Tag: young professionals

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Up To Speed

Japanese restaurant coming to OTR this fall

Japanese restaurant coming to OTR this fall

Just one week after UrbanCincy announced that Hapa, an Asian-inspired restaurant, will open at 1331 Vine Street, it is now being reported that a Japanese restaurant will join it across the street. From the Cincinnati Enquirer:

The concept is an izakaya, or what you might call a Japanese pub. That means lots of food that goes well with drinks, food that comes in small portions and can be ordered in various combinations…The restaurant will be larger than many of its Vine Street neighbors, and will encompass three components: a bar, a dining room, and an outside area, partly covered, partly an open garden.

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Up To Speed

From ghost town to night-on-the-town

From ghost town to night-on-the-town

Nearly one month ago we asked whether Cincinnati is in the midst of a contemporary golden age. With all of the public and private investment taking place throughout the city, the answer seemed to be an easy yes. Now, Cincinnati’s mainstream media is echoing our thoughts. From WCPO:

On virtually any given evening, you can walk around downtown Cincinnati and run into people. In fact, you might find a large crowd either on Fountain Square, at The Banks or up in Over-the-Rhine. Anyone who knows Cincinnati knows this is a relatively new situation for this once ghost town. It used to be that when the work day ended, downtown Cincinnati’s sidewalks rolled up for the night. But now, the city comes alive.

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Up To Speed

Coffee Shops and the Post-Industrial City

Coffee Shops and the Post-Industrial City

Urban coffee shops have long served as community focal points where people come to gather, relax and debate. But what role do these ‘third places’ play in our post-industrial cities? From Urban Relations:

Coffee helps us. It helps us get out of bed, it raises our productivity and promotes creativity, it’s the driving force of conversations and the fuel for writers and bloggers. This piece is also written in a coffee bar, my personal favorite. Sitting here consuming coffee just helps me through the day and through my work, or at least gives me the illusion that my productivity benefits from the consumption experience.

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News Politics Transportation

New SORTA Board member to focus on system integration, enhanced bus service

Former UrbanCincy contributor Brad Thomas has been nominated to fill a vacant seat on the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority’s (SORTA) Board of Trustees. Thomas currently works as an attorney with The Morgeson Law Office, and was appointed by the Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory (D).

The 13-member board is comprised of seven appointees from the City of Cincinnati and six from Hamilton County which also uses three of its appointments to represent Butler, Clermont and Warren counties.


Government Square Transit Hub in downtown Cincinnati. Photograph by Randy A. Simes for UrbanCincy.

Cincinnati City Council is expected to approve the appointment today at 2pm, which would clear the path for Thomas to officially join the SORTA Board of Trustees on May 1. In an exclusive interview with UrbanCincy, Thomas said that he intends to focus his attention on integrating the Cincinnati Streetcar with the existing Metro bus system, while also promoting enhanced bus service and bus rapid transit corridors.

“Improving public transportation is incredibly important to the City of Cincinnati and our region,” stated Thomas. “From connecting people to jobs, spurring economic development and helping the environment, the benefits of improved transit service are considerable.”

To date, Thomas has perhaps been best known for his work promoting the Cincinnati Streetcar. Since 2008, he has served in a variety of public involvement and engagement roles including, but not limited to, the operation of the CincyStreetcar Blog and the defeat of two anti-rail transit campaigns waged in 2009 and 2011.

“Expanding ridership is an important goal for Metro,” Thomas explained. “In addition to the Cincinnati Streetcar attracting new transit user, bus rapid transit corridors can make Metro more car competitive and increase ridership.”

Thomas currently resides in Cincinnati’s historic Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, and is an active member of the Over-the-Rhine Brewery District, Cincinnatians for Progress, and is a former trustee of Clifton Town Meeting and the Mayor’s Young Professionals Kitchen Cabinet.

His appointment will make him the youngest-ever SORTA board member, eclipsing the record established two years ago by Tom Hodges. Thomas will fill the unexpired term of Jason Riveiro. His appointment will become effective May 1, 2012.

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Up To Speed

The ‘Robert Moses Effect’ on the entrepreneurial ecosystem

The ‘Robert Moses Effect’ on the entrepreneurial ecosystem

We all know about Robert Moses’ rule over New York City from the 1930’s to the 1960’s, but how has his approach to urban development impacted the way in which our entrepreneurial ecosystem? From the Business Insider:

Adding highways meant adding traffic–more than ever before. We’re seeing the same thing happen within the entrepreneurial ecosystem. As you build more infrastructure to support entrepreneurship, more people become entrepreneurs.