For six years we've been told that Cincinnati's ship is coming 'round the bend: A new riverfront called "The Banks," with housing, parks, restaurants and stores.

But what if there's nothing in the banks?

"The county has made promises it can't keep," said new Hamilton County Commissioner Phil Heimlich.

He says $50 million in sales tax revenues intended for The Banks has been wasted on stadium overruns. It was supposed to go to the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority to build parking garages that provide a platform above the flood plain for development, he said. But now it's gone, and another $21 million promise is in doubt.

Spent three times

"The fiscal situation is worse now than when we talked about that $21 million," said County Administrator David Krings. "Sometimes you have to give people a dose of fiscal reality. It's not that we'll never do these wonderful things, just when can we afford to do these wonderful things."

Mr. Heimlich said he was surprised to discover that the $21 million for The Banks was also dedicated to a budget stabilization fund and police radios. "They've spent that money three times.''

Promises are imploding like Cinergy Field.

Rob Fredericks, aide to Hamilton County Commissioner John Dowlin, says, "The Port Authority was supposed to take the politics out of it so we could get something done. But two years later, we've got nothing to show."

Port Authority officials say they've been blocked by a county that's jealous of control. That's the riverfront disease: decades of stadium wars over control. The county fumbled the Bengals stadium by clinging to control. Now it's the same old story.

Start worrying

Port Authority President Tim Sharp is still optimistic. If $10 million in federal grants come through, along with the $21 million promised by the county, he says, "We've got six of the eight blocks figured out."

The Banks could begin by early 2004, he says.

But without the $21 million, no parking garages, no parks, no restaurants, no housing, no development, no Banks.

Mr. Fredericks says the county can meet stadium parking obligations with surface parking if it has to.

"This is what every citizen in this town should worry about,'' said Port Authority Chairman Jack Rouse. "What scares me is the longer we go with a sea of surface parking, the more we get used to it, and the big developers will say, "Why mess with Cincinnati? They won't do anything.' "

Mr. Rouse says the time is right: Financing rates are low and there's still demand for downtown housing.

"I want to be optimistic,'' he said. "But I certainly understand why people get pessimistic in this town. If it fails, think of the message that sends to the businesses and young people we want to keep and attract."

I can think of the message: Our ship is not coming in. It's sinking in the mud like one of those abandoned Russian submarines, rusting at the dock, slowly leaking radioactive despair.

E-mail pbronson@enquirer.com or call 768-8301.