I’ve been spending more time paying attention to how Cincinnati City Council actually works. Not just who is on it, but how decisions get made, what perspectives are in the room, and what feels… missing.
This is not a campaign announcement. It is more like a thought experiment.
Where would I fit?
The Current Mix
Right now, council has a pretty clear set of roles covered.
There are people grounded in public safety.
People focused on housing and development.
People who understand budgets, policy, and the mechanics of government.
People deeply connected to neighborhoods and community work.
That is a strong foundation. It is serious, practical, and generally aligned.
But it also means something interesting.
A lot of people are solving problems within the same frameworks.
Where I’d Be Different
My background is not traditional politics. It is design, teaching, and systems thinking.
I spend my time asking questions like:
Why does this system exist in this form?
Who is it actually working for?
What would this look like if we redesigned it from scratch?
That mindset does not replace policy expertise. It complements it.
If current council has policy mechanics and community grounding, I would be bringing design thinking applied to government.
Not as a buzzword. As a method.
The “Mad Professor” Slot (Respectfully)
Every room benefits from at least one person who is willing to reframe the problem.
Not louder. Not more extreme. Just… different.
Someone who can say:
What if we are solving the wrong version of this issue?
What would a prototype of a better system look like?
How do we test ideas before locking them into policy?
That is the lane I naturally occupy as a teacher and designer.
And right now, that lane is not heavily represented.
What That Looks Like in Practice
This is not abstract. It would show up in very concrete ways:
Making Policy More Understandable
Government language is often inaccessible by default. I would push for clearer, more visual, more human ways of communicating decisions.
Prototyping Before Committing
Instead of debating ideas endlessly, test them. Pilot programs. Small experiments. Iterate based on real feedback.
Designing for Real People
Not theoretical residents. Actual humans with constraints, habits, and lived experiences. This is second nature in design, less so in policy.
Connecting Systems
Housing, transportation, safety, mental health. These are not separate problems. They are one system. I would consistently push conversations in that direction.
The Tone Shift
I am not interested in becoming a typical politician.
I am interested in bringing a slightly different energy into the room:
Curious instead of certain.
Creative instead of purely procedural.
Willing to question assumptions without being performative about it.
Still serious. Still grounded. Just… more exploratory.
Why It Might Actually Work
Cincinnati does not need nine people who think the same way.
It needs people who can challenge each other productively.
Right now, there is a lot of alignment, which creates stability. That matters.
But adding someone who approaches problems differently could make the whole system sharper.
Not by replacing what is there. By expanding it.
Closing Thought
If I were on council, I would not be the loudest voice or the most traditional one.
I would be the one asking slightly uncomfortable questions, sketching out alternative approaches, and trying to make city systems make more sense for the people actually living in them.
Which, in a city like Cincinnati, might be exactly the kind of weird that is useful.