thebillshark

When I look at that base I can't really think about what to do with it that wouldn't be a ridiculous proposition. Such as replacing a large part of the brick wall with glass for a giant fish tank. Or taking out all the intermediary floors and having a giant velodrome or skate park.

"Gentrification presents serious problems, but it also offers benefits. For example: African-American children growing up in neighborhoods that transition from high to low poverty have incomes that are 30 to 40 percent higher than otherwise similar African-American children who grow up in neighborhoods that remain in concentrated poverty (Sharkey, 2013). Displacement in gentrifying neighborhoods is no higher than in non-gentrifying neighborhoods (Freeman, 2009; McKinnish & White, 2011), in part because existing residents are motivated to stick around when neighborhoods improve. Absent gentrification, residents are displaced when buildings become uninhabitable and burn down due to lack of investment and arson. Look at Detroit, where miles upon miles of blocks have only a few houses left standing. One thing worse than gentrification is no gentrification." Honestly, then, what's the problem? In this light, gentrification should be a goal to work towards. This article has excellent suggestions but it is framed around something with negative connotations- gentrification. It does a good job of putting gentrification, and the articles being written about gentrification, in perspective. One could easily take the suggestions and write the same article with a positive framework on how to revitalize our neglected cities. Urbanism is embraceable from the right and left sides of the political spectrum, but I think people on the left have more anxiety and guilt about experiencing success. I think this hinders their ability to argue unabashedly for their points, which is a shame because the general public needs to hear a clear message about urbanism and not the hemmed in nuance of Atlantic Cities articles.

^^a bus ride to and an Uber/Lyft back is a good move. ^if a Cincy cab even comes to get you. Pre Uber/Lyft I've been stood up by cabs in Cincy more times than I can remember.

Well by all rights setting up a deal should be a lot more feasible then. Covington and/or developers could probably get a good deal on the federal land too, but negotiating with the Feds would probably be slow and arduous.

This is an insulting analogy on many levels that I can't get into right now. Even if you didn't mean it to be insulting it's at least tone deaf and you should stop using it. I'll simply say that most middle and upper class residents moving to Over the Rhine want re-development and investment in OTR's historic building stick but also really do care about maintaining economic and racial diversity and low income housing. It's evident when you go to the Over the Rhine Conmunity Council meetings.

John, do you have a feel on why they're not working on anything related to transit? Do they just want to avoid the political hot potato? Or do they truly not see the benefits at this point? My feeling is that many of the Uptown institutions threw their weight behind the MLK interchange and they're completely focused on that right now. I can easily imagine that if UC were to go all-in on bringing the streetcar to Uptown right now, Governor Kasich would be very vindictive when it comes to UC's next capital request. Also, if they have taken the time to analyze it, I can imagine UC's planners concluding that the Vine Street route offers inferior service to MetroPlus, so why get behind it? I've been saying this for three years now. If I'm downtown and trying to get to the corner of McMillan & Vine, and my options are Streetcar, MetroPlus or local bus service...streetcar is by far my last option. That winding route is ridiculous. Wouldn't you save money taking the streetcar through? If you were making a round trip within two hours it'd be $1 vs. $3.50, right? I do like the circulator fare structure. I could see using the streetcar to fetch Krishna takeout or something since the price would be comparable to an Uptown parking meter (that may or may not be available.) I definitely think the streetcar is worth extending to UC, be it mixed traffic up Vine St. or tunnel. UC is just too big of an employment center and activity hub to leave out. A streetcar connection to such a strong node could help drive residential demand in OTR/West End. The Vine St. Double-back is Ok for just getting up the hill to UC. It's where the streetcar goes after that that is worth debating and worth evaluating the layout of the whole system for including the effect of the double-back.

This is the issue- what the streetcar will be like Uptown is fully dependent upon what the plan is. It boils down to an access vs. mobility argument. Let me reiterate that I fully believe in the merits of the downtown circulator streetcar. But I think it's legitimate to say a mixed traffic streetcar has the potential to be slow, (although certainly faster than walking,) especially if something is blocking the track. The counter argument to this is that the purpose of the streetcar is not to be fast but to provide access. The streetcar provides access to a densely packed route, with a wide variety of uses along it (employment, entertainment, stores, etc.) and allows city dwellers to meet their daily needs just as well as a suburbanite driving great distances on a highway. My concept for Cinculators (which uses the Vine St. alignment) pushes the access concept to the extreme. ( http://bit.ly/1L8RCnp ) It ups the frequency to a vehicle coming by every 10 minutes or less and expands the destinations served by connecting to frequent bus routes at University Plaza. But to travel any further beyond those Uptown neighborhoods in a reasonable amount of time, speed simply must be increased. By increasing speed you are providing the mobility to bridge the established distances between Downtown/OTR, Uptown institutions, and neighborhoods beyond. That's what a tunnel to Uptown, providing grade separation from local roads, would do. (It would also be a good idea to have dedicated lanes on Uptown's arterial streets.) The folks you mention need to realize the tunnel is probably the most effective way to increase speed, and fully understand the tradeoff they are making by taking it off the table.

Can't find any mention of 15th and Vine project on 3cdc website or any recent news about it... Is it on indefinite hold?

Isn't the stand alone Walgreens the offending structure here? The Kroger is tucked into the east side of the site with its entrance lining up with Short Vine. You could build a parking structure fronting Taft Rd. and develop the parking lot with multi use structures facing Jefferson and Corry St. if that Walgreens with a drive thru wasn't planned for right there.

I disagree. The reason is there is a right and wrong way to design transit. It shouldn't be done by committee. Look at all the Facebook comments saying "I think the streetcar should go here," or "I think it should go here." A lot of people say they want something, but may not understand what is they really want or why they want it. Now take that up to an institutional and neighborhood council level and you could end up have a long, meandering route that doesn't perform well as transit as a result and doesn’t compete with the automobile. The tunnel provides a straight-as-an-arrow line to Christ Hospital and UC and thus fulfills Jarrett Walker's principle of "being on the way." But this also implies there will be winners and losers from institutions and business districts that aren’t on the way. I hate to pick on the Zoo, but think of the value to the entire region if we built a mixed traffic streetcar to the Zoo. It wouldn't change anything very much and would probably have low ridership especially in the winter months. However the tunnel idea enables a rail line serving Uptown and beyond, providing travel at speeds that are competitive with buses and even private cars. And once speed is increased you can have increased frequency over longer distances with the same number of trains. I think we should optimize our transit for maximum ridership and would love to leave things up to professional design engineers. Then present plans to Uptown institutions once the benfits have been calculated. As it is, I think John's thought about this just about more than anyone else and his idea should be the first one studied when we invite the pros to town.

Maybe I'm lacking vision here, but it seems like they could do a lot with the current flood wall without going full-on Banks project, ie. replacing the flood wall with park and underground garage. Just by redeveloping the IRS site they could fit in at least three more pro-athlete-worthy condo towers with incredible views. They could use the tax money from new well to do residents to solve their budget problems. Then they could put a bike path with viewing areas on top of the levee wall or something. Fill in the street grid south of the condo towers with mid rise residential with young middle class residents. Something to consider if they don't have the money and time it took to build the Banks. I think it would be neat if they built a sibling tower to the Ascent on the lot on the east side of the bridge approach. The Madison roundabout with the river overlook by the murals is one of the best views of Cincinnati but the site leaves a lot to be desired. For example, there are about four of these ugly metal pole structures sticking out the water that completely ruin photographs from that location. I don't know their function- if they were boat moorings or performed some structural function or what- but they should be removed if at all possible. Then the entire area needs to be greened up. Perhaps replace the lower parking lot there down by the water with park space.

I went to Braxton Brewing on 7th Street in Covington on Friday. Great beer- a lot of offerings on nitro- and a really nice looking tap room space. Highly recommend. That's one of the first times I've been in the Pike Street area so I went back on my bike to explore around yesterday. Covington has some great urbanism going on. It's got beautiful historic buildings, and a variety of continuously-maintained housing stock of various ages that can really make for an affordable urban experience for someone. It's a mostly flat, and close to downtown Cincinnati, making bike commuting really attractive. It's got so many positive attributes that I wish there were more neighborhoods like it on the Cincinnati side of the river. My previous impressions of Covington were that it's a little disjointed- for example there's Mainstrasse, then the stuff along Madison Avenue, Pike Street, and then the 80s/90s newer downtown stuff around the Roebling bridge, but none of it really connected. Yesterday I found out why. I had always thought the IRS was located in the River Center buildings, but today on my bike ride I was shocked to find out that I was mistaken and it's actually a sprawling, low to the ground one story office building surrounded by a sea of surface parking. This sprawling complex cuts off the newer downtown Covington buildings and the Roebling link to Cincinnati from the historical downtown building stock down Madison Avenue/Pike, and then stretches all the way over to Mainstrasse to cut that off too. This site makes worse use of land than any building being built in the far flung exurbs today. There's simply no reason for an office building to be configured like that- it's not like they have a huge industrial production floor or anything. Also it is literally fenced off from its surroundings. On Google maps satellite view, the IRS site is taking up more prime riverfront land than Paul Brown Stadium. If I was in charge of Covington, getting the IRS to move into a new tower built on the surface parking lot on Rivercenter Drive just north of the huge parking garage would be my first, second, third, and fourth priority. This would enable redeveloping the IRS site by restoring the street grid into the traditional walkable configuration. Build some luxury condo towers with a view. Covington would also have room to expand their convention center if they wanted. I think redevelopment of the IRS site is a more important priority to Covington than the ongoing Brent Spence bridge saga or a streetcar connection. With Hamilton County, Cincinnati, and the US Army Corps of Engineers investing millions in the Banks, Covington would be foolish not to try to cash in on that investment. All that re-developable land at the IRS site just over the Roebling, which forms the very centerpiece of the Banks development, could be a game changer for them. Also we have to make the Roebling Bridge more bikeable! Either by putting something down on the steel grate so bikes can use the roadway, or at least make some curb cutouts so that bikes can re-enter the roadway from the sidewalk after crossing the bridge.

My concept for Cinculators, or 10 minute frequency all day bus service for 10 neighborhoods covering all of Uptown, would create a Transit Center and connect to the Cincinnati Streetcar in this location. It would add a lot of pedestrian activity to this auto oriented development: http://bit.ly/1L8RCnp

I second the need for a Corry St entrance. The building needs to address Corry St. in some manner because it will be the focal point of all of Short Vine. The Harpers Point Kroger location, in a strip mall, has a side entrance leading to the bistro area where you can get a good inexpensive lunch. There is even outdoor seating around this entrance.

How those photos could be labeled "after improvements" is pretty galling.

I think the idea of CVG light rail to the Banks on the Ohio side is interesting. Coming from the Banks, Light Rail could be combined with a new local traffic bridge around Anderson Ferry to get over the Ohio River and then rail could enter a tunnel to get up the hill to CVG on the Kentucky side. At the airport station you could have shuttles or bike share to get people to the ever growing number of industrial and logistics jobs located around the airport. Sedamsville and Lower Price Hill could have stations on the line. At the Banks the Light Rail line could either enter the Riverfront Transit Center or run on the surface of Second and Third Streets to connect to the streetcar.

Re: pic of 15th and Pleasant building above: are they going to extend the cornice of the corner building down the Pleasant Street side? I think it looks kind of awkward as is. It rounds the corner then stops and then starts again at the next building.

With so many hotel rooms downtown and increasing how does Macy's not turn a profit simply from people who have spilled spaghetti sauce on their shirt/dress and need a new one 30 minutes before the big meeting? Being facetious but they are one of the only games in town especially if Saks leaves. If they do build a condo tower on top I'd like to see a huge Fountain Square video board attached to the side of it. Anyway we're getting way off topic.

Disagree... My understanding is the RTC is heavily used bus terminal during events and game days. The Freedom Center is perfect right where it is. One, it looks great as an architectural centerpiece. Two, it's location is symbolic given the role of the Ohio River in our country's (and city's) racial history as the dividing line between north and south and its history on the Underground Railroad. The Freedom Center is really a powerful place to visit. I will say that it is hard to reconcile the gravitas of the Freedom Center with the party hardy Wrigleyville vibe the rest of the Banks is giving off though. And that's OK, it's just how it is. Bar-crazy OTR has like a million church bells ringing on Sunday morning.

Some will probably live in Covington. We should figure out a way to make the Roebling more bikeable. Also get to building way more residential units in Cincinnati.

^I'm definitely in favor of building out the entire underground garage as planned. It would be a huge missed opportunity if we didn't based off of all the reasons you said. And it's in between two stadiums so it makes perfect sense. My point is simply, why does the above ground development require additional above ground attached parking when the underground garage could be utilized? Perhaps someone thinks the market requires above ground attached parking for these developments but I think the demand will be off the charts regardless. Or perhaps the rendering of the phase 3a site has already changed and is yet to be revealed.

I wonder what the underground garage usage rate is on non-game days. It's a great asset to have in between to stadiums of course but you don't build the church for Easter Sunday as they say. In any case the Bengals aren't used to having the 600 spaces that are going in underneath that block, so you think you could get away with designating 200 or so to the above ground development that would receive more around the clock usage.

Are you sure this is the latest master plan for the Banks? Several things look like the old plans such as townhouses facing the event lawn and the buildings in the GE block. I agree that the block closest to Paul Brown looks strange, but I take as big of issue with this design with the block of Phase 3a which just broke ground. Looks like a superblock with a massive interior above ground parking garage. Surely, with the largest parking garage in North America located just underneath that location, the developer can work out SOME deal with the county so that residential units can utilize the underground garage and have that count towards their parking requirements, and the physical space devoted to the above ground parking garage can be repurposed into more residential units. In fact taxpayers should be DEMANDING that, to fit in as many units as possible, to get the highest return on the massive investment made by the city, county, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as possible. My suggestion would be to split the superblock in half with an east-west narrow woonerf between Ted Berry Way and Race St that would allow vehicle traffic for pickup, drop off, and deliveries only. Then you could have another two rows of apartments/condos with ground floor retail facing the woonerf that would occupy the footprint and airspace above of where the superblock garage would have been.

Well, it IS too hard, given that a practical and viable alternative exists (passenger rail service) that is not being deployed effectively. Instead passenger rail service is vilified and mocked by politicians and special interests as being some sort of socialist monument to government waste. Meanwhile the Hyperloop is heralded by the media as a visionary idea from a Randian great man (Musk.) Perhaps my frustration here affects my opinion of the Hyperloop itself. I see this as the equivalent of someone proposing Personal Rapid Transit (PRT, or individual pods on a track) in a city that really needs improved bus service (which actually happened in Cincinnati around the turn of the century.)

Because the technical challenges and costs are immense. You have to build a tube and keep it pressurized constantly for thousands of miles. You have to subject civilians with who knows what medical conditions to G forces during acceleration and deceleration- perhaps more unpleasant than airplane turbulence. The route would have to be very straight to avoid said G forces around curves,which would be challenging for route planning and right of way acquisition. You have to invent a whole new regulatory system with technical experts approving designs and testing so people don't die in accidents in the 700 mph tube with which no one has prior experience with. Also with no existing infrastructure of manufacturers and service companies to support it.