There is a remote but centrally-located community built upon a hill in Northern Kentucky with majestic views of Covington, Newport, and Cincinnati. From a real estate perspective, this hilltop could be prime land and possibly made into high-priced condominiums or some other swanky complex.
Instead, for the past 6 decades, the site has been home to a low-income public housing complex called City Heights that has struggled for decades to be anything more than a densely populated, largely ignored collection of barracks-style buildings riddled with crime and despair.
It’s not surprising that many don’t even realize that City Heights is up there.
Strategically placed above the rest of society, with only one road going in and out, no one not headed to the housing project would ever pass by the publicly-subsidized neighborhood. At the entrance of this isolated community is a booth that was initially designed to house a police officer who would monitor every car going in and out. The booth was abandoned ten years ago but there are still bullet markings in the glass.
Hundreds of people call City Heights home and many of these residents try to maintain a sense of community as best they can. Some residents in City Heights have been there for decades and have seen the dramatic waves of crime as well as periods of improved living conditions.
For those who do not live on “The Hill”, as residents call it, the only time they might hear about the place is when especially noteworthy criminal activity takes place, typically shootings. With this one-sided portrayal of City Heights, it’s easy to characterize the community as a dangerous wasteland of societal ills.
While touring the neighborhood with Covington Police officers Ryan Malone and Gregg Andrews one January afternoon, The River City News spoke with many residents who strive to make their living environment as normal and pleasant as possible.
Construction on City Heights started in 1951 and the development opened in 1954 with 400 housing units with concrete walls and floors and was initially named Ida Spence Homes, for the wife of Congressman Brent Spence.
A common theme of complaints among current residents is that the majority of crime in the neighborhood is brought there by outsiders.
“The ones doing it don’t even live up here,” one resident who asked not to be named told RCN. “When you say something, everybody gets scared that they are going to get hurt.”
“It’s often the guests,” Officer Andrews said. “That’s the brunt of the issue. It’s not always the residents.”
Prior to the assignment of community officers in the neighborhood, the relationship between the police and the residents was often contentious to the point where regular patrols were ignored and the only law enforcement presence came when an emergency call was made.
“f you go back historically, 10, 20 or 30 years ago, I think that City Heights is now a different place,” said Officer Malone. “There was a time when police didn’t want to go up there unless they got a call. I think now with former chief Spike Jones bringing back the housing officers who actually patrol and handle the issues that come up in City Heights, I think it puts a face that they know. So when they see you out, they’re a lot more receptive to talking with police and bringing up issues to the police. I think that is where the relationship has gone compared to where it used to be. It’s gone from we don’t want to come up here, to where we will come up just to say hi to people.”
That kind of relationship building has done wonders for the outlook of police in the community. Joey Addison has lived on The Hill for 14 years and says that the presence of Malone and Andrews has made his living environment a safer one.
“I would say that the gun violence has gone down, it’s pretty quiet now,” Addison said. “It’s pretty neighborly. Ain’t nothing like it used to be. Before it was pretty bad, one of the worst places to live. The difference is more patrol up here and officers that care like Malone and Andrews. People from Cincinnati come up here and hang out and it goes bad from there.”
There are community members who help self-police the area and help stabilize the way of life on The Hill. The community officers said that many times when they have a call to City Heights, the issue is typically resolved by the people there by the time the police arrive.
One of the common complaints heard by residents there deals with the number of children in the projects that become bored and get into trouble without constructive activities to stimulate their minds.
“They used to have activities for us when I first moved up here like cheerleading and dance programs and a program called Kids Cafe and they just don’t have stuff like that no more,” said resident Ashley Snapp. “I think if they had more programs up here, these kids would get involved in activities instead of gangsters and live the street life. The kids just run the community and see what they can get into.”
Demoore Gray is a communications major at Eastern Kentucky University in his third year and was home for winter break where he talked about the changing living environment for the kids in City Heights.
“When I was growing up, I always had something to do when I got home from school,” he said. “The hall used to have after-school stuff going on, now my little brother sits in the house because he doesn’t have anything else to do. They’re not bad kids, they’re just mischievous because they have nothing to do. As much rent as we pay, these kids should not be bored.”
Covington Mayor Sherry Carran who is on the Covington Housing Authority Board said that there has been an uptick in gang activity in the city for this very reason.
“That’s why the gangs are kicking in,” she said. “The gangs are picking up on that, and what the gang leaders will do is go in and befriend these kids and tell them that they really care about them. The kids get attached to the gang members and then the gang members use them. They’re so hungry for that companionship.”
The Housing Authority of Covington sponsors a weekly early-educational program in January at their headquarters on Madison Avenue called Imagination Academy, but according to residents, has struggled with low attendance. There are summer programs for kids in public housing like the opportunity for eight children to stay at Camp Earnst in Boone County, but not much is offered during the school year.
“They wonder why kids are always getting into things. You got all this land, all this empty woods, turn it into something. We got baseball players up here, we got basketball players up here, we got people who can dance and sing, we got people who can skate backwards with no hands, we got all that up here but have nowhere to shine all of that,” said one resident of City Heights who has lived there for over a decade. “They see them and say they’re from the projects, thumbs down. We got a lot of talent in City Heights, starting with the babies up to the grown people. It doesn’t really help if we don’t have parents to follow up. If we get more parents involved, it would be a whole lot better. If you don’t have enough people to partake, then nobody wants to waste their money.”
Marsay Whitlowe runs a daycare on The Hill and cares for up to eight children during the week and agrees that a lot of the problems that stem from the listless youth are often due to negligent parenting. One example of this, she says, is the amount of kids ignoring curfew at night which becomes even harder to enforce due to the poor lighting in the community.
“The parks are too dark. Kids are in the parks in different parts and The Hill is watching the kids. You can’t see them in the dark, there is no telling what they’re doing. There is supposed to be someone watching the laundromat but there are kids in the laundromat,” she said. “It takes a village to raise kids but it needs to be more family-oriented. Instead of when the kids are into something, rather than going out there fighting with your kids, solve the problem. As long as you mind your business it’s a nice place.”
Whitlowe is one of the community members that help try keeping the youth from making bad decisions.
“All the kids know me. If I seeing them doing something, I will correct them or take them to their parents or something like that. So if they see me and they’re doing something wrong, they take off running. You got a handful other people that are kind of community overseers. If people called in more of their work orders, they would tear it down because the city doesn’t have the money to keep this up. It’s not worth it. It’s a good place to live if people lived right.”
From the police perspective, though, the relationship-building the community officers have worked toward has helped stem some of the late night violations as well.
“There have been a lot of juvenile issues, but we have made it a point to not necessarily have to enforce the curfew issues,” said Officer Andrews. “If all I’m doing is driving by and saying ‘Hey, it’s 11 o’ clock, just letting you know,’ and then keep on rolling, it’s better. Knowing their name, saying hi to them, letting them know you’re there, I think that goes a long way toward building a relationship with the police.”
One type of growing crime in Northern Kentucky is mostly invisible at City Heights. While the region as a whole has struggled with heroin, there is very little evidence of heroin use on The Hill.
“We don’t have a lot of heroin overdoses there. There is not a lot of heroin use,” Officer Malone said.
The police booth at the entrance at one time had an officer monitoring everyone coming into City Heights which helped to limit criminal activity. Due to budgetary cuts, though, it has been empty for years and only serves as a license plate reader now.
“Anytime a car enters or exits City Heights, it runs the license plate, time stamps it, and gives you a picture of the car and the license plate. That keeps a lot of riffraff out,” Malone said.
Despite the efforts of people in City Heights to make it a safe community, the infrastructure itself is riddled with problems and creates additional stress to the residents there. Some of the folks that live there said that there were units without heat or hot water in the winter months. Others complained of drainage backing up in their unit, and Mayor Carran said that the sewer lines are in danger of failing due to slippage of the hill that City Heights is built on.
“The sewer infrastructure is really bad. The hill is moving on both sides. I think we’re doing a better job of maintaining the units, and we’re doing a better job of oversight, but there is still a lot to do,” she said.
One sticking points for those who pay rent there is that anytime there is a maintenance repair needed in the unit, residents say they are instructed to file a work order to fix what is wrong and each one costs the residents $25. According to those who live there, residents are not allowed to do the repairs themselves, no matter how minor the fix.
“They charge us $25 for a man to come over and put a screw in to the door knob that we could have done ourselves. It’s horrible when maintenance comes to our door and charges us $25. You don’t even know what they’re coming to my door for and it’s not going to be $25 worth of work,” one tenant said.
Covington Housing Authority Executive Director Jeff Rieck declined an on-the-record interview about City Heights and instead issued a written statement about the interest that developers have had in the property.
“We periodically are approached by developers looking to assist with repositioning the Housing Authority’s assets. The Housing Authority would likely procure for those services as needed,” the statement read.
Over the years, various developers have expressed interest in the property on The Hill because of its prime location. Carran said that there has been discussion in the past about ways to repurpose the projects, possibly even building a new facility on a different site.
“In some point in time, we hope to reposition City Heights and Latonia Terrace like we did with Jacob Price,” she said, a reference to the River’s Edge at Eastside Pointe development that replaced the Jacob Price housing project in the city’s Eastside. “We were hoping to have these discussions earlier last year but just getting River’s Edge completed has been a job. It could be relocating, it could be building either a new complex or maybe doing multiple developments to make up for the number of units.”
One of the goals the city has for its public housing and low-income population is to get individuals and families assimilated into the rest of the city rather than densely populated pockets, particularly in areas as isolated as City Heights.
“Our former executive director had called in some consultants about the repurposing of City Heights and Latonia Terrace so there is huge interest in that site, but until we get to that point, it will be difficult,” Carran said. “Latonia Terrace and City Heights have a similar construction but are laid out differently. From my understanding we do not have the same issues in Latonia Terrace as we have in City Heights and I think the biggest thing is because it is not so secluded. It’s very open, it’s right on the bus line, it’s close to the school, but City Heights is off on its own little island. I think it being segregated like it is creates problems. I think it’s better to disperse and get people blended into the community, that seems like the better approach.”
Until those changes are made, however, the people who live in City Heights are tasked with making the best of living in an oddly positioned and isolated community with a crumbling infrastructure.
“The Hill is the Hill,” one resident said. “I have some fond memories up here and I have been here since 1999. We don’t expect everybody to get along, it’s the projects, but complications happen when you’re living in the projects because everybody has their own emotions and feelings.”
More than anything else, though, it seems like the community there only wants a fair shake without being immediately judged based on where their home is.
“It doesn’t matter if you live in the suburbs or in a five-star estate, you have good people and bad people. It’s all about the person and not just the area itself,” Demoore Gray said.
Story & photos by Bryan Burke, associate editor