FARMERS MARKET
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Your Community Press newspaper serving Columbia Township, Columbia-Tusculum, Fairfax, Hyde Park, Madisonville, Mariemont, Mt.Lookout, Oakley, Terrace Park Market shoppers stroll the Hyde Park Farmers Market on July 4.
Volume 75 Number 30 © 2010 The Community Press ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
E-mail: easternhills@communitypress.com We d n e s d a y, S e p t e m b e r
1, 2010
JOURNAL Web site: communitypress.com
B E C A U S E C O M M U N I T Y M AT T E R S
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Grant to help control cats
Madisonville residents can get animals fixed at low cost
By Forrest Sellers
fsellers@communitypress.com
Unique restaurant
Columbia Township’s newest bar and restaurant is unlike any in the township, or the Greater Cincinnati area. Hahana Beach, located at 7605 Wooster Pike, features a full menu, a full bar and six sand volleyball courts. Brian Polark, partner in Hahana Beach, said the bar and restaurant also plans to host adult volleyball leagues, youth leagues, educational camps and other events on its lighted courts. SEE STORY, A2
Fall festival set
Safety will be an important part of this year’s Fairfax Fall Festival. The festival will be 6 p.m.11 p.m. Friday, Sept. 10, and 5 p.m.-11 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 11, at the Fairfax Recreation Center, 5903 Hawthorne Ave. The Little Miami Joint Fire and Rescue District will have a booth as well as a demonstration. SEE STORY, A3
Back to school
After a long summer break, students in the Mariemont City School District returned to their classrooms on Aug. 25. SEE PHOTOS, A5
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A grant may help reduce the cat population in Madisonville. The non-profit Ohio Alleycat Resource and Spay/Neuter Clinic recently received a grant for $23,385 from PetSmart Charities. The clinic will use this grant Cat to provide adoption spaying The Ohio Alleycat and neuterResource and ing services Spay/Neuter Clinic at a not only provides a reduced spaying and cost. neutering service, Charbut it also has cats lotte Whiteavailable for Hull, develadoption. opment and For information outreach and to see photos of director at the cats, visit the the clinic, website www. said Madisohioalleycat.org onville has one of the highest concentrations of roaming cats in the Cincinnati area. She said an estimated 1,500 cats in the area are not spayed or neutered. “(The clinic) provides a spay and neuter service to help anyone who hasn’t been able to get a cat fixed because of financial, transportation or scheduling issues,” said White-Hull. She said the clinic, which has a fully-licensed veterinary staff, can treat 9,600 cats a year. White-Hull said residents can use this service not only for their pets, but also for stray or feral cats. “We’re here to help people who help cats,” she said. The cost for Madisonville residents to have a cat spayed or
FORREST SELLERS/STAFF
Volunteer Kathy Schwartz makes friends with a cat named Cassie at the Ohio Alleycat Resource and Spay/Neuter Clinic in Madisonville. A recent grant will allow the clinic to provide spaying and neutering services at a lower cost. neutered is $12. The service had previously cost $45. The clinic is open to anyone in the Tristate, but the discount, which will continue for several months, will only be offered to Madisonville residents.
Mount Lookout resident Kathy Schwartz, a volunteer at the clinic, said spaying a cat can help alleviate what could be a bigger problem later on. “It’s far easier for us to spay and neuter a cat before it has
babies than it is to find a home for a litter of unwanted kittens,” she said. For information or to schedule an appointment, call 871-0185 or visit the website www.ohioalleycat.org.
Roundabout end-around in Mariemont By Lisa Wakeland lwakeland@communitypress.com
Several Mariemont council members are trying to jump-start the discussion on a proposed roundabout for the six-way intersection at the village’s northern border with Columbia Township. Previous attempts to schedule a meeting on the roundabout were unsuccessful, but now Mariemont Village Council’s Public Works Committee will take up the issue rather than waiting for the Committee of the Whole. “We just wanted to get it out there because there is so much community interest,” said Public Works Committee Chairwoman Kim Sullivan. Columbia Township proposed a constructing a roundabout – a circular junction in which traffic travels in one direction around a center island – at the intersection of Plainville and Madisonville roads and Murray Avenue, but township officials need
Mariemont’s approval to move forward. Mariemont Village Council first talked about the roundabout proposal in May and it was assigned to the Committee of the Whole in June. Councilman and Committee of the Whole Chairman Dennis Wolter said he wanted to know how much the roundabout would cost Mariemont before he set a meeting date to discuss the issue. Wolter added that addressing speeding concerns and safety issues for residents on the north side of the village was his top priority. “I don’t see a safety issue in (the six-way) intersection, and so, because of that, I’m not going to put (the roundabout) ahead of getting this issue solved with the streets,” he said. Councilman Cortney Scheeser, who has been gathering data on roundabouts and pushing for a meeting for months, said talking with Columbia Township officials
Video
Drivers have expressed frustration about the six-way intersection that straddles Columbia Township and Mariemont, particularly during morning and evening rush hours. To see what the typical traffic is like at the intersection, visit Cincinnati.com/mariemont and click on this story.
Meeting
The Mariemont Village Council Public Works Committee plans to discuss the proposed roundabout at the six-way intersection of Plainville and Madisonville roads, and Murray Avenue within one month. No meeting date has been set yet. Check mariemont.org for updates. on the issue will likely lead to more specificity on costs and land area needed for the roundabout to work. Columbia Township Administrator Michael Lemon said the early cost estimate for the round-
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about is $2.7 million and that would likely come down with more detailed plans. Lemon added that the township would apply for grants to help with funding. Mariemont resident Lisa Woodruff said she dreads going through the six-way intersection as it is today and said the roundabout will ease drivers’ frustrations. “Right now it’s a nightmare. You practically have to honk your way through,” Woodruff said. “Any solution will be better in the morning because everyone is in a rush.” Liz Saliba, who lives in the Madison Place neighborhood of Columbia Township, said she’s seen many near accidents at the intersection and the rush to get through the intersection can lead to unsafe driving practices. “It’s congested and a mess,” Saliba said of the current intersection, adding that the proposed roundabout would be worthy investment of taxpayers’ money.
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