Linden Community Center set to open
$25M project to be neighborhood hub, official says
The new $25 million Linden Community Center has a little bit of everything, and that’s the point.
There’s a gleaming and airy basketball court, a fitness room for gymnastics, a 200-meter elevated walking track, a game room with a pool table, a bumper pool table, a ping-pong table, and video game equipment.
But there’s also a kitchen where visitors will be able to take cooking classes. An arts and ceramics room. A recording studio with three rooms. A dance studio. A Women, Infants and Children wellness clinic.
It’s not only intended to be a traditional rec center, but a neighborhood anchor in a community that needs one.
“If you saw the old center that had been there since the early ‘50s, a neighborhood deserves more than what we were offering,” said Paul Rakosky, the city’s recreation and parks director.
Programs will begin Monday at the new center at 1350 Briarwood Ave., although
construction crews will continue to work on the interior and surrounding park into summer. The center is mostly finished, but work on the park won’t be fully completed until July, said Sophia Fifner, a spokeswoman for the Department of Recreation and Parks.
The center has been in the works since 2017, when the city began budgeting for it. The 55,000-square-foot building, which has solar panels on the
roof, has more than twice the space as the 24,000-square-foot center that was built in 1951. The new building contains the plaques from the 1951 building and its 1975 addition.
The new center was built with community ideas. “The music studio was based on the input of the neighborhood,” Rakosky said.
Fifner said city officials met with older residents, youths, and working families and community leaders.
“We have a lot of regular users. We want to make sure the center reflected that,” she said.
The new community center also includes a weight and exercise room with treadmills and step fitness machines.
“We have a very robust community asset that everyone is going to be able to enjoy,” he said.
Michelle Moskowitz Brown, executive director of Local Matters, the nonprofit group that promotes healthy food choices and access, consulted on outfitting the kitchen.
“We want to help them teach classes in the kitchen,” Brown said, instructing both adults and kids, using fresh, canned and frozen food.
“A lot of our focus is reaching kids in elementary school, then reaching them again in high school,” she said.
There's a garden planned at the facility that Local Matters will have a hand in, she said. The center will also have a produce market through the Mid-ohio Food Collective.
In an email, Kelli Newman, a spokeswoman with Columbus Public Health, said the WIC clinic at the new center has been serving clients since Feb. 2. The health department moved it there after outgrowing its space at St. Stephen's Community House at 1500 E. 17th Ave.
“Having this WIC clinic at the new state-of-the-art center allows us to serve more women and children in Linden. We currently are serving 2,500 clients there,” Newman said.
Fifner said an Ohiohealth mobile unit will also make visits to the center.
The park outside will have pond stocked with fish, plus walking paths, a sprayground and splash pad, and a new shelter. A playground has been built through the Columbus Blue Jackets Foundation.
It will also have basketball, tennis, futsal and pickleball courts, and football, baseball and soccer fields.
The new center is among several projects the city has completed or plans for the Linden area, including a new fire station at 1465 Oakland Park Ave. and a $30 million project to rebuild Hudson Street east of Interstate 71.
“You're starting to see some momentum building,” Mayor Andrew J. Ginther said.
“Linden has always been a great neighborhood. They are a resilient and strong group,” he said.
“You are starting to see more and more interest in Linden.”
Rayna Morgan, a North Linden area commissioner and a real estate agent, said she sees millennials interested in buying homes in the Linden area, a lessexpensive option than many Columbus neighborhoods.
“They're buying, and a lot of renovations are happening. A lot of homes abandoned forever are getting new life and families,” Morgan said.
She is the agent for a house for sale across from the park. “It's listed as a waterview property,” Morgan said, citing the pond at the park.
Zach Sparks lives on Briarwood Avenue across the street from the new community center. He said he often receives offers to sell his house.
Sparks, 37, believes the center could draw attention to the area and help boost property values.
“I think it's got potential,” Sparks said.
But he said the city needs to make sure there's a constant police presence nearby for safety reasons.
So does another Briarwood resident, Trina Oates, who said more police presence would help, since families and children will be using the center.
“It's important to be proactive,” said Oates, 54, who has lived on the street for 10 years.
She's looking forward to the center opening.
Oates said she often drives to Mock Park two miles way to walk. Now she'll be able to head down her street and use the indoor track and exercise room inside the center or walk outside.
Oates said young people will be able to improve their skills in the recording studio.
“There's a lot of talent out here, she said.
But John Lathram, who leads the North Linden Area Commission, said he doesn't want the center to be used as a babysitter for parents.
“There are concerns that kids will tear it up,” Lathram said. But he said the recreation and parks department will have adequate staff there.
Lathram said it will be a great education space, citing the teaching kitchen.
“This is a gem in our neighborhood,” Lathram said. “It's a gem in Columbus, to be honest.” mferench@dispatch.com @Markferenchik
Ellamae Lenore Ulm Miyashiro,
89, of St. Petersburg,
died on Friday, February
26, 2021 at Concordia
Manor Nursing Home after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s
disease. Ella was born August 25, 1931 in
London Mills, Illinois. The daughter of William A. and
Aura (Voorhees) Ulm. She married Tsuneo Miyashiro
on June 21, 1952 in
London Mills. He preceded her in death on January 11, 2004. Ella is survived by her three children, David (Neda) Miyashiro of Columbus,
OH, Paul Miyashiro of Ft. Lauderdale, FL and
Beth (Michael) Vivio of St.
Petersburg, FL.; and her three grandchildren, Winnona
Maddrey, Carter Vivio and Anthony Vivio. She is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews from both the Miyashiro and Ulm families. She was preceded in death by her parents, five brothers Marshall, Lawrence,
Duane, Bernard and
Overcash and Marilyn
Swegle. After graduating from Spoon River Valley
Senior High School, Ella earned her Associates Degree
from Kendall College in Evanston, Illinois. It was during her time at Kendall
that she met Tsuneo
Miyashiro. While Ella was known for her welcoming smile and genuine willingness to help others, she was also in her own unassuming way a trailblazer. She was not quite 21 years old when she married a first generation Japanese
American from Hawaii. They were wed at a time when interracial marriage was still considered illegal in some states. A farm girl who had never ventured out of the state of Illinois would follow her husband to Hawaii,
Massachusetts, Illinois, and
Ohio during their 51-year marriage. The responsibilities of minister’s wife came naturally as she was someone who demonstrated her faith through her actions: teaching Sunday
School, singing in the choir, stocking the food pantry, hosting countless church events, and participating in
Civil Rights marches in the 1960s. The family moved to
Worthington, OH in 1972.
After Tsuneo was diagnosed with kidney disease,
Ella embarked on a new chapter as both caregiver and income earner. Her favorite job was serving as a front desk clerk at Tuller
Ella and Tsuneo continued their church service at
Dublin Community Church where Tsuneo worked part-time as an Associate
Minister of Pastoral Care.
Ella remained committed to working, volunteering, and smiling despite a cancer diagnosis in 1994. She was proud to be a cancer survivor. Ella and Tsuneo spent their retirement traveling, visiting their grandchildren, and volunteering for Lifeline of Ohio and Just North UCC
Church. Ella’s other hobbies and interests included sewing, quilting, knitting, jigsaw puzzles, long walks,
Ohio State Women’s basketball and Cincinnati
Reds baseball. She moved to St. Petersburg, FL in
September of 2011. She enjoyed spending time with her two grandsons, crafting and playing dominos with friends she made while living at Westminster Palms.
She also lived at Grand
Villa Memory Care facility.
The family is extremely grateful to all the staff at
Concordia Manor for the tremendous care they provided during these last four years. A memorial service will be held at a later date.
Memorial gifts may be made to Just North United
Church of Christ, 2040
Henderson Rd., Columbus,
OH 43220, Lifeline of Ohio, 770 Kinnear Road, Columbus,
OH 43212 or the St.
Petersburg Free Clinic, 863 3rd Ave N, St. Petersburg,
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Traveling across the rugged, unforgiving and roadless Alaska terrain is already hard enough, but whatever comforts mushers previously had in the world’s most famous sled dog race will be cast aside this year due to the pandemic.
In years past, mushers would stop in any number of 24 villages that serve as checkpoints, where they could get a hot meal, maybe a shower and sleep – albeit “cheek to jowl” – in a warm building before getting back to the nearly 1,000mile (1,609-kilometer) Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. When the race starts Sunday north of Anchorage, they will spend the next week or so mostly camping in tents outside towns, and the only source of warmth will come from their camp cookers.
This year’s Iditarod will be marked by pandemic precautions, a route change, no spectators, the smallest field in decades, the return of one former champion and the swan song of a fan favorite.
— Wire services
Speaking to his players in the visiting locker room at the Rutgers Athletic Center late Friday night, Ohio State women’s basketball coach Kevin Mcguff offered an encouraging parting message.
Although the 22nd-ranked Buckeyes suffered a 71-63 loss to Rutgers, their fourth straight defeat to finish the season, they navigated some difficult circumstances between a coronavirus pandemic that shut down the program for almost a month in December and a self-imposed postseason ban that kept them from reaching the NCAA or Big Ten tournaments.
Mcguff felt their resolve in handling those difficulties was more reflective of their season than a late slide.
“I’m very proud of the team for fighting through,” Mcguff said. “There’s a lot of times throughout the year they could have mailed it in, but they didn’t. They kept fighting and kept playing hard.”
In their finale, the Buckeyes (13-7, 9-7 Big Ten) were without starting point guard Madison Greene for the fifth consecutive game, a stretch coinciding with their four-game losing streak.
Mcguff said she had been close to a return against the 24th-ranked Scarlet Knights, but he and his staff opted not to remove her from the unavailability list.
The team has not disclosed the reason for her absence, but she has not played since a presumptive positive coronavirus test led to the cancellation of a Feb. 14 game against Northwestern.
Without her in the lineup, the Buckeyes equaled their season-low points total and shot only 31.7%. Rutgers (14-3, 10-3) led 21-9 after the first quarter and never trailed after the first 90 seconds.
Ohio State won only once without Greene — 100-85 over Purdue on Feb. 18.
Before the losing streak sent them toward the middle of the pack in the Big Ten, the Buckeyes had been in contention for the conference’s regular-season title, remaining a game or two out of first place in the standings as late as midfebruary.
Despite an abrupt end to the season, senior guard Braxtin Miller said there was only so much disappointment. Players long knew their fate. The postseason ban was imposed three months ago.
“We’ve kind of been preparing for it since we’ve known this was going to happen for so long,” Miller said.
One of the team’s top scorers and among five who averaged in double figures, Miller plans to return next season, taking advantage of the additional year of eligibility awarded by the NCAA due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Mcguff expects to have a “strong core” of players back, a group that also includes fellow guard and leading scorer Jacy Sheldon, as well as forward Dorka Juhasz.
If the roster remains largely intact, the Buckeyes could not only return to the NCAA Tournament, but challenge for a high seed. Their postseason ban lasts only one season.
“We have an incredibly high ceiling, and I think we showed that this year,” said Mcguff, whose team was ranked as high as No. 11 in January.
“We just kind of got to assess what we need to do to be more consistently that team. And we’ll spend some time doing that and making sure, from an X’s and O’s standpoint, we’re doing the right things schematically that best utilize our talent on both ends of the floor. And then also some other things just to make sure that the chemistry remains strong.” jkaufman@dispatch.com @joeyrkaufman
Notre Dame 83, No. 11 Florida State 73: Prentiss Hubb scored 22 points, Dane Goodwin had 15 and host Notre Dame (10-14, 7-11 ACC) beat Florida State (15-5, 11-4) on Saturday.
The Fighting Irish had five players score in double figures. They also went 28 for 34 at the free-throw line, compared to 15 for 20 for the Seminoles.
Cormac Ryan, Nikola Djogo and Nate Laszewski had 11 points apiece for Notre Dame, which had dropped four in a row. Juwan Durham had nine points and nine rebounds.
Scottie Barnes led Florida State with 17 points. Raiquan Gray added 15 points and 10 rebounds. M.J. Walker had 12 points on 4-for-16 shooting.
No. 17 Oklahoma State 85, No. 6 West Virginia 80: Sophomore Avery Anderson III scored a career-high 31 points to lead Oklahoma State (18-7, 11-7 Big 12) to a victory over host West Virginia (18-8, 11-6 Big 12) in their Big 12 regular-season finale.
The Cowboys made up for the loss of two starters by finding holes in the defense for easy layups, shooting 58% from the floor and outhustling West Virginia for rebounds.
Oklahoma State was without star freshman Cade Cunningham, who injured his left ankle late in a loss to No. 3 Baylor on Thursday. Isaac Likekele also sat out for the sixth time in seven games with a hand injury.
Freshman Matthew-alexander Moncrieffe added 18 points for Oklahoma State. Kalib Boone added 12 points while his twin brother, Keylan, scored 11.
Taz Sherman led West Virginia with 20 points. Derek Culver added 14 points, Miles Mcbride scored 12 and Emmitt Matthews 11.
West Virginia had a chance to tie it near the end, but Keylan Boone stole Mcbride’s pass into the lane with 11 seconds left. Anderson then hit two free throws for the final margin.
The Mountaineers went 2-2 during a four-game homestand to finish the regular season. Saturday’s loss denied coach Bob Huggins the chance to get his 900th win before his own fans. It also handed No. 13 Kansas the second seed in the upcoming Big 12 tournament, behind
league champion Baylor.
Oklahoma State trailed for most of the game until Moncrieffe scored 10 points over the first five minutes of the second half and Kalib Boone’s dunk put the Cowboys ahead 54-49.
But Moncrieffe fouled out with 5:25 left, followed a few minutes later by teammate Bernard Kouma, who had 10 rebounds.
West Virginia went 13 of 14 from the free-throw line over a five-minute stretch to take a 73-72 lead with 3:43 left. The Mountaineers never led again.
Anderson scoring 11 points over the final four minutes to seal the win.
No. 8 Alabama 89, Georgia 79: Herbert Jones had two baskets in a 9-0 run to open the second half that gave Alabama (21-6, 16-2) the lead, and the SEC champion Crimson Tide beat host Georgia (14-11, 7-11).
Jahvon Quinerly led five Alabama scorers in double figures with 18 points. John Petty Jr. had 15 and Jaden Shackelford finished with 14.
Alabama matched its school record for SEC wins in the 1986-87 season. The Crimson Tide will take a three-game winning streak into next week’s SEC Tournament in Tennessee.
Alabama led 82-79 before Keon Ellis sank a 3-pointer with 46 seconds remaining. It was one of eight 3s in the second half for the Crimson Tide after they managed only two in the first half.
Georgia led by 14 in the first half but couldn’t maintain the pace. Sahvir Wheeler led the Bulldogs with 18 points. Freshman K.D. Johnson had 16.
Alabama’s challenge was to avoid a letdown while playing one week after clinching its first SEC regular-season championship in 19 years. The Crimson Tide cut down the nets on their home court after completing a sweep of rival Auburn on Tuesday night.
The poor long-distance shooting by Alabama early in the game created an opening for Georgia to open a 29-15 lead, thanks to a 9-0 run. The Crimson Tide regrouped to cut the Bulldogs’ lead to 36-30 at halftime.
Led by Jones, who had 10 points, the Crimson Tide needed only about one minute in the second half to grab the lead. Jones had two baskets and Jordan Bruner sank a 3-pointer in a 9-0 run to open the half.
Alabama appeared to be on the verge of taking control when it stretched the advantage to 55-45. Georgia answered with three quick 3-pointers from Johnson to trim the Crimson Tide’s lead to 57-54.
The Bulldogs briefly pulled within two points but couldn’t complete the comeback. Alabama stretched its advantage back to 10 points at 73-63.
No. 22 Loyola Chicago 65, Indiana State 49: Cameron Krutwig had 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Loyola Chicago (23-4) beat Indiana State (15-10) to advance to the Missouri Valley Conference tournament final in St. Louis.
Krutwig also had four assists and blocked three shots. Fellow senior Lucas Williamson scored 14 points for the Ramblers, and Keith Clemons had 12.
Indiana State shot 38.5% (20 for 52) from the field. Jake Laravia scored 13 points, and Tyreke Key had 11 on 4-for-13 shooting.
Key was averaging 17.5 points per game coming into the day.
“We just have a constant respect for him,” Ramblers forward Aher Ugusk said. “Guarding him with being physical and just keying on him has just been a goal of ours.”
“It felt like we were loose,” Ramblers coach Porter Moser said. “We know we can shoot and the guys have just been really loose shooting it.”
No. 23 Purdue 67, Indiana 58: Zach Edey scored 20 points and Jaden Ivey added 17 as host Purdue (18-8, 13-6) beat Indiana (12-14, 7-12) for its ninth straight win in the in-state rivalry, the Boilermakers’ best run in the series since John Wooden played for them.
The Boilermakers beat Indiana nine in a row from 1929-35 boosted by Wooden, a star player who went on to coaching fame. Purdue beat the Hoosiers a school-record 12 straight from 1908-14.
Purdue heads into next week’s Big Ten Tournament with five consecutive wins overall. Edey also had nine rebounds.
Aljami Durham had 14 points and Trayce Jackson-davis finished with 12 points and five rebounds to lead the Hoosiers. Indiana finished conference play for the fifth consecutive season without a winning record – the first time that has happened since 1911-19. This one looked awfully familiar, too, as the Hoosiers went 5 of 23 on 3-pointers and had several long scoreless stretches.