CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval presented the 2024 "State of The City" address on Tuesday night. He summed that up in one word: strong. 

What You Need To Know

  • Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval presented the 2024 "State of the City" address on Tuesday night

  • Pureval said that shootings in the city are down by 7.5% and youth violence is down by 35%

  • Council members praised Pureval's efforts and said that they'll continue finding solutions to combat violence

“Now that we are here, where we go has the potential to define our next generation,” he said.  

Affordable housing, economic development and job creation were among many of the successes Mayor Pureval highlighted, which he said couldn't have been possible without a team who was on the same page. 

“This is a great time to be in government so that people know that their government is working for them. That’s the key,” Cincinnati City Councilwoman Meeka Owens said. 

“The mayor talked about his financial freedom blueprint to erase medical debt, which really puts a lot of people into bankruptcy. That was wonderful,” Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney said. 

Pureval also praised the city’s investment in building on their problem-solving, community-based approach to combating violence. The city was able to secure new union contracts for police and fire personnel. 

“Not only are we ensuring the folks protecting us are taken care of, but higher pay and better benefits are an important tool at a time when it's increasingly hard to recruit and retain public safety professionals,“ Pureval said. 

It was also revealed that in 2024, shootings in Cincinnati are down by 7.5% and youth violence is also down by 35%. Although progress has been made, council members said their work is far from over. 

“Part of it is making sure that people have economic opportunity and that they have another means. They need to know that they have a brighter future ahead. We have to show them that and make sure we pave the way,” Lemon Kearney said.

Looking toward the next 365 days, Pureval wants to remind the community that Cincinnati will continue moving forward. 

“We are going to believe we're capable of things that a generation ago wouldn't have been given a second thought. We refuse to waste the chance we have right now to keep pushing for bigger and better and brighter and more, and we're going to succeed,” Pureval said. 

Pureval said the city's new Access to Counsel program, which provides tenants facing eviction with access to same day legal counsel, saw 83% of tenants have their evictions entirely dismissed.   

The mayor also said that Cincinnati is becoming a tourist destination with the success of many events this year, including BLINK and being one of the top three finalists to be the new home of the Sundance Film Festival.