Tour de Cure in Merion Village

Hal & Al’s, located at 1297 Parsons Avenue and Team Think-Urban.com are hosting a pre-memorial Day Party to benefit the American Diabetes Association – Tour de Cure bike ride on June 6th for diabetes research and education. The Pre-Memorial Day party will begin at 4pm at Hal & Al’s, a full evening of beverage specials, food, fun and games is planned.

A professional bike mechanic will be available to tune up bikes so party participants are ready for a summer of riding. The bike tune-up service is free; however a donation to the Tour de Cure is suggested. All proceeds raised by Team Think-Urban.com will benefit the American Diabetes Association – Tour de Cure.

Tour de Cure is a series of fund-raising cycling events held in 40 states nationwide to benefit the American Diabetes Association.

Think-Urban.com is a Columbus-based company dedicated to showcasing the new urban lifestyle in Ohio’s major cities; Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Dayton. See more information at www.think-urban.com

Kroger Hears Merion Village Concerns

The Kroger corporation sent several representatives to the Merion Village Center this evening for an open discussion with neighbors.  About forty people were in attendance including Kroger employees representing the real-estate and human resource departments, the Parsons Avenue store manager, the district manager as well as a lawyer representing the corporation.  As a resident Merion Village resident I was present as well.

Kroger has plans to add a fueling station to its property on Parsons Avenue as way to bolster sales, which are reportedly down by 12% over last year at this location.   The new plans call for the fueling station to be located on the current Kroger property rather than on the previously targeted vacant lot at the south-west corner of Sheldon and Parsons.

While the fueling station plans are still under consideration, Kroger wants to address neighborhood concerns about the facility in hopes that making improvements to the facility and personnel would lend neighborhood support for their continued commitment to Merion Village.

The most commonly voiced concern dealt with how the Kroger store handles the disposal of trash.   Residents who boarder the Kroger property complained that the compactors behind the building emit foul smells and are sources of neighborhood litter. Adjacent neighbors claim that the compactor lids and enclosure are not properly secured.

Other residents stated that they feel as if the facility is not maintained to the standards of other Kroger stores, comparing  it most often to the Kroger store in the Brewery District.  Store cleanliness and employee attitudes were cited as the top reasons why neighbors have taken their shopping dollars elsewhere.

A portion of the discussion surrounded the adjacent parking lot which Kroger also owns which is located between Frebis and Moler (click HERE for more info).  The lot is maintained as part of the square-footage-to-parking ratio that was required by the city at the time of construction.  Representatives from Kroger asked what, if anything, the residents would like to see happen with this property.

A local resident whose background is in urban planning suggested that the lot(s) be returned to the urban fabric of the neighborhood with new housing.  Another resident suggested a community garden.  Whatever Kroger may decide to do with the adjacent parking lot would require a variance from the city to scale back the number of required parking spaces.   However, Kroger claims that no variance is needed to eliminate the existing parking spaces to accommodate the fueling station.

Kroger’s district manager said that the Parsons Avenue store has been approved for a large-scale renovation although a date has not yet been set.  He did not say, however, if the renovation included the fueling station or if the renovation was aimed primarily at the existing facility.

Most residents said that they felt that a neighborhood grocery store was key to keeping the neighborhood and Parsons Avenue vibrant and many volunteered to assist Kroger in any way possible to see that the Parsons Avenue store become a more productive part of the neighborhood.  Kroger representatives stated that they hoped to become a Business Member of the Merion Village Association.

Both the store manager and the district manager claim to be working on programs and processes to ensure that a mutually beneficial relationship continue and grow between the two parties.

Another meeting will be planned to discuss the actual fueling station plans later this year.

Kroger to Meet with Merion Village

Kroger is planning to upgrade their Parsons Avenue store with the addition of a fueling station.The Merion Village Association is hosting this open community meeting to give Merion Village residents the opportunity to meet with Kroger management and discuss the operations of the Parsons Avenue store.

The meeting will be at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 2, at the Merion Village Information Center, 1330 South Fourth Street.

For more information, please email Bob Leighty:   rleighty |at| columbus.rr.com.

Family Dollar Creating Blight on Parsons Avenue

At the corner of Hanford and Parsons is a parking lot that is typically strewn with litter and debris.  It’s the parking lot for the Family Dollar store.

I’ve used their web site to submit a complaint regarding the poor upkeep of their facilities.  I stated that corporate neighbors typically contribute to the success of a neighborhood rather than becoming part of a neighborhood’s problem.  I received an automated response, but have not been contacted otherwise.

Next time you walk past or drive by the Family Dollar store located at 1351 Parsons Ave have a look for yourself.  Of any of the corporate owned shops along Parsons Avenue, you’ll notice that this corporate property is actually creating blight.

If you’d like to help Merion Village by voicing your concern about the upkeep of Family Dollar’s property you can do so by clicking HERE to load their “contact us” page.

Parsons Avenue: North to South

Nationwide Children’s Hospital will begin investing in the nearby housing stock in an effort to improve the over-all quality of life for nearby residents.  Two articles appeared yesterday regarding the upcoming work.

The Columbus Dispatch article here, and the Columbus Business First article here.

At the south end of Parsons Avenue, the former Schottenstein’s at Parsons between Reeb and Barthman has been demolished to make way for the new John R. Maloney Health Center

Forty-seven properties along Parsons Avenue have been purchased for the redevelopment efforts and the former IGA grocery store, which was adjacent to Schottenstein’s, was also recently demolished.  The Mayor has set aside $750,000 to begin design work on the new Maloney Center and $4.9 million has been set aside for construction in the 2008 voted bond package to be voted on this November by Columbus residents.  Voter approval of the 1.6 billion, 6-issue bond package will allow the city to borrow money through the sale of City bonds to finance large capital projects at a cheaper rate and save the City nearly $30 million

Read the entire press release here.

Tip of the hat to ColumbusRetroMetro for noting them first.

Ganther’s Place

Take a look to the right.  That’s right, right here on the screen, just down a bit on this page and you’ll see a new link in the Blogroll.  It’s Ganther’s Place and the Merion Village blog is pleased to introduce them to you.

Residents of Ganther’s Place were the guests of tonight’s Columbus Social Media Cafe where they were presented with a variety of on-line tools to assist their community efforts.  After introducing the group to the great strides made and current challenges of the neighborhood, the group rolled up their sleeves and got to work.

In about hours time, a group of Columbus enthusiasts helped build the new Ganther’s Place blog where this community can begin to host an ever greater dialogue, not only with it’s immediate neighbors, but also with with neighboring communities such as Merion Village.

The neighbors of Ganther’s Place also set up shop at Twitter, another on-line tool that will allow for greater communication with various groups that are working towards the same goals.  Members of the Columbus Social Media Cafe offered introductions to the web tools of Flickr and Utterz as well as information on how to set up a neighborhood mesh network for wireless internet.  We also discussed how the neighborhood can involve the school children at Heyl Elementary in future class projects.

All of what was accomplished this evening was made possible by volunteers and neighbors and is a demonstration of what can happen when we open up the dialogue and work together as a community.  We welcome the continued success of yet another Merion Village neighbor.

Missing the Mark

Merion Village Association members delayed voting to support a Starbucks proposed for the southeast corner of Front Street and Greenlawn Avenue. Instead, they put the recommendation in the hands of member Ken Fultz, who will discuss the matter further with Starbucks representatives….

The article in This Week News by the Columbus Dispatch goes on to say…

Despite their concerns over traffic, an informal show of hands indicated that about half of the MVA members at the meeting would approve the plan, as long as Starbucks pays for a “Welcome to Merion Village” sign for the corner.

I would have to label this as blatant pandering. If traffic is an issue because of location, then define it as such and help solve the problem. Personally, I’d be unlikely to visit this Starbucks location because I’d play hell trying to get in and out of there.

Wouldn’t it be nicer walk to a neighborhood coffee shop, Starbucks or otherwise, somewhere in the neighborhood? There is available retail space on Thurman, High Street, Parsons as well as vacant land for sale along 4th. Starbucks, however, is attracted to the traffic counts at Greenlawn.

A sign demarcating Merion Village isn’t going to solve a traffic problem and neighborhoods are not defined by a sign in someone else’s front yard.

In-Fill In-nOvation

While checkin in on my favorite local blog sites, I was reading about the City Center redevelopment on Andrew’s site, Elephants on Bicycles. Links posted on Andrew’s site take readers to the web sites of two of the local architects who’ve created re-use concepts for City Center.

As I was browsing the sites, I noticed that, at least in the case of the two listed, local architects are creating great designs in various cities around the US. From large projects such as City Center to small projects such as individual homes and cluster housing. There’s some really neat stuff being created by local architects.

Over the course of the past few years, we’ve seen some new construction taking place in Merion Village. A new duplex was recently built on Southwood. Further south there have been a handful of single-family homes constructed on vacant lots. The good news is that these new structures fit in so well, one can hardly notice. The bad news is that these new structures fit in so well that one can hardly notice.

Perhaps its time for some innovative design, not only in Merion Village, but Columbus’ other neighborhoods. Why not hold a design competition for local architects to create unique solutions for in-fill housing? A showcase property with unique design is a great way to pull in perspective buyers and drive interest.

In Minneapolis’ Seward neighborhood, one finds a variety of home styles, many of which were built through design competitions. There’s historic, restoration, new-build, solar, earth-sheltered, underground, historic rebuilds, pedestrian only streets, row houses, all creating a unique flavor that is distinctly Seward. It too, is a not more than a mile from downtown.

Seward struggled for decades with decay and it’s commercial street, Franklin Avenue was not unlike our own Parsons Avenue. Over the course of years of planning and innovation, however, Seward and Franklin Avenue have found rebirth through innovative design.

While there is always a need for required set-backs and height restrictions, there’s also a need for innovation within those parameters to create distinction. The groups, both architectural and civic, are here and can do this in Columbus.

Parsons Avenue

There’s something I’ve always liked about Parsons Avenue. When the street is damp and the lights reflect off of the pavement and one squints just a little, it can look just like a street scape out of the 1930’s.

There’s a few more things are not so pleasant. Decay. Abandonment. Blight. Litter. The Greater Parsons Avenue Vision Plan addresses the challenges as well as the benefits of the Avenue. Most surprising was that crime in the area is not nearly as high as most folks might think. (Interesting is the fact that blighted areas give the impression of crime, and is often a reason for it).

Another statement in the Vision Plan notes that high-school kids do not feel connected to the area because there is little, if anything for them to do along Parsons Avenue. Employment options are limited for them, as well, in their own neighborhood.

The Plan calls for the Whittier intersection to become a primary focal point, as well as the creation of an additional focal point further south, near the site of the former Schottenstein’s. While the Plan has been in place for over a year, there’s been little progress, save for some demolition at Jenkins and the new Pizza Hut on Stewart.

Parsons Avenue is a vital part of the neighborhood and its future success is in direct correlation to the stability of it’s adjacent neighborhoods. The question is, how do we help it along? Making sure we choose Parsons Avenue merchants, of course, is a must, but how do we add enough value to the Avenue so that those used-car lots get purchased for more productive use?

Franklinton and King-Lincoln are getting a lot of attention these days. This attention seems to be coming from the arts community. I’ve wondered if those areas might be attracting this attention because of their sky-line views. Each of those areas have direct line-of-sight-views into downtown. Factor in growth over the next 10 years, and a sky-line view from West Broad Street becomes quite an investment. The same holds true for East Long Street.

Since we know that success is a “people” issue and not just a “policy” issue, how do we assist in the stability of Parsons Avenue?