Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Concerns with Winburn on Transportation, Freight and Clean Energy

City Council Member Charlie Winburn claims that he now supports state funding for an Uptown portion of the Streetcar. While that sounds good, as a Cincinnati Streetcar supporter, I am skeptical.

The reason I am skeptical is that Winburn has opposed this project from the very beginning. He didn’t support state funding when the funds were actually available. In fact he not only voted against the project on Council before it started, but voted to shut down the project after construction already began.

I find it interesting that when he ran city wide, he argued that citizens in the suburbs didn’t support this project. However, now that he is running for state senate in an area that includes Downtown, Uptown and other neighborhoods that largely support Democrats he suddenly has a change of heart.

Taking this position now is also interesting because there are no state funds allocated to the Uptown portion of this project. This is because the Ohio Governor, from Republican Party Winburn belongs to, appointed new members to the board that rejected the funding they had previously requested. The Governor also rejected the stimulus funds to create a 3-C Passenger Rail Line. That would have connected Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus and Cleveland via Amtrak.  

Another reason I am skeptical of his support is because he doesn’t seem to even support our cities connections to freight. His plan to cover our pension debt is to sell the Cincinnati Southern Railway. This is a city owned freight line that has been generating money for the city every year since 1877. In 1987 the City Council endorsed a policy to dedicate funds generated by the Southern Railway to infrastructure projects. The Cincinnati Southern Railroad has proven to be a great moneymaker for the city, bringing in millions every year. Funding city pensions is important, but selling this asset is not the way to do it.

Maybe Winburn hasn't supported these rail initiatives because he doesn't support Cincinnati's sustainability efforts. After all, Winburn supports eliminating the Office of Environment and Sustainability, even though this office has found ways to reduce Cincinnati's energy costs that actually save money. That concerns me if he is to have a voice on regulations for coal, oil and natural gas production in our State. 

The Democrat in the race, Cecil Thomas, supported the streetcar project when he was on council. He did not advocate selling freight lines or eliminating the Office of Environment and Sustainability. These are just a few of the reasons I support his run for the Ohio State Senate for District 9.