pointycollars

I still think "Freedom Way" sounds like some kind of hokey 9/11 inspired patriotic thing, they really ought to rename that street. Maybe "Pearl Street", which used to be in about the same spot....

I moved to Mulberry years ago because I was within walking distance to KFC on Liberty. Now that it is gone, I too am having second thoughts. Do people really base their neighborhood choice on what ethnic food is in close proximity? If we are to that point in the hierarchy of needs for the neighborhood, then we obviously have come a long way. I wouldn't say it's a deal breaker, but it's definitely a plus. Having two Indian places within walking distance is one of the best things about living on Ludlow

Obviously not going to be affordable. It just sounds like a trendy name. I'm with Blue Line, the rejuvenation of OTR is great but there needs to be more layman's food choices at layman's prices. I'd be disappointed if the area was entirely yuppified, though I understand that's the easiest way to pump money into a neighborhood to bring it back to life. What it really needs is a great corner grocery store :)

There's one that I know of in the Cincinnati area, at the shopping center in Newport. There used to be one up in Clifton Heights by the university but it closed a few years ago. I don't know why, though, they always seemed to do good business with all the college kids around.

The present Ludlow Viaduct is actually the 3rd viaduct to be built there. The first one connected "Old Ludlow" (the old alignment of Ludlow that can be seen in the Clifton area) with that little segment of Ludlow that's right next to the White Castle. I don't know when that bridge was built, but I've seen it in pics from the 1890's. In 1914, it was replaced with a viaduct that ran pretty much in the same exact spot as the present one - and I believe that was when Ludlow was realigned in the Clifton area as well. The old Ludlow Viaduct was replaced with the present "interstate"-looking one in 1991, I think. Here's an image of an old postcard with the 2nd viaduct (1914)... http://www.cincinnativiews.net/images-3/Ludlow%20Viaduct%20Mill%20Creek.jpg

I can see why they charge extra for the suburban routes, they're just trying to make their money's worth by extending their service out that far for so few riders. What I do miss though is peak and off-peak pricing. I used to work in Walnut Hills and commute via the 31 every day. It was 50 cents off-peak and 85 cents during rush hours, which ended at 6. I had a monthly pass most of the time, but when I didn't, it encouraged me to wait the few extra mins til 6pm to avoid the peak-time. There are bound to be others like me who would time their commutes accordingly, and if so, this sort of pricing scheme could end up reducing congestion. You wouldn't have everyone trying to use the system at the same time.

You can argue about the definition of a "slum" and its changing context over time, but the reality of the West End situation was a lot more complicated. It was overcrowded because it was extremely difficult for African-Americans to find housing anywhere else in the city, after realtor's organizations banded together to essentially stop them from renting or buying in neighborhoods outside the basin. This meant that landlords could pack as many people into a small apartment there as they wanted, and didn't have to worry about building maintenance too much because the demand was there. They didn't have to compete for renters. We don't have this problem anywhere in the city today, so it's hard to conceptualize what it was like. We typically think of slums as areas in which the buildings are vacant or crumbling, like in many parts of Over-the-Rhine and the Upper West End today, but it was a different kind of slum back then. An interesting fact is that the Kenyon-Barr project was actually supported by the residents of the Lower West End, and the bond issue would not have passed without their votes - most suburban voters turned it down. Of course, they were duped into thinking that new developments would benefit them, and that they'd have first dibs at the new housing.

Totally agree. Most of the clubs/bars downtown seem to advertise themselves like this, which is why I rarely go downtown when I go out. Northside is much better.

I'd say so. I grew up in Toledo (been living in Cincinnati for years now), and it's depressing to go back every once in a while when I visit family who still live there. Detroit is dragging Toledo down with it. I once heard that it had the highest unemployment rate among metro areas of similar size. Obviously, Detroit tops the big cities with something like 28%.

I don't think that's accurate. The tallest load-bearing masonry office building is Chicago's 16-story Monadnock Building, whose walls are over six feet thick at the ground floor. A curtain wall, by definition, carries no structural load but hangs off the frame like a curtain (hence the name). Central Trust is entirely supported by a steel frame, despite the appearance of heavy masonry at the ground floor. I think what he meant was that the curtain wall supports itself. In most cases, it doesn't. Even in older buildings, the curtain wall was usually partially supported by the frame. In this case, the curtain wall is an entirely separate structural system that carries its own weight -- though it is attached to the frame for form, the weight of the masonry exterior is entirely supported by the masonry beneath it.

I think the topography would have made that impossible -- unless Clifton coming up from downtown was continued straight north (through where UC is now). That's one thing I like about Cincinnati, the topography makes the street grid here much more interesting, some would say frustrating :) But that's actually good for slowing down traffic, I bet.

Your car was never broken into prolly for the same reason mine is never broken into -- it's old, worthless, and has nothing of value worth stealing inside it. :)

I groan every time I hear someone say "people here can't drive", because it's probably the most trite, overused and often meaningless complaint I know of. It's like they don't realize everyone else is saying that about them! That said, LA is the worst. It's a combination of a couple things. First, the fact that its highway systems are ancient by interstate standards -- built in the 1950s -- means that a good deal of them don't conform to interstate construction standards, and you have on-ramps without adequate merging length and other problems. Second, it's a city where, like Atlanta, everyone drives everywhere because of the immense sprawl. And everyone goes 90 all the time. Bigger cities do tend to have more aggressive drivers, though. I was with a friend who was driving around Chicago once and it made me nervous just being a passenger -- I'd never drive there in a million years. Good thing I don't have to!

Queen City Square includes a lot of parking, something like 4 or 5 stories underground and two above ground. I have no idea how many units that is, though.