Author: John Yung

John joined UrbanCincy in 2011 and immediately established himself as a key member of the UrbanCincy team. A native of Chicago, transplanted to Lebanon, Ohio in his teenage years, John currently resides in Cincinnati’s historic Mt Auburn neighborhood. John earned a Masters of Community Planning degree from the University of Cincinnati in 2013.

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Up To Speed

Better Streets are Better Public Places

Better Streets are Better Public Places

As many communities start to require a complete streets approach to roadway planning it is important for cities such as Cincinnati to remember the elements of good street planning or face the consequences of the STROAD. Kaid Benfield highlights the ingredients to creating a great pedestrian friendly street that serves as a place to visit instead of a way to pass through. Read more at the NRDC Switchboard:

But, when I say that a street is not just a “street,” I mean that it is not just a surface for motorized travel.  It is also the sidewalk, the curb, the trees and “street furniture” that line it; the facings of the shops, homes, and other buildings and uses along the way.  It is not just about transportation, but also about civic definition and social and commercial interaction.  It is a system, at a minimum, and should at least aspire to becoming a place, as Victor asserts.

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Development News

Demolition of Evanston’s Long-Troubled St. Leger Place Begins

IMG_0387The apartment building known as St. Leger was built in 1905 and is situated at the intersection of Gilbert Avenue and St. Leger Place. The building has long been known as a problem property in the city, but is now being redeveloped by The Model Group.

The existing building and its 81 units for low-income renters had been the location of many criminal problems including being the scene of the city’s first homicide this year.

The process started late last year when the building was purchased by The Model Group. The original plan was to partially renovate the building and tear the rest down, but over time the developers have decided to move forward with a full-scale demolition of the property in order to make way for new construction.

The demolition is one of a host of projects throughout Hamilton County that was partially funded from the Moving Ohio Forward program.

Last year the City of Cincinnati was awarded $5.8 million from the program, which was then matched by an additional $3.5 million from the city and $5.3 million from the Hamilton County Land Reutilization Corporation. These funds will ultimately be put toward demolishing hundreds of buildings throughout the county.

“It wasn’t a positive space,” Thea Munchel, Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation (WHRF) real estate development officer told UrbanCincy, “The development that Model Group is proposing will transform Five-Points and rejuvenate Evanston.”

While the WHRF focuses primarily on Walnut Hills, its coverage area also includes this part of Evanston as well as some other neighborhoods adjacent to the historic neighborhood.

The new development’s name, St. Ambrose Apartments, was chosen to honor Evanston’s reputation in the educating community after the Patron Saint of Learning.

According to the developers, St. Ambrose Apartments will have 26 new townhouses and flats – a net reduction of 55 residential units – and will contain one-, two- and three-bedroom units priced at an affordable level for families. Developers also say that they will be working toward LEED certification for the proejct.

Work on the project began yesterday and the development is anticipated to be completed in the summer of 2014.

“Demolition of this longtime problem property is emblematic of the turnaround in Evanston that is happening right before our eyes,” said Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls (C), who launched her mayoral campaign just blocks away. “It illustrates the impact that one problem property can have on an entire neighborhood. This is a great day for Evanston.”

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Up To Speed

Setting the Score Card for Transit Oriented Developments

Setting the Score Card for Transit Oriented Developments

With the City of Cincinnati signing the streetcar construction contract yesterday, discussion can now move on to the type of transportation oriented projects that can be constructed along the streetcar route and its eventual extensions. The measure the impact of projects located near rail transit stops the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) has created a metric for rating projects developed near transit stations to determine if they are truly transit-oriented or merely transit adjacent. Read more at the Transport Politic:

The tool was simple to use and its results make sense intuitively: Whereas the MetroWest project is poor urban design from the perspective of encouraging transit use, the other two are far more oriented toward the nearby rail stations. Hypothetically, if the projects were all proposed for the same site, the tool would allow decision makers to make a quick quantitative comparison between the designs and identify the best project for public transportation riders. This could offer a clear benefit in terms of, for example, choosing a winning team for the contract to develop a publicly owned site. Rather than rely on “subjective” comparisons of the aesthetics of site designs (a comparison that too often devolves into a question of individual architectural taste), the tool quantifies the physical.

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Up To Speed

Does Place Matter if Taxes Are Low?

Does Place Matter if Taxes Are Low?

In Meredith Whitney’s new book, the Fate of the States, she predicts a resurgence of economic growth in the Midwest. This growth she explains would be due to these state’s low tax burden, limited government restrictions and other incentives. To prove her case she highlights the percentage of growth in states such as Texas, Florida and North Carolina. Next City’s Brady Dale provides a more pragmatic view towards the author’s claims in his review of the book. Read more at Next City:

For example, in one chapter Whitney attempts to argue that growth is robust in her favored states while it has been hobbled by shortsighted policy in economic deadweights such as New York and California. The growth rates she gives are for Louisiana (16 percent), North Dakota (27 percent) and Iowa and Nebraska (11 percent for both).

It sounds attractive. A young person might like a shot at a piece of a 10-plus percent growth rate, right?

Hold on. Does a worker want a part of a percentage or a part of actual money? Because these numbers look a bit different. Let’s turn those rates-of-growth into real dollar values, using data from the U.S. Commerce’ Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis. California’s growth was very bad in that time, no question. North Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska each made some nice money, ranging from $8 billion to $12 billion. Louisiana did better, at about $23 billion in growth. None made as good a showing as New York, however, which clocked in at $89 billion in growth, from the height of the recession to deep into the recovery.

 

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Up To Speed

HOT Lanes Struggle to Raise Revenues

HOT Lanes Struggle to Raise Revenues

Part of the improvements to the Interstate 75 corridor through Cincinnati could include the addition of High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes. However reports from similar implementations across the country show that HOT lanes are not performing as expected and generating less revenue. These reports may be signs of caution for transportation officials and financiers eager to implement these measures as a way to finance large scale highway projects. More from the Atlantic Cities:

For sure, the lessons of SR-167 may not apply to every new HOT lane across the country, but Gross’s ongoing work does suggest a number of fairly universal takeaways. First things first, state DOTs would be wise to share commuter and traffic data. They should also enter projects with a clear sense of whether they want their express lane to offer congestion relief or generate revenue — and shift toll formulas accordingly. And they should factor a period of driver adjustment into fiscal forecasts.