Right Now Downtown

At the Capital Crossroads Annual Meeting in November, Executive Director Cleve Ricksecker reported on one of the core missions of Capital Crossroads SID: safety.  CCSID continues to partner with the Columbus Division of Police to promote safety downtown.  The ongoing efforts of CCSID’s safety ambassadors include patrolling the district, observing their surroundings, notifying the police of any criminal activity, and reporting even minor offenses and disorder to the SID special duty police officers. Additionally, the reassuring presence of the ambassadors, combined with keeping the environment clean, help promote safety in the downtown core. 

This hard work has resulted in good news for downtown in 2009.  While comparing crime rates across precincts is not an exact science, using conservative estimates, the downtown Columbus precinct is now among the three safest in the city.  After experiencing a 37% decrease in crime from 2002 to 2008, there was a slight increase in 2009.  This was due primarily to an increase in car break-ins, a phenomenon which was true citywide.  Downtown’s increase in this type of crime was lower than the citywide average. 

“We remain grateful to the Columbus Division of Police for their excellent work,” said Ricksecker.  “They understand that law enforcement requires a variety of approaches and resources, and agree with the old English saying that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” 

Bike patrol officers are proactive in eliminating problems and preventing crimes, and the special duty officers hired by the SID supplements those efforts.  In addition, the SID’s Outreach Specialist, Alyson Poirier, helps the homeless and those with mental health or addiction issues by linking them with social services, which keeps them off the streets and from possibly contributing to safety issues. 

Finally, the SID uses its communications vehicles to remind residents, employees and visitors not to give to panhandlers and to be aware of the risk of leaving valuables in plain sight in a car.  

All these efforts combined contribute to a safer downtown.

FLIPS (not) FLOPS

You don’t need to be an orthopedic surgeon to know great bones.  Then again, when a top-shelf orthopedic team settles into its renovated downtown digs… you can just bet that the building’s got great bones.

With strong structural underpinnings, our older buildings can stand the test of time.  Architects and engineers can flip the designs, and the structure’s foundational features still hold strong.

SportsMedicine Grant & Orthopaedic Associates is setting up camp in its newly renovated space at 323 E. Town Street.  The address was originally designed as a hotel, but the location has been redesigned to host both in-patient and out-patient services at Grant.  Like we said, the building always had sturdy bones… now it has a new face and a drop-off area too.

The Hayden Building at 20 E. Broad Street has great bones too.  The historic structure is presently en route to becoming the fancy, luxurious Hotel Indigo.  The well ornamented building is already fancy from the outside, that’s a signature characteristic of its original architect, Nathan Kelley (he also worked on the Statehouse and the “Lunatic Asylum”… we will resist the temptation to connect his clientele).

With the promise of oversized beds and pillows – plus spa showers, Hotel Indigo sounds like a great place to rest your bones.

Ultimately, it’s frameworks like these that make downtown renovation projects impressive flips (and not flops).

Cleveland never ceases to impress me.  Last week, I traveled to the North Coast to participate in a City Club program.  I spent the night at the Wyndham Hotel on Playhouse Square, where the musical Chicago was playing.  That same night, the Cavaliers hosted the L.A. Lakers at the “Q.”

Because city planners are smart enough to limit on-site parking for major downtown venues, the 20,000 plus people attending events walked from remote parking and filled the streets, restaurants, and taverns for many blocks in every direction of their destination.  The pedestrian activity made the street feel vibrant and safe.

My friend, Mark Lammon of the Downtown Cleveland Alliance, took me for a ride to Little Italy on the new Health Line that runs for seven miles along Euclid Avenue.  This bus feels like a train, runs frequently, and makes limited stops at rail-like stations.  It drew full loads of people, including young professionals, well into the evening.  In addition to this service, the City also has three light rail lines.

Downtown Cleveland seems to be doing well.  I have long wondered about the difference between Cleveland and Detroit.  Could it be Cleveland’s commitment to transit?

February is Crafter’s Month at the Winter Pearl Market (20 E. Broad Street)!  We are looking to close out our inaugural winter market with a bang.  Because the MARKETPLACE (where local handmade arts, clothing, crafts and other gifts have been sold on consignment) has been so popular, we are expanding on that idea and making the whole month of February “Crafter’s Month.”

But we need crafters to participate, so if you are interested, please email Heather Brown at heather@downtowncolumbus.com for more information. 

DIGGING IN NEW DIGS

How can anyone NOT love MadLab?  The idea of a crazy laboratory is undeniably appealing; and this one hosts a gallery space for visual arts and a theater space for performing arts (a theater troupe).

And where does a place like MadLab belong?

You already know the answer to that question: right in the heart of Downtown Columbus.  They’ve put down serious roots by buying the whole building at 227 N. Third Street.

Who knew there was a theater there?  There’s not… yet.  Before MadLab made its purchase, the space was an auto detailing operation.  Right now, the Lab team is hard at work doing renovation work for the space’s March 2010 debut.

The renovation team has already discovered one of the very coolest things about downtown properties: they are chock full of fun finds.  According to managing director, Andy Batt, “One of the interesting things we found was that half of the building had three separate ceilings, one on top of another.  The third ceiling was an antique, ornate tin ceiling.  We are hoping to be able to clean that up and use it in our gallery space.”

That’s not all.

“We also found a small basement we didn’t know was there when we purchased the building.  It’s about 10 feet by 10 feet and about seven feet tall.  There are old signs down in the basement that are from previous uses of the building.”

Who knows what MadLab might do with those signs?  Regardless, we’d say the signs are good for the group’s success in the new digs!

I have a pet peeve about the use of statistics, and an article in the Saturday (January 16) Columbus Dispatch made me peevish.  The Dispatch ran an article entitled, “Worst corridors to bike, walk.”  An insert listed the most “dangerous streets” in order of danger, led by North High Street from Dodridge Street near OSU to Goodale Street in the Short North.  MORPC provided the data.

I will not dispute that High Street has the high volume of crashes because it undoubtedly carries the highest volume of bicycle and pedestrian traffic in central Ohio.  But to say that High Street is the most dangerous corridor in Central Ohio is absurd.  Is biking or walking along High Street more dangerous than Polaris Parkway?  According to this article, it is, by virtue of the fact that nobody walks or bicycles on Polaris Parkway.

In my experience, High Street is a relatively safe arterial street because bikers and pedestrians are so prevalent that motorists tend to watch for them.  The MORPC report is a service to the extent that it leads to improving the design of High Street.  But to call High Street the region’s most dangerous corridor makes no sense at all.

DOWNTOWN SPEAKS

You know how suggestion boxes work?  Fill out the form, put it in the box… and it goes away forever.

We’re not that way.  At the end of last year, we asked for reader thoughts and suggestions, you followed through and offered all kinds of comments.

Now we’ll follow through too.  Here’s the plan:

1.  You want more places to have lunch, including fast food chains.
Although our focus has been on independent operations (here’s our online directory of almost one hundred eateries), we welcome all sorts of purveyors.  Heck, if there’s room for Dunkin Donuts, we’ve got room for a McWendy’s King.  But please be patient.  The chains will be slow to return to downtown.  In the meantime, check out the quick bite places in the directory…  we promise good eats are ahead!

2.  You want more retail stores downtown.
We do too.  Since the survey, Capital Crossroads SID has announced that it will create a retail recruitment program for downtown with Kacey Campbell taking the lead on revving up downtown retail.  You can be proactive in this process too: shop at downtown’s Pearl Market, nurture those businesses and they’ll grow into a full-scale retail community.  And support the downtown retails we have.  You can find a list of retailers here.

3.  You want to know about marches and rallies happening downtown.
Duly noted.

4.  Some readers wanted City Center open again as a mall; some wanted it to remain standing and repurposed.
City Center ran its course as a mall.  It faced fierce competition from Tuttle, Easton and Polaris malls.  Its closed-off-fortress design was no longer cool.  So bye-bye mall; hello sweet opportunities!

As for redesign, the mall was build to be a mall.  Did you know it doesn’t even have a heating system, because the lights and people generated enough heat?  The best evidence indicates that the single most cost effective way of dealing with the structure was to disassemble it entirely.  To do otherwise would be a statistically improbably gamble.

5.  Readers want the magic of their childhood.
Can we pull a rabbit out of the hat and make our downtown dreams come true?  If you care, and we know you do, then we can!

This week Cleve welcomes guest blogger, Steve Sevell.  He shares his thoughts on public transit, along with some cool pics.

And a disclaimer (please read this in your head at a very fast pace like those TV commercial speed-talkers): the views and opinions expressed by guest bloggers may or may not reflect the views and opinions of DowntownColumbus.com and its affiliated parties.

STREETCARS OFF ON THE WRONG TRACK

I believe there are problems for electric streetcars in Columbus, especially in the Short North and OSU, where the first streetcars would run, such as:

• taking up critical lanes of traffic;
• cutting down on the very limited parking;
• rails catching bicycle tires and women’s heels;
• the overhead electric wires they run on are exceptionally ugly;
• the 2.8 mile stretch of track, costing $103 million, is outrageous; and
• they can only run on expensive tracks, limiting routes and destinations.

So streetcars aren’t nearly as cool as they might seem at first.

If we considered the next generation of futuristic electric buses, we could achieve all of the good with none of the bad.  Delft University of Technology (Netherlands) has designed a “Superbus”, which looks like something Batman would use to commute to work.  Being on wheels, it requires no new, expensive infrastructure.

Matter of fact, turns out Las Vegas has taken steps to improve their mass transit.  Take a look at their new buses!  Congratulations LVTA!

How about Columbus riding into the 21st century with some new sets of wheels?  So instead of being like other cities, we could do something different.  Something better.

ALL ABOUT YOU

You may recall receiving an email survey through Right Now Downtown a few months ago.  While numerical scores are interesting, many of you took the time to write in your own comments and ideas about downtown.

Want to know what you think?  We can tell you now…

1.  Not one single comment was abusive or ugly.  That’s an anomaly on anonymous surveys.  It says something about you as a group.  We’re very proud to live and work among such unusually constructive souls.

2.  You want more places to have lunch.

3.  You want more places like McDonald’s and Wendy’s.

4.  You want more retail stores downtown.

5.  You want to know about marches and rallies happening downtown.

6.  You want City Center open again as a mall.

7.  You want City Center to remain standing and used for something else.

8.  You want the magic of your childhood.

We’ve been brainstorming on how to best follow up on these ideas.  While we finalize, we’re sending the intern out to chain himself to the wrecking ball at City Center.

Meanwhile, perhaps you have some follow-up solutions of your own?  Stay tuned for next week…

Selling the car and moving into the city may be one of the most effective ways to minimize your risk of a violent death or injury.  In a January 4 article entitled “America’s chief  menace: driving”, The Columbus Dispatch reported that Americans are far more likely to be seriously injured or killed in a car accident than harmed by a criminal.

This article reminded me of another article I read several years ago about a study in Seattle.  The study looked at two kinds of violent death: death by car and death by homicide.  The study compared the rate of violent death in the most affluent suburb of Seattle with the rate of violent death in the most crime-ridden city neighborhood.  The chances of experiencing a violent death were greater in the affluent suburb.

Columbus has many urban neighborhoods with some of the region’s lowest crime rates that do not require use of a car.  I know where I want my kids to be.