Delhi Press 08/18/21

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DELHI PRESS

Your Community Press newspaper serving Delhi Township and other West Cincinnati neighborhoods

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 18, 2021 | BECAUSE COMMUNITY MATTERS | PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK

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Meet the Delhi native with a front-row seat to Washington politics Scott Wartman Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK

It’s the little things in life. For Greg Mecher, three votes, a fateful softball game and a set of wrong directions set him on a path to working for congressmen, Kennedys and presidents. “I don’t know what the most surprising thing is,” Mecher, a Delhi Township native and 1994 Elder graduate, told The Enquirer. “I’ve had these crazy experiences I never thought I’d have. I’m just a kid who grew up in Delhi.” The past year has found Mecher, 44, even closer to White House politics. “Welcome to our trip to Cincinnati, Ohio,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in July to reporters aboard Air Force One. They were en route with President Joe Biden to the town hall he held at Mount St. Joseph University. “Also known as the birthplace of my husband. So, a special place in my heart.” Yes, Mecher is married to the White House press secretary. Psaki and Mecher married 11 years ago and have two children, ages 3 and 6, who they’re raising in the suburbs of Arlington County, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. But they come back to Cincinnati frequently to visit his parents who still live in Delhi. The family is well known on the West Side. Mecher’s mother, Mary Ann Mecher, taught for decades at Our Lady of Victory in Delhi. His brother, Dan, fronted Denial, the quintessential cover band in the 1990s, and later the rock outfi t the Turnbull ACs. His brother also sang at their wedding in 2010, Psaki reminded.

A good Delhi upbringing Psaki credits her husband’s family

Greg Mecher(second from the right) stands with his wife and the Bidens PROVIDED/THE ENQUIRER

and Delhi upbringing for his successful, behind-the-scenes career in Washington, D.C. It’s also what drew her to him. “He is so comfortable in his own skin with who he is,” Psaki said. “He could be in a room with 5-year-old kids, he could be in a room with billionaires, he could be in a room on a factory fl oor and he would be comfortable everywhere and have a conversation everywhere.” With one exception, she said. “Except when it comes to the Ben-

gals,” Psaki said “He’s a fanatic Bengals and Reds fan.”

Every vote counts Mecher’s journey to the center of the nation’s politics began with a nail-biter of an election in 1998. That year, Mecher, in his fi nal year of college as a communications/television production major at Northern Kentucky University, won election as student gov-

ernment president by three votes. It was the only time he ran for offi ce. Mecher’s aff able charm endeared him to leaders at NKU and later in the nation’s capital. “He’s been a go-getter from day one,” said Nathan Smith, one of Northern Kentucky’s leading Democrats and fraternity brother with Mecher at NKU. Smith was also a groomsman at the See MECHER, Page 2A

Development promises to ‘change how people view the West Side’ Scott Wartman Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK

A woman walks her dog on Harrison Trail on July 29 in Green Township. ZANE MEYER-THORNTON/THE ENQUIRER

Right now it doesn’t look like much – a paved trail less than a mile long through a wooded neighborhood Cincinnati’s western suburbs. In a few years, though, leaders say this area will transform Green Township, Ohio’s third most populous township, into a destination with upscale restaurants, homes and a park. And that’s brought a mix of anxiety and hope. Longtime residents fear the $150 million commercial and residential development known as Trailside Village will ruin a peaceful existence they’ve enjoyed for

generations. Others are excited for the future. Both agree change looms for this suburban community. “It will change how people view the West Side,” said Green Township administrator Frank Birkenhauer. The stereotype for Cincinnati’s West Side is that people ask you where you went to high school and you move next door to your parents, he said. “I think it is going to change that.”

In the works for a year The developer and township have See VILLAGE, Page 4A

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