Update from Campus Partners:  March 28, 2001

Contents:

BROAD STREET AFFORDABLE HOUSING INITIATIVE

Campus Partners, in consultation with civic organizations representing the Columbus Empowerment Zone and the City of Columbus, is leading the effort to explore the potential upgrading and preservation of the low income housing portfolio managed by the Broad Street Management Company. Of the 1,335 Broad Street properties in Columbus, about 550 to 600 are in the Weinland Park neighborhood of the University District.

At the end of February, Campus Partners had one of its periodic telephone conferences with key officials of the U.S. Office of Multi-family Housing Assistance Restructuring (OMHAR). They are pleased with our progress so far. They expect Campus Partners to have a proposed restructuring plan to them by the end of June.

After meeting with several architectural firms, Campus Partners has commissioned Berardi & Associates to conduct a preliminary design review of a representative sample of the Broad Street properties. The results of this preliminary survey will help estimate how much the total renovation costs might be.

In the last month, Campus Partners held informational meetings with tenant councils in two larger buildings, which are predominantly housing senior citizens, and with groups of tenants on the Near East Side and Weinland Park. Campus Partners gave a brief presentation on March 8 to the Near East Area Commission, then returned on March 15 for a longer discussion with the commission's planning committee. Meetings have been held in the last week with neighborhood business leaders on the Near East Side, with several community leaders from the Harrison West neighborhood, with leaders of the B.R.E.A.D. Organization and with the Weinland Park Community Collaborative.

For more information on the Broad Street housing, see the Campus Partners Web page at www.osu.edu/CampusPartners/  

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POLICE PLAN JOINT PATROLS TO STOP BURGLARIES

Columbus Police Sgt. Terry Perrigo reported to the Campus Partners Safety Coordinating Committee on March 14 that Columbus Police, University Police and the Community Crime Patrol would institute their joint patrols to stop burglaries and related crimes during Ohio State's spring break, March 16-25. Mark Hatch noted that the Community Crime Patrol was committing three extra teams of patrol staff to participate in the joint patrols.

In other reports at the committee meeting, Eric Busch, assistant vice president for student affairs, and Pat Hall, director of student judicial affairs, explained that the revised Code of Student Conduct had been adopted by the university's Board of Trustees and will go into effect on March 26, 2001. The code permits the university to apply sanctions against students for violations which occur off the university campus.

The next meeting of the Safety Coordinating Committee will be Wednesday, April 11, at 3 p.m. in the Fawcett Center, 2400 Olentangy River Road.

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STREET SWEEPING RETURNS IN APRIL

Street sweeping will return to the University District on Thursday, April 12, and Friday, April 13. The Campus Partners Public Service Committee on street sweeping met Feb. 21 to review the street sweeping program for the year. Electronic mail will be used to remind Ohio State students of the street sweeping. There will be less reliance on distributing flyers. The Public Service Committee on street sweeping next will meet on Wednesday, May 23, at 3:30 p.m. in the Northwood-High Building, 2231 N. High St.

The Public Service Committee on refuse collection met Feb. 28 and reviewed efforts to encourage residents to properly remove their 90-gallon containers from the curb after collection. The committee also heard a report on the city's efforts to bring properties into compliance with the dumpster zone. The next meeting of the committee on refuse collection will be Wednesday, May 23, at 4:30 p.m. in the community meeting room of the Northwood-High Building.

STUDENT INVOLVEMENT

The Campus Partners Student Advisory Board has chosen Jeremy Benner as board chair to succeed Seth Dannemiller, who will be studying in Mexico during spring quarter. Mr. Benner is majoring in real estate and urban geography, so he has a strong interest in the work of Campus Partners. The advisory board is planning at least two public meetings for spring quarter.

Ohio State student Shannon Tubb leads a group that is exploring the possibility of student cooperative housing in the University District. Campus Partners on Feb. 28 hosted a meeting over lunch with Ms. Tubb and other students to talk about cooperative housing. For information on cooperative housing, contact Ms. Tubb at Tubb.2@osu.edu.

The Student Safety Initiative met Feb. 23 to discuss a variety of programs designed to improve safety in the student neighborhoods. SSI's next meeting will be Friday, April 6, at noon in the Campus Partners office. In other safety news, the BuckEyes Watch program on East 14th Avenue held a general meeting on March 6 at the Evans Scholars House. Mike Parker of Evans Scholars is taking the leadership of the Adopt-A-Street Program. The first monthly clean-up for spring quarter under the Adopt-A-Street Program will be April 22, which is Earth Day.

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