The potential loss of Greater Cincinnati's largest meeting this year has alarmed top convention and city officials.

        Convention bureau officials and Councilwoman Alicia Reece said they will soon send a letter to organizers of the 121 conventions scheduled to meet in Cincinnati this year, urging them to ignore a call for a boycott of the city. The letters will say that a vibrant economy is a vital step toward healing the city's racial tension.

        The 8,000-member Progressive National Baptist Convention last week was the first group to publicly acknowledge it may cancel a convention at the request of the Cincinnati Black United Front. Leaders of the pre dominately African-American Baptist group are meeting in Myrtle Beach, S.C., this week. They are expected to discuss the Cincinnati boycott during the gathering, which ends Friday.

        Ms. Reece said a boycott would harm the very group it intends to help: African-Americans.

        “There are many African-Americans that work in ho tels and restaurants,” Ms. Reece said. “It's also important to connect these conventions, particularly ones attended by African-Americans, to the neighborhoods.”

        Ms. Reece and convention officials worry that other groups could follow the Baptists out of Cincinnati, harming the nearly $190-million-a-year convention industry.

        But it's unclear whether their worries are well-founded.

        The Black United Front announced the boycott in July and pledged to contact officials from every upcoming convention, urging them to avoid Cincinnati until the city takes aggressive steps to address police, racial and economic issues.

        Yet none of the other large conventions contacted by the Enquirer last week said they received any letters or phone calls from from Black United Front members. Of the dozen checked, none plans to meet elsewhere.

        Juleana Frierson, chief of staff for the Black United Front, refused to say Friday whether the group followed through on its pledge to call the upcoming conventions.

        “I'm not talking about how many letters we sent out or who we're targeting,” Ms. Frierson said. “That would not be a real smart strategy.”

        Ms. Frierson said “things looked promising” when she met Thursday with leaders of the Baptist group, which once pulled a convention out of South Carolina to protest the state's use of the Confederate flag.

        She said that local Baptist ministers were understanding of the city's racial problems and economic disparities.

        However, not all of the local ministers appear to be behind the boycott call. The Rev. James H. Cantrell, pastor of Zion Baptist Church in Avondale and the “host pastor” of the event, told his congregation Sunday he intends to argue for the Progressive Baptists' convention to remain here. He likened it to the planned Billy Graham Revival, which has been called a vehicle for racial healing.

        In addition, Ms. Reece said, it is unfair and not true to say that city officials have been dragging their feet in addressing police and eco nomic issues since April's riots.

        Mayor Charlie Luken, she pointed out, has said he wants to sign an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department by this April 1 that could lead to long-term reforms in the police department.

        Ms. Reece added that conventions can play an important role in bridging economic disparities if conventioneers shop and eat at black-owned establishments. She plans to provide a list of such establishments to convention planners.

        Convention planners said they doubted the boycott request would have had a bearing on their plans. Most cited the detailed planning, contracts and money spent already on organizing their events.

        Columbus-based Manufacturers Education Council will bring its 850-person convention to Cincinnati in March. Mark Uher, president of the manufacturers' group, said he has monitored media reports of the city's racial turmoil since April.

        “I was aware of some concerns of the black community in Cincinnati,” Mr. Uher said. "

        “Our decision to go to Cincinnati is based on the outstanding market in the Cincinnati area. That will not change in the foreseeable future.”

        Officials at Parents of Murdered Children, a Cincinnati-based group whose convention starts the same day the Progressive Baptists' would end, said there's no chance they'll move.

        The group's national meeting, scheduled for Aug. 8-11, is expected to draw 300-500 people from around the country. Several firefighters from New York who lost friends and loved ones in the Sept. 11 attacks are expected to attend, said executive director Nancy Ruhe-Munch.

        “It would be really sad to ask this group to protest Cincinnati when we averaged more than one murder a week in our city last year because of all the violence,” Ms. Ruhe-Munch said.

        “I think instead of protesting, (the Black United Front) should join our conference. I think it would give them some insight on how to heal our community and find solutions to all the violence.”

        Some convention planners even bristled at talk of a boycott. The Ohio State Coroners Association's meeting in May will draw 150.

        “That's a shame,” said executive director David P. Corey said of the boycott. “It's a great convention city. I have nothing but good things to say about Cincinnati.”

        The Electrical Manufacturing & Coilwinding Association will move its 2003 convention from Cincinnati to Indianapolis. However, that move has nothing to do with a boycott.

        “We've outgrown the size of the Cincinnati Convention Center,” said Chuck Thurman, the association's executive director.

        He said the group still plans to hold its 2002 convention here in October and has not received any letters asking him to do otherwise. The group, which expects about 5,000 people at this year's event, has held its annual conference in Cincinnati since 1998.

        “When we hold an event of this magnitude, we plan it a year in advance,” he said. “I can't speak for our board of directors because they make that decision, but a change seems unlikely.”

        There's little chance the city's second-largest convention will skip Cincinnati.

        The American Physical Therapy Association's annual conference scheduled for June 4-8 is expected to draw 5,000 people and pump $4.3 million into the area's economy.

        “By now all the issues in Cincinnati are well-known,” said its spokeswoman June Gregory. “Our intention is to be in Cincinnati.”

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