I decided to talk about a local issue this morning. This week voters in Hamilton, Ohio decided to reject a tax levy to build a new aquatic center. The city was sent a very loud “no” with 79% of the people rejecting their proposal.
I didn’t get to vote on it. I live about 30 feet out of Hamilton. I am in Hanover Township, but as soon as you jump my back fence you are in the city of Hamilton, so while I couldn’t vote on this issue, I did follow it closely and was dead set against it.
Hamilton was a thriving community until the 1970s. The town was considered one of the manufacturing capitals of the world. We produced numerous parts instrumental in WWII. From 1970 to 2000, Hamilton has seen it’s population drop from 73,000 to 60,000. Countless businesses have left and the job market sucks.
So how do the city leaders decide to put Hamilton back on the map? By building a large water park. This proposed water park was going to be at the main intersection in town, nestled between one of the few remaining factories and some highly active railroad tracks. Yeah – sounds like a great place to bask in the sun.
That isn’t the only problem. Hamilton is 23 square miles in area, so it is a moderately sized town. With this new aquatic center Hamilton would have lost it’s smaller community pools. That means kids would have had to take what we can barely call a bus service to go to the pool.
Hamilton is stereotypical blue collar America. The people in town are not financially well off, and most live pay check to pay check. Now we get city leaders who can’t figure out why this levy failed:
The day after voters soundly rejected a levy that would have funded a Hamilton aquatic center, Parks and Recreation Director Bob Harris was left with questions.
By the numbers, 79 percent of 10,514 ballots cast went against the levy. However, Harris said raw numbers alone do not give the city answers.
“I don’t know what the overlying message was,” Harris said.
Does it mean people wanted neighborhood pools instead of an aquatic center? Were they voting against the proposed location? Were they just fed up with more taxes?
Now Hamilton loves George Bush. He signed No Child Left Behind into law here. This is a very Republican town, but a town that still has some common sense. People can barely afford gas to put in their cars, or heat their homes. Businesses are closing up because people can’t afford to go out to eat. Do our city leaders really need an answer on this? Look at the economic news, look around town and they can see why people reject such a thing. Instead of fighting for some pet project like this, they should work to find ways to build Hamilton’s economic base. Bring in businesses and give the citizens of Hamilton some place to work. Once you do that then perhaps you can have your pretty new swimming pool.
One other local note I want to make. I want to congratulate our family attorney and friend Dan Gattermeyer on his winning the election to municipal judge. Even though Hamilton is a Republican town, Dan beat the Republican candidate by 60-40. Maybe we can start turning Hamilton more blue and then have leaders that will return Hamilton to the greatness it once enjoyed.