Tag: corryville

Categories
Arts & Entertainment News

Eco-friendly events abound this weekend throughout city

Cincinnati residents have the chance to get their eco on this weekend with two free events. The Future Blooms’ Eco-Art Walk in Corryville will take place on Saturday, and the 2010 Ohio Solar Tour will go on across the entire state on both Saturday and Sunday.

The Eco-Art Walk is a brainchild of non-profit Future Blooms, a division of Keep Cincinnati Beautiful that focuses on painting abandoned and boarded up buildings in the center city in order to reduce crime and blight. Since October 2009, Future Blooms has painted over 150 buildings, and are now hosting the Eco-Art Walk tomorrow from 2pm to 7pm.

The Future Blooms team has been working hard, and on Saturday will reportedly unveil a series of artist-designed painted storefronts on Short Vine from Corry Street to Charlton Street (map). The group will also have a display of recycled art. During the event, Short Vine will be closed to automobiles, and visitors will be able wander the streetscape, listen to live music, purchase food and handmade crafts from vendors, and participate in a “freecycle” sale.

Following the completion of the City’s award-winning Neighborhood Enhancement Program in Corryville, city leaders are excited about the potential for this weekend’s event.

“City Council is of the opinion that the Short Vine Eco-Art Walk would focus attention upon the Short Vine Street beautification efforts, the City of Cincinnati’s recycling program, and promote regional tourism,” City Manager Milton Dohoney stated.

Meanwhile, the 2010 Ohio Solar Tour will take place all over Ohio, and will showcase businesses, non-profits and homes that have invested in green energy technology through a series of public open houses. The is expected to provide a unique opportunity for the public to visit and talk with owners living and working with clean energy technologies. The open houses will showcase everything from solar, wind, biomass, green design, and energy-saving technologies.

For Cincinnatians, there are 29 sites within a five-mile radius of the 45202 zip-code. Notable stops include the newly renovated offices of KZF Design and the Potterhill Homes Northwind Community in Northside. For those feeling the desire to traverse the state in search of clean energy buildings, there are both guided tours and the chance to make your own.

Categories
Development News Transportation

Cincinnati officials select Vine Street route for uptown streetcar connection

City officials have announced that Vine Street has been chosen as the path for the Cincinnati Streetcar to reach the uptown area. The decision comes after a comprehensive study was conducted to determine which route would best connect downtown with uptown, while also best managing the steep hillsides there.

“Our direction from city council has always been to ‘connect the dots,’ but to do so in a way that was fiscally responsible,” stated Cincinnati City Manager Milton Dohoney in a prepared release. “The Vine Street route accomplishes that.”

The Vine Street route is estimated to cost $20 million less in capital costs, offer $250,000 in savings annually in operations, pose fewer engineering challenges, and also offer greater options for future expansions than the West Clifton Avenue alternative. According to City officials, Vine Street and West Clifton Avenue stakeholders have been meeting to discuss the alternatives for months, and that the group had been informed of the final decision yesterday.

One of the primary objectives of the study was to determine how to best navigate the steep hillside leading to and from the uptown area. In this case, Vine Street’s maximum 6.7 percent grade scored much better than West Clifton Avenue’s maximum 8.9 percent grade. The project team said that while United Streetcar/Oregon Iron Works, Siemens, Inekon, Kinkisharyo, and Bombardier all could build modern streetcars to handle such grades, the preference was for engineering simplicity.

In addition to the engineering aspects, many streetcar supporters believe the selected route to get uptown will present greater opportunities long-term.

“The Vine Street route will offer the fastest service between Cincinnati’s two largest employment centers,” said Brad Thomas, Founder, CincyStreetcar.com. “The route also presents the greatest opportunity for future expansions including extensions west to Clifton Heights, north to Avondale and Corryville, or east to Walnut Hills.”

To date, the city has secured $114.5 million out of the total $128 million to build the entire first phase running from Cincinnati’s central riverfront to its uptown neighborhoods. The modern streetcar system will be the first of its kind in the Midwest and one of only three like systems in the United States. The first construction is expected to begin fall 2010 with the first passengers riding in early 2013.

Categories
Business Development News

Community partners celebrate kickoff of Corryville Neighborhood Enhancement Program

City officials and neighborhood leaders gathered at the Corryville Recreation Center this morning to celebrate the kickoff of the Corryville Neighborhood Enhancement Program (NEP).

At the announcement Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory was joined by University of Cincinnati President Gregory Williams, City Manager Milton Dohoney, and the many organizations working together during the 90-day blitz.

The concentrated neighborhood improvement effort focuses on removing blight, thus reducing quality of life crimes, and improving the neighborhood. To date, the acclaimed program has been implemented in seven neighborhoods including Price Hill, Avondale, Westwood, Evanston, College Hill, Clifton Heights/University Heights/Fairview Heights (CUF), and Mt. Washington.

The impacts have been profound as the program has helped reduce blight by an average of 15 percent through thousands of building inspections. Officials attribute much of the program’s success to the group of program partners that work to identify and cool down crime hot spots; clean up streets, sidewalks, and vacant lots; beautify landscapes, streetscapes, and the public right-of-way; and engage residents in a way that keeps them motivated after the first 90 days.

The Corryville program was made possible in large part thanks to a $5,000 donation from U.S. Bank that leveraged an additional $8,000 in corporate and community investment. City officials state that the funds will be used for materials and supplies that will help to improve the cleanliness, beauty, safety, and quality of the Corryville neighborhood.

Categories
Development News Politics

Plan Cincinnati to host learning forums on local planning initiatives

Plan Cincinnati will host two summer learning forums this month that will include information about local plans in place guiding the city’s new comprehensive plan, and what regional efforts are currently underway to help implement such initiatives.

The first of the two meetings will take place on Wednesday, August 4 in Corryville. This forum will include a panel made up of Larry Falkin from the Office of Environmental Quality, Terry Grundy from the United Way, Eric Rademacher from the University of Cincinnati, and Sam Stephens from the Department of Community Development.

The panel will engage in a moderated discussion of local plans and policies currently in place. Forum organizers say that the discussion will specifically focus on plans like GO Cincinnati, the State of the Community Report & Indicators, and Green Cincinnati that are seen as important factors helping to shape the comprehensive planning process currently underway.

The second forum will focus on regional efforts like Agenda 360, the award-winning Community COMPASS, 2030 Transportation Plan, and Strategic Regional Policy Plan developed by the OKI Regional Council of Governments. This forum will also include a moderated panel discussion made up by Todd Kinskey from the Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission, Robert Koehler and Emi Randall from OKI, and Mary Stagaman from Agenda 360. This forum on regional plans and policies is scheduled to take place on Thursday, August 26.

Cincinnati City Council is expected to vote on the completed comprehensive plan in 2011.  Cincinnati was the first major American city to adopt a comprehensive plan in 1925, but it has been 30 years since the last comprehensive plan was completed and updated in 1980.

Both forums are will be held from 7pm to 9pm in the auditorium of the CPS Education Center in Corryville (map). On-street automobile parking, free bicycle parking, and Metro bus service (plan your trip) is available for this location.

Categories
News

Cincinnati showing improvements over 2000 Census response rates

Lower Price Hill, the West End, Over-the-Rhine, Mt. Auburn, Clifton Heights and Corryville make up much of Cincinnati’s center city neighborhoods, and they also represent some of the lowest Census 2010 response rates to date. As of Monday, April 12 most of Cincinnati’s center city neighborhoods were below the 66% national average response rate while the East End, Clifton, Hyde Park, East Walnut Hills and Mt. Lookout all reporting at or above the national average.

A Census tract representing the northern portion of the West End is currently at a low 39%, while two Census tracts representing Pendleton and part of Walnut Hills have registered 43% and 42% response rates respectively. The lowest in the City of Cincinnati is Fay Apartments, an official City neighborhood and its own Census tract, at 34%. The City of Cincinnati in its entirety is at 63%, while Hamilton County has a 71% response rate making it the highest of Ohio’s five most populous counties.

Back in Cincinnati’s center city the success story is overwhelmingly the Census tracts that make up Over-the-Rhine. All four of the Census tracts there are already well above the Census 2000 response rates with two of the tracts a dramatic 21% higher already. Meanwhile, the Census tract in Over-the-Rhine that has been publicized for being one of the most difficult to count in the nation is currently at 44% which is 17% higher than the final Census 2000 tally.

“We are pleased with the appearance of an increase in participation, especially in OTR,” said Katherine Keough-Jurs, Senior City Planner with the City of Cincinnati’s Department of City Planning & Buildings who went on to note that the data collection methods differ from 2000 to 2010 and thus make the numbers more difficult to compare.

“Technically, comparing 2000 to 2010 is little bit like comparing apples and oranges,” Keough-Jurs explained. “Still, we are pleased that so far OTR is showing 40% to 53% participation rates and that some City neighborhoods are as high as 80%.”

The areas surrounding the University of Cincinnati had initially been slow to report and were initially some of the most under-performing in Cincinnati. The past week has seen a rapid increase in the number of responses in these neighborhoods with all now reporting at levels comparable to 2000 Census response rates with months still to go thanks to a 10% surge.

Cincinnati Counts workers have been hitting Cincinnati’s streets for months working to inform people about the 2010 Census. The good looking group on the right is a group of fellow Urban Planning students I knew while at the University of Cincinnati (shout out!).

The real paradigm exists when you move from the difficulties of counting center city populations to their suburban counterparts. As of April 12th, the west side community of Green Township boasted the highest response rate (83%) in the entire nation for communities with more than 50,000 people.

Census workers will continue to visit households that have yet to respond through July to help drive up those response rates before they must, by law, deliver the Census results to the President in December. Keough-Jurs notes that households with forms not turned in by Friday, April 16 may receive a visit from a door-to-door enumerator in May.

“Our 100-plus Complete Count Committee members are still working hard to get the word out that the census is simple, safe and important, and reminding people to complete and return their Census forms,” explained Keough-Jurs.

Those who have lost or have not received a form can pick up an additional form at local libraries and post offices. There are also Be Counted Centers that have forms available, and Questionnaire Assistance Centers that have helpers there to assist individuals with filling out their forms. You can find the closest Be Counted or Questionnaire Assistance Center near you online.