Coalition against the FC Cincinnati stadium paid for 102 West End council memberships ahead of vote

A group opposed to FC Cincinnati's plans for a West End stadium paid for 102 West Community council memberships Tuesday ahead of a vote on the stadium.

On Tuesday, West End residents took a vote on whether they supported or opposed the construction of a soccer stadium in their neighborhood.

The Coalition Against an FC Stadium Cincinnati Stadium in the West End gave the community council a list of 102 names and $714 before the meeting. The coalition believes the stadium could displace residents, drive up housing costs and otherwise harm the neighborhood.

According to the community council, seven of those 102 people voted.

The anti-stadium coalition said Thursday that it's made up of West End residents, The Black Agenda, the Cincinnati chapter of the NAACP, Black Lives Matter Cincinnati, Cincinnati City Councilman Wendell Young, State Sen. Cecil Thomas and the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition, among others.

In order to vote at community council meetings, a person must be a member, which requires living in the West End and a $7 annual dues payment.

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Josh Spring, executive director of the Homeless Coalition and a member of the Coalition Against an FC Stadium Cincinnati Stadium in the West End, confirmed what happened. Spring was at the vote Tuesday. Spring is not a resident of the West End or a member of the community council.

On Tuesday, 192 people were eligible to vote, meaning the list provided by Spring's coalition against the stadium made up more than 50 percent of the membership.

Only 65 people voted that night. Of those, 50 were against the stadium, 10 were in favor of it and five abstained.

"Some folks can't afford that due, but still wish to be a part of that decision," Spring told The Enquirer Wednesday.

Spring said the coalition against the stadium had been speaking to people in the neighborhood for more than a month, and the names on the list were people the group had spoken with during that period.

West End Community Council President Keith Blake said seven of the 102 people on that list were found not to live in the West End. Only one of those seven voted Tuesday. That vote was invalidated and did not change the outcome, Blake said.

Blake told The Enquirer on Wednesday there are no rules prohibiting what Spring's group did, but he questioned the ethics of their actions.

"I have said since the beginning, we had external parties seeking to influence West End residents," Blake said. "There are people not from here stoking the fears and anger in residents."

More: West End votes against FC Cincinnati stadium amid theories that deal isn't dead

Spring didn't deny the attempt to sway the results Tuesday.

"We were trying to influence a vote," Spring said. "We don't believe that people should not be able to vote just because they can't afford a $7 fee. ... We were working to ensure that West End residents had the opportunity to influence the stance of their own community council with their own votes."

He said his group's work in the neighborhood has shown them a majority of the community does not want a stadium.

In response to the accusation of fearmongering, Spring said his group was not coming up with arguments against the stadium.

"We don't have to manufacture anything," Spring said. "People already know it."

The debate over the stadium didn't end Tuesday in West End. There was another vote of the Cincinnati Public School Board Wednesday. There, Spring spoke to the board, refused to yield the microphone after his allotted three minutes of time and had to be removed from the floor.

Blake said he was "aghast" at Spring's behavior, but said Spring had done the same thing during February's community council meeting.

He said Spring and others are trying to gain influence and power by interfering in these situations.

"He's shown a pattern of this behavior," Blake said. "It's all about what they can do to appear to have influence."