April 2005

SUMMIT MEETING NOTES

April 14, 2005

Location: Cincinnati Children’s Hospital College Hill Campus

ACTION ITEMS

The key action items as agreed to in this meeting are as follows:

ATTENDEES: (See Abbreviation Key)

 ABSENT:

City of Cincinnati, Dept of Community Development
CH Library
Pleasant Hill School
College Hill Academy
Aiken High School

AGENDA:

Gathering and Introductions

Agenda Review & Modification

Review of Minutes from Last Month’s Meeting

Prayer

Special Announcements

Review of Action Items from Last Month’s Meeting

Hamilton/North Bend Update

NRSA Update

Streetscape Update

Surveillance Camera Update

Website Update

Community Events

General Announcements

DISCUSSION:

1.   Review of Feb Minutes – by Ron Cowgill

The minutes for the March meeting were agreed to, with no further corrections.

2.   Special Announcements – none

3.   Review of Action Items from March Meeting – by Ron Cowgill

(A) Get previous meeting minutes posted on the website – Ron has endeavored to get this done, but  none have been posted on the .info site, and the .org sites not yet ready.    He will be able to get this done when the .org site is ready.  It was suggested that the minutes be posted temporarily on the ARCH website.

(B)            Convene a meeting to work on process for revision of Mission/Vision – Ron & Valerie are working to coordinate schedules to make this happen in the next couple of weeks.

(C)            Ministerium to share with Summit – Fr. George has been out of town, and Ron has not been able to contact him.

4.   Block Party – by Wayne Darbonne & Jennie Key

Last year there were hundreds of people who attended, including dozens of youth.   A group of people have begun to meet 6 months in advance to plan this year’s Block Party, and are thinking of making it a week-long event.   Wayne passed out a draft of their current plans (see attachment to this document).    

Mitch Teemly will be contacting ARCH for the planned Arts Festival.

Everyone is asked and encouraged to plug-in.   Organizations can sign up for a table at the National Night out to present your group to the community.   The next meeting of the Block Party group will be April 21, 10:30 am, at CHPC.

CHPC is looking at resurfacing their parking lot before the Block Party is scheduled. 

5.      Hamilton/North Bend Update – by Judy Moyer

v     Carol Lyon, Mike Battoclette, and Al Neyer met. 

v     Neyer is doing due diligence to enable release of $800,000 from the city.

v     Neyer is targeting to break ground in 2006.

v     An architectural review is being set up for the façade upgrade in the business district.

v     3 options have been developed for the College Hill identity logo, and some local organizations are being asked to review these options and give input.

v     The DOD (Director of Development) position is still under-funded, and Marty is still on month-to-month employment status.

v     CH Gardeners are holding a plant sale on Saturday, May 7, to benefit the DOD fund.   Aiken greenhouse grew most of the plants.   A flyer was passed out at the meeting.

v     The Rhythm Race proceeds will also go to the DOD fund.  Local churches may be sponsoring one or more runners in the race.   A sponsor sign up sheet was passed out at the meeting.

v     CHRURC needs volunteers.

v     CHRURC meets the first Wed of every month at 7 pm at Llanfair.

6.   NRSA Update

There was no NRSA update at this meeting.

7.   College Hill Housing Survey Project – by Phyllis Schoenberger

Phyllis was asked by the city to get volunteers to survey every house in College Hill, specifically looking for vacant and abandoned buildings.    Phyllis indicated that based on previous information, the city believes that there are only about 10 such buildings in College Hill, but it is her observation that there are many more than that.   Phyllis has so far recruited about 25 volunteers to do the survey, and is trying to get people to survey the streets that they live on.   She still needs people to do the southeast district (south of North Bend, east of Hamilton Ave).   Phyllis will train any new volunteers, which takes about an hour.   Please call Phyllis to volunteer to ask questions.   There are four people already who will do the data entry into the city system, so the only task is to do the survey itself.

8.   Surveillance Camera Update – by Jim Bodmer

The city and the police are evaluating the systems.   The College Hill cameras are working well, but are not recording.  

9.   Streetscape Update - by Beth McLean

Mike Battoclette is chairing the team putting together the ribbon-cutting ceremony for completion of the streetscape, and final preparations are getting done:

§         Ribbon-cutting will be at 6 pm on May 3.   A flyer was passed out at the meeting.

§         Everyone is invited.

§         The Farm Market will start the same day.

§         Schools are being invited to participate as much as possible: bands, choirs, puppet shows, etc.

§         Barbara Ramsey and Beth McLean are in charge of the entertainment.  They contacting Todd O’Neal and are getting assistance from the city and Neyer Co.

§         Barbara & Beth would like to close a portion of Cedar Ave for about an hour.  Permission from the city is still pending.

§         City representatives will participate in the ceremony.

§         The built-in planters are in place.  The movable planters deteriorated while waiting to be installed, so they have been returned to the manufacturer and replacements are coming.   Beth hopes to have the replacements by May 3, but can’t guarantee it.

§         Someone observed that a new bench has appeared on the street that has advertising on it.  Benches are being provided by the CH community and are to be without advertising

10. CPOP  (Community Problem Oriented Policing

CPOP is currently focusing on issues in the community because of problems with youth.   For the past year, CPOP has been gathering information on Aiken High School.   Police are being called to Aiken often because of problems like fights, drugs, and gun possession.   CPOP interviewed the current principals, previous principals, the Director of CPC Security, and Joan Pack-Rowe of Family & Children First.  The goal is to go through a fact-finding phase, and then to determine a response via a specific process:

Ø      Fact find & identify the problems.

Ø      Analyze.

Ø      Decide what is the goal we want to achieve?

Ø      Brainstorm.

Ø      Determine who we need at the table.

As a result of the fact finding phase, CPOP has found out the following: 

¨      Student issues seem to have gotten worse since the city went away from site management.   The city no longer believes in having a single person responsible for the administration of a school, and Aiken now has three principles.  

¨      Aiken cannot suspend students to enforce discipline unless it goes through the CPS (Cincinnati Public Schools) system, and suspensions are difficult to get approval for.

¨      Aiken also has to get permission from CPS to set rules, and has not been able to get agreement to ban cell phones.

¨      In addition, Aiken is one of only two schools in Cincinnati that is not allowed to refuse students (Woodward is the other one), and many students with behavioral problems are being bused to Aiken.

¨      20% of the students are on psych drugs.

¨      There is a very high percentage of special needs students.

¨      Only 10% of the students are from the College Hill community.

¨      There is no functioning Parent Association.

The Education Committee of Forum is starting to get connected with CPOP to help address the issues of youth in the community, and notes that this is an election year for 4 members of the CPS Board. 

CPOP meets the 2^nd and 4^th Wednesday of every month from 6:30 to 7:30 pm at the Rec Center.

This discussion about CPOP sparked further conversation among Summit members about the youth issues in the community.   It was noted that large groups of 40-60 kids roam around College Hill when the weather is warm.   The highest crime rate occurs from 3 to 7 pm, right after school lets out.   Chappie shared that Christ’s Community got a grant from Volunteers of America, and will focusing on youth for the next 3-5 years.  Frank noted that a critical need is for mentoring and support of parents.  Central Clinic is working toward much more parent involvement in the education system.    Given the importance and the need, Tom and Beth asked if  this area, ie, youth, could become one of the top 3 priorities for Summit.

10. Community Events – by Tina Stoeberl

·        Great American Clean Up in College Hill is scheduled for Saturday, April 23, from 9 am to 12 noon.  It has been chosen by the Glad Corporation as its spotlight event in Cincinnati.     There will be breakfast from Panera and lunch from LaRosa’s, as well as lots of drinks all day long.   There will also be a lot of door prizes, since extra door prizes are coming from the Glad sponsorship.   Tina’s goal is to get 250 volunteers this year.   T-shirts will be given to everyone.

·        Last year, the Great American Clean Up added a coat & food drive.   This year there is Reuse A Shoe program sponsored by Nike.  The Rec Center is collecting shoes April 16-30.

·        There will be a Community Yard Sale on Saturday, May 21.   Homes throughout the College Hill area will be having yard sales, and the Forum QOL has gotten permission to use the Shuler’s lot for those residents who do not have a yard but wish to participate.   CHBA will ask for donations for DOD, and will accept items other than clothing for sale.

·        Rhythm Race is June 10.

11. General Announcements – by everyone

v     CHBA dinner is Tuesday, April 19^th.   Make reservations to come at 681-5648. 

v     There is a new restaurant called Sisters in the old Metrios location.   It has been remodeled, and has good food.   It offers breakfast/lunch/dinner on Tuesday-Thursday, open 7 am to 8 pm.   On Friday & Saturday, it is open until midnight.   A copy of the menu was passed out.

v     The 6 Acres Bed & Breakfast is capable of hosting meetings, as well as special events. 

v     The Dulcimer Festival will be May 28, and needs volunteers.

v     Llanfair is hosting Mark Mallory, a candidate for mayor, on April 28 at 3 pm.

v     CPS Pride Day is Saturday, April 16.   Pleasant Hill Elementary School will be open 12 – 3 pm.

v     McAuley Theater presents Cinderella Friday, April 17, and Saturday, April 18, at 7:30 pm.   Sunday at 2 pm.  Tickets available at the door.

v     Summit meeting schedule is getting developed for the calendar year 2005.   Summit members should contact Ron if they can host a meeting this year.   Current meeting schedule is attached.

Next Meeting: May 12, 2005 @ 8:00 am at the Rec Center.

                        Summarized by:

                        Valerie Hershberger

                        April 30, 2005

Abbreviation Key: