Complete Streets

Pedestrian shoulder Ridge Rd.

According to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, "Providing safe places for people to walk is an essential responsiblility of government entities involved in constructing or regulating the construction of public rights-of-way." This seems so obvious, but Amberley has been wrestling with this issue for decades. By not moving forward with long-range planning to make Amberley more pedestrian friendly, housing and livablity trends are passing us by as the Millenial generation is seeking out living spaces that provide multiple options for transportation, which include more public transportion options as well as safe pathways.

It is time for Amberley Village officials to recognize that, although we do not have a central business district within our own community, a majority of our residents live within walking distance of business districts in either Pleasant Ridge, to the south, and Dillonvale, to the north. Safe access to these areas and to our own amentities within the Village will increase our property values thus benefitting the financial forcast for our community

In her presentation, "Designing Communities for All: The role of complete streets in improving accessibility and enhancing economic competitiveness," Kerstin Carr of the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (morpc), indicates that "every one-point increase in the 100-point Walk Score scale is associated with an increase in home value of $500-$3,000." From a health standpoint, she cites another study that found that "43% of people with safe places to walk within 10 minutes of home met recommended activity levels. Among individuals without safe places to walk, just 27% were active enough." Amberley has great places to walk -- French Park, Amberley Green, the Amberley Walking Path, the JCC --  but we lack a safe way to get there on foot.

The Health, Education, & Welfare committee of Council held a meeting yesterday on the issue of pedestrian safety. The issue encompasses more than just providing a safe shoulder of the road upon which to walk. Our intersections can be made safer by installing crosswalks. Streets can be identified that are routinely used as cut-through thoroughfares and traffic calming measures can be examined. The city council of Westerville, Ohio, passed a Resolution last year expressing support of the Complete Streets Initiative. By so doing, they are expressing their committment to remember pedestrians when the time comes to budget for street maintenance and improvements.
Amberley should do the same. In fact, at Monday's council meeting, we supported the introduction of a Long Range Financial Plan, the partial mission of which includes this question: "What are (we) doing as... government officials to ensure that our community and ...property value is not only maintained but enhanced ten years from now and beyond?" (Emphasis mine).  An important question, and not one to be ignored when budgeting for the maintenance and future of our community.

Amberley's Neighborhood School

When my husband was growing up in Amberley, he attended his neighborhood school for elementary school, which, at the time, was Losantiville School. I attended my own neighborhood schools while growing up in Finneytown. In fact, for most of us, the neighborhood school was our school, unless our parents made a different choice -- say to send the kids to parochial school. In recent decades, here in Cincinnati, the neighborhood school has been replaced by the magnet school. Parents stand in line for days, often in inclement weather, to enroll their children in select schools of choice, because of the perception, often based in reality, that the neighborhood school is unable to adequately meet the educational needs of their children.

When my family moved to Amberley in 1997, I could not tell you what our neighborhood school was. Amberley didn't have its own school and as far as I could tell, where I sent my child to public school depended on what quadrant I lived in. Although Amberley only comprises 3.5 square miles, our children could go to any one of three "neighborhood" schools. Most Amberley parents did as we did and sent their kids to private school.

Things have changed since 1997. The former Pleasant Ridge Elementary School, a neighborhood school in CPS for over 100 years, was rebuilt and re-opened as PRM (Pleasant Ridge Montessori). A very dedicated  group of parents and community volunteers have been working tirelessly since 2006 to make this school a top-performing neighborhood school for Pleasant Ridge, Golf Manor, and Amberley Village. Through the very active involvement of educators, community leaders, parents, and Xavier University, PRM has seen its academic performance indicators rise and its socio-economic makeup become more diverse and more closely resemble the neighborhood where it is located.

Last night I attended a community meeting at PRM where the focus was on the next steps for the school. From my estimation, over 200 community members were in attendance. Most were parents of PRM students, but additonally there were local elected officials from all three communities served by the school, representatives from social service agencies and other interested community members.  This is an extremely involved parent body!  For a community like Amberley, which has not had a neighborhood school to call its own since it was incorporated, we are very lucky to have this rising star of Cincinnati Public Schools as our neighborhood school. The best part is, parents of Amberley kids can enroll their kids in a school where the parents and teachers are as involved as any private or magnet school for free and without camping out for a week.

If you are a PRM parent and Amberley resident, please leave a comment about PRM in the comment section of this post. I'd love to hear your thoughts on PRM. If you are interested in the next steps for PRM, there is another community meeting on May 22nd at 5:30 at the school itself.

Natalie

"Green"

Running on Amberley Green

When I was campaigning for council, I was derided a couple of times for my green signs. Although the signs, in my mind, depicted how I felt about Amberley -- green, rolling hills -- they were seen as being an indicator of another kind of "green." The green of someone who cares about the environment. Did this interpretation of  a one dimensional yard sign hurt my feelings? Absolutely not! On the contrary, I welcomed it, and if I happened to lose those two votes (I did), I hope that the passage of time has proven that green is a sign of foresight and progressiveness when it comes to economic development and the future of Amberley and Cincinnati.

Recently, Amberley Village Council voted in favor of an agreement that would give The Walnut Group the exclusive right to conduct a due diligence investigation into the feasiblity of developing Amberley Green consistent with Amberley's Long Range Plan. The agreement, Resolution 2013-09, requires that The Walnut Group develop detailed site plans, including street and utility diagrams, street layouts, specific designs, as well as possible tenants, timing, and economics. Because the concept plan of The Walnut Group is consistent with Amberley's published Long Range Plan, it includes strong references to Amberley's Vision Pillars that require sustainable and ecological practices as well as connectivity.

Which brings me back to "green." According to this morning's Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati is ten years ahead of other municipalities in terms of sustainablility. Last week, I wrote about our recycling program. We have been gardening at Amberley Green for a year. Tomorrow at 6:00PM, Amberley is celebrating nine years of being a Tree City, USA community. Next month, on May 19th, we will be hosting "One Stop Drop," a large-scale recycling event at Amberley Green where residents can bring documents for shredding, small electric appliances for recycling, and any kind of shoe to give to foundations that will reuse them.

A strong componant of building a greener community is the ability of residents to commute within the area without the use of cars. Cycle trails, sidewalks, and walking paths make a community more friendly and, from an economic standpoint, a more desirable area in which to buy a house and raise a family. The Walnut Group's concept plan includes a town square, Univeral Design housing, a corporate tenant, plenty of green space and walking paths. It is up to us, the citizens of Amberley Village, to insist on a safe means to connect to Amberley Green, French Park, and our other myriad amenities, without needing to resort to our cars.

If you haven't yet connected with your neighbors on Amberley Village Nextdoor, please accept my invitation to do so now. Stay informed! CLICK HERE.

Fill Up That Bin!

Ok, so you've got your new 65 gallon recycle bin. Have you filled it up yet? I mean, have you really filled it up? Are you maximizing the recycle potential of your trash?

The most recent issue of Hamilton County Solid Waste & Recycling's newsletter "WasteLine" has Amberley Village falling out of the top 10 municipalities for recycling. The truth is, our recycling rate stayed almost the same, but our solid waste output increased.

As I drive around Amberley on Friday's, I notice a lot of recyclable items stacked at the curb alongside the bins. Cardboard boxes, for example, are recyclable if you break them down and put them in the new, larger bin. In my household, I've become a super recycler -- empty toilet paper, paper towel, or gift wrap tubes go into the bin. Empty tissue boxes also go into the bin. In fact, I've been guilty of pulling recyclable items out of the trash and putting them where they belong -- in the recycle bin. If you're not sure what can be recycled, clicke HERE for a list.

 Now I'll get off my (recyclable, cardboard) soapbox and talk about something else. Trash in the streets. This usually occurs just after trash day, but I have a favor to ask. We all need to take care of our community. If you see that something from your garbage has blown out of the can, or for some reason not made it into the truck, please pick it up and dispose of it. If you see someone has thrown a beer can into your yard over the night, please pick it up and recycle it. I always ask myself, if I don't pick it up, who will?  All of us working collectively can resolve this issue and go far to keeping Amberley the beautiful community that we love. 

Mill Creek Watershed

From its headwaters in Liberty Township and running South/Southwest for 28 miles, the Mill Creek and its tributaries provided the lifeblood for development of Cincinnati over two hundred years ago. Within 100 years of being renamed the "Mill Creek" from the Native American name "Macetewa," the Mill Creek was nearly destroyed due to the very industrial development that put Cincinnati on the map. I, like many of our Amberley residents, have lived within Mill Creek watershed our whole lives. Many local communities count on the Mill Creek to provide their local drinking water. The Mill Creek Watershed Council of Communities was established to protect and enhance the value of the Mill Creek.

Amberley Creek, which runs through French Park and provides a natural and attractive water feature to many of our residents, is a tributary of the Mill Creek. Perhaps you have seen these signs and wondered about the water flowing nearby. The tributaries of the Mill Creek expand the reach of the watershed to encompass areas as far east as Deer Park and Silverton within Hamilton County, and as far west as Groesbeck and Mt. Airy. The Mill Creek itself dumps into the Ohio River in Western Cincinnati near 9th and Gest Streets.

There is plenty to do to enjoy the Mill Creek, which is slowly regaining its health and providing a home to wildlife and a place to recreate. Like to paddle? You can explore the Mill Creek by canoe. Five different sections of the creek are open to paddlers. If you are looking for an outdoor activity this Saturday, March 16th, the Mill Creek Watershed Council is looking for volunteers to help remove invasive plant species from Twin Creek Preserve in Sharonville from 9:00-12:00 PM.

Why should we care about the Mill Creek Watershed? Amberley Creek is a valuable asset! Like access to walking trails and bike paths, current statistics show that homeowners will pay a premium to live near daylighted water sources, like open, running creeks. Let's acknowledge, protect, and enhance our natural assets for the future of Amberley.

It's like this:

I've been somewhat disingenuous with my posts, as the subtitle of this blog is "the musings of the only female elected official in Amberley Village." This video will give you an idea of how things actually are. This was a publicly televised council meeting. Imagine the message this sends to the female staff of the village.

http://icrctv.com/amberley-village-council-21113

Click on "Guest Speaker." "Streets" and "New Business."

Training

Ohio law requires all elected officials, either individually or through an appointed representative, to attend Sunshine Law Training regarding Ohio Public Records and Open Meetings laws. On January 24, Tom Muething and myself along with Council Clerk, Nicole Browder (appointed on behalf of the remainder of Council), attended the training presented by the Ohio Attorney General’s office.

This is just one of many training workshops for government officials that is either required, or made available, to elected officials. When we’re elected to serve on Council, we are often inexperienced in public service and the plethora of government agencies available to assist our communities.  When I was elected to Council last November, I made a concerted effort to attend as many training workshops as I could since I, like most of council, was new to public service. Some workshops were presented by WeTHRIVE!, some by the Hamilton County Public Health District, The HC Planning Partnership, as well as the Cincinnati Bar Association. The information I learn from training makes me a better council person, as well as enables me to spread the great news from Amberley Village to the rest of the County.  

I encourage all of Amberley's elected officials to make it a practice to attend these workshops, which are offered throughout the year, encompassing topics such as planning and zoning, Public Records, local government law, and meeting management.