Price Hill leaders press council on safety, housing and youth jobs; council files presentations

Vice Mayor Jan Michelle Lisonbee Kearney convened a Healthy Neighborhoods meeting in Price Hill where community council presidents and local nonprofit directors presented neighborhood priorities to council and city staff.

Ben Clare, president of the West Price Hill Neighborhood Support Program, said the three Price Hill neighborhoods together represent about 36,000 residents—roughly 11% of the city—and described how NSP funds (about $10,000 per neighborhood this year, up from roughly $7,500 last year) support events and beautification. Clare and other neighborhood leaders suggested the city consider allocating NSP funds relative to neighborhood population to better match needs.

Amber Cassam of East Price Hill highlighted school attendance and early literacy as urgent concerns and asked the city to share benchmarks and truancy workflows used by other districts. Cassam asked the city to “discover why kids are truant” before escalating to punitive steps; she cited school-transportation and food insecurity as recurring barriers. Vice Mayor Kearney said Healthy Neighborhoods meets quarterly with Cincinnati Public Schools and will put attendance and truancy on a follow-up Healthy Neighborhoods–CPS agenda.

Lower Price Hill’s president, Kimmy Thomas, described partnerships with Community Matters and Groundwork Ohio River Valley for year-round beautification and youth apprenticeships. Mary Delaney, executive director of Community Matters, detailed the nonprofit’s family-stability, GED and food programs and the Washing Well laundromat that helps residents manage basic needs.

AJ Mustard, president of Santa Maria Community Services, said Santa Maria recently purchased about 6½ acres from the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority and is launching a capital campaign to build a centralized facility; he said the campaign target is about $16 million and that a Head Start building for roughly 135 children is planned adjacent to the site. Mustard described expanded food-distribution and home-stability work since the pandemic.

Don Johnson of the East Price Hill Business Alliance and Greg Robinson of Price Hill Will urged coordinated development to create mixed-income blocks—pairing market-rate investment with homestead and affordable-ownership programs. Robinson said Price Hill Will has about 22 homestead homes in place and is pursuing additional rehabs and partnerships to encourage both market-rate and affordable development.

Neighborhood presenters pressed the council on safety and code enforcement: they asked for two additional beat officers assigned to Price Hill, more traffic enforcement and stronger follow-up on nuisance properties, including measures to hold out-of-state landlords accountable. “We need beat officers that know who our people are,” a presenter said, arguing that beat integrity helps officers work with local social services.

Sue Bills described the Safety Cat program, a longtime youth employment and cleanup effort that pays participants roughly $15 per hour for short shifts and coordinates neighborhood cleanups and safety walks.

During public comment, residents raised recurring concerns: violent crime and perceived underreporting, chronic trash and bulky-item pickup issues in some blocks, ongoing 311 delays, lead poisoning (one city public-health nurse reported nine active lead cases that day and said more than 220 children were identified with lead poisoning last year), and displacement risks tied to development. Several speakers also urged more translation services and clearer, multilingual access to the city’s 311 reporting tools.

Procedurally, Vice Mayor Kearney said the four presentations on the agenda would be filed as a group and, without objection, filed items 1–4 for the record. Council members and staff committed to follow-up, including Healthy Neighborhoods subgroups working to refine the Connected Communities policy so it better serves existing residents.

The meeting closed after council thanked presenters and residents and pledged further outreach and tracking of the requests raised.