Residents urge council to block 3CDC lease of Piatt Park, warn of displacement of mutual-aid serves

Dozens of Cincinnati residents used the council's public-comment period to ask elected officials to block a proposed lease of Piatt Park to 3CDC, saying long-running mutual-aid food serves would be disrupted and vulnerable people displaced.

The meeting opened with the Chair explaining that the city has pursued a "conceptual agreement" with 3CDC as part of a state grant application but that seeking grant dollars "does not mean that we are going to sell off a valued public space" or "take away the public use" of the park, the Chair said.

That assurance did not placate speakers who described weekly volunteer food serves at Piatt Park that, they said, feed more than 150 people and provide immediate aid. "We keep us fed, and we keep us safe," said Nick, who identified himself as speaking for the Community Survival Network. He called 3CDC's description of the serves as "misuse" "patently shameful" and asked council to block the lease when it comes up.

Olivia Merrill, who said she is a member of Democratic Socialists of America, said a petition opposing privatization has more than 1,700 signatories and argued the park's history as a public gathering place should weigh against a long-term private lease. "This park stays public and their ability to do these food serves is protected," Merrill told council.

Several speakers described the serves as immediate, volunteer-run lifelines: "They provide a hot meal, clothing, and they speak directly to homeless people about what their needs actually are," said Al Dalton, who said the scribe foundation and other mutual-aid groups have run serves in the park for nearly a decade. Hope, another regular organizer, invited council members to attend a serve "noon to 3" on Sunday to see how volunteer operations work.

Dr. Nick Koenig, a postdoctoral researcher who said he studies climate justice, criticized 3CDC's presentation to the parks board on tree health and warned that park renovations could accelerate "green gentrification." "3CDC is not collective action," Koenig said, arguing the group's approach could displace economically vulnerable residents.

Josh Spring, executive director of the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition, warned that enforcement of new park rules in past cases had been driven by a small group of actors and could criminalize public-serving activity. "They created a law that they thought was a law over the phone and the police department enforced it against our people," Spring said, recounting litigation and discovery from a prior case.

Speakers pressed the council for transparency about any deal, asked whether an independent monitor would oversee park uses, and urged elected officials to prioritize public stewardship over private control. Several requested that 3CDC make its books public and that state or city processes include fuller public input before a lease moves forward.

The council did not vote on a Piatt Park lease at the meeting. Public comment preceded the business portion of the session, where the council moved on to a separate resolution and a series of ordinances and grants.

The council's next procedural steps for the Piatt Park proposal were not announced during this meeting; speakers asked for either a formal block of the proposed lease or a public, community-led process before staff take any binding action.