BY LUCY MAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Cincinnati City Council edged closer to action Wednesday on a plan to transform the city's central riverfront.
Mayor Roxanne Qualls and council members Charlie Winburn, Dwight Tillery and Minette Cooper unveiled a proposal that combines a regional planning approach for downtown with a fast-track Cincinnati study of the waterfront's needs.
"It resolves the conflict between the longer-term planning of the three cities and the riverfront, which must move on a faster track," Ms. Qualls said.
The proposal could end a five-month hiatus for riverfront planning that began in April when city council killed a city administration plan to put a family entertainment district there.
Ms. Qualls asked her colleagues to begin discussing the plan next week so the process can begin as quickly as possible. She said she hopes council can make a decision within a month.
"It is extremely important that the process, if we're going to engage in it, begin," Ms. Qualls said.
Mr. Tillery praised the plan, saying, "It makes common sense." The proposal adopts wholesale Cincinnati City Manager John Shirey's idea to create a regional plan for Cincinnati, Newport and Covington. He and the city managers of Covington and Newport had proposed creating a steering committee to guide an 18-month planning process.
In the proposal unveiled Wednesday, the 10 Cincinnati members on that three-city steering committee would also serve on a Cincinnati-only Riverfront Commission.
The Riverfront Commission, made up of 25 people altogether, would study the area bounded by the Ohio River to the south, Third Street to the north, the Brent Spence Bridge to the west and the Taylor Southgate Bridge to the east. The group would be charged with creating a plan for that area by June 1, 1999.
At the same time, the broader steering committee would work on a plan for all three downtowns to be completed June 1, 2000.
Downtown business leaders are anxious for riverfront planning to get moving because so many other downtown projects depend on what happens south of Fort Washington Way, said David Ginsburg, senior vice president of Downtown Cincinnati Inc., the downtown advocacy group.
"Without a plan, you live in the risk that no matter what you do, it could be wrong," he said.
