Alice Foeller, Interim Chair, and Bill Logan, Co-Chair,
161 Task Force of the Northland Area Business Association

In 1997, Northland resident George Schmidt noticed that the landscape box at the southeast corner of Maple Canyon and 161 was in terrible shape. It was discovered that there were 22 such boxes at the time that were installed with a special grant from The Columbus Foundation in the 1970’s. No one had done anything to the boxes for 12 years.

George decided to clean it up, weed it, plant it, and care for it. Over the next three years, 21 others joined him. They had nurseries donate plants. A local grocer sponsored kick-off meetings and gave prizes. We noticed the grass along the corridor was awful. A few businesses led by Dave Cooper of the Ink Well joined with us to get money to get the grass cut to supplement the occasional city mowing. For more 20 years, George volunteered.

NABA started the 161 Task Force in 2016. George Schmidt was the Chair from January 2017 until February 2019, when Dr. Mary Lutz became the Chair. In 2022, Athar Ashraf, manager of the Columbus Grand Hotel, took over as Chair. In 2023, after Athar’s tragic passing, Alice Foeller and Bill Logan agreed to share the duties of Chair until a permanent leader can be identified. We all volunteer to make the 161 Corridor better each year.