OTR

Great! I love Cleveland's position on the lake. It's kind of ridiculous that the city's lakefront doesn't have a long stretch of public parks and beaches. As an Ohioan, I want only the best for Cleveland.

^exactly. I was just thinking about the distances from each downtown to each airport. CVG is 20 mins to downtown via the interstate. On I-75 going north from downtown, 20 minutes of driving takes you to I-275 - not exactly an ideal location for an airport. I-75/Rt 63 in Monroe (near the outlet mall, prison and Lebanon/Warren County airport) is midway between downtown Cincinnati and downtown Dayton. 38 mins to CIN and 33 to DYT. The more I think about it the more I think that the Warren Correctional Institute is the best location. There is even railroad tracks near it: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Warren+Correctional+Institute,+Lebanon,+OH&hl=en&ll=39.431652,-84.301915&spn=0.017999,0.042272&sll=39.436193,-84.311657&sspn=0.035995,0.084543&t=m&gl=us&hq=Warren+Correctional+Institute,&hnear=Lebanon,+Warren,+Ohio&z=15

Cincinnati has a lot of steps and could do all sorts of cool things. I like the colorful mosaics. And San Francisco isn't the first city (this was just a really pretty picture). There are a number of European and South American cities that I know of with tiled steps. and FWIW, I have no qualms about copying great ideas - coastal or otherwise...in fact, I think there's a lot of good ideas in Pittsburgh that could be implemented here. something uniquely Cincinnati would be an incline haha and bike troughs or maybe a bike lift ( ) Do it.

Great shot. Where in Jackson Hill Park did you take that? I'm sure Blue Line would be interested.

downtown last night at bunbury

Yep, that's it - interesting. Thanks

nice pics. that first one really irks me. I hope when Mercer Commons opens they will open that up

Yeah, they have yet to plant the trees on 14th yet as you can see in the pic. Has anyone else noticed the texture of the sidewalk along the 14th side of the park. Kinda rough - maybe I'm missing something. Apparently there are protestors of the park today at Washington Park. Sitting down on the benches inside the park. Ironic. Shame on them. Pic via a friend of the 'protesters':

Street has been reopened. They've moved on 12th into Pendleton. All that appears to have been done is asphalt sawing for a trench in the middle of the street. Water or gas line replacement. They're doing streetscape improvements too if my shopkeeper friend on Main St is to be believed...

Yeah, I know Tamara and we're talking. Lots of good energy around this project.

oh, something like this: http://www.blogotr.com/otr/the-main-street-mosaic-steps/

Who wants to make this happen in Cincinnati? http://www.blogotr.com/otr/the-main-street-mosaic-steps/

Very glad to see Kevin's considerable talent and passion being put to good use. Longtime fan of both BC's - Building Cincinnati and Business Courier.

and here's the article that goes with that gallery: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120709/NEWS/307090097/Big-weekend-ahead-Cincinnati Instead of Blue Ash, you should have tried airbnb or the Symphony Hotel. I recommend parking in the Washington Park garage. Eat in OTR on Main or Vine or at Enzo's on Race. Finally, I'd contact Casey Coston and take one of his custom LosantiTours (if he's available). More info here: https://www.facebook.com/LosantiTours/info

Pretty sure those are part of streetscape improvements. I know that area of Elm, Race, 14th, Pleasant is getting new street signs/poles and stuff like Vine got awhile ago.

Yeah, I saw that work being done and a shop owner on Main Street was talking about it. Has anyone else noticed increased loitering on Main Street?

The ice skating rink idea is an interesting one...

Sure. The southernmost third of the park as well as the corners, garage, restrooms, and the northernmost grassy areas near the NW and NE corners of the park. Not much but there is more than it originally sounds. I'm glad it's mostly smoke-free. --- sorry for being off topic

According to the Park Rules: Smoking and tobacco use are prohibited in the following areas: Dog Park, Playground, Musical Fountain, Bandstand Area, Music Hall Plaza, and Civic Lawn.

^way to keep it on topic :-P I agree - could there be any better music, really --- short of themed music for holidays, opening day, oktoberfest, etc.

I hope the streetcar also does video updates like Smale Riverfront Park. And, Rabbit Hash, I'm right there with you - Local on the 8s is some good stuff!

The rail connection to the airport is a great idea. One would think that the Chiquita move would have woken someone up in the region to the fact that airports matter. ^ A mega-regional airport is probably the most important potential project to come out of a Cin-Day Megalopolis. I don't know how it could ever happen because Dayton is quite happy with its airport and Cincinnati's seems doomed to forever sit in Kentucky. Possible locations would probably be near the Lebanon-Middletown-Hamilton triangle. The Lebanon-Warren County Airport has a pretty good location in that there's plenty of land around it and it's not far from 75. The only problem with locations east of 75 is all the existing rail infrastructure between Cincinnati and Dayton is west of 75.

Are the Lofts at Harrison Terminal complete? A young woman and her family stopped me at 12th and Vine on the 4th of July and asked me which restaurants were open and what I would recommend --- the young woman had just moved to a cool new loft in an old factory in a neighborhood called 'something washington' near the Hopple St exit...I informed them it was called Camp Washington (haha) but I still wonder which lofts she was talking about. BTW, I told her what was open and then recommended Taste of Belgium (where I was headed too). They all said they were really impressed with the city.

Maybe I should have prefaced my remarks with an admission - I am an urbanist and believe the urban cores of Cincinnati and Dayton matter more than the interstate sprawl between the two. Also, Butler and Warren counties do not seem anywhere near ready to work with Hamilton and Montgomery counties in tying the regions together into a metroplex. Personally, I'd like to see Ham and Mont work together more to improve commuter services such as improved transit (ie rail). Park and ride stations between the two cities would fill up guaranteed and people in the 'burbs would realize that trains aren't a communist plot. I couldn't disagree with this statement more. Virtually everyone in these Daytonnati satellite communities identifies with one or both of the big planet cities in many meaningful - if not essential - ways. Almost all of the television and radio in this region emits from Cincinnati or Dayton, as do the two dominant newspapers. The large employment centers are in the two primary cities, as are three of the region's four most recognizable universities (UC, UD, XU). Throw in cultural institutions, entertainment venues, the Reds and Bengals (who most people in Dayton and Cincinnati follow), even the major nightlife areas are all in either Cincinnati or Dayton. Certainly, the media markets meet/mix in the middle and I acknowledged sports. And, again, there's no art museum or top notch performance center between Cincinnati and Dayton - but none of that changes the fact that these people that live in Springboro or West Chester remain basically anti-urban in their approach and hold little to no allegiance to either city. I'm not denying the fact that the metros neighbor each other and are mixing together. One day, it will be a recognized metro area and that will be a good thing - I guess. From my perspective, this sprawl that enables the 'megalopolis' is not a good thing though it'll be fun to say the region has 3 million people. Fair enough. I think those statistics are misleading. The city of Dayton's trajectory is stagnant at best. Some good things are happening there and maybe the numbers perked up a little bit recently after the bloodbath of the last few years. Cincinnati's statistics do not reflect what is happening right now in the city and what it portends for the future. You're right about Austin Landing - but it also is a symptom of Montgomery County's ongoing push to sprawl itself in a desperate, self-defeating contest with cheap townships. There is no innovative urbanist thinking in Dayton or the county, save for perhaps the Greater Downtown Dayton Plan. Dayton International Airport is technically within the city of Dayton, even though it isn't contiguous. Yeah, I've flown enough out of DIA to know it's 'in the city' but not part of the rest of it. That's why I said contiguous. This is a bit of important regional history that few people understand. It is so refreshing to hear someone call CVG what it is - an infrastructure disaster.

unusualfire, thank you for the map. One day, unfortunately, sprawl will fill all the missing gaps between the cities of Dayton and Cincinnati. subocincy's point is valid in that the developments along I-75 are significant (ie Austin Landing, et al) but not in a good way. Austin Landing is a symptom of Dayton's decline. Cincinnati, on the other hand, continues to grow its urban core. If the two cities will ever form a metroplex it will be Dayton's south suburbs and Cincinnati's north suburbs that direct its fate. Don't get me wrong, I'm not denigrating the growing connection at all. I'm just calling it as I see it. The two regions are becoming more connected because the 'gap' between them is forming its own distinct suburban identity. Few people in this exurban wasteland hold any meaningful allegiance to either city - save for the occasional sports game. I think it'd be great if the two cities grew together and were a powerful metroplex. I just doubt it will happen because the gap between the two is its own distinct place and the identities of the two cities don't really matter in the middle. Personally, I'd rather see two strong urban cores connected with adequate transit and a preserved rural between the two than the Generica we've been seeing thanks to suburban sprawl and its lax standards.