A video parody of Western & Southern Financial Group’s continued attempts to stop a planned renovation of the Anna Louise Inn women’s shelter was removed from YouTube on June 28 shortly after an Enquirer story detailed the video’s premise and origin.
The video, which was emailed to local media on June 25, features an actor wearing a business suit who identifies himself as a Western & Southern spokesman and proceeds to explain in satirical fashion why maintaining a century-old women’s shelter in a building donated by the Taft family is a bad idea when compared to developing the land for profit.
Western & Southern didn’t respond to a CityBeat phone call and emails seeking comment on whether it was involved in the video being flagged for what YouTube refers to as “a copyright claim by Canipre, Inc.” An Enquirer follow-up story on June 29 stated that Western & Southern spokesman Jose Marques failed to return two calls seeking comment, though the Enquirer story about the video’s removal was replaced over the weekend on the homepage of cincinnati.com with the June 27 report, which does not mention that the video is no longer available or that a W&S spokesman failed to return calls seeking comment.
Western & Southern owns numerous pieces of property in the Lytle Park district and has offered $3 million for the site in order to build upscale condominiums. The company last year filed a lawsuit against Cincinnati Union Bethel, which owns the Inn, arguing that the shelter didn’t conform to zoning requirements in an attempt to stop a $2.7 million loan from the city from going toward the Inn’s planned renovation. Hamilton County Judge Norbert Nadel on May 4 ruled that the zoning was incorrect on the application for a building permit, forcing the inn to resubmit the application.
