On Monday, September 29, Elder High School, in conjunction with the East Price Hill Improvement Association (EPHIA), as well as associations representing West and Lower Price Hill, hosted a “Price Hill Candidates Night”, where politicians from across Cincinnati, many running for Cincinnati City Council, came to state their case to Price Hill residents for their election.

This is one of five nights in the last election cycles that Elder has hosted for Cincinnati. The event is special not only for the general point of being able to learn about the many candidates running in the Cincinnati elections but also helps to raise important questions about the Westside of Cincinnati and Price Hill, both areas that have been widely neglected by the city.

This night, just as the past others, was put together by a combination of East, West, and Lower Price Hill Community Councils, but also Elder’s own Dr. Matthew Wahlert, another local political figure in Colerain Township north of Cincinnati. He, along with politicians Don Driehaus and Christopher Smitherman, will help as a guide to see how this night was able to be put together, as well as answer burning questions about the future of Price Hill and the Westside of Cincinnati.

Compared to past years, Dr. Wahlert said that this year was “probably the easiest ever” when it came to setting up the event. He continued by explaining how, rather than requiring his own work to put everything together, he was able to enlist help from the many councils around the 52 communities of Cincinnati to bring these politicians out to Elder for the night.

With the engagement all parts of Price Hill have with their communities, Wahlert said that they were able to “do all the invitations, the RSVPs, juggled everyone’s schedules, got the moderator…”, which, overall, was a huge help for a man who also teaches and manages his own politics in Colerain Township.

With this event now able to be set up, the significance can be explained from all points of view. Before getting into this, however, the importance of Price Hill must be discussed.

Price Hill has always been a major area in Cincinnati, especially during Prohibition, when the notorious George Remus settled here and put much of his money into the area. At this time, Price Hill was a thriving community just as Cincinnati was, with a notable inclusion being one of few inclines of Cincinnati present in Price Hill for transporting people and cargo up the hilly areas of the city.

Today, however, Price Hill has unfortunately declined largely due to a neglect that has been present for a long time on the Westside of Cincinnati. This is a large reason for the significance of this night being hosted in Price Hill. These candidates will be in the heart of a majorly neglected area and will have to face the questions, concerns, and criticisms of the people who live here.

While many Westside citizens have been on the Cincinnati City Council before, as Dr. Wahlert said, “they haven’t really fought for the Westside as hard as they could, and this just puts a spotlight on that.” He also agrees with the statement that having these candidates come and see it and “answer the tough questions” is the first step towards a recognition of this neglect.

Now that there has been a background set on the community and history of Price Hill and Cincinnati as a whole, specific questions can be heard from candidates in the running for city council in order to hear some ways that the city could be improved upon.

Education Prioritization

The first question to look over will be one of education. As the EPHIA’s website for this night said when putting these questions to the candidates, “children are the future.” Even though this is a very easy situation to agree upon, there has still been a very large lack of prioritization of education in Price Hill, with numbers from the website stating a chronic absenteeism of almost 70% and around 60% of grade schools students not being on the reading grade level of their age.

As for a solution to this situation, Mr. Don Driehaus, one of two candidates interviewed and a member of the “Price Hill Candidates Night”, says he has already began to help address this problem to a smaller extent.

“I’ve been working with public school students here in Price Hill for the last 16 years. We also have mentoring programs and a work program where, over the summer, we will pay kids. As for the education issue when it comes to Cincinnati, it’s multifaceted…. We need to promote our public as well as our Catholic schools, and we need to work with kids where they are.”

Mr. Driehaus also made sure to comment on how many people, including himself, were blessed with good fortune in a household that prioritized his education while also addressing the other side.

“You need that encouragement and family dynamic” for education, but he continued by stating that many households do not have this. He offers the solution of the city coming forth as a council to support that family dynamic, supporting the kids, and making sure they stay in school.

“How can we keep our student base engaged in school?… That’s the hard part, but we can do it through mentoring programs, which I’ve been involved with, we can do it through outreach every day.”

He also says to look to successes, including a school such as Roberts Academy in Price Hill, which is a good school with many effective programs and results.

“Let’s encourage the good programs, and let’s go in and focus on the impediments that are [causing] kids to struggle. I also think when you’re in your late teens or early twenties, it’s hard to look far down the road, but if there is a path to a career, to move forward, there’s a sense of optimism that moves with that.” 

This leads to a strong point by Mr. Driehaus, where he emphasizes the return of trades being this path that can keep many of these students moving forward. In summary, if you are able to “guide the students on that path” of a career, then it creates an optimism where a future is one that keeps their hopes alive. 

“To keep this simple, at 18 years old, if you have a driver’s license, if you have a high school diploma or a GED, you can sign up for an apprenticeship with any of the trades, and they will test you and, hopefully, get you involved with an apprenticeship program.”

Our second candidate to hear from is Mr. Christopher Smitherman, a past Vice Mayor of Cincinnati who is now also running for Cincinnati City Council. He begins by giving the groundwork that the Cincinnati Public Schools system is simply “not doing well” now.

“I am a product of Cincinnati Public Schools…my children went to Walnut Hills outside of my daughter, [who] goes to Seton…I want to acknowledge that I believe in a public school system.” He also addresses people’s concerns for the public school system by saying that it does affect their lives, with the 65% of Cincinnati property tax that goes to CPS schooling.

Now to offering solutions, the first he shows is to support “nuclear families”, which is simply another way of stating a family with two guardians and one or more children.

“When that student leaves [school], it is very important that the home is also being supported so that mom and dad or mom and grandma or uncle and aunt can help the students with their homework assignments.”

He also links this to a need for better communication between parents and schools about the absentee problems, offering a solution that ties into the fact that many of the issues with crime in Cincinnati are juvenile crime, meaning if better emphasis is put on schooling, these juveniles would not be able to contribute to the unfortunate situation of Cincinnati crime.

There is also the concern of making sure students are able to read at a young age, which is a large problem for all of Cincinnati. In fact, there have been many attempts he listed such as the Preschool Promise; the Casino Board; the governor’s own wife, Fran DeWine; and the general upkeep of the Hamilton County Public Library system that try to keep literacy rates up, all of which Mr. Smitherman mentions as supports to help young children read in the city of Cincinnati.

“We need to continue to promote young people going to the library, having a library card, and emphasizing reading. One more thing I will say is that the parents are the front line. I read to my kids at a very early age, and we have to do a better job of promoting to our moms and our dads and our guardians that we’re reading to our kids at a very early age in order to promote their ability to read.”

Inequality of East versus West

The next issue to be looked at is one that was mentioned earlier in the article: the mistreatment of the Westside of Cincinnati. According to the same website for preparation for the night, there have been “created two [Cincinnatis] in terms of quality of life, city service expectations, investment, and development with the Westside clearly being the loser.”

The question here is what the true issues are, in other words, and how they can truly be dealt with, where Mr. Smitherman immediately mentions one of the worst examples of Westside infrastructure that has been neglected.

“The Western Hills Viaduct is an example that’s been crumbling for decades….For so long, residents could drive under there and, you have concrete falling off of a bridge. I would submit that most likely a bridge like that wouldn’t exist on the Eastside.”

This is where he addresses an organization called The Port, an administration that helps the city of Cincinnati in getting cheaper land and properties, as a solution. This stems from the problem that “one of the things that Price Hill suffers from is abandoned homes of landlords that own homes but don’t live in Price Hill, don’t live in the state of Ohio.”

Through these two points, Smitherman makes the promise that he will be “advocating for your share of resources to fix those roads, working with the Port Authority to get property in the hands of responsible people so that those abandoned buildings, whether it’s in the neighborhood or it’s on a street like Warsaw, are being bought and getting put in the hands of responsible developers.”

“Whatever the plan is, it’s not trying to do it in a bubble. It’s actually working with those leaders in Price Hill to say ‘Here are the things’ or ‘You tell us what you want’, and then we’ll work on those goals as [they’ve] laid them out…If you try to lay something out differently, what happens is your intentions might be wonderful, but because you’ve left the community out of the discussion, they end up frustrated at the end.”

Mr. Driehaus mentioned some other very valuable points that make more sense to his lifestyle of running and living in Price Hill, mixed with the unclean nature of certain places in the area.

“Every year, we go out and do spring and fall cleanups. Now that a basic understanding of dealing with litter and dealing with just the curb appeal of the housing stock here in Price Hill is very important. It’s important that we keep the streets clean, the streets paved. Our sidewalks must be level. I run in Price Hill, [there’s] a lot of uneven sidewalks.”

Unlike Smitherman, Driehaus does mention the fact that places like Westwood on the Westside do have “beautiful neighborhoods”, but “they also have certain portions that are run down, and those areas need to be addressed now.” 

One of Driehaus’s main points that he elaborated on was that of investing in the Westside, saying that it needs “positive development and capital investment where you can feel the energy and start to feel the positivity that comes with that type of development.”

The solution he provides is simple: becoming a “cheerleader” for the Westside, encouraging investors and realtors to create and sustain a more positive view of the Westside. “If we do the small things first, as I mentioned, then we can bring the bigger projects into play, and I think that would really help Price Hill.” 

The biggest area needed for this development is undoubtedly “the business corridor up here by Elder and Seton High School.” This is because many in Price Hill do not shop in Price Hill, so the idea of making a positive step in the area, and especially in that business district, will certainly make a bigger impact on the city as a whole.

Mending a City of Crime

The third and final issue to be covered with these two candidates is that of crime. Whether it is overinflated or a real and large issue, crime is discussed heavily in Cincinnati and Price Hill. According to neighborhood statistics websites, an individual has about a 1 in 137 chance of being a victim of violent crime in Cincinnati.

According to Mr. Driehaus, many of the issues discussed beforehand are helpful in seeing how to make Price Hill a better area overall.

“If I’m leaving my house and walking to the bus stop, I want to make sure I’m walking on a clean street, no graffiti, no litter, I want to be walking where I feel comfortable and safe, I want to be walking city blocks that are pleasant and approachable. I want to feel comfortable taking my child to the corner knowing I’m not going to deal with what I call street-level static.”

While acknowledging that many people do feel uncomfortable walking in Cincinnati and Price Hill, he also makes sure to mention that, as said previously, he has not, running Price Hill many times a week and month “for the last 16 years.”

He also makes sure to state, as he already has, that there are beautiful places in Cincinnati that have much less crime since Price Hill, especially, “is a big area. There are different portions of Price Hill, where, you know, it needs some TLC… there are other parts of Price Hill that are gems all the way.” 

He then helps to relate this to the bad perception of Price Hill and crime, saying that “we do have activity in the streets, it needs to be addressed. We need to address the loitering, we do need to address the bad landlords, we do need to address people who are not doing the right things, but it needs to be a little more proactive. I would encourage people who live in Price Hill to walk, to get out there, and to reach out.”

Mr. Smitherman wanted to take a focus on crime, especially since, from his experience, “we have repeat offenders who are committing these crimes, and we must spend time homing in on them and making sure that we’re holding them accountable, meaning our police officers arrest them.”

Expanding on this point, talked about how certain judges will be releasing these repeat offenders “with no bonds or with very low sentences, and that is causing a problem.”

As for solutions, Smitherman most definitely wishes to focus on the morale of our police department. 

“Things like going to their roll calls, doing ride-alongs, meeting with the police chief, meeting with the FOP President of the Cincinnati Police Department, because what we’re finding is it’s hard to recruit Cincinnati police officers. Recruitment is down because the professional space of police officers is under attack nationally and locally.” 

Throughout this entire point, he makes sure to emphasize how City Hall and Cincinnati City Council want to show that “[they] have their back…. It’s identifying [the offenders] and holding them accountable.”

Some issues that Smitherman felt he could not go on without bringing up included a military veteran named Patrick who was killed in Over the Rhine by someone who was meant to be monitored by an ankle bracelet, a woman named Cassandra Wynn being shot in front of her five children who are now being raised by their grandmother, and a woman named Holly who was brutally beat downtown in the middle of the street.

“So we have these things that are happening. There are little things that are happening that have now gotten so out of control that these big things are happening. In conclusion, we have to focus on the Broken Windows Theory, where we’re going after these small things so that we never get to the big things.”

Relating to making the residents feel safe is simple. With these small things taken care of, Price Hill and the surrounding areas could feel much safer for residents and make Cincinnati a better place for all its residents. Now comes the waiting game with election day on November 4, and afterward a period of seeing how these candidates can enact what they have spoken.