Update from Campus Partners:  April 18, 2001

Contents:

BROAD STREET AFFORDABLE HOUSING PORTFOLIO

Significant progress is being made on the Broad Street affordable housing portfolio. The Danter Company has completed a comprehensive market analysis of the neighborhoods in which the portfolio is situated. The study supports Campus Partners' contention that the proposed 30% reduction in rent subsidy is not warranted by local conditions. In addition, Campus Partners has commissioned Berardi & Associates, a local architectural firm, to evaluate a representative cross-section of Broad Street properties. This study will provide critical information on potential rehabilitation needs and costs.

Meanwhile, Campus Partners has broadened the public discussion of this project. We have met with the University Area Commission, Near East Area Commission, Weinland Park Community Collaborative, University Community Business Association, Harrison West Association, and B.R.E.A.D. Campus Partners, in cooperation with COHHIO, held informational meetings with tenant councils in two larger buildings, which are predominantly senior citizens, and with groups of tenants on the Near East Side and Weinland Park. With the assistance of Jerry Hammond & Associates, we met with State Reps. Joyce Beatty and Ray Miller and with Ty Marsh, chief of staff for Mayor Coleman. Meetings have been held with City Council Members Charleta Tavares and Rich Sensenbrenner, and individual meetings with the other council members will be scheduled soon. We met with staff members for U.S. Reps. Deborah Pryce and Pat Tiberi, but one priority is to meet directly with each congress member in the next few weeks due to the critical federal resources needed for this project. We also will speak at the monthly membership meeting of the Olde Towne East Neighborhood Association on May 9. In addition, officials from the U.S. Office of Multi-Family Housing Assistance Restructuring (OMHAR) would like to meet on this project in Columbus in mid-May.

Among the civic associations, a key issue is the potential for de-concentration of this Section 8 housing. Campus Partners is in agreement that some level of de-concentration would be preferable, as long as there is one-for-one replacement of that housing built in other neighborhoods. We continue to explore the financial feasibility of such a de-concentration approach, but at this time we believe the most likely financially feasible alternative is a proposal for maintaining all of the units as Section 8 housing (with major renovation, high quality management and maintenance, and supportive services).

UNIVERSITY GATEWAY CENTER

Campus Partners has executed purchase agreements with all the property owners in the Gateway redevelopment area, except for two. Under authorization from Columbus City Council, the City Attorney has filed appropriation actions with Franklin County Common Pleas Court to acquire the remaining properties from these two owners.

Campus Partners has made significant progress in our negotiations with the remaining business owners in the Gateway redevelopment area. We have executed lease termination/ relocation agreements with Panini's, Greek Village, Cluck-U-Chicken, Cornerstone Grill, Skully's and Sechwan Cottage. All of the Gateway area businesses have now entered into the necessary business relocation agreements.

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PUBLIC SAFETY REPORT

Columbus Police Sgt. Terry Perrigo reported to the Campus Partners Safety Coordinating Committee on April 11 that the number of burglary reports taken during the university's spring break declined for the third year. Columbus Police, University Police and the Community Crime Patrol instituted joint patrols aimed at preventing burglaries and related crimes from March 16-25. During the spring break period in 1998, there were 41 burglaries reported. In the same period in 1999, there were 22, in 2000 there were 19, and in 2001 there were 15.

Eric Busch, assistant vice president for student services, told the committee that the university and the city had reached agreement on a cooperative approach to controlling parties in the predominantly student neighborhood. For key weekends in the spring and fall, two teams of three officers each will monitor the neighborhoods on foot or on bicycles. Two officers will be from the Columbus Police and one from the University Police. The teams will approach parties early, talk with the hosts and encourage appropriate behavior. In addition, the Student Wellness Center and Off-Campus Student Services are working on educational materials about responsible partying for distribution in the neighborhood.

The next meeting of the Safety Coordinating Committee will be Wednesday, May 9, at 3 p.m. in the Fawcett Center, 2400 Olentangy River Road.

AFRICAN AMERICAN HERITAGE FESTIVAL

The Steering Committee for the African American Heritage Festival continues to meet monthly to work on the programming, communications, traffic and public safety aspects of the festival. The key dates will be Friday, May 18, (Black Greek Step Show in Mershon Auditorium, followed by a comedy show in the Schottenstein Center and then a dance in the parking lot of French Field House) and Saturday, May 19 (festival on Oval followed by the dance in the parking lot of French Field House).

At the committee meeting in March, the public safety forces proposed a "cruise" route that would place more of the vehicular traffic on the university campus. When traffic begins to back up on Friday and Saturday evenings, police will make High Street one-way from Fifth Avenue to Lane Avenue. Traffic will be directed west on Woody Hayes Drive, south on Cannon Drive, east on King Avenue and then north again on High Street. New to the festival this year are corporate sponsors, greater use of volunteers (particularly from Bank One and the Black Greek alumni societies), and a community clean-up on Sunday.

The next meeting of the coordinating committee will be Wednesday, May 9, at 1:30 p.m. at the Fawcett Center, 2400 Olentangy River Road.

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PUBLIC SERVICE COMMITTEE MEETINGS

Street sweeping returned to the University District on April 12 and 13. 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 dealing with refuse collection will meet on the same day, May 23, at 4:30 p.m. in the community meeting room of the Northwood-High Building.

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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 analysis, so he has a strong interest in the work of Campus Partners. He also serves on the University Area Commission, representing Undergraduate Student Government. He can be reached at 688-2699; Benner.47@osu.edu.

The advisory board will hold its first public meeting of spring quarter on Monday, April 23, at 7 p.m., in the lobby of Park Hall, 110 W. 11th Ave. Dan Slane, a member of both the Campus Partners and The Ohio State University boards of trustees, will speak to the students.

Campus Partners has begun the process of selecting Kendra Davitt's successor as the undergraduate student representative on the Campus Partners Board. Lantern story and advertisement, bus posters and e-mail messages are all being used to encourage students to apply for this position. Applications are due by Wednesday, April 25. Following past practice, Ms. Davitt will chair a selection committee to recommend candidates to the full Campus Partners Board. She hopes to have recommendations to bring before the board's May meeting.

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 and again on April 6 to discuss a variety of programs designed to improve safety in the student neighborhoods. SSI's next meeting will be Friday, May 4, at noon in the Campus Partners office. In other safety news, the BuckEyes Watch program on East 14th Avenue held a general meeting on April 17 at the Evans Scholars House.

Mike Parker of Evans Scholars is the new leader of the Adopt-A-Street Program. A dozen student organizations now have adopted streets. The first monthly clean-up for spring quarter under the Adopt-A-Street Program will be April 22, which is Earth Day. Community Roots, a student service organization that beautifies the neighborhood, added flowers and plants to the traffic island on Waldeck at Iuka Avenue on April 7. The group also honored Bill Hall by placing a bench on the island. Community Roots plans another beautification project on East 15th Avenue later this spring.

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