After Metro kicked off the “Tell Us Your Story” in May 2010, hundreds of bus riders submitted their stories about how transit benefits their lives and their community in terms of jobs, the environment, energy independence, and overall quality of life.
The many entries have now been whittled down to five finalists for both written and video submissions, and now Metro is asking the public to vote on its favorite entry in both categories. The winning entry from each category will a year of free rides on Metro, while the remaining four entries will each win a month of free rides.
“Riders shared stories about growing up, family traditions, poems, songs and raps with one thing in common – the difference Metro made in their lives,” said Metro CEO, Marilyn Shazor.
The five written story finalists include Teresa Roush from Wilmington, Ernest Disney Britton from Hyde Park, Jalilisha Dixon from Finneytown, Kelly Drinan from Amberley, and Sidney Coleman from Silverton. To read their entries visit the contest’s website. Below, you can view the five video finalists for the “Tell Us Your Story” contest.
Online voting runs through August 31st, and the grand prize winners will be announced on Wednesday, September 1. Ten voters will also randomly be selected to win prizes of their own.
Cincinnati was on the outside looking in when U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced eight projects and six initiatives nationwide selected to be a part of the new Marine Highway Program. The projects and initiatives selected to be a part of the program will be eligible for federal assistance, including an initial $7 million in funding, to help move more cargo on the nation’s waterways rather than on crowded highways.
The Department’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) stated that the eight projects and six initiatives were chosen out of 35 applications submitted by ports and local transportation agencies. Nationwide, MARAD has selected eleven marine corridors for which to focus. Locally, the designated M-70 Corridor includes the Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri Rivers.
According to MARAD, the M-70 Corridor contains major freight truck bottlenecks at numerous points that could be alleviated by marine highway cargo transportation. The administration also states that the region is expected to experience a growth in long-haul truck volumes through 2035 that will exacerbate already congested highways and rail networks.
“Making better use of our rivers and coastal routes offers an intelligent way to relieve some of the biggest challenges we face in transportation – congestion on our roads, climate change, fossil fuel energy use and soaring road maintenance costs,” Secretary LaHood said in a prepared release. “There is no better time for us to improve the use of our rivers and coasts for transportation.”
The majority of projects and initiatives selected were those along coastal marine highway corridors. Officials at the Office of Marine Highways and Passenger Services declined to share the full list of applicants with UrbanCincy, but a local river port facility located just west of downtown Cincinnati may have been one of those left off the list.
“There are many places in our country where expanded use of marine transportation just makes sense,” said David Matsuda, Acting Administrator of the Maritime Administration. “It has so much potential to help our nation in many ways: reduced gridlock and greenhouse gases and more jobs for skilled mariners and shipbuilders.”
The proposed Queensgate Terminals rail-barge transfer facility has long been the subject of controversy, public debate, and opportunity. While legal and political battles took place, over the last five years, Ohio officials pledged $9.5 million to the proposed South Point barge terminal further upriver in Lawrence County. At the same time, the OKI Regional Council of Governments has been studying ways in which to reduce freight congestion on the region’s highways and freight rail yards.
The proposed Ohio River facilities are becoming increasingly important as the Panama Canal nears completion on a $5 billion expansion that is expected to dramatically global freight traffic in the eastern United States. According to David Martin, developer of Queensgate Terminals, the Panama Canal expansion will make “back-haul” operations to China even more attractive as shippers look to move goods on otherwise empty cargo containers heading back to east Asia.
I am a native of the Greater Cincinnati area, but I have spent the better part of my adult life living and working in Chicago. I left Chicago in 2007 for greener pastures in New York City, and then ultimately found my way back home to Cincinnati earlier this year. However, I still look back on my time in Chicago as having an enormous impact on my thoughts about urban planning and design, architecture, and mass transit.
In June of this year, and after a long absence, I spent my first weekend in Chicago since becoming involved in discussions about Cincinnati’s ongoing urban renaissance. Once I arrived in town, I could not help but look at my old stomping grounds in a whole new light, and see Chicago’s urban development through the eyes of a born-again Cincinnatian. Over the course of a few days, I was able to explore a few key differences between the two cities, and perhaps come home with a few insights that can be applied to Cincinnati.
Urban Form:
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 (and its inevitable traffic jams) 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. Indeed, it is possible to find oneself in a relatively rural area in less than five miles from downtown Cincinnati, depending on the direction of travel.
Topography plays a large role, of course: the Cincinnati area’s steep hills prevent large-scale development in many areas, while the vast plains surrounding Chicago offer no such limitations. I see this as an advantage in Cincinnati’s favor: In addition to providing unique vistas and hillside neighborhoods that Chicagoans could only dream about, Cincinnati’s geographic setting allows for an easy escape to the country without having to drive through 40 miles of strip malls and traffic congestion (assuming one isn’t trying to escape via I-75 or I-71).
Chicago’s scale is apparent when flying into either of the city’s two airports, especially at night. Chicago’s relentless street grid stretches from horizon to horizon, with the radial streets and freeways all leading to the mountain of skyscrapers downtown. The city’s magnificent lakefront parks form an elegant transition from dense urban neighborhoods to the empty expanse of Lake Michigan. The entire city — so orderly and logical from above, like a circuit board — has the appearance of a vast machine. Down on the surface, though, the machine-like efficiency of the street grid leaves little room for quirks and eccentricities such as Cincinnati’s Mt. Lookout Square or O’Bryonville.
Commercial Districts:
Aaron Renn recently wrote a thought-provoking article about how cities treat their ordinary spaces versus their special spaces, and I believe Cincinnati has the edge in this regard. We don’t have the “special spaces” that Chicago has, such as a Magnificent Mile or a Grant Park (although that is changing for the better as Cincinnati develops its riverfront), but we have a vast number of unique “ordinary spaces” that each have their own character. For example, Chicago’s neighborhood business districts tend to be linear corridors along straight commercial streets, with relatively little distinction from each other. Aside from the makeup of the retail establishments, the urban space of Broadway in Lakeview isn’t much different from that of Milwaukee Avenue in Wicker Park or of Lawrence Avenue in Albany Park. Here in Cincinnati, even if you disregard the types of businesses that occupy the storefronts, there is a real difference between neighborhood business districts such as Ludlow Avenue, Hyde Park Square, and Over-the-Rhine.
Speaking of Over-the-Rhine, there is simply nothing like it in Chicago, as OTR was a bustling urban neighborhood when Chicago was still a remote trading post. Chicago’s present form didn’t come into being until after the Great Chicago Fire, by which time many buildings in Over-the-Rhine were already a generation old. For an urban neighborhood that comes close to resembling Over-the-Rhine, one must look east to New York or Philadelphia rather than west to Chicago.
Residential Neighborhoods:
If Chicago’s commercial avenues are rather drab, that city’s residential side streets offer many lessons for Cincinnati. Upon taking a turn down a leafy side street in Chicago, a pedestrian immediately enters a lush, green world where the noise of the city fades away and the harshness of the sunlight is filtered out by a dense canopy of trees, usually flanked by ornate row houses, bungalows, or apartment buildings. The importance of greenery cannot be understated, and as Over-the-Rhine continues its rejuvenation, Chicago shows that when it comes to street trees, there’s really no such thing as too many. It’s no coincidence that OTR’s Orchard Street — arguably the greenest street in the neighborhood — is also one of the most sought-after streets for renters and homebuyers.
Cincinnati’s dominant grocery store chain could also learn a thing or two from Chicago’s two largest chains on how to design and operate “big box” grocery stores that add life to urban business districts, rather than suck life from them. Throughout Chicago’s denser neighborhoods, Dominick’s (a division of Safeway) and Jewel (a division of Albertson’s) are building stores that place the main entrance at the corner of the building, facing a busy intersection, rather than behind an ocean of parking. In many cases, the stores are multi-story affairs with residential or commercial space above, and parking in a garage tucked around the corner.
An urban-scaled Dominick’s Store in Lincoln Park
One of the first such stores is a Dominick’s location at the corner of Fullerton and Sheffield, adjacent to a CTA rapid transit station and DePaul University. The ground floor of the store contains a deli, butcher and seafood department, florist, bakery, a Starbucks, and the checkout lanes, while the second floor contains aisles of groceries and general merchandise. Large-capacity elevators allow customers to transport strollers and shopping carts between the floors.
Up in my old neighborhood of Edgewater, a Dominick’s store at the corner of Foster and Sheridan — an older suburban-style store not unlike the Kroger store in Corryville — is being replaced with a modern store that respects the neighborhood rather than turning its back on it. If Kroger’s two largest national competitors, Safeway and Albertson’s, are tripping over each other to build urban-scaled grocery stores in dense neighborhoods, then Kroger’s claim that there is no market for such stores would seem to ring hollow.
Public Transit:
Another key difference between Cincinnati and Chicago that cannot be ignored is public transit. While Chicago’s system of public transit is not perfect by any stretch, Chicago has a culture in which taking a train to work or for shopping is simply accepted as a routine fact of life for most people, rather than as something that is done only because one has no other choice. There is no stigma, and a wide variety of demographic groups can be found represented on the city’s buses and trains on any given day. Regrettably, only a handful of American cities have achieved this, and Cincinnati is not yet one of them. To its credit, the Chicago Transit Authority has recently completed an ambitious upgrade of many stations on the city’s north side and west side, with further upgrades elsewhere in the city underway.
The newly-renovated CTA rapid transit station in Lincoln Park
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, is the difference in general attitude between the two cities. Chicago has a certain swagger that Cincinnati lacks, a confidence among the populace that the city is capable of doing great things and attracting great people. This is a double-edged sword, in that Chicago’s reputation of being “the city that works” involves a strong-man mayor who has almost unlimited powers, who can easily crush any community opposition to his plans.
Indeed, while certain Chicago neighborhoods are high-priced hotbeds for economic development, vast parts of the city continue to look as if they were imported from Detroit. There is also the corruption: In Cincinnati, it would be almost unthinkable for a City Council member or department head to be hauled away in handcuffs by the FBI and indicted on federal corruption charges. In Chicago, such occurrences happen often enough that they barely even make the local news.
Cincinnati, on the other hand, has a long-standing inferiority complex that has proven difficult to shake. But as major projects such as the streetcar, The Banks, and Central Riverfront Park are completed, perhaps Cincinnati will adopt a unique swagger of its own, while avoiding some of the pitfalls of our younger and larger neighbor to the north.
[This op-ed was originally published on The Urbanophile on July 13, 2010. Visit the original op-ed for more comments, thoughts and opinions on the matter of Cincinnati’s dramatic riverfront revitalization effort over the past two decades – Randy.]
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.
Paul Brown Stadium, home of the Cincinnati Bengals, was one of the first pieces of the puzzle to fall into place. The $455 million football stadium kept the Bengals in Cincinnati and has received national praise for its architectural design while also entertaining sold-out crowds.
The next piece to fall into place was the reconstruction of Fort Washington Way which consolidated the stretch of highway and opened up land critical for the construction of yet another stadium and the mixed-use development which became known as The Banks. The 40% reduction in size was not the only accomplishment though. The reconstruction project also included the Riverfront Transit Center designed to one day house light rail connections and a sunken highway that could be capped with additional development or park space.
Following the reconstruction of Fort Washington Way, Riverfront Stadium was then partially demolished to make room for the construction of the $290 million Great American Ball Park. Once complete, Great American Ball Park began entertaining baseball fans at 81 home games each year and at a new Reds Hall of Fame & Museum. The new venue eliminated any need for Riverfront Stadium and thus led to its implosion in 2002.
The removal of Riverfront Stadium then freed up room for the construction of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center atop the first piece of a two-deck parking garage intended to both lift the new riverfront development out of the flood plain, and provide enough automobile parking to replace what was previously there in the form of surface lots and satisfy new parking demands created by the development.
The most recent piece of the puzzle has been the development of the initial phases of both the Cincinnati Riverfront Park and The Banks. The two separate projects are developing in complimentary fashion and are on similar time tables, and are both developing east to west from Great American Ball Park to Paul Brown Stadium. Recent news will add a modern streetcar line running through The Banks development that will transport people from the transformed riverfront into the Central Business District, Over-the-Rhine and beyond to Uptown.
The 45-acre, $120 million Cincinnati Riverfront Park is expected to become the crown jewel of an already nationally acclaimed Cincinnati Park System. The Banks meanwhile will bring thousands of new residents, workers and visitors to Cincinnati’s center city. The initial phase of both projects is expected to be complete in spring 2011 and will include 300 new residences, 80,000 square feet of retail space, Moerlein Lager House, Commuter Bike Facility, additional components of the two-deck parking garage, and the first elements of the park.
The transformation of Cincinnati’s central riverfront from aging industrial space to a vibrant mixed-use extension of downtown is not complete, but the two-decade old, $3 billion vision is finally nearing reality. And with full completion expected in the coming years, one of the remaining traces of Cincinnati’s industrial past will be replaced by a new vision for a 21st Century city and economy.
“As Metro’s fleet gets greener, Cincinnati’s air gets cleaner” said Marilyn Shazor, Metro’s CEO. “Mass transit itself is an important and easy way to go green, and our hybrid buses illustrate our system’s commitment to environmental responsibility.”
Metro officials have estimated that in the first year of operation, the existing six hybrid buses have reduced greenhouse gases by 190 tons, provided 330,000 “green” rides, traveled 210,000 miles, and saved the transit agency 7,000 gallons of diesel fuel.
The savings are particularly important as transit officials look to deal with fewer people riding transit due to the economy, and lower financial contributions from the City of Cincinnati’s earnings tax which contributes 3/10th of one percent of that tax. In addition to the economic benefits, officials see the growing hybrid fleet as a positive for the local environment.
“Smog is a problem in the Cincinnati area and Metro’s purchase of cleaner, lower emission buses is a positive step toward helping clean up our air,” said Cory Chadwick, Director of the Hamilton County Department of Environmental Services. “In fact, everyone can help by increasing their use of public transportation, especially by choosing to ride a diesel-hybrid bus with significantly lower exhaust emissions, better fuel economy, and a quieter ride than a standard diesel bus.”
The new hybrid buses will be on display at Ault Park (map) from 10am to 11am, and on Fifth Street between Walnut and Main (map) from 12pm to 1pm. Metro now has nine hybrid buses in its fleet, with another four to be added in fall 2010.
