“We’re coming together this evening at the dawn of our city’s next chapter,” said Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval in the opening of his third “State of the City” address, held on Nov. 12 at Memorial Hall in Over-the-Rhine.
Speaking to an audience that included Cincinnati City Council, State Reps. Dani Isaacsohn and Cecil Thomas and Cincinnati Chief of Police Teresa Theetge, Pureval spoke about the accomplishments of his first three years in office, and the challenges that remain for Cincinnati.
“It is because of the shared vision and support of our entire community and our unwavering collective focus on the city we’ve worked to build, that I proudly say: the state of the city is strong,” said Pureval, who used the address to acknowledge the biggest concerns for Cincinnatians, from gun violence to affordable housing.
“It is a sad and undeniable fact that far too many families in Cincinnati are housing insecure,” said Pureval about the growing housing crisis. “This has been at the forefront of so much of our work in City Hall, and it’s been at the center of the work that these partners do every day.”
Pureval praised the Housing Stability Initiative, which finds homes that are at risk of eviction and connects them with city services.
Pureval also touted the Access to Counsel program, established as part of the city’s Financial Freedom Blueprint, which helps tenants through the eviction process. According to Pureval, the program has given rental assistance and legal representation to 542 households and over 700 children, with 83% of tenants having their evictions dismissed.
Pureval touted the city’s growth and increased presence on the national stage, citing Cincinnati’s hosting of Black Tech Week, BLINK and the Forbes Thirty Under Thirty Summit as evidence of this trend.
“Downtown and throughout our city, foot traffic is continuing to return. We have been full steam ahead, through the work of partners and our Department of Community and Economic Development, to create more spaces to live, work and play in our business districts,” Pureval said.
Pureval cited development projects throughout Downtown as examples of this economic growth, mentioning the renovated Convention Center and the Paycor stadium deal as victories for the city.
“It’s a huge deal for a company like Paycor to choose Downtown, and it’s another major step forward in our exceptional post-pandemic Downtown growth relative to our peer cities,” Pureval said.
However, Pureval didn’t shy away from mentioning issues affecting Cincinnati, namely public safety.
“Growth only works if we continue to live up to our core responsibility to residents – keeping them safe,” Pureval said. “Like many communities, we have experienced real, tragic and complex challenges – with youth violence, with our transit centers and with public perception. But we are making the comprehensive investments and decisions to drive tangible positive progress.”
Pureval emphasized his administration’s “problem-solving oriented, community-based approach” to violence prevention, celebrating the Alternative Response to Crisis team, which sends trained and unarmed mental health professionals to 911 calls. According to Pureval, they’ve responded to over 1,300 incidents in the past year.
“Saving thousands of hours of police time to focus on where they’re needed,” he said. “And connecting residents in need to the services that can help them.”
Besides new programs to encourage deescalation, Pureval also spoke about the new Regional Safety Complex for the Cincinnati Police Department and Hamilton County Sheriff’s office, a training facility that also addresses the concerns of residents who were disturbed by the previous gun range.
Closing his remarks, Pureval portrayed the future of Cincinnati as being hopeful and full of opportunity.
“In Cincinnati, we are going to keep moving forward. We are going to build on our incredible successes, our incredible opportunity and live up to what I know we can achieve,” Pureval said. “We are going to believe we’re capable of things that a generation ago wouldn’t have been given a second thought. We refuse to waste the chance we have right now to keep pushing.”
Though largely uneventful, the ceremony was briefly interrupted by a protester who was escorted out by police. The man held a sign saying, “Stop lying to the Black community, Aftab!” while shouting “stop lying to the Black community about the appointment Meeka made.”
The statement was in reference to the appointment of Evan Nolan to Cincinnati City Council by Council Member Meeka Owens. A small group of people also protested outside of Memorial Hall, angered by the appointment.
Following the event, CityBeat asked Nolan if he had a response for the protester. He shrugged, saying he had “nothing to add.”
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This article appears in Nov 13-26, 2024.
