Amid myriad problems, Cincinnati streetcar official receives $22,000 raise, promotion

Apparently Cincinnati's floundering streetcar is going well enough for the top government official overseeing the rail line to receive a $22,000 raise.

SORTA has promoted streetcar director Paul Grether to a vice president's role and bumped his annual salary from $103,122 to $125,000, according to public records obtained by Politics Extra.

Come on, is SORTA really this bad at timing and public relations?

The transit agency made this decision amid telling the public it needs money and might ask voters to support a countywide sales-tax hike this fall. These are the same voters who are generally skeptical about the streetcar, which doesn't run in extreme cold weather and which few people ride when it does work.

SORTA says the potential levy would only be for fixing the Metro bus system. The bus and streetcar budgets are indeed separate, but the optics and timing of Grether's 21 percent raise aren't good.

Read more: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics-extra/2018/02/16/px-amid-myriad-problems-streetcar-official-receives-22-000-raise-promotion/345401002/