Today at the Forum: Questions for City Council candidates

Monday, October 01, 2007

Questions for City Council candidates

Here are four good questions readers sent to our online message board for candidates for Cincinnati City Council. All 25 candidates now have posting privileges on this blog. All have agreed to post their positions and answer questions from readers here as part of our ongoing endorsement evaluation process. A reminder to the candidates: Please put your positions and answers up as fresh posts, not just as comments to this post. Readers can comment on any entry.

The questions:
Do you believe that a position on city council should be used as a platform for national issues?
Chad Harrison Ford, East End

What are council candidates’ positions on privatizing more city services such as street cleaning, parks maintenance, garbage collection, traffic signal and sign maintenance, etc.?
Tom Neubecker, Mt. Adams

We have 52 recognized communities in Cincinnati. How do you define community?
Jenny Edwards, West End

I would like to know if any of the candidates would consider repealing the increased residency restrictions on sex offenders in light of recent federal rulings of its unconstitutionality and a series of studies that prove that the laws are not only ineffective, but counterproductive as well.
Derek Logue, Corryville

4 Comments:

at 9:03 PM, October 01, 2007

Harris for Council said...

We have 52 recognized communities in Cincinnati. How do you define community?

--Jenny Edwards, West End

Jenny,

You empower communities to define themselves. Cincinnati has not had a strategic plan since 1948. The time has come to empower Cincinnati’s 52 neighborhoods to identify their unique cultural, architectural and environmental assets that can be leveraged towards continued prosperity or revitalization (depending on the neighborhood). The City's Economic Development Department can then work on developing long-term comprehensive economic development strategies built on leveraging and interconnecting neighborhood assets. (For example, it could be a street car line that connects Pill Hill to O-t-R would bolster the arts scenes and residential base in O-t-R, while serving as an enticement to attract and retain talent for CUH's research hub.)

As a member of Council, I’d identify private and public sector resources to underwrite a new strategic plan led by the (re-established) Planning Department. The City could then finally develop a long-term, proactive economic development strategy that is based on leveraging neighborhood assets as defined by neighborhoods.

Greg Harris
votegregharris.com

at 10:32 PM, October 01, 2007

pavelish said...

Hi Jenny and thanks for being involved.
I believe that the communities many years ago have been defined by tradition. For example Hyde Park was and still is known for its fine homes and retail shops and I expect this tradition to continue. The northern section of OTR was defined by it's great beer brewing heritage and even though the breweries are gone the buildings are and tradition is still present. Etc.
But Jenny, many of our neighborhoods are declining. Houses are in disrepair and sidewalks and streets are coverd with litter.And our neighborhood pride is waining...Fourty two years of TOO MUCH government "planning" has destroyed the American city (and some families). And Cincinnati City Hall continues to be anti small business. Our investors and builders have fled to the suburbs. We have very little private sector capital left to infuse into our communities.
But here is the hope. A change at City Council could bring back the investors and builders. Then we can work on a city - private sector partnership to restore our old and trusted communities - our heritage, our tradition, our greatest asset.

Steve Pavelish
www.pavelish.com

at 3:23 PM, October 02, 2007

Anonymous said...

The Banks project is a financial disaster:
- AIG was in the know and pulled out because it was not an economically feasible project
- Carter and Dawson will only proceed if the public subsidy is high enough to guarantee them profits.
- The Old White Money on 4th and 5th street are fighting Banks development because they don’t won’t competition for their obsolete office space.
What a colossal SNAFU!

If the City and the County are going to fund the projects and take all the risks, why doesn’t the public keep ownership too? We gave Paul Brown Stadium away to the Brown Family and GBP to the Reds. Why are we giving The Banks Away too?

at 5:22 PM, October 02, 2007

Joan Kaup said...

Tom,
Instead of asking what a third party or outside company can do more efficiently than our city, we should ask what our city does so well that we can sell that service to others. We have the talent to identify and create more revenue-generating programs, such as selling our filtered water to Northern Kentucky and Butler County. Did you know that Cincinnati Water Works sells more filtered water to people living outside of Cincinnati than we do to people living inside the city? The Cincinnati Parks Board is so good at designing green spaces that they are hired to design parks by the State of Ohio. Rumpke picks up recycled garbage from homes, and the city earns a return on recycled waste which is recyclable. To date, Rumpke does not pick up enough recyclable material to offset the cost of picking it up. However, what if renters and businesses also recycled through Rumpke? Working together, we can transform an expense into an income-generating, citywide program. It would be good for the city coffers and for our environment. We can reward productivity in managing city government just like in private industry.

Come to one of my events and we can talk more about thinking differently.
Joan Kaup, Charter Candidate for Cincinnati City Council
www.KAUPforCOUNCIL.com

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Monday, October 01, 2007

Questions for City Council candidates

4 Comments: