Sunday, May 02, 1999
What goes down at the Parktown?
BY PETER BRONSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
We have a motto at The Enquirer: “Non bonum inflictus sans castigare.” That's Swine Latin (sophisticated Pig Latin) for “No good deed goes unpunished.”
Example: I suggested in a recent column that my earlier opinion about the Parktown Cafe nightclub might be a dram off target. Angry callers had said I was uninformed and “racist” to criticize what City Hall calls one of the most popular bars in the black community.
The brass at Cincinnati Police said the place was really no problem.
So I admitted I could be wrong.
And more callers said I was wrong again.
“It saddens and disappoints me that you are backing down from your correct position,” said an African-American born and raised in Cincinnati.
“Don't retreat when they holler racism,” he said. “Don't let anyone hide behind "black culture.' If anything, that place is an absence of culture. It's a magnet for drug dealers.”
I heard the same from neighbors and cops. But few would talk on the record.
Neighbors are afraid of having their homes and cars vandalized. They say they are intimidated by the Parktown crowd.
Cops fear retaliation from supervisors, because “there is far too much political intervention in the police division.”
“You can't count all the drug dealers we know that walk in and out of that bar,” one cop said. “They have political protection,” said another. “Hands off.”
Various officers I interviewed said they have been told to “back off” when they move in to enforce illegal parking, public urination, gunshots, rock- and bottle-throwing, after-hours drinking, fights and open drug use. Instead, they have been ordered to close streets and form a perimeter around a huge street party at closing time.
And that makes them bristle.
“Taxpayers and firefighters can't get through until 3 or 4 a.m.,” said FOP President Keith Fangman. “Citizens get redirected onto side streets in one of the most dangerous parts of the West End.”
Another cop said, “It's straight madness. It's gotten to the point where shots are fired in a crowd and we can't do anything about it. We're not allowed to do anything.”
A volunteer at a nearby ministry described what he saw one Friday morning after working late laying linoleum near the Parktown.
“At 4:30 a.m. when we finished, we were astonished at what was going on outside. There were literally 900-1,000 people along Linn Street, Central Parkway and Mohawk Place. Cars were parked in every illegal spot possible. When walking to my vehicle across the street, I first was approached by two prostitutes and then found myself hiding behind a trash can because of gunfire.”
He asked, “Would you want to live in a community where people from all over come to terrorize it till very early in the morning, shred it and then leave?”
On weekend mornings, neighbors find garbage, vandalism, damaged cars, thefts, broken glass — more like the hangover from a riot than a night on the town.
But all that has changed, I was told. This year, off-duty cops have been hired to control crowds in time for warm weather, when the Parktown crowds are worst.
New Police Chief Thomas Streicher Jr., who commanded the Parktown district, said on Wednesday that forming a perimeter protects cops and civilians. “There is zero tolerance outside that perimeter, but inside we don't have enough officers to control it.”
“It was never, ever the case that there was any "hands off' policy,” he insisted.
I believe him, but neighbors and cops will be hard to convince. Over and over they told me nothing will change; the Parktown has too much political pull at City Hall. They say they've seen certain council members come and go at the bar, and they've heard Parktown employees brag about cops and politicians in their pocket.
No wonder they suspect the worst.
Two years ago, Cincinnati had a little bar with big problems. It was the source of chronic complaints and hundreds of police runs. But instead of cleaning it up or closing it down, city officials gave the owners a taxpayer loan of $159,000 to build a bar twice as big next door — the new Parktown.
In 1994, the Parktown's manager was the swizzle stick in a bribery highball involving Bengals player Derrick Fenner. It destroyed the careers of two cops who were working off-duty security at the bar.
And now the city is sending more off-duty cops to the Parktown — to handle problems expanded at city expense.
Maybe I'm wrong again, but I'd say “piscari oderatus” — something smells fishy.
Peter Bronson is editorial page editor of The Enquirer. If you have questions or com
ments, call 768-8301, or write to 312 Elm Street, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202.
Cincinnati vs. Flynt: The Sequel
Obscenity trials highly subjective
Video technology brought porn home
The players in Flynt trial
Would city get mayor or monster?
A couple of time-tested reasons to vote
5 good reasons for Charter reform
Issue 4 requires more than 30-second attention span
Insanity to be hard defense for trash-can mom
Successful insanity pleas in Tristate
West-bound commuters should seek new route
4,000 gather for Troutman funeral
Boone to use phone alerts
Montgomery meeting to update on tornado cleanup
Tornado victims robbed of salvaged possessions
Say so long to Stenger's
GET TO IT
How to fell 14-story building unclear, as is site's future
No Namers make best of life in no-man land
'Noah' goes overboard
Portman behind naming CIA headquarters after Bush
Portman, Chabot firm in opposition to war
Taking bows on Broadway
What goes down at the Parktown?
Willis Music celebrates 100 years of service
Wish list for CSO maestro
Dems tired of losing
A school made from scratch
Butler shows its history
Few injuries on stadium site
Investigation continues of ex-property value administrator
Ky. board to consider park grant
Ky. can't keep public defenders
Prisons now help mentally ill
Readers respond to AIDS effort
Regional workforce meeting planned
School board wants input
TRISTATE DIGEST
