Ok. News time.
It’s official: Yesterday, Cincinnati Public Schools decided it will evict the Clifton Cultural Arts Center from its home at the old Clifton School to establish a new neighborhood school there. The decision puts an end to a year-plus-long fight between the two over the building, which the CCAC has put millions into rehabbing since it moved in more than a decade ago. The arts center leases the building from CPS for a dollar a year. CPS says it needs the building due to overcrowding at nearby schools. The district has purchased the nearby Rawson Estate and looks likely to offer it to the CCAC as a new home. But there’s a snag: The Clifton School has five times as much space as the Rawson mansion, and CCAC leadership says they need every bit of the school’s 25,000 square feet. The CCAC has 365 days to move out of Clifton School, CPS says. In a news release yesterday, CCAC leadership said they’re focused on the future and finding a new home for the popular arts center.
• The Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority is asking the city to crack into a transit reserve fund as the city’s bus service faces a $3 million deficit next year. If that deficit isn’t addressed, SORTA says it will be forced to cut the frequency of some bus routes. The city sets aside some of the money it gets for transit from its earning tax into those reserve funds, which currently stand at $13 million. Not all of that money could be used to ease Metro’s deficit or expand its service — some is tied up in other ways — but a portion could be used to keep Metro from cutting service. The move wouldn’t address more long-term problems with Metro’s budget that SORTA is looking to fix. The transit authority is looking at placing a countywide sales tax increase on the ballot in November. Some officials, including Hamilton County Commission President Todd Portune, have discouraged SORTA from doing so. Tapping the city’s reserve account might put that plan on hold.
• Speaking of Hamilton County Commissioners, they’ll be holding two public hearings on the county budget tomorrow to get constituent feedback on the coming year’s financial plan. The Democrat-led commission says it has drawn up a budget proposal that is balanced, puts 15 percent of revenues in reserve accounts while funding new policy priorities. Residents can hear more about the budget and weigh in on what they’d like to see at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow at the county commission office — 138 E. Court St., sixth floor — or at 6 p.m. at the Hamilton County Board of Elections in Norwood.
• Give me space or get a ticket, drivers. Ohio today joins 29 other states with safe passing distance laws designed to protect cyclists. Drivers will have to give bicyclists at least three feet of clearance when passing them on roads, according to the law, or face minor misdemeanor charges. Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus, Cleveland and other Ohio cities already have similar laws on the books for drivers within the city limits.
• You may also want to give your coworkers space for an entirely different reason. Also going into effect today: a new state law that keeps employers from banning firearms in the parking lots of their workplaces. Employees can’t be disciplined for having the weapons as long as they’re locked in their cars, according to the law. That seems like a great idea. The law also expands rights for those with concealed carry permits in school zones, colleges, airports and child care centers. Gun rights proponents are hoping to push the law even further and have begun an effort to pass a law that would prohibit employers from banning legally licensed firearms inside workplaces. Translation: A business would not be allowed to tell its workers they can’t bring their guns to work, even if the workplace is private property owned by the business. Wow.
• Finally, here’s a quick hit that’s worth an in-depth read. President Donald Trump’s proposed corporate tax cuts could have a huge negative effect on affordable housing across the country at a time when the need for such housing is rising sharply. Much affordable housing development relies on funding mechanisms like Low Income Housing Tax Credits, which nonprofits can barter for capital to complete construction projects on affordable housing. Corporations buy those credits because they lower their effective tax rates on certain incomes. As Trump pledges to cut corporate tax rates, however, those LIHTC credits become less attractive, and thus, less valuable. That means less money for affordable housing as developers looking to build low-income units raise less money from the sale of the credits.
This article appears in Mar 15-22, 2017.