Final recommendations for the Mount Adams Neighborhood Strategic Plan will be presented to the Mount Adams Civic Association on March 3 at 7 PM at the Holy Cross-Immaculata Church Parish Center, .

The Civic Association and the plan's strategic planning team will be seeking residents' approval of the plan before presenting it to the City Planning Commission within the next couple of months, and then to Cincinnati City Council.

The strategic planning team will also be seeking volunteers to help staff the subcommittees that will implement recommendations from the plan.

The Civic Association launched the planning initiative in September 2007 to address the neighborhood's growing pains and to codify a common vision for the future.

Priorities identified in the draft plan include community life, development and preservation, views and hillsides, the business district, parking, cleanliness and safety, and infrastructure and utilities.

Previous reading on BC:
Mount Adams wants input for strategic plan (6/16/08)

The public is invited to tour the historic Laurel Court mansion in College Hill on March 1 or March 8 from 2 PM to 3 PM.

Visitors will get a rare chance to see the main rooms of the Beaux-Arts mansion at and learn interesting facts about the historic home.

The house, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was completed in 1907 for Champion Coated Paper founder Peter G. Thomson.

Admission is $12 for adults, $6 for children ages 6-17.

Tickets are available at the door, but online reservations are encouraged.

Tours last about one hour.

Photo credit: Laurel Court

Previous reading on BC:
College Hill: Laurel Court (4/22/07)

Single-family
DOB: 1865
Died: January 2009
Cause of death: Burned down on December 21, 2008, causing $40,000 in damage. The house was vacant at the time.

It was razed by the City due to its hazardous condition.

Two years ago:

• A gallery of 27 Corryville photos was added to Building Cincinnati, and the Avondale gallery was updated.
  

One year ago:

• Cincinnati agreed to sell two vacated streets to developer Al Neyer, Inc. for the retail portion of Columbia Square in Columbia Tusculum.
• A new single-family home at 459 Strafer Street in Columbia Tusculum was completed, and a new home was nearing completion at Excelsior Row in Mount Auburn.
  
• In Covington, two public meetings were being held for the Madison Avenue Form District Study, a proposal for an overlay that would make the stretch of road between 12th Street/Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd and the KY-16/KY-17 split more predestrian-friendly.
• Cities such as San Diego, Cleveland, Providence, and Flint -- and Cincinnati -- were using creative ways to get foreclosed homes back into the hands of homeowners.

A Westwood resident says that no one from the City of Cincinnati has replied to his numerous e-mails about the "robust predator population" in his neighborhood and the failure of the City to deal aggressively with problem landlords that plague the entire West Side.

"In the past I felt residents 'bailed' on the city because they just did not have the fortitude to stick it out until we made a change," he says in an e-mail communication sent to the mayor and city council. "I am beginning to sympathize with their decision and realize that perhaps they may be smarter than I."

Now he wants the City to give him a reason why he should stay.

"You will have to have a vision for the sustained improvement of our city," he says. "You need taxpayers and families -- the middle class that was prevalent during the 'Queen City' days. Somewhere the vision was lost and the city turned its back on those that made it great."


Worst week

Early in the week of his e-mail, his wife discovered a teenager wandering around their backyard.

Police told her that, since the teenager wasn't doing anything, all they could do is put up "no trespassing" signs.

A second phone call brought police to the scene.

"Shortly after, officers arrived a call came regarding a stolen GPS just beyond our backyard," the resident says. "I assume when my wife scared the teen off, he went looking for the next opportunity. I can only wonder if someone would have been dispatched sooner if this could have prevented another City resident from being victimized."

Two days later, he received an e-mail from nearby St. Catharine of Siena saying that the church and school had been spray painted with vulgarities, and the next day there was a 10-on-1 pummeling of a child in the crosswalk in front of the church.

The morning of his e-mail, the resident looked outside to see a sanitation employee toss a garbage bag and miss the truck, with the bag exploding onto his street.

The crew picked up the large debris, but left the rest; The resident took pictures.

"Seems to me they should have swept it up," he says. "This is not the first time this has happened, just the first time I had a camera handy."

And later that morning, the doorbell rang.

The resident saw no one there.

"Suddenly a man pops into view with my newspaper in his hand," he says. "I opened the door and he said he brought the cans from the curb as well. He wanted money."

He told the man that he didn't need the help, and that he shouldn't trespass on his property again.

Then he called the police, fearing that the man may try the same with neighboring homeowners.

"Upon returning to the rear of my house I noticed he had urinated on my garage door," the resident says. "I called the police a second time to update them that this had gone beyond the basic Cincinnati begging protocol."


City should focus on core functions

The resident realizes that some of these occurrences aren't the City's fault, but many can be traced to the City's services and tolerance.

"The answer is not to have a shelter or outreach in my neighborhood, that is what is bringing them here," he says. "No need for offender homes, group homes, 'youth' programs, etc. All of the well intentioned initiatives are causative factors that have eroded my quality of life as a city resident for the past 16 years."

He believes that the City needs to focus on its core functions due to the tight budget.

"If the quality of life would improve, you would not need to dangle carrots to get people here," he says. "Stop the shell game of moving the problems around. Stop speaking out of both sides of your mouth. One day we need affordable housing and social service and the other day we need to limit who can go where."

In his opinion, the City's plan is to send its less desirable initiatives to the West Side, while protecting the East Side and the "pet projects" of Over-the-Rhine and The Banks.

"I am pleased that other areas prosper and are improving, but it should not be at my expense," he says.

As a married man with four children and a self-described civic contributor, the resident doesn't believe that the City's "turnaround initiatives" are meant to help him, a taxpayer who is helping to fund them.

"Eating less meat, rail cars, affordable housing, grants for special interests, expanded clinics, social services, youth groups, etc. are not important to me."


Like a movie set

"Why shouldn't I give myself over a $3,000 raise by moving myself and my office location out of the City?" he says. "Why shouldn't I come home to a house where my wife doesn't have to lock the back door because some bum is going to walk 100 feet from the street into our yard and surprise her."

He goes on, describing how life in Cincinnati is "like living on the set of the old Charles Bronson Death Wish movies".

"I could go home to a place where my kids can play in the backyard, like we all did, without having to have my eye on them every second because some pervert from a group home or filthy apartment complex is premitted to permeate city neighborhoods. I would not have to collect half a can of garbage from my property on Saturday mornings. I could let my kids walk to school without fear of the next wannabe gangstas. My wife could enjoy our backyard without derelict invasion. I could have my friends over without strategically planning the ghetto free route to my home. I could read the paper on my porch without hearing the thunder of so-called music and rattling license plates. I could drive down my street without dodging the intimidators that walk in the middle of the street rather than a sidewalk. I could go to a corner store that had milk, break, snacks and ice cream as opposed to incense, rolling papers, quarts, and pens that could convert to crack pipes. I could mow my lawn without fear of running over a gun magazine thrown in the yard. I could park my car on the street if needed, instead of a street where the hookers use on-street parking to service their clients. I could put up a Catholic Schools Week sign in my yard without it being stolen or smashed down. My kids wouldn't have to ask me if the bad people are coming back, why daddy had to talk to the police, why people throw litter in our yard, why people think they can hang out in our yard, why CPS kids assault others, why people walk in the middle of the street, and why is that lady walking down the street screaming the F word."


"I have had enough"

"I work enough hours at my real job to provide a good living for my family," he says. "I am tired of funding worthless initiatives and spending inordinate personal time, which I have very little, to try to do the job of government. Simply put I have had enough."

The resident asks councilmembers to put themselves in his shoes.

"If I had to do it all over again, start a career and family, make my house a home, would I do it in Cincinnati?" he says. "I don't know. Ten years ago I probably would have said yes."

A report to City council regarding the e-mail is due before March 18.

City Home on Pleasant Street, a $7 million mixed-income project located near Music Hall in Over-the-Rhine, has hit the market.

Three townhome units, at , can be had for between $272,640 and $348,160.

Developed by Over-the-Rhine Community Housing and Eber Development and designed by Schickel Design, the townhomes feature 2-3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, basements, decks, private courtyards and built-in, oversized garages.

Interior finishes include stainless steel applicances, bamboo floors, granite countertops and wood cabinets.

The first phase of the $7 million City Home project consists of five townhome units and six loft-style condominium units between 804 square feet and 2176 square feet, priced from between $120,600 and $348,160.

At buildout, an additional seven single-family homes and four condominiums will round out the total to 22 units, and nearly 1,600 square feet of commercial space will be created in the storefront at .

Special financing will be offered on five of the units, making them affordable for residents who earn less than 60 to 80 percent of the region's median income, or $21,000 a year for an individual.

City Home is part of the third phase of 3CDC's Gateway Quarter project, a $30.3 million project that includes 106 for-sale housing units and over 15,000 square feet of commercial space.

Note: Photo from December 2008

Previous reading on BC:
City Home photo update, 12/13/08 (12/18/08)
Blogger Tour of Living, Part II (10/2/08)
City Home photo update, 8/4/08 (8/12/08)
Wrecking Cincinnati, 7/21/08 (7/21/08)
Wrecking Cincinnati, 7/18/08 (7/18/08)

A request by the Westwood Civic Association (WCA) to place the properties at into the City's hazard abatement program has been granted, and a February 29 public hearing will determine if they should be razed.

The attached buildings were condemned on December 29 because of broken windows, missing copper plumbing, a defective roof, and water damage.

There were also 121 police calls to the property between 2006 and 2008, and it's considered a major hub of drug activity.

The owner of the buildings, IB Property Holdings LLC of Miami, failed to bring them into compliance by the January 29, 2009 due date.

The WCA passed a motion supporting the buildings' demolition at its January 13 meeting, calling it a "detrimental influence" on the neighborhood because of its proximity to key institutions, including schools, a library, and parks.

If approved for demolition, the building will be razed within 30 to 60 days and the owner will be invoiced.

Two redevelopment scenarios are on the table.

St. Catharine Parish has developed an initial concept plan to pour a 31-space parking lot, and Westwood Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation has been exploring the idea of building two new "green" homes.

According to city manager Milton Dohoney Jr., U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) funds can be used for new housing on the site, but can't be used for a church parking lot.

The church could still acquire the property and create its own parking, funded privately or through other public programs, Dohoney says.

Previous reading on BC:
Westwood wants problem property abated, redeveloped (2/11/09)

A Mount Lookout resident says that he's being forced out of his home by the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority.

In an e-mail communication to Mount Lookout Community Council (MLCC) president John Brannock, the resident says that the housing agency has purchased the adjoining four-flat apartment buildings at 3304 and 3308 Mowbray Lane and will be using them for Section 8 housing.

"Needless to say, those of us in my building were a little shocked and very upset by finding this news suddenly under our doors Wednesday night," he says. "But I guess that is the price of progress to some degree. Unfortunately, some very hard working young professionals are paying the price for that progression."

The resident is hoping that the MLCC will get the word out to residents about the impending changes.

Brannock says that it's not Section 8 that he's worried about, it's that it doesn't seem right that people are being forced from their homes.

"I have no issues with Section 8 as long as the people who occupy those apartments are not sex offenders, drug abusers or dealers, etc.," he says. "This is especially important since these apartments are a block away from Cardinal Pacelli grade school."

The resident's e-mail has been forwarded to Cincinnati city council, and a report on the subject is due before council by March 18.

Three-family
DOB: 1895
Died: December 2008
Cause of death: An excessive amount of furniture, boxes, and other storage cluttering the property and creating a fire hazard. From time to time, the exterior of the property was filled with litter, including a mattress, a junked car, and boxes that were being inhabited by animals. Raccoons were also found living in the house, which had started to deteriorate to the point that water had begun to damage the ceilings, walls, and floors. It appears to have been abandoned after the owner died in 1993. For some reason, the property remained in her name.

The City condemned the house in June 2005. A criminal case was filed, but later dismissed. The house was declared a public nuisance in September 2005, and was targeted again during the Neighborhood Enhancement Program in 2008.

In late 2008, the chimney collapsed. It was razed by the City following asbestos abatement. The Westwood Civic Association supported its demolition because it was a blighting influence in an otherwise stable area.

The house was owned by a relative of Ron Brown, a 70-year-old man who in 2007 was sentenced to 180 days in jail for not cleaning up his Westwood properties.

Three years ago:

• I visited Silverton, Kennedy Heights, and Norwood.
  

One year ago:

• Photos were posted from the Q Blogger Tour, followed by a few taken from a Downtown high-rise.
  
• Public meetings were being held about proposed noise walls along I-74 in Northside and South Cumminsville.
• In Mount Adams, lots along Baum Street were being torn up for a project that now appears to be dead.
  
• A second public meeting on the Camargo Corridor Plan was scheduled in Madeira.
• The City of Deer Park held an open house for its draft comprehensive plan.

In a letter to Cincinnati City Councilmember Roxanne Qualls, Over-the-Rhine Foundation executive director Michael Morgan calls the deconcentration of social services "a critical first step" to move forward to a better, healthier city.

Morgan has volunteered his time and legal education during months of zoning text amendment meetings to help fix what he calls "a broken social service system".

The 24-member Social Service Committee, formed to make zoning text recommendations following a council resolution last June, was largely composed of employees of social service agencies, who sought input from non-committee agencies and toured many of the local facilities.

"Much of the conversation was productive," Morgan says. "The process only became frustrating when ideologies were treated as unquestionable absolutes."

According to Morgan, these "absolutes" included:

• Social service agencies are good for property values and businesses.
• There is no concentration of social services in Over-the-Rhine.
• People are being served where they are located.
• Concentration of services is good because it is convenient for the homeless.
• Any concern about business traffic or home values is selfishness and unimportant.
• That social service facilities should be permitted to locate in any zoning district in the City because their work is more important than any other land use.

Morgan says that these perspectives provide context when weighing the importance of public outcry over possible zoning changes.

"The proposed changes are not 'biased against social service agencies' as has been asserted," he says. "In fact, these agencies were very instrumental in the process of drafting them. The 'outcry' responds to creating sound policy where anarchy and unquestionable ideology have established comfort."


Which came first: The services or the served?

The vast majority of speakers at the February 10 meeting were employees of social service agencies, and many feared that their agencies would be unable to expand in their current locations.

To Morgan, this is one of the strengths of the proposed zoning changes.

"Over-the-Rhine is not 'where the poor people are', it is where we have decided to place them and quarantine them," he says.

Over the course of a year, over 7,000 unduplicated homeless people make their way through the neighborhood's agencies.

"This means that roughly 77 percent of the city's homeless population is being funneled into one neighborhood that only constitutes 1.2 percent of the city's population," Morgan says.

Because of this, social service agencies have become concentrated in Over-the-Rhine and, in some cases, duplicated.

"There is one social worker employed in Over-the-Rhine for every 1.5 resident(s)," Morgan says. "The Freestore Foodbank frequently says that 'most' of its clients are from Over-the-Rhine, but it serves roughly 45,000 people from its Liberty Street location, meaning that if every single man, woman, and child living in OTR sought free foor from this one agency, it would still constitute only about 11 percent of their clientele. Just one of the VOA's multiple OTR properties houses 70 percent of the State of Ohio's recently releases sex offenders."


On classism

Morgan contends that the City's "broken system" for social service delivery lumps all poor people together.

"The single mother living on a housing voucher cannot take her child to play in Washington Park because it is overrun by people who are actively intoxicated," he says. "The man trying to overcome addiction and seek a stable life is housed next to practicing addicts in a neighborhood with one of the highest unemployment rates in the city."

And he rejects the assertion that defining social services by type and imposing location policies is classist.

"The suburbanite who rides his Harley Davidson into the West End to 'feed the poor' is practicing classism," Morgan says. "The person who travels to 'the slum' to 'help the wretched' and feels that it would be judgemental to distinguish between the individual who is struggling with a low-wage job and the individual who has four felony convictions and no desire to seek employment is practicing classism."

To him, those who perpetuate a system of "de facto quarantine of poverty and social problems" are the biggest, most counterproductive classists of all.

Instead of hiding poverty, deconcentration would actually serve to address and reduce it.

"People in Kennedy Heights, College Hill, and Mt. Washington lose their jobs," Morgan says. "And Bond Hill, Roselawn, and Avondale are full of working poor who could benefit from job training and employment assistance."


Reform will take courage

"Refusing to hide our social problems and displaying them for exploitative reasons are different, but one sometimes masquerades the other," Morgan says. "For these reasons, reforming a broken system will take courage."

If this is to be done, Morgan says that the time is now.

"A bad economy is not a justification for expanding bad policy," he says. "The probability of a lengthy recession is why we can no longer wait to fix our social service system, and why we need to start taking economic development much more seriously."

A report is due before city council by March 18.

A lawsuit, filed against the City by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless and 13 other social service agencies over last June's deconcentration resolution, is pending.

Previous reading on BC:
Cincinnati resolves to deconcentrate social services (6/30/08)
Bortz resolves to de-concentrate social services (4/16/08)
CityLink legislation could lead to zoning changes (1/28/08)
Burke defends CityLink (12/27/07)

A resident of Walker Street in Mount Auburn wants the City's help in building a retaining wall to save the hillside and preserve home values.

In February 2005, a landslide affected seven Walker Street properties, causing damage to decks and sewer lines and making the hillside very unstable.

After contacting the City, the street's property owners were told that since the landslide was on private property, the City could not -- and would not -- help.

Instead, the City's Department of Buildings & Inspections issued orders to each of the property owners, requiring them to stabilize the hillside, repair the decks, and fix the sewer lines.

"Four of the property owners, myself included, took legal action against the person who we believe caused the landslide," the resident says. "The other property owner...did not join the legal action because of the legal costs involved, and she figured she would just take care of building a wall."

The legal action was taken against Michael Kelley, owner of the properties at , who left the property vacant for many years without shutting off the water.

A deep freeze caused the water main to burst, filling the property and saturating the hillside.

Following a three-and-a-half-year legal battle, Kelley was found at fault for the hillside, and the property owners were awarded $318,000.

According to the resident, Kelley has no money to pay the judgement and did not have insurance coverage for his properties.


Estimates in

Residents of Walker Street have had geotechnical work done in the landslide area and have hired a company to design a retaining wall.

"All of the geotechnical engineers tell us that the wall must be done as one project, and that one single property owner cannot build a wall to fix the hillside," the resident says. "The cost to build the wall from 1835 to 1847 Walker Street, which is the original area of the landslide, is nearly $400,000. The cost of the sewer line repairs is $54,000."

But since 2005, the problem has become much bigger, with damage making its way down to 1825 Walker Street.

"Two of the original property owners have had their properties go into foreclosure due to the very high legal and hillside repair cost, and the fact that the appraised value of their homes is now $ZERO, since the repair costs are so high," the resident says, adding that he may have to consider foreclosure as well if the problem isn't addressed.

The resident hopes that the City will build the wall, then assess each property owner for their portion of the wall's cost.

So far, they have held a meeting with the City solicitor and members of Councilman Chris Bortz's office.

"If the City is unable to help, I fear that Walker Street will continue to have more and more foreclosures, due to the City's orders to repair the hillside," he says.

Health Commissioner Dr. Noble Maseru agrees with Cincinnati Health Department supervising sanitarian Richard Thornburg that a proposed junkyard at requires no license.

His case is made in a communication to Cincinnati City Council in which he responds to two letters written by Lower Price Hill Community Council president Dr. Jack Degano, who complained that concerns about storm water issues and possible environmental damage coming from a proposed facility from River Metals Recycling have been ignored.

In the letters, Degano cites sections 1021-5 through 1021-9 of the Cincinnati Municipal Code as the reason River Metals needs a license to operate the ferrous and non-ferrous scrap metals and junked car business.

But Maseru says that Section 1021-5 deals only with businesses classified and licensed as junk facilities.

Junk facilities are defined in Section 1021-1-J2 as automobile grave yards, junk yards, and motor vehicle lots -- but not scrap metal processing facilities or existing state licensed motor vehicle salvage dealer facilities.

Since the River Metals proposal does not fit the definition of a junk facility, Dr. Maseru says that they don't need a license and that Section 1021-5 does not apply.

In fact, Maseru says that the described use in the River Metals proposal doesn't even fit the City's definition of "junkyard".

Section 1021-1-J1 defines a junkyard as "any establishment or place of business which is maintained or operated for the purposes of storing, keeping, buying or selling junk, except manufacturing establishments buying and storing scrap or junk materials for use, in altered form, in their manufacturing process, or establishments or places where motor vehicles, wrecked or otherwise, are being held due to impoundment by a police officer, or which are maintained principally for the repair of wrecked or damaged motor vehicles."

In his letter, Degano also expressed worries about the unstable and porous hillside on the site, which was created through excavation and later topped with dirt dredged from the Mill Creek.

And he fears that every heavy rain will cause a muddy runoff that could mix with any fluids coming from the junked cars.

"I'm unaware of any bulding permits filed by River Metals," Maseru says. "And the information gathered from the meeting with the River Metals spokesperson described a staging operation and no dismantling of vehicle or fluid drainage, only the removal of gasoline and batteries."

Residents of Lower Price Hill voted against the proposal last October, fearing that the predominately low-income neighborhood was a dumping ground for the City's polluting industrial businesses.

Homes and a few small businesses are located near the site.

"The whole of the area in the included map is zoned MG (Manufacturing General)," Maseru says. "It does require a conditional use for the operation. The surrounding 'homes' are also zoned MG."

A report on the matter by city manager Milton Dohoney Jr. is due before council by March 11.

Previous reading on BC:
Lower Price Hill seeks Cole's help in stopping junkyard (2/17/09)
River Metals to apply for junkyard use (11/13/08)
Lower Price Hill fighting proposed junkyard (10/9/08)

Cincinnati City Council unanimously approved a resolution supporting Transportation MATTERS, a new statewide coalition that advocates for full funding of a safe and efficient multi-modal transportation network that preserves and enhances Ohio's mobility, economic competitiveness, and quality of life.

The resolution also expresses the City's desire to join the coalition.

Annual dues for a city of Cincinnati's size are $1,500.

Presented as a unified voice for Ohio's statewide interests, the coalition lists as members and prospective members the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments, the , the City of Columbus, the Greater Dayton RTA, and the Greater Cleveland Partnership.

Other members include cities, transit agencies, chambers of commerce, metropolitan planning organizations, highway contractors, and transportation industry professionals.

Previous reading on BC:
Transportation task force wants your input (5/27/08)

Voting is now open for the FINAL category of the 2009 Building Cincinnati Development Awards, the least pro-development politician or public official in Greater Cincinnati.

Your (and my) nominations have been narrowed down to five choices, with a box available for you to comment on why you made your selection.

Vote as many times as you'd like!
VOTE NOW!!!

Votes will be tabulated over the next couple of weeks, with winners and losers announced sometime in mid-March.

Also, voting is still open for the most pro-development politician or public official in Greater Cincinnati:
VOTE NOW!!!

Warehouse
DOB: 1880
Died: December 2008
Cause of death: Razed to make way for the --> --> --> $12.5 million Wastewater Engineering Center, a three-story, 54,000-square-foot facility that will house 200 employees.

Previous reading on BC:
Wrecking Cincinnati, 2/19/09
Cincinnati names two additional green roof sites (5/20/08)
Cincinnati approves bonds, land swap, lease for new MSD offices (3/20/08)
Cincinnati wants $15M in bonds, land swap for MSD offices (3/3/08)
MSD needs new office building (11/15/07)

Two years ago:

• Camp Washington was added to the Building Cincinnati photo galleries.
  

The Model Group has released a rendering by architect glaserworks of Trinity Flats, a new construction and rehabiliation condominium project at the in Over-the-Rhine.

The new construction project, which is getting ready for footers, will include 18 units; Seven units will be created in the rehabbed buildings at 1332-1342 Vine Street.

Twenty parking spaces will be included on site and five spaces in the adjacent lot.

Bobby Maly, vice president of development for the Model Group, also reports that they have gotten two contracts on this past week.

Both projects are part of Phase III of 3CDC's Gateway Quarter, a $30.3 million project that includes 106 for-sale housing units and over 15,000 square feet of commercial space.

Image credit: Jeff Raser, AIA, glaserworks

Previous reading on BC:
Mottainai and Trinity Flats photo update, 1/22/09 (1/29/09)
Blogger Tour of Living, Part II (10/2/08)
Wrecking Cincinnati, 7/24/08 (7/24/08)
Model releases Trinity Flats elevations (2/13/08)

Clifton Town Meeting (CTM) will hold a community meeting to review and discuss designs for the Clifton Plaza project this evening at 7:30 PM at the Clifton Recreation Center, .

Architects from KZF Design and the CTM Plaza Committee will seek community input into preliminary designs for the new public space on the , on Ludlow Avenue across from its intersection with Telford Street.

Resident feedback will be used to develop a final design.

The new plaza is meant to serve not only as a connection between the Merchant's Lot and the Ludlow Avenue business district, but also as a functional community space that could feature permanent seating, an information kiosk, a performance platform, lighting, and other built elements.

Those who cannot attend the meeting can still submit feedback to the CTM Plaza Committee by e-mail to with "Plaza" as the subject line.

The $300,000 construction cost is fully funded.

Image credits: KZF Design and Clifton Town Meeting

Previous reading on BC:
Funds in place for Clifton plaza (12/18/08)
Cincinnati votes to fund Clifton plaza (8/8/08)
Clifton fighting for promised plaza (7/28/08)
Ludlow Avenue streetscape begins (6/24/08)

These shots were all taken on February 11 and February 12.

The Hyde Park shots were taken from the top floor balcony of 2801 Erie during a tour of the construction progress.

Earlier that morning, I captured the Queensgate shot from the rooftop of Cincinnati Union Terminal during a media event announcing that the building requires $120M in rehabilitation.

The Oakley shots were captured as I was making my way to the Cincinnati Imports meet-and-greet, which I had to abandon before even talking to anyone due to an emergency.

But later that night, I went to the Bockfest poster unveiling at Mr. Pitiful's in Over-the-Rhine.

The 15 photos in this slideshow have been added to the following galleries:

• Hyde Park +6 (76 photos)
• Over-the-Rhine +5 (203 photos)
• Oakley +3 (37 photos)
• Queensgate +1 (3 photos)

These galleries, and galleries for dozens of other Greater Cincinnati communities, can be found in the drop-down menu at the top of the right-hand column.

Hover over the slideshow to bring up the controls. You may stop the slideshow by clicking on the square "stop" button, allowing you to scroll through the photos at your own leisure. To get a better view, click on each image to enlarge to 800 x 600. Photos will open in a new browser window.

Tomorrow, Cincinnati City Council's Economic Development Committee (EDC) will consider a resolution supporting the inclusion of the City in a new Amtrak rail passenger service between Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland, and requesting that the (ORDC) begin the study of possible passenger rail service between Cincinnati and Columbus.

Passenger trains have not run on the 3-C corridor since 1971.

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland reiterated his support for the 3-C project during his 2009 State of the State address in January.

“We will strengthen Ohio with innovative transportation projects," Strickland said. "We will work toward the restoration of passenger rail service between Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland. Our goal is to link Ohio's three largest cities by passenger rail for the first time in 40 years. This will be a first step toward a rail system that links neighborhoods within a city, and cities within our state."

An ORDC and Amtrak analysis of ridership projections and operating costs for twice-daily round trips is expected to be completed by fall, meaning that passenger trains could be on the tracks by the end of 2010.

The ORDC, an arm of the --> --> -->, is seeking $100 million for the first phase as part of the $9.3 billion in transit funding promised in the $787 billion federal economic stimulus package.

All Aboard Ohio, a public transportation and passenger rail advocacy group, is recommending $250 million in stimulus funding.

"Any stimulus dollars for rail not spent in Ohio will be spent for passenger rail development in another state," All Aboard Ohio interim executive director Ken Prendergast says in a media release. "Of the top 23 most densely populated states, Ohio and Hawaii are the only ones lacking a state-financed passenger rail development program. If we are to compete for jobs and residents, we must catch up to our competitors elsewhere in the U.S. and worldwide. This stimulus funding for rail development is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Ohio to do that."

U.S. Department of Commerce data shows that even a $100 million investment in the 3-C corridor would create 2,400 new jobs with an increase in annual incomes of $50 million.

The 3-C plan is also seen as the logical first step to the more comprehensive system, a $3 billion-$4 billion transit project composed of high-speed trains running along 1,244 miles of track serving 46 stations.

Linking with the proposed Midwest Regional Rail System, New York's Empire corridor, Pennsylvania's Keystone corridor, and VIA Rail Canada, the Ohio Hub would serve 22 million people.

Photo credit: "Northbound Amtrak" by , courtesy of Flickr.

Previous reading on BC:
All Aboard Ohio: Stimulus bill may ignore Ohio's train and transit needs (1/21/09)

The Cincinnati-Hamilton County Continuum of Care for the Homeless (CoC) will host a second community forum on Wednesday to update the public on progress they have made in the "Homeless to Homes" process, and will share and discuss ideas being considered for inclusion in the final plan.

Homeless to Homes began in response to an October 8, 2008 Cincinnati city council ordinance seeking "to ensure that single homeless men and women will have access to shelter facilities that are appropriate, safe and that will provide comprehensive services necessary for homeless individuals to obtain and maintain housing".

The Homeless to Homes process, facilitiated by retired Procter & Gamble executive Jay Price, seeks to develop a "blank slate" approach to homelessness, addressing from the ground up the problems that homeless individuals face such as mental and physical health problems, addictions, lack of education, and other barriers to employment and housing.

Over the past several months, a steering committee, chaired by United Way president for community impact Barbara Terry, has been working with representatives from human service agencies, local foundations and funders, the faith community, and business leaders to develop the comprehensive plan that will substantially reduce the number of people needing shelter services each night.

Public input and nationally-recognized best practices will also be incorporated into the plan.

The CoC forum is open to all and will take place from 4 PM to 6 PM at the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati, Rookwood Tower, , Suite 500.

The committee's recommendations are due to be submitted to city council by March 31 and will be used to inform future funding allocations for services to homeless individuals.

In 2007, 3,604 single males and 1,139 single females were served through street outreach, emergency shelters and transitional housing in Cincinnati.

Last October, City staff reported that only 413 emergency shelter beds are available nightly for single individuals.

Photo credit: "rock bottom" by , courtesy of Flickr.

Previous reading on BC:
New plan to help homeless find homes (10/16/08)

Voting is now open for the FINAL category of the 2009 Building Cincinnati Development Awards, the least pro-development politician or public official in Greater Cincinnati.

Your (and my) nominations have been narrowed down to five choices, with a box available for you to comment on why you made your selection.

Vote as many times as you'd like!
VOTE NOW!!!

Votes will be tabulated over the next couple of weeks, with winners and losers announced sometime in mid-March.

Also, voting is still open for the most pro-development politician or public official in Greater Cincinnati:
VOTE NOW!!!

Single-family
DOB: 1920s
Died: October 2008
Cause of death: Razed to make way for Xavier University's Hoff Academic Quad project.

On February 11, Jared Wayne of Bloomfield/Schon + Partners took me on a tour of 2801 Erie, a four-story, 13-unit condominium building under construction at in Hyde Park.

Units in the $10 million project, which was designed by architect José García, will sell for $650,000 to $1.52 million.

Contracts are pending on seven of the units.

Drywall should be starting any day now, and the installation of exterior cladding of stone and Prodema should start soon after.

This slideshow tour starts at the first floor entry, then jumps to the fourth floor penthouse.

About halfway through, there are a few shots of lower floors and a shot of the parking garage.

There are 26 photos in this slideshow. Be sure to keep an eye out for some views of Hyde Park taken from the penthouse balcony, which will be posted in a few days.

Hover over the slideshow to bring up the controls. You may stop the slideshow by clicking on the square "stop" button, allowing you to scroll through the photos at your own leisure. To get a better view, click on each image to enlarge to 640 x 480. Photos will open in a new browser window.



Previous reading on BC:
2801 Erie photo update, 8/25/08 (8/29/08)
2801 Erie photo update, 1/3/08 (1/9/08)
Tree-clearing for 2801 Erie (10/17/07)
A new four-story residence for Hyde Park? (7/10/07)

The City of Cincinnati is considering a resolution declaring its intent to appropriate by purchase four parcels for the next phase of the Hamilton Avenue Improvement Project.

The improvements, in College Hill, will widen the road by two feet and provide left turn lanes at the three signalized intersections.

The Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments is funding the project with money from the Ohio Public Works Commission.

The resolution likely will not be considered in council committee until next week.

Final voting is now open for the fourteenth category of the 2009 Building Cincinnati Development Awards, the most pro-development politician or public official in Greater Cincinnati.

Your (and my) nominations have been narrowed down to five choices, with a box available for you to comment on why you made your selection.

Vote as many times as you'd like!
VOTE NOW!!!

Voting for the final category will begin on Monday.

Also, voting is still open for the region's biggest eyesore:
VOTE NOW!!!

Light manufacturing
DOB: 1927
Died: December 2008
Cause of death: Razed to make way for the --> --> --> $12.5 million Wastewater Engineering Center, a three-story, 54,000-square-foot facility that will house 200 employees.

Previous reading on BC:
Cincinnati names two additional green roof sites (5/20/08)
Cincinnati approves bonds, land swap, lease for new MSD offices (3/20/08)
Cincinnati wants $15M in bonds, land swap for MSD offices (3/3/08)
MSD needs new office building (11/15/07)

Two years ago:

• A photo gallery of Cincinnati landmarks was added to Building Cincinnati.
  

One year ago:

• The Model Group was hired to plan and design Harvey Commons, the residential component of the Burnet Avenue revitalization in Avondale.
• Cincinnati's Historic Conservation Board rejected plans by the Freestore Foodbank to demolish several Over-the-Rhine buildings for parking and loading facilities.
• The rear addition was down and the building secured at 320-322 Broadway, Downtown.
  
• Cincinnati City Council approved $250,000 in assistance from homeowners in the Rockford Woods subdivision in Northside.
• A collapsing Walnut Hills apartment building was razed.

Schematic designs for the new Chase School in Northside were approved by the Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) Board of Education at its February 9 meeting.

Designed by Cole + Russell Architects, Fanning Howey, and Moody Nolan, Inc., the new 67,274-square-foot school will be built on the site of the former Chase School, a site commonly referred to by community residents as "the pit" or "the hole".

Northside Community Council had lobbied for the $14 million school to be built in a more visible location near Chase Avenue and the McKie Recreation Center, a plan that was dismissed by the City as expensive and unworkable.

CPS did not address the idea at any of its Board of Education meetings.

Also at the meeting, the board approved a resolution authorizing the start of bidding for demolition and site work at the Rockdale School site in Avondale and a resolution approving several contracts for the renovation of the Dater Montessori building in Westwood.

Image credits: Cincinnati Public Schools

Previous reading on BC:
Graves: Northside proposal likely too costly (1/29/08)
Northside council wants CPS, CRC cooperation on Chase site (12/12/07)

Cincinnati City Councilmember Laketa Cole has introduced a motion for pedestrian-friendly traffic calming measures .

Due to a rise in topography and poor sight lines, many pedestrians have been hit while trying to cross in the marked crosswalk at Anderson Place, some from the nearby St. Paul Village retirement community.

On December 4, William Johnson, 65, was killed when a SUV driven by Daniel Albers of Anderson Township struck him in the crosswalk just before 7 AM.

Albers was charged with both vehicular homicide and vehicular manslaughter after police say he failed to yield.

Albers has entered a not guilty plea and is due in court today for a pre-trial.

"While I understand that there is a flashing pedestrian light, clearly, that has been insufficient," Cole says in a statement accompanying the motion.

Improvements to the crossing could include a new traffic light.

A report on the motion is due before council by March 11.

Last Wednesday, Cincinnati Museum Center president and CEO Douglass W. McDonald led a media tour to show why it will require $120 million to restore the building.

An extensive study revealed corrosion to structural steel that has caused water damage and stone and brick wall displacement, a failing flat roof system, deficient flashing details, inefficient mechanicals, and failed replacement windows.

The first several photos, including the Cincinnati Dining Room, adjoning rooms, and murals, are part of a fully-funded first phase of the restoration that will dictate how future phases will proceed.

Of special note are the "plastic and garbage can" water control system and the decayed flashing that can be seen along the rooftop.

There are 45 photos in this slideshow. A full gallery of 105 Cincinnati Union Terminal shots can be seen here.

Hover over the slideshow to bring up the controls. You may stop the slideshow by clicking on the square "stop" button, allowing you to scroll through the photos at your own leisure. To get a better view, click on each image to enlarge to 800 x 600. Photos will open in a new browser window.



Previous reading on BC:
Photos: Union Terminal turns 75 (4/4/08)

A West Price Hill apartment building that's long been a neighborhood nuisance has been is getting cleaned up.

The City received a communication from Price Hill Civic Club vice president Pete Witte about Phil's Manor, , stating that the 18-unit building was "ruining this stretch of W Eighth".

The communication contained notes from neighbors complaining that absentee owner Phil Yeary was not maintaining the complex and was allowing disrespectful renters to live there.

Loitering, drug use and violence plagued the complex, and more than 80 police calls were made to the property during the first nine months of 2008.

In an update to City Council, city manager Milton Dohoney Jr. reports that the junk and litter on the property has been removed and the abandoned van is being handled by the Health Department.

Additionally, the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority is no longer placing tenants at Phil's Manor and a residential manager has been placed at the property to control loitering and trespassing.

Dohoney says that the address will be monitored on a regular basis by District 3 of the Cincinnati Police Department.

Previous reading on BC:
4373 W Eighth Street: A nuisance? (1/13/09)

Final voting is now open for the fourteenth category of the 2009 Building Cincinnati Development Awards, the most pro-development politician or public official in Greater Cincinnati.

Your (and my) nominations have been narrowed down to five choices, with a box available for you to comment on why you made your selection.

Vote as many times as you'd like!
VOTE NOW!!!

Voting for the final category will begin on Monday.

Also, voting is still open for the region's biggest eyesore:
VOTE NOW!!!

Single-family
DOB: 1915
Died: December 2008
Cause of death: The last structure on the block, it was razed by the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden.

The entire block is now owned by the zoo and is used for surface parking.

One year ago:

• New photos of Over-the-Rhine, Mount Auburn, Downtown, and the City West development were added to the Building Cincinnati galleries.
  
• The City of Cincinnati granted a Community Reinvestment Area tax exemption for the future headquarters of the Cincinnati Herald, a $7.8 million project that is expected to result in 25 additional jobs.
• In Over-the-Rhine, structural steel was starting to come out of the ground at the site of the new School for Creative and Performing Arts.
  
• The second of three public meetings on a strategic plan for the Salem Road business district was being held in Anderson Township.
• A Clifton Avenue warehouse was razed by its owners to avoid rehabilitation and maintenance costs.

On Thursday, the Hamilton County Rural Zoning Commission (RZC) will consider approval of a planned unit development (PUD) for a $21 million redevelopment of the vacant K-mart building in Columbia Township.

Ridge K, LLC, composed of Dan Neyer of Neyer Properties and Steve Miller and Rob Smyjunas of Vandercar Holdings, has proposed Ridge Pointe, a renovation of the vacant building and the creation of three outlots on 10.13 acres near the .

The project's first phase, the renovation of the former department store, would alter the façade and shrink the building's footprint to create 68,000 square feet of LEED certified office/warehouse flex space.

In future phases, the outlots will include a 30,500-square-foot, two-story LEED certified office building on the north side of the site, a 10,500-square-foot retail building on the south side of the site, and a 14,000-square-foot retail building along Ridge Avenue.

Surface parking will provide 383 spaces.

PUD districts are overlays of existing zoning that allow the development of property in a manner or intensity not allowed by underlying zoning districts.

Once granted a PUD, the owner may only develop the parcel according to that plan.

Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission staff has recommended approval of the PUD, noting that the proposal adheres to the Ridge and Highland Special Public Interest District and the township's comprehensive plan, and is compatible with the surrounding commercial uses.

However, as a condition of approval, staff concludes that the developers to make minor revisions to the sidewalk locations - including sidewalks along the entire frontage of Ridge Avenue - and that a vacant tire store on the southwest corner of the property should be demolished during the project's first phase.

If approved, the Ridge Pointe would require approval by the .

Ridge K, LLC is also working with Columbia Township to create a tax increment financing agreement that would provide $2.2 million to cover public improvements to the site.

Image credit: Neyer Properties

Lower Price Hill Community Council president Dr. Jack Degano is asking for Councilmember Laketa Cole's help in stopping a proposed junkyard on a 7.8-acre site at .

In a letter to Cole, Degano says that two letters he has written to City health commissioner Dr. Noble Maseru about the massive amount of storm water runoff and possible environmental damage have been ignored.

"His department has an obligation to citizens," Degano says. "We expect the Health Department to do its duty and have that land flood-free, cleaned up, and stabilized."

On December 5, a representative of the Health Department agreed with River Metals Recycling representatives that the company does not require a license to open a ferrous and non-ferrous scrap metals and junked car business in a residential section of Lower Price Hill.

Degano says that, in the experience of his community council, a junkyard does need Health Department permits under Sections 1021-5 through 1021-9 of the Cincinnati Municipal Code.

"I summarized the Health Department's own multi-faceted regulations pertaining to property owners where surface water enters a facility, and the major remedial work that is required by River Metals before the junkyard could open," he says.

Degano worries most about the unstable and porous hillside on the site, which was excavated in the late1920s to provide fill dirt for Union Terminal.

"River Metals own testing company, Thelen Associates, Inc., reported, 'ongoing instability of a hillside' that abuts the proposed junkyard, plus, 'There exist considerable amount of colluvial soils near the proximity of the steep cut slope...A mantle of soil sliding downslope develops colluvial soils at the toe of steep cut slopes in shale and limestone bedrock," he says.

In 1991, the City allowed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to dump 250,000 tons of dirt dredged from Mill Creek on top of the hill, causing torrents of muddy water to pour down State Avenue every time there's a heavy rain.

Degano worries about what else this muddy water might contain if the junkyard is allowed to exist, especially with shipments sitting on site for one to three weeks or more.

"Oil, gasoline, brake and steering fluids, radiator coolant, transmission fluid, transfer case lubricant, and toxins would cause faster oxidation of the metals, all of which, blended with Mill Creek dirt, would flood the sidewalk and street," he says.

And he doesn't think that the company will make the capital investments necessary to keep their operation from harming the neighbors, such as stabilizing the hillside, stopping the cascading rainwater, installing heavy duty drainage systems, covering metals to control oxidation, complying with environmental laws, frequently testing the water and soils, controlling pests and vermin....

"A David J. Joseph Company [River Metal's parent company] handled radioactive materials in Tampa in 1993," Degano says. "Also in Florida, a Joseph operation was found to be so contaminated as to warrant an EPA Superfund cleanup. It is not acceptable for the public health of Lower Price Hill for River Metals to cut corners to maximize profits."

Residents of Lower Price Hill soundly rejected the plan last October during a meeting of the community council.

"Lower Price Hill already has the Metropolitan Sewer District, two junked car lots, a large refuse hauling business, a cargo cleaning operation, and multiple companies that deal in hazardous wastes," Degano says. "After years of persistence, we recently had dismantled both an old tires dump, and yet another junked cars lot. The old crocks had been on the State Avenue lot so long that a stately oak tree had sprung forth from the bosom of a 1960 Oldsmobile."

A report on the matter from city manager Milton Dohoney Jr. is due before council by March 11.

Previous reading on BC:
River Metals to apply for junkyard use (11/13/08)
Lower Price Hill fighting proposed junkyard (10/9/08)

Margo Warminski, preservation director of the Cincinnati Preservation Association, has supplied Building Cincinnati with a number of photos she took of the Lackman Flats, , in July 2006.

These photos were taken when the apartments were vacant.

Compare and contrast these with the photos I took on February 7, 2009.

There are 32 photos in this slideshow.

Hover over the slideshow to bring up the controls. You may stop the slideshow by clicking on the square "stop" button, allowing you to scroll through the photos at your own leisure. To get a better view, click on each image to enlarge to 640 x 480. Photos will open in a new browser window.



Previous reading on BC:
Lackman Lofts photo update, 2/7/09 (2/12/09)
Fourteenth and Vine photo update, 2/7/09 (2/11/09)
Lofts of Mottainai photo update, 2/7/09 (2/10/09)
Mottainai and Trinity Flats photo update, 1/22/09 (1/29/09)
Fourteenth and Vine photo update, 1/22/09 (1/28/09)

The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden will be able to lease parking spaces to surrounding institutions, thanks to a notwithstanding ordinance granted by Cincinnati City Council.

Shared parking was not allowed within the 22.2 acres, which are zoned for residential and recreational use.

The parking lots are located on both sides of Vine Street, and along Dury and Erkenbrecher avenues.

Despite a request, 64 additional acres of zoo property were not included in the ordinance.

Previous reading on BC:
Zoo seeks notwithstanding ordinance for shared parking (2/4/09)

Final voting is now open for the thirteenth category of the 2009 Building Cincinnati Development Awards, the biggest built eyesore in Greater Cincinnati.

Your (and my) nominations have been narrowed down to nine choices, with a box available for you to comment on why you made your selection.

Vote as many times as you'd like!
VOTE NOW!!!

Voting for the next category will begin on Wednesday.

Also, voting is still open for the most improved neighborhood in Greater Cincinnati:
VOTE NOW!!!

Three-family
DOB: 1880
Died: January 2009
Cause of death: The rear of the building was pulling away from the front section, leading to cracks in the walls two to three inches wide from the foundation to the roof line. Bricks were falling from around the top windows, the roof was missing, and there was evidence of vandalism. The building's last assessed market value was $2,750.

The building was condemned in September 2005. A criminal case was filed against the owner in January 2007, and he was later entered into a diversion program after attaining a VBML application and construction permits.

It was declared a public nuisance in June 2008. The owner later provided the City's Historic Conservation Board with an economically feasibility study demonstrating that a rehabbed building would not provide an economic return, given the rents in the area.

In December 2008, the building was approved for emergency demolition and razed privately.

Two years ago:

• A photo gallery of Cincinnati's bridges was added to Building Cincinnati.
  

Three hundred thousand dollars in capital funding initially geared for public improvements at the Glencoe Hotel and Condominiums site in Mount Auburn will now go to building stabilization.

At its last meeting, Cincinnati City Council amended ordinance 329-2008, passed last October to reconstruct the sidewalks, lighting, and public areas around the six buildings of the .

In supporting the redirection of City funds, the amended ordinance noted that "preservation of such buildings would serve the public interest of the citizens of Cincinnati".

Concerns over the buildings' condition arose during a site tour by staff from the City's Department of Community Development and the Office of Architecture and Urban Design, who alerted staff from the Division of Property Maintenance Code Enforcement about failing roofs and cornices that were endangering the public rights-of-way.

Early cost estimates to prevent further water infiltration and building collapse, based upon inspection of CAGIS information and site photos, average more than $455,000.

These costs are expected to rise as contractors and City inspectors do a more thorough analysis of the structures.

Property owner Dorian Development has proposed a $20 million rehabilitation of the complex that would rehabiliate the building shells, then sell those shells to individual builders to create a total of 54 condominiums and 14 rental units.

The City has yet to sign funding and development agreements with Dorian Development, and won't until they receive more assurances from the developer and prospective homebuilders that the project is economically viable.

The true condition of the buildings could go a long way toward determining that viability.

The City plans to collaborate with Dorian Development on the building stabilization, which should begin no later than next month.

Previous reading on BC:
Glencoe developers need building stabilization money (2/9/09)
City approves $300K for Glencoe-Auburn improvements (10/6/08)
Motion to jumpstart stalled Inwood Village project adopted, but questions remain (9/17/08)
ODOD changes status on Glencoe-Auburn (12/24/07)
Urban Ohio: Fantastic Glencoe-Auburn Place photos (11/21/07)