two birthdays and a Final Friday
2 comments
Happy 4th Birthday Park+Vine
Park+Vine celebrating and practicing triple bottom line for 4 years. Whats triple bottom line you ask? People, planet and profits. I don't know if Dan consciously started out to practice this principle but that's exactly what he's doing. From day one he has been a stakeholder in OTR and engaged people in the community. By only stocking and selling green products he's tried to be a care taker for the planet, and all these actions have had the reciprocal effect of making money.
Does this all really work? The crowd surrounding Park+Vine Friday night would say yes, yes it does. I'm sure its not the easiest path to profit, and its not suited to every business.
Or is it? Who knows?
It's OTR, don't ask.
photo courtesy Framester
photo courtesy Framester
Congrats Dan on 4 years of successful green commerce. OTR is a better place because of Park+Vine.
[where: 45202]best place to learn how to live downtown cincinnati ohio the ethos of Cincinnati
comments?
Sid Saturday
comments?
Parker Flats Friday: Cincinnati Imports edition
Thank you everyone who came out to the Cincinnati Imports party on what turned into a very pleasant evening. I'm still amazed at the number of adventurous people who'll make the leap and show up at a complete strangers condo for a party and it was enlightening to talk to you all. What I like most about hosting an Imports party is that unlike at a bar where I turn into a wall flower, hosting required me to talk to every single guest which I'm pretty sure I did.
OK, who's the dork that labeled all the food?
Special thanks to Christian Moerlein and Hudepohl Brewing for helping sponsor the event.
comments?
Cincinnati Dinner Party
The Al & Al show hosted a very pleasant and surprising dinner party last night. Surprising in that Allison was genius in making it easy for herself, she created a couple of cold salads. The first, a spicy sweet potato and the second a red onion and watermelon salad. Who would have thought to put red onion and watermelon together? The watermelon cut the heat of the onion which matched up well with the spicy sweet potato. Lamb meatballs were the sole hot dish.
yeah I'm pretty sure that while us guys were trying to be witty and smart the girls were laughing at us and not with us.
Allison always has the coolest super secret and not so secret cameras. This one is not so secret, the Fuji X100. It got some ohs and aws from the camera nerds in attendance. I don't know much about it, but if you want a show stopper pull out this old skool form factor camera.
Its not a proper Cincinnati dinner if it doesn't end with Dojo Gelato.
Give yourselves a high five, you earned it.
comments?
grind it - filling urban spaces
The area behind the new SCPA seems custom made for this guy. I've noticed these types of places after hours attract one of two crowds. There could be vagrants loitering around or there could be skateboards and/or bikers in the spaces. Seems to me the latter group gives these places a sense of purpose filling it with life and activity.
Isn't that we wanted in the first place?
6 comments?
Cincinnati Transit Map Launch
Nate Wessel a UC Planning grad student, fed up with the state of the metro map took it upon himself to create a solution. Nate made his map after being frustrated by the lack of any clarity in the maps provided by SORTA and TANK. Nate says his intent was to make this map useful for tourists or people who are new to the transit system such as university students and other new residents. He says, "Hopefully it is legible enough that someone who has never been on a bus before can understand how to use one, and someone who rides all the time, can see new places they can easily go that they might not have known of."
Nate, "Basically, the map highlights routes that are the most frequent and simple, and therefore convenient to use. These routes are the backbone of the transit system. Up until now, there has been no way to figure where the routes go in context let alone where they intersect and connect with each other."
Can crowd sourcing and individuals make a difference in the community, I think Nate answers the question with a resounding yes.
Here is the really interesting part, once Nate had the map finished he signed up on kickstarter. What kickstarter does is gives you a template for your product pitch and lets people pledge support. Now the cool thing is, the money is never collected until the goal is met, no wasting time returning peoples money or trying to do a half assed job with half of what was really needed. The money is collected at one time and given to the creator of the project. Nate met his goal in 5 five days and then by the deadline had almost double what he needed. Nate said what surprised him most is he had pledges from all over the country and world. He now has enough to print 30,000 maps to distribute. UC student government is going to have 6,000 more printed up for students next fall.
Nate has also deliberately made the project open source. Anyone with the ambition can take it, modify the map, sell it or do whatever they want. As long as their modifications are also kept open source.
UPDATE After an email and then a twitter conversation this morning I started thinking about how the current map and website are seemingly designed to discourage people from riding the bus. I'll admit there has been a number of times I wanted to ride the bus, and after trying to figure out the best way just threw my hands up in disgust, "F#@K IT!! I'll just drive!"
Since the map is open source, every business, non-profit, government and non-government org should add their location to this map, print it out and distribute it with what ever materials are sent to customers, clients and consumers. At the very least, add it to whatever web presence you have, Facebook and your website.
After Nate's presentation there was a panel discussion and Q&A with Nate, Colin Groth (Government Relations Director for Metro), Brad Thomas (Transit Expert and Founder Cincystreetcar.com) and moderated by Peter Chamberlain (Assistant Professor Industrial Design, University of Cincinnati DAAP)
Basically an overview of the state of, or lack of transportation options in Cincinnati. Colin Groth stated that in every category of the top fifty cities in the country, Cincinnati hit 24th, 25th or 26th in every single one. except funding, Cincinnati slightly edges out North Dakota in per capita spending on public transportation.
comments?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
