Move over Chicago, Miami and Detroit – when it comes to violent crime – Cincinnati now lays claim to the ‘top spot.’
Walletpop.com, a personal finance and consumer Web site, ranks Over-the-Rhine as the “most dangerous” neighborhood in the country. The site studied FBI data from 2005 through 2007.
It found that there is a 25 percent chance of becoming a victim of violent crime in Over-the-Rhine.
Walter Reinhaus, president of the Over-the-Rhine Community Council, is not proud of the distinction, but he invites the national spotlight if it'll bring desperately needed resources.
"It's too easy for the general public to dismiss what goes on in the worst parts of their city," said Reinhaus. "Sometimes it's just that your local resources are not enough and it really is a national issue and story."
Despite the Web site's prediction that there's a one-in-four chance of becoming a victim there, resident Demetrius Holder says he thinks violent crime is getting better.
"It's not like you can worry about everything, you know. I put it, if it's your time, it's your time,” said Holder. “But, I don't really see too much of that going on, guys carrying guns.”
Britni Gillam also lives in Over-the-Rhine. 9News found her on the sidewalk outside of the Hamilton County Justice Center communicating with her boyfriend, who's spending the night there.
"When night falls, I do tend to have someone with me and tend not to get caught out at night anymore," Gillam said.
"I have hope for it getting better, but I don't see it getting better,” she said. “I see it getting worse from when I was a kid, until now, the children growing up now, that's why I'm moving out of town. I'm not raising my child here."
Walter Reinhaus is hoping for grant money from the federal "Weed and Seed" program. That announcement will come in August, and he says it would mean big changes for Over-the-Rhine.
"You have the DEA, the FBI, the ATF – you have additional grant monies, you have other kinds of service programs dealing with blight, dealing with chemical addictions," said Reinhaus.
Specifically, it was two streets in Over-the-Rhine: Central Parkway and Liberty Street, listed as the center of the “worst neighborhood.”
Rounding out the top five are neighborhoods in Chicago, Miami, Jacksonville and Baltimore.
