BY CAMERON McWHIRTER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Cincinnati City Council voted 5-3 Wednesday to provide $6.2 million for a $60 million housing authority plan to demolish the West End's Lincoln Court public housing complex and replace it with a smaller, mixed-income neighborhood.
Council support was essential for the plan, which must be submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) by Monday. The Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) plans to ask HUD for $35 million of the $60 million needed. Other funding is expected from the state, banks and non-profit agencies. Administration support for the plan -- the largest residential project near downtown Cincinnati in more than half a century -- came after a June 20 agreement between the CMHA and the Lincoln Court Resident Council, which represents the 2,000 residents.
But other West End and African-American groups have strongly opposed the project, which they have characterized as an attempt to push poor people, most of them black, out of the West End.
Council members voting in support of the project said little at Wednesday's meeting, but the three opponents -- Charles Winburn, Dwight Tillery and Todd Portune -- all said the project had been rushed to a vote without the full support of the West End community. Council first learned of the project June 10. Mr. Portune and Mr. Winburn submitted motions to have the project postponed until next year, but the motions failed.
The plan calls for demolition of all 53 buildings at Lincoln Court and 500 new housing units: 250 public housing rental units; 75 partially subsidized rental units; 75 market-rate rental units; 50 town houses for partially subsidized home ownership; and 50 town houses for market-rate home ownership.
Lincoln Court has 886 units of public housing on 22.4 acres. According to the CMHA, the units lost in the construction would be made up by giving residents subsidies to move. The whole process would take four or five years if HUD approves the grant in October. Residents spoke in support of the project to council.
"I'm scared, but I want a change, I want my daughters to have a better life than I did," said Marsha Reese, 43, who lives in Lincoln Court.
But opponents said the plan would end up being a loss of public housing, forcing poor people now living in Lincoln Court to move. "The people who think they're coming back, let me tell you, you ain't coming back," said Linda Briscoe, president of the Winton Hills Citizen Action Association, a community organization representing five neighborhoods.
CMHA Executive Director Donald Troendle is expected to go to Washington, D.C., Monday to deliver the proposal.
