Tag: public policy

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Business News Politics

Cincinnati food trucks to help raise money for United Way at City Hall

Earlier this year Cincinnati City Councilmember Laure Quinlivan introduced a program that was intended to help embrace the city’s growing number of food trucks. Once approved in June 2010, the Mobile Food & Beverage Truck Vending Pilot Program created reserved, city-owned spaces for those food trucks to park at in the congested downtown area.

The pilot program received an initial surge of food truck operators looking to take advantage of the new program, and now, the City has issued the twentieth Revocable Street Privilege (RSP) to allow the sale of food and beverage from trucks at the three designated areas downtown at 5th & Race, along Court Street, and at Sawyer Point. This means that the program is now operating at 100 percent capacity.

This rise in popularity for food trucks in Cincinnati is similar to a national movement that has been underway for several years. To help celebrate the success of Cincinnati’s innovative program that embraces the movement, six participating food trucks will be at City Hall tomorrow to help raise money for the United Way of Greater Cincinnati.

Event organizers say that hungry guests will be able to get everything from gourmet burgers to Cajun food, barbecue ribs, tacos, ice cream, coffee, and smoothies from the participating vendors. They say that each donation made to the United Way will help support the City’s United Way fund raising goal, and will earn you a discount at the food truck vendors on-hand. Those vendors will reportedly include Taste of New Orleans, Cafe de Wheels, Just Q’in Barbecue, Senor Roy’s Taco Patrol, Coldstone Creamery, and The Coffee Guy.

The food trucks will be parked on the north side of City Hall along 9th Street (map) beginning at 10:30am on Thursday, September 23. There will be a Department of Community Development staff member on hand from the City that will be selling the tickets that will get you your discount at the food trucks and support the United Way.

Stay up-to-speed on the whereabouts of Cincinnati’s growing number of food trucks by following UrbanCincy’s comprehensive Twitter list.

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News Politics

City looking for public input on selection of next police chief

Cincinnati’s long-time police chief, Thomas Streicher, has announced his planned retirement in 2011. As a result, the City of Cincinnati Administration has begun planning the recruitment process for his replacement, and they would like some community input.

In a prepared release, City Manager Milton Dohoney said that the City is looking to better understand what kind of attributes citizens most desire in their next police chief.

In terms of the City’s desired traits Dohoney said, “We can all agree that the individual we are looking to hire as our next Police Chief must possess unquestionable integrity. This person must also have the ability to communicate and interact fairly and impartially with members of our community – regardless of socioeconomic background, ethnicity or race.”

Cincinnati residents are invited to share their thoughts on the matter between now and Saturday, October 4 through an online survey. In the survey participants are asked to assess a list of 10 attributes, while also being able to add their own attributes to the list.

City officials say that the public input will help to guide the selection of the next police chief so that the new leader “will be ideally suited for the challenge of leading an urban police force in working with residents to improve public safety in the 52 neighborhoods of Cincinnati.”

Once on the job the new chief will be tasked with reducing crime and improving safety within the 78 square-mile city that currently uses a police force of 1,057 sworn officers and 281 civilian employees.

“Cincinnati Police work with the community every day to tackle public safety issues through community-oriented policing and creative problem solving. I am confident we will be more successful in this search if we listen to community residents before we establish the qualities and accomplishments the next Chief must demonstrate,” Dohoney concluded.

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Development News Politics

Cincinnati region awarded $6M through third round of NSP funding

The Cincinnati region was awarded nearly $6 million from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) for the stabilization of neighborhoods that have been hard hit by the nation’s ongoing foreclosure crisis. In particular, the funds will be used to acquire and rehabilitate existing housing and demolish badly damaged properties.

The money was awarded through the third round of HUD’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program which awarded an additional $1 billion to communities across America this week. The previous two rounds of funding included $3.92 billion in 2008, and $2 billion in late 2009 through the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act which included $24 million for seven communities throughout Cincinnati region.

“These grants will support local efforts to reverse the effects these foreclosed properties have on their surrounding neighborhoods,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. “We want to make certain that we target these funds to those places with especially high foreclosure activity so we can help turn the tide in our battle against abandonment and blight.”

Winners in the third round of funding were determined by a number of key indicators that match funding to need in the 20 percent most distressed neighborhoods as determined by the number and percentage of home foreclosures, the number and percentage of homes financed by subprime mortgage related loans, and the number and percentage of homes in delinquency. HUD officials also say that housing price declines, increases in unemployment, and neighborhood vacancy problems are also taken into account.

Of the $6 million awarded throughout the Cincinnati region approximately $1.5 million went to Hamilton County, $1.3 million to Butler County, and $3.2 million to the City of Cincinnati.

“This is great news for greater Cincinnati. Our region was hit hard by the foreclosure crisis, and we need to do all we can to help neighborhoods rebuild and recover,” said U.S. Representative Steve Driehaus (D-OH). “The Neighborhood Stabilization Program brings resources into the hardest hit areas, and will make a difference for families and communities as we continue on the path toward recovery.”

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Month in Review

Month in Review – August 2010

Queen City Square

During the month of August, UrbanCincy published several articles laying out a long-term vision for the city.  David Cole compared Cincinnati to Chicago, pointing out what we should—and shouldn’t—learn from our neighbor to the northwest.  Jake Mecklenborg analyzed the Eastern Corridor rail plan and explained why it might not currently be the best plan for Cincinnati.  Randy Simes reported on Cincinnati’s success in completely remaking its riverfront, and criticized Peter Bronson’s piece attacking The Banks and the Cincinnati Streetcar.

UrbanCincy’s top 5 articles for the month of August were:

  1. Unraveling the urban differences of Cincinnati and Chicago
    The first and most obvious difference between Cincinnati and Chicago is one of sheer scale. While driving through Indiana on the way to Chicago from Cincinnati, the transition from rural cornfields to suburban sprawl began while I was still a good 40 miles away from the Chicago Loop. Here in Cincinnati, 40 miles in any direction from Fountain Square would be considered far into the hinterland.
  2. Breaking down Cincinnati’s Eastern Corridor passenger rail plan
    At first glance it would appear that implementation of commuter rail service on the Oasis Line should require nothing more than the purchase of commuter trains and the construction of a connection between the end of active tracks and the Riverfront Transit Center. Unfortunately, the poor condition of the existing track limits traffic to a maximum twelve miles per hour.
  3. Jean-Robert’s Table to open in downtown Cincinnati August 10th
    Unanticipated construction delays, and personal reasons pushed back the original opening of Jean-Robert’s Table for the famed Cincinnati chef. The new restaurant is Jean-Robert de Cavel’s first since parting ways with long-time restaurant partners Martin and Marilyn Wade.
  4. Cincinnati’s dramatic, multi-billion dollar riverfront revitalization nearly complete
    Several decades ago Cincinnati leaders embarked on a plan to dramatically change the face of the city’s central riverfront. Aging industrial uses and a congested series of highway ramps was to be replaced by two new professional sports venues, six new city blocks of mixed-use development, a new museum, a central riverfront park, and parking garages that would lift the development out of the Ohio River’s 100-year flood plain.
  5. Cincinnati’s old money attacks the future with the promise of a failed past
    What was interesting about Bronson’s story is that he took a platform for which he enthusiastically touted the new tower and how it was accomplished, and turned it into an opportunity to lob attacks at other major projects like the Cincinnati Streetcar and The Banks development along the central riverfront. It took Bronson no more than eleven sentences before he dove head-first into his attack of both projects.
Categories
News Transportation

Queen City Bike wins $10k grant to implement Bicycle Friendly Destinations Program

The Greater Cincinnati Foundation has awarded a $10,000 grant to Queen City Bike to develop a Bicycle Friendly Destinations Program. Once in place, the new program is expected to help grow the number of bicyclists locally by creating a registry of bike friendly employers, retailers, government agencies, and cultural organizations.

Program administrators will reportedly work with area businesses and institutions to make it easier for people to access and use their respective facilities by bicycle. The hope is that by improving the overall environment and bicycle culture, that more people will take to the streets on their bikes.

According to Queen City Bike president Gary Wright, the new program fits perfectly into the non-profit organization whose mission is to promote bicycling as a safe and healthy means of transportation and recreation in the Cincinnati region.

“Getting more people to use bicycles for everyday transportation benefits everyone,” Wright said. “It reduces pollution, cuts down on traffic and parking congestion, and is good for your health.”

The grant money will kick off the new program just as the City of Cincinnati has been implementing a variety of new measures from bicycle parking requirements, new safety laws for motorists, and additional bike lanes and sharrows. Many of the new changes have been sparked by a recently adopted Bicycle Transportation Plan that, in part, calls for 445 miles of on- and off-street bicycle facilities to be installed by 2025, and double the number of people using bicycles for everyday transportation within the next five years.

According to Wright, the idea for the program originally came from a project lead by Brad Hunkler in the Leadership Cincinnati Class 33. In that project Hunkler identified the program as a “key priority” for local employers looking to attract and retain talented professionals.

“The city is committed to making our streets more bicycle friendly, and we hope that many area businesses and organizations will match that commitment by participating in the Bicycle Friendly Destinations Program, “ Wright said. “More and more cities are realizing that supporting bicycles is important for their future, and I am proud to say that Cincinnati is one of the places that gets it.”

Queen City Bike will publicly recognize those that succeed at earning the Bike Friendly Designation in May 2011.