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Home > Blogs > Butler County News and Issues > Archives > 2008 > June > 30 > Entry
‘Life in Butler County’
If you’ve ever wondered what kind of correspondence Butler County leaders get, here’s a sample below (a copy was sent to several reporters here). I warn you, it’s not a glowing review of Butler County.
Date: Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:56:54 -0700 (PDT) To: williamst@butlercountyohio.org, furmonc@butlercountyohio.org, dixond@butlercountyohio.org, JolivetteG@butlercountyohio.org Cc: jrinaldi@coxohio.com, eschwartzberg@coxohio.com Subject: Life in Butler County
Gentlemen,
I wanted to take this opportunity to let you know about the best day of my recent life. That being the day I moved out of Butler county. I moved to Butler county, specifically Woodbridge on the Lake Complex off Cincinnati Dayton Road, about two years ago. I work for a neighboring county court system as a network administrator and at first didn’t mind the commute due to how close things were to where I lived. But as time went on the neighborhood continually degraded to the point of embarrassment to say that I lived there.
Over the last two years I had communicated with the West Chester police leadership about the problems in the neighborhood. Specifically neighbors
loud car stereos as they hang out in the parking lot on the weekends drinking, drug usage, public intoxication, and general annoyances that are addressed more quickly in other parts of SW ohio. When I first moved into the complex an officer usually walked the halls once and a while on weekend evenings and that kind of stuff didn’t go on. But as time went on the officer didn’t do that and things started degrading.
The latest incident occurred last week when a hispanic male, well known apparently by the apartment management, was walking down the sidewalk with a beer in one hand and “himself” in another as he proceeded to urinate as he was stumbling down the sidewalk. No sense in calling the police since he’d be done before they got there and general annoyance calls are low priority, which is understandable due to other things that may have been going on. And I mean who cares if there are children around right…it’s not important to help provide a safe environment for them is it?
I’m not sure if there is a noise ordinance in Butler county that pertains to loud stereos but there should be or at least it should be enforced. I made several calls over the 2 year period for neighbors who would sit out in the parking lot and crank up some thumping loud music. The result was always the same. The police would drive in, the person would turn the stereo down for a little bit, then the police would leave and then the stereo came back up again. It wasn’t a one time thing it was an every weekend or nice evening thing. Again I understand that higher priority things come up. But after continual calls it would appear that perhaps it may need addressed more quickly or at least the people who habitually do it. Maybe an undercover car thru the place once and a while might help identify the ones who drag down the neighborhood?
I had been looking for a house in Butler county for about a year. After a lot of thought and the experiences of the last few months, I found a nice house in Hamilton county. It’s nice when people can sit on their porch in the evenings and not hear anything but the sound of an occasional dog bark!
Now I know that this message will probably just be ignored, but I also know that the new property management of Woodbridge would like to clean things up a bit and by possibly getting some help from the leadership of the county it could make it a reputable and desirable place to live again.
I hope that this doesn’t just get deleted, Butler county has a lot to offer. But as the edges of the county/community continue to deteriorate a new migration may occur and that being one of people moving out of the county.
Thank you for your time and consideration, Doug McGrew
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment | Categories: Butler County
Comments
By JJ
June 30, 2008 2:54 PM | Link to this
Looks like his issues were with West Chester Township, so why write the county commissioners? It amazes me that people have no understanding of the levels of government in this county. A recent caller to the Community Voice wanted the sheriff to repair swimming pools in Hamilton, and another complained about the commissioners not fixing potholes in the city. These pople don’t even know who they have elected or to what office or level of government. Clearly most problems could be fixed by the board or education calling upon schools to teach government.
By weez
June 30, 2008 6:00 PM | Link to this
According to the Journal News Monday night,6-23-08, the Butler County Commissions approved improvements to the Lakota West Bike Path for over 3/4’s of a million dollars. I phoned their offices hoping to hear it was a typo, but have not had the courtesy of a return call. These monies were approved for an already existing bike path. I am a 32 year resident of Butler County and a life long Republican. I do not understand this need to spend and spend.
By Matt Hurley
June 30, 2008 8:10 PM | Link to this
Wow, Josh, a whole new low…I didn’t think that was possible…
By John
June 30, 2008 8:29 PM | Link to this
Doug, don’t let the door hit you in the rear on the way out.