'Reduce the footprint of the city': Pureval ups rhetoric on rail sale as Democrats back it
The Cincinnati Democratic Committee weighed in on two city election issues, voting Monday night to support the sale of the Cincinnati Southern Railway and oppose a charter amendment that would raise the earnings tax to create affordable housing.
Both stances earned wide backing from the precinct executives who gathered to vote at the Laborers' Local 265 Union Hall in Evanston.
The recommended stances will now appear on the Cincinnati Democratic Committee slate, which will be handed out at polling locations and mailed to voters. The committee's slate has been a powerful asset in the past for candidates. In 2021 all but one candidate on the Democratic slate won a council seat. And this year it will prove important as a large Democratic turnout is expected for state Issue 1, an abortion rights constitutional amendment and state Issue 2, which would allow for legal recreational marijuana.
Precinct executives vote on the endorsements. The railroad sale endorsement passed 40-4, with one abstention; the opposition to the affordable housing charter amendment passed 33-9, with six abstentions. Cincinnati has 193 precincts.
Pureval: If rail sale fails, city faces stark choices
Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval spoke on behalf of the railroad sale vote, Issue 22 on the November ballot, and in opposition to the affordable housing charter amendment. He ramped up rhetoric about how dire the city finances will be if the railroad sale fails. The city, he said, has $400 million in deferred maintenance needs. A city memo on spending related to the proposed railroad sale says the maintenance gap could be closer to $500 million.
"The options are to reduce the footprint of the city or raise taxes," Pureval said. "I am loath to raise taxes."
After the meeting, Pureval clarified he did not mean to actually shrink the size of the city as Detroit has but instead said the size of the government would be reduced − so in other words, fewer workers to police the streets, pick up trash and oversee projects like road paving.
Under the proposed railroad sale, investment money earned from a trust of railroad sale proceeds would be used to pay for the backlog of maintenance issues.
Last week Pureval said, "If this doesn't pass, I know we will be on the path for the slow death of the city."
As for the affordable housing charter amendment, Issue 24, he implored people not to raise the earning tax for one issue alone but to wait for recommendations from the Cincinnati Future's Commission. The commission, convened at Pureval's request and made up of regional leaders, is looking at all city finances. Its recommendations are due next year.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Democratic Committee endorses rail sale
