CINCINNATI —

A meeting of minds in Price Hill to find solutions to gun violence in our neighborhoods and among our kids.

"Lend my voice, but mainly my ear because it's important to hear what other people are going through, what other people's ideas are. And I look forward to more collaboration as a city to address this issue," said Cincinnati City Council Member Meeka Owens.

Owens joined around 20 others at the recreation center to brainstorm.

While the community works together she knows the city plays a role, too.

"Everyone was on board with declaring gun violence a public health crisis so with that I know we are all committed to looking at this from the right perspective and allocating resources in the right places," she said.

Community advocates said teenagers are looking for outlets and opportunities.

"A lot of the youth I work with have been involved with trauma, grief, losses," said executive director of I Dream Academy De'Ron Smith.

This 'Plan to End Gun Violence' was started at a grassroots level in 2020 and organizers said it's time for an update.

Among the groups are families who have lost loved ones to gun violence, including Gary Smith, whose 14-year-old was killed in 2019.

"Never thought my family would be involved. Always done a good job of raising our kids and keeping them safe," he said.

Owens said the city is working to elevate opportunities for young people and to invest in youth.

Smith said he's a part of the conversation to try to understand why kids turn to guns.

"I need to be educated on why they do this. What's going on in their mind?" Smith said.

NEWPORT, Ky. —

It was this time last year, a high-speed Cincinnati police chase ended with a crash in Newport.

Two people were killed and two people were seriously hurt.

Now loved ones and the survivors are suing those involved including the city and the officers.

It is still hard for family members to understand how a high-speed chase carried on in such busy areas.

Through their pain, they want to make sure it never happens again.

"I do not believe that my parents would forgive the police, nor forgive Mason Meyer for what happened," Angela Laible Endress said.

Endress and her family are working through incredible pain, even a year later.

Her family is fighting for justice for her parents who were killed when a high-speed chase involving Cincinnati police ended with a horrific crash outside Press Café in Newport last August.

"They were married for 55 years and they were still in love," Endress said.

Ray and Gayle Laible lived, shopped and dined in Newport.

That's what attorneys said they were doing when Mason Meyer, who was being chased, crashed into them and severely hurt Steven and Maribeth Klein nearby.

"If God came down and asked my parents, 'OK, two of you have got to pass on and two of you have got to survive' and my parents, I know in their heart would say, 'This is a young couple that have children. We've had a wonderful life. We can move on.' I believe that," Endress said.

Both families are now suing the City of Cincinnati, the officers involved: Timothy Lanter, Brett Thomas and Donald Scalf, as well as Meyer and others.

"There are plenty of days where I can't drive down that road. Absolutely not. I literally go five blocks out of the way to avoid it," Endress said.

Attorneys allege Cincinnati police officers initiated a reckless chase after Meyer, who was under investigation for selling guns.

The lawsuit said officers violated numerous policies and safety rules, and they drove more than 100 miles per hour as the pursuit spanned congested areas from Price Hill to Newport.

Attorneys said a car was sideswiped and a motorcyclist nearly toppled over.

The lawsuit says the pursuit should have been terminated because it was dangerous and officers knew where to find Meyer.

It makes several claims including personal injury, wrongful death and negligence in supervision and training.

Attorneys allege the officers were incompetent in their conduct and knowingly violated the law.

"I don't care if this lawsuit takes one day or ten years. I will still be there fighting for them for their justice because that's what my parents taught me to do," Endress said.

The attorneys allege since 2011, there have been nearly 150 pursuits initiated by Cincinnati police officers ending in crashes.

The City of Cincinnati has not returned our numerous requests for comment.

CINCINNATI —

Much of Over-the-Rhine has been remade, the Cincinnati riverfront has been revitalized and now Price Hill is starting to think its time could soon arrive.

There was some groundwork for a neighborhood renaissance laid years ago. Now, new single-family home construction is in the works.

After decades of deterioration and decline, Price Hill brims with captivating views and potential.

Don Johnson of Cutler Real Estate walked around his old stomping grounds Friday to show us some of it.

"From this property we're going to have four and on the other side we're going to have six townhouses," he pointed out at the far southern end of Grand Avenue.

Dozens of infill lots like the one at Mt. Hope have been bought up for market-rate housing.
You heard that right. The market seems to be light-years from where it was just a few summers ago when properties could be had for $40,000 and $50,000.

"It's a whole different market over here now," Johnson said. "It really picked up momentum."

He grew up around here as an Elder grad and handles sales and marketing for the homebuilder, who also grew up around here as an Elder grad.

Kim Knoppe made his mark in Columbus and came back to find lots of empty lots and no plan beyond tear downs.

"And it just struck me that what that area needed was new home construction, something that would lift the entire neighborhood up," Knoppe told us during an interview today.
He has control of close to 80 lots throughout the city, including Harrison, Sayler Park, Mt. Auburn and East Riverside Drive.

He is still in buying mode and will break ground for new home construction on Hawthorne Avenue in Price Hill next week. The homes will be in the $400,000 range.

Knoppe is hoping for a ripple effect throughout the west side.

He is candid about the risk, saying he doesn't know if it'll go and that he feels a little like Don Quixote.

"Read the book, saw the opera," he said with a hearty laugh. "It takes that kind of risk sometimes to turn the table."

Knoppe is playing off the success of the Incline District where the Public House is a regional magnet.

He grew up on Grand Avenue and now just four blocks away he is planning to construct ten three-story, three-bedroom, two-car garage homes with rooftop terraces.

"I can't tell you what a warm feeling it gives me to be able to go into my old neighborhood and improve it," he said.

We saw the type of breathtaking view he plans to capitalize on with wood beam ceilings, brick fronts and 15-year tax abatements.

"Young people get good jobs and they move out of Price Hill. And they would love to be there with family and friends. So, hopefully, they'll be attracted to this type of housing as well," he said.

One woman in a new condo overlooking the Ohio River told us the neighborhood is ripe for change.

"It'll take a while," she said and then added, "I love it here."

It’s been a full year since the last time the curtain rose at Warsaw Incline Theater in Price Hill. The COVID-19 pandemic forced most live entertainment businesses, including this West Side staple, to a standstill — no amount of distancing or mask-wearing could offset the sudden discomfort audiences and performers felt in an auditorium full of people.

“It’s like being a hammer and there are no nails anywhere to be found,” said managing director Rodger Pille. “Our purpose in life was taken away.”

The theater's company, Cincinnati Landmark Productions, went from having thirteen scheduled shows to none. They searched for grant funding to stanch the bleeding and keep employees' bills paid; they held an outdoor cabaret during the summer and a virtual holiday show during the winter. It helped some.

But now, Cincinnati Landmark is getting help from another business that fretted through the pandemic: The Farm, a banquet hall that traditionally hosted large, in-person events.

"We got through the financial crisis of January 2020, we had our busiest month we ever had in February 2020, and then the pandemic hit in March,” said Farm owner Daniel Elsaesser.

FROM MARCH 2020: After near-closing earlier this year, The Farm fights to remain open through COVID-19

Some of the old events are coming back. The Farm hosted a wedding in January.

And in conversations with Pille, Elsaesser saw a way for both their companies to benefit.

“Theaters have been hurt, really, worse than banquet halls,” he said.

So Cincinnati Landmark Productions will perform four live shows for guests at The Farm in April and May, bringing back the kind of dinnertime theater that was impossible to hold safely in 2020.

All four dates sold out within a day of their announcement.

“The audience enormously responded,” Pille said. “Within a day, the whole thing was sold out, so that tells us the audience can't wait to get back, and we can't wait to have them back.”

Pille said communities thrive when the arts thrive, and he’s heartened by the hope that widespread vaccination will allow performers to make concrete plans for the first time in a year. He's crossing his fingers for a more normal autumn.

“We’ve surveyed our audience throughout this time and asked them when they would feel comfortable coming back, so we did have some optimism that when we do produce theater again, that they will be there," he said. "But to see something like that sell out in such a short time, that really hammers the point home. People really can’t wait to come back out and support their local theaters, their local art organizations. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel, and we can see it."

CINCINNATI — Community leaders in Price Hill are leading the charge against violence in a summer kickoff rally Saturday.

Their goal: to get ahead of the violence by doing everything they can to prevent a repeat of 2020, which Cincinnati Police say was the city's deadliest summer on record.

According to CPD data, 94 people were killed in 2020. More than half of those murders occurred from April to August, and there were nearly 500 total shootings.

So far, 31 people have been killed in Cincinnati in 2021.

That’s why leaders with the Cincinnati Works Phoenix Program want people to come outside their homes, talk about issues in their neighborhood and be a part of coming up with solutions.

Those concerns and solutions do not have to be crime-related -- it could be a safety concern, like more streetlights on a certain block.

"It's tragic when you have kids worried about ducking and dodging bullets,” said Mitch Morris with Cincinnati Works. “So we want to come in the community, bring some joy, bring some happiness and bring some resources in order to try to get people to start thinking differently and doing different things.”

The grillout event with Price Hill Safety CAT and Cincinnati Police PIVOT team starts at 3 p.m. Saturday at the corner of Ross Avenue and Warsaw Avenue.