Russ Alley

 

I think I know OTR pretty well. But everyday I notice new things. Sunday, while walking down Republic Street, between Green and Liberty, I noticed this gated alley. I am generally negative on privatized public space, but was pleasantly surprised by this short section of alleyway. Places where 2 alleys intersect in the middle of block are usually pretty unsafe places anyway.

I think all the buildings that surround this alley are part of a project called St. Anthony Village, which is a "renter equity program" consisting of 28 apartments. From what I have seen, it is a peaceful part of the neighborhood.

Here is Russ Alley on an auditor's map. It runs e/w below the yellow highlighted building and a few other buildings. The gated section runs from Republic Street to Goose Alley:
 

1635 Republic, gate on alley:
 

The eastern end of the alley, here unfenced to the left of this red building, runs out to Vine Street:  

What City is This

Clue, it is in the US:
 

 

O'dell Owens on OTR Crime

I missed this nugget the other day from our Coroner:

Hamilton County Coroner O'dell Owens isn't buying a survey that named Over-the-Rhine the “most dangerous neighborhood” in America.

Dr. Owens said in a press conference on Wednesday that Cincinnati is a good city that suffers from “poor self esteem.”
...
"At our worst we had 89 homicides. Philly had 440, Detroit has one a day, Indianapolis had eight in one day. Toledo had multiples in one day. We've never had eight homicides in one day in Cincinnati," said Owens.

Owens said there is a problem with crime but people shouldn't let fear keep them out of the area.

Channel 9 follow up story yesterday.

Dunking Booth

The kids loved the Northside 4th of July parade, especially the dunking booth:
 

Happy 4th

Some Patriotic images for your weekend:
 

 

 

 

Building Laying Down

You've probably seen this already, but it is so fascinating to me, I just had to comment. Somehow a building was built in China with poor foundations on quicksand like soil, and tipped over like a domino while still under construction. The layers of safety, permits, engineering reports, insurance requirements and special required inspections guarantee that nothing this flimsy could ever be built in this country:
and  

 

Weird hollow tube footings:
 

Train Speeders

A week ago, we were in Elkins, WV, and happened upon a very unusual sight. Turns out this was a meeting of NARCOA, a club for collectors of old speeders. Speeders are what was used on rails for maintenance runs after the hand cart and before being replaced with modified road vehicles. As I came upon this group, they had just finished a 120-mile group trip over a mountain pass, and were in the process of removing their vehicles from the tracks. They have little tiny gasoline engines, but because of the low friction and low grade, can go long distances on little fuel:
 

A single car:
 

Weathertight:
 

Santa Fe, off the tracks:
 

New Census Numbers Show Strong Cities

Wall Street Journal Article today. The chart at the top of the article has a listing of cities including Cincy, Columbus and Cleveland. Columbus has all positive numbers and Cleveland all negative. Cincinnati's are negative in the early 2000s and get into positive territory starting in 2006.

Cities Grow at Suburbs' Expense During Recession

U.S. cities that for years lost residents to the suburbs are holding onto their populations with a mix of people trapped in homes they can't sell and those who prefer urban digs over more distant McMansions, according to Census data released Wednesday.

Growing cities are growing faster and shrinking cities are losing fewer people, reflecting a blend of choice and circumstance.

...Population growth also accelerated in smaller cities such as Minneapolis and Columbus, Ohio...

The Census data underscored how the recession and the real-estate slump have curbed migration, especially to suburbs and outer areas known as exurbs.

..."This shows cities were reviving at the end of this decade, and they are also surviving a recession that has been a lot harsher for other parts of our landscape," Mr. Frey said. "Cities are big enough and diverse enough that they are able to survive these ups and downs in the economy a lot better."

Population growth in the cities has translated to slower growth in the suburbs...

...With the slowdown in construction and service jobs on the urban edges where development was greatest, a bigger share of immigrants are moving to central cities, instead of directly to the suburbs as they had during the real estate boom.

Arrogant FOP

"..I'm not listening to a lot of what Greg Harris is saying right now.." - Cathy Harrell, president of the Cincinnati FOP on WVXU Tuesday.

Greg Harris has a forward thinking proposal to combine the Hamilton County Sheriff and the Cincinnati Police Departments. This is the kind of big thinking that is needed in Cincinnati. But as Greg Harris says in the article, "you would think the sky is falling by the response".

Coffee Mug Monument

 

Individual vs Societal Green

Another study finds urbanites more green. Its always interesting to see the suburban greenies write in their outraged objections when they read such articles. (After all they did add insulation to their attic and change to energy efficient bulbs). This kind of thinking reminds me of a guy I heard on Smart City podcast a few weeks ago. Alex Steffen was saying that it is wrong to think people can save the planet by making these small tweaks in their personal life. We really need bigger and more transformational societal changes:

...I think we have made a pretty profound mistake in assuming that the only way that people are willing to engage with big problems and try to bring forth big solutions is as individual consumers. Not only is this something that just simply won't work, we can't shop our way to a better planet, but it also something that profoundly insults the dignity and capacities of everyday people. Democracy is founded on the idea that groups of people coming together have the capacity to choose well and act boldly. We have poorly served our larger community by insisting that sustainability is something that happens at home. It isn't. Sustainability is something that happens in the ordering of your city and nation...

I Told You Architects Don't Care About Beauty

At least the most respected ones don't. Come to think of it, does anyone seriously discuss or make beauty today? Painters? Urban designers?: Interview with Rem Koolhaas:

SPIEGEL: ...Shouldn't architects be the prophets of beauty?
Koolhaas: Beauty isn't what I'm primarily interested in. I think appropriateness is more important.
SPIEGEL: What do you think is the world's most beautiful building?
Koolhaas: Very conventionally, the Pantheon in Rome, for example. Isn't it remarkable? Talk about beauty and you get boring answers, but talk about ugliness and things get interesting.
...
SPIEGEL: Some people say that if architects had to live in their own buildings, cities would be more attractive today.
Koolhaas: Oh, come on now, that's really trivial.
SPIEGEL: Where do you live?
Koolhaas: That's unimportant. It's less a question of architecture than of finances.
SPIEGEL: You're avoiding the question. Where do you live?
Koolhaas: OK, I live in a Victorian apartment building in London.
...
SPIEGEL: ... What will cities look like in the future? Do we even need such downtown areas?
Koolhaas: The old contrast between downtown and suburban areas is outdated.
SPIEGEL: Wait a minute, isn't the current trend moving away from suburbia and back to the city?
Koolhaas: Yes, for now. And do you know what's so ironic about that? The people from the suburbs are bringing along their suburban values: cleanliness, orderliness, safety -- dullness, in other words. As a result, urban areas are being hollowed out. Just look at Times Square in New York. No more sex shops, no drugs, no homeless people. The area is clinically clean and incredibly dull.

Thus if an urban area does not have drugs, prostitution and poverty then it is not interesting to Mr Koolhaas. And while designing painful buildings for others, he chooses to live in Victorian comfort and beauty.

I've been reading some other stuff recently about Delirious New York, in which Koolhaas heaps praise upon leftover spaces in American cities; places like highway entrance ramps, and drainage swales. Think about it. This guy is a leading academic with rabid followers in all the architecture schools. This kind of thinking has permeated our culture.

The Most Beautiful Toilet

Built in 1772, documented here.

Retro Play Equipment

Seen at a park in District of Columbia last week. Simple, yet kids seemed attracted to it:
 

To Hot to Blog

Summer in Cincy is a great sweaty mess, but is heaven if you have a pool to visit everyday. For the next month, my objective is to get to work early and get a lot done so that I can get to the pool mid-afternoon and spend as many hours there as possible and going to sleep early so I can start the process all over again. I also have lots of construction / home improvement to do. Thus posts from me will be less frequent for the rest of the summer. The others will still post, and in all likelyhood, so will I, but the way I see it the more I post here the less time I am doing the things I really want to do. Step away from the screen and get outside!