CINCINNATI — As Mayor Aftab Pureval laid out his vision for Cincinnati and his plan for his next three years in office, two issues will take particular priority: public safety and affordable housing.
In his first State of the City address, Pureval discussed the steps already underway to fund new affordable housing, increase police staffing and provide diversion opportunities for Cincinnati youth, while also setting out a path for future action, some of which may face legal challenges in the coming months.
“There’s a new energy here. It’s something you can feel from the banks out to Roselawn,” Pureval said.
The mayor began his speech by focusing on the city’s bounce back from the pandemic and its years of scandal in City Hall. He celebrated the vibrant downtown core, the jobs that have come to the region through partnerships with REDI Cincinnati, and the cohesion that’s grown among city council, nearly all of whom were elected for the first time last year.
“We have constructed a government that directly targets our strategic priorities, and we’ve built a culture and an institution where our public servants put residents first,” Pureval said.
From the outset, Pureval had described public safety and affordable housing as top priorities, with police recruitment, funding the affordable housing trust fund, and providing equitable development opportunities throughout all 52 city neighborhoods as part of his initial campaign promises.
“We can’t build towards a Cincinnati where every resident has the chance to grow and thrive, without unprecedented action on affordable housing,” he said.
Over the next few months, Pureval promised to work with the council to continue prioritizing funding for new affordable housing projects while also changing the zoning codes and the distribution of city tax abatements to incentivize and facilitate building multi-family homes across Cincinnati.
“Our new proposal establishes three tiers: Lift, Expand, and Sustain,” he said. “And neighborhoods will fall into them based on metrics of income levels and poverty rate, the value of homes, and the level of development that’s already occurring in the market.”
As for crime, Pureval said the declining homicide rate shows the city is headed in the right direction, but violence remains far too prevalent.
“We have to do everything in our power to address the root causes of violence.”
Pureval highlighted a career pathway program for young Cincinnatians as a successful attempt at that mission, acknowledging a group of teenage boys in the audience stopped by police while selling bottles of water on Reading Road.
“This young group of entrepreneurs, now called Brothers in Motion, had the right intentions and a passion for creating a business,” he said. “But what they didn’t have was access to the people who would help them understand how to do it.”
Through diversion, the group was able to get set up in the entrepreneur track of Career Pathways and begin to build a successful business.
“They have created a new system for the city to support entrepreneurs who follow in their footsteps,” Pureval said. “All before they’re 18.”
More controversially, Pureval also targeted the prevalence of guns across Cincinnati as a root cause of violence.
“Lawmakers in the state of Ohio have tied our hands behind our back, precluding cities from implementing common sense gun safety measures,” he said.
Following an injunction from a Franklin County Judge, Pureval said Cincinnati has new authority to overcome the 2007 State preemption laws and implement their own gun reform. He proposed legislation to prevent anyone convicted of domestic violence from owning a gun and safe storage regulations.
“When you own a deadly weapon, you should have legal requirements to take precautions,” he said.
Columbus City Council announced they plan to enact similar reforms but have already gotten pushback from groups like the Buckeye Firearms Association calling the proposed legislation unlawful.
To Pureval, though, the fight is not over. He believes gun reform is necessary within Cincinnati to prevent further crime and he said council will be working to establish this legislation in the coming weeks and months.
“Cincinnati is going to take advantage of this opportunity,” he said.
