A Desire Named Streetcar

As expected, Ohio Republicans in Columbus have all but killed the Cincy streetcar, canceling all state funding that was passed last year for the project.

Cincinnati’s streetcar project suffered a major blow during a meeting in Columbus Tuesday.

The Ohio Transportation Review Advisory Council voted not to award nearly $52 million to Cincinnati’s streetcar project.

That money had preliminary been approved last year.

But the funding got a second look after Governor John Kasich was sworn-in to office in January.

The decision leaves a major hole in the city’s financing plan for the $128 million first phase of the project to connect Downtown, Over The Rhine and the Uptown area near UC. 

Without that $52 million, the project is essentially dead as is.  There are plans to possibly move ahead with a smaller phase, but opponents of the plan say that the project will be shut down at the city level.  Mayor Mark Mallory is fighting for the project, but frankly the City Council now has the excuse to try to axe the project wholesale and they'll have the votes to do it, more than likely.  Certainly all four Republicans on the Council have been eager to kill it, and that leaves Chris Bortz as the swing vote.

The problem is, Bortz has his own issues with conflict of interest and the streecar project.

Bortz’s ability to continue to support the streetcar has been clouded by the conflicting legal advice he has received on whether the property holdings along the proposed streetcar route of Towne Properties, the family-owned business he works for, disqualify him for voting for the project.

Cincinnati City Solicitor John Curp has said that in his view Bortz may vote, saying that any benefits Towne Properties might derive from the streetcar line are not disproportionate from those of hundreds of other property owners.

But a staff attorney for the Ohio Ethics Commission issued an advisory opinion stating that Towne’s property creates a conflict of interest for Bortz that prevents him for voting on streetcar matters.

And that puts Bortz right back on the hot seat over this.  Republicans could make things very, very messy for Mayor Mallory as well as Bortz.  We'll see how this all shakes out.