Wednesday, May 31, 2000
Film captures East Enders' fight for community
Residents have starring roles
By Allen Howard
The Cincinnati Enquirer
East Enders who played starring roles in changing and fighting changes in their riverside neighborhood will see themselves on film.
A documentary, Keeping Community: East End Voices, will be shown at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Pendleton Heritage Center, 2760 Eastern Ave.
One of the stars is Dorothy Ellis, 78, who has lived in the East End all her life.
She can talk about every flood that has ravaged the neighborhood along the Ohio River, including the big one in 1937.
“We complain about the floods every time it happens, but we never leave here because we love it,” Mrs. Ellis said.
Mrs. Ellis has been involved in every aspect of life in the East End, as the film will show.
She has been a longtime member of the East End Community Council and has worked at the voting polls every Election Day for the past 50 years.
Her pet project was leading a group to establish the Pendleton Heritage Center, a building that once housed a dance hall.
“The film will give the public a chance to see the history of the East End through the people who lived it,” Mrs. Ellis said.
Jane Goetzman of filmmaker TV Image, said the film is very balanced.
“The film explores some of the factors affecting daily life in the East End in the words of its residents,” Ms. Goetzman said.
City planners, developers, community organizers and service providers are also interviewed. The film provides a perspective on health, education, culture, redevelopment and gentrification.
It captures the dismay of some residents who shared with the filmmakers that they are being pushed out and their way of life threatened.
East End's riverfront views and reasonable proper ty values spurred the drive for upscale residential and commercial development.
Eileen Willis, 60, was part of the Urban Redevelopment group which drafted the East End Development Plan, calling for a mixture of upscale, low- and middle-income housing development.
“The big fight was to prevent the destruction of the kind of housing we could afford,” Mrs. Willis said.
The East End is predominantly African-American and Appalachian with close ties to both cultures. But it also includes the neighborhoods of Linwood and Columbia-Tusculum.
John Van Volkenburgh of Columbia-Tusculum also speaks his mind in the film. He said that while he supports retaining the low- and moderate-income housing, he thinks that development brings higher property values, better schools and a better appearance to the neighborhood.
“Development can help provide those services needed when families have to recover from flood damage,” Mr. Van Volkenburgh said.
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