Who's responsible for illegal dumping at Hartwell Armory?

In a letter to Cincinnati City Council, Dawn Longworth, president of the Hartwell Improvement Association (HIA), says that illegal dumping has been going on in the vicinity of the baseball fields at the Hartwell Recreation Center and wants to know how it can be cleaned up.

In December, the City entered into a preferred developer agreement to bring an indoor baseball training facility to the abandoned National Guard Armory site on Shadybrook Drive (BIRD'S EYE).

"The Armory is under a preferred developer contract and the contract clearly states that the City is not responsible for any work when a contract is in place," Longworth writes.

She claims that she, along with Hartwell Citizens on Patrol, has complained about the illegal dumping on several occasions, but that no record of it exists in the City's code enforcement system.

"It's all gone...how?" she writes.

So who is in charge?

"It has taken a month to try to figure out who is responsible for making sure the area is cleaned," Longworth writes. "I can't get Public Works to do it, and Community Development and Planning has no money allocated for the maintenance of this lot."

She adds that the Cincinnati Recreation Commission claims not to have the funds either, yet she often sees them out there cleaning up construction debris and filling in potholes.

A staffer in the Mayor's Office even suggested that they have Keep Cincinnati Beautiful clean up the lot, since the HIA had fought so hard against the City's desire to sell the property.

"I couldn't believe that comment, since I think many of you understand what the HIA does for and in this neighborhood every day," Longworth writes. "The City needs to help citizens address safety issues and it shouldn't take this long to get it addressed."

She would like to see money for the lot's upkeep dedicated in the City's general fund, and wants a work order to remove the honeysuckle and evergreens along the site, giving it visibility from the Kroger parking lot.

The Armory property has a double-entrance lot off of Shadybrook Drive.

While the driveway leading to the Armory is locked, the driveway to the baseball fields' parking lot is open to the public.

Longworth says that she would prefer that the parking lot not be chained off.

"If the area is locked off with a chain and lock, the HIA needs to have a key to give to our Athletic group so they can unlock the fields for practices and games and the resecure it when finished," she writes.

Longworth says that issues like this are the very reason City services exist.

"The money each department gets comes from one big pot and departments should not be responsible to figure who pays the bill, nor should residents have to wait this long to get a problem fixed," she writes.

The William Still Underground Railroad Foundation is currently raising funds to build the Mid-City Baseball/Softball Indoor Academy, a hybrid academic/athletic program to develop character, self-esteem, and educational skills in of young people from underserved areas ages 5 to 17, on the former Armory site.

In April, the foundation enlisted Ripken Management & Design, a management firm that includes baseball Hall-of-Famer Cal Ripken Jr., to assist in the development of the facility.