Cincinnati Mayor Charlie Luken said Tuesday he will not negotiate with organizations urging a boycott of the city — no matter who's mediating the talks.

        Instead, Mr. Luken said, the resolution of the city's race relations problems should come through the collaborative process created by federal court order.

        As economic sanctions against the city gain momentum, city officials are also fighting back with a national marketing campaign emphasizing Cincinnati's African-American heritage.

        A loose coalition of civil rights groups called for the boycott last summer in the aftermath of the riots that followed the police shooting of a fleeing African-American man in a dark Over-the-Rhine alley. They're demanding city money for inner-city programs and amnesty for people arrested in the riots.

        Mr. Luken said proposals to negotiate those demands through third parties — including the U.S. Civil Rights Commission or former President Jimmy Carter — are out of the question.

        In a letter to the Progressive National Baptist Convention this week, Mr. Luken said the collaborative process is “an unprecedented effort at healing our city through broad inclusion.”

        And he noted that the Cincinnati Black United Front — which is leading the call for a boycott — is part of that negotiation.

        “Any other effort at this point would undermine the great work that has already been accomplished on this front. We will, in good faith, continue to negotiate, but a new and separate negotiation would only work at cross-purposes with that effort,” Mr. Luken wrote.

        The Baptist ministers agreed last week to keep their national convention of up to 15,000 people in Cincinnati this August — but only on the condition that the city open “unconditional negotiations” with boycotters.

        Councilman Paul Booth, whose father was a founder of the Baptist ministers group, helped broker that agreement. He said Mr. Luken's letter could once again jeopardize the convention.

        “The No. 1 condition was, clearly, that there be unconditional negotiations with boycott promoters,” said Mr. Booth, who has invited President Carter and others to help mediate. “I was under the impression that we committed to that. So I'm disappointed.”

        The former president has not responded to the request, although other invitees — Martin Luther King III and former Labor Secretary Alexis Herman — have accepted, Mr. Booth said.

        Mr. Booth said both sides were equally at fault for not coming to the table — the boycotters for making unrealistic demands, and the mayor for refusing to talk to people engaged in “name-calling” while at the same time referring to boycotters as “economic terrorists.”

        Mr. Luken said he will not “pretend to take seriously” any group that includes amnesty for rioters in its list of demands.

        “That is just an excuse he uses so that he doesn't have to deal with these issues directly,” said the Rev. James W. Jones, chairman of the pro-boycott Coalition for a Just Cincinnati.

        “If he doesn't want to deal with the amnesty issue because he doesn't have the power to deal with it, that's no big deal. But let's address those issues about how money is being dispersed between communities and downtown and how the laws are enforced. Those are issues over which he does have power.”

        Boycotters have put city officials on the defensive during the past week, with comedian Bill Cosby and singer Smokey Robinson canceling shows. A scheduled show by jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis hangs in the balance.

        For now, Mr. Luken and city officials are targeting their efforts toward a national marketing campaign that will tout the city's diversity and vitality.

        Vice Mayor Alicia Reece, who dreamed up the campaign, said she's looking for corporate sponsors to help print 250,000 pamphlets to send to convention groups.

        “What it begins to do is put faces on the rich history and African-American heritage of the city of Cincinnati,” she said.

        The pamphlet will feature prominent African-American city leaders — including Ms. Reece, City Manager-designate Valerie Lemmie and Fire Chief Robert Wright.

        It will target African-American conventions, which Ms. Reece said are a $1 billion-a-year industry.

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