Thursday, February 03, 2000
County to pitch in on pilings
$2M to city for eventual park deck
BY DAN KLEPAL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The city will get its money, and Fort Washington Way will get its pilings.
Hamilton County commissioners voted Wednesday to transfer $2 million to Cincinnati so a foundation of steel pilings can be laid that may eventually hold a covering over three blocks of the roadway as a way to connect downtown to the riverfront.
The only thing left to figure out is which pot of taxpayer money the cash will come from. Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus said he thinks the half-cent sales tax increase, which voters passed in 1996 to pay for stadium construction, likely will be used.
The only other option is to take the cash out of the county's general fund.
Either way, Commissioner John Dowlin doesn't like the idea.
Mr. Dowlin was the lone commissioner to vote against the measure Wednesday, saying that the city should pay for the steel beams.
Voters never imagined paying for such things when they passed the sales-tax increase, Mr. Dowlin said.
“We've turned down a lot of other people with good intentions and good projects,” Mr. Dowlin said. “And then for us to say at the last minute that we have this $2 million laying around is a disservice.”
Cincinnati lawyer Tim Mara, a leader in the fight against the sales-tax increase, said Wednesday that he may file a lawsuit against the county for the way commissioners came to their decision.
The expenditure was discussed in a closed-door executive session Monday, before Mr. Neyer and Mr. Bed-
inghaus showed up at an afternoon press conference to announce the contribution. Commissioners then voted on the expenditure Wednesday.
Ohio's open-meetings law dictates that public policy and discussions of policy must happen in open meetings.
“You made a decision in private that you merely validated in public,” Mr. Mara said. “That's improper.”
Mr. Bedinghaus has defended Monday's discussion in private as proper since no vote was taken.
The covering over Fort Washington Way is considered critical to a development proposal known as The Banks.
With the covering in place, the downtown district would be linked to the riverfront, two stadiums and possible development of restaurants, shops, housing and green space be tween the stadiums.
Although the foundation will now be laid, the covering itself will cost another $46 million and will be built in about five years. At this point, no one has figured out how to pay for that.
Still, Mr. Neyer said the vote represented a great day for the city.
“The city and county have decided to link arms and invest in our future,” Mr. Neyer said.
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