CINCINNATI (AP) — The mayor-elect plans a meeting of the newCincinnati city council to stop the
streetcar project after the currentcouncil approved an ordinance intended to make halting the project
moredifficult.At its final meeting Tuesday, Cincinnati’s currentcouncil voted to approve an ordinance
requiring the project to continue,The Cincinnati Enquirer reported (http://cin.ci/1fGpvjH ). The vote made the project a
policy directive that can be undone only by another council vote.The new council and Mayor-Elect John
Cranley take over Sunday. Cranley has vowed to kill the project once he takes office.Cranleyhad six
anti-streetcar votes on the nine-member council. But one membersaid Tuesday that he no longer supports
stopping construction."It feels neither prudent nor fiscally responsible to scrap the whole
thing," Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld said.Sittenfeldsaid the possibility that the city won’t have to pay
an estimated $3.5million to $4.5 million in annual operating costs helped influence hischanged view. He says
fares and sponsorships will partly cover thosecosts.Sittenfeld also supports creating a special
improvementdistrict to pay for the rest of the operating costs. That plan wouldrequire property owners along
the route to pay higher taxes than othercity property owners. Sixty percent of the affected owners would
have toagree to that.Cincinnati has spent millions of dollars to startwork on the 3.6-mile streetcar line.
The administration of Mark Mallory,the outgoing mayor, has said that canceling the $133 million projectnow
could cost $30 million to $46 million on top of $33 million in workalready done.___Information from: The
Cincinnati Enquirer, http://www.enquirer.comCopyright 2013 The Associated
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