Survey - What would you tell her? | Plan Build Live Cincinnati

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Your best friend has been elected to City Council. She has always trusted your judgment, and when particularly tough issues come up, she often asks you for your opinion.

Read each of the following questions and think about what advice you would give her. Select the item that sounds like what you would tell her was most important. If you think of an answer that you like better than the ones printed on the page, please enter it at the bottom.

*Issues are hypothetical and are purposely designed to not sound like any specific current or recent issue.

1. We're having lots of trouble with banana vines in some neighborhoods. People plant them because they're pretty, but they grow like crazy and they're threatening to overrun some of the city's retaining walls and bridge embankments. What's worse, sometimes the vine gets its roots into the cracks in a structure like that and makes it crumble faster.

What can we do to manage this issue in a way that's fair to people --and uses the City's limited funds prudently?:

Prohibit banana vines. Some people will get mad, and it will be another thing that the code enforcement officers will have to enforce -- yes, I know that the enforcement staff got cut in the last budget. They'll have to do the best they can.

Give property owners an incentive to get rid of the banana vines on their property. Scrape together $10,000 and give people $100 if they show that they have gotten rid of all their banana vines. That will require some code enforcement time, but probably less than writing citations.

Create an education campaign about the damage that banana vines do. We can get some Public Service Announcements; maybe my neighbor's firm can design a poster.

The Public Works department should just remove the vines from bridges and walls. I know they will grow back and they'll have to do it frequently. But we shouldn't prevent people from planting something they like, even if it has some negative impacts.

None of these will work.

If "none of these will work" was chosen, what she should do is::

2. There's a developer looking to build a new condominium building on Anderson Street. He has a right to do that under the existing zoning code, but it's on a major corner and we need to make sure the development adds to the value of the neighborhood.

What should we be pushing for to make this development as good for the neighborhood as possible?:

It needs to have nice surface materials, like brick or stone, and a classy, attractive sign.

It needs to maintain the same character as surrounding neighborhood (the same kinds of building materials, distance from the street, height, etc.)

It needs to have lots of parking spaces.

It needs to have big landscape buffers separating it from everything around it so that the building isn't right next to the nearby businesses.

It needs to have a store or a restaurant on the first floor.

If that developer is willing to build something here, we should be glad for whatever they are planning. Don't do anything that might scare them away.

None of these work.

What she should do is::

3. I'm looking for a new home. Obviously I want to stay in this neighborhood, but there are so many different choices, I'm having a hard time making up my mind.

If you were looking for a new place around here, what would be most important to you?:

Lots of space to stretch out in.

Great views.

An easy walk to restaurants and stores.

Convenient parking.

Something that's small enough that I won't spend all my time cleaning, and a small yard (or no yard) so that I don’t have to spend a lot of time maintaining.

A street where all the buildings are single-family houses.

Close to the bus line so that I don't have to drive to work

Streets and sidewalks that I feel safe and comfortable running, riding my bike or walking my dog on.

None of these.

None of these. What I would look for first is::

4. We're having a problem in the Paprika neighborhood. The business district has lots of restaurants that draw people from all over the region, but the business owners are having trouble finding enough employees to operate. Restaurant jobs don't pay a lot, so most of the employees are coming from less wealthy neighborhoods several miles away. The businesses are finding that the employees they can get miss work a lot because they don’t have reliable transportation.

On top of that, we're hearing that the schools and the hospital are having similar problems -- their employees can't afford to live in the expensive homes nearby, and that makes it hard to attract and retain the workers they need. This is getting to be a big threat to the local economy.

What should we do? :

Make it easier to build smaller, less expensive housing units in the neighborhood.

Make it easier for people who own large houses to rent out extra rooms.

Make it easier for people to rent accessory housing units, like an apartment over a garage or a cottage in the back yard.

Develop incentives to encourage people who are building new multi-unit housing to include some less expensive units.

Require new apartment buildings and condominiums to include some units that are at a price that these employees can afford.

Don't do anything. If those businesses want to be there, they'll just have to figure out how to make it work.

None of these.

None of these. What you should do is this::

5. We're getting ready to study changes to Anastasia Avenue, the main street through the neighborhood business district in the Coriander neighborhood. There are a lot of people who want a lot of different things.

What do you think should be the top priority?:

Lots of trees and plants and decorative pavers in the sidewalks.

Bicycle lanes.

Wide sidewalks so that it's easy and comfortable to walk.

Lots of on-street parking.

Little pocket parks with nice plantings and benches.

Wide driving lanes so that drivers can get through quickly.

Make the cars drive more slowly so that pedestrians and bicyclists feel safer.

None of these.

None of these. The top priority should be::

6. We are thinking about how to improve the way the City handles building and zoning permits. Some people are complaining that it takes too long and it's too complicated to do something simple, like put a deck on your house.

Of course, some people will complain about any regulation, and we do have to make sure that people are building things correctly so that they don't hurt someone down the road. But I’m sure we could be doing better.

What do you think we should make our top priority?:

Make it as easy to get a permit as possible, even if it means that the application doesn’t get reviewed as closely.

Make the whole permitting process as efficient as possible by setting it up so that people can get every single permit that they need, and talk to every official they need to talk to, in one location.

Make the permit process really tough so that people don't build something slipshod.

Make the permit process and instructions as clear and easy to understand as possible.

Whatever you do, make sure that you don't let anyone damage the environment.

Whatever you do, make sure that you don't get in the way of economic development.

None of these should be the top priority.

None of these should be the top priority. The top priority should be::

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