LAW 21

The problem with the Olympics is that you basically need to build an entire village to support it. Once the games are over, you suddenly have a vacant village and that obviously has a negative effect on the rest of city. It's basically impossible to have a positive roi. I'm not too familiar with what goes into the world cup, but I think Cincinnati is only going to be in one of the opening rounds, so there's not really any significant cost involved.

I agree with Messer's statement. This seemingly random deadline makes me wonder if Newport offered the Lindners a deal they couldn't refuse, so the deadline was announced knowing very well that it wouldn't be passed on such short notice. Otherwise it makes zero sense.

A press release was just put out that states Cranley and Black have reached an agreement for Black to resign.

I feel much better about our tournament hopes now.

A study should be done to see how traffic would fare if State Ave and Beekman/Cummings St. was widened instead of a new viaduct. There are not many buildings along that route, so I don't think it would be a huge loss to demolish them.

His final thoughts are complete nonsense.

In today's "pre-selection" show, UC was picked to be a 2 seed. Just keep winning!

You haven't been watching them if you think that. Or you're a Xavier fan. :P

The biggest reason is not enough sponsorship, as this article highlights: http://www.cincymagazine.com/Main/Articles/Tall_Stacks_3883.aspx

UC is currently #6 in the country and their KenPom rank is #4. With Auburn's loss tonight, the Bearcats are projected to be a 2 seed. This could be the year they finally have some tourney success!

No doubt, but it gives people more room to walk.

Weird that they couldn't at least make it parallel with the sidewalk.

I wonder if the streetcars are fixed, or "fixed" in the sense that they'll be fine until the next period of very cold weather.

I was at a real estate roundtable that Cranley attended this morning. Someone asked him about public transit and he talked about increasing the county sales tax, while lowering the city's income tax. He also mentioned that there's going to be a press conference with Uber next week for some sort of investment/partnership with Metro. I thought they already formed some kind of partnership, so maybe this is financially related. It'll be interesting to see how that works. No mention of the streetcar or light rail, of course. I was going to ask about building a west side bridge as an alternative to a new BSB, but they didn't get to me.

KY commuters from Florence, Villa Hills, and Crescent Springs would probably use it daily, since the cut in the hill backs up daily. This would also make Ludlow a more attractive river city, since its relatively isolated currently. It's possible, but these commuters already have the option of using Rt. 8 or Rt. 25 as an alternate route.

The BSB would have to be extremely jammed for people to consider using any westside bridge as an alternative. Traffic would have to exit at the Freeman exit at the very latest. When the extra distance, lower speeds, and stop lights are considered, there's not going to be any time savings. Widening Anderson Ferry would be very costly as many retaining walls would have to be built and a majority of the homes would have to be demolished. It also wouldn't matter if people would have to backtrack a few miles because they're going to choose that route over the BSB or I-275 anyway. Once you get to a certain point in the northern and eastern parts of the westside, traffic is going to take I-75 regardless of where the bridge is built. Talking about tunnels on one or both sides of the river is pretty silly as well. That will balloon the cost to a point where politicians are going to say no way and move forward with a new BSB and Eastern Bypass. I know my post probably sounds harsh, but we need to be realistic. This bridge needs to be seen as an alternative to a new BSB at a significantly cheaper cost. Along with turning I-471 into I-71 and extending it to the split, a westside bridge would eliminate the need for a new BSB and Eastern Bypass, respectively.

From a cost perspective, there are better locations than Anderson Ferry to put a bridge. Anderson Ferry would need to be widened at least to Delhi Ave, if not further. Traffic is already a mess during rush hour. I think these would be better locations: 1. My first choice would be in Sayler Park just west of Hillside Ave as the river is a bit narrower in that spot. On the Kentucky side, traffic could take either Rt. 2846 or Rt. 8 to the airport, eliminating the need to widen the roads. 2. My second choice would be US 50 at Shady Lane in North Bend. Like the first option, this would not require a widening of any roads. Ohio residents would have the option of coming from Bridgetown Rd, Shady Lane, Fiddlers Green, or any of the roads further east with a minimal difference in commute time. Also on the Kentucky side, drivers would have the option of taking either Rt. 237 or Rt. 8 to the airport. 3. There are other reasonable areas, such as US 50 at the bend in North Bend, the west end of Sayler Park at McDonalds, or US 50 at Bender Rd. These have a few negatives such as roads that would need to be widened or slightly extended commute time.

I get the impression that many downtown residents shop at the Kroger in Newport, so I think putting a grocery store at The Banks would be fine. People from Covington would probably shop there as well. It could even jumpstart development on the remaining phases of The Banks. 309 Vine will provide a sizeable residential boost to the area, too.

They probably consider Kenwood the flagship store. Downtown, Northgate, and Tri-County never have had the selection that Kenwood has. I do remember an article last year or the year before that said Macy's was going to try a new concept at the downtown store targeted at millennials, but I guess that plan was never put in place.

I was there a couple times, including it's last night on new year's eve. It wasn't really a great use of that space.

It sounds like they're just going to pretend that the Oakley stadium plan is a done deal. Like MLS won't see thru that. It's not logical that CIN is just going to submit a bid and say we'd like to put it in Oakley, but we'll see where it ends up. At a minimum, a done deal site must be in place for the bid. MLS doesn't care which site gets picked. It only cares about the team having a soccer-specific stadium. Oakley is the fastest, least controversial site, so that's what is getting locked down because the bid needs to get submitted ASAP. If the site changes after the bid is accepted, no one in MLS is going to bat an eye. And if no better site materializes, they just proceed with Oakley. So, other then Newport, there is no closer site for an MLS in the downtown area? I thought the MLS prefers downtown-ish locations. Look what's happening in Columbus now; also, Chicago's stadium is in a really bad location, among others. No one is talking about this, but since you ask, I think the best spot is directly on top of the only block of 5th street that exists east of P&G, between Eggleston and Culvert. It's close to the casino, there's a ton of parking, and no one is ever going to build anything else there. That site is walkable from the CBD, OTR, Pendleton, Mount Adams, and Newport, but it wouldn't really threaten the character of any of those, as 471 and surface lots are the only things adjacent. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Cincinnati,+OH/@39.1036116,-84.504102,750m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x884051b1de3821f9:0x69fb7e8be4c09317!8m2!3d39.1031182!4d-84.5120196 With Skyhouse being built just down the road, it would be a great catalyst for development in that area.

Oakley City Council voted to reject the FC Cincinnati stadium plan: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/soccer/fc-cincinnati/2017/11/26/oakley-leaders-reject-fc-cincinnati-stadium-plan-eve-cincinnati-city-councils-vote/896553001/

What for?

Eh, I don't think it was surprising.

It was briefly 59/41, but now the margin has tightened: John Cranley 11,449 55% Yvette Simpson 9,236 45%