The Banks

The Banks is a proposed 18-acre neighborhood district on Cincinnati's riverfront between Paul Brown Stadium and Great American Ball Park. The Banks is Cincinnati’s attempt to create a vibrant destination on North side of the Ohio River. Over the years, Covington and Newport have successfully attracted the types of businesses on the South side that Cincinnati has longed for. The Banks has been planned for nearly 10 years yet the vision continues to change. The latest version envisions up to 1,800 apartments and condominiums, up to 400,000 square feet of retail space, up to 1 million square feet of office space and up to 400,000 square feet of hotel space.

Local citizens have weighed on a various concepts for the Banks. Most want some type of entertainment and leisure activity to be the primary focus. Of these, some type of sports-centric theme is the order of the day. Others see the Banks more as a created neighborhood with a style attractive to affluent residents looking for an urban lifestyle. Regardless of the vision, the Banks seems to finally be on track with ground breaking occurring sometime in early 2008 and occupancy beginning in 2009.

I had resisted about writing about the Banks even though hardly a day goes by without some news item in the local paper or news broadcasts. The concept has finally settled enough where I felt there was something of interest from a safety and security standpoint. While that is my area of interest, I’m somewhat skeptical that planners for the Banks will take some of these into consideration as they develop their final concept. I say that from a purely economic approach. The planners’ first priority is a development plan guaranteed to provide a return on investment. The look and layout of the Banks has to appeal both to developers as well as prospective residents and business owners. Safety and security concerns, while certainly not to be ignored, will be addressed only to the extent necessary to insure compliance without aversely impacting any return on investment. Any safety or security measure that means reduced revenue will most likely be discarded (unless laws or local codes compel otherwise).

The Banks will be situated between the two sports arenas downtown with the confluence of two major Interstates immediately to its north (Fort Washington Way) and the Ohio River immediately to the South. The geography means that at best, the Banks will only be accessible via three approaches (north, east, and west). Boaters may have access from the Ohio River but the majority of traffic will be land-based. Any east/west access is going to add additional traffic problems to the five bridges that cross the Ohio River near downtown. Access from the North will be very difficult with little room to design access due to the presence of Fort Washington Way.

Planners need to think through carefully about first responders access during a crisis response. The location does not lend itself to swift and efficient evacuation especially during peak use times. The Banks location means it will be exposed to any natural disaster or terrorist attack to adjacent sites (such as Paul Brown Stadium, Great American Ball Park, or the downtown area). Residents in the Banks could find themselves stranded as a tornado or fire creates gridlock in and around their locality. A crisis in any of the adjacent areas means casualties within the Banks will most likely have to air evacuated out. (A helipad for medical air rescue helicopters would be a nice and easy addition to the grounds.) If proper egress routes are not planned during the concept stage, gridlock will be too severe for emergency vehicles to navigate in a timely manner.

It may not even take a disaster to make this point. Paul Brown Stadium seats just over 65,000 fans. Great American Ball Park seats approximately 42,000 fans. Getting out of downtown Cincinnati after a game lets out is a very slow process. It only takes one accident on a bridge or exit ramp to really start jamming up the traffic flow. If access routes to the Banks overlook these chokepoints (without coming up with a viable alternate) this could mean residents will quickly grow disenchanted with the Banks.

One of the major appeals to living on the river will be the view. The Ohio River begins at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers at the Point in Pittsburgh, PA, and flows 981 miles to join the Mississippi at Cairo, Ill. The Ohio River accounts for over one-third of the maritime cargo moving inland in the United States each year, (approximately 275 million tons) and by comparison handles more cargo per year than the Panama Canal. With this much traffic, there is a potential for a disaster involving toxic chemicals or an explosion. In the past, the risk along the banks would be primarily industrial areas or office areas downtown. Now with a residential area that could be ground-zero, emergency response planners will have additional challenges to evacuating victims and casualties. Developers need to work with emergency planners now to minimize the risk to both residents of the Banks as well as the first responders that may have to come and rescue them.

Up until now I’ve focused on accidents and natural disasters, however there is an additional concern that the Banks poses for Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. The very location and nature of the Banks makes it a target for a terrorist attack or the base for an attack. For the same reasons the Banks poses disaster response challenges, a terrorist attack (or threat of attack) could completely gridlock both sides of the river. In addition to the casualties, such an attack would disrupt major economic activities in the regions. Offices would have to evacuate and close. River traffic would have to be stopped. The Interstates may be closed or rerouted. The potential economic damage could be severe. Some kind of attack could be attempted from the Banks targeting either stadium or the downtown. Merely the threat of attack would cause the region to go into a defensive posture interrupting key governmental and economic activities. An actual attack could leave the region economically crippled for years.

The Banks could be the catalyst to providing Cincinnati the economic recovery that has eluded the area for years. Properly planned and executed, the Banks could provide the incentive for tired downtown workers to spend more of their leisure time in Cincinnati rather than fleeing to the suburbs at quitting time. However, the additional risk to the safety and security of Cincinnati posed by the Banks is something that needs to be addressed while concepts are still in draft form.