The Streetscape—Mike Battoclette Looks Back on a Completed Project

The Streetscape has been in place almost long enough for us to begin to take it for granted. But we know that “The Avenue” didn’t always look this good. Here are CHCURC Streetscape committee chair Mike Battoclette’s observations about what was involved. Says Mike:

I congratulate our community and city leaders for all of their efforts to make the Streetscape improvements a reality. It took us over three years but we got it done.

This project for College Hill really started back in early 2001 with the completion of a College Hill Urban Design Plan funded with $30,000 from the City of Cincinnati’s Neighborhood Business District Improvement program (NBDIP). The Streetscape project was one of six keystone projects that College Hill identified in that plan back in 2001.

The first item of business to start the Streetscape project was to secure funding. Back in late 2001 our community was awarded $1,500,000 over three years to design and implement a new streetscape for our business district. These funds were awarded through the City’s NBDIP program. Everyone was very excited. There were many community individuals that worked on this effort to secure funding but the main point person and leader for this effort was Dave Schwartz.

With funding secured we put together a group of community individuals to help lay out and design the actual streetscape improvements. Our first meeting was Tuesday March 5th, 2002 and included: Peg St. Clair, Mary Kauffman, Barb Ramsey, Beth McClean, Kathy Strawser, Rick Strawser, Dave Schwartz, Gail Finke and Mike Battoclette.

As the designs were presented and documents were put together, we worked through issues with project phasing, public meetings, city approvals, lighting assessments, Cinergy gas line installation, main designer issues, and other things too involved to mention. Working with us through it all from that first meeting has been City of Cincinnati Architect Jack Martin. Jack has been involved in many of our community projects over the years and we thank him for his continued work and support of College Hill.

As we worked through the designs and met again and again, other key community people joined the fun in helping to make this Streetscape a reality. Those individuals included: the Reverend Todd O’Neal, Derrick Mayes, Karen Hartman, Tom Haid, Marty Weldishofer, Dolores Rowland and Phyllis Schoenberger.

We recognize especially Cincinnati Economic Development Director Tom Jackson for his attention, responsiveness and easy, calming work ethic in helping our community. He acted as our community point person throughout the project and was essential to getting all those documents completed for bidding, the lighting assessment approved through the business district and construction finally started.

Construction started at the end of last year with RA Miller as general contractor. They and their sub-contractors worked through all kinds of weather and dealt with some unforeseen conditions below ground, all the while keeping the federal highway that is Hamilton Ave open.

Now, at the end of all this, the streetscape looks great. The new street lights, the special lights for our crosswalks, the pavers on the sidewalks, the planter boxes with beautiful flowers, the new trees and the new sign and meter posts all make a great foundation and infrastructure for the continued success and attractiveness of College Hill.

The future is NOW for College Hill. People are starting to take notice. All of the community organizations are to be congratulated for their hard work to date and the FUN everyone is having along the way! We continue to build lasting relationships.

Thank you for allowing me to assist with this Streetscape project. I look forward to the future successes of College Hill. What a great neighborhood to live in within this fine City of Cincinnati!

Mike Battoclette