Cincinnati bars, restaurants, and other commercial properties that rack up repeated police calls for drugs, disorder, or violence could face escalating city fines under an expansion of the Chronic Nuisance Ordinance headed to a full council vote Aug. 5. The change would apply to businesses citywide, including in Hyde Park, Oakley, and Mount Lookout.

Cincinnati City Council's Public Safety & Quality of Life committee unanimously recommended emergency passage of the amendments Aug. 3, after hearing presentations from the Cincinnati Law Department, CPD Youth Services, Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #69 President Ken Kober, and Council President Pro Tem Scotty Johnson.

City Manager Sheryl M. M. Long submitted the emergency ordinance, which rewrites Chapter 761 of the Cincinnati Municipal Code. The core change: for the first time, the chronic nuisance law will apply to commercial businesses, not just multi-family residential buildings.

What changes for residents

Under the existing law, only apartment buildings and other multi-family properties could be flagged as chronic nuisances. Property owners were billed $100 per qualifying police call once a building hit a threshold, which ranged from six incidents per year for a two- to three-unit building up to 26 for complexes with 120 to 199 units, according to Cincinnati Police Department procedure.

The amended ordinance adds a new section covering commercial premises. Businesses that repeatedly draw police responses would be entered into the chronic nuisance program and face civil penalties that escalate with each incident. The city could also enforce directly against the business operator, not just the property owner.

Domestic violence protections codified

The amendments write into law a protection that previously existed only in CPD internal policy: calls for help related to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking cannot be counted as nuisance activities. That means a tenant or employee who calls police about an abusive partner won't trigger fines against their landlord or employer.

What prompted the expansion

Council Member Seth Walsh, the primary sponsor of the commercial expansion, told Fox 19 on July 31 that the proposal was triggered by a shooting outside Privee, an Over-the-Rhine nightclub, in which seven people were shot.

Walsh urged residents to report problem businesses to police, saying in the July 31 interview that calling in complaints is what activates the program. "If they're seeing a problem, they should call it in. Call the police — it will trigger this program to be activated earlier. If you don't call about it, we don't know about it," Walsh said.

The goal is early intervention. Walsh said the city would flag businesses at a low threshold to correct behavior before violence erupts.