Columbus City Council on Feb. 14 voted 5 to 1 (with 1 abstention) to adopt the Gateway Relocation Plan for businesses and residents who will be displaced by the city’s acquisition of property for the University Gateway Center. Campus Partners staff prepared the relocation plan in consultation with city staff. The relocation plan outlines the compensation and services which businesses and residents of rental property will receive when their properties are acquired by eminent domain. City Council held a public hearing on the proposed relocation plan on Jan. 12. In response to a request by Council Member Rich Sensenbrenner, Campus Partners staff prepared written answers to each of the questions and issues raised by speakers at the public hearing. A copy of those written answers was sent to each council member and to the president and secretary of the University Area Commission.

Relocation Management

To date, Campus Partners has successfully negotiated eight business relocation or lease termination agreements and is currently negotiating with 12 businesses. The status of the 24 businesses potentially eligible for relocations in the Gateway area is:

• 8 of the 14 businesses in properties owned by Campus Partners have successfully negotiated relocation or lease termination agreements.
• 5 of the 6 businesses yet to be relocated and currently in properties owned by Campus Partners are in active negotiations (two are expected to be completed shortly).
• 10 businesses are in buildings not currently owned by Campus Partners.

Seven of these have indicated that they are actively seeking alternate locations, with most having identified a preferred new location.

The Ohio State chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) will hold a news conference on Tuesday, Feb. 22, to kick off a burglary prevention campaign among students before they leave for spring break in mid-March. The multi-media campaign will include posters in the CABS buses, Lantern advertisements, flyers on pizza boxes, information on a Web site and more. Campus Partners staff is working with the PRSSA chapter. Funding for the campaign is coming from the University District Student Involvement Fund Program and the university’s Office of Business and Finance.

The Campus Partners Safety Coordinating Committee will meet next on Wednesday, March 8, at the Fawcett Center, 2400 Olentangy River Road. Sgt. Alex Behnen of the Community Liaison Section of the Columbus Division of Police will make a presentation.

Columbus Police Officer Ken Hawsey, community liaison officer for the Fourth Precinct for the past year, has taken a new position with the burglary squad. Officer John Marshall will begin as the new community liaison officer for the Fourth Precinct later this month.

Second "Dumpster Zone" Being Considered

The "dumpster zone" created by the city’s Refuse Collection Division for the predominantly student neighborhood east of High Street "seems to be working very effectively," according to John Johnson, operations manager for the division. As a result, the division is considering whether a second dumpster zone should be created in the south campus area. Johnson told the Campus Partners Public Service Committee on Jan. 26 that the dumpsters appear to have ample capacity, the containers are holding up, and there is less litter around the containers.

The city created the dumpster zone east of High Street last year because so many 300-gallon, plastic refuse containers were being lost to fire and other vandalism. After lengthy discussion with the Public Service Committee and area property owners, the city replaced the 300-gallon containers with city-owned metal dumpsters. (Residential properties with more than four units must still supply their own metal dumpsters, which are serviced by the city.)

Johnson said the city is studying whether a similar dumpster zone might be created to better serve the area between High Street and Neil Avenue from West 10^th Avenue to King Avenue. Comments and questions from property owners and residents are welcome on the idea. Please share them with Pasquale Grado of UCBA, Steve Sterrett of Campus Partners, or John Johnson of the Refuse Collection Division.

The Campus Partners Public Service Committee on street sweeping met Feb. 9 and discussed the city’s street sweeping program for 2000. The regular program of sweeping will continue on the second Thursday and second Friday of each month from April through October. The sweeping, however, will not be conducted in June due to spring quarter commencement at Ohio State on June 9.

The committee is considering a special sweeping in the south campus, Dennison Place and NECKO neighborhoods during the week of June 12-16. These neighborhoods are not swept during the regular monthly program, but they have been swept in June each of the last two years. The next meeting of the Public Service Committee on street sweeping will be Wednesday, April 19, at 3:30 p.m. in the Campus Partners office, 1824 N. High St. The committee is chaired by Robert Smith, administrator of the city’s Engineering and Construction Division.

University District Student Involvement Fund Program

Campus Partners staff is assisting Shane Hankins and other Ohio State students in the administration of the new University District Student Involvement Fund Program (UDSIFP). The UDISFP Board, composed of five students, held its first round of funding in January and has approved the awarding of more than $13,000 to support student-led projects to improve the neighborhoods of the University District this winter and spring. The UDSIFP Board also is seeking applications from students and student organizations for the funding of additional projects in a second and third round of competition later this month and in May.

The projects which received support in the first round of funding in January are:

• University Neighborhood Learning Center, $5,000. Erin Galloway, a senior in the College of Human Ecology, applied for the funds to provide computer equipment, software, computer supplies and a resource library to support student and neighborhood involvement in her college’s new off-campus learning center on North Fourth Street in the Weinland Park neighborhood.
• Burglary Prevention Campaign, $4,000. The Ohio State chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) applied for the funds to support a multi-media, public awareness campaign developed by the chapter to reach students living off-campus regarding burglary and crime prevention.
• Weinland Park Housing Assessment, $270. The Council of Graduate Students applied for the funds to collect data and assess changes in the property ownership and property values from 1993 to 1999 in the Weinland Park neighborhood. Students will conduct the research and will publish the results.
• BuckEyes Watch Program and Evaluation, $2,175. The Council of Graduate Students applied for the funds to survey the attitudes of student residents and non-student residents regarding crime and community-building in the neighborhoods around Ohio State. Students will conduct the survey and will encourage residents to participate in the BuckEyes Watch which promotes neighborhood involvement.
• The Ohio State University Adopt-A-Street Program, $1,750. Evans Scholars applied for the funds to organize this program under which student organizations each will "adopt" a street in the University District. The adoption agreement includes a monthly community clean-up, quarterly distribution of community information to residents of the street, and other activities to promote neighborhood improvements.

At the request of student governments, Ohio State established the UDSIFP as a pilot program for the 1999-2000 academic year with $35,000 in funding. UDSIFP provides assistance to projects and activities that engage Ohio State students, particularly undergraduates, in service learning, community service, community-based research and community building activities in the University District neighborhoods.