Friday, January 21, 2000
Council flips on lid over FWW
County, state decline to help
BY DAN KLEPAL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The lid appears to have been blown off Fort Washington Way.
Facing a deadline of next week to come up with $10 million so the foundation could be laid for covering a three-block stretch of the roadway, Cincinnati City Council on Thursday rejected a plan that would have taken money out of its general fund to begin buying steel.
City Manager John Shirey said Hamilton County officials told him Tuesday that they would not contribute to the project. Mayor Charlie Luken said state officials also declined to chip in.
That left the city with a decision to either invest in the covering or refer it to the Finance Committee, where the deadline likely would pass next week without action.
“I'm not optimistic at all,” Mr. Luken said. “As much as I'd like to see this happen, it's just too much for us to do without partners. .. Our partners have said they can't help.”
The action leaves in serious doubt an important piece of the riverfront development puzzle called The Banks, which would hold neighborhood shops, housing, restaurants, a 70-acre park and office space between the two stadiums.
Last week, Tom Humes, a member of the Riverfront Advisers Commission — which came up with the development plan — had called the road covering “the cornerstone” of the project because it would link the riverfront with the Central Business District.
Mr. Shirey suggested last Thursday that $10 million now committed to designing a street grid for the riverfront could be used instead to pay for steel beams, or pilings, that would later support the covering.
The county offered to proceed designing the street grid, and to delay billing the city for the work until June 2001. But the county still would want that money, Mr. Shirey said.
“It would simply be a holding measure,” Mr. Shirey said. “Between now and then we would either have to find alternative funds, or go into debt to pay for the street grid.”
Mr. Luken said state officials are committed to helping with the two sports stadiums along the riverfront, and he was told there just isn't any more state money for a covering over Fort Washington Way.
“The stadiums are just bleeding our capital dollars,” the mayor said. “That's why there's not a lot of flexibility here.”
The deadline for making a decision on the covering was brought to light last week, when engineers said they could save $14 million by laying the foundation for the covering now, while Fort Washington Way already is torn up.
But for the entire construction schedule to stay on track, the steel would have to be ordered by next week and construction would need to begin by Feb. 1, experts said.
That left city and county leaders scrambling to find a way to pay for the material and manpower to get the pilings in the ground and keep the roadwork on schedule for completion in August.
Hamilton County Commissioner Tom Neyer said lengthy and complex discussions have been going on between the city and county. But he said there never was a funding proposal for the covering rejected by the county.
“A lot of ideas were discussed,” Mr. Neyer said. “But it would be foolish to look at any development project piecemeal. We can't view any component of riverfront development in a vacuum.”
Without county or state help, one council member said there was no choice for the city.
“It would be a terrible, terrible risk for us to be out there on our own with something like this,” said Councilman Jim Tarbell, before voting to send the covering proposal to the Finance Committee.
Councilman Todd Portune stood alone in saying the city should commit the money.
Mr. Portune said the opportunity to build the covering now was an opportunity too great to pass on, and that future councils would be kicking themselves if the money wasn't committed.
“I'm not sneezing at $10 million,” Mr. Portune said. “But I think that at the end of the day we will have much less of a project, much less of a return on our investment and much less development there if we don't do this.”
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