Council members to push for Port funding

A plan to attract and grow jobs in Cincinnati would be headed by an expanded Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority and funded in large part by revenues from the planned casino at Broadway Commons, under a proposal unveiled Monday.

Under the plan, a redesigned port authority would contract with the city and be the top catalytic corporation charged with implementing the Go Cincinnati plan, creating jobs and fueling private investment in the city.

The proposal, offered by council members Jeff Berding, Charlie Winburn and Chris Bortz, calls for a national search for a new executive director for the port and funding its efforts with up to 50 percent of the casino revenues expected by the city. That could be up to $20 million a year, officials said.

The money would be used by the port to buy and assemble large parcels of properties that could be readily made available to companies looking to expand or relocate here.

In the meantime, since funding from the casino isn’t expected until 2013, the motion calls for giving the port $1 million for the next two years from the city’s capital budget.

The motion also calls for the port to oversee a newly proposed Cincinnati Jobs and Dreams Neighborhood Initiative – a plan that calls for growing jobs and economic development efforts in the city’s 52 neighborhoods. That plan would be launched with pilot projects in 10 neighborhoods, the first of which would be Oakley.