Our interviews with more than two dozen Cincinnati City Council candidates continues.
Over the next two weeks on Cincinnati Edition, we’ve invited all of the candidates on the show.
A transcript of this conversation is below.
This episode was transcribed using a combination of AI speech recognition and human editors and has been lightly edited for clarity. It may contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio before quoting in print.
Guests:
- Scotty Johnson
- Donald Washington
- Seth Walsh
Ways to listen to this show:
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Scotty Johnson is finishing up his second term on Cincinnati City Council, and as a 33-year veteran of the police department, we'll ask him about improving public safety. We'll also talk today with candidates Donald Washington and Seth Walsh about what they think are the most important issues facing the city and about the balance of power at City Hall. This is Cincinnati Edition on WVXU. I'm Becca Costello filling in for Lucy May. Democratic council member Scotty Johnson joins me now to discuss his run for re-election. Welcome back to the show.
Scotty Johnson: Great afternoon to you, Becca. Thanks for having me.
So happy to have you here. In the interest of time, we are not taking calls or questions from listeners this hour, but we do want to note all of our previous candidate interviews are archived and transcribed at wvxu.org so you can check those out. So Scotty, first, just tell us briefly about yourself and why you're running for re-election.
Scotty Johnson: I am a 33 year retired 33 year veteran at Cincinnati Police Department. This would be my third term. I'm running for re election because I think we as a council and the mayor and this administration are on the right track. We've got unfinished business to finish, and we have to make sure we continue on that track, despite some of the things have been said about our amazing city, this city's on the right track. Of course, there's no water walking anywhere on planet Earth. Nobody's perfect. There's no perfect Council. There's no perfect mayor. But we're on the right track, and we've got unfinished business, so we have to continue that mission that we're on.
Okay, well, as a former Cincinnati police officer and also mentioned your current chair of council's Public Safety and Governance Committee, so you have kind of a unique perspective, or maybe a more robust perspective, on responding to crime. You were also vocal this summer about questioning the arresting choices by police and the prosecutor's office in response to that viral bar fight, which everyone, I think, is familiar with at this point, you also criticize the politicization of that viral incident. So looking back, is there anything you think the city should have done differently during this both the summer increase in crime and then these kind of high profile incidents that really stoked the fire?
Scotty Johnson: Well, the first thing we should have done, we should have controlled the narrative. It was unfortunate to have national figures comment about an incident that happened in our city. Yes, they have the right to do that, but I think when they started politicizing it and then making racializing it, it turned into something way bigger than what it was. Does anybody condone behavior like that? You have to be out of your mind to condone anybody being stomped, kicked, punched, anything. But we should have controlled the narrative. And what I mean by that is yes, everybody has a right to their opinion. Bernie Moreno, JD Vance, all of them have that right to their opinion, but we know more about our city than they do. We live here. We care about our city, and I believe Mr. Moreno and Mr. Vance's movements were strictly political to denigrate a democratic ran city, a democratic ran mayor, and everybody should have got out of the way and let the amazing Cincinnati Police Department do what they do. You should never bring politics into a situation of that magnitude. It was a very ugly fight, and the Cincinnati police should have not been politicized, to move in a manner in which would have satisfied everybody. It should have moved in a manner strictly on facts.
Now I want to follow up on that a bit, because you say both that the people the politicization of that, that people should have stepped out of the way and let the police do their jobs. But as I mentioned, you did publicly question the choice to at least, at first, only arrest black people that were involved in that video and that viral incident. You know, do you see that as contradictory in any way of letting the police kind of do their job in the investigation play out or not?
Scotty Johnson: I don't think it's contradictory. I was responding. I was responding, if you notice, originally, I had absolutely nothing to say about that fight, but we had a serious number of citizens in this city that saw it as being racialized. I have to stand with all citizens in this city when I believe they deserve representation. And there was a great number of citizens in our city that felt as though, because there were white and black people involved in that ugly brawl, the black people were being overcharged. They deserve representation too. And that's when you heard me respond. Initially, I didn't have anything to say based solely on the fact that the police should have been able to do their investigation. But after you saw who was being arrested, after you saw who wasn't being charged, and there was an outcry from a part, a portion of the community that represents this city too, then therefore, I represent people, and I stood with the people that had a problem with the way in which they saw law being administered.
Got it. Let's take a little bit of a step back in a larger view, because obviously this fight got a lot of attention, media attention, national attention. It is, it is one incident in the context of public safety in the city overall. I think something that everyone seems to agree on is that the police department is short staffed and is facing a staffing shortage. So from your perspective, how can the city more effectively recruit new officers? Because the recruitment really seems to be the key point of not being able to get enough people interested in the job.
Scotty Johnson: Yeah, we're having that problem all over the nation, unfortunately, but we've done amazing things here in Cincinnati. We've got a lateral class that prayerfully will be starting late December, late December or early January. That lateral class is certified state certified officers being able to come into Cincinnati and serve the citizens of Cincinnati in almost half the time versus 28 weeks. Their Academy time will be 12 to 14 weeks. That will help get more bodies on the streets of Cincinnati, and they already come in with a state certification, but they've got to learn the Cincinnati way. One thing I'm very proud of, the Cincinnati police department. Our standards exceed state standards, so being able to speed up the process to get more officers on the street quicker will help. We, we've done things also to incentivize officers that may know other people that would make good officers. And we're we're writing bonus checks to them when they bring people in that would serve the citizens of Cincinnati in an amazing way. This effort is difficult all over the country, but we are doing those things. The Cincinnati police department just got an amazing raise, which they deserved on this last contract. So we got to keep making sure that we're equipping our Cincinnati police with everything they need to be able to do the job, but then we also have to make sure they're able to function in an atmosphere to where they feel like they're capable of doing the job without repercussions, political or any other type of repercussions.
We're going to try and cover as many topics as we can. So let's move on from public safety. You know right now, the current mayor and all city council members are endorsed Democrats, including yourself. There have been times, though, when Council is split on a certain issue that you have been in the minority, along with Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney and councilmember Victoria Parks, who is not running for re-election. So do you see factions on this council, even though you're all Democrats, do you see factions? And how do you enact change from what seems to be a minority position.
Scotty Johnson: I don't see factions. I think, I think it has to do. What we're doing is responding issue by issue. I think we have to, I want to work with anybody, and I mean this, anybody that wants to make Cincinnati better. I want to make sure that people's heart is for the people and not for this isn't popular, but not for your own personal political gain. The people of Cincinnati trust you and vote for you to represent them. And so we have to make sure the heart of the people and the voice of the people is number one. And then in addition to that, there are times where we're going to disagree as Democrats, but I think that's healthy and it's genuine for leadership in this city, and I think that's what makes this city a little different than most all Democrats. But you don't always see nine, oh, votes. You see people split, because there's a genuine nature of making sure Cincinnati is better than it was when we were graced to sit on that day as just a reminder.
I'm speaking with Cincinnati City Council member Scotty Johnson, who's running for re-election. Later in the show, I talk with candidates Donald Washington and Seth Walsh. Now, kind of following up on that question, one of the issues in which there has been a split vote on council has to do with development, the Connected Communities zoning reform last year, which you opposed, and the Hyde Park Square development project this year, which you also opposed. So as a current member of council, you voted against both measures. You know, explain those votes and Do you stand by that?
Scotty Johnson: I stand by both votes. Connected Communities has some great things in it, but it's just like how -- I don't eat steak -- but some people like their steak well done, medium well, medium rare. I think we presented -- when I ate steak, I liked it well done. I think we presented a medium rare steak. And what do I mean by that? When we talk about engagement with our amazing citizens, it can't be just by hitting a button and clicking on the link. This is engagement, and I don't think we did everything we could to get the perspective of the people that were going to be most affected. Same thing with Hyde Park. When you're having a developer come in and basically tell a community, I don't have to interact with you, because I've already got the votes. That's offensive to somebody like me that wants to make sure the citizens are at the table, participating in issues that affect them. So that's why I opposed both votes. Myself and the vice mayor did a listening session where we had over 300 citizens show up and give us nuggets that we could implement to make Connected Communities better. We're working on that, and we're hopefully, by the first of the year, we'll be moving on presenting that to the entire council, to where we get these things implemented so Connected Communities becomes what it should be.
Okay. Let's talk briefly about the budget. The city is facing projected budget deficits over the next few years. The city no longer has federal stimulus to prop up that budget. So what do you think city council needs to do differently moving ahead to make sure that the city's financial position is stable?
Scotty Johnson: We've got to make sure we're we are being good stewards over the money, first and foremost. Right now, our bond rating is amazing. It's excellent. So we have to make sure we're doing things to keep that excellent rating. We got to make sure that economic development in our city continues incentivizing businesses to come in and serve these amazing citizens, and then we got to make sure home ownership goes up also. That's a tax base, and I know that doesn't sound popular, but we're trying to make sure home ownership goes up in the city. And there are a lot of good things being done to incentivize first time home ownership, which closes the racial wealth gap, and then it also creates generational wealth. So we got to recruit the best and keep the best in this city, to keep economic -- to keep economically afloat.
This is a bit of a broad question, but what do you think is the most important issue facing the city right now?
Scotty Johnson: I think the most important issue is creating and assisting in making sure people have stable, safe places to live. That's the foundation for everything. Children that go home to a stable house where housing is where their housing is adequate, do better in school. People that go home to adequate housing where that foundation is built, where they get a good night's sleep, where they have air condition and heat and things that nature. I think that sets the table for productive employees. It sets the table for productive school age children. It's just the very foundation and people feeling safe and feeling as though they can maximize the potential they've been graced and blessed with.
So how would you accomplish that? Logistically?
Scotty Johnson: We got to stay on this track of what we've done, where we are when it comes to the housing fund, number one, the affordable housing exactly, the trust fund. When we got there, I believe, double check the figures, we may have had $1,200, $2,000 there. We've got over $100 million in there now. That's because we are committed, as a council, the mayor and this administration, to make sure we're doing our part to provide adequate housing for the amazing citizens of this city.
So it's mostly a funding question.
Scotty Johnson: Absolutely, we got to make sure we continue that. And then, after we are no longer on that dais it continues with different administrations, a different mayor and different council people.
So if elected, you'll have another two years on council. You've already served almost four years on council. What would you introduce and accomplish in those next two years?
Scotty Johnson: Right now, I'm very proud of that the Office of Opportunity. It came as a direct result of my no vote on the railroad to make sure that the funding and the money we are getting from the railroad is equitably spent throughout all 52 neighborhoods. The rising 15 neighborhoods that are most underserved should be getting a piece of that pie. So the office of opportunity is up and running. We want to make sure that everybody that does business in the city of Cincinnati is, is is routed through the Office of Opportunity to make sure that equitable development and equity, everything the city does is done and with equity. So I'm very proud of that. I want to make I want to see that become a lot more more robust, the Office of Opportunity. And then I also want to continue what we're doing, collectively as a council in assisting first time home ownership. And what we're doing with helping people pay down medical debt. Becca, think about this. We helped assisted over 100,000 citizens in this city, and we know medical debt can be very, very damaging to your credit, and it can take you back financially, personally, that those type of assists I want to see continue. And when we're lifting people up and we're assisting citizens, that's something I'm very, very proud of, and I want to see that continue.
Okay, one quick note for listeners, we do have coverage about the medical debt relief initiative that you mentioned on our website at wvxu.org very quickly, in just a few seconds, you mentioned your no vote on the railroad. Can you clarify what that means? Because the railroad sale was a public vote of the citizens.
Scotty Johnson: Yeah, the no vote dealt with the fact that my great friends Mark Mallory and Charlie Luken have more say so over the money that comes to us than I do as an elected official.
When you say no vote, you mean as a citizen, you voted against. Thank you for clarifying. Scotty Johnson, thank you so much for joining me. He is a Democrat on Cincinnati City Council, running for re-election. Up next, I talk with Candidate Donald Washington. This is Cincinnati Edition.
This is Cincinnati Edition on WVXU, I'm Becca Costello filling in for Lucy May. Joining me is Donald Washington, a Purcell Marian grad, running for Cincinnati City Council. Donald, welcome to the show.
Donald Washington: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
So happy to have you here. So first, just introduce yourself. Tell us a little bit about about you and why you decided to run for council.
Donald Washington: Okay, as she said, my name is Donald Washington. I grew up Over-the-Rhine. And as she also mentioned, I graduated from Purcell Marian. At 17 years old, I joined the Air Force. Wasn't old enough to join. My mom had to sign the paper for me to go. She reluctantly did it, so I thank her for that. It was a great decision. Came back, did two, one tour in Iraq, came back home, been an entrepreneur, had multiple jobs. Currently, I have a government contracting business that that's I'm trying to go pretty well with that. And I decided to run because I got into case management, case and case management, and I saw how, how bad the situation was for our kids. And I don't have kids myself, so I think is a part of my responsibility to help take care of their community. And I really want my platform is very youth driven, and that's, that's really my passion to do something for these kids.
Yeah, and that's certainly something we want to get into a little bit later in this conversation. But somewhat related to that; of course, crime has been such a big topic in Cincinnati over the last six months or so, you know, there's been national attention on certain high profile incidents. So how do you think City Council should both work to reduce crime, which obviously is a priority for everyone, but also address you know, this public perception where some folks don't feel safe living in or visiting the city.
Donald Washington: Well, that's a good question, because that actually lead me back to my platform. So in my platform, I would like to bring back CCY. That's Citizens Committee for Youth. This is a city run youth employment program. I think it was great. It was actually, I'm actually a product of CCY growing up Over-the-Rhine. It was my first job. I think first jobs. I think I've worked for it twice, and it really helped me develop responsibility and just get that sense of working, working and getting off the streets. And then also, I have a gun buyback program that I'm advocating for. Gun violence is just too rapid in Cincinnati, and I know all about it, or as far as growing up in an area that was high gun violence, so I would like to have a gun buyback program to get the guns off the streets. More guns off the streets is safer by default. So I want to get these guns off the streets. Then I also want to implement mental health services throughout all CPS public schools. I wanted to be actually mandatory, because I am a veteran. I've been to Iraq, and I know what PTSD is, and I know these kids are going through trauma. I know they're going through PTSD in these neighborhoods. We need to start dealing with their mental health. And I also would like to streamline businesses. Businesses services, and you say, well, how is this related to crime? Well, we know poverty is is connected with crime. So if we could streamline businesses services and make funding more available to these people who are starting businesses in small business, then that will hopefully reduce the wealth gap and reduce that poverty line.
Well, let's dig into some of those specific suggestions you have and things you're campaigning on, starting with a gun buyback program. Obviously, there, there are programs like that in the community, but not a city program right now. You know what would that look like? And what would happen with guns that are purchased? Would they be resold? Would they be destroyed? You know, what would that look like?
Donald Washington: I would say that they will be destroyed. That's what I'm looking for. We don't, we don't need resell it. And, you know, because they might end that back up in the same hands if you're reselling because, you know, cars are broken into a homes are broken into to get these guns. But furthermore, we need to find out where the guns are coming from. When we there was a meeting with the chief on on Zoom, and a couple more people that was concerned about the community, and someone simply asked, well, where's the the task force to figure out where the guns are actually coming from? And the answer was just, well, they're coming from everywhere. And I didn't like that answer, because it wasn't a direct answer. And it's also telling me that you're not really focusing on where the guns are coming from, and I believe they focus more on catching the person with a gun. And I think that's great, but if we start from a preventive measure to prevent the guns from getting there, then I think that that is even better. And so with those guns that are bought back, I think they need to be destroyed.
Okay, as you mentioned, you your platform does focus a lot on youth and youth engagement, and like bringing back CCY, for example, I want to ask you about something that city council did this year, which was to establish new curfew rules across the whole city, as well as a new curfew district that's even stricter downtown and in parts of Over-the-Rhine. You know, what are your thoughts on that? And what would you do differently to kind of address youth and deal with youth if you were elected to office?
Donald Washington: Well, I am fighting the issues of crime from a preventive measure. I believe in the police. I believe there is a need for police, but I also think that we need to make better communities in general, and a place where we don't need as many police because we're doing the right things. We are investing into people, and especially our youth. So this curfew that came up, I I really don't think it was effective. If I'm not mistaking they, they've wasted $300,000 on the curfew center or something like that. They don't have many kids come to the curfew center. And then also, I know in that they, they're restricting food trucks or something like that.
And Red Bike in certain parts of the city.
Donald Washington: I don't, I don't think that is that is handling the problem at all, and it's actually hurting our small businesses, the food trucks. I, I don't know who's complaining about food trucks been there too long. It sounds like a hidden agenda to me, like that. You know, maybe some more established restaurants are. The ones really complaining in the city is trying to play favoritism, and I think that's a problem because, as I mentioned, I believe in small businesses, and I think that we need to support them.
You also mentioned the importance of mental health care, and your idea to mandate mental health care in Cincinnati Public Schools. You know, just as a note, council doesn't have any direct supervision over CPS. They are a separate entity. Also, that relationship has become a little bit complicated this year, the school district this year, decided to end the contract with city health department nurses. You know, how would you navigate that? How would you collaborate with the school district on issues like mental health?
Donald Washington: Well, I'm running as an independent and and I'm independent because I plan to work with all sides, so that's including the election board, the student I mean, education board, so I plan to reach out to them. I hope we can have some meetings about this, because this issue is too important for the council not to have some influence in it, because we are talking really about the safety of our communities. It starts with the education, it starts with the mental health. So if we're talking about making the city a safer place, then council has to have some type of influence on this area.
Just a reminder, I'm speaking with Cincinnati City Council candidate Donald Washington. Let's, let's kind of move on here. You know, obviously I mentioned that decision of CPS to end the contract with city health department nurses. They made that decision because they are facing a budget crisis. The city is also facing projected budget deficits with the loss of federal stimulus. So, you know, looking at the city's finances, how do you think the city, specifically city council. What action should council take to ensure the financial stability of the city?
Donald Washington: Again, I refer back to my platform to address this. I think that we have to make we have to streamline doing business in Cincinnati. They had a futures report, and I read the futures report, and in the futures report, they surveyed small business owners and small business owners, number one complaint was how complicated and how slow it was with doing business with the city, because they had to go to multiple offices to get things done. Their inspections were slow. The permitting was slow. And not only did the small businesses lose out on money, but the city lost out on money itself because larger corporations wanting to come and do business in Cincinnati, and the paperwork is just as slow. So if we can get a central business office all things business, we can speed those things up, and then that creates a better economy in Cincinnati to where those that deficit that we're facing, we have more tax money from the larger companies that want to come here, and also more people working because we have a better economy. So I think that streamlining that business office is very important.
Just some quick context for listeners the futures report, I believe, referring to the Futures Commission, which was a board established by Mayor Aftab Pureval, but operated independently and published a list of recommendations for the city to have more financial stability. Changing gears a little bit here. The city this year faced some criticism for that major winter storm we had in early January. Response time was pretty slow. There were some streets that didn't get plowed for days. How would you help the city prepare for major weather events.
Donald Washington: Well, first and foremost, we would definitely audit that that department in the city and make sure that they have everything that they need. And then, addition to that, I think that we could have an option to maybe bring on third parties, independent companies, that at readiness when the city employees can't get something done. We have those contractors off to the side ready to be deployed.
Okay. Again, changing gears. Just a little bit. Here, another big hot topic in local politics this year has been and last year as well has been development. Council did pass the Connected Communities zoning reform last year. This year, the Hyde Park Square development has been a pretty controversial issue. Now, as a member of city council, how would you balance the community feedback on important issues like this, but also, you know, the need to add more housing and the desire to, you know, encourage development in the city.
Donald Washington: The Connected Communities plan has been a very back and forth thing I've been I've been dealing with, you know, because it has some great aspects to it. And then I can also see how our citizens are feeling that they're not being heard when to rolling out these plans. So with that being said, though, I believe that with this new development, it seems like every time in Cincinnati when there's new development, only a certain segment of the population benefits from it, and and with that being said, I think that we need to start empowering our community councils more and giving them a larger voice and what's happening in their communities. I agree with the people of Hyde Park come come out and let your voice be heard. If you don't agree with this, that is great. This is what this is what democracy is. This is what you do in a city. I agree, because downtown should be listening to you. And as far as the connect the Connected Communities, I feel that, you know some, some of those, I believe there's they want to implement some zones of like three and four units or something like that. I think that's a great idea. But with that being said, I think we have to make those developments accessible to the blue collar worker. So if it's three and four units that need to be built, we need to extend that to blue collar workers, you make a certain amount you could you qualify for this from some type of city grant or closing costs and and let the individuals who actually live in that neighborhood develop those neighborhoods.
And one quick context again, the three and four unit issues for Connected Communities that is focused on specific areas along transit corridors. Those are defined, and you can learn more on the city website. Really quickly, in the last term, currently, the mayor and city council are all endorsed Democrats. Now you mentioned you're running as an independent. How would you deal with that dynamic of balance of power, of party affiliation? You know? How would you work with people that are maybe have different political beliefs than you do?
Donald Washington: That's why I'm running as an independent, because I understand people have different views than I have, and I understand both sides have different views than both sides, the Democrats and the Republicans, but I agree with both sides on certain things. I believe that we can have a government that can be people oriented, but also business oriented, and I believe that there should be a fair balance in that, and that's what I want to bring to council that, yes, we can develop this city, but we can also help the citizens thrive within that development. And I hope to be that bridge for the size. And to answer your question, as far as the whole council being democratic, I think that was leaning too far one way, even though they may have voted separately sometimes, but I think that to make that full balance, you need both sides to be heard.
Okay, we've got about a minute left. I want to ask, if you were elected, you'd have two years on council. During that time, what specifically would you introduce and hope to accomplish during that term?
Donald Washington: During that term, I would like to reduce school suspensions. That's by entering the mental health into all CPS, and that's how we would gage it to how can we reduce that suspension rate and keep these kids in these buildings to learn? And then also, I would like to that business office, because, as I mentioned earlier, crime is directly connected to poverty. So if we we have to, like I said also earlier, I am business oriented and I am people oriented, but so I take it from the perspective of that people that the businesses, we need more businesses in order for people to have more jobs and people to have more jobs. Thank you.
Understood. Thank you. Sorry to cut you off there. That's Donald Washington. He's running for one of the nine seats on Cincinnati City Council. Thank you so much for joining me up next I talk with current council member, Seth Walsh. This is Cincinnati Edition.
This is Cincinnati Edition on WVXU. I'm Becca Costello filling in for Lucy May. Seth Walsh joined Cincinnati City Council when Greg Landsman left to serve the first congressional district in 2022 now he's running as an incumbent Democrat, and he joins me now. Seth, welcome back to the show.
Seth Walsh: Thanks for having me, Becca.
We will get to as many questions as we can. Of course, the time does go by quickly, and just as a reminder, we are not taking calls today. So first, just introduce yourself. Tell us why you're running for you're running for re-election.
Seth Walsh: Yeah, thank you. So my name is Seth Walsh. I was appointed to city council in 2022. Prior to that, I was working in the neighborhood of College Hill, doing the redevelopment efforts along Hamilton Avenue, which was just an amazing experience. For seven years, we led over $85 million redevelopment bringing back to life the corners of Hamilton and North Bend, as well as protecting the residents that were already living in Hamilton Avenue, with protecting the Dixon building, the Hollywood apartments at the southern end of the district. So I was appointed to city council because of the work we had done there that was able to really bring the life of the community's vision without displacing people and making sure the community had been there to be first place. We're still here as we achieve that vision. So since being on city council, I found that I went there because there are a lot more neighborhoods in the city that need help than just College Hill, and my goal on city council has been to create pathways for these neighborhoods be able to achieve that vision. And it just it takes longer than a couple years to do that. So we've created a lot of funding pots that are available for it, but one of the biggest things I've learned about policy is you implement it and then you have to keep working with it to keep working with it to make sure it's actually achieving the end results that are the goal that you set out with. And so I'm hoping for another term on council to continue to work on this and make sure that we can have all Cincinnati thriving.
Alright. Well, given your background in community development, that is where we want to start today. Development is often a hot topic in local government, but I think especially, especially so the last couple of years, with the Connected Communities zoning reform in 2024..The Hyde Park Square development project in 2025 both somewhat controversial, and you voted in favor of both of those. Do you stand by those votes? And then how do you respond to concerned community members?
Seth Walsh: I do stand by those votes. I do believe that we need to be able to make these hard decisions for a growing, thriving city of Cincinnati. When we were going through the process, my office and myself, we went through our own engagement with the public. So taking, for example, the Hyde Park development, Anna Albi, councilmember Albi and I went out to Hyde Park and we had a listening session, first, privately with the community council for about 30 minutes. 45 minutes, they walked us around the business district, and then came back, there was a room full of about 100 residents that we then gave them the opportunity, over, I think, was an hour, hour and a half, to tell us their opinions on the development and help educate us on the issue. And then from there, help use the concerns, ask questions behind the scenes, and ultimately, on the floor of Council, to make sure we had a solid understanding of what it was which helped me get to My decision that I thought the development was still positive for what Hyde Park, where it is, and where it was trying to go in the future. Obviously, not everyone agreed with that decision as we as we've seen, play out, and that's the thing about development. That's the thing about community development, is we don't always agree on where we're trying to go, but we need to be able to hear each other and what what the concerns are. I think one of the biggest concerns around development right now is, you know, we're sitting in a gorgeous building, but this is a exception to the rule, not not often, how it plays out. Development, I would be the first to say, is often less than ideal compared to the historic buildings and structures that I think many terms of design, you mean in terms of design, in terms of the exterior facing, how people interact with it. And I think it's a very real concern when you have these historic neighborhoods, whether it's Hyde Park, College Hill, Sedamsville. I mean, you name the neighborhood, they usually have some historic charm to it. And there's a legitimate concern about the new development that we're putting in these places. Modern day development is very hard and very difficult to match that aesthetic. How do we get there, in a sense that we can get the community to start trusting again? Is really hard, and I think it's through the way that we engage, which is the exterior of the building. And that's one of our philosophies we had in College Hill. One of the big things we fought on in College Hill often was to make sure developers were right with how they did the exterior of the development. One of the big things, I think you have a later question about this, having just heard the last segment. But one of the big things that I've been working on behind the scenes is trying to figure out what has gone into effect that has actually caused these developments to become less than ideal, to become more ugly in the people's eyes. Single stair reform, for example, is a big thing that's taken off around the country that has made these boxy buildings because you have to have multiple egress, but it hasn't actually statistically proven to be make building safer. Can we get back to kind of the historic way that we were building design, doing building design? That then allows these buildings come in and actually blend in with the historic nature a little bit better. And that's an area that I've been focusing a lot on, and I think is a big part of where we need to take the conversation.
We've talked a lot about concerns from from residents, and of course, that's a really critical piece for as an elected official, to pay attention to. Something else that's come up in this conversation is potential concerns from developers or folks who want to do business in the city, and the amount of community pushback that has happened over the last couple of years to some development reform or specific developments. Do you have any concern about, you know, what some have described as, I think this was the mayor's words, but a chilling effect on, you know, encouraging development to happen in the city?
Seth Walsh: Certainly, you know, there's a. The reality is, in development, the longer it takes to actually get out of the ground, the more money that you're spending, and so the riskier the project becomes. Because, you know, taking, for example, covid, that's when we we brought to life the corners of Hamilton and North Bend in College Hill. If they had broken ground six months earlier, that building would have been fully leased. It would have actually been done under budget, most likely, when we broke ground on it within two weeks, they've blown their entire contingency. And the building was like it was very difficult build out schedule just because of how, how prices were going off through the roof. And so that that's what developers are basing out their decisions on, is risk. So when you have unpredictability in communities, it certainly has a negative impact on the ability to recruit developers here to the city of Cincinnati. But I think again, it's not, you can't just put all the blame on, you know, community voices here being the problem. Part of the bigger problem that we face. Part of the reason I went to City Council is that it is really hard to just get development out of the city in the first place. And we can point fingers in a lot of different ways. But my experience in College Hill, my experience I've continued to hear since being on city council, is that trying to get a permit out of the city can be one of the most frustrating, difficult processes you have. In College Hill, it was like, it was like a whack a mole game. No matter how much information you gave the city, they still came back with some of the most complicated ways that result in a six month delay. And those are part of the issues that I think when you pull back, if we can fix that problem, I think a lot of the frustration between community and developer, which will always naturally be. There'll always be a tension point that exists between there. It'll become less strained, because you're not gonna be like, I have to get through this, and then I got to the next problem. It's gonna become a bigger problem. It's gonna lead me back to point A in the first place we can have more of this collaboration. And I think that's overlooked in the conversation, and too often, kind of just pushed away, is like, Oh, that's not part of the problem. It is a big part of the problem. The ability for the city to get projects out the door is a huge part of the problem, and I think it leads to frustration by the community, and it leads to frustration by the developer, and they take the anger out on each other.
You mentioned financially, especially the unpredictability of development. The city is also facing a potential budget crisis. There are projected budget deficits over the next few years. Obviously, federal stimulus has run out, which the city has relied on the last few years. You know, how can the city ensure financial stability over the next couple years?
Seth Walsh: Well, the easiest part of the answer is to say, through economic development, you get a return on investment, which helps increase what our revenues are and projections there. I think taking a step back, though, one of the areas that has most concerned me and frustrated me on city council is if you look at our fiscal year, 2025 budget, with no ARPA money, we projected $565 million as a budget, our actual revenue was north of 600 million. And it concerns me that the city conservatively projects our revenues to such a degree that then we're telling everybody that we have these budget deficits that haven't necessarily materialized even with the without the ARPA money. And so it leads to some of these decisions that I don't think are the right decisions for where we're trying to drive the city. If you're trying to grow, if you're trying to encourage people to come here, if we try encourage developers to come here, young families to come here, somebody to take a job at the city the one of the worst things we can say is have very conservative estimates that we constantly beat, and be proud that we beat them, but then also say we're we have all these budget deficits on the horizon. I think there are things in the works at city hall that we're gonna start seeing these conservative estimates get more in line with what reality has been historically, which is not to be overly liberal with our budget estimates, but is to say like we're actually going to be appropriate and and the projections, and I think we will see that the city is actually in a pretty good, solid financial framework because of the way that we've been operating for the last 10-15, years, since the recession. But that doesn't mean we're always going to be there, and the way we've been able to get this position is through economic development, and that's something we have to continue to push. Economic development being small businesses, events, you know, the development as a whole.
I wish we had time to talk about the carryover budget and that process. That would be very interesting. But stay tuned for coverage on that as this year, financial year comes to a close. Moving on though to another topic. So right now, all of the city council members, as well as the mayor, are endorsed Democrats, including yourself. Including yourself. That could obviously change with this election. It hasn't historically been the case that there's been one party in control at City Hall. How do you think, in your experience, that dynamic has played out? And then if that does change, and you're elected, but then there are maybe Republicans or independents on council, how would you work with them?
Seth Walsh: Well, I pride myself on the ability to work with anybody on city council, even if we just had a big public feud on the dais. You know, that's happened a few times, and then turn around, we are working together on a project the next day. So I think you've seen it. You saw it play out a couple weeks ago. I think where then we were negotiating on Hyde Park. So just the ability to work with people is critical, regardless of party affiliation. I was on the council before it was all nine Democrats, so we had Liz Keating. Liz and I worked really well together. There are I don't have a problem with whoever's ultimately elected. I don't think that one party control has led to just one way of thinking at City Hall. You've seen I'm often kind of the voice that stands out and screams about whatever issue I think is going on that I disagree with, and there are others that will stand out on issues that they think are really important. And I think it's just important at the end of the day to remember that we're working together, but we also part of the idea of good governance is to be able to challenge each other and have different perspectives. And whether you're Democrats, Charterites, independents, Republicans, that's the really important part, and not to be like caught up in whatever your party affiliation is. We're trying to have the best city government we can have for the best for the residents. And as the famous saying, as you know, there's no democrat or republican way to fill a pothole or to plow a street.
Well, moving on, because we do need to address crime. Obviously, this has been such an important topic in the city this year, there was, there's always a bit of an increase in crime every summer when the weather warms up. That increase was a bit more pronounced this year, and primarily focused in downtown and Over-the-Rhine. You are a downtown resident, so I think you have a unique perspective on this. How do you think city council should work to both reduce crime, but then there's also this conversation about the perception of crime, and you know, many people don't feel safe, either living in or visiting the city right now, and how should, how should the city respond to that?
Seth Walsh: Well, I think perception is one of the biggest hurdles that we face as a city, for anything across the board. And I think we it's really important that we keep in mind, you know, we face this with the bridge situation earlier this year, when the bridge was on fire and we had to shut that down for 100 days. Snow plow situations. Perceptions become the most important thing, but also people know what reality is and whether that is perception or not. You know when you look out the window and your streets not plowed, it doesn't matter how much I tell you that our plows are out your streets not plowed, right? Same thing with safety. If people are experiencing violent crime, they have friends that have experienced violent crime like it doesn't matter how much stats I throw at you. We have a problem that we have to address. I do live downtown. I live very close to where the fight happened, so it is something that's close to my heart. And I think one of the biggest areas that we did not do very well at as city leaders this year was the moment public perception started to like, get very concerned about safety. We should have stepped up more and done more to make available money for police to be more visible, to be out there, to encourage the police to do more visibility on that front. Sometimes we get caught in ruts that we don't do a good enough job of saying that we have to break this and we have to get out there, because what happens next again, this my Big Mac example, is the impact on that perception is to the businesses that are downtown. The impact of that perception is people no longer want to rent downtown or go downtown. That has these ripple effects that we've spent last 25 years counteracting and trying to rebuild, and we could lose that all overnight if we're not very, very careful about what perception is. And so for me, it's a matter of, how do we step out of our comfort zone and say, like, Okay, we need to actually face what the perception is that's quickly turning into the reality. Turning into the reality that will quickly snowball into an issue. I don't think we were fast enough on that, frankly, and I apologize to Cincinnati, because I think we could have been faster. I think we should have been faster. I think a lot of this was preventable. But I think the lesson learned here, and you saw that with the passage of this $5.4 million is that sometimes you have to also challenge the police and say, we want you to do more. You say, you can do X, but we want you to do more because we think it's really important that we fight this perception really visibly.
I want to correct myself very quickly, the bridge many of us call the Big Mac bridge, actually the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge, which is how I should have referred to it. So I apologize for that. You did mention snow plows, and that is something we want to address. The city did face criticism this year, including from you, about how the response times in particular in that big winter storm in January. So how would you help the city prepare for major weather events like that in the future?
Seth Walsh: Well, first, we have to be honest about what happened. We didn't plow 600 streets. You know, we it wasn't a matter of people weren't working hard enough. It wasn't a matter of our snow plows were breaking down. It was a matter of we did not have a system in place to plow 600 of our streets, and we estimated 600 streets because we don't even know for a fact how many streets we didn't plow. The reason why is because we were sending our snow plow drivers out with binders with like MapQuest-like directions in there, as if it was 2005 to determine what you know where they should go. So you're, Imagine driving a snowplow for the first time in your life with a flashlight in your mouth, flipping through a binder as a blizzard's happening. No wonder we failed miserably. And I think part of where we I think we all have to do better. And back to your question, how we work on this is we have to be able to say that the reality is we did not do a good enough job, because we had a system set up to fail, and you can point fingers wherever you want, but let's call out the system as it is, because we have to fix it. How do you fix it? Our cars, the car you and I drove today, the car you know, our police cars, our fire cars, they have GPS on them. Why do our snow plows not? Why are we still using MapQuest, essentially? How do we not know what streets are being plowed to make sure that we are doing the 600 of them? You had a really great article on this when it came out, and I think that, I think you actually think that, I think you actually tweeted about the guy who, like, drove to Dayton and back, and it was like this wild experience of what, where are these, like, GPS trackers that are supposed to tell people when things are happening. So being honest about it, and then investing the money to make sure we solve it is the most critical part.
Just really quickly. Our last question here, you know, what if you are elected again and have another two years in council? What would you introduce and hope to accomplish during that term?
Seth Walsh: Well, as mentioned earlier, I'm really trying to focus on how we can improve quality of development in the city of Cincinnati. I'm a big believer in development, but when you increase the quality to you know, snowplows is a big area, but this kind of the first touch that residents have. How do we make sure we are providing quality public services, whether it's getting your streets plowed on time, sorry to the students at home, but like making sure your students can get to get to school, you can get to work. People can get to hospitals. How do we make sure trash is getting picked up, that our police on fire actually being taken care of? And we have enough of them, because when you need them, they need to be there.
Okay. Seth, Walsh is running for re election on Cincinnati City Council. Seth, thank you so much for joining us. Tune in next week, all next week for more candidate interviews. Of course, all of those are also archived on our website. This is Cincinnati edition on WVXU. Our producer is Selena Reder. The associate producer is Harper Carlton. Technical Director is Carlos Lopez Cornu. I'm Becca Costello, filling in for Lucy May. Thanks so much for listening.