The Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition is claiming victory over what it called "special signs" erected at Washington Park in Over-the-Rhine. Three people living near the park filed suit September 4th. Coalition Executive Director Josh Spring says the Cincinnati Park Board voted today to strike down Park Rule 28, which he says allowed the board to post a sign in any park with any special rules that would be enforced like law.
That suit argued Cincinnati Park Board employees created rules for Washington Park that discriminated against certain classes of people, particularly the homeless and poor. It also argued the rules for the park were not debated, discussed or enacted at a public meeting of the park board, but were instead created through e-mail conversations between the Superintendent of Cincinnati Parks, a Cincinnati Police Captain and representatives of 3CDC, a private corporation.
Cincinnati Deputy City Solicitor Aaron Herzig says the lawsuit should never have been brought because at the time of filing the Park Board had already taken down the signs. He says the Park Board's decision to vote on each sign before it goes up ends any confusion.
Attorney Jennifer Kinsley, representing the three people who filed the suit, says it's still pending "until the city approaches us to resolve it."