COASTers issue legal challenge to City over Streetcar construction interfering with utilities

COAST's attorneys have issued a challenge under the Ohio Taxpayer Statute to the City's illegal and irresponsible plan to build Streetcar improvements ON TOP of sewers owned by the Hamilton County Commissioners.

The Cincinnati Business Courier covers the story here.

Ohio has a taxpayer statute that applies to cities.  The statute empowers a taxpayer, in the name of the city, to bring a law suit challenging activities by the city that is illegal or impermissible under applicable law, which could be the Ohio Constitution, State Law, Federal law, or, here, an agreement with the County when the City took over MSD operations and transferred the system's assets to the County, and principles of common law.

A prerequisite to the taxpayer attaining standing is that he must first issue a warning letter to the City Solicitor.  The City's top lawyer, then, having been notified of the illegal conduct, must "take a pass" on the issue and thereby empower the taxpayer to bring the suit in the name of the City.

COASTers previously have used this legal tool to stop illegal spending on the Film Commission and to stop Council member Laure Quinlivan from using tax dollars to fund her campaign for Cincinnati City Council.

"The taxpayer statute is a powerful tool to stop illegal spending and other activity by cities in Ohio," said COAST general counsel Chris Finney.  "When the City's attorney has been fully informed of the illegal conduct and still refuses to intervene to stop it, the taxpayer is empowered to step in.  The legislature was wise to enact this tool to stop out-of-control elected officials and bureaucrats."

More on the sovereign debt crisis from Spain

This story keeps growing.  Here. the New York Times explores the depth of the crisis in Spain.  Debt is insidious. Vast, sometimes hidden, daunting.  Easily seductive; hard to dig out from. 

The Cincinnati Stereetcar is emblematic of the debt problem.  Almost 100% financed with debt, and an absolutely worthless project.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/31/world/europe/as-spain-trims-deficits-scrutiny-falls-on-regional-governments.html?_r=1&ref=global-home

Story of 2011: Repeated sovereign debt crises

The story of 2011 that will live through the generations is repeated crises with sovereign debt, especially in Europe and America. 

Starting with Greece, extending to Ireland, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, and finally to vaunted France, the accepted notion for the past 25 years that unlimited debt in each nation is without consequence was methodically demolished.

Interestingly, even in the face of irrefutable evidence of the disastrous end of such national policies, nation after nation in Europe and the USA have proved incapable of curing the problem retrospectively or even stopping the spending prospectively.

It is almost humorous watching essentially socialist governments from Washington DC to Rome and Athens, to cut spending in the face of the dire certainty of continuation of their irresponsible ways.  We say almost, because the pain that will be caused by their irresponsibility could be profound.

The reality of 2012, and certainly of the coming decade, is that time has run out for making the important fiscal and economic decisions. We all must either adopt totalitarian socialism, or once again free up the economic markets that made American and European economies the engines powering the world.   

COAST prefers the latter.