For a long time Frank Buck fought for a paved surface in back of his Hilltop home so he could walk on a ramp to get to his house.  

He thought he was fighting a losing battle. His persistence paid off.  

Thanks to the effort of a member of the Greater Hilltop Area Commission, Buck now has that paved surface. 

“I was there (GHAC meetings) three times,” he said of his pleas for help to get around the problem. “I thought they didn’t care.” 

But in October, Anderson Concrete came paid Buck a visit, along with four laborers from ASC, LLC, working together to put down a concrete pad that Buck estimates is worth about $3,000. 

“Steve Hermiller from the Greater Hilltop Area Commission helped put it together,” Buck said. “I’m glad he did.” 

When Buck appeared before the GHAC in August, things started happening.  

Buck, a diabetic who has mobility problems stemming from an accident, has difficulty walking. He has a ramp in the back of his property and had been parking on gravel, but the city said it didn’t meet zoning codes. 

The city of Columbus requires that all vehicles be parked on paved surfaces, and gravel doesn’t qualify. 

Buck said he couldn’t afford to put down a paved surface because his Social Security income wouldn’t stretch that far. 

Although GHAC president Chuck Patterson said he sympathized with Buck and his parking problems and wished he could help, he didn’t want to go against zoning regulations. 

GHAC member Lisa Grazier said she searched the Internet for ways to help Buck and Hermiller said he felt that the estimates given Buck were high, that there had to be some other way to help. 

“It’s nice,” Buck said of the work bought about by the efforts of Hermiller. 

He lives on the corner of Terrace and Mound Streets. Terrace is one-way south and Mound is a busy east-west thoroughfare. There are no sidewalks in that area and Buck fears for the safety of the children walking back and forth to the nearby schools.  

If he would have parked on Terrace, it would be well behind the stop sign, and then he would have to walk in the street to get to his ramp. 

He is so pleased with the efforts of the individual members of GHAC that he has a hard time talking about it. 

“I can’t talk too good when I’m extremely happy or extremely sad,” Buck said. “I couldn’t even tell them thanks for a while. They did something I never dreamed they would do.” 

During his active life time, Buck has helped others. 

“I enjoy helping other people,” he said. “Now when someone helps me, I don’t know how to take it. It makes me feel good. It tickles me to death.”