Tag: opinion

Categories
Business News Politics

It’s time to comprehensively reexamine Cincinnati’s neighborhood boundaries

As the housing market continues to be difficult, homeowners around Cincinnati are looking for every advantage they can get. In some recent cases this has included those around the Hyde Park neighborhood to petition Cincinnati City Council to merge their residential pockets into the more desirable neighborhood.

These residents claim that being included in the Hyde Park neighborhood will immediately improve the value of their home due to how it is listed in the Cincy MLS. Maybe so, but nothing is in fact changing other than a label.

Over time Cincinnati and its unique and identifiable neighborhoods have changed, but there are several turf wars, so to speak, going on around town. Pendleton struggles for a separate identity from Over-the-Rhine; Covedale is doing the same with West Price Hill; portions of Oakley and Evanston want to be included into Hyde Park; and try to not even unravel the complexities going on in Uptown between Clifton Heights, Fairview, University Heights, The Heights, Clifton, and Corryville.

Surely the residents and business owners know their respective neighborhoods best, and city leaders should listen. The current approach of waiting until a certain homeowners association or some other group of concerned citizens comes forward is a reactive way to run a city. Instead, the city should empower its citizens in the ongoing Comprehensive Plan and completely redraw all of the neighborhood boundaries within city limits.

Should Fay Apartments, Millvale, English Woods, East Westwood and California all be their own official city neighborhoods? And likewise, shouldn’t places like Covedale, Pendleton and O’Bryonville be given consideration for neighborhood status. I think so, and I think city officials should be looking at all of these issues so that they can be resolved once and for all.

One way to solve this issue in a non-biased way would be to define what in fact a “neighborhood” is. Currently Cincinnati has 52 neighborhoods and 37 neighborhood business districts. A good starting point might be that a “neighborhood” has to include an associated neighborhood business district or cultural center. Right away this would eliminate places like English Woods and Fay Apartments from the list of official neighborhoods as they are nothing more than housing projects. Instead they should be included in the neighborhoods that surround them.

There are many potential ways to approach this, but something needs to be done. These designations help determine how the City allocates funding to Community Councils, impacts the property values of homeowners and small businesses, and these designations help to define one of the most unique things about Cincinnati – its diverse, vibrant and identifiable neighborhoods.

Categories
Business Development News

New video takes critical look at Over-the-Rhine’s recent progress

A new video published on Vimeo entitled OTR: On the Rise looks at Cincinnati’s historic neighborhood and the progress it has made over recent years. The video, produced by Jeremy Heslup, also takes a critical look at the neighborhood and visually illustrates how much more work needs to be done.

Heslup interviews a prominent Over-the-Rhine street performer; a planning profession from the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art & Planning; a musician from the Cincinnati Symphony; and a Cincinnati police officer who has been working in the neighborhood for years.

Those interviewed seem to concur that one of the largest hurdles facing the historic neighborhood is a perception that it is not a good place to be in Cincinnati. All of those interviewed were also inspired about the recent progress and seemed to be hopeful that Over-the-Rhine will soon get over the proverbial hump as more and more residents and businesses move into the neighborhood.

One of the most striking features, of the video, is the vacant buildings captured on film. With Over-the-Rhine being one of the nation’s largest and significant historic districts, it shows just how vulnerable the neighborhood is. One storm, one negligent property owner, one fire, or one crass developer could mean the end for hundreds of buildings in Over-the-Rhine.

Categories
Development News

Learning from the urban design of Paul Brown Stadium

[This story was originally published in Greater Greater Washington as part a two-part series on urban football stadiums. Visit the original story for more comments, thoughts and opinions about case studies of other recently built urban football stadiums in America – Randy.]


Through its history, Cincinnati has seen a typical evolution of urban sports venues for American cities. The intersection of Findlay and Western, in Cincinnati’s West End neighborhood housed the Cincinnati Reds from 1864 through 1970 in three iterations of ballparks — League Park, Palace of the Fans, and Crosley Field — until the team moved with the Cincinnati Bengals football team to Riverfront Stadium.

The Bengals also spent their first two years playing at Nippert Stadium on the University of Cincinnati’s campus uptown. But when the two teams moved to Riverfront Stadium, they followed a national trend of cookie cutter stadiums in urban environments meant to serve as economic development generators. The problem was that the promise never came to fruition in the cities that went after the golden egg.

Most of those same cities have rebuilt their professional sports venues, many in the urban core. But the question still remains whether the return on investment is worth the valuable land for these lightly-used behemoths.

In Cincinnati, the Reds host more than 81 games every year drawing tens of thousands of fans to each event. Additional events are held at the ballpark, and its related attractions, throughout the year that also create a draw. Four blocks away, Paul Brown Stadium, home of the Bengals, hosts 10 games each year in addition to the smattering of high school events and concerts held there annually.

The result is a larger football stadium with far fewer events and a ballpark with more events but smaller crowds. The winner in this case is the ballpark, and the new generation of urban ballparks appears to be as successful as the original wave of urban ballparks in the late 19th century.

The problem with urban football stadiums can be both a structural issue and a programmatic issue. In the case of Paul Brown Stadium it is more about the program. The large, tailgating-bound crowds demand available parking for their pre- and post-game festivities.

In Cincinnati, developers are currently constructing The Banks, a mixed-use urban entertainment node wedged between Great American Ball Park and Paul Brown Stadium and will eventually house thousands of new residents. Before each phase of development begins, it must first have two-floors of underground parking built before it even begins to satisfy the parking demands for the new residents and workers to be housed above.

Once complete, The Banks may set the stage for a truly unique urban sports and entertainment area, one that would have no surface parking and force tens of thousands of sports fans, visiting the area, out onto the streets for live music, food, drink, and festivities. This may end up being Paul Brown Stadium’s saving grace.

The beautiful thing about professional sports venues is that they can turn what is otherwise worthless land into something economically productive and thus improve land values in nearby areas. But most often franchise owners often want their venues to be located in prime real estate so that they can maximize their visibility. In Cincinnati that meant handing over prime waterfront property to two large concrete masses that only stay active a fraction of the year.

When other cities examine plans for an urban sports venue of their own, they should keep more in mind than the wishes of the franchise ownership and the promise of skyline shots on national television once or twice a year. Less is more. You want the venue to blend in so that it does not detract from its surroundings when it is inevitably non-active. You want the venue to be versatile so that it can serve other functions beyond that of playing baseball or football. And most importantly, get rid of the parking so that venue’s support facilities do not kill what you want the venue to create — economic development.

Paul Brown Stadium aerial photograph provided by UrbanCincy contributer Thadd Fiala.

Categories
Business Development News

Celebrating a year of progress in Cincinnati’s urban core

2010 has been a monumental year of sorts for Cincinnati’s urban core.  New residents and businesses have been added, major construction projects have moved forward, and new major investments have been laid out and are on the horizon.  While UrbanCincy has been able to cover many of these items throughout the year, but some have also gone uncovered.

With one year ending and a new year about to begin it seems only natural to reflect on where things have been, and discuss where they might be headed.  So while the UrbanCincy team is proud of the work we have been able to produce, we know we could and should be doing much more.  If you have any thoughts, recommendations, or services you would like to offer that might make UrbanCincy better please let us know in the comment section or by emailing UrbanCincy@gmail.com.

As the driving force behind UrbanCincy since its inception I can make the following promise to you.  UrbanCincy will continue to change the conversation about Cincinnati’s urban core.  This will more than likely include some changes beyond the typical evolutions of the site.  Please be patient as these changes happen, and please keep supporting Cincinnati’s great urban core.

Enjoy this holiday video put together by the Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC).  Happy New Year!  You will next hear from us in 2011.

Categories
Arts & Entertainment News

Wrinkle in Time an inventive holiday offering

Guest post by Erin Marie Schwartz.

First, let me begin by saying I never read A Wrinkle in Time so I had no idea what to expect. The popular children’s fantasy book is being staged as this year’s holiday show at the Know Theatre of Cincinnati.

The production, directed by Jason Ballweber from Four Humors Theater in Minneapolis features two Four Humors actors in principal roles as well as Know Theatre’s resident actor MJ Jergensen in the role of Mrs. Who.

The show centers around Meg (Alisa Mattson) and her brother Charles Wallace, played by Darnell Benjamin. These two, who haven’t seen their father in more than two years, set off on a journey to find him and bring him home. Accompanying them on the journey are a colorful group of characters including Mrs. Who, Mrs. Which and Mrs. Whatsit. Also joining them on the journey is neighbor boy Calvin (Chris Wesselman) who says he’s “just along for the ride”.

Some of the most touching interactions occur between Meg and Calvin. Their portrayal of youngsters just beginning to explore the excitement of their first romantic relationship is spot-on.

There is a difficulty in bringing a fantasy/science fiction story to the stage and while Know gets an ‘A’ for effort, the final effect was somewhat less than stellar.

That being said, a creative use of lights, sound and staging are used throughout the play. The floor and walls are painted with an array of stars and a variety of objects are used onstage to produce effective and inventive sounds. When was the last time you saw an overhead projector, let alone one used for sound effects? The minimally decorated stage is the perfect forum for this production.

In conjunction with the performances, Know is promoting a book drive sponsored by Give Back Cincinnati and benefiting the Peaslee Child Development Center. New or gently used books can be dropped off during Know’s regular business hours or before any performance of “Wrinkle.”

A Wrinkle In Time runs December 9-11, 16-19, and 21-23. All performances begin at 8pm with the exception of December 11 which includes a 3pm matinee show in addition to the 8pm performance.

Tickets are $15 the week of the show, $12 if purchased in advance. Tickets may be purchased online or by calling the box office at (513) 300-5669.  The Know Theatre is located at 1120 Jackson Street in the arts district of historic Over-the-Rhine.