COLUMBUS: Mayors from Ohio’s 30 biggest cities and suburbs said Friday they’re forging an alliance to fight for more state and federal government investment in urban infrastructure and local job creation efforts.
Leaders of the bipartisan Ohio Mayors Alliance say they will promote their cities’ shared interests and work to dispel negative stereotypes commonly repeated at the Statehouse.
“Big picture, what’s good for cities is good for Ohio,” said Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley, a Democrat.
The group’s launch came within days of Republican Donald Trump’s election as president and some Democratic U.S. mayors declaring they would make their cities safe havens against some of his expected policies.
The Ohio mayors’ group, which has 20 Democrats (including Dan Horrigan of Akron and Don Walters of Cuyahoga Falls) and 10 Republicans, said its effort is unrelated to Trump’s victory.
Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, a Democrat, said the need became critical about a year ago after a series of cuts to the state’s local government fund that supports basic city services.
“The past six years, we don’t think the mayors have really been voicing their opinions on the state budget,” Whaley said.
“And moving forward, I would argue that we haven’t seen a governor candidate even have an urban agenda since [Republican George] Voinovich — who was, by the way, a [Cleveland] mayor. So we really want in 2018 for the governor candidates of both parties to start talking about what they’re going to do for cities and their plans for cities, because it’s such a key economic driver for the state.”
Voinovich, who died in June, was governor from 1991 to 1998.
