Coming to Cincinnati to coordinate downtown development, Stephen Leeper won't be missed by his critics in Pittsburgh.

Naysayer's disclaimer: Welcome, Stephen Leeper. One hopes that, under his leadership, good things will come to Cincinnati and all its residents, even the conservative rich ones.

Earlier this year the Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC) announced Leeper's hire as president. He comes from Pittsburgh, a city compared to Cincinnati in population, where he oversaw development in three areas similar to those targeted by 3CDC: The Banks, Fountain Square and Over-the-Rhine.

3CDC, the newly-created private development corporation that the city has entrusted with up to $100 million in public development dollars, lured Leeper from his job as head of Pittsburgh's Sports and Exhibition Authority (SEA), which oversaw the construction of new football (Steelers) and baseball (Pirates) stadiums, a new convention center and an updated civic arena for Pittsburgh's hockey team (Penguins). Before that, as Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy's development director, he negotiated deals to bring department stores Lord & Taylor and Lazarus-Macy's downtown.

Punching bag
But wait a minute. In Pittsburgh, the convention center is running a deficit of $2 million a year. Construction of the stadiums fell victim to "cost overruns" -- which should have a familiar ring to Cincinnatians. The Penguins went bankrupt. Two big retailers whose downtown presence he finagled have announced plans to close within six months of each other.

Worst of all, Pittsburgh is in a state of financial distress, its finances turned over to the state legislature.

"Stephen talked about all of that in great detail with the folks at the selection committee," says Kevin Armstrong, 3CDC's communication manager.

Even so, the image of a "rat leaving a sinking ship" has been invoked more than once by some in Pittsburgh.

Leeper is thrilled by this line of questioning.

"All right, I can be your punching bag for the next umpteen years," he says.

He takes umbrage at blaming Pittsburgh's woes on his development projects. Pittsburgh's financial straits are a result of the city's antiquated tax structure, under which city workers living outside the city pay the same $10 a year they did in 1965, he says.

Not only that, but "a whole host of corporations" are exempt from payroll taxes, including the manufacturing, banking and insurance sectors, he says.

New stadiums and a new convention center didn't hurt the city, according to Leeper.

"I do believe at the end of the day (stadiums) do make money," he says.

Most convention centers run deficits, and Pittsburgh's is "pretty good for its size," Leeper says. He expects its revenues to go up a couple million dollars this year, along with a 60 percent rise in visitors.

The department stores failed because the retail envisioned around them didn't materialize, he says.

That won't happen around Fountain Square because 3CDC has already hired development firm Williams Jackson Ewing Inc. to manage the redevelopment of Fountain Square and to make sure the surrounding area has the proper mix of retail, arts and entertainment, according to Armstrong.

One area in which Leeper reportedly excelled was the creation of mixed housing during eight years as Pittsburgh's housing director. He instituted rehabilitation loans and below-market-rate mortgages for first-time buyers to rejuvenate Crawford Square in the Hill District, a part of Pittsburgh often compared to Over-the-Rhine. In fact, he calls the opportunity to work in Over-the-Rhine "probably the most exciting part of the project."

But 3CDC touts Leeper's successes in a city that doesn't necessarily see them as such, in a city whose policies -- albeit not under Leeper's control -- have left it in junk-bond status. Which should beg a question from Cincinnati: Is what's bad for the goose bad for the gander?

'Don't listen to them'
Jake Haulk, president of the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy, has traded theories and barbs with Leeper over Pittsburgh's development projects.

"We were generally opposed to most of the things he was working on, because publicly funded stadiums are not economic generators," Haulk says.

The Allegheny Institute for Public Policy describes itself as a think tank "devoted exclusively to bringing free market solutions to local government" -- that is, libertarian.

"This is where the right wing and the left wing agree," Leeper notes. "Don't listen to those guys."

Stadiums attract people downtown and allow other aspects of business to flourish, he says. Not only that, but national sports teams -- and the stadiums in which they perform -- are important to the "fabric of communities" because people of "different races and economic strata can all talk about something in a similar fashion."

Yeah, they can talk about how badly their teams suck. But that's not a developer's fault.

Chris Potter, managing editor of Pittsburgh's alternative weekly, City Paper, admits he can't blame Leeper "that the Steelers went 6-10" in the fancy new stadium Leeper helped orchestrate.

However, Leeper did shore up the city's position in light of the Penguins' impending bankruptcy to ensure that the city wasn't stuck with the bill and that the Penguins would stick around. But if Leeper suspected they were going to go bankrupt, that leads to another question.

"Why the hell did we put $13 million into the Civic Arena?" Potter asks.

If any of his projects didn't see the success he'd have liked, Leeper contends, "It's better to have sins of commission than sins of omission."

But as many point out, it's not the affable Leeper who initiated the questionable development projects; it was Mayor Murphy under an initiative called "Plan B." Leeper was just following orders.

"I think Steve did a very good job of doing a lot of bad things," Potter says.

Now that Leeper takes his orders from local corporations, he'll probably do a good job of implementing those projects, too. What's up for question, more than Leeper's own abilities or visions, are those of the board members whose blueprint he's charged with implementing -- and their priorities.

Every name on 3CDC's list of selection committee members is followed by either "chairman" or "president." When he ran for city council last year, the Rev. Damon Lynch III criticized 3CDC for demanding "buy-in." Corporate heads are expected to cobble together funding for the organization: Basically, you pay to play.

But the public plays, too, Armstrong says; it will be invited to meetings and discussions. An economic inclusion committee is in place to ensure minority-owned businesses benefit.

"If and when this thing is successful, Cincinnati will be transformed," Armstrong says.

Of Leeper, Potter says, "I like the guy and I wish him all the best, and I wish Cincinnati all the best as well. Have fun with each other."

Leeper starts his new job on a rather fun day: April 1. ©