Well, as the summer days begin to swelter here in Bronzeville in late June, we understand that we have lost the battle for Hamilton and Long.
Politics won and an historic neighborhood lost. Money won and common sense lost. It cannot happen again.
We must win the war for the Near East Side. We must continue the fight for appropriate, sustainable development down the Long Street and Mount Vernon Avenue corridors as well as in our blocks.
The development committee is hard at work on other projects in the neighborhood, trying our best to leverage all that we have into a future all Bronzeville residents can be proud of.
The committee would like to thank the greater neighborhood residents who continually cheered us on and voted every step of the way to proceed to stop this abominable building and to build one better suited for the location and the community’s needs. We would like to thank the Olde Towne East Neighborhood Association, The Long Street Business Association, Walter Cates and his friends from the East Main Street Business Association, Columbus Compact, the many developers and architects who took the time to meet with us and support us, and all the businessmen and woman who work in our environs and supported their neighborhood by supporting our work.
We would like to publicly decry the work of Mike Brown and Mayor Coleman for continually misrepresenting the facts about support for the pigheaded project being built at this corner. We would like to admonish each and every city Council Member that privately supported us and publicly voted against us.
The development committee of the King Lincoln Bronzeville Neighborhood Association brought forth a wonderful alternative to the monstrosity being forced on us. They delivered a historically correct building that fit the corner, a developer, an architect, and PRIVATE monies to make it happen. They had renderings, financials and a great model. Kudos to that team and their energy.
