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Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
May 04, 2021
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Hamilton County Clerk Aftab Pureval and Alderman David Mann were the top two candidates after the votes were counted in Cincinnati’s impartial mayor’s primary today. They knock out four other candidates and compete against each other in the November 2nd general election.
Unofficial returns showed Pureval was in the lead with more than 39 percent of the vote, while Mann got more than 29 percent. The remaining candidates were State Senator Cecil Thomas, business owner Gavi Begtrup, retired firefighter Raffel Prophett, and educator Herman Najoli. The current Mayor of Cincinnati, John Cranley, is on a fixed term and cannot run for re-election.
Public safety was one of the most pressing concerns for city dwellers before elementary school, local activists told The Appeal. True public safety, they said, means breaking up with the police and investing in the needs of the community.
Neither Pureval, who was a year special assistant to the US Department of Justice at the US Department of Justice, nor Mann, a civil rights attorney and former US agent support police relief.
At a budget hearing in June, Mann adjourned the meeting prematurely after parishioners protested police funding.
« We’re closed many murders, « he told the Cincinnati Enquirer last month. « These incidents will increase when we have fewer officers. »
The mayor plays a crucial role in policing. With the approval of the city council, he appoints all seven members of the Citizens Complaint Authority, an independent body that investigates allegations of misconduct and abuse of the police. The agency reports directly to the city administrator who oversees the police and is also appointed by the mayor.
« The city administrator is basically the head of the CPD and that is a direct link to make changes in policing, » said Jennifer Kroell, an ACLU volunteer from Ohio, speaking to The Appeal ahead of today’s election. The next mayor, she said, could “police or drop out” in our city.
« Our team really sees the police as the most important issue in this mayors’ race, » said Greer Aeschbury, the Cincinnati organizing strategist for the Ohio ACLU.
« We need to take action by making sure police officers only respond to problems they are trained to and are not trained to deal with and dispatching unarmed, specially trained personnel, » he said. “This is not just important for our black and brown churches. Justice is important to all of us. “
Mann also said that the city police commissioner’s request for funding for mental health teams should be met. « We need to look for ways in the event of an emergency call to balance the needs of citizens with the resources and skills of the staff deployed to answer the call, » he told the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Mann told the newspaper but also that he wants to maintain or possibly increase the number of city police officers.
Instead of investing in the police department, activists have called for the city to expand the availability of affordable housing – another issue that is on the ballot today was standing. In 2018, the city launched a trust fund to create and maintain affordable housing, but it was severely underfunded. Housing advocates hoped to change that with the adoption of ballot 3, but nearly three-quarters of voters turned it down in the election today. Issue 3 would have changed the city law to require an annual investment of at least $ 50 million in the fund from various potential sources, including the city’s general fund.
Both Pureval and Mann had said they would not have supported the regulation. Mann had criticized it for demanding funds that he said would have « significant implications for basic city services, » including policing. Pureval had said he would like to see federal, corporate, and philanthropic funding used to fund the trust. Pureval has also stated that he is committed to ensuring that low-income residents have access to lawyers in the housing court.
« We need to level the playing field in the eviction court by advocating that tenants who are not Representation, better access to lawyers and legal services, « it says on its campaign website. “Our city has not been committed to affordable housing for too long. As mayor, I’ll change that. «
» Our affordable housing in Cincinnati is very scarce, « Chazidy Bowman, president and founder of Opportunities People’s Justice Leaders, told The Appeal last month. « Affordable housing is currently on the agenda. »
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg May 4th 2021
Jerry Iannelli April 30, 2021
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg April 29, 2021
Jerry Iannelli April 28, 2021
Ref: https://theappeal.org
