Council Examines Rebuilding Options

Renewal efforts effect grant eligability

by Jennifer Greenup

QCFMag.com

Cincinnati City Council's efforts to remove “blight” from the city may end up costing them federal Housing and Urban Development grants which are based on the number of old buildings a city has for distributing funds.

Council passed two motions on Wednesday, one, a joint motion by Councilmember’s Jeff Berding, Chris Bortz and Leslie Ghiz, and the other by Councilman Chris Monzel. They have called upon the city to increase funding for removal of blighted buildings.

The removal of old buildings and neighborhoods which are been replaced with new housing and businesses has already taken place. The city’s revitalization of its neighborhoods has removed many old structures, such as in neighborhoods surrounding the University of Cincinnati, which are the bases for the City’s federal grant award.

Yet, according to a report by NPR on Wednesday, cities all over the country are now faced with the unintended consequences of redevelopment through demolition. According to the report, cities that renovated their old buildings are now receiving more grant money than cities that demolished their old structures and replaced them with new business and housing developments.

Cincinnati may never face this problem if these cities are successful in lobbying Congress for changes in the grant formula system.

City Council is currently reviewing agency responses to its policies and efforts to reduce “blight” in Cincinnati.

Ron Thomas of the Code Enforcement Response Team said that through a joint effort of the Building, Fire, Health and Police Departments, the city has reduced duplications of citations and code violations. The effect is that there are less duplicate cases clogging the court system.

Cincinnati is also working hard to keep up the appearance of its lots and greenspaces.

According to the Department of Public Services Acting Director Steven G. Bailey, the city currently is responsible for mowing and removing trash from over 1800 locations. Fifty five are high visibility locations which they mow every ten days; the rest are on a 45 or 70 day cycle of mowing.

However, it can take up to 90 days for complaints about high grass to go through the city’s policy process before the city can gain legal access to private property to mow the grass.

“When citizens call in, we can’t immediately cut the grass,” said Councilwomen Laketa Cole. Ms. Cole said that Cincinnati needed to make policy changes so that it doesn’t take so long but she wanted the residents to know the policy issues the city faces to resolve the complaint.
She encouraged anyone with a complaint to call the Public Service at (513) 591-6000.

Reporter Jennifer Greenup covers the City Hall and local politics. The feature appears each Thursday exclusively in QCFMag.com. Contact: jenniferg@queencityforum.com