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Development News

Soapbox Cincinnati: A new Cincy gem


I won’t say much…I’ll let Soapbox Cincinnati e-zine do the talking for themselves:

The passion that drives the staff of this new weekly experiment is the desire to find the innovative, the hip, the inspirational, the quirky and the positive that make up this city of ours. Cincinnati is a community of delicious tensions — a city of risk-takers and a city of critics. We praise innovation but worry about too much change happening too quickly. We value development and expertise but are quick to mock insincerity and celebrity. We look to magazines to rate us but rise up in righteous anger against anyone who talks trash about the ‘Nati. We are political, but too polite to talk about it at the dinner table. We are east and west; north of the river and south of the river; urban, suburban and exurban. We are upper, middle and lower; gay and straight; black and white and Asian and Hispanic and Indian and African; and a mosaic of traditions and cultures too rich to list, and yet our conversations about diversity never creep past our geography or zip codes. We are all these things and so much more than a rant on a bar stool. So climb up on this Soapbox of ours and take a look around. We exist to tell the story of a city in sustained transformation. Our goal is to have you seeing Cincinnati differently. And if we don’t, you’re always welcome to rant, but when you’re through don’t be surprised to hear us say, “I hear you, but what are you going to do about it?”

Soapbox Cincinnati seems to be yet another outlet for those who feel a change is needed in Cincinnati. For too long Cincinnati has been made up more pessimists than optimists. It is the new blogs like UrbanCincy, and those in my blogroll, that are helping change the perception of Cincinnati. We have the power to change Cincinnati with our words, thoughts, and information…and it is great to have a new outlet like Soapbox Cincinnati around.

Categories
Development News Politics Transportation

Mayor Mallory’s State of the City Address

The Mayor delivered his state of the city address to a capacity crowd at the Playhouse in the Park.  Many more attempted to make reservations, but were placed on a waiting list.  Overall the Mayor used the speech to recap the year’s developments and progress rather than propose any new legislation or initiatives.  

Among the highlights:

“Build a Streetcar System that connects Downtown to Uptown.”
“Which brings me to what may be an uncomfortable conversation for some.  But as a city, we have to take on tough issues. And, ex-offender employment is one of those tough issues.  I told you earlier that employment is the number one request from the people that CIRV has engaged.  If we are going to truly grow our economy, we have to give opportunity to all citizens. Too many people are being excluded from employment because of mistakes in their past.  This may be unpopular, but I am telling you, this has to happen.  By opening the doors of economic opportunity to more citizens we will make our community safer and healthier.”

“Youth employment is a top priority of my administration.  Through our Jobs and Opportunities Fair and the City’s Youth Employment Program, we have provided thousands of young people the opportunity to find employment.  In fact, our program was presented as a best practice at the US Conference of Mayors and at the Mayors Innovation Project in Washington DC.  Our program has been so successful that I am proposing that we increase the funding for the Cincinnati Youth Employment Program to $2 million dollars a year in the next city budget. “

Two years ago, I told you that we were going to develop a program to focus city services on individual neighborhoods.  Last year, we launched the Neighborhood Enhancement Program.  It concentrates city services in targeted neighborhoods for 90 days.  Last year, the program targeted Price Hill, Avondale and Northside.  This year, we’re focusing on Clifton Heights, University Heights, Fairview, Westwood, and Evanston.  With this new approach, we’re focusing on concentrated building code enforcement, tearing down problem buildings, and addressing crime hot-spots.  And in partnership with the community, we are developing neighborhood assets.  The program is transforming neighborhoods throughout the city. “

“Which brings me to one of the most important opportunities that we have in Cincinnati: the 2010 Census.  We know that census numbers matter.  What you may not know is that 170 Federal Programs use Census Data to make funding decisions.  In order for Cincinnati to receive our fair share, we must have the most accurate Census count possible.  So, we must begin planning now for 2010.”

At the end of the speech inspirational music started playing over the Mayor’s closing remarks.  Those in attendance thought it odd, but it may have worked on television.

Categories
Business Development News Politics

Cincinnati is ready to GO

The Growth & Opportunities Survey for the City of Cincinnati (aka GoCincinnati) has finally been released – all 98 pages of it. I will venture to say that the majority of people will not read the report, and if you do, it will probably consist of skimming…so I have taken the liberty of reading it for you, and here is my report on GoCincinnati.

The report seems to offer a two-fold solution. First, the City should focus on its strengths (i.e. walkable communities, urban areas, culture, etc) for mid/long-term growth strategies. Secondly, the City needs to eliminate the edge that currently exists for suburban communities over the city in attracting office/retail/residential growth.

The analysis is overall not flattering, but does report a stable industrial market that is holding strong against regional competition…and that with a little more attention could easily establish itself as the premier industrial market for a couple of categories (i.e. Flex/R&D space and Green Industrial Parks). There are currently only 18 green industrial parks in the nation, and the potential of turning Queensgate into one poses possibly the greatest opportunity, and the ability to position Cincinnati as, “a global leader in ‘green development’ via the rehabilitation of these spaces.” (pg. 34)

The report also places a large emphasis on creating a multi-modal transportation system…which can be started with the streetcar proposal. The report states, “It is strongly recommended that the streetcar line be completed between Downtown, Uptown, and OTR in the 1st phase of its construction. There is probably no infrastructure investment that will have more long-term tax generation and economic development benefit to the city than this streetcar line.” (pg. 40)
Another key area of emphasis is on converting obsolete office space, in the CBD, into non-office uses…primarily in the form of residential spaces. This would allow for rates to creep up and possibly create demand for new speculative office construction, additionally it would inject even more people into the center city.

One final key note of mine was the recommendation of a joint Cincinnati and Hamilton County development authority. The report proposes that it be called the Cincinnati USA Development Authority (CUDA). It is recommended that the operations of the Port Authority be expanded to include all of the city/county. It also noted that this expansion, of the Port Authority, has already begun during this report process.

For any more information you’ll just have to read the report yourself…it’s good for you. All in all, I find this to be fantastically informative and well done. This is something that Cincinnati should really embrace and attempt to position itself strategically for economic and population growth.

Full Report (PDF 4.97mb)

Image Credit:
www.cincystreetcar.com

Categories
Business Development News

I’ve got your Downtown grocery right here

With the growing residential population Downtown and the new activity being seen on a daily basis…the talks of a full-scale grocery store for Downtown have heated up again. I think it is BS when people say the demographics aren’t right, or that a location isn’t there that meets their needs. I won’t bore you with demographic talk, but I will dive into the location part of the discussion.

I’ve got a couple locations that I think would be great for a nice full-scale grocery Downtown. The first one is 7th & Vine. This is about as close to the center of the population (for the center city) as you can get. There are currently two surface lots there and is located 2 blocks from Fountain Square and 1 block from the proposed streetcar line.

Sunflower Market a natural foods grocery in Columbus – highstreetart.blogspot.com

My second option would be at Tower Place Mall along 4th Street. The street-level would have to be completely reworked to have direct access, but this could prove to be the rejuvenation that Tower Place needs. This is just 1 block from Fountain Square and about 1.5 blocks from the proposed streetcar line.

Finally there is always the massive surface lots near St. Xavier Church at 7th/8th & Sycamore. This location is in a rapidly growing residential area, and offers lots of readily available land just waiting to be built on. This location though is slightly further away from being central, but is smack dab on the streetcar line.

Categories
Development News

Clifton Plaza moving forward

The Bender Optical site on Ludlow Avenue, which is jointly owned by Clifton Town Meeting (CTM) and the Clifton Business and Professional Association, is moving forward with the city’s recent approval for the demolition of the Bender Optical building.

The city has stated that the building will be coming down this Thursday (11/15)…thus clearing the way for the plaza to move forward. Following the demolition one more round of soil testing will be done, and then the site will be ready for the start of the plaza.

As for some background…the Clifton Plaza is part of the larger Ludlow Avenue revitalization project which will eventually include new sidewalks/curbs, added trees (where needed), improved streetlights, coordinated street furniture and the reduction of some overhead wires.

For more information check out the following:
Ludlow Avenue Revitalization Project Presentation
Clifton Town Meeting (CTM)

***The images illustrate the proposed improvements to Telford Avenue, and the proposed improvements for the Merchant’s Lot access. Both images are from the presentation PDF that is linked above.