Last year at this time, I too was stuck inside the Aronoff Center for Design & Art as I finished my thesis research paper on urban design and its impacts on sociological patterns, and readied my DAAP Works presentation. Students who attend the College of Design, Architecture, Art & Planning (DAAP) at the University of Cincinnati know very well the rigors of the studio-based curriculum that places the college among the best design schools in the world.
This time next week the next round of students will complete their DAAP journey as they walk in their respective graduation ceremonies held at UC. In the mean time, take a quick glimpse into the DAAP Slap’d lives these students live. The video is quite comical and fun to watch. Enjoy!
If you liked this song, you might also want to check out Poolside’s Don’t Stop and Pull Me Under singles. After further investigation it appears that Poolside has a slew of songs, does live performances and even has its own label. Not sure what the full story is here, but it’s worth checking out: http://www.poolsideband.com/.
It was announced this week that Wendell Young will replace Laketa Cole on Cincinnati City Council as she leaves to take a job at the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. Young is a retired police officer and is currently a high school teacher in the Cincinnati Public School District. Young has run three previous City Council campaigns all of which left him on the outside looking in, but now the North Avondale resident will have his chance inside City Hall.
For Cincinnati Streetcar advocates, the departure of Laketa Cole also means the departure of her support for the modern streetcar project in the funding phases now. Much has been made of Cole’s replacement being chosen for his race or willingness to keep certain staffers around, but not much has been discussed in terms of the key issues that Young will face when he begins his new job. Cincinnati Streetcar supporters are certain to like what they hear.
“The streetcar will be a fantastic opportunity to improve our transportation options downtown,” explained Young. “It will fuel job creation and economic development throughout our city, and will help fund city services for our neighborhoods.”
Beyond his support for the Cincinnati Streetcar project, Young has also stated that fixing the City’s budget, improving neighborhoods throughout the city, and improving Cincinnati’s public safety are top concerns of his. It also appears that Young will work to improve the status of minority contracts, a primary issue with the departing Cole, and race relations as he previously served as the president of the Cincinnati Chapter of the NAACP.
“I’m also concerned about public safety. I’m a retired cop, I can’t overlook that, but the reality for me is that it doesn’t seem to matter how many police officers you have. The real crime fighters are citizens. The real crime fighters are people who are proud of their neighborhoods, and feel empowered to take care of their neighborhoods, who will not tolerate misbehavior in their neighborhoods.”
Wendell Young will serve out the remainder of Cole’s term which ends November 30, 2011 at which point Cole would have become ineligible to run again due to term limits.
“When you look at our core city one of the things that makes it attractive is the belief that we’re going to eventually get to the place where one day where people don’t have to own a car to get around, that public transportation will be good enough to get around, and that the goods and services they really want will many times will be within walking distance.”
The German-American Citizens League (GACL) will be celebrating the 115th Anniversary of the celebration of German Day this weekend in Cincinnati’s center city which has also historically served as the heart of Cincinnati’s German heritage along with the nation’s.
“The celebration is one of the oldest German Day celebrations in the United States, which is not surprising since Cincinnati is one of the three major German heritage urban centers along with Milwaukee and St. Louis,” explained Dr. Don Heinrich Tolzman, President, GACL.
The festivities will kick off on Saturday, June 5 at 11am at historic Findlay Market (map) in Over-the-Rhine with the annual parade and opening ceremonies. The ceremonies will include representatives from Cincinnati-area German-American societies, a discussion on the German heritage of Findlay Market, and German dance and singing performances.
The weekend celebrations will continue on Sunday at Hofbräuhaus Newport (map) where the GACL will offer hourly raffle prizes throughout the day, and a grand raffle at 5:30pm. All proceeds from the raffle will go to benefit the German Heritage Museum.
As part of Cincinnati’s commitment to improving the city’s bicycling community, the City has installed a new mounted bicycle rack inside of the Fountain Square Parking Garage in downtown Cincinnati. The bicycle rack is the first of what will be a wave of new bicycle parking facilities inside existing City-owned garages.
In February, Cincinnati’s Planning Commission approved a bicycle parking ordinance that will require all new or expanded parking garages to provide bicycle parking. The ordinance would specifically require that one bicycle parking space be provided for every 20 motor vehicle spaces. The ratio is comparable to those found in other cities like Portland, New York City, Charlotte, San Francisco, Kansas City and Denver which have all recently implemented similar ordinances.
The Fountain Square Parking Garage currently holds 635 parking spaces for automobiles which would mean should it be constructed today, the garage would be required to provide 24 bicycle parking spaces due to the 24-space cap included in the new ordinance for large parking garages. The new bicycle parking ordinance is the first of its kind in the region and is intended to tackle the problem of a lack of secured, covered bicycle parking spaces in Cincinnati’s center city.
The new rack inside the Fountain Square Parking Garage holds 12 bicycles, cost approximately $1,400 and was paid for through the City’s existing Bicycle Transportation Program. Officials from the City’s Department of Transportation & Engineering say that preliminary discussions are underway to incorporate more of these racks in other City-owned garages, but that public feedback would be helpful as officials determine where to locate them next.
Please share your thoughts on where the City should install these bicycle racks next in the comment section below, by filling out a form on the City’s website, or by calling (513) 591-6000.
The Emanuel Community Center will be hosting a six-part digital photography class this summer that will focus on lighting, composition and technical controls of digital cameras in a way to help those participating develop their own artistic touch. The class will be instructed by David Rosenthal who is the founder and director of Prairie, Inc. and an adjunct instructor of Fine Arts at the University of Cincinnati.
The six-week long class will take place at the Emanuel Community Center (map), but will also take participants on several outings to Music Hall, Findlay Market, the Gateway Quarter and Washington Park in order to introduce the architectural, social and cultural assets of historic Over-the-Rhine.
The class will run from Tuesday, June 22 through Tuesday, August 3 and will take place from 6:30pm to 8pm. Registration costs $120, with only 15 available slots, and can be made by contacting Jenny Mendelson at (513) 241-2563 or eccinfo@emanuelcenter.org.
