Category: Politics

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News Politics Transportation

Ohio transit agencies awarded $20.7M for system upgrades

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced $776 million for urban and rural transit providers in 45 states. The money is intended to help bring buses, bus facilities, and other related equipment into a “state of good repair.” The grant money will reportedly support 152 projects across the country.

Ohio’s Department of Transportation (DOT) received $10 million to allocate towards transit vehicle replacement, and another $3.5 million to perform rehabilitation of transit facilities and equipment around the state. Akron’s Metro bus agency received $3 million, and the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority received $4.2 million.

“Safety is our highest priority, and it goes hand-in-hand with making sure our transit systems are in the best working condition possible,” Secretary LaHood stated on Monday. “The millions of people who depend on transit each day to get to work, to school or to the doctor expect a safe and comfortable ride.”

No money was awarded to Cincinnati-area transit agencies, although Metro officials say that they are working with the state to hopefully receive some of that money.

The money could not be more needed according to transit officials who state that more than 40 percent of the nation’s buses are currently in poor to marginal condition. According to the National State of Good Repair Assessment Study released in June 2010, the $776 million included in this announcement will not come close to funding the estimated $78 billion worth of repairs needed to bring the nation’s rail and bus transit systems into a state of good repair.

In Cincinnati, Metro officials say that money is always needed to replace buses in their fleet as they reach the end of their 12-year life cycle.  Through this program, the agency had requested funding to replace the system’s nearly 20-year-old farebox technology.

“New fareboxes would allow us to not only improve the accuracy of our ridership data for planning purposes, but also introduce new fare media like day passes that could be purchased on the bus, stored value passes, and more,” Metro’s chief public affairs officer, Sallie Hilvers, told UrbanCincy.  “We have some federal grant funding now, but hope to secure the full amount in the coming year.”
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Business News Politics

Historic urban churches beginning to face new set of problems

Reverend Clarence Wallace has been with Carmel Presbyterian Church (map) in Avondale for 32 years. As an African-American growing up in the south during the civil rights movement, he experienced both segregation and integration first-hand. These life experiences helped to mold the high level of social consciousness that is still with him today.

“I’ve worked as a drug and alcohol counselor, witnessed Klan rallies, and was working in Harlem when Martin Luther King was stabbed. I could tell you many stories.”

Today, however, it is the story of the modern day ‘urban church’ that keeps him occupied. An unfinished story filled with both hope and adversity.

In Avondale, it is virtually impossible to miss the diverse collection of historic churches that line the streets of the neighborhood. However, while their stunning architecture is viewed as an asset, there are also challenges that these places of worship face including competition from mega churches, declining parish sizes, tight economic conditions, high maintenance and utility costs, and growing social needs from their members.

Built in 1890, Carmel Presbyterian brings along with it a unique set of financial challenges. Upkeep of the historic building is extremely expensive, and high utility costs are placing a burden on the church which is already devoting most of its resources to social and community development. These challenges, together with an economic recession that has hit neighborhoods like Avondale particularly hard, have created a difficult financial situation for ministers like Reverend Wallace.

“The poor continue to come in with more social needs than spiritual needs, and the costs keep rising. The urban church is being challenged as never before with this economic recession,” explained Wallace. “What would be viewed as a cold in a suburban church can be viewed as pneumonia here in the urban core.”

The church’s situation is complicated further by the fact that 75 percent of the congregation comes in from outside of the neighborhood. The group, most of which are originally from Avondale, has stayed loyal to the church over the years. The church has been seen as one of the few constants in the neighborhood during otherwise troubling times, and Wallace views the emigrating parishioners as part of the solution to helping bridge both the economic and social divide.

“We serve different people with different needs and sometimes it becomes difficult to meet these needs, but whether affluent, working class, or poor, they all worship one god and this is the common factor that brings them together…and with time this can help to benefit the entire community.”

Wallace emphasizes that while it is extremely challenging during these economic times, giving up is not an option.

“Is it easy? Certainly it’s not easy, but leaving would never cross my mind.”

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News Politics

Over-the-Rhine is not one of nation’s most dangerous neighborhoods

Last year’s most dangerous neighborhood study from 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.

In determining these sensational classifications, Walletpop.com used individual census tracts to define the subject neighborhoods rather than using customary neighborhood boundaries. Cincinnatians most often know Over-the-Rhine as the area roughly bounded by Central Parkway to the south and west, the base of the hill to uptown to the north, and the Broadway Commons area to the east. This area is made up of census tracts 9 (southwest), 10 (southeast), 16 (northwest), and 17 (northeast) which make up the four quadrants of the neighborhood as we know it. But in Walletpop.com’s report, they use just a selected portion of the neighborhood which then end up labeling the “Moore Street” neighborhood.

In 2009, the report looked at the northwest portion of OTR, and part of the West End, and labeled it as the “most dangerous in the country.” The 2010 report changes that analysis. The northwest portion of OTR has fallen off of the list of most dangerous neighborhoods completely, but they have included the northeast portion of OTR as the 24th most dangerous.

As with 2009’s report, there are inconsistencies with the data surrounding this portion of OTR in Walletpop.com’s most recent report.

Firstly, the report overstates the number of predicted crimes by 35 percent, in Census Tract 17, by predicting there will be 150 violent crimes in this part of the neighborhood. This would equate to the approximately 81.92 crimes per 1,000 residents Walletpop.com reports for the area. The reality is a bit different though. The population of the northeast portion of OTR is 1,358, and when multiplied by the ‘per 1,000 rate,’ there would only be 111 crimes per year, not the 150 predicted by Walletpop.com.

When studying last year’s report similar inconsistencies were found. In 2009 the report predicted 457 violent crimes in northwest OTR at a rate of 266.94 violent crimes per 1,000 residents. This number is particularly alarming as there is no possibility of 457 violent crimes in northwest OTR alone as the entire four census tract neighborhood had only 390 violent crimes in 2007. So in order for Walletpop.com’s analysis to be true, 100 percent of the violent crimes occurring in the entire Over-the-Rhine neighborhood would have to occur within this subject area, in addition to 50 percent of all the violent crimes that took place in the entire West End of which only a tiny portion is included in their analysis.

This year’s data only seems to confirm our suspicion that last year’s results were wildly inaccurate.

Northwest OTR is no longer listed as one of the top 25 most dangerous neighborhoods in the country. In the 2010 report, the 25th most dangerous neighborhood had a crime rate of 79.83 per 1,000 residents. If northwest OTR is not on this list, then the number of crimes in that portion of OTR must have fallen from 457 crimes to 138 crimes and the crime rate must have fallen to at least 79.82 per 1,000 residents—a decrease of 70 percent.

However, violent crime throughout the entire Over-the-Rhine neighborhood actually fell only 5.8 percent over the past year. If there were to be a 70 percent drop in crime in northwest OTR, but only a 5.8 percent drop in the neighborhood as a whole, then crime must have dramatically spiked in the rest of the neighborhood. With the massive amounts of investment being made in southwest and southeast OTR this seems highly unlikely. Main, Vine, and Race streets all have new shops and new residents, and each weekend scores of Cincinnatians are taking walking tours through the neighborhood.

Walletpop.com has, once again, overstated the number of crimes in portions Over-the-Rhine. Unless this site can refine its data, the mainstream media should be hesitant to give any credit to these reports. Doing otherwise comes across as lazy journalism and irresponsible reporting to its audience.

Instead of relying on data from websites trying to drive traffic, we should examine the data produced by the Cincinnati Police Department and U.S. Census Bureau. If you use their data, Over-the-Rhine, with a population of 6,497 and 371 crimes, has a rate of 57.1 per 1,000 residents and would not make the list of the 25 most dangerous neighborhoods. This legitimate data also indicates that Over-the-Rhine has seen crime decline 38.7 percent since redevelopment efforts began in earnest in 2005.

There is much work still to be done, but it is time to start focusing on our successes and not just our failures.  And it is up to our local media to investigate these issues before they haphazardly report on this phony data.

Brad Thomas kindly contributed the data analysis for this story.

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Business News Politics

Cincinnati celebrates start of Midwest’s largest RecycleBank program

City officials and business partners met this morning at Annwood Park in East Walnut Hills to officially kick-off the largest RecycleBank program in the Midwest.

City officials say that the incentive program is geared to encourage community members to recycle by measuring and recording the amount of material they recycle, then translate that participation into points that are redeemable at local and national retailers, much like a frequent flier program.

As an added bonus, Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble has partnered with RecycleBank in rewarding residents for their green actions as part of their new Future Friendly initiative. This means that community members who register for the new RecycleBank program will receive a $5-off reward toward the purchase of any Future Friendly product from the P&G eStore while supplies last.

At today’s ceremony, Office of Environmental Quality director Larry Falkin shared the excitement felt by many in the crowd.

“We [at the city] are really happy about this new program. There’s so much potential to make something useful and profitable from things we’re getting rid of anyway,” Falkin stated. “Even the guys who own the landfill are in on it. Jeff Rumpke knows he’s missing out on an opportunity by letting all those recyclables in the landfill.”

Another component of the city’s new recycling program includes new 96-gallon recycling bins that can hold u pto five normal-sized bins worth of recyclables. City officials say that this will allow them to cut back on recycling pick-ups to once every two weeks, thus saving the city money.

The new larger carts also allow the city to implement the new RecycleBank program and automate lifting operations of the bins.

“If possible, residents should separate their trash bins from the new recycling bins,” said a Rumpke worker who explained that keeping the bins out from underneath power lines and trees will allow the truck’s robotic arm to work with ease.

The enhanced recycling program is being rolled out in four phases, with rewards and pick-up beginning this week in some neighborhoods. The roll out will continue through February 2011, and any Cincinnati resident who lives in a single- or multi-family home with existing curbside trash pickup is eligible to take advantage of this new program.

“The biggest benefit to the RecycleBank rewards system is the versatility in how residents will be able to use their points,” explained Christian Huelsman, the RecycleBank community outreach intern. “Not only are there national retailers participating like Bed Bath & Beyond and Old Navy, but local retailers liek Deweys and Park+Vine are as well. And those who do not want to encourage more consumption can choose to donate their points to local schools to help with after-school programs and supplies. You can even trade in certain electronics to increase your points.”

Those interested in taking advantage of the new RecycleBank rewards program are required to register online or by calling 1-866-563-0114.

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Business Development News Politics

A strategic residential plan for Cincinnati’s center city

There are increasingly fewer and fewer development sites remaining inside Cincinnati’s central business district. There are small surface lots scattered about the CBD, and some larger collections near City Hall and the Hamilton County Courthouse, but outside of that there is not much land left to be built upon.

This makes the things we do build on those sites even more important. The Banks seems like it will end up being successful in an urban design context, as well as an urban vibrancy context with its inclusion of so much residential in addition to office, retail and entertainment space. The recent Procter & Gamble daycare facility on Broadway Street, not so much.

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.

According to a 2009 Downtown Cincinnati Inc. report, there are 9,000 residents living in the greater downtown area which primarily includes the CBD and Over-the-Rhine. According to the same DCI report, that number of downtown residents is expected to grow to 12,500 by 2012 largely in part to the opening of the initial phase of The Banks. Even while this growth is encouraging, if Cincinnati wants its center city to be truly vibrant around the clock, more needs to be done.

Cincinnati leaders should identify residential focus areas and work with developers on a comprehensive plan that would strategically place residents throughout the center city in the most economically feasible, and beneficial ways. Based on Cincinnati’s current central business district buildout, its surrounding neighborhoods, and potential opportunities I have developed a general plan for two residential focus areas for which Cincinnati leaders should develop.

Core High-Rise:
Within the CBD itself there are several real opportunities to not only add to the urban context, but its vibrancy. Surface lots at Fifth & Race, Seventh & Vine, Fourth & Plum, and Third & Race offer the greatest potential of them all. These sites could all potentially host high-rise residential living which could finally put Cincinnati’s center city over the top.

Affordable and successful residential high-rises can be done. Many cities around the country have experienced this first-hand. In Atlanta, 30- to 40-story residential towers have sprung up throughout Midtown and Buckhead like weeds, and were often built in an almost cookie cutter way that was sure to deliver profits for the developer. The same has happened in Charlotte, Miami, Austin, Portland, Seattle, Philadelphia, Denver, San Diego, Chicago, and elsewhere.

These efforts should not exist on their own, but rather also work with potential residential conversions of aging office structures nearby. This will remove antiquated office space from the market, and add critical new housing opportunities within the center city.

Mid-Rise Community:
Another great opportunity for the CBD is a collection of low- to mid-rise residential structures near City Hall on approximately four city blocks of available surface parking lots. The area is bounded by Over-the-Rhine to the north, the Betts-Longworth Historic District to the west, Ninth Street Historic District to the south, and the Court Street district to the east. All of these surrounding areas are made up of three to five story structures which would make a three to five story residential community ideal in this area.

It would make sense to include townhouses/rowhouses along Ninth Street and Central Avenue to help create a natural blend with the surrounding areas, but also provide a greater mix of residential offerings. The rest of the residential focus area would be made up of multi-unit mid-rises similar to those being built at The Banks right now. This addition of residential activity would inject new life into arguably the most lifeless part of the CBD, and it would create a tangible connection from the CBD to Over-the-Rhine and the West End.

While not identified as a focus area due to its small size, the surface lots near Eighth & Sycamore should also be developed with a residential focus to compliment the burgeoning residential district there.

By developing a strategic approach for implementing new residential offerings in Cincinnati’s center city, city leaders and developers will be able to improve the area’s urban framework and its vitality.  New residents will demand new retail offerings that will benefit the thousands already living within the greater downtown area, and more residents will help drive existing businesses to maintain later hours to serve the growing residential base.

The buzz surrounding 21st century planning has often been about creating 24/7 urban communities where people live, work and play.  Cincinnati already has a great set-up for exactly that, its leaders and investors simply need to take advantage of those opportunities and position the center city for even greater success.