Ohio Jewish Chronicle, 1978-07-13

              "r-
OH_WI
WRONICLE
_jLv_y^rv'nB Col>imbus an«* Central Ohio JewisH Community for Over 50 Years \yA__
EXCH
VOL. 56 NO. 27
JULY 13,1978-TAMMUZ8
3 Sites Being Considered For New Center In
Addition To College Ave.; No Funds Raised
Some of the residents exhibiting in the Heritage
House arts and crafts show. Bottom row from left to
right: Elanora Deuber, Ida Ellis, Leo Cohen, Regina
Greenberg, Sophie Seidenberg. Top row, left to right:
Dorothy Pier, Ida Byers, Meyer Abramson, and Esther,
Schlansky.
Heritage House Residents Arte
& Crafts Show Opens July 16
The halls and multi-purpose room at Heritage
House, 1151 College Ave.,
will be aglow with the paintings arid crafts made by its
residents on July 16, when
they open their, arts and
crafts show. Residents, busy
at work in the occupational
therapy department during
the/ year, have produced
beautiful objects in needlework, woodcraft, tile,
macrame and yarn projects.
Residents paint every. Friday under the direction of
Miriam Paine, and are ex-,
hibiting acrylic landscapes,
florals, abstracts and still
lifes.
Those exhibiting paintings
are: Meyer Abramson, Ida
Byers, Leo Cohen, Elanora
Deuber, Freda Finkle,
Regina Greenberg, Dorothy
Pier, Esther Richmah, Mary
Rubin, Adolph Schaket,
Sophie Seidenberg and
Sarah Worley. ' '
Residents exhibiting
crafts are: Anna Ain, Dorothy Applebaum, Sol Barnett, •
Mollie Bloch', Estelle Cbhen,
Harry Cohen, Leo Cohen,
Sarah Cooper, Ida Ellis,
Fannie Erlen, Freda Finkle,
Bertha Fishman, Rose
Fleishman, Isadore Ginsberg, Lena .Goodman, Louis
Gordon, Anna Gralla,
Reeina    Greenberg,   Rae
(CONTINUED ON PAGE-o)
No money has been raised
to date for building a new Co- •
lumbus Jewish Center. College A Venue remains the
prime location for the
projected $6 million Center,
but three other locations bordering - near the 270, East
outerbelt are under consideration. Whatever' the outcome, College Avenue will
remain the site of the JCC.
for probably ■ the next five
years.
These facts were revealed
in recent Chronicle interviews with spokesmen of the
Columbus Jewish Federation and the Columbus Jewish Center.
Over a year ago, upon
recommendation of an original Center site committee,
the trustees of the Jewish
Center voted to build a new ■
facility on its present location, 1125 College Avenue.
But in doing so, "it was also
our conclusion that if an
alternative site became
available that we would be
committed to evaluate it in
fairness to the overall
. planning, of_a total .community," say Dr" James"
Tennenbaum and William
Goldman, President and
Vice President of the JCC, in
a June 8, 1978 letter to the'
Center board of trustees. -
The Columbus Jewish Federation, in its role as the
central organizing body for
the Columbus Jewish community, has, in recent
'months, been successful in
securing federal funding for
both the Federation and its
affiliated agencies.
In serving as .the catalyst
in this process, the Federation now has a positive working relationship with several
government and public service programs. This'association 'is of a reciprocal
nature: the' local Jewish
agencies receive much
needed manpower -assistance, while providing a
public service by offering
training opportunities' for
disadvantage youths and the
elderly.
Through joint
Federation-Jewish. Family
Service grantsmanship efforts,, JFS began this past
year a sheltered workshop
"THE WORKPLACE" for
older adults with vocational
handicaps, By doing
collating, packaging, sort-
ing,.assembling, labelling,
etc., the elderly workers are
earning supplementary
income while being prepared
for work in the private
sector.
With   primary; funding
coming from CETA
(Comprehensive Employment Training Act) Title VI,
"THE WORKPLACE"
employs nine CETAworkers
to run all aspects of the program. The elderly workers,
which vary in number from 7
to 15, receive compensation
from the'private businesses
which use their services.
Additional funding for the
$80,000 plus first term budget
comes from the CentralOhio
Area Agency on Aging, the
regional ..administrator of
Title III funds' through the
Older Americans'Act, and
from the Columbus Foundation. No community fund-
are utilized for this project.
. The Federation has also
been the coordinating
agency in securing assistance through .'the Senior
Community - Service
Employment Program
funded by Title IX of the
Older Americans Act. This
program places senior
citizens in non-profit, human
or social service organizations where they work.25
hours a week.
Throughout the community complex (The Jewish
-Center, Heritage House and
the Federation), several
senior citizens are now en-
> gaged in valuable staff actfc
Uneasiness concerning the
Center has arisen .mainly
due to the fact the
Federation Land Acquisition
subcommittee working
under the Joint Jewish
Center-Jewish Federation
Committee 'on the New
Jewish , Center' is
investigating other potential
sites for the facility.
Questions pertaining to the •
new Center were publicized
in an advertisement which
appeared in the Chronicle on
June 8, sponsored by
members of the board of
trustees of the Beth Jacob
Congregation,  1223 College
earmarked for the Center—
$237,850 in operating funds
and $25,000 in repairs and
maintenance, Mandelkorn
says. The Center presently is
working with approximately
a $1 million budget, says
Center Executive Director,
Barton Schachter. The
Center also receives approximately $190,000 from United
Way.
In stating that Beth
Jacob's letter was "directed
to the wrong organization,"
Mandelkorn said the Land
Acquisition subcommittee,
chaired by Mel
Schottenstein,    is   always
Federation Acts As Catalyst In Securing Funding
vities. For example, the Federation has a librarian and
the Center has seniors
employed as a teacher's aid
and a health club attendant.
This represents over $18,000
on an annual basis, with.a
probability of increasing in
the near future.
Youths, aged 14 to 21, from '
disadvantaged homes are
participating in the CETA
summer program, which is
administered nationally by
the Department of Labor
and is coordinated locally by
the Department of Community Services of the City of
Columbus, .
Through this project,
eleven youths are working 24
hours a week on the complex
in the day camp, maintenance staff and administrative office^. They are paid
minimum wages, and represent an over $7,000 savings
for the community.
' This past winter and
spring several youths were
placed in needed positions at
the Center and the Federa-
. tion as part" of the CETA
Youth Employment
Training Program.
The Federation staff is investigating, on an ongoing
basis, other.public funded
programs which the cbm-
! ' ■ : K      (CONTINUEPON PAGE 31'
FOCAL Questions Center Relocation
On June 28th approximately 20 members of the Columbus
Jewish Center met to express their interest in keeping the
Center at is present location.
Spokesmen for the group stated to the Chronicle, "We
understand that instead of rebuilding the facility on its present site a far east side building location' is being seriously
considered. FOCAL. (For Our College Avenue Location) is
determined that the feelings of the Bexley, Berwick and
Eastmoor communities be heard. We believe it is far
preferable that the residents of this general area, which has
for so many years been the center of the Columbus Jewish
- community, not be deprived easy access to the Jewish Center
facilities." '
FOCAL also stated that any discussion concerning
relocation of the Center be opened up to the scrutiny and
discussion by the general membership of the Center. If you
are interested in expressing your concern about the issue of
relocation contact FOCAL representatives Seth or Sandy
Greenberg at 235-6061 or Bruce Gilbert at 231-5888.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The Chronicle encourages anyone interested in providing
information or expressing concern on the issue of the new Jewish Center facility
to make use ot our "Editor's Mailbox"colvmn. Letters should be typewritten,
double spaced and must contain signature, address and telephone number of the
author. (Address and phone number will not be published). Deadline tor alt copy
is Friday noon for publication the following Thursday. Space in the Chronicle is
limited, so shorter letters will receive preference. All letters should be limited to
approximately 500 words or less.
Avenue, which was directed
to the Federation in the form
of an "open letter." The
advertisement claimed
"power politics" and "arm-
twisting" were delaying construction of the new Center.
However, Federation and
Center officials deny the
allegations.
The charge of power
politics is "completely incorrect," says Ben Mandelkorn,
Executive Driector of the
Federation! "The Center has
the power and authority to
go out and conduct a
campaign fdr construction of
a new facility... It was the'
Center who came to the
Federation in the conduct of
the campaign. I don't know
of any -reason . • to
delay ... The Federation
has done, no armtwisting.
I'm prepared to back up
what I say. Now if somebody
has information of arm-
twisiting, let them put it on-
the table."   .     '
The Federation raised for
the   upcoming   year   2.9
.million   dollars.   Of   that
money,.   $292*850   .is
looking for land for communal purposes.
"The Federation is riot out
looking for sites for the Center (officially). We have-
been looking for land for
future needs of' the
community. We have been
looking before the Center
decided to build a new
Center. We are always
looking for land. That is part
of our business," the Federation spokesman .ays.
Center spokesmen say
they are investigating three
of "six or seven" sites which
have, been brought to the
Land Acquisition subcommittee's attention.
And although the Federation may purchase land,
Mandelkorn insists the CJF
is not opposed to a new
Jewish Center on. the present
location.. As for a position on
the building of a new Jewish
Center (present location or
otherwise), "we have no
position," Mandelkorn says.
Center President Tennenbaum denies being
pressured concerning the
location of the new Center,
noting "There hasn't been
one word said to me that 'you
should' or 'shouldn't'
(move). Only the Committee ■
has approached me to wait."
With a large magnitude
investment. ($6 million),
Schachter says there is an
obligation to the Jewish
Community to look at
another site.
Schachter likened looking
for new land forthe Center to
Presidential primaries.
"This site is an adequate site
(College Ave.), but is there a
better site?"
In   any   case,   the   final
determination of the site of a
new Center rests with the
Center trustees, according to.
Schachter and Tennenbaum.
Three sites, besides
College Avenue, which the
Center is interested in are
located in Columbus
between East Broad Street
and East Main Street. One
location is inside the 270
outerbelt and the other two
are outside of it, according to <
Schachter. Center
spokesmen declined to give
exact locations of the three
sites,
Schachter says the
continued search for land for
the new Center will'be over
in less than two years. He
anticipates the Center
remaining at its present
location for probably five
more years.
"Obviously all of us want it
(the construction of a new
Center) to go as quickly as
possible," Tennenbaum
says.
To date, no money has
been raised, except a half-
million dollar grant from the
Battelle Memorial Institute.
To this, Schachter and
Tennenbaum say the fund-
raising, headed by Millard
Cummins, "takes time" and
is a "tedious process."
Historically, approximately
80 percent of the fundraising
for major community
buildings comes from a
small group of people (six to
12 families), the Center
spokesmen say.
Mandelkorn conceded that
donors ask a lot of questions,
"of which location' is one
question." But he added "I
have not heard any donor
say the money hinges
directly on the location,
contrary to that open letter
type of thing."
"If there is prejudice on
giving money based on site,
we won't know until we have **
the   land   picked   out,"
Schachter says.
"We would hope that if the
, (Center) trustees decide on    f
the present location that the
money (donations) is there,"
he concluded.   -,       ,",, ,