By Sharon Coolidge

scoolidge@enquirer.com

Go to the bottom of this story to rank these ideas.

A new grocery store for Avondale.

A beer garden for Mount Airy.

The final piece of an east side bike trail.

Those were some of the new initiatives Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley rolled out in his first State of the City Speech before hundreds crowded into a Music Hall ballroom.

Cranley touted successes - crime is down and Downtown is vibrant - and stuck to campaign themes like improving public services: street paving and trash collection and concentrating on neighborhoods.

"Cincinnati is so steeped in neighborhood lore that neighborhoods mark time," Cranley said. "They mark the pivotal memories of our Cincinnati lives."

He recounted how his wife's family migrated from Jordan and turned a Mount Washington hamburger place into Gold Star Chili; how his grandma served Meals on Wheels in the East End and how he used to walk to grade school in West Price Hill in the dark to serve Mass at 6:30 a.m., then return home to get his younger brother.

"We have inherited great neighborhood memories and it is time my generation started to help create new neighborhood memories for the next generation," Cranley said.

Eight ideas from the speech:

Hand-up initiative

While campaigning Cranley touted his Hand-up initiative, a plan that gives 600 people job training and puts an additional 379 people to work at full-time jobs that pay an average of $9.96 an hour. It works through partnerships with Cincinnati Cooks, Cincinnati Works and Solid Opportunities of Advancement and Retention (SOAR). Money could possibly come from Community Development Block Grant money.The ambitious goal: Transition 4,000 Cincinnatians from living in poverty to living in a household with at least one full-time provider. If successful, that would represent a 5 percent reduction in the poverty rate.

Economic Advisory Inclusion Council

On this, Cranley put it bluntly: "The City of Cincinnati has a lousy record of minority inclusion, which is unacceptable." So he's convened an Economic Advisory Inclusion Council, which will be headed by former Councilman Paul Booth and the Horseshoe Casino's General Manager, Kevin Kline. The group will look at best practices in Atlanta and Cleveland. The process to become a city contractor will be streamlined, aimed at removing barriers to becoming a city contractor. Already 25 minority and women-owned businesses are participating a a "fast-track" program. In Fiscal Year 2013, 2.1 percent of all city contracts went to African American-owned businesses, which totaled $5.2 million. So far in Fiscal Year 2014, the number has increased 2.8 percent -- or $3.8 million, meaning the city is on pace to exceed the 2013 numbers.

Fixing streets & the fleet

Cranley said the most visible sign of tax dollars in neighborhoods is the condition of the roads and making sure ambulances, police cruisers, garbage trucks and snow plows are there when needed. The city's fleet has been badly neglected. From 2009 to 2013, the city didn't replace vehicles or pave enough streets. Fifty-five percent of the fire, police and garbage vehicles are past their prime. As for road pavement conditions, which are rated annually, they've declined the last five years, Cranley said. "The conditions of our fleet and of our streets are now sorely lacking and far below what's acceptable," Cranley said. "These are serious problems and a growing threat to our city's progress." Black is preparing a report with short and long term solutions. "Make no mistake, the hole is deep and it will take us years to recover from this neglect," Cranley said.

Dumping the one-can trash policy

Under former Mayor Mark Mallory the city switched to a one garbage can per family policy. The goal: promoting recycling and improving worker safety. Instead, it led to "historic levels of illegal dumping." Cranley, calling it a "folly" is abandoning the policy starting in March. With it will come a new four-day-a-week trash collection plan. On Fridays garbage collectors will focus on city-wide clean-ups and pick-up of bulk items.

Dramatic new fines for property neglect

Cranley said neighborhoods have suffered from too little enforcement of building codes, nuisance laws and laws requiring grass to be cut. So he's partnering with the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority's Land Bank, Legal Aid and Keep Cincinnati Beautiful to address the problem. Count on "dramatic new fines and dedicated resources," he said. "Nothing hurts morale in our neighborhoods more than when good neighbors who take care of their properties suffer because negligent neighbors don't do the same -- and bring down the value for all," Cranley said.

German-style beer garden in Mount Airy Forest

Over the summer Cranley traveled to Cincinnati's sister city, Munich, home to the world's largest beer garden, Königlicher Hirschgarten. Let's do something similar here, he said. He's exploring putting a German-style beer garden in a Mount Airy Forest, where it would be the centerpiece of new attractions. "Mount Airy is the largest urban park in the nation and -- just as Washington Park revitalized Over-the-Rhine -- some new attractions could revive the West Side, which I believe has not received the attention it has deserved."

A full-service grocery store in Avondale

Cranley, along with the Avondale Community Council, Avondale Community Development Corp., City Food Access Taskforce, Avondale Comprehensive Development Corp., the Coalition of Pastors and The Community Builders, are working to build a new, mixed-use development -- including over 60 units of mixed income housing and a new grocery store -- on a site adjacent to the Avondale Town Center on Reading Road. Goals include: restoring dependable access to fresh, healthy food in Avondale, a documented "food desert;" enhancing walkability, safety and vibrancy in the Town Center area; providing quality new housing options for families across a range of incomes; and providing permanent jobs in the neighborhood.

Buy the land needed for the Wasson Way Bike Trail

This long-talked-about east side, 6.5 mile bike trail recently missed out on grant funding, but Cranley isn't going to let that stop the project. He said the city will buy the needed land. "This will improve the quality of life in Evanston, Hyde Park, Oakley and Mount Lookout and continue our efforts to make Cincinnati more bike-friendly."

UC partnership to design an improved Burnet Woods

University of Cincinnati President Santa Ono has agreed to help design an improved Burnet Woods in Clifton and has already started work on the concept. "Burnet Woods is an under-utilized gem in our parks system," Cranley said.

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