Grove City Messenger - March 24th, 2024

PAGE 2 - GROVE CITY MESSENGER - March 24, 2024
Serving Your Community
Malek &
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
Malek
WORK INJURIES
WORKERS’
COMPENSATION
MOTOR VEHICLE
PERSONAL INJURY
WRONGFUL DEATH
PERSONAL INJURY
SLIP & FALL INJURY
DOG BITE INJURY
Call today and receive a
FREE SHOWER PACKAGE
PLUS $1600 OFF
1-855-417-1306
With purchase of a new Safe Step Walk-In Tub. Not applicable with any previous
walk-in tub purchase. Offer available while supplies last. No cash value. Must present
offer at time of purchase. CSLB 1082165 NSCB 0082999 0083445
Since 1972
Douglas, Ed, Jim, Kip Malek,
Greg Pace & Jeff Kluesener
(Greg & Jeff not included in photo)
“Hablamos Español”
FREE Initial Consultation
www.maleklawfirm.com
614-444-7440
1227 S. High St., Columbus, OH 43206
SPECIAL OFFER
community events
Concert at St. John’s
St. John’s Lutheran Church will host various ensembles
from The Ohio State University School of Music in a concert.
The event begins at 4 p.m. on April 7 in the church’s
sanctuary, 3220 Columbus St. in Grove City. The public is
invited. The church is requesting a $5 donation to help
defray expenses. The concert is part of a year-long
celebration at St. John’s 175th anniversary.
Blood drives in Grove City
The American Red Cross will host blood drives in
Grove City including:
•March 23 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Grove City
United Methodist Church, 2684 Columbus Street
•March 29 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Drury Inn &
Suites Grove City, 4109 Parkway Centre Drive
•March 29 from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the
Grove City Library, 3959 Broadway
To schedule an appointment, call 1-800-448-3543
or visit www.redcrossblood.org.
BROADWAY
Continued from page 1
moved those events off Broadway to address safety and
traffic issues. As the city grows, so does its traffic and
city leaders did not want to divert the traffic from
State Route 62 onto residential streets.
Councilman Randy Holt introduced the legislation
that would direct the city administrator to cause the
closing of Broadway for Arts in the Alley and the Wine
and Arts Festival. He said the organizations that host
those events (Grove City Chamber of Commerce for
Arts in the Alley and Heart of Grove City for Wine and
Arts) support the plan.
This ordinance does not mandate that the events
are held on Broadway. It allows for the events to be at
that location but it is up to the organizations to apply
for a permit and state its intent to hold the event on
Broadway.
“We have all heard a clear message from residents,”
said Holt at a recent council meeting. “The value of
having the events on Broadway exceeds the residential
inconvenience of detours.”
Council members believe that if Circleville can close
its streets for the annual pumpkin show and Bucyrus
can close its main route for the bratwurst festival, then
Grove City can do the same.
According to William Vedra, deputy city administrator,
comparing those municipalities with Grove City
is not “apples to apples.” He said though Circleville
does close U.S. Route 23, there are other routes to
direct truck and other traffic around the area. In addition,
he said Bucyrus also has a simple detour to get
divers through town when that city closes its main
route.
Vedra said the average daily traffic count at
Broadway and Columbus Street is 17,000 vehicles. He
said the residential streets around the downtown area
are not designed to handle that amount of traffic,
which includes truck traffic.
“Based on our experience and professional opinion,
the risks of closing Broadway outweigh the benefits to
the entire community,” said Vedra. “Our number one
goal is safety.”
Further complicating matters is the Columbus
Street sewer expansion project that will be in progress
from July through December. Drivers will see a westbound
only Columbus Street detour with this construction
project.
Holt said this project could been viewed as a positive,
as drivers would already be accustomed to a
www.columbusmessenger.com
S.A.L.T. at Evans Center
The Grove City Division of Police host Seniors and Law
Enforcement Together (S.A.L.T.) meetings at 10 a.m. on
the second Thursday of each month at the Evans Center,
4330 Dudley Ave. Adults of all ages are welcome to attend.
If you would like additional information on other crime
prevention programs visit police.grovecityohio.gov or call
614-277-1765.
Recycling event at Westland Area Library
To celebrate Earth Day, the Westland Area Library will
host a battery recycling event from 2 to 4 p.m. April 21 at
4740 West Broad St. Participants can drop off any type of
battery except vehicle batteries. This includes disposable
and rechargeable batteries, cellphone batteries, and packs
from power tools. The Recycling Guy will also be on hand
to take items not accepted by Rumpke Recycling. For more
information, call 614-878-1301.
detour in the area.
“If the administration would spend an equivalent
amount of time in the past several weeks trying to
improve our detours, rather than finding last minute
construction items and blockers, we could easily have
the same success as Circleville,” said Holt.
Pamela Drone, who is a small business owner and a
Grove City resident, believes the safety issues are with
the events being jammed into a small area off
Broadway.
“It is not safe as it is now,” she said.
Drone said it is not safe for people in wheelchairs or
those with limited mobility.
“Everything is crowded and packed together.”
She also said the small businesses on Broadway
benefit from events being held on Broadway.
Councilman Ted Berry said having the events off
Broadway has impacted local business owners.
“Moving an event behind Broadway does not give
businesses any help,” said Berry.
The legislation to allow the chamber and the Heart
of Grove City to move their events back on Broadway
was approved with a majority vote. The only vote
against the ordinance was council president Christine
Houk, who said council should not be giving directives
to the experts in the field.
“If council makes a decision to give a directive, we
assume the risk of that decision,” said Houk.
She said everyone would love to have events on
Broadway, but with the growth in the city, traffic is
only going to become heavier.
“It’s not about the inconvenience of the flow of traffic.
It is a safety issue - the pros say it is,” said Houk.
Vedra said the city’s administration would like to
make the Town Center Park the premier event space.
He said there are plans to add permanent restrooms
and other amenities and the space allows event planners
more time to set up and tear down.
According to Vedra, there is potential for more than
six acres of event space in and around the Town Center
Park.
“That is much larger than Broadway,” he said.
Vedra also announced plans to move the annual
Homecoming Celebration from Broadway this year.
The legislation council approved gives the green light
for the Grove City Chamber of Commerce and Heart of
Grove City to host events on Broadway. The homecoming
is a city-sponsored event.