Someone at the Enquirer is Pushing an Anti-Downtown Bias, Again

Brian Griffin of Cincinnati Blog responds to the Enquirer’s article “Ham. Co. taxpayers subsidizing downtown parking”:

Downtown is not some foreign country. Downtown is not in Kentucky. Downtown is where the Hamilton County Commission meets. Do the Commission members park in lots that the County owns when they are doing County Business?  I am betting they do.  I wouldn’t be surprised to learn they get free parking in county lots.

The headline, whether intentional or not, states that Hamilton County Tax payers are subsidizing Downtown.

Two issues here:

• The county vs. city mentality needs to stop.  The city of Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County.  You can’t have a strong county or metropolitan area without a strong city.
• Parking garages are expensive. They are all subsidized either directly (by the government) or indirectly (by the increased cost of good and services at businesses who pay for them). There is no such thing as free parking.

In the article’s comments, I added:

It’s funny because the headline could have just as easily read “Ham. Co. taxpayers subsidizing suburban lifestyle”. That parking isn’t for people who live downtown, it’s for people that commute there.