cramer

^Well, since you and John said so, I guess. Also, one could be pro-Cincinnati and anti-streetcar (if ill-informed).

I've found that the high school thing very rarely comes up in the first conversation I have with someone, and only after it's been established that I am a native Cincinnatian, and then only after someone asks where I grew up. I see nothing strange in this behavior, and I imagine the same happens plenty of other places as well. I had no idea people would put their high school on their resumé. That's silly to me, but hey, if it helps you get a gig, more power to you. What's funny is that this thread has degenerated into a discussion about this topic above everything else brought up in the article. So I guess that shows you something, not sure what though. I thought the the article was a thoughtful examination, undermined somewhat by details that were truer in the 70s or 80s than they are now. Much of this is perpetuated by the folks interviewed in the article. I trust Cronin to be a good judge of basketball talent, not the complexities of social interaction and the civic character of Cincinnati. To me, the evidence of our provincialism is that we assign these characteristics to ourselves as though they are unique, when really they're probably just like any number of other places. We just don't know any better. By the way and for the sake of clarity, the article title is not Cincinnati: A City of Contradictions, as someone stated above, and as the thread title suggests.

And the host of this soirée states: "Mostly, you can find me wherever there’s wifi and a lack of pretension." Hooo, boy. That's a big ol' ball of contradiction right there. Yep, welp.

I get a kick out of this. On the what's a salon page, it states: "“To please and educate” sounds a little patronizing to my ears. Hence the tagline for this gathering: “to please and debate”." Hmmm... The word educate sounds patronizing? But the idea of hosting a salon doesn't? Curious. Good points on contradicting the libertarian argument. That line of thinking always strikes me as childish. But haters will come armed with stats, so anyone planning to attend should pack their own heat. No doubt a lot of anti-transit feeling will come from a pro-market point of view. One might ask these folks to explain their objection to an entreprenurial state. Or invite them to build their own roads on which they pilot their motorcoaches. Say that last bit in a Monty Burns voice.

From Boingboing: BB reader Mike Avent says, "It's a tongue in cheek joke...a quick search of the authors name on the NWAnews.com website reveals a long history of tongue in cheek & snarky letters to the editor." Go here: http://www.nwanews.com/search and search "Connie Meskimen"

I agree, but I doubt it. There was a gentleman at the meeting who was pushing for a veteran's memorial on the lawn south of the Freedom Center to honor those, and I'm paraphrasing here, who sacrificed so that we could name a street Freedom Way. I wanted to let out a Braveheart yell, but I thought better of it. I'm ok with some statuary memorial actually, but it'd be a lot cooler if two of those veterans were Hamilton, for whom our county was named, and Grant, our region's preeminent badass. They have the added benefit of having actually ensured, protected, or otherwise extended freedom.

Speaking building heights, there's no way the Bengals allow 20 story buildings or anything approaching the height of the ghost buildings in the rendering next to PBS. That's completely misleading. One would think that the intersection of 2nd and Main would be of primary concern in Phase 1, what with it being across the street from GABP and the main approach to the ballpark. This should be a signature part of the design, not an afterthought.

It's a joke.

Carter's putting $10 mill in for the garages and streets. Not sure if that is just phase one or not. I'm not good with phases.

City Beat has got the preferred route posted on the Porkopolis blog. http://citybeat.com/2007-04-18/Final_street.pdf http://citybeat.wordpress.com/2007/04/23/new-streetcar-route/

8-10 year build out. Don't recall info on the number of phases. Sounded to me like hotels are speculative at this point, no specific mention in phase 1.

Right, someone asked about that, and the rep from Carter said the same thing. The decks have come up recently in their talks and they're looking into it. Portune has requested money from Hamilton Co parks to pay for the decks. I think they said $20 mil per block.

One thing I was surprised by was that the folks from Carter or the working group didn't have specific answers for questions about economic inclusion or workforce development. They repeatedly said that their record speaks for itself, but they didn't offer any specifics about their record. It was like they expected it to be self evident.

Went to the meeting. Not really a great deal of detail, and they stressed these are all works in progress. Those articles above pretty much spell it all out. 225 housing units in phase 1 in the easternmost 2 blocks. Condos range 200-400k Freedom way to be central retail corridor. I forget the sq ft of retail. Buildings range from 5-20 floors. Focus on reconstituting urban fabric, rather than signature architecture; two restaurants on block south of Freedom Center poised to be most distinctive buildings. One of the larger buildings in Phase 1, office I think, looked decent... everything else sort of blah. A lot more office space planned than I expected. Building heights would depend on amount of prelease.

I think I'll be able to go.

Can't that be said for all skyscrapers though?

Building south of Mehring Way (the closest to the river) is a no-go due to flooding. And really, that might be a concern south of Ted Berry (next street up) as well. I think keeping that block clear from the Freedom Center to the Suspension Bridge is a good choice as well. Generally speaking, I'd like to see less park and more building. But there are specifics here that make me feel ok with having the park as planned. Being in a flood plain is chief among them. The blocks south of Berry that are in the park will have some structures on them and also include the water wall feature, so I think that's going to be a good result. I'd like to see the blocks over FWW built up, partly since we'll already have plenty of park.

Cincinnati. I honestly can't remember the last time I was in Cleveland. Must have been the late 80s. An edited version of that ep should be made into the tourism spot. You've already got a catchy tune. Of course, I'm a huge 30 Rock fan.

It made we want to visit, for what that's worth.

I dunno, I think that unfortunately looks like much of the CBD that's come along in the last 30-40 years. By the way, some of the new construction in Prospect Hill is not very cohesive. Boal St is not part of the historic district, so those unfinsished condos look like poo. I bet to the extent they're thinking about it at all, AIG is trying to relate to the Freedom Center and PBS more than buildings downtown. At least, I bet that's what we hear from them Monday.

The shortest buildings look like they're in the 6 story range, which is good. Of course, a few of those others look like Atrium 3 & 4. As for that perpective, I can't figure out where it's looking from.

This is hilarious and sad. http://www.thewebshite.net/nickelback.htm

Well, I'm jealous. I anticipate a bunch of quotes from tonight's episode showing up here soon.

Floyd, played by Jason Sudekis, is Fey's love interest in the show. He's from Cleveland and has had it with NYC, so they consider a move to Cleveland.

I'm preparing myself for generic "new south" architecture at this point. The clues in the articles above indicate just that, especially Pepper's comments. And nothing I've seen suggests anything else is possible. My hopes for any sort of remarkable thing in that area rest with the park.