Windshield Survey of Hamilton, Butler County7/8/2014 3:52:00 PM

Housing.
The city of Hamilton is an historical city that full of architectures and buildings.
The city government is apparently very proud of this. Therefore, the buildings in
Hamilton are historical and old. Most of them are not well maintained as they look
like from outside.

Other buildings.
There are many factory buildings and companies in the city of Hamilton. The scale
of most of them are quite big. However, many of the factory buildings we found are
empty or badly maintained that they appear to be no one is working there anymore.

Public spaces.
There are two statues of Alexander Hamilton on the main road of the city, which
can be counted as a travel spot. The main road of the city is the economic center
where there banks and other business going on. The traffic on the main road is quite
busy.

Parks.
There some parks, tennis courts and basketball playgrounds in the community.

Culture and entertainment.
There is a public library in the community The Lane Public Library. The size of
the library is not very big but well maintained. There is a drive-through outside
of the library. Many restaurants on the east side of the city but limited on the
west side due to the west part is not well developed and maintained.

Streetscape.
There are sidewalks in the community. More in the east part. In the west part, there
more empty and unoccupied spaces.

Street use.
Not many people walking on the streets especially the industrial area. Some streets
have homeless people begging for money from passengers.

Commercial activity.
Due to the economy reasons, many big businesses have left the city. There are more
small businesses in the city, for example, hair salons, family videos,and shops.
There is a Lowes in the east part of the city, where there are more businesses,
shops, stores and restaurants.

Signs.
Most of the business signs are in English. The traffic signs are informative. And
there signs that directing people to various parts of the community.

Land use.
There more buildings and architectures in the west part of the city, however, many
of the buildings are old and vacant. There are many vacant spaces in the west side
as well. The land use in the east side seems to be more organized, residential area,
business area, parks and schools are close to each other but not too close.

Infrastructure.
The condition of roads, bridges and sidewalks vary from each other significantly.
Some parts of the city the infrastructure are good and the others are in bad shape.

Public transportation.
There is a functioning public transportation system working in the city, which is
consistent with the information on the government website.

Traffic.
The main road of the city is the only road with rather heavy traffic. The traffic
on the rest of the roads are fluent.

Environmental quality.
There industrial buildings in the city which brings some pollution problems to the
city. There are less plants and green spaces in that part and more garbage.

Faith communities.
There are many churches in the city.

Health services
There is TriHealth Bethesda Butler Hospital located on Hamilton Mason Road.
A Pediatrics Associates of Hamilton.
Great Miami Valley YMCA & YWCA

Community and public services
Great Miami Valley YMCA & YWCA

Community safety.
Hamilton Fire Station on Pershing Ave and Shuler Ave.
Butler County Sheriffs Office on Hanover Street
Hamilton Police Department on South Front Street

Public schools.
Hamilton High School
Highland Elementary School
St Anns School
Riverview Elementary

Higher education.
Miami University Hamilton

Differences among neighborhoods or areas of the community.
The biggest difference of the city is its west side and its east side.

What are the differences among different parts of the community? Are schools, stores,
public and other buildings, streets, etc. in different areas in different condition?
Do some areas seem neglected, while others are clearly maintained?
The feel of the community. What is your overall impression of the community?
The overall impression of the city is that Hamilton is having a hard time maintaining
its artistic and industrial image. The history of the city is long. This is reflected
by those historical buildings in the city. However, those historical buildings are
nor well maintained during the past decade. The city government is trying to
renovate some of the buildings which is a good sign. The other impression of the
city is that the majority of the population are low income, especially people living
in the west part. The residential houses are not well maintained. There is also
a trailer park in the city, which is almost empty now.
Windshield Survey of Madisonville, Cincinnati 7/8/2014 3:52:00 PM
Housing.
The majority of the housing in Madisonville is old and their condition was not
very good. Many of the buildings are not kept up and in need of repair. The yards
are overgrown.

Other buildings.
The buildings are not fully occupied. In fact, lots of them are empty.

Parks.
There are two parks which are close to each other Little Duck Creek Park and
Bramble Park. Both of them are small scale parks.

Culture and entertainment.
The Madisonville Public Library is on the Whetsel Ave. The library has a long
history but still being well maintained.

Streetscape.
The streetscape of Madisonville can hardly to be said as attractive. Many
buildings are old and empty. Not many plants and green spaces. Sidewalks are not
well maintained. Sometimes there trashes piled on the sidewalks.

Street use.
One of the main street the Madison Road is quite busy. Many cars and people
were walking on the street. But the same condition is not happening on the other
streets and roads in Madisonville.

Commercial activity.
There many kinds of small business in the community, for example, hair salons,
beauty shops, ice cream store, auto services etc.
Some car sellers in the community, for instance, Mini Cooper & BMW.

Signs.
The signs are in English. There are signs that are informative and directing
people to various parts of the community

Land use.
There are many open space in the community. The distribution of the residential
and commercial areas varies. Many residential houses are quite close to each other.

Infrastructure.
The infrastructure of the community seems to be old and out-of-date. However,
some parts of the community are trying to renovate the infrastructure as we can
see small constructions on the roads and buildings.

Public transportation.
There are public transportation in this community as there were some bus lines
running through the community during the survey.

Traffic.
The traffic in the community was not very heavy. Mostly private cars. We did
not see many bike lanes during the survey.

Environmental quality.
There are not many usable green spaces in the community and they are not scattered
through out the community.

Race/ethnicity.
The majority of the people in this community is African American as we saw during
the survey. This information is consistent with the city governments census in
2010.

Faith communities.
We can see many churches in this community, some of them are in different
languages rather than English, for example, Korean, and Hispanic.

Health services.
The Christ Hospital regions located on the Red Bank area.

Community and public services.
There is the NAMI of Hamilton County located on the Red Band Area.

Community safety.
Newtown Village Fire Department on the Murray Ave.

Public schools.
Seven Hills Upper School
John P. Parker School
The Goddard School

Higher education.
The observer did not find any higher education located in this community during
the survey.

Differences among neighborhoods or areas of the community.
Since Madisonville is rather small compare with the city of Hamilton, the
observer did not see as many differences among neighborhoods or areas as the city
of Hamilton.

The feel of the community. What is your overall impression of the community?
The Madisonville community apparently has a long history. The fact that the
population is only around 9000 in the 2010 census also makes this community looks
like in its downhill. During the survey, we can also notice that there are some
bars and fens around residential houses and some shops. Many small business shops
do not seem like they are in good shape. However, due to some of the renovation
happening in this community, there is a hope that Madisonville is starting to
thriving.
7/8/2014 3:52:00 PM