| UC |  |
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Armed
police patrolling Over-the-Rhine to quell racial riots brought Cincinnati
and its mayor into the national spotlight one year ago. |
Editor's
note: In April 2001, Cincinnati experienced
three days of rioting following the shooting of an unarmed black man by
a white police officer. The incident triggered a four-day curfew imposed
by Mayor Luken, a racial profiling lawsuit against the city and community
activists' efforts to have entertainers and convention business boycott
the city. Although Mayor Luken encountered much criticism, he was re-elected
to his second consecutive term last November.
Instinct:
When you are in a crisis -- and I have been in at least one --
it is best to go to your gut, to your basic understanding of people, of
your city, then just do what you think is right. I think you have to rely
on that instinct. And then things will usually work out for the best.
Decisiveness:
We have a city manager form of government, and I wish I had forgotten
about that sooner and just stood up and taken charge. It took me a few
days to get to that position, and that was really out of respect for the
form of government. I can't say I did everything perfectly, but I did
make a conscious decision to forget all the people pulling and tugging
at my sleeve and just do what I thought was right. It doesn't always work
out, but it did in this case.
Experience:
We all develop experience in our professions. In my case, there were a
few people, and I mean less than five, I consider true advisers. Their
counsel was invaluable. And I believe that experience has taught me ...
Patience:
When I say patience, I mean I could not solve the problem in an hour or
a day, as much as I wanted to. But you need a kind of belief that if you're
patient, things will improve.
Perseverance:
One thing people said to me, besides "I’m praying for you,"
was "hang in there." And I think by "hang in there,"
they were saying, "We know you’re in a crisis. We know you are
being blamed, but if you hang in there, people generally will give you
credit for trying to do the right thing."
Luken served on Cincinnati City Council from
1981-84 and as mayor from 1984-90 and again from 1999 to the present.
The UC grad was a news anchor for WLWT-TV from 1993-99.
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