(8/12/09): Streetcar Charter Amendment Baptist Ministers Conference Urges Passage

August 12, 2009 Cincinnati NAACP Media Release Contact Person:  Rev. Dock Foster, President of The Baptist Ministers Conference of Greater Cincinnati and Vicinity (513) 476-9652 The Cincinnati NAACP announces that the Baptist Minister Conference of Greater Cincinnati and Vicinity supports the Charter Amendment that will stop the streetcar/trolley and give citizens the right to vote on passenger rail transportation in the future.  The Charter Amendment, if passed would give the citizens of Cincinnati specifically African Americans the power to vote on the public policy direction of transportation in our region.  So often the poor and African Americans are left out of the planning process in Cincinnati.  Requiring the politicians to come to our community before acting on transportation decisions is critical for the poor and the African American Community's survival.  "Unemployment in the African American Community is staggering.  A $200 million choo-choo train does not connect our neighborhoods to jobs but lines the financial pockets of a few" says President Dock Foster of the Baptist Ministers Conference of Greater Cincinnati and Vicinity.  The Baptist Ministers Conference also supports the Charter Amendment because the government continues to fail to include African American citizens in the decision making process regarding transportation.  Even after the voters of Cincinnati rejected the streetcar proposal the Mayor and City Council said they were going to do it anyway.  City Council has refused to address the conflicts of interests that Councilmember Chris Bortz has by owning property on the proposed streetcar line and serving as Chair of Economic Development for the City of Cincinnati.  "We are going back to Jim Crow, Segregation, and Slavery instead of freedom if we allow any group to define voting as stopping progress" said President Dock Foster.