Saturday, July 17, 1999
Gateways get spiffy thanks to $200 gifts
Grants to be used to entice businesses
BY LEW MOORES
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Three suburban communities were among 10 in Hamilton County that were given small grants of $200 each to help make their communities more attractive.
They will use the money to plant shrubs and perennials, buy tools to help pick up litter and spruce up a business district with planters.
Linda Holterhoff, executive director of Keep Cincinnati Beautiful, a not-for-profit group involved in environmental education, recycling and litter prevention, said the grants are being used to beautify areas in neighborhoods and as leverage to approach businesses about matching the grants.
The three suburban communities are Colerain Township, Mount Healthy and Cleves. The other seven communities receiving $200 grants are Cincinnati neighborhoods.
“I think the common thing is that they're (targeting) areas that they feel are gateways to their communities,” said Ms. Holterhoff. “These gateways make a statement about the communities. They want that statement to say something — if gateways don't look good, then what do people think of us as a city, as a community. I think that's real important.”
Susan Law, administrative assistant to Mount Healthy's safety-service director, Tim McInerney, said officials will purchase plantings for the area around Hamilton Avenue and the Ronald Reagan Highway, Compton Road and Clovernook Avenue on the east and Compton Road and Forest Avenue in the west.
“Mount Healthy is trying to work on its gateways,” said Ms. Law. “If you come into the city, you might say, "This is a nice place, I might want to locate my business here, or move my family here, or shop here.'”
The same sentiment motivates Mary Ellen Moeller, of Colerain Community Association, which works on keeping the areas around the I-275 and Ronald Reagan Highway and Colerain Avenue interchanges litter-free.
Those areas are also gateways into the township from highways, and the association has been working the first Saturday of every month picking up litter that collects along these areas around the interchanges.
But what has been hard for the 20 to 25 volunteers who show up to pick up the litter has been the constant bending. The association has used the mini-
grant to buy “litter-getters,” long sticks with a clamp at the end.
Sharon Mueller, who heads Village Pride 1999 in the village of Cleves, said it has used the money, along with support from the village and businesses in the community, to purchase terra cotta planters and spring flowers for Miami Avenue.
“We're trying to draw people into the business district, even people from surrounding communities,” said Ms. Mueller. “We have a vision of a renovated business district.”
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