The argument over Cincinnati’s streetcar didn’t end with mayor-elect John Cranley’s decisive victory in Tuesday’s mayoral election, but Cranley has a clear advantage in the fight.
“They should immediately stop spending,” Cranley told reporters at his first post-election news conference at his Hyde Park home. “I mean, seriously, look who got elected yesterday. This is a democracy.”
The current city administration shouldn’t be “agitating voters” by continuing the project, Cranley said, maintaining that when the costs of future streetcar operating costs are added up, the costs of stopping are far less than continuing the project.
Of course, Captain Dick Move here left out the part where "agitated voters" approved the streetcar project on ballot measures not once, but twice. And the cost to the city to cancel the project now may far exceed the cost of finishing it.
The city has spent more than $23 million on the project to date and would have to return $44 million in federal funding if it cancels the project. Cranley said he planned to speak with White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett today about using the federal funding for something else. But $25 million of the funding, by law, must go toward public transit projects, so changing its use would take an act of Congress.
The city also said that the federal money already spent — about $2 million — would have to be paid back using city operating funds instead of capital funds set aside for the streetcar project. That would make the city’s budget deficit for next year even worse.
Before the election, Cranley dismissed that possibility.
“Who said this? Some kid? What citation did they cite to make this absurd argument?” he asked. “If the federal funds are paying for something, presumably capital-related, and we’re paying them back, in essence, buying the goods that the federal government paid for, and that good is a capital good. So of course the capital budget can be used. The city’s allowed to build a road and tear up the road. Just because we don’t end up using the road doesn’t mean we can’t consider it a capital expense.”
So not only is Cranley an asshole, he's ignorant too. And good luck getting this past the GOP House, John Boehner representing precisely zero people in Cincinnati itself.
Of course, there's the possibility that all the contractors working on the project now, and the organizations who backed it, will simply sue the pants off the city.
The city will have spent $26 million on the project by the time new leadership takes over at City Hall on Dec. 1, according to an Enquirer analysis. It could cost the city another $5 million if it loses a lawsuit against Duke Energy over utility relocation – and more litigation could be forthcoming from contractors and streetcar supporters.
“There has definitely been a buzz in the community about litigation,” said Over-the-Rhine resident Derek Bauman, co-chairman of Cincinnatians for Progress, a streetcar advocacy group. “Whatever we would have to do. I think it would be a huge mistake to stop the project – one the city could not recover from.”
So yes, Cranley's not only wanting Mark Mallory to pronounce the project dead now (in a giant screw you to streetcar supporters) but he's picking a fight that will almost certainly drag on for years and cost taxpayers more.
And did I mention he wants to put in a downtown shuttle system instead?
"The reality is that the people behind the streetcar have great love for this city. They want what I want – a vibrant, 24/7 downtown, Over-the-Rhine, and Banks. I think Hop on Cincinnati (a proposed trackless trolley) and things of that nature like downtown Denver – no one’s accusing Denver of being behind the times. And they’ve got a similar kind of thing. I think starting to work on something that’s affordable is something that can help unite the city."
Which he would have to get approved with two new Republicans on city council. Awesome. This guy is a piece of work.
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