30-year Parking Lease Signed after All

You’ll recall that a remarkably large, broad bipartisan coalition of Cincinnatians came together earlier this year to subject the parking deal to a referendum.  (Here was Judge Winkler’s order granting the permanent injunction against the ordinance, prohibiting the city from signing the lease until the voters could have their say this November.)

In short, the deal sells out the rights to the city’s on-street (and other) parking for 30 years to pay off the city’s budget deficit for just two or three years—a bad deal, but attractive to the politicians because it gives them a big up-front cash payment.

Unfortunately, the city appealed Judge Winkler’s ruling, and the court of appeals did decide to reverse him.  The deal was signed earlier this week.  Read more about it from WLWT.

All we can do now is vote the councilmen responsible for this out of office in November.  Remember, the members of Council that voted for this were Roxanne Qualls, Laure Quinlivan, Yvette Simpson, Chris Seelbach, Wendell Young, and Cecil Thomas.

• Roxanne Qualls is running for mayor.  Her fellow Democrat John Cranley was one of the leaders against the parking deal; we should elect him, not her.

• Former councilman Amy Murray was also one of the leaders against the parking deal.  We should put her back on Council; maybe she can bring some fiscal sanity to the place, as she did when she was on Council before.

• Current councilman Christopher Smitherman was also one of the leaders.  We should definitely re-elect him.

• Note that Cecil Thomas has since been replaced (by appointment) by his wife, Pamula (sic) Thomas.

It’s common for council members facing term limits to leave early, giving their replacements the campaign benefits of incumbency. But it is rare for a council member to appoint his or her spouse. In fact, long-time observers of Cincinnati’s political scene can’t remember a previous time a wife succeeded her husband.

Mrs. Thomas apparently already has one political scandal on her record, something about ice cream for votes.

Related entries:

• “We Won: Cincinnati Parking Petition Drive Turned in 19,800 Signatures”

• “BREAKING: Judge Rules in Our Favor, Cincinnatians Will Get Referendum on Parking Deal”

• “The Latest on the Cincinnati Parking Sell-out: Referendum Kick-off Drew Surprisingly Large Crowd; Court Hearing This Week on Whether to Allow Referendum”

• “The Latest: Cincinnati Parking Sell-out Subject to Referendum?”

• “Cincinnati to Sell Out Our Parking Meters?”