Hello, spring! May is a busy month for North Avondale. The NA Gardens are in bloom for all to enjoy! Make sure you stop to say how much you appreciate the volunteers who make them beautiful. NANA is still looking for gardeners for the Pamela Smitherman Memorial Garden at the North Avondale Recreation Center entrance, the Roundabout, Seasongood Circle Garden and the Washington Triangle. Please reach out to NANA if you would like to volunteer a few hours to help weed or water.
Most importantly, we need everyone to speak up or write an email to your city officials on Connected Communities. North Avondale was originally built upon single-family zoning. The original NANA trustees fought to protect our historic homes, and one of the first integrated neighborhoods in Cincinnati, from destruction through single-family zoning protection. I believe North Avondale should help decide how to best increase housing and still protect the neighborhood. In Cincinnati each neighborhood is unique and we know our neighborhood best! Our City officials have not shown a great success rate in managing housing in our city.
My most notable example is the multifamily apartment at 882 Clinton Springs, owned by an out-of-town developer. NANA has been trying to work with the city on the lack of upkeep and maintenance with little to no success. The building is in terrible disrepair with multiple building violations and has had emergency responders there multiple times a month. This is an example of what can happen under our current zoning, imagine what will happen with little or no zoning codes. Write to your Mayor (MayorAftab@cincinnati-oh.gov), City Council Members (ClerkofCourts@cincinnati-oh.gov) and the Planning@cincinnati-OH.gov and tell them how you feel about removing the single-family zoning in North Avondale. We also need residents to speak at the Planning meeting on May 17th. This is the first step within the City to stop the proposed density ordinance. Please sign up at https://tinyurl.com/CC-CPC-May17 in person or by zoom.
The NANA Annual meeting was Sunday, May 5th, from 3-5:00pm at the Belvedere Condominiums in the first floor community meeting room. Members voted to install our 2024-25 Board. Council Member Meeka Owens speak on the “Future of North Avondale 2040.” We are welcoming our members to come and ask questions of our neighborhood City Council Member. Friends and neighbors celebrated Cinco de Mayo with light appetizers and refreshments. Treasurer Sandesh Samdaria updated attendees with the NANA financial report and prepared this presentation for the general membership to review:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CnFZFeCOZsvR-WTVkMAWhxmjBq_f4cwy/view?usp=drive_link
Everyone is encouraged to join us and the Cincinnati Parks for Oblitterator Day, Saturday, June 9th for litter patrols and garden clean-up around North Avondale. Please get involved and help us maintain our beautiful neighborhood.
For those interested in our association, please join our monthly NANA meetings which are held the second Tuesday of each month at 6:30 pm in the North Avondale Recreation Center.
NANA asks that each of you add us to your gift giving by donating here. We appreciate the generous support of many. At this time, we ask for wider support from all sectors of North Avondale. Each donation, no matter the size, reinforces the participation of our community voice when key policy decisions are in consideration. Thanks to your generosity, our volunteer teams are able to represent the wishes of the community and make our neighborhood a better place to live and raise our families.