“There is not a higher priority item before the council and staff,” City Manager Mike Cornell said of the city’s responsibility to update its process in light of the federal determination and to rehear the RTA stops. The city faces a mid-September deadline for the RTA hearing.
“The Federal Highway Administration and ODOT had no problem with the moratorium,” Mayor Vicki Giambrone said. “They knew it was going to take some time.”
In 2010, city staff determined the RTA proposal conformed to the ordinance. The RTA said it wanted to expand its route to give public transit customers — many of whom are minorities or disabled — access to the mall, nearby medical facilities and employment opportunities in the retail/professional area surrounding the mall. The council, however, added 19 more criteria — including video surveillance cameras and police call boxes at all stops, heated and air-conditioned shelters, billing RTA for police services, and requiring a $150,000 deposit from RTA in case new traffic signals were needed because of the stops — to gain approval.
RTA would not meet 11 of the criteria, and on March 26, 2011, the council voted 6-0 to deny the application. An advocacy group, Leaders for Equality and Action in Dayton, in August 2011 filed a complaint with the Highway Administration alleging the denial was discriminatory because it prevented African-Americans from obtaining jobs or seeking medical treatment in the area of the mall.
In every instance, the federal investigators found the city presented no evidence that the 11 criteria “were necessary to meeting a legitimate, important goal integral to the city’s mission.”
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