The constant pushback FC Cincinnati is butting up against as it builds a new soccer stadium in the West End is "bulls---," said team President Jeff Berding.

In a sometimes-emotional interview with The Enquirer's editorial board Thursday, Berding tried to rebut concernsabout displacement of low-income residents who live in buildings owned by the team just north of the West End stadium site.But he also revealed his deep frustration with what he deemed "agitators" and the city's "failed leadership."

Among his named targets:

Josh Spring , executive director of the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition;

, executive director of the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition; Margy Waller , an Over-the-Rhine resident who lives near the stadium site;

, an Over-the-Rhine resident who lives near the stadium site; Brian Garry, who has unsuccessfully run for council and often turns up at City Hall to speak on behalf of social justice issues.

Spring, who has helped organize West End residents, said Berding and the team "are creating roadblocks for themselves by ... treating people as if they have no value."

"They (FC Cincinnati) are their own worst enemy," he told The Enquirer.

Garry, in a Cincinnati.com op-ed last week, denounced the "greed" that would prompt someone to push out poor people for a stadium. "This is heartless," he wrote.

Waller is a lawyer who has helped displaced tenants in the past and "is just commenting on what is happening," she told The Enquirer.

Every step has been a contentious battle: Council voted 5-4 to approve the West End site last year. Then when it came time in February for the city to sell the team city-owned land, the deal was held up over a Cincinnati Ballet parking lot that sits on what would be stadium land. Now some council members are throwing up new demands as the team seeks rezoning for some small strips of land in the original stadium footprint.

Roughly 14 people have been asked to move out of two West End buildings recently purchased by the team, prompting a council motion ordering the team to keep one building for all the tenants of both buildings to live in. Berding, who said he is not a "Section 8" landlord, deemed the motion a threat that zoning would be held up. And, that Berding said, would delay the stadium's opening.

Councilman David Mann, who sponsored the motion with P.G. Sittenfeld, has said the motion was not a threat and was introduced as a solution to help displaced tenants. The city's planning commission is set to take up the issue May 10, followed by a vote from council.

"There are social needs that need to be solved," Berding said. All city officials agree there is a shortage of affordable housing in Cincinnati. "But that effort needs to be led by elected officials and government. ... At some level there needs to be a comprehensive solution."

And Berding, a former city councilman, said solving the city's affordable housing problems is the job of city council, not a soccer team.

"It’s bulls---; it’s failed leadership," Berding said. "What have you done? Not a whole lot. I think people see through it."

Council, he said, should be embracing the team's efforts to build a stadium and bring new business to the West End.

"This is a private investment," Berding said. "There's been none like it since. ... Great American Tower."

He said people are using the stadium to find ways to make money or build their political resumes. And he's worried city officials and activists will continue to throw up roadblocks, risking more building delays.

"They're treating us like we're some toxic dump or something," he said.

Berding said the team has pledged millions of dollars for the neighborhood over the next decade.

He and former Mayor Mark Mallory, the team's community liaison who joined Berding at The Enquirer, said the team has all along been helping people forced to leave.

But the plight of 99-year-old bedridden Mary Page being forced to relocatecaptured the public's attention. She and her neighborsare now allowed to stay until they find a new place to live; the team lawyer is working with the Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati, working on the residents' behalf.

"We're going above and beyond," Berding said.

In hindsight, looking back on his pledge that no one would be displaced, Berding said he would choose his words more carefully.

At the time it was unclear where the stadium would be and West End residents living in City West had fake evictions notices placed on their doors as a scare tactic. Berding knew what land he was eyeing, but hadn't revealed it in hopes the cost wouldn't skyrocket. But he knew it wasn't City West. Therefore, he pledged no displacement from the stadium site, he explained.

Now those words are being thrown back at him by residents in buildings he bought north of the stadium site.

"We’re trying to be one of the good success stories," Berding said.