The West End Kid

I would propose that they place this in an area not close to schools, homes and businesses. Queensgate has been suggested. Queen City Barrel, Spinney Field, or some sites near the Mill Creek Rivera have also been suggested. Jim Tarbel thinks that some of the industrial sections of Spring Grove would be ideal. I wouldn’t want to put such a massive concentration in any neighborhood next to schools and homes. CMHA has put 150 million into the West End in the Hope VI redevelopment. I don’t think that they could take a public position, but if they could it would probably be a resounding NO! As for the actual residents of CMHA, I also think they would oppose this plan. CMHA has many residents in the West End, and not one person from our community showed up in support for the project at the last meeting. Not one. Just because someone lives in subsidized housing does not make them support moving homeless shelters and soup kitchens from OTR to their backdoor. It doesn’t automatically make them think that placing a facility like this next to schools, businesses and homes is a good idea. I rent to people at affordable rates, and they don’t want it either. It isn’t just property owners. Most people that live here aren’t property owners, and they don’t want it either. You talk about a job training center; we already have that in my community. It is called the Job Corps. Every social service provided in this center is already provided in our community. The only new thing it is going to bring is 40,000 square feet of transient housing and some soup kitchens, and they are also going to bring along the patrons of these services with them. We already have the CAT House for drug and alcohol treatment in the West End. We have the West End Health Clinic. We have a state of the art rec center with weights, ball courts and an Olympic sized pool. We already have every facility offered already in place. Our network is already arguably better. They add nothing but a massive expansion of transient housing. We oppose that. For one thing, I am not “hiding behind the children”. When I open up my back door I can see this site. I live one block away with my wife and two baby boys. I am not hiding behind anyone’s kids; I am standing strong in front of my own. They are my most valuable assets in the entire world. I take them to the park right next to this center on a regular basis. We were there today. During the summertime I go to the Dyer Sprayground that is located there. I am a stay at home dad. I am passionate about my children, and I care about all of the children of my community. It isn’t some façade that I am hiding behind. I have real concerns about my kids, and those concerns are also reflected throughout our community. The principals and educators don’t like this plan. I don’t either. It is probably fair for people like you to be cynical and assume that other people have vested interests. My vested interests are my wife, my family and my community. Don’t play that off like I am making it up as I go along. It is a big deal. Certainly some business owners care more about commerce and the safety of their own employees than they care about my children. Makes sense to me. They aren’t in business for my children. I agree with you that the argument needs to be broadcast on many different levels. I am not the public spokesman for a movement. I am a stay at home dad that is concerned about my kids. I am passionate and emotional about this because this project could hit my family and my community at our core. There is no doubt that this will affect property values. It could affect commerce, employment, business development, residential development, our tax base and other issues. I think that this project has the potential to rip this community apart. I have no doubts about it. I think it is bad for everyone, and I apologize for putting so much focus on the kids, especially my own. But if you had kids, you would fight for them too. I would also like to address the unsubstantiated claims argument that you mentioned. One of the main areas that I have been focusing my research on is how a new and large influx of the homeless population could impact our community. Much of my research has been on critical problems among the homeless. These problems include mental illness, drug addiction, criminal activity, rates of recidivism, violent behavior, and incarceration. We could talk about deinstitutionalization, which is a four decade old policy of shutting down state psychiatric hospitals and releasing mentally ill people into our urban core. Deinstitutionalization has contributed to a legion of mentally ill people roaming our cities. I believe that it has contributed greatly to urban decline. An estimated 200,000 severely mentally ill people are homeless and roaming the streets and shelters nationwide. I believe that deinstitutionalization and the policy of shifting the mentally ill from caregivers to the streets, shelters and prisons is a national shame. The largest health care provider for the mentally ill in this country is the L.A. County jail, which serves more mentally ill clients than any psychiatric hospital in the country. The second largest mental health provider is Rikers Prison in New York City, and the third largest is the Cook County Jail in Chicago. In virtually ever urban county in this country more mentally ill people languish in jails, unable to get the care that they need, than in psychiatric hospitals. The largest mental health care provider in Ohio is the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, commonly called Lucasville prison. The frontline caregivers of our current mental health system are not medically trained clinicians; they are our policemen and women. Here are a couple of informational items of interest that I have found. ====================================================== http://www.psychlaws.org/GeneralResources/fact2.htm • Jails and Shelters Serve as Surrogate Hospitals The woeful failure to provide appropriate treatment and ongoing follow-up care for patients discharged from hospitals has sent many individuals with the severest forms of brain disease spinning through an endless revolving door of hospital admissions and readmissions, jails, and public shelters. At any given time there are more individuals with schizophrenia who are homeless and living on the streets or incarcerated in jails and prisons than there are in hospitals: o Approximately 200,000 individuals with schizophrenia or manic-depressive illness are homeless, constituting one-third of the estimated 600,000 homeless population. Many eat from garbage cans and are victimized regularly. o Nearly 300,000 individuals with schizophrenia or manic-depressive illness, or 16 percent of the total inmate population, are in jails and prisons, primarily charged with misdemeanors, but some charged with felonies, that were caused by their psychotic thinking. o Less than 70,000 individuals with schizophrenia or manic-depressive illness are in state psychiatric hospitals receiving treatment for their disease. PBS did a special on Ohio’s prisons and the effects of shutting down State Psychiatric Hospitals. It is entitled “The New Asylums”. You can watch a PBS special on Lucasville’s mentally ill here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/asylums/interviews/ I particularly liked the insights of Mr. Wilkinson: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/asylums/interviews/wilkinson.html ==================================================== Our current mental health system leaves a lot to be desired. We lock up the mentally ill in jails that are ill prepared to deal with them. I personally think that a jail is the worst possible place for a sick person. As sentences expire and jails get overcrowded, these poorly cared for people are then released into the population. Many of them end up at shelters. Their rates of recidivism, where they relapse into dangerous and self destructive behavior are quite high. Their rates of re-incarceration are also quite high. If you had a flow chart, it would be quite simple. Mentally Ill people are funneled into prisons, they are then let out and funneled into shelters, where they then commit crimes and are funneled right back into they prison system. This is happening all the time. One Ohio prison study found that 72% of mentally ill patients were rearrested during the follow up period, including 41% within 6 months, and 53% during the first year. Of those arrests, 34% were for violent crimes. These sick people are among the most violent agents in our nation. The mentally disabled constitute less than 1 percent of our total population, but they commit 5% of the yearly total of homicides. The National Institute of Mental Health found that from 9% to 15% of all violent acts come from this small segment of the population. Talk to me about “unsubstantiated claims”. Every case study and every shred of evidence that I come across plays out the same way. This is going to have a negative impact, and the body of evidence is quite substantiated and it all points to disaster. This segment of our population is not properly cared for, and they are dangerous. We don’t want them. You should be able to see why. I am no real estate guru. I gave you some sites earlier. There has to be a better place than this. If you had a choice unto where you were going to concentrate violent psychotic people, it probably wouldn’t be right across the street from three schools and a playground. Maybe it is just me. Maybe the whole world has gone insane. And maybe I need to move out into the suburbs like everyone else. I never wanted to follow the herd, but just maybe they are on to something.

Damn straight on that Max. Our community is outraged, but we are not alone. The West End Community Council voted unanimously against the project. The Dayton Street Neighborhood association voted unanimously against the project. The Over the Rhine Brewery District voted unanimously against the project. The Klotter-Conroy residents association and the Clifton Heights Improvement Association strongly oppose this project. The principals of the three schools oppose this project, and so do the parents of the children. Every single business in Brighton has signed a petition opposing this project. The Churches of the West End have come together to sign a petition to oppose this project. Even the Catholic Church in the West End has signed on in opposition to this project, and Catholic's usually don't take public positions without the Pope's blessing. We also have existing social service agencies in my community think that the placement of this facility is a bad idea. You would have to wonder what white guy in the suburbs thought it was a great idea to relocate soup kitchens and homeless shelters from Washington Park and put them across the street from three schools and a playground. When faced with overwhelming opposition, what do they think? "We are going ahead with our plans. The city zoning allows us to build the center. It doesn't matter what the (community) council says." That was the first time in all the presentations and negotiations that CityLink and Crossroads have truly been honest with us. It doesn't matter what we think. They don't care what we think. They could give a damn about our children. If they haven't been responsive to community concerns now, what do you think is going to happen when conflict and problems occur once the center is up and running? What happens when something happens to one of those children? I will give you a hint; they aren't going to damn then either. After all, they are on a great crusade. They are pyramid builders. This facility is going to be a $12 million dollar monument to their own greatness. It will be the largest such facility in the history of the State of Ohio. It is going to attract severely mentally ill and addicted indigents from the entire region. They will be able to pat themselves on the back for "doing the right thing" as they drive home to the suburbs, even though they are going to rip apart my community. Screw them.

For the second straight meeting Dale Mallory tried to shut down the West End Community Council without a motion to adjourn and without a vote. He wants to delay any vote until the point where the building is already purchased and construction has started. By that time, the vote would be meaningless. Now if you read the article, these churches are in an awkward position. They are saying that they don't care what the community thinks and they are going forward with it anyway. I wonder what their congregations think of that position. I would think it would be untenable for some of the member institutions and their constituents.

I was at that meeting. The West End Community Council voted against the CityLink development. It was unanimous. I have never seen the West End so united. Looks like Crossroads is at a crossroads.

The got the zoning on the 5th of December. They are closing on the property next week. The West End is a mix of residential and industrial, and the industrial tracks right next to our schools are zoned MG or manufacturing general. They didn't even need a variance to put this right next to our schools. When something happens to one of those kids this all could have been prevented. It won't be my kids though, because I will be long gone. This is going to rip apart our community.

CityLink is set to close on the property next week. That is from the office of Leslie Ghiz. This is the begining of the end of our neighborhood. CityLink is a 100,000 square foot social service center on a 5 acre site. It is going to have around 40,000 square feet for transient housing. I am not sure another facility of this size exists in the nation. Our neighborhood is going to become a regional magnet for indigent dumping. When people with severe mental illness get released from hospitals and jails, they will be sending them down here. It will overwhelm a community that was just getting it footing with CityWest. I don't think the people of the West End, Mohawk, The Brewrey District, Clifton Heights and Klotter/Conroy know what is about to hit them. Does anyone know a good real estate agent? I am moving to the burbs.

Concerned citizens. They have a website too. www.notocitylink.com Nifty site. Under the opposition section you can see where different organizations around the community have come together to oppose this. It is nice to have people coming together to fight this. You realize that you aren't alone, and that is a beautiful thing.

http://www.cincinnatidealer.com/ Top Stories Group Of People Who Don't Live In West End Plan Homeless Mall In West End By Gerard Oh Dealer staff writer BRIGHTON - A group of churches, faith-based organizations, and a couple fake churches are planning to build a 5-acre homeless mall in the West End complete with counseling, medical, and a coffee shop. This way, the bums can ask each other for cash as they stand in line for coffee. Interestingly enough, of the ten members of this group, dubbed CityLink, none are located in the West End. Located as near as OTR, and as far away as Springdale and Madisonville, these members graciously put forth energy to place the poor in a location they can all agree to avoid. Spokesman for Vineyard Community Church in Springdale, Mark Frew, said, "It feels good to be able to serve a mocha to a homeless person, give em some job advice, and then get my ass back up the highway to Tri-County. I think all us members would agree." The group plans to buy the existing building - a former slaughterhouse - with $12 million dollars in private donations. In unrelated news, 3CDC, the Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation, who have been rapidly purchasing all the property around Washington Park as part of an OTR revitalization plan, made a $12 million disbursement to an anonymous charity this week.

They had 250+ at that meeting tonight. I guess I can't say that nobody supports the project, because 4 people spoke in support of it. One was from the West End.

I just got this in my email today. The City Manager's Preliminary Report (any emphasis mine): Interdepartmental Correspondence Sheet City of Cincinnati November 8, 2005 DRAFT To: Mayor and Members of City Council From: David E. Rager, City Manager Subject: COMMUNICATION FROM CHRIS MCCARTY REGARDING CITYLINK CENTER Document #200510626 The City Council at its session on October 19, 2005 referred the following item for review and response: COMMUNICATION, dated 10/12/2005, submitted by Vice Mayor Reece, From Chris McCarty, 838 Dayton Street, Cincinnati, Ohio 45214, regarding “CityLink Center” – Bank Street Development at Club Chef. The communication presented objections to a project known as the CityLink Center that is proposed to be developed in the West End. PROJECT BACKGROUND INFORMATION Attached I am providing a brochure that provides information about the project, including the following listing of the project founders: the OneCity Foundation, Christ Emmanuel Christian Fellowship, Crossroads Health Center, Crossroads Community Church, City Gospel Mission, CityCURE, Jobs Plus Employment Network, the Lord’s Gym, New Jerusalem Baptist Church, New Life Temple, and Vineyard Community Church. Pursuant to information provided to the Department of Buildings and Inspections, the CityLink Center is proposed to be a 98,000 square foot facility with the following stated uses: • 21.73 percent “Office Crossroads Medical, Dental, Jobs Plus, Administrative, Case Management, Lord’s Gym, CityCure, Misc.”; • 36.73 percent “Transient Housing City Gospel Mission”; • 12.65 percent “Recreational Lord’s Gym, Basketball/Volleyball”; • 10 percent “Day Care including daycare offices & babysitting service”; • 9.69 percent “Incidental Uses Café, salon, barber, welcome center, classrooms, library”; and • 9.18 percent “Storage, Mechanical, Expansion.” Mark Stecher, OneCity Foundation President, advised the Administration of the following: OneCity has an option to purchase the property located at 800 Bank Street, between Baymiller and Linn Streets (the former Club Chef property); OneCity began its due diligence investigation of that site in August 2005; OneCity expects to make a decision to purchase the property between December 2005 and February 2006; and the planned improvements to the building are estimated to cost $7-8 million with a total estimated project cost of $12 million. The Department of Community Development and Planning does not have a request for project funding. At the October 20, 2005, meeting of the West End Community Council, Mr. Stecher made a presentation of the project and responded to initial neighborhood concerns. Mr. Stecher was invited to attend the November 15, 2005, Community Council meeting to further discuss the project. A Pre-Development Conference has also been scheduled for November 15th at the City’s Business Development and Permit Center. PROJECT LOCATION INFORMATION The former Club Chef property is located in the West End, adjacent to the Dayton Street Historic District and within close proximity to Lafayette Bloom Back on Track Accelerated Middle School, King Academy Charter School, and vacant Herberle School. Attached I am providing a diagram of the site’s proximity to the three schools. The area is zoned Manufacturing General (MG). The Department of Buildings and Inspections is in receipt of a request for a determination whether the proposed use is permitted in an area zoned Manufacturing General (MG). The request is dated November 7, 2005 and the determination has yet to be made. Between 1980-2000, household income levels in the West End rose 190% and the homeownership rate increased by 46%. The source of this information is the 1980 and 2000 U.S. Census Data. THE WEST END PLAN At the request of Kim Hale-McCarty (Chris McCarty’s wife), on October 27, 2005, Department of Community Development and Planning staff met with Ms. Hale-McCarty to discuss an unrelated project. At that meeting, Ms. Hale-McCarty shared her concerns about the proposed CityLink Center project as it is related to the West End Comprehensive Plan (the West End Plan). The West End Plan was adopted by City Council in 2004 and it supports the existing Manufacturing General MG zoning designation. The West End Plan recommends that the neighborhood provide a community living environment that will attract new residents and maintain existing residents. To stimulate economic development for the neighborhood, the West End Plan specifically promotes light industrial, commercial and/or loft uses for the former Club Chef property as well as most of the buildings located north of Bank Street. Attachment: City Link Center Brochure Location Map cc: Michael L. Cervay, Director, Department of Community Development and Planning William Langevin, Director, Department of Building and Inspection ================================================= Interesting to note the upward trend in household income and homeownership statistics for the two decades from 1980-2000. That was even before CityWest. I would expect a huge bump in the 2010 census if we can avoid this social service megaplex disaster. I moved here because I saw a bright future. Now I might have a 98,000 square foot "mall for the homeless" next to my wife and kids. What a turnaround that would be for this community. One error in the preliminary report, Heberle Elementary is not a vacant school. I have toured the school, met with the principle and seen the kids myself just recently. All told those three schools have over 700 children grades K-8 attending every day. I can't understand whose bright idea to put this social experiment right across the street from those kids. This goes against everything that we have been working and planning for in my community. The City has already put $150 million into City West, and we are putting another billion city wide into updating our schools. We need to protect those investments. If this development goes through I think that the days of progress and momentum are over.

The West End was full of government housing that people call "the projects". CityWest was designed to tear down those projects and put up decent housing. When you tear down the projects you move the crime that used to locate there. They have to go somewhere. We got the overflow. I think that they do it here because that they can. They can't deal at CityWest anymore.

I am about as far from City West as you can get. I live in the Dayton Street Historical District. City West was part of the Hope VI project in the West End, and the original plans called for revitilization for our neck of the woods too. But that hasn't happened. And as the projects were demolished the locus of drug dealing and prostitutes has moved north right into my neighborhood. They can't concentrate down there anymore, so they moved to my place. Not that I am against City West. I think it is awesome. I just want the city to finish what they started in terms of scattered site develeopment in the Dayton Street Historical District. The government already owns most of the property that they proposed to renovate. It is time to shit or get off the pot. I live right next to this future "Mall for the Poor" as well, and if that comes to fruition I am gone forever. Cincinnati loves to plan, but they don't care to execute any of the plans. The plan itself serves as a subsitute for action it seems. We have put 150 million bucks into City West, if we let the surrounding community get ingulfed in the new Washington Park that whole investment is a blown load.

I agree. I came to this thread skeptical that this was a real proposal mostly because there has been absolutely no mention of this in any media. The lack of coverage is astounding. Here is a letter just released from the CityLink organization to West End Residents: Someone just forwarded me this email. I will try to attack it point by point either later tonight or tomorrow. My initial reaction it that this letter is more telling in what it leaves out than what they leave in. Sometimes you can tell more about a news release by what they omit than what they commit.

If this project was slated to go up right across the street from three schools that were predominanatly white you would have no media blackout. I believe the media blackout is one of the reasons that they choose the location. Nobody gives a rats ass about the West End. Now that the election is done with, maybe some of the local media could actually focus on how this issue will impact our community.

I can't see any business wanting to touch that property if the "one-stop mall for the poor" goes ahead as planned on Bank Street. I have already spoken with one business owner who says he plans to move if the CityLink Center for the homeless opens up near his business. We will chase another business right out of Cincinnati. The great thing for the homeless megashelter is that once they buy one piece of property, all the property surrounding them will lose value, and then it become easier to purchase. I should sell my house right now before anyone has a clue. Screw the person who buys it, but what else can you do.

NPR was the first media organization to break the veil. Hats off to Jay Hanselman. http://www.wvxu.org/news/wvxunews_article.asp?ID=1882 Some in West End don't want social service one-stop By Jay Hanselman 10/31/2005 5:16:52 PM Some West End residents are not happy about a proposed project that would consolidate many social service agencies in one building. Several different religious and ministry organizations are working on the CityLink Center, which would be built on Bank Street. But the Reverend Gerald Bates is not in favor of the proposal. He says it would not be good for his neighborhood. Council’s finance committee referred the residents concerns to city administrators and asked for a report. Council Member Jim Tarbell says the project is a good idea possibly in the wrong location. He says it could be moved further north and west to make it more acceptable to West End residents. He’s suggesting the parties work together on coming up with a compromise.

I am curious where the 11 million comes from. If you put $20 in the church basket on Sunday, you would have to do that 550,000 times to raise the funds for the CityLink Center. At some point, some of the money men in this town would have to be involved to raise those funds. 3CDC is a private organization. The churches and their sources of fudning are private organizations. It is no secret that 3CDC wants to break up the concentration of social service agencies in OTR. It seems to me to be an incredible coincidence that this funding comes available at the same time our money men are seeking to revamp Washington Park. No way I can prove it, but I think 3CDC has a hand in this. 3CDC knew about this project before City Council did. Many of those churches probably aren't aware of the public opposition in our community. None of the churches or ministries involved are coming from our community. These are all outside forces seeking to locate their massive social service megaplex here. And those countless run down and vacant buildings need to be addressed, I will give you that. Hope VI had a plan for that as part of the original comprehensive plan, and it needs to be implemented. Thanks for your thoughts.

Jimmy Skinner, I got this email that tried to address the scope of the project: This is no little project. On the contrary, it is quite an ambitious one. This is an 11 million dollar project on five acres of land. That land is adjacent to a historic district and many historic structures. They already have plans for redeveloping and rehabbing much of the historic district, and if that gets done this 5 acre tract of land suddenly gets a lot more valuable. Many in my community with vision see this as a pivotal piece of real estate.

http://www.cintimha.com/PDfs/Annual2003.pdf My numbers were off. CMHA has plans for "103 rental and owner occupied homes that will comprise the lifeblood of a new mixed income neighborhood". CMHA keeps applying for the funding every year, but they haven't got it yet. It has been part of the original plan of the Hope VI project that gave us City West. This doesn't count the projects of other developers like Miami Purchase Preservation Fund, or other smaller developers. I have a five unit building surrounded by boarded up CMHA properties. I can't tell you how nice it would be to see them start renovating them. Vacant buildings and vacant land dot the west end landscape, and much of it is just waiting for the completion of this plan. It is a big deal. I own four properties in the area. You can still get them reasonably if you shop around. I paid a lot of attention to the Hope VI project, and it seemed like a good plan. You would expect these properties to appreciate with so much going on. But so much hasn't been going on in my neck of the woods, and now I am faced with an 11 million dollar, 5 acre sprawling homeless shelter, rehab clinic, and halfway house for criminals straight out of prison. I am not an absentee landlord, I live here and I work on my buildings. Nothing comes easy. All four of my buildings are in the Dayton Street historical district, and if we become the new Washington Park I will be financially ruined. I am thinking of trying to sell now before people find out the news. Otherwise I could see myself upside-down on every mortgage, where even if you want to sell nobody is looking to buy. Given the new bankruptcy laws, I may be double screwed. Imagine the horror of having Washington Park come next door to you, and suddenly you are trapped next to it because nobody is willing to buy your property. I live here with my wife and two little boys. I will find a way to get out and start over, but it will be a disaster. It makes me sick. The city wants us to move back in town, they show you all these plans, you invest everything you got, and then things change. They sack the planning department, the plan for your neighborhood gets shelved, and suddenly a group of businessmen take the helm and decide that revitalization in Cincinnati means moving the homeless out of Washington Park. And then by some incredible coincidence 11 million dollars is found to fund the moving of the homeless shelters and halfway houses to your neighborhood. What a buttstab.

This is not directly related to the Drop Inn Center, at least not at this moment. The Citylink Center involves 10 different organizations. Five of those are churches from around the city, and the other 5 are ministries providing social services in Over The Rhine. I don't know where you put the Drop Inn Center. 3CDC wants to redevelop Washington Park, and I am not sure that they care where it moves as long as it leaves the neighborhood. I don't know the best place for the "homeless mall" either, but I think putting it next to three schools is a bad idea. I think that you are correct in that no matter where they go things are going to be difficult. It is a tough situation. I fear that the West Enders will lose out in the power struggle. The money men and the powers that be are not on our side. 3CDC does have a plan in place for Washington Park. I was not aware that they had been actively raising funds for the new SCPA. I thought that money was coming from the 1 billion that Cincinnati Public Schools has dedicated to new buildings and infrastructure. And that is not to say that we don't have a plan in place. The later phases of the Hope VI project have not yet been fully funded, but they do have plans. For the northern part of the West End in the Dayton Street Historic District, I believe that CMHA has a plan for 80-90 scattered sites to be developed. A good portion of those are scheduled for home ownership. They already own most of the properties and are awaiting funding. As long as those buildings are boarded up and just sitting there awaiting funding, development will always look stagnant. It is a self fulfilling prophecy. The Miami Purchase Preservation Fund also has a project specifically for Bank Street. and that project is also primarily home ownership. Their plans are for developing the space which would be right across the street from the new proposed "Citylink Center". If the mall for the homeless goes up, you can kiss new homeownership goodbye. So really, between CMHA and Miami Purchase, you do have plans for around 100 new sites, and most of the property has already been acquired. And the property in question hasn't been vacant for that long. It was a viable business a year ago. It still is, but Big Bob Castellini moved his business to a lower tax environment. That five acre site could be number of things. It could be commercial, retail, entertainment or residential. We are only limited by our imagination. That 5 acre tract is critical to our development in the West End. If we can make it a positive it will strengthen the whole neighborhood. If it becomes an 11 million dollar, 5 acre homeless mall our future is over. And we also have plans for streetscaping Linn street into a boulevard. Complete with on street parking, and a median with grass and trees. That project hasn't been funded either, but the plans exist. This community won't perish for lack of planning, but lack of execution. I bought into the West End after I saw the plans. The street scapes and the Hope Vi redevelopment that became City West looked great. And City West has been going well. But the portion of the development that was supposed to help my section has been pushed to the back burner, and all we have to show for it is boarded up homes awaiting the funding. We have come a long way. We have torn down the projects and built new housing. If the final stage of funding were to come in and they develop the 80-100 scattered sits I believe that this neighborhood will achieve a critical mass and turn the corner.

I just got an email that contained the following: It looks like council is going to discuss it today at 1PM in the Finance Committee. That is just what I have been told. I know very little about the inner workings of Council. I note that Grasscat talked about "This communication has been passed along to the city manager for a report. This is expected back on November 16." I was wondering where you find that info? Is it publicly available? If anyone wants to send an email to the people named above (the city manager and members of the finance committee) I would appreciate it. This is a really bad idea. And if they do go ahead with this site, they will most likely make changes in orientation so that the entrance is as far away from the schools as possible. That is bad news for Brighton and Mohawk, because it will point the flow in that direction. This plan is a disaster for everyone. Just found this website yesterday. I like it. And if any of you sent an email, you have my thanks.

The Citylink Center is a proposed development on the old Club Chef site. They already have a contract to purchase the site. It is going to provide housing for the homeless, a soup kitchen, drug rehab, and transitional housing for people coming straight out of prison. Across the street from this site we have three schools. Two of them are public, the Bloom school and Heberle Elementary. The other one, The Martin Luther King Jr. Academy, is a private elementary school. We have hundreds of young children walking the streets to go to school everyday. I have spoken to the principles of all three schools. They all oppose this project. I have spoken to some parents and people in the community. I have spoken to people with businesses in the community. I have yet to find one person in the community who supports this project. The people who are funding this are from outside the community. They want to put up a "Mall for the poor" (their own words), right next to three of our schools. I couldn't think of a worse idea. I will tell you point blank that people in my community are getting pissed off about the whole idea. As far as I know, no law exists about doing this right across the street from any school. You can have a half way house for junkies, convicts and bums, and you can open it up right across the street from any school. Young kids will be walking the very same street to go to school as homeless bums will be walking to get their breakfast, and they will be on the same street at the exact same time. It should really revitalize the neighborhood. This project is not one little social agency, it is a massive 11 million dollar complex. The Club Chef site is a sprawling 5 acre tract. How many of those are left within our downtown area? Many people in my community look at this site and see a vision of what we could be. It is located near downtown and central parkway, and is close to Interstate 75. You could build a mall, or a movie multiplex, or have enough room for a big box grocer that people in my community and downtown have always wanted. You could lure a business in and create jobs and augment the tax base. By contrast, the Citylink Center is going to be a non-for profit outfit owned by 5 churches. They won't be paying any taxes, and the only jobs they will have to offer is for volunteers. It is quite a significant swing. This piece of land is valuable to the future of our community, and given the fact that it is right next to three of our schools, this matter is of vital importance. We are spending a billion dollars on rebuilding the city schools, it is time we fight to protect that investment. They sell people on redevelopment, and the West End has added more new housing than anywhere downtown with City West. Now they want to put a magnet for derelects, drunks, convicts and criminals right next to the schools. Who plans this stuff? 3CDC's plan for Washington Park is to get rid of the social service agencies and the homeless. They are moving them to the West End, right next to our schools. This is an 11 million dollar project. The money, the timing, the synchronicity of it all speaks to this being sanctioned by the power players who seek to implant their own vision on Cincinnati. While they will get a great new Washington park, the parents, residents, and school children of the West End are going to get screwed. Non of the teachers or principles at these schools knew about the development. None of the City Council members knew of the development. But when I emailed 3CDC, they responded that they knew of the development, but it wasn't in there name and they didn't want to talk about it. The word really hasn't gotten out, and the people of the West End don't have a clue about what is going to hit them.