After more than two weeks of intense debate about the fate of more than a dozen residents who live in buildings now owned by FC Cincinnati, Cincinnati City Council members David Mann and P.G. Sittenfeld say they have a potential solution.
The team purchased 421 Wade Street and 1559 Central Ave. in January. A month later, the buildings’ former owner, Fred Berger, gave each a letter telling them they would need to leave in 70 days. That April 30 deadline is quickly approaching — though the team has since said publicly it will give residents more time to find new housing.
In the meantime, FC Cincinnati has applied for an expansion of a zoning variance request that encompasses the area around 421 Wade St. That land, just north of the coming stadium, could be used for parking or as a buffer between the facility and the neighborhood. Among the four households still living in 421 is 99-year-old Mary Frances Page, who is bedridden. Page and her caretaker, niece Kim Dillard, say they have not found a suitable place for Page to relocate to yet. Other residents at both buildings have echoed that assertion for themselves.
Mann and Sittenfeld’s proposal would move Page and other tenants at 421 to 1559 Central, which is not in the team’s proposed expanded development zone. The motion also asks the team to keep that property affordable for a minimum of three years and to explore partnerships with West End community development corporation Seven Hills Neighborhood Houses, Over-the-Rhine Community housing or other affordable housing providers to make the building permanently affordable.
Berger sent requests to vacate to all residents at both properties, and it is not clear what the team’s plans are for 1559. Mann and Sittenfeld say they have floated their idea to FC Cincinnati via a lobbyist for the team but have not gotten a response yet.
There are currently three empty units in 1559 Central, but Sittenfeld says there is enough space in the building to retrofit a fourth unit if all four households in 421 Wade wished to move there.
FC Cincinnati recently removed 421 from their zoning variance expansion request, but other properties along Wade Street remain in the plans. The Cincinnati Planning Commission is set to vote on that request May 10. If approved, Cincinnati City Council will also have to vote on the variance request.
“I don’t think that addresses the issue,” Mann said of 421’s removal. “I just can’t imagine this council will go along with an amendment, even without Wade Street, until this issue is resolved in a way that is fair to human beings and fair to the team.”
“You can’t make this stuff up,” he continued. “The city has put up more than $30 million for the soccer team. We expect our citizens to be treated with justice. To learn of examples that have come to our attention — the 99-year-old woman — and the way they have been treated… we try to make as clear as possible that this isn’t acceptable.”
Sittenfeld says he and Mann are “still very proud” of the $34 million deal they helped put together that will use city funds for infrastructure around the stadium. He pointed out that neighborhood residents and others have taken the opportunity to work union construction jobs as part of the stadium project.
“Another part of the deal that David and I brokered included public pledges and declarations by the team that people would not be displaced from where they life,” Sittenfeld said. “We took those statements very seriously then — and we still do now.”
This article appears in Apr 17-24, 2019.
