CINCINNATI — City leaders are preparing for new investment in Cincinnati infrastructure after voters approved the sale of the Cincinnati Southern Railway.
The sale means Cincinnati will receive $1.6 billion that will be put into a trust fund and used for improving existing infrastructure in Cincinnati.
Some city leaders have put forth a motion to ensure equity in the distribution of funds generated by the sale. The motion calls for identifying projects that can deliver the most benefit to low-income, minority communities that have been historically underserved.
The motion was introduced by Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney, council member Scotty Johnson and President Pro Tem Victoria Parks.
“We have to make sure equity is placed in writing,” Johnson said. “So there is some foundation and then it cuts away from the years of distrust when it comes to the communities with legislation that has come out of City Hall.”
The motion calls for creating two funds to ensure Cincinnati’s 15 most under-served neighborhoods, known as the “Rising 15”, benefit from the proceeds of the sale.
Those include Villages at Roll Hill, Millvale, English Woods, Lower Price Hill, Queensgate, Winton Hills, South Fairmount, West End, East Westwood, Avondale, Roselawn, Mt. Airy, East Price Hill, South Cumminsville and North Fairmount.
The Rising 15 neighborhoods would be evaluated annually, according to Kearney.
The first fund would benefit existing infrastructure. The motion calls for allocating at least 10% of the annual return on investment on the proceeds from the railway sale to this fund.
The second fund would be used to create economic development opportunities for new infrastructure projects in the Rising 15 neighborhoods.
The city is required to use money from the railroad sale on existing infrastructure, which means city leaders cannot use proceeds to fund these new projects. Instead, sponsors of the motion suggest using money “loosened” from the city’s general capital budget, freed up as a result of the sale moving forward. Sponsors want to allocate $25 million to this fund, including at least $3 million annually.
“Equity means you've gotten so much less in the past, you get a little bit more now so that we can help you catch up,” Kearney said. “So that's really a big part of it's a part of it.”
If adopted, the proposal would establish a Community Advisory Committee to help oversee these efforts. Seven community members would be appointed by the City Manager to make recommendations on economic development projects for Rising 15 neighborhoods. The board would also be tasked with researching efforts across the country to close the racial wealth gap.
If the proposal moves forward as is, it would also create a public dashboard where people can track each project funded by money generated from the sale of the railway.
On Monday, a city council committee decided to continue conversations on the proposal. To move forward, the city’s law department would need to turn the motion into an ordinance, according to Kearney, which is a process that could take months.
“The idea is to get buy-in/commitment on the policies from City Council NOW,” Kearney wrote in an email.
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