In less than one week, Cincinnati will know who its next mayor will be. One of the key issues in the race is violence in the city, particularly among young people.

One day after Mayor John Cranley gave his final state of the city address, WLWT asked the two mayoral candidates looking to replace him to give their own thoughts on the current state of Cincinnati.

"I agree with him. We have made a lot of progress in the last eight years and happily, I've been a part of that. For the first time in decades, the city's population has grown. We have created in the last eight years 29,000 additional jobs. We've done a lot to reduce poverty. We've done a lot to engage with neighborhoods," David Mann said. "I think we're on track so the issue and the challenge is continuing that and making sure that the benefits of what's happening are spread to as many of our citizens as possible."

"There's no doubt that we have seen incredible progress over the last 20 years, but unfortunately the pandemic, the challenges of gun violence, the economic downturn because of the pandemic and then obviously the several indictments on city council has unfortunately blemished some of that progress," Aftab Pureval said. "So while I think the state of the city is strong, I believe we need new leadership to turn the page on that ugly chapter."

Both candidates said addressing violence would be among their first priorities if elected.

"Number one, we support our police and we celebrate the fact that our police have evolved so positively in the last 20 years," Mann said. "We have to ask ourselves why young people ages 13, 14, 15 have illegal guns and why are they apparently lost souls without hope."

"No one of us has a magic wand to fix this issue overnight, but what I'm committed to doing is working with law enforcement, working with community stakeholders to get around the table and come up with the most innovative ideas that we can," Pureval said.

When asked about the keys to economic success following the pandemic, both candidates said growth is important.

"Creating a vibrant economy that increases jobs, supporting our neighborhoods and continuing some of the wonderful renaissance that's taken place in the last eight years," Mann said. "If I'm elected, I will concentrate very highly on making sure that we are as inclusive and equitable a community as possible."

"I firmly believe that cities that innovate, that are flexible, that are nimble will be the ones that grow and succeed over the next 10 years. The pandemic has completely changed the way that we work, the way that we live, the way that we play and Cincinnati is well-poised to take advantage of that future," Pureval said.

Mann said restoring trust in government is another one of his top priorities, while Pureval said affordable housing is another one of his.

CINCINNATI —

Who will be the next mayor of Cincinnati?

Democrats Aftab Pureval and David Mann debated Wednesday night on WLWT ahead of November's election.

WATCH THE FULL DEBATE IN THE VIDEO PLAYER ABOVE.

Pureval, 39, is currently the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts. He’s also a former federal prosecutor and in-house counsel at Procter & Gamble. He also ran for Congress in 2018, launching a high-profile race against Republican Steve Chabot.

Mann, 82, has previously served as Cincinnati's mayor from 1980 to 1982, and again in 1991. He's served on Cincinnati City Council from 1974 until 1992, then elected in 2013 and reelected in 2017. He also served as representative for Ohio's 1st Congressional District U.S. (1993-1995).

One will replace longtime mayor John Cranley, who is term-limited from running again this year.

When Pureval was born 39 years ago, Mann was just finishing up his first stint as mayor of the city. He served in that capacity again a decade later.

"If voters are looking for the status quo, if they're looking for the city to run in place, then there's an option for that," said Pureval in a not-so-veiled reference to his opponent. "What we're providing is a bold vision for moving the city forward, for winning the next decade, for growing our city and for growing it equitably."

Mann's distinction involved his record of service in city government since the mid-70s versus Pureval's elected position as Hamilton County Clerk of Courts.

"The clerk of courts is a very small agency," said Mann. "It's no comparison to a city with over 6,000 employees, an annual budget of $1.5 billion."

Mann intends to put heavy emphasis on how experience counts.

"I understand what public service is about. I understand what makes city hall tick," he said.

Pureval described his campaign as one that offers voters a fresh approach to what ails city government.

"Our future is bold, it's diverse, it's dynamic," Pureval intoned.

Mann maintained he was the only one of the two ready to serve with distinction on day one.

"With all respect, my opponent can't make that claim," he told us.

Cincinnati City Hall — beset by a climate of corruption — is in for a campaign of contrasts this summer.

In his third campaign, Pureval is regarded as a rising star with an energetic, engaging charisma. Mann has 18 campaigns under his belt, seasoned by public service on council, as mayor and in Congress.

CINCINNATI — A recent string of heavy rain earlier this summer had Jenn Bastos feeling like a fish out of water for seven weeks while she ran her store out of an adjacent building due to extensive flood damage. Now, with the remnants of Hurricane Ida making their way into the Tri-State, she worries she might be in store for some deja vu.

"Every time it rains, I get nervous," said Bastos, who owns Castle House on Edwards Road near Hyde Park Square. It's an area she said sees more and more flooding each year.

Hyde Park isn't alone: City Councilman David Mann called upon City Council's Neighborhoods Committee Monday to discuss how hundred-year flooding — that is, flooding so heavy that it historically would only occur every century or so — is becoming more and more common in the region.

"We had, at the peak of it, I was told about 12 inches of water in the store," Bastos said of the flooding that forced her business to relocate in July. She said she was lucky that she was able to move temporarily into a nearby storefront after the last round of heavy storms, but said the cost of repeated flooding threatens a lot of small businesses like hers.

Kyle Robinson owns Peace and Love Little Donuts just a few doors from Castle House. He worries that, with the next big rain, his business could be next.

"(The flooding in July) stopped two doors before us," Robinson said. "And literally across the street, everywhere was closed; there was debris all over the streets. We have business insurance that covers stuff like that, but it’s still the time down, cleaning up, being closed. It doesn’t cover fully all that. To see it happen so close, it's definitely scary."

READ MORE: Hyde Park residents blame MSD for sewage, flood damage

It's an issue Cincinnati City Council's Neighborhoods Committee discussed Monday, looking at the city's sewer and stormwater systems' ability to handle sudden downpours of heavy rain.

In a motion filed last month, shortly after the heavy rain in early July, Mann called on the administration to develop a "long-term plan for addressing the reality that hundred-year floods are now a regular challenge for our community."

Mann elaborated Monday: "It’s not clear to me that our system, which wasn’t built to handle it, can handle it," he said.

Mann said the city faces a unique challenge created by the coalescence of aging infrastructure and increasingly volatile weather events as a result of climate change.

The most immediate solution, Mann said, is to untangle how the city and the county oversee the Metropolitan Sewer District.

"We have spent a lot of money to go a long way towards separating stormwater and sanitary sewage," Mann said. "That's not the only thing we're talking about. We're talking about the capacity of the system when there's a big rainstorm. And as big rainstorms occur more often, we don't have any choice."

Mann's motion calls on the city administration to develop a plan or report to address the issue, but the timeline for that plan remained unclear Monday.

Meanwhile, as City Council considers the best path forward, business and property owners like Bastos and Robinson are left waiting.

"At some point, someone has to do something, and we have to step things up," Bastos said. "There's a point where businesses can't continue to operate. It's just not worth it."

CINCINNATI — Hopeful candidates were dotting their i's and crossing their t's Wednesday in a final push to appear on the ballot as Mayor John Cranley's potential successor before Thursday's deadline to qualify for the race.

As of Wednesday afternoon, six candidates appeared to have the necessary 500 valid signatures from registered city voters to make it on the ballot for the nonpartisan May 4 primary. The top two vote-getters in that contest will go on to the general election in November:

• Gavi Begtrup (Mount Lookout)
• David Mann (Clifton)
• Herman J. Napoli (West Price Hill)
• Raffel Prophett (Avondale)
• Aftab Pureval (Clifton)
• Cecil Thomas (Avondale)

Cranley, who cannot run for the office again due to term limits, was first elected mayor in 2013 and then re-elected in 2017.

The makeup of the group so far is somewhat unusual, said political scientist and University of Cincinnati professor David Niven.

"This race includes not only heavy hitters, but heavy hitters that are aligned with each other," Niven told WCPO, specifically referring to Mann, Pureval and Thomas, all of whom are well-known Democrats in Hamilton County politics currently or recently serving terms in different city-, county- or state-level offices.

This means their respective support bases typically overlap.

"This is going to be a very difficult challenge, when candidates are coming from the same wing of the party," Niven said. "It's hard to go into groups and say 'Endorse me; back me,' because those groups are going to think, 'We have other friends in this race.' It's very difficult."

Another prominent Democrat who had hinted at a run -- City Councilman Chris Seelbach -- said Wednesday he would not pursue the ticket.

Niven said he believes the strong showing by established Democrats is a direct result of Democratic city councilman and previous front-runner for mayor P.G. Sittenfeld's indictment late last year on federal public corruption charges. His case is still unfolding in U.S. District Court and, consequently, he is temporarily suspended from Council. Sittenfeld's attorneys have filed a motion to dismiss the case; that decision is still pending.

"The race was almost over before it started and then had to restart in the last few weeks," Niven said.

The challenge now is earning voters' attention.

"This is just a tough race, and to get people to pay attention... It's not that people will reject these candidates; it's that they won't hear enough about them to give them great thought," Niven said.

At least one other Democrat with name-recognition, Kelli Prather, told WCPO Wednesday afternoon that she planned to file her signatures with the board of elections Thursday. Prather previously ran an unsuccessful bid for the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners in 2020 and for U.S. Senate in 2016.

City Councilman Wendell Young indicated in December that he was considering a mayoral run and even picked up paperwork to gather signatures. WCPO reached out to Young Wednesday afternoon but did not immediately hear back.

Prospective candidates have until 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 18, to submit their signed petitions.

CINCINNATI — The city budget is finally balanced, but it took $67 million of American Rescue Plan funding to make it happen. On Thursday, at the first public hearing for Cincinnati’s 2022 budget, groups made their case to receive a portion of what’s left.

But members of council are still uncertain about the city’s financial future. Decisions made in Columbus could radically change Cincinnati’s plans.

The issue: "There is significant uncertainty in the short term regarding the extent of income taxes,” said assistant city manager Chris Bingham.

Earnings tax, which funds a majority of Cincinnati’s city budget, can usually only be collected from people working within city limits.

During the pandemic, Gov. Mike DeWine signed an order allowing Ohio cities to collect the tax from people working remotely for local companies while living elsewhere.

RELATED: Remote workers want to stop paying city income taxes

That measure isn’t permanent, however. And if people don’t return to working in-person, inside city limits, the tax revenue they generated for local government will be lost.

Worst of all, from a local government’s point of view: The Ohio House and Senate are considering bills that would require cities to refund the remote workers who paid earnings tax during the pandemic.

“It would be absolutely devastating for a city like Cincinnati that is so dependent on the earnings tax,” said Councilmember David Mann, who chairs City Council’s budget and finance committee.

But Cincinnati would also have time to plan. Mann said he and his colleagues are ready to use American Rescue Plan money to fill the tax gap this year and next if necessary.

“It’s not like the money disappears the next day” if a new bill is passed, Mann said. “One of the things we did when we made estimates about how to use the stimulus money was to increase our contingency because of those issues.”

The city budget must be finalized and approved by the end of June.