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Residents, nonprofits press council on racial equity, tax abatements and oversight of leverage grants and rail funds
Summary
Public commenters urged stronger equity measures in budgeting, criticized tax abatements and called for oversight of leverage-support grants and Cincinnati Southern Railway spending; nonprofit leaders described services they provide to residents.
Several residents and nonprofit representatives used the Budget and Finance Committee public-comment period to press the city for greater attention to racial equity, oversight of grant funding and fair treatment of long-term residents as new revenue arrives.
Stanford Poole, a resident and public commenter, criticized recruitment and tax-abatement practices, saying, "The Cincinnati fire department just had a recruit class. They had 47, only 8 were minority." He also faulted long tax abatements, saying, "You give rich guys 15 years tax abatement. They don't have to pay no tax for 15 or 30 years. And the citizens that voted for you guys, you give them nothing." Poole framed those concerns in a broader claim about longstanding racial injustice in Cincinnati.
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