PRESS RELEASE

Over One Thousand Area Residents Attend First Countywide Town Meeting

Diversity, development and collaborative decision-making among topics deliberated

January 12, 2002 – Hamilton County – Today, 1060 participants along with 240 volunteers and facilitators met in Cincinnati Music Hall’s ballroom to set the course for Hamilton County’s future.  The first ever Countywide Town Meeting was the largest gathering of its type in which residents from across Hamilton County came together to plan for the county’s future.  The meeting was the next stage in developing a comprehensive plan for Hamilton County, the first such plan in over 30 years.

After opening remarks from Hamilton County Commissioners Tom Neyer, Jr. and Todd Portune, Cincinnati Vice Mayor Alicia Reece and Ron Miller, executive director of the Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission, meeting participants began using wireless keypads and laptop computers to learn about each other and begin discussing and addressing some of the most challenging issues facing Hamilton County.

To get used to the wireless technology, participants were polled about their chili preferences.  When asked how they prefer to eat their chili, 33 percent of the participants prefer the chili, spaghetti and cheese combo of the 3-way.  4-ways and 5-ways rounded out the top three preferences with 17 percent and 19 percent, respectfully.

Participants then entered their demographic information.  The group assembled was highly representative of the profile of Hamilton County in the 2000 census.       

“Thirteen hundred people have come forward to help create the vision for the county.  With this foundation of support, we are confident that we can implement their vision,” said Miller.

After lunch, participants began discussing four core issues hindering Hamilton County’s success and progress.  These issues were identified this past fall during a series of 12 public forums held throughout the county and attended by over 600 residents.  The four core issues were:

• Assuring economic prosperity
• Building collaborative decision-making
• Embracing diversity and equity
• Balancing development and the environment

Among the meeting’s instantaneous polling outcomes around these core issues:

• In regards to balancing development and environmental issues Twenty-four percent of participants believe the biggest challenge facing Hamilton County is the resistance to change by vested interests
• Fifty-five percent of participants are confident that they can influence the future of Hamilton County
• Seventy-six percent of participants are committed to remaining involved in the comprehensive planning process

When discussing the core issue of collaboration, participants were asked to discuss how citizens can better participate in their community’s or county’s decision-making.  The top ideas that emerged included:

• Town halls meetings
• Use of e-mail and the internet including web based forums
• A questionnaire distributed with tax statements
• Reinstating block clubs

Key themes that emerged from the groups discussions related to ensuring the county’s economic prosperity:

• Use of economic incentives to retain and attract businesses
• Establish a strong linkage between all levels of education and workforce needs
• Connect people to jobs via transportation

Key themes that emerged from the groups discussions related to embracing diversity and equity:

• Increase accessibility for people with disabilities

• Address economic issues such as income disparities

• Address social justice issues like racial and ethnic profiling

“Everyone in this county should be proud of the turnout today and what was accomplished. Hamilton County has set a new standard for ensuring that the citizen voice will influence the future of the county,” said Carolyn Lukensmeyer, moderator of the Countywide Town Meeting and executive director of AmericaSpeaks, an organization that conducts high-high town meetings across the country.   

COMPASS action teams (CATs) will be formed around the four key issues discussed today and will move the comprehensive planning effort forward to the next stages.  The CATs will meet in the coming months to identify potential solutions to the issues identified and discussed today and will report their findings to the public in August.