RockyMountainHigh

Margaritaville Cafe is not at all Cheeseburger in Paradise that used to be in Eastgate. It's easily a destination restaurant that will bring people to downtown, including many who have no intention of gambling at the casino. I've been to the one in Orlando and it's well done - island drinks, live music ... definitely an attraction. And, without a doubt, Jimmy Buffett has strong ties to Cincinnati, making this restaurant a natural fit and something that Indy, Columbus, Louisville, etc. probably have no shot to ever get. This isn't Hard Rock Cafe that essentially locates in any city with a pulse. Check out MC's locations: Key West Orlando Las Vegas Myrtle Beach Panama City Beach Waikiki Glendale (Phoenix) New Orleans Mohegan Sun Cancun Niagara Falls Nashville Chicago Grand Cayman Turks & Caicos Montego Bay Not exactly a bad list to add Cincinnati to.

Wow, you're tough. I had the veggie burger for lunch and, frankly, it's the best veggie burger I've ever had - and I've had a few. And the outdoor patio is as good as it gets for people-watching in Cincinnati. The drinks are a little pricey but that seems to be the M.O. at The Banks, which is fine. It'll be a vacuum cleaning up suburban dollars, I think. Quite memorable, in my opinion. I'd easily recommend it.

Anyone been to Mahogany's yet? I've walked by a couple of times since it's been open and it looks like it's doing some nice business. Though, before the Reds game on Monday night the Holy Grail patio was slammed with people while Mahogany's and Johnny Rockets were much less so.

And doesn't the casino gain rights to build an on-site hotel after a few years? Perhaps in the space currently occupied by Greyhound?

According to a Facebook post from Building Cincinnati this morning, the Enquirer building will be a hotel and not residential. The post: People, a hotel is going to be in the old Enquirer Building at 617 Vine St. Story to come. You heard it here first.

In the August issue of Cincinnati Magazine that arrived at my house today, there's a story about the "10 Buildings that Changed Cincinnati." While the Terrace Plaza Hotel wasn't one of the 10 buildings they spotlighted, they did have a sidebar titled "Will someone please draft a future for the Terrace Plaza?" In it was the following: The current owner, New York-based real estate investment group World Properties LLC, bought it in 2010 with the intent of re-opening the hotel. Unfortunately, Vice President Tommy Demetriades says plans are "sort of on hold at this point." Whatever that means. The story, incidentally, is outstanding. ... Worth picking up a copy.

Don't forget the three-day Bunbury Festival and maybe even some stragglers from the Queen City Sausagefest held on Newport's riverfront who made their way across the river. The Reds had sellouts on Friday and Sunday nights and more than 37,000 on Saturday for a three-game series attendance figure over 117,000. The Reds are in town for the next week and then the Bengals start their training camp - open to the public - at PBS for the first time. It's a great time to be a business at The Banks.

^ This is what happens when you have universal copy desks putting together the Enquirer and about three or four other Gannet papers on a given night. These mistakes will continue and likely get worse. Plus, with the paper being designed and edited outside of Cincinnati - in Louisville - by copy editors unfamiliar with the city, you can expect more of the kind of headline yesterday that originally identified the man killed in China as being from "Indian Hills." Someone eventually caught it and fixed it, but the errors are getting ridiculous. The people copy editing and writing headlines have no idea what Indian Hill is and wouldn't know the difference between Indian Hill and Price Hill. It's sad that a city our size is being served by such an amateurish afterthought of a chain newspaper. Smaller cities such as Omaha, Norfolk, Orlando, Reno, Colorado Springs, Fargo, etc. are served by gems of newspapers, and we're stuck with the downsized piece of crap we have. Pathetic really. What I wouldn't give to have the Cincinnati Post back in the Enquirer's place.

Any word on which side of the Yard House building the Dumpsters and loading area are going to be? I know this issue was raised a couple of weeks ago by the design board, which wasn't thrilled about that facing Freedom Way.

^^^^^ :clap: :drunk: :laugh: :wink2: :wave: Is this heaven? No, it's Cincinnati.

Paul Daugherty's column in the Enquirer calling for Cincinnati to get the 2015 All-Star Game (and some subtle jabs at Cincinnati too): http://news.cincinnati.com/article/AB/20120709/COL03/307090053/2015-All-Star-game-needs-Cincinnati

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. 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.

They'll claim that downtown/OTR revitalization was under way well before the streetcar started running. They'll point to Washington Park, Fountain Square, The Banks and Vine Street as all being successful first, so their continued success clearly has nothing to do with the streetcar. Then they'll really grasp for straws by saying that with all the people riding the streetcar, Cincinnati's obesity rate is inching upward as people aren't walking as much. They'll use that angle to fight an extension to Uptown.

Duke Energy CEO Bill Johnson resigns after one day, gets $44 million in severance: http://grist.org/news/duke-ceo-bill-johnson-resigns-after-one-day-gets-44-million-in-severance/ "So assuming that he worked for a full eight hours on Monday, that comes out to a nice $5.5 million an hour — some 765,000 times the national minimum wage." And this is the company haggling with the city over who's going to pay for utility relocation?

Where do you build a new airport? One of CVG's attractive features is its proximity to downtown. If you put a new airport up in Butler County - perhaps a joint Cincinnati/Dayton airport somewhere around Monroe - you don't have convenient travel to downtown at all. A taxi ride alone would cost about $40-$50, and traffic would be a nightmare during morning and evening commute times. Not to mention, any hope for a light rail link to downtown would probably be squashed for good.

I walked around downtown today to check out the World Choir Games vibe and noticed some workers going in and out of the space at Seventh and Walnut (caddy-corner to Ruby's) that's covered with the "Bouncing here soon" signs. I glanced inside and saw what looks like interior demolition work. I know a Business Courier story a while back talked about a potential sports bar going there, and the window coverings have footballs, soccer balls and baseballs on them. Hopefully this is finally moving forward. Also, walking through The Banks, you could clearly see inside open doors at Mahogany's and Tin Roof. Tin Roof looks much farther along inside and the bar is even installed.

St Louis's market is not the much larger than Cincinnati's in the scheme of things. They are the 3rd highest attendence in baseball averaging +42,000 a game. And their weather is pretty similar to ours. And the Chicago market is astronomically larger than Cincinnati's in the scheme of things, yet the White Sox are far behind the Reds in attendance this year. And the White Sox are in first place. Some other larger markets that would trade places with Cincinnati in terms of attendance: Seattle, Miami, Phoenix, Toronto, Houston, etc. ... Your point? http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance And again: No team in MLB has higher ratings for its local television broadcasts - not New York, not St. Louis, not San Francisco, not Detroit, not anybody. Frankly, case closed.

This is completely incorrect. Not only are the Reds averaging more than 28,300 fans a game this season, but the team is No. 1 in all of baseball in regional television ratings. Simply put: Interest in Reds baseball in Cincinnati, Dayton and the rest of the region is enormous. As for the Bengals, don't take last year's lackluster crowds as an indication that this city doesn't support the franchise. Don't forget that the Bengals had a seven-year sellout streak at PBS snapped during the dismal 2010 season. Frankly, considering the nonsense and rampant losing we've had to endure, that sellout streak is nothing short of amazing. Last year, fans, finally and rightfully, were fed up and the poor attendance was a direct message to Mike Brown that the status quo was no longer acceptable here. Looking at some of the changes made, it looks like that message was at least partially received. And even during all of that, the Bengals' television ratings were still through the roof. If anything, poor attendance for UC football and basketball reinforces that Cincinnati is a pro town and that pro sports get the attention (and the bulk of the dollars) here.

I agree with a new arena, but one will really only make sense with a major tenant to gobble up a large chunk of the dates - an NHL or NBA team, in a perfect world. Metro Cincinnati's expanding population, not to mention the population within an hour's drive in Dayton and Lexington, should be enough to support such a franchise. Personally, I'd prefer the NHL since I think the NBA is mostly forgettable loser franchises with only about six or seven traditional winners to support the entire league. Even an MLS franchise is a possibility; it could play its home games at PBS. Seattle is wildly successful with the MLS Sounders playing in an NFL stadium.

This is getting so tiresome. It's one gut punch after another to this project. Is there any hope for the Duke deal to get hammered out anytime soon? Is construction still taking place?

Narrow Second Street by at least one lane (or create an isolated streetcar lane that cars can't drive on). The street is far too wide for the traffic it sees 95 percent of the time. Narrowing would serve to slow cars down and also give pedestrians a shorter span to cross. Pedestrians crossing Second Street are likely to be excited fans heading to/from games or after having had a few beers at the game/bars will have delayed reactions. That's a dangerous recipe on a street that really serves as a vehicle runway of sorts onto a pair of highways. There's already been a Second Street fatality a few years ago when a fan walking to a Bengals game was hit at the Elm intersection by a car just getting off the highway.

Why not? There has to be somewhere that's kid-friendly. Otherwise downtown is going to be waving lots of dollars goodbye as they get back in their cars and go home after games (or don't come down early). Not everyone wants to stand in a crowd of drunk 20-somethings listening to dance music at Holy Grail or Toby Keith's. The new riverfront park has all these enticing, kid-friendly fountains to run through and play in but there's really nowhere for their parents to take them for lunch or dinner, unless you count the thoroughly underwhelming Johnny Rocket's.

Wow ... I'm sold. How do we get one of those? Kids would be dragging their parents downtown for that.

Did Falon use the word "reconsider"? If so, apparently they've already tried to get Rainforest Cafe.

I'll add the hideous surface lots on both sides of the Seventh at Sycamore, the Third & Race surface lot and my personal biggest annoyance: the tiny surface lot on the northwest corner of Ninth & Vine. It's tiny and will be a longshot to ever see anything there, but it bugs me every time I walk by seeing a handful of cars parked there on a weed-strewn lot. I'm certain that this is what the Bayhorse lot would look like if that building is ever removed.