One-third of Cincinnati Futures Commission members hail from Hyde Park, Indian Hill

Sharon Coolidge, Alexander Coolidge and Patricia Gallagher Newberry, Cincinnati Enquirer

More than a third of the people on the commission calling for Cincinnati to sell assets and raise taxes to fix its finances don't live within the city's boundaries.

And more than one-third of the 34-member Cincinnati Futures Commission that worked on a plan to reverse the city's downward financial trend come from Indian Hill and Hyde Park − two of the wealthiest areas of the region, The Enquirer found.

The group of business, labor, and community leaders has recommended selling, leasing or giving away assets such as Greater Cincinnati Waterworks, city-owned golf courses, Lunken Airport and two city parks. It also recommended two tax increases.

All but two members live or work in the city.

The panel is diverse in race and gender, but when it comes to where members live they only represent eight of the city's 52 neighborhoods:

  • Eight are from Hyde Park.

  • Four are from Clifton.

  • Two live in Walnut Hills.

  • One each from Mount Lookout, West Price Hill, Bond Hill, Over-the-Rhine and North Avondale.

While nearly a quarter of the panel's members are from Hyde Park, no member is from Westwood, the city's largest neighborhood, which has more than twice the population of Hyde Park.

As for members who live outside the city, six are from Indian Hill, where the median income is more than $218,000 and where the median home listing price is $3.1 million, according to Realtor.com.

Cincinnati City Hall.
Cincinnati City Hall.

The Futures Commission plan was the brainchild of Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval and led by Procter & Gamble CEO Jon Moeller, who lives in Northern Kentucky. He worked with the business community to select the members. The commission's goal: review the city’s budget, analyze economic development and recommend future funding priorities.

The report says the membership of the commission was designed to "provide a diverse and thorough knowledge base and expertise of the city." The members include executives, business owners, nonprofit CEOs and labor leaders. They sit on more than 90 nonprofit community and economic development and civic boards, bringing "perspective beyond their day-to-day work that gave the commission further reach into the community."

The commission's work cost $2 million, half paid by city taxpayers and half from the local business community. The money went to accounting analyses, research, and public listening sessions, said Betty Hull, a communications specialist who helped with the commission.

The group started work in January 2023.

"When we walked into office on Jan. 2 last year it became very clear the biggest challenge long-term was the fiscal health of our city," Pureval told The Enquirer last year. "In the past transformational ideas, like 3CDC (Cincinnati Center City Development Corp.) or Preschool Promise, has always been collaborative, pulling the best and brightest from the entire community. It happened with the Smale Commission when the city was at a similar crossroads."

The people evaluating Cincinnati's future:

The group of 34 is a "who's who" of Cincinnati − a diverse group of top business and civic leaders, as well as people who represent unions:

  • Jon Moeller, Procter & Gamble, president and CEO, Covington.

  • Katie Blackburn, Cincinnati Bengals executive vice president, Indian Hill.

  • Phillip Holloman, Cintas retired president and COO, Amberley Village.

  • Tim Spence, Fifth Third Bank president and CEO, Indian Hill.

  • Stuart Aitken, Kroger senior vice president and chief merchant and marketing officer, Indian Hill.

  • Matt Alter, Cincinnati Fire Union president, Hyde Park.

  • Paula Boggs Muething, FC Cincinnati chief legal and administrative officer, former Cincinnati city manager, Clifton.

  • Kerry Byrne, TQL president, Hyde Park.

  • Manuel Chavez, Mobile Infrastructure CEO, Hyde Park.

  • Michael Fisher, business and civic leaders, past CEO of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Amberley Village.

  • Chris Fister, Castellini Management Company partner, Hyde Park.

  • David Foxx, D.E. Foxx and Associates chairman, Clifton.

  • Bill Froehle, Cincinnati AFL-CIO Labor Council president, West Price Hill.

  • John Fronduti, American Financial Group assistant general counsel, Hyde Park.

  • Chris Habel, Frost Brown Todd partner in charge, Mount Lookout.

  • Deborah Hayes, Christ Hospital president and CEO, West Chester.

  • Dan Hils, Former Cincinnati Fraternal Order of Police president, Loveland.

  • Renita Jones-Lee, AFSCME Ohio Council 8, regional director, Elmwood Place.

  • Elizabeth Mangan, Miller-Valentine Construction CEO, Walnut Hills.

  • Candice Matthews Brackeen, Lightship Capital general partner, Clifton.

  • Roddell McCullough, First Financial Bank chief corporate responsibility officer, Woodlawn.

  • Candace McGraw, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, CEO, Union, Ky.

  • Laura Mitchell, Beech Acres Parenting Center, president and CEO, former superintendent of Cincinnati Public Schools, Walnut Hills.

  • Jon Niemeyer, Western & Southern Financial Group senior vice president, chief administrative officer and general counsel, Hyde Park.

  • Molly North, Al. Neyer Inc. CEO, Clifton.

  • Michele O'Rourke, O'Rourke Wrecking Company CEO, Hyde Park.

  • Bimal Patel, Rolling Hills Hospitality founder and CEO, Hyde Park.

  • Jorge Perez, YMCA of Greater Cincinnati president and CEO, Indian Hill.

  • Neville Pinto, University of Cincinnati, president, Indian Hill.

  • Barb Smith, Journey Steel Inc. president, Bond Hill.

  • Amy Spiller, Duke Energy, president of utility operations in Ohio and Kentucky, Over-the-Rhine.

  • Barbara Turner, Ohio National Financial Services past president, Liberty Township.

  • George Vincent, Dinsmore partner, Indian Hill.

  • Ebow Vroom, QEY Capital co-founder, CEO and president, North Avondale.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Here's where everyone on the Cincinnati Futures Commission lives

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