You’re never gonna win a PR battle with a 99-year-old.

The second The Enquirer reported that Mary Page had to move from her West End apartment, FC Cincinnati could do no right. You’re doing what to whom?

If you’re a professional sports team and you are owned by a billionaire or two, don’t expect any public support for booting people from their homes, to make room for your new, space-age stadium that’s landing like an alien rocket ship in the middle of an established neighborhood. Especially if one of the dispossessed is a bed-ridden 99-year-old.

No one’s going to be with you on that one, Mr. Lindner, certainly not publicly.

There’s more to it than that. There always is.

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If the soccer team hadn’t bought the three properties in question, including the building where Ms. Page lives, someone else would have. A speculator seeing the gold mine in having the soccer stadium next door would flip the property for lots of profit. A businessperson would see that same stadium and think, “sports bar.’’

The soccer team had asked landlords in the area to consider selling their properties to the team, before acting on other offers. A fair request, given no speculators or would-be bar owners had spent close to $300 million making the real estate more desirable.

“We want the opportunity to control the development around our stadium,’’ FCC president Jeff Berding said. “We’re spending almost $300 million, we don’t want a Hustler store next to our stadium.’’

Who’s going to argue with that?

Most apartment dwellers in that area rent month to month. Tenants are free to leave. Owners are free to say, "you can’t stay." Anyone who rents that way knows that being displaced is a constant possibility. That’s not always fair. Nor is it a futbol team’s problem. As Berding said, “We’re not a landlord, we’re a soccer team.’’

FC Cincinnati has been accused of being less than truthful in its vows that a stadium would not displace any residents. Strictly speaking, that is true. The stadium itself won’t eliminate residences. The area closest to the stadium will.

Berding suggested that when he made the vow, he was thinking only about getting the stadium built, not developing what surrounded it. “We didn’t have a development strategy then. Everyone understood that there would be development around the stadium. You’re spending $250 million,’’ Berding said, with some exasperation. Why wouldn’t there be development?

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It’s not exactly unimpeachable honesty. It’s not a lie, either.

"If we continue to allow all this to just run amok through our community, we’re going to continue to split up neighborhoods, split up neighbors, increase homelessness," said Josh Spring, the executive director of the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Commission.

That’s a bit of an exaggeration. Displacing a total of 17 people and commandeering the ballet’s parking lot (since returned to the ballet) isn’t exactly laying waste to an entire neighborhood.

I asked Berding for examples of good corporate citizenship. He mentioned $100,000 the team spent on a housing study. The team built a playground and helped rehab two homes. West End residents are getting job training, with an eye on working on the stadium’s construction

And oh yeah, FC Cincinnati is spending $250 million to help revive a depressed part of town. That’s good for everyone

I’m not here to be an apologist for a sports team. Nor am I being asked to leave my home. I understand the resentment of folks who are watching their neighborhood change because a bunch of rich people decided to put a soccer palace there.

But I do think the piling-on of the team is a bit much. I do think FC has been a decent corporate citizen. And I do believe the legit concerns of the folks being displaced will be addressed. Berding said the team is “working overtime’’ to ease the move for Mary Page. “We’re working to give people assistance who need it.’’ We’ll hold the team to that.

Do you enjoy visiting Over-the-Rhine? Probably, you’ve never considered that those restaurants, shops and bars you frequent have contributed to big rent increases that have forced longtime residents to move. Those folks don’t just magically disappear so you could sip lattes at the newest coffee bar.

With almost any urban redevelopment, folks are going to be displaced.

Is that a sports team's issue? Or a societal one?