By Kevin Aldridge
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Some community leaders say Cincinnati City Council candidates haven't been specific when talking neighborhood-level issues in this campaign.

Crime and blight have been regular topics for the 26 council hopefuls when speaking at community forums over the past two months.

But only a few candidates have dwelled on more neighborhood-specific topics such as absentee landlords, sewage problems, development of neighborhood business districts, the city's new zoning code or the possible expansion of Lunken Airport, community leaders said.

Since council members are elected at-large and not by districts, crafting a message for each of Cincinnati's 52 neighborhoods can be a challenge.

"That becomes a point of differentiation between the candidates," said Mary Jo Vandenberg, president of the Mount Lookout Community Council.

"Those who chose to address the concerns important to us set themselves apart because we learned where they stood and how they would address those issues. It makes them less of a risky vote than candidates who did not speak to them."

Vandenberg said she was disappointed by the performance of some council candidates at a forum in September sponsored by neighborhood groups in California, Columbia Tusculum, East End, Linwood, Lower Salem, Mount Washington and Mount Lookout.

Vandenberg said each of the candidates was given a list of questions ahead of time, but only a few actually addressed any of the topics.

"It made us feel like it was a waste of time to have even prepared those questions," she said. "Some candidates used them as part of the discussion, but others just basically did their standard stump speech."

Karen Dudley, president of the College Hill Forum, expressed similar frustration with candidates' sensitivity to neighborhood issues.

Dudley said that at College Hill's candidates night, some incumbents and challengers alike struggled with the simplest of questions about the neighborhood.

"They could not even answer: What is your favorite place in College Hill?" Dudley said. "That tells me they know very little about our community."

She said candidates talked mostly about safety and crime, but few had a plan beyond adding more police.

"Overall, we feel there is a limited number of incumbents who have taken on our community as a point of interest," Dudley said.

E-mail kaldridge@enquirer.com