CUF enhancement begins today

The second year of the City's Neighborhood Enhancement Program (NEP) kicks off in the CUF this morning at 10 AM at Old St. George Church, Calhoun and Scioto streets.

The NEP is a focused, intensive 90-day enforcement blitz that targets building code violations, vacant building, litter, junk autos and overgrown vegetation. Neighborhoods also see an increased police presence to crack down on hotspots of illegal activity.

Neighborhood residents will partner with Keep Cincinnati Beautiful to do a block-by-block blight assessment that will be used for follow-up by City services personnel.

The focus zone includes nearly all of Clifton Heights, minus the areas south of Warner Street and east of Clifton Avenue.

A stakeholders group composed of representatives from the CUF, the Clifton Heights Improvement Association, the UC Police, UC community development personnel, local landlords and local clergy developed three short-term goals for the NEP:

* The placement of more trash bins
* More frequent or better-scheduled pick-ups from trash bins
* Make spot sidewalk repairs

In the long-term, the group would like to speed up the demolition of vacant buildings and to increase the neighborhood's homeownership rate through grants, loans, and better marketing.

They also hope to better track problem landlords and to better relations between UC students, local residents and the police.

Community partners for the NEP include: U.S. Bank, Keep Cincinnati Beautiful, People Working Cooperatively, Inc., The Home Ownership Center of Greater Cincinnati, Inc. and the United Way Place Matters Initiative, Community Partnering Center, Duke Energy, Uptown Consortium, Urban League of Greater Cincinnati, Local Initiatives Support Corporation, Citizens on Patrol, Xavier University’s Community Building Institute, and the Cincinnati Human Relations Commission.

The event is open to the public.