A Beginning To Banks Solution?

City and County Optimistic About Privately Led Decision Making Group

By Jennifer Greenup
QueenCityForum.com Magazine

City Hall--Mayor Mark Mallory and Commissioner Phil Heimlich held a joint press conference today to announce an agreement between the City of Cincinnati and Hamilton County over the development of the Riverfront.

“I have been saying for months that the Banks Project is one of the most important in the city,” said Mallory.

The City and County’s struggled over control of the project will now be mediated through a working group. The group will choose a master developer for the project, develop the project’s policies, and will make recommendations to the City and County about the development of the Banks.

“We have delegated responsibility to the Working Group to select a Developer,” Commissioner Heimlich said. “It was give and take on both sides that shifted decisions into a working group.”

However, not every member of the Council is comfortable with this arrangement. Councilman David Crowley said that there were two aspects of the resolution he was concerned with.

“I want to point out that by our actions, we have given three-fifths of the decision making power to private individuals,” said Crowley.

He also wanted also wanted to make sure that the public has input into the development.

“The people of Cincinnati need to feel they have a say,” said Crowley.

Mallory said he wanted to make it clear, all decisions on the Banks project will come back to the Council and the County Commissioners for public hearings and approval.

“Everything they recommend to us will have to be discussed in this public forum,” said Mallory.
“There is a process and place and we have to follow it. If they make a recommendation this body doesn’t agree with, we will vote against it.”

Councilman Jeff Berding, who played a role in the agreement, said the Banks project is critical to the future of the City.

“We have to get it right,” said Berding. “And this resolution helps us get it right. The City was holding firm, making sure we got to this point today.”

Councilman John Cranley was for the resolution but also agreed with Crowley that the community must feel that they are part of the process and gain jobs and skills from the development.

Councilwomen Laketa Cole said that this project will help create jobs for the city’s residents.
“This project will turn this City around,” said Cole. “I will continue to make sure that the citizens get their fair share of the jobs.”

The five-member “Banks Working Group” will be headed by Cincinnati Reds owner, Robert Castellini, who was critical in the development of this agreement.

Both the City and the County will pick one of the five members; Cincinnati Center Development Corporation (3CDC) will appoint one member and Castellini will pick the other.

Mallory and Heimlich have been working on an arrangement both governments could agree with for the past five month. “This process has gone on for a long time,” said Mallory. “And a couple of members of city council [Berding and Bortz] got us where we are today.

Reporter Jennifer Greenup covers the City Hall and local politics. The feature appears each Thursday exclusively in QueenCityForum.com Magazine.contact: jenniferg@queencityforum.com