attending Ham Cty Regional Planning meeting

I was invited to attend a 2 hour meeting downtown this past Saturday, put on by the Hamilton County Trgional Planning Commission. It was very informative. We heard about toolkits for common issues, library-like information, etc. And my takeaway was share and reapply is possible. Some local municipality somewhere has gone through the same issue. The only requirement is that Mariemont be a member. I know they were, but not sure they are today. Does anybody know?

My hot button issue I need educated on is Eastern Corridor. Lots to gain/lose for Mariemont. And this is the organization to tap into.

Cortney

housing court = mayor's court?

Wondering if a Housing Court (Hamilton County has one) might help with the sometimes tough conditions in the Historic District. However, could Mayor's Court also be that tool? Ohio Supreme Court gives power to MC's. According to their website, there are 355 in Ohio as of 2007.

I would like to learn more about how the MC has been used, and if it can be ramped up to get better compliance.

Cortney

Reply to concerns about big web changes

After sending my recap of our website meeting, I got a note from a village person w concerns about degree of change, specificaly around pace, controlling public posting, and who controls/approves. Text of my reply note follows.

I think this is an interesting example of the power of inertia in an historic, tradition rich place like mariemont. Change is hard, and frankly it should be. We're a successful place! But if I really believe in something, I need to really put energy into affecting that inertia.

Cortney
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Thanks for the thoughts and perspective. A couple things to keep in mind. These may have been lost in translation....

We'll build in parallel, not touching anything on the site or Village Computers until we're ready and tested. Then we'll convert at the right time.

If the mayor would like to be involved, that would be great. The more input the better.

We'll phase this in over months. Right now, I think the group is thinking style changes for a Jan release. Better organization, fresh look, very little new stuff

The only public posting of information we're planning in the near term is participation in polls (ie do you like the new website yes or no?)

We won't make any changes that are more difficult to support without providing proper training. Your comfort and ability are critical to making it a success. And personally, I think we can do much of these enhancements without making it more difficult.

Cortney Scheeser
Senior Analyst, Global Home Care & PGP
Phone: 513-983-0463
Mobile: 479-221-1752
Email, IM: scheeser.cm@pg.com

Please consider the Environment before printing this email

Mariemont Website improvement meeting

I met on 11/21 with Kim, Jeff, and Andy to talk about what could be done to improve the Village Website on short timing. Very productive meeting, recap of email I sent below.

I'd like to see a series of improvements with the goal of cranking up transparency/effective communication without $$ investment in a way that's easy to support.

Cortney
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Hi Guys,

Really enjoyed our time on Saturday. Here are my notes:

purpose
inform, engage, promote
portal for everything mariemont
for current prospective businesses, current prospective residents, and tourists/visitors. current Residents primary audience
2 way communication w residents

approach
phased approach so that we can move towards more, better transparency
choose not to include enquirer like comments right away. Website could lose focus
this probably means easy to submit info/feedback, but an intermediate step of review for appropriate-ness before broadly sharing back
do want to get more raw unfiltered at some point

desired features (phased)
visual calendar
citizen login - constant contact expensive, salesforce.com
classifieds/corkboard like crossroads.net
updates per committee submitted by chair via twitter (in addition to sunshine law reqs)
place for MM Citizens, MM Businesses to publish a link. need to help businesses here in MM
most requested links either dynamically or we resort every 6 months
map showing true village + neighorhood Districts + links to council
How Do I format
Links to MM relevant sites: Wikipedia, theater, town crier link (Need this to be a true portal), Yahoo local, city-data.com, Inn, MPF, Topix.com
rotating photo, maybe 10 sec, maybe per session, maybe per month
amateur photo contest, generate eyeballs at launch
professions photos good too
picasso and flickr offer folder capability to auto rotate pix
online tax doc links need to be preserved
Google Docs as repository for our information. May reduce size of TW Cable bill for hosting? All docs avail to everybody. Can you see google docs anonymously? Agree logged in users better, but would like to be avail to all
icrc invited to film and links included
podcast and link in the short term. Research: laptop + $8 mic + editing software http://audacity.sourceforge.net all that's needed. one of us can do this! more info on process: http://www.ehow.com/how_5116110_make-podcast.html?ref=fuel&utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=ssp&utm_campaign=yssp_art
selling ads to finance improvements? Allowed?
counter stats - google analytics
videos of events, like tree lighting and mem day parade
polls - great way to learn our way towards open communication
random, changing facts, maybe historical trivia, budget concerns, #speeding tx on wooster pike, etc. Maybe as a ticker? Need freq updates if this option. plug in twitter updates? Anything mariemont? We do this at PG
video contest, use poll to declare winner. great for getting eyeballs to site

I think I may have slowed down the group, putting a jan 1 update at risk. Sorry about this - I think a new site on Jan 1 is an awesome idea, and want to help us get there. Pls let me know what I can do. Maybe build the District Map? If this would help, I need to know what the file format should be.

It's gonna be fun!


Thanks,
Cortney
271-4513



scheeser.blogspot.com

Condos on Madisonville moving forward

Rick Griewe presented to MM's Architectural Review Board (ARB). His designs are attractive and he's exceeded some Zone D requirements which is a good thing. His project is still a year out, assuming he meets all requirements of Planning Commission and Council.

Cortney


http://communitypress.cincinnati.com/article/20091119/NEWS/911190325/Mariemont+board+OKs+condo+design

informal meeting scheduled to discuss Village Website

A small group will get together this Saturday to discuss MM's website and what it might be, how it might look, how to support it, etc. Jeff and I have talked at length and would love to see improvement right away. Probable attendees will be Jeff Andrews, Andy Black, Kim Sullivan, Sue Singleton, and me.

More to come!

Cortney

Chickens in Mariemont, cont.

More on the Mariemont Chicken controversy. Talking about them puts me in a Fowl mood:
http://cincinnatilocavore.blogspot.com/2009/11/chicken-keeping-in-mariemont.html

I think ideas like this are SUPER. Rain Barrels, allowing Line Drying, personal use farming are a big idea.

Cortney