Long-awaited improvements seen in Weinland Park neighborhood
Efforts to improve Weinland Park have been in the works for over two years but residents are finally able to see some return. Seventy-two percent of respondents in the 2016 Weinland Park Collaborative Neighborhood Survey agree that the area north of Downtown and southeast of OSU campus is improving. A similar survey was conducted six years ago and perception of housing quality in the neighborhood has improved since then.
The area has seen upwards to $250 million in public, private, and philanthropic investments over the years.
Here’s what’s jiving in the area:
- infant mortality rate is down
- employment has increased
- goal of making low-income housing look aesthetically similar to market-rate housing has pretty much been met
There are fears, though, that middle-class residents will be squeezed out as the gap between subsidized and market-rate housing widens.
The Weinland Park survey also found that the demographic makeup of the neighborhood hasn’t changed much in six years. A touch more than half the residents are black and 90 percent are renters.
It also checked in on how safe responders feel. Black respondents felt unsafe in the East Village area along East 11th Ave., the South Campus Gateway near the OSU campus, and the area around Kroger’s on North High St. and East 7th Ave. White respondents on the other hand feel unsafe in the interior of the neighborhood.
Read more about the survey here.
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