League of Women Voters of Ohio
Hamilton County, OH November 4, 2003 Election
	Laketa Cole Answers Questions Candidate for Council Member; City of Cincinnati

The questions were prepared by the LWV Cincinnati Area and asked of all candidates for this office.

Read the answers from all candidates.

Questions & Answers

1. How would you implement your top priority?

The city does not have a coherent, long-term neighborhood development plan in terms of geography, or need. The city should group the 52 neighborhoods into development districts. The city can then form a comprehensive development vision for each district so we can build on previous success rather than having scattered and ineffective development projects that seem to occur randomly. All resources expended within a district would have to be compatible with the district's overall vision.

2. Numerous important issues including transportation, land use planning, housing and economic development for the Greater Hamilton County regions are being deliberated by OKI's Land Use Commission and Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission and Planning Partnership COMPASS; how engaged should local government be in these planning activities? If elected, how would you participate in these planning activities?

Local government should be very engaged in OKI's regional planning efforts. Local government should also be prepared to accept the recommendations of OKI's independently conducted studies even if they are not popular with local voters. Specifically, OKI studies have repeatedly found that a combination of light rail and additional interstate lanes provides more economic benefit to the region than simply adding lanes on its own. Locally, I would like a reasonable light rail option back on the table for economic and environmental reasons.

3. Ohio Department of Natural Resources in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Recycling Coalition conducted a state-specific study and found recycling businesses in Ohio generated $650.6 million dollars in state government revenue. If elected how would you promote recycling and support recycling programs currently in place in your community to reduce solid waste generation?

Cutting the recycling programs in the 2003-2004 biennial budget was a mistake. During next year's budget process, I will push hard to return funding to this program. I also heard complaints that workers were not separating recyclable material during pick-ups, so I would ask that some monitoring system be established to ensure that taxpayer money is not wasted on this program, and that it does actually benefit the environment.