Sunday, May 02, 1999
E N Q U I R E R E D I T O R I A L
5 good reasons for Charter reform
For years, Cincinnati residents have agreed: Our city government is the worst, except for all the alternatives. But now that notion is about to be tested with a Charter reform to attack the main flaw at City Hall: weak leadership.
This time, the Charter amendment on next Tuesday's ballot has support from Democrats, Republicans, Charterites, organized labor, business and the NAACP — and our endorsement.
If voters say yes, Cincinnati will finally get a real mayor, not a cardboard cutout that is propped up at ribbon cuttings and photo-ops.
To help voters decide, we picked the top five foulups at City Hall in the 1990s, and analyzed how city government might have avoided or resolved such logjams better with a stronger, directly elected mayor in charge.
1. The Newfarmer firing
In 1993, city council members met in secret to discuss and vote on firing the city manager. Gerald Newfarmer was sent packing in a palace coup organized by the mayor, Dwight Tillery, who had loudly fought with Mr. Newfarmer. Later, Mr. Tillery denied he organized the firing — although other council members agreed he was the instigator.
Mr. Newfarmer's severance package cost taxpayers dearly, and left the city rudderless for months while Cincinnati scoured the resumes of city manager wannabes for someone with asbestos shorts who would take the hot seat.
Solution: Under the Charter reform, Mr. Tillery could have played the leading role he now opposes — strong mayor. He would have had the authority to openly fire the city manager — with council consent — without all the odious and embarrassing back-room maneuvers. He then could have been held accountable by voters, who would have been able to demand the kind of explanation that was never given for Mr. Newfarmer's dismissal.
And it would have been much easier to hire a replacement. The Charter reform makes it clear that the city manager has one boss, not nine.
2. Fountain Square West:
“The most valuable piece of real estate in the Midwest” was a useless downtown parking lot on Fifth Street for years while city officials doodled blueprints, then tore them up. High-rise hopes for office towers came crashing down. Designer dreams of a unique and classy department store turned out to be counter feit merchandise.
Finally, after added months of delay while council members bickered and blamed each other, new City Manager John Shirey was hired and struck a deal with Federated Department Stores to plant a new Lazarus on the property — just like local mall stores, but subsidized by taxpayers in an unpopular, $27.8 million deal.
But with nine people in charge, nobody could be held responsible. While downtown revival was stalled, good businesses died.
Solution: Under the Charter reform, Cincinnati would have had a stronger mayor who served a longer, four-year term — time enough to start a project and see it through. And voters would be able to hold one person responsible for such failures: The directly elected mayor.
3. Race problems
The arrest of black teen Pharon Crosby in 1995, and the police shooting in 1997 of a black, escaped mental patient, Lorenzo Collins, have driven a wedge between the Cincinnati Police and black community leaders. Council members made things worse by meddling. And neither side had much faith in city leaders to step up and lead the city to a solution.
Again, the mayor was virtually invisible, lacking a consensus of council members to speak with authority and credibility.
Solution: Under the Charter reform, the mayor has authority to appoint committee chairs and the vice mayor — a powerful persuader to build a coalition of support. Also, the chain of command would be more clear, leading directly to the mayor's office, not to a dead-end “firewall” called the city manager, who gets blamed and criticized by both sides.
Ironically, a Charter reform that would bring more accountability to City Hall is opposed by the same black community leaders who have protested lack of accountability in the past.
There is no substitute for having one directly elected, accountable leader in such a controversy.
4. Stadium Wars
When discussions about building a new stadium began, Mayor Roxanne Qualls tried to build a regional coalition but it went nowhere. She was unable to build a consensus even on her own city council. The county took over and the city was left with a marginal role in stadium construction — but city officials made the most of their bit part by throwing a wrench in the works. At the same time, the city reneged on its promise to help fund school repairs as part of the package.
Solution: The trench warfare between Hamilton County leaders and the city manager might have been avoided if a stronger mayor was recognized as a respected, regional leader, with authority to negotiate for the city and keep promises.
Charter reform makes it clear: The mayor will be the official representative of the city. And a salary double that for council members (the mayor would earn about $100,000) would attract the kind of experience and talent Cincinnati deserves.
5. The hog trough
The city's most recent budget was its most disgraceful in years, but it was not untypical of the way loose coalitions have formed for one purpose: a feeding frenzy at the public trough, to pass out “programs” that buy votes from groups of constituents.
Before the latest free-for-all was over, council members had burned a $14.5 million hole in taxpayers' pockets.
Solution: Under the Charter reform, the mayor initiates and submits a budget. Then, if council members pile on pork in another spending binge, the mayor has a veto that can be overridden only if six council members vote against the mayor while being held to public scrutiny.
There are many good reasons for city of Cincinnati voters to approve Issue 4 on Tuesday. The system we have — a field race in which the highest vote winner becomes mayor by surprise — is not working. It gives voters no contest of ideas and platforms between two candidates who articulate their visions and goals. The mayor who wins a field race arrives with no mandate, no plan, no solid base of public support. Such a weak mayor has been easily undermined and ridiculed by council members, even shut out by a coalition that excludes the mayor.
Cincinnati has outgrown such a weak mayor, just as Cincinnati outgrew the corrupt political machines that instigated our Charter in the 1920s.
We have nothing to fear but change. If this one fails, the city should at least adopt a new official symbol of city government:
A dragging foot.
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