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Update from Campus
Partners:
Prepared for residents the University Area Commission
April 16, 2008
New: March
7, 2008, Ceremony celebrates new street lights
Contents:
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Police and
university target public safety during spring quarter Police and university officials told the
University Area Safety Committee on April 9 that the predominantly student
neighborhood is being targeted for public safety initiatives during spring
quarter. University Police Chief
Paul Denton said his goal is that no public safety alerts are required to be
issued during the quarter. As in past years, University Police will team with
Columbus Police to provide extra patrols on Thursday, Friday and Saturday
nights with both uniformed and plainclothes officers. Columbus Police Lt. Thomas Quinlan
said officers will concentrate on preventing burglaries, robberies and aggressive
panhandling. The university also
has granted additional funds to the Community Crime Patrol to support two
more teams of CCP patrollers working those nights during spring quarter. WillieYoung,
director of Off-Campus Student Services, said his office will offer an
education component to encourage students to take responsibility for their
own safety. Tom Wildman raised a question of “crime
displacement” from the predominantly student neighborhood to other
parts of the University District.
Lt. Quinlan said the extra patrols in the predominantly student
neighborhood will keep officers from other cruiser districts from being
pulled into public safety situations in the student neighborhood. He also said Columbus Police will
watch crime reports from all cruiser districts and respond appropriately. The next meeting of the University Area Safety
Committee will be Wednesday, May 14, at 3:30 p.m. in the first floor
conference room of 33 W. 11th Avenue. Mayor joins volunteers to pick up litter in Weinland
Park More than 150 volunteers joined Mayor Michael
Coleman on Saturday morning, March 29, to pick up litter along the streets
and alleys throughout the Weinland Park
neighborhood. The volunteers were
assigned to one of 14 teams with designated areas to cover. They collected 381 bags of trash,
totaling more than 11,400 pounds. The weather was sunny and the volunteers were
friendly, so the clean-up went quite well and Weinland
Park was noticeably more attractive.
The city’s program, Keep Columbus Beautiful, organized the
event. Some 106 city employees
volunteered during the clean-up and were joined by 51 neighborhood and
community volunteers. Street sweeping program resumes The monthly program of street sweeping returned to
the University District last Thursday, April 10, and Friday, April 11. The sweeping is done on the second
Thursday and Friday of each month from April through October. The north and east sides of the streets
are swept on Thursday. The south
and west sides of the street are swept on Friday. Permanent metal signs are posted on
the streets that are swept. University District and Columbus receive national
attention The national news media continue to focus on
Columbus as a travel destination.
The Short North is mentioned frequently; although venues in the
University District get their share of attention. The latest example is Budget Travel magazine which cited Columbus; Portland, Maine;
Fort Worth, Texas; and Ojai, Calif., as great spring travel
destinations. In addition to
stops in the Short North, the editor suggested that travelers visit the Wexner Center and stay overnight at the Blackwell Inn
– both in the University District. NBC’s “Today Show” on April 5
broadcast an interview with the Budget
Travel editor on the spring travel destinations. That brought more attention to
Columbus. The video is now posted
on the “Today Show” website at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23944227. The University District Code Enforcement Task
Force and the Campus Partners Public Service Committee met jointly on April
8. Catherine Girves
of the University Area Enrichment Association reported that data entry for
the litter survey of the University District had been completed, and she
showed maps of the area color-coded by the amount of litter recorded by Ohio
State student volunteers who walked the area. Student volunteers will conduct a
follow-up survey later this spring to confirm the findings and to lead to a
qualitative study of specific “hot spots” in an effort to
identify strategies to prevent litter.
Thanks to the initial coding of the data, future date entry will be
much quicker. The code and refuse panels will hold their next
joint meeting on Tuesday, June 10, at 1:30 p.m. in room 100 of the
Northwood-High Building, 2231 N. High Street. |
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Partners for Community Urban Redevelopment, Inc.
(614)
294-7300; fax (614) 294-7333