thebillshark

Right? The money for infrastructure could make Oakley Station a good urban development. Think big like Wrigleyville. It's supported by the Oakley CC and Oakley businesses. It's money that is just sitting there not used for anything. US Bank and Millenium Hotel are non-starts owned by a foreign company who have no interest in doing anything to help. I doubt $75M is enough for a convention center expansion. The commissioners have one shot to put Cincinnati on an international map with the global sport loved by young millennial Cincinnatians (who are the future) with a infrastructure plan that will help more than just FCC. It's a no brainer. Unfortunately, I don't think it will pass. The fact the commissioners and others are still talking about PBS shows how uniformed people seem to be. It should be a slam dunk yes. It won’t be a good urban development. From what I’ve heard a 1,000 car garage is planned for a 21,000 seat stadium. My guess is the difference will most likely be made up in surface parking. The Banks is our region’s best attempt at marrying stadiums and urbanism, two things with needs that are fundamentally at odds. It’s going into its second decade now, it’s only half complete and the parking garage platform infrastructure is incredibly costly to build out. Bars and restaurants struggle for business during slow days of the week. It won’t break my heart if they build it in Oakley, but it wouldn’t be anything I’ll get excited about. Two further questions Why is MLS not anticipating huge growth in stadium crowds? It seems like a 21,000 seat stadium could be obsolete the minute they build it. The infrastructure money their asking for is half the cost of the streetcar, Yet a decision will be made in two days as aoppposed to seven years and two ballot measures.

MLS wants soccer only stadiums. MLS decides who gets in. You guys sound like you’re in a cult. Explain? 1. That’s at least the 10,000th time I’ve read the “MLS wants it period” on the internet somewhere, possibly 100th time today 2. Please at least acknowledge the Groundhog Day like absurdity of the situation that we’re in, after sparing no expense on the stadiums the last time, while letting many other things go to rot 3. If you read what I wrote I am actually arguing for Newport as the least insane insane option. It could at least leverage some investments we’ve made in the Banks parking garages and perhaps drive some bar/restaurant business at the Banks by proximity. Using PBS would be the sane option but MLS may not let sanity prevail as you pointed out

MLS wants soccer only stadiums. MLS decides who gets in. You guys sound like you’re in a cult.

I think this stadium situation is a little nuts actually. 20 years ago we started building the Banks which was to be our place to accommodate large stadium crowds. An 8,000 car garage was planned along with a transit center and highway access. (Although non-stadium development at the Banks is still forced to build additional parking!) An entertainment district would complement the stadiums. Fast forward present day and it’s only half complete, and we’re looking to replicate the whole thing behind the Sam’s Club in Oakley. If it was in Newport, Hamilton County would probably make money during FCC games from people parking at the Banks and spending money there, without the additional infrastructure tab.

So if you live in the heart of Cincinnati, maybe in one of those Italianate buildings that Cincinnati is so well known for, you’re not a “real Cincinnatian.” Tortured logic on display

Newport is the best choice. People who are saying “But that’s not Cincinnati” are giving in to kind of a knee jerk emotion. West End/OTR is unworkable I think. The required large scale infrastructure is just out of step with the neighborhood. I think developing a great atmosphere around an Oakley stadium is going to be a challenge. Think about what MLS could be in 5-10 years. At that point you want the downtown infrastructure- hotels and restaurants- to be able to serve traveling fans. The skyline TV shots of Cincinnati would be attractive too.

I think having three separate stadiums for three sports teams is an incredibly fragile situation. Focusing On FC and the Bengals in particular: 1. MLS could skyrocket in popularity leaving a ~20k stadium too small and obsolete. This scenario could happen very quickly, perhaps within five years 2. NFL could decline in popularity making PBS a hardly used venue (might take awhile but look at California crowds) 3. NFL could continue rise in popularity and go global causing Bengals to leave town

The latest on the Liberty Street Safety Improvement project including a draft of the final project plan. It is moving forward. http://otrcommunitycouncil.org/liberty-street-safety-improvement-project/ If you're an OTR resident and want a voice on this and other neighborhood issues YOU NEED TO JOIN THE OTR COMMUNITY COUNCIL. You need to join a month ahead of time to be a voting member. Community Council approval is going to weigh heavily on the fate of this project.

My latest blog post in favor of transit only lanes: https://cincinnatiideas.com/2017/10/27/can-metro-unlock-the-value-hidden-in-our-streets-the-case-for-transit-only-lanes/

Few things: 1. I think this would have to be a 3cdc project as it is part of their multi Phase project for 15th and Race. They own the land (and also the land of the Cell Phone Store across the Pleasant street.) 2. Hope they incorporate my parking garage concept https://cincinnatiideas.com/liberty-and-race-underground-garage/ 3. Can't tell if it actually does from the rendering, but i hope they plan for it to come out to the curb of the narrowed Liberty Street (not the current Liberty Street.) 4. This building looks tall, twice the size of its three story neighbor. (Building two doors down is four stories however.) Would be interested to see how height compares to size of proposed Elm and Liberty. I think there should be height limits on OTR but I don't know what they should be. Wouldn't want it competing with steeples of nearby St Francis Seraph. 5. The style- it's different for the neighborhood but the more important thing to me is they get the site plan right. Are the entrances going to create sidewalk activity? And also reusability- if the buildings original purpose is lost, can it be adapted to something else? Historic buildings in OTR are great for this. A modernist building like the Terrace Plaza Hotel not so easily. 6. I trust that the designer Jose Garcia will do a great job. It could be a stunning building that somehow "fits" or even makes people stop and contemplate it, The key would be not to totally overwhelm its surroundings. I don't expect the Conservator or the infill committee to react kindly to it though.

Spot on about Cranley. He doesn't understand cities or urbanism. It seems like he's never read Jane Jacobs or Jeff Speck, or at least never internalized their message, and made the observations about our own city that show how right they are. Doesn't seem to have read Jarrett Walker, Ben Ross, Donald Shoup or Andres Duany. He doesn't seem at all curious about the entire field. He does seem to pick up that some of the ideas and principles they offer are politically unpopular with reactionary status quo types and takes advantage of that however. From what I've seen and heard of Yvette in city council committee (neighborhoods and transportation) meetings she DOES understand these things and takes them to heart. She is the candidate for urbanism this election cycle.

Where are all the parking lots?

I hope everyone on this forum shows up and votes for Derek Bauman[/member] . He has been fighting for the urbanist cause for years and deserves our support.

That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying I'm OK with bland architecture, if it means we can fit in more middle class people. I think the older buildings provide the beauty here, and it's very hard to "ruin" a street with "bad" architecture. The only cases were I see things getting "ruined" are when something automobile-oriented is built- like the cell phone store/old fast food place on Liberty. Or something with a big blank wall with no street activation. It's 95% in the site layout. We don't have to be great, we just have to avoid big mistakes. I'd actually like to see an Uptown-style development go in to the west of Central Parkway to add hundreds of more people to the area. We need more customers for businesses and eyes on the street. There's definitely less pedestrian activity in the wintertime when it gets dark early, one thing we can do is increase the baseline number of people who might want to venture out. The way our metro economy is, I don't know if you'd have ever enough high income earners to fill out OTR. And thier dollars could buy them a mansion in the suburbs for the cost of a basic townhouse, especially if prices got higher in the city.

This project is 18 condos with an average price of $260,000=$4.68 million. They're already spending $7.2 million. With numbers like that, something's gotta give. Im OK with it being the architecture, in order to keep things remotely affordable.

New blog post is up: https://cincinnatiideas.com/2017/09/25/how-cincinnati-could-land-amazons-hq2/

Why don't they do this for the North library: 1. Library sells building to Hamilton County 2. Library keeps open it's public spaces in the building and moves out its operations from upper stories 3. Hamilton County renovates portion of building into new offices for their operations that are housed in these historic buildings they have in the neighborhood: http://www.hamiltoncountyohio.gov/government/departments/facilities/county_facilities/ 4. Hamilton County builds a new office building on the adjacent lot at the NW corner of 9th & Walnut 5. The former Hamilton County office buildings are converted into residential

Those trees on Third are starting to mature nicely and that side of third would be a barren wasteland without them. We need to place a high value on street trees. NEVER remove for "security" or building visibility reasons. You're right, people are profoundly backwards on this. Trees have a psychological benefit that makes urban living less harsh, raise property value, and are a key ingredient to the world class streets.

I thought that project was going to have a senior housing component if I remember. Would be great spot for an underground light rail station for a tunnel connecting Downtown and Uptown.

Usually but not always. The staff recommended denying permits to demolish the Dennison, but the board voted anyway to allow the demolition. That's not quite how it went- HCB denied demo, ZBA overruled them, decision was held up by magistrate.

Yes, it should probably not go in an "S" like that. And what's with these Uptown shuttles being proposed? Are they going to be part of the bus system?

This project was awarded $6.6 million on funding from OKI recently: http://www.oki.org/uptown-transit-hub/

Where would you move it to? I don't know much about substation technology, but I assume that a) its location needs to be near downtown (ie, you can't move it to Queensgate), and b) the cost of moving (even just a few blocks) would be prohibitively high. I can't think of anywhere near downtown that would be better for a substation that would justify the costs of moving. I assume the City would have to pay the relocation costs. I also think this would be prohibitively expensive to move completely. I wonder if they could move just the equipment they have on the north side of Charles Street however? (Or move it underneath a new garage structure or something?) Having that there is so ugly that it limits your options for what you can do on the north side of 12th Street.

But is the studio building worth saving? It seems like an unfortunate design, so if 3CDC can put together a plan that rethinks that whole block, I doubt many tears would be shed over having that studio building demolished. Just guessing but it would probably cost a fortune to replace with all the equipment inside and satellite dishes on the roof

Eastsiders and Westsiders couldn't agree that this just makes sense? This just blew my mind that Westwood Northern Blvd. and Madison Rd. are actually the same street.