From the Who to the What

Sol attending the 2024 International LGBTQ+ Leaders Conference

I’ve told you who I am, but moving forward I want to talk about what I want to do for us. I’m grateful and humbled to be a member of a wonderful community that embraces me with open arms. However, the greater Cincinnati community must know how I can help them with their own needs, not the nuances of my gender. In my pursuit of joining City Council, I will be a representative of all citizens, hearing every idea to make our community better. One of my key focal points for this campaign is housing affordability.

 Cincinnati is rife with inequity when it comes to local programs that are meant to support struggling schools, businesses, and families. I have spoken with teachers in our community who have raised concerns about the misuse of tax abatements, tax reductions that can help an individual or business afford property. Housing affordability must not be ignored. Our schools deserve improvement, and the local communities that surround them deserve to be filled with homes affordable to their residents. I will work with the other members of council to learn the nuances of care each neighborhood deserves, while working to secure abatements and other mesaures that are used ethically to enrich our city.

Another area of interest for me is local healthcare initiatives. Last year, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to testify in favor of opening the healthcare budget up to include mental health support for transgender and nonbinary youth. Cincinnati City Council voted in favor to include a $500,000 fund exclusively for the protection of this often overlooked need for mental health support for children in crisis. I would look to go further. Community health services are the backbone of a prosperous community. The current federal administration has already shown their hand – they have no interest in the health or wellbeing of our local communities. Instead, it must be up to us to ensure the physical, mental, sexual, and other health needs of our communities are properly assessed and properly addressed. 

I would like to also acknowledge how I look forward to improving and solidifying workers rights within our community. I am a proud union member and will listen to local union leaders to gain a better understanding of where exactly we as community leaders are failing our workers. I will work alongside our labor leaders to determine what we can do at the local level to improve our collective conditions. This is something we must focus on as organizations like the National Labor Relations Board are federally under siege. The intent to strip workers of their rights, dismantle safety regulations, and forego equitable treatment by their employers –  big corporations are doing their damndest to skirt our collective rights as workers, and it is one of my core goals to combat this at the local level with new protections ensured by our great city. 

So you’ve heard who I am. I’m the trans candidate, but that’s not what is important to our future together. This is ‘the what’ and these are my goals, but I need to hear yours. Together, we can craft this city into a place anyone would want to live, and none of us would ever dream to leave. Our city council has done great work so far, and I look forward to being a great addition to help take our work even further. I will work for you. I will work with you. I will navigate all of our communities–workers, teachers, children, families–and work to weave together holistic policy that lifts all of us up and into opportunity. I wish to represent all of us, and I can’t wait to earn your vote for Cincinnati’s next City Council Member.