They set up shop at parades, ball games and Fountain Square.
They have a camper at Broadway and Reading Road to get signatures and distribute petitions 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The Broadway faithful are pulling out the stops in search of the 26,800 valid signatures they need by July 24 to put their favored stadium site on the November ballot and try to halt Hamilton County's plans to build a new Reds ballpark on the riverfront.
So far, the group has more than 1,700 petitions being circulated with space for 30 signatures on each one. Organizers haven't yet tallied the number of signatures collected, but the target is 52,000 -- to be sure they get enough that count.
Critics of the initiative argue that the petitions Broadway backers are pushing could do more than just locate a ballpark. They say the proposed ballot issue could fundamentally change Hamilton County government.
But the people behind the petition drive, known as a "charter amendment" even though Hamilton County doesn't have a charter, say critics are using scare tactics to avoid a vote.
Two lawyers who have studied the question of county charters -- and who advised the people behind the petition drive -- say they don't know what the result would be if the issue were to make it to the November ballot and pass.
"I'm sort of thrown for a loop by using a charter for such a purpose," said Frances McGovern, a retired lawyer and former three-term state representative from Akron who helped put the charter amendment to the Ohio Constitution back to use in 1957.
"I don't really know whether it's a lawful use of the charter provision in the constitution or not. I have reservations about whether in adopting a charter, they aren't changing something even without meaning to."
William Becker, a retired law professor at the University of Akron who worked with Miss McGovern to push for a charter government in Summit County, said he doesn't know whether citizens can create a charter without fundamentally changing county government. "I don't know what a court would say," he said. "I don't know what that does. I don't think anybody does."
Added Miss McGovern: "It would be a first."
Cincinnati City Councilman Todd Portune, one of the Broadway backers leading the charge, acknowledged such efforts aren't common. Summit County, in fact, is the only Ohio county to have a charter. But Mr. Portune, a lawyer, thinks the group is on solid legal ground.
THE AMENDMENT
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Complete text of the Broadway Commons Charter Amendment
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"I don't know how a court could interpret it as anything other than what's intended," he said.
At issue is the seemingly simple question at the top of the petitions: "Shall a County Charter Be Chosen?"
Critics of the petition drive argue that if the question makes it to the November ballot and voters answer "yes," those six words could give Hamilton County commissioners broad legislative powers that they don't now have.
"All you have to do is read the first line, and it says, "Shall the county adopt a charter form of government?' " said Hamilton County Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus, a vocal critic of the petition drive who favors the riverfront ballpark site known as Baseball on Main or "The Wedge."
"If they succeed and get it on the ballot, the debate won't be about Broadway Commons vs. Baseball on Main. The debate will be about charter government."
Hamilton County Auditor Dusty Rhodes calls the whole effort "goofy," saying voters can express a preference for Broadway Commons by voting for Marilyn Hyland, the Democrat who backs Broadway and is trying to unseat Commission President Tom Neyer Jr.
Ms. Hyland agrees, saying she likes county government as it's structured, but that current county leadership forces people to "go to this extreme" of the petition drive.
For his part, Mr. Neyer doesn't like the drive because he argues it creates a lasting document -- a charter -- for an issue of the day. "It's horrendous government," he said. "It's not the way that the charters are meant to be used."
Mr. Bedinghaus, well-known for his dislike of Cincinnati politics, has a slogan picked for the debate that could come if the issue gets to the ballot:
"If you like charter government in the city of Cincinnati, you'll love what it brings to Hamilton County."
Jim Tarbell, the newly appointed Cincinnati councilman and long-time champion of Broadway Commons, said Mr. Bedinghaus and others are just trying to scare voters.
Mr. Tarbell and supporters of the Broadway vote point to Article I of the charter question, which essentially states no part of county government would change except for Article II.
Article II requires that any new Major League Baseball stadium be built at Broadway Commons, an area that is now mostly parking lots at Broadway and Reading Road.
Mr. Tarbell said the commissioners would be the ones in a position to grant themselves greater powers, adding, "Are they afraid of themselves?"
He and Mr. Portune argue that the idea is simply to give people a way to vote on the stadium site -- not to change county government. Mr. Tarbell calls it "the only expression left to a very frustrated community."
County Commissioner John Dowlin, the only commissioner who favors Broadway Commons, agrees.
"There is no way for the voters to speak," Mr. Dowlin said. "I'm led to believe the vast majority of the people in this county favor Broadway Commons."
County commissioners voted 2-1 Thursday, with Mr. Dowlin dissenting, to approve the riverfront site, just west of the Crown coliseum. If the charter issue were to appear on the November ballot and win, the tentative deal between the Reds and county for a $235 million riverfront stadium would dissolve.
But what would happen next is unclear. The Reds have long insisted that the team needs a riverfront site for its long-term financial health.
If the Reds refused to accept a deal for a new stadium at Broadway, the team could continue to play in Cinergy Field and lose money as far as Mr. Dowlin is concerned.
Mr. Neyer doesn't even want to think about those possibilities, saying he thinks voters will defeat the issue if it makes it to the ballot.
Mr. Portune and Mr. Tarbell, though, think the Reds ultimately would take a new stadium at Broadway Commons as long as the financial deal was attractive for the team.
Reds Managing Executive John Allen, the team's lead negotiator on stadium matters, couldn't be reached to comment. When asked about the petition drive in the past, he has said the Reds are focused on the riverfront and a ballpark at Baseball on Main.
For the people behind the petition drive, though, it's all about building what they think could be Cincinnati's own Wrigley Field. Jim Burton, an Oakley man who with photographer Teri Campbell has worked 12 or 14 hours a day at the Broadway camper to collect signatures for more than a week, thinks it's just so clear.
"At night, I'll step behind the camper and look up at Mount Adams and envision it," he said. "It's going to be The Wedge vs. Broadway Commons on the November ballot. The best site wins."
Anne Michaud contributed to this report.
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