Amherst News-Times, 2000-11-15

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Amherst News-Time
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Wednesday, November 15, 2000
Amherst, Ohio
I
City moves to confine
sex oriented businesses
to areas zoned industrial
It is a fact that the legitimate sex
business (pornography) makes more
than $1 billion every year. That is a
lot of money for a business that you
can't find at your local shopping
mall The reality is that mainstream
America isn't ready to have adult
book stores and porn shops popping
up in strip malls nestled between
Subway and the Hallmark shop.
These businesses are usually reserved to the more industrial areas
of a city. One just needs to take a
trip down Brook Park Road in
Cleveland to figure that out. But
what if your town doesn't really
have an industrial area? What if you
live in "Small Town USA?" What if
you live in Amherst?
City council has an ordinance on
the floor for approval that addresses
this very issue. The ordinance,
which has just been passed on to
second reading, states that it will
"add sections 1135.001, 1137.001,
1139.021, and 1141.011 of the codified ordinances of the city of Amherst, entitled 'sexually oriented businesses' restricting sexually
oriented businesses to the I-1 Industrial .District; and establishing
other regulation with respect to the
location of such businesses.*'
What this means is that if someone wants to open a business that is
deemed sexually oriented, they
wouldn't be permitted to open in
downtown, or any other area where
children would be exposed to iL
This ordinance is very similar to the
"red light districts'' that some cities
have. These "red light districts''
herd all of the sex workers, legitimate and non-legitamate into one
seedy area of a big city.
The area that would be open to
sexual businesses if the ordinance is
passed is broken up into four areas
within the city of AmhersL The first
area runs from Cooper Foster Rd
over to Oak Point Rd. The second is
located between Hamilton SL and
Apple Orchard Lane. The third area
stretches from Church Sl to Oberlin
Rd. along Milan Ave. The final area
extends from Dewey Rd. To Oberlin
Rd.
This proposed ordinance must
still go through two more readings
before it is passed into law. According to the Mayor's office this ordinance has been worked on for several years. They feel that there were
several legal issues that had to be
resolved before the ordinance could
be taken to the floor of council.
Council endorses
Ohio Main Street
Program application
Just about everyone who lives in
the city of Amherst knows that the
local government has started the
downtown revitalization plan. This
plan is designed to upgrade and
beautify the downtown area of Amherst so that people will want to do
their business there.
The city has already taken action
to help strengthen the economic potential in the downtown area. They
have hired Greg Balbierz as the
downtown coordinator. Balbierz has
been instrumental in organizing activities in the downtown area, as
well as putting together applications
for grant money that would be used
to help upgrade downtown.
One such grant that the city and
Balbierz are hoping to get is the
Ohio Main Street Program. The
mission of the Ohio Main Street
Program is to assist Ohio communities to economically and physically
revitalize their downtown by providing the necessary education and
training to implement the National
Main Street Center's four point
approach.
There are six requirements that
must be met before a city can be designated with the Main Street Ohio
tag. First the city must have a definable downtown commercial area
with historic architectural resources.
THey must have a commitment to
employ a program manager or executive director. If the population of
the city exceeds 5,000 the manager
must be a full time employee. The
city also needs an adequate program
operating budget for a minimum of
four yean. The program manager or
executive director, board members,
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Marion L. Steele High School shows its appreciation to the voters who passed the bond issue
that has supplied the city with a new junior high.
With the passage Eric Nord has pledged
$150,000 to the new facility for educational
equipment.
School board begins building
with passage of bond issue
and volunteers must make a commitment lo attend training sessions
and workshops. Finally they must
make a financial commitment to
provide DOI with $5,000 for a total
of three years of training and technical assistance.
Wellington has already been designated as a Main Street Ohio city
and has seen improvement in their
downtown area. Oberlin and Lorain
are currently applying for the same
designation.
The only problem that rests in the
application process is the name of
the organization that has been
created for the sole purpose of bringing together the downtown merchants. The Amherst Downtown
Business Association or ADBA is
not officially a non-profit organization. This is key because in order to
receive the Main Street designation,
the board must be non-profiL Since
it takes time to receive non-profit
designation, and the due date for the
application is upon us, some feel
that the name of the organization
should be changed to the Amherst
Downtown Betterment Association.
This takes the "business'' out of the
name and eliminates all doubt as to
whether or not they are for profit or
not
This is a small problem and can
be fixed by a simple change of the
wording. The project has the support of the mayor, and city council.
who passed an endorsement of the
project on first reading at the last
council meeting. This is just another
step in the revitalization of historic
downtown' AmhersL
by JASON TOMASZEWSKI
News-Times reporter
Ho Ho Ho! Did anyone hear that?
I know that Christmas is more than
a month away, but Santa made an
early stop in AmhersL He did not
come with a sack full of-toys, but
rather he showed up with a brand
new school!
Issue 35, the bond issue that
would provide the Amherst school
system with a new junior high and
additions to Marion L. Steele High
School passed with flying colon on
election day, and we don't even
need a recount to prove iL
Superintendent Robert Boynton
and his staff breathed a collective
sigh of relief when the results came
in. "I didn't get much sleep that
night,'' stated Boynton. "I am just
relieved that all of our hard work
paid off."
Issue 35 is a $25 million bond
issue that will cost homeowners
throughout the district roughly
$2.83 per month for each $25,000 of
home value.
However, the bond issue does
provide for a reduction on property
taxes for senior citizens on a fixed
income if they meet a certain
criteria. They must be 65 years old
or totally and permanently disabled,
and are the owner and have occupied the home as of Jan. 1,2000, and
their income is less than $23300 including the income of a spouse.
Anyone falling into this category
could receive up to a 75 per cent
reduction.
The other big news that is related
to the passage of the issue is the
pledge of Eric Nord to donate
$150,000 to the schools for a mult
media package. THe school will use
the money to establish a discretionary fund which will provide the new
facilities with the package.
The multi media package will include LCD projectors, Elmo projectors, multi media cabinets, electronic copy boards, wireless computers, two wireless computer class
sets of 30, and science probes for
water quality, biology, chemistry,
physics, and physical science.
Fust the facilities have to be builL
According to Boynton, there is a
Nov. 15 meeting scheduled when
the board and the architectural firm
will plan out a calendar. The firm of
Clark and Post has been hired to
oversee the project
The first step in the building of
the school is the clearing of the trees
and leveling of the land, which was
completed yesterday. Boynton
wants to get the land leveled so that
the new soccer fields can be completed. Next year the existing fields
will be turned over to the community soccer program.
Once the land is cleared, there
work is done," stated Boynton.
"Now we have to get to work to
complete the job." The new school
is scheduled to open for class in
Sept 2002.
Some families in the area are concerned about a possible safety problem involved with the new school.
The fear is that the children attending Harris Elementary would be in
danger of traffic going through the
Harris parking lot to the new junior
high. Boynton put those fears to rest
by stating that there will be no road
connecting the two schools. Only a
walkway. The only vehicular access
to the new school will be in the
form of a new road being put in off
of Milan Ave.
will be soil tests and surveying to be
done. "Just about all of the design
"I want to thank all of the voters
for putting their trust in us," stated
Boynton. "Everyone worked so
hard. Now we have to change gears.
We got the issue passed, now we
want to provide the community with
facilities that will meet the needs of
the kids. This will be something that
the whole community will be proud
of."
Who said that Christmas only
comes once a year?
Electic
is spe
for lOGcu
politicians
by JASON TOMASZEWSKI
Newt-Times reporter
No one can complain that Amherst doesn't have a say in Lorain
County politics any more. For the
first time in SO years two R win be
sitting in county commissioners
seats as Amherst residents Dave
Moore and Erick Flynn beat out incumbents Michael Ross and Mary
Jo Vasi in the Nov. 7 election.
The wins came by margins so
slim it makes the Florida election
look like a landslide. Moore defeated Ross by a mere 862 votes,
while Flynn downed Vasi by 421,
according to the Lorain County
Board of Elections. While the victories were slim, Moore feels that the
voters sent a message. "It was a win
win," stated Moore. "Even if we had
lost by 1,000 votes, that still would
have shown it was time for a
change. The people had a mandate. I
will not embarrass them."
While the victories have been
well received by Moore and Flynn,
election officials might have them
wait before they can claim total victory. With the Florida election the
margin of victory was so slim that
an automatic recount was instituted,
Election officials feel that with the
slim margin here a recount is likely.
Still the wining candidates were
happy about the wins and humbled
that the voters chose them. "I want
to thank all of the Democrats who
voted for me," Moore stated. "I
think this says that the voters
wanted a change and are tired of
seeing the commissioners on the
front pages for petty bickering. I am
humbled and proud."
Flynn was likewise humbled by
the election. "I just heard it on the
news," Flynn stated. "I think that
the voters wanted a change. I am
very grateful to the voters to give
me the vote of confidence."
More and Flynn will be sworn in
on Jan. 3, 2001. The two R represent the first GOP candidates to be
elected as Lorain County Commissioners since 1954.
City plans
outage
There is a planned complete city-
wide electric outage scheduled for
the City of Amherst on Sunday,
November 19 from 3:00 am. until
5.-00 a.n. in order to upgrade the
new electric substaion #1.
If it should rain, this two hour
outage will be rescheduled.
Flu shots available
. The Lorain County General Health District will hold its 2000 flu clinic
at tbe Amherst VFW Post 1662,165 Cleveland SL, on Tuesday, Nov. 21.
from 10 am. to 5:30 p.m. Flu immuniiation is recommended for those 65
years of age or older, people with chronic heart or lung disease, residents
of nursing homes or chronic care facilities, those with chronic disorders
such as diabetes, kidney disease or anemia and those who care for or have
extensive contact with these groups. People who are sensitive to eggs
should not receive a vaccine. Those who are ill with a fever should wait
until symptoms disappear before getting the vaccine. Flu immunization.
for those 18 and older, if $5. For more information, contact the health district at 244-3418.
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An architect's
nior high tohooJ
where the new Ju-       begun to complete the echo* m time tor tie Sept
w« be paved. Work htMtfmriy       2002
Forum will
address
redesign
The AMherst Downtown
Business Association will be
lymfrug a public forum *rw"g«*f
at the Old Post Office on
Park Ave at 7:30. This forum
will highlight plans for die
quality design luniidrssiions
for downtown Amherst. Ruth
Durack of the Kent Sate Urban Design Team will be pre-
the plans for the revi-
LMverauy of California Berkley and later worked with the
coaaukiaf firm of Wallace
Robert A Todd in Phiarlfl-
nMa. She wu instrumental ia
the redevelopment of the Philadelphia Naval Yard and wes
selected aa a Loeb Fellow by
Harvaid University to
tioa of her SegauVaat
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