Neighborhood leaders turn against crazy Council

This morning's Enquirer has a good read on the parking meter debacle at City Hall.  Enquirer reporter John Johnston reports on the second public hearing on Roxanne Qualls plan to privatize parking meters in the City: "Parking backlash continues at City Hall, Citizens at public hearing overwhelmingly oppose the proposed plan."


In that piece Johnston reports that leaders in Northside, Oakley,  and Pleasant Ridge are standing up to the Council majority of six out-of-their-mind liberals.  Cincinnati's neighborhoods are finally waking up to the fact that their elected and appointed leadership at City Hall has no plan, really, to address the chronic budget problems in the City.

Indeed in the article City Manager Milton Dohoney betrays the fundamental problem:

Earlier Wednesday, Cincinnati.com reported that Dohoney had released his “Plan B” for balancing the budget if the parking proposal doesn’t win support from a council majority. It includes the elimination of 344 city jobs.

The parking proposal is really and simply a temporary measure attempt to paper over a yawning budget deficit in the City.

Fortunately, neighborhood leaders stood up at Monday's and Wednesday's hearings on the Qualls parking proposal and asked: "Mr. Dohoney, in two years, what will we do then, when over half of our parking revenues have been traded away to a venture capital firm for 30 years?"

Let's face our budget issues now, not trade away the City's future because of the lack of political will to face our problems.  The neighborhoods will be heard either now, or in November.