Category: News

Original stories from the UrbanCincy team.

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Development News Transportation

Streetscaping improvements along W. McMillan Street near completion

Significant progress has been made on the first-phase of streetscaping improvements throughout the Clifton Heights business district. Over the past two months work has been taking place along W. McMillan Street to rebuild sidewalks, crosswalks, curbs, and more. The projected $440,000 project will also include new street lamps, parking meters, trash cans, and street trees.

This stretch of W. McMillan Street had long been plagued by buckled sidewalks due to root invasion from the street trees there and water that subsequently collected. The rebuilt sidewalks not only feature safe and pleasant surfaces for pedestrians, but they also feature uniquely designed brick work at cross walk locations.

The improvement work has been championed by the Clifton Heights Urban Redevelopment Corporation (CHCURC) whose director, Matt Bourgeois, said that “the business community is very excited about the progress being made.”

Some of that progress has been quite noticeable including several facade improvement projects; business expansions and renovations by DuBois Bookstore, Plaza Artist Supplies, and Mac’s Pizza Pub; and the addition of several new businesses to the district.

The first phase of streetscaping improvements, nearing their expected completion in October 2010, were funded through the Cincinnati Neighborhood Business Districts United (CNBDU) and the City of Cincinnati. The later two phases will continue the streetscaping work throughout the district over the next two years depending on funding.

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Arts & Entertainment News

Join the first-ever OTR Urban Kickball League now!

UrbanCincy is proud to announce the first Over-the-Rhine Urban Kickball League.  The league is open to all age levels and anyone interested in participating.  The fall 2010 season will be the first-ever and will feature a variety of special treats and benefits for those participating outside of the kickball fun.

UrbanCincy has partnered with Neon’s Unplugged to offer an official social spot after each game.  Players will be able to walk a short block-and-a-half from Cutter Playground (map) to Neon’s to enjoy its relaxed atmosphere including the newly opened upstairs lounge.

The league costs just $5 per person if you sign-up between now and Friday, September 24.  Anyone signing up after that point will have to pay $10 per person, and hope that there is room left in the league…so sign up now!  The small fee will cover everything you need and even get you a custom-designed, and locally produced, team shirt.

The teams will consist of 10-12 players each and must have a 50/50 split of men and women.  Individuals or teams can sign-up now by downloading the necessary forms, or by picking up a form at Neon’s Unplugged located at 208 E. 12th Street during their regular business hours.

The fall 2010 season will start at the beginning of October and run for six weeks.  Each team will have one game per week at 6pm on either Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.  Interest has been high already, so be sure to sign-up early before prices increase and space in the league disappears.  Complete instructions on how to join are included on the sign-up forms.  If you are unable to download and print these forms, please visit Neon’s Unplugged to pick up a copy there.

Categories
Development News

Cincinnati Preservation Association to host lead paint seminar – 9/25

The Cincinnati Preservation Association (CPA) will be hosting seminar on how to safely work around lead paint, and how new rules from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) might affect your renovation project.

During renovation or repainting work, toxins found within lead paint can become a health risk for humans. As a result, many regulations have been developed to help guide this kind of work and keep those performing the work safe from any potential toxins.

According to building officials, lead paint is more prevalent in buildings built or painted prior to 1977 when lead paint was banned by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. New regulations passed by the EPA in April 2010 require that all renovators who work on homes built before 1978, and disturb more than six square feet of lead paint, be Renovation, Repair & Painting (RRP) certified. It is estimated that the new regulation will impact more than 100,000 renovators in the United States.

Event organizers say that the seminar will include presentations from Aisha Tzilla of the City of Cincinnati Community Development Department and Bill Menrath of the University of Cincinnati.

Lead Paint: Renovate Safely, Learn the New Regs will be held on Saturday, September 25 from 10am to 12pm. The event will be held at Building Value located in Northside at 4040 Spring Grove Avenue. Reservations are required due to limited space, and can be made by contacting CPA at (513) 721-4506 or info@cincinnatipreservation.org. Admission costs $5 for CPA members and $10 for the public.

Categories
News Politics

Cincinnati to take part in fifth annual international PARK[ing] Day

The third Friday in September marks the 5th annual Park[ing] Day, celebrated across the globe. From San Francisco to San Juan and in between, people will be taking over ordinary parking spaces to demonstrate the need for more public space in cities.

PARK[ing] Day started as a collaborative art project with the group REBAR in San Francisco. What was one group’s side project has turned into a global phenomenon, as people across the continents have teamed up to take back the asphalt, if only for one day.

According to the group’s website, “The mission of PARK[ing] Day is to call attention to the need for more urban open space, to generate critical debate around how public space is created and allocated, and to improve the quality of urban human habitat … at least until the meter runs out!”

PARK[ing] Day has since been adapted and remixed to address a variety of social issues in diverse urban contexts around the world, and the project continues to expand to include interventions and experiments well beyond the basic “tree-bench-sod” park typology first modeled by REBAR.

In recent years, participants have built free health clinics, planted temporary urban farms, produced ecology demonstrations, held political seminars, built art installations, opened free bike repair shops and even held a wedding ceremony! All this in the context of this most modest urban territory – the metered parking space.

Cincinnati has participated in the movement for the past four years with community members setting up in the Central Business District, Over-the-Rhine, and Uptown neighborhoods. These Cincinnatians have taken the few basic guidelines for PARK[ing] Day to create an open-source project and creation completely of their own making.

Last year UrbanCincy was on the scene as several parking spaces throughout Over-the-Rhine were transformed. UrbanCincy will once again be back this year with its own space (or two) outside of Park+Vine (map) from 10am to 4pm.  I hope you will come and join me at our little community space.

Cafe de Wheels will be just down the road at Court and Vine streets offering a free beverage, with the rest of their purchase, to those who mention PARK[ing] Day.  Get your food there and then bring it up to our urban oasis where we will have a couple tables, chairs, and more.  Plus at the end of the day, you can keep the fun going by helping Park+Vine move to their new location on Main Street at 6pm.

Categories
Business News Transportation

ArtWorks looking to secure sponsors for final nine Queen City Art Racks

After installing the first Queen City Art Rack in May 2010, ArtWorks is in the process of securing sponsors for the remaining 14 artist-designed bike racks they hope to have installed around Cincinnati by May 2011 to coincide with National Bike Month and ArtWorks’ 15th Anniversary.

ArtWorks executive director Tamara Harkavy said that the non-profit organization has now secured enough sponsors to fund six of those remaining bike racks which cost approximately $7,500 each. The additional money came through sponsorships by Kroger, the Duke Energy Convention Center, Truepoint Financial, Pantene, and Clairol.

The organization plans to install these recently funded bike racks in Northside, Price Hill and Hyde Park Kroger stores, and two locations in downtown Cincinnati. All of the rack locations are being determined based on the needs identified in the city-wide Bicycle Master Plan.

“We are excited about the early support of the Queen City Art Racks program,” said Harkavy. “We have at least nine more funding opportunities along with a number of creative proposals from artists, and we are now looking to close the funding phase and move to the creation phase of the project.”

Project officials at ArtWorks say that the designs for these bike racks will not be developed until December 2010 when they have finalized all fund raising efforts with potential sponsors.

In May, the first Queen City Art Rack was celebrated outside of Coffee Emporium in Over-the-Rhine where it was installed. Named Tours de Cincy, the first rack was designed by Pam Kravetz, Carla Lamb, and Karen Sanders. It was fabricated by Cincinnati-based Vulkane Industrial Arts, and sponsored by the NLT Foundation.

Those interested in sponsoring one of the additional nine racks needing funding can contact Michael Stout at ArtWorks by phone at (513) 333-0388 or email at Michael@ArtWorksCincinnati.org. All sponsorships must be submitted by Thursday, September 30.