SCPA project set to begin, though $6M still needed

School district to loan funds so work can start in spring

LAURA BAVERMAN | [email protected]

February 23, 2007

 

CINCINNATI - A bright, new sign stands tall at the future site of the new School for Creative and Performing Arts in Over-the-Rhine, signifying a decade of work becoming a reality.

 

School fund raisers are still $6.3 million away from their $31 million goal, a figure that matches investment from Cincinnati Public Schools and the state. But that sign means the 250,000-square-foot performing arts center, touted as the nation's first K-12 performing arts school, is actually happening.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2007/02/26/story17.html

^Great!

 

I recently saw an older design for this that was almost all brick, with circular towers, etc.; it would have looked great. While I like how this desing looks on paper, I wonder what it will look like in reality, should be fun to see it finished.

Deal may pave way for new SCPA

 

By Joe Wessels

Post contributor

 

City of Cincinnati and Cincinnati School Board officials are near an agreement with the Drop Inn Center to sell buildings standing in the way of a proposed relocated School for Creative and Performing Arts.

 

The Drop Inn Center, Cincinnati's largest homeless shelter and located at 12th and Race streets, has been reluctant to sell the buildings - used as transitional housing for 16 people - in the northwest corner of a parking lot on two blocks between Central Parkway, Elm, 12th and Race streets.

 

http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070616/NEWS01/706160337

The new building would be purchased by the City of Cincinnati and be rehabilitated for use as transitional housing, and then the Drop Inn Center would run it.

 

The city would retain ownership.

 

While this may be good for CPS, it doesn't help the neighborhood by just pushing the social service agencies to other parts of OTR.  This is one of the biggest impediments to OTR realizing it's full potential, the massive concentration of social service agencies that draw people from all over the city, county, and region (over 100 at the last count, not including Citylink's massive proposed complex).  This will be the next big fight in the coming months.  Don't count on the Community Council rubberstamping this.

 

And why the hell is the city buying the building?  The original plan had OTR Community Housing owning and rehabbing the building with $800,000 of city money.  I'm not a fan of the city spending money for this service in this neighborhood.  If we really want people to turn their lives around, wouldn't it be good to put them in established locations that don't have one of the city's worst bars down the street with drug dealing still going on in daylight (not that we're trying to get rid of that).

^ I think it helps because if the city owns the building the city can make the rules for the use of the building, and the city can decide whether to continue renting the building to the Drop Inn Center.  As it is now, the Drop Inn Center is holding the city and development hostage in the southwestern section of OTR.

^ I think it helps because if the city owns the building the city can make the rules for the use of the building, and the city can decide whether to continue renting the building to the Drop Inn Center.  As it is now, the Drop Inn Center is holding the city and development hostage in the southwestern section of OTR.

 

But there is development going on in that area of OTR as well, and giving them a foothold in north OTR doesn't solve the overall problem, it just moves it.  The point is, the problem is bigger than just one building or even one neighborhood.  Why should one neighborhood have to deal with all the region's problems?  How many people served by these agencies were originally OTR residents?  Almost none, they came from other places. 

With these kinds of social services, no one wants them. No neighborhood in the city will raise its hand to ask for transitional housing for the formerly homeless. OTR remains close and always will to the public transit system which these folks need. Not much we can do about it. Perhaps Fairmont or Lower Price Hill will be more fitting in 5-10 years when OTR is going full speed ahead.

 

Rumors have persisted that the shelter might move out of Over-the-Rhine, possibly to a site in Queensgate, as has been suggested by Vice Mayor James Tarbell.

 

That is not in the plans, Clifford said.

 

"You can have a world-class arts school and a homeless shelter and co-exist," Clifford said. "It co-exists that way in other cities. We want to view it as a collaboration in and of itself."

 

Just curious...

 

What other cities have a world-class arts school and a homeless shelter that co-exist?  Furthermore,what do the neighborhoods look like?  What cities and/or situations would the Drop Inn center like to use as a model?

Clifford doesn't cite any examples.  Does anyone know how successful the Drop Inn Center has been at getting homeless people back on the right track?  Recently I saw a guy sitting on the front steps of one of their buildings drinking liquor covered with a brown paper bag.  It doesn't strike me as an effective policy to allow people to drink alcohol right on their property.  I walked up the street to see another guy using some kind of drug right in front of me on Elm Street.

 

Joe Wessels took this photo from his apartment window overlooking Washington Park.  A suburban heroin user overdosed by the park:

 

 

 

 

Rumors have persisted that the shelter might move out of Over-the-Rhine, possibly to a site in Queensgate, as has been suggested by Vice Mayor James Tarbell.

That is not in the plans, Clifford said.

"You can have a world-class arts school and a homeless shelter and co-exist," Clifford said. "It co-exists that way in other cities. We want to view it as a collaboration in and of itself."

Just curious...

 

What other cities have a world-class arts school and a homeless shelter that co-exist?  Furthermore,what do the neighborhoods look like?  What cities and/or situations would the Drop Inn center like to use as a model?

Maybe the question could be turned around thus:  Where is the best example of shelters?  Where are they located (city center, industrial areas, dispersed) and how are they run?  (eg: by the govt, by churches, by activists).  I am certain this issue is faced by most cities, and it seems like someone would have done the research on this.

 

As a side note I happened upon this 8 year old article in City Beat about the Drop Inn Center and the "Kunzel Plan" as it was then called:

http://citybeat.com/1999-02-18/artsbeat.shtml

 

Arts & Education Center spokesperson Paul Bernish says $6 million is budgeted for an overall relocation fund for affected businesses, including the Drop Inn Center. So far the word from Drop Inn Center's coordinator, Pat Clifford, is firm. He has no plans to move.

 

"Why, when you pour resources into an area, do the poor have to be out of sight?" Clifford asks.

 

Still, it's clear that a win/win situation is attainable. Fair contributions from Kunzel's supporters could provide funding for an improved Drop Inn Center in a nearby Over-the-Rhine location. Not that long ago I lived across the street from Music Hall, in a 14th Street apartment. Believe me, there is plenty of real estate ready to become a bigger and better Drop Inn Center. But lines are quickly being drawn in the sand, and the prospects for productive negotiations already look slim. Rumors about shipping the Drop Inn Center off to the airport are being spread. The debate -- which could be a healthy examination of the issues -- is dissolving into fear tactics.

...

... If it leads to an improved Drop Inn Center in another Over-the-Rhine location, I find it difficult not to see the project as a win/win situation for everyone. I hope truth will win out.

 

"The issue will be played out in a sense with the people in the community. Is Music Hall and the neighborhood adjoining Music Hall worth saving and worth revitalizing?" asks Bernish.

Can I ask a really dumb question? Why is it so important that the Drop In Center stay in OTR?

Maybe this is obvious to long time Cincinnatians, but I've only been here a few years. This whole arguement makes no sense to me.

Don't the people with more reasources always displace the people with less? It may be ugly but I don't get this.

 

The Last Don, did you call the police? There was a couple week period last summer where groups of young guys were roaming the CBD smoking pot. I called the police everytime and it eventually stopped. Did I have anything to do with it? I doubt it but I'd like to think maybe I did.

I just walked across the street from the guy using drugs.  Perhaps I should have called the police, but the only victim of his crime was himself.

I disagree, the whole comunity is victimized by people who think its acceptable to drink and do drugs in public.

 

I call the cops everytime I  see something in my hood. I have 765-1212 on speedial.  :-D

..not to mention the hit that property value takes when HUNDREDS of these people are concentrated in one small area.  Not only are current owners affected by the devaluation of property value (from the late 70s onward), but the city as a whole is affected.  Lower property value = lower tax amount collected by the city.

Can I ask a really dumb question? Why is it so important that the Drop In Center stay in OTR?

Not sure why it is important, but they do plan on staying, and there is no realistic, viable proposal for them to move. 

I call the cops everytime I  see something in my hood.  Got some Ho's  busted and busted a guy for peeing on the sidewalk.  I told him my dog doesn't even pee on the sidewalk, because she doesn't want to step in it  :-D

^ :lol:

 

I guess it does make sense in being strict when it comes these type of crimes.  Giuliani cleaned up New York by cracking down on the small crimes that affect quality of life. 

I call the cops everytime I  see something in my hood. I have 765-1212 on speedial.  :-D

 

I was wondering what that non-emergency number was 'cause I wanted to call it the other day when I saw a guy peeing in Piatt Park on my walk to the gym but I didn't have it on my cell phone.  He was sitting down on one of the benches, fly unzipped, exposed, doing his business in an arching stream. I just didn't need or want to see that and it pissed me off - pun intended.

Can I ask a really dumb question? Why is it so important that the Drop In Center stay in OTR?

Not sure why it is important, but they do plan on staying, and there is no realistic, viable proposal for them to move. 

 

It depends on who's definition of realistic and viable you're talking about.  The DIC has a very narrow set of demands, which narrows down to they want to stay here and most people want them somewhere else.  The obvious location is Queensgate, near to downtown and on bus lines, but no residents other than the jail.  I don't believe a specific proposal has ever been floated for this location, though.

Can I ask a really dumb question? Why is it so important that the Drop In Center stay in OTR?

 

The Drop Inn Center would be able to provide the same services in many Cincinnati Neighborhoods.  The reason it refuses to move is simple:  If the Drop Inn Center moves, it looses visibility.  Buddy Gray opened the center between City Hall and Music Hall so it would be visible.  The Drop Inn Center is not just a homeless shelter.  It has been the focal point of a political movement.  By being positioned at this strategic location, the Center can easily get to the negotiating table.  In the past, Gray's group would get to the negotiating table, take a hard lined approach, and end up getting paid off by council.  Only recently has the political movement begun to loose clout.  Under Gray's leadership, the group was able to block 'gentrification' in the late 70's/early 80's.  This strategic position continues to provide a public forum to push their agenda.  If the Drop Inn Center moves, it will loose visibility, funding, and political sway.

 

I believe that publicity should be used against them.  They do not focus on the recovery of homeless alcoholic.  They focus on housing them.  Those who live in the center (err Washington Park before dark) are not the poor who need public transit.  They are transients who are looking for a place to get drunk and stay for free.  For us as a society to offer them Washington Park is a bit extreme in my view.  I am not against rehabilitation for people who need/want it in the neighborhood.  I am against offering up a what would be the city's best park to them.  The media exposed RESTOC years ago and they need to now focus on the Drop INN Center.

^They do have a recovery program.  Not really sure what the expose' would expose.  I mean they are a homeless shelter, what do you expect?  Similar places exist all over the country.  I would agree that the location is debatable, but no other neighborhood will want them either, and they have invested money into their current site.  Every other location would have severe hurdles, even queensgate.  On top of that, they own their site and do not desire to move.

^In this day and age, I can't believe the Drop In center can't be declared a nuisance.

^They do have a recovery program.  Not really sure what the expose' would expose.  I mean they are a homeless shelter, what do you expect?  Similar places exist all over the country.  I would agree that the location is debatable, but no other neighborhood will want them either, and they have invested money into their current site.  Every other location would have severe hurdles, even queensgate.  On top of that, they own their site and do not desire to move.

 

I think that it can expose a failed model.  The Drop Inn Center has never made recovery a requirement.  When alcoholics are permitted to openly drink and abuse drugs directly in front of the center, there is flaw in the model that you are using.  I believe that the leadership of the center are good-hearted, but the model is clearly not working.

As far as moving is concerned, there has to be a study or two on how to best handle this type of situation.  The goal is to find a way to best help the homeless.  My logic would lead me to believe that a geographically distributed system would be a better solution.  For example, a number of smaller shelters in more diverse locations along the bus line.  I would think that this would minimize the inherent risks (crime, property value devaluation) as well as provide a more viable exit strategy for those 'graduating' from the program.

 

Last year City Beat ran an article about Operation Vortex in Over-the-Rhine.  Here is a quote from the article:

 

"According to Cincinnati Police Department records, 286 individuals with the Drop Inn Center address have been arrested this year so far," says Pat Clifford, general coordinator of the homeless shelter. "However, Drop Inn Center records show that only 93 of them had, in fact, been residents during that time period. Therefore over 67 percent of those arrested with our address were not really our residents."

 

Only 93 of their residents had been charged with committing crimes over a five month period? 

 

With that type of philosophy, could the Drop Inn Center be prosecuted under RICO statutes?  [EDIT: It should be noted that the number of crimes quoted in the story were from 2006.  The number for this year could be significantly different.]

 

Does anyone know how shelters in other cities work, how big they are, where they are located?  How about in Cleveland, Columbus and Toledo?  I never hear about their shelters.

Does anyone know how shelters in other cities work, how big they are, where they are located?

Also, if anyone knows, what is their proximity to schools.  How is this treated by law if a sexual offender is residing in one of these shelters and is within the banned dist. to a school, are they considered a resident?  And even if they are, and the school is built next to a shelter, is the shelter considered a pre-existing condition and therefore exempt?

 

I have no idea,

I wonder if I'm alone in thinking this, but ...

 

 

Have any of you driven by the new SCPA construction site off of Central Pkwy and noticed all of the dirt turned and thought, "I would love to go out there and look around for old artifacts"?

Have any of you driven by the new SCPA construction site off of Central Pkwy and noticed all of the dirt turned and thought, "I would love to go out there and look around for old artifacts"?

 

I will now!  :)

I did notice a few days ago that they had old boilers, pipes, foundations stones etc... all piled up.  But they are moving very quickly and hauling it all away.  Kinda sad to see an alley dissapear like that too.  They seem to be concentrating on the NW corner.  I think there was a school at the SW corner, so that foundation may still be there too.

SCPA- Watched the building at the corner of 12th and Race get demolished today, the rest are coming down this week.

Excuse my ignorance, but what is SCPA?  Also, for what purposes are they doing demolishing?  Just curious.

School for Creative and Preforming Arts

Excuse my ignorance, but what is SCPA?  Also, for what purposes are they doing demolishing?  Just curious.

 

Yes, it is the School of Creative & Performing Arts.  It will be the first K-12 performing arts school in the country and will be located in the heart of Cincinnati.  It is occupying a block that about 80%-90% consisted of a surface lot.  The rest consisted of some deteriorating buildings and some random hole-in-the-wall shops.  This is a VAST improvement and will drastically help clean up that part of OTR.

And it will link Washington Park and Music Hall to the rest of downtown.  Before it was a surface lot with a wall of rundown buildings filled with beeper stores and dive bars. The streetcar line down 12th/up Elm will help too.

^ Thank you for posting this.  I didn't realize that the SCPA would face central parkway.  I always assumed that it would face Washington Park, creating a truly dynamic effect for residents.

 

I am frankly disappointed that the players did not cover their bases here.  As your article points out, there are many loose ends that have not been addressed.  The move of the SCPA should should help revitalize OTR; not create boundaries, surface lots, and vacancy.  The obstacles will likely be easy to overcome if the OTR momentum keeps swinging.  Step 1, streetcars.....

I like Mike Morgan, but look closer at who pulls the strings at the Foundation and why these specific questions are brought up

 

This action takes place at a time when there is a lot of mistrust between the neighborhood and CPS. Morgan points to the following questionable CPS actions:

* The demolition of four transitional housing structures on the north side of Washington Park that were bought from the Drop Inn Center

* An unadorned, blank wall on the back of the new SCPA which will face Washington Park, which Morgan equates with CPS "literally turning its back on Over-the-Rhine"

* No plan for the vacated SCPA building and its surrounding greenspace

* An announcement that they may raze Rothenburg school, despite prior recognition of its role as a neighborhood anchor (no one believes this will happen, not Mike Morgan, not Liz Blume, and certainly not me but it is a great diversionary scare tactic)

 

Would the Foundation be ok with an announcement not to tear down Rothenburg and sell it, and to build a new school in the greenspace of SCPA allowing the existing school to converted?  If Rothenburg is sold for the right use, ie American Red Cross this benefits the entire OTR area, not just pendleton keeping their park.  If a "neighborhood school" is so important to the Foundation, put it in Pendleton, they have the space in Marge's and Ty's back yard.  Do what is right for all of OTR, not just Pendleton.

Mike Morgan will do a great job in his role as director of the foundation.

Is the old SCPA building for sale?

In defense of the Foundation and the residents of Broadway and Spring Streets:  Many many years ago, Pendelton residents organized and converted abandonned lots into the current park adjacent to SCPA.  The property was then City owned.  Later it was transferred to the schools without any knowledge of residents.  Having a park across the street from your house increases your value much, much more than having a neighborhood school. 

 

I'm not saying their concerns should trump all others. But the school board is probably looking forward to the proceeds from selling both SCPA and the lot.  The SCPA building would be worth less without the adjacent lot.  However if given the choice between their beloved park becoming parking lot for condos, or becoming a school, maybe they would change their minds.

look closer at who pulls the strings at the Foundation and why these specific questions are brought up

And here is your answer.

Having a park across the street from your house increases your value much, much more than having a neighborhood school.

 

No doubt whatsoever!  But this is my point, do what is right for all of OTR (if that is indeed having a neighborhood school) and not what is right for only Broadway.  If we can put a major business into Rothenberg, where will they eat, where will they live, what impact will that have on the neighborhood as a whole, not just a part.  And remember who is fighting the hardest for the neighborhood school, it is Pendleton, so long as it is not in their back yard.

SCPA photo update, 11/10/07

Building Cincinnati, 11/12/07

 

Earth is being moved and some rather deep holes are being excavated for the new School for the Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) in Over-the-Rhine.

 

The $72 million, five-floor building will occupy the block bounded by Race, Elm and Twelfth streets and Central Parkway.

 

The new school will combine Cincinnati Public Schools' SCPA program for grades 4 through 12 with Schiel Primary's K-3 program. It will serve 1,350 students and be the first public K-12 arts school in the United States.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.building-cincinnati.com/2007/11/scpa-photo-update-111007.html

 

That is a huge hole!!    nice shots!

It seems deeper than it needs to be.  Also it is clear with the excavation that the building fronts Central Parkway and has parking and services facing the park.

So the school doesnt directly abut the Park?

Here is a site plan for the school (Central Parkway is on the bottom in this plan view)...you can also find more images and information about the school on the website:  www.thenewscpa.org.  The school will have a nice looking frontage on Central Parkway that should dramatically change that portion of the street.

Man, that setup really does seem ass-backwards. Music Hall, of course, faces the park why shouldn't SCPA.

>It seems deeper than it needs to be.

 

The floor plans call for basement classrooms, it's hard to tell from these renderings if they will at least have some windows for those basement rooms.  There is also a rendering for the rear of the building (the side facing the park), and while not all bad, it's overall a total mess of a design.  If I were designing this thing, a face in both directions would be priority, probably with a north/south atrium right through the middle that would give the building a central hallway and focus.

 

There are plenty of examples buildings which successfully front multiple directions like the U.S. Capitol, or closer to home the Hamilton County Courthouse or, you know, the existing SCPA.

 

 

 

There are plenty of examples buildings which successfully front multiple directions like the U.S. Capitol, or closer to home the Hamilton County Courthouse or, you know, the existing SCPA.

 

I don't think we got that here.  We get a surface parking lot and a loading dock facing the park. Way to go CPS.

 

 

Oh, and they gave the Drop-Inn Center a half a million dollars and tore down more historic buildings for an "outdoor theater".  That's a productive use of funds, especially when they are claiming it costs too much to rehab Rothenberg and want to tear it down as well.

The school facing the park would create a dynamic impact... It is a shame that the view from Washington Park (and Music Hall) will be a solid brick wall.  Sometimes, I just don't get it.

And just this week I parked on Court St. in one of those diagonal spaces where they now have the needlessly complicated parking meter things with the tickets.  As soon as I pulled in I spotted a homeless man and thought to myself "here we go again".  And sure enough, he took me step-by-step through the process of getting a ticket out of those things even though I knew what I was doing and got the eye from him when I didn't give him any money.  The cherry on top was him trying to get me to buy some paper with a lead story about how "they're trying to move the Drop-In shelter".  If I hadn't been in a hurry I'd have told him I and a whole lot of people *WANT* them to move it!  His ilk and their wealthy sympathizers have destroyed Washington Park and probably were a factor in this design. 

 

Also as someone who has been involved in the arts my entire life, I'll repeat what I've mentioned on this forum before, that I am opposed to the very existence of arts magnet schools.  These people go to college and think they're the next whoever and they just plain aren't.  I had this exact conversation with a fairly prominent local arts person who will remain nameless and we were in total agreement about what a sham these magnet schools are.  Walking past SCPA as-is on a school day is always pretty distressing...so these blue-haired text-messaging 14 year-olds are the next big thing?  Give me a break.