By Susan Vela
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The Institute for Justice, a Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group on eminent domain cases, made a showing Wednesday in Greater Cincinnati, visiting about 60 people in Norwood, Evendale and West Chester Township.

Everywhere they went, a trio of attorneys and activists urged residents to join forces and raise their voices against elected officials implying that certain residential and business properties could be improved by revitalization efforts and multimillion-dollar shopping complexes.

Nick Motz (center), a business owner in Norwood, talks with Institute for Justice attorneys Dana Berliner and Scott Bullock as they take a walking tour on Edwards Road on Wednesday afternoon. (Steven M. Herppich photo) | ZOOM |

Send out letters, attend meetings, threaten elected officials with lost votes, the group urged.

"Whatever study is leading to further development, it's not going to be good for you. The more noise you make, the more likely they will take you seriously. You should not feel because some people have sold, you're doomed," said attorney Dana Berliner, speaking in Norwood.

She had just toured the neighborhood bounded by Interstate 71 and Edwards and Edmondson roads, where 79 home and business owners stand in the way of Rookwood Exchange, a proposed $125 million development of offices, apartments, condos, and shops and restaurants.

About 60 percent of property owners in the neighborhood have agreed to sell, and developers Anderson Real Estate and Miller-Valentine Group hope to get another 20 agreements by mid-January.

Developers have asked council members to pursue an urban renewal study, which would determine whether the neighborhood is blighted and make residents vulnerable to eminent domain proceedings. The request is pending.

Nick Motz and Joe Horney, leaders of the Norwood group refusing to sell, felt uplifted after hearing the Institute attorneys talk. Representing Citizens Against Eminent Domain Abuse, they said the attorneys had justified their concerns about eminent domain, which is the government's seizure of private property for public use.

They planned to contact residents in other communities, including Evendale, to see how they can work together.

"The more the merrier," Mr. Motz said. "If (the developers' request) silently passes through the works, it's too late. They're setting the groundwork as we speak. If you sit around and wait for the actual act of eminent domain to occur, it's too late."

Institute attorneys also talked to Evendale business owners who are upset that the Reading Road corridor has been deemed blighted, and West Chester Township residents, who are concerned about the trustees' tentative talk of revitalization efforts along U.S. 42.

Ms. Berliner said the Institute takes on few cases because it mainly aims to set case precedent. It's too soon, she said, to decide whether the group will represent Norwood residents.

Evendale business owner Dan Regenold said he'd be willing to sue on his own if it means getting a blight designation removed from his property.

"I'm in it for the long run," he said. "If the only way to bring (this) to an end is a lawsuit, that's going to happen."

E-mail svela@enquirer.com