to have the ability to go out and make deals so they don't blow up in front of council all the time," Mr. Staton said.
Mr. Staton said unless that happens, word will spread to businesses, such as Nordstrom, that "you don't negotiate with the staff because nothing happens."
As for Mr. Udris, "I don't think it means anything for Andi's future, pro or con," said Mr. Staton, who is still a member of Duke's board of directors and is president of Walnut Capital Partners, a capital investment firm.
"I think he'll have to lick his wounds a little."
