If you live in the Cincinnati region, you know what I mean. The Greater Cincinnati Metropolitan Area is still a great place to live, but the core of the statistical metropolitan area, Cincinnati, and to a lesser degree, Hamilton County are in decline. Today’s lesson in incompetence involves the Freedom Center and the Banks project. But, before I proceed, there’s some pertinent background that needs to be discussed.
All one has to do is look across the river at Northe
rn Kentucky, at Newport, at Covington, and see the unprecedented building spree. And it just isn’t a “spree” of new buildings, it is an unleashing of revenue, job creating businesses. Newport on the Levee, pictured on the left is just one example of the vitality on the Kentucky side of the river.
Cincinnati and Hamilton County instead, decided to focus on two new stadiums for the Cincinnati Reds and Bengals. 
Businesses, open year round were displaced to erect one building that is used 82 times a year and the other 8 times. Additionally, the county and city raised the sales tax and drove consumers to counties to shop in localities with lower tax rates. While the city has two wonderful stadiums, it is painfully obvious that no new skyscrapers have been built in Cincinnati since 1990.
And while Northern Kentucky has experienced a boom, county and city officials on the Ohio side of the river have yet to develop the open land between the two stadiums.
The latest setback for the “Banks” project, as this development is known as, was exposed earlier this week.
It seems that the incompetence of the City Council and the Hamilton County Commissioners has once again come back to haunt them.
What’s the latest problem? A museum, The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, pictured below, was built on what is arguably some of the most coveted commercial property in Cincinnati. That was problem one. Incompetent city and county officials allowed a non-revenue generating entity to be built what was always believed to be the heart of economic redevelopment in Cincinnati.
The Freedom Center generates little revenue. It depends upon public subsidies to continue its operation and it is only open from 11 am to 5 pm, Tuesday through Sunday. The Freedom Center, whether you want to hear it or not, is at best, an important, but small niche of Greater Cincinnati’s history. It doesn’t generate enough interest to be successful and it should have, from the beginning, been incorporated into The Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal, and presented as a part of the area’s rich history.
On top of wasting valuable economic space, the county commissioners and the city council compounded their error in judgement. The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that in their infinite wisdom, both the City and the County gave the Freedom Center exclusive development rights to 1.6 acres of open land on the the Banks, that is vital to project’s success. That’s not the worst part, the Freedom Center, which is supported by taxpayer dollars, wants 1 million dollars for the return of the land.
So not only are our local politicians unbelievably shortsighted, the directors of the Freedom Center who have been feeding at the public trough for too long and who are of the same economic mindset as the city fathers (and mothers), who perennially push economic development across the river as the result of their blundering and socialistic policies. By holding up the Banks project, the Freedom Center is blind to the fact that development right behind their building might actually attract people who might actually make a trip to their museum.
To keep the Banks project moving, the Hamilton County Commissioners and the Cincinnati City Council will have to come up with the million dollar price tag to cover their inability to plan in a professional manner.
As to the Freedom Center, when you receive your million dollars, hopefully there is a note attached to it: “You will no longer receive public funding from either the county or the city. Good luck.”
Trackposted to Blog @ MoreWhat.com, Mark My Words, Rosemary’s Thoughts, Adam’s Blog, Right Truth, Big Dog’s Weblog, Leaning Straight Up, Conservative Cat, Adeline and Hazel, Allie is Wired, third world county, DragonLady’s World, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, The World According to Carl, Pirate’s Cove, Blue Star Chronicles, Celebrity Smack, The Pink Flamingo, CORSARI D’ITALIA, Right Voices, The Yankee Sailor, and CatSynth.com, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
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Tags: Banks, Cincinnati, Hamilton County
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