Community Journal-Press North from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page A8

IEWPOINTS IEWPOINTS OMMUNITY PRESS Editor: Richard Maloney, 248-7134 A8 JOURNAL NORTH 2014 OMMUNITY OURNAL NORTH LERMONT Community Journal Editor Richard Maloney 248-7134 Office hours: 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday See page A2 for additional contact information. 394 Wards Corner Road Loveland, Ohio 45140 hone: 248-8600 mail: eb site: www.communitypress.com Apublication of Iread with interest The editorial May 22 about ODOT wasting money on the Eastern Corridor when, it as alleged, nobody wants it. The Eastern Corridor has been discussed since at least he 1960s. Originally designated as a relocated U.S.

50, it was shelved due to opposition rom some in the region. Since then, travel between Clermont County and downtown Cincinnati has continued to grow. Because of this unmet need, our region has continued to ask ODOT for help in reaching a consensus solution to the cur- ent inefficient and congested routes that over 100,000 commuters must navigate daily. he current ODOT-led effort is a continuation of the most recent request from the mid-1990s that ODOT help find asolution to this problem. ODOT and its partners owe the region nothing less than a conclusive and lasting decision.

hould we build it or not build i And if so, where should it be uilt? A options stand now, people are driving too long and too ar to make this commute. xisting routes cannot handle current traffic, much less the traffic projected to occur from population and job growth in he corridor. Previous studies ave shown that, as a region, will save 50 million vehicle iles traveled er year by building the Eastern Corrid or. The time and money saved, and the ecrease in pollution, congestion and a ggravation, will greatly improve and even enrich this region. There are alternatives to the Eastern Corridor.

One is to build another Big Mac bridge to relieve congestion on Interstate 471. Or we could widen olumbia Parkway (U.S. 50) and widen Eastern Avenue (U.S. 52) to accommodate some this traffic. We could widen I-71from Red Bank Road to Downtown.

And the no-build option is always a viable alternative. But when the region looked at these issues almost 20 years ago, the Eastern Corridor was chosen as the best olution to study further. ith the current effort, DOT is trying to reach a re- ional, consensus decision about the future of the Eastern orridor. This effort must go orward so we spend even more money 10 years from now to study it again, as has happened every decade ince the 1960s. Once a is reached, wheth- to build or not build, it will rovide a clear path forward or what the region wants or does not want for the Eastern Corridor.

I is time-consuming and expensive to build consensus around a difficult, contentious roject such as the Eastern Corridor. ODOT is not seeking unanimity; they are seeking onsensus. And they want everyone to have a chance to be heard. Consequently, ODOT is not trying to talk people into supporting or not supporting the Eastern Corridor, as has been alleged; rather they are trying to inform and explain he program, and also to seek meaningful feedback about the program from as much of the ublic as possible. To stop short of a final, consensus of would be the biggest waste of all.

It would assure that the funds spent to date have been spent in vain, and that we will have Groundhog Day all over a gain in the next decade. The urrent process must be comp leted. A build or no-build ecision must be reached. Our region deserves, and demands, othing less. Joe Vogel served as planning and engineering administrator at ODOT istrict 8 in Lebanon, Ohio, from May 2011until his retirement at the nd of 2013.

Traffic backs up on eastbound Ohio 32 in Newtownduring rush hour last summer. To stop short of a final onsensus on whether to build the Eastern Corridor project would be the biggest waste of all, Joe Vogel ays. GARY COMMUNITY PRESS EASTERN CORRIDOR DESERVES FINAL DECISION Joe ogel The pear trees bloom outside my studio window at Milford Main as I clean up from the 16 Artsy Fartsy Saturdays kids who crafted glass fish. The fourth- through sixth- graders from Oakwood, only subsidized family housing, love it here: peeling paint, dusty hallways, dinged orange lockers and the mystique of Sally the ghost. been our creative home almost two years: a safe place for onding, collective learning, eacefully settling conflicts, a nd growing up and out of old-patterns and grudges.

blossomed, like the symbolic pear, and stoked our creative fires. Certainly, we could have done it elsewhere, ut Milford Main is the heART Milford, in our neighbor- hood. Main will be auctioned at 2 p.m. Monday May 19, which, very likely, means my middle-school buddies and I will not be making art or walking our beloved Christmas-light labyrinth here much onger. veryone I have ever talked wants to keep Main; many argue strongly in its favor.

Yet none has revealed a solid plan for saving it. Milford school district has staggered with its ownership, not wanting to part ays, but understanding its inancial drain. Tenants St. Andrews, Fit 4 Kids, CEC North serving autistic students and a handful of artists long to stay. Last year aMilford and Miami University graduate created plans for acommunity center.

AMarch public meeting yielded ideas for a community or cultural arts center and park. The district listened to those passionate about the building suggest bond issues, selling Milford South instead, ut-of-the-box funding drawing a variety of sources and onder why the city of Milford seems silent. Meanwhile, Minneapolis- based, nonproft ArtSpace is renovating buildings in downtown Hamilton for artists. A rtspace.org says they are ational leader in the field of developing affordable space that meets the needs of artists through the adaptive reuse of historic buildings and new Ireceived my first Art- sWave grant for Artsy Fartsy Saturdays, the program I host here with Oakbook kids, partially because of their interest in a Clermont County arts presence. Milford Main is a natural bridge between downtown and the other business dist ricts, links neighborhoods and erves as a gateway.

here are National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) grants for placemaking, where partners from public, private, nonprofit, and community sectors trategically shape the hysical and social character arts and cultural to public and private spaces, rejuvenate structures and streetscapes, improve local business viability and public safety, and bring diverse people together to celebrate, inspire, and be according to NEA consultant Anne Gadwa Nicodemus. Closer to home, the thriving, 10-year-old Kennedy Heights Arts Center was launched hen 22 families kicked in 40,000 collectively to save the uilding. Currently a group is working to establish an arts corridor along Montgomery Road. Are we too late to save Main? Cathy Barney is a Milford resident. Are we too late to save Milford Main building? Cathy Barney COMMUNITY PRESS GUEST COLUMNIST In 1982, Clermont County as the first county in Ohio pass a property tax levy to support services for seniors age 60 and older.

Clermont Senior Services remains the only organization a uthorized to administer hese levy funds as well as rovide services and programs as defined by the contract ith the county. hose services include: meals-on- wheels, transportation, adult day services, ase management, home care and home epair. I addition, Clermont Senior Services offers a variety educational and ellness programs at three Lifelong Learning Centers Union Township, Miami ownship and Bethel). Last but not least, Cler- ont Senior Services protects seniors under an exclusive contract with the Department of Jobs and Family Services which grants Clermont Senior Services the authority to conduct Adult Protective Services investigations to help adults who are in danger. Much has changed in Clermont County since that first levy.

The Miami University Scripps Gerontology Center reports and projects pop- ulation trends for Ohio count ies. A ccording to the Gerontology Center, the number of Clermont County residents age 60 and older will continue to increase for decades: 2000 Clermont County had 23,101 eniors or 13 percent of the opulation; 2010 34,518 seniors or 17.5 percent of the population; and 2020 53,181 seniors, a 130 percent inc rease since 2000. Put another way, 25 per- ent of the population will be 60 and older in 2020 and the percentage increase between 2000 and 2020 will be the fifth largest among 88 counties. The growing challenge in he business of providing services to seniors is waiting ists which recently surfaced i Hamilton and Clinton counties, the number of sen- i ors requesting services ex- austed available funds. In response to this devel- ping trend, Clermont Senior ervices continues to implement a strategic and mea- ured approach to ensure that medically necessary services are provided both efficiently and effectively when needed, all of which have periodically required changes in our service delivery model to promote the best interests of our seniors.

Kirk Kavanaugh is director community services and resource development for Clermont Senior ervices. Clermont Senior Services adjusts to changing demographics Kirk Kavanaugh COMMUNITY PRESS GUEST COLUMNIST Fatally flawed logic Iwanted to comment on the olumn by Randy Kleine and a etter by Robert Dollenmeyer in the May 28 Community Press Both men support Cliven undy and argue that if one as a problem with the federal government the use of deadly orce is justified. It was the same misguided thinking that ed Timothy McVeigh to blow up a federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 and in- uring 680. Robert Harrigan ilford LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.