THE RIVER CITY NEWS MORE COVINGTON NEWS THAN ANY OTHER SOURCE
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by Michael Monks
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The twenty-first plan in the past twelve years that aims to revitalize part or all of Covington's urban core was unveiled publicly at Tuesday night's Covington City Commission meeting. Yes, the Center City Action Plan (CCAP) follows a laundry list of plans that have failed or that have achieved mixed results or that have been forgotten completely or that were never implemented to begin with. This time is different. Maybe. "The key is implementation," said Brad Segal, President of Denver-based Progressive Urban Management Associates (PUMA), the firm contracted by the city to lead the development of the CCAP. "What we really want to change is how we get things done around here."
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If all of the pieces were to fall into place according to the recommendations within the CCAP, Covington would over the next few years be rocking with new businesses and jobs, have reimagined gateways into the city, and boldly reclaim its historical place as the crown jewel of Northern Kentucky. Madison Avenue is ripe for niche businesses, particularly those that could fill a void in the local music scene, according to the plan. Mainstrasse is a thriving entertainment destination, an economic engine that could roar further north, stretching all the way to the river, crossing a redesigned Fifth Street that would lose its field of fast food and gain more greenspace and walkable pathways. Thousands of students from Gateway College's urban campus would flock to Roebling Point's Park & Court Streets which would be the centerpiece of Downtown Covington with a charming plaza where the Kenton County Jail once stood.
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It all sounds great but so did many of the other plans that preceded this one. "I've been through ten of these plans and never have I seen it get to the point where people's feet are held to the fire," said Neil Blunt, a real estate agent, to Segal and the City Commission. "As a citizen and a realtor I would strongly encourage you to get serious about accountability."
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"One of the problems is resources," said Chuck Eilerman, also a real estate agent and a candidate for the city commission. "We didn't have funds to improve Park and Court last time. Where are we going find resources for these massive public improvements?"
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Segal's answer has become a familiar one, not just in regards to the CCAP, but for other local projects as well, including the massive Brent Spence Bridge project. "Public-private partnerships," Segal said. "The pieces that makes this happen are the business improvement districts (BID). They sustain the vision and leverage the money."
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PUMA was also asked to research the feasibility of a BID for Covington and recommends the formulation of two such operations with one focused on Downtown and RiverCenter and the other on Mainstrasse. In a BID, property owners vote to assess a new tax upon themselves that is invested solely in the maintenance and marketing of the area within the BID. While the BID feasibility was a separate study, it now appears that much of the CCAP is virtually impossible without the implementation of a BID to back it up. "We think it's the linchpin," said Pat Frew, Executive Director of the Covington Business Council, a group strongly behind a BID for Covington.
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A petition drive will get underway in the coming weeks spearheaded by the Business Council in the hopes that a majority of the commercial property owners Downtown will agree to participate. Much of the plan's implementation would be monitored by a reconstituted Urban Partnership (UP), currently a Downtown economic development initiative mostly known for keeping the streets clean, that would be funded by the BID and that would have three or four employees. The new version of the UP would be the central organization to which all the other civic and quasi-governmental agencies with interests in Downtown look toward for guidance.
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While the task is daunting and the past history of plans in Covington is depressing, if all of the pieces are able to fit together, this time it may be crazy enough to work. Segal will meet with the plan's steering committee Wednesday morning, a board made up of Covington civic leaders and citizens and will return in June with a request that the city commission join several other organizations in signing a pledge in support of the plan. "It's not a contract but it's a signal that this is not just plan twenty-one," Segal said. "This is a game changer here. We're going to leave Covington optimistic."
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FURTHER READING:
The River City News has full details of what the Center City Action Plan says specifically and if you have not yet seen those reports, check them out below:
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FURTHER READING:
The River City News has full details of what the Center City Action Plan says specifically and if you have not yet seen those reports, check them out below:
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PART ONE
The River City News has obtained a copy of the Center City Action Plan. At the link, find part one of three upcoming reports. Suggestions include parking meters for Mainstrasse, zoning changes, and a database of vacant, available spaces for new businesses. Click it.
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PART TWO
The second part of the plan to revitalize Downtown Covington focuses on creating open and green spaces for the community with recommendations that include a trail system through the town and dramatic lighting displays on historic industrial infrastructure. Details at the link. |
PART THREE
How would you feel about a 90-day code enforcement blitz? At the link, details from the Center City Action Plan's goals for "an inviting public realm", including the role of social service agencies and which neighborhood Covington should prioritize for residential development. Click it.
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RESTRUCTURING THE ORGANIZATIONS DOWNTOWN
This exclusive report by The River City News came out Wednesday: The plan to revitalize Downtown Covington would reconstitute the Urban Partnership as an umbrella organization funded in part by the city and staffed by 3 - 4 people. See all the exclusive details, including what roles would be played by many city organizations, at the link.
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