On Wednesday, Aug. 11, employees of the Department of Planning, Neighborhoods & Development took a tour of Undesign the Redline, a new exhibit at the downtown Dayton Metro Library. Redlining was a government-backed policy of the 1930s that was used to assess and assign grades to neighborhoods in cities across the country. Homes in neighborhoods assigned a low grade of “red” were deemed ineligible by mortgage lenders for home loans. Because the presence of people of color was one of the factors that would earn a neighborhood a low score, minorities were denied mortgage loans at a high rate simply based on where they lived. While the practice of redlining has been outlawed since 1968, the ramifications of the discrimination that took place 90 years ago still affect lives in our city today. Dayton is one of the few cities in America where people of color continue to be denied mortgage loans at a higher rate than white people.

Undesign the Redline will be at the library until Sept. 25 with free, docent-led tours on Tuesdays at 4:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 10:30 a.m., or self-guided tours during regular library hours. For more information, call 937-463-2665 or visit http://www.daytonmetrolibrary.org/undesign-the-redline..

Mayor Mims presenting to the crowd

On May 19, 2023, the Miami Valley Cycling Summit was held at the Dayton Metro Library. The event was attended by approximately 200 cycling advocates, government officials, and community members. Hosted by the City of Dayton and Bike Miami Valley, it was a showcase of best practices in the cycling realm and was a great way to share the progress that has been made in the City of Dayton with bicycle infrastructure. While there is still plenty of progress to be made, it is hard to believe there wasn’t a single bike lane in the City of Dayton just 13 years ago. Much of the focus of the conference was on how to better connect neighborhoods to each other and to everyday destinations, building upon the top-notch riverfront trail network in the Miami Valley.

Many individuals contributed to the success of the Cycling Summit. Efforts were led by Laura Estandia of Bike Miami Valley. The team lead for the City of Dayton was Jeff Green of our Planning Division. Many others in the division worked to ensure the success of the event, including Elizabeth Dakin, Jen Hanauer, Ellen Sizer, and Tony Kroeger. Susan Vincent participated in or led three sessions, including a mobile workshop at the Dayton Bike Yard at Welcome Park. Other divisions and departments assisted and participated as well, including Public Affairs, Recreation, Public Works, Engagement, and Recreation.

The Miami Valley Cycling Summit is held every other year. We thank Bike Miami Valley for choosing the City of Dayton for the event, and look forward to the 2025 event in Springfield, Ohio.

Major Taylor Cycling Club was awarded Advocate of Year for an organization

Mike Bissig of Mike's Bike Park was selected as Advocate of the Year (individual category)

The event coincided with Bike to Work Day, and many people attended the summit after visiting Riverscape MetroPark

Stephan Marcellus of the Department of Rec introducing a panel

Susan Vincent introducing the ODOT team

Tony Kroeger getting people where they need to go, I guess

The final discussion after a great mobile workshop

Handing it off to the great city of Springfield, Ohio -- you have a tough act to follow!

May is National Preservation Month.

Did you know? 

The first National Preservation week was celebrated in 1973, from May 6^th through May 12^th.

 Preservation is about the capturing of our history.  From stories, to photographs and physical items, to our built environment, all these factors tell us about where we came from.  The help us complete the picture of what life was like for our ancestors.     

 The City of Dayton works to ensure the preservation of our 13 locally designated historic districts, and our 71 local landmarks.  For more information on our historic districts, you can find links to maps and the original nomination forms, here: https://www.daytonohio.gov/223/Historic-Districts-Information  

Did you know?

Dayton’s first historic district was the Oregon Historic District, designated in 1972.  The most recent historic district is Squirrel-Forest, designated in 2011.

Exploring our past can help us find people and stories that are not always wide-known or celebrated.

Did you know?  Mrs. H.G. Carnell donated the land and the building for the Dayton Art Institute to the City of Dayton in 1928. (May 22^nd, 1928, Dayton Daily News)  

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Did you know?  Older homes will sometimes have two front entrances.   Often, one entrance was the “formal” entrance, for guests, and the other was the main entrance for the residents.

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Did you know? Halloween used to be associated with “Gate Night”, a night where young folks would play pranks, usually involving stealing people’s front gates. (October 31^st, 1906, The Dayton Herald)

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In addition to photographs and newspaper articles, we can access the stories of our friends, neighbors, and other community members.  Programs like the Dayton and Miami Valley Oral History Project and the West Dayton Stories Project record and provide access to the stories of our residents, provided access into the real lived experiences of the past.  You can access the recordings for the Oral History Project online here:

https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/history_oral_history/

West Dayton Stories can be found here:

https://www.wyso.org/west-dayton-stories

 “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”  Preservation helps us remember.  Take a look around your neighborhood today, find a building that you like, find a building that you don’t like, find a building that you’d like to know more about.  Celebrate and acknowledge your own built environment, and the stories it can tell us.   

--Post by Holly Hornbeak