The Voice

Trash Bash Challenge Returns for Its Fifth Year

By Emily Carabello

It’s that time of year again! Time for our 5th annual Newport Trash Bash Challenge on Sunday, September 22, at 2:00 pm. New to town or looking to get more involved? This is the perfect event to meet our wonderful community! The Trash Bash is a spirited trash-collection competition, followed by a celebration with prizes and a chance to eat, drink, and be merry with your fellow Newportians. What better way to celebrate the city we love than by making it a little more beautiful?

Grab your friends, family, and/or coworkers and create teams of four to compete. We’ve got prizes donated by local businesses (The Yoga Bar, Carabello Coffee, Industry Salon, Newport on the Levee, and more) and trophies. Award categories include:

The Golden Trash Can Award: The ultimate recognition. The team that collects the most trash.

The Most Spirited Award: We’ve got spirit, yes we do! Don't be afraid to dress up as a team of ghostbusters, create a team cheer, or get creative.)

The Most Unusual Award: Did you find the weirdest, strangest, "Someone else come look at this, I must be crazy, right?!" piece of trash? Save it and you might win! RULE: This unusual piece of trash must be found on public thoroughfare during the event.

The Biggest Butt Award: Cigarette butts are litter too! See if your team can collect the most cigarette butts to clean up the city AND bring home this award.

After we’re done beautifying our city, we’ll celebrate together with free food, Wooden Cask beer for sale, and announcing the winners of prizes!

RSVP via Eventbrite so we can have enough food for you. You can also get more details on our Facebook event page. See you at the Trash Bash!

NBA September Meeting

By Bev Holiday, NBA Vice President

The Newport Business Association (NBA) will be hosting an "Educational Update" panel discussion at its meeting on Wednesday, September 25, at 8:00 am at the City Building (998 Monmouth Street) in the Multi-Purpose Room. The meeting is free to attend and open to the public.

Newport Arts and Music Fest at the Newport History Museum

By Scott Clark, Historic Preservation Officer and History Museum Executive Director

The Newport History Museum @ The Southgate Street School is hosting its 2nd Annual Newport Arts & Music Fest on Saturday, September 28, from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm at 215 E. Southgate Street. The event will feature local artists and artisans with hand-crafted designs to sell, live music, and more!

Former students of the Southgate Street School will be presenting oral histories of their student days and sharing their memories of Newport in years gone by. The NKY Brotherhood Singers, a jubilee-style, acapella, sacred gospel quintet will be performing from 1:00 to 2:00 pm, along with other local musicians throughout the day. Hofbrauhaus will be opening its Bier Garden area and serving their specialty micro-brews and tasty German cuisine. The event is free to attend and open to the public.

For more details, visit the Newport History Museum Facebook page.

Newport School of Innovation Helps Students in Need Succeed

By Kelly Grayson

Newport School of Innovation (NSOI) takes an innovative approach to removing barriers from students by offering schedule flexibility, personalized learning, and time management along with a variety of courses that a traditional school setting cannot provide.

As we continue into our first few weeks of school, our enrollment keeps climbing. We meet the needs of all students for whom a traditional learning environment doesn’t always work, including those who are:

Dealing with homelessness
Working full-time jobs and only need a few credits to graduate
Struggling in the traditional setting and work better in a quiet environment
Sick or pregnant
Needing one-to-one support with courses
Planning to graduate early and start on their post-secondary education
Experiencing anxiety or depression

We are up for any challenge to ensure students are successful at getting an education.

If your child or anyone you know is interested in Newport School of Innovation, please reach out to us. We are here to help you. We are available at 706 Park Avenue in Newport from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday. Stop in and let us help your child get started on successful career opportunities through personalized, hybrid learning. Or call us today at 859-292-3081 and visit our website for more information.

Campbell County Library’s New Program Delivers Free Books to Young Ones

By Jim Pleshinger

Campbell County Public Library has stepped up its commitment to investing in our children and our future in a big way. In partnership with local schools, the library is proud to introduce Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library: Campbell County, Kentucky. Campbell County parents can now register their young ones to receive a free book in the mail each month.

Imagination Library is a program designed to put a new book in the hands of every child every month from birth until age five. The library, Campbell County Schools and independent school districts in Bellevue, Dayton, Fort Thomas and Newport have joined together to launch Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library: Campbell County, Kentucky. (Southgate currently has its own funding for Imagination Library.) The Dolly Parton Foundation covers all costs for providing the books. The library and all of the school districts pay to have the books delivered to each child each month.

Registration is open to all children who live in Campbell County from birth to age five. It’s easy to sign up. Just pick up a paper registration form at any branch of the library, fill it out and mail it back, or register online.

Eight to ten weeks after you register, books will begin arriving. Each book is selected by the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. A committee of parents, teachers, child development specialists, librarians, publishers, and others specializing in early childhood literacy make the selections based on age appropriateness and the development of positive themes such as promotion of self-esteem and confidence, regard for diversity, and appreciation of art. If your children’s ages are between newborn and five, each child will receive a book appropriate to that age. Each book is mailed separately, so siblings’ books might arrive at different times in the month.

Tree Ordinance Amendment Highlights

By Assistant City Manager Larisa Sims and Arborist Rachel Comte

The City of Newport has had a Tree and Landscape Ordinance in place for several years. In 2018, the city hired an arborist to assist with the city's overall tree maintenance and planting programs. Following this, several recommendations were made to clarify language and update the ordinance according to national standards and best practices in urban forestry, within the context of local needs and availability of budget. Highlights of the major changes are outlined below.

Clarification of responsibilities: The revised ordinance clarifies that the city controls the right-of-way space and is responsible for the street (and park) trees and tree care and will work to care for public trees dependent on budget availability.

Safety issues due to trees will be addressed across the city every year and a proactive cyclical care program has been initiated. The city has been divided into ten management zones. Each year one zone will be re-inventoried and receive any needed proactive care (pruning, etc.). If a property owner would like to plant a tree or have their tree pruned ahead of this schedule, permission can be granted for the owner to hire a contractor to do the work at their own expense. Any planting, pruning, removal, or other alteration of any kind to street and park trees requires prior permission of the city.

Industry standards referenced: The revised ordinance cites industry standards for tree care. Copies of these standards can be provided by the city upon request.

Consequences for loss or damage: Currently when someone tops or removes a street tree without permission, there is no compensation for the loss of that city asset. The new ordinance includes a fine for work or removal without a permit ($200) and compensation for the loss of that city tree or asset ($250 per inch of trunk diameter).

Creation of tree fund: Any funds collected from the penalties described above will be collected in a designated tree fund that can be used for tree planting, tree care, and other tree related needs in the future.

Invasive policy: No invasive plants or bamboo can be planted on any public lands.

Sidewalk damage responsibility change: In the previous city ordinances, adjacent property owners are responsible for the repair and maintenance of their own sidewalks unless damage is caused by tree roots. The revised ordinance changes that responsibility to the adjacent property owner now being responsible for sidewalks without exception.

There is a large amount of sidewalks that need to be repaired (some damage caused by tree roots, some damage exacerbated by tree roots, others not related to trees at all) that are currently not able to be repaired by the city due to lack of funding. This change in the ordinance is solely a reflection of the budget realities for the city of Newport.

The city has completed an inventory of sidewalks currently damaged by tree roots. The list of these properties will be made available on the city website.

If you believe your sidewalk has been damaged by roots and is not on the list, please contact the city manager's office in writing at 998 Monmouth Street, Newport, KY 41071 or by email at jrovno@newportky.gov. We will send someone to check the sidewalk to determine if it should be added to the list. You will have until December 1, 2019, to make such requests.

All sidewalks currently found damaged by tree roots will be repaired. Any subsequent new damage will then be the obligation of the property owner.

Clarification of what is allowed on tree lawn: Adjacent property owners maintain their tree lawns (the space between the sidewalk and the street), whether grass, ground cover, mulch, etc. However, there are some tree lawns or tree wells (concrete cut out for a tree) currently planted with large shrubs or with boulders or decorative chains that obstruct vehicular access and line of site for traffic. The revised ordinance restricts any plantings other than trees in this space that are above 12" or that will cause trip hazards. Landscape features under 12" may be planted with permission from the city.

The city encourages property owners to clear their tree lawns of any shrubs, but will not enforce this new requirement to existing landscaping in tree lawns and tree wells unless multiple complaints are received related to access or safety.

If you have any questions, email bholiday@newportky.gov or call 859-292-3687. Great things are happening in Newport! Thanks for your efforts to continue to make Newport a great place to live, work, shop, and play.

Leaf Collection Schedule 2019

Newport has established a leaf collection schedule for Autumn 2019. Please rake your leaves into the street (near the curb) no more than a day before your street’s collection date. If you prefer to bag your leaves, you may put them out on your regular trash day, but they will not be composted. This schedule may vary depending on weather conditions. We may also pick up ahead of schedule but will return on your regularly scheduled day. For questions or more information, please call 859-292-3686.