Below are the bios for candidates running for CTM Trustee at the upcoming elections on Monday, December 3 from 6-7pm. Elections will be held at the Clifton Recreation Center on the 2nd floor in the large meeting room. The Rec Center is universally accessible to all. Take the elevator or the stairs to the 2nd floor.
There five positions to be filled by the five candidates receiving the most votes.
Voting by proxy is prohibited in the CTM bylaws. You must be present to vote. It takes only a few minutes. You can pay your membership current prior to voting in advance or at the night of elections.
Joe Brunner
My name is Joe Brunner and I am seeking a Trustee position with Clifton Town Meeting. I have lived in Clifton since 2010, first on Amazon and now on Whitfield. My family and I have benefitted greatly from everything Clifton has to offer, from our business district on Ludlow to our parks, the CCAC, the library, and of course the great people. Clifton has both history that should be preserved, such as our architecture, walkable streets, and independent businesses, and room to grow and change, as is happening with CCAC and the development on the Howell street parking lot, for example. We love our neighborhood and I would be honored to have the opportunity to help preserve and grow our community by joining CTM. I am currently a lawyer at Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease downtown and have extensive experience working with individuals, businesses, nonprofits, and government entities to manage and resolve disputes and develop plans for future growth and success. I would love to be able to use my skills to help my neighborhood and community. Thank you.
Malcolm Montgomery
- Passion, experience, results! Lifetime of passion for protecting, enhancing Clifton, record of accomplishments, seasoned perspective complements new trustees. I believe that collaborating is not only the best way to get things done, but absolutely essential to strengthening the bonds of community.
- VP two of the last three years, fought to save CCAC and guarantee good school for Clifton. Sought unified “win-win” that would not fracture our community. Currently chair CTM’s “Keep CCAC in Clifton.“
- Chair bylaws committee to make CTM more responsive and accountable, see announcement this issue.
- One of handful of Lifetime CTM Members. UC career in Educational Technology, now consult pro bono. Volunteered over 1,000 hours during my current three-year term. Also trustee 1990 and 2009.
- public safety: police liaison, funding for hidden cameras to catch drug dealers, limiting side street traffic and speeding enforcement
- to improve our quality of life and protect our property values – chaired CTM Housing and Zoning Committee, testified before City Zoning Commission and City Council for a more effective chronic nuisance law, for better zoning laws, for fairness in the enforcement of zoning regulations, and for neighborhood improvements.
- With your vote, I can keep at it another three years! Thanks!
Peggy Spohr
Hello CTM members! Always looking for ways to contribute to the beauty, livability, and richness of our community experience, I ask for your vote this year. We are a neighborhood of eclectic tastes, architecture, and people, and I love every strand of our unique tapestry. Many decades before I was born at Good Sam, and continuing until this very day, my family has lived and/or worked within a two-mile radius of Ludlow and Clifton. Some amazing historic contributions from those early years are still with us, and many more are yet to evolve. I hope to help grow our vibrant business district, enhance the sustainable lifestyle we all seek, and keep a mindful eye on the preservation of treasures we have inherited. Please join me in supporting our neighborhood association with your on-going membership, and thank you for your vote.
Clifton Volunteer Work past 5 years:
- Decorating Ludlow with holiday lights and greenery;
- Planting bulbs at Richie’s;
- Cleaning/weeding Plaza gardens;
- Set-up for Memorial Day Parade;
- Registration table at Clifton House Tour;
- Honeysuckle Hit Squad in Burnet Woods;
- CliftonFest 5K Race registration;
- Attend Invest in Neighborhood Summit;
- Submit proposals for use of NSP Funds;
- Regularly attend monthly CTM meetings and community engagement sessions
Brian Duffy
I am a native Cincinnatian, originally from the West Side. My partner Chris and I have lived in Clifton for the past 11 years with our twin daughters Clare & Julia who are students at Fairview-Clifton German Language School. We also have a 12-year-old Goldendoodle named Ella. I attended UC and before that SCPA.
At home, I love gardening, I am a runner, have a great passion for the arts and architecture.
Professionally, I’m an executive at a Cincinnati based manufacturing company where I’ve worked for the last 20 years. As a senior leader in the organization, my expertise lies in customer experience, project management and distribution operations. I also run a small business providing the most unique lodging in Hocking Hills.
In choosing Clifton as our family home we came for the schools, architecture, arts, walkability, parks, and diverse community, all of which we believed to be the perfect place to raise our family. I’m most interested in preserving the arts in Clifton, working with CPS to ensure a smooth transition as CANS opens its doors, and the continued revitalization of the Clifton Business District.
Thank you for your consideration!
Peter Block
Given the craziness of the larger world, I am committed to bringing more cooperation to our neighborhood and city. It is what I have written about and made a living at. This is the overriding reason I am asking to be voted onto CTM again.
There are many questions in front of us which I would like to be a part of. We have to find a way to sustain Clifton Market. It is in our interests to maintain the neighborhood engagement in the Howell Street Development, which will be starting up again in 2019. We want CCAC to stay as local as possible. We need to come together in caring for Burnet Woods and end the acrimony. The Ludlow business district is still vulnerable with too little foot traffic.
Plus, there are new opportunities to create a current Neighborhood Plan for Clifton, bring more visible art, murals, and gateway signage to the business district.
All of this requires participation from all of us. We need more civic engagement. There are still too few of us, as trustees, acting as if we know what the “neighborhood wants.” I would like to keep working on this.
