PLANS FOR THE FUTURE - A VIBRANT URBAN CENTER
The Metropolitan Growth Alliance was formed in 1997 by a group of business and community leaders to promote regional cooperation in the 13 county tri-state Greater Cincinnati metro region. The Alliance commissioned Michael Gallis to do an "opportunity analysis" of this metro region. The Resource Book Preparing For The New Millennium was presented to the community in June 1999. It is intended to provide a tool for creating a shared understanding of the metro region's competitive position in the new global economy and for pursuing a common vision. Key points from the Resource Book follow.
The Resource Book is based on the notion of this being a revolutionary period in human history. Effective planning for the future of the region requires a new conceptual framework. The trading blocks of the Communist World and the Free World have been replaced with a more integrated economic geography. The way goods, people and information travel has been transformed. Metropolitan regions around urban centers have begun to take the place of nation-states as the foundation units of the world economy.
The Resource Book proposes a new conceptual framework based on the pattern of social and economic connections and linkages with emphasis on the network of interactions of people in metro regions. It treats the region as a single functional whole. The framework creates a way to view the region as a pattern of continuous activities -- one place -- where the whole area benefits from each of the parts and each of the parts benefits from the whole. It provides an understanding of how the Greater Cincinnati Metro Region relates to and competes with the Super Region, the North American Trading Block and the Global Network. The major metro centers (Indianapolis, Dayton, Columbus, Huntington, Lexington, Louisville) in the surrounding 150 miles from downtown Cincinnati form the larger urban network, the "super region".
The fact book describes the Greater Cincinnati metro region as one competitive unit in the global economy. Each jurisdiction is a component of the metro region and should not be an individual competitor in the search for people, resources and economic activity.
There are more than 100 incorporated units of local government in the 600 square miles of the urban area. The urban core includes the historic part of Cincinnati, all of Covington, Bellevue and Newport. Growth is taking place in all directions but not equally, the slowest growth being in the western region in Hamilton County.
Over the past fifty years the metro region emerged within which all the resources, political units and assets are part of one interconnected whole. While each of the 1.9 million people reside in a particular jurisdiction, they cross jurisdictional boundaries daily to work, shop, access entertainment and health care. None of the parts and components are big enough or have enough resources to compete in the global economy. Only the Greater Cincinnati metro region as a whole is large enough and has the necessary resources to compete in the global marketplace.
Regions, like the human body, are made of systems that sustain the life of the organism. Systems are interactive and have a set of resources each with its own unique strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges. None reaches its potential without the strength and support of the others. The future of Greater Cincinnati will be developed by establishing the policies, plans, strategies and investments that affect each of the individual systems as part of a community vision.
The natural Environment is the original system. Greater Cincinnati has a unique environmental setting with exceptional ecological diversity. The Ohio River divides the region and tributary systems further divides the regions into different ecological zones. There is an extensive network of parks and open spaces, many located on or near the Ohio River and its tributaries.
Opportunities: Expand the environmental and recreational vision to encompass the entire Ohio River and its network of tributaries from Rising Sun to Ripley. Metros that capitalize on their environmental diversity benefit socially and economically from the variations in their metro environments. The Ohio River system provides a framework to link the regions locations and amenities. A joint tri-state river front development entity could oversee the creation of a master plan and investment strategy for the future of the river.
Transportation
Resources: The airport is a major air hub in the super region and is an air freight center. River ports provide connections to the Midwest and the world. The rail patterns follow the north/south 1-75 and the east/west river. The radial interstate corridors with the beltway form the basic structure of the transportation pattern.
Opportunities: The region can emerge as an important hub in the global network. The region has the transportation resources and the communication infrastructure to form the foundation for the development of an integrated multi-modal hub. Rail transit proposals being considered will have a yet to be determined impact on aspects of the transportation system and on each other. Also strategies need to be developed to link with a proposed NAFTA (North American Free Trade Association) corridor. The Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport can provide a vision for a multi-modal hub connecting the region to North America and the world.
Economic Development
Resources: The metro region has been a major, multidimensional economic center. Layers of the economy include a trading center based on its river location, an automobile makers industrial manufacturing center and a more recent "bio-tech" layer based on medical research at UC.
Opportunities: A new economic vision of the area is needed including the combination of: strengthening existing and attracting new business and industry; creating and growing new economic clusters (such as bio-tech) within the region. Also, supporting existing partnerships for economic growth of the region, expanding venture capital resources, and attracting and developing a regional workforce. Strategies to strengthen the central core will be vital to maintaining the economic health of the region including cooperation on
both sides of the river.
Education
Resources: Within the super region, this region has the broadest array of higher educational facilities and programs and the highest total number of college/university students. Mechanisms to address the region's workforce education and training needs are being planned. The area has a fragmented system of unequal quality in K-12 education. This has a negative effect on the interior core.
Opportunities: Incorporate the strengths of all institutions in a strategy to strengthen the Greater Cincinnati metro region's position as the educational leader within the super region. Also initiate a partnership between the metro higher education resources and K-12 systems, promote K-16 view of education, and build the quality of the K-12 system across the region.
Health
Resources: There are a wide range of hospitals spread over a broad geographic area. The Greater Cincinnati metro region has emerged as a national medical research center and there are six medical schools located throughout the super region.
Opportunities: Develop stronger community and corporate support for medical research to strengthen the emerging bio-tech economic layer. Build a stronger relationship between the medical and research capacities in Dayton and those located in the Greater Cincinnati metro region.
Culture, Arts, & Sports
Resources: Greater Cincinnati is a major center of culture, arts, sports, conventions and tourism. Support of the arts has been strong.
Opportunities: Work aggressively to meet competition from other super region metros in cultural, sports, tourism and convention initiatives. Strengthen public and private financial support for the arts, tourism and conventions.
History
Resources: The Greater Cincinnati metro region has a long and rich history with important historic districts and entire planned communities.
Opportunities: Create a strategy to preserve, restore and market the historic resources of the region. Develop plans to protect historic districts important to the urban fabric.
Urbanization
Resources: The Cincinnati Combined Metropolitan Statistical Area (CMSA) is the largest population center in the super region and the metro region has a wide variety of housing stock. New residential development is primarily in the form of low density urban sprawl. While new investments are being made in the metro region's center, significant areas of the core within the I-275 belt are in decline threatening the economic, health, major institutions and identity of the region.
Opportunities: Develop a "grow smart" strategy for the region and reverse urban core decline through programs in community and urban regeneration.
Governance & Public Management
Resources: There are over 340 municipal, county, state and federal jurisdictions and districts in the metro region. There is a strong tradition of local government but the fragmented metro region's structure makes it difficult to create policy and regulations and to manage the metro region.
Opportunities: Develop effective strategies for governing and managing the future of the Greater Cincinnati metro region. Work to unite the various local, state and federal agencies in a cooperative coalition. Build effective collaboration between the private, public and institutional sectors to guide the future of the region.
The Future
The Greater Cincinnati Region - its strength is in its diversity, its weakness is in its fragmentation. How to celebrate many individual parts while building unity among the many pieces is the greatest opportunity and biggest challenge.
A MULTI-MODAL TRANSPORTATION HUB
A GROWING AND VIBRANT ECONOMY
A SIXTY MILE RIVER PARK
A NATIONAL CENTER OF EDUCATION
A STRONGER QUALITY OF LIFE
A MEDICAL AND RESEARCH CENTER
A VIBRANT URBAN CENTER
Throughout metropolitan America, the central city carries the identity of the region. The health and vitality of the central core of the central city is the barometer by which regions are measured. The central district of the Greater Cincinnati metro region now encompasses both sides of the river including downtown Cincinnati, Covington and Newport.
GOVERNING THE REGION
The Greater Cincinnati metro region is a radial and concentric metropolitan area, focused on its central city and county. While good ideas for improving the regional future can arise throughout the region, leadership must come, at a minimum, from the central city and county. Because of the inherent structure of the Greater Cincinnati metro region, Cincinnati and Hamilton County are positioned to function in this role. Without leadership for the regional future, other units of government will find it impossible to coordinate activities such as policy making, planning and investing in the region. With such a large number of governmental units in the region, a foundation for the future can only be created through cooperative and mutually supportive actions.
FIRST SUBURBS CONSORTIUM
Ohio First Suburbs is a consortium of Ohio's older metropolitan communities. Beginning in the Cleveland area in 1998, it is an association of established communities which recognize that many existing government policies and practices are harming them. Suburbs in Cleveland, Columbus, Toledo, Dayton and Cincinnati are in various stages of coming together in their area to address the effects of state and federal policies on their communities.
In older communities, land and infrastructure need maintenance and adaptation for reuse. While local tax revenues support basic services, the added costs for redevelopment and long term maintenance tend to remain unfunded. State tax revenues are often earmarked for sewers and highway projects for new development, but not for the preservation or redevelopment of older communities.
Recognizing that their housing stock is becoming dated and their communities are losing population, First Suburbs members are calling on Ohio's Governor and the legislature to establish a better balance between investment in new developments on vacant "greenfield" land, and redevelopment and maintenance of mature communities. During the biennial state budget discussions, a line item was proposed to state legislators which would have earmarked $20 million for older suburbs to use for commercial, residential or industrial redevelopment. Although not included in the budget, the case for reinvestment continues to be made.
The Southwest Ohio First Suburbs Consortium (SOFSC), an association of elected and appointed government officials in the Cincinnati-Dayton area, in concert with Ohio First Suburbs Consortium began to gather in the spring of 1999. Cities and villages, Amberley, Forest Park, Golf Manor, Greenhills, Harrison, Lockland, Loveland, Madiera, Mariemont, Milford, St. Bernard, Springdale, Woodlawn, Wyoming; the City of Cincinnati is represented, in Hamilton County, and Kettering and Oakwood in the Dayton area have expressed interest. Potential criteria for joining First Suburbs include:
60% of housing constructed before 1960
more than 1,000 households per square mile
low or negative household growth (less than 1.5% in past decade)
street miles per square mile (a measure of infrastructure density)
little or no new construction
Representatives of First Suburbs maintain that taxpayers' dollars would be better spent taking care of existing infrastructure and past investment instead of repeatedly abandoning older communities in favor of building new. The SOFSC seeks to promote public policies that maintain the vitality of the communities and advocates balanced investments in new and existing infrastructure and the maintenance and enhancement of the tax base.
HAMILTON COUNTY REGIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION
STRATEGIC PLAN
The Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission (RPC) has developed a Strategic Plan to meet the needs of Hamilton County in the 21st century. The Strategic Plan involves an internal reorganization of the Regional Planning Commission to enable accomplishing a revised Planning Commission vision and mission.
RPC Vision
To assist Hamilton County and its communities, agencies and citizens in planning and achieving sustainable development and related community and regional goals.
RPC Mission
 To build planning partnerships for creating and implementing community plans in the context of the region.
To provide data management and analysis for effective planning and decision-making in Hamilton County governments.
To promote an equitable balance of local, county and regional perspectives and interests in community planning forums.
The structure of the RPC is proposed to expand from its current 7 members to a Board of Trustees consisting of the Hamilton County planning commissions' chairs. This will enable "a partnership of planning commissions".
With 49 political jurisdictions in Hamilton County and as many planning commissions and over 600 planning and zoning commissioners, the County lacks a collective vision. While there is a wealth of human resources involved in planning, there is rampant fragmentation in community planning. The concentration on local issues leads to a lack of coming together in the same direction on major countywide or regional issues.
The proposed structure seeks to promote collaboration on countywide issues within the County's fractured planning environment. Using an expanded committee structure, the Commission intends to increase awareness of and promote collaboration on a broader scope of countywide problems and opportunities.
Examples of the need for a countywide planning partnership include:
Many of the inner suburban Hamilton County communities are losing population and development funding that cannot be effectively changed by any individual jurisdiction.
The many political jurisdictions bring divergent voices and, therefore, reduced effectiveness in regional transportation funding discussions.
Internal competition reduces real economic competitiveness as a region. Communities independently attempting to climb to the top rung of fiscal health may find they are climbing the wrong wall.
Implementation of fragmented local plans, without fully considering the interconnectedness of neighboring actions, results in adverse regional consequences. The lack of development coordination undermines the County's ability to improve mobility, implement mass transit corridors and achieve air quality standards, economic vitality and desirable growth.
Four long-term strategies are proposed:
Join with other agencies and organizations to create and implement community plans.
Plan for Hamilton County's growth within a regional outlook.
Promote communication among diverse community planning groups to solve problems and build consensus.
Collect data, trends and key community facts to measure progress and support self-determination of local communities in the context of an agreed upon regional vision.
Of the proposed subcommittees, two are key:
Countywide Planning
This group will identify priorities for a countywide comprehensive plan. It will develop organizational alliances and coalitions to create and implement parts of the plan as well as facilitate forums for discussions.
Key Indicators and Benchmarks
This group will identify data and measure the well-being of the community in physical, economic, environmental and social dimensions.
The Commission will seek involvement on the part of public, private and civic organizations.
Regional Issues Committee
November 1999
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