Once again, Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval has prioritized optics over substance. On Sept. 4, when City Council repealed its April 23 decision allowing for a zoning change in Hyde Park Square, the mayor spoke for six minutes − three times longer than a public citizen can comment. But predictably, instead of taking responsibility for a bad city decision that led to a historic repeal, the mayor tried to shift the blame back onto citizens.
Sounding like an irritated father scolding his children for the “profound problem” they caused, he implied that the city’s housing issues fall on the shoulders of Hyde Park and other neighborhoods that want their voices heard.
Pureval complained that the city is still not building enough housing. He pointed out that Cincinnati is “at the top of national lists for percentage of rent increases every year.” Yet he failed to mention that the market rate rent for the new apartment units proposed for Hyde Park will likely be around $3,500 to $4,000 (or more) a month. That’s more than double Cincinnati’s current median monthly rent of $1,460 (according to a Redfin report) and will likely cause the median price to jump much higher.
In his polished and purposeful tirade, the mayor continued to show just how tone deaf he is to the voices of city residents. Perhaps he has already forgotten that 18,415 people were frustrated enough with the city’s approach to development that they signed a petition to put the Hyde Park Square zoning change on the November ballot.
Let’s examine why development has not yet proceeded in Hyde Park Square. On April 23, City Hall pushed through an oversized development plan − a plan that ignored its own base zoning rules and called for massive buildings, one of which was a hotel instead of housing. This was after citizens flooded the city with requests to vote no on the Planned Development zoning change, because the developer had never truly collaborated with the neighborhood and continued to completely disregard base zoning.
Residents questioned why the city would support a hotel when it says it needs housing, especially when the developer actually admitted to the City Planning Department that the hotel was a “financial burden.”
Council’s failure to listen to residents delayed the Square project
Only Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney and Councilman Scotty Johnson listened to the residents’ unified and reasonable concerns. The rest of City Council voted to approve the zone change with zero revisions made. City Council’s irresponsible and lazy vote is what caused months of time and resources to be wasted. If city officials had been listening to their electorate, negotiations could have started back in April − or even months earlier, when it was clear the proposed zone change had overwhelming opposition. And it is likely that construction would have already started in Hyde Park Square.
Additionally, the Hyde Park community has been publicly asking for a repeal since June 4. City Council ignored the community’s request for three months. But when the development team wrote to the mayor to ask for a repeal, it was immediately granted.
The Hyde Park community has been clear that it supports development, just not a development plan that completely ignores base zoning and proposes massive buildings that look like they belong in a suburban office park. Walk around Hyde Park today, and you’ll see several newly constructed multifamily housing units − buildings that match the scale and the architectural style of Hyde Park.
And Hyde Park has many available rental units. A quick search on Zillow reveals more than 50 available apartments renting for under $2,000 a month in Hyde Park. Add in nearby neighborhoods such as Oakley and Mt. Lookout, and you’ll see hundreds of available rental units under $2,000 a month that are just a few miles from the proposed development.
The thousands of supporters and 300-plus volunteers who collected 18,000 signatures did not give up hours of their lives just to see 75-foot (rather than 85-foot) structures built that tower over existing buildings and don’t match the character of Hyde Park Square.
It remains to be seen whether the mayor and City Council will take steps to fix the broken development process. I hope city officials will stop ignoring their own zoning laws. I hope they work with Hyde Park and the developer to find a development plan that both can live with – one that delivers housing while respecting one of Cincinnati’s most cherished neighborhoods. And I hope the mayor actually makes good on his statement that he’s a “willing partner to make changes to the process” and helps create a collaborative development model that gives neighborhoods a voice.
But given previous experience, I fear the mayor’s offer to help fix the city’s broken development process is nothing more than political posturing − with zero substance.
Lois Mentrup is a 24-year resident of Hyde Park.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati mayor remains tone deaf to the voices of residents even after repeal | Opinion
Reporting by Lois Mentrup / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
