OTR Community Plan Implementation Watch

There is a cliche phrase in community planning that sometimes undo its own existence: Planning without implementation is nothing.

This is one of the things that burned me out about community planning. It takes a long process (that sometimes did not involve the right stakeholders, i.e. people), and it only takes one unaware politicians to undo all the work. In many cities, I am sure, everywhere in the world, "THE PLAN" are just stacked on the shelf, along with dust, and sometimes some spiders, and later on, when the office need more space, it will cover the basement with who knows what else.

But Over the Rhine has a COMMUNITY PLAN. It is a community-based plan, developed by the City (back when they still have the City Planning Department and Liz Blume was still the head of the office), together with the Over-the-Rhine Coalition, Over-the-Rhine Community Council, ABCD (Asset Building Community Development) Resident Table, and other community stakeholders.

The process to create the plan was started in 2000, with participation of residents, businesses, social service organizations, institutions and other stakeholders called the OTR Coalition. The plan was approved by the Cincinnati Planning Commission in 2002.

The plan was created around issues in the neighborhood such as:

• The need for quality housing options for all income levels
• How to introduce higher income residents to the neighborhood without displacing or diminishing the quality of life of current residents
• The need to stimulate business development and create job opportunities for residents
• The need to eliminate crime, improve the perception of safety in the neighborhood and improve community-police relations
• How to encourage both old and new residents to respect each other and form one diverse community

Source: Cincinnati City Community Development Department

Now what happen? The plan is not implemented well. New entities came in, changed the plan by implementing their own plan, without communicating with the OTR Coalition. New issues rises up as the plan of the CPS to sell their schools to commercial developers (while another plan for development already in place) and their plan to reduce green spaces (we need more of those, not less) and to tear down 22 historic buildings on Mercer Commons. On Wednesday, September 7, at 5:30 pm, the Coalition calls everyone who cares about OTR to speak up. They will meet at Verdin Bell Event Centre, located at 444 Reading Road, between Broadway and Pendleton. "THE PLAN" meant nothing without implementation. All the hard work, the long process of communicating with people from different background and various interest will be a vain history.