Good morning all. A lot happened yesterday, so let’s get straight to some quick news updates.
Cincinnati and Hamilton County could have much better bus service, the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority said during its board meeting yesterday. But it will come at a price — and the improvements will depend on whether taxpayers are willing to spend a little more and how much that little more ends up being. You can read more here about Metro’s potential improvements and what they would cost via a sales tax increase SORTA wants to put on the ballot next year.
• Two former Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County employees who say they were fired under unfair circumstances joined protests against the potential sale of the library’s downtown north building yesterday. Opponents of that sale say the library shouldn’t be mulling the sale of public space downtown, especially when the building in question cost $40 million to build two decades ago but now appraises for between $4 million and $8.5 million. But library leadership says the system needs big upgrades, and that they would never let the building go for that “ridiculous” low price. You can read more in our story here about that debate, which played out in a contentious Library Board of Trustees meeting yesterday.
• What are FC Cincinnati’s chances of getting a Major League Soccer expansion franchise? The team made its pitch earlier this month to league owners after wrangling for $52 million in infrastructure help from the city of Cincinnati and Hamilton County for a dedicated soccer stadium the team says is vital for that bid. There’s no way to tell how that went for sure, but comments from MLS Commissioner Don Garber quoted in this Business Courier story suggest FCC has a strong shot.
• Let’s backtrack to SORTA’s board meeting again, where some political theatrics played out yesterday. As the transit authority was unveiling its above-mentioned plans for improving Metro, three board members were also voting to spin off the streetcar from the transit authority. That motion, brought by Hamilton County Commission-appointed attorney and board member Gary Greenberg, went nowhere.
Greenberg said that move was necessary in order to ask taxpayers for money for buses. But its end result — headlines reading “SORTA votes to operate the streetcar” could have the opposite effect, tying the transit authority to the struggling rail project in the eyes of the public in an inaccurate manner.
SORTA runs the streetcar by overseeing private company Transdev, which handles daily operations. The city pays for the streetcar’s operations from separate funds than those used for other SORTA operations.
The Hamilton County Commission appointed Greenberg, who has ties to conservative groups vocally opposed to the streetcar, back when Republicans controlled that body. Two other county GOP-appointed board members, Ron Mosby and Daniel St. Charles, also voted for the motion. But eight of the 13-member board rejected spinning the streetcar off from SORTA.
• You may or may not be aware of the major role federal Historic Tax Credits have played in a number of redevelopment projects in Cincinnati, but if you’ve spent any time in downtown, in Over-the-Rhine, Walnut Hills or other neighborhoods, you’ve seen those credits at work. But versions of tax reform legislation in Congress cut the tax credits in half or do away with them entirely. GOP senators and House members are still hammering out the details of the reconciled version of the massive tax overhaul, which will over time cut taxes for top earners and corporations while increasing them for low and moderate-income people. In the last 15 years, more than 280 local projects received those credits. Other changes found in the legislation could also do a terrible number on separate tax credits that have become key to funding many affordable housing projects.
• Finally, you’ve probably heard this news already, but if not, here goes: Democrat Doug Jones last night beat former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore, a Republican, in a special election for the state’s U.S. Senate seat vacated by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Jones, a former prosecutor, helped put Ku Klux Klan members behind bars who were responsible for the deaths of black children in an infamous civil-rights era church bombing. Multiple women have accused Moore of fondling them when they were underage and he was in his 30s. He also recalled wistfully a time when America still had slavery as a point when the country was great and families stuck together. Seems like a bit of a no-brainer, but Jones won by just 1.5 percent of the vote. His victory was overwhelmingly fueled by black voters who came out in droves to repudiate Moore. Oddly, Ohio Gov. John Kasich gave a shout out to Republicans for Jones’ win, saying enough GOP voters “chose country over party” and voted for the Democrat.
This article appears in Dec 13-20, 2017.