Outgoing Cincinnati City Council member Reggie Harris says he hopes whoever takes his place will have a "yes, and" attitude about the city's growth.
Harris is resigning his position within the next two weeks to accept a job with the Biden administration within Housing and Urban Development. Fellow Council member Meeka Owens will choose someone to complete Harris' term, which runs through the end of 2025.
Harris championed the zoning reform ordinance known as "Connected Communities," a controversial measure for some other council members and many in the public. He also put forward several ordinances to streamline the development process, especially for affordable housing.
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As a transplant to the city, Harris says he understands why many Cincinnatians are skeptical of local politics and new initiatives.
"I think that it is incredibly important to our nation and to our state and to our city and to our county to really work to actively reject the spirit of cynicism, and to really move in a spirit of grace and hope," Harris told WVXU. "Because we only do big things we when we are living in that space."
Read more from WVXU's interview with Harris below.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
What factors did you consider before deciding to leave City Council and accept this job?
President Biden expressed to his cabinets that he wanted to make sure that he delivered on all of his promises, and that all of the policy initiatives that came about, all of the money that had been allocated under his presidency, he wanted that done and completed by January 20, and so this role will oversee getting that money out of the door and into the American economy.
And that just felt, to me, like an incredible opportunity to have a huge impact on people and communities and cities in our country. It is aligned with my values and my mission.
I've always thought, how do I do things in a way where we can have the greatest impact on the largest number of people? And I think that you also see that in the legislation that I've championed on Council, right? Like the reformation of systems; like, how do we get more housing bills so that more people can be housed? And how do we do that quicker? How do we change our zoning code so that more people have opportunities to live in neighborhoods of opportunity or next to amenities? So I think there's just a theme in the way that I work, in terms of wanting to just create opportunity for the largest number of people to be impacted positively.
You mentioned this time frame of January 20. If former President Trump is re-elected this November, might you come back and run for City Council again in 2025?
I am thinking from now to January 20, because it's a huge job ahead of me. I don't want to discount any opportunity. I have learned a long time ago to be open — maybe it's a little 'woo-woo' to be open to the universe, to be to be open to opportunities. And so at this point, I won't close any door.
I think it'll become very clear to me very soon what my options are. But I just know right now, this singular opportunity to help facilitate $7 billion being pumped into the American economy is just an incredible opportunity.
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So do you see yourself as leaving politics or do you think you'll run for public office again?
As a presidential appointee, though I will be in a role that the work is non-political, the nature of my appointment has a political bend. So it's still very much in that world.
Running for Council was not on my bingo card, right? You know, at the time when I was approached by people to consider running for Council, I was working at Lighthouse [Youth Services], running a rapid rehousing case manager program geared towards LGBTQ homeless youth. And I was just very much in that work, and hadn't even thought about a political process until the opportunity to consider it opened itself up, and then I sort of went down that rabbit hole.
And so I would say the same thing here: I really am responsive to what opportunities are before me and how those opportunities align with my personal value set and mission.
How much involvement or input do you want to have in the process for Meeka Owens to choose your replacement?
Ultimately, as my successor designee, it is up to Council member Owens, but I do have very strong feelings about who should be in that role.
When I think about things that are important in terms of diversity and representation, I do think that LGBTQ representation is important on Council. Council member [Scotty] Johnson and I are the only two African American men on Council. So I do think that demographic representation is important on Council.
But in addition to those things, what I think is absolutely important at this moment is this position, this space being held by someone that is pro growth, pro inclusive growth, that they have an understanding of economic development, that they recognize that Cincinnati is poised and really at the beginning of a renaissance, and that we have to think big and bold and be strategic with our investments.
What are you most proud of accomplishing during your time on City Council?
I appreciate this question. So I'm most proud of the relationships that I have built with my colleagues, with the administration and with stakeholders in the community.
I've not always seen eye-to-eye, and have been in deep opposition with many of my colleagues, and then I've also been able to do really incredible work with my colleagues. I'm proud of that. I'm proud that I could be fiercely, staunchly opposed to some of my colleagues ideas, and then the very next day, work collaboratively with them to advance an initiative.
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I'm proud of my relationship with the administration. We have an incredible city administration. I have an incredible relationship with the city manager's office and with the various departments, and so we're able to have real talk with each other, we're able to be honest with each other, and we're able to trust each other. And I think that that is really important, and I am proud of that.
I'm proud of the sort of clarity that I have had about what I think is important to the city, what I think is important in terms of growth and expressing those values, and being very consistent in how I vote, and very consistent in the policies that I support, in the policies that I oppose.
What would you like to see Council do after you leave?
When I think about the future of Cincinnati, I think it's critical that we get Sundance, and I think it's critical that we do everything that we can do to get Sundance.
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I think that is critical that we really key in on a strategic investment in development projects and businesses and ideas that generate wealth, that allow people opportunity to advance.
I think it's critically important that we are committed to streamlining bureaucracy so that our city government can run efficiently and be responsive to the needs of people in the community, but also to growth. I think it's important for us to be unafraid to be proud of the city of Cincinnati, and to want to achieve things that we haven't achieved before, want to grow in ways in which we haven't grown before.
Anything else you'd like to add?
I just feel an immense amount of gratitude for the opportunity to be an elected official and to be a public servant. It is not something that I had ever imagined for myself, and yet I could not imagine my life without public service. And it is a great honor to serve.
It's hard; you have to make hard decisions. It's not for the faint of heart. But I have immensely appreciated my colleagues on Council — their passion, their dedication. Even in opposition, what was always clear to me is that people are operating from a space where they think that this is what is best. And I say that truly.
It's been a great honor working with Mayor [Aftab] Pureval. He's someone that I see as an incredible colleague, but also as a personal friend and someone who I think has a great heart for this work in public leadership.
And the city administration. You've heard me say this 100,000 times, but when people talk about the city, the city is not a disembodied, you know, Cyborg; it is a collection of people. People who live in the city, who use city services, who are impacted by city services that want this city to run and thrive. And so I have such an appreciation for public service in a way that I only would have with this up-close perspective.
