2LiveCarew

^Here's a link to the story, for what it's worth: http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20120429/SUB01/304299993/streetcars-desired-m1-rail-hopes-to-hop-on-cincinnatis-order

The downtown Benihana, which previously was closed for renovations, is now permanently closed: http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2012/04/28/benihana-closes-downtown-cincinnati.html Too bad, it seemed like that place had been there forever. I'd never visited.

@Cygnus: I really appreciate you taking/posting these pictures from time to time. As a Cincinnati expat (returning soon though!) I really eat them up. Also, that fountain looks marvelous. For a huge chunk of my life, the area between GABP and PBS was a gigantic pile of dirt. Amazing.

In one of this guys' other comments, he describes Cincinnati as "Little Moscow" and "Little Detroit" and says that there is no one in the city but "Marxists and thugs." This is not a person who would recognize a cogent thought if it were to hit him in the face. Also, both downtown and at least certain parts of OTR have gained population since 2000, according to the US Census Bureau. The CBD in particular has substantially gained population since then. You can see a visualization of the data, by census tract, by zooming in here: http://projects.nytimes.com/census/2010/map Also, I don't think that that accounts for the opening of the Banks, and many of 3CDC's projects. I'm not really sure why I wasted a few minutes of my life typing a response to someone who thinks that "the existence of a municipal government" is synonymous with "the existence of a Stalinist dictatorship."

A serious OTR lovefest at the Enquirer: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120414/BIZ/304150025/Over-Rhine-s-transformation-far-from-over?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|p Awesome, awesome, awesome.

I'm a little concerned that the Banks won't be getting much foot traffic... (source: http://mlb.mlb.com/cutfour/article.jsp?content_id=28011254&fb_ref=fb_share&fb_source=home_oneline )

Actually, I think you're right, from the sound of the article. I just saw it immediately after I posted, did a quick skim, and edited my post.

1000 dunnhumbyUSA employees will work at the 5th and Race Development (from ChooseCincy twitter, retweeted by Dunnhumby): http://twitter.com/#!/choosecincy/status/187204141519601664 Great news! I knew they wanted to expand, but that's as big as the highest estimate I've heard so far. Does anyone know if the announcement covered anything else (like a downtown Kroger, not to hope for too much)? EDIT: Here's the link to the Business Courier article: http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2012/04/03/kasich-kvamme-announce-dunnhumbyusa.html EDIT2: Looks like Dunnhumby will potentially occupy 10 floors by itself. If residential would be on top of that, the place could end up being pretty tall. Although some people have talked about the residential being beside the Dunnhumby component, rather than above/below it.

This is a random question, but: aside from 3CDC's monthly/quarterly reports, is there any comprehensive document or set of documents that catalogs what 3CDC and the city are doing/have done/plan on doing to develop the area? Or do you guys think that the 3CDC reports are the best bet?

I'm not sure if this has been posted elsewhere, but this seems like big (or at least nice) news for the state: Ohio led all states in job gains in February! http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120330/BIZ/303300145/Ohio-tops-job-gains?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

I do too. I assume that the one on the left (the one that isn't up yet) will be black, so the colors match the German flag?

Ohio's metropolitan areas (other than Cleveland and kind of Dayton) do really well in the Brookings Institute's rankings of metropolitan area recoveries since the Great Recession: http://www.brookings.edu/info/metromonitor/monitor_maps.aspx Very interesting interactive graphic. Also, I'm not sure if this counts as "dumb-a$$" since it's the Brookings Institute, which is a legitimate (and fairly reputable) think-tank. But this seems to be where these ranking things go.

I think I agree with a lot of the anti-classism stuff here. I'm not that worried about whether OTR is populated by "beer-drinking hooligans" or "hipsters" or "yuppies," as long as it's safe, vibrant, and a positive contribution to the city. If people care about the city and its well-being--or even if they don't, but just like to unwind or have fun in an area where it benefits the city as a whole--good on them, IMO. The more the merrier. I'm fine with it being only "one sort" of people for now, as long as other "sorts" feel welcome and invited now and later on. Just my $.02. Sorry this has moved way off topic.

Is that such a problem? Don't most successful cities have a pretty sizable chunk of these people, and neighborhoods where young professionals/hipsters are like cicadas? Also, the newer establishments (in the Gateway Quarter and otherwise) might be fairly monolithic, but those aren't the only establishments in the entire neighborhood, from what I can tell (I don't live in Cincinnati right now, I'm not speaking from experience). At any rate, to what extent do you see "monoculturalism" as being a threat to OTR's recovery (if at all)? Do you see this as being a temporary phase, exactly the same as the 1990s resurgence? Or do you see the two as materially different?

First of all, I don't even know if I'm going to be able to find an apartment in OTR, because apparently supply is low and demand is high right now. But I'm moving to Cincy over the summer and I'd like to be in OTR if possible. I was just wondering what the best gym options are--the YMCA on Central Parkway, maybe? A gym downtown? If you have any anecdotes/experiences/advice you'd like to share, that would be amazing. Thanks!

I've never been to Red River Gorge, but I've heard good things. One place I would recommend is Hocking Hills State Park, which is an absolutely gorgeous place. It's about a two and a half hour drive from Cincinnati. You can rent cabins, and I think you can also pitch a tent in certain places, but there's tons of hiking/nature/scenery to be enjoyed. Pics:

Nah, you don't have to trouble yourself, I'm moving back to Cincinnati this June/July and I was just curious. But thanks for the information!

With other cities, sorry. Like if I wanted to see Cincinnati's murder rate compared to, say, Indianapolis', or Chicago's, or Pittsburgh's, without actually doing the population math myself (I'm lazy), there's no way to find that for 2011 yet?

Quick question: is there a way to get a good side-by-side comparison of city crime rates from 2011? I've been poking around online without finding anything. The Wikipedia article is in a convenient format, but the data is from 2010.

I dunno, I think it looks nicer than the Fifth-Third Building already!

Is there ANY indication that (1) an earnings tax increase is in the works (2) that P&G has made ANY noise whatsoever about relocating? I mean, my assumption is "no," and that this is basically an example of "I didn't get my way, therefore the city is going to hell." But P&G leaving would be such a kick in the nuts that I'd like someone to assure me that yes, in fact, Finney has no idea what he's talking about and no "inside" information. EDIT: from what little I know, P&G has two executives on the board of 3CDC, and Bob McDonald is an important player in the Museum/Freedom Center. So it doesn't seem like a company that's exactly hostile to efforts to build up urban areas in Cincinnati. But that's just my own opinion.

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2012/02/13/kao-usa-to-make-economic-development.html Kao USA to make an economic development announcement w/Kasich. Apparently this was scheduled today at 2. Did it happen? Does anyone know anything about it? The Courier mentions that Kao may be looking for downtown office space... Edit: nvm, it's scheduled for tomorrow, not today. I'm all out of sorts about what date it is. :drunk:

Not exactly sure where to put this (i.e. whether it should go into an OTR development thread or here), but: http://www.soapboxmedia.com/devnews/020712streetpops.aspx "Streetpops," a gourmet popsicle vendor, is opening up a storefront in OTR on 1437 Main Street. Sounds kinda fun, imo. Edit: I'm terrible at grammar, apparently

I think even if you yourself have nothing against urban areas, the historical tendency of people in Cincinnati has been to go with suburbs and rag on the "ghetto" city--and attitudes like that tend to perpetuate the things that give rise to them in the first place. Which is why people who are enthusiastic about what's happening in the city, potential progress that's being made (in making urban areas nicer places to live and work and shop) go crazy when they hear criticism. So much criticism isn't constructive--"Over-the-Rhine? Buncha crackheads live there! Pave it over!" or "G-H-E-T-T-O!" The tendency is to lump constructive criticism and asinine anti-urbanism into the same category, because the latter tends to predominate in public discourse. When you say you have nothing against urban living, I believe you--but you have to understand the context in which you're posting, too. People who are trying (very hard) to make urban areas in Cincinnati places in which people will choose to work, live, shop, eat, or drink have an uphill battle against fairly fixed mindsets. Anyway, sorry your reception to the UO forum has been hostile, but I think that people have reacted the way they have for understandable (if not totally justifiable) reasons.

This looks absolutely awesome. I live in Chicago now (finishing up my last year of professional school), but my girlfriend and I plan on moving to OTR this summer. The Washington Park project is one of the main draws. It looks absolutely beautiful.