Mallory: People Want to Live Here

Despite 2006 becoming another record-breaking year for homicides in Cincinnati, during his annual State of the City address tonight Mayor Mark Mallory said progress was made in fighting crime during his first year in office and touted several new initiatives planned to improve public safety in coming months.

Appearing before a near-capacity crowd in the Jarson-Kaplan Theater at the Aronoff Center for the Arts downtown, Mallory delivered his second annual speech since becoming the city’s first elected African-American mayor in late 2005. He covered a litany of topics in an address that lasted about 45 minutes.

“I come before you tonight to report that Cincinnati is experiencing a rebirth. The state of our city is strong and growing stronger,” Mallory said to applause. “It has been a busy year, and I’m happy to report we’ve been successful in advancing our agenda.”

Although the Queen City had 89 homicides last year, the highest number of killings since the city standardized its police recordkeeping in 1950, Mallory said there’s cause for hope that the trend will be stopped this year.

After his plea last year for greater community involvement in helping to fight crime, calls to Crime Stoppers increased dramatically and led to a jump in arrests, Mallory said. Also, police are prosecuting criminals under tougher federal gun laws when possible and have conducted crackdowns in Over-the-Rhine, East Price Hill and elsewhere.

Now the city will implement a youth violence intervention initiative based on the work of criminologist David Kennedy, which has been used to great success in Boston and other cities; will hire 60 more police officers in the next two years; and expand a partnership with the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office to help city police patrol several neighborhoods.

“Crime impacts every aspect of the city’s growth and progress, and that’s why it remains our number one priority,” Mallory said. “We will not allow the criminals to win. We will fight, and we must be united in that fight.”

Also, Mallory will convene a new Regional Safety Council to better coordinate efforts among law enforcement agencies throughout the Tri-state.

Referring to a recent, bitter battle over priorities and proposed cuts in the 2007-08 budget among city council members, Mallory said, “Let me take this opportunity to thank city council for their passion during the budget process.” The remark drew laughter from the audience. “See, I was being serious,” the mayor deadpanned.

To deal with looming deficits forecast by city budget analysts, Mallory will create a task force on city finances consisting of members from the business sector.

“We have some of the greatest financial minds in the country right here in our city, and I am going to enlist their help to take a close look at our financial structure and make recommendations about how we can meet our future challenges,” the mayor said.

Citing recent U.S. Census statistics that a decades-long population exodus from the city has bottomed out and is poised for a reversal, Mallory tallied the number of new housing units built in Cincinnati during the past year. They include 205 apartments and 53 condominiums in Corryville, 60 condos in Westwood, 34 new homes in Columbia Tusculum, 32 homes in Madisonville, 26 condos in Over-the-Rhine and 22 townhouses in Evanston. Further, more than 200 condos are under construction downtown, and 2,000 more are proposed.

“It’s clear that people really do want to live in the city of Cincinnati,” Mallory said.

The effort will continue this year with $3 million allocated to create more housing in Over-the-Rhine, coupled with $20 million contributed by the Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. (3CDC), a public-private development partnership.

Among those attending Mallory’s speech were Cincinnati City Council members, all three Hamilton County commissioners, the city’s police and fire chiefs, the mayors of Covington and Newport and state Rep. Dale Mallory (D-West End), the mayor’s brother.

Parking meters along Seventh and Walnut streets around the center were covered with plastic bags and reserved for Mallory’s invited guests, who received free parking. At least two police officers on horseback and one on motorcycle stood guard in a light rain at the building’s entrance.

— Kevin Osborne

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