Lead or Get Out of The Way

What is something you look for in a political candidate? For me, it’s mostly courage and integrity. If you’re in the game of politics and running for office, you owe the public an explanation on who you are and what you stand for. Especially when hot button topics arise. For example, the ongoing saga between SORTA and CPS that has taken over the Cincinnati political scene the past several weeks. There have only been a few local candidates that have voiced their opinions and let the public know where they stand. Obviously, most schoolboard candidates have expressed their dismay with the elimination of the XTRA routes. But looking at city council candidates, there hasn’t been many who have chosen to make their opinions public.

For me, it’s fairly simple. Voters passed Issue 7, a levy which promised expanded Metro service. Issue 7 was largely backed and funded by the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce and it appears that now, the chamber is driving the proverbial bus in regards to the SORTA board and how Metro operates. As far as I can tell, the chamber is putting serious pressure on the SORTA board in large part thanks to an individual named Brendon Cull. Cull serves on the SORTA board but also as the “Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer” of our region’s Chamber of Commerce. One strategy utilized by the business community and the lords of 4th street is to have tentacles in everything that happens in this city, and the SORTA board is no different. God forbid we let actual people with transit experience and knowledge or even Metro riders serve on the board of a transit agency. Ironically, The Chamber of Commerce is also hosting a better-late-than-never celebration of the passage of Issue 7! I was personally invited! But what is there to celebrate?

City residents overwhelmingly supported the passage of the expanded transit levy known as Issue 7, but services were abruptly cut for CPS students. Those bus operators that drove the XTRA routes dedicated for CPS students seemed to have been flip flopped to Metro’s new 24-hour service. From a source that works at SORTA, I was told only the 33 route has had successful 24-hour ridership late at night and early in the morning, while all the other 24-hour routes are severely underwhelming expectations. Back in May of 2021, Metro’s Vice President seemed to give us a hint that they were already thinking about tossing our city’s students aside in this Enquirer article. Metro’s Vice President of Operations, Brandy Jones, stated “We actually do have enough operators to provide this 24-hour service as expected to roll out Sunday as a part of our Reinventing Metro plan," Jones said. Metro provides bus services to Cincinnati Public School (CPS) students, which amounts to about 200 trips a day, Jones said. Once school for CPS students wraps up this week, all the drivers that were providing these 200 trips will work on the 24/7 routes.”

So, in the end, it appears the expansion of 24-hour bus service is what really killed the XTRA routes more so than the “driver shortage.” SORTA has complained heavily about a driver shortage, yet they only start their bus operators out at a laughable $16 an hour. That’s probably another topic for another day, but just know operating a public transit bus is not an easy task and is worth well more than $16 an hour. But low wages are par for the course when you have business overloads dominating the SORTA board.

Photo credit to Phil Bovard on Facebook

 So, getting back to my original point from the first paragraph, we are 73 days away from election day and it’s time for some of these candidates to either stand up or just shut up entirely. To me, fighting for our city’s kids seems like a no-brainer. However, some politicians won’t fight for a constituency that doesn’t vote or hold any sort of power. When I met Nan Whaley, she said something very profound; she told me “Kids don’t have lobbyists.” In this case, the only individuals fighting for the kids are people like Mike Moroski, Michelle Dillingham and Evan Holt so far as I can tell. The silence from some candidates is truly deafening. I just have no clue what some of these candidates believe in and so many candidates have a serious lack of detailed policy which is alarming to me, considering our current state of City Hall. If the only thing you talk about when you get in front of a camera is “vote for our slate” than you’re probably not fighting for anyone other than yourself and a political party that endorsed you. During times of crisis, leaders lead. Lead or get the hell out of the way.