Explanation
This legislation authorizes and directs the Division of Neighborhood Services to enter into an agreement with Homes on the Hill CDC to support the Hilltop Neighborhood Safety Program. The Hilltop suffers from many of the challenges of similarly situated urban transitional neighborhoods. The historically active business strip along West Broad Street is being hurt by newer shopping facilities and other retail establishments further west and in the suburbs. Vacant and dilapidated buildings abound, and there are pockets of concentrated poverty existing throughout the community.
Homes on the Hill CDC has been working in conjunction with the Greater Hilltop Area Commission, the Columbus Division of Police, Community Crime Patrol, and City Code Enforcement in an effort to define the problem and formulate a solution. Out of the discussion came many safety initiatives that will be carried out by Homes on the Hill CDC including:
Hilltop Ambassadors: This project seeks to improve the perception and the reality of safety on West Broad Street in the Hilltop. The "Hilltop Ambassadors" program will deploy a pair of patrollers on West Broad Monday through Friday to report suspicious activity to Columbus Police, report code violations to the Department of Development, and offer assistance to individuals seeking to patronize local businesses. The ambassadors, who will be active from May through October, will wear distinctive uniforms as identification. They will patrol the area of West Broad Street between Highland and Hague Avenues. Their work augments the activities of the Community Crime Patrol and, like Downtown Ambassadors, this crew will pick up trash, weed sidewalks, and will be available to help to maintain the planters along West Broad.
Hilltop Community Safety Symposium: In conjunction with the Greater Hilltop Area Commission, Homes on the Hill is planning a community safety forum for the spring. This day-long event will bring together community leaders and residents with community safety experts in an attempt to develop additional strategies to deal with crime in the Hilltop. One potential outcome of this partnership between the Area Commission and Homes on the Hill is a Hilltop Youth Commission. A list of recommendations will be developed at the event that will be presented to the Area Commission and published in the Westside Messenger. These recommendations will serve as a blue print for ongoing safety programming in the Hilltop.
Title
To authorize and direct the appropriation of $50,000.00 within the Public Safety Initiatives Fund; to authorize and direct the Director of Development to enter into an agreement with Homes on the Hill CDC, to support the Hilltop Community Safety Program; to authorize the expenditure of $50,000.00 from the Public Safety Initiatives Fund; and to declare an emergency. ($50,000.00)
Body
WHEREAS, Homes on the Hill CDC (HOTH) is a private nonprofit organization serving the Greater Hilltop area and Southwestern Franklin County through affordable housing development and homeownership education. HOTH was founded in 1992 with a focus on improving housing in the Hilltop, and;
WHEREAS, Economic development and safety on West Broad Street are critically important issues for the Hilltop that HOTH has been committed to, and;
WHEREAS, Homes on the Hill CDC has been working in conjunction with the Greater Hilltop Area Commission, the Columbus Division of Police, Community Crime Patrol, and City Code Enforcement to define and devise solutions to key safety issues in the Hilltop area, and;
WHEREAS, out of those discussions came many safety initiatives that will be carried out by Homes on the Hill CDC including the Hilltop Ambassadors Program, the Hilltop Community Safety Symposium, and the update of the Neighborhood Safety and Resource Guide, and;
WHEREAS, these projects seek to establish partnerships that are not only geared toward crime and safety, but that also enhance economic and neighborhood development as well as promote neighborhood beautification, and;
WHEREAS, because of the wide-ranging impacts of these programs, including public safety concerns, Councilmember Michael C. Mentel sponsors this legislation and deems it an appropriate use of a portion of the $2 million Public Safety Initiatives Fund created by Council in its 2005 budget amendments, and;
WHEREAS, an emergency exists in the usual daily operation of the City, in that it is immediately necessary to support Homes on the Hill programming for the immediate preservation of the public health, peace, property, safety and welfare; now, therefore,
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS
SECTION 1. That the City Auditor is hereby authorized to appropriate $50,000.00 within the Public Safety Initiatives Fund, 016, to the Division of Neighborhood Services, Department 44-05, OL1 03, OL3 3337, OCA 440280
SECTION 2. That the Development Director be and is hereby authorized and directed to enter into agreement with Homes on the Hill, CDC, to support the Hilltop Community Safety Program, and to expend $50,000.00 for said purpose from the Public Safety Initiatives Fund, Fund 016, Division of Neighborhood Services No. 44-05, Object Level One 03, Object Level Three 3337, OCA 440280
SECTION 3. That this contract is awarded pursuant to Section 329.15 of theColumbus
City Codes, 1959, as amended.
SECTION 4. That for reasons stated in the preamble hereto, which is hereby made a part hereof, this ordinance is hereby declared an emergency measure and shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and approval by the Mayor, or ten days after passage if the Mayor neither approves nor vetoes the same