Is Cincinnati Really “Sponge-Worthy?”
If you’ve been following along, you may recall that after the terrible flooding of our Eastside neighborhoods this summer, I submitted a request to the city for records concerning the city’s payments to Green Umbrella.
According to its IRS Form 990, Green Umbrella is “Cincinnati’s Regional Climate Collaborative – a network of people, organizations and governments taking action in the face of climate change.”
The transparency website, www.ohiocheckbook.com shows that since 2021, the city has paid more than $1.5 million to Green Umbrella. So, my request for records was meant to determine what Green Umbrella has done for the city for $1.5 million.
In contrast, during the same period, Hamilton County has paid Green Umbrella a total of $4774.00, i.e., less than $5000.
Based on that, I have concluded that Cincinnati must be considered more “sponge-worthy” than the county.
In its July 27, 2026, report about the floods, the Enquirer interviewed the Director of Green Umbrella who said that Cincinnati is at the top of the list of areas in the nation that will experience the most extreme rainfall changes in the coming decade.
The City Manager’s Office told the Enquirer that “Cincinnati can create a ‘sponge city,’ meaning a city with nature-based projects that allow stormwater to infiltrate soil instead of entering the sewer system.”
I actually think, not just climate change activists, but many other nonprofit organizations in the city and county, view the city the same way.
It is my guess that Green Umbrella was substantially involved in the city’s 2023 Green Cincinnati Plan (GCP), which committed to 25 green-infrastructure projects by 2028 in heat/overland-flood-vulnerable communities.
However, the 2025 GCP progress report included many “accomplishments” of its numerous other commitments but there was no progress sited on commitments to mitigate flooding.
Anyway, the city denied my July request but told me that a change in the Ohio Revised Code would take effect on September 23rd , and that if I resubmitted my request after that date, the city should be able to produce records responsive to my request.
Apparently, for some reason, prior to September 23rd, Ohio law said that the city could withhold records pertaining to economic development projects.
I don’t know why the law was such, and I don’t know in what way the records concerning Green Umbrella are related to economic development, but I do know that if the City is able to withhold records from the public, it will, even if it does not have to. So, today (9.26.26) I submitted another request that is pictured below. I will report what I find out.
September 26, 2026 record request
