Business owners and residents say Over-the-Rhine should
not be voted the "most dangerous" neighborhood in the country.
"That they would label the entire neighborhood when they took a small sliver of it and analyzed old data, it just seems intellectually dishonest," says Kelly Leon, with the Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation, also known as the 3CDC.
Leon is upset about a study released last month by the consumer website Walletpop.com.
The study ranks Over-the-Rhine as the “most dangerous” neighborhood in the country.
Leon says she understands the numbers were compiled by FBI data from 2005 to 2007.
But, she says that means the results are old and no longer relevant.
"Five months of last year and the first five months of this year, crime actually dropped 36% in District One,” Leon says. “That includes Over-the-Rhine."
According to the study, you have a 25% chance of becoming a victim of a violent crime in Over-the-Rhine.
Business owners say all you have to do is look around to see the study shouldn't be taken seriously.
"Obviously, they haven't taken into account anything that's happened in the last two years down here," says business owner Mike Deininger.
Hamilton County Coroner Dr. O'dell Owens also spoke poorly about the national study.
"This is a good place to be, but, we allow one to two small things, allow that to paralyze the city. People who say they will not come to downtown Cincinnati drives me crazy," Owens said at a press conference this week.
"Any area has parts of it that maybe are less desirable than others, certainly,” says Leon. “And when you run those kind of numbers, I think you can make them say what you want them to say."
