A plan to bring residential parking permits to Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood appears to have new life.
Vice Mayor David Mann said Tuesday he is reintroducing the proposal and now has the support of Council Member Charlie Winburn. That means there are six council members willing to vote for it, which makes it veto-proof.
In May, John Cranley vetoed the same program that would create 450 residential parking spaces in parts of OTR. Those permits would cost $108 annually. Lower income residents would be able to purchase permits for $18 a year.
“I had the opportunity recently to spend time in Over-the-Rhine talking to residents about the biggest challenges facing their community,” Winburn said in a statement. “Over and over they asked me to help them solve the parking challenges that continue to plague the neighborhood.”
Vice Mayor Mann said he is thrilled to have Winburn’s support.
“Throughout this entire process I have believed a residential parking program in Over-the-Rhine was vital to residents and business owners in the neighborhood,” Mann said in a statement.
Besides Mann and Winburn, Council Members Sittenfeld, Young, Seelbach and Simpson are expected to support the program when a vote is taken early next 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.
Spokesman Kevin Osborne said Mayor Cranley still objects to the plan since it is the same one he vetoed earlier.
Cranley, in May, said he believe 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 pilot program, if approved, would run through 2017.
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.
