Bars and restaurants with higher-than-average crime could face city supervision under an ordinance up for a Cincinnati City Council vote Wednesday.
The city’s existing chronic nuisance ordinance only applies to multi-family residential properties. Council member Seth Walsh says the city needs more options to monitor other types of properties.
"We'll actually be able to get involved earlier in many of these cases," Walsh said. "We've found that these commercial tenants are struggling to figure it out, and now with the help of the city, hopefully they will have that support instead of feeling like they're spiraling out of control."
Quality of Life Attorney Mark Manning says the goal is to work with business owners, not penalize them.
"Obviously, our property owners aren't going out and shooting people," Manning said. "But they might be doing something that is creating the conditions that make that crime more likely. And so, we want them to do their part to take those steps to try to mitigate the potential for that happening."
The ordinance adds certain types of commercial properties to the existing chronic nuisance law, including restaurants, bars, and nightclubs. Other types of businesses, like gas stations, convenience stores, vacant lots, retail, or office space, are not included.
Manning says the reason for the limited expansion is the city's capacity for enforcement.
"That is the sole driving factor and where the line was drawn in this particular case, of what can we responsibly be able to enforce," he said.
Council's Public Safety and Quality of Life Committee approved the measure Monday; it's up for a final vote on Wednesday as an emergency. That means if passed, it will go into effect immediately.
It's not yet clear whether funding is available to immediately increase staff capacity for enforcement.
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