Quimbob

It's unfortunate to lose that bit of history. I imagine some sterile overpriced yuppie crap will fill in the hole. Maybe the Cincinnati meet should stop in.

I take it this means that the Phoenix in any form in that location is dead ?

I kind of agree that Mac users can get a bit obnoxious. I like the Mac - PC ads but they also tend to make me cringe a little. However, where PC users speak most loudly is in ignorant IT departments that frequently run the companies that are supposed to be telling the IT departments what to do. Anyway, Mac supports right clicking & scrolling, Apple just never included a capable mouse before. 3rd party mice work great. My "Mighty Mouse" is currently hooked up to my Dell running FC 6. The weakness of Excel is a Microsoft problem - not a Mac problem

I have always thought this was a very handsome building. I always wondered if there was anything worthwhile left under the modernized facade.

Those people shouldn't be allowed out in public. Congrats to the manager for throwing them out. HOWEVER The practice of spraying stinky cleaning products in crowded dining rooms is not good. The smell puts a person off their food. The old fashioned way was to bring a dampened towel out from the kitchen & wipe the table down. Probably not as hygienic - but how hygienic do you have to be ? Just don't use the towel to wipe your face between tables. (seen it)

^ "A security guard ran out after me telling me "5/3 doesn't like you taking photos on their property!"." I've got an idea for the next Cincinnati meet.

^Man, if money were no problem, I would have an OTR townhome for the weekends in a minute, too.

Love the cemetery shot. These little urban graveyards don't seem to be protected in Ohio as much as in some other places (notably the New England states).

Looks like Clifton is putting together a COP program. The CTM contact is [email protected] or at 961-2030

From Easter walks to closings: City steps prove steep in history By Nicole Hamilton CINCINNATI – Steps not only link together the City’s diverse neighborhoods but they also set Cincinnati apart from other cities. With nearly 400 sets of Cincinnati stairways (not including those within the City Parks and Recreation properties), the steps are an important, vital part of the City’s transportation system, says Don Rosemeyer, City Engineer. They are noted tourist attractions for breathtaking city views, favorite exercise spots and places to worship. For many, the steps are an integral part of daily life – and 400 more reasons why Cincinnati is a unique community. Only Pittsburgh has more city stairways. Dayton-native Phillip Ransly, 23, who works for Towne Properties in Mount Adams, uses the public stairways to get to his office at The Monastery on Paul Street. Before moving to Cincinnati, he had no idea such an extensive city-stairway system existed. “It’s pretty amazing,” he says, of the steps. “It seems like everyday I’m finding out things about this City that are really cool – things I would have never known unless I moved here.” One of the most famous sets of Cincinnati steps – the seven flights that connect St. Gregory Street to the Holy Cross-Immaculata Church in Mount Adams – is the sight of the annual Good Friday pilgrimage that leads up to the Church. The tradition of “praying the steps” begins at midnight on Good Friday with a blessing of the steps. For the next 24-hours people of all denominations gather, rosaries in hand, and climb the stairs together in silence. Bill Frantz, 43, pastoral director of Holy Cross-Immaculata Church in Mount Adams says attendance varies. “A lot depends on the weather – but we will get up to 10,000 people [who pray the steps]. People come from hundreds of miles away. ” Frantz says that this year, the Church will serve donuts and coffee in the morning and host a fish fry at night for those who come to participate. According to Frantz, the pilgrimage to Holy Cross-Immaculata Church started before there was a stairway in place. In the 1860s, Bishop John Purcell erected a cross where the Church now sits, and those living in The Bottoms, along the Ohio River, would climb the hillside to the cross every Good Friday. This is how many of the earliest hillside steps began – as treacherous and steep footpaths. As the immigrant population of the 1800s moved up hillsides, they erected wooden staircases. According to Anna Dusablon’s book “Walking the Steps of Cincinnati,” some stairs in the Columbia-Tusculum, Norwood and Mount Echo areas were places where Native Americans would gather to watch settlers moving in. At the end of the 1800s, when the trolley car was introduced, more stairways were created to accommodate those living on streets around the inclines. Today, most of the public stairways are maintained by the City’s transportation and engineering department and the Hamilton Country Park Board. According to Rosemeyer, of the 52 Cincinnati communities, 38 have City stairways. The longest one is the Main Street Stairway that eventually connects with the Ohio Avenue Steps that end at Bellevue Hill Park in Clifton Heights. Mount Auburn has the most stairways, although Mount Adams may have the most that are currently open. Rosemeyer says his department performs routine maintenance on the steps, and has developed a Hillside Step Information System, in which every City stairway is inventoried for inspection and repair information. By visiting the City Web site, one can look up the status of any staircase and learn when it was last inspected, how its condition is rated (excellent, good, or fair), and how high of a priority it is on the City’s list of repairs. This is where you can check the status of the Collins Steps – the 300-yard stairway that now links William Howard Taft to Keys Crescent in East Walnut Hills. The Web site lists the Collins Steps as open, but March 28 the City Council voted to close the stairway for at least five years. advertisement The decision wasn’t made without a fight. After learning that the Collins Steps would probably be closed – due to a group of East Walnut Hills residents who feared the steps encouraged crime – Doug Davis and other nearby residents launched a passionate and highly-publicized campaign to keep them open. “I used to walk to work almost everyday using those stairs,” says Davis, a retired Procter & Gamble executive. “It’s an important part of our community and there is no reason to close them.” According to City Architects Jack Martin and Tim Jamison, there has never been a study done on city crime in relation to public stairways. “Crime can happen anywhere,” says Jamison. “There is no evidence that there is more crime in neighborhoods with City steps.” Janet Ach, who lives near Keys Crescent, says she is disappointed that the stairway is closing. Council’s decision, she says, will make it difficult for people to access Metro the bus stop at the foot of the stairs. Ach says commuters are going to have to find an alternative route to William Howard Taft, and for bus riders, it is going to mean having to take more than one bus to get Downtown. Still, she is hopeful something positive will come from the decision. “We want to continue to work with the community which wanted the stairs closed and come to some sort of arrangement,” says Ach. “We are hoping there is still a way for people to continue to use the stairs for legitimate purposes. Of course, we have to work together to keep the stairs free of crime – but that must happen everywhere.” It’s not unusual, says Rosemeyer, for those living near the public stairways to want them closed. “Some people just don’t like people on the steps,” he says. “Whether it’s because they are afraid of crime or just have a need for more privacy, some [people] just don’t want them.” It’s also not unusual, says Martin, for citizens to oppose the closure of steps in their neighborhoods. The debate around the decision whether or not to close Collins Steps came as no surprise to the City employees. And he says that the City does not close a public stairway without careful consideration and lots community imput. “The process to closing a stairway is long and involved,” says Martin. “Postcards are sent out to residents in the neighborhood and we put notices up around the steps to alert people that they may be closed.” There is a telephone number that stair climbers can call to contest the closing of steps. There is also a hotline number to check the status of the steps. It is 352-STEP (7837). According to City and Parks officials one of the biggest projects in the works currently is the reestablishment of the historic hillside step connection between Mount Adams and the Riverside Drive along the Ohio River. As part of the ongoing effort to make the City more pedestrian friendly, sidewalks along Riverside Drive’s south side were recently widened and new lighting was installed. Eventually, as soon as funds are available says Martin, work will begin to link St. Gregory Street in Mount Adams to the renovated part of Riverside Drive. “Either this summer or next is when we hope to start working on it,” he says. This project will also involve Hamilton County Parks, who maintain the stairways in all the county parks including those in Eden Park, which is along the Mount Adams/Riverside Drive route. Maintenance of stairways within the city’s parks is an ongoing effort, says Steve Schuckman, superintendent of Parks and Planning. Recently, many stairways in Eden Park were renovated, including a set that runs from Gilbert Avenue to the Cincinnati Art Museum. And Schuckman is currently working with partners in the University of Cincinnati area to make improvements to many of the parks in that area. Many of them, according to Schuckman, are on hillsides and were built as part of the incline for streetcars. Schuckman says they want to renovate stairways along these inclines or perhaps build new ones – as markers of where the incline once was. Says Schuckman: “The City steps are a very important part of our city – we’re always considering the future of the steps.” But he says, “The steps are also a way for us to say, ‘Here’s a part of our rich history.’” Nicole can be reached via e-mail at [email protected]. http://www.pulsedt.com/blogs/default.asp?Display=61 Walking Steps of Cincinnati http://www.amazon.com/Walking-Steps-Cincinnati-Mary-Dusablon/dp/0821412272/ref=sr_1_1/103-9535077-3011832?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1176209507&sr=1-1

I think that where people get trapped is in their financial commitment to a lifestyle. If you are supporting a wife, 3 kids and an invalid parent, it is going to be hard to take the pay cut that a career change usually incurs. If you remain a bachelor, it is no big deal. In the end, the way you make money is just that - a way to make money. What is more important is to be true to yourself and the people who make up your life. OTOH, I think that the career choice you are pursuing will give you many opportunities for future career choices as you will meet and learn about the many people who will be impacted by your work as an urban planner.

The girl in the blue top & white pants appears to have some kind of spinal problem.

I just heard of this place - another co-op http://www.myspace.com/mobobicyclecoop

The guy is a volunteer firefighter but how do we know him ? Bikini Man sad

I am assuming that has something to do with god's wrath since the city council voted to protest the escalation of the holy war in iraq ?

The elderly and infirm should love this. Councilman wants to ban bus benches BY JANE PRENDERGAST | [email protected] Those benches at bus stops – the ones that say, “See, You Looked” and advertise $99 wills – could disappear from Cincinnati curbs. Councilman Chris Bortz wants them all gone because they detract from the “general curb appeal of the city.” Council’s economic development committee, of which Bortz is chairman, will start discussing next week his motion to order the Bench Billboard Co. to immediately remove 722 benches allowed by a 1996 ordinance as well as others allowed by another section of the municipal code. Officials at Bench Billboard did not return a phone call seeking a response to Bortz’s idea. Bench, based in Madison Place, is a family-run company in business since 1959, according to its Web site. The site lists testimonials from real estate agents, attorneys and car dealers. Among the local advertisers: McCluskey Chevrolet; Monster.com; and U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot, who has used bench ads in his campaigns. A bench ad in a fixed location costs $35 a week. Read full article here: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070403/NEWS01/304030024

Just got my April MetroCard er Pass. It's funny. A clerk at the Credit Union down on Elder & Vine informed me once that they do not sell Metro Passes but they do sell Metro Cards. Now they are passes. Wonder if she will have to be retrained. Something different that I had not noticed is that a pass for zone 1 is a 1 pass where it used to be an A pass. While it makes more sense to stick to one naming convention I am sure it will confuse people. FWIW the lady at the Northside Ohio Check Cashers didn't like the new design either. She couldn't tell the zone 1 cards er passes from the zone 2 passes. Nevermind that they are color coded.....

I just want a toilet with a progress bar.

I like this pano from 1910

Seicer, you're a freak. http://www.last.fm/user/Quimbob/

All they have are some boutiques on the square.

^ This has been a big complaint in Oakley for years as they cite the crime at the Hyde Park Plaza boosts their crime stats but many people think the plaza is in Hyde Park for some mysterious reason. Meanwhile, Hyde Park, with a serious lack of retail, has very low crime stats.

The pot ordinance & the steps in one day. Seems Cecil Thomas response to everything is more law - less freedom. Man is a psychopath. Ghiz crabbing about the mayor every inch of the way is nothing but counterproductive. Berding & Bortz .... I had high hopes for this council but they seem to be working out of the Dick Cheney handbook.

Interesting The streets look nothing like CBD/OTR. Much wider and more open. The handicap access is disturbing in that it does no show a person getting in, securing and unsecuring their chair. There are no fares ? Nobody actually seems to pay. There were no cyclists in the bike lane. No cyclists wrecking on the track... There is no indication of the frequency of runs & stops. The stop in front of the sidewalk cafe interested me as Cincinnati frowns on such things and there are next to no areas in CBD & OTR that could afford such a place. I hate to say itbut if there were, it would be overrun by obnoxious teenagers (who seemd conspicuously absent in the video). I agree that the dumb trolleybusthing is a lousy idea but I think dedicated shuttle buses would be a better idea. You guys say that the investment in track gives an idea of commitment & permanence to people but I remember driving over old abandoned track as a young'n. I don't get that part at all. I will now duck.

^They have wanted to tear it down for years but the damn thing is so solid - it would cost a fortune just to get rid of it. Colliers Weekly http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collier's_Weekly