Vicki Johnson has lived in North Linden for 30 years. Her family used to own Johnson's Market across the street from her house on Oakland Park Avenue, and still owns an office building there too. She and some other area residents don't want to live in North Linden anymore. But none of them would dream of moving, either.

Vicki Johnson has lived in North Linden for 30 years. Her family used to own Johnson�s Market across the street from her house on Oakland Park Avenue, and still owns an office building there too.

She�s also a member of the Maize Road Civic Association, so you know she�s committed to the neighborhood.

Then again, she and some other area residents don't want to live in North Linden anymore. But none of them would dream of moving, either.

What's going on? Johnson and several others say �North Linden� carries a negative connotation and wants their neighborhood � south of Cooke Road, west of Karl Road, north of E. North Broadway and east of I-71 � to be called �East Clintonville.�

�East Clintonville is more relaxing,� Johnson said.

In a letter to The Dispatch, Johnson wrote that the Linden area south of Weber Road has crime, � dilapidated houses, absentee slumlords and poverty.�

She would like a pedestrian and bicycle bridge built over I-71 to connect Oakland Park Avenue, which is separated by the freeway. Clintonville, a neighborhood with many professionals and booming housing prices, sits west of I-71.

It's just an idea. No one from from the civic association has talked to the North Linden Area Commission or Columbus officials.

�There is a stigma,� acknowledged Jennifer Adair, who leads the area commission. Crimes reports in the newspaper and on television often mention Linden. "There is a perception."

But Adair argues that the community has desirable homes with caring owners. �They want people to take care of their property,� too, she said.

Jeff Scarpitti, who is active in the Maize Road community and has been involved with Johnson�s effort, said the North Linden Area Commission wasn�t formed until the 1980s.

�Were we originally part of Clintonville? No,� he said, adding that residents of other neighborhoods have changed the perceptions by pushing names such as Merion Village on the South Side or Franklinton instead of the �Bottoms.�

The Maize Road neighborhood sits in an area that was part of Clinton Township before the city annexed it. Mary Rodgers, who leads the Clintonville Historical Society, said before that, the area originally was part of 16,000 acres that belonged to Worthington.

The small village of Clintonville sprouted from a couple of blocks along N. High Street in the mid 1800s.

According to a 2011 memo from then-city development director Boyce Safford, neighborhoods can rebrand themselves, but can't create separate area commissions without City Council approval.

Kristopher Keller, who leads the Clintonville Area Commission, said he realizes that some residents across the freeway consider themselves part of Clintonville because the neighborhoods are similar.

He said he�s open to discussing whether �East Clintonville� could be absorbed into the commission.

mferenchik@dispatch.com

@MarkFerenchik