July City Council Update
Policing, Displacement, and Developer Giveaways
June's Cincinnati City Council meetings have revealed a clear pattern: more favors for police and developers, fewer answers for people footing the bill.
Westwood Plan: Displacement by Design
On June 3, City Council approved the Westwood Neighborhood Plan, which claims to address affordability and safety but lacks any real protections for current residents.
The plan promotes "problem property" lists that developers can use to target renters and homeowners, calls for more policing under the guise of "pedestrian safety," and treats rent control like a distant possibility at best. This is displacement by design, dressed up in the language of equity and community input.
A Developer Walks Back Climate Promises—Council Approves
On June 4, City Council passed an emergency ordinance letting Traction Partners LLC back out of its promise to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building standards for a $93 million tax-exempt hotel project downtown.
While LEED certification is voluntary, developers often cite it to win support and secure tax breaks. Now Traction is walking it back, and City Council is rubber-stamping it. This ordinance, passed with little public notice, will have major negative consequences for the lives of working people. Once again, developers profit and the public pays.
A Therapy Dog for Cops, But No Care for The People
On June 11, City Council accepted a $100,000 donation from The Cincinnati Blue Line Foundation, including a Ford Explorer and resources supporting Stella, the therapy dog that joined CPD's "Wellness Squad" in 2024.
This isn't about wellness. It's about deepening the legitimacy of a violent institution. The Blue Line Foundation is a police advocacy group pushing to expand policing under the cover of care. If Council truly cared about mental health, they'd invest in expanding the Alternate Response to Crisis (ARC) program, which sends medical and social workers to behavioral health emergencies rather than cops.
Instead, we get dogs and SUVs for police while our communities continue to face surveillance and violence in moments of crisis.
The Bottom Line
City Council continues to serve police and private developers while working-class Cincinnatians get nothing but half-hearted promises. Real safety means housing, care, and public investment. Not cops with comfort dogs and climate rollbacks for luxury hotels.
We need a City Council made up of and built by and for the poor and working classes of Cincinnati, and we need it not tomorrow, not in a month, but right now.