Mallory's pitch to NAACP

The 2001 riots in Cincinnati, and the subsequent boycott of the city, are believed to have kept away several conventions. But last week, Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory tried to use the riots to land a convention.

When speaking to leadership of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People last week at The Bankers Club, Mallroy tried to lure the organizations’ 2008 national convention to Cincinnati and away from Las Vegas by saying the Queen City still faces many challenges.

“I appealed to their mission,” Mallory said Tuesday at his weekly meeting with the press. “I talked to them about Cincinnati over the last five years. We’ve been a hot spot for racial justice and social justice.

“Since we were ground zero (for race relations) in 2001, the NAACP should be here.”

The NAACP selection committee was ready to recommend Las Vegas as the city for its’ ’08 convention, until Mallory and Police Chief Tom Streicher appealed to them in Washington, D.C. a couple months ago. The committee agreed to hold off on its recommendation and make another trip to Cincinnati before making the decision.

“What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” Mallory said. “But what happens in Cincinnati makes national news. So they need to make national news.”