By Kevin Aldridge
The Cincinnati Enquirer

An aerial view of English Woods. Sutter Avenue is the main street running from the lower left to the upper right. (Glenn Hartong photo)

The sheet cake that sat on a table at the Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati Monday afternoon was almost as big as the smiles of the people waiting to eat it.

Scrawled across the top of the cake in red icing were the words, "We Shall Not Be Moved."

It was a fitting message for English Woods tenants who were celebrating both Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday and saving - for now - their 700-unit public housing complex from being demolished.

More than a dozen tenants and supporters of English Woods gathered at the Legal Aid offices to discuss plans for the World War II-era apartment complex on the west side of Cincinnati.

The group held brainstorming sessions to determine how tenants might improve security, bring about resident ownership of the property, invite new businesses and provide alternative education for neighborhood youths.

Marcia Battle, a member of the English Woods Civic Association, said the plan is called "New U-Rising" to symbolize the transformation of the low-income community. Battle said changing the mentality of the residents living there is a key challenge.

"Some of our residents still don't believe we have the power to do anything," Battle said. "But not only do we have the power, we have the support to start taking control of our lives."

The Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority wanted to tear down English Woods, which it owns, and build single-family homes atop the prime western Cincinnati land. The housing authority's proposal initiated a yearlong battle with a coalition of public housing tenants and people living in the surrounding neighborhoods.

Leaders from Price Hill and Westwood feared that more poverty, crime and blight would spill into their middle-class neighborhoods. City politicians and U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, tried to pressure the housing authority into dropping the plan.

In October, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development spared the complex by rejecting the demolition plan. The Housing Authority sued the federal agency a few days later for refusing to approve its demolition application.

The housing authority has done little marketing of the property and is focused on a new plan to raze it. Housing authority Director Donald Troendle has said renovation would be too costly. He has maintained the complex is riddled with failing heating and cooling systems and sits on unstable hillside ground.

Although CMHA is renting apartments at English Woods, the vacancy rate has shot above 60 percent, with only 287 of 700 units occupied.

Tenants say English Woods is not the dilapidated housing project that many outsiders think. Many residents regard the development as a safe haven for decent low-income and disabled citizens.

Rent at English Woods can range from $200 to $500, depending on a tenant's income.

"I'm not able to move right now," said Mary Mitchell, a 14-year resident. "I need to stay as long as I can to better myself."

English Woods tenants were full of ideas on how to better the public housing complex. First on the agenda was finding a way to get the housing auathority to turn over the property to tenants. Some suggested lobbying City Council to buy English Woods from the housing authority, then turn around and sell it to residents for $1.

"We are one of the city's children too," Battle said, noting that English Woods is considered one of the city's 52 neighborhoods. "We need some support from the city."

Councilman David Pepper said community land trust programs like the one English Woods residents are proposing have worked effectively in some cities. But Pepper said he couldn't comment on the feasibility of purchasing English Woods.

"There is a lot of passion and organization in that community," Pepper said. "I'd like to meet with them and listen to their ideas."

Tenants talked about the need for more businesses where they could find jobs and shop. A grocery store, beauty salon and barbershop were among the suggestions.

One of the only businesses operating near English Woods is an IGA store on Sutter Avenue.

Safety and security were also an area of focus. English Woods saw the biggest decrease in crime of any neighborhood last year by nearly 30 percent. Serious crimes - murder, rape, robberies, assaults, burglaries, theft and auto thefts - dropped from 304 in 2002 to 214 in 2003.

Still, tenants were discussing plans to hire people at minimum wage to patrol the community.

Battle said she'd like to explore ways to use the 400-plus vacant apartments at English Woods as transitional housing for the homeless.

"Most people don't look after the homeless," Battle said. "I'm just a half a step away from being homeless myself."

Battle said tenants would be applying to the city's Safe and Clean Neighborhood Fund for help with their security proposals. And for other projects, "we'll be doing some networking and grant writing just like everybody else," she said.

Rev. Walter Jones, an eight-year English Woods resident and pastor of Willing Spirit Baptist Church in North Fairmount, said many people who moved out of the complex under the threat of demolition have expressed regrets.

"This is worth all the fighting and the effort that we've put forth," Jones said.

E-mail kaldridge@enquirer.com