Friday, February 11, 2000
Hat sellers battle city's ouster order
BY DAN KLEPAL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
After more than 90 years of doing business at Sixth and Walnut streets, Batsakes family members are in the fight of their lives to keep their property from the leaders of the city they have prospered in.
James and George Batsakes along with Gus Miller, owners of J&G Batsakes Dry Cleaners and Batsakes Hat Shop respectively, filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Cincinnati Thursday.
The suit would have Common Pleas Court throw out an eminent domain action the city brought against the family property in December.
City officials want the property so the Contemporary Arts Center can move into a new building on the northwest corner.
The Batsakes have turned down several city offers to buy the property. Another sticking point appears to be the $20,000 relocation fee the city is offering to both businesses. The Batsakes say it will cost more than $200,000 to move each business.
Mr. Miller, who immigrated to Cincinnati from Greece in the 1950s so he could work at the hat shop for his uncle, took over the business 30 years ago.
He said the city is stabbing his family in the back.
“This is a family thing, and it's all I know,” Mr. Miller said. “There are a lot of employees in this building who come here every day to make their living.
“I think we have served this city as well as anyone — we are well known all over the world. But the city wants to put us out of business. That's what this city does to people.”
Batsakes Hat Shop has dozens of famous clients, including Luciano Pavarotti and Bill Cosby. There is only one other hat shop like it in the world, and that's in London.
City officials on Thursday refused to discuss the lawsuit.
But their suit requesting eminent domain states the cause for action is “for urban renewal” and to “create and preserve jobs.”
That argument doesn't fly with Robert E. Manley, the Batsakes family attorney.
“I think this has more to do with people trying to leave a monument behind themselves,” Mr. Manley said. “I think the city is a foolish collaborator in this.
“This notion that anytime a wealthy person wants to do something they just get the city to use eminent domain is very dangerous.”
The city has purchased the two properties immediately west of Batsakes for more than $1 million.
According to the Batsakes' lawsuit, the eminent domain action should be thrown out because:
• The city is claiming the area of Walnut Street to be “blighted” based on a Cincinnati 2000 Plan, adopted in 1982. That study did not include an expert review of the interiors and exteriors of the buildings, but rather an “eyeballing.”
That does not comply with criteria outlined in the city's Municipal Code. “In short, the blight study is a fraud.”
• An additional study in December 1998, “gerrymandered the area of the blight study in order to attain the result sought.” This study never was approved by the city's planning commission, as required by municipal code, and was never subject to public hearings.
• Relocating the museum represents the government illegally lending credit to private industry.
• The Contemporary Arts Center already is established one block south of the property and therefore it is not necessary to move it into an area where there is an established building.
“The only purpose ... is to allow a private organization to erect a novelty building in downtown Cincinnati at the expense of taxpayers,” the lawsuit states.
Charles Desmarais, director of the Contemporary Arts Center, said the museum needs to move into a larger building downtown to survive. But, he said, the new building doesn't necessarily have to be at Walnut and Sixth.
“Our goal is to have greater visibility and accessibility for the public,” Mr. Desmarais said. “A building of this sort will bring honor and notice to the city.”
The other goal is more space, Mr. Desmarais said.
The museum has been in the same spot for 30 years, and people expect more out of such facilities today, he said.
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