Category: Politics

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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.

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News Politics Transportation

Ohio Hub Plan Advocacy

Like the idea of regional rail transportation in Ohio? Well there are a few things you could do to be more impactful when it comes to making this goal a reality.

All Aboard Ohio is the statewide advocacy group for regional high-speed rail, and they have now introduced a new online petition. Their goal with this is to, “forward the link to this online petition to every email address in Ohio leading up to our LegislativeSummit on April 30th.” Primarily what they’re advocating for is the development of the Ohio Hub Plan.

Another thing you could do is write letters to your congressional representative and/or your related member in Senate. We need to bind together and work towards accomplishing this goal. Sign the petition, it literally takes about 30 seconds.

Image Credit:
Ohio Department of Transportation
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

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News Politics Transportation

Young Professionals and streetcars

Well a brilliant young individual had some delightful commentary in today’s Cincinnati Enquirer editorial section, enjoy…

I am by definition a young professional, part of the creative class, and I am enrolled at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning.

As you may know, Cincinnati is not exactly a hotbed for the creative class and has struggled to retain/attract young professionals.

As a creative person, it can be difficult to make it work here over a place like Chicago, New York or Atlanta, but it seems as though people are afraid to even try at times. We need to continue to prioritize the arts and place new emphasis on things like mass transit.

This is a very important issue to many young people and in particular the creative class. If we fail at creating a city with these elements, then we will fail at attracting that ever-important young professional.

Aside from bus service, Cincinnati offers no transit options. The cities that do a great job at attracting this demographic have much more, and we are falling further behind the likes of Seattle, Portland, Austin, Atlanta, Chicago and Baltimore.

Cincinnati is now looking to build a streetcar system. This is a great first step at creating a wide-reaching transit system.

I would argue that Cincinnati has an edge over many of these other cities in terms of arts, geographic features and affordability, but we simply cannot rest on our laurels.

I know I can not speak for every young person out there, but I say this: Please make the effort to keep us around for our sake and the sake of our community.

If you are not a young professional, would you prefer your child to live in Cincinnati or Seattle?

Streetcars are not the only answer, but they are the opportunity we have the chance to capitalize on right now.

Cincinnati Enquirer, Guest Editorial 10/24/07

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Business News Politics

Don’t Trash The ‘Nati

It is not often that I read the Opinion Section of the Enquirer…but today for some reason I felt the urge. You know that urge to test your toughness and stomach for what is typically ridiculous commentary. But today however, I was pleasantly surprised. Laura Kleckner had a wonderful piece discussing the University of Cincinnati and the neighborhoods that surround it.

I am a student at UC and trust me, I understand the urge to go out and party…and even get a little crazy. But it is often easy to overlook the fact that the neighborhoods that surround UC are exactly that – NEIGHBORHOODS. People live there 365 days a year, raise families there, make a living there and get to live their American Dream right there in those very neighborhoods.

Charlton Place – Jefferson Street

Unfortunately many college students have little respect for their surroundings and think of college as a non-stop party (some, not all). If you would like to experience college this way fine, but at least have some decency and try not to trash the neighborhoods that people have worked very hard on to clean up/improve.

urge UC students to be more respectful and work with community members to make the neighborhoods, surrounding UC, better places for everyone. Don’t trash the ‘nati.