April 14, 2011
Oakland Avenue plans in final stage By ALAN FROMAN ThisWeek Community Newspapers Final plans are being made for the upcoming Oakland Avenue improvement project. A pre-construction meeting has been held and a block meeting with residents was scheduled for Tuesday, April 12, director of administration/economic development Patrik Bowman reported to Grandview Heights City Council April 4.
Work on the underground utilities will likely begin later this month, Bowman said. The project will not begin in earnest and the street will not be closed until after school is out, he said. Oakland will remain open to local traffic during the project. “Probably the only thing (Oakland Avenue) residents will be concerned about would be some period of time as we pour their driveways they will have to (park) their vehicles elsewhere,” Bow-
man said. As part of the project, the street pavement and curb on Oakland Avenue will receive a total rehabilitation. A new sidewalk will be installed on the residential (west) side of the street and a new multipurpose path will replace the sidewalk on the east side. New water lines will be installed and the storm sewer system will be improved. To address Oakland Avenue residents’ concerns about speeding traffic, a raised crosswalk will be installed to replace
the existing crosswalk at the southernmost driveway to the middle school. A slightly raised intersection island will be installed at the northernmost driveway. “Eventually, when the street is done, there will be parking stalls painted on the east side,” Bowman said. “There will be kind of brick bump-outs in an attempt to narrow” the roadway and help slow down motorists. The contractor has expressed an interest in using a portion of the grass area
between the two schools on Oakland Avenue as part of its staging area, he said. The proposal has been presented to the school district, Bowman said. Council member Steve Gladman said in his discussions with Superintendent Ed O’Reilly, it is his understanding that a benefit of allowing the grass area to be used as a staging area is that the ground would be re-graded and drainage issues would be corrected. See OAKLAND, page A2
GHHS interim principal is impressed with school, district
Raised garden beds available at Wallace Gardens
By ALAN FROMAN ThisWeek Community Newspapers
By ALAN FROMAN ThisWeek Community Newspapers
The Wallace Community Gardens has a new feature this year that may raise the interest of gardeners. Six new raised garden plots have been constructed at the gardens by Grandview Eagle Scout candidate John Menke and his group of volunteers. “For a long time, we’ve had people ask about whether we would be interested in having some raised garden plots at the Wallace Gardens,” said Sean Robey, the city’s parks and recreation director. “We were interested, and when John Menke approached us about the project, it was now something that we could do.” Each of the six raised beds is 8 by 4 feet in size, smaller than the traditional plots at the gardens, Robey said. “The advantage of raised gardens is that there is reduced stress on the back and body of the gardener,” he said. “You don’t have to bend over as much because they’re raised.” Raised garden plots are more accessible for people in wheelchairs or with mobility devices, Robey said. Two of the raised plots will be reserved for applicants who use wheelchairs or whose mobility is otherwise impaired, he said. By Paul Vernon/ThisWeek Another big advantage of a raised garden bed is that there is reduced soil compaction Nancy Kirwin of Grandview takes notes as she listens to resident gardener Tim See RAISED BEDS, page A3 McDermott offer tips about gardening in the Wallace Garden April 10.
Grandview Heights High School’s interim principal has been impressed with what he’s seen of the school, the school district and the community. “If I was an investment person, I would say it has a great upside,” said Scott Stewart, who began his stint as interim principal on April 4. “The students are such a great group of kids, the staff is impressive and the community seems to be so supportive of the school,” he said. “I’ve met most of the teachers at the high school since I got here and probably 80 percent of them used the word “family” talking about the school.” Stewart, who serves in the parttime position of coordinator of the High School Principal’s Resource Network at the Educational Service Center of central Ohio, is serving as interim principal while the district conducts a search for a permanent principal. GHHS principal Jesse Truett resigned March 18, citing health and personal reasons. As coordinator of ESC’s resource network for principals, Stewart oversees a program that offers a variety of services for principals in Franklin, Delaware and Union counties.
Last fall, Stewart said, he visited GHHS to meet with Truett to discuss some issues. Scott During his Stewart first week as interim principal, “I’ve done a lot of listening and learning” about GHHS and the district. Stewart will serve as interim principal through June 17. “As interim principal, my task is to manage the day-to-day operations of the high school,” he said. He will not be involved in longrange planning for the school, Stewart added. Stewart began his career in education as a teacher in the Columbus City Schools system before serving in administrative roles at Columbus Alternative and Gahanna Lincoln high schools. He served as high school principal for three years in Oakwood, Ohio, and for 12 years at New Albany High School, where he worked until his retirement in 2010. New Albany underwent a tremendous amount of growth during his time as principal, Stewart said. See STEWART, page A2
Recent thefts target copper downspouts on houses By ALAN FROMAN ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Grandview residents are falling victim to a growing trend in central Ohio of thieves stealing copper downspouts attached to houses. “It’s fairly new for our jurisdiction, but it’s not new in Columbus and other parts of central Ohio,” Grandview police detective Carol Harper said. Grandview police have received four
reports to stolen downspouts over the last few weeks. “They steal downspouts for the copper,” Harper said. “There’s a pretty good market for copper. It gets a good price at scrap yards.” In previous years, thieves would often steal rolls of copper wire from businesses, she said. “The businesses started to store the rolls in warehouses, so then they started going after air conditioning units,” Harp-
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er said. “Now, all of a sudden, residential downspouts are the trend.” It’s difficult to catch the criminals who steal and sell downspouts, she said. “A lot of these guys have trucks or vans and they just stick a phony business logo on the vehicle,” Harper said. “You see a truck parked at a residence, you can’t always tell whether it’s a legitimate contractor or not.” Scrap yards and other businesses that buy the copper don’t have the time or re-
sources to check every person who comes in with items to sell, she said. A list of people known or suspected of selling stolen goods is distributed to businesses, Harper said. “We can get a lot of help from honest businesses, like Research Alloys here in Grandview,” she said. “They’ve helped us out a number of times. “Unfortunately, not every business is honest like they are,” Harper said. Perhaps the most important aid to catch-
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