CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Black United Front has submitted a draft ordinance to city council members requesting the city use funds from the sale of the Cincinnati Southern Railway to pay reparations and work to close the city's racial wealth gap.
The request is about more than just money: It calls on city council to create a protocol for measuring the racial wealth gap in Cincinnati and subsequently set up a process for reducing that gap year over year.
The city wants to sell the railway to Norfolk Southern for around $1.6 billion. And if voters approve the sale, that money will be invested back into the city to address "capital maintenance of core deteriorating infrastructure now and for future generations to come," according to the City of Cincinnati's Budget and Finance Committee.
If the sale is approved by voters in November, the city will receive $1.6 billion from Norfolk Southern in a single installment in 2024. The city plans plans to put those funds in a trust and use "an amount no less than $26,500,000 per year, for the purpose of the rehabilitation, modernization, or replacement of existing streets, bridges, municipal buildings, parks and green spaces, site improvements, recreation facilities, improvements for parking purposes, and any other public facilities owned by the City of Cincinnati, and to pay for the costs of administering the trust fund," according to the current ballot language.
Pastor Damon Lynch III said he's a "hard no" on the sale of the railway because he feels there hasn't been enough outreach in Black communities, but if voters approve the sale he said he still wants to make sure Cincinnati's Black communities aren't forgotten.
The proposed ordinance from the Cincinnati Black United Front says "it is anticipated that the moneys available from the trust fund will substantially exceed $26,500,000 and will therefore provide relief to the operating budget" in an amount left blank.
In the draft, the Cincinnati Black United Front outlines four different steps it would like to see council take in order to address the wealth gap, using funding from the sale of the Cincinnati Southern Railway:
- Reparations for the Kenyon-Barr District — The group requests the city identify property owners, renters, business owners or any descendants who were displaced in the 1950s, when the Kenyon-Barr District was demolished to make way for highway projects. The ordinance then wants the city to determine what payment those individuals should have received for their homes and businesses, what they already received and then establish a plan to pay them the difference. It asks city council to designate a sum of money in each budget year until the payments are complete.
- Close the racial wealth gap — The draft ordinance asks the city to research, update and present findings each year on the racial wealth gap, then use that data to set a yearly target for progress in closing the gap. It also asks the city publish an annual report on progress made toward closing that gap, while identifying target goals for the upcoming year.
- Community advisory committee — The proposal outlines the creation of a council comprised of seven appointed individuals to "review efforts across the country to repair the damage done by slavery and race discrimination and use that research and study to improve efforts to close the wealth gap in Cincinnati."
- Enact the ordinance as an emergency measure — The proposal requests the ordinance be treated as an emergency measure, which means it would be enacted immediately if council voted to pass it. "The reason for the emergency is the need to advise the public of these measures before the vote on the sale of the Railroad," reads the ordinance proposal.
The document points to the Cincinnati Financial Freedom Blueprint, published by the city earlier this year, which outlines the clear racial wealth gap in Cincinnati. That report shows Black residents in Cincinnati own proportionally fewer homes and businesses, and less savings and investments than white Cincinnatians.
The Blueprint also outlines historical factors that have led to this racially-driven wealth gap within the city, such as the construction of I-75 and the Millcreek Expressway — for which city leaders formally apologized to the West End community in June.
City leaders have already proposed solutions through the Financial Freedom Blueprint, including piloting a guaranteed basic income for qualified residents, starting savings accounts for children and erasing medical debt.
“Historically, both the local government but particularly the state and federal government passed laws that had a racial impact, that were fundamentally racist,” said Virginia Tallent, assistant city manager, in July. “So it's our charge as local government to begin to dismantle some of that systemic racism.”
About 27% of Cincinnati residents lived beloved the poverty level in 2021, according to Census data. Among white residents, the number was about 16%. Among Black residents, the number was about 40%.
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