"Water Main Break Closes 4th Street" nbc4i.com

Link: Water Main Break Closes 4th Street
Jason Mays
nbc4i.com
June 1, 2008

4th St. is closed between 4th Ave. and 6th Ave. on Columbus’ north side as a water main break has closed the street. The street has buckled due to the pressure of the water...

"Section 8 housing to be torn down" The Columbus Dispatch

Link: Section 8 housing to be torn down
Mark Ferenchik and Jonathon Riskind
The Columbus Dispatch
May 8, 2008

The company redeveloping the Columbus Coated Fabrics site into apartments and condominiums plans to build unsubsidized housing along E. 11th Avenue to create a gateway to the old industrial site.

But to do it, it will need the help of Congress and the president.

Wagenbrenner Development plans to tear down 96 units of blighted, government-subsidized housing along 11th Avenue owned by the nonprofit Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing, said Eric Wagenbrenner, company vice president...

"High Street gap may be filled with Kroger's razing, rebuild" Business First of Columbus

Link: High Street gap may be filled with Kroger's razing, rebuild
[account required]
Dan Eaton
Business First of Columbus
April 25, 2008

...Kroger Co. plans to demolish and rebuild its store south of the Ohio State University campus at North High Street and Seventh Avenue. It plans to expand the store's size and offerings but, more importantly to area planners, the company will move the store closer to the street while adding more than 10,000 square feet of space for further development...

...The redevelopment also includes a 1,378-square-foot retail space connected to the store at the corner of North High Street and Sixth Avenue and a separate, 8,666-square-foot building designated for retail and restaurant use at the corner of North High Street and Seventh Avenue...

Mayor, City Employees and Residents team up to Tackle Litter in Weinland Park Neighborhood

For Immediate Release
March 29, 2008
Contact: Jim Robinson, Keep Columbus Beautiful, 645-1530
Antone White, Mayor’s Office 614-645-0849

Mayor and families to pick up litter starting at Weinland Park Elementary

(Columbus)  The City of Columbus and area residents are teaming up to fight litter, bringing together residents, volunteers and City employees with Mayor Michael B. Coleman on Saturday March 29 for the Mayor’s 6th annual City Employee Cleanup.

“I hate litter, and every spring we put out the call to our employees and residents to pitch in and help get the trash cleaned from yards, streets, parks and along highways,” Mayor Coleman said.  “I believe we are leading by example and hope that residents all over the City will pitch in by calling Keep Columbus Beautiful and scheduling a clean up where they live.”

Volunteers will gather at 8:30 a.m. and will pick up litter within the boundaries of 11th Avenue on the north, 5th Avenue on the south, Grant Avenue on the east and Indianola on the west.

“We want Columbus citizens to organize a cleanup in every neighborhood. Call us for advice, supplies and to borrow tools you’ll need to make a difference. We’re trying to make it easy for all to join in this effort to get our city clean and to keep it that way,” said KCB Manager Sherri Palmer.

Keep Columbus Beautiful is a City of Columbus community improvement program celebrating its 25th anniversary and is a part of the Refuse Collection Division of the Columbus Department of Public Service. The program’s mission is to promote and coordinate litter cleanups, graffiti prevention and removal, recycling, and beautification projects.

Starting the following Monday, March 31, the City of Columbus will begin its annual aggressive litter cleanup program with employees spreading out through the community to clean along roads.  The employees, Snow Warriors and Pothole Patrollers during winter months, will focus solely on neighborhood litter for several weeks.

For more information on Keep Columbus Beautiful call 614-645-8027 or visit www.keepcolumbusbeautiful.org

Weinland Park Kroger in line for a renovation

This is just a small sound bite to pass on something I picked up at the Short North Business Association's monthly meeting last week:

Sounds like plans for a major renovation for the Krogers at 1350 N. High St. in Weinland Park is moving forward. The timeline wasn't clear but one of the details that stuck in my head was the fact that they will be moving the building to be perpendicular to High St. with the parking lot being adjacent to King Avenue.

So as opposed to the building being set 100+ feet from the street, one of its facades will actually be on High Street which will help to close up the gap to a certain degree that exists today.

A couple blocks to the south is also seeing the construction of a few commercial/office spaces that have been on the books for some time.

The OSU Campus, more specifically the South Campus Gateway, continue to creep towards eachother, healing the rift along the way.

Now we just need to take care of the deserted gas station at Fifth Ave. and N. High St...

"Cleanup aid would help develop 2 sites" The Columbus Dispatch

Link: Cleanup aid would help develop 2 sites
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Robert Vitale
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Columbus wants $6 million from the state to clean two former industrial sites where developers want to build homes, offices and shops.

City Council members OK’d applications last night for Clean Ohio Fund grants to clear contamination from 65 acres on the South Side and in the Weinland Park neighborhood east of Ohio State University.

The South Side land, where Techneglas Inc. closed a TVglass plant in 2004, would be remade with office, retail and light-industrial space.

In Weinland Park, where the former Columbus Coated Fabrics plant has been vandalized and burned repeatedly since its closing in 2001, developers plan 500 homes...

"Crime patrol on the fence" The Columbus Dispatch

Link: Crime patrol on the fence 
Despite city funding, group hesitates to tackle Weinland Park
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Mark Ferenchik
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

The Community Crime Patrol may be coming to the Weinland Park neighborhood thanks to $75,000 from the city, but the civilian agency might not be ready...

...The City Council added $75,000 to the 2007 budget for safety initiatives for the Weinland Park neighborhood between the Short North and the University District...

"Council To Vote On Future Of Vacant Warehouse" nbc4i.com

And pass it did...the motion passed and the former Columbus Coated Fabrics site now has a new future that will evolve from a relationship between the city and Campus Partners, developers behind the South Campus Gateway. Campus Partners had been sitting and waiting to get their hands on the property for a few years now but for various reasons was unable to do so.

This is great news for Weinland Park and another step in a positive direction for a community that has one of the highest concentrations of Section 8 housing in the city.

It just so happens that I was reading the Weinland Park development plan put together by the city on Sunday and the 17+ acres that makes up the Coated Fabrics site will be a great addition which may attract development of another mixed-use project for the neighborhood. There was some discussion at City Council on Monday night about contractors being sought for demolition before the end of the year:

Link: Council To Vote On Future Of Vacant Warehouse
nbc4i.com
October 16th, 2006

...One of the proposals involved demolishing the building, which would open space for new residential and commercial development.

"I think we have the capacity, with this type of redevelopment and with the support of the university and the city, to really make Weinland Park the kind of place that families can come to, live in, live safely," said Robert Caldwell, Weinland Park Civic Association president.

If the motion is passed, the building would be demolished by the end of the year.

"Weinland Park plan sparks heated debate" The Lantern

Last night I posted an idea about targeted investing in blighted neighborhoods working in conjunction with neighborhood associations. I also introduced the concept that working with neighborhood organizations can have its challenges.

The following article from The Lantern is a perfect illustration of one of the types of challenges I was alluding to. This example came out of a meeting on the Weinland Park Neighborhood Plan:

Link: Weinland Park plan sparks heated debate
The Lantern - Ohio State University
By Stephanie Brum
Published: Thursday, October 27, 2005

...According to the 2004 Weinland Park Market Study and the 2000 U.S. Census, 50 percent of the Weinland Park population is below the poverty level, and fewer than 10 percent of the housing is owner-occupied...

...Ron Hupman, president of the commission, asked if anyone would like to speak in favor or against the plan. The feeling in the room quickly went from a neutral discussion to a heated debate by a few...

..."This plan does nothing to address crime," Hutchinson said. "It is not a perception. There is crime."...

...Hutchinson resigned from the UAC earlier this week, but has given no details yet as to the exact reasons behind her decision.

Having not attended the meeting myself, I can only try and interpret the entire behind-the-scenes story with the Weinland Park Neighborhood Plan and the involvement of the parties that were discussed.

The story is clearly stacked against Berdawn Hutchinson but the main observation revolves around the one statement:

...As she continued pointing out all the problems she had with the plan her arguments became more and more passionate...

Now I don't know if Berdawn also supplied productive ideas or suggestions in conjunction with her venting, but if she didn't, then the foul is on her. If she was excluded from the planning process, the foul is on the planners.

My point is pretty simple: There are a lot of stakeholders in the redevelopment of urban neighborhoods and it is an impossible task to please and meet everyone's needs and desires. If you are a neighborhood stakeholder, the onus is on you to get involved and be sure your voice is heard every step of the way.

If you are incredibly lucky, the developers and investors will talk to the neighborhood first to gather opinions before implementing a development plan or project...but that is a rare occurrence. You won't receive a personal invitation or phone call asking you to come to the planning meetings. You've got to go out and hunt it down.

If there is something going on in your neighborhood and you don't know whether or not they are having public meetings...they probably are but they aren't going to run TV ads put up huge billboards announcing the meetings. You've got to seek it out and get proactively involved.

Let's have a warm welcome for Weinland Park

It's just the early stages, but my radar is turning towards Weinland Park recently. In my opinion, Weinland Park wil be the next in line in terms of neighborhoods that will see significant revitalization in the coming years.

I'll be clear that it is still a few years off, but with the work that is being done in the University District with the South Campus Gateway from the North and with all the development going on to the south in the Short North, Weinland Park, at the very least it's western border, will start to see changes.

The city has been putting a good deal of work into a neighborhood plan for the area and Campus Partners has had its eyes on the Columbus Coated Fabrics site at 5th and Grant. I also wouldn't be suprised to hear of the Kroger's at 1350 North High Street getting a face lift in the next couple of years

Am I speculating? Sure. But since I'm writing it down, you can hold it against me in a year or two :)

Be sure not to miss the newest addition to the DISTRICT & NEIGHBORHOODS section of RetroMetro including the Google map of the area.