JYP

Unless, of course, the "it" you are talking about is good urban form, pedestrian-friendly, and urban. That is definitely dead!

When I used to live in Norwood I would often walk from my house at Carter and Sherman to there. It's a 15 minute walk but gets pretty bleak once you get to the Walgreens due to all the surface parking and cars moving around like you are in the way. The main distinguishing factor here is zoning. Cincinnati has regulations preventing strip malls and drive-thru's in the CBD, Norwood doesn't and welcomes them. Fast food can tenant storefronts downtown but they have to play by the rules. Most of the real estate brokers these chains use don't understand urban and don't want to. Their corporate clients see massive profits with drive-thru's, free parking and the like. They are unwilling to experiment with urbanism so they avoid it or try to break the communities zoning code through variances and appeals. On a macro decision scale, Cincinnati waged this fight 20 years ago when a McDonald's wanted to locate around where the casino is now and wanted a conventional store. Then again in the early 2000's when Kroger tried to demolish the Haile Justice Center for a new box to replace the one on Vine Street. The city fought these and our core is less compromised with automobile-oriented out-parcels because of it.

They're waiting for you to give them the green light @TroyEros!! ?

This is up there with the Chambers promo video with the yellow pants guy.

If they spend the money to flip the convention space up to the second floor and move the meeting rooms to the first floor they can go north and east without destroying the street grid.

This is part of Metro's FAStop project. More information below: https://www.go-metro.com/fastops

It would be easy for TANK to move to the RTC. Some of their buses switch back and forth between Kenton and Campbell County routes between the Covington Transit Center and Cincinnati. Also it has decent access to 75 north on and off via Central Ave. 71 north at 5th via Broadway, south from 3rd... So they could make express buses work. Also the 50/28 and Metro + (which already turns around down there) could be added pretty easily. Finally, ride may work down there but I think the addition of cars in a bus terminal could create some confusion. It's not impossible because there is sooooo much space down there, probably about as long as the drop off zone at CVG.

I agree with this. It's the way the talent attraction game is being played nationally regarding social media. More Instagram posts, stories, shares and likes leads to more interest and more interest leads to visits, tourism dollars and attention. It adds to the continued positive narrative of the city to help with attracting young people. So far, no other city has done a light festival this big nationally. As for Jake's point, most people don't have his kind of artistic preference so they are impressed by these things.

There was definitely room for improvement without removing the breezeway. Fountain Square is a public space and pedestrian access is important. Actually, its a key to creating great urban spaces which help cities thrive. Eliminating this helps create a super block and limits access for pedestrians from the northeast. The sky walk is for employees and although there is public access its still not a great way to enter such a public space. There was room for a win/win here but it will go down as a missed opportunity. The square will suffer because of this and you won't know it till its too late.

Say goodbye to the Walnut Street breezeway!

They are going to probably go all glass like the two remaining sisters dorms from UC. It's cheap and easy. The right way to go is to bring back the mid-century paneling but have it be more energy efficient.

It's almost all Kroger employees there since they took over Fred Meyer. I knew an attorney who was forced out by them.

What mall? Are you talking about the Carew Tower Arcade? The arcade may always perform marginally. It's not the nicest arcade in downtown Cincinnati (see Dixie Terminal) and its too small to become a real destination driver. For that space to succeed they would really need to innovate with some kind of destination driver.

Improvements to the actual street have not started yet. That could be either what's left of Blink or the empty parcel where there used to be a parking lot.

In OTR and downtown, entities like 3CDC are able to leverage income from TIF's to finance parking garage construction, streetscape improvements and other infrastructure. If you have an entity like that driving development, it will create some momentum. Some of the proposed TIF areas are already developing so they will likely benefit the most. Places like North and South Fairmont will struggle unless projects like Lick Run start driving developer investment.

As someone that attended the first Blink in 2017 and this one I agree with @taestell's observations. No one knew what to expect in 2017 so there was a greater sense of wonder and exploration. In 2019, people developed expectations based on 2017 so some were bound to be disappointed. In regards to repeat installations, while different animations, the Hamilton County Courthouse, CAC and Memorial Hall all returned from 2017. It was more spread out this year but if you planned to attend multiple days you can see most of it. It took all four days for my wife and I to cover everything in 2017, and it was the same this time but I missed a few installations because of rain or malfunctions. As for restaurants, I also saw a lot of hit or miss. Food trucks seemed like winners, and most restaurants along the route seemed to have an uptick. Transit seemed to work well although I noticed the streetcar was getting bunched up periodically. It looks like they were running 4 trains through the whole event. The Roebling ended up being a huge chokepoint that only really got ironed out on Saturday night and Sunday. My biggest complaint was that people felt entitled with the installations this year. My wife was on one of the design teams and her installation was partially destroyed by children and some adults. Should they have invested in more durable construction? Sure, but with a budget of $7,000 it's hard to build something interactive that doesn't break when people enter the picture.

The divorce is over.

https://www.blinkcincinnati.com/sponsors/ When the BLINK website is back online you will have your answers. EDIT: Of course P&G and Kroger are involved. I know P&G is sponsoring some of the installations and I bet Kroger has too.

I would coordinate this but I am in the parade this year and hosting people from out of town over the weekend. I did register for Doors Open and will try to attend. Maybe have a UO meetup at one of those venues and a walk-a-bout around on Saturday? Also my wife's team has an installation at the Smale Labyrinth called Upside Wobbles: https://www.blinkcincinnati.com/portfolio/upside-wobbles/ Check it out whenever the website is back online... or in person.

It's the median income for the City of Cincinnati. 80% of that number is considered low income. https://cintimha.com/hcv/eligibility/ Looks like 80% AMI for one is someone currently earning $45,500 a year.

This reminds me of when Mayor Mallory projected Cincinnati's population ten years ago at 378,000: https://www.soapboxmedia.com/innovationnews/47census2010.aspx Cranley's estimate is much more conservative. There is a lot of evidence that city population could grow with the official count due to building permits, more development in downtown, OTR and other neighborhoods but I don't want to be disappointed like we were in 2010 when we projected a 40,000 person increase and instead got a 40,000 person decrease.

Agree with this. Online is not killing bricks and mortar retail, its killing retailers who are unable to adapt to a more experiential and service oriented customer base. Kenwood is the one high performing mall in Cincinnati so I am sure there is a line and Zara is probably somewhere in the front of that.

I know a guy...

If we can get a critical mass of Asian inspired restaurants and shops on Court Street I am totally down for that. Now we need some Dim Sum and Korean BBQ and we're set!

When do we move this thread into the abandoned projects section?