"Council approves South Side amendment" ThisWeek Community Newspapers

Link: Council approves South Side amendment
David J. Cross
ThisWeek Community Newspapers
February 14, 2008

Columbus City Council unanimously voted Monday to amend the city's South Side Plan to include the remaining portion of Merion Village and Schumacher Place.

The initial plan, completed in 2002, included the southern part of Merion Village. With council's vote, the remainder of Merion Village and Schumacher Place were brought into the fold, and as such can benefit from future plans for the South Side...

"Amended South Side plan ready for review" ThisWeek Community Newspapers

Link: Amended South Side plan ready for review
Sue Hagan
ThisWeek Community Newspapers
November 1, 2007

Merion Village and Schumacher Place residents can peek into the possible future of their neighborhoods during presentations of the Amended South Side plan tonight and next week.

They will hear about a lot of ideas in the areas of zoning and development, transportation and open space, based on input they have provided to city planners over the past year...

"Garage break-ins plaguing the village" ThisWeek Community Newspapers

Link: Garage break-ins plaguing the village
SUE HAGAN
ThisWeek Community Newspapers
September 6, 2007

Residents in German Village, Schumacher Place and Merion Village have been experiencing a rash of break-ins and thefts from garages, with the thieves prying open or kicking in doors.

For the month of August, according to reports listed on the Columbus Division of Police Web site, at least 40 garages were broken into. Items stolen ranged from tools or a few dollars worth of change to bicycles and electric scooters.

On Aug. 22 and 23 alone, seven such break-ins were reported. All of those were within blocks of each other and some took place in broad daylight...

"Houses in way of hospital expansion can't be saved" ThisWeek Community Newspapers

Link: Houses in way of hospital expansion can't be saved
By SUE HAGAN
ThisWeek Staff Writer
Thursday, February 22, 2007

Children's Hospital will not move seven old houses that are in the way of a new Ronald McDonald House to be built along Livingston Avenue.

Nor are the architects able to renovate one of the houses, a large one at the corner of Livingston Avenue and Ann Street, and incorporate it into their design.

Both of those decisions left some South Side residents frustrated at the end of a two-hour meeting Tuesday evening, even as Children's Hospital officials promised to work more closely with the community in the future...

"Children’s fields gripes over expansion plans" The Columbus Dispatch

Link: Children’s fields gripes over expansion plans
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Kevin Kidder and Mark Ferenchik
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Children’s Hospital officials got a polite earful last night, as they presented their plans to relocate the 2-year-old Ronald McDonald House, which would mean knocking down several old homes in the process.

The relocation is part of a $740 million hospital expansion that will begin in 2008 and will include a new entrance on Parsons Avenue, hospital administrators said...

...She said it would be difficult to incorporate the homes into the new Ronald McDonald House because the city plans to widen Ann Street to accommodate more traffic, and the homes would be too close to the road.

"There are not plans to save those buildings at this time."...

Neighborhoods Concerned about Children's Hospital Expansion

This is a forwarded message from our firends in German Village and Schumacher Place. Please read below.

As you are all aware, Children’s Hospital has huge expansion plans.  We feel very lucky that they made the decision to stay downtown to build their research campus, rather than to take it out to the suburbs, and we have enjoyed a terrific relationship with them as members of their “Good Neighbor” network, partners in the 70/71 advisory council, and we are very proud to have a number of their professionals as German Villagers.

That said, we have been disappointed to learn that the hospital is proposing the demolition of several houses on the south side of Livingston Avenue to make way for a new Ronald McDonald House.  That they are starting over, in spite of the less-than-2-year-old Ronald McDonald House because they don’t like the location after all, is their issue, but that they are asking City Council to donate two alleys to them so they can demolish houses and create a new building site without looking for other solutions is bad precedence.

Three of the houses are classic story and a half cottages that could be moved, and two larger structures, filled with beautiful woodwork, vintage hardware, and original stained glass should be at least considered for incorporation into the new plan.

As they expand into the neighborhoods they are going to have to take the extra care that comes with dealing with historic houses.  Just because a neighborhood isn’t protected as an official historic district doesn’t mean that what is unique and significant should be demolished because it is the cheapest and quickest way from A to B. Purchasing residential properties and then allowing demolition by neglect isn’t necessary for the success of the Children’s Hospital master plan.

As members of the preservation community, we encourage you to join our neighbors from Merion Village and Schumacher Place in urging City Council to delay action on the “emergency” legislation that has been proposed to vacate and the alleys and transfer them, waiving the $39,000 cost, (Ordinance 85-07) until a careful study of all of the options is completed and solutions are given a chance to be implemented. We are NOT obstructionists, be we know, perhaps better than anyone, what can be gained by careful management of historic resources.

You may write all Columbus City Council members in care of Council President Michael Mentel at
MKrutkus @ Columbus.gov

"Hospital's announcement a surprise to its neighbors" ThisWeek Community Newspapers

Link: Hospital's announcement a surprise to its neighbors
Sue Hagan
ThisWeek Community Newspapers
February 8th, 2007

...Residents and property owners who live near Children's Hospital say they wish they'd had an earlier heads-up as to the hospital's latest plans.

If they had, they might have been able to make arrangements to move what some of them call the "secret garden" house at the corner of East Livingston Avenue and Ann Street.

The Victorian-style home and its surrounding wall, along with five other homes in the same block, will soon be razed to make way for a new Ronald McDonald House...

"School closing vote likely Jan. 23" ThisWeek Community Newspapers

Link: School closing vote likely Jan. 23
By SUE HAGAN
ThisWeek Newspapers
Thursday, January 18, 2007

The Columbus Public Schools Board of Education will probably decide next week which schools to close in June.

The board was scheduled to meet today (Thursday) in a special meeting, to consider the recommendation of the district task force studying the closings.

That panel planned to meet yesterday to make its final recommendation...

Interesting Realtor Collaboration: Red Brick Realtors

Here is an interesting collaborative effort between Realtors from a few different brokerages that have joined forces to promote their individual home listings.

What I like about the concept that they are implementing is the fact that they have created a planned tour of their urban properties, in this case mostly in German Village, which is a great way for interested buyers to check out not only the homes but to also get a feel for the neighborhood all at once. I like the concept:

Link: Red Brick Realtors

They have an "Open House Extravaganza" scheduled for January 29th that tours 8 homes in German Village, Merion Village and Schumacher Place:

Link: red Brick Realtors Open House Extravaganza

Schumacher Place makes the list

I'm slowly starting to expand the neighborhoods covered by RetroMetro and am aiming to get all the historic urban neighborhoods on the list. For this update I'm adding Schumacher Place to the site along with a link to the Shucmacher Place Civic Association's website.

Check out the neighborhood map on Schumacher Place's new District & Neighborhood page.