Bruce F. Vento: “I want to stipulate that I do not disagree with the goals in terms of recognition of the underground railroad, but we…”

“I want to stipulate that I do not disagree with the goals in terms of recognition of the underground railroad, but we need to have a plan. We need to follow and use the information from the study. I understand that the gentleman from California is talking about the historic fabric that is in place. It does not necessarily reflect what the role of Cincinnati was, and the issue here is that we need to know what the level of this commitment is and how we are going to relate to the other sites. I think we need to provide the Park Service with more direction in this particular instance other than simply saying we are going to let you go and agree to an affiliated area in Ohio, which will not be part of the Park Service but could represent significant dollars and amounts that are invested in it. We should be doing partnerships like this, but my suggestion is, if Cincinnati wants to go ahead and construct an interpretive center in this and do work in this, I commend them.”