People living in Cincinnati's biggest neighborhood say they've been forgotten.

        Ignored by city politicians and disregarded by city planners, they say Westwood has been allowed to deteriorate.

        But today residents are determined to make Cincinnati officials remember.

A member of Westwood Concern, Melva Gweyn, walks on Epworth Avenue Friday. It's one of her favorite streets. (Glenn Hartong photos) | ZOOM |

        “We have been neglected,” said resident Mary Kuhl, who last year formed a community group called Westwood Concern. “The city has turned its back on the west side of town.”

        In response to neighborhood complaints, city lawmakers and staffers will take a bus tour of Westwood beginning at 1 p.m. today that will end with an unofficial town meeting at Westwood Presbyterian Church.

        Problems — some recent, some longer in the making — are easily seen, especially on Harrison Avenue, the neighborhood's main street. Grand homes stand next to dilapidated apartments in an alternating pattern that ends in a struggling business district littered with storefront lease signs.

        Other problems aren't so apparent. Crime is on the rise and there are fewer police officers to deal with it. Home ownership is down and out-of-town landlords are buying up property. Businesses are leaving and revitalization seems a long way off.

        “We've been ignored for so long because we don't complain,” said Melva Gweyn, co-founder of Westwood Concern. “We had the naive belief that the city would not let this happen.”

        City officials admit the neighborhood hasn't gotten enough attention — and today will announce a plan to rectify that.

        “I think Westwood does not get what it deserves from City Hall,” said Councilman Pat DeWine. “I think it's because (residents) are not down at City Hall every week asking for things.”

Deteriorated apartment buildings line Bracken Woods Lane in Westwood, a connector street between Harrison Avenue and Westwood Northern Boulevard. | ZOOM |

        Mr. DeWine and Councilwoman Alicia Reece will move to develop a comprehensive plan for the neighborhood within 14 days.

        It asks for increased police visibility, an anti-litter initiative, various public improvements and economic development incentives.

        “The one thing that's important is not to go in with a piecemeal approach,” Ms. Reece said Friday. “We need to look at the whole neighborhood.”

        She said the plan is similar to one that she proposed for Seymour Avenue in Bond Hill for new businesses along with housing and public improvements.

        “There is a lot more good than bad here,” Ms. Gweyn said Friday. “We just don't want it to get worse.”

        Today's tour was pushed by Councilman Paul Booth, who chairs council's neighborhood committee. He said the neighborhood is long overdue for attention.

        “It looks like we've had for some time a disparity between the east and west sides of town,” he said. “If that's been happening, we need to make sure it doesn't continue.”

        Mayor Charlie Luken, who paid for the two 50-passenger buses out of his office budget, says the neighborhood is facing very serious problems.

        Former city councilman Todd Portune, now a Hamilton County Commissioner, lives in Westwood. But residents said for years it has appeared as if nobody on City Council was interested in the plight of their community.

        They hope that is about to change.

        The tour will take council members from Harrison Avenue to the Western Hills Viaduct, which Ms. Gweyn called the entrance to the neighborhood. They will see residential pockets that haven't changed since being built at the turn of the century and stop outside a block of gutted apartments called Bracken Woods.

        It's an example, residents say, of what they fear could happen elsewhere in the neighborhood.

        “It looks like a bombed-out area,” Ms. Kuhl said. “We have broken windows, boarded-up abandoned buildings and hooligans roaming the streets.”

        In two town meetings sponsored by Westwood Concern, nearly 150 residents complained about safety and the rising crime rate. Their concerns were echoed by police reports that the neighborhood is generating more calls for service while the number of officers available has declined.

        The good thing is that residents aren't just talking, they're acting, said Westwood Concern member Randy Hammann.

        "We are seeing a lot of action and positive energy,” he said “People are trying to get together to prevent this from getting worse.”

        He compared Westwood to other city neighborhoods, such as Over-the-Rhine, where the city has committed resources to bolster home ownership and business growth.

        “We want to make this a place where people will want to live,” he said.

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