Year: 2010

Categories
Business News Transportation

New Metro CEO wants a “back-to-basics” transit management approach

[On Monday, November 1, Metro’s new CEO and General Manager Terry Garcia Crews wrote a letter to Cincinnatians. This is an unedited republishing of that letter in its entirety – Randy.]


Dear Friends of Metro,

Today is my first day as Metro’s CEO & General Manager, and I wanted to share my initial impressions of my new home. Cincinnati is a wonderful place. Metro is a great organization, and I see tremendous potential for our transit system to support the community’s objectives.

My immediate focus will be on a back-to-basics approach of providing safe, on-time, clean, and friendly service to the community. There’s no funding right now for growth, but we intend to maximize the impact of what we have.

Of importance, I want you to know that Metro’s 2011 budget will be balanced without negative changes in service, fares or jobs. We’re stable for now, but budget challenges will continue as the economy struggles to rebound. We’re dedicated to fiscal responsibility and cost containment to maintain current fares and service levels for the next year and hopefully longer.

I don’t intend to operate in a vacuum. I need to better understand the priorities of the community and where Metro fits in. My goal is to meet with community leaders over the coming weeks and months to get a clearer picture of the community’s needs and interest in transit. Listening to all of our stakeholders will help in developing our action plan and establishing a strategic direction.

I hope you will take a minute to share your thoughts about Metro with me via email at tgarciacrews@go-metro.com. Or let me know if you would like to meet and we can schedule a time. I’d also like to welcome you to become my friend and visit our Cincinnati Metro page on Facebook.

I’m looking forward to working with you to move Metro forward.

Terry Garcia Crews
CEO & General Manager

Categories
Business News

Sushi Bears a new vegan option at Findlay Market

[This story was originally published in the Cincinnati Business Courier print edition on October 22, 2010. Visit the original story for more comments, thoughts and opinions on Sushi Bear’s entrance to Findlay Market – Jennifer.]


A new vegan and vegetarian focused Japanese food stand has opened at Findlay Market.

Sushi Bears is a food concept run by chef Dan Wells and his business partner Steve Hauck. Wells attended culinary school at Great Oaks vocational school in 1998, and since then has worked at nine restaurants throughout Cincinnati including Palomino’s, Ambar India, and Mecklenborg Gardens.

Wells and Hauck are the  sole investors and signed a two-year lease on the 160 square-foot booth so that they could fulfill a desire to create an attainable, healthy dining option in the area.

“When I was looking to open an eatery, I wanted to keep the focus on health and nutrition. Sushi allows for exactly that with smaller portions and fresh ingredients,” Wells explained.  “We bring really affordable lunch options with stir fry and rolls as low as $4-6 bucks and beverages as low as $1.50.”

According to Wells, the customer demographic was among many reasons for opening Sushi Bears in Findlay Market.

“We looked around town at other possible locations, but the reason that Findlay stood out in our minds is because we know the crowds that go there are often there for the fresh produce and farmers markets – there were already a lot of health conscious or vegetarian customers at the Market. When you walk around the Market you wonder where all of these veggie eaters are going to get a bite to eat. There is a surplus of health conscious eaters who frequent the market, but only a few options for healthy ready to eat vegetarian food. Sushi Bears fills that niche. ”

After discussing several naming options, Wells and his team decided on Sushi Bears, drawing inspiration from the bamboo-eating panda bear that has since become the mascot and logo for the company.

Chef Wells is currently serving Japanese inspired stir-fry and drinks including mango chill, bubble tea and hot green tea. There are plans to expand to vegetarian maki-style sushi rolls by mid-November when they expect to complete construction in the new space.

The partners did say that they intend on sourcing a majority of their produce and spices through other Findlay Market vendors, in an effort to help boost the local economy and provide inspiration for new sushi creations.

Taste of Belgium neighbor Jean-Francois Fletchet believes a difficult journey might be ahead for the entrepreneurs selling a niche product.

“I wish them [Sushi Bears] luck but it’s going to be a bumpy road,” Fletchet says. “Although traffic during the week has improved most people downtown do not realize that Findlay Market is open for lunch during the week.”

To help avoid such a lull, Wells plans on supplementing the lunch crowd with unique catering options and  sushi classes.

Sushi Bears is located in the center of Findlay Market, across from Taste of Belgium and Bean Haus booths. The Japanese style stir-fry, drink and sushi booth is open Tuesday through Friday 9am to 6pm, Saturday 8am to 6pm, and Sunday 10am to 4pm.

Categories
Arts & Entertainment News

Modern Women at the Cincinnati Art Museum

The storied, 129-year-old Cincinnati Art Museum is perhaps easy to miss.  High on a hill just east of downtown Cincinnati, it is surrounded by the natural beauty of Eden Park.  But its collection of over 60,000 works of art is far-reaching and definitive.

The exhibit Thomas Gainsborough and the Modern Woman, which opened last month at the CAM, is a shining example of the museum’s curatorial discernment and ingenuity.

Gainsborough (1727-1788) was born in East England, the youngest son of a textile maker who sent him to London to study engraving and then art.  He married the illegitimate daughter of a duke, whose yearly annuity allowed the painter to be quite productive.

Benedict Leca, the CAM’s Curator of European Painting and Sculpture, has assembled a group of Gainsborough paintings from both sides of the Atlantic.  The piece that initially captured his interest is a CAM holding: Gainsborough’s 1760 portrait of Ann Ford, a musician who aimed to raise her reputation and social standing with a beautiful, full-length image of herself – painted by Thomas Gainsborough.  The colorful, newly restored masterpiece hangs with 15 other Gainsborough portraits at the museum today.

“We forget that these were radical paintings in the 18th century,” Leca told me by phone.  “These are provocative women, provocatively painted.”

In the late 18th century, Georgian England was a state in transition.  The old traditions of Europe began to lose favor as the new philosophies of the Enlightenment took hold. Curiosity, reason and enterprise began to replace religion and loyalty to the aristocracy as the bedrocks of the intellectual class.  Instead of the staid masculinity that defined society for centuries, women moved into the public eye and gained a degree of independence.

Thomas Gainsborough ran up against the traditional art society of his day, though the royal family loved his work. He painted quickly and using a variety of methods, like large strokes and wet-on-wet.  His biggest rival was Joshua Reynolds, a better-known English portrait artist who was the first president of the Royal Academy.

“Gainsborough recasted the traditionally dichotomized gendering of portraiture,” Leca said.  The traditional views held that a skilled male painter actively makes an image of a passive female sitter.  This painter made portraiture more active.  “Gainsborough turned that upside down into a dynamic interchange that was based on complicity.”

Thomas Gainsborough and the Modern Woman is on display at the Cincinnati Art Museum through January 2, 2011.  The Cincinnati Art Museum (map) is open 11am to 5pm Tuesday through Sunday.  Admission is free to the public; parking is $4 for non-members.  The Terrace Café, located in the museum, is open from 11am to 3pm, closed Mondays.

Categories
Month in Review

Month in Review – October 2010

It’s hard to believe that the month of October is already behind us!  UrbanCincy’s top 5 most popular articles for the month were:

  1. Over-the-Rhine is not one of nation’s most dangerous neighborhoods
    Walletpop.com caused a large stir in the local media when they announced that a portion of Over-the-Rhine was “the most dangerous neighborhood in America.” Following that proclamation, UrbanCincy analyzed the data and released its own response to what appeared to be a suspect report.
  2. A strategic residential plan for Cincinnati’s center city
    What has long held back Cincinnati has not been a lack of tourists, commerce, or entertainment, but rather it has been the lack of a critical mass of residents. The lack of this critical mass is what has prevented the CBD from attracting everyday retailers, groceries, affordable dining, and later evening hours for all of the above.
  3. Induced Traffic Demand Works Both Ways
    There is a popular saying that circulates in urban planning circles: “Widening roads to solve traffic congestion is like loosening your belt to cure obesity.” Planners have shown over the past few decades that adding lanes to roads, while temporarily increasing flow, does little to address congestion because over time traffic demand continues to climb.
  4. Google updates aerial imagery of Cincinnati region
    Google has updated its aerial imagery for several major cities throughout the United States including Portland, Washington, D.C., and Cincinnati. The new imagery appears to have been taken over the summer.
  5. Local carsharing program may soon get rolling in Cincinnati
    The idea for carsharing comes from a growing number of people either going car-free or car-light. Nationally, the percentage of 16-year-old drivers with licenses has decreased from 41 percent in 1996 to 29.8 percent in 2006, and in Ohio that number has dropped five percent since 2000 alone according to the state Department of Public Safety and U.S. Census Bureau.

We also urge you to read UrbanCincy’s Q&A with the candidates for Hamilton County Commissioner before heading to the polls tomorrow.

Categories
Business Development News Transportation

South Korea: Initial Impressions

After spending just over two weeks in Seoul I often feel just as ignorant to the Korean culture as when I arrived, when in fact that could not be further from the truth. I stepped off the plane in Incheon 17 days ago, got on the bus to Seoul, and then proceeded to immediately get lost in Insadong trying to find my hotel on a Saturday night. Since that time I have been able to meet all kinds of new people, try new foods, experience different cultural norms, and dive into a 50 hour work week.

The food has been one of the best things so far. I have tried just about everything under the sun, but I could not begin to tell you what it all is by name. The kimchi is terrific, and served with everything, and the Korean Barbecue is expectedly superb. I have been taking particular interest in the many street food vendors where I am living in Insadong. Meat on a stick, check. Octopus desert treats, check. Spicy rice cakes, check.

The drink has also been an experience too. Feel free to order a beer when in Korea, but do not expect much. The Korean beers, Cass and Hite, are about as good as any generically mass-produced American beer and it is about all they offer. But when you have Soju and Makkoli to choose from, I do not see why you would care. Soju is often the drink of choice for most as they go out. Think of it like a smooth Vodka, but one that keeps flowing as your night continues over various small Korean plates of food. Makkoli on the other hand is made from fermented rice and is casually known as Korean wine. I can tell you wine it is not…especially the trendy fusion Makkoli you will find throughout Seoul. I tried a pineapple fusion Makkoli which was quite good.

What strikes you first about Korea is its people and their attention to detail. The airport is spotless, transit run precisely on-time, streets are kept clean, and almost anything will be done to make sure you are kept happy as a guest. The key here is to be open and try to at least something about the Korean culture and language. At this point I know about a dozen words and when I use them I am greeted by a very positive response from locals who do not expect me to know even the slightest bit of language or culture.

This attention to detail extends to fashion. Now maybe this is because I am located in the heart of a major cosmopolitan city, but both the men and women are fabulously dressed. Heels and designer dresses are standard for women, while men of all ages are almost always seen in tailored suits and designer shoes. Do not go out the least bit wrinkled or think that your non-polished dress shoes are ok because you will stand out, and not in a good way.

The city has been overwhelmingly large. Skyscrapers as far as the eye can see, and a seemingly never-ending urban landscape greets visitors. Seoul is an overpowering city at times. Not only are the buildings tall, but the streets are wide, traffic constantly congested, streets jam packed with people, and a constant buzz exist in almost all parts of the city that I have visited. But what is most interesting is a similar shift toward creating a more livable city. New parks have been developed along the Hahn River and a reclaimed stream through Insadong turned into a recreational trail are two of the more striking features.

On the personal front I have enjoyed several encounters with Asian-style karaoke, was interviewed on KBS News, stumbled upon a Makkoli tasting festival near my hotel, had an Ajuma intentionally run into me with her shopping cart at the store, and have been in too many mind blowingly new situations to count.

This has been fairly long so far, but I hope to do a weekly summary like this going forward until I return to the U.S. in mid-December. Enjoy some of the photographs I have taken thus far throughout Insandong and from a trip I made to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) last weekend. The week ahead should be quite interesting as my new Korean friends are planning something interesting for my birthday this Friday (and probably Saturday).