Vice Mayor Christopher Smitherman is chair of City Council s new Affordable Housing Subcommittee. I think it s important that if we re using numbers, we at least know that we re using 2010 numbers in 2021, Smitherman said in late March. And we don t know; those numbers could be bigger, those numbers could be smaller.
Michael Jones, a professor of economics at the University of Cincinnati, thinks the gap is quite a bit smaller. He researches labor and public economics, and says he got interested in housing after reading a WVXU article about council members wanting more recent data.
He decided to take a look for himself, and presented his findings to the subcommittee in mid-April. His analysis is based on a report published in March from the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
Issue 3 is a charter amendment that would require the city to devote at least $50 million a year toward affordable housing, with the amount rising each year with inflation. There is no set funding mechanism for the amendment, which is perhaps the largest sticking point for the opposition.
Josh Spring, executive director of the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition and one of the main proponents of the amendment, said he is not at all surprised each of the three political parties is against Issue 3. Housing advocates have been going to those same political parties and elected officials for years asking for help, Spring said, “so it’s not a surprise that the folks we have been going and having those discussions with would continue to not step up to the call.”
Mann for Mayor / Facebook
I have known Cincinnati mayoral candidate David Mann for nearly 40 years – as a City Council member, as mayor, as a one-term congressman, and as an old-fashioned Democratic liberal.
But the one thing I never thought I would see is conservative Republicans – a minority in this heavily Democratic city – going out of their way to vote for Mann for mayor in the six-candidate field that is on the May 4 primary ballot.
I am convinced it is happening. There is evidence out there that it is happening in the early in-person voting at the Hamilton County Board of Elections and in the early mail-in absentee voters who are carried on the voting rolls as Republicans.
Jay Hanselman / WVXU
So how did Cincinnati end up with the council-manager form of government, where a professional city manager runs the day-to-day operations and a nine-member council sets policy?
It was a case of political bossism gone haywire in the 1920s that pushed Cincinnati into this relatively new, clean and efficient form of government – one that had little hint of scandal or corruption until 2020, when no less than three council members were indicted on federal corruption charges.
There was a period for over 40 years in the late 19th century and early 20th century when many of Cincinnati s citizens seemed willing to close their eyes and pretend they didn t see the corruption of the city s Republican political bosses.
In the wake of Cincinnati City Councilman Wendell Young s indictment Thursday on a felony charge of tampering with evidence, two Republican council members are calling on the Democrat to resign so council can focus on city business without distraction.
Republican Councilwoman Betsy Sundermann said: Council member Young must resign immediately so we can focus on the real issues impacting Cincinnati. . the people of our city deserve much better than this revolving door of corruption.”
Republican Councilwoman Liz Keating said: Today is another sad day for Cincinnati. While Councilmember Young is entitled to his day in court, I hope he will step down to remove the distractions and mistrust at City Hall in order for Council to move forward with the important work we have in front of us.