Carthage Rec Center to close?!?!?!

[Valley Cat]

Rob,

Probably beet off to wait until after the holidays. I don't have as much time now as I did during that one week.

Mike

[CarthagePrez]

Mike,
My request for details of the center's operation went unfulfilled and then the holidays hit and now i have a kid in the hospital - though this can be a good time to get some stuff done.

At this point I don't quite know what to tell you about the special section now.  Is it too late for it to make sense?

[Valley Cat]

Rob,

Should we still plan on a special section next week? One never knows what those nine people may decide. 

[CarthagePrez]

Yeah, I saw that this morning - great news.  Now to make sure the members of clowncil don't get any ideas...

I'd really like to see the City as a whole market CRC.  There is a lot here that new subs are trying to copy and I think it could be one of the better selling points to families who aren't concerned about the state of the schools.

[Valley Cat]

According to the news today, Hizzoner stated he will oppose the closing of the pools and rec centers. Council is supposed to vote on it next month.

[Dawn Longworth]

Rob, I think your neighborhood did a great job representing your neighborhood last night.  I sat with Carthage and stood in support for them.  I will continue to do so.  I have spoken with numerous council members and told them that I do not support them taking anything away from the residents in the form or pools or centers from any of the communities but especially from my sister neighborhood.  I am still very hopeful that these closures will not happen but will not give up until the final vote is passed.  Again, great work by all. 

[CarthagePrez]

Wow, that was quite an evening!

Once we all figured out where we were supposed to be - I heard more than one complaint about "planned inaccessability" - it all started on time.  Most of the comments were about the social services cuts, followed by CRC supporters and then the arts.  I learned a lot listening to the other speakers and am impressed by the number of social liberals in this conservative city!

After a 3 and a half hour wait, I finally got my two minutes only to discover that my prepared "speech" was four minutes long.  Poor planning on my part, but the point was made and the mayor and council all have emails with the original text.  I've also attached it here for download if anyone is curious.

Anyway, I have sent letters to all the "leaders" of the City admin and submitted my comments as an option for the Equirer's "Your Voice" opinion column.  There is a chance that Channel 12 will send someone to the Civic League meeting on Monday, but I won't count on that - it will be old news by then.

Once the Mayor's recommendations are made we'll have to work on Clowncil, but I think Bob Hartlaub made the best point on this all evening - 13 pools and 2 centers are to close so that the remaining ones will have extended hours and swim seasons.  He hoped that none of the other centers would want to benefit from our loss.

Also attributed to Bob: during a conversation with Jim Tarbell on our way out, Bob informed him that the City could easily regain tax revenue by ending "reciprocity".  This affects people who work in the city but live in another jurisdiction that has an income tax.  When they file Cincinnati taxes they receive credit for taxes paid to their home jurisdiction.  If you live in Wyoming and work in Cincinnati, you pay the full .8% income tax to Wyoming and reduce your Cincinnati tax bill from 2.1% to 1.3%.  In the case of Blue Ash, they just raised thier income tax to buy the Blue Ash Airport.  This means that they just took away another .25% of the taxes collected by Cincinnati on Blue Ash residents.  Our neighbors are bleeding us dry through our own generosity.

It is too late to recind the property tax rollback for this year because it can only be revisited annually.  I think that next time around they should NOT roll it back.  This is a politically popular sort of thing, but makes no financial sense.  The average homeowner would only pay about $8 - $10 per year, and even the biggest corporations in town would only be paying $40K - $50K according to an Enquirer article written at the time of the last rollback.  I think this is a small price to pay considering what we stand to loose.

[Dawn Longworth]

Mike, they will have quite a few meetings for the public to weigh in.  Then the mayor gets to make his changes or additions and then it has to get passed by city council members.  I honestly do not think Carthage or Camp Washington will close.  That does NOT mean people should not show up and speak their minds.  But when you have an established Rec Center that the community uses and needs, I cannot see the city closing it.  The real focus on this should be Mr. Gargas with Cincinnati Recreation Commission.  I want to know his reasons as to why he recommended  these 2 specific centers.  Rob sent a great letter to city council members and mayor, I plan on attending the forum this evening and I will support Cathage any way possible.

[Valley Cat]

Rob,

This is an outrage. What are they going to do - lease the property to drug dealers. I wish I had known about this earlier; hopefully what happens tomorrow night will not be the deciding factor. Give me a call - 761-7414.

Mike

[CarthagePrez]

Back in March there was a discussion as to whether or not Carthage Rec Center was closing.  At the time I had not heard any such plans, but now it's in the news that we are to be closed.

Camp Washington and Carthage are to be closed in order to save $160K.  Out of a budget deficit in the millions I fail to understand how this penny-wise pound-foolish move makes any sense.  The rec center and pool are the sort of amenities that new subdivisions build to draw buyers - but they don't put in paid staff to manage programing and activities!  This is a draw that many new-home buyers look for and the City Manager wants to shut it down.

The Carthage Center is only 10 years old.  The building was rehabbed by the city because our Seniors had outgrown thier facility.  By moving to the newer building, our seniors gave the entire community an asset that the city manager now wants to take away - to save pennies.

ANY recreation center is where the people who care MOST about the city and thier neighborhood gather and play.  To take away a meeting place will weaken the groups who do the most to improve the city at the grass-roots level.  Where will our CPOP team meet?  What about the CCL?  Where will the kids go after school?

Thursday, 16 Nov 06 at 6:00 there will be a budget hearing where we will attempt to convince the Mayor to make a change to the City Manager's proposal.  If you want to be involved, come to Cincinnati State Tech. and Community College Rm 344 to have your say.