Turn Around Ohio....Fix-It-First
Save the Date for Heritage Ohio's Annual Conference Join Heritage Ohio, May 15-17th in downtown Cincinnati for the year's best opportunity to share, network and learn! As always, Heritage Ohio provides expert speakers to prepare you for the many challenges that come up in your local and regional efforts.
Who should attend?
Preservationists, architects, city and regional planners, community leaders, landmark commissioners, historians, archeologists, state/local officials, educators, students, owners of old properties, Main Street managers, certified local governments, developers, contractors, craftsman, advocates of historic preservation and revitalization, heritage travelers and YOU!
Keynote Speaker:
Thomas M. Menino is serving his fourth term as Mayor of the City of Boston. The first Italian-American Mayor of Boston, he was elected to his first term on November 2, 1993, winning 64 percent of the vote and 18 of the city’s 22 wards.
Mayor Menino and Neighborhood Revitalization:
Mayor Menino’s plan for a prosperous Boston in the 21st century focuses on improving quality of life in all of the city’s neighborhoods. With funding from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, in 1995 Mayor Menino launched the nation’s first citywide Main Streets Program, which is bringing new life to 19 neighborhood business districts. Mayor Menino also oversaw the successful completion of Pave the Way 2000, the largest resurfacing program in Boston's history, which paved more than 100 miles of roads and sidewalks throughout the city. In 2004, Mayor Menino initiated an ambitious Capital Plan with a budget of over $1.1 billion, which will improve the condition of Boston’s assets and infrastructure.
Help us celebrate!
With a philosophy to “invest in what matters” the Strickland-Fisher Administration made the first ever appropriated investment of state money to the Heritage Ohio Main Street Program, as part of their Turnaround Ohio Plan.
The plan focuses on cultivating economic strengths, including the support of downtown development through Heritage Ohio’s Main Street Program. The funding support, if approved in the final budget, will allow Heritage Ohio to make critical investments to assist the downtown economic development efforts of Main Street communities across the state.
There is no doubt that Heritage Ohio's Main Street Program is helping communities throughout Ohio. Just look at the program's updated Reinvestment Statistics through 2006!
Reinvestment Statistics through 2006
|
| Total number of communities |
32 |
| Total $ invested in improvement |
$315 million |
| Net new businesses |
382 |
| Net new jobs |
1,936 Full-time/1,121 Part-time |
| Business expansions |
230 |
| Building rehabilitation projects |
1,364 |
| Reinvestment ratio |
$2.33 to $1.00 |
| Volunteer hours donated (since 2000) |
230,280 |
| New housing units created (since 2000) |
381 |
The first Heritage Ohio Main Street Community Signs are going up around Ohio.
In fact, as you drive around Ohio, you will start to see a lot more of these signs. From Wooster to Greenville, the signs
acknowledge
the extra special communities in the Ohio Main Street Program.
The Main Street signs indicate to travelers that the community has a historic downtown, neighborhood or commercial center. From large to small, urban to rural, drivers and their passengers will be able to distinguish an official Main Street Community from the rest!
On January 25, First Lady Laura Bush, Honorary Chair of “Preserve America” announced that the City of Piqua has been designated as a “Preserve America” Community.
The “Preserve America” designation is given to communities that protect and celebrate their heritage, use their historic assets for economic development and community revitalization, and encourage people to experience and appreciate local historic resources through education and heritage tourism programs. The City of Piqua is one of only 427 communities through the United States and only one of seven communities in the State of Ohio to receive this designation.
More information at the “Preserve America” program can be found at www.preserveamerica.gov.
Visit http://www.mainstreetpiqua.com/ to learn more about Mainstreet Piqua!
The Betts House, “Ohio’s Oldest Brick House,” announces the opening of its major 2007 exhibit, “Endangered Cincinnati: Can These Buildings Be Saved” on Friday, March 30, 2007 at the Betts House, 416 Clark Street. An opening reception, which will take place at the House from 5 to 7 PM, is free and open to the public.
The exhibit is made possible by a grant from Phillip and Whitney Long, the Architectural Foundation of Cincinnati, a project grant from the Fine Arts Fund, and member donations. The exhibit showcases a selection of our endangered landmarks, the nature of the threats they face, their importance to the social and physical fabric of our community, and what could be done to save them. Among the building types featured will be houses, schools, industries, commercial buildings, theaters, and churches.
The exhibit is a collaboration between the Betts House Research Center and the Cincinnati Preservation Association (CPA): Margaret Warminski, the preservation director for CPA, is responsible for selecting the case studies, research and writing, and production of web pages. Beth Sullebarger, Sullebarger Associates, the guest curator for the Betts House last two exhibits, administers and coordinates the production and the installation of the exhibit.
Built in 1804, the Betts House is located in the Betts-Longworth Historic District in the city’s West End and is the oldest surviving brick building in its original location in downtown Cincinnati. The Betts House Research Center is dedicated to the study of building materials and to the study of preservation of buildings through a permanent exhibit demonstrating the construction of the house and temporary exhibits. The Center also offers an out-reach program, “Bond at the Betts House,” which gives children from inner-city neighborhoods each summer a hands-on introduction to architecture and the building trades. The House is open to the public on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 11 A.M. to 3 P.M. and by appointment.
