Wednesday, August 09, 2000
Truce called on cafe controversy
Festival, restaurateurs join forces
By Sarah Anne Wright
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A member of the Greater Cincinnati Restaurant Association will sit on the board of Ujima Cinci-Bration as the result of a controversy over downtown restaurant closings during the recent festival.
About 20 representatives from the African-American community, downtown restaurants and various civic groups met Tuesday morning to discuss the event and how to improve the situation.
The meeting ended with the agreement that logistics, not race, was behind the closure of at least eight downtown restaurants during Ujima and the accompanying Coors Light Festival. The events attracted about 150,000 people, most of them African-Americans and roughly half of them from out of town.
“The word "race' was not mentioned the whole time, during the whole meeting,” said Nicholson's Tavern & Pub owner Nick Sanders, who attended the closed meeting. “The nature of the beast was the logistics.”
Nicholson's decided to close during the festival after it did 20 percent of its usual business in 1998 and had angry regular customers who had trouble getting downtown.
“Next year, we intend to stay open, because this whole thing has blown up, and there's a lot of ill will,” Mr. Sanders said. “We'll participate ... even if we take a financial hit.”
Changes planned as a result of Tuesday's meeting:
• Restaurants will study some joint marketing opportunities that would help them bring in business from festival attendees.
• Event organizers will talk with other cities to see how they control cruising at large public gatherings.
• The city will better communicate what streets will be closed.
City officials limit automobile access downtown during the festival both to control cruising in automobiles and because of perceived safety issues.
The black leaders and restaurateurs are scheduled to meet again in September.
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