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SUMMIT MEETING NOTES April 8, 2010 Location: College Hill Recreation Center
Approved Summit minutes can be found at the following website: collegehilloh.net
ACTION ITEMS The key action items as agreed to in this meeting are as follows: Item Responsibility 1. Meet to discuss & decide strategy for NSP2, NSP3 Tom Salzbren, Pete Bauer 2. Send link for Dept of Justice article on youth to Summit members. Tom Strothers 3. Obtain Youth Crisis Cards and get them to Summit. Joan Burger, Matt Schwendeman 4. Send out email with dates of key upcoming events for Matt Schwendeman Children’s Hospital. 5. Get information out to the community on available help ???? to prevent foreclosure.
ATTENDEES: (in alphabetical order) Name Organization Represented Pete Bauer CHCURC Jim Bodmer CPOP/COP/Court Watch Ron Cowgill Facilitator Leonard Dean Pleasant Hill Academy Valerie Hershberger Facilitator Phyllis Schoenberger Forum QOL, CHHT Rick Schroer CH Rec Center Matt Schwendeman CCHMC Arnice Smith Library Bruce Soldano LaRosa’s Rev. Dan Weyand-Geise CCCH Hope Wilson WIN
AGENDA Welcome and Introductions Host Greetings Opening Prayer Special Announcements Previous Minutes Review/Approval Action Items From Previous Meetings CPOP/COP/CPD/Court Watch Housing Team Update CHBA Update CHCURC Update Schools Updates Library Update Children’s Hospital Update College Hill Rec Center Update Ministerium Update Discussion Topic: Hamilton County/College Hill Foreclosures Community Activities & Announcements
DISCUSSION:
1. Special Announcements None.
2. Review of March 2010 Minutes
3. Review of Action Items from Previous Meetings (a) NSP2 and NSP3: It was reported that Hamilton County rather than the City of Cincinnati will lead NSP2 and NSP3. (b) Track Team: Discussions are in progress for the Pleasant Hill track team to use the Rec Center track for practice. (c) After School Fights: There has been some follow up on this issue. A CPS Security Monitor is starting to be out after school. COP have walked the area, but the Library should also call the police when they see fights. (d) Day/Evening Care for CCHMC: The conversation has begun between the Rec Center and CCHMC. (e) Dept of Justice Article: Not done. (f) Youth Crisis Cards: Some have been given to schools. Matt will bring some to Summit at a future meeting.
4. COP/CPOP/CourtWatch/CPD – by Jim Bodmer Crime in all categories (except homicides) is down, especially theft from autos. There was a recent homicide at the Island Breeze Apartments. Cedar Meadows Apts has again been declared a public nuisance, and will be torn down. 2 kids recently tried to break into EZ Market and Daily Mart, then cars on the street. The kids are only 11 and 12 years old. There has been a lot of graffiti lately. The police think they know who did it, but don’t yet have the proof. Residents are encouraged to make police reports for any graffiti they see, or if they observe the perpetrators actually writing it.
5. Housing Team Update – by Hope Wilson The most recent new house at 1402 Cedar is nearly complete and is for sale. Please refer any potential buyers to WIN. The rehab of 5918 Lantana has started. Four other houses will be done this year through the NSP program: 1192 Cedar, 1307 Cedar, 1309 Cedar, and 1549 Ambrose. 1142 Cedar is under contract and will be torn down. WIN is holding a Homebuyers Class at CHPC on May 15. That same day, there will be about 30 volunteers in the neighborhood helping WIN with clean out and light demolition on the various properties.
6. College Hill Business Association No one was present from the CHBA because of Tax season. However, other Summit members shared that April 21 is the annual CHBA dinner, which has Tim Johnson as a guest speaker. Location is the second floor above Marty’s Hops & Vines. Dinner is at 6 pm with meeting to follow. Cost is $20.
7. College Hill Schools Updates College Hill Fundamental Academy – the construction is on schedule. Pleasant Hill Academy – there continues to be a need for community support. The GED school at the Aiken High School – Karen Barrett emailed several information items for the update: · The Aiken College and Career Parent and Community Appreciation Breakfast will be on Saturday, May 1st at 9:30 AM in our small dining hall. All Summit members are invited and I will get e-mail invitations sent out early next week. · Thursday, April 29th is our Spring Fling from 6:00 to 8:00 P.M. This evening will include our first induction ceremony of the Junior Honor Society, and a play celebrating African American Heritage featuring our student performance groups. Each of the other "non-performance type" school clubs and activities will have a table highlighting their year also. The community is invited to attend. · The Falcon Band was so excited to be invited to march in the Reds Opening Day Parade. They represented Aiken and College Hill in a mighty manner. There's nothing more fun than seeing a bunch of great kids having a great time! I got to go and take pictures. · We have a group of our Leadership Team folks coming on the 24th for College Hill Clean Up, so we will see you then.
8. Library Update – by Arnice Smith COP came by and patrolled before Spring Break, but Arnice hasn’t seen them since. It seems like 3 gangs have developed: Mafia Wars, Looney Toons, and Cartoon Network. A 13 yr old was jumped and beaten up during an after-school program when he went to the Library. Violence continues to be a big problem in the area around the Pleasant Hill Academy. Otherwise, the Library is doing very well. Now doing floating returns, which means a borrower can return any book to any library and be shelved there. They are seeking a grant to get more computers. They only have one now with Microsoft Word on it, and it is in high demand. The programs for teens, adults, and children continue to be popular with the community.
9. CHCURC Update – by Pete Bauer Highlights of the CHCURC update included: · The Annual Rhythm Race will be August 14. · The old car wash was rented and renovated by the Green Top Arts Collective for a specialty Iron Works. It will be opening the weekend of June 5 & 6. · Tenants of the Saba Building are being relocated so the building can be demolished. The mid-district continues to be an area of focus: · Starting to relocate tenants from EZ Market · The properties next to the Florist have been in process for years. Issues between the owner and the City seem to be settled, so CHCURC hopes the buildings will be demolished this calendar year. The request to CMHA to change the Hillrise designation for Section 8 was defeated. CHCURC believes there are some prospective buyers for the property. A committee has been formed to study what to do with the old Crawford Field behind the Library once the old school is razed. A flyer was handed out for the French Soiree fundraiser at Laurel Court on May 15. There will be live musical entertainment, catered hors d’oeuvres, and a silent auction. The cost is $50 per person. RSVP by May 1 either to CHCURC by mail, or to Judy Moyer via phone (542-2000) or email (judy@laurelcourt.com).
10. Children’s Hospital Update – by Matt Schwendeman Key upcoming events for Children’s Hospital are the annual car wash fundraiser (for residential kids) and the plant sale. Matt will send out an email with the dates for these events. Phyllis suggested that Children’s might want to join the Farmer’s Market this summer to sell their plants on an ongoing basis.
11. Ministerium/Christ’s Community Update – by Dan Weyand-Geise The previously announced Good Friday Service at Grace Episcopal was cancelled. Dan did not know why. The Building Bridges program for the Business District continues. Up to now there have been two groups meeting separately, but in April they begin to meet together. The Interfaith Hospitality Network has been successful in helping all 4 families hosted to find permanent housing. The next round of hosting will take place this coming summer. CCCH plans to have a summer program again for the neighborhood children led by Ron Whitt. Ron is also continuing with the Whiz Kids program.
12. Discussion Topic: Foreclosures WIN has been tracking national and local foreclosures since 2002. They now do an annual report. The 2009 report will be done in May. WIN tracks actual Sheriff sales versus first filings, which are the numbers reported on the news. College Hill had 131 foreclosed properties up for sale in 2009, of which 78 were sold. WIN is seeing a trend toward lenders buying back the foreclosed properties up for sale. The key lenders involved in this process are Deutsch Bank, US Bank, Chase Bank, Countrywide, and Wells Fargo. The national Making Homes Affordable Program is being modified to help improve its effectiveness. It promises to be faster and have less paperwork. Homeowners can request a review before they are actually in trouble. Hope will take flyers on the WIN Foreclosure Prevention Program to the Library. There are many other HUD approved programs in the Cincinnati area in addition to the WIN program. There was a brief discussion that information on all these programs needs to go out to the community so people will know how to get help. However, it wasn’t clear who would follow up to make this happen.
13. Community Activities and Announcements Ø Plant Sale – The College Hill Gardeners will have their annual plant sale on May 1 on the old Shuler property at 9 am. Ø French Soiree – CHCURC fund raiser will be at Laurel Court, May 15, starting at 6:30 pm. There will be live musical entertainment, catered hors d’oeuvres, and a silent auction. $50 per person. Ø CHBA Annual Dinner – will be April 21.
14. Discussion of Summit Meeting Times There was a request from a couple of Summit members that the group consider changing the meeting time of Summit to evening vs during the day to allow employed people/business owners to attend. In the discussion, those in attendance indicated that there were many other conflicts with evening meetings for the organizations who participate. In addition, some of the leadership in CH groups and organizations live outside of CH and coming to evening meetings is not easy.
Next Summit Meeting: May 13 @ 8 am at Aiken High School.
Summarized by: Valerie Hershberger May 11, 2010
Proposed Meeting Schedule
2010
General Meeting Time: Second Thursday of the Month, 8:00 am to 10:00 am.
Location Rotates
Tbc = to be confirmed
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Tom Strothers, Webmaster |
