what makes a city a city?

Monday UrbanCincy ran a post talking about how the Mayoral Election Will Impact Cincinnati’s Planning Future and they touched on what was then still a proposed development for Oakley back in 2002. I thought I'd go into more detail on that one project to illustrate Cranley's lack of sensitivity and tone deafness to the urban fabric.
When the project started Oakley thought it was getting a mix of small trendy boutiques. June 27, 2001: Cincinnati City Council adopted the Oakley North Urban Renewal Plan. The plan proposed to, "to prevent a typical suburban strip-center character, including islands of box-like structures in a sea of asphalt parking lots."

What it got instead was a couple big box stores. Its already well documented how little tax money big box stores bring in compared to dense development, a Walmart will generate around $6,500 a acre while urban mixed use residential and retail blocks will generate as much as $634,000 an acre in property taxes.
Cranley has already come out opposing form based codes that allow mixed use without even understanding the significance of what he is opposing.
So back to Oakley, once community leaders like Jon Doucleff of the Oakley Community Council and the city's urban planners started complaing, Cranley, a huge supporter of the project said, `Why are you letting Newport...kick your butt?' I'm guessing he is talking about the mostly empty Newport on the Levee. "Beggars can't be choosers," he said.
Well beggars should be choosers, as Caleb Faux, an urban planner and member of the planning commission said at the time, "We won't get an opportunity like this for another 50 years"
Sounds oddly timely and prophetic doesn't it? All this lead to Cranley orchestrating the gutting of the city's planning commission staff, effectively nueturing it.
Meanwhile Roxanne Qualls has been quietly working on form based code for years and you can see the effects taking hold in OTR, Madisonville, Walnut Hills, Westwood and College Hill.
At the end of the day it seems like Cranley's main goal as mayor would be to put a f#@king end to everything that makes a city a city and embark on the mallification of Cincinnati.

For for the future of the city, vote Qualls.
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