The College Hill Recreation Center is hosting College Hill's annual Christmas Bazaar this Saturday, December 3, from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. Bring your family for a visit with Santa. Listen to live music and stay to shop for holiday home decor, candles, soaps, trees, poinsettia, luminary kits and much more.

Imagine all the holiday shopping you’ll complete right in your own neighborhood!

If you have any questions, please call Rick or Katie at 513-591-3555.

The lovely streets of College Hill will again be lined with luminaria on Saturday, December 17th at dusk (rain date is Dec. 24th).

Pick up your luminary kits at the Christmas Bazaar at the Recreation Center on Saturday, December 3. They cost $5.00 and include 10 bags, 10 candles and sand. Order your luminary kits by calling 513-542-7263, or email afinnegan@sksins.com.

Get a couple of kits and hand them out to your neighbors to make your whole street glow this year!

You can help assure the success of this project by shoveling sand (meet at Jack’s Sand on Este Avenue on Friday, December 2nd with your shovel. Call Amy Finnegan at 513-977-3108 for the exact time) or by bagging sand (package 10 cups of sand to complete a kit on Saturday, Dec. 3rd from 9:00 am to 11:00 am, 11:00 am to 1:00 pm or 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm. at the College Hill Recreation Center. Call Amy Finnegan at 513-977-3108 to sign up).

The long-awaited, much anticipated, College Hill cookbook will be available for Christmas giving. Order your copy now for delivery before Christmas. We will personally deliver cookbooks in the College Hill area.

There are two easy ways to order: You can visit the cookbook table at the Holiday Bazaar at the Recreation Center on December 3 and place your order there, or you can send $15 for each cookbook you want to College Hill Cookbook, 1630 Harbeson Avenue, 45224 (be sure to include your name, address and phone number).

These make great gifts for friends, family, neighbors or former College Hill residents.

If you have any questions call the College Hill Forum office at 513-542-7263.

At November’s College Hill Forum Meeting, Forum President Elizabeth Sherwood presented a check for $14,711.88 to the College Hill Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation (CHCURC) in support of the College Hill Director of Development. The check represents the proceeds of September’s very successful Rhythm Race fundraiser.

In receiving the award, CHCURC President Carol Lyon said, “I am awestruck at the generosity of the College Hill Forum members. I know you gave up your time to make the Rhythm Race successful. I know you gave your own money to make this race successful. Believe me, CHCURC is grateful.

“You might be wondering what CHCURC does with the money you raised. Well, we pay our Director of Development, Marty Weldishofer. But exactly what does Marty do? Let me give you an example.

“It was no accident that the ordinances needed for us to acquire the land and begin development of Linden Park Commons passed the City Planning Commission unanimously without comment, then Council’s Finance Committee unanimously and then City Council itself, not only unanimously but with kudos besides.

“It takes a lot of behind-the-scenes effort on Marty’s part to make things go this smoothly. For example, before the Finance Committee meeting, Marty sent an email to College Hill community leaders asking them to send a letter of support to the committee members. He even gave them four major points to include in the letter and provided the e-mail addresses of Committee. He did the same thing before the Council meeting at which our ordinances were presented. It is this kind of attention to detail that makes the difference between a development that looks--and is--ready and one that is not.

“Thank you again for your generosity of time and money--but mostly for your generosity of heart.”

National City Bank and the College Hill Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation invite you to a New Year's Eve Pre-Demolition Extravangaza & Fabulous Fireworks Display. It'll be held at the site of the soon-to-be Linden Park Commons development at the corner of North Bend Road and Hamilton Avenue. There'll be party hats, drinks, music and dancing. Marty Weldishofer, College Hill's Director of Development, promises that we won't be out in the cold.

Bring your friends and neighbors and an appetizer or snack to share. The party starts at 9:00 pm and will end at midnight with Auld Lang Syne and a BIG BANG!

All of this celebrates City Council's decision to purchase some of properties needed for the Linden Park Commons project. The city's support makes it possible for our developer, Al Neyer, Inc., to acquire the remaining properties on the north side of North Bend road between Cary Avenue and the College Hill Medical Association offices. Once all the properties are under our control, work on Linden Park Commons can begin in earnest!

Several dozen College Hill residents and friends turned out on November 12 to help their neighbors as part of People Working Cooperatively's annual Prepare Affair. PWC helps people stay in their homes when financial, health, or age considerations make it difficult for them to do maintenance or make repairs.

The Prepare Affair is PWC's fall rally. Volunteer groups around the city pitch in to help very low- income and elderly neighbors rake lawns, clean gutters and do other preparations for winter. This year, volunteers enjoyed near-perfect weather as they worked hard for their communities.

A group of 23 volunteers from St. Clare Church worked on gutters and yards at houses in College Hill, North College Hill, Mt. Healthy and Finneytown. Notable among the participants, according to one of St. Clare's volunteer coordinators, Peggy Mosher, were three generations of the Bonecutter family. The St. Clare group had breakfast together before working and when they finished they shared a lunch of hearty soup prepared by their pastor, Fr. George Jaquemin.

The St. Clare group wasn't the most numerous group working in College Hill. Volunteer Extraordinaire Amy Finnegan recruited a small army of workers, including many from Schiff, Kreidler-Shell, Inc., the insurance company where she works. These 55 workers, who included whole families, worked at 17 homes in the area. Schiff, Kreidler-Shell treated them to lunch.

There is an Aiken University High School Parent-Teachers Organization meeting this Thursday, December 1, at 6:00 pm. Membership is $3.00 for individuals and $5.00 for a couple, but membership is not required to attend and participate.

The City of Cincinnati's Department of Transportation and Engineering has contracted to install water mains and rebuild North Bend Road from Colerain Avenue to Betts Avenue with water main continuing to Hamilton Avenue. Water main construction is tentatively scheduled to begin in January 2006 and road reconstruction is scheduled to begin in Spring 2007. The contractor will maintain property access to homes and businesses.

More detailed updates will be sent in the future as the project schedule is finalized. Please direct concerns to the City Inspector, Dennis Honerkamp at 352-3422 or the Project Engineer, David Krusling at 352-3479. You can also reach Mr. Krusling via e-mail at dave.krusling@cincinnati-oh.gov.

We recently received this note from a long-time College Hill resident Vanessa Paunescu.

"I have been house bound for so long taking care of my sick mother. When she passed and I walked out to see the light, I could not believe what College Hill was offering: markets, book clubs at the library, a center for the community and a place to take dance classes.

"My thought had been to move from this place I used to call 'our town' because of what our community was starting to look like and feel like. I have walked these streets ever since grade school at St. Clare and saw awful changes--but now all I see is a place for me to raise my daughter. I hope I can give her a great life such as mine was here in 'our town'."

College Hill resident Margaret Mailly is participating in the Cincinnati Holiday Traditional display of model trains in the CG&E lobby at 4th and Main St. She has been the invited artist, exhibiting some her watercolor paintings of railroad scenes, for the last 10 years at Cinergy. This year there are a number of Cincinnati scene as well as views of other American railroading and some of the people that keep them running. The display will be accessible until New Years Day.

College Hill Presbyterian Church invites everyone to celebrate Christmas with the Chancel Choir, the children‘s choirs and the Handbell Choir on Friday, December 9, at 7:30 pm or Sunday, December 11 at 4:00 pm. The prelude begins ½ hour before the concert. A freewill offering will be taken.

The McAuley High School auditorium will be the site of three Christmas concerts in December.

McAuley’s chorus, vocal ensemble and orchestra will present Christmas concerts on Friday Dec. 9 and Sunday, Dec. 11, at 7:30 pm. These two concerts feature fifty McAuley musicians who have just returned from their performance in Carnegie Hall in New York City.

The Holiday Harmony concert, an all-choral concert in combination with the young men of LaSalle High School, will be on Tuesday, Dec. 20, at 7:30 pm.

Admission to all concerts is $3 Please call (513) 681- 1800 X 2228 for further information.

Every Parent’s Library founder and College Hill Resident Gene Gardner tells us that EPL has added some features to their web site that have not yet been announced to the Cincinnati area. Every Parent's Library has modified their website so that pregnant women and care givers of newborns can learn about and apply on-line to receive their series of home delivered high quality parenting videos.

This feature has not been announced to the Cincinnati area yet, so eNewsletter readers can be the first to take advantage the expansion of this unique video lending service. Of course, volunteers and donors are also invited to the website to perhaps get involved in this neat organization.

Eighth grade girls who are interested in going to McAuley next year are invited to take an entrance test and participate in a preview program on December 2 from 8:15 am until 2:00 pm.

There is no fee for the test and preregistration is not necessary.

The test is one instrument used in determining at which level a student will be placed next fall. It is also used to help determine scholarship eligibility. Also used are report cards, standardized test results, teacher input and parent feedback.

The test will be followed by a complimentary lunch and various activities involving foreign languages, science, school spirit and performing arts in the afternoon.

For more information, please call Kathy Dietrich, Recruitment Coordinator, at 681-1800 ext. 2272.

Juanita Canfield has donated one of her quilts for a raffle to benefit the Events Team of the Forum. The drawing will be held at the January 2006 Forum meeting.

Raffle tickets are $1 each or $5 for 6. Folks can contact Juanita for tickets at 513-541-8506. Tickets will be also available at the Christmas Bazaar on December 3 at College Hill Recreation Center and at the January Forum meeting.

In the late spring of 1995, College Hill’s Contemporary Dance Theater co-sponsored a show called "Conception Vessels." That show was the pilot for what would become the Performance and Time Arts series.

The Performance and Time Arts (PTA) will present its usual eclectic mix of experimental and cutting edge performance at the College Hill Town Hall on December 2 and 3. Shows start both nights at 8:00 pm. Tickets are $12 general admission or $8 for students and seniors.

On the program are dance by Lindsey Jones (with Brian Bailey, Emily Brinkman, Jamie Hugentobler, Aaron Hunter, Sarah Peak, Kim Popa & Chad Potter), poetry & dance collaboration by Sophia Kartsonis & Pamela Breitbeil, dance by Isabelle Provosty, music by Robert Denham (performed by Nick Naegele), music by Mara Helmuth and poetry by Melodie Past. The evening will include new dance works by Isabelle Provosty and by Lindsey Jones with Chad Potter. There will also be a collaboration between poet Sophia Kartsonis and dancer Pamela Breitbeil, a poetry reading by Melodie Past, a musical performance by Mara Helmuth and more music by Robert Denham performed by Nick Naegele. Lindsey Jones, a dance student at Northern Kentucky University, will be presenting work both as a choreographer and a dancer. Her work, "Destroyed Discovery," which she describes as her first major work as a choreographer, will be danced by Emily Brinkman, Aaron Hunter, Sara Peak, Kim Popa and Chad Potter. She will also perform a brief duet created with her fellow NKU student, Chad Potter.

It should be noted that some PTA shows may contain performances that would not be considered appropriate for children or young teens.

For more information, contact Jefferson James at 513/591-2557 or Jfrsonj@aol.com.