Sustainable Economic Development

By Greg P. Harris

Cincinnati cannot tax itself into prosperity. The primary way to generate new wealth to make this city prosper is through targeted economic development strategies that leverage our region's considerable cultural, artistic, and environmental assets.

An often overlooked asset of Cincinnati that needs to be leveraged is its compactness as a city. The proximity of dynamic neighborhoods along the city's central corridor stand ready to attract a larger residential base and to be transformed into a vibrant and unified central entertainment district whose emergence would be supported through creating a dedicated public transit grid.

I support the development of a modern streetcar system that can connect Downtown with Cincinnati's neighborhoods. A recent estimate projects that a streetcar system will bring nearly two billion dollars of development to the urban core and generate over $15 of economic activity for each $1 invested.

A street car system that eventually circulates through Downtown, up Main, over to Mt. Adams, out to UC, up Ludlow Ave (Clifton) into Hamilton Ave. (Northside) would spur massive development in the urban core and facilitate the emergence of a safe, well lit, and accessible entertainment district that would generate significant new revenue for Cincinnati by attracting more convention business and enticing a bigger slice of the nearly 2 million folks who live in Greater Cincinnati region to make downtown an entertainment destination. Colorful maps would highlight clubs, restaurants, and theatres up and down the approximately three-mile central entertainment strip.

2. Developing a Heritage Tourism Industry in Greater Cincinnati

A prosperity agenda must include creating new industries, and I believe the Freedom Center can catapult Cincinnati into a major role as a heritage tourism hub for immersion into the history of abolitionism and the Underground Railroad. This strategy must include working with regional Chambers to make this heritage accessible to tourists by linking and marketing the remnants of slavery's epicenter, and leveraging our region's artistic assets in creating a national draw to the region, such as a national summer theater festival located on the symbolic riverfront that's devoted to the ongoing struggle for human rights.

3. Transportation Alternatives

Throughout the campaign I will advocate and introduce a number of "Green Cincinnati" initiatives, including the need to connect Cincinnati's core to our region's network of recreation trails. The Loveland Bike Trail currently ends in Newtown, and soon will extend to Lunken. As a Council member, I will work vigorously to close the final four miles, from the airport to downtown, and help Cincinnati achieve the most accessible and comprehensive network of recreational trails in the country.

Cincinnati must implement cost effective transportation alternatives that in other metro-areas have proven pennies to the dollars in terms of their return on investment. As your Councilman, I will advocate for the re-implementation of a street car system in Cincinnati.

Other medium-sized cities like Tucson, AZ., Little Rock, AK., Birmingham AL., and Trenton, N.J., have enjoyed tremendous dividends through adoption of streetcars. A recent USA Today states that their charm and cost effectiveness is "so appealing that some developers are helping pay for the systems." In Cincinnati, similar public-private partnerships should be pursued to leverage our compactness as a city by re-activating street car lines that will make transportation safe and seamless and will dramatically spur economic development.

Cincinnati cannot tax itself into prosperity, and the primary way to generate new wealth to make this city prosper is through targeted economic development strategies that leverage our region's considerable cultural, artistic, and environmental assets.