BY LISA DONOVAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The Taste of Ebone will not celebrate its eighth year in downtown Cincinnati in July unless festival organizers pay a $36,000 debt to the city, officials said Monday.
"I told her we would not issue another (special events) permit until those fees are paid," City Safety Director Kent Ryan told city council's Law and Public Safety Committee.
He was referring to organizer Deborah Green-Boone, who submitted the special events permit request this year.
Ms. Boone would not comment on repayment of the money but is moving ahead on planning the event. "I can tell you that there will be a Taste of Ebone," she said.
The Taste of Ebone falls on the same July weekend as the Coors Light Festival at Cinergy Field. The weekend music festival at the ballpark is scheduled for July 24-26.
Discussion of the Taste of Ebone comes as city officials and local business leaders work out a plan that addresses last year's problems in the downtown area during the festival weekend. One man was shot to death, 97 arrests were made, and throngs of youths cruised and loitered in the downtown area.
Council has proposed giving up to $150,000 for a downtown event developed by the Greater Cincinnati African American Chamber of Commerce for the weekend, which has historically drawn black crowds.
The chamber's co-founder, Jim Clingman, has said he wouldn't mind including the Taste of Ebone in the festival, titled Ujima-Cinci-bration. "If they work out their problems with the city, we'd certainly like to have them," Mr. Clingman said. "We have to have food, and who better to do it than somebody who's been doing it the last (seven) years?"
The Ujima-Cinci-bration, which will stretch into local neighborhoods, will include music and other entertainment. Ujima, a Swahili word, is one of the principles of Kwanzaa, stressing collective work and responsibility, Mr. Clingman said.
The Taste of Ebone was in the red after the 1996 and 1997 events, when organizers failed to pay city fees that cover the cost of police, fire, sanitation and highway maintenance.
