Pepper blasted Banks 'truce,' Heimlich

As Hamilton County and Cincinnati officials were announcing their deal to get the Banks development on the move, a campaign worker for David Pepper -- who is trying to take the seat held by Republican incumbent Commissioner Phil Heimlich -- was passing out a release blasting Heimlich and the deal.

A day after he won the Democratic nomination, Pepper was assailing the deal as a "truce" that cost taxpayers millions of dollars while get the process where it was a year ago.

Last June, commissioners announced they had agreed -- without the knowledge of other groups working to make the Banks a reality -- with a developer to give it exclusive rights for six months to see if it could start building. That deal fell through in December.

Since then, despite protests from Cincinnati Council Members, Hamilton County officials have interviewed prospective developers and named four finalists. They were prepared to select a developer until the last week or so when they engaged in talks with city officials and Reds owners. The result was Wednesday's announcement that a five-member group will make most of the new decisions on the Banks and its developer.

"After a year's worth of incompetence and mismanagement and millions of dollars wasted, we are right back to where we were last June," Pepper's release noted.

"This 'deal' is an admission that the County's entire approach of the past year was a mistake, and the millions of taxpayer dollars spent on the misadventure have been wasted."

Pepper's release didn't mention the other two commissioners, Republican Pat DeWine or Democrat Todd Portune, even though they were on the commission last June when the county took control of the Banks deal.