| News from Campus Partners | |
The Campus Collaborative places a monthly director's report on its Website. This report contains a wealth of information about initiatives involving the schools serving students living in the University District, economic development and job readiness programs, the university's Community Outreach Partnership Center, and much more. The Website address is: www.osu.edu/campuscollab/reports.html.
The leadership of the University Uptown Improvement District has concluded that the most effective way to move forward with the special improvement district (SID) is to focus initially on a SID to serve the High Street commercial district from East Ninth Avenue to Northwood Avenue. As a result, the Steering Committee of the University Uptown Improvement District decided at its meeting Oct. 17 that the preparatory work for the SID had been completed and that the Steering Committee would dissolve. In its place, an implementation committee will be formed of High Street property owners to circulate the petition and to create the SID for High Street. A tentative goal is to begin circulating the petition in January 2001.
The long-term goal remains to extend the services of the SID to the predominantly student neighborhoods and to West Lane Avenue. A successful SID for High Street can best demonstrate its value to the property owners in the neighborhood.
Columbus City Council on Oct. 16 authorized the city attorney to file an appropriation action on all of the properties within the Gateway redevelopment area. This ordinance will become effective on Nov. 15, 2000, at which time appropriation complaints can be filed with the Franklin County Common Pleas Court by the City Attorney's office.
Columbus Police Commander Jay Evans told the Campus Partners Safety Coordinating Committee on Nov. 8 that false alarms continue to plague the seven "blue light" emergency telephones installed off-campus last June. Despite police surveillance of the phones and arrests of several persons for making false 911 calls, the phones registered 115 false alarms in October, compared with 96 in September. In total, there have been 373 false alarms and only 4 police-related calls from June through Nov. 7. Robert Barnett of Housing, Food Services and Event Centers, told the committee that he has been working with a fire alarm company to design a plastic cover to place over the red activation button on the emergency phones. When the cover is lifted, the phone's strobe light would begin to flash. A 911 call is not placed, however, until the button is pushed. If the cover closes without the button pushed, then the strobe light goes out. A similar system has drastically reduced false fire alarms in university residence halls. Mr. Barnett expects the plastic covers can be placed on the seven phones before the Michigan football game. The committee will wait to see if the plastic covers reduce the abuse of the phones before considering a recommendation to remove the phones.
In other matters, Commander Evans reported that the number of burglaries in the Fourth Precinct have dropped significantly in recent weeks as the result of special enforcement actions. He expects that a "burglary special" will be conducted again during the holiday period in late December. Columbus Police Detective Tom Randle, coordinator of the Central Ohio Crime Stoppers program, explained the work of Crime Stoppers to the committee. He suggested that a campus Crime Stoppers program be started at Ohio State. Several committee members volunteered to look into such a program. The next meeting of the Safety Coordinating Committee will be Wednesday, Dec. 13, at 2:30 p.m. in the Fawcett Center, 2400 Olentangy River Road.
The disturbance on East 13th Avenue on Oct. 21-22 received a great deal of attention from the news media and provoked a number of meetings and other activities. Students took the lead in expressing concern with the misbehavior of a few whose actions threaten neighborhood safety. The BuckEyes Watch on East 14th Avenue has held several meetings under the leadership of Evans Scholars. As a result of the disturbance, residents of East 13th are planning to extend the BuckEyes Watch to their street.
The Office of Off-Campus and Commuter Student Services and
Campus Partners hosted a meeting on Nov. 8 for owners of student rental property to
discuss the problem of out-of-control parties. More than two dozen property owners
attended, and it was a good discussion with police officers about possible solutions.
Property owners related the difficulties they have in enforcing rules governing the
behavior of their residents. Eviction is a difficult
and expensive route. Under the auspices of his office, Willie Young will soon form an
Off-Campus Housing Advisory Board that can continue the discussion of this problem and,
perhaps, recommend some practical solutions.
The first meeting of the academic year of the safety and traffic committee for the African American Heritage Festival was held Nov. 8. William Hall, interim vice president for student affairs, is chairing the committee, as he has in recent years. The meeting included administrators and staff from numerous city departments, university offices and community organizations.
The festival is planned for the third weekend in May 2001. There was a broad discussion of the nature of the event, timing and locations. The committee will continue to meet on the second Wednesday of each month at 1:30 p.m. in the Fawcett Center, 2400 Olentangy River Road. The meetings coincide with the Safety Coordinating Committee's regularly scheduled meeting on the second Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. Many people are involved with both committees.
Back to the top. Campus Partners Public Service CommitteeCampus Partners Public Service Committee will meet to discuss refuse collection on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2001, at 4 p.m. and to discuss street sweeping on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2001, at 3:30 p.m. Both meetings will be in the community meeting room of the Northwood-High Building, 2231 N. High St.
Student InvolvementThe Campus Partners Student Advisory Board, chaired by Seth Dannemiller, met Nov. 14 to discuss the recently published A Plan for High Street: Creating a 21st Century Main Street. Terry Foegler offered an overview of the High Street plan and answered questions. The Student Advisory Board plans to hold its next meeting early in winter quarter and hopes to receive an update on the University Gateway Center from a representative of the master developer, The Druker Company of Boston.
Campus Partners continues to host meetings of the Student Safety Initiative. This is an informal collaboration of Undergraduate Student Government, Evans Scholars and other student organizations to work on student-led safety projects. Christina Morandini of USG and Luke Whitworth of Evans Scholars are the co-chairs of SSI. Among their projects are BuckEyes Watch and Adopt-A-Street. Staff from University Police, the Student Wellness Center, Off-Campus and Commuter Student Services and other university offices work with the students. The next meeting of SSI will be Friday, Jan. 19, 2001, at noon in the Campus Partners office.
The University District Student Involvement Fund Program received $35,000 in funding from Ohio State to support student projects in the university neighborhoods in 2000-2001. Campus Partners worked last year with the students who composed the UDSIFP Board to administer the program. This year, the Office of Off-Campus and Commuter Student Services is working with the UDSIFP Board.
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Urban Redevelopment, Inc.
1824 N. High St., Columbus, OH 43201
(614) 294-7300; fax (614) 294-7333