Respect, budget promises and word-keeping

Monday's Cincinnati City Council finance committee turned into the nastiest City Hall fight in at least a couple of months.

Where to start? How about with what clearly became the Quote of the Day. It's something that came out of John Cranley's mouth back in January at another finance committee meeting, something he may very well regret saying after he heard it repeated back to him time and time again Monday: "We're going to keep our word today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow and forever."

Well, Laketa Cole and the others supporting Chris Bortz's plan to divide the $4 million in arts capital funding four ways - $1 million each to the Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Cincinnati Art Museum, Music Hall and Cincinnati Museum Center - see Cranley's vote Monday as absolutely not keeping his promise "today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow and forever." Leslie Ghiz and Jeff Berding didn't either. They reminded him too.

Again, if you're trying to memorize it just in case you see Cranley on the street soon, it's "today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow and forever."

The Bortz backers say it's important to do what they said they would do late last year when council passed the budget 9-0. The budget set aside $4 million for "arts facilities" but did not say which ones, how much they should get or where the money should come from.

Cranley supported Vice Mayor Jim Tarbell's newer five-way plan. It would give the four institutions $800,000 each and creates a new fifth $600,000 fund to help smaller arts institutions like the Clifton, Madisonville and Kennedy Heights arts centers. Some of that money - not more than half of it, Tarbell said - also would pay for events like Riverfest and the Black Family Reunion. Since organizers of the St. Patrick's Day parade threatened to take their fun across the river to Covington rather than pay new fees, council has been trying to figure out how to help such events cover the costs incurred by the city to put them on.

Berding and Ghiz referred to the $600,000 as Tarbell's "slush fund." That's not fair, he says, or accurate, given that he wouldn't control the money anyway. Also, he leaves council after the November election, not giving him much time to even see what happens with the fund's money. (The others might leave council too, depending on voters' wishes, but Tarbell's the only one who leaves for sure, thanks to term limits)

Cranley jumped in at one point, telling his seven colleagues: "Let's do our best to keep it civil."

Ha.

Cecil Thomas, who signed Bortz's April motion to divide the money by four, linked the April 2001 riots to the fact, he said, that the city then had focused too much on "bricks and mortar" and not enough on people. Bortz's plan, he said, speaks only to bricks and mortar too.

Lots of questions came up, mostly from Cranley, about a promise of help from the Ralph and Carol Haile Foundation, which Bortz said offered $400,000 a year for two years. The Hailes were owners of Peoples Liberty Bank in Northern Kentucky, which was bought by First National Bank, the predecessor to U.S. Bank. Mr. Haile died last summer.

Bortz suggested their money go to smaller arts groups, while the larger ones still split the $4 million evenly. He seemed to imply that the foundation's help was contingent upon the city's contribution being the $1 million each, not the lesser $800,000 in the Tarbell Five-Way. The foundation wanted "an acknowledgement that the city took responsibility for its capital" buildings, Bortz said. The city owns three of the four, not the Freedom Center.

Cranley drilled Bortz on the Haile topic, pointing out that any such "gentleman's agreement" wasn't in writing and repeatedly asking about how the Haile foundation and Fine Arts Fund would work together to use the money.

After repeatedly trying to keep the debate focused not on the Haile help but on sticking to the December budget vote, Bortz finally fired back: "If you want any additional information from the Haile Foundation, I suggest you give them a call."

Bortz also pointed out that some smaller arts groups already are being funded with capital funds to be announced Thursday. Among them: the Clifton and Madisonville arts centers; Keep Cincinnati Beautiful; Queen City Concert Band; Ballet Tech Cincinnati; and the American Sign Museum.

The only guy not at the committee meeting was Chris Monzel, who was working in his full-time job at GE instead. He said later he thought the Tarbell Five-Way was intriguing and that he probably would prefer it as long as the Haile people would still help if the amount was reduced from $1 million to $800,000 (Bortz implied they wouldn't; Tarbell says they're still happy to) and as long as he can separate the freedom center allotment out. He wants to vote against giving it any money. He's OK with being the lone dissenter on that.

And as for the Tarbell plan to pay for some events, Monzel said, "I think that de-politicizes a big issue that's going to be coming up. It gets it off the table. We could really resolve a lot of issues with this."

OK, so that's pretty much what happened Monday afternoon in the nearly two hours of debate that sometimes seemed like it might last through "today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow and forever."

Now, just some random statements you just have to see...

Tarbell:

"We are the arts and culture capital of this region," but Cincinnati doesn't spend the millions other cities, like Indy, do to promote that.
Giving to the smaller groups is "the very least of what we should be about."
"I stand by my word. I don't care what the original agreement was. Things change." Changing the terms is OK when you check with all parties involved first, he said. Ghiz jumped in, saying she was glad to hear he didn't care about changing his mind.
"This is the best result of any negotiation, any agreement that I've been a part of at City Hall."

Bortz:

Tarbell's plan is "ill-defined" and wasn't in the budget voted on in December. "I thought we had an agreement."
"No wonder nobody wants to do business with the city. We change our minds at the 11th hour."
"Gentlemen, we had an agreement. Let's do it."
Giving the four major museums $800,000 instead of $1 million is like buying a car but only getting 80 percent of it.
"I'm asking you please to meet that ($1 million) commitment. As Ms. Cole put it, it doesn't say cultural activities. It doesn't say that. Therefore, you are renegotiating the budget. Let's not get into that."

Cranley:

"I believe if members of council make a deal with a private, non-profit," council has a right to know that.
Council never agreed to the four-way split, "so to suggest that people are breaking their word...is not fair. And it's not accurate."
It's ironic, he said, "that the members of the so-called Fiscal Five" were wanting to spend $200,000 more than Tarbell's plan.


Ghiz:

"I just have no sympathy for anybody when you behave the way you've been behaving."

Thomas:

He "readily" signed Bortz's motion in April, seemingly agreeing with the four-way divide. But after more thought, "maybe that wasn't in the best interest of the entire city."
"I think the citizens of Cincinnati would appreciate it if we spread the money out even more."


Crowley:

Reminded everyone that all four still get more than they have in recent years.
"It's still arts facilities. It's a different spread."

Berding:

The debate didn't show "that when we have six signatures on something," it has meaning.
As for past allegations that he and others didn't stick to their word, "what's good for the goose is good for the gander."
He thinks council's gotten a lot of good work done in the past 18 months.

Cole:

"Citizens want nine members of council to keep their word...Keep your word. Keep your promise."
"My concern is that we are going back and reorganizing or redebating a motion that all nine of us signed onto."
She supports the idea of helping smaller arts groups, "but not to the tune of going back and changing the budget."
"Let's keep our promise. Today, tomorrow and forever."