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Build it and they will come


Or will they? That is what Cincinnati is hoping for, as it plans to spend more than $30 million (that it doesn’t currently have) to help the FC Cincinnati soccer team (who just became major league) build a stadium (full disclosure: it’s set to be built blocks from where I live) in a neighborhood where the project does not have universal support. I suppose it shouldn’t be anything new that governments (federal or city) collude with corporations and other special interest groups and then make decisions without citizen input; I’m just sick of it. I don’t have anything against the team or soccer, but I don’t like the stadium being crammed down my throat by the mayor and business leaders.
The irony of this is that it wasn’t too many years ago that this same mayor and the supposedly anti-tax group, C.O.A.S.T., tried everything in their power to stop the city’s streetcar project that was supported by the voters twice. Granted the streetcar was a lot more money, but in a city not known for its public transportation, this was a good and needed beginning. Ultimately the streetcar project came to fruition thanks to grass-root efforts by the citizens.
I never thought I’d say it, but where’s C.O.A.S.T. when you need them? According to the local paper, the city will be taking from their rainy day fund at a time when there’s a significant budget shortfall, borrowing against our future to pay from the hotel taxes (we better hope there isn’t another economic boycott in this city), and are even trying to get back money from a project that had previously been agreed to. To me this shows what a risky venture it is to come to an agreement with Cincinnati, where a bigger and shinier project might take, not just the limelight, but money you’ve already been allocated.
There are many citizens that aren’t happy about this development, me included, preferring the homes that were supposed to be built in the neighborhood. With the current housing shortage in the city, it would have made since, yet people seem to have given up. In a recent article, a fellow West End resident showed how powerless many of us are made to feel by the governments we pay for. There are a number of NextDoor comments I’ve been reading lately that echo this sentiment, but seem to believe the project’s happening, so we all need to come together. But why do we need to come together? 
Well, I’m not coming together. Yes, there is some selfishness to my lack of support, knowing there will be increased traffic, parking problems, noise, fights, and the usual stadium issues so close to my home. More than likely this project will also increase development in such a way that exacerbates the already strong have-and-have-not feeling that has taken over so much of downtown Cincinnati over the years. I’m not anti-development, but I don’t want to live in a gated community. Pushing out all the working class and poor people from one neighborhood ends up harming other neighborhoods, as well as destroying lives in the process.
My strongest aggravation and puzzlement is that there are already too many stadiums in Cincinnati that are empty more days a year than they’re used, so why do we need to spend money the city apparently doesn’t have to help a corporation build another one?
The major flaw in this project for me has to do with what’s going on in our society at this moment. If corporations are people, and we now live in a society where our politicians, and the special interests who put them in office, believe people should stop depending on the government for their welfare, then it makes no sense that the City of Cincinnati is doling out millions of dollars to a sport team and their owners who should be able to pay their own way, just like real people.

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