Larry Brzezinski II walked south on Millrich Avenue in Westwood on a recent Monday afternoon.
He carried a Cincinnati street guide and appeared, to some residents, at least, to work for the city.
"When will we be able to get out?" one Millrich homeowner asked Mr. Brzezinski. The street, which runs between Montana Avenue and Westwood Northern Boulevard, had been paved with blacktop. Both ends of the street were closed with barricades.
City employee is just one of the many people Mr. Brzezinski has been confused for. Door-to-door salesman, evangelist, cop and crook are some of the others.
He's really a third-shift computer operator at Ris Paper Co. who, by day, is almost two-thirds toward setting foot on every street in Cincinnati -- all 3,983 of them.
That number is four more than he knew existed a year ago, when the Enquirer profiled Mr. Brzezinski and detailed his undertaking. The four are "paper streets," streets that were planned and sometimes cleared but never built, paved or settled. He finds them on his walk, or seeks them out when he finds them on older maps.
In the past year, he walked another 552 streets. That brings his four-year total to 2,497, including the 13 he walked in Westwood on this Monday afternoon.
He usually walks 25 streets on weekends but took time off during the past year to sing in the chorus of the Cincinnati Music Theatre production of City of Angels.
"Every time I chalk one (street) off, I get closer to reaching a goal," said Mr. Brzezinski, 31, of College Hill, who plans to finish his walk in summer 2000.
And he learns more about the city he loves and hopes to run as a possible council candidate in 1999. (He's also pondering a possible career change to real estate.)
For example:
The city has 393 sets of municipal steps connecting hillside neighborhoods with areas above or below. He has walked 167 of them, including ones that have been closed by the city. A year ago, he knew of only 250 sets.
The city has 20 streets that begin with St., as in St. Catherine Ave., near St. Catherine Catholic Church, which he walked in Westwood.
"Most of them are on the heavily Catholic west side," he says. In the past year, Mr. Brzezinski completed tours of Avondale (106 streets), California (26), Corryville (28), East Walnut Hills (53), Evanston (57), North Avondale (57), Oakley (102), Pleasant Ridge (72) and Lower Price Hill (31).
He now has walked every street in 34 of Cincinnati's 52 neighborhoods. After the Enquirer profile, Mr. Brzezinski was invited to speak to students at Rothenberg Elementary, Over-the-Rhine.
"I told them it was all about setting goals," he says.
And he landed a gig proof-reading maps for the Grand Rapids, Mich.,-based mapmaker Metro Graphic Arts.
Last summer, he wrote to the company, pointing out errors in their Cincinnati municipal map that his research had uncovered. The company sent him six map books of Cincinnati and asked him to edit them. He carries one with him on his walks and marks mistakes in red pen.
"I'm not sure if they'll give me (an editing) credit or pay me. We made no deal," he says.
"It doesn't matter. I'm not doing this for money. It's a passion."
