Covington voters will have eight choices as they vote on their next city commission. That four-member body appoints the city manager, who is responsible for Covington's day-to-day operations. The mayor presides over the commission and also votes with the it on issues decided by the commission.
We sent a candidate survey to all eight commission candidates. Below are candidate Aaron Wolpert's responses, which have been lightly edited for clarity and style only.
You may also want to read:
- Candidate Tim Acri's answers
- Candidate Bradie Bowen's answers
- Candidate Tim Downing's answers
- Candidate Cari McMurtry Garriga's answers
- Candidate Shannon Smith did not respond
- Candidate James Toebbe did not respond
- Candidate Bill Wells' answers
- Or, return to the election guide
Please briefly describe your reasons for seeking this office.
I live in Westside Covington with my wife Jessica and her daughter. We've built a little urban homestead with native wildflowers, raised-bed veggie gardens, and a chicken coop; we’re in the middle of a whole house renovation; and we've started two businesses and a charitable foundation since we moved in. We’ve found opportunity after opportunity in Covington and are proud to live in such a historic, diverse, and progressive city: we made the right decision to raise a kid in Covington, and we're here to stay.
We engaged with the community from the start — leading neighborhood projects and pitching in with the neighborhood association. We've mended community garden fences, started the first urban market garden in the city, organized free outdoor yoga series, built a school garden at 9th District Elementary, and hosted summer picnics for Westside neighbors. At every turn the enthusiasm that folks have for our city has inspired us. And so when neighbors turned to me to lead conversations with the city on Westside issues recently, I was happy to return the favor for all the effort folks have put into our neighborhood. I've attended public commission meetings for eight years, served on two citizen advisory boards, and discussed city administration with folks from all across the city.
I'm taking the opportunity to build on that engagement to take a more active role in city governance. This city is packed with citizens and business owners who are passionate about Covington, and our city government works best when it listens to residents' ideas and figures out how to facilitate the work we can get done together. If citizens have the sense that we all can pitch in on solutions — and not just wait for the city to fix things — Covington can shine even brighter. Covington has big city challenges but a small city budget, and the more we can leverage citizen participation the better the city works for all of us
So community engagement is the cornerstone of my campaign. Commissioners bear a responsibility to spend time in our neighborhoods and to listen to residents, gathering concerns and keeping folks updated on progress toward solutions. It’s not enough to deal with problems only as they’re reported to city staff — commissioners should spend time every week as intermediaries between staff and residents, working proactively to identify issues and personally explaining to residents what steps the city is taking toward solutions. Taking on this role empowers city staff to innovate and to anticipate what’s next for Covington.
Covington faced a budget shortfall this year. What can the next city commission do to assure a balanced budget and reliable basic public services in the coming years?
In pursuing strategies to increase short-term revenue, Covington should only consider those that 1) convert to long-term revenue gains and 2) do so without increasing the tax burden on lower-income and fixed-income residents; and only if commissioners demonstrate the political will and persistence to support city staff and change expectations. The easy answer — have city staff 'do more' revenue collection, code enforcement, business audits — isn’t realistic or fair to already over-tasked personnel. Anyone who promises a quick, cost-neutral fix isn't speaking honestly. Effective action on this front can only come from commissioners who commit full-time to doing the strategic work necessary to develop revenue collection that’s practicable, cost-effective, and fair.
The most obvious path lies in a thorough audit of entities and individuals doing business in Covington in order to ensure that all businesses are filing for and remitting employer’s license fees (payroll tax) and occupational license fees (business profits tax). Tracking down such enterprises isn’t an easy task, and the city would have to balance staffing costs with realized revenue.
In the middle term, the city should pivot some of its economic development efforts to our neighborhoods. Property taxes contribute substantial revenue, even if to a lesser extent than the payroll tax. Without increasing rates on existing property owners, there’s much the city can do to assist residents in selling or developing vacant lots and abandoned homes. Such efforts would relieve pressure on housing costs, alleviate blight, and provide revenue for city programs all at the same time, consolidating the efforts of the neighborhood services and economic development departments.
Northern Kentucky has significant need for more housing. What can commission do to help the housing situation in Covington?
Affordable, quality housing is a problem nationwide, and there are no easy solutions. In Covington, the already dense housing concentration means that there's limited space to relieve demand and address the housing shortage. Subsidies help many families but can inflate leases, and there's no ready mechanism that the city can use to depress rent prices.
In simple terms, we need more housing. Commissioners can take the lead in developing a comprehensive plan that effectively incentivizes property owners and local developers (not out-of-state corporations) to build housing at a range of costs. For vacant lots, the city could connect sellers with buyers, facilitate transfers likely to result in new construction, and even provide legal and closing services. For small developers and renovators, that could mean connections with vetted contractors to save on construction costs, with savings passed in the form of lower-cost rentals. For larger projects, revenue-neutral tax incentives can offset construction expenditures. We need to press the advantages we have: Covington is the most sought-after place to live in northern Kentucky, and unlike some suburban neighbors we're not saddled with burdensome and counter-productive single-family / large-lot zoning.
As counter-intuitive as it sounds, even high-end new housing can indirectly depress costs down the line. If new home buyers don't over-spend on scarce housing, there's a ripple effect that will help with rents in lower-cost housing. And more housing means more property tax revenue that the city can convert into rent subsidies for middle- and lower-income residents. As commissioner I’ll work with the tools we have to open up more affordable housing for those who need it most, including incentives for developers to build more infill housing on vacant lots and more aggressive code enforcement to push property owners to improve dilapidated properties and improve abandoned lots.
What opportunities and challenges do you see the Brent Spence Bridge Corridor project bringing to Covington?
Covington has collaborated effectively with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet on recent projects, and it's critical that we continue to do so with the Brent Spence Corridor project. The design-and-build approach for construction of the companion bridge and its connections has already taken citizen input under consideration for changes that have cut down on the project's footprint and elevation profile. Residents on Crescent and Western avenues have a sound barrier that has dramatically reduced highway noise, and a redesigned Third Street underpass with improved facilities for pedestrians and cyclists connecting to Lewisburg and West Covington. In the end, Covington residents and businesses will benefit from the segregation of through traffic to the companion bridge and safer, dedicated exits and on-ramps serving our residents and commercial districts.
But it will fall to commissioners to monitor the project in order to minimize disruptions to Covington traffic and business during construction. We all know the disruption that bridge lane closures bring to Covington, thanks to the crash and fire in 2020 and the bridge painting project in 2021. Ineffective detour schemes meant that Pike Street and Main Street were jammed with semi-trailers during those repair projects, endangering residents and hampering Covington businesses. Over the long term of companion bridge construction, commissioners must work proactively with KYTC [Kentucky Transportation Cabinet] to mitigate similar effects, insisting that semi-trucks detour on I-275 and closing the Clay Wade Bailey, Roebling, and Fourth Street bridges to all truck traffic. Covington police must have the authority to stop and tow any drivers who disregard posted mandatory detours. Commissioners must take the lead on this effort, not delegating this crucial advocacy to city staff.
The city has undertaken an ambitious development project on the site of the former IRS processing center. What role will commission play in maximizing this effort and helping finish the job?
City staff have won national accolades for the innovative project design they've assembled for the Covington Central Riverfront redevelopment. Economic development staff have balanced new housing with midsize- and large-scale employers for a model that maximizes revenue in support of budget priorities, helps to relieve the housing crunch, and buffers against any future loss of jobs from a single employer. [Director of Economic Development for Covington] Tom West and his staff deserve every credit for designing a cutting-edge project that reconnects these tracts to the historical street grid. Commissioners must dedicate full-time attention to strategic planning for parcels at the site, balancing revenue generation with the opportunity to rebuild a neighborhood.
But funding for anchor projects (provisionally) funded by the Commonwealth's legislature is channeled through the quasi-governmental Northern Kentucky Port Authority. The Port Authority has routinely sought to bypass or to ignore Covington historical preservation ordinances and exists primarily to shunt funds to local players cozy with Kenton County officials. Covington commissioners can't undo the self-dealing in Frankfort that county politicians enable; we have to take the high road, advocating for a project that will serve our constituents and generate the revenues that Covington residents deserve from property on our riverfront.
When dealing with a Kenton County political culture that comes up short on transparency and cooperation, Covington commissioners must model the sort of open and accessible government that citizens deserve... and then work with relentless persistence to hold county and Port Authority operatives accountable for decisions that most directly affect Covington residents. As commissioner I'll never tire of advocating for the city by reminding our neighbors in Kenton County that Covington is the economic engine that drives the prosperity of northern Kentucky. We can continue to demonstrate the success of citizen-driven government over the backroom handshake alternative. And we can mobilize voters to defend our interests — Covingtonians are also Kenton County and Commonwealth residents, after all
Advocates have been vocal about the need for better pedestrian and bicycle safety infrastructure in Covington. What is your stance on this issue?
I strongly support infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists alike and have discussed this priority with Ride the Cov and Tri-State Trails since the start of this campaign. But it takes more than renewed political will to make progress on safe, people-centered streets, because streetscapes involve a number of intertwined components. We can't design bike lanes without taking parking into consideration, and buses don't work if folks can't reach stops because of crumbling sidewalks or unsafe intersections. Re-engineering arteries for two-way traffic has to take into consideration one-way side streets. And traffic-calming measures like pedestrian islands and speed bumps affect every other aspect of vehicle and human traffic. So we can't discuss pedestrian and cyclist infrastructure without engaging in a comprehensive review of all aspects of Covington streets, not the disjointed, one-corridor projects the city has too often targeted.
Such a coordinated vision is a massive project, and a strategic approach that city staff doesn't have the capacity to develop if only because they're already busy with day-to-day projects. So I've proposed a citizen-driven approach, a new advisory commission that would absorb the current parking authority and draw on volunteers from every neighborhood. This commission would draw up priorities, compare notes across the city, and survey residents to figure out not only what facilities to build but how to fit them together coherently. Bike lanes don't make sense unless they extend from Licking Riverside to Hands Pike; speed bumps won't work if they just shunt speedy drivers from one residential street to another; and residential permit parking in one neighborhood can't displace cars onto adjoining streets. I won't pretend this is an easy project, but it also confers the advantage of citizen buy-in — members of the commission can keep in touch with their neighbors so that folks who live in our incredibly diverse streetscapes understand the very different challenges across town. In the end, a citizen-led effort promises a democratic process that balances priorities in every neighborhood, rather than bowing to a handful of louder neighborhood voices.
Any closing observations?
Community engagement is at the center of my campaign for commissioner. I've learned more in two months of canvassing Covington voters than anyone could in a decade of commission meetings — street-by-street concerns and opportunities, long-neglected infrastructural challenges, and spontaneous neighborhood initiatives. And so as commissioner I'll attend community events and neighborhood association meetings... and just keep knocking on doors. I've met far too many lifelong residents who have never met a commissioner (or candidate for commissioner). Some have given up on working with city staff because of some long-ago miscommunication. It's up to commissioners to patch up those fault lines and take a proactive approach to community issues. [Outgoing Commissioner] Ron Washington has modeled what commissioners should strive for, and I'll follow his lead in building a more actively responsive commission.
And although commissioners have responsibility to vet policies that citizens advocate, too often those ideas are dismissed without comment. If elected, I pledge to take every suggestion seriously and to take at least some small step toward addressing underlying issues. You'll never hear a flat 'no' from me on well-considered citizen suggestions, and it's OK to advance resolutions to a vote even if commissioners don't reach consensus. In keeping with that commitment, I've proposed a number of new citizen advisory boards to harness the enthusiasm and expertise Covington residents can contribute, and I'll look to encourage city staff to build the organizational scaffolding that can enable citizen initiatives to take off.
We've all seen rapid change in Covington in recent years, much of it driven by well-conceived city policy and residents passionate about the city. But those changes mean that what worked in 2015 or 2022 won't necessarily keep us on track in 2024. As commissioner I'll always look to anticipate what's next and to research how other cities have met the challenges that are coming for Covington in the short and long term. Innovative policy and nimble city government are priorities — it's not enough for commissioners simply to keep pace with progress. Not every ordinance or policy has to hit a home run, but we can't afford to settle only for cautious, reactive governance.