There will be a giant swarm of purple in front of the Western & Southern headquarters (400 Broadway St.) in Lytle Park beginning at noon today in support of the Anna Louise Inn, which provides shelter to low-income women, to coincide with International Women's Day.
The rally is intended to demonstrate both local support for the Anna Louise Inn and its missions and oppose Western & Southern's long-standing attack on the ALI. Sponsoring organizations stretch far beyond the Inn, including the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition, Nuns on the Bus, League of Women Voters, Women's City Club, Women's Political Caucus and others.
According to the press release, the rally will be "strong and noticeable with singing, chanting and signs," so it's likely the execs at Western & Southern will be forced to take notice. Attendees will all wear purple sashes — purple is the color of the logo for International Women's Day, which is intended to both celebrate and continue to lobby for advances in gender equality across the world.
The tension between the Inn and Western & Southern began in 2009, when the Inn was facing financial setbacks and considered selling the plot. Western & Southern, which owns more than 20 properties in Lytle Park, made a lowball offer, which the Inn refused. Following Western & Southern's missed opportunity, they embarked on a vicious series of legal challenges against the Inn, after it had already won funding for much-needed renovations to the 103-year-old building.
Speakers will include civil rights leader Marian A. Spencer, state congressional representative Denise Driehaus, Kristen Barker of Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center, a former resident of the Inn and several others.
Most recently in the Western & Southern/Anna Louise Inn debacle, the Ohio First District Court of Appeals agreed with a lower court that Cincinnati Union Bethel, which owns the Inn, filed an "incomplete" permit application, requiring them to resubmit funding requests to the city, including more thorough details about the Inn and its Off the Streets program, which helps formerly prostituted women turn their lives around. That means the Inn is required to once again jump through another series of legal hoops based on minor technicalities that would have never been an issue if Western & Southern had accepted they missed their chance at the plot already.
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