Category: Politics

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Development News Politics

Bellevue ‘Smart Code’ workshops begin Monday

You may know Bellevue, Kentucky for its historic neighborhoods and the unique shops in the pedestrian-friendly Fairfield Avenue business district. Or you may know its “shopping center district” with big box retailers and fast food restaurants in an auto-oriented plaza. City leaders want new developments to be more like the former and less like the later. That’s why the Bellevue community is working on a new form-based zoning code that fits with the city’s motto of “Preserving the Past, Preparing for the Future.” The code will reportedly encourage walkability and the mixing of uses in new developments.

People who live, work or play in Bellevue have been able to get involved in the efforts to adopt a ‘Smart Code’ from the beginning. On January 27, the first public meeting featured architect Jeff Raser of glaserworks explaining how the code works. At the meeting, many residents were initially skeptical, not understanding the purpose or implications of the change, but came to understand the benefits as Raser answered their questions.

Raser explained that public involvement is essential if the code is to be successful. If citizens participate now, they have the chance to “prescribe” how new developments should look, feel, and function. Residents and developers will both benefit as new projects get off the ground quicker due to the reduced need for zoning variances and other time-wasting processes.

The next public meeting was held in February, allowing citizens to participate in a “visual preference survey.” Results from the meeting showed that citizens overwhelmingly wanted new developments to better fit in with existing historic structures. They also wanted to preserve public parks, plazas, and views of the Ohio River and Cincinnati skyline.

The last chance for citizens to have their voices heard will be next week, from Monday, March 22 to Wednesday, March 24, when the city is holding a charrette, or public workshop, at Bellevue’s Callahan Community Center (616 Poplar Street). Various topics will be covered throughout the charrette, and open house hours will allow citizens to share any other opinions or concerns they may have. An open house “pin up session” will be held on Thursday, March 25 from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m., where final results from the charrette will be presented.

Photo courtesy of the Coding Bellevue.

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Development News Opinion Politics Transportation

Cincinnati: A Love, Love, Hate Relationship

This guest post by Greg Meckstroth originally appeared on urbanOut.

Oh Cincinnati, Oh. How I love, love, hate you. Before moving to Indianapolis I spent 2 years living in Cincinnati, Ohio in the neighborhood of Clifton. During this time I gained a true appreciation for what the city is and all the quirks that exist there. What I concluded is that there is a lot to love about the City, but also some things to hate…but more love than hate. Culturally, physically, and emotionally, Cincinnati is an amazingly unique place with a provincial attitude completely different than any other Midwest counterpart. With these oddities and attitudes comes certain social down sides that gives the City a bad reputation and why it ultimately isn’t a creative class destination. Below, I list the positives and negatives of Cincinnati.

Here is why I love, love Cincinnati:

  • Identity: The region has a unique, provincial culture not found anywhere else. Whether it’s the food (Skyline Chili, Dewey’s, Graeter’s to name a few), the government, or the institutions, Cincinnati seems to have retained its sense-of-self in ways other Midwest cities have not. People in the area don’t consider themselves from Ohio, but instead just from Cincinnati. Cincinnati is its own city-state.
  • Local: Locally owned businesses seem to thrive in Cincinnati. While other Midwest towns have become ‘Chain City USA’s’, Cincinnati celebrates their local businesses and builds community around them. What I find interesting about downtown Cincinnati’s renaissance is the number of locally owned establishments fueling the rebirth. Unlike other towns, Cincinnati isn’t marking their downtown’s success by which chains it does and does not have.
  • Community: The sense of community pride in the City is strong. More often than not, people who live in Cincinnati love Cincinnati. Also, since the City is so neighborhood focused, each having it’s own flavor and sense-of-place, people latch on to their respective communities, keep up on current events, and actively voice concerns. More so than other places, Cincinnati citizens definitely care about their community.
  • Density: Cincinnati is structurally America’s oldest inland City and thus developed before the car and in extremely dense fashions similar to East Coast cities. Plus, the City’s hills constrained development, making the neighborhoods even denser (Cincinnati was the densest City in the United States outside of New York for quite some time).
  • Geography: Cincinnati’s hilly geography allowed each neighborhood to develop separately, each with their own business district and each in different forms. On top of this, the hilly, river valley geography provides great views and interesting urban landscapes and juxtapositions.
  • Architecture: The City’s core features the Midwest’s best collection of 19th Century architecture as well as innovative new architecture (hello The Ascent and Contemporary Arts Center).

So enough gushing about how great the City is, because with this love, love comes the ‘hate’:

  • Cliques: Because of the provincial culture, Cincinnati seems closed off to outsiders and their respective ideas. Newcomer’s often describe Cincinnati as ‘cliquey’ and find it difficult to fit in to social circles.
  • Close-minded: The City has a negative reputation with being open to minorities, namely the gay and lesbian population and African-Americans. As a gay man living in the City, I feel this stereotype applies more to the surrounding suburbs than the liberal leaning City, but it nonetheless is a perception problem the reigon has to deal with.
  • Status-quo: While other parts of the country progress on certain issues, Cincinnati seems to take a ‘wait-and-see’ approach. If something is proven successful time and time again, Cincinnati will come on board, and probably when other places like New York and San Francisco have already moved on to the next big thing. Thus, the City seems comfortable with the status quo, and progress happens slowly here.

There are plenty of other things to both love and hate about Cincinnati, but my analysis is limited to the region’s provincialism and unique culture. I have to say that I have seen great progress in Cincinnati over the past few years, with current leadership and community activism geared towards ending the status quo, ridding the City of this ‘hate’ I speak of, and moving forward in positive ways. With this progress comes the question: if Cincinnati continues to open itself to other ideas and virtues, can it hold onto its uniqueness?

In general, can a City continue celebrating it’s uniqueness while opening up to the outside? I think the obvious answer is ‘yes’, a City can do this and there are plenty of examples. But unfortunately, there are also examples that point to the contrary. So as Cincinnati moves forward it must be aware of this give and take and find the proper balance in becoming a bigger and better 21st Century City.

For as long as I can remember, I have had this love, love, hate relationship with Cincinnati. However, my ideas are not new and have been examined before. Check out this post by the Urbanophile for a similar take on Cincinnati.

Greg Meckstroth holds a Geography degree from the Ohio State University along with a Masters in Community Planning from the University of Cincinnati’s nationally-ranked School of Planning. Greg currently works as a planner with an urban design firm in Indianapolis.
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News Politics Transportation

UC*Metro Improving Incrementally

The UC*Metro program has seen a number of changes since its introduction in 2007. Unfortunately, most of these have made the program more difficult to use or more expensive for riders. However, one upcoming change will make the program a little simpler.

Starting in Spring Quarter 2010, Metro will print the photo and name of the purchaser directly onto new fare cards. This means that riders will no longer have to show a separate UC ID card in addition to their UC*Metro fare card when boarding. Spring Quarter cards are available for purchase starting today. There is no need to have new photos taken, as existing UC ID photos will be used.

When the program was introduced in 2007, UC*Metro provided all University of Cincinnati students with free rides on any Metro route by simply showing their UC ID. Currently, the program costs $40/quarter for students ($120/quarter for employees) plus 25 cents or more per ride, depending on the route.

If you’re a University of Cincinnati student, faculty or staff member, is using UC*Metro a good deal for you? Or does the complexity and per-ride cost make it not worth your time?

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News Politics Transportation

Uptown neighborhoods endorse Cincinnati’s streetcar project

Today the Uptown Consortium Board of Directors voted unanimously to endorse the proposed Cincinnati Streetcar project. The consortium represents Uptown’s largest employers including Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, The Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati, TriHealth Inc. and the University of Cincinnati that combined represent close to 50,000 employees, a payroll of $1.4 billion and an annual economic impact of more than $3 billion.

The Board of Directors stated that the Cincinnati Streetcar represents “an important economic development tool that will connect the city’s two largest employment centers – Uptown and Downtown.”

The newly formed Neighborhoods of Uptown (NOU) represents seven city neighborhoods including Corryville, Clifton, Clifton Heights, University Heights, Fairview, Mt. Auburn and Avondale, and has also unanimously extended its support for the streetcar project and see it as an exciting prospect to link their neighborhoods with Downtown.

“The streetcar project is the kind of bold initiative the neighborhoods are looking for from City Hall,” said Neel, who is president of the CUF Community Council and an assistant professor at UC’s College of Medicine. “We think the streetcar will bring a welcome dose of vitality to our neighborhoods.”

Phase 1 of the proposed Cincinnati Streetcar will run from Cincinnati’s riverfront, through downtown Cincinnati and historic Over-the-Rhine, and up the hill into the Uptown neighborhoods and business districts.

“We believe the streetcar will help attract talent to our city’s key economic centers,” said John Prout, president and CEO of TriHealth, Inc. and the consortium’s board chairman. “The project will also stimulate job growth and serve to revitalize our neighborhoods.”

The announcement comes just months after the unprecedented unanimous vote by University of Cincinnati Student Government Association to support the streetcar project as well. Once complete, the Cincinnati Streetcar will introduce modern streetcar service to the Midwest and will connect the region’s two largest employment centers and many major attractions.

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News Politics

Public safety spending consumes Cincinnati’s strained budget

As Cincinnati faces a $51 million operating budget deficit for 2010, with the chance of the deficit worsening in 2011, many Cincinnatians and local leaders are looking for ways to close the gap without further cutting into already slim programs elsewhere.

Cincinnati’s 2010 General Fund Operating Budget totals $393.8 million of which public safety departments make up $181.9 million or 63 percent of the annual operating costs. A large chunk of that $181.9 million is made up in payroll costs for 1,135 police officers (3.4 officers per 1,000 residents). The question that must be asked is if other operations have continually been cut over recent years, then how can we close a $51 million budget deficit?

For comparison purposes, the City of Columbus has more than twice the population of the City of Cincinnati with 773,277 residents spread out over a much larger land area. Compared to Cincinnati though, Columbus has only 1,876 police officers (2.43 officers per 1,000 residents) and a Part 1 crime rate 4 percent lower than Cincinnati.

The objective data seems to indicate that a more robust police force alone is not necessarily the path to lower crime rates. But since 1974 while Cincinnati’s population has decreased 26 percent the police presence has increased 36 percent. Over that same time period public safety’s portion of the annual General Fund Operating budget has increased from 31 to 63 percent, and has seen spending increase 124 percent while non-public safety spending has decreased 43 percent.

The data is alarming. While the City continues to cut essential programs in order to balance a budget in a shrinking city, public safety programs continue to see expenditures increase with virtually no public opposition or discussion about the need for these expenditures. Of the more than 1,100 police officers only 698 are used for patrol purposes. The Cincinnati Fire Department meanwhile saw 86 percent of all fire runs in 2009 go to non-fire events.

“Police visibility in crime hot spots and enforcement of nuisance properties actually prevent crime, but in Cincinnati much of our approach is responding to crime in a defensive manner,” said former City Council member Greg Harris. “This reactive approach will never lessen crime and we will never have enough cops to make it effective. As a result, we have to implement proven crime fighting strategies built on greater police visibility.”

Public Safety related spending has risen 124% since 1974 while non-Public Safety spending has decreased 43% [LEFT]. In 2010, Public Safety related spending accounts for 63% of Cincinnati’s 2010 General Fund Operating Budget [RIGHT].

In Cleveland, Emergency Medical Services (EMS) have begun rejecting calls for minor ailments such as toothaches or hemorrhoids, and as a result has been able to reduce its ambulance fleet by three vehicles in an effort to help close their own glaring budget deficit. The difference between Cincinnati is even greater as Cincinnati EMS also sends fire trucks on these calls.

Reductions in Cincinnati’s public safety budgets could very easily help close the budget deficit for 2010 and offer long-term cost savings for the city. The comparisons to Columbus and Cleveland are only so useful as each city is unique, but they do offer an interesting insight into Cincinnati’s budget discussions especially when current budgets are examined with past budgets.

The answer for Cincinnati seems to lie in more efficient public safety operations, as with Los Angeles’ or New York’s high-tech crime mapping strategy, where the police force is managed to operate in a proactive way that helps reduce violence long-term and fire fighters are used to fight fires and not to respond to 911 calls for toothaches. The question now is whether or not our political leaders will have the courage to stand up to the police and fire unions and make these decisions.

Cincinnati Police photograph by Ronny Salerno.