Chris Bortz (born September 10, 1973) is a politician from

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

.ChrisBortz.com: About Chris Bortz
/ref> He was elected to the

Cincinnati City Council The Cincinnati City Council is the lawmaking body of Cincinnati, Ohio. The nine-member city council is elected at-large in a single election in which each voter chooses nine candidates from the field. The nine top vote-getters win seats on the cou ...

in 2005 as a member of the

Charter Party A charterparty (sometimes charter-party) is a maritime contract between a shipowner and a "charterer" for the hire of either a ship for the carriage of passengers or cargo, or a yacht for pleasure purposes. Charter party is a contract of carriag ...

. Because the Charter Party is not recognized by the state of Ohio as an official party, Bortz is a registered Republican. He currently serves as the chair of the council's Strategic Growth Committee. Bortz was born in Cincinnati and attended

Cincinnati Country Day School Cincinnati Country Day School (abbreviated CCDS) is a private, coeducational, independent school located in Indian Hill, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati. History Cincinnati Country Day School was founded in 1926 and was inspired by the Country Day ...

for high school; he attended

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learnin ...

for his undergraduate education, and received a J.D. from the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. ...

. Before his time on the City Council, Bortz served on the Charter Committee Board since 1997, as well as the Cincinnati Electoral Reform Commission, a panel created to study Cincinnati government.

Early career

Bortz attended high school at Cincinnati Country Day School and later went on to graduate from Tufts University in Boston and studied Jacobean theater at the British American Drama Academy. Upon finishing college, Bortz became a teacher at Country Day for sixth-grade English and 8th grade Philosophy. He accepted a position as the Dean of Faculty for Summerbridge Cincinnati, a summer school program designed to give academically qualified, yet underprivileged students the opportunity to advance their education in a rigorous, nurturing academic environment. Besides his role as teacher and Dean of Faculty for Summerbridge, Chris also coached the football, track, baseball and wrestling teams. After graduating from law school at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Bortz moved to Cincinnati and took on a new role at Towne Properties (a

real estate developer Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to others. ...

) as General Counsel and Special Projects Director. He worked on converting the historic Shillito’s department store into modern residential living. On this and many other projects, Chris worked closely with his uncle, Arn Bortz, who served nine years on the Cincinnati City Council and one term as Mayor of Cincinnati in the early 1980s. His work at Towne Properties has raised controversy where it intersects with his service on the council—a local attorney has pushed for censure of Bortz, since Towne Properties may benefit from a

tax increment financing Tax increment financing (TIF) is a public financing method that is used as a subsidy for redevelopment, infrastructure, and other community-improvement projects in many countries, including the United States. The original intent of a TIF program is ...

district passed by the council (Bortz abstained from the vote). The same issue has also plagued his vote on Cincinnati's streetcar system, which would serve several properties owned by the company.

Cincinnati City Council 2005–2011

Bortz was a co-founder of the GO Cincinnati plan for economic development. In May 2006, he signed onto a motion along with Laketa Cole that created an automatic tax exemption for

LEED Certified Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, constructio ...

Silver, Gold, or Platinum standards in order to encourage more sustainable development in Cincinnati. The motion created a

Community Development Block Grant The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), one of the longest-running programs of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, funds local community development activities with the stated goal of providing affordable housing, anti-p ...

as well to help finance structures for builders. He has also been a major advocate for shared services, sitting on the steering committee for GCEP (Government Cooperation and Efficiency Project) In April 2008, Bortz signed onto the motion that moved for $50,000 be allocated for a professional services contact with the Regional Planning Commission in order to match Hamilton County's $50,000. The goal of the motion was to not create a regional government, but to reduce the cost of government while also improving the quality of services provided. In September 2010, Councilman Bortz signed on to a motion to increase economic development in and attract businesses to Cincinnati to enter into a contractual agreement with the Port Authority to implement the GO Cincinnati Plan. As the motion stated, "the Port Authority will become the catalytic development corporation tasked with concentrating development expertise and financial resources required to implement GO Cincinnati, creating jobs and private investment in the City of Cincinnati. Bortz ran for reelection in 2011 and received 22,044 votes. He received the tenth most votes out of nine possible spots on city council, and was not re-elected.

Professional achievements

Board memberships

Electoral Reform Commission Member Breakthrough Collaborative Board Member Cincinnati Country Day School Board Member Jewish Community Relations Council Board Member

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bortz, Chris Living people Cincinnati City Council members Charter Party politicians Tufts University alumni James E. Rogers College of Law alumni 1973 births