OTENA General Membership Meeting February 10, 2010 with Leslie Montgomery, P.E. Project Manager, ODOT. Information to be presented will include urban avenues plans, sidewalk (s) and caps. The Olde Towne Quarter Business District Economic Development will be looked at in regards to how urban avenues and sidewalks may/may not affect the plan.

Tim Hill will also be present to address the 106 process and will open up for public interaction after the presentations are completed. ODOT will be seeking public input on these topics to take back to development. At this meeting ODOT will present progress from November 2009 to present.

The Olde Towne East Neighborhood Association General Membership meeting will start at 7:00 p.m. located at the Columbus Public Health Building 240 Parsons Avenue Columbus, Ohio 43215 in the 2nd Floor auditorium.

The community is encouraged to attend. For questions or information e-mail: info@oldetowneeast.org

The January 2010  Olde Towne East Neighborhood Association General Membership meeting will be held Wednesday, January 13, 2010  starting at 7:00 p.m. located at the Columbus Public Health Building 240 Parsons Avenue Columbus, Ohio 43215 in classroom 119-C. 

Updates from the meeting between OTENA and ODOT  on Monday January 11, 2010 will be presented.

The community is encouraged to attend.   For questions or information e-mail president@oldetowneeast.org

Olde Towne East Neighborhood Association  (OTENA) representatives and the I- 70/71 Corridor Project committee met with ODOT on January 11, 2010 to discuss revised construction plans and designs.
 
ODOT stated they intend to honor the design elements and enhancements outlined in a March 2009 letter, and have every intention of working on a neighborhood-friendly design plan.
 
In the upcoming weeks, OTENA and the committee expect to receive results from the studies being performed and will review revised drawings of the project. OTENA and the committee will meet again with ODOT in March. OTENA is pleased with the outcome of this meeting and look forward to a working  relationship with ODOT. 
 
Leslie Montgomery, the ODOT Project Manager with this project, will attend the February OTENA General Membership Meeting (February 10, 2010 @ 7:00 p.m). She will provide a project overview and present updates.
 
Thank you
Mike Moore
Olde Towne East Neighborhood Association, President

Tim Hill, ODOT’s administrator for Environmental Services, sent OTENA a letter in March 2009, which binds ODOT to specific project commitments that mitigate the negative effects of the I-70/71 project on our neighborhood.

Our neighborhood is upset that ODOT, with the support of the Federal Highway Administration has stripped many trees from the project due to concerns that street trees will pose a hazard to motorists.  These trees and other neighborhood-friendly features, such as cap treatments and landscaping, were originally included in the project as a way to soften and hide the highway that cuts through our neighborhoods.  These features were also meant to encourage all modes of travel including walking and biking.

Today, many of these features have been removed from the project because ODOT has chosen to apply design standards to city streets that are more suitable for high-speed highways, which require wide lanes and wide “clear zones” free of trees and other features. Yet these same safety features designed to protect motorists pose much greater risks to our neighbors and kids who will be walking and biking in these same areas.

1963-07-10-p19b-expressway-construction-progressing

In the 21st Century, we are faced with reconstruction of what became a piece of the Ohio interstate freeway system in 1963. What is not necessary now is the application of federal freeway guidelines to our urban streets. It is not appropriate, it is not ethically right, and it is not legal for ODOT to retract written commitments. ODOT has one chance to make it right or our neighborhood will be adversely affected again and disconnected from downtown Columbus if they do not involve area stakeholders and honor the letter of March 2009 for input into proper design and implementation. 

Sincerely,

Mike Moore

Olde Towne East Neighborhood Association, President

Olde Towne East and the Near East Side to be Cut-Off from Downtown, Again?
 
Columbus, Ohio—Residents and business owners in the Near East Side are very concerned with the revised plans for the Interstate 70/71 corridor project and the pending decisions by the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT). Olde Towne East, and particularly the Parsons Avenue Olde Towne Business Quarter (from Broad to Bryden), will suffer the greatest impact.  We are particularly concerned that, despite the proposed demolition of two historic buildings near the intersection of Bryden and Parsons, the proposed intersection redesign is unsafe and unworkable. 
 
Community members are frustrated by ODOT’s “bait and switch,” which at one time promised aesthetic enhancements, signature bridge designs and a cap over Broad Street (similar to the cap of I-670 over High Street in the Short North) and has now come to a battle for trees. Residents have been working collaboratively with ODOT on the 70/71 project more than six years to ensure that Olde Towne East would not be abused or neglected as it was in the 1960’s, during the first freeway construction. Throughout the process, ODOT has promised proper design and beautification of the collector/distributor roads and bridges to promote safety and soften the freeway features that cut through our neighborhood.  Many of our residents rely on a safe walking and biking environment to commute between work and home. If proper design is compromised, these collector/distributor roads will encourage higher speeds, lead to more accidents, and endanger pedestrians and cyclists. OTE was promised design enhancements and urban avenues for motorists, pedestrians and cyclists. These enhancements have been scaled back so drastically we are fighting just to have tree-lined streets. The cap across Broad Street is no longer in ODOT’s plans; as eateries and retail outlets have spurred growth on the cap in the Short North, economic development has been stifled in OTE. Past and current ODOT directors promised us a reconnection to the city’s center to repair the damage that was created from the original freeway construction, although the revised plans presented at recent public meetings lack any concept of connection.  
 
If ODOT has its way, we—OTE and the Near East Side residents—will likely never again see so large a project with detrimental results to our social and economic well-being. It took nearly 20 years for this area to simply begin growth after the last freeway construction project and more than 20 years for the area to be recognized for these efforts. ODOT’s construction plans will damage livelihoods in Olde Towne East and the larger Near East Side.
 
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Please contact Mike Moore, OTENA President, @ president@oldetowneeast.org   for more information.

The Olde Towne East Neighborhood Association had the privilege of presenting an Award of Appreciation to Angela Mingo, Director, Community Relations (right) and Carla Fountaine, Community Relations Specialist (left) of Nationwide Children’s Hospital for their ongoing support and community partnership with OTENA.   

This Holiday Season, The Olde Towne East Neighborhood Association had the privilege of donating  to Central Community House  a check to assist Central Community House with area families and residents needs during this holiday season. 

The 16th annual holiday home tour took place north of Broad in 2009. The tour started at Broad Street Presbyterian Church, to four historic homes on North Monroe; then, a stop at the renovated Lincoln Theater and a behind-the-scenes tour of the Columbus Jazz Academy. Other stops included the majestic Hardesty Home on Hamilton Park, and the redeveloped condos known as Hamilton Park Condominiums.

Olde Towne East residents are proud of our area’s architecture and history, as the homes on the tour display,” said Mike Moore, OTENA president. “A common thread that unites this community is the desire and commitment to make this neighborhood the best in Columbus.”

OTENA thanks cochairs Alan and Stephanie Duffy, Ann Heffernen and Ann Twiggs along with the entire tour committee, tour home-owners, and the numerous volunteers who worked to make this event a success.