On February 25, the NEOSCC Board will be voting on the the Vibrant NEO 2040 Vision, Framework and Action Products. With just under 40 days to the vote and 41 initiatives in the vision, we thought it would be good to create a countdown to the vote. Everyday over the next 5 weeks, we will be sharing an “Initiative A Day” with you so you can gent a better understanding of the vision and framework! If you would like to read all of the Initiatives, you can download them here Vibrant NEO_Recs&Init_010114. Show your support for Vibrant NEO 2040 by adding your name to our Champions of Vibrant NEO 2040 list here! These recommendations, initiatives, and products, are not one-size-fits all and some aspects of the initiatives won’t be applicable everywhere in the 12-county region. The Vibrant NEO 2040 Vision, Framework and Products are intended inspire and guide decision-making at the…
land use
On February 25, the NEOSCC Board will be voting on the the Vibrant NEO 2040 Vision, Framework and Action Products. With just under 40 days to the vote and 41 initiatives in the vision, we thought it would be good to create a countdown to the vote. Everyday over the next 5 weeks, we will be sharing an “Initiative A Day” with you so you can gent a better understanding of the vision and framework! If you would like to read all of the Initiatives, you can download them here Vibrant NEO_Recs&Init_010114. Show your support for Vibrant NEO 2040 by adding your name to our Champions of Vibrant NEO 2040 list here! These recommendations, initiatives, and products, are not one-size-fits all and some aspects of the initiatives won’t be applicable everywhere in the 12-county region. The Vibrant NEO 2040 Vision, Framework and Products are intended inspire and guide decision-making at…
NEOSCC Board approves release of Vibrant NEO 2040 Vision, Framework and Products Member organizations to now consider Vision for approval The Board of Directors of the Northeast Ohio Sustainable Communities Consortium (NEOSCC) yesterday voted to release the Vibrant NEO 2040 Vision, Products and Framework documents to NEOSCC member organizations for review, consideration and potential vote of approval. The NEOSCC Board will take a final vote on approval of the Vision at its February 25, 2014 meeting. You can review the board meeting presentation above. “Over the course of the last year, NEOSCC has engaged residents, elected officials, and experts throughout our 12-county region in a rigorous scenario planning process to identify the choices we can make now to help create a Northeast Ohio that is more vibrant, resilient, and sustainable in the future,” said Hunter Morrison, NEOSCC Executive Director. “Based on input and feedback from residents and leaders, the overarching…
Today kicks off the next round of Vibrant NEO Open Houses where we will look at Alternative Scenarios – different potential futures for Northeast Ohio – that could result from different choices. These are critically important discussions. The entire Vibrant NEO process is an attempt to help the residents of Northeast Ohio define what we want for the future, and then determine what choices we need to make in order to get to the future. The first round of workshops in early May helped to define a baseline for discussion – i.e. what will Northeast Ohio look like in 2040 is we continue our currents trends. (You can learn more about these findings here.) We gathered input from residents at those workshops, and later through ImagineMyNEO, our online planning tool which is still open for use. That input has helped us create Alternative Scenarios that you can view and discuss at our Open…
Housing choice connects with transportation options, public health & improved access to opportunities The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released a publication outlining various strategies communities can use to ensure redevelopment plans respond to the needs of existing residents and reflect their values. The strategies are grouped under seven common elements that connect environmental justice, smart growth, and equitable development: Facilitate Meaningful Community Engagement in Planning and Land Use Decisions Promote Public Health and a Clean and Safe Environment Strengthen Existing Communities Provide Housing Choices Provide Transportation Options Improve Access to Opportunities and Daily Necessities Preserve and Build on the Features That Make a Community Distinctive Creating Equitable, Healthy, and Sustainable Communities was developed jointly by EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice and HUD’s Office of Sustainable Communities. For complimentary hard copies of the report (including free shipping), email nscep@bps-lmit.com or call 800-490-9198 and request product code: EPA 231-K-10-005. You…
Interested in learning more about the Vibrant NEO process and the schedule for the rest of the year? Download our new overview piece, What future do YOU want for Northeast Ohio?
Keep Akron Beautiful is encouraging all area residents to get involved in the 2013 Great American Cleanup™, by participating in the 32nd annual Clean Up Akron Month during April 2013. This year, we are cleaning up for an entire month, with the culmination event taking place on SUPER SATURDAY, April 27, 2013 at the Akron Zoological Park. We look forward to cleaning up with you, your civic groups and your families in April. For 32 years Keep Akron Beautiful has been working to recruit thousands of civic-minded volunteers to adopt a public parcel of land to clean during Clean Up Akr on Week. This year, Akron volunteers will be joined by volunteers from 1,200 affiliates of Keep America Beautiful around the country to participate in the Keep America Beautiful Great American Cleanup, the nation’s largest community improvement program that harnesses 4 million volunteers to build vibrant communities. Each year, we engage volunteers to take action…
On Thursday, March 28, the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation, Technical University of Dortmund, Germany (TUD), and German Marshall Fund (GMF) hosted a workshop in Youngstown titled: Policies and Strategies in Shrinking Cities: The Case of Youngstown, Ohio. The event was attended by more than 60 people including: stakeholders from throughout Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley and representatives from the cities of Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Akron. The invitation only workshop included a site visit of abandoned industrial sites with potential for reuse, an expert panel discussion, and presentation of redevelopment ideas from urban planning students from the Technical University of Dortmund. The expert panel discussion included Alan Mallach, Brookings Institution; Lavea Brachman, Greater Ohio Policy Center; Professor Thorsten Wiechmann, Technical University of Dortmund, Germany, and Ian Beniston, YNDC. The students’ redevelopment ideas included opportunities to reconnect Youngstown to its riverfront and industrial heritage and integrated best practice ideas from the Ruhr…
In May, NEOSCC will be launching an on-line engagement tool entitled Imagine MyNEO! Based on an open source software called Crowd Gauge, Imagine MyNEO! will allow the entire region to share their priorities with the Vibrant NEO process. As an introduction to the new tool, we have included an article by Sarah Madden of Sasaki Associates (our Scenario Planning consultant). It includes background about the creation of the tool and some examples of its previous use. Gauge the values, priorities and preferences of the crowd. by Sarah Madden, Sasaki Associates Web-based technology can help planners promote literacy about planning issues and increase public engagement. We already deploy sophisticated data analysis and modeling tools, but many of these tools are more suitable for back-of-house number crunching than for interactive public engagement. This divide between tools for technicians and tools for engagement is significant: despite all of the public- and client-facing communication work we do, few…
As part of the Vibrant NEO 2040 initiative, NEOSCC has completed the first-ever existing land use map for the 12-county region. This parcel-based map was built on detailed real estate information provided by the region’s 12 County Auditors and County Fiscal Officers. This map can be scaled to the size of individual communities and counties and can be filtered to show in clear detail the location specific land uses, such as industrial, commercial and park land. Because it is based on current real estate data, this map provides a real-time picture of vacant urbanized land throughout the region. Zoning Map NEOSCC has also created a parcel-based zoning map for the 12-county Northeast Ohio region from the most current information supplied by each of the 393 jurisdictions in the region. This map can be scaled to the size of individual communities and counties and can be filtered to show in clear…