From Hal and Al's located at 1297 Parsons Avenue:

 

Fundraiser: Plant Pride on Parsons

 

Join us for a weekend of Earth Day appreciation and awareness as we celebrate the planet.  Throughout the weekend we will be collecting donations for Plant Pride on Parsons and sharing with you information about recycling & conservation.

 

MORE:  http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/fundraiser-plant-pride-on-parsons and http://plantprideonparsons.eventbrite.com/

Cleanup planned for Parsons Avenue this weekend

Organizers hope efforts will become annual event

Wednesday,  May 12, 2010 - 10:48 AM

By Mark Ferenchik, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

This Saturday's "Plant Pride on Parsons" cleanup event has a double meaning.  It's not only about the 31 planters meant to spruce up Parsons Avenue, but also about renewing a sense of ownership and worth to a corridor of Columbus that for years has seen jobs and businesses flee.

 

So on Saturday, community leaders and volunteers will scour more than 2 miles of Parsons Avenue, from Livingston Avenue near Nationwide Children's Hospital to Rt. 104 near Columbus Steel Castings, looking for litter and graffiti to remove.  They'll gather at 9:30 a.m. at South High School and go from there.  As of today, 250 volunteers have signed on.

 

They'll introduce the decorative, painted planters along the street by Saturday, said Sherri Palmer, the program manager at Keep Columbus Beautiful.  The Ganthers Place neighborhood east of Parsons received a $2,500 grant to maintain the planters, said Allen Carrel, who leads that neighborhood group.  Ultimately, there could be as many as 152 planters lining Parsons Avenue, Carrel said.

 

MAP OF PARSONS AVENUE CLEAN UP AREA

 

PHOTO OF THE DECORATIVE PLANTERS

 

Full article: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/05/12/Cleanup_planned_for_Parsons_Avenue.html?sid=101

Goddammit, I signed up well over a month ago and forgot it's already mid-May . Oh well, I can still get down there and photograph the "after" look. Parsons is on the up and up, but there are still way too many paper-thin skinned residents whether it's just visiting or opening a business (as if shops in the Short North never experience crime  ::) ). Anyone who thinks Parsons is bad needs to get out of Columbus more often. Or I guess they could just go down E Livingston (what's left of it), which is without a doubt in worse shape than Parsons.

Hospital-connected rehab draws Obama trip

President’s appearance highlights aid for expanding Children’s Hospital, renovating South Side

Thursday, June 17, 2010 - 2:54 AM

By Mark Ferenchik, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit the area Friday to set in motion a stimulus-funded project to rebuild Parsons and Livingston avenues near Nationwide Children's Hospital.  That project will receive $15 million and should be finished by fall 2011, said Rick Tilton, Columbus' assistant public-service director.

 

The money will pay to widen Parsons and Livingston, replace the pavement and relocate utilities.  The project also includes new sidewalks, curbs, trees, medians, bike lanes, wheelchair ramps and traffic signals.  The project will create 325 stimulus-related construction jobs, the city said.

 

Full article: http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/06/17/copy/hospital-connected-rehab.html?adsec=politics&sid=101

Bike lanes? There are already two bike lanes in each direction. Guess I better get over there and photograph E Livingston before I have drivers honking and yelling at me to stay in the gutter.

Studio 1000 Art Gallery & Gift Shop at 1000 Parsons Ave up the street from live music venue/bar/vegan restaurant Hal & Al's and around the corner is Skillet, which was on a PBS breakfast special.

 

Couldn't find a pic, but this one is from Google Maps while they were installing the bold red font sign for a new bar just a block down from Hal & Al's near Frebis. It's the most brightly lit bar on the outside at night in Columbus.

 

Catching up on new development in the Parsons Avenue corridor:

 

CVS pharmacy was built last year at the southwest corner of Parsons and Livingston.  

(Photo from August 2010 of 591 E. Livingston Avenue from County Auditor's website)

 

 

Located on the former Bobb Chevrolet auto lot, CVS is the first building in its redevelopment.  The Children's Hospital expansion is diagonally across the intersection from the CVS Building.  The new West Campus for Children's Hospital is under construction across Livingston from this development.  The West Campus development is replacing a Kroger store and Wendy's.

(Site plan from County Auditor's website)

 

 

Moving south, the Subway Building was built in 2008 at the Parsons and Sycamore intersection.  It was built across the street from the original Plank's Cafe location in German Village.

(Photos from County Auditor's website)

 

 

Moving further south of Parsons, the new Family Dollar was completed in 2010.

(Photo from August 2010 of 867 Parsons Avenue from County Auditor's website)

 

 

The Family Dollar Building replaced a small sandwich shop with a large parking lot.  It is located next to a Columbus Library branch building.

(Site plan from County Auditor's website)

 

 

And finally, much further south on Parsons is Hal & Al's.  A bar that is ... well its a blue box with an orange awning.  But it has become a popular hipster hangout and a bright spot in the deep south portion of Parsons Avenue.  The owner's have started yearly clean-up and beautification efforts in the area.

(Photo from April 2010 of 1297 Parsons Avenue from County Auditor's website)

Nice roundup! ;)

A family Dollar and CVS just doesn't get me very excited for big developments last year and just shows that locals don't believe in Parsons as much as the chains, which is sad since it should be the other way around. With just two pages worth from 2005 this whole thread a brief summary of what few improvements have occurred since then. Much more noteworthy was the opening of Studio 1000 up from Hal & Al's. I'm not so sure about the new bar down the street, but it could be OK.

I'm sure there are plenty of people in the area who enjoy having new places to shop for day-to-day essentials and convenience items. Of course you have little reason to be excited about those types of things if you don't live in that area. Not every type of retail is going to be a destination draw from other parts of town.

 

It would be nice if every store in every neighborhood could be a mom & pop local establishment, but it would be unrealistic to think that's going to be a realistic outcome. Are you trying to shame/insult local entrepreneurs into fulfilling your expectations? That's what it sounds like. I don't think that's going to work.

I never said or insinuated that every new business should be local. Of course, it's a reasonable expectation to have a mix of chains and new local businesses open on Parsons in the past few years, but that is simply asking too much here in Columbus. People here think Parsons is on par with South Central or Chicago's South Side where, hell no, you would not open a such a business let alone want to go there on a regular basis. Oh well, it just means Hal & Al's will continue to have a de facto monopoly as *the* destination here.

The urban Family Dollar is good news, though.

 

A family Dollar and CVS just doesn't get me very excited ...

 

Warning.  Logic system error.

The South Side Settlement House has been an neighborhood institution for over a century - located a block west of Parsons Avenue on Innis Avenue.  Last week the SSSH faced a financial crisis before the City stepped in with emergency funding.  Now the SSSH is looking to rework its operations and leverage the city funds with other agency funding.  Below is a rundown of Dispatch articles chronicling last week's South Side Settlement House story:

 

South Side Settlement House in limbo

 

City, South Side Settlement House negotiating financial aid:  The 112-year-old agency is close to closing after running out of money

 

City might come to century-old agency's aid by providing short-term funding

 

South Side Settlement House gets reprieve with help from city

 

Settlement house looks to make rescue permanent:  South Side facility must promote programs to win grants

 

---

And one more Dispatch article from today about the South Side in general:

 

Hero needed to help save neglected South Side, say residents: 'Forgotten' South Side neighborhood residents say they need an advocate to help lift them from decay and despair

The urban Family Dollar is good news, though.

 

A family Dollar and CVS just doesn't get me very excited ...

 

Warning.  Logic system error.

 

Hahahahah!!!

Housing plans poorly received

South Side project will draw problem tenants, some say

By Mark Ferenchik, The Columbus Dispatch

Saturday August 13, 2011 - 5:22 AM

 

Columbus’ plans to build 40 homes in an area ravaged by foreclosures, vacant homes and arson would seem to be a welcome development for residents.  But for some in the Reeb-Hosack and Hungarian Village neighborhoods on the South Side, the news is all bad.  The rent-to-own homes would be for low-income people and would be concentrated primarily along or near Innis and Woodrow avenues.  But what the neighborhood needs are more owner-occupied homes, some residents say.

(. . .)

The city plans to spend $1.2 million in federal neighborhood-stabilization money on the houses.  The developer, Cleveland-based NRP Group, would also seek other financing, including tax credits.  Because of the federal and tax-credit financing, the houses would have income restrictions: $23,350 a year for one person to $33,300 annually for a family of four, Parise said.  Residents with federal Section 8 vouchers to subsidize their rent could move into the units.

 

Aaron Pechota, the NRP Group’s vice president of development, said the houses likely will have vinyl siding, but the cost and size haven’t been determined.  The houses would be built on vacant lots or on lots where abandoned houses would be razed.  Each house could be purchased by a tenant who lives in it for 15 years.

 

READ MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/08/13/housing-plans-poorly-received.html

From This Week News:

 

Plant Pride on Parsons

 

 

Over the past year, Bruce Fussnecker (left) and Bill Doughton have installed plaques to honor those who have contributed nearly 100 flower planters along Parsons Avenue.  The two are part of the Plant Pride on Parsons neighborhood beautification program, which recently won a Keep America Beautiful Award.  Other communities along Parsons, from Livingston Avenue to Marion Road, also are involved.

City launches push to revive South Side

By Rita Price and Mark Ferenchik

The Columbus Dispatch

Tuesday, August 23, 2011 - 6:57 AM

 

The city of Columbus is to announce plans today to take over the South Side Settlement House building and launch a wide-ranging effort to revitalize the impoverished neighborhood.  Accepting ownership of the 20,000-square-foot building at 310 E. Innis Ave. is among the first steps in what Mayor Michael B. Coleman is describing as the creation of a “South Side Collaborative,” similar to the public-private partnerships at work in other inner-city areas.

(. . .)

Similar partnerships have been formed elsewhere in the city, including the Weinland Park Collaborative for the neighborhood near Ohio State University.  Nationwide Children’s Hospital already has partnered with Community Development for All People and others to develop affordable housing near the hospital.

(. . .)

The board of Community Development for All People agreed on Saturday to begin running settlement-house programs beginning in September.  But the nonprofit still has to find locations for the programs.  One place being discussed, Coleman said, is the shuttered Reeb Elementary School, on Reeb Avenue.  That could be a location for the settlement house’s after-school program, said the Rev. John Edgar, the group’s executive director.  No activities will be moved to the group’s space at 946 Parsons Avenue.

 

READ MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/08/23/city-launches-push-to-revive-south-side.html

 

Residents want settlement house to spur South Side revival

By Mark Ferenchik, The Columbus Dispatch

Wednesday, August 24, 2011 - 4:38 AM

 

The South Side Settlement House has been a social-services hub for the area’s neediest residents for more than 100 years, providing a food pantry, free lunches and an after-school program in recent years.  But some neighborhood residents say the new or renovated building that the city is planning needs to feature more to reinvigorate the area.

 

“If the city wants the South Side to thrive, why are we not getting mixed-income opportunities?” asked South Side resident Susan Halpern, who said the site could become a transportation hub or include a farmers market.  Robert Dickerscheid, a member of the Columbus South Side Area Commission, suggested that part of the location could be an arts center.

 

They offered their advice yesterday at the settlement house before Mayor Michael B. Coleman spoke to the community about the city’s plans to acquire the building.  He also issued a call for public-private partnerships to rejuvenate the neighborhood.

 

READ MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/08/24/residents-want-site-to-spur-area-revival.html

Groups join hands to help South Side

By Rita Price, The Columbus Dispatch

Tuesday, September 13, 2011 - 4:19 AM

 

Needy South Side residents made their way to the kitchen at St. Ladislas Catholic Church yesterday, grateful not to miss another meal.  The financial collapse of the 112-year-old South Side Settlement House last month had left many with heavy hearts, and some with empty bellies, too.

 

So they were happy to see open doors and smiling faces at Loaves and Fishes.  The new hot-lunch program at 277 Reeb Avenue operates as a partnership between St. Ladislas and Community Development for All People, the area nonprofit group that is working to assume many of the services once offered by the settlement.

 

The Rev. John Edgar, executive director of Community Development for All People, said resuming the meal offering helps lay the groundwork for other programs and conversations in the struggling community.

 

READ MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/09/13/groups-join-hands-to-help-south-side.html

South Side housing plans raise concerns

By Mark Ferenchik, The Columbus Dispatch

Thursday, September 15, 2011 - 4:29 AM

 

A 56-unit apartment complex for low-income senior citizens is being planned for a South Side neighborhood where some residents are fighting a rent-to-own housing project by the same developer.  NRP Group of Cleveland wants to build the three-story brick and vinyl-sided building on city-owned property just west of Parsons Avenue, near where the city will build a health clinic.

 

The senior housing project is part of a development that would include two retail buildings totaling 14,000 square feet on Parsons Avenue.  The Columbus City Council has to rezone the land, once owned by Schottenstein Stores, for the senior-housing and retail development to go forward.  The Columbus South Side Area Commission has yet to discuss the zoning.  The Reeb-Hosack/Steelton Village Committee approved the zoning on Tuesday night.

 

Carrie Garnes, a committee member who voted for it, said many seniors in the neighborhood can’t take care of their properties and need an alternative.  The senior-housing project is part of a city plan to rebuild the struggling neighborhood hit hard by foreclosures, vacant homes and crime.

 

READ MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/09/15/south-side-housing-plans-raise-concerns.html

The Dispatch has another neighborhood profile in its on-going "Where We Live" series.  Today's is Schumacher Place.  Schumacher Place borders Parsons Avenue on the east, Livingston Avenue on the north, Whittier Street on the south and more-or-less seemlessly blends into the more well-known German Village to the west.  A map of Schumacher Place and its neighborhood stats are included at the article link below:

 

Schumacher Place residents enjoy German Village lifestyle

Neighborhood has similar look, nightlife while offering lower-priced homes, fewer restrictions

Leighty is new leader of Parsons merchant association

By Gary Seman Jr., ThisWeek Community Newspapers

Wednesday, February 15, 2012 - 7:45 PM

 

Bob Leighty just added Parsons Avenue to his to-do list.  Leighty, president of the Merion Village Association, has taken the reins of the Parsons Avenue Merchants Association (PAMA), a business group with roughly 35 dues-paying members.  He replaces Jeff Knoll, the owner of Graphic Touch, who wanted to spend more time on his business.

 

“With my involvement for over 20 years in Merion Village, I’ve long been interested in Parsons Avenue and look for ways to help merchants there, bring new merchants in and help revitalize the avenue,” Leighty said.  He said his current goals as executive director are modest. “One of the very first things that I’m doing is meeting with all the individual merchants, because anything we can do to help those folks be more successful is a good thing,” he said.

 

PAMA covers a two-mile stretch of roadway from East Livingston Avenue to state Route 104.

 

MORE: http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/germanvillage/news/2012/02/14/leighty-is-new-leader-of-parsons-merchant-association.html

Mayor lays out plans to help South Side, urban kids

By Doug Caruso, The Columbus Dispatch

Wednesday, February 29, 2012 - 10:29 PM

 

Mayor Coleman called for a renaissance on the South Side around Parsons Avenue, where he noted that “one in five houses is vacant and abandoned. High teen pregnancy, infant mortality and death rates for chronic diseases plague the neighborhood.”

 

A group of donors, led by Donatos Pizza founder and Chairman Jim Grote and his family, will pitch in to help with donations of $3.2 million toward a new neighborhood center, Coleman said.  The Grote family will put up $1 million toward the center, which will offer job-training; child-care; and housing and human-services help for South Side residents, the mayor said.

 

Coleman’s office had promised a big surprise in last night’s speech.  The announcement of the donations fit the bill for Mike Wiles, a lifelong South Sider who is a member of the South Side Area Commission and the Columbus school board. “Yeah, I think to me that would count as a big surprise,” Wiles said. “I applaud them. I think it’s fantastic. Mr. Grote has been a firm supporter of the South Side as far back as I can remember.”

 

Meanwhile, the $5 million John Maloney Health and Wellness Center is to break ground on Parsons Avenue this summer, and the city is seeking state help to complete 40 new homes and 56 new senior apartments in the area next year.  Coleman also announced that Columbus Galvanizing will spend $6 million on an expansion that will “help maintain a stable jobs base” on the South Side.

 

MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/02/29/Coleman-delivers-state-of-the-city.html

Two more reports about Mayor Coleman's State of the City announcement to focus public-private revitalization efforts on Parsons Avenue and its surrounding south side neighborhoods:

 

Business First: Pizza king Grote sending $1M to south side revival effort

 

WOSU-FM: South Side Business Owners Hope For Best As Mayor Plans Revival

 

As part of a land swap deal between the City of Columbus and Columbus Public Schools (more about this in the Columbus Public Schools thread) the City may get ownership of the Reeb Elementary School at 280 Reeb Avenue.  This is a 2-acre property that contains a well-preserved two-story historic school building.  The school has been vacant since 2009 when Columbus Public Schools moved the Southwood Elementary School from Reeb Avenue to another location.  Below is a photo of the Reeb Elementary School from the County Auditor's site.

 

 

According to the information about the land swap deal, the City would renovate Reeb Elementary School into a community center for the south side.  The new community center would replace the South Side Settlement House and would serve as a new home for the South Side Learning & Development Center - both of which are located within one block of Reeb Elementary.  Below is a GIS map which shows the Reeb Elementary School property boundaries hi-lighted in blue.  The South Side Settlement House property is just north of the school and hi-lighted in red.  The South Side Learning & Development property is hi-lighted in green and is located just south of the school on Reeb Avenue:

 

 

Below are links to two articles about the proposed City-Columbus Schools land swap with excerpts pertaining to the Reeb Avenue Elementary School property and its reuse as a south side community center:

 

From Business First: Africentric may be moved in city-school system land swap

More recently, the city has told the school district it would like to get control of the shuttered Reeb Elementary School at 280 Reeb Ave. as a home for a community services center for the south side.  In return, the district could get the 52-acre former Woodland Meadows property at Stelzer Road and Allegheny Avenue for the school.

 

Columbus Development Director Boyce Safford said the school where St. Stephen’s Community House opened a family support services facility last summer could also house the South Side Learning & Development Center child-care program and other nonprofit organizations providing community services.

 

That effort will be funded in part by the city as well as private-sector benefactors.  A recent $1 million charitable pledge by Donatos Pizzeria founder Jim Grote in support of south side community programs could go toward that transformation of Reeb school site.

 

Olshavsky said the city and school district have a history of “trading back and forth” as each looked for additional properties to meet their plans.  “With the Parsons Avenue redevelopment effort, the city was interested in Reeb Elemementary,” she said.

 

From the Columbus Dispatch: Africentric looks East

Columbus is planning to renovate Reeb Elementary into a community center for the South Side, said Boyce Safford III, the city’s development director.  It will replace the failed South Side Settlement House and will include a new home for the South Side Learning & Development Center.

 

Safford said city officials are fine with trading 52 empty acres on the East Side for a school building and a little more than 2 acres on the South Side.  “We’re in partnership with the schools to help provide good, quality education,” he said.  “What we get in return is a facility on the South Side that we can make into a good community asset. You can’t put a dollar figure on that.”

 

Sounds like a good reuse for that building.

Collection of articles from the past few months about the on-going revitalization efforts in the South Side and the Parsons Avenue corridor:

 

---

Dispatch: South Side ties pull Grote clan - Family works to help the old neighborhood

 

Dispatch: Nonprofit’s leader key to South Side housing

 

Dispatch: Bidding farewell to a friend (A look at the closing of the South Side Settlement House)

 

Dispatch: Parsons Ave. future tied to hospital - Street’s businesses might see new customers after Children’s expansion is finished in June

 

Columbus Underground: Community garden project helping to revitalize South Side

Notice in the "Parsons Ave future tied to hospital" that all three pics show people hanging out on Parsons and spending money are at Hal & Al's, not the hospital. *That* is what they need to "piggyback" off of and not a hospital. The whole premise of the article is totally baseless; there are currently (according to wiki) over 6,800 hospital employees there. Why would it matter if that number doubles or triples if the current number of hospital employees that double as Parsons Ave customers is a virtual 0%? Instead, look at the current (few) successful destinations on Parsons like the one featured in the article that only have a handful of employees and attract a multitude more customers to Parsons Ave than the hospital ever will.

Columbus Hospital Turns to Healing Its Neighborhood

Columbus | 06/28/2012 - 10:00am

Sean Andrew Chen | Next American City

 

Mounting economic pressures, rising costs and diminishing returns have forced many hospitals to begin operating as large corporations, rather than charities, or face bankruptcy and closure.  But does that mean they’re going to forget their original charitable mission?  After a nearly 786 million dollar renovation and reconstruction, the Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio is trying to do otherwise.

 

Nationwide Children’s Hospital, ranked as one of the top 10 pediatric hospitals in the United States, has partnered with the City of Columbus and many local groups in creating the Healthy Neighborhoods, Healthy Families program.  The signature piece of the program is Healthy Homes, an affordable housing initiative that is taking hold of 38 blocks of Columbus’ Southside. 

 

A partnership between the city, the hospital, the United Way and the faith-based non-profit Community Development For All People, the program has aimed at improving existing housing stock in the area and making it available to lower-income households.  By providing several million dollars in seed money, the hospital has helped take the abandoned and dilapidated housing surrounding it and renovated it back to living standards. 

 

Originally, the program hoped to flip between 40 and 60 houses by 2013. ... By the end of 2012, they will have renovated nearly 100 houses.

 

READ MORE: http://americancity.org/daily/entry/can-a-hospital-heal-its-neighborhood-as-well

And on the heels of the on-going neighborhood initiative from Nationwide Children's Hospital, the City of Columbus announced another public-private partnership to assist to the south side.  Here is a rundown about that new initiative - called the Southern Gateway Initiative - from Columbus Underground.

 

Southern Gateway Initiative Launched to Benefit South Side Neighborhoods

By: Walker Evans, Columbus Underground

Published on July 11, 2012 - 1:20 pm

 

This morning, a group of city and community leaders announced the launch of the Southern Gateway Initiative, designed to improve the quality of life for the South Side of Columbus.  The initiative includes new housing, health and wellness facilities, and upgraded neighborhood infrastructure.  Additionally, the former Reeb Elementary School, located at 280 East Reeb Avenue, was announced as transforming into a new center for community gathering and the delivery of neighborhood services.

 

“Reeb Elementary will be the focal point of both public investment by the City of Columbus and private investment by the South Side Champions, a group of citizens who will invest millions of their own money to bring back the South Side,” Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman. “Together we can and will improve the quality of life for these residents.”

 

Reeb will be renovated to house the South Side Learning and Development Center, the South Side Pride Center, and Community Development for All People.  It will also be home to a new cultural heritage and arts programming center and a neighborhood community gathering space.  Meanwhile, the South Side Settlement House has been deemed beyond repair and will be demolished.  The neighborhoods that are defined within the Southern Gateway area are bound by High Street on the West, Morrill Avenue on the North, Parsons Avenue on the East, and Hosack Street on the South.  The boundaries essentially include both Hungarian Village and the Reeb-Hosack neighborhood.

 

Collectively, the group of Champions have raised $5.7 million to date for the initiative over the past year.  The City of Columbus is also investing $18 million into neighborhood efforts which includes:

 

■ Grants provided to rehabilitate 50 homes in addition to 50 new homes that will be built on vacant lots for new families.

 

■ The city will break ground on the John Maloney Health and Wellness Center in the coming weeks and will provide, with its partners, a new program to help Southern Gateway families to connect with health and social services, including immunizations, screenings, health education and family planning.

 

■ Nine streets in and around the Southern Gateway are being resurfaced and three electricity circuits in the neighborhood are being repaired or replaced.

 

READ MORE: http://www.columbusunderground.com/southern-gateway-initiative-launched-to-benefit-south-side-neighborhoods

More about the Southern Gateway Initiative from the Dispatch:

 

Ex-school to house charity: South Side community center will operate at former Reeb elementary

 

SOUTHERN GATEWAY INITIATIVE: Locals step up for ‘South End’

50 rehabbed homes and 50 new homes in a neighborhood with piss poor amenities. What works in North Clintonville (healthy and heavily residential) doesn't work everywhere else. In ten years is the city going to fund rehabbing most of those 50 not-so-new abandoned homes? Nice new homes will still have a run-down Parsons Ave down the block, which is a driving force for why these homes emptied out in the first place. Can anyone explain to me why I know that Parsons needs to be addressed with real life cash dollars and no one else does? This whole, build new homes -> people buy homes -> neighborhood revitalized "plan" is hackneyed and it's embarrassing that in 2012 Columbus touts it as the new magic bullet in urban revitalization. If the city of Columbus really believes in the effectiveness of this approach then they need to be consistent and when building these new homes start with the roof first and then expect a separate 3rd party entity to build in the rest at some point in the future maybe, perhaps, I mean, someone will get around to it, right? I'm tempted to purchase hacksaws for the mayor and each city council member.

 

I have to say that while it's nice that Bob Weiler, owner of several vacant commercial properties on Parsons, is donating money to the South End initiative, why doesn't he donate some of that money to subsidize renovations of said properties so that entrepreneurs will want to locate there? Nothing worse than ensuring his property values would go considerably higher here with new destinations to draw visitors and new residents.

50 rehabbed homes and 50 new homes in a neighborhood with piss poor amenities. What works in North Clintonville (healthy and heavily residential) doesn't work everywhere else. In ten years is the city going to fund rehabbing most of those 50 not-so-new abandoned homes? Nice new homes will still have a run-down Parsons Ave down the block, which is a driving force for why these homes emptied out in the first place. Can anyone explain to me why I know that Parsons needs to be addressed with real life cash dollars and no one else does? This whole, build new homes -> people buy homes -> neighborhood revitalized "plan" is hackneyed and it's embarrassing that in 2012 Columbus touts it as the new magic bullet in urban revitalization. If the city of Columbus really believes in the effectiveness of this approach then they need to be consistent and when building these new homes start with the roof first and then expect a separate 3rd party entity to build in the rest at some point in the future maybe, perhaps, I mean, someone will get around to it, right? I'm tempted to purchase hacksaws for the mayor and each city council member.

 

I have to say that while it's nice that Bob Weiler, owner of several vacant commercial properties on Parsons, is donating money to the South End initiative, why doesn't he donate some of that money to subsidize renovations of said properties so that entrepreneurs will want to locate there? Nothing worse than ensuring his property values would go considerably higher here with new destinations to draw visitors and new residents.

 

You're just an urban genius ahead of your time, Keith, so unless new development has been designed, approved, funded and constructed personally by you, it really doesn't count.  I mean, seriously, who does Weiler think he is to naively assume he has the intelligence and foresight to actually be doing something good with his own money, especially when you have so much experience telling people how wrong they really are.  Perhaps a personal intervention is called for? He's just one more silly fool in the sad city of Columbus, and you should probably just get used to being a man above it all.   

I know. I should be used to it, but I always surprise myself. $0 spent on Parsons' commercial buildings and they expect a few hundred people to move into 100 rehabbed/newly built homes next to a crummy corridor: should be stupid on its face, yes, but it takes a person with tremendous insight to dig deep and find the faults in that kind of approach which seems bulletproof on the surface. So, what, it's like over three years now and counting since a quality destination (Hal & Al's) opened there?

I know. I should be used to it, but I always surprise myself. $0 spent on Parsons' commercial buildings and they expect a few hundred people to move into 100 rehabbed/newly built homes next to a crummy corridor: should be stupid on its face, yes, but it takes a person with tremendous insight to dig deep and find the faults in that kind of approach which seems bulletproof on the surface. So, what, it's like over three years now and counting since a quality destination (Hal & Al's) opened there?

 

Can't wait to hear your thoughts on the East Franklinton plan! 

News about a new health care center to be built by the City of Columbus at 1905 Parsons Avenue. 

 

From the Columbus Underground post - Columbus City Council Meeting Highlights - July 30, 2012

 

NEW MALONEY CENTER:  Access to affordable health care for all is crucial in building healthier and safer neighborhoods.  Ordinance 1724-2012, sponsored by Health and Human Services Committee Chair Councilmember Priscilla R. Tyson, will allow the City to enter into a contract with the Daimler Group for the construction of the new John Maloney Health and Wellness Center located at 1905 Parsons Avenue.  The 21,000 square foot single story building will be a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Silver Certified building and will be home to a number of health care providers and their services - including Columbus Neighborhood Health Center, Inc., The Ohio State University Medical Center, a Moms 2 Be program, Columbus Public Health’s Women, Infants & Children Program, and North Community Counseling Centers for Behavior Health care needs.

A prettier Parsons: South Side street spruced up

600-plus volunteers beautify avenue through once-pivotal neighborhood

By Alan Johnson, The Columbus Dispatch

Sunday, August 26, 2012 - 12:32 PM

 

They cleaned up The Avenue yesterday.  More than 600 volunteers from the Vineyard Columbus Church painted 40 storefronts and picked up litter on Parsons Avenue on the South Side as part of the Columbus Volunteer Challenge.  Even Mayor Michael B. Coleman pitched in, picking up a brush to paint a wall at Infinity Beauty Supply, 1880 Parsons Avenue.

 

Parsons was a pivotal neighborhood in Columbus’ early days, serving as a destination for immigrants from Germany, Croatia, Hungary, Italy and Romania, as well as Americans from the rural South who flocked here for good-paying factory jobs.  It had banks, restaurants, grocery stores, theaters and the original store opened by Ephraim Schottenstein.  But time hasn’t been kind to the ethnic melting pot once known as Steelton. (. . .) The 2-mile stretch where cleanup efforts focused goes from grand to gritty.  On the north end is the gleaming Nationwide Children’s Hospital complex.  Within a few blocks, however, restaurants, shops, car lots and gas stations alternate with boarded up storefronts, run-down properties and vacant lots.

(. . .)

Bob Leighty, executive director of the Parsons Avenue Merchants Association, knows the difficulties of renewing a troubled urban neighborhood. “This is a transformational face-lift,” he said of the volunteer work. “Not that every urban ill is going to be taken care of. The Avenue has challenges. It’s a very eclectic mix." “We’re trying to be Parsons Avenue. Nothing more. Nothing less,” Leighty said.

(. . .)

Coleman said The Avenue is a target neighborhood for the city.  Where the original Schottenstein store once stood, a city health center soon will be built.  A shuttered elementary school nearby will become a senior citizens center.  New housing and retail are planned. “The city can’t do it alone,” the mayor said. “This is a partnership.”

 

READ MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/08/26/a-prettier-parsons.html

Full press release about the above noted Parsons Avenue clean-up/beautification effort from the Parsons Avenue / South Side - News & Updates thread at Columbus Underground: 

 

Press Release: Lowe’s Grant Supports Parsons Avenue Beautification Project Neighborhood Effort Kicks off Columbus Volunteer Challenge

 

Six hundred volunteers from Vineyard Columbus will join Mayor Michael B. Coleman to paint storefronts, trash containers, pull weeds and clean litter along Parsons Avenue between East Livingston Avenue and Hosack Street at 11 a.m. Saturday (August 25) to kick off the Columbus Volunteer Challenge.  The cleanup effort will be funded through a $20,000 community improvement grant from Lowes through Keep America Beautiful.  The grant was awarded to Keep Columbus Beautiful in a partnership with the Parsons Avenue Merchants Association, the Neighborhood Design Center and the South Side Neighborhood Pride Center.

 

“The City of Columbus is so grateful to Lowes and Keep America Beautiful for this grant,” said Mayor Michael B. Coleman. “As we continue to invest in improving the South Side of Columbus, this grant will allow small businesses and property owners to take part in transforming Parsons Avenue.”

 

The grant is targeted to helping small businesses and property owners along Parsons Avenue and expands the themes of the Plant Pride On Parsons beautification effort that KCB launched in 2010.  The Neighborhood Design Center, in working with business and property owners, have suggested paint colors and simple design ideas to enhance the facades of Parsons Avenue businesses that will benefit from the volunteers’ work.  The paint and painting supplies are paid for through the grant and all labor will be completed by supervised volunteers.

 

The Columbus Volunteer Challenge is a citywide volunteer event focused on lifting up and highlighting the importance of service to others.  The Columbus Volunteer Challenge, led by a city of Columbus and United Way of Central Ohio partnership, runs from August 25 through September 11, the National Day of Service.  Find more information about the challenge at www.columbusvolunteerchallenge.org. 

Another event planned for Parsons Avenue by Columbus Volunteer Challenge and a location map from the previously posted Dispatch article showing the work area for this beautification event and the previous event on August 25:

 

Plant Pride on Parsons National Planting Day

Date: September 8

Start Time: 10:00 am

End Time: 2:00 pm

Organization: Keep Columbus Beautiful

Address: 1265 Parsons Ave

City: Columbus

State: OH

Zip Code: 43207

Website: www.keepcolumbusbeautiful.org

 

Volunteer Project Description:

Do you love to get your hands dirty?  Volunteers are needed to help transition 126 award winning, hand-painted flower pots from summer blooms to native species and fall annuals along a two mile area of Parsons Avenue.  In addition, volunteers will help create new raised flower beds and help weed and mulch existing beds.

 

Couple of recent articles from the Columbus Dispatch about the South Side / Parsons Avenue area:

 

---

The first is a profile story about Bob Leighty.  He is the President of the Merion Village Association, one of the neighborhoods west of Parsons Avenue, and the executive director of the Parsons Avenue Merchants Association.  The article talks about how Leighty's efforts to improve the south side has attracted attention and funding from the City - as well as attention and a $1 million donation toward revitalization efforts from Donatos Pizza founder (and former southsider) Jim Grote

 

Dispatch: Optimism fuels Bob Leighty’s South Side efforts

 

---

The second article is about how $1.5 million in public/private funding is being spent within South Side neighborhoods next to the Parsons Avenue corridor.  The article showed 10 demolition sites of existing buildings that will occur this year.  Seven of the 10 demolition sites will have new infill houses built on them as part of 40 rent-to-own houses to be built in these neighborhoods over the next two years.  Additionally, 50 existing homes will be renovated with new siding, roofs and other improvements by the end of 2013 through South Side Renaissance, a non-profit entity formed in July.

 

Dispatch: Progress being made in South Side housing

Press Release from the Columbus Public Health website about groundbreaking for the John R. Maloney Family Health & Wellness Center at the northwest corner of Barthman Avenue and Parsons Avenue.  This is on the site of the former Schottenstein's store in the 1900 block of Parsons Avenue.  The previous Maloney Health Center on Parsons Avenue was demolished in 2006 due to structural problems caused by faulty foundation construction.  Those operations were temporarily moved to South High Street.

 

The new Maloney Health Center will be a LEED certified, single-story, 21,500 square-foot building designed by DesignGroup and constructed by the Daimler Group.  The total project is expected to cost almost $8.6 million is expected to open in September 2013.

 

Public Health Press Room: Mayor Coleman, Community Partners Break Ground on John R. Maloney Family Health & Wellness Center

A video report from NBC4 News about how the Community Development for All People organization is partnering with the City of Columbus and Nationwide Children's Hospital to rehab houses in the neighborhoods surrounding the Parsons Avenue corridor.

 

NBC4: Stabilization Program Bringing New Life To Columbus Neighborhood

Parsons parking proposal panned

By Mark Ferenchik, The Columbus Dispatch

Tuesday, December 4, 2012 - 5:49 AM

 

A plan to ease traffic congestion on Parsons Avenue by eliminating dozens of on-street parking spaces has angered merchants who say they need the spots for customers.  The proposal, which will be discussed at a public meeting tonight, calls for the addition of a center turn lane on Parsons between Livingston Avenue and Hosack Street.

 

That would reduce the number of lanes from two to one in each direction and eliminate the current “No Left Turn” lanes.  Curb “bump-outs” — meaning they extend into the street — would be installed at crosswalks to shorten the crossing distance.  The project, which could start in 2014, would cost $640,000 for design and $4.2 million for construction.

 

To gain the center lane, on-street parking would alternate from one side of the street to the other.  As a result, about 4 in 10 of the current 385 spaces would be eliminated, but traffic would be slowed and crashes reduced, said Al Berthold, executive director of the nonprofit Neighborhood Design Center, which worked on the plan.

 

READ MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/12/04/parsons-parking-proposal-panned.html

 

MODERATOR NOTE: Reposting articles wiped out by the server crash

 

South Side Renewal Afoot After 2012 State Of City Address Promise

By Mandie Trimble, 89.7 NPR News Reporter

February 21, 2013

 

Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman will make his annual state of the city address this evening at South High School.  The event’s location is not far from some substantial improvements being made to the city’s South Side neighborhood, a proposal made in last year’s address.  WOSU looks back on some of last year’s promises.

 

“New gutters, downspouts, totally re-sided the entire house, replaced the front porch, replaced my entry door, and installed three new windows, power washed and painted the foundation,” William Duncan said.  Duncan’s Innis Avenue home looks lot better now than it did when he bought it a year ago.  The work, which included a new roof, was paid for with a $15,000 South Side Renaissance grant.

 

The grants are part of Mayor Coleman’s plan to revitalize Columbus’ South Side which he announced during last year’s Bicentennial State of the City address.

 

MORE: http://wosu.org/2012/news/2013/02/21/south-side-renewal-afoot-after-2012-state-of-city-address-promise/

 

Press Release from the Columbus Public Health website about groundbreaking for the John R. Maloney Family Health & Wellness Center at the northwest corner of Barthman Avenue and Parsons Avenue.  This is on the site of the former Schottenstein's store in the 1900 block of Parsons Avenue.  The previous Maloney Health Center on Parsons Avenue was demolished in 2006 due to structural problems caused by faulty foundation construction.  Those operations were temporarily moved to South High Street.

 

The new Maloney Health Center will be a LEED certified, single-story, 21,500 square-foot building designed by DesignGroup and constructed by the Daimler Group.  The total project is expected to cost almost $8.6 million is expected to open in September 2013.

 

Public Health Press Room: Mayor Coleman, Community Partners Break Ground on John R. Maloney Family Health & Wellness Center

Late February 2013 photo of John R. Maloney Family Health & Wellness Center under construction at the northwest corner of Parsons Avenue and Barthman Avenue from Columbus Underground:

 

 

In June, the Dispatch ran a story about the infill houses being built as part of the City's Southern Gateway Initiative in the neighborhood west of Parsons Avenue.  The article also described how the 40 scattered sites in the area have had some thefts of construction materials over the Spring before the developers increased security.  NRP Group of Cleveland is developing the 40 infill houses along with the local non-profit group, Community Development for All People.  Below is the link to the story and a photo of two of the infill houses under construction in the neighborhood:

 

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2013/06/05/thefts-vex-south-side.html

 

A very interesting redevelopment project is beginning to take shape at the historic Barrett School located at 345 E. Deshler Avenue, one block west of Parsons Avenue.  The four-story, 73,401 sq. ft. school building was opened in 1900 as the first South High School for Columbus.  It became Barrett Middle School in 1924 when a new South High School was opened about four blocks east on the east side of Parsons Avenue.  Barrett Middle School closed in 2006.  It reopened from 2007-2009 to temporarily become South High School again while the 1924 South High School was completely renovated.  After that renovation was finished in 2009, Barrett Middle School closed again.

 

In 2013, Columbus City Schools sold the Barrett School property to the non-profit housing developer Homeport.  Homeport, previously known as the Columbus Housing Partnership, has been doing both affodable and market-rate housing developments for the past 25 years.  Some of their projects include the NoBo infill development in King-Lincoln, the Rich Street Walk in downtown and infill development in the American Addition.  Now, Homeport is looking to renovate and redevelop the Barrett School property.  Below is a map of the property and photo of the historic Barrett School.  The property is six-acres in size and includes the four-story Barrett School built in 1900, a single-story addition built in the 1950's.  The rest of the 6 acres is unbuilt open space.

 

 

Homeport is beginning to look at its development options for the property.  Renovating the historic 1900 portion of the Barrett School is a given.  Not only because it is an architecturally stunning building but because it is also listed on the City of Columbus Historic Register and protected from demolition.  The 1950's addition will likely be removed.  But the remaining open space of the six-acre site is a blank canvas for new infill construction.

 

Various housing concepts have been suggested in previous area master plans, such as artist live-work space and senior housing.  The only thing that Homeport is ruling out from the redevelopment is an affordable housing element.  Homeport plans this to be market-rate development, similar to the Rich Street Walk development in downtown, which featured market-rate condos and was used to fund the organization’s other projects. 

 

This probably makes sense because of the project's location.  The Barrett School property is on the edge of German Village, only two blocks east of Schiller Park.  But it's also only one block west of Parsons Avenue and is in the area that transitions into Merion Village to the south.  There are already affordable houses in this area and more affordable infill houses are being built as part of the City's Southern Gateway Initiative.  The historic nature of the school and its German Village adjacent location will allow Homeport to command very good market-rate prices for any infill units that are built here. 

 

More about the Barrett School redevelopment from a Columbus Underground article linked below and from the project website also linked below:

 

Columbus Underground: Homeport Looking for Input on Barrett Project in Merion Village

 

Project Website: Barrett Redevelopment

 

More about the Barrett School redevelopment posted by Homeport at Columbus Underground:

 

http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/barrett-school-redevelopment-in-merion-village-update