Registration open for final Bridging Broadway visioning session

Free tickets remain for the third and final public visioning session hosted by Bridging Broadway, the non-profit group formed to ensure that Cincinnati's new casino integrates successfully into its surrounding neighborhoods.

The session, to be held Saturday from 12:30 P.M.-4 P.M. at the VLT Academy Annex at 209 E 12th Street, will highlight strategies and tools for implementing and maintaining the ideas outlined during previous community visioning sessions in October 2010 and January 2011.

A special "Think Tank" panel discussion will feature five experts in urban management and implementation: Kathy Schwab, executive director of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky (LISC); Margy Waller, vice president of strategic communications and research for ArtsWave; Beth Robinson, president and CEO of Uptown Consortium; Arlene Koth, executive vice president and COO of Downtown Cincinnati Inc.; and Mario Todd, councilmember with the City of Lawrenceburg.

Following the panel discussion, an open house will allow participants to engage in meaningful discussions with each other on how to implement and maintain ideas generated through the public participation process.

The visioning sessions are part of a six-month district study of the economics, social issues, transportation, and urban design issues within an approximately half-mile radius around the 20-acre Broadway Commons site, funded by the City and conducted with the assistance of Bridging Broadway and City staff, volunteers from the University of Cincinnati Community Design Center, and LISC.

An updated report by Cincinnati's Casino Area Infrastructure project, composed of City staff and Bridging Broadway, will be presented at a future meeting of City Council's Major Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee.

The 354,000-square-foot, $400 million Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati broke ground last month and is scheduled to open in fall 2012.

The casino is projected to draw six million people downtown annually, while generating nearly $520 million in annual gaming activity.

To register for Saturday's session, visit the Bridging Broadway website or call (513) 549-1328.

Previous reading on BC:
Casino breaks ground, design work remains (2/7/11)
Casino celebration, fundraiser open to all (2/3/11)
Casino groundbreaking Feb. 4; Visioning continues (1/24/11)
Bridging Broadway outreach continues Saturday (1/20/11)
Casino-area study will begin September 1 (8/19/10)