Jane Curry, co-owner of Kensho Traditional Shotokan Karate at 2251 Pleasant Ave., has reactivated the Lindenwald Civic Association. New Christmas decorations were purchased last year for along Pleasant Avenue. Misty Duff of Duff Carpentry used a city 17Strong Grant to launch the Lindenwald Litter Patrol, which cleans up the business district the first Saturday of each month from April through November.
Even people who don’t live in the area — some who once did, others who just like the neighborhood — have participated, as did the Hamilton High School girls soccer team and Linden Elementary School staff.
Curry said the karate business moved from Fairfield Twp. in 2019, because she and co-owner Kevin Downard “really cater to families” and wanted to locate in a neighborhood with families and children.”
Downard, a 1993 Monroe High School graduate, is chief instructor. Curry, a 1993 Fairfield High School graduate, is the manager and assistant instructor. They recently went on a training tour in Japan.
“It’s really full of a lot of good people,” Curry said. “There’s a lot of really good families, a lot of very thoughtful people. A lot of times everyone looks out for each other, especially in the business district.”
She installed video cameras around the building, and even “got several situations cleaned up, you could say,” partly by working with Hamilton Police Officer Scott Arbino, who works closely with Lindenwald people.
Curry also started a small shop, The Linden Tree, on a trial basis for six months, “but I found out I don’t have enough time,” she said. “I need more of me. I need to clone myself.”
“But,” she said, “I did spark enough interest to get that unit re-rented, and the unit next to it rented, so I did complete my goal of just getting a business in there — just not me.”
In the larger space next to where her store had been, Barger’s Bargains recently opened.
Another recent nearby opening was Relief Buddies, which sells CBD (cannabidiol).
“We’re trying to make this whole strip something where we all work together,” Curry said.
Miami University planning students in 2018 created a development plan for Lindenwald. Miami classes since have created ones for the city’s Second Ward neighborhood and the North End.
Duff Carpentry has been in business 11 years, and one year in Lindenwald, at 2301 Pleasant Ave., where they now own the building. They previously had a display room in Old West Chester and a shop behind their home in Lindenwald.
Their current location gives them both in one location, and is close to home.
“There’s a lot of empty storefronts down here, and we need them filled,” Duff said. “There’s definitely potential.”
“The big thing is just getting people down here,” she said. “I would like it if we had a few more restaurants on the strip. It just hasn’t happened yet.”
She hopes once the pandemic ends and people are dining out again, that will happen.
“There’s 11,000 cars a day that travel through this business district, and I don’t know that a lot of people know that,” Duff said. “That makes this area for business very valuable. And because the real estate’s not super expensive, it also has a value, because you are able to come in maybe someplace at a price point that you wouldn’t necessarily be able to do if you were someplace else.”
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