jdm00

I think that things are improving and obviously there is a long way to go. I live there now and have been looking to buy a place and rehab it (north of Liberty). It's a big task, but it would be exciting. Re: a single street separating neighborhoods--not sure I can agree with your point there. There are plenty of examples in the Cincy suburbs where you cross a street and it's completely different. But that's really academic.

More time must pass before we declare OTR safe. More progress must be made before we declare OTR a healthy environment that provides opportunity for people of all backgrounds. The past is a series of factual events by definition. You can't discount it or close your eyes and pretend that OTR looks the way it's depicted on the front of a Christian Moerlein lager. Embracing facts is a novel concept, don't shy away from it. No one is shying away from facts. We're pointing out that you aren't using facts, you're saying "this is my perception and therefore it is fact." That's not how it works. I also like how you can be so certain that you know the background of everyone who is commenting here. Guess what? I was spending time in OTR in the 1990s when I was still in school in various community activities. But don't let the facts get in the way of your personal campaign.

And yes, I don't appreciate people trying to tell me what I do and don't know about Cincinnati seeing how I've did more for people who were forced to slum it than people who now choose to. Because you've taken an interest in OTR in the last five years does not make you an expert on the City of Cincinnati, and not living there anymore does not make you oblivious to its status. Yet you are trying to tell other people what they "do and don't know" about Cincinnati. How about it works both ways?

Quite honestly, I don't care what you have to say about the past. You were making statements about the situation today, not ten or five years ago. And your statements about today in OTR--south of Liberty--are flat wrong. I walk home on Walnut about 3 nights a week, and I know what Vine was like ten years ago. There's no comparison. It's also telling that you consider yourself one of the "middle ground" but then resort to the old canard of "where did you grow up" and "have you lived in Cincinnati as long as I have." Those are generally the things I hear from the people who "stay blind to the possibilities (Enquirer crowd)." Saying that you are part of some "middle approach" doesn't make it so.

Unfortunately, OTR is still terrible and scary. -Vacants, including an outrageous number of fire hazards -An addict's Eden for 50 years -A saturation of social services -Hardly any jobs -Monochromatic demographic that's slowly diluting -Filth -Very high crime -A culture of being the Land of the Lost The most dense area in the City is the farthest from self-sustainability. It's an awful neighborhood with some good people giving it the 'ol college try. That's where we are. I just walked home to OTR from my job on 4th street. I've lived here for over a year now. My experience is so different from what you've just listed there that, quite frankly, I can't think of your comment as anything but laughable.

I'd say that UD Arena is a good place to watch a game in the lower bowls, but the views from the upper levels is not so great. I also think that there is little doubt that UD Arena is now among the smallest to be in the rotation for the "second and third rounds" (I hate that!), like they will be hosting next year. It will be very interesting to see if UD Arena continues to get tournament games if they stop hosting the play-in games. (Not that I've heard anything saying they would, but in years like this, it forced the Flyers to go on the road in the NIT when they otherwise would not have to.) My guess is that they would not; a quick glance at the other sites shows that nearly all of them were in much larger, professional arenas that held closer to 20,000 people (like Nationwide in Columbus, or the Rose Garden in Portland, or the place in Nashville, etc.).

Plenty of good options there. I would add: * Walk up to Mt. Adams for dinner one evening. * Take one of those horse carriage rides that leave from Fountain Square. Surprisingly fun. * Carew Tower observation deck. * Cab it up to the art museum (though I don't know what their evening hours are like). * Reds game (he'll definitely be here for plenty of those) * I'd take the opportunity to hit every decent restaurant downtown (Palace, Orchids, Via Vite, Nicholson's, Nada, Nicola's, Ruby's, etc.). * A walking architecture tour of downtown. I'm sure there are guides for this kind of stuff online. * One of the Cincy Haus tours of OTR. * Live music at MOTR (pretty much every night)

Blue line should go by Xavier.

We could always put an arena in Butler County and pitch a team as being more regional, hoping to draw more people from Dayton on a regular basis.

Pretty sure the Enquirer made those designations earlier in the year, before this all came out.

Who says 8 feet is ridiculous? Not Duke. Just because someone is willing to say something doesn't mean a view is valid. I could tell you the earth is a flat cube, and the simple fact that I said it would not make the statement "not ridiculous."

I find the easiest parking at Kenwood is in that fairly-new garage attached to Macy's. Easiest access is off of Galbraith.

By the way, if you want to see how far OTR has come in about five years, just go back and look at the first page of this thread. Oh my.

Anybody know what's going in on the corner where the shoe place was for a brief time? It says nails and spa services, and looks like some kind of clothes, too.

I have no idea on the finances, but I don't know that selling more tickets will definitively make it worth it for UC or X to play games at an arena owned by someone else. They make all the revenue (including concessions) when they host something on campus. I have to think that if it made financial sense for either of them to play games in a bigger arena, you'd at least be seeing games at US Bank arena already. They haven't done that--the only games there have been the sort of one-offs done for very specific reasons (e.g., like when XU played Kansas State (I think it was) at US Bank Arena--that was done contractually because that's where the Huggins-coached K-State team wanted the games to be).

Pro and college sports are extremely wary of gambling (and for good reason, in light of what can happen when gamblers hook up with athletes). There has been talk for a long time about whether one of the pro leagues will put a team in Las Vegas.

Sure. They have a football stadium and an arena downtown, plus the convention center. When the Democrats were in Denver, they used the Broncos stadium for the big acceptance speech and the Pepsi Center (I think) for other events. I believe they are doing a similar combination in Charlotte--Panthers stadium and Bobcats' arena.

I would think it's certainly possible, especially because conventions seem to be viewed more as a campaign tool these days. Looking at past conventions, there has been a move away from traditional big destinations (California, Madision Square Garden in NYC, Boston, etc.) to venues where the parties think they can impact voters by having the convention there: Democratic Convention 2008 - Denver 2012 - Charlotte Republican Convention 2008 - Minneapolis/St. Paul 2012 - Tampa It looks like it now helps to be a swing state or a state that the parties would like to be in play for the election. I would think that helps any Ohio city's chances of trying to get a convention. (Didn't Cleveland make a big push for the Democratic convention for this year?)

I'd be all for it, but I imagine there would be serious resistance from the COAST crowd.

Not sure what you mean by this. My understanding as an outsider is that prior to redevelopment in the 60s/70s (primarily by Towne Properties?), Mt. Adams was pretty rough, and not what you would call an "isolated enclave." I don't think it's something where they would be blocking people going there from downtown or elsewhere.

A lot of those in Cincy would have to be executives at P&G and Kroger, right? What else accounts for that? Lots of F500 (and F1000) businesses headquartered in the metro region beyond just those two. P&G, Kroger, Fifth Third, Macy's, Omnicare, American Financial, Western-Southern, Cintas, etc. As to the rest, not sure.

^lol

Somewhat interesting -- according to this article, Cincinnati is 87th nationally and Columbus 94th in percentage of households in the metro region earning $200k or more. http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/morning_call/2012/03/columbus-isnt-the-states-wealthiest.html?ana=twt No information in the article about the other Ohio cities.

I think there already is a skyscraper at 3rd and Walnut -- isn't that where the Scripps building is?

I wonder if they couldn't have a great rooftop deck on the Bartlett building.