Committee re-examines 'Rising 15' motion to direct Cincinnati Southern Railway sale proceeds toward underserved neighborhoods

Madam Chair led a committee discussion of a refiled motion originally filed Oct. 16, 2023, asking the city to set priorities for spending proceeds from the Cincinnati Southern Railway sale so that historically underserved neighborhoods receive a measurable share of benefits.

The motion proposes four principal actions: require demographic analysis for beneficiaries of projects funded with railway-sale proceeds; create a public dashboard showing how proceeds are spent; establish targeted funding for the city’s 15 lowest-income neighborhoods (the "Rising 15"); and apply the city’s economic inclusion policy to projects financed with those proceeds, including support for minority- and women-owned businesses.

The motion’s sponsor said city staff in the Office of Performance and Data Analytics identified neighborhood median household incomes ranging roughly from $11,000 to $33,000 for a family of four and that the 15 neighborhoods with the lowest median incomes make up about 20% of Cincinnati’s population. The motion asks the city to set a minimum of 10% of the railway-sale proceeds to be spent in those neighborhoods and to have the city manager appoint a seven-member community advisory council to review proposals and make recommendations to council. “We want to make sure those neighborhoods rise up,” the sponsor said.

Committee members emphasized the limits of state law on the use of railway-sale proceeds. “We are not looking to change anything that was voted on by the citizens of Cincinnati, and the fact that state law says what we're able to do with railroad money,” Councilmember Scottie Johnson said. The committee discussed a “swap out” approach: because state law limits the use of railway proceeds to repairing or replacing existing city-owned infrastructure, the city could use those proceeds for eligible infrastructure projects and then free up other capital funds to finance new economic-development projects in the Rising 15 neighborhoods.

The sponsor told the committee the city expects an initial distribution of about $56,000,000 in the first round, anticipated in March, and that the administration would prepare a report reviewing what parts of the motion can move forward under current legal constraints. The committee noted that recent higher-court litigation — referenced in the discussion as Students for Fair Admissions — requires a legal review of where racial or income-targeted policies remain permissible.

The motion also calls for a public dashboard on the city website listing projects, neighborhoods and beneficiaries so the public can track spending. It recommends applying the city’s economic inclusion policy (adopted February 2023) to projects using railway-sale proceeds, encouraging joint ventures that include minority- and women-owned developers and directing the city to create an access-to-capital plan and assistance for first-time bonding.

No formal vote was taken at the committee meeting; the administration asked for more time to prepare the requested report and legal review. The sponsor said the motion had been referred to a committee after its original filing in 2023, where it was not fully discussed and subsequently sunset; the item has now been refiled for further consideration. The committee did not set a date for a subsequent vote.

Next steps: city administration will prepare a written report and legal review for the committee to consider at a later meeting. The committee’s discussion emphasized compliance with state law and the need to identify which elements of the proposal require modification pending legal advice.