Jolene Struebbe. Beautification Chair
Gardener Extraordinaire Richard Jackson honored at NANA Annual Meeting
Immediate Past President Heather Herr honored Richard Jackson for his 18 years as our gardener in charge of multiple NANA Community Gardens. Richard has maintained the Dana Roundabout and the garden border near Marion Park for several years, but his main contribution has been caring for the City Park Triangle at Dana Avenue and Victory Parkway. This garden is beautiful in every season, thanks to Richard and his helpers.
In honor of Richard’s service, Cincinnati Parks will plant a tree in this garden in Richard’s honor and NANA will provide a plaque to commemorate the planting. This will probably be accomplished in late fall at tree planting time – we will keep you updated.
In light of Richard’s retirement, Xavier University will now be managing his garden beds at Victory Parkway. While Mary Piper will work with both Xaivier and Parks to continue to maintain her three beautiful flower beds, NANA Beautification will no longer oversee this triangle. Cincinnati Parks will maintain the grass and trees in the triangle.
Thank you. Richard for your years of dedication to the beautification of our community.
Judy Evans, Community Gardens Chair
Richard’s flower beds over the years
XAVIER UNIVERSITY DANA AVENUE STREETSCAPE EXPANSION
Construction is underway to extend the Dana Avenue Streetscape program begun years ago by Xavier working with the Cincinnati Park Board and Cincinnati Department of Transportation. The work includes new sidewalks, street trees, post top lights, Xavier banner poles, and key improvements to walking and driving safety + visibility. Extensive new landscaping will be included to replace aging and invasive plants at Joseph Hall and along the South Parking Lot north of Dana.
Incorporated into this plan is a simplification of auto drop-off at the Montessori Lab School to provide a safer experience for students and parents. The student drop-off will now happen in front of Joseph Hall which creates an un-trafficked secure student space behind the school. This also improves safety by eliminating two existing “poor visibility” drives on Dana Avenue. A new one-way service drive connecting the South Lot to Joseph Hall and Winding Way creates a safe solution for visitors and employees. The South Lot drive includes a turnaround which will provide plenty of auto stacking space in the lot and keep auto back-ups off Dana Avenue.
Xavier is currently working on planning future improvement plans with Cincinnati Parks and the North Avondale Neighborhood Association to enhance Victory Parkway and campus gateways. This investigation includes the other three corners of Dana and Victory Parkway. Xavier is working on both these improvement projects with KZF Design architects + engineers and Meisner Associates / Land Vision, landscape architects.
