The Problem with NOACA, or The No Good, Very Bad Climate Action Takeover

Many citizens in Northeast Ohio are alarmed by a movement underway to usurp the authority of our duly elected local officials.  This usurpation is happening at the hands of the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (“NOACA” for short).  NOACA is the federally-mandated Metropolitan Planning Organization (“MPO”) in effect across five Northeastern Ohio Counties (Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, and Cuyahoga). 

MPOs were established by the Federal Aid Highway act of 1962.  The act dictates that regions with metropolitan areas greater than 50,000 residents receiving federal funding must be a member of an MPO. This raises a number of sovereignty issues relative to states’ rights.  While there is a constitutional Tenth Amendment issue with this law, it has not yet been challenged. 

In Ohio there are 17 MPO’s. NOACA is one of the largest and arguably the most far-Left, politically “progressive” MPO in Ohio.   The result is undue federal oversight of large population centers and an unfortunate spillover of influence throughout each county and adjacent counties, far outside of the metropolitan areas.  In theory, MPOs were created to help facilitate regional oversight of bridge and road projects.  In reality, NOACA has become a tool used almost exclusively by urban Cuyahoga County to divert the resources of the other four, largely rural counties, in service of their far-left, ideologically-driven vision.  

NOACA’s Tyrannical Makeup

The makeup of the NOACA Board is an example of unelected tyranny.  While most members of the Board hold elected office in their respective areas, the idea of representation is illusory. Representatives from counties other than Cuyahoga hold largely symbolic positions on the NOACA board; scant few members can in any way impact the actions of the organization. 

When NOACA was created, there was at least an appearance of balance-of-power, as the Board was comprised then of three Commissioners from each county and a few other elected officials (e.g., the Mayor of Cleveland).  As originally designed, no one county had an overbearing majority.  However, through legal action, bullying, and coercion, centralized Cleveland/Cuyahoga County has wrested control of the board away from the other counties. In fact, all four rural counties in NOACA (Geauga, Lake, Lorain, and Medina) combined cannot counter the vote of Cuyahoga alone.  As a result, nearly all spending and initiatives are exclusively dedicated to “progressive,” Cuyahoga-led endeavors.

In the 1970’s the NOACA contract was changed to a set of bylaws that stipulated board makeup based on population alone.  There is NO evidence the original contract was voided or waived.  No county signed or agreed to waiving the contract that was originally used to create NOACA.  There is an argument that the current bylaw configuration is not legal.  These actions have created an organization that is violating their own “Equity Policies”.  Anything and anyone not in agreement with far-Left, “progressive” policies can have no voice.

The following is from the original 1968 contract.  Notice 3 elected officials from each county, along with the Mayor of Cleveland and one representative from Urban Affairs.

Imbalance of Power Results in Far-Left Mission Creep

MPOs were created and chartered to perform road and bridge planning; yet, without an articulated charter to broaden its scope and authority, NOACA is attempting to be a regional planning organization that violates basic sovereignty of other political entities (cities, counties, planning organizations, etc.).   Compounding this effect, NOACA received a grant from HUD to perform a multi-MPO NE Ohio social engineering effort including land use, infrastructure, equity, zoning, water quality, air quality, and economic development.  That effort, originally named NEOSCC, now called eNEO2050, has never been approved by a vote of the board, yet it serves as the foundation of NOACA’s current climate change and equity initiatives.

The very premise of a large federally-directed planning organization violates the basic concept of voter representation and sovereignty of legal boundaries.   Citizens from Geauga County do not vote for and cannot remove elected officials from Cleveland/Cuyahoga County.  If we had a balanced MPO that allowed for negotiation, compromise, and realistic political maneuvering, the rural counties would have a chance of representation.  Unfortunately, the NOACA board is so egregiously imbalanced and so overreaching in its usurpation of powers, that our counties have no hope of receiving fair representation.  That means taxation and/or use of tax dollars without representation.  NOACA is making decisions that the elected officials of each sovereign community should be making.  Ohio is allowing a federally guided organization to usurp Ohio authority. 

Some examples of the harm created by NOACA’s imbalance and overreach include (not a comprehensive list):

• Tax dollars are not distributed fairly; e.g.; Geauga residents contribute over 10 million dollars in federal gas tax dollars and are returned close to 0 dollars.
• NOACA is taking out loans to fund programs and using existing tax dollars to fund bicycle trails, TLCI (Transportation for Livable Communities Initiative) projects, and other non-road and -bridge projects.  For reference, the goals of TLCI projects include “positive public health impacts,” investment in underutilized or vacant/abandoned properties, and “integrating principles of accessibility and environmental justice,” none of which are within the purview of an MPO.
• NOACA is using tax dollars to lobby for funding and/or changes to law that favor Cuyahoga County over the other member counties, with no recourse for the counties to reclaim their tax dollars.
• NOACA uses race-based criteria in its decision making, which appears to violate the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments.
• NOACA is broadening its scope without authority into areas that do harm to our communities.   The most recent example is its effort to create a Climate Action Plan.  There is very little that NE Ohio can do to significantly impact an atmosphere as large as one we exist in, yet NOACA presumes to spend each of our counties’ resources on projects they imagine will ameliorate this “emergency” in our region (projects which overwhelmingly benefit Cuyahoga County and the climate-warrior reputations of her politicians). It should be the purview of our locally elected officials to prioritize climate change versus other societal and economic initiatives, not a remote board that has no incentive to represent all citizens within its region.  Furthermore, decisions that so intimately impact our lives should be decided by representatives who are intimately accountable to voters.
• NOACA violates the First Amendment rights to free speech and the ability for citizens to be heard and to seek redress.  Recent actions to manipulate citizen input and to limit the five-county citizens (especially conservatives) from being able to be heard is blatant, with abundant evidence.  Ostensibly public meetings have provided no opportunity for public input, as the NOACA board barred the public from speaking, and even physically impeded members of the public from entering the building.  On other occasions, NOACA allowed a few members of the public to speak, but opened the speakers list to their preferred (NOACA-friendly) speakers before the general public, so that only NOACA’s hand-picked speakers were granted time.  Additionally, the President of the NOACA Board, John Hammercheck, personally drafted a note expressing animus and empty accusations toward the public who traveled to attend in person.  The appearance of soliciting public engagement, while in fact blocking it, is conduct unbecoming of any organization that wishes to present itself as community-based and which presumes to take charge of activities that stand to impact nearly every aspect of life.
• NOACA uses a corrupt process and methodologies to support its decision making.
• NOACA recently aligned with ICLEI, a Marxist United Nations organization headquartered in Bonn, Germany.
• NOACA uses Equity as a guiding principle.   Equity is a betrayal of the oath to uphold and defend the constitution of the U.S. and the principle that “all men are created equal.”

What Can We Do About NOACA?

There are a number of possible actions that can be taken to mitigate the harm being created by NOACA’s actions.  (This list is not comprehensive.)

• Eliminate MPOs at the Federal Level.
• Change Federal law to limit the powers of MPOs.
• Create Ohio state legislation to limit the powers of MPOs.
• Take local action for a county to leave NOACA.
• Two or more counties may leave NOACA and form a separate MPO.
• Form a conservative coalition of elected officials and board members.  Begin a legal action to restore balance to the board.