City will blanket Price Hill

BY DAN KLEPAL | January 31, 2007

 

Two Price Hill neighborhoods, East and West, will be under the city of Cincinnati's microscope for the next 90 days.  The city plans to "blitz" the neighborhoods with code enforcement officers, police officers, beautifiers and social-service agencies such as United Way in an effort to reduce crime, eliminate blighted buildings, fix up dilapidated homes and generally make life better here.

 

The effort was announced Tuesday in the new Price Hill Focus Center, a complaint center of sorts the city has opened at 4030 Glenway Ave. in East Price Hill.  "This is a different approach for city government," City Manager Milton Dohoney Jr. said.  "We can't afford to do this everywhere all at once. But it is something that can be moved around" to other neighborhoods.

 

Read full article here:

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070131/NEWS01/701310361/1077/COL02

Am I the only one that thinks police strategies shouldn't be publicized beforehand? Why don't we send a memo to al-qaeda every time our military switches its game plan.

^Well when you get in a fight with someone, doesn't it go a little like this:

 

Person A:  Shut Up!!

Person B:  Watch it dude!!!  You're an idiot!

Person A:  I'm going to punch you in about 10-12 seconds!

Maybe in Green Township

LMAO!

Eyesores no more

Cincinnati taking down 'shacks' one house at a time

BY TONY LANG | May 11, 2007

 

Police call them crime magnets. Firefighters call them man traps. Neighbors call them eyesores. Now, thanks to a crackdown on vacant and abandoned buildings, more people are calling them demolished.  The city of Cincinnati expects to bulldoze up to 100 buildings this year, beginning with an unprecedented assault on blight, crime and unsafe structures in Price Hill. The effort moves on to Avondale next week, then Northside in the fall.

 

Citywide, about 1,750 buildings have been deemed dangerous for human habitation and ordered razed or kept vacant. Almost 590 buildings in 41 neighborhoods are on a list for demolition.  Neighbors are welcoming the bulldozers with spontaneous block parties and cheers. After crime, abandoned buildings might be the biggest single drag on neighborhoods.

 

"It's about time we cleaned up this place," Michael Flaherty, 58, said as he watched city contractor Evans Landscaping demolish a dilapidated three-story frame dwelling at 1008 Purcell Ave. in East Price Hill. "Shoot, it's just fantastic what they're doing to change things, tearing down all these burned-out shacks."

 

Read full article here:

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070511/NEWS01/705110361

Attention to Avondale succeeds

BY JANE PRENDERGAST | August 31, 2007

 

Three months after City Hall and the people who live and work in this neighborhood started working together to tackle graffiti, dirty streets and building code violations, everyone from Cincinnati’s city manager to community leaders say Avondale is improving.

 

Avondale was the second neighborhood the city chose, based on crime and blight studies, to send its inspectors, zoning officials and other experts in for a 90-day focused effort.  The plan is City Manager Milton Dohoney’s way of spending resources to help neighborhoods. He doesn’t think former plans that divided money evenly among all 52 neighborhoods worked. It’s better, he said, to admit that neighborhoods have different needs at different times.

 

Read full article here:

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070831/NEWS01/308310037

Yay lets tear down all the old buildings so we can have garbage strew vacant lots.  :whip:

I hate seeing unnecessary demolition, but this is in the best interest of the neighborhoods that can't find tenants that are going to reinvest.   

 

I am impressed with Dohoney, Mallory, and big Odell.   I am not one for liking many politicians but I have noticed many positives within the last couple years.   90's was a decade of blight and neglect lead (or lack there of) by our elected officials.   These guys show a real determination to genuinely make a difference.   

 

My respect for Odell comes from the big scene he created after a murder in Fairmount (I think last year but maybe the year before that)where no eyewitnesses would come forward and he let the people gathered have IT!

He is Cincinnati (Tarbell style) through and through. 

City kicks off Northside enhancement program

September 5, 2007 | CINCINNATI BUSINESS COURIER

 

The city of Cincinnati is targeting a portion of Northside for a 90-day intensive effort designed to jump-start revitalization and reinvestment in the area.  The three-month effort will include a focus on building code enforcement; identifying and "cooling down" crime hot spots; cleaning up streets, sidewalks and vacant lots; beautifying landscapes, streetscapes and rights of way; and engaging property owners and residents to create a more livable neighborhood.

 

Read full article here:

http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2007/09/03/daily14.html

Interesting approach.

It worked this last year in dropping crime in P-Hill and Avondale.     Not sure about Northside though?????

 

The article only mentions the Blight Index.

2006 part one crimes in northside 964

2007 part one crimes in northside 791 through november 31, projection for the year 862 (symetrical projection)

Westwood may see teardowns

City ready to buy, raze eyesores

BY JANE PRENDERGAST | March 10, 2008

 

For years, neighborhood activists here have pushed the city to do something about dilapidated houses.  They might soon get their wish, now that a majority of City Council members has agreed to spend $250,000 to buy and demolish up to a dozen buildings, as long as they're vacant. Nine of them sit on Harrison Avenue.

 

The idea will be heard today in council's finance committee, which Councilman John Cranley leads.  Cranley wrote the motion, which also has been signed by Roxanne Qualls, Cecil Thomas, Chris Monzel, Leslie Ghiz and Jeff Berding.  All but Qualls were endorsed last fall by POWR PAC, the West Side political action group.

 

Read full article here:

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080310/NEWS01/803100389/1077/COL02

Wouldn't it be cheaper to put new siding and a roof up than outright tearing it down?

Cincinnati neighborhood program wins national award

http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2008/05/26/daily9.html

Neighborhood Enhancement Program Successful in Westwood

City, Project Partners celebrate successes

http://cincinnati-oh.gov/city/downloads/Westwood%20NEP%20wrap%20up%20release.pdf

 

Today, the City of Cincinnati and the community of Westwood announced the results of the 90-day focused

strategy addressing neighborhood quality of life issues that began May 16, 2008 through August 15, 2008. This

model has been successfully used in Price Hill, Avondale, Northside and Clifton Heights/University

Heights/Fairview and was designed to jumpstart longer-term neighborhood revitalization and reinvestment and

to build on the community initiatives already in place. Together, these neighborhoods saw an average decrease

in blight of 15 percent.

 

Through focused, integrated and concentrated city service delivery and community redevelopment efforts,

partners (City departments, the residents, and the community organizations) sought to improve the quality of life

in Westwood. The targeted area was identified through an analysis of building code violations, vacant buildings,

disorder and drug calls for Police service and drug arrests, as well as incidence of graffiti, junk autos, litter and

weeds.

 

“The partnerships that are formed as we come together for the Neighborhood Enhancement Program are critical

to the success that we are seeing in each neighborhood,” said City Manager Milton Dohoney, Jr. “Westwood’s

residents and community organizations, and city staff rallied throughout the last three months to make a

sustainable difference.”

 

The 90-day, collaborative effort focused on developing neighborhood assets. Integrated services delivery

included: Concentrating building code enforcement; Identifying and ‘cooling down’ crime hot spots; Cleaning up

streets, sidewalks, and vacant lots; Beautifying landscapes, streetscapes and public right of way; Engaging

property owners and residents to create and sustain a more livable neighborhood, after the first 90 days.

 

Results:

• Decrease in baseline “blight index” of 23%
  
• The Property Maintenance Code Enforcement Division of Community Development inspected 726 buildings, identifying 625 code violations on 272 properties.
  
• They demolished 3 buildings with 10 more under contract to be demolished.
  
• District 3 Police made a total of 325 arrests, confiscated $6,285 and responded to 881 calls for service.
  
• The Dept. of Public Services, Litter Control Unit conducted 139 inspections for litter and weeds/tall
  grass.
  
• The Fire Department conducted 876 fire inspections, fire prevention education, and proper smoke detector installation and maintenance.
  
• Community partners made significant contributions in Westwood, too numerous to cover this morning.  Suffice it to say that the efforts of volunteerism, organizing, fundraising and participation throughout this process by the community made this effort the success it is.
  

Evanston Getting 90-Day Facelift

 

http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=fbcd195d-e6bb-45dc-88db-cf277129d929

Evanston NEP ends, College Hill and Madisonville next

http://www.soapboxmedia.com/devnews/nep1216.aspx

 

The City of Cincinnati and the community of Evanston are celebrating the successes of the Neighborhood Enhancement Program, a 90-day strategy to address quality of life issues in the neighborhood.

 

The targeted area, along Woodburn Avenue and Montgomery Road and between Dana and Lincoln avenues, was identified through an analysis of building code violations, vacant buildings, calls for police service, graffiti, junk autos, and litter and weeds.

 

Among some of the improvements:

• Formed a partnership to shut down Perkins Lounge, long considered a public nuisance
  
• Worked with the owners of the St. Leger Apartments to cut down on crime at the Five Points area
  
• 2 buildings demolished under abatement program, with 15 more under contract
  
• 1,000 building inspections by the Department of Buildings and Inspections
  
• The replacement of over 1,100 faded traffic signs
  
• 500 building inspections by the Cincinnati Fire Department

 

Strategic partnerships between city departments, residents, businesses, and community organizations were formed during the program, which will continue to exist now that the NEP is over.

 

"The 90-day mark of this program is a check on the progress of the concentrated efforts which brought together all the parties of the neighborhood," says Cincinnati city manager Milton Dohoney Jr.  "Evanston has quite a few initiatives that are ongoing, emphasizing the long term sustainability of this effort.

 

The city also announced that the neighborhoods of College Hill and Madisonville have been selected to participate in the NEP in 2009.

 

The NEP won three awards this year, including the 2008 National Program of the Year from Neighborhoods USA, the President's Award from the Ohio Conference of Community Development, and the Most Outstanding Collaborative Effort from the Community Development Corporations Association of Greater Cincinnati.

 

The program is credited with reducing blight in participating neighborhoods by an average of 15 percent.

City's cleanup blitz helps spruce up blighted areas

 

Looking over the heads of his customers as he styles their hair, Silky J can see out the broad front window of his shop, out onto Warsaw Avenue, one of the main streets through this urban neighborhood that has struggled for years against poverty, blight and other things that drag a place down over time.

 

He sees a new Kroger, bigger than the early-'80s one before, its fuel pumps in place of the rundown buildings that used to line the corner.  "People are safer," he says. "They feel more welcome."

 

He's talking about his piece of East Price Hill after the neighborhood was the focus of Cincinnati's first Neighborhood Enhancement Program (NEP). That's the city's effort to swarm an area for 90 days with every city service from building inspections to police foot patrols and litter cleanup in hopes of reducing blight and crime and giving the neighborhood a jump-start to continue improving on its own.

 

Read full article here:

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090130/NEWS01/901300366/1055/NEWS

College Hill Kicks off 90 Day Neighborhood Blitz

Fourteen new partners join the Neighborhood Enhancement Program

http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/city/downloads/CollegeHillNEPPressRelease.pdf

 

Today, the City of Cincinnati and the community of College HiIl announced the start of the 90-day focused strategy addressing neighborhood quality of life issues beginning March 1, 2009 through May 31, 2009. This morning’s ceremony took place in front of a former nursing home. To a crowd of cheering residents, the demolition of this neighborhood eyesore began as a symbol of the beginning of positive change in College Hill.

 

Earlier this year, U.S. Bank put out a challenge to the community to encourage donations to further the efforts of the Neighborhood Enhancement Program (NEP). They generously provided $5,000 of seed money to each 2009 NEP community, including College Hill. As of today, this money has been doubled, to $10,000, thanks to the donations from many corporate and community sponsors. In fact, fourteen new partners have joined the NEP in College Hill.

 

“The NEP program is a perfect example of the tremendous impact that strong partnerships can have on our city,” Mayor Mallory said. “At its core, the program is all about partnerships – partnerships between City departments, community organizations, local businesses, and most importantly, our citizens.”

 

Numerous activities are planned during these 90 days, including a College Hill Realtor Tour on April 1, sponsored by the Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors, the Great American Cleanup on April 25, sponsored by Keep Cincinnati Beautiful followed by Repair Affair, on May 9, sponsored by People Working Cooperatively, Inc.

 

The NEP model has been successfully used in 2007 in Price Hill, Avondale, Northside and in 2008 in Clifton Heights/University Heights/Fairview, Westwood and Evanston. It is designed to jumpstart longer-term neighborhood revitalization and reinvestment and to build on the community initiatives already in place. Together, these neighborhoods saw an average decrease in blight of 15 percent.

 

“The 90-day blitz model takes advantage of other initiatives in the neighborhood to build momentum for longer term neighborhood revitalization and sustainability. We are glad community building projects are ongoing in all six of the previous NEP neighborhoods, “said City Manager Milton Dohoney. “We look forward to a productive NEP in College Hill.”

 

 

Partners include:

District 5 Police, Keep Cincinnati Beautiful, City Departments of Transportation and Engineering, Community Development, Law, Neighborhoods Operations Division of Public Services, Litter Inspections, Health, Fire Recreation and Urban Forestry, Police Partnering Center, Duke Energy, People Working Cooperatively, The Home Ownership Center, Council on Aging, Working In Neighborhoods, State of Ohio Attorney Generals Office, U.S. Bank, LaRosa’s, PNC Bank, the Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors, Shhhhh Restaurant, Llanfair Retirement Community, Schwartz Jewelers, College Hill Forum, College Hill Business Association, College Hill Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation, College Hill Citizens on Patrol, College Hill Gardeners, Childrens Hospital, College Hill Coffee Company, Historic Laurel Court, and Pleasant Hill Academy