Tag: public policy

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News Transportation

Queen City Bike wins $10k grant to implement Bicycle Friendly Destinations Program

The Greater Cincinnati Foundation has awarded a $10,000 grant to Queen City Bike to develop a Bicycle Friendly Destinations Program. Once in place, the new program is expected to help grow the number of bicyclists locally by creating a registry of bike friendly employers, retailers, government agencies, and cultural organizations.

Program administrators will reportedly work with area businesses and institutions to make it easier for people to access and use their respective facilities by bicycle. The hope is that by improving the overall environment and bicycle culture, that more people will take to the streets on their bikes.

According to Queen City Bike president Gary Wright, the new program fits perfectly into the non-profit organization whose mission is to promote bicycling as a safe and healthy means of transportation and recreation in the Cincinnati region.

“Getting more people to use bicycles for everyday transportation benefits everyone,” Wright said. “It reduces pollution, cuts down on traffic and parking congestion, and is good for your health.”

The grant money will kick off the new program just as the City of Cincinnati has been implementing a variety of new measures from bicycle parking requirements, new safety laws for motorists, and additional bike lanes and sharrows. Many of the new changes have been sparked by a recently adopted Bicycle Transportation Plan that, in part, calls for 445 miles of on- and off-street bicycle facilities to be installed by 2025, and double the number of people using bicycles for everyday transportation within the next five years.

According to Wright, the idea for the program originally came from a project lead by Brad Hunkler in the Leadership Cincinnati Class 33. In that project Hunkler identified the program as a “key priority” for local employers looking to attract and retain talented professionals.

“The city is committed to making our streets more bicycle friendly, and we hope that many area businesses and organizations will match that commitment by participating in the Bicycle Friendly Destinations Program, “ Wright said. “More and more cities are realizing that supporting bicycles is important for their future, and I am proud to say that Cincinnati is one of the places that gets it.”

Queen City Bike will publicly recognize those that succeed at earning the Bike Friendly Designation in May 2011.

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Development News Transportation

City adding bike lanes to Central Parkway, Spring Grove Avenue, Linn Street

As summer draws to a close, Cincinnati city officials will be installing several miles of new dedicated bike lanes and sharrows. According to the Cincinnati Department of Transportation & Engineering (DOTE), crews have already introduced bike lane symbols along Spring Grove Avenue, between Crawford Avenue and Mitchell Avenue, and will be completing the separation line later this week.

Other city streets to be improved later this summer include Central Parkway, between Brighton Place and Hopple Street, and Linn Street from W. 6th Street to Gest Street.  In total, the projects account for approximately two-and-a-half miles of new bicycle facilities.

“We know that Spring Grove Avenue is already a major bicycling corridor, and we hope that the addition of bicycle lanes will encourage even more people to try using a bicycle for casual trips,” said Curtis Hines, Spring Grove Avenue project manager.

According to Hines, the timing is perfect as all of the streets receiving the new bike lanes and sharrows were already scheduled for routine maintenance work.

“We’re committed to building streets with all users in mind, so we plan to continue incorporating bike lanes in as many street improvement projects as possible.”

The new bike lanes and sharrows come shortly after Cincinnati City Council approved dramatic new bicycle policies that include new safety regulations, parking requirements, and a comprehensive Bicycle Transportation Plan that calls for 445 miles of on- and off-street bicycle facilities to be installed by 2025.

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Business Development News

Community partners celebrate kickoff of Corryville Neighborhood Enhancement Program

City officials and neighborhood leaders gathered at the Corryville Recreation Center this morning to celebrate the kickoff of the Corryville Neighborhood Enhancement Program (NEP).

At the announcement Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory was joined by University of Cincinnati President Gregory Williams, City Manager Milton Dohoney, and the many organizations working together during the 90-day blitz.

The concentrated neighborhood improvement effort focuses on removing blight, thus reducing quality of life crimes, and improving the neighborhood. To date, the acclaimed program has been implemented in seven neighborhoods including Price Hill, Avondale, Westwood, Evanston, College Hill, Clifton Heights/University Heights/Fairview Heights (CUF), and Mt. Washington.

The impacts have been profound as the program has helped reduce blight by an average of 15 percent through thousands of building inspections. Officials attribute much of the program’s success to the group of program partners that work to identify and cool down crime hot spots; clean up streets, sidewalks, and vacant lots; beautify landscapes, streetscapes, and the public right-of-way; and engage residents in a way that keeps them motivated after the first 90 days.

The Corryville program was made possible in large part thanks to a $5,000 donation from U.S. Bank that leveraged an additional $8,000 in corporate and community investment. City officials state that the funds will be used for materials and supplies that will help to improve the cleanliness, beauty, safety, and quality of the Corryville neighborhood.

Categories
Development News Politics

Cincinnati officials impressed by results of Nashville’s form-based codes

In late June 2010, 18 individuals from Cincinnati made a trip to Nashville, TN in order to learn more about that city’s form-based code efforts. While on the trip, local officials and community leaders toured three of Nashville’s most notable developments to see first-hand how such land planning initiatives have made a tangible impact there.

The delegation attending the last of several trips to Nashville included Cincinnati City Councilmembers Laure Quinlivan, Charlie Winburn and Wendell Young; Hamilton Vice Mayor Rob Wile; leaders from Downtown, Walnut Hills, Mt. Auburn, Hyde Park, The Christ Hospital, the Cincinnati Form Based Codes Initiative, and UrbanCincy.

While in Nashville, the delegation visited Lenox Village and The Hill Center. The two new urbanist developments located in Nashville’s suburban communities each have a unique focus as Lenox Village offers a walkable residential neighborhood, while The Hill Center is an upscale commercial district built in a walkable manner.

Inside Lenox Village, the delegation was impressed by the development’s tree-lined streets, wide sidewalks, public gathering spaces, and pocket parks with homes ranging in cost from $84,000 to $350,000. The development also includes a small element of office and retail space, while also providing ten percent of its total housing units as rental.

The area surrounding the upscale, 220,000 square-foot Hill Center development reminded some of the Cincinnati guests of the Kenwood area. But while many of the same upscale retailers were found at both, the physical implementation is much different. According to the developers of The Hill Center, much of the difference comes in the “road diet” that took place to accommodate bicycles, improve sidewalks and pedestrian connections.

“Granbery described the “ping-pong effect” that retailers desire, where a pedestrian can easily cross from one side of the street to the other to reach another retail store that catches his or her eye – even green space should not be so wide as to keep shoppers from crossing the street easily,” described Cincinnati Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls.

The third development the group toured was The Gulch which is a former railroad center turned mixed-use infill project adjacent to downtown Nashville. Restaurants, live music venues, trendy retail, and condominium towers now occupy the site which has become a popular destination for young people. The Cincinnati delegation also noted that the development project earned a LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED ND) silver certification for its location, transit access, neighborhood design, green infrastructure and buildings, and its overall design process.

The Gulch is only the ninth neighborhood in America to receive such designation, and the first neighborhood in the south.  Since the plan was originally developed in 2002 by MarketStreet Enterprises, the City of Nashville and Davidson County Metropolitan Development & Housing Agency have invested nearly $7 million in infrastructure improvements.  The Gulch neighborhood has also required the incorporation of affordable housing in order to receive tax increment financing assistance.  Within the ICON, 44 of the total 418 housing units are affordable to those earning 80 percent of median income for the area ($34,000 or less).

The trips to Nashville were taken to help further develop Cincinnati’s initiative to develop form-based codes throughout the city as neighborhoods desire. Should Cincinnati develop such a system of land planning it would become only the third major American city to do so joining Miami and Denver. If all goes according to plan, city officials hope to start implementing the necessary zoning code amendments by fall 2010 with the help of Opticos Design.

Categories
News Politics

Public forum to answer commonly asked questions about city budget

Plan Cincinnati is hosting a a learning forum about the city’s budget on Wednesday, August 18 in downtown Cincinnati. The forum is designed to answer many of the questions posed by citizens at working group meetings, for the evolving comprehensive plan, over the past year.

The forum will include Cincinnati Budget Director Lea Eriksen, and will answer many commonly asked questions like:

  • Where does our City’s revenue come from?
  • What are our operating expenses?
  • What is the difference between the capital budget and operating budget?
  • How much money do we receive from the Federal Government and the State of Ohio?
  • How much does the City get from property tax or income tax?

The Budget Learning Forum will take place on Wednesday, August 18 from 5:30pm to 7:30pm in the J. Martin Griesel Room (7th Floor) of Centennial Plaza II (map) in downtown Cincinnati. The event is free and open to the public. On- and off-street automobile parking, free bicycle parking, and Metro bus service (plan your trip) is available for this event.