Friday, July 23, 1999
Citizens do lunch with workers, learn how cities work
BY CINDY SCHROEDER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
ELSMERE — Before last year's “Lunch with City Employees,” 3-year-old Madelin Neidhardt was afraid of firefighters and police officers, her mother said.
“She was afraid of anybody in a uniform until we came to this,” said Kristen Neidhardt of Erlanger.
That, sponsors say, is the thinking behind the annual “Lunch with City Employees” program in the neighboring cities of Erlanger and Elsmere.
As adults chatted with Elsmere Mayor Billy Bradford, and met Fire Chief Paul LaFontaine and Police Chief Timothy Greene, their children listened to a 911 call, looked over a prisoner holding area, sat in a police cruiser and learned the parts of a firetruck.
“People come in (the city building) to pay bills,” said Kathy Cahill, part-time director of parks and recreation for the cities of Erlanger and Elsmere. “They go to the police depart ment when they're in trouble, and they usually see the firefighters when their house burns.
“This is a chance to meet your city employees, sit down with them, and see that they're like your friends and neighbors,” Ms. Cahill said.
On Thursday, Elsmere residents lunched on pizza and submarine sandwiches at their police and fire departments, city building, and maintenance building.
Today, Erlanger residents can enjoy a free lunch with their city workers from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Lunch, tours of city operations, and freebies for children will be offered at the temporary city building at 515 Watson Ave., the main firehouse nearby, the public works department on Scheben Drive and the temporary police headquarters at Firehouse No. 3 on Narrows Road.
“It's just good for the citizens to come up and see who we are,” Mr. Bradford said.
As the mayor chatted with visitors to the city building, resident Gina Blasingame walked by with her son, Bryce, 4.
“He wants to go to the police station, sit in the (cruiser) and see where all the bad guys go,” Bryce's mother said.
“I think this kind of thing is great,” said three-year Erlanger resident Nick Howard. “It promotes community involvement, and it gives you a chance to see how city government works.”
Mr. Howard, a neighbor of Ms. Cahill's, stopped by the Elsmere city building Thursday with his wife, Teresa, and their 16-year-old daughter, Rachel.
At the firehouse across the street, an off-duty firefighter, “Fireman Doug,” had to let Thursday's visitors in, after the other firefighters were called out on a run. Lt. Doug Brefeld, in charge of education for the Elsmere Fire Department, joked with the juvenile visitors as they shared a pizza lunch, and he later led them on a tour of the station.
“This gives them a different view of us — that we're just normal everyday people with a job to do,” Lt. Brefeld said.
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