Around 20 to 30 community members worked together to clear overgrowth, trash, and a rusted out fence, filling two SuperCans from Keep Cincinnati Beautiful. Along with clearing a dumpsite and painting over graffiti. After three hours of hard work, beautiful brick was exposed, views through the neighborhood were opened up, and new friendships were made.

As organizers of similar events, we at Spring in Our Steps were not only delighted to be able to show up with nothing but a smile and enthusiasm. But it was inspiring for us to witness so many members of a community come together for a common goal.

Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation’s ultimate goal is to make this a safe and clean thoroughfare for community events. They have so many great visions for the space, including subsequent outings to the alleys to maintain them for continued use. This is something that we feel is key to revitalizing such unique spaces.

This coming weekend, we will be heading to Five Points again to finish what we started. We would love for you to join us! For more info and to RSVP, please visit the event page. Spring in Our Steps volunteers will receive one of our limited edition t-shirts from our partnership with the Flying Pig Marathon.

The first of many summer events at Five Points starts this Sunday, May 19th, with food vendors and a pop-up biergarten! Come celebrate with an array of Cincinnati residents, Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation and Spring in Our Steps in a uniquely historic location. Have a beer and make some new friends of your own!

Photo and graphic credit: Andrew Stahlke and Nick Dewald

Spring in Our Steps submitted a request for response from the City of Cincinnati Livable Communities Committee, and received prompt response and follow up from Beverly Hardy, Manager of Office of Councilmember Yvette Simpson. Both Cincinnati Police and the Cincinnati Recreation Commission see improvements to Ziegler Park as a priority, in order to discourage long-term loitering and litter issues. As for Goetz Alley, we are awaiting response from Miss Hardy about Public Services administering any street or alley cleanings.

Here is a copy of the response from Steve Pacella, Superintendent of the Cincinnati Recreation Commission:

Recreation will be taking the following steps in an effort to make the Ziegler Park area more inviting.  These action steps are in response to concerns raised by the Cincinnati Police Department during an on site meeting with the Director of Recreation in addition to those concerns received by your office.

1. The placement of a Port-O-Let near the shelter / alley area
2. Removal of three park benches as suggested by CPD
3. Policing of all debris and cigarette butts around the shelter area and placement of ”cigarette butt containers”
4. Installing a chains or bollards at North-West corner to prevent motorized access to the park        
5. Researching ideas and funds for the removal of a sitting wall

At this time a restroom unit has been ordered and the benches have been removed.  I will provide an update as progress occurs.

We are pleased with this prompt and thorough response, and look forward to working with these city departments on future enhancements to our alleys and surrounding areas.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The request for response that Spring in Our Steps submitted solely addressed concerns with public urination in Goetz Alley, and litter issues in Ziegler Park and abroad. This was not a statement to show fear or prejudice of another ethnicity. The facts are that public urination and litter are pressing issues in this pocket of Over-the-Rhine. I live along a street with homeowners, college students, Housing Choice Voucher recipients, and regular renters. Thus, there would be no reason for me to display prejudice toward a specific group, in this situation. Parks and recreation areas are established for use by all. Alleys are public spaces meant for use by all. Litter and public urination deter some users from taking advantage of these assets. These users range from families to new residents to women walking alone. It’s been proven that litter and public urination issues deter investment in neighborhoods, and lead to further disinvestment. 

Bland Alley from Goetz Alley, looking over Yukon Street to Ziegler Park and Old SCPA

A view of Ziegler Park from E 14th St (Courtesy of Travis Estell)

The 15th Annual Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon is approaching, and we’re teaming with the Pig to clean up nearly 3 miles of the marathon race course. We’ll trim, weed, and remove litter, but we’ll also encounter two pedestrian tunnels and four stairways on the East End leg of the cleanup! [All stairways in the Linwood leg once carried you to Columbia Parkway, and are now closed.]

This Friday’s cleanup event in Linwood and East End will serve as a collaboration between the Flying Pig Marathon and Spring in Our Steps (SiOS), and act as a fundraiser for SiOS. Spring in Our Steps will be advising the entire event. Tools will be provided by Keep Cincinnati Beautiful, and we will have use of the Pigmobile to transport tools.

Meet up spots are Bella Luna for the 1st Leg and the parking lot at Delta and Riverside for the 2nd Leg. Volunteers from the 2nd Leg will be able to dine in for free pizza at Cincy By the Slice (1207 Main Street). The itinerary is as follows:

9:30am to 1:30pm: Linwood
Bella Luna eastward: St. Columban School from Loveland
Terry’s Turf Club westward: Hamilton County Probation Office

• Bagels, coffee, and fruit provided. T-shirts and tools for each volunteer.

1:30pm to 2:00pm: Break

2:00pm to 6:00pm: East End
Riverside at Delta westward: Spring in Our Steps and a TBD group

• Free pizza back at Cincy by the Slice for volunteers. T-shirts and tools for each volunteer.

7:00pm to 9:00pm: OTR Final Friday — Cincy by the Slice
SiOS will be selling Piggest Raffle Ever tickets to fundraise for its 501(c)3 status.

Frank Street Steps in Pendleton at Artist Alley

Last year, Spring in Our Steps set out to clean up 30 stairways in 30 days, taking on a different stairway daily. Each cleanup lasted 1 to 2 hours, but absolutely anyone who could donate even 15 minutes was invited to help enhance Cincinnati’s hillside pedestrian paths. This year, we are set out making it to 30 stairways in April. It might sound crazy, but think of them as 30 consecutive Earth Day or Great American Cleanup activities.

Times are at 5:30pm unless otherwise noted. Check Joe Gayetsky’s 2006-07 inventory of Cincinnati stairways on CommunityWalk, to find the locations of your choice. Tools and gloves will be provided, but we encourage anyone to bring their own. Please check the calendar one to two days beforehand for potential time changes.

01-Apr: West 8th Street Steps [at Woodlawn Ave. - South] – East Price Hill
02-Apr: Ohio Avenue Steps – Clifton Heights (CUF)
03-Apr: McMillian Street Steps (SE) – Walnut Hills [6:30pm]
04-Apr: Error Place Steps – South Fairmount (park on Queen City Ave.)
05-Apr: Earnshaw Avenue Steps – Mt. Auburn
06-Apr: Peete Street Steps – Over-the-Rhine [10:00am]
07-Apr: Bates Avenue Steps – Clifton [2:30pm]
08-Apr: West 8th Street Steps [at Woodlawn Ave. - North] – East Price Hill
09-Apr: Queen City Avenue Steps – Fairview (CUF)
10-Apr: McMillian Street Steps (NE) – Walnut Hills
11-Apr: Rankin Street Steps – South Fairmount [POSTPONED]
12-Apr: Ryan Avenue Steps – Mt. Auburn
13-Apr: Wilkinson Street Steps – Walnut Hills
14-Apr: Wagner Street Steps – University Heights (CUF) In progress
15-Apr: West 8th Street Steps [at Fairbanks Ave. - South] – East Price Hill
16-Apr: Emming Street Steps – Clifton Heights (CUF)
17-Apr: McMillan Street Steps (NW) [at Reading Rd] – Mt. Auburn
18-Apr: Winton Ridge Lane Steps – Spring Grove Village [POSTPONED]
19-Apr: McGregor Place Steps – Mt. Auburn Irma Avenue Steps – Corryville
20-Apr: Kenton Street Steps – Walnut Hills [04/22]
21-Apr: Baymiller Street Steps – West End [04/22]
22-Apr: West 8th Street Steps [at Fairbanks Ave. - South] – East Price Hill [POSTPONED]
23-Apr: Linden Street Steps – North Fairmount
24-Apr: McMillan Street Steps (SW) – Mt. Auburn (at Reading & Burnet)
25-Apr: Sharp Alley Steps – Over-the-Rhine
26-Apr: St. Andrews Street Steps – East End Hutton Street Steps & Bridge
27-Apr: Cleinview Avenue Steps – East Walnut Hills
28-Apr: Addison Street Steps – Fairview (CUF) [POSTPONED]
29-Apr: Staebler Street Steps – Lower Price Hill [POSTPONED]
30-Apr: Gage Street Steps – Mt. Auburn

Make-up schedule:
7-May: Rankin Street Steps – South Fairmount (map)
8-May: Winton Ridge Lane Steps – Spring Grove Village
9-May: West 8th Street Steps [at Fairbanks Ave. - South] – East Price Hill (map)
10-May: Staebler Street Steps – Lower Price Hill
11-May: Addison Street Steps – Fairview (CUF)

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Now, allow us to get some shut eye. Our first alley cleanup of the year is TODAY! We will make considerable progress at St. Joe Street and South Wendell Alley, with the help of Cincinnati Community Outreach and F&S Life and their Community Plunge service day.

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Shutter Out Alley Photo Walk: Mount Auburn
Sunday, March 3rd, 2013
11am to 1pm
Meet at Iris Book Cafe

Bring your cameras, and regroup afterwards to share and upload your sightings!

Grear Alley at Main

Walking through Over-the-Rhine and Downtown, you might have noticed construction at the outlets of alleys. Brick pavers that extend from the building envelope to the curb edge of the perpendicular street are being removed, while new bricks and concrete create a sloped surface. The current process has reached Grear and Goetz Alleys, on the block bound Main, East 12th, East 13th, and Sycamore. The sidewalk plane will extend across the alley without interruption, while the entrance to the alley will become a gradual ascension into the old city. This may seem like a recent development, but its origins date back more than 60 years.

In a January 1948 feature article, in the Cincinnati Enquirer Pictorial Magazine, Watch Your Step! features a commentary on the lack of “flush sidewalks” that other cities had to-date. “We take 45 steps (count ‘em next time you’re downtown), step down one, take three steps across an alley, step up one, and walk another 45 steps to reach the next street corner. Walk a mile in downtown Cincinnati, and brother, you have stepped up and down a lot.” It continue to describe the mechanics of alleys in Jackson, MI, where the slope into the alley delivered water into a catch basin. The water was piped into the storm sewer of the neighboring street, before it reaches the crosswalk.

Although modern day Cincinnati would orient the catch basins into a separate pipelines, the recent construction of these raised alley walks seem to have three advantages:

1. Safer pedestrian traversal across alleyways

2. Improved drainage of stormwater in along vehicular paths, near crosswalks, and into alleyways

3. Safer conditions at street intersections, by using alleys to improve stormwater infrastructure

Source: the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County (Times-Star, 04/17/48)

Three months after Watch Your Step! hit newsstands, the Times-Star reported on the Mayor Albert D. Cash’s filed motion to Council, which requested a study of alley walks in the downtown area. It seems that by 1948, “Cincinnati is the only large city without this ‘convenience’ for pedestrians.” He noted that lack of alley walks could be a hazard to the elderly. Certainly, in the era of ADA compliance, it only makes sense to make this move in the interest of a more walkable Cincinnati. Meanwhile, the beautiful granite or limestone curbs remain intact, after an alley walk remediation reaches completion.

We encourage you to follow springinoursteps on Instagram, to get a regular dose of alley and stairway photos, including the latest modifications to our pedestrian paths.

Saturday, February 9th, 2013
Spring in Our Steps’ 1st Shutter Out Photo Walk: Northside Alleys

We will be documenting all of Northside’s illustrious alleys, in order to start an inventory of more than 400 of Cincinnati’s alleyways. Spring in Our Steps will then be able to offer data to the public about each, and can prioritize cleanup and community building opportunities.

We will reconvene at Sidewinder Coffee Tea + Spirits, to upload our photos to one computer. Don’t worry–you will absolutely get credit for your work, if/when we repost photos, per individual approval.

11am to 1pm, Meet at Sidewinder Coffee Tea + Spirits

Facebook event page:  https://www.facebook.com/events/347650532015653/

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Saturday, February 23rd, 2013

Spring in Our Steps’ 2nd Shutter Out Photo Walk: Mt. Auburn Alleys

We will be documenting all of the alley in Mount Auburn, particularly throughout Prospect Hill, to continue building an inventory of more than 400 of Cincinnati’s alleyways.

We will reconvene at Iris Book Cafe, to upload our photos to one computer. Don’t worry–you will absolutely get credit for your work, if/when we repost photos, per individual approval.

11am to 1pm, Meet at Iris Book Cafe

Facebook event page:  https://www.facebook.com/events/126064357566023/

Hope you can join us!

Schorr Alley, located between West McMillan Street and Warner Street in Clifton Heights, now has both a One Way road sign at its north end and a street sign delineating its entrance from McMillan. Until now, residents living along West Clifton Avenue and Wheeler Street have entered and exited Schorr Alley to reach their private parking areas. In conjunction with the efforts of Spring in Our Steps, to make a passable and desirable path through the alley’s southern half, we hope that these additions will help to alleviate traffic concerns along the Clifton Heights Business District.

At the St. Joe Street in Mt. Auburn, Spring in Our Steps’ first long-term alley project site, repeated attempts to have on-street parking signs, mounted at its entrance from Loth Street, have succeeded. Two No Parking Any Time signs can be found anchoring the 100-149 block of St. Joe Street. Spring in Our Steps considers these signage placements to be an integral step in its efforts to return St. Joe Street, South Wendell Alley, and the North Wendell Alley Steps to their former utility.

Among many other factors, street signage goes a long way to reassign an identity to a oft-neglected space. Homes without well-defined street numbers lose their place in the world. A business without proper signage loses all the traffic to street functions with definition. Certainly, a street without a sign becomes a ghost of its former self–visitors miss steps in their sometimes carefully planned, mapped directions. In the case of an alley, many residents are not even aware they had been giving names. Alleys are spaces relegated to the lore of darkness and danger in media. But, much like a well-lighted street, placards that define the identity of an alley then create opportunity for the first steps of community ownership.

Spring in Our Steps hopes to leverage the installation of street signage at its other long-term alley cleanup sites–Peete Alley and Pitt Alley–through a combination of in-kind donations and assistance from community organizations.