By Wes Crout
We are a nation of opportunists. Collectively we celebrate those with the foresight to take while the taking is good. What is to be taken could be within the stock market or your own backyard. Everything has a price, and everyone can be bought. We’ve all heard that before.
A recent article in The Cincinnati Enquirer (“Private Firm Renovates 3 Sites in Over-the-Rhine” January 31, 2009) finishes with Greg Olson, COO of Urban Sites, saying “We’re having a lot of success. This area is like a low-hanging fruit.” In other words, the target is easily achievable, and with little to no effort. But that’s good, right? It is getting something for almost nothing. Why, then, does this sound so devious? Shouldn’t we be offering accolades to this man and his team of developers for noticing an area with, well, potential? Should we not praise them for their financial prowess, and for their ability to capitalize on such an easy investment? Never mind that they are capitalizing on the misfortune of others. After all, we’re a country that doesn’t seem to mind that either.
The area, as I’m sure you’re already aware, is Over-the-Rhine. Urban Sites is one of 3CDC’s lackeys, suckling on the teet that seems to never run dry. And they’re getting fat off the milk of the region, perhaps too fat. They’re doing so without keeping promises to long-standing residents of the community about ensuring access to affordable housing. Most agree that if certain promises are kept, and certain people remain visible within the scope of change, that these companies should be welcome to infuse the area with their brand of change, and make a little money in the process. Only they’re not doing that. They are, instead, flexing their financial muscle while ignoring the needs of those with rightful claim to Over-The-Rhine. It will, I fear, only get worse. The devastating end result of this prescription has been noticed throughout history. Just ask the Native Americans.
Our country, and subsequently the world, is suffering from an economic crisis that, if some experts are correct in their assumptions, is far from getting better. Many even say it will first get worse, much worse. We’ve sustained record foreclosures in the region, with 8,000 more expected to occur in Hamilton County alone this year.
Who is set to gain from the weakening of others? Companies that cloak themselves under the veil of non-profithood, only to employ both mirrors and smoke to make certain few become aware of their true agenda. They are poised, ready to strike when the target is least able to defend itself. They are standing under the branch, waiting for the right moment to just reach out and gently pull the fruit from the tree.
If we continue on this path, and subscribe to this “fruit for the taking” ideology, we are destined to repeat mistakes of the past, recreating and certainly exacerbating problems that are the outcomes of defunct concepts. And they are remarkably defunct. The consequences of our choices are apparent and measurable. Treating people and homes like commodities has helped fuel the global economic meltdown that we are all now feeling the effects of. 3CDC’s solution? Use the fragile state many find themselves in as an opportunity to attack, to pluck their ripened fruit off the tree directly in front of them. As they have in the past they’ll just brush the insects off the fruit and polish it up a bit, then pat themselves on the back.
This is all unfortunately happening, and it is happening both now and faster than many can keep up with. Just a few weeks ago Urban Sites snatched up another seven buildings in Over-The-Rhine, for a total price of $355,000. They plan to rehab the buildings, three of which they’ve already started on. Those three will yield 14 apartments and three retail spaces. They’re already seeking tenants for the recently polished fruit.
Only this fruit isn’t theirs— and the tree isn’t either.
