So how different does your city's urban neighborhoods look like today vs. five or ten years ago? Over here in Columbus there's Downtown which has seen an increase in residents and businesses and the same goes (more or less) for Weinland Park between Downtown and OSU, Merion Village south of Downtown and the King-Lincoln & Olde Towne East pair bordering Downtown just to the east. A few others like Franklinton have seen only seen improvements on residential streets with new builds and rehabs, but the urban commercial strips look as sad as they did a decade ago. Considering the amount of time that has passed though, the amount of new good destinations has paled in comparison to the amount of residents moving to these areas. In each neighborhood, aside from Downtown, I can count the number of new places on one hand or two (but even then I don't need to use all of my fingers). Some of these places are more recent in their U&C status, but others like Olde Towne East have had that label for well over a decade with several blocks of deserted commercial streets to show for it today. So ,suffice it say I'm flat out disappointed in the lack of progress we've made, especially when compared to a few other cities in the region. So, is the grass any greener over there in the up-and-coming part of your up-and-coming neighborhoods?

 

 

Over-the-Rhine has changed completely in the past five years and that change won't slow.  Well over $100 million in investment between 2005 and 2015.

I would say redevelopment in Cleveland neighborhoods slowed greatly in the past five years, but over the past 10 years I would say the change has been pretty remarkable. I wouldn't know where to begin to list all of the development projects, single/multi-family rehabs, etc.

 

But since the last five years were lackluster, it's easier to single out the bright spots. The brightest spot is probably the University Circle area which has about $500 million in housing projects underway or finished since 2005. Downtown is probably a close second with most of the redevelopment focused along Euclid Avenue, but lesser projects in the Warehouse District and the Avenue District.

 

Let's face it. The national housing market is still in the toilet even though the credit markets are recovering. Most of what is getting built/rebuilt in Cleveland is rental housing. The exception, again, is the University Circle area. The fact that anything has gotten built in that area is a testament to the remarkable job growth occurring in the Health/Tech Corridor.

I would say there has been other neighborhoods which has seen redevelopment in Cleveland other than University Circle. Detroit Shoreway is one which has seen new housing and new commericial open up.  And the news with the neighborhood's redevelopment keeps on looking brighter.  Asia Town has seen some redevelopment with Warehouse conversions and the opening of a new market.  Another neighborhood which people on urban Ohio forget is the area around W 117 and Lorain.  This area is becoming a strong Arabic neighborhood and many Arabic restaurant's, bakeries, Hookah shops have opend up in the last 5 years.  There still is a lot of work to be done in this neighborhood.

 

While not a whole lot  has happened in Ohio City the past 5 years there is lots of redevelopment on the horizen.  A new Micro-brewarying is opening soon, the large bank building is being redeveloped and there are plans for redevelopment on W 25th south of Lorain.

 

 

Asiatown seems to have a ton of momentum, at least in turns of recognition and suburbian interest.  That area is definitely doing it right

 

Very interesting grammar the last two posts, hmmmm

For Dayton, I'd say the central neighborhoods are doing much better, the middle-ring neighborhoods have gone downhill (quite fast), and the outer-neighborhoods are just as stable as I've ever seen.  St. Anne's Hill, Wright-Dunbar, McPherson Town, etc are all doing much better than they were 10 years ago but Santa Clara, Roosevelt, Westwood, Dayton View, etc look noticeably worse.  Downtown was doing fine until the recession slowed down the progress (Merc, the townhouses on Patterson, etc) but it looks like things are slowly picking up again.

Dayton:  South Park is apparently the new up-and-coming Historic District, still. This has been going on for years, but I think things are reaching a certain level there, now, a positive buzz about the area. 

 

The "University"/"Miami Valley Hospital" area near South Park is also becoming interesting, with a lot of renovations and infill in a handfull of side streets between the hospital and UD, and UD itself is becoming a major developer in the part of Dayton between downtown and upscale Oakwood.  As part of this there is a lot of demolition and boarding-up in the older parts of this area between, say South Park and US 35, and between Main and Warren Streets,  north of the hospital.  This area is slowly being cleared of structures..residential and retail...yet there is some suprising moves, like the restoration of the Marvin Gardens row.

 

MacPhersontown is nearly complelety restored now, and is like a baby Oregon without 5th Street.  Huffman and Dayton View are sort of "failed" historic districts, where restoration has stalled and even moved in reverse.  St Annes Hill is holding on, but the area to the east of it, Newcom Plain, is on a downward spiral.

 

CDM is right about the decline of the middle neighborhoods. That's the big story of the last ten years.  I'd add Old North Dayton seems to be really sliding as does East Dayton...accelerated deterioration and vacancy as far east as the foot of the hills.  North Main has really crashed.  With the closure of Q and relocation of Omega Music to the Oregon the last relics of the old Santa Clara Arts District are gone.  The residential west of it has major vacancy issues. That was a big "Fail", a local attempt to do something like Short North. Grim.

 

Otherwise trends are as they always where..south and east are the big suburban boom areas, and things are stagnating Northwest.  Austin Boulevard is the new hot suburban area, and we are waiting for development to re-start at Wilmington Pike and I-675, which has become a major retail center.  There is some office stuff that is supposed to go in there, and yet more major strip centers.

 

There's a big new hospital going up on Pentagon Boulevard (WSU /Fairfield Commons Mall area), which is pretty much the crowning touch to development in this area...which is pretty close to build-out. 

 

The big suburban fade is the venerable Town and Country shopping center, which is a lot more vacant and gets less foot traffic these days.  I think The Greene did have an impact on this place.

 

Downtown was doing fine until the recession slowed down the progress (Merc, the townhouses on Patterson, etc) but it looks like things are slowly picking up again.

 

Seems like the big stall with downtown residential was an early warning of the collapse of the housing market, since it happened maybe 1-2 years before the rest of the market declined.

 

The townhoses are being built, but I think the Merc is dead.  The next thing to watch is the loft industrial building, one of the Delco buildings,  next to 5/3 Field, since there is some talk about re-doing that into residential (Sandy Mendelson and a developer who did the Brown Street retail infill).

 

@@@@

 

The unreported story in Dayton is the ongoing somewhat peacemeal reconstruction of unfashionable and half-abandoned inner neighborhoods.  These are not historic districts, but there is quite a bit of new construction in the 'Inner West" area, in Wolf Creek and a bit in McFarlane. In Lower Dayton View a Hope VI redevelopement has extended beyond the confines of a public housing project to do single-family-home infill in a "Detroit" type landscape of vacancy. 

 

One is starting to see this reconstruction on the east side in Twin Towers, which has underwent a big decline. 

 

The shrinking cities model says that these areas should be decommissioned and returned to open space.  Instead they are being incrementally redeveloped with new housing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interesting thread!

 

I can't answer with any authority for Youngstown's neighborhoods, as I've only been living in the area for 10 years, and in the city for 8.  In fact, I only started following the city's progress since about 2006.

 

My "gut feeling" is that most of the neighborhoods are unchanged, or slightly declining.  There are some neighborhoods that have seen a lot of interest in recent years, but it's too early to know whether that interest will generate results.

 

A notable exception, I think, is downtown.

The Euclid Corridor project has generating billions in investment... literally.  TOD at its finest, even if some of those projects would have happened with or without the Corridor.

 

I'd say that Cleveland proper is much, much better and has a lot to look forward to.  Shaker and Cleveland Heights are fairly stagnant (unless you judge a city based purely on racial demographics).  Lakewood has some great promise.  But several of the inner ring suburbs, especially on the South side are in some serious trouble.  Buy, hey, every City has to have its bad neighborhoods and it would be my preference (for selfish and sim city fantasy purposes) that our ghettos be to the south.  Get them the hell away from the Lake!

I agree that every city will have its bad neighborhoods, but I don't think they have to be as bad as they are. Any long-term plan for revitalization needs to be serious about raising high school graduation rates in those neighborhoods to reduce crime and poverty among those who would otherwise drop out and make money through illegal, sometimes violent activities. In the meantime, there are neighborhoods where while crime is higher than the more polished areas, it's no where near as bad as some of the worst where you have large areas of 50-80% of households making under $30,000 and where there's a nearly 50% high school drop out rate: these places are simply going to be at the bottom of the list, even if they sadly are home to a still intact and usable urban business district.

 

For Cleveland I see that North Collinwood is one neighborhood that has been improving and it's no wonder since there's a solid foundation of people with higher education and income levels to bring back strips like Waterloo, (which still isn't on streetview if you can believe that) despite the area around Humphrey Park being the opposite. To solve that more well-educated and moneyed residents can be attracted to fill in the relatively small gap and even things out.

 

Now for the Euclid Corridor, it passes through a particularly bad area, so the amount of investment is pleasantly surprising. It's funny that just after I posted this that Columbus is looking at a BRT route similar to Cleveland's to help revitalize Linden's main stretch: Cleveland Ave, which may not even be as bad as Hough. Locals here refer to it as someplace that's too far gone and will never comeback (even on UO). Although, I do have to ask just how much of the $1 billion+ being invested on Euclid are within the low-income, high-crime neighborhoods between Downtown and UC. Who knows, what with many failed attempts at more rail in our cities, BRT may be the determining factor for which future neighborhoods will be up-and-coming and which will stagnate.

 

What area of the Euclid Corridor "passes through a particularly bad area"?  I would agree that it "extends into a particular bad area" (East Cleveland), but I wouldn't say any other part is particularly bad in a way that would discourage development.  The large chunk between the Clinic and CSU (which I assume you are referencing), particularly the closer you get to 55th from either direction, is definitely not a "good neighborhood" and it may appear to be a particularly bad neighborhood.  But I would say appearances can be deceiving in this situation.  I ride my bike through it without much concern at all (I would not ride through EC and several other Cleveland neighborhoods).     

I totally agree Hts121.  I told someone today that I drive home to UC on Chester from downtown and he responded whoa man right through "the ghetto".  I didn't educate him at the time but a lot of people think the same thing.  Heck when I first went to Case I thought that the drive through midtown was pretty rough.  It may still appear that way but it really isn't as bad as it seems.  I think some of the abandoned buildings along the way look particularly grim but I regularly ride my bike down Euclid with no fear whatsoever.  I might not walk through there by myself in the middle of the night but really it is not that bad at all.  I would rate midtown as much safer than East Cleveland and some other areas.  Maybe with some of the recent demolitions (a couple of which I find regrettable but they looked scary and rough at the time of demolition)  the area will start to appear better on the surface and people will feel more comfortable there. 

I used to live in that area and it is indeed very bad.  Constant crime, some of it straight from a horror movie.  And I think that if current development plans go forward, i.e. making it into a suburban industrial park, that stretch will remain desolate and dangerous at night. 

 

I doubt the BRT had much, if anything, to do with any private development plans there.  If it did, then why are those plans so car-centric?  This stuff probably won't even have doors facing Euclid Ave.  However, there are a couple of housing projects in the works for Euclid too.  One for the elderly and one for the homeless, as I understand.  Those will probably be keyed to BRT usage... but that's not exactly the sort of ROI anyone had in mind.  Is it?

Where exactly did you live?  What building?

The one next to the Agora.  It's super nice inside and the landlord is great.  But OMG the stuff that goes on around there...

In response to Columbustie's comment.

 

From what I have seen North Collinwood is not improving.  Yes there is some well along the lake but the neighborhood has seen so much abandonment recently especially along Lakeshore blvd.  The neighborhood is seeing an influex of lower-middle class African Americans and I think it is becoming more and more lower income residents.  The only area of Collinwood that has seen any reinvestment in the past 10 years is Waterloo.

Oh no!  Not the African Americans!

 

Seriously, I am very familiar with that nabe.  Heading there in about 1/2 hr as a matter of fact.  There has definitley been some noticeable improvement.  For instance, it now has the nicest elementary school in the entire City perhaps.

 

And FYI, the neighborhood IS lower middle class.  It is what it is.  That's what makes it attractive to artists and other lower middle class types.

My intentions was not to make a shot at African Americans but to say that the neighborhood has changed from mainly a middle class Irish neighborhood to a lower middle class African American Neighborhood.  This neighborhood used to be one of the most desireable neighborhoods in the city similar to West Park and Old Brooklyn but within the last 10-15 years crime has increased, abandonment has increased and the income has dropped.

 

What other improvements have you seen other than the elementary school?

Oh no!   Not the African Americans!

 

Seriously, I am very familiar with that nabe. Heading there in about 1/2 hr as a matter of fact. There has definitley been some noticeable improvement. For instance, it now has the nicest elementary school in the entire City perhaps.

 

And FYI, the neighborhood IS lower middle class. It is what it is. That's what makes it attractive to artists and other lower middle class types.

OK.  I know what you mean.... except for the fact that I would have never thought of that area as anything but lower middle class, regardless of race.... save for the tiny stretch north of Lakeshore, which is still very much middle class.

From Collinwood locals, I get a sense that the area has gone significantly downhill in the last decade.  I did some campaign work there over the summer (Lakeshore/185th area) and was taken aback by the amount of abandonment, even on those little streets that dead end at the lake.

Defintively agreed that the area North of Lakeshore is middle class and maybe even upper middle class.  My impression just from the size of the houses is that is was middle class 10-15 years ago.  The houses are similar in size to Lakewood and Glennville.  But we would really need to here from someone who lived there to really know.

 

BTW I've heard that there is a movie coming out in a year about Danny Greene and the Irish Mofia in Collingwood in the 70s.  I hope they film it in the neighborhood.

The film has already been shot in Detroit.

 

Defintively agreed that the area North of Lakeshore is middle class and maybe even upper middle class. My impression just from the size of the houses is that is was middle class 10-15 years ago. The houses are similar in size to Lakewood and Glennville. But we would really need to here from someone who lived there to really know.

 

BTW I've heard that there is a movie coming out in a year about Danny Greene and the Irish Mofia in Collingwood in the 70s. I hope they film it in the neighborhood.

Defintively agreed that the area North of Lakeshore is middle class and maybe even upper middle class. My impression just from the size of the houses is that is was middle class 10-15 years ago. The houses are similar in size to Lakewood and Glennville. But we would really need to here from someone who lived there to really know.

 

BTW I've heard that there is a movie coming out in a year about Danny Greene and the Irish Mofia in Collingwood in the 70s. I hope they film it in the neighborhood.

 

I've lived there a few times.  Still go there several times a week because my best friend is now living right off Neff.  Collinwood and Euclid were always tough areas as far back as I can remember.  Lots of blue collar families.  Its always been that way and probably always will.  What's different is that it has become more integrated and that leads to a lot of the "downhill" comments from long time residents who preferred the more segregated neighborhoods of the past.  I'm sure it had its glory days, when all the factories and homes were new, but that was long, long ago.  Definitely more than 10 years.

 

BTW I've heard that there is a movie coming out in a year about Danny Greene and the Irish Mofia in Collingwood in the 70s. I hope they film it in the neighborhood.

 

Yep, there's previews for it and interviews on youtube.

 

Here's an article I wrote about Danny Greene on the 25th anniversary of his murder....

 

http://www.americanmafia.com/Feature_Articles_241.html

I'd say Northside has slowly but steadily continued on its upswing. Hopefully when the economy starts to swing back some momentum will pick up.

 

Covington and Newport are noticeably better than five years ago, if they count.

Northside had the sold out Citirama project (21 homes I think), and the large warehouse off Hamilton is finally moving forward with its renovation.  I think it has weathered the recession pretty well, but one think Ithink Northside could REALLY use is a streetscape improvement on Hamilton.  If they burried the wires, cleaned up the sidewalks, added a few more street trees, etc. I think it would make a huge difference.

Northside is in a good place now.  I think it (Hamilton Avenue) still seems "old school + bohemian" vs "gentrified".  After walking it a bit ..the side streets and cross streets..the place is actually in fair to good shape...actually rather nice the closer you get to Parker Woods.

 

I'm sort of wondering whats going into that Art Damage Lodge space.  I read that some entertainment or music venue is opening there?

 

 

 

 

I've still got to visit Northside (and Tremont), seems to be their version of what the Short North used to be like before it became an urban playground for suburbanites looking to spend a night out in the city. Not that that's a bad thing since it means other neighborhoods can fill that role and it gives suburban/exurban residents a positive impression of "urban". It's just that the neighborhoods that are attempting to fill that void, Olde Towne East & Franklinton, have made some serious inroads to get homes fixed and occupied, but the retail aspect just isn't there. Between the two neighborhoods you could fit all the of the quality pre-existing and new retail spots within the past decade or so (several decades as far as Franklinton is concerned) on just a few blocks, which falls well short of progress made in other recent up-and-coming neighborhoods, such as Northside which has block after block of occupied storefronts which have a healthy mix of businesses. Just imagine if that neighborhood were only able to attract a handful of businesses after all this time and you'll understand my frustration watching the snail's pace revitalization going on over here in similar neighborhoods.

 

Why would there be such a hold up with getting new businesses in a neighborhood where some very noticeable improvements have been made on residential streets? Shouldn't that be enough to get more and more local entrepreneurs to seriously consider such an area? I used to be under the assumption that after you turned some once blighted residential streets with boarded up homes and peeled paint into polished, handsome homes that the retail would follow. Now I know it doesn't, but I just can't figure out why.

I think you answered your own question.

 

Short North has the level of retail/food/drink stuff because it's a regional destination (and maybe a secondary "strip" area for the OSU community).  If it was just the population on either side of High...Victorian Village and Italian Village... using High Street would there be the same level of storefront occupancy and retai/food/drink activity?

 

 

I've still got to visit Northside (and Tremont), seems to be their version of what the Short North used to be like before it became an urban playground for suburbanites looking to spend a night out in the city.

 

From what I saw I think Tremont is further along on the gentrfication route than Northside.  It also doesn't have a main "busy street" spine like Hamilton Avenue. 

I think you answered your own question.

 

Short North has the level of retail/food/drink stuff because it's a regional destination (and maybe a secondary "strip" area for the OSU community).  If it was just the population on either side of High...Victorian Village and Italian Village... using High Street would there be the same level of storefront occupancy and retai/food/drink activity?

 

 

I think in the case of the Short North it was the galleries and additional retail, including risky ventures like Rigsby's: high-end dining in the ghetto, that resulted in the regional draw that the Short North is today and that this helped fill in any remaining vacant homes along the way in surrounding neighborhoods. If all of the storefronts on E Main were to be fixed up and occupied by a mix of retail, restaurants, and bars, are you telling me that only Olde Towne East residents would be heading out there and that it wouldn't draw visitors from all over central Ohio?

...are you telling me that only Olde Towne East residents would be heading out there and that it wouldn't draw visitors from all over central Ohio?

 

It depends.

 

The Short North is a regional draw, pulling in customers from across the metro area (as well as visitors and, perhaps, people affiliated with OSU).  That is why it's so busy and the ground-level storefronts are filled.  I suspect there isn't enough money or customer base in the adjacent neighborhoods to support this level of of action, so the market has to extend beyond these neighborhoods to make the Short North click. 

 

The question is "Can the Columbus area support more than one regional retail/eat/drink district or strip, developed at the same or similar level as the Short North?"

 

If it can't, or can't support much more, then similar corridors in places like, say, Old Town East (not that familiar with the area, just an example) might not develop to the same level.  The local residents will provide a customer base,  sure, which will support some level of retail/eat/drink stuff, but there might not be enough out-of-neighborhood patronage to support much more than that.

I would argue that OTE (and other core business districts) are competing not just w/ the Short North, but also Bexley (esp. OTE) and German Village. For those places to get to get enough velocity is going to require more local population support.

 

I'm sort of wondering whats going into that Art Damage Lodge space.  I read that some entertainment or music venue is opening there?

 

 

 

 

 

Yes they are currently advertising a Monday night music event.

Olde Towne East has a larger population than German Village, not including the surrounding neighborhoods which have also seen noticeable improvements with more residents (with disposable income)and rehabbed homes: Franklin Park and Woodland Park. It's true that local residents need to support and encourage more businesses in the area. Like German Village, it would likely be geared more towards local residents than visitors  and in any case there are only a few more unoccupied commercial structures on Oak and E Main only has a small fraction of what was there before, so I don't foresee any over-saturation of retail occurring here. Parsons, all two blocks that are left, are all filled in.

 

What Olde Towne East has to offer attracts a different demographic than Bexley, which would be one much closer to German Village. Staples like Carabar, Chop Chop Gallery and AWOL, among others, would never set up shop in those neighborhoods. I know that for myself I prefer the vibe of businesses in OTE and would like to see more. So far, newer establishments seem to be attracting a decent crowd: one new coffee shop opened recently and there's a vegan-friendly bakery on the way on Oak. So, even though the area won't compete at the same level as the SN (there simply aren't enough intact buildings for that possibility) it should already provide a more comprehensive variety of businesses with a different flavor than that of the highly gentrified Short North and still draw a sizable crowd. Looking at the population numbers and income in and around the area, OTE should have its shit together. Case in point: Northside has a significantly smaller population and income level, yet has a good deal more retail, when that should be the case for OTE.

I'm not super familiar with Northside, but its wider surroundings are a bit nicer than those of OTE, aren't they?  It's tough to get a small island of neighborhood commercial activity going.  It's also tough to redevelop an area that has "bad" on much of its perimeter.  Not impossible, but tough.  Just ask University Circle.  SN had the benefit of not competing with SN during its redevelopment, and more importantly it had the two poles of downtown and OSU to feed it.  Almost an ideal situation.

Northside appears to be something of an island with the closest neighboring neighborhood to the south across a highway (South Cumminsville, which seems to be in hard times). OTE does have an overall solid residential core and outside of that and a couple other neighborhoods it does go downhill in the northern (Mt Vernon Ave) and southern (south of Main) reaches, but the Franklin and Woodland Park neighborhoods add up to a much larger population with disposable income and they're all close to Downtown, particularly OTE which is adjacent to CCAD (1,300 art students). OTE already attracts some of them (I'm pretty sure Carabar is their main hangout) who rent in the area; I learned this from some friends who lived over on Franklin Ave (probably the best street in the neighborhood as far as comprehensive revitalization).

 

Northside is much more out of the way by being isolated, it's not close to Downtown, OTR, or Mt Adams, and it looks like it would be an unpleasant walk even from Ludlow in Clifton from where there's a huge gap whereas a short walk across a bridge will bring you from Downtown to OTE. Northside's location in relation to other healthy neighborhoods is much worse than what locals here would deem an insurmountable roadblock for prospective revitalization: that includes distressed neighborhoods bordering healthy ones. If Northside was in Columbus it would be empty because of this. The best comparison would be Highland West which is the most similar, located 3 miles due west of Downtown and just like Northside has a high concentration of old commercial buildings on a handful of blocks which wouldn't be competing with a SN-like neighborhood nearby (well, I guess Grandview would be the closest). The difference here is that no one is touching the commercial buildings, but north of Broad, west of Hague, and south of Sullivant you have thousands of residents who would more than be able to support a revitalized five block urban business district, but here there's been very, very little going on thanks to the area immediately to the south, hemmed in by Broad and Sullivant, which has one of the city's highest crime rates.

 

This could be addressed by taking a page from what the Short North did by cleaning up the business district one block at a time while continuing to clean up problem side streets and I'm sure Northside also took this approach, otherwise we'd see mostly improved residential streets bordering a derelict business district that continues to attract crime. Being out-of-the-way and having to address crime didn't stop people from investing in Northside's business district, but over here we're having a hell of a time getting anyone interested in (once) similar areas. Northside has taken that absolutely necessary step of chipping away at their troubled business district and seeing the result just makes me wonder why we insist on postponing that as long as possible. If we followed that approach for the Short North you can bet that today there would be less buildings, less businesses and out of the ones left, few if any, you'd make an effort to visit; the languishing decay would translate to less residential revitalization, because who wants to live next to a run-down business district that mainly attracts lowlifes within walking distance of your house? In that case, you might as well just live in Downtown or the University District, rather than a distressed neighborhood between the two.

 

So in short, Northside's remote location did not hinder revitalization and they even have competition from Clifton which shares a somewhat similar vibe: definitely not a highly polished, gentrified area to go for $10 martinis, $400 jeans, and high-end pastries for your dog. I'm now concluding that the disparity is due to Columbus' lone familiarity among urbanites with High St and anything outside of that scares them (they fear the unknown, which is what their mental map of Columbus labels everywhere off of High St), whereas in Cincinnati and Cleveland you don't have all of your healthy neighborhoods neatly aligned on a single street, and most importantly, they're more than OK with that. We suffer from Highstreetitis.

 

 

 

This quote on Pittsburgh's Lawrenceville (their OTR/Tremont/Olde Towne East) caught my eye.

 

"In 2010 alone, 22 new businesses opened in Lawrenceville"

 

How does your main up-and-coming neighborhood compare? Here's the article.

 

Businesses lured to Lawrenceville's new life

'Sudden' success of 'LoLa' has been a long time coming and is no accident

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

By Ann Belser, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

 

Janice Webb Donatelli walked down Lawrenceville's Butler Street, picked up a discarded cardboard beer box and stuffed it into the trash before walking into the cafe she founded about a decade ago, but sold shortly thereafter.

 

 

Ms. Donatelli now owns Artemis, a store that sells environmentally sustainable building supplies.

 

 

It is her third business to be located in Lawrenceville. Through the years that Ms. Donatelli has been in Lawrenceville, it has changed from a broken community of outdated housing stock and neglected empty storefronts to a trendy neighborhood where homes are being rehabilitated and the main shopping strip of Butler Street is filling with independently owned shops, galleries and eateries.

 

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11081/1133632-334.stm#ixzz1IOw9XZpO

Here is a pretty good article from the Enquirer about the changing face of OTR

 

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20110403/NEWS01/104030305/1055/NEWS010101/A-different-struggle-

While good, low-income residents are going to be pushed out to some degree, how can anyone say that having to fear just walking down a street full of abandoned buildings is better than what's there now? Sorry, but this is progress. There's nothing stopping them from contributing to another more affordable neighborhood. After all, the area should never have been a dumping ground for low-income residents and criminals in the first place and shouldn't continue to be a failed social experiment at the expense of low-income individuals.

 

What's the number in the increase of businesses from a few years ago?

Minneapolis' short but revived 13th Ave business district:

 

A Minneapolis Stretch Reborn

By MICHAEL TORTORELLO

Published: April 25, 2010

 

POLES used to rule 13th Avenue in northeast Minneapolis. A Polish deli and a Polish clothing store marked one end of this commercial stretch along the old Broadway streetcar line, five minutes north of downtown. The Polish White Eagle Association, a fraternal organization, anchored the other. Empty storefronts dotted the brick buildings in between like missing teeth in an uneasy smile.

 

Galleries moved in to some of those spaces. But what really brightened this four-block stretch was the October opening of the Anchor Fish & Chips (302 13th Avenue NE; 612-676-1300; theanchorfishandchips.com).

 

“Lately, it feels like this is more of a destination than it used to be,” said Dale Flattum (who goes by the nickname Tooth), a local poster artist. “With the 331 Club,” he said, referring to a neighborhood bar and music site, “and the Anchor, it seems like people are coming here to do stuff.”

 

http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/04/25/travel/25surfacing.html

MSN did a slideshow series on revitalized urban neighborhoods.

 

From blighted to bling: 10 revitalized neighborhoods

 

By John Roach of SwitchYard Media

 

Run-down, dilapidated, crime-infested and drug-ridden are descriptors that homeowners typically avoid attaching to their neighborhoods — unless those terms describe what the area was like before its revitalization.

 

http://realestate.msn.com/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=27746032

Here's Milwaukee's program focusing on their neighborhood business districts that debuted in 2004. From the beginning of the 3rd paragraph alone it shows that someone working for the city gets it: people tend to judge neighborhoods by their downtown (if there is one), since it's more often than not a major road. You could have plenty of nice homes on the side streets, but if the main district is empty and run-down, then everyone passing through will have that as their perception of the neighborhood as a whole.

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ON NOVEMBER 10, 2004

Mayor Barrett launches ‘Main Street Milwaukee’ program

 

Equipped with a set of real jumper cables, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett launched a program today that will jump-start efforts to revitalize neighborhood commercial districts. The Main Street Milwaukee program earned the approval of the Common Council and was signed into action today by Mayor Barrett.

 

“We know that some commercial main streets need a jump start and today we’re ready with the jumper cables,” said Mayor Tom Barrett. “I believe the Main Street Milwaukee program will harness investment and energy in ways that will boost our local neighborhood shopping districts. Jumper cables only work when you make the right connections. Main Street Milwaukee connects public and private efforts in a way we’ve not seen before.”

 

Commercial main streets help provide an identity for a neighborhood while offering goods and services to residents. Main Street Milwaukee focuses revitalization efforts of traditional neighborhood commercial districts. The program is based on both a national model and Wisconsin’s Main Street program. Main Street Milwaukee differs from other programs because it pools together public and private funding.

 

http://city.milwaukee.gov/MayorBarrettlaunchesMainStreet.htm

 

Here's the program's website with urban businesses districts listed along with a blurb about some of the progress being made in each. Ohio cities could definitely use a layout and program like this to bring familiarity to unknown parts of the inner-city. A problem that a lot of up and coming neighborhoods face is that outsiders tend to think of these places as a big red X in their mental maps. For urbanites like me, such a list is something I wish just about every city had so that I could hit up these places for a little off-the-beaten excursion. Otherwise, you have to search them out for yourself.

 

http://www.mkedcd.org/MainStreetMilwaukee/Districts.html

While good, low-income residents are going to be pushed out to some degree, how can anyone say that having to fear just walking down a street full of abandoned buildings is better than what's there now? Sorry, but this is progress. There's nothing stopping them from contributing to another more affordable neighborhood. After all, the area should never have been a dumping ground for low-income residents and criminals in the first place and shouldn't continue to be a failed social experiment at the expense of low-income individuals.

 

What's the number in the increase of businesses from a few years ago?

 

That's a good question.  Just off the top of my head (mostly based on my walks around the neighborhood):

 

Senate (restaurant)

Lavomatic (restaurant)

Joseph Williams Home (furniture store)

Mica 12/v (miscellaneous stuff)

Switch (lighting store)

MOTR Pub

The Lackman (bar)

Park + Vine (organic store)

Little Mahatma (I think it's new)

Neon's (bar -- reopened)

A Tavola (wood-fired pizza place--opening soon)

Mulan (shoe store - opening soon)

A clothing store that's name is escaping me

Cooknee European Cabinets

Taste of Belgium (opening soon)

 

That's 15 I know of off the top of my head since we saw the initiation of the "Gateway Quarter" development. 

 

 

Note that does not take into account any businesses that were lost.  Also I forgot the Segway store. 

^^^Clothing store = 4U

That's it.  Never been there.

15 new stores, regardless of those that had closed since, is more than  double the progress we've seen anywhere outside of the Short North. According to the OTR chamber of commerce there are quite a few more establishments than listed above for restaurants and bars alone. I think part of OTR's success has to do with the fact that Cincinnati's layout of urban neighborhoods doesn't allow for the linear layout seen in Columbus where everything is concentrated on High St. People there are used to heading out to different streets for different neighborhoods, so Cincinnatians are very likely much more familiar with their inner-city as a whole than Columbusites. Over here, everyone is only familiar with one street and getting them to venture away from it to the unknown is a huge, additional psychological obstacle.

For sure, Cincinnatians are familiar with various neighborhoods and the corresponding commercial streets/business districts. You can kind of choose the flavor of your evening by picking which 'hood to play in (or you can switch it up in the middle).

 

Northside, Clifton, CUF/Corryville, OTR/CBD, Mt. Adams, Hyde Park, Covington -- all geographically separate and each with different flavors.

 

Edit: It's one of the reasons a streetcar and/or light rail system makes so much goddamn sense, because there are various centers with legitimate gaps to bridge.