BY ROB KAISER
The Cincinnati Enquirer

NEWPORT - The proposal to build a 1,083 foot-tall tower in this Northern Kentucky city raises a lot of questions. This is mine:

Whatever happened to Eero Saarinen?

Mr. Saarinen was the architect whose inspired design for a 630-foot stainless-steel arch was chosen during a nationwide competition in 1947-48 to be a monument to the spirit of western pioneers.

The $15 million Gateway Arch, completed in 1965 as part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, is a tourist magnet, of course. The symbol of St. Louis is famous. But what of the man who dreamed it up?

Mr. Saarinen, who died in 1961, made a name for himself in American architecture. His other work included the American embassy in London and Dulles Airport in Washington. In architectural circles, he is remembered as a man of vision.

David Hosea and another Fort Thomas businessmen, Wayne Carlisle, have received considerable attention since going public with their plans for a so-called Millennium Freedom Tower in Newport.

Some of the attention hasn't been good. Detractors and doubters have snickered. Would they have laughed at Eero?

No doubt there's some silliness in all this. But so what? A city can dream, can't it?

That's what this is all about. Sometimes Mr. Hosea sees the tower when he's sleeping. During waking hours, when the sun glints off broken glass in urban parking lots, his dreams are represented by two blue X's on the pavement.

Work shirt, silk tie

The markings, on the surface of a parking lot across from the Syndicate restaurant in downtown Newport, show where the tower will be built. Mr. Hosea and Mr. Carlisle intend for it to be in place in time for a New Year's Eve 1999 opening.

The tower, the world's 11th-tallest structure, is the latest in a string of projects either proposed or under discussion that suggest this Northern Kentucky city is experiencing a rebirth of sorts. The realization of any of the projects, from a planned aquarium to a wished-for sports arena complete with its own professional basketball team, would be like cinching up a work shirt with a silk tie. Mostly, this is a blue-collar town.

In the evenings, that tower's long shadow will fall across the Captain's Cove restaurant. But it also will point to streets littered with Mountain Dew bottles and beer cans as it sweeps around town.

Just three blocks away are some of Newport's most unkempt neighborhoods - areas a city councilman once compared to a Third World country. Newport has its charms, including the late-afternoon peeling of the bells at St. Stephen Church on Washington Street. But it has more than its share of problems, too.

Your tax dollars should go into a police officer's pocket, not into building a freedom tower. To their credit, developers have not asked for public money, which probably is why the idea has so far been well-received. And there's no indication they will.

''I've talked to a lot of people, and everyone thinks the idea is fantastic,'' Councilman Jerry Peluso says.

''But they do not want their taxes affected.''

Still, most taxpayers recognize what the tower could do for Newport, Mr. Peluso says. And the city hasn't ruled out helping the project. An estimated 1.5 million tourists would flood the city each year once it is built. Those people would pour money into the local economy.

But spending public money on the tower before spending it to improve the quality of life for so many Newport residents would breed resentment.

How hollow it would be to have a freedom tower casting its shadow on so many who are prisoners of poverty.

The Gateway Arch has foundations sunk 60 feet into the ground, and is built to withstand earthquakes and high winds.

The developers need to steer clear of storms of controversy that could jeopardize the freedom tower. If not, we'd all be wondering:

Whatever happened to David Hosea?

Rob Kaiser is The Enquirer's Kentucky columnist. His column appears regularly on Sundays and Thursdays in The Kentucky Enquirer. He can be reached at 578-5584.

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