While Cincinnati is the first city in Ohio to build a protected bike lane, it has a ways to go in order to catch up with the amount of bike infrastructure cities all across the nation are building. This, perhaps, says more about how far behind Ohio’s big cities are than how progressive Cincinnati is, but that’s a topic of discussion for another day.
Raised bike lanes, popular in Europe and present in a smattering of streets in several U.S. cities, provide extra protection for cyclists, drivers and pedestrians thanks to a slight change in perspective—or in this case, elevation.
But more U.S. cities are trying out the idea: San Francisco is getting its first raised bike lane–higher than vehicular traffic, but lower than the sidewalk–on one block of Valencia Street as part of the Mission Valencia Green Gateway project, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition reports. Construction is scheduled to begin in early 2015.
New data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, which covers Ohio, western Pennsylvania, the West Virginia panhandle, and the eastern half of Kentucky, provides a glimpse into the recovery and transition of the region’s economy.
According to the newly released data, spanning from 2001 to 2012, this Federal Reserve region has weathered an incredibly tumultuous 11 years.
Change in Total Population and Private Employment
“Historically, much of the region has specialized in manufacturing, a sector that has been particularly hard hit over the past few decades,” noted Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland research analyst Matthew Klesta in his data brief. “Since the end of the Great Recession in 2009, however, the decline in manufacturing employment has slowed. In some places, employment has even grown.”
Since the first year of recorded information in this data set, all 17 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) in the region, with the exception of Wheeling, WV, saw losses in manufacturing employment – the region’s historical economic stalwart. MSAs like Dayton and Steubenville posted losses of almost 50%. Cincinnati, meanwhile, saw its manufacturing sector decline by nearly 25% – a mark that is low by regional standards.
Average Rate of Change by Sector
Income Trends by Sector
International trends in trade in the early 2000s, like China’s entry into the WTO and the increase of offshoring from developed to developing nations, combined with the Great Recession, dealt a critical blow to the area’s manufacturing sector. Excluding education and health services, every other industry in the region saw significant jumps in the annual percentage of jobs being lost during the Great Recession.
For example, between 2001 and 2007 the average loss per annum for the manufacturing sector was a little less than 3%; but from 2008-2009 it jumped to nearly 7%. Since the Great Recession, however, many MSAs in the area have posted modest gains in manufacturing employment, while still falling well below baseline levels in 2001.
While the manufacturing sector has declined throughout this Federal Reserve region, health and education sectors have grown. Despite a nationwide average of 1.2 health and education service jobs gained per 1 manufacturing job lost, only four MSAs in the region (Cincinnati, Columbus, Huntington, Pittsburgh) can boast an overall replacement of lost manufacturing jobs with health and education employment.
Change in Education-Health and Manufacturing Sectors
The replacement of manufacturing jobs with health and education employment does not bode well for the region’s workers. According to the data, the health and education sectors pay, on average ($44,000 in 2012), significantly less than manufacturing ($55,000 in 2012).
But while this changing economic landscape has meant a smaller presence for manufacturing in the region, this Federal Reserve Bank region continues to be highly specialized in that economic sector. Perhaps as a result, population loss continues to plague many MSAs within the region.
From 2001-2011, while the national population grew by 10% the regional population posted an average gain of only 1.6%. In fact, only five (Cincinnati, Huntington, Akron, Columbus, Lexington) of the 17 MSAs in the region saw their population rise over that time period. Of those five metropolitan areas, only two (Lexington and Columbus) posted gains in both population and private-sector employment.
Pittsburgh and Wheeling, meanwhile, managed to post positive gains in private-sector employment while still shedding population. The remaining 10 MSAs all posted losses in private-sector employment and population.
Street food vendors follow the crowds. You can find them scattered around downtown, office parks at lunch hours, or outside many events. But this coming Saturday, you will find most all of them at the third annual Cincinnati Street Food Festival in Walnut Hills.
With the help of many volunteers, the Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation (WHRF) started the festival in 2012. According to organizers, they say the idea was to showcase not only the incredible food, but the neighborhood as well.
“The idea was to create an opportunity for the neighborhood to come together and celebrate, with all of Cincinnati, the goodness of Walnut Hills and the great things happening here,” event coordinator Sarah Dotter explained.
Back in 2012 food trucks in Cincinnati were still a fledgling, albeit rising movement. Since that time, the number of food vendors has continued to grow, as has the festival’s numerous activities.
This year organizers say that the festival is deepening the offerings that make it unique. This will include more free art activities, live bands all day long, and expanded beer offerings to include Rhinegeist and Great Lakes. Neighborhood leaders are also proud to point out that all of that craft beer will be served in compostable cups that will then end up in a community garden within Walnut Hills.
Along with their regular goodies, each food truck will have an item for sale that costs $3 or less, allowing festivalgoers the option to grab a cheap snack and even sample something from every truck.
You can find the complete listing of bands and festival updates on the event’s Facebook page, and those interested in volunteering can still sign up online.
Many of us can appreciate that local governments are where real change happens. The decisions made by local politicians and government officials have an immediate and direct impact on residents and visitors in that community. To that end, local governments can and should be leading the charge when it comes to the utilization of new technology to save their constituents time, money and agony. What benefits for Cincinnati, where it seems P.G. Sittenfeld (D) is ready to lead that charge, might the use of new technologies provide? More from Urbanful:
Last week, Ron Bouganim launched the Gov Tech Fund, designed to spark innovation in government technology. So far, the fund has raised $23 million, he says, which it has invested in four companies: SeamlessDocs, a way for employees to sign and share documents securely; MindMixer, which develops platforms for local governments to engage online with their communities; Smart Procure, which connects local, state and federal buyers and sellers; and AmigoCloud, which allows localities to share GIS data and maps across tablets, laptops and smart phones.
The 2014 edition of the international protest related to the wasteful use of public land for automobile parking took place this past Friday. PARK(ing) Day, as it is known, took place in hundreds of cities across the globe, including Cincinnati.
As with past years, the majority of Cincinnati’s parking spaces turned temporary parks or hangouts were concentrated in the center city. Perhaps the most prominent installations were in Over-the-Rhine and across the river in Covington.
Park(ing) Day Musicians [Travis Estell]
Park(ing) Day [Travis Estell]
Park(ing) Day [Travis Estell]
Park(ing) Day [Travis Estell]
Park(ing) Day [Travis Estell]
Park(ing) Day Vendor [Travis Estell]
OTR Performer [Travis Estell]
OTR Grill Out [Travis Estell]
Covington’s Madlot [Bradley Cooper]
Downtown on Park(ing) Day [Bradley Cooper]
Park(ing) Day Cafe [Travis Estell]
Camping in OTR [Travis Estell]
Covington’s Madlot [Bradley Cooper]
Covington’s Madlot [Bradley Cooper]
Inquisitive Police [Bradley Cooper]
Cheapside Cafe [Bradley Cooper]
Park(ing) Day [Travis Estell]
Giant Swing on 8th Street [Bradley Cooper]
Park(ing) Day [Travis Estell]
Covington’s Madlot [Bradley Cooper]
Covington’s Madlot [Bradley Cooper]
Learning to Drum [Bradley Cooper]
EDITORIAL NOTE: All 22 photos were taken by Travis Estell and Bradley Cooper for UrbanCincy on Friday, September 19.
