Mayor Coleman, Council President Ginther, Community Partners Announce Expanded Southern Gateway Initiative
MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Contact: Dan Williamson
Mayor’s Office, 645-5300
Mayor Coleman, Council President Ginther, Community Partners Announce Expanded Southern Gateway Initiative
Mayor Michael B. Coleman today announced new steps taken in the Southern Gateway Initiative to improve the quality of life on the South Side of Columbus. Joined by Donatos Pizza founder Jim Grote, City Council President Andrew J. Ginther, Community Development for All People Executive Director John Edgar, South Side neighborhood leaders, residents and business leaders, Mayor Coleman announced that the former Reeb Elementary School will be a center for community gathering and delivery of neighborhood services. Reeb, recently acquired by the City of Columbus from Columbus City Schools, will be preserved and rehabilitated so that it can house the South Side Learning and Development Center, the South Side Pride Center, Community Development for All People, a cultural heritage and arts programming center and a neighborhood community gathering space. The South Side Settlement House is beyond repair and will be demolished. However, the architecturally unique staircase will be preserved and the land will be used for a public purpose.
“Reeb Elementary will be the focal point of both public investment by the City of Columbus and private investment by the South Side Champions, a group of citizens who will invest millions of their own money to bring back the South Side,” Mayor Coleman said. “Together we can and will improve the quality of life for these residents.”
The Southern Gateway neighborhood is bound by High Street on the West, Morrill Avenue on the North, Parsons Avenue on the East, and Hosack Street on the South. Also included of the Southern Gateway Initiative are new housing, increased health and wellness facilities and services and upgraded neighborhood infrastructure.
Grants will be provided to rehabilitate 50 homes in addition to the 50 new homes that will be built on vacant lots for new families.
The city will break ground on the John Maloney Health and Wellness Center in the coming weeks and will provide, with its partners, a new program to help Southern Gateway families to connect with health and social services, including immunizations, screenings, health education and family planning.
Nine streets in and around the Southern Gateway are being resurfaced and three electricity circuits in the neighborhood are being repaired or replaced.
“Columbus is a great city because of the strength of its neighborhoods. While the South Side has taken its hits, we have never given up the fight,” said Council President Andrew J. Ginther. “Today is another step forward in the revitalization of this proud neighborhood, and a testament to the people who live, work and serve the South Side.”
Mayor Coleman and Council President Ginther thanked the numerous private and nonprofit partners who have stepped up to invest in the Southern Gateway Initiative. Among them are:
The Grote family and Donatos Pizza
Don Kelley
Bob Weiler
Jim Williams
Bob Yokum
Community Development for All People
Action for Children
Nationwide Children’s Hospital
The Crane Group
The United Way of Central Ohio
The Columbus Foundation
Franklin County
Together, these champions have raised $5.7 million for the Southern Gateway neighborhood since the mayor made a call to action last summer. The City of Columbus is investing approximately $18 million in the neighborhood.
Mayor Coleman said no Columbus neighborhood has greater needs than the Southern Gateway neighborhood where one in five houses is vacant and abandoned and high teen pregnancy, infant mortality and death rates for chronic diseases plague the neighborhood. The Southern Gateway is home to more uninsured adults than in every other part of Franklin County. It has a poverty rate of nearly 30 percent, an unemployment rate of almost 21 percent and nearly 40 percent of adults don’t have a high school diploma. Fewer than half of its children are up to date on their immunizations.