Mallory Leaving Israel Soon

Mayor Mark Mallory will return from his trip to Israel on Sunday.

He's been in Jerusalem and other cities this week as one of six U.S. mayors and 30 mayors of international cities there taking part in the 25th annual Jerusalem Conference of Mayors. And for those of you who are going to ask - the trip was paid for by the American Jewish Congress-Council for World Jewry, and neither bodyguard Scotty Johnson nor any other staff members went with him.

The trip, his third international trip in two months, has been about "the fundamentals of familiarity," he said in a phone call Friday afternoon.

"In other words, I've got A-B-C company and we make some kind of switches. I need an operation in the U.S. It needs to be near a river, a rail line and it needs to have a sizeable labor force. So, who do I start talking to? It just becomes that fundamental. So if you don't have a presence...Why on earth should the guy or the woman who's running the A-B-C company look to your city if they don't have any reason to?"

He's been talking about his Young Professionals Kitchen Cabinet and the power of the creative class in creating opportunity. He's also been touting the revitalization of downtown and Cincinnati's arts and cultural assets.

"You're hard-pressed to find another city that has as many fortune 500 companies as Cincinnati does."