New Development Strategy | ModeShift

Surrounded By Water, Ohio River Valley Experiences Economic Resurgence

by Keith SchneiderNovember 5, 2014November 9, 20140

OWENSBORO, KY. — Randy Simes, an urban planner in Cincinnati with a keen sense of observation, founded UrbanCincy.com in 2007 to report on the transitional neighborhoods, evolving culture, and reviving post-industrial economy of his native Queen City of nearly 300,000 residents. But it wasnâ€™t until he posted before-and-after-pictures from Google Street View last May, comparing changes in well-known Cincinnati street corners from 2007 to 2013, that Simesâ€™ neighbors and colleagues embraced his boosterish view that …

In Heart of Rand Paul Territory, Public Investment For Public Purposes

by Keith SchneiderSeptember 29, 2014September 29, 20140

BOWLING GREEN, KY. â€“ When Gary Ransdell, the president of Western Kentucky University, invites alumni to view this cityâ€™s redeveloping downtown from his hilltop campus, the response is almost always exclamations of surprise. Just below domed Cherry Hall, one of the 108-year-old universityâ€™s grandest buildings, are nearly 200,000 square feet of new student housing, built at a cost of $24 million. Thereâ€™s also a 30,000 square foot, $10 million alumni center, and a 72,500 square-foot …

Owensboro Convention Center Opens With Big Party; Senators Paul and McConnell Not Among The Guests

by Keith SchneiderFebruary 9, 2014February 9, 20146

OWENSBORO, KY –Â In February 2009, in the very depths of the Great Recession, seven of the nine commissioners elected to lead this capable city and surrounding Daviess County took a long breath, understood the political consequences, and approved a modest increase in a local tax to generate $80 million to build a new downtown. Though just two of the seven officials remain in office, what they accomplished in a single courageous vote achieved three distinct …

Newest New York Times Piece: University of Wisconsin’s East Campus Gateway

by Keith SchneiderFebruary 15, 2012February 15, 20120

I’ve been writing for the New York Times since February 1981, covering all manner of people and places and events. Most recently, much of that work has focused on interesting real estate developments around the country. The latest article, featuring the University of Wisconsin’s work to construct a new entrance corridor on the east side of campus, was posted and published today: MADISON, Wis. â€” A century after it was first proposed, a broad pedestrian …

Bluegrass, Mark Schatz, and the Approaching Main Stream

by Keith SchneiderOctober 4, 2011December 15, 201413

It wasn’t that I existed all these years without encountering bluegrass music. As a freshman at Haverford College in the 1970s I lived across the first floor of Barkley Hall from two upperclassmen –Â Peter Doan and Evan Lippincott — whose vinyl collection included the 1972 Nitty Ditty Dirt Band’s Will The Circle Be Unbroken. But not until this summer, when I arrived in Owensboro, Kentucky, where the International Bluegrass Music Museum is located, did …

Shanghai’s Planned Community, Better For Ducks So Far

by Keith SchneiderOctober 2, 2011October 2, 20110

LINGANG PORT CITY: Shanghai, China â€” Dishui Lake, constructed where the Yangtze River meets the East China Sea, is a perfectly circular manmade lake that was meant to put people in close proximity to fresh water. The Nanhui Dongtan Wildlife Sanctuary, which lies on Dishui Lakeâ€™s eastern bank, is a 122.5-square-kilometer (47-square-mile) expanse of tall grasses and shallow, rain-fed ponds that also tests the lure of fresh water; in this case, to recruit great flocks …

Latest in NY Times: Kids Sports As Development Tool

by Keith SchneiderSeptember 8, 2011September 9, 20110

ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. â€” Since 1937, when the Treasury Department established a bullion repository at nearby Fort Knox, gold has been the principal attraction of this city of 28,531 south of Louisville. Now, travel and tourism executives are counting on a $29 million youth sports complex under construction northwest of town to help fill Elizabethtownâ€™s 1,525 hotel rooms and drive development of hundreds more. Along with China, I’ve spent a good bit of time this summer …

Owensboro, Kentucky: What Works, What Doesn’t

by Keith SchneiderJune 15, 2011June 15, 20118

Twenty years ago, in a strikingly perceptive series of articles in the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer, Neal Peirce and Curtis Johnson concluded that Kentucky’s third largest city had the proven capacity to set and achieve big community goals, but that its path to a stronger economy and better quality of life was impeded by related challenges – “some psychic, some civic, some economic and social.” This year the Public Life Foundation of Owensboro asked Peirce, Johnson and …

Globalization Full Circle; Newest NYT Article

by Keith SchneiderMay 25, 2011May 25, 20111

TOLEDO, Oh. – My newest piece in the New York Times focuses on globalization that’s come full circle in a small Midwest city. Before it became known as the Marina District, the 128 acres of tall grass, and piled dirt on the Maumee River here was the place where the Acme coal-fired power plant once belched thick black smoke before it was decommissioned in 1994 andÂ became one of the city’s most prominent eyesores. Right …

Diplomacy in Climate Talks No Match For New Energy Alliances

by Keith SchneiderNovember 22, 2010November 22, 20101

On November 29 representatives from 190 countries will be in Cancun, Mexico for the 16th Conference of the Parties under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Late last week, following a two-day Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate in Washington, the Obama administration’s chief climate negotiator told reporters not to expect too much. “I would describe myself right now as neither an optimist nor a pessimist,” said Todd Stern, the State Department’s …