RSS
Twitter
Facebook
YouTube
The Lantern wrote
Unidentity gives face to University District
Cara Shirley
Issue date: 2/19/08
Block O banners suspended from lamp posts and archways curving over streets might adorn the University District by 2009.
This is part of a new plan developed by a group of Ohio State students. They call it the “Unidentity Project,” an effort to define the boundaries of the University District and to make people feel more welcome when they enter it.
The University District consists of OSU’s campus and the residential and business areas that surround it. The north border is Arcadia Avenue, the south border is fifth avenue, the East border is the railroad tracks and the west border is the Olentangy River. The arches will be constructed in four different locations on the north, south, east and west borders of the district.
Comments
- cheap: i highly recommend the Millersport sweet corn festival of course,the cor
- Jimmy Mak: Thanks for the write-up! Just to clarify - this is the third year we've do
- Briana Henry: Well, eventually they plan to add more bands from the region...gotta start
- bucki12: I like the business model, but the internet sales part seems like something
- racheltb: I don't see the Ohio Shrimp Fest on the list. It is truly a good time. h
Top Stories
- Grandview Yard Seeks Retail Anchors for Next Phase of Development33
- Studio 35 Re-Opening is a Revelation17
- Attn: Columbus Creatives!14
- Philanthropy Friday: Bicentennial Towers 14
- More Downtown Public Artwork Coming to Scioto Mile11
- Liberty Place Adding Over 200 New Apartment Units to The Brewery District11
- Columbus Ranks #22 on List of Best Large Cities for Jobs in 201210
- The Short North's Summer of Construction10
- The Hudson Street Market Renovates, Faces Construction Woes10
- Wonder Bread Lofts will be Home to Mixed-Use Redevelopment10
More arches could be coming back to Columbus
By: Walker
Related Posts:
But the Short North didn’t come up with something creative. They took something that the city had in the past and brought it back. I think the whole city should bring back the arches. Not just one small commercial corridor.
I hope they do a better job than they did deciding on the name for the project.
un-identity.
but really, i have no authority in the matter of naming things. mostly spelling related issues.
I think that’s an over reaction. The code enforcement officer is out on my street every week. There’s going to be a new substation on 11th etc. Sure it’s poor but it’s coming along.
As for being part of campus I’d rather pass. It has a connotation of a mass of tipsy and transient students in a sea of nasty rental units. They keep all that north of 11th Avenue as far as I’m concerned. I’d rather see Weinland Park be thought of as the next Italian Village, not the next campus area.
Yep 11th is the line that code enforcement will not go south of, nor the cops…the next Italian Village? for years Italian Village was the red headed step child of the short north, or maybe it was Harrison West…and along came the in fill housing by Armeni, Wagenbrenner and the other developers…..now Italian Village is pretty safe and the housing prices are increasing…so yeah, maybe south campus will be the next success story after the in fill housing is built, the question is where do the poor folks who live there now move to? Anyone remember when the short north was overwhelming poor and Appalachian, when Harrison West and Victorian Village was called Flytown, a poor Irish and black neighborhood….
true, and the U is addressing these issues in Weinland Park, just look at the new Weinland Park Elementary School and the social services connected to it…..but the city is in another budget crisis, the police are scared to death of driving into Weinland Park, code enforcement will not go into the area, OSU has an awful crime problem, every year 1 or more students is murdered…and we think arches, street cars, and banners is going to help? hardly. Somewhere someone is making money, putting forward these scams of the taxpayers and neighbors….
I think that’s an over reaction. The code enforcement officer is out on my street every week. There’s going to be a new substation on 11th etc. Sure it’s poor but it’s coming along.
As for being part of campus I’d rather pass. It has a connotation of a mass of tipsy and transient students in a sea of nasty rental units. They keep all that north of 11th Avenue as far as I’m concerned. I’d rather see Weinland Park be thought of as the next Italian Village, not the next campus area.
Just read through this entire thread and I have been waiting for a Weinlander to speak. I can understand how having the campus-life image directly imposed on a neighborhood that is currently trying to foster safe, affordable family/residential city living may be a step in the wrong direction (north instead of south). The Columbus Coated Fabrics site is a long time off from being anything usable. Eventually it may be a huge draw for students and citizens alike, but I don’t think it should necessarily be used as a reason for morphing the image of Weinland Park.
I whole-heartedly agree that I would rather see WP move in the direction of a functional, close to downtown neighborhood (like IV) than become a part of the unimess.
As a former resident (the past 4 years until now) of the heart of the University District, I can say that while banners and signage are nice, I’d much rather see a push for a campus area clean-up and perhaps rethinking how we view/use what is currently a dirty party zone. Marking the borders is nice, but I’d rather work on what’s inside first so we can be proud of the district. I can tell you exactly when you have made it to the Unidistrict. Don’t look up for arches – look down for broken beer bottles/cans/fast food litter all over the ground. We already have an identifier! (heh)
I guess we will just have to disagree on the whole arch. You want more of it and I want to keep it in its current state so it isn’t an overkill. I can just hear people saying “I get it Columbus. You like an arch.” every time they pass under one and then another one and then another one….
Why? I still think the street car idea is a boondoogle waiting to happen…monorail, monorail, what ever city needs. Why do we have all these bright shiny capital projects out there, but we don’t have the money to fund basic operating expenses. We need to quit defining ourselves by our material goods and projects and seek an identity that is based on the quality and character of the inhabitants of the hoods. More stuff makes you seem insecure.
Hey, city planners, people who are experts on urban planning are for streetcars, light rail, etc. I can’t stand it when people argue against what experts in a field say based on a pure gut reaction and that it somehow makes them right. Whatever. You think what you want but time and time again streetcars have proven successful and there is no denying that. That and the urban neighborhoods in this city were originally built around the streetcar, so to say that it won’t work when it did for decades is just ridiculous. I’ve also been in a city that actually has a streetcar system (unlike many critics of the stretcars) and it is anything but a boondogle unlike our over-built highway system where just fixing the split alone is going to cost $1 billion or more.
That’s funny. Whenever I pass under the arches in the Short North I think to myself “I get it Short North. You like an arch.”
One arch should be more than enough for a region of 1.8 million people.
:wink:
Hey, city planners, people who are experts on urban planning are for streetcars, light rail, etc. I can’t stand it when people argue against what experts in a field say based on a pure gut reaction and that it somehow makes them right. Whatever.
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaa….gasp…hahahahahahahahahaha
yep the experts, lets go with them…how has city planning benefitted this town, been to Sawmill road recently, the city center, keep believing the experts, that’s good, they have you where they want you….what pisses me off is when the experts don’t listen to the residents and give us big $ projects to make our tiny lives more meaningful…this is why almost everyone hates liberals, because they believe they know best how to help us ignorant mortals…last I checked we were still a nominal democracy, and the experts, technocrats were not wholly in charge…
yep the city was designed for street cars, north of Hudson and east of Bexley…it was not designed for the car and the street car…btw who are the experts and what is their agenda other than $$$$ as a consultant
I think that’s an over reaction. The code enforcement officer is out on my street every week. There’s going to be a new substation on 11th etc. Sure it’s poor but it’s coming along.
As for being part of campus I’d rather pass. It has a connotation of a mass of tipsy and transient students in a sea of nasty rental units. They keep all that north of 11th Avenue as far as I’m concerned. I’d rather see Weinland Park be thought of as the next Italian Village, not the next campus area.
This is what I rather expected the reaction would be from anyone who actually (a) lives in Weinland Park and (b) likes living there. At the very least, I was pretty sure the residents there would be surprised to learn they were already considered part of the University District. The discussion, as can be seen here, is gravitating more towards “should Weinland Park be incorporated into the University District,” not “should it be split off from it.”
Campus Partners swings a lot of weight and Weinland Park’s neighborhood identity, while perhaps stronger than those of Glen Echo or Iuka Park, is not strong. Also, outside of this site (which is becoming quite the urbanist cyberlounge), Weinland Park doesn’t have a great many defenders. The campus perception of the area as “the ghetto” is probably closer to what many people feel at City Hall than are the views of people like rory.
As to the arches: I stand by the point that if you varied the color, and maybe the shape (say, to the top half of a “Block O” shape), you’d be able to draw a visual boundary that would be more than apparent to most people of passable sentience.
Yep 11th is the line that code enforcement will not go south of, nor the cops…the next Italian Village? for years Italian Village was the red headed step child of the short north, or maybe it was Harrison West…and along came the in fill housing by Armeni, Wagenbrenner and the other developers…..now Italian Village is pretty safe and the housing prices are increasing…so yeah, maybe south campus will be the next success story after the in fill housing is built, the question is where do the poor folks who live there now move to? Anyone remember when the short north was overwhelming poor and Appalachian, when Harrison West and Victorian Village was called Flytown, a poor Irish and black neighborhood….
Believe me, there isn’t really a shortage of code enforcement officers or a police response south of 11th Avenue. I think a bigger part of the code problem is the lackadaisical attitude of the Westerville/New Albany/Bexley dwelling landlords (I looked them up on the auditors site) that thumb their nose at the city and let the whole thing slowly wind through court.
As for where are the poor people going to go? Right next to their old landlords in the suburbs. Moving out and up is the American way.
http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10697106
Um, huh?
I would think that much of the sprawling exurbs are the result of lack of planning.
I would concede that the city center is the result of bad planning.
I’ll admit that I tend to favor less planning, but that’s more because I tend to think that “planned” boondoggles like City Center tend to be more harmful than “unplanned” boondoggles like the Brice Rd. corridor.
That doesn’t seem to mesh neatly with what you’re saying. Well, maybe it does. I just have no idea what you’re saying.
[quote="gramarye"]
As for being part of campus I’d rather pass. It has a connotation of a mass of tipsy and transient students in a sea of nasty rental units. They keep all that north of 11th Avenue as far as I’m concerned. I’d rather see Weinland Park be thought of as the next Italian Village, not the next campus area.
This is what I rather expected the reaction would be from anyone who actually (a) lives in Weinland Park and (b) likes living there. At the very least, I was pretty sure the residents there would be surprised to learn they were already considered part of the University District. The discussion, as can be seen here, is gravitating more towards “should Weinland Park be incorporated into the University District,” not “should it be split off from it.”
Campus Partners swings a lot of weight and Weinland Park’s neighborhood identity, while perhaps stronger than those of Glen Echo or Iuka Park, is not strong. Also, outside of this site (which is becoming quite the urbanist cyberlounge), Weinland Park doesn’t have a great many defenders. The campus perception of the area as “the ghetto” is probably closer to what many people feel at City Hall than are the views of people like rory.
I feel the same way. it kind of seems like many people view Weinland as this transient neighborhood just waiting to be gentrified. I can only hope, for the sake of families living in WP, that the neighborhood is the focus when this happens – not being a part of the uni district. To people who don’t live in these areas, “anything’s better than ghetto.” It’s easy to see how the same ideology that transformed the South Gateway area can butt its head into the core of WP. But gentrification comes down to the same question everytime… What about the current residents? Where will they go this time? I’d like a solution that encorporates the needs of the residents of WP instead of expanding the campus-life waste land.
Maybe that arch should be a few blocks north.
I think that the university area being so close to the Short North and both using arches to “define the area” will confuse people visiting the city. They will see arches in the Short North, driving down High St., then they will see them in the University District and think “Am I still in the Short North? Am I in the University District?” The idea of defining a neighborhood with something that someone else already uses, whether or not they invented it, just doesn’t make sense to me. It’s like everyone in your neighborhood has white picket fences, and that’s what you are known for. Then someone else wants to make their neighborhood known that lives three miles away, and they use white picket fences. How will that help define their area? It should be something DIFFERENT from their neighbors in order to stand out and define it. Some ideas: Something that reflects the Wexner Center, OSU Football (that’s what people identify with Ohio State) Can they at least make the arches shaped different or made from something non-metal, like wood or concrete? Or have them covered in vines or something. How about flags? How about statuary defining the borders. Maybe depicting famous OSU athletes or scholars? I’m sure they can come with something more interesting than arches. It’s like they will be the “Short North Jr” if they go with the arches that look just like the ones in the SN. Arches seems like a cop out–like no thought was put into it. I hope they will come up with something more distinctive.
I don’t think the current residents have to move. There is plenty of below market rate housing that isn’t going anywhere. The opportunity lies in the large number of empty single family homes. If those were purchased and rehabbed (and most aren’t in bad shape) it would make an even more vibrant mixed income neighborhood than it is now. Quite a few parts of Weinland Park are empty and just waiting to be fixed. You can thank Donald Green and mortgage fraud gang for that.
And an arch wouldn’t be a bad thing. Just don’t call it the gateway to campus. Besides they’ve already spent a ton of money on the other gateway :wink:
So liberals are behind sprawl? Who knew!
??? I missed that one ??? :?
It only took 30-some posts before this point was brought up. Better late than never. I wonder if they will get the same electricians who originally worked on the Short North arches? Anyone remember that fiasco?
I think the arches can work in any community and rather have it limited to one area. They could be built on main roads in German Village, the Brewery District, Grandview Avenue, Old Towne East, Clintonville, etc. Make it more of a distinction for the entire city of Columbus, which has more of an identity crisis than the university area.
I think making the arches distinguished by scarlet & gray would be quite obvious to out of towners. I have been through other towns schools like Louisville or Auburn and it is pretty obvious with the color schemes going on that you are around a school.
I would like to see the arches be something that the City of Columbus embraces as a whole. They could become one of the cool things you see when you come here. And since it used to be our nickname, it has historical significance. Why should only one neighborhood get to use them? By putting subtle twists on them, I think it would be really neat to use throughout all neighborhoods. Like the different colors, or block O pattern. King-Lincoln district could use jazz instruments in theirs. And so on for other neighborhoods.
Exactly!
Sorry, didn’t mean to pretty much repeat you machew!
I think it is a great idea.
I think hesher and I are in agreement that there are alternative and more creative means of the university identifying boundaries. Of course the arch is no one’s property and anyone can use it but I prefer to have neighborhoods distinctive- I just dont think small twists as painting an arch scarlet and grey to be that amazing.
Similarly, I think if every neighborhood in Columbus began a Gallery Hop then that would get old as well and I dont think the SN businesses that have fostered it for so many years would be that excited either.