Author: Randy A. Simes

Randy is an award-winning urban planner who founded UrbanCincy in May 2007. He grew up on Cincinnati’s west side in Covedale, and graduated from the University of Cincinnati’s nationally acclaimed School of Planning in June 2009. In addition to maintaining ownership and serving as the managing editor for UrbanCincy, Randy has worked professionally as a planning consultant throughout the United States, Korea and the Middle East. After brief stints in Atlanta and Chicago, he currently lives in the Daechi neighborhood of Seoul’s Gangnam district.

Categories
Arts & Entertainment News

Downtown Cincinnati as a skate park

Downtown Cincinnati is viewed by most as a place of business, entertainment, or residence. People live or visit downtown as the central destination for the 2.1 million-person region. There are others that use the city center for something a bit different, and in this case Daniel Stephens uses it as his personal skate park.

There is no skate park in within close proximity of downtown, so skate boarders and others are left to improvise with the urban landscape surrounding them. In this video, entitled Cincinnati A.M., Stephens takes advantage of narrow alleys, busy city streets, an odd concrete-heavy park near 5th and Elm streets where skate boarders often congregate, parking lots and the rear of buildings.

The video was produced and edited by Maxwell White.

Categories
Development News Politics

NKAPC study reveals strong passion for area hillsides

Cincinnati’s urban form has long been defined by its two most significant natural landscape features – the Ohio River and its many hills. Early in the city’s history, the hills served as a boundary to further expansion. Then, as technology improved, people began to move up the hillsides and build there as well.

Over time some hillsides were developed and remain developed, while others were never developed to begin with or have been returned to nature over time. This scenario has created a situation where Cincinnatians debate the best use for the city’s hillsides. To develop or not develop, that is the question.

In Northern Kentucky this issue has been particularly relevant over recent years as hillsides have been built upon for residences that boast city views. To determine where in fact the residents of the area stand, the Northern Kentucky Area Planning Commission (NKAPC) conducted a Hillside Survey.

The results of the 273 respondents are striking. While one-third of the respondents indicated that they would prefer full preservation of the hillsides, nearly 64 percent said that they would like to see a mixture of developed and preserved hillsides in Kenton County.

The common thread throughout the survey was that Kenton County residents view the area’s hillsides as a defining characteristic and one that should be carefully considered in future and ongoing policy decisions.

In June 2010 UrbanCincy discussed this same topic. What should be done with the region’s unique urban hillsides? I contended that a unique development opportunity was being left on the table that has been capitalized on in other cities in Greece and the United States. So what do you think? Should the region’s hillsides be built upon, left undeveloped, or be comprised on some mixture of both?

Mt. Adams photograph by Randy Simes; ‘The Views’ photograph by Kevin LeMaster.

Categories
Business Development News

Belgian immigrant finds business success in Cincinnati

[This story was originally published in the Cincinnati Business Courier print edition on January 21, 2011. Visit the original story for more comments, thoughts and opinions on Taste of Belgium’s business growth – Randy.]

 Nearly four years ago, Belgian immigrant Jean-Francois Flechet baked and sold his first waffles at Cincinnati’s historic Findlay Market. Since then Flechet has seen his waffle business grow in sales, staff, locations, cities, offerings and exposure. Now that Taste of Belgium has opened its second Cincinnati location at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (NURFC), Flechet has his eyes on yet even more growth.

“The food is creative and fresh,” Stephanie A. Creech, external relations manager with the NURFC exclaimed. “Additionally, we’re all looking forward to their upcoming early morning opening so that those who arrive early to the Freedom Center or who park in The Banks can enjoy a fresh cup of coffee or a latte and a waffle before starting their work day.”

The first day Taste of Belgium was at Findlay Market Flechet says he sold 50 waffles. Now, he states, they serve hundreds of people on an average Saturday and baked over 1,000 waffles this past Labor Day at the historic market.

The passionate Flechet, who can often be found offering up free samples of his popular waffles at Findlay Market, says that the early help of Jean-Robert de Cavel, Jean-Philippe Solnom, Bryan Madison and Johan Kars is what has allowed him to reach the level of success Taste of Belgium currently enjoys in Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus.

“At first I was doing absolutely everything myself. I was making the dough at one of Jean-Robert’s restaurants and I would bring it to Findlay early in the morning and would start baking at the back of Madison’s produce store.”

Three-and-a-half years later Flechet now has close to 30 employees, one of the most prominent spaces inside Findlay Market, Taste of Belgium at the NorthStar Café inside the NURFC, locations in Columbus’ North Market and Wexner Center, and is about to sign an agreement that will give the Taste of Belgium business its first stand alone store that will offer “much more than waffles.”

Flechet says that he has signed a letter of intent for a store located inside the Gateway Quarter of Over-the-Rhine. Once open, he says that Taste of Belgium will centralize all of their production activities for the Cincinnati region there, include a bar, and affordable food offerings. But Flechet is not content with simply appeasing the masses flocking to the Gateway Quarter.

“I made vegan waffles this past National Vegan Day so that my friend Dan Korman at Park+Vine could finally have a waffle. We are also making French macaroons with the new pastry chef we have on board.”

Following his expansion in Cincinnati, the plan is to start franchising the business elsewhere in the United States.

“Cincinnati is a great place to run a test [business]; if the concept works in Cincinnati it can work anywhere,” explained Flechet. “We are also working on a new website to improve shipping, and we hope to start producing our waffle irons in the U.S. soon, but right now I’m just having a lot of fun.”

Taste of Belgium photography by UrbanCincy contributer Thadd Fiala.

Categories
News Transportation

Midwest High Speed Rail Association to host happy hour discussion in Cincinnati

The Midwest High Speed Rail Association will be meeting in Cincinnati on Wednesday, January 26 at Arnold’s Bar & Grill.  The meeting will take place from 6pm to 8pm and reportedly will include an “informal discussion” about high-speed rail led by executive director Rick Harnish.

The event is free and open to the public, but food and drink will not be provided by the Midwest High Speed Rail Association.  Food and drink will however be available for purchase from Arnold’s.

Those interested in attending are encouraged to RSVP online or by emailing mailto: Mark@MidwestHSR.org, but anyone is encouraged to show up at the time of the event and join the conversation.  Arnold’s Bar & Grill is located in the heart of downtown Cincinnati at 210 East 8th Street.

Categories
Business News Politics

It’s time to comprehensively reexamine Cincinnati’s neighborhood boundaries

As the housing market continues to be difficult, homeowners around Cincinnati are looking for every advantage they can get. In some recent cases this has included those around the Hyde Park neighborhood to petition Cincinnati City Council to merge their residential pockets into the more desirable neighborhood.

These residents claim that being included in the Hyde Park neighborhood will immediately improve the value of their home due to how it is listed in the Cincy MLS. Maybe so, but nothing is in fact changing other than a label.

Over time Cincinnati and its unique and identifiable neighborhoods have changed, but there are several turf wars, so to speak, going on around town. Pendleton struggles for a separate identity from Over-the-Rhine; Covedale is doing the same with West Price Hill; portions of Oakley and Evanston want to be included into Hyde Park; and try to not even unravel the complexities going on in Uptown between Clifton Heights, Fairview, University Heights, The Heights, Clifton, and Corryville.

Surely the residents and business owners know their respective neighborhoods best, and city leaders should listen. The current approach of waiting until a certain homeowners association or some other group of concerned citizens comes forward is a reactive way to run a city. Instead, the city should empower its citizens in the ongoing Comprehensive Plan and completely redraw all of the neighborhood boundaries within city limits.

Should Fay Apartments, Millvale, English Woods, East Westwood and California all be their own official city neighborhoods? And likewise, shouldn’t places like Covedale, Pendleton and O’Bryonville be given consideration for neighborhood status. I think so, and I think city officials should be looking at all of these issues so that they can be resolved once and for all.

One way to solve this issue in a non-biased way would be to define what in fact a “neighborhood” is. Currently Cincinnati has 52 neighborhoods and 37 neighborhood business districts. A good starting point might be that a “neighborhood” has to include an associated neighborhood business district or cultural center. Right away this would eliminate places like English Woods and Fay Apartments from the list of official neighborhoods as they are nothing more than housing projects. Instead they should be included in the neighborhoods that surround them.

There are many potential ways to approach this, but something needs to be done. These designations help determine how the City allocates funding to Community Councils, impacts the property values of homeowners and small businesses, and these designations help to define one of the most unique things about Cincinnati – its diverse, vibrant and identifiable neighborhoods.