Tag: planning

Categories
Development News Politics

Building a great city

A recent comment by John Schneider got me thinking about this concept. Schneider said the following comment in reference to a recent trip he made to Portland, OR.

“The quality of the new buildings, starting at the airport and evident throughout the city, the mass of people walking the sidewalks, on the streetcars, and at events, was amazing. They are building a great city there.”

Cincinnati for the longest time was building a great city. Our park system, boulevard network and grand collection of diverse architectural styles has always been impressive. Cincinnati is considered to be the birthplace of contemporary American urban planning when it became the first major American city to endorse a comprehensive plan in 1925 that complimented the Park Plan of 1907 that we still follow today.

Our urban environment was methodically planned out and carried out with the highest quality until about the mid-twentieth century when we started engaging in the urban renewal and suburban sprawl policies sweeping the nation.

New Columbia Square development in the heart of the historic Columbia Tusculum NBD

Cincinnati is not certainly alone in this regard, but what can be done to counter this trend. I think most of us can agree that the quality of buildings, the urban form, social and cultural institutions pale in comparison to what we used to build here in Cincinnati.

Cities like Portland, Seattle and even Charlotte to a lesser extent seem to be getting it right with their recent actions. Their history does not come close to Cincinnati’s and they will never be able to boast many of the amenities we have today, but we have lost much and they are building great cities today, while we seem to be content with building sub-par city based around anything but the people who live here.

New development in (clockwise from top-left):
Seattle, Washington; Portland’s Pearl District; Charlotte’s South End
Seattle & Portland photos by Jake Mecklenborg
Categories
Development News Transportation

New York City’s High Line

One of the neatest projects going on in the United States…go figure, it’s in New York City. Behold the High Line. If you have trouble viewing the video embedded here then try this one.

Categories
Arts & Entertainment News Politics Transportation

‘Complete Streets’ discussion at the Mercantile Library

Cincinnati is like many other American cities in the fact that much of our transportation spending goes towards the creation and maintenance of streets. The streets that are built often ignore every kind of transportation option other than an automobile.

Rarely do you find a dedicated bike lane, sidewalks are often hard to come by and it is quite rare that streets are designed with buses, streetcars or light rail in mind.

This not only makes our streets unpalatable for these other modes of transportation, but it makes the streets unsafe for those looking to move about in something other than 1,000 lbs of glass and steel.

On Tuesday, June 9th you can learn about the Complete Streets movement and efforts to implement them in Cincinnati. City Council Member and Urban Planner, Roxanne Qualls and the Principal of Kinzelman Kline Gossman, Clete Benken will help lead the discussion.

The event will take place at Cincinnati’s historic Mercantile Library located at 414 Walnut Street downtown. The doors will open at 5:30pm with the program beginning at 6pm. It is requested that you RSVP by June 5th at (513) 621-0717 or at mercantileinfo@mercantilelibrary.com (reservations are required).

The program is $8 for Mercantile Library and Architectural Foundation members; $10 for others. Reservations required.

Categories
Arts & Entertainment News Politics

‘The New Neighbors’ film premier

The New Neighbors PBS documentary will premier in Cincinnati on Friday, June 5th at the University of Cincinnati’s Kaplan Theater. Cincinnatians are invited to come and celebrate the region’s diverse neighborhoods and discuss ways to maintain and grow them.

The New Neighbors: How One Town Created A Vibrant, Integrated Suburb tells the story of how a suburban town in New Jersey successfully reversed segregation and built a vibrant, integrated community. The award-winning filmmaker and Clifton resident, Andrea Torrice will be at the premier hosted by the Greater Cincinnati Commitment Alliance as part of the Agenda 360’s Transformational Dialog.

Following the screening, those in attendance will be invited to participate in a discussion about the next steps needed to strengthen and promote intentionally-integrated communities in the Cincinnati region. Those in attendance will then be encouraged to “walk the talk” and have dinner at one of the great ethnic restaurants in an Uptown neighborhood surrounding the university.

Agenda 360 has made building a more welcoming community a primary focus for improving the Cincinnati region’s future economic prosperity and quality of life. The Agenda 360 Action Plan calls for attracting 150,000 additional people to the region’s workforce between the ages of 20-34 by 2020.

The event will begin at 6pm at the University of Cincinnati’s DAAP building in room 5401. There is a $10 suggested donation, but the event is free to all UC students, faculty and staff. Proceeds will help fund the Greater Cincinnati Commitment Alliance that works towards the goals of making the Cincinnati region a welcoming and inclusive model for the nation and world.

You can sign up by calling (513) 579-3111 or by visiting this website.

Categories
News

More options promote the free market

Why is transportation such a partisan issue, and why in the world do conservatives tend to fall on the side of being against it? If anything, conservatives should support adding options into the transportation market.

Currently, local, state and federal governments pay for highways. Adding another option (or several options) will create competition for the monopolistic version of transportation we currently have.

Recently, conservative intellectual George Will wrote a scathing article in Newsweek bemoaning the government’s role in transportation planning as demonstration of the liberal agenda to control behavior and curb freedom. In the article, he bashes Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood for promoting transportation options, insinuating that it is not the American way to give people options.

Mr. Will dismisses the government’s role in developing the Interstate Highway system, and blatantly ignored the FHA’s role in subsidizing single-family homes outside the center city. Not only did the government coerce suburbanization by helping to pay for the homes there, they also (quite literally) paved the way to get there. And now, conservatives have the audacity to claim that increasing transportation options will limit the personal choice to drive a car, or…drive a car.

LaHood responded to Will directly, saying at the National Press Club: “We have to create opportunities for people who want to ride a bike or walk or take a streetcar.”

Mr. LaHood has it right. Sometimes it is about the choice of what NOT to do. The choice to NOT spend thousands upon thousands of dollars to purchase a vehicle (or 2). The choice NOT to spend several hundred dollars per year on car insurance, gas (on the rise again) and vehicle maintenance costs. It’s the choice to NOT drive from strip mall to strip mall to shop. It’s the choice NOT to spend time stuck in traffic.

The Transportation Secretary does not advocate that people ought to be living one place or another, or commuting using one method over another, he simply advocates that for far too long, there hasn’t really been a choice.

An increase in transportation options does not limit freedom, but expands it. It does not stifle the free market, but allows increased competition. And that is something we all can live with.