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Monday, October 30, 2006
Fountain Square, Incomplete: Beyond the Hype
Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
When I first read this article in the Cincinnati Business Courier, I actually fell for it: I thought maybe something was starting to happen at Fountain Square, just like 3CDC told us it would. So, since this past Sunday afternoon was rather temperate, I decided to take my son to Fountain Square during the Bengals game. I didn’t really think the plan through, but I figured he could run around, feed some pigeons, and just enjoy the energy of people in the Square. What an impossible fantasy that turned out to be!
Here is an excerpt from the Business Courier article:
A half-dozen guys dressed in Bengals gear carried their coolers to Fountain Square, set up lawn chairs and waited.
A few blocks north, Bill Donabedian flipped a switch, and the Bengals game filled the giant video LED board atop Macy’s. The crowd grew. A few people tossed a football. A cyclist stopped to chat about the game.
That impromptu gathering was the start of what the Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. hopes to achieve with the $43 million renovation of downtown’s most prominent public space, said Donabedian, 3CDC’s managing director of Fountain Square.
“That’s the whole idea,” he said. “If we can create one-of-a-kind experiences because we have a one-of-a-kind city center, people will come downtown.”
Look at the line I placed in bold: “The crowd grew.” I admit that I fell for this image. I thought something was happening at the Square, so I decided to go downtown for the “one-of-a-kind experience.” I thought there would be some people there.
What a disappointment.
Walking South on Vine Street, the first inconvenience came when I saw that the sidewalk was still closed due to construction. Rather than being able to walk right into the Square, I had to cross the street, and then cross back at Fifth and Vine. No big deal, but I was reminded that 3CDC started all this hype, and they still haven’t managed to finish the construction.
As I walked up the steps in front of the big screen, there were about six people sitting to watch the game. Noteworthy was the eerie silence. The screen did not have any sound to accompany it. That might very well be a good idea, but there was no noise save that from passing vehicles: no music, nothing. Just deadening quiet.
When I got onto the Square itself, I saw the thing was almost totally barren. Just quickly laid plaza blocks, most of which still have gaping spaces between them since they haven’t quite finished the open section, either.
No tables, like at the old Square. No chairs. Hardly a place to sit. And that’s when I really noticed the first change: all the walls are gone.
The old Square was surround by walls. These walls made a perfect place to sit, all around the square. Save the handful of people on the steps, there were a few people sitting on the waterless fountain, and then two guys across the square sitting on a big concrete block that served as a base for a light pole.
At the old square, there was a little stand that sold popcorn, hot chocolate, coffee, and so forth. No such thing this weekend. Just a few people, a quiet television screen, no music, and nothing to eat. No hot dog cart. No soda pop. Nothing.
Then, as my son started to run around the Fountain, I noticed again the missing walls, and got an uneasy feeling.
It’s a straight shot right into Fifth Street.
At the old square, there were only a few easy points of access. Not that it was hard to enter, or anything. But there were only a few places to do that. Once inside, you were, well, inside. You could let your kids run around, and get some distance—especially on a day when absolutely nothing was happening at the square, like during a Bengals game on the jumbotron.
Not anymore. I realized how much easier it would be for kids to run right into the street. Not that it’s hard to keep an eye on one’s kids, but I did experience a new apprehensiveness about safety unknown at the old square.
Bill Donabedian and 3CDC need to get their acts together unless they plan to ruin even further a good thing. First impressions are important. If the supposedly “great new square” provides lame and boring experiences, people will abandon it for good. Flipping a switch on a big television screen is not responsible programming for our supposedly premier center-city space.
If you want to have Bengals games on the square, 3CDC, then you better make sure you have some stuff there for the people who actually show up—even if there are only three of them. They want something to drink, particularly warm things on cold days. They want some snacks. And hell, maybe some kids would like a bag of popcorn to feed the pigeons (which, by the way, have also abandoned the new, lifeless square).
Start doing some work, 3CDC. Your own employees could at least come down with their families and friends. Get some tables and chairs for people to rest their bones.
Invite a radio station to do a broadcast from the Square. Play some music, for crying out loud.
Get a camera at the square, with a feed to the screen in the football stadium. Let the ticket holders see the people on the square waving and having a good time. Put something in place so people actually want to come downtown.
But if you think people will show up to watch silent television outside in the cold, well, you really need a reality check.
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30 Oct 2006 at 11:09 am | #
You nailed it, Dean. The old square practically invited people to come “inside” and eat their lunch, maybe with some friends or maybe just to watch the others on the square. The low walls formed informal spaces where people could gather and sit. The pavilion was useful, too, for special events. This new square is cold and without distinction, except for the fountain itself. I know there’ll be plantings and trees, but the trees will block the view of the fountain from the street.
And why again was the fountain moved? It’ll be less visible from the street than before, especially once the trees are planted. It seems that the only people who will have a better view of the fountain will be those eating in the restaurants on the square.
30 Oct 2006 at 03:41 pm | #
Dean,
Now that we are a “growing” city (we filed for a re-estimate), I’m sue you will realize how vital the new squar is.
Before the new square, we “lost” 7% of our population. Now we are “growing” by 27 folks. Yup….must be the new square.
Seriously, I agree with you and MEP…..the clowns at 3CDC and City Hall spent 40 mil to screw up our city.
30 Oct 2006 at 06:40 pm | #
MEP, they told the public the fountain was leaking, but there was no independent plummer that verified this at all. The square had been redone just 4 or 5 five years before. $3 million in private funds were spent were spent to revitalize the square. If the fountain was leaking, council had a responsibility to hold the company that took it apart responsible. I think it was Megen.
3CDC held BS public input sessions like their having now and the public didn’t like the changes. It was reported in the Business Courier that their plan “fell with a thud”. The went back and pretended they did something with the public input and took it to the politicians that they own to ram it through before the public understood the deal.
The historic preservation society didn’t want the historic fountain moved and either did the folks that raised the money to fix it up just a 4 years earlier. It was made famous by the hit show WKRP and was an inviting place for people from out of town.
30 Oct 2006 at 06:53 pm | #
27 “new” Cincinnatians, what really is screwed up is that it’s going to cost well over $100 million dollars of tax payer money.
This hasn’t been reported by the Enquirer because Margaret Buchanan is the president of the paper and does the PR for 3CDC. They failed to disclose this clear conflict of interest in their glowing reviews and misrepresentations of the actual deal.
If you go to 3CDCs website you’ll find that they now get the annual revenue from the garage for 40 years which was 1.8 million according to the BC. This was the cheapest parking downtown. The rates are going to double and so will the annual revnue. Who knows how high 3CDC will raise it and how often. It’s their call and so is the programing and permiting thanks to the Bengals Jeff Berding and 3CDCs Chris Bortz.
Do the math for yourself!
30 Oct 2006 at 08:25 pm | #
I’m a geezer, so you’d expect me to have a bias for the old Square, but, that said, a couple of points about the old Square that I haven’t seen mentioned:
It had a large bronze plaque on it proclaiming it had won an architectural award for good urban design. (The proof in the pudding was how crowded it was on a nice, sunny day.)
It had a couple of trees which were not only large, but rare. (Once again, a bronze plaque explained.) What happened to them? I think they were hybrids of the Shingle Oak and the Burr Oak??
30 Oct 2006 at 08:31 pm | #
If you liked the screwing the public got on Fountain Square ask 3CDC about Gateway II. The private development using your tax dollars is outrageous and nowhere in the plan do the taxpayers get repaid. Another creative project by Stevie Leeper, the man that left Pittsburg bankrupt with the state running finances because the city/county was “overdeveloped.”
31 Oct 2006 at 11:07 pm | #
I agree anon, Steve Leeper is a JOKE. Pittsburgh was more than happy to get rid of him and pass him on to Cincinnati. He left the city in serious debt because he is very sloppy when it comes to public money and projections (ex. $100 million in budget overruns of a convention center without a planned hotel erected????). That’s serious. I believe this fountain square “deal” will be another example of failed mismanagement of public money and will haunt taxpayers for a long time. 3CDC, its investors and board members are going to make off like a fat rat, while the public continues to pick up the tab.
01 Nov 2006 at 09:13 am | #
If you like what 3CDC has done for the city just wait until Bortz and Berding get their 2CDC plan going and turn them loose in the neighborhoods. Community councils will be a thing of the past.
01 Nov 2006 at 11:43 am | #
Another thought: The Skywalk was torn down precisely because it was too popular, and people were bypassing the stores that were on ground level. Maybe that’s the real reason why the square was remade to make it more bland—so fewer people would spend their lunch hour there and (3CDC hopes) spend it in the surrounding stores and restaurants. Which, of course, is why such projects need to be directed by the city and not by a private corporation.
02 Nov 2006 at 09:02 pm | #
Fountain Square has been my destination for walks for many years and still is. I even once had an office overlooking it.
Here’s the latest: It’s as totally closed off as it was during remodeling. Now it’s because of the installation of the skating rink.
Understand I am not at all anti-tacky. It’s just that I prefer my tacky to be delivered by Wal-Mart, not my city government, nor my 3CDC/ACDC.
Wal-Mart tacky is authentic, made in the USA, tacky.