xumelanie

The hubby and i did a Western Caribbean cruise last year. We had a great time, and we also got to relax a lot. There are plenty of options to keep busy, but you can also make it relaxing. Also consider that the price of the cruise includes your lodging and all the food you want. It does not include alcohol or off-ship excursions, though. Your wife will need a passport if you do a Caribbean cruise. We got passports last year, and we didn't have any problems. Plus, it's another form of ID to have.

I agree. I've had problems trying to ride my bike across the bridge as is. Also, I went to the sculpture event on the bridge last year. It was very windy, and I can't imagine trying to sit at a table trying to eat. But, I do give them credit for brainstorming. I could see this working.

This is terrible. It gives me another reason to want satellite radio.

I agree. I love the fact that I can get to work in 10 minutes without having to get into my car. I love that I can walk to the butcher shop, bakery, restaurants without having to start my car and search for a parking spot. A streetcar would make it easier to get around downtown while living further into OTR. I don't think people will give up cars altogether, and I don't think that's the point of developing a streetcar system. I see the streetcar as providing another transportation option. However, some families may decide they only need one car instead of two. Right now, my husband and I only own one car. We are lucky enough to both work in the CBD, so we walk to work. If we lived further away from the CBD, it would be harder to own one car. Now, if we lived further into OTR, and had the streetcar option, it would make it easier to continue with one car.

I sure hope they open it downtown, and there is a need for another casual restaurant like that. They seemed to do a good business and continued after they became Universal Grille. After UG went upscale is when people started going there less.

Well, the idea is that the streetcar makes it more attractive to actually live in OTR/downtown/Clifton, as opposed to making parking lots more attractive to people driving in from somewhere else. That might happen for events like Taste of Cincinnati or Oktoberfest, but I think that's a side benefit, not a goal. Hotel guests could probably find this useful if going to Music Hall. Maybe some of the hotels can recommend taking the streetcar to Findlay Market.

And she has just lost my vote!

I agree, but I will say "best bid." The lowest bid may not always make the most sense in certain cases.

Is Lucy Blue considered New York style pizza?

This is actually the impression I had of the event that took place this past Saturday, and from the outside, I don't see anything wrong with big clean-up events. I think most of the comments here about Washington Park are referring to regular days that do not have events like this taking place.

^ What is included in the "downtown area?" Does this go slightly beyond the CBD boundaries?

My post was not about this particular event. I was referring to the groups that show up on random Saturdays.

People do get upset when groups set up food on the sidewalk by Washington Park. Many of the people hanging out in Washington Park do so because they get away with doing their drugs and alcohol there. So when a group shows up to distribute free meals to those in the park, it is seen as rewarding the bad behavior. While I think it's great that people want to help others, I think it would be better to donate that food to an existing organization or a soup kitchen instead.

If I were a vendor at Findlay Market, I would be extremely upset every time someone says that the streetcar goes nowhere.

The estimates from the study were conservative and tailored to Cincinnati. I would say the argument against having the specially designed buses travel the proposed route is that it's not an apples-to-apples comparison. I don't think doing such a study would prove anything. I think several people on here have and do ride the bus on a regular basis. However, I do think people prefer a rail system no matter who the passengers are. I've several people say that the bus systems is confusing, but a rail system would be great.

What assumptions? Many of the posts I've seen have been from people who have either looked at the study or been to another city that had a good system. Exactly. I have also heard the argument that people enjoy their cars and are perfectly happy driving them. That's fine. However, people in this region don't have much choice and drive out of necessity.

Unfortunately, it's about 1/4 of the photo.

I have a photograph that was taken in the mid-80s that is framed. Part of the photo is stuck to the glass. Are there any services that can restore this photo or create a decent digital copy of it? This picture is important to me because it was the last family picture taken before my dad passed away. I also have albums full of old photos that I would like to have digital copies instead. Are there services where I could bring in a lot of photos and have them converted to digital copies? I know I can scan them myself, but there are so many pictures that it would take me a long time. Any recommendations of businesses in or near Cincinnati or appreciated.

Absolutely. It's even worse now with digital photographs that can easily be sent to hundreds of people or posted online with little effort. Teens (and many adults) need to realize that text messages and emails should not be thought of as private communication. At the same time, I do not think it is appropriate to bully someone, and it is terrible that the "boyfriend" forwarded the picture to others. There were a lot of places where things went wrong. However, I'm not sure about this lawsuit. Unless there are several details I know nothing about, I'm not sure what the school or the police department could do.

Did they have a hard time getting financing for this? I would think the flooding issues would make it difficult.

This can't be true, the other day i mentioned to my coworkers that i thought downtown was doing well and they told me that it's a ghost town. Now, i'm certain that i've spent more time downtown in the last year or so than they have, but they insisted that it's a shell of it's former self compared to when they were growing up. I can't speak to that, I've only been in this city two years, but i've been impressed with downtown. Downtown has gone through some good and bad changes. Downtown used to be the shopping destination of the area, and there used to be movie theaters. I remember coming downtown frequently as a child in the 80s. There were several department stores. I can't speak for the nightlife because I was too young to know. Now, most of the shopping has shifted to the suburbs. I do remember many downtown restaurants in the 90s shifting to lunch only hours, and several stores closed. Now, more and more places have opened in the past few years, and I am never bored downtown. Many people in this area are constantly comparing downtown to how it was years ago. Because it is different, they seem to assume that it is bad. Downtown will not be the same downtown it was 20+ years ago (and it shouldn't be), just like their suburb is probably not the same as it was 20 years ago. I have also noticed that people who say there is nothing to do downtown are the same ones who either never come downtown, or they are downtown workers who get out of town as quickly as possible at 5 PM.

I had recently heard a rumor of a second Trader Joe's location opening near downtown. I asked a cashier about two months ago if there was any truth to that. He said that there were no plans currently to open another location, and the company is waiting until their sales at that location goes up. They don't want the sales at the Kenwood store to plummet if they open a new location else where. That said, I would shop at Trader Joe's more often if there was a closer location. When I lived in Pleasant Ridge, I shopped there once every other week. Now that I live in OTR, I shop there once every 4-6 weeks.

Why tear down buildings in OTR for a jail when land in Camp Washington was donated specifically for a new jail? And didn't this location have the support of the Camp Washington Community Council? I agree that there needs to be a new jail, but I can't see why the county can't build a new jail at the same time the city is building a new streetcar. Whenever someone argues that the money for the streetcar should be used for a jail instead, I always wonder how that individual voted on the jail tax. I believe that both a new jail and a streetcar are very important projects.

Trader Joe's is the only reason I go there regularly. There are the occasional trips to the Apple store.

Tanning is a waste of money. The first time I went to a tanning salon was right before my wedding. I was concerned that I would fry in Hawaii when going on the honeymoon (I usually have that white IT person's anti-tan look going). I only made a few quick visits. I really don't think it made me look any better in my wedding dress, and I still got burnt in Hawaii. What a waste of time and money. I should have known better (getting a base tan idea is a joke), and I haven't been back to one since.