CTM Board of Trustees will meet in a hybrid meeting on Monday, Oct. 2, 2023

Early 6:30 p.m. start will feature candidates and election issues; regular CTM meeting to follow

The public is welcome to attend. Public input on CTM agenda items will be heard after Trustee discussion is complete.  Community members wishing to address the Board on an agenda item should sign up to speak at least 24 hours before start of the meeting by completing this Google form or with an email request directed to the president at contactctm@cliftoncommunity.org. Individual input on agenda items will last no more than two minutes.

Community members may speak on non-agenda issues during the public questions and concerns period at the end of the meeting. Individuals with statements are asked to sign in before the start of the meeting. Such statements should last not more than two minutes and are invited during the public questions and concerns period. Email your request to speak (specify the topic), or to request an agenda item at the next meeting to contactctm@cliftoncommunity.org.

Agenda

Join in-person: Clifton Recreation Center, 320 McAlpin Avenue  
Join Remotely: https://meet.google.com/qym-wjou-ncx

Agenda

Join in-person: Clifton Recreation Center, 320 McAlpin Avenue  
Join Remotely: https://meet.google.com/tao-fyqq-sxn

Start TimeTopicTopic Lead
6:30 p.m.Welcome and Roll CallPres. Gerald Checco, Secretary Gee
Candidate/Issue Night
3 minutes per speaker,
2 minutes each for questions
SpeakerTopic
6:30
6:35
6:40
Todd Zinser
David Mann
Kevin Flynn
Sale of Rail
6:45Thane MaynardZoo
6:50Jeanne Strauss DeGroutLibrary
6:55
7 p.m.
Bryan Cannon
Eve Bolton
Board of Education
7:05
7:10
7:15
7:20
7:25
7:30
7:35
Jan Michelle Kearney
Reggie Harris
Jeff Cramerding
Seth Walsh
Anna Albi
Mark Jeffreys
Victoria Parks
City Council
7:40Break
7:45Approval of August and September CTM minutesSecretary Gee
7:47Treasurer Report, Bi-Annual ReviewTreas. Noonan
7:50Police ReportOfficer Dent
8:05Fire Report
8:10Clifton Recreation Center ReportDirector Fitzpatrick
8:15Clifton Branch Library ReportDirector Strauss DeGrout
8:20Chronicle ReportTrustee Jan Brown Checco
8:25Clifton Area Neighborhood Schools (CANS) ReportJulia Bonfield
8:30Bylaws Discussion
– Clarification of bylaws, language consistency (items B, C, D, E, I, G)
– Board Representation (items A, F, K, M)
– Board flexibility, accountability (items H, L, J, N)
-CTM Member (non-board) proposal (item O)
Trustees Lienhart and Gregg
9 p.m.Report AdHoc Unhoused in Burnet Woods CommitteePeter Block
9:05Other Committee Updates and ReportsVarious
9:10Community Questions/Concerns
9:15Adjournment
– 11/6/2023 at 6 p.m. – Elections
– 11/6/2023 at 7 p.m. – Meeting
Pres. Checco

Reference Documents

CTM Board of Trustees will meet in a hybrid meeting on Monday, June 5, 2023 at 7 p.m.

The public is welcome to attend. Public input on CTM agenda items will be heard after Trustee discussion is complete.  Community members wishing to address the Board on an agenda item should sign up to speak at least 24 hours before start of the meeting by completing this Google form or with an email request directed to the president at contactctm@cliftoncommunity.org. Individual input on agenda items will last no more than two minutes.

Community members may speak on non-agenda issues during the public questions and concerns period at the end of the meeting. Individuals with statements are asked to sign in before the start of the meeting. Such statements should last not more than two minutes and are invited during the public questions and concerns period. Email your request to speak (specify the topic), or to request an agenda item at the next meeting to contactctm@cliftoncommunity.org.

Agenda

Join in-person: Clifton Recreation Center, 320 McAlpin Avenue  
Join Remotely: https://meet.google.com/qym-wjou-ncx

Agenda

Join in-person: Clifton Recreation Center, 320 McAlpin Avenue

Join remotely: Via Google Meets

Start TimeTopicTopic Lead
7 p.m.WelcomePres. Checco
7:01Roll call & approval of minutesSec. Gee
7:03Treasurer ReportTreas. Noonan
7:05Police ReportOfficer Dent
Appeal to contribute to police detailsPres. Checco
7:20Move of Clifton under District 4Officer Dent
7:25Fire Report
7:35Clifton Recreation Center ReportCoordinator Fitzpatrick
7:40Clifton Library ReportManager Strauss-De Groote
7:45Clifton Area Neighborhood School (CANS) ReportJulia Bonfield
7:55Follow-up on previous motions:
– Meeting with mayor re: code
– Meeting with board of education re: CANS
Pres. Checco
8Golf Outing Update (Motion 1)John Whedon
8:05Clifton Soccer (Motion 2)Treas. Noonan
8:10Clifton House Tour Update (Motion 3)Pres. Checco
8:15Strader Grant Update (Motion 4)Mike Roller
8:20Middleton & Bryant (Motion 5)Justin Ogilby
8:25Committee & Liaison Reports (Motion 6)
– Arts & Culture – Utility Poles
Various
8:50Community Questions and Concerns
PFAS
Pres. Checco
9Thanksgiving
Clifton Welcome and Connect
9:05Adjournment – Next meeting 8/7/2023Pres. Checco

Motions

#SponsorMotion
1 GolfTo move the Clifton Golf Outing from a committee to a liaison
2 TreasurerStart transitioning Clifton Soccer to independent non-profit organization
3 PresidentTo work with leading real estate agents in Clifton and interested citizens to create a plan for Clifton House Tour in 2024
4 Arts & CultureStrader application for Digg’s Plaza, including safety, music, bicycle hub – confirm intent
5 TransportationInstall a 4-way stop at Middleton and Bryant
6 MembershipApproval of the nominating committee, Barry Gee, Mary Pat Lienhart, Heather Schwetschenau, Jeanne Strauss DeGroot, Gerald Checco

CTM Board of Trustees will meet in a hybrid meeting on Monday, May 1, 2023 at 7 p.m.

The public is welcome to attend. Public input on CTM agenda items will be heard after Trustee discussion is complete.  Community members wishing to address the Board on an agenda item should sign up to speak at least 24 hours before start of the meeting by completing this Google form or with an email request directed to the president at contactctm@cliftoncommunity.org. Individual input on agenda items will last no more than two minutes.

Community members may speak on non-agenda issues during the public questions and concerns period at the end of the meeting. Individuals with statements are asked to sign in before the start of the meeting. Such statements should last not more than two minutes and are invited during the public questions and concerns period. Email your request to speak (specify the topic), or to request an agenda item at the next meeting to contactctm@cliftoncommunity.org.

Agenda

Join in-person: Clifton Recreation Center, 320 McAlpin Avenue  
Join Remotely: https://meet.google.com/qym-wjou-ncx

Agenda

Join in-person: Clifton Recreation Center, 320 McAlpin Avenue

Join remotely: Via Google Meets

Start TimeTopicTopic Lead
7 p.m.WelcomePres. Checco
7:01Roll call & approval of minutesSec. Gee
7:03Treasurer ReportTreas. Noonan
7:05Police ReportOfficer Dent
7:20Fire Report
7:30Clifton Recreation Center ReportCoordinator Fitzpatrick
7:40Clifton Library ReportManager Strauss-De Groote
7:45NBDIP Update (Motion 1)Justin Ogilby
7:55Use of Rawson Farmhouse & Future of CANSSally Grimes
8:05Neighborhood School CANS ReportJulia Bonfield
8:10Letter to Board of Education re: CANS Planning (Motion 2)Pres. Checco
8:10Clifton Cultural Arts Center UpdateLeslie Mooney
8:20Committee & Liaison Reports (Motions 3, 4 & 5)Various
8:55Community Questions and ConcernsPres. Checco
9:05Thanksgiving
9:10AdjournmentPresident

Motions

#SponsorMotion
1Transportation & ArtSupport for NBDIP Application, including $2k contribution
2Pres. CheccoRequest to CPS to start planning for future of CANS
3Arts & CultureTo authorize Board to apply for a Strader Grant
4Housing & ZoningSupport letter for ADU with exception for short-term rental
5Housing & ZoningLetter addressing boundaries of Clifton

Adolph Strauch: Great Garden Design in Clifton & Beyond

By Steve Schuckman

This article was first published in the Summer 2022 Clifton Chronicle.

Adloph Strauch and his family are buried at Spring Grove on an island in the lake near the entrance to the cemetery.

A chance meeting in London in 1851 began a relationship that shaped the way we experience parks and gardens in Cincinnati. Robert Bonner Bowler (owner of a Clifton estate that became Mt. Storm Park) was visiting the World Exposition at London’s Crystal Palace when he met Adolph Strauch, a Prussian gardener. During their garden tour conversation, Bowler invited Strauch to visit him in Cincinnatiif he was ever in America. Not long after, Strauch indeed did visit America. While waiting to change trains in Cincinnati for a cross-country trip, he recalled Bowler’s offer. He visited Bowler, who in turn invited him to stay to design the landscape of his estate. The master gardener decided that Cincinnati would be his new home, and the restas they sayis history.

Strauch (1822-1883) had studied in Vienna and worked at the Schonbrunn Palace gardens. The form and beauty he introduced at Bowler’s estate was noticed, and many wealthy Cincinnati residents contracted Strauch to redesign their own properties. It seemed everyone wanted a Strauch design, which eliminated fences and created flowing landscapes of lawns with stands of trees that framed views. He designed the grounds of Henry Probasco’s estate at Oakwood and George Schoenberger’s estate at Scarlet Oaks, among others. Though these landscapes are long gone, Probasco’s house remains on West Cliff Drive, and Schoenberger’s remains at Scarlet Oaks. 

Just three years after settling in Cincinnati in 1851, Strauch was hired to redesign and redefine the landscape in Spring Grove Cemetery, where he later became superintendent in 1859. His hand can be seen in the winding roads, lakes, the groupings of plantings, and his open lawn design, which became a model for other “garden” cemeteries that followed. He eliminated fencing and railings between plots to create a free-flowing design of space that he called a “landscape lawn plan,” introducing plants from around the world. He also designed other important cemeteries, including Forest Lawn in Buffalo and Oak Woods in Chicago. While still working at Spring Grove, Strauch became superintendent of parks (1871-1875) and designed Eden Park and Burnet Woods. 

Due in large part to Strauch’s work, Clifton became known as a garden spot of America, and our hilltop community took on the look of a single large park. An 1875 publication described Clifton as “…hill, dale, lawn, ravine, field and forest, interspersed with bright evergreens and shrubbery, blossom with shady nooks and sunny glades in which nestle the roomy, cool verandas and graveled walks of the fine homes of Clifton.” Strauch talked of his own designs as expressing “cheerfulness, luxuriance of growth, shade, solitude and repose amid scenery designed to imitate rural nature.” Other than the “Temple of Love” – an elegant domed landmark that covers the cistern over a reservoir that watered the gardens and greenhouses of the Bowler estate – little remains of Strauch’s landscape design there today. A recent effort to rejuvenate the park’s landscaping is inspired by the precepts of Strauch’s work.

Map Showing Closure

Temporary Closure of Burnet Woods Drive

The Cincinnati Parks Department has announced a temporary closure of Burnet Woods Drive. It will be effective June 29, 2020. Below is their communication on it, and their plans for feedback after a 90 day period. We will share the Cincinnati Parks Department survey with the Clifton community when it come out so everyone has adequate time to share feedback. Please note that Brookline Drive is and has been closed to through traffic for many years.