Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Full Cincinnati Council Vote This Week On OTR Parking Permits

Bill Rinehart

The full Cincinnati Council could vote Wednesday on a plan to establish a residential parking permit program in parts of Over-the-Rhine.  The Neighborhoods Committee approved the proposal Monday.  

Mayor John Cranley vetoed a similar plan last year.  But now it supposedly has the support of six council members, which is enough to override a veto.  

Vice Mayor David Mann is supportive. “It would be a 60 to 90 day period of implementation,” Mann said.

The plan would set aside 450 parking spaces for OTR residents, costing $108 a year for a permit.  Some low income residents would pay $18 a year.  Besides the residential spaces, there would be 151 spaces to accommodate service industry workers in the area.  Residential permits are limited to one per person and two per dwelling unit.

Council Member Yvette Simpson also likes the plan.

“This is supposed to be a pilot,” Simpson said.  “An alternative too what is currently there, which most people would agree is not satisfactory.”

The pilot program, if approved, would run through 2017.

Council Member Kevin Flynn voted against the previous OTR plan and does not plan to support this one either.

“I think that the issue of parking in Over-the-Rhine needs a bigger policy discussion than this,” Flynn said.

Spokesman Kevin Osborne said last month Mayor Cranley still objects to the plan since it is the same one he vetoed earlier.

Cranley, in May, said he believes that limiting those parking spaces to residents would be unfair to people who visit the neighborhood’s restaurants and attractions – and to city residents in general, who pay taxes to maintain the streets in Over-the-Rhine.

Cranley said at the time he favored a plan that would have let the City Manager determine the number of spaces and the cost of the permits.

The special parking permit area in OTR would be bounded by the east side of Central Parkway (northbound), the west side of Sycamore Street, the north side of Central Parkway (westbound), and the south side of Liberty Street.

WVXU's Howard Wilkinson contributed to this story.

Jay Hanselman brings more than 10 years experience as a news anchor and reporter to 91.7 WVXU. He came to WVXU from WNKU, where he hosted the local broadcast of All Things Considered. Hanselman has been recognized for his reporting by the Kentucky AP Broadcasters Association, the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists, and the Ohio AP Broadcasters.