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Off-Campus life in Cincinnati

I recently stumbled on a Columbus, Ohio site called Easy Columbus that compiles all the things going on “off-campus” that college students might want to do. It is a very well-done site and easy to navigate. Users can search by day or event, and it even includes information about how to save money.

I did a little digging and found that there are 16 colleges and universities within 20 miles of downtown Columbus. Combined, these schools enroll a little over 73,000 undergraduate students at any given time. Comparatively, there are 22 colleges and universities within 20 miles of downtown Cincinnati, but only about 46,000 enrolled undergraduate students. Someone can make the claim that I should have counted grad students. Maybe. Go ahead and count them up and let me know what you find. (Source for the Undergrads)

Maybe we already have something like this here in Cincinnati. If so, please post a link in the comments section. But if we don’t have this yet, we really should. Having a consolidated place for young adults to turn when they are looking for something fun and inexpensive to do seems like it would encourage them to break the monotony of the house party and bar scene.

I admit – I have a hidden agenda here. By encouraging students to get off campus and experience the amazing things this city has to offer, hopefully they will be more likely to stay here after graduation. When I was at Xavier, so many of my friends came here for the education, and then bolted as soon as they had their diploma in hand. Our colleges and universities draw some of the best and brightest students to Cincinnati, and we as a city need to do everything in our power to keep that talent here. When they leave, they take with them their good ideas on how to better the city. How can we encourage those not from here to stay here?

Image Credit: Xavier University Academic Mall by Zach Casto
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Gateway Quarter embraces YouTube

During my weekly video search on the world wide web I came across this collection of videos from GatewayQuarterFan on YouTube. Here are a few for your viewing pleasure:

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The ILOVECINCINNATI Conundrum

Suddenly a lot of cars around town drive by with stickers that say ILOVECINCINNATI on them and I wondered where they came from. Today, I found the answer out by asking someone who had one. So, I’m not going to share the answer here (it’s easily found out by asking a few questions) but the conversation that followed sparked some thoughts that are definitely appropriate in this forum.

If you are reading this, you likely care deeply about Cincinnati, and also genuinely believe that with some hard work, dedication, and an updated way of thinking it can be a much better place to live. I, too, am of that thinking, but sadly I would think that we are in the minority, especially when you start to read the comments on other media outlets around town.

So, my question is why? Why is it that many other cities around this country, some of which we aspire to be like and even others, that we don’t have a much greater sense of civic pride than we do? When I stopped and thought about it, it made even less sense. Isn’t Cincinnati mostly made up of people that grew up in the area, and if so shouldn’t it hold true that our civic pride should at least match that exhibited in other cities mentioned on this blog and elsewhere?

I’ve noodled this around all night and have come up with three ideas:

  1. Our Region Breeds Separation – Between different suburbs, counties, cities, and even states that make up the region we actually only identify ourselves as Cincinnatians by our mailing addresses envelopes and when we are out of town.
  2. A Unified Stance – While we’re never going to reach a point where every citizen agrees on priorities, we are set up in such a way that our “leaders” fight amongst each other more than they work together. One could argue that competition is good, but to me, a unified stance is better.
  3. Lack of That Signature “Thing” – Be it an industry that our city was founded on, a specific food that is actually eaten outside our region, or something similar. We don’t all have that one positive thing we can each identify with, and just as importantly, the nation identifies us with.

I put this out there less for my voice to be heard but more to spark conversation. So what have I missed and why is it that you have the pride you do in Cincinnati?

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Vote for Findlay Market to win $5,000

We as Cincinnatians must recognize just how lucky we are to have a place like Findlay Market to call our own. The cacophony of sounds, sights and smells on a Saturday morning make the area truly legendary.

Now, the market that enjoys such high esteem locally is getting some national recognition. They are in the top dozen nationally in an ongoing contest run by a site called Local Harvest (click on Findlay Market and proceed to vote).

Visitors to the site vote for their favorite market. Out of the 100 markets on the site, Findlay Market ranks 12th. Findlay Market provides some of the freshest locally grown produce, meats and cheeses, and we support our local economic community when we buy from them. And to top it off, the winning market will receive $5,000, so hurry and VOTE today!

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Nola tearing down the elevated I-10 over Claiborne?

Tearing down a major interstate highway through the heart of a major metropolitan area sounds crazy right? Wrong. Past case studies have shown that this has been done in places like San Francisco, Milwaukee and Portland, and has resulted in higher qualities of life and with little to no harm caused to driving times.

This topic is always a popular one with those in the Urban Planning/Design profession, and with a new planning interest in New Orleans post-Katrina the recipe might be just right for the demolition of Interstate 10 through the Treme neighborhood. Like many urban neighborhoods of the early to mid 20th Century, Treme was a once vibrant, unique and local that centered around its grand North Claiborne Avenue. What happened was the injection of the interstate system that plowed through Treme like many other neighborhoods including Cincinnati’s West End and downtown area.

The transition in Claiborne was even more intense as a grand boulevard was replaced by an elevated highway which facilitated the downward spiral of the neighborhood. Many older Nola residents remember North Claiborne Avenue as being the “black people’s Canal Street.” This is important as French Quarter activists were able to block a highway from tearing through their neighborhood which left the Treme neighborhood vulnerable to the interstate system’s wrath…and with that North Claiborne Avenue was gone.

North Claiborne Avenue in 1966 (left) and 2009 (right) – Source and Source

As with many urban neighborhoods across America, Treme is redeveloping and becoming attractive to residents once again. One problem though is that I-10 has caused lower property values and interest for those properties within its immediate vicinity (the exact opposite effect of transit service).

As Nola moves forward with its potential plans to tear down I-10 through Treme (area map), what can be learned? In addition to past examples (listed above) cities like Chattanooga, Buffalo, Seattle and Trenton are all considering the option of tearing out highways through their cities.

Cincinnati narrowed and buried its Fort Washington Way that connects I-71 with I-75 through the heart of downtown and its riverfront property, but could this have instead been removed with traffic instead utilizing the underused Central Parkway and Liberty Street, or even connecting via I-275? What about the Norwood Lateral that ate up the right-of-way that had been preserved for Cincinnati’s planned subway system?

These are important questions as Cincinnati examines how it is going to handle the $1 billion reconstruction of the Brent Spence Bridge, $1 billion reconstruction of I-75 through the Mill Creek Valley and considers the options of upgrading US 50 West to highway status via the 6th Street Expressway through Queensgate, and even possibly extending I-74 east through the city and its eastern suburbs so that it could eventually connect to Washington D.C. per the original Interstate Highway Plan – both of which present untold hundreds of millions (potentially billions) of dollars of public expense.

Are we going to continue to move forward with an antiquated view of transportation planning straight out of the Robert Moses playbook, or will Cincinnati too start to re-examine how it goes about planning for its city and its residents that make it special?