Right Now Downtown

There are lots of people downtown and they generate lots of waste. Unfortunately, not enough of that waste is recycled. Paper from businesses is the largest single source of waste in the United States, and downtown is the largest generator of waste paper in the area.

Landfill space in Columbus is at a premium, with 3300 tons of waste added daily and an estimated 25 years of life remaining. Recycling is an important element of reducing waste and saving landfill space. Therefore, Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District (CCSID) has joined with the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio (SWACO) and downtown property owners to develop a plan to facilitate recycling in the Capital Crossroads district downtown.

We know that many commercial and residential tenants want to recycle, but they don’t know how to start. Recycling downtown is trickier than in other parts of town because the 550 properties are served by many waste haulers; there is no coordinated recycling effort; multi-story buildings and narrow alleyways pose unique challenges; and the type of recycled material generated varies from building to building. Building in downtown vary. Some have loading docks and some do not.

A consortium of 35 downtown property owners, representing a variety of building types and solid waste streams, joined together to solve the recycling challenges in downtown. Working with the SID and with funding from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, City of Columbus, SWACO and the SID, they contracted with GT Environmental to conduct waste assessments to determine how much waste could be diverted from the landfill and recycled. GT developed a waste management plan for each building, showing how trash and recyclables could be collected, stored and removed.

The SID provided the information on all 35 properties to Eastman & Smith, a law firm specializing in solid waste law. Eastman & Smith contacted local service providers to negotiate contract terms on behalf of all consortium properties.

As the SID began developing its plan, the market for recycling commodities collapsed. Interest among service providers waned. Nevertheless, some companies stepped forward and offered to begin a pilot program. From this pilot, CCSID hopes to increase the willingness and capacity for private sector haulers to serve downtown and collect recyclable materials, with the goal of diverting at least 25% of all waste generated into the recycling stream.

“Because of the weak market for recycling commodoties, this project has progressed at a slower pace than we anticipated,” says Cleve Ricksecker, Executive Director of CCSID. “Nevertheless, we will stick with the program and work with the downtown community and service providers to recycle more and more as the price for recycled commodities improves and new markets emerge.

Over the next few weeks, preferred service providers will be announced and posted at downtowncolumbus.com. Details will be provided regarding the types of materials they recycle and how downtown properties can utilize their services. Because properties are logistically unique, the SID will need to work one-on-one with some properties in order for service to be possible. Therefore, downtown properties are encouraged to call the SID with any questions concerning the program and how they can start service.

The SID will continue to seek out progressive service providers and aims to expand its program until the recycling needs of all downtown properties are met.

T’IS THE SEASON

Fall is here in all its golden glory.  With Halloween goblins and ghouls, pumpkins and gourds, football and more football.  Surely Ohio farmers are putting their beds to bed for a long winters rest, and farmers markets are closing their shutters for the season.  Nope, not in downtown Columbus.

Although the outdoor Pearl Market wraps up its season this Friday, the indoor Winter Pearl Market will come right in on its heels.  Thanks to a grant from the US Department of Agriculture’s Farmer Market Promotional Program, Capital Crossroad SID has extended Pearl Market’s season through February.  It’s an idea that came from vendors and shoppers alike, who told Pearl Market staff that they would like to continue selling and shopping.  So more Market they shall have.

Starting next Tuesday, you can shop each Tuesday and Friday from 10:30 am – 2 pm on the first floor of 20 E. Broad Street.  Approximately 34 vendors will be there with their wonderful good and local produce (yes, it’s all still local – mostly grown in greenhouses), baked goods, meats, cheeses, oils, syrup, jams, eggs, soaps, jewelry, sweaters, bags, dog-friendly items, and much more.  There will also be an art gallery produced by the Create Columbus Commission and a Holiday Marketplace with gift items.  Also new for the indoor Market, customers can shop with the Ohio Direction Card (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program/Food Stamps).

The season for shopping never ends.

Business First reported a new, but small, trend in retailing on October 23:  the pop-up store.  These stores “pop up” in small spaces and operate for brief periods of time.  According to the article, they typically lease space “as is” and highlight specific product lines.

Risk to the retailer is low.  Because these stores operate for limited periods of time, they have an event quality to them that draws shoppers.

Retail-starved downtown could use some pop up stores.  There is a large inventory of vacant storefronts.  Property owners would certainly consider short-term leases.  Could Toys R Us make some money in downtown during the holiday season?  After all, many of the 100,000 time-pressed downtown employees have children.

Capital Crossroads opens its own pop up store on Tuesday, November 3.  Pearl Market vendors are working with the SID to create a retail co-op at 20 East Broad Street that will be open on Tuesdays and Fridays from 10:30 to 2 pm through February.  If this experiment is successful, the concept might be expanded next year.  Who knows where this effort might lead?

Downtown’s Response to our Homeless from Downtown Columbus on Vimeo.

Capital Crossroads and Discovery Special Improvement Districts are holding their annual Toiletries Donation Drive to help out local homeless shelters during their busy “winter overflow” months.  The drive, which collects much needed supplies for the shelters, runs October 14 – November 6.

Many people in Ohio share a characteristic with the rest of the country.  Rather than making positive change at home, they leave.  Instead of making a commitment to live an urban lifestyle in Columbus, for example, they flee for Chicago or one of the coasts.

This trend is not new.  Ohio has been experiencing a “brain drain” among so-called young professionals for more than 30 years.

Columbus has had its share of change agents, including people who invested “sweat equity” in the Short North, German Village, Old Town East, local music and visual arts, and one of the most vibrant gay communities in the country, to name a few.  These grass roots changes are often lead by recent college graduates.  They are the truly meaningful changes that capture a generation.

Where are the young change agents in Columbus?  What are they advocating?  Where are people investing sweat equity?  Who is “rocking the boat”?

Go-Ogle-Here

Downtown Columbus is a sight to see, literally.  It’s just that you should hoof-it if you want to catch the real treasures.  What sorts of treasures?  The City of Columbus and Create Columbus Commission (the Mayor’s appointed young professional group) have launched a mapping project that is, right this very minute, logging all the amazing little things you come across on a downtown tour de-foots.

We hereby nominate…

An incline climb up the stairs of the Main Library.  In the front hall you’ll find a meticulous Lego sculpture of the library itself.  You’ll also find a majestic metal work of art with Braille imprinted all over its surface.  Yes, please touch!

As you may know, the long arm of the law requires a REALLY BIG GAVEL.  According to roadsideamerica.com, Columbus is home to the world’s biggest gavel.  You’ll find it, in the middle of the fountain at Front and State streets.

Or you could stand in the shadow of greatness.  Stop at the very center of the city, Broad and High.  It’s the point from which all local destinations are numbered (your residence number is based on your distance from that point).  It’s also the place where the Naked Cowboy once serenaded locals before he went to the Big Apple.

Now, your nominations, PLEASE…  Share them here and let the Create Columbus Commission know your thoughts.

One of the things I really love about urban spaces is the element of surprise, especially when walking.  Stumbling the first time upon Basi Italia in a Victorian Village alley, for example, is a delightful shock.  Franklin Avenue in Discovery District is a totally unanticipated treat.  If you look above J. Gumbo’s at Gay and Pearl, you will unexpectedly see mannequins in mini skirts looking back at you from the second floor window.

Independent businesses offer that same element of surprise.  You never know what to expect when you walk for the first time into a Dine Originals restaurant, for example, except for a great experience.

Few local developers understand the value of surprise better than Jeff Edwards.  He has completed only about 15% of his planned Gay Street condominiums, yet his one-block neighborhood between Fourth and Fifth streets already contains many unexpected treats.  They include a lush courtyard with a fountain and little patios that lead to garden apartments half a flight of steps below the sidewalk.

What other surprises are worth discovering?

THE LAZY MAN’S GUIDE TO EXPERIENCE COLUMBUS DAYS

There’s a couple ways to approach the three days of festivities known as Experience Columbus Days.  You could do a willy-nilly drive around, frantically hitting as many discount deals as possible.

With that approach comes stress and angst.  Who needs all the drama when the best bang for the buck comes in one concentrated area?  Enter Downtown Columbus…

1.  It starts with a visit to the Santa Maria (the only option with an authentic Christopher Columbus connection).  Guests can explore a real relic and take the official tour at a buy one/get one rate.

2.  Over at the Ohio Statehouse, tours are always FREE.  That said, it’s a great way to celebrate the weekend and the tours of the Statehouse building and museum are going full force on Saturday and Sunday.

3.  When the demands of this rigorous schedule render you too weak to walk, enter SegAway Tours.  Now famous for the fabulously interesting local trivia tidbits, at 50% off, you save a whopping $22.50 per rider.

Of course, you’ll need sustenance to survive our grueling itinerary.  The weekend celebration includes 25% off your tab at local Dine Originals restaurants.  Downtown members include Tip Top Kitchen & Cocktails,  Elevator Brewery & Draught Haus, and Due Amici.  Check out experiencecolumbusdays.com for more information and the discount flyer.

Years ago, OSU Professor Hazel Morrow Jones studied home purchases in central Ohio to see where people moved within metropolitan Columbus.  She discovered that 80% of the people who sold and bought a home in central Ohio moved at least one mile further from Broad and High, a startling outward migration.

Sadly, the flight has continued.  The Columbus Dispatch reported on October 1 that Franklin County had a net loss of 4,161 people to outlying counties between 2007 and 20o8.  The movement of residents within metropolitan Columbus is still largely one way.

Enabling the flight are government policies that reward and encourage sprawl with new highways, interchanges, schools, water and sewer systems, and other infrastructure.  Even tax abatements, originally designed to benefit distressed urban neighborhoods, are now used mainly on the urban fringe, fueling abandonment of existing urban centers.

Ironically, taxes paid by established neighborhoods and commercial districts often fund their own demise.