2009 Norwood Leaf Picker Schedule

NOVEMBER

1. 2nd Thursday Garbage Route
2. 3rd Thursday Garbage Route
3. 4th Friday Garbage Route
4. 5th Monday Garbage Route
5. 6th Monday Garbage Route

1. 9th Tuesday Garbage Route
2. 10th Wednesday Garbage Route
3. 11th Tuesday Garbage Route
4. 12th Tuesday Garbage Route
5. 13th Tuesday Garbage Route

1. 16th Wednesday Garbage Route
2. 17th Thursday Garbage Route
3. 18th Friday Garbage Route
4. 19th Monday Garbage Route
5. 20th Monday Garbage Route

1. 23rd Tuesday Garbage Route
2. 24th Tuesday Garbage Route
3. 25th Tuesday Garbage Route

1. 30th Tuesday Garbage Route

DECEMBER

1. 1st Tuesday Garbage Route
2. 2nd Wednesday Garbage Route
3. 3rd Wednesday Garbage Route
4. 4th Thursday Garbage Route

1. 7th Friday Garbage Route
2. 8th Friday Garbage Route
3. 9th Tuesday Garbage Route
4. 10th Friday Garbage Route
5. 11th Friday Garbage Route

1. 14th Tuesday Garbage Route

Complaint against Norwood Democratic Party

Jim Stith
1816 Weyer Ave.
Norwood, OH 45212
(513) 531-3747

September 27th, 2009
Ohio Elections Commission
21 West Broad St., Suite 600
Columbus, OH 43215

Complaint and Request for Emergency Hearing Against Members of the Norwood Democratic Party for Unfair Political Campaign Activities

Person Filing Complaint:
James P Stith II
Ward Chair, Norwood Republican Party
1816 Weyer Ave. Norwood, OH 45212
(513) 885-3747

Complaint Made Against:

Joseph C. Geers
Treasurer, The Democratic Party
1901 Tilden Ave. Norwood, OH 45212
(513) 531-1666

Pete Tepe
Candidate for Council at Large
4217 Allison St. Norwood, OH 45212
(513) 631-7655

GordonWilliams
Candidate for Council Ward 2
4004 S. Jefferson Ave. Norwood, OH 45212
Number Unlisted

Joseph Sanker
Council at Large
2510 Indian Mound Ave. Norwood, OH 45212
(513) 396-7677

Cheryl Cole
Candidate for President of Council
3826 Forest Ave. Norwood, OH 45212
(513) 531-1368

David Keszei
Candidate for Council at Large
2251 Glenside Ave. Norwood, OH 45212
(513) 924-0288

Joseph S. Geers
Candidate for Auditor
2353 Kenilworth Ave. Norwood, OH 45212
(513) 531-7456


The above mentioned members of the Norwood Democratic Party were involved in the production of or benefited from false and misleading campaign material in the form of newspaper post its, newspaper ads, and internet web page postings in violation of Ohio Revised Code section 3517.21 (B) (1) &(9).

1) Joseph C. Geers, Treasurer of the Democratic Party posted false and misleading information on campaign stickers attached to the Cincinnati Enquirer, a newspaper of general circulation. This ad claimed “…Still Keeping Norwood Moving in the Right Direction”. The names Geers, Tepe, and Keszei were included in the ad. None of these individuals are current elected officials and cannot be credited with this claim. These first appeared on July 21, 2009 and continues to appear regularly. (Copy attached, Exhibit A)

2) Joseph Sanker was responsible for running a campaign ad containing false and misleading information for the Norwood Democratic Party in the Norwood Star, a newspaper of general circulation. Statements made “This team brought Norwood from the brink of disaster to surplus. Look at Cincinnati or Hamilton County or the Federal Government, and ask whether they’re doing a better job than Sanker, Mumper, Geers, Williams, Barlow, Molony, and Moore did.” Geers and Williams are not current elected officials but are credited along with elected officials and given credit for the actions claimed. Boxes surrounding the statements contain “Elect Geers Auditor” and “Elect Williams Ward 2”. This ad appeared on September 22, 2009 (Copy attached, Exhibit B)

3) Joseph C. Geers, Treasurer of the Norwood Democratic Party posted false and misleading information on the website www.NorwoodDems.com/issues1.html. Statements made “This team brought Norwood from the brink of disaster to surplus. Look at Cincinnati or Hamilton County or the Federal Government, and ask whether they’re doing a better job than Sanker, Mumper, Geers, Williams, Barlow, Molony, and Moore did.” Geers and Williams are not current elected officials but are credited along with elected officials. The ad goes on to make many claims of the success of the current administration then makes the statement “On November 3rd, Vote for the Team Responsible for Keeping Norwood on the Right Track.” This statement is followed by a list of all candidates. Cole, Geers, Keszei, Tepe, and Williams are not current elected officials and are not responsible for any of the actions claimed. This was first noted on September 23, 2009. (Printed copy from web page attached, Exhibit C)**

These campaign ads show an escalating pattern of misrepresentation of the facts and are unfair to the incumbent candidates. I request an emergency hearing to resolve these issues and stop further misleading campaign material from being published.

Signed and Sworn
James P Stith II

**The Democratic website was changed after the Democratic Party members received copies of the complaint.

Note from CBN: We are unable to publish the exhibits described above on.

Steve Thornbury guest blogs about 2009 Street Program

Subject: Norwood City Council Streets & Infrastructure Committee Meeting

June 10, 2009

On Wednesday, June 10 I attended a meeting in Council Chambers of the Norwood City Council’s Streets and Infrastructure Committee, of which I am a member. Also present was Councilperson at-Large, Joe Sanker who is Chair of the Committee, the other Committee member Ward 3 Councilperson Chuck Barlow, Safety/Service Director Joe Geers and Mr. Randy Terry, a consultant representing Terry Asphalt Materials of Hamilton, Ohio. The meeting was videotaped by Norwood Community Television and will air for the foreseeable future (beginning 6/15/09) at 4pm on Mondays; 8 pm on Thursdays; 2:30 pm on Fridays and 9:30 pm on Saturdays.

The purpose of the meeting was to bring the Committee members up to date on the City’s 2009 street maintenance program and the other street projects that are either underway or planned in the next two years.

The 2009 Street Maintenance Program
At the meeting I was given a copy of the most recent “Street Survey,” an Excel spreadsheet listing each of the 49 individual projects planned for this year that includes the rating given each section of road being addressed. As he explained, the condition of each section is rated on a scale of 1 (excellent) to 5 (critical). Mr. Terry did an excellent job of summarizing the history of the street maintenance program that has been implemented in the past few years. He pointed out that the 2009 program differs from the 2008 program in that it focuses more attention on preventative measures. In 2008, he explained, more attention was paid to sections of our streets that fell into the category of “poor or critical” condition.

(Note: As of 6/15/09 I am still working to make the 2009 Street Survey available as a download or in summary form.)
6/16/09 UPDATE: Click here to read the 2009 Street Survey

According to the survey, as of today, 39 percent of the 43 miles of streets in Norwood are classified as “good” or “excellent,” 21 percent are considered “fair,” while 40 percent are rated as “poor” or “critical.” These ratings are used to help prioritize the work being done.

The survey lists a particular section of a street, it’s rating and the dollar estimate for the level of work to be done. Although there are, technically, seven categories of work, they can be lumped into three types: crack and joint sealing, patching, and pavement “planing” and replacement. According to Mr. Terry, last year’s work was primarily planing and replacement. This year, it will be more of a mix of all three categories. As Mr. Terry explained, the street repair program tries to strike a balance between major repairs on the “worst” streets and some level of preventative crack and joint sealing that helps keep streets that are in “good” shape today from more rapid deterioration.

A good example of the latter is what is scheduled to be done on my own street, Floral Avenue. Floral is among a group of streets that was fortunate enough to have enjoyed total rehabilitation over ten years ago when nearly the entire length of the asphalt surface was completely repaved with the added bonus of all the cement curbs and driveway aprons being replaced. At first glance, while driving on Floral, it may not seem like putting any money into it would make sense. This year’s street maintenance plan, however, has allocated a certain amount of dollars for two different levels of service. The first is to address a few rough spots that have developed that will be patched and sealed - what the Street Survey terms “partial depth repair.” The second is for sealing cracks and joints that may have begun to appear. As Mr. Terry and Mr. Geers were quick to point out, this sort of preventative maintenance now will go a long way toward postponing the day when the Floral is, once again, in need of a complete (and considerably more expensive) repaving.

All in all, the meeting went a long way toward answering a lot of the questions I’ve had about our street maintenance program and helped me understand the process being used to evaluate and plan the work that needs to be done. In analyzing the list of the sections of streets being addressed, I’m satisfied that the plan takes into account a broad cross-section of the city. It’s hard not to notice, of course, that the First Ward streets of Allison, Carter and, especially, Ivanhoe will be looking forward to the most significant work in the coming months, just in time for the November elections. But it’s also hard to argue that those streets, like so many in our City, need considerable attention.

According to Mr. Terry, with this year’s effort, 33 percent of our street surfaces will see some work. He noted that we should see the first signs of the work in late June when they begin marking the areas that will be worked on.

Other Projects Utilizing Grants
It’s important to remember that what I’ve described above involves street maintenance that is 100 percent funded by the City’s general fund. This year’s program is budgeted for $395,318.

That amount does not include projects that are either currently underway or planned for the next two years that will be partially funded by grants from the State of Ohio (via the Ohio Public Works Commission - often referred to as “Issue 2” funds), Hamilton County (via the Municipal Road Fund or “MRF”) or the Community Block Grant.

The rest of the meeting involved a discussion of those projects, the most visible of which is the work on Marion Avenue nearing completion just above the Lateral between Norwood Avenue and Buxton.

Future projects that have received approval for grant funding and have been factored into our budget projections for the next few years include:
· Repaving that will be done yet this year on Sherman Avenue from Allison west to the Corporation Line at Victory Parkway
· Major rehabilitation of the section of Beech Street that runs from the traffic light at Waterworks up to Highland Avenue (2010)
· Major rehabilitation of both directions of Park Avenue from Forest Ave. to Smith Rd. (2010)
· Water line work under Smith Rd. that will connect with lines at Cornerstone (2009/10)
· Major rehabilitation of the final stretch of the “Montgomery Road Project” that will complete the work from White Castle north to the Corporation Line just past Cypress Way heading into Pleasant Ridge (2010).

A big difference between most of these projects and the 2009 street maintenance projects mentioned earlier is that these involve a near total rehabilitation of the street, the curbs and driveway aprons and, in some cases, some utilities under the street. Again, if you drive over to see what’s going on along Marion Avenue, you’ll get a sense of what that means. Naturally, if you compare that level of work with what’s happening on your street with the 2009 maintenance project you may be wondering why your street can’t enjoy the same level of rehabilitation.

The simple answer is the availability of resources. A percentage of the cost of the Marion Avenue project was covered by one of the above-mentioned grants which help us get more “bang” for our general fund “buck.” The same goes for the projects planned for Sherman, Beech, Park and Montgomery. The other factor is that, when these projects are approved, they are required to encompass a broader scope of repair per the governing body issuing the grant. At a Council meeting a few weeks ago I asked the Safety/Service Director what qualified streets like Beech and Marion and Park for these kinds of grants. He indicated that it was a variety of factors that included their condition, their role in traffic flow as well as their proximity to commercial routes and schools.

(Note: As of 6/15/09 I am still working to make a summary of these projects available as a download.)
6/16/09 UPDATE: Click here to read the 2009 Street Survey

All in all the meeting left me feeling that a decent process is in place to assess the condition of our streets and address the need for steady progress in maintaining and upgrading our infrastructure. If you have any questions or comments about the above information or any other issues related to these subjects, feel free to contact me by phone or email.

- Steve Thornbury
Norwood City Council, Ward 2
Phone: 373-9653
Email: sthornbury@fuse.net

Interview questions for St. Aloysius

EXPANSION
Q. What is your response to the concern that St. Al’s would “wait a few years and attempt to increase grades K-12 from the current K-8 grade levels and then “bring in your dispensary and psychiatric clinic?”

Q. Are there any long term plans to increase the K-8 student enrollment from the current 90?

Q. Would St. Aloysius consider expanding into the Holy Spirit Center if it were ever for sale?

SECURITY
Q. What are the essentials of security training for your staff?

Q. Apart from regular staff trained on security procedures, how many designated security personnel will be employed at the proposed school? Will they be armed?

Q. In addition to daily pat-downs, will metal detectors be employed at the proposed school? Have daily pat-downs ever resulted in the discovery of weapons, and, if so, how often in recent times and what kinds of weapons have been confiscated?

Q. What are the consequences for students found with weapons?

Q. What are your procedures in the event a student escapes? Do you have a system in place to warn nearby residents?

Q. Some residents are concerned that the Norwood Police Dept. will be burdened by calls to the school. Can you provide data on the incidence of calls to the Cincinnati Police in recent times and examples of what kinds of problems generate calls to the police?

Q. What is the height of the new chain link fence that will be installed around the property, and will it include barbed wire on the top? Does your Reading Road location have barbed wire fencing? Will the height of the current fence that surrounds the playground remain the same?

Q. Does St. Aloysius carry liability insurance to cover residential property damage or personal injury caused by students?

Q. How consistently are you able to maintain your 4:1 teacher to student ratio and 1:1 staff to student ratio? Do you employ substitute teachers and staff to maintain the ratio on a daily basis?


THE SCHOOL AND STUDENTS
Q. Your website states with regard to your charter school that “in many cases, it is the last resort.” What does this mean exactly? Do you accept students with juvenile criminal records?

Q. We understand students typically attend St. Aloysius for 6 to 9 months before they are reintegrated into their regular schools. What is the incidence of students failing to reintegrate, and are there any further educational options at St. Aloysius for those who don’t achieve reintegration?

Q. What is the incidence of student expulsion from St. Aloysius? What types of infractions result in expulsion?

Q. Is there any truth to the rumor one of our readers reported that one of your students is responsible for the death of a sibling?

Q. Your attorney told the Planning Commissioner that PTA meetings would be the only evening activities at the proposed school. One commenter would like to know the purpose of having a PTA in a “temporary school situation,” and asks “would these meetings in fact really be PTA meetings or would they be some sort of family therapy meetings or group therapy meetings?”

LAWSUIT
Your attorney Mr. Trauth informed the Norwood Planning Commission early on that a discrimination lawsuit would be filed if the school were not approved. He also stated this in an Enquirer article published December 11 prior to the December 17 Planning Commission meeting when members voted in favor of the school. Some of our readers have commented that the threat of a lawsuit displays arrogance and is an attempt to intimidate City officials into making a favorable decision. One commenter questioned what type of neighbor St. Al‘s will be with “that type of attitude.”

Q. What was the purpose of Mr. Trauth’s threat if not to intimidate our City officials?

Q. Is it still his position that a lawsuit may ensue if Norwood City Council does not approve the Planning Commission’s recommendation allowing the school?

We thank you for graciously answering our and our readers’ questions. In closing, is there anything you would like to add that we haven’t asked about?

Residents' action plan re X.U. students' bad behavior

Informational
Information that was gathered from various sources during the meeting. This is information that will be helpful now in working with your Xavier students.

All – Next meeting is scheduled for Sunday November 16th at 5pm. Tentative location is 3904 Regent Ave (unless someone else volunteers to host).

XU - 1st and 2nd year students must live on campus

XU - Xavier is starting a neighborhood advisory board with representatives from Avondale, Norwood, and Evanston as well as student representation

Norwood - Disorderly house ordinance 1 call = warning; 2 call = citation (residents); 3 call = landlord notify; 4 call = landlord citation

Residents – If you suspect that Xavier students are listening to police band radio, you can request they use an encrypted channel instead of police band.

Residents – Citizens on Patrol would be excited to have new volunteers for patrols. Contact Bill Graf if you are interested. 731-6977 or scottiedoc@fuse.net.

Norwood – Official parking ordinances, 1 ft from driveway, 20 ft from stop sign.

Steve Thornbury, our council representative, urges us all to call him at anytime. 373-9653. You can also email him at sthornbury@fuse.net or check out his page at norwoodward2.com.

Angie Kneflin, the Off Campus Housing Coordinator at XU can be contacted via email at kneflin@xavier.edu.

Short-Term Actions (1-4 weeks)
Suggested actions that might be implemented in a short period of time (1-4 weeks). These are things which can be done individually or already have facilities in place to handle.

Norwood - Xavier students who have work detail with the City of Norwood should be cleaning-up trash from our neighborhood. Lt. Williams following up with Norwood Police Department.

Residents – Lt. Tom Williams urges residents to call the police over any disturbance.

XU / Residents – Review Xavier off-campus policy. Contact other campuses to get a copy of their off-campus policies (Miami, Butler, Louisville).

Residents – Work with building department (contact Jerry Stoker). Invite them to the next meeting.

Residents – Gather contact list of people / addresses / phone #

Residents – Look to get more Xavier administration involvement (in addition to Luther Smith and Angie Kneflin). We are going to contact Bellarmine Chapel to see if one of the priests would be interested in coming to the event. Also look for XU police chief to get involved in future meetings.

Residents – Provide examples of exemplary houses / landlords / students to be role-models.

Residents – Keep track of XU student disturbances/instances to provide example of volume.

Medium-Term Actions (4-12 weeks)
Suggested actions that might be implemented in a longer period of time (1-3 months). These actions require some level of effort or require coordination of multiple parties.

XU – What is the registered communication between XU police, XU off-campus housing, Norwood police? If an XU student is arrested or cited by Norwood police, what is the reporting back to XU? When we report a noise complaint to XU police, what is the process for follow-up? This process must be clarified.

XU / Residents – Evaluate and recommend changes based on other off-campus

Residents – Create online forum to capture XU incidents (even ones that aren’t reported) for data that would be helpful in working with Xavier. Potentially hook into Google maps. Create a blog or online website for distributing updates

XU / Residents – Create flyer for Xavier students explaining off-campus policies, disorderly house ordinance, how they can get involved.

XU/Norwood – Foot patrols during the “home from the bar” period of the night.

Long-Term Actions (3-12 months)
Suggested actions that would take a long period of time to implement (3-12 months). These probably involve policy, procedure, or organizational changes and may require multiple agencies.

Allison Elementary Petition

School Board Members:

We, the undersigned parents, students, neighbors and concerned citizens, request that you VOTE NO on September 18th, on the resolution to propose closing Allison Street Elementary.
We are not convinced that the potential cost savings of moving forward with this plan now clearly outweigh the potential harm to children and to the school system.

Before proposing to close any school, the board must be able to answer at least the following nine questions:

Financial/Academic Concerns
1. What are the expected financial and academic benefits of closing the school? A detailed accounting of cost savings, not generalizations, should be provided.
2. How and why was this particular school selected for closure?
3. Why were other “rightsizing” possibilities (such as downsizing buildings or sharing space) rejected in favor of closing this school? Instead of closing a school, why not move central administration offices into schools and close headquarters?
4. How will the academic programs of the two schools be combined? What will be the course offerings? What will be the expected class sizes? Will there be sufficient teachers, staff and counselors?

Detailed Planning/Information Sharing
5. What are the detailed plans, with timelines, to ensure that the receiving schools (facilities and educational programs) will be ready for the large influx of students?
6. What are the plans for the school building that will be closed? What impact will the close building have on surrounding property values?
7. Have the plans been developed in conjunction with the stakeholders, and has enough transition time been provided, to ensure that departure from Allison Elementary by parents and teachers will be minimized?
8. What attendance zone boundary changes are being proposed, and has the required analysis of demographic data and impact on the school system been conducted?

Safety Concerns
9. How far and across how many heavy-traffic roadways will children attending the receiving school be required to walk, to go to school?

We do not believe that closing Allison Street Elementary will be beneficial to any of our Norwood City School students or that it will create long term savings for our city. We look forward to continued dialogue, including a public roundtable where these and other questions can be addressed. We firmly reject the closing of our school.
Thank you.

By signing below, I am in favor of the Norwood City School Board to conduct further analysis and answer the nine questions provided above be answered before making any final decisions on closing a school.