The Roselawn Community Council is shaping preliminary plans to change its business district to accommodate the community’s “transformed population.” “At one point, Roselawn was about 90 percent Jewish, but that’s no longer the case,” said Cindy Shafer, community council president. “Roselawn has undergone quite a change in demographics so we have quickly become a diverse community.”
That sudden change in population could be the reason for a surge in restaurant closings along Reading Road, she said.
Restaurants such as Chili Time, Taco Bell, Perkins and the most recent, Casual Chinese, all have moved or closed within a 2 1/2-block area in a two-year time period.
The dwindling business district and change in population — now more than 60 percent African-American — have set the wheels in motion for redesigning Roselawn, Shafer said.
Stemming from a Reading Road Corridor Study funded by the city of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, the community council in Roselawn has set up plans for rebuilding areas of the neighborhood.
“We have more retail space that we can support,” Shafer said. “We want to take that vacant space and turn it into single-family housing.”
But more than just focusing on housing, Roselawn is concentrating on the population and what it wants in a business district.
“We have a plan to do some serious market research to see what kinds of businesses will be successful on Reading Road,” Shafer said. “We want to know how the people in Roselawn spend their money here as well as outside the area.”
In the past, it was easier to see what the population wanted, Jewish delis and kosher bakeries.
But as the Jewish community declined, another population took its place, Shafer said.
The Jewish community used to be concentrated in Roselawn and other neighboring areas, such as Golf Manor and Amberley Village.
All three neighborhoods held 35 percent of the Jewish population in 1980. Now that number is somewhere below 17 percent.
As the Jewish population has moved, mostly to Blue Ash and Symmes Township, the African-American population has grown in Roselawn, Shafer said.
In 1970, Roselawn was 6.8 percent African-American. Now that has risen to more than 60 percent, Shafer said.
The Russian immigrants also are part of the changed population, Shafer said.
“These people do not use or have cars so they tend to do most of the walking in Roselawn,” she said. “We need to rethink the area in terms of drawing businesses closer together.”
Roselawn also is battling with a perception problem that has arisen out of violent crimes in the neighborhood.
The most recent incident involved an African-American teen-ager who stabbed two Jewish women in December. But Shafer said the teen-ager was mentally ill and did not target the women because of their religion.
“The media paints Roselawn as having some racial and religious tensions,” she said. “But that’s just a perception we will have to fight all the time.”
Shafer said she is confident that Roselawn will be able to change with its population.
“This is a wonderful place to live,” she said. “The residential areas are very beautiful. But now, we need to work on the business district and build that up.”
This article appears in May 26 – Jun 1, 1999.