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Columbus Underground Messageboard » General Columbus Discussion
How do we bring even more vibrancy to the streets of Columbus ?
[42 posts] [20 contributors]
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GCrites80s
5xNW
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Get everybody to quit their jobs.
Posted 10 months ago # -
Chris Sherman
East Franklinton
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I'm constantly seeing weight/strength training going on in east franklinton and downtown. No mimes though thank gawd..
Posted 10 months ago # -
Columbusneon
German Village/Brewery District
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More neon signs!! I am only half joking, of course. But we must remember that not every corner is going to be vibrant the way we imagine it. There are some very boring areas of NYC even, where not much at all happens as far as street life is concerned. The Arena District and the Short North are well on their way, as is the area around the Statehouse on occasion. The Scioto Mile is going to help, but even with that and the COSI/discovery area, I still think the river and riverfront is vastly underitlized as a focal point of downtown activity.
Posted 10 months ago # -
lizless
Columbus/Hocking Hills
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A Public Service Dept that doesn't fine shop keeps for flower pots, umbrellas, patio dining and benches. Public Service does a fine job squelching most attempts at creating friendlier, more vibrant sidewalks in our urban areas.
A City Council willing to write laws that will enable more patio dining, benches, street art, flower pots without the obstacles, red tape and cost to the businesses and neighborhood groups looking to enhance their streets.
J. Gumbo's recent downtown patio opening took a herculean effort and tremendous cost on the part of the owner. It took about two years for him to get that open thanks entirely to the City of Columbus...
Anyone want to run for Council?
Posted 10 months ago # -
ColumbusTime
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Help break the Democratic monopoly in power.
Patios, particularly on wide sidewalks where a patio wouldn't encroach pedestrian traffic, should be a no-brainer, easy process.
Posted 10 months ago # -
joshlapp
SoHud
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lizless said:
A Public Service Dept that doesn't fine shop keeps for flower pots, umbrellas, patio dining and benches. Public Service does a fine job squelching most attempts at creating friendlier, more vibrant sidewalks in our urban areas.A City Council willing to write laws that will enable more patio dining, benches, street art, flower pots without the obstacles, red tape and cost to the businesses and neighborhood groups looking to enhance their streets.
J. Gumbo's recent downtown patio opening took a herculean effort and tremendous cost on the part of the owner. It took about two years for him to get that open thanks entirely to the City of Columbus...
Anyone want to run for Council?
Is there anyone here willing to put together a group and go talk to city council and ask for changes in the law? If the council sees momentum for change, my guess they would be receptive.
Posted 10 months ago # -
ZHC
101 East Main Street, Downtown
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to respond to the the OP's question.
Seems pretty simple to me, return some streets to pedestrian use primarily. I'm sure people will find fun uses for them.
When we gave cars primacy on the city streets the vibrancy went pretty much with it.
Posted 10 months ago # -
TomOver
herenowbeyond.org
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I plan to speak to city council as part of seeking ideas about how to grow more food in our city. But as far as what u and Liz mention, would u just need someone to add to the # of people who show up, or would you necessarily want people to put together statenents ? PM me if u want.
Posted 10 months ago # -
Chris Sherman
East Franklinton
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Ameya
OSU Campus
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I agree with John.. density is the key issue. Vibrancy requires people, and a heterogeneous mix of people at that. Diversity of culture & economic status. I feel like if downtowns weren't all the very poorest or the very wealthy and actually had middle income people there more than just on weekends or special events, it would necessarily be a more busy and (hopefully) interesting/exciting place.
Posted 10 months ago # -
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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johnwirtz said:
More people. Density is key.Agreed, but exactly how much density do we need?
The High Street strip through the Short North is mostly two-to-three story buildings and the neighborhood homes in Victorian Village and Italian Village are single-family two-story homes (that probably have few residents per household than they did when originally built).
Does Downtown need more Neighborhood Launch type infill, or do we need 30-story apartment towers on every block?
Posted 10 months ago # -
johnwirtz
Evanston, IL
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Walker said:
Agreed, but exactly how much density do we need?The High Street strip through the Short North is mostly two-to-three story buildings and the neighborhood homes in Victorian Village and Italian Village are single-family two-story homes (that probably have few residents per household than they did when originally built).
Does Downtown need more Neighborhood Launch type infill, or do we need 30-story apartment towers on every block?
I've actually been researching that issue and may post some findings to XingColumbus soon. I've found that the density of aggregate income (aggregate income is measured by tract by the census) is more important than either income or density alone. It needs to be about $200 M per square mile to support a walkable and vibrant neighborhood business district. The results vary a little, but that seems to be a ballpark number. Some areas meet that criteria but lack the vibrancy (usually due to poor urban design) and some areas don't meet the criteria, but are vibrant anyway.
If we must measure just density, the cutoff seems to be somewhere around 3,000 housing units per square mile (more is better). I'm not sure how dense neighborhood launch is.
Posted 10 months ago # -
drew
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We were out on the Scioto Mile/Bicentennial Park last night at around 9:30pm, and there were at least a couple hundred people taking advantage it. I'd consider it to be a success worth keeping in mind when thinking about bringing vibrancy to the streets.
I only wish there was some way to bring restaurants & retail to the opposite side of the street from it.
Posted 10 months ago #
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