To Members of Cincinnati City Council and Mayor Pureval,
I am writing to express my extreme concern for and opposition to the proposed and overreaching “Connected Communities” zoning amendments for the North Avondale.
As a longtime resident of North Avondale, I am writing to ask each of you to vote against the ordinance. The sweeping zoning changes will negatively affect North Avondale as well as other neighborhoods. I ask that you take more time to work with our community to find a more amicable plan.
I live on E Mitchell Ave. Upon review of the single and multi-family homes per CAGIS from Clinton Springs to Vine in Cincinnati nearly 40% are multi-family homes. Anything more than this will create an imbalance and inject a large number of people the neighborhood is not equipped to handle. The street will have a parking issue and needs additional street calming as it cannot already effectively handle the traffic due to repeated car accidents on the street, let alone additional traffic. It is not a safe street, especially when crossing. There are no measures planned to address these factors.
Property values in North Avondale will decrease as beautiful single-family homes will be converted to multi-family units with an influx of people the neighborhood cannot effectively absorb. New structures are unsightly and will change the aesthetic of the buildings in the neighborhood.
North Avondale is a largely residential area without public resources, jobs and other resources as they are not within reasonable walking distance.
The guise of diversity that is being used as a means to make this change:
Our neighborhood is being impacted more than other neighborhoods, which also have public transportation available. To come to our neighborhood for these zoning changes from a diversity lens is a farce. We are, and have been, a diverse neighborhood for many years, more so than other neighborhoods. I base this from the recent census data that is on the City’s website broken down by neighborhood. Our population is 40% Caucasian and 60% of diverse races. We have been proud of our diversity.
However, in review of demographics in Clifton, Corryville, CUF, Camp Washington, Northside, E Walnut Hills, Madisonville, Oakley, Mt Lookout, Hyde Park, Downtown, OTR and Pendleton none are as diverse as our neighborhood. In fact, they are the reverse or in greater disparity per the statistics as compared to our neighborhood. If an objective of the zoning changes is truly diversity and it is a city-wide problem, then greater focus should shift to these other neighborhoods. The larger impact to our neighborhood will also concentrate poverty. I will say the Downtown and OTR demographics were surprising to me, and it makes me think all of the development the City and 3CDC has done has displaced many people, and though rental housing has been constructed, the development has not replaced the affordable housing it took away. So now, upon contributing to the problem the City is going to the neighborhoods saying we have a shortage of affordable housing-no kidding. Going forward I encourage you to work with 3CDC to build adequate affordable housing in the future.
I am also concerned about out-of-town developers and landlords who we have issues with already.
I do not believe you are genuine in the pretenses by which the zoning changes are being proposed. If I do not trust you, I will not vote for you in the future as you are not being forthright in the reasons for the changes or engaging and working with your constituents effectively.
Nicole Patitucci
E. Mitchell Avenue