March 2022 Newsletter

The East Price Hill Improvement Association (EPHIA) is our neighborhood’s City of Cincinnati designated Community Council.  Our objective is the encouragement and promotion of the civic advancement of East Price Hill, all of Price Hill, and the West Side of Cincinnati

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

Dear Neighbor,

Happy Spring! Although things are still gray, the weather is warming and it is almost here!

We didn’t hold a meeting last month. Other than during our regular summer break, I don’t remember that ever happening before. Our board had too many conflicts and it prevented us from holding a General Membership meeting. Even so, your community council continued to work on improving our community. We have applied for and been  approved for several grants: the usual Neighborhoods Support Program grant and Neighborhood Business District Support Fund grant,  as well as the Neighborhood Activation Fund grant have all been received. These grants are used for beautification and events in the community. We are also the co-applicant with Price Hill Will for a large infrastructure Neighborhood Business District Support Grant,  and are planning to apply for additional grants this spring. We are working with the Department of Transportation and Engineering to bring new traffic calming projects to Warsaw Avenue. Our Events Committee and Quality of Life Committee have been busily planning for the spring.  While we continue to work diligently, we very much need your help to make great things happen in our community: citizen engagement and volunteer effort are the input and energy that inspires and drives us toward a bright future. We recently suffered the tremendous loss of two of our most committed and engaged board members and are seeking to fill vacancies on our board. Please contact me at president@ephia.org if you are interested in serving on our board, any of our committees, or as a community volunteer.

Now that winter is breaking, we will be talking about community events! One of the first on the calendar is the Eggstravaganza, which will be held at Wilson Commons on April 9^th between 1:00 and 2:30. This event for 3-10 year olds is always a fun first sign of spring! Bring your littles and celebrate the season!

East Price Hill recently had the groundbreaking for the Warsaw Avenue Creative Campus,  which is the restoration and commercial redevelopment of the commercial buildings in the 3100 block of Warsaw Avenue to be a youth and family centric business node that includes the newly renovated Price Hill Library, the Recreation Center, Dempsey Park and the ARCO Event Center. This exciting project will be transformative for our business district and community. We look forward to new businesses in these spaces!

Our community recently weighed in on an important zoning density issue for our city. Proposed legislation would have either doubled density or remove square footage minimum requirements in all zones allowing residential uses except single family zones. Our General Membership determined the proposed ordinance would have unintended negative consequences and would not achieve any of the stated benefits for our community and voted to oppose it as it was written. Board members attended the Equitable Growth and Housing Committee to express the community’s concerns and opposition to this ordinance. The ordinance was voted down, but now the work begins to develop a plan that addresses the many needs of our city from available housing to affordable housing. If you have a passion for equitable development, housing, and the future of our neighborhood and the city, please contact me to get involved!

Our next General Membership Meeting will be MARCH 21^st at 6:30 PM via Zoom. We will be discussing getting back to holding in-person meetings! I hope to see you on this Zoom call so we can discuss meeting in person, among other things!

Topic: EPHIA General Membership Meeting

Time: March 21, 2022 06:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

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Sincerely,

Sheila Rosenthal

President, EPHIA

Minutes

from the January 17, 2021 @ 6:30 PM

General Membership Meeting

3. Treasurer’s Report:  $31,416.72

• a.       Police -Officer Emody reported a 12/15 aggravated robbery on 900 block of Grand, lured by a minor female, robbed by two other individuals with guns. Reviewed snow emergency streets. Amber asked about allocated self-initiated service hours that are not driven by citizen complaints. Traffic stops and vice investigations will be occurring through early February. New officers will be graduating and joining D3 in February. Accidents, speeding, and red light violations need to be addressed.
• b.       Probation – No report
• c.       Safety CAT – Amber reported about the neighborhood cleanup last Saturday and Councilmember Mark Jeffreys attended

• a.       Website & Database- Website is up and running! The new ephia.org site is functional.
• b.       NSP Submission- Has been submitted, will be presented next week for approval
• c.       NBD Grants – Are being submitted

• a.       Bob Greenlee passed away unexpectedly at the end of December. Bob was a tremendous contributor to the community and particularly youth programs. EPHIA will be making a contribution to a charity of Bob’s family’s choice in the amount of $100.
• b.       Vacancies on the board – we are seeking new board members. If you are interested in serving on the board, please contact info@ephia.org
• c.       Warsaw Avenue Creative Campus Groundbreaking
•                                                                i.      Wednesday, January 19, 2022 @ 10:00 am – We’ve been working with Price Hill Will on the Warsaw Avenue Creative Campus. The public is welcome to attend this important step forward for our community. The Warsaw Avenue Creative Campus is a youth and family centric commercial development which will also include affordable housing. Construction will include rehabbing the buildings and constructing a parking lot.
• d.       Traffic DOTE proposing temporary speed cushion traffic calming for Warsaw – installed this spring and removed next winter.
•                                                                i.      We have been working on getting traffic calming on Warsaw for many years
•                                                              ii.      Delays are now due to construction scheduling for Water Works and Street Rehab
•                                                            iii.      We will continue to try to get other traffic calming measures. DOTE is talking about using other concrete barriers to create traffic calming.
•                                                            iv.      We will be taking up funding issues around pedestrian safety
• e.       February meetings:
•                                                                i.                              Cancelled due to scheduling conflicts. Our next monthly meeting will be in March
• f.        Other
• John Ridder revisited our commitment to donate $500 to the Price Hill Thanksgiving Day parade and will be sending that out.

• a.      Santa Maria – HA Musser share that Santa Maria is still looking for a property for the new building and Head Start.

• a.       Motion__Tom Gamel__________________ Second____Eric Buhrer______________

Character Council

Patience In the Community

vs. restlessness

(Taking the time necessary to work through a difficult situation)

To practice Patience I will:

• change the things I can change and accept the things I cannot
• keep trying until I succeed
• make the most of my wait time
• not interrupt
• not complain during delays

There’s Power In That Pause

-Jill W Tomey

Patience may be one of the first character qualities we teach our children. We tend to associate it to waiting patiently but have you ever thought of it as a tool against anger or over-reacting? When we react in anger, in the heat of the moment, we are more likely to say or do something we regret. Patience asks us to pause before getting upset and perhaps be able to craft a response that identifies the hurt without causing more. This is not to suggest that we repress all anger and end up with an ulcer but rather, Patience, when practiced with Acceptance and Compassion, can head off the angry response all together.

The first step in becoming more patient is recognizing when you are impatient. Come up with a phrase you can use to flag this feeling such as “I am impatient” or “This is impatience”. When the traffic comes to a stop and you feel like screaming, pause, and say to yourself your flag phrase. Identify the source of the impatience and then identify what you can do about it if anything. If you can’t do anything, dig into your Acceptance stash and deal with it. While you have time on your hands, in this instance, examine if you can change anything to prevent it from happening again later. If this route is always congested this time of day, is there an alternate route or time you can choose? Is there something you can do to make use of this time better such as to practice a presentation, think through an issue at work, plan meals for the week or a grocery list? My ‘go to’ in traffic is a to listen to an audio book on my phone. I always have several loaded. Traffic jams have become a gift of time to spend with a book.

What happens if the traffic jam is unexpected and you are due to give a presentation? Getting angry and impatient will still not move those cars. Controlling your response to the delay may make the difference as to whether it impacts your presentation. Starting late is one thing, but if you let impatience disrupt your flow, rob you of energy or just scramble your thoughts, you are late and ineffective. Exercising Patience may also give you the clarity to think of calling a trusted colleague who can do a portion of the presentation in your absence giving you time to arrive.

We can become more Patient, but it takes practice. Being Patient is a way of being more compassionate towards others and ourselves. It also helps us to take the time necessary to work through a difficult situation and calmly accept things as they are. That always feels good.

This month, create the pause so you can use the Power of your Patience.

https://charactercincinnati.org/

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Visit our website at www.ephia.org.

Our mailing address is:

East Price Hill Improvement Association

PO Box 5420

Cincinnati, OH 45205