A look at policy in Cincinnati

I recently read an article in Environment and Planning A about gentrification in Over-the-Rhine. I don't necessarily recommend the article - it's pretty dense - but I will outline its main point. The author, Jean-Paul Addie of York University (Toronto) claims that neoliberal urban policy favors businesses and property values over people, and encourages the displacement of urban poor through gentrification. He states

"Whilst the rhetoric of neoliberal doctrine presents an emancipatory urban imaginary based upon individual freedom and the beneficent role of free markets, the embedding of the policies discussed accentuates the political and economical disenfranchisement of the most marginalised neighbourhood inhabitants."

In English: we have policies in Cincinnati that claim to help the urban poor through free market capitalism, but these policies actually disadvantage/disenfranchise them. I find some of Addie's arguments debatable, but you can be the judge. This table (click on table to enlarge) outlines 3 policies that Addie attributes to gentrification/displacement in Over-the-Rhine:

Source:

Addie, Jean-Paul D. "The Rhetoric and Reality of Urban Policy in the Neoliberal City: Implications for Social Struggle in Over-the-Rhine, Cincinnati." Environment and Planning A, 2008: 2674-2692.