Category: News

Original stories from the UrbanCincy team.

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News Transportation

Gearing Up for Bike to Work Week

Monday marks the beginning of the League of American Bicyclists‘ Bike to Work Week 2010. From Monday, May 17 through Friday, May 21, Cincinnatians are encouraged to get behind their trusty two-wheelers instead of the wheel of their car. Local bike group Queen City Bike is helping to make the transition easier by setting up “commuter stations” throughout the city to reach out to bicyclists and encourage those who might otherwise be having second thoughts to get out and ride.

Riding a bike instead of driving to work next week is a great way to experience commuting via bicycle for those who may not have tried it before. Biking helps reduce carbon emissions – every mile biked is one pound of carbon saved – and is great exercise as well. Not only that, but biking is free (after the cost of the bike) and saves money on buying gas.

There is a small but strong biking community in the Cincinnati area, and veteran bikers are excited to help spread the bike love to others. Queen City Bike’s commuter stations are designed to educate and inform cyclists in the region who want to learn more.

“If you are not sure you are ready to try commuting just yet, but want to learn more about where you can bike in the region, please stop by and see us at one of our Commuter Stations,” said Gary Wright, President of Queen City Bike. “We will have maps that you can take with you that will help you find the best streets for riding in your neighborhood.”

The stations will be set up in various parts of town and have free coffee, swag, as well as a free tune up for your bicycle if you stop by. Monday’s station is located at the Hyde Park Coffee Emporium (3316 Eerie Avenue) and Elements Cycles will be around to look at bikes. Queen City Bike has posted a full list of the rest of the commuter stations to be set up around town the rest of the week.

Another perk of Bike to Work Week can be found at local green general store Park+Vine. During the month of May, shoppers who visit the store via bike can get 10% off on their food purchases, and 15% off other merchandise.

It is important that new and experience riders remember to be safe out on the roads (do not ride on the sidewalk). If you are interested in refreshing your knowledge about bicycling rules of the road, the If you are not familiar with the bike rules of the road, the Ohio Bicycle Federation has an quick and easy-to-use guide on Ohio bike law. Remember: please ride on the street. With traffic. Wearing a helmet.

Happy riding, Cincinnati!

Categories
Arts & Entertainment News

Cincinnati Museum Center to develop exchange program with Kenyan museum

The Cincinnati Museum Center has been awarded $150,000 through Museum & Community Collaboration Abroad (MCCA) that will support a cultural exchange program with the National Museums of Kenya Lamu Museums in eastern Africa.

The National Museums of Kenya was established in 1910 by the then East Africa & Uganda Natural History Society that set out to preserve artifacts of the area’s colonial settlers and naturalists. Over time the organization has experienced a wide variety of changes, which most recently was sparked by their “Museum in Change” program funding in part by the European Union. This program has led the organization on a mission to open itself up and become a “custodian of heritage” for the area while representing five key values of being authentic, reliable, unifying, caring and authoritative.

“This announcement is great news for the Cincinnati Museum Center,” U.S. Representative Steve Driehaus (D-OH) said in a press release. “The Museum Center is one of our community’s greatest assets, and an important part of our local heritage and history. This award will allow the Museum Center to share that heritage across cultures, while bringing a broader understanding of other cultures into our community.”

The $150,000 grant was awarded by MCCA which is administered by the American Association of Museums (AAM) and funded by the Bureau of Educational & Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State. The funding is reportedly scheduled to continue through 2011.

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Development News Politics Transportation

OKI approves $4M for Cincinnati Streetcar project

The good news for the Cincinnati Streetcar keeps rolling the day after Cincinnati City Council approved $64 million in bonds to build the modern streetcar system. The Executive Committee for the OKI Regional Council of Governments announced earlier today that $4 million will be distributed to the Cincinnati Streetcar project through the Federal government’s Congestion Mitigation/Air Quality (CMAQ) program.

“The thing about the Cincinnati Streetcar is that it is more than a transportation project; it’s an economic development project which will open up development opportunities with a fixed transportation project,” described OKI Deputy Executive Director Bob Koehler.

The announcement means that there has now been $86.5 million in funding announced for the Cincinnati Streetcar which is projected to cost $128 million to build six miles of track connecting Cincinnati’s riverfront with its downtown, historic Over-the-Rhine neighborhood and Uptown communities surrounding the University of Cincinnati.

“The Cincinnati Streetcar will help circulate residents, employees and visitors in Cincinnati’s urban core,” said Brad Thomas, Founder, CincyStreetcar.com. “The streetcar will also connect over half the jobs in the city with nearly 1 in 5 residents, and attractions that are visited by 12 million people each year.”

The urban circulator project received the highest ranking of the 14 total projects to receive funding through the CMAQ funds which will benefit roadways, transit and freight projects throughout the region. OKI’s Executive Committee also allocated more than $60 million from the federal Surface Transportation Program (STP).

The CMAQ projects were subjected to a rating system that was able to fund almost all of the requests made by OKI. The $4 million for the Cincinnati Streetcar will officially be authorized next spring, but were approved today to give project teams a jump start on the 2012-2015 Transportation Improvement Plan developed and overseen by OKI.

“The projects approved today are critical to continuing our efforts to provide our citizens with a variety of commuting options that will save them time and money while alleviating stress that comes from traveling on congested roadways,” OKI Executive Director Mark Plicinski explained. “OKI continues to move multi-modal projects forward which benefit our commuting population, environment and economy.”

Categories
Arts & Entertainment News

‘Nancy James Sings Big Band Jazz’ at the Carnegie – 5/13

Vocalist Colleen Sharp, comedian Michael Flannery and performer Nancy James will join the Madcap Puppets and the Sound Body Jazz Orchestra at the Carnegie Visual & Performing Arts Center on Thursday, May 13 at 7:30pm for “an eclectic evening of music, humor and entertainment.”

The concert will be headlined by Nancy James who will entertain the audience with her vocal jazz standards such as “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” and “My Funny Valentine.” James is an Emmy Award winner, and has been on the Cincinnati entertainment and music circuit for more than 30 years.

Organizers note that the third annual Carnegie in Concert series “strives to break the mold of chamber music offerings from yesteryear; and challenges established programming norms by blending traditional string quartets, wind ensembles and solo piano performances with gospel, jazz, musical theatre, Dixieland and other musical styles.”

‘Nancy James Sings Big Band Jazz’ is the final event of the six-part Carnegie in Concert series. Tickets range from $15 to $18 and can be purchased online or by calling (859) 957-1940. You can also purchase tickets in person at the Carnegie Visual & Performing Arts Center (map) Tuesday through Friday, from 12pm to 5pm.

Categories
Business News Transportation

American commuting patterns negatively impacting individual achievement

In Robert Pagliarini’s best-selling book The Other 8 Hours, he discusses how we use the eight hours of our daily lives, outside of the eight we presumably spend at work and at sleep, are what determine our success in life. Pagliarini urges readers to look beyond their job to find success in their life whether it be through starting a business, losing weight, developing a hobby or even getting control of your finances.

Pagliarini states in his book that, “You lose 8 hours to sleep and you sell (at least) 8 hours to your job. That leaves just 8 more. What are you doing during the other 8 hours, and more importantly, what are the other 8 hours doing for you?”

The book relies on the assumption though that each person has a clearly delineated, and evenly balanced, three-slice pie. This is obviously not reality, but if we were to follow Pagliarini’s advice by maximizing The Other 8, what would we find?

With 16 hours of the day already ruled out for work and sleep we have just 8 valuable hours to improve our lives in the way we choose. A 2005 study by the Telework Exchange showed that Federal employees spent an average of 233 hours of their life commuting each year – a number that does not factor in the time spent driving on daily errands. The study found that if Federal employees were to telework three days each week, that they would get 98 hours of their life back each year. Citing an average savings of an hour per day, the Telework Exchange study identified that those teleworking can earn an MBA 35 percent faster, read 25 books in a year, clean out 83 closets, or train for a marathon with the time saved by not commuting.

This data is supportive of more than just teleworking, but reduced commuting and travel times in general. Those who are able to walk to work due to close proximity experience such savings, as do transit riders who are able to utilize their commute time for other enriching purposes that Pagliarini identifies as ways to improve your life.  Those who walk benefit doubly as they not only save themselves free time, but the time they do spend commuting helps to improve their health.

“Look around, anyone who is successful and lives a rich and meaningful life has used the other 8 hours,” Pagliarini exclaims. “Day in and day out, while others squander this time, they have invested it.”

The majority of people have overbooked schedules that do not have any more room to develop these personal attributes and improve their life. As a result that means each individual seeking success should look to maximize the free time they do have. Americans’ current commuting patterns dictate that approximately 15-20 percent of their “free time” is immediately wasted sitting in a car. If that time could be cut in half five to six days a week, the average American would experience similar time savings to the aforementioned federal employees who telecommuted three days a week, and experience similar benefits.

It appears that a clear option for Americans trying to improve their lives socially, financially, health-wise, or educationally is to cut out identified “life leeches” like commuting that suck up individual free time.