CINCINNATI – In the early days of January, Aftab Pureval stood on the stage at Washington Square Park and promised to unlock Cincinnati’s potential.
Now, 11 months into his first year as mayor, Pureval believes transformation is well underway and plans highlight that work and his vision for the next three years in his first State of City on Tuesday evening.
From the beginning, Pureval said he wanted to change the perception of Cincinnati, across Ohio and across the country.
“A lot of people have an antiquated vision of Cincinnati,” he said. “We’re a modern dense, diverse city that has a lot to offer the rest of the world.”
Pureval got an early opportunity to showcase that when a month after his swearing in, the Cincinnati Bengals earned a spot in the Super Bowl. The mayor joined representatives from REDI Cincinnati in Los Angeles to promote the city and meet with startups and other companies considering bringing business to the city.
“We were able to earn four billion dollars in earned media for our city,” Pureval said of his Los Angeles experience and the Super Bowl publicity. “Really trying to trumpet how impressive our city is.”
More importantly to Pureval though, was the changing the perception of the city, among its own citizens. In the years leading up to his election, four city council members had been charged with felonies, three on federal corruption charges and another on violating records laws.
“One of the things I’m most proud of is the profound culture change at city hall,” Pureval said.
When he and his city council took office, all but two of them were newcomers to city hall, so Pureval said they wanted to take the opportunity to wipe the slate clean. Early on, they established a new code of conduct governing how the mayor and councilmembers can interact with the public, developers and other political actors and agreed to censure anyone who violates that code.
“There are now specific rules about people who have business in front of the city, if and when they can give political contributions,” he said.
Pureval also named a new city manager, Sheryl Long, and is currently in the midst of a national search for a new police chief, though he named Tessa Theetge to serve in the interim role for the time being. Long is the youngest woman to take on the position and Theetge is the first woman in that role.
Pureval’s next most urgent challenge has been addressing the city’s public safety. The past two years set back to back homicide records and gun violence has been a persistent problem in 2022 as well.
“The amount of gun violence in our communities is absolutely unacceptable,” Pureval said.
While the homicide rate has dropped 15% this year, Pureval said the city still has a lot of work to do when it comes to prevention, and he said the summer’s mass shooting on Main Street shows it’s not just about preventing homicide, but ensuring everyone can feel safe where they live, work and play.
“The city took immediate intervention action on that specific hot spot and we’ve taken aggressive action from a law enforcement perspective but from a community perspective as well,” he said. “This is not a time to celebrate. It’s still completely unacceptable what our numbers are, but we are trending in the right direction.”
Another strategic priority for Pureval and his new council has been affordable housing. For the first time, council and the mayor have established a dedicated funding source for the city’s affordable housing trust fund, and have made funding and supporting affordable housing development a priority.
On the other hand, his first year in office has also coincided with a massive housing price hike, particularly among renters.
“We are very attractive to outside institutional investors who buy up a lot of single-family homes and jack up the rents, particularly preying on our lowest income folks,” Pureval said.
In addition to building new housing, Pureval said the city has also been working to reform its housing policies, ensuring tax abatements are distributed equitably among Cincinnati’s 52 neighborhoods, changing the zoning codes to encourage more multi-family housing and improving the city’s housing voucher program.
“I am confident once these reforms are rolled out we’ll start to see these rents stabilize,” he said.
One of the most visible changes to the mayor’s office since Pureval took over has been his visibility in of itself. The mayor hosts news conferences almost weekly to highlight new projects and initiative, attends frequent ribbon cuttings across the city and has made a point to be as accessible as possible.
“I’m trying to tour all 52 of our neighborhoods, and not just hear about the problems but really rejoice in the successes,” he said.
Pureval has also taken a handful of trips to Washington, D.C., meeting with President Joe Biden, his cabinet and the Ohio delegation to advocate for federal spending to come the city’s way.
“There are billions and billions of dollars up for grabs, and I want to make sure that Cincinnati gets its fair share,” he said.
His frequent trips to D.C., however, has raised a few eyebrows among pundits who remember Pureval’s previous run for Congress, seeing his relationships in Washington as a sign his sights are set on higher office.
“They’re wrong,” he said. “I have no intention to leave, no ambition to leave and I’m just so fortunate to be where I am right now.”
Instead, Pureval said his focus is moving his vision for the city forward for the next three, and, perhaps, seven years.
“The city’s on the right track. We’re getting the big things right. We just got to kind of build on that momentum,” he said. “I hope I get eight years to serve here and see a lot of these policies come to fruition.”