From the POWR PAC Event

The West Side political action group introduced its endorsed candidates Monday night at an event at Price Hill Chili (where else?). Here's some of what went on, what was said, who showed, etc.:

The event was supposed to just be for the candidates the group endorsed. That's Jeff Berding, Chris Bortz, Leslie Ghiz, Cecil Thomas, John Eby, Chris Monzel, Laketa Cole, John Cranley and Charlie Winburn. Winburn announced that, if elected, he'll give council more power than HUD. But more on that later.

Wendell Young also showed up, introducing himself to people and asking for their support despite the lack of a POWR PAC endorsement. He's a former Cincinnati police officer who went back to work in August teaching at Aiken.

David Faust, president of Cincinnati Christian University, was there, talking about the importance of Price Hill to the school. He admits there were questions about the neighborhood from trustees when the school was planning its $25 million-plus expansion, but he says moving to the suburbs would create problems for teaching students about urban communities and preparing them to help all different kinds of people.

So CCU stayed. Faust and his wife built a new house adjacent to the property and moved in in May. "So we have, as they say, skin in the game."

Pete Witte, president of Price Hill Civic Club and sometimes referred to as Cincinnati's 10th council member, did the introductions. "We need to keep working hard, people," he said to the about 75 people in the room. "West Side neighborhoods are under attack."

Eby showed the blue dots again and said it's time voters "invest in people who think like we do." Cranley said he supports the West Side, of course, but that West Siders' issues also are important in other parts of the city too. Monzel, who took ribbing for going to Moeller rather than a West Side school, said the only way to fix problems associated with Section 8, litter and safety is "to get folks down there (in City Hall) who get it. We need a council who gets it." And he added: "And of course, vote for me."

Berding pitched taking money from the sale of the Blue Ash airport and turning it into an economic development fund that could be used to buy and demolish dilapidated houses. He likened City Hall to a cruise ship on the ocean, in that it takes time to turn it around. He thinks the current crop has turned it around and is headed in the right direction.

Ghiz said she knows she wouldn't be on council without the group in the room. She was endorsed last time. "You charge me up like nobody else in the city does...I am the person on council who always stands up and says what you're thinking."

Thomas says he understand the crime issue because he's a former cop. He also said Witte would make a pretty good councilman, too. Bortz: in addition to working on crime, the West Side needs economic development. Price Hill can be the next Mount Adams, he said, because it, too, has people who push and push for what they think the neighborhood needs.

Winburn sounded, not surprisingly, like a preacher, since he is one. He ended his little speech with, "Can I get an Amen?" and "I'm Charlie Winburn and I approved this message."