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Should Ohio transition to a VMT tax?

Should Ohio transition to a VMT tax?.

Public dollars for transportation infrastructure seem to be getting ever scarce. This is the result of a wide array of issues, but one of them is the outdated form of collecting revenues to fund our nation’s transportation infrastructure. In some state’s they are beginning to look at transitioning from their traditional gasoline tax to a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax. More from NextCity:

According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, gas taxes finance about a third of highway construction and maintenance. But because of inflation and improved fuel efficiency, the purchasing power of gas taxes — how much actual concrete, steel and labor they buy — has been decreasing, sometimes forcing state and federal officials to forgo infrastructure improvements.

By taxing every car at the same rate, VMT programs ensure that drivers pay an amount proportional to how much they drive. VMT systems, though, don’t have all the same mechanisms as gas taxes: They don’t incentivize people to drive fuel-efficient cars, for instance, nor do they discourage the use of heavy vehicles that cause increased wear on highways.

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Arts & Entertainment Business News

Market at the Park Brings Pop-Up Shops to Washington Park Every Monday

We’ve all been there. The one day that Findlay Market is closed, we run out of fresh produce, honey, or another edible essential.

Although business hours have expanded to 6pm in recent years, some vendors remain reluctant to stay open later than that. As a result, a group of Findlay Market shoppers have started Findlay After Four – a weekly event that encourages people to shop at Findlay Market on Thursday between 4pm and 6pm.

Until those hours are further expanded at Findlay Market, be sure to get your fix at Market in the Park.

Market at the Park

Every Monday night through September, local vendors will set up pop-up shops featuring a variety of vegetables, tea, baked goods, and ready-to-eat meals in Washington Park From 4pm to 8pm, patrons can do their shopping or grab a hot sandwich, just like they would at Findlay Market.

While some of the vendors operate out of the market house during the rest of the week, others are new to the scene like condiment queens Sheila and Kathy. They will bring their special Kentucky Sauce, Hot Pepper Jelly, and zesty blends of salsa at their Chipotle Chicks booth. Hailing from Falmouth, Kentucky, the pair is excited to bring their southern flare to share with the Over-The-Rhine crowd.

Need to cool off? Try a decadent sea salt caramel gelato from Madison’s or snag an all-natural sno-cone from Chill Shaved Ice Bar, featuring syrups made from real fruit juice.

Food truck notables C’est Cheese and Red Sesame Korean BBQ will fill you up with dinner: a gooey Bee Sting grilled cheese stuffed with pepperoni, mozzarella, honey, and basil, or a kimchi beef burrito with rich Oriental seasoning. Providing that much-needed caffeinated pick me up at the end of the work day, Coffee Emporium will also be on site with iced drinks, lattes, smoothies, and hot coffee.

So whether you’re hungry for a unique happy hour or need a few pantry essentials, grab your grocery list and tell your friends, “Meet me at the Market!”

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Business News

Shoppers Organize New Event to Support Evening Hours at Findlay Market

In 2009, Findlay Market decided to expand its hours of operation and add Sunday hours for the first time. While the addition of the Sunday business has been extremely successful, it has been more challenging for vendors and management to get customers familiar with the idea that the public market is open until 6pm every night.

In order to help grow awareness of this, a group of passionate Findlay Market shoppers have decided to organize what they are calling Findlay After Four.

Shoppers at Findlay Market

The event, which will take place today for the first time, will occur every Thursday from 4pm to 6pm.

“Successful retail today is about having the right in-store activities and promotions to drive loyalty and sales,” explained Karen Kahle, Resource Development Director, Findlay Market. “To support the Findlay After Four shopper campaign, each Thursday we will be offering a variety of activities.”

Kahle says this Thursday’s event will include a cooking demonstration by Julie Francis of Nectar, craft beer at the OTR Biergarten from Christian Moerlein and MadTree, a wine tasting at Market Wines, and free raffle giveaways.

The group of shoppers that have organized the weekly event are encouraging those who attend to bring their friends, family and anyone who wants to join in and support evening hours of operation at Cincinnati’s historic Findlay Market.

“Our goal is to chip away at the perception that the market is not always open until 6:00 and to attract OTR, downtown and uptown workers and residents to the market on weekdays,” Kahle concluded. “We hope you’ll check it out and help spread the word!

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Business News Transportation

Industry Experts Believe a ‘Parking Revolution’ is Sweeping America

In April of this year, members of the International Parking Institute, the world’s largest association representing the parking industry, surveyed parking professionals to determine trends and gain input on parking and related topics.

The survey results found that a “parking revolution” is taking place in the United States, and that the industry is beginning to embrace a variety of new parking solutions.

“The industry is embracing a variety of new technologies that make it easier for people to find and pay for parking, and for parking authorities to better manage it,” the report stated.

Cities identified as leaders in the movement included San Francisco, Portland, New York City, Seattle, Miami, Houston, Boston, Denver, Pittsburgh, Washington D.C., and Tampa.

Emerging Parking Trends

Cincinnati’s recently approved Parking Modernization & Lease Program appears to apply these top trends by moving toward technologies that improve access control, payment automation, and real-time communication of pricing and availability to user’s mobile devices.

These kinds of features are the new standard being implemented around the country, and are provided by Cincinnati’s lease agreement.

Parking professionals were also asked to identify the ten most progressive municipal parking programs in the United States, with San Francisco’s SFpark named most innovative.

“The SFpark pilot project provides real-time information on parking availability and cost; reduces double parking, circling, and congestion; and improves parking ease and convenience,” the report stated. “A high-caliber data management tool allows the San Francisco County Transportation Authority to make rate-change recommendations, supply real-time data, maintain optimum operational and contractual control, and rigorously evaluate the pilot’s various components.”

Respondents also said that SFpark was particularly bold in requiring city and government employees to pay for parking in order to bolster the program’s credibility before asking voters to consider sweeping changes in parking management.

Of particular interest is SFpark’s on-street rate adjustment policy.

Prior to the changes, rate adjustments were made during the budget-planning process. The goal with the pilot program is to take a demand-based approach in order to achieve parking availability targets in a consistent, simple and transparent manner.

Prior to the program, rates in downtown were $3.50/hour, $3.00/hour in the downtown periphery and $2.00/hour in neighborhood commercial districts, and were operational mostly from 7am to 6pm or 9am to 6pm Monday through Saturday. As part of the pilot program, demand responsive time-of-day pricing is split into three distinct rate periods: 9am to 12pm, 12pm to 3pm, and 3pm to 6pm for 9am to 6pm spaces.

These demand-responsive rate changes are made gradually, no more than once per month, and periodically near the first of the month based on occupancy in the previous month.

In order to maintain at least one parking space per block, 80% space occupancy is desired with rates increased when occupancy is greater than 80%, held constant at 60% to 80% and decreased with less than 60% occupancy on a per-block basis to more effectively redistribute parking demand.

In order to help users from having to cut trips short or risk parking tickets, time limits in the pilot areas were lengthened from 30 minutes/two hours to four hours/no limit.

Cincinnati’s program, meanwhile, will provide for public rate control and expanded hours of operation from 8am to 9pm in the Central Business District and 7am to 9pm in neighborhoods. The plan will also allow for limited $0.25 incremental rate increases, but there does not appear to be provisions for demand responsive time of day pricing, a target on-street block occupancy amount, or lengthened or eliminated time limits.

In addition to new technologies, the report indicates that parking is becoming more than just a place to store cars, and is instead moving towards more integrated forms of transportation planning – something that has also taken place locally through new bicycle parking provisions and parking requirement restructuring.

“Today, parking is about so much more than storing cars,” concluded Shawn Conrad, executive director for the International Parking Institute. “It’s central to the creation of livable, walkable communities. It’s about cars, bikes, mass transit, mobility, and connecting people to places.”

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Up To Speed

Does Place Matter if Taxes Are Low?

Does Place Matter if Taxes Are Low?

In Meredith Whitney’s new book, the Fate of the States, she predicts a resurgence of economic growth in the Midwest. This growth she explains would be due to these state’s low tax burden, limited government restrictions and other incentives. To prove her case she highlights the percentage of growth in states such as Texas, Florida and North Carolina. Next City’s Brady Dale provides a more pragmatic view towards the author’s claims in his review of the book. Read more at Next City:

For example, in one chapter Whitney attempts to argue that growth is robust in her favored states while it has been hobbled by shortsighted policy in economic deadweights such as New York and California. The growth rates she gives are for Louisiana (16 percent), North Dakota (27 percent) and Iowa and Nebraska (11 percent for both).

It sounds attractive. A young person might like a shot at a piece of a 10-plus percent growth rate, right?

Hold on. Does a worker want a part of a percentage or a part of actual money? Because these numbers look a bit different. Let’s turn those rates-of-growth into real dollar values, using data from the U.S. Commerce’ Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis. California’s growth was very bad in that time, no question. North Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska each made some nice money, ranging from $8 billion to $12 billion. Louisiana did better, at about $23 billion in growth. None made as good a showing as New York, however, which clocked in at $89 billion in growth, from the height of the recession to deep into the recovery.