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October 21, 2009

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And it is where Charlie Keating is from.

Laura,you missed the whole point of Jon's column.

I've never been to Cincinnati so I depend on pictures and one movie (Traffic) for my sense of it. Indeed, it does look enchanting. Even the slummy Over-the-Rhine neighborhood is an extraordinary jewel by comparison to the suburban crapola most of us live in.

To look at vintage pictures of American cities - say from 1930 to 1955 - is to become aware of a devastating and irreparable harm done to our country. We had beautiful cities and we trashed them with parking lots, ugly buildings, and suburban cancer. This is not merely an aesthetic qualm since the ugliness we now take for granted coarsens and anesthetizes community itself. The physical and political fragmentation of this nation is intimately interwoven.

We ceded most of our cities to the underclass and then blamed them for the devastation. The demonological formulations of the radical right depend on a wink and nod about "them". Why spend money on welfare queens? Let the cities become monuments to failed liberal policies instead.

Cities are the primary emblems of civilization. No one will remember or care about Wal-mart, McDonald's, or stuccoed McMansions. No one reveres Simi Valley, Plano, or Mesa. The project of civilization somehow got confused with consumeristic frenzies and the result is a country that looks badly loved.

Cincinnati will limp along but the judgment of history will likely condemn Phoenix. We had a huge updraft that argued for the car culture and low-density development. The downdraft we're experiencing now should be corrective on some level. But even as the dust clears, what remains? Any grand city squares? Ruined cathedrals? A city that was loved in its bricks and mortar? Many will pretend Phoenix is the future only because it vandalized its past so thoroughly. Even if it were feasible, that future would be a terrible bargain.

I am a Washington DC native that had never been to Ohio before I went to Miami University. I started school in 2003, and my first visit into Cincinnati itself was terrible. I thought it was a shitty place with none of the urban luster of my hometown.

Over the next four years I watched tremendous progress wash through downtown and OTR, and when I graduated in 2007 I moved to Central Pkwy--the dividing lines of the two most central neighborhoods.

Now that I have lived and worked in downtown/OTR for the last 2.5 years I have been able to witness the transformation first hand. And it's incredible. The nightclubs from Main St. ARE gone (thank god) and the shootings in the street have dropped dramatically. The number of times I am offered drugs as I walk up to Findlay market has gone from a minimum of 5 (no joke) to a max of 1 or 2. Most of the time no one even bothers me.

Nice blog entry except you really did miss the transformation of OTR. What the corporate community has done through 3CDC is nothing short of amazing. In addition, the Police Community Relations in Cincinnati Year Five Report shows another stellar year of improvement following the historic Collaborative Agreement entered into in 2002. http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/police/downloads/police_pdf37930.pdf

Will we see a rogue columnist Cincinnati 101 series? Why did Cincinnati fare better than most cities during the Great
Depression? Hhmmm...

I am also not a native but I've lived here in Cincinnati for 19 years. The last 10 in downtown and the last year in Over the Rhine.

First, you can do a search for Cincinnati in much of your article, replacing it with your choice of American city, and the results will still be as correct. That is I think sad.

I completely agree that OTR is the key to Cincinati's future. There are now about 6000 people living in OTR -- many fewer than when you lived here. There is a chance to continue not only the very needed gentrification and economic development to the area (which as others have mentioned is very much going on - not sure how you missed that, maybe too many martinis at the palm court?), but also quality affordable housing, and jobs in the trades to help rehabilitate those magnificent buildings. The sorts of jobs that aren't shipped overseas. There is development that includes low income housing within, already.

When you were here, and I was here then too, business and city leaders always turned a blind eye to OTR. It really was truly forgotten. That has changed. Everyone is talking about OTR being the key (though not everyone believes it can happen, of course). I find that sort of discussion taking place to be the biggest change I've witnessed here in the last 10 years. Truly monumental, for Cincinnati and many other places.

How can gentrification take place in the city when there are 200k less people in it? There are 500 vacant buildings in OTR alone should we let them fall to more disrepair beyond salvation? Or should we let "Gentrification" take place?
OTR is a product of bad city policy. Which has been controlled by the Democrats since the 80's.How can you have close to 200 social service agencies in such a small neighborhood as OTR neighbor. What else would you expect to happen to a neighberhood?

Ugh. Yet another woe-is-Cincinnati... The suburbs-ruined-America...OTR-is-noble-but-somehow-it's-our-fault-that-nobody-wants-to-live-there...commentary on social economic change. "Cincinnati" is indeed a great place to live and that's in very large part because of those good hard- working people in Montgomery and Delhi and West Chester and Fort Thomas and all those other evil burbs who strived to achieve their piece of the American dream. Please quit insulting the lifestyle choices of so many people. It isn't "better" to live in a dense cityscape without a car or in an old house with tiny closets and cramped kitchens. It's either an economic necessity for some or just another lifestyle choice for others. Thank goodness our citizens are free to choose.

Have you been down the Gateway Corridor in Over-the-Rhine lately? It's a much more thriving neighborhood than Main Street ever was.

Main Street was filled with drinking and decadence. It was a place where you'd see suburbanites puking on doorsteps, not the kind of restored, vibrant neighborhood that OTR deserves.

The Gateway Corridor renovations are creating a thriving, creative neighborhood. Historic buildings are being restored block-by-block, crime is down, market rate condo projects are selling out (remarkable considering we are in a recession)and storefronts are being filled with unique, neighborhood businesses and restaurants like: Park & Vine, Switch, The Little Mahatma, Lavomatic,Outside, Urban Eden, Mica 12/V etc. (If you're looking for some great Christmas shopping in the city, these stores are all great places to visit) There is even a Segway store. What ghetto do you know has a Segway store?

OTR (specifically the Gateway Corridor) is fast becoming the arts and culture hub of the city. The Art Academy has moved here. The Opera, Symphony, Ballet and Chamber Orchestra are here. The Know Theatre is thriving and Ensemble Theatre is expanding.

Plus, millions more in investment are pouring into the neighborhood. At least 5 more buildings are being restored on the 14 hundred block of Vine Street. The brand new building for the School of Creative and Performing arts is set to open here next year and Washington Park is set to get a 14 million dollar renovation.

I work in Over-the-Rhine, and like many young professionals, I would love to live here (if I could afford a place in one of those newly renovated buildings). This neighborhood has turned a corner and it is a healthier, more vibrant neighborhood that Main Street ever was.


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