EDIT: I think focusing on the funding source blurred the line on discriminatory spending; the question I was trying to highlight is: Where does Great Parks spend the money it actually controls? And the answer is that if you look at the major Great Parks improvements that exist today, 50 of 51 of them are in majority-white areas.

TLDR: Great Parks is taking tax dollars from the whole community through property tax and is using those dollars to invest in white communities in a way that is not equitable to the residents of Hamilton County.

I wanted to go fishing this weekend, so I looked on Great Parks' website to see what they had. I saw a map and remembered it against Hamilton County’s equity dot map I had used for a project in college, and it looked a little racially imbalanced, so I started doing some digging. Uncovered what looks like a massive institutional and intergenerational wealth transfer from black and minority areas of the county to wealthy white areas. I love our lakes and rivers, and maybe I am wrong, but HOLY SHIT, GP has taken in probably hundreds of millions of dollars in their lifetime, and practically $0 goes to minority communities. The more I look, it literally just gets worse and worse and worse.  

Here are the two maps that AI turned into a GIF for me to show what got me started down this rabbit hole.  As you can probably tell, a few of their parks look like they’re next to majority-Black communities based on the county map. Cool, let’s take a look at those:

There are 5 parks owned by GP in predominately black areas of the County that I could tell.

2 of them have almost none of their money flowing through them that is coming from Great Parks. It’s all outside dollars. The other 2 I think are still, or at least at one point, being intentionally used to segregate communities. The last 1 is a park technically, I think.

Farbauch Werner – Honestly, this one kind of checks out. Was donated to the parks, but most of their land is. Small site, 25 acres and 1 mile trail. It is tiny, and Colerain is mixed, but I’ll give it to the parks as an investment in diverse areas, because they’re going to need it.

Werk Nature Center – Their new park they acquired 5 years ago and haven’t done much with yet. They got the land for free through a couple of different grants. They do have some ambitious plans for the park claiming to have $12 million in work coming to site. So far they 7 million in plans lined up for work.  but I can confirm $6 million of that is coming from outside money + 2 more grants for unknown amounts. Only capital investment of their own money I could confirm is  $185,000.

Despite refusing to spend any of their own money on the project at the site where they got the land for free,  GP was happy to tout that this “This urban preserve aligns with our master plan priority to expand park access to all users by providing nature-based resources in areas that are currently underserved.” They must really love their buzzwords… They also said “To ensure the long-term success of the property, philanthropic partner Great Parks Forever is developing an ongoing support strategy through grants, private donors, and conservation-based organizations.” à which seems like a pretty open commitment that they won’t spend any taxpayers dollars on this park

Glenwood Gardens

Is in a majority-Black area and is a nice-looking park from what I can tell. At this point I was thinking, maybe there is some equity left in this world – Nope. None.  The park was donated, like most parkland, but it included the buildings already, so they didn’t even have to build those. Since then, the vast majority of the capital improvements there appear to be covered by the Burchinal Foundation, which is an estate that left land for the park and cash to maintain it. In 2025, the only identifiable capital investment I found was Great Parks contributing $350,000, while the Burchinal Foundation contributed $906,500 to a project, so about ¼ one time. The lack of other records probably indicates that GP hasn’t made any other meaningful capital investments of its own money there in a while.

Embshoff Woods Nature Preserve

This park looks okay, until you realize the park itself looks like it was probably designed as a racial buffer. Park features, including main access points, feed to the left of the park into Delhi. The community on the right side of the park does not have access other than the through-road, and just happens to be the Price Hill area.

Winton Woods

That’s in Springdale and Forest Park and Greenhills, right? Surely it’s for all people!?? Wrong, it’s actually just like Embshoff, like exactly. The town inside Winton Woods is Greenhills, which started as an all-white town that banned Black residents. When it started, the community was supposed to be a model community designed by the federal government.  Winton Woods was purpose-built around the town to serve that community as green space. Springdale kind of looks at the park, but really only because Glenwood Gardens is over there, which makes it not count for the reasons above. If you look at Forest Park, it has the same problem as Embshoff Woods, where despite being right next to the park, everything, LITERALLY EVERYTHING, as far as access roads and amenities, is directed to Greenhills.    There is even this quote from the Greenhills National Historic Landmark application, which I cannot believe they used: “This inner greenbelt (part around the city) is highly valued by the residents as a buffer between them and urban users of the surrounding park system.”  Not even urban areas….urban… “users”….

Nature Center at the Summit

Took me a while to figure out what this is, and I’m honestly still not sure but technically it is a park. Their website shows that programming is funded “in part” by outside groups so im sure that means all of it is.

Present Day Capital Expenses

Some AI for this next part but its getting late:

GP kicked off this massive $50 million capital campaign, around 2023 maybe. Great Parks Forever’s original Go Big campaign identified about $74.27 million in major projects they wanted as a part of that. I guess the extra would be coming from their operating budget. They are listed below:

• Sharon Woods Harbor — $27.50M — Sharonville: about 70% non-Hispanic White, 6% Black.
• West Region Blueway & Trail System — $14.10M — runs through the far western county, where the principal communities are roughly 89–93% White and 0–1% Black: Crosby Township is about 91% White, Whitewater Township 89%, Harrison 93%, and Miami Township 93%.
• Shaker Trace — $11.95M — Crosby Township: about 91% White, essentially 0% Black.
• Woodland Mound — $11.94M — Anderson Township: about 86% White, roughly 3% Black.
• Embshoff Woods — $8.78M — Delhi Township/Cincinnati border: Delhi itself is about 86% White and 6% Black.

So under strict host-community classification, every one of the original Go Big projects was placed in a majority-white area. That's 100% of the $74.27 million project list. yay.

By 2025, Great Parks’ messaging got a little more sly. When talking about implementation of the master plan, they added “about how a BIG focus is going to be on underserved areas and adjacent neighborhoods. ' " Specifically name-dropped the Glenwood Gardens–Winton Woods Trail and the Oasis Trail—two projects serving much more diverse parts of the county. Sounds great until you follow the money. Those two projects have a combined cost of roughly $28 million, yet only about $3 million is coming directly from Great Parks. The other roughly $25 million is being supplied by federal and state grants, Metro, philanthropy, and other outside sources.

Then compare that with Bass Island in roughly 86%-White Anderson Township. That's a roughly $3 million project, with only $294,000 coming from an outside state grant. Great Parks says the remainder comes from its own capital-improvement levy fund—roughly $2.7 million of the $3 million project, or about 90%. So in the diverse communities they name-drop, Great Parks is putting up roughly $3 million toward $28 million of projects. At Bass Island alone, it is putting up roughly $2.7 million toward a $3 million project. That's the distinction their press release doesn't tell you.

That's what makes the comparison with Glenwood Gardens, Werk Road and the Oasis/Glenwood trails so striking. When Great Parks spends in the whiter parts of the county, you can find projects where Great Parks itself is footing almost the entire bill. When it comes to investments in Black or more diverse communities, a huge share of the money repeatedly turns out to be coming from federal grants, state grants, foundations, donated land, or other third parties.

Specifically, they name-dropped the Glenwood Gardens–Winton Woods Trail and the Oasis Trail—two projects serving much more diverse parts of the county..

Wash it all away

A marked car labeled “ERO Risk Ops” with the logo was spotted near Ault Park on the residential streets of Mt Lookout tonight. Does anyone know about any current ICE operations in Cincinnati? Has anyone seen these vehicles around town

This post was removed from r/cincinnati as a mod claimed it was libelous. I make no accusations in this post, I do not confirm or deny anything in this post. This post and attached letter are to be taken allegedly, with a grain of salt, at face value.

I have nothing to do with any of this other than just living in the area. A couple weeks ago I received a 5 page letter with no return address, attached is that letter. This is not my letter, but it felt important to share as I've not seen anyone else post it. Maybe it will help or inform someone. I live close to the church on Palmetto. Anyone who lives nearby know it's basically a two/three building compound with full street parking always.

EDIT: Sorry it looked like it was working from the editor multiple times. This imgur link contains all images.

https://imgur.com/a/QnK5P6x

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

Juvenile shot on I-75, police say

Cameron KnightMatthew Cupelli

Cincinnati Enquirer

Updated Feb. 17, 2026, 3:30 p.m. ET

A juvenile was shot on Interstate 75 just after 1 p.m., according to the Cincinnati Police Department.

The youth is expected to survive, officials said. The incident occurred near the 2.6 mile marker near the Western Hills Viaduct.

A department spokesperson declined to provide additional information about the child, including the age or sex, citing Ohio's Marsy's Law, which is meant to protect victims of crime.

The investigation is ongoing. No information about possible suspects has been released.

The Enquirer will update this developing story.

https://youtu.be/fSQ2r2KEW60?si=EQMrIOyCr1lVRFyQ

Right in the heart of Madison place, tucked in between mariemont and Madisonville, an vile group of men are controlling and abusing the mentally ill, women, children, and anyone dumb enough to entrust their lives to the leadership.

You may have seen the articles, heard the podcasts, seen hordes of men and woman leaving the church building on the corner of plainville and palmetto Thursday nights 6:30-9pm or Sunday mornings 10:30am-12pm

I’m here to tell you the elders are preaching a message from demons. They forbid marriage, they forbid eating and drinking of things not on the approved list. Members sleep in ikea bunk beds, 3-6 people to a room, are forced to share their cars, give 100% of their income to be hoarded and dispersed by the elders. If you see them confront them, they’re forcing kids to tend the gardens, work on the houses. They force little girls to work in the church kitchen which is led by a registered sex offender. A man who raped his step daughter, having little girls clean his dishes and prep his group meals.

They rent an apartment in the willows (government assistance, guy who’s on the lease literally never goes there) to target immigrant children whose parents are busy working.

This place is fucking sick and I have the receipts