The contest kicked off June 1 at 8am and will end at 11:59pm, June 30. First, second and third places will win $25,000, $10,000 and $5,000, respectively. The Over-the-Rhine neighborhood is one of the most architecturally significant in the country, with the largest collection of Italianate architecture, rivaling similar but much smaller areas in Charleston, South Carolina; the French Quarter in New Orleans, Savannah, Georgia, and even Greenwich Village in New York City.
Votes are counted by email registration – a quick 30 seconds registers an address and enables you to vote one time. The small contest has quickly become a grassroots effort to rally votes and energize the neighborhood. Vote now!
Sean Rhiney, Vice President of the Foundation, described the contest as “a significant opportunity not just for Over-the-Rhine, our oldest and most beloved urban neighborhood, but for the entire City of Cincinnati.” He sees the contest as a chance for the city to shine nationally.
“We’re already proving OTR can be a national model for how older cities can recognize their significant architectural and community assets and let them guide and enhance preservation and development,” Rhiney explained. “The National Trust recognized this when they placed us on their endangered list in 2006 – that wasn’t a death sentence, that was a national organization shining a light on the beauty of what we have, and the limitless potential in saving and celebrating it.”
$25,000 could do a lot of good – the Foundation will enhance several programs already in place. The Over-the-Rhine Legal Defense Fund provides money for lawyers as preservationists battle the city, corporations, and private owners who wish to demolish historic structures.
Another program is the Green Historic Study – demonstrating the marraige between sustainable building and historic property. “Of course, saving structures on the city’s most endangered list in OTR remains a top priority as well identifying proactive ways to deal with infill and greenspace,” said Rhiney.
On June 9, OTR was in 84th place. The effort to win began in earnest the next day and has catapulted OTR into 2nd place. The standings as of 5:00AM, June 20 are as follows (votes alone determine which organization wins the challenge but Facebook “likes” are another, unofficial barometer):
As one can see from the current standings, Over-the-Rhine is within striking distance of 1st place but cannot win without the support of all of us. This neighborhood is significant and this is a chance to show the country that we are all behind it.
Please share all of this information with your friends and remember that you’re allowed to vote once for every email address you have. Vote at http://bit.ly/voteotr
Thanks for blogging this topic. The Enq ran a small story last week but it was buried. OTRF is back in first place — but it’s close! Come on, folks… Use multiple email addr’s if you have them.
Anonymous News Employee
I work for WKRC and I sent your story and some of the information along to our assignment editors and the assistant news director, along with a few reporters. One of the reporters was very interested in trying to get a story on the air today (06/22), but I can’t be certain what was decided. I do know that WKRC (Local 12) ran a 30 second VO/SOT in the 11PM news on 06/21 about this. There is also a link on their website to get viewers to help add votes for OTR. I think that definitely helped OTR move into first place this morning. Hopefully it continues!
Thank you for continuing to cover this Urban Cincy!
@WKRC – So glad Local 12 ran something last night! I’ve got a blog post right now trying to gather the media stories on this event. I’ll add WKRC to it.
Anonymous News Employee
@Caitlin – On Local12.com, there is a red button labeled “Get It.” Click that, and the OTR story is listed under 6/21. With any luck there will be a reporter package this afternoon.
Caitlin
@WKRC – Thanks so much. I’ll post that link to the blog. I’ll be watching the afternoon news for anything else. Hoping WCPO and WLWT will also run something now that both your station and Fox 19 have.
adam
does anyone have a guess how these two new top sites, newport county and dreamland ballroom, are having massive bumps over the course of day? good press? there is something like 7-10k votes being cast in the top spots so it’s a jump of maybe 3-400 votes it seems. It’s disheartening to get bumped by sites that weren’t even on the map. Has OTR gotten any news spots or anything? Are there any concerted efforts to expand reach?
Anonymous News Employee
@adam
Unfortunately, the news cycle as it stands has probably run its course since it was covered last week. A way to breathe some new life back into coverage of this and to get the attention of the local news outlets would be to hold an event in OTR. A creative and unique event + a press release to all the local media + picking the right time of day can (almost) guarantee someone with a camera showing up.
I don’t actually work in the news dept here, but I feel confident in saying that this approach almost always works. More organization for the effort in getting the word out through traditional media (and not just social media) will almost certainly result in even more votes. Time is of the essence.
Hope this helps a bit.
Matt Jacob
It looks like we got a surge from somewhere, because now we are literally off the charts and into the advertisements on the side of the page.
blakefox
You can thank me. I posted it to Reddit.com
blakefox
No, I take that back, thanks to all the amazing Redditors that care about places like OTR.
The Over-the-Rhine Foundation has been selected – one out of one hundred projects in the country deemed worthy enough – to potentially receive 25,000 dollars through The National Trust for Historic Preservation’s This Place Matters 2011 Community Challenge.