Cincinnati Councilwoman Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney on Thursday talked about the need for the city to look after “the people left behind.”
She stood in the library of Rockdale Academy in Cincinnati's Avondale neighborhood where moments earlier incoming Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval had named her the next vice mayor.
She spoke of her concern for East Westwood, where residents pleaded with city hall for help after two children and two teenagers were shot in June. Neighborhoods where illegal dumps fill vacant lots, such as South Cummingsville, need to be cleaned up, she said.
“Our ZIP code should not be the determinate of our lifespan as it is now,” Lemon Kearney said.
A new council and mayor will take office in January and will tackle economic development, equitable housing and environmental issues, Lemon Kearney told the press on Thursday. But she said racial equity is “a thread that runs through all of these topics.”
“As we progress as a city, we have to make sure we pay attention to the underserved, to the people who are left behind,” Lemon Kearney said. “We have to work for everybody so everybody has opportunities to advance.”
Pureval and Lemon Kearney will lead a largely inexperienced city council. Three incumbents out of the nine city council members will return. Only one member, Greg Landsman, has been on council longer than two years. The other two, Lemon Kearney and Liz Keating, were appointed in the past two years.
Lemon Kearney, who joined council in March of 2020 to replace Tamaya Dennard after Dennard was arrested on federal bribery charges, was the top vote-getter for council in the November election. The city charter gives the mayor the power to appoint the vice mayor.
“In a vice mayor, I’m looking for a true partner,” Pureval said on Thursday. “Someone who can step in without missing a beat.”
Lemon Kearney grew up in Avondale and went to Rockdale Academy. That’s why Rockdale was chosen as the venue for the announcement.
"She is a triple Ivy League graduate, and it all started at Rockdale," Pureval said.
Lemon Kearney said she came to the academy as a shy child with a stutter, a stutter that the school helped her overcome.
“They helped me find my voice and use it,” Lemon Kearney said. “It’s because of the support and encouragement I got here that I’m able to stand before you today.”
The pick of vice mayor is a big decision. The vice mayor steps in when the mayor cannot perform his or her mayoral duties. This can be something as small as presiding over council when the mayor is out of town or as large as serving as the city's leader should the mayor be incapacitated.
In Lemon Kearney’s short time on council, she proven to be a capable leader, Pureval said.
“This is one of my first and one of my most important decisions,” Pureval said. In Jan-Michele, I believe we have hit a home run.”
The announcement comes on the heels of Pureval announcing a powerhouse three-person transition team he said will help guide him into office so the city continues to operate seamlessly.
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