Evanston NEP ends, College Hill and Madisonville next

The City of Cincinnati and the community of Evanston are celebrating the successes of the Neighborhood Enhancement Program, a 90-day strategy to address quality of life issues in the neighborhood.

The targeted area, along Woodburn Avenue and Montgomery Road and between Dana and Lincoln avenues, was identified through an analysis of building code violations, vacant buildings, calls for police service, graffiti, junk autos, and litter and weeds.

Among some of the improvements:

• Formed a partnership to shut down Perkins Lounge, long considered a public nuisance
• Worked with the owners of the St. Leger Apartments to cut down on crime at the Five Points area
• 2 buildings demolished under abatement program, with 15 more under contract
• 1,000 building inspections by the Department of Buildings and Inspections
• The replacement of over 1,100 faded traffic signs
• 500 building inspections by the Cincinnati Fire Department

Strategic partnerships between city departments, residents, businesses, and community organizations were formed during the program, which will continue to exist now that the NEP is over.

"The 90-day mark of this program is a check on the progress of the concentrated efforts which brought together all the parties of the neighborhood," says Cincinnati city manager Milton Dohoney Jr.  "Evanston has quite a few initiatives that are ongoing, emphasizing the long term sustainability of this effort.

The city also announced that the neighborhoods of College Hill and Madisonville have been selected to participate in the NEP in 2009.

The NEP won three awards this year, including the 2008 National Program of the Year from Neighborhoods USA, the President's Award from the Ohio Conference of Community Development, and the Most Outstanding Collaborative Effort from the Community Development Corporations Association of Greater Cincinnati.

The program is credited with reducing blight in participating neighborhoods by an average of 15 percent.

Writer: Kevin LeMaster
Source: City of Cincinnati

Map courtesy of City of Cincinnati