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Up To Speed

Mayors Could Save the World

Mayors Could Save the World

As national and state politics continue to work against cities either through gridlock or other means, policy change has increasingly become local with mayors often in the drivers seat. Cities such as Cincinnati, which was recently recognized as being one of the greenest cities in the nation, are leading the charge through progressive mayoral leadership.  Read more at the Atlantic Cities:

Local leaders also have different motivations than national politicians, glocalists claim. “Mayors are, by definition, non-ideological problem-solvers. They’re pragmatists – they have to be,” Barber says. If cities don’t function smoothly, people’s trash won’t get picked up. Their sewers won’t work. Their kids won’t be able to go to school. Especially in the United States, where national leaders are locked into ideological camps and party-line negotiations, there seems to be a fundamental difference in what national and local leaders can actually accomplish.

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Business Development News

$1.6 Million Home For Cats Opens in Madisonville

The Ohio Alleycat Resource & Spay/Neuter Clinic (OAR) expanded into its new adoption center in Madisonville last month thanks to a generous $1.6 million donation from the Joanie Bernard Foundation.

The facility, the Joanie Bernard Home for Cats, was named in honor of the life-long cat lover. OAR’s adoption center is located adjacent to the current spay/neuter clinic which still houses 75 of the rescue’s cats. The new building offers 4,800 square feet of feline housing, which is double the amount of the original spay/neuter clinic.

Joanie Bernard Home for Cats
The new $1.6M OAR Home for Cats in Madisonville opened last month. Photograph by Paige Malott for UrbanCincy.

Inviting glass windows, wood framed doors, and custom play equipment makes life comfortable for OAR’s cats that are in between homes. In addition, there are special rooms for kittens, elderly cats, and those with a medical condition. Each room features a screened porch, which allows cats to access a protected outdoor area on their own through the use of a pet-sized door.

Over 400 people stopped by the Joanie Bernard Home for Cats for its grand opening, with many families taking home a new feline friend. To help guests learn more about their cats, OAR includes the animal’s back story on each room. Experiences tug at the heartstrings from tales of lost kittens to an 11-year-old cat that was displaced when his elderly owner passed away.

Other details include the cat’s age, breed, name, and picture so that visitors may identify a cat that shares a communal room.

With a modern, clean atmosphere, the Joanie Bernard Home for Cats hopes to appeal to those considering pet adoption and make the meet-and-greet experience more interactive for both human and feline.

Currently, OAR finds homes for 300 cats annually. Charlotte E. White-Hull, Director of Development and Outreach for OAR, estimates that the updated facility will increase the number of cat adoptions by 25%. By expanding into the new facility, OAR’s spay/neuter clinic also looks to double its service to treat over 16,000 cats a year.

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Arts & Entertainment News

Tree Planting to Kick Off Great Outdoor Weekend

578645_200276843483475_449462613_nTrees are a vital part of the health of urban environments. They soak up air pollution, mitigate storm water runoff and provide additional health and aesthetic benefits. But lately anyone traveling on Cincinnati’s roads and highways can see an increased number of dead trees poking through the thick canopy of brush on the side or the road or along the trails of Cincinnati forests such as Mt. Airy Forest.  It is true, the amount of dead trees have been increasing over the past few years. This is all due to a small shiny green insect called the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB).

EAB, an invasive insect that arrived in the country by way of boat through Michigan has slowly been making its way south to Ohio and Kentucky. In some wooded areas, over 40% of the forest canopy has been killed off due to this tiny pest.

This morning, the Green Partnership for Greater Cincinnati (GPGC), Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana Regional Council of Governments (OKI), Green Umbrella, and the Cincinnati Zoo launch an initiative called Taking Root, which is aiming to plant trees in an effort to combat the decline of forests from EAB. Although only 12 trees will be planted at this morning’s event, the goal is to plant 2 million trees by 2020.

“The environmental, economic, and social benefits of trees is massive to our region. We live in an area that has always been and wants to be a forest,” Scott Beuerlein, Taking Root campaign leader told UrbanCincy, “There’s not much we can do about ash.”

According to research Cincinnati has lost 10% of its forest canopy due to EAB. The costs are equal to about $3.2 million in storm water management, air pollution mitigation, and energy costs.

The event, which will start this morning at Eden Park, will kick off the larger scale Great Outdoor Weekend, which is now in its tenth year. Great Outdoor Weekend will take place this Saturday and Sunday.  There are eight venues within the city including the Civic Garden Center, Park + Vine, and the Cincinnati Museum Center. The events are geared towards educating attendees on sustainability, rooftop gardening and of course tree planting. More events will be hosted throughout the Cincinnati region.

As  Beuerlein explained to UrbanCincy, “The main goal of the Great Outdoor Weekend is to connect Cincinnatians with outdoor recreation and nature education opportunities in their neighborhood, and create relationships there. These relationships have a mutual benefit: citizens have a way to learn, relax, exercise, make friends, entertain their kids, and connect to nature.”

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Development News Politics Transportation

Mayor Mallory, Agenda 360 Hosting Transit Oriented Development Workshops This Week

Cincinnati has moved forward with modifications to its city regulations to allow greater flexibility with regard to the provision of parking, incentivized dense development near streetcar stops, and has pursued an agenda under Mayor Mark Mallory (D) that has been focused on making the city more livable and attractive.

“Transit Oriented Development is a powerful strategy that can help communities throughout the Cincinnati region encourage new development projects,” Mayor Mallory stated in a prepared release. “It has become clear that there is increasing demand to live near community assets. By making smart transportation decisions, communities provide an incentive to private investment.”

U Square at the Loop
Calhoun Street in Clifton Heights has been transformed from drive-thru fast food restaurants to a dense collection of shops, residences and offices. Photograph by Randy Simes for UrbanCincy.

One of the principle elements of this agenda has been to make the city more attractive to those who do not own personal automobiles, and by making the city’s neighborhoods more walkable and better connected to one another through transit.

Encouraging real estate development that works with these goals, however, is one that is still in its infancy stages and is still in need of work with local developers.

Transit Oriented Development (TOD) is a catch phrase that has been embraced by Smart Growth America, a national organization advocating for smart growth strategies, and is part of a series of meetings to be held in Cincinnati on September 26 and 27.

Cincinnati is one of 22 communities nation-wide selected to participate in the free technical assistance program funded by a Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Sustainable Communities.

Organizers say that the workshops will be led by experts from Smart Growth America and aim to inform residents and community leaders about the benefits of transit and development surrounding transit.

“This workshop will provide the community with an opportunity to learn more about transit options and transit-oriented development in the context of Cincinnati,” said Roger Millar, Smart Growth America Vice President. “Since the city recently passed its comprehensive plan, now is a great time to assess how Cincinnati can most effectively align its development with transit investments.”

The meetings are being jointly hosted by Mayor Mallory and Agenda 360, a regional action plan for Cincinnati, and are free and open to the public.

An introductory presentation will occur at 6pm on September 26 at the Cincinnati Area Chapter of the American Red Cross in Evanston (map). The presentation, organizers say, will focus on a collection of strategies for implementing TOD in Cincinnati neighborhoods and surrounding communities.

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Development News Transportation

Construction Work Picking Up Steam on Streetcar’s $133M First Phase

Cobblestone Removal Along Elm Street

There has been a flurry of construction activity for the $133 million first phase of the Cincinnati Streetcar project including groundbreaking for the $11.9 million Maintenance & Operations Facility and the removal of cobblestones along Elm Street in preparation for the laying of new track in October.

It is important to note, however, that the existing cobblestones are being shipped off for storage and cleaning, and will be put back on Elm Street in a way to compliment the new streetcar track.

UrbanCincy technologist and contributing photographer, Travis Estell, has been out and about lately and has captured some of the recent work through his lens. The following 12 photos were taken over the past two weeks in Over-the-Rhine.