Author: Randy A. Simes

Randy is an award-winning urban planner who founded UrbanCincy in May 2007. He grew up on Cincinnati’s west side in Covedale, and graduated from the University of Cincinnati’s nationally acclaimed School of Planning in June 2009. In addition to maintaining ownership and serving as the managing editor for UrbanCincy, Randy has worked professionally as a planning consultant throughout the United States, Korea and the Middle East. After brief stints in Atlanta and Chicago, he currently lives in the Daechi neighborhood of Seoul’s Gangnam district.

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Arts & Entertainment Business News

Taste of Cincinnati has some new digs!

The Taste of Cincinnati is this weekend and I personally can not wait! The Taste has always been a great event for the city and for those who attend, but it will be even better this year. You may ask why…well it’s because of the all important move from Central Parkway to Fifth Street. This move presents a whole slew of benefits for the event.

First of all, shadows from the building will help shade the event and offer a slightly cooler atmosphere for everyone. Secondly, it is in the heart of downtown and in the midst of the up-and-coming Fountain Square District. There is shopping, dining, lodging, and entertainment all within a stones throw from the event this year. This has to bode well for neighboring businesses, more so than previous events held nearly 6 blocks away.

3CDC has certainly been criticized for the issues with the Fountain Square work. Whether it is warranted or not is another issue, but one thing is for sure…The heart of downtown is looking/feeling stronger than ever. Well done!

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Development News Politics

Put your money where your mouth is!

So the question is whether $800,000 is better spent on the Freedom Center or on speed humps for residential streets throughout the city. Speed humps serve a small amount of citizens who just like to complain. These are the same people who ask for public stairs to be closed, bus routes to be removed, bike trails to be prohibited and the likes. They have specific issues with many things that are geared towards the greater public, and it seems like Chris Monzel would rather appeal to those citizens than to put money towards a Smithsonian Museum right in our downtown.

Now maybe I am confused or misinformed, but to me an investment in a Smithsonian caliber museum would seem to be a better investment than speed humps. It would also seem to be an investment that would benefit the community as a whole; not just the complaint oriented citizens. Even if you don’t go to the Freedom Center (which I highly recommend a visit to), the community benefits by schoolchildren being able to go to the museum and learn a very important history of our nation.

If education and the youth are truly our future, then lets put our money where our mouths are and fund things that benefit our future. A child will not remember or learn anything from a speed hump that may or may not be on their neighborhood street…but they will remember the lifelong lessons that are taught at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

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News

What do you think about downtown?

So how do you feel about the state of Downtown Cincinnati? Downtown Cincinnati Inc. is currently conducting their 2007 State of Downtown Survey and now is the time to let your voice be heard! The survey covers such items as safety, cleanliness, events and services. It also asks you to elaborate on what you would like to see downtown to make it a better place to live, work and play.

So get to it! The survey takes about 15 min. and is well worth your time.

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Business News Politics

A billboard battle looms…

A number of City Council members seem poised to take on the billboard industry in Cincinnati. Councilman Chris Bortz thinks billboards, along with those advertising benches at bus stops and racks that hold newspapers, cut into Cincinnati’s overall curb appeal. I would strongly agree with that notion. The problem doesn’t lie with the stance, but rather the billboard powers at be. Taking on this industry has proven to be a very difficult task to say the least.

For some communities its the superfluous newspaper stands and bus benches that restrict pedestrian flow/activity in their business districts. For others its the brightly illuminated billboards that prove to be undesirable for residents living nearby. Not to mention these billboards are almost always an eyesore for everyone who has to see them on a regular basis.

Maybe what the city should do is look into creating a streetscaping plan that requires all streetscaping items to have a specific look/appeal to them (much like what is done for lighting and signage). This has been done recently in places like NYC and Toronto, where they are striving to improve the curb appeal of their cities by creating coordinated street-furniture plans.

An important piece to this effort, in my opinion, is that the city include the neighborhood business districts that make the city special and not just put it into action downtown. Downtown is great, but these neighborhood centers are the foundation of our great city. I’m sure they will lend much support to this effort!

Categories
Arts & Entertainment News

Save the Music!!!

Well Cincinnati Public Schools have been cutting their budget to make ends meet. There are multiple things we could blame for this…state funding (or lack thereof), the diminishing tax base of CPS, or possibly poor management of funds by the district. But it seems that as of late CPS has started to get their act together. Their State Academic Rating has risen and is considered one of the best ‘urban school districts’ in the State of Ohio. And like I said, they are looking at ways to trim the budget, but at some point you have to realize what you are trimming and the potential fallout from those decisions.CPS was one of the earliest recipients of Save the Music funding (VH1 headed project) is set to become of the first districts, in the nation, to have all of their elementary schools equipped with instruments/equipment by Save the Music. However, part of the agreement is that the schools partnered with Save the Music must have a music program and therefore a music teacher on staff (makes sense). However, CPS has cut music teachers at some of their schools partnered with Save the Music, therefore putting the relationship in jeopardy. This could make CPS the first example of Save the Music having to revoke instruments/equipment do to a breach of contract.

It doesn’t take much vision/foresight to realize the importance of fine arts as part of the curriculum. It also doesn’t seem to be too difficult to understand that by saving roughly $56,000 a year (average teacher salary for CPS), puts an entire program at risk. Spend the 56k and ensure the future of music education for inner-city youths. VH1 Save the Music is paying for the darn program…all CPS has to do is employ a music teacher…56k doesn’t seem to much to ask for.