Plan geared to lower violence

The city soon will roll out a new anti-crime initiative that will offer violent offenders a chance to change. The catch? Shootings and violence must stop, said Columbus’ Public Safety Deputy Director George Speaks.

The Safe Neighborhood Initiative is the result of a three-year, grass-roots effort led by BREAD — Building Responsibility, Equality and Dignity — to lobby the city and other government agencies that violence could be reduced by intervening with violent offenders.

Renovations will include a new production kitchen and nutrition area, rehabilitation space, team activity areas, staff offices, additional storage and updates to the players’ lounge. Work is slated to begin in 2018.

The board also approved buying a two-story building situated on about 9.3 acres at 2001 Polaris Parkway, which the university already leases and uses for Wexner Medical Center. Included in the original 2004 lease terms was an option to purchase. If the sale closes before Oct. 31, the lease terms stipulate that the purchase price will be about $2.05 million. That price would go up in the months after that, and the option to purchase would be eliminated if the university doesn’t close by April 1, 2018.

The purchase also must be approved by the Ohio Controlling Board. The university expects to go before the board at its Sept. 25 meeting.

Some improvements to the space are anticipated to accommodate labs for The James Cancer Hospital and Richard M. Solove Research Institute.

The trustees also signed off on the $3 million design portion of the second phase of the Cannon Drive relocation project. The project will straighten and elevate Cannon Drive, and eventually will create a north-south corridor between King and Lane avenues. The first phase of construction will begin next month, and the second phase is expected to begin in 2019.

The board also voted to revoke the doctoral degree of a former student, Jodi Whitaker, whose study on video games was retracted by an academic journal in 2016.