1/ Columbus Dispatch reports Ohio Aviation Association (OAA) wants the state to spend $15 million annually to lure cross-country & international flights. Public money would ensure flights hit profitability targets. Let’s unpack this.
dispatch.com/news/20180908/…
dispatch.com/news/20180908/…
2/ This is an incredibly bad idea: (1) this subsidy would be a massive upward redistribution to multi-billion dollar corporations to benefit wealthy flyers; and (2) this isn't how market capitalism is supposed to work.
3/ Let’s put these numbers in context. If my reading of the Ohio budget is correct, the state spends just $6.5 million in state revenues on public transportation each year. (p. 3254 of HB 49)
4/ The remaining approximately $67 million spent on transit is ALL from the federal government through FTA and FHWA flexed funds. (p. 30 of the LSC or Legislative Services Commission Greenbook).
5/ This means that OAA want Ohio to spend TWICE as much state money subsidizing wealthy people’s desire for flights to the West Coast and Europe than on basic mobility.
6/ Make no mistake about the inequity of this proposal. According to LSC: "In rural areas, many public transit services are used heavily by senior citizens and the disabled.”
7/ The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland notes that in the Cleveland Area: “Only 57 percent of the population in Northeast Ohio lives in a neighborhood covered by transit.”
8/ According to the National Transit Database the State of Ohio provided only $571,000 or two-tenths of one percent (0.2%) of Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority’s (GCRTA) annual budget.
9/ The Cleveland Fed also notes: “Around 47 and 37 percent of all jobs employing Black and Hispanic workers, respectively, are accessible in 90 minutes or less compared to 28 percent of all jobs employing White workers”
10/ By comparison, the Fed notes: “Most auto commutes in the region take less than 30 minutes.”
11/ Cleveland Fed: “Black and Hispanic workers… more likely to look for and accept a job if it is near public transit relative to White workers.”
12/ Cleveland Fed: “job options of minority workers are greatly limited given that less than a third of all jobs in the region are transit-accessible.”
13/ If ODOT wants to raise transportation spending, improving the coverage and frequency of transit would be a vastly more productive use of money, helping to increase employment and wages of Ohio residents.
14/ Transportation spending is an expression of values. Ohio should prioritize the needs of its workers by increasing their access to opportunity and let market dynamics guide aviation slots.
