CINCINNATI — City council members are pressing pause on the Central Parkway bike lane extension effort that was waged during the Cranley administration. Options officials are now exploring are projected to be safer and save a substantial amount of money allocated for bike paths.

The design options are for the stretch of Central Parkway between Marshall Avenue and Ludlow Avenue. The area was originally slated to be a shared use path. One of the current options officials are considering is for the road to have a protected bike lane. They are also considering adding trees and a grass median to the entire lane or to only parts of it.

Council member Mark Jeffreys put forward the motion requesting the city halt the Central Parkway bike lane extension project to consider these options on Jan. 12. That motion was passed Wednesday.

“It’s an intersection of everything that we care about,” Jeffreys said. “It’s not just about cyclists. It is about better health, it’s about cleaner air. It’s also about equity. You don’t need to own a car in order to get around if we have the right infrastructure.”

“[T]he good thing is that because this money has already been allocated for bike infrastructure, if there’s any cost savings, we’ll make sure it goes right back into bike infrastructure,” said City Council Member Meeka D. Owens. “So there’s no competing priorities. Again, it’s just about the efficiency.”

Last year, the city allotted $2.8 million dollars for the shared use path concept. Jeffreys said he believes the other options now being explored could save at least $1 million. Those savings would go towards protective bike paths Downtown and in Over-the-Rhine.

“A bike lane to nowhere, which is essentially the parkway today doesn't do any good. So this will connect people from Northside, Clifton, the CUF area into Downtown, and vice versa. And then also potentially connect into the riverfront,” Jeffreys said.

The administration will come back in a month with a report outlining the cost, designs and viability of the three other options for the bike path.

Monique John covers gentrification for WCPO 9. She is part of our Report For America donor-supported journalism program. Read more about RFA here.

If there are stories about gentrification in the Greater Cincinnati area that you think we should cover, let us know. Send us your tips at moveupcincinnati@wcpo.com.

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.

Getting his first COVID-19 shot was a joyful moment of relief for Cincinnati's mayor, John Cranley."I am over 40 so I happily receive my vaccine today of Moderna," said Cranley.Cranley said the shot itself was painless, but the pain of the past year was not lost on him. "I have to say it was a bit emotional. A yearlong of suffering, of sacrifice, of tragedy. I have friends who lost their parents to COVID," said Cranley.Cincinnati Health Department nursing director, Virginia Scott, administered Cranley's vaccine. She said the health department is ready for even more patients as the eligibility groups open up. "We have been going six days a week, depending on the vaccine allocation, we will go on to the seventh day. We will not leave a week with vaccine still in our fridge or our freezer," said Scott.With one half of his COVID-19 immunity wrapped up, Mayor Cranley urges people not to get complacent so close to the end. "It's important to be careful, wear masks, until you get the vaccine, distance because we're so close. We're so close to the end here," said Cranley. The mayor will receive his second shot mid April.

CINCINNATI — Mayor John Cranley and police Chief Eliot Isaac want Cincinnati’s law department to fight for the preservation of a city policy ensuring diversity among Cincinnati’s police officers, even as it faces a legal challenge from a white officer alleging discrimination.

City Council will vote on Isaac and Cranley’s co-authored resolution on the subject Wednesday night.

"Our communities deserve and they demand a workforce the reflects their makeup,” Isaac, who is Black, said Tuesday. “We can't afford to take a step backwards at this time."

But the Department of Justice, which originally helped Cincinnati create the policy, has asked the federal government to re-open the issue and potentially end it. The white officer behind the lawsuit, Sgt. Erik Kohler, alleged he had been passed over for a promotion because of his race.

FROM MARCH: White Cincinnati police sergeant sues city, accuses department of hiring 'discrimination'

The policy at issue is a 1981 consent decree that sets hiring and promotion requirements for the Cincinnati Police Department. Under the decree, 34% of all new hires must be Black, 23% must be women, and 25% of officers promoted must be either Black or women.

Cincinnati implemented the consent decree in response to a 1980 Department of Justice lawsuit alleging the city violated the Civil Rights Act and federal anti-discrimination provisions by failing to promote Black people and women.

Similar measures were enacted in other cities in the ‘80s, but many no longer exist.

“I see departments across the country that have lost such decrees, and we see a time where recruiting and retention across the nation is at an all-time difficult process,” he said. “The loss of this one would further exacerbate that problem. We need to attract people to law enforcement. We need to attract talented people. This is one way that we can ensure that we continue to get a diverse workforce.”

Isaac and Cranley drafted a resolution asking the Cincinnati law department to “do everything they can do to preserve it,” Cranley said.

Opponents of the consent decree such as attorney Chris Wiest, who represents Kohler, said it makes hiring and promotion decisions fundamentally unfair.

“We don’t need to discriminate on the color of skin to give people a leg up anymore,” Wiest said. “They’re able to compete fairly.”

The Rev. Lesley Jones, a Black pastor who founded her own Cincinnati-based ministry, said she supports the consent decree and pointed out its diversity requirements don’t actually match the demographics of the city. If they did, they’d be higher: 42% Black, not 34%.

"Our police force should mirror what our community looks like, and in a city where we're almost 50/50 and we have a police department that doesn't reflect that is certainly telling,” she said.

Isaac said that element of reflection is important psychologically for police and the communities in which they work.

"I think it helps build better relationships,” he said. “It shows that we are no different than the community we serve. We are part of that community. We are your coaches, your neighbors, the people you see in the grocery stores. We're all in this together, so I think it's critical that we have a police department that is made up of how the community looks as well."

CINCINNATI — Mayor John Cranley echoed Friday afternoon the message he's delivered all week: Without assistance from the state or federal government, cuts to basic services will become a "brutal" reality.

The city faces as much as $100 million in budget deficits over the next 15 months due to lost revenues that resulted from the continued spread of the novel coronavirus. Cincinnati did not qualify for federal aid through the CARES Act passed by Congress last month. Cranley said he remains hopeful Cincinnati will see some relief from a future package.

Beyond cuts to police, fire and sanitation, the city could also have to shut down its parks, Cranley said.

Cincinnati Parks Director Kara Kish applauded visitors to the city's parks for their vigilance in maintaining social distance and urged them to keep it up.

Cincinnati Health Commissioner Melba Moore said as of 3 p.m. there were 25 new cases reported on Friday and 60 new cases reported on Thursday, bringing the city's current total positive COVID-19 cases to 381.

The racial breakdown of the cases as of Friday afternoon was as follows:

• 90 white
• 107 African American
• 1 Asian
• 1 Pacific Islander
• 161 unknown
• 20 other
• 1 chose not to answer

Moore said the city's health clinics had 347 test kits on-hand.

Cranley warned that he anticipates cases will continue to surge, especially as testing becomes more prevalent throughout the state in the coming days and weeks.

"We haven't peaked yet," he said.

Cranley began and concluded his remarks Friday afternoon by reminding residents to mail in their ballots for Tuesday's Ohio primary. Read frequently asked questions about the all-absentee primary here.