By Gregory Korte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Cincinnatians are pessimistic about the future of their city, but aren't sure how to fix it, according to a telephone poll conducted this week.

ONLINE EXTRA

• Comments from the poll • Poll takes pulse of city

And because of that indecision, Mayor Charlie Luken said Friday there's no mandate to ask voters to change the system for electing council members.

The survey of 300 registered city voters, sponsored by the city's tripartisan Election Reform Commission, found that 66 percent of voters say Cincinnati is falling behind similar cities. And 63 percent of voters said the city is "on the wrong track." In 1998, that number was 35 percent.

Virginia pollster Neil Newhouse said Cincinnatians are as pessimistic as he's seen them in the 10 years he's been polling here. "These numbers are negative. They're more negative than the state numbers, and they're more negative than any other city we've seen."

Voters said crime (30 percent), racial problems (22 percent), and economic issues (14 percent) are the most important problems facing the city.

Luken said he was surprised at the depth of the negativity. "It ought to be a wake-up call to council - and me and the city manager - to focus on the issues that people care about, which are crime and race relations," he said.

But if the problems are clear, the solution is not.

Asked about what changes need to be made at City Hall to get things on the right track, voters gave mixed and sometimes contradictory answers.

City Council's approval rating of 37 percent isn't much improved from 32 percent in 2001. But City Council is still more accountable to the voters than the mayor or the city manager, voters said, and 70 percent said City Council is responsive to issues that concern the city.

Given their choice of several systems of government, voters favored a City Council of nine members - the most commonly discussed district proposal - to a council of 15 members.

"I think the poll was pretty clear that voters don't see the solution as more politicians," said Donald J. Mooney Jr., chairman of the Election Reform Commission. The 13-member body was supposed to report its recommendations to City Council by Feb. 1, but is now asking for a 30-day extension.

In a boost to diehard Charterites, a system of proportional representation - in which voters rank their preferences one through nine, giving more weight to their top choice - polls as well as any district system, with 48 percent support.

One thing isn't broken: Only 18 percent of voters said a council salary of about $57,000 was "too much," while 68 percent said it was "about right" and 7 percent said it was "not enough."

"I think we have a lot of potential City Council candidates out there," Newhouse said.

"People believe City Council is responsible for city government - even more than the city manager or the mayor," he said.

The commission has also been looking at strengthening the power of the mayor's office by allowing him to hire and fire the city manager without the consent of council.

Some experts have suggested that a district system cries out for a stronger mayor to help corral the parochial interests of ward council members.

Most voters said the current "stronger mayor" system, inaugurated in 2001, isn't working.

Still, a change in the mayor's powers received even less support than reforms in City Council elections. Pollsters found only 28 percent support for a "major overhaul" of city government.

When they asked specifically about a combined executive mayor/district council plan, pollsters found even less support.

"Without a campaign, off the top, we're at 24 percent on that," Newhouse said. "We have a ways to go to pass this thing. It's not the support we saw six years ago with a stronger mayor."

Luken said the Election Reform Commission should continue its work. But without a clear mandate for change, "I'm not going to push forward to change a system that voters are comparatively - comparatively - happy with.

The poll was conducted Tuesday and Wednesday and has a margin of error of plus or minus 5.66 percentage points.

E-mail gkorte@enquirer.com