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.

City Council President Matt Habash and City Council Member Rich Sensenbrenner spoke to The Ohio State University Board of Trustees on March 3 to underscore the city's support for the development of the University Gateway Center. Mr. Habash noted that Columbus has a long history of addressing issues in the University District. "Both Ohio State and the City of Columbus are strongly committed to the revitalization of the campus neighborhood east of High Street," he said. Mr. Sensenbrenner, who chairs the council's Development Committee, cited the process to develop the Gateway Center as a model for Columbus to use in revitalizing other urban neighborhoods.  

Joining Mr. Habash and Mr. Sensenbrenner in addressing the Board of Trustees were Ron Druker, president of The Druker Company; David Williams, chair of the Campus Partners Board of Trustees; and Terry Foegler, president of Campus Partners. The presentation offered the university trustees an update on the Gateway project. Mr. Druker told the trustees that his company has been working to secure anchor tenants for the Gateway Center, including a bookstore, theater and a grocery store. He also expressed appreciation for the university's commitment to 70,000 square feet of office space. Once anchor tenants are identified, Mr. Druker said, meetings will begin with local businesses. "Including local businesses in the project is an important part of our plan," he said.

 Mr. Druker and Campus Partners board members and staff also had an opportunity later that day to discuss the progress on the Gateway project with City Council Members Mike Mentel and Fred Ransier and Mark Barbash, the new director of the city's Department of Trade and Development.

A six-member working group, which has been meeting regularly since last November, is close to a revised proposal for the special improvement district (SID). The group has taken a close look at how much of West Lane Avenue should be included in the SID and what services would be most appropriate. The group will take the revised proposal back to the full Steering Committee of the University Uptown Improvement District in a few weeks. If the revised proposal is supported by the Steering Committee, then a campaign will be undertaken to widely discuss the formation of the SID with area property owners and businesses.

Murder of Student

The murder on Feb. 9 of Charles Ballard, a senior engineering student living on East 17th Avenue, shocked the university community, particularly African-American students who are concerned about the circumstances of the crime. University offices hosted a safety forum on Feb. 23 to discuss the crime. Representatives of the Columbus Division of Police, including Dana Farbacher, the lead homicide detective on the case, spoke with forum attendees and answered questions. Many of the questions related to communicating accurate information in a timely fashion about the crime. There were rumors that Mr. Ballard's murder was a hate crime, but the police officers don't believe the evidence points to a hate crime. A memorial service for Mr. Ballard was held March 1 at the Frank W. Hale Black Cultural Center.

The Columbus Division of Police, University Police and the Community Crime Patrol (CCP) are cooperating again in a joint initiative to reduce burglaries and related crimes during the university's spring break, March 17-26. The initiative will involve extra patrols and undercover officers in the University District. 

The Ohio State chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) launched a multi-media education campaign around burglary prevention in late February. The campaign includes posters in the CABS buses, Lantern advertisements, flyers on pizza boxes, distribution of 1,000 can cozies with a crime prevention message, information on a Web site and more. About 50 student volunteers, a dozen police officers and four CCP staff distributed 4,000 burglary prevention flyers door-to-door in the student neighborhood on March 7. (The student volunteers were recruited by the Student Safety Initiative.) In addition, the flyers are available at all University Libraries.

The Campus Partners Safety Coordinating Committee will meet next on Wednesday, April 12, at 2:30 p.m. in the Fawcett Center, 2400 Olentangy River Road. The committee will discuss the increase in assaults which are being reported, particularly along Pearl Street. Columbus Police Commander Jay Evans told the committee at its last meeting on March 8 that assaults are up 25 percent over last year. The committee also will hear a report on the use of the drug ecstasy by college students and other young people. 

Steve Leffingwell of Evans Scholars and Shane Hankins of Undergraduate Student Government held the initial meeting for the Adopt-A-Street program on March 5. They have investigated the process for placing signs on the streets recognizing the adopting organizations. Ron Meyers, president of the Council of Graduate Students, is leading the BuckEyes Watch, which will begin spring quarter as a pilot project on East 14th Avenue.

Refuse Collection

The next meeting of the Public Service Committee on refuse collection will be Wednesday, April 26, at 4 p.m. in the Campus Partners office, 1824 N. High St. The committee is chaired by Jerry Edwards, administrator of the Refuse Collection Division.

The regular program of street sweeping in the University District will begin in April on the second Thursday and second Friday of each month through October. The regular sweeping will not be conducted in June due to spring quarter commencement at Ohio State on June 9. A special street sweeping, however, will be conducted in the south campus area on June 13 and 14 and in the Dennison Place and NECKO neighborhoods on June 15 and 16. 

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 Code Enforcement Task Force 

The next meeting of the University District Code Enforcement Task Force will be Tuesday, March 28, at 3 p.m. at the city's Building and Development Services office, 757 Carolyn Ave. Task force members will discuss implementing the program of systematic exterior code enforcement in Weinland Park. The implementation would be in concert with the "envelope program" to assist low-income homeowners in making repairs ordered by Code Enforcement.

Fund Supports Student-Led Service Projects

Campus Partners staff members continue to assist in the administration of the University District Student Involvement Fund Program (UDSIFP). This program supports student-led projects which involve community service, service learning and community-based research in the University District. 

The UDISFP Board, composed of five students, held its second round of funding in February. The UDSIFP Board members reviewed the 14 applications which were submitted and are in the process of finalizing the awards. In addition, they have set the dates for applying in the last round of funding. Applications for funding will be available at the beginning of spring quarter and will be accepted between April 3 and 10.

UDSIFP is likely to have about $8,000 to $9,000 for distribution in this last round of funding.

Mayor will Address University/Community Forum

The Campus Collaborative is planning the fifth annual University/Community Forum for Thursday, May 4, from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman will be the dinner speaker. 

The theme of the forum is "Living and Learning in the University Neighborhoods: Building on the Past, Looking to the Future." The afternoon session will include six workshops and a discussion of "Where do we go from here?"

The forum is open to Ohio State faculty, staff and students, neighborhood residents, agency and city staff, and the public. For more information on the forum, call the Campus Collaborative at (614) 292-5621.