By Gregory Korte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

WEST PRICE HILL - Accountability was the theme as candidates for Cincinnati City Council addressed west side voters Monday night.

While most candidates are inclined to propose new laws or boast of the ones they've already passed, East Price Hill leader Frank Hollister asked how they would enforce the laws already on the books.

"It's quite frankly indefensible for a council member to pass a motion, a resolution or an ordinance, and 15 months later - after earning about $70,000 in salary out of your tax money - find out that the ordinance was never acted on," said Charterite John Schlagetter.

When City Council members do follow up, they're accused of "micromanaging," Schlagetter said. But council should do more "strategic management" to make sure resources are devoted where they're needed.

"If you go to City Hall, you'll see that everybody has those fancy new flat-panel computer monitors. And yet police detectives don't have e-mail addresses or voice mail," he told a crowd of about 120.

Issues of blight, crime and disorder dominated the candidate forum at the Covedale Theater - the last big neighborhood forum of the 2003 campaign.

Calls for more police were frequent, but some candidates - such as Republicans Pete Witte and Chris Monzel - said the city also doesn't have enough building inspectors.

Witte, a Price Hill Republican, accused Council of "allowing the west side to deteriorate" - mostly through misguided priorities and an inattention to basic needs.

Republican Leslie Ghiz, a former labor negotiator for the city, touted her knowledge of how to navigate that bureaucracy. "I know what goes on, who to call, how the process works," she said. "That's everything in getting policies implemented."

Republican Terry Deters said it's a challenge just to get city crews to properly empty the trash cans on his street. The solution, he said, was managed competition - which would require the city to bid against the private sector.

Independent Brian Crum Garry, a carpenter, said the city shouldn't need managed competition. When someone on his work crew isn't carrying his weight, he's fired. "It's as simple as that," Garry said.

Incumbents said the city has made some progress.

A "quality-of-life" index created by the Law and Public Safety Committee has allowed council members to better track progress on litter citations, panhandling arrests and miles of streets swept.

"What's amazing is that if you keep asking for those numbers, over time they're going to go up," said Democrat David Pepper.

Democrat David Crowley called on all candidates to do something about littering - by pledging not to put their yard signs in city parks or public rights-of-way.

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E-mail gkorte@enquirer.com