DELHI PRESS
Your Community Press newspaper serving Delhi Township and other West Cincinnati neighborhoods
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 2, 2019 ❚ BECAUSE COMMUNITY MATTERS ❚ PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK
Parents call for increased pedestrian safety Sarah Brookbank Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK
FC Cincinnati President and CEO Jeff Berding walks past Just Cookin’ on West 15th Street in the West End in October. The restaurant will be torn down to make room for the new FC Cincinnati Stadium. CARA OWSLEY/THE ENQUIRER
City, FC Cincy work to help displaced restaurant owner Sharon Coolidge Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK
Monica Williams built her West End restaurant Just Cookin’ from scratch, with nearby residents flocking to her just-like-home meals that were always reasonably priced. But Williams was forced to shutter her rented Fifteenth Street restaurant in November after her landlord Pastor Patrick Winkler sold the building to FC Cincinnati, which needed the land for its West End stadium. The problem: FC President and General Manager Jeff Berding promised no residents would be displaced from the historically black neighborhood. Williams is being pushed out, but she’s a business owner, not a resident. And the restaurant space was rented, so is FC Cincinnati responsible for finding Williams a new restaurant? The team did pay Williams $20,000, the most a city law allows addressing displacement. But it’s not enough, Williams is now saying. She filed a complaint with the Cincinnati chapter of the NAACP saying she was displaced and has retained a lawyer. Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld con-
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vened a meeting, with stakeholders, including Cincinnati’s development director Philip Denning, Wednesday, in order to broker some sort of deal. Joe Mallory, first vice president of the Cincinnati branch of the NAACP, was in the meeting and called it a “good first step.” But no deal was struck. “Regardless of how unfolded, she was displaced,” Mallory said. “She deserves a resolution. She had a viable business. She had employees. She paid taxes.” Mark Mallory, the former mayor who is now the team’s community liaison, and yes, Joe Mallory’s brother, said FC Cincinnati wants to help Williams, it’s just that the right spot hasn’t been found. “I have been working with Monica since May or June,” Mark Mallory said. “I have shown her five sites, maybe six, in the West End, Over-the-Rhine and the Central Business District. It’s a matter of finding the right one, making the numbers work and getting her up and running.” For her part,Williams thought the meeting was helpful, emailing city officials after it, saying, “I appreciate you all for caring enough to listen and help me
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try to put the pieces back together.” Williams talked to The Enquirer in early October when she first learned she would have to move. For the past six years, she rented her former space from Patrick Winkler, pastor of Lighthouse Worship Ministry. FC Cincinnati paid Winkler an undisclosed amount for his property. But that didn’t help Williams. Williams said when she first heard FC Cincinnati might be coming to her neighborhood, she was elated. “I thought there would be a lot of job opportunities created,” she said. “I could see kids running around with soccer balls.” Williams grew up in the West End, but was displaced once before when public housing was torn down with a promise residents could return when it was rebuilt. But there wasn’t enough of the new housing and her family never moved back. As an adult, Williams became a caterer, which was a success. So when she began eyeing restaurant space, she saw it as a way to return to her roots. See COOKIN’, Page 1A
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Shawna Rodriguez lost her teenaged daughter Gabriella “Gabby” Rodriguez in September after the Western Hills High School student tried to get to the bus while crossing Harrison Avenue. On Friday, Dec. 21, she stood outside Western Hills and Dater high schools and cried while calling for more action from school and city officials to protect students. Shawna Rodriguez said more needs to be done after two Cincinnati Public School students were struck on Thursday, Dec. 20. About a dozen students have been struck in 2018 on their way to school, protesters said. “I have to be my daughter’s voice,” See SAFETY, Page 1A
A 15-year-old Western Hills High School student was struck and killed as she crossed Harrison Avenue to get to her bus stop on Sept. 10. MEG VOGEL/THE ENQUIRER
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Vol. 92 No. 2 © 2019
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