The Northside Community Council (NCC) wants City Council's help in bringing together Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) and the Cincinnati Recreation Commission (CRC) for what it calls a "grand slam economic development opportunity".

The site in question is the site of Chase Elementary School, on Chase Avenue between Lakeman and Cherry streets and adjacent to the McKie Recreation Center.

As part of its $1 billion building plan, CPS plans to tear down the 30-year-old Chase School and build a new $14 million school on the same spot.

Rebuilding at that spot, which is sometimes referred to by neighbors as "the pit" or "the hole", was panned by the NCC by a 42-0 vote.

Neighbors worry that the site is virtually invisible to the community, could breed crime, and is next to a group home for juvenile delinquents.

Instead, they are proposing a community learning center campus - located along Chase Avenue - that will tie in with McKie and help create educational and economic development opportunites for all of Northside.

They also would like to work with the CRC on a comprehensive site plan involving McKie. The CRC is planning to spend $600,000 to refurbish the neighborhood swimming pool, which the NCC argues could probably be built new in a better-located area.

The NCC argues that the construction of the current Chase School was conducted in a haphazard fashion by CPS and that, since the Northside land use plan was adopted by City Council in June, it should be put into action now.

Tim Jeckering, president of the NCC, also wonders why the current CPS proposal was not designed with any green principles, instead covering 75 percent of its site with buildings and pavement.

For its part, Duke Energy has agreed to decommission and demolish its Chase Avenue power substation and donate it to CPS to make the NCC proposal possible.

The NCC also notes that they also have a $500,000 donation in hand and that their plan wouldn't require any action or spending on CPS' part.

The NCC firmly believes that the idea of community learning centers is the main reason for the passage of the construction levy and wonders why this idea isn't being pursued.

The issue is currently in front of City Council's Vibrant Neighborhoods, Recreation and Public Services committee and a report from City Manager Milton Dohoney is expected at the beginning of January.

Chase School is scheduled to be demolished within six to twelve months.

WINDOWS LIVE BIRD'S EYE VIEW (looking east)