Tag: economic

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Up To Speed

Work begins on $15 billion Manhattan infill project

Work begins on $15 billion Manhattan infill project.

Earlier this week, New York City officials celebrated the groundbreaking of Hudson Yards, a new $15 billion office and residential district to be built above the Long Island Railroad’s yard on Manhattan’s west side. The development’s 16 towers will create nearly as much new office and residential space as currently exists in downtown Cincinnati. An extension of the #7 subway serving the development will be completed in 2014 and new buildings should be ready for occupancy in 2015. More from the New York Daily News:

The groundbreaking ends years of deal-making between developers and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which owns the rail yard and will lease the development rights for 99 years for more than $1 billion…The 26-acre site, to be built on platforms over the rail facility, will be the largest private real estate development in the history of New York.

For New Yorkers trying to wiggle out of a recession, Hudson Yards could mean thousands of jobs and hundreds of units of affordable housing…Urban experts see Hudson Yards as a means for New York to stay competitive with Shanghai, London and Paris as a key 21st century city.

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Up To Speed

Financial incentives not paying dividends for state, local governments

Financial incentives not paying dividends for state, local governments.

State and local governments are paying huge prices to companies as they desperately struggle to attract and retain jobs in their communities. New analysis, however, suggests that those incentives may not be paying dividends, and shows that the payouts may actually be more damaging than helpful long-term. In a region like Cincinnati, where its downtown traverses two states, three counties and four to five cities, the problem of wayward incentives is even more apparent. More from the New York Times:

A portrait arises of mayors and governors who are desperate to create jobs, outmatched by multinational corporations and short on tools to fact-check what companies tell them. Many of the officials said they feared that companies would move jobs overseas if they did not get subsidies in the United States. Over the years, corporations have increasingly exploited that fear, creating a high-stakes bazaar where they pit local officials against one another to get the most lucrative packages. States compete with other states, cities compete with surrounding suburbs, and even small towns have entered the race with the goal of defeating their neighbors.

Nationwide, billions of dollars in incentives are being awarded as state governments face steep deficits. Last year alone, states cut public services and raised taxes by a collective $156 billion, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal-leaning advocacy group. Incentives come in many forms: cash grants and loans; sales tax breaks; income tax credits and exemptions; free services; and property tax abatements. The income tax breaks add up to $18 billion and sales tax relief around $52 billion of the overall $80 billion in incentives.

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Arts & Entertainment News

Stories Around the Urban Campfire returns to East Walnut Hills this Thursday

Stories Around the Urban Campfire will return this Thursday to DeSales Plaza in East Walnut Hills.

The urban storytelling event is being produced by UrbanCincy in partnership with the Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation and Teilen. The event also supports small businesses in the neighborhood like Suzie Wongs, Café DeSales, and Beck Hardware.

“I received very positive feedback from the small, neighborhood businesses involved with the first storytelling event,” explained UrbanCincy owner Randy Simes. “Some people were a bit hesitant to get up and share their stories at the first event, but we’re hoping even more people show up this Thursday and to enjoy the unique urban campfire experience in East Walnut Hills.”


People gather on DeSales Plaza for the first-ever Stories Around the Urban Campfire event held on November 8, 2012. Image provided by the Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation.

As with the first Stories Around the Urban Campfire held on November 8 (online photo gallery), this week’s event will have food and drink available for purchase from Suzie Wongs and Café DeSales. Those who bring the right materials will also be able to make smores over the fire.

According to Simes, there are plans to potentially do more of these events, but for now this may be the last regularly scheduled Stories Around the Urban Campfire event of 2012.

“We received a very positive response from the first event, and we expect there to be a similar turnout this time around,” Simes noted. “However, it is getting colder and colder by the day, and we don’t want people to be uncomfortable. If the weather plays nice, then we might have another one or two of these before the end of the year, and then bring it back in the spring.”

Stories Around the Urban Campfire (11/29) will begin at 6:30pm in DeSales Plaza at the corner of Woodburn Avenue and Madison Road. The event is free and open to the public, and those choosing to share their stories with the group will be given approximately five minutes each.

Teilen founder Joe Wessels will serve as the event’s moderator and will be keeping track of each speaker’s time. Those interested in telling a story are encouraged to contact urbancincy@gmail.com or joewessels@gmail.com with their name and story topic.

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Up To Speed

The race for America’s fastest broadband speeds

The race for America’s fastest broadband speeds.

Last year Google selected Kansas City as the location for its first attempt to connect homes to its own fiber-optic network. Other than Kansas City, New York City is also trying to ramp up its Internet speeds to compete with cities like Amsterdam, Barcelona, Moscow, Singapore and Toronto. With this Internet speed race in full gear, where does Cincinnati stand? More from Next American City:

Here in Kansas City, Google is in the early stages of an experiment. The stated goal: To learn what there is to know about making high-speed broadband faster, cheaper and ubiquitous. Called Google Fiber, it’s the most ambitious fiber-to-the-home project in the country. Here in the geographic middle of America, at least this moment in time, these paired cities will have the fastest, broadest broadband network in the U.S.

For Kansas City, the dream is of a gigabit of connectivity in every pot, enough to bring into being remote medical screenings, digital coursework from anywhere in the world, fire departments equipped with 3-D building plans and immersive video gaming — enough to transform two mid-sized heartland cities into a 21st-century hub of the digital-age economy, a hotbed of innovation and growth.

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News Transportation

Cincinnati Moves Forward With Land Use Study of Wasson Railroad Corridor

On November 14, Cincinnati’s Department of City Planning & Buildings held a public hearing on its upcoming land use study for the disused Wasson Road Railroad and adjacent properties.

Norfolk-Southern Railroad ended service on the line in 2009, and in 2010 the City of Cincinnati’s Department of Transportation & Engineering (DOTE) identified the right-of-way as a future off-road bicycle path in its planned 400-plus-mile network of bike lanes and trails.

Local bicycle advocates have since built public support for construction of a paved rails-to-trails bicycle path between Xavier University and Fairfax as part of a project called the Wasson Way Trail.


The proposed Wasson Way Trail would use the Norfolk Southern Railroad right-of-way to create a bike trail from the Little Miami Trail to Xavier University. Image provided.

On Wednesday, however, city officials were quick to mention that the upcoming land use study is just that – a determination of how the Norfolk Southern property and its surroundings might be rezoned in order to protect the right-of-way up until and after the right-of-way is purchased by Cincinnati – not a determination of what should be built in its place.

Already, Norfolk Southern has leased some of its railroad property for other uses. In 2011, a shopping center at Wasson Road and Edwards Road created a gravel parking lot on the disused tracks and another business near Paxton Road is looking to do the same.

Although Federal regulations prohibit railroads from subdividing their disused properties until they complete an “abandonment” process, Wasson Way Trail advocates are concerned that revenue from additional leases might discourage Norfolk Southern from selling the right-of-way to the City of Cincinnati at a future date.

Michael Moore, Director of the City of Cincinnati’s DOTE, stated that appraisals of the Norfolk Southern property fall close to $2.5 million. He cautioned, though, that this appraisal should not be thought of as a sale price, as the terms of the City’s purchase of the property cannot be known at this time.

Multi-Modal Use of the Corridor
At the November 14 meeting, city officials also made a point of stating that the title of the upcoming land use study has not been determined but that it will make no explicit mention of bicycle paths, light rail transit, or multi-modal use of the corridor.


Members of Queen City Bike joined Cincinnati City Councilmember Laure Quinlivan (D) and former MetroMoves chairman John Schneider for a walk along the Wasson Railroad Corridor in May 2012. Photograph by Jake Mecklenborg for UrbanCincy.

Construction of a double track light rail transit line in the right-of-way was first identified by the OKI Regional Council of Governments in the late 1970s. Then in 2002, the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) planned to build a light rail line in place of the Wasson Road freight railroad as part of its MetroMoves plan and failed sales tax referendum. If the ballot issue had passed, construction of a light rail line would have almost certainly commenced soon after Norfolk Southern ceased freight service in 2009.

The width of the Norfolk Southern right-of-way varies wildly as it travels between Xavier University and Hyde Park. It is typically at least 30 feet wide, but in a few places widens close to 100 feet.

In May 2012 members of Queen City Bike walked the right-of-way with John Schneider, who had previously chaired the MetroMoves campaign. At that time, the groups agreed that conflicts between the proposed bike path and light rail line can be avoided if the two are planned as a unified project.

Further complicating the issue is that small sections of the Norfolk Southern property fall under the jurisdiction of the City of Norwood. These sections are all north of the line’s main tracks, for example the railroad’s former yard tracks near Montgomery Road. As Norwood is not involved in Cincinnati’s upcoming land use study, and Cincinnati of course has no influence in its affairs, whatever zoning changes Cincinnati applies will not affect bordering Norwood properties.

The Department of Planning & Buildings will complete its land use study in summer 2013, but with no immediate plans to enter into negotiations with Norfolk Southern, there is no timeline for construction of the Wasson Way Trail.