Lincoln Heights asking that Cincinnati Police gun range be moved
LINCOLN HEIGHTS, Ohio (WKRC) - Residents in Lincoln Heights and Evendale protested outside the Cincinnati Police Department’s gun range on Friday, asking city leaders to move the range.
Neighbors like Malik Daniels say it sounds like a war zone.
“When people are trying to live here or businesses are trying to show up and they hear that as a backdrop, it turns a lot of businesses away,” said Daniels.
Daniels, a Lincoln Heights native, helped organize a rolling protest asking Cincinnati leaders to move the gun range. The range has been there since the '40s, but Jon Simons says times have changed and the range is now out of place.
“When this was farmland, maybe that was the best use of it as a gun range. It's no longer farmland out here. We've got Thru the Valley, the Aerohub,” said Simons. “The best use of this land is no longer for mayhem."
Cincinnati City Council commissioned a study to see how much it would cost to reduce some of the noise coming from the gun range. That study found a number of options, including building a concrete wall, building a shelter or even a tree line. The study found that it would cost millions of dollars, but neighbors say that's not enough. They want the gun range gone.
“My birthright has been here since the '20s. We have been inheriting this land since the '20s, so we're not going to leave,” said Daniels. “Why should we have to leave? There is no other place like this in the whole country. Especially now in this moment. Why would you tell a historically African American community to relocate theirselves instead of, 'Let's come together and find a solution?'"
A Cincinnati Police spokesman told Local 12 that the city and CPD are open to discussions to find a viable solution, but it will take time. But protestors say that time is now.
“Taxpayers in the district need for this land to generate revenue. The municipalities need for it to generate jobs, and right now, all it's generating is lead in the soil,” said Simons.
Cincinnati Police say the land was donated to them in the '40's. While the entrance to the property is in Evendale, the gun range butts up to Lincoln Heights.
