October 2007
Streetvibes ll ar o D e n O
Cincinnati Residents Show Overwhelming Support for Human Service Funding by Georgine Getty On September 18, 2007 a group of community leaders gathered on the steps of City Hall to release the results from a study that demonstrated the citizens of Cincinnati’s overwhelming support for the continued funding of human services. The study was conducted by the University of Cincinnati’s Institute for Policy Research and compiled by Applied Information Resources, Inc. Also present at the press conference were the presidents of Women’s City Club, League of Women Voters, Metropolitan Area Religious Coalition (MARC), the Faith Community Alliance and Citizens for Civic Renewal. The study revealed that 94% of the residents that took part in a recent telephone survey said that
they found it important that the City provide funding for human services. In addition, 87% of participants favor the practice of spending a portion of the City’s general revenue on human services. This comes on the heels of three years of cuts to these dollars, which fund over 40 agencies providing after school programs, mental health treatment, services to the homeless, prevention of abuse, food pantries and literacy programs. For over 20 years, 1.5% of the City’s general fund (about $5.5 million) has gone to these programs. In 2006, the so-called “fiscal five” on Council attempted to cut these dollars down to less than $500,000. After a spirited debate, resulting in hundreds of supporters testifying at budget hearings, the budget was restored to 7/10 of 1% of the general fund, or $2.6 million.
The release of the study also came in the week the newest census was released, revealing that Cincinnati now has a 27% poverty rate, putting it as the third most poverty stricken city in the country. Proponents of human services argue that the steady erosion of funds to agencies that promote selfsufficiency, both on a federal and City level, may have helped cause this recent rise in poverty levels. Bill Woods, AIR, Inc. spokesperson said of the study, “we figure this is important information that the general public really supports this whole policy of funding human services (and) that they are partners with others and the City in having a strong safety net.” Ed Burdell, also of AIR, Inc. added, “There is overwhelming support for public dollars going to support human services.”
Ed Burdell and Bill Woods present study findings on steps of City Hall
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City Council Candidates Answer Questions from Streetvibes
by Lynne Ausman This year’s City Council Election is measuring up to be quite an exciting race. With twenty-five Cincinnatian’s running for only nine seats, this year’s election is sure to be filled with landslide victories, disappointing losses, and maybe even a dark-horse win. To make things more interesting, and complicated, there are twelve incumbents – candidates who have been or are currently in office. Oftentimes, the issues which are important to Streetvibes and other independent media sources are overlooked and rarely make a candidate’s platform. This year, we decided to ask all of the candidates how they felt about Human Services being funded by the city, the availability of affordable housing, and the panhandling ordinance. We asked these four questions: 1. If elected, what are your top three (3) priorities for Cincinnati? 2. Do you support the continuation of City funding for human services? Why or Why not? 3. What is your opinion on the status of affordable housing in Cincinnati? What policy change, if any, would you implement if elected? 4. Do you support the continuation of the panhandling ordinance? Why or Why not? We have included the candidates’ answers exactly as we have received them. Take their responses into account when you vote on November 6, 2007. Fourteen of the twenty-five candidates responded to our survey. Those who did not respond: Jeff Berding, Chris Bortz, Minette Cooper, John Eby, Pat Fischer, Leslie Ghiz, Andre Harper, Mitch Painter, Cecil Thomas, and George Zamary.
Streetvibes’ Reader Survey: We Need Your Help As Streetvibes strives to continue to improve as an alternative newspaper, we are conducting our first reader’s survey. Please take two minutes to complete the ten question survey. The link can be found at our website www.cincihomeless.org. We will continue to provide local articles about homelessness and relevant discussions of social justice and poverty issues. Thank you for your continued support of our Streetvibes Vendors and our paper.