Mallory morsels from weekly news conference

Mayor Mark Mallory held the first of what he promised would be weekly mayoral news conferences Tuesday. In addition to pushing new rule changes for City Council, the mayor answered questions on a variety of topics:

• On riverfront development: City officials will meet with the county later this week to pick up the pieces from the Banks development deal that collapsed Monday. Mallory said the city and the county would jointly send out a request for qualifications from developers, but he did not say what role he envisioned for the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority --– which had already picked three developers it said were qualified to develop the riverfront.
  
  Mallory declined to point blame for what went wrong with the Banks plan. "I wasn't mayor at that time. I cam only speak from this point on," he said.
  
  
• On racial profiling: Mallory said he had not yet read the 398-page report released Monday on police-community relations. The report found no evidence of racial bias in traffic stops by Cincinnati police, but a related survey found many minorities believe such bias exists.
  
  
• On regionalism: Mallory met in Covington on Monday with Mayor Butch Callery on issues of transportation and economic development. Mallory said the Brent Spence Bridge topped the agenda, but that the mayors also talked about "“connecting entertainment venues by transportation modes -- including by water."” Mallory said he will meet with other Kenton County mayors early next year.
  
  
• On his strained relationship with Democratic Councilman David Crowley: "Councilman Crowley has a lot to offer the city of Cincinnati. He's a very able council member," Mallory said. He said he would call on Crowley to help on common issues like the environment.
  

• On the controversial Citylink proposal for one-stop social services in Mallory's West End neighborhood: "All politics is local, and I'm going to leave that to the local leader, who happens to be Dale Mallory, president of the West End Community Council," he said. (Dale is the mayor's brother.) "If and when he requests my assistance, he will let me know."
  
  
• On growing into the job: "I watched myself on TV a little bit the other day, and gee, I have to smile a little bit more," he said.
  

Mark Mallory held a transition news conference in mid November. (Photo by Carrie Cochran/The Cincinnati Enquirer)