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Winburn Now Asking Ohio Governor To Help Shut Down District Five

Tana Weingartner
/
WVXU

Cincinnati Council Member Charlie Winburn is now asking Ohio Governor John Kasich for his help closing the police department's District Five building on Ludlow Avenue.
Winburn sent a five-page letter to the governor Wednesday. He's asking the governor to do three things.

"One is to declare this facility down here a medical emergency. Number two, I'm asking that the governor come down and take a tour of it for himself. And number three, to send in the Department of Health, their investigators, to take a look at actually what's going on at this facility," Winburn says.

Winburn and members of the Fraternal Order of Police say the facility is unsafe. They point to the number of cancer diagnoses among current and former District Five employees, even though city environmental testing indicates the building is safe.

Winburn keeps accusing the mayor, city manager, and city council of not addressing the problem. Winburn was asked what his solution would be.

"Go to Cincinnati State and ask Cincinnati State to use their parking lot, which is adjacent to District Five, and guess what I would put there, mobile units," Winburn says.

The police department has moved people who spend the majority of their day in the facility to another location. Those left are patrol officers and supervisors.

Cincinnati is remodeling a city-owned building for a new District Five headquarters, but it won't be complete until 2019.

Jay Hanselman brings more than 10 years experience as a news anchor and reporter to 91.7 WVXU. He came to WVXU from WNKU, where he hosted the local broadcast of All Things Considered. Hanselman has been recognized for his reporting by the Kentucky AP Broadcasters Association, the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists, and the Ohio AP Broadcasters.