Tom Ryther Answers Questions

Candidate for
Member Council; Village of Mariemont

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of Hamilton County and asked of all candidates for this office.

Read the answers from all candidates.

Questions & Answers

1. What are your views regarding the need for public transportation in your community to promote access to employment throughout the region?

Public transportation has become a critical issue for southwestern Ohio. Mariemont presently has access to and benefits from public transit. Alternative transportation modes are important to the Village and its future. This issue is becoming ever more urgent as air quality and roadways are increasingly diminished with greatear number of vehicles. This is a difficult issue to address and begin to resolve. It is critical that the public discussion and debate continue. This can allow the public awareness of the issues, alternatives, and the need for action to be broadened.

2. Would you be in favor of county-wide campaign finance regulations that would provide for public matching funds, limit campaign contributions and provide for more disclosure? State your opinions on these ideas; whether you would support or oppose them.

Comprehensive planning includes land use planning. Both are critical to the zoning process. Zoning potentially becomes arbitrary without the rational of a comprehensive plan (the community vision of where it wishes its future to be.). Planning needs to include significant public participation by all the interests effected by zoning decisions. It can integrate the many pieces related to the use of the land (open space needs, infrastrcture needs, compatible land uses as determined by the entire community, etc.) When this process is part of land use decisions, elected officials have access to broader information to assist them in making zoning decisions. The entire process of regulating land use benefits from this approach.

Zoning decisions made without the benefit of comprehensive planning can be a detriment to all involved. There is increased potential for decisions lacking the following; community vision, comprehensive consideration of the many factors relating to zoning decisions, and burdening all involved with a regulatory process which may not address the participants needs of a zoning decision. Adjacent property owners, the effect on future land use decisions, as well as the expense of a regulatory process by the applicant for zoning change, are all factors which serve as a detriment to the needs of those effected by land use decisions when planning is excluded from the process.