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• Gateway redevelopment project
• Gateway public improvements
• Community Properties of Ohio
• Public safety in Weinland Park
• Public safety regarding football games and neighborhood parties

• Refuse collection and recycling
• Code enforcement
• Student enrollment
• Student involvement
  

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Community Properties of Ohio

Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing (OCCH) and Community Properties of Ohio Management Services (CPOMS) are meeting with stakeholders throughout the community to bring them up to date on the progress made in the first six months that the Section 8 housing has been under new ownership and management.  Campus Partners, OCCH and CPOMS staff held briefings Nov. 18 with City Council aides and Nov. 20 with staff in central Ohio congressional offices.  Among the information being shared is:

-- CPOMS obtained 320 eviction notices in the first month.  The purpose wasn’t to carry out a massive number of evictions, but to put residents on notice that they must come into compliance with their leases.  There have only been 75 evictions in the first six months.  Most residents came into compliance.  Some residents moved out because they knew their activities would not be tolerated by the new management.
-- A centralized maintenance program has been installed, and efforts are being made to identify disadvantaged business enterprises to compete for rehabilitation and maintenance contracts.
-- A customer service program has been put in place.  Complaints and concerns are being handled from tenants and neighborhood residents, but calls to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development have slowed to a trickle  an indication that people are satisfied that their complaints are being dealt with.
-- CPOMS purchased the building at 910 E. Broad St. to house its offices and maintenance shop.  The building is next to the Cambridge Arms apartments, which is a 10-story building owned by Community Properties and managed for senior citizens.
-- CPOMS staff members are on the mayor’s neighborhood safety committee, are working with Columbus Police to target “hot spots” of crime, and are developing a public safety video to be watched by all residents.
-- OCCH plans to start the rehabilitation of the first 300 units in February.   Apartments along North Fourth Street will be part of this first wave.   Temporary relocation of families whose units are undergoing renovation work has already begun.  Extensive efforts are being made to keep children in the same schools.

        On behalf of the university, Bobby Moser, vice president for university outreach, has chaired further discussions with OCCH, CPOMS and Campus Partners about how Ohio State might be engaged most constructively with this housing.  OCCH and CPOMS have asked the university to consider taking responsibility for two or three “learning centers” that would be established specifically for residents of Community Properties.  The learning centers would include computers and special software to link residents to learning and opportunities.  Representatives from Ohio State and CPOMS will travel to Cleveland early next month to view a learning center in operation there.

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Public safety in Weinland Park

        At a news conference in Weinland Park on Oct. 3, Mayor Coleman and other city officials announced the results of the Columbus Division of Police’s new “hot spots” crime initiative that focused on four neighborhoods over the summer.  One of the neighborhoods was Weinland Park where the focus from July 18 through Aug. 16 was to reduce the number of aggravated assaults and auto thefts.  During that time, police in Weinland Park made 20 felony arrests and 33 misdemeanor arrests.  Overall the area showed a 28.8% reduction in reported rape, murder, aggravated assault, robbery, auto theft, burglaries and thefts from autos over the same period in 2002.

        During the news conference, Deputy Police Chief Steve Gammill said that there had been some re-emergence of crime in Weinland Park.   As a result, beginning that day and continuing through mid-November, the police stationed a mobile substation in Weinland Park to deal with crime.  In addition, on behalf of the Franklin County Commissioners, Commissioner Arlene Shoemaker presented a grant of $75,000 to Mayor Coleman to help pay overtime costs for an increased police presence in Weinland Park.  The grant resulted, in part, from the application of Community Properties of Ohio Management Services (CPOMS) to obtain funds for more effective public safety programs related to new management and renovation of the Section 8 housing units.  The University Area Commission, University Community Business Association and The Ohio State University wrote letters to the county commissioners in support of the application by CPOMS.  Due to the limits on the federal funding involved, the grant could not be made to CPOMS, but the grant to the city will help meet the same need.

Public safety regarding football games and neighborhood parties

        Columbus Police and University Police have reported to the University Area Safety Committee that enforcement of open container and under-age drinking laws on Lane Avenue and around Ohio Stadium has generally gone well during the course of this football season.  Columbus Police Commander Suzanne Curmode told the committee at its meeting Nov. 12 that Lane Avenue seems to have become more “family friendly.”  She also noted that while many parties continue to be held on weekends in the predominantly student neighborhood, there have been no major problems this fall.  Student government leaders at the committee meeting said their sense of the situation was that students are “sick and tired” of the riots and are trying to better control their parties.

        Ohio State hosted a national conference on celebratory riots on Nov. 20 and 21.  The university had hoped to limit registration to 125 people, but more than 160 people attended from 16 states.  The participants included representatives from universities, cities, police agencies and other organizations.  Ohio State student leaders attended a similar conference in New Hampshire in September and returned with a number of ideas that they are discussing with student government and the Office of Student Affairs.

        Pasquale Grado, executive director of the University Community Business Association, has noted a growing problem with noise, parking and late night activity in the Old North Columbus area of High Street (roughly Hudson to Arcadia).  Some of the bars in that area are attracting more and more students and other young patrons.  In addition, several restaurants are open late and offer food after the bars close, drawing young people from other parts of the city.  As a result, there have been more complaints from neighbors about late-night noise and parking congestion.  Community Liaison Officer Larry Geis told the safety committee there also has been an increase in crime reports in that area, too.

        The University Area Safety Committee won’t meet in December unless called by the co-chairs.

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Refuse collection and recycling

The Campus Partners Public Service Committee on refuse collection met Nov. 4.   “Skip” Parks, operations manager for the city’s Refuse Collection Division, reported that city crews removed 2,728 tons of bulk refuse from the University District during the seventh annual special collection of bulk refuse from Aug. 25 to Sept. 12.  He also noted that half the annual overtime funds allocated for the crews working out of the Morse Road Transfer Station were spent for this special bulk collection.

Undergraduate Student Government is interested in a recycling program directed at the off-campus neighborhood.  In addition, Students for Recycling is in the early stages of planning a “Dump and Run Yard Sale” at the end of spring quarter 2004 to promote the re-use of furniture and other items.  Proceeds from the yard sale would go to charity.  Steve Sterrett, Pasquale Grado, Robert Caldwell and Catherine Girves met Nov. 11 with representatives of SWACO (Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio) to talk about recycling and related issues.  They have scheduled a meeting of the city’s Refuse Collection Division, SWACO, and the student organizations for Thursday, Dec. 4, to talk further about these recycling ideas.  The meeting will be from 8 to 9 a.m. in the Campus Partners office, 1824 N. High St.

In a related matter, SWACO will sponsor four household hazardous waste collections over the next four months at the retired Waste-to-Energy Facility (the old trash-burning power plant), 2566 Jackson Pike (Route 104).  Collections will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the following Saturdays: Dec. 6, Jan. 10, Feb. 21 and March 27.  SWACO will accept flammables, reactives, corrosives and toxics from residents (but not from businesses).   SWACO will not accept appliances, tires, trash, propane tanks over 20 pounds, asbestos, needles or medical waste, used oil, car batteries, or bleach and household cleaners.  For information, log on to www.swaco.org.

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Code enforcement

        The University District Code Enforcement Task Force continues to meet monthly with good representation from the city and the neighborhood.  The most recent meeting was Nov. 12.  The three most important issues before the task force has been systematic exterior code enforcement, possible legislation banning interior furniture placed outside or on open porches and decks, and permit parking.

Jeremy Dossett, code enforcement officer, reported Nov. 12 that he had completed a systematic exterior review of some 22 buildings in an area bounded by West 11th Avenue on the north, Neil Avenue on the west, West Ninth Avenue on the south and Highland Street on the east.  Of the 22 buildings, 12 had violations, including eight exterior housing orders and one each of right-of-way, solid waste, zoning and graphics violations.

The task force has discussed whether an effective city ordinance could be written that would prohibit interior furniture, such as upholstered couches, from being placed in yards or on porches or decks.  City staff has checked with other cities with large universities to determine how they handled such situations.  In addition, Jennifer Evans-Cowley, assistant professor of city planning, has obtained ordinances on this topic from a number of cities.  City staff have suggested that this topic might be best handled under the city’s fire code, rather than housing code.  The task force hopes to have a representative of the Fire Prevention Bureau at its next meeting.

Professor Cowley plans to involve her graduate planning class in a study of permit parking in the University District during winter quarter 2004.  She has asked the task force to suggest which parts of the district  her class might focus on.  The task force reviewed the recommendations on permit parking in the University Neighborhoods Revitalization Plan from 1996 as a starting point for the new study.  Task force members will discuss the permit parking issue further with neighbors and will come prepared at the December meeting to discuss further what direction to give Professor Cowley.

The next meeting of the task force will be Tuesday, Dec. 9, at 2 p.m. in the Northwood-High Building, 2231 N. High St.

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Student Enrollment

        The university’s enrollment statistics for autumn quarter 2003 show a significant drop in the number of Ohio State students living in the 43201 zip code around the Columbus campus.  The total enrollment on the Columbus campus for autumn quarter 2003 rose to 50,731, compared with 49,676 in 2002.  The number of students who listed their campus addresses in 43201 for autumn quarter 2003 was 8,803, compared with 10,562 in 2002.  The number living in 43201 is the lowest in decades.  The number living in 43201 peaked in 1986 at 14,373, then declined steadily to about 10,512 in 1995.  That number remained fairly level until this fall.

        For autumn quarter 2003, the number of students also declined in the 43202 zip code, which encompasses the northern portion of the University District and southern Clintonville, as well as most other zip codes in Franklin County.  The number of students living on campus in the 43210 zip code rose by about 350, reflecting the new student housing that opened on Neil Avenue.  The number of students listing their campus address as outside Franklin County skyrocketed from 8,400 last year to 11,361 this year.

        Major property owners report that the housing market in the predominantly student neighborhood is very soft with a number of vacancies.  Among the factors which may account for the loss of students in 43201 are: 1) public safety concerns over beer riots and crime; 2) greater competition for student renters from suburban apartment complexes, where the market also is soft; and 3) the poor economy has prompted more students to live at home  which could explain, in part, the huge increase in students listing their campus address as outside Franklin County.  It is important to note that these data, and the methodologies to produce them, have not been analyzed in depth to determine or assess potential problems associated with collection.

Student involvement

        The Campus Partners Student Advisory Board held its first meeting of autumn quarter on Oct. 29.  Rachel Escusa of Griffin Communications and Steve Sterrett discussed plans for more effective communication with the wider student body.  The board members also agreed to host a public forum with Mike Bradley, COTA’s rail development director, to inform students about the studies under way for a light rail system that would pass through the University District.   The forum is Tuesday, Dec. 2, at 7 p.m. in the first floor recreation room of Baker Hall East, 93 W. 12th Ave.