With the disastrous derailment of its mega-train loaded with toxic material, Norfolk Southern utterly destroyed East Palestine, and converted what was once a small vibrant Ohio town into a massive environmental crime scene. Trapped in a toxic cage, residents there are caught in a Catch-22 dilemma of being damned if they move (loss of property value) and damned if they stay (loss of health).

Now this corporate criminal intends to be rewarded with the gift of the Cincinnati Southern Railway, the only publicly owned interstate railway in the nation. However, its illegally hatched offer of $1.6 billion must first be approved by Cincinnati voters with a majority vote on Issue 22 in the November ballot.

Every yes vote on Issue 22 constitutes a stab in the back of the long-suffering residents of greater East Palestine. We demand that Norfolk Southern instead send their $1.6 billion to save lives in East Palestine and rebuild the community it destroyed by its negligence and corporate greed. People are more valuable than profit.