NAACP Cincinnati - (7/22/10): Berding Leading Effort to Sell Cincinnati Water Works and Smitherman Buys Camel

The City of Cincinnati is moving fast to sell Cincinnati Water Works. "The Cincinnati Charter was changed in 2009 which gives all 350,000 Cincinnati citizens the right to vote on this issue. If the Cincinnati NAACP had not provided the leadership last year on this issue, five members of council could sell our Water System," Christopher Smitherman president of the Cincinnati NAACP says.

July 22, 2010

Media Release

Cincinnati NAACP

The City of Cincinnati is moving fast to sell Cincinnati Water Works. The Cincinnati NAACP and AFSCME workers last year collected 16,000 signatures to give the citizens of Cincinnati the right to vote. Water Works will host a public meeting on Wednesday, July 28, 2010 at XU to begin the campaign to sell Cincinnati Water Works. " The Cincinnati Charter was changed in 2009 which gives all 350,000 Cincinnati citizens the right to vote on this issue. If the Cincinnati NAACP had not provided the leadership last year on this issue five members of council could sell our Water System," Christopher Smitherman president of the Cincinnati NAACP says.

The City of Cincinnati is trying to privatize City water. "The Cincinnati NAACP is very aware that Mayor Mallory and City Manager Milton Dohoney support the privatization of Cincinnati Water Works. Why? They need money to balance the city budget and do not want to cut expenses," Smitherman says. The next step in the process is a vote by City Council to place the issue on the November 2010 ballot. City Council does not have the votes to place the issue on the ballot. City Council could force those who want to sell Cincinnati water works to collect the needed signatures to place the issue on the ballot. However, the power structure wants control of Cincinnati Water. This means 6 members of council must vote in the affirmative to place the issue on the ballot. The Cincinnati NAACP predicts the six votes are hard to find to place the issue on the ballot by City Council:

Berding YES

Bortz or his replacement YES

Ghiz YES

Young NO

Thomas NO

Qualls NO

Quinlivan Maybe

Winburn NO

Monzel NO

However, the other side is cooking up a plan to make Cincinnati a desert. The power structure will lean hard on the elected officials to "flip flop" on the issue. "I think Berding is leading the effort to privatize our water. The Water District issue is in Berding's committee. AFSCME has endorsed Berding in the past for City Council. I can not explain the endorsements by AFSCME but can highlight that if Berding is successful the city pension plan is doomed and water rates will go significantly higher for the citizens of Cincinnati. Remember it was Berding who sold Hamilton County on the Stadium deal. He benefited with a personal job with the Bengals football team. All of Berding's math was wrong on the stadium deal in 1996 that has crushed the Hamilton County budget and now Berding wants to sell our water. I will be in the market for a desert camel if Berding is successful. Can you see me on a Desert Camel?," Smitherman says.