SUMMIT MEETING NOTES
October 9, 2008
Location:  1^st United Church of Christl

 ACTION ITEMS

The key action items as agreed to in this meeting are as follows:

ATTENDEES: (See Abbreviation Key)

ABSENT:

AGENDA

• Welcome and Introductions
• Host Greetings

• Opening Prayer

• CHBA Update

• CPOP/COP/CPD

• CHCURC Update

• Schools

• Ministerium

• Housing

• Community Activities & Announcements

DISCUSSION: 

Pastor Dan Weyand-Geise welcomed all of us to 1^st United Church of Christ, and Fr. George gave the opening prayer.   Because of time limits, we did not do introductions around the table, but everyone was asked to introduce themselves as they presented.   

1.   CHBA Discussion - by Sheena Parton

Sheena gave a brief summary introduction to the College Hill Business Association (CHBA) and then moved to CHBA requests of state legislators. A key point Sheena made was that we can no longer afford state policies that favor the growth of new communities as opposed to the redevelopment of older ones.  CHBA’s priority is the redevelopment and revitalization of our business district; related to that, the first request from CHBA was for state legislation or budget allocations to foster the development of small businesses. A specific example shared was about the need to obtain “sewer credits” from the Metropolitan Sewer Dept for any new business or expansion to a business, which is evaluated as an increased  demand on the county sewer system.  Additional monies to the county to increase sewer capacity could be very helpful in supporting the development of small businesses.

A second request from CHBA was funding to support the College Hill transition to Form Based Codes.  Several neighborhoods in Cincinnati are moving ahead to change to Form Based Codes based on the success of these codes in other cities.  City Council member Roxanne Qualls is coordinating this transition, and the next step is a study which will cost each participating neighborhood about $10,000.  It will be challenging for College Hill and every other neighborhood to come up with the money, so some overall funding source would be helpful to enable this to go ahead.  Senator Kearney indicated that, having heard this issue already from CHBA, his office is already working on finding some funds.

Sen. Kearney also reassured us that he and other state legislators remember College Hill when they are in Columbus and especially when they have the opportunity to point new business/developer funds in our direction.

Sheena’s final request was for Sen. Kearney and Rep. Mallory to share with us any information they might be aware of regarding opportunities for applicable grants. 

2.   College Hill Forum Quality of Life Committee (QOL) – by Phyllis Schoenberger     

Phyllis gave a brief summary of QOL, which exists to promote the Health, Safety, and Livability  of the community.   The committee uses city codes as a basis to deal with housing issues, litter problems, and weeds/overgrown properties.   Their first approach is to work directly with residents/owners to educate and encourage them to bring their properties up to code.   If this doesn’t work, they involve the Community Development Code Enforcement Inspectors.

The QOL request from the state is to establish a full time Housing & Environmental Court.  Currently, one municipal court in Cincinnati has a half day housing docket on Fridays, handling 28 cases per month.   Columbus, Toledo, and Cleveland all have full time housing courts,  each one of which handle 90 cases per day.

College Hill has absentee landlords who do not keep up their property, and houses which have been vacant for years.  Many of these property owners are set for prosecution, but it is taking a long time.  These same issues exist in all 52 Cincinnati neighborhoods.

Phyllis made the following points about the proposed Housing Court:

·        A Housing & Environmental court would expedite the process tremendously, have more  power, and have a streamlined process to deal with property issues.

·        This would include the foreclosure process which can put a vacant foreclosed property into product use more quickly.  The foreclosure process for absentee owners would occur more quickly  because it would not have to compete for court time with tax and bank foreclosures.

·        This court would oversee Receivership

·        The same judge would hear both civil and criminal cases and be acquainted with frequent offenders, making it harder for absentee and slum owners to avoid the law.

The budget for such a court is around $300,000, but these courts in other cities have demonstrated that fines pay for the court, making it a “budget neutral” project.  

The Ohio State Legislature must amend O.R.C 1901.011 to create such a position in Hamilton County.  Cincinnati City Council member Jeff Berding has been working with the Ohio Attorney General’s office to begin the process.  Phyllis urged support for this effort.  Rep. Mallory said that he would follow up on this request.
 

3.   Citizens on Patrol/CPD/Probation/Court Watch Discussion

Sen. Kearney and Rep. Mallory were already familiar with Citizens on Patrol (COP), so no background information was shared other than to say that the relationship with District 5 CPD was excellent.  Jim Bodmer’s request of the state for Citizens on Patrol was for laws to be changed so that threats, aggression, or assault on members of the patrol will be legally equal to threats, aggression, or assault on a police officer.  Rep. Mallory indicated that a law had been passed very recently which made these situations nearly equal.

Captain Bailey reviewed the situation with CPD, District 5.   He indicated that violent crime is down in College Hill versus last year, but street robbery continues to be an issue and said that cameras are an important tool in resolving street crime.  He reviewed the plans to reactivate the current cameras in College Hill, as well as the city-wide initiative for cameras.   Capt. Bailey also reviewed the positive situation of very good communication with the community, but acknowledged the significant amount of time this required.

Rep. Mallory then brought up the subject of re-entry programs after imprisonment through the faith-based community, and said we should familiarize ourselves with House Bill 130.  Rep. Mallory shared his hope that the faith-based community could play a stronger role in receiving, monitoring, and helping to reintegrate previous offenders into the community in a productive role.  He also wants each community to tailor the re-entry program to their unique situation.  Officer Neal indicated that they had studied the possibility of using GPS monitoring for non-violent offenders versus jail or release, and it looks promising.

Tom Strothers spoke for the Court Watch group.  He requested tougher sentencing for weapon violations, particularly repeat offenders.

Probation Officer Michael Jones briefly summarized his responsibilities in College Hill and Northside.   He and a partner use the new Probation Office on Hamilton Ave in the business district, which is funded totally by private monies, not the city.  There was a very brief conversation about the possibility of moving the Probation Office to the new Firehouse when it is built.   Capt. Bailey said he would follow up on the idea. 

4.   CHCURC Discussion – by Marty Weldishofer

Marty gave background on the work that CHCURC has been doing and the investment that’s been done so far.  He shared that the 5 block long CH business district along Hamilton Avenue was first developed in the 1920’s as a pedestrian business area along a major streetcar route.  This area was modernized in the 1950’s, but hadn’t had a recent update until community action was taken about 5 years ago, after local economic professionals warned it was at risk of significant and irretrievable decline unless something was done quickly.   The Summit was formed at that time.   Since then, there has been considerable investment in the community, with still more to be done.

·        Total Recent Private Investment exceeds $54.2 million

·        Total Recent Public Investment exceeds $31.6 million

·        Private new ownership of business district properties estimated at over $1M. 

Marty highlighted that CHCURC’s priority is on the redevelopment of the major intersection of Hamilton Ave and North Bend.  He highlighted the opportunity by pointing out that more than 30,000 cars per day travel through this intersection.   The community and the City are aligned with CHCURC on a mixed-use development of three corners, but progress has slowed as the initial developer pulled out this month after three years.  This was due to a lack of condo presales and bank financing.  CHCURC is now proceeding to work on new plans with a new developer, but a key impediment to progress is the old Kroger property, which is in the middle of the proposed development and is not owned by the city.   Kroger corporate made a mistake when vacating the property, and signed a contract to pay 5 more years rent.  There are two more years remaining on that lease at a rate of about $30,000 per month, so the total asking price is around $2 million.  In addition, economic and development professional have indicated that the business district is too long, and the mid-district should be redeveloped.   Marty requested assistance in gaining control of the old Kroger properties and other properties targeted for redevelopment.   And, since the community would like for some of all this development to include green space, such as a park, Marty asked if there might be state funds available for parks.  Both Sen. Kearney and Rep. Mallory thought there might be. 

5.   College Hill Schools Discussion

Aiken College & Career High School

Belinda Tubbs Wallace happily shared that Aiken College & Career has achieved an Effective Rating on the state testing, which the community is celebrating.

She also shared her three requests for state support of the schools:

(a)    Transportation support to enable students to participate in after-school activities.   This is very difficult right now because many students cannot afford the cost of catching a later bus, or find that the streets near their homes are not safe for them later in that day.  Belinda requesting funding for an “Activity Bus”.

(b)   A mandate for parent involvement in specific school activities when their student receives some kind of government support, like a free lunch.

(c)    Support for transitions from 8^th to 9^th grade.  Currently, there is some collaboration between high school teachers who will receive the students, and middle school teachers who are sending them on, but much more is needed to ensure student success.

Pleasant Hill Academy

Principal Cherese Clark shared that the school is making progress in its academic testing, and currently has 723 students in a brand new school built for 650 students.  Enrollment is up versus the projections used to design the building.  Paula Sherman described the After-School program, which has a focus on community service in order to help students become good citizens.  She invited us all to the “Lights On” program next Thursday (Oct 16) from 4:30 to 7:00 pm, which will highlight the after-school program.

Treena Goodwin requested state funding for after-school programs, since a lot of federal funding is now ending this year after 5 years of support.

She also requested support for early childhood programs.   They are getting children as young as preschool who have to be expelled for serious and aggressive behavioral issues, including biting, kicking, hitting, and spitting.

College Hill Fundamental Academy

Principal Barbara Gordon reviewed that this is a magnate school with preschool through 6^th grade.  On average, the school has an enrollment of about 500 students.   The school achieved an effective rating, which was upgraded to Excellent when the value-added aspects were considered. 

Barbara’s request to the state legislators was for more funding for the Arts, such as for the Music Teacher the school recently lost.   She also requested that schools get more support when they have high ratings, not just for when they are improving.

McAuley High School

Principal Cheryl Sucher explained that McAuley is a private, all-female school with about 750 students.  They have students who come from 70 different elementary schools all around the area.  All students are supported with private fund raising, which allows the school to give each student a scholarship of $1500. 

Rep. Mallory said that they are meeting with the school board right after the election in November, and he requested that we give him a list of our ideas and requests to him to use in the meeting.    

6.   Ministerium – by Fr. George Jacquemin

Fr. George briefly reviewed the background of the Ministerium, and its key activities.  It is an diverse and ecumenical gathering of pastors of College Hill churches who focus on collaboration and building community.  It conducts Ecumenical Services on Good Friday and Martin Luther King Day, prayer walks through the community, and a series of dinners & discussion between church members called Building Bridges.  Its action arm is Christ’s Community in College Hill (CCCH).  Currently it is collaborating with City Cure and End Zone to reach out to the youth in the community.   Nate Foster, Direction of End Zone, spoke about its goals of academic and character development among young people.   He requested funding which would support End Zone in Aiken High School. 

In the ensuing discussion, Rep. Mallory suggested members of the College Hill community should meet in Columbus with the Governor’s faith-based initiatives. 

7.   College Hill Housing Team – by Hope Wilson of WIN

Hope gave background on Working In Neighborhoods (WIN) and described how it was invited into the neighborhood by the community, and now works collaboratively with the community as a part of the CH Housing Team.    The focus of the team is the Cedar Ave area, including the side streets.   WIN currently owns 5 properties in this are, and has offers out on 2 more.   Two houses are under construction, which replace old houses that were too blighted to be rehabbed.  Of the three other owned properties in the area, two just received City (HUD) gap funding; one will be a rehab, and one will be a new replacement house.

In the discussion, both Rep. Mallory and Sen. Kearney indicated that there may be state funds available for lead abatement issues. 

8.   Community Events & Announcements

During this segment of the meeting, two organizations gave some background information:

Children’s Hospital, College Hill Campus – Joan shared the dramatic growth of the College Hill Campus in less than 10 years.   It started in Dec 2000 with 6 kids, but has grown to encompass 64 inpatients, 33 residential beds, Outpatient Clinics, and Partial Hospitalization.  The facility is currently full.  It receives 120,000 phone calls per year for 4000 inpatient placements.   Joan praised the partnership of the community, from individual volunteers to business support to donations and participation in key events.

College Hill Recreation Center – Cyd Shuler and Ric Schroer emphasized how the Rec Center is involved in and supported by the community.   Part of the Cincinnati Recreation Center system, the College Hill facility is the busiest Rec Center in the City.  It opened in 2003 and currently is used by 1000 people per week.  Examples of its civic participation included working with the Marvin Lewis Foundation’s Hometown Huddle this year to do a major renovation to the Town Hall Park (new playground equipment, new basketball court, relandscaping) and hosting a Halloween Extravaganza each year to provide youth in the community an alternate to hanging out on the streets on Halloween and getting into mischief.   It also has ongoing partnerships with local schools. 

Below is a listing of community events by all organizations:

Current Community Events

Ø      Churchapalooza – 1^st UCC is sponsoring the Churchapalooza again this year, and it will be on Oct 12 from 4-8 pm. 

Ø      Pumpkin Patch – The annual Pumpkin Patch festival is Saturday, Oct 11, from 10 am to 4 pm at Town Hall Park.

Ø      Engine 51 Open House – Engine 51 will have an Open House from 1-5 pm on Oct 11, the same day as the Pumpkin Patch.   Attendees are encouraged to participate in both activities.

Ø      Children’s Hospital Open House – will be on Nov 7, from 10 am to 5 pm.

Ø      Halloween Extravaganza – will be at the Rec Center Halloween Eve, Oct 31, from 6 to 8 pm. 

At the end of the meeting, Sen. Kearney and Rep. Mallory thanked us for inviting them, and said that having first-hand understanding of community ideas, issues, and requests was extremely helpful to them in their work.   

Next Summit Meeting: Nov 13 @ 8 am.  Location is Pleasant Hill Academy. 

                                                                                                Summarized by:

                                                                                                Valerie Hershberger

                                                                                                Oct 15, 2008                                                                                             

Abbreviation Key: