Beauty shop supplier
Chong Kim

Chong I, Kim, owner of Cee Kay Beauty Supply in Findlay Market is reflected in the security mirror in his Over-the-Rhine store. Photo by Glenn Hartong

        Memories of a market bustling with visitors from Indiana, Dayton, Middletown and the suburbs are as vibrant as the hair dyes on the shelves of Cee Kay Beauty on Elder Street.

        But not as permanent.

        ‘‘Twenty years ago, customers came from all over the Tristate to shop in this historic area,’’ says Mr. Kim, 59, of Kenwood, a double-storefront shop owner who left Korea in 1975.

        ‘‘And before the trouble last year, some stores down here were open seven days a week — seven days. Those same shops are closed.’’

        Though police respond quickly when trouble occurs, he says violence ‘‘has not changed or has gotten worse’’ in the last year.

        Three weeks ago, a stabbing victim from a street-corner fight staggered into his store. ‘‘Blood spilled out all over. We called 911 and they came right away. But the store was closed four hours. And just the other day a customer pulled out a $20 bill to pay and someone came up from behind trying to grab it.’’

        A sense of neighborhood is missing, says Mr. Kim. ‘‘There’s too much litter, too much trouble.’’

        He wishes police, City Council and residents would cooperate, maybe compromise.

        ‘‘It used to be Cincinnati was one of the best places to live in the U.S. Now when I go out of state, friends ask me, ‘Are you all right there?’ I don’t want trouble again. We have to find a better way.’’

— Joy Kraft

Faces of Over-the-Rhine
Restaurant owner Paul Sebring
Taft senior Darrel Shields
Social worker Angela Coleman
Sarah Center director Sister Jeanette Buehler
Jordanian grocer Taraq T.A. Adwani
Filmmaker Steve Gebhardt
Gallery owner Suzanna Terril
Beauty shop supplier Chong Kim
Teacher's aide Kemberley Alexander
Waitress Karla Davis
Teacher Sharon Brooks
Dock worker Leo Sneed
Police officer Michael Ammann
Soup kitchen manager Denise McPherson
Artist Joseph M. Winterhalter
Janitor Latrell Walker
Fund-raiser Torren "T.J." Partridge
School social worker Joe Wilmers
Rehabber Greg Badger
Medical student John Eckman
Treatment counselor Calvin W. Wooten
Photographer Jimmy Heath

The Police
Violence up, arrests down
Changes made since April 2001
Q&A with Police Chief Streicher
Q&A with former F.O.P. president Keith Fangman

Neighbor to Neighbor
Community meetings produce results
Going beyond polite silence
What your neighbors said
What do you think?
What's happening in 145 communities
A sampling of communities:
• Mount Healthy
• Pleasant Ridge
• Milford
What institutions are doing

Related Links
Neighbor to Neighbor home page
Matters of Race: Bridging the divide in Greater Cincinnati
On the Same Page Cincinnati
Live Without Hate
Common Ground
Cincinnati 2001: Year of unrest
Unrest in the city: Archive of riot coverage
Unrest photo timeline
Jim Borgman on race