EAST PRICE HILL - Cincinnati Police have revealed the top five potential locations for the new District 3 headquarters. The current headquarters building on Warsaw Avenue in East Price Hill has been used for over a century.
District 3 officers currently do not have enough room in the East Price Hill building, so they work out of a building across the street. They want a new police station that has more room and space for the community.
"The building is obsolete," said Captain Russ Neville, the commander of District 3. "We cannot upgrade on electronics, we cannot upgrade on technology to the degree that is necessary to provide quality service."
The City of Cincinnati has set aside $16 million for the new building. It's eyeing five locations: two in East Price Hill at either Considine or Hawthorne avenues, two in Westwood at either Dunham road or Midway School, and one on Ferguson Road on the Westwood and West Price Hill border.
Neighbors had the first opportunity to view the options on Wednesday night.
"To me personally, the Ferguson Road is the most obvious," said Pete Witte from West Price Hill. "The central location, its presence on the main thoroughfare, I think it's proximity to Western Hills High School is very intriguing."
Joel Kimmet, the president of the Westwood Civic Association, agreed.
"You have to think about all of the major corridors and getting the police to have a good coverage of the entire area. It needs to be in a place that's centrally located."
Some neighbors said they don't want the headquarters to move.
"East Price Hill doesn't need to lose anymore institutions," said Mary Croft, a resident of East Price Hill. "We've lost some schools and we've had a recent school close down and the police department would be a big one."
Of the 14 neighborhoods in District 3, East and West Price Hill and Westwood have the most police calls. City officials said they want to make sure all of the neighborhoods are served by the new police station.
If all goes as planned, a decision on the location will be made this coming Spring. Construction would start later this year, and the new police station would be open by Spring 2015.
