Our latest #GOPCThread is available on Twitter, as we inaugurate a new feature we call #OHCommunitySpotlight which will look as some of the exciting work that is ongoing in Ohio's cities. This week, we visit Sandusky, where the Bicentennial Vision is making wholesale improvements throughout the community.
Not on Twitter, the thread is available online , as well as below.
Greater Ohio Policy Center Read on Twitter
Today, we launch a new series as part of our #GOPCThread feature. #OHCommunitySpotlight will showcase work that is ongoing in Ohio’s #LegacyCities as they seek to reinvent, revitalize and reinvest in their communities.
Our first #OHCommunitySpotlight features @cityofsandusky. Best known in Ohio and around the world as the home to @cedarpoint amusement park, tourism plays a major role in #Sandusky, contributing nearly $2 billion in economic activity to the region yearly
Lake Erie region ‘coasting’ to $2.1 billion in tourism sales (courtesy of portclintonnewsherald.com)
Beyond amusement parks, #Sandusky is also the gateway of Lake Erie’s island playgrounds, with ferry service provided to Put-in-Bay, Kelley’s Island, Pelee Island in Canada, as well as Lake Erie cruises #OHCommunitySpotlight #GOPCThread
Long before it was a tourist attraction, #Sandusky was an industrial hub. Ford & GM once employed thousands in manufacturing plants in and around the city. From 1888-1997, the city was home to Hinde & Douch Paper, known worldwide as a major manufacturer of corrugated boxes.
Like many industrialized cities, #Sandusky also experienced the effects of urban sprawl, which contributed to the decline of the city’s core. Disinvestment, blight, and vacant buildings soon pockmarked the landscape of the city #OHCommunitySpotlight #GOPCThread
All of this contributed to health and safety challenges, in addition to a drain on city resources. By 2015, it was apparent that a new vision was needed for the city. #OHCommunitySpotlight #GOPCThread
That year, #Sandusky launched the #BicentennialVision, a five-year plan to help mark the city’s bicentennial and provide for enhancements to virtually every city service, including first responders, code enforcement, n’hood development, infrastructure, parks & rec., and more.
The plan focused on ways to preserve the city’s existing assets but also plan for ways to create new assets that will help to grow the city’s history and legacy for the next 200 years #OHCommunitySpotlight #GOPCThread
Sandusky Strategic Vision Planning Report (click image for document)
As a result of the #BicentennialVision plan and renewed enthusiasm among residents and leaders, #Sandusky has begun to experience a renaissance, redeveloping and preserving historic architecture, building on its reputation as a hub for tourism, and cultivating an entrepreneurial spirit throughout the city #GOPCThread
The city has leveraged over $300 million in public and private investment – including more than $100 million in the city’s downtown core – to make improvements throughout town, including investments in #placemaking and neighborhood reinvestment #OHCommunitySpotlight #GOPCThread
Using funding from the #CleanOhio revitalization program, #Sandusky was able to revitalize the former paper factory on the downtown lakefront, converting the building into a mixed-use development with 195 condos and a restaurant #OHCommunitySpotlight #GOPCThread
After the condos were built, new restaurants and retail businesses began to locate downtown, and many of the older 2 or 3 story mixed-use buildings are starting to have residential units again. A small hotel was built a block away. #OHCommunitySpotlight #GOPCThread
One part of the #BicentennialVision plan was to improve waterfront access citywide with the activation and improvement of the city’s waterfront parks. #OHCommunitySpotlight #GOPCThread
Directly adjacent to the condos is the newly improved Jackson Street Pier, a former parking lot that now includes green spaces and streetscaping designed to improve public access to the waterfront and to encourage outdoor recreation #OHCommunitySpotlight #GOPCThread
The waterfront is connected to the city with the new Sandusky Bay Pathway, a 12 mile bike path and boardwalk that spans the city’s waterfront and will connect downtown to the Sheldon Marsh State Nature Preserve and other new city developments #OHCommunitySpotlight #GOPCThread
Eventually, the trail will connect to each neighborhood in the city via new connector trails as well as to the brand new BGSU/Cedar Fair School of Resort & Attraction Management, a partnership building on #Sandusky’s tourism industry #OHCommunitySpotlight #GOPCThread
The only type of program in the country, the new school located in downtown, offers bachelors of science degrees in resort and attraction management & represents a new and exciting partnership between @BGSU & @cedarpoint #OHCommunitySpotlight #GOPCThread
Sandusky’s Good Idea: Multisector Alignment Strengthens Tourism and Enhances Revitalization (courtesy of Bowling Green State University & Greater Ohio Policy Center. Click Image for Story).
The program builds off Sandusky’s strength as a tourism destination, while also diversifying its economy and workforce. #GOPCThread
In addition to ongoing efforts downtown, #Sandusky is investing in housing development & blight elimination, improving neighborhood amenities, infrastructure, & safety #OHCommunitySpotlight #GOPCThread
Additionally, the city is investing in the #Sandusky Neighborhood Initiative w/ #placemaking & beautification efforts in 6 city neighborhoods #OHCommunitySpotlight #GOPCThread
The City is seriously investing in its residents, working to make the area a year-round tourism destination, and diversify its economy—all in service of building a resilient, sustainable community people want to live in and visit. #GOPCThread
This work has paid off in helping to create a new spirit throughout the city, as well as recognition at the state and national level as a #ReinventionCity success story, most recently recognized as America’s Best Costal Small Town by @USAToday #OHCommunitySpotlight #GOPCThread
GOPC & the @NatlResourceNet are working with Sandusky to assist in further implementing its vision for the future by providing multi-year financial planning & helping strengthen a multi-sector group committed to regional economic development.
Click Image for Link.
Sandusky also participates in GOPC’s Reinvention Cities Network, which facilitates peer learning among smaller legacy cities; communities work together to develop & advocate for policies to support their transition and improve residents’ quality-of-life.
To learn more about the exciting work ongoing in the city, follow @cityofsandusky, or search using the hashtags #SanduskyOH, #SanduskyStrong and #SanduskyStrongerTogether #OHCommunitySpotlight #GOPCThread
