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Development News Politics Transportation

Mayor Mallory’s State of the City Address

The Mayor delivered his state of the city address to a capacity crowd at the Playhouse in the Park.  Many more attempted to make reservations, but were placed on a waiting list.  Overall the Mayor used the speech to recap the year’s developments and progress rather than propose any new legislation or initiatives.  

Among the highlights:

“Build a Streetcar System that connects Downtown to Uptown.”
“Which brings me to what may be an uncomfortable conversation for some.  But as a city, we have to take on tough issues. And, ex-offender employment is one of those tough issues.  I told you earlier that employment is the number one request from the people that CIRV has engaged.  If we are going to truly grow our economy, we have to give opportunity to all citizens. Too many people are being excluded from employment because of mistakes in their past.  This may be unpopular, but I am telling you, this has to happen.  By opening the doors of economic opportunity to more citizens we will make our community safer and healthier.”

“Youth employment is a top priority of my administration.  Through our Jobs and Opportunities Fair and the City’s Youth Employment Program, we have provided thousands of young people the opportunity to find employment.  In fact, our program was presented as a best practice at the US Conference of Mayors and at the Mayors Innovation Project in Washington DC.  Our program has been so successful that I am proposing that we increase the funding for the Cincinnati Youth Employment Program to $2 million dollars a year in the next city budget. “

“

Two years ago, I told you that we were going to develop a program to focus city services on individual neighborhoods.  Last year, we launched the Neighborhood Enhancement Program.  It concentrates city services in targeted neighborhoods for 90 days.  Last year, the program targeted Price Hill, Avondale and Northside.  This year, we’re focusing on Clifton Heights, University Heights, Fairview, Westwood, and Evanston.  With this new approach, we’re focusing on concentrated building code enforcement, tearing down problem buildings, and addressing crime hot-spots.  And in partnership with the community, we are developing neighborhood assets.  The program is transforming neighborhoods throughout the city. “

“Which brings me to one of the most important opportunities that we have in Cincinnati: the 2010 Census.  We know that census numbers matter.  What you may not know is that 170 Federal Programs use Census Data to make funding decisions.  In order for Cincinnati to receive our fair share, we must have the most accurate Census count possible.  So, we must begin planning now for 2010.”

At the end of the speech inspirational music started playing over the Mayor’s closing remarks.  Those in attendance thought it odd, but it may have worked on television.

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News

In the moment at the CAC

The Contemporary Arts Center is one of those special gems in Cincinnati. It showcases brilliant works of art, and is in what is considered, “…the most important American building to be built since the end of the Cold War.” In addition to the museum’s already great exhibits that include Julian Stanczak, Graphic Content, and Odili Donald Odita: FLOW there are some new ones that are opening soon that should be a real treat.

Piece from Daniel Libeskind: Blurring Lines exhibit

Space is the Place (2/2 – 4/13) features an international selection of recent works on the theme of space exploration-its history, limitations, and potential. LeWitt x 2 (2/23 – 5/4) will exhibit Sol LeWitt: Structure and Line, featuring the work of this esteemed American artist over the course of his long and prolific career. And finally is the one that I most look forward to – Daniel Libeskind: Blurring Lines (2/23 – 5/11) will display models, drawings and multimedia displays that will break down the key themes that Libeskind uses in his architecture.

Something to note is that members, of the CAC, get free admission and sneak previews of the exhibits. These previews often times include the primary artist along with the customary sampling of wine and other assortments.

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News

A Model for Regional Cooperation: The Library

The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County should serve as a great reminder of what this region can accomplish if it works together. They have everything you want–Books, CDs, DVDs, Children’s Programming, et.al. Some people might complain there is no Blockbuster Downtown, but if there were it would be outgunned by a free public service.

The Library ranked as the 8th best system in the United States in 2006. It is also the ninth largest, in the country, in terms of total volumes.

Without a regional library, the citizens of Cincinnati would have a library with perhaps half the volumes, and the citizens of smaller outlying communities, like Addyston, might not even have a library at all. But through regional cooperation we have one of the best library systems in the country. Everyone benefits from the better services and lower operating costs of having a single library system for the county rather than 49 separate smaller libraries. The whole is much greater than the sum of its parts.

Imagine how we could improve services and lower taxes, throughout the county, with greater consolidation. Instead of having the 56th largest city surrounded by minor municipalities, we would be the 13th largest city in the United States and the largest in Ohio; improving our national clout and the quality of life for all of Cincinnati-Hamilton County’s residents.

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News

Reducing Cincinnati’s greenhouse gases

The City of Cincinnati has established a Climate Protection Steering Committee (PDF 48kb) to help the City figure out how it can be more environmentally responsible and to examine the City’s Climate Action Plan.

Study results have shown that Cincinnati has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions since 2000, and is 6% more carbon efficient than the national average. That’s great, but more can be done…MUCH more.

The newly established Committee has recommended that Cincinnati:

“…reduce its GHG emissions by 10% by 2012 (short term goal); 40% by 2027 (mid term goal); and 86% by 2050 (long term goal).”

This long-term goal also falls in line with what most scientists consider the necessary reduction (80% by 2050) in order to stabilize the planet’s climate at a “tolerable level.” So how do we accomplish this…well the second highest source of GHG emissions, in Cincinnati, is transportation. At the same time Cincinnati has no rail transit alternative for local/regional commuting patterns. It seems that it might be about time to start looking into such alternatives.

External Links:
Ohio Hub Plan (regional rail)
Cincinnati Lightrail
Cincinnati Streetcar

Graph Credit:
United States Environmental Protection Agency

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Arts & Entertainment News

Cincinnati and Missing Cows

Cincinnati has lot going for it, affordable housing, great restaurants, a vibrant arts scene, and a wonderful park system. Despite this, we seem to be unable to keep track of our livestock. Yet another cow is missing.

I suppose a positive spin on this would be that we have so much green space in the city, cows can evade capture for some time. A negative spin on this would be that we are essentially Mayberry with 2.1 million people.