Tag: economic

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Up To Speed

$1.6B partnership deal inked to replace Goethals Bridge

$1.6B partnership deal inked to replace Goethals Bridge.

Yet another multi-billion dollar bridge replacement project is advancing in the New York metropolitan area. A couple of weeks ago we shared how the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement project got a $1.6 billion federal loan. Now a $1.6 billion public-private partnership deal has been signed to fund, build and replace the Goethals Bridge, which like the Brent Spence Bridge, is consider “functionally obsolete.” Unlike the Brent Spence Bridge project, however, is the fact that the new Goethals Bridge will reserve space for future bus or light rail service. More from Staten Island Advance:

This public-private partnership was struck between the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and NYNJ Link Partnership, a venture comprised of private companies Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets Inc., Kiewit Development and lead contractors Kiewit Infrastructure, Weeks Marine and Massman Construction…Through this partnership, the developers are responsible for designing, building, financing and maintaining the new bridge and demolishing the old one.

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Business Development News Politics

Cincinnati’s New-Found Buzz Helping Attract Retailers to Region

There were many significant achievements and trouble spots for Mayor Mark Mallory (D) over his past eight years as the face for the 2.1 million person Cincinnati region. Perhaps one of his largest accomplishments, however, was changing Cincinnati’s image nation-wide from a city in decline to one that is on the rise and doing innovative things.

For the first time national publications began to look at Cincinnati for its accomplishments in public education, sustainable redevelopment, environmental policy and even transport.

Yard House Cincinnati
Thanks in part to the aggressive marketing of Cincinnati by Mayor Mallory, new national chains like Yard House and Ruth’s Chris have begun filling store fronts throughout the city. Photograph by Randy Simes for UrbanCincy.

Each of these items involved a number of more detailed pursuits in order to make them happen. One of those pursuits was to attract new retail businesses to the region. In order to accomplish this, Mayor Mallory went on a full campaign touting the amenities and demographics Cincinnati has to offer.

After much work, the efforts started to yield fruit.

According to the mayor’s director of public affairs, Jason Barron, Mallory met personally with Potbelly (Downtown), Chipotle (Corryville, Downtown) and Panera Bread (Clifton Heights, Downtown) in an effort to get them to expand their presence inside city limits.

“We’ve been aggressive at national events for about six years now,” Barron explained. “We weren’t able to go this year in May, but Mayor Mallory has met with a number of these businesses over the years.”

The mayor also met directly with a number of other national chains in order to make the case that they open a location in Cincinnati. Those successes include Yard House (Downtown), Ruth’s Chris (Downtown), Orange Leaf (Clifton Heights, Downtown, Oakley, Westwood), Season’s 52 (Norwood), Capital Grill (Norwood), and Save-A-Lot (Roselawn).

For many of these businesses it was not only their first location in Cincinnati, but also their first in Ohio, Kentucky or Indiana. Barron says that it is thanks in part to the efforts made by Mallory on the road at events like the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) annual meeting.

The efforts do require a bit of patience, as Barron says that not only has the administration been courting new businesses for years, they also believe that some of the benefits have yet to be realized.

“One of the things we’re always trying to do is create a buzz about Cincinnati to other leaders, businesses and investors,” said Barron. “The mayor’s making connections now that will pay off down the road.”

While the buzz can often times be attributed to the spirited Mallory, the mayor’s office is quick to point out that much of the heavy lifting has been done by local experts like Mark Fallon at Jeffrey R. Anderson. Most recently Fallon has been responsible for leasing both U Square at The Loop and The Banks.

More national brands appear to be on their way to Cincinnati, but the mayor’s office refuses to speak about the deals before they are finalized. But in addition to new restaurants and bars, Cincinnatians might expect to see other businesses opening up shop in the Queen City over the next one to two years.

Certainly chain restaurants are not the only retailers Cincinnati has been lacking, but the outside investment is certainly welcome. The next step will be to attract more clothing retailers to the city, and to expand the base of independent shops around town.

But luckily, as people close with the mayor might say, the buzz is starting to take shape.

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Arts & Entertainment Business News

VIDEO: Second Cincinnati Street Food Festival Grows in Popularity

The Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation (WHRF) hosted the second annual Cincinnati Street Food Festival three weekends ago along E. McMillan Street.

The event built on the success from the previous year and added more vendors with 15 total this year. There were also more activities, which helped to attract a diverse crowd from the neighborhood and the rest of the city.

As we reported prior to the event, a lot of interesting things are taking place in Walnut Hills. The WHRF has spearheaded a number of unique placemaking activities meant to engage the community, including the Five Points Biergarten and Buy 25 events.

In case you were not able to attend the 2013 Cincinnati Street Food Festival, WHRF staffer Andrew Stahlke put together another one of his tremendous videos. It is nearly four minutes in length and worth every second of viewing. The music included with the video is ‘Who We Are (Live United Mix)’ by Tracy Walker.

If you want to learn even more about what is happening in the Walnut Hills area, listen to our exclusive podcast with WHRF director Kevin Wright from March 17.

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News Politics

It’s Election Day: Get Out There and Vote!

Urbanist Candidates ForumVoting and participating in the democratic process is a fundamental element of our democracy.

This is your chance as a citizen to vote for those people you would like to represent you on Cincinnati City Council and the Cincinnati Board of Education. These are the people that will decide how to spend your tax dollars. These are the people that will chart the course for the city. These are the people that will decide how to represent you to others around the country and world.

This is important.

There are many significant issues on today’s ballot. Issue 1 is asking voters to renew a tax levy for the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library. Issue 2 is requesting a tax levy renewal to provide maintenance funds for the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens. And Issue 4 is seeking to majorly overhaul how the City of Cincinnati manages its pension system.

These are important issues.

In terms of representatives, voters in Cincinnati will elect a new mayor for the first time in eight years. They will also elect nine council members who, for the first time, will serve four-year terms.

These decisions are important.

As a result of continued state funding cuts for local governments, a wide array of school levies and other tax levies are on the ballot in communities across the region. Will these resources receive the funding they need, or will they experience trickle-down cuts from the state level?

That is an important question to answer.

There are 381 polling locations (find your voting location) serving Hamilton County’s 545 precincts, and each location is open today from 6:30am to 7:30pm.

Many experts believe that the turnout for today’s election will be less than 40% of registered voters. This and all elections are important. Make sure you get out there today and vote for the candidates you feel will best represent you, and support the issues you feel are important and add value to our community. It is your right and privilege as a citizen to do so. Vote.

Categories
Business News Transportation

Ridership, Revenue Continue to Grow for Resurgent Amtrak

The growth of intercity passenger rail and bus continues. According to newly released data, the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) recorded a record breaking year in terms of both ridership and revenue.

The data is for FY13, and showed that the oft-criticized passenger rail agency carried 31.6 million passengers and collected $2.1 billion in ticket revenue. Amtrak officials say that the ridership figure represented a 1% increase while revenue was 4.2% higher than the previous year.

In addition to the ridership and revenue growth, Amtrak also broke several records over the past year including total ridership in one month (March; July), ridership records on 20 of the agency’s 45 routes and the number of passengers using state-supported routes (15.4 million) in a single year.

When compared with other modes of transportation, Amtrak now has more than double the ridership of Greyhound, and if it were a commercial airline it would be the fifth largest domestic carrier.

Queensgate Railyard
Cincinnati has largely been on the outside looking in when it comes to Amtrak ridership growth, but unclogging the Midwest’s second busiest railyard will need to come first. Photograph by Jake Mecklenborg for UrbanCincy.

“In ten of the last 11years, we have marked new ridership records, and since ridership has risen by 50% since FY2000,” Amtrak’s President and CEO, Joe Boardman, told employees through an internal memo. “This great accomplishment is not solely ours, but was made possible through strong, collaborative relationships with our state partners and the federal government.”

Boardman went on to say that through these relationships, Amtrak will pursue the resources needed to rebuild and enhance passenger rail service throughout the country, and work toward building infrastructure to support high-speed rail.

As a result of these partnerships and ridership growth, Amtrak now recovers approximately 85% of its annual operating expenses from user fees.

“I believe that all of these records point to our success in creating and marketing a product desired by the traveling public,” Boardman explained. “In growing metropolitan areas, passenger rail is clearly a viable alternative to crowded roads and skies, while in many rural areas, Amtrak often is the only means of regularly scheduled, public intercity transportation.”

While Amtrak’s success has been felt nationwide, very little has been felt here at home in Ohio due to limited service in the nation’s seventh most populated state. The reason, passenger rail advocates say, is because of a lack of support from the State of Ohio.

“We are on the outside looking in. Ohio isn’t on the outside due to a lack of travel, as USDOT says travel on Ohio’s stretch of I-71 (Cleveland-Cincinnati) ranked 22nd in the country with nearly 5.5 billion vehicle-miles traveled in 2011,” noted Ken Prendergast, Executive Director, All Aboard Ohio. “In the Midwest, only I-94 through Michigan (Detroit-Chicago) saw more traffic in 2011.”

Prendergast went on to note that the stretch of I-94 through Michigan is currently being upgraded to 110mph service by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), with some stretches operating at that speed already.

The situation in Ohio has been bad for a long time, but got significantly worse following the election of Governor John Kasich (R) in 2010. Almost immediately after taking office, Kasich gave away $400 million from the federal government that was intended to establish passenger rail along the 3C Corridor. The stretch between Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland is seen as the most densely populated corridor in North America without any passenger rail service.

Not all hope for Ohio, however, is lost. On National Train Day this past May, Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory (D) commended the work being done by Amtrak and called for enhanced service and operations out of Cincinnati’s Union Terminal.

“Passenger rail has to be part of a balanced multi-modal transportation system that I believe the federal government needs to play a huge role in in addition to states and local governments,” Mallory stated at Cincinnati’s National Train Day event on May 11. “Indiana has made a lot of progress as it relates to Amtrak…wouldn’t it be great to be able to jump on a train in Cincinnati, run to Indianapolis and then on to Chicago? I want Cincinnati to be a part of that line.”