West End meeting to FC Cincinnati: Not here, not Stargel

West End residents and community leaders aren't waiting for FC Cincinnati to tell them they plan to build a stadium in the historic neighborhood. They're demanding details and input in the process.

And until they have both, they're saying no to a stadium in their neighborhood.

Thursday night, some of Cincinnati's most influential community leaders gathered inside the mailroom of Stanley Row, surrounded by residents, to deliver this message.

"It cannot be thrown into any neighborhood they choose," State Sen. Cecil Thomas, D-North Avondale, said. "They started in Oakley and Oakley said no. Now they're coming for the West End.

"The West End needs a grocery store; the West End needs a drug store; the West End needs businesses," Thomas added. "It does not need a structure that changes the dynamics of the neighborhood."

Thomas said less populous sites in the West End, Camp Washington or Queensgate would be better stadium locations.

Black Agenda President Dwight Tillery warned residents a stadium would change the West End into "OT-West," a reference to Over-the-Rhine, which has seen a decade of redevelopment.

Among those gathered, in addition to Thomas and Tillery: Cincinnati City Councilman Wendell Young; Cincinnati NAACP Vice President Joe Mallory; former Cincinnati Mayor Dwight Tillery, who is a convenor of the Black Agenda; Josh Spring, executive director of the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition; Michelle Dillingham from the Cincinnati Educational Justice Coalition; Cincinnati Teachers Federation President Julie Sellers; and Taft Alumni Association President Sterling Rogers Trice.

FC President and CEO Jeff Berding has not revealed a specific West End stadium plan, just said three sites are under consideration: West End, Oakley and Newport.

Oakley has government approval, though the neighborhood is worried about traffic. Newport, Berding says, is shovel ready.

What we know about possibilities in the West End: The soccer club has sought to have a conversation with Cincinnati Public Schools, which owns Taft High School and Stargel Stadium, both in the West End. More details are expected to be revealed at Monday night's school board meeting.

And, FC has first right to buy some property from Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing in the West End south of Liberty Street, where the team says would build homes.

"We hope West End residents and community leaders will be open-minded to what a potential FC Cincinnati stadium site in the West End could bring to the community," Berding said in a statement released Thursday night. "Our goal is to hear from and directly speak with West End residents. We have met with the NAACP and continue to meet and talk with other community leaders and stakeholders on how FCC can do the most good for our region."

FC Cincinnati, he said, is currently exploring whether it can assemble the land needed to allow for a stadium development in the West End. Some of the site configurations include Stargel Stadium; some do not.

"If we would build on a site that included Stargel, FCC commits to building a new bigger and better Stargel adjacent to the school," Berding said.

He told Cincinnati City Council members earlier this week there would be a signed community benefits agreement with any neighborhood chosen. And he's hired former Mayor Mark Mallory to be a community liaison.