By Cindi Andrews
Enquirer staff writer

Arts and business leaders in Hamilton County are asking for state money to help with such projects as new dressing rooms at a Covedale theater and a new pavilion at Riverbend Music Center.

WISH LIST

Who has asked for what state funding, according to the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce: • Hamilton County, $14 million for sports stadiums. • Cincinnati Center City Development Corp., $5 million each for major renovations at Fountain Square and Washington Park in Over-the-Rhine. • City of Cincinnati, $7 million to $8 million for Sabin Convention Center expansion. • National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, $7 million. • Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, $5 million for mini-pavilion. • Museum Center, $2 million for Union Terminal renovations. • Ensemble Theatre, $1 million for renovations. • Kennedy Heights Arts Center, $468,000 to continue renovations. • Uptown Consortium and Corryville Economic Development Corp., $1.2 million for Turner Place rehabilitation. • Covedale Center for the Performing Arts, $400,000 for renovations. • Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, $200,000. • Cincinnati Art Museum, $250,000 to plan for renovation.

The Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce is leading an effort to prioritize those requests as Ohio lawmakers begin behind-the-scenes discussions on what projects most deserve state tax money.

The so-called capital improvements bill won't come up for a vote until the end of the year, but it took center stage last week when county and state politicians sparred over whether the county is still owed $14 million for its two new sports stadiums.

The stadiums comprise only a third of the $50 million that different local groups want. A dozen other projects throughout the county will also compete for a state funding pot that's expected to total $17 million to $20 million.

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, which owns Riverbend, is asking for $5 million to build a second, 3,500-to-4,000-seat mini-pavilion.

The current pavilion seats about 5,500 and has room for about 14,000 more people on the lawn.

"It would really give us great flexibility," said Mike Smith, the symphony's director of facilities.

"It doesn't make sense sometimes to put regional or smaller artists in a large amphitheater."

The new venue, which wouldn't have lawn seating, would typically be used on the 50 or so seasonable nights a year when the main pavilion is not in use, he said.

The Covedale Center for the Performing Arts has a more modest request as it enters its third season: $400,000 to restore the faÁade and add plumbing, dressing rooms and a workshop backstage.

"It's not an amenity - it's the things that make a performing arts center truly usable," said Tim Perrino, director of the semi-professional theater on Glenway.

Several business groups also are hoping for state money.

The Uptown Consortium is backing a request by the Corryville Economic Development Corp. for $1.2 million to renovate Turner Place. The plan is for the building on Short Vine Street to house the Uptown Consortium and a University of Cincinnati outreach effort, consortium President Tony Brown said. The hope is to spark redevelopment of an area that businesses have abandoned in recent years.

Doug Moormann, vice president of the chamber, is collecting all state funding requests for eventual consideration by a group that will include city and county leaders, the Cincinnati Center City Development Corp., a public-private partnership, and the Cincinnati Business Committee, a group of the city's business leaders. "We're still in a mode where we're still educating ourselves," Moormann said.

So is the General Assembly.

Rep. Patricia Clancy, R-Colerain Township, the House's majority floor leader, said it's too early to know how much money will be available for Hamilton County projects. The state passed out $17.1 million in the region two years ago. "At this point there may be no community projects," she said. "That is a real possibility."

Two years ago, the top local request was $24 million for the stadiums. The state contributed $10 million. State lawmakers also snubbed requests for Findlay Market and a bike trail in favor of several projects not recommended by the local group: the Museum Center at Union Terminal, Cincinnati Symphony, William Henry Harrison Tomb and a Colerain Township park.

E-mail candrews@enquirer.com