CINCINNATI -- A city park is getting a new grilling pavilion and promenade as part of a 90-day program to remove blight, lower crime and improve the quality of life for neighbors.
Renovations to Inwood Park, in Mount Auburn, will make the park's eastern half off Wellington Place safer, better lit and more active, according to city leaders.
They announced the upgrades Tuesday as they wrapped up the Neighborhood Enhancement Program. Mount Auburn is the 22nd neighborhood to take part in the program, which helps city staff, neighborhood leaders and volunteers work together to clean up their community. Last month, more than 250 volunteers helped clean up areas that neighbors felt needed work. The Cincinnati Fire Department and American Red Cross also gave out smoke alarms.
"The importance of collaboration with local businesses and volunteers in making our neighborhoods sustainable cannot be underestimated," Mayor John Cranley said in a news release.
Each NEP neighborhood has one signature project -- in Lower Price Hill, it was a skate park -- but Mount Auburn has two: Inwood Park's upgrades and Crossroad Health Center, a new school-based health center serving children from both Taft Elementary and Mount Auburn International Academy.
"The NEP is what city government is all about -- utilizing our various City resources to make real, tangible brick-and-mortar investments in our communities," City Manager Harry Black said.
Planning and design work is already underway on the park improvements, city leaders said. The cost is estimated at $300,000, with $50,000 of the total coming from private donations raised specifically for the NEP. The pavilion will have outdoor grills and shelters.
Work should be finished by early next summer.
