In front of television cameras, reporters and radio talk-show hosts, top Cincinnati officials met Tuesday to talk about the progress the city has made in race relations since last April.

        In what detractors called a “public relations stunt,” Mayor Charlie Luken and Vice Mayor Alicia Reece told a group of 70 invited guests that the city has kept its promises to fund inner-city programs. And they said the city is nearing a settlement on two agreements that will address the police use of force and racial profiling.

        The city meeting was the first of two dueling boycott meetings this week. Boycott supporters will hold their own “Cincinnati Sanctions Summit” Thursday night.

        With boycott leaders also boycotting the city's meeting, few areas of disagreement emerged — save for a lengthy debate over the city's contributions to the Cincinnati Empowerment Zone.

        The federal program was supposed to match $100 million over 10 years with a city commitment of $208 million. Boycott groups say the city has reneged on the 1998 agreement.

        But Acting City Manager Tim Riordan said the $208 million was never intended to be in cash. He distributed a city report detailing how the city has already spent $98 million on in-kind services to the Empowerment Zone.

        “We don't believe this report reflects what the letter of commitment says,” said Harold Cleveland, director of the Empowerment Zone. “It benefits us nothing to pass around that report as if the commitment has been made.”

        Also unsatisfied was Norma Holt-Davis, president of the Cincinnati chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

        “I'm sorry,” she said. “Even after your explanation, I'm thoroughly confused about how you've spent $98 million.”

        Even Ms. Reece, who ran the meeting, admitted that she was “disappointed” that the city didn't have a better answer.

        But city officials did have answers for other questions on the boycotters' demand list. They said Cincinnati is:

        • Funding the Citizens Committee on Youth at more than $2.2 million. The boycotters had demanded $2 million.

        • Negotiating an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department on the police use of force. The city has not yet released its response to the federal “patterns and practices” investigation, but Mr. Luken has promised that a deal will be completed by April 1.

        • Working with a groundbreaking collaborative to settle a class-action racial-profiling lawsuit against the city. A federal judge has set an April 5 deadline.

        Pro-boycott leaders had called the meeting a “public relations stunt.” But that didn't stop them from doing some public relations of their own.

        The Black United Front sent out a news release titled, “The City Now Begins its Lying Campaign to Attempt to Discredit Boycott Organizers.”

        And the Rev. James W. Jones, the Carthage pastor who leads a parallel boycott effort, said boycotters didn't miss much by not attending.

        “The meeting further justified our complaint that there has been no disciplining of the three cops who were involved in the deaths of two black men. The city claimed they are investigating those cases but then gave excuses for why the investigations were being held up,” he said.

        But civil rights leaders who did attend the meeting found it worthwhile.

        “I'm glad I was here,” said the Rev. H. L. Harvey, pastor of New Friendship Baptist Church in Avondale and a board member of the national Rainbow/Push Coalition.

        “There were some questions I had answered and found out some things I didn't know.I believe the boycotters could have benefited by being here today and got answers to their questions. Those individuals needed to be here and should have been here.”

        The wide-ranging meeting lasted 2 1/2 hours — an hour longer than scheduled — and even the organizers acknowledged that much of it was mind-numbing facts.

        “It may seem like some of this doesn't apply to you, but it's all part of the fabric of what this city is about,” Mr. Luken told the few people who remained at the end of the meeting.

        “If this was a public-relations event, believe me — I would have orchestrated it a little better than I did.”

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