Tag: events

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Arts & Entertainment News

Join author of book on Cincinnati’s incomplete subway at March’s URBANexchange

Jake MecklenborgHopefully everyone thoroughly enjoyed their February and the introductory weekend to March known as Bockfest around these parts.

We will be back in the biergarten of the Moerlein Lager House tomorrow for our monthly URBANexchange event.

Last month’s giveaway was a big hit, so we’re going to do it again this month. This time we will be giving away two signed copies of Jake Mecklenborg’s book about Cincinnati’s abandoned subway. Jake will even be in attendance to talk about the book and his findings.

If you did not have a chance to participate in the Bockfest activities over the weekend, then this will be a great opportunity for you to try out the Lager House’s selection of bock beers.

As always, the event will take place from 5:30pm to 8:30pm, and we will gather in the northwestern most corner of the biergarten. If you are nervous about picking us out from the crowd, simply inform the employees at the front desk that you are there for URBANexchange, and they will direct you to the correct location.

The event is a casual atmosphere and is free and open to the public, so feel free to bring a friend. Those who decide to attend can come and go anytime during the scheduled event hours, but we do encourage you to come hungry and thirsty to support our kind hosts at the Moerlein Lager House (map) and Smale Riverfront Park.

It should be a great time to talk about city issues with all sorts of big news happening over the past month. The city’s proposed parking modernization and lease plan, Wasson Corridor, city budget, proposed 30-story residential tower, Bartlett Building hotel conversion, MLK Interchange, casino opening, and the efforts to accelerate both the Cincinnati Streetcar and Oasis Line rail projects.

If you are on Facebook, then you can connect with others attending the event by RSVPing for the March URBANexchange. See you there!

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Arts & Entertainment News Opinion

PHOTOS: Kansas City’s Surprisingly Gritty Urban Core

I visited Kansas City February 6-10 for the New Partners for Smart Growth Conference, where the people behind Streetsblog were kind enough to invite a number of urbanist bloggers out to the event.

The intent was to conduct a training session about how advocacy journalists and bloggers can better reach and influence policymakers, and how those websites can better reach non-white and lower income individuals – two demographics bloggers traditionally struggle to reach. To that end, I was asked to present on the things that UrbanCincy has been doing in Cincinnati, and how younger bloggers might be able to learn from our experiences in the Queen City.

Kansas City

It was a great opportunity, and we’ll be doing more of these gatherings in the future…hopefully hosting one in Cincinnati in the not-so-distant future.

When not collaborating with these writers and new media types, or attending the conference, I spent my time wandering about Kansas City’s urban core. I stayed in the central business district, but also checked out the Crossroads Arts District, Westside North, Central Industrial District, West Bottoms, River District, Crown Center, Hospital Hill, Westwood, Paseo West, and the 18th & Vine Jazz District.

Perhaps the largest takeaway for me was the surprising amount of industrial architecture and infrastructure in the city. I guess I should have known better since Kansas City was always a prominent industrial center and transfer point for much of the Midwest, but it was an impressive surprise nevertheless.

I think I walked 11 miles on Sunday alone, in overpowering wind at that. But the discomfort was worth it for all I was able to see, but I hope to return to check out Midtown and Country Club Plaza at the very least, and to get some more of that amazing barbecue at Oklahoma Joe’s.

If Photobucket wasn’t so lousy, you could have just viewed them in slideshow form within this post. Instead, please view all 82 of my photographs from Kansas City here.

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Business News Opinion

Free parking crusader strikes Over-the-Rhine, channels inner Cool Hand Luke

Vandalized Parking Meter in OTR

Slashed meters and broken meter tops liter the normally beautiful Orchard Street in Over-the-Rhine, and many other streets throughout the historic neighborhood.

The epidemic of destroyed or stolen parking meters is plaguing this beautifully dense city neighborhood where on-street parking is an ever-increasing concern for new residents.

Residents began to notice the meters being vandalized in November 2012 when the city initially announced its intentions to lease its parking system to a private entity. The city insists that the vandalism and parking privatization is not connected. However, UrbanCincy’s investigative sleuthing has found that although the meters are not connected to city sabotage, they are instead connected to a lone vigilante who wants nothing more than to park…for free!


Cincinnati has its very own Cool Hand Luke!

“You shouldn’t have to pay to park,” exclaimed the culprit from a shadowy street corner.

The vigilante who goes by the name Free Space Man, agreed to speak to UrbanCincy only after we agreed to pay for his two-hour metered spot on Liberty Street so that he would not harm the meter. The vigilante described his day-to-day activities, meticulously choosing the meters to be vandalized and deciding on the best time of day to strike.

He says he travels the country, setting out to rid the world of working parking meters so he can park his 2007 Range Rover at metered spots for free. He came to Cincinnati when he heard about the parking privatization.

“I didn’t even know you had meters and now the city is selling them off. Parking should be free…why do they even charge? That’s the real crime,” Free Space Man said as he sliced off another parking meter at the corner of Elm and Green Street.

Attempts at trying to inform the vigilante on the revenues parking brings in to the city and how it allows businesses to turnover spots for patrons seemed to fall on deaf ears with this eccentric individual.

The vandal disclosed that his most brazen act of social defiance was in San Francisco, where leaders there attempted to install smart parking meter technology. One day, shortly after the new meters installation, a parking meter head was found at the foot of the mayors’ bed with coins still rolling out from its receptacle.

“That man was a menace to our town,” disclosed Tom Delegado, the mayor of San Francisco City Hall on foursquare. “He’s a terror to parking enforcement everywhere!”

Officials who have dealt with the villain have described him as squirrely and demented, and warn that the only defense measure is to throw copies of Donald Shoup’s 763-page book, The High Cost of Free Parking, at the bandit until he finally flees to another town, hopefully never to return.

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Business News

URBANexchange returns this Wednesday to Moerlein Lager House

After a nearly two-month break, the UrbanCincy team is proud to kick-off the 2013 season of URBANexchange events.

Following a successful pilot run last year, URBANexchange will return this Wednesday for a full year of events at the Moerlein Lager House.

“Dozens of people excited about cities and Cincinnati’s urban core showed up at last year’s events, and we’re really excited about the possibilities for a full year’s worth of URBANexchanges in 2013,” said Randy Simes, Owner & Managing Editor of UrbanCincy.

2013 URBANexchange Events

UrbanCincy will be giving away prizes at each of the events in 2013, with a custom tile of Carew Tower (image) from Rookwood Pottery being given away at February’s URBANexchange courtesy of Downtown Cincinnati Incorporated.

The collection of events in 2013 will take place on the first Wednesday of each month to avoid conflict with weekly bike rides that occur in warmer weather, and when there are no home Reds baseball games. The group will always meet in the northwest corner of the Moerlein Lager House’s biergarten – closest to the ‘Moer to Go’ window and outdoor bike racks.

“We are really excited to continue to offer a monthly event where fellow urbanists can get together, share ideas, and expand their social networks,” stated Simes. “The goal with our URBANexchange events is to not create a platform for one-way presentations, but rather create an opportunity for city supporters in the region to get together and meet one another.”

URBANexchange events are always free and open to the public, and take place from 5:30pm to 8:30pm at the Moerlein Lager House (map) within Cincinnati’s Smale Riverfront Park. Those interested in attending are welcome to come and go anytime during the event, and friends are always encouraged.

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Arts & Entertainment News Politics

Greater Cincinnati Earth Coalition accepting nominations for 2013 awards

Since 2008, the Greater Cincinnati Earth Coalition has honored the region’s most outstanding and innovative projects, programs and individuals whose efforts have worked to improve and protect the environment.

Each year the organization has honored teachers, students, citizens, businesses, and governmental agencies for their work during Earth Day celebrations at Sawyer Point Park.

2012 Earth Day Environmental Awards

In 2012, Cincinnati’s Office of Environmental Quality (government), the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority’s Metro bus service (business/organization), Regina Faulkner (citizen), Brian Kunkemoeller (student), and Ellen McGrath (teacher) were honored.

Earth Day celebrations will take place on Saturday, April 20 at Sawyer Point from 12pm to 5pm, and the Greater Cincinnati Earth Coalition is now accepting nominations for this year’s awards. Those who feel that they know of a qualified candidate are asked to follow the guidelines for each category.

  • Business/Organization: Recognizes commitment to the environment, including through green design, recycling, environmental programming, energy innovation, or products.
  • Government Agencies: Recognizes environmental stewardship, including through programming, legislation, air-quality, environmental promotion, community building or conservation.
  • Teacher: Recognizes efforts to increase environmental awareness, including demonstrating leadership or teaching others about the environment.
  • Student: Recognizes a student who has demonstrated environmental stewardship.
  • Citizen: Recognized an individual who has demonstrated a contribution to the environment.

Nominations for the 2013 Environmental Awards are due by March 15, 2013. Nomination forms can be downloaded online and submitted to Cindy Kirchmer at kirchmer.cindy@epa.gov or mailed to U.S. EPA, Attn: Cindy Kirchmer (WG-12), 26 W. Martin Luther King Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45368.