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Oakley Community Council – Election 2011

The Oakley Community Council (“OCC”) is having its annual trustee elections at our regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, December 6, 2011, at 7:00 p.m. at the Oakley Recreation Center. 

There are five open board positions this year.  The top four vote getters will sit for a three year term and the fifth vote getter will sit for the one year balance of a previously vacated trustee position.

In order to vote, you must meet the following criteria: (1) an adult resident over 18 years of age, a real property owner, or a business owner in the Oakley neighborhood; and (2) membership dues are paid in full.  If you cast a ballot and you do not meet the foregoing criteria, your vote will not be counted. 

If you cannot attend the meeting on Tuesday, December 6, 2011, please return the below ballot to Oakley Community Council, c/o President, P.O. Box 9244, Cincinnati, Ohio 45209.  Ballots must be received by 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 6, 2011, or they will not be counted.  

Please read the statements of the following individuals who have been nominated for the five open positions.  Please note that write-in candidates are welcome so long as they are a member of the OCC and have attended three (3) organizational meetings of the OCC.

Brandon Reynolds

Oakley is the best neighborhood in Cincinnati.

Our residents, businesses and parks are what make Oakley a great place to live and work and  I saw our sense of community when I organized Oakley’s participation in the Great American Cleanup when businesses and residents worked together on a rainy Saturday picking up litter to keep our neighborhood beautiful.

I want to do my part to help make Oakley even better. I want to attract and keep local businesses in Oakley, I’m concerned about traffic problems and its safety effects, and I want to help make our neighborhood even more “livable” by organizing more community wide efforts like the cleanup.

Professionally, I’m a design engineer at GE Aviation and would bring those problem solving and leadership skills to the council.  I am committed to giving back to the community, and with several years of volunteer experience at the Cincinnati Zoo and two local schools as well as occasional volunteer opportunities at organizations such as the Free Store Foodbank, People Working Cooperatively and others, I look forward to serving our community in whatever capacity I can.  

Jeanne Savona

I was born at The Christ Hospital in Cincinnati and grew up in Warren Co. and graduated from Goshen High School.  After attending college at The Ohio State University, my vocation in social services took me to Upstate New York for many years.  My last position was that of Deputy Executive Director for a large agency serving adults with developmental disabilities and mental illness for twenty seven years.  In that capacity I served on and worked with many not for profit Boards and community based operations.

Upon my retirement my husband, Tom, and I returned to Cincinnati and moved to the Oakley area.  I had deep roots here and had spent many happy hours in Oakley where several of my aunts, uncles and cousins lived.  My father, grandfather and great grandfather were born in the Walnut Hills area and later my grandfather moved to Fairfax where he served as a trustee of Columbia TSP for many years.  My father, Lincoln Hurst was the Superintendent of the Loveland School District for nearly thirty years.  In recent years my son, Mark Sheldon, his wife and two sons came to this area and being close to them was very important to me.

I strongly believe in service to one’s community and early in 2010 I joined the Oakley Community Council as a member and the experience has been very gratifying.  I wish to continue that experience as a member of the Board and I will do my best for the people and community of Oakley.

Dan Bennie

I have been a member of the Oakley Community Council Board since January, 2005.  Working with current and former OCC Board Members, I have updated the OCC By-Laws (2005); implemented “Final Fridays in Oakley” now known as “Oakley After Hours”; interacted with City Representatives and NBDU for funding and support of various projects affecting our community; planning and implementation of Madison Road streetscape and Esplanade improvements, Madison Road safety improvements; funding and construction of community walking path at the Oakley Fields; interaction with City Planning Commission and City Council promoting benefits of Kennedy Connector and Oakley Station; and, drafting and presenting support information to City Council on issues affecting the Oakley Community. 

I believe that Oakley is unique in many respects, including the fact that the residents and businesses have been able to work together to improve the quality of life in our community.  I promise to continue that cooperative effort.  My law firm is located on Madison Road serving individual and business clientele and proud to be part of the Oakley Community.

Craig Rozen

My name is Craig Rozen and I’m currently a Trustee of the Oakley Community Council seeking re-election.   A resident of the Oakley Park Sub-Division, I’m the father of two boys, Magnus, 6 and Matias, 3 while being married for 17 years. 

I believe one should be a strong supporter of their community.  A few examples of my community service include Sands Montessori LSDMC Parent Representative, as an advocate for Eastern Corridor Citizen Advocacy Committee and Parents for Hyde Park School.  I support Ronald McDonald House, organizing volunteer activities 4x a year and I’m a Rockldale Religious School Board Member.  Having worked with the Cincinnati Public School Board on various matters, I accepted the role as Campaign Finance Director for their Levy, Issue 32, knowing it would be a challenging campaign.

Since becoming Trustee of the Oakley Community Council, I’ve actively sought to improve the quality of life for Oakley residents, businesses and property owners.  This has included, but not limited to, Co-Chairing Oakley Traffic, Safety and Pedestrian Friendliness Committee, implementing a new Membership Initiative, working to save the Oakley Train Station and seeking new Fundraising Programs to offset City budget cuts to Community Councils.   I’m honored to receive your vote!

Vince Schirmer

I am retired from our family-owned business, Schirmer’s Garage, where my son still services the community.  I own several properties in Oakley and have a vested interest in the community.  I have been an active member of Oakley Community Council since its origination and am concerned about the direction Oakley is going in.

Tim Langmeyer

I have lived in Oakley Park Sub-division since 1997.  Although I love the growth and maturation of our business district, I believe Oakley’s biggest resource is the people and the individual communities.  In 2010, when I felt the city was ignoring the families of Oakley, I joined a small group of residents to take our concerns to Cincinnati City Council.  I helped garner over 500 signatures supporting a change of direction and spoke at three City Council meetings on behalf of our community.  Although the results were not exactly as we had hoped, we gained their attention and residents are now part of city planning on all future development in Oakley.  The DOTE now works directly with the Oakley homeowners on projects because of our efforts.  I believe we know our neighborhood better than those who don’t live here.  I also know how vital Oakley’s success is to the future of Cincinnati as a whole.  I want to become a part of the OCC in order to make sure the needs and wants of Oakley residents are always taken into consideration in conjunction with our community’s development.  I want Oakley to maintain the character that made us all move here.

Piper Fennimore

What an honor to be nominated to run for community council...

My name is Piper Fennimore and I am a new resident to Oakley as well as a business owner, with a passion for community...Oakley has the perfect mix of what every great community needs...  streets lined with charming houses...neighbors who join together to foster community spirit...businesses that are owner operated who thrive on community support...

I grew up in a small town and am drawn to that small-town feel Oakley resonates. Each project I've contributed to from the restoration of the 20th C. Theater tower, the Oakley Holiday Celebration, Producing 5 seasons of Pipsqueak Theater Family events, spearheading The Ball On The Square New Years Eve Celebration, and currently creating Bubbles & Breakfast Café... all have the common thread of Community. It has been my goal since I've moved to this fantastic suburb of Cincinnati and have invested my livelihood in Oakley, to do all I can to further, what you as the community have already begun, foster Pride in Oakley...

My commitment to the Oakley community is to continue fostering an atmosphere where businesses look forward to joining our community and residence' continue to show community pride.  Thank you for your vote...

Tom Frey

I am Tom Frey and will be running for the Oakley Community Council “OCC” on Tuesday, December 6, 2011.  I have been a lifelong resident of Cincinnati for 37 years. My parents still live in my childhood home in Oakley, a few houses down from where I reside with my family on the corner of Millsbrae and Madison Road. 

I am a well-rounded person, an entrepreneur, therefore pro business and most importantly, a very strong supporter of safety initiatives.  In addition to knowing my various neighbors and long-standing ties to the community, I will bring a strong back ground in business, construction and safety, all of which the residents of Oakley deserve.  

Why vote for me, because Oakley is the currently in the cross-hairs of development coming from Norwood and the new Oakley Station.  I have been instrumental in the “Save Oakley Near Rookwood” campaign and have helped the group align with the Oakley Community Council’s “Traffic, Safety and Pedestrian Friendliness Committee”.  Likewise, I have also been an advocate for the “Oakley Crime and Reporting Program”.   I would appreciate your vote!

Pedestrian Bridge for Oakley Station

Concerns have been raised about the Oakley Station development being isolated from the rest of the community, so an idea to build a pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks at Enyart Ave will be explored and discussed at the next Oakley Community Council (OCC) meeting.  OCC wants to understand the community’s interest and concerns, so please plan to attend the next meeting September 6th at 7:00pm.  For more details you can read, Pedestrian Bridge Interest(Link coming soon). 

2011 Oakley Community Council Membership Initiative

It is time to start thinking about renewing your membership to the Oakley Community Council.  New members or those whose renewal has lapsed in 2011 will receive 2 free months if join or renew by September 30th, 2011or 1 free month by Oct. 31st 2011. More details about membership can be found in the 2011 Membership Initiative document.   Also, attached is the membership renewal  form.

Free Tree’s Available – Cincinnati Parks 2011 ReLeaf Program

Thanks to grants from Duke Energy and the Cincinnati Parks Foundation, 550 trees will be distributed free of charge to residents and property owners within the City of Cincinnati.  Information about qualifying for the program and sign-up forms can be found at the 2011 Fall ReLeaf Program (click on link) website.  To apply for a free tree, property owners must submit a tree request form to the Park Board Urban Forestry Division by Friday September 23, 2011.

Just in case you need the link http://www.cincyparks.com/about-us/newsroom/2011-fall-releaf-program-get-your-free-trees.shtml

Water Damage Closes Ridge Road Entrance to I-71 South 

Oakley Community Council Board Elections Process Under Review

At the May OCC meeting the process to elect OCC board members will be reviewed.  A sub-committee consisting of Oakley residents and an OCC board member was formed to review the elections process and investigate other community council election processes and to make recommendations to the OCC board.  Please review the attached document to review the recommendations of this sub-committee.  The community is welcome to come and provide input to the recommendations.

Former Millworks development now known as Oakley Station is proceeding

At the March 1st Oakley Community Council meeting, representatives from Vandercar Holdings and the design firm Reztark presented updated plans for the site formerly known as "Millworks".  A refined concept was presented for the site with a request to call the development "Oakley Station" in the future. As stated previously, the plan calls for the development to be a mixed use development including a movie theater, apartments, office, retail, and restaurant.  

Click the image for larger version (PDF)

The Oakley Community Council continues to support the project and is pushing for the design to be more family and pedestrian friendly. Oakley Community Council invites the community and residents to upcoming meetings reviewing the Oakley Station plans. The meetings will allow the community to ask questions and provide feedback on the development.

On March 8th at 6:30PM at the Oakley Community Center, a meeting is scheduled with CleanOhioFund to discuss Oakley Station clean-up direction. The site's historical industrial use  will require a major environmental clean-up before any new development can proceed.  This meeting is to present what the clean-up of the site will entail and allow the community to ask any questions or raise concerns.

On April 1st at 9AM at City Hall, the development is being reviewed by the City of Cincinnati development and planning commission.  Public comment is welcomed during the meeting.

If you are unable to attend either meeting, you are welcome to attend the next Oakley Community Council meeting on April 5th to get a summary of the progress.

Minot Vehicle Classification Study

     Read the article about this in the Community Press here

 The reports from the city;

    Minot Class 2010 PDF

    Minot Class.PDF

New Plan for 'Millworks' Site

At the December 7th Oakley Community Council, representatives from Vandercar Holdings presented plans for a new development at the 75-acre site formerly known as Millworks.  The new plans call for: a movie theater, around 200 apartments, 400,000 square feet of retail and 250,000 square feet of commercial use.  The project will cost roughly $120 million and will require some project-based tax-increment financing for public improvements.  The developers will also be requesting funds through the Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund. 

The Oakley Community Council unanimously passed a motion to support the concept plan at the December 7th meeting. 

A development plan will be introduced to the City's Finance and Budget Committee next Monday.  Should the development plan pass City Council, the Community will have several opportunities to weigh in on specific aspects of the development - like zoning, traffic and land-use - before the plan proceeds.

If you have any questions or comments about the project, please let us know by email at oakleycouncil@oakleynow.com. 

October Update: "Getting closer"

Square
Here's the good news part: the Square is nearing completion.  By November 1st (only 3 weeks away) we expect everything outside of the Geier Esplanade to be 100% complete.  At that point, there will be no more heavy equipment around the Square and all lanes of traffic will be open in all directions.  The streets will be repaved/re-striped, and all work in the sidewalks will be finished.  Some work will take place within the Esplanade in November to finish creating the new park, but it won't affect traffic and it won't take large equipment.  The Oakley Community Council is working on trying to get another Oakley After Hours type event added for probably the first weekend of December to celebrate the Square's 100% completion and to encourage people to come back to Oakley to do their holiday shopping--more info on that to come from the OCC soon.  The important thing is that there should be no more equipment or traffic cogs after November 1st.

Water Mains
There's no better way to say this other than that the water main has failed numerous tests and continues to be a frustrating challenge for Water Works, the private contractors doing the work, and everyone involved.  The 48" main is installed at this point, but when pressure tests are conducted it keeps failing in different areas between the RR overpass and Ridge.  When it fails, they go through a very sophisticated method of trying to identify the subterranean leak then it is dug up and re-welded, and we go through the process again.  Needless to say, this has been pretty frustrating.  We've heard from many of you concerning how businesses have struggled through a tough economy and then having construction layered on top is only making things worse. 

So here's another bit of good news.  Rather than continuing this process, the crews are already in the process of pulling the equipment off the road and clearing out to give the businesses a break through the upcoming holidays. Water Works engineers have removed sections of the pipes that are having trouble and are doing various testing of the integrity of the materials and taking numerous measurements to try to pinpoint what is causing the problem rather than just digging endless holes and fixing each joint individually.  The plan is that once they find the cause of the problems that they can send someone underground inside the 48" pipe and correct it from the inside rather than digging holes and continually disrupting traffic throughout the area.  This would allow them to finish most of the 48" main work during Nov/Dec from inside the pipes underground without disrupting traffic or businesses.  So over the next week they're going to be finishing a couple items and then pull everything off entirely by Friday.  There's a chance they may need to grab one more section of pipe for testing later in October(between Brotherton & RR for a day or two), otherwise everything should be clear and all traffic lanes open.

Overall Project Timing
The schedule has been thrown off because of problems with this large main.  Although things are still in flux, it is important to get best estimates out to help everyone see what we're looking at.  So here are the big milestones:

- Oct 15th: Water main equipment removed and all lanes re-opened
- Nov 1: Square complete
- Nov 30: Esplanade park complete
- Jan-April: Remaining water main work (this is mainly on the 16" which won't be nearly as disruptive)
- April-Sept: Streetscape improvements from Brotherton to railroad overpass.
Sept 2011: Completion of Phase III

The Oakley community Council is deep in discussions with the Cincinnati Recreation Commission on how to improve our park.  Currently, the park boasts a public pool, tennis and Basketball courts and a play area for the kids.  We would like to hear what you would like to see added or improved, let us know and we'll forward it on to the developers!

What Happened to the Trees?

It's been a long, hot summer and the construction on Madison Rd and the Square has been trying for residents and businesses alike.  The good news is that our patience will be rewarded with a vastly improved Oakley Square and business district.  Still, we've been getting a lot of questions, but probably the most frequent one lately is, "what happened to the trees on the Esplanade?"

Well, that one concerned us too, and some on our Board initially resisted the idea of taking them down.  However, the Cincinnati Park Board, who controls and maintains the Esplanade (and has done a fine job!), was rather insistent that the old ginkgos had become too large for the space and were becoming a maintenance problem.  In fact, storms had inflicted some damage, and one recently even snapped in half. Additionally, when these trees were planted in the early 1950s, they were all male trees.  What difference does that make?  Ginkgos have the unfortunate tendency to change gender in order to propagate themselves, and many of them had become females which produce a fruit that drops all over the place and creates a smelly mess.

So, while big, nice trees are something to be treasured (my neighbors and I just chased off the Duke Energy tree butchers last weekend!), we conceded to the Park Board's desires in this instance.

Rest assured that new trees will be planted on the Esplanade, and while it was not the original plan, they will in fact be ginkgos again.  Apparently, they've developed a ginkgo hybrid that won't change gender, making it more suitable for urban parks.

Courtesy of the Cincinnati Police department Website.  Visit it at http://cincinnati-oh.gov

Latest Traffic and Pedestrian Safety Drawings

Many of you know many Residents, Business Owners, and OCC Board Members have been working for years on fundraising and planning for the Center Business District in Oakley and around the square.

Well, here's and update.  Check out the latest drawings and plans for the project.  We hope to start to see some activity very soon! 

Here are the drawing links:

Oakley square base-1.pdf

Oakley square base-2.pdf

Oakley square base-3.pdf

We are very excited about the new changes and continue to work on ways to improve our community.  We are always looking for people who are interested in helping keep Oakley the best community in the city and beyond.

Kennedy Connector Proposed Routing Change

Anyone who resides, works or visits the Oakley North area of this community is concerned about the proposed roadway known as the Kennedy Connector.  This roadway will connect the current shopping area of Center of Cincinnati and the proposed developments of Mid Town Centre and Millworks more directly to I-71. Up until mid November the City of Cincinnati’s Department of Transportation and Engineering was proposing to widen Ibsen Avenue from the Center of Cincinnati across Ridge Road through the former Precision Industrial manufacturing site to Kennedy Avenue. 8read more

Oakley Recreation Center master plan gets Nod from the City!
A full year of work from resident volunteers, City Employees and community leaders has resulted in the initial approval of the improvement plan. Learn more about the planned improvement including Improved Lighted Walking Trail, Expanded Oakley Community Center, New "Splash" pool, outdoor performance amphitheatre... and more.
8read more

Oakley Attorneys Receive Honors!

Three attorneys at the firm received "Super Lawyer" status! "Super Lawyer" status!
8read more

Cincinnati Neighborhood Business Districts United Awards Grant to Oakley Community

After months of planning and meetings, on June 8, 2007 the Oakley Business District Advisory Committee (OBDAC) submitted an application requesting the approval of $600,000 for the community of Oakley to provide traffic and safety improvements to Oakley Square. On July 27, 2007 the OBDAC received information that the request for $600,000 has been awarded to the Oakley neighborhood. The OBDAC committee,
chaired by Skip Allen of Allen Builders, is represented by business owners, property owners, members of the Oakley Community Council and Oakley residents.

the Oakley Eye Associates around the corner to Isabella. d the corner to Isabella.

Click Here for a PDF version of the PowerPoint Presentation

Oakley's the Best!  Really!

Voted one of the top 5 Best Neighborhoods

In the latest Cincinnati Magazine Oakley receives the honor of being one of the top 5 best neighborhoods in Cincinnati!  Get your copy and read more about why Oakley has resin to the top.  Show you Oakley Pride, let people know where your home or business is, OAKLEY!  The best place to live!

CRC Update!
Check out our events page to see all that is happening with the Oakley Cincinnati Recreation Commission 8Read More...

Oakley Street Street Scaping
Check out this great Powerpoint Presentation provided by Matt Jones regarding the Oakley Streetscaping project. Learn more about the Advisory Committee and the process involved in this exciting and very important project. (Note you will need Microsoft PowerPoint to view this file)oft PowerPoint to view this file) 8Read More...

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