Monday, November 15, 1999
Downtown projects angle for state dollars
Local resources tapped out
BY LUCY MAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Cincinnati's $1.8 billion to-do list for remaking its riverfront and downtown includes plenty of projects in need of big bucks: a waterfront park, a riverfront neighborhood and an expanded downtown convention center.
Problem is, Hamilton County commissioners have rejected the idea of funding those projects with proceeds of the county's half-cent stadium sales tax. And City Manager John Shirey has warned Cincinnati City Council the city could be headed for money troubles.
That has led local leaders to look north with hopes that state tax dollars can help take some of the projects from drawings on paper to bricks and mortar.
But getting state tax dollars for so many local projects won't be easy. Ohio Senate President Richard Finan, an Evendale Republican, notes that state officials “only have so much money” and a whole state to please.
The trick will be convincing lawmakers from other parts of the state that Cincinnati projects are worth large chunks of the state's roughly $1.5 billion capital bill — the mechanism the state will use to fund everything from school construction to jails and community projects for budget years 2001 and 2002.
While the state's capital budget won't be set for months, local leaders know the sooner they make their re quests, the better.
“This community needs to sit down with the various requestors, compile the list and put some real priority to that list or I don't think we can expect much of anything from the capital budget,” said Todd Ward, Gov. Bob Taft's local economic development representative.
Of course, that's easier to request than it is to accomplish. Each item on the community's list has people pushing it who are passionate about the projects they consider most important.
But local political and business leaders agree that setting those priorities must be done.
“I think everyone recognizes there are a lot of things on the plate, we can't do them all right away, and we have to decide what we do first,” said Cincinnati Mayor-elect Charlie Luken.
“The dollars clearly are much bigger, the number of projects is greater and the need to be clear with our partners is much more important than it used to be.”
The community still has lots of state money coming to it for the projects already under way. The state pledged $81 million to help Hamilton County build new homes for the Bengals and Reds. So far, $37 million of that has been allocated.
And state transportation funds are paying the bulk of the city's Fort Washington Way reconstruction and the transit center being built on the riverfront in conjunction with the road project.
Mr. Taft and Mr. Finan have argued that those state dollars that already have flowed to the region will make more state funds for other projects an even tougher sell.
Former Senate President Stanley Aronoff, who now lobbies his former colleagues for many local institutions, acknowledged that lawmakers from other parts of the state complain about the state money that goes to the three Cs — Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati.
But he noted that Cleveland got money for other local projects at the same time it got millions from the state for its stadium projects.
Cincinnati's best strategy for setting priorities is to look at different categories of the massive state capital budget, he said.
It doesn't make sense to focus only on “community projects” portion of the budget, he added, which typically amounts to between $100 million and $150 million.
“You almost have to talk about the priorities within categories,” Mr. Aronoff said.
Still, he stressed, it is important for the community to give state leaders some idea of which projects must be funded first and what the community's priorities are.
“It is something that needs to be done,” agreed Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce President John Williams. “Obviously, if we can go forward with a community plan, we'll be better off than if we don't.”
Cincinnati's neighbors to the south have found that to be true. Since a 1990 legislative session from which Northern Kentucky emerged with nothing, business and political leaders in Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties have been meeting regularly to determine their priorities.
Called the Northern Kentucky Consensus Committee, the group has grown to between 60 and 70 members and works to form a community consensus about which projects to push first, said Gary Bricking, chairman of the committee and manager of Cinergy Corp.'s Union Heat, Light & Power Co.
“We have an advantage over southern Ohio because we are a little bit smaller,” Mr. Bricking said. “But none of this comes easy, and it's not without a lot of effort.”
The committee's top priority this year is a Metropolitan Education and Training Services Center at Northern Kentucky University that will cost $10 million to $12 million.
But Mr. Bricking said state officials might pick a $5 million museum at Big Bone Lick State Park to fund even though it's lower on the priority list. The group is flexible enough to accept that because the museum project is on the list, he said.
In recent years, the consensus committee has helped win state funding for the $35 million Northern Kentucky Convention Center and Northern Kentucky University's new $38 million science center.
Cincinnati political and business leaders argue that Cincinnati should be able to do just as well with its lawmakers up north.
While Mr. Taft has made it clear that he's governor for the whole state even though he's from Cincinnati, Mr. Luken said Mr. Taft also made it clear that “he's on our side if it's doable.”
The time to act is now, Hamilton County Commissioner John Dowlin argues, while Cincinnati has homegrown politicians like Mr. Taft and Mr. Finan in positions of power.
Mr. Finan, after all, must leave the Senate in 2002 because of term limits.
As Mr. Dowlin put it: “Things won't get better than they are now in terms of the makeup of the leadership.”
Downtown projects angle for state dollars
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