MESSAGE FROM
THE DIRECTOR OSCAR BEDOLLA Thank you for the opportunity to provide an update on the successful year the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) had in 2016. Building upon the momentum we experienced in 2015, we exceeded our expectations and goals with the help of the leadership of Mayor John Cranley, City Manager Harry Black, City Council, key stakeholders, and the hard work of our team. As a department, we were busy in 2016, facilitating more than $440 million in total investment through 58 projects, which also resulted in the creation of 816 housing units. The City also created 2,347 jobs and retained an additional 1,840 jobs through housing and economic development projects, nearly 1,800 more than 2015. This further cements the notion that we are a City on the Rise. The changes introduced to the organizational structure in 2015 allowed the department to EFFICIENTLY and EFFECTIVELY manage projects and provide transparency to both internal and external stakeholders. Our restructuring through the addition of the Major Projects Division and the Policy and Communications Division, in addition to the expanded role of the Monitoring and Compliance Division, has allowed us to: • Promote the DCED mission and advance policy initiatives. • Increase our ability to facilitate intricate urban development projects. • Create a more robust incentive monitoring system while increasing data oversight. Since this was the inaugural year under the new structure, we determined that our charge should reflect the recent changes. Hence, the team developed a new mission: To facilitate strategic development and services within the Cincinnati community that improve the lives of residents, increase business investment, and revitalize City neighborhoods.
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