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
Development News Transportation

Cincinnati officials select Vine Street route for uptown streetcar connection

City officials have announced that Vine Street has been chosen as the path for the Cincinnati Streetcar to reach the uptown area. The decision comes after a comprehensive study was conducted to determine which route would best connect downtown with uptown, while also best managing the steep hillsides there.

“Our direction from city council has always been to ‘connect the dots,’ but to do so in a way that was fiscally responsible,” stated Cincinnati City Manager Milton Dohoney in a prepared release. “The Vine Street route accomplishes that.”

The Vine Street route is estimated to cost $20 million less in capital costs, offer $250,000 in savings annually in operations, pose fewer engineering challenges, and also offer greater options for future expansions than the West Clifton Avenue alternative. According to City officials, Vine Street and West Clifton Avenue stakeholders have been meeting to discuss the alternatives for months, and that the group had been informed of the final decision yesterday.

One of the primary objectives of the study was to determine how to best navigate the steep hillside leading to and from the uptown area. In this case, Vine Street’s maximum 6.7 percent grade scored much better than West Clifton Avenue’s maximum 8.9 percent grade. The project team said that while United Streetcar/Oregon Iron Works, Siemens, Inekon, Kinkisharyo, and Bombardier all could build modern streetcars to handle such grades, the preference was for engineering simplicity.

In addition to the engineering aspects, many streetcar supporters believe the selected route to get uptown will present greater opportunities long-term.

“The Vine Street route will offer the fastest service between Cincinnati’s two largest employment centers,” said Brad Thomas, Founder, CincyStreetcar.com. “The route also presents the greatest opportunity for future expansions including extensions west to Clifton Heights, north to Avondale and Corryville, or east to Walnut Hills.”

To date, the city has secured $114.5 million out of the total $128 million to build the entire first phase running from Cincinnati’s central riverfront to its uptown neighborhoods. The modern streetcar system will be the first of its kind in the Midwest and one of only three like systems in the United States. The first construction is expected to begin fall 2010 with the first passengers riding in early 2013.

Categories
Business News

UrbanCincy to be back to regular publishing schedule tomorrow

Please excuse the infrequency of content lately.  The UrbanCincy team has been hard at work lining up new stories and features we hope you will all find quite enjoyable.  On top of that, I have been in San Francisco for the past five days.  The trip to the bay area will certainly provide content down the road as I was able to learn a lot about their transit systems, urban design, and overall city functions during my visit.

While in San Francisco I got to see virtually all of the tourist destinations but also the city’s first parklet, their new bus stops, ride a bike down Lombard Street and across the Golden Gate Bridge to Saulsalito, try out one of San Francisco’s best taco trucks while enjoying Aztec dancing in the Mission District, enjoy some of the most walkable neighborhoods in the United States, and learn a lot about the region’s transit system thanks to Jeff Wood from Reconnecting America.  I took hundreds of photographs documenting the entire journey, but in the mean time enjoy these sub-par camera phone pictures.

Categories
Arts & Entertainment News

‘Around Cincy’ video shows off Cincinnati’s vibrant Fountain Square

First and foremost, happy Labor Day.  Hopefully everyone enjoyed the fireworks and festivities on the Ohio River this year, and hopefully everyone is recovering from extended weekend celebrations so that they can get right back to work tomorrow morning.

To keep things light, check out this intriguing video put together of scenes from downtown Cincinnati.  The videographer says he decided to put the video together out of unused work, but the final product here is pretty darn good.  The video primarily stays on and around the vibrant Fountain Square.

‘Around Cincy’ lasts a brief 1:49.  If anyone is able to identify the song, please share that information in the comment section.

Categories
Arts & Entertainment News

East Price Hill to kick off free jazz series at Mt. Echo Park

The East Price Hill Improvement Association (EPHIA) will kick off their annual jazz series at Mt. Echo Park this Saturday, September 4. The live jazz series is being supported by Cincinnati Parks and the nearby Primavista restaurant.

The first free jazz concert will take place from 3pm to 6pm this Saturday, and include performances by the Wade Baker Jazz Collaboration and the Young Jazz Messengers. Events organizers say that Wade Baker is a native of Indiana and graduated from the University of Cincinnati’s prestigious College Conservatory of Music. The Young Jazz Messengers, on the other hand, is an ensemble of musicians from Cincinnati’s School for Creative & Performing Arts.

“This event celebrates the diverse community of East Price Hill through America’s finest original art form – Jazz,” said event organizer Ray Busche.  He went on to say that Cafe de Wheels will be on-site serving food during the event, but picnic baskets and coolers are also welcome for those looking to bring their own treats.

The annual jazz series presented by EPHIA is free and open to the public. Free automobile and bicycle parking is available at Mt. Echo Park (map), and the event can be accessed by Metro bus service (plan your trip).

Categories
Business Development News

With another Cincinnati blog possibly ending, how do we stop the bleeding?

On Tuesday, the Cincinnati blogosphere learned that it would possibly lose one of its most well-respected and popular blogs. Kevin LeMaster, Editor and Publisher of Building Cincinnati, informed his readership that, “the Building Cincinnati experiment is likely to end,” and that he was almost certain it would end on that same day.

The news is a blow to many Cincinnatians turned to Building Cincinnati for the past several years to get the detailed information the website provided on local development news. LeMaster quickly turned the site into a requisite stop on the daily must-read list as he often covered news that got zero coverage from other blogs and the mainstream media.

Unfortunately, Building Cincinnati’s departure is not unique, and the issues facing local bloggers are often uniform. Many blogs have come and gone, or have dramatically reduced the amount of content they publish. Such prominent sites include CNati, BuyCincy, and Live Green Cincinnati.

The problem is that blogs are not money generators and it can become awfully difficult to continue to put so much time and effort into something that isn’t helping to pay your rent, put food on the table, or provide you health insurance. The problem even exists here with UrbanCincy.

In late June 2009 I accepted a full-time urban planning position with CH2M HILL in Atlanta. Since then I have been living and working full-time in this southern city, but my work has not ceased in Cincinnati. Each week I devote 20 to 30 hours to research, writing, editing, and illustrating approximately eight to ten stories. This is a lot of content by most blog’s standards, and I am able to thank UrbanCincy’s team of writers and photographers that help make it possible. But I would be lying if I were to say that I haven’t thought, on multiple occasions, about shutting the whole thing down.

The secret for UrbanCincy has been the team approach. By working as a team we are able to distribute the workload so that the burden isn’t so great, while also providing a good quantity and quality of work. This however can not possibly work for everyone, so we should be alarmed by the fact that some of the region’s best blogs will continued to be threatened long-term.

As newspapers continue to cut coverage, and/or syndicate work from outside entities like the Associated Press, it is important that blogs persist so that this information can be shared with the public. The popularity of blogs has come as a direct result of these newspaper cuts. First food, then fashion, then business/development, now sports. Without these freelance writers, much of our daily news stream would be made up of crime and local politics, while the rest is left to the imagination. This is unacceptable. If you have any ideas on how to make blogs work, please share them in the comment section. I’m sure UrbanCincy is not the only blog in town that would love to hear them.

In the mean time, consider this an open invitation to join the UrbanCincy team Mr. LeMaster.  We know just how difficult it is to produce the content at the frequency in which you have produced it for Building Cincinnati.  If you want to write, discuss, or do something else just let one of us know.  We would love to have you on-board, but we extend our best wishes towards your future success however that may materialize.