Posted December 19, 200618 yr I have been thinking about starting a group for downtown Cincinnati Parents. The goals would be: Advocacy For urban children, play areas, parks, pools, kid-friendly stores, street safety For middle class residents Develop friendships Playdates Babysitting exchange Share information on resources Mutual support of parents in urban environment. Retention of couples after arrival of new child. *** Does something like this already exist? This is very preliminary, and I am not sure if we would have a web presence even. Maybe just an email list with meetup dates and requests for babysitting services etc. But I was thinking of having some formal structure so that we could maybe have some lobbying power when speaking to park board members or council members etc.. It could be very low key, or we could try to be activists, where for example we bring lots of kids and take over a public space and make a statement that we are here, and the city is not just for adults. Any feedback welcome.
December 19, 200618 yr I have been thinking about starting a group for downtown Cincinnati Parents. The goals would be: Advocacy For urban children, play areas, parks, pools, kid-friendly stores, street safety For middle class residents Develop friendships Playdates Babysitting exchange Share information on resources Mutual support of parents in urban environment. Retention of couples after arrival of new child. *** Does something like this already exist? This is very preliminary, and I am not sure if we would have a web presence even. Maybe just an email list with meetup dates and requests for babysitting services etc. But I was thinking of having some formal structure so that we could maybe have some lobbying power when speaking to park board members or council members etc.. It could be very low key, or we could try to be activists, where for example we bring lots of kids and take over a public space and make a statement that we are here, and the city is not just for adults. Any feedback welcome. I can cite one problem you'll run into. Arlington, VA is city that is skews very young. It's also very developed but also is declining in population. The city received funds this year to redevelop and expand a park on the far south side of the city. The park was orginally a regular park with a playground, open field, etc. The redesign would have made it primarily a dog park and shrunk the playground area. The parents in the area got upset and tried to fight it. They pretty much lost....although the county built a safety fence and seperate enterance into the park. This has been going on with parks there for the last few years. Pretty much wash, rinse and repeat. Parents groups complain, but typically lose. This is the problem with being a parent in a developed urban area...your say will be muted out by those younger, single people they are trying to attract. Of course if you attract too many young, single people your population declines and the city will have too few amenities for families, which is what isalready happening to Arlington and Alexandria and places like San Francisco. The not so shocking result is that your residental tax base shrinks. It's a true chicken and the egg thing. Good luck to you...but you have an uphill battle for sure.
December 19, 200618 yr Smashing idea, Mr. Skinner. I've had the same inclination, but scarcely the time and energy. Amrapin: I'm not the least-bit inclined to child-proof the city. I'm living here because I feel that, by and large, the city is already a healthy environment for my kids. Walking to the grocery store? What a concept! I, like Jimmy (I think), hunger for something that humanizes and embraces the shared-experience of city-parenting. I see and interact with lots of parents with kids. A more organized context would be nice. A negative, I've noticed, about fellow parents: we're a fairly self- kid-involved lot. Now where have those little ankle-biters wandered off to now...
December 19, 200618 yr Smashing idea, Mr. Skinner. I've had the same inclination, but scarcely the time and energy. Amrapin: I'm not the least-bit inclined to child-proof the city. I'm living here because I feel that, by and large, the city is already a healthy environment for my kids. Walking to the grocery store? What a concept! I, like Jimmy (I think), hunger for something that humanizes and embraces the shared-experience of city-parenting. I see and interact with lots of parents with kids. A more organized context would be nice. A negative, I've noticed, about fellow parents: we're a fairly self- kid-involved lot. Now where have those little ankle-biters wandered off to now... Kingfish, I think it's a great idea. And all three C's aren't in the position of a place like Arlington. So resistance is not that futile at this point. But if any one of the three really start seeing massive residential population increases in their central core, the general attitude of a neighborhood can change fast. Just a warning. :)
December 19, 200618 yr If by "massive residential population increase" you mean a massive increase of residents with children, that will hardly be a possibility any time soon. Though, from a Catch-22 point of view, that's the only way we'll turn around the schools, which would precipitate a massive increase in residents with children, and so on and so on. It's just as unclear to me how cities can expect to survive with a childless revolving-door population as it is unclear to me how the suburbs and exurbs can expect to survive by sprawling ever-outward. I'm just living in a land of paradox, I s'pose.
December 19, 200618 yr If by "massive residential population increase" you mean a massive increase of residents with children, that will hardly be a possibility any time soon. Though, from a Catch-22 point of view, that's the only way we'll turn around the schools, which would precipitate a massive increase in residents with children, and so on and so on. It's just as unclear to me how cities can expect to survive with a childless revolving-door population as it is unclear to me how the suburbs and exurbs can expect to survive by sprawling ever-outward. I'm just living in a land of paradox, I s'pose. I should rephrase what I said. I shouldn't have used the word "massive" because that implies families. I mean instead of having d'town populations that grow at say 500 or 1K every two years..they grow at 2 or 3K a year. Mostly younger professionals living in condos, apartments, rehabed townhomes etc. The more of those folks attracted to an area, the less poweful a parents association becomes. As for your paradox...DC is a prime example. The population of Arlington, Alexandria and DC...the "inner core" of the DC metro...has shrunk over the past 30 years even though there is a building boom due to Metro stations. Meanwhile the suburban crap in the area has grown two fold since '70 and is where the vast majority of the population growth is. The idea of bringing young professionals to the center of the city has actually helped speed up sprawl everywhere else. That's why I find it amusing that people think DC metro is a subway/commuter rail oriented city like NYC. It's more automobile centric than any city in Ohio. DC is second to NYC in traffic...and it's metro is 1/5 the size. 'Nuff said. At some point this lunacy has to stop.
December 19, 200618 yr There is already a young families committe on the Mayor's Young Proffessional Kitchen Cabinet, you might want to coordinate your efforts with them.
April 6, 200718 yr Jimmy Skinner...have you checked out the following blog? I ran across it when they linked to my blog. I thought it might be of interest to you: http://cityparents.blogspot.com/index.html
April 6, 200718 yr Thats me! I am not very computer savvy, and not sure where to go with this, but I have been meeting tons of parents the past few weeks. They just don't want to contribute on-line so far. Email seems to be the preferred method when communicating with parents about events with their children.
October 7, 200717 yr My wife and I are interested in a group like this. We have a 9 month old and another couple in our building also have a young baby. We'd be more interested in the the low-key (playing, sitting-swaps, friendship) aspects than advocating.
October 11, 200717 yr I don't live downtown, but I'm on the other side of Liberty. I may be interested.
October 11, 200717 yr I don't live downtown, but I'm on the other side of Liberty. I may be interested. Their are no strict boundaries in this group. Most of the families I have been meeting live not specifically downtown or OTR, but Mt. Auburn, Fairview, and Mt. Adams. I only tried to coordinate one get-together so far, and that was 6 months ago for the Opening Day Parade, and I will do it again this spring if you are interested (and you are willing to keep your kid out of school that day). There is an active group in Mt Adams and they organize all kinds of get-togethers like Easter Egg Hunt and Trick or Treating. It takes one very energetic parent to pull it off. I have joined them a couple of times and it was a lot of fun, but I am not that energetic to lead such ventures, yet. There are more kids up there than you would think! We have gotten close enough with a few families downtown that we have had playdates and traded babysitting duty a few times, which has been really great. I am thinking of trying to get some people to meet up for some of the Fountain Square events that are kid friendly, such as movies, skating and holiday events. For example, I think they have Halloween on the square for kids Saturday the 27th, where the kids are supposed to wear costumes etc... Also Park + Vine is having an event for parents on the 27th: http://www.citykin.com/2007/10/park-vine-oct-27.html When we first started our family I suppose I was a little worried about playmates for our kids, but I am finding that once they start school, get into a few activities (sports, scouts etc) they start meeting all kinds of kids that live relatively close and it is not as big a deal as I thought. I am definitely interested in joining anyone else in the downtown area for kid friendly activities if anyone has any suggestions. ?? We could post events here and on my blog, or for smaller gatherings, just an email.
October 12, 200717 yr Well, I just checked the Fountain Square website and they cancelled the kid costume contest. Instead, they are showing Halloween movies Saturday the 27th starting at 7pm. I think I will try to make this. I can meet anyone else who wants to come at approx. 6:45 at the fountain. I will be with a boy dressed as Electro and a girl dressed as a pumpkin (if we get the costumes together 4 days before Halloween, otherwise I'll just be there with two kids).
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