North Linden Area Commission Regular Meeting, March 15, 2018
The following are very paraphrased, somewhat cleaned-up notes on the North Linden Area Commission meeting held Thursday, March 15, 2018, at 6:30 p.m. at the Northern Lights Library. If I made errors, I'm sorry; I'm not a transcriptionist and didn't make a recording of the meeting's audio. I aim to do that next time.
The North Linden Area Commission was established under the auspices of the Columbus Code Title 31, chapter 3109 and its establishment is recorded in chapter 3111.09. It makes advisory decisions on matters of zoning and code enforcement, and as such its meetings are probably public meetings under Ohio Code, Title 1, Chapter 121.22 (B)(1)(a). For more information on what is and isn't a public body, see the Ohio Auditor's publication "Ohio Sunshine Laws: An open government resource manual". Thomas v. White, 85 Ohio App.3d 410, 412 (9th Dist. 1992) (finding tasks such as making recommendations and advising involve decision- making); Cincinnati Enquirer v. Cincinnati, 145 Ohio App.3d 335, 339 (1st Dist. 2001) (finding that, whether an urban design review board, composed of a group of architectural consultants for the city, had ultimate authority to decide matters was not controlling because the board actually made decisions in the process of formulating its advice); Wheeling Corp. v. Columbus & Ohio River R.R. Co., 147 Ohio App.3d 460, 472 (10th Dist. 2001) (finding that, in its role of reviewing and evaluating proposals and making a recommendation to the Ohio Rail Development Commission, the selection committee made decisions).
I arrived at 7:00 p.m., after the following items:
- Roll Call
- Approval of Minutes
- Treasurer's report
- Half of the Franklin County ADAMH presentation
Sorry for not posting this sooner.
Speakers
Franklin county ADAMH
The presenter from the Alcohol, Drug, and Mental Health Board of Franklin County (ADAMH is pronounced adam-aich) talked about what the board has been working on, including:
- Veteran's programs
- Community mental health
- Netcare access
- Narcan training
- School investments, partnering with all 16 public school districts in Franklin County, providing prevention, early intervention, and treatment services by an ADAMH Provider
What can the community do?
- Ensure safe disposal of medications. ADAMH representatives handed out bags of the Deterra Drug Deactivation system at the meeting, and encouraged the audience to visit controlled substance public disposal locations.
- Take Mental Health First Aid training. The next session is Saturday, April 14; training is free and open to the public, though registration is required and there is a waitlist.
How to contact ADAMH:
- Phone: 614-224-1057
- Facebook: ADAMHBoardofFranklinCounty
- Instagram: ADAMHBoardofFranklinCounty
- adamhfranklin.org
- Text ADAMHFRANKLIN to 22828 to receive newsletter
Linden Eagles
Didn't show up to the meeting.
Lamar Peoples, Candidate
Lamar Peoples is running for office in District 25 of the Ohio House of Representatives. Focused on providing housing, transport, food. Things that need to be done: awareness, education, setting policy, stop giving tax breaks to large communities, transportation improvements. Inform the community about the resources available. The Kroger just shut down; literally there's only one gricery store on Cleveland Avenue, and it's a probelm all across the country. Needs to see more food stores. There was a bill passed in the state legislature that would require work for Medicaid. Lamar Peoples says that he believes healthcare is a human right, regardless of status. He wants statewide initiatives to improve access to services.
He wants to empower youth, give them summer jobs. He works with youth, they come in every day with HIV or funtional illiteracy. He believes that he's willign to come to area commissions on behalf of the community and won't be afraid to come to the community. Everyone deserves equal acces and equal representation.
City Reports
Smart Columbus
John Lathram III, North Linden Area Commission vice chair, talks about two peices of paper that are handed out, establishing multimodal hubs. Getting more bike racks, Car2Go locations in the neighborhood, and autonomous trollies in Easton.
The handouts can be found at the bottom of this page.
Lathram said that he had been asked not to have anything online about this? The poll needs to be turned in by the end of the week.
Q from Gergory L. Wheeler: "What's a family-friendly route?"
A: Well-lit area, place to push stroller.
The goal of this is to get people to and from doctors' appointments in a timely manner, to and from grocery stores. There is momentary discussion of the closed Kroger in the Northern Lights Shopping Center.
Department of Neighborhoods
Lower Lights Church is starting a grocery store in the church.
Q: What happened to the community liason police officer initiative? A: Wasn't enough interest form the community. They're looking for 20 people per neighborhood and didn't get that.
April 30 is the cutoff date for commission to use funds for something. I didn't catch what that was.
On the topic of CPD officer Zachary Rosen,Columbus Public Safety Director Ned Pettus fired Rosen in July 2017 after video surfaced of Rosen stomping on the head of an arrestee. Pettus's firing of Rosen overrode a decision by Columbus' police chief. Read more about Zach Rosen's firing and reinstatement in The Columbus Dispatch. Mayor Ginther issued a statement Monday, March 12. He said that he has reached an agreement with FOP that the officer would come back to work. There's no guarantee that Rosen is coming back to Linden. He's not back to work yet. The presenter talking says he'll update the area commission if he knows where/when the guy is coming back.
Greg Wheeler: "The arbitration, which is a done deal, says that [Zachary Rosen] has to get his job back, but doesn't say where he heas to get assigned."
Speaker: He's getting his job back is one things, but as far as where he's placed, CPD would understand that it's a safety issue.
Greg Wheeler: If I were him, I wouldn't come back to Linden. It doesn't seem safe for him.
Holly Borghese: Any possibility that he wouldn't be on the street?
Speaker: No; I think he's a beat cop. The city's spending an extra $5 million on training for cops, they're spending a lot of money to make sure that officers are taken care of.
(unknown): (references the officer in Parkland who didn't enter the school shooting) What training do officers have in live-fire situations?
Cop who's present: The division of police training academny uses interactive video training, like a video game, causes stress to the officer and makes them do split-second decisions whether to shoot/engage/verbal. I don't know what training he has; I do know that CPD has training in active shooting scenarios. We're sending every officer through a two-day training scenario that's not video, is live, at I think a DSW warehouse out there. … One of the best practices is to get good training under stress. better to make a mistake at the academy.
John Lathram III: Time to move on
Cop: I'm interested in the opinion of the ecommission; do you want him back in the community?
Greg Wheeler: We can't say as a commission because we haven't voted; only as personal people can we say. I don't.
Blueprint Columbus
Blueprint Columbus is a city program that aims to eliminate sanitary sewer overflows in Columbus' combined sewer by reducing storm runoff. The Linden Area Project webpage says, "Homes in the Linden project area are connected to a city sanitary sewer that contributes to those overflows. For information about overflow points and their exact locations, please reference SSO discharge numbers 18 and 23 at eapp.columbus.gov/ssocso". The listed types of project are pervious pavers, rain gardens in "bump outs", and rain gardens.
Christine (last name unknown) doesn't have anything to report, has been gaining feedback from the community. All the houses chosen for bump-outs got a physical inspection and physical letter with a physical survey. There was also an online version of the same survey; though the deadline for that has passed.
Greg Wheeler: Is there any progress on rain garden vs permeable pavements?
Christine: that's what those meetings were about.
In response to a question, Christine says she hasn't looked at any of the data gathered in the meetings.
Paula Burleson: Feedback seemed scarce; there were only 4 people at those meetings.
Christine: But that meeting wasn't all of Linden.
There was some back-and-forth about who gets to receive the mailings and who doesn't, ending with a reference to the map of project areas.
Linden-McKinley Site Based Council
Greg Wheeler: Meeting at start of month. Trying to get students they hours the need to get internships in order to graduate. If you are doing things where you can take students for hours for work, especially work that can be done at the school, like data entry, talk to him. But also potentially students could go elsewhere. Still traiing grad fees for students, $70/student and a maybe 80-90 students. They need more money to cover graduation fees.
Greg Wheeler: issues with old band teacher; they've got a new one. wants to triple size of band, best in city in 2 years, limiting factor is cost of functional instruments. Would take $10k to fix existing insturments. Grades going up, disciplinary records better, but if you have workable instruments, taking donations.
Area Commission BBQ
No one here from that group; this section of the agenda was therefore skipped.
Committee Items
Anti-human trafficking initiative
There will be a panel on Wednesday April 11, 2018, at New Salem Baptist Church, 2956 Cleveland Avenue Columbus Ohio 432i4. Judge who runs the CATCH Court will be there. Free dinner at 5:00 pp.m., event starts at 6:30 at New Salem. Says John Lathram III, "Our goal is to share the group's great work with the larger community, spread awareness, learn about additional resources that we have not identivied and offer assistance to those who need it."
Kickbutt Columbus
North Linden is team 6, doing the Hudson ramp. Have some people from Habitat for Humanity. Good opportunity to get volunteer hours. Picking up trash, March 24. Meeting at gas station on Husdson. Required to register on website, under Team 6.
Zoning
Variance BZA18-021
- 3312.39 Striping and Marking
- (another citation, tktk see paper)
This speaker is here because, he says, there's a requirement to return to the commission after a certain type of event.
The speaker is former owner of the property in question, and sold it to someone who's running a trucking parking area, but the present owner never got a use permit for that truck parking. They have a use permit now, but the plan requires it to be paved for parking. They had been to the zoning committee before, got positive indication but still need actual approval for the variance.
Speaker's partner John: The zoning application has two sections, one for pavement for two years and one for striping. They're looking at improvements in the meantime, building a base, to preent potholes from causing future issues for the property, and get it paved in 2 years.
Rayna Morgan: Do you have an update from the court document about all these other nuisances, the trash, the potholes, the standing water?
Speaker: Back in last fall, we filled some potholes, smoothed out the gravel, and over the winter those potholes and pits have reappeared. We have to do that process again. My guess is that before winter again we'll get it ready for the winter. Because we can't win. It does require regular gravel maintenance.
John Lathram III: Why wasn't this doen correctly the first time?
Speaker: it was a money situation.
Rayna Morgan: This was the first time I had heard about this, I hadn't seen this inch-thick file. (She holds it up; I'd say it's between 1/2 and 3/4 inch thick.) If we hand't found this, how long would this have been noncompliant with code?
Speaker: My guess is that this would have gone on for as long as it hadnt been noticed, hadn't been a problem.
Rayna Morgan: I'd rather there weren't semis there at all.
Speaker: The issues that were found by the city inspectors coming and visiting, those have all been fixed. There was a broken window.
Rayna Morgan: I was more concerend abotu the abandoned cars and trash and junk.
Speaker: For the moment, those are cleaned up. Id' say that if you went by there today, there's less litter and junk than the surrounding properties.
Walt Reiner: Is this guy's name right in the email?
Speaker: I think that email name is what his father calls him.
Walt: Item 9, he's supposed to remove tires and animal waste, that's unusual?
Speaker: I don't think so? But there's always tires. There's a guy who comes by every two weeks and cleans up those tires.
John Lathram III: That's our intention for this neighborhood, to clean up trash and litter.
Speaker: I would say that we're doing a really good job of staying on top of it.
Rayna Morgan: I was just reading the dates and it took a while to come into compliance, and I was wondering if there was an extension for that.
Greg Wheeler: Is there any documentation of the guy coming by every and clean it?
Speaker: There are trucks that park along the fenceline, that have nothing to do with us, and these truckers visit the Somali restaurant, and we have to chase them out. The property owner that owns that side of the shared asphalt accessway, is also on board with helping get rid of those trucks.
Rayna Wheeler: Is there anything before we vote?
Walt Reiner: Does Abdul Khareem have any problems with those trucks?
Speaker: The restaurant owner isn't that compliant, isn't in the City. He is in the township, and we're cleaning up his stuff all the time.
Rayna Wheeler: Isn't there trespassing occuring?
Speaker: There is, but the cops won't come out because it's private property, and the private tows take forever to come out, and the trucks will be gone before the private tow.
Rayna Wheeler: we can't vote negatively [on the variance], but is there a motion to approve the variance?
Holly moves, Walt seconds, but the voice vote is confused, so a roll-call vote is taken.
- Greg Wheeler: opposed
- Walt Reiner: favor
- Werner Rase: favor
- Richard Korn: favor
- Paula Burleson: oppoosed
- Rayna Morgan: opposed
- Holly Borghese: favor
- John S. Lathram III: opposed
Speaker: What's opposition?
Holly Borghese: That you're only coming to us and being in compliance because you have something you need from us.
Greg Wheeler: because you admitted that if you hadn't been caught, you wouldn't have been in compliance.
Speaker: We would have been ignorant that we weren't in compliance unless we hadn't been caught, if that's the right term.
Holly Borghese: If we say that it's no worse than anything in the area.
Greg Wheeler: You say you know the rules but you're asking us to change the rules.
Speaker: But we need to get the money.
Walt Reiner: you have an economic argument there, because if you don't let him have time to clean it up, he's gonna go out of business.
Rayna Morgan: (to commission members) Can we revisit it in a year, see if it's all in compliance?
John Lathram III: I don't think a gravel parking lot is a solution to this.
(The North Linden Area Commission meets in a room of the Northern Lights Library.Yes, the Northern Lights branch of the Columbus Metro Library is outside the boundaries of the North Linden Area. For the past 5 minutes, a librarian has been standing in the door, pointedly staring at the committee. The library has already closed for the day.)
Greg Wheeler: Move to allow variance for one year (seconded, passed)
Closing
Greg: "Motion to table demolition permit so we don't get thrown out of the library?" (approved)
Handouts
The images on this page are horribly compressed thumbnails; click each image for higher-quality scans of the documents.
The first page of a poll for the Smart Columbus initiative about potential locations for "Smart Mobility Hubs".
A Smart Mobility Hub is a central location where you can access multiple forms of transportation such as buses, taxis, bike racks or bike and car share services. These are just a few options; there could be more. It's also a place where you can plan how to get around to the places you need to get to like a doctor's appointment, work or grocerystore. Again, these are just a few options; there coule be more places you could get to from a hub. let us know what you think by answering the questions below.
Smart Mobility Hubs potential locations: This map show several options for locations where a Smart Mobility Hub may be located. Circle the top two locations that you feel would best meet your travel needs.
- Columbus State Community College (primary)
- Linden Transit Center (primary)
- Douglas Community Center (secondary)
- St. Stephen's Community Center (secondary)
- Columbus Metro Library Linden Branch (secondary)
- Linden Community Center (secondary)
- Northern Lights Transit Center (primary)
- Northland Transit Center (primary)
- Easton Transit Center (primary)
- Other
The locations marked as primary hubs would have Wi-Fi, bike/car sharing, bike racks, bus, electric vehicle charging, travel info/trip planning info. The locations marked as secondary hubs would have bike racks, and bike/car sharing.
No "primary" location is in North Linden, though the Linden Transit Center is in South Linden at Cleveland and 11th Ave.
The second page of a poll for the Smart Columbus initiative about potential locations for "Smart Mobility Hubs".
Would you be able to get to these Smart Mobility Hubs from where you live or work?
If yes, how would you get there? (Drive, get a ride, bike, walk, bus, other)
If no, if you wanted to get to a Smart Mobility Hub, how would you like to get there?
Today's date is:
What is your age?
What is your zip code?
Other comments
Thank you!
The first page of a poll for the Smart Columbus initiative about information tools and payment apps.
Smart Columbus is developing a travel/payment application and information tools to make it easier to plan and pay for everyday trips.
If you were using a freestanding information kiosk or mounted information tablet, how likely would you be to use each of the following features? Mark your answers on a 5-point scale from "Very unlikely to use" to "Very likely to use".
- Access to COTA services and schedules
- Access to multiple types of travel (bus, bike, taxi, shared rides)
- Assistance for those with disabilities
- Door-to-door trip planning
- Emergency call button
- Real-time transit arrival information
- USB charging for electronic devices
- Wi-Fi (Internet) access
- Access to the MyColumbus app for info about City of Columbus services
- Other
Do you have a cellphone?
If yes, is it a smartphone?
If yes, is it a prepaid phone or a phone on a plan that you get a bill for?
If yes, do you have a data plan?
If you were making plans for getting around, how would you be most likely to pay for that travel? Pick one: With cash, With a credit card, With a debit card, Other.
The second page of a poll for the Smart Columbus initiative about information tools and payment apps.
Which of the following alerts would you like to be able to receive from the app?
- Texts to alert me when I should depart my current location in order to get where I want to go
- Texts to alert me when my ride is on its way
- Texts to confirm my payment
- Emails to alert me when I should depart my current location in order to get where I wan to go
- Emails to alert me when my ride is on its way
- Emails to confirm my payment
- An automated alert from the app when I should depart my current location in order to get where I want to go
- An automated alert from the app when my ride is on its way
- An automated alert form the app to confirm my payment
Which of the following features would you want out of an app that helps you get around?
- Plan and select multiple types of travel
- Save favorite and/or preferred types of travel
- Determine how much walking is involved
- Save my payment information in the app for future use
- Find family-friendly routes
- Find the least costly way to get somewhere
- Find the quickest way to get somewhere
- Find the route that is most friendly to the environment
- Find ADA accessible routes
- Other features
Today's date is:
What is your age?
What is your zip code?
The front of a flier advertising Smart Columbus. It's pretty lacking in information, but does have brightly-colored branding messages with several repetitions of the square "SMRT Columbus" logo and the slogan "Smart is just the start". Across the bottom of this side of the flyer is all-uppercase text reading, "Mobile. Human. Data-Driven. Tech-Savvy. Sustainable. Open. Smart. US".
The back of a flier advertizing Smart Columbus.
Smart Columbus is transporting us to the future... and ensuring your place in it. In 2016, the City of Columbus competed and won the first-ever U.S. Department of Transportation's Smart City Challenge. Our work begins with the grant funded projects and focuses on three pillars for investment.
- Our foundation: building blocks for our future. Our new mobility ecosystem depends on getting these building blocksright. Smart Columbus will lay the foundation by: developing an open and integrated data platform, eimpementing a modernized electric grid powered by renewables, establishing a regional network of electric vehicle chargers, and making the right investments to prepare for a state-of-the-art, connected vehicle environment.
- Our city as a living laboratory: test, learn, iterate. As the ultimate test bed, Columbus was chosen to model how new technologies work in a real city, with real people solving real problems. We will open up our streets to innovation. Conducting controlled pilots of self-driving ehicles and interated mobile applications to find solutions to complex problems — with you, not on you. Collecting user feedback every step of the way will validate the data collection process. When we fail, we'll fail fast. When we succeed, we'll scale.
- Our new way of life: embrace the change. Smart Columbus aims to decrease our dependency on personally owned vehicles, while increasing the amount electric vehicles on the road. To do so, people's thought patterns and behavior have to shift. This means inspiring policy makers and influencing people's preferences. We will partner with others to create programs, introduce new solutions, and promote adoption. This will be a gradual process over the coming decade. As a region with urban sprawl, we are committing to a new, improved ecosystem of solutions to move people and goods. It won't work without you.
If you're in Linden, are a North Linden Area Commission member or frequent attendee, are a journalist covering Linden, are a journalist covering Smart Columbus, have feedback, or found this useful, let me know.