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May 2019 North Linden Area Commission Meeting

  1. Comprehensive Safety Strategy
  2. Homeport update
  3. Columbus Landmarks Foundation
  4. New Salem
  5. MORPC
  6. City Council report
  7. New Station 16 update
  8. Department of Neighborhoods
  9. Columbus Police Zone 4 update
  10. Committee business

Comprehensive Safety Strategy

Emerald Hernandez-Botta, with department of neighborhoods. Mayor Ginther instituted a policy in 2017 in response to the spike in homicides that year. The 2018 report was handed out during this meeting of the area commission.

The big plan now is "Neighborhood Crisis Response".

Street lighting and sidewalk gaps review will start in May 2019. They anticipate starting pouring concrete to fill gaps in sidewalks before winter 2019, during the 2019 construction season. An audience member referred to the several-years-old report that was run, perhaps in 2010, but which was not acted upon. Another audience member asked whether this money would be used for sidewalk repairs; the current budget cannot be used for that.

Curb repairs will not be performed as part of the sidewalk repairs project; curb repairs are performed as part of street repairs and are handled under a different budget.

Another program will allow homeowners to apply for porch light installations. A reason cited for porch lights is to improve safety of children walking to school in the morning. The design phase for this project will include determining which streets, previously identified in the One Linden program, will receive which forms of lighting interventions. The various forms of lighting improvements include new streetlights, tree pruning, and porch lights.

Homeport update

Leah Evans. The Canon place project was funded by the Ohio Housing Agency, and tax credits were approved. Homeport will be applying to have the site rezoned.

Columbus Landmarks Foundation

Susan Keeney.

Monday this week was the first of the free walking tours of Columbus. columbuslandmarks.org has a schedule of walking tours, every Monday.

Columbus Landmarks' home preservation program is available for people with houses older than 50 years. Services include education about home repair, recommendations for contractors, and a number of block spruce-up programs.

New Salem

Will be hosting a 5K down Cleveland Avenue to Linden Park in conjunction with the Linden Eagles and St. Stephen's, on June 19th. The 5K will be a race, with a $10 entry fee for Linden residents.

They're also participating in the Columbus Litter League, and will be cleaning up the race course the day before.

MORPC

MORPC's Air Quality Alert program.

There's a commuter program that's a free service for people needing transportation to jobs outside Franklin County. This used to be called "Ride Solutions"; now it's "Go Ohio".

The 202050 program identifies areas where new employment and housing is expected to be placed. The Commission asks about from where came the assumption about an additional half-million people will move to Columbus.

It's probable that Ohio will lose a representative in the next Census.

Free weatherization audits are available, with a number of free improvements available for income-eligible tenants and homeowners.

City Council report

Sandra Lopez. Council budget hearing highlights include items from the 2019 capital budget:

New Station 16 update

The new Fire Station 16 is now in the bid process.

There is apparently a matter of contention in the design of the firehouse: the kitchen does not have an outside door, which the firefighters had in the old station and were quite attached to. The new station omits this door to prevent gear direct from fires being brought in through the living quarters. It's meant to limit the spread of carcinogens from the wash room.

Another addition is a triage drop-off point where people can go to the station to get a quick determination of whether or not someone should be transported to a hospital, or not.

Department of Neighborhoods

New releases:

Pride dates

Rhythm on the River music festival on June 1

Changes in bulk collection to combat dumping, in the Northland News: find link online

Columbus Police Zone 4 update

Rob Sagel, commander of Zone 4.

They're running the Safe Streets program in 60-day cycles this summer. Safe Streets is a change from enforcement-first policing, driven by the officers' hunches, to community-driven policing. Bike patrols are key because that makes it easier for people to talk to police.

Sagel says that this year, they're lacking in phone calls and emails from the community.

There's also a direct patrol mission that tries to remove guns from streets and cars.

Other enforcement priorities include prostitution and liquor laws.

Sagel thinks there will be changes within the division of police within the next few months, as a result of the closure of the vice squad.

Citizen complaints at this meeting, which police took notes on:

My personal observation: the complaints are about people walking in the street or changing clothes in public.

Sagel did say that Columbus does try to distinguish between people who are trafficked and people who are voluntarily sex workers. That distinction happens post-arrest, and the various diversion programs as well.

The automatic gunfire off of Hudson on May 15 did trigger ShotSpotter, but no arrests have yet been made. The police believe that the automatic gunfire is coming from a modified Glock with a distinctive attachment that is specific to certain gangs in Columbus.

The Chief of Police search committe for the next police chief will be visiting next month, in June.

Committee business

Elections next month for expiring terms:

Rock the Block happened April 28.

3232 Cleveland Avenue's semi trailer parking lot temporary waiver is up.

No demolition permits this month.

May 2019 North Linden Area Commission Meeting - May 16, 2019 - Ben Keith