Of Cincinnati’s 52 neighborhoods, the westside neighborhoods, East Price Hill, West Price Hill, Lower Price Hill  and Westwood, make up roughly half of Cincinnati’s population.  During a well attended meeting on August 12, 2025, the frustrations of the neighborhood residents who attended the meeting, spilled out all over the place. I posted my observations on my FB page. The link is below.

The meeting was a solid 2 hours long and much more was discussed than I describe in my post. For example, the most amount of time was spent on the restructuring of the Hamilton County Probation Department. Probably the subject of a future Watchdog podcast. A member of city council and candidate for re-election attended and was probably shell shocked by the discussion. The meeting also heard from 3 new city council candidates who took  a few minutes to introduce themselves.

But my FB post focuses on 1) comments from a transpalnt from Orlando who described buyer’s remorse based on qulaity of life issues in West Price Hill and 2) an acknowledgment from the police that people come to Cincinnati from hundreds of miles away, primaily the Price Hill neighborhoods, for the social servcies that the city has concentrated and subsidized in Price Hill and its negative affect on our qiulaity of life.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/172Fcei7JA/

On May 20, 2024, “Governing,” a website about state and local government, reported that,

“Mayor Aftab Pureval says that every issue that comes across his desk is looked at through two lenses: equity first then climate.”

Then the mayor is quoted, “When I look at the time horizon of the next 50 years, the cities that get those issues right are poised for incredible growth and success,” he says.

Are we really supposed to believe the mayor when he tells us that his first, second and third priorities are public safety?

I wonder what he saw in terms of equity and climate when the issue of Patrick Heringer’s murder crossed his desk?

Our mayor is in La La Land.

Residents of at-risk neighborhoods help shape Cincinnati’s Green Plan._compressed (1)

The New York Times included a quote from Mayor Pureval in its July 10, 2025 report about a new group called “Majority Democrat.”  Mayor Pureval is leading local organizing at the national level for the group.  I edited the quote slightly so that it was more accurate.

Mayor Pureval was also in Cleveland last week at a conference of the Democrat Mayor Association. The theme of the conference (ironically) was “Community Over Chaos.” Mayor Pureval was a member of the final panel of the conference on Friday afternoon. The panel topic was, “The Path Forward.”

While Cincinnati is on the brink of a total breakdown in public safety, the Mayor is busy as a leader of the national “Majority Democrat” group and busy in Cleveland telling his fellow mayors about the “Path Forward.” As the warning goes: “consider the source.”

These Younger Democrats Are Sick of Their Party’s Status Quo – The New York Times

NYT July 10, 2025, Pureval quote – slightly edited

Final Summit Program – Version 2

Final Summit Program – Version 2 pg 8