City Hall Moving to Sell Our Water in 2010

Cincinnati NAACP Media Release

The City of Cincinnati is in the process of selling Cincinnati Waterworks. The Cincinnati NAACP and partners worked to place Issue 8 on the ballot November 2010. Issue 8 passed and does not allow city hall to sell Cincinnati Waterworks without a vote of the people of Cincinnati. The Democrats and some Republicans on Council will vote to place this issue on the ballot for November of 2010. City Council needs 6 votes to place the issue on the ballot. If Issue 8 had failed 5 members of Council could sell Cincinnati Waterworks with no input from the 350,000 citizens that live in Cincinnati. "I am not interested in Cincinnati Waterworks in any shape or form being privatized. I can not imagine a company like BP controlling the water system in Cincinnati," Christopher Smitherman President of the Cincinnati NAACP says.
The city has engaged in the mismanagement of tax payer money for decades. The city leadership has been unwilling to downsize major city departments to bring expenses in line with city revenue. The city leaders are now desperate for money. "Selling off city assets is a bad idea. Selling off our water is criminal," Smitherman says.