Tag: Transportation

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News

New Uptown signage on the way

The Uptown Consortium has been developing a wayfinding system for the Uptown area. This will be a significant improvement upon the current dated signage that you see scattered haphazardly throughout the area now.

The signage also seems to blend design concepts from other streetscaping elements seen throughout the City (primarily Downtown). The consortium describes the project as, “an implementation of a bold and unified Uptown wayfinding and streetscape design for pedestrians and motorists.” They go on to say that this includes the development of a, “comprehensive, user-friendly Uptown map to locate key Uptown businesses, neighborhoods and institutions.”

Hopefully this signage will be customizable and/or complimentary to signage that will need to be developed, for the Cincinnati Streetcar, when it comes to the Uptown area in the near future. I love wayfinding systems, but the last thing we need is redundant systems cluttering the sidewalks.

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News

Around the Cincy Blogosphere

Aren’t quite sold on streetcars yet? Well if that’s the case then check out some pretty convincing reasons as to why not to hate the proposed Cincinnati Streetcar.

You can also check out some MuralWorks action happening along Race Street Downtown. Maybe after that you should start planning on where you’re going to spend your tax rebate. It might also be time to stop in and say goodbye to a friend.

And since we’re in Cincinnati and all, be sure to check out the flying pigs as well.

*You can find links to these great blogs and much more over in UrbanCincy’s blogroll in the left column on the site.

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News Politics Transportation

Get off the juice

Gas is $3.65/gallon around many parts of the metro, and even higher in other parts of the country. As a result people are starting to combine trips, rethink purchasing that Hummer, and are generally looking for ways to cut their consumption – which is great.

At the same time politicians in DC are doing what they do best which is pretending as if they care about reducing our dependence on foreign oil. $3.59 sounds like a lot, but in reality it is still not high enough to cover the costs of maintaining our beloved road system. State DOTs, across the country, are going bankrupt and the feds are going to be hitting the red very soon.

The rise in prices is simply going to the foreign nations that are providing us the drug that fuels our addiction. At the same time our infrastructure is literally crumbling and we seem to have no backup strategy as to how to deal with modest gas prices (when compared to other developed nations at least).

So what’s an average citizen to do with these soaring gas prices and miserable economy? The answer is not pawning off your gold to pay for more gas. I would suggest moving closer to where you work, riding Metro (if possible), or carpool. These are all obvious solutions, but it seems that the location one gets overlooked quite a bit and is the one that can/will make the biggest impact.

Given that most people in this region work either Downtown or Uptown, I would suggest moving into the City of Cincinnati. Crime has been dramatically reduced over the past few years, Cincinnati Public Schools are poised to be ranked as ‘Effective’ (comparable to most suburban school districts), and there are numerous tax abatements available to avoid property taxes entirely in some cases up to 20 years…and you could save a lot money on your commuting costs.

Transit Options for Cincy:
Cincinnati Streetcar
Metro
TANK
Light Rail Now

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Development News Politics Transportation

Streetcar passes FC, poised to pass Council

There was an emergency Finance Committee session held today at 9am to hear the compromise motion put forward from Mayor Mallory. This motion puts forth everything that was presented in the original study (Downtown/OTR Circulator route), but also includes the connector piece to Uptown. Essentially the connector piece is now included with Phase 1 and will be built at the same time…adding an additional $35M to the project cost that must be secured now prior to the start of construction.

There was lengthy discussion and John Cranley belabored the finance portions of the plan. Qualls seemed to ask a few questions just to get the responses ‘on the record’ from City Manager Milton Dohoney and City Architect Michael Moore. Chris Bortz spoke in favor of the project and described this time as, “a time for Cincinnati to be bold.”

Jim Tarbel was the only public speaker and referred to the streetcar project as, “the single most important development project right now and over the past decade.” John Cranley made sure to quickly point out that he “respectfully disagreed” with Mr. Cincinnati and that he wishes the project success.

When all the dust settled the votes came in and it was a unanimous vote (7-0, Laketa Cole was absent). This will now go on to the full Council today at 2pm at City Hall. When it is approved there the project is given a green light and the legislative approval from City Council. The City will then be able to enter into negotiations with private entities to pay for portions of the project. The snowball has begun its proverbial journey down the hill. Be there at 2pm and afterwards there will be celebrations at City Cellars (908 Race Street) around 5:30pm.

Additional reading on UrbanCincy:
Clyffside, Streetcars, Moerlein…oh my
A challenge for those who demand better
Cincinnati is ready to GO
Cincinnati sleepy no more
Streetcars/Transit should be #1 priority for Cincinnati – Reader’s choice

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Arts & Entertainment Business Development News Transportation

Clyffside, Streetcars, Moerlein…oh my

Last Friday (4/11) was a great day for Over-the-Rhine, and especially the Brewery District. There was the debut of a new Ohio Historical Marker for the Brewery District…and the Clyffside building kicked off its renovation process with a ‘wall knocking’ by council members Chris Bortz and Roxanne Qualls.

Brewery District people spoke, the two council members, and many others saw this as a chance to voice their support for the Cincinnati Streetcar. At one point the audience was instructed to look out the window and notice where the Northern end of the Streetcar will eventually be (1.5 blocks away or so). Needless to say, people were excited about the historical honor and the announcement of a renovation project that will bring 19 new units to OTR ranging from the low 100’s to the mid-200’s. Oh yeah, and the free Christian Moerlein was great too.

Over-the-Rhine certainly has some serious momentum that it hasn’t had for a long, long time. Speculation is already occuring along the proposed streetcar route and the neighborhood’s rich history is starting to get the recognition it deserves. To that I say cheers, over a Christian Moerlein OTR Ale.

You can view the rest of my photos from the Clyffside ribbon cutting, historical marker, and building tour HERE.

View from The Clyffside units (Randy Simes)