Tag: Cincinnati

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Business News Politics Transportation

Cincinnati plans to rid city vehicles of fossil fuels by 2025

Like any major city, Cincinnati owns and operates a lot of vehicles, and those vehicles produce a significant amount of carbon emissions that pollute the region’s environmental systems. As city leaders are working on implementing a 100 percent renewable energy plan, they are also developing a plan that would end the city’s dependence on gasoline or diesel motor fuels by 2025.

“There are a lot of things Cincinnati is doing to position itself as a leader in sustainability and going green – both in the public and private sector,” said Larry Falkin, director of Cincinnati’s Office of Environmental Quality (OEQ). “This is part of a total package, and a significant piece, in terms of branding Cincinnati as a progressive city.”

Action on the new Green Fleet Plan was made possible, Falkin says, when City Council approved phase one of the City Fleet Plan in November 2011. The Green Fleet Plan is being developed for the City’s 3,654 vehicles and is expected to be finished by mid-2012.


A Zipcar sits on display at the University of Cincinnati’s main campus uptown. Photograph by 5chw4r7z.

According to a 2011 report, the City’s existing vehicle fleet has an average age of seven years and has a median fuel efficiency of 12.15 miles per gallon. Over the course of a year those vehicles consume more than two million gallons of fuel with more than 95 percent coming from gasoline and diesel. City officials expect their current annual fuel cost of $5.1 million to continue to rise s gasoline prices are expected to escalate in the near future and maintain high prices over the long-term.

Another partial solution presented itself in September 2011 when Zipcar entered the Cincinnati market. Prior to the carsharing company entering the Cincinnati market, discussions about whether the City could leverage such a service were taking place.

The idea would be that the City could contract with Zipcar to provide a certain number of vehicles in the city and the city would then utilize the service for quick runs when employees need to be on-site for inspections or other service calls. The service would not completely eliminate the need for city-owned vehicles, but it is envisioned as lessening the need for the city to own as many automobiles.

“The City is interested in starting a city carsharing service within the city, and we are currently in negotiations with Zipcar,” Falkin told UrbanCincy.

Falkin says that original negotiations came to a halt when the City realized there were purchasing requirements to which it had to adhere. As a result, Falkin says, the City will be moving forward with these discussions but will be looking at a competitive bidding process that will engage more than just Zipcar.

Currently more than half of all of the City’s vehicles are past their current life cycles. Based on original equipment values, it is estimated that to replace the entire fleet would cost approximately $50 million. $5.2 million was budgeted for vehicle replacement in 2012.

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Arts & Entertainment News

Cincinnati’s central riverfront captured in new timelapse video

A Cincinnati-based marketing firm based out of Mt. Lookout has produced a new timelapse video of the central riverfront. The abbreviated video only lasts a total of 47 seconds, but highlights several different vantage points of Cincinnati’s urban core.

The most interesting component of the video is the unique angles in which Stimulus Worldwide captures the center city. The boutique marketing firm set up shop along the Newport waterfront high atop Mt. Adams to produce the video. Be sure to enjoy the way the city lights playfully dance upon the Ohio River.

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News Opinion Politics Transportation

EDITORIAL: Cincinnati Leaders Should Rethink Planned Rail, Trail Systems

Ten days ago UrbanCincy sounded the alarm on the proposed Wasson Way Trail, and we feel that due to the large amount of feedback that further explanation is needed.

Tomorrow at 12pm, City Council’s Strategic Growth Committee will discuss the proposal that would turn the Wasson Corridor from a railroad right-of-way into a recreational trail. What UrbanCincy is urging City Council to require is a minimum of 28 feet worth of right-of-way preserved for future light rail use.

Standard designs for bi-directional light rail traffic require a minimum of 28 feet of right-of-way. Along some portions of the Wasson Corridor it may very well be possible to accommodate 28 feet for light rail, plus additional right-of-way for the proposed recreational trail, and in those segments it may make sense to get started.


Looking east as the Wasson Line crosses over Interstate 71. Photograph by Jake Mecklenborg for UrbanCincy.

While there is no funding currently in place to build light rail along the Wasson Corridor, it would be short-sighted to remove one of the best rail transit corridors in the city. This was previously done on Cincinnati’s west side when an abandoned railway used by freight and passenger rail traffic was abandoned and then allowed to be built over and occupied by the Glenway Crossings retail center.

Allowing this to take place offered city and county leaders to reap the rewards of a short-term boost, but it has also created a situation that makes building light rail to Cincinnati’s western suburbs almost impossible. This same thing could happen to Cincinnati’s eastern suburbs should the Wasson Corridor be used by a recreational trail.

Proponents of the Wasson Way Trail project made it clear that many of the supporters also want to see light rail eventually happen, but that we should not wait until that day comes to improve the visual appearance of the corridor. Case studies from all over the United States show, however, that once a former rail line is converted into another use, it is almost always an impossible political task to take that land back for rail purposes.


2002 regional light rail plan for Cincinnati.

In the larger scheme of things, UrbanCincy believes that regional leaders need to take a step back and ask themselves why we are still discussing commuter rail along the Ohio River, and a recreational trail through densely populated city neighborhoods. The priorities should be reversed, and the Oasis Line along the Ohio River should be converted into a recreational trail while the Wasson Line is preserved for future light rail use.

It is estimated that the Wasson Light Rail Line would attract three times the number of riders than the Oasis Commuter Rail Line, while also being significantly less expensive to build and operate. Futhermore, when discussions were held about the Oasis Line, residents and property owners along the line voiced their opposition to such activity and have conversely expressed interest in seeing the railway converted into a recreational trail.

City and regional leaders should maintain the natural beauty of the Ohio River and turn the Oasis Line into an attractive recreational trail that can connect into existing trail networks to the east, and the Wasson Line should be preserved for light rail use in the future. It may seem frustrating to leave the Wasson Line in its current state of appearance, but it will be much more frustrating to jeopardize one of the best potential light rail corridors envisioned for the region.

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Arts & Entertainment News

‘Cincinnati From Devou Park’ captures new urban b-roll for Queen City

Every so often the UrbanCincy team strolls through the interwebs to find out what kinds of video content people are producing about Cincinnati in the digital age. It turns out that the overwhelming majority of that content is commercial in nature, but every once in a while we find some good old fashion urban b-roll.

One of the most recent items we came across is Cincinnati From Devou Park by Michael Toffan. The nearly three-minute video slowly pans about the views from one of the region’s most popular vantage points. It is a slow and methodical video set to the song ‘Every Woman’ by Stephan Baird.

The video expectedly captures the views of downtown Cincinnati and Covington, but it also intimately showcases ongoing construction at The Banks (0:33), the aging Brent Spence Bridge (0:53), and barge traffic on the Ohio River (2:05).

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Business News Politics

Cincinnati officials turn to solar-powered trash cans in busy pedestrian districts

Those who have visited The Banks development along Cincinnati’s central riverfront may have noticed something new about the trash cans out on the street. Instead of the typical trash cans, the city has installed solar-powered BigBelly receptacles throughout the first-phase of the development.

These new-age trash cans have the ability to hold more trash, and notify collection crews when they need to be emptied. And the introduction of the electronic trash receptacles does not end at The Banks development. In fact, there are now 51 of these BigBelly solar cans located throughout the central business district alone, and another five located in neighborhood business districts in South Fairmount, Cumminsville, Northside, Mt. Adams and Mt. Lookout.

“Cans have been placed at locations where the city has regular cans that overflowed between collections,” said Larry Whitaker, assistant to the director of Cincinnati’s Public Services Department. “All are in high foot traffic areas, and the solar-powered cans have been well-received thus far.”


The first sidewalk BigBelly solar cans were installed on Third Street in downtown Cincinnati. Photograph by Randy A. Simes for UrbanCincy.

City officials say that the cans cost approximately $4,500 each, and that the purchases were made using the city’s corner can replacement fund for annual maintenance and replacement of trash cans throughout the city. Old cans being replaced by the new BigBelly solar cans, Whitaker says, are being used as replacements for other existing cans in bad repair throughout the city.

While it is still too early to judge results of the new cans, the idea is that the long-term savings will offset the initial capital cost increase.

“The BigBelly cans have not been installed for very long, but we expect the new cans to cost more in maintenance due to the cost associated with replacing sophisticated components,” Whitaker explained. “The new cans have a lot more moving parts that could malfunction; however, we anticipate the cost of repairs to be offset by savings from less frequent collections.”

Prior to replacing street trash cans, scores of BigBelly trash compactor units had been installed throughout some of the city’s busiest parks including Piatt Park, Eden Park and Lytle Park.

Boston was one of the first cities to aggressively pursue the installation of such trash receptacles in its city. The primary justification was due to the promise of increased efficiency, improved service levels, less frequent collections, the ability to remotely monitor the status of the cans, and more sanitary environment thanks to the closed lid design which prevents water and rodents from getting to the trash and prevents debris from blowing into the street.

Philadelphia has also pursued this change and estimates that replacing 700 standard trash cans with 500 BigBelly units will result in approximately $2,600 in savings per unit over the next ten years.

In Cincinnati officials say that it is likely additional solar-powered trash cans will be converted as funding becomes available, but that the number of cans and their placement has yet to be determined.

“When you think of trash collection most of the energy is spent going out to serve a location,” Office of Environmental Quality director, Larry Falkin, told UrbanCincy. “So if you can service a location less frequently there there’s a quick payback for the technology. It’s really about finding the right location where the efficiencies are worth it, and downtown and park locations seem to make a lot of sense.”