July 14, 2011
Northland Community Council
Development panel termed vital to efforts By KEVIN PARKS ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Key leaders with the Northland Community Council once again last week implored civic association representatives to find someone from their ranks willing to help shape the future of the community. President Dave Paul, vice president
Emmanuel V. Remy and community outreach and relations committee chairman Brandon L. Boos all reiterated pleas at the council’s July meeting for increased participation in the development panel’s monthly sessions. “If your association wants to have a say in what happens in Northland, the development committee is the way to do it,” Boos said.
“Figure out a way to have representation at that meeting,” Remy urged. “It is very important,” Paul offered. At the NCC’s May 3 meeting, Paul sought to improve development committee attendance by emphasizing how vital its workings are to maintaining property values and preserving the quality of life in the Northland area. Only seven out of more than 20 civic associ-
ations were represented at the April development panel gathering. “That really isn’t a good thing,” Paul said on May 3. The May 25 development committee meeting included a sort of pep talk from former NCC president Mark Bell and had several substantial items on the agenda. Once again, only seven voting mem-
bers were on hand. Paul and Remy both expressed keen disappointment at that turnout during the June session of the full NCC. “This is the single most important thing we do as Northland Community Council,” Remy said on June 7. “This decides the future of our community.”
Checks on code calls are 3 weeks behind
Volunteers get close look at dogs’life in shelter
Supervisor hopes to add another officer to ranks
By JENNIFER NESBITT ThisWeek Community Newspapers
By KEVIN PARKS ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Columbus has four code enforcement officers covering a wide swath of the North Side, stretching from New Albany to Sawmill and including all of the Northland area as well as Clintonville. “I could keep three more busy,” their supervisor, Andrew J. Baumann, said during a presentation at last week’s monthly meeting of the Northland Community Council. That’s not going to happen, Baumann admitted, but in his opening remarks, he said he is hoping to have one additional code enforcement officer assigned to him in the near future. One of the things that is keeping existing code enforcement personnel occupied, and could fill the work hours of several more, is checking into complaints regarding vacant homes, he told NCC members. Columbus probably has somewhere between 5,600 and 6,000 vacant homes, Baumann said. “A lot of houses, people just walk away from them,” he said. When the grass and weeds grow tall and these abandoned structures fall into disrepair, it can sometimes be difficult to track down See RESPONSE, page A2
Plan update
Council president to seek ‘core group’ By KEVIN PARKS ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Northland Community Council president Dave Paul last week called on representatives of member organizations to find someone in their neighborhoods willing to make a commitment to become thoroughly involved in updating a plan for the area. Although ultimately the business and faithbased communities, as well as the myriad other groups that make up Northland’s population, will be drawn into the process, Paul said last week that NCC representatives will be called upon to form an important core group in speaking up for the interests of residents. On June 23, Paul signed a planning services agreement with the city to inaugurate the process for revamping a development plan for what is termed “traditional Northland,” generally the subdivisions within the Outerbelt. This would take the place of Northland Plan
See DEVELOPMENT, page A2
By Eric George/ThisWeek
(Above) Katie Stenman sits in a kennel with Poet on July 9. Stenman, along with other staff members and volunteers, spent 24 hours living in the dog kennels of the CHA Animal Shelter to bring attention to the longterm adoptees on hand. (Below) Director Stephanie Wimbish plays with Benson and his treat while sharing his cage.
It was 6 p.m. on a Saturday and Stephanie Wimbish had been walked twice, let out for a playgroup, been fed breakfast and lunch, and saw a steady stream of faces peering into her cage. Wimbish, CHA Animal Shelter director, was one of several volunteers who spent 24 hours sharing a cage with a shelter dog July 9 as part of an event dubbed “Trading Spaces.” The volunteers ate when the dogs ate, went for walks when the dogs walked and played when the dogs played. “The purpose was to bring attention to the long-term animals,” she said. “Not everyone gets adopted in one or two days. Sometimes it takes months.” Wimbish’s cage mate, for example, was a 2-and-a-half-year-old boxer mix named Benson who has been at the shelter for three months. “Dogs get overlooked when they’ve been in a shelter for a certain amount of time,” Wimbish said. “I think there’s a perception that if they’ve been in a shelter for awhile, there’s something wrong with them.” She said that perception couldn’t be further from the truth. “It means (the people who pass the animals by) are missing out,” she said. Sharing space with the animals for 24 hours also gave the volunteers insight into what it’s like to be locked in the cage for the majority of the day like the animals are. Wimbish said she was amazed by how quickly she longed for people to come and talk to her and how exciting it was when those looking to adopt an animal came through the shelter. “We can’t believe how happy we are when people come talk to us,” Wimbish said. “I’m sure by (the time this is over), I’ll be spinning in circles and jumping.” Volunteer Katie Stenman shared a cage with 5-and-a-half-year-old Poet, who has been at CHA for six months after living in another shelter for two years. She said she, too, was surprised at how exciting it was when people came to let her out of her cage. She said she also learned how intrusive it seems when people come and stick their fingers into the cage to pet the dogs, something she said she often does. “I think I’m being sweet, and when I’m in here, it’s kind of annoying,” she said. Volunteer Jamie Orebaugh said staying in the cages with the dogs is a reminder of what social animals See CHA, page A2
See COUNCIL PRESIDENT, page A3