The Cincinnati Beacon
Melva Gweyn: Westwood More Important Than Rest of Hamilton County
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
Melva Gweyn, the controversial community leader of Westwood who many believe an insufferable racist, issued a public letter this week—railing against Pat DeWine and Todd Portune for deciding not to hold a meeting about the new jail proposals in a location convenient only to Westwood residents. The letter shows just how far Gweyn and her band of renegades will go to punk their agenda over the rest of the County.
The full text of her outrageous letter is copied below, but I want to draw attention to two of its exceptionally ridiculous moments.
1. Melva Gweyn hates the City of Cincinnati.
Don’t believe me? Check out this excerpt:
When was the last time you were downtown after 6 PM on Court Street? Found or paid for parking? Had someone offer to “protect” your car after you leave it? Or offer you “services” or “supplies” you spent a lifetime to avoid but due to the masterful leadership within Cincinnati we now have this kind of entrepreneurial “happening” spread to every community and growing.
Wow! Only someone who avoids the City entirely could be so delusional! I have never had trouble parking within walking distance of the portion of Court Street in question. In fact, I have even found free parking not too dreadfully far. During my walks on and around Court Street, I have never had my car robbed, and therefore never felt like it needed protecting. And I have never been offered drugs or sex downtown. Never! Not in Over-The-Rhine, near the Courts, near the Library, near City Hall, near the Stadia. Not at Findlay Market, Alabama’s Fish House, Ollie’s Trolly, or Tucker’s.
So what is Melva Gweyn talking about? Surely, I look more like someone who would buy drugs or sex than Melva Gweyn—yet it has never happened!
2. Melva Gweyn thinks Westwood is the center of the Universe.
Moving this meeting is a deliberate attempt to make our participation in the process more difficult and these “civil” servants need to know we don’t take this important issue lightly.
Really? Because downtown is much more convenient to all the neighborhoods than Westwood. Downtown resides at the convergence of both major highways. These two arteries filter through all of Hamilton County—and all the regions connect to them through various lifelines—I-74, Norwood Lateral, Cross County, even I-275. Easy in; easy out. A natural nexus.
And if Downtown is really that inconvenient of a location, then the alternative should not be Westwood—which is not easily accessible to most of the County. Perhaps somewhere more central to the County geographically. But Westwood? Please.
Anyway, don’t take my word for it. Here is the full text of her public letter:
Westwood took the lead in Cincinnati in supporting the police before, during, and after, the riots. We demanded law and order when it seemed more politically astute to seated politicians to support turmoil and those who created it. The Westside has suffered consequences of increased crime and been victim not only to these problems but to leadership whose civil responsibility if it existed at all was absorbed in personal agendas and ambitions nurtured in free flowing tax dollars while we were left to fight upstream at our personal expense. To the dismay and surprise of political players instead of our taking the well trodden path of flight out of our community which has been an epidemic throughout the country for decades, responsible people living on the Westside stood their ground.
No neighborhood is more deserving of special consideration in being involved in decisions for the proposed jail than Westwood or the Westside. As Mary Kuhl announced at the last Westwood Concern meeting responding to crime statistics and the much needed and proposed jail, “stop talking about the damn jail and just build it”. For that reason a meeting was scheduled for August 14 in Westwood by Heimlich’s office to bring parties together to present the various proposals for the jail making it more convenient for Westsiders to attend and GET IT GOING.
Two of the three commissioners have decided to not hold this meeting in Westwood but move it instead to the downtown commissioners office. When was the last time you attended a meeting at the commissioners office? Ever? Most people in the city would have a hard time even knowing where to find it. When was the last time you were downtown after 6 PM on Court Street? Found or paid for parking? Had someone offer to “protect” your car after you leave it? Or offer you “services” or “supplies” you spent a lifetime to avoid but due to the masterful leadership within Cincinnati we now have this kind of entrepreneurial “happening” spread to every community and growing. Moving this meeting is a deliberate attempt to make our participation in the process more difficult and these “civil” servants need to know we don’t take this important issue lightly.
These commissioner would love to hear from you. I am coping this to them.
Sincerely,
Melva Gweyn
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