Tag: Politics

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News Politics

Short-sighted policy decisions ruling budget debate

Difficult budget decisions combined with an election year, make for a truly wonderful time to follow politics. That is if you enjoy constant bickering, grand standing and get nowhere fast style of government.

What is happening now in Cincinnati is not unusual. A projected budget deficit during an economic downturn has resulted in City leaders having to make very tough decisions about where to make cuts in order to balance the budget until revenues once again increase. What this has led to is a back-and-forth political mud slinging contest.

The City Manager laid out his plan to balance the budget and that included the unpopular decision to cut 138 members from the police department. Making political matters worse, the Fraternal Order of Police has refused to make any concessions in order to help preserve their own workforce, saying that the cuts need to come from other departments.

This is not new. The police and fire unions across this country are some of the strongest around and hold a hard position. They are fighting for their constituents which is reasonable, but it is up to the policy makers to hear their argument and make an informed decision based on more than just the hard stance of one or two city departments. Over the past several years other departments have been sustaining cuts, while the police force has actually grown.

Yesterday a group of four City Council members announced their plan to save all 138 police positions. Their solution: delay a $2.5 million payment to Cincinnati Public Schools that is due in October. This would save the jobs through the rest of 2009, but not help out the cause in 2010. So they go on to suggest cutting the Planning Department, Comprehensive Plan funding, and the Office of Environmental Quality (OEQ) to name a few.

What is interesting is that the Planning Department is already undersized for the a city as large as Cincinnati, the Comprehensive Plan money is coming from the Capital Budget and therefore can not be used for operational costs like police or fire, and the OEQ is basically a skeleton staff that was recently formed and has been bringing in money and making city services more efficient.

Data from Office of Environmental Quality

A recent report comparing recycling program costs for 2010 found that the proposed cuts to the enhanced recycling program would actually cost the City more money than it would save. The reason is that the current recycling contract costs the City $1,179,360 each year, while the enhanced program costs $980,519 each year, thus resulting in an additional $198,841 in costs for recycling while having a less effective program. The financials work out this way due to increased revenue and savings with the enhanced program. The current recycling contract recoups about 46% of its total contract cost through revenue and savings, while the enhanced program recoups around 77% of its total contract cost – offsetting the additional cost of the program and then some.

Data from the Office of Environmental Quality

At the same time the elimination of the Office of Environmental Quality would cost the City roughly $17 million in lost revenue. The OEQ had a budget (pdf) of just under $3 million in 2009, but saved the City $650,000 in energy services performance contracts and other energy management efforts. Furthermore, the OEQ brought in $19,319,500 in grant money that would more than likely be lost as a result of cutting the department.

The numbers speak for themselves, but nobody seems to be discussing them. A reasonable debate about these tough budget decisions should be had, but said debate should be done on facts and available resources instead of political will and lobbying power.

Do we know if these 138 positions in the CPD are needed? Do we know the optimum level for a police force in order to reach the desired safety levels in our community? Maybe we need more, maybe less, or maybe everything is at an appropriate level right now. All I can say for sure is that I do not know, and I would love to see an audit that would investigate just how much we should be allocating to public safety each year to reach desired results before we keep pouring more and more limited resources into a single department at the expense of the rest.

Please contact City leaders and let them know how you feel on this issue. You can find all of the necessary contact information and additional action items HERE.

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News

Queen City Metro cutting Riverfest Express bus service

It’s no secret at this point that transit systems across the nation have been hit very hard during this economic downturn. The funding problems are partly due to lower ridership figures as the economy has soured and fewer people have jobs to commute to, partly due to transit being seen as an easy cut by many politicians looking to make tough budget decisions, and it also seems to be due to the fact that the funding sources for many of our nation’s transit systems are temporary streams and offer no reasonable financial plan for transit agencies as they attempt to plan long-term.

The problem is that while many Americans are having trouble affording the costs associated with owning a personal automobile, their alternative options are becoming more limited as transit service is reduced, prices increase, or both. In Cincinnati, Queen City Metro is cutting service and hoping to land as much stimulus money as possible so that it can afford to keep up with regular maintenance and repairs.

The latest news is that Metro will not operate the Riverfest Express this year during the Labor Day Weekend celebrations downtown that draw more than 500,000 people. Those who have gone to Riverfest in the past know that the area is packed with people and that getting to and from the festivities is not all that easy by car.

The problem is that the special Riverfest Express service cost more to operate than it generated in revenue for the cash-strapped bus agency. Queen City Metro officials encourage those who might have used the Riverfest Express service to instead utilize a regular Metro bus route that will continue operations as planned for that day.

What this means is that those who previously used the Riverfest Express can now take any bus running downtown and then transfer at Government Square to the #1 route which then runs to Sawyer Point, or they could walk the 8 or so blocks from Government Square. Both options seem to be an unlikely choice for those who were previously familiar with taking the Riverfest Express directly from the park and ride location to the Riverfront Transit Center.

It seems natural that difficult decisions have to be made in order to balance the budget, but how can we expect transit ridership to grow while we continue to cut service and/or increase fares. A long-term financial solution also needs to be found that will help avoid these issues the next time an economic downturn comes around. Any ideas?

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News Politics

Recycling gets hit hard in Cincinnati due to budget cuts

The City of Cincinnati announced yesterday that its yard waste collection service for residences and business owners has been canceled. The move comes on the heels of suspended discussions about the use of larger recycling carts, and reforms presented by City Manager Dohoney that would streamline and pay for a new waste collection system.

During the budget discussions in past weeks, many fiscal conservatives openly mocked the idea of investing in new recycling carts for City residents. The 64-gallon wheeled recycling carts would have put recycling on a comparable level to normal trash pick up in terms of capacity, but would have also cost the City a $3.5 million of upfront capital. The debate was quickly ended and the discussion about improving the City’s recycling program has been indefinitely suspended.

These are not the first of the items that have set waste collection and recycling back in Cincinnati. In November 2008, City Manager Dohoney proposed a new waste collection fee to help balance the budget, and went on to say that a $300,000 study of a automated trash collection system using trucks that lift cans with mechanical levers instead of having city workers do the heavy lifting.

Photo from the City of Cincinnati

The automated system would, in the long-term, save the City money as Dohoney reported that “we are averaging seven people out a month with some type of injury as a result of how we collect solid waste.” Dohoney went on to say that those injuries were costing the City approximately $1 million a year. Both this, and the trash collection fee, were met with heavy criticism as many did not like the idea of a new fee, for an otherwise indirectly paid for service through property taxes.

But as the politicians and community leaders continue to punt this issue back and forth the problems still exist. Cincinnati’s rates of recycling are far too low, the costs associated with trash collection are still too high, the efficiency of collecting trash is still not where it needs to be, and users still have no benefit to reduce their waste production.

The solutions are present. City Manager Dohoney’s proposal was a step in the right direction, but the adoption of a RecycleBank-style program would be another step towards reducing the production of waste and encouraging higher rates of recycling. A ‘Pay as You Throw’ (PYT) system would require users to pay for their waste collection based on the amount of waste they produce, something that would encourage lower rates of waste production and higher rates of recycling when paired with a RecycleBank-style program.

It is truly unfortunate to see long-term economic, social and environmental benefits cast aside due to the fear of an initial capital cost that is seen as either being wasteful or too much given the current economy. In addition to growing revenue streams, cities also need to find ways to improve their efficiencies for not only their customers, but their bottom lines. These kinds of actions would help avoid future personnel cuts the next time an economic downturn hits, and make city operations more responsive.

The results from these cuts will be seen quickly and easily as people will immediately start discarding their yard waste with their regular trash. The use of smaller recycling bins versus larger carts that are easier to use will continue to stack the deck against recycling over regular disposal that might be more convenient. The progress that Cincinnati has made on this front in recent years might just all be lost in one budget cycle.

Yard Waste Cancellation Details:
Beginning Friday, August 21, yard waste collection will be discontinued as a separate service. The City will maintain regular garbage collection and will pick up yard waste as a part of that, although City officials strongly encourage residents and business owners to find alternative means to discarding their yard waste (i.e. composting, mulching, yard waste drop-offs). If you have additional questions, or would like to find the Hamilton County yard waste drop-off location nearest you visit this website.

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News

Meet the City Council candidates at Findlay Market’s Biergarten

Starting this Sunday, August 16th candidates for Cincinnati City Council will be at Findlay Market’s Biergarten will restore the age-old tradition of gathering at Over-the-Rhine beer gardens for political discussion and debate.

Organizers say that council members, mayors and U.S. presidents gathered in Over-the-Rhine at one its many beer gardens in the 19th and early 20th centuries. “Today, the neighborhood is no longer the epicenter of political destinies that it once was, but it is at the core of numerous issues that impact the entire city.”

Both incumbent and non-incumbent candidates have been invited to answer questions and engage in conversation with the public about their plans for the City. Each candidate will be given 10 minutes to address the public.

The Findlay Market Biergarten opens at noon and will host the discussions from 1pm to 3pm on August 16th and 23rd. Guests will be able to choose from Christian Moerlein, Little Kings, Hudy Delight and Burger beer products.

Confirmed candidates for this Sunday, August 16 include:
Jeff Berding, Chris Bortz, Laketa Cole, Tony Fischer, Greg Harris, Chris Monzell, Roxanne Qualls, Wendell Young, George Zamary

Confirmed candidates for next Sunday, August 23 include:
Darryl Cordrery II, Kevin Flynn, Nicholas Hollan, Amy Murray, Laure Quinlivan, Lamarque Ward, Bernadette Watson, Charles Winburn

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News

Misguided amendment garnering state-wide opposition

Sunday’s Enquirer featured an opinion piece that called the recently proposed Charter amendment to ban all passenger rail expenditures without a prior vote a “poison pill.” The Enquirer’s piece marks yet another local institution that’s committed to voicing their opposition to the dangerous amendment. Followers of transportation debates in Cincinnati will readily admit that the Enquirer has been vocally opposed to the proposed streetcar line, so it is clear that they’ve seen the dangers of passing such an ill-conceived restriction on our city’s Charter.

The debate surrounding the proposed amendment has garnered attention beyond the I-275 loop as well. Although only residents of the City of Cincinnati have the ability to vote on this amendment, its potential negative implications have warranted statewide criticism.

A Columbus-based group that promotes the free markets by advocating for greater transportation choices, All Aboard Ohio, voted unanimously to adopt a resolution condemning the amendment as “punitive and discriminatory.” The resolution goes on to argue that if passes, the amendment would only bolster a predominately car-based public policy that “siphoned jobs, residents and wealth from the city [and] will continue to be funded by taxpayers in the City of Cincinnati.” The group’s president, Bill Hutchison, decries:

“This is very sad to see this happening… They’re really not thinking this through. Passenger rail has a strong record of bringing economic vitality and environmental quality to urban centers throughout the world. For groups who claim to want these characteristics for Cincinnati yet seek an anti-rail charter amendment is very disappointing.”

The groups Mr. Hutchinson references are the Green Party and the local chapter of the NAACP, which helped circulate petitions to place the proposed amendment on the November ballot. The Green party’s involvement befuddles most, as an increase of options for non-vehicular transportation aligns closely with green initiatives. Furthermore, in increase in transportation options not only creates jobs, but allows those without the means to purchase a car greater mobility and access to existing jobs.

WHIO, a news talk radio station in Dayton, cautioned this weekend of the dangers of the amendment. “The issue also could put the brakes on Cincinnati’s involvement in future rail projects across Ohio,” the statement warned, “meaning the proposed high-speed rail proposed by the federal government could be in jeopardy.”