by Autumn Lee
Toledo Free Press Staff Writer
The Toledo Free Press
Article published 1-7-2007
Toledo Local Initiatives Support Corporation awarded its largest grant ever — $200,000 — to a project called “Connecting the Pieces” aiming to improve neighborhoods adjacent to the Marina District so they form a blended community.
Toledo LISC Senior Program Director Hugh Grefe said the city is losing population, which leaves a visible impact with more vacant properties and other signs of negative change.
“We couldn't see much sense in continuing the way we have,” Grefe said.
One of the premises for Toledo LISC providing the large grant, he said, was to target the maximum amount of dollars that could be distributed to a single project while making other resources available that would challenge community organizations to create proposals to sufficiently use those funds.
Grefe said the blueprint behind the concept was not just about physical changes, but also meeting human needs.
“Connecting the Pieces” proved to be the winning proposal through its designs to leverage community revitalization of the Main-Starr Business District and the Garfield neighborhood with the development of the Marina District.
Several key players have come together to ensure the success of “Connecting the Pieces,” including three community development organizations: Neighborhood Housing Services, River East Economic Revitalization Corp. and Housing East Redevelopment Corp. In addition, the East Toledo Family Center and the River East Association will collaborate with Toledo Design Center, Paul R. Sullivan AIA, UT's Urban Affairs Center, the City of Toledo and Dillin Corp.
Toledo LISC Program Officer Kathleen Kovacs said people are working together for all the planning on this project.
“It's about many ears hearing what's being communicated and translating that into the visual and written word,” Kovacs said.
The communication will heavily involve input of community residents.
Residents were to be introduced to the “Connecting the Pieces” project and offered the opportunity to voice their concerns and ideas for improving the neighborhood at a Garfield-area community meeting scheduled for Jan. 11.
“It is a matter of focusing the residents' attention on specific questions and asking them how to solve them,” Grefe said, noting his confidence in the community's potential ideas.
When the community comes together to form a redevelopment plan, he said, it would be easier for residents to seek resources and hold public officials accountable to make the plan work. It also creates the opportunity to have the officials focus on the plan's blueprint, he said.
Bill Farnsel, Neighborhood Housing Services executive director, said emphasis would be placed on developing gateways and pathways that lead from the neighborhood to the Marina District in an “orderly and planned” manner so both areas appear to be part of the same development process.
Farnsel said the Main-Starr Business District would undergo a commercial inventory. The district, he said, would then be able to blend with the Marina District through a consistent look applied to the neighborhoods' commercial buildings, which could be accomplished through creating a template facade standard and styling cues.
As part of the commercial inventory, organizations involved in “Connecting the Pieces” are also trying to eliminate Front Street as a boundary, Farnsel said.
“We don't want to ‘wall off' the neighborhood from the Marina District,” he said.
Organizations involved in the project would also be able to capitalize on the rebuilding of Garfield Elementary School, Farnsel said.
Neighborhood Housing Services is working with Housing East Redevelopment Corp. to identify four or five residential sites that can be worked on, he said.
Kim Partin, executive director for East Toledo Family Center, said the center would focus on connecting residents with the Garfield neighborhood.
With their portion of the grant funds, the East Toledo Family Center has hired a community coordinator, Julz Bauer, who resides in the Garfield neighborhood. Bauer will connect with the local Parent Teacher Organization, Block Watch and other neighborhood organizations. She will also create a packet containing loan options, grant information, home-repair programs and housing-improvement information for Garfield neighborhood residents.
Bauer said she is pushing the idea of community improvement to residents so they may incorporate additional plants and freshly paint their homes so the Garfield neighborhood blends with the Marina District.
While the neighborhood is “not dilapidated, it does need some attention,” Bauer said.
Partin said other opportunities stemming from the grant funding might include home improvement assistance for seniors, community cleanup incentives and minor supply purchases.
The “Connecting the Pieces” project is about a “mental transformation that allows residents to feel empowered and better about their community,” Partin said.
Though the East Toledo Family Center has worked with neighborhood organizations before, Partin said it is the first time they have all worked together on a grant.
It has helped us to work better together for the community,” she said.