Bye, Smitty's (Cincinnati, Findlay, Washington: buy, to live in, shop)

[amdrea ashford]

Originally Posted by Mircea

It smells better now with Smitty's gone.

I was in Kroger's the other and over heard the manager saying their sales have been steadily increasing.

Imagine that. 8,000 people get kicked out of OTR and Kroger's sales actually increase.

There's still a problem with dope boys down in that little garden/park there between Vine and Race, but hopefully when they start kicking out the garbage along Race and Main it'll be a lot safer (then I won't have to go packing any more).

Do you work for a profit organization? Or know anything about them? The math is fairly simple...
There are dealers EVERYWHERE! NO neighborhood is exempt! I hope they continue to clean it up as well but this is not an issue that is limited to OTR or the "little garden". If you think it is you need to get out more.
The only thing that would truly make it smell better is for you to keep your mouth closed! The smell of your ignorance is in your breath...TOXIC!

[amdrea ashford]

Originally Posted by wilson1010

I think it was you who made the threats. And, I don't care if the people up there are green. They are disorderly low lifes who stay because of the drugs and crime not in spite of it.

You really are prejudice aren't you?
Most of the people who are there or who stay there are stuck in a cycle not because they are addicts or dealers.

[amdrea ashford]

Originally Posted by progmac

i would think an established business like smitty's would be more eyes on the street and good for the neighborhood. being there 60 years, there is no way the owner put up with much sh----t

You are right. He put up with no crap. People didn't try to steal from him or hurt him not because they couldn't but because they respect him. They know he gave to the neighborhood and to them personally every opotunity he had.

[amdrea ashford]

Originally Posted by wilson1010

This minute and most of my time I am sitting 1900 feet from the site of the former Smitty's. I have a pretty good understanding of what goes on there.

If you are sitting so close are you having trouble seeing the forest through the trees?

[Wilson513]

Originally Posted by amdrea ashford

If you are sitting so close are you having trouble seeing the forest through the trees?

Nice that you are finally getting around to reading the thread.

[amdrea ashford]

Originally Posted by captaincatfish

I almost choked up when I read about those elderly folk you describe...they remind me of my late grandparents, and also of my 82-yr old mother in law, who lives with my wife and me---you know the saying 'there but for the grace of God'...

I also had no idea that you were both an OTR property owner, AND an advocate for those elders...I 'bared my fangs', so to speak, at you because I was taking umbrage at the tone of your original post...if I'm wrong, then I'm man enough to apologize, but I just thought you were being nasty toward the gentleman who owned Smitty's, and not the store itself...my late uncle owned a neighborhood store in a 'bad' part of my hometown, Cleveland, and he essentially served the same function as Smitty's (minus the urban wear, the loiterers, the 'lowlifes' etc)...he was respected and known throughout the neighborhood (I worked more than one summer manning the register and stocking the shelves LOL), so much so that the ONE time he was robbed, the neighborhood closed ranks and caught the perps in about 5-6 hours, then held them for the police...but that was then, and not now

If your gripe is with the idiot-a**holes that prey on the weak and the elderly, then I'm with you 100% on that one...God help anyone who'd mess with my MIL, and I find out about it...but can you muster even a little sympathy for the gentleman who ran Smitty's? You may not like his clientele (same here) but the man had been doing it for so long, I just thought of my uncle, and my heart immediately went out to him

PLEASE Captincatfish... don't cave to this idiot who knows NOTHING! He would have you believing that it is like the OK corral outside of the store and that could not be further from the truth!
Young men (dealers or not) would take off their hat and pull up their pants when they came in the store. They showed respect for him and anyone in the store. If they bought a suit they knew Smitty would not sell them a suit with the pants to big (you don't wear a suit that doesn't fit by Smitty's order) If they came in after they had been in trouble they prepared themselves for a Smitty's lecture. He was disappointed in them but would be proud of them when they cleaned their act up.
The days were always full of the older clientele in the store. Remembering the way things use to be, talking about their aches and pains and what ailes them.
Smitty knew them all by name. What family they belonged to. What accomplishments they made. He was never affraid to call them out.
He always told us, if you are not part of the solution you ARE part of the problem. Sitting from afar like "Wilson" passing judgement on something he thinks he know is part of the problem. He only wishes he was half the man.

[amdrea ashford]

Originally Posted by wilson1010

Nice that you are finally getting around to reading the thread.

Yes... my job is something other then passing judgement on others all day!

[Wilson513]

Originally Posted by amdrea ashford

PLEASE Captincatfish... don't cave to this idiot who knows NOTHING! He would have you believing that it is like the OK corral outside of the store and that could not be further from the truth!
Young men (dealers or not) would take off their hat and pull up their pants when they came in the store. They showed respect for him and anyone in the store. If they bought a suit they knew Smitty would not sell them a suit with the pants to big (you don't wear a suit that doesn't fit by Smitty's order) If they came in after they had been in trouble they prepared themselves for a Smitty's lecture. He was disappointed in them but would be proud of them when they cleaned their act up.
The days were always full of the older clientele in the store. Remembering the way things use to be, talking about their aches and pains and what ailes them.
Smitty knew them all by name. What family they belonged to. What accomplishments they made. He was never affraid to call them out.
He always told us, if you are not part of the solution you ARE part of the problem. Sitting from afar like "Wilson" passing judgement on something he thinks he know is part of the problem. He only wishes he was half the man.

You are not going to create a reputation for Mr. Ashford by bragging about how the drug dealers treated him with respect. Each one of my elderly tenants has 100 times the integrity, after livining a good and honest life and now having to live in a community of perps and predators that were the mainstay of Smitty's. Like I said from the first, great place to get a pimp hat.

[amdrea ashford]

Originally Posted by wilson1010

I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt that you are looking at upper Vine Street at a distance and that you don't know me or the persons who hang out up there. I say hang out because it seems like every time one of them gets shot, stabbed or arrested, they have an address on Winneste or Goebel or the Fay Apartments or on Reading Road and they have just chosen to come down here to OTR to ply their dope dealing, or thievery or whatever.

There are a few folks down here that are here against their will, old, poor, disabled, or without the $300 or so it takes to move. If you knew me, you would know that I am their advocate. I own a building where 8 old people live in relative OTR bliss in one bedroom apartments of 1100 square feet overlooking a park and surrounded by yuppies. I purchased that building so that others did not displace these elderly folks that I have gotten to know in the 12 years I have been in OTR. They are all over 70, all black, and all receiving housing assistance. And, I love every one of them dearly.

I can tell you without fear of contradiction that none of my elderly tenants has ever stood out in front of Smitty's, never bought anything from Smitty's and would not even walk by Smitty's other than at the point of a gun (which, in fact, could happen for those innocents who stroll by).

Rather, the Smitty's crowd are the perpetrators and my elderly tenants are the victims. On check day, the young thugs, prostitutes, drug boys and other scoflaws populate areas like Smitty's to prey on the weak, on the victims. It is they who purchase a pimp hat or a pink suit or a black hoodie with the words: "Snitches get Stitches" and the other offerings of retailers there. On check day, the old, ill and alone are afraid to go out for fear of the perps. It is not uncommon for folks to need an escort to get their check cashed. If Smitty's assisted in that, fine, but I doubt it.

My folks get a ride up to University Plaza to get some groceries and skip the corner market with the rolling papers and the pint bottles of diluted vodka and the boys outside.

Well Wilson you are a regular boy scout aren't you? I had no idea how deeply the well of good will runs for you...advocating for 8 elderly people... PLEASE!!!!
Smitty has done more for more people in 10 minutes then you have your entire life. I say that without fear of contradiction!
Let me get this straight...because some one wears a God father, a Gent, a Derby a pink suit they are a pimp or a thug? Now not only are you predjudice but you are also the FASHION POLICE? Wow!
Almighty Wilson, protector of all that is good in OTR I would invite you to ask anyone who truly knows him, especially the elderly, what the SOP (standard operating procedures) were for cashing a check. Ask a regular who was sick and couldn't get out what Smitty would do for them. Ask someone who was down on their luck and needed a little something to get them by what Smitty would do.

[Wilson513]

You can make this record all you want. I think most people regarded Smitty's as a garish stain on the area and his clientele a menace. Your personal attacks on me notwithstanding.

But, since you seem to be an expert on the place, perhaps you will explain the garish lighting directed out from the display windows? Was that for security purposes or just to degrade the neighborhood? If I recall there were actually fixtures on the outside of the building pointing toward the street. What was that about?