Cincinnati's Mayor-Elect Kills Parking Meter Privatization Deal

Cincinnati's Mayor-elect John Cranley is a better man than Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard. Even before he takes office, he and the newly-elected council agreed that killing a privatization deal for the city's parking meter assets with Xerox, the same company which now controls Indianapolis' parking meter assets, was in the best interests of the city. “We feel that we owe it to the voters who elected us to have a clean break with this deal,” Mayor-elect John Cranley said Tuesday. The city is giving up an upfront payment of $85 million and about $3 million annually that the 30-year lease deal offered. Cranley also killed a $133 million, 3.6 mile street car project that was touted by proponents of a city's mass transit system. Cranley, incidentally, is a bond attorney by profession with the law firm of Keating, Muething & Klekamp. He previously served on the city's council for two terms.