December Meeting Highlights
NSP - Steve Klatte
Beautification/Improvements - $3,000 Membership/Communications - $700 Thanksgiving Day Parade - $1,250 Mt. Echo Concerts - $600 Newsletter - $750 Insurance - $700
Motion: Klatte/Hollister moved to accept the proposed amended NSP budget as presented.
Motion carried. Ayes - 38 - Nay -0
Housing & Development Committee: Tom Gamel and Mary Croft.
Kroger has received temporary approval of occupancy pending compliance with some of EPHIA's requests.
Lighting on the rear of the building is being changed. Krogers ordered some new lights that will prevent the lighting from spilling over on the neighborhood. Krogers is going to make some changes to the awning above the pharmacy pickup in order to make it more attractive and blend in better with the building. Some changes are planned to the landscaping. Some changes to the rear of the building will be made in an effort to prevent people from trying to climb up on the rear of their building.
Audit Committee - Ken Rothman.
Audit was completed and everything was found to be in order and that the Treasurer, John Ridder, is to be commended for his work.
Motions
Motion: Dan Boller/Klatte moved to oppose the liquor license transfer at 3113 Warsaw Ave. (Diddleburger's). Motion carried.
Motion: Gamel/Pessler moved that the Board and general assembly support the concept of the Model Group Management Inc. to develop the building at W8th & Elberon as a senior retirement facility. All plans are tentative and possibly will include a store for the residents and possibly the public. Motion carried. Motion: Ginger Boller/Pessler moved to put up a sign/banner thanking Kroger for being here. Motion carried.
What are your skills and interests? See the committees below and join one where you can put them to the best use!
COMMITTEE DESCRIPTIONS
BEAUTIFICATION-CHAIR OPEN
The goal of the beautification committee is to help improve the "curb appeal' of the community. Every year this committee has a budget to spend on items that will help our neighborhood be an attractive place to live. Lawn maintenance of public areas, purchasing large flower planters, cleaning up trash, and many other ideas have come through this committee. If you have an eye for detail or just love the beauty of an urban environment then this is the place to meet up with like-minded neighbors and watch your ideas turn into reality with the support of this council.
BUSINESS DISTRICT- CHAIR OPEN
This committee focuses on the Warsaw business district. If you own a small business and have insight into the needs of small businesses then this is the place for you. This committee is responsible for working with local businesses to find out how we can help them and then doing it. There are often funds available to help with common concerns. EPHIA is here to help encourage new businesses to the area and to help promote the existing businesses to stay and grow. If this interests you then I encourage you to join with other business-minded neighbors and help grow the economic heart of our community.
CITIZENS ON PATROL-Ken Rothman (471-1912)
This committee is a strong link between the community and the District 3 Police Department. Although Citizens on Patrol is an independent organization, EPHIA has had members in COP and this committee helps strengthen those ties. Members of COP must pass a background check and take a course given by the police department. After that, members support police officers by walking or driving in the community to be a presence and reporting various problems to the appropriate city departments. Graffiti, abandoned cars, loud parties, and blighted properties are just some of the items reported by COP members. If you are interested in joining COP then you may also want to help keep the flow of communication going to let members know what has been acted on and to take reports from neighbors at meetings to bring back to COP.
HOUSING AND DEVELOPMENT-Mary Croft (244-2882)
There are great and wonderful changes and investments happening in East Price Hill and this committee is often involved from the early stages. Discussions regarding zoning changes, strategies for planned development, and ways to encourage overall investment in our neighborhood happen in this committee. The committee is responsible for doing due diligence on all major projects in our area to ensure that any possible negative side effects are reduced or eliminated. If you are interested in architecture, zoning requirements, or working with large developers to improve our neighborhood then you will be in good company in this committee.
MEMBERSHIP-Ginger Boller
The most important part of this organization are the members, our neighbors, who live and/or work in this area and have a vested interest in improving it. This committee is responsible for keeping track of membership information as well as thinking up new ways to encourage people not only to join but also to participate. The real strength of our organization isn't what we can do with the $5 membership or even the monthly meetings. It's finding, and keeping, active volunteers who are motivated to donate their time as often as they can to help with all of the good work that needs to be done in our community. If you are an outgoing, social, person who loves to meet new people and encourages participation then join with your fellow "busy-body" and participate in this vital committee.
NEWSLETTER-Brenda Swisshelm (bswiss2@zoomtown.com)
This committee's primary purpose is to put together and distribute a monthly newsletter for all the members in both electronic and paper format. The newsletter serves an important role in keeping our members who can't make it to meetings up to date on the good things in our community. While other media outlets focus on the tragedies, our newsletter focuses on the positive things being accomplished in our neighborhood. It is also a critical means of communicating special meetings, informing of important upcoming votes, and other items vital to EHPIA as an organization. If you have an interest in or ideas about communications, page layouts, or want to regularly contribute articles, this is the committee for you. Join other people who have a love of communicating to the neighborhood and make our newsletter something exciting that people look forward to every month.
NEIGHBORHOOD SUPPORT PROGRAM (NSP)-Steve Klatte
The Neighborhood Support Program (NSP) was initiated by the City of Cincinnati to provide funds to community councils in support of neighborhood projects and activities. These funds are used to support the activities of many of the other committees such as parades, lawn care of some public areas, supplies for litter pick-ups, and many more items. This committee is responsible for putting together the paperwork to show what we will do with the funds for the upcoming year and is also responsible for making certain all the receipts come in and are accounted for when we are audited each year. If you have an eye for detail, are organized, or are just willing to do what it takes to keep many of the programs EPHIA is involved in each year running then your time and effort to this committee would be greatly appreciated.
NEIGHBORHOOD BUSINESS DISTRICT SUPPORT PROGRAM (NBD)-Tom Croft (244-2882)
The City of Cincinnati created the Neighborhood Business District Support Fund (NBDSF) Program to support recognized business districts (NBDs) in 34 Cincinnati neighborhoods, which includes the Warsaw business district. The Program has three goals:
- To assist NBDs in recruiting new members and increasing community participation by promoting the NBDs at special community events and or other activities, including holiday festivals.
- To provide minimal funding for annual capital, streetscape, landscaping, safety-related or other projects that generally improve the NBD.
- To foster cooperation between NBDs and area Community Councils.
This committee is responsible for ensuring all of the paperwork is submitted so funds can be used to support our Business District. If you have an eye for detail, are organized, or are just willing to do what it takes to acquire the funds to support our business district then please become involved in this committee so we can use available funds to better promote our business district to businesses.
PARADE-Guy Vollrath (244-2149)
Price Hill has had a Thanksgiving parade for many years. It is a co-operative effort between the East and West Price Hill community councils. It takes a great deal of organizing and a wide variety of skills and helpers. This committee works with the official Parade committee which contains both East and West Price Hill residents in order to get as much work shared as possible. If you love a parade and would like to be part of it, either in the foreground or the background, join your other parade lovers in this committee, dream of a grand parade, and watch it take form before your eyes.
PROBLEM PROPERTIES-Dan Boller
The focus of this committee is to locate and report properties which have become an eye-sore in the community. This committee works with multiple city departments in order to report problems and then follows up on them. Thanks to this committee we have seen many houses resurrected, or, when the owner was unwilling, then demolished to make for more open spaces in a dense urban area. Member of this committee may be involved in the housing court where owners of abandoned properties are charged so the judge can hear the true impact this buildings have on our neighborhood. If you like to take long walks, or just want to have a visible impact on the quality of the houses in your neighborhood then join with other motivated neighbors on this committee.
WEB SITE-Patti Hogan
The focus of this committee is to work with our web developer to keep information on the site up to date and useful. This site is intended to be a central place for community-minded residents of East Price Hill to find links to the information most important to them. If you are a web design professional or just know a good web site when you see one then join with other net-savvy neighbors to build on and improve our web site to make it the most useful resource it can be.
POLICY AND CONSTITUTION- CHAIR OPEN-Chair Open
The focus of this committee is to keep track of historic policies and procedures as well as helping to shape new guidelines, procedures, and in rare cases, constitutional changes to EPHIA. If you have an interest in history, a mind for procedure, or an understanding of general parliamentary procedure this may be a great way to plug in and get to really understand the inner workings of the organization.