|
|
As a boy, Charlie Luken admired civil rights marchers. “When I was 9, my father marched in Selma, Ala., with some of the greatest freedom fighters this country has ever known,” he says. “My father and my mother always were involved in marches.”
But as mayor of Cincinnati, Luken believes Sept. 26 was not the time to be marching.
In his final campaign commercial, Luken attacks Courtis Fuller, Charter Committee candidate for mayor, for participating in a civil rights march Sept. 26, the day Police Officer Stephen Roach was acquitted of negligent homicide.
Some people broke off from the march and became violent, according to Luken, who called a two-day curfew.
“(Fuller) exercised very bad judgment,” Luken says. “He didn’t think I needed to call the curfew. I didn’t think he needed to be out there marching.”
But Luken is the one who showed bad judgment that night, Fuller says.
The curfew was not needed, he says.
“I was down there and I just disagree,” Fuller says. “I believe most people in this city saw the curfew for what it was and they will make that judgment Nov. 6. As soon as the Reds came back in town, we could easily lift it and say, ‘Go out and have a wonderful time.’ ”
The Sept. 26 curfew — the second Luken has called this year — is one of the few points of contention in a campaign largely devoid of negativity. The other is Luken’s claim that Fuller has dodged public scrutiny.
Luken and Fuller have debated twice and appeared at some of the same candidate forums. But Luken says he and Fuller should have debated about 10 times.
“He’s comfortable saying what he thinks, but I don’t think he’s comfortable when he’s pressed on the issues,” Luken says.
Fuller points to his full schedule of meetings and community appearances and says he has tried to attend as many community forums as he could. One day last week, he says, he had meetings and appearances non-stop from 7:30 a.m. until well past 8 p.m. One Saturday, he had to pass on one appearance so he could attend the Walk As One event scheduled at the same time.
“I didn’t see Charlie at the Walk As One, but I couldn’t care less where he is,” Fuller says. “I’m more concerned with where I am. Nobody’s hiding from anybody. We’ve kept a very busy calendar.”
Besides, his campaign strategy worked just fine last month, when he walloped Luken in the runoff election.
“When you walk by faith, you win by 16 points,” Fuller says. “On the most horrific day in this country’s history, democracy still prevailed in Cincinnati.”
Luken wants ‘Security with Respect’
Both Fuller and Luken have a written plan for what they would like to accomplish as mayor.
Luken refers to a portion of his plan as “Security With Respect.”
“It calls for more police, but it calls for better police,” he says.
Luken would like to see efforts to recruit more minority officers and college graduates and increased use of community oriented-policing.
He also wants the police training facility moved to Swifton Commons or another neighborhood location to increase its visibility.
Luken supports a housing court, proposed by City Councilman Paul Booth, to deal with deteriorating property owned by absentee landlords.
“We have not done a very good job at making them accountable for the condition of property in the neighborhoods,” Luken says. “We need a court whose sole focus is going to be the enforcement of housing codes, litter codes. There are enough absentee landlords, empty buildings and building violations that we could keep a housing court very busy.”
Luken says he will not abandon The Banks, a proposed new residential and commercial development along the riverfront. He envisions a vital corridor of housing and businesses from The Banks through Over-the-Rhine and into Clifton.
Luken also supports Councilman John Cranley’s proposed restriction on new low-income housing in Cincinnati. Luken calls for a “moratorium on … efforts to locate more low income rental developments in city neighborhoods until adjoining and suburban communities accept their fair share of such units.”
“We have over 4,000 subsidized units in the city and there’s only about 4,800 in the whole region,” Luken says. “Every study of urban America says that mixed-income neighborhoods are the future of cities.”
Luken wants an arts committee on city council and continued funding of capital improvement projects for the arts.
Fuller pushes ‘Neighborhood Assistance Strategies’
Fuller says the city should pursue development of an “Avenue for the Arts” along Walnut Street, which is already home to the Aronoff Center for the Arts and the Emery Theatre and is the future site of the Contemporary Arts Center. He envisions a satellite location for the Arts Consortium or the Cincinnati Art Museum as well as some restaurants, Jazz clubs and small theaters.
“The arts can provide a type of common ground for all of us,” Fuller says.
A mainstay of Fuller’s platform is a scholarship fund, primarily using private funds, for graduates of Cincinnati Public Schools. A commission would establish a foundation to raise money and apply for federal grants for the scholarships. Students with a 3.0 grade point average and have fewer than four absences per year would qualify.
Fuller believes the plan would encourage people to move back to Cincinnati or stay in the city and also increase graduation rates.
“It is intended to be an avenue of hope,” he says. “Imagine what happens if we’re successful. It will revolutionize the way we see our parents and kids focus on schools.”
Fuller’s platform includes the Family and Young Adult Development Program to enhance parenting skills, decrease high school dropout rates and divert crime among juveniles and young adults.
Community-based prosecutors should work with Cincinnati Neighborhood Assistance Strategies teams and neighborhood police officers to prevent neighborhood problems from escalating into court problems, Fuller says.
A fuller-time mayor
The annual salary for the newly constituted position of Cincinnati mayor — a four-year term with some executive authority — will be $115,000. If elected, Luken says he will no longer work as a consultant for a law firm.
“The mayor’s position is totally full-time,” Luken says. “Some people view this as a feel-good vote (but) the issues are serious. There’s no take-backs.”
Like Luken, Fuller is a former news anchor for WLWT. He, too, sees the mayor’s job as full-time.
“I can’t imagine having time to do much else,” Fuller says. “I don’t want my focus on anything else for the next four years except for this city.”
Both men say they have strong memories of social issues from their childhood.
Once, when his father, former U.S. Rep. Tom Luken, sent him out to distribute leaflets in support of John F. Kennedy, Luken learned his first hard political lesson — people aren’t always happy to see you. He laughs recalling a man burning leaves in his yard, who took Luken’s stack of leaflets and dumped them onto the burning pile.
Fuller, whose father died when Fuller was 6 months old, recalls growing up in Pittsburgh watching his mother’s hard work and her dedication to being active in her community.
“I saw my mom always involved in politics,” he says.
The death of Martin Luther King Jr., and people’s reaction to it, also influenced Fuller as a child.
“I remember seeing National Guardsmen outside your front door,” he says.
With similar events unfolding in Cincinnati just six months ago, this mayoral election will be a memorable one.
“The way this new mayor behaves will set a precedent for decades to come,” Luken says. ©
This article appears in Oct 31 – Nov 6, 2001.
