Tag: economic

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Cincinnati Unchained takes place this weekend – 11/21

This Saturday, November 21 is the second annual Cincinnati Unchained shopping event. Brought to you by BuyCincy and CityBeat, Cincinnati Unchained is the premier local shopping event of the year.

Cincinnati Unchained won the Best of Cincinnati 2008 “Best Retail Promotion” award, and will take place this year the Saturday before Thanksgiving. It is a chance for Cincinnatians to go out and support their local businesses and maybe find some new places they haven’t yet been. This year there are sponsoring businesses from all over the city and tons more just looking to earn your business during the Holiday Season.

According to BuyCincy, “every dollar you spend at a locally-owned business generates approximately three times more economic activity than a dollar spent at the typical big-box chain; and by choosing to shop locally-owned for even just one day, we can help improve Cincinnati’s economy.”

There are dozens of participating businesses this year that are offering special discounts and offers for Cincinnati Unchained. To find the full list of businesses, and to find out what they’re offering, visit BuyCincy’s featured page.

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Bringing street vendors to life in Cincinnati

It’s the smell of the roasted nuts while taking a stroll through Midtown Manhattan, the ambiance of the taco trucks in Los Angeles, the frenzy of activity and chatter in Chinatown, and even the echoes of the “peanuts, bottled water…cheaper out here than inside,” from the vendors on your way to the game.

In so many ways street vendors add activity and life to our otherwise lifeless and cold streetscapes. And whether you’re grabbing a quick snack, lowly meal, or are just passing by, we are all impacted by the life these vendors add. This is a point that William H. Whyte hit on in his 1980 book entitled The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces.

“If you want to seed a place with activity, put out food. In New York, at every plaza or set of steps with a lively social life, you will almost invariably find a food vendor at the corner and a knot of people around him – eating, schmoozing, or just standing.”

And, as Whyte continued, “vendors have a good nose for spaces that work.” So while it should be a goal to increase the amount of vendors we have on our streets, so that we’re increasing the amount of social activity that is occuring, it is even more important to create the urban spaces that foster this kind of environment.

LEFT: Produce vendors at the Court Street Marketplace attract distributors, browsers and shoppers alike. RIGHT: A typical daytime vendor at 6th & Vine streets in downtown Cincinnati serves up customers and attracts a line of people. Photos by Randy A. Simes.

In Cincinnati we have the typical daytime vendor serving up hot dogs and other like delicacies, the standard vendors selling knock off sunglasses and jewelry, the game day vendors for Reds/Bengals games, and now Nada’s new taco stand. But can Cincinnati grow its street vendor scene and foster even more lively urban spaces?

The fact of the matter is that these street vendors open because they either see a market demand and an opportunity to make money, or they are too small to open up their own store or restaurant that meets the necessary codes. In relation to this issue James Cox writes:

“One of the largest hurdles a developing restaurateur or chef needs to overcome is the initial cash outlay for a licensed and inspected kitchen from which to produce the food one sells. You need a fire suppression system in the ventilation system and a gas shut-off valve that is connected to the whole thing. You need a certain amount of space between the stove and the wall to allow emergency escape if there is a fire. You need NSF-Certified work surfaces and either high-heat or chemical sanitation systems in your dishwasher.”

As Cox discusses the issue from a Portland perspective he then identifies the “Domestic Food Service License” that has been created there to allow individuals to make food for sale to the public out of their home kitchen legally. This simple, yet politically complicated, issue has fostered one of America’s best street vendor communities complete with taco trucks, cookie vendors, chocolatiers, and a variety of ethnic foods. And while boosting the amount of street activity through additional street vendors, the policy has also helped Portland’s thriving farmers markets.

Nada’s new taco cart attracts people to the corner of 5th & Elm streets in downtown Cincinnati. The self-congestion theory is demonstrated here as people cluster around one another even though ample space is provided. Photo by 5chw4r7z.

For Portland it was less about the design of their urban spaces and more about the policies that govern this interesting group of entrepreneurs. And I would say that Cincinnati is in a similar position where our urban spaces are already well-suited for dynamic and vibrant street life. What is needed now is a more flexible approach to dealing with those looking to operate in such a way.

Let the street vendors grow organically, where they want, when they want, and how they want. Provide as few hurdles as possible and only require the information needed to keep track of the total volume of the street vendors. By embracing these individuals we not only create an avenue for more small businesses, and the grassroots innovators, but we can also create a better city by spurring more activity.

So what food vendors would you like to see in Cincinnati? Where would you like to see them? Is it possible for Cincinnati to facilitate an environment where street vendors flourish?

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Cincinnati lands major 2011 convention

According to the Cincinnati USA Convention & Visitors Bureau, Cincinnati has landed another major convention as the Prince Hall Shriners have selected Cincinnati for their 2011 Imperial Session. The African-American fraternal organization does a considerable amount of work raising money for their three primary programs: National Diabetes Initiative, Shriners as Mentors, and Student Aid.

The group will reportedly bring more than 25,000 attendees, utilize more than 17,000 hotel room nights, and pump more than $5 million into the local economy during their visit. Cincinnati reportedly had been working on landing this convention for more than five years and beat out Phoenix to seal the deal. The Prince Hall Shriners last held their annual event in Cincinnati in 1961

The announcement continues the positive trend major ethnic organizations selecting Cincinnati as the host city for their annual conventions. In 2008, The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) selected Cincinnati and brought significant national attention to the city that included a visit from then presidential candidate Barack Obama and several other notable African-American leaders. Shortly after the NAACP convention closed, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) announced that it too would be bringing its annual convention to Cincinnati in 2011. Other events celebrating Cincinnati’s rich cultural diversity lately have included the National Hispanic MBAs in 2006, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives in 2006, the Gospel Music Workshop of America in 2009, the recently announced 2013 National Fraternal Order of Police National Conference, and the 2010 annual meeting of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers.

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3Es Summit to offer sustainability solutions for local organizations

One of the elements of the Green Cincinnati Plan (pdf) is an educational outreach effort that focuses on businesses, health and educational institutions, and community non-profit and faith-based organizations that have not fully developed a plan for reducing their energy demand. To address that component the Energy, Economics, Environment (3Es) Summit will “provide area business and community leaders industry-specific insight on sustainability efforts, particularly those with a positive impact on the bottom line.”

The summit will take place on Friday, October 2 from 7:30am to 1pm at the Duke Energy Convention Center in downtown Cincinnati where national and local leaders will discuss strategies that are able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and costs. Event organizers say that the 3E’s Summit will allow attendees to learn about and discuss sustainability solutions relevant to their respective organizations.

The half-day event is structured to have three concurrent educational sessions, exhibitors and keynote speaker John Stowell who is vice president of environmental, health and safety policy for Duke Energy. Stowell has also recently returned from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development Summit in Copenhagen and will speak on climate change in terms of both the domestic and international agenda. Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher will also be giving a keynote address during the summit.

Registration is $50 in advance and $60 at the door. You can register now online at the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce’s website or by calling (513) 579-3111. The Duke Energy Convention Center is well-served by Queen City Metro routes 1, 21, 27, 50, 64, and 77X. To see which route is most convenient for you, and to plan your trip now, use Metro’s Trip Planner.

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News Politics

Short-sighted policy decisions ruling budget debate

Difficult budget decisions combined with an election year, make for a truly wonderful time to follow politics. That is if you enjoy constant bickering, grand standing and get nowhere fast style of government.

What is happening now in Cincinnati is not unusual. A projected budget deficit during an economic downturn has resulted in City leaders having to make very tough decisions about where to make cuts in order to balance the budget until revenues once again increase. What this has led to is a back-and-forth political mud slinging contest.

The City Manager laid out his plan to balance the budget and that included the unpopular decision to cut 138 members from the police department. Making political matters worse, the Fraternal Order of Police has refused to make any concessions in order to help preserve their own workforce, saying that the cuts need to come from other departments.

This is not new. The police and fire unions across this country are some of the strongest around and hold a hard position. They are fighting for their constituents which is reasonable, but it is up to the policy makers to hear their argument and make an informed decision based on more than just the hard stance of one or two city departments. Over the past several years other departments have been sustaining cuts, while the police force has actually grown.

Yesterday a group of four City Council members announced their plan to save all 138 police positions. Their solution: delay a $2.5 million payment to Cincinnati Public Schools that is due in October. This would save the jobs through the rest of 2009, but not help out the cause in 2010. So they go on to suggest cutting the Planning Department, Comprehensive Plan funding, and the Office of Environmental Quality (OEQ) to name a few.

What is interesting is that the Planning Department is already undersized for the a city as large as Cincinnati, the Comprehensive Plan money is coming from the Capital Budget and therefore can not be used for operational costs like police or fire, and the OEQ is basically a skeleton staff that was recently formed and has been bringing in money and making city services more efficient.

Data from Office of Environmental Quality

A recent report comparing recycling program costs for 2010 found that the proposed cuts to the enhanced recycling program would actually cost the City more money than it would save. The reason is that the current recycling contract costs the City $1,179,360 each year, while the enhanced program costs $980,519 each year, thus resulting in an additional $198,841 in costs for recycling while having a less effective program. The financials work out this way due to increased revenue and savings with the enhanced program. The current recycling contract recoups about 46% of its total contract cost through revenue and savings, while the enhanced program recoups around 77% of its total contract cost – offsetting the additional cost of the program and then some.

Data from the Office of Environmental Quality

At the same time the elimination of the Office of Environmental Quality would cost the City roughly $17 million in lost revenue. The OEQ had a budget (pdf) of just under $3 million in 2009, but saved the City $650,000 in energy services performance contracts and other energy management efforts. Furthermore, the OEQ brought in $19,319,500 in grant money that would more than likely be lost as a result of cutting the department.

The numbers speak for themselves, but nobody seems to be discussing them. A reasonable debate about these tough budget decisions should be had, but said debate should be done on facts and available resources instead of political will and lobbying power.

Do we know if these 138 positions in the CPD are needed? Do we know the optimum level for a police force in order to reach the desired safety levels in our community? Maybe we need more, maybe less, or maybe everything is at an appropriate level right now. All I can say for sure is that I do not know, and I would love to see an audit that would investigate just how much we should be allocating to public safety each year to reach desired results before we keep pouring more and more limited resources into a single department at the expense of the rest.

Please contact City leaders and let them know how you feel on this issue. You can find all of the necessary contact information and additional action items HERE.