Brutus_buckeye

The one challenge the Bridge Forward plan is dealing with or will have to overcome, and is the perception that if people push to reclaim the land as proposed in Bridge Forward, that it will delay the construction of the new BSB. I think for many people, the perception that this could delay construction of the new BSB by a few years would be a deal breaker even though they would otherwise be supportive of the Bridge Forward concept. Even if the delay narrative is not accurate, that is going to be a challenge the Bridge Forward people will need to deal with

Kind of like the Wal Mart effect, all the big consumer product companies have large outposts in Fayetteville Ark to be close to Wal-Mart's HQ. I am sure they already have outposts in cincinnati for the same reasons but they will likely need to expand and could create other opportunities to get more people here with those companies.

I thought they were in the process of converting the Macy's building into apartments

Whoops I looked at the chart wrong. I was thinking 2018 was on top. i still do not think you can draw meaningful conclusions this early in the process though.

I think more and more GOP voters are seeing benefits in voting early. Plus with a demographic shift some of those voters were Dems 10 years ago. I just do not think the raw data like this a week in really offers many conclusions

I do not think this really says much though. My biggest takeaway is that GOP voters were slower to embrace early voting and preferred to vote on election day (still true), however, as time goes on, more and more GOP voters are open to engaging in early voting instead of election day and you are likely to see more of an even distribution of numbers between voters as time goes by.

The college/younger vote is certainly one that brims with passion but not as much action. IT will be interesting to see if they come out to vote in greater proportion than years past. I do not think that motivated college and 20 something females will be enough to outweigh more of the middle aged and senior voters who (even if they may be a soft pro-choice) are not as passionate about it and more concerned about the kitchen table issues and the economy than abortion. A tick up of a point or two in the college vote is not going to significantly sway things, especially in a state like Ohio. There have been a number of recent polls done lately that show the abortion issue is just not moving or stoking the passion of independent voters the same way it did back in the summer when the Dobbs decision first came out. Also, gas prices were coming down and inflation had stabilized at that point. Now interest rates are going up, inflation is rising again, gas prices are rising and people are more concerned about their jobs. These issues take priority for the vast majority of people and abortion is more of a "first world problem" and many feel they can fight that battle at a later time. So there is likely going to be a reality that the Dems have overplayed their hand on the issue. One of the big problems the Dems have by focusing so much on abortion and especially such an extreme position in many cases is that if they lose, the vast majority of states will not see any or much change in the abortion laws and the majority of women will still be able to readily get an abortion anyway. Certain states that may have super restrictive abortion laws would never vote for a Dem candidate anyway and the ones who are most vocal about the issue live in very blue states. So, if the GOP wins the house and senate next year, nothing much will change and many voters may see the abortion push as nothing more than a chicken little moment.

It depends where you are on certain issues of course. If you are Pro-Life, the leftward tilt of the democratic party poses a problem in that area that almost makes it untenable. I know a lot of pro-life voters who rate that as one of their top 3 issues. Whereas I do not see it as much on the pro-choice side. A lot less passion on that end for the issue outside of the super liberal feminazi crowd. In the past Ryan has certainly had some pro-life credentials, but he also understands that it is not tenable in today's democratic party to hold that position, despite his likely personal preferences. To your point, I am sure Ryan is certainly more moderate than Vance on even the abortion issue but party pressure has likely pulled him further left than he would naturally prefer.

I would doubt that, but we may see more direct flights to Boise, Seattle and California. It has been a while since I have been down there but how many floors in the Kroger Tower does Kroger actually use anyway? I remember a few floors were full of small law firms and such who wanted ease of access to the courthouse. They have a ton of office employees in Blue Ash I know of, especially since their IT is out there. Plus, beyond the c-suite, you would figure the bulk of the operational employees are located closer to the stores or distribution centers IMO I think the big job gains are not going to be at Kroger corporate but with companies such as LPK, Neilsen, and other companies that work with clients to get product placement at Kroger stores. Companies like General Mills, Danone, Kraft etc will likely need to hire more people to work the Kroger accounts too.

Even without the Bridge Forward Plan which is probably not realistic and untenable in many cases, there is still some land that will be able to be reclaimed on that side of downtown once the bridge is built. Originally, ODOT claimed an even larger footprint than they use now, The new designs have them vacating this footprint and opening up space to expand westward some even without the ambitious BridgeForward plan.

Yes, but again, for a project like that, until financing is realistically in place or at least a roadmap for financing an arena exists, it is not a realistic plan and another competing proposal can certainly come in and win out.

So is Birkla going to update his concept drawing for the property or is his plan to use what he submitted 3 years ago for his concept?

I love that Breeze gets us to SFO but wish it had more regular service than 2x week. Still would love to see Delta or United bring back the daily.

I know it has been floated to place it near FCC stadium, but the reality is there is not much besides speculation and loose proposals about building it at this point and the likelihood of a new arena in the next 3-5 years is pretty minimal. So a lot can change in that period and unless more tangible serious talk about an arena going where the FC stadium is located occurs, then that location really is no more realistic/unrealistic than building at the Banks or Convention Center area. Until something tangible comes forward, there is no arena that will be built and there are no current plans for an arena anywhere in downtown.

I prefer it on the new CC too. It still looks like there is a spot it could hang from there. I like how it enhances the view from the West Side of town which was lacking in the past. The East Side generally has better views of the city anyway.

Given that Breeze's founder was Jet Blue's founder 20 years ago, I guess this is about as close as we can get to Jet Blue, lol

You could move it to the River in front of Paycor and it could pop right there or in front of GABP or freedom center. It would be a better addition over the stupid "sing the queen city" sign that is currently there (a Laure Quinliven special)

While it may not be the same now as it was 15 years ago, the main reason why Cincinnati did not go big back then was because the market was such a hyper competitive market that to compete in the space with Vegas, Chicago, New York, etc was going to take a lot more effort than trying to carve out a niche in the mid-sized space. Columbus and Indy had pretty much cornered the region on the super large space so it was determined better to use Cincinnati's resources to have a smaller more compact facility. It did work out very well for the first 10 years until around 2015 and the biggest challenges was not the center itself but the convention hotel. The peer cities to Cincinnati did not have the hotel hurdle to overcome so they could invest in their centers more. Another reason why we need to build the hotel before worrying about the size of the center and get the center in as good of shape to compete once the hotel is built

To a certain extent I agree. But before we attempt to get there I think they need to shore up the existing infrastructure. Right now, they have a giant white elephant that generates very little income and business. Let's get that generating revenue first and then work to grow it from there. Cincinnati has treated the convention center as an afterthought with fits and starts where something is done only when it absolutely needs to be done. The thing about Columbus and Indianapolis is that they are doing things to their centers on a continuous basis. This is where Cincinnati needs to move toward if they truly want to compete for large conventions. What Cincinnati should do is leverage their current assets that their peer cities. St. Louis and Indy offer the concept of the domed stadium within easy access to their Convention Centers. Columbus has an arena that can be incorporated if need be. What Cincinnati has, within walking distance and blocks from their center is 3 stadiums with some cool meeting space (for some meetings in good weather months, this can be a selling point) We have NKY center which could be utilized in some bids (I know not likely, but it could and should be a selling point), Cincinnati can compete with the larger centers by offering walkability and compactness and allowing events to be spread within a few blocks to make up for the lack of contiguous space. Not ideal but it is something that could be packaged. I think Cincinnati should make a push to what you suggest, but before going there, they need to right the ship first and renovate the center and BUILD THE HOTEL. Without the hotel, nothing is going to happen. Plus, once the hotel is built, there will be much more clarity on the BSB project and how much land they can reclaim to the west of the current center. Once that is known, there are a lot of different opportunities that could present themselves, including having a potential footprint large enough for an arena. Let's right the ship first and then worry about expansion.

Figured it would be Breeze. Wish it were JetBlue.

Liz Keating was pretty much saying that convention business is pretty dead right now anyway. Part of the reason being is that the center is very dated so it is not attracting big conventions. You have to figure such buildings have about a 10 year shelf life before a large renovation needs to be undertaken. Similar to a hotel, styles change, technology changes, preferences change and you constantly need to update to stay relevant. The difference here is instead of a 1-2 million dollar renovation, you need to do a $100-$200 million renovation to keep up with your peer cities. I know it seems like yesterday that Cleveland opened their renovated center, but I am sure in the next 3-5 years you will be hearing people up there talk about how they need to do a major renovation of their facility.

I am not an architect but it seems as if that could create a wind tunnel and almost make the park unusable because of the winds? To the architectual people out there, is that something we should be concerned with?

^ But regarding your point about getting Chubb the ball more, do you think there is a certain calculus on managing his touches during the season in order to try and keep him healthier down the stretch? Yes, it may be beneficial to get Chubb 5-10 more touches in some of these games but does Stefanski calculate that if he does that now, Chubb may break down in week 10 or 11? Is this a reasonable theory?

1) I like some of the things they are trying to do with the rooftop patio. 2) I do not think the park over Elm is a great use of space. How much outdoor convention space will they really use. It seems as if it will be an underutilized space the majority of the time and really will not help attract additional conventions. More of just an add on space, imo. 3) the cover over Elm street to the outdoor park on Elm just needs to go. It is ugly, pointless and will probably have the unintended consequence of creating a wind tunnel and nobody will want to be out there for that reason. 4) It seems as if there is no consideration for reclaiming land on the 75 side. Although it appears this is not an expansion, it seems like they should be able to go west for future expansion once the new bridge is built. 5) While the design is nice and modern, DONT GET RID OF THE CINCINNATI SIGN facing 75.

I would think it is more of a placeholder design at this point. They say the official RFP for hotel is due on Monday th 24th so hopefully we hear something by end of the year regarding a rendering.