Don’t forget about Greater Ohio’s FREE upcoming event!

Greater Ohio would like to invite those who share in our interest of revitalizing core urban areas and first ring suburbs to join us for the screening of The New Metropolis and subsequent panel discussion. The FREE screening will take place on Tuesday, November 24 at 7:30 pm at the Drexel Theater, located at 2254 E. Main Street, Bexley. Following the screening, there will be a panel discussion moderated by Lavea Brachman, Co-Director, Greater Ohio & Non-resident Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution.

The panel discussion will focus on the effects that sprawl has on first ring suburbs and what communities are doing to address these issues in Ohio.

For information about The New Metropolis, visit www.thenewmetropolis.com or contact Torrice Productions at 513-751-7050. If you have any questions about this special presentation, please contact us directly at 614-258-6200.

We hope that you will spread the word and join us for this exciting evening!

Check out this great article about the city of Norwood, Ohio!

In 1987, General Motors(GM) closed its doors and left 4,000 people without jobs and a 3 million sq. ft. vacant plant in this small community. The city realized that in order to survive, they needed to attract new businesses and create jobs but how with this vacant, useless plant. The city decided to fight back and after 10 years, GM tore down the plant at the city’s request, absorbing the site costs. The city was able to turn this now vacant lot into high density office space and retail space. They were able to attract 80 businesses and create more than 1,000 jobs. But something else happened; this project transformed the city from a blue-collar, factory-driven area to a city with elegant workspaces. The complete story: Rust to Diamonds Source: National Real Estate Investor, October 1, 2009

Greater Ohio to host the Columbus International Film Festival screening of The New Metropolis

Greater Ohio would like to invite those who share in our interest of revitalizing core urban areas and first ring suburbs to join us for the screening of The New Metropolis and subsequent panel discussion. The screening will take place on Tuesday, November 24 at 7:30 pm at the Drexel Theater, located at 2254 E. Main Street, Bexley. Following the screening, there will be a panel discussion moderated by Lavea Brachman, Co-Director, Greater Ohio & Non-resident Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution.

Ohio’s First Suburbs are highlighted in “The New Metropolis," a groundbreaking two-part documentary on the rise, fall and revitalization of America’s first suburbs. Produced by award-winning filmmaker Andrea Torrice, this is the first public examination devoted to the issues facing many suburban towns. Considered embodiments of the American dream, the first suburbs blossomed after World War II, bolstered by economic prosperity and government support. Now, many struggle with the same challenges as urban centers -- growing poverty, white flight, crumbling infrastructure, abandonment and the continual lure of newer communities further from the cities. The two 25 minute films are broken down as follows:

Episode 1, "A Crack in the Pavement," narrated by actor Peter Coyote, follows the story of two Cincinnati area public officials and their efforts to keep their towns stable and healthy despite difficult times to repair and improve infrastructure and lure businesses.

Episode 2, "The New Neighbors," narrated by actress Ruby Dee, focuses on two ordinary people, one black and one white, who made racial integration the centerpiece of revitalizing Pennsauken, New Jersey.

The panel discussion will focus on the effects that sprawl has on first ring suburbs and what communities are doing to address these issues in Ohio.

The panel will consist of the follow people: Lavea Brachman, Greater Ohio, Moderator Andrea Torrice, Torrice Productions & Director of The New Metropolis Kim Gibson, former Director of the First Ring Suburbs Consortium of Ohio and interviewed in Crack in the Pavement Ginny Barney, Upper Arlington City Manager

For information about The New Metropolis, visit www.thenewmetropolis.com or contact Torrice Productions at 513-751-7050. If you have any questions about this special presentation, please contact us directly at 614-258-6200.

We hope that you will spread the word and join us for this exciting evening!

The Clean Ohio Report is now available!

The report, released by the Ohio EPA and the Departments of Development, Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Ohio Public Works Commission, documents the success from the first $400 million invested into the Clean Ohio Fund. The Report summarizes the funds granted and highlights projects completed through the Clean Ohio Brownfield Revitalization Program, the Clean Ohio Agricultural Easement Purchase Program, the Clean Ohio Green Space Conservation Program and the Clean Ohio Trails Fund. Greater Ohio is supportive of the Clean Ohio Fund’s efforts to revitalize old industrial properties in our urban cores. The program provides tangible examples that showcase the success of a state program that invests money in a very targeted, place-based way.

To access the Clean Ohio Report, go to: http://clean.ohio.gov/Documents/CleanOhio_Report.pdf

Lavea Brachman Participates in Panel Discussion about First Ring Suburbs

Last week, Greater Ohio’s Lavea Brachman was a guest panelist on a CET Connect (Cincinnati Public Television) panel discussion about first ring suburbs. The discussion followed the airing of Crack in the Pavement, the first in a two-part documentary, that follows the story of two public officials and their efforts to keep their towns stable and healthy despite difficult times to repair and improve infrastructure and lure businesses. The New Metropolis, a two-part documentary, produced by award-winning filmmaker Andrea Torrice, is the first public examination devoted to the issues facing many suburban towns. Considered embodiments of the American dream, the first suburbs blossomed after World War II, bolstered by economic prosperity and government support. Now, many struggle with the same challenges as urban centers -- growing poverty, white flight, crumbling infrastructure, abandonment and the continual lure of newer communities further from the cities.

We encourage you to check out the discussion and hear about some of the things that are being done throughout Ohio to rebuild first ring suburbs.

What Ohio can Learn from Europe

Post by: Lavea Brachman I just finished a week’s Study Tour of Berlin, Leipzig and Hamburg sponsored by the German Marshall Fund. Leipzig, a medieval city located in the former GDR (East Germany), hemorrhaged people and jobs from 1970 until 2005. Sound familiar? However, Leipzig is now growing its population and moving forward in recovery. One major historical difference that Ohio has not had to deal with is the dramatic drop-off in population and erosion of the business sector that occurred following the 1989 reunification of East and West, when the Berlin Wall fell and hundreds of thousands of people fled to the West seeking jobs and opportunity. But, like our Ohio cities, Leipzig had a strong industrial past and its industrial sector was steadily eroding under communist rule and continued to decline following reunification -- experiencing a loss of 80% of manufacturing jobs -- when industries moved to the West.

While the reasons for depopulation may differ between Ohio cities and Leipzig, the impact and implications for re-growth strategies are similar. During a phenomenally instructive visit with Leipzig’s director of planning, we heard that parts of Leipzig experienced up to 50% vacancy rates, but the city has been working to turn itself around with many of the practices that we have been touting for Ohio’s shrinking cities. And, more importantly, they have been successful! Working from a master plan developed in the early 1990’s for citywide redevelopment, Leipzig’s planner led a sustained and targeted physical rehabilitation strategy done on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis, while tying physical reconstruction to job creation. They used a combination of neighborhood strategies: on the one hand, encouraging “urban homesteading” by artists and others to stabilize historic buildings and, on the other hand, undertaking extensive demolition of unattractive communist “pre-fab” buildings. The plan also:

• Created “pocket parks,” transforming side, vacant lots to “green” areas; • Invested in infrastructure which led to attracting new industry; • Remediated brownfields in key places; and • Leveraged their historic buildings with a walkable city centre.

The city's population has stabilized and is now attracting or generating 21st century business clusters. For instance, it is one of the leading photovoltaic producer in the world -- a natural outgrowth of the glass industry of the region. (Toledo, take note!)

Leipzig still has challenges though, and cities throughout Germany, including Leipzig, put up with much higher unemployment rates than we do in the States. (For instance, Leipzig’s unemployment rate currently hovers around 20% which is slightly above average for Germany.) However, the city is definitely on the upswing, and can be a lesson to Ohio as we draw immediate parallels from our common starting points – places with inherent place-based assets, including historic buildings, waterfronts and universities.

Suburbs Sprouting Corn and Lettuce?

Platte River Village, now building in Denver, is a new concept in fusing agriculture and suburbia. Matthew "Quint" Redmond is a farmer and developer who is building a 944 home project with 108 acres of backyard farms and 152 acres of larger community farms.

"He envisions a future where the nation's 31 million acres of lawn are converted to food production. He sees golf-course greens redefined with herbs; sand traps as "kale traps." He sees retirement homes engulfed by farms and office buildings where workers escape cubicles on farming breaks."

Full Story: Agriburbia Sprouts on Colorado's Front Range Source: Denver Post, October 24, 2009