Status of rail line sale up in the air
“Pardon me boys, is that the Chattanooga Choo Choo?”
No. It’s actually the Cincinnati Southern Railway, a 33-mile line built in the 1870s from Cincinnati to Chattanooga to move goods to and from our 19th century industries. The line cost Cincinnati taxpayers $18 million then but could produce a huge $1.6 billion windfall now. Or, instead, maybe just another nasty “only in Cincinnati” kerfuffle.
Most of you never heard of CSR until last Thanksgiving when its board of directors unveiled the proposed sale to Norfolk Southern, which currently leases the line from the city for $26 million a year. That rent helps fund the city’s capital budget for infrastructure projects. At a triumphant press conference touting the deal, current and former mayors Aftab Pureval and John Cranley joined the little-known CSR Board, which includes former mayors Charlie Luken and Mark Mallory, as well as former councilmember Amy Murray.
But before Norfolk Southern writes that big check, the deal must be approved by the Ohio General Assembly and Cincinnati voters. No sure thing.
The CSR Board lined up bipartisan legislative sponsors, hoping for a quick and stealthy blitz during the post-election lame duck session. But no sooner than the city’s apparent bonanza was announced, naysayers pounced. Colerain Sen. Bill Blessing (R) pulled the emergency brake, stalling any vote into the new year. That was no surprise to those following pay-to-play hijinks in Columbus. The delay gives altruistic state legislators a few more months to shake the bounteous Norfolk Southern money tree. They are likely pondering, “If there are $1.6 billion dollars for a 150-year-old rail line, surely there’s something left over for our campaign coffers.”
Assuming well-paid lobbyists can sell the deal in Columbus, skeptical Cincinnati voters still must be convinced. Look forward to another high-priced issue campaign that becomes a Rorschach test for the city’s various political tribes. Consider that 2015 Park Levy was quickly labeled a “slush fund” that Mayor Cranley could use to commercialize our parks. Or that County Jail Levy a few years earlier that opponents said would increase incarceration rates. Both went down in flames despite lavishly funded campaigns.
That $1.6 billion seems to be the proverbial offer voters can’t refuse. Investing $1.6 billion could generate more than twice the current $26 million rent while preserving the purchase price. The money could be used for decades to replace and repair aging infrastructure like our parks, police facilities, bridges or roads. In a Facebook post, John Schneider, Cincinnati’s railroad guru, says the deal “makes a lot of sense… In addition to producing more revenue for our city over time, the deal reduces the risk that a large part of our city’s capital budget is dependent on the success of a single company.” For those saying the rail line is too valuable an asset ever to sell, I have a few thousand shares of AOL stock I’d love to unload.
Yet the seeds of a compelling “Hell No” campaign are already taking root. Start with the secretive nature of the CSR Board. It meets in the sumptuous confines of Fourth Street elite’s Queen City Club. The hush-hush negotiations led to a poisonous Enquirer headline “Secret Plan to Sell Cincinnati’s Railroad.”
Former Councilman Kevin Flynn jumped into the fray in an Enquirer op-ed, saying that un-elected board members exceeded their authority in agreeing to dump the rail line while carving out a future role for themselves to manage and dole out the proceeds. Opponents will spin this arrangement as another bunch of former politicians and their cronies lording over cash that actually belongs to taxpayers.
Flynn also speculates about where that big pot of cash will go. “It could be used for an indoor arena, or expansion of the convention center, or covering Ft. Washington Way” Maybe new or renovated stadiums? Or (heaven forbid) expansion of the streetcar! Skeptical voters can be persuaded that improvements in their own neighborhoods will get short shrift when the rail board gets together over Queen City Club cocktails to split the $1.6 billion pot.
My suggestion to Mayor Pureval: Don’t count on that $1.6 billion just yet. It’s so much easier to get Cincy voters to vote against change than for it.
Don Mooney is an attorney, a past member of the Cincinnati Planning Commission and is active in local politics.
