March 17, 2011
City’s best card trumped by AOL sale When Tree of Life bought property, UA lost its chance to land Bob Evans By ANDREW MILLER ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Now that the news is public that the Bob Evans Farms headquarters is moving to New Albany, Upper Arlington city officials have revealed that they were aggressively courting the company to pur-
chase the former AOL/Time Warner building at 5000 Arlington Centre Blvd. Tree of Life Christian Schools purchased the property in August, ending negotiations between the city and Bob Evans Farms. “Once Tree of Life moved ahead on the property, we weren’t able to contin-
ue talks with Bob Evans or any other potential commercial users,” said Emma Speight, deputy city manager for community affairs. “We have limited commercial space to offer, so this was a disappointment. Our zoning is meant to preserve the integrity of the community — which includes the financial integrity.”
According to Speight, about 90 percent of the city is zoned for residential use — the appropriate zoning for a school. The city advised Tree of Life to use the rezoning process prior to the purchase of the property. After failed attempts by Tree of Life to obtain a conditional use permit, a fed-
See SALE, page A2
Board agrees to extend UAEA contract a year
Council may ON THE RUN allow alcohol to be served at Sunny 95 Park’s barn
By KATE HETRICK
UAEA for their willingness to negotiate in “a mutually respectful and civilized manner.” The Upper Arlington Board of “We make these decisions beEducation agreed March 14 to ex- cause it’s all about our true north, tend the district’s current negoti- which is the children in the ated contract with the Upper Ar- schools,” she said. “We really belington Education Association for lieve that what we’re doing is in one additional year. the best interest of the children.” “The district has been in disThe motion was approved unancussion with the UAEA for the imously, with board member last three months, regarding ex- William Catalano abstaining. tending the current negotiated conDuring the public participation tract for one additional year, for portion of the meeting, Kathryn 2012,” said disSmith-Ripper, a trict treasurer Anof These are tough representative drew Geistfeld. UA KID (Kids “Earlier this times. Education is on Identified with month, the assothe front page. We all Dyslexia), adciation approved the sort of have a target dressed foregoing a raise board. on our backs. in calendar year She voiced 2012 and to defer concern that the any experience DR. JEFFREY WEAVER district is failing step increases its “most vul— superintendent from August 2011 nerable populato January 2012.” tion of children” by not providGeistfeld said the provisions of ing intervention services for chilthe contract will save the district dren with dyslexia. approximately $1.7-million acSmith-Ripper said UA KID had cording to the current five-year learned that the contract for Melisforecast. sa Gordon, director of interven“These are tough times. Edu- tion services, was on the board’s cation is on the front page. We all agenda for that evening. sort of have a target on our backs,” “We would like to formally state said superintendent Dr. Jeffrey our opposition to (Gordon’s) conWeaver. tinued contract, and to at least “Our teachers stepped up to the argue that you shorten the time plate and were counted in ex- period or impose a work plan on tending the contract, making a her contract,” Smith-Ripper said. concession and saying that they “The state of our intervention too will share in what makes this services is so abysmal with regard district so good, that whenever to dyslexia that there needs to be something needs to be done, our focused evaluation and performstaff steps up and does it.” ance measurement with regard to Board president Marjory Pizzuti thanked the members of the See BOARD, page A2 ThisWeek Community Newspapers
By CHRIS BOURNEA ThisWeek Community Newspapers
The city of Upper Arlington is considering the possibility of allowing alcohol to be served at events at Sunny 95 Park’s barn when the facility officially opens this summer. Upper Arlington City Council members and city officials discussed the issue at the March 14 council meeting. Parks and recreation director Tim Moloney said he researched how neighboring municipalities such as Columbus and Dublin have handled alcohol at park facilities. Moloney said Columbus has been able to increase revenue at its downtown North Bank Park shelter house by allowing patrons to reserve the facility at a premium rate and serve alcohol by caterers approved by the city. The caterers are only allowed to serve alcohol, not to sell it, he said. “There can be no cash bar and no ticketing,” Moloney said. “There can’t even be a tip jar on the bar during the event.” Moloney said a similar policy could work for the Sunny 95 barn. “Our goal is to have a list of preferred caterers in a wide variety of price ranges,” Moloney said. The city could also allow patrons to select their own caterers as long as they follow a process to have them approved by the city, he added. Council gave city attorney Jeanine Hummer the go-ahead to draft legislation allowing alcohol service at the barn. The legislation will come before council at an as-yet-to-be-determined point in the near future. Council members said they would like to limit alcohol service to the Sunny 95 barn and see how that goes before expanding to other park facilities. Council also indicated it would be willing to allow
eral discrimination case based on the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act was filed in January by attorneys from the Alliance Defense Fund, an alliance of Christian attorneys focused on protection of religious rights, repre-
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By Lorrie Cecil/ThisWeek
Yeji Kim, 6, tries to stay ahead of her father, Sanghyun Kim, as the two take turns riding a scooter down the sidewalk in front of their home on March 15.
See COUNCIL, page A2
End of an era
Ben Cason retires asThisWeek executive editor By JEFF DONAHUE ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Friday, March 18, marks the end of an era at ThisWeek Community Newspapers. Late that afternoon, vice president and executive editor Ben Cason will shut down his computer, gather his cell phone and coat and quietly stroll out of the newsroom the way he has every week since 1993. However, come Monday morning, for the first
time in 18 years, he won’t be leading a newsroom discussion on politics or the NCAA basketball tournament. Cason announced his retirement to ThisWeek staffers March 11, concluding a career that spanned the height of the Ben Cason Watergate era as an editor at The Washington Post to building one of the nation’s most respected community newspaper or-
ganizations. Under Cason’s leadership, ThisWeek Community Newspapers have won hundreds of state, regional and national awards for journalistic excellence. More importantly, general manager Stephen Zonars said, Cason won the loyalty of hundreds of thousands of central Ohio readers. “Ben has been the heartbeat of ThisWeek Community Newspapers for 18 years, and his contributions are immeasurable,” Zonars said. “On his watch, the readership of our papers has grown by
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more than 200,000 people, which may be the most honest reflection of how valuable the public finds our coverage, which is the product of Ben’s leadership in the newsroom.” Zonars said Cason’s legacy is the team of journalists he has assembled at ThisWeek. “We are indebted to Ben for attracting bright and passionate reporters and editors who share his love of community news and sports, and to
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