Help us choose which quality children’s programming to bring to the Village!

Perhaps you’ve read in the newspapers that Director Shiloh Todorov wants to bring added programming to Fest Hall.

Now we need to hear from you! Parents, tell us what kinds of children’s programming you would like in the Village. Should we engage music or language educators? Dancers or scientists? How old are your children? What price sensitivities do you have?

Shiloh’s conversations with some of the city’s finest educators are well under way. Now she needs to hear YOUR voice — what do you want for your kids?

Take the survey here, and be sure to share it with any of your neighborhood friends!

Susie Lehman called up operations manager Russ Arledge a few weeks back and said she wanted to bring her uncle, Carl Meyers, down to Columbus from his Westerville home.

Carl’s life crisscrosses South Side history from his birth in 1925 inside the house still standing at 575 Siebert St., to his boyhood home at 101 E. Sycamore St., to his sale in 1962 of his mother’s home at 708 City Park Ave.

Susie, Carl and another niece, Sharon Lehman, showed up at the Meeting Haus after touring German Village and the South Side, swapping memories and snapping pictures. They brought with them a copy of every family photo they could directly link to German Village so we could archive them. What a gift!

Read the full column on ThisWeekNews.com. See more photos on our Facebook page.

Board of Trustees Emeritus Bill Curlis attended Thursday night’s 70/71 update with ODOT. Here are highlights from the meeting:

Phase I construction is fully funded, including the new retaining wall at the AfriCentric School, construction of which will begin in a few months. Phase I ends at Long Street (I-71 South).

ODOT is moving forward with planning phases two and three even though they have no money to construct anything.

Phase 4 is moving forward with planning and has just awarded the GPD Group to design the bridges over High, Third and Fourth Streets.

The logic, ODOT shared, for planning that is 20-30 years out is that the federal government has in the past looked to spend money for “shovel ready” projects and ODOT wants to be shovel ready with the 70/71 project.  There is also still speculation that a new Highway Bill might raise the gasoline tax or that a new highway/infrastructure stimulation bill might occur and move things forward more quickly.

The German Village Society’s financial picture features a very strong bottom line, and kudos go this week to the Membership Committee and Bob Jackson for their work to make that so. Individual memberships are already up significantly over last year and we’re only 19 days into the new year! Of those, 61 percent of members choose to support GVS at levels above basic membership.

The story is so strong, it appeared in This Week Newspaper.

The German Village Business Community has grown 37 percent over last year’s membership numbers to this point. Additionally, advertising sales in the upcoming two-year membership directory (due out March 20) have already more than doubled the 2009 book.

Last year, membership accounted for 21 percent of our budget so these outstanding numbers portend an excellent 2012. Thank you volunteers — AND THANK YOU MEMBERS!

www.germanvillage.com is now mobile-friendly!

Thanks to a kind donation from a neighbor in German Village, the germanvillage.com website has now gone mobile! Yep, that’s right, go ahead and check out germanvillage.com on your mobile-friendly device (iPhone, Android, Blackberry, etc) and see how neat the interactive new site is.  You can easily search for restaurants, shops, and parks or take a historical walking tour.  Best of all, the mobile site is GPS enabled, meaning that it will detect where you are actually located in the neighborhood and provide you with an easy to see map and directions of how to get where you are going.  Sounds pretty great, right?!  Well go check it out ~ just type www.germanvillage.com in your mobile device browser and you will be automatically taken to the new site.  Let us know what you think and provide us with any feedback you can.  Enjoy!

Fifty-five community members turned out at the Meeting Haus on Wednesday, December 14, to have their voices heard as part of the Third Street Master Plan process.

Streetscape Committee chair Tim Bibler led the crowd through the nuts and bolts of the committee’s proposal after Connie Swain showed photos of our beloved Third Street and gave a sense of why we need a plan for safety and historic improvements along the corridor.

Nearly every person in attendance spoke up on behalf of elements of the proposal that they support or oppose. Villager Nelson Genshaft served as moderator for a community discussion that will inform the Streetscape Committee as it moves forward toward a plan to ask the city in 2012 for a pre-engineering study.

If you were not able to attend, here are the main elements of what you missed.

Handout

Director Shiloh Todorov – Opening Remarks

Streetscape_Board_Report_111114

You have one last chance to join Shiloh’s community meet-n-greet schedule: Wednesday, December 14 – 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. at Katzinger’s. Bring your ideas, concerns, German Village stories and interests.

Help Tell Village’s Story To New Director

GVS’s new director, Shiloh Todorov, wants to hear from YOU. You are always welcome to make an appointment by emailing todorov@germanvillage.com. But you don’t have to come to the Meeting Haus to meet the director! Shiloh will be out in the community on the following dates – make a plan to stop by and say hello:

Thursday, November 10 – 7:30-9 a.m. at Cup O Joe
Friday, November 11 – 5-6:30 p.m. at The Old Mohawk
Saturday, November 12 – 10-11 a.m. at Bakery Gingham
Wednesday, November 16 – 7:30-9 a.m. at Starbucks
Tuesday, November 29 – 6-7:30 p.m. at T. Murray’s
Thursday, December 1 – 7:30-9 a.m. at Winan’s
Wednesday, December 14 – 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. at Katzinger’s
Bring your ideas, concerns, German Village stories and interests. Shiloh is trying to get to know the Village through its people, so make plans to meet her out in public and tell our story! Look for the GVS logo on her laptop.

www.facebook.com/germanvillagesociety

Like us! The German Village Society has continued to build a following on Facebook over the past year as we have redeveloped our web presence.  Now we are asking for your help – Like us! We continue to expand our social media presence and are posting news regularly to keep you informed of what is going on in the 43206/15 neighborhood.  Go ahead, tell your friends, neighbors, trash man, dog walker – you name it, we want them following us so that we can help you – stay informed and up to date on the latest happenings in German Village!  See you online!

German Village Pet Parade was Sunday. Nearly 150 were in Schiller Park to see a great day that included lots of pet owners and friends in attendance. Great costumes included: prisoner, Cookie Monster/cookie chef/cookie, Chia pet and watering can, devils, angels, spiders, dinosaurs and more!

Photos courtesy: John Clark and Erin O’Donnell