Greg Harris: Build, Create New Wealth, Prosper

There was a time when Cincinnati was audaciously confident, as we were a city of many firsts (professional baseball, night baseball, concrete reinforced skyscrapers, the nation's first contemporary arts museum, etc.). In the mid-1800's we were known as the "Athens of the West" for our considerable arts and culture--institutions that we still enjoy today. No small city in the country can boast of so many big city amenities. We should be cocky about this.

How do we re-capture this Can Do spirit? Do we say "no" to street cars that will generate over $1.5 billion in new wealth--an over 15 to 1 return on investment? Development, jobs and growth cluster around transit. As seen in other cities, the evidence is conclusive.

Do we say "no" to the Banks because it is not want everyone wants it to be? Let's not make the perfect the enemy of the good. A deal is imminent. Let's sign it. In neighboring cities like Indianapolis, we see the effect that new residential development has had on their downtown. Unlike Newport on the Levee, the Banks will include a critical mass of residential properties that will make this economic development sustainable (as opposed to cyclical like the Levee).

Regional and international perception of our city is based largely on our downtown and urban core. We build the Banks and street cars, Cincinnati will become America's comeback city.

It's expensive to build the Banks and a street car system, for sure. But the costs of not building are so much greater. A city with so many incredible assets has no excuse not to leverage them.

There are currently 98 acres of parking lots downtown. Street cars will not only unleash new development on this cement, but embolden developers to rehab properties in downtown and Over-the-Rhine. By building the Banks South of downtown, and propelling redevelopment in O-t-R while reinforcing downtown's current expanding housing market, we we will grow the population of our core and generate the resources needed to combat the most pressing problems in all 52 of Cincinnati's great neighborhoods.

A prosperity agenda anchored in riverfront development, historic renovation, and transit, will grow the city's wealth and allow City Hall to deliver basic services and invest throughout Cincinnati while holding the line on taxes. Let's not have a future defined by cuts, defeatism, and timidity. Cincinnati can and must recapture the confidence, boldness and Can Do spirit of those who built the Queen City.