About Cincinnati's Hyde Park

Ault Park Celebrates its 100th Anniversary

Come to Ault Park's "Big Birthday Bash" on August 18, 2011. The event is designed for everyone in conjunction with the Ault Park Advisory Council's third Summer Dance in the Pavilion. There will be live music, birthday cake, centennial festivities and refreshments for sale.

The initial 142-acre tract for the park was gifted to the city in 1911 by Ida Mary and Levi Addison Ault. Later other family members and donors contributed additional land. The Italianate Pavilion where many events start was dedicated in 1930. From the top of the Pavilion, you have a 360-degree view of the area...out over the Little Miami River and its marshes, over Lunken Area and all the way to UC.

Ault Park is known for its variety of areas for activities. Go here for a site map. The formal gardens have areas for locals to plant their favorites...from a shade garden, to all bulbs, to perennials or lots of annual color. You can see lots of pictures of the gardens of the people who share their time and talents with us all and a map of the designated areas here. Great fun to walk through. Formal activities may include weddings or special events.

Bike riders love it. There are 6 races in May and June. The circle around the Pavilion is wide and smooth with a gentle climb followed by a fast descent on each lap. the roads are totally closed to traffic. Each night there are both 20 K and 40 K races in each category. There are even categories for women and Juniors. There are both nightly and yearly prizes. The competition is certified by USA Cyclery.

Nature lovers also enjoy the trails. Ideas to pursue include:

• Follow the Tree Trail
• Take the Kids on the special Tree Trail for Children or combine the two for a longer hike.
• Hike one of the other Ault Park trails.
• Take in the geology of the area off the Tree Trail.

The 34th annual Concours d'Elegance was held in June. This world class car exhibit benefits the Arthritis Foundation and Children with Juvenile Arthritis. Yearly, they accept approximately 200 cars for display and to compete for prizes in Classic, Vintage and Exotic categories.

The Hyde Park Neighborhood Council sponsored the Fourth of July celebration. It did it all, from a parade to food to music and culminated with celebratory fireworks.

The yearly Reggae Run is held in October each year. October 1, 2011 at 6 pm is the official start time this year. This is one of the largest runs in the area, attracting over 8,000 runners last year. It follows a course that takes it around the park and down to Delta Avenue and back up Observatory to the finish line. After the race, the PARTY starts, featuring the Ark Band, a local Reggae favorite. Proceeds from the run and party go to the Make a Wish Foundation. Over the years, the race has raised nearly a million dollars for charity.

Culminating the monthly Summer Dances will be the Big Band and Bigger Beer party. It will be held on Thursday, September 1 from 6:30-10:30 pm.

The final event of the Centennial Anniversary is the themed Masked Gala on Saturday, October 22 in the Pavilion. This event will have an admission charge for dinner, dancing and ceremonies.

If nothing else, look through the list of 100 Activities to do in Ault Park. while some ate unique to the Park, many can be done in any of our wonderful parks around the Southwest Ohio area.

The American Planning Association named Hyde Park one of its 10 Great Neighborhoods for 2010 as part of its Great Places in America Program. The organization is dedicated to promoting good community planning. Hyde Park is recognized for its suburbanesque urban area with a great balance of residential and commercial.

"The historic architecture makes it unique and allows it to stand out from other areas in the city," according to Tre Jordan, a research associate with the organization. Other factors that helped Hyde Park receive the honor were the value its residents place on education, the planning by the city that helped shape the area and the active nature of the Hyde Park Neighborhood Council. Residents love the atmosphere created by living in the neighborhood. Just drive through the area and you see bikers, joggers, walkers, dogs, a picturesque, vibrant Square, stately homes, multiple restaurants and great shopping.

Since the inception of the Great Places in America program, the Association has honored 40 neighborhoods, 40 streets and 30 public spaces. Great job, Hyde Park!

The confusing set of circumstances that led to the area along Erie Avenue from Ashworth down to Broadview being declared part of Oakley has been clarified! East Hyde Park residents had worried that being moved from Hyde Park to Oakley would affect property values. The Cincinnati Multiple Listing Service had decided to strictly enforce the Cincinnati Area Geographic Information System (CAGIS) map as the authority of where a home was located.

You can read more about the issue by checking out two previous blog posts:

http://activerain.com/blogsview/1767532/hyde-park-east-status-update

http://activerain.com/blogsview/1732515/hyde-park-east-residents-raise-their-voices-in-protest

The Cincinnati City Council met and heard about the issue. They unanimously approved having the CAGIS map redrawn to place the area back in Hyde Park.

As predicted, there are now other areas petitioning to change their neighborhood designation on the CAGIS map. Residents of West Price Hill want their neighborhood to be in Covedale. Charlie Winburn, council member, speculated that Avondale might also want to become three separate parts. Time will tell!

The Hyde Park East Committee is on the agenda for the Oakley Neighborhood Council meeting on Tuesday, August 3 at 6PM at the Oakley Community Center in Hyde Park Plaza...do we all realize how intertwined these neighborhoods are anyway...meeting at the Oakley Community Center in Hyde Park Plaza, oh, my!

So what's the beef? In the Fall of 2009, the Multiple Listing Service of Cincinnati began classifying most streets in Hyde Park East as being located in Oakley. Hyde Park Neighborhood Council had always considered the area as part of Hyde Park and for 40 years, the MLS had classified the area as Hyde Park. Residents have 400 signatures on a petition to bring their area back under Hyde Park in MLS and with the Neighborhood Council.

How did this happen? MLS started to enforce the areas using CAGIS(Cincinnati Area Geographic Information Service) maps. CAGIS says that they did not change the boundaries, but followed the Cincinnati Community Council Boundary Map. In the research done by the Hyde Park East Committee, the area is always shown as Hyde Park. If you want to see the video they put together for the Oakley meeting, go to www.hydeparkeast.com.

The committee under the leadership of Jeff Orschell, Ward Smith, Terry Eschmeyer and Mike Mathias, have carefully researched the history of the area. They have been given time to make a presentation at the Oakley Community Council meeting. Show your support by going to the meeting...a strong turn out will let them know how important this issue is to the residents of the area.

June numbers are in for Hyde Park, Mt. Lookout, Oakley and Columbia Tusculum. For the month, 66 homes or condos were sold. There are currently 309 homes actively on the market and 47 pending sales.

Credit Suisse provides a monthly analysis of real estate traffic (showings) across the country. The traffic index level dropped to levels not seen since the credit crisis began in late '08. The sharp fall off in traffic was expected in May, but June only added to the slowdown. The most worrisome aspect of their index is that the numbers continued to fall throughout the month.

Along with that, the number of pending home sales across the country dropped 30% from May, 15% below May, 2009. The number of closings will continue to decline in July and August based upon this.

So, what does that mean? Overall, it demonstrates that the consumer pushed their buying plans ahead in order to qualify for the $8000 or $6500 federal tax credit. Now, homeowners can expect to be on the market longer and may be forced to further lower home prices, through reductions or concessions in negotiating a sale.

Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors notes that, "The tax credit has broadly stabilized home prices. Now the key test on whether the housing market can stand on its own without the stimulus medicine will depend on private job creation in the second half of the year and conditions on the Gulf Coast. If jobs come back as expected, the pace of home sales should pick up later this year and reach a sustainable level of activity given very favorable affordability conditions."

Hyde Park, Mt. Lookout, Oakley and Columbia Tusculum have had 661 sales from June 30, 2009 to July 1, 2010. That turns out to be approximately 55 per month. At that rate, there are approximately 5.6 months of inventory. Five to six months of inventory is considered a balanced market.