With the banners, “we are trying to show that things are moving upwards — not backward, but forward,” said Hixson, who originally is from central Germany and has lived in Lindenwald for 37 years.
Lindenwald is German for “Linden Forest.” Local historian Richard “Dick” Scheid believes when the area was founded, there was at least a grove of Linden trees present.
Triangle Signs in Hamilton is printing the banners now.
“I think they will go up early December, during probably the week of the 5th,” Hixson said. “But it all depends on how the city’s utilities department can accommodate us, because they have promised to provide the manpower to put those up.”
Crews also will be installing the brackets that will hold up the banners. Before that happens, organizers Hixson, Peggy Kollstedt, Gwen Flege and perhaps others will determine which utility poles should be the ones the 34 banners hang from, “since we cannot line the whole Pleasant Avenue corridor,” Hixson said. “We want to recognize businesses along that corridor, too.”
Residents have other reasons to believe Lindenwald is on the rise, particularly after City Manager Joshua Smith's recent announcement that he wants to pour nearly $3.5 million of redevelopment funds in late 2018 into helping upgrade buildings along Central Avenue in the Second Ward and Pleasant Avenue in Lindenwald to energize the area and make the Central/Pleasant corridor a more fertile place for stores and other businesses.
“That was an exciting article to read,” Hixson said. “And we could always tell whenever the city manager had the time to attend our PROTOCOL (People Reaching Out To Others: Celebrating Our Lindenwald) meetings, we could always tell the underlying energy that is there and the commitment to Lindenwald. But reading it in the (Journal-News), it really helped a lot, I think.”
Kollstedt said the banners’ purpose “was to recognize the community, and hopefully draw attention to what a wonderful neighborhood Lindenwald is.”
“It’s very community-oriented, the people are friendly, we have good schools, good churches, within walking distance of the homes,” she said.
When the PROTOCOL group learned the grant money was available, “we thought, ‘It makes sense; let’s apply,” Kollstedt said.
“We hope this will draw some attention to Lindenwald and encourage some additional revitalization,” she said.
Frank Downie, a PROTOCOL leader, said residents hope eventually there will be seasonal banners for the neighborhood to hang.
The new banners should last three to five years when exhibited throughout the year, he said.
While there aren’t enough banners to adorn every utility pole, “I think people are going to notice them,” Downie said. “They’re very eye-catching.”
People “should know that it is a very proud community, and it is a community where neighbors care about each other,” Hixson said. “And they should just watch out for Lindenwald, because it will become a desired place to live.”
City and neighborhood officials believe that with 1,000 new jobs that have been pledged to be coming to the city next year, Lindenwald and the Second Ward, with their inexpensive, solid housing stock, can be good places for young families to live. The city is planning to foster new bus routes through the two neighborhoods next year to transport people to jobs inside and out of the city.
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