City Blights

Last week was the first time Geno looked anything like himself, and not coincidentally, last week's game was almost a year after he tore his ACL. I've been saying for a while that Geno won't be making a lot of plays before December, but with the way he looked last week, I might have to push that date up a couple weeks. As long as he's right for the Denver game.... Any over/unders for how many bogus flags will be thrown to benefit New England against Denver today? They can't be beaten at home in the reg season partially because the refs make sure it doesn't happen.

Browns should be able to win in Jacksonville...but will they? Is the on-field product finally worth the public's trust?

U-Square has brought energy to Clifton. Uptown is a jobs hub, but it should be a more competitive destination of recreation. Mixed-use projects fulfill that priority, so, conceptually, U-Square is doing it's job. Real transit is coming to Clifton within a decade I would surmise, and of course that's the real key to Clifton becoming a privileged community. In big cities that aren't named Paris, outside of the strict residential areas (that are overpriced) there are mediocre buildings all around. The density, accessibility to leisure and culture, and general fabric is what makes one excuse the warts within a city labyrinth. Uptown has a lot of room to become more dense and dynamic, so we notice the new stuff, which is pretty cheap.

Jack Painter, like many appointed board members, is probably there for his intelligence. We don't know yet if his wisdom agrees with ours.

FWIW, Boston regional transit serves some pretty low-density, squiggly suburbs like Framingham and Stoughton, which are physically identical to many little Ohio towns and some of our older suburbs. When examining regional transit and what might work in Cincinnati, Boston is the best example I can think of for comparison. Beantown is a little more sprawled, but not by much. It's a selling point for the region and very attractive to middle class families to be able to live in a bedroom community and be within a 5 minute drive of a train that can get you downtown, avoiding that hour and ten minute traffic jam that Civvik went through and of course not seeking or paying for parking. Just because a family chooses to be suburban doesn't mean they should be cut off from the vitality and economy of the core.

This is effectively what I was suggesting could happen. I am perfectly fine with surface rail on Central Parkway connecting to I-75's preserved ROW for LRT. I don't want the City to even consider building a citywide subway. Labor costs too much. Even in Madrid, the expanding lines are surface rail. I mentioned the Parkway Subway because the City of Cincinnati has already paid for those tunnels. If they fit into a reasonable, affordable plan to expand transit along the spine of the city, they certainly should be used.

Cokehead execs don't have their board meetings televised. Pro sports is a public forum and the leagues don't want any surprises on-camera. Not saying it's fair, just pointing out the facts. So now people who make a lot of money on TV don't do drugs? Please..... And what surprises? Do you think Josh is gonna fire up the bong during a timeout? Are you determined to take my comments out of context? I am saying that if players were not subject to drug testing, some would of course use drugs. Some of course would abuse drugs. The fear may be that erratic behavior could potentially occur on-camera, damaging the brand of the NFL.

Why don't you think the Parkway Subway will happen? ^ Just my considered guess. Do I smell inside information, sir?

For construction to begin on the Central Parkway subway in 10 years (I'm talking about beginning, not being built) there would need to be plans and design work actively starting now. For the Cincinnati Streetcar, we started in 2007, It will open in 2016. Were there delays? Yes. Will those same attack tactics happen for rebuilding something in the Central Parkway Subway? Yes. Hopefully, Phase 2 of the Streetcar has just opened 10 years from now. Design work is at 30%, and there are no funds to move it forward. I think Design gets finished, maybe by 2016. Then there's a huge fight during the next mayoral election on how to fund uptown's connection. Then maybe, if a pro streetcar mayor wins in 2017 (democrats are unlikely to run a major candidate against Cranley unless he really becomes a failure) Council will look at funding in 2018, maybe with work beginning in 2019 and taking 2+ years, opening revenue service n 2022. That's a tight schedule that doesn't allow for referendum's etc. That's phase 2 for the streetcar opening in 8 years from now, which I think is the absolute best case you can hope for (I wouldn't put much money on that). Central Parkway subway isn't going to happen in the near future. I misspoke...I meant to say that I think it will be under construction within 10 years. I wouldn't compare the timeline of Streetcar Phase I to anything because it's the initial reintroduction to real city transit in Cincinnati and the first fight is usually the toughest, like John Schneider is always saying. I think it only gets easier from here to get a line from concept to reality. The alternative to not using all of that tube we have in place underground is to file a streetcar along Central Parkway. Either way, I think Central Parkway will be used for rail within 15 years because it's the easiest way to connect the West End with downtown. All of that precious housing stock in the West End will not sit there and rot much longer, comparatively speaking. OTR's renaissance is showing the City how to do business.

Why don't you think the Parkway Subway will happen?

The Reds are pathetic. I'm more disappointed that when I check the barometer of the fanbase on forums, fans aren't blaming Bryan Price like they did Dusty, which was from Day 1. I said for years that Walt Jocketty's roster construction hamstrung Baker (no leadoff hitter until Choo, no protection for Votto, overpaying for bullpen, the Chapman fiasco) and that commentary was generally received as not factual. People were constantly insisting that the talent was there to win it all. Now that Price is the manager, all fingers are pointed at Jocketty and those same people that blasted Dusty even after a win aren't saying a peep about how flat the Reds are playing. They're losing to Arizonas, Colorados and Bostons! I have to admit, I sense a racial bias and it's sad.

^Man, Cincinnati has some grand structures....Central Parkway is going to be such an imposing boulevard in the not-too-distant future. The Streetcar + the Parkway Subway (which I think will happen within 10 years) are really going to force the evolution of that street.

Cokehead execs don't have their board meetings televised. Pro sports is a public forum and the leagues don't want any surprises on-camera. Not saying it's fair, just pointing out the facts.

You can be as talented as possible and still not earn like Gordon because he's a member of a closed industry. Closed to the free market, closed to all but a select few that all are there by good fortune. One injury and nobody ever hears of a guy that got kicked out of three or four colleges. You and I would put up with random drug testing for $1.3 mil, Gordon's scheduled salary this season. All you have to do is not do drugs and the check clears.

Not entirely true. A google search of code violations in the City show outstanding orders that are not completed and seem to be past due. I'd assume he's been fined because the dates imply he didn't do the work in the allotted time. If I see code violations, I report it. Unfortunately, too many buildings have gone into shambles by people who "meant well" but didn't do the appropriate maintenance on their buildings. Wow, talk about snitching...that is, unless it's your job. How do you know these proprietors aren't in the process of correcting? You're directly attacking people's wallets, but I guess you knew that.

The nature of pro sports (win NOW) dictates whether a team should have latitude with an employee. You or I would be on the curb so fast if we behaved like Gordon has within our respective professions. The potential ROI on Gordon exceeds that of most professionals in any sector by half a continent. Crazy to think that if I could make tackles in the NFL, I could act wanton 7 days a week and still keep my job.

Why would it matter if they were the same size? No boundary in which density is measured is equal from place to place, whether it be county, city, zip code, census tract or block. It can be, like taking density within 1-mile of downtown, 2-miles, 3-miles, etc. I prefer to look at the big picture and see the contiguous dense blocks, that's why those "counts of dense blocks" don't paint the whole picture. You need to look at city-wide density maps color coded with increasing density. I've seen many density maps like that and you can see it on the one I posted. These maps show you exactly where the densest areas in each city are located, how big they are, and the rolloff around them. When looking at a map like this, it's obvious that Chicago is not overall much denser or more contiguous than Los Angeles: http://beyonddc.com/?p=4808 New York and San Francisco stand alone. The Detroit and St. Louis maps are most damning and heartbreaking, since they both used to peak well above 50,000 per square mile and now are not much denser than Sun Belt cities. Ditto with Ohio cities. One thing to keep in mind is that even Chicago, despite the great urban core and downtown, still is a Great Lakes city (similar to Toronto in build, density, and urban core). It has dense, built-up, "big city" commercial streets, but most residential streets still have setbacks, trees, and little backyards. I think that's kind of a cool thing about Great Lakes cities. You get big coastal city density mixed with greenery. The declined Great Lakes cities had similar structure to Chicago and Toronto at peak and had they remained intact, would probably not look all that different today in their urban cores neighborhoods (though fewer high-rises). Cleveland, Buffalo, Detroit, Toledo, etc. had great urban structures at their peaks. They had those dense commercial corridors that stretched for miles buffered by tree-lined residential streets of Great Lakes double-deckers, Victorians, small row homes, and mid-sized apartment buildings. There was a pretty amazing mix of late 19th century and early 20th century style, perhaps the architecturally most diverse cities in the country. One could argue New York and San Francisco are too dense since there is far less greenery (though New York makes its density work due to transit). Great Lakes were always much greener...only today some of that greenery is urban prairie. That's the problem. There's a school of thought in the Midwest that Midwestern cities should replicate East Coast cities in every way, including streetscaping and the styles of housing that exist in the downtown neighborhoods. This is called the Rust Belt School of Ignorance. Columbus' downtown areas are very dense AND they are very similar to the reaches of Queens and Brooklyn. Cleveland and Cincinnati's housing stock resemble niches of New York housing even more than Columbus' does, and far more plentiful and diverse, especially in Cincinnati. Ohio IS the East Coast and Ohioans need to stop letting the people who live by the ocean decide how we value our home state and its grandest cities. The available stock is dense enough in Cleveland. There is spirit in the Northeast Ohio area that supports a potential Cleveland renaissance. Improved fixed transit is the on-ground solution.

If Cleveland is trying to become more dense, it should look at Milwaukee. Better lakefront access, more contiguous, urban-themed neighborhoods. The Rapid does not promote contiguous density by fault of design. Milwaukee has no LRT and still has connected zones of activity.

The Uptown Connector should have two spurs - one to the Zoo and one to Ludlow. Linking those assets would make the city a lot more tourist-friendly than terminating the Streetcar at U Plaza. Cities with high-profile grow fast. Because our rapid transit is being put together piecemeal, tourist-friendly routes with TOD can push the city to really hit its stride as an bubbling residential community. Fortunately some of the most fruitful potential routes like the Uptown Connector and rail from CVG-Covington-Downtown are financially feasible in the near future. Getting this city to a tourist-friendly status would do a 180º to Cincinnati's profile.

Contemplating what Cincinnati could be if not for a few backdoor handshakes and the auto-centric "leadership" that's been in Columbus for half a century can be outright deflating. Optimistically, if OTR and the West End were fully developed within their present footprint, I think few of us would be lamenting the urban collapse of the 1960's. The basin, clogged with expressways, is still a large community. This city is a transit network away from turning into a metro of 4+ million. That's exciting to think how close Cincinnati is to being comparable to a major, international capital city again. 20 years isn't far away.

This is an old game in Cincinnati. Throw Rome to the lions if it means you get to be king or at least be the recipient of a manila envelope full of cash for the admirable, transparent work you volunteered to do for the City.

Looks like that's included in Schickel Design's Pleasant Street Vision Study: http://www.schickeldesign.com/documents/otrch_vision_study_final_booklet.pdf I wouldnt be in favor of anything giant, i really like the views of the rooftops and steeples from the hillsides. But, time has arrived when we have to start thinking about Liberty Street not as a border but as a centerpiece of the neighborhood. The city has long made a mistake by not developing Liberty. Developing the spine of OTR could have a broad ripple effect on the north and south sides of it, a la High Street in the Short North of Columbus. Bigger buildings on this street would really make OTR feel like a happier Harlem.

The way you say that makes it sound absurd, whether that's your opinion or merely an expression of the historic district's guidelines. If the distance was half a mile or a mile, then maybe that's understandable, but just one block is the difference between "absolutely not!" and "the sky's the limit" is terribly abrupt. Had OTR not been written-off as a slum for the last few generations it would very likely have taller towers and larger buildings. Maybe not glass and steel boring boxes, but buildings like the YMCA, Times-Star, or Alms & Doepke. Even the notion that all OTR has to be (or look) like row houses is not based on reality. The big (though not necessarily tall) buildings are grand if not monumental expressions, like the old Hudepohl brewery, Woodward High School, and of course Music Hall. There's room for all these building types, and as the neighborhood becomes even more desirable to live in, thanks in part to the streetcar, there's going to have to be a conversation about larger or taller building types necessary to accommodate the demand, lest the whole neighborhood flip over to become exclusively for the very wealthy. San Francisco all through the Tenderloin and in several other zones have 11-12 story Art Deco apartments plopped on about every other block. They add a lot of character and variety to the neighborhoods and are some of the more memorable structures in those areas.

This is where 4th and Race and the Dunnhumby development come in.

Publishing that Barnum & Bailey journalism online is as bad as those free papers at gas stations with several dozen mugshots and short descriptions of severe foolishness. That is tabloid, outright and unabashed. The Castellinis were released without bond. When was the last time you heard of a suspect being released without bond on anything in Hamilton County? Money is talking real loud in this case.