BY CAMERON McWHIRTER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A $31.1 million federal "Hope VI" grant has been awarded for a $62 million plan to demolish the West End's Lincoln Court apartments and build a smaller mixed-income development in its place.
Word of the largest federal grant in the history of the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) came Thursday afternoon at a carefully staged ceremony at CMHA offices on Western Avenue.
"Changes are never without controversy," Marquicia Jones, Lincoln Court Resident Council president, told the crowd of several hundred plan supporters and CMHA employees. "But I also know that the Hope VI program is a bright future for our children."
The large award -- the full amount that CMHA asked for -- clears the way for the project to demolish the city's largest single housing complex for low-income families. Demolition at Lincoln Court could begin as soon as next summer, and construction of a new Lincoln Court could be completed by 2003.
Cincinnati Mayor Roxanne Qualls told CMHA officials and residents they should be proud of getting the grant, but now the hard work of actually transforming the area lies ahead.
"You are starting on a very exciting, dangerous and exhilarating journey. Good luck," she said.
Because of last-minute legislative work in Washington, D.C., Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo did not come to Cincinnati to award the check in person, but instead awarded it via speaker phone. The federal money will pay for half the project's costs. The city has already put $6.2 million toward the project. The rest is expected from tax credits, bank loans and other sources.
Meanwhile, security guards kept a small group of protesters, including some Lincoln Court residents, from attending the meeting. George Lee, a Lincoln Court resident, said he wanted to present officials with a petition signed by 500 residents opposed to the plan, but guards wouldn't let him in. Henderson Kirkland, one of the protesters and treasurer of the West End Community Council, which opposes the CMHA plan, said opponents were planning "legal action or rallying or whatever it takes" to stop demolition.
"The fat lady has not sung on this yet," he said.
The West End community has been divided on the renewal since it was first proposed in June. The plan calls for demolition of all 53 buildings at Lincoln Court and moving about 2,000 people out of their homes. The plan also reduces the number of housing units, from 886 to about 500.
Most of the new apartments will be public housing, but others will be free-market rents and homes that can be owned. CMHA has provided written assurances to all Lincoln Court residents that once the construction is completed, they can stay there if they choose. Residents who move will be given federal housing vouchers to pay their rent.
The CMHA has strong support from Cincinnati City Council, various city housing groups and the Lincoln Court Resident Council.
But the moves have been opposed by several West End neighborhood groups and some Lincoln Court residents, who think the plan will break up their poor, black community and let developers take over the West End.
Lincoln Court's longest-staying resident, who was in the audience at Thursday's conference, has no such concerns. Raye Jackson, 75, said she has lived at Lincoln Court since 1949, and she will not be sorry to see the buildings go.
