AN EDITORIAL
I was amused -- and bemused -- by this letter that I saw in the Sunday Forum section of the Enquirer:
I can't begin to tell you how excited I was to know that the Northgate Clock Tower will be revived. Colerain Township has fallen off the map. People are moving out and can't pass a school levy area quicker than we can beg them not too.
This clock tower proposal will revamp an area that so many have turned their backs on. We need to have people populate Colerain Township, as in surrounding parts of Cincinnati. We need them to want to raise their children here, support their schools here, and to dine, shop, enjoy the scenery and catch a movie in Colerain.
Let's make Colerain Township a place to shop and spend, not just dump your garbage.
Summer Allen, Colerain Township
Ms. Allen is referring to this article, which appeared in the July 2 Enquirer. The idea is to develop the vacant BP Procare site at Colerain and Springdale with a clock tower and fountain. This might be funded by the creation of a TIF district that would be in conjunction with the adjacent Northgate Mall redevelopment project.
Can someone please explain to me how a clock tower is suddenly going to attract more shoppers, keep younger residents from moving away, and cause school levies to suddenly pass?
Will the clock tower suddenly make traveling Colerain Avenue a pleasant experience instead of a stop-and-go smogfest?
Will it raise the desirability of the township's aging housing stock, especially that which is east of Colerain Avenue?
Will it change the fact that the township is competing against itself by building another shopping center closer to I-275?
Boy, that pedestrian bridge over Colerain Avenue sure livened things up!
It seems that every new development these days has to include a clock tower. Or two.
That got me wondering -- does anyone even use public clocks anymore? Hell, I stopped wearing a watch long ago. Every cell phone tells time and I take mine everywhere I go.
Clock towers are interesting because they're relics of a bygone era. They're charming when they're within their proper context, which is a walkable commercial and/or residential district built before the mid-20th century.
But it seems to me that the clock towers in all of these new developments reflect a stunning lack of creativity in today's urban (suburban) design. They're a desperate move to artificially create an ambience that never was there, and never will be.
We need a new urban design aesthetic.
As for the vacant property, there is no doubt that such a high-profile corner needs to be redeveloped as quickly as possible.
But is a park which is on the periphery of acres of asphalt and offers only the sounds and smells of heavy automobile traffic really the best use?
