League of Women Voters of Ohio
Hamilton County, OH November 4, 2003 Election
	Pete G. Witte Answers Questions Candidate for Council Member; City of Cincinnati

The questions were prepared by the LWV Cincinnati Area and asked of all candidates for this office.

Read the answers from all candidates.

Questions & Answers

1. How would you implement your top priority?

Reprioritize the Cincinnati Police Department. We need to create an atmosphere in our city which police deter crime, not react to it. We need the police to know our neighborhoods and be ever present. People want clean safe neighborhoods, let's give it to them.

2. Numerous important issues including transportation, land use planning, housing and economic development for the Greater Hamilton County regions are being deliberated by OKI's Land Use Commission and Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission and Planning Partnership COMPASS; how engaged should local government be in these planning activities? If elected, how would you participate in these planning activities?

Local governments should be very involved in these "regional" issues. As a former Chair-Elect of Hamilton County's Planning Partnership, I saw first hand what a lack of understanding and cooperation can do to individual jurisdictions and then ultimately this county. Our elected officials need to be engaged in this process they need to attend meetings and at the very least send representatives to learn what's being discussed.

3. Ohio Department of Natural Resources in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Recycling Coalition conducted a state-specific study and found recycling businesses in Ohio generated $650.6 million dollars in state government revenue. If elected how would you promote recycling and support recycling programs currently in place in your community to reduce solid waste generation?

Recycling has become a "way of life" to a new generation. We as a city need to keep promoting this and continue what we have started. Cincinnati cannot give up recycling to save money. Cincinnati, in fact, should aggressively puruse other activites that benefits future generations. A modern energy producing facility utilizing solid waste is something I would research as an elected official. For our children, for the future!