neilworms

Thinking this over I think a compromise would be the best solution here - half the properties go to 3CDC half the properties to qualified developers. It would be win win - 3CDC would be a guarantee to mitigate risk, and jump start development, while giving the rest to small developers would allow for that development to be more equally handed out and allow for more competitive environment and possibly faster development to occur. The key thing is qualified developers and 3CDC getting enough of a group of properties to be a catalyst towards other development occurring hopefully by the other qualified developers - by splitting this up that way we could have a win-win that may make development faster than if all went to 3CDC or all went to other developers.

^-Same kind of folks who close the Skyline Chili on Vine Street just south of OTR at 4pm IN SPITE of the changes that have happened like 2 blocks away.

How much property does 3CDC currently own north of Liberty? I seem to remember there being a few close to Findlay Market. Am I right?

Its going to be interesting. I'm very happy with Messer btw for his leadership on the streetcar - I just don't want to see any more fighting over OTR just progress.

Seelbach pretty well sums up my views on this. Also NOL is basically a separate neighborhood due to the width of Liberty Street. Its going to take a long time for development to breech that psychological barrier. Of course if Cranley doesn't cancel its road diet that could be a help but still, the emphasis here should be on speed of development, and frankly Cincinnati just sucks at redeveloping what should be a goldmine without a little push from the top. Too many other cities have actually leveraged their assets while Cincinnati let politics hold up theirs. There shouldn't be any more battles over this neighborhood just forward progress. Its really sad though, I support a more free market based solution, but the history of redevelopment of OTR has proven time and time again that doesn't work without some kind of push from 3CDC and OTR is too important to be lost. Mann's statement about upping the percentage of afforable housing is ridiculous, that will add even more redtape to the process of redeveloping the neighborhood and there isn't much time left. Its either the neighborhood gets redeveloped or gets lost, the situation of NOL is that dire.

Messer's letter here: http://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/contributors/2014/06/18/3cdc-is-hindering-growth/10755309/

^-As much as support the sentiment of what Messer is trying to do here, I'm not sure I agree with him. OTR north of liberty needs to be jumpstarted ASAP and unfortunately given the sorry state of much of the neighborhood 3CDC is the best group to do it. There doesn't need to be delays here as any more messing around will further endanger the rest of the properties. I don't like the cronyism, but Cincinnati really blew it with OTR and it needs to be fixed and there are few people/organizations with the resources to do it given how dilapidated the neighborhood is.

Chicago has the exact same problem. All we have are small "Heat Lamps" that barely work half the time. Winter on an EL station sucks and only a few are enclosed. The winds are probably worse here than in Montreal or Minneapolis too.

^-make sure to look at the historical averages there, last winter was particularly cold.

I disagree. Pedestrians are very sensitive to distance, especially if the route is uncomfortable. Crossing Jefferson is probably the equivalent of several hundred feet of walking on a walking path. I used to walk about .6 miles to the el every morning and didn't have a problem, what's more important is viability and usefulness of service day to day.

^-I think the whole fight has been a result of new media giving people different perspectives that they otherwise wouldn't be exposed to. When I lived down there I felt like my views had zero voice in the mainstream, it seemed like the city was overall happy to be unhappy driving down a road towards complete ruin. Yes things were happening but it wasn't at the level things are at now. (This was from 2003-2007). I still remember when MetroMoves failed and people I knew were talking about how it was terrible because the trains every 5 mins would hold up traffic, ugh.

You absolutely nailed it here. Other conservative towns haven't had this level of fighting over transit issues either. Cincinnati's old guard likes the broken status quo. For Cincinnati's sake, I just hope Cranley is only a 1 term mayor.

Even though I mentioned what I did about vine, I actually still support it on Jefferson, its only about a 2 block walk to vine and seriously the width of jefferson won't be so bad if there are two streetcar tracks in the middle. It would be like crossing a one way street. Plus there is something to be said about the speed increase. Also the university would be better served and it would be a closer circulator to people wanting to get onto intercity buses at the university.

Very strange considering that the whole way that commercial district developed was due to a streetcar line running through it historically. I've ridden the Muni through San Francisco and one thing that really struck me about it was how visable it made all the commercial districts it rode through - that entire setup was designed for a streetcar.

I guess what surprises me the most about these units is how nice they are, particularly given the financial realities of being a student. I always kind of viewed the college experience as either dorm life or living in a kind of run down apartment building not living in a secure entry 1000/mo apartment building - an obscene price by Cincinnati standards and I'm going off of what they were when I was in college... (I'm sure the prices are even higher now since the apartment crunch hit). Not everyone is a trust fund kid, and even some who are probably should have to understand at some point the realities of not having much money.

^-I've done it myself, but its not for the faint of heart - I almost got hit by taxi's a few times. I'll agree with you about the cycle tracks. On Liberty though I'd extend them throughout OTR as a traffic calming measure. If you take a look at the plan the brewery district had a few years back you'll notice that they are hoping to have a full curb between the bike lanes and parking, which IMO is a great use of what is now an overwide street. Finally lack of knowledge of bicycle laws is true anywhere just about. I've seen way too many dumb hipsters on fixies run red lights across 4 lanes of heavy traffic, lots of people jogging in the bicycle lanes, or people salmoning (going backwards) all over the place. I think this might be a broader culture issue maybe?

I'm happy that both the DIVVY bikes and my own bicycle have bells on them. You need them to do the Dearborn cycle track, particularly at rush hour, the pedestrians are the worst, though I think part of that is that they aren't used to it - add to that a lot of tourists to whom this is a completely foreign concept (and most tourists don't venture far beyond the Loop) - basically one giant cluster-f*. There are painted signs on the street for them to look both ways, but I've found myself ringing my bell particularly when I'm going against auto traffic on that stretch just to remind pedestrians to look both ways. Prior to this lane, forget about bicycling in Chicago at rush hour downtown, it was very unsafe, the roads are wide and the blocks are much larger than those in Cincinnati. Plus you have a ton of TAXIs who have little regard for traffic laws and have a nasty habit of driving recklessly. I still kind of wish they had an east/west equivalent to that track in the Loop. My arguments against the lanes in CBD Cincinnati are really due to traffic patterns there - a bicycle is at parity with the rest of traffic which is a pretty amazing feeling particularly when I'm used to navigating the chaos of the Loop.

Hopefully that will help cover the shenanigans that the illustrious mayor tried to pull late last year.

Other than Central Parkway, Liberty Street, and Reading Road, the narrow low speed streets of the CBD and OTR are actually pretty nice for bicycling without lanes. I've found when doing it on a little folding bicycle that I tend to keep pace with the rest of traffic on weekdays - the lights are so close to each other in downtown that a bicycle moves as fast as cars. I'm all for lanes especially on liberty street as part of a road diet, I'm just waiting for Cranley to f-that one up - I do understand Jake's point as well.

^-What a dipshit.

^-History be damned.

^-These guys should move across the river...

Ruthless people do get far, but in the long run it comes back to bite them in the rear. There are better ways of running business even if its harder.

People should also know about how f-ing evil that a-hole is and boycott the bengals too ;)

^-GE is large enough and powerful enough that they may force Mike Brown to be reasonable for once.