KJP comments: First, it's not state funding for Gov. Kasich to pull. IT'S FEDERAL FUNDING! The reason why the streetcar is scored by ODOT's Transportation Review Advisory Council as the #1 ranking transportation project in Ohio is, in part, because it is conforming to worthy federal transportation requirements and goals. A biased old-media newspaper is keeping Ohioans ignorant of the facts to create opposition to rail transit projects which are essential to promote urban redevelopment, keep young people in Ohio and offer electrically powered transportation that is immune to oil shortages starting in the next few years.
The reason why TRAC was created by state law (http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/5512) was to establish a merit-based project scoring process to rein in the capricious political influence over the selection of transportation projects for funding. I supported this law back then because it would create the merit-based system. Too often in Ohio prior to 1997, projects were chosen for funding because individual politicians wanted them. It didn't matter if projects would provide long-term economic and environmental benefits or not. If a governor, state senator or state representative flexed their political muscle, they could get a project approved to benefit a campaign contributor -- or a publicly beneficial project killed, also to benefit a sugar daddy. It's one reason why Ohio has so many empty four lane highways into rural areas that we can't afford to maintain our existing urban roads, bridges and transit systems. So let's build more roads! Another reason is Article XII Sec. 5a in Ohio's Constitution which prohibits gas taxes from being used for anything other than more highways whether taxpayers want them used that way or not. That provision may be unconstitutional under federal civil rights laws.
So Gov. Kasich's bully tactics to intimidate the TRAC into going back on its 8-0 vote in December to award $36.8 million in new federal funds to the Cincinnati Streetcar is in violation of the spirit of the law which created TRAC. The TRAC scored the Cincinnati Streetcar with an 84 -- the highest score among any pending transportation project in Ohio, using criteria aligned with federal requirements. The streetcar is winning on merit and that angered off people like Gov. Kasich whose only recourse is to stomp his feet like a spoiled child and pound his fists on a table because his highway-building sugar daddies want him to spend streetcar money on road projects that are in want for this federal money. I'm aware of two low-ranking road projects just in SW Ohio that are languishing on TRAC's to-do list for want of about $30 million to round out their funding packages. Coincidence? I think not.....
Ken Prendergast
Executive Director
All Aboard Ohio
12029 Clifton Blvd., Suite 505
Cleveland, OH 44107
(216) 288-4883
kenprendergast@allaboardohio.org
www.allaboardohio.org
Executive Director
All Aboard Ohio
12029 Clifton Blvd., Suite 505
Cleveland, OH 44107
(216) 288-4883
kenprendergast@allaboardohio.org
www.allaboardohio.org
