Enquirer.com chats with Mallory and Pepper

In case you missed it, Mark Mallory and David Pepper talked with voters this morning in an Enquirer.com online chat moderated by public affairs editor Carl Weiser.

Here are the complete transcripts:

• Mark Mallory chat transcript
• David Pepper chat transcript

Here are a few highlights of the chats (links are added). First Mallory:

bill: What would you say to the people, (such as the enquirer) who say that that you speak of your plans in terms too general, while David Pepper has detailed plans laid out. Do you believe most of your plans for the city are as detailed and meticulously planned as those of David?

Mallory: David's detailed plans leave no room for input from other stakeholders, and that will not allow for true consensus building.

Lindee: I live on the west side and support you 100%, but, I am afraid a lot of west siders will vote for David Pepper because they don't understand why you accepted the endorsement of the Black Fist. How do you plan to address those concerns?

Mallory: I did not seek the endorsement of the Black Fist. An endorsement simply means that a person or a group supports a candidate. It does not mean that a candidate supports the group giving the endorsement. We must not allow the Pepper Campaign to use racially divisive issues to divide our city.

Guest: Believe it or not, I think there are still a few social and fiscal conservatives left in Cincinnati. Which candidate should a true conservative candidate back and why? So neither of you seems to have any appeal to a conservative.

Mallory: I have been endorsed by Senator (Stan) Aronoff, Senator (Dick) Finan, and all local Republican legislators except one. I will be a responsible guardian of city resources and I will not only work within the constraints of what we currently have, I will also look for ways to find efficiencies in the way that we deliver city services.

From the Pepper chat:

rico: how can we trust pepper in the african american community to be patient and deal with problems approprietly in the inner city

Pepper: Good question, Rico. And an important one. You can trust me because more than my opponent, as I've built a plan for our future, I've had town hall meetings across numerous neighborhoods of this City -- Evanston, Avondale, Madisonville, etc. Based on this input, I've listened to the cross section of our community on our most critical issues, and have proposed ways to address our challenges. This is . . . consistent with my record on Council, where I led the way on critical issues of inclusion in contracting, the collaborative negotiations, setting aside more than $50 million to invest again in neighborhoods like Walnut Hills and Avondale, etc. The next Mayor must be able to bring the entire community together, and that's exactly what I plan to do. My agenda will unite this city around our common issues of safety, youth opportunity, economic empowerment, and neighborhood investment.

mrblacktornado: What is your opinion of Westwood Concern?

Pepper: While I don't agree with everything some of their members say, it's a group who are trying to restore Westwood as a clean, safe and livable neighborhood. Neighborhoods like Westwood, College Hill, Mt. Airy, etc. are losing too many citizens every year to the suburbs due to crime, problem properties, blight, etc., and as Mayor I will work to stem that tide.

mia: How do you convince voters to vote for you if they say they are taken with Mallory's charisma? I support you, but I just got off the phone with a friend who is voting for Mallory because she likes his personality better.

Pepper: Mark is indeed a nice guy. I consider myself a nice guy too, and as people get to know me, I think they generally enjoy my personality as well. But we're at a crossroads. The problem in Cincinnati the past 15 years hasn't been a lack of nice guys and charismatic people--we've had that just fine. What we need, finally, is serious leadership to address the very major issues in front of us. Part of leadership is having the personal skills to bring people together--I have those. But an even more important part is being serious enough to lay out a clear direction, a clear vision, of how one intends to change the city, based upon citizen input, lessons from other cities, etc.. I've done that, Mark has not. We can not afford any more years of nice guys who give good speeches but who lead a directionless City Hall because they haven't even taken the time to figure out what they intend to do.