JoeL

Thanks everyone. My confusion centers around the fact that Portland built a bidirectional 2.4 mile streetcar line (i.e. 4.8 lane/miles) with about $57 million in 2004 dollars. Even factoring inflation, this means that Cincinnati's proposal is massively more expensive in terms of lane/miles. About $13 million per lane/mile in Portland 2004 dollars ... about $25 million per lane/mile in Cincinnati in 2010 dollars. It just seems like Cincinnati could benefit from a little value engineering. That's all. Like I said, I want to see this thing built. I'm just very surprised by the numbers.

But then NOT capping the highway would actually be putting people in closer proximity to auto fumes than if buildings were built on top. If the highway is not capped, fumes just diffuse into the neighborhood. If the highway is capped, vents can direct the fumes elsewhere. I think this is what they did in Boston when they burried their freeway.

I know I'm about 100 pages too late to be jumping into this thread, but I wanted to throw in my two cents ... As a soon-to-be resident of Cincinnati, I'm extremely excited about this proposal. If a streetcar is built, I know that I would be shoping and spending money in downtown and OTR much more frequently. I'm also very interested in eventually doing small adaptive re-use projects when my time and income allow. OTR looks like a great prospect, but without an investment like the streetcar, I would be more hesitant to invest my own money in the neighborhood. However, I'm hoping someone could answer my question about why the streetcar proposal is so EXPENSIVE? My understanding was that streetcars cost about $25 million per mile. Although the Cincinnati proposal is wisely marketed as a 4 mile project, it's actually just a 2 mile doubletracked streetcar, whose parallel tracks happen to be one block apart. Shouldn't the streetcar cost about $50 million plus the extra cost of redundant electrical wiring? Why is the estimate $100 million? You only need two miles worth of parallel track, and a two mile system worth of cars. Aren't the cars and the tracks two of the three biggest costs? The only major extra costs should be the 4 miles of electrical wiring, right? What am I missing here?

Fantastic. I'm happy to see that capping the freeway hasn't been completely ignored. Covering the top with a better use (whether it be mid-rises, parks, or a combination) is, quite frankly, almost as important in the long run as the banks itself.

I just wanted to drop a quick note, and thank everyone who responded to this thread. All the advice was extremely helpful. We haven't found a house yet - but we saw lots of great options on our trip the other week. I look forward to becoming a Cincinnatian (?) this June!

Can anyone post a picture of the building for out-of-towners like myself? It's hard to figure out which building is which just from newpaper articles ... even with windows local live!

This is a very random and possibly stupid question - but what is that large building taking up the block between Sycamore and Broadway north of East 13th street?

Thank you to everyone for all the great advice! Please feel free to keep the comments coming - all the posts were extremely helpful. -I'm actually interested downtown, but to be honest the cost seems fairly high for what you get - especially with the competition from other great urban places. There seems to be a whole lot of 2 bedroom, 1000-1400 square foot condos for roughly the same cost as an absolute mansion in these other urban neighborhoods. At that point, we might as well pay just a little bit more for 2000 square feet in Mount Adams, right? Also, a "reverse commute" to jobs and basic retail also defeats some of the ideological purpose of downtown urban living for me. Is there a comprehensive listing of available downtown housing somewhere? The realtors only list maybe half a dozen projects or less - but I don't know if there are other projects that aren't using the MLS. Maybe I just haven't seen enough of the right projects yet. - What about Northern Kentucky? There appear to be some great historic neighborhoods in Covington and a couple other places, but we've generally ignored NKY because we hear that the traffic is absolutely awful to try and cross the river. Is this true or overblown? - (This last question might be a little too off topic, so my apologies, but ...) Which neighborhoods have good Indian and Thai restaurants?

I'm not the biggest IKEA fan in the world ... but there are definitely some outdated homes on the market right now that could really benefit from installing those IKEA kitchens. Follow this link for proof... picture #2 ... http://www.huff.com/search/detail.php?MLNumber=1089085&PPropertyType=26&ListingAgentID=&frmaction=search&

For what it's worth, here's my outsider's opinion on Fountain Square: My wife and I are relocating to Cincinnati later this year. I was extremely depressed because I had heard awful things about the city. However, I was absolutely floored when we came to visit and we stayed at the Westin by Fountain Square. I think that part of Downtown is fantastic, and it has made me a whole lot more opitmistic about our move. I was also really surprised to read that all this stuff around Fountain Square is so new. Most of it felt very well established. So anyway, there's my two cents. Fountain Square played a role in attracting at least two young professionals to the area. ;)

My family is moving to Cincinnati this summer. I've only visited once, and I won't have a chance to visit again until the house-hunting trip. Thanks to wonderful internet resources like urbanohio, I have a general idea of what I'm looking for. But needless to say, any neighborhood advice would be very helpful! Looking for: Single family home (or maybe a large Condo with a view.) Budget: Around $400k We've been looking online at the following neighborhoods: Hyde Park, Oakley, Mt. Lookout, Mt. Adams, Walnut Hills, Clifton, North Avondale, Columbia Tusculum, Kenwood, and Montgomery. We're looking for a vibrant urban neighborhood that's close to retail and dining, but also SAFE. My wife needs to feel comfortable walking a dog at night by herself. We also both value a neighborhood where people actually keep up their landscaping and homes. My wife has already vetoed Downtown and Mt Auburn for perceived safety issues (real or otherwise). I've already vetoed Mason/Westchester/etc. for being way too suburban. I'm concerned that Kenwood and Montgomery might just be bland suburbs too. I'm also concerned that Walnut Hills, Clifton, and North Avondale might have too much perceived crime for my wife to feel safe. Any thoughts? The realtors and corporate relocation people have been shoving Hyde Park down our throats. It's all they will freaking talk about. Is it really that awesome, or are there negatives to the whole Hyde Park/Oakley/Mt Lookout area that no one is telling us about?? Thanks for any opinions and advice you might have...