Cincinnati’s annual Neighborhood Summit was all day yesterday, at the Cintas Center at Xavier. Great fun as usual – my feeling is that it’s a big party that I don’t have to pay for and where I can hang out with all my friends.
Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls opened the day by laying out all the different neighborhood intiatives going on right now – great to hear it all at one time and in one place. Then – the Mayor’s surprise gift for all of us – we used our phones to go to a new app on cincinnati-oh.gov/app – where we can in real time report potholes, crimes, and any other concerns. What a great idea!
I was on a panel at the first session of the morning, where each of us talked about available resources. Bill Fischer talked about the City’s economic development resources, and the community development resources, too.
I talked about all the great stuff we (the CDC Association) do, and about City programs just for CDCs, followed by David Ginsburg of Downtown Cincinnati, Inc. talking about a program where neighborhood business districts can essentially tax themselves to add more services. And Jason Chamlee talked about how Pleasant Ridge’s Development Corporation is working, and about the entertainment district legislation.
Our Communications Director, Samantha Reeves, was really loving her first Summit. Pat Timm, Project Coordinator for our Back Office project, staffed our booth and talked to people, passing out lots of information.
One of the fun things was that a lot of small cities around – Madeira, Golf Manor, Lincoln Heights – were in attendance, taking notes and asking questions. Such a good idea for them to be there, since we all have similar and overlapping concerns.
A good and fun time was had by all.