Category: Politics

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News Politics Transportation

The Pedestrianization Acceleration of Cincinnati

If anyone has had the experience of traveling throughout Europe, you may have noticed a predominant feature in their center cities not found in typical American cities: pedestrian only thoroughfares. Many of these thin ‘streets’ have been around for decades, as European’s slowly took back their medieval centers and placed pedestrian access and connectivity in the forefront. Places like Paris, Copenhagen and Amsterdam have all created such places in their center cities, and, coupled with modern transit systems, have formed vibrant, provocative, and eclectic urban places.

Venizelou Square in Iraklion, Greece (photo by Randy A. Simes)

On a recent trip to Crete (known to be conservative by European standards) I again noticed an abundance of pedestrian only streets. After talking to a few locals, it was brought to my attention that many of these pedestrian thoroughfares were relatively new to the large city of Iraklion, and that they had finally come on board to the notion of pedestrianizing their center city, following western and northern European standards. This got me thinking; if even the most conservative western European places are completely pedestrianizing their center cities, it’s only a matter of time before the United States does the same.

Actually, the United States is already beginning to come on board with this trend, proven with the recent news that New York City has been experimenting with pedestrian only plazas in Times Square and Herald Square. Even Indianapolis, Indiana has started a significant road diet, as seen in their downtown Cultural Trail, where road lanes are slowly disappearing and making way for multi-use, pedestrian/bike facility zones.

Indianapolis’ Cultural Trail (photo from Indy Cultural Trail)

These trends indicate American’s are warming up to the idea of pedestrian only thoroughfares and ‘pedestrian malls’ in their downtown’s, an idea initially rejected by American’s in the 1960’s and 70’s. In 2009, America is continually becoming an urban-oriented society and our cities need to start planning for a pedestrian acceleration that I believe will occur in our urban centers.

Cincinnati needs to understand this and start planning for the future to stay competitive in attracting the creative class. Luckily for Cincinnati, the city already has an amazing built environment suitable for pedestrian-only thoroughfares and malls; found in amazing Over-the-Rhine. A number of the neighborhood’s streets, especially the east-west routes, are thin, intimate, and well connected, making them ideal for pedestrian only access.

So what can we do now to get ready for the pedestrianization acceleration that will eventually dominate the American urban landscape? In the immediate term, we can choke down car-centric streets like Liberty and Central, increasing sidewalk widths, adding bicycle lanes, and decreasing vehicular speeds. In the long term, we need to develop a strong multi-modal transportation system for the city.

Not surprisingly, pedestrian only zones cannot withstand themselves without being supported by a modern, multi-modal transportation system. You simply cannot expect people to live in a car free environment if they do not have attractive public transportation options. If Over-the-Rhine is ever going to become pedestrianized, we must promote modern transportation options such as the Cincinnati Streetcar. If Cincinnati doesn’t offer these options, good luck keeping up with the impending pedestrianization acceleration and good luck attracting the creative class! Please don’t rely on luck for a successful Cincinnati, please vote NO on Issue 9 on November 3rd.

Greg Meckstroth holds a Geography degree from the Ohio State University along with a Masters in Community Planning from the University of Cincinnati. Greg currently works as a planner with an urban design firm in Indianapolis.

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Development News Politics Transportation

The "Other" Portland

On a recent vacation, I had the opportunity to visit Portland. No not the west coast Portland that everyone is talking about in regards to Cincinnati’s Issue 9, but rather the east coast Portland. During a week spent mostly in mid-coast Maine, I took some time to drop in on Portland to see what that city had to offer. With a metro population of 230,000 it is rather small compared to what we are used to here in Cincinnati, but it is home to one quarter of all residents in Maine. I honestly was not expecting too much, but was rather surprised by what I found.

Being a coastal town, I did think that this would be a city center full of shops and dinners that catered to Maine tourists and took advantage of their geographic location. I had pictured lobster flavored beer and lighthouses on doormats. But, much to my surprise what I found instead was a city block after city block of eclectic shops and independent restaurants. As I spent my evening wandering around shops and stopping off for dinner and drinks, I thought “this is exactly what OTR could be given a chance” and an UrbanCincy post was born.

The biggest thing that jumped out was that Portland seemed to have was a unified vision of what they wanted in this area. It could have been tacky t-shirt shops and chain restaurants. They could have promoted tear-downs and rebuilds to bring a more modern feel to the town. Instead funky shops, boutiques, and art galleries lined the street and used old buildings that had clearly been in downtown Portland for quite a while. While I was there on a Wednesday night in what is the start of the off-season, there was a good amount of people out and about enjoying themselves.

If nothing else Portland, Maine has an identity, and that is something that our area desperately seems to be searching for. It is my opinion that with a streetcar, a successful Banks project, and continued development on the river in Northern Kentucky we will have one that is appealing to long time residents, local college students, and outsiders that may consider Cincinnati as a place to live. The photos above are a small sampling of the establishments around downtown Portland.

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Arts & Entertainment News Politics Transportation

Issue 9 debate tonight at 6pm on UC’s campus

The legendary Terry Grundy will be hosting John Schneider, Rob Richardson and Chris Finney tonight at 6pm to debate Issue 9 (the Anti-Passenger Rail Amendment). The debate will take place in room 5401 inside the College of Design, Architecture, Art & Planning on the University of Cincinnati’s main campus.

The debate is free to attend and is a great opportunity to hear both sides of the argument if you haven’t yet already…even better if you’re a student at the University of Cincinnati where the Student Body Government recently voted unanimously to oppose Issue 9 and take a strong stance in support of passenger rail transportation in Cincinnati.

Free parking is available in a limited capacity on surrounding streets, but tons of bicycle parking options exist within a stones throw of the entrance to the building (map). Metro’s #17, 18, 19, 39, 51 and 75x bus routes also will drop you off within two blocks of the building. Plan your trip now using Metro’s Trip Planner.

Image from Hargreaves Associates
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News Politics

The Separation State

Separating literally every facet of our lives is not a natural thing and, more so than anywhere else, is a uniquely American ethos. We work in one place, live in another, play elsewhere and so on. People drive in one place, walk in another, bicycle somewhere else and exercise in yet another locale. But what’s the harm in all this, if there is any?

The most obvious and troubling issue this separation causes is the “spatial mismatch” which I have written about in the past. By distributing our daily activities across our cities into separate quarters we have successfully placed an unnecessary burden on our transport networks, negatively impacted our environment and personal health, and squander limited resources (oil, personal time, and cash to name a few) on these unnecessary behaviors.

This mindset of separating virtually every facet of our lives, I would contend, goes even further as it damages our social capital and interpersonal skills. Instead of walking down the street for work, coffee, or just to enjoy the evening, we are instead stuck in our personal vehicles of transportation. Instead of mixing in physical activity throughout our normal routines, we separate our physical activities from the rest of our daily activities and then we turn on the world of the iPod where we can choose exactly our form of distraction, and at the same time, turn off the rest of the world.

On one hand you have the issue of an urban land use and planning problem that may be too much to solve, and on the other, you have a social capital problem that may be signify the end to a great society based around people and relationships that is being replaced by instant gratification and personal joy.

In Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital, Charles Putnam wrote that the decline in social capital in the United States started back in the 1950s, and that this loss of in-person social intercourse poses major threats to Democracy which relies heavily on active civil engagement for a strong society.

Looking back on things you might understand why America is where it is in terms of this situation. The rest of Europe had largely been developed and was already structurally and socially built in a way that encouraged a type of society built around social capital. American, on the other hand, suffered from modern fears of nuclear attack, smog and over-pollution from the industrial revolution, crime and social unrest, and the many other ills that go along with a growing society.

But with any society, we are learning from our past. The New Urbanism movement is working against the notion that Euclidean Zoning is still needed in a post-industrial society with its Form Based Zoning alternative. The younger generations out there seem to also be moving in a direction that is placing social capital and experiences before most other items. This can all be seen in the rapid movement of people from their previously separated suburban housing typologies back into the urban fold where they are once again falling back into the comfort of human scale at the neighborhood level.

Neighborhoods and cities where people can be people are more valuable than any quantifiable measure can judge. Social experiences are what sets the human race apart from any other animal and it should be celebrated by building communities that foster this kind of behavior, and in turn, celebrate the beauty of the human race.

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Arts & Entertainment News Politics Transportation

New York’s MTA Director of Sustainability speaks at USGBC forum

The USGBC Cincinnati Regional Chapter teamed up with the City of Cincinnati, Duke Energy and Structurepoint, Inc to present an open forum discussion with the public regarding the role of mass transit and sustainability in Cincinnati on Thursday, October 1 at the Duke Energy Convention Center in downtown Cincinnati. New York City’s Director of Sustainability Initiatives for the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), Projjal K. Dutta, started off the discussion with a presentation about the importance of mass transit sustaining the growth and density of cities. He compared the transit system in New York during the early 1900s to its growth in the 1940s. As the city grew to its outer boroughs, the subway tracks followed as well.

In cities with well established public transit systems, the social stigma associated with riding public transportation is non-existent. The man making 2 million dollars a year rubs shoulders on the subway with the guy who panhandled enough to pay for a ride. As Dutta said, “in Munich, you can own a Mercedes and still take the U-Bahn in to work.” The ultimate result is to give citizens a choice in how efficiently they want to travel, not to force them to choose only one option.

Bicyclists embrace at Philadelphia City Hall’s subway station entrance.

Dutta also spoke of how we should view public transit. Is transit a social good, like clean drinking water, or should it be viewed as a business model in which to make a profit? He talked about other country’s methods for generating revenue for their public transit; be it selling the land on either side of the transit to developers, or raising the gas tax to use it for transit funding (Ohio’s gas tax is by law used only for highway maintenance and highway patrol). In any account, it is a hard issue to tackle.

After his presentation there was an open discussion between members of the audience and a panel of representatives from the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA), the Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky (TANK), Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission, The Banks development team, and the City. Questions ranged from the panelists real feelings about the Cincinnati Streetcar, to the maintenance costs for transit and how that is affecting the systems we already have.

TANK and SORTA are both optimistic about the long term future. TANK is currently working with Northern Kentucky University on several new pieces of technology to improve efficiency and convenience for bus riders. Metro and TANK are both planning new hubs to improve cross-county travel from east to west. As has been previously noted, SORTA’s short-range financial outlook is “dismal.” The difference between the Metro bus system in Cincinnati and TANK is that the Northern Kentucky system gets money from the county for operating costs, and SORTA gets no money from sales tax in Hamilton County.

Pedestrians, buses, trains and bicyclists peacefully coexist in Chicago.

One audience member wondered aloud why we couldn’t just use an integrated bus system (as opposed to rail) to drive up development and save on infrastructure costs. Mr. Dutta succinctly stated, “there is no better marker of intent than putting rails into the ground.” Bus lines can easily be changed, where as developers can be certain that a streetcar or rail line won’t be going anywhere any time soon.

The unanimous agreement from the panelists was that sustainable transit is not only attainable but absolutely necessary in Cincinnati. When we put all our eggs in the highway basket, we can’t properly sustain this city. Todd Kinskey, the director of the Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission, finished up the discussion by saying “there’s no choice but to get out of the car. We keep ripping out neighborhoods and building highways. Why add another lane of traffic when it’s just going to get clogged?”

What sort of crisis is it going to take to get the majority of Cincinnatians to wake up and realize that the automobile is not the end all be all of travel? Apparently the economic disaster that has been the last year was not enough. We need to take the steps forward now to invest in our future, before we wake and realize that the way we do things now is not enough. Integrating all forms of transit- cars, rail, bikes, buses and people – is the most successful, sustainable option for our fantastic city.