A majority of Cincinnati City Councilvoted to require parking lots to have more cameras to deter crime, particularly gun theft from cars.
Cincinnati City Council's budget committee voted 8-1 for the ordinance despite objections from several parking lot owners, including the Chavez family, prominent political donors in the city.
The final vote will take place at the full council meeting on Sept. 30.
Debate centered around whether more security cameras should be required for both garages and surface lots or just garages.
Seth Walsh lone 'no' vote
A version of the ordinance backed by Mayor Aftab Pureval required both garages and surface lots to have either cameras, a full perimeter fence or around-the-clock attendants. Another version, sponsored by Councilmembers Meeka Owens
and Seth Walsh, exempted surface lots from these requirements.
Council members supported Pureval's version. Walsh was the lone no vote against Pureval's ordinance.
"I think we do need cameras," said Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney. "We need to know what’s going on in those lots. We need to deter crime and find out who’s breaking into cars when they do. There are too many guns out there."
Council can't regulate guns but they can regulate parking lots
Several City Council members said they felt regulating parking lots is one of the few ways they can impact gun crime. Both county and state appeals courtshave ruled the city can't override state law that prohibits local municipalities from regulating guns.
With the ordinance, council members said they hope to reduce the number of guns taken from cars. An overwhelming majority of stolen guns have been taken from vehicles, according to Cincinnati Police Department statistics.
Most guns stolen from cars
As of Sept. 21, 267 guns had been stolen out of cars in Cincinnati this year, accounting for 70% of all gun thefts. Thieves stole 30% of those guns from surface parking lots, compared to 8% from garages, according to Jillian Desmond, a senior crime analyst with the Cincinnati Police.
Leaving your gun in your car while parked on the street still posed the biggest risk, with 34% of guns being stolen from cars parked on the street, Desmond said.
Most council members saw no reason to leave parking lots out of the camera requirements.
"The sad reality at some point, there’s going to be a crime in a surface parking lot more serious than a break-in," said Councilman Jeff Cramerding. "It might be a murder. It might be a sexual assault, or an abduction. And when this happens, people will be looking at us and asking, 'How did this happen?"
Are more cameras are needed?
Owens, in arguing for her version, said they were taking into account the concerns of the business community. Both Walsh and Owens expressed concerns about requiring more cameras in the city.
"So the question before us is not whether cameras are available, but whether the city should require them in every circumstance before we fully evaluate their effectiveness," Owens said.
Parking lot owners feel singled out
Owners of parking lots pleaded with council to either back the more lenient council member's versions or not pass anything at all.
Parking lot owners felt singled out by the city.
"These issues don't just happen in parking lots. They happen all over the city," Over-the-Rhine-based developer Urban Sites executive Greg Hubert told council on Sept. 28.
Members of the Chavez family, who have a parking and property empire in the city, urged council at the committee to not pass the ordinance. Chavez Properties subsidiary Park Place lists 20 lots in the city of Cincinnati, in addition to parking lots in Atlanta, Columbus, Dayton and Nashville.
The city-owned lots don't meet all the requirements in the ordinances, Martin Chavez, a partner in Chavez Properties, told City Council. Chavez then referenced the public backlash against Flock cameras and surveillance.
"It seems to me that today, the city is trying to avoid these difficult conversations by forcing surveillance requirements directly on the private property owner," Chavez said.
Parking empire influential at City Hall
Parking lot owners hold some sway at City Hall, particularly the Chavez family.
They're major political donors. According to Board of Elections campaign finance reports, the Chavez family has been regular contributors to Walsh, Owens and Pureval's campaigns over the years:
- Various members of the Chavez family have donated $7,700 to Pureval's campaigns since 2021.
- Martin Chavez, a partner at Chavez Properties, contributed $4,100 to Walsh's campaign for Ohio Treasurer.
- Martin and Robert Chavez, partners at Chavez Properties, gave Meeka Owens' campaign for Hamilton County commissioner $5,000.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: To stop gun thefts, Cincinnati to require cameras in parking lots
