Wednesday, May 12, 1999
Findlay Market to fight crime
Neighbors complain: Fix is not for us
BY TANYA BRICKING
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The paint is bright and fresh. A sidewalk is newly bricked.
Along with the city's $14 million face lift of Findlay Market comes the announcement of a crime-fighting measure to make Ohio's oldest operating public market lose its blemishing tagline of being a magnet for drug dealers.
Cincinnati Mayor Roxanne Qualls and other leaders enthusiastically kicked off a program Tuesday that will give Findlay Market $250,000 over two years to make it safer and more attractive to shoppers.
Storekeepers such as Dorothy Phipps, owner of Hudson Brothers' Dry Cleaning, say it's overdue.
The only problem is that neighborhood leaders such as Nannie Hinkston don't think it will do much good.
At 78, Ms. Hinkston, president of Over-the-Rhine's community council, has heard people say before that they want to clean up her neighborhood, traditionally among the city's top crime areas.
The grant will add security cameras and police, and ask citizens for tips about crimes. But Ms. Hinkston is not impressed with the initiatives.
“They're tearing our buildings down. They're running our housing out,” she said. “We need housing. We need recreation. And we need to save our youth first.”
The market — north of downtown on Elder Street, between Elm and Race streets — has a Market House that dates to 1852.
Critics of the renewal say it caters to suburban shoppers, not city dwellers.
A farmer's market opens this weekend, and a gallery featuring artists' renderings of produce stands is among dozens of new small businesses that will line the street.
Dean Zaidan, owner of Mediterranean Imports food shop, said
police have latched on to problems, and “people seem to feel safer.”
The city posted a surveillance camera in January at the intersection of Race and Elder streets in an effort to reduce crimes on the troubled block. A month later, police shut down the Elder Cafe at 128 W. Elder St. along the market's northern side.
Police recorded more than 100 vice arrests in that block, ranging from rape to heroin sales, in 1997 and more than 130 radio calls to the bar itself in 1998. It was the site of a homicide in January.
Since then, the block is no longer a central location for dealing pharmaceuticals, heroin and marijuana, said Don Ruberg, a retired Cincinnati police officer who now works security for Hart Realty, the neighborhood's biggest landlord.
“We're not going to eliminate the drug problem,” he said. “But we're going to try to control the drug problem to society's satisfaction. As it moves, we move.”
The grant adds 72 hours of police protection each week, allowing more officers to patrol there.
“Over-the-Rhine is the highest drug area in the city,” said Sgt. Stacie Huellemeier. “It will help having cops out walking a beat.”
In addition, the grant provides money for:
• Security cameras. Up to 10 cameras will monitor activity in courtyards and alleys around Findlay Market. Organizers want the cameras to be portable so drug dealers won't know where they are.
• A police substation. Beat officers will have an office near Findlay Market and will set up a telephone hot line where residents can anonymously report criminal activity.
• A citizen surveillance program: In addition to the traditional Neighborhood Watch association, a citizen surveillance program will pair residents with police. Acting anonymously, residents will be posted in certain locations and will radio police to make arrests.
Charmaign Gilden, 43, said to focus on the real problem, the program will have to go deeper than drug arrests.
“There ain't nothing wrong with beautification,” she said. “But they're not fixing it up for the people who live down here. If you keep sweeping the drugs from one spot, they're just going to end up in another.”
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