1. Special
Announcements/Information Sharing/Happenings Over the Holidays
-
CHBA has set
up a task force to deal with the corner of Hamilton & Marlowe.
The Ministerium has indicated an interest in helping out & has
set up a committee.
-
Ohio
Magazine included a short, positive description of the College
Hill “Discover the Avenue” storefront murals in one of their
articles.
-
There have
been 2 recent positive articles in the Cincinnati Enquirer.
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McAuley High
School is doing a $2 Million expansion of their auditorium.
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The
community should feel good about the progress on Glenview Ave.
About 2 years ago, a resident committee got together to solve
issues. Now Glenview is about to be closed for renovation.
It can take time, but residents can make a difference.
-
The QOL
committee of the Forum has been asked by City Council to do some
training for the other 51 neighborhoods of Cincinnati. The
first training session has already been done, with 17
neighborhoods attending. A second training session is being
scheduled.
-
Officer
Katrina Neal indicated that her role in CPD is now Community
Liason Partnership. Everyone should feel free to email or
phone Katrina with questions or requests for CPD to get involved
in solving community issues.
-
CCCH handed out
about 150 food baskets and gifts to needy families at
Christmas. They are also working hard to select a new director
to replace Kevin Ward. Previous directors (Kevin Ward, Nathl
Moore) were of such a high level of skills and capabilities that
it is hard to find someone of equal caliber.
2. Review of December 2006 Minutes
December minutes were approved and will be sent to Tom Strothers
for posting on the website.
3. Review of Action Items from Previous Meetings
None identified.
4. Reflection on Previous
Discussion Topics
Additional
thoughts were offered on the topic of youth from a previous
meeting. A few key thoughts included:
·
Pleasant Hill Academy still needs volunteers from the community
for tutoring and other activities.
·
Pleasant Hill and the CH Rec Center developed a partnership for
after-school activities because of discussions in a previous
Summit meeting, and about 170 kids are now involved. They look
forward to continued development of this program.
·
One of
the goals of CPD is positive policing. They are looking for
opportunities for positive involvement with kids in the
community. Please email ideas.
·
Several members of the community are on the Aiken Design Team,
for designing a new school. Part of the challenge is how to
handle the transition to a temporary site in 2008.
5. New Discussion Topic
Last fall, Summit
members developed a list of topics they wanted to put additional
focus on for 2007. (See Attachment 1) Two of these topics,
Youth/Schools and Business District, have been covered. Ron
asked the group to decide on the next topic for discussion, and
“Break Down Barriers/Build Relationships” was selected. Ron
committed that he & Valerie would send out some questions ahead
of time to help structure the discussion. Rev Chip Hall was
suggested as a resource.
6. Involvement of State
Representative – by Phyllis Schoenberger
Phyllis shared
her learnings from working with a Neighborhood Task Force in
Price Hill & Westwood. She has seen dedicated involvement of
the state representative with the west side communities, and the
help this can bring with influencing the writing and/or support
of state regulations and legislation to support community
development. She suggested that College Hill could benefit
from similar involvement from our state rep, and invited
discussion from Summit members.
One key question
was what organization should be the primary contact point, and
what meetings our state rep (Dale Mallory) should be invited
to. For now, it was agreed that Summit should be the contact
point and that we need to consider restructuring our meetings
when the state rep attended. Sheena offered to ask AOFA about
their experience with Dale and the best way to contact him.
7. CHCURC Update – by Marty Weldishofer
·
Linden
Park – One condo is reserved, and a second one is being
negotiated with Sibcy Cline. Neyer is now looking at
storefronts instead of a trailer for the sales office. Legal
issues continue with the Trust that holds the Kroger property.
Overall, Neyer is hoping to break ground sometime in the spring.
·
Façade
– Bruce Soldano has received a check for the LaRosa’s façade
work. 4 other facades are being actively worked. H&R Block
will probably be the next one to get finalized.
·
Gateway Project – Tom Hammond continues to be unresponsive to
the city’s offers to obtain the desired section of property for
the gateway. Options are being examined.
·
Annual
CHCURC Dinner – will be held Feb 6. Start time is 6:00 pm,
reservations are required, and the cost is $20 per person.
Marty handed out a flyer with more details.
WIN is making
progress in acquiring properties. Two properties have firm
offers, and are homes in such bad shape that they will need to
be raized. The team has moved meeting location to Golden Leaf
Baptist Church, and an Associate Pastor from there with personal
business experience with rehab work has joined the Housing
Team. The Housing Team is excited to have this additional
experience and knowledge added to the team.
9. Paint the Town /Give Back Cincinnati – by Anita Triggs
Anita Triggs is
the community coordinator for this project. Anita brings
training and experience in event planning, and everyone is
excited to have her leadership. Anita shared that Paint the
Town has been in existence for 5 years, and is a non-profit
providing an opportunity for young professionals to give back to
the city. Paint the Town selected College Hill for their
project this year, and about 600 people will be painting about 3
dozen houses on June 9. They divide into teams of 10-15
people, and work from 8 am to 4:30 pm. To ensure everything
goes smoothly, they come 1-2 days ahead to look at and prep the
houses.
St. Xavier has
agreed to be the staging area for this project.
More homes are
needed to apply. It would be helpful if the churches in
College Hill would make their congregations aware of the
opportunity and encouraged people to apply. Phyllis is
contacting the churches. Corporate sponsors are needed for
each house, and Anita is coordinating.
10. CPOP/CPD/COP/Court Watchers – by Jim Bodmer
¨
Crime
is as low as it has been in many years. Home burglary is down
because of diligence in making arrests.
¨
Court
Watch continues to have a positive impact as judges tend to
notice and be very responsive to citizens who get involved in
tracking offenders.
¨
Forum
QOL now works with parole officers to involve parolees in
community service for 1 day per month. Contact Phyllis if you
have ideas for community service projects.
11. Announcements & Community Events– by All
o
Community Potluck
– this year’s Community Potluck
dinner will be Feb 16 at CHPC from 5:30 to 8:30 pm. Still need
more adult volunteers to be greeters.
o
Fine Arts Fund Sampler Weekend
– sites in College Hill will be
hosting some of the events, including Town Hall and McAuley High
School. Pamphlets with more details were handed out.
o
Rec
Center
– Ric shared that the Director of
Recreation for the city has left, so he and another staff person
from the College Hill Rec Center have been temporarily
promoted. This is affirming of the good contributions that the
College Hill staff are making to the community, but will
temporarily take focus off of the local situation for some
staff. Please be patient.
o
Rumor Control
– the previous rumor that Charlie Winburn will sell some College
Hill property to the Job Core appears to just be a rumor.
Latest information is that the property will probably be
developed with housing and a senior residence.
o
SID
–
Marty is working with some volunteers to develop the SID idea
and present it to the Forum Board. More volunteers are needed.
o
MLK
Service
– this year’s Martin Luther King
service will be on Sunday, January 14, at 6 pm at the United
Church of Christ. Participants are invited to gather on
Glenview and walk to the church at 5:15 pm.
o
Concert
– St Clare is hosting a concert on
March 11. More information will be forthcoming.
o
WIN
Seminar – WIN will have a seminar on
avoiding Predatory Lending on Tuesday, Jan 16, at 7 pm. It
will be at the WIN Economic Learning Center at 1814 Dreman in
South Cumminsville. A flyer with more detail was handed out.
Next Summit Meeting: February 8, 2007 @
8:00 am at the College Hill Rec Center.
Summarized by:
Valerie Hershberger
February 6, 2007
