Resident urges $10 million annual investment in West, Northwest Dayton and demands city-manager accountability

Ebony Hastings told the commission that Dayton must invest directly in neighborhoods long harmed by disinvestment and redlining. "About $10 million a year into the west and northwest side of neighborhoods that have been disinvested in for three generations," Hastings said during public comment, outlining a package of prevention programs, expanded youth jobs and resident-first property acquisition strategies.

Hastings said last year four out of five shootings with injuries occurred in the same census tracts in West and Northwest Dayton that had been redlined and that the city currently spends about "$7 on policing for every $1 on neighborhood revitalization and youth programming." She proposed scaling a violence-intervention program from one pilot to four or five sites, doubling summer youth jobs, offering forgivable rehab loans with a $1 acquisition price and creating binding community benefit agreements with clawback provisions on future incentives.

Hastings also raised concerns about the timing of the city manager's retirement. "Retirement should not erase the public's right to ask hard questions about the decisions that were made," she said, urging written public explanations for city-manager recommendations, disclosure of who benefits from major deals and an independent public review if retirement removes accountability.

Commissioners thanked speakers and said staff would provide additional materials during the budget season, including a housing condition report expected later this month. No formal budget reallocation or change to city-manager reporting requirements was made at the meeting.