In Soapbox this week I wrote about the plans for renovating Mt. Lookout Square. Below you can view the three-phased approach to implementing those changes. The work is still preliminary and is still trying to work itself out in terms of funding and overall scope. Click on any of the images to open up a larger version in a new window.
After the lights went out and the dust settled from the 80th take of the Midsummer Classic, fans spilled out of St. Louis’ beautiful new Busch Stadium into an area set to be developed as Ballpark Village.
Ballpark Village is much like The Banks development in Cincinnati. The idea is similar – following a major public investment in a new urban ballpark, a high density mixed-use neighborhood would fill the space left behind from the previous behemoth of a stadium that once existed.
This new wave of thinking towards sports facilities is a trend sweeping the nation that can be seen in cities from San Diego to Baltimore and minor league parks all across the nation. The idea is that new businesses and entertainment districts can thrive off of the tens of thousands of sports fans visiting the area 80+ times a year.
Both The Banks and Ballpark Village have suffered their setbacks. In both cases beautiful new ballparks have replaced the cookie-cutter stadiums…that part of the equation has been fulfilled. What has not yet been completed is the high density mixed-use neighborhood.
There is no doubt in my mind that once developed, both Ballpark Village and The Banks will be successful if executed properly. The problem is that the execution has little to do with the ballparks built to spur these developments. In St. Louis the amount of residential space has been reduced from the original plan. In Cincinnati condos have become apartments, and the design has been “value engineered” to say the least. What could any ballpark do to change these results?
What the ballparks do accomplish is that they create an instant market for such “eatertainment” places like ESPN Zone, Hard Rock Cafe, House of Blues and so on. These places are perfect for these districts, but I honestly don’t see what else the ballparks can do otherwise.
In St. Louis Busch Stadium is connected with the region’s light rail system with a perfectly situated MetroLink station. Cincinnati has the opportunity to similarly connect Great American Ballpark with the Cincinnati Streetcar system.
St. Louis’ Busch Stadium MetroLink station – photo from dswinneyThe important thing to vibrant urban neighborhoods is the amount of people. Downtown Cincinnati and St. Louis have no problem with daytime work week activity. What they both need more of is night time and weekend traffic, and this requires more people living within the core. Less residential at these developments is the absolute wrong idea. Transit makes high density residential more financially feasible, and has a considerably greater impact than that of a neighborhood ballpark.
Great neighborhoods aren’t made by great ballparks…great neighborhoods are made by the people living, working and playing there. A diversity of these activities is needed for a place to be truly sustainable in terms of its vibrancy, and instead of pouring our public dollars into new ballparks, stadiums and convention centers we should be putting our public money into transit choices, public spaces and a diverse housing stock.
Cincinnati is definitely one of the most charitably giving cities I’ve lived. Maybe it’s because this is a community with strong religious ties, or the immigrant history of our town, but people here LOVE to give!
Having formerly worked in a non-profit here, I appreciate the value of volunteers and donations in accomplishing a non-profit’s goals. That being said, it’s no secret that economic times are tough. People have to rein in spending, and it’s starting to show. According to the Cincinnati Business Courier, giving has dropped nationally:
“Giving USA Foundation found that charitable giving fell 2 percent from 2007 to 2008. The decline was the first since 1987 and the second in the 40-year history of the study. Adjusted for inflation, the decline was 5.7 percent.”
Not all organizations are seeing a drop in funds, but the typical donor is being a little more savvy about where and who they want to donate. For some people, giving to large umbrella aid organizations makes them feel like they’re covering a lot of ground with their dollars. For others, they worry about the overhead taking some of the money away from trickling down to smaller organizations.
There are so many options for organizations to donate to that it can be a little confusing. As a donor, do you want to go local or international with your charitable giving? Do you want to do a micro loan or give to an organization that screens candidates but may have overhead costs? Or do you just want to get together with friends and make a collective decision on where to donate your money? More and more charity organizations will be targeting “millennials” – YP’s who have expendable income and a sense of altruism, so if you fit that bill, get ready to be targeted!
In all this talk about giving dollars, remember charitable giving isn’t only about money. A great way to really get to better know your community is by going out and doing work to make it better. After living Downtown for 2 years, I had never been in Washington Park until I did a park clean up one morning with Keep Cincinnati Beautiful.
It is such a beautiful park, and seeing how mistreated it was by people in my community, it really reignited my desire to see it revitalized. No matter where you live, there are always opportunities to give in your community. You can literally get your hands dirty bettering the area around you and at the same time, get to know people in your community. In Cincinnati there are endless organizations that cater to different needs so there’s no reason to not find something that appeals to you!
Below are some links to groups that can direct you to opportunities, national and international organizations that are working to help our community and beyond. I have also included a request for volunteers through the local library if you want to really start in your backyard and work with the kids in your neighborhood. The motto of my alma mater was “Lead, Learn, Serve” and these days they are words we could all live by.
Volunteer Organizations (just a few of many):
As a native of Chicago, when I first moved to Cincinnati I was surprised by the lack of residential development along the river. Now that I have lived here for nearly 8 years, the perspective I’ve gained on our riverfront system has changed. This is particularly true as plans move forward for the riverfront parks system extension that The Banks will bring.
This past weekend, I was in Chicago, and was struck by how fortunate the city was to have a wide open expanse of parks and walkways to separate the lake from the high rises. The history behind this parks system begun 170 years ago, when settlers were establishing Chicago as a Midwestern trading post.
“When the former Fort Dearborn became part of the town site in 1839, the plat of the area east of Michigan Avenue south of Randolph was marked ‘Public ground forever to remain vacant of buildings’” (source).
As a result of this green space being established, it has acted as a gathering place for people of various backgrounds and economic levels to gather and listen to music protest or celebrate. Within the lakefront park system, Millennium Park offers water fountains you can walk and play in (a nice departure from beautiful but not hands-on Buckingham Fountain), a band shell that there is regular programming in, and the multi-sensory Bean to look at and touch.
With The Banks continuing at its steady pace, there are already people gearing up to have funding in place to start programming for families at the new riverfront park system that will be built in stages over the next three years. In the Cincinnati Parks e-newsletter, a thank you was put out for a fundraiser that occurred recently which raised over $100,000 for family programing at the Cincinnati Riverfront Park.
All of the other riverfront parks we have in place are excellent places to walk through or go to a weekend festival, but I don’t often hear about family programming that goes on in those parks unless it’s associated with the festival. Hopefully as time goes on, we can start seeing well-advertised day camps or even day workshops for families to attend at no or reduced cost. A park has to offer more than just a place to stop and enjoy the scenery – it needs to be a place that is interactive and appeals to a wide demographic.
Following this rubric, the planners hit the target with programming on Fountain Square every week that offers not only a different genre of music nightly, it also offers special programming during the day to get downtown workers involved in games, farmers markets and live cooking shows. Additionally, the architects of the square itself did an excellent job planning interactive fountains for children to play in while parents watch Reds games and enjoy food from the local eateries. Let’s hope the planners of the layout of the new riverfront parks and those who put together programming think in the same vein.
-Kate Dignan
Mayor Mark Mallory and City Manager Milton Dohoney announced that the City has selected the Cincinnati Streetcar Development Partners as the team that will help finance, plan, design, construct, operate and maintain Cincinnati’s modern streetcar system.
The announcement was made at the new Rookwood Pottery headquarters in historic Over-the-Rhine. The location is at what will be the northern end of the Downtown/OTR circulator which will then head Uptown from there. Rookwood Pottery is an “enthusiastic” supporter of the Cincinnati Streetcar project and was more than happy to welcome the couple hundred people that showed up to hear the news.
City Manager Dohoney with some of the crowd on hand
The crowd (see crowd pictures here) was not only robust, but diverse as well. Representatives from the Over-the-Rhine Chamber of Commerce, various City of Cincinnati departments, Model Group, Cincinnati Beer Company, Metro, Cincy Energy Alliance, Mercantile Library, Hodges Law Group, Downtown Cincinnati Inc. and a slew of local business owners and investors.
The excitement was notable as Mayor Mallory and City Manager Dohoney arrived. The crowd was buzzing in anticipation of what was to be announced. This excitement continued as a large group of attendees walked over to Market Wines at Findlay Market to continue the conversation.
Development Team:
Cincinnati Streetcar Development Partners is made up of 12 companies that each specialize in a different aspect that will help lead to the successful implementation of the streetcar system. The team is made up of local and non-local companies that have been involved with roughly 80% of all recent streetcar and light rail projects in the United States, including projects in San Francisco, New York City, Atlanta, Portland, Seattle and Cleveland.
Members of the team have also been involved with local projects like Great American Ballpark, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and the restructuring of Fort Washington Way that came in on time and under budget.
Cincinnati Streetcar Development Partners
One of the companies is Stacy and Witbeck Inc. (SWI) who is considered to be the “premier streetcar and passenger transit rail construction company in the United States.” Their involvement in the Cincinnati Streetcar project will be their first in the Midwest. As a result, SWI will be opening a new office downtown and will be relocating their executives to Cincinnati specifically for this project.
The team will also consist of local companies like Jostin Concrete Construction, DNK Architects, Megan Construction Company, Property Advisors, Wordsworth Communications and G.J. Berding Inc. The Cincinnati Streetcar Development Partners will be led by Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc. (PB) who will also serve as the project manager. PB has led several local transit projects in the past and has a sterling record.
Funding:
The City currently has $78 million in requests to the federal government, who City Manager Dohoney says will be absolutely necessary in the implementation of the Cincinnati Streetcar system.
Explore Cincinnati reported in April that millions of private dollars have been raised thus far. According to the City’s Budget Director, Explore Cincinnati also found out that several organizations have been raising private funds that have not yet been deposited into the City’s account for the project.
This revised funding strategy is a response to the national economic downturn say City officials. The City has also established a new and more comprehensive website for the Cincinnati Streetcar that also includes an online location where streetcar supporters can make private contributions to the project.
What’s Next:
The selection of the team that will design, build and operate the Cincinnati Streetcar system is a major step forward for the project.
“The leaders of this city are taking this city’s future seriously,” says program manager Fred Craig who continues, “we are seeing a new generation working to make Cincinnati a better place.”
Craig went on to say that he and the development team welcome community input and emphasized that this is a project that should be driven by the community. Craig went as far as to say that if you have any suggestions regarding the project that you should call him personally and let him know (513-639-2100 – still trying to track down direct phone line).
Mayor Mallory addressing the crowd