August 4, 2011
New dog shelter almost finished By KEVIN PARKS ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Major construction work on the new Franklin County Animal Care and Control headquarters on Tamarack Boulevard should be largely completed by now. That doesn’t mean the dogs at the existing shelter on Alum Creek Drive should start packing their bags. For one thing, dogs don’t have bags. For another, they just might hope to get adopted out of their current location because they’re going to be there for a while. Animal Care and Control director Joe Rock said last week that he expects to be able sometime early this month to announce an official opening date and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the $18-million, 48,350-square foot facility now undergoing finishing touches on the site of the former Northland Cinemas. “From a construction standpoint, we’re in the home stretch,” Rock said. A great deal of interior work remains to be done, however, he said. That includes the installation of equipment and testing of air to make certain the building qualifies for certification as a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design from the U.S. Green Building Council. Rock said he expects the grand opening to take place in mid-September. “We’ve been pretty much right on schedule,” he said. “Everything appears to be — I knock on wood as I say this — going along perfectly.” By the time all is said and done, he added, 65,000 worker hours will have gone into the project. And it will show, according to Animal Care and See NEW DOG SHELTER, page A2
Development panel cautious about sign variances By KEVIN PARKS ThisWeek Community Newspapers
It’s called a “look see.” In Northland Community Council development committee jargon, that means, “Come on in. We’ll look at what you’re proposing and see how we feel about it without taking a formal vote.” Committee members didn’t like some of what they were looking at and don’t see how they could give their blessing to a proposed new sign for the Shell gas station at 1195 Morse Road, according to the panel’s chairman, Dave Paul. Morse Road has a lot of gas stations. Morse Road also has, courtesy of nearly $50 million in funding from the city of Columbus and a special improvement district, a spiffy new look that includes a commercial overlay intended to maintain that updated appearance. That is why, Paul said, Roger Kessler of Kessler Sign Co. got an earful last week when he made a “look see” appearance before the development committee on behalf of True North Energy LLC and Clare Acquisitions LLC, owners of the Shell See PANEL CAUTIOUS, page A2
By Eric George/ThisWeek
(Above) Dr. David Ratliff and Annie Wolfe help load 12 bags of vegetables into Kwesi Gyimah’s truck from Local Matters’ Veggie Van at Heritage Day Health Center on July 28. (Below) Green beans, onions, garlic, cucumbers, corn, cantaloupe, zucchini and peaches are in the bag.
Word of Veggie Van visit ‘went viral’ By KEVIN PARKS ThisWeek Community Newspapers
North Side Health Advisory Committee member Gretchen Ratliff kept wondering why it was taking Local Matters officials so long to make decisions about bringing their Veggie Van program to the Northland area for a seven-week trial period. Now she knows. Local Matters is a Columbusbased nonprofit organization that, among other things, seeks to improve the diet of people by bringing affordable fruits and vegetables into their neighborhoods. As it turns out, Ratliff said at last week’s monthly meeting of the advisory group, the vast majority of Veggie Van stops are arranged in conjunction with schools or other governmental entities. The Thursday afternoon visits to the Heritage Day Health Center at 1700 E. Dublin-Granville Road is the “first freestanding stop with a community partner,” Ratliff told
other committee members. “We’re unique,” she said. And, Ratliff added, seemingly on the way to unprecedented success for the program. The Veggie Van provides bags of locally grown produce, ordered eight days in advance, for $12. The same amount of fruits and vegetables would cost about $30 at the North Market produce stand Greener Gro-
cer, which is owned by Local Matters executive director Michael Jones. In order for a Veggie Van stop to even be considered, sponsors must be lined up to pay a fee of $50 if fewer than 50 bags of produce are ordered and sold. Last week’s first visit had 55 requests placed by the deadline, and the Veggie Van ended up selling 57 bags, according to Ratliff.
By the July 27 deadline for this week’s Veggie Van visit, 76 orders had been placed, thanks in part to some newspaper publicity but also to committee members and community residents spreading the word via email, according to Ratliff. “It went viral,” she said. She added that orders for the Veggie Van will probably exceed 100 bags in a matter of weeks. “This could get big, really big,” commented advisory committee cochairman Scott Dowling. The bags distributed on July 28 contained two pounds of peaches, two pounds of zucchini, a pound of green beans, six ears of corn, a head of garlic, an onion and a large cantaloupe. “People were starting to get excited once they saw the bags,” Ratliff said. “They were, ‘This is really generous for $12.’ ” “This is a model that has been successful in the private sector,” DowlSee WORD, page A2
Workshops aim to help owners of older homes By KEVIN PARKS ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Nothing wants to remain a house for long. Wood rots. Foundations subside. Paint peels. Metal rusts. Shingles slide. Lots and lots of other unpleasant and potentially expensive things can go wrong with the parts and pieces of a house. At the half-century mark, even the best-built home is going to show its age and require some tender loving care. Because much of the local housing stock falls into that category or is even considerably older, the Columbus Landmarks Foundation has embarked on a local preservation initiative. The next in a series of “Old House DIY Work-
shops 2011” will be held on Saturday, Aug. 13, at the Community Properties of Ohio training facility, 933 E. Gay St. For $5, owners of older homes may attend a session from 9 to 11 a.m. to find out how to identify and resolve common maintenance issues. The fee for a session on wood restoration that afternoon from 1 to 5 costs $10. During the latter hands-on workshop, attendees will learn how to stabilize rotted wood, use wood consolidants and epoxies and prepare restored wood for painting. The workshops, titled “Nuts and Bolts: the Basics of Home Maintenance,” are being put on with funding received from the United Way of See WORKSHOPS, page A3
A closer look The next in a series of “Old House DIY Workshops 2011” will be held on Saturday, Aug. 13, at the Community Properties of Ohio training facility, 933 E. Gay St. For $5, owners of older homes may attend a session from 9 to 11 a.m. to find out how to identify and resolve common maintenance issues. The fee for a session on wood restoration that afternoon from 1 to 5 costs $10. During the latter hands-on workshop, attendees will learn how to stabilize rotted wood, use wood consolidants and expoxies and prepare restored wood for painting.
Specialist in food photography to speak at next Pecha Kucha By KEVIN PARKS ThisWeek Community Newspapers
It isn’t easy, taking pictures of greens. Or the white of a delectable cream sauce, the bright red of mouth-watering cherries jubilee, the golden brown of a nicely roasted chicken. Food that can
appear so appetizing in real life on a plate in a restaurant might look like a veritable pig’s breakfast when reduced to two dimensions, with no smells, by photography. Rising to that challenge is Northland resident Catherine Murray, whose business is called Photo Kitchen. On its web-
food & wine
site, it is described as a “food photography company that specializes in food and beverages.” You didn’t even know such a thing existed, did you? “It’s fairly specialized,” Murray admitted. “There aren’t a ton of us, but we do exist.
“I have always loved food, so it was easy for me to decide that this would be my main focus when I decided to become a photographer.” Murray also spent seven years in the restaurant business before becoming a photographer in 2002. A graduate of the Ohio Institute of Photography and Tech-
nology, she’s been specializing in food photos for the past seven years. “Nothing comes out quite the way you expect … the way that you see it in real life,” Murray said. “It ends up being completely different from what you think, See SPECIALIST, page A3
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Izzy, an 11-month-old chocolate Labrador mix, is one of many dogs up for adoption at the Columbus Dog Connection. For information on adopting Izzy or any of the dogs looking for a home, visit columbusdogconnection.com. Watch a video of Izzy at ThisWeekNews.com.