There is some good news coming out of Cincinnati City Hall — that is, if you talk with the residents of Baum Street in Mount Adams.

        For years, the residents looked at a 5-acre sore spot on the south side of the street, filled with weeds, trash and parked trailers.

        “It was unsightly and a terrible waste of a great piece of property,” said Jerry Neumann, who lives at 380 Baum St.

        The 5 acres were part of the old Mount Adams incline, jointly owned by the city of Cincinnati and the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT).

        Plans for turning the area into a park sit in Columbus, with the issue of liability unsolved.

        After meetings with Mr. Neumann's group, ODOT, city officials and representatives of Keep Cincinnati Beautiful (KCB), plans were developed to turn the area into green space.

At the Baum Street site are (from left) Paul Mitchell and Kerry Calahan of the park department, resident Jerry Neumann and Dave Gamstetter, a park board manager. (Dick Swaim photo) | ZOOM |

        That pleased Mr. Neumann, who is pumped up about where he lives in Mount Adams, close to downtown Cincinnati, Covington and Newport.

        “What's great about downtown living is that when the sun goes down, the lights stay on,” he said.

        Now the lights are brighter with the green space on Baum Street. The city, with volunteers from KCB, cleared out the area and cleaned out the drains.

        ODOT planted more than 5,000 trees, shrubs and day lilies. This spring, ODOT will finish with seeding and mulching.

        Dave Gamstetter, natural resource manager for the city Park Board, said working together they came up with a plan to maintain the integrity of the hillside.

        “The city's geotechnical staff has the responsibility of maintaining hillside property,” Mr. Gamstetter said. “Under the park board green space program, we look for groups to maintain an area. When the work is finished on this project, the residents of Baum Street have agreed to maintain it.”
       • • • Xavier University's International Students Society has joined with students from the St. Henry District High School in Erlanger, Ky., to raise $1,160 for the Heifer Project.

        Heifer International is based in Little Rock, Ark. Its mission is to combat hunger, alleviate poverty, and restore the environment by providing livestock training and related services to small farmers worldwide.

        Xavier's ISS had planned to raise $300 to purchase two llamas for the project. When the project was explained to students at St. Henry, they were enthusiastic and raised more than $700.

        After a three-week fund drive, ISS and St. Henry students bought two llamas, a water buffalo, two goats, a sheep, three rabbits, a hive of honeybees, two flocks of chickens and one flock each of ducks and geese.

        Allen Howard's “Some Good News” column runs Monday-Friday and Sundays. If you have suggestions about outstanding achievements, or people who are performing acts uplifting to the Tristate, let him know at (513) 768-8362; at ahoward@enquirer.com; or by fax at (513) 768-8340.
       

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