As the April 7 anniversary of the fatal shooting that sparked last year's riots looms, Cincinnati officials are working hard to get their house in order.

        At City Hall, in churches and in boardrooms downtown, there is a growing and palpable sense that the city is entering a critical moment in the next two weeks.

Ross Love speaks Tuesday at a press conference called by African-American community leaders to urge a quick settlement of a racial profiling lawsuit. With him are (from left) Marian Spencer, Scotty Johnson, Sheila Adams, the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, the Rev. Calvin Harper, Cecil Thomas and Norma Holt Davis. (Brandi Stafford photo) | ZOOM |

        Their goal: to have some evidence of sweeping progress to show the city — and the outside world — by the time protesters take to Fountain Square on April 7 to mark one year since the shooting death of Timothy Thomas by a Cincinnati police officer.

        “I think anniversaries are times when people assess progress,” said Mayor Charlie Luken. “I also think anniversaries present a good opportunity to have a sense of urgency, and get things done. The next couple of weeks around here, people's heads are going to be spinning. Hopefully, that's a good thing.”

        The approaching anniversary has led to a relentless drumbeat of developments on the race-relations front.

        Tuesday, as civil rights leaders expressed their support for a quick settlement by the racial profiling collaborative, they also urged patience.

        “I'm sure some of those who are skeptical will say, "Why couldn't we have come up with some of these things sooner?'” said Sheila Adams, president of the Urban League of Greater Cincinnati.

        “And it probably would have been easy to toss some solutions out there, but we are looking for substantial and sustainable change. And that might not be done over the next several months, weeks or even years for that matter.”

        Indeed, while elected officials, city lawyers, community leaders and others work on issues of race relations and police accountability, they admit there's little to show for it yet:

        • The city has refused to release a draft settlement with the U.S. Justice Department over police use of force, despite the mayor's promise in January that it would be “signed, sealed and delivered” by April 1.

        • Settlement talks in the racial profiling lawsuit against the city are taking place behind closed doors. U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott set a deadline of April 5 to have the settlement completed, but talks have slowed in the last week. They will resume Thursday.

UPCOMING

• Thursday — Negotiations resume to resolve a racial profiling lawsuit against the city of Cincinnati.    • Monday — Mayor Charlie Luken promises to have a “patterns and practices” agreement with the U.S. Justice Department “signed, sealed and delivered.”    • Tuesday — Valerie Lemmie to be sworn in as city manager.    • Wednesday — City Council meets and will likely debate police department reforms.    • April 5 — Deadline set by U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott for settlement of the racial profiling lawsuit. Boycott proponents are urging supporters to take the day off “sick of racism.”    • April 7 — First anniversary of the death of Timothy Thomas, whose shooting by police led to last April's riots. Protesters are planning a “March for Justice” on Fountain Square.

        • Cincinnati Community Action Now, the race relations commission appointed by the mayor after last year's riots, has kept a low profile since Mr. Luken removed the Rev. Damon Lynch III as co-chairman. It is expected to announce an urban jobs initiative next month that will link job seekers to major employers.

        The region's business community has pushed hard behind the scenes to announce tangible signs of progress.

        But the slow progress of the collaborative talks and the continued tension between the mayor and boycott leaders have frustrated corporate and civic leaders.

        Once determined to ignore the boycott, organizations such as the Cincinnati Business Committee and the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce now acknowledge it has hurt the region's national image and are taking it seriously.

        They are directly involved in several programs to help promote inner-city job growth and minority business development. Unlike the court-imposed deadlines of the collaborative, those programs are long-term, said Nick Vehr, the former City Council member and now vice president of economic development at the chamber.

        “If there's pressure, it's a self-imposed pressure by business leaders to show that they're taking this very seriously,” he said. “Businesspeople are going to do it when it's ready.”

        Publicly, most executives refuse to discuss the boycott, citing the need to retain credibility with both sides.

        Mr. Luken knows he can't avoid those questions. He also knows that the yardstick that the national media will use to judge Cincinnati is just 12 months long.

        “But in some ways, I think Cincinnati has been held to a standard that no other city has been held to. Where else are they trying to measure what's happened in the last 12 months?” he said.

        In the last week, Mr. Luken has been interviewed by reporters from National Public Radio and the Washington Post. He knows there are more to come.

        “I told the people from NBC and ABC and CBS last year to come back in the next 12 to 18 months and see where we are. And I'm sure they're coming — maybe sooner than I would like,” he said.

        Mr. Luken rattles off a list of changes he thinks the city isn't getting credit for: the passage of Issue 5, which makes future police chiefs and assistant chiefs more accountable to the city manager; the elimination of the Safety Department; the hiring of City Manager-designate Valerie Lemmie.

        And there was Police Chief Tom Streicher's acknowledgement last week that Officer Stephen Roach lied about the events leading to the April 7 shooting.

        On Monday, Mr. Luken released the city's plan to completely overhaul the agencies that provide oversight of the Cincinnati Police Department.

        “The city has made progress,” said Cecil Thomas, director of the Cincinnati Human Relations Commission and a former Cincinnati police officer. “That much is evident by the broad base of people at the table discussing the collaborative and other issues. We did not get to where we are overnight and we are not going to change overnight.”

        “I think we all recognize we cannot afford another report on the shelf,” Mr. Thomas said Tuesday. “The bigger question is: Can our city patiently wait while this process plays out?”

       Enquirer reporters Kevin Aldridge and Cliff Peale contributed to this report.
       

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