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Thursday, December 30, 2010

So Cincinnati City Council Passes a Budget...

... and its complete crap.


Yet again they are using one time stop-gap measures to fix problems cause by structural instability. You don't fix a building and call it habitable after the wall fell out by putting up a wooden beam and some plastic to cover the hole. And we can't continue to do this with the budget. Council needs to take a good hard look at all the programs, expenses, and sources of income in the budget and identify where savings can be had, where investments need to be made to secure increased future revenue, and look at what departments need to be right-sized.


I hope council begins working on next year's budget very soon, otherwise, we will be in this same position a year from now. I doubt they will make many difficult decisions, though, since election year approaches, and many fear for their jobs. They should.


It's only a matter of time before the whole building comes crashing down.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

$5 /gallon Gas by 2012??

The former President of Shell Oil is saying that Americans could be paying as much at $5 per gallon of gasoline by the year 2012. (Link Here) One other person quoted in the article stated that while he doesn't think that we'll see $5 per gallon by 2012, he does expect it within the next decade. 


What does this mean for Cincinnati?


For starters, the city currently supports no mode of transportation (other than bike) that doesn't run on petroleum-based fuels. This means that the populace is limited to modes that will be getting more and more expensive to operate. What we will see happen is increases in the costs of goods and services in the region. Because most products are delivered to their final destinations via truck, their costs are tied to the cost of transportation and the costs of fuel.


Currently, transportation costs range from under 15% to 20% of a household's annual income (HAI) within the City. Outside the city it ranges from 20%-28%. Housing costs average in the 15%-25% throughout most of the city. (Source) As fuel prices rise, more and more of a HAI will be used for transportation. With housing costs fairly stable currently, these increased costs will eat away at money that would be spend on other goods.

Since we already determined that those other goods are going to also get more expensive, this means that the households are going to have less money to spend on ever-more-expensive goods and services. 



How can we prepare?


The city needs transportation options that run on fuels other than petroleum based diesel and gasoline. Fixed-guideway transit such as streetcars, subway, and lightrail all run on electricity. As gas prices continue to increase, people will look more and more to alternatives to driving for their commuting needs. 


Cincinnati is currently planning on installing what is to be the first phase of a (hopefully) multi-phase multi-modal transportation system. The streetcar will work with existing Metro service to provide incentives for people to live and work in the center city where housing and transit costs are lower. Future projects that are already being explored include Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) along major corridors and additional extensions of the streetcar lines. 


What can you do?


Call, email, snail mail our councilmembers and tell them that you support increased transit options and want transportation to continue to be a priority in this city.  

Monday, December 20, 2010

My Favorite Things - In Pictures!

I figure I should do a photo-list of some of my favorite things. Some are in Cincinnati, some are back home. All the pictures were taken over the last few years with my Canon point and shoot. Enjoy:


Animals:

Shelly - 11 years old. My favorite Calico. She's at my parent's house
Caley - 6 years old, I think. Also at my parent's house. I'm her favorite. When I'm at my parent's house she never leaves me and sleeps in the bed with me.
Ozzy - 3 years old. At the parent's house. Staffordshire Bull Terrier. The MOST energetic dog ever. And I'm allergic to his slobber.
Death Ray - 5 years old. My old roommate, Nick, and I got her when we lived on Euclid with some other guys. When she was a kitten, she would dart around the house and up and down the stairs. The name came from the fact that she seemed like she would take out anything in her path... like a death ray.
Maddy - 3 years old. Had her when Nick and I lived together. Two years ago, I gave her to my grandma. She is now much fatter.
 Plants (One of my new-found passions is horticulture):
             My mom's gardens:


           Krohn Conservatory:








Cincinnati: 
Downtown
West End and Queensgate with Union Terminal featured
Western Hills Viaduct
Fountain Square
Carew Tower - Where I currently work on the 28th and 29th floors
AND my beautiful girlfriend, Elyse
 New York City:
Chrysler Building from Empire State Building
Cincinnati in NYC
Grand Central Station
Church... can't remember which one now. St. Patrick's?

Hotel from Home Alone 
 Other:
BEER!!
Elyse at her 24th bday at Murphy's Pub in Clifton Heights. <3
I love urban 'ruins' - I spotted this in Eden Park.
Old Cincinnati Water Works building in Eden Park. I believe this building was the control building for the old reservoirs that were next door in the park.
Old retaining walls from the previously mentioned retaining walls.
Old wall that contained the lower reservoir.
Detail
This photo reminds me of something one might find in Rome or Greece.
Union Terminal - a beautiful art deco building. Formerly was the major train station for Cincinnati. Now houses the Cincinnati History Museum, Natural History Museum, Children's Museum, Cincinnati Historical Society, Omnimax Theatre, and Amtrak station with 3 day-per-week service with the Cardinal. Maybe someday we will see real passenger rail service return to this grand building
View from inside the rotunda. 
Nipper Stadium - one of the oldest college football stadiums in the country. Home of the University of Cincinnati Bearcats Football Team... and the Bearcat Bands


Sunday, December 19, 2010

Brent Spence Bridge

There was an article in the Cincinnati Enquirer today regarding the Brent Spence Bridge rebuild project.
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2011 a big year for Brent Spence plans


"After years of talk but very little action tangible to the public, 2011 should be the year when Greater Cincinnatians and Northern Kentuckians finally learn what a new Brent Spence Bridge will look like.
People also can expect to see how the interstates leading to the bridge on both sides of the Ohio River will be reconfigured, where new entrance and exit ramps will be built, and which homes and businesses might be displaced by one of the biggest public works projects in the region's history.
...
"Even the glacial-paced timetable that envisions the new bridge being completed by 2022 assumes there will be no major financing or design snags and that none of the dozens of things that could go wrong on a $2.3 billion-plus project will cause delays, an iffy proposition for a development of such magnitude."
--------------
When I read the article in the paper, I was hoping to see some mention of transit in the article. The only use of the word was mention of the Transportation Reauthorization Bill that will need to be passed this upcoming year. I am still holding out hope that there will be inclusion of right-of-way or infrastructure for future light rail connection from Downtown Cincinnati to Northern Kentucky and possibly on to the airport. 
With the project being estimated to cost $2.3 BILLION, it would only make sense to include provisions for mass transit. There have been recent studies (here, here, and here) that have shown that driving is on the decline, and with gas prices expecting to rise ever higher (here, here, and here in the coming years, forward thinking transportation planning would behoove area engineers and planners regarding this project. The combination of higher prices and younger people generally driving less will have two impacts: the projection of higher vehicular traffic in the next 20 years will most likely not be met, and the demand for more transportation options - including fixed rail transit - is going to increase drastically. 
What is also frustrating is that fact that we have, between I-471 and I-71/75, 6 Ohio River bridges - 2 interstate, 1 pedestrian, and 3 local vehicular. The Taylor-Southgate, Roebling Suspension, and Clay Wade Bailey Bridges are relatively under-travelled. It is my opinion that it would be possible to route more local vehicle traffic to these three bridges and reduce the travel demand on the Brent Spence. This could potential save the region billions of dollars and prevent the construction nightmare that will exist over the next 10 years while construction on the new span occurs. 
This money would be much better spent by putting it toward a comprehensive regional commuter or light rail system that is integrated with local bus and streetcar service. This combination of services would serve the suburban commuters who work in the city as well as provide convenient and efficient local transportation options for the residents of the city to complete day-to-day tasks, travel to work, and visit friends and family. 

City Budget - Police & Fire Layoffs

Council: Concessions will save jobs

BY JANE PRENDERGAST • JPRENDERGAST@ENQUIRER.COM • DECEMBER 13, 2010

All 275 Cincinnati police officers and firefighters who face layoffs Jan. 2 could keep their jobs in a deal offered by City Council members Monday - if their unions agree to a total of $20 million in salary cuts and other concessions.
...
Ninety percent of the city's roughly 5,500 workers are represented by unions, a fact City Manager Milton Dohoney has stressed repeatedly as he talks about his proposed $340 million general fund budget that includes the layoffs and a $20 monthly trash collection fee.

------------------------------------

After reading this article from the Enquirer, a couple things struck me:


  1. City Council refuses to make the difficult choice to right size the city's police and fire departments.
  2. If council is going to ask police for concessions, they should approach ALL city departments with equivalent percentage concessions. This should include themselves. As Quinlavin said in the article, "she is certain her colleagues at the station would have agreed to concessions if management asked for help saving jobs." So she should be willing to help out herself and ask other departments to help if they have determined the police and fire jobs to be that important.
However, despite this, everyone needs to realize that there is no feasible way to cut the budget and fill the gap without some concessions from employes - either in the form of reductions in pay and benefits or from layoffs. 

In the coming week, we are really going to see what Council is made of. There have been a number of new proposals from different groups within council. It going to be interesting.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Cincinnati

I moved to Cincinnati in the fall of 2004 to attend the University of Cincinnati. As I said in my last post, I attended to major in Civil Engineering and later changed to Urban Studies. While in school, I have tried to immerse myself in the culture of Cincinnati as much as I could. My freshman year, I was lucky enough to have a car while I lived in the dorms. For nearly the first full year I lived in Cincy, I would drive around every weekend just exploring the city. I would set off in a direction and get myself lost and find my way back to the dorms. This was the way I learned my way around. 


My love for Cincinnati probably comes from where I grew up. Niles & Warren are small cities in northeast Ohio. I grew up in suburban Howland Township just outside Warren and Niles. The area is void of sidewalks and street-life like we are accustomed to in cities. I thought the Olive Garden and Applebee's were high class restaurants. Having a mall literally 2 minutes from my front door brought me up to think that shopping malls were the pinnacle of retail shopping. 


Moving to Cincinnati was some serious culture shock. I instantly fell in love - in love with the hills, the neighborhoods, the people, the architecture, the art scene. Everything. I discovered new foods - you think there are Indian or Vietnamese restaurants in Warren? (I do miss all the Italian food of the Mahoning Valley.) I discovered public transportation. Aside from a high school trip to New York (where I didn't even ride the subway), I had never even seen trains or buses (aside from school buses). Now, I ride Metro to work or school almost everyday. I rarely drive my car anymore. Just once a week to Kroger for my weekly grocery run. 


Ever since discovering UrbanOhio.com, I've also fallen in love with the urban issues revolving around Cincinnati. I have read nearly every article and research document publicly available regarding the Streetcar projects, the Banks, Washington Park renovation, Great American Tower, 3CDC's OTR projects, and many others. I have taken to fighting the good fight on Facebook and other blogs trying to get out the facts about projects that I, after much research and deliberation, have determined to be good and beneficial to the city. And while I am not judge, jury and executioner for the goings-on of the City, and everyone is welcome to their own opinions, I want people to understand that mine are grounded in research and the facts.


I care deeply for Cincinnati. I have defended her to many of my friends (most of whom are native Cincinnatians). I have also made new friends as a result of this. People tend to band together for common causes. We saw this for Issue 9 in 2009 with the coalition of Cincinnatians for Progress. We're seeing it develop again today for those who are looking to salvage a plan for the 3-C Rail Corridor after Governor-elect John Kasich is calling for its death. 


This all has led me to the conclusion that Cincinnatians are a deeply passionate people - about their chili, their politics, their neighborhoods, there high schools - the list goes on and on. 





Welcome

Purpose

This blog is to chronicle a number of things: The things the I do, the articles that I read, my opinions on Urban issues, and my educational journey. Each post will feature text and photos about a specific topic. I will try to provide the facts as I see them. Then I will espouse my opinion. This blog is not meant to be a news blog. It is meant to be an agglomeration of my views and opinions regarding the things going on in our world.

About Me

I am a 24 year old male, living in Cincinnati. I grew up in Niles, Ohio. Where is Niles, Ohio? It's about 1 hour southeast of Cleveland and 1 hour northwest of Pittsburgh and about 15 minutes northwest of Youngstown. I was born in Fremont, CA and my family moved to Ohio when I was about 3 or 4. I don't remember, I was quite young. I attended school in the Howland Local School system in Warren, Ohio. I graduated high school with Honors in 2004 with a 3.749 GPA.

I was accepted in to the Civil Engineering Bachelors Degree Program at the University of Cincinnati for admission in the Fall of 2004. In my second year, I quickly discovered that Civil Engineering was not right for me. While I enjoyed many aspects of it, the transportation engineering, structures, and bridges, I felt that there was something missing. Later, I would discover that what was missing was the human component.

I transferred to the Business Marketing Program in my second year. Mostly, I was just marking time. I felt that I needed to be doing something. I was part-time for the better part of 3 years, and I took a couple quarters off. I worked part-time as a Communications Consultant (read: Sales Person) for Cincinnati Bell at the Nothgate Mall location. The hours made it difficult to attend school and work at the same time. But because the pay was so good, I decided to work and work and work and not focus on school.

Sometime in 2007, I stumbled upon the site UrbanOhio.com. As I read more and more about the things going on in Ohio's cities, as well as cities across the US and worldwide, I slowly developed a passion for Urban Issues.

In March of 2008, I was no longer employed by Cincinnati Bell and was able to devote more time and attention to my schooling. I was still in the marketing degree program, but started to explore my options.

In the spring of 2009, I took my first urban planning class. This was more or less an experimental course choice. I wanted to see if planning was right for me. From the first day, I knew it was. Being surrounded with students who think similarly to me and professors who are extremely knowledgeable about urban planning felt great. For the first time in my college career, I could tell I was in the right classes. Over the next year, I would fill my schedule with all the planning classes I could: studios, seminars, specialty classes, etc. I wasn't actually in DAAP yet, but after talking with the Director of the School of Planning, I got approval to take the Planning classes until I transferred.

My transfer to DAAP - School of Planning occurred just this fall (2010). So far I've taken 4 planning or multidisciplinary studios ranging in topics from Design Graphics Communications to Site Planning and Neighborhood Analysis to Fixed-Rail Transit. In future posts, I plan to go in to further detail about my studio experience. I will say, however, that they have been the best part of my experience so far.

I am currently set to graduate in June of 2011 with my Bachelors of Science in Urban Studies. I have about 3 classes left that I am required to take, but I will be taking several additional classes for a total of 8 between winter and spring quarters. Upon graduation, I will be looking to land a job that is in SOMEWAY related to urban planning, urban studies, or anything urban really.

I am currently employed at Schwartz, Manes, Ruby, & Slovin, LPA as an office clerk. My job is to maintain closed files and their records; order supplies; assist with client meetings, firm meetings, or other firm/attorney needs; and, on occasion, man the front desk. I've work here since July 2010, and I thoroughly enjoy working here. The people are friendly and welcoming. It definitely has a family atmosphere.

I think this is sufficient for now about my school and work experiences. My next blog will talk about my experiences in Cincinnati.